In a pirate game like Windrose, your character's life revolves around your ship. It's the primary way you navigate the world, allows you to engage in naval combat for rare loot, and serves as a constant form of progression. However, at the start of Windrose, you're a captain who's left without a ship, forcing you to survive without one for some time.

As you might expect, the game's story involves you acquiring a ship, but it doesn't happen automatically. Find out more about how to get your first ship and start upgrading it in Windrose in the guide below.

How to get the first pirate ship in Windrose

Technically, you can actually get your first ship fairly early on in the main story. After you complete the tutorial mission, you'll find Dr. Galen, whom you met in the opening minutes of the game, at your base. He survived the boarding of your previous ship and found his way back to you in the hopes of getting a crew together to go after the pirates who shot you.

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A new update arrived for Animal Crossing: New Horizons on April 14 for both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. With this game patch, Nintendo is celebrating the franchise's 25th anniversary and providing a few bug fixes as well. Players who download the update will receive an anniversary gift and special letter from Nintendo.

Downloading the version 3.0.2 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons gifts players with a new item called the Leaf Statue. This statue is designed as Animal Crossing's iconic leaf icon. In terms of size, this is a villager-size decorative item, and it even lights up. Players will just need to check their in-game mailbox to receive the Leaf Statue, and there's even a thank-you note from Nintendo.

The letter thanks players for 25 years of the franchise. The design of the in-game letter also pays homage to the very first game with a stamp of the Nintendo 64 logo, which is the platform of the very first Animal Crossing game released on April 14, 2001.

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Crimson Desert is, in many ways, exactly the type of game I've been waiting for.

It's got the enormous, sprawling setting of, say, an Assassin's Creed title, minus the laundry list of quests that often cause me to burn out on Ubisoft's massive open-world games. It encourages freedom and experimentation much in the same way as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but with a more consistent narrative drip-feed that keeps me coming back for more. Sure, it starts off a bit slow, but so far, it's largely been a fun ride. In fact, Crimson Desert is probably the best game I've played so far in 2026. Or it would be, if it weren't for the little twinge of doubt in the back of my mind that tingles every time I load up the game and leaves me wondering, "Is this AI?"

A large part of the discourse surrounding Crimson Desert has been a fairly black-and-white discussion about whether the game is "good." If all gaming discourse took place in a vacuum, I'd say it's a pretty solid 7/10 RPG. But we don't live in a vacuum. We live in a world where studios are increasingly outsourcing their work to generative AI and refusing to disclose it. Developer Pearl Abyss did just that with Crimson Desert, releasing the game on March 19, despite the fact that it was unpolished and featured a frustrating storage system, a bizarre control setup, and blurry graphics on PlayStation 5. Oh, and a load of AI-generated "placeholder" art that was "unintentionally" left in the game.

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Windrose is a new pirate survival game that allows you to tackle the pirate world as a lone captain or with a crew of your friends in online co-op. Multiplayer is fully supported, but there are some rules and restrictions that you'll want to know about before you attempt to play with your friends.

Below, we'll go into everything you need to know about co-op multiplayer in Windrose.

Co-op multiplayer explained in Windrose

For starters, Windrose only supports online co-op, meaning that there is no option for local split-screen co-op. You can only invite players to a world if they join on a different PC and they're connected to the internet.

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The Metro game series has never shied away from dark, disturbing subject matter, with warring factions fighting for control over what's left of a devastated post-nuclear-apocalypse Moscow. Despite this, series author Dmitry Glukhovsky says Metro 2039 is shaping up to be even darker.

Writing on Twitter (via PC Gamer), Glukhovsky made a very bold statement: "This Metro game will be darker than anything you've seen before."

This Metro game will be darker than anything you’ve seen before

— Дмитрий Глуховский (@glukhovsky) April 14, 2026

This is a series that has seen the absolute plight of humanity, as well as the mysterious Dark Ones, all while enormous, mutated animal creatures reign supreme above the metro station. It's a series where you're often given two choices, both of which are dark and disturbing, and must determine which one is the least horrible. Death is just around the corner for nearly any character, and there is very slim hope for the future. If Glukhovsky is this confident about 2039, then it might be best to alternate with something a little more cheerful when it eventually releases.

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An Elden Ring movie from A24 and acclaimed filmmaker Alex Garland is on the way, and if the movie keeps up with the popular popcorn bucket trend, fans believe they've worked out the perfect idea for it.

A post by FromSoftCentral (via GamesRadar) offers up the suggestion that Iron Fist Alexander should be the official popcorn bucket for the Elden Ring movie. Indeed, it's not difficult to imagine the jar being filled with buttery popcorn that moviegoers inevitably devour before the film even starts.

Iron Fist Alexander being the popcorn bucket would also be kinda weird because he is a living jar with ambition to become a mighty warrior, so eating popcorn out of his body means he is probably dead.

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One of the hallmarks of any Lego Batman game is the Caped Crusader's wardrobe. GameSpot can exclusively reveal that in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, the hero will be suiting up in the shinobi threads that he donned for the 2018 anime movie Batman Ninja.

While Batman started his adventure in feudal Japan equipped with his modern-day crimefighting outfit, it wasn't long before the battles took a toll on his equipment and he decided to embrace his new role as the Bat Clan's prophesied hero. It's a weird film, but one that did give us a Batman dressed for war in a suit of custom-made samurai armor and a Kabuto cowl shaped like his signature cowl. The suit itself would change once more, taking on a ninja-inspired look for Batman's climactic battle against the Joker.

According to the Wayne-Tech stats, the Batman Ninja outfit is average when it comes to nostalgia--the anime film isn't even 10 years old yet--but in the fields of aura-farming and intimidation? It scores really high.

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Disney's 20th Century Studios has announced a deal to develop a movie based on 99 Nights in the Forest, one of the most popular games hosted on Roblox.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century won the rights in a "competitive" dealmaking process, though no other potential bidders were divulged, nor was the fee that 20th Century paid disclosed.

99 Nights in the Forest is developed by Grandma's Favourite Games and hosted on Roblox, and it ranks as one of the most popular games on the platform. The game was only just released in March 2025, and in that time, it's had more than 25.9 billion visits, according to the game's public stats. It had more than 174,000 concurrent players today, April 14, and peaked at 14.2 million players to rank No. 3 overall for peak concurrents.

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On the surface, Windrose might not look like an overly challenging survival game. You're a pirate who crash-lands on an unknown island, and all you have to deal with for the first several hours are dodo birds, boars, and some drowned zombie-type enemies. However, as you'll quickly learn, combat in Windrose can be extremely difficult, as enemies can deal massive amounts of damage to you in just a couple of hits.

To avoid seeing the death screen and having to run miles to retrieve your lost items, you want to ensure you're stocked up with as many healing items as possible. You can see a full breakdown of every way to heal in Windrose in the guide below.

Best ways to heal in Windrose

Unfortunately, at the start of Windrose, your options for healing items are pretty limited. In fact, the game doesn't give you any way to heal yourself for free off the bat, as you need to craft and loot ways to restore your HP for the most part.

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Marathon is getting a mid-season update today, and Bungie is placing an emphasis on teamwork while offering new players incentives to join the game. The biggest change is the CyberAcme Runner Reinforcement Initiative, which gives solo players and teams rewards if they finish objectives and extract themselves at the same time.

As laid out by Bungie, C.A.R.R.I. rewards will be paid out as CyberAcme Commendations, which can be used to purchase weapons, Reputation Packs, and other items from the C.A.R.R.I. Armory. However, the C.A.R.R.I. Armory will only be available through the end of Season 1.

To encourage more collaboration among players, Bungie is introducing a new feature called Stay Together that will allow runners who exfill together at the end of a run to keep the team-up going as a new crew. Players can also revive a downed enemy with the new Mercy Kit consumable with an eye towards turning them into an ally. However, Mercy Kits won't work on members of a player's crew or on the player themselves.

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Later this month, Diablo IV's ongoing Hatred Saga comes to a close with the release of its second expansion, Lord of Hatred. Set in the ancient island region of Skovos, the upcoming DLC digs deep into Diablo's past while setting a course for the series' future, though what that future might look like remains unclear. What is clear, however, is this final showdown between you, Lilith, and the Lord of Hatred himself, Mephisto, will forever change the shape of Sanctuary.

But before we delve into the series' future, Blizzard has opted to give us a deeper look into Sanctuary's past with the upcoming novel The Lost Horadrim. Written by Matthew J. Kirby, The Lost Horadrim follows Diablo IV fan-favorite character Lorath and Captain Adreona of the Amazons as the pair embark on an adventure across Skovos. With its promises of intense political conflict, lots of lore and plenty of mythical monsters and undead abominations to slay, The Lost Horadrim has been high up on our list of most anticipated reads for quite some time. Fortunately for us, we recently got the opportunity to read an excerpt from the book ahead of its release--and now, we get the chance to share a snippet of Kirby's atmospheric writing it with you.

Diablo IV: The Lost Horadrim (Novel)

$30 | Releases April 21, 2026

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To set the scene for readers, the author provided the following context: Donan journeys across Skovos in search of information regarding a lost expedition of Horadrim. But the seer he encounters may tell him more about himself than his brethren.

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Nothing beats a physical collection of movies for your home cinema--especially with streaming services being unpredictable--and Amazon is currently offering a great deal on 4K films. For just $33, you can stock up on a wide range of classics and modern masterpieces, building a sizable collection at an affordable price. Note that the deal only applies if you choose three or more eligible Blu-rays, with Amazon discounting each to $11.

That's a pretty good deal for something that normally costs around $20 on average, and many of these films also include a standard Blu-ray with extras. Digital streaming codes are also included with many releases, but they do have an expiration date, and there's a chance that they may no longer be valid now.

3 for $33 Movies on 4K Blu-ray

Get popular movies on 4K for only $11 each while supplies last.

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So what's worth picking up? Looking at movies that defined cinema over the decades, there's a lot of great stuff on offer. The influence of Blade Runner is still felt in contemporary sci-fi and Full Metal Jacket is a gripping drama about the dehumanizing training army recruits underwent during the Vietnam War. We'd also recommend Jurassic Park, a movie that rewrote the blockbuster rulebook, or Amadeus if you're in the mood for an epic period piece about dueling composers that still looks and sounds incredible.

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The pirate game Windrose is out now on Steam in early access, but many are wondering if developer Kraken Express might bring the game to console at some point. Here's what we know.

On the Windrose website, the developer stated that Windrose is confirmed only for PC via Steam right now. As for "future platform announcements," the studio said "keep an eye on official channels."

A spokesperson for Kraken Express told GameSpot, "The team doesn't have any other updates about Windrose on consoles but do want to reiterate that they are enthusiastic about eventually coming to consoles but are focused on 1.0 launch first."

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It's a big day for Roblox on PlayStation 5, as Roblox Corp. has launched a native version of the game for Sony's console, promising upgrades like 30% faster load times and a "smoother and more responsive" version overall. A native version of Roblox for Xbox Series X|S launched in September 2025.

Roblox is a platform that hosts games, and Sony spoke with Roblox creators about the new native edition of Roblox and what it offers. For the NFL Universe Football game, a developer from Voldex said the team can now add more content without fear of the performance impact.

"The door is wide open for us to test the boundaries on what's possible. I'm excited to see how we can push our visuals even further," the studio explained.

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The pirate game Windrose is out now in early access for PC, and one of its producers has now discussed a number of topics about it, including inspiration sources and why it dropped a free-to-play model.

Windrose Crew producer Phil, AKA Yar_maste, told Automaton that the consensus at the studio is that Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is the "best pirate game of all time." Unsurprisingly, Black Flag was an inspiration for Windrose, Phil said, along with games like Valheim and Enshrouded.

"It's a combination of what we wanted to create and what we thought the players would want to play. We indeed love the pirate theme, and believe this niche is still underserved today," Phil said.

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Battle-hungry Pokemon fans will be thrilled to hear that Pokemon Champions is now on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. The free-to-start title marks a step away from titles like Pokemon Scarlet & Violet or Pokemon Legends Z-A, and instead offers up quick online battles with other Pokemon fans all over the world. But what do you actually need to get started?

Table of Contents [hide]

• Do You Need Nintendo Switch Online for Pokemon Champions?

Do You Need Nintendo Switch Online for Pokemon Champions?

No, you do not need an active Nintendo Switch Online account to play Pokemon Champions. Much like some other online titles, such as Pokemon Unite, Fortnite, and Rocket League, you can play Pokemon Champions online with just an active internet connection.

Thankfully, no content is gated either, with every online multiplayer mode open to all players, whether they have an active Nintendo Switch Online membership or not.

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Ahead of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream's release on Switch this week, it has come to light that Nintendo's designers were "obsessed" with getting farts to sound right in the game.

Developer Ryutaro Takahashi said in a new Ask the Developer blog post that, "There was a big debate among the team about whether Mii should be able to ... break wind. (Laughs)."

He went on to say that some developers at Nintendo found it to be hilarious, while others thought it was "a bit vulgar" to include fart sounds. Audible flatulence made it into the game in the end, and players can "bestow the trait," as Takahashi put it, on their Mii character. People who don't want to hear fart noises won't have to, though, as this is completely optional.

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There's no shortage of memorable moments from the long history of The Simpsons, but without a doubt, "Steamed Hams" sums up everything great about the show. The segment--and the episode it aired in--is officially 30 years old today, marking three decades of viral comedy. It has been reinterpreted across many forms of media, finding new life through remixes that have turned it into something unforgettable--just like Principal Skinner's luncheon with Super Nintendo Chalmers.

Originally airing alongside several other shorts in the season seven episode "22 Short Films About Springfield," Steamed Hams revolved around Skinner telling increasingly outlandish lies to cover up the fact that he had burned the lunch he'd prepared for Chalmers. The joke lived on as a reference point for Simpsons fans, and it steadily grew in popularity as the years passed by. It reached peak popularity around 2017, as creators took to YouTube to upload "Steamed Ham but" videos, deconstructing the meme and transforming it into an evergreen joke.

Naturally, video game parodies weren't far behind. Several developers and video editors have turned Steamed Hams into something resembling an actual game:

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It has been spotted that Krafton is no longer listed as the publisher of Subnautica 2 on Steam. This change in publisher comes in the midst of a legal dispute between developer Unknown Worlds and the PUBG publisher that acquired the studio in 2021.

On April 13, this change in Subnautica 2's publisher was spotted by analyst Mike Futter on Bluesky, although the change itself was made on April 7. Now, both the developer and publisher duties are attributed to Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Krafton remains listed as the publisher of Moonbreaker, another game released by Unknown Worlds post-Krafton acquisition.

Krafton has not yet publicly commented on Subnautica 2's apparent change in publisher. We've reached out to a Krafton representative for comment and will update this article if we get a response.

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There are "nine years’ worth of ideas crammed into" Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, according to Ryutaro Takahashi. The game director revealed that development started on the Switch exclusive back in 2017 in a new Ask the Developer feature on Nintendo's website.

With Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream days away from launching on April 16, the developers opened up about creating the new game in the social simulation series. "I believe development started around 2017, after things had settled down on Miitomo," said Takahashi. "The producer, [Yoshio Sakamoto], and I both have a special attachment to Tomodachi Life and have been playing the previous game on Nintendo 3DS for many years."

Takahashi stated that development on Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream began with a focus on user-generated content, with a goal of being the "ultimate inside-joke game." A demo released last month for the game has already seen players run wild with the character creator, making Garfield, for instance. Meanwhile, Takahashi noted that his team made Pikmin as pets inside the game.

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