Escape From Tarkov is an extraction shooter that’s hardcore by nature, meaning every raid is as important as the last. When you’re fighting to the death for gear, weapons, and quest items, it can be difficult to stay on top of your hideout, which provides you with valuable upgrades over time.

That’s why Escape From Tarkov codes are so important to stay on top of. Delivered by devs on social media, these handy codes will keep your stash stocked full of the important goods needed for Hideout upgrades and craftables.

To make this easier, we’ve compiled every EFT code that’s currently active in the game to give you and your stash the boost it might desperately need.

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It’s the question on everyone’s lips: when is the next Escape From Tarkov wipe? Well, with the game’s graduation to 1.0, EFT has moved on from the six monthly wipe schedule to a seasonal model--leaving many in the dark about what’s actually next.

Gone are the days where all PvP players lose their stash and have to fight it out on Ground Zero with pistols and MP5s--now players will have the option to start again, this time on a secondary character with new seasonal objectives and modifiers.

But how are Escape From Tarkov seasons actually going to work and will they look similar to wipes? Here’s everything you need to know, including when the next EFT wipe will be.

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Several digital Nintendo Switch games are discounted at Amazon, giving you a chance to scoop up iconic games for some of their best prices of the year. Many of these are first-party Nintendo games that rarely see discounts--like Metroid Dread and Fire Emblem: Three Houses--though you'll also find a few third-party games mixed in, like Astral Chain and Bayonetta 3.

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If you're interested in Bayonetta but never managed to add it to your collection, now is a great time to dive in. The Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 Bundle is on sale for $40 (was $60), which is a new all-time low price. It pulls together both action games for an incredible price, as you're essentially getting each for just $20. You can round out the trilogy with Bayonetta 3 for $40 (was $60), or dive into the prequel, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, for $40 (was $60). The core Bayonetta games earned high marks from fans and critics alike, who praised their fast-paced, stylized action--if you're a fan of Devil May Cry, you should love what it has to offer.

As for first-party games, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is $40 (was $60), Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is $40 (was $60), and Metroid Dread is $40 (was $60). That last one is a particularly good deal, as even though the game launched in 2021, its current price of $40 is just a buck away from its lowest price ever (the game hit $39 during the 2023 holiday season). You'll guide Samus through a traditional 2D metroidvania adventure, complete with challenging foes, unique upgrades, and plenty of reasons to backtrack and use your new gear to unlock all sorts of secrets.

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Arc Raiders' new Riven Tides update frequently sends you to the eponymous map for questing, helping you to acclimate to each of its points of interest. In Battening Down, you'll need to visit three locations and interact with prompts before heading back to Speranza for your reward. It shouldn't take long to knock this one out, but it can be a bit of a trek going between the spots.

You don't need to extract with anything in Battening Down, so feel free to tackle this one using a free kit if you want to be safe. The entire quest takes place on the outer portion of the northern section of the map, which tends to be less active, but that doesn't necessarily mean trouble can't be waiting somewhere along the way.

When you're ready to take on Battening Down, follow the steps below.

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Any Nintendo fan knows how rarely it puts its first-party titles on sale, unless you count its now-defunct Game Voucher deal as one (and to be fair, it is a pretty good deal). That's why we're mega-impressed by the Spring Video Game Sale going on at Woot, which features major games for all platforms--including Nintendo first-party games that rarely go on sale like The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond--alongside controllers from Hori and 8BitDo, arcade fight sticks, keyboards, headphones, and more. Even better, you can get an extra 20% discount (up to $50 maximum) by using the code GAMER20 at checkout. This extra discount code expires after April 28, but the sale itself runs until May 5, so even if you can't you the code, it's still worth checking out all the deals on offer.

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We've teased out a few of our favorite picks below, or you can shop everything included in Woot's Video Game Spring Sale here. Keep in mind that stocks are limited and some items, like the Nintendo Switch limited edition pro controllers and the Meta Quest 3 carrying case, have already sold out. So if you see something you want, don't sleep on it. Note that since Woot is an Amazon-owned company, Amazon Prime members can get free standard shipping on all orders.

Nintendo Switch Game Deals

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Charity organization Games Done Quick has revealed it is partnering with the world's biggest gaming event, Gamescom, to bring GDQ to Europe for a new, three-day-long speedrunning spectacle. Announced earlier today, the upcoming Gamescom GDQ marathon will take place August 28-30 at Gamescom. Those attending the convention will get the exciting opportunity to watch the events live at Cologne, Germany's Koelnmesse, but rest assured that those at home will still be able to tune into both Twitch and YouTube to watch numerous highly-skilled speedrunners blaze through their favorite games.

For well over a decade, GDQ has served as an excellent way for the gaming community to raise money for charitable organizations while also providing viewers with over two weeks of thrilling, high-level speedruns to gawk at each year. In 2025 alone, the organization raised nearly $5.5 million across its two annual marathons--Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick--and a handful of other special events, such as two, femme-focused Flame Fatales marathons.

Proceeds earned during Gamescom GDQ will be donated to Gaming for Democracy, a newly-founded initiative that supports "civic engagement and democratic values through gaming culture." This marks the organization's first time donating to this cause, as well as the first time GDQ has taken place in Europe.

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If you've received the Safe Harbor quest in Arc Raiders, that means you've made some meaningful progress in the Riven Tides questline. You're not quite done yet, though, so let's find some clues and report back to Tian Wen in one piece.

For Safe Harbor, it's best if you bring in an augment that has a safe pocket, as you'll encounter an item at the end of the quest that you'll be required to extract with. If you die or drop this item before extracting, you'll be forced to restart the entire quest on your next raid, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

When you're ready to jump into Safe Harbor, follow the steps below.

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Pragmata is the latest in the lineage of quintessential "dad games." The everyman protagonist Hugh taking the naive young girl android Diana under his wing follows familiar trappings.

It finds variation within that formula--Hugh and Diana's relationship is fairly sweet from the start rather than slowly warming up, and Hugh's own experiences with adoption inform his sense of responsibility to Diana. But the tropes are well-worn regardless.

What struck me most in this telling, though, was how Pragmata explores the notion of growing up and how experiences can shape a person.

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With its new Riven Tides update, Arc Raiders has introduced a variety of fresh things to encounter in its dangerous world, including a scary new ARC and a whole new map. Of course, as with many other major updates for this popular extraction shooter, there's also an event to engage with, which comes along with miniature ship models that can be found to contribute to your progress in it.

During the Last Resort Event, which runs from April 28 to May 25, you'll primarily earn Merits by obtaining XP, which will automatically go toward earning some new cosmetics and in-game resources. However, it's not just XP that can help you get through the reward track, as you'll also be able to round up miniature ship models while exploring the maps, netting you some additional Merits to move things along a bit more quickly.

Here's where to find miniature ship models in Arc Raiders.

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Arc Raiders' Riven Tides update comes packing quite a few new quests to take on as you explore an all-new map by the same name. However, your first venture into this coastal map will be Shoring Up Defenses, which tasks you with reinforcing a structure and shuttering some windows, as well as killing some enemies roaming the map.

One of the objectives in Shoring Up Defenses requires you to have an Arc Alloy, which is an extremely common item obtained by killing enemies. As such, it's likely you'll get one while taking out the Wasps or Fireflies you need to kill to complete the quest. However, if you want to bring one in with you--or you're just trying to be extra careful--it's not a bad idea to come equipped with an augment sporting a safe pocket.

When you're ready to set off toward the beach and complete Shoring Up Defenses, follow the steps below.

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Valve is still working on a Steam Deck 2 handheld gaming PC, but don't expect to see a release window revealed for it yet. With the company also focused on new devices like the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and the May 4 launch of the Steam Controller, a Steam Deck successor will only be out when Valve is confident that it is a meaningful upgrade compared to the original device.

"We're hard at work on it," Valve programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais said to IGN. "If you look at our hardware projects over the years, you can draw a straight line from the original Steam Controller and Steam Machine to Steam Deck, to everything that we're announcing and shipping this year. And we expect Steam Deck 2 will be a lot of the same, where a lot of what we're doing here will be learnings that build up to it."

Griffais added that Valve is not interested in "getting to a point where it's 20 or 30 or even 50% more performance at the same battery life" and that the company has a "pretty good idea" of what the next Steam Deck will be. After its initial launch in 2022, Valve followed up the Steam Deck with an OLED model in November 2023, and the device has inspired the production of several other mobile gaming PCs from big names in the tech space, like Asus and Lenovo.

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Arc Raiders' Riven Tides update has brought with it plenty of new things to see and do, including a whole new map to explore and new items to find. Some things never change, though: Speranza needs your help with projects. This time around, you'll be completing the Avian Alarm project, which tasks you with building bird cages to act as a security system of sorts that will help the denizens of Speranza sense tremors and atmospheric changes.

You won't be literally building these bird cages in-game, but you will be contributing resources to their production. As with previous projects, you'll need to collect these items and submit them back in Speranza to earn rewards, unlocking additional stages of the project with each page you complete. And since your inventory is limited, you'll probably want to know which items you need for the project so you're not wasting any unnecessary space.

Below, you'll find all Avian Alarm project stages and the rewards you'll earn for completing them.

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Arc Raiders' Riven Tides update introduces a handful of new quests to take on, but not all of them immediately send you to the new coastal map. Line in the Sand sends you to the all-too-familiar Buried City to figure out why a train never reached Marano Station. You'll be visiting multiple spots on the map, so be prepared for a bit of jogging.

There aren't any major concerns with this quest, as it's pretty straightforward and has multiple objectives that update by simply visiting a location. And since there's nothing you need to extract with, you can complete it with a free kit or a customized loadout.

When you're ready to tackle Line in the Sand, follow the steps below.

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Video games featuring marketing tie-ins with food and beverages is certainly nothing new--especially in Japan, where beloved game characters have been hawking things like ramen seasoning for decades. However, this latest campaign--a tie-up between famed international beverage-maker Asahi and Square-Enix's Final Fantasy VII Rebirth--is deliciously strange in all the right ways.

Asahi introduced a canned alcoholic chu-hai beverage in Japan called Mirai no Lemon Sour (Future Lemon Sour) in 2024, with distribution spreading across Japan in 2025. Chu-hai's been growing in popularity in recent years, and Asahi set out to differentiate itself from the competition with a unique gimmick: an actual lemon slice miraculously crammed into every can. Pop the lid open, and the lemon slice floats up to the surface to flavor up your drinking experience. A strange gimmick, but one that seems to have been successful in the market.

So what does Final Fantasy and Sephiroth have to do with any of this? Well, Sephiroth's famous ultra-long sword, the Masamune--you know, the one that's killed Aerith and also skewered Mario that one time--would certainly be useful for chopping up those floating lemon slices in Mirai no Lemon Sours, right? And that's exactly what our beautiful boy does, hacking a lemon into thin slices before savoring his handiwork by taking a refreshing sip of his new favorite adult beverage.

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake was an impressive showpiece on Switch 2, and now the sequel, FF7 Rebirth, is preparing to do it all over again. The second game in the FF7 Remake trilogy is coming to Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S on June 3, but you can try it now on either platform and carry your progress over to the full game.

The demo covers the first two chapters, and you'll be able to carry progress into the full game. Crucially, the second chapter is when you first get access to Queen's Blood, the collectible card game that received raves from FF7 fans when the game launched on PS5. With the Switch 2 version, especially, that means you can take Queen's Blood with you on the go, where all CCGs truly belong.

I recently tried a brief demo of FF7 Rebirth running on Switch 2, and like the first game, it was striking how smoothly it ran on the system. The visuals are a slight but noticeable downgrade from PS5, as you might expect, but it looks impressive and runs very well. Like other Switch 2 showpieces--Cyberpunk 2077, Pragmata, and FF7 Remake--the dip in visual quality feels like a reasonable trade-off for its portability. I started in Kalm at the beginning of Chapter 2, and while the interiors and tight corridors of the city are less expansive than some of the game's open world, they still manage to impress.

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Death Stranding 2: On the Beach - The Official Novelization (Paperback)

$19 | Releases October 20, 2026

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After launching on the PlayStation 5 last summer, Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is receiving a novel adaptation. Like the novelization for the original Death Stranding, the Death Stranding 2: On The Beach story is getting two prose volumes, and you can preorder your copy of the first 336-page paperback book at Amazon and Barnes and Noble for $19 (or for $11 as an eBook) before it releases later this year on October 13.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach - The Official Novelization (Paperback) $19 | Releases October 20, 2026

Like the first novelization, On the Beach is penned by Hitori Nojima and translated by Carley Radford. And also like the previous, this is a retelling of the events of the game, picking up where Sam Porter Bridges left off after restoring America and vanishing from the public eye. Now joined by Fragile and other allies, Sam's new mission is take rescue humanity from extinction, and will travel from Mexico to Australia to do so.

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The Death Stranding 2: On the Beach novelization is being advertised as Volume 1, so it's safe to say that we'll get at least another volume to follow the trend of the first game's novelization, which was divided into two volumes as well. At 332 pages, On the Beach is already significantly longer than the first adaptation's first volume so it'll be interesting to see how far into the game's story this book goes. Luckily, at that page count, it shouldn't take up much space on your bookshelf, and it'll fit nicely next to your physical copies of the games if you prefer to display that way. The cover uses the game's iconic theatrical poster art, which features a collage of Death Stranding 2's cast, and is reminiscent of work by Drew Struzan vibe, who famously did the poster art for the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.

While we don't know when the next book in the Death Stranding 2: On The Beach novelization is launching, you can fill the wait by catching up on the 600-page, two-volume novelization of the first game, which is currently available in physical and audiobook editions via Amazon. Of course, if you're looking to play the game itself, you can also grab Death Stranding 2 on PS5 for $59 (was $70) via Amazon.

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The debate over Love and Deepspace's age rating is almost as hot as the game's five love interests. Though Love and Deepspace's official website states the game is not intended for players under the age of 13, select countries have opted to raise that number in recent months. In developer Infold Games's home country of China, the game is currently listed as intended for audiences 18 and older. After seeing the game's next event, Lingering Lust, I'm left wondering if more countries might soon follow suit.

Running from April 30 to May 15, Lingering Lust looks to be one of the steamiest events in LADS history, perhaps even giving Nightly Rendezvous a run for its money. During the two-week-long event, players will be able to earn five 5-Star memories--one for each love interest--as well as five corresponding outfits that are unlocked once players get a memory to Rank One.

All five of Lingering Lust's memories take place in a hot bath, in which one of the game's love interests--Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, and Caleb--awaits you, drenched and eager to know you a bit more intimately. Each memory--[Xavier: Sunken Glow], [Zayne: Silent Underflow], [Rafayel: Rippling Blossoms], [Sylus: Darkbound Souls], and [Caleb: Vinesurge Instinct]--has its own steamy teaser trailer, which can be viewed on the official Love and Deepspace Instagram account.

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Double Fine's pottery-throwing party brawler is finally here, and even the studio itself has been hard at work embracing just how cheeky its creation tools let players be.

With Kiln, Double Fine continues its tradition of creating slightly out-there games for slightly out-there people--this time going so far as placing greater importance on player creativity than content moderation. But with changes to parent company Microsoft's leadership, a growing trend of creative censorship in games, and a plethora of other friendslop games also vying for players' attention, I've been left wondering how the studio's approach to making games--games like Kiln, for example--has been impacted. Will Double Fine keep getting to make weird games forever? Does a new CEO--one with a history of supporting AI, no less--pose a threat to developer creativity?

Fortunately, Kiln director Derek Brand offered to meet with GameSpot to discuss these topics and share even more insight on Kiln's development. From group pottery lessons to the team first meeting Asha Sharma, Brand offered a closer look at how the studio is remaining true to its creative agenda amidst changes, challenges, and internal debates.

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A new quirk--whether it's a bug or a feature remains unclear--has begun affecting PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 owners with digital game purchases. It appears the systems' latest updates have introduced a 30-day online license check for digital games, leaving those who have extended internet outages without access to certain games.

Several users, including the game-accessibility Twitter account Does it play?, have reported that all new PlayStation Store purchases--those made before March 2026 appear to be unaffected--feature a 30-day timer that shows when you will need to connect to the internet again before losing access. This timer doesn't appear to be visible on the PS5, but according to Does it play?, it is still being tracked in the background.

Potential major DRM issue rolled out by PlayStation (and Xbox as well, allegedly). All new PSN purchases now have a 30 day validation countdown. Already investigating to find out more details. pic.twitter.com/4hqMdWfJ2T

— Does it play? (@DoesItPlay1) April 25, 2026

While unlikely to be a tangible issue for most players, there are definitely use-cases that could see a PS4 or PS5 disconnected from the internet for extended periods of time. It's unclear as of now if this was rolled out as an intentional feature or was a bug included with the recent firmware updates. The online-support bot on the official PlayStation website implies it was done on purpose, but AI has certainly given us false information in the past. GameSpot has reached out to Sony and will update this post if and when we receive a response.

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The namesake of Resident Evil's Leon S. Kennedy has been revealed, and, as many fans suspected, he's named after director Luc Besson's 1994 French action film Leon: The Professional.

Resident Evil 2 director Kideki Kamiya recently took to X and casually confirmed the long-held fan theory in response to a fan pointing out the apparent references to the film in Resident Evil. He said Leon's name came about after talking with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, who shot down several name ideas before Kamiya offered up another suggestion.

"Well, why don't we just take it from that movie I watched the other day," Kamiya said (via Google Translate), that movie being Leon: The Professional, starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, and a young Natalie Portman. Kamiya said Mikami said "Yeah, that works," and the rest is history.

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