There’s a scene in Splinter Cell: Deathwatch--Netflix's animated adaptation of Ubisoft's stealth game series--where Sam Fisher casually walks in front of a security camera. As a long-time Splinter Cell fan this irked me. The Sam Fisher I know would never do something so careless, even if it was intentional.

The thing is, the Sam Fisher I know and love doesn’t exist. Maybe he did in the early 2000s, but Ubisoft has pulled this character in so many different directions over the years and he’s been diluted. In 2006, they killed Sam’s daughter and sent him to prison. In 2010, they made him a fugitive, and revealed that his daughter is actually alive. In 2013, they soft-rebooted the franchise and in the process stripped Sam of his dry humor and charm. In 2020, they added a version of him to Rainbow Six: Siege. They even put Sam in the most recent Ghost Recon games, and had the legendary Michael Ironside reprise the role. It's clear that although Ubisoft hasn’t forgotten about Sam, they have no idea what to do with him.

A battered Sam Fisher aiming a gun toward the camera.

This trend continues in Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, a new chapter in Sam’s long and turbulent history that arrives in the form of a Netflix series. Helmed by Derek Kolstad, writer on John Wick and Nobody, Deathwatch finds Sam off the grid in Poland. Portrayed by Liev Schreiber, this take on Sam feels hollow. He’s a man of few words, and everything he says is cold, direct, and calculated. He’s more in line with the Sam from 2013’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist’s than the original trilogy, and that’s disappointing.

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In June, FBC: Firebreak became Remedy's first self-published game as the company attempted to expand its shared universe that includes Control and Alan Wake. Remedy has previously disclosed that Firebreak's sales came in below expectations, but the latest report indicates that the game will cost the company a very significant write down.

Ahead of Remedy's quarterly financial report on October 29, the company shared an update that it is on the hook for a €14.9 million loss or approximately $17,234,085. Remedy notes that this amounts to "a majority of the game’s capitalized development costs," before adding that the company's cash position hasn't been changed by this setback.

Firebreak ran into trouble out of the gate with 1,992 players on launch day, which turned out to be its peak. Those numbers have since drastically fallen to less than 100 concurrent players per day. Remedy subsequently acknowledged that players were particularly unhappy with the first hour of the game and promised to rectify its shortcomings with a future update.

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The details surrounding the first pack of paid DLC for Borderlands 4 have been revealed. Dropping November 20th, this narrative-based content--called Bounty Pack 1: How Rush Saved Mercenary Day--will feature all new missions, enemies and legendary gear.

Developer Gearbox Software shared these details on October 11 during a panel at PAX Australia. Apparently, Mercenary Day (think Christmas) is being threatened by the Timekeeper’s Minister of Culture. It’s up to Rush and the vault hunters to show them the error of their ways using an assortment of guns, grenades, and all manner of skill-based attacks.

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Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: The Complete Limited Series (Blu-ray)

$25 | Releases December 2

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart

Scott Pilgrim fans will no longer need a Netflix subscription to watch the franchise's stellar animated series. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is releasing on Blu-ray December 2, and preorders are available now for $25 at Amazon and $28 at Walmart. Many Netflix originals never receive physical editions, so it's nice to see Scott Pilgrim Takes Off join a small list of exceptions that includes other animated hits like Castlevania, Arcane, and Sonic Prime.

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There's not been anything stealthy about Assassin's Creed Shadows possibly coming to the Nintendo Switch 2. The latest evidence pointing to a port for the action-adventure game popped up on a French retailer's website, though that listing has since been taken down.

Eurogamer reported on October 13 that Auchan had a listing up for Assassin's Creed Shadows on Switch 2. No release date was mentioned, though the box art on the French site said the version is a Game Key Card, a physical format that has been controversial since the Switch 2's release because it game data isn't actually included on the key card, it has to be downloaded from the internet.

In April, the PEGI ratings website listed Switch 2 as a platform for Assassin's Creed Shadows. On top of that, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot teased that the game would get "new versions that will come to other machines" in July. Assassin's Creed Shadows launched in March on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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Whenever you think the game industry has run out of ideas for weird battle royales, you're going to need to think again. Developer Button Mash is developing Final Sentence, a game about writing where mistakes can mean death.

"You’ve never played anything like this before," reads the game's Steam page. "Type fast and type accurately--your life depends on it. There's a revolver pointed at your head... with one bullet in the chamber."

A demo for Final Sentence is available until October 20 as part of the Steam Next Fest.

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Battlefield 6's rollout on publisher Electronic Arts' own PC app didn't go exactly smoothly, with players left unable to play on launch day. Since then, the issue has since been resolved, and EA is giving out free season passes and XP boosts for those who were impacted.

The issue affected players who had pre-ordered Battlefield 6 via the EA App launcher on PC. An outage on the app left those players high and dry for a good chunk of launch day on October 10. To make things right, EA has issued 12 double hardware XP boosts and 12 double career XP boosts to players affected by the outage.

In addition, EA is throwing in a free premium battle pass for Battlefield 6's upcoming Season 1. Those who already own the premium Season 1 battle pass through the game's pricier Phantom Edition will instead receive the Season 2 battle pass for free.

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A quietly canceled Avatar: The Last Airbender fighting game has been reincarnated under a new development studio, with a trailer highlighting what fans of the popular animated series can expect from the one-on-one 2D fighter.

Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game (a working title) was revealed during an Avatar: The Last Airbender 20th anniversary panel at New York Comic Con, and is slated for a summer 2026 release. It will feature 12 playable characters at launch, with more to come as part of a seasonal release model.

While it's billed as a 1v1 fighter (and looks that way in the game's debut trailer), its description on Steam lists support characters that will influence a fighter's play style and grant new special moves. Some of the characters highlighted in the trailer include Aang, Korra, Zuko, Toph, Katara, Sokka, and Azula.

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