Diablo 4 players don't have to wait until next year's Lord of Hatred expansion to play one of its new classes, as the fan-favorite Paladin is playable right now.

As announced at The Game Awards, Diablo 4's second expansion, Lord of Hatred, will release on April 28, 2026, but the Paladin will be playable immediately for those who preorder Lord of Hatred. Those who preorder will also instantly unlock an additional stash tab, two more character slots, and three World of Warcraft housing decor items.

The Paladin last appeared in Diablo 2, with Diablo 3 and the mobile spin-off Diablo Immortal instead featuring the Crusader. In a press release, Blizzard said the Paladin will use melee weapons and divine powers to strike down enemies with "unwavering faith and overwhelming force."

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The end of Diablo 4's Age of Hatred saga is nigh. Blizzard has officially announced the game's second expansion, Lord of Hatred, is coming April 28, 2026. The expansion marks the end of Diablo 4's ongoing story, culminating in an epic battle against the MMO-ARPG's biggest antagonist: Mephisto.

Revealed as part of 2025's The Game Awards, Lord of Hatred sees players team up with an unlikely ally in an attempt to put an end to the Lord of Hatred's uprising. The expansion takes players to the fabled isles of Skovos, a region that was meant to appear in Diablo 3 before ultimately being cut, and serves as the former home of both Lilith and Inarius. In addition to finally taking us to these long-anticipated islands, Lord of Hatred also brings with it two new classes. While Blizzard has yet to reveal what one of these classes might be, the studio confirmed the fan-favorite Paladin is finally making their return. Those who preorder Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred will gain immediate access to the class, just in time for Season 11. Below are images offering a look at the Paladin, as well as some of its different builds.

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"The Paladin rises as the realm darkens, wielding hammer, shield, and Holy Light to smite Mephisto’s demon army with righteous fury," Blizzard wrote in its press release. "Through melee combat and divine abilities, the Paladin empowers players to strike with both unwavering faith and overwhelming force."

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The Tomb Raider franchise is one of the most prolific and longest-running in all of gaming, and we got a tease of what's next for protagonist Lara Croft during The Game Awards on December 11.

Surprisingly, there isn't just one game in production, but two. The new entry in the franchise is Tomb Raider: Catalyst, coming in 2027, while a total remake of the first title in the series arrives next year with Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.

Tomb Raider: Catalyst sees Lara heading to Northern India, where a mythical cataclysm has taken place. This draws the attention of all sorts of treasure hunters, and Lara must figure out who's friend and foe. Developer Crystal Dynamics is behind the all-new entry in the franchise, which is planned for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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The very first trailer for the upcoming live-action Street Fighter movie was shown at The Game Awards, which gives us our first proper look at the roster in action. And honestly? It kinda rules.

The film, directed by Eric Andre Show and Twisted Metal alum Kitao Sakurai, appears to be far more colorful, stylized, and dialed into the wild side of this series than anyone expected. Suddenly, that wild, eclectic cast, which includes the likes of Cody Rhodes as Guile, Roman Reigns as Akuma, and David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, doesn't seem as out-of-pocket as it sounded on paper. Everyone just looks right, and the colors flying all around the place wouldn't feel out of place as a cutscene in Street Fighter 6.

You can check it out yourself below.

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The Dark Knight returns next year with a new Lego Batman game, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and at The Game Awards, we got a fresh look at the next Caped Crusader adventure, along with a May 29, 2026 release date. The Nintendo Switch 2 version has been delayed, coming out sometime later in 2026.

The new trailer also showcases not only more of the caped crusader in all of his Lego glory, but a glimpse at some of the other heroes lending him their talents, like Catwoman, Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing. These characters also have special abilities based on their skills, such as Catwoman calling in a cat to take out a goon. There are also plenty of iconic Batmobiles and various other Bat-vehicles shown off, like the Batpod from The Dark Knight.

The first solo Lego Batman since 2014's Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, this new adventure plays like a highlight reel of Dark Knight movies with a toyetic spin. The game also borrows from Rocksteady's Arkham series, as Batman utilizes stealth and timing-based combat to keep Gotham safe. While the system is designed to be approachable with expanded windows of opportunity to block attacks, experienced players can dial up the difficulty to experience a challenge worthy of the world's greatest detective.

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In June, Skybound Entertainment and its new development studio Quarter Up announced Invincible Vs., a 3v3 tag-based fighting game starring the cast of the popular superhero series. Today at The Game Awards, the two companies revealed that Invincible Vs. will launch on April 30, 2026, and its roster will include an all-new original superhero--designed by the series's co-creators--named Ella Mental.

Ella Mental can control earth, fire, wind, and water, and she uses all four elements in her offense. She can summon boulders to block enemy attacks, shoot fiery projectiles, and even mix elements together--her Level 1 super creates a waterspout that launches the opponent into the air, then scores multiple hits. Ella Mental will be voiced by rapper and recording artist Tierra Whack.

Skybound and Quarter Up also confirmed that the initial roster for Invincible Vs. will include 18 characters. With the reveal of Ella Mental, 11 of those 18 have been announced:

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The Game Awards Sale

Save on this year's nominees and winners for 24 hours.

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Amazon is running a flash sale for The Game Awards nominees and winners for Prime members, and it includes discounts on games that had never dropped below MSRP until tonight. Most of the deals will be available until Friday, December 12, at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET--or until they sell out--but one of the most notable promotions ends tonight at 9 PM PT / 12 AM ET: the first discount on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

The breakout hit from Sandfall Interactive is on sale for $40 (was $50) for PS5 and Xbox Series X. The turn-based RPG is nominated in multiple categories at The Game Awards and is one of the favorites to win Game of the Year. It's worth noting that Amazon just launched an exclusive edition of Clair Obscur that includes a steelbook case and art cards. Clair Obscur's Mirror Edition is available for $60 for PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PS5, Xbox)

$40 (was $50) | Ends Dec. 11 at 9 PM PT

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Another 2025 game that is on sale for the first time is Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles for Nintendo Switch and PS5. The Switch version is discounted to $40, and the PS5 edition is only $34. Amazon still has copies of its exclusive launch edition, so you'll find a double-sided poster in the box regardless of which platform you choose.

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Like any awards show, there's bound to be a moment or two that leaves you perplexed about what's going on. The Game Awards had one such moment just like this, and it came during the reveal trailer for the upcoming Street Fighter film, which was quite chaotic and loud.

Moments after Geoff Keighley introduced the Street Fighter trailer, the film's main cast took to the stage. Andrew Koji (Ryu), Andrew Schulz (Dan Hibiki), Callina Liang (Chun-Li), Cody Rhodes (Guile), David Dastmalchian (M. Bison), Jason Momoa (Blanka), Mel Jarnson (Cammy), Noah Centineo (Ken Masters), Olivier Richters (Zangief), Orville Peck (Vega), Rayna Vallandingham (Juli), Roman Reigns (Akuma), and Vidyut Jammwal (Dhalsim) all took the stage to yap about ... nothing much, really.

That's not entirely true, sort of. Liang confirmed that the cast wrapped up filming Street Fighter "a few weeks ago." Momoa--with a slight sway and a slight slur--cheekily argued with Koji over the pronunciation of "Ryu." Koji said the cast was there to present the Best Ongoing Game Award (which Hello Games' No Man's Sky won). Schulz really sought applause by asking the audience to "make some noise" if they ever played the game in their life. Schulz, for some reason, then reignited the longstanding rivalry between Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter by inviting "the whole cast of Mortal Kombat 2" onto the stage (which didn't happen).

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Gang of Dragon, a new game from former Yakuza/Like A Dragon visionary Toshihiro Nagoshi, made its world premiere at The Game Awards, and it looks extremely similar to the Sega's own gangster franchise.

The debut trailer shows a back-alley stabbing, a showdown in a bar, and plenty of action, with what appears to be South Korean actor Ma Dong-seok in the starring role. It all looked very reminiscent of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise (and even has dragon in its own name). Gang of Dragon is said to be "deep in development," but no release date was given.

Nagoshi was a 30-year veteran of Sega who became best known for his work on the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise. He served as director of Yakuza/Like A Dragon studio Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios for a number of years before departing Sega in 2021. He then formed Nagoshi Studio in 2022, under the umbrella of Chinese publisher NetEase.

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At The Game Awards, Remedy shared more details on its upcoming Control sequel. The game is called Control Resonant, and it's set for release in 2026.

In this sequel, both the genre and playable character are different than they were when 2019's Control introduced this branch of the Remedy Connected Universe. As you can see in the reveal trailer, there's an emphasis on melee combat rather than gunplay like many of Remedy's past games. Also, players won't be playing as Jesse Faden again, but instead take control of her brother, Dylan, who was introduced in the previous game and has so far had a... let's call it "strained" relationship with his sister. Previously held captive by the Federal Bureau of Control, the bureau has now let Dylan loose as their special weapon in a time of grave danger.

Though the game isn't set in a fully open-world environment, Remedy describes the sequel as an action-RPG placed in Manhattan, which acts as an "expansive, reality-warping playground of choice." Additionally, Remedy continues to flesh out its connected story universe, but creative director Mikael Kasurinen said that newcomers need not feel left behind, reflecting an approach the team previously took with Alan Wake 2 and FBC: Firebreak. Control Resonant, Kasurinen believes, will be "easy to pick up and hard to put down."

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Epic Games has announced the next Epic Games Store freebie, and it's none other than Hogwarts Legacy. The 2023 game from Avalanche Software was a huge hit, selling more than 30 million copies and finishing the year as the No. 1 best-selling game in the US, even beating Call of Duty.

You still have time to claim this week's free games, which are The Darkside Detective and The Jackbox Party Pack 4.

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Hogwarts Legacy was a smash hit, but the same could not be said for the following Harry Potter game, Quidditch Champions, which hasn't found much of an audience. A Hogwarts Legacy sequel is now on the way, joining the multiple upcoming Harry Potter projects at Warner Bros., including a new live-action series.

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Last week's announcement about the collaboration between J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Games and Left 4 Dead designer Mike Booth was sparse on details. However, the first official look at 4: Loop debuted at The Game Awards. In the trailer below, this co-op game leaves players hopelessly outmatched against alien invaders. The one advantage that the humans have is that they can die over and over again like Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow, and awaken in 3D-printed bodies with the knowledge they need to succeed.

The trailer reveals that Earth was conquered in minutes, and most of the human population was frozen in place by some kind of crystalline structure. The scientist narrating the trailer takes the blame for what happened, and also the credit for the potential solution. By using the scientist's 3D-flesh printer, players are effectively immune from permanent death. The game doesn't appear to have an actual time loop when players die, but the knowledge players gain carries over to the next attempt.

In an interview with PlayStation Blog, Booth revealed that 4:Loop is a significant step forward from Left 4 Dead. Players can actually pick up their fallen comrades and carry them to safety. And the world itself is more ripe for exploration:

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A new trailer for Resident Evil Requiem has debuted at The Game Awards, confirming that Leon S. Kennedy will indeed make an appearance in the game.

Sony spoiled the surprise earlier this week, as new key art featuring Grace Ashcroft--the daughter of Resident Evil Outbreak's Alyssa Ashcroft--also included longtime Resident Evil star Leon and his classic '90s hairstyle.

The new trailer gives off serious Se7en vibes, starting with a wrinkly guy in goggles menacing Grace, before we get our first look at an older, more grizzled badass Leon Kennedy wielding an axe. We find him first checking out crime scenes, before he winds up doing some wetwork against an entire doctor's office with a chainsaw and meeting up with Grace.

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After debuting at The Game Awards last year, Exodus--the space-opera RPG developed by Archetype Entertainment and published by Wizards of the Coast--returned to the awards show with a new gameplay trailer.

The trailer follows the hero, Jun, from humble beginnings and “salvaging scrap to survive” to becoming the fabled “Child of Orion.” We also see a few glimpses of Exodus’s third-person-shooter gameplay, as well as a few of the hulking brutes Jun will be facing off against throughout the adventure.

The video then hints at Jun’s ability to “wield Celestial tech” and mentions “the right ship and the right crew,” while the faces of some of Jun's apparent crewmates flash on screen. One companion, Salt, is “an octopus piloting a massive mech suit who specializes in stealth,” according to the dev team during a recent media briefing.

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Today at The Game Awards, after a brief tease earlier in the week, The Witness developer Jonathan Blow and his team at Thekla, Inc. revealed their next game, Order of the Shining Star, which is set to launch in 2026.

Players will explore four distinct worlds in OSS, with a combined 1,000 puzzles to solve, according to the announcement trailer. Multiple characters will be encountered throughout the journey, including a queen, a knight, a wizard, and a talking boat.

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It hasn't been an easy year for The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley. For his opening monologue, Keighley got candid and emotional talking about the death of his father, David Keighley, who was the first chief quality officer for Imax.

In addition, Keighley experienced the loss of his home because of a natural disaster to start the year. "I don't usually open up about personal things on stage, but 2025 tested me in ways I didn't expect," Keighley said. "In January, my home burned down to nothing but ashes here in the Los Angeles fires. And just a few months ago, I lost my dad, who quietly sat in this audience every single year--proud, supportive, always cheering us on.

"My mom's here tonight, and we've left an empty seat beside her in his honor. I miss you, dad."

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One of the big reveals at The Game Awards today was the debut game from Bruce Straley's Wildflower Interactive, called Coven of the Chicken Foot. A single-player adventure about an elderly witch named Gertie and a peculiar creature, the game sees the two build a bond as they learn to work together to fulfill an oath. The big draw is the creature's technology, which will react dynamically to your actions, observing how you play and evolving its abilities to assist you.

Set in a stylized fantasy world where all the dungeons have been plundered, monsters have been slain, and heroes have moved on, Coven of the Chicken Foot will see players venture into deadly dungeons and dangerous forests. Gertie doesn't swing a sword to stay out of danger, but the creature can adapt to assist her. Wildflower Interactive says that Coven of the Chicken Foot will be a wordless game, as the story will be pieced together by paying attention to your environment and the small choices you make along the way.

Wildflower Interactive was formed in 2021 by Bruce Straley. The veteran game director and artist cut his teeth working on titles like X-Men and Gex: Enter the Gecko in the '90s, and after a stint at Crystal Dynamics, he joined Naughty Dog in 1999. Straley worked on several of the studio's big games during the 2000s, and he served as game director on blockbusters like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, The Last of Us, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

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Announced via a cinematic trailer during The Game Awards 2025, Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic is an upcoming single-player RPG. We know next to nothing about the game save for the time period it's taking place in--the same as the original Knights of the Old Republic games--but it certainly looks cool.

Fate is being developed by Arcanaut Studios with a team being helmed by Casey Hudson (yes, the same guy who was the game director of the first Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and then later, the first three Mass Effect games). The game is being described as a spiritual successor to the original KOTOR games, but it's unclear if that means it will reboot part of the story or simply be the sequel we never got. Only time will tell.

"Working on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was one of the defining experiences of my career," Hudson said in a press release. "With Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, we're telling a completely new and different story with everything we've learned since--crafting an adventure about choice, destiny, and the timeless struggle between light and dark. It's a dream come true to once again collaborate with Lucasfilm Games."

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During The Game Awards' Opening Act, the 30-minute pre-show before the show-show begins, developer Day 4 Night unveiled a quirky little trailer for a super-nostalgic 3D platformer with a cute little badger trying to save his home. Move over, Mario and Donkey Kong, because there's a new jumpman in town ... or the woods--wherever badgers live.

Bradley the Badger is an upcoming action-adventure platform that, according to its Steam Store page, is a "love letter to games." More specifically, the game is this hodgepodge of game-development ideas and faux pas. There are unfinished game worlds you'll have to put back together, "under review" cathedrals you'll have to explore, and copious enemies to find as you do it all.

As the trailer continues, they are fascinating worlds with funny names: Badgerborne, Cyberbadger, The Last Badger, and the like, all based on tropey game concepts. It's a little reminiscent of Hazelight Studios' Split Fiction.

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the most talked-about nominees for this year's top honor at The Game Awards, along with many other nominations. The team at Sandfall Interactive showed up in numbers, but just in case, it made sure they were very visible with a style choice as well.

As seen early in the show when accepting an award for Best Indie Game, the team is all wearing red berets--not unlike some characters in the game itself. GameSpot's own Lucy James captured an overhead shot showing that it wasn't just a one-off gag.

spot the Expedition 33 team

[image or embed]

— Lucy James (@lucyjames.games) December 11, 2025 at 8:05 PM

It's an impressive display, made more impressive by reporting by Kotaku that Sandfall had to pay for many of those tickets itself to allow the team to attend. But you can't argue with results, and the red berets speak for themselves. That's French solidarity, baby.

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