A few weeks before it was slated to hit early access, the Sims-like life sim Paralives has been delayed to May 2026 so that the developer can address some "impactful bugs" and add more activities to the game.

Developed by Alex Massé over the course of six years, Paralives is a life sim about building homes, lives, and bonds. You get to create a character, design a house, customize the furniture, and more as you interact with citizens and live out a cozy life in an open-world town. Not unlike The Sims, there's plenty to do: garden, fish, work, swim, raise children, discover personality traits, and more. Unfortunately, while it was planned to launch in early access on December 8, Massé posted on the game's official Steam Store page that Paralives' release has been delayed to May 25, 2026.

"We had to make the difficult decision to delay the release," Massé said. "We are truly sorry for the last-minute announcement. After thoughtful consideration, we feel it’s best for the game and the community. This year, we ran many playtests with friends and fans, and we were confident that we could improve the game enough in time for December. In the lead-up to Early Access release, we broadened our playtests with a more varied playerbase, and the latest feedback we received made us realise the game isn’t up to the standard we wanted it to meet for release. Players enjoy the flexibility and the customization of the Paramaker and Build Mode."

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If you're exploring Arc Raiders' first post-launch map, Stella Montis, you may also be working on a quest called Cold Case. This quest asks you to head into Stella Montis to search for a J Kozma storage container to loot. This may sound like a tough thing to round up, but in reality, there's an extremely convenient way to get this quest knocked out and return to Speranza with minimal effort. Let's look into it.

Keep in mind that you need to extract with an item you'll receive by looting a J Kozma storage container, so bring in a loadout with a safe pocket just in case someone comes along and tries to ruin your run. As you'll see below, we'll be looting a container directly beside an extraction point, which reduces the chances that you'll encounter any trouble. But it's always better to be safe than sorry.

When you're ready to finish Cold Case, check below for where to find a J Kozma storage container.

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If you've ever wanted to publish a game on an Xbox console, Microsoft is providing a way to make that a lot easier. The company is now publicly sharing the Xbox Game Publishing Guide for all developers and publishers who want to bring their titles to the Xbox ecosystem.

The Xbox Game Publishing Guide is already online, and even ordinary players can take a look at the document for added insight into the development process. This move appears to be geared towards attracting independent game developers who would ordinarily focus on making a PC game. However, Microsoft notes that seasoned publishers are invited to take advantage of the guide. It covers everything from pre-production to release.

According to Microsoft, the decision to share this resource is part of new imitative to make sure "every developer has the information they need to bring their game to Xbox." The publisher went on to say that the public guide will be updated over time with new features and other relevant information about making games. It also invited interested developers to join the Microsoft Game Dev Discord.

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If you're wondering how long it takes to beat Black Ops 7's campaign, we have you covered with this mission guide. The game includes a full co-op campaign and mission collectibles to hunt down. Below, we'll break down the mission list and give you all the details you need before jumping into the Black Ops 7 campaign.

How long is Black Ops 7 - Campaign length and missions

Black Ops 7 has a total of 11 campaign missions. This is designed as a co-op campaign for up to four players, but it can be experienced solo, as well. This cooperative design has removed Call of Duty's feature of allowing you to choose the difficulty you play the campaign. Instead, difficulty scales based on how many players are in your party. However, playing solo isn't necessarily the easier route, and it might take a bit longer to complete alone.

On average, it should take you around 5 hours to complete the campaign in co-op, but it might take closer to 6 hours as a solo experience. If you're hunting down the campaign's mission intel, then it will likely take longer to complete.

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It's a been a long wait for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but the return of bounty hunter Samus Aran is just a few weeks away. Now, Nintendo has dropped an extended trailer for Metroid Prime 4 that sets up the story, shows off her new powers, and reveals that she does have allies on the planet Viewros. What she doesn't have is a way to get off the hostile world that's trying to kill her.

In the opening minutes of the trailer, Samus answers a distress call from a Galactic Federation research center that comes under attack by her rival, Sylux. During the battle, Samus is somehow transported to an unknown and hostile world called Viewros. And some of the Galactic Federation troops survived to make the trip as well. But without a ship, this may be a one-way journey for Samus and her allies.

Samus' standard abilities are back in this game, and she picks up a few new skills including psychic powers that can direct her shots with precision or operate the long-abandoned machinery on Viewros. GameSpot recently had a chance to try out those psychic powers during a hands-on experience with Metroid Prime 4.

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Dragami Games has announced that the upcoming Switch 2 port of Lollipop Chainsaw has been delayed. It was previously set to launch this November but is now coming in "early 2026."

The developer said the delay was due to the volume of requests for a physical edition of the game's RePOP remaster version. The studio wanted to align the digital and physical releases, so it opted to delay all versions to 2026.

"We sincerely apologize for the extended wait and any inconvenience this may cause. We appreciate your understanding and continued support," Dragami said.

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Sony and NCSoft just announced Horizon spin-off called Horizon Steel Frontiers, a mobile-first, multiplayer-focused MMO that's in the works for mobile and PC--but not Sony's flagship PlayStation 5 console.

Executive producer Sunggu Lee spoke to IGN about the game and answered some questions people might be wondering, like if Aloy is in the game, what the game's inspirations are, how combat works, and more.

Asked if Aloy, or other well-known Horizon characters, are in Horizon Steel Frontiers, Lee said, "We haven't finalized whether characters from the original game will appear, so it's too early to share any specific plans."

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After getting leaked earlier this week, Epic Games has revealed that Grammy-winning artist Tyler, the Creator will join Fortnite on November 14 as an purchasable skin.

The official Fortnite X account posted a seven-second teaser video of the "Don't Tap the Glass" rapper's skin. In the clip, we get a look at two outfits for Tyler, the Creator: his green "Chromakopia" getup and an ensemble that closely resembles his "Wolf" or "Cherry Bomb" days.

The wait is over. @tylerthecreator is landing in Fortnite tonight. pic.twitter.com/m2cID42h25

— Fortnite (@Fortnite) November 14, 2025

According to a November 12 Vice story, prolific dataminer NotPaloLeaks unveiled this Tyler, the Creator collaboration in an X post on November 11. As Vice speculates, his skins could cost 1,500 V-Bucks, and his arrival may come with cosmetics like weapon wraps, pickaxes, backpacks, jam tracks, and emotes. The official Fortnite X account hasn't confirmed this yet, but Tyler, the Creator hits the in-game shop on November 14, so it won't be much longer until everything is made clearer.

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Mario Kart DS is celebrating its 20-year anniversary today, November 14, 2025. Below, we examine how the fan community has kept the game alive, and online, long after official servers were retired.

When Mario Kart DS launched in 2005, it felt like a glimpse into the future. For the first time, Nintendo’s chaotic, shell-filled racer could be played online, pitting players from around the world against each other in real-time competition. It was a leap few handheld games had dared to make at the time.

Two decades later, the official Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection servers that powered those matchups are long gone, but the race never really stopped. Through fan-built tools, open-source servers, and emulation projects, Mario Kart DS remains alive and well--still spinning its wheels in the hands of a dedicated community that refuses to let it drift into the past.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is now out, and while this new entry in the long-running franchise doesn't stray far from its traditional action-packed gameplay in the single-player campaign, there is one big difference here: You can't pause the game.

The always-online campaign doesn't allow players to take a quick break during a firefight, as the game continues with or without you. This means you'll need to find a safe place to camp out in case you need to take a breather away from your screen--unless you want to become a standing target for enemies--but the game is pretty forgiving with deaths.

"I never found myself having to replay too much of a mission if I had to take a break midway through or I reached a challenging section where I died a lot," Summer Doster explained in GameSpot's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 single-player campaign review.

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Starting with Horizon Zero Dawn and followed up with Horizon Forbidden West, the PlayStation franchise has seen players following protagonist Aloy on a single-player adventure. With the recent reveal of Horizon Steel Frontiers, the focus changes from a solo affair to an MMO. But Guerrilla Games studio director Jan-Bart van Beek has stated the series started with multiplayer in mind.

Lego Horizon Adventures was apparently Guerilla dipping its toes in the water with multiplayer, according to van Beek on X. But going forward, the studio will focus more on this social aspect. "From the first moment we imagined Horizon, we always thought about it as a multiplayer game," wrote van Beek. "Lego Horizon Adventures was our first small step, with Steel Frontiers we're taking a bigger one. There is much more to come, and we're excited to show you what is coming."

From the first moment we imagined Horizon, we always thought about it as a multiplayer game.
LEGO Horizon Adventures was our first small step, with Steel Frontiers we’re taking a bigger one. There is much more to come, and we’re excited to show you what is coming. https://t.co/acdlCWJPG9

— Jan-Bart van Beek (@janbartvanbeek) November 14, 2025

Interestingly, Horizon Steel Frontiers is only coming to PC and mobile so far--not PS5. That would be a first for the franchise, as even the spin-off Horizon Call of the Mountain was released for PlayStation VR 2. The MMO looks a bit inspired by the Monster Hunter series and will feature large-scale raids. Meanwhile, Sony has filed a lawsuit against Tencent over Light of Motiram, arguing the game is a "slavish clone" of Horizon.

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Today, Netflix is doubling down on gaming by introducing a mixture of new and established games that you can play on your TV, as long as you've got your phone and your password.

Five Netflix's party games--Lego Party, Boggle Party, Pictionary: Game Night, Tetris Time Warp, and Party Crashers--were revealed by Lego and Netflix last month.

One of the the newly revealed titles is Dead Man's Party: A Knives Out Game, which is based on the Knives Out detective movies starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. Players can either help Blanc solve a murder, or attempt to cover their tracks if they turn out to be the killer.

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Valve has a new Steam Machine on the way next year, but if you have a long memory, you'll remember that this isn't the first time that the company has attempted to bring PC gaming to the living room. The original line of Steam Machine mini-PCs launched back in 2015, but poor sales eventually saw these devices fade quietly into the background. So what's to stop history from repeating itself? According to Valve, a better video game catalogue and an effort to give developers an easier time when porting games over to the new Steam Machine are some of the key factors that the company has focused on.

"We learned from the first Steam Machines that we needed to make our developers’ lives a lot easier. So now we have Proton, right? Which is essentially just a compatibility layer that lets games run on Linux that are originally meant for Windows," engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said to Rock Paper Shotgun.

"Yeah, I think it's really about the games catalogue," fellow engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais added. "Being able to control your TV, boot directly into the game, launch games, and install them in a way that meant you didn't have to install drivers, or that you didn't have to clean up your system after you installed and uninstalled a couple of games--all of those elements were there. We just didn't have a really compelling games library."

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It has been 18 long years since the last Metroid Prime. Nintendo has not produced one since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, so the question lingering over the announcement of Prime 4 has been: Does anyone still know how to make one of these? A lengthy hands-on ahead of its release in December reassured me that Retro Studios has the look and feel of Metroid Prime well in-hand, but more importantly, has its objective marker set on expanding the world with new psychic powers that feel just as natural as Samus's other abilities.

Our first taste of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, playable at the debut event for the Switch 2 itself, was composed of an initial tutorial section--an action spectacle as Samus comes to the aid of Federation forces under assault. That initial mission was meant to be a showpiece for both the game and the new hardware, and I walked away suitably impressed. This second hands-on event took place shortly after that slice of the game, still early enough to walk me through some of the core pillars of Prime 4, but more open-ended and familiar to Metroid fans.

In the midst of Samus lending aid to the Federation, she gets transported to a strange planet, cut off from communications and not entirely sure where she is--and of course, missing some key pieces of her equipment. At that point she discovers a psychic crystal, which fuses itself to her helmet and imbues her with the ability to interface with the planet's technology. The Lamorn, an ancient race native to the planet, believes Samus is their people's Chosen One, as the crystal chose to fuse itself to her. So in a way similar to how Samus has traditionally found Chozo artifacts that augment her suit, now she's finding psychically imbued Lamorn power-ups. It's familiar territory for Metroid Prime.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is finally here, and one of the main pieces of feedback from players thus far is around the game's aim-assist feature. Aim-assist is nothing new in Call of Duty (and many other games), but people are saying developer Treyarch went too far with the changes to aim-assist following the beta. Other people say it's great.

What Treyarch said about aim-assist changes

In a blog post, Treyarch said its goal was to "create a more balanced and competitive experience for all players, regardless of input choice." Another important element for Treyarch was to "preserve the core feel of Call of Duty controller gameplay."

Based on feedback from the beta test, Treyarch said it learned that people playing on controllers have a slight advantage to win shootouts at close range. Keyboard and mouse setups, meanwhile, displayed a statistical advantage at long ranges.

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The PS5 is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and Sony has released a whole lot of statistics to celebrate--including the most-played multiplayer and single-player games on the console. Perhaps unsurprisingly, battle royale monolith Fortnite took out the top spot for multiplayer, while launch game Assassin's Creed Valhalla still holds the lead in single-player titles.

Sony revealed that PS5 players have logged a cumulative total of 100 billion hours of gameplay, engaging with a library of over 7,500 published games. Of all those games, Sony revealed which came out on top when it came to playtime--after Fortnite, the most popular multiplayer titles on PS5 were Grand Theft Auto V in second place, with 2022's Call of Duty Modern Warfare II beating five other PS5 COD titles to claim third place.

When it comes to single player games, the top spot goes to Assassin's Creed Valhalla--one of the PS5's major third-party launch titles that released with the console back in 2020. Coming in second for single-player is 2022's God of War Ragnarok, a console-exclusive title for PlayStation, while the third most-played single-player game is 2023's Hogwarts Legacy--the most recent release on the list.

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GameSir G8 Plus Galileo Controller

$47.49 (was $80)

See at Walmart See at Amazon ($80)

GameSir G8 Plus Galileo - Incredible Hulk Edition

$70 (was $100)

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GameSir G8 Plus Galileo - Thanos Edition

$70 (was $100)

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Several notable and highly rated multiplatform controllers by GameSir are steeply discounted as part of Walmart's Black Friday Deals Event that's running November 14-16. The most enticing deal is the GameSir G8 Plus Galileo for $47.49 (was $80). This dedicated mobile controller works with iPhone, Android phones, small tablets, and Nintendo consoles, includin Switch, Switch Oled, and even Switch 2. If you're a Marvel fan, you can grab officially licensed editions themed Hulk or Thanos for $70 (was $100).

The G8 Plus has an extendable bridge that cradles your device. It's compatible with iOS and Android phones as well as small tablets up to 8.46 inches. But unlike most dedicated mobile controllers, the G8 Plus also works with Nintendo consoles. The G8 Plus works well on Switch and Switch 2 and has several features that make it a compelling Joy-Con alternative: improved ergonomics, back buttons, Hall Effect sticks, dual trigger modes, a traditional D-pad, and swappable joystick caps, face buttons, and faceplates.

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Super Mario Bros. Wonder

$43 (was $60)

Get deal at Walmart

One of the best Nintendo Switch games has received a rare discount in Walmart's first Black Friday 2025 Deals Event. From now through November 16, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is up for grabs for only $43 (was $60). Well, from now until it sells out--Mario Wonder deals this good tend to disappear pretty darn fast. Switch 2 owners can snag the deal and then pay for the upgrade pack when the Switch 2 Edition releases next spring.

Switch 2 owners can also save $17 on Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV. The $63 price is by far the best yet for the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the newest Mario Party game.

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Acer Chromebook 315

$119 (was $300)

See at Best Buy

HP 17.3-inch Laptop (AMD Ryzen 5)

$320 (was $630)

See at Best Buy

HP 15.6-inch Laptop (Intel Core i3)

$220 (was $500)

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Asus Vivobook 14

$300 (was $500)

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Whether you're looking for a new gaming rig or just something to complete basic tasks, you'll want to check out Best Buy's Early Black Friday laptop deals, which include big cuts on Chromebooks, HP laptops, and more. In some cases, you can save over 50% on select models. For example, you can snag an Acer Chromebook 315 for just $119 (was $300), or an Asus Viviobook 14 for $300 (was $600). There are several great deals to take advantage of, and we've rounded up some of our favorites below. Be sure to act fast, however--these are limited-time offers. Once you've checked out the laptops, be sure to also check GameSpot's Black Friday 2025 Deals Hub for more early Black Friday discounts.

Acer Chromebook 315 $119 (was $300)

Specs:

• Display: 15.6-inch Full HD IPS LCD
• GPU: Intel UHD Graphics
• CPU: Intel Celeron N4500
• RAM: 4GB
• Storage: 64GB eMMC
• Ports: USB-C 3.2 (x2), USB-A 3.2 (x2)

This Chromebook is perfect for the person who wants a no-frills experience at an affordable price. The 15.6-inch laptop runs on Google's Chrome OS, offers decent battery life of around 10 hours, and features an environmentally friendly OceanGlass touchpad crafted entirely from recycled plastic. Ahead of Black Friday, you can grab one for just $119, which is $180 off the original $300 price.

See at Best Buy HP 17.3-inch Laptop (AMD Ryzen 5) $320 (was $630)

Specs:

• Display: 17.3-ich Full HD IPS LED
• GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7520U
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: 512GB SSD
• Ports: USB-C 3.0, USB-A 3.0 (x2)

For a budget laptop with a bit more power than a Chromebook, check out this AMD-Ryzen-equipped HP laptop. The 17.3-inch laptop is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 7520U processor, a 512GB SSD, and Microsoft Copilot support. It can handle up to about 10 hours of use before needing a charge, but is also equipped with HP Fast Charge, which can get you to 50% battery in just 45 minutes. You can get one of these laptops during Best Buy's Early Black Friday sale for only $320 (was $630).

See at Best Buy HP 15.6-inch Laptop (Intel Core i3) $220 (was $500)

Specs:

• Display: 15.6" HD IPS LED
• GPU: Intel UHD Graphics
• CPU: Intel 13th Generation Core i3 N305
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: 128GB UFS
• Ports: USB-C 3.0, USB-A 3.0 (x2)

This laptop model is similar to the HP option above, but is a bit smaller at 15.6 inches, and employs an Intel GPU/CPU combination rather than AMD. You'll also get less storage, but you'll also only be paying $220 (was $500). Other features include an 11.5-hour battery life with HP Fast Charge and WiFi 6 support.

See at Best Buy Asus Vivobook 14 $300 (was $500)

Specs:

• Display: 14-inch Full HD LED
• GPU: Intel UHD Graphics
• CPU: Intel 13th Generation Core i5 1334U
• RAM: 12GB
• Storage: 256GB SSD
• Ports: USB-A 2.0, USB-A 3.2 (x2), USB-C 3.2

At just 14 inches, he Asus Vivobook 14 is one of the most portable options of the bunch, and comes packed with some pretty good specs for the price, including 256GB of SSD storage space, 12GB of RAM, and a 60Hz refresh rate. The Vivobook 14 holds a charge for up to 8 hours, and has a NumberPad that you can activate within its keyboard whenever you need it.

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Budget laptops are only a small slice of Best Buy's Early Black Friday offerings. If you're looking for even more deals, there are plenty more discounts that are live on gaming monitors, headsets, TVs, and more. Plus, be sure to stay tuned to GameSpot's Black Friday coverage in the weeks leading up to the massive sale event for even more early Black Friday deals from other retailers, including a great selection of discounted Lego sets at Target, discounts on Razer's Pokemon peripheral collab, and big price cuts on Xbox controllers (both Elite and Core).

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RoboCop: Rogue City Steelbook Collection

$50 | Releases December 2

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart (PS5) Preorder at Walmart (Xbox) Preorder at GameStop

If you or someone you know is a RoboCop fan, then your holiday shopping just got easier thanks to the upcoming RoboCop: Rogue City Steelbook Collection. This new physical edition of the game arrives on PS5 and Xbox Series X on December 2. Preorders are now live at multiple online retailers. While there are no preorder bonuses, the new collection includes the full RoboCop: Rogue City base game, the RoboCop: Unfinished Business standalone expansion, and a bunch of bonus DLC--not to mention an exclusive steelbook case--all for just $50.

RoboCop: Rogue City Steelbook Collection $50 | Releases December 2

Considering RoboCop: Rogue City regularly costs $40 on the PS Store and Xbox Store, there's a lot of value here for an extra $10. Not only do you get a copy of Rogue City, but you'll also get Rogue City: Unfinished Business--a standalone adventure that continues the brutal FPS action. Of course, the main selling point of this bundle might be the steelbook case, which features a cool shot of RoboCop. To top it all off, there's also a selection of bonus content that includes unique in-game skins and weapons. Here's everything included in the RoboCop: Rogue City Steelbook Collection

• RoboCop: Rogue City base game
• RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business expansion
• Exclusive Steelbook case
• Bonus DLC:
  • Damaged Armor Skin inspired by the armor from the first RoboCop movie
  • Blue Armor Skin inspired by RoboCop 2
  • Frosted Armor Skin
  • Alternative Police Uniform
  • Pitch Black Auto-9
  • Scarlet Cryo Cannon
  • Prototype Auto-9
  • OCP Shotgun

Preorders are live at Amazon, Walmart (PS5, Xbox), and GameStop. Note that Amazon is currently listing preorders at $53.27, which is a few dollars more than the other retailers, but we expect the price to adjust to match Walmart and GameStop before launch.

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart (PS5) Preorder at Walmart (Xbox)

Our RoboCop: Rogue City review gave it a 7/10, noting that it does an impressive job of making you feel like RoboCop and for following a new storyline that lets you see another slice of Old Detroit's crime-ridden streets. "If you're a fan of RoboCop, then you'll find a lot to love in Rogue City," wrote critic Richard Wakeling. "It's chock full of Easter eggs and manages to capture the look and feel of the first two RoboCop movies with excellent attention to detail, even getting Peter Weller to reprise his role as the eponymous hero. More than anything, it does a tremendous job of making you feel like RoboCop in its best moments."

While the new RoboCop: Rogue City Collection is a physical-only release, both Rogue City and Rogue City: Unfinished Business are also available as standalone titles on PS5, Xbox, and PC. PC fans who want to check out the FPS can grab the Steam version at a discount via Fanatical, where the RoboCop: Rogue City - Alex Murphy Deluxe Edition is on sale for $44 (was $60), and RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business is down to $24 (was $30). Standalone physical editions of RoboCop: Rogue City and Unfinished Business are also available on PS5 and Xbox--however, grabbing these versions separately will be more expensive than the $50 Steelbook Collection, so it's probably best to just wait the extra couple weeks.

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