God of War: Sons of Sparta is a reasonably decent but not particularly great metroidvania spin-off that suffers from an identity crisis. A prequel set when franchise protagonist Kratos and his brother Deimos were coming of age in the Spartan army, Sons of Sparta lacks the over-the-top action spectacle of the other games in the God of War franchise. As a metroidvania it is middling and at times simply awkward, with a dearth of its own original ideas or excellent execution to liven up the genre. The result is a game that feels confused and muddy, despite a few bright spots.

Sons of Sparta takes place across two distinct time periods in the God of War timeline: an adult Kratos telling the story of his adventure to his daughter Calliope, before the tragic events of the first game earned him the nickname the Ghost of Sparta; and the story itself, which takes place when he's a headstrong but duty-bound teenager just starting to make a name for himself in Spartan warrior trials. That tale involves Kratos and Deimos encountering mythical beasts and monsters and cultists as they search for another missing teen, Vasilis. As the story progresses it becomes an interesting look at a foundational time in Kratos' life, though as a side story it does feel removable from the rest of the canon.

At the beginning, though, Kratos is not a very interesting character to follow at this point in his life. He's too rigid and committed to his duties and the rules. He can frequently be overly pious and condescending toward Deimos. The search for Vasilis carries as much weight as a Scooby Doo mystery--you'll get a clue to go towards a location, search around, and then Kratos realizes that he arrived a few minutes or hours too late. Aw shucks, you just missed him, but maybe he left to go here instead. There aren't many twists and turns; it's just following a wandering character around.

Near the beginning of the year, Ubisoft shared plans to bring a Realism Mode to The Division 2 as part of its 10th anniversary celebration. It's designed to make the game even tougher by removing some of the game's more advantageous features, and it's only sticking around for a short time.

As laid out by the game's developers, Realism Mode is only available through the Warlords of New York expansion. But from today to April 2, that expansion will be open to all players so they can have a chance to experience it themselves.

Realism Mode drops most of the video game conventions like the HUD, the map, and hitmarkers. The combat has also been completely re-balanced, and old strategies like shooting limbs aren't going to as effective in this mode.

The Video Game History Foundation has beaten a copyright troll and is now able to better preserve Cookie's Bustle, a Japanese point-and-click PC adventure game from the 1990s.

Cookie's Bustle is an obscure game that didn't get much attention or preservation following an initial physical print run around its release in 1999. It's considered an "orphan work" without a clear owner, and is exactly the kind of game the Video Game History Foundation likes to preserve. A new blog post on the foundation's website detailed why that process was more complex than usual.

Anytime someone online posted materials related to Cookie's Bustle in recent years, a company called Graceware Inc. filed DMCA takedown notices to remove the content. That's because in 2021, Graceware had claimed copyright ownership and filed trademarks related to Cookie's Bustle. VGHF caught wind of Graceware's aggressive DMCA strategy after they filed one over a VGHF post about obtaining a copy of the game.

Highguard will officially go offline on March 12, developer Wildlight has announced. This was the expected result, given that player numbers had fallen dramatically and the game was being supported only by a skeleton crew following mass layoffs at the company.

More than 2 million people played Highguard, the studio said, and "many believed in what we were building." Wildlight said it is "deeply grateful" for the fans, but admitted, "We have not been able to build a sustainable player base to support the game long term."

Highguard will remain playable until March 12, and Wildlight said it hopes people will come back "one more time to show your support and get those final great matches in while we still can."

Upon booting up Deadlock, Valve's latest MOBA/hero-shooter hybrid, players are treated to a hell of a visual: the New York City skyline plunged in shadows, illuminated only by the windows of its skyscrapers and a series of occult sigils. One in particular sits above the tallest building in the shot, and above it, a dark swirl builds in the clouds; ghastly pigeons perch on a nearby roof, emitting an eerie, green glow. There's clearly magic at work here, and it keeps sucking me back into the orbit of Deadlock's "Cursed Apple."

If you were to ask me, I'd tell you that New York City has always been a touch magical. At least, I was frequently led to believe it is. As a boy, I read books like Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander, which imagined a vast Underland just beneath New York City's surface filled with humans, giant talking rats, and bats named after figures from Greek mythology and history. I also came up on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, which always supposed that Manhattan's skyline was merely a facade for the new home of Mt. Olympus, and that the larger-than-life figures and monsters of Greek mythology were not only real, but around every corner, disguised by a supernatural mist.

Plenty of other fiction has played with the trope of there being a magical society underneath the city as well. Look no further than Remedy Games' Control and its upcoming sequel, Resonant. In that world, the Federal Bureau of Control operates out of an imposing and impossible brutalist structure called The Oldest House that, despite being in the middle of Manhattan, magically conceals itself and all the supernatural goings-on occurring inside its shifting halls. Even Dimension 20's two seasons of The Unsleeping City deals with the thin veil between the mundane and the magical in New York City, and films like Night at the Museum have posited that when the city that never sleeps does in fact grab a wink, our most precious touchstones and pieces of history come to life and play behind our backs.

Capcom has previously acknowledged that Monster Hunter Wilds has some serious problems on PC that have dogged the game since its release last year. But Capcom hasn't given up on Wilds yet, and it's promising to take the lessons from this Monster Hunter game into its future titles.

In a financial Q&A from earlier this year (which was first shared by Genki), Capcom reiterated its commitment to pushing Wilds to the same level of success as Monster Hunter World or greater over a long-term period. To do that, Capcom plans to resolve the "technical challenges the game has faced," while attracting new players "through pricing strategies."

The report notes that PC games now account for "approximately 50% of total unit sales." Capcom also added that its difficulties with Monster Hunter Wilds on PC has given the company technical expertise that will be put to good use when it develops future games for computers.

The Sims 4 is adding a new in-game Marketplace where modders can sell their custom content--which includes items like clothing and furniture--a move that will allow console players to officially use any sort of modded content for the first time. But there's a pretty big catch: There will be no free items on the Marketplace, only paid packs that must be purchased with a new currency called Moola. The PC and Mac version of the Marketplace will launch on March 17, with the consoles versions coming "in the next couple of months," according to the announcement.

The idea here appears to be to leverage modders to ramp up production on The Sims 4's kits, which are bundles of create-a-Sim and build mode items that usually cost about $5. Maxis has already roped in modders to help with these in the past with its "creator kits." But with the Marketplace, creators will be able to publish their own kits on their own time without Maxis commissioning them for the job. The Marketplace will only have custom content, not mods that alter gameplay.

On the creator side of this, there's another catch: Items sold on the Marketplace must be exclusive. That means that modders can't offer their Marketplace content anywhere outside the Marketplace--for free or otherwise. There's also no indication that it will be possible to offer free items on the Marketplace. But Maxis emphasized repeatedly in the Marketplace announcement that it will otherwise be business as usual for modders who want to keep operating on modding sites or Patreon, and that the Gallery won't be affected.

Wildlight's free-to-play shooter Highguard was not the success that the studio wanted to see, and now senior level designer Alex Graner has said he thinks the gameplay being so intense didn't help.

He said on the Quad Damage podcast that Highguard releasing as a 3v3-only game required "such a high intensity of communication" with teammates. "It doesn't leave much room for casualness. I think that was the biggest thing that turned a lot of players off Highguard," he said, as reported by Kotaku.

"3v3 duos is always the sweatiest version of anything like battle royale, objective modes, wingman, you know it, you name it," Graner added.

The Second Galactic War rages on in Helldivers 2, with more than 8.6 billion Helldivers giving their lives last year. Of that number, 177 million were from friendly fire.

That's just one of the staggering statistics revealed by developer Arrowhead Studios in a new infographic charting enemy casualties, friendly-fire incidents, most popular stratagems, and more data from the game's second year.

While billions of Helldivers died defending democracy, it was much worse for Super Earth's foes. According to Arrowhead, Helldivers 2 players killed nearly 280 billion enemies across the game's three factions. The bug-like Terminids made up the majority of those, with 121 billion of the bugs slain over the course of the last year. In return, the Terminids claimed 2.8 billion Helldivers.

Bungie's Marathon launches soon, and similar to its work on Destiny 2, the extraction shooter will be anchored by seasons that run for three months at a time. Each season is designed to contribute to the evolution of Marathon over time, but the main takeaway is that as soon as a new one begins, all players will have their progress reset to zero.

Bungie says that seasonal resets will include everyone's gear, contract progression, faction progression, and player level, but achievements and cosmetics--both earned and paid--will not be affected. Codex progression and liaison contract progression will also carry over, and Bungie says the reset is designed to make loot feel meaningful while keeping the game dangerous. "It's a way to say goodbye to the old, welcome the new, and kick off a journey from zero-to-hero with new ways to play, content to master, and things to discover," Bungie added.

Seasons will also be free for all players and won't require them to purchase expansions or DLC to access. As players complete contracts and progress through faction upgrades, they'll steadily increase their power and gain access to better gear from the armor, allowing them to craft their ideal build and recover easily from a bad run on Tau Ceti 4. Once a season starts to draw to a close, Bungie explained that this will create a sense of urgency as players decide to jump into battle with their best gear before they lose it.

Last fall, Prime Video announced that it's adapting Square Enix's Life Is Strange as a live-action TV series. Now, the two primary leading roles have been cast.

Tatum Grace Hopkins will portray Maxine "Max" Caulfield, while Maisy Stella will play her best friend, Chloe Price. Outside of her roles on Broadway--including The Queen of Versailles and For the Girls--Hopkins is virtually unknown in the entertainment industry. Life is Strange will be her first TV role ever.

Stella is better known as a musician, but she has an impressive acting resume as well. She had a co-starring role on ABC's Nashville for six seasons, and had a starring turn opposite Aubrey Plaza in the Prime Video original film My Old Ass. Her next films, Poetic License and Flowervale Street, are slated to debut later this year.

Steam Next Fest has wrapped up--for now--and out of the thousands of game demos that were available to try, Bungie's Marathon rose to the top of the list. According to Steam, it gathered the data and listed the games below by the number of unique players during Next Fest. While that metric does technically work, it does raise an eyebrow around the definition of a demo during Next Fest.

Bungie had labeled this preview of Marathon as a "Server Slam" test that was open to everyone for several days and was primarily designed to stress-test the game's online functionality while providing feedback to the studio. Does that count as a demo, let alone a Next Fest demo? That's debatable, given the origins of Next Fest, which sprang to life in 2019 as part of a week-long Steam Game Festival that was held in conjunction with The Game Awards.

The event originally promised a selection of time-limited game demos for upcoming games, with it eventually transforming into Steam Next Fest a few years later. The first Next Fest of the year has been criticized for being flooded with far too many demos, with users on the Steam Forums calling out developers for diluting the event with AI slop that drowns out legitimate efforts from other studios and publishers. To make things even more complicated, many of the Next Fest demos went live several days before the event kicked off--in an effort to gain some visibility--while other studios submitted older demos for Next Fest that had been active for several months already.

If you visited the internet in the past two weeks, you probably know about Punch the monkey, the adorable little guy who was abandoned by his mother and shoved by his zoomates, turning to a stuffed animal from IKEA for love and attention. He later found friends in his enclosure at the Ichikawa City Zoo, but the story isn't over yet. A video game based on Punch the monkey has now arrived.

Zoo Fighter, as it's called, is a free web game made by former Fortnite developer Marcus Brown, who developed the game under the name Richie Branson.

In the game, you play as Punch and tap the screen on mobile, or click your mouse on desktop, to swat away bullies. Knock out 100 and Punch gets to go to a sanctuary, instead of a zoo. And that's the point of the video game. "This game is a love letter to all animals doing a bid at the zoo. Animal sanctuaries are often better for primates than zoos because they put the animals' well-being first instead of public display," reads a line from the game's description.

Everyone loves a good shadowdrop, and Nintendo revealed not just one, but three of them in today's Indie World presentation. The biggest of the trio--and saved for last--was Blue Prince, which was one of GameSpot's 10 best games of 2025. The critically acclaimed puzzle game will be available later today on Switch 2, even featuring mouse controls on the system.

Joining Blue Prince on Switch 2 today are Rotwood and Minishoot Adventures. The former comes from Mark of the Ninja and Don't Starve developer Klei Entertainment. In fact, Rotwood is a console exclusive on Switch 2, previously being in Steam Early Access since 2024. The co-op brawler sees you battling enemies across seven different environments with weapons like a hammer and bow. Intriguingly, Rotwood was planned to release on Netflix at one time.

Meanwhile, Minishoot Adventures is the only title arriving on Switch 2 and the original Switch. One of GameSpot's favorite PC games from 2024, the twin-stick shooter sees players fighting through dungeons and rescuing cute friends. Minishoot Adventures basically marries together Geometry Wars with The Legend of Zelda to create a captivating experience.

A new Pokemon generation is on the horizon, now that Pokemon Winds and Waves has officially been revealed. The next mainline game--once again developed by Game Freak--will introduce the tenth generation of Pokemon, and while exact details are being kept under wraps for now, the reveal trailer showed off plenty of details. We've been busy connecting the poke-dots ahead of the game's release next year, and here's everything we know so far about Pokemon Winds and Waves.

• When will Pokemon Winds and Waves be released?
• Pokemon Winds and Waves platform

Nintendo has penciled in a 2027 release window for Pokemon Winds and Waves, which means that this new mainline entry will be skipping the 30th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise. Big Pokemon games typically launch in the second half of the year, but if you need something Poke-flavored to play right now, Pokemon Pokopia might be the surprise hit spin-off game to check out.

The new Pokemon game will be waving goodbye to the last-gen Switch console, as Nintendo has confirmed that Pokemon Winds and Waves will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. While the news might be disappointing to anyone who isn't ready to upgrade to the Switch 2 yet, the shift to Nintendo's new hardware might be for the best given the rough presentation of previous mainline games on the older console, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in particular looking sub-par when compared to other open-world games on the system.

As part of the Indie World showcase, Nintendo announced that Minishoot Adventures is releasing today, March 3, on Switch and Switch 2. Not long after, the developer announced it's actually widely available on PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X as well, and included in Xbox Game Pass. The unconventional mash-up is a blend of puzzle and exploration akin to a classic top-down Zelda game, with combat and movement that feels like a twin-stick shooter. It was one of our favorite under-the-radar hits when it first released on PC in 2024, and it's an absolutely perfect fit for the handheld Switch systems. Check below for our impressions of the original and why this one is a can't-miss.

The enduring popularity of The Legend of Zelda has led to no shortage of imitators. For those lamenting the lack of a new top-down 2D Zelda from Nintendo, Steam is rife with homages that approximate the feeling of delving into forests, caves, and dungeons armed only with a plucky attitude and your uncle's sword. Minishoot Adventures, the sophomore game from indie studio SoulGame, is different, but no less reverent as an homage. Rather than crib from Zelda in a very literal sense, this one reimagines and recaptures the same sensation of classic Zelda by recontextualizing it as a bullet hell shooter.

Instead of an elven tween, you're a sentient spaceship. Your allies and enemies, also spaceships. The world is open and free roaming with item gating, like classic Zelda and metroidvania games. Movement feels sharp and snappy immediately, like picking up a game of PixelJunk Shooter or Geometry Wars. It even has a series of dungeons with clever traps, environmental puzzles, game-changing powers, and tough boss battles.

Video game developers aren't waiting until the usual June-July window for livestreams, and next on the digital showcase block is Capcom. Kicking off on March 5 at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET, the Capcom Spotlight will highlight several more of the company's upcoming releases, and it will run for 30 minutes.

With one of its biggest releases of the year, Resident Evil Requiem, now out and scaring up some positive review scores, Capcom will be shifting the spotlight to games like Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, Pragmata, and Megaman Dual Override. Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection and Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition will also be shown off.

Pragmata is looking to be one of the more interesting games released in 2026, as this sci-fi adventure mixes shooting, deadly robots, and hacking together. Players take control of an astronaut and his android companion, and together the duo has to work their way through a research station in space while dealing with mutinous robots hellbent on stopping them. It'll launch soon on April 24 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.

Warzone's Season 2 Reloaded update adds a new mode called Black Ops Royale, which is inspired by Call of Duty's original Blackout battle royale. This new experience removes the custom weapon loadouts found in Warzone's other game modes, and it requires scavenging of ground loot and upgrade kits. Here's everything you need to know about weapon archetypes and how to upgrade them in Black Ops Royale.

• How to get guns in Black Ops Royale

There are no custom loadouts to buy or earn in Black Ops Royale. All players start with a pistol and a knife, and any additional weapons are obtained from ground loot, supply boxes, or activity rewards.

More details on Black Ops Royale's activities can be found here, including the high-tier loot areas called Cradle Breaches.

Warzone's Season 2 Reloaded update adds a new mode called Black Ops Royale, which is inspired by Call of Duty's original Blackout battle royale. While perks are available in this mode, they work much differently than traditional Warzone modes. In this guide, we'll discuss all available perks, how to find them, and when to use them.

• How perks work in Black Ops Royale

Black Ops Royale removes Warzone's custom loadouts and overhauls the perk system. All perks in this mode are looted during the match. Perks can be scavenged as ground loot, found in supply boxes, or earned as activity rewards.

Unlike Warzone's perks that are active until death, Black Ops Royale features Blackout's temporary consumable perks. The duration of each consumable perk varies, but they usually last around two-to-four minutes. This means you're not locked into three set perks, but instead, you can loot and choose perks based on specific situations.