The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red has announced the new Songs of the Past expansion for the game, which comes 11 years after its second expansion, Blood and Wine. Co-developed with Fool's Theory--a studio that includes several Witcher 3 veterans and previously released The Thaumaturge in 2024--Songs of the Past will be revealed in more detail later this year.

What CDPR has revealed is that the expansion will launch in 2027 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S versions of The Witcher 3, and it will once again revolve around Geralt of Rivia. Rumors about a new Witcher 3 DLC began picking up earlier this year, with initial reports speculating that the DLC could see players visit the far-eastern destination of Zerrikania. New reports claimed that the DLC will instead reuse existing assets and will be set in the territories of Temeria and Redania.

CDPR has also confirmed that system requirements for The Witcher 3 on PC will be updated to "ensure smooth performance and compatibility" going forward. This means that any Witcher 3 player running the game on a Windows 10 operating system will need to upgrade to Windows 11 if they want to keep playing it. If you're curious, you can check out the updated PC specs below for The Witcher 3:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Intel Core i5-8400
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB
• VRAM: 6GB
• RAM: 12GB
• Storage: 70GB SSD
• Operating System: 64-bit Windows 11

Curiously, CDPR also teased something else for this week. "We originally planned to make this big reveal during our REDstreams tomorrow, but let’s say we found something we didn't yet expect on RED Launcher," the studio said in a social media post that included wolf and swords emojis, symbols related to The Witcher franchise.

It's a busy time for The Witcher franchise currently, as not only is there new content on the way for The Witcher 3, but the first game is getting a remake and The Witcher 4 is also in development. Outside of that franchise, CDPR is also working on a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, and a new Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series is also in the works.

Best Witcher 3 Mods To Download In 2026 View Images

This week, Epic Games published a concept-art image showing what appeared to be a Porsche vehicle dropping into Fortnite. However, it was quickly removed after players theorized it had been made with the use of generative AI. And while Epic has since offered an explanation for what happened, something still seems ... off.

Almost immediately after it was posted, ResetEra users pointed out that the image in question did not appear to be made by a human. Featuring a Porsche vehicle floating alongside a whole bunch of players, the car brand's logo is illegible on the platform. Additionally, what appears to be the Riot Games logo is visible on the balloon.

https://twitter.com/UnrealEngine/status/2059256591866528033?s=20

Epic Games later said the image was provided by Porsche and, as it was shared by the Unreal Engine Twitter account, one would assume that means it was created using those tools. However, even after GameSpot talked to an Epic Games rep about the image, it remains unclear why or how the Riot Games logo made its way onto the balloon. Combined with the Porsche logo, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to infer that someone at Porsche made it via AI.

At the very least, the car configurator tool--which does make use of the Unreal Engine--looks a whole lot more impressive than the AI image. While you wouldn't download a car, it appears some would AI-generate one.

007 First Light, the new James Bond game, releases on May 27, but people who paid extra got to start playing today. Some have already beaten the game and posted all of the game's cutscenes on YouTube, including the final sequence.

We won't spoil the specifics, but the ending involves a major moment for James Bond and teases what he may do next in a sequel.

That there would be a sequel to First Light should not come as much of a surprise, as the developers at IO said they envisioned a trilogy of Bond games.

“I don’t want to speak too big about it, but I just hope we’ll do a thing that will define James Bond in gaming for years to come,” IO CEO Hakan Abrak said in 2024 before the game even had a name. “And that is not only one game, but that we create a universe for gamers to own for many years to come that we can grow with that next to the Bond on the movies.”

Many of the James Bond movies, meanwhile, wrap up with Bond preparing for another adventure, so the game ending that way was in keeping with the franchise's tradition of reminding people that Bond will be back.

First Light is getting solid reviews, boasting an impressive 87 Metascore on GameSpot sister site Metacritic. GameSpot's First Light review scored it an 8/10.

First Light unlocks on May 27 for everyone, and you can consult the game's official unlock times to find out when it arrives where you live.

The Switch 2 edition of First Light has been delayed and is now set for release sometime this summer, though a specific date has not been announced.

Beyond a possible sequel to First Light, IO is working on a fantasy game and has teased it will return to Hitman someday.

As for the James Bond movie series, the 26th Bond movie is in the works now and casting is underway for a new actor to play the lead role. Daniel Craig played the role most recently, wrapping up his five-movie run as the British superspy with 2021's No Time to Die.

Roberts Space Industries and Cloud Imperium Games have announced a massive new funding milestone for the PC space sim Star Citizen--the game has now exceeded $1 billion in crowdfunding since the campaign launched in 2012.

At press time, the game's public funding stands at $1.007 billion from more than 6.5 million people.

While Star Citizen is playable currently, the game remains in early access after some 10 years of ongoing development. Chris Roberts, the founder of Roberts Space Industries, said Star Citizen's standalone single-player game featuring many, many celebrities--Squadron 42--is targeting a 2026 release. The 1.0 version of Star Citizen is expected to follow later.

Roberts told Variety recently that it "feels pretty epic" to be so close to Star Citizen's 1.0 release. He said the studio is in the "closing stages" and that the game is "coming together really well."

"I’ve been very lucky as a creative because I’ve had the ability to take the time and have the funding to really do it. James Cameron had that when he was doing his Avatars," he said. "This is sort of like my version of it in games where I’ve had the time; I’ve been able to spend the time to get the tech. And so the vision that’s being delivered is really my imagination, my vision from the beginning, and that’s not something you always get the chance to do. So I’m pretty grateful for that, and I’m also very excited for people on the outside to experience it.”

Star Citizen has courted a fair share of controversy over the years. One backer was upset that Star Citizen was taking so long to materialize that they spoke to their state's attorney general and ultimately got a refund. Star Citizen and its developer were also caught up in a lawsuit from Crytek over the game's use of the CryEngine.

One of the ways that Star Citizen makes money currently is by selling ships, like the newly announced $5,000 Anvil Odin. This is a ship concept, and not something that can be used in the game currently--that will come later, according to IGN.

Not every ship costs this much, however, as prices in the ship store including a wide range. There are also various upgrades players can purchase for their ships, as well as $10 and $20/month subscription bundles. Star Citizen itself, meanwhile, costs $45.

The Squadron 42 single-player game features a number of big-name actors, including Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Mark Strong, John Rhys-Davies, Liam Cunningham, Ben Mendelsohn, Gillian Anderson, and Andy Serkis.

Destruction AllStars, the multiplayer-focused vehicle combat game and Sony first-party exclusive originally slated to be a PlayStation 5 launch title before instead becoming a PlayStation Plus freebie, is now offline and no longer available on the PlayStation Store. 

Searching for the game on Sony's storefront doesn't bring up developer Lucid Games' car brawler. Players received a game-service shutdown notification (confirmed by GameSpot) that informed them Destruction AllStar's multiplayer services have been taken offline and that Destruction Points, the game's premium currency, have been removed from sale. 

https://bsky.app/profile/wario64.bsky.social/post/3mmrjpgetes2f

For those who already have Destruction AllStars in their library, the game's offline Arcade mode will remain playable, according to the notification.

Destruction AllStars was published by Sony and intended to be a full priced PS5 launch title alongside games like Bluepoint's Demon's Souls remake. However, the game was delayed in the leadup to the PS5's launch, instead releasing three months later in February 2021. When it finally arrived, it was no longer a premium game, but rather a free title included as part of PS Plus for two months. After that two-month window, it could be bought for $20. More recently, it was included as part of PS Plus Extra. 

The car brawler was intended to be a live-service title, but only received one season in May 2021. That same month, Lucid Games' announced it would add bots to the game's online multiplayer to help fill matches. Unlike more recent live-service Sony games like Helldivers 2 and Marathon, Destruction AllStars never released on PC or Xbox.

Destruction AllStars is just one of many live-service games to be shut down in recent months and years, though it did technically survive much longer than most (despite only launching a single season). Other high-profile game shutdowns in recent memory include this year's short lived Highguard, from former Titanfall developers, and Sony's own Concord, a first-party hero shooter that lasted just over a week before its plug was pulled in 2024. 

Another Live-Service Game Is Shutting Down, Joining Highguard View Images

Today's not opening day for the MLB season, but it is opening day for a new MLB game. Sony has officially launched MLB The Show Mobile, so now you can keep hitting absolute bombs even if you had to take a bathroom break from the console versions.

Games won't function exactly like they do in the console versions, however. Using a card system and a Momentum resource, you'll have to pick and choose when to deploy your best players in a game, with your squad all mixed up in a deck so you are not entirely sure who will be available at the start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ4GVQhNX8w

The Seasons and Moments modes should be familiar to longtime MLB The Show fans. The former is focused on quick, three-inning games (like Mini Seasons in MLB The Show 26), and will dish out extra rewards as you progress. The latter, meanwhile is designed for quick challenges, letting you recreate famous plays or hit a certain stat target.

And, as it's MLB The Show, there is of course a multiplayer component, but it's a little different here. Head-to-head play will see you compete against other players in "turn-based baseball minigames," with the highest score winning. You're not required to be playing at the same time, either, so it should offer some more flexibility.

MLB The Show Mobile is now available on iOS and Android. Its big sibling MLB The Show 26 is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch.

The latest attempt to dethrone The Sims from its lofty perch as the unquestioned monarch of life sim games is Paralives, an indie game looking to provide much more depth of personality than we see from The Sims or InZoi. Things seem to be going well so far, with the Early Access title selling hundreds of thousands of copies and earning Very Positive reviews on Steam since it launched on May 25. But there's one thing pretty much everyone playing so far dislikes about it: that jerky and inconsistent camera. Fortunately, there's a solution to this problem, thanks to a well-known Sims modder hopping to the new game with a camera mod.

For most folks, the hinky Paralives camera won't break their games, but it's an annoyance that they'll have to regularly wrestle with while they play. The way the camera works now, it's hard to precisely control your perspective, and it loves to shift down to a lower floor while you're trying to do stuff on an upper floor. When both of those issues rear their ugly heads at the same time, it can feel nearly impossible to click on the thing you want to click on, and those who are prone to motion sickness might even feel dizzy or ill as a result of the jerkiness.

Depending on what you're doing in the game, it can goof up so frequently that it feels like the point of Paralives is to figure out how to use the camera controls effectively. Since Paralives is in Early Access and apparently doing very well, judging by those sales numbers, we should expect the devs will eventually smooth out the issues with the camera. But in the meantime, while you wait for that, there's a mod that will help. 

Courtesy of long-time popular Sims 4 modder TwistedMexi, the Sensible Camera Control mod makes camera movements more smooth, and removes some of its ability to make automatic adjustments, since it was those auto movements that caused the "falling through the floor" effect that's been driving players nuts. You can grab the Sensible Camera Control mod from the Steam Workshop here.

It's not a perfect solution, of course, since the mod has some quirks of its own. But the many comments on the mod's Workshop page agree it's a big improvement over Paralives' vanilla camera. And the fact that TwistedMexi was able to create this mod so quickly could be a great sign for the future of modding in Paralives.

Helldivers 2's next update is one players have been vocal about wanting for quite some time, and it's not new content--it's an optimization and performance update, which developer Arrowhead Studios said is "just the opening salvo" of more improvements to come.

As detailed by Arrowhead in a blog post, an update coming to Helldivers 2 on May 27 will look to improve stability, reduce latency, and add new upscaling support to the popular co-op shooter. The developer even included a massive collage of Reddit posts from players asking for upscaling support, to which Arrowhead has now replied, "We heard you." 

On the upscaling side of the equation, Arrowhead is introducing new options tailored to each platform, as well as support for dynamic resolution scaling and variable refresh rates and shading. Below is what's coming as part of the update. 

Helldivers 2 May 27 Update Features

Upscaling Support

• PC: FSR 4.0.3 (on supported GPUs), FSR 3.1.5, DLSS 4.5, and XeSS 3.0
• PS5 Pro: PSSR 1
• PS5: FSR 3.1
• Xbox Series X/S: FSR 3.1

Visual Optimizations

• Variable Refresh Rate for PS5 and PS5 Pro
• Variable Rate Shading
• Dynamic Resolution Scaling for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, as well as increased resolution to 1440p PS5 "Quality" preset as part of PS5 power-saving mode, as well as in performance mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X. 

Reduced Latency

• Nvidia Reflex
• AMD Anti-Lag 2

Arrowhead said the update is just the first step when it comes to the goal of improving "performance across the fleet." Next steps will include making further adjustments as necessary once the update is live, but also an additional "tech-focused update" coming later in the summer to push the improvements "even further." 

The performance and stability update comes as Arrowhead has taken flak from players for poor communication with the Helldivers community and its focus on releasing paid DLC over improving technical issues. Those complaints have seen the game's recent user-review scores dip into "Mostly Negative" on Steam, though the game still sports an overall "Very Positive" rating. In the blog announcing the new update, Arrowhead said it's "focused on being clearer, more consistent, and giving you better visibility into what's coming and why."

More technical improvements aren't all Helldivers 2 fans have to look forward to. Arrowhead recently announced the game's next Legendary Warbond crossover will be with Warhammer 40K and release later this year.

Helldivers 2’s New Premium Warbond Finally Does Something No Warbond Has Done Before View Images

This week marks the 10th anniversary of Blood and Wine, the second and final DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Prior to its release in 2016, CD Projekt Red was very clear that this DLC was the end of the story for Geralt of Rivia. But now that the developer has announced a new Witcher 3 stream coming this week, players are getting their hopes up and asking for more new DLC.

CD Projekt Red announced that The Witcher 3 - Blood and Wine anniversary stream will take place on May 28 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 5 PM CEST. The social media message doesn’t promise anything beyond a return “to the land of knights, vineyards, and vampires.”

https://twitter.com/thewitcher/status/2059288819027910898

Regardless, players quickly made their wishes known.

https://twitter.com/Patoche_Rouky/status/2059316203072442704 https://twitter.com/CyberPierogi/status/2056807028224610675 https://twitter.com/Azrael007x/status/2059296703740510364 https://twitter.com/qTazzzzzz/status/2059297134340386884 https://twitter.com/RavingCO/status/2059289256942600452

There were unconfirmed reports about additional Witcher 3 DLC earlier this year. More recently, it was rumored that the new DLC may bridge the gap between The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 4. 

CD Projekt Red previously revealed that The Witcher 3 will get one last update that will let console players dive into numerous mods that PC players have created in the 11 years since the original game. However, that update was delayed and it doesn’t currently have a release date. It’s possible that the official announcement could come during this week’s streaming event.

The Witcher 4 was officially unveiled near the end of 2025, and it doesn’t currently have a release date. While voice actor Doug Cockle has confirmed that he will reprise his role as Geralt in the sequel, Ciri will be the new main character of the game.

Best Witcher 3 Mods To Download In 2026 View Images

A new batch of content is set to arrive in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone with Season 4. New seasons of Call of Duty typically add more maps, new weapons to unlock, and limited-time events. With Season 4 set to arrive next month, we already have a few hints of what to expect. Here, we'll highlight all the rumors and announcements for Call of Duty Season 4 so far.

Call of Duty Season 4 start times

Activision confirmed Season 4 of Black Ops 7 and Warzone arrives on June 4. Call of Duty's big updates usually go live at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM BST across all platforms.

What to expect from Season 4

A new season of Call of Duty means a new battle pass packed with fresh cosmetics, more DLC weapons to unlock, new maps, and additional game modes. A season also generally includes limited-time events and new challenges to complete.

Treyarch recently released the Season 4 intro cinematics for Black Ops 7's post-launch story. This shows Karma facing off against Leon Rook, a new Guild operator who will appear in the Season 4 battle pass. This is an operator in full body armor with a helmet featuring animal-like teeth. Notably, the soldier is also wielding a gun reminiscent of the popular AN-94 assault rifle from Black Ops 2, making it very possible that this is a weapon you can unlock in the upcoming battle pass. 

Call of Duty seasons also typically bring a new season of Ranked Play and rewards for both multiplayer and Warzone.

Black Ops 7 multiplayer

We don’t have specific details revealed for Season 4 of multiplayer yet. The big update will likely include more multiplayer maps, game modes, and new challenges.

Call of Duty data miner "HeyImAlaix" suggests a few throwback maps could arrive in Season 4, with mentions of Dig, Vertigo, and Launch in the game files. Launch is from Black Ops 1, and Vertigo and Dig are both from Black Ops 2.

Zombies

A new Zombies map is highly likely, as Treyarch confirmed there are still two more new maps planned to release for Black Ops 7. However, a new Zombies map won't arrive at launch of the season, as the developer is saving Zombie map releases for the mid-season "Reloaded" updates.

Warzone

Most of the specific details of Season 4 of Warzone haven't been announced yet, but Activision has confirmed the return of the Fortune's Keep Resurgence map. 

Avalon and the Black Ops Royale mode will most likely remain as a big-map option, as the developer has previously revealed that Avalon would receive seasonal updates to gradually change the map.

Strauss Zelnick, the head of Rockstar owner Take-Two, has commented on the price of new video games, and while he did not reveal how much GTA 6 will cost, he said people are going to line up to buy it because it will be so compelling.

Speaking to IGN, Zelnick said he is "sensitive to the fact that so many people are facing economic challenges" these days with rising gas, grocery, and rent prices--just to name a few. However, he said people aren't going to skip GTA 6 just because prices of many other things in their lives may be increasing.

“If you give people what they want in the entertainment business, they will come out for it," he said.

Also in the interview, Zelnick pointed out--as he has done before--that the prices for new games have actually declined over the past 30 years. For example, the price of GTA 5 when it launched in 2013 was $60 USD. Today, that's about $85 due to inflation.

The standard going rate for big AAA games today is $70, and that price has not risen with annual inflation levels. Companies not raising prices has led to numerous developments in games that many people don't like, including more microtransactions. The thinking is that if companies refuse to charge more for games, they will find other ways to generate revenue to help offset increasing development costs. 

A Bank of America stock analyst said Rockstar should charge $80 for GTA 6 to help encourage other publishers to raise prices as well, which in turn may help the industry overall become more sustainable. People generally do not like to see prices go up (especially if their own wages have not increased with inflation), but data does show that consumers are already ready and willing to embrace $80 games. 

Zelnick, for his part, said Rockstar is trying to make GTA an experience that is "so much better than we people pay for, that they're thrilled to buy our titles." He added, "Our job is to make the best entertainment on earth and that's true across the board."

Beyond the price of GTA 6--whatever that turns out to be--people will need a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S to play the game. Both platforms have seen price increases since they launched. The cheapest way to get in today is with the $400 Xbox Series S. The least expensive PS5 model is the $600 digital system.

GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. It was supposed to launch today, May 26, but Rockstar delayed the project to help improve its quality.

When IO Interactive was first announced as developing a James Bond game, people connected the obvious dots: James Bond inspired Hitman, the series IO is best known for, so the studio seemed like a great fit to take on a proper 007 game. But it's where those two experiences would need to be different that had me most intrigued. A 007 game can't just be a Hitman game with different hair. Thankfully, IO's first foray into the James Bond world proves the team knows this and leans into it, delivering a thrilling Bond experience worthy of the character, while also applying lessons learned from the studio's own international man of mystery.

Though it isn't the first to tell an original story, 007 First Light is IO's very own take on Ian Fleming's iconic spy himself. With a new leading man in Patrick Gibson, and a story that takes Bond back to the age of 26, when he's still serving in the military sans any ties to MI6, it's a natural on-ramp for people who may not be familiar with Bond or who have been waiting since 2021's No Time to Die for the next reboot. This is a fresh start, and the team makes it their own.

In First Light, the Bond we meet is younger than ever, and this invites a more stubborn, mistake-prone version of the character, whom I quickly found myself interested in. Recruited to MI6's soon-to-be-rebooted 00 program, Bond can't catch a break, making enemies of his fellow recruits and his irritable supervisor, John Greenway, played by The Walking Dead's Lennie James, who shines in his newfound role in the Bond universe. 

In the movies, I loved how Daniel Craig's take on the hero often saw him receive his fair share of beatings. I strongly prefer that to an untouchable good guy who can do no wrong. That aspect of Bond feels ramped up even more in First Light, with a version of the spy who is hardly out of the figurative cradle at the intelligence agency. James Bond is a headstrong young man, and his tendency to ask for forgiveness rather than permission is both his best and worst attribute in the eyes of his superiors.

Before long, Bond is on assignment, using his tricks of social engineering and stealth to infiltrate a lavish hotel, where the agency believes a disgruntled ex-00 agent is plotting something. While this plot thread initially sounds a bit too much like Skyfall, it quickly finds its own path forward, eventually erasing my concerns that the 20-hour story would lean too much on things I've already seen. It's also during this early mission that First Light starts to reveal its familial ties to Hitman, so to speak. Like IO's flagship game, you'll be dropped into a massive gala full of NPCs, some of whom are guardians of certain areas of the hotel. And like IO's bald assassin, Bond will need to trick, sneak past, or otherwise dispatch the security to get where he needs to be. 

Hello 47--err, I mean 007.

While the game rightly doesn't have the same level of dark humor as Hitman, many of the ways you'll move about the world feel plucked right out of it. You can distract guards, then sneak from cover to cover when they look away, shimmy across hand-holds and pipes outside the building, eavesdrop on conversations to get crucial information, and lie to people to get what you need--be it a keycard, the whereabouts of a particular person, or for them to simply step aside and let you pass, which First Light gamifies as the Bluff mechanic. It won't work on everyone, but some enemies will simply take you at your word, as Bond is a charming young man good at acting like he belongs somewhere he doesn't. Once in a while, you'll even don a disguise. In these moments, First Light and Hitman share a lot in common.

When things break down--maybe your cover has been blown, or you were spotted by enemies who don't fall for your charms--the game's very best attribute kicks into high gear. Combat in First Light is incredibly fun, especially the melee combat. Some of its systems are tried and true, like enemy attacks that must be blocked or dodged with good timing, but the things First Light does best are those that feel the most Bond-like. 

For example, you can slide over surfaces to stagger enemies, kicking their guns from their hands, catching them, then shooting your foe in the leg to cause them to kneel for a quick finisher. Alternatively, you can rush them and toss them into a computer desk, where things like a monitor and keyboard fly into the air as you buy some time with a handful of other armed villains behind you. Environments are awesomely reactive. If you throw a guy into a railing, you can then toss him over it. If you throw him into an electrical board, you'll see him get zapped and take heavy damage. Weaving in and out of combos against a group of enemies looks and feels awesome, whether you're perfectly nailing every hit and dodging every attack or you're just scraping by in fist fights that feel like trying to win an eye-gouging contest. 

Your options for stealth and social engineering are numerous in 007 First Light.

Gunplay is fun too, and though I preferred to use my fists because I felt it fit the character better at times, I love how First Light's guns never have much ammo in them, demanding you frequently change what you're armed with by taking them off defeated enemies--you can even chuck your gun at their heads when it's out of ammo. Combined with a slow-motion focus-aim mechanic, enemies who effectively flank you, and lots of destructibility, the end result makes for frenetic shootouts of precision headshots and creative explosions every time you've been given the license to kill. The exciting setpieces, once starring Connery, Brosnan, Craig, and the others, are faithfully captured in First Light, but what makes them even better is how often these moments aren't scripted. They're a result of my own improvisational input, navigating a complex battlefield and using every tool at my disposal to capture the specific biorhythms of a Bond movie.

Speaking of tools, it's funny how well a Bond story maps onto video games. Not only do you trot around the globe in a way that suits distinct missions, but Bond is always aided by Q and his Q-Lab spy gadgets. With his nearly ever-present Q-Watch, Bond can scan an area for enemies and interaction points, even through walls, using the sort of "detective vision" mechanic that Arkham Asylum popularized in 2009. Bond can also hack electronics with that same watch; he can make people feel queasy and move them off their spot using a fake phone that shoots poison darts, and he can blow stuff up with a fake pen, among several other gadgets at his disposal. 

On many missions, you'll pick which two or more of these you want, leaving you with many answers to the same question: how to get from A to B when the space between is littered with villains. I found it hard to pick which gadgets I wanted on any mission because they all had their uses. It was very common for me to get into a mission, thankful I had a particular gadget but also longing for another I had left behind, depending on the situation. A few late-game changes to how gadgets are used also shake up this system in two distinctly different but enjoyable ways.

These gadgets ensure the spirit of the Bond character is alive, and the game is rich with other true-to-form touches, like a well-rounded cast of characters, such as MI6 boss M, workplace ally Moneypenny, and a memorable villain whose quest is an interesting dark reflection of Bond himself. He's also the type of bad guy who feels plucked right out of the headlines. A Bond story is essentially a superhero story, but the best of them ground themselves in reality by speaking to the social and political context in which they've arrived, and First Light shines in this regard. 

Several missions in First Light would feel right at home in Hitman.

Watching the Bond movies recently for the first time, my wife jokingly wondered if the "Bond Girl" is always going to betray him, given how often it happens. I was glad to see First Light toy with this expectation a lot during its runtime. As for 007 himself, Patrick Gibson did so well to become the hero in my mind that, while I used to think of him as the actor who plays the title role on Dexter: First Blood, by the end of the game, he'd become James Bond first and foremost. It's hard to see him any other way.

Of all the boxes IO had to check to make First Light feel authentic, the only area where the team noticeably falters is driving sections. It's not really a Bond story without some car chases, and though First Light uses several different vehicles in several different ways, most of them feel like you're rather rigidly barreling down something close to a straight line. Nearly feeling on-rails, these flashy scenes of Aston Martins and speedboats still look and sound cool, but they're best for moving Bond from one shootout to another, while the driving sections themselves don't add much.

Another issue that stems from telling a 20-hour Bond story is that you, perhaps necessarily, lose some of the supreme pacing the best of the movies have to offer. I enjoyed seeing Bond in his MI6-provided apartment with other recruits. That felt like the sort of downtime a movie wouldn't allow for, which managed to add layers to these new versions of old characters. But there are a couple of other sections later where you're meant to solve puzzles, usually involving locked doors, and in these sections, the pacing can grind to a halt, pulling me out of the otherwise-exciting story. 

That's a hard problem to solve, given how a game necessarily differs from a movie. One area in which the pacing doesn't suffer is First Light's secondary mode, TacSim (short for Tactical Simulation). The in-universe excuse for this challenge mode is that it's Bond's way of staying frosty, beating up virtual bad guys in virtual kitchens, villas, and military installments. What this amounts to for you is a highly replayable mode that gets right down to the game's best bits: its combat. Across many levels, you can attempt to complete dozens of challenges, which is something this studio has designed very well before.

Vehicle sections look flashy, but they don't amount to much other than driving nearly in a straight line.

I like this mode out of the gate, though the rewards feel lacking for now, with some lukewarm weapon skins and outfits on offer. IO plans to support TacSim with updates, and I look forward to seeing how it evolves. But for those who wondered if this could be the equivalent of Hitman's incredible Freelancer mode, it's far from that as of now. 

In the end, IO's take on James Bond was actually more like Hitman than I expected, but that's not to say it's simply Hitman by another name. As someone who has loved that series for nearly 25 years, it's fascinating to see IO apply everything it's learned. 007: First Light wisely repurposes what works in both universes but isn't afraid to reimagine or ditch those parts that don't. Though some aspects of the game do hinder the pacing, so much else feels authentic and riveting. As Hollywood seems uncertain about where to take Bond next, IO Interactive's debut effort is supremely confident. "James Bond will return," the movies always like to say. If and when IO's Bond returns, it'll have a great first act to follow.

Remedy Entertainment has developed several critically acclaimed games over the years, but that hasn't always translated into blockbuster sales. Alan Wake 2 is a notable example, as the horror-mystery game only became profitable after achieving 2 million sales in February 2025, over a year after it was first released. That's an area that Remedy's new CEO, Jean-Charles Gaudechon, is aiming to improve on, as the former EA Games executive aims to preserve Remedy's identity for producing off-the-wall games while maximizing the potential of its IP.

Gaudechon plans to build on a strategy that was incubated at Remedy before his arrival, as the company signed a deal with Annapurna to develop TV shows and movies based on Alan Wake and Control. "We need to think more about how we are approaching our IPs as a franchise," Gaudechon said to The Game Business. "How do we grow the community? [Our deal with] Annapurna goes into making our games, our franchises shine further, and reach an audience that doesn't exist today. It's a pity, I think Alan Wake should have sold more. Control should have sold more. To me, that’s one of the first things we need to fix, even before trying to make more games to a certain extent."

This plan will revolve around Remedy working to "maximize the potential" of its existing IP, with cross-media projects like the Annapurna deal playing a large role in the process, Gaudechon said. At the same time, Remedy is moving into self-publishing and will utilize its "unique" voice for strange single-player games to promote its projects, the CEO added.

Remedy's next big release is Control: Resonant, a direct sequel to 2019's Control. While the first game was an action-adventure built around shooting and wielding paranormal powers, Control: Resonant shifts the action to melee combat and is set in a topsy-turvy version of Manhattan. As you'd expect, it looks downright weird as players will have to take on strange new versions of the antagonistic Hiss while navigating through environments that openly defy the laws of physics.

It doesn't have a release date yet, but Control: Resonant is expected to launch later this year for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Meanwhile, Alan Wake fans will want to check out the spooky ghost-hunting game Phasmophobia before it's too late to take part in a time-limited crossover event.

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The summer wave of video game announcements is nearly upon us, with a PlayStation State of Play, Summer Game Fest Live, and an Xbox Showcase already scheduled within a six-day span of one another. A few hints as to what may show up during reveal season are starting to surface, including one that will have Lego fans raising an eyebrow: Paradox Interactive's Lego Skylines. 

Via Gematsu, the name Lego Skylines has appeared among other known upcoming projects on a recent ratings report by the Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea, the country's ESRB equivalent. Paradox Interactive, the developer of the Cities Skylines franchise of city-builder games, is listed as the developer, but no other information is provided. 

This is the first time a Lego Skylines game has been mentioned publicly, as there has been no formal announcement from either Paradox or Lego as of this writing. The Swedish firm's last project in the franchise was Cities Skyline II, though the studio has also released both Europa Universalis V and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 since then.

A licensed Lego game has already launched a game in 2026, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, which released earlier this month. Lego Batman follows Lego Party, a blocky take on Mario Party, and Lego Voyagers, a cozy co-op platformer, which both launched in the second half of 2025. 

May 26, 2026--that was the day that Rockstar's hugely anticipated open-world crime game GTA 6 was supposed to release. Today is that day, and the game is not available.

So, what happened? Rockstar delayed the game to November 19, 2026, and the game getting pushed should not have been a surprise. Rockstar originally slated GTA 6 for release in Fall 2025, so this was just the latest delay. Rockstar has a history of delaying every game it makes. 

When the May 26, 2026 date was announced, Rockstar said it hoped fans understood that Rockstar needed more time to "deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve."

"With every game we have released, the goal has always been to try and exceed your expectations, and GTA 6 is no exception," Rockstar said.

During a recent interview with David Senra, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said GTA 6's November 19 release date is "about 18 months behind the original date." This appears to suggest that GTA 6 was originally lined up to launch around May 2025.

In any event, GTA 6 is now locked in for its November 19 release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. PC fans will have to wait, as Rockstar has not yet announced a version of the game for PC, but history suggests it's coming.

Dead by Daylight is adding Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th fame. The 4v1 asymmetrical horror game has a gallery of villains and monsters that rivals the Funko Pop shelf of any horror-obsessed fan, but it's featured one glaring omission for years now. The Camp Crystal Lake slasher is finally coming on June 16, Behaviour Interactive has revealed in a new trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YebqRYaTVNg

When Dead by Daylight was first coming onto the scene, Jason was already in the process of getting his own game, Illfonic and Gun Media's Friday the 13th: The Game, and DBD wasn't yet full of licensed killers anyway. But today, DBD is more like spooky Fortnite, with famous monsters such as Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, a Xenomorph, and Pyramid Head. After the Jason game closed up shop due to a rights disagreement based on Hollywood contracts, the masked killer was left without a home.

But lately, we've seen him appear in places like Call of Duty and Fortnite, so it seemed like only a matter of time before he popped up in horror's one-stop shop. June 16th will be that day. Look for more on the crossover soon.

Even though I pay attention to these things for a living, I almost didn't realize that Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 3 was coming up so quickly. It's just two weeks away now, with Season 3 slated to launch on June 6, and we really don't know anything about it. And that's because there haven't been any leaks about it. 

Not a single. Dang. One. No stray strings of text or banner icons in the files indicating a new collab, or sketchy-sounding Twitter rumors about gameplay changes, or anything. It's dead out there.

It's a strange place to be for Fortnite fans, since we usually expect pretty much everything to leak. This is, after all, the game that leaked its entire 2024 roadmap and revealed nine months of collabs in advance. Fortnite leaks happen so frequently that it's not uncommon to see folks online complain that they never get to experience a proper cycle of hype with new seasons because they always find out about things too early.

And now, here we are. Those folks are probably feeling pretty good right now, because they seem to have gotten what they wanted with this leak drought ahead of Chapter 7 Season 3. I don't have any preference on that one way or another--I'm too old to worry about which Twitter account first revealed a new Fortnite skin--but I don't think this situation is an accident. Epic actually already pulled off a similar trick in April with Fortnite Festival's current season, when it managed to reveal Laufey as the new headlining artist without there ever being any leaks or rumors about her.

So what happened? Well, AdiraFNInfo happened. In January of this year, a new leaker came out of nowhere with a whole pile of original leaks that all proved to be accurate. Then, at the beginning of March, Adira's Twitter account suddenly disappeared, and Epic revealed that they were actually a former contractor named Hayden Cohen, who they were suing for allegedly breaking a non-disclosure agreement tied to his gig with the company. Adira's time as a leaker was over after two months.

Since then, more of Adira's leaks have come true--the Overwatch, Game of Thrones, Peak, and Ben 10 collabs were all first leaked by Adira before the spigot was shut off. There are actually still three more left (Masters of the Universe, Minecraft, and Kingdom Hearts), so maybe we'll see those in Season 3.

Ever since the Adira situation blew up, though, significant new leaks have been few and far between. It's impossible for us, looking in from the outside, to say for sure what exactly happened. What happened with Adira would have spooked other insiders and made Epic more vigilant about that type of thing, possibly making it more difficult for leakers to get info from them. Epic could have gotten better about securing the game files so that dataminers can't glean anything useful from new updates. Maybe Epic pressured the usual leakers, all of whom are Epic partners who have Support-a-Creator codes for the Fortnite item shop, into being quiet for a little while.

Since we don't know what the cause actually is, it remains to be seen whether this leakless reality is going to be the new status quo for Fortnite. Fortunately, it doesn't really matter too much, because Epic's marketing campaigns aren't what make Fortnite fun to play.

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The European Union parliament has taken up the debate about the Stop Killing Games movement and whether game publishers have the responsibility to keep their titles online after players have already purchased and played them for years. However, Slovakian politician Milan Uhrik decided to derail the conversation by focusing on his personal beef with the gaming industry rather than addressing the issue at hand.

“Wokeness and aggressive monetization is destroying videogames,” said Uhrik when it was his turn to speak. “One thing that is definitely destroying video games is the crazy, woke ideology and political correctness which is being forced into the games. For example, if we want to play as a samurai, obviously we want to play as a Japanese warrior and not to be forced to play as a Black person warrior or female warrior as it happened recently in Assassin’s Creed. Or to play as a queer character, without any other choice. This is an issue, really, for players.”

The game in question, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, featured Yasuke, a historical figure who was a samurai of African descent and lived in Japan during the late 16th century. Yasuke shared the spotlight in Shadows with a fictional creation, Naoe, both of whom were playable characters. Late last year, Ubisoft acknowledged that the backlash against Yasuke was one of the reasons Shadows was delayed.  

Ubisoft inadvertently led to the creation of the Stop Killing Games movement when it decided to shut down The Crew. In response, YouTube host Ross Scott started Stop Killing Games by challenging the legal standing of publishers’ ability to shut down titles that had already been sold to players. In response, the EU lobbying association Video Games Europe responded that Stop Killing Games' proposals to keep older games alive "would curtail developer choice by making these video games prohibitively expensive to create." 

During a shareholders meeting in 2025, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot argued that games are a service, “but nothing is written in stone and at some point the service may be discontinued. Nothing is eternal. And we are doing our best to make sure that things go well for all players and buyers, because obviously support for all games cannot last forever. But that's an issue that we're working on. That's something that the industry at large is working on, to minimize impact on players."

That’s the debate that continues to play out in the European Union parliament, despite the apparent attempt by Uhrik to turn it into something else.

Owlcat Games—the studio behind upcoming RPG The Expanse: Osiris Reborn—has announced plans to recast the actor voicing its male protagonist, after players complained about a perceived lack of emotion in his voice during the game's beta test last month.

"While the voice actor for the male protagonist and J put in a lot of good work, they felt less expressive than we wanted," Owlcat Games shared in a blog post on Osiris Reborn's Steam page. "Because of this, we are changing the voices of the male protagonist and J."

In The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, players can create their own player character (simply named "You" in the beta) and customize their gender, appearance, and background (Belter, Earther, or Martian). The player-character also has a twin sibling, J, who is voiced by the same actor who voices the protagonist. Based on Owlcat's statements, it seems that only the male protagonist (and thus the male version of J) are being recast, while the actor voicing the female protagonist (and the female version of J) is sticking around.

Interestingly, player feedback in the game's subreddit seems to focus more on the game's need for a dialogue overhaul, some story adjustments, and changes to the player-character's tone rather than complaints about a specific actor's performance.

"Belter Patois is undoubtedly a challenge for the devs but the almost complete lack of Belter slang, the lack of Belter cynicism, [and] the overly cheery delivery of the voice actors' tone are, in my opinion, awful," one player wrote on reddit after checking out the beta test.

Owlcat didn't share the name of the actor being replaced, nor did they share who will be replacing them (it's possible a replacement hasn't been chosen yet). The studio did say that some of J's voice lines are being reworked regardless of what gender players choose.

"We know J's battle cries got a bit repetitive," the dev team shared. "The 'ask' system was still very much a work in progress during the beta, and a full rework has been on our roadmap all along. Still, thank you for pointing it out and sharing your thoughts."
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is currently scheduled to arrive on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X sometime in the Spring of 2027.

The future of Bungie is looking uncertain, as insider reports claim layoffs are on the way for the studio as it ends development on Destiny 2. There are reportedly no plans to move into development on Destiny 3, with Bungie looking to refocus on Marathon instead for the time being.

Following the news that Bungie would deliver its final content update for Destiny 2 this June, a Bloomberg report suggests the studio is planning “significant” layoffs. Amid speculation that the studio would move into production on Destiny 3, or another Destiny-related title, insider sources quoted by Bloomberg say that there is currently no project for the Destiny 2 team to move on to.

Bungie staff are reportedly pitching new projects to begin developing, including some Destiny-related titles, but none have currently been greenlit for production. With game companies--including Bungie's parent company Sony--more budget-conscious than ever amid rising hardware prices and a competitive market, it's not certain if any of these new projects will move into development.

Sony bought Bungie for $3.6 billion back in 2022, but has since written $769 million off the Destiny studio's value. In the time since the acquisition, Bungie has undergone significant layoffs and has canceled side projects to go all-in on Marathon and Destiny 2.

In a reply on Bluesky, reporter Jason Schreier added that the reason Bungie didn't immediately start production on Destiny 3 after the release of The Final Shape was because of concerns around costs. A planned Destiny spin-off codenamed Payback, which was referred to internally as "the next Destiny," was also canceled sometime after Bungie was acquired by Sony.

https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mmfnevl6q22a

For now, Bungie is focusing on its extraction shooter Marathon, which hasn't performed as well as hoped since its release in March. Some staff from the Destiny 2 team were also moved to Marathon recently.

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