You would think stabbing a foe with a sword was enough. But a new update for Assassin's Creed Shadows will let you twist the weapon, elbow the enemy in the face, and then stab them again in the head. It's pretty gnarly, and it's part of title update 1.1.7, which is planned to start arriving December 16.

On the Ubisoft website, the patch notes highlight the bloody new finishers, saying they "bring more flair to your encounters." The official Assassin's Creed account on YouTube shared a video--seen below--showcasing the gruesome maneuvers for Naoe and Yasuke.

The new update also brings quite a few improvements to the recently released Switch 2 edition of Assassin's Creed Shadows. Ubisoft says that frame rate issues have been addressed, along with "various visual issues." However, this title update will come a day later, December 17, on Switch 2.

Yet another video game is getting a movie deal, as a report today states that Netflix has bought a movie idea for a film based on the upcoming game Kingmakers. For anyone unaware, Kingmakers is an action-strategy game set in medieval times that allows players to use AK-47s, grenade launchers, and attack helicopters in battle.

The game is developed by Redemption Road Games and published by tinyBuild. It was due to launch in October this year before being delayed indefinitely due to its "incredibly ambitious" setup. Kingmakers is among the top five most-wishlisted games on Steam. So far, it's only been announced for PC.

Deadline reported that Netflix bought a movie pitch for the game, with writer Christopher MacBride (Flashback, The Conspiracy) attached to write the script. The report added that Stranger Things director Shawn Levy's production company, 21 Laps, is producing the Kingsmakers movie, while Story Kitchen's Dmitri M. Johnson, Michael Lawrence Goldberg, and Timothy L. Stevenson are also producing. Story Kitchen is also behind the Sonic movie series, along with the upcoming Tomb Raider and Life is Strange TV shows, among other gaming projects.

Paladin is finally playable in Diablo 4, and after a weekend with the ARPG's newest class, it's clear the holy-magic wielding warrior is a force to be reckoned with and more than just a copycat of its Diablo 2 counterpart, even if I personally wished it leaned into its namesake a little more.

After two and a half years of waiting, Blizzard shadowdropped Paladin for Diablo 4 during a reveal for the game's new Lord of Hatred expansion at The Game Awards. Preordering the expansion grants early access to the Paladin, with the full expansion also set to add a second, still unannounced class.

Diablo 4's Paladin is a fascinating mix of old and new. While the class bears the Paladin name from Diablo 2, it arguably shares just as much, if not more, in common with the Crusader from Diablo 3, with a number of similar abilities and over-the-top holy magic. Taken all together, the Diablo 4 Paladin is a new concotion combining two different flavors of light-slinging, with a splash of originality tossed in for good measusre.

Bungie's new game, Marathon, will launch in March 2026, priced at $40 USD. The game's release timing and price were two of the biggest unanswered questions, with many speculating that Marathon would be priced less than $70. In the end, Bungie chose $40, the same price as Arc Raiders.

Buying Marathon provides "full access to the game," along with its free updates, including new maps, Runner shells, events, and other content. Season 1 will introduce UESC Marathon's Cryo Archive, Bungie said.

"We also want to ensure you are logging in because you love the game, not from fear of missing out--so Marathon's Rewards Passes will not expire, and you’ll be able purchase and unlock prior Passes," Bungie said, modeling what other games, like Halo Infinite, have done with their own battle passes.

Epic Games loves collaborating with anime series for Fortnite, and it's no mystery why to anybody who's been constantly battling Gokus, Narutos, Gojos and All Mights in Battle Royale for years. Anime skins are clearly popular, so it makes sense that more are coming. Next up is Bleach, the beloved show that began in the 2004, and which is currently running a revival series to finish telling the manga's story, called Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War.

This first collaboration with Bleach will, according to posters that have been spotted in the wild, include four skins: Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, Orihime Inoue, and Uryu Ishida. And presumably at least one gigantic sword.

Message received.
I can feel it.
Something is coming… pic.twitter.com/wpifS7zyvD

We have no further details about the collab, which has only been teased by Epic rather than fully revealed. But since this collab will be released during the holidays and Fortnite's Winterfest event, there's a decent chance there will be some kind of Bleach component added to Battle Royale, Blitz Royale, or Reload, since Fortnite has included tons of mythic weapons and powers based on anime series in the past--particularly at the end of the year.

Developer Vedinad has released the Spooky update for Megabonk, bringing a new map, character, and bosses. The patch notes also point to a laundry list of bug fixes and balancing adjustments.

The Spooky update was initially "going to be a small Halloween update," according to Vedinad on Steam. That checks out, per the free DLC's name, but the developer added the desire "to make it a bit bigger." As such, the update is arriving for the festive season, with the Megabonk account on X promising a "new meta."

Megabonk launched in September, sharing similarities with Vampire Survivors and Risk of Rain. It's a roguelike game where you do your best to survive against an onslaught of enemies on randomized maps. While doing so, you level up and find various items.

Last month, Matthew McConaughey became one of the most prominent actors to endorse artificial intelligence by signing a deal with AI company ElvenLabs that will allow it to utilize his voice. McConaughey is also lending his voice to Exodus, an upcoming sci-fi title from BioWare veterans at Archetype Entertainment. But given the timing of McConaughey's new deal, Archetype co-founder Chad Robertson wants players to know that the actor really is lending his voice to the game.

"Everything that's in Exodus ... is bespoke VO recording just for us," Robertson told Eurogamer. "He has a completely separate deal of his own design that he's worked out with Elevenlabs, which happens to be one of the most prominent, AI voice-generation tools, that is being used by other video game companies. Such that people could leverage his voice in non-bespoke VO sessions in a different way. He has a bunch of really strict rules around how it could be used."

Robertson went on to note that Archetype is not using generative AI in the production of its game, but added that using it in the future is a possibility under the right circumstances.

Prime Video's Fallout TV series will no longer release its second season on December 17--but it hasn't been delayed. The streamer has announced that Season 2 will now premiere on Tuesday, December 16, which is one day earlier than expected, and it will debut at a different time of day.

Season 2 will now premiere on December 16 at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET. It was previously set to debut at 12 AM PT / 3 AM ET on December 17. Whether or not the scheduling update for the Season 2 premiere has any effect on when the following seven episodes will arrive is unknown.

Well, well, looks like Christmas came early on Sphere. The Fallout Season Two premiere, now arriving December 16 at 6 p.m. PT. pic.twitter.com/RHpSBBXJ6H

As announced previously, Fallout Season 2 will release new episodes weekly as opposed to all at once like with Season 1. For Season 1, some people enjoyed having all episodes release at the same time so they could binge the series. Others said they wished it was released weekly to give them time to digest.

Larian Studios made a splash at The Game Awards with its new--and really gross--trailer for the next Divinity game. And if you're wondering what Divinity even is, Larian has now released the latest game in the series, Divinity: Original Sin II, on the newest modern platforms, with a free upgrade available.

The game launched today, December 15, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2. People who own a copy of the game for Switch, PS4, or Xbox One can download the Upgrade Pack for free. The exception is Japan, where the upgrade costs a nominal fee of ¥100, or about 64 cents.

For anyone just buying the game now, it normally sells for $50, but on Xbox, Original Sin II is marked down to $17.50 right now, $25 on Switch, or $15 on PlayStation.

A Call of Duty movie is now in the works at Paramount with big names attached to write and direct. It's been a long time coming, as Activision first announced plans for a Call of Duty movie--and an entire universe of Call of Duty films--more than a decade ago. But now the project is progressing.

In this post, we're rounding up everything we know about the Call of Duty movie. We'll update this post in the future as more details are divulged.

This is one of the biggest questions people have about the Call of Duty movie, and we don't yet have an answer. In the original announcement, Paramount and Activision said they were "committed to honoring the brand's rich narrative and distinctive style," going on to promise an "authentic and exciting experience" that can appeal to longtime fans and newcomers. These are marketing buzzwords and don't tell us much of anything about what the Call of Duty movie will actually be.

The accolades keep rolling in for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. After taking home the Game of the Year prize at The Game Awards, the president of France applauded developer Sandfall Interactive for its accomplishments.

On Instagram, Emmanuel Macron shared a screenshot from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and noted the game's historic night at The Game Awards. The RPG is not only the most-nominated title ever for The Game Awards, but it also became the most-awarded game in the show's 12-year history. These achievements brought "great pride for Montpellier and for France," according to Macron. Montpellier is where Sandfall is located, for those unaware.

A post shared by Emmanuel Macron (@emmanuelmacron)

This is the first time a French developer has been behind Game of the Year at The Game Awards. Sandfall showed out in force for the annual show, wearing striped shirts and red berets. That made the developers hard to miss.

At The Game Awards, Lucasfilm and Mass Effect veteran Casey Hudson announced a brand-new Star Wars game called Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. It was one of the biggest, most unexpected reveals from the event, and people are pretty hyped for it.

The game is in early development and still a long way off (but reportedly due before 2030), and there is plenty we still don't know about pretty much all facets of the game. But for now, here's what we know so far about Fate of the Old Republic. We will continue to update this post as more details become available.

• When will Fate of the Old Republic be released?

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic does not have a release date. Immediately following the game's announcement, people theorized that the game was a long way off, in part because Hudson only just started the studio making the game, Arcanaut, back in July 2025. His previous studio, Humanoid Origin, opened in May 2021 and closed in December 2024; the studio never released a game.

At The Game Awards, the future of Tomb Raider was revealed in the form of two new games, and a new actor, Alix Wilton Regan, taking over the role of Lara Croft. Now, Camilla Luddington--who voiced Lara in the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider--has shared her farewell to Lara as well as a nod to her successor.

In a post on her Instagram account, Luddington thanked Tomb Raider fans for their support and sent Wilton her best wishes.

"To join the list of Lara Crofts before me was an incredible honor and she will forever be a part of me," wrote Luddington. "The Survivor Trilogy was a decade of adventure I will never ever forget. I could not be prouder of what we created. And as always, a new actress receives this incredible gift to step into the boots. So with that said, [Alix Wilton Regan], if you’re ever in need of a [crossbow], I know the exact spot to look for one at Croft Manor."

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic was one of the big highlights of The Game Awards last week, but will it launch before 2030? Game director Casey Hudson has stepped in to address these reports--which may stem from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier's speculation about when the game will be released--confirming that the spiritual successor to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic will arrive before the current decade is up.

"Don't worry about the 'not till 2030' rumors," Hudson wrote online. "Game will be out before then. I'm not getting any younger!"

There's no concrete release date yet for Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, and it's still very early days for the project. The reveal trailer at The Game Awards was a CGI teaser for the game--similar to how Quantic Dreams revealed Star Wars Eclipse at The Game Awards 2021--and the developer behind Fate of the Old Republic is Arcanaut Studios, a company founded by Hudson and his partners in July. While it's not impossible, properly staffing a new studio and developing a game expected to be a AAA Star Wars experience will be challenging.