Category: Video Gaming

Battlefield Studios has officially unveiled the first details of the Battlefield 6 battle royale mode, which was first announced in August at the game’s multiplayer reveal event. At the time, the developer didn’t confirm its official name, or really discuss any of its aspects.

It did announce, however, that the mode would be coming to Battlefield Labs, the community testing environment that’s been running in the background since February. That moment has now arrived.

In a blog post, the developer revealed some key, top-level goals for Battlefield 6’s battle royale mode. It still doesn’t officially have a name, but the post essentially makes it sound like a modern version of Battlefield 5’s Firestorm battle royale mode, with some features from Call of Duty: Warzone.

Destruction will play a key role in the mode, of course, but you can also expect many of the core game’s gadgets and vehicles to be present – including ways to acquire armored vehicles for late-game situations.

Anyone who played games like PUBG, Apex Legends, or Fortnite should be very familiar with how it’s going to flow. The post confirms respawn mechanics, for instance.

That said, this iteration comes with its own interesting twists on the battle royale formula. For one, classes from the multiplayer side will be present here, with one example being the Support’s ability to revive downed teammates.

Indeed, classes in general will play a larger role than you might expect. Each member of the squad gets to choose the class they’re going to play as, just like traditional multiplayer. These choices cannot be changed after the match has begun.

Each player starts the match with two gadgets from their class, and they’re able to level up during the match to unlock new Traits (like faster armor plate equip speed) for use within the same match. Throughout the game, there’ll be ways to earn XP, such missions with a variety of goals.

Battlefield 6’s BR mode will, of course, feature an ever-encroaching ring of fire that gradually makes the playable area smaller and smaller. Unlike most BR games, however, this one will instantly kill anyone caught outside of it, eliminating any out-of-ring play.

Ground loot is present, split across five tiers of rarities. Attachments appear to be separate lootable items this time around, which is an interesting change. Outside of other, expected items, you’ll also come across Strike Packages, which are effectively killstreaks.

Unfortunately, the mode will also allow players to bring in custom weapons from multiplayer, which can be called in using an item found in loot chests and on the ground.

This particular test will focus only on four-player squads, with a maximum of 100 players in each match. It’s not clear how high the player count is going to be in the final version, but 100 is within expectations for BR modes.

Battlefield Studios promised to return later to share more after feedback has been collected, and it’s certainly going to be interesting to see how players respond to some of that.

After ghosting fans in 2024 by cancelling FM25, Football Manager is finally back in the game. FM26 has a confirmed release date of November 4, 2025, and yes, you can already preorder it.

If obsessing over player stats on your commute sounds like heaven, FM26 Touch also lands on Switch December 4, while FM26 Mobile arrives on Netflix, meaning you can now play Football Manager on the same app you binge Squid Game (yay?).

Where to Preorder Football Manager 26

With a career record of 113 losses and no wins, racehorse Haru Urara became an unintentional pop culture icon in Japan and beyond. The beloved race-losing horse inspired one of Umamusume: Pretty Derby‘s horse-girl characters, and her death this week has been marked by many well beyond the racing sphere.

After making her debut in 1998, racehorse Haru Urara became famous for her reliable losing streak, becoming a household name across Japan and for some a kind of patron deity for losers who nevertheless refuse to give up.

Haru Urara lends her name and trademark losing streak to one of the characters in Umamusume: Pretty Derby, a game and anime franchise centered around anthropomorphised horse-girls who double as racers and idols. Though the racehorse Haru Urara retired in 2006, the Umamusume character made more people aware of her quirky background, with the anime and game seeing a trend of fans coming to visit the horse where she was spending her retirement at Matha Farm.

Haru Urara died at the age of 29, Eurogamer reports, but her legacy will live on in the form of an unlucky but endlessly positive anime horse girl in a surprisingly popular gacha game.

Umamusume was first announced as a gacha game back in 2016, but due to delays the anime adaptation released first in 2018. While the free-to-play game was released in Japan in 2021, it didn’t see a release outside of Asia until June this year. Umamusume’s worldwide Steam release proved popular with gamers, with the game hitting a peak of over 87,000 concurrent players in its first month of release. The game is also available globally on iOS and Android.

This month, step into the ring and dominate the squared circle in WWE 2K25, lead the Phantom Thieves in a new turn-based strategy adventure in Persona 5 Tactica, survive the unforgiving wilderness of the Amazonian jungle in Green Hell, or partake in a Holy Grail War set in Edo Japan in Fate/Samurai Remnant.

Meanwhile, Legacy of Kain: Defiance brings vampiric action-adventure to PlayStation Plus Deluxe.  

PlayStation Plus Extra and Deluxe | Game Catalog 

WWE 2K25 | PS5, PS4 

“The Wiseman” Paul Heyman hosts The Bloodline’s Dynasty, a new 2K Showcase celebrating one of the most historic family dynasties in wrestling. Relive legendary showdowns and create dream matches between The Bloodline and WWE Superstars and Legends. Intergender wrestling makes its long-awaited WWE 2K debut, alongside the return of chain wrestling, Underground and Bloodline Rules match types, barricade diving and more. Take control of your Superstar from the women’s or men’s divisions in a singular multi-gender MyRISE storyline where WWE Superstars infiltrate NXT and attempt to take control of the WWE universe. Discover new brawl environments, unlockable arenas, characters, ally storylines and more. 

* WWE 2K25 is releasing  on September 16.

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Persona 5 Tactica | PS5, PS4 

Persona 5 Tactica is a turn-based strategy game, featuring an all-new story, the return of fan-favourite characters and brand-new allies and foes. After a strange incident, the Phantom Thieves wander into a bizarre realm where its citizens are living under tyrannical oppression. Surrounded by a military group named Legionnaires, they find themselves in grave danger until a mysterious revolutionary named Erina rescues them and offers an enticing deal in exchange for their help. What truth lies behind Erina and the deal she offers to the Phantom Thieves? Join the group as they lead an emotional revolution in this thrilling combat adventure.

*Persona 5 Tactica is releasing on September 16 (except for Thailand). 

View and download image

Green Hell | PS5, PS4 

Green Hell is an Open World Survival Simulator set in the unique and uncharted setting of the Amazonian rainforest. Plunge into the open world survival simulation set in the extreme conditions of the unforgiving Amazon jungle. Use real-life survival techniques to craft, hunt, fight, and gather resources. Build a makeshift shelter or raise a fortress, but always remember to tend to your wounds and maintain mental health. Survive on your own, or try your chances in an up-to-4-player online co-op mode. 

*Green Hell is releasing in Singapore on September 30 and on September 16 in other Southeast Asia markets. 

View and download image

Fate/Samurai Remnant | PS5, PS4 

“Your wish shall perish…” A Holy Grail War begins in Edo Japan. The curtain rises on a new Fate, an action RPG presented by Type-Moon and Koei Tecmo Games. The 4th year of the Keian Era, Edo Period. It has been several decades since the end of a turbulent, blood-soaked era. People were enjoying peace and tranquility, but a battle between seven pairs of Masters and Servants is about to begin as the “Waxing Moon Ritual” unfolds in the shadows. Miyamoto Iori, a young man in Asakusa, finds himself caught in the violence of a Holy Grail War. 

* Fate/Samurai Remnant is releasing on September 16

View and download image

Crow Country | PS5, PS4 

The creators of celebrated point-and-click murder mystery Tangle Tower return with a retro-inspired survival horror set in an abandoned theme park. The year is 1990 and Edward Crow, the owner of the Crow Country theme park, is missing. Two years after he suddenly closed his park, a mysterious young woman called Mara Forest arrives to explore the abandoned property and find its lost owner. Why did Crow really shut down Crow Country and what is Mara Forest’s connection to him? 

*Crow Country is releasing in Singapore on September 30 and on September 16 in other Southeast Asia markets. 

View and download image

The Invincible | PS5 

You are a highly qualified, sharp-witted astrobiologist named Yasna. Being entangled in a space race, you and your crew end up on the unexplored planet Regis III. The scientific journey quickly turns into a search mission for lost crewmates. Follow its trail, but be fully aware that every decision you make can bring you closer to danger. On her journey, Yasna will face decisions that will shape the outcome of the story. Help her make difficult choices and witness one of 11 possible endings to the deeply philosophical story. 

*The Invincible is releasing in Singapore on September 30 and on September 16 in other Southeast Asia markets. 

View and download image

Conscript | PS5 

Conscript is a survival horror game inspired by classics of the genre, blending all the punishing mechanics of older horror games into a cohesive, tense, and unique experience. Set in 1916 during the Great War, you play as a French soldier searching for his missing-in-action brother during the Battle of Verdun. Will you be able to search twisted trenches, navigate overrun forts, and cross no-mans-land to find him, and ensure a home goes unbroken? Survive in an intense, harrowing atmosphere boosted by a unique pixel art aesthetic and oppressive sound design. Navigate intricate level design that promotes item management and route planning, whilst solving complex environmental puzzles. 

*Conscript is releasing in Singapore on September 30 and on September 16 in other Southeast Asia markets. 

PlayStation Plus Deluxe

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Legacy of Kain: Defiance | PS5, PS4

Continue Kain and Raziel’s epic conflict in this faithful emulation of the classic PS2 action-adventure title, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, playable on PS4 and PS5 for the first time. Take control of two powerful and highly evolved vampires: Kain, Emperor of Nosgoth and near-demigod, and Raziel, a wraithlike angel of death. Each equipped with their own legendary sword, Kain & Raziel must battle through a world poisoned by conflict and intrigue as they attempt to unravel their destinies and defeat the dark forces that seek to condemn their world to eternal damnation.

* Legacy of Kain: Defiance is releasing on September 16

*PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and PlayStation Plus Deluxe lineups may differ by region. Please check PlayStation Store on release day.

Silksong is famously stingy when it comes to its chief currency, especially in the first third of the game. After about five hours you’ll probably find that you don’t have enough money to unlock fast travel points and benches, let alone buy all of Shakra’s maps, let alone buy that Simple Key back at Bone Bottom. I found myself in that situation by the time I hit Greymoor, but after a while I realised there’s a brilliantly lucrative farming spot just nearby that you can exploit endlessly.

Not only that but I’m pretty sure this was designed to be a farming spot, because there’s a bench within 10 seconds of a mob of zealots who drop around 29 rosaries per run. That means you’re looking at around 60 rosaries per minute, or around 300 per five minutes.

You’ll need to head to the Halfway Home (see the map above), which is conveniently close to the Greymoor Bellway station. Just hop up there, rest on the bench inside the Halfway Home, and then move two screens right. You’ll see these guys:

Whack them. Have no mercy. Then run back to the bench, rest, and they’ll respawn. Go whack ’em again. Rinse repeat. Every couple of runs your silk spear will replenish too, which will make whacking them much faster.

You want an Assassin’s Creed Shadows update? You’ve got an Assassin’s Creed Shadows update! Well, you will tomorrow, September 11th anyway, but Ubisoft did release the patch notes for the action game in any case. Here’s what you can expect for the Assassin’s Creed Shadows 1.1.1 title update! First up is the fact that the game will be ready for its first expansion, Claws of Awaji, which is due out next week, September 16th. The level cap is also being raised to 100 to account for the expansion!

For everyone who won’t be picking up the expansion, there is a new free story quest, Go With The Bo. Here you’ll join Junjiro as he sets out to meet a legendary Bo master and a new weapon that Naoe can use, the Bo staff. There’s also new hideout upgrades, including two more upgrade levels, 20 new enhancements, and three new Hideout levels. Upgrading the Nando to level two will now give you the ability to meditate and move the time forward to the next six o’clock, AM or PM.

If you upgrade the study to level four, scouts will now have the ability to reveal viewpoints and safehouses, and with upgrading the Kakurega to the same level, uncovering all viewpoints within a province reveals it completely.

There are two new gear quality tiers that you can upgrade your kit to if you’ve got your forge to level six, called mythic and artifact. “Once an item reaches a new quality, it can be further upgraded through eight additional levels to unlock its full potential,” the patch notes explain.

Ubisoft still can’t seem to let go of Ezio either, as in the Animus Hub there are some fresh rewards for a new project called Sanctuary. These include Ezio’s outfit, Ezio’s outfit but for a cat, an Ezio-themed kusarigama, and a Charm of Firenze trinket.

There are also new anomalies to be found in Awaji if you own the expansion, and cutscenes are no longer limited to 30 FPS. You’ll also find a number of other fixes and tweaks, but you can read the full patch notes to learn about those small details.

GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Acclaim is back in action!

Fate of the Fellowship recounts the struggle of the Fellowship trying to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, with 1 to 5 players taking up the cloaks of various members of the Fellowship and their allies. Turns are spent maneuvering friendly forces and characters around Middle-earth, completing missions, halting the forces of Sauron, and inching Frodo and Sam closer to Mount Doom.

Before the game begins, players choose two characters to control from the impressive roster of 10 possible heroes, including the likes of the King himself, Argorn, the rest of the Fellowship, and elves Eowyn or Arwen. Each character comes with their own player card detailing their special abilities and starting location, where you place the screen-printed wooden meeples.

Some characters help more with movement, such as Gandalf being able to move double the spaces when traveling alone. Others, like Eowyn, are better suited to being hurled into combat, letting her permanently remove Nazghul from the game board. Being able to play to each of the available heroes’ strengths is a big factor in determining if you manage to chuck that annoying piece of metal into the volcano or not.

The players’ goal is to complete three randomly assigned objectives before finally getting Frodo to Mt. Doom to destroy the ring – a pretty straightforward goal. In order to avoid defeat, everyone has to work together to keep Frodo hidden, and to stop the dark forces from overtaking too many safe havens around Middle-earth, like Rivendell.

You lose when the Hope track hits zero. A number of situations cause your hope to lower, including havens falling to shadow, Frodo being spotted, or when you need to draw a player card but there aren’t any left. There are ways to gain Hope, but those opportunities are far fewer, including capturing a shadow stronghold and some objective rewards. This tug-of-war is always present and sometimes requires you to make hard decisions, such as drawing the eye away from the region Frodo is in at the cost of risking friendly army units in an encounter skewed in favor of the shadow.

When it comes to taking actions, Fate adds some additional elements and requirements that can limit what you can do on your turn. You can take four actions with a character. These include preparatory actions like Travel (moving your character), Muster (adding friendly army units), Fellowship (giving or taking a card from another player), and Prepare (exchanging one of your cards for its associated resource – more on this in a moment). You can also Attack (engage enemies with friendly army units), or Capture (take over/retake a stronghold of an enemy).

Since each player controls two characters, in a pretty creative move, everyone is able to take a single action as their other character, too, in addition to their primary character for that turn, who can take up to four. There are some restrictions present, such as not being able to split up your turns (i.e. take two actions with your main character, your single action with your secondary, and finish with the remaining two actions with your primary) but I do enjoy how this lets you have your hand in two places anywhere on the board at once. And you choose which of your characters is the primary each turn, so you are never locked in either.

While in the original Pandemic game, you have to turn in a set of similar colored cards to cure a virus, this concept of using resources to conduct an action has been expanded in Fate, with many of your actions requiring, at least in part, one of four different resources to do. Player cards feature one of these icons and can be played as that resource’s cost, such as Friendship being spent to Muster new forces or Valor for Attack.

Debatably, the most important of these resources are the Stealth and Resistance ones that have a more direct hand in whether or not you will fail or succeed in the game. Spending Stealth cards allows Frodo’s player to move him without causing a search by Sauron and removing the risk of losing hope. The Resistance resource not only lets you re-roll dice, but you MUST spend five of these even to attempt to throw the ring into Mt. Doom to win.

My feelings on these added action requirements are split. While I appreciate the added strategy and thematic component they bring to Fate of the Fellowship, it also shifts the game more into the realm of randomness. When you have what you need or can get it on your turn, pulling off big plays feels awesome. However, if you don’t, it can lead to some pretty lackluster turns, especially when I or my friends have little we can do to impact our odds of winning. Moments like these just didn’t feel good, since regardless of how much or how little you manage to do on your turn, you still need to draw from the Darkness deck, which could make things worse for the good guys instead. Thankfully, though, I would say that these sorts of turns only come about every so often, and I felt far more productive most of the time, and that my decisions made a difference.

My plays of Fate of the Fellowship were full of tense moments, dramatic victories, and risky plays that sometimes paid off in spades and other times brought about cataclysmic failure. When the countdown begins closing out 2025, I have little doubt that Fate of the Fellowship will have delivered one of the best gaming moments of my year.

As a hail-mary, last-ditch attempt at victory, we flew Frodo straight to Mt. Doom on the backs of the giant eagles using a special event card one of us had drawn. Doing so not only caused every Nazgul to rush back along with the Eye of Sauron directly on him, but we also needed to roll 14 dice and cross our fingers our hope track could withstand it. The first roll of seven dice put us dangerously close to losing all hope, and all that stood between the Fellowship and seven more dice.

Unfortunately, the results of those seven dice resulted in an outcome that dropped our hope to zero. Or at least it would have, had Tom Bombadil (or at least his event card) not come in to save the day. After slamming it down, I was able to re-roll three of the search dice, with a brand new result keeping our hope alive. The Fellowship and free peoples of Middle-earth had done it! The hype we felt at that moment was real.

17 years separate the original Pandemic and Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, and this latest adaptation of Matt Leacock’s system proves that its bones are still solid. Fate of the Fellowship expands and grows what has already proven to work, delivering a challenging yet rewarding cooperative experience.

It isn’t a title that I want to recommend for people looking to get into board games, thanks to the added mechanisms and heavier reliance on chance compared to Pandemic. Plus there’s the occasional turn where you are left just waiting and hoping to get what you need. Still, it’s a game I would quickly bring to the table with players who enjoy Pandemic already and are more receptive to heavier board games. The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is hands-down one of the best Lord of the Rings and Pandemic games on the market right now, and proves that Gandalf meant to literally fly to Mt. Doom when he said “Fly, you fools!”.

At Sony Interactive Entertainment, we’re committed to providing safe play for gamers of all ages, including enhancing ways for parents to manage their children’s gaming experience. This includes the current parental control features available on the PS5 and PS4 console, such as playtime settings and age restriction settings for games. Today, we’re pleased to announce our next step in this commitment with PlayStation Family, a new dedicated parental control mobile app available on iOS and Android devices*. PlayStation Family app will be launching around the world starting today.

PlayStation Family app is a new experience to help parents set up and manage their children’s gaming experience on PlayStation – straight from their supported mobile device. The app includes a number of new customizable features for parents to manage their children’s playtime, including an activity report, more visibility into what their children are playing, and approving extra playtime requests  –  all at the tap of a finger. 

Here’s a look at the features from PlayStation Family app:

Guided Onboarding – Enjoy a thoughtfully guided experience setting up a child account easily with PlayStation Family app. 

Real-Time Notifications – Get notified what game a child is playing in real time. Approve or decline a child’s requests for extra playtime, restricted games, and communicate from a mobile device – you have the final say.

Activity Reports – Review daily and weekly activity reports at a glance. Parents can see up-to-date information about a child’s playtime and activity. 

Manage Playtime – Set playtime limits for each day of the week. Children can enjoy more flexibility by requesting additional playtime from the console, while parents can approve or decline their requests from a phone or tablet.

Manage Spending – Manage spending activity by adding funds, viewing balances, and setting a monthly spending limit for a child to buy content from the PlayStation Store.

Content Filters – Choose and configure age appropriate content with a tap of a button. We’ve included presets that automatically apply recommended settings for different age groups, and every setting can also be customized individually to best suit each child.

Social Interactions-  Customize privacy settings and how your children connect and play. Manage access to social features.

PlayStation Family app is available for download on the App Store and Google Play in most markets starting today.

We’re excited to bring an easy way for parents to manage their children’s gaming directly from their mobile devices. This is just the beginning with our new mobile app – we’ll plan to continue adding enhancements to PlayStation Family app to evolve the experience over time. We hope you’ll enjoy it and we look forward to your feedback.   

*PlayStation Family app is compatible with iOS version 14 and Android 8 or higher.

This month, step into the ring and dominate the squared circle in WWE 2K25, lead the Phantom Thieves in a new turn-based strategy adventure in Persona 5 Tactica, survive the unforgiving wilderness of the Amazonian jungle in Green Hell, or partake in a Holy Grail War set in Edo Japan in Fate/Samurai Remnant. All these titles and more will be available Tuesday, September 16 in this month’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalog lineup*.

Meanwhile, Legacy of Kain: Defiance brings vampiric action-adventure to PlayStation Plus Premium.  

PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium | Game Catalog 

View and download image

WWE 2K25 | PS5, PS4 

“The Wiseman” Paul Heyman hosts The Bloodline’s Dynasty, a new 2K Showcase celebrating one of the most historic family dynasties in wrestling. Relive legendary showdowns and create dream matches between The Bloodline and WWE Superstars and Legends. Intergender wrestling makes its long-awaited WWE 2K debut, alongside the return of chain wrestling, Underground and Bloodline Rules match types, barricade diving and more. Take control of your Superstar from the women’s or men’s divisions in a singular multi-gender MyRISE storyline where WWE Superstars infiltrate NXT and attempt to take control of the WWE universe. Discover new brawl environments, unlockable arenas, characters, ally storylines and more. 

*Both PS4 and PS5 versions of WWE 2K25 will be download only

View and download image

Persona 5 Tactica | PS5, PS4 

Persona 5 Tactica is a turn-based strategy game, featuring an all-new story, the return of fan-favourite characters and brand-new allies and foes. After a strange incident, the Phantom Thieves wander into a bizarre realm where its citizens are living under tyrannical oppression. Surrounded by a military group named Legionnaires, they find themselves in grave danger until a mysterious revolutionary named Erina rescues them and offers an enticing deal in exchange for their help. What truth lies behind Erina and the deal she offers to the Phantom Thieves? Join the group as they lead an emotional revolution in this thrilling combat adventure.

View and download image

Green Hell | PS5, PS4 

Green Hell is an Open World Survival Simulator set in the unique and uncharted setting of the Amazonian rainforest. Plunge into the open world survival simulation set in the extreme conditions of the unforgiving Amazon jungle. Use real-life survival techniques to craft, hunt, fight, and gather resources. Build a makeshift shelter or raise a fortress, but always remember to tend to your wounds and maintain mental health. Survive on your own, or try your chances in an up-to-4-player online co-op mode. 

View and download image

Fate/Samurai Remnant | PS5, PS4 

“Your wish shall perish…” A Holy Grail War begins in Edo Japan. The curtain rises on a new Fate, an action RPG presented by Type-Moon and Koei Tecmo Games. The 4th year of the Keian Era, Edo Period. It has been several decades since the end of a turbulent, blood-soaked era. People were enjoying peace and tranquility, but a battle between seven pairs of Masters and Servants is about to begin as the “Waxing Moon Ritual” unfolds in the shadows. Miyamoto Iori, a young man in Asakusa, finds himself caught in the violence of a Holy Grail War. 

View and download image

Crow Country | PS5, PS4 

The creators of celebrated point-and-click murder mystery Tangle Tower return with a retro-inspired survival horror set in an abandoned theme park. The year is 1990 and Edward Crow, the owner of the Crow Country theme park, is missing. Two years after he suddenly closed his park, a mysterious young woman called Mara Forest arrives to explore the abandoned property and find its lost owner. Why did Crow really shut down Crow Country and what is Mara Forest’s connection to him? 

View and download image

The Invincible | PS5 

You are a highly qualified, sharp-witted astrobiologist named Yasna. Being entangled in a space race, you and your crew end up on the unexplored planet Regis III. The scientific journey quickly turns into a search mission for lost crewmates. Follow its trail, but be fully aware that every decision you make can bring you closer to danger. On her journey, Yasna will face decisions that will shape the outcome of the story. Help her make difficult choices and witness one of 11 possible endings to the deeply philosophical story. 

View and download image

Conscript | PS5 

Conscript is a survival horror game inspired by classics of the genre, blending all the punishing mechanics of older horror games into a cohesive, tense, and unique experience. Set in 1916 during the Great War, you play as a French soldier searching for his missing-in-action brother during the Battle of Verdun. Will you be able to search twisted trenches, navigate overrun forts, and cross no-mans-land to find him, and ensure a home goes unbroken? Survive in an intense, harrowing atmosphere boosted by a unique pixel art aesthetic and oppressive sound design. Navigate intricate level design that promotes item management and route planning, whilst solving complex environmental puzzles. 

 
PlayStation Plus Premium 

View and download image

Legacy of Kain: Defiance | PS5, PS4

Continue Kain and Raziel’s epic conflict in this faithful emulation of the classic PS2 action-adventure title, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, playable on PS4 and PS5 for the first time. Take control of two powerful and highly evolved vampires: Kain, Emperor of Nosgoth and near-demigod, and Raziel, a wraithlike angel of death. Each equipped with their own legendary sword, Kain & Raziel must battle through a world poisoned by conflict and intrigue as they attempt to unravel their destinies and defeat the dark forces that seek to condemn their world to eternal damnation.
 

*PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe lineups may differ by region. Please check PlayStation Store on release day. 

There’s a very specific moment in Little Nightmares III that encapsulates the game so perfectly that it sticks with me long after I’ve finished my hands-on. Bandai Namco’s demo, ahead of the game’s PS5 and PS4 release on October 10, knew exactly what it was doing.

Picture the scene: I’ve assumed the pigtailed Alone, partner to the raven-masked Low, who is controlled by Bandai Namco’s Global Project Manager Lina Chaghouri. About 40 minutes in, we’re trapped in a shadow-soaked room containing an eerily unmoving man lying in a magician’s box – the type that typically has the magician sawn in half but still miraculously remains whole at the end of the performance. Our only way out? Via an exit too high to reach.

After a minute, I realise that the body’s exposed feet act as a handle. Grim. So I guide Alone over to it and pull. With Lina’s help, the box eventually splits into two, but so does the man. His entrails messily leak out as we guide the box to the end of the room so we can escape. It’s macabre, darkly humorous, and demonstrates the essential co-operation that makes Little Nightmares III so wonderfully compelling.

Expanding from Little Nightmares II

It also happens to be a favourite moment of Coralie Feniello, Bandai Namco’s Global Producer on the game. “In concept, it’s quite simple – pulling, pushing, picking up stuff are all tactile actions that make you feel like a child in that world. And this one is just pulling two boxes, but the setup and the setting of the place makes it memorable. I love having the player do something which is kind of immoral, but it’s the only way for them to get out of a situation.”

Fans of the popular horror puzzle platformer series will find these sorts of gruesome scenarios familiar. But what separates Little Nightmares III – thankfully without the entrails – from its siblings is the game’s focus on co-op play. While Little Nightmares II eventually allowed you to journey with an AI companion, its sequel not only has this feature from the start but also lets a second player control either Low or Alone, as a fully-fledged two-player game.

“We learned things from Little Nightmares II and did a lot of playtests,” reveals Coralie. “We basically had to design the game three times, including adding things like cute flavour animations that are specific to single player. We started by designing the multiplayer first, because we wanted to make sure that the AI would behave like a human player. And through every playtest we’ve done, we’ve been checking the player’s enjoyment.”

Balancing horror with a friend

Chances are, another frightening thought might now be creeping into your head – does the addition of human co-op diminish the scares? “Maintaining horror during co-op can be complicated and was something we thought about a lot at the beginning of development,” says Coralie. “Supermassive Games has been doing multiplayer on the Dark Pictures Anthology for years now, and so it was good for us to work with them on that aspect.

“From early playtests, we found that it was fine, and actually created a different type of atmosphere. Sometimes you’ll have players who will get scared because the other player is scared, out of empathy. You’ll also share laughs and experience a wider range of emotions, but I don’t think it’s breaking the scariness.”

This tallied with my experience, where the presence of another player created a co-dependency that brought its own sense of dread. Little Nightmares III is driven not just by its creaking, rain-swept, and murky atmosphere but also by tense set pieces where poor collaboration leads to a speedy death. The enemies in the Carnevale demo, both misshapen and grotesque giants and terrifyingly quick puppets, caught Lina and I lacking many times.

Sometimes it was because I wasn’t quick enough to smash the decapitated skulls that Lina shot off as the headless puppets stalked her. Another time was an elaborate multi-tiered hide and seek section, which required us to sneak around a kitchen while a giant fed the guts of a corpse to his screaming puppet child. We needed to grab a crank while they were distracted, and I either was too slow to grab it or to find a hiding space after snatching it, resulting in a swift end. I’m used to stomaching my own mistakes, but the pressure to ensure my partner didn’t suffer from my slights only added to the tension.  

“What’s interesting is that things sometimes take longer to solve in multiplayer,” says Coralie. “You’d think that having two brains makes you go faster, but instead you fight or discuss. It’s not necessarily easier to solve a puzzle.”

The power of visual storytelling

Despite its intimidating rooms of sudden lightning flashes, rabid chattering puppets, and unidentified things being beaten like a piñata, there are plenty of other, less horrifying moments in Little Nightmares III that rely on fun cooperation. During my time, we hoisted each other up to platforms, repeatedly jumped on a stubborn trapdoor to break through it, and one part had Low open a furnace hatch in order for me to throw coal into it, which activated platforms for us to proceed.

A reliance on each other and keenly observing the environment was essential to staying alive, given that the series’ creative choice of keeping its characters mostly voiceless is continued here. “That was quite complicated when conveying moments of the story,” says Coralie. “So we put more elements into the environment instead of having a lot of cutscenes.”

It’s a design philosophy extended to the creation of its characters, too. “We always start with a shape,” explains Coralie. “So pigtails for Alone, and the beak for Low. Then you really need also to have some bright colors like the blue cape and green jumpsuit, because that’s super important in a dark environment, but that’s a core pillar of what we call a ‘charming horror’ game, where the children are a ray of hope in it all.”

It’s essential to hang on to that hope when you’re surrounded by terrifying, wide-eyed puppets that lurk and loom. You and a friend will be able to see for yourself when Little Nightmares III launches on October 10.

Less than one week on from the reveal trailer of The Sims 4’s next major expansion, Adventure Awaits, we’ve got a date with a look at actual gameplay. EA likes to do this a lot with The Sims; tease/reveal an expansion a week or so before showing off gameplay.

Today’s gameplay trailer will be going live on YouTube, and we’re here to help you watch it.

The new Adventure Awaits gameplay trailer today airs at 8am PT, 11am ET, 4pm UK on The Sims’ official YouTube channel. We’ve also embedded it below for your convenience.

Adventure Awaits, which arrives October 2, is another expansion whose themes the community accurately predicted. If you’ve seen the reveal trailer, you’ll know the expansion is all about leaving your home to go on different kinds of vacations.

Through the new Getaway system, you’ll be able to travel to beach-themed locations, camp in the woods, design a fitness retreat, create a Survivor-eqsque competition of reality TV challenges and more.

Adventure Awaits lets you create custom venues that you can share with other players, and there are two new locations that those creations can be based on, Camp Gibbi Gibbi, and Love Highland.

We’ll be back soon with more on Adventure Awaits.

Things haven’t been going well in the world of Diablo 4. Everyone pretty much knows that, but it’s especially weird when Blizzard can be seen has having given up itself. In August, the studio took the very unusual step of announcing the game’s next PTR (Public Test Realm) via… a Discord Q&A.

That’s the 2.4.0. PTR, containing much of the Season of Infernal Chaos content, which would typically be enough of a big deal to warrant multiple developer livestreams. The PTR has come and gone, and we’re now under two weeks away from the start of the game’s next season, so now we’re getting a developer livestream.

Blizzard announced that the next Developer Update livestream will take place on Tuesday, September 16. You’ll note that this is not the less structured, more casual Campfire Chat, which is about as good of a sign as we can get.

The show kicks off at the usual times – 11am PT, 2pm ET, 7pm UK – and will serve as the last preview of Season of Infernal Chaos, Diablo 4’s 10th season. We expect the new season to kick off September 23, so there’s just about enough time to start building excitement.

As always, there’s going to be a panel of developers who will guide us through the big new content additions, and what’s changed from the season’s 2.4.0. PTR (held in August). The livestream announcement namedropped Chaos Armor, Chaos Rifts and the updated Infernal Hordes among the topics we can expect to see discussed.

There’s going to be a Q&A segment at the end, too, as usual. What is changing is the format of the livestream itself. Blizzard didn’t say what form it’s going to now take, so we’ll have to tune in next week to see for ourselves.

We’ll be able to do so via Diablo’s official channels on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and TikTok. And, Blizzard is throwing in a free cosmetic – the Fusillader’s Arc Rogue Crossbow – if you watch any Diablo 4 livestream on Twitch for 30 minutes while the Developer Update is live.

Season 10 is the last announced season on the Diablo 4 2025 roadmap, which was revealed in April. It’s going to take us all the way to December, so that’s pretty much it for Diablo 4 seasons in 2025. Apart from the next IP collaboration taking place in the season, Blizzard really has its work cut out for it to make a case for Infernal Chaos, because Season 9 has been a major letdown.