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Tag: PS5

  • Relooted, Reanimal and other new indie games worth checking out

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    Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game space. A whole bunch of compelling games arrived this week, and Sony dropped some news about more that are on the way to PS5 and other platforms during its State of Play stream on Thursday.

    For one thing, I didn’t have a prequel for Neva, one of my favorite games of the last few years on my bingo card. I’m very much looking forward to checking out that DLC next week.

    It’s really neat that Motion Twin and Evil Empire — the studios behind Dead Cells and its expansions, respectively — are getting to make a proper Castlevania game. While it might not be developing many games in-house anymore, giving external studios the chance to run with its franchises is a very smart move on Konami’s part. Not least because we’re getting a Silent Hill game set in Scotland as well.

    I’ve had Big Walk on my radar since the game was first shown off at The Game Awards a couple of years back. This is a co-op multiplayer game from Untitled Goose Game studio House House and publisher Panic in which you’ll go on adventures with your friends and help each other through puzzles and other challenges using voice, text chat and gestures. You can just hang out with your buds and watch the sunset or put their binoculars into the ocean too.

    Expect Big Walk to arrive later this year on PS5 (including as a Monthly Game for all PS Plus members), Steam and Epic Games Store. There will be support for cross-platform play between PS5 and PC.

    Also, Remedy Entertainment is technically an indie studio. As such, I can mention here that I cannot wait for Control Resonant, which is probably going to break my brain with all the perspective shifting Remedy showed off in the gameplay trailer.

    New releases

    As with any successful heist, planning and execution are equally paramount in Relooted. Setting things up properly before hightailing it out of a museum with artifacts reminds me a bit of Teardown albeit without all the voxel destruction. But Relooted is a lot more than that.

    It’s an anti-colonialist story in which parkour enthusiast Nomali and her crew take back African artifacts (all of which exist in real life) from Western museums. I did encounter some performance issues while playing on PC, but that didn’t take too much away from the enjoyable, in-the-moment action and having to adjust escape routes on the fly when things go awry. Nor did the framerate drops detract one bit from the important story that South African studio Nyamakop is telling here.

    Relooted is out now on Steam, Epic Games Store and Xbox Series X/S. It typically costs $15, but there’s a 10 percent discount on Steam until February 24. It’s available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

    Little Nightmares and Little Nightmares 2 developer Tarsier Studios is back with another slice of atmospheric horror. In Reanimal, two siblings set out to save their missing friends and escape from an island they once called home. However, they’ll have to face a litany of dangers, including a lot of creepy creatures.

    I haven’t played Reanimal yet, but the various trailers have have always grabbed my attention. It’s out now on Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2 for $40.

    Reanimal has single-player, couch co-op and online co-op modes. A friend pass that allows you to invite a pal to play with you online at no extra cost should be available soon.

    Mewgenics had been in the works for a very long time before it arrived this week. It was initially announced in 2012 when co-developer Edmund McMillen was still part of Super Meat Boy studio Team Meat. After years of Mewgenics being in development hell amid McMillen focusing on projects such as The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, he’s finally seen the game through with the help of longtime collaborator Tyler Glaiel.

    This is a turn-based strategy roguelike in which players breed cats and then take kitties with wild mutations and blends of powers into combat. There’s a lot to explore and discover here. McMillen and Glaiel claim the main campaign runs for over 200 hours. Having more than 10 character classes (each with 75 unique abilities), more than 900 items and hundreds of bosses and enemies could well ensure that things stay fresh enough to justify that run time.

    Reviews have largely been positive for this one, though the humor didn’t click for some critics. Mewgenics is out now on Steam. It usually costs $30, but you can save $3 if you buy it by February 24.

    Rogue Point is a co-op shooter for up to four players that’s worth paying attention to, in large part because it’s from the team behind Black Mesa, the fan remake of Half-Life. It’s now available in early access on Steam, typically for $20, though there’s a 15 percent discount until February 26.

    This appears to be in the vein of tactical shooters like Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy games. There are objective-based missions and a Counter-Strike-style economy for unlocking and upgrading gear. While there are only four maps as things stand, Crowbar Collective has implemented a system that randomizes the layouts to keep things fresh.

    Upcoming

    Steam Next Fest is almost upon us. Many developers and publishers are preparing to release demos for their games, but some are arriving ahead of the event, such as one for Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! The demo is a blast and it feels like the kind of retro Starship Troopers shooter I wish we’d had in the late ’90s.

    I really enjoy Helldivers 2, which takes a lot of inspiration from Starship Troopers. In turn, this game draws from Helldivers 2, with features like tossing a flare to tell a support craft to send gear down to the planet’s surface. I just wish the mech was a bit more fun and effective to use.

    If you would like to know more about this game from Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun developer Auroch Digital and publisher Dotemu, you can check out the demo on Steam. Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is coming to Steam, GOG, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2 on March 16.

    A demo for a line-based puzzle title called Rope popped up on Steam this week ahead of the full game’s arrival in April for about $3.50. The aim is to connect ropes of the same color to clear them. More rules will be introduced over time to make the game more challenging.

    While Rope looks charming enough, I mainly wanted to include it in this week’s roundup because I thought developer Ikuo’s comments in the press release were quite lovely.

    “My games are neither flashy nor extravagant. Instead, I focus on preserving the essence of play. Like hide‑and‑seek or tag — simple rules that draw you in until you forget the time,” Ikuo said. “Rope brings that timeless spirit of play into a modern puzzle game. It is intuitive, endlessly replayable and quietly absorbing. I aimed to create a small, understated experience that stays with players long after they put it down. I hope this game leaves even a small impression on someone’s heart.”

    The Mermaid Mask is a project that SFB Games put on the backburner after another one of their games became a hit (that would be Crow Country, which was one of our favorite games of 2024).

    This point-and-click puzzle game is the latest installment in the long-running Detective Grimoire series. A teaser trailer doesn’t give away too much, but I do enjoy what we see of the hand-drawn 2D animation here.

    Here’s hoping this is a worthy follow-up to Tangle Tower, an Apple Arcade game we enjoyed very much. We’ll find out for sure when The Mermaid Mask lands on PC and consoles this summer. In the meantime, you can check out an updated demo that just hit Steam ahead of Next Fest.

    The premise of The Stairwell is practically identical to that of The Exit 8. You walk through a small, contained scene multiple times. If everything looks okay, keep walking forward. If something is out of the ordinary, you turn around. Just try not to miss many anomalies. Rather than walk through corridors as in The Exit 8 (the film adaptation of which looks pretty promising), The Stairwell sees you going up or down a seemingly infinite tower as you try to reach the goal.

    This anomaly game, which is from Hidden Palace, has been on Steam since last year. It’s coming to PS5 on February 19. Expect jump scares.

    Let’s wrap things up for this week with an arcade game that requires just two inputs: one button to turn left, and another to veer right. You can’t control the speed of your craft in Ship v Maze. All you can do to avoid crashing and ending your run is to react quickly enough to steer your ship through various obstacles. It’s all about putting your reflexes to the test.

    Ship v Maze is from Cosmic Droplet (aka solo developer Frederic Vanmol), It’ll hit Steam on April 2 for $4. A demo is available now.

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    Kris Holt

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  • The PS Plus Game Catalog additions for February include Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

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    During its State of Play livestream on Thursday, Sony revealed the first PlayStation Plus Game Catalog addition for February and it’s a doozy. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (PS5) will finally websling its way onto the Game Catalog on February 17.

    Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was released in October 2023, and Insomniac’s third Spidey game is the the best of the bunch. You can play as both Peter Parker and his protégé Miles Morales. Each Spidey has his own skill tree and moveset to master.

    Traversing New York (with a lot more of it explorable than in previous entries) has never felt better thanks to the addition of the wingsuit, while the set pieces are frequently breathtaking. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 remains one of the PS5’s flagship games, and with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered and Miles Morales already on the Game Catalog, Extra and Premium subscribers can now play the whole series while they wait for Insomniac’s Wolverine game to arrive later this year.

    Sony later revealed the full PS Plus Game Catalog lineup for February on the PlayStation Blog. It includes Neva (PS4 and PS5), a stunning 2D platformer that’s pretty much an interactive fairytale. Engadget’s Jessica Conditt opened her review of the game by saying she had “absolutely nothing negative to say” about it, which is surely about as effusive as a recommendation can get. (A paid expansion that acts as a prequel is on the way next week too.)

    The other titles coming to the PS Plus Game Catalog on February 17 are:

    • Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown (PS5)

    • Season: A Letter to the Future (PS4 and PS5)

    • Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (PS4)

    • Monster Hunter Stories (PS4)

    • Echoes of the End: Enhanced Edition (PS5)

    PS Plus Premium members will have an extra game to play on PS4 and PS5 in the form of Disney Pixar Wall-E. This version was originally released in 2008 for the PlayStation 2.

    Looking further ahead, Tekken Dark Resurrection will be available to Premium subscribers in March. Premium members will be able to play the original Time Crisis on their PS5 with gyro controls in May, which sounds fun. Also, Big Walk, a multiplayer game from Untitled Goose Game developer House House, will be available on all three PS Plus tiers when it debuts later this year.

    Update February 12, 6:43PM ET: Added the full list of PS Plus Game Catalog titles for February.

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    Matt Tate,Kris Holt

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  • Kena 2 Looks Gorgeous And Ready To Fill The Horizon 3-Sized Hole In Our Hearts – Kotaku

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    During today’s first Sony State of Play of the year, Ember Labs and PlayStation announced Kena: Scars of Kosmora, an impressive-looking action-focused RPG that is coming to PlayStation 5 and PC sometime this year.

    Here’s the trailer for the newly announced game, which is a sequel to 2021’s Kena: Bridge of Spirits. 

    Here’s the official description of this awesome-looking Kena sequel that might just be the game Horizon fans need to hold them over until a proper Horizon 3 is revealed… one day.

    Kena, now an accomplished Spirit Guide, travels to the mysterious island of Kosmora seeking a cure for her affliction and to reconnect with a friend from her past. There, she is confronted by a powerful corruption that fractures her staff. Needing it to survive, Kena must accept Kosmora’s forgotten and dangerous form of Spirit Guiding that manipulates the elements. On her journey, Kena discovers and nurtures memorable spirit companions – whose powers she will harness to solve puzzles and defeat enemies using new elemental abilities.

    This time around in Kena: Scars of Kosmora, Ember Labs has partnered up with PlayStation Studios, which has allowed the team to craft an “even larger world” than what was found in the first game, with more distinct regions.

    “We’re super excited to share more in the future and can’t wait for you to get your hands on what we’ve been crafting. The reception for Bridge of Spirits was humbling, and we hope to deliver on what everyone loved about the first game and more,” said Ember co-founder Josh Grier in a PlayStation Blog post.

    No specific date for Kena: Scars of Kosmora has been revealed, but the game is set to arrive on PC and PS5 sometime later this year.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • The best SSDs for PS5 in 2026

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    Storage fills up fast on a PS5, especially when a single game can take up as much space as an entire last-gen library. Adding moreSSD space is the easiest way to stop playing Tetris with your installs, and once it is set up, your console loads games just as quickly as it does from the built-in drive. It is a small upgrade that makes a big difference if you jump between several titles at once.

    The tricky part is knowing which SSDs actually work with the PS5. You need a drive that meets Sony’s speed requirements and stays cool under long play sessions. Some models include a heatsink, while others let you use your own to save a little money. We tested the top options and picked the best SSDs for PS5 to help you upgrade without hassle.

    Read more: These are the best SSDs in 2026

    Table of contents

    Best SSDs for PS5 in 2026

    Corsair

    Capacity: Up to 8TB | Sequential read performance: 7,100MB/s | Sequential write performance: 6,800MB/s | Connection: M.2

    The Corsair MP600 Pro LPX makes it to the top of our list for the best PS5 SSD for being the complete package. It’s fast, offers excellent performance and read speeds of up to 7,100MB/s. It also comes with a pre-installed heatsink and a five-year warranty.

    Best of all, the MP600 is affordable. After launching at $190, you can routinely find the 1TB variant on sale for as little as $80, while the 2TB model fluctuates in price between $110 and $150. The 4TB and 8TB models are less of a bargain. The MP600 is also not the fastest NVMe on this list. However, as far as no-fuss options go, it’s hard to beat.

    Pros

    • Built-in heatsink
    • Affordable
    Cons

    • Not the fastest Gen4 model

    $167 at Amazon

    Image for the large product module

    Crucial

    Capacity: Up to 4TB | Read performance: 7,300MB/s | Write performance: 6,800 MB/s | Connection: M.2

    If you want to save a bit of money by installing your own heatsink, the Crucial T500 is a great option. With read speeds of up to 7,300MB/s, it surpasses Sony’s technical requirements, and you can frequently find the 1TB model on sale for as little as $60. Crucial also offers a version with a heatsink, so it’s worth adding both the Corsair MP600 and Crucial T500 to a price watch list and buying whichever model is cheaper when you’re ready to upgrade your PS5.

    Pros

    • Fast
    • Available with or without heatsink

    $148 at Amazon

    Image for the large product module

    SABRENT

    Capacity: Up to 8TB | Sequential read performance: 7,000MB/s | Sequential write performance: 6,600MB/s | Connection: M.2

    Of all the SSDs on this list, the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is the most interesting. It comes with a unique heatsink that you install in place of the storage expansion slot’s metal cover. Sabrent claims this design improves cooling performance. As a result, expect to pay more than you would for a model with a generic heatsink, with the 1TB variant coming in at around $110 and the 2TB model costing between $220 and $280.

    Pros

    • PS5-specific heatsink design
    Cons

    • Not as fast as other options
    • Expensive relative to other drives

    $130 at Amazon

    Image for the large product module

    SAMSUNG

    Capacity: Up to 4TB | Read performance: 1,050MB/s | Write performance: 1,000MB/s | Connection: USB 3.0

    As I explain below, you can’t run PS5 games from an external drive — but you can use one to store any games you aren’t playing at the moment, including older PS4 games.

    One of my favorite portable drives is the Samsung T7. It can write files at a speedy 1,000 MB/s. If you plan to use the drive exclusively for at-home use, you can save money by buying the regular model instead of the ruggedized Shield variant. I’ve been using T7 drives to store my photos, music and games for years, and they have yet to fail me. The latest model, the Samsung T9, boasts read/write speeds of up to 2,000MB/s.

    Pros

    • Affordable
    • Reliable
    • Rugged variant available
    Cons

    • Can’t play PS5 games from external drive

    $110 at Amazon

    How we test PS5 SSDs

    I’ve tested most of the SSDs recommended on this list, either for PS5 or computer use. I also bought and used our top pick in my own PS5.

    PS5 SSD FAQs

    How much PS5 storage do I need?

    The PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro can accept internal drives with between 250GB and 8TB of storage capacity. If you already own a PS5, chances are you have a reasonable idea of how much storage you need ​​for your game library. If you’re buying an SSD with a new PS5 or PS5 Pro, or buying for someone else, it’s more difficult to tell what you might need for a high-performance experience.

    PS5 games are smaller on average than their PS4 equivalents, typically taking up between 30GB and 100GB, with some notable (and very popular) exceptions. If you’re a fan of the Call of Duty series, installing Black Ops 6 and Warzone 2.0 can eat up to 240GB. In other words, a full Call of Duty install will take up more than one-third of the PS5’s internal storage. If you’re not a CoD fan, though, chances are you’ll be good to store between six to 10 games on a regular PS5 internally before running into problems.

    You also need to consider your internet speed. If you live in an area with slow broadband, the “you can just download it again” rationale doesn’t really work. At my old home, a 100GB download took me around eight hours, during which time it was difficult to simultaneously watch Twitch or, say, publish articles about upgrading PS5 SSDs. Keeping games around on the off-chance you’ll want to play them at some point makes sense.

    Sony PlayStation 5 gaming console.

    Aaron Souppouris / Engadget

    Off the bat, there’s basically no point in going for a 250GB PS5 SSD. Economically, 250GB drives aren’t that much cheaper than 500GB ones — and practically, that really isn’t a lot of space for modern games to live on. 500GB drives can be a decent option, but after years of declining prices, I think the sweet spot for most people is to opt for a high-capacity 1TB or 2TB drive, which should run you at most $200. The latter will more than double the PS5 Pro’s storage without breaking the bank.

    Unless you’re rolling in cash and want to flex, 4TB and 8TB models should mostly be avoided, as you’ll end up paying more per gigabyte than you would with a 1TB or 2TB drive.

    While the 825GB PS5 only provides 667GB of storage, that’s largely due to storage being reserved for the operating system and caching. If you install a 1TB PS5 SSD, you’ll have, within a margin of error, 1TB of storage available for games. Out of the box, the PS5 Pro offers 1.86TB of storage for games, though you can eke out more if you delete the pre-installed Astro’s Playroom (gasp).

    Since neither the PS5 Slim nor PS5 Pro feature updated CPU architecture, all of our recommendations will work with whatever PS5 model you own.

    Can you play PS5 games on an external SSD?

    External hard drives tend to cost less than internal SSD counterparts (and there’s a good chance you might own one already). Unfortunately, there are restrictions on what you can do with them. An external SSD connects to your PS5 via USB, and is only suitable for playing PlayStation 4 games, or storing PS5 titles. That’s useful if you have anything but the best high-speed internet — it’s faster to move a PS5 game out of “cold storage” on an external drive than it is to re-download it — or want to keep your PS4 library on hand.

    Due to the limitations here, you don’t need the highest-performing model, although you should opt for SSDs over HDDs for improved transfer speeds and load times. Any basic portable drive from a reputable brand will do, with the Crucial X9 Pro and Samsung T7 being options we’ve tried and can recommend.

    Which SSD cards are compatible with the PS5?

    The official answer to this question is an “M.2 Socket 3 (Key M) Gen4 x4 NVME SSD.” But even within that seemingly specific description, there are additional factors to consider. The main requirements Sony has laid out for compatibility come down to speed, cooling and physical dimensions.

    For speed, Sony says drives should be able to handle sequential reads at 5,500MB/s. Early testing showed that the PS5 would accept drives as slow as 4,800MB/s, and that games that tap into the SSD regularly — such as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart — would cause no issues. Pretty much the only thing the PS5 will outright reject is one that doesn’t match the Gen4 x4 spec.

    In our opinion, though, using a drive slower than the specification is a risk that, if you don’t already have that drive lying around, is not worth taking. Just because we haven’t found issues yet doesn’t mean there won’t be games that could be problematic in the future. The price difference between these marginally slower Gen4 drives and the ones that meet Sony’s spec isn’t huge, and you might as well cover all your bases.

    Slightly more complicated than speed is cooling and size. Most new SSDs are going to be just fine; the PS5 can fit 22mm-wide SSDs of virtually any length (30mm, 40mm, 60mm, 80mm or 110mm, to be precise). The vast majority of drives you find will be 22mm wide and 80mm long, so no problem there.

    It should be noted that the system can fit a 25mm-wide drive, but that width must include the cooling solution. Speaking of, Sony says SSDs require “effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink.” The maximum height supported by Sony’s slot is 11.25mm, of which only 2.45mm can be “below” the drive.

    This previously meant some of the most popular heatsinked Gen4 SSDs, including Corsair’s MP600 Pro LP, would not fit within the PS5’s storage expansion slot. Since Engadget first published this guide in 2021, most NVMe makers, including Samsung, have come out with PlayStation-specific models that meet those requirements. That said, if you want to save some money, bare drives are often cheaper and it’s trivial to find a cooling solution that will work for the PS5.

    The only component in an NVMe SSD that really requires cooling is the controller, which without a heatsink will happily sear a (very small) steak. Most SSDs have chips on only one side, but even on double-sided SSDs, the controller is likely to be on top, as manufacturers know it needs to be positioned there to better dissipate heat.

    So, head to your PC component seller of choice and pick up basically anything that meets the recommended dimensions. A good search term is “laptop NVME heatsink,” as these will be designed to fit in the confines of gaming laptops, which are even more restrictive than a PS5. They’re also typically cheaper than the ones labeled as “PS5 heatsinks.”

    One recommendation is this $6 copper heatsink, which attaches to the PS5 SSD with sticky thermal interface material. It works just fine, and in performing stress tests on a PC, we couldn’t find anything metal that didn’t keep temperatures under control. When you’re searching, just make sure the solution you go for measures no more than 25mm wide or 8mm tall (including the thermal interface material) and has a simple method of installation that’s not going to cause any headaches.

    One last thing: When shopping for a PS5 NVMe, there’s no reason to buy a Gen5 model over a more affordable Gen4 model. As things stand, Sony’s console can’t take advantage of the new standard, and though Gen5 drives are backward compatible, they’re more expensive than their Gen4 counterparts. Just buy the fastest and highest-capacity Gen4 model you can afford.

    How to install an SSD into your PS5

    If you need guidance on how to install your new NVMe into your PS5 or PS5 Pro, we have a separate guide detailing all the steps here. Installation is pretty straightforward, but our how-to can help you if you’re stuck. Just make note: Before attempting to add more storage via a PS5 SSD, ensure that you have Sony’s latest software installed.

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    Aaron Souppouris,Igor Bonifacic

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  • The best PS5 accessories for 2026

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    Gamers can be hard to shop for. Even if you know the type of games they usually play, there’s no guarantee they’ll like a specific title. But I have no qualms in recommending Astro Bot to anyone on your list who has a PS5.

    I don’t have a ton of time to play games, so I’m careful about which ones I pick (mostly I just play whatever Engadget reviews) so when Jess called Astro Bot “one of the best games Sony has ever made” I figured it was a safe bet. That was an underestimation on my part. It’s a delight: Inventive but completely intuitive, adorable but not cutesy. You play as Astro who is tasked with finding his bot friends on different fantastical planets. Some of those friends are dressed up as characters from other video games. The novelty isn’t just gratifying for gamers: in my house, it also led to discussions of gaming history. For example, my husband and son looked up Ico after seeing bots dressed as the game’s two main characters.

    The controller itself plays a big role, both on-screen and in the novel ways you use it. The gameplay is challenging, but easy enough to pick up that my seven-year-old has gotten pretty deep into it. In fact, that’s my one complaint. Between all the other people in my house that want to play it, I rarely get a chance. But that just attests to the universal appeal — a great quality in any gift. — Amy Skorheim, Reporter

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    Igor Bonifacic

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  • Today’s the last day to get $100 off the PS5 and PS5 Pro

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    Back in November, Sony started selling PS5 consoles as part of a Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotion. The deal officially sunsets at 3AM ET, so now is a good time to bite the bullet on a gaming console given that prices aren’t likely .

    You can pick up a and a . The beefy PS5 Pro . All of these deals are active on Amazon, but also .

    If the costs here still sound a bit high, that’s because Sony back in August. In other words, these $100 discounts are pretty much $50 discounts when factoring in that recent increase. Still, cheaper is cheaper. This puts the digital PS5 at the same price as an Xbox Series S and the disc-based version at the same price as a Switch 2.

    Both standard PS5 configurations won’t arrive until December 28. The PS5 Pro, however, is available for same-day shipping if you’re jonesing for one last holiday gift.

    The PS5 has a fairly large stable of exclusive titles made by Sony-owned studios. These include games like Horizon Forbidden West, Astro Bot, Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei.

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    Lawrence Bonk

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  • Skate Story grinds its way to PlayStation Plus on December 8

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    It’s been a long road to get here, but the surreal skateboarding sim Skate Story will actually be available to play on December 8. The title will also be a day-one Game Catalog release for PlayStation Plus subscribers, which is a great perk for Sony fans. It’ll be available on other platforms, like Steam and Nintendo Switch, but those versions cost $20. The PS5 version is free for PS Plus subscribers and it’s not currently coming to Xbox.

    For the uninitiated, Skate Story can only be described as a Lynchian take on skateboarding. Players control a glass avatar and they perform tricks to, well, swallow the moon and defeat the devil. It was announced all the way back in 2020. We got to play it last year and came away impressed. The game was made by Sam Eng, who was behind the indie shooter Zarvot.

    It’s also being published by Devolver Digital, a company that knows its way around unique gameplay concepts. It published the utterly sublime Cult of the Lamb and one of our recent favorites, Ball x Pit. The former lets you feed poop to cult followers, which makes performing kickflips as a glass-bodied demon seem downright normal.

    Looking to see what all of the fuss is about? There’s a demo right now on Steam. The game’s also available for purchase on the PS5, for those who don’t wanna pony up for a PS Plus subscription.

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    Lawrence Bonk

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  • 5 Years Later, the PS5 Has Destroyed Xbox. But the PS6 Faces a Bigger Threat

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    Nobody could have predicted the turbulent state that console gaming is in right now.

    Five years ago, Sony and Microsoft both launched next-gen consoles with very similar PC-based architectures. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (and its less-powerful sibling, the Series S) promised even bigger and more realistic gaming experiences with near PC-quality graphics and responsiveness. We were told that ray tracing—the recreation of realistic lighting, reflections, and shadows in games—would be worth spending $500 for a new box to plug into our 4K TVs.

    On the fifth birthday of both consoles, I can tell you we were sold a lie. Jaw-dropping as ray tracing is, few games even support the graphics enhancement. Out of the more than 1,050 games in the PS5’s library, only 60-something games support ray tracing—that’s a measly 6%. As disappointing as that is, the PS5 has emerged as the winner against the Xbox Series X, outselling Microsoft’s game console by a huge margin. As of November 2025, the PS5’s crossed 84 million units shipped globally since 2020, versus the estimated 30 million that the Xbox Series X/S in the same amount of time.

    Where Microsoft has fumbled again and again—trying to turn Xbox into the “Netflix of gaming” with Game Pass, pivoting to a larger publisher by buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, and hiking hardware prices multiple times because of an internal mandate to turn a 30% profit—Sony has expertly navigated the same industry challenges with smart expansions for its PlayStation brand.

    There’s no telling what will happen in the future, but looking back at the past five years of PS5, it’s clear that Sony did good by gamers. Really f*cking good, for the most part.

    Designed for gamer needs

    © CFOTO / Contributor / Getty Images

    I’ll admit that when I first saw the PS5, I was not into its curved panels or its massive size. Consoles are supposed to get smaller and more powerful, not larger—shrinkage is an easy and visible marker of technological progress. The original Xbox was disliked (especially in Japan) because it was such a behemoth. But it seems the PS5 design was just right, at least compared to the Xbox Series X, which is literally just a plain-looking black box. So out of the gate, Sony shipped hardware that looked like it was from the future—people really love gadgets that look materially new and different.

    As the games (and exclusives like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Final Fantasy VII: Remake) rolled in, it became more certain to me that the PS5 was the better hardware for the long run. Though my launch-day PS5 only had 825GB of built-in SSD storage, it could easily be expanded with a standard M.2 NVMe SSD. The Xbox Series X has a proprietary storage expansion slot on the back, but for many years, only Seagate sold them, and they were really expensive. Sony chose the less evil path, and gamers like me appreciate that openness.

    Even better than an affordable way to add storage to install the ballooning size of games were two hardware features I didn’t think would leave any long-lasting impression on me: the adaptive triggers in the DualSense controller and the “Tempest 3D audio.” Adaptive triggers provide more nuanced haptic feedback, like the ability to feel the resistance of a car gear pedal in Gran Turismo 7, the tension when pulling back a bow in Horizon: Forbidden West or switching a weapon in Resident Evil Village, or even the different surface materials in Astro Bot. Adaptive triggers add another layer of sensory immersion. Tempest 3D audio is less known, but almost every PS5 game supports it. Using a compatible headset, you can hear subtle sound effects like footsteps, gunfire, and rain (to name a few) coming from different directions. It works so well and is so underrated, but it really heightens things in the thick of a game. I never used a gaming headset with my consoles before, but on PS5, I almost always do.

    Trying things

    PlayStation VR 2
    © Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images

    The evolving nature of gaming also means it’s not enough for Sony (or anybody) to launch a console and just get as many games on it as possible. Those days are long gone. So Sony tried things; weird things that didn’t necessarily become big hits, but I’m still glad it took a stab at them because it’s kept the PS5 from aging out.

    Peripherals like the PlayStation VR2, a second-generation version of the PSVR for PS4, opened up the console to more VR games and a 2D virtual screen to play PlayStation titles on. The PlayStation Portal, while not a standalone handheld on its own, let players stream their PS5 to it over Wi-Fi for remote play away from the console. A free software update has expanded the Portal’s functionality to allow streaming PlayStation games directly from the cloud instead of from a PS5. Sure, the PSVR 2 is largely a failure and the Portal doesn’t really compete with the Switch 2 or any handheld PC, but they gave the PS5 a moat. The Xbox Series X had no such thing.

    The full-on hardware refresh with the slimmer PS5 and the more powerful PS5 Pro in 2024 has no doubt helped prop up the console as it enters its midlife. Does it suck that Sony hiked up prices for the PS5 and PS5 Pro a year later because of Trump’s nonsensical tariffs? Absolutely, but that doesn’t seem to have hurt PS5 sales as much as it has hurt Xbox Series X sales.

    Expanding to PC

    Sony InZone H9 II Gaming Headphones for PC and PS5 review
    The Inzone H9 II gaming headset works for PS5 and PC. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

    I’ll get to Sony bringing its PS5 exclusives to PC and what that means for PlayStation’s future in a second, but the one thing the company deserves more credit for is expanding the PlayStation brand beyond the console hardware.

    A PlayStation will always primarily be a console that sits under your TV first, but it’s now also a family of devices that orbit it and any gaming PCs that can play its exclusive titles. Unlike Microsoft, which has leaned into Xbox being a service that can be played on any device, Sony sees PlayStation as an ecosystem and lifestyle gaming brand. In that way, it’s becoming more like Razer, which sells its own Blade gaming laptops, but also sells the peripherals designed for them.

    When Sony announced its Inzone PC gaming brand of gaming headsets and monitors, which also worked with PS5, I knew it was only a matter of time before we got more. You didn’t need 20/20 vision to see that the Inzone products were heavily inspired by the PS5’s white and black design language.

    Inzone and PlayStation are still separate gaming brands today, and they’re serving both PlayStation and PC gamers. The PlayStation Pulse Elite headset and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds are made for PS5, but they’re also compatible with PC gaming. Same goes for the 27-inch PlayStation Gaming Monitor with DualSense Charging Hook, FlexStrike wireless fighting stick, and the Pulse Elevate portable desktop speakers, which are all coming out in 2026.

    This vast and growing ecosystem of PlayStation hardware only deepens and entrenches the platform as a place worth buying into. Like a sports team, consumers root for the companies and platforms they feel the general managers are growing. Sony is winning physical and psychological mindshare with PS5- and PC-compatible hardware, while Microsoft is… apparently trying to compete with TikTok and movies. In trying to make every device an Xbox, Microsoft has lost its focus on what console gamers crave—new consoles and the accompanying peripherals to make games more enjoyable—whereas Sony has only doubled down on core gamers.

    PlayStation first, PC second

    It’s such a strange thing to see once-exclusive Xbox games like Forza Horizon 5 and Gears of War: Reloaded on PS5, and Halo coming to Sony’s console in 2026. These franchises used to be fodder for taking sides, but not anymore. Now that Microsoft has prioritized publishing its games on as many platforms as possible, there’s almost no reason to be loyal to Xbox.

    Time will tell whether chasing profits from games was worth sacrificing Xbox consoles at the altar, but Sony is facing the same challenge of rising game development costs. Bigger AAA games with more detailed graphics cost more money to make than ever before—hundreds of millions of dollars. So it only makes sense that publishing a game on as many platforms—even a competitor’s—is a more sustainable business model.

    The difference is that Sony is not handing out its games to PC before it has milked them out on PS5 first. Well-reviewed games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 released on PS5 in October 2023, but only on PC in January 2025, and Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut came out on PS5 in 2021, but on PC in May 2024. Even remastered versions of old titles like the PS4’s God of War, launched first on PS5 in May 2021 before arriving a year later on PC in January 2022.

    This friendliness for publishing its games for PC and even making so much PC/PS5-compatible hardware has many thinking that Sony’s taking steps to follow Microsoft and become an all-platform publisher, but that’s just not going to happen. In case all the PS5 peripherals didn’t make it clear, the first and main platform that Sony wants gamers playing its games is on its own PlayStation consoles. PC is not an equal citizen; it’s second-class. Sony is only publishing its games on PC to recoup losses (if a game bombs) or gain additional revenue later (once PS5 sales have tapered off). Remember that most of the work of porting a game from PS5 to PC has already been done, thanks to the similarities in x86 system architecture for both platforms, so it’s more cost-efficient than it would have been pre-PS4 era.

    Positioned for PS6, but the Steam Machine looms

    Steam Machine Console
    © Valve

    Looking ahead, Sony is in a good position to launch its next-gen PlayStation—let’s just call it the PlayStation 6—in a few years and cruise to victory. Rumors suggest that the PS6 could launch in 2027 or 2028, which would be in line with past console lifecycles; the PS5 launched seven years after the PS4. Microsoft says it’s committed to premium Xbox hardware, which is expected to launch around the same time, but with all the missteps it’s made, the Xbox faithful may not pull up.

    It also doesn’t help that Sony’s PS6 could resemble the Nintendo Switch 2 with a hybrid design that can go from console to handheld and vice versa. Or if the PS6 is a traditional console and a separate handheld, that could be concerning, too. Such a hardware departure could leave whatever Microsoft has planned for its Xbox Series X successor looking outdated if it also doesn’t have some handheld component.

    Sony’s biggest threat isn’t a new Xbox or the Switch 2—it’s Valve’s newly announced Steam Machine that’s launching in early 2026. The 6 x 6-inch console is basically a tiny gaming PC that runs SteamOS, which means it can play your full library of Steam games. Tech specs and first impressions from the media show the Steam Machine is a capable enough 1080p and 1440p gaming box, but it may fall short of the performance from the PS5 Pro. Specs-wise, Sony has the edge now, and will for sure eclipse the Steam Machine with the PS6, but it’s not just Valve’s box that it will have to compete with. The same way the Steam Deck opened the door to bigger and more powerful handheld PCs to the point where the market quickly became saturated, the Steam Machine will be a blueprint for third-party companies, big and small, to launch their own SteamOS-based consoles. When—not if—that happens, Sony will face assault from more directions than it ever has.

    Game exclusives and an expanding hardware ecosystem helped catapult the PS5 to the top and leave Xbox maimed and confused. It’s also something that Sony shouldn’t lose sight of for the PS6 and beyond. A steady stream of exclusives always sells new hardware. It’s always been this way and always will be. Just look at Nintendo. Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon carried the Switch to over 150 million units shipped worldwide, and it’s going to do the same thing for the Switch 2, which is already breaking records. If the PS6 isn’t as successful as the PS5, it’ll be because there aren’t enough exclusive games.

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    Raymond Wong

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  • Stray leads November’s lineup of PS Plus games

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    Sony just announced the and there are some standouts. All of these titles will be available to download on November 4 until December 1.

    First up, there’s the cat sim Stray. We praised the third-person cyberpunk adventure , in which we lauded the game’s unique mechanics and puzzles. After all, you play as a cat in a dystopian and futuristic city. That’s a one-of-a-kind premise, which is one reason it . It’ll be available for both PS4 and PS5. It’s also worth noting that this was a day-one release for PS Plus Extra and Premium back in 2022.

    EA Sports WRC 24 is a popular racing sim developed by Codemasters, who made the Dirt series, the Grid franchise and plenty of official F1 games. This new one lets players participate in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC.) Racers get access to a bunch of WRC, WRC2 and Junior WRC cars from the 2024 season, complete with current drivers and teams. This one is only for PS5.

    Totally Accurate Battle Simulator is certainly a battle similar, but not an accurate one. The game lets you design all kinds of bizarre battle scenarios with “the wobbliest physics system ever created.” This is the best game ever made that lets you battle a wooly mammoth with balloon arrows, thus forcing that beast into the sky. It’ll be available for both PS4 and PS5.

    As always, a crop of new games means that some pre-existing titles are heading to that farm upstate. You have until November 3 to download Alan Wake 2, Goat Simulator 3 and Cocoon to their game library. Dang. Last month was stacked.

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    Lawrence Bonk

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  • Superhero workplace comedy, more powerwashing and other new indie games worth checking out

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    Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game space. It’s been a packed week with lots of tasty new games arriving, and news and reveals of upcoming projects. So, let’s take a look at a bunch of them.

    Before we get started though, Engadget senior editor Jessica Conditt spoke with Maxi Boch, one of the core trio behind Baby Steps, about how the game came together. Boch offered some fascinating insights into the game’s development process (which started in 2019), especially on the audio side.

    New releases

    Dispatch is a superhero workplace comedy from AdHoc Studio, a team that includes former Telltale Games developers. It adopts the narrative-heavy, dialogue-driven gameplay of Telltale’s games, with your choices having a bearing on how everything plays out. Dispatch has a packed cast as well, as it includes the likes of Aaron Paul, Laura Bailey and Jeffrey Wright.

    I really dug the demo, so I’m hoping to carve out some time to play Dispatch soon. As with many of Telltale’s games, AdHoc Studio went with an episodic approach for this one, but the developer is releasing them on a weekly basis. The first two episodes of Dispatch are out now on PS5 and Steam, and reviewers’ impressions so far are generally positive.

    We’ve got a trio of titles that just hit Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass to talk about, including PowerWash Simulator 2. I don’t typically listen to music or podcasts while I’m playing games. I prefer to listen to the game audio and I’m a terrible multitasker, anyway.

    However, I did catch up on a bunch of podcast episodes while playing the original PowerWash Simulator. I’m looking forward to doing that once again while blissfully ignoring IRL chores as I blast away virtual gunk with a pressure washer.

    “More of the same, but better” is exactly what I wanted from PowerWash Simulator 2, so I was very glad to read some reviews indicating that’s the case. As well as Xbox Series X/S, this sequel from FuturLab is also available on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2.

    Next up, we have a surprise Game Pass addition as Pacific Drive arrived on the Ultimate, Premium and PC tiers without prior warning this week. It wasn’t available on Xbox at all until now. Pacific Drive turns the title of Netflix’s F1 docuseries into an actual “drive to survive” horror game. You’ll roam the Pacific Northwest in a station wagon to search for parts to upgrade your vehicle and stay alive.

    Ironwood Studios and publisher Kepler Interactive brought Pacific Drive to Xbox on the same day they released an expansion called Whispers in the Woods. The game (and DLC) is also available on PS5 and Steam. I’ve been meaning to play Pacific Drive for a while but, as always, there are too many games and not enough time to check everything out. Perhaps I’ll finally try this now that it’s on Game Pass, but I might just end up waiting for the TV show instead.

    Here’s something interesting from DinoGod and publisher Annapurna Interactive. Bounty Star is a blend of mech action game, farming sim and base builder. As war veteran Clem, you’ll try to become a force for good in a “post-post-apocalyptic version of the American Southwest.”

    I’m interested to see how the core aspects of Bounty Star play off each other as you take care of your homestead and hunt down bounties in your mech (which you can customize). It’s out now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam and Epic Games Store. Bounty Star is on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass too.

    Ila: A Frosty Glide is a chill, 3D platform adventure from Magic Rain Studios and publisher First Break Labs. As a young witch-in-training named Ila, you’ll explore a snowy mountainous island while searching for your missing cat.

    My favorite thing about the game, at least based on the trailer and what I’ve read, is that instead of a broom, Ila uses a “skatebroom” to get around. It’s a skateboard and a flying broomstick in one! I’d like one of those.

    As it happens, developers Ítalo and Yesenia met while skateboarding. They started making games with skateboarding elements a few years later. Ila: A Frosty Glide is out now on Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch.

    After reading one sentence of a pitch for The Bench, I was sold: “In The Bench, you played as a retired secret agent on one last mission: escaping the retirement home and unfolding a pigeon conspiracy.” Wonderful stuff, there.

    As said pensioner, you’ll amass a flock of customizable pigeons to help you during your adventure as you explore some parks. Along the way, you’ll solve puzzles, play bowls and chess, doodle in your notebook, play pranks and go fishing.

    The Bench — from Voxel Studios and Noovola Publishing — is out now on Steam. I hope I don’t have to wait until I’m retired to have time to play it.

    Upcoming

    No More Robots unveiled two games this week, and one of them is a step in an (almost) entirely new direction for the publisher of Descenders Next and Little Rocket Lab. It’s now making games internally, and the first one to see the light of day is Cruise Control. This is a cruise liner management sim in which you’ll try to make your guests happy by fulfilling their needs and wants. It looks quite charming. I’m a big fan of the oversized bingo cage device.

    This is actually the third game No More Robots has worked on in-house, but it’s the first one that the company has unveiled. The publisher noted that Cruise Control isn’t quite ready. Still, playtests should start later this year ahead of an early 2026 release.

    The other upcoming game No More Robots showed off is Thank You For Your Application from IceLemonTea Studio. Here, you’ll review job candidates’ resumes and make decisions whether to bring them on board based on the hiring company’s criteria.

    This has an air of Papers, Please and No More Robots’ own Not Tonight series about it — you’ll have to deal with bills, rent and otherwise managing your life too. It also seems quite timely given that the job application process is now so onerous for many people. Thank You For Your Application will arrive in 2026 and there’s a demo available on Steam now.

    Finite Reflection Studios, the developer of last year’s acclaimed Void Sols, has revealed its next game. Mouseward is another Soulslike, but it’s one in the vein of ’90s collectathon platformers like Banjo-Kazooie. As a reincarnated Royal Mouse Guard, you set out to save the kingdom from a curse.

    I love the aesthetic here. There’s no release window for Mouseward as yet. It’s coming to Steam and you can play an early build on Itch right now.

    Speaking of games inspired by ’90s platformers, there’s danger that Windswept could become my entire personality for a spell. It’s coming to Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on November 11.

    Windswept — from WeatherFell and publisher Top Hat Studios — is a precision platformer which sees animal buddies Marbles (a duck) and Checkers (a turtle) trying to get back home after a storm whisks them away. The 40-plus stages are full of collectibles and have secrets for you to discover.

    The glimpses of levels where you have to navigate sticky walls and ceilings, thorny brambles and pirate ship masts are very reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country 2. I’m not exactly complaining though, as that’s one of my favorite games of all time.

    We’ve known for a while that a beat-’em-up based on the splatterfest movie series Terrifier was on the way and now we have a release date. Unfortunately, it’s not coming your way in time for Halloween, but you will be able to gingerly set foot into Terrifier: The ARTcade Game on November 21.

    Yes, yes, even Art the Clown is in Fortnite now, but you can also play as the brutal killer in his own game from Relevo and publisher Selecta Play. There’s support for local co-op for up to four players (and you can turn on each other, if you like. Terrifier fans will probably be pleased that they can use weapons like chainsaws and cleavers to cause bloody carnage. Terrifier: The ARTcade Game is bound for Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.

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  • Halo: Campaign Evolved is a remake of the original story, coming to Xbox, PC and PS5 in 2026

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    Before there’s a new Halo game, Halo Studios is revisiting the past. Xbox has announced Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the first game in the storied shooter series, Halo: Combat Evolved, developed by Halo Studios and coming to Xbox, PC and PS5 in 2026.

    Halo: Campaign Evolved is described as “a faithful yet modernized remake” of the first game’s campaign, with updated visuals and cinematics, “refined controls” and “three brand-new prequel missions featuring the Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson.”

    The game will feature new weapons, vehicles and enemies, along with the all-important option for two-player splitscreen co-op on console. The game will also support cross-platform play with PS5 for the first time, and four-player online co-op between consoles and PC.

    Halo: Campaign Evolved will be available in 2026 for Xbox Series X / S, PS5 and PC.

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  • Sony and AMD tease the GPU tech they’re building for the next PlayStation

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    Sony just dropped a new video with Mark Cerny, and it’s a big one, with significant implications for the company’s next console and AMD’s future GPUs. Over nearly nine minutes, Cerny, who was the lead designer for the PlayStation 4 and PS5, chats with Jack Huynh, senior vice president and general manager of AMD’s Computing and Graphics Group, about a series of technologies, collectively dubbed Project Amethyst, the two companies are developing together. According to Cerny, those technologies “only exist in simulations” right now, but they’re broadly designed to make the next PlayStation better at ray tracing, upscaling and other machine learning-based rendering techniques.

    If you know anything about AMD graphics cards, it’s that they’ve historically offered poor ray tracing performance relative to NVIDIA’s RTX GPUs. For years, AMD tried to bridge the gap with cards that outmuscled NVIDIA’s offerings with better rasterization performance, an approach the company now admits won’t work for modern, graphically intensive games. “Trying to brute force [ray-tracing] with raw power alone just doesn’t scale,” Huynh said. AMD’s solution is an entirely new architecture that combines two hardware innovations: Neural Arrays and Radiance Cores.

    In AMD’s older GPUs, the individual compute units are designed to work independently of one another. This approach worked great for a long time, but in modern games — dependent as they are on expensive upscaling techniques likes FSR and Sony’s own PSSR to deliver playable framerates at high resolutions — it can lead to inefficiencies. AMD is trying to solve that problem with Neural Arrays, which give the compute units a way to work together and share data between one another.

    According to Huynh, AMD isn’t linking an entire GPU together, as that would create a cable-management nightmare, but it is giving the silicon a way to process a “large chunk” of the screen in one go. In practice, he says that should allow the next PlayStation and AMD’s future video cards to offer a “whole new level of machine learning performance.” In turn, that will translate to better and faster upscaling performance, alongside better ray regeneration. The latter is something NVIDIA already offers with DLSS Ray Reconstruction and in games that support the technology, it translates to better-looking ray tracing effects and improved performance.

    As for Radiance Cores, it sound like AMD is taking another page from NVIDIA. For the uninitiated, the company’s RTX cards feature dedicated, fixed-function “RT” cores designed to accelerate the math needed to simulate light rays in real-time. Huynh says the Radiance Cores are an entirely new hardware block designed to handle ray and path tracing. “It’s a brand-new rendering approach for AMD,” he added. As a bonus, by taking on this work, the Radiance Cores will free up other parts of AMD’s new GPUs to process shaders and textures more quickly, leading to further efficiency gains.

    Lastly, the two companies are working on new software they’re calling Universal Compression. It builds on the PS5 and PS5 Pro’s existing Delta Color Compression technique. It will theoretically allow Sony’s next console to compress everything that goes through its graphics pipeline, reducing the amount memory bandwidth needed by the GPU and potentially reducing its power consumption.

    Again, I’ll note Cerny said it’s still “early days” for all the technologies he and Huynh discussed, but it’s reassuring to know Sony and AMD are thinking about how to best approach ray tracing performance and upscaling. Techniques like ray-traced global illumination can completely change the look of a game, making for a more immersive experience. If Sony and AMD can find ways to make those technologies less expensive to run, that’s a win for everyone.

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  • The best Prime Day gaming deals that are still available: Save on PS5 games, headsets, controllers and more

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    Amazon’s October Prime Day sale tends to be a decent source of discounts for gaming gear, and the latest iteration of the “Prime Big Deal Days” event is no exception. Several games, mice, controllers and other accessories we like remain on sale as we approach the end of the two-day event, so if you just can’t wait until Black Friday, we’ve rounded up the best Prime Day deals on gaming devices below. Just remember that you need to be a Prime member to access some of the offers, and that the event as a whole ends at 3AM ET on October 9.

    Best Prime Day video game deals

    PlayStation

    The latest adventure from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, Death Stranding 2 is both a delivery sim deeply fixated on how we interact with landscapes and a massively indulgent melodrama that you’ll either find endearing or unbearable depending on your persuasion. Either way, it is undeniably earnest. It should also be a bit easier to come to grips with than the original. Outside of that predecessor, there really isn’t another game like it. This deal marks a new low.

    $50 at Amazon

    Elden Ring (PS5) for $30 ($20 off MSRP): You’ve probably heard about it by now, but the action-RPG Elden Ring is both challenging and darkly funny, with a world that runs incredibly deep and feels lived-in a way few games have. It’s unafraid to test your resolve, yet it always grants you the freedom to simply turn around and find another path forward.

    Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5) for $35 ($15 off): Engadget’s Mat Smith gave this grandiose action-RPG a favorable review last year. You need to have played its predecessor — and ideally, the original PS1 game — to get the most out of it, but it’s positively stuffed with things to do, and its combat system is still a tactical rush at its best.

    Gran Turismo 7 for $30 ($40 off): Gran Turismo 7 is the PS5’s premier sim racer, and a love letter to automobiles as a whole. Like the rest of the GT series, it revels in the patience and precision required to figure out how a given car meshes with a given course. Learning the intricacies of each combination is both intense and rewarding, and there’s a singular style to it all that just doesn’t exist with most sports games.

    Returnal for $30 ($70 off): Returnal is a third-person shooter roguelike that’s at once a technical showcase, a stiff challenge and an achingly beautiful reflection on the nature of grief. It is not for the faint of heart, but its bullet-hell battles are wonderfully fierce, and just about everything in it contributes to its overarching story. It’s also worth checking out if you’re eager to developer Housemarque’s next game, Saros, which seems to borrow many of the elements introduced here.

    The Last of Us Part I for $30 ($40 off): The PS5 remake of Sony’s zombie drama is one of the most unnecessary remakes ever made, but if you’ve never played one of the earlier versions, this is the best way to rectify that. If you’re looking to play the (even moodier) sequel, the PS5 version of that one is similarly discounted.

    God of War Ragnarok for $30 ($40 off): Ragnarok is another Sony sequel that’s more about increasing scope than radically reinventing itself, but its Norse world is beautifully varied and detailed, smashing baddies with a magic axe feels great, and the whole thing is excessive in the way you’d expect a God of War game to be without going overboard.

    Horizon Forbidden West for $30 ($40 off): Engadget’s Jess Conditt called Horizon Forbidden West the “total package” in her review a few years back, praising its frenzied combat, gorgeous art direction and complex narrative. It still has one of the more distinctive post-apocalypses in gaming, blending robot beasts with stunning vistas. That helps paper over some less-than-inspired side content and bits of sluggish pacing.

    Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) for $23 ($7 off): Final Fantasy XVI is a more straightforward action-RPG than something like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: You don’t need to come in with prior knowledge of any other story, and its hack-and-slash combat is simple to pick up. It can get bogged down in pointless side quests, but its main concern is having you watch giant demigods melodramatically smack each other, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

    Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for $20 ($10 off): Armored Core VI is a big loud action game about building a mech and using it to blow up everything in sight. It rules. But it’s not mindless: Its many boss fights are genuine duels, and it’s deeply flexible in how it lets you tweak your death machine to tackle stages in different ways. This ties the best price we’ve seen for the PS5 version.

    Metaphor: ReFantazio (Xbox) for $16 ($54 off): It’s about as subtle as you’d expect a game named “Metaphor” to be, but the latest from the minds behind Persona 5 is a fantasy JRPG through and through: bombastic, stylish and deeply earnest. (And long.) This deal represents a new low, though it only applies to the Xbox copy.

    Madden NFL 26 for $37 ($33 off): It always feels like Madden could use a creative reset, but at the end of the day, it’s Madden, and it works fine enough if you just want to scratch the pro football game itch. This is the largest discount we’ve seen for the latest entry, and it applies to the PS5, Xbox and Switch 2 copies.

    Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (3-month) for $57 ($33 off): It hasn’t exactly been a great stretch for Xbox lately, what with Microsoft jacking up console prices, laying off huge swaths of employees and massively hiking the cost of its Game Pass service to $30 per month. But if you aren’t looking to cancel your Game Pass subscription as a result, you can still grab three months of the top-end Ultimate tier for a little less than its old going rate. While the service itself may end up being too pricey in the long term, it’s still home to a wide range of games worth checking out, so this offer might be useful if you have some free time coming up and want to blast through a few titles you’ve been meaning to get around to.

    Best Prime Day gaming device deals

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    Meta

    The Quest 3S is the budget pick in our guide to the . Its older Fresnel lenses aren’t exactly class-leading, but they’re good enough for those new to VR, and the headset as a whole is just as fast and comfortable as the pricier Quest 3. It supports the same games and apps, too. This deal ties the best widely available discount we’ve seen for the 128GB model. A configuration with twice the storage and a copy of the game Batman: Arkham Shadow is .

    $249 at Amazon

    Astro A50 X gaming headset for $315 ($75 off): The A50 X is an upgrade pick in our guide to the best gaming headsets. It should specifically appeal to those who own multiple gaming systems, as its base station lets you connect and swap between PC, PS5 and Xbox audio with the press of a button. It’s among the better-sounding wireless headsets we’ve tried as well, and its mic is fantastic. This deal isn’t an all-time low, but it’s the largest drop we’ve seen since February. The standard Astro A50 is also on sale for $237; that one works just as well if you only play on one device, but it lacks HDMI switching functionality.

    8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller for $48 ($12 off): The Ultimate 2 is a versatile wireless gamepad for Windows PCs and mobile devices. It can connect over Bluetooth, a wireless dongle or a USB cable, and its magnetic TMR joysticks should be far less susceptible to “joystick drift” than typical controllers. Those with large hands may find it a touch too small, but it’s built well, it comes with a handy charging dock and it gets a solid 20 or so hours of battery life. 8BitDo’s companion software includes a variety of useful customizations beyond that. This isn’t an all-time low, but it’s still a few bucks below the pad’s typical street price.

    Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite MMO gaming mouse for $55 ($25 off): We recommend the Scimitar RGB Elite to MMO and MOBA players in our guide to the best gaming mice. It’s not the lightest or most technically advanced model, but it comes with 12 comfortable and easy-to-reach side buttons, which make it easier to pull off more complex actions in games like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV. We’ve seen it fall below $50 a few times before, but this deal matches the lowest price we’ve tracked since May. A newer wireless model called the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is also on sale for a low of $80.

    Razer Basilisk V3 gaming mouse for $30 ($40 off): We recommend the Basilisk V3 in our gaming mouse guide for those who don’t mind using a cable and prefer a more ergonomic right-handed shape. This is its lowest price to date. Note that Razer now sells a newer version with an improved sensor, but that one costs $49 more and isn’t a massive upgrade in real-world use.

    Razer DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed gaming mouse for $71 ($29 off): The wireless DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed is another recommendation from our gaming mouse buying guide. For less than $100, it gets you a sturdy yet superlight design that weighs just 55 grams — making it easy to flick around in fast-paced games — and doesn’t have any annoying cutouts in its outer shell. Its contoured shape should fit most small- to medium-sized hands comfortably, and it performs reliably for competitive play. This deal is an all-time low.

    Keychron Q3 Max mechanical keyboard for $195 ($35 off): The Keychron Q Max series is the top pick in our guide to the best mechanical keyboards, pairing an upscale (if heavy) aluminum case with a lovely typing experience and extensive customizability. This isn’t the lowest price we’ve ever seen for the tenkeyless model, but it’s a rare drop from the board’s typical street price. Other size layouts are discounted as well.

    ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless mechanical keyboard for $151 ($59 off): We speak positively about this model in our guide to the best gaming keyboards. Its sturdy case, crisp keycaps and battery life all impress, while the thocky NX Snow switches in this model feel and sound delightful. Its companion software is a bit of a mess, and its 96 percent layout may feel a little cramped to some, but it’s a nice buy if you want a higher-class pre-built keyboard. This is the lowest price we’ve seen since March.

    ASUS ROG Azoth mechanical keyboard for $155 ($120 off): It’s a couple years old at this point, but the ROG Azoth remains an exceptionally well-built mechanical keyboard for enthusiasts. Its gasket-mounted design and layers of foam give each key press a soft landing, while its pre-lubed switches feel nice and smooth. It even comes with a toolkit for manually lubing the switches down the road, and the PCB is hot-swappable if you ever want to switch things up. There’s a useful control knob and programmable OLED display for quickly adjusting settings and checking the battery level beyond that. ASUS’ Armoury Crate software is still fairly sloppy, however. This deal comes within a couple bucks of the lowest price we’ve seen for a model with the linear NX Snow switches.

    Image for the small product module

    Lexar

    If you want to add more storage space to a Nintendo Switch 2, you need a microSD Express card. We tested a number of those for and found that there isn’t much difference between them when it comes to real-world performance, so the best option is usually whichever one you can find on sale. Right now, that happens to be the Lexar Play Pro, the 256GB version of which is down to the lowest price we’ve seen since April. If you need more space, the is $20 off at $100, while the is $187, a $33 discount.

    $50 at Amazon

    PNY microSD Express Card (128GB) for $38 ($7 off): We generally recommend getting at least 256GB of storage from your Switch 2 microSD card, since recent games can fill up that space pretty quickly. But if you only want a little bit extra, this is the lowest price we’ve seen for PNY’s 128GB model. Just note that this card is technically the slowest we’ve tested when it came to moving games to the card from the Switch’s internal storage, though it’s perfectly fine for in-game tasks.

    Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S (2TB) for $190 ($170 off): It’s annoying, but the only way to fully add storage to an Xbox Series X/S is to use a proprietary expansion card. Seagate’s model is one of the very few examples of those, and this discount marks the lowest price we’ve seen for the 2TB variant in the past year. Yes, it’s still overpriced compared to a normal SSD, but any extra savings should be welcome.

    Crucial X9 Pro (1TB) portable SSD for $75 ($26 off): If you’re looking to offload some games to external storage, we consider the Crucial X9 Pro the best portable SSD for most people, as it offers fast enough transfer speeds in a rugged and compact design. This isn’t the best price ever for the 1TB model but it matches the largest discount we’ve seen since April. Other size options are also on sale.

    Crucial P310 (1TB) M.2 2230 SSD for $80 ($55 off): The P310 is a small-size SSD you can use to add storage to a handheld PC like the Steam Deck or ASUS ROG Ally. It uses cheaper QLC memory, not the faster and more durable TLC, but reviews say that it performs well anyway. This deal ties the best price we’ve seen for the 1TB version since April.

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    Jeff Dunn

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  • The best October Prime Day gaming deals: Save on PS5 games, headsets, controllers and more

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    Amazon is back with another October Prime Day sale, and the event has brought a handful of decent discounts on gaming gear along with it. We’ve rounded up the best offers we could find below, including lower-than-usual prices on gaming mice, headsets, controllers and actual games we recommend. Just remember that the Prime Big Deal Days sale, as it’s officially called, runs October 7 and 8 and keeps some deals exclusive for Prime members.

    PlayStation

    The latest adventure from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, Death Stranding 2 is both a delivery sim deeply fixated on how we interact with landscapes and a massively indulgent melodrama that you’ll either find endearing or unbearable depending on your persuasion. Either way, it is undeniably earnest. It should also be a bit easier to come to grips with than the original. Outside of that predecessor, there really isn’t another game like it. This deal marks a new low.

    $50 at Amazon

    Split Fiction (Xbox) for $25 ($25 off MSRP): A pick from our guide to the best couch co-op games, Split Fiction is a imaginative crowd-pleaser that’s designed from the ground up to be played with another person. As in, you literally need a second person to play it. Like It Takes Two before it, it overcomes some hacky writing with brisk action, a lighthearted tone and a Nintendo-like commitment to presenting new methods of play. This deal for the Xbox copy represents the lowest price we’ve tracked, though the PS5 version is also on sale for $40 if you’d rather play there.

    Elden Ring (PS5) for $30 ($20 off): You’ve probably heard about it by now, but the action-RPG Elden Ring is both challenging and darkly funny, with a world that runs incredibly deep and feels lived-in a way few games have. It’s unafraid to test your resolve, yet it always grants you the freedom to simply turn around and find another path forward.

    Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5) for $35 ($15 off): Engadget’s Mat Smith gave this grandiose action-RPG a favorable review last year. You need to have played its predecessor — and ideally, the original PS1 game — to get the most out of it, but it’s positively stuffed with things to do, and its combat system is still a tactical rush at its best.

    Gran Turismo 7 for $30 ($40 off): Gran Turismo 7 is the PS5’s premier sim racer, and a love letter to automobiles as a whole. Like the rest of the GT series, it revels in the patience and precision required to figure out how a given car meshes with a given course. Learning the intricacies of each combination is both intense and rewarding, and there’s a singular style to it all that just doesn’t exist with most sports games.

    Returnal for $30 ($70 off): Returnal is a third-person shooter roguelike that’s at once a technical showcase, a stiff challenge and an achingly beautiful reflection on the nature of grief. It is not for the faint of heart, but its bullet-hell battles are wonderfully fierce, and just about everything in it contributes to its overarching story. It’s also worth checking out if you’re eager to developer Housemarque’s next game, Saros, which seems to borrow many of the elements introduced here.

    The Last of Us Part I for $30 ($40 off): The PS5 remake of Sony’s zombie drama is one of the most unnecessary remakes ever made, but if you’ve never played one of the earlier versions, this is the best way to rectify that. If you’re looking to play the (even moodier) sequel, the PS5 version of that one is similarly discounted.

    God of War Ragnarok for $30 ($40 off): Ragnarok is another Sony sequel that’s more about increasing scope than radically reinventing itself, but its Norse world is beautifully varied and detailed, smashing baddies with a magic axe feels great, and the whole thing is excessive in the way you’d expect a God of War game to be without going overboard.

    Horizon Forbidden West for $30 ($40 off): Engadget’s Jess Conditt called Horizon Forbidden West the “total package” in her review a few years back, praising its frenzied combat, gorgeous art direction and complex narrative. It still has one of the more distinctive post-apocalypses in gaming, blending robot beasts with stunning vistas. That helps paper over some less-than-inspired side content and bits of sluggish pacing.

    Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) for $23 ($7 off): Final Fantasy XVI is a more straightforward action-RPG than something like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: You don’t need to come in with prior knowledge of any other story, and its hack-and-slash combat is simple to pick up. It can get bogged down in pointless side quests, but its main concern is having you watch giant demigods melodramatically smack each other, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

    Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for $20 ($10 off): Armored Core VI is a big loud action game about building a mech and using it to blow up everything in sight. It rules. But it’s not mindless: Its many boss fights are genuine duels, and it’s deeply flexible in how it lets you tweak your death machine to tackle stages in different ways. This ties the best price we’ve seen for the PS5 version.

    Metaphor: ReFantazio (Xbox) for $16 ($54 off): It’s about as subtle as you’d expect a game named “Metaphor” to be, but the latest from the minds behind Persona 5 is a fantasy JRPG through and through: bombastic, stylish and deeply earnest. (And long.) This deal represents a new low, though it only applies to the Xbox copy.

    Madden NFL 26 for $37 ($33 off): It always feels like Madden could use a creative reset, but at the end of the day, it’s Madden, and it works fine enough if you just want to scratch the pro football game itch. This is the largest discount we’ve seen for the latest entry, and it applies to the PS5, Xbox and Switch 2 copies.

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    Meta

    The Quest 3S is the budget pick in our guide to the . Its older Fresnel lenses aren’t exactly class-leading, but they’re good enough for those new to VR, and the headset as a whole is just as fast and comfortable as the pricier Quest 3. It supports the same games and apps, too. This deal ties the best widely available discount we’ve seen for the 128GB model. A configuration with twice the storage and a copy of the game Batman: Arkham Shadow is .

    $249 at Amazon

    Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (3-month) for $57 ($33 off): It hasn’t exactly been a great stretch for Xbox lately, what with Microsoft jacking up console prices, laying off huge swaths of employees and massively hiking the cost of its Game Pass service to $30 per month. But if you aren’t looking to cancel your Game Pass subscription as a result, you can still grab three months of the top-end Ultimate tier for a little less than its old going rate. While the service itself may end up being too pricey in the long term, it’s still home to a wide range of games worth checking out, so this offer might be useful if you have some free time coming up and want to blast through a few titles you’ve been meaning to get around to.

    Astro A50 X gaming headset for $315 ($75 off): The A50 X is an upgrade pick in our guide to the best gaming headsets. It should specifically appeal to those who own multiple gaming systems, as its base station lets you connect and swap between PC, PS5 and Xbox audio with the press of a button. It’s among the better-sounding wireless headsets we’ve tried as well, and its mic is fantastic. This deal isn’t an all-time low, but it’s the largest drop we’ve seen since February. The standard Astro A50 is also on sale for $237; that one works just as well if you only play on one device, but it lacks HDMI switching functionality.

    8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller for $48 ($12 off): The Ultimate 2 is a versatile wireless gamepad for Windows PCs and mobile devices. It can connect over Bluetooth, a wireless dongle or a USB cable, and its magnetic TMR joysticks should be far less susceptible to “joystick drift” than typical controllers. Those with large hands may find it a touch too small, but it’s built well, it comes with a handy charging dock and it gets a solid 20 or so hours of battery life. 8BitDo’s companion software includes a variety of useful customizations beyond that. This isn’t an all-time low, but it’s still a few bucks below the pad’s typical street price.

    Backbone One (2nd gen) mobile game controller for $70 ($30 off): The Backbone One is a nifty mobile gamepad that wraps around your phone and makes playing console-style games feel a little more natural. This isn’t an all-time low for the second-gen model, but it’s a nice $30 dip from its usual street price. Both the USB-C and Lightning versions are discounted, with the latter down to $60. Just note that the PlayStation-branded version officially supports Sony’s Remote Play app on both Android and iOS, while the standard model only supports it with the latter.

    Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite MMO gaming mouse for $55 ($25 off): We recommend the Scimitar RGB Elite to MMO and MOBA players in our guide to the best gaming mice. It’s not the lightest or most technically advanced model, but it comes with 12 comfortable and easy-to-reach side buttons, which make it easier to pull off more complex actions in games like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV. We’ve seen it fall below $50 a few times before, but this deal matches the lowest price we’ve tracked since May. A newer wireless model called the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is also on sale for a low of $80.

    Razer Basilisk V3 gaming mouse for $30 ($40 off): We recommend the Basilisk V3 in our gaming mouse guide for those who don’t mind using a cable and prefer a more ergonomic right-handed shape. This is its lowest price to date. Note that Razer now sells a newer version with an improved sensor, but that one costs $49 more and isn’t a massive upgrade in real-world use.

    Razer DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed gaming mouse for $71 ($29 off): The wireless DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed is another recommendation from our gaming mouse buying guide. For less than $100, it gets you a sturdy yet superlight design that weighs just 55 grams — making it easy to flick around in fast-paced games — and doesn’t have any annoying cutouts in its outer shell. Its contoured shape should fit most small- to medium-sized hands comfortably, and it performs reliably for competitive play. This deal is an all-time low.

    ASUS ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless mechanical keyboard for $151 ($59 off): We speak positively about this model in our guide to the best gaming keyboards. Its sturdy case, crisp keycaps and battery life all impress, while the thocky NX Snow switches in this model feel and sound delightful. Its companion software is a bit of a mess, and its 96 percent layout may feel a little cramped to some, but it’s a nice buy if you want a higher-class pre-built keyboard. This is the lowest price we’ve seen since March.

    ASUS ROG Azoth mechanical keyboard for $155 ($120 off): It’s a couple years old at this point, but the ROG Azoth remains an exceptionally well-built mechanical keyboard for enthusiasts. Its gasket-mounted design and layers of foam give each key press a soft landing, while its pre-lubed switches feel nice and smooth. It even comes with a toolkit for manually lubing the switches down the road, and the PCB is hot-swappable if you ever want to switch things up. There’s a useful control knob and programmable OLED display for quickly adjusting settings and checking the battery level beyond that. ASUS’ Armoury Crate software is still fairly sloppy, however. This deal comes within a couple bucks of the lowest price we’ve seen for a model with the linear NX Snow switches.

    Crucial X9 Pro (1TB) portable SSD for $75 ($26 off): If you’re looking to offload some games to external storage, we consider the Crucial X9 Pro the best portable SSD for most people, as it offers fast enough transfer speeds in a rugged and compact design. This isn’t the best price ever for the 1TB model but it matches the largest discount we’ve seen since April. Other size options are also on sale.

    Crucial P310 (1TB) M.2 2230 SSD for $80 ($55 off): The P310 is a small-size SSD you can use to add storage to a handheld PC like the Steam Deck or ASUS ROG Ally. It uses cheaper QLC memory, not the faster and more durable TLC, but reviews say that it performs well anyway. This deal ties the best price we’ve seen for the 1TB version since April.

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    Jeff Dunn

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  • Not Only Is the New PlayStation 5 More Expensive, It’s Also Worse

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    Five years into the console’s life cycle, the latest PlayStation 5 is more expensive than ever. If that wasn’t enough, Sony is now offering customers less bang for their buck than if they had bought the hardware just a few months ago. The version of the PlayStation 5 without a disc drive costs $500 and has far less internal storage than before. It’s such a big downgrade; you’re better off hunting for an older or used console if you hoped to play Ghost of Yotei before the end of the year.

    Earlier this month, Sony started shipping a 500-euro version of the slim PS5 with less storage—825GB—than the previous slim version’s 1TB to Europe. With the standard storage requirements for the system’s operating system, that means the new system only has 667GB for you to download your games to. It didn’t take long for that version to make its way to the U.S. The PlayStation Direct online store now sells the $500 “PlayStation 5 Digital Edition Console – 825GB.” It’s the same amount that shipped with the original PS5 in 2020. The PlayStation 5 with a disc drive still comes with 1TB of storage and demands $550 from your wallet. The PlayStation 5 Pro comes with 2TB of storage but now costs $750 after the recent price hikes.

    Gizmodo reached out to Sony for comment on the switch to the older storage option, but we did not immediately hear back. Anybody who has tried to wrangle multiple digital games on their system knows how fast 667GB of storage will get eaten up by storage-hungry games. Less storage only means players will need to go out and spend even more money on new SSD upgrades they need to install themselves. (Admittedly, that’s a very easy process.)

    This is not how things are supposed to unfurl. Gaming and computing hardware normally cheapens over time. In the case of Sony’s gaming brand, consoles also improve over time. Hardware aficionados have made a game of opening up new PlayStation 5 consoles over the years to see how Sony has minimized excesses and improved thermals. For example, the CFI-12XX version of the non-slim PS5 from 2022 was significantly lighter than the 2020 edition. It sports a new heatsink and lighter cooling fans to help reduce weight. The latest version clocks in at 2,433g, or about 5.3 pounds. That’s around 100g lighter than before. Sony didn’t touch the SoC, or system on a chip. It’s getting the same power draw as before and will be practically equivalent in performance compared to previous editions. The only cosmetic change is the black plastic between the two white plates is matte instead of glossy.

    This is a bad time to try and get into gaming. Last month, Xbox hiked prices for its Xbox Series S and X consoles for the second time in a year. Now, a brand-new Series X with a disc drive costs $650. The digital-only version asks for $600, but at least it comes with the full 1TB of storage. Last week, Xbox raised the price of its Game Pass Ultimate subscription to $30 a month, or $360 a year. While Netflix and other streaming services have trained consumers to expect subscriptions to get more expensive and worse with time, Sony is setting us up to anticipate the same with hardware.

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    Kyle Barr

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  • Horror-tinged sidescroller Possessor(s) hits PC and PS5 on November 11

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    The long-awaited sidescroller Possessor(s) for PC and PS5. It’s a horror-tinged action game with Metroidvania elements. It also happens to .

    The game was developed by Heart Machine, which is the same company behind Hyper Light Drifter and its . Publishing duties fall to Devolver, which has had a hand in a boatload of recent indie hits from Enter the Gungeon to Cult of the Lamb. The developer just dropped a launch date trailer for Possessor(s) and it’s filled with both gameplay and story elements.

    As for that story, the game’s set in a quarantined metropolis that’s been invaded by ghostly forces. Exploration will slowly unravel what happened to the city. There’s an open-ended narrative with multiple paths and plenty of characters to meet.

    The combat looks really slick, with lots of melee using found objects. The protagonist can also slide down long corridors and swing from a grappling hook. Weapons can be upgraded and there looks to be a skill tree of some kind.

    We only have around five weeks until we can get our hands on this one. Pre-orders on both platforms are up right now, but there’s no price yet.

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    Lawrence Bonk

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  • Marvel’s Wolverine slices his way onto PS5 in fall 2026

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    The rumors of Marvel’s Wolverine showing up during Sony’s September State of Play turned out to be true after all. The trailer was our first decent look (well, first official one, anyway) at the game since it was announced back in 2021. Sony and Insomniac Games revealed a release window too: Marvel’s Wolverine is coming to PS5 in fall 2026.

    A gruff-sounding Liam McIntyre (Spartacus: Vengeance, JD Fenix in Gears of War 4 and Gears 5) is taking on the mantle of Logan here. As creative director Marcus Smith reminded us, Logan is an unreliable narrator with a patchy memory, which should make for an interesting wrinkle as the story plays out.

    Unlike in Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, bad guys aren’t going to be magically webbed to the side of a tall building after you kick them off the roof. Oh, no no. Wolverine rips an enemy apart in fury with his adamantium claws within the first 30 seconds of this trailer. Not long after, he thrusts them upwards through a goon’s skull. We see him slicing off limbs too. Yeah, this isn’t going to be a game for younger kids.

    Wolverine will encounter some familiar faces on his travels, including Mystique and Omega Red. And that’s not to mention a certain giant robot that shows up at the end of the trailer.

    “We aim to deliver the ultimate Wolverine fantasy built on Insomniac staples like fast, fluid, and ferocious combat; exhilarating, action-packed set pieces; robust accessibility features; and a gripping story that taps into the core tenets of one of the most compelling comic book characters of all time,” Insomniac senior community manager Aaron Jason Espinoza wrote on the PlayStation Blog. “We’re breaking new ground with Wolverine, yes, but our penchant for telling stories about heroes overcoming colossal odds is as strong as ever. We’re eager to explore Logan’s story with you and tap into his signature spin on heroism, which is much darker and more brutal than you might expect from Insomniac.”

    Although we’re a year or so away from Marvel’s Wolverine coming to PS5 and PS5 Pro, we won’t have to wait quite that long for more details. Insomniac promises to reveal additional info in spring 2026.

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    Kris Holt

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  • Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is coming to PS5 on December 8

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    Microsoft is bring yet another of its formerly exclusive games to PlayStation. During Sony’s latest State of Play, the company announced that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is coming to PS5 on December 8, 2025.

    Based on the trailer showed during Sony’s event, the PS5 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, will carry over the same graphical detail and giant commercial aircraft of the original, along with support for the PS VR 2 headset for even more immersive cockpit gameplay. Along with accurately simulating real-life airplanes, Flight Simulator also uses real geographical and weather data for its maps, making flight as peaceful or difficult as they would be in real life.

    Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 joins a growing collection of former Xbox and PC exclusives that Microsoft has brought to Sony’s console. The company started with games like Sea of Thieves and Pentiment, but now even bigger titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle come to PS5 eventually.

    It’s all part of Microsoft ongoing Game Pass and game streaming strategy, but it’s also working for Sony, too. Helldivers 2 was originally a PS5-exclusive, but when it came to Xbox it almost immediately became one of the best-selling games on the platform.

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    Ian Carlos Campbell

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  • Costco reportedly stops selling Xbox consoles online

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    Costco has reportedly stopped selling Xbox consoles online throughout the US and UK, according to reports by The Gamer and others. The wholesaler has removed any mention of the console and related accessories and games from its website. I checked this myself and, sure enough, the search yielded no results.

    The site still has dedicated sections for both Sony and Nintendo and is selling the PS5 and the Switch family of consoles, along with accessories and games for each system. It’s unclear if online unavailability has extended to brick-and-mortar locations, but some Reddit users noticed a distinct lack of Xbox products at the retailer. We reached out to Costco to ask what’s going on and will update this post when we hear back.

    We don’t know why Costco would make this move, but there’s a chance this is in relation to Microsoft’s poor showing this console generation. The PS5 has sold nearly 80 million units, while the Xbox Series X/S has sold around 42 million units.

    The Xbox One also struggled during the previous generation, leading some to speculate that Microsoft has been preparing to exit the console business. The company has denied this and there have been rumors that it’s actively working on the follow-up to the Series X/S. However, the company has also begun porting its games to rival consoles.

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    Lawrence Bonk

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