Denshattack! was revealed earlier last year, and I do not think I have seen an announcement trailer with this much energy in quite some time. It had everything I wanted from a game reveal: fast-paced gameplay, a unique hook, and a distinct art style to tie it all together.
Ahead of its Steam Next Fest demo release, I had the chance to play Denshattack! and came away hungry for more. Here are my thoughts on its early levels.
Absolum was my favourite game of 2025. Punchy combat, superb art, and plenty of well-realised roguelite mechanics made it a rewarding experience to sink hours into, especially in co op. It has now received its first major update. Threads of Fate introduces even more challenges to satisfy my endgame cravings.
Corrupted Regions and Mystic Ordeals
When you reach the end of Absolum, there is still plenty to do. Whether it is beating the true final boss with every character or wrapping up side quests that lead to new paths, bosses to vanquish, and characters to meet, the game does not simply stop. With the 1.1 update, two major additions significantly shake up the endgame experience.
Phil Spencer is exiting Xbox as chief executive after spending 25 years at Xbox and over a decade at the helm. Hewill be replaced by the president of Microsoft's CoreAI division, Asha Sharma, who joined the company in 2024.
This major shakeup was confirmed to IGN by anonymous sources, as the information hasn't yet been cleared for the public. Spencer's retirement from Xbox's top position is going into effect on Feb. 23, next Monday. However, he is to remain in an advisory role to the new Xbox chief, Asha Sharma, until at least the summer so as to assure a "smooth handoff."
Sharma is to be named as CEO of Microsoft Gaming, while Xbox Game Studios chief Matt Booty will be promoted to CCO, a position from which he will closely cooperate with Sharma.
Spencer said in an internal email that he had been considering retirement for a while now, communicating the idea to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella. "From that moment, we aligned on approaching this transition with intention, ensuring stability, and strengthening the foundation we’ve built," he wrote.
Spencer has been with Microsoft since 1988 and has been the head of Xbox since 2014. Screengrab by Destructoid via Microsoft
He is firm in his belief that Sharma is the right choice to lead the company following his departure.
"Working with her over the past several months has given me tremendous confidence. She brings genuine curiosity, clarity, and a deep commitment to understanding players, creators, and the decisions that shape our future. We know this is an important moment for our fans, partners, and team, and we’re committed to getting it right," he said.
He added that he'll advise Sharma during this transitory period until the summer.
Sharma also wrote an internal email to Microsoft staff, promising to reassess what makes Xbox tick, what works, and what does not, emphasizing "great games" as a core tenet. She does have a lot of experience in high leadership positions, with backgrounds at Meta, where she was the VP of Product and Engineering, as well as Intercart, where she held a COO position.
"My first job is simple: understand what makes this work and protect it. That starts with three commitments. First, great games. Everything begins here. We must have great games beloved by players before we do anything. Unforgettable characters, stories that make us feel, innovative game play, and creative excellence. We will empower our studios, invest in iconic franchises, and back bold new ideas. We will take risks. We will enter new categories and markets where we can add real value, grounded in what players care about most," she said.
"Second, the return of Xbox. We will recommit to our core Xbox fans and players, those who have invested with us for the past 25 years, and to the developers who build the expansive universes and experiences that are embraced by players across the world. We will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console which has shaped who we are. It connects us to the players and fans who invest in Xbox, and to the developers who build ambitious experiences for it," Sharma added.
Finally, Sharma concluded that Xbox will not approach the future of gaming and its franchises as "static IP to milk and monetize," but rather focus on "build[ing] a shared platform and tools that empower developers and players to create and share their own stories."
"As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us."
Those are some strong words and encouraging ideas, if clashing with Sharma's background as Microsoft's AI executive.
Early this morning, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company confirmed some big leaks from earlier in the month that two classic GameBoy Advance titles are coming to Nintendo Switch.
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen will launch as digital downloads for the Nintendo Switch on Feb. 27, Pokémon Day, after the big Pokémon Presents live stream. And that should be good news, but many are scoffing at the notion that the games are available only as digital purchases—and for $20 apiece to boot.
While I'm with everyone in wishing that the games would instead be available as part of the Gameboy Advance Nintendo Classics catalog as part of the online subscription, this move is obvious. Regardless of how many people have emulators on their phones and already have both games in their pocket as-is, many more will fork over the 20 bucks to have it on their Switch or Switch 2, so I can't blame the companies at all.
What does stink, though, is that an awesome special edition for the re-launch is coming out as well. And of course, it's coming to Japan only. Pictured below, it features a special case to display three glass PokéBalls depicting Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle within. It looks like it would make a gorgeous display piece.
The package also has some replica GameBoy Advance packaging reminiscent of the original GBA launch, along with a download code for FireRed. So, while it's not a physical edition of the game, it's still a really cool collector's item that most of the world will have to miss out on.
It's pretty decently priced, too, listed for sale on the Japanese Pokémon Center website at 19,800 Yen, or around $130 USD, so I can't say I wouldn't be interested in it if it wasn't available stateside. Hell, that's less than most of the Pokémon LEGO sets that are going online next weekend.
Screenshot by Destructoid
I'm still really excited to see whatever Pokémon announcements come out of the presentation next weekend for the series' 30th anniversary. But I'm also quickly realizing that I can't afford most of this stuff anyway, so I'll just have to admire from afar...especially if it's Japan-only.
It's somehow been over seven years since Slay the Spire launched on Steam, and its sequel is apparently ready to join the fray in early access after a wait that felt like it would never end.
Slay the Spire 2, one of the most wishlisted titles on Steam, is finally unleashing onto PC in just a couple of weeks. The original game was a driving force behind the explosive popularity of roguelike deckbuilders, and now the devs at Mega Crit have returned to take the crown once more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW22jwFNxU8
In a new Early Access Trailer released this afternoon, Slay the Spire 2 teased what to expect from the launch on PC that will eventually also come to console and mobile like its predecessor after the game's initial EA release.
As was the case with the original, the early access launch allows Mega Crit to include the players in its early stages of development all the way through 1.0 launch across multiple platforms, so PC gamers can get in on the ground floor to help shape it.
"It sounds corny, but the extra mile many of you went to report issues, translate content/announcements, create long video essays, make excellent (lol) tier lists, and draw goofy or gorgeous fan art is the reason we're doing it all again," Mega Crit said of releasing STS2 in early access again. "We love our job!"
Slay the Spire is one of the first roguelike deck builders I remember playing, and it's been fun to see the genre take shape even more since it launched back in 2019. Now, gamers are chomping at the bit to see what new fun stuff the devs are cooking up this time.
"Step into the newly evolved Spire, a twisted labyrinth teeming with strange and deadly foes," the game's description says. "Adapt to an arsenal of brand new cards, relics, and potions, each offering game-changing possibilities—or dangerous consequences. Climb the Spire with a new and returning cast of characters, each with their own cards, motives, and secrets. No two climbs are ever the same. Unpredictable challenges and evolving strategies await those brave—or foolish—enough to ascend."
Image via Mega Crit
You can follow up to date with all Slay the Spire 2 news on its Steam page and play it as soon as it's available: March 5, which is right around the corner.
Let me begin by saying I'm really looking forward to Marathon and its March 5 launch. I genuinely hope the game is a success, and I think it has a good chance to be.
That being said, it's an extraction shooter. This means it's PvPvE and fully multiplayer at all times, similarly to a game like ARC Raiders or Escape From Tarkov. And while I'm aware that this isn't a hot take, I can't shake the feeling that this exhilarating sci-fi world would be better suited to almost any other genre.
Image via Bungie
As an extraction shooter, Marathon is limited in how it can deliver its worldbuilding and story—via things like quests, in-game items, potential cutscenes, and lore drops like short stories or animations outside of the game. I have faith that Bungie can do this well, especially after the studio improved over time in how it was done in Destiny, but every new, exciting piece of media that comes out about this new game makes me wish it was delivered in any other genre.
Marathon is dripping with aura and stylishness. I am in love with its themes and concepts, its colorful and varied environments. But in order to enjoy it, I need to queue up and get ready to get my day absolutely ruined by losing all of my loot to an exfil camper, someone who's just plain better than me, or at worst, a cheater.
A singleplayer experience or a co-op shooter experience would be way more digestible than an extraction shooter. This genre has proven to be not for everyone, by a long shot, especially considering how intent Bungie seems to be on leaning into the PvP aspect of it. Where ARC Raiders has fostered a sort of "safe space" for PvE-only players thanks to its spin on engagement-based matchmaking, Marathon looks like it's going to throw everyone into the fire.
Bungie's environmental art, atmosphere, music, and gunplay are always solid. Even asDestiny 2 has taken multiple different paths, that's never really changed. A new Developer Insights video highlighting the game's composer and soundtrack dropped today, and I'm stoked about its vibe and the four songs released thus far. But in it, they talk about how they needed to craft the OST around the game not having one particular main character, and so the songs will be another way in which the story is supplied.
The original Marathon games from decades ago featured a unique and interesting sci-fi story. This new title will carry on that legacy, albeit in a much, much different way. I hope that the lore is delivered in fun ways but that it's still accessible to people, even if they're not the best at PvP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk4K91aeixU
Then again, Bungie's insistence that this is a PvP-first game may mean that this is just not the game for a good number of gamers. And I just hope that won't derail the game's chances at success, especially considering how make-or-break it feels for both Bungie and PlayStation.
The world of ARC Raiders has the potential to be very unfriendly, depending on who or what you meet topside, and the weather is another issue to contend with in the game's next update.
The Shrouded Sky update coming next week is introducing a new map condition: Hurricane. And yeah, that about sums it up. Wind, rain, debris, and low visibility will all be new problems to contend with, so be prepared to fight the elements along with the murderous robots.
Image via Embark Studios
"The climate is damaged and unpredictable, causing violent weather events across the surface," Embark teased. "You’ve already experienced some of them, but southern Italy is about to kick up another challenge to Raiders who dare to brave the surface. Speranza has weathered storms before, but none quite like the approaching Hurricane. Citizens can hear the screeching winds from their refuge below ground; winds that batter and bruise Raiders fool-hardy enough to venture up."
As part of the new Hurricane map condition, wind will be a factor. If you're moving with the wind, you will get a bit of a speed boost, but if the wind is in your face, it will slow you down and also drain your stamina.
Embark says "will also behave differently in these conditions, and it may take a while to master the trajectory of thrown items like grenades," and even different aspects like smoke, gas, or how your Raider jumps will be affected by the storm.
If you're moving out in the open, debris will be blowing with the wind. If you get hit, your shield will glitch and spark, making you more visible to other players. Speaking of visibility, good luck, because everyone's vision will be limited as the storm rages on.
But it's not all bad news. First Wave Caches have also been unearthed thanks to the windy conditions, offering up a chance at some sweet loot within, if you're ready to weather the storm while also dealing with ARC and other players.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lGpwVvdyJQ
"Use the conditions to avoid conflict or to gain the upper hand," Embark teased. "The true masters of the Hurricane will be those who work with it, not against it."
The Hurricane map condition launches alongside the Shrouded Sky next week, on Feb. 24.
The Elder Scrolls 6, announced in 2018, is probably Bethesda's most anticipated game of all time. It would be a return to form for the company, which has spent a lot of the last seven years on Fallout and Starfield, among other projects, slowly but surely chipping away at its original franchise away from the spotlight.
In a recent interview with Kinda Funny Games, Bethesda creative director Todd Howard said the studio is going to return to its "classic style," for which the company has become known. The Elder Scrollsis the poster child of Bethesda Game Studios, while the other games it has worked on, i.e., Fallout 76 and Starfield, were "creative detours," Howard believes.
That classic style is characterized by Bethesda's recognizable approach to fantasy RPG elements and, naturally, the use of the Creation Engine (a new version, of course). Though it'll stay true to what fans expect, a lot of "innovation" will come as well.
And this brings me to the meat of this featurette: Bethesda has a ton to innovate on if it's to make The Elder Scrolls feel great again.
The Elder Scrolls is Bethesda's poster child. Image via Bethesda Softworks
As time progressed, Bethesda increasingly embraced a shallower, more approachable, and less complex RPG style that favors quantity over quality and believes that so long as players have things to "do" in a game, that should be enough. Because of that, we got Skyrim, which ditched stats and any kind of build complexity in favor of a streamlined set of categories aimed at removing a proper class system.
That game also had countless fetch quests, shallow "go there and do that" types of assignments, stories that rarely overlap, side missions that don't make sense in the grand narrative of the game, as well as faction quest chains that don't take your character into account, allowing them to become contradictory as well (becoming a member of multiple factions at once, for example).
The game almost completely did away with roles to be played, remaining an RPG in name only.
Skyrim isn't the worst offender, however, as Bethesda's subsequent titles had even more of these flaws. But, then again, it seems Howard considers these "creative detours," so I'll refer to their last TES game instead.
Though it pains me to accept the Creation Engine at all, I think it could be overlooked so long as Bethesda did away with these "classic" aspects of its design philosophy, not to mention the jank and the bugs the company has come to be associated with.
Destiny 2's next large-scale update, Shadow and Order, has been delayed out of its launch in just a couple of weeks. But players already pretty much knew that.
Shadow and Order was scheduled to launch on March 3, two days before Bungie's new game Marathon, and the writing has been on the wall for a while: radio silence about the update for a long time, until today.
Bungie posted today that Shadow and Order is now launching on June 9, which is just over three months from its initial launch point, and "undergoing large revisions" in the process. Needless to say, even though they knew it was coming, Destiny 2 players are none too pleased on the subject.
"We will provide exact details closer to release covering previously announced Weapon Tier Upgrading, but also additions like expanding Tiered Gear to all Raid and Dungeon activities, Pantheon 2.0, Tier 5 stats for Exotic Armors, and more," Bungie said.
Shadow and Order is now being "changed and expanded to include sizable quality-of-life updates and as a result, will also be renamed" in light of the change, which feels directly Marathon-related, whether intended or not.
"Through June, we will continue to have routine bug fixes and stability improvements, continued portal modifiers, Guardian Games (March), and the return of a more frequent Iron Banner cadence (April)," Bungie said, confirming the roadmap of content will be a bit more scant than originally scheduled. "In terms of communications, we will be focusing on providing you with updates about our live game content, community activations, and general upkeep through the TWID and our Destiny social channels."
Bungie and Sony both need Marathon to be a success, and the chances of Destiny 2 players trying it out, buying it, and spending money on it is likely a lot higher if they don't have Shadow and Order to distract them from the new extraction shooter.
Before its delay, Shadow and Order was set to include a new rewards pass, exotic weapon and ornament, new legendary weapons and armor ornaments, new cosmetics, "and more."
While we all wait for confirmation that Jim Carrey will return as Doctor Robotnik, the fourth Sonic the Hedgehog film has just announced another major role.
Sonic actor Ben Schwartz revealed the news this afternoon that Amy Rose will be played by Kristen Bell in the upcoming sequel, which is currently slated for 2027. If you don't recognize her from TV shows like Gossip Girl, Veronica Mars, or The Good Place, then you've likely already heard her voice.
Bell is the voice of Princess Anna in the Frozen movies, meaning she's likely got more than enough voice acting pedigree to handle a role like Amy Rose in the beloved Sonic franchise, which already has three successful titles over the past few years.
I think the Sonic movies are criminally underrated, and you can argue that they've only gotten better with each iteration. That said, I do think that Jim Carrey's Robotnik has been an integral part of all three, and he's currently unconfirmed for Sonic the Hedgehog 4.
Still, Amy Rose joining the roster that already includes Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, along with human characters like James Marsden's Tom, is an exciting prospect. Amy was teased at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which also starred Keanu Reeves as Shadow the Hedgehog. Amy is a cute pink hedgehog that has starred in several Sonic games and is often portrayed as his admirer.
Growing up, I was a Sonic kid myself. I played the Mario games, but the Sonic titles were where I really got into the gaming lifestyle via the first three Sega Genesis titles, plus spin-offs likeSonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast. I'm thankful that these movies have been handled with care thus far, with most fans thrilled with how they've turned out.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is directed by Jeff Fowler, who directed the previous three films along with the Knuckles TV series on Paramount Plus. Now, let's just get Carrey back, and we can really have some fun.
There are very few things the vast majority of humanity can agree on: food is one of them. We all eat, and we all enjoy good food. And then there's music. We all hear or feel it, and we all enjoy it to some degree.
Everything about the upcoming RPG People of Note is influenced by music and how it brings people together. The names, the gameplay, the storyline, just about everything you could imagine is themed around music or just a fun music pun. The turn-based combat features musical instruments as weapons, and it's even rhythm-based (think Expedition 33-like QTEs when it comes to dealing max damage on attacks) in its very nature.
Image via Annapurna Interactive
The game's locations are all themed around music (like Durandis, the city of rock and roll, pictured above), and it's all so incredibly tongue-in-cheek and dripping with whimsy. The game is an ode to the art form of music itself, and "music is the DNA" of the whole game, according to what creative director Jason Wishnov told me in a group interview presentation earlier this month.
People of Note stars a young woman named Cadence, a pop music singer who's out to make a name for herself as a musician and win a contest to earn fame and fortune... but she needs a band. She's eventually joined by a classic rocker named Fret (yes, EVERYTHING is a music pun) on their journey of creating a band that's a mash-up of genres to create something special and new. The group eventually fills out with EDM DJ Synthia and rapper Vox, and they all combine their different music styles to work together throughout People of Note's events.
Exploring Durandis in an early-access hands-on demo, I quickly came to see how this game truly was crafted by bona fide music nerds. There's a shop called 3 Stores Down (a la the band 3 Doors Down), I found an armor piece called Tom Petticoat (no Heartbreakers were found), and even pet an elongated corgi called, you guessed it, an accorgion (like an accordion). And that's just record-scratching the surface.
On their journey, Cadence and crew will visit themed locations and regions for genres like the aforementioned rock, plus EDM, rap, and K-pop, with each region featuring its own fitting battle theme. The combat is classic JRPG style. As Wishnov said, the game is heavily inspired by the likes of Final Fantasy 9 and 10, Chrono Cross, and even The World Ends With You, but it's still musical throughout. The turns are called Stanzas, visually represented at the bottom of the screen during combat so you can plan your attack.
Image via Annapurna Interactive
And as mentioned before, the active rhythm-based combat, where you must time a button press with a visual circle closing on itself (this is optional and can be turned off if you so choose), is reminiscent of the hugely popular Expedition 33. But this game has been in development way before last year's game of the year launched.
The combat gameplay is supplemented with puzzles, with several in the demo themed around directing lasers to bounce across a room to reach an endpoint to move on to the next objective, but I think a lot of the fun will be based on combining different abilities and genre mashups to min-max battle success.
Wishnov said that People of Note has been in development for "five to seven years," with a maximum of 15 people working on it at any given time. It definitely has the vibe and feel of a passion project by people who truly love music and everything about it.
The demo I played featured one really cool musical cutscene between Cadence and Fret, but the majority of the dialogue is delivered Hades-style with static animations speaking back and forth, and silent chat bubbles with NPCs you meet around town. The fully 3D animated scenes are meant for special, "emotional climax" moments, but Wishnov said that there are "several" throughout the full experience.
To bring home these important moments, People of Note's voice cast is quite impressive, with some characters having both a voice actor and a singing actor (Cadence's voice is Heather Gonzalez, while her singing is done by an artist named LEXXE, for example), with several notable actors on board. The list includes Jason Charles Miller, Erika Ishii, Debra Wilson, and more.
Image via Annapurna Interactive
The demo I played will be available in Steam Next Fest starting on Feb. 23, so I encourage everyone to try it out if they're a fan of music, JRPGs, or games in general. It launches on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on April 7.
Ever since the GTA series became the biggest game franchise in the world with GTA 3, many have tried to one-up it. No game has succeeded, but many of its challengers have remarkable development stories, so let's remember the fallen.
Driv3r
Image via Atari
The first two Driver games are staples of the original PlayStation and legendary car-chase titles. Driv3r, the game meant to beat GTA3 with its experience in the 3D realm, achieved legendary status, but only for the worst reasons.
Driv3r's development became so troubled that it was delayed to the point of competing not with GTA 3 or GTA Vice City, but with GTA San Andreas, a game lightyears ahead of everything else. And it gets worse.
Driv3r is responsible for "Driv3rgate," a huge scandal that hit when people suspected publisher Atari was cozying up to big gaming outlets of its time in exchange for ridiculously high scores that overlooked all of the game's technical issues. Never heard about Driv3rgate? Well, that might be because Atari then allegedly spent big bucks on a campaign to delete all negative press about Driv3r and replace it with positive reactions from fake accounts. Seems bad, but you gotta give them credit for pulling off this level of crap before AI was a thing.
So, if we're to end on a positive note, as far as criminal simulators go, Driv3r actually outdoes GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas, because its development reportedly featured actual unlawful activity! Here's hoping that joke doesn't age poorly very, very fast.
JAK 2
Image via Naughty Dog
Jak 2 isn't the game most would think of as a GTA competitor, but they'd be wrong.
The original Jak and Daxter was a cool platformer, one that combined the action of the Crash Bandicoot series that Naughty Dog was known for, with much more open play areas. The natural evolution of that alone should've gotten Naughty Dog enough praise and sales to keep the series alive, but then something changed everything.
GTA 3's release deeply shook the entire gaming landscape, and Naughty Dog admitted the Jak and Daxter sequel was heavily inspired by it, and that’s why you now have guns, cars, and a huge megacity-like play world. Even the name was changed to a three-letter name followed by a number. Jak 2 is a good game, but it's too far away from the original, and definitely still not the game that would appeal to the more mature GTA-loving audience.
Mafia
Screenshot by Destructoid
If we overlook Mafia 3's considerable technical issues because a dangerous-looking dude told us to, we can say the Mafia series is pretty great overall. It did, however, make a big mistake in its clinging to realism. The original Mafia takes place over the 1930s, some of the greatest years of organized crime, I've been told, and also a time that feels completely separate from the '90s and '80s of most GTA games up until then. Sadly, however, the developers seemingly didn't conduct much research into the cars of that time, a big part of making a GTA competitor. The good news is that cars were, indeed, already a thing back in the '30s, but they were slow as hell and thus not fun for either chasing other bad guys or getting away from the police.
Interestingly, there's one mission in the original Mafia where the cars can actually achieve decent speeds—the racing minigame, naturally—but that's actually gone down in history as one of the worst missions in this kind of game, since the cars are nearly uncontrollable. Mafia is a good game, but beating GTA 3 would have taken so much more than just that.
True Crime: Streets of LA
Screenshot by Destructoid
To anyone growing up in the '90s and Y2K times, everything about True Crime: Streets of LA read like "GTA but BETTER." It had you join the "good" guys, starred a wild number of Hollywood A-listers, and even added cool martial arts and Matrix- inspired shooting shenanigans. How are we not suffering acutely while waiting for True Crime 6 right now? Well, turns out there's such a thing as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Though the idea of putting a greater focus on combat was the right one, the game suffered from a bunch of technical hiccups, like bad camera and clipping that left the gameplay feeling too unpolished to measure up to GTA 3 or Vice City. Weirdly, True Crime's weaker technical side would only get worse with its sequel, True Crime: New York City, and the martial arts GTA-like would only resurface a decade later with Sleeping Dogs.
The Getaway
Screenshot by Destructoid
The Getaway is one of the most expensive games ever made, and it shows. The developers at Team Soho literally cloned a large part of London and put it in a game with some of the best visuals of its time. The Getaway was as real as a game could get up until that point—and that proved a problem. See the sky in the image above? It's grey just like the London sky tends to be, but that just isn't as fun as sunny Vice City, sorry, Londoners.
The same focus on realism over fun is seen in many other parts of the game, like the minimalistic or null HUD, a very realistic and immersive choice that absolutely works with games meant for hardcore players like Escape From Tarkov, but that tend not to work on games aimed at mass market appeal. The Getaway was still a technical marvel, but not a marvelously fun game.
You remember Avowed, don’t you? Well, it’s now a full year old, which means it’s old enough that it’s time to finally decide whether you’re ever going to finish the game or if it will forever sit on your list of dropped titles. And Obsidian Entertainment is giving you a reason to return to Eora, wherever you left off.
The developer is celebrating Avowed’s anniversary with an update chock full of new features, and that update will be available across all platforms—including PlayStation 5. Among the features in the update are three new playable races and additional customization options, a photo mode, a new weapon type, and a host of quality-of-life improvements. It’s the game’s largest update yet, and the list of additions more than proves it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtoGSz4Kv1o
Originally, players could pick from elves or humans as their race, but now, they also have access to Dwarves, Orlans, and Aumaua. If you don’t remember what those last two are, think Yatzli and Kai. And luckily for players who already dropped a gazillion hours into the game, you won’t actually have to make a new playthrough to experience those three races; you can instead just change it through a mirror system.
Avowed was one of those games that I played but never ended up finishing. And it’s not because I thought it was a bad game by any means. I loved my time adventuring with Kai and Marius at my side, finding hidden totems, and sight-seeing around Eora. But as with any open-world game, especially one I’m grinding for work, burnout starts to creep in after a week of playing, and my resolve to pick up a controller once more dips lower and lower with each passing day.
But the latest trailer for the anniversary update makes me actually want to jump back in, and no, I don’t think it’s only because of the music’s catchy gun-cock percussion or rapid-fire visuals of Eora’s beautiful sights and scenes—though both of those things are pretty cool, if I do say so myself. In addition to the new playable races and weapons, Obsidian is adding a few new stat changes and custom difficulty modifiers, which allow you to tailor the game’s difficulty to your preferred playstyle. Plus, there’s the photo mode, and I have to admit, I’m a sucker for spending way too long finding the perfect angle and pose to make my characters look devilishly stunning.
So, what say you, Destructoid? Will you be giving Avowed another go, or is it one that’s better left in 2025? Let me know in the comments below.
Marvel Rivals' constant hero additions can sometimes make for a balancing nightmare, none more prevalent than last week's Elsa Bloodstone launch.
Elsa is a powerful Duelist, dual-wielding guns and moving quickly around the battlefield, but her Apex Predator ultimate ability has come under massive scrutiny from players across social media for how powerful it is.
NetEase Games heard the cries, and Marvel Rivals will be releasing a quick, unscheduled balance patch in a few days to bring her monstrous brother back down to size just a bit. This is an uncommonly quick patch, a testament to just how strong Elsa's ultimate has been in its first week.
"To keep S6 feeling stable for the entire season and ensure that players can join in at any point during these two months without compromising their consistent experience, the S6.5 changes were designed to be restrained, with a smaller impact on the overall meta," the dev said. "But no worries! We're tracking your feedback as always and testing the proposed changes internally. Patch 0219 will target a subset of high-performing heroes that have drawn stronger feedback."
Here's a peek at the patch notes coming in the Feb. 19 update, along with some other hero changes to keep an eye on.
Marvel Rivals patch notes - Feb. 19
Screenshot by Destructoid
Elsa Bloodstone
Apex Predator (Ultimate)
Reduced Glartrox's health from 500 to 400.
Reduced Dash Duration from 6s to 3.5s.
Adjusted the enemy grab hitbox from 6m (L) × 6m (W) × 3.5m (H) to 5m (L) × 5m (W) × 3.5m (H).
Hawkeye
Reduced Piercing Arrow's Base Damage from 34 to 28.
Reduced the Base Damage of a fully charged arrow from 85 to 70.
When boosted by Archer's Focus, the damage of a charged arrow is down from 175 to 160.
Hela
Damage falloff of Nightsword Thorn still starts at 18m.
At 30m, the maximum falloff drops to 70 percent of the base (was 80 percent).
Beyond 25m, two critical hits will not KO a 250 HP target.
A series of duplication glitches that allowed players to amass large quantities of valuable items in ARC Raiders will now have repercussions for those who took part.
Embark Studios revealed this morning that its investigation into recent exploits is now complete, and the studio will be punishing those who took part in duplicating items in several different ways, depending on just how severe the actions were.
Image via Embark Studios
"Though these exploits stemmed from a design flaw on our part, the way they were used had a real impact on the game’s economy and the way the community experienced ARC Raiders," Embark said this morning. "It's on us to address that and work to restore balance. Over the course of this week, we will begin issuing enforcement actions to accounts that we can confirm took advantage of these exploits."
ARC Raiders is a unique situation as an extraction shooter where the value of items has a distinct impact on gameplay systems and features like the Expedition Project, where in-game coins are saved up to put toward a goal. Duplicating valuable items basically breaks the game, and so the team says action needs to be taken.
The response to the news on social media has been pretty tepid, as you could imagine, with many players annoyed that the issue being a problem on Embark's end is now resulting in punishments. Several others have been calling for bans of streamers like TheBurntPeanut, who showcased the exploit to tens of thousands of viewers.
According to the dev, the punishments they expect to be doled out include:
Warnings for low-severity cases where abuse was limited.
Removal of Coins tied to exploit activity.
Suspensions for the severe cases, particularly where exploit usage had a significant impact on the in-game economy or other players’ experience.
"It's our hope that this response provides a platform for future action, and we’ve already improved our detection and tracking, internal review tools, and safeguards to limit the impact of similar exploits," Embark Said. "We take this incident seriously, and we’re approaching it as both a corrective effort and a learning opportunity to strengthen the systems that support fair play."
While Sony has been porting many of its games to the PC platform, especially in the last few years, the Xbox hasn't had as much luck. Despite Microsoft's embrace of a multiplatform approach, Sony seems to prefer exclusivity and the PC at most. Or so Insomniac Games would love to believe, firmly denying that its Spider-Man games would ever be ported to Xbox.
As per tech4gamers, Insomniac Games very bluntly stated that in an exchange on X, telling a fan that an Xbox port of Spider-Man is "not likely." Naturally, Insomniac's Marvel games are a Sony powerhouse, funded, produced, and published by the Japanese gaming giant, which unsurprisingly prefers to keep its first-party games in-house and available on its own platform.
Insomniac's Marvel games are absolute juggernauts. Image via Insomniac Games
However, Sony has increasingly played with multiplatform releases, porting games or even launching them on the PlayStation and PC simultaneously (i.e., the case of Helldivers 2). Insomniac itself once believed that Spider-Man would remain a first-party PlayStation exclusive, given that it's backed and published by Sony, only for the games to eventually come out on Steam.
Microsoft's embrace of multiplatformity seems to have also triggered similar sentiments at Sony. After the massive success of Helldivers 2's simultaneous launch (that, too, was published by Sony), the company seems more eager to do multiplatform releases. Microsoft, as I've said, only helped grow those sentiments, porting its own major first-party franchises over to the PlayStation, likely in anticipation of Sony doing the same.
While that might be true, franchises don't sell so well all the time, and porting even the most valuable games would be a smart move after some time spent in exclusivity (after sales start dipping).
Xbox has a new face at the top: Asha Sharma, a former president of Microsoft's AI division who just really wants to get into the gaming sphere. Since her appointment was confirmed yesterday, Sharma has been attempting to bring herself closer to the gaming community and is trying to engage players on meaningful topics.
One such subject was the question of the greatest games of all time, which Sharma asked folks to share in a Feb. 21 post on X. "Top three greatest games ever? Why?" Sharma posted, saying her own favorites were Halo, Valheim, and GoldenEye. She seems quite an old head at heart, and her inquiry got me thinking, too, of what my three favorite games were.
I always disliked these kinds of questions, to be completely honest with you. They put me on the spot and required me to select out of a countless number of experiences the three that struck me the most. And it's fine to select one or two as examples of what a great game is, but quite difficult, if not outright impossible, to choose three that are ultimately "the best" ever.
Every good game is good in its own way and is appealing to me for very specific reasons. But, if I had to choose at gunpoint, I would say The Witcher 3, Modern Warfare 2, and Warcraft 3. Don't take these picks at face value, though, and I might have a different opinion (actually, I probably will have a different opinion) once this article is done and published, and then I'll moan and complain that I should've picked something else.
But, be it as it may, I love these three games for very particular reasons. Being a fan of classical fantasy, The Witcher 3 spoke to me at a fundamental level, allowing me to indulge myself in a world that is so different from everything else in the fantasy genre. While it does incorporate Tolkienesque elements of elves and dwarves, it mixes in that strong sense of sword and sorcery from the early 20th century, which turns it into a heroic fiction type of story rather than the high epic fantasy that most works in the genre aim to become.
The Witcher 3 is as close to a perfect game as it can get. Image via CD PROJEKT RED
On top of that, The Witcher 3 is a rare Slavic fantasy story, and being Montenegrin myself, I simply have to love it for that reason alone, if not for all the other great things that it does. There's just something about bogs and marshes and witches and Slavo-Germanic fairy tales being brought to life in the most grotesque ways possible that really makes me want to go back and replay it time and again. It's the best game of all time, written almost perfectly, with a world that is unlike anything else in video games.
Now that that yap is over, I can quickly summarize Modern Warfare 2 and Warcraft 3. One is the definitive shooter of my childhood, a game I couldn't play for the longest time because my family couldn't spend much money on a good-enough PC, but one that I stuck with the longest after I finally got a solid machine in 2013. Its story is my favorite of all of the three original MW games, and the multiplayer side is so flashy and satisfying that I find myself going back even today.
And finally, Warcraft 3: the best RTS of all time. A game that spawned so many other games I would come to enjoy (League of Legends, Dota 2), and an RTS experience that understood how storytelling works and that RPG elements can and will synergize perfectly with a strategy formula, so long as the overarching narrative is good.
It revolutionized the RTS scene, and no game has succeeded in doing what it did, with Blizzard itself ditching it in favor of WoW, an epic tale that simply never "hit" the same as the original Warcraft3.
So, now that you know my picks, what are you choosing? Sharma seems to want to know as much about us as possible, most likely not because she wants to train an AI based on our tastes, but rather to become as familiar with her consumer base as possible.
What are your greatest games of all time? You can name just one, or if you have more than three, please do share it with me (if not Xbox's new chief).
As an extraction shooter, it's only natural that ARC Raiders would have a wipe mechanic. Most of the games in the genre do, and while it does it differently, Embark's game very much follows suit. But despite the fact that over a million people participated and wiped their accounts, I still struggle to figure out why you'd even do such a thing.
In other games like ARC Raiders, server wipes are global. A time comes when every player on a given server is Thanos-snapped into oblivion, forced to start from scratch. This resets the game's overall economy and progress, allowing everyone to catch their breath and begin anew. It's an interesting concept, since it removes the massive advantage power users had, putting the entire server on a relatively even playing field.
The Expeditions are way too tedious to perform, and the trade-off is not good enough. Image via Embark
But ARC Raiders doesn't do that. It asks you to spend a tremendous amount of time gathering resources to be able to wipe, providing you few noteworthy rewards for doing so. Still, over a million people wiped (thanks PC Games N), despite the fact that they're making their overall experience less fun (the quests reset and have to be repeated, most valuable items are lost, etc.).
A lot is lost and not much gained, leaving those who participated at an abject disadvantage compared to everyone else who retained all their skills (now easily reset and redistributed), items, and everything in between.
At least in games like Hunt: Showdown, where the game's money system provides enough incentive to willingly wipe while others do not, there are proper reasons for wiping and "prestiging."That doesn't really exist in ARC Raiders, but Embark has acknowledged this and will introduce more benefits for Expeditions in the future.
I just hope they're tremendous enough that the majority of players will find them interesting, and that they'll start off by not including quest resets. If they do, at least make them different, more rewarding, or cooler for Expedition participants. The repetition ruins the fun.
Spooky season is way past us, and the jollymaxxing hasn't ended yet (at least not in my very archaic Orthodox part of the world), but Phasmophobia never sleeps, and neither do its ghosts. The devs have now announced 2026 will be one of the game's biggest years yet, with the 1.0 release fast approaching.
As announced by the game's developers on X, Phasmophobia will finally launch in full in 2026, bringing its years-long early access program to a satisfying closure. Millions have already played the game, tested it, and helped develop it through their feedback, but more is coming ahead of the official 1.0 release.
This year will have many focuses, but key highlights are increased immersion, modernization, and better graphics. The game desperately needs the latter, and as you could tell from the outdated models, this was probably left for last. The atmosphere of each map and run is already top-notch, and these new finishes will just make the experience even better.
One of the most iconic maps, 6 Tanglewood Drive, is going to be reworked and brought in line with other reworked maps. A much-needed update will be given to the player models, which are frankly immersion-breaking at the moment. The new models will be significantly more realistic and pleasant to look at, which is always a plus.
Animations for both player characters and the first-person camera will be polished, updated, and refined to create a more immersive, grounded experience.
Though it wasn't mentioned in the plans, I sincerely hope some more attention is given to the ghosts and their AI. A lot of the game revolves around communicating with forces unseen, and I've been ghosted (pun intended) way too many times, making me dread a return to a game that doesn't respond. Demonologist drew me away because of that, even if it doesn't have as good a vibe and depth as Phasmophobia. It's just way more reactive, and I pray to see that improved by the time 1.0 comes around.
This update, aimed to release in the first quarter of this year, is a major step toward 1.0. The latter will also include the "reworked Horror update" once it arrives, bringing an end to what's been one of the most popular, fun, and interesting early access programs in the history of indie games.
After 1.0, a lot more could be on the way, given that the devs will have made the game feature-complete and ready for further expansion based on a solid gameplay foundation.
Two days after Roblox introduced a new age verification process across all platforms, the results are creating problems for many users.
On Jan. 7, Roblox made "facial age checks" a requirement to chat on the game, requiring you to use a camera and scan your face to use any chat feature. It will then give you an age estimate based on what it sees, shaping your chat experience and defining who you can and cannot interact with.
Image via Roblox
One of the problems with the feature, at least at the outset, is that it seems to come to incorrect conclusions. In many cases, it's overestimating the age of children and then placing them into a bracket where they can chat with users deemed older than them.
"As the first large online gaming platform to require facial age checks for users of all ages to access chat, this implementation is our next step toward what we believe will be the gold standard for communication safety," Roblox said on Jan. 7. "It enables age-based chat, which promotes a positive, age-appropriate experience for all users globally, and limits communication between adults and children younger than 16."
Robloxsaid that "tens of millions of daily active users" completed an age check as the feature was rolled out in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands in early December before being widely implemented this week. But the results since then are quite spotty.
One mother from the US told me that the game estimated her 10-year-old daughter was 16 years old. The new facial age check will overwrite whatever actual age the parent entered in the first place, and the information can only be corrected by then scanning some form of identification.
"Even if [my child] had an ID, I wouldn’t scan hers into their system to correct it," she told me. "The age verification process often resulting in young kids being placed in older age groups defeats the purpose of trying to keep them safe online."
Image via Roblox
And if you encounter similar errors or misidentification and want to try to correct the error via Roblox support, it then requires appealing through layers of AI agents before ever reaching a human who can fix it.
"I (37) like to play Roblox with my son (10) pretty frequently," another Reddit post said. "I just age-verified both our accounts and now I can't even chat to my own child in-game? Why the frick are Trusted Connections only available for 13-plus? We spend so much on this game over the years and now it takes away my ability to talk to my own child?"
Roblox has come under heavy scrutiny over the past few years for being a "breeding ground for predators," according to the Florida attorney general, among several similar probes. Last month, the game was completely blocked in Russia for "LGBT propaganda."
These new security measures look to be trying to keep children safe from nefarious users, but their implementation so far is leaving a lot to be desired for many, causing frustration for kids and parents alike.
I tried out the facial scan on a new account myself, and it correctly identified me as "21 or older." But the RobloxHelp Reddit page is overflowing with complaints from many who are reporting issues with the tech, which looks to be largely AI-powered.
Destructoid has reached out to Roblox for comment on this story.
Update on Jan. 9 at 1:35pm CT:Roblox has responded to the article stating that "users can appeal their age check not only with ID verification but also parental controls, which allow parents to update their child’s age."
More stories and complaints of facial age check issues have been steadily appearing on Reddit throughout the day.
