All eyes are on GTA 6, but Red Dead Redemption 2 continues its remarkable success, selling more copies in the last year than in any 12-month period since its launch year back in 2018.

Rockstar Games’ masterpiece has now sold an incredible 85 million copies to date (up to March 2026), and while that’s just over a third of the eye-watering 230 million copies GTA 5 has sold, it’s enough to make Red Dead Redemption 2 one of the best-selling games of all time. Indeed, it’s now above Wii Sports as the third best-selling game ever released.

Red Dead Online has always lagged behind its counterpart, GTA Online, not just in terms of updates but revenue, leading some fans to wonder what might have been had Rockstar invested just as heavily in the multiplayer portion of Red Dead Redemption 2. And there is often talk of Red Dead Redemption 3, which feels like an inevitability. Late last year, Rockstar Games co-founder and former lead writer Dan Houser said Red Dead Redemption 3 “will probably happen.” And in 2023, Roger Clark, who played Arthur Morgan, the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2, said he was “certain” fans will see Red Dead Redemption 3 “one day,” but qualified that statement by saying he had no idea when that would be.

Even Hollywood actor Jack Black has had his say, revealing the character he’d love to play in Red Dead Redemption 3 should it ever happen.

For now, Rockstar’s attention is squarely on GTA 6, but maybe once it’s over the launch and whatever’s next for GTA Online is out the door, it can revisit its iconic Wild West franchise.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Bungie has announced the end of content updates for live service shooter Destiny 2, nearly nine years after launch.

The studio behind Halo, which recently released extraction shooter Marathon, said it will release the final content update for Destiny 2 on June 9, 2026. Destiny 2 will remain playable despite active development ending.

Bungie issued the following statement on social media today:

For almost 12 years, we have had the joy and honor to explore the Destiny universe with you all. Through all the ups and downs, surprises and triumphs, building Destiny alongside our players has been a monumental privilege. While our love for Destiny 2 has not changed, it has become clear that after The Final Shape, we have reached the time for our shared worlds, and Destiny, to live beyond Destiny 2.

As our focus turns towards a new beginning for Bungie, we will begin work incubating our next games. To that end, on June 9, 2026, we will release the final live-service content update for Destiny 2 to begin that new journey as a studio.

Though active development may be concluding, we will ensure that Destiny 2 remains playable, just as the original Destiny is today. Many changes in this final update will aim to ensure that Destiny 2 is a welcoming place for players to return to.

We’re proud of Destiny 2, the places it took us, and the legacy it has created. Because of you all, our universe is vast, built on years of shared stories, adventures, and victories. From the Cosmodrome to the Pale Heart to the Lawless Frontier, we have forged life-long memories and friendships with you all.

We are incredibly grateful to everyone who made that journey with us.

From the deepest part of our hearts, thank you, and we'll see you in the stars.

There is no mention of a future Destiny video game being in development, nor Marathon. Clearly, Bungie wants to keep the conversation on the final updates for Destiny 2 itself. But it does suggest Destiny as a franchise has come to an end, marking the end of an era for the genre-defining series.

Destiny 1 launched on September 9, 2014 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. It enjoyed enormous commercial success, but met with a mixed response from critics. As part of a high-profile publishing deal with Call of Duty company Activision, Destiny expansions and updates followed. Destiny 2 launched on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6, 2017, with a PC version following a month later. Behind the scenes, however, tension between Bungie and Activision emerged, and the two companies officially parted ways in January 2019, ending their 10-year publishing deal five years early.

With Destiny in its own hands, Bungie self-published the game, but it couldn't escape financial troubles and layoffs as Destiny 2 expansions failed to hit the mark and the player base declined. Sony bought Bungie in early 2022 in a deal valued at $3.6 billion. However, Sony has admitted the acquisition has yet to pay off, and it recently reported a $765 million impairment loss due to underperformance of Bungie specifically.

During the financial year ending March 31, 2026, Sony’s Game & Network Services Segment, of which PlayStation is a part, suffered a 120.1 billion yen (approx. $765 million) impairment loss against Bungie’s assets. Sony had already reported a 31.5 billion yen (approx. $204.2 million) impairment charge as a result of Destiny 2’s underperformance during the second quarter of its fiscal year. It then reported another 88.6 billion yen (approx. $565 million) impairment charge on top of that for the fourth quarter.

Hardcore extraction shooter Marathon launched early March, within the last fiscal year and, crucially, within the quarter in which Sony reported the additional 88.6 billion yen impairment charge against Bungie. Marathon reportedly had a budget of more than $250 million, and, according to analysts, has failed to meet sales expectations.

During an investor-focused Q&A, Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao indicated the company will stick with Marathon in a bid to grow its user base. "In our studio business, earnings from Bungie’s title portfolio did not reach our expectations, so we downwardly revised our business plan and impaired the full amount of the fixed assets related to Bungie except for goodwill," Tao said.

"Player reception to Marathon is strong, with the game receiving a Metacritic score of 82 and more than 90% of the player reviews on Steam being positive. Engagement metrics such as retention also remain at a high level. Going forward, we aim to improve the performance of the game by working to retain highly engaged core users through the introduction of additional content, further improvements in the gameplay experience and expansion of the user base."

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Warhammer 40K was always such a natural pairing with what has come to be called the "boomer shooter" – these crunchy, nostalgic celebrations of ‘90s mayhem that take notes from the likes of old-school Doom, Quake, and Rise of the Triad. The original Boltgun was one of those team-ups that seems so obvious in retrospect that I was almost mad I didn't think of it myself. With Boltgun 2, the couple of levels I played show a desire to evolve a bit beyond those templates, though. It still has the look and feel of all the blood-drenched classics, while dialing up the scope and expanding the environments and character roster.

Retroactive Continuity

Like its predecessor, Boltgun 2 brings the grimy, oppressive reality of the 42nd Millennium to life with a readable, pixelated style that evokes the essence of it in a way that even the most hyperrealistic renditions like Space Marine 2 struggle to match. This art style just works for the chunky weapons, madcap enemies, and hostile environments so that it doesn't feel like a gimmick or a compromise. It feels like undiluted 40K. And it's impressive how much personality and detail they've packed into some of these low-res heretics.

The biggest change this time around is in the way levels are laid out. I played two levels set on two different deadly worlds, and both focus on lengthy, semi-linear outdoor environments that involve traversing huge distances rather than exploring and backtracking though a single facility. We might still see some of the latter, but the devs are conscious of the fact that the first game felt like it kept you cooped up inside too much.

The first level is almost entirely winding natural corridors through a jungle-covered death world. And the forces of the Archenemy seem to be our main opponents this time around, with Nurgle's cultists taking center stage for this stretch. Hopping over giant tree roots and blasting through mossy caves is definitely a different vibe, and I found it a little bit too linear in some sections. There are still secrets to find and a couple places where you might have the choice of a left path or a right path, but the trade-off of this new biome is that there are several places where it looks like I should be able to blast my way through the underbrush that are simply hard blockers.

It Takes Two

Poxwalkers and Plague Marines are a good fit for this jungle trek, though, impeding the way with damage-dealing pustules and teeming hordes of minions. Boltgun 2 has a little bit of a glass cannon feeling to it, even in the boots of the Space Marine Sternguard Malum from the first game. Ranged attacks can often be shrugged off in ridiculous quantities while even the basic bolter blasts whole rooms full of trash to bits, but getting bogged down in melee is apparently a fate even the Emperor can't spare one of his sons from.

He has a powerful charge ability that can blast a path through a whole battalion if used right, and a deadly chainsword that makes him a match for just about any individual foe close-up. But charging into the thick of it and trying to fight my way out really never ended up being a good idea. You want to get in, do some damage, and get out so his superhuman health regen – and any powerups you can gobble up – can do their jobs.

This kind of tactical thinking is even more important for Boltgun 2's second playable character, Nyra Veyrath, a Celestarian of the Sisters of Battle. She's less tanky but far more mobile, which lends itself to a swift, merciless, almost manic playstyle that had me rarely standing still for more than a second. Instead of a charge, she has a slide that can turn into a jump that doesn't have the killing power of Malum's charge, but allows her to quickly reposition through huge groups instead of going around them. Her power sword also has a deadly lunge that further develops her role as a hit-and-run sort of fighter who strafes around the enemy flanks and wears them down.

The jungle level concludes in a large, honeycomb-like cave with a traversable arena surrounded by deadly poison swamps, from which endless waves of Nurgle forces will attack in multiple directions until a dropship arrives. It's tense, tricky, and tactical. But Malum and Nyra won't be alone, since friendly Imperial Guardsmen from the Death Korps of Krieg show up to, well, do what guardsmen do and act as human shields for the most part. I'm giving them a hard time, but this can be very helpful. Like I said, getting surrounded is probably the worst thing that can happen to you in Boltgun 2. So having a blob of friendlies in a pinch can give you more options to reposition for a renewed attack.

They don't do a lot of damage, so they certainly aren't going to win the battle for you. And they take full friendly fire, so you're probably going to end up putting a bunch of their names on a plaque yourself. But I like how they create the sense of a larger military operation taking place around us. I would have probably expected Catachans for this particular mission, but they didn't receive new models in the tabletop game recently and I'm sure Games Workshop wants to sell more Krieg.

Cold as Ice

The second mission I played takes place in dramatic frozen canyons on an icy world strewn with Imperial ruins. This creates a mix of natural and artificial environments and doesn't feel quite as aggressively linear as the previous one. This time, Khorne's bloody-handed forces are the main opponents, generally rushing you down like the last 11th Edition rulebook at the local game store. Nurgle has some interesting tactics. These dudes mostly just have anger.

By now, my arsenal was ready to match them, though. And all the guns in Boltgun 2 feel pretty fantastic. Even Malum's bolter and Nyra's bolt pistol hit with the devastating force 40K lore would suggest they should, making short work of even some of the tankiest enemies. These aren't the weapons you fall back on when you're out of ammo for everything else – they're fully respectable tools in the kit that can clean up, especially at mid-range.

For when you really just need something big to die, Malum gets an armor-shredding plasma gun and Nyra gets a long-range crossbow. Both have a much slower rate of fire but hit like an orbital laser, which rewards being thoughtful and precise even amidst all the chaos and carnage. For special occasions, Malum brings a heavy bolter that requires a bit of a wind-up but pretty much deletes anything you point it at. And Nyra gets a wicked flamer that can simply burn a path of slag through everything within short to medium range. It's especially satisfying to exterminate Nurgle's disgusting minions with this thing.

The ice level also features some occupied bunkers that can either be assaulted at distance or infiltrated for some close-quarters action, which was a nice change in texture compared to the forest level. There are some secrets to be found that required a fair bit of precise movement and jumping, which I had a good time with. And these frantic sections bidding you only to "PURGE" provide intense crescendos to the rising action that tested all of my skills and drained my ammo, encouraging me to use all of the different weapons available to me in their natural roles.

I've only played a couple hours of Boltgun 2, blasting through the 45-minute demo as both playable characters, but I've had a rousing time with it. Both characters feel different and exciting with punchy and satisfying weapons. The new level designs – particularly the icy one – have me intrigued to see what else they've cooked up. It's still very much what I'd expect when you say "Warhammer 40K" and "boomer shooter." But that remains a glorious combination.

Leana Hafer is a contributing freelancer for IGN with a specialty in RPGs, strategy, horror, and survival games. She has been reviewing video games professionally since 2010 and is one of IGN's most prolific contributors, with more than 100 reviews published. You can also find her work on sites like PC Gamer and PCGamesN.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV has a release date, fresh from the Warhammer Skulls 2026 showcase. And while we know the base game will be released this September, we also know what the roadmap of post-launch content and DLC for the following nine months looks like. The headline here is the addition of a fifth playable faction via a campaign expansion, but there’s much more to look forward to.

To coincide with the release date announcement, I sat down for an interview with King Art Games creative director Jan Theysen and senior game designer Elliott Verbiest to dig into the roadmap, try my best to get juicy lore details, and ask about that fifth playable faction. And check out our roundup of everything announced at Warhammer Skulls 2026 to find out more on what's coming down the line.

IGN: How is Dawn of War IV’s Crusade Mode different from how it worked in previous Dawn of War games?

Jan Theysen: We can't go into all the details, but what we can definitely tease is that there's a little bit more to it than, for example, in Dark Crusade. What we make sure is that there is also really relevant gameplay on the World Map part. The Last Crusade mode was basically more or less like, okay, where do you want to play next? It was like, not a lot of gameplay there. And we felt like, okay, this could be more like a board game, where it has its own gameplay there. And so we invested some time and thoughts into that and made sure that even that part alone is fun.

Elliott Verbiest: We wanted to expand a bit more on the meta gameplay that happens. So within the Dark Crusade game mode, it's mostly like you're moving pieces around the board, and then you've got the Skirmish gameplay in between that keeps it together. And so we're also looking to add additional gameplay elements to add additional depth to the World Map.

Jan Theysen: We are German, so we do board games, right? Our objective was, we basically said even without the real-time strategy part, there should be fun. Even if you're not playing the RTS missions, it should still be fun. And that was the goal.

IGN: The story prologue returns to Aurelia, which I think is seared into my memory as it will be for many Dawn of War fans. Why did you decide that was the right place to go back to for the prologue?

Jan Theysen: When we announced that Dawn of War IV, you're not only playing the Blood Ravens, but also the Dark Angels, people were excited about the Dark Angels, but also, ‘Oh, why can't I play more of the Blood Ravens?’ And basically we said, ‘Okay, for everybody who's really all about Blood Ravens, we offer them just more Blood Ravens.’ And also answer maybe some of the questions people will have when they play the main game, which is basically, okay, what is with the rest of the chapter? Where is everybody? This kind of thing. And so we basically said, ‘Okay, let's make this the prologue to the main game that is all about the Blood Ravens.’ And that is the starting point, and then Aurelia came out of that.

IGN: The natural follow up question is, the prologue is “guided by a legendary commander.” You know who everyone's going to wonder about. Can you talk a bit about what that means exactly, and who we can expect, because fans will definitely speculate about that one.

Jan Theysen: Well, there is a legendary commander! That is, I think, all we can say at this point.

Elliott Verbiest: I think we're happy for players to speculate a little longer!

IGN: The Aftermath campaign expansion sounds exciting. The main thing here is adding a fifth faction to the game across all game modes. I'm not expecting you to tell me what that faction is, but do you consider individual Space Marine chapters as their own faction, or are Space Marines overall a faction?

Jan Theysen: For us internally, a faction is Space Marines, and then there are sub-factions; in terms of the Space Marines it’s chapters, in terms of the Orks it's Ork Clans. But when we say there will be a new faction, then we are talking about a big new thing. Obviously we can't tell you what it is, but if you look at the history of Dawn of War and ask yourself, what could you expect from a Dawn of War game that maybe isn't in Dawn of War IV, maybe you're going in the right direction.

IGN: This roadmap takes us up to spring 2027. Can we expect more DLC after as a year two roadmap?

Jan Theysen: This basically covers the first nine months after launch. After that, hopefully, if the game works well and everybody is excited, hopefully we can do more. But this is the plan we have so far.

IGN: So you’re not saying this is the only new faction that will ever be released for the game? Assuming it's successful and everyone's happy and it's going well, you plan to expand it further?

Jan Theysen: I mean, if there is something that Warhammer 40K has, it's a lot of factions, right? So we would be very happy to have more of the game.

Elliott Verbiest: Yeah. We've no shortage of options here, I think.

IGN: I really enjoyed the last Adeptus Mechanicus gameplay video. I thought that was awesome and suggests you really nailed the feel of that faction as people imagine it from the tabletop. Did it include our first ever look at an Imperial Knight Drop Pod? Because I don't think I've ever seen a model for that or even artwork.

Jan Theysen: Actually, I thought you would be even nerdier and ask about the Ironstrider tiptoeing on the spot! Because that was what I was most happy about that people picked up on it.

With the Knight’s drop pod, we had the question, okay, how do we deliver the Knight to the battlefield? And we received word there might be something like a Knight drop pod that at some point someone designed. And we said, ‘Okay, we want this, give it to us.’ And we are lucky enough to have it in the game. And as you said, it's like the first time anybody sees it. It's this huge building. So you don't build the unit, but what you do is you build this gigantic building and then the building comes down, clears everything in the surrounding area with rockets, lands, and then the Knight comes out, but the building also remains. So now you have this huge tower there that can help you. We took it and ran with it.

IGN: So I’m understanding correctly, you had a reference point for the Imperial Knight Drop Pod?

Jan Theysen: Basically we talked to Games Workshop, how can we deliver this thing? And they came back and said, ‘Well… there is this idea…” And we took it and ran with it.

IGN: You must be delighted that fans are picking up on all these little details in gameplay trailers. It must be rewarding for you to see Warhammer 40,000 fans with those positive comments.

Jan Theysen: I mean, absolutely, right? You put so much time and energy into this and sometimes you wonder, will anybody ever see this, or does anybody care about this? And when people do, it's great because then you feel like, ‘Okay, it was worth it.’

That is maybe something that not all the players are aware of. If you create an asset for a game like this, you spend days and weeks with this asset, right? So at the end, an artist knows every nook and cranny of the whole thing. And so if you put something in there and people recognize it and say, ‘Hey, that's cool," then people run through the office very happy.

Elliott Verbiest: And that's exactly what we're trying to do here with Dawn of War IV, is create that authentic Warhammer 40K experience, right? Because there are so many players who are looking for that kind of detail, and I think seeing such a positive reaction to the Ironstriders was a really good sign for us that we're on the right path with that, and that, okay, this is what people are looking for and this is what they're delighted with, and that's what we're delighted with.

IGN: Is there more pressure to get the tiny details right with a Warhammer 40,000 video game than any other game universe?

Jan Theysen: It might be, but I mean, we never worked on another IP that big, so we can't really compare it to anything else. I would imagine if you do a Harry Potter game then probably Harry Potter fans are also very particular about the details.

But for me it's like just an expression of how much people care about it, because they love the world, they think it's the coolest thing ever. And also if someone has a little bit of information about something and then that's very important for them and this little thing needs to be in there. Our job is to try to get as many of these things in the game. But in the end, obviously we will miss some things and people will have a field day, but that's totally fine because again, I think it comes from a place of caring about it.

Elliott Verbiest: A lot of the comments that we saw most recently on the AdMech trailer was the fact that the voiceover narrator is Jonathan Keeble, who is like a very well known audiobook voice actor for a lot of the Warhammer books. So it's not just within the game itself, within the gameplay and how we display factions and so on, but all the way down to things like the type of voice actors that we bring in for this project. I think there's a lot of different references and other details that a lot of fans of Warhammer 40K can really appreciate and will look forward to.

IGN: It’s great you have Jonathan Keeble for the trailers, but does he do anything in the game itself?

Jan Theysen: He doesn't play one of the characters or something like that, but we are at the moment talking about something that he could narrate in the game. So it's not yet confirmed, but hopefully we can get him because we are fans of him as well, right?

Elliott Verbiest: And we also have several other voice actors on board who are quite well known within the property, also for audiobooks and the like. So we'll definitely hear a couple more recognizable voices and a couple recognizable names for this game for certain.

IGN: Since we last spoke, Games Workshop has announced a new edition of 40K. Are you mindful of the developments that happen for the tabletop, or does that have no influence on what you're doing? Do you get any sort of like heads up and then you design things with that new edition in mind? How does it actually work?

Jan Theysen: In general, the RTS is not like a digital version of the tabletop, because it just doesn't work. It's a different thing. What we take from the tabletop or from the IP in general is of course the overall feel of a unit and what is the unit for and all of that stuff. But that also doesn't really change between editions, right? What they do with 11th Edition doesn't really change what we would do with Dawn of War.

We sometimes get a little bit of a heads up when there are some changes with units or something like that that is relevant for us, but in general, the tabletop rules do not really affect the RTS rules.

Elliott Verbiest: We pay attention to this kind of stuff because we're interested and we want to know this kind of thing. We want to play it! Of course, we're excited about this. But these two things are essentially separate. There are things that we'll get a heads up on if they're relevant for us, but otherwise they're fundamentally separate in what they are by nature of the fact that one's a video game, the other's a tabletop.

Jan Theysen: Terminators are Terminators in eighth, ninth, 10th, or 11th Edition.

IGN: Also since we last spoke, we have the announcement of Total War: Warhammer 40,000. The games aren’t the same, obviously, but at face value there are clearly some similarities. Do you see there being enough room for both Dawn of War IV and Total War: Warhammer 40,000, and that you can carve out your own fanbase that will be able to support all the DLC ambitions that you have even though this game is also coming out?

Jan Theysen: Yeah, absolutely. We are happy the more good Warhammer 40K games are out there, because the more good games there are the more people care about it, the more people are interested in Warhammer in general. And that also helps Dawn of War. We don't see them as like direct competition. It's also not like players play the one game, but not the other. I think many players will probably play both of them. And so for us it's more like, okay, cool if it's like a great game and brings more eyes to the franchise, all the better. And of course also we know and like the guys from Creative Assembly. And we want to play the game! So we are just happy that they do something cool with it. And in the end, I think most players will probably enjoy both of them.

Elliott Verbiest: Yeah, definitely a case of rising tide lifts all boats. We're looking forward to playing it as well!

IGN: Just from a pure gameplay perspective, if you’re just a strategy game fan, what makes Dawn of War IV stand out from the Warhammer 40,000 crowd?

Jan Theysen: It's the classic RTS gameplay, right? So you have these different levels, right? You have economy, you have strategy and tactical elements. If you want, you can also micro a little bit. But it's like a lot of things going on at the same time. And it has this very special or like this unique size to it, right? Because it's not like a Space Marine 2 where you're one, two or three guys or something like that, but it's also not hundreds and thousands of units in these super massive battles. It's like in the middle.

To me that feels very, very good because it gives you the feel of, okay, there's a lot of stuff going on and it's big battles, but at the same time, you can still manage really what is going on and it's not like you're losing the overview right away. So to me, I think that makes it interesting.

And also what we try to do is we try to really focus on story and campaigns. And so I think it might be a good entry point for players who are maybe not super familiar with Warhammer 40K, because we try to tell stories that even without too much 40K deep knowledge still make sense and can still be enjoyed by players who are not that deep into it.

Elliott Verbiest: With the campaign, we've put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that each individual faction feels very unique and matches also what the experience would be like for each individual faction. We kind of nudge players gameplay wise to play in specific types of playstyles for each individual faction. There's of course nuance between them. So for example, for the Orks, you can play them as a green tide where it's just you're turning out a ton of units. Or you can kind of angle them more towards Orks get stronger from fighting and you emphasize more on their ability to gain battle traits and different upgrades for individual units to get more elite units for them. So we kind of help with those particular mechanics. We nudge players in the direction of, this is not just like how these factions would play organically for you, but also how they feel in the tabletop.

Jan Theysen: And also when you play the Ork campaign, you definitely have a good idea what Orks are all about. So it's like a nice entry point I think.

Elliott Verbiest: Of course, that doesn't mean we're not going to have any multiplayer features and we won't have some support for that, but definitely I think that the campaigns are the spotlight feature, I would say.

Jan Theysen: It's ridiculous how many people tell us that they came to 40K because of Dawn of War 1.

IGN: That’s me! I did.

Jan Theysen: Basically every second person that we talk to says, ‘Yeah, because of Dawn of War I’m a 40K fan.’ It would be awesome if we can do it again, basically be like a nice entry point for players because it's maybe a little bit less intimidating than maybe some of the other games out there.

IGN: Last question! In the cinematic for the AdMech, the Necrons perhaps didn’t have their best day at the office. There were plenty of Stormtrooper comparisons for their terrible shooting accuracy…

Jan Theysen: They just woke up from a million years slumber! When you wake up and you're supposed to shoot someone... We saw that, of course, and we're happy that the gameplay trailer of the AdMech turned everything around for people.

Elliott Verbiest: There’s also a story reason for it. The CGI trailers are all part of the overarching narrative that we have for the game. There is a reason why they may be a little bit more in disarray in the CGI than we see.

Jan Theysen: It's also in the first missions. They're not at their best in the first missions and we explain this in the game. But I get the point why people felt like, okay, they should have hit at least something.

Elliott Verbiest: One of the goals that we had is that for each campaign, the faction that is the coolest is the one you're playing right now. So when you go to the Necrons campaign, for example, that'll come across a little bit differently, I think.

IGN: Unlucky rolls. We all get them. It’s fine!

Jan Theysen: It's a little bit like in the books. If you read an Ork book, then the Orks are the strongest and the coolest. If you read an AdMech book, then the AdMech are the strongest and the coolest. And it's kind of like that in the game.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV launches on PC on September 17, 2026. Commander Edition players can play from September 14.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Helldivers 2 is getting a Warhammer 40,000 Legendary Warbond later this year, which finally makes one of its most-requested crossovers a reality.

Ever since Helldivers 2’s explosive launch, fans of Warhammer 40,000 have wondered about a crossover. And it’s easy to see why — Helldivers 2 is the perfect fit for, let’s say, a squad of four Guardsmen of the Astra Militarum pushing back against the alien forces of the Automatons (Necrons) and the Terminids (Tyranids). I mean, Helldivers 2 and Warhammer 40,000 both revolve around cannon fodder doing the dirty work of a fascist regime, right?

In the video, below, Helldivers 2 game director Mikael Eriksson said the two worlds “fit perfectly together,” and that Arrowhead is “full of die hard Warhammer fans.” We don’t know exactly what to expect from the Warbond, but we’re promised more information later this year.

Warhammer 40,000 is something Arrowhead is often asked about in interviews, and by that I mean that I have asked the team about it in interviews. In April last year, I asked Alex Bolle, production director on Helldivers 2, about a Warhammer 40,000 collab, and he said there was discussions being had. "Obviously Warhammer 40,000 is something that a lot of guys internally love to death," he said at the time. "So the devs are discussing, the devs are proposing stuff, and the hype is building. So these are discussions internally that we are having. Warhammer 40,000, I can't really tell you. Maybe. Who knows? We'll see!"

Indeed, in 2024, Arrowhead's Johan Pilestedt published an extended list of IPs he “really would love to do a take on," and Warhammer 40,000 was right up there alongside the likes of Aliens, Starship Troopers, and Terminator.

Be sure to check out everything announced at Warhammer Skulls 2026, where the Helldivers 2 x Warhammer 40,000 crossover was revealed, to find out what else fans can expect.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Warhammer Skulls, the annual Warhammer video game showcase, has wrapped up another year's worth of reveals — and on the show’s 10th anniversary we got some big hitters. Dawn of War IV finally got the release date fans have been waiting for, Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters got a sequel announcement, the Skaven have a game all to themselves, Armageddon is coming to Total War: Warhammer 40,000, and there was even the surprise announcement of a Warhammer 40,000 crossover with Helldivers 2.

Read on for all the new game announcements, updates, and trailers fresh from Warhammer Skulls 2026!

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV

Dawn of War IV was at the heart of the big Warhammer Skulls announcements this year. We got a September 17, 2026 release date for the hotly anticipated RTS game. But we also got a full roadmap for the game’s first nine or so months of post-launch updates and DLC, which includes the return of Crusade Mode, the Mission Editor, new Commanders for Last Stand mode, and two paid DLCs: the Blood Ravens story prologue that returns to their ancestral homeworld of Aurelia, and the Aftermath Campaign Expansion, which adds a fifth playable faction to the four launch factions (Space Marines, Orks, Necrons, and Adeptus Mechanicus).

We've got a big interview with King Art Games to run through all the Dawn of War IV news from Warhammer Skulls, if you want to dig deeper.

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch

Warhammer Skulls brought with it the announcement of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch, the sequel to the well-received Warhammer 40,000 Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters. It’s developed by Complex Games and published by Frontier, and is due out on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

As the name of the game suggests, you command a Deathwatch Kill Team in the turn-based adventure. But you also get agents of the Inquisition and Astra Militarum to add to your squad as you fight back against a number of xenos factions, including the Tyranids, Orks, and Tau. The debut trailer is below, showing off the Redemptor Dreadnought, Scout Sentinel, and Leman Russ tank.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster

Dotemu announced Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster, a new single-player 2D action platformer coming to PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2027. This one’s interesting because it lets you play as a Skaven assassin. The debut trailer is below.

Total War: Warhammer 40,000

Creative Assembly’s promising Total War: Warhammer 40,000 made a brief appearance at Warhammer Skulls to confirm Armageddon, the setting of the 11th Edition of the tabletop wargame, is in the game. The teaser, below, features none other than Commander Yarrick himself, setting the scene for Armageddon’s eternally war-torn battlefields.

Helldivers 2

It’s finally here! The Warhammer 40,000 crossover fans have been calling for ever since Helldivers 2’s explosive launch is a reality. This is something the developers at Arrowhead are often asked about in interviews (I asked them a few times myself!), given how perfect a fit Warhammer 40,000 is for Helldivers 2. We have no real details yet, but it’s easy to imagine the soldiers of the Imperial Guard taking the fight to the Automatons and the Terminids. Expect Helldivers 2’s Warhammer 40,000 Warbond later this year.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

As developer Fatshark had teased, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is getting the new Skitarii class, lifted from the Adeptus Mechanicus faction. It hits the game on June 23, 2026 priced $11.99. Check out the new trailer, below.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Space Marine 2 has released its Purgation Update (Patch 13), adding a new PvE mission, a major update to Siege Mode, a new Practice Arena in the Battle-Barge, a new secondary weapon, and the long-awaited Iron Hands Chapter Pack. Check out our Purgation Update trailer, below.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II

As had been announced, Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II has launched today alongside Warhammer Skulls. The turn-based tactical sequel is now available for Windows PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The launch trailer is below.

Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy

Skulls brought the start of the Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy beta, as well as news that Rogue Trader’s third DLC, The Infinite Museion, launches on June 11. Owlcat Games’ said the Dark Heresy closed beta is available on PC now for all who bought one of the Founder’s Packs.

In the Dark Heresy beta, players travel to Scintilla’s spires, mingling with the planet’s prestigious elites. Players will also meet potential new companions, encounter powerful members of the nobility — the clergy and military — and uncover what is really going on in the governor’s palace. The beta contains around seven hours of playtime and will stay open until the game’s release. The beta launch trailer is below.

The Infinite Museion DLC, meanwhile, is fully integrated into the main Rogue Trader story and offers a new adventure focusing on Necron Overlord Trazyn the Infinite, new upgrades and bionics, and a mysterious new companion known as Eogunn Februs and his servo skull Nuncius. The Infinite Museion will be available separately or as part of Season Pass 2 on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. The DLC 3 release date trailer is below.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2

Auroch Digital and Big Fan Games released a Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 demo on Steam, letting fans get a taste of the retro shooter’s gameplay across two levels as either of the playable characters: Malum Caedo or Nyra Veyrath. We also got a new trailer showing strafing and the various weapons you can use. Boltgun 2 is set for release on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S later this year.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Boom

Nitro Games announced Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Boom, due out on mobile in 2026. This is a new adaptation of Boltgun, developed by Nitro Games.

Warhammer Survivors

Auroch Digital also announced roguelite Warhammer Survivors is coming to mobile via iOS and Android later in 2026 as well as Steam, GOG, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 1 and 2. A new Steam demo is available to play right now, letting you command Malum Caedo as he defends the wastelands of an Imperial Bastion from swarms of Tyranids, whilst Neave Blacktalon, the legendary Stormcast Eternal warrior, slays Skaven across the ashen plains of The Great Parch.

Newly revealed enemy factions are the Death Guard and Blades of Khorne (Warhammer Survivors features both the Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar universes). The new trailer, below, we see the enemy factions in action, as well as the Hobby Table, a recreation of a Warhammer fan’s desk.

Total War: Warhammer III

Creative Assembly popped up at Warhammer Skulls to show off the first character pack for Total War: Warhammer III, Bhashiva & The Tiger Warriors, which is out now on PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store. The launch trailer is below. The character pack arrives alongside Patch 8.0, which brings updates to Grand Cathay alongside free Legendary Hero Taoyan the Merciless.

Rust console Edition x Warhammer 40,000

Double Eleven announced that Rust Console Edition is getting the Warhammer 40,000 collaboration that hit the PC version last year.

Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector

The Ultramarines DLC is out now for strategy game Battlesector, alongside the Crusade Mode 1.0 update. The base game is available to play on Steam for free from May 21-28.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 shadowdropped its Purgation Update to coincide with the Warhammer Skulls showcase. Patch 13 is launching now across all platforms.

Patch 13 adds a new PvE mission, a major update to Siege Mode, a new weapon (the Bolt Carbine Sidearm), and the Iron Hands Chapter Pack. There’s also a new Practice Arena in the Battle-Barge.

The Iron Hands Chapter Pack is the last of the First Founding loyalist Chapters to receive a DLC. Available for free to all Season Pass 2 owners, it contains a Techmarine Champion skin, an exclusive Omnissian Axe skin, and four unique, mechanical armour pieces honouring the 10th Legion. The patch notes, courtesy of the Focus Entertainment website, are below.

And here's everything announced at Warhammer Skulls 2026 itself, if you need a catch up.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Purgation Update patch notes:

NEW FEATURES

• New Operation: Purgation

The Combat Squad Veridian must reclaim a Mechanicus facility in the Kadaku swamps. Communication is lost, and Nozick's Research is still inside the laboratory.

• New Feature: Battle Simulator

A new customisable battle arena in which you can practice, fighting various enemies and their combinations, as well as trying different weapons, equipment and loadouts.

• New Feature: New Loadouts & Perk Swapping

Players can now switch perk loadouts alongside weapons during a session. Perks loadouts are tied to your Weapon loadouts, so prepare accordingly.

• New Feature: Wargear 2.0

​Expanded customisation options allow each class to wear multiple wargear at once, such as capes, iron halos and sensor antennas.

We are going to continue to expand the customization system. With the next update we are also going to add robes and tabards to the shared wargear pool. But as in this update, players will have to earn their wargear. Also, more unique wargear items are coming.

​Known issues that will be fixed in an upcoming hotfix:

• Iron Halos cannot be customised depending on the equipped Backpack for the Tactical & Bulwark.
• Storm Shields cannot be customised if the Bulwark has an Iron Halo equipped.
• Wargears are not available if the player selects an Armour Set Template.

• New Siege Content: Siege 2.0 Update

A massive update for Siege Mode. New items to buy in the Siege shop, fresh bosses, additional objectives, and a brand-new Blessings and Atonements system. Learn more in the dedicated part below.

• New Feature: Trials of Resolve

New challenging Ordeals with unique rewards.

• New Weapon: Bolt Carbine One-Handed

New secondary weapon for Assault and Bulwark.

Something more interesting than another sidearm is actually on the horizon 😜

• New PvE Equipment: Pyreblaster Canister

A piece of equipment that functions like an incendiary grenade and requires to be shot to explode.

• New Heroic Items

Added 3 Heroic Weapons to unlock with Accolades:

​Plasma Pistol - Relic Battle-Worn Plasma Pistol

Chainsword - White Scars Chainsword (Block)

Power Axe - Encarmine Axe (Block)

• New Season Pass Content

Iron Hands Chapter Pack:

• Techmarine Champion + Signature Omnissian Axe Skin
• L&R Greaves;
• L&R Gauntlets;
• L&R Pauldrons & Decals;
• 4 Successor Chapters

GAMEPLAY & BALANCING TWEAKS

Firearms in PvE

• Non headshot damage increased by ~30% for bolter weapons.

As we have discussed before, we want to close the gap between body and headshot damage for ranged weapons. The issue is that headshot damage calculation was very complex, because there were 2 sources of it: enemy damage zone sensitivity and weapon itself. Which results in weird multiplicative stacking that was very hard to manage and track. With this update we are doing massive rework and cleanup where we went through each enemy and adjusted its internal damage region sensitivity.

In short, as a result: headshot TTK (Time To Kill) of all enemies should be the same, while non headshot TTK will be lower by 30%.

• The global headshot modifier has been removed from Majoris and Extremis enemies and adjusted on Terminus enemies.
• The headshot bonus now depends directly on the weapon’s stats, rather than on the target’s stats.
• Weapon headshot bonus was greatly increased for all bolter weapons to compensate for removal of headshot bonus from enemies.
• Known issue: as a result of the body shot damage rebalance, the gunstrike damage of secondary weapons shifted a lot. In some cases it increased and in some cases it decreased. This is not intentional and will be addressed in a hotfix.

PS. We haven't forgotten about contested health rework. It is still coming. The change is very big, very complicated from the technical side as well and needs to be playtested a lot. Since the Patch 13 didn't have PTS we were not comfortable to release it in the wilds.

Neo Volkite Pistol

• Heat status effect accumulation is increased by ~16%
• Contested health recovery increased by 18%

Plasma Pistol

• Common shot damage increased by ~30%
• The pistol's versions have been updated:
  • The cooling speed version now also features increased max ammo.
  • Default version is now a damage-focused version.

Plasma Incinerator

• Common shot damage is increased by ~40%
• Charged shot damage is increased by 10%

Burning Status Effect

• Terminus enemies take 20% less burning damage over time on all difficulties

Melee in PvE

Power Axe

• Fixed an issue with the “Power Wave” perk not working as intended.
• The maximum number of damaged targets for Power Backstep without perk was increased.
• Fixed the incorrect cooldown value in the description of the "Restoration" perk: changed from 20 to 15 seconds. The actual gameplay value was correct and has not changed.

Power Sword

• Attack speed of all weapon versions has been slightly increased.

Heroic Weapons

• Heroic Combat Knife - Argent Edge: the description of the weapon perk has been clarified.

PvE Perks

With this patch we are not doing much with perk balance. Let me explain our current vision and our next steps:

There aren't many perks left (~15 total across all classes) that have less than 20% relative pick rate in their column on hardest difficulty. Which sounds good in theory, but that doesn't mean that we are happy.

We need to add more "toys" for our sandbox gameplay before we start replacing perks, just like burning status effect or shock effect. They can be used in multiple ways, weapons, perks etc.We are working on many more of these that can help with perk reworks. After that, we can start the rework process, because I feel like changing numbers or conditions on perks isn't going to be effective anymore. We need more interesting stuff, and afterwards we will start big overhauls.

Our first priority is going to be Tactical class. While it's super strong in both ranged and melee combat, I think it lacks more defined "melee" build options.

Second priority is going to be Vanguard class. I think its biggest problem is that his ability is too one dimensional, especially when compared to Assault.

Third priority is going to be the Heavy class. Again, super strong and effective class. Lots of build variety, but it comes solely from his weapon loadout. His perks don't do enough to promote different playstyles.

While we are working on these big changes, you can expect continued minor adjustments and improvements.

Techmarine

• Added Sanctified Wrath Reliquary equipment to Methodical Destruction perk so it would trigger the perk as well as other equipment;
• Explosives Adept: Damage is increased from 35 to 50%;
• Reinforced Position: Increased bonus from 25 to 30% less Damage and deal from 15 to 20% more Damage.

Heavy

• Coolant Reserve: Damage bonus increase from 15 to 50%.

SIEGE MODE

Added more items to the Requisition Terminal:

• Tarantula Sentry Gun
• Tarantula Sentry Gun Upgrade
• Tech-priest
• Minefield
• Disciplined Reinforcements
• Techmarine
• Explosive Resupply

Added Blessings and Atonements system:

• Blessing and Atonements system: every 5 waves, receive a permanent blessing in the new Shrine and endure shifting atonements.

Adjusted difficulty of the Siege mode

• Added Hive Tyrant and Vortex Beast as bosses. They can spawn on waves 5/10/15 etc…
• Adjusted enemy spawns to be more intense.
• Adjusted difficulty curve so enemies grow stronger much quicker and much earlier.

The intention is to make Siege mode sessions quicker and more intense. In addition to that, we are giving players more options for "build crafting" to make each run different. Since Siege mode rules have changed that much, we've reset max completed waves counter in players save files.

Siege timer reworked

• Instead of an instant game over, the enemies will get much stronger each time the timer is triggered.

Added 2 new random side objectives

Added weekly Accolade rewards:

• Complete 15 waves on Normal difficulty once per week to earn 50 Accolades
• Complete 15 waves on Hard difficulty once per week to earn 100 Accolades
• Stratagem weekly rewards reduced to 125 and 175 for Normal and Hard to compensate

The total number of Accolades that you can get per week (without Dailies) is higher than in Patch 12 and went up from 350 to 450.

Added more Siege mode weapon skins rewards

• Screamer Pink, Deathworld Forest, Zamesi Desert for all weapons
• Added missing coloured skins for weapons that were added later (i.e. Power Axe)

LEVELS

• Lots of minor fixes with level geometry

GAMEPLAY QoL

• Added a small invulnerability window after a finisher animation.
• Improved visibility of "enemy incapacitated" VFX when it is also burning.

CUSTOMISATION

• Added new free armour, lense, cloth, decal colour: Kakophoni Purple
• Added new free cloth colours: Death Guard Green, Zamesi Desert, Khorne Red, Runefang Steel, Thondia Brown, Kantor Blue, Xereus Purple, Naggaroth Night, Phoenician Purple
• Added new free lense colours: Ushabti Bone, Death Guard Green, Incubi Darkness, Kantor Blue, Warboss Green, Thunderhawk Blue, Flesh Tearers Red, Baal Red, Bad Moon Yellow, Troll Slayer Orange
• Added new free greaves patterns: shin, boot
• Added new free greaves decals: battleline, veteran, close support, fire support, command and one colour knee markings
• Decal "Atlantean Spears" in the Librarium award was replaced by decal "Emperor's Spears"
• Macragge Blue was copied into Calgar Blue. Macragge Blue has been modified. It is now closer in hue to the Macragge blue in Story Mode.
• Improved Tyranid Pauldron and made it individual for all classes
• Added a Tyranid Hand, unlocked by completing 13 operations on Absolute difficulty
• Added Salamander and Space Wolves Champion Tabards for Tactical.
• Added Space Wolves Champion Pauldron to all classes.

More interesting stuff is coming soon :)

Added more customization options for Tech Marine:

• Left Pauldrons
• Gauntlets

Added a lot of free decals for missing successor chapters and warbands (some of them have to be unlocked via the new Ordeals).

Lots of minor customisation fixes for both Loyalists and Chaos.

ENEMIES

Scarab Occult Terminator Ranged

• Headshot damage is increased to compensate for bolter weapons rework.

Neurothrope

• Headshot damage is slightly increased
• Non headshot damage is slightly reduced
• Health reduced by 25% to compensate bolter weapons rework
• Lots of minor fixes with animations.

GENERAL FIXES

Fixed a bug where the Techmarine’s servo-gun gunstrike range would depend on the equipped secondary weapon.

Fixed a bug where the Plasma Pistol stopped working after the player self-revives using a Guardian Relic.

Fixed a bug where the Thermal Boost Heavy Class perk would deactivate when switching weapons, even if the magazine is half empty.

Fixed: On The Clock battlefield condition timer no longer keeps running during the outro sequence.

Fixed: Butcher's Gift battlefield condition now correctly disables contested health recovery.

Lots of minor fixes for Battlefield Conditions.

Lots of minor bug fixes.

Lots of minor localisation bug fixes.

Lots of minor UI and sound fixes.

TECH

Crash fixes and general stability improvements.

Memory optimisations.

Minor performance improvements.

Minor loading times improvements.

General connectivity improvements.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Bubsy was one of several video game mascots that tried to nip at the heels of Mario and Sonic in the ‘90s, but this quick-witted feline’s oddball, comical nature ended up being more memorable than the actual games he was in. Still, Bubsy has an endearing appeal – if maybe as a meme more than a mascot – which makes the go-for-broke energy of his next game, Bubsy 4D, all the more admirable. It tries to recapture the fast and fierce reputation of those early platformers, funneling that energy into a modestly sized, meta-level redemption story that gives Bubsy his proper due.

Equal parts parody and legit legacy sequel, Bubsy 4D sees the washed-up video game mascot clumsily make a comeback. This time, he reluctantly has to save the galaxy from another invasion of the returning Woolies, along with a new enemy known as the BaaBots. Guided by his friends, along with his Gen-Z-coded niece and nephew, he'll once again take to being the main character of a video game platformer – whether he likes it or not. While many retro-inspired 3D platformers these days tap into nostalgia, Bubsy 4D's take is a bit more self-deprecating and aware of the series' shaky legacy, but not to the point of feeling mean, and its portrayal of a down on his luck video game character is very charming.

Bubsy 4D plays out exactly like you’d expect a classic 3D action-platformer from the '90s to, with that added edge and charm of a Saturday Morning Cartoon. Made by developer Fabraz – known for great platformers like Slime-San and the more recent Demon Tides – it really leans into freeform platforming as you skillfully chain different maneuvers together to barrel through a variety of stages. It's the type of flow that rewards you for understanding the physics and rhythm of the action, which is a welcome new direction for the Bubsy series. Across three unique worlds with their own sets of stages, Bubsy uses his various skills and quirks to barrel through enemies and some wily obstacle courses in style

I really liked the energy of Bubsy's movement, which is brought to life by his anxious whining and mannerisms. It actively leans into that comical style he’s known for, and Bubsy 4D has a particularly compelling, dynamic flow to the action. My favorite moments came from darting through worlds built around computer e-waste, where I was climbing tall towers and using Bubsy's ball form to zip through the air in order to make it across the map.

Unlike 1996's Bubsy 3D, 4D is all about building up speed through these levels with his dash and rolling abilities. He's not quite Sonic when it comes to going fast, but it is particularly satisfying to find a quick pace with the ball maneuver. At its best, Bubsy 4D nails that slick, satisfying sense of mastery over your character, especially one as fun and whimsical as Bubsy.

However, I was a bit disappointed with the activities in these stages. While they do focus on the collectathon variety of 3D platformers, where you have to grab all of the knick-knacks and hidden items to score upgrades, the stages themselves feel rather sparse upon deeper exploration. With very few enemies to fight and side-activities to take in across the relatively few stages in the main campaign, it makes the more open-zone levels feel uninteresting and like a bit of a slog to clear compared to the tighter, more focused stages.

Still, there’s generally a flow to the action that I found satisfying. When it was firing on all cylinders, it made me feel like I was in deep as a 'speedrunner' with how well I could build up momentum and bypass massive gaps between explorable areas. However, it did take me some time to come to grips with the movement style, which can feel slippery and imprecise when trying to nail precision jumps. Most of my failures came from those awkward moments of falling off the ledges, using up all my jumps and leaps to attempt to save myself. During the higher-end stages that require a bit more precision, this was a frustrating hurdle to overcome.

What I found most disappointing was the brief campaign, which I finished in under four hours. While I can appreciate Bubsy 4D’s bite-sized nature, what's here doesn't quite feel as complete or ambitious as it could have. Just as it was building to a cool peak, I unexpectedly hit the final stages, and then came the ending. It results in a conclusion that’s both unfulfilling and a bit disappointing, as I was finally reaching a rhythm with the rise in quality of its late-game level design and encounters. It does provide opportunities to revisit previous levels to find missing collectibles and secure time trial finishes at least, and there's even a permadeath mode called 9 Lives that limits your hits before a permanent game over, but the overall package does feel a bit light.

Still, Bubsy 4D's charm and stylish tone really elevate it in many ways. It's packed with nods to classic Bubsy games, and many video game tropes in general, making it a full-on parody of 3D platformers. Though the characters never directly break the fourth wall to acknowledge they're in a video game, they totally lean into the heightened, cartoon reality of an action-platformer. The pause screen also includes occasional gags, with Bubsy momentarily panicking when he finds himself whisked away from the action and left to sit in a menu.

Along with some unlockable moves that poke fun at the “Coyote Time” game design concept that lets you linger in the air for a moment after running off a ledge, which is a must-get, there are also some great costumes for Bubsy, which include the retro-3D skin from his ill-fated first trip into the third dimension. There's even a neat option to turn on the classic Bubsy 3D tank-style controls for full authenticity – or if you're feeling especially daring for a challenge. While this style of referential humor can wear thin at times, I really appreciated how tongue-in-cheek the writing was. A standout is Bubsy's niece and nephew, who always poke fun at his attempts to appear cool.

Tonally, what makes Bubsy 4D so different from other games of the series is that it fully embraces the style and atmosphere of early 3D action-platformers in the vein of N64 classics like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. At the same time, however, it leans into modern flourishes that give it an extra bit of energy, elevating it beyond being just another homage to that genre. And while Bubsy's first 3D game was not particularly great three decades ago, Bubsy 4D still includes some rather fun and even respectful nods to it, including a tribute to the classic Bubsy developers in the ending credits.

Thirteen years after Ubisoft ditched Desmond Miles to go full pirate in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, this seafaring adventure is still considered by some to be the best pirate simulator of all time. So it’s no wonder at all that Ubisoft has decided to dust off this bad boy and remake it in the style of last year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows, complete with all the modern trimmings you’d expect. That includes stuff like drastically improved graphics, modernized combat mechanics to make Edward Kenway faster on the draw, and my personal favorite, a near-complete removal of all the pesky loading screens that is an absolute godsend. My time with Black Flag Resynced included a few red flags to go along with the black ones though, like how some of the modernizations involved removing aspects of the original that seem like maybe they’d be best left as they were, but on the whole it’s pretty hard to be mad about this gorgeous second voyage of one of the best Assassin’s Creed games.

Many of Black Flag Resynced’s best parts come courtesy of the Ubisoft Anvil engine, last seen in AC Shadows. It’s been used to recreate Black Flag from the ground up, and that allows it to be every bit as beautiful as more recent Assassin’s Creed games. The tropical environment of the Caribbean is a night and day improvement over the original, specifically when it comes to how bright and colorful areas are versus the previous generation’s somewhat muted and dark appearance, especially when running around forested areas. Similarly, character models somehow manage to look absurdly better than they did in 2013 while also being exactly as I remember them (weird how that happens, right?). That said, I did find many of the characters to be a bit prettier than I expected, particularly when it comes to pirate characters who spend all their time boozing, sailing, and fighting. The cast seems to have been given a Hollywood glow up and aren’t nearly as gross and dirty and you might think.

Black Flag Resynced also benefits from many of the other upgrades the series has seen in recent iterations, especially changes to combat that make it faster and more decisive, and to sneaking around that make it a more competent stealth game than the original. Despite the Assassin’s Creed series ostensibly being all about sneaking around, it’s wild to think that it wasn’t until Assassin’s Creed Unity that we got a dedicated crouch button – absolutely insane in retrospect. In the original Black Flag you could only go undetected when hidden within a group of people or when walking in bushes that automatically put you into crouch mode. Aside from that, your character genuinely couldn’t crouch at all. Thankfully, Black Flag Resynced adds a dedicated crouch button, so you can go about your business of stabbing enemies to death from the cover of shadow as you please. There are also a few new gadgets in your stealth toolbelt, and some that were in the original but come to you much sooner in this iteration. For example, the badass ropedart that didn’t appear until the tailend of the story is now added to your inventory in the opening chapters so you can almost immediately start yanking enemies toward you like Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion, which, I think we can all agree, is just a great decision.

If you aren’t in the mood for stealth, though, one change to this iteration of Black Flag is likely to bring you joy: those deeply irritating tailing quests have been reworked. Whereas before you’d have to slowly follow people around town unnoticed, paying the ultimate price of having to start over from the beginning if you got caught, now you’re provided alternate ways of completing the mission instead. In the one example included in the demo, I decided to sprint right at the two people I was told to follow just to see what would happen, and although the result was sloppy and most unbecoming of an aspiring assassin, I can confirm that I was indeed given separate means for completing my objective anyway, though they were significantly bloodier and less smooth than planned. A pretty great change, if you ask me!

Likewise, combat has been modernized to focus on player skill, complete with my favorite: a perfect parry mechanic that opens enemies up to be instantly killed if you get the timing just so. As someone who has been honing his parry timing for years in the crucible of soulslikes and uber-difficult action games, this is one of my favorite changes. Not only does it make you feel like a complete badass when you slap someone’s sword out of your face and finish them off with an execution, but it also allows for combat to go faster – something that feels quite needed at times with all the samey boarding combat sections that happen every time you want to pillage a ship of its cargo before sinking it. I also played with the difficulty turned all the way up and found myself dying quite a bit, both in ship-based combat and while swashbuckling. Some of this is surely just the fact that I was playing this remake for the first time and learning as I went, but here’s hoping this iteration of Black Flag is a bit more challenging than the original, where I rarely found myself in any real peril.

Though this remaster draws on many of Assassin’s Creed’s more recent entries, it steers clear from the RPG elements found in Valhalla and Shadows, instead sticking to its action-adventure roots like Mirage and, crucially, the original Black Flag. There are still some stats on weapons that can be purchased in shops and some RPG-like upgrades here and there, but Resynced focuses much more on being a competent action game than an RPG, so you won’t find yourself stealth-assassinating someone and not doing enough DPS to take them out in one strike. I actually enjoy both the more RPG-style Assassin’s Creed games and the less chunky action games that the series found its roots in, but if I’m being honest, this one just feels like it’s much better suited as a pure action game. After all, I’m a bloody pirate for God’s sake! I’m meant to be showing these nautical narcs the business end of a flintlock, not running the numbers on my armor set or doing math on my critical hit chances. Yar, I say! Yar!

Some of the streamlining of Black Flag Resynced’s action has led to some peculiar choices, though, like how you can no longer pick up the weapons of slain foes to use in combat. In the original, if you downed a big guy who was wielding a two-handed ax, you could then pick it up and use it to mop up the rest of the scallywags in your path. For whatever reason, that was removed in the demo I played, though, possibly to simplify things and keep the action moving along without having to clumsily retrieve a weapon from the ground in the heat of battle. I can certainly see the logic in that choice, but honestly, I kinda missed being able to have that kind of freedom, and it felt to me like one of those wholly unnecessary changes that could have just as well been left as it was. Then again, this feature hasn’t been a part of the series in quite some time now, so maybe it’s just one of those things that no longer fits within the Anvil engine.

While reliving my time with Black Flag was largely awesome, one surprising revelation is that the entirety of the present-day storyline has been removed from this version. As someone who misses when the Assassin’s Creed series actually tried to tell a story within its sci-fi world, it’s a bit of a bummer to see them follow in AC Shadows’ footsteps of giving up on that aspect of the series entirely. It’s especially odd if, like me, you have the twist ending at the end of the original Black Flag burned into your memory – I’m honestly very curious how this remake will be able to cut around that aspect of the story entirely, and worry the story might feel a bit awkward in doing so. That said, the historical story and pirate gameplay is quite obviously Black Flag’s strength, so maybe it won’t be any big loss not having it around, even if it does feel a bit strange.

Perhaps as a way of making up for the lack of a present-day story, Resynced interestingly adds content to Kenway’s story that wasn’t in the original, some of which I played. This includes whole story sections that focus on Black Beard and Stede Bonnet, who were only briefly involved in the original version of Black Flag, if memory serves. There are also new party members you can recruit to join your pirate crew, complete with quests to indoctrinate them into your privateering operations. One such quest involved breaking a shipwright out of jail and persuading her to join my team by agreeing to help her with a personal matter down the road. Her name is Lucy and she’s pretty much a complete badass. I think she’ll fit in with Kenway and company just fine.

After a handful of hours playing this remake of one of the best Assassin’s Creed games, I’m pretty sold on replaying through it in its entirety when it comes out later this year. What do you think? Will you give Black Flag a return trip? Let us know in the comments.

Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.

Original Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward has new studio heads, but neither of them is new to the studio. Jack O’Hara, who came up in production, has been at Infinity Ward since 2012. Mark Grigsby, meanwhile, made his name in animation starting back in 2005, though he left for a stint at Respawn Entertainment (which, of course, was infamously started when a substantial number of team members followed IW cofounders Jason West and the late Vince Zampella out the door in 2010 following a royalties dispute) before returning in 2012. Both are insistent that the studio will remain true to the bold design that makes up its DNA.

“We actually have one person that does work here that was here from the beginning,” Grigsby said. “The DNA of that crew still lives in this studio.” He continued: “What we created back then, how the vibe was in the studio back then – it's still something that we push for [with] our employees here, and what we want the studio to generate. It was a vibe. It still is a vibe, right?

“Unfortunately, COVID kind of hurt us a little bit back in the day a couple of years ago,” Grigsby continued. “But we had a tremendous amount of like energy and fire and drive in 2019 and COVID kinda hit the world and messed things up a little bit, but we are still on that trajectory and we are still as passionate as we were back in 2003, 2005, it's still there.”

“I think that as the generations have gone on, we just keep accumulating very talented people that are very passionate,” O’Hara said. “Our culture is really about trying to make the best game possible, about being passionate about your craft and, and excellence in your craft, and making sure that we're, we're good at giving each other feedback and direct with each other about what needs to get better and, and how to improve the game, and to make sure we listen to feedback and have no egos in it and just make the best game possible.”

This year’s Call of Duty from Infinity Ward will mark the first series entry since Zampella tragically died in a car accident last December. It sounds like Infinity Ward’s new leaders are still wrestling with how to best honor him. IGN asked if the studio’s 2026 CoD would include an “in memory of Vince Zampella” in the credits, and O’Hara responded, “A lot of us knew Vince personally, so, when his tragic death happened, I think for a lot of us it, it hit home hard. We all had stories about Vince to remember him by and to share amongst ourselves. [So] we haven't finalized any plans for anything, at this point, mainly because a lot of us know his family and so we want to be very sensitive about what we do.”

2026's Call of Duty is likely to be announced on or before June 7, as that's when the Xbox Showcase takes place.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Warhammer Skulls is back! The showcase event for all things Warhammer video games promises to deliver big news on everything from Space Marine 2 to Darktide, and we'll be reporting on all the announcements, reveals, and updates via the live blog below. Here's what to expect...

Warhammer Skulls 2026 video game lineup:

• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Focus Entertainment & Saber Interactive)
• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (Fatshark)
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy (Owlcat Games)
• Warhammer 40,000 Boltgun 2 and Warhammer Survivors (Devolver Digital & Auroch Digital)
• Total War: Warhammer III (Sega & Creative Assembly)
• Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector (Slitherine)
• Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War IV (Deep Silver, KING Art Games)
• and many, many more…

Warhammer Skulls 2026 live blog

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

TT Games has returned to the world of Lego Batman, and once again, there’s a whole crate of cool Easter eggs, references, and fun details to find hidden all across this bricky version of Gotham City.

Legacy of the Dark Knight is, unsurprisingly, stuffed full of nods to Batman movies old and new. The entire game is essentially eight movie tie-in Lego kits smashed together, and if we were to detail every single movie reference, this video would simply be a let’s play. There are some deeper cuts, though, such as quoting immortal lines from great sitcoms, referencing viral moments from kids’ TV, and even manifesting Michael Caine’s tweets. Expect many spoilers as we dive into 48 brilliant little details in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and be sure to swipe through the image galleries to see them in action!

1. We’ll start with a guy in one of the story's early cutscene, running across the shot with a sparking bomb held high above his head. Fans of a certain vintage (or people who love a good gif) will know this is a nod to a scene from 1966’s Batman: The Movie, in which Adam West’s camp Caped Crusader attempts to dispose of an explosive without killing nuns, babies, a brass band, or family of ducks. Sometimes, you really just can’t get rid of a bomb.

2. That bomb would have come in handy when Batman has to deal with a giant shark in the story's second chapter. Thankfully, he’s armed with Shark Repellent Batspray, a tool that was also added to the Dark Knight’s belt in the 1966 movie.

3. Fast-forward a couple of decades and Adam West made way for Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s much darker big-screen adaptation of Batman. During your tours of Gotham you may spot the words Furst City Planners painted onto some brickwork - a reference to Anton Furst, Burton’s production designer on Batman, who won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1989.

4. While you’re waiting to get to the right floor in Shreck's Department Store, you’ll hear the familiar melody of Danny Elfman’s Batman theme soundtrack to your descent.

5. There are a few display dummies around the store, and if you attack them using Catwoman’s whip, she’ll decapitate them - just as Michelle Pfeiffer did in Batman Returns.

6. Also in Shreck’s are a couple of miniature Batmobiles. Rather than simple toys, these are replicas of the mini Batmobile that the Penguin uses in Batman Returns to hijack Batman’s car.

7. If you come across one of the many arcade cabinets, take a closer look and you’ll see a high score screen featuring five names. Topping the leader board is Batman himself, but the names below are all people who have played Batman. There’s CHR - likely pointing to Christian Bale, with 9000 points, closely followed by PAT, or Robert Pattinson. Trailing behind is VAL, Val Kilmer, with 6k points. Amusingly, AFL - Ben Affleck - has just 500 points, perhaps a sly jab at him being arguably the least popular Batman. At least he’s got a better score than George Clooney, who didn’t even make the leader board.

8. Out in the city streets, you’ll find numerous references to the best Bat flick of them all. Posters with Heath Ledger’s famous Joker line “why so serious?” can be found pasted to walls…

9. … and you’ll also stumble over a parody of the poster for The Dark Knight, featuring The Gray Ghost. In the lore of DC’s animated universe, this fictional crime fighter was the original inspiration for a young Bruce Wayne.

10. Talking of different DC universes, during a late-game mission, the clown prince of crime delivers messages to you via people dressed up as different Jokers, including Cesar Romero's moustache-covered-in-makeup Joker from the 1960s. Perhaps the most recognisable of them, though, is Arthur Fleck, the down-on-his-luck sign-twirler who would become the Joker in Todd Phillips’ incredibly grim 2019 movie.

11. Opinion on Joker is split, but everyone agrees that 2004’s Halle Berry vehicle Catwoman is an absolute disaster. However, that dud is the basis for the delightful Halle Purry missing cat posters dotted around the city – a great joke referencing that Berry’s Catwoman is completely missing from the game.

12. It’s not just Batman movies that you’ll find referenced all over Legacy of the Dark Knight - there are plenty of cinema gags to be found across Gotham, including several that any kids playing will be completely oblivious to. Perhaps the most amusingly age-inappropriate reference is to the brutally deranged serial killer story, American Psycho - employees at Wayne Tower can be seen fawning over Bruce Wayne’s business card, quoting lines from the film’s famous scene.

13. During the story’s Batman Begins-derived section, Ra's al Ghul quotes the famous “very particular set of skills” speech from Taken. That film’s protagonist was played by Liam Neeson, who, of course, was also Ra's al Ghul in the first of Nolan’s trilogy.

14. Alfred answers a phone call at Wayne Manor by sliding into the room wearing nothing but a baggy shirt. Tom Cruise fans will recognise this as the most famous shot from 1983’s Risky Business.

15. When exploring the depths of Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge, you can find “Ska-kham Asylum” - a club dedicated to calypso-tinged rhythms and Batman puns. That’s not the joke, though. Knock on the door and someone inside will say “We don't want any more visitors, well-wishers or distant relations”, quoting an exasperated Bilbo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings. (Incidentally, Ska was the precursor genre to Rocksteady in ‘60s Jamaica. Rocksteady developed three beloved Batman Arkham games. Are we stretching here? Maybe. But it’s fun anyway.)

16. During the boss battle with the Penguin, you’ll hear him shout, “Merry Christmas, you filthy animal!” It’s a double-reference; this section of the game is based on Batman Returns, which is set at Christmas, and so it’s only right that Oswald Cobblepot would quote one of the greatest Christmas movies of them all, Home Alone.

17. During this same fight, he also screams, “So anyways, I started blasting!” He’s quoting Frank Reynolds from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, played by Danny DeVito, who also played Penguin in Batman Returns.

18. Throughout the game you pick up a hell of a lot of studs, and will at some point want to spend them at Bat-Mite’s store. Among his wares you can find this telephone booth, which can “make calls” and may possibly be a “time machine.” That’s a reference to Bill & Ted, who use a phone booth to travel through time in their 1989 excellent adventure. The booth is priced at an unusual 2002 studs, which could be a reference to the movie Phone Booth, released in 2002 and starring Colin Farrell, who would two decades later go on to don a mountain of prosthetics to play the Penguin in The Batman.

19. A few more obvious references to the world of cinema can be found on the walls of Gotham’s various theatres, including posters for Batman riffs on The Shining, Goodfellas, Indiana Jones, and The Matrix.

20. Posters are one of the most common sight-gags in this Lego Gotham, and you’ll see them on every street corner and often towering above you as massive billboards. There are too many to name all of them here, but among our favourites is one for Cavalier Mobile Phones, a niche DC villain. His rapier is electrified, hence the “shocking prices” of his phones.

21. There are multiple adverts for Chocos, Gotham’s legally-distinct Oreo-style cookie.

22. The city seems to have a thriving theatre scene, with advertisements for a huge variety of Broadway parodies. There’s Les Minifigures, a riff on Les Miserables…

23. … Detroit, the Lego world’s take on Chicago…

24. … and Bats, a send-up of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Cats. Thankfully there’s no CGI felines here, but ticket holders do get to see Man-Bat himself, Kirk Langstrom, presumably belting out “Memory” live on stage.

25. Talking of cats, during a sequence in the Flugelheim Museum, you can control Catwoman’s purring pal and have them walk over a security guard’s keyboard. That’s a cute reference to cats being little dicks, but the punchline is that the guard’s screen will then display a riff on the internet’s favourite keyboard cat.

26. There are several good memes referenced across the campaign, and it’d be a shame to spoil all of them, but one of the best arrives during the Case of Waylon Jones side quests. During the chain’s sixth mission, Batman overhears from a sewer grate a voice saying “We’re just normal men, innocent men.” It’s a riff on Hacker T. Dog's hilarious improvised skit from BBC children’s television, beloved by pretty much everyone in the UK.

27. More widely known is Michael Caine’s eternally amusing Twitter blunder, when he made a typo of the first Batman film he was in. When exploring the Batcave, Alfred may quote the tweet in full: “Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up. Batman Begin.”

28. In-game Alfred is just as clumsy as the man who once played him, though – during an early cutscene he spills sauce all down his chest, which settles in the shape of the Batman logo.

29. Nothing is safe from Lego parody in Legacy of the Dark Knight – not even the sacred and holy medium that is video games. Visit Bat-Mite’s store and you’ll occasionally hear him attempt to say “What are ya buyin’?”, the very same business slogan employed by Resident Evil 4’s merchant.

30. Over in Haley’s Circus, Robin navigates a very Nintendo-like obstacle course, complete with the classic Donkey Kong ramp where he must dodge rolling barrels.

31. During this section, Two-Face calls out “How’d you like to see a barrel roll?” This is, of course, a riff on Star Fox 64’s most famous line of dialogue, when Peppy Hare advised Star Fox to “do a barrel roll.”

32. In one of the later story chapters, Batman seeks out villain Black Mask to learn information about an evil scheme. This involves beating up his car in a Lego reimagining of the classic Street Fighter minigame.

33. It’s undeniable that this Lego Batman owes a major debt to Rocksteady’s Arkham games. Its open world full of Riddler Trophies and counter-based combat system are both inspired by that fantastic series. But there are a couple of other ideas that have been lifted wholesale from Arkham, such as Batman’s explosive spray, which he once again applies to surfaces in a perfectly-formed bat shape.

34. More substantial is the opening of the “A Serious House” level, which is a very close replica of the opening of Arkham Asylum. It features a bricky riff on that game’s intro cutscene, and then has you follow a chained-up Joker as he’s slowly wheeled through the asylum’s halls.

35. No Batman game is worth its salt without a multitude of DC Comics Easter eggs, and Legacy of the Dark Knight is full of them. Early on, as you work your way through the Iceberg Lounge, you’ll find gateways to other clubs, including the occult Club Constantine, a reference to DC’s troubled warlock, John Constantine.

36. Across the hall from Club Constantine is Xanadu Inn. I won’t spend too much time wondering why there’s a hotel inside a nightclub, but this is a reference to DC’s Arthurian mystic, Madame Xanadu.

37. Yet another supernatural character can be seen referenced on one of Gotham’s billboards. Zatanna Zatara, DC’s sharply-dressed mage, is holding a magic show in the city.

38. The Flugelheim Museum may be best known for hosting the Joker’s Prince-scored vandalism, but in Lego Batman it’s also home to an array of DC Comics’ most important items. Among the collection is a shard of Kryptonite, one of Superman’s only weaknesses…

39. … a Green Lantern’s lantern…

40. … and Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth.

41. Among the museum’s artwork are a couple of significant comic covers, including Detective Comics Issue #27, the very first to have featured Batman. However, since this comic is in-universe, it depicts The Gray Ghost on the cover instead.

42. Alongside it is a painting of two men, a writer and an artist. These are Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the duo who created Batman for Detective Comics.

43. There’s also a framed copy of The Dark Knight Returns, written by Frank Miller, and its iconic lightning bolt cover.

44. Frank Miller gets his flowers elsewhere, too – among Gotham’s many local businesses is “Miller and Moore: Attorneys at Law”. The Moore in this pairing is Alan Moore, the author of Watchmen and, more importantly for a Batman game, The Killing Joke. Miller and Moore are responsible for some of Batman’s most gritty, edgy stories, so perhaps it should come of no surprise that their minifigure personas run a firm dealing with crime.

45. A billboard for Gotham Year One features the names Beatty, Pulido, and Martin. This refers to writer Scott Beatty and artists Javier Pulido and Marcos Martín. All three were part of the creative team for DC’s Year One comics in the early 2000s, including Robin: Year One, Nightwing: Year One, and Batgirl: Year One.

46. At Gotham’s library, there are banners for books by Alan Grant and Tom King. Both are prominent writers of Batman. Grant wrote the long-running Shadow of the Bat storyline through the 1990s, which introduced villain Victor Zsasz to DC’s rogues gallery. King, meanwhile, won the Eisner Award for his celebrated run on Batman through the late 2010s.

47. Updates on the Gotham Stock Exchange can be seen on digital billboards mounted to one of the city’s skyscrapers. Amusingly, the stocks going up in value are all Lego pieces - studs, bricks, and tiles.

48. Finally, we probably shouldn’t end this list without a cool little detail that’s actually helpful for playing the game. If you hold the left trigger and aim at interactable objects in the world, your character will automatically switch to the correct gadget for the job. There’s no need to manually switch between Batarangs and the grapple when Batman will do it for you.

So there we go, 48 brilliant little details we found in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. But that’s far from all of them – the world is packed with amazing references, jokes, or cool touches on every street corner. Did we include your favourite detail that you’ve seen so far? If not, let us know the best things you’ve seen in the comments.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.

Overwatch is currently marking its 10th anniversary, but players haven’t necessarily been in the mood to celebrate. With much of the fanbase expecting more from the in-game event, the backlash has put a slight halt to the momentum Blizzard’s shooter had built up since its removal of the “2” and rebrand back to Overwatch.

When the anniversary event started, players were required to sink a lot of time into completing matches and objectives in order to earn loot boxes containing new colorways and old skins. That grind for underwhelming loot isn’t exactly what long-term fans (such as myself) were expecting to mark such a milestone.

To the developer’s credit, a swift response was issued by game director Aaron Keller on social media, who stated that rewards would be increased and easier to obtain in weeks two and three of the event, guaranteeing players a minimum of 10 legendary skins each.

Looking ahead, we’re also planning an additional season-long event in Season 3 with even more rewards, expanding the base level of earnable rewards in our weekly Play N Games tracker, while working on other ideas for later in the year. 6/8

— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) May 15, 2026

But, for some, that still doesn’t feel quite enough for the celebration of Overwatch’s 10th birthday. An issue compounded by jealous eyes looking at the raft of new skins and rewards for Chinese players to mark the same occasion.

That’s something Overwatch general manager and head of live games and mobile development at Blizzard, Walter Kong, is aware of and explained to IGN in an interview. “Yeah, I think with the benefit of hindsight, it is something where we had to recalibrate, and we wanted to take action fairly quickly, hence the adjustments we made to the event,” said Kong.

“Just the nature of development is that a lot of the structure of these events comes together over quite a period of time,” he continued. “So there are some limits to how we can pivot, but as we saw the feedback coming in and we sat around the table, we did believe that there was a need to recalibrate, but we're looking at the 10th anniversary as more than just this current event. We want this year to really be an opportunity to celebrate Overwatch's 10th anniversary. And I think even going back to Season 1, the ambition to release 10 Heroes in the year was very much in the context of the 10th anniversary, and we'll certainly be doing more during the year to remind players that we're very grateful for just the continued engagement with our game.”

As for the reason why Chinese players receive exclusive content unavailable to the rest of the world, it’s all down to Blizzard’s relationship with NetEase in that part of the world. “I would say that part of it is related to our partnership structure with NetEase,” Kong explained.

“I think NetEase has the responsibility of publishing our game in China, and part of their approach is to do things that are specific to that market,” he added. “And the approach that we want to take is to make sure that our game makes players feel cared for, no matter the market. And I think we fell short of the mark with this current event, but it does mean that as we look forward to future events and activations, we have a very specific view that ‘Is this just the right way to run the event?’, and from the perspective of holistically, ‘How do things balance out?”

Overwatch has seen somewhat of a resurgence recently, following the announcement that the game was dropping its "2" and adding 10 new heroes in the future. This year will see Overwatch enter a "new, story-driven era" with a year-long narrative and a major overhaul, which began with the launch of Season 1 on February 10. Blizzard, and Overwatch’s fanbase, will both be hoping this event is a minor bump in the road for a game that’s in as good a place as it has been for many years now.

That optimism is shared by Kong, who feels good about both the present and future of the hero shooter. “I will say that I am happy with where the game is today,” he stated. “I think that from just a play experience perspective, it's strong. It's been refined over such a period of time, and just our approach to the game has become more oriented to an almost collaborative process with our players, especially in the last few years. So I'm happy with where the game is today, and I'm also very, very optimistic about the future, not just for the game but for just the franchise overall.”

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Fallout 4 maker Bethesda has confirmed that an increase in storage for mods on the console versions is on the way, giving players more space to download and use Creations.

"We’re excited to share the Fallout 4 Creations storage expansion will arrive for consoles on May 27," the company said. "Console players will soon have more space to download content, including larger, more ambitious Creations. This update will allow for Creations storage on Xbox Series X/S to be scalable up to 100GB. PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and the Xbox One will all have Creations storage increased from 1GB or 2GB, respectively, to approximately 15GB.”

Calling it a "significant" increase, the developer/publisher said that this will roll out on May 27, although players on current- and last-gen systems with saves older than November 10, 2025 "are expected to be impacted." But if you create a fresh save for your ongoing playthrough, you should be okay (here's how to do it).

If it's been a while since you last popped in to play, here's our round-up of everything major added to Fallout 4 since launch.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The former creative director of one of gaming's most influential stealth franchises, Splinter Cell, has suggested that advancements in lighting and shadow have made it more difficult than ever for the fans — and creators — of the genre.

In an interview with FRVR, Clint Hocking, who was creative director of 2005's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, talked candidly about how the more sophisticated development methods actually make it harder to create the shadows needed for stealth games.

“I actually think one of the difficulties with modern stealth games is that the sophistication in the rendering has made lighting so much more realistic,” Hocking said.

“When you think about those old school stealth games because of their baked lighting, the lighting is very clean and readable and very understandable for the player,” he added. “But once you get into this diffuse and ambient occlusion and all of the stuff that comes with it, it gets very hard to tell what’s light, what’s shadow, what’s dark, what’s safe, what’s dangerous and all of that stuff.”

The problem, Hocking said, is that realistic lighting systems, such as direction, can be difficult to manage when so much of the gameplay requires players to huddle in shadowy corners.

“Part of it is also just lighting direction,” Hocking said. "When you go and see a play on a stage, the lighting is often super dramatic. So, you can do it with real lights. It’s just that, you know, these places are often lit to be very realistic and not lit to be aesthetic [for the purposes of] stealth gameplay."

It's a "tough bridge to cross," Hocking added, especially as "people in the industry spent 20 years of their career thinking about how to make things look more realistic."

Ubisoft recently insisted its long-awaited Splinter Cell remake remains in development despite layoffs at the studio working on the project. 40 jobs were cut at Ubisoft Toronto, the company announced in February, as part of the ongoing push to cut costs that has seen thousands of employees depart over the past few years. In a statement sent to IGN, Ubisoft said that work on Splinter Cell was unaffected by the redundancies.

The game itself remains firmly under wraps without any kind of release window. Still, some positive news emerged late last year — when the remake's original director David Grivel announced he had returned to recommence his role after leaving Ubisoft in 2022. Here's hoping more emerges from the shadows soon.

As for Clint Hocking, he left Ubisoft in February having led work on Assassin's Creed Hexe, the upcoming entry in Ubisoft's flagship series that's set to feature a witchcraft vibe.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Splitgate developer 1047 Games has announced Empluse, a "Titanfall-inspired movement shooter" expected to release into early access later this year.

In an interview with Polygon, 1047 boss Ian Proulx said that while the team will continue to support Splitgate — the second game, Splitgate: Arena Reloaded released just a few months ago in December 2025 — Empluse is the "main priority" going forward.

“I still do believe in [Splitgate: Arena Reloaded," Proulx said. "I really do. I think it's a great game. I think it needs sort of a… I mean, I don't know what it needs, to be honest.”

“We looked very closely at some of our favorite and the best movement shooters out there, like Titanfall 2, Black Ops 3, some of the movement CODs. But we also looked at non-shooting games,” Proulx said of Empulse. “Do you remember SSX Tricky? One of the things we took inspiration from there was that feeling of, like, you're in that flow state. You're wall running, you're grappling, you're sliding, and then you're bouncing off these jumps. We had this vision of, what if instead of it just being your typical jump pad or man cannon, it was actually more like a snowboard jump?”

That doesn't mean the studio has entirely abandoned its Portal-y roots, though, as Empluse reportedly "riffs on Portal 2’s paint mechanic." Players will have P.A.I.N.T. Bombs (Plasma Activated Infusion of NanoTech) that, like Portal's pro- and repulsion gels, provide extra speed or jump boosts. These can be chained to create a highly mobile shooter where players are never standing still, creating a "really freaking fun" experience.

"We have a lot of Titanfall fans in the company. We've seen it even in our community," Proulx said. "A lot of people have asked for wall-running over the years, actually. And so that was one of the things we actually prototyped in early 2025, and we ended up not putting it into the game because we're like, ‘This just doesn't really work and none of the maps were built for this. This is about portals.'"

You may remember the launch and "unlaunch" of Splitgate 2 last year. Splitgate 2 released last June to middling reviews, controversy, and a rapid drop-off of players as criticism of the game grew. In response, 1047 "unlaunched" Splitgate 2, announcing in July it would temporarily wind down support for it while the team worked on a new version of the game with "big, sweeping changes." It was then relaunched as a free-to-play game across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.

"If I look at live-service games that haven't done well, there's a million reasons, right? It's such a difficult industry," Proulx added. "I think one of the reasons that certain games haven't done well is chasing trends, instead of trying to provide something players are asking for.

"And honestly, we're partially guilty of that. I think we had our own unique take on things, but I think this time around it's: let's just make this type of game. It doesn't have to be the next Fortnite, it doesn't have to be the next Call of Duty. We think this is a game that players are asking for."

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

IO Interactive has confirmed the exact second you can start playing 007 First Light next week. As you likely already know, 007 First Light will be released on May 27th but, if you pre-order, you can get in on the action a day early on the 26th. However, if you were prepared to stay up all night and jump in at midnight, you'll have to do some waiting. 007 First Light will be doing a global launch, meaning the game will become available for everyone at the exact same time.

IO Interactive has revealed that the game will be released at 3 PM BST. For those in the United States, that means the game will be released at 7 AM PDT/10 AM EDT on May 26th and May 27th, depending on if you pre-order or not. That also means the New Zealand method that Americans sometimes use to play the game "early" by changing their console's region won't work, since everyone is getting it at the same time. For those down under, 007 First Light will be available from midnight AEST on May 27th and May 28th depending on your pre-order status.

007 First Light is just around the corner, and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on it.

Check out the launch map to see when the game becomes playable for you during early access and release.

Are you locked in and ready for this re-imagined origin story?

Pre-order now… pic.twitter.com/ULvCKHcIpS

— 007 First Light (@007GameIOI) May 20, 2026

As of right now, we're still waiting to hear details about when 007 First Light can be pre-loaded. IO Interactive hasn't revealed how big a download this will be but, hopefully, fans will be able to pre-load it this weekend or on Monday so they can be prepared for launch.

If you're looking for other ways to prepare for launch and are in the market for a new console, it seems like PS5 Pro will be the best console to experience 007 First Light on. It was recently confirmed that the game will benefit from 60 FPS on PS5 Pro but, don't worry, there is a performance mode on the base consoles that will allow for 60 FPS.

007 First Light is expected to be one of the biggest games of 2026. It has been in the works since 2020 and it looks like IO Interactive's hard work will soon pay off. We've given 007 First Light two glowing previews, noting that it "feels like the fresh start that Bond fans deserve." Only time will tell if the full game can live up to the hype but, if it does, it may be in contention for some awards later this year.

007 First Light is arriving on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is set to follow at a later date. In the meantime, why not take a look back at the suave, smashing – and sometimes positively shocking – 40-year history of James Bond Games.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will be recasting its male protagonist and his twin brother, according to developer Owlcat Games. The developer confirmed that it heard vocal fan feedback regarding the performances of the game's male protagonist character and his twin brother, prompting them to actually take action.

"While the voice actor for the male protagonist and J put in a lot of good work, they felt less expressive than we wanted," said the developer in a blog post. "Because of this, we are changing the voices of the male protagonist and J."

It was noted in a press release that the team is already in the process of searching for a new actor, but it's unclear how intensive this process will be on the production of the game. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn recently held a beta, which got a mixed response from fans. However, it did provide Owlcat Games with a lot of actionable feedback. Thankfully, the full game isn't due out until 2027, so there's plenty of time to address player concerns. Owlcat noted it is also addressing concerns with gameplay, tone, and other quality-of-life elements to improve the game. Fans are hoping that The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will be another high-quality sci-fi RPG that can go toe to toe with Exodus next year.

While it's pretty rare for a game to replace an actor after a game has already been put into the hands of players, this isn't the first time it has happened. Bungie famously cast Peter Dinklage as the Ghost in Destiny, and he was present in the game for about a year. However, fans complained that it felt like Dinklage was phoning it in, and Bungie replaced him the following year with Nolan North.

There are also a number of cases of actors being replaced before a game's release. According to Master Chief actor Steve Downes, two new actors were cast to play Chief and Cortana in Halo 4. However, internal feedback was so poor that 343 Industries, AKA Halo Studios, brought the original actors back. A similar incident happened on Hitman: Absolution, when Agent 47 actor David Bateson was replaced by William Mapother. However, IO Interactive changed course and brought Bateson back at the last minute after fan backlash.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

Forza Horizon 6 players are exploiting certain parts of the game so that they can quickly and easily unlock every vehicle in the game. As spotted by GamesRadar, YouTuber XMBWesley posted a guide on how to quickly rack up a bunch of credits and XP. For starters, you can use map code 121 812 769, equip the Impreza 22B-STI Version 1998 Subaru (you'll need to acquire this if you don't already have it), and then enable auto-steering and assisted braking. The game will essentially do all the work for you and ram your car into a bunch of objects. This will not only earn you credits at the end of the race, but give you skill points.

By investing the skill points back into your vehicle, you can unlock more wheel spins, bonuses, and more to help quickly earn additional credits. You can do this as much as you want, but there is also a second race that is just as lucrative. If you enter the map code 197 337 317, you can play another track with the same custom settings as the previous race. The race takes about 40 minutes to finish, so you can set your controller down and put something against the trigger to make your car accelerate while doing something else. Once you finish the race, you'll have 100,000 credits. You can do this over and over again.

Of course, this will hinder a sizable portion of Forza Horizon 6's progression if you do this. Although there are other forms of progression, earning credits and buying cars is one of the biggest parts of the game. This will also almost certainly be patched by Playground Games at some point, though it's unclear how long that might take. If you want to cheat the system, you'll want to act now, but be warned, it may ruin some of the fun for you.

So far, Forza Horizon 6 has been a massive hit for Xbox and Playground Games. Forza Horizon 6 has enjoyed high player counts since its early access launch last week and has only grown since the release of the standard edition on Tuesday. We also gave the game a 10 in our review, stating that it is a "new standard in open-world racing" and "unequivocally the best" of its genre.

Not only is the racing itself sharp, but it also has a wonderful sense of humor. Forza Horizon 6 features a cheeky reference to Pokémon, which has amused fans. Players are also decking out and modifying tiny cars like the Peel P50 to make it an unsuspecting yet absolutely absurd racing machine.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

Walmart is offering an outstanding gaming laptop deal that I haven't seen since Black Friday. As part of the Walmart Memorial Day Sale, you can pick up a powerful MSI Vector HX 16" Gaming Laptop for just $1,399.00 with free shipping. This laptop features an RTX 5070 Ti GPU with 140W TGP rating for impressive gaming performance.

MSI Vector HX 16" RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Laptop for $1,399