Delivering the most breathtaking and frenetic ninja action to date, TEAM NINJA and KOEI TECMO have released the graphically enhanced NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black as part of a surprise launch.
The first 2025 patch for Palia, the free gameplay New Beginnings update will bring Palians together for a celebration of joy, good fortune, and prosperity.
While Xbox Game Pass rarely goes a month without getting at least something new that's worth checking out, it's certainly had its dry spells in recent years. The back half of January, however, has quietly revealed a surprising number of cool new games hitting the Netflix-like subscription service, and with several…
The original Labyrinth was one of those movies that was such a precise product of its time, place, and the creative collision of the people working on it that it's hard to imagine ever recreating the same ineffable magic of the 80's dark fantasy musical, or why you'd want to try. But that's never stopped Hollywood…
Id Software recently pulled back the curtain on Doom: The Dark Ages and revealed a lot more gameplay from the upcoming FPS while also explaining some of the biggest changes from past Doom installments. One of the biggest is that this time around there is no multiplayer mode.
We can always have more games involving mechs. Who doesn't love hoping into a big robot and shooting some lasers? All the better if it's with friends. Synduality Echo of Ada offers as much in the form of a extraction shooter, taking traits from Titanfall and blending them with a healthy dose of anime. The long-awaited mech game has just hit early access, but it would've been hoping for a stronger start to life.
Steam is home to loads of brilliant WW2 games, ranging from immersive first-person shooters to strategy games that let you command a whole battlefield. But very, very few take things underwater and let you pilot a submarine. That's what makes the brilliant Uboat so special. Now, this excellent mil sim has sunk back down to a criminally cheap price on Steam.
Cheaters are the bane of any FPS player's existence, and in a game as hardcore and challenging as Rainbow Six Siege, that's doubly-true. Over the years, Ubisoft has made countless changes and improvements to its anti-cheat and its code of conduct, it's just made a few more adjustments that show it isn't playing around.
When it comes to might and magic, role-playing games tend to dominate. Your Dragon Ages and World of Warcrafts, have massive universes that you sink into as some intrepid warrior or mage. Legacy: Steel and Sorcery, from ex-Blizzard developers, challenges that with a fantastical spin on the extraction shooter, and it finally has a firm launch date.
Something goes bump in the night, and it just so happens to be you. Vampires: Bloodlord Rising positions you as the mysterious overlord in a castle, terrorizing the local region and gradually growing your army of ghouls. Now, with a rebrand, the project is starting to come together as we approach launch.
What are the best games like Stardew Valley? We can't think of anything more enticing than the idea of leaving the fast-paced corporate world behind and moving out to the country for a simple but rewarding life. This escapism is one of the things that makes Stardew Valley such an extraordinarily enjoyable game, so we've found some alternatives that are equally as indulgent.
If just want more out of the game, then we've got a list of the best Stardew Valley mods and for fun we also asked a farmer if the game was realistic. Before looking for an alternative did you know the game is on Apple Arcade and there is a Stardew Valley board game?
Stardew Valley gives a cute combination of romance, relaxation, and retail, and you'd be forgiven for wanting more games like Stardew Valley. There are different aspects to the games below, so none are direct clones. Some are among the best management games, while others might be more focused on farming. They all have something in common with Stardew Valley, though, so you'll enjoy at least one or two.
The likes of Final Fantasy and Persona have long defined sprawling, story-driven RPGs. Their entries trade hard on ensemble casts, sweeping storylines, and universes you want to visit every inch of. Developer Sandfall Interactive is giving them a run for their money with some European flair in Clair Obcsur: Expedition 33, which has just locked in a release date for later this year.
Anycolor has provided more information on the Nijisanji 7th Anniversary Festival, which will take place from February 21 to 23, 2025. You will also have until January 24, 2025 to put in your name for the advance ticket sales lottery. [Thanks, PR Times!]
This year's festival will be at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba. A map of the venue shows some of the different activities and photoshoot spots. Everyone who goes to Nijisanji 7th Anniversary Festival will receive a commemorative pin as well. The pin you get is random, and it features seven different designs for the different colors of a rainbow.
Guests include members from all branches of Nijisanji, such as Tsukino Mito from the JP side and Alban Knox from the EN side. Luxiem will have its own event in the art room from January 21 to January 23, 205. It's part of their Exploring Tokyo with Luxiem video, and you can see their calligraphy artwork on display.
As well, certain events in the hall will be livestreamed on YouTube. Each event costs 2500 JPY ($16) or 6500 JPY ($41.65) depending on how you want to view it. The cheaper tickets lets you focus on a specific liver (like a fan cam for a specific band member), while the more expensive one focuses on the entire event. You can also purchase a ticket for 33,000 JPY ($211.40) that'll give you access to all six streams. Ticket purchases will run from January 23 to March 9, 2025.
Tickets for the Nijisanji 7th Anniversary Festival will appear for the general public from February 8, 2025, and it costs 5500 JPY ($35.25). This only gives you basic access, and more expensive tickets cost around 8000 JPY ($51.25).
The Pokemon Company announced that the Pokemon TCG Prismatic Evolutions cards will be resold in Japan. The latest expansion pack in the popular card game experienced an availability issue due to its high demand. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]
The two sets of Pokemon TCG booster packs that will return to Japan are the "Terastal Fes ex" and "Battle Partners." These are the Japanese equivalents to the Prismatic Evolutions set that include creatures from the latest Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games. The Terastal Fes ex packs include 10 cards per pack for 550 yen (~$3.53) and Battle Partners offering 5 cards per pack for the price of 180 yen (~$1.15.) Both card sets can be expected to receive its re-release in Japan sometime from late February to April 2025 and onwards.
As a reminder, the Pokemon Company intends to solve this availability issue for international players as well. However, the new print of cards will only be available in Japan for the time being. More information about the international prints of the Pokemon TCG Prismatic Evolutions will appear in the future. The next Pokemon TCG expansion was recently announced, and it is the called Scarlet & Violet Journey Together.
The Pokemon TCG Prismatic Evolutions expansion pack will be resold in Japan with new card prints starting to appear sometime between late February and April 2025.
A pop-up shop for Yu-Gi-OhGX will appear in several locations in Japan between January 25 and March 30, 2025. Entering the shop is free, and you can receive a special random bromide for every 2000 JPY you spend there.
The key visual for the Yu-Gi-Oh GX pop-up shop has Judai, Winged Kuriboh, Ed, Manjoume, Asuka, Johan, Ryo (Hell Kaiser) and Yubel. As a note, Judai appears as he does at the end of the series. Fans refer to this version of him as "Nijudai," which is a joke on how "Judai" is a way to refer to teenagers and "Nijudai" is the word for one's twenties.
Here are the dates and locations of the Gee stores you can see the pop-up shop at:
January 25 to February 2: Akihabara (Entas)
February 8 to February 16: Osaka
February 22 to March 2: Kokura
March 8 to March 16: Nagoya
March 20 to March 30: Sendai
Merchandise includes the usual acrylic stands, pins, T-shirts, and tote bags. You can also purchase stickers for your smartphone, or a giant black-out sticker that you can stick to your windows to block out sunlight. There are three variations of T-shirts to get, with two of them based off Judai and one of them based of Ryo. Prices range between 605 and 3300 JPY.
The Yu-Gi-Oh GX pop-up store will open its first location from January 25, 2025, and you can check out more information on it via the official website. A remastered version of the anime will start airing in April 2025.
A limited-time Bayonetta pop up store will appear in Hong Kong to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the series. 30 merchandise goods exclusive to the store will be available between January 24 and February 16, 2025.
The store will be located in the Assemble Nintendo Switch Specialty Store in the Hopewell Cluster mall of Hong Kong. The venue will be decorated like Rodin's bar "The Gates of Hell" from the Bayonetta game series. Manufacturer IIJAN announced that the merchandise goods will also be available for international fans, and pre-orders will open at a later date.
You can check out some of the announced Bayonetta goods that will be on sale below.
Bayonetta Sitting Plush Big – 6,050 yen (~$38.77)
Bayonetta Sitting Plush Mascot Size – 4,290 yen (~$27.49)
Inferno Bandana – 3,080 yen (~$19.74)
The Gates of Hell Cap – 4,950 yen (~$31.72)
Result Medal-Style Pin Badges (8 available) – 660 yen each (~$4.23)
Square Enix has uploaded 35 new Final Fantasy soundtracks onto Steam. All of them are available with a 20% discount at the moment.
It added all these soundtracks on January 22, 2025. Right now, you can purchase the OSTs for virtually all of the main Final Fantasy titles, including the expansion packs in Final Fantasy XIV. This includes the games from the Pixel Remaster series, all the Final Fantasy XIII games, and the "From Spire to Sea" DLC for Final Fantasy XVI. For some reason, it doesn't have the OST for Final Fantasy X-2, and it's not bundled with the Final Fantasy X soundtrack, either. The only non-Final Fantasy soundtrack Square Enix offers via Steam is the Balan Wonderworld one, and it's not on promotion at the moment.
There's no pack that will offer multiple soundtracks, so you'll need to purchase them individually. While each soundtrack technically counts as DLC for whatever Final Fantasy game they belong to, you don't actually need to have the game to buy the soundtrack. As a note, while some re-releases of older Final Fantasy games remix or alter the music, the ones you can purchase from Square Enix Music are the original versions from the initial releases.
The latest mainline entry in the Final Fantasy franchise, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, is readily available on the PS5 and Windows PC.
Good Smile Company fully revealed the Legoshi Beastars Nendoroid, as well confirmed a June 2025 release window for the figure. He'll cost ￥6,500. He's estimated to appear in other regions like the US around Q4 2025, if not earlier, and cost $42.99.
As is common for Nendoroids, this one comes with three face plates. In one, Legoshi looks relaxed. Another features him shocked, with his mouth open and eyebrows furrowed. In the third, he's furious and his eyes are bright red. He also comes with additional ear parts, for additional nuance for those expressions. His accessories include a love letter from Tem and a yellow flower.
Here's a closer look at how the Legoshi Beastars Nendoroid turned out:
Images via Good Smile Company
There's still a bit more of Beastars on the way too, as the anime run hasn't ended yet. Netflix aired the first part of the third and final season starting in December 2024. The second part is going to show up sometime after.
The Beastars Legoshi Nendoroid will start rolling out in June 2025, and pre-orders for the figure end on March 19, 2025. The anime is on Netflix, and the manga is available via Viz Media outside Japan.
The Snow Miku DLC for Desktop Mate has appeared on Steam, though it's not available yet. Infiniteloop has not listed a release date, but if you put it in your wishlist, Steam will inform you when you can download it.
The description of the Snow Miku DLC actually provides a hint as to when you can download it for Desktop Mate. It states that the DLC will only be available for a year, and that you have until January 31, 2026 to download it into your game. That means we can expect a January 31, 2025 release date for the DLC.
This DLC uses the 2025 version of Snow Miku to hang out on your desktop. She will have different gestures and motions than the regular Hatsune Miku. However, she'll still work like an ordinary Desktop Mate, meaning she'll move around your screen, sit on your window, and play with the mouse cursor.
In early January 2025, Infiniteloop released a Hatsune Miku mascot DLC for Desktop Mate. This was the first DLC for the game. So far, both DLC characters are Miku, so it's hard to tell at this point if Infiniteloop plans to add characters from other intellectual properties and companies, or if we'll get another Vocaloid next.
Desktop Mate is available on Windows PC via Steam for free. The Hatsune Miku DLC is paid content, and so the Snow Miku DLC will likely be premium as well.
Team Ninja and Platinum Games revealed Ninja Gaiden 4, the series' first game in 13 years, featuring new character Yakumo and Ryu Hayabusa. It launches autumn 2023 on multiple platforms.
Microsoft announced the remastered Ninja Gaiden 2 Black at the Xbox Developer Direct event. It features enhanced graphics, new gameplay options, and additional characters, available on multiple platforms for £39.99.
Microsoft has strong upcoming videogame releases, including South of Midnight on April 8 and Doom: The Dark Ages on May 15, with early access available for premium buyers.
Doom: The Dark Ages is set for release on May 15, 2025. The game features unsynced glory kills, simplified controls, and largest levels in the series, enhancing the gameplay experience.
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Thursday, January 23, 2025 7:01 PM
Kepler Interactive has revealed the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 release date for the upcoming turn-based RPG from Sandfall Interactive. It was announced at today's Xbox Developer Direct that the game is set to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (including GamePass on launch), and PC via Steam on April 24, 2025. Digital pre-orders are available […]
Compulsion Games has officially unveiled the release date for their Southern Gothic action adventure, South of Midnight. The game launches on April 8, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, PC (via Steam and the Xbox app), and cloud platforms. Players eager to dive into the mysterious world of Prospero can access the game up to five […]
Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja shocked fans today when the two companies revealed both Ninja Gaiden 4 and the remaster Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. Ninja Gaiden 4 will feature a new young protagonist named Yakumo alongside Ryu Hayabusa, with the two characters' fates being intertwined. Extensive gameplay can be seen in the announcement trailer, which dropped during […]
Dangen Entertainment and Puff Hook Studio have announced that Recall: Empty Wishes, a 2D psychological thriller, will launch on February 13, 2025. The game will be available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox for $14.99. Players can dive into a surreal story of memory, truth, and loss, inspired by titles like To the […]
SQUARE ENIX is kicking the New Year off strong with a number of new and returning characters in both FINAL FANTASY VII EVER CRISIS and WAR OF THE VISIONS FINAL FANTASY BRAVE EXVIUS.
A new video game review aggregation and game discovery platform that plans to do more than just aggregate reviews, CriticDB has officially been announced
Including two SWORD ART ONLINE Alternative "Gun Gale Online" characters, scenarios, and monsters, Bandai Namco announced that the SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream DLC 2 is now available.
As announced during Xbox's latest Developer Direct, Doom: The Dark Ages, the next main installment in the demon killin' franchise, is launching on May 15 for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
Over a decade after Ninja Gaiden 3 first graced Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, fans of the action franchise are finally getting a long-awaited sequel. Team Ninja and Platinum Games announced Ninja Gaiden 4 as a joint venture at this week's Xbox Developer Direct where they provided a deep dive into the story, new…
Oscar nominations are one of the few places where vampires, Bob Dylan, and two Black reform school students can all share the same space. Today, the nominees for the 97th Academy Awards were announced, and some of the bloodiest and strangest movies of 2024 were celebrated. Alien: Romulusscored a Visual Effects…
Art of Rally was a beautiful, stripped-down meditation on racing. Over the hill, the next game from Funselektor, looks like an equally minimalist and gorgeous take on off-roading van life.
Here's an interesting question: If the subject of a really good remaster is a bad game, does that mean the remaster is also bad, or just a good way to experience the original flawed product? That's the question I've been pondering since playing Star Wars: Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles.
Once you're ready to leave Vatican City in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you'll follow Indy's investigation into a seemingly abandoned underground maze. Here, you must overcome two challenges to forge two special keys that will open the path forward. Here's how to get through the Gold Key gauntlet in Great Circle…
Earlier this month, I got to try out Assassin's Creed Shadows via a livestreamed four-hour preview. Just a week before that preview, Ubisoft had announced that the next main entry in the open-world franchise about sneaky assassins and evil Templars had been delayed. Again.
One of the biggest developments in gaming isn't just the growing number of games to play, with thousands more being released every year, but how sticky the biggest blockbusters are, monopolizing players' money and attention long after they've come out. And not just live-service multiplayer games either. New sales data…
There is a reasonable chance you have not heard of Jonathan Nash. However, the games journalist and comedy writer has been such an inspiration for a generation of games critics, and the generation inspired by them, that his influence has almost certainly reached you. J Nash was extraordinary, and I'm very sorry to…
Pokémon TCG Pocket is closing out January with a bang. The hit mobile game is getting a much-needed content refresh later this month in the form of a new set called Space-Time Smackdown. Two separate booster packs will feature Dialga and Palkia on their covers, the legendaries from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The set…
The original Switch was a trailblazing device that proved you could take console-quality games on the go, but it was demonstrably less powerful than its PlayStation and Xbox competitors. In the years since the Switch was released, that gap has only grown with the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. We still don't…
The greatest level in the entire Doom series is still Phobos Lab. It doesn't have the gimmicks of a Doom 2 stage, the dark claustrophobia of Doom 3 and 64, or the speed and scale of Eternal and 2016's soft reboot. But Phobos Labs is a singular expression of the essence of Doom. I enjoy Doom Eternal, and I respect how much id was prepared to experiment after the success of 2016. I also feel like Eternal is contrary, in various ways, to the fundamental spirit of Doom. From what I've seen and what id has now told me, Doom The Dark Ages feels closer to the nucleus - it's radiating that Doom energy, but there are a couple of things that give me pause.
Ryu Hayabusa has returned, and he's brought company. It's been 13 years since we last saw a full installment in the franchise, and now Ninja Gaiden 4 is upon us. Ryu himself comes back for more of the classic hack'n'slash action people know and love, and he has an ally for more sleek martial artistry.
Ever since the enormous success of Hogwarts Legacy in early 2023, there haven't been many other reasons to celebrate at Warner Bros. Games. While Mortal Kombat 1 has done alright and offers some gorgeous, gory fighting game action, the company has had to face the disappointing relaunch of Multiversus and, most notoriously, the complete flop that was Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League. Now, WB Games' top dog, president David Haddad, is on the way out.
Feudal Japan has probably been the most heavily requested setting for an Assassin's Creed game, and we'll soon see it realized. Assassin's Creed Shadows is an important game for both the series and Ubisoft as a whole, and after two delays, expectations are very high. After playing just over three hours of Assassin's Creed Shadows, I came away fairly confident that Ubisoft will do this long-awaited setting justice, yet I remain unconvinced that it'll set new standards for the open-world series.
Disco Elysium is a flashpoint in adventure games that will be talked about for years while to come. Bold and unapologetic, it carved its way into the videogaming psyche with a distinctive blend of RPG, mystery, and adventure game that's simply overflowing with dialogue choices and character development possibilities. In the wake of a studio fallout at developer ZA/UM, numerous spiritual successors have sprung up, several with ties to the original. Now, one of those, Hopetown, has a new crowdfunding pre-launch campaign.
Is Path of Exile 2 down? Dungeon crawling is the spice of life, but PoE 2's servers crawling to a halt certainly isn't. Troubleshooting network issues is a pain at the best of times, but it's even worse when you and the homies are trying to jump back into Wraeclast for another loot-hunting session.
Considering just how massive a release Path of Exile 2 is, there's every chance that Grinding Gears' latest and greatest RPG might run into server issues from time to time. Fortunately, we're here to update you on the latest PoE 2 server status. While you're twiddling your thumbs waiting for PoE 2 to come back to life, read up on the best Path of Exile 2 classes - our comprehensive guides for each one are packed with all the tips and tricks you'll need to master your craft.
I try to be a benevolent leader, but sometimes in Cities Skylines 2 I just want to punish everybody. Raising taxes or bulldozing the only road connected to their driveway feel a little flat, a bit impersonal. I long for the days of the classic PC god game, formative icons like Populous and Black And White. I want bolts of lightning. After five years in the making, a new city builder has finally left early access on Steam. Though the central goal is to build a functioning metropolis, you also have the powers of a god, and can lead your people into either nirvana or despair. This is Creo God Simulator.
January 23, 2025: We have added three new Anime Reborn codes to this list.
What are the new Anime Reborn codes? Anime Reborn is a hit new Roblox game featuring some of your favorite anime characters. Your goal is to pack out your party with the best units, give them the top traits, and work to keep yourself and your friends alive against waves of increasingly challenging enemies.
To get as many draws as possible for the latest Units, upgrade your current party, and even increase your chances of pulling shiny Units, you're going to need as many gems and keys as possible, and that's where Anime Reborn codes come in.
We've got the latest codes below, as well as step-by-step instructions on how to redeem them in the anime game. If you're in the market for extra Roblox freebies, we also keep regularly updated lists of the latest Blox Fruits codes and King Legacy codes.
January 23, 2025: We've added the latest Monopoly Go dice links for free dice rolls and tokens.
How can I get Monopoly Go free dice links? The household favorite board game has been reimagined as a free-to-play app on smartphones, allowing everyone to experience the thrills of Monopoly on practically any device. Everything that makes the board game special is here in Monopoly Go, so you'll be collecting properties and building hotels as you go around the board, and there are a variety of multiplayer minigames to get through along the way.
You're going to need to get your hands on Monopoly dice rolls, but they are difficult to come by no matter how far you are into the board game. There are ways to earn additional dice rolls, including logging into the game every day to collect daily bonuses, progressing further in the game, and inviting friends to try Monopoly Go. While you can also spend real money to unlock more dice rolls, you may want to give our list of Monopoly Go dice links a try instead, especially if you're waiting for the next Monopoly Go Golden Blitz event. Take a look at all the currently active Monopoly Go free dice links for today.
Gray Zone Warfare was one of the biggest FPS surprises of last year. A fresh take on the extraction shooter genre that was pioneered by Escape From Tarkov and Hunt Showdown, it exploded on Steam, sold a million copies, and jumped up the ratings thanks to some transformative updates. Delta Force has since arrived on the scene. The likes of Ready Or Not and Battlefield are also competing for the tactical, realistic FPS crown. But the team behind Gray Zone Warfare has some big plans. Its freshman year wasn't perfect, the developer admits, but 2025 holds a lot of promise.
Logitech has gone against the typical tech world grain and leaned further into its burgeoning repair program. It has announced an expansion to its collaboration with iFixit, a self-repair store that provides guides and tools to assist with repairing tech, to expand its reach for its repair scheme.
The initiative will help users save money and more importantly, assist with "reducing waste", a major issue within the tech sphere. Logitech makes three of the best gaming mice you can use right now, but when they break, it can be a hard pill to swallow, forking over cash to rebuy one.
What are the best new PC games in 2025? Perhaps you've just been paid, your bank account is filled with virtual dosh, or you simply want to get caught up with the latest PC games because they're, well, new and shiny.
As much as we love firing up our old favorites, there are loads of new PC games that deserve some attention, too. To keep you in the know, we've got the definitive list of the best PC games that have been released recently, from big-budget RPG games to indie strategy games. Whatever you're into, stay up to date with all the latest and greatest releases right here on PCGamesN.
What are the best Minecraft mods in 2025? Every game of vanilla Minecraft can vary quite dramatically, and the best Minecraft mods go one step further to provide an entirely new experience. Whether you love creative building, terrifying survival, or speedrunning the story, we've got the mods for you. We've even thrown in interface mods and tools to make things easier, too.
All the Minecraft mods below are divided into sections, depending on what you want to do with the sandbox game – from simple utility changes to deep world mods you can get lost in for months. There are new mobs, new biomes, performance boosting mods, and more, and you can jump to the bottom if you don't know how to install Minecraft mods and want to learn.
The age of Ada has now passed, and the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 gaming GPU range is all set to be unleashed very soon, but what do Jensen and his team of GPU architects have in store for PC gamers this time? Nvidia lifted the lid on four new graphics cards based on the Blackwell architecture at CES, and we've summarized all the key details below.
Now we know that AMD is abandoning high-end GPUs for the next Radeon generation, Nvidia has a clean run at the premium end of the GPU market. What's more, as we found in our new GeForce RTX 5090 review, Nvidia how now grabbed the best graphics card title at the high end, even if you do have to pay a ridiculous price for it.
2024 was the year of ARPGs. Between Last Epoch and Path of Exile 2, we've seen plenty of dungeon crawlers slither out of the shadows in the past few years, each of which adds their own spin to the traditional demon slaying and build crafting experience. In the case of Sword of the Necromancer, the classic 2021 ARPG from Grimorio of Games, you can bend your foes to your will, resurrecting them to use as your own private army. Sitting at a 70% rating on Steam, Tama is back and better than ever in Sword of the Necromancer: Resurrection, a brand new remaster that you can play right now.
Dwarf Fortress is still the champion when it comes to the most in-depth sandbox games on PC, but there's another side of it that's just as rich and rewarding, and perhaps even an easier way to get started. Adventure mode transforms the dwarven management sim into a turn-based RPG with roguelike elements. Last year, developer Bay 12 Games brought its adventure mode to the Steam release in public beta testing and now, nine months on, it's finally ready for official launch.
What is the current and next Wuthering Waves banner? Otherwise known as Convenes, WuWa banners run on a three-week rotation, which doesn't give you much time to decide which characters to pull and which to skip. Our banner schedule includes both phases of the current Wuthering Waves update, along with all the upcoming banners to help you decide.
The Wuthering Waves banner system is typical for gacha games, allowing you to spend your hard-earned Wuthering Waves Tides for a chance to acquire some of the best characters and weapons. The latest Wuthering Waves codes and events can help you redeem free currency to get started. Once you're flush with Tides, it's time to spend them all on the current and next Wuthering Waves banners.
The lid has now been officially lifted on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, and we've also had the chance to benchmark the card and gauge its performance for ourselves. It's an absolute beast of a GPU, and there's nothing to match it from the competition, although you get much more out of it in games that support Multi Frame Gen in the new DLSS 4 suite.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed the details of the new Nvidia Blackwell lineup at CES, and you can now read all about how it fares in our full Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 review. It's indisputably the new best graphics card in terms of raw performance, but it also heavily relies on AI features such as Multi Frame Gen to really pull ahead of the RTX 4090. In this guide, we'll take you through the release date, specs, and price of the new GPU, and we'll also show you how the Founders Edition card looks with its new cooler design.
There's a new rumor regarding the world of graphics cards, hinting that the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti sale date could be February 20. This information comes from a European retailer, Proshop, which has put up the dates for several 5070 Ti cards from brands such as Asus and MSI.
Nvidia has not indicated specifically when it plans to launch the RTX 5070 Ti. The more powerful variation of the two mid-tier Nvidia GPUs was expected to launch around the same time as the RTX 5070, but Proshop hasn't listed dates on any 5070 cards on its site.
A UK-based retailer has confirmed that stock of the upcoming Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080 gaming GPUs will be "mega tight." Overclockers UK's Andy Gibson, or "Gibbo", the Purchasing Manager at the company said you would need "patience" if you wanted to buy one of the new Nvidia graphics cards.
We've already assessed the new card in our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 review, and while it's expensive, it's also the best graphics card you can buy now in terms of sheer power. Gibson's statement lines up with previous leaks stating that Nvidia is struggling to supply stock of the new RTX 5000 GPUs. He even suggests not selling your current GPU, or even buying an older, cheaper RTX 30-series or 40-series card in the meantime.
January 23, 2025: We added ten new Honkai Star Rail codes and removed two expired codes.
What are the new Honkai Star Rail codes? If you're just starting your adventure through developer HoYoverse's gacha RPG, you might be wondering if there are any freebies to give you a boost. Thankfully, HoYoverse has delivered, and we've got the complete list of working promo codes for you to redeem.
HSR codes are released periodically and often appear in livestreams and social channels ahead of major updates. These codes can net you some high-value currency, including Honkai Star Rail Stellar Jade, which you can use to pull the best characters from Honkai Star Rail banners. To save you time, we've collected all the latest promo codes in Honkai Star Rail, so be sure to check back regularly before they expire.
The times they are a changing. With Moore's Law in tatters, even Nvidia has had to admit that it can't go on cranking out colossally more powerful gaming GPUs in every generation when the transistors haven't become any smaller. Just as CPUs now only offer an incremental speed bump every couple of years, GPUs are going the same way in terms of raw processing power. The answer to this conundrum, according to Nvidia, is to harness the power of AI to give your gaming frame rate a helping hand, but is it enough? We put the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 through its paces to find out.
We'll cut straight to the chase on one point, which is that, whatever your views on AI, the RTX 5090 still remains the best graphics card you can buy right now in terms of performance. The RTX 4090 has been phased out, AMD has no competition in this league, and the RTX 5090 is also more powerful than the RTX 4090 in every respect anyway. In some cases the differences are disappointing when you consider that the new Nvidia flagship's MSRP is $400 more than the RTX 4090, but Nvidia has some tricks up its sleeve in other games.
The biggest one is DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, which was only available to test in a handful of games at the time of writing, but which we'll continue to test in our benchmarks as more games start to support it. Put simply, while the RTX 4090 could generate one extra frame for each one rendered by the GPU, the RTX 5090 can generate two or even three frames. The result is transformative, as you'll see in our results, but first let's take a step back and look at what's in the new GPU.
Space strategy game Galactic Civilizations 4 is ramping up soon with the introduction of its next expansion. First launched in October 2023, the latest entry in the long-running series of interstellar 4X games is set to get its next paid DLC in February, which will bring a wealth of new content including a distinct tech tree for Cybernetic civilizations. Before that, however, a free update out today introduces plenty of welcome upgrades, polishing, and balance changes.
What are the Zenless Zone Zero banners? If you're looking to expand your roster of playable agents, then wishing on banners is your best bet. These digital gacha machines form the basis of developer HoYoverse's monetization strategy, and they should be instantly familiar to anyone who's dipped into Genshin Impact or Honkai Star Rail.
Zenless Zone Zero includes several event banners that offer the chance to pull characters, weapons, and Bangboo. Banners rotate regularly, so it's important to think strategically about whether to spend your ZZZ Polychrome on the current banner, or hold off until the next one. The ZZZ 1.5 banners include brand-new agents that can shake-up your Zenless Zone Zero team comps, so get set to start spending in HoYoverse's urban gacha game. Here's who you can pull in Zenless Zone Zero banners.
When is the ZZZ 1.5 release date? Now that ZZZ 1.4 is here, it's time to start looking ahead to future updates. HoYoverse has already begun drip-marketing new characters and teasing how the story might continue following the previous update. If you're already saving up your Polychrome, we've got a full itinerary of everything coming to HoYoverse's urban fantasy in the next update.
ZZZ 1.5 is the fifth major update to hit the gacha game following the Zenless Zone Zero release date, and starlet Astra Yao is set to take to the Starloop stage to help us celebrate the new year. Otherwise known as "Astra-nomical Moment," Zenless Zone Zero 1.5 includes the Urban Video Game Festival and Angler Championship, plus brand-new characters for our Zenless Zone tier list, banners, and more.
Typical, really. I get all excited about sharing details from a preview event for upcoming FPSDoom: The Dark Ages, then it turns out the gameplay reveal video is going public before the embargo anyway. Then the alleged release date allegedly leaks, allegedly. How am I supposed to present myself as a font of knowledge now, Id? Fortunately, we had a roundtable interview afterward with executive producer Marty Stratton and game director Hugo Martin. Sweet, job-justifying details!
Writing up the interview in full would involve typing out the words "awesome", "slaughter", "core pillars", and "iPod" more times than anyone realistically needs to read. Instead, here's a list of every detail I found interesting that isn't already covered in the showcase.
Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo have announced Ninja Gaiden 4, the first new numbered entry in the bloodthirsty third-person action series since 2012. Trailered at this evening's Xbox Developer Direct, it releases for PC in fall 2025, and they're working on it in collaboration with Bayonetta and Nier: Automata devs Platinum Games. All of which very much tickles my dismemberable gizzards. Here's the reveal video.
Where were you on October 11th last year? If you were Edwin, Brendy, or myself - which, statistically, you are not - you were writing news articles about one of three aspirant spiritual successors to detective RPGDisco Elysium. It was an "I'm Spartacus"-ass day of press releases, culminating in the announcement of a project from former ZA/UM writers Argo Tuulik and Olga Moskvina.
Before that came sci-fi RPG XXX Nightshift, and before that was an unnamed "psychogeographic RPG" from newly formed Longdue. We now know that it's called Hopetown, and Longdue are set to launch a crowdfunding campaign which you can "pre-register" for here, should you wish. Here's the sell:
Assassin's Creed Shadows has a lot riding on it. Between its multiple release date delays in response to Star Wars Outlaws not selling as well as Ubisoft would've liked, and Ubi potentially being bought by Tencent as they clamour for help, there's a sense that Shadows needs to deliver not only a great game, but corporate redemption.
I've now played Shadows for four hours, having dipped into a bit of prologue action, some open world exploration, and a questline as both the hulking Yasuke and the lithe Naoe. Have Ubi delivered? I think there's a strong chance. What I played was a lot of comforting Creeding, carried along by a gorgeous interpretation of Edo Japan, and some subtle tweaks to up stealth stakes. Although I do think the two protagonists are a split personality that doesn't quite work for me.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is billed as a faithful recreation of 15th century Bohemia, with an open world setting derived from primary sources and historical consultancy that seeks to "challenge misconceptions", but I'm enjoying it partly for the inconsistencies. As I amble into a random village, my eye is caught by what feel like carefully observed period flourishes: a particular arrangement of crops in a sloping field, a woman praying at a shrine by the gate. Some of these sights and sounds unlock codex entries, layering up the pedagogic texture.
Few games place me so betwixt the yin and yang of frustration and flow state as Snow Riders. Here is a compact selection of ski slopes, each one yodeling the promise of my smooth and exhilarating descent over fresh powder. But wait, someone has littered this Ski Sunday with obstacles, forcing me to run a gauntlet of trees, rocks and rivers. I am thrust headlong into each of these obstacles a dozen times before my withered synapses and tired bones internalise these arboreal teachings and I make it safely to the bottom.
As in life, there is joy to be found in this journey precisely because it is hard. Unlike in life, the camera is often facing backwards while you do it.
Dwarf Fortress's Adventure mode - a procedurally generated campaign that lets you approach the famously dense colony sim like a more traditional roguelite - is now out as a free update on Steam. The game represents perhaps the most cavernous, yawping blind spot in my entire pile of shame. I do own it, but I'm yet to play. I've already read a great deal of extended wordery on its merits - please, sell it to me in the comments in seven words or less. Here's a trailer:
Readers, I have spent two full days in the benchmark pits to tell you what you've already guessed: the GeForce RTX 5090 is very fast, too expensive, and laden with more AI tech than Philip K. Dick's cheese dreams. At least two of those points will, I'm sure, send the average graphics card shopper running, especially at a time when even game developers are growing suspicious of generative AI and its many-thumbed, robot-voiced nostrums.
Yet while there's not much to be done about the RTX 5090 costing at minimum £1939 / $1999, hundreds more than the infamously spenny RTX 4090, its suite of more purely performance-focused artificial intelligence tools is – dare I say it – quite neat. These range from Multi Frame Generation (MFG), which is basically DLSS 3 frame gen but up to twice as fast, to DLSS 4's general upscaling enhancements and even the ability to apply newer DLSS versions to older games. All this will come to the rest of the RTX 50 series as well, with some trickling down to the enter RTX range, so maybe the RTX 5090 is best understood not as a practical GPU purchase in itself but as a Picadilly Square-filling advert for its more affordable siblings can do.
In a dramatic turn of events, the Royal Shakespeare Company have finally acknowledged that video games are cool and theatre simply does not have enough buttons. They are partnering with a game studio to create a playable adaptation of Macbeth from the point of view of someone examining Lady Macbeth's computer for dirt. Lili looks a lot like the interactive drama popularised by Sam Barlow's Her Story and Telling Lies. Except this has the added twist of being set in contemporary Iran. The game "will see Macbeth's witches reimagined as hackers, with surveillance cameras and cyber-infiltration putting the player at the heart of the story..." Witchy hackers? I'm in.
Some eager beavers who bought the GeForce RTX 4090 at launch were, quite infamously, rewarded for their investment with a defective power adapter, one that that could melt the plastic in their £1679 graphics card like it was Ronald Lacey's face. Nvidia reckon that won't be an issue with for the imminent RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, though, even with the former's drastically increased 575W power limit.
Bethesda and id Software gave us the opportunity to have a hands-off preview of DOOM: The Dark Ages ahead of its release date later this year. It, like the Xbox Developer Direct 2025 segment, fully broke down what is likely to be the most unique entry in the series yet. Id Software described DOOM: The Dark Ages as a "summer blockbuster" for 2025, and I can see where the team is coming from after watching the showcase.
The goal of the hands-off video preview seemed to be to provide an overview of DOOM: The Dark Ages ahead of its newly announced release date. Set to come out on May 15, 2025, the upcoming third entry in the reboot trilogy is a prequel that follows the Doom Slayer protagonist as he battles it out in a medieval origin story. I feel this fascinating premise is leading to easily the most unique entry in the entire DOOM franchise to date. The world is a fascinating one, seeing the mixes of the realms of heaven and hell as always alongside ancient castles and dragons. There seems to be a huge fantastical element to the FPS experience that may prove to be the most alluring part of this prequel.
Image via Bethesda Softworks
This is even seen in the gear the player uses, based on what's been shown. Alongside the usual selection of wild and ridiculous guns, there are now melee weapons. There are three distinct melee weapons players will be able to use alongside the signature Shield Saw. This particular shield is always in the protagonist's left hand. At any point, you can throw it at enemies to slice them up a la God of War's Kratos.
At the same time, though, it seems the Shield Saw is your main line of defense. You can block, parry, and duke it out in close range. This adds an intriguing level of depth to the FPS. Sure, you can fire away from afar, but melee is even more viable than ever. That said, I have some concerns over the way the protagonist will feel.
The developers noted Doom Slayer will be more of a walking tank in this prequel. That is a far cry from the run-and-gun and acrobatic nature of past titles. Sure, he will be more powerful than ever before. But I could see myself missing some of the flashier and faster movement from before.
Image via Bethesda Softworks
Thankfully, footage suggests there will be some other radical additions this time around. This includes a new massive mech vehicle. Players will be able to pilot this Gundam-like mech to take on gigantic demons and monsters. In addition to that, there is the teased dragon players can ride. There were glimpses of both of these in the preview. Honestly, they seem like the most thrilling part of the upcoming game.
That said, I am excited by the more open spaces. We only got a short slice of one of the missions at a medieval castle. However, it appears to be the largest open mission space in the franchise's history. There are plenty of secrets and goodies to find in the area. Players have optional objectives they can explore on the way to the main mission target.
If there are a lot of missions like this in the game, it should be more appealing to a wider audience. What will also help with this is the story. Finally, we are getting full-on story cutscenes and characters. This heavy story approach could turn off some players, but I like the idea. This helps to lend to the "summer blockbuster" path this game is taking.
Image via Bethesda Softworks
Overall, DOOM: The Dark Ages is the best chance of me giving this series another shot after DOOM 3 and DOOM 2016. I wish we saw more during the hands-off preview of the castle mission. That said, the story cutscenes, mech vehicle, and dragon all have me wanting to see more. I just hope the slower, more powerful take on the demon-slaying hero works out in the end.
DOOM: The Dark Ages will release for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on May 15, 2025.
Compulsion Games revealed a release date of April 8, 2025 for South of Midnight, the action-adventure game set in a fantasy version of the American Deep South. The reveal came at the January 23, 2025 Xbox Developer Direct, alongside a new story trailer and an extended look at some of the game's mechanics.
The presentation began by showing off some of the inspirations behind the game, and also gave a look at some of the various of spells, enemies, and weapons protagonist Hazel will encounter. We also got a look at some of the other locales featured in the game, like New Orleans-inspired streets and urban areas as well as caves and the previously seen bayou. Each of the areas is themed around the boss Hazel must defeat, and each has a unique musical theme that builds as the boss progresses through its phases. Finally, the developers announced the April 2025 South of Midnight release date.
You can watch the new story trailer for the game via Youtube below:
South of Midnight has a release date of April 8, 2025. It will be available for PCs and the Xbox Series X/S. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass on launch.
As part of the January 23, 2025 Xbox Developer Direct 2025, developer Sandfall Interactive offered new information and revealed the release date for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The game will come out on April 24, 2025 for both the Xbox Series X and PS5, as well as the PC. It will also be a part of Xbox Game Pass when it debuts.
The new footage of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 showcased the world of the game, new playable characters and areas, the skill system, and features. One of the things that came up was a fully explorable 3D world map in the style of classic RPGs.
You can check out the release date trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6YNycptEzc
You can also see the segment dedicated to it in the full Xbox Developer Direct 2025 below:
https://www.youtube.com/live/ySygveWfuKE
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was revealed on June 9, 2024 at the Xbox Games Showcase. An interview also appeared on the Playstation Blog where Creative Director Guillaume Broche talked about the influences of the game, as well as the meaning of the title and some of its story elements.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is coming out on April 24, 2025 for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam.
Koei Tecmo announced Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a remaster of the classic Xbox 360 game developed by Team Ninja releasing today for Xbox Series X and PC as well as available via Game Pass. The game was revealed during the latest Xbox Developer Direct 2025.
This re-release of the classic character action game was remastered using Unreal Engine 5. Alongside protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, the game also adds Ayane, Momiji, and Rachel as playable characters similarly to how they were added to the Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma PS3 version of the original.
You can watch the reveal trailer for Ninja Gaiden 2 Black here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFjWCZIVZDw
This announcement came after the reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4, a brand new title in the series featuring a new protagonist and being co-developed by PlatinumGames. As a reminder, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound was announced at The Game Awards 2025 and is a side-scrolling action platformer developed by The Game Kitchen, known for the Blasphemous series.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is readily available on Xbox Series X and PC. The game is also on Game Pass. Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma is also available via the Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Microsoft's Xbox Developer Direct 2025 on January 23, 2025 kicked off with Ninja Gaiden 4, a new game in the series being developed by PlatinumGames and Team Ninja. The initial trailer confirmed that while Ninja Gaiden icon Ryu Hayabusa will be present, the hero this time around will be a new character named Yakumo from the Raven clan who is pitted against Ryu. It'll be out in Fall 2025, and it will be a part of Xbox Game Pass.
In Ninja Gaiden 4, the Dark Dragon alive is confirmed to be alive, causing rain to fall on Tokyo and fiends to appear. Yakumo heads out to save Tokyo to save the day. However, Ryu is there with his own agenda. The two will end up facing off against each other during the story, as we see in one of the early segments during the presentation, with us learning more about what's happening in Tokyo and with both clans along the way. Both characters will be playable, and each will have their own fighting style and moveset.
Here's the Xbox Developer Direct 2025 Showcase, which started with the new Ninja Gaiden game and featured commentary from PlatinumGames members after.
While Final Fantasy VII is already present in FFVII Ever Crisis, Square Enix announced a special crossover celebrating the Rebirth PC release. Starting on January 29, 2025, there will be Gold Saucer inspired gear for Aerith, Barret, and Yuffie, as well as an event tied to the Loveless performance in the game. A trailer is already live, and we have an idea how the costumes will look.
First, here is the official announcement trailer going over the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth event coming to FFVII Ever Crisis and showing the Loveless performance and Aerith, Barret, and Yuffie gear. It starts with Cait Sith acting as the "Fool" narrator for the play and crossover. From there, we see both the gameplay and event segments that show the recreation of the play.
The other reveal for the event goes over the banner schedule that will involve the Aerith, Barret, and Yuffie Gold Saucer and Loveless gear from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth heading to FFVII Ever Crisis. Aerith's banner will be first on January 29, 2025. That gives us a chance to get Loveless Songstress. Yuffie will get the Wutai's Idol outfit she wears when we first get to the Gold Saucer in the remake starting on February 5, 2025. Finally, Barret's Dragon King Varvados attire comes up in a February 12, 2025 banner.
Here's that full FFVII Ever Crisis crossover schedule with teasers for the three outfits.
Image via Square Enix
This is the first crossover of 2025 in the game. The last one appeared in November 2024. It involved Final Fantasy VI.
Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is available on PCs and mobile devices. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is available on the PS5 and PC. The FFVII Loveless crossover between the two starts on January 29, 2025.
Nitori has revealed that it will produce and sell new gaming chairs and desks themed after Monster Hunter Wilds. The company has also opened pre-orders for the new products on its web store.
The gaming chair will cost 39,990 yen (~$255.80), and it will be available in two design types: the blackMonster Hunter Wilds theme and the white Arkveld theme. The gaming desk will appear at 29,990 yen (~$191.80) with two boards decorated with the game's logo and key visual art.
A desk mat featuring Arkveld will also be available separately at 4,990 yen (~$31.95). As a side note, while the monster is known in Japan as Arshveld (アルシュベルド), this Japanese product will instead use its global English name.
Even though the new items have a focus on Monster Hunter Wilds, this is not the first time Nitori has produced collaboration items based on the wider franchise. The company had previously released gaming chairs themed after the series' mascot Felyne, and it has also opened pre-orders for a new batch of the same product.
Nitori's Monster Hunter Wilds-themed gaming chairs and desks will be available in Japan in mid-April 2025. The new products will take inspiration from the series' new game which Capcom will release worldwide for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC on February 28, 2025.
In a recent interview, FFVII Rebirth Producer Yoshinori Kitase and Director Naoki Hamaguchi talked about the second entry in the FFVII Remake trilogy and confirmed that the scenario for Part 3 is now complete. There's still no word yet on when the last game will release. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
Hamaguchi said that the developers started working on FFVII Remake Part 3 right after FFVII Rebirth was completed. By the end of 2024 the team had completed a build used to confirm what they should be aiming for in the last part of the FFVII Remake trilogy. The team already has an idea of the direction they want to take with it, and since the start of 2025 they have been working on that.
When asked about the story for Part 3 having already been written just before the release of FFVII Rebirth on PS5 but still need to fine tune elements of it, Kitase said that he had told Tetsuya Nomura that he wanted something for the scenario of FFVII Remake Part 3 that would respect the original Final Fantasy VII but that would also offer a feeling of satisfaction that couldn't be experienced in the original game. Kitase added that this was achieved by the end of 2024, and that's when the scenario for Part 3 was completed.
In a different interview published in November 2024, the developers talked about how they want the Highwind airship to be a big focus of FFVII Remake Part 3.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is readily available for the PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. FFVII Remake is out on the PS4, PS5, and PC.
Build-a-Bear just released a new Pokemon plush, which is a stuffed animal of Yamper from Pokemon Sword and Shield. Only a bundle is available online, which costs $65 and includes the plush, two accessories, and a five-in-one sound chip.
Right now, everything is listed as an online exclusive. This isn't uncommon, as these types of Pokemon bundles are always are. The product page also doesn't mention an option to get the Pokemon stuffed animal un-stuffed, so you could take it to a retail store to have that done. Individual prices aren't listed for things, so we don't have an idea of how the bundle cost adds up.
Yamper is a 10" tall plush, and the new Build-a-Bear Pokemon plush accessories all feature icons tied to it. The cape is yellow with blue lightning bolts that have Poke Balls in the center of them. It also features a white fur lining. The bandana is purple with yellow lightning bolts and Poke Balls on it. The official site included samples of the five-in-one sound chip noises.
Here's how it all looks:
Images via Build-a-Bear
The last new Pokemon stuffed animal in the collection appeared in November 2024. It was a Riolu bundle. Prior to that, we saw Cubone appear ahead of Halloween 2024.
Good Smile Company has opened global pre-orders for its new Moderoid plastic model kits of the Evangelion Unit-02 and Mark.06. The kits are available separately on both the company's Japanese international and North America-exclusive storefronts with the same price tags of ¥3,900 / $23.99.
These model kits will be based on the units piloted by Asuka Shikinami Langley and Kaworu Nagisa in the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series. To be more specific, the exact title will be the second entry, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance.
Both kits will stand at around 165mm (~6.5 inches) tall when completed. The Evangelion Unit-02 kit will come with a Progressive Knife and a Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow, while the Mark.06 kit will include the Spear of Cassius.
The new releases will help complement Shinji Ikari's Evangelion Unit-01, which was the franchise's first unit in the Moderoid line. Good Smile Company released the original Unit-01 model kit in May 2023 and a metallic version in January 2024.
The Moderoid kit of Asuka's Evangelion Unit-02 will appear first in Japan in September 2025, with Kaworu's Evangelion Mark.06 following suit a month later in October 2025. Both kits are slated to appear in North America in Q1 2026. Good Smile Company will close the pre-order window for both products simultaneously on March 26, 2025.
One Piece Lego is on its way, as confirmed by both the official website and official One Piece social media account. No further details have been revealed yet beyond a 2025 release window, however.
Lego revealed the announcement with a teaser trailer on the company's website. It features a straw hat being grabbed by a stretchy Lego hand. As the hat is taken out of shot the One Piece theme kicks in and the words "coming soon" appear on screen. The collaboration will tie in with the Netflix live-action adaptation specifically. A press release from Netflix has confirmed multiple playsets are in production, although they have yet to announce any further details.
To celebrate, the manga's original creator, Eiichiro Oda, shared a piece of artwork on social media. In the artwork he explains his personal love for Lego and his excitement at seeing One Piece getting its own playsets. He claimed that he'd been asking for this collaboration for 25 years. Of course, he has promised to build and display the sets when they are eventually released.
As well the Lego collaboration, Netflix has also been steadily revealing the cast for the upcoming second season of One Piece. This includes Sophia Anne Caruso as Miss Goldenweek and Rico Sanchez as Dragon. A release date for the second season has yet to be announced.
No release date has been announced for the One Piece Lego sets. Season 2 of the One Piece live-action adaptation is currently in production.
The Pokemon Company International revealed the new Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket booster pack expansion is called Space-Time Smackdown. It will feature Sinnoh Pokemon like Chimchar, Piplup, Turtwig, Dialga, and Palkia. The new Pokemon TCG Pocket expansion cards arrive on January 30, 2025, one dat after the trade feature.
The announcement initially confirmed six new Sinnoh Pokemon appearing on Space-Time Smackdown expansion cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket. In addition to the three starters and two legendaries, Lucario was mentioned. The official trailer offered more insight. It showed ex versions of Dialga and Palkia cards, as well as one for Pachirisu. The starters are all basics. Leafeon, Gible, Cresselia, and Honchkrow cards showed up as well. One of the featured Supporter Trainer cards is Cynthia.
Here's that new trailer looking at the Pokemon TCG Pocket new booster packs.
As for the Pokemon TCG Pocket trade feature, the announcement confirmed only Genetic Apex and Mythical Island expansion cards will be available to swap. You will need a consumable item called a Trade Hourglass to do that. There will also be rules around which cards can be swapped, to keep things even.
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is available on Android and Apple iOS mobile devices, with the trade feature coming on January 29, 2025 and Space-Time Smackdown TCG expansion out on January 30, 2025.
Bandai Spirits has revealed that it will release a new version of Dragon Ball's Broly SH Figuarts in 2025. This new release will be known as the "40th Anniversary Celebration Resale Edition."
The company had previously released Broly's action figure in the SH Figuarts line in 2014. The original release already included his signature Eraser Cannon sphere. The new release will come with an additional pedestal with a logo marking the Dragon Ball franchise's 40th anniversary.
Here are some of the sample images of the new Broly SH Figuarts, along with a comprehensive parts list of the package.
Image via Bandai Spirits
Image via Bandai Spirits
Image via Bandai Spirits
Image via Bandai Spirits
The new action figure release will have a tax-inclusive price tag of 9,900 yen (~$63.25) in Japan. People residing in the country will be able to order the package on the Japanese Premium Bandai website. However, Bandai Spirits has also promised that the action figure will be available in the rest of Asia and the U.S. as well.
The Dragon Ball 40th Anniversary Celebration Resale Edition of the Broly SH Figuarts will be available in the US and Asia including Japan in November 2025. Pre-orders for the action figure will be available on January 24, 2025.
HoYoVerse teased two new agents for Zenless Zone Zero, which are Silver Soldier Anby and Pulchra Fellini. Both new agents were previewed via HoYoVerse's social media accounts, revealing initial details and artwork. This would mark the first S-rank version of Anby, who started as a free A-rank unit at launch.
Silver Soldier Anby is a new variation of Anby Demara, a member of the Cunning Hares that appears early on in Zenless Zone Zero. While she's still going to be an Electric Agent, the new variant will swap her Speciality from Stun to Attack. It's not all that's changed either, as her faction is now listed as unknown, instead of the Cunning Hares. However, her new outfit bears a similarity to Soldier 11, so Obol Squad seems a likely possibility.
Pulchra has been before in Zenless Zone Zero, as she was seen during the Tour de Inferno chapter in Version 1.2. This cat Thiren was fought as a boss during that chapter as one of the rivals to the Sons of Calydon. However, it seems she's switched sides, as Calydon is listed as her faction. She will be a Physical Stun Agent when she releases.
It's unknown when Silver Soldier Anby and Pulchra will release, although it's likely they will appear in a future update. The latest update to Zenless Zone Zero, Version 1.5, has just released, featuring new story content focused on singer Astra Yao and her assistant and bodyguard Evelyn Chevalier. Astra is currently available as part of the current Signal Search banner, along with the return of Ellen Joe. They will be swapped out for Evelyn and the return of Qingyi on February 12, 2025.
Zenless Zone Zero is out now for PC, PS5 and mobile devices, and Silver Soldier Anby and Pulchra are new Agents that will be released in a unannounced future update.
Phantom Brave is an NIS America strategy game series that can feel a little out of place when compared to other titles from the company. It doesn't involve demonic overlords trying to prove themselves or conquer Netherworlds. We aren't dealing with antiheroes like Soul Nomad's Gig or Makai Kingdom's Zetta. Marona's always been an earnest young woman who wants the best for people, even though she's initially demonized and misunderstood due her gifts, and both entries are bright and colorful with optimistic outlooks. Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero continues the series' strong strategy game tradition while also telling a story where the heroine isn't a pariah, but the new entry is also incredibly predictable.
Following the end of Phantom Brave, Marona is now no longer feared for her Chartreuse Gale ability that allows her to see Phantoms and summon them to assist her or interact with the real world. Thanks to her and Ash saving Ivoire from Sulphur, she's now universally beloved, respected worldwide, and taking trips to assist people around the world. However, on one of these voyages the duo ends up encountering the Shipwreck Fleet. Its masked leader steals some of Marona's powers, but she's able to get away due to Ash stepping in and using his powers to send her to safety.
Images via NIS America
Marona washes up on an island where Apricot, a Phantom of the daughter of the Argento Pirates captain, resides after her death. She's been there hoping her father, who left three years ago to face the Shipwreck Fleet, would return. The two of them and one of the remaining living members of that crew team up to revive the Argento Pirates, build up enough territory to gain allies to confront the Shipwreck Fleet, find their missing loved ones, and save the day again.
At this point, I'm pretty sure you have some idea of where the story is going in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. Especially if you've seen the images of major masked antagonists in the official trailers. Everything is very much telegraphed here. I didn't encounter any "twists" that surprised me. This isn't to say the story isn't pleasant enough! I loved seeing Marona universally loved and appreciated for who she is and everything she does for others after how depressing it was to watch folks bully, harass, and villainize her in the original game. It is just all very cookie cutter in such a way that I didn't find it all that interesting.
While the narrative is "okay," the gameplay in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is exactly as addictive as you'd expect from one of NIS America's "numbers go up" strategy games. While there are some named, unique characters like Marona, Apricot, and Rouen, the bulk of your forces will be the Phantoms you have Marona "summon" via the character creator. The bulk of these roll out gradually as new chapters unlock, and I loved how you're encouraged to make ones you might not have due to needing at least one of a certain class to unlock certain Facilities. Said Facilities allow you to do things like merge weapons to increase their experience, venture into dungeons to bulk up equipment, take on optional requests, go on salvage missions to get more items and equipment while you're going through the campaign, acquire abilities for characters by equipping weapons, buy items, get buffs from ships and crews, and dole out stored EXP to new or unused units via the Juice Bar. Yes, it's a lot. (This is a NIS game, after all!) But it's all added in increments and makes sense.
Actual gameplay in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is pretty much identical to the original game, so you'll know exactly what you're getting into in the new one. You start with Marona on the field. She can Confine her Phantom allies to items or pieces of equipment in the field to summon units to fight alongside her. If said character's Steal stat is high enough, that may even result in it being taken with you at the end of the stage as a reward. Each Phantom can remain active for a certain number of turns, though Marona does have a default skill that can extend that by one. (Another one of her two skills allows one Phantom ally to immediately act after she uses it and her turn ends.) There is free movement within a certain area defined by the move stat, with no grids, and the jump stat determines how high you can jump up ledges and platforms.
Images via NIS America
One of the unique gameplay elements in the series is that Items in the field can also have properties that can act as buffs and debuffs. Lines may connect these to other items or characters, which means allies or enemies could gain additional traits. So it might mean destroying objects or tossing them out of bounds to get rid of healing or even invincible effects could force different strategies.
There are also some elements that those familiar with strategy games may be encountering for the first time. One is the notion of gadgets. These can appear in stages, or you can use a Facility to make sure one is available for Apricot to summon on one of her turns with Confire. These could involve things like a cannon with an AOE effect that can also decimate certain blocks, a catapult that can help you propel units to certain spots, or a fan that could blow or pull allies, enemies, or objects to set positions. Those are quite handy, and I felt stages when they appeared tended to make good use of them. It's also a highlight if there happens to be a stage with gadgets in a island with a biome that includes interesting use of space or perhaps slippery terrain effects.
The other new element is the Confriend system. It's basically a way of making Marona completely over-powered. What happens is as you summon Phantoms on the map, her bond with them will increase. Also, as you fight, a gauge will fill for her. When conditions are right and maxed out, you can choose the Confriend option to Confine a character to Marona. This buffs her stats and adds extra abilities to make it easier to tear through things. I honestly felt it was a bit too overpowered at times, and as such only used it a handful of times on some of the more difficult bosses and situations. It's an interesting concept and fits the tone of the game!
Of course, I might also only think that because Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a game where it is so incredibly easy to unintentionally over-level. I had so much fun building up characters to learn new skills. Because I needed to make Phantoms for certain Facilities, I used units I wouldn't normally. The ability to fulfill requests and Salvage functions meant I'd grind just to potentially get a great piece of equipment, needed request item, or extra cash. Not to mention I'd sometimes replay a new map a few times with my almost-all-thief crew to plunder items and equipment that might come in handy. I spent way, way too much time just building folks up, and I loved every minute.
That said, performance was usually fine. I did notice a few things when playing Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on the Switch, though. Early battles were fine, and I had no trouble with performance in the hub in early chapters. Once the island or battlefields started to fill up, then it seemed like there'd be a bit of a dip in performance. This might come after some character movement or attack animation in the field, or when loading up Skullrock after coming back to check in after a battle was done.
Images via NIS America
The funny thing is that while Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is absolutely a joy to play when you're going through battles or building up characters and equipment via Facilities, I also do think it sometimes doesn't feel like all of the quality of life features you'd expect are here. By the time I finished the first two chapters, I was looking for a means to turn off the extended attack and action animations in the options. There was none. When it comes to executing attacks, there's no option to pick an attack, select an enemy, and perhaps have some sort of auto-positioning mechanism help you narrow the gap. Instead, you have to choose the attack, then hold a button while moving the character to try and get the opponent into the correct range. I also did note that there were some maps and moments when it seemed like it chugged along a bit on the Switch when there were too many Phantoms, enemies, items, and effects in play on the field. However, that last one could just be a consequence of playing it on that system in handheld mode.
I genuinely enjoyed my time with Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, and I am so glad NIS made a game in which Marona gets to be universally beloved after her initial adventure. The strategic elements are a lot of fun, and I feel like elements such as gadgets and Facilities are quite well utilized. It would have been nice to include some additional quality of life features found in past NIS games and there are no surprises in the story, but it all makes for a good time.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5 on January 30, 2025, and it will eventually show up on the PC via Steam in 2025.
Updated January 23, 2025: We added a new code! Jump into the shoes of Sung Jinwoo, become a superstar Hunter, and slash through creatures on a quest for glory and renown! You're still a novice warrior in need of a helping hand to keep up with other Hunters, and Solo Leveling: Arise codes are just what you need. All Solo Leveling Arise codes list Working Solo Leveling Arise codes 1SOLVDEVNOTE23 — 10 Weapon Custom Draw Tickets, 20 Weapon Enhancement Gears Ⅲ, and 2 Precision Designs (New) 1STBONUSCODE — 10 Custom Draw Ticket (New) HAPPYN3WY3AR — 2025 Shadow Energy, 2 Hunter Exclusive Weapon Designs, and 5 Gems JAN16UDCODE — 1 Mana Power Extract, 100 Traces of Shadow, and 300,000 Gold 1STUDOF2025 — 1000 Essence Stones ONYOURBERUBEST — 1000 Essence Stones GOKANANTOURAID — 1000 Essence Stones WELCOME2025 — 5 Black Friday Lucky Box EVERYDAYSLV — 10 Custom Draw Tickets ANTSTORY1219 — First Edition of Magic Crafting I, Ad...
2024, like just about every year before it, was a tumultuous year. We saw some 500+ anti-trans bills brought out by some of the looniest politicians ever, then we saw many of them get re-elected later that year. In gaming, we saw corporate greed and mismanagement result in the biggest gaming layoff year in recent […]
As we close the year, it's time to celebrate the games that left the strongest impression in 2024. MonsterVine's annual Best of 2024 Awards highlight the best stories, characters, and worlds that gaming has to offer, and this year's pick for Best Story is none other than Metaphor: ReFantazio. Atlus's bold RPG delivers a narrative […]
2024 was the year of me failing to play most of the new releases I was looking forward to. It's actually amazing. I started the year convinced I would play Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth at launch, finish in time for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and wrap that up long before Stellar Blade. None of […]
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a great follow-up to one of Nippon Ichi's less-known titles. The gameplay additions and 3D style work well with what was enjoyable about the original game, and the new characters are a blast to follow. The amount of ways to power up may be a bit overwhelming, but there's […]
Updated January 23, 2025: We added a new code! Jump into the shoes of Sung Jinwoo, become a superstar Hunter, and slash through creatures on a quest for glory and renown! You're still a novice warrior in need of a helping hand to keep up with other Hunters, and Solo Leveling: Arise codes are just what you need. All Solo Leveling Arise codes list Working Solo Leveling Arise codes 1SOLVDEVNOTE23 — 10 Weapon Custom Draw Tickets, 20 Weapon Enhancement Gears Ⅲ, and 2 Precision Designs (New) 1STBONUSCODE — 10 Custom Draw Ticket (New) HAPPYN3WY3AR — 2025 Shadow Energy, 2 Hunter Exclusive Weapon Designs, and 5 Gems JAN16UDCODE — 1 Mana Power Extract, 100 Traces of Shadow, and 300,000 Gold 1STUDOF2025 — 1000 Essence Stones ONYOURBERUBEST — 1000 Essence Stones GOKANANTOURAID — 1000 Essence Stones WELCOME2025 — 5 Black Friday Lucky Box EVERYDAYSLV — 10 Custom Draw Tickets ANTSTORY1219 — First Edition of Magic Crafting I, Ad...