Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 11:43 AM  Actor Roger Clark describes one of his favorite Cameo requests |
Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 11:24 AM  Also: when are we getting a Dragon Ball racing game? |
Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 10:45 AM  R.O.B. the robot appears in some of the already-revealed movie merch |
Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 10:31 AM  The crackdown continues despite the launch of the Switch 2 |
Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 10:12 AM  The PC gaming handheld seems poised for potential price hikes around the globe |
Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 9:49 AM  Featuring your favorite characters, Grimace, um, Fry Girl, and, er, Cheeseburger Chair? |
Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 8:33 AM  Rising memory costs could torpedo a "carefully orchestrated strategy" |
Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 8:15 AM  More people are playing the single-player RPG than Hades 2 and Overwatch |
Kotaku Monday, February 16, 2026 7:14 AM  The Illustrator Pikachu was bought for $5.3 million in 2022, and wasn't worth that then |
PCGamesN Monday, February 16, 2026 10:53 AM This cat has a penchant for necromancy and has a knack for never getting hit, so here's how to beat Dybbuk in Mewgenics. |
PCGamesN Monday, February 16, 2026 10:00 AM Here's everything you need to know about the Marathon Server Slam, including start and end dates, what's involved, and all of its rewards. |
PCGamesN Monday, February 16, 2026 9:23 AM Here's everything you need to know about the Marvel Rivals ranks, including how competitive mode works and the Season 6.5 ranked rewards. |
PCGamesN Monday, February 16, 2026 9:20 AM We have all the information on current and upcoming Marvel Rivals events so you never miss out on competing for those cosmic rewards. |
PCGamesN Monday, February 16, 2026 8:21 AM The best Minecraft house builds and tutorials, from easy cottages to inspiring survival bases. Updated for 1.21.11 Edition in 2026. |
PCGamesN Monday, February 16, 2026 8:00 AM Fans disappointed by Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 should check out what could have been, as modder reveals original gameplay. |
PCGamesN Monday, February 16, 2026 7:49 AM Crimson Desert won't have mod support at launch, but on the upside, it won't have an in-game store stuffed full of microtransactions either. |
PCGamesN Monday, February 16, 2026 7:35 AM While prices aren't dropping yet, a new report suggests DDR5 memory isn't going up any more, so you shouldn't feel pressured to buy now. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Monday, February 16, 2026 11:03 AM  Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Fuse Games' take on offroad speeder rushes in a galaxy far, far, away, sounds more and more up my alley every time I hear about it. That's no different in a freshly published interview with Fuse founder Matt Webster and creative director Kieran Crimmins, which sees the pair chat about boost mechanics which sound a lot like the environmental temperature-sensitive system from PS3 racer Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. The pair also made some interesting points when asked why they went for a more traditional track racer rather than an open world one with this game, and whether the latter's reached a point where it's a bit of a stale concept. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Monday, February 16, 2026 11:00 AM  "Get me somebody who's played The Chinese Room's Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 STAT," I yelled, barging through the double doors of our seedy news saloon. "I need 300 or more tasty words on these leaked videos of the older, unreleased Hardsuit Labs version." A grim silence fell across the chamber. Mark furtively donned a pod-racing helmet. James hid himself behind his latest tower of graphics cards, with an apologetic murmur that while he had played a few hours of Bloodlines 2, he was very busy right now building towers of graphics cards. "If you want something done, do it yourself, STAT," I bellowed, swivelling on my heel while looking up the origins of the term "stat" on my phone. It turns out it's something medical doctors say to convey urgency, and comes from the Latin "statim", meaning "immediately". "What a perfect way to introduce this video showing a hospital level from the aforesaid leaked Hardsuit Labs version of Bloodlines 2," I roared to myself. "Why, I've accidentally written 177 words of the news post already." |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Monday, February 16, 2026 8:02 AM  Discord have belatedly confirmed that they're working with Persona, an identity detection firm backed by a fund directed by Palantir chairman Peter Thiel, as part of Discord's new global age verification system rollout. The collaboration is described as an "experiment" involving people in the UK specifically, whereby Persona will store user information on their servers for up to seven days. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Monday, February 16, 2026 8:01 AM  "You will get anywhere between a fairly surgical battle with the more simple moves and synergies, to a downright-drunken-disaster run. [They] act with basically zero understanding of enemy mechanics, no regard for their ability order, and they couldn't give less of a damn about tile hazards." This is a section taken from the description of a mod which turns Mewgenics into an auto-battler, but turning the controls over to an AI chessmaster. That AI chessmaster just happens to play almost exactly like I have in my seven hours with it thus far. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Monday, February 16, 2026 6:48 AM  Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has become the latest game to have its initially listed recommended RAM requirement yanked down by a substantial amount, following in the footsteps of fellow 2026 release 007: First Light. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Monday, February 16, 2026 6:25 AM  Happy this week, all! It's time once again to load the Maw up with new PC games, that we may stave off the apocalypse till next Monday. This week covers a wide spectrum of flavours and textures: papery, Dodo-ish, ducklike, inky, formaldehyde-y, pasty, furry, feculent, and fishy. Once you're done throwing up, get back here and run your protesting eyes over the full list. As ever, we welcome your urgent suggestions. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Monday, February 16, 2026 5:46 AM  There's nothing more spooky than having to neatly get your message across in a limited number of words which may or may not have to rhyme or stick to iambic pentameter. That's something Polish horror devs Bloober Team clearly understand, since they whipped out some William Blake poetry over the weekend, in order to reveal that Layers of Fear 3 will be a thing. |
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Siliconera Monday, February 16, 2026 11:31 AM
The 30th anniversary new game CyberConnect2 teased earlier in February 2026 is a .hack JRPG called .hack//Zero. The official site and teaser trailer are live. There's no release window for it yet, but references to the original game appear.
Here's the first teaser trailer for .hack//Zero. It starts by showing the real world, with someone in a hospital bed browsing the internet and a number of blocking notices coming up. We then see glitching and The World MMORPG. Kite is running through a dungeon initially, and there's a brief cut-in image of a young woman with Aura's infinity symbol on her chest. From there, we see a Heavy Blade that looks like BlackRose fighting an armored individual with white hair and blue eyes. A tagline at the end of it states, "This world is at 'Dusk.' it matches with us so well." That seems to be a reference to the original games and .hack//Legend of the Twilight.
On the site announcing the project, CyberConnect2 noted this is a totally new and original game completely handled by them. Bandai Namco previously was involved with the company's other .hack games, but isn't with this JRPG. It is confirmed it will be an action-RPG, but adventure elements will be present.
Note that this project seems to be completely disconnected from the novel of the same name (ファントム·ペイン). One volume of that storyline released back in 2003 in Japan.
The post New .hack game is JRPG .hack//Zero appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Monday, February 16, 2026 9:00 AM
It's been over 10 years since Hakuoki SSL: Sweet School Life debuted on the Vita in Japan. 10. Do you know how many times we saw the original game before that? Too many. The PSP version of the PS2 game. The DS release. The mobile adaptations. The PS3, Vita, 3DS, PS4, and Switch entries. But now Hakuoki SSL is here and, while it is a "feel good" otome game, it's definitely one for the fans.
Hakuo Academy used to be a boys-only school. However, right as Chizuru was about to head into high school, Principal Isami Kondo decided to make it co-ed. As a result of the abrupt change, she's the only young woman attending at the moment. However, she's adjusting well to her new school life, thanks to her childhood friend and neighbor Heisuke Toudou and friend Soji Okita attending. And while there are some hiccups like the upper classman Kazama Chikage who "decided" she'll be his bride, she sets out to enjoy her first year of school there and prove herself a success.
Hakuoki SSL is, for the most part, a visual novel like the original game. We'll read through moments of Chizuru's daily life at Hakuo. There are a few more interactive elements. For example, she'll get texts from love interests and some other cast members that you can respond to. There are also some minigames, which can involve using knowledge of the original series or some quick reflexes. But in general, it's a fairly typical visual novel experience. Except instead of the Shinsengumi members being supernatural, vampire-like Furies, they're ordinary humans who can enjoy peaceful lives. Since this did originally appear after the first few Hakuoki releases, we aren't seeing the additional romance options added in rereleases, like Shinpachi Nagakura, Keisuke Sanan, Susumu Yamazaki, Hachiro Iba, Ryouma Sakamoto, and Kazue Souma. (Yamazaki does sort of get a route, but it isn't to the extent of the others.) So this means our love interests are Chikage Kazama, Hajime Saito, Heisuke Todo, Sanosuke Harada, Soji Okita, and Toshizou Hijikata.
While I am extremely glad Hakuoki SSL: Sweet School Life is here, there are some elements of this release that leave me feeling a little disappointed. There are minigames, they aren't optional, and they do affect your progress. From what I've experienced, it seemed like perfection is a requirement to earn your happiest of endings with the characters. (Can't deliver Valentine's chocolates? Too bad! It can feel frustrating.
Another issue is the way the adaptation works. As I mentioned earlier, the love interests from the mainline Hakuoki games are now Chizuru's fellow students and teachers. In the case of Heisuke, Kazama, Okita, and Saitou, this feels totally fine. They're all fellow students alongside her, albeit upperclassmen, but there aren't uncomfortable age gaps or power dynamics. Harada and Hijikata get a little weird, since they're in positions of power. Both are teachers, and the former is also her homeroom teacher and latter is the vice principal. I get that it makes sense, and that kind of power dynamic could be considered with Hijikata in the mainline games too. I suppose here it just feels a little more pronounced in a way that might feel a little awkward, considering how much power the latter has and how often we see him acting as an authority figure as vice principal.
But I think the main issue I have with Hakuoki SSL: Sweet School Life is that as much as I enjoyed it, it is odd to go from such a meaty and long mainline game to an alternate reality one that's so short and effortless. The game is quite cute. We get to see the characters in a new way. It's very lighthearted, and offers opportunities to see different sorts of interactions without worrying about death. But the story and routes are so short that I found myself wishing Otomate had done a bit more. As a result, the romances feel quite rushed and like we don't actually get to see Chizuru and the character who pursue fall for each other. It's like it's assumed that because we knew they could be a potential pair and fall in love from our time with the original Hakuoki, we don't get that same investment and payoff here.
If you are coming to Hakuoki SSL from a previous game like Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom or the anime, then you're probably in the best place to enjoy this game. There's an expectation of prior knowledge for sure. It's absolutely building on the character development from the original Hakuoki otome game and its remakes. And because this did originally appear in 2014, when the series was still massively beloved and about to get its Vita rereleases that added additional love interests and story segments, the characterizations are on-point. If you love these once-warriors, you'll see elements of what made you adore them in these more peaceful, lighthearted, and fluffy moments.
Pleasant and fluffy are great ways to describe Hakuoki SSL: Sweet School Life, as it is a light otome building on the characters we know and love. This does mean that Otomate and Idea Factory go in assuming you know everyone, so some character and relationship development is omitted. But if you do know about this series, it is absolutely worth it to get this missing piece of the puzzle and get to enjoy romances with love interests knowing it isn't going to go as tragically as the historical Shinsengumi tale did.
Hakuoki SSL: Sweet School Life is available on the Switch, and Eastasiasoft also handled the Switch release of .
The post Review: Hakuoki SSL Lets the Shinsengumi Live Happily Ever After appeared first on Siliconera. |
Destructoid Monday, February 16, 2026 10:38 AM
The B.A.L.L. gun is a unique weapon in High on Life 2 that returns from the previous game, and you can unlock it by completing specific objectives.
In High on Life, the B.A.L.L. Gun was part of the High on Knife DLC. This time around, it's part of the base game. Let's look at how you can obtain this weapon to add to your collection.
Table of contents
How to get the B.A.L.L. gun in High on Life 2
To unlock the B.A.L.L. Gun, you'll have to collect three Ball Guys. These items are part of specific side activities. Here's how you can unlock the weapon and add it to your collection.
Ball Guy 1
Reach the fast travel point in Circuit Arcadia. You'll find a taxi that's on fire. Interact with the driver, and he will offer you a job. The task is simple: you'll have to transport customers to assigned locations.
After you drop off the fifth and final customer, speak with the driver. He becomes your final passenger, and you have to drop him at Rhea Plaza. Drop him off at the location and wait for the cutscene to complete. You'll receive the first Ball Guy.
Ball Guy 2
To get the second Ball Guy, you'll first need a fishing rod. You can get this from the fisherman at Pinkline Harbor by helping him fix his boat. You'll find him in his chair. Interact with him, and then pull the boat from the troubled spot. He will gift you the fishing rod.
Take the rod and go to the zoo. Go to the southern end, and you'll find two white chairs near a fishing spot. Cast the line into the golden shadow, and you'll catch the second Ball Guy.
Ball Guy 3
The final Ball Guy can be found at Liquid Nights in Pinlike Harbor. You're going to need Bowie for this part of the task. Go inside the club and win the dance battle. If you win the event, you'll automatically get the third and final Ball Guy.
Once you obtain all three, go to your base and place them in the pet enclosure. This will spawn the B.A.L.L. Gun, and you get to keep it for the remainder of your adventure.
The post How to get the B.A.L.L. gun in High on Life 2? All Ball Guy locations appeared first on Destructoid. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Monday, February 16, 2026 9:16 AM
Helldivers 2's anniversary celebrations have started, and you can obtain the Eye of Liberty cape for free.
The new cosmetic is available for all who have joined the fight to liberate Super Earth in the past. While obtaining the cape doesn't require much effort, it's available for a limited time. Let's look at how you can add the cape to your in-game collection.
How to obtain the Eye of Liberty cape in Helldivers 2
While Arrowhead releases most cosmetics as part of warbonds and quests, this one is part of a simple login event. All you have to do is log in to Helldivers 2 at least once between Feb. 1 and Feb. 28. If you've been playing during the last few days, you'll be automatically entitled to the rewards.
If you haven't, you need not worry. If you've seen this guide, just log in to Helldivers 2. You don't have to even participate in any missions to qualify for the rewards.
With the recently released update containing cyborgs from Cyberstan, this is the perfect time to play the game. There are different enemies to take down to liberate the cyber city and help Super Earth in its war.
Like most exclusive rewards, the Eye of Liberty is unlikely to be available elsewhere. Hence, the only way to obtain it is to log in during the festive period. Once you've redeemed the reward, it will be available in your in-game inbox.
Of course, the cape is likely going to be one of the many offerings that we should find on the second anniversary. So far, Arrowhead hasn't announced much about its plans, so we have to watch out for it. If you're into the cosmetic side of things, the cyborg update also introduced a new warbond with plenty of weapons and customization options to unlock.
The post How to get Eye of Liberty Cape in Helldivers 2 for free appeared first on Destructoid. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Monday, February 16, 2026 8:00 AM
There's something immediately inviting about Seashell Island. Its colorful biomes, offbeat residents, and puzzle-packed ruins make it feel like a dream destination for any tropical vacation. But soon after Under the Island begins, any rest and relaxation quickly turns into a mission to save the island from slipping away entirely.
In Under the Island, a new 2D action-adventure RPG out of Slime King Games, you play as Nia, a girl who moves to Seashell Island with her archeologist parents while they study the island's mysterious ruins. The island, though beautiful, has a few strange characteristics about it, namely that for three months every year, storms encircle the island and close it off from the outside world.
Soon after arriving, you meet the local tour guide, a girl named Avocado, and when Nia breaks the "no-touchy-touchy" rule of the island god's shrine, the duo falls into an underground temple. It sounds like the beautiful beginnings of a life-long friendship, but really, it's more like a trauma-bonding moment, as you meet a strange birdman and learn the real reason behind the storms: the island is sinking, and you need to collect four gears to save it and all of its inhabitants from impending doom. Conveniently, those gears are scattered across the island. So, of course, it's up to you to recover them. Conveniently. Hrmph.
Make no mistake, though: This journey is one you most definitely want to embark on. On your quest to collect these gears and save Seashell Island, you'll meet the weird and wacky locals, gather equipment to take on dungeons, and solve tricky puzzles along the way. Seashell Island is absolutely teeming with hidden secrets, and weaving together all the loose threads the game gives you is an incredibly fun experience. And to top it all off, it's done against a gorgeous 2D background with a '90s charm lifelong gamers are sure to appreciate.
You start your adventure armed with an old hockey stick, which you use to pummel monsters and smash just about anything that looks breakable, including the locals' personal belongings. From there, Under the Island turns you loose, sending you zigzagging across the island's many biomes, from icy peaks that house penguins who turn into kitchen appliances (yes, you read that right) to dusty dunes full of foodies. In each of these regions, hidden behind puzzles and boss fights, you'll find additional tools—like bombs, animal treats, and a fireball-spewing plant—that aid you in clearing obstacles. It's a classic, puzzle-first loop inspired by old-school The Legend of Zelda, but filtered through a world that's more silly than sacred.
Puzzles range from logic grids and weight-based scales to block-pushing rooms that only make sense if you hunt down the correct sequence. Others require you to hit switches in a precise order, often with minimal guidance beyond a vague hint or environmental nudge. Under the Island rarely holds your hand, and that's exactly why its puzzles land so well—even if most of them aren't overwhelmingly difficult. Your success comes from careful observation and trial-and-error, not brute force, making each breakthrough feel genuinely earned.
That same trust in the player carries over into quests. Some quests aren't marked or even clearly introduced at all. A random NPC might casually mention how they wish their house had more plants, while another tells you about their plan to settle family beef with the power of a picnic. It's easy to brush those moments off as small talk or filler dialogue, but they're often genuine leads that can spiral into optional objectives and hidden rewards. In Under the Island, part of the mystery isn't just solving problems, but finding them in the first place, a design choice that perfectly rewards curious players who refuse to leave any stone unturned.
The good news is Under the Island is chock full of this type of intrigue. The bad news is that keeping track of all of these loose threads can be a bit of a headache. There's no quest log, nor is there a map-marker system for you to make note of any blocked paths you might want to eventually return to. So if you're aiming for 100-percent completion, you'll just have to frequently revisit the island's many regions, or somehow mentally store all of the locations you need to eventually head back to. Luckily, the island isn't too big, and its fast-travel system significantly cuts down on the time it takes to retrace your steps. Still, I can't help but wish it had some sort of journal or other quest-tracking device to keep its many leads from slipping through the cracks.
While finding all of the island's to-dos can be tricky, combat rarely puts up much of a fight. You can upgrade your health bar or your equipment, but I found most of those upgrades unnecessary. I didn't even use the ramen to heal until halfway through the game, and I only restocked bombs once. That's partly because resources are everywhere: grass tufts frequently drop hearts, bombs, and other essentials, and they respawn simply by leaving and re-entering an area. Boss fights follow that same forgiving curve, with most going down in just a few attempts, and one falling in under three minutes on my first try.
Under the Island's combat may lack bite, but its sense of adventure more than makes up for it. The freedom to explore feels revitalizing, and the game's honey-sweet humor had me chortling at the most random moments. And there's just so much to do: you can fish, fill pages in a monster book, and collect hidden soundtracks. There are secret paths, a museum that doubles as an achievement showcase, and not one, not two, but four whole mini-games for you to play while on a break from the main adventure. You can enjoy a lecture on determinism from a ghost chicken at the local haunted coop or compete in a cook-off in front of a hungry crowd. Oh, and you can adopt stray dogs and pet all the island cats. Need I say more?
You don't need to spend much time on Seashell Island before you realize just how much heart it has. Between the sheer variety of activities and the careful attention paid to every corner of the map, it's clear that the developers respect players' time and want the experience to feel consistently rewarding. The phrase "labor of love" gets thrown around, but Under the Island actually earns it. It's a joyful, curious adventure that rewards exploration, respects your intelligence, and leaves you smiling long after the credits roll.
The post Under the Island review – A 2D action RPG with old-school roots but a playful new spirit appeared first on Destructoid. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Monday, February 16, 2026 6:07 AM
Mewgenics offers numerous ways to increase the difficulty of your runs, and having random events can be fun (or frustrating, or both).
Events are random modifiers that can pop up at any moment on a run. There's no way to predict when they will pop up, and what kind of modifier they will apply. Let's look at how many event types there are in Mewgenics so you can be reasonably well-prepared.
All event types in Mewgenics
The table below has information on how the different event types work in the game. Every event has a set of different modifiers (it's not necessary for all the modifiers to activate at the same time).
There are over 100 different events in Mewgenics, but they will always belong to one of the types mentioned above. Negative events are the worst ones since they have no extra benefits. They simply make your run harder to complete.
The post All events types in Mewgenics and how they work appeared first on Destructoid. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Monday, February 16, 2026 11:14 AM In several videos. The post God of War Creator Trashes God of War: Sons of Sparta appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Monday, February 16, 2026 9:28 AM Announced on social media. The post Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement Creative Director Dies At 52 appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Monday, February 16, 2026 9:03 AM According to a recent report. The post PS6 May Be Delayed To 2029, The Switch 2 Might Get A Price Hike This Year appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Monday, February 16, 2026 8:29 AM A trailer and video were also released. The post Rainbow Six Siege Gets Solid Snake As A New Operator appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |