Plenty of video games have benefited from releasing into early access in recent times. It provides an ideal direct, and in my opinion healthy, feedback channel between developer and audience that means each patch and fix can be delivered with breakneck efficiency. The audiences who helped shape both Hades and Baldur’s Gate III were all beneficiaries of this model, and it’s clear from its first week that Moon Studios’ No Rest for the Wicked should unearth a similar vein of crude oil.  As someone who finds both of the Ori games to be enormously charming and challenging, I was excited for M ..read more

Stellar Blade is finally out today on PS5, and while reviews for the game that dropped yesterday have already given it plenty of praise, it’s already gotten some welcome improvements in the hours since with a day one update that adds the previously-promised New Game+ mode, including new costumes, skills and more. As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, Stellar Blade’s New Game+ update not only allows players who finish the game to take up a second playthrough with their character progression intact, but adds a huge 34 new outfits to the game along with new gear levels and skills to aid in the fi ..read more

Update: The current-gen update for Fallout 4 has finally arrived for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, bringing with it new performance and visual modes on consoles, new Creation Club content packs and other tweaks and improvements. If you’re an owner or have access via a subscription, you should now be able to download the new version for free, although at the time of writing Bethesda is still working on making it available to those who play the game via PlayStation Plus Extra (the outlook for folks who got the game via the old PlayStation Plus Collection remains unclear): We've seen some c ..read more

For reasons unknown, when Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was released for the Gamecube over two decades ago, I skipped it. I’ve no idea why. I’ve played and enjoyed every Paper Mario game since, but I have been missing the classic RPG feel that the original game had. I’ve often been told that The Thousand-Year Door is the best Paper Mario game, so the remake Nintendo announced last year excited me. But now, having spent considerable time with the game’s first three chapters, it’s easy to see why people love The Thousand-Year Door so much. It’s ..read more

To level with you from the jump, I’m not sure how any anime kid born in the 90s could possibly approach Sand Land with any real semblance of objectivity. Akira Toriyama’s work defined generations and genres, a singular point of influence so crucial to the definition of taste, to the fabric of nostalgia, that the pitch of “what if you could play a game set in the pages of his art” is immediately, and understandably, disarming. Sand Land, adapted from the manga and anime series of the same name, delivers on that pitch with varying degrees of success, a charmingly clumsy romp with eyes bigger th ..read more

As a long-standing fan of low profile keys, I’ve consistently felt that there just aren’t enough low profile options in the mainstream gaming keyboard market. That might not be an issue any more, however, because I think I may have found my forever keyboard. The ASUS ROG Falchion RX Low Profile, aside from having an unnecessarily long title, is a 65% form factor board with low-profile optical switches and a very unassuming look at first glance. This thing’s hiding some pretty top-notch features though, and manages to do a lot with a little while also looking pretty stunning. Starting at the ..read more

Razer has unveiled the latest in its Viper gaming mouse line with the Viper V3 Pro, an ultralight, wireless symmetrical esports mouse which is available now and comes in either a black or white colourway. The company says it’s designed the Viper V3 Pro in collaboration with world-class esports pros like Zekken, which has resulted in the ultra-lightweight design at just 54g (black version) or 55g (white version), and the development of Razer’s “most precise” optical sensor in the excessively-named Razer Focus Pro 35K Optical Sensor Gen-2. The sensor is geared for more than its 99.8% resolution ..read more

Frequent and fairly reliable Ubisoft leaker, Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming, has once again published new “leaked” information regarding an upcoming Assassin’s Creed title, and one that’s still largely shrouded in mystery – Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe. First announced a couple of years ago alongside the still-to-be-released Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red and the Assassin’s Creed Infinity platform, Hexe appeared to be an altogether spookier entry that’s rumoured to take place around the Witch Trials of the 16th century. Now, this new report from Insider Gaming seems to confirm this and mo ..read more

Stellar Blade, the PS5-exclusive action adventure from SHIFT UP and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, is due to launch soon on April 26th and looks to be a fresh and exciting new experience with gorgeous visuals and nail-biting combat. A free demo will be available to download and play starting March 30th at 1AM AEDT, with save progress carrying across to the full game. With launch coming up, we’ve taken the time to go over everything from where to pre-order the game and get the best deal, to what editions of the game will be available, pre-order bonuses, trade deals and more. Chec ..read more

With E3’s demise now signed and sealed, one new in-person gaming show is looking to fill the space left in the June season of gaming – IGN Live. The inaugural event is set to take place in a venue in downtown Los Angeles across a full weekend, this June 7th to June 9th, and will also be broadcast across the world as part of IGN’s fifth year of Summer of Gaming activities. The event will feature the multi-day stage show covering games, movies and shows, interviews, celebrity panels and other fun stuff from the likes of Amazon Games, Netflix, Atari, Bandai Namco, Square Enix and more. There’ll ..read more