#AAA

The Immortal Legacy review roundup: Metacritic average sits at 77

The Immortal Legacy, a first-person soulslike from the creators of Ghostrunner, launches on October 13 and holds a Metacritic average of 77. IGN and Game Informer gave it 7, GameSpot and GamesRadar+ gave 6, Gamekult gave the lowest score at 5, and Destructoid gave the highest at 9, while Eurogamer did not score it. Several outlets cited limited enemy variety, few bosses, reused late-game levels and assets, and crashes during review, with the developers reportedly addressing many of these in a day-one patch.

Pearl Abyss Goes Easy on Crimson Desert Reviewers

Pearl Abyss goes easy on us critics for our Crimson Desert reviews https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/pearl-abyss-goes-easy-on-us-critics-for-our-crimson-desert-reviews-they-had-to-play-the-build-that-is-not-the-exact-same-version-of-the-launched-game/

Valor Mortis review: this Napoleonic first-person swordfighter is one of the freshest Soulslikes in years

Rock Paper Shotgun's James Archer reviewed Valor Mortis, calling One More Level's Napoleonic first-person Soulslike a game that strikes out on its own in perspective and combat design. The review says its parry timings are well judged and the first-person view makes one-on-one fights more personal, though it notes falls off cliffs while backstepping, a narrow weapon and talent selection, and repeated minibosses in later stages. The game runs under 20 hours and includes grappling hook and wallrunning parkour, with platforming falls costing neither catalysts nor a trip back to the nearest lantern.

Digital Foundry analyses The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered on PC and suggests optimised settings

Digital Foundry has analysed the PC version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, calling it a generational shift in visuals. It says players will need optimised settings, and the piece offers those settings.

Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen Review: Great, But At a Cost

Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is a great expansion that adds the new Norgan region with more loot, beasts, and stories, but its changes dilute what made the base game unique. The author notes that the Eternal Ferrystone and portcrystals across Norgan reduce how often you travel on foot, though you must still reach each one first to activate it. Those changes aim to make the experience more approachable, yet they also shift Dragon's Dogma 2 in a different direction.

Rockstar unveils 5 new Grand Theft Auto 6 details

Rockstar Games has unveiled five new details about Grand Theft Auto 6 ahead of its release in a few weeks. The previews cover features fans had not heard about, and the gameplay may be more complex than players expected.

Gears of War: E-Day Looks Great on Xbox Series S Thanks to a Clever SSD Hack

The Coalition used a system that lets Gears of War: E-Day treat the NVMe drive as RAM, avoiding major downgrades on the 10GB Xbox Series S at the cost of a few gigabytes of storage for about a gigabyte of usable system memory. The only major feature cut was Lumen reflections, though Digital Foundry notes framerate can still dip in some scenes.

Gears of War: E-Day Runs Smoothly on Xbox Series S By Using SSD as RAM

The Coalition tapped into the Xbox Series S SSD to boost performance in Gears of War: E-Day when the console ran out of memory, studio technical director Kate Raynor told Digital Foundry. The Series S has only 10GB of RAM versus 16GB on the Series X, so the team offloaded data not used in a frame or over a run of frames to the SSD while keeping constantly needed data in RAM, and also dropped Lumen reflections. Gears of War: E-Day launched into early access last week.

Rockstar explains why GTA 6 doesn't satirise real-world events: "It has to be more over the top, more insane, more in your face"

Rockstar senior vice president of narrative Rupert Humphries explained why GTA 6 builds its own fictional world instead of satirising real-world political events. He said the game's long development means copying reality would feel dated, so it must be more over the top, more insane and more in your face. GTA 6 arrives 19th November.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Remastered (Switch 2) Review: A Big Visual Upgrade With Limited Combat Changes

A review of The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Remastered on Switch 2 finds the visuals greatly improved over the original Switch version, with fuller foliage, character models, and cutscenes. CD Projekt Red has confirmed a 30-40fps range, which the author verified, though the map and save menus lag about a second and handheld load times are long. The skill tree is now linear with skills upgradable to level 3, and enemy AI and sign effects are better, but combat remains clunky and the new gyro, mouse, and touch controls are optional extras.

EA Sports FC 27 adds The Grounds open-world mode, which plays more like a fighting-game lobby

EA Sports FC 27 introduces The Grounds, an open-world mode where up to 100 players share three areas linked by a central plaza, including a French cage pitch, Argentine street-football buildings, and British red-brick streets. After playing it on PS5, the author says it feels closer to a fighting-game lobby, with 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 small-sided matches plus mini-games like dribble contests, a four-player obstacle race, and target shooting, though whether it changes the series remains uncertain. Other changes include setting corner power and placement before switching to a box player, a multi-stage transfer process that can be hijacked, and a UT collection hall that records cards you once owned.

Gears of War: E-Day team on reworking the Locust, development pressure, and rebuilding the engine

The Coalition Studio Creative Director Matt Searcy and Gameplay Design Director Pax Lyle told Pure Xbox how they made the Locust frightening again, from stripping the Wretch's armour to giving it a shriek attack drawn from a Gears 1 cinematic and letting the Seeder flip out of the ground to grab players. Searcy said the project started from scratch on Unreal Engine 5, so chainsaw duels, meat shields, and frag tags did not make it in, though they could return later. E-Day entered premium early access on October 1 and comes to Ultimate and PC Game Pass on October 6 alongside its full release on Xbox Series X|S.

GTA 6 Has a Busy Week With New Screenshots, a Brooklyn Mural, and a Miami Heat Tie-In

With the November launch about a month away, GTA 6 packed a week with marketing moves. Love Magazine shared new screenshots and quotes from two writers, a Jason and Lucia mural appeared in Brooklyn, Rockstar partnered with the Miami Heat for a Vice City night on November 18, and the Game Informer cover story mentioned over 150 animal species, hurricanes and tropical storms, and legendary creatures to find.

GTA 6 Turns the Ridiculous World We Live In Up to 11

Rockstar Games' GTA 6 aims to reflect and amplify today's world with an over-the-top experience, with senior VP of narrative Rupert Humphries calling it a pressure cooker for all kinds of insanity. The game also changes the franchise formula, as escaping trouble is no longer as simple as hiding in an alley until your wanted level drops, with smarter and more persistent police. It launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Warhorse COO wants GTA 6 to set a new $80 price standard for triple-A games

Warhorse co-founder Martin Klima said he hopes GTA 6 "blazes the trail" for other triple-A games to raise their prices. He said Rockstar and Take-Two are the only companies that can afford or dare to increase game prices, calling it long overdue and necessary for the business to survive. GTA 6 launches next month at $80, and Take-Two says its $100 edition is its top seller.

8 Things Final Fantasy VII Revelation Is Changing From The Original On PS1

Kotaku rounds up eight changes Final Fantasy VII Revelation makes from the 1997 PS1 original. The game will offer a true open world, though weather events and closed airspaces gate some areas, and Vincent and Yuffie's stories are folded into the main narrative with Vincent's Galian Beast transformation becoming part of his regular combat kit. Director Naoki Hamaguchi said Master materia will not appear because it would break the game, while Knights of the Round may become the game's superboss with its own storyline similar to the Gilgamesh questline in Rebirth.

GTA 6's weather system sounds like a big step up

Rockstar vice president of art for lighting and rendering Owen Shepherd told Game Informer that the studio has re-engineered its weather system to make it more localized and persistent. GTA 6 will feature fully dynamic cloudscapes, localized rain showers and rainbows, wet ground and puddles after rain, a new wind system with offshore breezes and convectional updrafts, plus tropical storms, hurricanes, thunder and lightning. Shepherd did not explain how the weather systems could affect gameplay. GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, priced at $80 for the standard edition and $100 for the Ultimate Edition, with a $400 collector's edition that does not include the game.

Rockstar Says GTA 6 Doesn't Compromise Scale for Detail

Rockstar boss Aaron Garbut said in an interview that developers often trade scale for detail or detail for interaction, but not with GTA 6, where detail, scope, breadth, scale, interaction, and density are all dialed up. He said Rockstar has never created anything close to this before and that the team dealt with the pressure by trying to overdeliver. GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, is set in the Florida stand-in Leonida, and does not feature Walt Disney World.

Gears of War: E-Day's PC Version Promises New Tech, Huge Scalability and the End of Shader Compilation Stutter: https://www.digitalfoundr...

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered Review Update: Combat, Movement and Skill Trees Reworked

IGN's Tom Marks published a review update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered after about 10 hours, calling it the best version of The Witcher 3 yet. The remaster is a free update for owners of the original and reworks combat pacing, lock-on and camera, faster movement, more intuitive Roach controls with herb looting from horseback, and skill trees that unlock strong perks earlier in a nod to Cyberpunk 2077. It also brings a major graphical upgrade and a new photo mode, though dropped frames still occur on both console and PC.

Rockstar re-engineered GTA 6's weather system, adding hurricanes, rainbows and heavy rain

Rockstar's vice president of art for lighting and rendering, Owen Shepherd, told Game Informer that the studio re-engineered GTA 6's weather system to make it more localized and persistent, adding hurricanes, rainbows and cumulonimbus clouds. He said new fully dynamic cloudscapes roll across the map, covering everything from clear Miami winter skies to lightning-filled summer and autumn afternoons. GTA 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on 19 November, and the world includes over 170 animal species, 60 bird types and more than 30 land mammals, with underwater scuba-diving returning.

The First Reviews Are In for The Witcher 3 Remastered

The Witcher 3 Remastered launches this Tuesday, and the first media reviews have started to appear. Metro gave it 4.5/5, calling it a remaster rather than a remake with 4K visual polish and rebalanced combat, while Noisy Pixel, GamingBolt and GameTyrant each scored it 9/10 and Polygon, Sportskeeda and PCGamesN were positive or mostly positive. The update is free for owners of the digital version, and seemingly the physical version, of The Witcher 3 on Xbox Series X and S.

The Witcher 3 Remastered review: a generous free upgrade that doesn't change the game

Eurogamer's Robert Purchese reviewed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, calling it a free upgrade to an 11-year-old game with improved visuals, lighting, reworked skill trees and new combat animations. He said it does not fundamentally change the game and does not overhaul combat, though it adds transmogrification, cross-platform mod support and new accessibility options. He described it as preparation for the Songs of the Past expansion.

GTA 6 Will Include Over 170 Animal Species and Hurricanes, With Wind Blowing Ripples Across Water

A 14-page Game Informer preview published on September 29 revealed that Rockstar has confirmed GTA 6 will simulate hurricanes and tropical storms, with a re-engineered weather system that makes conditions more localized and persistent. The map will feature over 170 animal species, including more than 60 types of birds and 30-plus land mammals, plus sharks, reptiles and fish, and Red Dead Redemption 2's animal rarity system and Legendary creatures will return. GTA 6 launches on November 19 on PS5, Xbox and PC.

GTA 6 will simulate hurricanes, rainbows and persistent dynamic clouds, plus 170 animal species

Rockstar vice president of art for lighting and rendering Owen Shepherd told Game Informer that GTA 6 uses a re-engineered, more localized and persistent weather system ranging from rainbows to full hurricanes, with fully dynamic cloudscapes, localized rain showers, puddles and wet ground. He described storms bringing heavy clouds, strong winds, dense atmospherics and rain that leaves everything dripping, with thunder and lightning lighting up the clouds. The game also features 170 animal species, including around 60 kinds of bird and over 30 land mammals such as manatees, flamingos, pelicans, sharks, rays, turtles and jellyfish.

Five Key Things We Learned About GTA 6 From The Game Informer Cover Story

Pure Xbox rounded up five notable details about GTA 6 from Game Informer's 14-page cover story. The map is Rockstar's biggest yet at twice the size of GTA 5, with six primary regions: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga National Park. The weather system was re-engineered to be more localised and persistent, with an updated wind system, dynamic cloudscapes, tropical storms, hurricanes and rainbows, while the game features over 170 animal species and brings back six-star wanted levels alongside a new Heat system.

Exclusive: Grand Theft Auto VI Includes Over 170 Animal Species

Game Informer's exclusive cover story reveals that Grand Theft Auto VI's Leonida will feature over 170 animal species across land, air, and sea, several of which have never appeared in a Rockstar game. Native Florida animals like flamingos, manatees, pelicans, and alligators will coexist with invasive creatures including green iguanas, cane toads, feral cats, and rhesus macaque monkeys. Rockstar is building on its Red Dead Redemption work with iridescence, bioluminescence, translucency, and feather types, plus new hair and fur systems, and certain animals can be tracked as Rare, Discoverable, or Legendary.

Game Informer preview: GTA 6 map is twice the size of GTA 5, adds hurricanes and tropical storms

A new Game Informer preview says GTA 6's map is twice the size of GTA 5's and features dynamic weather including tropical storms and hurricanes. Rockstar's Owen Shepherd said the weather system was re-engineered to be more localized and persistent, so different parts of Leonida can see very different conditions at once. Leonida is split into six main regions, and the game will include over 170 animal species plus activities such as base jumping, billiards, gyms, kayaking, mini golf, scuba diving, street and off-road racing, zoos, air boating and jet skiing.

Tokyo Game Show 2026 celebrated the past, and an uncertain AI future | Opinion

Tokyo Game Show 2026's 30th instalment ran only four of its five days after the final day was canceled due to an oncoming typhoon, with remakes and legacy IP dominating the showfloor. A preliminary CESA report found 86% of developers self-reported using AI tools, up from 51% last year, while Level-5 drew controversy for prominent AI use in its showcase and trailers, prompting CEO Akihiro Hino to apologize.

Pulling focus: Must AAA pander to the distracted? | Opinion

Inflated AAA budgets have pushed studios to lean on focus groups and market research in late development, but these methods are deeply limited in usefulness. The real problem isn't executives who think they know game design better than developers, but those who think a room of random strangers does, and the loop of reworks and focus groups erodes both a game's originality and its developers' morale.

Control Resonant review: A superbly strange action-RPG that makes you feel tiny and godly at once

Rock Paper Shotgun's James Archer reviews Control Resonant, finding that the sequel's switch to Dylan Faden, a kaleidoscopic open-world Manhattan, and melee action-RPG combat pays off. Fights revolve around the shapeshifting Aberrant's forms and combos, with status effects enabling stance-break builds that make combat more aggressive than the original's. Progression is tied to Manhattan sub-areas that reset and toughen after their boss falls, and the reviewer notes Steam Deck performance falls short of its promised support alongside bugs such as music cutouts and enemies stuck on scenery.