The Nintendo Switch 2 will launch on June 5, alongside a suite of new accessories for the console. If you own an original Switch, many of your current accessories will work on the Switch 2. However, there are plenty of accessories worth considering picking up for your new console, even though their prices increased slightly following news of tariffs. So far, the official Switch 2 accessory lineup includes a range of products, from the Switch 2 Pro controller, to the Switch 2 camera that works with GameChat, to a Joy-Con 2 wheel that will take your Mario Kart World gameplay to the next level. We’ve rounded up all the Switch 2 accessories available to pre-order or purchase now. We intend to test these accessories once we get our hands on them this summer, so stay tuned for our thoughts. And once you have your new gear, don’t miss out on all the Switch 2 games and new Zelda amiibo to pre-order ahead of the console’s summer release.

While everyone was enjoying the massive deluge of Switch 2 news Nintendo uncorked on April 2, my broken brain couldn’t help but focus on something far less important: awkward marketing language.I’ve struggled to come up with a succinct and simplistic way to explain this to other people, so let’s instead use an example from last week’s presentation on Mario Kart World. Listen to how the narrator begins this video around the 21-second mark and see if you can spot what I’m talking about.“Drivers! Start… your… engines!”All good so far. Go-karts traditionally have both drivers and engines.“Welcome to the Mario Kart World game…”Hm. I’m noticing a few unnecessary words there, but maybe over a decade in writing has given me permanent editor brain.“…available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 system!”Okay, yeah, he’s definitely using too many words.The phrases “the Mario Kart World game” and “the Nintendo Switch 2 system” are so awkward, and this isn’t the first time Nintendo’s referred to its products like this. Here’s another example from a Super Mario Bros. Wonder stream from August 2023. It starts around the 1:34 mark if my timestamp doesn’t work.“In this presentation, we’ll go over what’s new in Mario’s latest 2D, side-scrolling adventure, the Super Mario Bros. Wonder game!”My dude, just say “Super Mario Bros. Wonder.” When Sony and Microsoft put on these kinds of direct-to-consumer broadcasts, they don’t say “the Death Stranding 2: On the Beach game” or “the Xbox Series X system.” Why are you doing this? I hate it so much.I reached out to Nintendo asking for context on this odd quirk, and while a rep acknowledged my request, no one got back to me for a week. Fortunately, former Nintendo public relations manager and host of the Kit & Krysta web show Krysta Yang was more than happy to fill me in.“Essentially, this is a legal requirement for Nintendo to properly refer to their products at all times,” Yang told me via email. “The legal and [intellectual property] teams at Nintendo are very strict with how products are referred to.”She went on to say it was also a matter of Nintendo not wanting its product names to weaken with overuse.“The legal team would use the example of the brand Bandaid and how that is actually a brand name but now the name has been diluted as people refer to any bandages as a bandaid,” Yang said. “They do not want this to happen to any Nintendo product hence the very stilted way they would refer to all products.”It’s official: Nintendo is weird. Then again, four out of five of the top-selling consoles are Nintendo products and the company continues to thrive despite mostly staying out of the resolution and frame rate arms races proliferated by its ostensible competition in the video game industry. Maybe those lawyers know what they’re doing after all, even if it still bugs the hell out of me.See More: Why it mattersMario Kart World answers the question, “How do you follow Mario Kart 8?” While the previous entry became fully stuffed with racetracks, playing Mario Kart World at Nintendo’s hands-on preview blew up my assumptions of what a Mario Kart track can be — and what the future could hold for the franchise.— Chelsea Stark, Executive Editor

Humble is currently offering an amazing bundle for anyone who’s as excited as we are to rejoin the Doom Slayer in Doom: The Dark Ages on May 14. The $28 id & Friends bundle features every Doom title ever published, including Doom 3, Doom 64, and all of the post-launch DLC for Doom Eternal, in addition to MachineGames’ Wolfenstein franchise. To top it all off, this bundle also includes a 10% coupon for Doom: The Dark Ages and Doom: The Dark Ages Premium Edition. This coupon lets you pick up the standard edition of Doom: The Dark Ages on launch day for $62.99. However, if you’d like to play up to two days earlier, you can also pick up the Premium Edition for $89.99, which includes a handful of cosmetics and access to the campaign DLC when it launches. As with other Humble bundles, a portion of each sale goes to benefit a nonprofit. In this case, it’s Direct Relief, an organization that provides disaster aid in resource-poor communities in the United States and across the world. You can use the “Adjust Donation” drop-down menu on the right side of the bundle page to adjust how the funds from your sale are distributed.

Nintendo’s Switch 2 will arrive on June 5. It will cost $449.99, and a bundle that includes Mario Kart World (which is only in production through the fall) will cost $499.99, saving you $30 versus buying the game separately.But should you buy the Switch 2?In early 2024, when I first published this article, many people wondered whether it was still a wise choice to buy a Switch, or if they should just wait for the Switch 2 instead. That was before we knew as much as we do now. Nintendo’s April 2 Direct, as well as Polygon’s own Switch 2 hands-on impressions, shined light on nearly everything we were curious about: namely, how powerful the Switch 2 will be, the ways in which it’s different from the original Switch, how much it’ll cost, and what games we can expect to play on launch day (and beyond).Considering the Switch 2’s high cost, it’s clearly not for everybody. Priced between $199.99 and $349.99, the original Switch model — whether that be a Switch OLED, the regular Switch, or the Switch Lite — might still be the right fit for some people. With so many options and so much money at stake, it’s as confusing as ever to decide what the right move is. Perhaps we can help you.Image: Nintendo via PolygonHave you played the Switch’s stellar game library?If you’re brand-new to the world of the Nintendo Switch, there are many good games to catch up on. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, its sequel Tears of the Kingdom, Metroid Dread, Super Mario Odyssey, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Pikmin 4 — I could go on, but I’ll let our roundup of the best Switch games do that for me. You don’t need a Switch 2 to play so much of the best that the Switch has to offer.It’s reassuring to know that nearly all original Switch games — both digital and physical — are compatible with the new console, and that some of them will boast performance increases thanks to the faster hardware. (Nintendo is selling Switch 2 Edition upgrades of some original Switch games that contain a multitude of upgrades, but you won’t have to pay for those upgrades to simply play the games you own.) If you do choose to buy the new console, all of your games will likely come with you.RelatedThe Nintendo Switch 2 is faster — but by how much?While Nintendo has announced release dates for its first Switch 2-exclusive games, Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, other upcoming Nintendo releases, like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, are also coming to the original Switch. Unless you really love Mario Kart, the quantity of Switch 2 exclusives at this time doesn’t completely tip the scales in favor of the new console.And yet (this is dizzying, I know), I don’t suggest that most people buy a Switch at its full price just to catch up now. If you find one on a deal, that’s another story. But if you don’t want to wait for a deal that may never come (or that may not be as good as we wish for it to be), then you should consider pre-ordering the new console or waiting until more exclusive games are out to make the purchase.Image: NintendoDo VRR, ALLM, 120 Hz mean anything to you?If so, you’ll want to wait for the Switch 2. If not, you might be perfectly content with the original Switch.The Switch 2 boasts surprisingly modern specs (no offense, Nintendo) with a screen that’s capable of running games at up to 120 frames per second in 1080p resolution. Its Nvidia G-Sync display utilizes a technology called variable refresh rate (VRR) to adapt the screen’s refresh rate to the GPU’s performance so that you don’t notice screen tearing. As for auto low-latency mode (ALLM), the Switch 2’s dock can automatically trigger your TV’s low-latency gaming mode to ensure the best possible visuals, and it can play games at up to 4K.The original Switch… can’t do any of that. Its 720p screen tops out at 60 frames per second, and many games make it apparent just how long in the tooth the original hardware was becoming.Does the Switch’s lackluster-at-times performance dampen the fun you can have with its games? The answer depends on who you ask. As for me? Not really, coming from the guy who happily explored Hyrule (as well as above and below it in Tears of the Kingdom) and played dozens of other games with a grin from ear to ear. But again, from a financial perspective, buying a Switch OLED for $349.99 right now — just $100 less than the Switch 2 — doesn’t make sense. Unless Nintendo drops the price of the original Switch consoles (personally, I don’t expect Nintendo to slash prices in half, but wouldn’t that be nice?), I’d consider buying the Switch 2.That said, the Switch OLED’s built-in screen is better in one major way compared to that of the Switch 2’s. As you might have gleaned from its name, the Switch OLED has an OLED screen that makes games look phenomenal. While it runs at a lower resolution and refresh rate than the Switch 2, the new console’s LCD screen will likely pale in comparison when it comes to presenting rich, accurate colors and perfect blacks.Do you love the GameCube?Ah, Nintendo got you there, right where it hurts. The company is introducing GameCube games to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, but only if you have a Switch 2. Only with the new console will you be able to play The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Soulcalibur 2, F-Zero GX, and more coming in the future.See More:

Practicing mindfulness is often an intimidating prospect. You’re tasked with being still, noticing things inside and outside of your body, and most challenging of all, not really thinking about anything. But what if you could practice that skill while also playing a little 15-minute solo board game? That’s what A Gentle Rain offers.Designed by Kevin Wilson (Arkham Horror, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, the Kinfire Chronicles series) and currently published by Incredible Dream Studios, A Gentle Rain is a tableau-building game where one or more players pull random squares and place them on the table, with the ultimate goal of growing lotus blossoms. Each square has four half-flowers, which you must match up with half-flowers of the same color that are already on the board. A yellow half-flower links up with another yellow half-flower, for instance, to make one full flower. If you match four tiles up in a square, you’ll reveal a circular pocket that perfectly fits one of eight plastic lotus blossoms.Technically, A Gentle Rain can be scored. But I don’t care about that. Instead, even after several rounds of the game solo and with friends, I care most about blossoming all eight lotuses in one game, which I’ve only accomplished once so far. And as I mentioned, it really functions as a way to practice mindfulness: You must take the time to notice each color on the square you pull, then take note of each square on the board. It is impossible to make the game go faster, because there are no extra steps. Instead, you just have to sit there, breathe, feel the soft matte square in your hand, and maybe turn it a few times to think about where it’ll fit. And look at that — suddenly you’re sitting still, noticing sensations, and not really thinking about anything.I picked up A Gentle Rain during a week where I really needed it. My family was dealing with something terrible, the last dregs of my winter depression were rearing their head, and the news was unavoidable and filled with atrocities. I didn’t want to avoid those things completely by immersing myself in some fantastical world or complicated game, but I didn’t want to face them head-on, either. After a few rounds of A Gentle Rain, I genuinely felt calmer, and I spent the next few days playing a round before work, after dinner, or before heading to bed.Is the game making me meditate? Not quite. But it is doing a great job of reminding my body what it feels like to slow down, look inward, and spend some time just being. Pretty good for a $20 board game you can grab at Target, right?See More:

When Diablo 4’s eighth season launches on April 29, the battle pass will look completely different. Instead of a linear track, it will be split into categories, or Reliquaries, for you to chase after specific types of cosmetic tweaks for your demon slayer. Like a lot of popular live service games that have introduced more choices in their battle passes, Blizzard’s goal is to make it fit with how people actually play Diablo 4.There were three problems with the old battle passes, senior manager of game design Dan Tanguay told Polygon in a recent interview: The rewards “didn’t feel meaningful enough,” they were “intrinsically tied to seasons,” and they had a general “lack of agency.”In my experience, this is all true. I’d hop into a new Diablo 4 season, maybe take a peek at the battle pass page, then inevitably forget about it until I felt like clearing the notification telling me something new had unlocked. And a lot of times, the new cosmetic was for a class I wasn’t actively playing, which made me care about it even less.1/3Image: Blizzard EntertainmentThat seems to be the kind of experience Blizzard is trying to avoid with Reliquaries, a reinvention of the battle pass that lets you pick the rewards you want first. There’s still a price attached. Three of the four categories have an up-front cost before you can start unlocking their rewards, like mini premium battle passes. But if all you care about is the glowing tiger from the Beasts Reliquary instead of the fancy sword from the Weapons Reliquary, you can just skip it. And players who don’t bother starting a new character every season will now have access to the system on the game’s Eternal Realm, too.Tanguay said the team felt the old battle pass stuck out in an action RPG that’s all about satisfying decision-making. “You’re choosing basically all the choices that comprise your build, you’re choosing how you look, and we then have a battle pass that’s just highly, highly linear and very deterministic, and it’s like, ‘Wow, there’s just not a lot of choice here,’” he said.Each Reliquary reward costs Favor, a new currency you can only earn by mowing down monsters as you play. Everyone will be able to spend it on cosmetics from the free Reliquary for the duration of the season. Event Reliquaries, like the one launching with Diablo 4’s Berserk collab in May, will show up for a limited time and require a unique currency. Tanguay couldn’t confirm whether returning events will have their own Reliquaries, but said the team is still “talking through” those opportunities.The Reliquary system is another step in Blizzard’s ongoing approach to reworking parts of the game that have fallen behind. Tanguay added that by disconnecting battle passes from seasons, Blizzard can do more with the Season Journey, which is a free set of challenges, like killing bosses and completing dungeons, that reward loot and cosmetics. These were often so straightforward that you’d complete them accidentally. But Tanguay said the team is trying to get players to “stretch and do more aspirational type of content” to complete the later chapters. I spotted one for season 8 that asks you to defeat one of the endgame bosses using a specific seasonal power, which should be fun to figure out how to accomplish once the new season opens.See More: Diablo 4PlaystationPlaystation logoPlaystationPlaystation logoWindowsWindows logoXboxXbox logoXboxXbox logoExplore The GameWhy it mattersLike Diablo 3, Diablo 4 took a while to find its feet, but a major 2024 update turned it into the hugely gratifying and compulsive loot-hunting game it always threatened to be.— Oli Welsh, Senior Editor, U.K.BUY AT:

Dark Horse Comics and Critical Role Productions are teaming for a free Mighty Nein comic to be given away at Free Comic Book Day, featuring heroes Caleb and Beau on their most harrowing adventure yet: Surviving an evening of interactive, musical dinner theater. You can check out five pages of Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins – Acquired Taste below, written by Sam Maggs (Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy) and drawn by Leonardo Cino. And you can pick up the whole comic for free at participating comic shops on Free Comic Book Day. Here’s how Dark Horse sums up the short story: In Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins – Acquired Taste, Beau and Caleb get a tip that an individual they are searching for will be at a meeting at the Taste of Tal’Dorei in Bassuras. When they arrive, the pair are surprised to be treated to some dinner theater and decor themed around a legendary band of adventurers from the area. They get entranced by the story, even experiencing it themselves, only to be interrupted by some interesting new faces entering the restaurant . . . Free Comic Book Day 2025 is on May 3 basically everywhere, but check in with your local shop to make sure they’re participating!

On Tuesday, Tenderfoot Tactics developer Ice Water Games removed the open-world RPG from the Xbox digital storefront as a way of showing support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement after the organizers added Microsoft to its list of boycotted targets two weeks ago.“We hope that Microsoft will listen to the voices of their workers and customers and stop all business with the criminal Israeli military, which we have watched conduct an open genocide in Gaza over the last 18 months,” the studio said in a statement posted to Bluesky by Tenderfoot Tactics designer badru. “We hope that the broader community will join in the pressure campaign and fight for an end to occupation and apartheid in Palestine and across the world.”Tenderfoot Tactics launched on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on Feb. 21, 2024. The original Steam release from 2020 currently holds a “very positive” rating.Microsoft provides Azure cloud and AI services to the Israeli government that the BDS movement claims are “central to accelerating Israel’s genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip.”During a July 2024 presentation at the “IT for IDF” conference, Colonel Racheli Dembinsky of the Israeli Defense Forces praised the, “very significant operational effectiveness” the military’s partnerships with cloud companies gave them in Gaza while featuring logos for Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud in her slides. Leaked documents reported on by The Guardian in January 2025 indicate Microsoft deepened its ties with Israel following the attacks of October 7, 2023 by providing Israel with computing and storage services as well as agreeing to a $10 million deal for thousands of hours of technical support.Ice Water Games is the first video game studio to receive significant attention for publicly supporting the BDS movement’s recent boycott. Other tiered suggestions made by the organization for consumers to show solidarity include canceling Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, boycotting flagship Microsoft franchises Candy Crush, Minecraft, and Call of Duty, and finally boycotting all Xbox-branded consoles, accessories, and games published by Microsoft-owned publishing labels.See More:

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, which preceded The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, is one of the most modded games of all time; despite it’s age, the modding community remains vibrant. While Oblivion’s modding community has been much smaller, it’s still active — and interest has grown since Oblivion Remastered was released Tuesday. The catch, though, is that developer Bethesda Game Studios isn’t “officially” supporting mods for the game. That, of course, doesn’t mean you can’t mod Oblivion. You absolutely can. In the past, Bethesda has offered officially-made tools to help support the mod community. “Mods are not officially supported for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered,” Bethesda wrote on its support website. “If you are experiencing gameplay issues while playing with mods, it’s recommended you first try uninstalling your mods, then verify your games files on Steam, or the Xbox App.” For Skyrim and other games like Starfield and Fallout 4, Bethesda allowed players to download and tinker with the game using the official Creation Kit. The Creation Kit is an editor that makes it more streamlined to modify the game’s quests, characters, and other parts of the game. Oblivion itself had official mod support when it was released 19 years ago, too. It was called the Construction Set, available only to PC players. Oblivion players on Reddit suggest that you’re able to open the new game files using the Construction Set tools from the old game. (Polygon has not confirmed this.) Regardless of official mod support, modders are already working on Oblivion Remastered. The game’s been out for less than a day, and there are already more than 100 mods listed on popular modding website NexusMods — everything from “engine tweaks” and game optimization to a difficulty slider and colorful reshades.

We have a winner: Sony is the first publisher to dare put a fall release date on a major video game in the year 2025, Grand Theft Auto 6 be damned. Ghost of Yōtei, Sucker Punch’s sequel to its 2020 open-world samurai adventure Ghost of Tsushima, will come to PlayStation 5 on Oct. 2. It’s the first tentative toe-dip into the fall release window by a game industry that has been running scared of Rockstar’s behemoth. GTA 6 has been confirmed for a fall release by Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two Interactive, and other publishers are reportedly considering delaying their games to get out of its way. One publishing executive told The Game Business that a late October or early November release date for GTA 6 was their greatest fear: “We don’t want to launch just before or just after the game. If it arrives in late October, that means you either have to launch early – which a lot of people seem to be doing with the recent glut of summer release dates. Or go later, putting you up against the Black Friday sales.” Prior to Ghost of Yōtei’s release date announcement, the latest big releases on the 2025 calendar were Borderlands 4 and Marathon, both due on Sept. 23. It seems like Sony considers day two of October early enough to be safe. Sony also debuted a new story trailer for the game, with a lot of cut-scene and a little bit of gameplay footage, detailing lead character Atsu’s quest for vengeance as she hunts down six names responsible for the death of her family. Pre-orders for Ghost of Yōtei begin at 10 a.m. EDT on May 2, including for a packed Collector’s Edition, which includes a replicas of Atsu’s Ghost mask, sash, and the Tsuba from her katana. Sony didn’t announce a price for this edition, though. The standard edition of the game will cost $69.99 and there will be a $79.99 digital deluxe edition, too. Head over to the PlayStation Blog for full details.

Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa has apologized in advance for the company’s failure to meet demand for the Switch 2 in Japan after 2.2 million people applied for the My Nintendo Store pre-order lottery alone.In a post on X (translated by VGC), Furukawa said that this “astonishing” number “far exceeded our prior expectations and greatly surpasses the number of Nintendo Switch 2 units we can deliver from the My Nintendo Store on June 5.” As a result, “a significant number” of customers would miss out, he said.“We deeply apologize for failing to meet your expectations despite our preparations,” Furukawa said. He added that unselected applicants would be carried over automatically to a second lottery, but cautioned that there would still not be enough Switch 2 units in this second batch to meet initial demand. He also noted that other Japanese retailers would open pre-orders soon, and promised to increase production after launch.“In response to this demand, we are currently taking steps to further strengthen our production system,” Furukawa said. “We are planning to produce and ship a substantial number of Nintendo Switch 2 units moving forward. We sincerely apologize for the time it will take to fully meet your expectations and kindly ask for your understanding.”With Switch 2 pre-orders due to open in the U.S. on Thursday, April 24, Furukawa’s statement to Japanese fans comes as a stark warning (or humblebrag, perhaps) of how high demand for the new console is, and how difficult these pre-orders may be to secure. However, it’s also worth noting that, at 49,980 yen (approximately $343), the Japan-only edition of the Switch 2 is more attractively priced than the $449.99 U.S. “multi-language” version.Ahead of the announcement of the Switch 2, Nikkei reported that Nintendo had delayed the release of the system in part to secure enough stock to ensure a smooth launch. After the announcement, Furukawa promised that Nintendo was “taking all possible measures” to combat “scalpers and the like.” And in his statement on Wednesday, Furukawa once again underlined that “to deliver Nintendo Switch 2 to all of you, we have been procuring a large number of components in advance and proceeding with production.”But Nintendo has now been forced to admit that these efforts have fallen short in the face of intense demand for the new console. If Japan’s Nintendo Store pre-orders are anything to go by, it will be a lucky few fans who get their hands on a Switch 2 on June 5.See More:

Principal Magic: The Gathering designer Gavin Verhey announced that some cards are now legal to play once more in Commander, the trading card game’s most popular multiplayer format. Five cards in total were unbanned by publisher Wizards of the Coast. Conspicuously absent from that list, however, were the cards involved in last year’s controversial bans — Dockside Extortionist, Jeweled Lotus, Mana Crypt, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom. Those cards are still banned, and will almost assuredly remain so until at least 2026. The announcement was made in a blog post on the game’s official website.The newly unbanned cards are Gifts Ungiven; Sway of the Stars; Braids, Cabal Minion; Coalition Victory; and Panoptic Mirror. Verhey said that all of these cards will now be included on the Game Changers List, which is part of an ongoing beta test of the so-called Commander Brackets system. The newly unbanned cards are each emblematic of different strategies, techniques, and styles of play. He said it’s the team’s hope that these unbans will excite the community and lead to interesting adaptations in the beloved Commander format.He also acknowledged that not acting further on Dockside Extortionist, Jeweled Lotus, and Mana Crypt in particular are not going to make everyone happy. (Apparently it’s assumed that everyone still hates Nadu, though.) He also provided quite a lot of the reasoning given by members of the new Commander Format Panel for not acting on those cards at this time:Opinions from the Commander Format Panel varied. Some believe Commander is more fun without them, others would like more time to see how the Commander Bracket system is adopted before doing anything here, and others felt it’s too soon to do anything with these cards. There were a few people who were open to doing something with Jeweled Lotus now, but that was not the majority opinion. The overwhelming majority of the panel did not want to do anything with any of these cards at this time.I will be transparent and say that I believe if any of these are ever to return, the most likely one is Jeweled Lotus due to its one-shot nature, iconic feel, and ability to help support high-mana value commanders. I want to be clear, this is not me saying that will ever happen, but that was the one among the panel with the most traction.In closing Verhey said that, as a nod toward returning stability to the format, there would be “no further changes to the banned list for the rest of this year.” The one caveat being, of course, that “if a new or unbanned card begins to become generally reviled [...] we can break that seal and act earlier.”See More:

The Oblivion Remastered game is finally here and it looks, well, modern. And by modern I mean brown. The mud’s brown, the water’s brown, and the grass is brown. It’s all extremely brown and I’m not sure how to feel about that as someone who was wowed by Bethesda’s bright fantasy world 19 years ago.Comparing screenshots between old Oblivion and Oblivion Remastered make it pretty obvious: There’s a thick haze hanging over everything that darkens every scene. The entire world looks like a bonus level in PowerWash Simulator waiting to be blasted back to its original look.In terms of detail, it certainly looks improved. Torches glow in the darkness, water shimmers in the sunlight, and docks look like actual wood and not mossy stone. But the actual mossy stone is now charcoal for some reason. The original game was much brighter, lightening up the grassy hills and trees, but Unreal Engine 5 has the remaster looking burnt.Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Extra Ben Buja and Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Extra Ben BujaInterior sections in Oblivion Remastered are a bit better. The amazing intro to the game where you escape prison with Patrick Stewart is all suffocating stone corridors and the occasional beam of light bleeding through the ceiling. It’s surprisingly close to the chilly vibe of the original. In fact, it might be an example of what the improved lighting gets you when it’s not working with overcooked textures.Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Loopy Longplays and Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Ben-GunThe pale character faces from the original didn’t survive the remaster, which is mostly an improvement to me. In a perfect world, we’d get the weirdly smeared NPC mugs of the past in 4K, but I’ll take the hyper-detailed wrinkles and pores if it means better facial animations can exist. And don’t worry, when they open their mouths, they still sound just as goofy as before.I just can’t get over how muddy the outside has become in the remaster. But I’m also the person who won’t forgive Virtuos for turning the stylistic Dark Souls bonfire into a realistic fire in Dark Souls: Remastered. It’s also entirely possible that Oblivion Remastered’s visuals coalesce the deeper you get into it and explore new areas. If they don’t, I’m at least happy that the original Oblivion is still available whenever I want to go back.See More: The Elder Scrolls 4: OblivionWindowsWindows logoXboxXbox logoXboxXbox logoExplore The Game

Anyone who’s taken language lessons on the Duolingo app is certainly familiar with the Duolingo owl, Duo. If you skip out on lessons, Duo will ping you — crying! — to come back. Over the past few years, he’s gotten more aggressive with his approach: He died, and was brought back to life by people completing their daily lessons. Talk about guilt tripping. Now, he wants to teach you to play chess. Duolingo is testing out chess lessons on the app; they’re rolling out a limited beta that began Tuesday and will go wider “soon.” A Duolingo spokesperson said it’s the first new course subject to be added since it added math and music in 2023. Chess is more popular than ever, gaining traction with a younger generation of players. (Teens got absolutely obsessed with chess in 2023.) “As chess increases in popularity, we wanted to provide a fun, accessible way for people to learn,” a Duolingo spokesperson told Polygon. “We want to teach subjects that people can learn for a long time, like languages, math and music. Chess is a game you can play your whole life and continuously improve your skills.” Like its other courses, Duolingo breaks down learning into small parts that can be completed in short bursts, daily. It’ll teach everything from what the pieces are, how they can move, and go into patterns and strategy. “Most lessons focus on solving short puzzles to sharpen your thinking, and learners can apply what they’ve learned in fast-paced ‘mini-matches’ or full games against the in-app chess coach, Oscar, one of Duolingo’s beloved characters,” per the news release. Chess will come to all iOS Duolingo users “in the coming weeks.”

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion has never looked better than it does with the new top-to-bottom remaster that shadow launched Tuesday. The cheapest way to play it right now is with a Game Pass subscription, which costs $19.99 per month if you want to play the game right now on Xbox, or $11.99 per month if you want to play it on PC. But for Steam loyalists who are willing to pay more for the game, they’ll also unlock the ability to easily play it on Steam Deck, where it’s verified to look and play well. And there’s a 17% off deal happening at Fanatical right now. You can get a Steam key for Oblivion Remastered there for $41.49 instead of $49.99. While the Game of the Year edition of Oblivion that’s available on Steam is just 4.6 GB, the new remastered version is 119 GB — that’s 2,486% larger than the original. It’ll gobble up internal storage on the Steam Deck, or any PC, rather quickly, but games with hefty install sizes like this are nothing new.

Universal is planning to adapt Sega’s racing game series OutRun into a feature film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Sydney Sweeney and Sega executive Toru Nakahara, sources tell Deadline. Jayson Rothwell (Silent Night, Polar) is writing the script, the report adds, and the whole shebang is being overseen by Sega president Shuji Utsumi. The original OutRun debuted in arcades in 1986 before getting ports for Sega home consoles like the Master System, Genesis, and Saturn as well a variety of PCs. Its claim to fame was a system that allowed players to choose different routes during a race, concluding in multiple endings. OutRun got several sequels throughout the 1990s before development on the series slowed. The most recent entry was OutRun Online Arcade, developed by Sumo Digital and released in 2009. Universal has been involved in turning popular video games into movies for decades. The studio got its start with Street Fighter, an infamous flop, before trying its hand with Doom, which starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and included a lengthy first-person sequence based on the source material’s gameplay. Since then, the production studio has seen slightly more success with properties like WarCraft, Five Night’s at Freddy’s, and Super Mario Bros., with future plans to adapt Just Cause, Ruiner, and Shinobi. As for what the OutRun movie could be about, it’s hard to say. The series is pretty slick and focused on pairing chill arcade racing with excellent soundtracks, so it’s likely a hypothetical film adaptation would be more Baby Driver than The Fast and the Furious. All that said, it feels like video game movies always have a lot of baggage to overcome just to achieve something halfway decent, so we’ll keep our eyes on this one with tempered expectations.

The biggest Elder Scrolls news of the year just dropped: Bethesda Game Studios and remaster pros Virtuos remastered Oblivion, the fourth game in the action RPG series, and it’s out now. Long anticipated — and regularly leaked — the upgraded version of Elder Scrolls 4 arrived to PC, Xbox Game Pass, and PS5 with minimal fanfare, but all the hype. And with it came a burning question: What’s up with Elder Scrolls 6?It’s been 19 years since the original release of Oblivion. It’s been 14 years since the fifth sequel, Skyrim. It’s been 11 years since the launch of Elder Scrolls Online. And it’s been nearly seven years since Bethesda took to E3 (RIP) and first announced that it was developing Elder Scrolls 6. It’s been a long time since anyone set foot in a new patch of the fantasy continent of Tamriel.Updates have been few and far between, with the rumor mill grinding in the void of Todd Howard saying anything meaningful (but he understands fans’ pain). But here’s what we do know about Bethesda’s plans for Elder Scrolls 6.Bethesda has yet to officially date the in-development Elder Scrolls 6 on the calendar. Howard has said that the prioritization of Starfield ultimately led to a delay in the Elder Scrolls 6, though work continued throughout that game’s development and launch. Thanks to documents released during the FTC’s legal battle against the Microsoft-Activision merger, we do know that, as of two years ago, the game was on track for 2026 at the very earliest. The good news is that Elder Scrolls 6 is no longer the most longterm, ways-out project Bethesda has in the pipeline. According to Howard during press rounds for Starfield, the plan is to release Elder Scrolls 6 before a Fallout 5, which is also in the works (though technically unannounced). Even five years ago, before Microsoft evolved into a massive publisher with reach beyond the core Xbox console and Game Pass platform, Todd Howard could not imagine Elder Scrolls 6 as an Xbox exclusive. When Microsoft acquired Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media way back in 2020, the executive was clearly forecasting the multi-platform that has become key to Microsoft’s strategy. There have been no formal announcements about which platforms Elder Scrolls 6 will hit — a new generation of consoles seems likely, at this point — but based on the recent release of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on PC, Xbox, and PS5, one expects Bethesda to make sure everyone is playing the dang thing when the time comes.To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Elder Scrolls in March 2024, Bethesda posted a loving message to fans that tucked in a minor update on Elder Scrolls 6, confirming it was still in the works: “Even now, returning to Tamriel and playing early builds has us filled with the same joy, excitement, and promise of adventure.”In a recent interview, former Bethesda animator Jeremy Bryant told YouTuber Kiwi Talkz (via GamesRadar) that the development time might be a result of Howard controlling the size of the Elder Scrolls team and growing the company through slower-drip acquisition. Because of the strategy and time allowed, Bryant didn’t expect the studio to grow much just because a giant open-world tentpole was on the horizon.“Todd has the vision for the game that he wants to make and he knows he needs X number of people to do it,” Bryant said.While there are few specifics on the status of the game, it’s even less clear what to expect from the Elder Scrolls franchise in terms of story. But a few clues dropped over the years suggest the drama will unfold in Tamriel’s northern region.The original teaser for The Elder Scrolls 6 featured ocean, mountains, and forests, leading our resident Skyrim-brained sleuths to deduce that the setting was along the North Kambria plateau.The theory gained more traction after, of all things, a Starfield teaser trailer. What at first glance appeared to be a scratch inside a Constellation dashboard looked, in close-up, to be an island — one that looked awfully like Elder Scrolls’ canon cartography.Will Elder Scrolls 6 head to High Rock? One day we’ll know more. Just not right now. See More:

The long-rumored remastered version of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion is finally here, adding a fresh coat of paint and rejiggering some of the gameplay under the hood to provide returning players and newcomers alike with an updated way to experience Bethesda’s nearly 20-year-old game. Fortunately, this modernization hasn’t stolen any of the original’s goofy charm, at least when it comes to some of the iconic NPC voice lines. “When Oblivion first launched, disc storage limits meant we couldn’t have unique voiceovers for all the races,” Bethesda Game Studios direct Tom Mustaine said during the April 22 reveal broadcast while holding up an Xbox 360 copy of the game to the camera. “So we’ve gone back and recorded new lines of dialogue. Each race represented in the game now sounds unique. We also made sure to keep in all of the… quirkier dialogue.” Some of the examples provided by the teams at Bethesda and Oblivion Remastered development studio Virtuos include: All the nice (and creepy) ways NPCs greet the player “Stop, you’ve violated the law!” “Stop, criminal scum!” “Cheese for everyone!” That last line in particular is frequently shouted by fan favorite Sheogorath, a mad god who serves as the central figure of the Shivering Isle expansion pack. Wes Johnson, who provided his wonderful voice to Sheogorath as well as the assassin Lucien Lachance and various other NPCs, stopped by the Oblivion Remastered stream, puppy in tow, to chat about his time working on the game. I know we all want to jump into Cyrodiil as soon as possible, but be sure to check out the ongoing broadcast and listen in while the game is downloading. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. It’s also part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate library.

One gaming handheld maker is pausing shipments to the United States due to U.S. President Trump’s 145% tariffs on products imported from China. Anbernic, which makes the popular Anbernic RG35XX Plus, announced it’s suspending all orders of its handhelds sent from China to the U.S. The company joins Retroid Pocket in the tariff chaos; that company, which also ships handhelds from China, is rushing to ship out its new device before the U.S. government closes the de minimis exemption, which allowed smaller shipments, under $800, from facing tariffs.To put it simply: If a company is shipping a bunch of handhelds to the U.S., and any one shipment is valued over $800, that shipment would face normal tariffs. If that company is shipping a single handheld console to a customer in the U.S., the levies were originally 30% of the item’s value, or a flat rate of $25 — a number that will increase to $50 on June 1. Small packages will have those tariffs applied instead of the 145% increase. A $25 or $50 increase might not seem like a ton, but the draw of these consoles is that they allow players to access lots of games, on a system that runs well, for pretty cheap. The $25 or $50 rates also turned out to be short-lived; Trump later increased the rate twice, ending up at 120% or $100, beginning May 2. On June 1, that goes up to $200 per item. A console that previously cost $100 could now be $200 or more under these rates.Polygon has reached out to Retroid and Anbernic for comment, but has not heard back before publication. A spokesperson for Ayaneo, another retro handheld maker, said it’s “actively” working on its plan with regard to the tariffs.Retro gaming enthusiasts are panic-ordering devices like the Retroid Pocket Flip 2, trying to get their order in before tariffs hit. Eric, a retro gaming enthusiast from Pennsylvania, told Polygon that he “immediately” ordered the device when it went on sale, due to the tariffs and fear he wouldn’t be able to get it later. With Retroid rushing to get out its orders to U.S. customers, Eric’s Flip 2 is navigating the Chinese mail system.“Ultimately, we need people to create new ‘retro’ products to keep a vibrant community”“The whole premise of the sub-$150 market, and much more so the sub-$80 market, is that you’re getting an outdated phone [system on a chip] in a form factor that is going to have some random flaws, but because it’s cheap and you’re only looking to play old SNES or Playstation games, it’s not a big deal,” Zu and Stubbs, who write for retro handheld enthusiast site RetroHandhelds, told Polygon via email. “It’s even part of the fun to see new form factors, find out what new chips can do, and discover what sort of custom firmware people will come up with.”While some consumer electronics are exempt from tariffs (supposedly temporarily, per a statement from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick), like smartphones and computers, video game consoles aren’t. They’re classified by the U.S. International Trade Commission as toys, not technology. The chaos of it all is causing widespread panic in the retro gaming community — not just retro handheld makers, but retro hardware repair businesses and others, too.“Anyone who creates or manufactures any hardware has been impacted,” Steve Nutter, who repairs and restores vintage CRT monitors and televisions, told Polygon. “This leads to concern within the community that items will not just cost more, but will disappear all together. Either risk a lot by trying to maintain production and pass on the costs, or producers will leave the market and abandon manufacturing, temporarily or possibly permanently.”Nutter runs his business, Retro Tech, through Patreon. Subscribers get access to a community and vintage gaming expertise; they can also hire him for repair and maintenance on CRTs. He doesn’t sell anything, but he relies on “tools, materials, and replacement parts that are manufactured all over the world to repair and restore these machines,” he said. The companies that make those parts are forced to raise prices to offset tariffs. Nutter said he’s looking to U.S. manufacturing and bulk orders to offset costs. The problem is that some materials or parts simply aren’t made in the U.S. There’s no other option.Another handheld device that’s at risk due to Trump’s tariffs is Arduboy, the credit card-sized, open source system. Beloved by its community, Arduboy is a device that some people might be willing to shell out double the price for, but creator Kevin Bates isn’t interested in that. “Nobody wants to pay $200 for an Arduboy,” Bates told Polygon. “And even if they do, I don’t really want to sell it. The magic of Arduboy is that it is accessible and price is a huge factor of that. People can still make it themselves, and play the games online using the emulator. Because of the open source nature of Arduboy, the platform itself can never really be killed.”Bates said he was looking to divest from the business anyway, either by selling it or having investors take over, but the tariffs are making his “final chapter as an entrepreneur more difficult.” He’s revisiting U.S. manufacturing for an upgraded Arduboy he’d like to make, but there are challenges to that, too. U.S. manufacturers will likely rely on Chinese parts to make, which increases prices to manufacture in the U.S. even more.“Zooming out a bit — there’s a familiar dystopian pattern,” Bates said. “Technology starts cheap and accessible. We adopt it, rely on it, and once it becomes essential, access gets restricted or priced up. It’s not just market disruption, it’s a shift in power and that’s what I believe these tariffs are designed to feel like.”Some businesses remain in a “wait-and-see” holding pattern — things have changed so rapidly and frequently that no one knows how long these major tariffs will stick. But the turmoil created by the situation has already had a bleak impact on the industry.“My concerns are about morale and sentiment,” Nutter said. “These abrupt changes cause uncertainty. I am concerned that many of my colleagues in the retro community will have to put their passions and creations on hold due to trade markets basically closing. These kinds of roadblocks really can be detrimental to small and medium size businesses as well as the creation of niche products. Ultimately, we need people to create new ‘retro’ products to keep a vibrant community.”See More:

On a whim, I decided to try out Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle mobile game, based on the streaming service’s raunchy reality dating show. And now I can’t stop playing it. I’ve spent many late nights curled up in bed, watching my little character make terrible romantic choices, befriend people in the luxury villa, and cost the contestants a lot of money. The game is filling a void in my heart that’s reserved for choice-heavy, romance-forward visual novel mobile games. And it’s probably one of the best ones I’ve played, especially in recent years. Romantic mobile visual novels were once some of my favorite games; but over time, the average writing quality in them has diminished, all while microtransactions and terrible ads ramped up to a distressing degree. I once played one where in order to do anything, I had to watch a janky minute-long ad first. It was exhausting, and I only made it to the end because I was invested in the narrative.But in-game purchases and shitty ad-to-gameplay ratios took a toll on me. So while I’ve occasionally tried to download a new game, most of them haven’t held my attention. Till now. Graphic: Petrana Radulovic/Polygon | Source images: Netflix/NanobitI’m sure it’s at least partially because I’m already paying for Netflix, but it’s just a miracle that Too Hot to Handle isn’t overloaded with ads and microtransactions. Yes, there are extra bonus scenes and cute outfits to unlock, but they’re all done through in-game achievements, so they’re pretty easy to get. Also, they are purely extra fluff. Yes, I have an extra bracelet to choose from, but it’s not like some terrible experiences I’ve had in other similar games, where the dress choices I had were some ugly plain black dress that would get my character mocked, or one that cost real life money. I’m also pleasantly surprised with just how engaging the writing and gameplay are. Currently there are three Too Hot to Handle games out, each one following a different in-game season. You create a character, who assumes they’ve been invited to some partying reality show, before they realize they’re in Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle. Like the real life show, the in-game one follows the same rules: in order to help break some horny, shallow singles out of their routines, they must not kiss or engage in any sort of sexual actions for the whole summer. Each action costs the group money from the $200,000 prize pool. The point is to foster emotional growth and get those singles to reflect on what’s stopping them from finding love. I started with the first season, since that seemed like the natural thing to do, and made one of my usual characters: a flirtatious scallywag named Phillip (when you play a lot of games like this, it’s handy to have a rotation of characters to pop in, like different Barbie dolls trying on new careers). In Phil’s run, he broke a ton of the rules and cost the group a lot of money before he became smitten with a confident foodie named Dakota. But before he committed, he danced around and no one really cared, because that was just Phil! Everyone was in love with him. I enjoyed playing him as a scamp who eventually found the One — and still didn’t give up his flirtatious, horny ways.She risked it all for this bloke, but can you blame her? Image: Netflix/NanobitI was expecting similar mechanics in the second season, but I was surprised to find this time there was a more limited pool of singles. In season 2, I played free-spirited artist Madeleine, who, despite her kind heart, had problems committing. The limited singles pool meant that there were actually more intense plotlines with other characters’ romantic relationships — and way more jealousy. Madeleine’s flirting with other contestants while she was coupled up did eventually take a toll. And she almost blew everything when she decided to take a chance on a tattooed Australian bad boy instead of sticking with the steady tech CEO she’d initially taken a liking to. Characters got vicious, confronting her and plotting to take her down. I was on the edge of my seat, unsure if bad boy Ryder was actually into Madeleine, or just stringing her along. It was honestly one of the most intense video game romances I’ve played; and lemme tell you, I’ve played a lot of them.I’m in the midst of season 3 right now, and I can’t stop playing. I’ve been singing the praises of this game to the friends I know who also have been burnt out by freemium, ad-filled mobile romance games. It’s everything I used to love about these games before I got too jaded. I get to dress up my character with cute clothes and fun hairstyles. I get to make choices and build relationships with different characters, eventually culminating in a romance. And now I’m seeing my friends share their own experiences, as we gush about which singles we pursued and what was different in our playthroughs. It’s making me a little nostalgic for the mobile games I used to play, before they broke my heart. But in true Too Hot to Handle fashion, I’ve done some soul-searching, and I’m not settling for anything less than what I deserve: namely, an engaging game with some surprisingly magnificent character moments that lets me play through without asking for more money or wasting my time. Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle games are available on mobile devices, if you have a Netflix account. See More:

Last Friday, Blizzard released a teaser trailer for its upcoming collaboration between Berserk, the acclaimed dark fantasy manga created by Kentaro Miura, and Diablo 4 and Diablo Immortal. On Tuesday, Blizzard revealed more details regarding the crossover event, which is set to launch on May 1 for Diablo Immortal and May 6 for Diablo 4.“Set in a medieval, dark fantasy world, Berserk centers on themes of betrayal, revenge, sacrifice, and monster power,” Blizzard wrote in a blog post on the official Diablo 4 website. “Celebrate Berserk with limited-time cosmetics you can earn and collect so your characters can walk in the footsteps of these legendary figures. Don relics of war, symbols of ambition, echoes of vengeance. Wear them and become a part of the legend.”Image: Blizzard EntertainmentDiablo 4 players will be able to collect Behelits, the sinister ovoid creatures seen in Berserk which grant terrible powers to whoever possesses them, by slaying powerful enemies in-game. Behelits will function as a special currency type that can be traded in the newly added “Berserk Reliquary” of the Diablo 4 in-game store in exchange for Berserk-themed cosmetics, including the Hawks Destiny Back Trophy, the Skull Knight’s Heraldry Mount Armor, and the Brand of Sacrifice Marking. Collecting all of the items in the Reliquary will earn the player the Od of the Berserker Emblem. Additionally, players will be able to purchase Berserk-themed costumes for their adventurers from the in-game store, including Berserker armor for the Barbarian; The Skull Knight armor for the Necromancer; and the Hawk of Light Armor and Struggler costume set for the Rogue. A new Pet and Mount, the Schnoz and the Warhorse of the Hawk, will also been added to the in-game store.Image: Blizzard EntertainmentFor Diablo Immortal, players will be able to fight Nosferatu Zodd, the infamous demon apostle of the God Hand, in a new boss encounter. Players will receive log-in rewards including cosmetics, crests, and class-specific weapons, and be able to earn Berserk-themed loot such as the Crimson Behelit Gem, which unlocks an even more challenging boss encounter with Zodd. Finally, players will be able to enter the Eclipse, the notorious nightmare dimension seen in Berserk, through the Survivor’s Bane Event to fight off unrelenting hordes of enemies as they attempt to survive the sacrifice that claimed the lives of the Band of the Hawk.Kentaro Miura, the author of Berserk, died in 2021. On June 7, 2022, Hakusensha, the Japanese publisher of Berserk, announced the series would resume publication under the direction of Kouji Mori, Miura’s colleague and friend, using memorandums, character designs, and plans that Miura left behind.The limited time Diablo Immortal Berserk crossover event will run from May 1 until May 30, while the limited time Diablo 4 Berserk crossover will run from May 6 and conclude at the end of Season 8.See More: Diablo 4PlaystationPlaystation logoPlaystationPlaystation logoWindowsWindows logoXboxXbox logoXboxXbox logoExplore The GameWhy it mattersLike Diablo 3, Diablo 4 took a while to find its feet, but a major 2024 update turned it into the hugely gratifying and compulsive loot-hunting game it always threatened to be.— Oli Welsh, Senior Editor, U.K.

Diablo 4’s next season is all about the new bosses being added to the game, but it also marks the first time Blizzard is deliberately trying to ramp the action RPG’s difficulty up. After a year of players blazing through the game at faster and faster speeds, Blizzard wants to slow things down and make them work a little harder for those sparkly loot drops in season 8.“It’s a tricky balance because to feel rewarded for something, you have to overcome a challenge,” lead live game designer Colin Finer said in a recent group interview with Polygon. “And if there isn’t enough challenge, then it just sort of feels like you’re getting candy for free and you don’t really feel that satisfaction of overcoming a boss.”Those new harder bosses were just one of the changes Blizzard let players test out on its limited-time public test realm (PTR) server last month. The leveling journey from 1 to 60 also got harder in an effort to make early-game progression more meaningful. Blizzard said during a stream about the season in March that way too many players were reaching the game’s endgame dungeons too quickly.“We had heard a bunch of feedback from season 7 that you could just AFK and just get everything for free, and that wasn’t something that we felt was true to Diablo,” Finer said.On the PTR, Finer said the team has a “double or half it approach when it comes to balancing,” and intentionally treats it as an “extreme” testing ground. To prepare for the launch of season 8 next week, the team has addressed feedback from PTR players that bosses were killing them in one hit and that the highest difficulty tiers were too punishing.“We haven’t pulled back all the way,” Finer said. “It’s still a little bit more difficult than season 7. We think that that little tick of difficulty is really going to help the overall game feel much more rewarding because you’re overcoming actual challenges.”It’s a fine line when it comes to difficulty in a genre all about your character growing in power until they’ve become a god. To get it just right, Finer said, it needs to be “just challenging enough to feel rewarding, but not so challenging that it feels like we’re just slowing the game down and making it a slog.”Diablo 4 season 8 drops on April 29.See More: Diablo 4PlaystationPlaystation logoPlaystationPlaystation logoWindowsWindows logoXboxXbox logoXboxXbox logoExplore The GameWhy it mattersLike Diablo 3, Diablo 4 took a while to find its feet, but a major 2024 update turned it into the hugely gratifying and compulsive loot-hunting game it always threatened to be.— Oli Welsh, Senior Editor, U.K.

Oddworld is an extremely weird franchise that possesses some truly memorable aesthetics and unique gameplay. If you’ve never had a chance to experience this peculiar wrinkle in gaming history, you can currently pick up all eight games in the Oddworld franchise for just $1 from Fanatical. Included in this bundle, you’ll find the two original puzzle-platforming entries, Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee and Abe’s Exoddus, in addition to Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, a remake of Abe’s Oddysee built for modern systems with new graphics and quality of life features. The bundle also includes the first fully 3D entry in the series, Munch’s Oddysee, the HD remake of the more action-oriented Stranger’s Wrath, and the most recent entry in the Oddworld saga, Soulstorm. Most of the games in the Oddworld franchise are best described as puzzle platformers where you deal with obstacles by possessing other creatures inhabiting the world. While the brutal universe of Oddworld is a place where everything can potentially kill you, death is encouraged as part of the learning experience. Your fatalities are often sudden and brutal, but the grim and hilarious ways in which they occur are a fantastic motivator for experimentation and have become a staple for the series.

Bungie’s recent Marathon stream where it showed early footage of the first-person extraction shooter sparked skepticism on social media and Reddit, prompting some people to predict it will suffer the same fate as Concord, the hero shooter that Sony took offline less than a month after its release. In response, a former Concord developer made a post on the Marathon subreddit asking people to give it a chance. “Concord failed to inspire players, and the messages was heard loud and clear,” the developer wrote using a Reddit account under the name MrSpug. “It was gut wrenching to see our project fail, and be the laughing stock of many online.” The developer, who worked at Firewalk Studios before Sony shuttered it a few months after taking the game down, said they sympathize with the Bungie developers who put a lot of effort into making Marathon and that they commend them for taking a chance in what is an extremely competitive genre. “I worked on Concord, and did my best,” they wrote. “We came up short, please don’t punish others for our mistakes.” Although Concord was a different kind of game than Marathon, they’re both still published by Sony. One of the biggest criticisms coming out of the Marathon stream was Bungie’s decision to not go the free-to-play route. Like Concord, Marathon will be cheaper than most new games. Bungie specifically said you can expect to pay less than a “full-priced” title, which might put it somewhere around $40 when it comes out in September. Having a price at all, however, has people wondering if it’ll end up like Concord. “I really didn’t want to be ‘that’ dev, calling attention to myself as if I have a horse in this race,” the former Concord developer said in a reply to their post. “But to call this game a failure before it’s even out, is wild to me.” A closed alpha for Marathon will go live on April 23.

To be blunt, you’d have to be high not to trade in your Xbox Series X to GameStop since it promises Pro members $420.69 (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha) in store credit through April 26. No matter how long you’ve had your Series X — a day, or going on almost five years — taking a deal that has you getting back 85% of its total value in credit is simply unheard of in my experience trading products in at GameStop.If this sounds like something you’d like to do, you’ll need a GameStop Pro membership to get the special trade-in amount. And, lucky for us all, there’s a deal happening that lets you knock $5 off a yearly membership. After you add GameStop Pro to your cart, enter the promo code FIVEOFFPRO to see the price fall from $25 to $20. Then, head to your local GameStop with your Xbox Series X and everything that originally came included in the box (controller, HDMI cable, power cable) to get your trade-in credit.This promotion seems to be aimed directly at people who love brands that use April 20 not only to joke about smoking weed but also doing the sex (its Facebook ad includes a picture of the shiba inu from the long-ruined “doge” meme with “deal with it” glasses on, which should tell you everything you need to know about the kind of people GameStop presumes pot smokers to be).Through the veil of this cringe, it’s also aimed at more mature people who might very well be scheming plans to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 during an especially tumultuous economic moment. In response to a Facebook user who insists this is too good to be true, GameStop replied with “It’s no joke!”See More:

As all Ruddheads know, actor Paul Rudd made his acting debut in an iconic 1991 Super Nintendo commercial as a radical-looking 22-year-old playing games like F-Zero and a then-unnamed The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on a gigantic, drive-in movie theater screen. And now, almost 35 years later, Rudd is back to promote the Switch 2 wearing the exact same outfit. Nintendo uploaded both commercials to YouTube on April 21, providing a wonderful side-by-side look at how differently video games are marketed in the 2020s compared to the 1990s, as well as how ageless Rudd continues to be even as he nears 60 years old. The two videos have since accrued nearly two million combined views. The new Switch 2 ad doesn’t show much we haven’t seen already. It focuses mostly on the C button’s GameChat functionality and the console’s official camera as fellow actors Joe Lo Truglio (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Superbad) and Jordan Carlos (The Colbert Report, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore) join Rudd and a little girl who’s supposed to be his niece, trash talking their way through a game of Mario Kart World. “You know guys, it’s nice playing with power,” Rudd says to cap things off, referencing his turn in the Super Nintendo spot, “but this is better because now we’re playing together… super together!” Lo Truglio then breaks the fourth wall by making fun of Rudd’s advertisement voice, a very modern and meta strategy to distract us from the fact we’re just watching another commercial for a console with an arguably huge price tag. Cute!

Blizzard Entertainment is giving Overwatch 2 its second big shake-up of 2025 this week, launching a new game mode on Tuesday that radically changes the standard rules of team play and introduces all-new powers for the game’s heroes. Stadium will also add a new, optional third-person camera view, ditch the mid-game hero-switching mechanic that’s essential to other modes, and give heroes wild new variations. Reinhardt can fly now.Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller describes Stadium as a third pillar for the hero shooter, not just as a new mode that can stand alongside Quick Play and Competitive modes. The game’s development team is now structured with this in mind. Keller told press in a roundtable interview that there’s a “totally separate team of people that are solely devoted to working on Stadium.” They’ll add new heroes to the mode — Stadium will launch with 17 playable heroes; Overwatch 2 currently has 42 — as well as new Stadium-specific maps and game modes each season.“We really want to put as much time and attention into supporting Stadium as we do the rest of the game,” Keller said.Stadium has been in development in some form or another for years, Keller said — even before Overwatch 2 launched in 2022. The goal with the new mode, he explained, was to give Overwatch 2 players more tactical gameplay, with downtime between rounds where players could strategize their hero builds to counter their opponents’ builds. “The reason people play a hero shooter is to just get that power fantasy of what it means to play that particular character, and Stadium allows us to push that further than we ever have in the game,” Keller said.Image: Blizzard EntertainmentStadium is a round-based, best-of-seven mode. Before each round, players spend a mode-specific currency called Stadium Cash on items that boost existing abilities and powers that dramatically reimagine those abilities. Heroes will initially get modified abilities that boost damage or healing, or reduce cooldown times. As games of Stadium progress, players will earn more currency to spend on wild new powers, like the aforementioned option to have Reinhardt fly when using his rocket-boosted Charge ability.Some other heroes’ powers can get even wilder. Ana can unlock the ability to Nano Boost her entire team or shoot her Nano Boost dart through walls. Moira can fire “multiball” orbs. Mei can turn into a giant rolling ball of ice. Kiriko can create a clone of herself when teleporting toward an ally using Swift Step.These purchasable hero powers are kind of the alternative to hero switching, since Stadium requires teams to lock in their hero choices from the start of a game. But if your team has a Genji, for example, he can purchase a power that offers beam reflection to counter a troublesome Zarya or Symmetra. And as teams stack items and powers over the course of a game of Stadium, things can get pretty chaotic and hectic. But that’s also when Stadium is the most fun.Stadium’s initial lineup of heroes includes characters that have been in the game since the beginning, including Reinhardt, Soldier: 76, Genji, Reaper, and Zarya. Some veteran heroes, like Tracer and Hanzo, will come in later seasons. There’s also some fresh blood in Stadium’s launch roster, including Juno, Kiriko, and Freja, the last of whom is the game’s newest damage-class hero; she’ll make her Overwatch 2 debut and her Stadium debut on April 22, with the launch of season 16.Image: Blizzard EntertainmentThe full roster of Overwatch 2 heroes is expected to come to Stadium in time, but adding them will take a lot of work, senior game designer Dylan Snyder and lead level designer Ryan Smith said. Building out dozens of powers for each hero across the roster and attempting to balance them all is hard — and even harder for certain characters, Snyder said. “There are heroes whose kits are just already so tight and complete that as soon as you start to expand it you’re playing with fire,” Snyder said. “Mercy was actually one of those; having such a powerful ability like Resurrect, you have to be very careful what you do to expand something like that.”Smith said that “a lot of the high-mobility characters are the risky ones,” noting that D.Va was a tough character to adapt to Stadium play.Snyder said that alpha testing Stadium with thousands of players in recent months has helped iron out some of the mode’s balance issues. “Cassidy was a very early one for us that was tricky,” he said. “We knew that we wanted to pursue something with Fan the Hammer, and we definitely maybe went a little too far with that. [We learned] very quickly how in the hands of a skilled marksman how bad that could be for an enemy.”Like other modes of Overwatch 2, expect a fairly quick response to imbalance issues and possibly even new items and powers that address holes in heroes’ kits. “I expect we’ll get a large number of our player base moving over to Stadium,” Keller said, ensuring that players put the new mode through its paces.Overwatch 2 is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game’s new Stadium mode launches on all platforms April 22.See More: Overwatch 2Nintendo SwitchNintendo Switch logoPlaystationPlaystation logoPlaystationPlaystation logoPlaystationPlaystation logoWindowsWindows logoXboxXbox logoXboxXbox logoXboxXbox logoExplore The GameWhy it mattersBlizzard’s polish and world-building expertise is present throughout Overwatch 2, a constantly evolving, free-to-play, and endlessly replayable shooter.— Michael McWhertor, Correspondent

The new game releases this week aren’t exactly cheerful. Each one brings its own horrors to the table, whether it’s a sci-fi hellscape with evil robots, a French fantasy world where entire age groups are wiped from existence annually, a zombie apocalypse, or a literal nightmare dimension. Oh, and there’s Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, too. Plenty of bad things happened in the 26 years since the last game in the series, so it counts.Stealth fans can start the week off with Steel Seed, a sci-fi action game where you get to slice robots with a lightsaber. On the same day, Post Trauma will drop with its PlayStation 2-era graphics and escape room puzzles. And there are the big hitters: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. The former is the very first game from French developer Sandfall Interactive. And to cap off the week, there’s Days Gone Remastered, a high-definition update to the biker zombie game from 2019.Here are our most anticipated game releases for the week of April 21.[Ed. note: Some of the prices haven’t been announced yet. We will update this story when they have.]0Release date: April 22Platforms: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series XHere’s a sci-fi stealth action game that shouldn’t go under your radar. You play as a woman with a legally distinct lightsaber and a drone buddy by her side. And even though stealth is your priority, you can build up your combat prowess with robust skill trees.Post Trauma$00Release date: April 22Platforms: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series XOld-school horror fans will like the retro PlayStation 2 vibes with this game. There are horrifying monsters to smack in the dark, but there are also tons of escape room-style puzzles to solve. The developers even recommend you keep paper and a pencil ready, because the game gets tricky.Clair Obscur: Expedition 33$45$5010% off$45Release date: April 24Platforms: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series XThis French game has the most bizarre premise, and that’s exactly what makes it so interesting. Every year, an entire age group dies. You play as the 33-year-olds destined for death who are trying to stop this awful tradition. The game is a mix of turn-based battles and exploration in its grim fantasy world.$60Release date: April 24Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series XThis is the first new Fatal Fury in 26 years. This new entry in the fighting game series builds on the previous game and features a ton of returning characters from the series, like B. Jenet, and some newcomers, like Chun-Li.$50Release date: April 25Platforms: PlayStation 5The open-world zombie game is back with upgraded graphics, a new survival arcade mode, a speedrun mode, and a survival mode with permadeath.$50 at PlayStationSee More:

Look Outside is a horror game with teeth — quite literally: They’re bursting through my neighbors’ skin and gnashing on anything that gets too close. Look Outside was originally released on March 21, and the game has since consistently floated to the top of my social media feeds as people marvel about the scares this story has in store. In Look Outside, I play as Sam, a normal dude who’s between jobs and behind on rent. Those concerns quickly become irrelevant as a cosmic entity known as The Visitor passes Earth, corrupting and twisting everyone who looks at it. There’s only one solution: Don’t look outside. No, it doesn’t matter how much the silvery glow of the moon beckons to you, nor how sweetly your neighbor croons. Don’t look outside. Don’t look at photographs, don’t look at reflections, do not try to gaze upon The Visitor.With that premise established, Look Outside is able to show off one of its main strengths: body horror. Looking at The Visitor has immediate and extraordinary effects, all of which seem wildly unpleasant. One poor guy lurches toward you, in pain, and before you can help him, he finds a better solution: carving at himself with a knife until eyes burst out, gleaming darkly and rolling about in his torso. A family is overtaken by a terrible case of all-consuming teeth, and you stumble upon the 8-year-old son frantically brushing before his face collapses into a mess of molars. Image: Francis Coulombe/Devolver DigitalThere are a ton of monsters and mutants to find, and the creature design is top-tier. Look Outside is made to look like a retro-style RPG, complete with pixel art and turn-based combat, but don’t be fooled by the lack of graphical fidelity. There are scenarios in this game that haunt me weeks after encountering them. I’ll be drifting off to sleep and a particularly macabre monster will drift across my mind, and suddenly I’m back to being wide awake. There’s a particularly nice detail where many large monsters linger back, slowly advancing over the course of the fight and revealing their horrifying visages.Despite Sam’s conundrum, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel: The Visitor will pass in 15 days. In order to make it through the 15 days, Sam learns to scavenge through the apartment building by day. The Visitor’s arrival has changed more than the people; somehow, even the architecture is wrong. Familiar hallways are changed into improbably winding paths. An apartment floor has somehow expanded to contain an entire battlefield. Enterprising neighbors show up at night, looking for shelter or asking to trade. Sam can also shower, brush his teeth, and play video games at night in order to boost his stats and keep himself sane. Sam also has a finite amount of resources, and he must carefully watch his weapons and supplies lest he run out mid-fight. This adds an interesting management aspect to the game, and Sam’s late-night rituals are only occasionally interrupted with the unnerving realization that he’s been murdering the other people in the building and looting their stuff. That’s fine, right? It’s probably fine.Image: Francis Coulombe/Devolver DigitalAll of this could get overwhelming if it wasn’t broken up with moments of radical kindness and compassion. Much like Undertale, many opponents don’t want to fight, and can be coaxed to a pacifist solution instead. In one playthrough, letting someone in for shelter could lead to your entire apartment burning down. In another, it could lead to you having a powerful new member of your party. You may be alarmed when you run into a guy who seems to be composed entirely of hands except for a beady pair of eyes, but after chatting to him, it turns out he just wants to listen to some sweet tunes. Mutation doesn’t equal morality, and there are many moments where the player can express sympathy or sorrow for the less lucky folks in the building. (Of course, if you try this with the wrong monster, you might end up being murdered in the process. There is no one approach that works with every encounter.)In a year stacked with AAA titles and masterfully crafted open worlds, the game I’ve come to admire most so far is Look Outside. There are a few management elements I find tedious, and I think you could cut a few portions of the game and end up with a stronger overall product. But a horror game with this level of nuance and sympathy toward its antagonistic enemies is rare, and the cosmic mystery at the heart of the story is enthralling. As long as you have a high tolerance for body horror and survival horror mechanics, Look Outside is a must-play.Look Outside was released March 21 on Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PC using a copy purchased by the author. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.See More:

Marvel Rivals is doomed to forever be compared to Overwatch. It’s a team-based shooter with heroes, and some of those heroes happen to have a lot in common with the ones in Overwatch. NetEase has never directly said Blizzard’s game was an inspiration, but a now-removed line in Marvel Rivals’ code confirms that someone on the development team knew exactly what kind of game they were making.That line described a hero in Chinese as a “Soldier: 76 replica”, which is a direct reference to the Overwatch character. Nobody was meant to see it, but thanks to a group of Marvel Rivals data miners, we know someone put it there before it was patched out.“[NetEase] erased it in newer builds but it’s still stuck in my head since Marvel Rivals is the ‘Overwatch clone’ for many people,” Visceral, one of the data miners, told Polygon via DMs. “Was pretty silly when I stumbled across it.”Image: NetEase Games via X0XLEAKSVisceral is part of the group who runs X0XLEAKS on X, a popular account that regularly posts upcoming skins and heroes found within the game’s code — often before NetEase officially announces them. Whenever a new update comes out, the team dives into it using custom tools to see what’s been added.Those tools let them see all the things the developers hide in the game’s files, like character models, maps, textures, and lines of text. “Just clicking through your game folder won’t give you anything,” Visceral said. “So you either need custom/self-made extraction scripts or third party software to access the actual game assets.” And then you need to know what to look for.X0XLEAKS has evidence that hints at several unannounced heroes coming to Marvel Rivals, including Blade, Daredevil, Phoenix, and Professor X. Sometimes these are just names written out in the code, but sometimes they’re full lists of abilities, team-ups, and voice lines. Even so, nothing they’ve found is real until NetEase says it is.Marvel Rivals executive producer Danny Koo said in an IGN story about data miners earlier this year that heroes go through a lot of iteration before they’re released. “So there could be some information left in the code, and it might mean that we have tried those directions and they may appear or may not appear in our future plans,” Koo said.Koo doesn’t recommend messing with the game’s files, but also doesn’t seem particularly bothered by data miners sticking their hands in them anyway. Like with any live service game, it’s going to happen whether you want it to or not.We contacted NetEase about the Soldier: 76 find and data-mining and will update this post when we hear back.“Honestly, I think data-mining is a net-positive for the game,” Stella, another member of X0XLEAKS, told Polygon. “In reality it keeps people excited and engaged with what’s coming up, you’ll find people logging in again when they usually wouldn’t to check out some new piece of content that maybe the developers didn’t spotlight. I know especially for some of Hoyoverse’s games, you get people especially excited to go out and farm new materials they might need for upcoming characters before they come out.”Anyone can learn to data-mine with free tools online, Visceral said, but it takes some skill to verify the juiciest details. When they found a mention of Daredevil in the files, they didn’t post about it until they were sure it was legit. “We took our time and made sure it was the right hero, translated the same sentence with 10 different translators online, compared official Chinese writings of the hero in question, let multiple independent native speakers translate the Chinese text to make sure its 100% the right hero and it ended up being Daredevil,” they said.“There are also things we don’t talk about on X like every single hero so far having voice lines for not being able to get healed (like anti-healing from Overwatch), there are no indications AFAIK of any single hero now or in the future being able to do something like that,” X0XLEAKS’ Matfacio told Polygon.Despite having over 45,000 followers on X, X0XLEAKS doesn’t get paid for any of this. They do it because they love the game and want to share what they find with other fans.“I enjoy seeing how the developers are implementing new features, the design decisions that go into it, and how I can use some of the information in the game to help players out,” Stella said. “I find digging into how these games are constructed to be the most fun part, it’s a big problem solving puzzle to me.”“I think to really do solid reporting on something you have to be passionate about it otherwise it becomes a chore,” Stella said. “We wouldn’t be leaking games we’re not passionate about. NetEase has done a great job making a fun shake-up to the scene.”See More: Marvel RivalsmacOSmacOS logoPlaystationPlaystation logoPlaystationPlaystation logoWindowsWindows logoXboxXbox logoXboxXbox logoExplore The Game