Well, that’s looking like it could be more than a few weekends with a campaign that’s bringing four different factions and four different perspectives to a conflict that is quite ambitious for Deep Silver, given that it’s boasting about being the franchise’s biggest one yet with over 70 missions. Of course, Skirmishes let you riff on each faction’s specialities and see it all come together on the battlefield as you learn more about how your enemy operates.

It’s the Space Marines who’ve got our pick for the first faction we’re going to try out, although we can’t deny the allure of batting for the Necrons given how strong they can get once they begin to control more of the field. No matter which one you pick, this one’s shaping up to be a very immersive and potentially addictive addition to the franchise, and the new overview trailer below should show you why.

However, the PC version offers a hidden surprise as Nvidia DLSS 5 support has been thrown into the mix. Reports indicate a tangible improvement to character faces as you make your way through Moscow’s tunnels, although the environmental features aren’t noticeably different without deeper comparisons. There is speculation about how the tech has been implemented by the development team, and whether the choice to focus more on faces was a deliberate one. Regardless, you can check out footage with the upscaler active, courtesy of YouTuber EZ, which we’ve left below in case you want to see it in action.

You might want to be wary of that, though, since WCCFTech reports noticeable performance hits, although you should be fine given that both Redux titles are quite old at this point. If you’ve been thinking about diving into these titles ahead of the highly anticipated new addition, Metro 2039, in February, we’ve put together a helpful list of things you should know. It covers all the upgrades, including what console players can expect.

Regarding whether a sequel to the existing shooter is their next project (which is confirmed to be in the works), he said it wasn’t the case. At least 95 percent of the team is still focused on Helldivers 2  by his account, and the studio would entertain the possibility of a sequel only if it brought enough of an evolution to justify its existence.

“My view is that a sequel resets everything and forces players to start over [while] a continuation turns the game into a lifelong hobby, like LEGO or Warhammer. We see players as the actual engine of the game: they’re the ones bringing in friends, making memes, and keeping the game alive. When you have an active community doing that, you don’t need a sequel.”

Well, if the only way to get Arrowhead to make a new Helldivers title is to stop playing the current one and wait for it to go back to the drawing board for a sequel that could take a while, we’re going to stick to the current game for a little while longer. And so is the team behind the game, from the looks of it. The fight to save Democracy continues, and it looks like we might have to carry its makers away from the field before they give up the battle to preserve it all.

Well, developer Askiisoft has announced that the DLC has expanded in scope and is now the size of a sequel, with 30 new tunes coming to an already excellent soundtrack. A new teaser trailer has been dropped alongside the tweet from the developer, with Subject Zero and a companion whiling away the time until whatever the DLC is about to throw at him unfolds.

He’s sharpening his blade, though, which means we can expect to see it whenever the DLC comes along, which is always good news given how impressive the combat can get. It’s a pity we can’t convince him to look into the future and tell us more about what to expect, although we’re quite optimistic that the long wait could be worth it if the DLC builds on what the base game already offers.

Askiisoft has promised more updates in the future, although there’s no hint of a release date. We’re sure you agree that we hope it’s sooner rather than later, though.

Ubisoft has yet to share further details on the mode. However, game director Richard Knight previously discussed the same last July, and how Shadows helped provide the foundation. That said, you shouldn’t expect a direct adaptation.

“We have different challenges in terms of how that works. We can’t skip to the hideout, necessarily. But we’re looking into it.” Whether it will include any additional rewards is also up in the air, especially given how much work goes into creating new items. We’d be shocked if there’s nothing at all, but as always, it’s best to wait and see.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review, where we scored it a 9. You can also learn why it’s better than the original in almost every way, though your mileage may vary somewhat on the new story elements.

After a little over two weeks, the remake sold over 3.5 million copies, and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated the company was “very pleased” with the praise. Whether it gets any additional content or other new features besides New Game Plus remains to be seen, but at least players can hide the blowpipe for that extra dash of realism.

According to the report, which is part of a longer newsletter article about the new chief content officer of Netflix, Peter Rice, Netflix had offered $500 million to Xbox for the licenses. Xbox has seemingly declined the offer, and instead countered by asking for $800 million. Following this, Netflix has taken the offer off the table. Among those at the streaming giant opposed to Xbox’s asking price is noted to be chief financial officer Spence Neumann.

Following this, Xbox is reportedly pursuing smaller deals for potential adaptations of its properties with a number of different partners. In a statement, the company even said that it has seen “record-breaking” interest in its IP. The company also went on to note that Netflix continues to be a partner that Xbox values.

“We have received record-breaking interest in our IP; Netflix is a valued partner, and we are excited for the forthcoming release of our Minecraft and Diablo animated series together, among other adaptations.”

Sharma’s confidence in Xbox properties was brought up back in July. In an interview, the CEO, along with COO Matt Booty, spoke about the company’s various franchises and IPs, and even brought up how they could potentially compete in the entertainment landscape outside of just games. Booty said that Xbox has “over 20 franchises that have made a billion dollars, lifetime” and that the company has a responsibility to “shepherd” these franchises.

For her part, Sharma spoke about the successes seen by adaptations of Fallout and Minecraft, and even mentioned that the Call of Duty franchise has made quite a bit of money over its decades-long life.

“You won’t see us try to become the biggest linear provider in the world or anything like that, but I think great games are culture, and culture is entertainment,” she said. “If you think about it, we’ve got the number two show of all time on Amazon [Fallout], Minecraft was top 5 in 2025, Call of Duty is bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, it all measures. [There’s] more appetite to work with us on titles than ever before.”

Speaking of potential adaptations, the live-action Gears of War movie that is in production at Netflix was described by Booty as focusing on the game franchise’s core of being about “a ragtag crew of soldiers who wage a desperate war for survival against the Locust.” He noted that the production crew is using “Never Fight Alone” as a tagline, which, “when you think about that for a dramatic narrative, it’s a pretty good starting point.”

Booty also confirmed that Halo continues to be an important franchise for Xbox, and the company will be looking at how it could invest in its growth as well.

Arkane Lyon was seemingly informed of this back on July 16th, following which the unions described a “stupor” that has since turned into a “very great anger” due to decisions made by Xbox that are being called “incoherent”. If the studio is to shut down following the lack of a new buyer, around 217 jobs will be cut.

Further in the report, another union representative has noted that the studio is in good financial health, and that development has been continuing on Marvel’s Blade. The title has been described as being near the end of production, and those working on the project have expressed quite a bit of confidence in its potential success.

When Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had announced the 1,600 job cuts back in July, she had also noted that the company was divesting itself of four of its studios – Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine Production. Arkane Lyon was also mentioned in this context, but Sharma noted that the company was trying to figure out its future with the studio at the time.

Following this, Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio had taken to social media with a tongue-in-cheek question to Sharma about how much the studio would potentially cost to acquire. “Regarding Arkane… how much? I’m asking for a friend,” wrote Colantonio. However, it is worth noting that he was likely only joking about a potential acquisition of Arkane. This joke was further bolstered by several replies he got from fans of the studio’s works asking if they could send him money to help this potential acquisition.

In the meantime, Sharma has also confirmed that Xbox is looking at cutting around 1,600 more jobs across the company before the end of the fiscal year. The last major layoffs were followed up more recently by another round impacting 268 workers. This was done alongside some major restructuring that brought the Halo franchise under Activision’s purview, and merged Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios with Forza Horizon and Fable developer Playground Games.

More recently, a report has indicated that Xbox is gearing up for another round of major layoffs before the end of the month. This will seemingly be followed by two more rounds – one in November and the other in January 2027.

Earlier this month, Sharma had reportedly spoken during an internal meeting about how the company has “started to return to growth” following its massive layoffs. This period of growth comes after what she described as a “freefall” following the company’s decision to raise the subscription prices for Game Pass, which in turn had led many to simply cancel their subscriptions. Sharma also praised “strong” starts seen by recent games like Minecraft Dungeons 2 and Gears of War: E-Day, and praised the interest in World of Warcraft: Forever’s beta test.

“We’ve seen your conversations and feedback over the last few months around our male Jun character model. We’ve been listening, and we take that feedback seriously. We’ve continued to refine Jun as we’ve worked on him and the rest of the game.” The trailer then cuts to Jun in various scenes from throughout Exodus, showcasing how the team has generally improved the character model in a number of ways.

In the meantime, it is worth noting that Archetype Entertainment hasn’t yet revealed what the female version of Jun will look like. However, considering how Robertson spoke about feedback being important in this regard, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that the team has also been working hard to ensure that the female Jun doesn’t face similar types of complaints.

The quality of character models can be quite important for a game like Exodus, since the sci-fi RPG is set to have quite a bit of emphasis on its story. This means that the expressiveness of characters across various situations, from facing down world-ending threats to simply spending some time with companions, is important to get right.

Just last month, narrative director Drew Karpyshyn spoke about the relationship system in Exodus, and how the team has been working hard to make sure that the relationships between characters feel real. This means that players’ choices will also define how their companions see them, and as a result, might even affect their relationships.

“[M]aking their relationship with you grow, allowing it to evolve from the choices you’ve made, and realizing that the choices you make are going to bring some companions closer to you, but maybe push some companions farther away.”

“Without spoiling too much, we definitely want to have it impact how their storylines go,” he continued. “Depending on choices you make, by the end of the game, you might not have every companion with you that you started with. That’s about all I can say!”

Exodus is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on April 7th, 2027. The release date for the title was announced with a trailer that gave us a new look at one of the in-game characters – Salt the Octopus. The character has been described as being “Awakened” and capable of communication with the other characters. In combat situations, Salt can control a combat mech, giving her access to a variety of weapons and other tools that could turn the tide of battle.

Around the same time, the studio also provided details about Emrys – another party member that Jun can befriend. In combat, Emrys is able to weaken enemies and empower Jun through the use of Remnant Orbs, essentially making her a support character that could prove vital in the thick of battle.

According to the job description, the person hired for the role will “define and champion the animation vision for the living world, creating believable, reactive, and memorable experiences that bring the game world to life.” This will mean working with teams across divisions like animation, design, engineering, art, audio, and narrative.

As for what it means for a game to focus on emergent gameplay, a title typically has to feature an open world that players can freely explore and run into a variety of characters; the game in question would also need strong gameplay systems that could naturally lead to interesting experiences that weren’t strictly scripted for the sake of a larger narrative. Some of the most popular examples of such emergent gameplay would be titles across franchises like Far Cry, Grand Theft Auto, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Bethesda’s RPG franchises Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are also well known for their emergent gameplay moments, since players can define their playstyle through in-depth RPG systems. This could lead to a potential combat situation where you have been ambushed by bandits in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, which can be swiftly dealt with through the use of stealth, talking, or even just casting a magic spell that can cause a massive explosion.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is another noteworthy example of a game offering deep systems that promote emergent gameplay. While its story missions are strictly on rails and don’t offer much freedom, the open world itself is full of a variety of activities that players can partake in. The hunting system, for example, could naturally lead a player from stalking a deer for its perfect pelt to accidentally running into a massive bear in the area, or even some O’Driscolls roaming around trying to hunt down members of the Van Der Linde Gang.

It is worth keeping in mind that these kinds of games have become relatively rare in the AAA space, with much of the conversation being taken by games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. In the indie realm, however, we still get plenty of examples of titles focusing on emergent gameplay, like the roguelite detective game Shadow of Doubt, which gives players complete freedom in how they want to investigate crimes, which can range from breaking into the victim’s apartment to find clues before the cops get there, to working alongside the cops.

Meanwhile, Activision is also confirmed to be working on a brand-new game in the Halo franchise, with a new team having been created to handle the sci-fi shooter. This announcement came in light of other reshuffling across Xbox and the elimination of 268 jobs.

While the title has managed to do relatively well despite being available on Game Pass, having reportedly sold around 230,000 copies and compelling around 700,000 users to subscribe to Game Pass’s higher tiers, its development budget being so high would mean that the title would still have to sell several million more copies before it could break even.

Lending further credence to Kotaku’s report about the game’s budget is Christopher Dring of The Game Business, who said, “Yes, so this, from what I’m told, is very true. $500 million. Unbelievable.” According to ResetEra user –R, Windows Central’s Jez Corden offered similar corroboration for Kotaku’s report. “They ain’t wrong on the figure, but seems to be some disagreement among my sources how that figure was allocated between E-Day and general TC operations/ATG contributions,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet.

It also doesn’t help matters that Xbox hasn’t yet confirmed any details about how well Gears of War: E-Day may have sold, or even how many Game Pass subscriptions it contributed towards. It likely doesn’t help that not releasing Gears of War: E-Day on PS5 has likely led to several lost sales from the platform.

However, according to Kotaku, Xbox might end up seeing greater benefits from keeping Gears of War: E-Day exclusive to the platform in the long term, especially if it continues to hang on to its positive momentum and attracts a larger player base over time, possibly even bringing in more Game Pass subscribers in the process.

Whether it will convince more potential players to buy an Xbox console remains to be seen, especially in the current state of the industry where prices have skyrocketed owing to component shortages. Similarly, Xbox itself is also having trouble stocking store shelves with its consoles, which might lead more players to pick the game up on either PC or on the next-gen Project Helix several years later.

In the meantime, Xbox seems to be keen on doubling down on the idea of exclusives. While Clockwork Revolution – an RPG slated for release next year – will also be Xbox-exclusive, the company has reportedly sent out surveys about the possibility of future games being exclusive as well.

“Imagine it was announced that all future title releases from every Xbox-developed gaming franchise except Call of Duty will be console-exclusive to Xbox,” says the survey. “For Minecraft only, existing titles would no longer be available for purchase on PlayStation or Nintendo consoles, and would not receive any new content updates. However, there is no impact to any of the existing titles or content you already own. Nothing changes on PC in this announcement.”

Gears of War: E-Day studio head Mike Crump has also spoken about the title being a natural choice for Xbox’s exclusivity strategy. For more details on the shooter – available on PC and Xbox Series X/S – take a look at our review.