Fans of motocross have plenty to look forward to, with the trailer showcasing how some of the impressive new physics will work. The track itself is also quite visibly changing as it gets driven through, with each motorcycle leaving its mark in the dirt and mud.

As one would expect from a new entry in a sports franchise, MXGP 26 will feature content from the official 2026 motocross season. This includes tracks like Argentina’s Bariloche with volcanic soil, Sardinia’s Riola Sardo with sand, Italy’s Pietramurata with compact dirt, and the Czech Republic’s Loket with hard-packed dirt. Plenty of riders will also be represented across MXGP and MX2 categories, including Romain Febvre, Maxime Renaux, Kay de Wolf, and Calvin Vlaanderen.

MXGP 26 is also going to feature a comprehensive editor that allows players to customize and fine-tune the appearance of their bikes and riders, including parts and graphics from championship manufacturers like Honda, KTM, and Kawasaki, and gear from brands like Fox Racing, Alpinestar, and Airoh, among others.

When it comes to game modes, MXGP 26 is going to include Grand Prix, Championship, and Time Attack. The Grand Prix mode acts as a quick way to get into a race, while Championship will offer a longer series of races across a variety of tracks. While there is no word on a career mode in the game, Championship might end up filling in. Players will also get to ride around in a free-roam area referred to as The Compound.

Fans of multiplayer racing can look forward to online races that pit up to 10 players against each other. Customization of riders and vehicles is likely to play a bigger role here since you can show off your style against other racers.

This entry marks a major change for publisher Nacon and developer Artefacts Studio, since it is the first one to be developed in Unreal Engine 5, leaving behind the franchise’s KT Engine technology. Whether this means we’ll get to see more visual effects and optimizations associated with Unreal Engine, like Lumen and Nanite, remains to be seen. However, the studio has noted that it will feature advanced lighting, textures, and environmental details.

The change in game engines also gave the developers the chance to work on dynamic deformation, which has been described as “THE new feature” of MXGP 26. Rather than simply being visual changes to tracks, deformation will have a gameplay role, making patches of dirt and mud more difficult to ride through as the tracks get deeper due to racing lines.

MXGP 26 is going to be the first entry in the franchise since MXGP 2024 – The Official Game. Artefacts Studio likely decided to skip out on releasing an entry last year so that it could work on transitioning from KT Engine to Unreal Engine 5.

You’re essentially part of a crew traversing cursed lands for treasure, but some modicum of plot binds these expeditions together. It kicks off with what might be one of the strangest single-player prologues I’ve ever seen. You play as Zamacona, one of the novella’s characters, and after traversing close to the mound – hacking away at a vine or two for your troubles – you encounter a strange figure and become mentally scarred, seemingly forever.

This entire sequence takes less than three minutes (maybe four if you’re really slow) and is little more than a walking simulator, not a proper introduction to whatever is going on. Off to a great start, I thought, before actually indulging in the meat of the story within co-op, but “not putting its best foot forward” quickly becomes a running theme.

"One of the appeals of an extraction shooter is gathering sick loot and escaping with it, defying all odds, including other players."

As one of four other explorers, your job is to explore the regions for anything that can help the expedition. Forbidden relics are obviously on the menu – who could resist their stylings? – but provisions and other supplies also help. Each character has their own past of sorts, which doesn’t really affect the actual missions, much less in how they play. The core gameplay, at the end of the day, is comparable to Lethal Company: Enter a location, collect as many worthwhile items as possible, and leave with your sanity intact. Die, and you get nothing.

Okay, that’s not entirely true, because you aren’t chaining missions to meet a quota or building a steady supply of tools. Instead, you’re assigned random gear and items before each expedition. A Flintlock pistol here, an old rapier there, maybe some Ammonia Salts to revive a downed ally – you get the idea.

There is some freedom to pick up additional items from a “vendor” using Tokens, though the selection is initially limited to torches, a Medallion, and a map. Those same Tokens can be used to upgrade weapons or trade them in for something different. Honestly, I don’t mind this approach, even if that polehammer that I became attached to in one mission is gone upon returning.

One of the appeals of an extraction shooter is gathering sick loot and escaping with it, defying all odds, including other players. Right away, The Mound doesn’t offer either of those things. You don’t really keep what you find, much less use any of it in subsequent missions, and the threat of other players is handled…differently from what you’d expect. On the plus side, anything found can be used within the mission, which removes some of the greater barriers of entry to an extraction game, namely the need to grind for an arsenal before taking on tougher activities, and having to restart from zero whenever you’re wiped out. So thumbs up to that.

After choosing a contract, you can also select a location, which can have different conditions and modifiers. Weather and time of day can be huge difference-makers. Matchlock pistols and rifles become useless in rain, while nighttime and fog can reduce visibility. So maybe you’ll be encouraged to bring bows and arrows, storing the firearms for whenever things clear up. Some missions also require traversing to a fort at the very end to retrieve a Logbook, which unlocks a new location and sheds more light on previous bizarre adventures.

"Due to the static nature of the maps and the relatively straightforward objectives, The Mound freshens up runs by introducing its own spin on the Sanity system from Eternal Darkness."

Upon landing, it’s pretty much everyone for themselves. Explore the map, chopping away at any vegetation that impedes your progress, pick up anything worthwhile – quickly becoming annoyed at the limited inventory slots (which thankfully expand as you rank up) – and deposit them back at the wagon. The latter follows along as you delve deeper into a location, though it too has its share of bizarre quirks. Sometimes, it will match how much you’ve explored and catch up, but at others, it simply turns around and goes the other way before changing its mind once more. It can also block your path in some places, though such occurrences are few and far between.

Due to the static nature of the maps and the relatively straightforward objectives, The Mound freshens up runs by introducing its own spin on the Sanity system from Eternal Darkness. It’s not really dependent on a meter or anything – rather, the longer you spend in the mission, the more bizarre things begin to occur (though your health will become affected upon witnessing them). One of my allies turned into a tree – funniest thing I had ever seen for a minute or two. Ominous birds herald effects like your buddies (and the wagon) turning invisible with only an outline to distinguish them unless you take them out. A fly or four may suddenly crawl on your screen, and on at least one occasion, my character would black out before reawakening somewhere else.

If that wasn’t enough to mess with you, allies can also become Corrupted after going down and not being revived in time, resulting in the AI taking control of them to attack you. It can happen at completely random moments too, and don’t even get me started on the monsters impersonating teammates, with the occasional beast-like noise being the only thing to distinguish them. That, and proximity voice chat – there really isn’t much else in terms of communication, besides the limited gesture wheel. So if you’re hoping to play this without a mic, paying attention to certain telltale signs is key to avoid a sudden betrayal.

At first, there’s some intrigue in trying to discern the different Sanity effects and how to deal with them. The problem is that they quickly become repetitive. My newfound ally, the walking tree, goes from bizarre to comedic in short order. The Eldritch ox feels more annoying than frightening since looking at it affects my sanity – not really from afar, but more up close, like when depositing things in the wagon – so it’s a constant annoyance.

The Mound repeats several of these effects for the sake of acclimation; I get it, but this only underscores why the system works so much better in a single-player setting, since your character’s grasp on reality is constantly challenged and questioned.

With one of its core gimmicks feeling a little too gimmicky, it’s down to the core combat and exploration to really make the gameplay shine. And unfortunately, those stumble as well. Even if you can get used to the slow aiming and lethargic sprinting, further reinforced by the sheer lack of stamina or speed, combat can feel so finicky at times. It feels like you’re rolling the dice with each potential weapon swing, never mind the backstabs, which work when sneaking up on a foe or when an ally grabs their attention but not when you avoid their attacks and get behind them.

"The Mound has some interesting ideas wrapped up in a typical extraction gameplay loop, especially if you can meet the combat and movement on their own terms."

Firearms feel underwhelming compared to bows in terms of damage while also not having the benefit of potentially reusable arrows. The enemies themselves can feel harrowing to fight at times, especially when coming face to face with the giant twisted beasts, but you have very little recourse to deal with the latter in the early going. And all they need to do is get close enough for a grapple that takes all your health and breaks your armor before dissipating. Oh, and it turns out one of your allies is corrupted, so one stab from them and the expedition is lost before you even had a moment to recover. I also like how every single enemy can make you stumble, resulting in a third-person cutscene before shifting back to third person. Every. Single. Time.

The Mound has some interesting ideas wrapped up in a typical extraction gameplay loop, especially if you can meet the combat and movement on their own terms. But its mix of psychological, reality-altered horror, co-op treachery and survival horror elements often feels shaky when it’s not plain annoying. Even with the addition of an AI companion, solo players are advised against signing up because of how easy it is to become swarmed and lose an entire expedition after 15 minutes of busywork. Performance on PC is also an enigma – turning down multiple settings and activating DLSS/Frame Gen eventually stabilized things, and while some of the details look nice, it’s hardly the kind of fidelity that should warrant such odd optimization.

If you’re looking for a co-op horror title for hijinks with your friends, then The Mound may be a decent fit, as long as you keep expectations in check regarding the core gameplay, presentation, narrative, and whatnot. But as much as I tried to find the fun amid all the oppression, it simply felt like wasted potential.

This game was reviewed on PC.

“A huge thanks to all our community from everyone at ACE Team. We’re thrilled with the amount of support and attention the game has received. The adventure is only beginning, and we can’t wait to see everyone in the Valdivian jungle now that the game is out,” it wrote on Steam.

The jungle in question is definitely hiding a lot of sinister stuff. It’s definitely going to be a consistent cause of insomnia for those whose nerves will be tested by its punishing gameplay loop. But that hasn’t really been too daunting a factor, considering it’s managed to hit 800,000 wishlists on Steam, unlocking a generous 20% discount on its asking price for the next two weeks. There’s also a free Lost Explorer’s Sword Pack being thrown in for free if you pick it up before the deadline.

If that wasn’t enough, a free DLC mission takes you to a mysterious temple in a closed-off area of the jungle that’s sure to bring unique threats and scares of its own into the mix. All in all, it’s quite a generous launch package, and that’s not to mention the different editions of the game that you can pick up. We’ve included the launch trailer below in case you want to get mentally prepared before you pick up a copy.

ACE Team’s upcoming horror mind-bender is up to 800,000 wishlists on Steam, a milestone the team apparently expected since it’s now announced a 20 percent discount on the game’s asking price starting from when it launches. That comes with a photo of the next tier, which bumps up that discount by five percent if 200,000 more people happen to wishlist the game. There’s a disclaimer that discounts may vary on platforms other than Steam, though, so watch out for that. It’s also unclear whether there’s a deadline for the next tier or if it will carry past launch.

Either way, we think this one has the potential to be worth its asking price irrespective of a discount with a world that’s as ominous as its monsters, while the co-op mechanics could turn against you at any moment if you linger too long under Cthulhu’s corrupting influence. Things can get intense, and it seems designed to remind you that the price of valuable treasures might sometimes be too much of a cost. We’re certainly looking forward to weighing out odds when it’s out on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, so stay tuned for more details.

Indeed, you could become your own worst enemy, and a credible threat to your allies if the forces you’re up against manage to pervade your mind, and trusting even yourself becomes a costly mistake your squad might not recover from. That’s as horror-focused a premise as any, and we’re expecting this one to be a morbid kind of hoot when it drops on current-gen systems. Excellent enemy designs and an appropriately creepy vibe have us interested, but be sure to keep a light on when experiencing them.

For more details on what the island has to offer, check out this gameplay overview. We’re kind of dreading that release date a little more than we’d like to admit, but in terms of co-op shenanigans, The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu could fill a decent space ahead of this Fall’s biggest releases.

A Lovecraft-Inspired, Co-op PvE Extraction Shooter

Drawing inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft’s novella of the same name, The Mound plunges you deep into uncharted jungle with up to three fellow explorers in search of artefacts and riches. Except, there’s unknowable danger lurking beneath the canopy. While the extraction genre’s familiar nuts-and-bolts drive the action here – loadout stations, deploying to hostile lands, scavenging loot, and surviving long enough to hightail it outta there – The Mound leans into Lovecraftian cosmic horror to warp the very fabric of reality, testing the trust of your team.

Each Expedition is a Descent Into Madness

Replicating a key theme in Lovecraft’s novella, in The Mound the further you trek into the forest, the more susceptible you become to madness, paranoia, and hallucination. The game presents traps and distractions, making you question what you see and hear. From sensory illusions – footsteps unknown in the undergrowth, to shifting colours and distortion – to unpredictable threats like imaginary trinkets materialising over spike-filled pits, laying invisible to your gaze. Each player perceives reality differently too, so whilst you’re unaware of the doom in front of you, your teammates can step in.

Communication is Crucial

And this brings us neatly onto the next thing you need to know: in The Mound, communication with your teammates is crucial to survival. The game uses spatialised voice chat, where the volume and direction of your comrade’s voice adjusts depending on their proximity to you. This isn’t just for realism and immersion, but deep inside the jungle there will be times when the figure you’re seeing may-or-may-not be your ally. In these moments, detecting their location through sound might be the only lifeline you’ve got.

Gameplay Follows Established Extraction Formula

Once your expedition begins in earnest, the gameplay loop involves scavenging for riches, food, weapons, and other resources, including mysterious metal ephemera that signals the location of high-value loot with a clang. You’ll also encounter indigenous stragglers and marooned survivors, the latter you may be asked to rescue. Abandoned forts of failed expeditions yield valuable intel, while an overarching objective is to locate the titular Mound. Here, as Lovecraft’s novella explains, is the gateway to a subterranean underworld filled with striking architecture, and abhorrent monsters. Whether the game treads the same narrative path remains to be seen, but the sentiment is that the Mound is an epicentre for wealth and prosperity – hence, your captain and overseer demands you find it.

Your Captain Outfits Your Squad Before Each Run

Before embarking on a treasure hunt, however, you’ll spend time aboard the Tempestad, your home galleon which serves as a base of operations. Across its creaking decks, and amongst its dimly-lit enclaves, you can speak to the ship’s cook who’ll advise on the best foodstuffs to retrieve on-land, request a tune from the resident lute player, and pet the ship’s sleepy dog. As far as hubworlds go, the Tempestad is rife with noxious atmosphere, but it’s the Captain whom you’ll need to address before departing for the coast. He’ll offer a pre-run contract for you to sign, usually revolving around finding specific items or locations, and returning with a minimum loot value. In exchange for your services, he provides weapons, gear, and resources.

Inventory Space is Limited

From the outset at least, you’ll have just six slots in your inventory. That’s room for a flintlock pistol, a machete, some gunpowder, perhaps an item of food, and two spare for whatever you pick up on the mainland. There is, however, an ox cart which trails your expedition’s progress, and there is room in its trunk for collected items plus anything surplus on deck. But, here’s the thing: that pistol? The machete? The Captain doesn’t give you one each. Together with your team, you’ll need to strategise before setting off, deciding who takes the rifle and who gets the sailor’s knife.

Guns Don’t Work in the Rain

And, actually, it rains quite a lot in the jungle. So, if you’ve got a flintlock or matchlock firearm, be prepared for it to malfunction once the heavens open. Balancing firepower with blunt force teamwide is set to be the dominant strategy then, not least because ammo and gunpowder are scarce. What’s more, intense moisture and condensation makes oil lamps flicker nervously, making it harder to see structures through the dense mire. If it wasn’t clear by now, this jungle is not your friend.

Excess Noise Can Wake the Forest

Here’s the other problem with guns: they’re loud. Popping the head off some eldritch stalker might seem like the fastest way to clear the forest’s immediate threat, but it’s a surefire way to cause more trouble for yourself and your team. See, the jungle doesn’t want you there, but the intimation is that it lies dormant unless disturbed. If it’s awoken, a gauntlet of hostile enemies will converge on your location. And, it isn’t just firearms: the clink of sprinting armour, the splash of a river crossing, the echoing horn of a lost ox-cart, these are trade-offs you’ll need to assess moment-to-moment. Sometimes, sneaky, stealthy approaches are the most viable strategies.

The Jungle is a Character

If it wasn’t clear by now, The Mound’s jungle is as fleshed out of an assailant as any of its tentacled zombies. Heck, it’s arguably more characterful than the archetypes you choose to command back on the Tempestad – more on those four next. See, ACE Team has leaned heavily into art direction, atmosphere, and sound design: mist blankets, envelops, and evolves; the rot of mushroom-sprouting wood moans in the breeze; birdcall specific to the region of Chile you’re exploring pierces through the inky-black night. You could go as far to say that the jungle’s aesthetic design grows into mechanical resistance; it has a personality of its own.

Four Character Archetypes

Yep, there are four distinct archetypes which you can choose before entering the fray: Alonso de la Torre is a pacifistic, somewhat nihilistic former soldier who is unmoved by war or riches – he sees wealth, simply, as freedom. Leonor is a fugitive, having fled Spain after a remorseless murder. Don Rodrigo de Medina is a nobleman jaded by war like Alonso. He seeks honour in truth. How their stories pan out remains to be seen, but one thing you need to know is that these archetypes are cosmetic only. They don’t have unique skills or abilities.

Progression Earned is Shared

Completing the Captain’s contract objectives yields currency of your own, plus XP for levelling up, and story progression, and it’s this latter element that is confirmed to be shared across each player across the team. The jungle forces you to work together regardless, but advancing the story together too further incentivises teamwork.

Can Be Played Solo

The Mound can be played solo, with computer-controlled allies joining you on your expeditions. However, ACE Team has deliberately designed the game around co-op, thus venturing into the wilds on your own isn’t just inadvisable but grows increasingly unviable long-term. Contracts reflect the number of human players, though, so if you must set forth solo you’ll be rewarded accordingly.

Release Date, Platforms, and Price

The Mound is scheduled for release on July 15th, with PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam the confirmed platforms. Pricewise, you’re looking at $29.99 for the standard Digital Edition, and $39.99 for the Deluxe. For console players, there is currently a 10% pre-order discount running until launch date. If you’re on PC and fancy giving the game a go before committing to a purchase, there is a free demo available on the game’s Steam page.

Deluxe Edition Overview

Alongside the base game and the Lost Explorers’ Sword Pack, The Mound’s Deluxe Edition includes the Abyssal Gear Pack and Fortune Hunters Character Pack. That’s extra cosmetics, two-more characters, and a dangerous new area to explore for a tenner more.

PC Requirements

As detailed on the game’s Steam page, to run The Mound at a minimum your PC needs to be outfitted with an Intel Core i7-8700k or AMD Ryzen 5 1600x CPU. Graphics-wise, you’ll need a GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB, and AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB, or Intel Arc A7700 16GB. Recommended settings list an Intel Core i7-11700k or AMD Ryzen 5 5500 CPU, and an RTX 3070 8GB or AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT 12GB GPU. 16GB RAM is the baseline memory whatever your hardware. Also, as noted on the Steam page, this information is subject to change – it’ll be worth keeping your eye on the details in the lead up to launch.

The studio has noted that, while players will get to carry over most of their things, items and tools locked behind story progress, like Grapple, Glider, Spectral Dash, and Claws, will need to be unlocked through the campaign. Players will also be able to rediscover the collectibles they found in their last run through the game to get bonus XP, runes, blueprints, and other rewards.

As for players that might want to revisit the story before taking on the final boss and without heading into New Game+, there is now a dedicated end-game save set right before Styx travels to Akenash for the finale. This way, you can get your hands on any collectible that you may have missed and take care of any side missions that you left behind.

The update also brings in performance improvements, reducing CPU usage for the game by around 80 percent by optimizing the ragdoll physics for dead enemies. PC players can also take advantage of the fact that when Global Illumination is set to LOW, it disables Lumen, with light and shadow detection falling back to a software implementation. This way, players on low-end GPUs can still enjoy the game at reasonable performance levels.

There are a few bug fixes as well, like DLC outfits being randomly applied or lost when loading save files from an older version of the game, or grapple kills having the potential to permanently lock the game’s music in its combat state.

Styx: Blades of Greed was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S back in February. The title revolves around the eponymous goblin that has mastered the art of stealth through his many adventures. His new goal is his most dangerous one – to get his hands on the most precious resource in the world: Quartz.

While previous entries in the Styx franchise have revolved around the protagonist working for stronger factions and entities, in Blades of Greed, he is out for himself this time, leading his own crew and traveling the world on his zeppelin. The title also features appearances and cameos from several important characters from previous games, and Styx has to figure out how to tell the difference between friend and foe as he takes on the forces of the Inquisition.

Styx: Blades of Greed features three open environments: The Wall, the Orc village of Turquoise Dawn, and the ruins of the Elven capital of Akenash. To help him travel through these worlds, Styx has access to a host of new tools, like the Grapple and the Glider. Due to this change in gameplay structure, Blades of Greed also has a larger emphasis on exploration than its predecessors. Check out our review for more details.

There are those Lovecraftian horrors to deal with, for starters. They’re nasty and surprisingly nimble, given their deformities. They’re also quite intelligent, responding to any sounds you make with fear-inducing ferocity. This one leaves little room for error, we’d say.

However, those errors seem to be inevitable, as it isn’t just monsters that are stalking you. Cthulhu looms large in the background, messing with your senses as you venture deeper into the forest. Your friends are going to be of little comfort if they happen to die at your hand, which is a very strong possibility given that you can’t trust your own eyes once the jungle’s corrupting influence takes hold.

This one could be one hell of a party if you’re into horror titles that make your hair stand on end. But we’re going to make sure we play in a brightly lit room when The Mount: Omen of Cthulhu launches on July 15th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

While we don’t really get many details on the game itself, the video gives us a look at the team working on WRC 2027 at Grit Games, with 12 members of the studio eagerly waiting for the kick-off of a new nighttime race.

“Grit Games is Nacon’s newest studio, led by an experienced quartet with a strong racing games background: Hardouin Pouzet, Alexandre Assier, Laura Gayet, and Pierre-Nicolas Moreau,” explains the video. “The studio is growing fast. Built by passionate racing game veterans. Nacon has reclaimed the WRC license and entrusted it to Grit Games with the ambition to bring a new vision for the 2027-2032 cycle.”

While no other details about WRC 2027 have been revealed, its name indicates that Grit Games is looking to release the game either in late 2026 or some time next year. As for how future titles are handled – whether we will see yearly releases going forward or simply continued long-term support for a single game – remains to be seen.

It is worth noting that the last racing game in the WRC franchise was EA Sports WRC, which came out all the way back in 2023 and was developed by Codemasters. In our review of the title at the time, we gave it a score of 8 out of 10 thanks to it being easy to pick up and difficult to master, the unique driving feel offered by each vehicle, and realistic race courses and weather conditions, among other reasons.

The title had done well enough for EA to announce post-launch support going into 2024, bringing in additional vehicles and a host of new stages to drive through.

Nacon acquired the WRC license in May last year, and at the time, it was believed that KT Racing would resume development on the franchise. At the time, the publisher said that its unannounced WRC game will be a “complete reboot” and “based entirely on a fresh vision.”

“We are thrilled to renew our collaboration with WRC Promoter. This iconic license provides an exceptional playground to build a highly refined driving experience that lives up to the expectations of rally fans,” said Nacon CEO Alain Falc last year. “Between 2015 and 2023, we had the opportunity to work closely with the championship’s official teams and many drivers, allowing us to gain solid and unique expertise in translating rallying into a video game experience. This new venture marks a major milestone: a fully reimagined project driven by a passionate and specialized team, with a clear ambition to elevate rally games to new heights.”

The last WRC game released while the rights were still with Nacon was 2022’s WRC Generations. Developed by Kylotonn, the entry brought along a few new additions to the franchise, including hybrid cars and a competitive Leagues mode.

You’re tasked with exploring in search of treasure that you must collect and bring back to your galleon. If only it were that simple, though. The jungle houses many horrors, and you’re going to have to really try and keep your wits about you as you navigate and try to resist its reality-warping properties.

Cooperating with your teammates is definitely a good idea, but it might be easier said than done in a world where you’re going to have to fight for every advantage you can muster. You can bring firearms along, but you might want to think twice about using them lest you wake up more horrifying terrors with the noise. Caution and a rational approach are ways to survive, but can you sustain them well enough to ensure you come out alive?

You won’t have to wait too long to find out, as The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu launches on July 15th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Stay tuned for even more details and gameplay, or rewatch the showcase with the lights on. We won’t tell anyone.