The Monarch butterfly is sure to bring a dash of color to habitats you choose to populate with it, while the Bactrian Camel could give you some challenges if you don’t create the right conditions to let it thrive. Wild boars and common ostriches are also coming to the game, and it’s going to be interesting to see what kind of ecosystems we can create for them. The Threespot damselfish and Moon jellyfish are also inbound, and they’re looking as realistic as the rest of the new entries.

It’s quite a balanced spread of additions across the board, and every new name is certain to come with challenges for you to overcome, as well as benefits that can help every other creature under your care thrive and live its best life. Which is kind of the point, really. We’ve left some screnshots of each new entrant below in case you want a closer look ahead of the game’s October 13th launch.

It’s currently at 72 percent “Mostly Positive”, thanks to issues around crashes and poor flight-stick controller integration. There’s also a bit of a fuss around Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War not having its own standalone app on the platform, forcing players who want to play it to download the new game in its entirety.

The studio has announced it is aware of crash reports on Steam and is looking into potential solutions to get you up in the sky and keep you there long enough for its excellent gameplay and cinematic presentation to win you over. That’s certainly been the case during our time with the PS5 version of the game, where its examinations of the effects of armed conflicts in the story don’t get in the way of some phenomenal action once you’re in the cockpit. It’s a balance that even the best games don’t get right sometimes, but that’s definitely not the case here.

It also recommends you try updating your graphics drivers and ensure you’ve got enough storage and virtual memory active on Windows as preventive measures. As for those other issues, there’s nothing in the latest announcement that addresses them at the moment.

If you’re waiting it out until the team behind it gives you a green light to fly on the PC, we’d recommend using that time to catch up on the live-action prelude to the game called HOUR ZERO. It’s pretty good on its own, and even better once you begin to see how well it leads into the story the game is trying to tell.

Given that it’s a free upgrade for one of the most beloved RPGs of the previous generation, this probably isn’t too surprising. Compare this to the Next-Gen Update’s 2024 release at 89,451 and the debut of season 1 for Netflix’s The Witcher in 2020 with 103,329 concurrent players.

It probably won’t beat Cyberpunk 2077, which is still CD Projekt RED’s biggest release on Steam, but the Remastered version’s player count could climb further in the coming days. While it’s a free upgrade for current owners, regardless of the edition purchased (including the base game), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered is also 50 percent off until October 1st.

For more details on what it offers, check out our review. You can also glean the full list of official changes and new features, which include, but aren’t limited to, improved combat animations, support for upscalers like DLSS 4.5 and FSR 4.0, an overhauled skill tree, transmog, less iffy Roach behavior (though you can always toggle it), and more.

“From the very beginning of development, we wanted to evolve the game to be more player-driven in terms of exploration, progression, and narrative. It definitely helps to have a powerful system because even though people loved the relatively confined spaces of Control, we wanted to open it up.

“We wanted bigger draw distances, more physics objects, and more enemies on screen. It’s definitely Remedy’s biggest game – I think one zone in Resonance is larger than any of the other zones in our previous games.”

Sergey went on to discuss how the team was able to make use of the PS5’s unique features, like the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback on its DualSense controller, to give players a more immersive experience. Doing so, he said, allowed the team to design the game around players being able to feel their way through intense combat encounters rather than having to look at the in-game interface.

“Getting that feeling of resistance and an extra click contributes a great deal to making the abilities feel more powerful. And that’s important in things like combat, so you don’t have to look at Dylan’s interface; you can just feel your way through instead.”

Control Resonant is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and even before its release, was garnering quite the fan base. Developer Remedy Entertainment revealed earlier this month that it had surpassed 2 million wishlists across all platforms before release. This served as a major jump over the previous month, when the company had announced that it had been wishlisted 1.5 million times.

Remedy doesn’t have any plans to walk away from Control Resonant following its release. Just last week, the studio confirmed that it is working on a New Game++ mode for the title, which is slated to arrive in October. The feature is set to be an evolution of the typical New Game+ experience, allowing players to play through the game any number of times. “Do 665 runs if you want,” said the studio.

November will see another update for Control Resonant, this time around bringing in a Photo Mode that the studio said it has been “cooking for a while”. Interestingly, the team “consulted some talented virtual photographers from the community to help us make it the best it can be.” More updates are planned for the future as well, bringing more cosmetics for protagonist Dylan Faden.

For more details about Control Resonant, take a look at our review, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to incredible art direction, fun traversal, responsive combat, and exceptional storytelling. Our only complaints were that the combat system took some time to open up, and there is some iffy dialogue throughout the story.

Olga was seen as a necessary boss fight that couldn’t be avoided since defeating her is how Snake gets his hands on the USP pistol, which is necessary to destroy the sensors that would trigger an explosion in another part of the ship. The tranquilizer pistol itself, while far more effective when it comes to dealing with enemies, can’t destroy these sensors, and as a result, players can’t avoid the fight against Olga.

In a video showcasing the skip, Apel takes us through the early parts of the Tanker chapter, swiftly making their way to the ship’s bridge where the encounter takes place. Along the way, Apel picks up all the extras they might need, like ammo, while also taking out a few troublesome guards with their tranquilizer pistol. When it’s time to actually deal with the sensors, rather than getting their hands on the USP pistol, Apel instead lures a guard to the sensors to trigger an explosion.

How the skip works is a bit more complicated when taking behind-the-scenes details into account. Like many games, Metal Gear Solid 2 also has progression flags that are triggered in its memory state to track player progress. While players will still get a game over screen even if Snake isn’t directly the one to trigger the explosion, the speedrunner can avoid this by rolling into a checkpoint while the bomb is being triggered. This means that the “game saves the value of the flag after the explosions happen”, which means that the encounter with Olga can be completely skipped.

Along with being a major step forward for the speedrunning community for Metal Gear Solid 2 in general, this is also the only boss skip to have been discovered in the game so far. Despite players having discovered many tricks over the years that might allow them to speed through various areas of the title, the boss fights have always been considered mandatory. This new skip will likely lead to plenty of speedrunners figuring out new, quicker routes through the game. As a result, there will also likely be a plethora of new world records set in the coming days.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was originally released on the PS2 back in 2001. The title eventually made its way to more platforms – the PS3 and Xbox 360 – thanks to its HD Edition re-release alongside Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. When it comes to modern gaming hardware, players can get their hands on the title by picking up Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, which was released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch back in 2023. Check out our review for more details.

Reward Passes are a progression mechanic that revolves around players completing Feats to unlock new rewards that include outfits, cosmetic items, gadgets, weapons, items, and Raider Tokens.

“While Raider Decks gave us a great starting point, over time we noticed issues with the system we’d made. Players accumulated Cred at a rate that became difficult to keep up with. When a new Raider Deck released, many players were able to finish them right away thanks to the Cred they’d saved up. This made the rewards feel much less… rewarding. It also left very little motivation to keep tackling Feats.”

The Reward Pass is instead being designed to offer a “more satisfying progression path” that will make the overall journey more engaging for a longer period of time. The Reward Passes will also be updated over time, since they are tied to the major update they are released with. Through this, Embark Studios has said that it will be able to introduce new rewards at a steady pace as time goes on.

The first Reward Pass arriving with the Frozen Trail update will be available in two forms – Free and Premium. Both forms will feature 60 levels worth of progress, with the free pass culminating in a total of 200 Raider Tokens that can be earned over time. The Premium Pass, available for 1,150 Raider Tokens, will feature more modifications, colorways, and premium toggles for the new outfits being brought to the game. Raider Token rewards will total up to 1,150, getting players ready for the next Reward Pass in the process.

A Legacy Pass will also be available that combines all of the cosmetic rewards and Raider Tokens from Raider Decks into a single Free Pass. Players who have already unlocked these rewards will be able to hang on to them without having to level the Legacy Pass to get them back.

The Frozen Trails update is also going to bring dynamic loot zones to ARC Raiders, with the first one being Pendola Pass. Design director Virgil Watkins explained that the new loot zones will allow players to find red and yellow POIs on the map being switched around every time they visit the area. This is being done to bring more variety for when players decide to raid the same map repeatedly. Watkins has said that this was a feature that has been “requested on and off over time” by the community, and that its inclusion in Frozen Trail is a way for the team to test out how it works with player feedback.

ARC Raiders is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The Frozen Trail update is arriving on October 8th.

The trailer showcases the strong aesthetics of Minecraft Dungeons 2 while providing a rundown of some of its core features. This includes the ability to take on new foes, team up with friends for co-op action, customize gear, and fight explosive battles.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 has hit the market to relatively middling reviews. At the time of publishing, its overall rating on Steam sits at Mixed, with only 48 percent of the 760 user reviews for it being positive. Criticisms have largely revolved around the broken nature of Microsoft’s account linking, a plethora of technical issues leading to crashes, and the poorly thought-out mouse and keyboard control scheme.

In our own review, we gave Minecraft Dungeons 2 a score of 5 out of 10. Our biggest complaints with the title revolved around poor loot progression with pitiful drop rates for Unique items, the underwhelming nature of the crafting system, a forgettable main quest with a lack of characterization and a sparse narrative, dull side quests, the lack of many endgame activities, and even a lack of quality-of-life features like overlay maps in dungeons or a stash to store excess loot.

We did end up having a few good things to say about it, however, including its visual style still looking great, a decent level of environmental variety, fun combat, and platforming challenges offering a unique twist on dungeon crawling. Interestingly, we didn’t face any technical or performance issues during our time with the game.

Mojang and Double Eleven will continue to support Minecraft Dungeons 2 with post-launch updates, which will likely end up fixing many of the issues players have faced with the title. The companies are also going to release the dungeon crawler’s first paid DLC later this year, which will bring with it a host of new locations and enemy types.

The first game in the series – Minecraft Dungeons – was released on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch back in 2020. The title eventually got an Xbox Series X/S release in the same year, with the current-gen console’s more powerful hardware offering better performance in the hack-and-slash RPG. The title proved itself to be quite successful over time, with Microsoft and Mojang confirming back in 2023 that it had gotten more than 25 million players.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 was announced earlier this year after its development had begun in 2023. The title offers a major change over its predecessor by opting to feature a large, interconnected world rather than each zone being split up by loading screens. Design director Laura de Llorens celebrated the game earlier this week by noting that “We’re finally releasing the game we’ve been working so, so hard on, and we couldn’t be more excited.”

The title also features the first new dimension being added to the Minecraft setting since the Nether first made its debut 14 years ago – The Sift.

With protagonist Makoto Daito still being a young man at this point in the story, he finds himself arriving in Kokura and feeling fairly lost, since his native language is English, which likely plays a major role in alienating him from the Japanese-speaking locals. Among the harsh realities of the era that Daito will face in 1915 are open discrimination and widespread prejudice.

This doesn’t stop Daito from pursuing his dreams, however. Despite being caught in the midst of a culture he doesn’t understand, the protagonist will still get to experience the strange mix of modernity and tradition in the culture and architecture of Kokura. Modern culture is starting to take root in the region and will stay with the older way of life for some time, and this can be seen in the presence of buildings like a steel mill alongside those constructed in an older style.

There will be plenty of opportunities for exploration in Kokura, be it on foot or by hitching a ride on one of the streetcars that serves as the main method of public transport for the town. Daito can also visit plenty of vendors to try out a variety of food and get his hands on things like weapons, medicines, and other equipment. Since people needed ways to entertain themselves in an era without TVs and computers, Daito can find plenty of minigames to partake in that can range from tests of skill to arm wrestling matches and even tabletop games of Menko.

Stranger Than Heaven is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on January 15th, 2027. The marketing for Stranger Than Heaven has been kicked up a notch as we get closer to its launch. Earlier this week, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio released another trailer, this time focusing on show business, since Daito will eventually be able to pursue the role of a showman and become responsible for organizing performances.

The trailer showcased how Daito will have to juggle several aspects of any given show, from adjusting various musical instruments to change up a song’s mood to setting up advertising for an upcoming event with posters. He will also have to scout out talent that can perform at the show and can make the event feel larger-than-life by investing in things like confetti and smoke.

Another trailer from earlier this month gave us a look at another character from Stranger Than Heaven – Yu Shinjo. A close friend and rival to Daito, Shinjo has a smug, confident exterior that seemingly hides cunning that has helped his rise out of poverty over the years.

RGG Studio also confirmed this month that Stranger Than Heaven has been its most wishlisted game of all time.

It also outlined everything available in the Remastered version. We already know about the many visual improvements, from GTAO and Path Tracing to improved motion blur and updated textures based on The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project. However, several new gameplay additions include a skill tree overhaul, improved movement and animations for Geralt, new finishers, a new camera perspective, and much more.

You can also harness transmog with the new Reforge feature, add more map markers, preview items with tooltips, pick up items while on horseback and more. Check out all the details here. You can also read our review of the Remastered version, which we gave a nine out of ten.

Of course, this isn’t the end for the role-playing game that “defined a generation.” CD Projekt RED and Fool’s Theory are also working on a new expansion, Songs of the Past, which launches in 2027. It takes place in a new region, Letten, with a narrative focused on Dandelion and a brand-new weapon, the chain.

However, a lot of that experience has come with its own lessons that we had to learn the hard way, which generally didn’t end well for Geralt at the time. If you’re looking for the perfect start and want to ensure that Geralt survives long enough to reunite with Ciri, we’ve got a few things for you to keep in mind as you play. Let’s go!

1. White Orchard Is A Great Place To Farm Out Those Early Levels

If you’ve happened to even glance at the world map in The Witcher 3, you know that it comes with an astounding number of things to check out and engage with. It’s a good idea to hold off on fighting that Griffin from the game’s opening until you’ve discovered everything you possibly can in the area.

Helping an old lady retrieve a saucepan, or hunting for a man’s brother’s remains in a field of necrophage-infested corpses might not seem fitting for a Witcher, but the experience those early quests net you is nothing to be scoffed at. At the very least, it should help you get to the level requirement you need to don the free armor Yen gives you in Vizima. Just remember to check the chest in her room after you meet with Emhyr, or come back to it later in case you forget.

2. Don’t Ignore Places of Power

Places of Power continue to remain among the most important collectibles on the map, as visiting and meditating at each one gives Geralt a temporary buff at random, and a permanent free ability point that you can then use to get a build going quite quickly thanks to the new skill tree layouts.

White Orchard’s got six of them, and if you factor in all the potential fights and treasures you’re going to find along the way as you uncover them, you’re going to have quite a few skills and mutagens at your disposal by the time you’re done.

3. Check Quest Levels First

Remastered might have made Geralt faster in combat, but that’s no reason to bite off more than you can chew, especially in the early hours when he’s quite squishy and can go down in a few hits. You’re going to take damage in a fight no matter how good you are at dodging and parrying. Quen can only get you so far in terms of survivability.

It’s a good idea to use your Journal and the World Map’s new Quest filter to check on objectives on quests, and to look at whether the danger’s worth the time you take in trying to fulfil them. You could get away with a fetch-and-carry mission if you’re desperate for money or XP, but any quest where there’s a fight against enemies with red skulls against their health bars is a huge no-no until you find some good gear and abilities.

4. The Main Story Can Wait

Ciri isn’t going anywhere, at least until you find out everything about where she’s been and what she was up to across Velen, Novigrad, and Skellige. That leaves Geralt with a lot of time to chase down every little thing that catches his attention. It’s an open world design language that encourages you to take on as much as you can manage, and then some.

Some of the game’s best moments come from taking on Contracts to kill deadly monsters, or chasing down unique storylines for the supporting cast of characters, of whom there are many. At the very least, you’re going to want to take on a few Contracts so you can quickly rack up the Crowns you need to pay your way to Skellige. Anything above that value is a bonus and can be spent as you please.

5. Do Your Homework Before Fighting A Monster

Vesemir warns Ciri about the importance of knowledge in a Witcher’s line of work, and his words apply to Geralt as well. Sure, you can just weave and slash at a monster until you wear it down, but any blade master can manage that with the mutations, right?

You’re going to want to read up on anything that the monster is weak to, using those advantages to ensure the odds are ever in your favor. Moreover, you’re going to want to craft bombs of different varieties, as you need them to force some monsters out of hiding and to shut down any monster nests you find. An early Contract even requires you to use a bomb to lure the monster out of hiding for you to take it on.

6. Negotiate Your Fees

When you take on Contracts, one of the ways The Witcher 3 puts a unique twist on things is in the ability to negotiate how much you’re getting paid. Yes, things are hard all around in The Continent, but a Witcher’s gotta eat, right? You’re going to need a lot of Crowns if you plan to rock a legendary set of Witcher armor eventually, so getting as much as you can from your work is very important.

As a rule of thumb, going twenty to twenty-five crowns above what an NPC proposes should be safe to do, although you could always gauge their reactions and decide on a lower value if needed.

7. Dodge With Intent

Spamming attacks and dodges is only going to get you so far against tougher opponents, and using your dodges well is going to help you sustain your shields for when you actually make a mistake, while leaving you stamina to keep using your signs to turn the tide.

To that end, it’s a solid rule of thumb to wait out enemy attacks and dodge out of the way before responding with a counterattack. Try to position yourself at the flank or behind an enemy so they have to turn to you, which lets you get a few extra attacks or perhaps even a quick cast in before you go back to baiting attacks. Against human foes, parries end fights faster than dodges.

8.  Oils Are An Easy Advantage

Remember when we told you about your bestiary and the potential benefits it brings to any effort to bring down a vicious monster. Well, one of those benefits is that it highlights specific oils that a monster is weak to, and we can tell you that those do quite a bit of damage if they’re on your blade.

It’s definitely worth seeking out the ingredients you need to make them, and the good part is that there’s a dearth of information online if you run into any problems, given how long the game’s been around.

9. Craft Those Potions ASAP

You should consider crafting any new potions as early as you can manage, since any of them you have equipped automatically replenish in your inventory every time you meditate as long as you have the supplies for them. You’re going to be doing a lot of meditating anyway, so having the ones you need on hand at all times is never a bad thing.

Just like oils, these potions can confer advantages that could mean the difference between life and death in a hard encounter. There’s a reason the game pushes the mechanic not once, but twice, in the early game.

10. Upgrade Your Alchemy Recipes

It’s definitely worth seeking out the Enhanced and Superior variants of any potions or other mixtures you can concoct, improving on the effects they bestow in the process.

Potions and the like remain very useful well into the endgame, and having ones that are just better at what they do is going to make it quite easy for Geralt, no matter how formidable the challenge he faces currently is.

11. Grab Witcher Gear Early

The new revamped skill tree means that you can get working on a build quite early on in the game. To that end, it makes sense to check up on all the available Witcher armor pieces you can track down and see which one suits your playstyle best.

We’re particularly fond of the Viper set this time around, given how the Alchemy part of the new skill tree has a lot of cool stuff around poison builds, and the damage over time that you can trigger looks quite nifty. It’s a good idea to find a set you like and stick to it, investing in consistent upgrades over time while you play around with its looks using the new transmog function.

12. Buy Maps And Read Notice Boards

Maps and Notice Boards should be among the main things you chase down if you’re in a new area, as they often lead you to interesting quests, treasures, or points of interest. Notice Boards are a great place to begin looking for Contracts in the vicinity, and they can even send you towards other interesting quests like fistfights for you to take part in, or even races.

All of these activities are great sources of money and XP when you’re in a pinch, so it’s a great idea to do, as a Witcher does, and seek out some honest work from time to time. You’ll soon find you’ve got enough money to warrant a visit from a tax collector. No, we’re not kidding.

13. Repair Your Equipment Regularly

A Witcher’s blades are among his most potent tools, as is the armor that lets him absorb hits that would fell any mortal combatant. Keeping your gear in fighting shape is a huge part of succeeding, and you’re going to want to stock up on repair kits to use out in the field when there’s no blacksmith for miles in any direction.

You could also turn off the damage system using the newly added accessibility feature, but we can’t see ourselves on The Path without taking the time to maintain our weapons and armor as we go about our business.

14. Manage Your Capacity

Like many open worlds, you’re encouraged to loot anything that isn’t nailed down in the game, although you want to be discreet about it if there are others around to call you out on the habit. However, that means your inventory is going to fill up quite quickly if you’re not careful.

Investing in saddlebags for Roach and making effective use of your Stash whenever you can access it is going to save you a lot of trouble from moments where you’re forced to drop a few things or have Geralt walk along at an agonizingly slow pace until you can find a merchant to sell off some stuff.

15. Save Often, and Smartly

It’s a good idea to manually save your game before you trigger an important conversation, as things are quite unpredictable in The Continent, and something you say could easily lead to consequences you didn’t account for.

Save scumming is definitely a strategy in a title where the results of your choices could mean a very grim fate for a character you care about, and things can even unfold after many hours of playing other quests. Having the option to try turning things around is definitely welcome, especially if you’re only planning one playthrough of the game from start to finish.

And that’s a wrap on our tips to make your time in The Continent a lot smoother than when we first set out of White Orchard. We hope you enjoy your time in that world as much as we did, and perhaps even have more success as a new Witcher thanks to our sage advice.