Pre-order here

• US: preorder console for $519.99 at Nintendo
• US: preorder console for $519.99 at Best Buy
• US: preorder console for $519.99 at Target
• UK: Check console stock at Nintendo
• Aus: Preorder console at Nintendo for $799.95

We anticipate the console to be in extremely high demand, not only as the first proper special edition Nintendo Switch 2 to hit the market but also thanks to its status as a tie-in with one of Nintendo's biggest franchises.

It's also an absolute stunner, with special green Joy-Con 2 controllers, a gold and black dock, and loads of little details sure to delight Zelda fans.

The Nintendo Switch 2 – The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition system officially launches on October 29, 2026, and pre-orders are now going live at various retailers. Customers in the US and Australia can already place one at the official Nintendo Store, suggesting that other regions and retailers will follow suit soon.

We've put this page together to help you get your hands on the console the second it goes up to buy — plus links to pick up the matching Nintendo Switch 2 Controller and the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake to go alongside it.

The Legend of Zelda: 40th Anniversary Edition console preorders — US

• Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder at the Nintendo Store
• Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder at Best Buy
• Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder at Target

The Legend of Zelda: 40th Anniversary Edition controller preorders — US

• Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder at the Nintendo Store
• Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder soon at Best Buy

The Legend of Zelda: 40th Anniversary Edition console preorders — UK

• Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: check stock at the Nintendo Store
• Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: check stock at the Nintendo Store
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: check stock at the Nintendo Store

The Legend of Zelda: 40th Anniversary Edition console preorders — Australia

• Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder at the Nintendo Store for $799.95
• Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder at the Nintendo Store for $149.95
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: preorder now for $109.95

Miss the anniversary live stream? You can check out the video-on-demand version below or keep scrolling for some top questions answered.

FAQ

Just as Sony begins the somber funeral procession for physical games media, some modders aren’t taking it lying down. This includes the team behind the RPCS3 PlayStation 3 emulator, who just made it possible to play PS3 discs on a much wider range of computing hardware — provided you hit a few technical requirements.

This feature was previously available to Windows RPCS3 gamers, but thanks to the work of developers digant73 and Megamouse, the emulator can now support physical games media on macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD.

What’s more, this change unlocks the option to play discs on modded consoles, with replies to the announcement discussing the options to boot up PS3 discs on Linux-powered PS4 and PS5 hardware.

The change was announced on social media with the team celebrating that games launched as far back as 2006 should now be playable with the hardware in your home. Though the 'plug and play' promise isn’t quite as simple in reality.

A few steps

Of course you’ll need a decent PC for this to work, though you could get away with a pretty ancient model if you need to. The minimum settings require an Nvidia GTX 400 series or newer GPU (released all the way back in 2010), so any modern desktop or laptop released in the last 15 years should be fine.

You’ll also need a disc drive. For advice I’d suggest checking out the RPCS3 Quickstart guide for the models the team recommend and know work.

Lastly there’s some software stuff you’ll need to organize like getting the emulator installed, downloading PS3 system software to your PC, and a decryption key to be able to read the disc on the fly rather than needing to dump it onto your PC first. For that last one, you’ll need to use a community-made database.

The process is fairly simple with the RPCS3 guide. If you do hit any snags, there are forums and Reddit threads full of people who have likely had your issue before and found a solution already.

At a time when companies like Sony are doubling down on anti-physical gaming measures, while clarifying that digital games aren’t owned — merely licensed — efforts like this are a reminder that access to games still matters, and can be maintained if you’re dedicated enough.

This will make it much easier for people to play the classic PS3 collection they still hold dear, and make it easier for this era of gaming history to be catalogued, preserved and played for years to come.

Nintendo just gave us a closer look at the upcoming Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in a special presentation to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the series, and at the same time, confirmed the release date.

The big news for collectors, though, is that the first run of the physical edition will feature special textured foil packaging, so here's where you can secure your sparkly copy with a preorder ahead of release on November 5.

The official store has already opened them up in the US and Australia (sorry, UK), and several other retailers also have preorders available in those regions. I'm keeping an eye on other stores now and will add them as soon as I spot any more availability.

And while it's extremely unlikely that this will sell out ahead of launch, given that the special cover is limited to this initial print run, it's best to be safe if you want to add a copy to your collection.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time preorders — US quick links

• Nintendo Store: preorder now for $69.99
• Amazon: preorder now for $69.99
• Walmart: preorder now for $59.98
• Best Buy: preorder now for $69.99
• GameStop: preorder now for $69.99
• Target: check stock

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time preorders — UK quick links

• Nintendo Store: awaiting stock
• Amazon UK: check stock
• Currys: check stock
• Argos: check stock
• Very: check stock

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time preorders — AU quick links

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: preorder now for $109.95
• Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder at the Nintendo Store
• Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller — The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition: preorder at the Nintendo Store

As for the limited-edition Nintendo Switch 2 console and Pro Controller that were announced during the livestream, preorders for both of those have now started in some regions as well, ahead of the launch on October 29. Stick with our coverage through the link above for live updates on availability.

Are you suddenly being offered an Xbox Game Pass subscription at a lower price than standard? According to Reddit, some users are being shown discounts of up to 30% for 12 months, and there are a few theories as to why.

In a photo uploaded to the platform, one user shared the subscription screen featuring an unusual promotion — an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for just $16.09 a month (down from the usual $22.99 monthly fee).

The screen states that the discount will last for an entire year unless the user chooses to cancel their membership early. "Been looking for an annual subscription for years," the poster wrote. "$16.09 a month for one year Ultimate. I'll take it."

Interestingly, not everyone is being shown the same discount, and if you head to the Xbox website right now, chances are you'll see the standard $22.99 rate.

This would suggest that the promotion is being dynamically awarded to accounts that fulfil certain criteria, and many commenters were keen to share their theories.

"If you log in to a secondary account on your Xbox, one that doesn't pay for Game Pass, then you will see an offer like this," posed one. "My offer was $18 something for 12 months, so I'm guessing they're doing some kind of dynamic pricing BS."

"I am on and off Game Pass a lot," the original poster went on to explain in the comments, suggesting that this promotion is being used to bring back lapsed subscribers.

"You won’t see any kind of reduced monthly offer while subbed," someone else added in a different comment thread.

Xbox Game Pass has had a tumultuous time recently, with its price only recently reduced following a string of hikes. According to analysts, the decision to briefly add day-one Call of Duty games to the service was expensive, but 'did not lead to a significant increase in Xbox console sales or even subscriptions.'

We'll likely see more efforts like this to boost subscriber numbers in the future.

The Legend of Zelda Movie's official title has been revealed — and it breaks a long-standing tradition for the incredibly popular Nintendo video game series.

Announced today (September 8) during the September 2026 Nintendo Direct, the forthcoming film's full name is — drumroll, please — The Legend of Zelda.

Okay, so Nintendo and film studio partner Sony Pictures won't be winning any creativity awards for that name. That said, it's a clean, subtitle-less name that's not only fitting for the game franchise's forthcoming big-screen debut, but also an homage to the series' first-ever entry — that being, the identically-titled 1986 game The Legend of Zelda.

The movie adaptation's title is even more appropriate when you consider that the beloved game series is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, too. The aforementioned game is the only one that doesn't have a subheading, either, so it makes sense why Nintendo would want to honor one of its longest-running series by giving it the same name as the game that started it all.

As much as I was hoping for an actual teaser and/or more official cast reveals — right now, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth's Link and Bo Bragason's Zelda are the only characters confirmed to appear — I might not have to wait too long for those wishes to be granted.

Indeed, speaking during today's dedicated Legend of Zelda Direct, Nintendo President Shigeru Miyamoto said "We'll share more details at a later date". Hopefully, there'll be another Nintendo Direct before the end of 2026 that lifts the lid on its cast and plot, and finally gives us some footage to pore over.

It's been a while since Nintendo revealed anything new about this flick. Apart from Ainsworth and Bragason's casting in May 2025, the release of The Legend of Zelda Movie's first official images last September, and confirmation of The Legend of Zelda Movie's revised release date in May, the Japanese video game titan has been tight-lipped on its next film offering for some time.

That's not to say there haven't been leaks. Just last month, reports emerged that The Legend of Zelda Movie had found its Ganondorf and Impa, with the former being played by an unlikely choice. Meanwhile, the late Sam Neill is also seemingly set for one final big-screen outing — the Jurassic Park star and Yvonne Strahovski being linked with supporting roles in one of 2027's most anticipated new movies. Let's hope Nintendo has the courage and wisdom to tell us more shortly.

The Legend of Zelda Movie will launch in theaters worldwide on April 30, 2027. In the meantime, find out everything else we know so far about The Legend of Zelda Movie.

As you've no doubt seen, modders have been having a field day messing about with Nvidia's DLSS 5, and the latest experiments include a trick to boost performance in a big way, and a method of easily running the tech in a lot more games.

Let's start with the latter, which as TweakTown reports is the DLSS 5 Swapper app which appeared on GitHub courtesy of developer Rakan Alkhaldi.

This takes the pain out of having to manually fudge DLSS 5 to work in unsupported games by automating the process, adding all the required files in the blink of an eye. You just drag and drop the game folder into the app, and it takes care of everything from there.

Swapper can even detect games on the PC it's installed on which can have DLSS 5 modded in. Not every game is supported, of course, but plenty are — and any given title doesn't necessarily have to have DLSS support at all, in any form (this is achieved via another community mod called DLSS 5 Feeder which is included with Swapper).

A similar tool, DLSS 5 Autopilot, published by 'Kizzuwatnaa' and also on Github, offers one-click DLSS 5 setup (via Feeder) along with an additional trick in the form of the 'neural upstream' add-on (from 'matiasLombo'). This runs the neural rendering (AI) process before the DLSS upscaling happens.

Normally, the AI polishing that DLSS 5 applies is performed as the last step of the rendering process to the upscaled final frame, but if you choose this option with Autopilot, it's happening earlier in the chain of events.

Based on experiments detailed on Reddit (posted by ToxicFatee), this makes a major difference to performance. The Redditor has an RTX 4080, and ran Assassin's Creed Shadows at 4K which went from 63 frames per second (fps) to 31fps with DLSS 5, but it was around 50fps with the neural upstream take on DLSS 5. That's a 20% loss, and a far more palatable hit on the frame rate rather than it being cut in half.

Others have aired similar results on Reddit, and there's plenty of excitement about what's being achieved with this mod (and the automated implementation of DLSS 5 across all manner of games). As one Redditor put it: "Absolutely amazing time to be a PC gamer."

Analysis: tread carefully with unofficial mods

All these latest developments with modding are great to see, but for me, it ends at just seeing this progress. By which I mean I wouldn't advise jumping in and installing these kinds of mods – as wonderful as they seem – and I'm content to merely observe, and see the frame rates and visual results, that others are getting. And we aren't short of these observations of late.

Why do I take that view? Well, for starters, I'm not keen on installing third-party software from unknown sources as a rule, because of the concerns around security that this involves. Granted, these are open-source tools (so can be checked over), and I'm sure they're on the proverbial level; but nevertheless, I'd still rather be careful around the risks of viruses and the like.

The second note of caution here pertains to the idea of messing with the rendering pipeline in terms of having DLSS 5 applied earlier in the process (with the Autopilot mod). This will likely involve image degradation or artifacts to some extent — or generally messing with the graphics more than Team Green intended — and I'm sure if this really was a genuinely better way of doing things, Nvidia would've used this route itself. As per observations on Reddit, there does appear to be a quality trade-off for the improved performance here.

All that said, perhaps there will be some kind of official option along these 'performance or quality' lines in the future, as some gamers are already hoping. However, DLSS 5 is, for now, officially designed to work with just one supported title, NBA 2K27, and it does an excellent job with that basketball game.

The Scuf Valor Wired is a mid-range wired PC and Xbox controller. It’s actually the second controller to bear this moniker, with the previous version equipped with the less-sensitive Hall-effect thumbsticks rather than the TMR ones here. But is a wired controller worth the investment right now, when there are so many cheap wireless alternatives to pick from?

Despite its mid-market price, the Valor Wired feels suitably premium in the hand. Thanks to its lightly textured grips and thumbsticks, I always felt like I had a firm grasp on it, even with sweaty palms during particularly stress-filled FPS tournaments. I also love the silky-smooth plastic of its faceplate, while the Smoke colorway I tested looked gorgeous, with its translucent gray body and orange highlights.

The Valor Wired isn't a poser, though: many of its features equal those of the best Xbox controllers on the market, even if it can’t fully eclipse them.

Rocking the TMR thumbsticks more usually seen in premium pads, the Valor Wired won’t succumb to stick drift and should prove more sensitive than Hall-effect alternatives. Meanwhile, its dual-mode shoulder triggers allow you to switch between full-range analog movement and clicky micro-switches — sadly, they’re not quite as sensitive as the more premium TMR triggers of some pads — and provide discrete vibrations from the grips for more immersive gameplay. Remappable back buttons deliver plenty of options for in-game shortcuts, although I’d rather its face buttons were of the faster micro-switch variety than the more spongy ones here.

Many of these inputs are customizable in Scuf’s flexible and easy-to-use companion app, available for both Windows and Xbox. Whipping up personal profiles for shooting and racing games took barely any time at all — I was able to tweak dead zones and set custom curves based on my needs, as well as remap buttons to suit my requirements. Saving my preferred profiles to one of three slots on the controller was simple, and I could rapidly flip between them in-game with a single press of a button.

But how does all of this translate to performance? Pretty efficiently, it turns out.

Not only do those TMR thumbsticks offer better durability, but they felt sensitive and responsive, delivering great control over the steering wheel in Forza Horizon 6. I’m already fully converted to the benefits of dual-mode triggers, and they’re fantastic here, enabling me to fire off effective parries in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, even if it wasn’t quite as snappy as on my more premium Asus ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless. And the separate rumble function in the triggers is a fun addition, even if I wouldn’t say it's a revolution in immersion.

And those custom profiles I created definitely seemed to have a material impact on my performance. With its dynamic response curves and trimmed dead zones for the triggers, my racing profile felt like it offered more granular control over the gas and brake pedals, enabling me go from seventh in some races to first place. Meanwhile, aggressive trigger curves in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 made squeezing off headshots faster — although not quite as fast as when using the triggers’ micro-switch mode.

All things being equal, the Scuf Valor Wired is a strong PC and Xbox controller. Its TMR thumbsticks, dual-mode triggers, and sheer customizability are impressive. Its lack of wireless connectivity, TMR triggers, and micro-switch buttons stop it from being truly top-tier, though. Having said that, it's the price that makes it truly compelling. Getting so many features in a pad for $89.99 / £69.99 / AU$179.99 is fantastic, even if that means sacrificing the flexibility of wireless connectivity and the most premium features.

Scuf Valor Wired review: price & availability

• Launched on March 31, 2026
• Available from $89.99 / £69.99 / AU$179.99

Released on March 31, 2026, the Scuf Valor Wired is available now. While its list price is $99.99 / £94.99 / AU$179.99, we're already seeing reductions in some markets, seeing it go down to $89.99 / £69.99 in the US and UK.

Rather than a bunch of different versions for different platforms, the one-size-fits-all Scuf Valor Wired is just for Xbox and PC, so if you’re a PlayStation gamer this isn't for you.

On the plus side, it's available in a huge range of colorways — from the ash-colored body and orange detailing of the Light Grey to the red-and-black, dragon-bedecked Prosperity. Plus, removable face plates mean you can purchase multiple colorways to switch things up when you fancy a new look.

Scuf Valor Wired review: specs

Scuf Valor Wired review: Design & features

As soon as I got my hands on the Scuf Valor Wired, I was struck by how comfortable it is to hold. It’s pleasingly ergonomic, perfectly tailored to the shape of my palms, and using it feels effortless even over longer gaming sessions. The satin-smooth finish of its faceplate is wonderfully tactile, too, giving a distinctly premium vibe despite its mid-market price.

While I don’t always love coarser textures for controller grips, the hexagonal print on the rubber here meant the Valor Wired had decent traction in my hands. On top of this, the light texturing on its triggers and around its stock thumbsticks prevents either feeling slippery, even during the sweatiest shootouts I encountered while playing FPS games.

But the Valor Wired tickled more of my senses than touch alone. Visually, I’d say it’s a knockout — I legit love the translucent charcoal casing and orange highlights of the Smoke colorway I tested here. If that isn't your cup of tea, there are plenty of alternative options, such as the sakura-bedecked Cherry Blossom or the cyberpunk-coded purple and magenta Respawn. And if you’re perennially indecisive like me, its faceplate is easily removable, meaning you can buy a bunch of options to switch out depending on your mood on a given day.

Let’s talk inputs. Probably the most immediate attention grabber is its thumbsticks. Unlike Scuf’s previous Valor Wired controller, this incarnation comes with TMR sticks, rather than Hall-effect ones. So not only can you breathe easy knowing your controller won’t eventually succumb to the dreaded stick drift, but it should also offer far better sensitivity, more granular tracking, and better centering.

Like some of the more premium pads on the market, each of the Valor Wired’s triggers has a toggle that allows you to switch between full-range analog movement and micro-switches, giving you more rapid response for games such as shooters. While these aren’t the super-precise TMR triggers you’ll see on controllers such as the ROG Raikiri II, they do have their own discrete rumble function, which at least promises to add to the in-game immersion.

Perhaps a little less premium-feeling are the Valor Wired’s buttons. I’ll admit it took me a while to warm up to snappier micro-switch face buttons on my controllers, but now I find that the spongier buttons featured on this pad feel a bit less precise.

On the plus side, the mappable back buttons trigger with a satisfying click. However, their horizontal arrangement is a little unorthodox, forcing you to hold the pad in a certain way. When I rested just my index fingers on the pad’s triggers, the rest of my digits naturally found their way to these switches — but if you prefer to double up your index and middle fingers on the shoulder buttons and triggers, activating these switches feels more awkward. A vertical alignment would make the pad feel a little more grip-agnostic.

An equally novel — but definitely less controversial — design decision Scuf has made here is to include two distinct volume controls on either side of the 3.5mm headphone jack, one for controlling the volume of your mic and the other for in-game sound.

Admittedly, I don’t play a lot of online games — a skill issue more than a lack-of-friends issue — but I can absolutely still see the appeal here for those who do. Despite the fact that both dials are lightly notched, I’d say they still feel a little loose to offer super-precise control. Fortunately, though, their position at the base of the controller means you’re unlikely to knock them accidentally, so this is unlikely to cause you too much stress during day-to-day use.

So that’s it as far as hardware goes. But what about software?

Honestly, the Scuf Valor companion app is very strong. Not only is it easy to download and use on both PC and Xbox, but it also delivers a lot of granular control over various settings on the Valor Wired, which you can then save to custom profiles. You can remap all of its inputs, customize trigger and thumbstick curves and dead zones, and tweak the intensity of trigger or grip vibration. Once you’ve saved the resulting profile, you can then save it to one of three slots on the pad as either red, green, or blue.

Switching between these profiles on-the-fly is super easy. Any time I wanted to change to a different profile, I just had to tap the profile button on the back to cycle through them. Reaching this button can sometimes feel like a bit of a stretch — but, being charitable, this might be an intentional move on Scuf's part to reduce the risk of an accidental knock in the midst of a heated gun battle.

All things considered, the Scuf Valor Wired is well-featured and designed for its price. It may not come with cutting-edge tech such as TMR triggers or micro-switch face buttons, and — spoiler alert — it’s not wireless. But in return for sacrificing a few of those premium features, you get a seriously solid spec for a much lower price. So where’s the downside?

Scuf Valor Wired review: performance

Well, a major downside would be that the features the Scuf Valor Wired offers don’t translate to great performance. Fortunately, this isn't the case — while it can’t quite compete with the best Xbox and PC controllers I’ve ever used, it still does a pretty decent job.

First off, let’s start with those TMR thumbsticks. Not only did their action feel nice and smooth, but they rapidly spring back to their dead zone, making gentle steering corrections in Forza Horizon 6 a breeze. And thanks to that superior sensing tech, their responsiveness really wowed me, always feeling smooth and in control.

In addition, the discrete trigger vibration delivered some decent additional feedback for racing titles, offering a bit of haptic response as my tires locked when drifting around corners. I wouldn’t expect too much here, though — we’re not talking about a PlayStation DualSense level of immersive haptic feedback; it’s not going to substantially up the realism.

In my mind, there’s only one game that provides a worthy test of how responsive shoulder triggers can be: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Using the analog triggers, parrying attacks from new enemies could still be punishingly difficult, but after switching them to micro-switch mode, I found the Catapult Sakapatate's cannon attack in the Endless Night Sanctuary much easier to rebuff. That said, during some of the game's more complex combos, I still found myself flailing around like strips of flypaper glued to an electric drill, suggesting these triggers aren’t quite as responsive as some of the TMR options on the market.

But I wasn’t satisfied simply testing the Valor Wired’s stock settings. I wanted to get to the nitty-gritty of how you can really customize the controller to suit your play style. So I whipped up a couple of custom profiles: a Racing profile and my Pew Pew! profile (FPSes, for anyone with an emotional age of more than eight).

Trying out the pad’s default profile in Forza Horizon 6, I found I was regularly finishing center of the pack. Basically the only way I could keep control of my 2022 Toyota GR86 was to feather the accelerator approaching the bends, then pump the brake trigger to prevent my wheels from locking. But once I’d activated my Racing profile with reduced trigger dead zones and dynamic response curves, it was far easier to reduce the throttle in a controlled way before easing on the brakes for far more controlled drifts. After this, I happily netted several first-place spots on the podium.

By contrast, for my tailor-made profile for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, I remapped the faceplate buttons to the rear paddles and stuck the triggers to an aggressive response curve. While it took some getting used to, the remapped controls made it easy to control the in-game action without ever taking my thumb off the stick. By contrast, the sharper trigger curve made a small difference, but it was switching on the Valor Wired’s micro-switches that really helped me click some heads.

And the nicest part about all of this is how easy it was to tweak these settings on the fly. My chief complaint about my beloved ROG Raikiri II is that I can’t access its Gear Link software on Xbox, meaning I have to fire up my PC whenever I want to tweak a setting. By contrast, updating my settings or swapping out the profile saved to the controller here was easy to do on either platform — I simply had to switch to the app mid-game, edit and save my profiles, and then I could leap back into the action.

Ultimately, the Scuf Valor Wired offers great performance. On many fronts, it comes close to many premium controllers in its performance, feeling highly responsive and customizable. While a physical umbilical cord connecting your pad to your console is a definite compromise, it’s one of the few sacrifices you have to make here to get snappy, pro-feeling performance without having to pay through the nose.

Should I buy the Scuf Valor Wired?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Scuf Valor Wired review: also consider

How I tested the Scuf Valor Wired

• Tested over four days
• Tried out on a range of platforms and games
• Many years experience writing about gadgets

I tested the Scuf Valor Wired over a long weekend. I tried it out on both my Xbox Series X and my gaming PC, as well as playing a range of games of different genres, including racing games, FPSes, and RPGs. I particularly focused on the sensitivity and responsiveness of the TMR thumbsticks, the triggers, and the buttons to see how they compared to other controllers.

To really test the Valor Wired’s capabilities, I customized its settings in multiple ways. I experimented with different dead zones, utilizing different response curves for its thumbsticks and triggers, saving them to multiple profiles to see how they impacted different styles of game. I also created various custom button mappings to gauge their impact on play.

Alongside working and writing about tech and gadgets for over seven years, I’ve been playing games all my life. I play across multiple platforms, on my desktop PC, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2, and Steam Deck.

• First reviewed: August 2026
• Read more about how we test

It ends up being diverting fun and well-priced for what it is, and gamers who loved the original (or perhaps loved games like it, such as Dragon Age: Origins) will enjoy the return to this sort of simple-but-satisfying gameplay loop of hitting orcs, looting gear, and upgrading your characters so they can hit orcs harder, faster, and for longer without falling over.

But while much of the game is fine, if not spectacular, it's a shame there are a few technical problems and deeper issues. Swapping between characters on-the-fly is novel, and there has been an effort to incorporate this into all aspects of gameplay. However, hot-swapping is obviously not quite what the original game intended, so there is some awkwardness here, while glitches and bugs sometimes mar the game at key points.

What about second Fellowship?

If you never played the old version, the basis of the game is this: as the Fellowship of the Ring embarks on their quest for Mount Doom, you play an adjacent, original party consisting of Eradan, a Dunedain ranger with all the skills of Aragorn; Farin, a dwarf warrior from the Lonely Mountain who looks an awful lot like Gimli with the serial numbers filed off; and Andriel, a Loremaster elf from Rivendell who can create magical blasts and forcefields.

Together, the 'other' Fellowship party chats with old friends like Aragorn, Arwen and Gandalf, visits familiar and new locations (book-readers will get a kick out of delving into the Barrow-Downs and fighting the famous Wights), and slices through hordes of orcs led by an evil man called Agandaûr, a fallen Numenorean like the Mouth of Sauron. Agandaûr is one of Sauron's trusted servants, one we've never heard of before or since.

So yes, it's all a bit fan-fictionesque, and it plays a lot like other action RPGs set in fantasy worlds, only this one takes the basic fantasy character set and plops them straight into Middle-Earth rather than a parallel-but-similar setting of elves, dwarves and dragons. It's even funnier when you get hold of special character weapon options, and you're controlling a random dwarf running around with legendary gear like Anduril or Sting. Dedicated Tolkien enthusiasts might find it a bit egregious, but it's all in the name of good fun and enabling the sort of repetitive hack-and-slash gameplay the genre is best at.

If you've played any other Lord Of The Rings games, whether the PlayStation 2's Return of the King or a more recent title like Middle-earth: Shadow of War, you'll be used to LOTR games taking these sorts of creative liberties. As a result, it works for what it is, and even as a die-hard hobbit-enjoyer I had fun scything through the dark lord's evil hordes and meeting characters never adapted like Elladan and Elrohir, Elrond's twin ranger sons.

Old game, new tactics

If you've played any action RPG, you'll know what to expect: you and your party are taking on wave after wave of mooks, weapons swinging with basic attacks, but you'll also trigger powerful maneuvers and spells that require cooldowns and replenishing a power meter, so tactical implementation of these moves is vital. Playing as Eradan, I would be skirting low on health and could use my disappearing skill, so I could make a break for it unharmed to Andriel's side, who can create a protective healing field. I'd quickly swap to Farin to unleash War Cry to up my party's health and durability.

It's this sort of synergy that creates tactical play beyond mashing light and heavy attacks until you see the 'Finish Him!' yellow triangle that pops up over an enemy's head. The ability to swap characters allows the quick-of-thumb to set up these combos without the use of the AI characters, who are otherwise competent enough to look after themselves and augment the main player. But you do need to be nimble, as the controls to do this are awkward on Switch: even ten hours in, I was accidentally drinking potions when I was trying to swap from elf to dwarf. Co-operative gameplay is available on most platforms (both online, in which you drop into someone else's game, and couch), but not on the original Switch.

There's a surprisingly steep learning curve once you learn the ropes: enemies come from all sides thick and fast, in numerous varieties, forcing you to switch from attack to defence, and then to ranged as explosive enemies approach, and implement your powers carefully.

You level up quickly too, and loot is plentiful, so there are plenty of regular rewards encouraging you to persevere through the samey waves of orcs and goblins, as PCs, enemies and environments begin to blend into various overlapping shades of brown and grey. I began the game thinking carefully about upgrading stats at each level, but after a while, I just pumped Stamina to keep myself alive while concentrating on that character's main attack stat, and that strategy seemed to work just fine too. I'm honestly not sure how much difference these RPG elements made.

Feeling thin, sort of stretched...

While a simple-but-satisfying gameplay loop, it's still very much of its time, and parts haven't aged well. The target lock-on can get tricky, and you'll occasionally find your character engaged in a long, sluggish animation, swinging their weapon at empty air while you cringe as you watch orcs running at you from behind.

Despite the hot-swapping feature and inclusion of each character's unique secret-finding ability (the dwarf, for example, can detect treasure hidden behind stone walls), the game is clearly still geared for a single-character experience. Ammo drops are still linked to the character you're playing at the time, so you might find you swap to a character without any ranged capacity. You'll also need to visit shops with each character in turn to do a proper gear comparison before buying new equipment, which is tedious.

Your health and power replenish slowly on their own, but once you've cleared an encounter, you're under no pressure to carry on. Occasionally, I found myself putting the controller down unpaused, heading off to make a cup of tea, and returning with my beverage to a rested, unmolested party at full health.

There's no sheathing weapons, so you'll occasionally be wandering around Bree or Rivendell, incongruously with swords drawn ready for action. There's also no jumping, which is fine on its own, but the frustration of encountering a chest-high wall and having to find a set of stairs is a sensation I've almost forgotten about, a relic of level design marred by the technology of the time.

Worst of all are the bugs, Aspyr's revamp of the game delivering fresh technical glitches alongside the improvements. These are quite common complaints on threads about WITN, and my experience was no different: from flashing inventory tiles to small areas of the map that caused my entire screen to flip to solid green. At one stage I was fighting blind, looking at chequered green flashes, while I could still hear Eradan's shouts of 'You face a Dunedan now!'

Others report platform-specific glitches, such as an 0KB save file problem on PlayStation 5.

The North Remembers

I think you already know if you want this game: you're either a Tolkien fiend who likes the idea of exploring and interacting with lesser-known locations and characters in an original story, a fantasy action RPG junkie, or you played the original and remember loving it. At the reduced price it's selling for, it's worth getting if you fit two out of three of the above criteria.

Personally, even though I'm as Tolkien-mad as they come and I've got no shortage of love for the RPG genre, I think The Lord Of The Rings: War In The North Legacy Edition is... fine. Serviceable. Enjoyable at times, but without much to set it apart from all the other games in the space, even back when it was first released, other than its LOTR wrapper and nostalgia goggles.

I liked my experience with the game, but I can't see myself going back to it once done. It's a poor man's bite of lembas compared to the previous generation's excellent Return of the King hack 'em up.

Should you play The Lord Of The Rings: War In The North Legacy Edition?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

WITN has limited accessibility features. Available languages are English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, and Polish. Four difficulty levels are available: Easy, Normal, Heroic and Legendary.

How I reviewed Lord of the Rings: War In The North Legacy Edition

I played Lord Of The Rings: War In The North Legacy Edition on my Nintendo Switch (generation 1) for 15 hours, trying each character's various combinations and progressing through the story mode. I used the Switch both in handheld mode and on my LG OLED TV. When I encountered glitches, I examined community pages and threads for similar reports.

First reviewed August 2026

Before, after Nvidia's initial DLSS 5 reveal in March, I was skeptical on some points, but I wasn't tearing holes in the idea like some gamers were. However, this week, we've seen a rapid shift in opinions and the general online sentiment around DLSS 5 — and I'm a good deal more excited about this AI trickery myself.

Indeed, I think there are a number of reasons to be hopeful that DLSS 5 could prove to be a compelling step forward for PC gaming, from Nvidia's clarification on support for GPUs, through to what modders have shown that the tech can achieve since it was leaked — some of which is truly eye-opening.

Here are my five reasons why Nvidia's incoming neural rendering model could turn out to be a very literal game-changer.

1. Nvidia has clarified that DLSS 5 won't just be for RTX 5000 GPUs

While DLSS 5 is currently only supported by RTX 5000 graphics cards — the tech went live this week in NBA 2K27 — Nvidia has confirmed that it will come to older GeForce GPUs. Indeed, we won't have to wait that long before wider support is ushered in, which is good news.

VideoCardz spotted an update from an Nvidia rep on Reddit which stated: "Our current focus is on optimizing performance for the GeForce RTX 50 Series with model updates expected later this fall. Once RTX 50 Series performance is more fully tuned, we plan to work on expanding official support to the GeForce RTX 40 Series."

So, we could be looking at early 2027 for work to begin on bringing DLSS 5 to RTX 4000 models — and possibly previous generations of GPUs will be in line for the same treatment. Modders have already got the tech working on RTX 3000 and 2000 models, after all — although the performance levels could well be the sticking point here.

At any rate, this puts paid to fears that DLSS 5 could remain locked to just the latest Nvidia RTX 5000 graphics cards.

2. Continual optimization should improve performance a good deal

I just touched on performance, and this is the area which has proved to be the biggest downer with the mentioned unofficial experiments that have been conducted with DLSS 5.

As Tom's Hardware observes, the performance hit with DLSS 5 is a nasty one, and it's generally causing a 40% to 50% drop in frame rates. In some reports, it's less than this (more like 30%), and what we have to remember is that all these unofficial figures are based on a pre-release version of DLSS 5 being fudged into play by modders.

The final version of DLSS 5 will likely provide better performance, and in any case, optimization is going to be high on Nvidia's list of priorities. I'd be surprised if there weren't major strides taken in this department as 2027 rolls around and more games are supported.

3. Experimental results with DLSS 5 are pretty incredible

Those modders playing with the leaked version of DLSS 5 have clearly shown us that this tech can be used to produce seriously impressive results. Of course, on the official front, the demo of NBA 2K27 at Gamescom 2026 proved the case that this AI-powered graphics uplift can work wonders, too.

That said, the benefits of DLSS 5 are situational to an extent, and it's not a silver bullet for making all graphics better. It really shines in certain use cases, though. For example, even if you don't want the main character models in a game to have the tech applied because you hate that idea, it can still make a huge difference to background details, and the likes of the faces of NPCs in the lurking atmospheric crowds which are the backdrop for open world games.

As one Redditor points out: "NPC crowd faces are one of the best use cases for it [DLSS 5]. It sometimes takes you out of the game when you're talking to a character model that's clearly been hand crafted with a lot of effort, and as you said then there's some janky smooth skinned ghoul walking by you lol. Watching an LTT [Linus Tech Tips] vid where they showed the difference in random NPCs was actually super impressive."

DLSS 5 can also transform lighting and shadows to make graphics look far more realistic, including character models — some of the results shared by modders in a megathread on Reddit make that crystal clear. I was blown away by some of these examples, frankly. When it works, DLSS 5 works really well — although it doesn't always come off.

That said, some of the wonkier examples that have been aired are down to modders being daft with the sliders and options on offer, which brings me onto my next point.

4. Tuning options are key for DLSS 5

As noted, some of the more stomach-churning moments from the various modders messing around with DLSS 5 have come from those folks ramping up the intensity of the sliders — sometimes intentionally just to provoke an anti-AI reaction.

There's a decent level of granular control over various aspects of what DLSS 5 does (including intensity, tone, and structure), and when a game developer properly tunes the tech for their particular release, the effect is going to be more subtle, appropriate, and in line with the overall art direction. (Well, hopefully — you'd assume this will be the case, anyway).

Used judiciously, it's clear enough that DLSS 5 can really enhance the visuals of a game — modders have proved that in some cases, and NBA 2K27 is a great official example of how this works, too.

Yes, it is very possible to get 'uncanny valley' kind of effects with character models if you're extravagantly flinging sliders up towards their maximum limits — and not every game's art or graphics style suits DLSS 5, by any means. But we come back to the last point — when it works, it really does work.

5. DLSS 5 will probably age like a fine wine (ahem)

My final point is a simple — but important — one. And okay, I've said this before, but I think it bears repeating. Rewind time back to when Nvidia revealed the original DLSS, the very first take on this tech that was purely about upscaling, and it had some quite pronounced flaws. Problems like blurriness, ghosting and artifacts proved a blight on the upscaled graphics, but these were issues that Nvidia resolved with the next iteration of the tech.

I'd expect there will be examples of DLSS 5 which show the visuals going off the rails in a similar kind of way, although it already looks off to a far better start than DLSS 1. The point being that whatever we think now, at launch, may change quite drastically in a year or two, and there's a genuine potential for DLSS 5 to be revolutionary in polishing up gaming graphics — albeit that caveats around its misuse and situational nature aren't going to go away.

As a standalone spin-off, it delivers the first full-length first-person Silent Hill experience that was the initial promise of the cancelled Silent Hills meant to be directed by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro (though its playable teaser 'P.T.' ultimately became a horror classic in its own right).

Its setting in the fictional Scottish town of St. Amelia couldn't be more perfect, given that the series is iconic for its fog, which actually occurs on the Scottish east coast when warm air passes over the cold North Sea during the summer and can make its way inland.

And who better to realise this vision than Screen Burn Interactive, the Glasgow-based developer whose acclaimed games Stories Untold and Observation (released back when the studio was known as No Code) were also experienced in the first-person perspective?

Yet despite the authenticity of its setting, the Scottish studio has opted not to feature Scottish-sounding characters in its main cast, unlike the BAFTA-winning Still Wakes The Deep. Protagonist Simon Ordell, played by British-American actor Jovan Adepo, is something of an outsider who has been instructed by a mysterious voice to come to St. Amelia to "make it right" — whatever “it” may be.

Make it right

For the Gamescom demo, things certainly start off not quite right. Simon arrives at the town's harbor not by boat, but simply emerging from the water. Judging by the red wristband with his personal details on one hand and tubes connected to the other (like he’s escaped from a hospital), something's clearly up with him too.

St. Amelia, meanwhile, is a ghost town, as evident by the sight of abandoned shops as well as one street lined with 'house for sale' signs. If you get a creeping fear that this might be one of those indie games from over a decade ago when you just walked around in a photorealistic area in the aftermath of the actual story, it’s instantly resolved by the ringing coming from a nearby public phone box just past the town square.

It goes dead when I pick it up. I survey possible numbers to ring and go with “100,” which tells you to "save yourself" (and is literally how you save progress in this game).

Back in the town square, I spot an upright man being fed some kind of fluid coming from a tube seemingly attached to the sky above. As Simon instinctively goes to free him, his voice is familiar — it's the voice from the beginning calling out to Simon to "make it right". When I next return to the square, things have changed again, with protest banners and placards alluding to a crime that had occurred that may be linked to a company with the acronym 'CEG'.

As eerie, enigmatic, and atmospheric as this beginning is, it also feels a bit aimless. There were several occasions during my session when I was still slowly plodding around St. Amelia's streets, only to discover doors that were locked, and the option to sprint had not yet been unlocked.

It turns out this is because I had overlooked a few key numbers I could have called on the phone. Whereas some games can be overzealous in marking the critical with yellow paint, Screen Burn seems quite content with letting you get literally lost in its world, even if that might make for an even slower burn than intended…

Tactile horrors

If there was one consistent thing about Silent Hill: Townfall, it's that you really do have to pay attention to every detail. That is, fortunately, the benefit of the first-person perspective: you can really scrutinize all the flyers displayed on a community noticeboard without having to bring up a larger text box.

There's also a real physicality to the clues and equipment you have access to, such as a double-sided map you have to hold and flip over manually rather than just bringing up a map UI. The most tactile of these is the CRTV, a portable television that you can tune using the analogue triggers.

So you're not completely lost, a couple of markers do appear at the bottom to hint at the signal you should be tuning towards. Once you get a video clip, it's about carefully scrutinising the image, often waiting for it to loop back, as a hint of what you need to find next or where to go.

Not that these hints will spell it out for you. In one case, I was supposed to look for a white house, which is not the most obvious clue when most of the houses in St. Amelia's streets have white walls.

The CRTV also has another function, as it can be tuned to detect enemies nearby. Even if they're obscured by walls, their outlines can still be made out through noise and static. Alternatively, you can also hold another button along with the left stick to peek around corners.

Even though I only encountered a couple of enemies during my hands-on, which stay true to Silent Hill convention as nightmarish deformed figures with uncanny movements, combat remains a clunky aspect of the game, made no better or worse in first-person. This made it more important for me to prioritise evasion as a tactic.

But from what I managed to play at Gamescom, it's the unsettling vibes that resonate strongest over hostile threats, such as the dread of what could be in a locked box that's meant for carrying human organs, or an extremely Scottish puzzle that involves having to top up an electric meter with a prepaid card from a newsagent.

Having moved to Glasgow under two years ago into a newly renovated tenement building that nonetheless still had one of these relics in the cupboard, it was a moment when Silent Hill: Townfall's mundane horror became a little too real. That's also sure to make this unlike any other Silent Hill game I have played.

Silent Hill: Townfall releases for PlayStation 5 and PC on September 24, 2026.

Upcoming grand strategy game Afterworld is all about building your own society in a post-apocalyptic North America, and, like other games by developer Paradox Interactive, it offers an incredible level of freedom to run things the way you want.

In a recent interview with TechRadar Gaming, director Dan Lind opened up about some of the emergent possibilities that players might encounter as they build their own stories in the wasteland.

"A lot of it will come from the kind of things that you have to adapt your society to," he began. "One story could be like, 'oh, I found like this huge colony of only the elderly or something, and I took them in, and we worked with a lot of tech that meant people lived for a long time, but they're not able to contribute work-wise, and society is struggling...

"So now we figure out ways where they can, say, jump off cliffs at a certain age for the betterment of everybody, or something like that, right? The story becomes 'whoa, how did you end up there? Why do you have this kind of society? Well, it was because this thing happened and I had to make this thing illegal, so nobody could use this resource, and now we're all vegetarians or something. Those are the kind of stories I think you're going to get from this."

In addition to managing your own civilization, Afterworld also has you interacting with those ruled by others — including powerful, ancient tyrants who run large swathes of the wasteland and can subjugate you with military might.

"I also think you're going to get interesting stories when it comes to the big political space where it's like, 'well, I decided to betray this tyrant in this way, so now I have to manage all of New York' or something like that."

Lind said he thinks that the stories players create will make for perfect water-cooler conversation, and went on to reveal that the game won't prevent you from doing evil things like cannibalism or selling members of your society to other groups.

"One of the rules that we have is that we shouldn't judge the player for their terrible choices," he explained. "The game will, for sure, in the sense that your population is not gonna necessarily just like you doing terrible things.... Unless you have a terrible population. Maybe you managed to get them to that point, or you found some people like that.

"This [freedom] is definitely where I see the game sticking out a little bit. It's expected of the setting, right? People don't expect people to behave normally and with a moral code in the apocalypse [...] but as you develop, you can take it in different directions. There's certainly an advantage to having a society that is not doing too many crazy things if you want to grow."

The director went on to say that he's "super excited" to see what players manage to achieve when Afterworld arrives: "For all our games, that's the fun part. Someone's like, 'Whoa, you did that! That's crazy!' Right?"

The recently revealed Afterworld stands apart from the rest of the recent Paradox Games portfolio. It's the studio's first title in a decade to take place in an original fictional setting, this time post-apocalyptic North America, rather than a real-world historical one.

The game is being directed by studio veteran Dan Lind, who has been working at Paradox for almost twenty years. He started out on Europa Universalis 3, working his way up to eventually become game director of the supremely popular Hearts of Iron 4 — a massive-scale WW2 sim.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at the company's Stockholm HQ, Lind explained that not being tied down by history allows for a whole new level of "design freedom."

"I worked for like 15 years on just Hearts of Iron and history, so you want to do something different," he said. "That was a big motivator."

He also thinks that Afterworld, which features a map based on just part of one country rather than a chunk of the globe, will be able to fill a specific niche in Paradox's offering.

"Looking at our games, I think there's a niche in between a couple of them that we're not tapping," he explained.

"I think there's another different, fresh grand strategy game experience that you can have at a bit of a smaller scale, but with more detail basically. Also having worked with 'crunchy' games such as Hearts of Iron, I wanted to see if we could find a way to make the game easier for people to get into."

He continued: "It's kind of a bit 4X like this, and you can start scaling the mechanics over time. It makes it so much easier, right? It's hard to do that with a historical setting, unless you're doing something like a migration era, but this game can also tap a lot of those ideas."

He also revealed the surprising origin of his pitch for the game, which he's wanted to bring to life for over two decades.

"I think the first draft for this was super long ago. I'm not sure; it might have been like 2011 or something," he began. "We used to do these brainstorms at the pub, where the idea was to just come up with a bunch of games."

The team would sift through all of them at the end of the night, deciding which were "a terrible idea" and which were "actually an interesting idea."

"This was a good idea. I had one that was playing DNA chains through primordial soup, which we rejected, but this one was something that was pretty cool.

"I've always believed that you could do grand strategy games at slightly different scales. It doesn't always have to be big; the entire world. It can be just as interesting, but you've got to add details in the other direction as well.

At that point, it was a different scale. It was even smaller; I would say it was maybe the size of three states or something like that. When I was working on Hearts of Iron and a bunch of other stuff, I always had this in the back pocket as something I wanted to try and get back to."

Naturally, the idea evolved over time as Lind became "more and more interested in things that were...less board game, more simulation," leading to the current scale and focus on deep societal simulation.

"Now I'm shifting it more to groups of people, but not country level."

Afterworld is set to launch for PC in the future.

Why? Well, let's start with the concept. In the game, courier Sam must reconnect a broken America after an apocalyptic event merged the worlds of the living and the dead. Add in distributor A24 and the man who directed Pig and The Death of Robin Hood — which is now in UK cinemas after its June US release — and you've surely got gold.

However, there's one immediate snag. While we don't know much, we do know that the new movie won't follow the same premise as the existing Death Stranding games.

In fact, according to director Michael Sarnoski, not only is it a standalone movie, but will be made with a lot of creative freedom — and something about the way he explains this makes me nervous.

'I need the space to find authorship and find the things that I really believe in'

"I actually like to make things difficult for myself," Sarnoski tells me. "I like to do projects where the initial instinct is 'Oof, that could be a really bad idea.' Another Robin Hood movie? A prequel to a horror franchise? I like things where it could be easy to miss the mark."

This in itself is a concerning statement. I prefer it when my movie directors don't go into an adaptation thinking that things could potentially go horribly wrong. Whatever happened to positive mental attitude?

"I like the challenge," he continues. "I like finding the humanity in things that otherwise could not work. On Death Stranding, they're giving me a lot of freedom to tell the story that I want to tell separate from the core video game stories. It's its own standalone thing. I need the space to find authorship and find the things that I really believe in... I'm really excited about it."

Playing devil's advocate here, creative freedom could be a good thing. If fans expect a movie to replicate its original source material exactly, nobody ends up winning. But with so few details to go on, we've got to keep our fingers crossed that good decisions are made in the meantime.

But is Sarnoski concerned about appealing to existing fanbases, or is he happy to stick to his guns? "A little bit of both," he responds. "I feel the pressure, but I have to set that aside and focus on what creatively excites me. I can't make stuff as a reaction to what I think someone else wants — it has to come from a place of love and fascination."

Make of that what you will, folks... and watch this space.

Set in the studio's first original setting in a decade, it takes you to a post-apocalyptic vision of North America as one of a handful of possible groups faced with rebuilding life amid the ruins or tearing what's left of society further apart.

Paradox's most popular releases truly put the 'grand' in 'grand strategy' — with the likes of World War 2 wargame Hearts of Iron 4 offering complex systems that replicate everything from economics to supply chains, unit management, politics, and diplomacy on a daunting global scale.

They give you all the tools you need for tens, hundreds, or (for some players) even thousands of hours of immersive play, but only if you're willing to overcome a steep learning curve.

Sure, the games all have tutorials, but the amount of information you're bombarded with practically necessitates at least a few hours watching explanatory YouTube videos or consulting community guides if you're new to the genre.

Slow and steady

With Afterworld, however, Paradox aims to make its most approachable game yet.

Even so, director Dan Lind, who previously helmed Hearts of Iron 4, tells me that the upcoming release will still offer "some of the deepest simulation" we've seen from the studio yet.

"We're not really designing it much simpler," he adds, "it's the first game that actually has a population model that keeps track of which sex the person is and stuff like that."

He explains that some higher-level systems will also track the opinions and beliefs of different groups in your growing society.

This is something players will have to manage carefully as they set out establishing cities, harvesting resources, and creating military units to defend against the many threats of the wasteland.

The difference is that Afterworld is designed to steadily introduce its mechanics rather than throw players in right at the deep end.

It's a philosophy reflected in the overall scale, with a map that's condensed down to just North America rather than the whole world. Individual cities and units are represented in more detail than ever before.

"It lets you get closer to the ground," Lind explains. "I can do stuff where a unit is actually [just] ten people."

Things start small, but the scale ramps up as you progress. With multiple cities established, the action slowly builds into something that doesn't look too far removed from Hearts of Iron 4 or Europa Universalis 5.

"What we're trying to do is to manage the complexity with how you're unlocking it," Lind says.

"I think anyone can learn to play a Paradox game; you just might not be able to play the entire game if we shove it in your face right away. The idea is instead to drip-feed you until you're hooked."

If successful, Afterworld could help bring in a new generation of grand strategy fans when it releases for PC in the future.

The RAM crisis is continuing to cause havoc with the hardware market, affecting component prices, PC makers, and potentially delaying next-gen console launches. However, it's not so bleak as you might think, at least in the eyes of CD Projekt Red's boss.

As reported by IGN, CD Projekt Red's (CDPR) joint CEO Michal Nowakowski was interviewed by The Game Business and voiced his confidence that next-gen consoles will survive the RAM crisis despite the prospect of high pricing.

This comes amid concerns and projections from industry insiders and analysts that RAM shortages are going to get worse in 2027 and beyond. The big three memory chip makers — Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — are expected to increase combined capital spending to nearly 340% from 2024 to 2027.

It doesn't look like RAM shortages and high hardware prices will die down anytime soon, but this doesn't faze Nowakowski, at least when it comes to ensuring CDPR delivers the best possible content.

"Consoles are still necessary to broaden the audience on the casual or semi-casual level. It's important to have easy to plug in and enjoy gaming," Nowakowski says.

"I'm a big believer that they're [consoles] going to weather the storm. Pricing is the objective challenge. And the rumors... we hear them about the next-gen being delayed. I don't know if they're true."

RAM isn't the only worry for Sony

Besides the RAM crisis pushing up prices and causing potential console launch delays, Sony in particular may have an uphill battle ahead. Its recent decision to end production of physical game discs for PlayStation consoles, starting in January 2028, already has gamers in the ecosystem protesting and planning alternatives to escape the impending doom of discs.

An all-digital future means any form of game ownership will cease to exist, as digital content can theoretically be taken away from gamers at any time, and that has led to a loud (and justified, I think) reaction from the console community.

The Game Business didn't question Nowakowski directly about physical game ownership, but did probe further on the effect that delayed next-gen consoles might have, with Nowakowski making CDPR's stance very clear.

"If the next-gen gets delayed, it could be the case that some ideas [for games] are put on a shelf for the future. We'd have to adjust. We're not worried on the commercial side. Consoles are here to stay."

It's fair to say that Nowakowski's last statement is a realistic assessment. Even given Sony's dismissal of physical game discs, this isn't going to lead to a complete collapse in the popularity of consoles.

However, Sony may not make life easy for itself and publishers such as CDPR, as from 2028, when the discs are dumped with the PlayStation ecosystem, a hit to games sales is far from impossible — especially if the ongoing backlash from gamers is anything to go by.

It's no secret that Nvidia's reveal of DLSS 5 earlier this year led to instant controversy and a backlash from gamers, not to mention game developers. The technology was branded as generative 'AI slop', effectively changing the look and style of character models, notably Leon S. Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem.

Since then, Nvidia has worked on developing its neural rendering tech, and DLSS 5 is now ready for launch — and it's arguably being used in the game that's most appropriate for it.

DLSS 5 will debut on September 3, 2026, and will be first available in NBA 2K27 on September 4. The new tech will be exclusive to RTX 5000 GPUs, but Nvidia made it clear that it will explore ways to bring DLSS 5 to older generations of GeForce graphics cards eventually.

At Nvidia's Gamescom 2026 booth, I was treated to a brief hands-on sample of DLSS 5 running in NBA 2K27, on multiple systems including an RTX 5060 gaming laptop and also on GeForce Now.

Much to my surprise, DLSS 5 looks absolutely amazing with NBA 2K27's environments and character models, providing a level of realism that can only be described as the next leap in visuals for gaming.

The level of detail in character faces in terms of lighting and shadows is truly next-level, and it's all possible thanks to AI-enhanced lighting on the rendered frame, which Nvidia states is trained to 'preserve artistic intent'.

When DLSS 5 was first revealed in March, I was bewildered by what Nvidia was attempting, which appeared to be generative AI used to make everything in-game more lifelike. If it wasn't clear already, I have strong feelings against generative AI in gaming, but my initial fears were misplaced, as this isn't what DLSS 5 is about.

DLSS 5 uses three different models, with each including options for structure intensity, tone intensity, and masking. Structure and tone are both responsible for aspects such as ambient occlusion, contact shadows, reflections, and broader lighting.

Masking allows manual or automatic control of where each effect is applied, and Nvidia has designed DLSS 5 for developers to have full control over the final frame that's rendered.

The DLSS 5 model running in NBA 2K27 was fine-tuned directly by the game's developer, not Nvidia, and the result is way different from the first glimpse of DLSS 5 in March. What was illuminating here is that the team at Nvidia stressed that the initial reveal had the sliders for each of those models at maximum levels.

As I saw with NBA 2K27, when put in the hands of developers, it's easier to see just how great DLSS 5 is when used appropriately. Developers will be able to adjust the intensity for each scene for both the environment (foliage and other objects) as well as character models.

Performance is a different ball game too

DLSS 5 isn't exactly easy to run, which isn't a huge surprise considering how realistic the results are. However, Nvidia has made significant progress in six months: DLSS 5 required two RTX 5090 GPUs to function at the initial reveal, and now works with any RTX 5000 series GPU.

The RTX 5060 gaming laptop running NBA 2K27 displayed very smooth performance, only using Frame Generation x2 with DLSS 5 enabled. This was a big surprise to say the least, and suggests that it may not take as long as expected to introduce this new tech to RTX 4000 series GPUs (and older).

My only concern at this stage isn't related to Nvidia at all, in fact. DLSS 5 on its own now looks very useful for producing lifelike visuals, and seems set to be the future for impressively detailed graphics.

Visual Concepts, the developer behind NBA 2K27, has done enough here to quell my fears that DLSS 5 would somehow mess with game art and design direction in a negative way.

However, we're yet to see how other developers will implement the tool in their games. I'm somewhat worried that many could fall into the trap of using DLSS 5 as a shortcut for great game visuals, rather than an added bonus on top of already well-crafted graphics.

I shared similar concerns regarding Nvidia's Multi Frame Generation, and how developers may rely on this very useful tool as a band-aid for poor game optimization.

Fortunately, though, if NBA 2K27 is anything to go by in terms of what to expect from the likes of Capcom, Bethesda, and Ubisoft, then I'm excited to see DLSS 5 implemented in upcoming games. After all, it is an optional game setting, so if you don't like it, you don't have to use the tech.

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is a high-octane handheld games console that can run PC and Xbox games from a wide range of game stores. With the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chipset — featuring the Intel Arc B390 GPU and 32GB RAM — it’s easily the most powerful portable console I’ve ever (quite literally) gotten my hands on. But there’s a pretty huge catch to that performance: a price tag that would buy you two Steam Deck OLEDs or a mid-price gaming laptop.

Let’s start with the superficial stuff: the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ looks gorgeous. Its screen is an extensive eight inches across, offers wonderfully rich colors and a silky-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Combined with its discreet RGB lighting around the asymmetrically placed thumbsticks and Void Purple colorway, it has a unique look that definitely helps it stand out from the crowd.

But its design goes far beyond aesthetics. Its Hall effect thumbsticks and triggers should not only offer greater longevity, but they felt really responsive, even if they’re not quite as sensitive as the TMR versions now offered by some controllers. Meanwhile, it felt perfectly ergonomic in my hands — I was genuinely surprised how light it felt for a 1.73 lb / 786g console — although its laser-etched grips sure made my hands feel sweaty, for some reason.

What cements the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ as one of the best handheld games consoles out there, though, is its performance. It’s the first gaming handheld on the market with the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chipset and, boy, does that have a pronounced effect on how it plays. While benchmarks showed it offered similar CPU performance to the recent Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, thanks to its Intel Arc B390 GPU and 32GB RAM, it managed to smash its 3D Mark benchmarks by between 35% and 76% — that’s a significant performance upgrade.

Numbers only tell part of the story, though: what was the Claw actually like in action? Well, Baldur’s Gate 3 looked truly gorgeous on Ultra graphics settings and yet it hovered around a decent 38fps. Meanwhile, despite only being released in 2025, both Doom: The Dark Ages and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 played at a rock-solid 60fps — whether I was punching demons to death or countering devastating attacks, there wasn’t a hint of latency or lag. Even the boss-level challenge of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered hit 60fps at points… before plunging to a stuttery mess in busier areas. Still that’s impressive stuff for a handheld console.

But the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ has a pretty huge barrier to Fosbury flop over: its price. In return for its premium components, you’ll pay a seriously premium price tag of $1,799.99 / £1,399.99 / AU$2,849. Not only is that significantly higher than any other gaming handheld to date, it’s also as expensive as some mid-range gaming laptops.

And that presents an enormous problem for the Claw. Despite the fact that some of the best gaming laptops come in at a similar price, many of them offer superior performance in our benchmark tests. Now don’t get me wrong: no gaming laptop offers the kind of ergonomics or compact form factor you get here, but I do have doubts that the pro gamers that can afford this kind of device will be willing to trade performance simply for the sake of increased maneuverability.

That’s a real shame because in almost every respect, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is a fantastic gaming handheld that has really stretched my expectations of what this kind of device is capable of. I want one. And you should too. But I’m not convinced either of us will be able to justify the spend.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ review: price & availability

Having launched on June 23, 2026, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is available now. As you can see from the specs — or if you took sneaky peak at the benchmarks in the performance section — it’s seriously mighty for a gaming handheld.

It’s the first handheld console on the market that rocks the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chipset, which includes the 12-core Intel Arc B390 GPU and a hefty 32GB RAM. That puts it considerably ahead of most of its competitors, even if it can’t quite rival any of the best gaming laptops for sheer processing punch.

Unfortunately, like the hero in a Greek tragedy — or Oddyseus, apparently — it has a fatal flaw. The price. At $1,799.99 / £1,399.99 / AU$2,849, its cost is possibly the most eye-watering thing I’ve come across in a while and that includes all the people on social media that bragged about raw-dogging the solar eclipse in August. While the price tag here might not literally melt your retinas, it’s likely to give you second thoughts.

By comparison, we threw some shade on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X for its price on its release — and that only retailed for $999.99 / £799.99 / AU$1,599. The Claw 8 EX AI+’s sticker price outstrips every other handheld console by quite some margin, sitting more up the gaming laptop end of the spectrum. For example, a mid-spec Alienware 16X Aurora, with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 and 32GB DDR5, goes for $1,999.99 / £1,799 (around AU$2,800). Ultimately, I think there aren’t going to be that many mainstream gamers able to pay this price and those that do are going to expect stellar performance in return.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ review: specs

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ review: design

I’ll be honest: when I first picked up the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, I was pretty shocked by how light and manageable it felt. Fundamentally, this is not a small console — it’s as broad-shouldered as the Steam Deck OLED or the Lenovo Legion Go S and weighs in at 1.73 lbs / 786g, which is the heaviest gaming portable I’ve gotten my hands on to date. But despite this, it never felt at all bloated, sitting comfortably in my grasp.

I’d chalk this up to its ergonomic design. On top of feeling well balanced, it offers flared grips, unlike previous iterations of the MSI Claw. These sat really comfortably in my hands, although they aren’t quite as easy to wrap your hands around as the controller-mimicking forked grips of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X.

This was also helped by the laser-etched texture of its grips, which enabled me to keep a decent grasp on the Claw. But I will say they aren’t quite as comfortable as those on some of the best Xbox controllers I’ve tested, feeling a little on the rough side and quickly getting sweaty as I tried to splat sakapatates in Clair Obscure: Expedition 33.

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ also left a pretty good impression on some of my other senses too. No, I didn’t lick it — I’m talking visual appeal here, rather than gustatory. Subtle RGB lighting around each of the thumbsticks is my personal highlight, although I’ll also give its gentle curves and Void Purple colorway honorable mentions as well. Honestly, I’m a little less jazzed about the way the screen juts out past the bottom of the device, but this does seem to be a more common look these days, with the jutting grips of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X creating a similar effect.

Speaking of screens, despite it not quite rocking the richness of the Steam Deck’s OLED display, the Claw 8 EX AI+ has a beautiful looking screen. As a result of its expansive eight-inch breadth and 16:10 aspect ratio, it rocks a 1920 x 1200 resolution, not to mention a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Every game I played always felt detailed and smoother than whipped cream under a heat lamp. Meanwhile, its 500 nit typical brightness felt plenty bright enough in most settings — on max brightness, I even found I was able to play it outside, although when I faced it directly toward the blazing August sun, it was quickly overpowered by the fiery onslaught.

Anyone familiar with previous incarnations of the MSI Claw will be pretty familiar with the layout here. The Claw 8 EX AI+ has the same combo of asymmetrical thumbsticks, Xbox-style face buttons and vertically aligned Menu, MSI Center M, View and Quick Setting buttons that you’ll have seen on previous iterations. There’s only two macro buttons on its rear, which honestly feels a bit stingy compared to the four offered by the Steam Deck and many Xbox controllers.

On the plus side, the Claw 8 EX AI+ is packing both Hall effect thumbsticks and triggers — as well as preventing the inexorable drift issues that plague potentiometer thumbsticks, Hall effect sticks and triggers also offer smaller deadzones and increased sensitivity. They’re not quite as sensitive as the marginally fancier TMR thumbsticks and triggers you see in a lot of premium controllers these days but I’m not aware of any portable consoles that offer those currently.

So for the most part, its control scheme is suitably versatile. The only area it falls a little short is the lack of built-in mouse control for games that require a cursor. Unlike the Steam Deck’s super flexible trackpads or the quirky hybrid mouse-cons offered by the Nintendo Switch 2 and Lenovo Legion Go 2, the only way I could mimic a mouse input on the Claw 8 EX AI+ was by jabbing its touchscreen with my greasy hand-sausages. That ain’t gonna cut it for some Steam and Windows games. Now, in MSI’s defense, it has never pitched the Claw as a substitute for PC gaming, but it is a shame that some sections of my Steam library will lay tantalizingly just out of reach. Of course, I could connect a mouse via USB or Bluetooth, but that then prevents the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ from being as portable.

Another criticism I have is the fingerprint scanner. While I appreciate that these narrow scanners are space-efficient, they’re not efficient in any other sense of the word. Every single time I tried to log in to the MSI Claw, I found I had to pop my pinky on the scanner three or four times just to access the home screen. Given my MacBooks’ Touch ID readers require just a single tap to unlock, I honestly wish MSI found a way to squeeze in a circular scanner here.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ review: performance

While the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+’s looks are impressive, what makes it exceptional is what’s going on underneath the surface. While gaming handhelds have previously involved some performance tradeoffs in return for their diminutive size, that’s not the case here, thanks to the Herculean Intel Arc G3 Extreme chipset it’s packing. MSI claims that the Arc G3 Extreme should unlock 42% faster performance on average compared to the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme that the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is rocking, although this requires a little unpacking.

Certainly, performance benchmarks alone don’t suggest the Arc G3 Extreme is leading the field. The Claw 8 EX AI+ hit 2,492 single-core performance and 12,550 multi-core performance in our GeekBench tests, compared to the 2,788 and 12,883 scores nabbed respectively by the ROG Xbox Ally X. So for raw processing power, there’s not a huge amount of light between the two chipsets, with the Ryzen Z2 Extreme taking a narrow lead.

But factor in graphical performance and Intel’s SoC absolutely spanks AMD’s. With the help of the Intel Arc GPU B390, the Claw 8 EX AI+ gets some seriously punchy 3D performance — in our 3DMark benchmarks, it scored 3,544 in Port Royal, 12,358 in Fire Strike and 6,534 in Time Spy, compared to the 2,006, 9,141 and 4,033 the ROG Xbox Ally X hit. Those are 76%, 35% and 62% increases respectively, gains which show the Claw’s graphics are seriously swole.

And that translates to some staggeringly smooth performance in-game. On Ultra settings, Total War: Warhammer 3 comfortably averaged out at 81.3fps, while on Low settings Dirt 5 ran smoother than a nitro cold brew at 95.7fps and still managed a very creditable 48.3fps on Ultra. But what blew me away most is how well it ran Cyberpunk 2077 on Ultra settings with ray-tracing disabled, netting a reasonably polished 43fps — that’s downright playable and throws some serious shade on the ROG Xbox Ally X, which only managed 8fps.

Unfortunately, while these benchmarks are impressive compared to other gaming handhelds, at this price those aren’t the Claw’s biggest competition. Several of our picks for the best gaming laptops have costs in the same region and yet offer significantly better performance.

For example, the Alienware 16X Aurora with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 and 32GB DDR5 we tested costs only a few hundred dollars / pounds more at $1,999.99 / £1,799. And yet its performance is leagues ahead of the Claw, hitting a 3DMark Time Spy score of 13,594 and Fire Strike score of 31,480 — that’s double and nearly triple the Claw’s scores respectively. Naturally, you’re not getting the same compact form factor but I wonder how much that truly matters for the kinds of gamers that are willing to drop almost one and a half grand on a pro gaming device.

Okay, enough nerding out over numbers. Time to focus on the thing you actually care about: how the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ actually feels to play.

Honestly, what the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is capable of kinda blew me away. As those benchmarks would suggest, it can offer ludicrously smooth frame rates. Playing a 2D game like Hollow Knight: Silksong, it remained rock solid at 120Hz, with all the action as Hornet zipped around the rich, mysterious landscapes of Pharloom as slick as ice on a spring day.

Granted, that might not feel like much of a challenge, but this unflappable stability carried over when I transitioned to modern 3D games. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ran at a wonderfully smooth 60fps. Rather than having to strip it down to the basic visuals required to get it running on the Steam Deck, it actually looked pretty great and ran so stably I was able to crack out counter after counter on chromatic bosses. Being able to enjoy the game on the go felt like such a novelty that I’d honestly be happy to mop up the game’s remaining optional bosses purely on handheld.

Keen to push the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ to breaking point, I even tried playing a bit of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered on Xbox. I’ll admit my expectations were pretty low here, as I’ve heard plenty of people complaining about performance issues on their 5000 series Nvidia GPUs. And yet, amazingly, it was playable.

Well, kinda. With the graphics settings on Low while in the depths of Xedilian, performance plowed along steadily at 60fps, which is truly wild for a AAA Bethesda game. However, it didn’t take long for it to start exhibiting some pretty hinky behavior — sporadically I encountered some audio stuttering and, once I entered a more densely populated open area, the frame rate dropped so far it was more 19th century zoetrope than an RPG from 2025. But I feel like most gaming handhelds would spontaneously combust if you even had the cheek to try this, so Imma still put this one in the win column for MSI.

On top of this, the Claw 8 EX AI+ seems to be able to keep a cool head during all of this. In comparison to its predecessor, the Claw 8 AI+, MSI promises the EX AI+ can achieve an extra 5W cooling capacity, 25% higher static pressure for fans, and 9% higher airflow, thanks to fans that are 0.5mm taller. I can’t speak to how accurate such granular figures are but certainly even slamming out epic boss fights or pushing the CPU to its limit, I rarely noticed the EX AI+ getting unbearably warm, which speaks to the strength of its cooling.

What the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is capable of is honestly pretty staggering. The only criticisms I have come down to software and input issues.

The Claw’s MSI Center M launcher felt a little unreliable. Occasionally, I got locked out from being able to access it — hitting the MSI button did nothing, and switching between windows just returned me to the Xbox app. On top of this, sometimes switching out to this menu then returning to a game would lock the input, meaning I could no longer use controller settings till I’d switched out and back again. That’s not a total deal-breaker, but it is a shame, given how stable the Steam and Xbox OSes feel by comparison, and shows that even the mighty MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ isn't immune to Windows 11's unsuitability for gaming handhelds.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ review: battery

Given its huge 80Whr battery capacity, I was expecting the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ to have some serious endurance. Unlike the ephemeral life I get out of my 40Whr Steam Deck — where I’m lucky if I get 90 minutes out of many 3D games — the whopping battery in the Claw had me anticipating some pretty epic gaming sessions. Which is why I was a bit bemused by the actual results I eked out during our benchmarks.

Running our standard PC Mark 10 Gaming Battery benchmark with all the settings switched to balanced in both MSI Center M and Windows 11, I was shocked to see the battery discharged from 100% to 0% in just 1 hour 36 minutes. So sure was I that I must have made a mistake, I recalibrated the battery using the Claw’s built-in software, revisited all the settings and ran the benchmark two more times. Despite this, I was only able to squeeze out 1 hour 40 minutes and 2 hours 31 minutes on subsequent tests.

Certainly that’s not completely incompatible with my objective experience — on the console’s default AI Mode, I comfortably drained its full battery in a two-hour play session of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, for example. But that’s an incredibly demanding game, even for the MSI’s specs, and 2D games didn’t seem quite as thirsty in comparison.

So what’s going on here? Ruling out a fault with my review unit, I suspect that the capacious 80Whr battery the unit ships with is only part of the picture when it comes to the life you’ll squeeze out of it. The more important part? Its AI performance mode.

While our standard benchmarks set consoles and gaming laptops to balanced mode, the default performance mode for the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ automatically adjusts its power consumption on the fly for the best efficiency in any given moment. That means the mode you’re most likely to play it on will stretch out the battery life without causing a noticeable dip in performance.

Even when the battery has run dry, it doesn’t take long to top it up again. With its 65W charging, you’d expect it to take about 90 minutes to juice up that 80Whr battery — and that’s bang in line with my experiences. When plugged into a cable capable of at least 65W, charging up the Claw only ever took around an hour and a half. However, I did occasionally experience some glitchy behavior here, with progress freezing at 98% or 99% full even when left for 20 minutes, suggesting the console’s battery monitoring software can occasionally be a touch off.

Should I buy the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ review: also consider

How I tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

• Tested it over two weeks
• Tried playing a wide range of titles at different graphics settings
• Conducted TechRadar’s full suite of testing benchmarks

I tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ over the course of two weeks. I made sure to play a wide variety of games from multiple game stores, whether they were from TechRadar’s Steam library or Xbox Games Pass Ultimate. On top of this, I tried out a wide variety of games at different graphics settings, from relatively undemanding 2D games to AAA 3D titles.

When it comes to more detailed assessments of its performance, I conducted our usual suite of benchmarks. Not only did that entail getting detailed performance scores from 3DMark and GeekBench 6.5, but I also conducted a range of in-game fps benchmarks at both ultra and low graphics settings. To test the console’s battery life, I ran multiple PC Mark 10 Gaming Battery tests to see how rapidly it drained the battery from 100% and I also timed how long it took to charge the console from 0% to 100% using a cable that was rated more than its 65W max charging rate.

During my career, I’ve tested a wide variety of gaming gadgets and accessories, from wireless controllers to gaming handhelds. I’ve also invested a truly ludicrous amount of my four decades on this Earth playing computer games, whether they be RPGs, action adventure games or creative sandboxes. And while I’m a little hazy on the details, I’m told this investment will pay dividends any day now.

• First reviewed: August 2026
• Read more about how we test

However, there are signs that this overwhelmingly negative tide of opinion is turning courtesy of a fresh revelation this week. This comes in the form of a leak rather than anything official from Nvidia, with Team Green's only DLSS revelations at Gamescom 2026 pertaining to the current incarnation of the feature (namely DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction for better quality ray-traced graphics, alongside some interesting GeForce Now announcements).

To refresh your memory and recap — in a nutshell, as there's a lot more to it than this — Nvidia has billed DLSS 5 as a 'real-time neural rendering model' that polishes up a game's visuals using AI (without altering the game assets, and with the developer being given a decent level of control over the exact implementation).

What actually happened here was that on Friday, VideoCardz spotted that following NBA 2K27's early access going live, a DLSS 'neural rendering' DLL was discovered in the build. It didn't take long at all before modders (in the RenoDX community) fudged things to get this working in games ('SpeedLemur' being the principal modder who "made this happen").

So, in theory this is effectively our first glimpse at DLSS 5 in the wild, with those modders demonstrating what it looks like by using the third-person fling-stuff-about action-adventure Control – as seen on Reddit. However, do note that the tech is only working for application to character models for now (not the environment or objects).

Nuts and bolts

There have been some very interesting revelations from those experimenting with this apparent leak of DLSS 5 in terms of how it works, how it runs — and perhaps most telling is the broad reaction to this spillage, which I'll return to shortly.

First, the nitty-gritty. In this leaked form — so add a whole heap of seasoning, because nothing here is remotely official — DLSS 5 seems to have a small set of adjustable parameters, including seven different 'styles' and various sliders to play with intensity, tone and structure. We're told that neural rendering doesn't need much in the way of data to do its stuff, and works off much the same inputs as regular DLSS (basic upscaling – where all this started, remember?).

It's also for Nvidia RTX 5000 GPUs only (although that's still not fully confirmed, it was always likely to be the case anyway). The news on the performance front goes a bit awry, though, with the discovery that in Control the frame rate is cut in half by the AI polishing up the visuals. With an Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti running Control at 4K with ray tracing on high and DLSS (Quality), the frame rate was 71 fps and it dropped to 35 fps with neural rendering.

That is, of course, a nasty hit indeed. However, this is a piece of leaked code – in an unknown state as far as the stage of development is concerned (one clue suggests that the model may date back to the start of July) — extracted and fudged to work on an old game. Given all that, we can't take this as anything like an indication of what the finished version of DLSS 5 might be like performance-wise.

Although it's at least comforting that it works in a playable (enough) manner on a single RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, because if you recall, Nvidia's demos used not one, but two, RTX 5090 GPUs. Clearly a 50% frame rate drop won't fly, granted, but Nvidia wouldn't release this neural rendering trick if the hit was anything like that, because no gamer would use it in that state.

Change in tone

What we can really take from this leak and the modding efforts thereafter is quite limited, then. But what's clear is that as mentioned, there's been a marked turnaround in the commentary and debate on the image quality on offer with neural rendering.

As one Redditor observes: "Remarkable difference in tone of the reactions compared to when the [initial] Resident Evil footage was released."

Someone replying to that says: "People freaked out about what was obviously just a bad demo, and failed to see what was actually going on with the underlying tech.

"There were a few talking about how different tone mapping fixed the issue with minimal effort, or how it wasn't actually adding/changing details, and it turns out they were correct. People freaked out over nothing imo."

Another gamer notes: "This looks like legit magic. I was saying this when the reveal happened and people wanted to burn Nvidia down: the tech is amazing, the demo might be off because it's too heavy handed, but the tech itself is incredibly impressive."

And a further Redditor enthuses: "Insanely huge graphical update. There's no going back."

You get the idea, then, and it's quite an eye-opener how many comments there are along these lines. Quite a lot of gamers are impressed by this leaked spin on DLSS 5 — and I can see why, frankly, at least with the Control material presented here.

And remember, this is with DLSS 5 working on character models, with the facial tinkering and tweaking being one of the main causes of concern with Nvidia's initial demos. The likes of Flight Simulator addicts are positively drooling about what this might mean for the graphics of the landscapes beneath their virtual wings.

And there's a lot of excitement about how the tech might be applied to older games like Control to make them look a good deal better.

Skeptics remain

Naturally, not everyone is convinced. The detractors remain and are unswayed by the material which has popped up around this leak so far. They argue that the AI-enhanced Jesse (Control's protagonist) is still all too 'uncanny valley' in appearance, and that DLSS 5 is still very much a visual downgrade.

Others also worry that there aren't enough fine-grained controls for the developer in what we see here. Although again, we can't take this leak as evidence of what DLSS 5 will turn out to be eventually, whether that's the end result of the graphics themselves or the suite of dev controls under the hood.

The performance hit has been seized on, too — as noted, though we can't judge on that yet, not with an early leak — and some feel that while screenshots might look good, this doesn't hold up in motion.

Simply put: it is still too early to judge, and we need to grab large handfuls of seasoning with all this. But the general sentiment on DLSS 5 appears to be turning around in quite a sizable shift of opinion — and Nvidia may yet convert PC gamers to its AI-enhanced vision of the future (providing any performance hurdles are cleared, of course).

We chatted about everything from the prevalence of 1000Hz and higher refresh rate screens to 6K gaming, the brand's ongoing commitment to glasses-free 3D and how important strong partnerships with eSports professionals and studios are to getting the best out of screens.

A triple mode screen is more useful than you might think

Triple mode gets its debut on the new Odyssey OLED G8, a 32-inch 4K tandem QD-OLED panel that runs at 360Hz natively, drops to 1440p resolution for 520Hz, or goes all the way down to Full HD for 680Hz.

It's a first for Samsung: dual-mode switching already exists on its 6K panels, the ultrawide G9, and other, more conventional choices, but triple mode isn't something that can be patched in later via firmware. Dijkstra confirmed it's baked in on the panel side.

I pushed on whether this is solving a real problem or just adding a marketing bullet point. Halving your resolution to double your refresh rate is a genuinely large image quality penalty, so a middle ground – dropping from 4K to 1440p rather than all the way to HD – makes sense on paper.

However, Dijkstra was refreshingly candid about the uncertainty here: "If it's high-end gamers, they'll definitely benefit. But if the average Joe Bloke buys the gaming monitor, are they actually going to use it practically?" He described it as something Samsung still needs to watch play out once the hardware reaches the market, and said community feedback will directly shape what comes next.

1100Hz might not be the limit, after all

The number causing all the excitement is 1100Hz, supported by the new Odyssey G6 G60H – a 1440p Fast IPS panel that runs at 600Hz natively, but which can drop to HD resolution to unlock that 1100Hz ceiling, the fastest refresh rate I've seen on a gaming monitor to date. It wasn't long ago 500Hz felt like an extreme number, so I put it to Dijkstra directly: is there a point where refresh rate just stops mattering?

He didn't dodge the eSports-only framing. "If you deliver only 1100Hz and focus purely on eSports, that's a small market," he told me.

The reasoning behind Samsung's dual- and triple-mode panels, he explained, is about giving that headroom without forcing everyone to live with it – you can drop back down to a lower resolution for everyday use rather than running flat-out all the time. Whether the industry pushes past 1100Hz next, he wouldn't commit to. "If we go faster in the future, we'll have to see."

6K gaming screens have a genuine purpose outside of vanity

I've used 6K panels in a professional context on a few screens in the past, but never on a gaming screen, and 4K is already a heavy ask for most GPUs. So who is Samsung's 6K gaming monitor for?

Dijkstra's answer leaned on future-proofing rather than the present day: those with high-end PCs can already drive that resolution, and the dual-mode option covers anyone who can't.

It's worth noting the new G9 ultrawide also carries a dual-mode option of its own – 5120 x 1440 at up to 360Hz, or 'dual HD' at 2560 x 720 for 720Hz – so the same philosophy runs across Samsung's 2027 range rather than sitting in one flagship alone.

Likewise, he noted that the option for a 6K gaming screen offers a higher refresh rate than the professional screens on offer with the same resolution, which are stuck at 60Hz. Offering a higher refresh rate at that detail level aids both responsiveness for productivity tasks and helps where it counts for games, too.

After all, as both he and Demont noted, people are buying monitors for more than one purpose, so a 6K gaming screen covers off the pros who need the detail for high-res creative work and the gamers who have a beefy enough system to play games at 5K or 6K, assuming the game supports the resolution of course.

Glasses-free 3D is back – but content, not hardware, is the bottleneck

Samsung has kept glasses-free 3D alive longer than most of the industry, and at CES it showed a 6K, 32-inch glasses-free 3D panel. At Gamescom, it reaffirmed its commitment to glasses-free 3D and the importance of working with developers to keep the dream alive.

Dijkstra's framing was that the previous failure wasn't really a hardware problem – it was a content problem. "People were mind-blown by the product capability, but it's the content" that lagged, he said.

Rather than pour more resources into pushing the panel technology further, Samsung's product teams have shifted focus toward securing AAA game support, headlined by the newly announced Cyberpunk 2077 3D compatibility. It's a bet that immersion sells itself to gamers specifically – people who already spend hours in front of a screen – in a way it never quite did for passive TV viewing.

Demont drew the TV parallel further, comparing it to Samsung's early, unpopular push into 4K resolution at a time when broadcasters barely had any programming in such high-resolution or the likes of the BBC had caught up: "We can't just do it by ourselves, we need the whole industry behind it."

He sees HDR10+ gaming following a similar adoption curve to HDR10+ on TV, where streaming giants like Prime Video and Netflix moved quickly once the ecosystem made it easy to support. Samsung's own numbers back that up: the new Call of Duty is among the titles confirmed to support HDR10+ gaming, with more than 20 games expected to carry the standard by the first half of 2027.

OLED burn-in isn't as big of an issue as it used to be

Samsung has introduced a new fifth-gen QD-OLED panel for a lot of the new monitors it announced at Gamescom, which features the brand's Penta Tandem tech and an RGB stripe sub-pixel layout for greater power efficiency, longevity, and sharper text.

Compared to the quality of OLED panels for gaming monitors when they were first introduced, this tech has been through several generations of optimization and improvement.

At the time OLED gaming monitors were first introduced, it seemed you couldn't go five minutes without someone talking about burn-in (an issue with early OLED panels where static images that were displayed for too long could damage the screen). Now, both Demont and Dijkstra tell me it's virtually a non-issue. It's barely raised internally anymore, sitting towards the bottom of presentations as an improvement point.

Demont also noted that the improvements made to the OLED panels is a particularly good thing, especially because "if we can increase the product lifecycle or the durability of the product, that's all in the benefit of that end customer". After all, a high-end monitor or TV is a big purchase, and it's important that it lasts.

For what it's worth, my own two-and-a-half-year-old 32-inch 4K 240Hz OLED monitor has never shown a hint of burn-in – though the new Odyssey OLED G8 is, I'll admit, tempting me to upgrade anyway.

Pro feedback filters down for monitors, too

On the subject of product development, Dijkstra confirmed Samsung takes direct input from eSports professionals – citing an ongoing relationship with a multiple-time League of Legends world champion in Korea, where the eSports scene is especially demanding. "Their team plus others are just continuously pushing back that feedback," he said.

The trickle-down effect is vital to this, according to Demont – Samsung's stated strategy is to introduce new technology at the top of the range first and cascade it downward over time, never the reverse – something he framed as core to protecting the end customer's investment in what remains a significant purchase.

Monitors and TVs are converging – deliberately

Perhaps the most interesting part of the conversation was Demont noting that Samsung is folding its monitor team into the same visual display division as TV in the UK, given the convergence between them. We're at a point where some desktop monitors are the same size as TVs; this also works the other way, as people can use TVs as monitors, either on a desk or with a living room PC.

He was upfront that this decision is about capturing overlap: customers can opt for an equally rich spec TV or monitor depending on their situation, and there is an overlap in certain features for a consistent experience whichever product you go for.

For instance, some of the brand's smaller-sized OLED TVs boast a 165Hz refresh rate, while there are specific variants of some of its gaming monitors that come with its Tizen OS smart TV operating system built-in.

I maintain Tizen's presence on monitors is one of the more underrated moves Samsung's made recently: a screen that's a smart TV in one moment and a 240Hz gaming monitor in the next, with Samsung's Gaming Hub meaning you don't need a console or PC to access cloud gaming services like Xbox and GeForce Now.

We all agreed that this remains a surprising niche, and Demont stated Samsung is trying to change this with its TVs through retail bundling with the likes of Argos and Currys in the UK by offering incentives such as free controllers or game vouchers tied to TV purchases, specifically to get people asking what "Gaming Hub" actually means.

The bigger picture

Both executives repeatedly came back to the idea that Samsung's scale is its advantage: a portfolio broad enough to cover a 49-inch ultrawide monitor, a portable outdoor TV, and a glasses-free 3D gaming panel simultaneously, developed with a genuinely global customer base in mind rather than any single region's habits.

Demont pointed to the brand's clever Movingstyle TV, originally designed with Southeast Asian markets in mind, that ended up selling worldwide once its appeal proved broader than expected.

Whether triple-mode refresh rates or glasses-free 3D end up following that same trajectory – from a niche flex to a more mainstream feature – is, by Samsung's own admission, still an open question the company is waiting for customers to answer for them.

If you don't have Netflix, you'll be able to watch on Rockstar's YouTube channel at 9PM ET / 6PM PDT / 2AM BST / 3AM CEST.

There is so much to unpack, from a revamped combat system, interactive gameplay mechanics, story hints, and more — but to make things easier, we've gone ahead and created a breakdown of the top things we learned in case you missed it.

Cinematics and gameplay blend right into each other

The extended look began with Lucia and Jason walking into an apartment block looking to pick up a package for someone named "Boobie." For this mission, it looks like Jason is the playable character as he guides Lucia through the building and encounters some incredibly detailed NPCs.

Here, and in several other instances, the gameplay appears to instantly shift into a cutscene before the action kicks back in again. Another instance happens later on; Jason and Lucia are fleeing from the police with a client, and Jason must shoot at them out the window while Lucia evades — the scene quickly transitions into something cinematic before going back into gameplay.

At the end of the extended look, Lucia and Jason get separated on a mission; as soon as he finishes shooting some guys under player control, it suddenly cuts to a cinematic scene showing him texting with Lucia, which then transitions to her point of view, and the end of the cutscene leads to you controlling her.

There will be quick time events

During a fight scene between Lucia and an enemy at the end of the extended look, the player is prompted with a quick time event, which is surprisingly old-school for this game. But there seems to be a choice in the matter — there are two options on-screen, and in the video she picks up her heel and nails the guy in the face, making a quip based on your choice of button to mash. We get the sense this will appear throughout the game.

There will be slow-mo with enemy weak zones

Jason can be seen firing his weapon at some enemies and the gameplay suddenly slows down after he uses his his focus meter seen in the top left corner. During this same encounter, an enemy's body becomes highlighted showing red and yellow weak zones for the player — we're assuming red is a killshot and yellow will disarm or disable.

There will be disguises… lots of disguises

There were quite a few moments were we see Jason and Lucia on story missions wearing disguises with new identities when taking on certain clients, such as personal security for a party. The footage showed changing outfits being a mechanic, and we see lots of different hairstyles on Lucia — it seems like it'll be necessary, not just fun.

There's a six-star Wanted system

Unlike GTA 5, which has a five-star Wanted system, GTA 6 will have six stars. What does this mean? Well, it's one higher, isn't it?

The gun handling is better than GTA 5

Picking up and swapping out weapons looks incredibly slick; Jason and Lucia have their own weapons they can pull out on their respective weapon wheels, but they can quickly swipe up downed-enemies' weapons mid combat, too.

You can race cars in an actual track

Driving around Leonida looks amazing, but players will also be able to take part in races on an actual race track, with cars and bikes, if you want a high-speed challenge.

Lots of water activities

Players will be able to drive fanboats, jetskis and canoes, and explore bodies of water across Leonida. Admittedly, the fanboat looks a little less high-octane than some sections of the video…

You can base jump

As shot near the end of the extended look shows the player guiding Lucia to run and jump off a skyscaper before pulling out her parachute and getting an incredible view of Vice City.

Environmental destruction

During police chases, Jason and Lucia can shoot out the tires of their pursuers, which will lead to police cars flipping and crashing, causing dynamic environmental destruction that looks incredibly cinematic.

A wide range of people will hire you for jobs

While we don't know specific story details yet, it seems that Jason and Lucia have their own business going on where they'll work for an assortment of clients. They'll rob banks and stores, protect clients, deliver goods, and more. Standard GTA stuff, but it's the first time we've seen what this will look like.

You can pet the dog

It's the main thing some of us care about.

An improved HUD

The game's HUD looks way cleaner than GTA 5's, and quicker to access; switching between Lucia and Jason is as quick as pressing one button, and the weapon wheel is minimal and fast to use.

Switching between Lucia and Jason is really fast

As I just mentioned, switching between both co-protagonsits is unbelieavably fast. In one moment, you see Lucia base jumping and when the player switches to Jason, it takes just a couple of seconds — there's flash, the camera zooms into the sky, pans across the city, then zooms down into a building and we're with Jason again. And that's running on the base PS5!

You can scuba dive (and regular dive)

Players will be able to dive into bodies of water to swim, but also scuba dive to see all the pretty fish below the surface!

The weapon icon from GTA 4 returns

During combat, the equipped weapon icon from GTA 4, can be seen in the top right corner, under the Wanted stars and ammo. It was missing in 5, but 4 stans will feel a warm, familiar feeling.

We are finally seeing what Grand Theft Auto 6 is like to actually play! All eyes are on Netflix for the Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look presentation, which started at 3PM ET / 12PM PDT / 8PM BST / 9PM CEST, and contains footage captured directly from the game running on a PS5 console.

The video is exclusive to Netflix at first, but the good news is that it will appear on the Rockstar YouTube account afterwards — you'll just have to wait a little if you don't want to pay Netflix. If you have watched, we'd love to know what you think!

The video gave us our first official look at how GTA 6 plays, following multiple teaser trailers, including showing us the 'Bonnie & Clyde' relationship and swapping between Jason and Lucia.

The decision to post the video to Netflix for paying subscribers to watch first has proven controversial so far, though those who aren't Netflix users will still be able to watch it when it arrives on the official Rockstar Games YouTube channel later on.

Of course, lots of people already watched gameplay video of GTA 6 already, following the unprecedented leaks over the last week, seemingly of some kind of dev build. (The claimed leak of the actual game code online turned out to be 113GB of zeroes, and a small virus — unsurprisingly.)

When is the Grand Theft Auto 6 Extended Look coming to YouTube?

It will release on the Rockstar Games YouTube channel and Grand Theft Auto 6 website exactly six hours after its Netflix debut, which will be at 9PM ET / 6PM PDT / 2AM BST / 3AM CEST.

It is, undoubtedly, the most absurd item in the nine-piece collaboration, which also features a squishy D-pad cushion, a sleek lounge chair, a moveable TV stand with clever cable management, a multifunctional side table, a disguised laptop stand with storage, a handy monitor stand, a shiny platter, and a swish controller display box.

And while I couldn’t see myself sitting on the stool for hours during a marathon gaming session, even if it’s surprisingly more comfortable than it looks, it’s place in the collection makes total sense.

I also get why both the stool and the cushion lead the collection because they are so immediately recognisable as Xbox icons. But as a boring man in his late thirties, I think it’s the organisational products that are more exciting.

When I look at my desk now, it’s a scattered mess of chargers, controllers, cables, and other accessories. So, the idea of a monitor stand that works as an all-in-one solution to raise my dual screens to a comfortable eye level, while offering all the hooks and hideaways I might need to tidy everything away, or put a phone on display, as well as feature space for a console, sounds ideal.

If I could have taken one item from the set away with me right that second, it would be this one. And I feel many who prefer a clear workspace while on the clock, but also like to swap to a gaming setup in the evening, will find it an invaluable desk upgrade.

I feel the same about the side table, which offers an elegant way to put away controllers, headsets, and other accessories when you’re done playing, instead of leaving them scattered across a sofa or coffee table.

There’s also enough space inside to add a charger and run through USB cables to keep your gamepads fully juiced ahead of the next session. And it’s all hidden behind some swish sliding doors, on a side table that comes on castors so you can wheel it away or blend it in with your existing decor.

"We set out to make furniture people really want in their home, not furniture they accept because it is what you need to game,” said Philip Dilé, Product Design Developer at IKEA of Sweden, when discussing the origins of each piece. All items also had one continual IKEA and Xbox representative collaborate on them to ensure both style and function were represented.

Ultimately, it's that mix of play and functionality that comes to define the entire IKEA x Xbox collection: from a comfy cushion to a compact cabinet. And while not every item might find a place in my living room or office, I can see how many would easily find their way into a gaming space to liven it up in an amusing way or offer practicality when tidiness and space-saving are important.

The IKEA x Xbox collection launches later this year from October 1.

Preview events allowed journalists to play a horribly compromised game with a flipbook framerate, then tellingly wouldn’t let them share any footage of it. This seemed destined to be an embarrassment of a port that would have Mario hanging his head in shame, if not outright giving up.

I don’t know what deal with the Devil the developers made to get this port in its current state, but it’s made a Satanist out of me. Elden Ring on Switch 2 is a revelation, the new gold standard that third-party ports should be judged by. It’s perfectly playable and smooth in handheld mode, with only the most minimal and unobstructive pop-in.

Even the included Shadow of the Eldtree expansion, with its increased level of visual detail and colossal wicker men enemies stomping about, runs like a dream. It’s the kind of port that restores your faith in the Switch 2. Perhaps anything really is possible on this little machine.

Arise now, ye tarnished

For the uninitiated, Elden Ring is essentially open-world Dark Souls, the brutal action-RPG that every other action-RPG has annoyingly been ripping off ever since.

So combat rewards perseverance while also punishing even the slightest mistake. Every time you die, you lose all your levelling-up currency and have just one chance to get it back. And it’s all set in a dark medieval fantasy world that’s so grim it makes House of the Dragon look like an episode of Peppa Pig.

Elden Ring takes that winning formula and blows up the scale dramatically. It’s the most confident and successful leap a series has taken to going open-world since Nintendo’s own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This is a game all about charging through gorgeous fields on horseback, because a) you’ve spotted an epic castle on the horizon you want to explore, and b) a giant is shooting arrows at you, and you desperately need to find some cover.

The Lands Between, Elden Ring’s absurdly large setting, is beautiful and deadly in equal measure. And it’s really deadly. Birds with swords strapped to their legs swoop in for the kill. Knights on horseback roar to the Heavens and are rewarded with lightning storms cascading down upon you.

Even a lowly zombie tossing a rock at you can be lethal if you’re not paying attention. Few games demand you lock in to succeed like this and fewer still reward you so immensely if you do.

Slice, spell, scream or smack?

You’re spoilt for choice on how you take it on, too. There are swords, axes, hammers, magic, curses, hand-to-hand combat (surprisingly effective, that), roaring (ditto), horseback jousting, and far more to be covered here. Stick with one weapon, and you’ll still have fun, but keep swapping out your loadout for new toys and you might just find your favourite gaming weapon ever.

The variety here is ridiculous, every dud weapon offset by another dozen inspired ones. Impressed with the last attack the latest boss fight used on you? Chances are, you can find the weapon they used on you and learn how to execute its special attack yourself.

Its world starts with traditional green fields and foreboding castles designed by architects who clearly never visited a cosy cafe once in their horrible lives. Gradually it gets more delightfully surreal, like a golden city drenched in ashes where the music is actually being performed by the enemies you’re fighting. Or a village full of dancing, giggly oddballs who’ve watched Midsommar a few too many times.

The city hidden beneath the map is easily one of the most incredible-looking environments I’ve ever visited in a videogame. Oh, and died in. Repeatedly.

Every inch of The Lands Between is occupied by monsters, warriors, dragons, and enemies who really look like giant sentient sperm, and all of them want to say a very violent hello. It should get repetitive.

Outside of the occasional puzzle, this game is basically all-combat all the time. But the sheer variety and depth to its combat system practically dares you to get bored. Each enemy is almost a puzzle in itself, as you slowly learn their attack patterns, weaknesses, and how effective they are at outrunning a horse. Not at all? Perfect, bye then!

That open-world structure helps stave off repetition too. There’s plenty of brick wall boss fights that you’ll spend hours bashing your head against. But whenever you’re stuck, you can just hop aboard your magical double-jumping horse and gallop somewhere else. It means you can be swordfighting with poison-spitting bug men one moment, and then in an epic joust with a dragon barely ten minutes later.

Barbie’s Horse Adventure 2?

You can also find alternate outfits for your horse now, presumably to finally get the My Little Pony crowd aboard the Soulslike train.

Gameplay benefits? None whatsoever, but it’s a cute novelty. I liked being able to dress Torrent up as the golden steed of one of the more irritating enemies, even if it does make them a little noisier. So if you’ve been on the fence about Elden Ring because you worried the horse wasn’t noisy enough, this is definitely the time to jump in.

The story? At first it’s about as impenetrable as Xbox’s gaming strategy. Your only hope of figuring out its mysteries is to examine every item you find, most of which contain a line of lore. There’s now a ‘recent items’ tab that shows everything you’ve recently picked up, which makes this far easier. This is my third time playing Elden Ring, and I believe I understood a whole 23% of the plot this time - a new personal best.

Two new starter classes have also been added. Heavy Knight, who’s a thickly-armored chunky boy who can tank a fair few hits. Obviously incredibly useful, but I opted for the other new starter, Idus Knight, who wields a sword that delivers a superbly satisfying double-strike.

There’s some new armor sets and weapons out there, too. These are nice touches for returning players, but hardly a reason to buy the game again if you already own it on another format.

No, the justification for that double dip has to go to handheld mode. I played this port for a solid week in handheld before remembering that I should probably see how it looks on my TV for this review. That’s how impressive it is, even if not every area is an unequivocal success. Liurnia of the Lakes probably takes the biggest hit, with a lot of foliage and scenery constantly fading in.

But vitally, none of the monsters suffer from any of that pop-in nonsense. It’s a smart trade-off to ensure that, even when the game is mildly struggling, it never puts you at a gameplay disadvantage. The fade-in is lessened docked, but naturally a little more noticeable on the bigger screen. Very occasionally when a lot of enemies are on-screen - a dragon and its dozen skeleton minions, for instance - some of the monster animation gets a little jerky. But it’s minor, rare, and even then has a certain Ray Harryhausen stop-motion charm.

I got two and a half hours of battery life out of my Switch 2 consistently while playing it, making it ideal for short flights or long train journeys (don’t start fighting a boss if your stop is coming up).

I can’t wait to stop typing these words so I can sink more hours into it. This is a major technical achievement on basically every level, resulting in an outstanding port of one of the best games ever. Essential.

Should you play Elden Ring Tarnished Edition?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Controls can be remapped, and gestures are tied to motion controls (this can be switched off).

Subtitles are on by default, and the image quality can be adjusted when HDR is enabled, which is only available when docked, naturally.

The tutorial is still laughably bad, but help screens can at least be reviewed at any time.

How I reviewed Elden Ring Tarnished Edition

I played about sixty hours, mainly in handheld mode. Not enough time to defeat every optional boss - yikes - but I made sure to explore all the major areas, Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and anywhere I suspected might suffer from a performance dip. I was constantly pleasantly surprised.

First reviewed August 2026

My hands-on kicked off at the start of Act 2 of the campaign, with the fictional city of Kalona still grappling with the early stages of the mutant Locust invasion. Series hero Marcus Fenix and his rag-tag team of survivors, which includes long-time ally Dominic Santiago along with newcomers Mags Carter and Lucas Reyes, are holed up in the besieged city hall.

There are murmurings of a gigantic creature the group has just taken down — presumably a boss fight at the end of the previous chapter — and you’re quickly drafted into the military effort to take back the city.

Duck and cover

Your first goal is to head to a nearby Thrashball stadium (a familiar in-universe sport that looks like a weird hybrid of football and rugby), which involves traversing the crumbling streets and crossing a giant mechanical bridge. Obviously, things aren’t so simple — with countless Emergence Holes (or E-holes for short) opening and spewing out waves of foes as you make your way over.

Locust enemies are aggressive and, while they don’t pose much threat in isolation, can employ some pretty formidable tactics. The basic rifle-wielding drones will stick to cover like glue, popping up intermittently to spray your team with bullets. They can be hard to keep track of in large numbers, so be careful that those armed with shotguns don’t manage to flank you, as a few close-range hits will shred your health bar in seconds.

Tossed grenades and groups of fast-moving, dog-like Feral Wretches keep the pressure up by forcing you to change cover frequently, preventing fights from devolving into opposing sides taking pot shots at each other across the battlefield.

The steady introduction of new enemy types, from lethal snipers to giant bazooka-equipped brutes, kept the handful of encounters I experienced fresh with some interesting scenarios, like covering another squad located on the other side of the bridge, thrown in there too.

It’s classic Gears of War action, elevated by meaty gunplay.

Chipping away at enemies from a distance is relatively ineffective and awkward (unless you manage to scoop up one of the powerful Breechshot rifles from a fallen enemy sniper to pop a few heads), but the up-close action is beautifully slick. The Gnasher Shotgun remains an absolute beast, with blowing an enemy in half a wonderfully satisfying reward for pulling off the perfect flank.

Once Fenix gets his hands on a prototype chainsaw bayonet, you know that I was sawing practically anything in my path to pieces in a glorious explosion of gore and viscera.

Free roam

The latter portions of my hands-on had me tackling one of the game’s new ‘open district’ missions, and it’s about what you would expect from the name. You’re dropped into a large chunk of the city and granted the ability to explore it freely with a little map to guide you. It doesn’t feel like a true open world as you’re very much guided towards the next objective, though there are some optional side missions to discover and plenty of collectibles to scoop up.

The mission in my preview was a basic wave survival challenge that had me hunkered down in a car dealership with some non-player character (NPC) soldiers. It’s not the most exciting concept, and I’m hoping some of the side content available in the full game is more adventurous. I didn’t feel like my time was wasted, however, as completing it unlocked some powerful weapon mods.

Modding your guns is a new feature introduced in E-Day (presumably somewhat inspired by the similar upgrade system in strategy spinoff Gears Tactics) that lets you customize your gear by improving stats such as magazine size or fire rate. It can sometimes even change how an entire gun operates, for example, having your pistol fire in a two-bullet burst at the cost of long-range accuracy.

The whole formula feels a bit retro, which is far from a bad thing. You don’t really get decent story-driven shooters these days, and the promise of a roughly 14-hour campaign alongside a suite of multiplayer modes to dive into afterwards is the kind of experience I crave as a palate cleanser between mega live-service releases.

It definitely helps that E-Day looks simply amazing from a technical perspective. Xbox has developed a bit of a reputation for delivering some visually stunning titles this generation (look at the borderline photorealistic fidelity of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2), and E-Day is shaping up to be the best-looking yet. Its art direction blends 1980s retro charm with grand Gothic architecture and a distinctly alien, unfamiliar edge, all presented with ray-traced lighting, geometrically complex models, and flawless texture work.

I found myself poring over every detail, soaking in the signs and posters advertising services, the little notices stuck to the front of shops, the names of all the train lines in a subway station; it’s a lovingly crafted world that truly feels lived in.

If I had one complaint, it’s that it all doesn’t really look much like the world of the first Gears of War. That game is admittedly set more than a decade later, on a different part of the planet, but its cars and buildings in particular seem so much more modern than those of E-Day that it just doesn’t line up in my head. Were companies still making new vehicles and updating their storefronts while hundreds of vicious creatures were pouring out of the ground?

This is nitpicking, of course, and it’s not hard to suspend your disbelief when it’s in the service of some truly beautiful design. I’m excited to see even more when Gears of War: E-Day releases for PC and Xbox Series X and Series S on October 6, 2026.

Paradox Interactive has revealed Afterworld, an upcoming post-apocalyptic title that looks like the perfect cross between franchises like Fallout or Mad Max and the company's popular grand strategy games.

Created by Paradox Development Studio, the same team behind Crusader Kings 3 and Hearts of Iron 4, Afterworld takes place in an entirely original vision of post-apocalyptic North America filled with resources to exploit, territory to conquer, and rival groups to trade resources, ally with, or wage war against.

Initially, the game is all about building up some semblance of civilization by creating a home and choosing the laws and ethics of your tribe, with the scale gradually developing until you're going head-to-head with other emerging powers to decide the fate of the continent.

Different playable factions let you start your story as everything from apocalypse survivors that have just emerged from a hidden vault to fanatical zealots already familiar with the brutal new world.

“This is the first world we’ve gotten to build from scratch in a long time, and the first one we've had the pleasure of destroying before the game starts," explained game director Dan Lind.

"The old world is still out there in fragments, waiting to be found. What comes after it is entirely up to the players.”

With its "small-scale" starting hours, Afterworld is intended to be the studio's most "easy to learn" and "approachable" title yet — which is good news given the complex systems of games like Hearts of Iron 4 can be incredibly tricky to pick up.

This doesn't mean that surviving is going to be easy, though: the world is full of dangerous old technology and unknown horrors. It's also home to the Ancients, immortal leaders that survived the apocalypse and now dominate the wasteland.

It also sounds like there is going to be a lot of depth, with the developer promising that the experience "as rich and complex" as fans have "come to expect" from its games.

Afterworld doesn't have a release date yet, but can wishlist it on Steam today.

My youngest, now 28, is an avid gamer, and, in fact, a gaming writer. Having written multiple lengthy features for a wide range of gaming publications and played more hours of more games than I've spent trying to draw or learn guitar, they are a true gaming expert.

"It won't matter," they told me as they examined a PS5 game I handed them, curious if Kena: Bridge of Spirits was any good and if they thought it was worth playing. The comment was not related to the game. They were talking about the PlayStation Blackout.

Starting this week, games preservation site DoesItPlay launched an online grassroots campaign, PlayStation Blackout Week (August 23 to 30), to protest Sony's decision to cease all physical game media production in January 2028. As part of the protest, which is under the hashtag # PlayStationBlackout, DoesItPlay called for "No logins, no play sessions, no purchases on any of Sony’s platforms.”

This X post pretty much captures DoesItPlay's core argument:

'One more time: EVERYONE will be negatively impacted if we let Sony erase physical media. Not just physical buyers. Digital will get more expensive and you will have no form of ownership anymore. Physical going away doesn't mean the rest gains something. Quite the opposite!"

Big Boss potential

The potential economic impact of such a protest is massive. After all, PlayStation Network alone has a reported 125 million monthly active users, paying anywhere from $10.99 to $19.99 a month, not to mention whatever they pay for additional games and in-game purchases.

And yet, my own gaming expert was telling me it won't matter (echoing sentiment I've found across social media). Part of the problem, my expert told me, is that the hardcore gamers, the ones who might rally the pro-physical media troops, are all at Gamescom. That's right — a site deeply enmeshed in gaming culture may have chosen the exact wrong week for its protest.

Still, I think there's something larger at work here. Yes, the outcry when Sony announced the change was loud and lusty, but just because some people with a platform are making noises, that doesn't mean everyone is upset or willing to protest the impending change.

Had Sony proposed this change 20 years ago, I could understand the concern. In 2006, Sony's PlayStation network was brand new. Most people bought games on disc, and for many years after, they also bought pre-owned games at GameStop. Discs were part of gaming culture. Since then, though, we've had the rise of the networks, including PSN, Xbox Live (now Xbox Network), and perhaps more important, Steam, which probably did more than any other platform to move games off physical media.

There's another reason my gaming pro might've said the blackout won't matter: Gamers have moved on. A recent report noted the lowest physical game sales since 1995 (there's also a huge gaming console sales slump).

People's game libraries are mostly in the cloud these days.

Getting owned

Regardless, a vocal minority complains that the loss of physical media means the end of game ownership. Except that's not true, either. We don't own the games we buy, no more than we own any of the software we purchase. It's all nothing but licenses to use the games and software.

Here's how Sony describes the agreement between it and its customers when it comes to the games they buy:

“The Software is licensed to you, not sold. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and personal license to play or use the Software for your private, non-commercial use on the system or device it was intended for.”

It's a license to play, not own.

It's not that I don't understand the frustration or even sadness at the loss of physical media. I have literal shelves of classic software boxes. They're fun to look at, though almost entirely useless, since all the platforms and hardware have moved on. Gamers might be a different breed, holding onto old consoles and the games they bought to play on them for decades, but in my house, that's not the case. Our Nintendo Wii and GameCube are stuffed onto shelves gathering dust. No one has touched them in years.

The most avid gamers, ones who play at near-competitive levels, are most interested in the next big thing. Take, for instance, the upcoming GTA 6 launch. My games expert mentioned that, and how the insane leaks tie to this protest.

Again, they're not interested in the protest, and are instead fixated on the leak and how messed up it is. They've even avoided looking at the GTA 6 clips, so as not to spoil the big game reveal in November.

This plan is broken

Put another way, it seems all the efforts to make Sony relent are having, if not the opposite effect, basically no effect at all. DoesItPlay is talking to a devoted few who still clutch their physical media like water canteens in a desert. The GTA 6 leaker, Cyberleek, who has implored Sony to "do better," is drawing attention mostly to his shenanigans, and I don't think he's inspiring people as much as he's making some think he might be ruining the fun of the most important game launch in 15 years.

There is, in all this, a fundamental truth about physical media: it always has its season, and then that season inevitably passes. Storage media is the perfect analog, because every time we think we have a physical storage medium for the ages, it's supplanted by a new, better, and higher-capacity alternative. I have drawers full of dead media, including Zip Drives, Jaz Drives, 3.5-inch floppies, 5-inch floppies, and more.

Even if Sony was to relent, and continue making physical game media for a few more years — and it won't — the hardware to play it will age out. We'll end up with something better or, more likely, the last physical gaming media holdouts will switch over to the cloud, and that will truly mark the end of physical media.

As my own gaming expert said, #PlayStationBlackout doesn't matter. People's attention is elsewhere, and all true gamers really care about is how quickly the GTA 6 teaser will shift from an exclusive Netflix launch to YouTube. Talking and thinking about anything else is pointless.

The game starts with a delirious murder spree against the forces of human supremacist Bolivar Trask on the Asian island of Talenbang, who has taken Team X’s leader Nathaniel Essex captive.

I’m soon slicing arms off in brutal finishing moves and pummeling their insides into paste with barrage attacks. When I get to staggering foes into the blast radius of a nearby grenade, turning them into a mushy pile of goo, it’s abundantly clear this isn’t your friendly neighbourhood Wolverine.

It’s an impressively percussive, weighty combat system. With Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton in mind, I’d describe it as heavy metal combat.

Rip and tear

At first, soldiers are summarily dispatched with a chain of light attacks and a heavy attack finisher. Later, in Canada, shield-bearing Reavers demand an initial kick before a five-knuckled skewer to the sternum. And the Hand, red-gowned ninjas recently spotted in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, come with longer blades of their own, sometimes left lodged in Wolverine’s body to impede him until it either falls out or he rips it out to furiously stab an enemy.

The environment plays an important role too, whether you’re knocking hapless enemies off a rooftop or slamming them into a wall to leave them vulnerable to a barrage attack sure to relieve them of their entrails. Those enemies often come prepared, with mutant power inhibitors locking Logan’s regeneration unless you target the machines first — either by stealth or all-out assault.

Wolverine’s slower speed meant I took a few more hits than I needed when I couldn’t cancel attacks to dodge an incoming blow or use a Hurricane move to clear my vicinity. But once I’d adjusted to the pace (and learned how crucial the leap attack is for staying in combat), I was stringing together brutal extended combos to the point that Devil May Cry’s style meter wouldn’t have gone amiss.

In my one-man blood donation campaign, I’m building up my rage meter. As it ascends through tiers, you first unlock the Last Stand recovery mechanic, next enhanced finishing moves, then, lastly, the ability to trigger all-out carnage.

All of a sudden, environments fade away into monochrome irrelevance. The bodies of enemies pulse bright and ripe for shredding. Instakills become available with one squeeze of the trigger buttons.

It’s a thrill of delirious violence, and delete-on-sight kills comparable to Ninja Gaiden 4’s immensely satisfying Berserk mechanic last year.

(Re)generating action

Jess Reiner-Reed, Senior Project Director, tells me that turning players into frenzied berserkers was always the plan, but balancing that aggression with Wolverine’s rapid healing ability required some mechanics to shapeshift in a manner worthy of Mystique.

“When people think of Wolverine, they say, ‘How are you going to make a video game about a guy that doesn't die?’ We had some versions that didn't work very well — versions where we were incentivizing the player to hide and have their health regenerate, like an FPS mechanic. But then we really landed on this version where we're incentivizing you to be aggressive.”

After years producing family-friendly fare in the Spider-Man series and Ratchet & Clank, the exact degree of this aggression and its gratuitous violence surprised many. Reiner-Reed gleefully reminds me that Insomniac isn’t new to this after the M-rated Resistance series.

“In Spider-Man, we always had to make sure Spider-Man doesn't kill people, because that's not Peter Parker; he webs guys to the side of the building. In Marvel's Wolverine, we get to kill people in the face.”

Focusing up close rather than tearing through Manhattan at 60mph meant Insomniac can lavish attention on details that would pass in a blur for Spider-Man. The game’s richly detailed levels look fantastic, with a focus on satisfyingly physics-driven destructible objects.

One moment in the demo particularly looked like it could have come straight out of Ratchet & Clank, and not for the better. I was pitted against the Proto Sentinel, a giant armoured robot boss rooted in place and limited to pummelling fists, laser-eyes and missile launchers. The somewhat formulaic boss battle was bested by dodge rolls and sprinting from clearly telegraphed blast zones. Despite Team X’s occasional interventions to enliven the fight, it felt like a dated chore compared to more recent similar battles like Clive’s fights against Final Fantasy XVI’s Eikons.

I found the Nightmare Doors sequences similarly deflating. These are portals into Logan’s Canadian wilderness cabin, where he unlocks forgotten memories by navigating a timed obstacle course, scrambling up tree trunks and leaping from eerily suspended shipping containers. The two examples I saw felt like perfunctory diversions compared to the far superior storyline chases.

Wolverine can throw hands with the best of them, but does the unrelenting focus on its excellent close quarters have legs? With no weapon mixups, ranged abilities, or a wide suite of movement abilities evident so far, the variety must come from elsewhere.

Reiner-Reed reassures me that variety will be found through build variations created through the player’s chosen special moves and custom augmentations to shape their build, whether they want to focus on stealth or accelerate into a raging rampage.

Moment to moment, it certainly has the X-Factor you’d expect from the X-Men’s headline act; I catch my pulse racing at the end of my demo, and the Team X team-up attacks with the gigantic Sabertooth and Mystique have me itching to see what punchy combinations await.

But in the space of two hours, I was craving more movement options and could already feel the leap attacks become a crutch.

Downtime in Lowtown

Insomniac has far more to offer than just Deadpool & Wolverine’s glib humour and sadistic mayhem, as much as Reiner-Reed relishes team meetings to discuss blood physics. Off duty in a trademark flannel shirt and a cowboy hat, as Wolverine, I got to visit Lowtown for some R&R in the lawless slums of Madripoor.

The sequence provided ample opportunities for Liam McIntyre to show his range between macho posturing with Sabretooth and self-effacingly confronting his inability to find a suitable gift for Jean Grey (despite the advantages he gets from sniffing out her trail).

But it was a simple yet artfully composed game of Never Have I Ever at the bar with Mystique that impressed me most. Logan confronts his misdeeds and inner demons through the bottom of a glass. As I choose to drink and not drink at some of Mystique’s revealingly probing interrogations, I can safely say this: never have I ever been so struck by just waiting to see if Logan’s hesitant outstretched arm raised the cup to his lips.

“I love Logan as a character and always have because I found him one of the most emotionally complex characters,” says Liam McIntyre, the gravel-voiced Aussie actor who’s demonstrating Logan’s unfettered rage and nuanced regret in even these quieter moments.

“He doesn't want to go and high-five people in New York City; that's not his deal. He wants to stay off and be remote and do what he has to do and not make a big deal out of it [...] He feels the most grounded of the superheroes to me.

McIntyre does such a fine job making Wolverine a character you want to spend time with; I was almost disappointed when The Hand’s intrusion brought this lull to an abrupt close. Although crossing blades with them on an exhilarating rooftop chase that closed out the demo soon banished any momentary disappointment. The single-minded narrative momentum I saw here can remove any fears Spider-Man’s open world would be missed.

Both McIntyre and Reiner-Reed point to the game's ending as the moment they're most looking forward to seeing players’ reactions. If it can top what I saw in the first act’s (unfortunately embargoed) rollercoaster climax, I’m eager to see how Marvel’s Wolverine can top it when it arrives on PlayStation 5 on September 15.

Not just any donuts, though. I’m talking about the Pokémon x Krispy Kreme collaboration. The new donuts are available now across a number of markets, including the US, Canada, and here in the UK, with a number of options to choose from. In the UK, you’re able to try out a Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Charmander, or Poké Ball donut, though some markets also get the Gen 1 icons Bulbasaur and Squirtle… lucky.

So, are the new Pokémon x Krispy Kreme donuts any good? I’ve tried all of the available options in the UK, and my answer is clear. I’ll break down all of the designs, flavors, and more, and give my rating for each donut as we go. So, gotta munch ‘em all? Here’s what I think.

1. Pikachu

It only seems right to kick things off with the series mascot, Pikachu.

This is a filled donut, with lemon sherbet cream inside, lemon-flavored icing, ‘fizzy’ thunderbolt sprinkles, and an edible Pikachu plaque. The design has plenty of flair and personality, and captures Pikachu’s signature move nicely, making it arguably the most eye-catching in the set.

Look, I’ll put my cards on the table. I’m not a big fan of lemon desserts, like lemon drizzle or lemon tarts. As a result, this was the donut I was probably the least excited to try. But you know what? I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I’d expected.

The sweetness of the icing cuts through the sourness of the lemon, resulting in a well-balanced, satisfying flavor. The thunderbolt sprinkles weren’t very fizzy, but still added a nice dash of zest into the mix, and the edible Pikachu (Pika-chew?) is, as you’d expect, pretty delicious.

If you can satisfy a non-lemon lover, that’s got to net you a good score.

• Pikachu donut rating: 4/5

2. Jigglypuff

Jigglypuff is another iconic first-generation Pokémon that had starring roles in the anime and has even become a staple of the Super Smash Bros. roster — I can totally see why it made the cut.

This item is essentially one of Krispy Kreme’s standard Original Glazed donuts, but has strawberry frosting, strawberry biscuit crumbs, and an edible Jigglypuff plaque. It has a cute and charming look which is very on-brand for the character, but does it have the flavor to match?

Yes, yes it does. The Jigglypuff donut was another one that surprised me. I do like strawberry, but it’s not one of my favorite flavors out there. But this donut was absolutely delightful. I’m a big fan of the usual Original Glazed flavor, and the strawberry frosting was sweet but not overpowering at all, with a subtle fruity taste that instantly won me over.

The strawberry biscuit crumbs also add a healthy dosage of crunch to the donut, and I did prefer this one to the Pikachu overall. If you’re looking for a donut that looks as sweet as it tastes, but isn’t too bold and overpowering, this is the perfect option for you.

• Jigglypuff donut rating: 4.5/5

3. Charmander

Charmander is one of the most beloved Pokémon of all time. It’s a starter option in Pokémon Red and Blue and their remakes Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, and evolves into the mighty Charizard, known for featuring on extremely expensive trading cards and being a dragon, yet not actually being a dragon type…anyway… I digress.

This is another filled donut, with a dulce de leche (similar to caramel) and marshmallow filling, topped with caramel icing, red and gold sugar, and a Charmander edible plaque. Its vivid orange icing matches the fiery nature of Charmander to a T, but how does it taste? Well, this wasn’t just my favorite donut in the collection. It was one of the best donuts I’ve ever eaten.

Where to start? The creaminess of the dulce de leche, the elegant marshmallow filling, the crunch of the red and gold sugar…it all comes together beautifully. I typically prefer something more minimalist, but this donut really worked for me. Its sweet yet rich flavors balanced against an eye-catching, vibrant look culminated in a top-tier eating experience, and if I had to recommend one donut from this collab, it would have to be Charmander’s.

• Charmander donut rating: 5/5

4. Poké Ball

Is the Poké Ball the most interesting donut in the collection? Not really. But it feels like a must due to the whole circular thing. It’s more akin to the Jigglypuff item, taking the form of an Original Glazed donut, but coming with white icing and red sprinkles.

If you’re looking to play it a bit safe, or if you’re not so keen on the other flavors, then the Poké Ball should be your go-to. It's more understated, with sweet yet simple icing complimenting the reliable Original Glazed recipe to perfection.

There’s some brown icing in the middle, meant to represent the center band of the Poké Ball that has a chocolatey flavor, and is pleasantly rich and flavorsome. Yep, no complaints from me — great donut!

• Poké Ball donut rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: should you buy the Pokémon donuts at Krispy Kreme?

I have to say, this was one of the most fun reviews I’ve done so far, and I was impressed with the quality of this collaboration. All of the donuts — even if they had flavors I’d typically skip — tasted great and had attention-grabbing designs to match.

Sure, they’re not the cheapest, coming in at £2.99 each (though I got a dozen to share for £21.99), but the quality feels worth the outlay in my opinion. So, there you have it.

This collab’s a hit in my book. But will you be trying the Pokémon x Krispy Kreme donuts, or have you already given them a go and want to share your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!

Windows 11 has run into trouble with gamers (again) after the latest monthly update for the OS, and Microsoft is investigating what's gone wrong.

The Register noticed that Microsoft has posted on the Windows release health dashboard about "reports of certain games becoming unresponsive" following its latest patch.

In some cases, games are either freezing and becoming unresponsive, as mentioned, or simply closing (crashing to the desktop), with an error ('Exception Access Violation') being displayed in some cases. There are also some reports of spontaneous reboots occurring after a game crashes.

Not all PC games are affected by any means, with Microsoft noting that reports are coming in from players of Arc Raiders, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, and The Finals.

Microsoft is currently trying to work out what's going on, saying: "Ongoing investigation indicates that this issue is related to peripherals or internal device components which have RGB lighting features. Such devices may install drivers or code components with file names similar to inpoutx64. In systems where these drivers are found, the issue is then triggered by launching certain games."

Microsoft adds that it's currently trying to "understand the relationship between these RGB components and the games which trigger this issue", and says it will update gamers when more information becomes available.

Analysis: theories and workarounds

Microsoft is suggesting that this may be a driver-related issue of some kind, rather than a problem with Windows 11 itself. Of course, changes to Windows 11 could be the root cause, and the company admits that, and says it's still trying to "determine if this is an issue caused by Microsoft" on the release health dashboard.

As The Register points out, some on Reddit are theorizing that this bug is to do with "tightened kernel handle validation" which was introduced with the latest patch for Windows 11. Essentially meaning that Microsoft has tightened aspects of security with the August update, and that this is causing driver glitches, ones that were previously ignored, to be picked up (and subsequently crashing games).

The mentioned driver (inpoutx64) isn't just used in software controlling RGB lighting, but also in some system utilities needing low-level system access (for hardware monitoring, for example, and one such tool is mentioned in the above Reddit post: ZenTimings). It seems that if this driver is present on the host PC, the game's anti-cheat probing it now throws up a problem (post-patch), and that leads to the crash.

If this bug is causing you grief — and there are a lot of Arc Raiders players out there in that particular boat — there are workarounds that can make the game playable again.

The first is the most obvious and easiest fix: remove the August update for Windows 11 (or roll back the OS to before it was installed). You can remove an update in Windows Update, in the Update History panel — just find the patch (KB5121003 in this case) and uninstall it. However, bear in mind that you will be without a bunch of security fixes (and other features, including faster app launching) if you don't have this update on your PC.

The other alternative is to remove the problematic driver file, which seemingly won't harm your system (that said, if you do so, it's at your own risk — I haven't tested this). Going by the advice in the above Reddit thread — and also from the developer of Arc Raiders (Embark) — what you need to do is open the Command Prompt in Windows 11 by typing cmd in the search box, then right-click on Command Prompt and select 'Run as administrator'.

Once the prompt appears, type the following and press enter:

sc stop inpoutx64

Then type this second line and press enter:

sc delete inpoutx64

Now close the Command Prompt, open File Explorer, and find the following folder: C:\Windows\System32\drivers.

In that folder you should see the inpoutx64 file, it may be a SYS or DLL file (or both). Delete any of those files which are present.

That's the driver removed, and you should now be good to go, and you can still have the August update installed. But as I already noted, proceed at your own risk if you take this route.

The best bet for now may be to sit tight and wait for the results of Microsoft's investigation, and hopefully we'll hear something soon. However, this could be a somewhat thorny problem to untangle, and it rather sounds like a case of Microsoft dealing with a security issue — one which should be fixed — and that cure causing collateral damage due to driver wonkiness.

Whatever the case, on social media, a good many PC gamers are blaming Microsoft for this latest gaming-related issue in Windows 11.

One Redditor delivers the following barb: "They can't even keep the one thing they had over Linux. If you have to worry about whether or not your games work anyway, why still use Windows?"

Another observes: "Since 2025 December update till today — EVERY single month the update breaks something! There was no single month without issues."

There's no shortage of shots fired at Microsoft for monthly update woes, accusations of this being the fault of vibe coding (AI), and threats to leave for greener Linux desktop pastures. Business as usual, then.

Preorders for the Marvel's Wolverine limited edition PS5 bundles, DualSense controllers, and console covers have now started in both the US and the UK, with stock now widely available at PlayStation Direct and many major retailers. Some items are already selling out, though, so we'd suggest quickly jumping through one of the links below if you've got your eye on a yellow or adamantium makeover.

It feels like we haven't had a PS5 limited edition release in a little while, but this one sure makes up for it with Sony releasing a total of six products in two aesthetic and colorways.

As a brief reminder of what's on offer, there's a PS5 Slim Digital Edition console bundle in Battle Yellow ($649.99 / £569.99); two DualSense controllers, one in Battle Yellow and one in Adamantium silver (both $84.99 / £74.99); and three sets of console covers — one in each colorway for PS5 Pro, and one in yellow for PS5 Slim (all $74.99 / £64.99).

As is often the case, PlayStation Direct will likely be the best port of call for all six of these; even more so given that all three of the console covers and the Adamantium DualSense will be exclusive to Sony's own storefront. The PS5 bundle and DualSense in Battle Yellow are available at other retailers too, however.

The TechRadar Gaming team and I have been covering these releases for years and years at this point now, so you're in the right place to have the best chance of bagging whichever part of the Marvel's Wolverine Limited Edition range you're after with the links below, as well as our moment-to-moment coverage below that too.

US console pre-orders – quick links

• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: $649 at PS Direct
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: $649 at Walmart
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: $649.99 at Best Buy
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: $649.99 at GameStop
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: Check for stock at Amazon
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: Check for stock at Target

US DualSense pre-orders – quick links

• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: $84.99 at Amazon
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: $84.88 at Walmart
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: $84.99 at Best Buy
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: $84.99 at GameStop
• Marvel's Wolverine Adamantium DualSense: $84 at PS Direct (exclusive to PS Direct)
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: $84 at PS Direct (sold out)
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: $84.99 at Target (sold out)

US console cover pre-orders – quick links

• Marvel's Wolverine PS5 Slim Battle Yellow console covers: $74 at PS Direct (sold out)
• Marvel's Wolverine PS5 Pro Battle Yellow console covers: $74 at PS Direct (sold out)
• Marvel's Wolverine PS5 Pro Adamantium console covers: $74 at PS Direct (sold out)

UK console pre-orders – quick links

• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: £569.99 at PS Direct
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: £569.99 at Very
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: £569.99 at Currys
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: £569.99 at Smyths Toys
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: Check for stock at Amazon UK
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: Check for stock at EE
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: Check for stock at Argos
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: Check for stock at ShopTo
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow PS5 bundle: Check for stock at The Game Collection

UK DualSense pre-orders – quick links

• Marvel's Wolverine Adamantium DualSense: £74.99 at PS Direct (exclusive to PS Direct)
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: £74.99 at Currys
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: £74.99 at Smyths Toys
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: £74.99 at PS Direct (out of stock)
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: Check for stock at Amazon UK
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: Check for stock at Very
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: Check for stock at EE
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: Check for stock at Argos
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: Check for stock at ShopTo
• Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense: Check for stock at The Game Collection

UK console cover pre-orders – quick links

• Marvel's Wolverine PS5 Slim Battle Yellow console covers: £64.99 at PS Direct
• Marvel's Wolverine PS5 Pro Battle Yellow console covers: £64.99 at PS Direct (out of stock)
• Marvel's Wolverine PS5 Pro Adamantium console covers: £64.99 at PS Direct (out of stock)

Should you pre-order a Marvel's Wolverine PS5 bundle, DualSense, or set of console covers?

After covering these hardware and limited edition releases for years, my quickfire, simple advice is to strongly consider placing a pre-order if you can, rather than waiting and taking a punt on release day or continued stock being available from launch.

Some recent releases haven't sold out on the day of pre-orders, sure, but given the fact that some have — I'm looking at you Astro Bot (the first one) and The Last of Us limited edition DualSense controllers — there's never really enough reason to risk it. As a result, given how, on the whole, previous releases have been, I always recommend placing a pre-order if you're willing and able, as you have then secured your unit.

I also think that we can look to the likely popularity of Marvel's Wolverine as a new game, Insomniac's history of making bangers, and at the previous Insomniac game-themed hardware too.

First, all three Marvel's Spider-Man games have been excellent and wildly popular, with millions and millions of copies sold, and Insomniac has well and truly proved that these, along with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart that they excel at making polished, exquisite experiences that make the most of the PS5's hardware and specs. Throw in Wolverine's own popularity as a Marvel character, and the film series' legacy, and it's safe to predict that this will be a very popular release.

Second, we not only need to look at the availability of the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 PS5 hardware for a potential clue too. That is to say, it all sold out — PS5 consoles, console covers, and DualSense controllers — and you can no longer buy it anywhere. This might be the clearest indication for Marvel's Wolverine limited edition PS5 consoles and accessories, and would mean securing a pre-order is likely the safest option if you're interested.

Marvel's Wolverine PS5 console and controllers: cut to the chase

• Price:
  • PS5 Digital Edition Battle Yellow console bundle: $649.99 / £569.99
  • Battle Yellow DualSense controller: $84.99 / £74.99
  • Adamantium DualSense controller: $84.99 / £74.99
  • Battle Yellow PS5 Slim console covers: $74.99 / £64.99
  • Battle Yellow PS5 Pro console covers: $74.99 / £64.99
  • Adamantium PS5 Pro console covers: $74.99 / £64.99
• Pre-order date: August 19, 2026; 10am ET / 10am local time in Europe
• Release date: September 15, 2026
• Design: Sony describes the limited edition collection as hardware that "captures the raw ferocity of Wolverine". The Battle Yellow aesthetic is "inspired by Insomniac’s Battle Reborn suit and claws" while the slick silver-like Adamantium aesthetic takes inspiration from the "adamantium bonded to Logan's skeleton and claws". The art of Wolverine and the claw slashes was created by Jock, a Scottish graphic artist who contributed to the key art for Marvel’s Wolverine.

My complete lack of knowledge about the first game thankfully didn’t hold me back (outside of a not overly important detail in the ending) from mastering the Blades-based combat system and finishing Rex and Pyra’s quest.

Unfortunately, the melodramatic story, staccato cutscenes, and some general tediousness to side-quests and menu management meant I exited the Xenoblade franchise; content with what I had sampled but with no desire to order a second course.

Despite that initial assessment, the series and this game specifically have re-entered my life through the Nintendo Switch 2 edition — a standalone title for newcomers, or upgrade pack for returning players — as Nintendo works to bring the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy to its latest console.

With Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s enhanced edition comes visual updates — specifically the promise of 4K resolution and 60 frames per second (fps) in docked mode, and full-HD 60fps in handheld — plus a few minor new content treats.

The trouble is the update misses a few much-needed improvements that would turn this undeniably definitive way to play XC2 into the perfect way to experience the adventure I had hoped it would be,

Back to basics

Just like previous Switch 2 refreshes, we’ve seen the story and gameplay remain almost entirely unchanged.

As with the Switch version, protagonist Rex yet again finds himself the Driver of a powerful and sought-after blade known as the Aegis — or Pyra as she prefers to call herself — following a salvaging gig-gone-wrong. And after saving his life, the pair venture out together with the goal of reaching Elysium — a place which could hold the answers to the troubles facing the world of Alrest, such as the steady decline of its Titans.

On this quest, Rex and his allies recruit Blades (living weapons) who fight alongside them. Most are obtained through gacha-style Cores that spit out either unique rare or generic common Blades — purchased using in-game currency. You can also find rare blades through special crystals obtained through completing specific objectives meaning progress isn’t entirely luck-based.

Among these guaranteed unlocks is the Switch 2 exclusive Blade Momo. She’s a healer-class given to the player about halfway through Chapter 2 and has the special ability to change her attribute between Light and Dark. I’ve had a blast using her and her bunny ball weapon, though it seems she’s a solid starting-out ally and not a Blade that’ll carry all the way into the post-game.

Every Blade has its own weapon, attribute, role, and moveset. Finding and building a synergistic collection of Blades for each character will help massively with challenging combats, though I never found it essential to complete the main story.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s Blades combat is also much the same as it was before.

Characters and their Blade will automatically attack their target when in range while more powerful moves (known as Arts) charge up. Using Arts will then charge your Special attack, and these Special attacks can be chained in a specific order to pull off devastating combos.

There’s a few other mechanics at play on top of this, and admittedly XC2 can feel like that board game your friend swears isn’t as complex as the dozens of pages-long rule book implies — you’ll learn a lot be doing, but I feel the game’s explanations could be snappier and more effective (the tutorial can be a slog, and even on my replay I left it feeling not entirely confident until I checked out a guide online).

That said, the auto-battle nature and recharge time on Arts makes XC2’s combat feel very turn-based in gameplay while being real-time in nature. If you find fast-paced action games inaccessible but are tired of turn-based combat, I suspect the slower pace of XC2 could be a happy middle ground for you.

It’s not all old stuff gameplay-wise. The Switch 2 edition also includes the brand-new Merc Assault mode.

In the original, Merc Missions are a passive way to use your unequipped Blades to complete tasks and earn rewards. The passive option gameplay remains; however, Assault mode, once unlocked, allows you to actively control blades while they’re out on a subset of these missions.

You’ll get additional Core Crystal, EXP, Gold, and other rewards as a bonus for taking a more active part in the mission.

I’d say it’s a fun novelty and is a lot quicker than waiting the time for a passive Merc Mission to complete (assuming you’re successful), but It’s not an all-out upgrade on what came before.

Filling frustration

“Not an all-out upgrade” describes much of how I felt about the rest of the game. Because despite being the community’s most common gripe with the original, the Switch 2 update doesn’t do much to solve the general tedium present in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

There are so many different menus and tutorial screens tied to different buttons rather than being consolidated to one or two places, and far too frequently there’s no easy way — or, in the case of Tiger! Tiger!’s menu, any way — to quickly back out of the menu if you accidentally enter it. This forces you to click through multiple screens to finally exit (or, in the worst instances, exit and then re-enter if you fall into the spiralling trap of button mashing in your frustration only to over-mash and get caught in an unending menu cycle).

Speaking of that Tiger! Tiger! minigame, much like the original, there's also no way to swiftly reset it, making the quest to complete perfect runs (which are needed for some character upgrade requirements) that little bit more laborious than it needs to be.

You can’t even mass sell items from your inventory, or mass release Blades if your collection is bursting with common duds. I’d also love the option to open Core Crystals in bulk and just choose the Blades I want to keep, releasing the rest.

I’d also have hoped something could be done to improve the flow of cutscenes, as the odd gaps between characters speaking can make conversations feel noticeably disjointed, or maybe just add voice acting to a few scenes that lack it.

What’s perhaps worst of all is it’s not like the original’s tedium hasn’t been touched at all.

Field skills have been fixed so that you no longer need the Blade actively in your party, just in your collection, for it to aid with in-world interactions like breaking into chests or harvesting more goodies from collection points.

Interacting with collection points also looks to have been sped up, letting you more quickly collect resources.

Clearly some identified issues were addressed by the update, but too many more were missed.

Quality of life changes aren’t as flashy as new characters or game modes, but when they were such a frustrating part of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Switch, I can’t help but feel like these small improvements would be perfect for the Switch 2 enhancement.

Not just perfect for, but expected from such an upgrade.

For new Switch 2 players, this enhanced edition is of course the one to opt for now that it’s available. As for returning players, while the update is neat, I’m not convinced it’s worth picking up unless you’re a Xenoblade diehard who has been wanting an excuse to replay the game since launch.

That’s not me. While I've experienced some slight nostalgia on this jaunt, I’m ready to leave Xenoblade behind once more.

However, here I am, watching the clock until 5:30 PM so I can race home and log into Seed, a new life simulator from Klang Games that I think could herald a new renaissance for MMOs.

Summer Game Fest 2026 gave my colleague Dashiell Wood the chance to go hands-on with Seed, and his strong first impression held true when I got my hands on an early access code a little under a month ago.

Co-founded by veterans from CCP Games, the creators of Eve Online, the team behind Seed certainly has the credentials If you love games like Eco, The Sims and Factorio, you’ll be just as hooked as I am.

The game has already attracted a healthy audience, with thousands of active daily players. It’s a promising start, though it has to be said that a lot of work will be necessary to retain that audience and continue to grow in the months to come.

Still, I spend every waking moment craving Seed. In the last month, I became mayor, witnessed the rapture, and built a metropolis with total strangers — and I can’t wait to see what the game throws at me next.

A world of our own

In short, your goal in Seed is simple: work with other real players in your randomly generated society and colonize the planet of Avesta, building a thriving community with a local economy and, later, global trade.

Because servers run 24/7, your playable Seedlings continue working and caring for themselves while you're offline—provided you set them up with balanced automations and basic necessities. There’s even a beta mobile app where you can check in and issue commands via chat; more on that later.

It’s surprisingly challenging, especially if you’re part of a foundling community. Your Seedlings aren’t always easy to keep alive when resources are scarce, meaning access to clean water and cooked food is an urgent undertaking. Seedlings can suffer from various health ailments and even die as they go about their lives; I lost count of how many times mine developed jaundice from compulsively drinking murky water.

It took me a solid week to nail down my Seedling's schedule — balancing needs against production lines, storage, trade, and resource shortages. At times, it’s a rollercoaster ride: the highs of logging on to see tens of thousands in revenue, and the low sof discovering that one misclick in an "if/then" automation halted all production.

All societies live on one sprawling world map, and as you progress, you’ll be vying with other player groups for territory and resources, and for attracting new players (with their wallets) to your town.

For now, at least, that feels like a distant problem; many societies are still developing. That’s part of what makes Seed so exciting as an MMO; it really does feel like the game is going to keep evolving with its player base, and already the choices from other societies have had a direct impact on how we run our own…

Life as an elected official

For the past month, my society inexplicably elected me mayor — an honor that gave me a front-row seat to Seed’s complexity. Societies evolve in stages based on shared goals, and with each step you gain new roles in government, features like legislation and slots for more Seedlings to join.

My own community has just become a Metropolis, with several of our more active players quickly training up their Seedlings into careers like carpentry, metalwork, tailoring and medicine. We've launched businesses from foundries and chemical plants to hotels and cafes to handle to service the 40+ Seedlings in our group and participate in global trade. It’s tough, but it’s honest work.

I’m also the proud magnate behind a furniture-making business, with my Seedlings specializing in carpentry and tailoring, and I’ve hired several players on the server into the fold to help me haul deliveries and craft furniture both to sell and furnish my two hotel businesses. You’re incentivised to pay your Seedlings well; your society's average salary and the balance of wealth is a key metric by which to attract new players, as are any society-level benefits you offer new players like bonuses, tax legislation, new business grants and even workers’ rights.

Finding the balance between this and also keeping the game fun for all involved is vital — and challenging. As I write this, a disagreement between two of the larger business owners in my society has led to a small fallout and calls for legislation around land ownership. Trust is essential, but hard-won among strangers.

Surviving the rapture

There have already been quite a few exciting dramas in our society.

We founded on the first day of early access, so many players came through our doors to test the waters in Seed, only to then log out and never return. There are no NPCs in Seed, meaning all members of your society are real people — their activities need to be automated within the Schedule menu, or else your Seedlings will just kind of bimble around aimlessly.

We quickly discovered that even with well-populated schedules, those AFK players wreaked havoc in what I've dubbed 'The Great Haulening'. With many of them set to harvest and haul goods, our society was quickly overloaded with piles of resources and overwhelmed storage that disrupted our ability to trade globally by filling up our mailbox with junk.

Then there are the bugs. Oh lord, the bugs. The marketplace where you trade with other societies has been broken pretty much since day dot, and while recent commitments to fix this from the developers are reassuring, it’s certainly created some disparity among the societies that figured out workarounds and those that couldn’t.

My favorite bug though has to be ‘The Rapture’: the servers went down for two hours, which stopped time fully in Avesta for, to my knowledge, the first time.

All automations were paused, however all Seedling needs continued to depreciate, meaning every player with the companion app got a simultaneous notification that their Seedlings were dying and had to log on in a panic (for me, that was at 2 AM) to revive them. Thankfully, a few of our society members were online to run around and resuscitate the 95% of us who had collapsed, but not everyone was so lucky...

The Achilles heel

While I’m loving the game in itself, another potentially not-so-rosy element to Seed is its divisive use of generative AI.

Now, I’m typically conservative with the technology; I don’t think it should be used unless genuinely additive, especially in gaming, and definitely not frivolously while concerns remain about the impact of AI on our environment.

In Seed, you can use gen AI to chat with your Seedlings, which I’ve used mostly as a way to give them instructions to consume things or do tasks, especially while I’m away from the game and when life-threatening issues arise. You’re also occasionally incentivized to casually chat with them as part of your daily tasks, which is quirky at first but tires quickly.

The second primary use for gen AI is P.A.M, the in-game assistant that can help you learn how to play the game.

With Seed being so complex and in-depth, this is a genuinely useful resource and, by and large, it’s been a helpful companion with all of my requests. It’s a neat way to avoid having a pages-and-pages-long companion guide, but ultimately it’s still prone to getting things wrong, often has broken links and sometimes just gives up and recommends that you ask the World Chat.

It’s not inextricably linked to the gameplay, but it’s also omnipresent, and if you are one to take a bold stance against the use of AI, it’ll potentially put you off this otherwise brilliant game.

That being said, you might also find the pricing structure a turn-off.

You’re given one Seedling slot to play with, which will live for up to 120 real-world days. When they die, you lose everything if you have no other living Seedlings, so you’ll probably want a second Seedling Slot and another Seedling Life — which you’ll have to pay for Pollen, an in-game currency you can earn by levelling up your user profile or with real money.

These come in four tiers, starting with a basic slot that offers 100 real-world days of a Seedling’s life all the way up to Platinum, a permanent slot — full pricing information for all in-game purchases can be found here. This on top of an already $30/€29.99 (roughly £25) game might feel a little too close to a subscription scheme... and it kind of is.

Personally, I enjoy the game enough and understand enough about the costs of server upkeep to justify having spent some of my hard-earned cash on a permanent slot, but for some, the threat of losing everything when their Seedling dies and starting from scratch is disincentivizing. For others, it means an endless opportunity to graft; it’s down to the player to decide what feels more fun to them.

I do share reservations on both the use of AI and the subscription-like costs; but I don’t think either have to define my overarching enjoyment of the game, which has been immense.

I’ve sunk hours and hours into refining my strategy, working with my community towards our shared goals setting up our local economy, and had a good laugh with many of the players I’ve met so far from all around the world.

It’s a real throwback to the heyday of online gaming, and if it sticks, I think Seed could inspire other developers to take a risk on what is, admittedly, a hard product to monetize and upkeep in the increasingly competitive gaming market.

I hope it does, because I’ve definitely got the itch.