If you have am Xbox Series X or Series S and some spare time this weekend, Xbox has a bumper bundle of free games available to play – and you don't even need Xbox Game Pass for two of them.

There's a huge variety of titles on offer too, so no matter your gameplay type, there's something there for everyone.

Crime Boss: Rockay CIty and Anno 117: Pax Romana are both available right now for all Xbox Series X/S owners, regardless of whether you have Game Pass or not.

Featuring an all-star cast – including the late Michael Madsen – Crime Boss: Rockay City is a co-op action-heist game with fast-paced combat and a twisted sense of humour. It also features a solo roguelike campaign, so you don't even need to gather friends to play.

Anno 117: Pax Romana is an altogether different affair. The real-time strategy / city building game sends you back to Roman times as you attempt to either follow the path set by history or rewrite your own.

Both of the games are available as part of Xbox's weekly Free Play Days promotion, which allows you to cram as much time with them as you can before the end of the weekend. After which, you can purchase them at a discount or subscribe to Game Pass to continue.

5 additional Xbox Free Play Days games (5 - 8 November)

If you do have Xbox Game Pass membership – Ultimate, Premium or Essential – a further five games are free to play this weekend.

PayDay 3 is another FPS co-op heist action game. You can team up with three friends to take part in ambitious robberies.

There's Nowhere Prophet, a single-player card game with RPG and strategy elements, while Ball x Pit is actually my favourite of the bunch on offer this week. It combines tower defence, base-building and Arkanoid style brick bashing to unique effect.

Deceive Inc. is another multiplayer action shooter. And then there are the strategy games Age of Wonders 4 and Ixion.

All of the games have significant discounts if you want to purchase them after. You certainly won't be bored this weekend.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is a fantastic console, never more so than right now with the likes of the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and Switch Sports Resort arriving on Nintendo’s hybrid machine.

But a console is nothing without its accessories, and with sale season on the horizon and shoppers sharpening their clicking fingers, now is the time to start thinking about how you can make those long sessions in Hyrule even better.

There’s no guarantee that any of these essential Switch 2 accessories will get the deal treatment ahead of the festive season, but they should all be on your wishlist either way.

Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller

The original Switch Pro Controller was widely regarded as one of the all-time great pads, so Nintendo was wise not to mess too much with the design on its Switch 2 sequel.

Like its predecessor, the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller is supremely comfortable to hold, even more so now thanks to the new smooth matte finish. The button placement is perfect and the sticks feel great, even if Hall Effect would have been nice at this price.

I’m also a big fan of programmable rear buttons, of which Nintendo’s controller has two. Even if you don’t think you need them, it only takes one game that has a particularly awkward default control scheme to convince you otherwise.

They’re also a lot easier to find than the dedicated screenshot button, if you’re the kind of person who takes a lot of those. The D-Pad is great too, so much so that it only makes me bemoan how bad the Joy-Con’s equivalent is.

One other thing to shout out is the Switch 2 Pro Controller’s brilliant battery life. At around 40 hours, it leaves most other pads in the dust, and while I admittedly love the PS5’s DualSense and its arsenal of unique features, having to plug the thing in every few days is a real pain. With the Pro Controller I rarely worry about having to reach for a charging cable.

There are plenty of cheaper third-party controller options around now, but the official option is hard to top.

SanDisk microSD Express Card

The significantly more powerful hardware that powers the Switch 2 compared to its predecessor means it’s capable of playing modern AAA games in a way the Switch just wasn’t.

This is obviously great news, but the downside is that if you plan to load up your shiny new console with the likes Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Cyberpunk 2077, all of which weigh in at above 60GB, you’re going to hit the ceiling of the Switch 2’s 256GB internal storage very quickly indeed.

Even more annoying is that your old microSD cards won’t work, as the Switch 2 only accepts the newer microSD Express standard. These cards are not cheap, but they’re fast, and if you have a large library of games and don’t want to spend as much time deleting and reinstalling them as you do playing, you’re probably going to need one eventually.

This 512GB card from SanDisk is certainly an investment, but with it I’ve managed to install nearly all of the Switch 2 games I’ve added to my library at launch, allowing me to hop between Night City, Hyrule and the Mushroom Kingdom in all of their 1080p-and-above glory at will.

Less wallet-whacking 256GB cards that double the built-in storage capacity are also available and might be a better option for some, but if you like to play lots of meaty RPGs on the go and are, like me, tired of carefully managing your downloaded games like items in a Resident Evil hip pouch, a bigger card will probably be worth it in the long run. Especially if you can grab one for a rare sale price.

SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds

SteelSeries’ excellent Arctis GameBuds aren’t just for the Switch 2, but they are a great choice if you want to upgrade your audio experience with Nintendo’s console.

As well as being extremely comfortable and well made, these minimalist buds come with a 2.4Ghz dongle that you plug into your console’s USB-C port. This all but eliminates the latency that plagues Bluetooth headphones for gaming (although Bluetooth is also supported).

The headphones sound superb, and feature surprisingly good ANC that can be toggled in the SteelSeries companion app. Here you’ll also find custom EQ settings for a huge number of games, which are regularly updated.

It really makes a difference to have an audio profile specifically created for a game or genre, and ensures those 6mm sound as impressive as they can.

The GameBuds have physical button controls as opposed to the touch alternative, which I personally prefer on earbuds that don’t have as large of a surface area as over-ear headphones. At around 10 hours, battery life is very solid too.

While I have admittedly paired my AirPods Pro with my Switch 2 on a number of occasions and had a decent enough time, it’s only when I go back to the GameBuds that I remember how much better a dedicated gaming-focused device is.

There's been a lot of talk about Project Helix, PS6 and next-generation consoles in general, but there's still a lot of life in the current-gen yet. Indeed, Xbox Series X and Series S owners could even be getting an upgrade soon that'll give their consoles a "Pro" boost.

It is reported that developers can now use AMD FSR 4.1 technology on Xbox Series X/S games, potentially improving graphical clarity and frame rates.

While this isn't technically an upgrade for the console itself, it'll seem like one. Based on FSR 4.1 implementation in PC games and on the Xbox Ally X so far, titles that currently support it exhibit big improvements.

Like PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) on the PS5 Pro and Nvidia's DLSS, FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) allows developers to run games at lower resolutions, with the technology cleverly and almost imperceptibly upscaling the image to a higher-res.

This therefore allows hardware resources to focus on other areas instead, such as frame rates. And over the years, AMD's tech has improved so dramatically that FSR 4.1 produces great results on existing hardware.

When will the Xbox Series X/S "Pro" upgrade arrive?

Of course, this will require developers to support it in their games, but if you look at the rapid adoption of PSSR and PSSR 2.0 in PlayStation 5 games since the PS5 Pro was released, that shouldn't be a barrier.

Our sister title, Windows Central, suggests that some games have already shown big wins on the Xbox Ally X handheld – where FSR 4.1 has been appearing first. It claims games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Gears of War: E-Day gave more consistent frame rates with it activated.

Fingers crossed that we'll start to see it appear on the Xbox Series X/S consoles soon, on some of the bigger games. That way we'll have more than enough to be distracted by until the full next-gen of gaming arrives.

There have been numerous reports claiming the PlayStation 6 has been delayed, maybe even beyond 2028, but a company executive said today that the next-gen console is still on track.

While not revealing a timeframe or specific details, Sony's chief financial officer, Lin Tao, told listeners during the company's latest earnings call that there will be "solid progress" made on the PS6 in the next financial year.

As reported by VGC, Tao said that the PlayStation brand will "continue to enhance user engagement and further strengthen monetisation through the release of strong titles and the expansion of our service.

"We also intend to make solid progress in preparing for the next-generation platform."

It will be investing in the new platform over the coming 12 months, but don't expect an official launch or announcement quite yet.

"For future growth, we have to attach great importance to a new platform and make the necessary investments for that. We have to support the soundness of our platform and think about how rationally we can invest in that platform," he added.

"We will announce that at an appropriate time in the future."

How much the PS6 will cost when it does arrive remains a bone of contention. It has been claimed that it could be over $1,000 considering the RAM and storage alone is estimated to cost more than $680.

In all fairness, the PS5 Pro is not far that, being priced at $899 in the US and £789 in the UK. That's after a price hike was imposed earlier this year, with the ongoing components crisis to blame.

It's not likely to go up again though, as Tao also revealed that Sony has now stockpiled enough components to continue production through 2027. And, according to a chat we had with a senior vice president at LG, we could see an end to RAMageddon by the end of next year.

Hopefully that will make the next-generation consoles – PS6 and Xbox's Project Helix – more reasonably priced by the time they come around. Although the price hikes don't seem to have affected Sony much – it's still sold close to 100 million PS5 units and stock has been hard to come by recently, not least to the release of GTA 6 on 19 November.

Like many retailers, PlayStation has already kicked off its Black Friday sale long before the day itself. Running to 30 November, PS5 and PS5 Pro owners can get their hands on some of the biggest games released this year with big discounts, along with a whole lot more.

Available through the PlayStation Store, the deals include 23% off Marvel's Wolverine – a game I called "one of my favourite PS5 Pro games of the year".

The game puts you in the stumpy, hairy legs of Logan, AKA Wolverine, as you travel the globe fighting swathes of enemies in bloody battles. Its combat is fast and frantic, while the story is superbly acted by an excellent voice cast.

As I said in my review, it's played best on PS5 Pro, but even the standard PS5 version presents a great, no-thrills experience for action fans.

Also available in the sale is 007 First Light – Deluxe Edition, which has a huge 50% off. This is (hopefully) the younger Bond's first adventure from IO Interactive, the developer of the Hitman series.

The recently-released RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker - Eclipse Edition gets 20% off, and I've got my own eye on Control: Resonant. The horror sequel to Control is already 20% cheaper as well.

There are many other games with discounts up to 75% off across the PlayStation Store right now. The promotion runs through to the end of 30 November 2026.

We're also hoping to see deals on PlayStation hardware this Black Friday, across multiple retailers. Most notably on PS5 DualSense controllers. So if you do need a new controller, we'll bring you the best prices as soon as we spot them.

Nintendo's biggest launch of the year is actually a game from... 28 years ago? Don't let the new art style dissuade your interest, as the Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time shows off this modern masterpiece in an all-new light.

I've spent time over the last fortnight playing my way through the Switch 2 version and, honestly, for me it's far better than Tears of the Kingdom – which I never finished. There, I've said it. Ocarina of Time is untouchable.

I mean a whole lot of hours, too, as it's a big game. It's not always a guarantee that I'll pour in the dedication to take a review game to its conclusion, but Ocarina of Time is simply addictive. You'll see glimpses of why in the trailer, embedded below.

Much as I played the Nintendo 64 original all the way through back in '98, the Switch 2 update feels fresh – it's not just nostalgia-fuelled appeal either; it's testament to how an adventure-RPG can be so well crafted in the first place that it feels contemporary.

You play as Link, a forest boy who, unlike his tunic-donning Kokiri friends, doesn't have a fairy. But he has premonitions of a dark future, which alerts forces of good to his unknown importance – and the Great Deku Tree entrusts him with Navi, his fairy.

Nintendo's "find the missing princess" narrative – a favourite, as you'll know from previous Zelda titles and, er, Mario – unfurls over these stages of Link's youth, but the key mechanic of the game then presents itself: time-travel, set seven years apart, marking the two points you can travel between.

This is activated using your ocarina to pipe out various tunes – the Switch 2 adds the ability to whistle them rather than button them in, if you so wish – that also have other magical impacts on surrounding environments. You'll need to grow your songbook to progress.

While I found Tears of the Kingdom's build mechanics horribly faffy – and I'm fully aware how much some people love this aspect of the game, I'm just not one of them – this instrument-controlled section of the game is a much simpler integration that adds a layer of complexity to the game's fabric.

You'll have plenty of hand-to-hand combat, too, plus need to collect various items, weapons and power-ups – which differ between child and adult Link; sometimes you'll need to travel to the past to benefit the future – which I found compelling at every turn.

Sure, some people are going to find that art style disagreeable, but it's not as though the pointy, polygony looks of the 1998 game could be kept as they were. The new game runs beautifully, the progress through daylight into night and back adding to the visual appeal – and the game's play dynamic, too.

Nintendo has gone big on remakes of late, with Star Fox setting the tone in how that's done earlier this year. Ocarina of Time takes on a similar approach, adding cut-scenes (which you can't skip) and some (over)enthusiastic dialogue that was never part of the N64 original. It's all quite cheesy, joyful stuff, though.

Now, Nintendo is charging full whack pricing for Ocarina of Time on Switch 2, which before I'd played the game, I thought seemed a bit rich. But, as I say, now I'm umpteen hours through, and more satisfied than Tears of the Kingdom ever made me, I can totally appreciate its worth.

What's particularly outstanding is that this isn't a game just for the original, older players. Sure, there's some nostalgia fun – like the N64-themed box collectable as part of the midnight opening ahead of the 5 November on-sale date – but new players are going to find plenty of gems in this game.

Some of the temples within the game are notorious, for example, and you'll know precisely why when you come up against some head-scratching puzzle moments. But it's those moments, intersected with exploring, discovering and fighting your way to the next stage, that add to this game's genius.

It's a bold move for Nintendo to commit in publishing Ocarina of Time for Switch 2 just weeks ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI's release, but these two titles are nothing alike. So go buy Zelda on release day and enjoy the 14 days before GTA mania sets in. You won't regret it and, indeed, might even forget about Rockstar's incoming game for a while...

There aren't many big-name games coming to Xbox Game Pass in the first half of November, with Football Manager 27 Console being the standout for day one releases. However, the list is still packed with juicy morsels – mainly indies.

One of them just so happens to be a game I'm hooked on too, with many hours plunged into it over the last year, on both my Lenovo Legion Go S and various Android gaming handhelds.

Thronefall is an excellent and highly addictive strategy / tower defence game with a stunning art style and clever, level-based progression. And it's finally launching for Xbox Series X and Series S on 11 November. It'll debut on Xbox Game Pass for Premium, Ultimate and PC Game Pass members the same day.

You play as a tiny king who must build up his castle's defences and control troops to repel invaders. After each enemy wave, you can use collected coins to improve structures and build new ones, then you go again.

It's like a simplified Warcraft, although later levels do get rather fiendish.

The main campaign takes around eight or so hours to complete, but there's plenty of extra content and optional objectives you can aim for, so you can sink scores of hours into it. I know I have.

Other November Xbox Game Pass additions

The aforementioned Football Manager 27 Console will arrive on the platform on 10 November, for Ultimate members – PC Game Pass subscribers get the full FM 27. And Warhammer Survivors (based on Vampire Survivors) will also be added the same day.

Speaking of Vampire Survivors, the roguelite deck builder sequel (of sorts), Vampire Crawlers, is available to Premium members from today, having already been added for Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Void/Breaker has arrived today – 4 November – too.

We'll soon also get Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, Firefighting Simulator: Ignite, and MySims Cozy Bundle on 5 November. Tanuki: Pon's Summer on 10 November. Hope in the City on 11 November. John Carpenter's Toxic Commando on 12 November, plus Aphelion, and Paw Patrol: Dino World on 17 November.

The rest of November's Xbox Game Pass releases will be announced in a couple of weeks' time.

When I first reported on the Xbox Nano Controller, I suggested that it's be perfect as a companion to a smart TV or another device that supports Xbox Cloud Gaming. Now that has been reinforced as it's been discovered that it sports a neat feature you don't even get on the usual wireless controller.

In fact, we haven't seen this feature on many controllers at all – it was originally used by Google on its Stadia controllers. The Xbox Nano Controller can connect directly to the internet via your home network – it doesn't need to pair with your TV or streaming device.

That's a vital piece of the jigsaw when it comes to cloud gaming. Conventional Bluetooth controllers need to connect to a device directly, share your movements and button presses with that device, and only then can those actions be shared with the remote cloud server. That introduces additional latency.

By cutting out the device, the Nano Controller can send your actions straight to the server. There will still be the latency caused by the internet connection, but you'll experience far less than before. And milliseconds count when gaming.

To be fair, Amazon's Luna Controller promises similar functionality, but I've not personally used one. I did however use Stadia often until its demise and the controllers definitely felt more responsive.

Xbox Nano Controller cloud connect

The Nano Controller's cloud gaming prowess was discovered by The Verge's Tom Warren, who posted on X that "cloud connect" is explained when you first set up your new gamepad.

Cloud connect is only in preview for now though, so might not be as stable as it will be eventually. It's also unclear whether you can connect the controller to your Wi-Fi network without having to use an Xbox console first. This would be important for those who want it to work from the box with their compatible TV or Fire TV Stick.

Still, it's a great additional feature. After all, the Xbox Nano Controller is also Bluetooth-enabled, so can be used with smartphones and tablets. And at £44.99 / $49.99 it's a great addition to a gaming setup. I plan to use one with my retro console mini PC builds.

When it comes to retro gaming handhelds AYN is one of the most revered manufacturers. Its Android-based devices are among the most powerful, and therefore most capable with emulation up to and include Switch and PC, and it always takes price in including other high-end features.

I own its Odin 2 Portal myself and thanks to its ability to play Steam games through a few different apps, it's still one of my favourite handhelds. However, I'm now tempted by its successor – the Odin 3 Portal – which is even more powerful.

That's amplified by the images and video AYN recently shared. The new device looks stunning in its white, black and retro-styled cold grey colourways. And additional features, like a fingerprint-resistant screen, make it even more attractive.

Then there's the price. Starting at just $399 during the pre-order phase, this isn't just a premium rival to other retro gaming handhelds, it could be a bone fide Steam Deck killer. Indeed, I might even consider it as a replacement to my Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS).

That's thanks to the ability to play PC games through emulation, which I touched upon above. Android apps like GameNative, GameHub and the newcomer, DroidDeck, you can play a vast amount of your Steam, GOG and Epic Games library on an Android device. And as with the regular Odin 3, the Odin 3 Portal runs on a processor that's capable of even playing some AAA games well.

It's powered by the Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8 – the gaming-specific version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite. It also depends on which model you opt for on how well it can run PC titles – there are two variants with 12GB RAM, two with 16GB – but then you have the vast world of classic console emulation available to you as well. And Android games, of course.

Other specs include a 7-inch 120Hz AMOLED display – which I suspect is the same as the one on my Odin 2 Portal and therefore stunning. Plus a 9,000mAh battery.

The one caveat is that while AYN originally suggested the new device would come with 60W fast charging, it's tweaked that down to 45W. But considering this isn't a phone you'll literally use all day, you're probably less likely to need it to charge much faster anyway.

Storage options go up to 1TB. Oh, and it's considerably lighter than a Steam Deck too – at 450g instead of the 640g of the Steam Deck OLED.

I can't wait to test the Odin 3 Portal in the flesh. But everything I've seen so far is pointing in a very positive direction.

Here's a fun little easter egg, courtesy of Nintendo: search for 'Zelda' or 'Ocarina of Time' using Google search today and you'll see a Master Sword pop-up in the corner – which, when clicked, transports you back to the search engine as if it was 1998.

It's all part of a tie-in for the incoming Switch 2 launch of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which goes on sale this Thursday, 5 November, and the Japanese gaming giant is really ramping up promo around this launch (including this midnight store opening with rare collectable N64-style game box).

The game is a total remake of the 1998 Nintendo 64 original, which also happens to be the same year when Google was founded. A key in-game mechanic is that your playable hero, Link, can transport between two points in time (albeit 7 years apart, not 28!).

Remember those days? The "I'm Feeling Lucky" search box. The total absence of AI overviews leeching content from publishers without any returns. No paid promotional pages floating up top. It was a different time; a purer time.

That's as far as this Google and Nintendo tie-in goes, though, as search for anything else or click into any of the results, and you'll be transported back to the here and now, 2026, with all the current results standards.

The release of Ocarina of Time is a major deal in a very big gaming month. Many eyes are on Grand Theft Auto VI, which comes to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X two weeks after this Zelda launch. It's Nintendo's statement play – and its biggest launch of the year.

Not that you need to have played the 1998 original to appreciate the Switch 2 exclusive remake. It's a totally reworked game, with new graphics, adjusted mechanics – such as camera positioning, ability to run and jump, and more – that will please newcomers and old timers alike.

It's the latest in a series of Switch 2 game adaptations, with Nintendo mining its storied past for top titles and adapting them for the modern day. Star Fox was one such recent success, with this Zelda release following a similar format – of adding new cut-scenes and spoken dialogue – albeit in a very different art style.

The look of the game has seen some online critics baulk at Nintendo's aesthetic choices for this outing. It's nothing like the latest Tears of the Kingdom title, for example, but that also helps it stand apart as a distinct release – and, in the long term, it's likely to pay off.

Video games move fast, and the rapid advancement of technology means that they can feel dated a lot more quickly than other forms of media. What was once the most incredible thing you’ve ever looked at can appear head-scratchingly unspectacular before you know it.

That said, the passage of time isn’t always unkind, and sometimes a game is so original, technically impressive or just straight up fun at launch that it still hangs very comfortably a whole decade later.

That’s the case with all three of these games, all of which arrived 10 years ago in 2016, but are as worth booting up today as they ever have been.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

The final (for now) mainline entry in Naughty Dog’s globe-trotting action-adventure series was also its best, and very few games as breathlessly exciting and fun to play as this one have come along since.

Uncharted 4 sees the seemingly retired treasure hunter Nathan Drake roped back into the family business by his estranged brother Sam, with the quest to hunt down the famed pirate captain Henry Avery’s fortune taking them to the Scottish Highlands and the jungles of Madagascar.

2016’s Uncharted 4 is Naughty Dog at the top of its game in every respect. The more emotional, introspective story about a man finally taking responsibility for his choices was the perfect payoff for longtime series fans, elevated by the studio’s signature cinematic flair.

The power of the PS4 meant Naughty Dog was able to make its stunningly detailed locations larger and more open-ended than in previous entries, rewarding your individual playstyle. It also plays great on PS5 too.

From the iconic tower collapse set piece to thrilling chase sequences, the fiery finale, and the seemingly torch-passing epilogue, Uncharted 4 remains a very special game.

Titanfall 2

If ever a series deserved the trilogy treatment, it’s Titanfall, but for a number of largely depressing reasons we haven’t had a new entry since 2016’s ludicrously entertaining Titanfall 2.

This is still a game anyone with good taste would immediately point to if asked about the best FPS campaigns of all time.

Putting mechs into any game is almost a cheat code for a good time (see also: Xenoblade Chronicles X, Kirby: Planet Robobot), but Titanfall 2 has so much more to offer than the (admittedly huge) thrill of stepping into the cockpit of one of its titular Titans.

In the single-player portion of the game, you play as the young soldier Jack Cooper, who becomes best mates with his old mentor’s Titan and teams up with it to stop a shady corporation from enacting its evil plans.

In the world of Titanfall, Pilots are parkour experts, and in Titanfall 2 it feels just as good to slide and wall-run around the meticulously designed playgrounds Respawn Entertainment built as it does to unload your weapons on grunts.

There’s an almost Nintendo-esque commitment to introducing incredibly creative gameplay mechanics and then abandoning them for new ones minutes later. Wreaking havoc in your 20-foot-tall mecha is only half the fun here.

The Last Guardian

Like its fellow masterpieces Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, Team Ico’s The Last Guardian is a game built on director Fumito Ueda’s “design through subtraction” philosophy.

This essentially means that a minimalist approach puts all of the focus on the thematic core of the game – in this case the bond between the boy you play as and the giant cat-dog-bird creature called Trico.

In this near-wordless adventure, the boy and Trico explore the mysterious ruins of an ancient civilisation, solving environmental puzzles along the way and letting the big guy tackle the stone soldiers that try you block your progress.

What made The Last Guardian so memorable is also what made it so divisive. Trico is an incredible AI companion, but like any wild animal, he’s also entirely unpredictable. The creature often needs to be encouraged to participate with your mutual quest, demanding patience and perseverance. You’ll also be wrestling with the controls as much as Trico’s temperament.

This might all sound like a recipe for frustration, and it definitely can be, but the early friction means that when you do start to work effectively as a team it feels so much more rewarding. The Last Guardian still feels like no other game, and everyone should try it.

A good RPG can be a wondrous thing, and part of the strength of the genre is that it's incredibly wide – there are a million different types of RPGs, from turn-based to action-heavy. This means there's really something to suit almost any player, but I wonder if I'm in the majority or minority for finding that my Switch 2 is my favourite place to play these games.

I just love the flexibility of being able to pick up a game and play it on the move, in bed, or while watching some sport on the TV, and that's something that my other platforms don't really match. I've recently enjoyed three RPGs on the Switch 2 that all share some trends, but play very differently, so if you're in the mood for something retro-flavoured that nonetheless pushes the envelope, check out these three bangers.

Final Fantasy Resonance

The latest mainline Final Fantasy game is one of the most interesting in years, not least because it finally uses Square Enix's brilliant HD-2D art style in the main franchise. This brings gorgeous pixellated artwork into the mix, and the result is one of the best-looking retro-styled games ever made, with an amount of detail and some effects that are straight out of 2026.

The game keeps things old-school when it comes to its turn-based combat system, but there are enough twists to keep it fresh, and the story is a really sprightly one. For those who've played a lot of the previous games, the way you can summon "Visions" that are basically characters from other Final Fantasy games is a totally dynamite nostalgic twist.

For those who like traditional turn-based RPGs, this is a must-try, and it has a free demo on the eShop if you want to dip your toe in for a bit before committing.

Queen's Domain

This action RPG is a far deeper cut in terms of its influences. Its title hints at the fact that it's a direct homage to FromSoftware's old series King's Field, which preceded Dark Souls and established the developer as a maker of tough-as-nails games.

With brilliant retro graphics that look so evocative, and a phenomenally subtle soundtrack, this game drops you on a hostile island and challenges you to explore it. Doing so will introduce you to a combat system unlike anything else you might have tried, in which timing your attacks and making space for yourself are both totally key.

It's evocative, odd, surprising and extremely difficult, but Queen's Domain is also really quite unique compared to other RPGs I've played, and I think it'll find a dedicated fanbase. The quality of its interconnected level design alone make it a standout that you should definitely check out.

Dread Delusion

My final pick also has an interesting and obvious retro inspiration – Morrowind, the last time The Elder Scrolls was truly freaky as a franchise. As a devoted Oblivion fan, I can still concede that Morrowind was more interesting in some ways, and Dread Delusion aims to make you feel the same way as you play.

It has a compact but dense world for you to explore as you try to stop everything going to hell, and is a lot more dialogue and quest-heavy than Queen's Domain. Lacking quest markers and with an interesting mapping system, this game doesn't hold your hand at all, but if you vibe with its world and setting then you might just fall in love with it.

Plus, of course, its visuals are amazing – weird and wonderful creatures, crazy geography and super fun character designs make it a treat for your eyes. It's been out for a little longer, but is just as deserving of your attention as the other two I've spotlit.

There's a massive Nintendo launch this week in the shape of the Switch 2 remake of the N64 classic, Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

It's largely noted as one of the best games in the series, arguably one of the best adventure-RPGs ever made, so it's a big deal for players new and old.

Reflecting on the nostalgia, Nintendo has a special midnight launch event, where you can buy the game complete with an N64 box replica, which houses the Switch 2 game.

There's a bit of a catch, though, as you'll need to be able to get to central London and, inevitably, not care much for sleep – as the Argos Tottenham Court Road special event will run from midnight.

The temperature is predicted to be around 8C in the capital, so unlike Link in his time-travelling adventure, you might want to don more than a green tunic to combat the falling temperatures.

There's another bonus with this purchase, too: a cute ocarina keyring, finished in the same fetching blue as the actual instrument in the game.

When various special-edition additions went on sale on 29 October, as part of the Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition range, they sold out quickly.

That comprised a Switch 2 console, a Switch 2 Pro Controller, and Switch 2 carry case. Don't anticipate that such items will be available at the Argos store's opening special.

If you do intend to try your luck in getting the N64 special edition box and ocarina keyring, however, then you'll want to head to Argos (216–217 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 7PT) as the clock strikes from Wednesday 4 into Thursday 5 November.

The game will retail for £54.99 in the UK, as a premier launch for Nintendo this November. It's a complete rebuild of the original N64 game, brought fresh and up to date with new graphics – and quite the spectacle it is.

Quite hard to believe that the original launched 28 years ago, yet has stood the test of time so well. From Epona the horse, to the dreaded Water Temple, it holds many memories for many players – and will unlock new ones for new players this year, too.

Grand Theft Auto VI will finally be available this month – in just over two weeks. But you might have to wait a little longer than others to play it, depending on where you live.

That's because, while it launches globally on 19 November 2026, the world's timezones mean some countries will be able to access the game earlier than others. Up to 21 hours earlier, in fact.

Players in Aukland, New Zealand will be able to play it at midnight on launch day, but that's still just 11am 18 November in the UK, 3am on the West Coast of America. It could result in a flood of spoilers hitting social channels many hours before you even get a chance to boot it up.

However, there is a workaround – if you own a PS5 or PS5 Pro and haven't pre-ordered the game already. You can buy it using a New Zealand PSN account and play it when it first becomes available there.

Renowned content creator SynthPotato has suggested a neat workaround for those who simply cannot wait. He's posted steps on his X feed, which involves creating a New Zealand PSN account, buying the game there, but also being able to play it using your own regional account afterwards.

To summarise:

• Make a New Zealand PSN account.
• Enable Console sharing and Offline Play in Other in the Users and Accounts settings.
• Buy a New Zealand PSN gift card online.
• Buy GTA 6 using the gift card on your NZ account.
• Download the game the moment it comes out (or pre-download if possible).
• Sign back into your usual profile.
• Play the game when it's released in NZ hours before your own region. Hurrah!

Of course, this is only helpful if you haven't pre-ordered the game already or are willing to cancel your pre-order and start afresh. And it might affect how GTA Online works when that eventually arrives as part of the game, so you need to be aware of that.

Like we say though, if you really can't wait to play it on PS5, there's at least the option.

As for the Xbox Series X/S version, NotebookCheck reports that it's actually a little easier – just change your location to New Zealand in the console's location settings.

Personally, I'll be waiting until the game is unlocked in the UK, but can understand others' eagerness.

My Arcade has been making retro gaming devices for many a year, with classic games appearing on mini arcade machines and all manner of form factors. However, it really struck gold with its Atari Gamestation Go handheld released a year ago.

Now it's back with a follow-up, and this edition is arguably even better. The Gamestation Retro Go has a similar form factor, with an 8-inch 4:3 high-resolution display, additional buttons, and more than 200 officially licensed games.

This latter aspect is important. Most retro gaming handhelds – Evercade aside – come packed with emulators and if games are included, they are generally sourced in a highly dubious manner. Yeah, you often get a microSD card packed with thousands of roms, but the chances of any of them being legitimate is close to zero.

Not so the Gamestation Retro Go. Thanks to deals with Bandai Namco, Capcom, Jaleco and Piko Interactive, every game available on this particular handheld is fully authorised.

That includes Street Fighter II, Final Fight, 1942, Pac-Man, Galaga and Dig Dug. We're still awaiting a full list, but considering the licensees are among the biggest arcade game manufacturers of all time, you can bet it'll include many favourites.

The console is set for release on 18 December 2026, with a US price of $199.99. We're still awaiting UK pricing and release details, but it's now on pre-order at GameStop in the States.

Canadian gamers can also pre-order one from EB Games in your homeland, for CA$279.99.

Hopefully, a UK retailer will emerge soon, too. Amazon and Argos currently list the Atari Gamestation Go for £149.99, so that could be an indication on how much and where we could see the new handheld over here.

And who knows what price that might end up at around Black Friday time?

'Tis the spooky season and to celebrate, Xbox is giving you one of the most successful multiplayer horror games of the last decade to play for free.

Dead by Daylight is completely free to download and play this weekend, allowing you to spend Hallows' Eve running away from slasher killers – or even stalking a bunch of frightened survivors yourself.

As the game celebrates its 10th anniversary, Xbox has included it as part of its FreePlayDays promotion this week. That means you have until the end of play this Sunday, 1 November, to play it as much as you like on Xbox One, Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S at no cost whatsoever. You don't even need Xbox Game Pass – just download and enjoy.

And, if you fancy continuing after the weekend is done, you can either subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Premium or Ultimate, or purchase the full game with a very decent discount. It's just £10.31 / $11.99 (down from £25.79 / $29.99).

There are also big discounts on DLC packs, with up to 60% off right now.

FreePlayDays games for Xbox Game Pass members

If you are a member of Xbox Game Pass – Essential, Premium or Ultra – you also get the chance to play an additional four games for free this weekend.

Another chills-filled game is up for grabs in Darkwood. It's a top-down survival horror with a suitably spooky art style. The developer promises that it's jump scare-free, but don't think that means it won't unnerve you.

Also available is the Soulslike action-adventure Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. Released this past summer, it too throws supernatural horrors at you, but at least you have a sword to dispatch them with.

Spirittea is a bit calmer. Featuring stunning pixel art, it's more in the vein of Stardew Valley – albeit with a touch of spookiness for good measure.

And finally, space shooter Everspace 2 is included because, well, why not?

All of the games are available to download and play now, with the free period lasting until the end of Sunday 1 November 2026.

Autumn is well and truly upon us, and daylight hours are only going to keep shrinking until Christmas rolls around. There are obvious downsides to shorter days and inevitably moodier weather, but the big plus is that you’ll never have a better excuse to lose yourself in a monumental time sink of a video game.

There are countless games out there that offer total escapism when it’s dark and wet outside, but here are three open-world epics to get cosy with.

Go on, you’ve earned it.

No Man’s Sky

When it launched back in 2016, space exploration and survival game No Man’s Sky quickly became infamous for what it failed to deliver, with developer Hello Games accused of over-promising.

However, rather than Homer Simpson bush meme-ing it straight out of there, the studio vowed to improve the experience, and over a decade later it’s still adding new, free features to what is now a seriously compelling package.

Over the years, Hello Games has introduced base-building, vehicles, a more in-depth story, more variation in planets and eventually full multiplayer. And following the game’s big 10th anniversary update earlier this year, you can now own your own space station, join galactic alliances and mine hulking space wrecks for resources.

All of this is to say that there has never been a better time to get lost in No Man’s Sky’s vast universe on PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch or PC, and it helps that the game is frequently on sale for a hefty discount.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered

We likely still have a lengthy wait to endure before the The Witcher 4 arrives, but in the meantime, the ever-generous CD Projekt Red has given its more than 10-year-old predecessor the remaster treatment, ahead of the game’s third expansion arriving next year.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered includes both of the original game’s previous expansions and features upgraded visuals, a redesigned skill tree and some quality of life tweaks. And it’s completely free if you own the original.

In truth, none of the new additions will kid you into thinking you aren’t playing an RPG that originally came out in 2015, but when that game remains one of the best ever made, any excuse to go back is one you should take.

Geralt of Rivia’s search for his adopted daughter takes place in one of the richest and most stunningly realised open worlds ever committed to code, and even now very few RPGs can hold a candle to its quests and writing. Even a seemingly minor side story can have you gripped for hours in this game, and there’s barely a character you’ll meet who isn’t worth talking to.

Despite countless imitators, The Witcher 3 set such a high bar for fantasy RPGs that even its sequel has its work cut out to top it.

Forza Horizon 6

After taking its open-world racing series to Mexico, Australia and even good old Blighty in previous entries, Forza Horizon 6 finally addresses years of fan clamour by heading to Japan. And it was worth the wait.

While many games have set themselves in feudal Japan in recent years, Playground Games’ recreation of some of the modern-day Land of the Rising Sun’s most famous locations is on another level.

Whether you’re whipping a 1986 Honda Civic Si around the neon-lit streets of downtown Tokyo City, taking endless near identical landscape shots of Mount Fuji in photo mode, or battling the elements in the snowy alps situated at the top of the map, the sixth Forza Horizon is virtual tourism at its most thrilling.

If you’ve played previous Horizon entries you’ll be very familiar with Playground’s formula by now. Very quickly your map will be overwhelmingly covered in event markers, from standard races to stunt opportunities and narrative-driven side quests that actually teach you something about Japan and its storied car culture.

The game is always showering you with something, whether that’s general praise, achievements, or new icons of interest. Sometimes it would be nice if it just left you to the driving for a bit, but there’s simply no other racing game that is so abundant with content and incredible attention to detail.

I've always loved the Steam Machine concept, but like many have been disappointed by the sacrifices Valve had to make to get the thing out of the door. It looks great, runs on SteamOS – which is a big plus for me – but the hardware just isn't powerful enough, especially for the price.

At £1,149 / $1,349 for the 2TB model with no controller, I couldn't shake the feeling that saving up just a bit more cash would get me a far better compact gaming PC. And I was right.

Having spent some time with the GMKtec NEO-X1, there's no comparison. Yep, it's a fair bit larger – although only as tall and deep as a PS5 – and yes, I've mainly tested the Pro model so far. But considering the standard version starts at £1,629.99 with the company's current on-site discount (and is down to $2.199.99 on Amazon in the US) it's definitely worth considering upping your budget.

The NEO-X1 Pro I've been testing is considerably more than that – at £2,489.99 on GMKtec's own UK website, and currently $3,199.99 on the official GMKtec site in the US – but it's a veritable powerhouse in a reasonably-sized case. Made from aluminium, it measures 350 x 165 x 310mm with the top and bottom handles attached. Remove them and it's 55mm shorter.

The case is 14.6L – a far cry from the Steam Machine's 3.8L – but that's because it houses a full desktop graphics card and a monster of a liquid cooling system. And it remains considerably smaller than a regular desktop gaming PC.

You get an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti in the NEO-X1, while the one I've been testing runs the RTX 5070 with 12GB of VRAM. The Pro version also ups the memory to 64GB of DDR5 5600MHz from 32GB.

There's 1TB or 2TB of storage depending on the model.

Another difference between the two is the processor – the standard version is powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX, while the Pro sports the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D. Both feature 16-cores, 32-threads, but the latter chip also has 128MB of 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache, which is particularly noticeable when gaming. Both are going to knock the Steam Machine for six.

It's also worth noting that you can expand both PCs, up to 96GB in RAM terms and up to 16TB for storage. There are two M.2 NVMe slots inside.

GMKtec NEO-X1 Pro: design and connectivity

I've always found GMKtec to be one of the best mini PC manufacturers for design. Its products look great, with a proprietary aesthetic running through its higher-end models.

I particularly like the trademark green flourishes, which make the NEO-X1 Pro really stand out. The whole cabinet is constructed from aluminium and looks classy, while the top matches the power button with a bright green finish.

There are carry handles installed from the off, although you can remove them, and they double as feet on the bottom too.

You need to keep the PC in a vertical position for airflow, but it looks good enough to be sat next to a TV as well as a gaming monitor.

The left-hand side is removable to expose the mammoth liquid cooling unit and RTX 5070 (in the Pro). unscrewing and moving them out of the way allows for access to the memory and two SSD slots.

There's an abundance of connectivity options This includes two USB-A 2.0 and a USB-C port next to the power button on the front, plus a 3.5mm audio jack. Around the back you get another two USB-A 2.0 ports, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, a USB-C, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, three 3.5mm audio jacks, a DisplayPort 4 (8K@60Hz) from the main board, as well as a HDMI 2.1.

The graphics card also supplies its own video ports – HDMI 2.1b (8K@60Hz) and three DisplayPort 2.1b. In total, you can run four displays at 8K simultaneously.

Wireless connection options include Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. There are two removable antennas packaged for stronger reception.

The whole shebang comes with Windows 11 Pro preinstalled.

GMKtec NEO-X1 Pro: power where you need it

Both NEO-X1 variants are capable of up to 160W TDP, which is when running in performance mode (they can actually reach 170W at peak, but I've not seen it).

There are silent (54W) and balanced (85W) modes too, but I immediately switched it over to performance in the bios when I first started up the Pro.

Admittedly, in performance mode you can get a fair bit of noise generated by the fans and cooling in certain circumstances, but it really depends on where and how you plan to use the PC. I personally didn't mind it when attached to a TV in my office, the game audio running through a Dolby amp and Atmos sound system easily drowned it out. However, if you do plan to use it in a living room environment, you might need to tone down settings a notch.

It also depends on the demands of each game, of course. Many ran at their highest settings in up to 4K without ever hearing a peep from the fans. Some though, such as Grand Theft Auto V: Enhanced Edition running at 2160p in Ultra RT, made it whir like a Dyson during a heatwave. For me, the performance and frame rates were worth it, but it's easy to adjust to something a little less aggressive.

Certainly, there is enough grunt on board to play games at their best, especially if you run them with some form of image scaling – such as Nvidia DLSS. I found that most of the games ran at over 100 frames-per-second at 1440p and high or ultra settings. Some achieved that at 4K.

Many of them were equally capable with ray-tracing features activated. One or two with path tracing (at 1440p).

Cyberpunk 2077, for example, ran at just over 60fps in 1440p with High settings and path tracing switched on, and between 90-104fps at Ultra RT settings. I ran both tests with DLSS set to auto, but no frame generation. Both setups are very playable.

As for CD Projekt Red's other masterpiece – the recently updated The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered edition – I had to be a bit more realistic with my expectations. It ran at over 70fps at 1440p in High settings with ray-tracing switched on, but required DLSS to be set at Balanced. To achieve path tracing at anything like a decent frame rate, the other option was to add x2 frame gen as well.

Even though it's now eight years-old, Red Dead Redemption 2 still gives PCs a decent workout, so I was pleased to see it running at approximately 140fps at 1440p in the maxed out Ultra settings (with DLSS on and set to auto). Switching up to 2160p (4K) achieved an average of 111fps with the same settings – still very impressive.

And finally, another new game I tested was the new Gears of War: E-Day, which gave me just shy of 100fps at 1440p in High settings, with DLSS set to Quality and with no additional frame generation. It also ran at 60fps in 4K on the exact same settings.

In all occasions I played on a 65-inch Philips OLED+950 TV which supports refresh rates up to 144Hz and, more importantly, variable refresh rate (VRR) tech. This kept the action silky smooth even when jumping around the frame rates.

Of course, the NEO-X1 non-pro edition wouldn't achieve quite those results, but from my experience with the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti it wouldn't be too far off.

As it stands, the Pro model is an absolutely beast of a machine. It even aced the Cinebench test, with its 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU achieving a score of 8,474 for multiple threads, putting it a fair distance above an Apple Mac powered by M4 Max silicon.

This means the NEO-X1 Pro isn't just a gaming beast, it's more than capable for everyday work tasks too, plus video rendering and even running on-board AI models. You're probably better looking elsewhere if the latter is all you want to do, but I'm basically saying this is a superb all-rounder.

Oh, and its 3DMark Time Spy score of 20,100 (21,803 graphics, 13,934 CPU) is particularly impressive in the grand scheme of things. I suspect there's even wriggle room to get that higher.

GMKtec NEO-X1 Pro : experience and upgradability

All of my testing was done through the preinstalled Windows 11 Pro, although I would have also liked to have tested the PC with Steam OS. However, Valve is yet to add its promised Nvidia GPU support and I didn't want to go down the Bazzite route in this case.

I'll come back to it once Steam OS officially works with Nvidia drivers.

Windows is fine if you're using the NEO-X1 Pro as a desktop machine, less so when attached to a TV as a Steam Machine alternative. I still had to keep my keyboard and mouse nearby.

If you do want to use it as a living room console, you can have it boot straight into Xbox mode or Steam Big Picture, and even turn off the PIN screen Windows forces upon you on boot. But it never quite feels as smooth an experience as a dedicated OS for gaming.

Most won't worry about that, though. Connect it to a gaming monitor and you're flying. It's small enough to sit on the desk without looming over you, yet also packed with power.

Remove the side and you can even upgrade the SSD and memory, although doing so can be a bit of a pain to the uninitiated. To get to the dual M.2 NVMe slots you have to remove the liquid cooler and GPU. The two DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM memory slots are a bit more simple, they are just under the cooler, but the RTX 5070 hides the second M.2 slot so that has to be taken out first too.

That being said, considering it comes with a 2TB SSD and 64GB of DDR5 RAM anyway, with costs of additional storage and memory continuing to be ludicrous, it's only power users that will likely want to expand.

Certainly, GMKtec keeps everything super tidy inside to give you the option and leeway.

GMKtec NEO-X1 Pro: conclusion

The NEO-X1 Pro is a great example of a "mini PC" without compromises. It is a fraction of the size of a full tower, yet performs like one.

I admittedly have spent my time with the Pro rather than the lesser spec'ed model, but considering much of the DNA is the same, aside from a few of the components, I am nigh-on certain that it continues to be much better value than a Steam Machine. Especially if you take your gaming seriously.

As for the Pro itself, it's a beautifully built bit of kit. Yeah, it's double the price of the Steam Machine, even with a discount, but it offers quadruple the performance. And when Steam OS finally enables full Nvidia GPU support, it might even become the PC games console Valve had originally set its own heart on.

As it stands, I don't see the need for full, chonky gaming rigs today when this kind of thing is available. It's a more home-friendly way to get into high-end PC gaming, and I'm happy to say that this, and its RTX 5060 Ti sibling, are well worth saving up that bit more for.

PlayStation has just unveiled arguably its best looking PS5 side plates and DualSense controllers yet. The Prism collection includes three console covers and controllers in transparent Flare Orange, Emerald Green and Graphite Grey.

They'll be available to purchase from the PlayStation Store online from 10 November and are likely to be extremely popular. I particularly like the Flare Orange version – the console cover is especially eye-popping.

However, there's one special edition PS5 that tops those and then some.

Goldgenie is renowned for its luxury customisations of consumer tech, often replacing the shells of iPhones and other smartphones with pure gold and leather. The end results can run into the thousands of pounds and dollars, making them as bling as you can imagine.

And that's the case with its latest – a pure 24k gold PS5.

The atelior brand first released a gold PlayStation 5 in 2020, when the console originally debuted. But this latest version is different. Where that one had a golden skin, this is plated in 24k gold.

Goldgenie has used the casing from each model, plus its included DualSense controller. So you're not getting a skinned console, you're getting the shop bought model cased in real gold.

Also, the version chosen this time is the PS5 Slim with the disc drive. It is a limited edition and once all units are sold out, there will never be another of that type.

Of course, it's not exactly in the same price bracket as PlayStation's new accessories. Even with the latest pricing of the PS5 taken into account, you're going to have to dig a bit deeper.

The Goldgenie 24k Gold PS5 will set you back £9,997 in the UK, $13,585.92 in the States.

It's available to order from the brand's own website now and will ship within 14 days to anywhere in the world.

If that's a bit too steep for your liking though, Sony's transparent PS5 covers start at £64.99 / $74.99, with the matching DualSense priced at $84.99 / £74.99.

As a retro games enthusiast, I own a sizable collection of gaming handhelds of all shapes and sizes – and at all budgets. But there are few that offer as much value for money as the R36S.

Capable of comfortably playing games up to PlayStation One, it comes packed with emulators for all the classic systems. And it's always worth hunting out each major sales period.

In fact, you can often find bargains on the build up to the likes of Black Friday, as I have. Amazon is currently selling the R36S with more than 20,000 games to play for under £30 right now.

It's not the most powerful or famous retro gaming handheld out there, but has a decent display and workable user interface to get to and start each game. I own a couple of them already, in fact.

One thing to note is that as the R36S is such a popular device, whenever I find it for under £30, it gets snapped up sharpish. So be quick with your order – it's unlikely to hit a price much lower than this.

Also, while the white model is at the unbelievable price of around £28, you can pay a tiny bit more to get the colour of your choice. That includes the great-looking transparent black model for just £29.98.

What is the R36S retro gaming handheld and is it worth it?

The R36S is a decently spec'ed gaming handheld with a 3.5-inch 640 x 480 4:3 display. It runs on the Rockchip RK3326 processor, which has been the bedrock of retro gaming devices for a few years.

That means it is capable of playing all the 8-bit and 16-bit games comfortably – such as NES, SNES, Master System and Mega Drive – as well as original PlayStation titles.

You might even be able to eke a bit of PSP or N64 gaming out of it.

Most suppliers include a card filled with dubiously sourced ROMs (the games) and so it comes largely plug-and-play.

PlayStation's next batch of free games for all PS Plus subscribers will arrive on 3 November, and it's one of the best lineups for a while.

All three releases are worth sinking time into, with the headliner being one of the most underrated action-adventures in recent times, in my humble opinion. Another of them is an extremely addictive deck-builder, while the last is literally three games in one.

Dead Island 2 might not live up to Techland's original, but its famed development woes were ironed out when Deep Silver and new developer Dambuster Studios finally managed to get it out of the door.

The first-person RPG (of sorts) is a zombie-filled hoot that doesn't take itself too seriously, and provides a whole lot of fun combat and exploration. There's a deep crafting mechanic to customise outlandish weaponry, and solid co-op options to take on the hordes with friends.

Available for PS5, PS5 Pro and PS4 owners, Dead Island 2 will be completely free to download until 30 November. As with all the PS Plus monthly games, you can keep it as long as you retain Essential, Extra or Premium membership.

The same goes with Monster Train 2, which is being included for PS5 owners only.

A roguelite deck-builder, it's the sequel to one of my favourite Slay the Spire clones. You are all that stands between the forces of Heaven and the gates of Hell and, in a twist, you are essentially the bad guy.

You must stop the angelic attack using different demons, spells and abilities as you ride along the train tracks to damnation. As with all good deck-builders, that includes picking up new units, action cards and power-ups to repel increasingly stronger enemies. Lose the heart driving your train and it's over.

I went through a period of playing this game daily, so it's inclusion with this month's batch lets you find out why.

Finally, Tomb Raider IV - VI Remastered collects Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider: Chronicles, and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness in the one collection for PS5 and PS4.

The graphics have been cleaned up – although you can also play with the original graphical presentation, too – and there are other quality of life tweaks to the three classic games.

Oh, and don't forget that until the end of play 2 November, you can also download F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 if you haven't done so already.

It's been a hot minute since a Call of Duty game managed to really grab me. The last couple of entries felt rushed at the best of times, but even if you were a Multiplayer-only type of player, you'd have to gel with the way they pushed into quicker and quicker territory. I'm not into movement shooters, so the return of a slightly more grounded style with Modern Warfare 4 has been a real pleasure this past weekend.

That said, it's the campaign that I mainlined the most efficiently, which is never too huge a challenge given COD's generally modest single-player runtimes. After the enormous disappointment of MW3, I was at least a little interested to see how Infinity Ward innovated and switched things up.

To be honest, I'm not sure this is the return to form that it's been greeted as, having rolled credits on it. While there are some great missions and the production value is right back up there, I still didn't really do anything that felt unlike something from previous games – including the open-world "Stranded" mission that felt like a glimpse into how boring a huge COD could really be.

That's harsh, of course, and the story ripped along at a good pace, but I was disappointed by how little time I spent with a new team of interesting and well-acted South Korean marines, instead repeatedly getting hooked back into the overarching storyline driven by Captain Price.

Price is now a full-on war criminal, for the uninitiated, and it's quite funny to watch the recap video included in the game, showing us a principled and straightforward operator, before dropping into the campaign and watching him be at first complicit and then fully participating in large-scale civilian death.

Still, while its story continued to get sillier and sillier, it's undeniably true that the COD mission format still feels exhilarating to play. As you push through front lines, accompanied by dozens of other marines, the sense of scale is often really impressive, and it crucially all looks pretty stellar.

In fact, playing on my PS5 Pro I was reminded time and again that Infinity Ward really know how to push the COD game engine to its limits. From night-time lighting that's impressively realistic, to explosions that shake your very bones when they hit, this is a really impressive-looking campaign.

It features a few locations that are just insanely detailed if you stop and take the time to soak them in, too. The Korean convenience store from the game's opening moments is perhaps the most photorealistic storefront I've ever seen in a game.

On the PS5 Pro, this is all rendered extremely sharply, too, with the console able to keep things even smoother than its less powerful sibling, without cutting back on the level of detail. Since my friends all game on PlayStation, this is another title that's pulled me away from my gaming PC right now.

As I've come to expect from Infinity Ward, the sound design is excellent. I'm playing with the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite connected, and the booming soundscapes of each battle are quite something to hear. Of course, next up is a multiplayer binge for me, and I'll be interested to see how reliable the audio is on this front.

If you've sat out the last couple of COD games, like me, because they just got too twitchy and were a little far from the traditional gameplay you enjoy, then I'd say this is one to take a look at. It's the biggest step back to basics that COD has made since 2019, and I can only hope it teaches Activision a lesson about leaning too far into competition with Fortnite.

Sometimes it takes a chunk of time for the right decision to be made – and credit to Konami, it made the right one for Castlevania. After years out in the cold, this beloved franchise finally got a new game this month, in the form of Belmont's Curse, and rather than bashing its head against the wall trying to reinvent the series, Konami took a smarter path.

It looked at the phenomenal success of Dead Cells, from a French team (Evil Empire) that openly professed its adoration of Castlevania, and asked why that same team couldn't just make the next mainline game. Fast-forward a few years, and we have Belmont's Curse, from that same developer, showing that you really can manifest your own destiny sometimes.

I spent pivotal parts of my childhood and teenage years playing Castlevania games on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, so I've basically been waiting for a new 2D game in the series for years and years. Now it's finally here, and that heritage of portable play meant that I was only ever interested in playing it on one console – my Switch 2.

As it happens, there's one small wrinkle there. While Belmont's Curse launched with a Nintendo Switch version on day one, it doesn't yet have a native Switch 2 port. While the game does run better on Switch 2, with a frame rate cap raised from 30fps to 60fps, it's still not the sharpest, and it's a bit disappointing that we'll have to wait for an upgraded version at some point down the line.

That foible aside, though, I've been having a brilliant time sinking into the game's vision of a ruined Paris, complete with a haunted castle to explore and a carefully laid-out map to discover. It's classic Metroidvania stuff, right down to its surprisingly brutal difficulty curve.

Belmont's Curse sees you take up the mantle of Rose Belmont, at the time of the game, the youngest of her famous family's line, as she and her father, Trevor, journey to Paris to investigate an uprising of demons and monsters. On arrival, they discover the city in disarray and split up.

Taking control of Rose, you'll find her a capable warrior, but a newly acquired Tarot deck is her secret weapon. It's basically a roster of weapons and skills that she can expand over time (much of that expansion happening through mastery challenges). These skills don't just change how you fight, but also double in many cases as traversal methods, giving you the classic step-by-step upgrades to how much of the map you can explore at a given time.

While Evil Empire is best known for its roguelike work, this is a traditional game in the genre, so while there are moments that let you choose where to explore next, much of the progression is slightly more linear than it might appear. Still, the map's proving really fun to explore, and it's more challenging than I expected, with even the most common enemies demanding some care when you fight them.

Bosses, meanwhile, are entirely another question, and I haven't blitzed any of them in one attempt so far. For me, the ideal boss in this genre takes me about five or six tries – enough to make me pay attention and learn its attacks, but not so many that I get really frustrated. That metric has roughly applied to Belmont's Curse so far, which has been really fun.

In a period of absolutely non-stop releases (with more games coming every week and a behemoth called GTA VI just around the corner), I've been sneaking an hour here and there on my Switch 2 with Belmont's Curse, and it might just have its hooks in deep enough to make me finish it before I move on.

Yesterday's announcement about BioWare's closure has been followed with a leaked trailer for the Mass Effect game it was working on at the time.

Now confirmed as genuine, the trailer shows pre-production footage of Mass Effect Universe – the fifth entry in the hugely popular sci-fi RPG franchise. And considering its spy thriller themes, it also underlines exactly what we'll be missing.

After it was originally posted on Reddit, renowned industry expert Jason Schreier confirmed its validity: "Can confirm that this is a real trailer of the Mass Effect game that BioWare was developing up until its closure yesterday," he wrote on Bluesky.

The trailer shows a new lead character with a bit of backstory. There seem to be some returning favourites too. It starts by detailing that the footage is all taken from in-game, using pre-production assets.

Bar any further leaks that appear over the coming days and weeks, this could be the last we see of Mass Effect in the games-sphere. It was announced yesterday that EA had closed the much-loved role-playing specialist BioWare, leaving its staff facing unemployment and its IPs – including Dragon Age, as well as Mass Effect – in limbo.

It has naturally caused an outcry in the gaming community. Canadian studio BioWare has been responsible for some of the best RPGs in gaming history, including Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, and of course, the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series.

It is cited as having influenced The Witcher games and many more besides. It will be sorely missed.

One tiny bit of solace is that Amazon is reportedly ploughing ahead with its Mass Effect TV series. And hopefully, something will emerge from the developer's obviously talented team elsewhere.

Either way, let's just hope all those impacted manage to find further employment soon.

Football Manager 27 will be officially available across multiple platforms from 10 November 2026, but you can actually play it for free from next week.

Sega and Sports Interactive are releasing a Launch Preview version of the game to play on PC or Mac from Thursday 29 October until 3 November. It'll cost absolutely nothing to download and enjoy, with all game modes available.

Should you then want to continue your management journey, you can buy the full game with 10% off. Considering the retail price is £49.99 / $59.99 / €59.99, that's a great deal.

What's more, if you do purchase the game the trial period will be extended until the full release day. And your saved games will transfer over, so you can continue your career.

If you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass, you can even continue your FM27 campaign at no extra cost, as it will be available on the platform as a day one release.

Alternatively, you can download the Launch Preview from Steam, Epic Games Store, or the Microsoft Store, where you can also purchase the full game after.

Football Manager 27 features a tweaked interface this year, with fewer clicks needed to get to important information. There are new tactical features and training options, including a better integration of how your tactics affect player behaviour during matches.

They can even misunderstand your instructions depending on their skill levels and the complexity of your tactics.

The match engine has been enhanced too, with improved visuals of the crowd and other stadium elements.

The game will also release for Xbox consoles and PS5, as well as mobile via Netflix (FM27 Mobile) and Apple Arcade (FM27 Touch). As with the console version on Xbox Game Pass, you'll need a related subscription to play them at no extra cost.

Xbox Game Pass members are getting a selection of great games added next week, as we build up to Halloween. And while one of those is the superb Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, I'm actually more excited by the inclusion of another remastered classic.

I played Plants vs. Zombies for many hours – days even – when it first released many moons ago. It was my Candy Crush on iPhone. So I've been looking to get my hands on Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted on Xbox for a while. Now, thanks to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, I won't even have to pay extra for it.

The tower defence game, which sees you plant different categories of lethal plants to fight off waves of the undead, was remastered with HD graphics and extra content last year. Now it's coming to the service in time for the spooky season.

As part of EA Play, it'll be available on 29 October for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers only. However, there will also be several games arriving on the platform soon for Premium members too.

That includes Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, the truly stunning, from-the-ground-up remake of one of the best JRPGs ever made (well the first part of it anyway). The start of the trilogy reintroduces us to the characters we all fell in love with almost 30 years ago.

It'll be available for Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers from 29 October, too. However, you will need an Xbox Series X/S, PC or access to Xbox Cloud Gaming to play it.

Other games coming soon include Sandustry, which arrived on Game Pass today (21 October), Dodo Duckie (coming 22 October), Scramble Knights Online (26 October), and The Séance of Blake Manor (27 October).

Also coming next week – on 29 October – are Mouthwashing, and Terrible Lizards. And the first confirmed game for next month is Pit of Goblin, which will arrive on 3 November.

Only recently we suggested that like the PlayStation 6, the next-gen Xbox console – currently codenamed Project Helix – will be delayed until 2028 at the earliest. Now another source has repeated that claim.

In a profile of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, Fortune revealed that "plans" include releasing "the next console by the holidays in 2028".

However, we could see another device before then. It is also claimed that there will be a "next-generation handheld device" by the end of next year.

Unfortunately though, Fortune also wrote that Helix could cost as much as $1,800 (£1,344) with today's component market taken into consideration. The business outlet revealed that internal projections priced the console between $1,200 and $1,800.

That's if the components crisis continues, of course. And as I said about the PS6 in my latest report, delayed release dates could allow Sony and Microsoft to reduce their costs.

I spoke with an LG executive at IFA in September who told me RAMageddon could be over by the end of 2027, early 2028 at the latest. That could enable memory and NAND storage prices to become more sensible before console production begins.

Hopefully, the savings will then be passed onto the consumer in the form of lower price points.

After all, who would want to spend the equivalent of a decent gaming PC on a new console? The PS5 Pro currently retails for $899 / £789 and that's considered far too expensive by most.

It also depends on Helix's capabilities. Original plans were to release a premium PC/Xbox hybrid, which can play both types of games at a high level. However, reports have since said that the plans have been adjusted, to keep the console more affordable.

That could also have contributed to the delay. Either way though, existing Xbox Series X/S (and PS5) owners can rest safe in the knowledge that their consoles will continue to be fully supported for the next few years.

Apple's gaming strategy has changed in the last few years, not least thanks to its devices becoming more capable.

Not only are Apple silicon-toting MacBooks more capable of playing AAA games, but iPhone and iPad models are no longer restricted to simple mobile titles.

We've had the likes of Death Stranding and Resident Evil Village release on iOS in the last few years, and later this month No Man's Sky will join the list. What's more, the sci-fi hit will include 10 years-worth of downloadable content when it does arrive.

It's a strategy that seems to be gaining momentum. More developers and publishers want to exploit Apple's platforms and its growing base of gamers, now that the games themselves are capable of running almost as well as they do on console.

But where does that leave Apple Arcade? Most premium games will not be released on the service – at least not on day one. With a greater focus on iPhone and iPad as bone fide gaming devices, will Apple Arcade continue?

The answer is a resounding "yes". Speaking in an interview with Polygon, Apple's head of App Store Worldwide, Carson Oliver, was keen to stress that Apple Arcade is going nowhere: "We want to give developers a trusted place to reach users around the world, support them at each stage, and help them build successful businesses," he said.

"To achieve that goal, we provide developers with flexible business model options. That means a breakthrough phenomenon like Balatro can thrive as a premium download, and it can also find a home as part of the Apple Arcade service.

"The important thing is that we give developers the flexibility to make the best choice for every game and players the freedom to play how they want."

An Apple Arcade subscription costs £6.99 / $6.99 per month for access to hundreds of mobile games. They work across iPhone, iPad, Mac and, in many cases, Apple TV 4K. And they have no hidden fees or advertising.

Some of them are big name releases you'd find on console and PC too – including Sid Meier's Civilization 7, Dredge, Stardew Valley, and Cult of the Lamb.

And with the likes of Vampire Crawlers, Absolum, and Sifu arriving on the App Store soon as premium titles, it shows that Apple's only getting started in gaming. There is plenty yet to come.

It feels like almost yesterday that I was playing Sports Resort on the Nintendo Wii. It wasn't, of course, as the second game in Nintendo's series was released some 17 years ago – in the summer of '09.

The original that started it all, Wii Sports, which came bundled with that console, was released three years prior. It's fitting, therefore, that on the 20th anniversary, Nintendo has revisited its sporting classic for a Switch 2 release, which I've been playing over the last week – hitting peak Nintendo nostalgia.

However, Switch Sports Resort isn't a mere graphical repolish of the old Wii games, it's a fully new experience that just happens to leverage some of the greatest sports in the original. It also taps into the Switch 2's Joy-Con 2 controllers, taking advantage of all their control mechanisms for the better for its new additions.

How much does Sports Resort cost?

Switch Sports Resort releases Thursday 22 October 2026 around the world. It's not bundled with the Switch 2 console, of course, as you'll have to fork out your cash to buy the game.

Nintendo is positioning the title as a premier release, meaning it's close to a AAA game's price, at £41.99 / $/€49.99for the digital download versions.

You can buy a boxed copy, too, which is meant to cost more – but Amazon is holding the same price as the download for the pre-order, plus you can split the payment over 5 months to spread the cost.

How many sports are included?

• Archery
• Basketball, Boxing, Bowling
• Golf
• Power Cruising, Prop Plane
• Skateboarding
• Table Tennis, Tennis, Thumb Wrestling
• Volleyball

If, like me, you were all about Bowling, then you'll be pleased to see it's returned for the Switch 2 edition of Sports Resort. There are plenty of other familiar games, too, which I've listed above in alphabetical order.

Some are totally new, though, with Skateboarding (which uses the Joy-Con's mouse-like controls), Thumb Wrestling, and the honorary thirteenth sport, Jump Rope – which is a warm-up, rather than fully blown sport.

Some of the lesser regarded sports of the original Wii Sports Resort have been left in the history books, as there's no Canoeing, Cycling, Frisbee, Swordplay or Wakeboarding. No big losses there, though, with many of the core mechanics of those reflected in the current line-up.

Can I play Switch Sports Resort online?

I've been playing Switch Sports Resort in local versus mode, which can cater for up to four players using individual Joy-Cons, or passing one (or sometimes a pair, depending on the game) around turn by turn.

Computer opponents, with three difficulty levels, can also be included. You can also play online, with up to 16 real players for certain sports – so long as you have the relevant Nintendo Switch Online subscription for access.

I can see the online play being a massive part of this game, as I'm sure there'll be plenty of pro players who take to one sport. It's also a great way to showcase your abilities, as the solo game – where you battle through every sport – isn't nearly as fun as the versus thrill.

This late October launch seems somewhat peculiar to me, however, with Nintendo's Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake due a couple of weeks later, not to mention the massive launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 incoming in November too.

Switch Sports Resort makes huge sense as a holiday period or slice of Christmas entertainment for the whole family – but, with only 12 sports to entertain, its shelf life is likely to be limited. A big discount would massively add appeal in my view, because there's so much joy to be had here.

Who knew we needed another ROG Xbox Ally X? Well, when Asus spun up a whole heap of limited editions to celebrate ROG's 20th anniversary this year, it clearly decided that the Xbox Ally X was a great candidate for an update.

After all, I was one of many reviewers who felt the debut handheld missed one key thing – an OLED display – and now we've got a revision with that addition. However, it's also packing a new design (featuring retro transparency) and a massive new price tag.

So how does it fare as a value proposition? I've been gaming on it for a couple of weeks to see how it holds up, and it's safe to say that, just like the Xbox Ally X before it, this could end up being down to your personal finances as much as your personal tastes.

Price and Availability

There's no two ways around it – the Xbox Ally X20 is a chunky ask when it comes to the price. In the US, it comes in at $1,299, which is a $300 hike over the original Xbox Ally X. In the UK, meanwhile, we're subjected to a price of £1,299 (where $1,299 is actually £980 when exchanged at the time of writing), which is even more heinous.

These figures are steep, and no mistake, but they're likely to be complicated by the issue of stock, too. The Xbox Ally X went in and out of stock fairly regularly at launch, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same is true of the new model now that it can be ordered. So the demand is certainly there, price irrelevant.

Design and Specs

The X20 looks much like the Xbox Ally X at first glance, and indeed feels the exact same in the hand, because its dimensions haven't changed. This isn't a new design in any real way, but rather just a new case for the existing one – but that case is really cool.

It sees the handheld put into a dark grey transparent plastic shell, which lets you see hints of components inside it, especially on its back, where fans are pretty clearly visible. It's a really nice retro touch that does indeed speak to the aesthetics of 20 years ago in tech.

This and some gold buttons, to really sell the anniversary theme, are the main differences in design terms compared to the last version of ROG's Xbox handheld, and that does start the conversation about whether enough has really changed here; that debate is at its spiciest when we turn to the machine's specs, though.

When it comes to internals, there's no change here, either. The same processor powers everything, meaning you get the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip – and it remains a very impressive piece of mobile work.

That said, since this chip debuted, Intel's entire Panther Lake generation of chipsets has arrived, and the top-end versions have staggering GPU performance that has made the Z2 Extreme look less bleeding-edge than it used to.

The most eye-grabbing change in component terms, though, is the new screen. For a start, it's 0.4 inches bigger than the previous version, but the crucial difference is that it's an OLED panel – just like we wanted from the start.

It's got HDR, too, making for a substantial upgrade in most ways, while still running at Full HD (1920x1080) and with a refresh rate of 120Hz. This means that all the smoothness you'd like can be achieved with the right graphical setup in your chosen games, but also ensures that you should get better image quality while getting it.

Still, the fact is that this is the sum total of the changes – you still get 1TB of internal storage on an M.2 solid-state drive, 24GB of RAM, and all the same controls and extra buttons as last time. You also get the exact same software suite, with Windows as its base and a layer of Xbox's software on top for convenience.

In fact, it's really worth reiterating this – to all intents and purposes, this machine will feel identical to the ROG Xbox Ally X, apart from its screen. Thus, despite its name giving a slightly muddled impression, it really is the same as going from a Steam Deck to a Steam Deck OLED.

Performance and Display

So, if the ROG Xbox Ally X20 is just a new shell and a new screen, how does that translate in terms of performance? Well, the answer is pretty simple – it performs near-identically to the Xbox Ally X, as you'd expect given that same chipset powering everything.

There might be tiny differences in battery life because of the newer, bigger display, and while there are miniature changes in benchmarking across technical tools, in actual gameplay we're talking the exact same frame rates as you'd have gotten a year ago on the Ally X.

That's not a huge issue, of course, because the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme remains a really impressive portable chip. You'll be able to play Cyberpunk 2077 on its Steam Deck preset at around 50fps, for example, and running more recent games like Pragmata, you can get a pretty reliable 40fps, too, if you tune it right.

Capcom's newer games are great for their scalability, but the obvious caveat is that some newer titles will stretch the handheld past its limits, and it's a simple reality that you shouldn't necessarily buy this device in the expectation of playing newer titles for years to come – that's just not what it's best at.

Where it does excel is with a back catalogue, whether it's through Xbox Game Pass or Steam, and less graphically demanding titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong or Disco Elysium are pretty stellar to play through.

That also brings me to the software question, which is significant. Once you've set up the Xbox Ally X20, you'll be greeted by a sort of software shell, Xbox Mode. This launched a while back with the original Xbox Ally, but it's been upgraded in a few ways over time, and is now smoother than ever.

There's seemingly a big new version coming out imminently, but I didn't get the chance to try that for this review. Instead, I used the public version out now, and found it reliable enough, even if I did end up using it to just boot Steam quite often.

The fact is that Xbox Mode runs games with better performance than just doing so straight through Windows, so it's a welcome addition that also makes navigating through menus with your controls a good deal easier.

Putting performance aside, though, the display upgrade that really feels like the only reason the Xbox Ally X20 exists is a huge success in gaming terms. The change to OLED is indeed felt immediately, with inkier blacks and beautiful, vivid colours – and with no trade-off in refresh rate, there's really no downside here.

It's the upgrade I wanted the moment I tested the original Xbox Ally X, albeit at a price that I can't pretend to love.

In terms of battery life, meanwhile, I got about three hours from Cyberpunk 2077, but closer to five when running Silksong, which makes it a solid enough performer.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 review: Verdict

This was always going to be the way – the never-ending crunch of the memory price crisis means that the ROG Xbox Ally X20 feels a little compromised by its wild price. That's a shame, because adding an OLED panel basically fixes the one flaw with the Xbox Ally X, and it is therefore really quite lovely to game on.

However, in a world where Intel's Panther Lake chips are now in real handhelds that outperform this one, meaning it's no longer an apex predator, it does look increasingly like a niche option. If you're a big fan of Xbox Mode and want its best implementation yet, this is your best bet, but I think most people might end up bouncing off that price.

Also Consider

If you're shopping at the top end of the gaming handheld market, why not get the newest and shiniest option available? In this case, that's the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ – a genuine beast that features the latest in Intel chipsets and is therefore just about the best performer you'll find. That said, it's ferociously expensive.

The more sensible option is to accept that portable gaming might not be for uber-fidelity, and instead save loads of cash by going for something older like the Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS), which remains my favourite PC gaming handheld. It runs SteamOS natively and is a little beauty to play on, but doesn't come close to the ROG Xbox Ally X20 in terms of performance.

It's been just past a year since Battlefield 6 came out – something that you might have noticed thanks to a big promotional push around its new "Game of the Year" edition. That's a label you're allowed to use even if your own mum's the only one who gave it to you, but in this case there's a pretty decent shout about its success.

After all, the franchise had languished far behind Call of Duty for years, through some real low points (the monetisation in Battlefield V being possibly the nadir), only to leapfrog it brutally in 2025. It was the best-selling shooter of that year, and might have a chance at keeping that label this year even with Modern Warfare 4 arriving in a matter of days.

Sales don't make a game good, of course, and if anything, sometimes mean it has to come from behind in terms of my expectations. Yet, without any artifice, I can say that I play Battlefield 6 almost every day on my PS5 Pro, with a group of friends for whom it's completely supplanted COD at present.

We all fell back into that latter franchise in a huge way when Warzone released, but in the last few years the crazy in-game movement it required alienated us, so when Battlefield returned to a more grounded system it was music to our ears. Now, a year on, its fifth season is proving just as much of a hit, and its new maps (set in Las Vegas and Area 51) have already hosted a good half-dozen hours of team play.

I've particularly enjoyed the new Area 51 map, which is expansive and full of varied terrain – and unlike some of the arrivals in previous seasons (like Blackwell Fields), it doesn't feel like one big plane of similar situations to fight in. It has verticality, sprawl, and a whole heap of routes between points.

Crucially, though, the game is also finally at a point where it sounds as good as I remember it being during the pre-launch beta, when footsteps were incredibly clear and could help you win fights multiple times per round. After quite a few months of muddy audio, Dice has tweaked things to the point where wearing a headset once again feels completely essential.

While my friends all play on launch PS5 consoles, I'm also enjoying the game on my PS5 Pro, and it's one of those titles that makes me feel good about the admittedly sizeable investment it represents. It's sharper and a little more fluid than it would otherwise be, not least thanks to its use of PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) to sharpen its base image.

With PSSR actually getting upgrades over time from Sony, this means that BF6 is, if anything, also feeling better than it used to, and it's nice to be able to rely on a game for this long. I have reservations about some of the cosmetics in the game, to be fair, and the "Secuty" typo on a skin this season is particularly embarrassing.

I'm more fussed about the basic fun factor than I am about skins, though, and BF6 continues to nail that side of things. For a game to be drawing me in on basically any free evening an entire year on from release is really impressive enough on its own, frankly.

While some originally suggested that the PlayStation 6 and Xbox Project Helix could release in 2027, it's looking like both could be delayed further. And their prices could be astronomical when they do arrive.

The ongoing components crisis (AKA RAMageddon) has put a kybosh on the next-generation of console gaming, with one industry insider claiming that Sony is struggling to get its PS6 costs down to an affordable level.

That's because the price of memory and storage has skyrocketed over the last two years with the demand from AI data centres making both rare. And according to KeplerL2 (via VGC) that will leave Sony facing a $680 (£510) bill just for the RAM and NAND storage for each PS6.

Responding to a post on NeoGaf that suggested the PS6 will cost $680, he pointed out that the memory and storage would be more than that on their own. You then have to factor in the AMD chipset, GPU, heatsink, fan, power unit, and everything else besides. Not even including a packaged controller, that would put the manufacturing cost alone at just shy of $1,000 (£750).

Even if Sony is willing to sell its next-gen machine at a loss, it can't take too much of a hit per unit.

KeplerL2 is a much-respected AMD expert, so he knows a thing or two about component prices and the potential hardware being considered.

A PS5 costs £569 / $599 today – much more than its launch price – while the PS5 Pro has a retail price of £789 / $899. It would not be a massive leap to suggest the PS6 will be considerably more expensive if the component crisis continues.

What's perhaps more likely is that Sony will wait until the wholesale prices of RAM and NAND reduce. LG recently told T3 that could happen by the end of 2027 or early 2028, which would allow production on a new console to start at a lower cost in spring 2028.

So the holiday season 2028 would be a better bet for the arrival of both the PS6 and Project Helix. And a lot kinder on your pocket, we hope.

I have a confession to make – despite counting myself as a big Resident Evil fan, I'm quite far from having played every game in the series. In fact, although I played a few of the Xbox 360-era games back in the day, the big renaissance for me was Village, which arrived back in 2021. I hopped aboard the Resi train and absolutely loved the mixture of action and horror that it offered up in modern times.

That means that I'd already missed the series' first big modern remake – Resident Evil 2 from 2019. I never played the original, and despite having the newer version on a couple of platforms, I never quite found the moment to dip into it and start Leon Kennedy's story off from the beginning.

Now, though, Switch 2 versions of the Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 remakes have arrived, with Capcom dropping all three at once to give fans of the series a veritable smorgasbord of choice if they want to revisit some of its finest moments. As it turns out, that's just the prompt I needed – I've finally made time to play the oldest of those three games on my Switch 2, with portability being the key factor.

It's been a pretty brilliant time, too, getting to see how the series really evolved into its modern-day run-and-gun genre. Leon and Claire's time in Raccoon City is tense from the get-go, not least because they're getting stalked by Mr X from a relatively early stage, and that dynamic really is just as electric on your Switch 2 as it's been on various other platforms over the years.

Crucially, Capcom has once again done a very solid job with its porting work, scaling down these RE Engine games to still look crisp and modern on the handheld platform, but noticeably blurrier than most other platforms you could care to name. That means there's an argument to be made that this is one of the less impressive ways you could play them, but I'd counter that by pointing out that plenty of people will only have a single console, and that makes these ports extremely welcome.

It's worth pointing out that the games all aim for 60fps, which is really quite remarkable when you consider some of the ambitious scenes they display. That said, while they often hit that mark, all three of these remakes can dip into the mid-50s when things get more hectic.

It's also well worth underlining that this means you can play Resident Evil 2 all the way through to Resident Evil 8 on this one platform. Given it's only been a little over a year since the Switch 2 first went on sale, that's remarkably impressive work from Capcom, which really hasn't hung around at all on this front.

So, if you, too, have been thinking about playing Resident Evil 2 (or 3 or 4) in its remade form, then now looks like the perfect time if you have a Switch 2. If you're anything like me, you'll find they're brilliant little portable scare-factories.

Xbox has announced the last batch of games available as part of its FreePlayDays weekly promotion, and one of them is a hidden gem from 2025 that you don't even need Xbox Game Pass to play.

There are six games available to get stuck into at no extra cost this weekend, including the recently released NBA 2K27, but it's The Alters that stands out the most for me. Not least because it's a game that scored 86 on Metacritic last year yet not many have heard of it.

Indeed, it's not even available for PS5 yet – that version is coming in November – so Xbox Series X and Series S owners can get a heads up on their rivals... for free.

The Alters is a sci-fi survival adventure with a twist – you're stranded alone on a hostile alien planet, but you do have the capability to create clones of yourself, with different skills sets and personalities.

It's a clever concept that's helped through great voice acting, dialogue and an involving, expanding story. The game looks great too.

You can play it for free for up to three hours throughout the coming weekend – until the end of play on Sunday 18 October. And if you fancy continuing, you can either take out an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or Premium subscription or pay just $15.74 / £13.38 for it, which is less than half the usual price.

More Xbox FreePlayDays games

If you do have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Premium or even Essential subscription already, you can also play five other games for free this weekend.

Also available until the end of 18 October are the aforementioned NBA 2K27 – 2K Games' latest basketball title – plus Crusader Kings III, Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop, Soccer Story, and Ravenswatch.

There are deals available for them too, so you can continue to play for less after the weekend's promotion runs out. They start at just $2.99 / £2.51.

The original Nintendo Switch instantly cemented itself as the home of indie gaming. Its hybrid form factor and pick-up-and-play immediacy made it the perfect host for the inventiveness and originality that many indies pride themselves on.

And given that Nintendo wisely decided not to mess with a winning formula, the Switch 2 has unsurprisingly picked up the baton. So, while it only turned one at the start of the summer, the new and improved console has already amassed a killer library of indie games. Here are three you need to play before the year is out.

Denshattack!

Just when you were starting to worry that the well of video game ideas must surely be close to running dry, someone comes up with this: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, but you’re a train.

Comfortably the most vibrant and relentlessly exciting indie game I’ve played this year, Denshattack! is a (mostly literally) on-rails 3D platformer... of sorts. You play as a ramen delivery driver in a colourful post-apocalyptic Japan.

While Emi’s job is to make food deliveries, she quickly becomes far more interested in competing against other drivers in an underground sport where they perform familiar skateboarding tricks with their trains.

It’s truly as bonkers as it sounds, combining twisty-turny, Sonic-esque 3D level design with Tony Hawk’s combos and street culture trappings that are decidedly Jet Set Radio in vibe.

Despite how breathlessly fast and frantic it is, Denshattack! is a joy to play, even if the game throws so many new mechanics at you throughout its runtime that you won’t feel like you’ve mastered any level until you’ve replayed them all several times. But that’s kind of the point.

The one-more-level nature of the game makes it a perfect fit for a handheld device, and it runs near perfectly on Switch 2 to boot.

Wax Heads

Wax Heads is essentially High Fidelity’s romanticisation of the independent record store in video game form, letting you play tastemaker for an eccentric collection of customers who walk through the door.

Described by its developer as a cosy-punk narrative life simulation, the game drops you onto the staff at Repeater Records, a store struggling to keep the lights on but determined not to abandon its quirky music-loving clientele.

Wax Heads is ostensibly a puzzle game, but here the brain-teasers are trying to work out which record a customer is looking for based on their slightly confused descriptions.

The game has crafted its own fictional musical universe, complete with an original soundtrack, so as you rifle through the genre- and era-spanning assortment of albums that line the store shelves, you’ll also learn about the artists who made them.

I was amazed at how invested I quickly became in the career of the enigmatic popstar Mimi, and the wild rumours about the chaotic metal outfit Jarhead. Wax Heads’ comic book-style visuals are the perfect fit for its wacky cast of characters, and the Switch 2 version’s intuitive touch controls mean you could hand the game to just about anyone who enjoys good music and guarantee them a good time.

Sektori

However ambitious and technically astounding video games continue to get, you just can’t beat the raw gameplay purity of a twin-stick shooter – a genre that has been around since the early ‘80s.

Sektori came out quite a bit later than that, specifically in 2025, with the Switch 2 version arriving earlier this year, but it’s a shmup that can go toe-to-toe with any of the classics.

Like all the best twin-stick shooters, the basics are easy to pick up. You control your little ship on a top-down battlefield with the left stick, and shoot gradually increasing waves of enemies with the right. You also have an invincible dash strike move in your arsenal on a cooldown (though there are ways to instantly reset it) which is key to racking up your score.

It sounds simple enough, but Sektori adds extra layers of complexity with dynamically shifting arena boundaries that make positioning as important as your aim, as well as an ingenious deck-building element that lets you further upgrade your ship’s various attributes throughout the course of a run.

The game is a spectacular audiovisual feast, hypnotising you with its trippy patterns and thumping techno score. It’s overwhelming in the best way, and once you’ve worked out what it wants from you you’ll have a very hard time putting it down.

Well, Rockstar sure knows how to do it – whether it was giving a week's notice so that people could get excited about its exclusive Netflix streaming deal for Grand Theft Auto 6's proper gameplay reveal, or dropping a trailer with absolutely no notice, like its latest one.

The launch trailer for GTA 6 is quite a doozy, featuring some moments we've not seen before, and giving a clearer sense of how the story will actually start, with Jason finding a veteran's life hard and Lucia very much locked up. What it also featured, though, was a new song from French electronic music maestros Justice – and it's an important one.

For the first time, we now have proper confirmation that Justice aren't just providing music for the game's radio stations, as they have in previous titles. Rather, they've actually written the game's entire score, meaning their musical signature will be shaping the story from start to finish.

If, like me, you're a big fan of the duo (and I'm more than a big fan), then it's great news, and it actually explains quite a lot of their timeline over the last two years. Justice had a lengthy tour ending in 2025, mashing up their latest album Hyperdrama, but unlike every previous album, they haven't yet released a live version of the tour mix. Speculation about why has been rife in their community, and now we have an answer.

In fact, sleuthing fans on Reddit have been speculating about Justice being involved with GTA 6 for a while, not least because the last few trailers have all featured music that is at least a little reminiscent of their dirty bass and techno-fused work. Getting it confirmed is causing a bit of a sensation in the fanbase.

As someone who's seen Justice live half a dozen times, and loved it each and every single time, I can't really say how exciting this is. Quite frankly, I wasn't all that wildly hyped for the game until now – while it looks jaw-dropping from a visual perspective, I want to be told how it'll move the open-world genre forward, rather than just suspecting it'll be more of the same as GTA 5.

With this announcement, though, I'm going from a middling sort of feeling to checking out on a digital pre-order, even if I'm gritting my teeth a little at the prospect. I'll obviously be able to listen to the music at launch either way, but hearing it in context during missions will be a real pleasure.

If you want to sign up to learn more about the score as and when news comes out, head to Justice's official site and you can do just that. I'd say there's a safe bet to be had that we get some sort of limited edition vinyl release, for one, but I'll also be crossing my fingers that there's a proper album that gets a correspondingly proper tour down the line.

It's no secret that 2026 has been a bit of a disasterclass for Xbox, with new leadership clearly feeling the time is right for a brutal clearout of employees and studios. In light of those decisions, it's quite a spicy time for Gears of War: E-Day to finally come out – a game that The Coalition made instead of finishing its new trilogy (Gears 4 and 5), itself quite a big change in plans.

Rather than finding out what'll happen to Kait and her team in the future timeline, we're instead rewinding right to the start and returning to the objectively massive boots of Marcus Fenix. E-Day, as the name suggests, shows off what the actual invasion of the Locust Horde looked like to live through, and it's unsurprisingly gritty as a result.

In gameplay terms, things are also pretty old-school. While there are sequences that let you explore a little, they're far from the vehicle-driven open zones of Gears 5, and the running and gunning also feel impressively Xbox 360-coded (although they're actually a lot quicker than they used to be).

What's taken me aback, though, is how unbelievably good the game looks, playing on PC. I have a loan PC from Nvidia, kitted out with an GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, and it's pretty amazing to see E-Day push it to its limits, or at least exploring those limits. Playing at 1440p (my preferred avenue, for performance reasons), I've been able to play the game on its Ultra preset, with a few extra settings like hair strands toggled on, all at a pretty steady 60fps.

That performance has been rock solid while the game pushes out frankly gorgeous lighting and reflections – with the pre-release work between developers The Coalition and Nvidia to get this all working so smoothly seeming obvious. The fact that game-ready drivers for Nvidia cards were there on release day is all you really need to know on that front.

The game's opening sequences are played out largely in night-time scenes and dimly-lit interiors, giving it the perfect opportunity to show off ray-tracing's more subtle side. It's not all about shiny cars reflecting the world perfectly; the interactions of different light sources on a scene are just as important, and can often be more impactful.

Nvidia's crowing about the new feature that E-Day debuts on this front: the catchily titled RTX Mega Geometry. This basically marks a big step forward in how geometry in a level interacts with lighting – and it means that objects in a scene have a noticeable step up in lighting detail and shadowing.

You might not think it makes a huge difference, and in some ways you'll be fine to play without it, but if your card's capable of it, this is the sort of less shouty step that makes a real difference to a game's sense of reality, moreso than something like DLSS 5.

Of course, much of the fun of benchmarking a game when you have a 50-series card to play with is in figuring out where the ceiling is with frame generation enabled. With so many levels of the tech now available to use, it's about finding the right balance for you.

I've been playing with frame-gen largely turned off, but turning it on at all can bring huge rewards in terms of frames – and the first couple of levels really don't introduce enough latency to feel like they have much downside. Crank it up to the maximum, and you'll get hundreds of frames per second, although input lag might start to weigh on you a tiny bit.

Having that headroom to play with at all is pretty great, though, and leaves E-Day feeling like a really polished PC launch. In fact, its visual quality and launch day parity has me feeling (once again) good about selling my Xbox Series X a few years ago. It was a machine I didn't use enough, and getting this sort of massive Xbox release on PC right from the start underlines that I still don't need one.

It's oh so close now! Grand Theft Auto VI is just over a month away from release and Rockstar has just posted the launch trailer. It's likely the last glimpse of the game before we get to play it ourselves, and while it doesn't give much else away there's one great bit of confirmation – Justice have provided the entire score.

Having also scored GTA 5, the electronic duo return with a Miami-based soundtrack. And the new trailer includes one of their new tracks that you'll find on the official album – Flower in a Hurricane, which also features Tame Impala, SZA, and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

Other than that we get to see scenes from numerous locations, with Jason, Lucia and some of the ancillary characters going about their (illegal) business.

There's not much gameplay on show – it looks mainly to be cinematic clips – but does that really matter? This isn't just the biggest gaming event of the year, it's the biggest entertainment event, full stop.

It could even be argued that it's the biggest entertainment event of the decade.

Impressively, at the end of the trailer it says that all the footage was captured on PS5 – and that's not even the PS5 Pro. Although technically the game will run at 30fps and we're getting cutscenes here, so it should look the same on Xbox Series X too.

And while it's not been confirmed yet, we've also recently heard that PC games should be able to get their hands on it in just a few months as well. It is said to be coming in Q1 2027.

Back to console though and if you haven't pre-ordered it yet, you have until 20 November to ensure you get the Vintage Vice City pack. That's available from either the PlayStation Store or Xbox Store respectively.

I've mentioned it before when testing pro controllers (like the SteelSeries Aeon Pro, just last week), but the PS5 really does have one huge flaw as a console generation on this front. Because of the step forward in haptics taken by the DualSense controller, the market for third-party pads has been hamstrung from the start.

For whatever reason, Sony hasn't been keen to let other brands use its patents and designs on the haptic side of things, and where the PS4 had literally hundreds of options for controllers, the PS5 has been far more barren. Nacon has been one of the few brands making PS5 controllers, though, and it just unveiled its fanciest yet – the Revolution 5 Unlimited.

It's basically an upgraded version of the Revolution 5 Pro, and I've been using it for over a week to get a sense of how it performs. The good news is that it ticks basically every box that I want in a pro controller, with one small caveat, and I'd love if it had more competition from other brands.

A simple prospect

In some ways, I think it's quite simple to make a pro controller – just don't try too hard. The best ones I've used haven't tried to reinvent the wheel or change how you use a controller; they're just extremely premium-feeling versions of what you already know. That's how I'd describe the Revolution 5 Unlimited, which is lovely and solid in the hand.

One of its immediate changes is that it's almost entirely covered in matte-finish plastic, making it grippier when you hold it. That's accentuated by actual rubberised pads in some places, too.

All over the controller, meanwhile, buttons are clickier and more responsive than on the basic DualSense, which is really noticeable. The triggers can also be turned into clickers at will, thanks to a trigger stop toggle, and that's a huge boon for shooters.

Needless to say, the Revolution 5 Unlimited boasts a heap of extra programmable buttons, too. There are two on each side where your fingers sit in a natural grip, while extra shoulder buttons are a little harder to reach but welcome additions.

The analogue sticks are TMR for drift-resistance and responsiveness, and a built-in screen makes it really easy to program buttons, change between profiles and presets and more. If you fancy a different method, a connected app on your phone works just as well.

This all adds up to a wide range of customisation options, but there are even more in the box. It comes with a hardshell carrying case, and inside you'll find extra analogue stick heads (to change from concave to convex, for instance), along with a series of weights.

These slot into hidden compartments to let you choose exactly how heavy your controller is in the hand. That's a degree of choice that few rivals offer even on PC, and it's a really classy touch that Nacon has been fond of for quite some time.

Finally, the whole thing comes with some convenience – a charging dock that can let you slot the controller's dongle in to save on USB ports. It's a neat little addition that makes the controller more of a fixture on your desk.

The elephant in the room

It's worth clarifying at this stage that the Revolution 5 Unlimited costs $229.99 in the US, £179.99 here in the UK and €199.99 in the EU, since that price is basically the biggest single factor in whether you might buy one.

That makes it roughly the cost of three or four standard DualSense controllers, and a small slice cheaper than the DualSense Edge, but in the same premium bracket. The question of which is better is complicated; the Edge has tighter integration with your PS5 and feels slicker in software terms as a result, but when it comes to sheer customisation, Nacon clearly wins.

There's another key difference, too, since Nacon's pad has an asymmetric layout for its sticks. That's a departure from the normal PlayStation layout, and might make it more attractive for those used to Xbox gamepads historically, or it might be something you'd rather avoid.

Another small downside is that where a normal DualSense has a large touchpad, the Revolution 5 Unlimited has a tiny customisable button underneath the larger PS button. It's fiddly to tap, making accessing the map in plenty of games a bit of an annoyance (although customising another extra button to cover the same job solves this).

I've been hugely enjoying my time with the gamepad, though, and expect to keep using it as my standard controller on PS5 for quite some time. I don't have a DualSense Edge, and since my launch-day Scuf Reflex Pro got stick drift about six months ago, I've been playing without extra buttons; Nacon's loan unit has fixed that problem for me, and I'm not sure I can go back again.

So, if you're in the market for a PS5 controller with a whole heap of added features, it's one to check out. If you want a PC and Xbox controller, meanwhile, SteelSeries has you covered with the Aeon Pro.

I'm a big fan of 2K Games' Mafia titles, so much so that I've recently started a new playthrough of Mafia III (my third). That's why I consider Mafia: The Old Country as one of my favourite releases of last year.

While it largely ditches the open-world aspects of the previous games, the prequel proves to be a solid action-adventure, which sets the stall for the series. It's also recently been served by a very decent slice of additional story in The Man of Honor, an expanded DLC package. And so, the original game's inclusion as part of the PS Plus game catalogue this month is very welcome.

Mafia: The Old Country also runs especially well on PS5 Pro, with a 40fps mode for TVs and displays that support 120Hz refresh rates. We even listed it as one of the three games you must play while waiting for GTA 6 to come out – so now's your chance.

It'll be available at no extra cost to all PS Plus Extra and Premium members from 20 October, so you don't have long to wait.

Also returning to PS Plus is Horizon Forbidden West, one of the best RPG / action-adventure games on PS5 full stop. That too will be available from 20 October. As will Mycopunk, a brand new looter-shooter with cartoon-style graphics and co-op action.

PS Plus doesn't get that many day one releases in comparison with Xbox Game Pass, so this is a rare addition.

Those in the UK, US and Japan will have to wait a week longer for the next batch of new, free games. They include Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2, Tales of Arise – Beyond the Dawn Edition, and Monster Energy Supercross 25.

But if you can't wait that long you can also check your PS5 or PS5 Pro now, Premium and Extra members can download The Midnight Walk from the PS Plus catalogue already.

Finally, if you do have a Premium subscription, you'll also be getting Dino Crisis 2 and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition as part of the classics catalogue next Tuesday, too.

How much is PS Plus Extra and Premium?

The game catalogue is exclusive to PS Plus Extra and Premium members (Deluxe in some regions, like Australia). That means you'll need to upgrade your subscription if you just pay for Essential.

PS Plus Extra will set you back £11.99 / €15.99 / $16.99 / AU$24.95 per month, which gives you all the games on the main catalogue, online multiplayer access, and the additional three to four games offered at no extra cost at the start of each month.

PS Plus Premium also gives you the above plus access to the classics catalogue of retro games, many of which have been remastered. And you can play games over the cloud rather than install them. You'll need this subscription to also stream games to a PlayStation Portal. Membership costs £14.99 / €18.99 / $19.99 per month.

PS Plus Deluxe replaces Premium in some regions. It costs AU$26.95 per month in Australia, for example, and comes with everything except the cloud gaming.

I can't quite believe it's been two and a half years since Dragon's Dogma 2 released – and playing the game's early hours again on my Switch 2 while travelling over the past weekend has been a reminder of just how impressive the game really is. Capcom's crunchy action-RPG is the sort of title that can grab hold of you and suck away dozens of hours before you realise what's happening, and that's high praise.

Now, it's got the major DLC it deserved, in the form of Dark Arisen, which also makes big tweaks to the base game and sees the whole package hit the Switch 2 with total parity of content. That's another little trophy in Capcom's cabinet, continuing a frankly ridiculous streak that runs through Pragmata, Resident Evil: Requiem and plenty more.

First, let's talk Nintendo. I'm not saying that Dragon's Dogma 2 on the Switch 2 is the same sort of miracle port as The Witcher 3 was on the original Switch, but it's still really quite remarkable to play on a portable machine this slim and quiet. This is a huge RPG with a massive world and some really emergent combat systems.

That it runs at all is a testament to Capcom's RE Engine and how it scales, but Dark Arisen also brings frame generation to the fore, which is important. We knew that Nintendo's console had the capacity to potentially use AMD's FSR Frame Generation, and now it's here (and more will follow in Stellar Blade soon).

This means that the game, running uncapped by default unless you tweak this in the menus, is able to inject frames to smooth out its gameplay – and the VRR-capable Switch 2 display makes this basically impossible to perceive. It means that the game's frame rate, which in fact hovers in the high 30s most of the time, feels far smoother than all that, and I'm deeply impressed with how playable that makes the whole adventure.

I've played about three hours on my Switch 2 and found myself basically bumping against no real friction in terms of gameplay compared to when I finished the base game (back at release) on my PlayStation 5. Now, though, I have a PS5 Pro to leverage for non-portable play, and that's where I've been playing the late-game expansion content.

This expansion sees you journey into a new region far to the north of the world you'll explore in the main game – which largely trends towards hotter climates, in fact. This means that, despite some parts of its visual design being fairly traditional (we've seen snow zones before), it's a really nice change of pace when you come to it, and its bleak, wintery areas really are lovely to explore.

The pace of the adventure here is really well-judged, too, and while I haven't finished it yet, I have a strong feeling that it'll follow the same trend as the base game – i.e. you could call it "finished" after 15 or so hours, but there will be dozens more in content for you to discover if you fall in love with the game.

One gameplay tweak that I didn't expect to find so addictive has been the addition of spoils, which are basically loot tokens that you find around the world, and which a given NPC can then convert into actual equipment for you to use or sell off. This loop of discovery, looting, then unveiling is surprisingly compelling, not least because the powers that these items can bequeath are occasionally build-changing.

Meanwhile, I've also used Dark Arisen as an excuse to change my main character's build, having played the base game as a mage. I'm now a fighter, and having a really good time getting more up close and personal, including a heap more climbing on and around monsters, the game's speciality.

On PS5 Pro, it's a really good-looking title – there's a cragginess and detail to its designs that draw you in nicely, and while some NPCs can look a little lumpy and randomised at times, hero characters are super compelling and animated. Plus, of course, while the Switch 2's VRR-enabled frame generation makes for decent smoothness, it's nothing compared to what the PS5 Pro can muster when you put it to the test.

This really does feel like one of those win-win releases. If you've never played Dragon's Dogma 2, there's literally no better time than now to dive in with a smoother, less obstructive experience. If you enjoyed the base game, this expansion is quite literally more, with some amazing boss fights and new systems to uncover. Get going!

Xbox is full of surprises these days and while we've been expecting an announcement of a new Elite controller, it's actually another official gamepad that's broken cover first.

The Xbox Nano Controller is a compact pad that the company claims would suit a younger player or gamer with "smaller hands". However, I can see an immediate use for it – as an ideal companion to a TV or streaming device with Xbox Cloud Gaming support.

Priced at £44.99 / $49.99 and available to pre-order now, it comes with Bluetooth as well as the usual Xbox wireless connectivity. That means you can easily pair it with an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, Samsung smart TV, or another device that supports Xbox's cloud service.

It features a similar button layout and thumbsticks to the usual Xbox Wireless Controller, but the body is truncated for a more pocketable form factor. That also makes it ideal for taking to a friend's home to play multiplayer games on their console.

All of the rest of the functionality is the same, so you don't need to learn anything new. Just hook it up and away you do.

One genuine upgrade over the standard controller is that it has a rechargeable battery, which charges through USB-C. You don't have to hunt for AAA batteries everytime it runs out.

The Xbox Nano Controller is available to pre-order in a large selection of countries, including mainland Europe, the UK, US and Canada. It'll ship from the beginning of November.

It looks like white is the only colour option at the moment, and there will be partnerships with Samsung and Meta for new owners of their respective devices to get the new controller and two-months of Xbox Game Pass for free.

The sale of retro gaming handhelds in the US could be impacted by a filing sent to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. This could result in bans, restrictions and the removal of included games.

Each year, the USTR takes nominations for companies and entities to be added to the US government's "notorious markets" list. This includes sites renowned for piracy and trademark counterfeiting.

While the list doesn't effectively ban products or trading as such, it can be used as evidence to block URLs at an ISP level, or barriers to the import or sale of items from listed firms.

This year's list could include Anbernic and other sites that sell retro gaming handhelds, after it they were nominated for inclusion by the Electronic Software Association (ESA).

According to TorrentFreak. the ESA has highlighted handhelds that come preloaded with thousands of unlicensed games (or bundled microSD cards). It's not the hardware that's an issue per se, even though they contain emulators that enable the play of pirated content, but the act of including the games.

Anbernic makes a wide array of retro gaming handhelds in all shapes and sizes, many of which are great for emulation. However, it also offers bundles including microSD cards containing many gigabytes of games.

If accepted onto the list it opens a large can of worms for the retro gaming market. You only need to scan through the handhelds on Amazon, either in the US or UK, to see how many offer 20,000+ preloaded games. The legality of them is highly dubious.

And while the notorious markets list is a US endeavour, there's every likelihood other regions will consider their own stance on the matter.

Personally, I have my own truncated rom selection that I use with my handhelds, favouring to buy the hardware without included games. However, the appeal of a Game Boy style device with almost every game from the 8-bit, 16-bit and up to original PlayStation eras has proved extremely attractive over the years.

In addition, Anbernic has already withdrawn from shipping directly to the US, in response to Trump's import tariffs, so we might not see much change there.

Still, with the ongoing RAM and components crisis that's grossly inflating prices, it seems that the retro gaming community is facing yet another threat right now.

Maybe it's time to buy an Evercade Nexus (which is out later this month) and play the fully licensed cartridges in the range. It'll make life much more simple.

Eyebrows were raised when Rockstar revealed Grand Theft Auto VI will release first on PS5 / PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X/S, but it's actually par for the course. The studio has traditionally targeted an initial console release for its games.

But what could be different this time is that the PC version could follow soon after. It is reported that GTA 6 could arrive on PC early next year – just a few months after the console debut.

According to GamesBeat, the PC port will arrive in Q1 2027 – so anytime up to the end of March. That will be unusual for Rockstar as it tends to follow up console releases a year after or even later.

Red Dead Redemption 2 arrived on PC almost 13 months after its bow on PS4 and Xbox One. Grand Theft Auto V took more than a year-and-a-half. And the original Red Dead Redemption took a mere 14 years to get a PC port.

It's different this time, however – GamesBeat suggests that the studio will want to recoup its estimated $2 billion (£1.5 billion) budget as quickly as possible, and the PC games market is as big as it's ever been – especially considering the rapid rise of handhelds.

The only thing that will be missing on console and PC at launch will be an online service. GTA Online has proved a huge money spinner for Rockstar and Take Two since its introduction with GTA 5 in 2013. Both will expect the same with an upgraded version based on GTA 6.

It is planned for "next year" but no specific timeframe has been put on the multiplayer offshoot. As well as needing extended development, maybe the companies are reticent to turn off the servers for the existing game – after all, it continues to be a cash cow.

When it comes to retro gaming handhelds you don't get much more premium than AYN. The manufacturer has regularly risen to the top with its successive Android devices, proving that there's a healthy market for power and portability.

Its dual-screen AYN Thor is arguably the best gaming handheld you can buy today, with two OLED screens and more than enough grunt to play Switch and PC games, let along Nintendo DS and 3DS. And as the proud owner of an AYN Odin 2 Portal myself, I can safely say that there's not been many to better it.

Not until now, that is.

AYN has announced on its Discord that a new model is coming – the AYN Odin 3 Portal. And considering how popular the current device continues to be, it's bound to be a massive draw for retro gamers who want the best.

In fact, thanks to the likes of Game Native for PC emulation and the new DroidDeck app which runs SteamOS on Android devices, those looking to replace their aging Steam Decks might be interested too.

We don't yet know any of the specifications or features, but the posted marketing image does show a handheld that looks very similar to the existing Portal. I would assume therefore that it will have a 7-inch OLED 16:9 display (likely 1080p).

However, because it's part of the Odin 3 family, surely we'll be getting similar processing inside. The AYN Odin 3 runs on the Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8 chipset, which is the gaming equivalent of the Snapdragon 8 Elite – basically without the mobile network capabilities. I'd imagine the same will be the case on the Portal.

That will definitely make it a powerhouse in Android gaming terms. AYN itself highlights its "flagship power".

Add to that the SteamOS compatibility through third-party apps and we could have one of the best all-rounders heading our way.

The price could also be a winner. The Odin 3 tops out at $529 / around £399 for the 16GB / 1TB model (the 2TB version was cancelled), so when you consider the Steam Deck OLED starts at $789 / £649 and is arguably lower powered, you could say its days are numbered.

The marketing image for the Odin 3 Portal claims that the device is "coming soon" and lists today's date, so hopefully more information is imminent.

Much has been said about the future of physical media, especially when it comes to games. Sony has announced that it's scrapping discs from 2028, Xbox is assessing whether to follow, and PC gamers are already very much used to digital-only purchases.

Even Rockstar will simply include a download code in the boxed copies of Grand Theft Auto VI.

Thankfully though, one of the big boys has no intentions of ditching physical copies anytime soon. Nintendo executive Bill van Zyll has revealed on a YouTube video (via Eurogamer) that Switch game cards are going nowhere.

Speaking to Coelho no Japão, the general manager for Nintendo in Latin America said that "there are no plans to ditch physical". He also added: "We know how much the fans like it as well, so our position has been to be agnostic."

Of course, Nintendo's boxed copies can also require digital versions to be downloaded, although there are also plenty of games out there for the Switch 2 and older Switch models that are contained on a single card.

It's also hardly likely to ditch the format with the Switch 2 having a game card slot. That's what van Zyll means by agnostic. The company doesn't mind which version of a game you buy, as long as you buy the game.

The future of physical games

Of course, Nintendo isn't the only firm to commit again to physical media. Blaze will soon introduce its Evercade Nexus handheld, which uses the brand's game cartridges – usually packed with retro classics.

The rise in retro gaming handhelds that enable the use of physical games is important too, such as the ModRetro Chromatic, which accepts Game Boy cartridges, and the soon-to-release (in the UK) Hyperkin SupaBoy. This latter device runs original Super Nintendo carts – both PAL and NTSC.

Still, the fact that Nintendo wants to continue to offer options is refreshing. Let's just hope Sony is listening.

I used to test pro controllers all the time – it's part of the territory when you cover as much gaming and tech gear as I do. When the PS5 launched, though, something fundamental changed about the market. Sony's DualSense controller was a big step forward in terms of haptics, but it was also basically a closed shop, and there have been very few third-party controllers that work with PS5 since then as a result.

That's all basically a quick explanation of why the Aeon Pro, a superb new controller from SteelSeries, lacks the one bit of functionality that would see me use it every single day until the end of time. It's a PC and Xbox controller (as the big logo in the middle of it, and the textbook layout, would both suggest), and while I have plenty of use for the former, the latter is increasingly a less popular platform.

It's a limitation that I can't see as SteelSeries' fault, although I'd still feed back that PS5 compatibility should be the major goal of any controller-maker right now, by hook or by crook. Aside from that limitation, though, the Aeon Pro really is hugely impressive.

"Pro" controllers can run the gamut in terms of features, but SteelSeries has made sure to push the boat out in terms of inputs. You don't just get a couple of extra buttons here, but instead get four very clicky ones on the rear of the controller. These are easy to reprogram either by connecting the pad to software or using its built-in screen and menus (I'm amazed by how responsive these are).

The main triggers are both adjustable, letting you choose between full travel or clicky instant-response. That's ideal for letting you stick to one pad for all genres. It's a small thing, but the extreme clickiness of the main face buttons is also striking, and makes it all feel phenomenal to game on.

If SteelSeries is known for one thing in the world of headsets, it's for the idea of swappable batteries, something that it came up with for the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless and has now implemented a few times to great success. Adding this system to the Aeon Pro is one of those no-brainers that's clearly still innovative simply because the competition isn't doing it.

Like a high-end headset, this means that the charging cradle for the Aeon Pro, which also doubles as a connector for the controller's wireless standard, houses a charging battery at all times. When your controller runs low, you can just slide a panel off the back and swap the two batteries to never run out of charge. You'll also see the charge status of both batteries when you pick up the controller, on that built-in screen.

Frankly, with around 11.5 hours of battery life on a charge at the lowest, I can't imagine when I'd need to make this swap urgently, but since the dock only charges the controller when my PC is on, it's still a great reassurance.

That dock is also a system-swap hub, so you can have an Xbox and a PC connected simultaneously to swap between them without any hassle. The only downside to that built-in OLED input is that the menu buttons have moved down to the bottom of the controller – not an issue, per se, but something you'll need to get used to.

If there's one other elephant in the room for the Aeon Pro, it's the price: $260/£230. Those are chunky numbers for a controller, even one that feels as superb in the hand as this. It's also the sort of price that makes you want near-perfection, and while I think the Aeon Pro might be close to that level if you like the Xbox layout and don't need it to work with your PS5 or Switch 2, that won't be true of everyone.

If you're on the hunt for a high-end controller for just PC or Xbox, though, and budget is really no object, then this could adorn your desk very nicely. In that way, it pairs pretty beautifully with the Arctis Nova Elite headset – the price doesn't necessarily make sense, but the hardware is fairly irresistible.

The big online sales periods are superb for elevating your gaming, whether it be with a new retro gaming handheld, PC or accessory for your existing system. In particular, there are often great deals on pro-standard game controllers, which give your console, PC or even mobile play a significant boost.

• Shop all Amazon Prime Big Deal Days offers

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days sale is no exception, with a selection of highly recommended controllers available with huge discounts. There are variants from multiple trusted brands for different formats, with savings of up to 45% off. Here are a few of our favourites.

Do note, that all of the deals above require Amazon Prime membership. However, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial with no commitment to continue after the month is up.

Also, the Prime Big Deal Days sale finishes tonight at midnight (7 October 2026) so you'll need to be quick to get the best offers.

If you're building a list of the best RPGs ever made, there's no doubt a lot of personal opinion that'll inform your choice for the top spot, but some games just have to be in the upper echelons. No matter your persuasion, most people would agree, for one, that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt belongs in that conversation.

It's one of the finest open-world games of all time, but also one of the most intriguing, expansive and immersive RPGs ever, and it's been attracting accolades for donkey's years now. In 2026, though, CD Projekt Red has seen fit to bring it up to date once more by releasing a remastered version for modern consoles and the PC.

That means a new version of the game running natively on the Nintendo Switch 2, which previously just had the near-miraculous but very blurry original Switch version to turn to. This new port is available as a new purchase, but crucially is also a free upgrade for those who already have the Switch 1 version – so you might already own the newest version without realising it.

This generosity is a great start to the experience of testing out The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, but it doesn't end there. This past weekend I've put in around five hours in the game, refreshing my memory of its brilliant campaign and sizeable expansions, and I'm basically in awe of how it runs on Nintendo's machine.

Before we get to performance, though, it might be worth underscoring that this is a third-person, action-focused RPG with long, winding questlines. Geralt of Rivia, the series' hero, is on the search for his adoptive daughter Ciri, but she's not easy to track down, and he'll also circle around the sorceress Yennefer while he hunts. The story is peak fantasy, the action is relatively simple but very satisfying, and the setting is dark and gritty in a hugely satisfying way.

The fact that this game ever ran on the first Switch was a superb feat, but the performance on offer meant that I never really got into it – playing the game on any other platform felt like a better pick for me. Now, though, I think the portable experience on the Switch 2 is genuinely at the point where the compromises are no longer really there.

The developers have embraced Nintendo's hardware, including that variable refresh-rate screen, to give the game a 40fps mode as default, which means that it feels impressively smooth without the same demands as a 60fps version. There are areas where this performance dips a little into the mid-30s, but I haven't found that distracting, and the benefits to perceived smoothness are huge.

It's also drastically less blurry than the previous port, as you'd hope, and while there are still clear fuzzy edges to things when you're playing in handheld mode (these really clear up when you dock the console), it's extremely legible and clear. This means that I really do think you could play the game's entire saga from start to finish without feeling like you should have done so on other hardware.

If that feels like damning the port with faint praise, think again – I love this game to death, and to be able to play it on the go, on a machine with just a faint whirr of fan noise rather than a cacophony, is quite special. My girlfriend also only really games on the Switch 2, so this means that she's now lined up to play one of the best stories in gaming, something I've been saving for her for ages.

All of this is also doubly reassuring given that the game is getting a new expansion next year – Songs of the Past. The gap between the original game's release and this DLC is staggeringly long, but it promises to set the scene for The Witcher 4, which sounds like a real treat, and it'll come to this Switch 2 version from the start.

This all means that you can get the game on Switch 2 and be confident that even if you manage to hoover up all of its content by the end of the year (which would be quite a feat, given its scale), you'll still have more to enjoy next year, at presumably the same level of performance. That, in turn, means this is a great investment, and the smartest way to buy it is probably to find a used copy of the Switch 1 port, buy that and then score the free upgrade that way. That's a hot tip in case it hadn't occurred to you!

The original CRKD Nitro Deck couldn't have arrived at a better time. The pro controller housing for the Nintendo Switch not only gave the console extra buttons and capabilities, its Hall Effect thumbsticks completely eliminated any Joy-Con drift issues.

Now the brand is back with the Nitro Deck 2 for the Switch 2 and original Switch and it once again adds tech that Nintendo itself seemingly forgot. And what's more, it's got a very healthy 17% off for Prime Big Deal Days – even though it's only just hit the market.

The Nitro Deck 2 has been specifically designed with the Switch 2 in mind, but it can also be used with the original Switch and Switch OLED thanks to an included adapter.

You strap in the display portion of your console, link the controller via Bluetooth or an included USB-C cable (for zero latency) and it effectively replaces your Joy-Cons with TMR equivalents.

These use magnets for faster, more accurate control. They are also impervious to stick drift, so you won't have any troubles down the line. In addition, you get four remappable back buttons, two extra shoulder buttons, and you can adjust the thumbsticks manually to increase or decrease deadzones. There's a turbo mode too, plus adjustable vibration control.

The controller will even work with a Switch, mobile phone or smart TV independently of the main console screen. And there is a kick stand built in to set your device on a table top.

Two of the colour options are available in the Prime Big Deal Days sale – Smoke Black and PAL Grey.

You will need to be an Amazon Prime member to get the deal, but if you're not already you can sign up for a 30-day trial for free.