Wildlight, the studio behind recently released shooter Highguard, have confirmed that they’ve “parted ways” with an unspecified number of staff. This confirmation follows a former Wildlight level designer affected by the cuts claiming in a LinkedIn post that “most of the team” at the studio have been laid off.
The heavily rumoured, but yet to be confirmed, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Remake/Remaster is getting its very own art book, at least according to this recent Amazon listing in the UK.
Preorders are also now available, strangely, before we’ve got official confirmation of the game actually being real and given its own release window. Its art book is listed at £29.95 right now, a slight reduction from its initial £39.99 RRP, and the Amazon listing also mentions a release date of March 24, 2026.
Titan will be publishing the art book, and the publisher already has a history of releasing art books for the gaming franchise since 2012. That includes Assassin’s Creed III, Unity, Syndicate, Origins, and more.
More recent Assassin’s Creed art books have also been published by Dark Horse, a separate publishing house, including Shadows, Mirage, and The Making of Assassin’s Creed: 15th Anniversary.
According to recent listings on the PEGI European ratings board website, the official name of the long- awaited remake is Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.
And yet, after years of internal leaks, relentless fan speculation, and even not-so-subtle nudges from the original game’s lead actor, Ubisoft still refuses to officially acknowledge that a Black Flag remake is real.
Earlier reports claim Black Flag Resynced is shaping up to be a full-scale overhaul of the series’ fan-favourite pirate outing, with meaningful visual and gameplay upgrades designed to bring it more in line with the production standards of last year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Robert Anderson is IGN’s Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky.
Developed with the idea that legends change and history begins anew, this title offers two games in one: Yakuza Kiwami 3, a remake of Yakuza 3 (2009), and Dark Ties, an all-new never-before-seen story.
Yakuza 3 Kiwami sees Kazuma Kiryu back in action as he fights to protect those he holds dear. This reimagined edition of the 2009 classic features more intense battles, stunning depictions of Tokyo and Okinawa, extra cutscenes that add more weight to the story, and a host of endlessly entertaining minigames.
Yoshitaka Mine, Kiryu’s adversary, takes center stage in Dark Ties—a new story documenting his path from startup entrepreneur to hardened yakuza.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties brings two yakuza epics into a single collection.
BATTLE：Fight as Kiryu in His Prime Using Two Different Battle Styles
The ultimate evolution of the classic Dragon of Dojima style, featuring the most attack techniques in the series’ history. A bold, overwhelming brawler style that embodies the essence of Kazuma Kiryu’s iconic combat.
As always, Kiryu can pick up objects on the ground and transform them into powerful weapons!
A battle style rooted in Okinawan martial arts. Its base stance utilizes a Tinbe and Rochin, a traditional shield and short spear. Simply mash or hold down the buttons to weave in flashy Sai, Nichogama, Tonfa, Tekko, Nunchaku, Eiku, and Surujin attacks.
Shield yourself from incoming bullets with the tinbe and turn the tide of battle!
Life at Morning Glory：Spend Time With The Kids and Become The Best Caretaker Around!
With Kiryu becoming the manager of Morning Glory Orphanage, it’s your job to look after the children who reside there. Together, you’ll cook, tend to a home garden, help them with homework, fish, and even go bug-catching.
You can make Kiryu stronger by doing chores and interacting with the orphans. As you become more fatherlike, you’ll discover an even larger range of activities.
Daily interactions with the children will also unlock heartwarming substories for each of them. Experience a whole new side of Kiryu as he comes face-to-face with their hopes and dreams!
Join the small-time Haisai Girls gang and protect Okinawa.
With the Tokyo Night Terrors wreaking havoc in the streets, Kiryu must step forth as the gang’s new leader, gather allies, and train the Haisai Girls into the leading girl gang in Japan.
Fight alongside 5 allies in Baddies Battles, gear up 20 of your gang members for massive Rumbles, and take on various other challenges.
Hop on your motorcycle and charge the enemy base in strategic skirmishes featuring unparalleled spectacles.
As you build your team, you can make them stronger by buying new weapons and upgrading their uniforms and bikes. Put together the ultimate squad and protect the peace of Okinawa! Join the small-time Haisai Girls gang and protect Okinawa.
substories
One of the highlights of Yakuza is its compellingsubstories featuring the town’s residents. Here’s a taste of the excitement!
Mine’s Brutal Combat Techniques
Mine uses an elegant fighting style based on shoot-boxing. Exploit openings in your opponent’s defense to deliver refined combos and beat down enemies. Dash freely through the air to overwhelm foes with unpredictable movement.
Using Dark Awakening, Mine drops his facade, revealing his true ferocity and transforming his battle animations and techniques. Go berserk, drag your opponent’s faces along the ground, and brutalize them with a storm of relentless strikes. Let your dark side loose and go wild in battle!
Mine possesses many stylish, cold-blooded Heat Actions, including an all-out barrage to the face and a brutal gut punch. During Dark Awakening, his Heat Actions evolve. Channel Mine’s inner darkness and obliterate his enemies!
Kanda Damage Control：Mine spearheads a major PR campaign
As Mine, you are tasked with turning Kanda’s image around so he can climb through the ranks. You’ll need to use wits and knowledge to tackle various requests and challenges on Kanda’s behalf.
Many people around Kamurocho are saddled with woes. Solving their problems will boost Kanda’s public perception. You may also encounter people wrestling with some particularly heavy issues. You won’t want to miss how Mine deals with these problems!
Your progress in Kanda Damage Control will unlock Drink Links, which delve deeper into your relationship with Kanda.
Underground Fight Club：Survive a brutal game using brains and brawn!
Hell’s Arena is an underground fight club in Kamurocho where VIP investors place extravagant bets on brutal competitions.
Each day, Hell’s Arena hosts Hellish Brawls that push participants to the brink and Survival Hells, dangerous races where competitors are relentlessly chased by hunters.
As the organizers of Hell’s Arena pose a major threat to the Nishikiyama Family’s business operations, Mine has decided to bring them down by entering the arena himself.
In order to succeed, he’ll need to come out on top in a series of death-defying battles against formidable foes.
Entertainment
Yakuza Kiwami 3 brings back multiple fan-favorite minigames, from bowling to the Print Club. For the first time in series’ history, SEGA’s classic handheld console, the Game Gear, is playable in-game with multiple titles available. At the arcade, you can also cut loose with a treasure trove of machines, including UFO Catchers, Emergency Call Ambulance, and SlashOut!
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties will offer a wide range of add-on content to enhance your adventure, including extra outfits, additional Bad Boy Dragon crew members, cell phone customization options, and CDs that’ll let you use favorite karaoke tracks from past games as background music.A value-priced “Deluxe Edition,” which includes the digital version of the main game and all DLC, is also available.
Legendary Lads & Gals Pack
This pack adds Daigo Dojima, Goro Majima, and other Like a Dragon characters to Bad Boy Dragon in Yakuza Kiwami 3.
Legendary Character Outfit Pack
This pack contains extra outfits for Kazuma Kiryu to wear in Yakuza Kiwami 3, including iconic get-ups sported by yakuza legends like Daigo Dojima and Goro Majima, as well as T-shirts exclusively designed for Yakuza Kiwami 3.
Ryukyu Gal Gang: Customization Pack
This pack adds more ways to personalize your Baddie Uniforms and bikes in Yakuza Kiwami 3. Choose designs based on popular characters from the franchise, including Kazuma Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga!
Flip Phone Customization Pack
This pack contains extra customization options for your flip phone, including lock screens, stickers, antennas, and straps based on popular characters from the Like a Dragon series.
Legendary BGM CD Pack
By picking up this pack, you’ll gain the option to play karaoke staples while exploring.
*You must install the latest update to use these add-ons.
*The Legendary Character Outfit Pack will be available after you unlock outfits in Chapter 2 of Yakuza Kiwami 3.
*The Legendary Lads & Gals Pack is unlocked by progressing through the Bad Boy Dragon story in Yakuza Kiwami 3.
The Ryukyu Gal Gang: Customization Pack is unlocked by progressing through the Bad Boy Dragon story in Yakuza Kiwami 3. You must reach the second set of bike and baddie uniform upgrades in order to customize them.
*The Flip Phone Customization Pack will be available after you unlock your cell phone in Chapter 1 of Yakuza Kiwami 3.
*The Legendary BGM CD Pack will be available after you unlock the CDs in Chapter 1 of Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties.
*All DLC aside from the Legendary BGM CD Pack can be used in Yakuza Kiwami 3.
*Any outfits, Baddies, CDs, and customization items for Bad Boy Dragon and your cell phone purchased as DLC will not count toward training challenges and other achievements.
*Please be careful not to purchase duplicate items.
*See store pages for further details.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties
Demo Available Now!
This demo will give you a taste of both Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties. Explore the vibrant streets of Okinawa and Tokyo, enjoy a variety of minigames, duke it out in exhilarating combat, and experience engrossing substories.
“Pokopia was a huge surprise”.
This March, Pokémon is expanding beyond its usual battle roots, with a brand new new game called Pokémon Pokopia that seems to include a little bit of everything.
If the information and trailers shared about the game haven’t already sold you, maybe the reviews will. Here’s what our staff writer Ollie Reynolds had to say about it, and below this, you can see what other sites had to say based on their hands on impressions.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Celebrating 30 years of Diablo.
As part of Blizzard’s 30th anniversary spotlight broadcast for the Diablo series this week, it has surprised fans with the release of brand new paid DLC for Diablo II: Resurrected.
It’s called Reign of the Warlock and is available today from the Switch eShop for $24.99 or your regional equivalent. It introduces the Warlock class and much more. Here’s a bit about this new class and you can check out the official gameplay trailer above.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Layoffs have hit the development studio Wildlight Entertainment, makers of the recently released multiplayer shooter Highguard. This comes just over two weeks after the free-to-play game’s January 26 launch.
Former senior level designer Alex Graner posted on LinkedIn, “Unfortunately, along with most of the team at Wildlight, I was laid off today.” While the number of people who were laid off has not currently been confirmed, the studio’s LinkedIn page states that its size is/was 51-200 employees.
Wildlight’s official X/Twitter account confirmed the layoffs with a statement reading, “Today we made an incredibly difficult decision to part ways with a number of our team members while keeping a core group of developers to continue innovating on and supporting the game.”
On BlueSky, Mat Piscatella from Circana (which tracks game sales and engagement) highlighted, “Highguard debuted in the top 10 in weekly active users on US Steam, was top 20 on both US PlayStation and Xbox (Circana Player Engagement Tracker week ending 1/31/26) and yet…” According to SteamDB, Highguard reached a peak concurrent player count of 97,249 on PC via Steam on release day and experienced a sharp decline with only 4,524 players two weeks after launch.
Graner also said, “This one really stings as there was a lot of unreleased content I was really looking forward to that I and others designed for Highguard.” While it initially had a 3v3 competitive mode, a 5v5 mode was implemented just days after release due to player reception to the small scale of the original mode. The team revealed a content roadmap on launch day that included updates with new items, modes, and characters each month throughout the year packed into seven separate episodes; it’s unclear how the layoffs will affect the studio’s plans as of now, but Widllight says it’ll continue to support the game.
This story is developing.
Love and Deepspace is a virtual boyfriend game (also known as an otome game) where you play as a character who fights monster aliens while five men fight for her love. It’s available to download on iOS and Android and works on the old free-to-play, gacha mechanic. The ultimate aim is to build your relationships with one, two, or all of the men (we listen and we don’t judge) by interacting with them, fighting alongside them, texting them, completing their storylines and even… playing with claw machines to collect plushies. It was developed by Papergames, which is also the studio behind Infinity Nikki.
You know how it goes, a Deepspace Tunnel opens up and suddenly alien monsters are causing havoc. As the main character living in 2034, in the fictional Linkon City, it’s your job to battle these alien monsters as part of an organisation called the Hunters Association. The Hunters all wield a special ability called an Evol and yours is Resonance, one that works alongside other Evol wielders’ to boost their skills. Throw in a shady biotech company called EVER, an organized crime syndicate called Onychinus, the Farspace Fleet, medical experiments and secrets a plenty, and you’ve got the storyline that makes the average love story look like child’s play.
There are five potential love interests in Love and Deepspace. Each has a different personality and storyline, but the one thing they all have in common is being obsessed with you. You can choose to focus on just one or play the field, and while they are mentioned in each other’s storylines, they don’t interact directly. Each has a specific Evol (think superpower) and multiple storylines that take place in both the modern day and in different lifetimes.
Light spoiler warnings ahead, although the non-linear way in which you unlock memories means piecing the storylines together is more of a puzzle than a straight path.
There are a whole bunch of mechanics in Love and Deepspace, and all of them contribute to your relationship with the different male characters.
You take on different combat challenges in the storyline to progress, and regular activities like bounty hunts or Hunter training to earn rewards. You’re always paired with one of the male characters, and your choice of special attacks will depend on their Evol. Players have the option to set combat to an auto mode where the battle plays out without your input.
You’ll receive texts from each of the men at various points, and you’re giving a selection of dialogue options to reply with. As your relationship increases you’ll also get phone calls from them to discuss various events or check in. You can also comment on their posts on a Facebook like feed, send them emojis, and poke them.
You interact with each of the men in a setting called the Destiny Cafe. You can touch various parts of their body to elicit reactions, feel their heartbeat, or blow on your microphone.
In the Destiny cafe you can also prompt them to have different types of conversations with you. You can get them to introduce themselves to your family or friends (a great way to weird your parents out over lunch) or to suggest what you should have for breakfast. Again, the dialogue options are heavily guardrailed so this isn’t going to head into AI sexbot territory. Sorry. You can also use the notebook function to ask them to set reminders for you, everything from important dates to tracking your period.
Basically the world’s most handsome Pomodoro timers. You can choose to Work, Workout, Study or Sleep for a set amount of time with any of the guys, and you can even do it in AR mode, so that you can reach new heights of comforting delusion by framing them in your real surroundings.
With Love and Deepspace dates you can go with the guys to try and grab plush toys at a claw machine, play a game called Kitty Cards against them, and go to a photo studio to get video or snapshots with them, or of them. You can style them, change the poses and backgrounds, and they have way more patience than any real life love interest would. In this section you can also update a personal journal with stickers and notes and photos, listen to audio recordings starring them, or access ‘Falling for You’ videos and visual novels content telling the story of your relationship.
A recent addition, this mode brings a bit of The Sims to Love and Deepspace. You have a house to decorate with new rooms unlocking as you complete activities in the home, and each of the men can spend time with you there. It’s kinda cute to see badass Sylus dusting bookshelves because you’ve told him to do chores. There’s a gardening element too, where you can grow flowers that can be used in flower arranging without or without the boy’s input, and new blooms can be unlocked by hybridizing the plants.
Like Genshin Impact, you can buy or earn wishes to speed up your progress in Love and Deepspace, and there’s a number of in-game currencies which can be earned or bought.
Here the wishes represent memories with the men of Love and Deepspace, with different rarities and values attached to each. Five star memories, for instance, can be used to experience Each memory can be upgraded with Heartsand and crystals which can be earned by taking part in bounty hunts, or completing tasks and protocores, which are collected through combat.
Some memories are only available during special events, though those events are repeated sporadically to allow you more than one chance to grab specific wishes. Previous events have included a Star Wars style Throne of Eros storyline and Mortality’s Tenderness, which has a classical Chinese theme.
Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She’s been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.
Every Wednesday, dive into the Indie Select Hub — your gateway to a fresh, curated indie collection plus four themed spotlights that rotate weekly! You can always find this collection hub in the Xbox Store and on Xbox.com/IndieSelects.
The ID@Xbox team felt February’s peculiar sparkle in the air, so we curated 6 offbeat adventures that match that delightfully strange charm. From a hand‑drawn British comedy to a psychological race against time to save a plague‑stricken town, this slate delivers bold hooks for every mood. Fight fairytale capitalism, settle into a magical farming life, brave a dread‑tinged fishing odyssey, or command a retro JRPG party through dungeon‑delving action. Whether you crave calm, comedy, chaos, or a fight for survival, we’ve got something uniquely – and unexpectedly – perfect for you this month (in no particular order):
Humor in video games is notoriously difficult to pull off, but the team at Panic may have cracked the code with Thank Goodness You’re Here! a comedy adventure game that lands joke after joke with remarkable confidence and impeccable timing.
Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a lively, hand-drawn comedy adventure game in the art style reminiscent of Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python’s and other surreal British animation from the 1960s and 70s, and it pairs this visual with sharp distinctly British humor. The result is a game that appears crude on the surface, but it’s clearly well designed with genuinely laugh-out-loud moments.
From the opening cutscene, the game establishes its bizarre premise and rarely lets up. You play as a small, mostly silent salesman wandering the fictional Northern English town of Barnsworth. Progress is driven entirely by interaction: poking, pulling, slapping, and getting into increasingly absurd and strange situations. The game rewards curiosity, timing, and the willingness to lean into the absurd.
The voice acting is superb, including the unmistakable presence of Matt Berry who delivers the game’s tone perfectly. Thank Goodness You’re Here! trusts you to find the humor without over-explaining and handing you the control to let the comedic timing do the work.
Charming, strange, confident in its own silliness, and never overstaying its welcome, Thank Goodness You’re Here! stands out as one of the most memorable comedy games in recent years. Ta-ta for now. – Oscar Polanco
Panic
“Thank Goodness You’re Here!” is a comedy slapformer, which unfolds over time as the players’ exploration and antics leave their mark on the strange town of Barnsworth. With each completed odd job, new areas of the town open up, stranger and stranger tasks become available, and the clock ticks towards our salesman’s big meeting. The town’s colorful inhabitants are brought to life with vibrant hand-drawn animation, fully voiced dialogue, and wall-to-wall double entendres.
Pathologic 3 is a game that lingers long after you put the controller down. The cult-classic psychological survival series from Ice-Pick Lodge returns with a new entry that reimagines its haunting world for modern hardware, while staying true to what makes Pathologic so distinct. This isn’t survival-horror built on reflexes or fear alone. It’s about pressure — the kind that builds quietly as time moves forward and the town refuses to wait for you. From the moment you arrive, the world feels hostile in subtle ways. Conversations are uneasy. Information is fragmented. Even simple decisions feel loaded. Playing Pathologic 3, I was constantly aware that every choice — where I went, who I helped, what I ignored — carried consequences I wouldn’t fully understand until much later.
You play as a doctor navigating a plague that can’t simply be cured. Resources are scarce, and the town’s residents feel less like quest-givers and more like people trying to survive alongside you. Saving one life often meant neglecting another, and there were moments where doing “the right thing” only made the situation worse. Combat is not the focus here. Survival comes from managing hunger, exhaustion, infection, and trust, both your own and the town’s. The tension doesn’t spike; it simmers. More than once, I found myself hesitating before making a decision, knowing the game wouldn’t stop me from making a mistake — it would just remember it.
On Xbox Series X|S, Pathologic 3 benefits from faster load times and enhanced lighting and environmental detail, keeping the experience uninterrupted and deeply immersive. The town feels oppressive, alive, and uncomfortably close. Pathologic 3 is a game that trusts players to sit with discomfort, ambiguity, and consequence. The plague is back on Xbox — and it’s watching how you choose to face it. – Steven Allen
HypeTrain Digital
(At least… that’s what he thinks this story is about. What it’s supposed to be about. What it’s always been about.)
PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS
You are a real doctor. Your tools are knowledge and science. Examine patients and diagnose diseases. Cross-check symptoms and prescribe treatments. Enforce your rules: impose quarantines, confiscate medicine, vaccinate the population, deploy patrols, and impose curfews. See how your choices change the town, even if it means being hated along the way.
TIME IS RELATIVE
You have only 12 days to stop the lethal plague. But in your hands lies the most valuable resource—time. Travel into the future to witness the worst outcomes. Correct mistakes in the past to change them. Bend the fates of people around you to save or condemn you—in search of answers.
(How is it possible? What *is* time?)
TOWN ON THE EDGE
Delve into the darkest corners of the Town-on-Gorkhon to fight the disease. Face the Plague head-on. Cleanse the infected streets. Burn what can no longer be saved. What was lost in the fire will be found in the ashes.
THINK, THINK, THINK!
Dankovsky is a sharp mind in search of the truth, willing to do anything to find it. Anything you see can tell a story and become a piece of your mental map of the world. Explore the town for new insights, notice details, and connect the dots. Uncover the secrets of the town’s inhabitants. Shape their stories, decide their fates, and talk to their shadows.
Escape from Ever After is a cozy, whimsical experience that proudly wears its inspirations on its sleeve. What begins as an atypical hero-goes-to-slay-the-dragon story quickly shifts into a buddy-cop-esque journey about capitalism, evil conglomerates, and climbing the corporate ladder to destroy a company from within. It’s very unserious and silly — yet somehow the most genius thing I’ve played in a while.
The premise is centered around hero Flynt Buckler, villain Tinder the Dragon, and their temporary truce to thwart Ever After Inc. — a “real-world” conglomerate bent on infiltrating beloved fairytales and folklore to farm resources and characters for labor. As a result, you’ll find Pinocchio working a desk job, Red Riding Hood manning a receptionist’s desk, the Three Little Pigs as an evil construction company, and Dracula as a… tailor. You’ll also see things like printers as save points, gold coins referred to as “wages,” and coffee as your mana pool. I love how much it plays into the theme of the corporate world blending into fantasy, and it left me eager to see what stories would be included and how they’ve been impacted by Ever After.
As for the core gameplay, it’s an approachable RPG with platforming, puzzles, and exploration balanced into the mix. The combat is turn-based but leverages timing-based mini games to enhance actions. Historically, I’ve never really been a big turn-based RPG person, so this helped keep the combat engaging and definitely felt satisfying to pull off. There’s also a bit of party management as you recruit characters from different stories, a leveling system, abilities to unlock, and mild customization through costumes and such.
This game is awesome, and I had an absolute blast playing it. Through its story, gameplay variety, and approachability, this feels like a game I can easily recommend to anyone. – Deron Mann
HypeTrain Digital
When Flynt Buckler, a classic fairytale adventurer, storms the castle of his evil dragon arch-nemesis Tinder, he finds the once intimidating fortress has been converted into… corporate offices? The villainous dragon is nowhere to be found and her castle is full of mindless coffee-sipping, report-filing drones. What happened?
It turns out that storybooks are an untapped market ripe with valuable resources, cheap labor, and profit to be had—so naturally, real-world conglomerate Ever After Inc.
found a way to intervene! With Tinder’s Castle as their new corporate headquarters, Ever After Inc. is hellbent on taking over every storybook they can. With no choice but to get a job, Flynt Buckler must team up with his former nemesis Tinder in order to climb the corporate ladder and take down Ever After Inc. from the inside!
Dive into storybook worlds packed to the brim with colorful characters, captivating locales, and electrifying secrets! One moment you’ll be fleeing Lovecraftian terrors while solving a noir murder mystery, and the next you’ll be up against villainous versions of The Three Little Pigs as they try to bulldoze a fairytale forest for their real estate developments. The rules are always changing!
Face off against hordes of wacky enemies in snappy turn-based gameplay! Perfectly-timed action commands allow Flynt to finish off his foes with style, and an assortment of items, badges, and partners ensure there’s always a trick up his sleeve.
Fight in a fun, fast-paced battle system that rewards experimentation and strategy
Build and customize your party—every character has unique skills that can be equipped and upgraded throughout your journey
Engage in office banter, help your storybook coworkers, and decorate your office as you climb the corporate ladder
Explore vast storybook worlds brimming with sidequests, treasures, and secrets
Stories within stories: experience a charming and lively narrative where the rules are constantly changing
A jazzy, big-band soundtrack that keeps the energy pumping throughout
Wylde Flowers is a standout farming life sim that breaks from genre norms with its fully voice‑acted cast and story‑driven approach. Instead of creating your own avatar from scratch, you step into the shoes of Tara, who returns to her quiet island hometown after twenty years to help care for her grandmother’s farm. It doesn’t take long before Tara learns that her grandmother is actually a witch and that she may actually share the same abilities.
The gameplay blends farming, daily chores, witchcraft, and socializing with the townsfolk, delivering a satisfying loop that stays approachable but rewarding. You’ll harvest resources, upgrade tools, craft practical and magical components, and unlock new potions and spells. One especially clever design choice is the way seasons advance: they don’t run on a timer but instead shift only when you decide. That small twist removes a lot of pressure, giving you all the time you need to gather materials and finish tasks before moving on.
But the real magic of the game lies in its cast of unique characters. The town is filled with everyday villagers as well as a few supernatural‑leaning residents, all of whom initially see you as an outsider which means you will have to win them over. Each character has distinct stories, quirks, secrets, and requests, and the more time you spend with them, the more your relationships deepen, with some even blossoming into romance. These connections aren’t just optional side flavor; they actively push the story forward as you piece together what’s truly happening in the community and who’s genuinely on your side.
If you’re an Animal Crossing fan craving something with richer narrative layers wrapped in cozy farming gameplay, this one is absolutely worth your time. – Raymond Estrada
Studio Drydock
Play as Tara, as she arrives at a cozy rural island to help out her grandma and the family farm.
Explore a wholesome world of magical realms, beautiful beaches, secretive forests and the friendly town of Fairhaven.
Meet a charming cast of fully voice acted characters, with intriguing back stories to reveal. Find friendship or maybe even romance?
Transform the Wylde family farm into a productive haven bursting with fresh vegetables, fruit trees and cute baby animals!
Wield your wand and broomstick as you nurture your magical abilities to tend the farm, control the weather, turn the seasons or transform into a cat!
Create hundreds of recipes for yummy food or artisanal goods to sell. Between fishing, mining, crafting and farming (plus a little magic) you’ll have lots to do.
Connect with the coven, fall in love and enjoy your cottagecore life as you uncover the mysterious goings-on in the heart of Fairhaven.
Reveal the hidden darkness which is affecting the town and discover how to bring everyone together.
Quite possibly the most indie game to ever indie without being in voxels or 2D, in Loan Shark you play as a sad sack fisherman who owes a lot of money to a loan shark just waiting onshore to do serious damage to you and your loved ones if you don’t meet the payment deadline. To make a dent in a seemingly impossible debt ceiling, you just have to keep fishing like your life depends on it… because it does. Because this is a horror fishing game.
As a hapless fisherman desperate to pay off a debt, you’ll have to fish, fish, fish stuff out of the ocean from your ramshackle boat, gut your catch, and toss it in a chest for a payment that slowly chips away at an enormous bill you’ve racked up with the local crime-lord-slash-loan-shark. The waters are dark, the visuals are murky in a PS2 kind of way, and the controls are both simple and clunky at the same time. Don’t dive into this one expecting to marvel over technical gymnastics or pristine presentation – this is a game about making choices, being accountable for them, and of course, a creepy talking fish who offers you some potentially easy answers (which is also a choice for you to make). And that’s really it. Each run lasts around 45-ish minutes and, depending on how you handle yourself, can result in very different endings. I don’t really want to dish out any more info in order to avoid spoilers, as you kind of have to go into this one with an open mind, a willingness to persist with little to no guidance, and a robust imagination (to make up for those technical rough edges). But please do, fish away!
Dark Product
This game hits me with all the nostalgia dopamine. Late‑’90s and early‑2000s turn‑based JRPGs were absolutely my thing, and Hero Seekers takes that classic formula and elevates it with a clever premise, strong characters, and stylish presentation. Memory drives both the story and gameplay: you awaken in a world where humans have been enslaved by demons, and major historical events have been rewritten. You’re the only one who remembers the true past, and it’s up to you to recover forgotten heroes, restore what was erased, and save humanity.
Combat is turn‑based and built around smart party choices and resource management. You can field up to five unique heroes, and while most battles are straightforward, tougher enemies and status effects occasionally demand more strategy. Routine encounters can be handled automatically.
Where the game really shines is in its hero collection. You gain access to a wide roster early on, encouraging experimentation as you mix and match characters, build unique parties, and optimize skills so they complement one another. Along the way, you’ll meet several standout heroes with distinct backstories that unfold as you help them reclaim their memories.
Hero Seekers scratches that old‑school JRPG itch with intuitive gameplay and strong presentation, while adding its own twist through its hero‑collecting focus and memory‑driven narrative. I’d recommend it to anyone who loves memorable, classic‑style JRPGs. – Raymond Estrada
KEMCO
Experience a full-fledged fantasy JRPG filled with classic turn-based battles, dungeon exploration, and strategic party building. Form teams of up to five heroes, combining unique traits and skills to create powerful synergies. Strengthen your allies through training, gear up at shops, and master the art of command battles where every move counts. With features like high-speed combat, dungeon escape spells, and smooth progression, enjoy an adventure that blends nostalgic JRPG charm with modern convenience.
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Blizzard will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Diablo by adding the Warlock class to a swathe of games — including Diablo 2: Resurrected, more than 25 years after the game’s original launch.
Resurrected, the 2021 remaster of Blizzard’s classic sequel, will receive the Reign of the Warlock DLC today, February 11, priced at $24.99 across PC, PlayStation, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. The paid add-on is available already on Battle.net — and on Steam, where Diablo 2: Resurrected has also launched.
The news was announced just moments ago at Blizzard’s Diablo Anniversary Spotlight showcase, which featured Warlock-flavored reveals for the franchise’s other games, too. A Warlock class will arrive as part of Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred on April 28, across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, before dropping in the free-to-play Diablo Immortal this summer.
But it’s the addition to Diablo 2: Resurrected that comes as the biggest surprise — since the class was never available in the original game. As of today, however, you’ll be able to summon demons (including the suitably devilish-sounding Goatman, the Tainted and the Defiler), then bind and even devour them to gobble up their lifeforce, granting temporary buffs and traits.
Today’s Diablo 2: Resurrected update also adds enhanced Terror Zones, where you can earn consumables and choose which acts are terrorized. On Hell difficulty you’ll encounter the stalker enemies Heralds of Terror, though also have the ability to unveil five mystical statues to unlock an uber boss — the Colossal Ancients — which Blizzard describes as “the next evolution of endgame battles.”
Lastly, today’s update also adds a sprinkling of quality-of-life updates too, including built-in loot filters, improved stash tabs (yes, including stacking!), and a Chronicle to track the items you’ve collected.
Blizzard launched Diablo 2: Resurrected more than five years ago for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. The game “brings a beloved classic up today’s graphical standards, but it overlooks 20 years of obvious flaws,” IGN wrote in our Diablo 2: Resurrected review, awarding the game 7/10.
For more from tonight’s show, catch up on everything announced during the Diablo Anniversary Spotlight right here.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
No matter how much time goes by, the gory, loot-filled embrace of Diablo 4 is something I always seem to return to, and with the Lord of Hatred expansion right around the corner it’s only a matter of time before I lose myself for dozens of hours once again. That’s especially true now that I’ve had the chance to check out the second of two new character classes coming alongside the expansion, the Warlock, who uses the power of Hell against itself to become an unstoppable, demonic magic user that even Mephisto himself should have reason to fear. This summoner of satanic sigils and swarms of sinister spawn has numerous distinct builds that make it an interesting option for different types of players, and make it less likely that you’ll end up in a party filled with identical demon summoners when going toe-to-toe with the Lord of Hatred, and I truly cannot wait to see what insane builds people come up with. Combined with the new region of Skovos, an overhauled endgame experience, and a whole bunch of tweaks to skill trees and loot, this finale to Mephisto’s story is looking truly epic so far.
Blizzard was happy to share plenty of news about their upcoming Lord of Hatred expansion for Diablo IV, but the main course was the Warlock character class – a mage who turns the dark powers of hell against itself and uses demons as disposable tools in his battle against their kind. It’s truly the most metal class in Diablo to-date, and after spending some hands-on time messing around with several pre-configured variations, it’s given me another reason to look forward to diving back into one of my favorite ARPGs.
Like the Spiritborn class from last year, the Warlock seems to have a bit more build diversity than the classes found in vanilla Diablo 4. Instead of a ranged magic user like the Sorcerer, who has a handful of elemental options that apply different status effects to enemies, the Warlock has a version that turns him into an aggressive melee monster, leaping around to stomp the enemy flat, or a summoner class that lets his minions do his fighting for him and has much more in common with the Necromancer. No matter which you pick though, they all have the same flavor of using hellish powers, whether that be unholy rituals or imposing your will over enemies on the battlefield to turn them into your meat puppets. And since you can mix and match these options at your discretion, there’s a lot of potential to create a well-rounded fighter that perhaps ends up being a jack of all trades, but master of none, which is both a neat option to have available, and also maybe not advisable (though that won’t keep me from at least giving it a try).
My favorite of the builds I tried was called the Legion, which focused on summoning demons to aid me in battle, then feeding off of their death to do additional damage to my enemies. In this version of the Warlock, absolutely every attack involved using and abusing my infernal servants to deal damage, including my base attack that fired exploding fallen lunatics at my foes. Naturally, the ultimate for this build let me summon an absolutely massive demon called the Fiend of Abaddon, who swung a gigantic claymore at everything in the area, doing huge damage. It’s been a while since I did a playthrough with the Necromancer, but the Warlock felt to me like a much more aggressive version of this type of minion character archetype and I absolutely loved it.
But summoning demons to do your bidding is still a fairly passive strategy, and for a truly aggressive alternative, I tried out the Vanguard build, which focused on turning myself into a hideous, profane hellspawn instead of just summoning them. This version of the Warlock involved unleashing a bunch of fire and lava all over the place, like one ability that let me summon a demonic head that spewed flames from his mouth (hell yeah), and another that caused my enemies to explode upon death, causing a chain reaction of destruction in my wake. The main draw of this variety of Warlock though, was Metamorphosis, an ultimate ability that straight-up turned me into a demon, replacing my existing hotbar with a whole new slew of blasphemous temporary abilities as I ran around tearing my way through Mephisto’s hordes with my razorsharp claws. This build felt like it would definitely take some learning to master, especially since replacing all your skills while in demon form could be fairly jarring at first, but I really liked the idea nonetheless.
Another build that really clicked with me was the Ritualist – a version of the Warlock that focused on creating sigils that impacted whole areas of the map with various status effects, often causing demons to up and explode into pink giblets. Whether I was opening up molten cracks in the earth, using totems to chain enemies in place, or hexed enemies within an area and turned me invisible when killing enemies within them, I was almost always placing lethal traps all over the map that made it impossible for demons to reach me without suffering my wrath first. Naturally, the ultimate ability for this build just summoned an absolutely humongous sigil on the ground (filling nearly the entire screen) that exploded multiple times and just wiped the area clear of any baddies. I probably only scratched the surface with this build, and there were a few sigils I didn’t even get to try, but it already felt super powerful and very different from any of Diablo 4’s other character classes.
Finally, there was the Mastermind Warlock, which was all about mobility, stealth, and applying a bunch of status effects to enemies. I definitely felt the least at home with this build, but the vibe I got from it was that it’s sort of the rogue version of the Warlock, where you’re given lots of ranged attacks and options to dodge around or become invisible, but are also quite squishy. The ultimate ability involved summoning a swarm of hungry Hell bugs that ran around the map eating everything in sight. Overall, this one seems like it requires a fair bit more finesse than some of the other options that were much more straightforward brute force plays, but even in my limited time with it, I could see that the DPS potential on this one was pretty insane. It maybe won’t be the choice for my first playthrough of Lord of Hatred, but I could definitely see myself deep-diving into this option and seeing what interesting combos I could come up with.
After experimenting with these options, I also tried my hand at building my own Warlock that mixed and matched my favorite abilities from each. I can’t say I was very successful at doing so on my first attempt, but the vibes of using Hell against itself and all the different forms that can take definitely sold me on giving this class a try come April.
Though most of my time was spent checking out the Warlock and its various permutations of demonic badassery, I also was given a sneak peek at some of the new systems, like the reworked skill trees that put more emphasis on customizing abilities rather than passive increases, new details on the new endgame progression system called War Paths, some seriously cool changes to itemization, like set bonuses being added, new crafting systems, and a much-needed loot filter (finally), and even a fishing minigame. I didn’t get to go hands-on with most of these, instead just learning about them from developers over the course of several Q&A sessions, but everything I’ve heard so far has me feeling really optimistic about Diablo 4’s chances at consuming my life (again) later this year.
The skill tree changes are easily my favorite tweak, as they’ve done away with all the boring nodes that just make your numbers go up (that’s what the paragon tree is for, after all), and have instead made each skill purchase an interesting decision that augments how your character plays. Some of the examples of this are a skill tree that can turn the Sorcerer’s Hydra fire summon into an ice summon instead, or in the case of the Warlock, a perk that turns a defensive wall of demons into an offensive group of roaming monsters. I really like the idea that now the core skill trees for each character will focus on modifying skills to match your playstyle, instead of just boosting DPS, and am pretty eager to dive in and see what new options are waiting to be exploited.
As for the endgame changes, set bonuses, and the new crafting systems, IGN will have plenty more to share in the future as the Lord of Hatred nears ever closer to ensnaring Sanctuary. For now, I’m sold on the Warlock, and am already noodling on some chaotic summoner builds to let loose later this year.
