Sure looks like Arc Raiders is off to an alright start, ‘ey? Success doesn’t mean there’s any rest for the wicked, i.e. a live service game, however. Just yesterday, only a day after launching, developer Embark Studios revealed their Arc Raiders roadmap for the rest of 2025. It’s light on details, but does offer a good outline for what you can expect at the very least.
And where it is now.
It began with a Zelda T-shirt.
I was wearing my “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” shirt while running a quick errand at the bank. The teller spotted it. He was at least 20 years younger than me, but his “Nice shirt!” comment kicked off a lengthy conversation about our shared Nintendo fandom.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Prepare yourselves, Warriors, Riders, Bounty Hunters.
As we slide into the last two months of 2025, there’s a bumper crop of games hitting a Switch (or Switch 2) near you as the holiday season approaches.
Nintendo is publishing a pair of Switch 2 games in November, with Koei Tecmo’s take on Zelda-styled Musou arriving on the 6th, and Masahiro Sakurai’s latest Kirby game landing on the 20th. Samus returns in December (finally!), too, and beyond first-party, there’s a plethora of third-party picks waiting to keep you company into the new year. (Not Elden Ring, though.)
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
FIGHT!
Gosh, we’re into November already – how on earth did that happen? Well, either way, it’s the weekend, so let’s do a quick recap of the week before we dive into what we’re playing, shall we?
Naturally, the biggest news of the week was the announcement from Nintendo that Animal Crossing: New Horizons would be making a comeback, with both a free update planned for all owners alongside a paid Switch 2 Edition in the new year.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Including an update for Animal Crossing tracks.
: In case you missed it, this week marks the first anniversary of the Nintendo Music mobile app for Switch Online subscribers.
Nintendo already rolled out a music update earlier this week – adding the DS soundtrack New Super Mario Bros. and it’s now apparently released a new firmware update, bumping the app up to Version 1.4.0.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Ichiban joins the race.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has been available for the Switch since September, and has already received some updates.
Now, in a Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio live stream this week, the team behind the Yakuza series and Yakuza: Like A Dragon game have revealed the free guest character Ichiban Kasuga will be made available on 6th November 2025, with his festival event to run from 7th until 10th November 2025.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
I thought I was only going to play five or six hours of ARC Raiders on launch day before sitting down to write this initial review in progress, but after just a handful of matches, I suddenly couldn’t pull myself away – and before I realized it, I’d been playing for 10 hours. This is without question the most hooked I’ve found myself on an extraction shooter (and I’ve played a lot of them), with clean and tense gunplay, a progression system that’s been incredibly satisfying so far, and a loot game that has me sweating over what to put in my backpack and what to leave behind. I’ve still got loads more to do and see before I can draw any final conclusions, but what I have played has made an incredibly good first impression.
ARC Raiders follows the usual extraction shooter formula of dropping you into a zone to take down NPC enemies and scramble for loot, all while looking over your shoulder for rival crews who would love nothing more than to crack you open like a meat pinata and take everything you’ve collected. From what I’ve seen so far, ARC Raiders hasn’t done much to iterate on those fundamentals, but it does absolutely nail them, and that’s harder to do than it might sound – for example, a big budget attempt like Battlefield 2042’s Hazard Zone mostly fell flat, and the alpha for Bungie’s Marathon landed with such a thud it was delayed indefinitely.
One of the main ways it succeeds is in its stressful gunplay, where weapons only have a few rounds in each magazine, take a good deal of time to reload, and the robotic NPCs are either much faster than you or can rain down missiles to take you out in a single blast. This means I’m usually feeling like a rodent sneaking around to scavenge food and supplies from the world before slinking back to base – but when combat does break out, it’s charged with delightful anxiety thanks to the high-risk, high-reward situation of knowing you’re either about to lose everything you’ve fought for or grab some awesome gear off the corpses of those you’ve bested. This includes both AI-controlled and human players, as both can be found and fought out in the world, though it’s best to avoid either of them unless you know you’ve brought the gear and skills required for a fight. That’s because firing a shot has a good chance of drawing all robot enemies and loot-hungry players to your position, taking advantage of your vulnerability to do as much damage as possible.
All four of the maps I’ve seen so far have very cool and distinct vibes to them, from the ruined husk of a waterlogged dam to a city buried in red sand. It’s a good thing that they’re so great to look at, too, because you’ll spend a whole lot of time trekking back and forth across them in search of loot. I still feel like I haven’t seen most of the nooks and crannies of these areas, despite having played on them for dozens of matches already, but they are starting to feel a little familiar to me. Here’s hoping they’ve still got secrets to uncover that expand the amount of time I’m willing to spend on each.
As I work toward exploring every last zone, one thing I’m still looking for is an enemy combatant I haven’t faced yet (aside from the massive tanks, which I’m just steering clear of at this early stage). Most of my NPC combat encounters have been against the small roly poly bots and flying drones that are fairly easy to destroy, with my fellow players being the only proper challenge so far. I’m looking forward to the point where I’m powerful enough to actually engage with some of the chonkier enemies more seriously, but it still would have been nice to have a wider variety of low level AI combatants to shake up the early game a bit.
Thankfully, even as maps and enemies have begun to feel familiar, that hasn’t dampened my desire to play just because of how good the loot and progressions systems are. Every run, win or lose, has me excited to return to the cozy sanctuary of Speranza, where I can chat with vendors, turn in and accept new quests, upgrade my facilities that allow me to craft items and gain access to new upgrades, customize my character’s appearance, and spend skill points that make me slightly better at things like keeping quiet while rifling through loot during matches. There’s so much to do and unlock that I truly feel I’ve only scratched the surface in this regard, and that’s kept me glued to my controller and eager to dive into new matches.
Anyway, there’s still lots to do and robots to slay, so I’ll be headed back out to the wastes for more just as soon as I’m finished typing. You can expect a full, scored review early next week!
Not only does November bring cooler weather, but it also offers an entirely new batch of PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and PC games to entertain us. We’re on the tail end of the big games of the fall, but the year isn’t done with us yet. This month we get big releases like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Kirby Air Riders, and perhaps most importantly, Terminator 2D: No Fate. Read on to see release dates for all the biggest games and expansions coming out this month and beyond. Let’s have a look.
If you’re the preordering type, you can click the links for the platform of your choice to see the game at Amazon (if available).
For more release date fun, check out our ongoing list of 4K UHD and Blu-ray release dates.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.
Update: Download it now.
Hades II got off to an excellent start when it landed in September, and soon it will be getting its very first post-launch patch. Developer Supergiant Games has now released a preview of what fans can expect via the official Steam game page.
In addition to bug fixes and balance changes, Patch 1 will come loaded with True Ending Enhancements, Returning to a Real Possibility, Fated Prophecy Adjustments and Crossroads Renewal. There are also some spoilers in these patch notes, so if you don’t want to spoil any surprises, you might want to navigate away from this page now.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or download here
Hey, everybody! Sid, Tim, and Brett are back this week to talk about the new indie darling Ball x Pit, the long journey to a Death Stranding 2 platinum, Silent Hill f, and the Battlefield series’ first battle royale foray.
Stuff We Talked About
Sid Shuman – Senior Director of Content Communications, SIE
Tim Turi – Content Communications Manager, SIE
Brett Elston – Manager, Content Communications, SIE
Thanks to Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.
[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]
