From the moment Nintendo revealed Pauline’s presence in Donkey Kong Bananza, I knew one thing for certain: I was going to be writing a feature on the DK timeline in the next two months.
Look, you know I love Bananza. DK and Pauline have such a wholesome little relationship, I adored hearing the same senile rant from Cranky on each and every layer, and the little nods to the great ape’s previous endeavours were perfectly balanced. It felt like a wall-to-wall celebration of all things DK while also serving as an introduction to the modern age of 3D platforming for one of Nintendo’s oldest characters.
Every August, 70,000 gamers head to Indianapolis to attend the largest tabletop gaming convention in North America, Gen Con. This year’s event had large crowds packing the convention center and spilling into the nearby streets. Over 500 vendors filled the hall and a slew of new releases made their debut.
After four days of glorious dice rolling and cube pushing, 10 board games have emerged as the most compelling and unique titles I saw on offer. Most of these will be available in general retail shortly, and many are already open to preorder. This list is organized alphabetically.
Featured in this article
Don’t have time to read blurbs? These are them. If you do have time for blurbs, though, read on, because we have lots of info about why each one deserves a spot on this list.
Age of Galaxy
It’s a difficult task cramming a 4X space conquest into a small box, but this intriguing card game from Portal Games does just that. Each player controls an interstellar alliance of three unique factions drawn from a pool of 40 distinct options. This creates an asymmetric suite of abilities that informs and influences strategy. Utilizing a selection of multi-use cards, players explore new systems, settle planets, research advanced technologies, and build shiny galactic cruisers.
While quick and sharp, the main focus is on executing tough decisions on how to use cards for either long-term benefits or short-term bursts. The inclusion of a solo mode is also a very nice addition that extends the life of the game.
Ace of Spades
Solo gaming is not a new concept, but it’s certainly exploded in recent years. Ace of Spades is the latest noteworthy title in this category, allowing a lone player to utilize a hand of cards to battle progressively tougher bosses. On the surface, it looks a lot like the tabletop version of Balatro, but a closer gander reveals an interesting card game brimming with identity.
The wild setting helps as you head to Sweet Haven, Arizona seeking vengeance upon a vile necromancer. This leads to a cemetery where you are confronted by horrific denizens of hell intent on claiming your soul. Best of all, if you get tired of facing these terrors alone, you can call in a partner and play the game in two-player cooperative mode. This works surprisingly well, even if the core engine feels more comfortable as a solo endeavor. This is a heavy-metal charged experience with distorted riffs and a thick tracklist of content.
Dying Message Card Game
This is the oddball entry of the list, a party game for a collection of people where one is ruthlessly murdered and the others attempt to solve the crime. The twist here is that the victim tries to form clues from a randomly dealt allotment of cards. These contain symbols and characters of various types, requiring some creative thinking from the murdered participant. You’re given a few minutes to arrange the clue cards how you’d like, using them in conjunction with several suspect cards placed off to the side. The idea is that in the last moments of life, you’ve done what you can to leave a message for those who find you.
After arranging the murder scene, the victim sprawls out on the table capturing their final position at time of death. The ensuing discussion as people try, often in vain, to tease out the meaning of the scene and decipher the clues can be riotous and engaging. Ultimately, the group guesses the murderer and either succeeds or fails.
This is a quirky design that absolutely requires the right set of people. Acquire the wrong crowd or a misaligned mood and it runs the risk of firing blanks. However, with some performative buy-in and a deductive attitude, Dying Message will hit its mark and result in a tabletop game that is wholly unique.
High Tide
Cozy games are all the rage right now. These are designs that present a relaxed experience which is more focused on meditative play and chill vibes over brutish competition. High Tide is the latest to break out in this category, selling out at Gen Con due to its stellar aesthetic and intriguing play.
This is a small game, easily portable and completely unassuming. But it boasts a surprising amount of depth. Tiles are arranged randomly in a grid and players take turns stacking pieces upon ones that are higher. You may only move your own or neutral tiles, however. It teases out just the right level of strategic thought without tipping over into a cerebral grind. High Tide is a neat, novel work that stood out among the swathe of new games.
Lightning Train
Much of the buzz surrounding Lightning Train is the pedigree of designer Paul Dennen. His previous work, Dune Imperium, is a modern classic that has caught on like wildfire in the gaming community. This new release uses a similar concept of bag building as players add various resources to their bag in a strategic bid for developing their company.
The goal is to open train stations and railroad lines across North America, facilitating the delivery of goods to cities in need. The interesting detail is that players can share each other’s infrastructure, sending cargo along another participant’s route. Both receive benefits from this cooperation, birthing a more nuanced and fuzzy strategic space. Unlike most games in the train category, Lightning Train is a more approachable design that slots in as a step up from Ticket to Ride.
The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
Pandemic has dozens of spinoff games at this point, and The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship appears to be just another iteration on Matt Leacock’s modern classic. That is not the case. This new design does contain some faint indicators of that previous game’s DNA, but it’s so much more than that.
This is a rich adventure game where players cooperate to take the One Ring to Mount Doom while evading the attention of Sauron. It’s part tower defense, with players recruiting Free World troops to battle invading Orcs and Southrons, and it’s part stealth thriller as Frodo must constantly sneak past armies and Nazgul. This is a tense affair, and it’s far more detailed and thematic than expected. In fact, it barely feels like a Pandemic property at all, which may take some people by surprise. Regardless, this is perhaps the most exciting game I played at Gen Con this year, and I’m enraptured by it.
Nature
Evolution, the board game that captures the pressures of a dynamic ecosystem and how this influences species, has been wildly successful over the past 10 years of its life. It’s spawned numerous expansions and spinoffs, and may have just found its final state with Nature. This latest version of the system is pared down to a straightforward and approachable core game that retains the interesting card play of its predecessor.
Some of the elements have been simplified, and it’s easier than ever to introduce this game to beginners and non-hobbyist of any age. The magic resides in the game’s module system. Multiple add-ons exist that can be inserted to layer on sub-systems for flight, dinosaurs, and environments. This slightly increases the complexity, while boosting the strategic potential. A huge boon is that it changes up the feel of each session, and allows North Star Games to expand this properly infinitely. Nature is poised to have the longest legs of any game in the Evolution line.
Star Wars: Battle of Hoth
Battle of Hoth was the most talked about game heading into Gen Con. This was for good reason, as it puts a Star Wars board game spin on the popular Memoir 44 series of games. Players take on the role of either the contingent of Imperial AT-ATs and snowtroopers, or the Rebel soldiers holding the line in order to protect the planet’s shield generator. Each takes turns playing cards from their hand to activate one portion of the battlefield, choosing from a selection of units occupying that flank. This restriction of the card system is a hallmark of the Memoir series, forcing tough decisions with only a modicum of rules overhead.
While this is a wargame of sorts, it’s also a very streamlined and rules-light design. It’s a dramatic game, full of dice rolling and big moments where units are scattered and lines are broken. The Star Wars backdrop only helps.
Spooktacular
During the 1986 Spooktacular horror film festival, a freak accident occurs involving a lightning strike and a little bit of mystery. This results in dozens of monsters spanning the length of cinematic history being released from their fictional bonds. Now they are free to terrorize the festival goers and wreak havoc.
This dynamite concept is realized through a highly asymmetric yet still smartly restrained system. Players take on the roles of movie monsters animated from the screen, competing to scare and devour guests. Each of the 20 included monsters is unique, featuring its own suite of abilities and cards. Yet, this is not an overstuffed game and the core processes are direct and sensible. The concoction here is magnificent, and this monster mash is full of delight and terror.
Vantage
In my review of Vantage, I declared it as possibly being the top game of 2025. It seems the crowds of Gen Con agreed, as this game was everywhere. This is a fully cooperative adventure where players crash land on an uncharted planet and must navigate its many mysteries in order to fulfill a collective mission. While this was clearly designed in the tradition of modern narrative adventure games, it goes about things its own way, massively improving on the pre-existing approach.
For one, it’s not a campaign game. Each individual session has a complete arc, which makes it far more approachable for most groups. It also does away with narrow objectives requiring players head to specific locations. Instead, many of the missions may be fulfilled in numerous ways. This highlights the game’s focus on creativity and freedom, allowing you to wander and explore whatever catches your eye. Finally, the mysteries of the world are special and worthy of the effort required. This is a fantastic game, and it was the closest thing to a singular standout title of the convention.
Charlie Theel is a tabletop games freelancer. You can follow him on Twitter @CharlieTheel.
If you failed to swipe a key for this week’s Battlefield 6 beta, because you neither signed up via the Battlefield Labs programme before 31st July nor watched Your Favourite Creators play the game during the recent multiplayer reveal, then Don’t Sweat It, Soldier, because Drill Sergeant EA Have Your Back in the shape of a last-gasp code giveaway.
Behaviour Interactive has released detailed patch notes for Dead by Daylight update 9.1.1 following backlash to bugs and balance changes introduced last week.
The team behind the popular asymmetrical horror game offered a breakdown for its long list of new fixes on the Dead by Daylight website today. It’s a bug fix patch that arrives just one week after update 9.1.0 launched for players across PC and consoles, but according to fans, it’s already long overdue.
Dead by Daylight update 9.1.0 came with The Walking Dead representation, map changes, and balance tweaks for many of Behaviour’s playable Survivors and Killers. While the additions were celebrated by many, others struggled to focus on the positive aspects of the content update because it just so happened to come hand in hand with several new game-breaking exploits.
Lowlights from the patch saw players expressing concern regarding Perks like Streetwise, Blood Rush, and Last Stand, as each introduced either a fresh bug to squash. There’s also the issue of The Clown, who has paraded around player Trials with his lightning-fast speed and unstoppable, bottle-throwing arm. Thankfully, after Behaviour moved to Kill Switch (or disable) many of these issues yesterday, Dead by Daylight update 9.1.1 is here with more permanent fixes.
Streetwise and Last Stand will both be re-enabled with the new update, with both receiving tweaks to repair the problems introduced with the last patch. The troublesome Fog Vial, which was added as a new item just last week, is also getting a nerf to its opacity and volume. Meanwhile, a list of priority bug fixes mends issues related to Killers and chase mechanics, how Survivors see The Deathslinger’s aiming animation, and more.
Fixes for glitches tied to audio, characters, environments, and other Perks can also be found in Dead by Daylight update 9.1.1 as Behaviour works to regain lost ground with the fanbase it’s grown throughout the last nine years. Part of the plan to do so, which was outlined in a post published by the Dead by Daylight X/Twitter account yesterday, involves issuing another hotfix sometime next week. It’s said to come with a fix for Blood Rush bugs as well as additional tweaks to Fog Vials.
Behaviour says it will work to Kill Switch problematic gameplay elements and communicate with fans at a quicker pace in the future, thanking vocal players for their feedback as development continues. While we wait to see how the team rebalances The Clown and more of its Killers, you can read up on how Dead by Daylight players reached out to the Overwatch team at Blizzard when they were most desperate. You can also check out our recent interview with Behaviour, where we learned more about how the team developed its Five Nights at Freddy’s Chapter and the Springtrap Killer.
Finally, you can check out the full Dead by Daylight update 9.1.1 patch notes below.
Dead by Daylight Update 9.1.1 Patch Notes
Priority Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue that often caused Killers to be unable to initiate a chase for the rest of the trial.
Fixed an issue that often caused the chase music not to play when a chase was initiated.
Fixed an issue impacting chest item charges while using Streetwise.
Fixed an issue impacting vault speeds while using Last Stand.
Fixed an issue where The Walking Dead theme was unaffected by the Copyrighted Music Setting.
Fixed an issue where both Survivors and Killers could be slowed down when running up the right-hand side of any staircase.
Fixed an issue where the Baermar Uraz’s Masquerade Musician outfit had the incorrect name and voice lines.
Fixed an issue where The Deathslinger’s aiming animation was missing from the Survivor’s perspective.
Fixed an issue where the “Be chased for 20 seconds” quest in “Into the Fog” would not progress.
Fixed an issue that caused a black screen when attempting to spectate for the second time after returning to the tally screen.
Content
The Streetwise and Last Stand perks have been re-enabled.
SURVIVOR ITEM: FOG VIAL
Decreased base opacity of the fog cloud to 33% (was 40%).
Decreased the fog cloud volume by 3 dB. (NB this does not refer to audio within the fog area, only the ambient fog audio)
FOG VIAL ADD-ONS
Potent Extract (Visceral):
Decreases visibility by5% (was 10%).
Decreases the fog cloud’s maximum size by 25% (No change).
Decreases the fog cloud’s maximum lifetime by 50% (No change).
Bug Fixes
Audio
Fixed an issue where lobby ambiance audio would occasionally stack.
Fixed an issue where sound effects were missing when hovering over Match Management options in Custom Game.
Fixed an issue where scream sound effects occurred while the Survivor had their mouth closed during The Lich’s Mori.
Fixed an issue where Rick and Michonne Grimes were missing certain voiceover lines.
Characters
Fixed an issue where shadows in The Nightmare’s Dream World were missing.
Fixed an issue where The Nightmare could use Rupture twice on a Dream Pallet.
Fixed an issue where The Nightmare could place a Dream Pallet and a Survivor could place a Fragile Pallet using Apocalyptic Ingenuity in the same spot.
Fixed an issue where The Ghoul’s Rize Kamishiro outfit would jitter during her idle animation in the lobby.
Fixed an issue where Mikaela’s arms to appear distorted in certain outfits.
Fixed an issue where The Animatronic’s model appeared distorted for the spectator when changing camera views while the Killer exited a Security Door.
Fixed an issue where Survivors were revealed to The Executioner after hitting a Survivor with Punishment of the Damned while using the Burning Man Painting add-on.
Fixed an issue where the Exhausted status effect would recover while running when affected by the Mannequin Foot add-on.
Fixed an issue where the game crashed when The Twins opened a locker that Victor was holding shut with a Survivor inside.
Fixed an issue where The Pig did not lose bloodlust when performing an Ambush attack.
Environment/Maps
Fixed an issue where The Knight would encounter invisible collisions on certain vaults while drawing a path for summoned Guards.
Fixed an issue in the Fallen Refuge map where the prison tower door could be triggered when moving behind it.
Fixed an issue in the Fallen Refuge map where Victor would not trigger the prison tower door.
Fixed an issue in the Ormond Lake Mine map where Victor would not trigger the elevator drop.
Fixed an issue in the Red Forest Realm where The Knight’s Guards could not traverse the shack’s window.
Fixed an issue in the Withered Isle Realm where The Singularity could attach biopods above map fences.
Fixed an issue in the Midwich Elementary School map where Survivors could land on top of an invisible collision.
Fixed an issue in The Game map where Killer projectiles would go through walls in the control room.
Fixed an issue in the Ormond Lake Mine map where players could climb on top of a rock which should be inaccessible.
Fixed an issue where Snug could become stuck on a snow mound in Ormond Lake Mine map
Perks
Fixed an issue where combining the Thrilling Tremors and Grim Embrace perks would cause the 4th token effect on Grim Embrace to not trigger.
Fixed an issue where Overwhelming Presence would not affect Key, Map, and Fog Vial items.
Fixed an issue where Hex: Two Can Play was unaffected by stun caused by Last Stand.
Fixed an issue where The Wraith remained invisible when stunned by Last Stand.
Fixed an issue where cleansing a Totem while Broken would activate Inner Strength once the Broken effect ended.
Fixed an issue where Survivors were unable to build a Fragile Pallet on pallet locations previously destroyed by vault actions affected by certain add-on and perk effects.
Fixed an issue where dying Survivors would make grunts of pain while affected by Come and Get Me!.
Fixed an issue where a Survivor using Conviction could remain in the “trapped” animation if they were in a Bear Trap.
Fixed an issue where a Survivor using Conviction could become stuck in a locker.
Fixed an issue where Blast Mine’s blind VFX were missing if damaging a generator while the Killer was already blinded.
Platforms
Fixed an issue on the Microsoft Store that sometimes caused the game to remain silently open after closing it.
Quests
Fixed an issue where progression for the “I Want It, I Got It” challenge was not saved after a Trial was completed.
UI
Fixed an issue where the followed quest tooltip would show partial progress for quests that needed to be completed in a single Trial.
Fixed an issue where audio would be missing from the Match Management screen.
Fixed an issue where the in-game quest tracker progress animation would begin at the incorrect value.
Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor would revert to the console cursor on consoles.
Fixed an issue where the anti-camp meter would disappear after a Survivor was hooked.
Fixed an issue where the Rift Pass tooltip would show an incorrect subtitle.
Miscellaneous
Fixed an issue where the beam of light duration was unchanged when using the Crimson Stamp add-on on the Bloodsense Map.
Fixed an issue where a Fog Vial’s fog cloud would disappear if another Fog Vial was activated.
Fixed an issue where the Fog Vial’s smoke explosion sound effects were missing.
Fixed an issue where Survivors held the fog vial differently depending on which item was previously held.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Dead by Daylight players were left to fend for themselves after a recent update introduced several game-breaking exploits, so, naturally, they turned to Blizzard Entertainment and the Overwatch team for help.
Behaviour Interactive, the studio behind the long-running asymmetrical horror game, found itself in fight or flight mode after issuing its July update last week. Two Survivors from The Walking Dead — Michonne and Rick Grimes — were the headliners, but the latest patch came with more than just bloody new content for players to feast on.
I’ve been in the dbd sphere for 9 years and I’ve never seen everyone this upset, even at dbds lowest points there was still a lot of great things to look forward to. I’m not gonna lie it blew my mind with how many people were upset, I’ve never seen this before.
Of Dead by Daylight’s many playable Killers, it’s The Clown who waltzed into patch 9.1.0 with the most changes. Specifically, any Survivors who encounter the bottle-throwing menace will notice that he is now much, much faster, with certain builds and strategies only increasing his speed further. Killers are usually always a bit faster than their prey, but the new update turns The Clown into a unique force of nature that makes him nearly unescapable.
As The Clown Killers flooded Dead by Daylight Trials, so too did several troublesome Survivor Perks. Builds using Streetwise, Blood Rush, and Last Stand were quickly becoming popular amongst die-hard fans who had discovered new exploits, including the ability to gain infinite item charges and occasional sprint boosts. These are bugs that can and have fundamentally shifted gameplay balance in Dead by Daylight as players take advantage of what many deem to be broken aspects of the experience.
These issues and more plagued the Dead by Daylight community for around one week, and with few promising updates from Behaviour arriving throughout that time, fans became desperate. There was only so much the memes of The Clown plastered onto Cars’ Lightning McQueen could do to ward off the negative feelings brought by game-breaking bugs, so players eventually took their concerns from Behaviour support threads to somewhere else entirely.
For some strange reason, they turned to Overwatch for help.
As Blizzard took to its official Overwatch 2 social media pages to push new Stadium builds for Mercy and celebrate its new collaboration with NERF, Dead by Daylight fans began asking for assistance with zero warning or context.
Many of these posts have hundreds — if not thousands — of likes, with most replies asking for fixes for the biggest issues causing players trouble. Some messages are also asking for reworks for the Onyro Killer, while others are simply pleading for any amount of support at all. You’re more likely to spot The Clown fan art than any reply actually related to Overwatch depending on the post you click on, proving that Dead by Daylight fans have truly had enough.
It’s not at all clear why Dead by Daylight players, among the hundreds of major game developers out there, latched onto the Overwatch team at Blizzard. The two games are multiplayer experiences and that’s… about it, as neither truly shares that much in common outside of an ability to control characters in an online setting. It’s pure chaos that was mostly contained in Overwatch threads, though you might find a few stray posts from players bugging official Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Fatal Fury, and more accounts, too, if you look hard enough.
On the Hook
Whether it was the crossover no one expected or just general fan outcry, Behaviour heard the pleas for help and finally offered a detailed game plan for the future. With its own post on X, the Dead by Daylight team temporarily and immediately Kill Switched the Streetwise, Blood Rush, and Last Stand Perks, removing them from play as the studio worked on fixes. A hotfix, titled the 9.1.1 update, is currently set to follow today and is said to come with fixes for Streetwise and Last Stand, specifically, as well as “small adjustments” to Fog Vials.
This is great and all but why does it always take so much community outcry for the team to actually realize something is bad? https://t.co/TDxL8icL6F
Blood Rush fixes are scheduled to arrive next week, as are more tweaks to Fog Vials. These are necessary fixes but only a small step to address the community’s wider issue with Behaviour’s communication strategy. As a result, the team says it already “rebuilding” its Kill Switch process “to be more nimble and better account for community sentiment.”
In other words, don’t expect game-breaking Dead by Daylight bugs to tamper with the overall experience for weeklong periods in the future. Fans are happy to see their feedback finally addressed, but only time will tell if it’s enough to repair the damage done.
“We’re grateful for your feedback, which helps us identify places where we can improve and re-evaluate our processes, changing course when it’s needed to improve the Dead by Daylight experience for all,” Behaviour’s message concludes. “As a live game, we know this conversation is ongoing, and we appreciate you for being a part of it with us!”
I’m happy these changes are coming, but DBD has ignored the health of their game for a VERY long time. It’s unacceptable.
I’ve never played a game that’s been around for nearly 10 years with as many bugs, especially game breaking ones. I’m really disappointed. https://t.co/NI2fQdqrLc
Dead by Daylight recently celebrated its nine-year anniversary with special in-game events and rewards. It was preceded by the long-awaited introduction of Five Nights at Freddy’s content, including the new Springtrap Killer and a pizza restaurant map. With The Walking Dead now fully integrated into the 1v4 experience, players are looking forward to a new Killer in September as well as another new Killer and two new Survivors in November.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
We’ve already shown you how you can save almost $400 on the Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 10, but if you’re looking for a little more from your gaming laptop then there’s a saving on the Legion Pro, too.
It’s Nintendo’s Indie World, we’re all just living in it.
Nintendo is going absolutely crazy as tomorrow, 7th August 2025, we’re getting our second video game showcase for the Switch 2 and Switch. And it’s an Indie World.
Indie World showcases are always a nice surprise, and given that this is the first for the Switch 2 gen, we might well be seeing a little more Mouse Mode in action — or, quite literally, mice.
NBA 2K26 tip-off on PlayStation 5 is less than a month away; bringing a host of exciting gameplay innovations and presentation enhancements in the latest iteration of the NBA 2Kfranchise. This year, the Visual Concepts development team made another Eurostep forward in lifelike animations and authenticity, with heightened player fidelity, palpable arena atmosphere, energetic commentary and captivating pageantry—let’s get into it.
Player fidelity
The weight of the moment combined with the wear and tear of each dribble, foul, and collision takes a physical toll over the course of a game.
In NBA 2K26, the evolution of player fidelity is more noticeable thanks to a new shader that brings out the subtleties of each player’s skin. Get up close and see the sweat stream down the pores on players’ faces, the cracks in their lips from dehydration, and the improved muscle definition after a thunderous dunk.
This new shading technology makes uniforms and shoes look even more detailed and stunning. The curvature of embroidered names on the back of jerseys boasts increased accuracy—you can even see the ultra-fine stitching. These minute details bring you closer to the action than ever before.
Arena visuals
Take in the grandeur of these larger-than-life NBA arenas with improved lighting, floor shading, and team-specific features in NBA 2K26.
Improved arena lighting
The lighting in NBA 2K26 has been redesigned to improve light intensity and color correction. Coupled with the new skin shader, the players shine and reflect like the stars they are as they dazzle under the bright lights of the arena.
Improved court floors
In addition to the new skin shaders, new floor shaders have been introduced to add more life and sheen to every court. The meticulously polished courts in 2K26 invite you to step on the hardwood and observe the uniqueness of each team’s home court. Depending on the camera angle you prefer, there’s a distinct contrast in wood grain color based on a higher or lower view.
Team-specific features
From the shape of each arena’s overhead spotlights to the Clippers’ towering “Wall,” all 30 arenas in NBA 2K26 have been designed to closely match their real-world counterparts. Teams around the league have different pregame rituals, like how they create specific patterns with their light shows or how they illuminate the court with team colors. For the teams that rely on pyrotechnics to fire up the crowd, a thin haze will fill the arena and progressively dissipate as the game gets underway. Dedicated fans of these teams will appreciate the level of authenticity and effort that went into capturing the true essence of every arena, like the Detroit Pistons’ courtside lounge behind the baseline.
Arena atmosphere
Feel the palpable energy of an NBA arena in NBA 2K26. Interact with diverse fanbases as a player and quiet the hecklers with sensational plays. Even the entertainers are putting on a show—mascots, hype crews, and national anthem singers are raising the bar during pregame and in between timeouts.
Crowd variety & interaction
Crowd variety and interactions were a big focus this year, and received major improvements and upgrades. Variety was greatly expanded with twice the number of unique character models, including more body types and heads. This represents a wider range of sizes, shapes, and ages. Clothing options are also expanded and now include current and historic player jerseys that feature a player’s name on the back of the jersey. We’re talking about over 60 historic players such as Jordan, Bird, and more; many of the top current players in the game have been included, as well.
Fans in the crowd have been given rally towels, foam fingers and even rubber chickens to show their team spirit. Expect to see these deployed in key moments of special games, think NBA Cup and Playoffs games. Each fan will also wear an arena provided LED wristband that’s used to create light shows for player introductions, after big plays, and more.
In MyCAREER, particularly passionate fans may heckle your MyPLAYER during the game. Listen to their chirps and use it as motivation to silence them with your skills on the court.
In-arena entertainment
During breaks in the action, new performers and entertainment will take the floor. From mascots on pocket bikes to choreographed dances, and more. There will never be a dull moment. All-new renditions of the U.S. and Canadian national anthems will be played pregame, prior to tip-off.
Player interactions
Player interactions in 2K26 set the scene before the game with an updated lower-bowl experience.
Pregame shootaround includes fresh animations; players and trainers can be seen conducting drills and getting warmed up ahead of the game.
When there’s a stoppage or break in the action—timeout, coach’s challenge, end of a quarter—players will see refreshed bench and huddle animations, as you make substitutions and draw up plays. Some players may even make their case to the officiating crew about potential foul calls.
Late-game commentary
Add to the memory of your clutch moments with eloquent commentary captured by the talented play-by-play and color commentary of the NBA 2K broadcast team. In the waning moments of a game, especially when it’s tightly contested, there will be a noticeable shift in tone from the commentators. As the clock ticks down and the intensity ratchets up, the heightened energy will feel much different from a blowout.
Broadcast voices
Returning to the broadcast booth in NBA 2K26 are the talented, iconic, and insightful crew of Kevin Harlan, Greg Anthony, Stan Van Gundy, Shams Charania, and more. In addition to this distinguished cast, new PA announcers, international correspondents, and the incredibly savvy Tim Legler have joined the mix.
Tim Legler: Known for his high basketball IQ and deep Xs and Os knowledge, Tim Legler is in-game to provide game breakdowns and basketball analysis.
PA Announcers: All-new talent that represents the real-world arena announcers for almost every team. For example, the electrifying sound of Shawn Parker’s voice has been recorded for Charlotte Hornets games.
International: Team China features play-by-play announcer ZeYuan Guan and analysts Jian Yang and Qun Su, and Spanish commentators have recorded new audio as well.
Big moments
NBA history is defined by iconic individual seasons and clutch performances in big moments. NBA 2K26 is designed to capture the magnitude of these awards and moments by drawing you in with the pageantry and spectacle of it all.
Dynamic banners
Celebrate your championships properly with dynamic banners in NBA 2K26. As you win titles, you’ll see banners from those championship victories raised into the rafters, where they’ll hang to commemorate your milestone achievements. Year after year, as you add to your storied legacy, these banners will be a constant reminder of your place in NBA history and a crowning achievement of your success.
NBA Cup
Presentation now has full integration for the NBA Cup, including more detailed overlays in Cup games that educate you on the groups and how many points teams need to advance in this unique format.
In addition, custom highlight reels will be played before NBA Cup games, featuring signature NBA Cup thematic music and special NBA Cup branding to make every moment feel more significant.
Replays will utilize the unique ‘matrix cam,’ which shows a 360-degree replay that orbits around highlight moments.
NBA Awards
Celebrate your achievements with all 7 NBA regular season awards: MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, Clutch Players of the Year, and Coach of the Year.
Your trophy will be presented to you in your first home game after winning the award. If you won more than one award, you’ll even see them presented together.
Instant replay
Capture your favorite show-stopping highlights with Instant Replay, Photo Moments, and Highlight Builder features. In NBA 2K26, you can now save filter presets for easy access when creating highlight reels. Put an artistic touch on your gravity-defying plays to give them a cinematic look and feel.
From the rafters to the hardwood, and everything in between, NBA 2K26’s presentation enhancements raise the intensity inside the arena and make every game feel like it’s primetime. Pre-order NBA 2K26 Superstar or Leave No Doubt Edition and experience all of these authentic features for yourself during Early Access*, starting August 29!
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In 2023, a video game called Dredge hit a collective nerve with its story of trawling the seas for an increasingly horrible and disturbing catch of fish. One of the people it inspired was horror fan and board game designer Judson Cowan, and he set about riffing on its inspiration to deliver a cardboard equivalent, a marriage of theme and delivery as yet untapped on tabletop.
The result is Deep Regrets, and we’ve climbed aboard and sailed it out so we can check whether all’s shipshape and Bristol fashion. We also wanted to see how it compares to the top horror board games on the market.
What’s in the Box
Deep Regrets comes in a small box but it’s heavy with contents. Lifting the lid reveals a number of small player boards. There’s a main one to track the fish swimming in the three different depth levels available to dredge, a port board for when you sail back to dry land to sell your catch and equip your boat, the ocean madness board that tracks each player’s state of mind, and a number of double-sided player boards for tracking the status of your game. The sides are functionally identical, it’s just that one side has a sinister-looking old sea dog and the other side has… an even more sinister-looking old sea dog. That tells you a lot about what kind of game this is going to be.
Much of the weight comes from various decks of cards. There are three decks of fish, one for each depth, plus a deck of “dinks,” tiny fish you can gain if your main catch gets away. There are also decks of rods, reels and “supply” that you can buy at port. The biggest deck of all is the deck of regrets which you pick up for undertaking regrettable actions at sea. There’s also a cloth bag of custom dice shaped like fishing floats, various chunky wooden tokens and a metal “fish coin” used to flip and resolve some card effects. Finally there’s a paper pad for tracking your catches in the solo variant.
The biggest deck of all is the deck of regrets which you pick up for undertaking regrettable actions at sea.
It’s hard to overstate just how evocative the visual design of the game is. Everything is decorated with art by the game’s designer, even the inside of the box lid. He’s a talented artist, creating detailed, imaginative visuals that strike a pitch-perfect stylistic balance between fun and creepy. Once you start flipping the fish cards, the chance to see new ones, or re-examining familiar ones for details that you missed becomes a major draw to replay the game alongside the fun of dice-rolling and decision-making.
Rules and How it Plays
The game is normally played over six days from Monday to Saturday. Each day starts out with you rolling your clutch of dice and placing them in your fresh pool: you start with three but can gain more, which have higher numbers than your starting dice. You then make one of the game’s key decisions, whether you’ll spend the day at sea or head to port. Everyone starts at sea, so we’ll go through the possible actions as you plough the waves.
Most of your turns at sea involve trying to catch fish. Each depth has three card piles, called shoals, and the card backs indicate whether the card represents a small, medium, or large fish, with bigger fish generally taking larger dice values to catch. You pick which shoal you want to fish in and flip the top card. Some fish have effects when revealed, such as the whiptail stingray, which allows you to reroll one die. All fish have a value in “fishbucks” in one corner and a difficulty value in the other. To catch a fish, you’ve got to spend dice equal to the difficulty.
This makes flipping fish a calculated gamble, as it’s possible you won’t have enough dice to reel in whatever horror you’ve hooked. If you can’t, you get to take a dink card as a consolation prize, which generally gives you a small bonus like the shrimp, which reduces the difficulty of a fish by one. In addition, not all fish are created equal. Some have values that are significantly different from their difficulty, while others can have both good or bad effects on you or other players when caught. They also come in two flavors: fair, which are normal, real-world fish, and foul, which are body parts, repulsive mutants, occult creations and worse.
They come in two flavors: fair, which are normal, real-world fish, and foul, which are body parts, repulsive mutants, occult creations and worse.
However you fare in the fish lottery, the process is almost always enormously fun. For starters, there’s the big reveal, not only with the anticipation of matching the difficulty against your dice but of seeing what kind of freakish thing you’re up against and enjoying the art. There may be a reveal effect to resolve, many of which affect all players or otherwise mix up the expected catching process. Then, you may have an awkward decision about whether you want to spend multiple dice on it, whether you even want it at all, or whether it’s better to sacrifice a die and take the relative safety of a dink draw instead.
Spending days at port allows you to sell fish for their value and buy equipment. Rods, reels and supply cards all help your fishing efforts in various ways, and you can also buy additional one-use dice to roll, meaning you can land more and more difficult fish. But be careful with what you sell, because the value of your unsold fish is your score at the end of the game. You can also mount fish into one of three slots while in port, which multiplies their value by two or, in the top “prize catch” slot, three. Choosing which days to spend in port rather than at sea is a key strategic decision in which you’re torn between wanting better fish to sell or mount, and wanting to spend as much time on the waves for a bigger catch.
Landing foul fish generally leads to you drawing regret cards. Each of these has a numeric value between zero and three as well as a narrative tagline which varies from bleakly funny – “got a bad tattoo” – to seriously sinister – “partook of human flesh.” Depending on the number of regret cards you’ve accumulated, you may go increasingly mad, slowly reducing the value of fair fish, boosting that of foul fish and raising the maximum number of dice you’re allowed to use in a day’s fishing.
But there’s a major catch. While the number of cards you have is public knowledge, the values on them are not, and the player with the highest total value at the end of the game must discard one of those precious mounted specimens and the multiplier that goes with it.
Dice aren’t just spent on catching fish but can also be discarded to allow you to fish in deeper waters, which have more difficult targets and a higher proportion of foul fish. This allows you to manipulate an overall strategic curve. You can save dice, stay in safe waters, maximizing the value of your fair fish and resting safe in the knowledge you won’t be the one discarding when the game ends. Or you can dredge the depths, catching more and more appalling abominations, revelling in the horror and crossing your fingers that you’ll have fewer bleak regrets than your fellow fishermen when the game ends. Or try to chart a course between the two extremes, adjusting carefully depending on other player’s decisions.
On a tactical level, the game gathers momentum towards the finale. Initial fishing trips are fairly bland but as you begin to gain dinks, equipment, and a collection of fish, some of which can be eaten for an immediate ability, you can start to look for combo effects between the different cards. This snowballs as you get more and more of each, meaning you can pull off some pretty spectacular fishing turns late in the game, once you’ve learned to spot them. But each of these is laden with various risk vs reward decisions, most obviously that eating a fish means you no longer benefit from its value. In particular, once the regret deck runs out, additional regrets must be taken from other players, making for some very swingy turns.
While there are definite strategic and tactical choices of this kind in the game, it’d be overselling things to make too much of them. Fundamentally, this is a push-your-luck game where you’re eternally hoping for the highest dice rolls, the best fish card reveals, and for the fish-coin flips to always go your way. Experience and planning help, but anyone around the table can win, with that hidden regret value being particularly punishing. This cuts both ways, as it can make the game feel over-long at high player counts, and hardcore strategy hounds may find the game too lightweight to satisfy, but newer players will enjoy rolling with the punches in the knowledge that they’re in with a chance to win right up until the bitter end.
