The Warhammer 40,000 setting contains some pretty advanced technology. Blackstone Fortresses can destroy entire solar systems. The Aeonic Orb contains the power of an entire sun. And — get this — the Speranza, a massive vessel the size of a continent, can actually manipulate a black hole and fire it. Ouch!
So yeah, the Warhammer 40,000 setting has galaxy crushing might under its belt. But, it seems, the various races of the 41st millennium still don’t know what’s going on inside a black hole. And that’s not just the Imperium of Man letting the side down, either. It seems no-one — not even the incredibly advanced Necrons — have managed to work it out.
Confirmation comes from one of the latest Warhammer 40,000 novels, Guy Hayley’s Archmagos. It stars the much-loved 10,000 year-old dominus of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Belisarius Cawl, who travels to a Necron tomb world trapped on the event horizon of a black hole. And so, Belisarius Cawl ends up talking about black holes in general, and it’s this bit that surprised me as I was reading the book.
Warning! Spoilers for Warhammer 40,000 novel Archmagos follow:
Early on in the book, Belisarius Cawl ruminates on the big knowledge gap the races of the Warhammer 40,000 universe have when it comes to black holes. During this metaphysical ponder, he speculates that humanity, even during what’s called the Dark Age of Technology (the largely unexplored time period in which humanity was at its technological zenith), had no idea how they work. And, most surprising of all, neither do the Necrons.
Necrons, for the uninitiated, are terrifying mechanical warriors who wiped out an entire race of star gods long before the Emperor was even conceived (if he was, indeed, conceived). They’re meant to be the most technologically advanced of all the xenos, and use weapons far beyond our understanding. And so I was somewhat surprised to learn that the physics at play inside a black hole are a mystery to the Necrons, as they are to us in the real world.
Here’s what Belisarius Cawl, “the galaxy’s pre-eminent mind,” as he puts it, has to say about black holes:
Nobody really knows what these things are, even me. If we were to fall within, would we be destroyed, or would we emerge in some other place? I have never come across a satisfactory answer from any species. I doubt our ancestors at the height of their technology understood them. Some ancient Necrontyr records I… came into posession of by completely legitimate means, say they believe them to be the graves of their mightiest star gods. Maybe that is true. Why not? If a star can birth something with the power of a god, then why wouldn’t an astronomical body like this harbor similar secrets?
There was something grounding about reading this section of the book, something that made the often bizarre and unknowable Warhammer 40,000 universe ever so slightly relatable. The human race today does not know what goes on inside a black hole. I mean, we have theories, but we’re largely stumped. A black hole could lead to a new universe. Some think a black hole could lead to a white hole. Personally, I love the black hole leads to a 4D representation of a magical bookshelf idea. The point is we just don’t know. And it felt comforting somehow to learn that even 40,000 years in the future, we still haven’t worked it out.
A glance online at my usual 40k hideouts threw up a debate over this. I know — shock horror! — Warhammer 40,000 fans have something to say about the realism of the sci-fi universe they love so much. Some are pointing out that the C’Tan — those star gods I mentioned earlier — are said to have been able to call black holes into being. So if the Necrons defeated the C’Tan and ripped off their tech, shouldn’t they have black holes all figured out?
And others are pointing out that the Necrons, as they’ve been described to us in prior Warhammer 40,000 novels, are able to use black holes pretty effortlessly. “But… we have literally entire cryptek branch of black hole science called Voidmancers, they can just make black hole with wave of a hand… wear them as capes… it’s just author who didn’t know anything about it,” declared Mastercio before quoting from a book. “So we have entire group of them being able to just channel black holes, but this book just say that they can’t… bullshit.”
But Belisarius Cawl is not saying that the races of the 41st millennium are unable to use a black hole or interact with one in various ways, just that they don’t really understand their inner workings — literally what’s going on inside of them.
Which leads me onto the next thought: in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, what is going on inside a black hole? Having a bit of fun here, perhaps Warhammer 40,000 black holes have something to do with the warp, the alternate dimension hellscape in which the Chaos gods rile each other up and demons plot to tear into realspace and end all life as we know it. Maybe if you were to actually venture into a Warhammer 40,000 black hole, you’d end up in Grandfather Nurgle’s garden for a spot of (probably very bad for you) tea. Or perhaps you’d find yourself the inadvertent star of a Slaaneshi sex show. The mind boggles.
As with most things Warhammer 40,000, not knowing the truth of a thing is all part of the fun. Belisarius Cawl’s drive-by lecture on the nature of black holes should be considered as reliable as 90% of the lore fans like me fuss over on a daily basis. That is to say, not very reliable at all. And Games Workshop, as is its want, could one day decide to contradict everything Cawl says here and show us that someone somewhere in the Warhammer 40,000 universe knows exactly how black holes work inside and out.
Perhaps Trazyn the Infinite has had a peek.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
It’s been a busy period for gaming recently, and Square Enix is back this week another role-playing release. Following on from the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake in October, we’ve now got Octopath Traveler 0, which this time puts you in the shoes of your very own custom character.
This game is releasing on the Switch and Switch 2 on 4th December, and ahead of our own review going live later today, the very first critic review has now been shared online. It comes from the famous Japanese publication Famitsu. So, what did the critics at this outlet think?
We’ve finally made it, folks! This week marks the long-awaited arrival of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. After years of development, delays, and even a restart, Samus Aran’s next 3D outing is officially here for the Switch and Switch 2.
The critic reviews have also gone live ahead of the big release, and admittedly, the aggregate score has got a lot of people talking online. Prime 4 is currently sitting on 81/100 based on 74 critic reviews. At the time of writing, it’s got the same “top critic” score on OpenCritic.
Chinese dev Seed Lab has officially announced that its upcoming cosy life sim, Starsand Island, is getting a Switch 2 version alongside the Switch 1 release when it launches next year.
Scheduled for release in the nebulous “early 2026” and coming to all the usual platforms, that list also now includes Nintendo’s latest console, where the devs will be offering two modes depending on your preference: Quality Mode, “targeting 45FPS in 1080p”, and Performance Mode, delivering “60FPS in 1080p” in both docked and handheld modes.
When I played Escape From Tarkov for the first time in 2018, I remember being captivated by its obtuse, insanely challenging structure. Like PUBG was to the battle royale genre, this promising prototype of what would go on to be called an extraction shooter had so many unique elements going for it, even if it was sometimes completely broken in its Early Access state. All these years later, now finally hitting 1.0, it’s pretty shocking how much has changed while it simultaneously remains exactly as exasperating as I remember it. The hands-off approach to onboarding that forces newcomers to beat their heads against its unforgiving mechanics for dozens of hours before claiming even a single victory captures the same relentless challenge I’ve always adored, while other frustrations, like its continued bugs, poor technical performance, and inability to address an abundance of cheaters, remains disappointingly worse than ever. After over 120 hours with the 1.0 version, there’s still something utterly compelling about the hyper-realistic combat simulation and never-ending loot treadmill it puts you on, but I can’t help but feel like this progenitor may have been left in the dust of the genre it spawned.
Escape From Tarkov isn’t just the original standalone extraction shooter, but also the one most fanatically adherent to the ruthless principles on which the genre was founded. Not only are you thrown into a deadly hellscape filled with lethal NPCs and merciless human opponents, you’re also given absolutely no guidance in your quest for loot as you fight to survive. Practically none of the progression systems are explained to you, there’s no map for you to look at while out in the field to indicate where you or the extraction points are, and you could easily spend tens of hours studying weapon attachments and ammo types just to understand how the heck to use the tools of death you’ll find on your journey.
In some ways, I really admire how unapologetic Tarkov is – its beautifully exacting game design, and the sense of discovery that takes place across hundreds of lessons learned the hard way can be incredibly rewarding. But then there are times where it’s all just so dang frustrating, like how atrociously the UI and menus are organized, as if they were designed specifically to offend you. Whether or not the payoff of finally feeling comfortable enough to bring your best equipment out and try for a proper extraction is worth it will ultimately depend on a couple things: your tolerance for pain, and your drive to master something designed to really test your expertise of systems Tarkov refuses to teach you.
I find myself somewhere in the middle, sometimes mesmerized by its impenetrable and challenging rough edges, while other times just downright disgusted by janky design decisions. For instance, I really got a kick out of figuring out various armor protection levels and corresponding ammo penetration ratings, even though it oftentimes proved to be a complete maze and came with an extremely harsh learning curve of figuring out why I died instantly in one raid but survived getting shot 20 times in the next. For me, this was unforgiving in all the right ways, and a noted lack of handholding is something I connect with much more than the growing number of games that annoyingly treat you like you’re stupid with ongoing tutorials. On the other hand, memorizing maps over the course of 10 hours apiece was less entertaining, specifically because this meant I frequently spent 20 minutes wandering around in search of an exit or a mission objective that was only described to me in the vaguest of terms. It seems like the community’s solution here is to use online tools to figure this stuff out, so it’s sorta baffling that they wouldn’t just integrate one of those directly.
Even with everything that frustrates me about Tarkov, it’ll likely keep me playing for hundreds more hours.
So, with everything that frustrates me about Tarkov, what kept me playing for well over 100 hours, and what will likely keep me playing for hundreds more over the next year? Well, it’s the fact that once you put in the time to dig your way through all the layers of grime and obtuseness, you’ll find a pretty stellar extraction shooter that is quite hard to put down. Combat is an incredibly tense process of listening for rustling footsteps nearby and leaning out from behind cover to take precise shots, where a single bullet is all it could take to end another player’s run or put down a marauding NPC. Running around with your rifle’s flashlight blaring is an invitation for every enemy on the map to head in your direction with the aim of taking the gear from your corpse, and extracting with your loot is almost always accompanied by a deep sigh of relief.
NPC factions, including bosses, add a really interesting element of surprise and randomness to raids, too, where your best-laid plans go sideways when you run into an unexpected badass. They range from a psychopath chasing you around with a giant sledgehammer to a cowardly wimp surrounded by four heavily armed and armored guards. You might also find some other unexpected factions, like robed cultists creeping around in the woods with poisoned daggers, which is exactly as terrifying as it sounds the first time you encounter them. Discovering these things organically and either getting destroyed by or besting especially tough enemies to claim their loot kept me invested in exploring maps even when navigating them was sometimes an enormous pain.
When you’re not raiding, you’ll spend an almost equal amount of time with the tasks any extraction shooter worth its salt will have you doing: managing all that loot back at your hideout and using it to unlock cool stuff. The UI built around those activities is downright bad, and you’ll have to work to figure out some of the unintuitive systems that compose them, but the loot game is just about the best one out there once you do. It puts you on a beautiful treadmill that realistically takes thousands of hours to properly complete. That rewarding sense of forward momentum isn’t always there, as you’ll spend lots of time just grinding for cash by selling everything you find out on raids to vendors and stuffing your pockets with an absolutely obscene amount of nails and screw nuts to craft items you need back at your base. But it’s hard to argue that developer Battlestate Games hasn’t created one of the longest, most consistently enjoyable progression systems out there.
The upgrades in question range from facilities in your hideout that let you do things like restore your damage taken from previous raids faster, store more loot in your stash, or test out your weapons at a firing range, almost all of which are genuinely worth the effort to unlock (though many of those demand a whole helluva lot of resources in order to do so). You’ll also have an absolutely enormous list of story missions and side quests to complete, special items to unlock from vendors by exchanging rare materials, and more. Missions run the gamut of killing a certain amount of enemy combatants or looting specific items while out on raids, to more involved, plot-focused stuff like a side quest where I set up camcorders all over a warehouse to record myself killing people, presumably to then cut into a sick highlights reel. Sure, actually chatting with each of the vendors, who only speak Russian and have little in the way of personalities, is a waste of time that only highlights how not great the story is, but in a game about loot and long-term progression goals, Tarkov absolutely nails that bit, with a truly brilliant, Sisyphean grind.
It takes work to figure out, but the loot game is just about the best one out there once you do.
Although most runs are quite stressful and require you to put all the gear you’re carrying on the line, one nice element of Tarkov is the ability to do “SCAV Runs” where you play as a street rat that uses a random set of borrowed equipment. In these low stakes runs, you have a whole lot to gain from taking out a rival player or geared-up NPC and basically nothing to lose from dying yourself, which provides a great opportunity for a come-up that’s especially helpful after your latest devastating loss. Plus, it puts you on the same team as other SCAVs, and pitting a group of poorly geared plebs against those with better equipment is an entertaining twist on the extraction formula in its own right. I tried to do SCAV runs in between each proper deployment and found them to be a pretty great cooldown option after each sweaty raid.
One of the upsides of bothering to learn each of Tarkov’s 11 maps is that they’re all actually quite diverse and are filled with unique takes on the extraction format. On one map, I fought my way through military bases and bunkers and had to stand my ground while a massive armored train arrived to spirit me and my loot away, while on another I wandered through the woods and the wreckage of a crashed airplane while constantly looking to the horizon for snipers due to a distinct lack of cover. Another level requires keycards to enter and is filled with incredibly good loot, but also has equally formidable foes stalking the halls, while another still is just a massive shopping mall filled with stores waiting to be looted. Learning the ins and outs of these levels can be a bit painful at the outset, especially since some things are quite annoyingly unclear, like how the boundaries of most maps are never explained and lethally enforced. For example, in one level you’ll get sniped by unseen enemies without warning if you walk beyond the ill-defined borders, and in another you’ll get immediately blown to pieces due to the edges of the level being a literal mine field.
Unfortunately, Tarkov’s intentionally punishing design is marred by completely unintentional issues that have made this full launch much harder to enjoy. At least in these first couple of weeks with 1.0, there are still numerous bugs I would’ve hoped to have been cleaned up after so many years in Early Access, like characters getting caught on objects or clipping through walls, desync and rubber-banding that monkeys with hit registration, loot that’s visible but painfully lodged in the environment so it can’t be picked up, and numerous issues with the already ugly-as-sin menus that make navigating them even more frustrating.
Even more alarming is the continued prevalence of cheaters, who continue to plague the PvP servers so they can sell their ill-gotten items back to the people they’ve ripped off via an in-game trading market. It’s all the usual stuff like wallhacks, aimbots, and moving at faster-then-normal speeds, but in a game where all your loot is on the line, not doing a better job to mitigate this kind of stuff is pretty hard to swallow. In fact, it was such an issue in my first 10 hours that I decided to spend the vast majority of my time for this review just focusing on Tarkov’s PvE mode for my sanity’s sake, which removes other players entirely aside from those you bring with you. For a sweaty PvP tryhard like myself, forsaking the competitive mode goes against every instinct I have, but with the exploitable state of the PvP servers as they are, it was definitely the right choice.
This thing looks and performs badly by the standards of the day.
There’s also the matter of just how bad this thing looks and performs by the standards of the day. I remember thinking Tarkov already didn’t look great when I last revisited it a few years ago, and coming back to it again in 2025 has not done it any favors. Objects in the environment are blurry and low res, and (with the exception of the vendors you’ll chat with as you complete quests) human faces look like they were modeled using the monster-generator that is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’s character creator. And although the servers have never exactly been speedy, it’s still pretty shocking that it took me about five minutes of loading every time I wanted to enter into a match, during which time my menu was locked up so I couldn’t even fiddle with my inventory or engage in stash organizing busywork while waiting.
Even if you can look past a lot of the jankiness, which I generally can, you still might be infuriated by the current monetization model. Now, normally cost has no actual impact on the quality of a game’s content, but Tarkov is a bit of an exception in that its uber-premium packages come with straight up pay-to-win perks that are just about as nasty as can be. Over the course of the past two weeks, I progressively purchased all four of Tarkov’s escalating packages in order to try them out firsthand, which range from the standard $50 up to a whopping $250, and each one offers more appallingly game-changing boons than the last.
The benefits granted are incredibly powerful boosts that give you quite an advantage. You can get an exclusive safety pouch that’s up to 50% larger, allowing you to keep more of your valuable items upon death. Certain hideout upgrades that offer huge benefits can be unlocked automatically, like a massive amount of additional storage space that normally costs millions of in-game dollars and rare materials to acquire. Most outrageous of all, though, are the boosts to vendor reputations that would otherwise take dozens upon dozens of hours to earn, which are a pathway to purchasing better gear that gives you a huge leg up on progression. It’s so insane and shameless that I honestly felt bad playing alongside my friends who had the standard edition.
Escape From Tarkov also has a purely PvP mode, called Arena, where you go toe-to-toe with rival players in claustrophobic stages, but I can’t really recommend it. Many of Escape From Tarkov’s interesting combat mechanics, like sparse ammo and the need to heal injuries by using a variety of medical equipment on the affected area, just don’t really work in a purely fast-paced arena FPS. Plus, I only spent a small amount of time playing this mode, but in this time I encountered some of the most toxic ghouls I’ve met online in any game. A typical match involves teammates with slurs for usernames threatening you to perform well in the lobby, before screaming at you and quitting the match after a single round. Some of Escape From Tarkov’s quests will point you toward this mode and playing matches can reward loot that you can bring back to the main game, but even so, I don’t suggest spending time here.
This new patch brings all of the tweaks and additions made to other versions of the game (which we reckon is really very good, actually) to Switch 1 and 2, so there’s total parity across all versions.
Norbert Litwiński, Marketing Manager at Windup Games
Summary
Cozy co-op adventure in a magical world inspired by northern Sweden.
Innovative Shade System lets solo players tackle puzzles and traversal challenges designed for multiple characters
Launching in 2026 on Xbox Series X|S.
Hela is a cozy co-op adventure where you play as a tiny mouse on a heartfelt mission to help a kind witch and the land she cares for. Explore freely, solve creative puzzles, and use teamwork—or the clever Shade System—to find the small wonders tucked throughout the world.
Welcome to the World of Hela
Somewhere in the far north of Sweden, beyond the fjords, lies the tranquil world of Hela, a place inspired by the untamed beauty of Norrland. Here, you’ll wander through lush woodlands, flower-dotted meadows, and quiet wetlands, all watched over by an old and kind witch who has long cared for every living thing—plants, animals, and people alike.
But even witches grow weary. After so many years of caring for others, her strength has begun to fade. To continue looking after the land and its tiny (and not-so-tiny) inhabitants, she now turns to her most loyal helpers: brave, curious field mice, each carrying a small, magical frog-shaped backpack gifted by the witch herself.
These little familiars are full of heart and wonder, eager to lend a paw to anyone in need.
A Big World for a Small Hero
In Hela, you’ll play as one of these tiny familiars — a small hero in a big, enchanting world. You’ll explore far and wide, from the forest floor to treetop canopies and underground burrows, listening to the needs of the local folk and helping them in small but meaningful ways.
As the witch’s trusted emissary, you’ll learn to brew potions in her cozy cottage, following each recipe step by step to bring the magic to life.
Throughout your journey, you’ll have access to a range of abilities — some fittingly mouse-like, such as running and climbing, and others tied to your magical backpack: gliding, swinging, plunging, pulling, and even creating Shades.
The world of Hela is designed as a giant playground filled with interactive objects just waiting for you to experiment with and explore. You can enjoy the full adventure on your own or team up with friends through two-player split-screen co-op or online multiplayer for up to four players.
The Shade System: Solo, But Never Alone
While many puzzles and challenges in Hela are built for teamwork, solo players will never have to face challenges by themselves. Thanks to the unique Shade System, you can create up to three spectral copies of your character, each one repeating the exact action you were performing when it was created.
If you’re playing solo, you can summon three Shades. If you’re playing with one friend, you can create two more — always up to a total of four characters.
These Shades aren’t AI companions. They act as extensions of yourself, repeating the action you imprinted onto them. You can switch between all characters freely, allowing you to tackle puzzles and traversal challenges designed for multiple players, even when playing alone.
Let’s Work Together
When playing solo, you can summon up to three Shades to assist you with multipart puzzles or platforming challenges. They’ll stay where you placed them for as long as you need, allowing you to orchestrate complex interactions that would otherwise require multiple players.
Building Bridges
Use your lasso to connect to a Shade just like you would to another player, and create a bridge you can walk or bounce across. Perfect for reaching high ledges and hidden paths.
I’ll Be Your Anchor
If a Shade is positioned higher up, it can serve as an anchor. Grab onto its lasso to pull yourself upward, or swing from it to reach new areas.
Let Me Hold That for You
Need to move an item onto a ledge or branch? Place one Shade, so the item hangs from their lasso, then grab it from another angle to guide it around obstacles.
Go Even Further
Your magical backpack lets you glide through the air. Mid-flight, you can create a Shade that continues gliding forward — then latch onto them to carry your journey even farther. It’s a clever trick for reaching hidden corners of the world and uncovering new discoveries.
A Helping Paw
Shades can also serve as makeshift checkpoints. If you fall or miss a jump, simply switch to a Shade you left behind and keep going, no restart required.
Tools of the Forest
Across the forests and farms of Hela, you’ll find tools meant for teamwork — like catapults. Typically, one player sits in the scoop while another pulls the rope and launches them into the air. With Shades, you can run the entire sequence yourself: place a Shade in the scoop, pull the rope, release, then quickly switch control and enjoy the flight yourself.
Made for Every Kind of Player
These moments are just a glimpse of how the Shade System opens up the world of Hela. Designed for creativity, flexibility, and teamwork, it gives every player the tools to explore and experiment freely.
Whether you’re navigating the forest in quiet solitude or teaming up with friends, Hela invites you to follow your curiosity, take things at your own pace, and enjoy the simple magic of helping others.
Hela is set to launch in 2026 as a multiplatform title, including Xbox Series X|S.
See the world through the eyes of a brave mouse in Hela, an enchanting 3D co-op adventure game. Explore breathtaking Scandinavian-inspired landscapes, solve puzzles, and be a force for good in a land where heartwarming storytelling and the beauty of nature intertwine.
When a kind witch falls ill, her familiars embark on a journey to save her life. Playing as a tiny, intrepid mouse, you must venture out, gather ingredients, and brew magical potions to restore her strength.
Journey Together
Hela encourages you to work hand-in-hand to overcome the challenges that lie ahead. Play solo or with friends through local split-screen multiplayer or online co-op as you delve into lush, vibrant vistas together, from rugged mountains trails, through magical forests, to tranquil lakes.
Explore & Craft Your Tale
Immerse yourself in this enchanting world as you glide through the air, collecting items, solve puzzles, and face the adversity of the natural world. The more you explore, the more story fragments you’ll discover. Weave your own story by performing acts of kindness, feeling your impact ripple through the world.
Game Features:
– Explore & Discover: Traverse an expansive, lovingly crafted region inspired by Scandinavia, full of magical forests, tranquil lakes, and rugged mountains.
– Magical Backpack: Use your trusty backpack to interact with the world, collect resources, and solve puzzles.
– Realistic Physics: Engage with objects that behave realistically, adding a layer of immersion to your magical excursions.
– Dynamic Environments: Adapt to a world that is constantly changing, and contend with the adversity of the natural world.
– Puzzle Solving: Challenge your mind with engaging puzzles that blend seamlessly with the story, enriching your journey with rewarding challenge.
– Heal the World: Influence the world of Hela through acts of kindness, witnessing their transformative effects on characters and yourself.
– Play Together: Experience the journey solo or together with friends through local split-screen or online modes.
We’ve made it, friends. The last month of the year has arrived, and it’s bringing a handful of new PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and PC games to see us through until the new year. Most (but not all!) of the biggest games of 2025 have already arrived, but a few more are yet to come. This month we get games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Octopath Traveler 0, 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).
We have been keeping an eye on Mina the Hollower for some years now. This is the GBC-looking Zelda-like from Yacht Club Games, the studio behind Shovel Knight, that launched on Kickstarter back in 2022, and only recently missed out on its initial release date thanks to a last-minute delay. It feels like it has been a long time coming, a fact that Yacht Club is reportedly painfully aware of.
In a new report from Bloomberg (paywalled), studio founder Sean Velasco described Mina as “make-or-break” for the future of Yacht Club Games. In the time since Shovel Knight, the studio has downsized, faced a global pandemic and divided its teams into two — later reforged into one — and delays don’t come cheap, either. “If we sold 500,000 copies, then we would be golden,” Velasco told Bloomberg, “If we sold even 200,000, that would be really, really great. If we sold, like, 100,000, that’s not so good”.
