With Crimson Desert just a handful of weeks from release, developer Pearl Abyss has released a 15-minute video showing everything from the story to the open world, alongside fresh gameplay.
This video shows main character Kliff and the continent of Pywel, which promises to be a seamless open world. Expect “sprawling wilderness, bustling cities, ancient ruins, and diverse regions, all set against a backdrop of escalating conflict and supernatural danger,” Pearl Abyss said.
Kliff is a warrior of the Greymanes, a faction from the northern region of Pailune. The story begins in the aftermath of a peace being shattered, and Kliff must reunite the Greymanes and reclaim their homeland. You end up discovering that the entire continent is involved.
The threat comes from the Abyss, a mysterious realm that’s sending fragments crashing into Pywel. Some want to exploit these fragments. You’re trying to restore balance to the Abyss and stop those who are exploiting it.
Crimson Desert’s huge open world has been a topic of debate recently. Pywel is divided into five distinct regions: Hernand; Pailune; Demeniss; Delesyia; and the Crimson Desert itself. The main quest revolves around Kliff’s journey, but you’re free to explore the world in any order, taking faction-driven quests, large-scale battles, fortress sieges and smaller, character-focused missions.
Pearl Abyss confirmed that as the story progresses, two additional playable characters become available, each with unique combat styles, skills and weapons. Exploration is a big part of the game — you travel on horseback, climb terrain, glide across distances, and later access advanced traversal options such as a missile-firing mech and a dragon. Pearl Abyss said the world is filled with hidden treasures, ancient mechanisms, puzzles and points of interest “designed to reward curiosity and discovery.” As for combat, expect to face enemy soldiers, sorcerers, beasts and machines.
Speaking on the Gaming Interviews YouTube channel, Pearl Abyss’ Will Powers said that describing the size of Crimson Desert’s world in terms of numbers doesn’t do it justice, because doing so fails to capture the scope and scale of the game. But he did go as far as to compare it to two of the biggest open world games around.
“I don’t think numbers really do it justice because, how big is that in terms of scope and scale?” he said. “But what we can say is that the world’s at least twice as big as the open world, the playable area, of Skyrim. It’s larger than the map of Red Dead Redemption 2.”
Powers went on to insist that the size of Crimson Desert’s open world won’t determine its quality. Rather, what you actually do in it is the key factor.
“The continent of Pywel is absolutely massive, but size doesn’t really matter if there’s nothing to do,” he said. “Open-world games are about doing things, having activities, having distractions. So we wanted to create a world that’s not only massive, but is also incredibly interactive.”
Unlike Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption 2, in Crimson Desert you can fly around on a dragon, so despite the size of its world, you’ll be able to get about quickly. And don’t expect RPG elements in terms of decision-making and choice and consequence as it relates to your character, either. The sheer amount of things to do in the world will facilitate the role-playing part of Crimson Desert, which players will form through “head canon.”
“You choose the type of character you want to play as in terms of your progression within the systems in the game,” Powers explained. “And then through head canon you’re having this very different experience than other players because of the scope and scale of the game. You’ll be distracted by something, you’ll go on this quest line, you’ll have an experience that’ll be radically different than someone else, even though they’re playing the same game and the same canonical storyline that you both are going through.”
Crimson Desert has gone gold, locking in its global release date of March 19, 2026. That’s across PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Mac.
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.
Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has emerged from the giant Easter egg in which he makes games to “debunk a few myths and false assumptions” about Haunted Chocolatier, his forthcoming sticky-fingered life sim. The good news is that he’s been “very productive” lately, though he admits that he “shouldn’t have announced the game so early”, which suggests we’ve a ways to go yet before the first proper Haunted Chocolatier trailer or info blowout.
After being announced for Switch 2 way back in May 2025, SEGA has today revealed that Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage will mark the series’ long-awaited debut on a Nintendo system on 26th March.
For those who have missed the details up to this point, this Switch 2 release features full cross-play, so you can battle it out with pals on other consoles as well as rollback netcode support, balance updates, training tweaks, and new moves and combos to slip into your fighting style.
To make it to the top of Kami, the mountain at the heart of Cairn, you’ll need to develop skill and intuition for climbing and use all the tools at your disposal. There’s a lot in the game you’ll need to learn through experience, particularly as you reach the more treacherous challenges at higher altitudes. Here are a few tips that’ll help you reach greater heights and see fewer dangerous falls as you make your way to Cairn’s summit.
It’s all about planning, patience, and stamina
The climbing gym at the start of Cairn is a great way to get some training that will save you on Kami, and it’s worth trying all of its available walls to see what you’ll face ahead. The gym will teach you three things: to plan your route, climb slowly, and conserve your stamina.
You can check the wall ahead of you by angling the camera so that your protagonist, Aava, looks straight up, or by pressing L1 to get a zoomed-out view of the whole area. It’s always worth it to check your path so you don’t hit a point where you’re trapped or snagged and forced to climb back down, wasting energy and items.
Patience is a virtue in Cairn; you almost always want to climb slowly and carefully, even if you’re on what appears to be an easy stretch of wall. The trick to climbing successfully is picking good handholds and footholds. Aava’s limbs start to shake when one is getting tired, indicating that it’s in a bad position or her weight is distributed poorly. Stay in a position like that too long, and she’ll slip and fall. If you move too fast up the wall, you’re more likely to commit to bad holds without realizing it, only to find that Aava is tiring out and unable to move to a more solid position before falling. Going slow lets you be sure the holds you’re using are safe before moving on.
As you go up a wall, you also need to manage Aava’s stamina. When you’re in a solid position, you can hit Triangle to have Aava shake out a tired limb, regaining stamina for the next push. You can tell how much stamina Aava has by the color that flashes when you press Triangle. Green means you’ve recovered well, while yellow indicates caution, showing you that you need a better rest position soon or you’re going to be in trouble. Stamina recovery is essential to avoid falling, so stop frequently for a quick rest.
Through it all, pay close attention to Aava’s reactions and what she says. Slowly, regular breathing means she’s doing well through the climb, but when her breathing starts to quicken, it means she’s tiring out and getting worried. You’ll need to find a more natural, comfortable position so she can rest and recover stamina.
Drop pitons frequently
Pitons are essential, and you’ll want to get into the habit of putting them down at regular intervals on every wall. Clipping into a piton stops you from falling off the mountain, while also acting as a checkpoint so you can quickly return if you should slip. You can also use pitons to rest by hitting X to “off belay,” which fully restores Aava’s stamina. And when you off belay at a piton, you can access items in your backpack, giving you a chance to eat food or refill chalk.
You can place a piton by holding Up on the directional pad, but you’ll then have to hit X at the right moment as a slider moves across a bar to complete the placement. It’s essential to practice your piton timing — getting the right timing doesn’t just save you from breaking pitons, it can allow you to place one fast in an emergency when Aava’s about to fall. But don’t wait to hear Aava panicking before you set a piton. Train yourself to place them regularly when things are going well, so you’re not trying to place one in a panic to avoid a fall.
You’ll find lots of pitons on Kami, and Climbot can make one piton from two sets of piton scraps, so don’t worry too much about running out or wasting them. They’re essential to a successful climb.
All holds aren’t equal
Especially when you’re first starting out, you might wonder why Aava keeps getting tired or falling when you’re climbing a wall that seems like it’s full of holds. The answer is that some holds are smaller and tougher to use than others, and it’s not always immediately obvious looking at them that a grip isn’t great. Vertical cracks, for instance, seem like they should be useful for climbs, but they can tire you out quickly. Look for big ledges to stand on and hold with your hands to provide Aava with more comfortable positions where she can rest, and try not to use smaller holds for very long. Listen for Aava to remark about whether you’ve picked a good position to know that she’s comfortable — and restore stamina often.
When you climb slowly, you can test each hold before moving to the next to see how Aava handles it, and you’ll be able to tell if you should move Aava back down to a more stable position. You always want to watch for how Aava places her hand or foot, also; you’ll sometimes place a hand or foot on what you think is a grip, only for Aava to flatten that hand or foot against the rock, which means she’s braced but not holding anything. It’s usually a good idea to stop and reset that limb before moving on, because she’ll tire out quickly without a solid grip.
Don’t forget chalk
Chalk greatly improves your grip and can be essential to get over tough walls. You’ll almost always have chalk available, and it’s almost always a good idea to use it. You can quickly add chalk to your hands by holding Right on the directional pad, making your next 12 handholds extra grippy. Chalk is great for making bad holds a little easier to grip, and even makes it possible to move over rock that doesn’t have good holds so you can reach a better spot, as long as you’re quick about it. You should use chalk often, especially when holds are small or spread out — Climbot creates more whenever you compost trash, so you’ll always have a healthy supply.
Manually choose Aava’s limbs for extra control
Cairn’s developers suggest you use its automatic system for choosing which limb Aava moves every time you take a new foot- or handhold, but there will be lots of moments when you’ll want to move a foot and the game will suggest you move a hand or vice versa, and moving the wrong limb can sometimes be disastrous. You can choose which limb to move yourself by holding R1 and highlighting it using the right analog stick. Choosing limbs manually is essential when you’re trying to quickly leave a dangerous position to get to a safer one, but it’s also just good practice to make sure you have complete control of Aava and are making exactly the moves you want to.
Change your approach depending on the kind of rock you’re climbing
Most rock walls are gray and craggy, but you’ll sometimes see smooth, glossy brown rock mixed in across a wall. This rock is more slippery, with holds that are often smaller, and it’s too dense for you to place pitons into it, making it potentially dangerous. Check your route and watch for patches of brown rock so you can either climb around them or plan a smart route over them. Chalk and food boosts are great for dealing with these climbs as well.
Be sure to explore
Kami was once home to a people called the troglodytes, and while you’ll find very few of them left during your climb, you can still visit their homes, temples, and villages. Making your way into different caves and structures can help you find save points, vital supplies, and special items to make your climb easier. Troglodyte pitons are the greatest prize — they’re indestructible and can burrow into any kind of rock — but you might also find things like upgrades for your chalk bag, recipes for different kinds of food, and lots more. Exploring caves and troglodyte structures can also help you find alternative, often easier or safer routes up the mountain.
Ice can be easier to climb, but slower
Late in your ascent up Kami, you’ll start to come across ice walls. Aava is ready with ice axes and spikes for her feet, and these are automatically equipped whenever you aim a limb at ice. These walls can be easier to deal with than rock because you can make a handhold or foothold anywhere, but you’ll need to go more slowly and recover stamina more often as you climb, because overall, climbing ice takes more effort. Try to pick cracks in the ice to place your ice axes and shoes. If an axe or shoe bounces off the ice before settling, that’s a bad hold, and you should move it to a better one, because Aava will soon slip. If you’ve got no crack to dig into, you can create one by holding down Square and then releasing it, kicking your foot or slamming your axe into the ice. The effort drains your stamina faster, though, so be sure to take frequent breaks.Making your way to the top of Kami is a tough journey, but it’s also a rewarding one. Take your time and be careful and you’ll keep the climb from going from challenging to frustrating. You can start your ascent today — grab Cairn today at the PlayStation Store.
Magic: The Gathering has a busy 2026 planned, but the last set to be revealed was a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yes, it marks our second trip to New York in less than a year, thanks to last year’s Spider-Man set (seriously, there are infinite dimensions we could travel to!), but the Heroes in a Half Shell are doing things a little differently.
Not only does it offer our first Universes Beyond Commander Deck since Final Fantasy, but there are some new product types, too. Here’s everything you can preorder, including more than a few sealed products that already have some tidy discounts.
MTG x TMNT Preorders in a Half Shell
As you can probably imagine, there are more products coming than you can shake a Bo Staff at launching on March 6, with pre-release a week prior from February 27 to March 5.
You can also grab the now-customary booster bundle, which includes a promo card, a series of nine Play Boosters, a storage box and a spindown life counter.
That’s dropped to $61.01 right now, making it an even more appealing gift option for a Turtle-loving Magic player in your life (there are dozens of us!).
We promised something new, and here it is: The Turtle Team-Up box, which offers co-op gameplay where “2-4 players battle for survival against an onslaught of villainous adversaries”.
It’s still $49.99 at Amazon, and includes four pre-built 60-card hero decks, one Enemy deck with 11 bosses, seventeen Event Cards, and four 14-card boosters.
Also new this time is a Pizza Bundle, which includes 9 Play Boosters, 1 Collector Booster, 25 non-foil Pizza lands (yes, really), five foil Pizza lands, 2 foil promo cards, and a spindown life counter. Amazon had this for $99.99, but they’re all gone – almost certainly because there’s a single Collector Booster inside.
Also out of stock is the Collector Boosters. As with any set, these are where you’ll find the high-value cards, and Amazon sold out fairly quick for both boosters and a box of them. Expect them to be expensive, though, with an MSRP of $37.99 each, or around $479.99 for the box.
As a reminder, Collector Boosters include alternate art treatments and foils, but they’re functionally the same cards. Buy them, or don’t, but don’t feel like you have to spend almost $500 for a box just to play this great card game.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is Getting a Commander Deck
Finally, Commander players can expect a return to precon decks… but just one. After being absent since Edge of Eternities, there’s a new precon coming, which is a five-color deck called Turtle Power!
It’s also interesting that after very few five-color decks in recent years, we’re now getting two in consecutive sets after Dance of the Elements from Lorwyn: Eclipsed.
UK Preorders
I can’t remember the last time a set came with a single Commander precon. In 2025 alone we’ve had sets with no precons (Spider-Man, Avatar), sets with two (Aetherdrift, Edge of Eternities), a set with four (Final Fantasy) and a set with five (Tarkir Dragonstorm).
Why just the one? I honestly can’t complain. Even at my age, picking my favorite turtle is serious business, so having the whole gang in one, 100-card boxed product means I don’t have to make any tough choices.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has assured fans that he is “not going to abandon Haunted Chocolatier,” saying: “it’s taking a while to finish the game,” and “that’s okay.”
In a new blog posted to the official Haunted Chocolatier website, Barone dispelled a number of myths and rumors that have popped up about him and his work on the upcoming game, admitting: “I know, I know, I shouldn’t have announced the game so early. But I had my reasons.” He added that Haunted Chocolatier will release “when it’s done.”
Responding to reports that the game will be abandoned entirely and possibly folded into Stardew Valley, Barone shut that down completely, writing: “No. First, I am not going to abandon Haunted Chocolatier. But even if I did, I am not going to add it to Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley and Haunted Chocolatier are separate games. It doesn’t even make sense from a technical perspective, as Haunted Chocolatier is written from scratch, it’s not the same ‘engine’ as Stardew Valley. You can’t just copy and paste Haunted Chocolatier into Stardew Valley.”
Last summer, Barone admitted that he “didn’t want to just be the Stardew Valley guy,” explaining that was why he’s currently working on Haunted Chocolatier. He’s been clear that we shouldn’t expect a release date anytime soon, though — there’s “still a lot to be done,” particularly as he feels it’s “got to be better” than Stardew Valley. But that doesn’t mean he’s using Stardew to test ideas for Haunted Chocolatier, or vice-versa.
“When working on Stardew Valley, I’m not thinking about Haunted Chocolatier, and vice versa. I wouldn’t ‘test something out’ in Stardew Valley because that would be unfair to Stardew Valley, and also I don’t want to spoil ideas for Haunted Chocolatier by adding them first to Stardew Valley. Also, Stardew Valley is a different game, so you can’t really ‘test something’ for Haunted Chocolatier in it in an accurate way.”
Barone also insisted that at no point did he intimate that the new game wouldn’t be out until 2030, writing: “I was asked in 2025 if it would come out within the next five years, and I said ‘I hope so.’ This is very different than saying ‘it’s coming out in 2030.’ The bottom line is, I don’t want to give a release date. The game will come out when it’s done. Anyway, the only thing that really matters is that I keep making progress on the game and release it. So I’m gonna get back to doing that now.
“TLDR: I’m alive, the game is still in development, and it will come out when it’s ready. Thank you for your patience.”
As for why Barone’s working on a Stardew Valley update at the same time as Haunted Chocolatier? “I’m working on a new Stardew update because it’s a very popular game with a large, ever-growing playerbase, and I still have additional ideas for how to improve it.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Sellers of revamped retro PC games and also newer PC games GOG have been accused of using AI-generated artwork to promote their store’s new year sale. Meanwhile, a job listing the Polish company have recently posted for a senior software engineer to work on their desktop app GOG Galaxy lists among the role’s responsibilities that they must “actively use and promote AI-assisted development tools”.
It’s been a cracking start to the year for Nintendo-themed LEGO sets, and one of the builds we’re the most excited about is the upcoming ‘Final Battle’ diorama, inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time‘s grand finale.
The set itself launches on 1st March 2026 for £99.99 / $129.99, packing in three Minifigures for Link, Zelda and Ganondorf, plus a big ‘mech’ build for ol’ boar-form Ganon. Naturally, there are a handful of little easter eggs sprinkled in for fans as well, like a tiny Navi that accompanies Link in his airborne pose, and a hidden Megaton Hammer in the ruins of Ganondorf’s Castle.
Magic: The Gathering had some great sets in 2025 (we see you, Edge of Eternities), but it also became clear some of the fanbase is suffering from, uh, ‘non-franchise fatigue’. As crossovers became more prevalent, many felt it just wasn’t the same game anymore.
That’s not to say Universes Beyond was a total bust. Final Fantasy brought in record-breaking numbers of players, and Avatar: The Last Airbender was a return to some semblance of form after the disappointment of Spider-Man.
Still, cardboard waits for no Planeswalker, and there are more sets in 2026 – seven, in total. That’s before we even get into the myriad of Secret Lair drops, and perhaps most worryingly, four of those sets are Universes Beyond.
Will they end up being closer to Final Fantasy or Spider-Man? And will the in-universe sets live up to the high bar set by Tarkir: Dragonstorm or Edge of Eternities? Here’s everything coming to Magic: The Gathering in 2026.
Lorwyn Eclipsed – Released January 23, 2026
If you’ve been yearning for a return to Lorwyn, the first set of 2026 is here to get things started. The set is a Universes Within to kick off the year, and marks the debut of the Draft Night Box.
You can order it now, and it marks the return of Commander Decks for the first time since 2025’s Edge of Eternities with two options: Dance of the Elements or Blight Curse.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – March 6, 2026
Wizards of the Coast revealed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Comic-Con New York, with Universes Beyond going back to The Big Apple for the second time in a few months.
Still, expect colorful new art of the Heroes in a Half Shell, their assorted rogues gallery, and the debut of a Turtle Team Up co-op game mode.
We’ve got a full rundown of the product lineup, so be sure to check out the preorder guide, including a five-color Commander deck that stars all four Turtles.
Secrets of Strixhaven – April 24, 2026
We still don’t know a great deal about our return to Strixhaven, but it is getting its own tie-in novel.
This Plane has been fertile ground for fun card designs and characters in the past, so here’s hoping for something good when it arrives in April. You can already preorder the full Secrets of Strixhaven set ahead of its release date.
That includes five Commander decks, a la Tarkir Dragonstorm.
We’ve already seen cards for Iron Man, Black Panther, Fantastic Four, and more, and the set will lean on comic book versions of the Marvel universe’s characters. Will it be better than the underwhelming Spider-Man set, though? We’re at least hoping the increased roster of heroes and (hopefully) villains will make this more exciting. You can now preorder all of the Marvel Super Heroes boosters and bundles ahead of their June 26 release date, with four Commander Precons and a new Beginner Box in the lineup.
The Hobbit – August 2026
We’re going back to Middle-earth! Universes Beyond: Lord of the Rings was a colossal win for Magic: The Gathering, and the fact its fantasy theming fit so well with the card game means it feels a lot less jarring than other crossovers.
“Join Bilbo’s adventure of a lifetime with Dwarves to befriend, Trolls to trick, Elves to outwit, and songs to sing. There’s gold or dragon’s fire at the end, so enjoy the journey!”
Give us some Five Armies Commander Decks, please, or at least a Smaug card that isn’t just a Token creature.
Reality Fracture – October 2026
The last in-universe set of 2026 is Reality Fracture, and it’ll feature callbacks to Tarkir: Dragonstorm and Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
The team has suggested it has a theme players have wanted for a long time, but that’s all we know so far.
Star Trek – November 2026
If you felt Wizards had got the sci-fi out of their system with the (excellent) Edge of Eternities, think again.
November 2026 will see the arrival of a Star Trek set to celebrate that franchise’s 60th Anniversary, and it’ll incorporate everything from the original series to Strange New Worlds. It even got a trailer.
Magic’s 2025 Sets – At a Glance
It’s also good idea to take stock of 2025’s sets, because it was definitely a year that divided opinion.
Innistrad: Remastered – January 24
Aetherdrift – February 14
Tarkir: Dragonstorm – April 11
Final Fantasy – June 13
Edge of Eternities – August 1
Marvel’s Spider-Man – September 16
Avatar: The Last Airbender – November 21
That’s seven sets in total, with three of those being Universes Beyond collaborations with the likes of Square Enix, Marvel, and Nickelodeon. And, from looking at the 2026 schedule, it looks as though Wizards is looking to stick to that ratio.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
