I think it’s fair to say we got a bit of an unexpected gift when Square Enix re-released Romancing SaGa 3 for Switch back in November of 2019.
While it may not generate quite the same level of excitement as your Final Fantasies (and that’s understandable), Romancing SaGa 3 deserves any plaudits it gets for bringing a level of freedom and randomness to the RPG genre that was quite unique back in 1995. In fact, the whole series does.
As a lover of puzzle games, what can elevate my puzzle-solving experience more than having horrifying monsters breathing down my neck and ready to snap said neck if I fail to solve their puzzle in time? I love these types of games that keep me on edge for hours on end, so Routine is exactly the type of aesthetically pleasing and brutally tense kinds of horror experience I’m always on the lookout for. And with a deeply cool 80’s-tech lunar setting and the beginnings of a story that has me interested in seeing more, I’m willing to overlook some of the things I was less impressed by during the roughly 90-minute demo, like the fact that the monsters searching for me were about as bright as the desks I hid behind and underneath. It remains to be seen if the story will pay off as much as its promising setting and compelling vibe might imply, but I’ll definitely be diving deeper in the future to see how it shakes out.
Routine is one of those horror games where you’re forced to run around solving little puzzles while absolutely horrifying monsters stalk the halls, ready to kill you on sight if you fail to avoid their notice – you know, in the same vein as something like Alien: Isolation or My Friendly Neighborhood. That comes with all the same pros and cons as its genre peers, where you have these really tense moments as you manage to solve a puzzle and rush through a door just before the bad guy you can’t possibly hope to kill catches up with you. But you then also have plenty of instances where you’re stuck in a room waiting for the dumb bad guy to turn around and walk away, leading to lots of moments where the tension sours into a monotonous waiting game. I tend to really enjoy these kinds of protracted hide and seek sequences, even if they do occasionally involve a bit of waiting, so this was right up my alley.
In this particular case, I found myself on a moon base that had been taken over by killer humanoid robots, whose lidless, unblinking eyes searched for me as I repaired various broken electrical systems and tried to get through each area unnoticed. The ambience of this dilapidated lunar base with an ‘80’s tech aesthetic really worked for me, clearly drawing inspiration from fellow retro-tech science fiction worlds like Alien. But Routine also brings with it a unique sense of humor, with silly arcade games to play in between sweat-inducing horror sequences and cheeky, non-murderous robot helpers to find along the way.
Routine’s immaculately creepy vibes, unique retro aesthetic, and tongue-in-cheek jokes in between bouts of utter terror, all coalesce in a way I haven’t seen before.
This is one of the biggest ways in which Routine sets itself apart, as its immaculately creepy vibes, unique retro aesthetic, and tongue-in-cheek jokes in between bouts of utter terror, all coalesce in a way I haven’t seen before. I didn’t get a very strong sense of whether or not the story will deliver something worth all the stress and jump scares along the way, but hopefully all this neat worldbuilding will translate into something as awesome as the setting. With some solid environmental storytelling and hints at some kind of mysterious viral disease at work, it has certainly piqued my curiosity.
The areas I explored ranged from= fairly unremarkable metallic hallways filled with busted droids and signs of something catastrophic having happened recently to really neat areas like an abandoned arcade with janky retro games to play and a shopping mall littered with debris. And, of course, since the whole thing takes place on a base on the moon, they take every opportunity to give you a nice view of the beautiful majesty of good ol’ Selene. Gotta love that. I’m a tad skeptical that they can manage to keep things interesting when you’re stranded on a fairly generic space station on a barren rock in outer space, but hey, so far so good.
Although much of the demo I played featured some fairly by-the-numbers puzzles, like finding codes around the world to enter into a keypad to unlock a door, it also had some neat mechanics built around the C.A.T device you’re given early in the story. This tool is basically just a handheld camcorder that can also do things like fire an electrical bolt at targets in your path. What’s cool, though, is that it evolved as I progressed, like when I unlocked an ultraviolet mode called the Ultraview Module that allowed me to see trace substances like bloodstains that helped me solve some of the space station’s more unintuitive riddles. I only unlocked two modes in my time with it, but it’s clear that upgrading this bad boy is going to be the primary way in which you power up, and so far I like that idea quite a bit. It’ll be interesting to see what clever new uses they find for it.
While you upgrade your C.A.T., read snippets of lore around the space station, and solve puzzles, you’ll find yourself almost constantly hunted by extremely violent robots that chase after you on sight with intent to kill. Naturally, that makes even the most simple brain teasers that much more stressful, as you spend every other second double-checking over your shoulder, or wincing when you hear a robotic sound come from somewhere nearby. It’s not exactly an original premise, but it’s certainly the classic type of horror gameplay I’ve come to know and love over the years – and something we could definitely use more of.
One thing that was a bit disappointing, at least during my extremely early time with the story, is just how easy it was to outsmart the fairly dim robots hunting for me, to the point where I never actually was killed during my time playing. They make a ton of noise as they march around electronically, give up the chase as soon as you start running away since they can’t hope to compete with your speed, and don’t do a very thorough job searching for you if you’re hidden in an obvious corner they haven’t bothered exploring yet. What’s more, one of the abilities you unlock for your C.A.T. early on, is a mode where you can tase the robots chasing you, shorting them out for a second or two to buy valuable time you need to get away, as if it weren’t already easy enough as-is. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t still as intimidating as hell – the robotic shrieks they make every once in a while made my skin crawl, and the few times where they were able to get close without me noticing sent me screaming in the opposite direction. They may not actually be very deadly killers (at least early on), but they’re still pretty damn stressful to be around nonetheless.
Last week, Game Developer reported that the organisers of Geoff Keighley-fronted industry awards show/advertising extravaganza The Game Awards had revealed that they’ve got no plans to do anything with their Future Class initiative this year. That’s left the programme, founded in 2020 with the goal of highlighting up and coming talents in and around game development, facing a black hole of a future. Even worse, those featured by the initiative during the years it did run have been left feeling frustrated and unable to access the webpage which confirms they were ever part of the programme.
Fortnite developer Epic Games has detailed how it will soon allow third-party sellers to offer “paid random items” within the game’s creator-made modes — something that opens the door to loot boxes, fans have said.
Back in September, Epic Games announced it would begin allowing third-party creators to sell in-game items in the near future. As of today, creators now have access to the tools necessary to do so, though the feature is not yet live in the game. (To be clear, there’s no suggestion that Epic Games will begin offering randomized items for use within the game’s main modes, such as Battle Royale, which it develops itself.)
An array of blog posts are now available detailing the rules that Fortnite creators must follow when selling items within their own modes — including a series of legal restrictions that blocks randomized items in certain countries and for some users under the age of 18.
“In addition to your responsibility to comply with laws, you must comply with certain restrictions that apply when offering Paid Random Items,” Epic Games wrote in a blog post titled ‘In-Island Transactions Restrictions.’ “Failure to utilize the functions described below will constitute a violation of Epic policies.”
The sale of randomized items is fully blocked in Singapore, Qatar, Australia, the Netherlands, and Belgium — a list that includes several countries which have fought back against video game loot boxes in the past. In the United Kingdom (and Brazil, as of March 2026) paid randomized items are blocked to players under the age of 18.
Epic Games has also stipulated that any transaction involving a random item must disclose the odds of whatever is included within it.
“For example,” Epic Games wrote, “if you offer a health potion pack that has a random chance of granting either 5, 10 or 50 potions, you must disclose the odds of their potential award before purchase (e.g., 60% chance of granting 5 potions, 30% chance of granting 10 potions, and 10% chance of granting 50 potions).”
A wider pool of countries are restricted from seeing direct prompts to purchase (such as “buy now!). This list includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada (under 13), Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France (under 17), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (under 16).
General restrictions on the sale of in-game items also exist, and are fairly straightforward — there’s a whole list of rules around not copying or providing confusingly-similar items to those Fortnite does already. Clearly, Epic Games has already pre-emptively assumed some creators will do this to encourage or hoodwink players into spending money.
Back in September, Epic Games singled out Fortnite’s big rival Roblox by name when explaining how creators will get a better cut of in-game revenue on its own platform. Fortnite creators will earn 37% of in-game sales, temporarily doubled to 74% for 12 months, until December 31, 2026. By comparison, Roblox offers 25% of in-game revenue to creators. But it remains to be seen how many Roblox developers can be tempted away to Fortnite, and also exactly how creators will begin selling in-game items — even within Epic’s rules.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Modders are hard at work developing an ambitious expansion that will bring Mexico to Red Dead Redemption 2.
Nuevo Paraíso — The Forgotten Frontier is a huge expansion for Red Dead Redemption 2, self-described as a “recreation of the Mexican territory from Red Dead Redemption, completely expanded and enhanced.” An official trailer giving us a glimpse of the work in progress, posted to X / Twitter by @videotechuk_, has already garnered over 50,000 views on YouTube.
A group of modders are bringing a fan made expansion DLC to Red Dead Redemption 2 to bring Nuevo Paraiso (aka Mexico) fully enhanced with army patrols, new missions, animals and remastered areas.
“Redesigned from the ground up with incredible detail while preserving the aesthetic of both games,” the modders said, Nuevo Paraíso “meticulously” recreates every town, settlement, and camp to “capture the essence of Mexico, with new vegetation for each region, clean roads and trails, new locations, and immersive landscapes brought to life by the natural movements of its inhabitants as they go about their daily lives.”
“The army patrols the borders, and in some places, secrets and remnants of the past remain,” the description teases. “Discover new secrets, new small secondary missions, and unique locations that expand the game world without losing its core identity. Every detail has been carefully considered to perfectly match the atmosphere, lighting, and tone of Red Dead Redemption 2, offering a seamless and coherent experience that stays true to the canon.”
Nuevo Paraíso — The Forgotten Frontier is currently available in early access form to download from Nexus Mods. It’s currently in an unfinished state, but the creators said players can expect “new areas to explore, adapted mechanics, and a completely recreated world” that lets them “return to Mexico and rediscover how [sic] the state was like in the year 1907.”
As yet, there’s no firm release date, but the team invited interested players to “stay tuned for more details as you prepare for this big expansion, considered a full-fledged DLC for Red Dead Redemption 2.”
Amid the bombsell news that GTA 6 really has been delayed again, Rockstar revealed that Red Dead Redemption 2 has become the fourth best-selling game of all time. As detailed in publisher Take-Two’s investor call last week (November 6), the sequel has sold over 79 million copies — making it the “best-selling title of the last seven years in the U.S. based on dollar sales” — and taking sales of the entire series to 106 million. And yet there’s no word on a next-gen update.
Today, Red Dead Redemption 2 is widely regarded as one of the best video games of all time. We thought it was a masterpiece, too, with IGN’s review returning a 10/10. “Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game of rare quality; a meticulously polished open-world ode to the outlaw era,” we wrote at the time.
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.
Stray Children begins with your inexplicably dog-faced orphan being invited out at night by a peculiar, grinning man. You follow him through empty streets to a secret room in an underground train station, packed with elderly computing equipment. The man tells you that this used to be your father’s workplace. He warns you not to touch one of the computers, then shambles off theatrically for an indefinite toilet break. With no other option save heading home alone, you poke the forbidden console and are promptly sucked inside it.
Nintendo has released a new trailer to provide an overview on how Switch 2 cartridges and Game-Key Cards work (just in case the last six or seven months’ worth of discourse hasn’t already clued you in).
In it, one of the examples showcased to demonstrate the Game-Key Card is none other than Pokémon Pokopia, which has just been confirmed to launch on 5th March, 2026. The title is being published by The Pokémon Company in Japan and Nintendo in the West, which makes this the company’s first Game-Key Card release.
Following a plagiarism scandal and an indefinite delay earlier this year, Bungie’s corporate overlords Sony have reiterated again that extraction shooter Marathon is still aiming to release by March next year. Meanwhile, Destiny 2‘s struggles have seen the parent corp flatly admit that game’s not doing as well as Sony imagined when they bought Bungie.
There are all sorts of rumors floating around about potential Fallout remakes, and certainly a growing expectation among fans that Bethesda will turn to its older Fallout video games to keep fans on-side while they wait for The Elder Scrolls 6.
At the end of the Fallout Day broadcast, Howard acknowledged that Fallout fans were probably left a little disappointed by this, and promised that Bethesda was working on “even more” Fallout. Fallout 3: Remastered now seems likely a part of this, assuming it follows the naming convention set by The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
But what about a remaster of the beloved Fallout: New Vegas? Ahead of Fallout Day, Hollywood star Danny Trejo, who played Ghoul companion Raul Alfonso Tejada in New Vegas, called on Bethesda to remaster the game. It’s a sentiment shared by many Fallout fans, especially given the surge in interest following the breakout Fallout TV show, which heads to New Vegas for Season 2 in December.
“For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76… we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that,” he said. “The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling.”
The last mainline Fallout game was Fallout 4, which came out in 2015 and this week saw the release of its Anniversary Edition. The multiplayer focused Fallout 76 followed in 2018, and while fans slowly flocked to the West Virginia-set open-world RPG, it wasn’t until the premiere of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show that the Bethesda series leveled up in terms of attention.
Still, Howard wouldn’t budge when it came to fan calls for a substantial video game release. For him, it comes down to wanting to treat Bethesda’s franchises with care.
“Totally get the desire for a new kind of mainline single-player game,” he said. “And look, those things take time. I don’t think it’s bad for people to miss things. We just want to get it right and make sure that everything we’re doing in a franchise, whether it’s Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or now Starfield, that those become meaningful moments for everybody who loved these franchises as much as we do.”
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.
