As eagle-eyed fans analyze each frame of the GTA 6 Trailer 2, one moment in particular has raised eyebrows.

In the scene where Lucia arrives home from community service to find Jason snoozing on the sofa, we see various items strewn about the lounge, including what looks like a PlayStation 5 next to the TV and, in the foreground, what looks like a DualSense controller.

While the myths of ancient Greece bubble through the substrate of many board games – take Horrified: Greek Monsters, for example – there are surprisingly few that place them front and center. Narrow the frame to the way many people think about the age, one of conquest, bloodshed and warfare, and there are even fewer. Which might partly explain the success of 2009s Cyclades, a clever marriage of myth, wargame and more subtle strategic mechanisms. Now it’s back in a spanking new edition with some fun tweaks from its original expansions.

What’s in the Box

Rules and How It Plays

The original Cyclades was an early example of a design trying to weave together the chaotic combat that characterized American gaming with the more refined sensibilities found in Germany. You start each round with that more genteel aspect, bidding in an auction for the favor of one of the available gods, which will determine your available actions for the rest of the turn. Some gods are face down, so that there are only as many available as the number of players, meaning someone has to take the weakest – and cheapest – god, Apollo. Each round one of the face-down gods and one of the face-up gods gets flipped, so all of them get cycled through.

Not all the gods are created equal. The war god, Ares, allows you to recruit or move troops, for example, while wise Athena allows you to build universities and recruit philosophers, neither of which have any immediate effect but can, in time, contribute toward victory. To up the ante, the higher bid slots begin to jump in increments of two, then five, while players will still need to consider holding resources to pay for their actions, most of which also cost money. Finally there’s Apollo who, while free, does very little, allowing you merely to up the income from two of your provinces.

All of this means competition in the bidding can be intense, depending on the board situation, with winning or losing a particular god having a huge impact on the game state. It’s a fraught, exciting auction when there’s a lot riding on a turn, with various other considerations feeding into the bids. Sometimes it’s worth trying to outbid an opponent just to keep yourself safe from a land or sea attack. Sometimes it’s worth leaving yourself short-changed in terms of paying for actions just to corner a particular deity. It’s a dynamic phase, with plenty of interaction.

Winning requires you to control three metropolis pieces. You can gain these by swapping four different basic buildings, each of which is granted by a different god, or by cashing in four of Athena’s philosophers. One of the other gods, Hera, allows you to recruit heroes, powerful on-board pieces with special powers that can also be sacrificed for a metropolis. Mighty Ajax, for instance, counts as two armies and can be exchanged for a metropolis if you control seven land spaces. Which brings us neatly onto the last way to gain one: take it off another player via military conquest.

Warfare in Cyclades is short and brutal. In a contested land or sea space you tot up the units on each side together with the value of a dice roll with the loser removing a piece. Repeat until only one side remains. While the dice only goes up to three, this can still be a surprisingly swingy affair. Resources, however, keep a cap on the violence. Each player only has eight army and navy pieces and, of course, winning the bid for Ares is the main way to gain and move troops, all of which limits how many campaigns you can conduct.

In this edition, however, there are sneaky ways round these restrictions. Hera not only allows you to gain heroes but also mercenary troops, meaning you can expand on your paltry tally of eight. And all the gods allow you to make heroic moves, which essentially means you can move and fight with any army that includes a hero. This gives the game a surprising amount of maneuverability, clashing not only over valuable buildings but spaces that provide income, and makes heroes particularly valuable pieces to risk in a fight.

It also means turns that feature Hera or Ares can feel heavily weighted in terms of tilting the game state. And if everyone wants a piece of the action, that can very much be the case. Cyclades, however, is a game about taking the rough with the smooth. You can prosper without violence by taking cheaper bids on weaker gods and building up your infrastructure. But everyone around the table has to be okay with a game where your attempt to play economically can potentially be undermined by a burst of conflict. It’s all about knowing when to change tack, balancing the time to strike out with the time to shepherd resources, but having war and peace so close to one another in the same package can sometimes feel jarring.

Either approach can really benefit from mythological creatures, which you can purchase with any god other than Apollo, but more peaceable players are more likely to be able to afford them. They’re pretty powerful and so work as an effective balance against big bids on warlike gods. Most are one-shot effects, like the Satyr who lets you steal a philosopher from another player, or the Harpy, who destroys an army. Others, however, get a piece on the board which you can keep and move from turn to turn if you’re willing to sacrifice priestesses, gained by winning the auction for Zeus. These include horrors like the kraken, who simply wipes out all fleets in whatever space it enters. Pushing these beasts around the map is enormous fun, so long as you can afford the priestesses to do so.

Where to Buy

• Get it at Amazon
• Get it at Atomic Empire
• Get it at Hachette
• Get it at Kickstarter

With the release of Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2 and a significant update to its official website, all eyes were on the launch platforms accompanying the new release date of May 26, 2026.

At the end of the trailer, we see the release date alongside the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, confirming the consoles remain part of GTA 6’s release. Indeed, Trailer 2 was captured on a PS5 (the trailer specifically mentions PS5, as opposed to PS5 Pro).

So, what does this mean for the inevitable PC launch, or perhaps even a release on the Nintendo Switch 2? Some had wondered, perhaps even hoped, that GTA 6’s push to May 2026 would cause a rethink at Rockstar and parent company Take-Two and spark a simultaneous release on PC. The lack of mention of PC here perhaps suggests otherwise.

It’s an omission in keeping with developer Rockstar’s playbook for its previous games, but in 2025 and certainly in 2026 it feels outdated. And, given the increasing importance of the PC for a multiplatform game’s success, is GTA 6’s no-show on PC a missed opportunity or even a mistake?

IGN put that question to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick in an interview in February, and in his response he teased GTA 6’s eventual release on PC.

“So with Civ 7 it’s available on console and PC and Switch right away,” Zelnick said of Firaxis’ recently launched Civilization 7. “With regard to others in our lineup, we don’t always go across all platforms simultaneously. Historically, Rockstar has started with some platforms and then historically moved to other platforms.”

Lots of Pokémon TCG sets are feeling like gold dust right now, but Amazon UK has just provided a restock of great booster bundles — like those from Temporal Forces and Shrouded Fable — with plenty of others still available as well.

While we’re still waiting to get invites to buy the Prismatic Evolutions Accessory Pouch Special Collection & 151 Blooming Waters Premium Collection at Amazon UK, these will be good enough to keep us going in the meantime.

Temporal Forces is back in two assortments over at Amazon UK: the Booster Display Box with 18 booster packs for £71.82 and the 36-pack version from £159.99. If you’ve yet to add any of the powerful ACE SPEC cards to your collection, here’s the ideal chance to try and pull one or two.

Next, there’s the Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box from the Scarlet & Violet set. For £44.99, you get nine boosters, a Pecharunt foil card, 65 card sleeves, 45 Energy cards, damage counter dice, a coin-flip die, two condition markers, a player’s guide, and a stylish collector’s box where you can keep everything tucked away.

Paradox Pokemon fans will also be pleased to know that the Paradox Fury Premium Collection is back in stock as well. Based on the Paradox versions of Johto’s Legendary Dog trio, the premium collection offers seven Paradox Fury boosters along with the foil cards Walking Wake ex, Raging Bolt ex, and Gouging Fire ex.

In addition to a magnetic three-card holder, the collection even comes with an oversized display version of the Raging Bolt card.

If you’re still after some Journey Together boosters, Amazon UK has those in stock too — selling 36-pack display boxes for £179.99, 14% down from the £209.99 price it was before. Although, the nine-booster Journey Together Elite Trainer box is also available, but for a hefty £74.99, way above RRP of £44.99

For more Paradox Pokemon cards, the retailer also has a handful of the 36-pack display boxes of Paradox Rift left as well for £153.98.

However, if you don’t need as many boosters from that set, Amazon is also selling a handy Paradox Rift Iron Valiant Elite Trainer Box & Arctibax Triple Pack bundle for £57.98.

With it, you’ll get 12 boosters in total, a foil Scream Tail or Iron Bundle promo card, 65 Iron Valiant Sleeves, Energy cards, a player’s guide, and an Arctibax foil promo card.

Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.