Eurogamer

With season 3 of Netflix's The Witcher adaptation now officially in production, the streaming service is beginning to loosen its lips about what's in store, and that includes casting news for four characters being introduced as part of the series' third outing.

Netflix confirmed filming on season 3 was officially underway earlier this month, sharing a behind-the-scenes shot of the show's Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri (that is, Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allan) on-set and in the snow. It also offered a brief summary of where things will be heading following the conclusion of last season, revealing that it'll see Geralt taking Ciri of Cintra into hiding.

"Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training," the streaming service explained, "Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where she hopes to discover more about the girl’s untapped powers; instead, they discover they’ve landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery."

Read more

Following recent claims developer Criterion's new Need for Speed game could be launching as soon as November, it's now been reported the racer will be set in a fictional version of Chicago and will combine a "photo-realistic" art style with "anime elements".

That's according to VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb (as spotted by VGC), who discussed the long-awaited project in the latest episode of his Grubbsnax show. Elaborating on his claims the new Need for Speed would "be photo-realistic, but it’s going to have on top of that, anime elements", Grubb explained, "You know when you see a car commercial or something like that and the car’s driving around, but then cartoons flames and stuff are flying off it? That’s the kind of the aesthetic that they seem to be going for."

Away fron Need for Speed's new visual style, Grubb also claimed the racer will take place in a fictionalised version of Chicago, known as Lake Shore City, and that various familiar features would be returning for this latest Need for Speed instalment. These are said to include Autolog and its multiplayer focused social tools, plus the ability to "customise all the pieces of your car".

Read more

As part of its latest earnings report, CD Projekt has confirmed Cyberpunk 2077's previously announced paid expansion - which the developer says will deliver a "new storyline" - is now expected to arrive next year, and that additional DLC is in the works.

Details on Cyberpunk 2077's paid story expansion have remained limited following CD Projekt's decision to switch its development focus to fixing the base game in response to its disastrous launch at the tail-end of 2020. The developer had originally intended to discuss its expansion plans prior to the game's release, meaning additional information is long overdue.

Mentions of Cyberpunk 2077's expansion have been sporadic at best since launch, but it seems CD Projekt is now ready to discuss it in slightly more definite terms, with the developer confirming, unsurprisingly, that it'll feature a "new storyline", and that it'll be launching in 2023. That's all it's saying for now, however, with more information due to be shared "later this year".

Read more

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're taking stock of some of the games we've played this year so far.

Inspired by Eurogamer's best games of 2022 so far list, and ahead of a long weekend of gaming here in the UK, now's a good time to chat about what has kept us interested this spring.

Horizon: Forbidden West arrived with huge fanfare, and seems like it did a good job of providing more of the original's sense of adventure - but did it fall a little flat in the face of Elden Ring? January saw the launch of the new PS5 version of Uncharted: Lost Legacy - but what's next for the biggest of Sony's blockbuster franchises?

Read more

Haligtree Secret Medallion halves help you access an optional, but important, end-game area in Elden Ring.

Finding these will help you access Consecrated Snowfield and Miquella’s Haligtree, home to the game’s toughest challenge, Malenia, Blade of Miquella.

If you journey all the way to the Mountaintops of the Giants and collect the map fragments for the region, you’ll discover an area to the west is still shrouded in mystery - and this is where we want to access. It's also required for those looking to complete Millicent’s quest.

Read more

Commander Niall is an optional boss in Elden Ring who can be found in Castle Sol at Mountaintops of the Giants.

You must defeat him if you’re looking to get one half of the Haligtree Secret Medallion in order to access a secret late-game area, which is essential to completing both Latenna and Millicent’s questlines.

On this page:

Read more

Millicent quest is one of the longest you’ll find in Elden Ring, which will cover pretty much the entire critical path to see through.

It also involves exploring a secret optional area that will involve the most challenging boss in the entire game, Malenia.

Not only has this redheaded woman got a fascinating and tragic arc, but seeing her quest through to the end will also give you Miquella’s Needle, a key item that can reverse the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending if you had met the Three Fingers.

Read more

Amnesia: Rebirth, the third outing in developer Frictional Games' historical horror series, will be next week's free Epic Store game, alongside couch-based co-op dungeon-crawler Riverbond.

Rebirth - which follows on from Frictional's 2010 original and its Chinese-Room-developed successor A Machine for Pigs - whisks players back to the 1930s for an unsettling adventure across the Algerian desert. This time around, the focus is on protagonist Tasi Trianon as she attempts to navigate the sandy, hostile expanse, piecing together fragments of her past (and occasionally dealing with unspeakable horrors) along the way.

Eurogamer contributor Vikki Blake called Rebirth an "impressive horror subversion" and a story that "gripped me right up until the credits rolled" when she reviewed it back in 2020, so it's an outing that's well worth your time - and there's even an Adventure Mode that cuts back on the suffocating darkness, jump scares, and deadly monsters for faint-hearted players that just want to dabble in its puzzling and engaging story.

Read more

Amazon Prime Day 2022 is on its way and as always, it’s expected to be bigger and better than before! The two-day celebration of Amazon’s Prime service offers discounts on thousands of products across a range of categories, ensuring you get the most out of your Prime subscription.

On this page you'll find everything you need to know about Amazon Prime Day, such as Prime Day dates, how to spot the best discounts and how to be prepared for this mini-holiday of e-commerce.

Amazon has historically held their Prime Day event in mid-July. With the pandemic kicking off in 2020, that year's event was in October, and Amazon changed it up with a June event in 2021.There's rumours indicating Prime Day will return to mid-July, either kickstarting 11th or 18th July 2022 but we'll know for sure as the date gets closer and update this page accordingly.

Read more

Catch or collect a Thermal Fish is one of the Seasonal Challenges in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2.

To complete the quest, you must either use a fishing rod to catch a Thermal Fish, or find one amongst loot.

Completing this challenge will reward you with 20K XP, which will help you unlock skins from the new Battle Pass.

Read more

The release date of Call of Duty Warzone and Vanguard's new season has been announced with a new cinematic trailer that appears to hint the arrival of something more sinister.

Season three, Classified Arms, is set to release on the 27th April with the franchise's connected universe storyline progressing with the release of "Nebula bombs" by the Nazis.

But the cinematic trailer also teases something bigger: "With Nebula, the Nazis had unwittingly shaken something awake, something far more powerful and fearsome than anything we could ever hope to comprehend."

Read more

Scarlet Nexus has seen its player base boosted by a million players from Xbox Game Pass, publisher Bandai Namco said today.

The announcement came as the game passed the two million player figure overall - with the other million coming from 1m copies shipped to retailers and sold digitally (thanks, RPGSite).

It's intriguing to see the RPG gain such a large reach through Microsoft's subscription service - at a time when the power of being included in these has been under the spotlight. The action RPG was added to Game Pass back in September last year.

Read more

UPDATE 19/4/22: Ubisoft has now confirmed today's big Assassin's Creed Valhalla update, which includes the previously-leaked second slice of Mastery Challenge activities.

Today's patch 1.5.1 also sets the stage for the return of the Ostara Festival, which offers fresh gear to acquire as well as the spring-flavoured cosmetics originally available when the event first ran back in 2021.

Dozens and dozens of bugfixes have also been included - the full patch notes lie below.

Read more

A new showcase for the upcoming Saints Row reboot has been announced, and it's coming as soon as next week. Or, more precisely, it is coming on 20th April at 8pm UK time and will be streamed across Twitch and YouTube.

This showcase will be hosted by actress Mica Burton, with publisher Deep Silver and developer Volitio promising a stream full of interviews and inside info.

In addition to this, fans will also get a first look at a new trailer, which will focus on the reboot's customisation options - something the Saints Row team has said will cover "all aspects of player choice in the game".

Read more

One of the great delights of being a purely surface-level Warhammer 40K enjoyer is that around every corner there's always some new, human-made horror to discover. The other day, for instance, I learned about the Exterminatus, a giant, Galactic Empire-inspired space gun that blows up planets when all other options - Space Marines, Grey Knights, Titans, Orbital Bombardments, et cetera - have been exhausted.

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters, a new turn-based tactics game in the vein of XCOM, coming 5th May, will let you fire it, and is actually the first 40K game to feature it as a proper mechanic.

The central premise here is that a plague called the Bloom has broken out across a series of planets, thanks to Nurgle, the Chaos "Plague Lord" whose MO is being gross on a large scale. It's your job, commanding a squad of Grey Knights - mysterious, elite Space Marines - to save as many planets as possible and ultimately stop the spread.

Read more

Three people involved in a fan-made revival of Disney's Club Penguin have reportedly been arrested by the City of London police.

In a statement given to a Club Penguin fan blog, Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), said "Following a complaint under copyright law, PIPCU have seized a gaming website as part of an ongoing investigation into the site."

The statement continues: "Three people were arrested on 12th April on suspicion of distributing materials infringing copyright and searches were carried out. They have been released under investigation and to aid with the police investigation, they agreed to sign over the website to the control of PIPCU."

Read more

Deep Rock Galactic, the co-op mining shooter which shot to 10 million registered players after arriving on PlayStation Plus, has detailed plans for its next season.

Season 02: Rival Escalation will arrive via Steam on 28th April and for PlayStation and Xbox on 5th May. A new, free season pass will unlock fresh cosmetic rewards for your dwarven character - including beards and helmets.

A fresh seasonal event and enemy sees the game's Rivals faction increase their attempts to out-mine you. In response, you'll gain access to new secondary weapons - one for each player class - each with their own upgrade trees and customisation options to find.

Read more

Hello Games, the British studio behind No Man's Sky, is working on its next new release.

In an interview with IGN, studio co-founder Sean Murray said his next game would be just as ambitious as No Man's Sky.

"For a while now we've been working on something pretty ambitious in the background. It's a small team but we like it that way," said Murray.

Read more

Following an audio livestream and subsequent feedback from its community, EA Motive has changed the sounds of both the Plasma Cutter and Pulse Rifle in its upcoming Dead Space remake.

"Things you did: Shared feedback on our Plasma Cutter and Pulse Rifle," Motive tweeted, referring to the fact that many felt the guns now sounded weaker than their original counterparts.

"Things we did: Listened and made modifications."

Read more

Scavenger is a type of character in LEGO Star Wars Skywalker Saga that can create nets, blast down special doors, and glide for a short time.

There is no Skywalker Saga cheat code to unlock a Scavenger early, but you can get a Scavenger from the beginning of the game if you have purchased The Mandalorian Season 1 Character Collector DLC. Unfortunately, even if you do have this DLC, you must play the story until Scavenger Tools are unlocked.

This guide will explain how to unlock a Scavenger and Scavenger Tools in LEGO Star Wars Skywalker Saga, and also list every Scavenger character and how to get them.

Read more

An official-looking teaser video showing what new Overwatch 2 character Sojourn can do has leaked onto the internet.

The Chinese-language video originated on YouTube before being shared by popular Overwatch personality (coach and streamer) Stylosa.

In it, we get a HUD-less montage showing what Sojourn - Overwatch's first black female character - can do. We see her dual-purpose gun, which has what looks like a machine-gun primary fire and a railgun alternate fire. And judging by the video, the railgun is deadly and potentially passes through enemies too.

Read more

Halo Infinite's player count has dropped below that of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the first time on Steam.

The franchise's latest title, which was released late last year, has steadily shed its player base as it became frustrated with the lack of content updates in addition to ongoing issues surrounding the game's monetisation.

As it currently stands, The Master Chief Collection had a peak player count of 9123 over the past 24 hours, in contrast to the 7842 players on Halo Infinite.

Read more

Sonic Speed Simulator is a new Sonic the Hedgehog game available to play now as part of Roblox.

The official, Sega-backed project lets you play as Sonic and race against friends through various worlds. Regular weekly updates will add more to the game over the coming weeks.

It also marks the first time a well-known AAA game character has been officially featured in Roblox.

Read more

Yesterday, I published a piece looking back at 10 years of Fez, and while writing it, I couldn't help but wonder what the game's creator, Phil Fish, was up to now.

Just to recap: Fish left the games industry not long after Fez's release, cancelling Fez 2 in the process. He then partially re-emerged with indie publishing label Polytron Partners a year later, in 2014, but was driven away again by repeated harassment from GamerGate. The last we saw of him was a collaboration on 2016 VR game SuperHypeCube.

I thought I'd drop him a line for editorial process' sake, then, but I didn't expect to hear anything back. A games journalist is probably the last person he wants to hear from. But I was wrong and he did reply, and so in a stretched out celebration of Fez's birthday, here's what he said.

Read more

It has, you might have noticed, been a pretty good year so far for games. Elden Ring’s arguably the greatest game that’s released since Breath of the Wild, Pokémon got the modern makeover we’ve been pining after for years, Gran Turismo is – considerable launch issues aside – close to firing on all cylinders again and even little Kirby put in his best effort to date. And that’s before you even consider more modest modern masterpieces such as Tunic and OlliOlli World.

There’s a lot, basically – so much so that keeping on top of it all can be a task itself. So here’s a handy runthrough of the best games of 2022 so far, something we’ll be returning to and updating on a regular basis. It should be the perfect companion piece should you be looking for anything to play in the more fallow months that are set to follow what's been an amazing amount of activity.

PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch

Read more

Developer DICE is readying to launch a major new update for Battlefield 2042, with the beleaguered shooter's 4.0 release promising to deliver "400+" fixes and improvements when it arrives some time next week.

Although full patch notes won't be available until next week's launch, DICE community manager Kevin Johnson (thanks VGC) has shared some of the release's key features on Twitter. Attachments will, for instance, receive an overhaul in Update 4.0, with DICE aiming to ensure all feel unique and have an impact on loadout choices and gunplay.

Additionally, XP for Support Actions and Teamplay has been balanced "to ensure teamwork remains king", and there are balancing changes arriving for Vehicular Warfare in a bid to give Infantry/Vehicle counter play "some bite".

Read more

If you're hankering for some additional letter-based puzzling to fill the void between your daily bursts of Wordle, Mattel and developer Scopely might well have the answer - as the grandaddy of word games, Scrabble, is given a brand-new web version to mark what is apparently this year's National Scrabble Day in the US.

Scrabble Web, as this new online version of the classic word game is sensibly and unfussily known, delivers all the letter-plopping thrills of the board game original, albeit it in a free, easily accessible new digital guise. And while it might be relatively low on frills right now, it does at least feature a fairly solid range of options when it comes to ways to play.

For starters, there's a solo mode, pitting players against an AI opponent, but also some competitive PvP for those that prefer to test their word prowess against living, breathing challengers - be they randoms or friends - all served up in selectable flavours of match length, lasting between 3 and 45 minutes.

Read more

The Witcher 3's long-awaited PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S version has been delayed indefinitely following CD Projekt's decision to move its development in-house.

An enhanced version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC - which would include the base game and its various expansions - was initially announced in September 2020, with CD Projekt promising to deliver the likes of ray-tracing and faster load times. All this would be made available as both a standalone version and as a free upgrade to those that already owned the game on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

It was a generous offer, but very little has been heard of the project since, with CD Projekt only intermittently mentioning it - usually in conjunction with word of another delay - as it continued its attempts to manage the fallout from Cyberpunk 2077's disastrous launch.

Read more

Niantic's next game involves caring for and breeding fictional creatures - but it's nothing to do with Pokémon. Instead, Peridot is a brand new creation by Niantic itself - the company's first for many years - and one it's aiming at an even wider audience.

With Peridot, Niantic seems to be gunning for the now-vacant Neopets market (RIP Neopets), with cutesy Pixar-esque characters, Tamagotchi-style gameplay and - because this is a Niantic game - a good old nudge every so often to get you off your sofa.

"We want it to be a standalone pet simulation game," producer Ziah Fogel told Eurogamer this week via Zoom call, when asked why it was building a new app separate to Pokémon Go. Niantic's mission here, she continued, was to iterate on and improve the popular pet simulation genre. You'll be able to try it for yourself soon, too - it arrives in soft launch in certain countries within the next few weeks.

Read more

The California Department of Fair Employment's ongoing harassment and discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard - which accused the publisher of fostering a "frat boy culture" in which sexual harassment, assault, and inappropriate behaviour were able to thrive - has taken another dramatic turn. A state of California lawyer involved in the lawsuit has resigned, accusing the state's governor of interfering in the case in support of Activision Blizzard.

As reported by Bloomberg, the assistant chief counsel for California’s Department of Fair Employment, Melanie Proctor, has quit her role in protest after California Governor Gavin Newsom "abruptly fired" the agency's boss, Chief Counsel Janette Wipper. A representative for the two attorneys has since confirmed the firing and resignation to Bloomberg.

In an email to staff seen by the publication, Proctor claimed Governor Gavin Newsom and his office had begun to "interfere" with the Activision lawsuit in recent weeks. “The Office of the Governor repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and of next steps in the litigation,” Proctor wrote. “As we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision’s counsel.”

Read more

When Digital Foundry reviewed Steam Deck, the overall takeaway was that Valve had delivered by far the most powerful handheld we'd ever seen - to the point where we could take PC ports of console games and run them at PS4-equivalent settings with much the same performance. The only difference? Lowering resolution from 1080p down to 720p or 800p. There's more to Steam Deck, however. Its main processor is based on the same core technologies as the silicon that powers PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. It's 'next-gen capable' if you like - but does it have the horsepower to run cutting-edge games at reasonable frame-rates?

Ideally, it's a question we should have answered in the main review, but there's a problem: despite running Steam, the Deck is based on Linux rather than Windows, meaning that a wide range of games still don't run, while features such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing are not supported. Essentially, every single game or feature required to test Steam Deck's next-gen credentials has issues: the path-traced Quake 2 RTX or Remedy's Control's RT features cannot be accessed from Linux. Meanwhile, proper next generation experiences such as Microsoft Flight Simulator should be able to run but don't owing to Steam Deck's lack of compatibility with online anti-cheat technologies.

Testing these features is important because it sets the baseline for how future-proof Steam Deck might be. Getting PlayStation 4-level experiences working on a handheld is a stunning achievement but what of the future? Thankfully, there's a solution - Windows drivers are now available for Steam Deck, meaning users can 'opt out' of the Linux experience and install anything they like, opening the door to testing high-end games and hardware-accelerated RT.

Developer Vertigo Gaming Inc, known for its beloved Cook, Serve, Delicious series, has announced its newest game - Cook Serve Forever.

In this all-new adventure, players will take on the role of Nori Kaga, a food cart chef who has her sights set on making it into the big time, just like her role mode - the glamourous Chef Rhubarb. To achieve her goal, Nori moves to the "bustling solarpunk city" of Helianthus, and starts cooking up a storm.

The game itself will feature "hundreds of recipes" for players to whip up, as well as multiple other side quests, with gameplay "that stimulates the rhythm and tactility of cooking". You can check out the mouth-watering trailer for yourself below (also, look out for Nori's adorable cheeseburger slippers and cupcake bedding).

Read more

QuakeCon, the Bethesda-run games convention inspired by id Software's classic, will be a digital-only event again this year.

Previously held in-person in Dallas, Texas, the impact of the pandemic means this won't be possible, at least for this year.

The convention will take place digitally from 18th - 20th August.

Read more

Both Nintendo and Sony will change how they market their respective subscription offerings in response to an investigation by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority.

The UK regulator had been investigating all of the big three console manufaturers, though Microsoft opted in January to get ahead of its findings and role out changes to Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass worldwide.

Now, Nintendo and Sony will also alter their services to offer better guidance for customers, as reported today by GamesIndustry.biz.

Read more

Have you ever wondered how Evil Dead’s Ash Williams would fair in the snow-covered world of Resident Evil Village? Well, wonder no more, as someone has brought these two pieces of media together as one, and I won’t lie, it is a match made in (a far from angelic) heaven.

Using footage from 1987’s Evil Dead 2 and 1992’s Army of Darkness, content creator eli_handle_b․wav has replaced Resident Evil Village protagonist Ethan Winters with Ash. The results are both horrifying and amusing all in one.

Instead of ripping himself free from Lady Dimitrescu’s clutches a la Ethan, this rendition of Village sees new hero Ash instead shimmying up to his towering captor and offering to open a bottle of champagne (I mean, someone was going to do it eventually, just look at her).

Read more

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original creator of Final Fantasy, is a huge fan of MMORPGs.

In fact, according to a new interview with IGN, it was his love of EverQuest that led to the development of Final Fantasy 11 - the series' first foray into online gaming.

"My first [MMORPG] was EverQuest. I got absolutely addicted to it and forced a dozen or so SquareSoft staff members at the time to play as well, telling them it was required knowledge. Incredibly, most of them got hooked too, which led to [Final Fantasy 11]," he said.

Read more

While many see the inclusion of their game on Sony's PlayStation Plus service as a real boon, others feel less so. In fact, Oddworld Inhabitants' Lorne Lanning has revealed that getting Oddworld: Soulstorm on PS Plus was "devastating" for the team.

Chatting to Xbox Expansion Pass, Lanning said his team initially thought they would sell roughly 50k units of Oddworld: Soulstorm, and certainly no more than 100k. The studio was also looking for some financial help to keep the game alive, and as such, when Sony approached the team offering an undisclosed amount of money to put its game on PS Plus for its release month, Lanning took the deal.

However, the game's release was delayedby three months due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic. And with the game's later release, Lanning said, more people than previously estimated now had access to a PlayStation 5.

Read more

Scalpers are reportedly targeting stock of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - and specifically its Deluxe Edition physical pack which includes an exclusive Lego minifigure.

The minifigure in question is Luke Skywalker, albeit with a unique look - he's chugging down on a carton of his favourite blue milk, and has a frothy-looking milk moustache.

Unfortunately, this cute toy has caught the attention of scalpers looking to resell the figure for plenty of credits on its own. You can't get this version of the minifigure anywhere else - and this is driving up its price on eBay (thanks, Nintendo Life).

Read more

MSI are one of the best laptop makers around, especially when it comes to their gaming range, balancing value and specs better than some other manufacturers.

The MSI Creator Z16 is an incredibly powerful laptop, with an RTX 3060 and 16GB of memory, available for just £1199 at Amazon right now. That's a £200 saving off the usual RRP.

The laptop has a generous 16 inch QHD+ display. With a 2560x1600 resolution, this gives it a 16:10 aspect ratio, perfect for productivity thanks to greater vertical space. But it's no slouch, with a 120Hz refresh rate and great colour accuracy, so it's ideal for creative work such as photo and video editing.

Read more

"Could I learn to be a better me? I guess I'll have to try." So sings a magical paintbrush-wielding dog atop a mountain in a colouring book world as they come to terms with what it means to be a hero.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a cute cartoon game on the surface about a (literal) underdog on a heroic quest. But beneath that, the game explores darker, adult themes that touch on perfectionism, imposter syndrome and issues of mental health.

That song, a duet between the player character and the titular Chicory, strikes at the heart of the game, its folky melody and simple lyrics belying a serious message.

Read more