Eurogamer

Bungie will resurrect Trials of Osiris, Destiny's toughest PVP mode, within Destiny 2 on 13th March.

This revamped version of Trials looks set to feature plenty of what made the original great: three-on-three teams, power-enabled gameplay, plus the return of classic D1 maps such as Cauldron, Exodus Blue and Anomaly.

Oh, and you can once again dress up like an Egyptian god. The old D1 Trials of Osiris armour will return for your D2 character, and it now glows if you pulled off a Flawless run that week.

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For the first dance at our wedding, my wife and I chose The Danleers' one and only hit, One Summer Night. It's not a very famous song, and although we had listened to it a lot together - along with many other classics from this magical moment in American pop - it didn't hold a particularly special meaning for us. The lyric is on point for a July wedding, sure, not to mention reminiscent of the heady days of late May and early June a couple of years earlier, when we had first dated as the heat started to rise off the London pavement and the city went happy-mad under an opening sky. But that's not why we picked it either.

We picked One Summer Night because it's doo-wop, and there is no more romantic sound on earth. If you want to make someone feel an almost painful nostalgic yearning; if you want to transport them to a world of elegant courtship and sublimated sexual heat; if you want their hearts to soar and break, and you want to do it all in under two-and-a-half minutes, then you can't do better than doo-wop.

Having played a good handful of hours with Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Moon Studio's follow-up to 2015's sumptuous Metroidvania, it's clear that a lot has changed. It's larger, deeper and somehow even more sumptuous, but one thing's exactly the same. It's still a video game that has the power to have me in tears within the opening five minutes.

Ori and the Blind Forest pulled that trick first time around the fate of Naru, a character so lovingly realised it was impossible not to be reminded of a loved one. This time it's all about Ku, the owl that hatches at the climax of Blind Forest and who it soon becomes clear has a disability - one that her new adopted family rally around to assist with.

It's an entirely wordless opening infused with so much warmth, humanity and that heart-soaring feeling that comes when seeing people come together in the face of adversity. I can't imagine being more moved by a video game this year, and on the strength of its opening alone Will of the Wisps is going to be every bit as wonderful as its predecessor.

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Ubisoft has opted to delay Ghost Recon Breakpoint's previously announced "immersive mode" and Engineer Class, both of which were originally expected to launch this month, in order to "ensure that the experience will be a great one".

Breakpoint, you might recall, didn't receive the greatest of receptions when it launched last October. Eurogamer contributor Vikki Blake, for instance, called it a "half-baked hotchpotch of magpie'd ideas that neither function properly nor mesh" and "a broken, swirling vortex of recycled Ubisoft mechanics stamped across a dismal, forgettable world."

Breakpoint's critical and commercial failure ultimately had a dramatic impact on Ubisoft's financial targets, as well as its approach to future titles. Even, so the publisher committed to improving the game, telling fans it was working on a "more radical and immersive version of Ghost Recon Breakpoint", designed to deliver a "gritty and authentic military experience".

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Black Mesa, developer Crowbar Collective's Valve-sanctioned Half-Life 1 remake, will finally launch on Steam next Thursday, 5th March, after five years in early access.

As it happens, Black Mesa has been around much, much longer than its 2015 early access release might suggest. The project originally began in 2004, as an attempt by fans to recreate 1998's Half-Life 1 in Valve's then-new Source engine.

An early iteration of Black Mesa eventually released as a free download in 2012, and then, having received permission from Valve to launch the project commercially, Crowbar ushered an impressive, but incomplete version of the game - which included multiplayer and a ten-hour chunk of the story campaign - into Steam Early Access in 2015.

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Temtem, developer Crema's massively-multiplayer riff on Pokémon, is off to a flying start. It's sold over 500,000 copies in its first month of Steam early access, and now Crema is ready to share its future plans for the game by way of a new content roadmap.

Crema has split its roadmap, which details the major features planned ahead of Temtem's 1.0 release, into two parts, with part one covering additions due between now and autumn this year. Crema does warn, however, that "ideas change constantly and stuff we like today we might not like as much tomorrow", so features and dates aren't set in stone.

At present though, Crema anticipates that spring will bring club management, essentially a clan feature for friends, alongside in-game chat - which will include both private messaging and predefined group chat, including Global, Local, Trade, and Club channels. Additionally, players can expect a first pass at ranked matchmaking and spectator modes.

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March is almost here, meaning Xbox Live Gold subscribers have a fresh batch of titles to look forward to as part of Microsoft's Games with Gold initiative. On the Xbox One front, there's Telltale Games' Batman: The Enemy Within, plus Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, while March's Xbox 360 offerings are Sonic Generations and Castlevania: Lord of Shadow 2

Batman: The Enemy Within once again sees the Dark Knight being given Telltale's familiar point-and-click-style adventure treatment, continuing the narrative established in Season 1.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, meanwhile, delivers another solid, gorgeously presented entry in WayForward's well-regarded 2D platform series, blending spirited side-scrolling action with light Metroidvania progression, built around Shantae's transformation powers.

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Lucasfilm has today unveiled its new story setting for the Star Wars franchise and - as widely expected - it's an era called the High Republic.

But, contrary to previous reports, this big new multimedia franchise push does not - as yet - include an attached video game.

A number of reports on Star Wars leak sites previously detailed the name and rough time period of the High Republic - set several hundred years before The Skywalker Saga - which Lucasfilm has been quietly working on behind the scenes since at least 2018.

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Following quickly in the footsteps of last year's frankly brilliant Resident Evil 2 remake, Capcom's preparing its makeover of Resident Evil 3 for release, and we got to sample a decent slice ahead of time.

The demo took place a little way into the game, where Resident Evil 3's leads Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliviera have already met. We took control of Jill seeking cover in the Redstone street subway station, as she meets with members of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, or UBCS, and is then tasked with heading to the nearby electricity substation, to get the subway's power back online. Therefore, she has no choice but to head out into the city proper.

The first thing you notice when you emerge onto the streets of Raccoon City is that everything's been given a slightly modernised makeover. So not only has the original's cable car been replaced with a subway line, the streets just look that little bit more vibrant. That's not to say that the twisting alleys and iron-gated back streets of the original game aren't here, they've just been given a slight sprucing up.

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If you managed to hold off just a little bit longer than the already arduous 18-year wait since the second entry in the series, you can now get Shenmue 3 for the lowest price it's been so far.

Multiple retailers in both the UK and US have put the long-anticipated follow-up in Ryo Hazuki's quest to track down his father's killer on sale. The price drop seems universal at £22.99/$29.99, but a couple of places have taken a few more pennies off just to make it to the top of our list. You'll find all the prices below:

Following a surprise announcement at Sony's E3 conference in 2015, Shenmue 3 started off on Kickstarter with an initial goal of $2 million. It ended up raising over three-times that amount to become the highest-funded videogame in Kickstarter history.

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League of Legends developer Riot Games' long-running gender discrimination lawsuit has entered a new phase, as a fresh legal counsel has rejected the developer's preliminary offer of a $10m settlement.

Last December, Riot's proposed $10m sum was agreed to by plaintiffs in the class action case. But intervention from Californian state agencies in January left Riot having to deny allegations it colluded with the plaintiffs' legal team to settle for a lower amount.

Now, a fresh legal team has been brought in, GamesIndustry.biz has reported, following the state's claim the lawsuit could be worth some $400m - not $10m - (a figure Riot told GI.biz was "clickbait").

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Last Friday, former Insomniac artist Xavier Coelho-Kostolny revealed in a now-viral tweet that he was the only man alive to have sculpted Spider-Man's nipples for a video game.

Now, in a set of interviews based off of that revelation, Coelho-Kostolny has detailed the process behind his artistry - which also extends to Spider-Man's butt and bulge.

Marvel's Spider-Man's nipples can of course be seen when wearing the game's unlockable "Undies" outfit, which presented its own unique challenge to developer Insomniac. Peter Parker - like Mario - is very rarely seen in the buff. And he is also owned by Marvel, which is typically protective over its legendary library of characters.

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UPDATE 25/2/20: Another day, another company to pull out of this year's Game Developers Conference. This time, it's EA.

A number of execs, including Respawn boss Vince Zampella, were due to take part in a panel on the company's studio organisation titled "Lessons Learned".

GDC 2020 is still due to take place in just over three weeks, in its usual home at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

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It all begins rather abruptly. Üri, the protagonist of Luna: The Shadow Dust (a game that's not to be confused with Luna, Funomena's 2017 puzzler), a small boy with a hood that makes him look as if he's got bunny ears, falls from a great height. After he's dusted himself off and gotten his bearings, he discovers a large tower, stretching all the way into the sky. The task is clear: let's climb that thing. And that's pretty much all the context you're given. Luna likes to keep it simple. All this point and click puzzler is asking you to do is, well, point and click. You ascend the tower one room per level, and in order to do proceed, you need to open the door leading out of the room, much like finding the solution to an escape room puzzle. As the boy enters from one end of the room, it's always a good idea to find out what's even clickable in order to start out. Some rooms are dominated by large machines, so that you can already tell there will be buttons to press and levers to push. Trial and error is encouraged, and figuring solutions out naturally feels rewarding.

Sometimes trial and error is all you have, though, since Luna is a game that communicates entirely without words. Some of the more intricate puzzles have visual hints hidden somewhere in the room, but since even these are occasionally difficult to work out, all you're left with is clicking around until inspiration strikes.

Thunder Lotus Games, the Montreal studio behind Jotun and Sundered, has released the first proper gameplay trailer for Spiritfarer, its upcoming "cosy management game about dying".

Spiritfarer casts players as Stellar, a ferrymaster to the deceased, charged with roaming the seas and fulfilling the final requests of lost souls so that they may pass on to the afterlife. "Spend relaxing quality time with your spirit passengers," explains Thunder Lotus, "create lasting memories, and, ultimately, learn how to say goodbye to your cherished friends."

That translates to an experience that takes its cue from a variety of genres, bringing in conflict-free platforming, farming, fishing, cooking, mining, crafting, and more. There's even co-operative play for two players, with one person taking on the role of Daffodil the cat. Some of these elements are giving a gentle airing in Spiritfarer's beautiful new trailer below.

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Is this the first attempt to comprehensively answer the big question? Fundamentally, what is next-gen? In Xbox chief Phil Spencer's latest blog for Xbox Wire, we get a smattering of tech specs for the new Series X, reaffirmation of a frictionless future for gaming thanks to solid-state storage and a reminder that as powerful as raw power is, technological innovation is just as important.

However, despite that focus on new ideas, there is still room for Microsoft to clarify and indeed emphasise the extent of the processing power crammed into the Xbox Series X GPU. In a GameSpot story at the tail end of 2019, Spencer invited us to 'do the math' based on the notion that the new console had twice the graphics power of Xbox One X and over 8x that of Xbox One. The implication was that the console packs a 12 teraflop GPU - but muddying the waters somewhat is the fact that innovations in GPU architecture meant that Microsoft wouldn't need 12TF to deliver 2x Xbox One X performance - our tests showed that a ballpark 9-10TF could conceivably get the job done.

If, for some reason, the simple, serene pleasures of oceanic angling aren't already enough to tempt you to whip our your rod in Sea of Thieves, Rare is offering additional incentive for the next two weeks in the form of a surprise fishing challenge, with prizes.

Sea of Thieves' Hunter's Haul event, as it's officially known, starts today, 24th February, and is split into two separate week-long challenges.

During the first week, you'll need to hoist 120 fish of any type out of the water at old Merrick's behest, handing them over to a Hunter's Call representative at your nearest Seapost. Those that manage to do so by Sunday, 1st March, will receive 250 Doubloons to spend in-game.

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It's a good day to upgrade your PC setup with a range of gaming peripherals discounted on Amazon, including a massive 6TB portable hard drive for just £88. We've also got deals on two of our absolute favourite gaming peripherals, including the best quiet mechanical keyboard we've tested and a high-end gaming headset. Here are the best deals we've found so far for the week of February 24th, 2020!

First, a 6TB portable hard drive from WD has been discounted from £105 to just £88 on Amazon. That's around 1.4p per gigabyte, making it even better value portable hard drive than the 5TB WD Game Drive at £100 deal we posted last week (which worked out to 2p per gig).

This USB 3.0 drive is physically larger than the tetchy Game Drive and requires AC power, making it a modicum less portable, but you can't argue with the fact that you get more storage space at a lower price! As well as working with Mac, Windows and Linux, the WD My Book is also fully compatible with the Xbox One and PS4, making it a nice choice for upgrading your available storage space across a wide range of gaming platforms.

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Publisher Dotemu has offered up another trailer for beat-'em-up revival Streets of Rage 4, this time showing off four-player co-op and revealing new character Floyd Iraia.

Streets of Rage 4 is the work of Lizardcube, the developer behind 2017's superb Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap remake, and Streets of Fury studio Guard Crush Games, and looks to deliver a gently modernised take on the side-scrolling beat-'em-up action of Sega's original trilogy.

It sports an arresting new art style, a soundtrack featuring music from the likes of Yūzō Koshiro (Streets of Rage 1, 2, and 3, Sonic the Hedgehog) and Motohiro Kawashima (Streets of Rage 2 and 3, Shinobi 2), and promises "expanded combat abilities".

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Just minutes after the announcement of Microsoft's cross-buy scheme for Xbox Series X, Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt has become the first to say it will take part.

In short, if you buy the Xbox One version of Cyberpunk 2077 when it arrives on 17th September, you'll get the Xbox Series X edition when it launches, too.

"Gamers should never be forced to purchase the same game twice or pay for upgrades," CD Projekt said via Twitter. "Owners of Cyberpunk 2077 for Xbox One will receive the Xbox Series X upgrade for free when available."

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Xbox Series X will boast a 12 teraflops GPU, Microsoft has said, confirming recent leaks.

The company's next-gen console will include AMD's new Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures, Microsoft said today in a new blog post which is stuffed with Xbox Series X details.

Microsoft also detailed how cross-generational games will work on Xbox Series X, with an opt-in scheme called Smart Delivery that will "empower you to buy a game once and know that... you are getting the right version of that game whatever Xbox you're playing on".

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Here's something to brighten up a reigny Monday morning: RimWorld's free 1.1 update is rolling out to everyone today, and better still, a surprise DLC called Royalty has launched. Don't worry, it's not a battle royale.

The expansion means some rather glamorous figures can grace your space hovel, as the DLC introduces a new "honour-bound culture wield[ing] hyper-advanced technology". Despite their sci-fi capabilities, the Empire still uses a hereditary system of rule, and can bestow royal titles upon your colonists. While this gives colonists psychic powers, they also become rather hoity-toity, demanding luxury bedrooms and beautiful clothes while issuing "wild decrees that must be carried out", and occasionally playing piano, harp and harpsichord. I'm not sure how my flatmates still put up with me.

The bonus for putting up with all this is your colonists gain the psychic power to make enemies vomit en masse... amongst other things. The DLC also introduces high-tech weapons that "speak directly to the wielder through a psychic link", and a selection of body implants. I'll take the nuclear stomach for next time I go to the pub.

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On paper, there's nothing I should like about World of Horror.

There's a cluttered screen, for starters, and an artificially retro aesthetic that I've seen once too many times before. It's intimidating and brutally unforgiving, plus it also boasts my favourite unfavourite thing, RNG - dumb luck, in other words. I've died many, many times in gross - and grossly-unfair - battles, and as it's only out in early access, it's unpolished and teeth-clenchingly unstable, too.

So why am I still here, at 2 am, carefully working my way through this latest mystery, the Macabre Memoir of Morbid Mermaids, in the hope of finally - finally! - reaching its grim climax?

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CD Projekt has become the second-largest video game company in Europe, second only to Ubisoft, in terms of its market valuation.

Though it was valued at $6.8 billion (£5.2bn) just a month ago, it's now hit $8 billion (£6.1bn) following the release of the acclaimed The Witcher 3 on Nintendo Switch - sending its sales rocketing by 500 per cent - and the success of its Netflix show (thanks, reddit). The highly-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077, despite its recent delay, has also likely had an impact.

Ubisoft, on the other hand, is currently valued at around $9.6 billion (£7.4bn).

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We've been awash with rumours of cancelled Star Wars games in recent years, and here's another: EA reportedly cancelled a third Star Wars game last year, this one purportedly a spinoff of the Star Wars Battlefront series.

Codenamed Viking internally, the shooter was initially expected to release in 2020 as part of Microsoft and Sony's next-gen console line-up, but when timescales slipped, the game was allegedly cancelled, making it the third Star Wars game to succumb to development hell alongside Amy Hennig's Ragtag and EA Vancouver's Orca.

According to a new report by Kotaku, six individual insiders shared the news on the proviso the outlet did not compromise their anonymity. It's reported that "EA Vancouver spent some time designing ideas and prototypes for Viking, and Criterion came aboard soon afterward", but "that was when the problems started".

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Spawn is coming to Mortal Kombat 11 on 8th March, 2020.

Famed comic book artist Todd McFarlane - who was also a writer and artist on the Spawn series - may have had a hand in Spawn's design, as he announced the roster addition by way of unveiling an all-new seven-inch scale figure.

"MORTAL KOMBAT SPAWN REVEAL!! FINALLY I CAN SHOW IT!!" tweeted a very excited Todd McFarlane (thanks, VG24/7). "Spawn Mortal Kombat action figure is an incredibly detailed (true McFarlane Toys fashion) 7-inch scale figure designed with 22 points of ultra-articulation and can achieve full range posing. COMING MARCH 2020!"

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The Room VR: A Dark Matter is the fifth game in the Room series and while it's the first one to make the jump to VR, its spooky escape room escapades seem like a perfect fit for the medium.

In this week's episode of Ian's VR Corner, you can watch me play through the first two levels of the game in a preview build for the Oculus Quest. In it, I channel my inner Sherlock Holmes in order to get to the bottom of some creepy crimes that have unfolded deep within the British Institute of Archaeology.

If you're a fan of The Room series already, you'll be pleased to know that The Room VR: A Dark Matter includes everything you loved from the flat games but of course this transition to VR only adds to the immersion.

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Apex Legends' most recent roster addition, Revenant, is too easy to kill, say some players.

According to some commenters on the Apex Legend subreddit (thanks, The Loadout), Revenant - who boasts extraordinary climbing skills and a fast-moving crouch as his passive skill, the ability to shut down enemy abilities as his tactical, and can issue a death totem for downed teammates as his ultimate - may look skinny enough to necessitate the extra 5 per cent damage he takes, similar to the extra damage taken by Wraith's small frame, but according to some his hitbox is "actually pretty disjointed in many areas".

"I really hope we can get a fix for this stuff, because as fun as Revenant is to play, it's really frustrating feeling like he's made of tissue paper," said one player. "I can't get away with stuff like bolting across a street in Capitol like I can on other legends, because I just take so much more damage just getting poked/sprayed at - and my most played characters are Mirage & Bangalore, so I'm used to average hitbox characters."

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Baldur's Gate 3 will be available via early access on Steam later this year.

It's been in development for a while - work was underway even before Divinity: Original Sin 2 shipped in September 2017 - but the wait will soon be over as Wizard of the Coast's parent company, Hasbro, has revealed Baldur's Gate 3 will release later this year on Steam early access.

Larian Studio said it will reveal the first gameplay footage of Baldur's Gate 3 at PAX East (operated by Eurogamer's US parent company Reedpop) at 3.30pm ET - that's 8.30pm UK time - on 27th February, 2020.

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The mayor of Boston has reached out to Sony, asking it to reverse its decision to stay away from PAX East this year, stating that the decision should have been motivated by "facts, not fear".

PlayStation confirmed earlier this week that it would no longer attend PAX East (operated by Eurogamer's US parent company Reedpop) due to "increasing concerns" surrounding coronavirus.

While it insists it made "the best option as the situation related to the virus and global travel restrictions are changing daily", the mayor of Boston - the US city that hosts PAX East - sent a letter to Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida intimating the decision to pull out served to reinforce "harmful stereotypes" about Chinese citizens, and were fuelled by "confusion and lack of information".

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It's the most wonderful time of year: February! It's also still Christmas, according to Anthem, because the game still has its decorations up - even now, a full two weeks after the initial tweet, which pointed out that open invitation for bad luck, went viral. Apparently that's intentional because BioWare extended its "Ictide" event a little longer, but it's not a great look, is it? Especially not as Anthem celebrates its first full year since launch.

At least the effect is interesting, by regular service game event standards. If you hop into a Stronghold, which is a sort of replayable mini-raid or "strike", by Destiny's terminology, you'll notice that in the occasional moments of downtime between fights, deep below ground, in the dank, dripping dungeon of giant spiders, the haunting echo of sleigh bells will just, ever so softly, start to fade in. A sort of wafting, aural threat, like they're about to summon a choir of the dead. Ominous! Schedule the relaunch for that liminal, Nightmare Before Christmas, early November time when nobody knows whether to feel spooky or festive and you know what, it might just work.

Activision is fighting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare battle royale leaks with subpoenas and online takedowns.

Modern Warfare's upcoming battle royale, reportedly dubbed Warzone, is one of the worst-kept secrets in all of video games. While it remains unannounced, players have found themselves accidentally transported into its tutorial, and there is detailed information relating to its map and mechanics online.

In fact, if you boot up Modern Warfare today you'll see a "classified" portion of its main menu. Clearly, this will turn into battle royale once Warzone launches. And Activision even released what very much looks like a teaser for the battle royale, with one soldier saying "the gas is closing in" before fan-favourite character Ghost drops in to say "they're targeting their own". The camera then pulls back to show soldiers dropping out of a plane into a warzone with, yes, a green gas closing in.

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A Red Dead Redemption 2 modder has insisted their Hot Coffee mod is here to stay despite receiving a legal threat from the game's publisher.

The Hot Coffee mod, which was uploaded to Nexus Mods on 12th February, recreates the infamous Hot Coffee mini-game from 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It sees main character Arthur Morgan have sex with a prostitute, and was built with animations lifted from the drunk saloon mission with Lenny and the sounds the character models make when they get injured. No nudity is shown, and the mod is only available for the single-player portion of the game.

The original Hot Coffee was not normally accessible in San Andreas, but it hit the headlines after the release of the Hot Coffee mod for the PC version in 2005. This mod granted access to the mini-game, which portrayed sex between main character Carl "CJ" Johnson and his chosen in-game girlfriend. Assets for Hot Coffee were also found in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, prompting the ESRB to re-rate San Andreas Adults Only, some shops to withdraw and recall the game, and federal and legal action as well as civil class actions.

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If you played BioWare's wonderful Mass Effect trilogy, you'll be familiar with its morality system.

Ostensibly reflecting "good" and "bad" playthroughs, the Paragon and Renegade system let players choose different lines of dialogue and key actions that each would each contribute in some way to their character's Paragon or Renegade score. Paragon points would be obtained for compassionate and heroic actions, while Renegade points were obtained for being ruthless or, well, a bit of a dick.

Paragon and Renegade each had their own scores, which meant being nice every now and then wouldn't adversely affect a player's dodgy rep, and vice versa. However, a certain number of points in either track would open dialogue options with significant impact (in the first Mass Effect, high scores would unlock high ranks in the Charm and Intimidate skills).

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The Play of the Game feature is meant to showcase a single player's skill in a single round of a competitive multiplayer match. Usually you see the player downing three or four foes without dying. And usually, each foe is a different player.

But in this Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Play of the Game clip, the same player is killed four times.

Redditor Crossfingers uploaded a remarkable video to the Modern Warfare subreddit yesterday that showed how they were killed four times in a single Play of the Game. The video has proved incredibly popular, with over 35,000 upvotes.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator has all the airports in the world, its developers have said.

37,000 airports were manually edited by the developers.

In the video below, Sven Mestas, lead game designer at French studio Asobo reveals the astonishing work done by its airport team, which expanded on the 24,000 simulated airports in 2006's FSX, to the hugely ambitious target set for this year's game.

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Devotion has secured its future at Harvard University a year after it was pulled from Steam.

The superb horror game, developed by Taiwan studio Red Candle Games, launched on Steam in the spring of 2019, but after it was found to contain an unflattering reference to China's president, Xi Jinping, it sparked an outcry among Chinese players that led to the withdrawal of its Chinese distributors, the closure of Red Candle's account on Weibo, one of China's largest social media platforms, and the removal of the game from Steam.

A year later, and with a re-release looking unlikely, Red Candle has finally found a home for Devotion - the Harvard-Yenching Library at Harvard University.

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It's official. 4A Games are fully committed to ray tracing technology for its next big game and the implications are exciting. The firm is in preparing for the next generation with initial work concentrated around RT - strongly suggesting that ray tracing support isn't an afterthought built into next-gen console silicon, but a key feature of the design.

In an interview centred on 4A Games' excellent work in bringing Metro Redux to Switch, we asked CTO Oles Shishkovstov for his reaction to publicly revealed aspects of next generation console hardware. "We are fully into ray tracing, dropping old-school codepath/techniques completely," he told us.

The firm is keeping its cards close to its chest but 4A has already shipped Metro Exodus on PC with DXR ray tracing support and is currently assessing options for its next step. "Internally we experimented a lot and with spectacular results so far. You will need to wait to see what we implement into our future projects," Shishkovstov told us.

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It began with Doom 2016 - a Switch port so ambitious, it simply didn't seem possible. However, since then, a procession of technologically ambitious current-gen console titles have migrated onto the Nintendo console hybrid, culminating in the arrival of the wonderful Metro Redux from 4A Games - highly impressive conversions and perhaps the closest, most authentic first-person shooter ports we've seen. So what's the secret? How do developers manage to achieve such impressive results from five-year-old Nvidia mobile hardware?

"At first, I did have really big concerns performance-wise," admits 4A's chief technical officer, Oles Shishkovstov. "You know, going from base PS4/Xbox One with approximately six and a half or seven CPU cores running at 1.6 GHz to 1.75GHz down to only three cores at 1.0GHz sounds scary. The GPU was fine, as graphics can be scaled up and down much easier than, for example, game simulation code."

The results of the conversion work are certainly impressive bearing in mind the yawning gap in CPU specs. 4A started out by translating over the existing Metro Redux games from PS4 and Xbox One (and to stress the point, Switch doesn't get last-gen ports here), a process the 4A team carried out very quickly, but this early version of the game could only manage frame-rates of around seven to 15 frames per second. The games were entirely CPU-bound.

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Bethesda has pulled its games from GeForce Now, Nvidia's streaming service.

In a post on the Nvidia forum, a company representative provided a list of all the Bethesda games that left GeForce Now yesterday - and only Wolfenstein Youngblood survived the cull.

Here's the list:

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