I knew going into BlizzCon 2026 that we'd get some Diablo news, but I expected a Diablo 4 expansion introducing a new Baal storyline, not Diablo 5. It's a long way away, scheduled for a spring 2029 release, but that didn't stop Blizzard revealing enough information for us to build a picture of what the new action role-playing game will be like. And if there's one thing I took from the information, it's that Diablo 5 is much more than simply a continuation of Diablo 4.
Ubisoft has delayed the Rayman Legends remake - Rayman Legends Retold - in order to "make sure every detail gets the care it deserves". The game's release date has moved two months from 1st October to 3rd December.
Let me paint a picture: it is day three of Gamescom; I have seen dozens of fantastic games, spoken to many enthusiastic developers. I am excited and energised by it all, but also at the point of slightly delirious fatigue (not helped by the Gamescom flu determinedly setting in). It is, in other words, a less than ideal time to be seeing a game as relentlessly, overwhelmingly intense as Alien Deathstorm. But play it I did - and half an hour later I found myself walking away thinking I might just have seen one of my favourite demos at the show.
Valve is in the news again thanks to the impending launch of its Steam Frame VR headset. The developer recently opened up pre-order registration for the £889 / $1,059 standalone headset following months of wait.
Blizzard's decision to reveal far-away release dates for Diablo 5 (2029) and the new open-world StarCraft shooter (2030) at this year's BlizzCon represented an uncharacteristically transparent look at its future plans. So much so, there was a moment when the spotlight turned on World of Warcraft and it seemed we might get a monumental reveal there too.
Well this made me chuckle. After starting out with Two Point Hospital - a spiritual successor to developer Bullfrog Productions' classic sick-fixing sim Theme Hospital, Two Point Studios is now going even further into the past. Its newly announced Rides & Relics DLC for the excellent Two Point Museum is paying it back to Theme Hospital's much-loved predecessor, Theme Park - and you can even build your own coasters!
The original Wo Long is an overlooked gem. Fast-paced, brutal, and compelling, the game made a name for itself amongst hardcore action-RPG aficionados because of its key gimmick: that basically every single attack could be deflected. While some criticised this because it made the game 'repetitive', I thought it was interesting and well-executed enough to carry you through the entire playtime. Augmented by a momentum mechanic that rethought stamina for the fast-paced fights, and a still best-in-class 'morale' system that encouraged exploration and completionism, Wo Long has a permanent place on my harddrive.
The launch of Diablo 4's Season of Hell's Legacy got off to a rough start. The anticipated season was announced at BlizzCon over the weekend to arrive alongside a 30th anniversary celebration of the Diablo franchise. And though Season of Hell's Legacy eventually went live, it did so several hours after it was supposed to.
Overnight, in the run up to Tokyo Game Show, Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja announced that Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember, the latest instalment in the studios' dark Three Kingdoms-inspired action-RPG series, will be released worldwide on 4th March 2027. The two companies also announced a huge alpha test for the game in the form of a free demo that provides an early look at the game, including an in-progress character creation system, and online multiplayer for up to three players.
The second wave of games coming to Xbox Game Pass in September has been announced, and the list considerably improves what's already on offer, with a huge new arrival in Gears of War: E-Day, and notable arrivals in Dune Awakening, and Minecraft Dungeons 2.
Xbox could be planning another major shake-up of its Game Pass subscription service, this time removing key benefits the service is known for. That's according to a new leak from ResetEra user Slayven, who in 2025 revealed Microsoft's plans to raise Game Pass prices and change tier offerings, some of which turned out to be true.
I cannot remember the last time I put this many hours into a game for a review. And still, I'm sitting here, writing this, itching to play more of Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave. Despite some odd decisions for an RPG of this depth and scale - a single save slot and diluted difficulty, to name two - I haven't played a game that has captivated and fascinated me like this in years. This is Fire Emblem at its peak, a game as sharp and satisfying as Awakening on the 3DS, with character work and story as compelling as Three Houses. It summons the same sense of wonder and scale as those multi-disc PS1 RPGs did back in the 90s. Developer Intelligent Systems has refined all the map-building, scenario-setting work it did with Engage and iterated it alongside the storytelling tour de force of Three Houses to create something exceptional, no matter what direction you look at it from. This, right here, is a reason to buy a Switch 2.
The Blood of Dawnwalker director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has told me the game's divisive time mechanic - which gives you a limited amount of time to save your family, and attaches a time-cost to every quest and notable action you do in the game - won't necessarily feature in a sequel.
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Fable developer Playground Games has said "many people within Xbox view Fable as being vital to the DNA of the platform", which is why this game has been allowed such a long and "protected" development.
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