Coliseum

Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Publisher:
Activision

Developer:
Infinity Ward

Release:
October 23, 2026

Since 2023, Call of Duty has been trying to rebuild trust. This is largely due to Modern Warfare III and Black Ops 7 launching in less-than-ideal states, which led to them being among the lowest-rated in the franchise. Infinity Ward’s first step toward bringing players back and rebuilding confidence is to set up a campaign in Korea.

“We’re in the middle of what they call the third Hallyu wave, the name they give to the spread of Korean culture throughout the world,” co-studio head Jack O’Hara says in a hands-off presentation of the campaign. Aside from cultural impacts, another reason the team landed on Korea was the ever-growing standoff at the North-South Korean border. 

 

The team wanted to take the idea of North Korean leaders invading (albeit under a fictional family’s name) the South. Because it sounded like something that could happen in the real world, all of this gave the team the idea of returning to the series’ roots: playing as a grunt in a war who doesn’t necessarily understand everything happening. It’s also worth noting that Infinity Ward plans to continue the story of Captain Price, which it describes as a “James Bond-esque” style of storytelling, as he travels the world.

Before going hands-on with multiplayer, Infinity Ward explained the new Apex Attachments – the final unlocks for your weapons. A Sniper Rifle’s Apex Attachment, for example, can shoot blades. Alternatively, a Shotgun can be equipped with explosive rounds. They all drastically change how each weapon can be used. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fully explore this feature while playing due to a bug, but I deeply enjoyed being able to attach a shotgun barrel to my pistol.

The Special Equipment tab is also getting a shakeup, one of the biggest being that Riot Shields no longer take up a weapon slot. Now classified as equipment, they can break after enough shots and be planted on the ground to provide cover out in the open. 

 

Movement in MW4 has also been sped up significantly. You can now corner-peak while hanging on a building ledge, parkour onto pipes, and slide much more quickly across cars. Even if some of these movements defy real-world physics, the team is okay with that as long as it’s fun.

“We’re trying to make you feel like a badass,” technical designer Jack Hoppus tells me. “We want you to feel like you’re the hero in your own game.” Although many of the new movement features may be fun, I fear some mechanics won’t be used as much because the game plays so fast.

Many of Infinity Ward’s multiplayer maps are designed with three lanes. Unfortunately, spawning has been a consistent issue in Call of Duty for a long time, and MW4 is no different. There were plenty of times when the enemy would spawn behind me and immediately kill me. Or if it didn’t do that, I would spawn in and immediately get killed by the other team rushing in. I was frustrated in the moments where I was getting killed back-to-back and felt I had no control over the outcome, but it is admittedly a recurring Call of Duty problem.

I didn’t play the campaign, but it shows promise. The multiplayer feels familiar in a complimentary way, and for the first time in a couple of years, I’m genuinely excited about what Call of Duty has to offer upon its full release.

If you don’t already own a Steam Deck, but do want one, I have some bad news for you: Valve just raised the price by hundreds of dollars. While the LCD version of the Deck has been discontinued (but is still great and available second-hand), the OLED 512GB and 1TB versions are now back in stock, but with increased prices that “reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole,” Valve has announced. 

The 512GB OLED Deck will now cost $789, up from $549, and the 1TB OLED Deck will now cost $949, up from $649 – that’s a $249 and $300 price jump, respectively. That makes yesterday the best time to buy a Steam Deck because these new prices are in effect immediately. While unfortunate for would-be buyers, this price jump isn’t all that surprising. Valve joins PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo in raising hardware prices in response to current logistics-related computing costs. RAM, in particular, is especially hard to come by these days as AI companies buy it up in bulk to power data centers and more, and it doesn’t help that the U.S. President has enacted tariffs that affect countries worldwide, including America, when it comes to costs. 

This does not inspire confidence in Valve’s plans to release the console-like Steam Machine this year, despite launching the Steam Controller earlier this month (which it was able to do because the controller does not use RAM, a high-demand, low-supply component that things like the Steam Deck and Steam Machine need). 

While waiting for the world to get better, read Game Informer’s Steam Deck review, and then check out our list of the top 10 Steam Deck games after that. 

Do you think prices will ever go down again? Let us know in the comments below!

The newly minted Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dream may have dominated today’s Dragon Quest Day livestream, but there were two other Dragon Quest announcements. First is the reveal of a new Dragon Quest Monster game and the announcement that the most recent mainline game is coming to Switch 2.

Today’s broadcast ended with a brief teaser announcing Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World. The game stars dual protagonists Bianca and Nera, who series fans may remember from Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, but no other plot or gameplay details were shared. As for the release window, the trailer only states that it’s “coming soon” and will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC.  Check out the trailer below. 

Next, Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition is coming to Switch 2 on September 24. The game is an enhanced version of the 2018 RPG that includes new story content, the ability to switch between 3D and 2D modes, and other features. The Switch 2 version also boasts new Graphics and Performance modes. 

Today’s Dragon Quest Day livestream was almost entirely dedicated to sharing updates on Dragon Quest XII, though it’s likely not the news fans were hoping for. We now know what’s been taking the long-awaited RPG so long to make another appearance: its development has been restarted from scratch.

Dragon Quest creator and game designer Yuji Horii and Dragon Quest XII executive producer Yosuke Saito hosted the presentation, and cut straight to the chase; the game formerly known as Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, first announced in 2021, is no more, as the team has taken the game back to the drawing board.

“We’re hard at work on XII but due to a reshuffle of the team and a restart of development, it’s going to be a bit longer till it’s in your hands,” says Saito. “Work on the original version, Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, hit a lot of hurdles along the way. But as we kept talking with Mr. Horii and pinned down what a mainline Dragon Quest game should look like, we decided to move things around and start over from scratch.”

Saito continues by saying that, despite being a major change, the team believes it was the right decision to ensure Dragon Quest XII lives up to fan expectations. The game has been renamed to Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams, and a short teaser trailer shows off scenic environments, such as a castle and Dragon Quest XII’s protagonist sprinting and jumping across what appears to be a large open world. He runs from grassy fields to a beach to a desert, with monsters roaming in the background. We also spot other characters such as a woman fixing a ship, a floating robot, and an armor-clad humanoid lizard.

Yuji Horii reveals that the game’s protagonist experiences strange visions in their sleep. “What lies beyond dreams? Surely not a world of darkness but a bright and exciting future,” says Horii. The creator then says that Dragon Quest XII has gone in a “different direction” than what was originally announced, but declines to share more story details. Horii does, however, confirm that Dragon Quest XII will still feature Akira Toriyama’s character art and Koichi Sugiyama’s music.

 

Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dream did not get a release window or confirmed platforms, but Horii says, “The game’s coming along really well, so I hope you look forward to the next announcement.” While it’s exciting to see footage of this new version of Dragon Quest XII, it’s hard not to feel mixed emotions given that its launch still seems very far away.

The Witcher IV and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has announced a new DLC expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Yes, you read that right – it’s for the game that launched in 2015. It’s called Songs of the Past, stars Geralt of Rivia, and launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in 2027. 

There’s no word on what to expect in this expansion, as the only thing CDPR has revealed is the title and the key art (see header image), but given the name, it might see Geralt battling something from his past. CDPR is developing the expansion with Fools Theory, the studio that is developing a remake of the first Witcher game. The teams will reveal more information about Songs of the Past in “late Summer 2026.” 

Songs of the Past will be a nice return/finale for Geralt, considering the next mainline Witcher game, The Witcher IV, will see you play as Ciri, the Witcher-in-training who tagged along with Geralt in The Witcher 3. You can get a new look at Ciri (and her horse companion Kelpie) in the latest Unreal Engine technical showcase here. 

With a new expansion coming in 2027, it’s likely that even more new players will check out The Witcher 3, which has already surpassed 60 million copies sold since its 2015 launch. 

While waiting to learn more about Songs of the Past, head to Game Informer’s coverage hub for The Blood of Dawnwalker, which is a game being developed by a team of CDPR veterans and the latest game to grace our cover. 

What do you want to see in Songs of the Past? Let us know in the comments below!

Reviewed on:
PC

Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC

Publisher:
Yacht Club Games

Developer:
Yacht Club Games

Release:
May 29, 2026

Despite Shovel Knight’s myriad spin-offs and continued ubiquity in the indie game space, it’s been more than a decade since developer Yacht Club Games delivered something wholly new. And maybe calling Mina the Hollower entirely “new” is a misnomer, as it is a reverential showcase of beloved game design and visual ideas from the past and present, all arranged into something that manages to be unique and nostalgic at the same time. Mina is not without its frustrations, but its density of discoveries, sense of place, and heartfelt story and characters all deliver an experience I was thinking about often whenever I wasn’t playing.

Mechanically and visually, Mina is inspired by The Legend of Zelda, specifically Link’s Game Boy adventures. Zooming out, however, the structure and challenge are much closer to Dark Souls. At a screenshot glance, you would be forgiven for assuming you are collecting new items and abilities to solve puzzles, but the reward of progress in Mina is making it through challenging sequences with your experience points (Bones) intact and burrowing underground to checkpoint your progress and refill your health vials to take on the next gauntlet. The cathartic emotion of success is delivered frequently in Mina, and I was always eager to tackle the next one.

The classic Zelda-inspired movement, however, is not without its shortcomings. Frustrating defeats from overlapping with enemies are frequent, and falling into a hole from a bump or a misaligned jump is a constant war. Mina’s titular hollowing ability, where she can go underground to move quickly, leap from the ground, and avoid some attacks, is the game’s most compelling and novel mechanic, but learning to control it well takes time; I still had annoyances related to it even through the final challenges leading to the end boss.

With that said, however, many valuable equippable Trinkets exist that make radical differences in your playstyle. Finding the Trinket that helps you overcome your personal struggles with combat or platforming is incredibly exciting, and I found many that I kept equipped for the full adventure, like the Proto Spark that lets you come back from death once before it needs to be reset at a checkpoint.

 

Beyond the Mina-versus-enemies challenge gauntlets, the world is dense with discoveries and secrets (like new Trinkets), and you are shockingly equipped to find almost all of them from the opening moments. I would pass by a small puzzle in the Ossex hub area, for example, dozens of times before having an epiphany about what I needed to do all along. These moments are joyful, and I encountered them all over the world.

Wrapping up all of these wonderful (if challenging) mechanics is a soundtrack, world, and story that grabbed my attention quickly and kept me engaged throughout without wasting time on excessive exposition. Sure, I could basically see where the story was going from early on, but the way the narrative subtly discusses politics, misguided public opinion, environmentalism, and wealth disparity while remaining playful and acknowledging players’ actions is impressive and absorbing.

Mina the Hollower looks like a nostalgic throwback, and it undeniably is, but its thoughtful design and larger sensibilities make it play and feel like a contemporary video game – one that has taken the right lessons from the medium’s history.

Score:
8.75

About Game Informer’s review system

Reviewed on:
PlayStation 5

Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Publisher:
IO Interactive

Developer:
IO Interactive

Release:
May 27, 2026
(PlayStation 5,
Xbox Series X/S,
PC), 2026 (Switch 2)

Rating:
Teen

James Bond has a long history in video games, but his quality missions are far fewer and farther between. I’m happy to report that 007 First Light can join the ranks of successful outings, offering a new and original take on the character that is both fresh and rooted in a deep understanding of the man and the fiction. While the game mostly features enjoyable interactive ideas, its mechanics occasionally threaten to dampen the excellent cinematic flow. But even then, the charm of this spy thriller carries it forward with a can’t-put-down quality that Bond movie makers would be wise to learn from.

In this origin story, we witness Bond’s rise into his vaunted numerical designation from the relative beginning. Laying that storytelling groundwork, along with a hefty selection of player skills, takes time and makes the opening hours feel elongated. Between stealth, melee, gun combat, gadget use, driving, puzzle-solving, social encounters, and environmental traversal, there are a lot of moving parts here, and a lot of tutorials to memorize.

Thankfully, those early, slower hours also lay the groundwork for excellent storytelling. IO Interactive gets what works in the Bond mythology and nails a pitch-perfect reimagining that captures the character’s suave wit, endless double entendres with the ladies, and his uncompromising moral compass. The surrounding cast keeps pace, turning in consistently standout performances aided by a dependably clever script. It’s one of the most fun Bond narratives in memory – games or otherwise.

Gameplay rolls back and forth between slow-paced infiltration play and punctuated moments of explosive action and set-piece bombast. Many of the slower-paced sequences are a lot of fun, especially those that see Bond navigating complex social scenes with dozens of people, carefully piecing together clues or sneaking into places he shouldn’t be. Over the impressive variety of missions, some of these slower sequences feel exceedingly so, with puzzles that feel overly prescriptive, or lengthy stretches where the sense of tense spy shenanigans becomes mundane. Yet again, it’s the great performances, gorgeous visual presentation, and highly listenable music and vocal work that carry the player through and keep things moving along.

 

It took me some time to warm to the frenetic pacing of the faster action sequences. Whether in punchouts, in a pitched gun battle, or even in occasional driving sequences, everything is focused on constant mobility, changing tactics, and quick reactions. With time, I reveled in the speed demanded while switching weapons and charging headlong into danger. I also enjoy the increasing variety of amazing gadgets from Q that might blind foes with a laser, fire a micro-missile from a pen, or poison an unsuspecting target with a toxic phone dart. Like the best films from the canon, First Light features several memorable (if sometimes outlandish) moments of wild action; I love the way the game consistently one-ups itself as Bond’s seeming indestructibility carries him from one harrowing situation to the next.

Like many of the best spy adventures, 007 First Light keeps you guessing as you roll inexorably forward; more than once, it feels like everything is wrapping up, only for the game to unveil new twists that keep the story hurtling in a new direction. When it all finally wrapped up, the campaign left me satisfied. Players can tackle many encounters using alternative tactics or routes, adding replayability to a second playthrough. A robust selection of challenges further enhances that replayability, as does an entirely separate tactical simulation game mode. Aspiring spies shouldn’t skip that menu option, as TacSim lays out some rewarding scenarios of escalating difficulty, and an impressive array of cosmetic unlocks for your trouble.  

IO Interactive swung for the fences with 007 First Light, stuffing in a ton of ideas, mechanics, and systems. And while I encountered a few notable moments of frustration navigating Bond’s new escapade, the takeaway was one of deep satisfaction; this team knows why and how this setting can be fun, and they absolutely nail the execution of that vision. First Light presents a take on James Bond that works in all the ways that matter, setting up strong potential for more sneaky infiltrations, amorous encounters, pitched battles, and world-saving fun in the future.

Score:
8.75

About Game Informer’s review system

Destruction AllStars, the multiplayer vehicular arena combat game, was among the PlayStation 5’s first exclusive titles, and now it’s time to bid it farewell. The game is shutting down this Fall and has already been removed from sale.

Players are receiving emails from PlayStation notifying them that, as of today, Destruction AllStars has been delisted from the PlayStation Store along with its Destruction Points virtual currency. Additionally, the game’s multiplayer services have been disabled for good.

However, owners can still play the game’s single-player modes until November 25, when, at 11:00 a.m. ET, all server support will cease. After this date, Arcade Mode single-player challenges will remain playable, though PlayStation warns that its functionality and the overall experience may be impacted by the server shutdown. Remaining Destruction Points owned by players can be redeemed in the available single-player modes until November 25.

Destruction AllStars launched on February 2, 2021, and was developed by Lucid Games. The game lets players step into the driver’s seats of wacky vehicles to battle other drivers in over-the-top destruction derby matches. In addition to using the car as a weapon, the driver could exit vehicles to roam freely and even steal an opponent’s car. It was pretty nuts, and we liked it enough to score it an 8 out of 10 when it launched, with reviewer and former GI editor Jeff Cork writing, “Even if the novelty of vehicular mayhem isn’t enough to sustain my interest for many more long-haul sessions, I’m looking forward to taking it for a quick spin every now and again.”

Unfortunately, Destruction AllStars is far from the only multiplayer game having its lights turned off this year. For related stories, read about how Bungie is ending active development for Destiny 2 in June, then read about the total shutdowns of Spellcasters Chronicles and Highguard. 

I don’t like video game tutorials. They’re important, don’t get me wrong – I’d rather be told how to play a game than stumble through a complex control scheme – but it always feels like a chore. It is remarkable, then, that I can’t stop thinking about a tutorial montage in the early moments of 007 First Light. It’s one of the most engaging and effective tutorials I’ve ever played, and it’s all thanks to what it pulls from popular action movies.

The scene in question comes when Bond is thrust into training camp with other trainees in the 00 program. For reasons I won’t spoil, Bond joins late, skipping the earlier parts of the training that others had to suffer through. To catch him up to speed (and as a sort of punishment), the leader of the program tells two other recruits that they’ve only got two weeks to get Bond ready for his basic tests. It’s a trial by fire, a movie trope I quite enjoy, and by taking cues from a different medium, IO Interactive makes a surprisingly exciting sequence.

Bond learns to climb, drive, shoot, and fight in rapid succession, with each tutorial quickly cutting to the next. A fellow trainee hands you a gun and challenges you to shoot three targets. The second your bullet hits the third, the game jumps forward in time. Now, you’re in a car speeding through a training course. The second you cross the finish line, the camera cuts over to a push-up sequence, then an obstacle course, and then a wrestling ring, where you learn to counter punches. The montage continues bouncing around until you’ve learned all the controls for each of these sections, which takes about nine minutes.

There are a few reasons why this works so well. First, chopping up activities you’ve done a million times in other games keeps them feeling novel. You don’t learn every part of the driving control scheme at once, instead returning to that section every fourth tutorial or so, implying that time has passed and Bond, like you, is improving. And the pace is refreshingly relentless. I know how to aim a gun in a video game, so I don’t need a tutorial on shooting, but it’s still exciting to drop into a scene, hit five targets in rapid succession, and immediately jump out. 

It helps that the tutorial is also diegetic, meaning the montage is real to both the player and the character. I often prefer a non-diegetic tutorial, typically communicated by on-screen text when you first take control of a character. Most games have this – when you come out of a cutscene, you’ll get a pop-up that says “use the left stick to move,” and when you get to a gap, it says, “press A to jump.” On the other hand, diegetic tutorials usually happen when another character tells you what to do, often disguised with in-world lingo. I usually like this less, because threading the instructions into dialogue takes a bit more work and makes the whole process take longer. 007 First Light is a great exception, however, and presents the speed of the former method with the narrative justification of the latter. 

Most importantly, the diegetic approach puts the player in James Bond’s shoes. It’s ultimately why we want to play games based on our favorite characters – it’s fun to do the things they do, to feel like we’ve accomplished the over-the-top stunts they pull off. This is the moment in the game I’ve felt the most like Bond, because we were both learning and trying to prove ourselves to the other people in the camp in near-equal measure.

The final reason it’s so cool is that it’s the exact sort of training montage you’d find in an action movie, but that begs another question: why are training montages so fun in action movies? It’s simple: because it condenses the buildup to make room for the most exciting moments.

Action movies, like 007 First Light, have priorities. As much as I need character development and moving performances, I come to action movies for the huge set pieces and explosions you see in the trailers. Everything else in the screenplay functions to make those big moments as fun, intense, and satisfying as possible. For example, it’s important that we see what happens to John Wick’s dog at the start of the story, but in the realm of the action movie, it’s all about getting audiences emotionally invested for the next few hours, when he mows down enemies with fast-paced gun fu.

IO Interactive understands that I, the player, need to be told which buttons allow me to counter a punch or throw an opponent. It also understands that I didn’t boot up the game to learn: I booted it up to play. It wants to literally cut to the chase – to cut away from the training and head right to the high-octane car chases. 007 First Light respects my time and knows what I want in a way I’ve never seen a game do before. And after playing it, I hope to see other developers follow suit.

For more 007 First Light, stay tuned for our review of the game, which will drop in the coming days. In the meantime, you can learn about the game’s development by reading our exclusive cover story coverage from earlier this year right here.

This weekend, Unreal Engine 6 was unexpectedly revealed during the Rocket League Paris Major. The announcement coincided with a teaser for what was described as the future of Rocket League.

The teaser trailer showed off real-time footage of Rocket League cars rendered in Unreal Engine 6. Whether this gameplay represents a wholly new Rocket League title or an update to the existing 2015 game (built in Unreal 3) is unclear. The teaser does not provide any more details for Unreal 6, and Epic’s website has not elaborated either.

The reveal of Unreal Engine 6 comes six years after Unreal Engine 5’s initial 2020 reveal and four years after its 2022 launch. The current engine has essentially become the de facto engine for many games, especially in the AAA space. It’s unknown when Unreal Engine 6 is expected to launch, but if its build-up is anything like Unreal 5’s, expect more, hopefully lengthier tech demos in the coming year or so.