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Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on July 9, and ahead of the game’s release, Ubisoft has launched a real-life hunt for a $500,000 treasure out there somewhere in the Caribbean. Before you make way, though, you bloomin’ cockroaches, understand that you’ll need to pay at least $40 to participate in the hunt. 

This treasure hunt is a result of a collaboration with real-world scavenger hunt maker Unsolved Hunts, and in order to get started, you’ll need to pay for clues, starting with the Deckhand pack that you can purchase for $39.99; it comes with a digital version of the treasure hunt game, which includes clues, rules, and more. However, you can pay more at various tiers for additional goodies, like a physical version of the game, a themed notebook, other pirate games, and more. There’s even a Pirate Lord tier that costs $229.99 that includes the physical and digital version of the treasure hunt game, a themed notebook, the pirate strategy game Chaotic Armada, the investigation game Amelia Davies and the Treasure of Blackbeard, one real gold coin minted for the hunt, Captain Edward Kenway’s flag, and a seal, wax, and calligraphy set. 

Here’s a look at the Gold & Crystal – The Lost Treasure of Edward Kenway hunt below: 

The actual treasure is sitting in a handcrafted replica of the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced chest and features minted gold coins worth $350,000 and a crystal skull with a red opal jewel embedded in it worth $150,000. To find the treasure, you’ll need to solve 15 riddles; Ubisoft and Unsolved Hunts expect players to spend up to five years trying to accomplish this. Only one player will ultimately find the chest in the Caribbean and win the game. 

You can find more details about this treasure hunt from Unsolved Hunts here. 

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, which is a remake of the original 2013 Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on July 9. 

For more, check out the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced reveal trailer, then read up on the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced PC specs and requirements after that. 

Do you think $40 is worth the chance to participate in this hunt? Let us know in the comments below!

Epic Games and Blizzard Entertainment have revealed the Overwatch content coming to Fortnite as part of an upcoming collaboration. Overwatch will make its way to Fortnite in an update that goes live tomorrow, on May 14, and will feature skins/outfits of heroes Tracer, Genji, D.Va, and Mercy.

Plus, the Fortnite battle island will get new landmarks based on the following Overwatch maps: Hanamura, Busan Drum Pavilion, King’s Row, and Watchpoints. New hero weapons like Mercy’s Caduceus Staff and Tracer’s Pulse Pistols will be added to the battle royale’s loot pool (and in an interesting twist, Tracer’s Pulse Pistols will let you play in first-person when using the weapons). Additionally, new showdown milestones include the payload from Overwatch and loot boxes (though don’t worry, loot boxes are not coming to Fortnite). 

Check out the Fortnite x Overwatch collaboration trailer for yourself below: 

The Zero Build battle royale mode of Fortnite, which removes all building aspects from the game’s typical battle royale formula, will feature infinite sprinting with your pickaxe equipped, new starting loadouts, overshield siphon abilities, and new pocket items. 

All of this Overwatch content hits Fortnite tomorrow. 

In the meantime, read about how Overwatch 2 is just Overwatch again, and then check out our exclusive feature about how this year’s new chapter of Overwatch is going back to the hero shooter’s roots. 

Are you excited about this Fortnite x Overwatch collaboration? Let us know in the comments below!

Bungie has revealed that Season 2 of its first-person extraction shooter Marathon will begin next month on June 2. Ahead of the new season, the team has detailed the finale update for Season 1, alongside information Runners should know about the progression reset and more. 

Season 2, dubbed Nightfall, begins on June 2, but before that, Bungie says UESC security (the NPC enemies in the game’s various maps) efforts will be renewed and amplified in the final days of Season 1. When update 1.0.9 launches on Tuesday, Runners will find that locked room keys are guaranteed to drop from Wardens for the remainder of the season; plus, map events like Intercept, Lockdown, Warden Spawns, Convoy, and Anomaly will also be guaranteed on each run, allowing you to benefit from better rewards more often. 

You’ll also find new Warden encounters at new points of interest on Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost, alongside an increased presence of UESC dropship flyovers and crash sites. Bungie also teases a “new threat” on Dire Marsh designed to shut down Runner activity, but stops short of saying anything more. 

Cryo Archive is the capstone endgame content of Marathon thus far in Season 1, representing the most intense challenge in the game. To help all Runners see what Cryo Archive offers, Bungie will make the map available every day (as opposed to select weekends) every day starting May 21 through the end of the season on June 2. And if you’re worried about losing your loot, fret not: Bungie will send every player a free Cryo Archive Sponsored Kit to your mailbox every day, giving you at least one free run in the map. 

Also, through the end of the season, Bungie has amplified Faction experience gains to help players rank each Faction up in Season 1. 

As part of Marathon’s seasonal model, there will be a reset at the end of Season 1. This means all players will have a clean slate and equal footing when Season 2 starts on June 2. This reset only affects things related to gameplay progression; you will keep your achievements, non-seasonal Codex progression, and cosmetics. Reward Passes will not reset either, meaning you can continue working on your Season 1 Reward Pass even in Season 2. 

Here’s a breakdown of everything that will be affected by the season reset and the things that won’t: 

Affected: 

• Runner Level
• Ranked Level
• Faction Level and Upgrades
• Credits and other currencies (exception: LUX and SILK)
• All items in your inventory and Vault
• Purchases unlocked by Schemas
• Messages, rewards, and returned items in your mailbox
• Priority Contracts (exception: first contract for each Faction)
• Gear-granting seasonal Codex entries for Runner Level and Ranked

Not Affected

• Cosmetics and weapons unlocked and redeemed during Season 1
• Codex challenges, including partial progress (except Runner and Ranked levels): Combat, Feats, Loot, Map, Runner, Title
• Faction Unlocks: Access to each faction you’ve previously unlocked is retained; no need to repeat Liaison Contracts
• Initial Priority Contracts: Completion status of the first contract for each faction is retained
• LUX and SILK balances
• Rewards Pass progress

Bungie will deliver CyberAcme Sponsored Kits in Season 2 based on your Runner Level in Season 1, and you can expect the following: 

• Runner Level 10: Enhanced CyberAcme Sponsored Kit
• Runner Level 25: Enhanced CyberAcme Sponsored Kit
• Runner Level 50: Deluxe CyberAcme Sponsored Kit
• Runner Level 75: Superior CyberAcme Sponsored Kit

These rewards are additive, meaning that if you reach Runner Level 75, for example, you’ll receive all four kits. 

To close out today’s details, Bungie has revealed that Season 2: Nightfall will bring the new Night Marsh zone, a new Runner shell, new weapons, a new system to customize your Runner shell stats called The Cradle, faster faction progression, several quality-of-life updates based on player feedback, and more. 

For more details on today’s update, head to the full notes here. Bungie says a full reveal for Season 2: Nightfall will arrive the week of May 25.

In the meantime, read Game Informer’s Marathon review to find out why it’s one of our favorite games of the year. 

Are you playing Marathon? Let us know what you’re looking forward to in Season 2 below!

Earlier this year, I dove deep into the Early Access hit Witchfire and came away so impressed that I had to rethink my entire approach to Early Access games. Not only is it a unique shooter from studio The Astronauts, which also developed 2014’s The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, but it’s an admirable attempt at a team responding to its community feedback as it heads towards a 1.0 release sometime this year. 

Wanting to learn more about this team and the development of Witchfire, I interviewed various members of the studio, and I highly encourage you to read my full feature – Hunting A Witch – for all kinds of behind-the-scenes tidbits and more. But, during that interview, I also spoke to the team about generative AI and its place in game development. That’s how I learned that there is no generative AI in Witchfire (though nobody suspected that anyway), and more importantly, especially as the team works towards the 1.0 launch, it will never have generative AI involved in its development. That’s something studio co-founder and Witchfire creative director Adrian Chmielarz, lead artist and technical art director Andrzej Poznanski, enemy and encounter designer Kacper Domanski, and lead designer Karol Krok affirmed to me during my interview. 

But that’s not all these four leads at The Astronauts had to say on the controversial topic. Poznanski describes generative AI as a Michelin-starred chef ordering fast food for his guests, stating, “It’s just not going to happen. He loves his kitchen magic too much, and his clients expect a unique signature dish, not the statistical average of a thousand other meals.” Chmielarz disagreed, however, saying generative AI is like a Michelin-starred chef teaching AI to create his own dishes, perhaps nailing the look and feel but lacking the taste and soul of the human hand that mixed the ingredients. 

“That human connection is needed, [so] with Witchfire, we are creating it because we love creation; we want Witchfire to be humans talking to other humans,” Chmielarz tells me. 

Krok says he can see a future where AI has a more prominent role in game development, whether we like it or not, and says it’s important to find and maintain the human connection in how it’s used. But ultimately, “As a creator, you have to ask yourself: ‘Should we as an industry go there?’ and my answer is, ‘I don’t know.'” 

After that, I asked the team about generative AI in Witchfire, and they all told me it hasn’t been used there and won’t be. 

Witchfire is currently available as an Early Access game on PC, but is planned to launch into 1.0 sometime this year. 

How do you feel about developers who use generative AI to make their games? Let us know in the comments below!

Developer Croteam and publisher Devolver Digital have announced The Talos Principle 3, the finale of the critically acclaimed puzzle game series. 

The brief teaser trailer doesn’t show any gameplay, but a batch of screenshots, posted below, reveals new twists on the series’ signature light-bouncing puzzles as well as some pretty fantastical locations, such as a giant mushroom forest.  The series takes place hundreds of years after mankind’s extinction; intelligent robots have inherited the Earth and possess the sum of mankind’s knowledge, which is tested in various puzzles and philosophical dilemmas. 

As for The Talo Principle 3’s plot, the trailer’s description only offers this cryptic synopsis: “What differentiates a story from the real world, or a simulation? A story is a series of choices, a set of moments captured, examined, and elevated. The real world goes on and on, but a story must have a clear beginning, middle, and end. And so the Talos Principle, a story Croteam worked on for more than a decade, must also come to an end.”

 

The Talos Principle 3 is coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in 2027. In the meantime, be sure to check out our reviews of The Talos Principle, released in 2014, and its 2023 sequel, The Talos Principle 2. 

Sony has revealed the latest batch of games coming to PlayStation Plus, and it’s quite a good lineup. Headlining the additions are 2024’s Star Wars Outlaws, Red Dead Redemption II, and a classic in the form of Time Crisis. You’ll need PlayStation Plus Premium to access all of the month’s offerings, but even if you have PlayStation Plus Extra, you can access all of the games except for Time Crisis. 

PlayStation Plus May 2026 Catalog Game Additions

All of the games listed below will be added to PlayStation Plus on May 19. Below, we’ll list each one, along with reviews for the games (if we’ve reviewed them). 

• Star Wars Outlaws – Our Review
• Red Dead Redemption II – Our Review
• Bramble: The Mountain King – New Gameplay Today Video
• The Thaumaturge
• Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn – Our Review
• Broken Sword – Shadows of the Templar: Reforged
• Enotria – The Last Song – Okay, so Game Informer doesn’t have any review coverage of this game, but I’ve played some of it and it’s a pretty decent Soulslike!
• Time Crisis (PlayStation Plus Premium required) 

For more information about each game, check out the PlayStation Blog post here. 

Are you going to check out any of these games? Let us know in the comments below!

The Pokémon Company has released a new behind-the-scenes video that shows the Japan-based NHK Symphony Orchestra recording the main theme for Pokémon Winds and Waves, and it’s a treat for fans of the series’ music. In the recording, we can see the entire orchestra performing the main theme featured in the reveal trailer for Pokémon Winds and Waves, which The Pokémon Company revealed back in February. 

We still have a ways to go before Pokémon Winds and Waves, which is set to launch exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2027, but this recording is a fun look at the orchestral work that goes into recording a new main theme for the next generation of Pokémon. You won’t find any new footage of the games themselves here, but it’s still worth a watch. 

Check out the Pokémon Winds and Waves main theme recording for yourself below: 

Pokémon Winds and Waves launches in 2027 on Switch 2. 

In the meantime, check out the Pokémon Winds and Waves reveal trailer, and then read our recap of everything announced at the latest Pokémon Presents showcase. After that, check out our reviews for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

How do you feel about this theme compared to others in the series? Let us know in the comments below! 

Deadzone: Rogue was a game that slipped past our collective radars, but once we finally played it upon its Switch 2 release, we absolutely loved it, awarding it a 9 out of 10. Now, quicker than most expected, developer Prophecy Games has announced a sequel to its roguelite FPS, Deadzone Rogue 2.

In Deadzone Rogue 2, you fight as Talon 13-10 on a fallen Earth. While the core gameplay sounds familiar to anyone who played the first game – you work through runs of each area, forging your loadout as you blast through hordes of enemies – it iterates in seemingly important ways. In addition to extended play progression with new abilities, weapons, and run modifiers, players can expect new biomes, layouts, enemies, and bosses to deal with. On top of that, drop-in co-op joins the formula, allowing for more flexible cooperative play for up to three players.

 

While we don’t know too much more about this sequel, we know we can’t wait to see how Prophecy Games is improving on the already-excellent foundation of the franchise. And with details on a pre-release demo promised in June, we hope we’ll have that chance sooner rather than later. For more on why we loved Deadzone: Rogue so much, check out our review.

In 2015, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt set the bar for immersive storytelling and choice-driven narrative within the action/RPG space. Now, the director of that game is back with his new studio, Rebel Wolves, to deliver another ambitious, narrative-driven role-playing game with The Blood of Dawnwalker. That very game graces the cover of the latest issue of Game Informer, and it’s available to read digitally right now!

To get the most comprehensive look at The Blood of Dawnwalker yet, we flew out to Rebel Wolves’ studio in Warsaw, Poland, where we spent a full day with a wide range of developers, learning all about how the young studio is aiming to deliver a genre-defining RPG. On top of hours of conversations with the developers, we also sat through two distinct hands-off gameplay demos, one of which nobody else outside of the studio has seen. In our huge 16-page cover story, you’ll learn all about how this team took the lessons learned developing some of the greatest games of all time and applied them to this new, extremely exciting vampire story. We also get into topics like the game’s overarching structure (hint, it’s very player-choice driven), the map, the engaging combat, the fun time mechanic, just how far you can influence the narrative, and how relationships can play out. 

 

Not only that, but we have a special poster for The Blood of Dawnwalker bundled with print subscriber copies! The poster features the key art, with protagonist Coen front and center. While that is a special perk for our print subscribers, regardless of what kind of subscription you have, you can read the full magazine in its digital form right this very moment!

But this issue is so much more than just our deep dive into The Blood of Dawnwalker. Within the pages of issue 378 of Game Informer, you’ll find features with in-depth looks at Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, Grave Seasons, End of Abyss, and Gothic 1 Remake. Plus, we spoke with the developers behind Stardew Valley, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse to get some post-release retrospection from them. Meanwhle, Hayes Madsen talked with the teams behind series like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Persona, and Sea of Stars to dissect the revival of the turn-based RPG genre. That’s on top of our previews section, which includes new looks at Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, Metro 2039, Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold, Neverway, and more! 

Subscribers can read the digital edition right now! Physical versions will begin arriving in the mail in mid-to-late June, and you can expect to find the magazine in bookstores and newsstands around the same timeframe. Be sure to subscribe today to receive 10 Game Informer magazines a year (physical and digital) and get The Blood of Dawnwalker as your first issue!

SNK Corporation, the company behind franchises such as Fatal Fury, The King of Fighters, and Metal Slug, has announced a new game development subsidiary called VS Studio helmed by former Bandai Namco veteran Katsuhiro Harada. The news comes six months after Harada departed Bandai last December after serving as the longtime director and producer of the Tekken franchise.

Harada will serve as Representative Director/CEO of VS Studio. The veteran fighting game director explains in a press release that the philosophy behind the Tokyo-based VS Studio is “Beyond tradition, crafted to perfection.” Harada describes VS Studio as a “free, open, and spacious environment” to “generate new ideas and create memorable games,” and that they are recruiting talent. The studio’s website is set to launch in June. 

Here is Harada’s full statement:

“We are pleased to announce the launch of our new game development studio, “VS Studio.” VS Studio’s philosophy is “Beyond tradition, crafted to perfection.”

We will combine technology, sensibility, and world-class expertise to pursue the ultimate.

From a free, open, and spacious environment, we will generate new ideas and create memorable games.

We established this studio to bring this vision to life.

The “VS” in VS Studio holds various meanings. It represents our roots in “Video game Soft (VS Development Division),” the spirit of “Versus” challenging tradition, and many other meanings symbolizing innovation and challenge, such as “Visionary Standard,” “Volition Shift,” and “Vanguard Spirit.”

Having been involved in game development for many years, I’ve constantly considered how I want to spend my time as a developer and what kind of environment allows developers to perform at their best. VS Studio is one answer to that question.

By bringing together technology and knowledge, and working with passionate colleagues, we aim to deliver the best gaming experiences to users worldwide. VS Studio aspires to be a studio that continues to take on such challenges, and we are looking for new team members who share our vision.

Please look forward to the future of VS Studio.

We’ll likely have quite a long wait before we learn about VS Studio’s first project, but it will be interesting to see if Harada gets right back on the fighting game saddle or leads a completely different type of game.