No Man's Sky had a rough start to life, with Hello Games having had to put in nearly a decade's worth of work to right the ship and get the game to "Very Positive" reviews on Steam. Now, following a handful of significant gameplay and content updates since that success, Hello Games has announced the Forsaken update, a new content update to No Man's Sky that builds on the game's exploration, building, and research mechanics.

The Forsaken update, officially version 7.10 of the game, adds a minimal HUD mode for a more immersive experience, minimizing the compass, hazard protection bars, and mission notifications. Hello Games says this mode is especially suited for experienced players. On the gameplay and content side of things, however, the update also introduces "Haunting Mementos," a new set piece that sees gamers searching the abandoned wrecks, infested outposts, and derelict freighters in deep space for "bizarre, horrifying biological samples."

Satisfactory has been a cornerstone of the automation and factory simulation genre since its early access launch in 2019, and its developer just announced the game's first expansion, called Core Values. Core Values will take Satisfactory underground, but it'll also be turning the game on its head in the process, according to comments by the game's developer to Rock Paper Shotgun.

The trailer and announcement of Core Values don't really reveal much about the expansion other than that it will allow players to explore underground tunnels and caves, taking their automation and crafting to the new frontier. Coffee Stain Studios says that the change of scenery won't just be a new lick of paint. Instead, players will face new automation challenges and will be given new tools to work with. The studio confirmed that the expansion will share some logistics with the base game, so that it can tie into the base game seamlessly, but the gameplay is meant to feel different in the expansion. Satisfactory Core Values does not have a launch date attached at the time of writing, but it is slated to release on Steam, Epic Games, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles.

As covered in TechPowerUp's most recent This Week in Gaming, Pawprint Studios has officially released Aniimo, a new, free-to-play open-world creature collector RPG—the latest creature collector in a wave started by the wildly popular Palworld, and it seems as though the game's reception is somewhat mixed.

While Aniimo has seen over 127,000 peak concurrent players in its first 12 hours since launch on Steam, peaking at 127,914, according to SteamDB, and dipping slightly to 124,466 at the time of writing, players have seemingly not had a universally positive experience, with the game earning a Mixed review rating on Steam from just 58% of its 1,648 reviews being positive.

Pearl Abyss has been on a roll lately, first announcing Crimson Desert: Enhanced Edition at Gamescom 2026 and following up that announcement with a PlayStation State of Play announcement revealing the game's first proper DLC: Charting the Unknown. The new announcement of the new expansion follows on recent rumors that started because of sneaky upgrades that were made to the Crimson Desert environment that hinted at a seafaring future for players. The update officially launches for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles on October 15, and it may be available at some point further down the line for macOS. Pre-orders are currently available for PC and PS5.

The expansion sees players set sail in galleons to traverse the oceans and forge their path in new lands. Pearl Abyss says that Charting the Unknown will feature new threats, both man, beast, and apparently machine, as well as new underwater exploration via a new diving mechanic, deeper NPC bonds and more ways to interact with the local economy and towns, and new quests involving political machinations, history, and an "ominous presence in the desert." The full announcement trailer follows.

The upcoming release of the Fable reboot has generated quite a bit of hype, with the studio behind the game recently revealing some impressively forgiving minimum hardware requirements for PC gamers. Following that reveal, Polygon published an interview with Xbox about Fable and its content, wherein it was revealed that Fable's actual main campaign would be on the shorter side, especially compared to most modern RPGs.

Will Kennedy, Fable Associate Director, Playground GamesWe have around 15-20 hours of mainline quest gameplay, we have around 15-20 of side and open-world exploration content gameplay. And then, of course, the life systems are limitless, so you can play them for as long as you want.

Gamescom 2026 has been a smorgasbord of new games, DLC's, and other updates for gamers, and now Pearl Abyss's Crimson Desert joins Worms: Galactic Tactics, The Witcher 3, and Afterworld with a new Enhanced Update that dropped at Gamescom, with reworks coming to address much of the game's weaknesses—the story. Crimson Desert Enhanced launched at Gamescom as a free update to the base game, and those who do not yet own the game, with the Mac App Store being the only platform where the updated version is not available at the time of writing.

Crimson Desert Enhanced, which is officially titled patch 2.00.00, introduces new cut-scenes to the game, expanding on the narrative, which Pearl Abyss says "improved the main story and quests," and the narrative flow of the main story, and "added knowledge, items, memory fragments, dialog lines, and conversations to strengthen the narrative of bosses." Additionally, the update improves the skill leaning system by adding Abyss Link as a new resource shared among all playable characters, meaning when one playable character learns a new skill, it allows other playable characters to benefit from that progress.

Paradox Interactive has been busy at Gamescom, announcing both Worms: Galactic Tactics and Afterworld, a new post-apocalyptic grand strategy game that appears to take inspiration from the Mad Max franchise. Players will be dropped into a world ravaged by nuclear warfare and have to work together within their tribe and with the world at large—or conquer their neighbors for their own benefit—in order to rebuild society and rediscover what was lost.

Lead a tribe of survivors, rediscover ancient technology, manage wasteland settlements and wage wars of conquest and political struggle in Afterworld, an original post-apocalyptic survival grand strategy game from Paradox Development Studio, the creators of Crusader Kings III and Hearts of Iron IV.

Focus Entertainment and Asobo Studio are thrilled to unveil the official Launch Trailer for Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, premiered in grand fashion during Gamescom 2026 Opening Night Live, just days before the game's release on August 27 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Set to a striking reinterpretation of Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence, this final glimpse into Resonance explores themes of loss, betrayal and destiny.

A darker journey into the world of A Plague Tale
Combining dynamic melee combat, exploration, environmental puzzles and narrative-driven adventure, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy offers a new perspective on the beloved universe created by Asobo Studio.

Focus Entertainment Publishing and Afterburner Studios are proud to announce Elta: Defy All Gods, coming early 2027 to PC (Steam), PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. In this adrenaline-fueled action-platformer, players will need to brawl their way out of corrupted worlds with their dragon-god companion, no matter what enemy or challenge stands in their way. Prepare for your rise as a divine champion with Elta: Defy All Gods' new public demo, available on all platforms October 1.

Get ready to bring down the gods, for Elta
Elta: Defy All Gods is a science-fantasy action-platformer, blending free-form melee combat, fluid platforming and sci-fi exploration. Play as Victus, an elite warrior monk seeking their lost god, Elta, in the hopes of finding a path forward for their civilization. Restoring Elta's former power might be the key to a new, brighter future.

Palworld is no stranger to game collaborations, with Terraria and Ultrakill being two of the game's biggest collaborations to date, but it seems as though Pocket Pair is building towards a new collaboration with No Man's Sky. Although nothing has been confirmed just yet, Pocket Pair's head of communication and publishing, John Buckley, recently engaged in a bit of online banter with Sean Murray, the co-founder of No Man's Sky's Hello Games, hinting at a potential collaboration.

This comes after Buckley commented publicly that the Palworld developer is constantly inundated with collaboration request, but that the majority are ultimately declined because they don't make sense. Incidentally, No Man's Sky recently added the Xeno Arena creature capture and battle update, which introduced mechanics similar to Palworld's wild pals.

Stardock today released Galactic Civilizations IV: Federations & Empires, an expansion that replaces the series' single government track with four completely distinct forms of government. The base game gives players one way to govern. Federations & Empires rebuilds the entire Government screen around each form's own resource, core loop, and free hero ship, so picking one means playing what feels like a different strategy game. The expansion is available now on Steam, Epic Games Store, and direct through Stardock with a launch discount price of $19.99, and it ships alongside a free Version 4.0 update for every Galactic Civilizations IV owner.

"Our goal is that each government type changes the way players play the game," said Brad Wardell, Lead Designer of the expansion. "Each government has its own special ships, resources, improvements, and more."

Before launch day was even over, Subnautica 2 had already crossed 2 million sales, with concurrent player count records just as impressive. Now, less than a week after launch, Unknown Worlds has revealed (via Gematsu) that the survival crafting game has sold over 4 million units. The game's executive producer also commented that "We're incredibly grateful for the response from players around the world," and that "Community feedback continues to help shape the future of Subnautica 2, and we're excited to keep building the experience together with our players."

The performance of Subnautica 2 is in spite of recent dramas that popped up relating to the game developer's reluctance to add weapons or the ability to kill the game's creatures as well as some verbiage in the EULA that players deemed over-reaching. In a letter responding to an outcry from gamers asking Unknown Worlds to let players kill the virtual sea creatures, Unknown Worlds said that "we understand that creature balance needs work. Right now, some predator encounters feel more frustrating than tense or exciting," adding that it is "actively working on improvements to creature behavior and player mitigation tools," but that "Subnautica has always been built around vulnerability, exploration, and survival rather than traditional weapon-based combat. We believe that this is part of what makes the game unique."

This year's Triple-I Initiative has already seen the Early Access launch date announcement of Windrose, an ambitious co-op pirate survival game, but now, joining Windrose is SpaceCraft, an open-world indie space exploration sim in development at Shiro Games. SpaceCraft will officially launch into Steam Early Access on May 20, and it features a combination of co-op survival, exploration, and base-building mechanics. Players will be able to explore space and distant planets, exploit planets for resources, and research and craft different materials, spaceships, bases, and weapons. The base-building systems extend to mechanics like automation and logistics, allowing players to set up multiple outposts across the galaxy for resource extraction, production, and research.

SpaceCraft hosted a demo event in early 2026, with over 70,000 players hopping into the game to check it out, and ultimately resulting in 300,000 wishlists by the end of the event. The game's ProtonDB listing also claims a Platinum rating, and the lightweight system requirements—8 GB of RAM, an Intel Core i3-8350K and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060—mean that SpaceCraft will seemingly be reasonably playable on handheld game consoles like the Valve Steam Deck, Legion Go S SteamOS, and ASUS ROG Xbox Ally.

Crimson Desert's official March 19 launch is just around the corner, and in the lead-up to the launch, PlayStation Japan and Pearl Abyss have shown off the upcoming action-adventure game running on base PS5 hardware with respectable image quality and performance. The presenters of the Play! Play! Play! broadcast play through the first few minutes of the game's prologue and show off a few tutorial scenes, and, although it's difficult to gauge image quality directly, there is some information to be gleaned from the broadcast. Overall, performance and image quality seem to align with the promises made by the minimum hardware requirements published earlier this month—even if there are some upscaling artifacts visible in finer textures, like character hair.

The most notable aspect of the gameplay footage is that there are no obvious framerate issues, texture pop-ins, or stuttering visible. Even at longer draw distances, image quality seems to be well controlled, and motion remains smooth, even during high-action scenes where the load would generally increase. The demonstration has been heartening for PS5 players, since there were suspicions that the PS5 gameplay footage was being kept under wraps ahead of the game's launch due to lackluster performance. The broadcast also serves to give players a taste of the challenging combat, puzzle-platformer mechanics, exploration, and atmospheric world they can expect from the game's launch.

MSI, a leading brand in gaming hardware, is thrilled to partner with Pearl Abyss, the acclaimed game developer and publisher, to offer PC gamers an exclusive reward.

Embark on a thrilling adventure in Crimson Desert with MSI's high-performance motherboards
From March 6th to April 6th, 2026, gamers who purchase select MSI X870E or B850 motherboards can claim a free Crimson Desert Steam code. Experience the stunning visuals and action-packed open world of Pywel, powered by the cutting-edge performance of MSI's latest hardware.

Developer DALOAR and publisher Daedalic Entertainment are pleased to announce that the first-person horror adventure The Occultist will release on April 8, 2026. The Occultist is now also available for pre-order on PlayStation 5 and Xbox. More information can be found on the game's official website: https://www.theoccultist-game.com.

The episode explores how environmental details, distant sounds, and carefully used silence shape the experience of exploring the island. Instead of relying on jump scares or gore, the developers focus on sustained tension where atmosphere and player imagination gradually build fear throughout the journey.

Welcome to the first week of March, which kicks off with a major release from Bungie, that is not part of its Destiny universe, but rather part of a series that the company first released back in 1994 and is the fourth game in the series. If first-person shooters aren't your thing, then maybe running your own tavern is more your style? Or how about breeding and training horses in ancient Mongolia? Maybe hunting monsters in the fellowship of a cursed hat? Maybe a relaxing deck builder is more your cup of tea? Or finding lost items in a cozy world?

Marathon / This week's major release / Thursday 5 March
Infil into the dark sci-fi world of Tau Ceti IV: A derelict colony rife with rival Runners, hostile UESC security forces, and unpredictable environments. As you scavenge its zones for valuables with a crew or alone, tense moments of exploration break into fast-paced PvP combat where gunplay is responsive, supplies are finite, and preparation is rewarded. Steam link

Windrose, formerly Crosswind, is an upcoming PvE co-op pirate survival crafting game that recently made waves during the Steam Next Fest, attracting over 22,000 concurrent players during its demo period. The Discord server for the game also ballooned to well over 20,000 members, and the hype for the game's expected release date reveal was so intense that the development team felt the need to temper expectations when it released the Raging Seas trailer for IGN Fan Fest. In the announcement following the trailer release, the developer behind the game explained that the game's potential scope made it impossible to announce a realistic launch date at the time, adding that "the full EA version of the game could be several times bigger in content and scale than the demo. Like x10 islands, x10 points of interest, more ships, enemies, crafting and building, etc."

In short, the developer asked fans to "let us cook more," explaining that the priority needs to be delivering a quality experience and shipping the game "on time and in best condition possible." The message goes on to promise fans that a release date will be revealed as soon as the development team is confident that it can deliver on all of its goals without having to delay the game. Windrose combines crafting mechanics, adventures on the high seas, and Souls-like combat in an ambitious new project. The demo offered players access to three islands, a ship and crew, early quests and boarding, and a limited selection of weapons, enemies, and survival mechanics. Obviously, the game has a pretty vast scope, and it's being developed by an indie team, so it makes sense that the developers would ask players to be patient for the release date and other information.

A year after the initial launch, the Avowed team is capping its post-launch roadmap with a special anniversary update that goes live for all today. This update, for which full details can be read over on the Obsidian site, brings with it a variety of community requested features, a host of quality-of-life fixes, and a few extra additions that the team wanted to get in just for the fans. Avowed is also launching on PlayStation 5 with the past year of updates included, allowing more players to get in and explore the Living Lands.

New Faces with New Races
To top the list of big new features being added to Avowed is the ability to choose from three new races during character creation. Joining the pre-existing human and elves are the stout and well-traveled Dwarves; the two-toned skin, hairy, and big ear having Orlans; and the large and uniquely strong Aumauan. Players will be able to choose as one of the five when starting off their adventure and bringing their envoy to the Living Lands.

Each week, new games and apps integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players. This week, Styx: Blades of Greed and Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown are launching with native support for DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, while NORSE: Oath of Blood can be upgraded to DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation via the NVIDIA app.

And Battlefield 6: Season 2 begins today, featuring support for DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation. Read on for all the details.

Darkhaven, a new multiplayer online ARPG that makes some pretty bold promises, has officially gone live on Kickstarter to raise its $500,000 funding goal, managing to raise $79,906 halfway through the first day of funding. Darkhaven's developer, Moon Beast Productions, explains that the game will have a fully procedurally generated, destructible sandbox world with "Diablo-style progression, skills, and itemization," and free, open exploration with a high degree of mobility in and out of combat. The Kickstarter will run until March 20, 2026, giving the developer a little over a month to garner funding. In addition to the Kickstarter, Moon Beast Productions has published both a development timeline and a pre-alpha demo on Steam.

The pre-alpha demo is touted as the foundation of the game, and it admittedly lacks polish and serves only as a way for players to test out the gameplay mechanics of Darkhaven. Moon Beast claims that the pre-alpha is an "unfiltered version of what we're building, not a watered-down teaser," suggesting players will be able to explore much more of the game world than a traditional demo would allow. The developer has also published a timeline explaining what it had been working on in the time the game has been in development as part of its Darkhaven timeline, in the process revealing that Darkhaven should launch in Steam Early Access close to Q4 2026. The studio also explains that the Kickstarter funding will go towards developing more character classes and skills, adding to the mob roster, building out the game's lore, NPCs, and quests, and adding more biomes and environmental events.

As we enter the third week of February, things are slowing down a bit again, but it doesn't mean we don't have a bunch of new games for you. The week kicks off with a bunch of vikings doing viking stuff, just a bit slower than your typical viking game, as everyone has to wait for their turn. The rest of this week's games start with you being an alien that crash lands on Earth when Neanderthals were still a thing, followed by you uniting five tribes of sentient forgotten objects. Next up you get to take command of a famous spaceship, at least if you're into the Star-whatever shows. If that's not for you, then you have the chance to play a goblin assassin in the fourth game in a series and we round off the week with an action RPG that supposedly takes place in the Nordics.

Norse: Oath of Blood / This week's major release / Tuesday 17 February
A Turn-Based Tactics game set in Viking-Age Norway. Build a settlement, forge alliances, and fight strategic battles. Manage a community of craftspeople, farmers, and warriors, as you grow strong on your path to vengeance in this story-rich saga. Steam link

Netmarble, a leading developer and publisher of high-quality games, announced today the official launch schedule for its new open world RPG The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin. Players on PlayStation 5 and Steam will be granted to play earlier beginning March 16, 2026. The game's grand launch follows on March 23, expanding to mobile so more players can experience The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin across platforms.

This staged rollout reflects a platform-first approach designed to support stable service and an optimized play experience. Based on Closed Beta Test feedback, the game is applying upgrades to controls, combat pacing, and overall UI/UX, with a more polished version set to roll out across all platforms at the March 23 grand launch.

Hey everyone! We—at Sad Cat Studios and Thunderful Publishing—are beyond excited to share that the REPLACED demo is now officially out. It's been a long journey to get here, and we're so incredibly grateful for the support you've shown us - it means the world to us. This is the first time we're putting the game into your hands, and we are so excited to hear what you think—although a little nervous, of course! Thanks for sticking with us. Hope you enjoy your first trip into this world.

In the demo, you will play as R.E.A.C.H., an artificial intelligence trapped in a human body. In an alternate 1980s America reshaped by nuclear catastrophe, Phoenix-City has become one of the Corporation's strongholds - a haven for corruption where outlaws thrive, and human life is traded like currency. Expose the Corporation's hidden agenda and the truth behind your own creation in a journey that blends action-packed rebellion with an intimate exploration of what defines us as humans.

Darkhaven is a new, upcoming dark fantasy ARPG developed by gaming veterans who previously worked on genre legends, such as Diablo and Torchlight. The game was officially announced on January 29, 2026, with a launch trailer that gave us a glimpse of what to expect from the new game. The main draw of Darkhaven is that it takes place in procedurally generated, fully destructible dynamic environments. The developer also promises dynamic exploration and a high degree of freedom in that exploration. As with classic ARPGs, it features an isometric view, and interactions are highly dependent on mouse clicks. There will also be online co-op and PvP game modes, and the trailer makes mention of "massive events that threaten your entire world," suggesting that the game borrows elements from the MORPG genre. Darkhaven's main premise is that you, and perhaps your party, must step up to save a "dying world" being preyed upon by malevolent forces, facing off against all manner of monsters and otherworldly horrors. The studio also touts its combat as being tactical, and its movement as "truly open," granting users the freedom to fly, swim, climb, and jump to get around, through, and over obstacles and even enhance combat.

Darkhaven is "coming soon" to Steam via Early Access, although an exact launch date is unclear, and it will seemingly be at least partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign. The developer and publisher, Moon Beast Productions, specifically calls itself an ARPG developer, so it seems as though the Darkhaven will be the newly formed studio's main focus for the time being. The studio was started by ex-Blizzard talent, Erich Schaefer, Philip Shenk, and Peter Hu, who worked, in various capacities, on Diablo 1 and 2, and it features artists, designers, and devs who worked on the likes of Diablo 4, Marvel Heroes Online, Torchlight 1 and 3, and Nox.