Helldivers 2’s next big update, Machinery of Oppression, launches the Battle for Cyberstan, and sees players head to the alien homeworld and take on the Cyborgs, a new Automaton-adjacent enemy type that’s set to usher in a new round of terror — and chaos — to Arrowhead’s explosive third-person shooter.

Machinery of Oppression also triggers the next big narrative beat in the Galactic War’s ongoing meta narrative, a community-driven story that has captivated fans ever since Helldivers 2 set PlayStation sales records two years ago.

Two years ago! Where has the time gone? For the developers at Arrowhead, the launch and ongoing development of Helldivers 2 has been something of a rollercoaster, with ups and downs dominated by community love and hate. But now, as Helldivers 2 enters its third year, Arrowhead is coming to understand the game it has on its hands, and how to fuel the live-service beast in a sustainable way while keeping player numbers healthy. Steam concurrents are there for all the world to see, and even now, they are in a good place.

So what happens next? The Battle for Cyberstan is yet another player-directed update. Players will take Cyberstan, or they will fail — Arrowhead doesn’t know how it’s going to go. But can Arrowhead make meaningful updates to Helldivers 2 beyond the sort of things we’ve seen in the last two years? In December, Johan Pilestedt [CCO of Arrowhead and creative director on Helldivers 2], talked about the possibility of a Helldivers 2 rogue-lite mode. But can the developers expand the scope of the game to, say, increase the squad count? Increase the number of players in a squad? Release bigger maps?

Ideas aren’t the problem, of course. The problem, as with everything, is time, energy, and ideas. But, as game director Mikael Eriksson tells me in the interview below, these sorts of game-changing updates are being worked on. They are possible. And, he insists, the future of Helldivers 2 is bright indeed.

IGN: Players have spent the week marching towards Cyberstan and they have tanks as well. I know you have big ambitions for how this new update will let the community direct the events of the Galactic War in an even more direct way than before, but how exactly will it work?

Mikael Eriksson: February 10, that's when Super Earth will commence the battle for Cyberstan. And you're right, this is the most ambitious one yet for us. One of the central points of Helldivers is that we play the game together with the community, and the actions of the community are not known to us and the outcomes are not predetermined. This has been the case since launch, but of course we've tried to expand on this with almost every update to make this more impactful, and to make it more obvious what the different outcomes are and what the consequences will be.

We still have many ambitious plans on how to expand on this even further, but for this time, the Battle for Cyberstan, will be the most ambitious one yet with a new type of meta gameplay. So it would be much more clear now for players what the consequences would be depending on how they choose to tackle this. So they can attack the planet from many different angles and it would be very obvious when players get there, what the consequences are and what's at stake.

But again, the outcome is not predetermined, so we don't know what will happen. Players can win and players can lose, and it's going to be super fun to see that play out. Last time, with the Battle for Super Earth, which I think was maybe the biggest one before this, we also didn't know. Eventually players actually managed to defend Super Earth, which was super cool to see. Following that was pure fun for everyone at the office except for maybe the Game Master who was sweating a little bit, but for everyone else it was fun to see.

OK, I know that whenever a new cyberpunky-looking sci-fi game shows up, everybody says it’s “like Blade Runner”. Well, Replaced actually is. Like Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, it’s both exactly what you’d expect from a story-led neo-noir thriller, and also very different in a multitude of ways. Yes, those neon-drenched, screenflicker-lit streets could be the ones that Deckard once ran down, but as for what you actually do in those streets, Replaced utilises a surprising combination of ideas that make for a confident mix of platforming, puzzling, and combat. Across its opening three hours, it takes that well-worn Replicant shell, but augments it with aspects from the likes of Ninja Gaiden, Inside, and even LucasArts classics, to create an exciting new cyberpunk vehicle, all while looking and sounding absolutely gorgeous. It’s safe to say I’m excited.

I won’t say too much about what I’ve seen of the story so far, but you’ll need the basics. Replaced casts you as a “Research Engine for Altering and Composing Humans”, better known as Reach; an artificial intelligence that accidentally finds itself taking control of a human body. Following an explosive escape from the facility it called home, this now-corporeal AI must try to return to the place of its creation to uncover the mystery of how this all happened. The problem is, that research centre sits inside a gargantuan sci-fi city surrounded by a towering perimeter wall that you have since fallen outside of. Think Final Fantasy 7’s Midgar, if what lurked outside of its confines was more akin to Mad Max’s wasteland. That’s because Replaced takes place in an alternative universe America, where the US government, in a somewhat rogue move, decided to turn its nuclear weapons on its own territory, rather than Japan’s.

This dark scenario makes for a world where class and wealth divides have only grown in magnitude, with the affluent population of Phoenix City leeching off the bodies of those surviving outside, deeming them “Disposals” and harvesting their organs at will. It's an ugly setup, but one that looks absolutely stunning due to developer Sad Cat Studio’s decision to render this world in an eye-catching 2.5D pixelated style that reflects both the retro nature of its inspirations, but also its desire to show us something new as it attempts to “reinvent the cinematic platformer”. The opening escape alone is a showcase for both the driving synthwave soundtrack and the glistening sheen of its visuals. It somehow simultaneously manages to look satisfyingly old-school thanks to its NES-like blocks of colour, but also thoroughly modern, as thick layers of smoke and striking 3D lighting sit atop crunchy pixels to add yet another filmic flourish.

That cinematic presentation also stretches to how each combat encounter is framed. The camera zooms in to create a tense sense of claustrophobia. The depth of field twists shallower so that you and your foes are the sole focus. Slo-mo finishers add yet another dash of cool as bodies are flung to the floor before being dispatched with the blast of a pistol. The fighting starts out simple, translating the Batman: Arkham formula of dodges, parries, and strikes to a 2D plane successfully — complete with flashing red and yellow warning signals above enemy heads — but gradually introduces some welcome complexity over time. Heavy attacks are added to your arsenal and are required to tear armour off of certain enemies so that damage can be dealt to them.

You’re also handed a Blade Runner-like blaster pistol that sits inside Reach’s customary Deckard-like coat. There’s an incredibly satisfying hefty weight to this hand cannon, which sends foes flying off-screen in a manner I perhaps found a little too much delight in. It’s a powerful tool, capable of one-shotting brutes that otherwise take many punches to perish, but one that’s smartly kept limited by a novel ammunition system, which rewards you with rounds for performing well in its melee action. Aggression is encouraged - striking and countering enemies builds up your gun’s charge, whereas dodging and remaining passive noticeably drains it. Want to blow a hole in someone? You'll have to bruise their flesh first. It’s a rhythm you’ll have to get to grips with if you want to overcome some of Replaced’s beefier foes.

My playtime ended in a boss battle with “Uncle Ben”. No, not Spider-Man's deceased family member nor the face of the since-rebranded packs of microwaveable rice, but a cybernetic LeChuck lookalike with a death wish. Ben is the hulking leader of the Termites, a Mad Max Fury Road-like faction who hide in the dark as whispers of Valhalla echo around their sewer lair. The boss fight itself was a challenge, significantly stepping up the complexity compared to the hordes of enemies I’d encountered up until that point due to the large amount of damage Ben could deal, the sheer size of his health bar, and the fact that he’s restored to full HP for a tougher second phase. Reviving an enemy for round two in the very first very boss battle is cruel stuff, but I couldn’t help but chuckle when it happened.

This battle required patience and a close reading of the opponent, and this approach serves as a throughline for each and every one of Replaced’s encounters. Patience is rewarded, and timely button presses are required instead of quickfire spamming. That’s not just the formula behind combat, though; Replaced’s puzzles and platforming are also methodical — this isn’t a game that wants you to zip through its handsome levels, but instead stop to smell the sewage and read through its journal entries on Reach’s gloriously retro tablet device. Its slow pace surprised me at first, with a touch more holding right on the thumb stick and hopping over a few more fallen tree trunks than maybe I would've desired, but it's all in service of setting the scene.

Platforming never got overly complicated, with routes clearly marked in yellow and interactable objects made obvious for the most part, but it can be a little fiddly at times. Frustrations arise due to hit boxes sometimes not appearing as clearly as I'd like, and very occasionally, the gorgeous blending of art styles leading to a little difficulty in distinguishing decoration from obstacle. From what I’ve seen so far, whereas Replaced’s combat impresses greatly, its platforming is merely serviceable.

It’s at this point that you may be asking yourself. “Simon, I thought Replaced was exactly the sort of sci-fi action platformer that you’ve just described. Where is all the unexpected stuff?” Well, that’s where Chapter 2 comes into play, sandwiched between the facility escape intro and the Termite hideout infiltration. It’s in this section that Replaced switches into LucasArts mode, as a surprise helping of those beloved ‘90s point-and-click adventures make their way into this world. Reach is thrown into a bustling town on the outskirts of Phoenix City that echoes the feel and fashion of Full Throttle, complete with seedy bars and unwelcoming characters to stumble into. It’s here that Replaced trades in the platforming and combat cocktail it initially serves up and instead asks you to walk, talk, and, if you so desire, help out its citizens through side missions.

I walked through its back alleys full of dodgy doctors and questionable figures asking for favours, and decided to help out a couple. One led me on a fetch quest to reclaim a pair of binoculars from a girl in a rundown arcade. Once I’d ripped an electrical component from a nearby machine in service of powering up one of the games, binoculars girl let me know that she’d only part with her telescopic goggles once I’d beaten her high score on the newly revived cabinet. So, unexpectedly, I found myself chasing big points on a very rudimentary arcade game that played like Crazy Taxi meets Operation. Then, binoculars finally in hand, I headed back to their original owner and was rewarded with an extra half a heart for my health meter.

I appreciate that while these optional objectives come with traditional bonuses such as improved medstims for use in combat, they also enrich your understanding of the world and the social and political dynamics at play within it. And so it’s the inclusion of these more open world-style hubs that makes for a complete package that feels, unexpectedly, as informed by Disco Elysium as much as it is old-school Ninja Gaiden. And I feel I’ve only just scratched the surface – beyond the playable demo, Sad Cat also showed me later sections of Replaced that offered a glimpse inside of Phoenix City’s walls, home to a hacking puzzle minigame and even social stealth elements involving blending into the crowd at busy road crossings to avoid looming security drones.

But no matter what you’re tasked with doing, it seems as if Replaced never loses sight of its slick style and rich tone grounded in a love for all things Blade Runner, all while letting that reverence permeate into every aspect of its design in interesting ways. I started my playthrough thinking I knew exactly what I was in for. I was wrong, but thankfully still ended it excited, knowing there’s still plenty left to discover when Replaced arrives for PC and Xbox on March 12.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

PlayStation will stream a major State of Play broadcast this week, featuring over an hour of news and reveals, including the latest updates from its own teams within PlayStation Studios.

The event will be held this Thursday, February 12 at 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern / 10pm UK time — and as ever, IGN will be reporting live.

Sony has said that the broadcast will run to "60+ minutes" — suggesting fans have a meaty show to look forward to. But what could PlayStation have up its sleeves?

Sony's last major State of Play broadcast, held back in September 2025, finally treated fans to a good look at Marvel's Wolverine, which is in development by the talented team behind the console's various Spider-Man titles: PlayStation studio Insomniac Games. Other games showcased included Saros, the next project from Returnal studio Housemarque, as well as third-party titles such as Battlefield 6 and Nioh 3.

The company then held a smaller-scale State of Play in November 2025 focused solely on Japanese titles, and it was here we got a look at Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, Elden Ring Nightreign expansion The Forsaken Hollows, Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, and more.

PlayStation fans will certainly be keen to see more of Wolverine and Saros, and potentially discover a release date for the former. We're also likely to see something of Bungie's long-delayed Marathon, which will finally arrive on March 5 — less than a month away.

Saros has already been dated for April 30, though currently all we know for certain of Wolverine's arrival is that he'll land in the second half of this year. (With GTA 6 due on November 16, it'll likely be earlier, and well clear of that.) Last week, a tease from Insomniac Games hinted at Wolverine meeting Daredevil in the game. And, of course, we just got a first look at multiplayer Horizon spin-off Hunters Gathering. Perhaps we'll get more news on early play sessions?

Third-party games set for PS5 in the coming months include Capcom's Monster Hunter Stories 3 and Pragmata, which just got a showing in Nintendo's Partner Direct, Square Enix's climactic Life is Strange Reunion, Hitman developer IO Interactive's 007 First Light and Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight from Warner Bros. Games.

The confirmation of a State of Play this week will mean that all three major platform holders will have held some form of announcement broadcast within the first six weeks of 2026 — though Nintendo fans still hope there is a dedicated first-party Nintendo Direct also waiting in the wings with more news on the company's own games (and perhaps a new 3D Mario).

For now, though, join us here on IGN for all of the news and reveals from this week's State of Play in just a few days.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Epic Games has hit back at claims it made "provably incorrect statements" about controversial horror game Horses, and instead insisted it was transparent with developer Santa Ragione about its inability to sell the game via the Epic Games Store as planned.

Horses, the indie horror game banned from both Steam and the Epic Games Store ahead of its launch in December 2025, is an indie first-person horror game with live-action sequences set in a horse farm. Over the course of 14 days, it "welcomes you into encounters that test your obedience, complicity, and restraint." The player experiences "the farm's unspeakable horrors through daily unique interactions," as they must "withstand 14 days of spiraling dread as the reality of the farm unfolds."

Horses was first banned from Steam two years ago after the team submitted an in-progress prototype. While some feedback was provided, Santa Ragione insists that no specifics were shared with the team at the time, nor was there an opportunity to appeal. It was banned again in December due to its disturbing imagery, and while violent and sexual content is hardly new for either Steam or Epic, Santa Ragione took issue with what it deemed to be censorship, calling for "clearer rules, transparent processes, and meaningful accountability from near monopolistic distribution platforms and the systems they enforce."

Fast-forward to this past weekend, and Santa Ragione posted a statement refuting Epic VP Steve Allison's comment that said "we love [its] studio," blasting the firm for "refus[ing] to provide details supporting their claims," and accusing Epic of making "provably incorrect statements about the game's content."

"Epic made provably incorrect statements about the game’s content, refused to provide details supporting their claims, and has not shared their claimed AO IARC certificate, which normally includes a link for the developer to appeal," the studio posted in response to an interview with Game File. "They do not ‘love that studio’, they have effectively ghosted us."

"The fact that the game does not deserve an AO rating is apparent from the widely available full walkthroughs on YouTube and Twitch, as well as from its distribution on the Humble Store."

Epic Games, however, has remained adamant that the game violated the Epic Games Store’s Content Guidelines. In a statement to IGN, Epic Games' senior communications manager, Brian Sharon, said: "Our team played the game and found it violated the Epic Games Store’s Content Guidelines, specifically the 'Inappropriate Content' and 'Hateful or Abusive Content' policies.

"We did a secondary check by filling out the ratings questionnaire for the game ourselves and the content got an Adults Only (AO) rating — which we do not allow on the Store. Because this wasn’t an official submission, we do not have a certificate to share with the team. We did give the developers context around the policies they violated. When they appealed, we reviewed the content again, and let them know the decision was appropriately applied and will remain in place."

Despite the distribution issues, Horses has managed to sell over 18,000 copies. Though that's not enough for the publisher to fund a new game, it says it has been able to generate $65,000 in net revenue by mid-December, which was enough to pay off loans and settle royalties owned to creator Andrea Lucco Borlera. Our own reviewer gave it a 7/10, calling it "an affecting first-person horror game that, despite some repetitive tasks and signposting issues, delivers a harrowing story you won’t forget in a hurry."

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner has reacted to Ubisoft's cancelation of its Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, which was scrapped last month seemingly within touching distance of launch.

Writing on his personal blog, Mechner described the loss of any project as a "brutal experience" for developers — who have in some cases spent years of their life working on something that now will never see the light of day.

While not discussing the Sands of Time Remake specifically, Mechner said the experience of having game canceled was particularly tough on those who had invested long hours into their work in the expectation their sacrifices would eventually be worth it, and for younger team members who had spent years on a game they can now no longer show off on their resumé, as their work remains unreleased.

"My sympathy goes to the development team in Montreal; I can only imagine how they must feel," Mechner wrote. "Having a project killed is a brutal experience. It's an aspect of the game industry that the public doesn't often see, but developers are all too familiar with.

"A cancelation so close to release can be particularly devastating for younger team members who don't have decades of past shipped titles on their resumé. It's tough to suddenly absorb that the past four years of hard work you were proud of, and looking forward to seeing out in the world as your new calling card, will now never see daylight.

"Words like loss and grieving might seem exaggerated," he concluded, "but artists put their hearts into their work. Memories of nights and weekends spent in studio crunch instead of at home with loved ones, sacrifices that felt worth it at the time, only add to the pain retrospectively once their object ceases to exist."

Ubisoft confirmed it had canned the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake last month as part of a wider reorganization that featured layoffs at three development studios, the closure of two more, and the shutdown of five other game projects. A swathe of other, unnamed games were also delayed — reportedly including Ubisoft's unconfirmed but widely-expected Assassin's Creed: Black Flag remake.

For its part, Ubisoft told Prince of Persia fans that despite six years of work, its Sands of Time remake was still too far away from being ready to fund any further — despite the suggestion from other reporting that the game had been nearing release. "We weren't able to reach the level of quality you deserve," Ubisoft said in a statement to fans, "and continuing would have required more time and investment than we could responsibly commit."

Subsequently, actress Eman Ayaz — who is widely-believed to have been playing the game's major role of Farah — said she had "filmed marketing" as recently as November last year, and had now lost three years' worth of work. "Sadly the entertainment industry isn't just about entertainment," Ayaz said, "it's about guaranteeing a cash flow. And that means making decisions that treat people's lives as collateral damage, and art as disposable content... This project existed, even if the world never got to see it.

Last week, Ubisoft confirmed to IGN that a collectible dagger which popped up for sale online was indeed a Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake promotional item, albeit from back in 2020. It's still unclear how the dagger has surfaced now.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Overwatch — the game formerly known as Overwatch 2 — is enjoying something of a revival right now, hitting its highest concurrent peak on Steam since its 2022 launch.

While the game has yet to enter its "new, story-driven era" with a year-long narrative, 10 new heroes, and a major overhaul — all that goes live starting from tomorrow, February 10, although we did get to meet Anran over the weekend — the promise of new content has fans jumping back into the game after Overwatch 2 ditched the 2 last week, leaving us with the name Overwatch. Again.

SteamCharts suggests the game averaged a concurrent peak of around 40,000 since November, albeit with a 50K peak in December. In the last 30 days, however, this has shot up to 69,135 players, making February 2026 the busiest month for Overwatch since its launch, which saw a peak of 75,361 people. That's an almost 11% increase and we're not even halfway through the month yet.

Announced last week at the Overwatch Spotlight, Blizzard revealed its first year-long storyline, The Reign of Talon, which will focus on the antagonistic faction Talon as it takes over around the world, while Overwatch continues to fight back. In-game events, hero trailers, animated comics, short stories, and map updates will tell a story across six seasons rolled out throughout the entire year, beginning with the launch of five new heroes on February 10 as the new season begins.

On the Talon side, new heroes will include Domina (tank), Emre (damage), and Mizuki (support), and on Overwatch we'll get Anran (damage) — who some of us met over the weekend — and Jetpack Cat (support). More heroes will join in the future, with a new hero added in each of Season 2-6 to come. A new story arc is planned to begin with another Season 1 in 2027.

We're also getting a Hello Kitty-themed in-game event from February 10-23, a new Meta Event called Conquest, where players choose to align with either Overwatch or Talon over five weeks to compete for rewards including lootboxes, skins, and titles. There's also a major UI and UX overhaul with a new hero lobby and a promise of faster navigation on the way.

As we summarized last week, it's no surprise Blizzard is looking for a fresh start for its beleaguered hero shooter. The sequel stumbled out of the gate, and while it saw a massive surge of players at the start, those numbers dropped in the following year. As time went on, user reviews complained about a number of issues such as monetization and controversies around the cancellation of the game's long-awaited PvE Hero mode. In fact, this isn't even the first major overhaul Blizzard has announced.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The actor behind the English language version of the newly revealed Overwatch hero, Anran, has responded to criticism of her visual design, supporting calls for her look to be changed, claiming, “this is a hill worth dying on.”

Last week’s Overwatch spotlight saw the introduction of a new era for Blizzard’s hero shooter, but, with it, came the reemergence of an issue that’s followed the design of its characters around for many years now: “Same Face Syndrome.” The look of Overwatch’s female heroes has long been a talking point among fans, some of whom have claimed that the characters all share remarkably similar facial features, no matter where that character is from in this universe. Indeed, fans have said this applies to Swedish shield-bearer Brigitte, Japanese healer Kiriko, and the Martian support, Juno.

Now, with five new heroes joining the team imminently, fans say Blizzard is adding another familiar face to that list, in the shape of Anran, a fiery damage dealer from China. Having played with Anran quite a bit over the weekend, I can confirm she’s very fun to play as, but there’s no getting away from the fact that you could swap her face with almost any other female member of the roster, and not instantly notice a difference.

This has led to many members of the Overwatch community raising their concerns about the lack of variety in how Blizzard designs its female characters, and whether unrealistic beauty standards are being portrayed in a game with an otherwise positive message. It’s even something that's led the English voice actor for Anran, Fareeha, to weigh in with her thoughts on the backlash.

I'm the voice of Anran in Overwatch!!! 🧡

I held off on posting about this because I wanted to make sure I could do this discussion justice. Here's a shot at that!

Let's keep rooting for the version of her that could be. I hope you have so much fun playing her!! 🔥🪭 pic.twitter.com/jbFbKHPVpb

— Fareeha (@AskFareeha) February 8, 2026

“I’m going to be so honest”, Fareeha said in a video posted on social media. “I’m nervous about this video, because I didn’t want to not address the elephant in the room, but I didn’t want to step on the devs’ toes or speak on their behalf because it’s a tightrope in my mind in trying to honor the community and everyone’s criticism, because I agree, and also give grace to the developers because they’re always trying their best in the situation they’re in.”

Anran had been teased as a playable hero in Overwatch for a short while before her release, after appearing in a comic and cinematic alongside her brother, Wuyang. But curiously, fans say she looked different in those earlier published looks, which begs the question why her face now appears to fit the more uniform Overwatch look in-game.

“I got to mourn Anran, between the design that I had hoped for for her, and the design we ended up with," Fareeha continued. “Because I think in her comic and the cinematic, there was a precedent set by it. There was an unspoken promise that said ‘we’re going to challenge the beauty standards that are plaguing and ransacking media these days.’ Right? The Ozempic chic, the ‘contour your nose’, ‘you have no nose’, ‘the tiniest nose’. And I think because of that precedent, people feel understandably let down.

rhinoplasty, eye lift, jaw shave, botox, cheek filler, facial bone surgery, gastric bypass surgery, face lift, lip filler, buccal fat removal pic.twitter.com/f4OAgIquGg

— Sasha 🔨 Torbjörn CEO (@torbillionare) February 4, 2026

“Overwatch is a trailblazer at challenging that, right? Of trying to break those molds, of trying to explore the bounds of what it means to be good, what it looks like to be heroic. And I think the result we got says something else. It says something that leaves a bad taste in our mouths. It’s not the bold, optimistic swing that we know Overwatch to make. It’s a look that isn’t congruent with her personality, right?. She looks like the younger sibling. She looks more docile, somehow, as a fire hero, she looks more docile than the most docile peacekeeping support in the game.”

Ever since this new look was revealed, fans of the game have been taking to social media to present their redesigns and suggestions as to how to give Anran a different look, which is something Fareeha said she had seen, appreciated and encouraged.

“I’ve been seeing everyone’s redesigns, and quietly bookmarking them, but I wanted you to hear that this concern is important," Fareeha stated. “This is a hill worth dying on. It's worth speaking on, because I believe the more we speak up about the things that truly matter to us, the more we’ll see ourselves reflected in the world around us. The more we’ll see our values in the world around us.

“I want you to know that I shared all of this with the dev team. Not only that, I was encouraged to be as open and honest as possible and to not hold anything back. And, it’s my hope that this isn’t for naught, right? That they see it, they hear it from you all, too. While it’s not my decision to decide what can be done and what gets done about this, I will keep championing for the version of her that we all wished for, and I want you to do the same, with boldness, with kindness, and with ‘hopium’. Because Overwatch is not an exploration of what the world is, it’s an exploration of what the world could be.”

I got chills looking at this omg
GORGEOUS ❤️‍🔥 https://t.co/omwie4G8gV

— Fareeha (@AskFareeha) February 8, 2026

Time will tell if Anran does receive an alteration to realign her look with what was originally conceived, or, indeed, if any future female heroes added to Overwatch’s roster manage to avoid the now-dreaded “same face syndrome”. We've reached out to Blizzard for comment on Anran's design.

What did you think of all of the news and updates coming to Overwatch now that it’s getting rid of the “2”? Let us know in the comments if you’re ready to jump back in!

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski has said that his scrapped BioShock film adaptation would have somehow included both of the original game's endings to mess with the audience's heads.

Verbinski was attached to make a movie version of the beloved game back in 2008 alongside Universal Studios, with a script in place from Gladiator and Skyfall scribe John Logan.

Alas, the project never materialized due to lengthy wrangling over its planned $200 million budget — deemed risky due to it also aiming for an adults-only R rating. Verbinski has previously said the movie came within eight weeks of shooting, before plans faltered. Work continued to try and get the film financed for several more years, though BioShock creator Ken Levine confirmed the project had been fully cancelled by 2013.

"I loved this project when we were getting close to making it at Universal," Verbinski has said now, discussing the project in a reddit Q&A. "I was going to dive deeply into the Oedipal aspect and definitely keep it hard R with the Little Sisters, and the 'choices' the protagonist makes... and the consequences.

"I had worked out a way with writer John Logan to have both endings and I was looking forward to bringing that to the big screen and really f***ing with people's heads," he continued. "[We] had some great designs for the Big Daddies and the entire underwater demented art-deco aesthetic. Every year I hear something about the project, but I'm not sure any studio is quite willing to go where I was headed."

The original BioShock has two endings, based on the player's choices to either rescue or sacrifice the game's Little Sisters — and the two very different outcomes you get based on your level of mercy. The game's 'happy' ending — seen if you rescue every Little Sister — rewards the hero with a long life and the surviving sisters present on his eventual deathbed. However, if you harvest any Little Sister, your character is shown instead having influenced Rapture's citizens to believe that power is all that matters. An ominous final cutscene then shows what looks to be a nuclear submarine being taken over in an attack.

The two endings are pretty different, then — a long and happy life or potential nuclear apocalypse — and it's unclear exactly how Verbinski's movie would have shown both. Could one have been a dream sequence, showing what might have been the alternative outcome? Or would the movie have presented audiences with two possible futures, and left viewers unclear as to which actually played out?

The later BioShock Infinite played on the multiverse theory ("there's always a lighthouse"!) but it's worth pointing out that this was still years away at the point of Verbinski being involved. Still, it's fun to ponder how an adaptation might treat the game's two endings now. Especially as plans to adapt BioShock have since resumed — with Netflix now involved in a potential adaptation.

Netflix announced plans for a fresh adaptation back in 2022, though recent years have seen the project stall again, as cuts changed the scope of the movie, necessitating changes to its script. In September 2025, producer Roy Lee confirmed the project is still in active development, with director Francis Lawrence on board to direct after finishing his work on the forthcoming The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

"It's a tricky adaptation, so there's lots of things to figure out and to get right," Lawrence told IGN previously. "There's regime changes at Netflix, and so things stall out and get re-energized and stall out and get re-energized, and I think we're in a pretty good place, honestly."

Back in the world of video games, 2K confirmed last summer that it had overhauled the similarly long-awaited BioShock 4, which has been in development for the last decade. Amid layoffs and a further delay to the project's release, former Gears of War head and Diablo franchise lead Rod Fergusson will now oversee the project. Fergusson will also head up the game's development studio Cloud Chamber, as it attempts to finally wrestle the project to release.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

More details of the unannounced Rayman remake have bubbled up again, this time from the creator of Rayman himself, Michel Ancel.

In a new interview with RetroGamer, Ancel discussed the secret project, confirming that rather than a remaster that simply presents the same game with slightly snazzier visuals, the re-release — which Ancel calls a "remake" — will also address some of the original platformer's pain-points, including additional checkpoints to "make it a bit less frustrating."

"I think Rayman is still a fun game, and there's a lot of content," Ancel said in the interview that was shared by fan account, Rayman Merchandise. "The pacing is a bit slow because you have a big character on the screen. It also has pixel-precise gameplay, so it's not always easy, but it's interesting that the constraints of yesterday make it still feel original today. Even though it's complex, I think there's a kind of remake planned."

NEWS: Series creator Michel Ancel reveals in a new Retro Gamer article that Rayman 1 will be receiving an HD rerelease! This follows previous reports of a "Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition" being rated. (I apologize for the new post; my prior post was incorrectly worded) pic.twitter.com/jzKlTg6on3

— Rayman Merchandise (@raymanmerch) February 7, 2026

"I don't remember when specifically, but it will be in HD and I think Ubisoft is adding a few more checkpoints and things like that just to make it a bit less frustrating. I think it's a nice move, because that's the only point that could be a problem for non-skilled players. But yeah, I think it's still a very nice game."

It's an extraordinary insight given the project hasn't officially been confirmed by Ubisoft yet, but it does make sense, as we were told late last year that Ubisoft is set to celebrate all things Rayman as it prepares to mark the series' 30th anniversary, including information about the "future" of the series. At the time, the official Rayman X/Twitter account had long been dormant, but last September, however, it was resurrected to bring us up to speed on what's happening in Rayman's world.

"Rayman turns 30! Join us on our official channels to celebrate an incredible legacy," the account exclaimed at the time, attaching a brief video. In the video, brand producer Loic Gounon — who has been working on the Rayman franchise since 2006 — revealed that "a very talented team at Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Milan are currently working together on the future of Rayman."

Back in October 2024, Ubisoft confirmed a new Rayman project was currently in the "exploration phase" at its Montpelier and Milan studios, after it was reported that Ancel had been contacted to act as a consultant.

Ubisoft began this year by announcing a sizable company restructure, resulting in the cancelation of six games, including its Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, and a delay to a further seven titles. Two Ubisoft studios will close completely as a result of the changes, while others are subject to further layoffs.

Of the half-dozen games that have been fully scrapped, Ubisoft only publicly named one: its long-awaited Sands of Time remake that had been rebooted once already. Three of the other canceled games were new IPs, while one was a mobile game. We've received no specific details of the seven titles that Ubisoft has delayed, either, though this number does include the unannounced game once set for launch before March 31 that is widely expected to be the company's Assassin's Creed: Black Flag remaster. This will now launch in the coming financial year — so before March 31, 2027. With Ubisoft's core focus going forward being open-world and live-service games, it's not clear how — if at all — a Rayman remake fits into those plans.

Ubisoft quietly released an NFT game featuring Rayman at the end of 2024, of course. Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. was barely advertised or given the kind of showy spotlight reserved for major releases, quite possibly because it's a Web 3 game that uses cryptocurrency and blockchain. A top-down multiplayer shooter available on PC, it featured a number of Ubisoft characters, including Rayman.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Microsoft's bid to release next-generation Xbox hardware in 2027 represents a "best case scenario," a fresh report has claimed, with the company not yet fully committed to a launch next year.

Last week, AMD boss Lisa Su appeared to suggest that Microsoft's long-held plans for another Xbox generation could be as little as a year away, after saying that its work on a chip for the console was "progressing well to support a launch in 2027."

Now, a new report by Windows Central has stated that Microsoft itself was a "little taken off-guard" by the commentary from Su, as it is still to fully commit to a 2027 launch of new Xbox consoles internally.

"From a product standpoint, Valve is on-track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year, and development of Microsoft's next-gen Xbox featuring an AMD semi-custom SoC is progressing well to support a launch in 2027," Su said during AMD's latest financial results briefing. (Here, SoC means 'system-on-a-chip' — the integrated circuit that essentially houses most of a computer's components.)

But while that may sound nailed on, Windows Central's report now states that Microsoft's console division is still waiting on further improvements to Windows 11, on which the next generation Xbox's operating system will be based, before fully planning a launch in 2027. As such, next year remains a "best case scenario" — but only if a polished experience is possible at that time.

Back in 2024, Xbox president Sarah Bond said Microsoft was "moving full speed ahead on our next generation hardware, focused on delivering the biggest technological leap ever in a generation." A year later, the company publicly confirmed its partnership with AMD on its next-generation Xbox project.

Microsoft's next console is expected to allow players to run games from multiple storefronts as well as its own, similar to the Xbox ROG Ally handheld. Both Steam and Epic Game Store support seems likely, and in a new interview with Game File, the company's store boss Steve Allison said the Fortnite maker was keen to show up as soon as possible.

"We definitely plan to be on the new hardware for Xbox, because, unless their policy or stance on it changes, [Microsoft] are telling us they're going to welcome that," Allison said. "And we're going be there, like, on day one. That will probably require us to build in whatever their requirements are, some sort of software to support that."

Should Microsoft launch its next-gen hardware later than 2027, it could still debut before the PlayStation 6. A recent analyst report suggested that Sony was considering a delay to the arrival of its own next-gen console beyond 2028, in a bid to lengthen the PlayStation 5 lifecycle.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

If Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has been on your list to jump into, but you missed out on the holiday sales price drops, we have good news: Amazon's currently offering its PS5 version for just $29.99 on both PS5 and Xbox (see it here). What a thrill, indeed.

When it was first released, Metal Gear Solid Delta was listed for $69.99, so this deal makes for 57% in savings overall. For a game we consider to be one of the best video game remakes of all time, that's a discount worth making a move on. Head to the link below to scoop it up for your PlayStation or Xbox library while the deal is still available.

Alongside the base game, this version also includes the Sneaking DLC Pack, which comes with an array of gear for Snake to wear in the game. Here's everything included:

• Uniform: Battle Dress (PW ver.)​
• Uniform: Sneaking Suit (PW ver.)​
• Uniform: Crocodile Suit​
• Uniform: Naked (Woodland)​
• Uniform: Naked (Ammunition Belt)
• Uniform: Gold
• Face: Glasses
• Face: Sunglasses
• Equipment: Kerotan Mask
• Equipment: GA-KO Mask

What is it that makes Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater stand out as one of the best video game remakes of all time, though? Well, it "collects together years of improvements and enhances them all with incredibly glossy modern graphics and an updated control system that finally turns Snake into the nimble operator he was always meant to be."

Our review from IGN's Michael Higham also highlighted that, "Between its old-school stealth-action gameplay and engaging spy-thriller story, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater largely succeeds as a faithful, visually impressive remake of the 2004 classic." If you've been on the hunt for a thrilling adventure to keep you occupied this winter, Snake Eater can provide. And what better time to grab it than when it's on sale, too?

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

Pokémon's promised ad spot at the Super Bowl just aired, and in it we got a glimpse into the Pokémon preferences of celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Trevor Noah, Charles Leclerc, and more.

The minute-long ad shows Lady Gaga, Trevor Noah, Formula One racer Charles Leclerc, singer Jisoo, actor Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Spanish football (soccer, for the Americans) player Lamine Yamal and rapper Young Miko all describing their favorite Pokémon before eventually revealing them.

Lady Gaga (of course) picked Jigglypuff, and Jigglypuff even did a brief little duet with her singing its signature song. Trevor Noah prefers Psyduck, Leclerc chooses Arcanine, Jisoo picks Eevee, Ramakrishnan chooses Luxray, Yamal picks Zygarde, and Young Miko's partner is Gengar. Shockingly, The Pokémon Company managed not to put Pikachu in this ad anywhere (except in the logo, of course)!

The ad ends with all the celebrities asking the audience, "What's your favorite?" This question is the start of a year-long campaign put on by The Pokémon Company in celebration of its 30th anniversary. In addition to the ad, The Pokémon Company is kicking things off by introducing a new camera feature to Pokémon GO (which is somehow ten years old this year!) that allows users to participate in the campaign.

Additionally, The Pokémon Company has promised various events, including "Day Out" and "Night Out" experiences designed for fans to celebrate Pokémon, with daytime events more family-focused and nighttime events more for adults who grew up with the series. The Pokémon Company has also already announced other celebratory events, such as a themed TCG collection and Pokémon LEGO sets.

I've got mates who bounced off most full price games this year, not because they are bad, but because they ask for too much too soon. Time, patience, and a premium that assumes blind trust. My lists are the opposite of that. Below are the games that make sense now. They've (mostly) been patched, balanced, and priced into something honest. You know what they are, they know what they are, and the deal is finally fair on both sides. The only real maybe here is Alone in the Dark (but, hey, it's cheap).

Contents

• Retro
• Nintendo
• Xbox
• PlayStation
• PC
• LEGO

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I’m using a firebrand sword’s blazing jab to light 14 candles on a cake baked for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a promising action RPG that went the way of dodos and discos. It was a money thing. Combat had snap, spells landed with weight, and the Destiny system let you reshuffle builds without punishment. It felt flexible at a time when RPGs were still weirdly precious about commitment.

Reckoning reviewed well and found an audience, but not a big enough one to repay the ambitious EA Games loan behind it, and that reality shut down 38 Studios before sequels could turn promise into a proper series. That still stings. The recent remaster does not rewrite history, but it does preserve a game that deserved more time, more trust, and frankly, another swing.