After a significant delay and a rocky 2025, Bungie shared another look at Marathon at the February 2026 State of Play, reaffirming its March 5 release date with a weekend server slam.

The former Halo developer took to today's presentation to show off more of its sci-fi extraction shooter. Those excited to see how it lives up to the studio's legacy can hop in early as part of an upcoming server slam, which is scheduled to take place from February 26 through March 2.

"In Marathon, you’ll scavenge the lost colony of Tau Ceti as a bio-cybernetic Runner," Bungie said when describing its game in a PlayStation.Blog post. "Play with your crew, as a solo Runner, or form uneasy alliances with proximity chat* as you take on hostile security forces, rival Runners, and unpredictable environments. Complete contracts, craft new builds, and take on greater challenges—culminating with the derelict Marathon ship in orbit."

In a separate video, Bungie outlined exactly what the Marathon server slam grants access to and how participants will be rewarded. In addition to pre-launch access to the Perimeter and Dire March zones, as well as all six Runner Shells, players will be able to take on opening contracts for five factions.

Progress grants bonus loot at launch, including a standard arrival cache for completing the first mission, an enhanced arrival cache for reaching level 10, and a deluxe arrival cache for reaching level 30. Bungie also guaranteed access to a special emblem and player banner for server slam players. Meanwhile, PlayStation Plus subscribers can nab bonus weapon charms themed around Ghost of Yōtei, Death Stranding 2, and Helldivers 2 at launch.

Crystal Dynamics has revealed the first brand new Legacy of Kain game in over two decades. It's called Legacy of Kain: Ascendance, and it's out sooner than you'd think: on March 31, 2026. That's next month!

Ascendance is admittedly a bit different in genre and viewpoint than past Legacy of Kain games. It's a retro pixel sidescroller platformer starring four characters familiar to Legacy of Kain fans: Kain himself, two different forms of Raziel (vampire and human as leader of the Sarafan) and Elaleth, who thus far has only appeared in the graphic novels. Players will spend roughly equal time playing as all four characters.

In addition to retro pixel art, Ascendance also includes hand-drawn, anime-style cinematics, and some sections of art intended to invoke the PS1-era 3D style of the original games. Ascendance will be scored by electronic rock musician Celldweller, who recorded the companion soundtrack for graphic novel Soul Reaver: The Dead Shall Rise. Crystal Dynamics has also confirmed that the original voice actors for Kain, Raziel, Ariel, and Moebius will all be returning to their roles for the game.

Upon its March 31 release, Legacy of Kain: Ascendance will launch on PS5 and PS4, Switch and Switch 2, Xbox, and PC via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store.

If you're antsy to play something Legacy of Kain-related in the lead-up to Ascendance, Crystal Dynamics also announced today it would be releasing a remaster of Legacy of Kain: Defiance. What's more, the Deluxe Edition of the game will include a demo of the never-before-seen, cancelled Legacy of Kain 6, rumored to have been titled The Dark Prophecy.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Legacy of Kain: Defiance is finally getting the remaster it's long deserved, and in addition to a much nicer looking and playing game, those who purchase the Deluxe Edition will get to play a never-before-seen demo of the canceled sixth Legacy of Kain game, The Dark Prophecy.

Announced today, Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered will release on March 3, 2026 for PS5 and PS4, Switch and Switch 2, Xbox, and PC via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store. It's developed by Crystal Dynamics and PlayEveryWare, and per franchise general manager Matt McCloskey, is based heavily on "a digitization of this massive archive that we actually found in a closet at Crystal Dynamics San Mateo office."

This is a remaster, not a remake, but there's a lot to it. The graphics, lighting, cinematics, audio, and music player have all gotten a major touch-up, alongside the controls and HUD. New in this version is a third-person "floating" camera view, though you can toggle back to the original camera view if you prefer the old look. There's a new combat tutorial that's a little easier to access for newer players, a photo mode, a cheat menu, and some new localizations the original game didn't have.

The remaster will also feature a line-up of bonus content, including new collectibles, the addition of a number of previously cut lost levels, local level maps, an improved 3D lore map, and a bunch of player character skins. For purchasers of the Deluxe Edition, a comic book reader will also be available containing the Soul Reaver and Defiance comics.

But those who purchase the Deluxe Edition will also get access to something rather astonishing: a demo of a cancelled game. It's long been public knowledge that Crystal Dynamics was working on a sequel to Defiance back in 2003. Internally referred to as Legacy of Kain 6 and rumored to be subtitled "The Dark Prophecy", its existence and some details about it were leaked over time, but the game itself was cancelled before it could be formally announced. Crystal Dynamics has assembled a demo of that game from archived files, and made it available to play in the Deluxe Edition, giving a glimpse at a Legacy of Kain that could have been.

All of this will be available on March 3, leaving plenty of time to prepare for the release later that month of a brand new Legacy of Kain game, entitled Ascendance, which we also learned about today. This pair of releases marks a major revival for the franchise, as the last "new" game was the original Legacy of Kain: Defiance over two decades ago in 2003 (which we gave an 8/10 all those years ago!), and the only release since has been Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered in 2024.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

At today's Sony State of Play broadcast, Rayman finally emerged from his long, long slumber with the announcement of the Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition, a fresh celebration of Ubisoft's classic platformer that you'll be able to play this week.

Ubisoft has dubbed this new release of the game as its "definitive edition," as it contains no less than five versions of the original Rayman as released across various classic consoles. You'll be able to leap through 120 additional levels, too!

For those who want to fully immerse themselves in nostalgia, the package contains an exclusive documentary detailing Rayman's original creation. And here's the best news yet: it's all available tomorrow, February 13.

We haven't seen Ubisoft's bouncy boy Rayman in quite a while. His last few games have been confined to mobile-only releases or weird spin-offs, and his last proper new console game was Rayman Legends way, way back in 2013. Which is a shame, because Rayman Legends was excellent, earning a 9.5/10 from us.

Could an all-new game also be on the cards? While we didn't hear anything on that today, this classic release could set that up nicely. Rayman creator Michel Ancel has previously teased more from the fanchise is coming (and also rather pre-empted today's announcement of a Rayman remake, too).

For much more, catch up with everything announced during Sony's State of Play broadcast right here.

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

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and Vince Zampella, co-creator of the Call of Duty, Infinity Ward, and Respawn Entertainment, apparently discussed an "FPS version of Metal Gear" sometime after Metal Gear Solid 4 came out.

This comes from Kojima himself, speaking via pre-recorded video at the DICE Summit 2026 in Las Vegas in a tribute to Zampella, who passed away in December at the age of 55. As a part of the conference's keynotes, industry luminaries including Kojima, Phil Spencer, Geoff Keighley, Todd Howard, Laura Miele, and others spoke at length about Zampella's contributions to the industry as well as their personal relationships with him.

Kojima appeared several times in the video to speak about Zampella. In one of his segments, he said, "I've kept this quiet for a long time but after Metal Gear Solid 4 came out, we actually talked about making an FPS version of Metal Gear."