Fortnite continues to be extremely weird in its new season. The battle royale game is returning to a heist theme for Chapter 6: Season 2, which has been dubbed “Lawless.” Players will be able to break into bank vaults, rob armored cars, and even perform robberies on the train that services the island. Also, there’s a giant pickle that raps.

After a Japanese-inspired season, Lawless looks like it’s taking cues from games like Grand Theft Auto. In addition to all of the robbery, there are also a handful of new locations, including an urban locale simply called Crime City. Other new features include: gold water that gives you powers when you swim in it; a fictional crypto currency that you can buy gear with but resets after each match; black markets for buying high-end weapons; a scanner for detecting where enemies are; and a mob boss who apparently likes to show up in the middle of a heist. Also new is the ability to have a specific song playing when you drop onto the map and win a match, as if you were a professional wrestler.

Here’s how the new season’s map plays out:

For those who pick up this season’s battle pass, there’s a crew of thematically appropriate criminals, as well as the aforementioned pickle — known as Big Dill — and, for some reason, Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat. A series of Cowboy Bebop quests will also appear in-game starting March 1st, while outfits of the characters Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine will appear in the item shop on February 28th.

Lawless runs from today until May 2nd. And while the battle royale updates are always Fortnite’s biggest draw, the game has also been expanding quite a bit in other ways over the last few months. That includes adding local multiplayer to its music mode, a new Counter-Strike-style shooter mode, and a Lego social game inspired by GTA roleplaying.

Those little Among Us beans are being transported to a new dimension. Developer Innersloth has announced a new game called Among Us 3D, which is exactly what it sounds like: the hit multiplayer deduction game, but played in a three-dimensional world from a first-person perspective.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what the VR version of the game was when it launched in 2022. 3D will make that experience playable without the need for a headset. With the launch of Among Us 3D, the VR version will be rebranded, and the new release will unite players across both PC and VR through cross-play.

The studio says that this “will allow Steam PC users to join cross-platform lobbies with VR players on Meta Quest, Steam VR, PlayStation VR 2, and PICO.”

It’s not clear yet when the 3D game will be launching, but the studio says that it’s coming soon on Steam. A demo will be available as part of Steam Next Fest on Monday. And while the original 2D version of Among Us will still exist, there will be no cross-play between it and the first-person edition.

As part of the announcement, Innersloth also revealed a new in-game currency called “stardust,” which will be used to buy cosmetics in Among Us 3D. The studio specified that the currency won’t be used for purchasing any actual game modes or features. Here’s the full roadmap for what has been announced so far:

One of Apple’s next big sci-fi shows has a premiere date. The company announced that its adaptation of Murderbot, based on the novels by Martha Wells, will debut on Apple TV Plus with two episodes on May 16th. The season finale will stream on July 11th.

The show will star Alexander Skarsgård in the titular lead role, a “self-hacking security construct who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients.” According to the official tagline, “Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe.”

In addition to the date, Apple also revealed the first images of Skarsgård as the bot, both with a helmet on and without:

The comedy series is being helmed by brothers Chris and Paul Weitz (who previously codirected About a Boy and worked together on the original American Pie), with David S. Goyer, the former showrunner on Apple’s ambitious adaptation of Foundation, serving as an executive producer. The rest of the cast includes Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and Tamara Podemski.

Of course, Murderbot is just part of a growing list of science fiction on Apple TV Plus, which also includes recently wrapped shows like Silo, as well as Severance, which is in the midst of its second season. Other upcoming adaptations include a series based on William Gibson’s cyberpunk classic Neuromancer.

It’s almost time to touch down on Arrakis. Developer Funcom announced that its upcoming multiplayer survival game Dune: Awakening will be launching on Steam on May 20th. But there are a pair of apps launching today that will help tide you over until you can drink the blood of your enemies.

First up is the character creator, which appears to take the form of the infamous Gom Jabbar test. According to the developer, you’ll not only be able to set how your character looks but also choose “your home planet, caste, and mentor, be it Swordmaster, Bene Gesserit, Mentat, or Trooper,” which, in turn, will impact the abilities you have to start the game. Your choices can then carry over when the full game launches.

Also available today is a benchmark mode, which lets players test their systems to see if they can handle the game. Funcom says that players will be “treated to some epic scenes from the game, including soaring with an ornithopter and a dramatic encounter with a colossal sandworm.” Both the benchmark tool and the character creator are available via Steam for free.

HBO has narrowed down exactly when the second season of The Last of Us will debut. Today the network announced that season 2 will kick off on April 13th on both HBO and Max; previously we only knew it would appear some time in April. It’s been a long time coming, as the show’s debut season wrapped up back in 2023.

Season 2 will follow the second game in the series — or at least part of it. Previously, co-creator Craig Mazin explained that the story of The Last of Us Part II will take multiple seasons to cover completely, and as a result season 2 will be a little shorter than the first, with a total of seven episodes. The new season takes place five years later, and will introduce a handful of new cast members, most notably Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and Isabela Merced as Dina, both of whom play a pivotal role in the second game.

Today’s news was also accompanied by a trio of character posters, but if you’re looking for a better idea of what to expect, there’s always the debut trailer.

Boredom is something of a dying concept. Our phones, filled with games and videos and social feeds, allow us to fill every moment with something, whether we’re on a long flight or in line for 30 seconds waiting for coffee. But the silly and playful While Waiting is a good reminder that that can be a good thing — an opportunity for our minds to wander in unexpected directions.

Possibly the best way to describe While Waiting is that it’s what would happen if WarioWare also tried to tell the story of a human life. Which means that it’s a collection of extremely short, often weird minigames that all fit together to follow the story of a singular character through moments of waiting. It starts right from the beginning: the first thing you’re asked to do is wait to be born.

From there, you jump through time via idle moments. You have to wait for the commercials to end while watching a show with your parents, or wait to fall asleep while lying in bed, or wait for the water to heat up to take a shower. In each instance, you can simply wait and do nothing, and eventually, time will pass and whatever you’re waiting for will happen. But this is a game, after all, so you can als …

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Apple TV Plus has steadily become the preeminent home of streaming sci-fi shows, and that reputation has really only grown over time. Silo just wrapped up its thrilling second season, Severance is back after a long hiatus, and promising adaptations of Neuromancer and The Murderbot Diaries are in the works. Even the service’s detective shows can pull off a compelling sci-fi twist. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Apple’s slate of genre films. The offerings are scant, and what is there is pretty dire. If Apple’s sci-fi shows evoke HBO, the movies are more direct-to-DVD. And the predictable and overlong new movie The Gorge doesn’t change that one bit.

The premise is at least intriguing. The Gorge stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy as two highly regarded snipers who are tasked with a mystery project. The titular gorge exists in an unnamed country, and each year, new soldiers, ones who have no attachments or life outside of their military careers, are recruited to spend 365 days doing… well, they don’t know at first.

The gorge is gigantic and filled with fog, and on either side, there are two watch towers, managed in secret by various governments. Eventuall …

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It’s going to be a hot vehicular combat summer: Peacock has announced that the second of Twisted Metal will start streaming later this year.

The show, which is an adaptation of a classic and long-dormant PlayStation series, premiered in the summer of 2023 and was renewed later that year. Season 1 was an origin story of sorts, starring Anthony Mackie as a delivery driver with amnesia, Stephanie Beatriz as his eventual partner, and Joe Seanoa and Will Arnett as the homicidal clown Sweet Tooth. The first season didn’t get into the combat tournament at the heart of the video games, but its finale did tease it — and it looks like season 2 will jump right in.

Here’s the official description:

Following the revelations in the season 1 finale, John and Quiet find themselves entering the deadly Twisted Metal tournament, a sinister demolition derby hosted by a mysterious man known as Calypso. As they try to survive an onslaught of dangerous new foes and familiar faces alike, including the murderous clown Sweet Tooth, things get complicated for John when he reunites with his long-lost sister, the vigilante Dollface.

Peacock hasn’t announced a specific date for when the second season will start streaming, aside from this summer.

We’re likely still a long way out from Bethesda’s next Elder Scrolls game. But that wait isn’t such a big deal when the Xbox has other excellent roleplaying games like Avowed. The latest from Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds developer Obsidian, Avowed doesn’t shake up the genre. It’s just a really solid fantasy RPG, one that keeps you pushing through with a combination of epic story, delightful companions, difficult decisions, and a true sense of adventure in a massive world.

The game puts you in the role of a godlike, a race of rare human-like creatures believed to have been blessed by — and thus are close to — the many gods that exist in this world. You’re immediately put to work investigating a deadly plague that is impacting a region known as The Living Lands. It’s an ecological disaster, slowly killing people (after it causes them to go mad) while also being responsible for everything from gigantic sinkholes to very angry bears. Avowed is actually a spinoff of Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity series, but it serves as a great entry point; I rarely found myself lost or confused, and there’s a handy glossary to help you with key names and places durin …

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Sony started out 2025 by sharing exactly what it has in store for the PlayStation 5 this year — or at least some of it. The company’s 40-minute-long State of Play event was missing big, expected names like Ghost of Yōtei and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Instead, it was focused on smaller titles like Q-Games’ Dreams of Another and the next entry in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise. We did get at least one big surprise with Saros, the next game from Returnal studio Housemarque.

If you missed it live, here are the highlights.

• Hell is Us launches on September 4th.
• Returnal studio Housemarque is back with a haunting new shooter
• PlayStation’s next remaster: Days Gone.
• This is like, the 70th night at Freddy’s.
• It was all a dream.
• Commencing operation Snake Eater — for real this time.
• A bloody new trailer.
• Wouldn’t Sonic be faster if he ran?
• Dave the Diver is getting a Like A Dragon crossover.
• More Borderlands 4.
• Swinging swords like Shinobi.
• A Wilds launch trailer.
• Will there be some Xbox in this PlayStation event?
• How to watch PlayStation’s State of Play for February 2025
• PlayStation starts its 2025 with a new State of Play

It’s still relatively early in the year, but 2025 has already been a pretty busy one for gaming announcements. Nintendo officially unveiled the next Switch (with more details on the way), Xbox had an impressive game-filled event, and now it’s Sony’s turn. The company is holding its semi-regular State of Play stream this afternoon, which will span 40 minutes.

Sony hasn’t detailed much of what we can expect, other than saying “the show celebrates a creative and unique selection of exciting games from studios around the world.” It will also be focused on games for the PS5, so VR fans are probably out of luck.

But even without official word on what will be there, there are some solid educated guesses we can make for what to expect. The samurai sequel Ghost of Yotei is arguably PlayStation’s biggest first-party exclusive for the year, so it’s likely to make an appearance. It also wouldn’t be out of the question to see games like Insomniac’s Wolverine and third-party titles like Death Stranding 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Less likely but still possible are the second trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI and the long-rumored remaster of FromSoftware’s Bloodborne.

How and when to watch the PlayStation State of Play for February 2025

The event itself takes place on February 12th at 2PM PT / 5PM ET | 11PM CET. It’ll be streaming live on both YouTube and Twitch, and in addition to the English broadcast, you can also watch in Japanese.

The Witcher is in a period of transition right now. While the live-action TV series is shifting to a new lead actor in the role of Geralt as it approaches its finale, the next game will switch things up even more, with Ciri as the protagonist. These are huge changes for the fantasy franchise. And before they happen, we have The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, an animated film that isn’t burdened with any of that. Instead, it’s a classic Witcher tale: monster hunting with equal parts action, humor, and tragedy.

Based on the short story “A Little Sacrifice,” Sirens of the Deep has Geralt (voiced by Doug Cockle, reprising the role from the games) and his bard pal Jaskier (Joey Batey) together in a seaside kingdom. At the outset, Geralt’s un-witcher-like sense of morality has them strapped for money after he refuses to kill a monster because it didn’t actually do anything wrong. So the pair make a deal: each will take on the next job that comes their way, no matter what it is. For Jaskier, it’s simple enough, as he ends up performing at a local festival. Geralt’s job is a lot more complicated: investigating a murder in hopes of preventing a war.

As it turns out, the kin …

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Netflix has a busy year of premieres ahead, but it might be most notable for what’s ending. As the streaming service continues to push into a new era full of live events, reality TV, and ad sales, it’s also saying goodbye to arguably its two biggest franchises, with both Stranger Things and Squid Game wrapping up in 2025. Once upon a time, tentpole hits like those series were pivotal for Netflix — people signed up for them and often unsubscribed when they went away.

But singular blockbusters aren’t as necessary for the company’s overall success any longer. And it’s possible we might not see anything quite like those two shows again.

Stranger Things wasn’t the first hit Netflix original series (that distinction belongs to House of Cards), but it was the first that pushed into mainstream culture in a big, sustained way. It was a reason to subscribe and something you couldn’t get away from; there are Stranger Things Halloween costumes and pet toys and Broadway shows. Even as the gaps between seasons became increasingly large, viewer interest still held strong: just ask Kate Bush, who was introduced to a whole new generation of fans thanks to season 4.

Squid Game to …

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One month into the year and Netflix is ready to detail its plans for 2025 — or at least, some of them. In a now-annual tradition, the streamer has outlined some of its biggest releases across film, television, and gaming.

And while plenty of the listed titles were already known, there are also some pleasant surprises. The movie lineup looks particularly strong, with Wake Up Dead Man — the next Knives Out mystery, following Glass Onion — and Guillermo del Toro’s take on Frankenstein both due out later this year. Meanwhile, some of the streamer’s most important properties are coming to an end with the final seasons of both Stranger Things (which still doesn’t have a premiere date) and Squid Game (which now does).

And while Stranger Things is ending, its creators, the Duffer brothers, did detail two projects they will have coming to Netflix in 2026: The Boroughs and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. (They also hinted that there are some Stranger Things spinoffs in the works, without getting into detail.)

As for what to expect this year, here are the highlights:

Film

• The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep — February 11th
• Plankton: The Movie — March 7th
• The Electric State — March 14th
• The Old Guard 2 — July 2nd
• Fear Street: Prom Queen — summer

• Frankenstein — November
• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery — fall
• RIP — fall
• Happy Gilmore 2 — 2025
• K-Pop: Demon Hunters — 2025

TV

• Cobra Kai season 6 (part 3) — February 13th
• Zero Day — February 20th
• Devil May Cry — April 3rd
• You season 5 — April 24th

• Squid Game season 3 — June 27th
• Black Mirror season 7 — 2025
• Department Q — 2025
• The Sandman season 2 — 2025
• Stranger Things season 5 — 2025
• The Witcher season 4 — 2025
• Wayward — 2025
• Wednesday season 2 — 2025

Games

While the lineup of (announced) games coming to Netflix is fairly small, there are two notable highlights: a mobile version of WWE 2K this fall to go along with the new deal between the two, and more Netflix Stories games (Netflix’s branding for interactive fiction) based on series like Ginny & Georgia, Sweet Magnolias, Love Is Blind, and Outer Banks.

It was a long three-year wait between the first seasons of Squid Game, but luckily, the finale is coming much faster. Netflix announced today that season 3 of Squid Game — which will also be the show’s last — will start streaming on June 27th.

That’s around six months after the long-awaited season 2 premiered on Netflix on December 26th of last year. The show, which has gone on to become Netflix’s biggest series, originally kicked off in 2021. There aren’t a lot of details for what viewers can expect in season 3, but Netflix did release a handful of images as part of the announcement, which show some of the survivors from last season’s bullet-soaked finale:

Of course, while the main show is ending this year, Netflix seems intent on keeping the Squid Game train moving along. So far, it has expanded the Squid Game universe with both a reality show and a multiplayer video game, and there are reports of a spinoff in the works from David Fincher.

A survival horror classic is getting a new life on PC — and it might be the first of many. PC games shop GOG announced the release of Dino Crisis and its sequel, which are both available starting today. Alongside the launch, the service also announced a new tool called “dreamlist,” with the goal of letting players vote on which old games that want to see hit the service next.

For the uninitiated, Dino Crisis is essentially Resident Evil with dinosaurs. That’s not an insult: the first game was directed by original Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami, so the two series have a lot in common. Dino Crisis features the same methodical, survival horror gameplay but with faster (and occasionally much bigger) enemies to contend with. GOG says the new port supports Windows 10 / 11 and includes updates like support for “~4K resolution” and modern gamepads. The two games can be purchased individually on GOG or as a bundle.

As for the dreamlist, GOG describes it as an enhanced version of its existing wishlist feature:

It’s a place where your memories meet action. You tell us what matters, and we work to make it happen. Each vote is a spark that inspires publishers to act. With the brand new design, it’s easier than ever to champion your favorites and make sure your voice is heard — because we believe that together we can keep the classics alive.

It’s a notable development given how inaccessible most classic games are; a 2023 report from the Video Game History Foundation claimed that 87 percent of games released before 2010 are “critically endangered.” Today’s news follows the launch of GOG’s preservation program last year, which aims to keep classic games playable and accessible, even if they’re no longer maintained by their original developer or publisher.

Watch this space to find some great indie games.

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At a glance, Lok Digital seems like another cute and clever word game, a perfect distraction to keep on your phone for idle moments. But look closer, and it’s clear something just isn’t right. Yes, it’s a game about creating words to fill out a puzzle board. Except those words aren’t actually real — and they all have special powers. Think of it like an alien take on Scrabble. It takes a while to wrap your head around, but Lok’s surreal setup makes for an excellent brain-scratching puzzler.

There is actually a story of sorts here. Lok takes place in a black-and-white fantasy realm, and your goal is to help little worm-like creatures progress through each level. The stages are grids of squares, and your goal is to turn each one black. (I have no idea how this helps the creatures move, but just stay with me here.) You turn them black by placing letters to spell out words. Completed words will black out squares, and certain words also have the ability to black out even more.

It sounds kind of weird at first, and that feeling is only exacerbated by the dictionary of words you’re working with. They are gibberish. The game eases you into this fictional language, though, slowly...

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The release of Fantasian on Apple Arcade in 2021 was meant to be an end to the illustrious career of Hironobu Sakaguchi — but it seems like he can’t stay away.

Fantasian was a return to Sakaguchi’s roots, a throwback roleplaying game from the creator of the Final Fantasy series, which added some innovative gameplay ideas and an incredibly charming world made of handcrafted dioramas. And in December, his Mistwalker studio released a new version dubbed Neo Dimension, which brought the game to more platforms and added new features like voice acting. It was even published by Final Fantasy company Square Enix. While Sakaguchi says he “intended Fantasian to be my final project before I retired,” he now wants to make another game in the same mold, one he hopes can be seen as “a successor to Final Fantasy VI.” The sixth Final Fantasy game is particularly notable as the last to feature pixel art before the series shifted to 3D.

Following the launch of Neo Dimension, I had the chance to ask Sakaguchi a few questions about making Fantasian, the enduring popularity of turn-based RPGs, and what comes next.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

There have obviously been a...

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After revealing its next Doom game last summer, id Software is almost ready to release it: the studio announced that Doom: The Dark Ages is launching on May 15th.

The news came as part of Xbox’s most recent Developer Direct livestream, which provided the best look yet at the prequel. As the name implies, The Dark Ages is set in a medieval fantasy realm and takes place long before the events of Doom Eternal and the franchise’s 2016 reboot. The developers say that the new game features a much bigger world with a larger emphasis on story — including plenty of cutscenes — but the most important changes appear to be with how The Dark Ages will play.

A big focus this time around is on melee combat. Since this is a Doom set in medieval times, that means players will get access to brutal new melee weapons like a spiked mace and iron flail. The scale of battles also seems to have ramped up. We already knew that players would get a mount in the form of a cybernetic dragon, but today’s reveal also showed off a skyscraper-sized mech suit so that the Doomslayer can fight enemies the size of kaiju.

Another big change is a greater emphasis on accessibility through a series of gameplay sliders. These let you adjust things like the game speed or parry timing, either ramping them up or down. Essentially, these options should give players the ability to really customize the experience, either making it more approachable or a whole lot harder. There are standard difficulty options as well.

Doom: The Dark Ages is coming to the PS5, Xbox, and PC when it launches in May.