Jesse Lennox

It’s time to brush up on your Simlish if it’s rusty because the long-awaitedThe Sims 5, aka Project Rene, is officially on the way. This has been the longest gap between main entries since the series began, and while we did get tons of expansions for The Sims 4 to hold us over, plus the change to it becoming free to play, we’re more than ready for a new entry. Each time a new game in the franchise comes out, die-hard fans always need to have a bit of skepticism about what features will be there — both new and returning. Again, the last entry eventually got to a great spot, but it certainly wasn’t there at launch. We can’t answer all your questions yet, but here’s everything we know about The Sims 5.

There are more secret items and mechanics in Dragon’s Dogma 2 than almost any other game. You can accidentally lose an entire town to the Dragonsplague or miss out on the true ending if you’re not paying close enough attention. That’s not to mention all the secret items and weapons in the world. One incredibly powerful but risky item is known as the Unmaking Arrow. This is the most powerful weapon in the game, but it comes with a very interesting caveat. Plus, there are only two known ways to get them, meaning you need to pick your targets very carefully. If you think you can handle the power of this arrow and the responsibility it brings, here is where you can find it.

We’ve had plenty of hero shooters in the past, but Marvel Rivals will be the first time we’ve had one with literal superheroes. This 6v6 multiplayer title will bring heroes and villains from all across Marvel together to battle it out in multiplayer mayhem. Aside from the game’s release date, the biggest question on everyone’s mind is what the cast of characters will look like. The only details shared so far state that there are “over a dozen” characters that will be included in Marvel Rivals, but we’ve scrubbed through the trailer and marketing materials to compile a complete list of all the heroes shown off. Here’s every hero on the roster we can confirm so far.

In a recent quote, Sony Senior Vice President Naomi Matsuoka said: “Looking ahead, PS5 will enter the latter stage of its life cycle.” Many in the industry took that to mean that we may be hearing about the next PlayStation console sooner rather than later.

Rumors are running rampant about a supposed PlayStation 5 Pro, or PS5 Pro for short. Just like we got a mid-generation upgrade with the PS4 Pro last console cycle, many are expecting PlayStation to release an incrementally more powerful machine the bridge the gap between the launch unit and an eventual PlayStation 6. Leaks have been coming out from some fairly credible sources with a lot of juicy and very specific details about what a hypothetical PS5 Pro could look like. As credible as these sources may be, we do still need to take everything we see with a grain of salt until Sony officially confirms this system even exists. Until then, here are all the rumors out there we could pull together regarding the PS5 Pro.

Asymmetrical multiplayer games have come into their own over the past few years, with titles like Among Us, Dead by Daylight, and Left 4 Dead pulling in legions of players. Instead of giving two teams a similar set of abilities, asymmetrical games are purposefully lopsided — one team might be larger but have less firepower, while the other team might be comprised of a single, powerful player.

A new competitive shooter is on the way, this time featuring all your favorite Marvel heroes. Marvel Rivals has been unveiled as a 6v6 third-person hero shooter with many similarities to Overwatch. Matches will launch teams of these larger-than life-characters into fierce battles across iconic locations from the Marvel universe. While the full game doesn't have a release date yet, you can suit up as one of over a dozen heroes early by joining the closed alpha test. Not everyone will get in, so make sure you sign up so you don't miss out on a chance to be one of the first to suit up and do battle.

With the rise of all-digital consoles, more and more people are doing a majority of their game shopping on digital storefronts. For PlayStation 5 owners, whether you have a disk drive or not, you more than likely have at least a couple of games purchased from the PlayStation Store. The convenience of simply downloading a game and not having to worry about the disk is great, but you also can catch some amazing deals. The biggest sales events come seasonally, and the current Spring Sale is offering deep discounts of up to 90% on some of the biggest games on the platform. If you’ve been waiting to pick up one of the great games you missed earlier this year or in years past, now might be the best time to snag it for cheap!

Dragon’s Dogma 2 likes to keep many of its mechanics and systems a secret until you discover them. You will learn quickly that you can’t fast travel around the map freely, but there’s one mechanic that is far more detrimental to your game. This is called dragonsplague and it is a disease that can’t be cured with a simple tonic. In fact, you may not even realize if you have it in your game because it isn’t something that affects your character at all; instead, it affects your Pawns. Failing to recognize you have dragonsplague and deal with it in a timely manner can ruin your entire playthrough if you’re not careful. To avoid such a catastrophe, here are all the details about this cruel disease.

One of the key missions to help prove you’re the true Arisen in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is to figure out the real identity of the false Sovran. One clue you have as to figuring this out is hidden in the Nameless Village, though not all is as it seems there. The first step will be, of course, reaching this unassuming little town. If you’re running in circles trying to reach it, here are some better directions to get to the Nameless Village.

Even before release, there were some red flags about how Dragon’s Dogma 2 would perform on a technical level. While console players need to wait and hope for patches to fix things, those on PC can already improve their games through the hard work of modders. Of course, technical improvements are only one area where modders focus. With such a massive world and many systems in place, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is brimming with potential for mods of all shapes and sizes. Aside from mods that just improve your performance, most are better saved for after you’ve reached the true ending, but no one is going to stop you if you’d rather start experimenting from the start. Here are a handful of the best mods you should try in Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Believe it or not, your Arisen in Dragon’s Dogma 2is very skilled at crafting. We’re not talking about building structures, tools, or weapons, but item crafting. By combining specific pairs of ingredients in your inventory, you can produce some extremely potent consumables. As you will discover for yourself on your first long trip across the land, there are a ton of materials to discover, leading to hundreds or thousands of possible combinations. Knowing what items are best saved to make something special can save you from having to scour the world looking for more or struggling without it. Here are the best recipes that not even the best pawns will tell you about.

As you level up your Vocations and character in Dragon’s Dogma 2, you will earn XP and Dcp. The former will contribute to you leveling up and passively getting stronger, while the latter needs to be spent on unlocking new skills for your current Vocation. There are 10 total Vocations you can eventually unlock and use, and each one has a dozen or more skills to unlock and test out, and yet you can only use four at any given time. That’s a lot of possible skills to try out and potentially waste your DCP on. Instead, we’ll help you min-max your build right from the start by recommending the best skills you should get for each and every Vocation in the game.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is full of mythological monsters and beasts. During your travels, you will encounter many classics like Cyclopses, Griffins, and Dragons, but a more obscure creature is hidden away in a cave waiting to challenge you in a different way. The Sphinx is found in the Mountain Shrine at the top of the hill once you go through Wordlsend Cave. It won’t attack you when you approach, but instead, it will challenge you to a test of intellect. There are a total of 10 riddles to be solved, with a reward given for each one you manage to crack. Dragon’s Dogma 2 never holds your hand with anything, so we’ll help you unravel these riddles.

Following in the footsteps of the Nioh games, Team Ninja’s Rise of the Roninis absolutely bursting at the seams with loot. Between mission rewards, materials in the open world, drops from enemies, and loot from treasure chests, you will be managing your gear very often to keep your character as strong as possible. Aside from your two weapons and armor slots, you begin with a single Accessory item to equip. These are more unique items that fall into certain categories that focus on buffing specific stats or aspects of your character. Picking the right one, or multiple once you unlock additional slots, really ties your build together. Here are a few of the best Accessories to keep an eye out for while exploring Japan.

Mojang has continued to churn out Minecraft updates at a regular pace, allowing its community to thrive for over a decade. Along with Mojang, modders are constantly launching their own updates to the game — the most exciting of which might be shaders.

It wasn’t the combat that intimidated me most when starting Rise of the Ronin — it was the history.

While you do pick a starting class of sorts in Rise of the Ronin, that doesn’t lock you out of using any of the game’s numerous weapons or abilities. That initial choice simply determines your starting stats and skills, and you can still freely mold your ronin’s proficiencies with as much detail as you can their appearance. Previous Team Ninja games have had some less-than-friendly UIs for their leveling system, and while it is much better here, it is still quite overwhelming. You have multiple branches of skills spread across the four main categories, plus most skills can be leveled up more than once. If you’re ready to learn the ways of the samurai, enter our dojo to learn which skills are the best.

Open-world RPGs can be anywhere from around a dozen hours long to well over 100. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is very unique, even among others in the genre, for not adhering to a lot of traditional design philosophies, such as how it handles fast travel. If anything, that will only add to your total playtime, plus there are all the optional quests to do, Vocations to try out and level up, and more if you’re a completionist. If you’re wondering if you have the time to fit Dragon’s Dogma 2 into your schedule among all the other games releasing, here’s how long you can expect this adventure to last.

The expanded open world of Rise of the Ronin is so big that not even a trusty horse and fast travel systemare quite enough to make traversal as fun and fast as needed. While it might seem a little fantastical, you won’t complain about the inclusion of a glider once you get your hands on it and feel how freeing it is to soar above the rooftops and countryside. This has been a heavily marketed mechanic, and yet you can miss your first chance to get it if you don’t explore a little before moving on with the main quest. If you want your ronin to truly rise, make sure you check out how to get the glider here.

Rise of the Ronin is structurally a very different game from Team Ninja's previous series, Nioh. This new game not only features a new story, but a full open world as opposed to smaller stages to navigate. The games do share two main components: challenging combat and tons and tons of loot. Between all the materials you can snag while roaming the countryside and drops from fallen enemies, you will be collecting hundreds of items every hour. While mission rewards are automatically added to your inventory by default, normal items are not and require a button press to collect. Luckily, you can enable an auto-pickup option despite the game never telling you about it.

Your Vocation defines your role in combat in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Everything from your skills to what weapons and armor you can use is tied to this class. You will pick from just a handful at the beginning of the game, but can easily change Vocations later on, as well as unlock more than twice as many new options than what you start with. It can take a while to really get a feel for a Vocation and how it performs in combat, as well as to look through all of its skills and augments, before knowing if it’s worth sticking with to level up. Personal preference will play a part to some degree, but these Vocations have the most potential to make you the strongest Arisen in history.

One lesson you will learn very quickly in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is that your Arisen isn’t built to carry as many materials as you want it to. On a single trek through the world, you will be snagging fruits, herbs, monster parts, ore, weapons, and more. All that weight adds up fast, and you only need to go over half your weight limit before seeing negative effects. Sure, your pawns can shoulder some of that burden, but even then, you will need to start leaving things behind. There are no backpacks or stats you can increase to increase your carrying capacity, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. You just need to look in a different place.

It’s hard to know if a game has multiple endings, especially one as unique as Dragon’s Dogma 2. You can finish the game and not have any clue as to whether or not you’re missing anything. And in this case, there’s quite a bit more hidden if you’re able to unravel a few cryptic hints. If that’s too much work for you, we can guide you like a faithful pawn to the solution.

I never had reason to give much thought to fast travel in games before starting Dragon’s Dogma 2. In most open-world games that include the feature, the only requirement for accessing it is reaching points of interest. Once players do so, they are generally free to zip from point to point around the map with little to no inconvenience. That isn’t how Dragon’s Dogma 2 operates — fast travel is based around a limited currency called Ferrystones — and it has completely changed my mindset on the mechanic as a whole.

Death comes at you fast in Dragon's Dogma 2. While you have the luxury of being able to restart from your last save after death, and pawns can be revived or summoned again, if an NPC bites the dust, then you need to act fast if you want to bring them back. Just like fast travel, however, reviving the dead will cost you a rare and limited resource. This isn't an item you will happen across during normal travel or find on sale in a shop. If you lost an important ally and need to bring them back to life, we'll show you the way.

As skilled as your character may be in Rise of the Ronin, there are some challenges you will want to bring in some backup for. After you’re thrust into the open world after the tutorial, however, you won’t find any clues as to how co-op works here, or if it even exists at all. While co-op certainly does exist in Rise of the Ronin, it isn’t accessible right away and may be more limited than you would hope for in a game like this. It’s time to draw your katanas as we prepare to cut through all the mystery surrounding how to play co-op.

There’s a lot to see in Baldur’s Gate 3, but you’re not going to get far without a few good companions by your side. Thankfully, you’ll stumble upon a wide assortment of NPCs that’d love nothing more than to accompany you on your journey. These friendly faces fill several different roles — from mages and healers to archers and warriors, there’s bound to be a companion that augments your playstyle.

Books are not completely new to Stardew Valley. Prior to the 1.6 update, you could find lost books that gave some background details about Pelican Town but didn’t give you any in-game benefit. Now, there is a new collection of books that grant your character some nice buffs or abilities. You can find a few of these new books hidden in the world, like the new Powdermelon seeds, but there are some exclusive ones you need to buy from a new bookseller NPC. Despite not making any business sense, they are only open for brief windows of time in a specific place. Here’s when and where to find the bookseller.

We all love a good, secret Easter egg in games, especially Stardew Valley, which is absolutely full of them. We were already excited about all the new content in the 1.6 update, but there was one item included that was never even teased. The Meowmere is a new, super-secret sword that pays a nice little tribute to Terraria. The complex sequence of events you need to perform to get it calls back to that classic crafting game. The Meowmere is intentionally hard to get, but you can save a lot of time by following these steps.

While it had quite a few bugs at launch, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is in a much better place in 2024. It’s not perfect, but many of the technical wrinkles have been ironed out — making it one of the best Pokémon games you can play today. However, if you’ve already invested hundreds of hours into the game, you may not have much left to explore.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is one of the biggest Lego games ever made. Along with giving you access to hundreds of playable characters, you'll get to work your way through key moments from across the nine Skywalker saga films — each brought to life with a new dose of Lego-inspired humor. It'll take dozens of hours to unlock everything it has to offer, and there's no denying the journey is much more enjoyable with a friend.

Introduced in the massive 1.6 update to Stardew Valley, Powdermelon is a brand new crop to try your hand at growing. It’s the most interesting among the new additions due to the fact that it is one of the rarer winter crops. With this handy melon, you can keep your farm producing even in the snowy months, but you won’t find the seeds to start growing it in your general store. Get your soil and farming tools ready as we show you how to start growing this chilly melon.

Hogwarts Legacy is the best Harry Potter game to ever land on consoles and PC, and the title’s open-world setting is one to be reckoned with. You’ll spend hours exploring the fantastical universe, completing an array of inspired side quests and puzzles, all while evolving your character. The Merlin Trials is a particular set of challenges you’ll want to take on, as you’ll earn additional inventory slots when you beat one. And if you’ve ever played an open-world RPG, you’ll know just how vital these extra digital cubbies can be.

Once you've been sorted into your house in Hogwarts Legacy and are free to roam around the campus, you might stumble upon some mysterious doors with various symbols surrounding it and strange numbers on the front. Naturally, you will be drawn to open it, only to find it locked. These aren't doors you can open with your normal lockpicking spells, no matter how high you level them up. Instead, you will need to use your wits to overcome this obstacle. That, or simply follow this guide to open the Arithmancy doors in Hogwarts Legacy.

The world of Elden Ring is filled with mysteries. The game doesn't hold your hand for long before letting you venture out in any direction you like – which is both a blessing and a curse. Stumbling upon new weapons, enemies, or another gorgeous viewpoint is what makes Elden Ring so entertaining, and if the game simply pointed you towards all these locations, it wouldn't be nearly as exciting.

Multiplayer games began as purely local events. If you wanted to play with, or against, your friends, there was no other option than to get together either at someone's house or, if you're going even further back in time, at a local arcade. While playing locally is still a great way to play, it isn't always an option. Online multiplayer is not only more convenient most of the time, but it has become the norm for nearly all modern multiplayer games.

Staying alive in Elden Ring is easier said than done. The game throws a gauntlet of nightmarish enemies your way, and one wrong move can deplete your entire health bar. That makes it imperative for you to master all your abilities and equip the best gear possible – but you should also consider using spirits.

It used to be the case that every new Pokémon game would include every monster from the games that came before it. With the total list now approaching 1,000 critters, it just isn’t possible to fit them all in a single game, mainline or otherwise. Following the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the next entry isn’t going to be generation 10 or a remake, but a new entry in the Legends game called Pokémon: Z-A. While a lot of details are still unknown, we’ve been picking through all the promotional material released so far to round up a list of all the Pokémon we can confirm are going to be included when it launches in 2025.

Spring is in the air, which means it’s time to do some Spring cleaning. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean cleaning out your wallet because Steam has launched its seasonal sale event to cut prices on tons of amazing games to some of the lowest we’ve seen.

PlayStation 5 players have been raving about the second part of the FF7 remake project Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. As with the first part, it was made clear well in advance that this game would be a PlayStation exclusive at launch, however, we did eventually get Remake of the first part on PC around a year later. This gives PC players hope that the same treatment will be given to Rebirth, but the big question becomes how long will we have to wait this time? Is it possible to see it come to PC storefronts faster than its prequel, or will we need to bide our time avoiding spoilers for months on end? Here’s our best estimate as to when you can expect to see Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on PC.

The Demiguise Statues are some of the most important collectibles in Hogwarts Legacy. Not only are they featured in one of the game’s most popular side quests, but they’re used to upgrade one of the best spells available to your witch or wizard. That means you’ll want to go out of your way to find these objects – even if that means you’ll need to slog around the map a few times.

Like any good open world game, Hogwarts Legacy gives you a sprawling map to explore. You'll venture well beyond the walls of Hogwarts, encountering a variety of witches and wizards that need your help solving a side quest or two. These missions typically won't move the main plot forward, but they'll reward you with a variety of goodies that can help you throughout your travels. One such quest is «Rescuing Rococo,» which grants you heaps of XP and a cool gear item in return for your time.

There's a lot to love about PlayStation 5. The console has amassed an incredible catalog of games over the past few years, and since it supports most PS4 games, there are hundreds of great titles for you to check out. Sharing games nowadays isn't quite as easy as it was in the past, as most games are now digital — meaning you can give a physical disc to a friend after you beat the game or for them to test out over the weekend.

There are tons of challenges to tackle in Hogwarts Legacy, but few are as time-consuming as unlocking the Finishing Touches achievement. This wild achievement forces you to use very specific attacks on very specific enemies, meaning you’ll need to travel all around Hogwarts to find these beasts and go up against them in battle.

You might not think a cozy game like Stardew Valley would even need cheats. After all, the entire point of the game is to relax, build up your farm, and make friends with the other townsfolk, right? Sure, but there are also a lot of challenging and time-consuming objectives that have been added over the many years of support. Plus, sometimes people just want to play a game on their own terms. In either case, cheats can help you farm up some fun times, so let’s harvest every one there is to enjoy.

Not only is Minecraft the bestselling game of all time, but it’s also insanely addictive to play. Who could say no to an immersive polygonal world of mining, agriculture, and digital zombies? Released all the way back in 2009, both PC and console versions of the famous title have come along.

Playing Minecraft can be a huge blast, but what if we told you that playing the game with cheats is even more fun? Sure, you can add quite a bit of entertainment to your Minecraft experience with player mods and add-ons, but using not-so-secret console commands to enhance or alter the world of Minecraft can be just as thrilling. And whether you’re playing the game on a desktop PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, you’ll have access to these cool codes.

One of the most iconic elements of the Harry Potter universe is the flying broomstick. These flying cleaning tools were an obvious fit for an open-world game like Hogwarts Legacy, and sure enough, they are one of your primary methods of traversing the wide wizarding world, at least until you unlock all thefast travel points. If you're itching to get your very own broom and upgrade it to be as fast as possible, we've swept up all the details.

Everyone loves building gigantic castles and mountain-side lairs in Minecraft. These give you a cozy place to rest between adventures — and if you're a seasoned builder, you'll want to upgrade your home by personalizing it with decorations. Few decorations are as timeless as flowers, which have been available in Minecraft for years and add a nice pop of color to your foreboding fortress or countryside cabin.

Chess was a major plot point in the first Harry Potter book and film, and is a natural fit for some puzzles in Hogwarts Legacy. This game is very deep, and potentially time-consuming as well, so instead of asking you to play full games, these puzzles simply present a set scenario for you to solve in a single move. However, not everyone is familiar enough with chess to know how to solve them and reach the end of these Treasure Vaults. Here's how you can solve all the chess puzzles in Hogwarts Legacy.

For as open and freeform as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is, even allowing you to skip essentially every quest in the game and go straight to the final boss, you will be missing a ton by doing so. At the very least, most players will want to complete all the main quests before marching into the final encounter, which will take many hours. One quest is taking some adventurers a long time to complete, not due to its difficulty, but because they have no idea how to complete it.

The Wild Update hit Minecraft in 2022, bringing heaps of new blocks, mobs, and biomes to the blocky sandbox game. Players who enjoy piecing together their own farm will find much to love about the update, as it now lets you grow and harvest mangrove trees.

After spending years under the working title of Project L, Riot Games’ expansion into the fighting game genre has officially been dubbed2XKO. Hailing from the makers of the massively popular League of Legends, this fighter will feature a cast pulled right from that MOBA, but now using far different mechanics. This genre was once notorious for how hard it was for newcomers to get into, but recent examples like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 have proven that it is possible to make the genre accessible to more players. Considering the popularity of the source material here, and the fact that it will be free to play, we expect a lot of players who normally don’t touch fighters to at least be curious. Whoever you are, let’s start at round one and go over everything we know so far about 2XKO.

Minecraft is known for many qualities, but graphics are not typically among them. The incredibly flexible and dynamic building game chose a more simple yet pleasing art style to better serve its mechanics. That being said, while that blocky aesthetic will never go out of style, there are plenty of ways to improve the looks since it originally came out in 2011. Aside from graphics packs and shaders, the most impressive visual update you can add to Minecraft is ray tracing.

When it comes to the best spells in the Harry Potter universe, few are as devastating as Avada Kedavra. The unforgivable curse instantly kills its target, making it unbelievably powerful in most combat situations – and in Hogwarts Legacy, it's possible to unlock this overpowered attack. You won't be able to add it to your arsenal right away, but with a bit of legwork, you can be casting the unforgivable curse and dominating the battlefield.

Hogwarts Legacy will send you to all corners of its magical world, including areas well beyond the corridors and classrooms of Hogwarts itself. Exploration is a big part of the game, as you're largely free to roam about as you see fit. However, exploration in Hogwarts Legacy is often more like a puzzle than anything else, and players have quickly discovered that climbing the Battlements near Falbarton Castle requires more than just nimble feet.

For whatever reason, romance and marriage have become one of the most essential parts of tactics games such as Unicorn Overlord. Just like combat, however, each game handles the relationship system a little bit differently. It might seem straightforward here, but there is an extra step or two needed to fully commit and marry one of your companions. Aside from just building a strong bond with your favorite character, there are a lot of benefits to improving your relationships. Here’s a full tactical rundown of how romance works here so you can form an everlasting bond.

For a game made by a single person, Stardew Valley has an unbelievable amount of content already. Despite that, years after launch, we’re all still eagerly anticipating yet another content update coming to the game that will bring it to version 1.6. This update was announced in April 2023 but ConcernedApe has been rather tight-lipped on the full scope of features and additions this update will bring. With so many possibilities and rumors floating around, we’ve collected only the freshest bits of info you need to know about what you can look forward to.

When you reach Costa Del Sol in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, you will quickly realize that Cloud and the crew aren't exactly dressed for a relaxing vacation at the beach. All that leather and black certainly won't be comfortable — and don't get us started on how much sand is going to get in those boots. Before you can even set foot on the sand to relax by the water, Cloud will need to earn some tickets to get more appropriate beachwear. The only way to earn these tickets is to participate in some team minigames, including the Card Carnival on the docks. This is a twist on the Queen's Blood card game you may have been playing throughout your adventure up until now (or perhaps you've been completely ignoring it). Either way, this game is not your typical match, with specific challenges that are more like puzzles than proper games. They can be rather tricky, so we'll help you play your cards right to beat the initial set of Card Carnival trials and earn that swimsuit.

PlayStation Plus has undergone several iterations and changes since its introduction. Originally, the service wasn’t required for online play at all and rewarded subscribers with extra discounts and free monthly games. Once the PlayStation 4 generation began, it was required for online play but still offered those same benefits.

While Mario has become the face of Nintendo, and perhaps video games as a whole, it’s important to remember that it was in a Donkey Kong game that he really became an icon. Since then, our beloved ape has bounced between being friend and foe of the plumber, as well as broken free to star in his own series of games with an expanded cast of friends and enemies. It’s been a long time since we’ve been graced with one of his banana-fueled adventures, so we decided this was as good a time as any to look back at Dinkey Kong’s legacy and decide which of his many solo efforts stand as the best.

Fans of RPGs have been eating well since the beginning of 2024. In fact, there have been more amazing games in this genre alone than most people could reasonably keep up with. As much as I love a deep RPG, even I have to admit I’ve been feeling a little burnt out after my third or fourth 100-hour adventure. Before we get hit with Unicorn Overlord, Rise of the Ronin, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 this month alone, I felt the need for something different to cleanse my palate.

While there’s no shortage of ways to distract yourself while playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, one of the most unexpected minigames is the surprisingly deep piano system. In most of the major hub towns you encounter across the expansive world, Cloud can find a piano to sit down at and tickle the keys. You’re free to play any song you want in free play, but you can turn this system into a full-on rhythm game, almost like Guitar Hero, by collecting sheet music of some of the game’s most iconic tracks. There’s even an NPC near each piano who will reward you if you get a high enough rank on each song. Cloud may not be the most expressive in his words, but he can sure play the piano with heart. Here is where you can find all the sheet music and what rewards await if you can master them.

This article contains story spoilers for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

The last thing you want to see when loading up Fortnite for a match with your friends, especially when a big new update is dropping, is to be hit with an error. The worst of which might be the “Fortnite servers not responding” error due to how vague it is. Most people don’t know what servers are, let alone what it means when they aren’t responding, except that you can’t play your game. The question then becomes if you have any power to solve this issue yourself or if you’re forced to wait until Epic Games addresses it on its end.

Wordle is a worldwide phenomenon, and though it’s no longer quite the obsession it was in 2022, it’s still a daily delight of many people’s mornings. Wordle‘s genius is that it is simple to understand but fiendishly difficult to master, and anyone can pick it up and start playing in a very brief time. You can learn to play Wordle easily as all you need to do is guess a particular five letter word, but getting it right every time is hard as there are only six attempts to guess the word each day. If you’re struggling to master this tricky puzzle, then try out our tips for the best starting words to maximize your chances of becoming a Wordle master.

Fortnite launched in 2017, yet it's just as popular today as it was seven years ago. The game is regularly updated by Epic to ensure players always have something new to work toward – and you'd be hard-pressed to find a game with as many high-profile collaborations as Fortnite. Playing with friends is one of the big appeals of Fortnite, as it makes it easy to dive into the battle royale with a few buddies by your side. Split-screen play is also supported, though there are some serious restrictions to the feature.

PlayStation 5 has been available for several years now, and it’s easier than ever to find it in stock at retailers. The new-gen hardware makes big upgrades over its predecessor, letting gamers enjoy better graphics, shorter loading times, and support for the fancy DualSense controller. It’s also much more expensive than PS4, so while PS5 is better than PS4 in most regards, it might not be ideal for frugal shoppers.

Winter, or should we say Frostpunk 2, is coming. The sequel to one of the most brutal takes on the city-building genre has been cooking for a long time, and fans have been eagerly anticipating any scrap of news about this chilling title. The original was one of the few games to mix survival and city simulation elements together, all wrapped up in a frozen backdrop that made every decision harrowing. So come, sit by the warmth of the furnace, and learn everything we know about Frostpunk 2.

Due to legal issues, no iPhone version of Fortnite is available. You don't have to abandon your buddies on the battle bus for another game, though, because there are a few workarounds to get you playing Fortnite on your iPhone.

Chadly has a lot of tasks lined up for you in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Now that the world is far more open and explorable, you’ll have a ton of extra activities to take if you wish, but the first few are a bit more required. Aside from the usual tower climbing and item gathering, one task is to fight specific enemies with a series of requirements. The first one, which asks you to pressure a Thunderclaw, is more troublesome than it should be, even if you understand the system. Not to worry, because we’ve used the Assess skill to gather all the data on this foe to make pressuring it a breeze.

Junon is dangerous territory for Cloud and his friends in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The city is already one of Shinra’s major hubs, but matters are made even worse when the president himself is set to arrive to host a parade. This presents a perfect opportunity to don some disguises and hide in plain sight among the ranks, though things get a little out of control when you are recruited to lead a team of troops to perform in a rhythm minigame. You could brush this off and just get by, but where’s the honor in that? Show the president your stuff by making the best parade formation possible.

If you were as a excited as we were for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth then you almost certainly played the demo before release. This gave you a sneak peak at the first chapter of the game where Cloud and Sephiroth are sent to Nibelheim in the flashback sequence. While great, there are a lot of slow moments here that make this section take quite a while so you may want to skip past it when starting the full game instead of doing it all again. Thankfully you can, but you have to do one little thing first that isn't very obvious.

One of the most memorable moments from the original Final Fantasy 7 is the date scene at the Gold Saucer. There was no way that Square Enix would leave that part out of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. In the original, it was almost an Easter egg of sorts to learn that you could end up going on a date with almost every member of the cast, not just Aerith. That’s because the relationship system was hidden and almost impossible to manipulate without a guide. Thankfully, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth makes things much clearer with the new bonds system that shows you just how strong your relationship with each character is. That plays directly into who you end up sharing a touching moment with near the end of the game.

By expanding the Midgar section of Final Fantasy 7 into an entire game, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth finally takes us beyond the walls into the world beyond. This much larger swath of land to explore begs the question of just how big this game will be. Between all the open-world tasks, sidequests, and minigames awaiting in the Gold Saucer, could this game really be a 100-hour experience as was claimed? What if you just tried to focus on the main story to see what has or hasn’t changed? We’ve played through the entirety of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth and can give you a good idea of just how long it will take you to reach this chapter’s conclusion.

Some say it’s the Lifestream that makes the world go round in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, but we all know the real answer is Gil. Cloud may be on a quest to save the world from Sephiroth, but he’s still a merc who wants to get paid for his efforts. Plus, there are a ton of expensive items to gather up on your journey, such as Materia, Accessories, Armor, and Queen’s Blood cards. You’ll need some very deep pockets if you want to buy everything that catches your eye, but Gil isn’t the easiest thing to come by. We’ve done all the odd jobs and activities around Gaia to give you the best ways to grind for Gil in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.

After Fort Condor arrived in Final Fantasy 7: Remake Intergrade, you may not have expected an entirely new minigame to be introduced in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth. However, after the opening hours, when you’re let loose in Kalm, you will automatically be given your very first deck of Queen’s Blood cards. While this minigame is entirely optional after you play your first game to learn the basics, you would be missing out on a ton of content and secrets, let alone fun, by ignoring it. Still, we understand if you feel you didn’t sign up for a strange new card game in your Final Fantasy adventure. Plus, there is a lot more depth to the game than is properly explained. If you want to rise up the ranks and be a Queen’s Blood champion, but are unsure how to start, we’ll show you the ropes.

On Pokemon Day 2024, we were treated to a sneak peek at a second entry in the Legends series, Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Promising to be an ambitious new adventure in the world of Pokemon, a lot of questions sprung up after the announcement. So far, we still have more questions than answers, but some careful investigation and digging have given us a better understanding of what’s in store with this title. It may not be the next full-generation title, but there’s a lot to be excited about with this title, so let’s dive into everything we know about it thus far.

I’m normally a completionist when it comes to games, but I wish I had told myself to push that mindset to the side before I startedFinal Fantasy VII Rebirth.