Xbox Series S News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Baldur’s Gate 3 won’t receive any paid expansions, and Larian isn’t keen on developing a sequel, but that doesn’t mean fans can’t look forward to more updates. Patch 7 is in the works, and alongside the improved evil endings, with new cutscenes and music, it also marks the arrival of official modding tools.

The latest update forDying Light 2 Stay Human is pretty massive, adding Nightmare Mode, its new highest difficulty. However, there are also several night-time changes, Gear Loadouts, visual improvements and more.

Techland’s massive Update 1.16 for Dying Light 2 Stay Human is live and introduces the new, most challenging difficulty yet – Nightmare Mode. Check out the trailer below for quick bullet points on what to expect.

Developer Thekla has revealed that the launch for Braid: Anniversary Edition is being pushed back from its originally-planned April 30 release date for the PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Netflix versions to May 14. The Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions are also being delayed, albeit to one day later at May 15.

Warhorse Studios will be announcing its next game today, and reports indicate it’s a sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance, its open-world medieval action RPG. Said reports appear legitimate, with an IGN video preview seemingly going live early. It’s since been pulled, but you can check it out courtesy of Reddit.

Bethesda Game Studios has promised some significant updated for Starfield in 2024, from “new ways” of travelling to new gameplay features to the launch of its first expansion, Shattered Steel. Thus far, however, more than a quarter of our way into the year, details on those updates have remained scant, even if the space RPG has received a couple of patches.

NetherRealm’s latest DLC fighter for Mortal Kombat 1, Ermac, is now available in “early access.” Those who own the Kombat Pack can play him now, while others need to wait for his worldwide launch on April 23rd.

Embark Studios has released a new update for THE FINALS, updating the store with new weapon skins and the Lurkfin La Goon monster head for players. Check out the trailer below to see how they look.

Red Barrels has announced that a new limited-time event is live inThe Outlast Trials. Toxic Shock sees players collecting rats for “tissue analysis” while dealing with lethal gas in the Trial. The event is live until May 7th – check out the launch trailer below.

Developer Appeal Studios and publisher THQ Nordic have released a new trailer for open-world action/adventure title Outcast – A New Beginning. The trailer, released a little over a month after the game’s launch, celebrates the title by highlighting some of the positive reviews that it has gotten. Check it out below.

New characters for upcoming arena fighter Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero have been revealed. Spotted by X (formerly Twitter) user @SLOplays, the characters were shown off through an issue of Japanese publication V-jump magazine.

Amid delays and rumors of development troubles for XDefiant, Ubisoft has announced a server test session for the competitive shooter. It starts on April 19th, 10 AM PT and runs till April 21st for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. The pre-load is now available, with all players free to participate.

Remember Mortal Kombat 1’s fourth season of Invasions? Regardless, Season 5 or the Season of Storms, is live and features a more distinct antagonist. It’s Dark Raiden, a corrupted and decidedly more aggressive version of the Thunder God seeking to destroy threats to Earthrealm. Check out the trailer below.

Microsoft has revealed the lineup of games that will be added to the Game Pass catalog over the next couple of weeks, and subscribers have some notable titles to look forward to. Most prominent among them is probably Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Rabbit and Bear Studios’ long-awaited Suikoden spiritual successor, which launches April 23 and will also be available with Game Pass on PC, console, and cloud at launch.

If you’re not one of the reported five million (and counting) players to have tried out Assassin’s Creed Mirage, a free trial is live now. It’s available until April 30th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC and allows for two hours of playtime with progress transferring over to the game.

Developer Hangar 13 is gearing up to launch TopSpin 2K25 later this month, but it’s not the only game the studio is working on. In 2022, the developer officially confirmed that it was working on the next instalment in the Mafia franchise, and allegedly, it’s going to be announced soon.

Developer Fatshark has announced that its next major update for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, titled Path of Redemption, will be released later today. Celebrating the update, the studio has released a new trailer that showcases some of the new content coming to the game. Check it out below.

Atlus recently announced that Metaphor: ReFantazio, the next big role-playing game from Persona 5 director Katsura Hashino, would receive a showcase on April 22nd, 3 PM PT. In a separate tweet (translated from DeepL), Studio Zero revealed that it will run for 30 minutes, with the developer sharing “the appeal of this title with the world.”

Square Enix has released the official benchmark tool for Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail. The benchmark tool allows Final Fantasy 14 players to see how well their computers can handle the visuals of the upcoming Dawntrail expansion, and even recommends the ideal settings for stable frame rates.

Since its latest story trailer debuted, Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws has received some interesting reactions. However, several have spoken out against the Jabba’s Gambit mission, which is playable at launch but only for those who own the Season Pass. The only way to get it is by paying $129.99 for the Ultimate Edition.

One creative Palworld player defeated Bellanoir Libero Ultra using a strategy centered on a simple campfire. As an extremely difficult enemy, players find it hard to defeat with conventional methods. Thankfully, creative strategies are often rewarded in Palworld.

Atlus has had a strong start to 2024 with Persona 3 Reload and Vanillaware’s Unicorn Overlord, but the Japanese developer still has another heavyweight waiting in the wings. Fantasy RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio – led by the creative leads of Persona 3, 4, and 5 – has been previously billed by Atlus as its next big property, and the company will soon be revealing more details about it.

With Bandai Namco’s SAND LAND launching next week, the developer has released a new trailer which features an obvious but seemingly unlikely song choice – Darude’s Sandstorm. Surprisingly, it fits together well and also reveals something important: Beelzebub can kick some serious butt. Check it out below.

Hazelight Studios – the development team behind acclaimed co-op games It Takes Two and A Way Out – is seemingly gearing up to announce its next game sometime later this year. In commemoration of its upcoming 10th anniversary in November, Hazelight Studios briefly touched on its next game in a post on Twitter, writing, “We’ve got new (real good) stuff cooking that we’ll talk more about later this year.”

The beta for 11 bit Studios’ Frostpunk 2, available by pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition, is now live. Alongside it, the developer has released a new gameplay deep dive discussing the larger scale of the sequel and the challenges players will face. Check it out below.

Following the launch trailer of No Rest for the Wicked, Moon Studios has outlined pricing for its upcoming action RPG. It will cost $39.99/£34.99/€39.99 for early access, but from launch until May 2nd at 9 AM PST, players can pick it up for $35.99/£31.95/€35.99, a ten percent discount. The price is confirmed to increase once the title leaves early access.

We’ve been starved for Hollow Knight: Silksong news for what’s felt like an eternity, but several recent developments have indicated that that could be changing soon. Earlier this month, the game’s official Xbox Store page went live, which was accompanied by ratings by the ESRB in North America and the GRAC in South Korea.

Moon Studios’ No Rest for the Wicked will launch for PC via Steam Early Access on April 18th. It’s thus released a new launch trailer showcasing the setting and challenges players will encounter. Check it out below.

A new patch for Pocketpair’s Palworld is available on Steam, fixing an issue that caused attacks from Pals to deal half of their intended damage. You can now take on the new raid boss, Bellanoir, without feeling like your attacks are doing nothing.

Remember GTA+, Rockstar’s subscription service, which provides bonuses for Grand Theft Auto Online players alongside access to select classic games? Without warning, it’s suddenly seen a price increase. As reported by GameSpot and VGC, the subscription service has gone from $5.99/€5.99/£4.99 monthly to $7.99/€7.99/£6.99.

As Bungie released Destiny 2: Into the Light and new gameplay for The Final Shape, a curious rumor emerged aboutDestiny 3. Codenamed “Payback,” it comes from a Reddit user who leaked details about Prismatic subclasses before their official announcement. In a new post, they’ve clarified a few things about Payback, specifically that it is its own game and not a Destiny 2 revamp.

Bandai Namco is gearing up to roll out the next update for Tekken 8, and has revealed exactly what the patch will bring with it. Set to go live on April 16 (depending on what time zone you’re in), the patch is going to be a relatively minor one, with a couple of notable additions and changes.

It’s been close to a decade and a half since EA Sports released a new instalment in its acclaimed boxing series Fight Night, but though the wait for a new entry has been interminably long, it looks like it could soon be coming to an end, if a recent leak is to be believed.

With Star Wars Outlaws, developer Massive Entertainment is looking to deliver the ultimate Star Wars scoundrel fantasy, which, of course, means protagonist Kay Vess (and her adorable companion Nix) will be crossing paths with a number of different factions, the majority of them being criminal syndicates.

Based on all that we’ve seen of Star Wars Outlaws so far, it’s clear that its Reputation system is going to be central to the experience. As protagonist Kay Vess navigates the Outer Rim’s criminal underworld and works with (and against) a variety of factions during the course of her journey, the decisions you make as the player will affect her standing with each of those factions– which, in turn, will have a variety of gameplay consequences, as you may have guessed.

From dust-ups with different criminal syndicates and dynamically occurring open world events to densely populated urban settlements and more, the many planets and moons you’ll explore in Star Wars Outlaws’ open world setting are promising to have a bevy of content on offer- but what about when you’re off-planet?

From the Hutts and the Pykes to the Crimson Dawn, the Empire, and more, Star Wars Outlaws protagonist Kay Vess will be dealing with a number of different factions during the course of the game’s story, each one of them powerful and formidable in their own unique way, with a Reputation system encompassing her interactions with each of them. As Kay, your actions will impact your experience in a number of ways– including even the open world and what challenges and content it will throw your way.

Starfield players are calling for a new quality-of-life fix to deal with a minor issue in the game. It's been nearly a month since the game's last update and promised major changes from developer and publisher Bethesda haven't arrived yet, which seems to be why its player community has been taking to Starfield mods to add new features.

A Palworld player decides to build a new in-game base near the Anubis boss and immediately pays for it, with the in-game boss destroying their hard-built base. The base-building aspect of the breakout hit monster-catching game from developer Pocket Pair has become one of its most popular features since launch. Fans have created stunning and extravagant bases within the survival game, creating everything from castles and fortresses to even building an indoor soccer stadium in Palworld. Now, one fan's placement of their base has seen immediate repercussions.

Open world towers were a decidedly neat idea when Ubisoft first introduced them a decade and a half ago, but by shoehorning them into virtually every open world game it made from that point forward, the company ensured that the mechanic ended up outstaying its welcome (also thanks to the fact that several non-Ubisoft games have borrowed the mechanic as well). The next big open world game company from the company, however, won’t be sticking to that convention.

During the inaugural Triple-i Initiative showcase, with titles like The Rogue Prince of Persia and Slay the Spire 2 announced, Pocketpair revealed the first teaser for Palworld’s Arena update. It will add PvP to the title, allowing players to fight each other with teams of three Pals. However, the team’s version of the teaser indicated that it would launch in Summer 2024, which was a mistake.

Ascendant Studios has reportedly been hit with another major blow. The studio, which released its debut title Immortals of Aveum last year, seems to have furloughed the “majority” of its staff, which means they have been placed on indefinite leave without pay, but continue to be employed by the company on paper.

As Microsoft continues to bring updates and improvements to its Xbox Cloud Gaming service, the company has announced a new update that brings with it a new interface that will allow players to make use of Xbox’s social features through the cloud gaming service.

Square Enix’s Visions of Mana has received a new trailer, though it’s more focused on the series’ evolution through a player’s eyes. It starts with Final Fantasy Adventure and the latter’s childhood before progressing to Secret of Mana, Trials of Mana and Dawn of Mana. Check it out below.

Capcom's RPG Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't even a month old, but one speedrunner has cleared it in less than two hours, all while playing «naked.» The new record adds to the tally of Dragon's Dogma 2 runs being racked up by highly skilled speedrunners.

Arc Games and Gunfire Games have announced that Remnant 2’s next paid DLC, The Forgotten Kingdom, will launch on April 23rd. Retailing for $9.99 and included in the $24.99 DLC bundle, it sees players returning to Yaesha to investigate a lost tribe. Check out the announcement trailer below.

The new free-to-play horror game Deceit 2 has just been released for Xbox. Deceit 2 is a free-to-play social deduction horror game, essentially playing like a horror version of Among Us in which players need to gather clues to discover who is trying to kill them, and could be a fine addition for Xbox players.

Motive Studios’ Dead Space remake has caused a stir recently after Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb reported that a remake for the second game was shelved. Though only in the pre-production phase, Grubb noted that a Dead Space 2 remake wasn’t happening due to lackluster sales of the first game. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has since weighed in, noting in a new report that the series is on ice again.

After Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb reported that a Dead Space 2 remake was in the works, albeit in the pre-production phase, publisher Electronic Arts has spoken against the same. A spokesperson told IGN, “We don’t normally comment on rumors, but there is no validity to this story.”

Open world games are often in the habit of being larger than they need to be, particularly when they’re coming from Ubisoft, but developer Massive Entertainment continues to make assurances that it’s taking a different approach with the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws. The action-adventure title will see players exploring the Outer Rim, which, as you might imagine, will mean visiting a number of different planets and locations. Obviously, not all has been revealed on that front, but details have emerged on one particular location in a recently published Game Informer preview, and how its design prioritized density over size.

NOTE: There are spoilers ahead for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Developer poncle has announceda second collaboration DLC for Vampire Survivors. Teaming up with Konami’s Contra team, Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns is set for release on May 9. Check out the trailer below.

About a week since its 24th hotfix for Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios has released its 25th, tackling persisting issues preventing players from taking Short Rests. Us, an Intellect Devourer that players can have as a follower, is again the cause. This time, the issue occurred due to it not leaving the party after the tutorial.

Roughly a week after releasing its first raid boss in Palworld, Pocketpair appeared during the Triple-i Initiative showcase to tease the next big update. It’s the Arena, where players can battle each other’s Pals in a fight to the figurative death. Thankfully, players won’t have to wait too long, as the Arena will launch this year.

A Starfield player has built an impressive recreation of the Serenity from the cult classic sci-fi series Firefly. The build has impressed gamers and its creator has put together a helpful guide on how fans can make one for themselves in Starfield.

It wouldn’t be an indie showcase without Thunder Lotus, and sure enough, the studio showcased some new gameplay for its upcoming co-op rogue-like 33 Immortals. Check it out below and marvel at the game’s art style and frighteningly opposing bosses.

Yesterday, it was announced that Motive Studios would work on the Battlefield franchise. While the development of Marvel’s Iron Man continues, it’s also building a new team to focus purely on EA’s flagship first-person shooter franchise. Of course, this begged the question – what about the follow-up to the Dead Space remake launched last year?

With The Final Shape receiving an impressive showing and Into the Light now available, Bungie’s Destiny 2 is seeing a comeback. Interestingly, the recently revealed Prismatic subclasses were leaked by user 32638272187 on the Destiny 2 Leaks subreddit in February. Even more interesting is that they alleged Destiny 3 to be in development under the codename “Payback.”

Pocketpair’s Palworld received its first post-launch content update last week, adding the first raid boss, Bellanoir, and quality of life improvements. While Version v0.2.0.6 went live yesterday for Xbox, an issue where multiplayer save data from an older version wouldn’t load was discovered.

CEO of Saber Interactive, Matthew Karch, has said in an interview with IGN that he believes that games that cost $70 will eventually start disappearing. Karch spoke about various aspects of development, saying that studios and publishers will eventually start looking at ways to reduce costs for AAA projects.

It’s been nearly a couple of years since Ubisoft announced that its Montreal studio had taken over development of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake from its Pune and Mumbai studios. At the time, it was said that Ubisoft Montreal would be building on the work that had already been done on the remake, but it now seems that the project has undergone a complete overhaul.

Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have announced an August release date for Star Wars Outlaws, following which pre-orders have gone live for the open world action-adventure title. With those pre-orders going live, new details have also emerged on the game’s physical version in particular.

Ubisoft recently premiered a new story trailer for Star Wars Outlaws, offering another look at Massive Entertainment’s upcoming open world action-adventure title, and confirming that it’ll be releasing this August. Alongside that, the company has also released a developer breakdown of the trailer, in which narrative director Navid Khavari sheds new light on some of the game’s key characters, the many underworld syndicates protagonist Kay Vess will be crossing paths with, and more.

Massive Entertainment’sStar Wars Outlaws launches on August 30th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC, with pre-orders now available. The development has hyped the action-adventure title’s scale and the decisions that can cause consequences throughout the story. While Gold and Ultimate Edition owners get three days of early access, they also receive the Season Pass.

Ubisoft’s latest trailer for Star Wars Outlaws is live, diving deeper into the setting and story. Though revealed by the Japanese version’s description earlier today, it’s now official – Massive Entertainment’s action-adventure will launch on August 30th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.

After months of classifications and rumors, Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws officially launches on August 30th worldwide. It retails for $69.99 on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC via Ubisoft Connect, with pre-orders receiving the Kessel Runner Bonus Pack to adorn their speeder and Trailblazer spaceship with new cosmetics.

Dead Space remake developer Motive Studio has announced that it’s building a new internal team focused on the development of the Battlefield franchise, joining a larger multi-studio team dedicated to the franchise that also includes DICE, Ripple Effect Studios, and Criterion Games. Motive has, however, been working on a single-player action-adventure Iron Man game for a while now– so how exactly does this shift affect that project’s development?

Turn 10 Studios has released its latest update forForza Motorsport, bringing new events to Career, Featured Multiplayer and Rivals mode. There’s also a brand new track, Brands Hatch, and three new vehicles for Car Pass holders, with the 2019 Ginetta G55 GT4 available this week starting at 5 PM PT on April 10th.

There’s been no shortage of recent indications that Star Wars Outlaws is going to release sooner than many expect. In addition to age ratings going up in Brazil, Australia, and South Korea, promotional pre-order material for the game has also been spotted in the wild, while leaks have previously claimed that the game is due out in the first half of the year. Now, a release date has leaked, and though it’s not quite in the first half of 2024, it’s still not terribly far away.

NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat 1 will see the debut of its next DLC fighter, Ermac, on April 23rd. However, Kombat Pack owners gain early access starting on April 16th. Check out his moves in the first gameplay trailer below.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched with some technical and monetization-related issues, but the open world action RPG has enjoyed widespread critical and commercial success in the immediate aftermath of its release nonetheless. Capcom has, meanwhile, also been working on ironing out its technical issues, having released a patch a couple of weeks ago that added a 30 FPS cap option, toggles for ray tracing and motion blur, and more.

Microsoft teased its plans for next-generation Xbox hardware back in February, saying that it was focussed on delivering the “largest technical leap” for a new console generation with the next Xbox. Now, more details about Microsoft's plans for its next console have emerged, reiterating the same claim. An internal email shared with Xbox staff has revealed that Microsoft is “moving full speed ahead” on its next-generation Xbox hardware.

It recently emerged via leaks that Microsoft is allegedly set to announce this year’s Call of Duty game, allegedly titled Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War, in June, including a showing at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9. Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson has corroborated those claims in a separate report– and interestingly, Henderson claims that won’t be the only Call of Duty-related announcement in June.

Call of Duty tends to get a bad rap, sometimes justified, as seen with the recent Modern Warfare 3. One of the more underwhelming titles in the franchise was Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty: Vanguard, set during World War 2. Activision Blizzard even admitted in its 2021 annual report that it didn’t meet expectations.

After three years in development, Tomas Salas’ city-builder Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is available now on consoles and PC. It’s well worth checking out in no small part due to its aesthetic and exploration aspects, but there’s more to come. Salas has provided a roadmap for the title, with the first update, “Trade, Tribute and Spoils”, coming towards the end of April.

Xur has returned in Destiny 2, making one last trip to the Arcadian Valley on Nessus before Into the Light drops tomorrow. He’s carrying D.A.R.C.I., a Heavy sniper rifle, which costs 29 Legendary Shards.

Helldivers 2 has maintained impressive momentum where its sales and player numbers are concerned since its release two months ago, to the extent that it was the UK’s best-selling game for the month of March, making it the region’s best-seller for the second consecutive month (via GamesIndustry).

Atlus has released many high-profile titles over the past several months, from Persona 5 Tactica to Persona 3 Reload and Unicorn Overlord. It also has Studio Zero’s Metaphor ReFantazio out later this year, but in 2025, rumors indicate that the next mainline entry in the Persona series could finally launch.

From games being taken off stores with little to no notice, to older consoles’ storefronts going permanently offline, to online-only experiences being rendered effectively unplayable once their servers are taken down, the list of things that pose a threat to game preservation continues to grow worryingly longer, though some chosen few companies have been taking admirable steps to work against that.