Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield has received a new update. It’s small but focuses on fixing major performance issues, bugs and more. These include characters not appearing in their proper locations (which may address your crew members materializing on the outside of your ship).

Other bugs include a vendor’s inventory being accessible via illegitimate means (read: a puddle outside their store) and Star Stations labeled as player-owned ships. Both should now be fixed, in addition to upscaling issues that caused textures to become blurry or lens flares from stars to not appear on AMD GPUs.

Other stability and performance improvements have been made, such as an issue where using the Hand Scanner could result in hitching. Furthermore, items should no longer disappear when placed on mannequins in your ship or weapon racks. Check out the full update notes below.

Bethesda is working on a larger update to add new features and other improvements, so stay tuned for more details.

Starfield 1.7.33 Update – Fixes and Improvements

General

• Characters: Fixed an issue that could cause some characters to not be in their proper location.
• Star Stations: Fixed an issue where Star Stations would be labeled as a player-owned ship.
• Vendors: Addressed an issue that allowed for a vendor’s full inventory to be accessible.

Graphics

• AMD (PC): Resolved an issue that caused star lens flares not to appear correctly AMD GPUs.
• Graphics: Addressed an upscaling issue that could cause textures to become blurry.
• Graphics: Resolved an issue that could cause photosensitivity issues when scrolling through the inventory menu.

Performance and Stability

• Hand Scanner: Addressed an issue where the Hand Scanner caused hitching.
• Various stability and performance improvements to address crashing and freezes.

Ships

• Displays: Fixed an issue that would cause displayed items to disappear when applied to in-ship mannequins.
• Displays: Fixed an issue that would cause items stored in Razorleaf Storage Containers and Weapon Racks to disappear after commandeering another ship.

There’s been a flurry of acquisitions in the games industry in recent years, with the likes of Microsoft, Sony, Embracer Group, EA, Take-Two Interactive, and many others having made large-scale acquisitions to expand their internal development capabilities. One company that doesn’t want to get involved in that arms race, however, is Capcom.

Speaking in a recent interview with Bloomberg, when asked what Capcom’s stance is on mergers and acquisitions, Capcom’s chief operating officer Haruhito Tsujimoto said that the company isn’t interested in acquiring external studios, and instead prefers to foster internal talent, maintain continuity, and encourage organic growth.

“I think there have been many merger and acquisition talks in the game industry,” Tsujimoto said (transcription via VGC). “There was once a time we were a target, but rather than acquiring an outside company, we prefer organic growth.

“It is important to train and develop human resources in-house in order to carry out growth strategies. I also believe we can utilise external partners, but we have no intention of acquiring companies.”

Meanwhile, the Japanese publisher is equally uninterested in being purchased by another company, When asked what Capcom’s response would be if, hypothetically, a company like Microsoft made an offer to acquire it, Tsujimoto said he would “gracefully decline”.

“I would gracefully decline the offer, because I believe it would be better if we were equal partners.”

Capcom has been enjoying a golden period that’s stretched on for several years, and looking at the healthy state of its active franchises and its slate of upcoming releases, it’s hard to imagine that changing anytime soon. The previous fiscal year saw the company selling more software than it ever had in any previous fiscal year, while earlier this year, following Resident Evil 4’s launch, its share price climbed to an all-time high of 4,865 yen.

In February 2022, it was announced that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had acquired a minority stake of over 5% in Capcom.

It’s easy to look at NASCAR Arcade Rush and wonder who it’s for. After NASCAR Heat 5 left the NASCAR gaming world in a bit of a down state, I can understand why stock car racing wanted to pivot and try something new, but from the relative lack of content to the clear, heavy inspiration from the Mario Kart series, there’s not much about NASCAR Arcade Rush that’s unique. That’s not to say it’s not fun. It takes everything it can from those that came before it and hits the mark every once in a while with high-intensity photo finishes, but I can’t imagine I’ll be thinking about this game much after I set it down.

Like Mario Kart, and that comparison is ever-present, NASCAR Arcade Rush is all about the gameplay. There’s almost nothing in the way of a story mode, and it does everything it can to avoid menu time and get you into the game proper. The closest thing there is to a true story mode is the Cup Series, a series of four-race championships where you rack up points with your finishes in 12-driver races. Sound familiar? What holds this back, though, is what ends up holding much of the game back in its structure: there isn’t enough content to keep it going. Despite having 9 total cups with 4 races each, the game only features 12 total tracks, meaning that every track will be repeated 3 times on average.

"From the relative lack of content to the clear, heavy inspiration from the Mario Kart series, there’s not much about NASCAR Arcade Rush that’s unique. That’s not to say it’s not fun. It takes everything it can from those that came before it and hits the mark every once in a while with high-intensity photo finishes, but I can’t imagine I’ll be thinking about this game much after I set it down."

The tracks themselves aren’t much to speak about, either. They follow a similar formula to Mario Kart tracks, with their vibrant greens and oranges and their twisting, turning paths. There are even the token short tracks that are effectively circles but require more laps than normal. Each is meant to be based loosely on a real-life NASCAR track, like Daytona or Talladega, but reimagined for an arcade racer. While I like the idea behind this, it’s the closest the tracks, or really any part of the game, get to resembling any part of real-life NASCAR. If there weren’t big flashing NASCAR logos and a pre-race voiceover introducing the tracks, you’d hardly be able to notice the influence.

While it’s nice to have all tracks and modes unlocked from the start, and props to developer Team6 for avoiding microtransactions or pay-to-win in any form, it does feel barebones in your goals or motivation. The only real form of progression throughout the entire game is the gathering of Cup Points, which you earn from completing individual Cup Series championships, as well as traditional leveling, which unlocks cosmetic pieces you can add to either your driver or your car. Especially given that you’ll be replaying the same tracks as you unlock later Cup Series championships, the game doesn’t give you much of a reason to care about what you’re doing or why you’re doing it. There aren’t even any references to real-life NASCAR in the cars or the drivers. Every driver is a generic avatar, and every car a generic tuning kit, even further ingraining that this is hardly a NASCAR game as much as it is a quick cart racer with a name put on top of it.

The only other modes are Time Attack, a series of solo time trials on each track, and the natural quickplay modes that come in offline single-player or split-screen and online varieties. Again, props to Team6 for including each of these modes, especially a split-screen mode, when many games are moving away from them, but since there isn’t much in the way of progression or motivation to unlock any tracks or additional material content, I have a hard time seeing where any staying power will come from.

"While it’s nice to have all tracks and modes unlocked from the start, and props to developer Team6 for avoiding microtransactions or pay-to-win in any form, it does feel barebones in your goals or motivation."

What most cart racers, especially Mario Kart, hinge on, though, is the racing itself, and NASCAR Arcade Rush is relatively middle of the pack in its feel and mechanics. Races consist of 12 drivers primarily racing the traditional three laps, and for the most part, the actual racing feels good. It’s a classic arcade feel with tight controls, a boost meter, and high-intensity races that can see you crashing and getting back into the fray in a matter of seconds. The primary issue is that it doesn’t go much deeper than this. Tuning kits, the cosmetic changes you can make to your car, don’t make an impact on the functionality of the car, so the vehicle you’re driving in your first race is functionally the same as the one you’re driving in your hundredth. Your driver, which you can customize despite never seeing them outside of menus and podiums, also doesn’t impact your stats or skills. It all gives a feel that the game is static, making no changes to gameplay and having minimal replay value unless you’re playing with friends.

On the track, I’m willing to cut the game a bit of slack, as its traditional cart racing feel makes up for much of the game’s content deficiencies until you’ve had your share. The couple of wrinkles that differ from any expected NASCAR racing are the boost meter and the on-track boost lanes. Like with many in the genre, you gather boost for your car by hitting specific orange boost pads on the track, and your ability to manage your stamina will likely be a key factor in whether you can snag a podium spot. The on-track boost lanes are like extended boost pads that bump up your speed while you’re on them. Boosting is especially fun, probably the most enjoyable, satisfying mechanic in the game, and it’s a vital aspect of success. Especially on Elite difficulty, the harder of the two difficulties offered, one of the major factors in getting better at the game is maximizing the time spent above your normal speeds.

The only other nuance in the gameplay at large is the Rival system, which is almost not worth mentioning. When you make contact with another car or either pass or get passed in a vital moment in the race, like in the final lap or when one of you is in the lead, you get a notification that you made a new rival. This rival then gets an icon on top of their car, and then functionally nothing changes. There are no pre- or post-race mentions of rivals, no reference to them outside of when you make a new rival, and no noticeable changes to gameplay or your skills. It’s a system that feels like it was going somewhere but was unfinished or had no new ideas, and I harp on it because it’s the only semi-unique mechanic the game could have had going for it. Sadly, though, it becomes an afterthought.

"The only other nuance in the gameplay at large is the Rival system, which is almost not worth mentioning."

NASCAR Arcade Rush feels like it could have been much more than it is, because in its current state, it feels like a momentarily fun flash in the pan that rips more from Mario Kart than it has ideas of its own. It has almost no mention of NASCAR aside from the names of its tracks, and while its traditional cart racing gameplay has potential and a few moments of high intensity, it doesn’t set itself apart from any of the games that came before it. Given my affinity for much of the genre, I wanted to like NASCAR Arcade Rush more than I did, but in the end, it stalls much earlier than it should have.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.

Marvel’s Spider-Man was inarguably a PlayStation 4 seller. Shifting over 20 million units, as of November 2021 Insomniac Games’ first foray into Spidey territory is the PS4’s best-selling game, with its blend of fluid combat, freewheeling traversal, and smart quips persuading gamers on the fence with Sony’s fourth PlayStation console to buy in the bucketload. 2020’s Miles Morales spinoff – whilst ostensibly a game lighter on content – solidified Insomniac’s chops as a studio capable of nailing the unique feel and tone of the web-slinging superhero. Now, with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on the near horizon the bar is set to be raised again. To be clear, Marvel games will always sell well, and there’s an element of Spider-Man 2’s destiny as a platform seller already locked in due to Insomniac’s prior success with the series but make no mistake: many will come for another swing through New York because the quality is clear to see.

At first glance though, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 looks to be re-treading the same ground as its predecessors. And sure, whilst this sequel is destined to be a best seller there’s also pressure on Spider-Man 2 to sell high due to its rumoured $210 million budget, so it stands to reason Insomniac wouldn’t tamper with their established formula too much. Still, spend a bit of time watching Spider-Man 2’s gameplay previews and its clear to see Insomniac has built upon its predecessors in innovative and exciting ways – more so than just having two playable Spider-Men.

Where to begin? Well, seeing as traversal is amongst Spider-Man’s marquee selling points let’s start there. For Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, web slinging through Manhattan skyrises is as exhilarating as ever, but this sequel adds exceptional new ways to travel. Most notable is the Web Wings, equip-able to both Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Billed as a speedy way to glide through low rise areas, rivers, and above Central Park, the Web Wings enable our web slinging heroes to dip and soar with the tap of the triangle button mid-air. Chained with swinging and some strategically placed airborne wind tunnels, Spider-Man can swiftly chalk up some breath-taking aerial manoeuvre combos. Additionally, Talon Drones – an air bound mechanised threat from lead antagonist Kraven’s army of Hunters – leave a wake in the air which Spider-Man can slipstream through to catch up when giving chase.

Another fresh traversal option harnesses Spider-Man’s penchant for stealth. Deployable web lines open the confines of warehouses and indoor spaces by allowing Spidey to create bespoke pathways in the rafters on which to tread lightly across. For situations where Spider-Man finds himself outnumbered these web lines will prove an invaluable tool to slyly picking goons off one-by-one instead of tackling them all en masse.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s vision of Manhattan is largely the same as 2018’s effort, but this sequel’s surface area has nearly doubled with expansion across the East River coming in the form of New York boroughs Brooklyn and Queens. Alongside the returning Manhattan, each district in Spider-Man 2 brings with it a glut of story missions, side quests, collectibles, and city activities, the latter two looking infinitely more interesting than their predecessors. Interestingly too, insomniac have taken the decision to minimise quest markers on the map and in the HUD. Instead, if Spidey really wants to get a feel for what’s going on he’s going to have to explore with his eyes peeled. As he’s swinging between tower blocks, visual clues – a neon sign here, a glowing Spider Bot there – will reveal themselves for further investigation. Both characters – whilst of course integral to the main story – feature character-specific side missions to uncover too. For instance, fellow students of Miles at Brooklyn Visions might require his assistance, whilst Peter could be called into play for a task only he can complete via the in-game Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man app.

Why would Peter be the optimal choice over Miles though? Both are free to choose during free roaming and exploration – with switching between the two, by the way, taking a leaf out of Grand Theft Auto V’s character swapping mechanic – but each Spider-Man in this sequel brings unique combat traits to the table. You may have seen Peter’s new symbiote capability, with aggressive powers at his fingertips when daubed in the iconic Black Suit. Brutal Symbiote Strikes see Peter transform into a squirming tarlike mass that’ll project vicious spikes to catapult enemies wayward. The grab-and-slam Symbiote Surge attacks multiple enemies simultaneously, with tendrils grabbing and disabling enemies in savage movement. For his part, Miles brings his trademark bio-electrical venom power to battle with evolved venom abilities that’ll leave foes in dismay. Furthermore, Insomniac say the abilities of both Spider-Men can be mixed, matched, and deployed in exciting combinations mid-battle.

The ability to parry is a new combat tactic for both characters now too, which sits alongside Spider-Sensed dodging as a new tingle adding another dimension to encounters. Of course, web-shooting is still a principal skill amongst both characters too, with a raft of new attacks and crowd-controlling Spider gadgets at each’s disposal. Web Grabber is a particular highlight, with its omni-directional web-slinging yanking any goon unfortunate enough to be in its flight path right into Spider-Man’s clutches, leaving them exposed to a brutal AOE takedown. Each skill and ability – alongside each character’s unique brand of web-shooting firepower – can be upgraded via skill trees, increasing their devastation and area of effect as the game goes on. What’s clear here is both characters will occupy a specific playstyle; not that anyone was expecting a simple palette swap between the two but it’s heartening to see how much thought and effort has gone into crafting Spider-Men that are wildly distinct yet complimentary to each other.

Customising the look and feel of each character has played a huge part in their development too, for there are – wait for it – 65 suits to collect and equip, from classic fan favourites, movie tie-ins, and original Insomniac designs to third-party artist designs obtainable via the digital deluxe version. There are 10 such suits, with the ultramodern, blood-sport-esque 15^th Century Suit and the Pilipino inspired, faintly regal looking purple Agimat Suit the pick of the bunch.

Special mention should go to Insomniac’s choice of supervillain. Kraven isn’t as widely known in the Marvel Multiverse as, say, Venom – who also makes an appearance in this sequel – but his unpleasant unpredictability is a sure-fire way to bring mysterious danger to proceedings.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is firing on all cylinders with potential to be amongst the greatest – if not thee – greatest superhero game ever crafted. All the ingredients are laid bare – exceptional exploration, immersive districts, interesting enemies, a glut of fresh, exciting combat capabilities, and the pièce de resistance, Spidey’s wonderfully exhilarating web-slinging and traversal, promising faster, more freewheeling travel – mean this sequel is destined to be a best seller.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

There’s just something special about games that take you through vast journeys set against the backdrop of wondrous locations. These are the games that completely grip the player and make them a living, breathing part of the virtual escapade that they’re set in – which causes us to spend days and weeks checking every nook and cranny and ticking out every quest in the logbook. While such experiences are generally few and far between, the last couple of years have blessed us gamers with plenty of games that belong to this niche. And with this feature, we will be taking a look at 10 recent PS5 and Xbox Series X/S games that last 100 hours.’

Death Stranding: Director’s Cut

Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but those who jive with its unique brand of gameplay and post-apocalyptic world will tell you that it’s one of the few games that are worth sinking your teeth into. While the critical path will take you on a vast trek across varied biomes as you deliver packages, the core of Death Stranding is all about reconnecting lost communities and building together a shared world with structures like bridges, roads, and ziplines. It’s a truly rewarding experience that gives as much as it takes, and the current-gen Director’s Cut release is the best way to see what this game has to offer.

Starfield is a game that you can easily pour upwards of a hundred hours into, if not twice that much, and across that long, long stretch, you’re guaranteed to find a ton of excellent content. And though plenty of that is likely going to be of your own making, thanks to the game’s incredible systems-driven sandbox, there’s no shortage of incredible, authored content to find in the space-faring RPG as well. To that end, here, we’re going to talk about what we feel are the fifteen best missions in all of Starfield. To start off, we’ll take a look at a couple of main story missions. 

NOTE: There are spoilers ahead for Starfield.

NO SUDDEN MOVES

No Sudden Moves is a quest you’re going to tackle roughly halfway through Starfield’s main story. Tracking down an artifact, you visit the ship of a man who’s part-eccentric collector, part-shady criminal, with your ultimate goal being to get your hands on the artifact. Not only is the setup an intriguing one, especially given that it lets you explore a ship full of oddities and rare objects, the quest also lets you accomplish your objective in a variety of different ways, whether that’s through subterfuge, intimidation, or, of course, outright violence.

HIGH PRICE TO PAY

Perhaps one of the most dramatic missions in the entire game, High Price to Pay is where Starfield’s main story truly shows how high-stakes it is. Some time after being introduced to the Starborn, in this mission, you cross paths with the deadly Hunter in an encounter that ends up costing the life of one of Constellation’s crew. Which of the game’s four main companions dies will depend on a couple of key decisions made by you, as well as your affinity levels with those characters, so there are proper consequences to your actions in this quest.

EYEWITNESS

Let’s move on from the main story and take a look at Starfield’s true stars of the show- the Faction questlines, starting with the UC Vanguard. What starts out as a fairly straightforward induction mission in this questline quickly escalates into a potential galaxy-wide Terrormorph outbreak, leading to a meeting with the leaders of the galaxy, where it’s up to you to convince them to let you access data that’s been locked away for years, on account of it having once been tied deeply to some pretty heinous war crimes. Not only is it an engaging sequence that perfectly displays the intricate politics of the Settled Systems, the quest also culminates in you trying to protect New Atlantis against a surprise attack from Terrormorphs, who, by the way, are also trying to mind-control everyone- including you.

BREAKING THE BANK

Perhaps the single best questline in all of Starfield is the one that has you grappling with the Crimson Fleet as an undercover agent for UC SysDef, and Breaking the Bank ranks as one of the most entertaining missions in that questline. Tasked with infiltrating a luxury cruise liner (with some inside help, of course), you spend the mission navigating through the ship with the ultimate goal of escaping with valuable booty. While you can take a violent approach, it’s much more fun to unravel the stories within stories within stories that populate this quest, and trying to make your way out while spilling as little blood as possible.

EYE OF THE STORM

Much of the Crimson Fleet questline is focus on you and your gang of fellow space pirates trying to track down the legendary lost ship known as the Legacy, and the treasure trove of credits that it holds. In Eye of the Storm, the questline’s penultimate mission, you do just that. After flying your ship through a deadly magnetic storm, you board the ship, explore its dilapidated interiors, learn about the final moments of not just its crew, but the legendary Jasper Kryx himself, and ultimately escape with millions of millions of credits in your back pocket.

LEGACY’S END

Of course, you don’t get to just fly off with the vast quantities of credits you’ve acquired from the Legacy, because in the final mission of the Crimson Fleet questline, you’re faced with a choice- do you side with the Crimson Fleet, or with UC SysDef? Either way, the choice leads to an incredible space battle right outside The Key, the Fleet’s HQ, which is followed by a dramatic face-to-face showdown against whichever group you have chosen to betray.

JOB GONE WRONG

With the Crimson Fleet in our rearview mirror, let’s now take a look at another faction in the Freestar Rangers. Upon first landing in Akila City, it’s not long before you’re introduced to its much more lawless ways as compared to most of the rest of the galaxy. A bank in town has been taken over by criminals, who’re also holding hostages, and it’s up to you to find a way to defuse the situation. Do you try to find a way to sneak in? Do you speak to the robbers and try to negotiate? The choice is yours, and success is by no means guaranteed.

ON THE RUN

As you approach the final leg of the Freestar Rangers questline, in this mission, On the Run, you’re tasked with heading to the Red Mile and hunting down the crime boss Marco Graziani- though that proves to be more complicated than you’d think. You go from dealing with head of a smuggling group to running the Red Mile, a deadly test of endurance and strength, to flying to a different star system and finally having a confrontation with Marco himself, where whether or not he dies is entirely your decision.

SURGICAL STRIKE

Surgical Strike becomes available to you in the Freestar Rangers questline at the same time as On the Run, and tasks you with tracking down another key person of interest in your ongoing investigation into the First. Here, your investigation takes you to the medical space facility known as the Clinic, where you can go about finding out your target’s location in a variety of ways. Following that, after you do learn of her location, you have to go through an abandoned mine littered with drones, bots, and creatures trying to kill you, before once again, in a final confrontation, you get to decide whether your quarry lives or dies.

EXECUTIVE LEVEL

Let’s look at one final faction quest in Starfield before moving on to some of its shorter, one-off side quests. We’re turning our attention to the Ryujin Industries questline- its very final chapter, in fact, purely because of the fact that the entire mission is exclusively focused on you having conversations with characters and trying to persuade them on some key decisions related to the company and its future. That future can also involve whether or not the company moves ahead with a product that can essentially give people the power of mind control, so the stakes are certainly high. Oh, and you can use that mind control ability yourself in order to influence the board members, if you so please.

MANTIS

Do you want to be space Batman? Well, this is as close as you’re going to get to living out that dream in Starfield. A tip pointing to legendary loot takes you to the lair of a fabled and feared bounty hunter vigilante known as the Mantis. The entire quest sees you going through the Mantis’ elaborate facility and making your way past traps and all manner of dangers, before finally getting your hands on the now-dead bounty hunter’s armour and ship, and taking on the mantle of the Mantis yourself.

FIRST CONTACT

You’ll be spending a lot of time in Starfield wondering if you’re ever going to run into any sentient alien life, and First Contact flirts with that idea- before pulling the rug out from under you, and revealing that a mysterious ship that you’ve come into contact with is actually a human generation ship that left Earth hundreds of years ago. Populated with the descendants of its original crew, thanks to its archaic technology, the ship has no way of contacting anyone that crosses paths with it, though it ultimately falls to you to try and broker an agreement between it and the people of the planet it wants to settle down on. It’s a fascinating setup that leads to an equally intriguing short story.

GROUNDPOUNDER

Groundpounder is definitely one of the most action-packed side quests in all of Starfield, and given how fun Starfield’s combat can be, that in and of itself should honestly be enough to help it rank as one of the game’s best missions. But even the narrative context behind it all is extremely interesting. The quest sees soldiers of the UC and the Freestar Collective working as unexpected allies as they come together to fight against a common enemy. It’s a succinct, well-told short story that also helps further flesh out the long-standing enmity between the two factions, and how some people in those factions are able to look past that history in a high-pressure situation.

JUNO’S GAMBIT

This is easily one of the best and most unique missions you’ll find in the entire game. Juno’s Gambit is set entirely on a single, small spaceship- but that spaceship, as it turns out, has been taken over by a sentient AI that’s been roaming the stars for years and years. Also on that ship are two people who’re trying to take that AI out of commission. Bit by bit, you learn this AI’s fascinating history and how it came to achieve actual sentience, before deciding whether or not to let it live, what sort of guidance to give it in how it should approach the future, and what should become of the two people who’re on that ship with you.

OPERATION STARSEED

Here’s another one of many shorter side quests in Starfield that show just how captivating stories can be in BGS games even when they’re told entirely within the space of a single, one-off quest. Not only do you discover a lost colony of clones in Operation Starseed, you then also get to learn about its fascinating history, before the fate of the entire colony is ultimately thrust upon you. Do they flourish, or do you doom all of them to a horrible fate? That weighty decision is entirely on your shoulders.

Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield has been out for a few weeks now on Xbox Series X/S and PC, and much like the developer’s previous titles, there are all kinds of crazy things to discover. There is much to discover, from little moments you would have otherwise missed, cool interactions, physics abuse or incredible details. There’s bound to be more over the coming months, but here are 15 amazing things that Starfield does.

Steal Credits With Physics

Stealing tons of stuff in Starfield isn’t difficult, but you can make it even easier by using the game physics to your advantage. Take a container, position it below a table with Credits on it, and then use another object to slide them in. It won’t trigger a response from the NPCs since you’re not technically touching the Credits. Walk out with the container to a safe spot and collect them peacefully. While far from the best money-making strategy in the game, being able to do this is pretty cool.

Vasco’s Humor

If you’re not a fan of the companions from Constellation and how straight-laced they can be, take Vasco along. Though his sense of humor tries to mimic Barrett, he can be brutal when afforded an opportunity. When asked if he knows any human jokes, Vasco will reply, “I am looking at one.” Say what you will about the others, but Vasco pulls no punches.

“Invincible” Ships

Space combat is surprisingly fun in Starfield, but it can get annoying when you’re overwhelmed against multiple opponents and haven’t outfitted your ship. The solution? Build a vessel without a midpoint. No, seriously. Take your ship and arrange the components so there’s nothing in the middle. Enemies will target the midpoint of your ship in combat, so if there’s nothing there, they deal no damage when facing them from the front. Granted, they can occasionally deal damage while you’re turning, but even if they fire missiles from behind you, they sail off harmlessly into the void. Incredibly dumb, yes, but it works very well.

Glowing Stars

It may not be obvious when navigating the star map, but some stars are glowing while others are white dots or fainter red dots. The glowing stars indicate locations the player has visited, while the white dots indicate places you haven’t, but can still be traveled to via Grav jump. The red dots are stars which can’t be jumped to from your current location. It’s subtle, and a clever way to indicate which systems are available to explore.

Patches on Companion Suits

Want to keep track of the different Skills that your companions have? Take a closer look at the patches on their spacesuits – they mirror the images used for Skills in the various Skill Trees. While you need to memorize the image for each Skill across all the trees, it beats constantly bringing up the companion list to check their Skills. Unfortunately, you can’t cover yourself in these patches to show off your mastery of various Skills.

Ship Dashboard Details

There are a lot of different consoles and control panels throughout Starfield’s extensive universe. You probably noticed when jumping to a planet from your scanner in space or when dogfighting, but they’re incredibly detailed. Is it possible for the average person to understand what everything means? Probably not, but they go a long way towards immersion and making you feel like a space explorer.

Placing Objects on the Dashboard

As detailed as your ship dashboard can be, it’s boring to stare at the same thing over time. The good news is that you can decorate it with various items. So if you have decorations, plushies, potted plants etc., that would look good, place them on the dashboard to admire them while traveling and spruce up the journey.

Chaotic Conversations

Throughout the many conversations, you’ll notice that the game doesn’t pause when speaking to someone. NPCs can walk freely, staring at you with vacant eyes. However, sometimes, enemies can attack. One particularly hilarious encounter involves chucking a grenade at enemies before a scripted conversation plays, and before they can get a word in, they’re immediately dead to the explosion. You could save some people on a planet, only to have an alien creature run up from behind and kill them mid-conversation.

Helping the Needy

Some of the best moments in Starfield can be found while simply wandering around. You encounter a child in Cydonia who tells you about their mother and how sad she is. If you find the mother, you can listen to her story and even give some money to help her. Again, not a quest per se but just an emotional conversation to discover while wandering around (which does lead to an adorable side quest).

Hours Without Incident

While wandering around in Cydonia, you may have noticed a sign that indicates the number of hours which have passed “without incident.” What constitutes an “incident” is unclear, but pull out a shotgun, shoot someone, and it resets to zero in real-time. Then again, even if on your best behavior, returning to the city could see the timer at a lower number, indicating something terrible happened in your absence.

Emergency Cuttable Walls

Have you ever come across any Emergency Cuttable Walls? As it turns out, you can cut them open with your mining laser. Slice through the four locks in each corner and open sesame. If you ditched the tool, don’t worry – weapons will work, whether it’s a pistol or a knife (as bizarre as it sounds).

Umbrella Ships

Have you ever ventured to a planet and stood outside in the rain admiring your surroundings? If so, take a closer look at your ship. It and the surrounding area will get wet, as you’d expect, but the ground underneath it will stay dry, just like in real life, and leave an outline. While not super practical, it’s another nice detail.

Screenshots as Loading Screens

If you’re one to take screenshots in-game, whether of stunning sights or ridiculous moments, then they eventually pop up during the many loading screens. It’s a feature that carries over from Fallout 76 and provides some nice variety when going from one location to another. It makes the tedium of fast travel much more bearable if nothing else.

Bullet Casings Affected by Gravity

Starfield was hyped up before launch for its low-gravity and Zero-G environments since firing a ballistic weapon in the latter caused the recoil to propel you backward. However, since bullet casings are separate objects, ballistic weapons are worth using purely to see how gravity affects them. In normal gravity, the casings fly out normally. They take longer to fall to the ground and even bounce higher in low gravity. In Zero G? Get a mod that causes them to linger for longer and stare in awe as thousands of casing float through the environment.

Hunters, Prey and Scavengers

While surveying a planet, it’s quickly revealed to have an actual ecosystem with hunters, prey and scavengers. If you follow the hunters and observe them killing their prey, the scavengers will appear later to mop up the remains. Not only is it realistic, but a great way to scan every species if you’re missing some.

There’s been much discussion about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Square Enix’s follow-up to Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and how it offers a larger world to explore. As a seamless one-to-one recreation of the original game’s world map, it promises 100 hours of content, various mini-games and side content (like the recently showcased Grasslands).

However, like the first game, fast travel will be disabled and exploration restricted during key story moments. Director Naoki Hamaguchi spoke to Automaton (translation via Deep-L) about how the team retains an immersive experience, given the difference in map size and exploration.

“Of course, this title retains the dramatic game experience of the previous title. As we have done in other games, we have temporarily disabled fast travel on the world map when the story takes an abrupt turn. At a minimum, when the story has progressed, there will be times when the gameplay will temporarily be compromised by story progression, such as when Cloud and his friends are emotionally disturbed if they do not advance the story to some degree.”

Once said events have passed, fast travel and free exploration become available again. “It is as if the timing to explore and the timing to advance the story come alternately,” says Hamaguchi.

Talking about the incentive to explore, he described it as an “‘anything goes’ quest. Like in the previous game, there are quests for people in town who need help or for named characters who appear in the main storyline, and we delve deeper into the character’s story.” There will also be a storyline in addition to the main quest where “you explore the world map and use that storyline as a starting point to travel around the world and receive requests, etc.”

It would certainly fit with the side content being double that of the main quest, with areas that don’t even feature in the latter. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches on February 29th, 2024, for PS5. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Cyberpunk 2077 has made a remarkable turnaround with last week’s launch of the comprehensive Update 2.0, and that turnaround is set to be cemented with its upcoming expansion, Phantom Liberty. Out imminently, to further ratchet up the hype for its impending release, CD Projekt RED has released a new launch trailer to give you a taste of what the expansion will have in store. Check it out below.

Set vastly in Dogtown, a new district of Night City that wasn’t present in the base game, Phantom Liberty is a spy thriller that sees protagonist V getting involved in a high-risk, high-stakes mission involving the President of the New United States of America herself. Along the way, he also crosses paths with expert Netrunner Songbird, as well as undercover NUSA agent Solomon Reed, played by Idris Elba. Meanwhile, anarchist rockerboy Johnny Silverhand returns as well, once again played by Keanu Reeves.

In our review of Phantom Liberty, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Phantom Liberty is what Cyberpunk 2077 should have been three years ago. It’s an incredible expansion that boasts a gripping story, compelling characters, engaging moment-to-moment gameplay, and significantly improved progression mechanics. It’s so good that it uplifts all of Cyberpunk 2077, finally making good on the lofty promises CD Projekt RED made for the base game all those years ago.” Read the full review through here.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty launches tomorrow, September 26, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Turn 10 Studios has outlined its post-launch content schedule for Forza Motorsport, which launches next month. Each month will feature content like new tracks, cars and events to complete. While the Nürburgring Nordschleife arrives in Spring 2024, players can look forward to the arrival of Yas Marina in November with update 2.0.

Rebuilt from the ground up for the reboot, it features a “more flowing hairpin” for “better racing and overtaking opportunities.” Another track is coming in December, which will be revealed soon. As with launch day tracks, each supports a dynamic time of day, with the weather and track conditions changing accordingly.

New cars are also coming and will be added in the Showroom for purchase with credits or unlocked by finishing Featured Tours. This is aside from the Car Pass, which adds a new car weekly for its duration. The Featured Tours are limited-time events in Career Mode based on different themes and Spotlight Cars. Check out the Featured Tours for October below:

• Track Day 2022 – Subaru BRZ (October 5)
• Built to Race 2020 – KTM X-Bow GT2 (October 12)
• Track Exotics 2014 – Ferrari FXX K (October 19)
• Prototype Power 2019 – Ginetta #6 Team LNT Ginetta G60-LT-P1 (October 26)

Each is available for two weeks, and those who complete all four events will unlock a Showcase Event and a new car, like the new Motorsport 2020 Acura #6 ARX-05 DPi. Players can also look forward to new content and themes in the Open Tour, with the first celebrating German Manufacturers. There are four PI class series, and once again, completing all four will net a free car (which is yet to be revealed).

Forza Motorsport launches on October 10 for Xbox Series X/S and PC while also being available for Game Pass. Pre-loads are live – check out its list of accessibility features here.

It’s been a big few days for Cyberpunk 2077, with Update 2.0 having launched last week, significantly improving the base experience’s quality in more ways than one- and of course, there’s still plenty to look forward to. The open world action RPG’s first and only expansion, Phantom Liberty, launches tomorrow- but ahead of its launch, PlayStation 5 players won’t be able to prepare for it like those on other platforms will.

Taking to Twitter, via its official support page, CD Projekt RED has confirmed that pre-loading for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty isn’t available on PS5, unlike on other platforms. The only way to download the expansion will be to claim it from the PlayStation Store once it has unlocked at midnight local time later today. “We apologize for the lack of a pre-load,” the developer writes.

Meanwhile, CDPR warns that the Quadra pre-order bonus may also not be available to PlayStation players at first after launch, though the developer says it’s “working to ensure players receive their bonus as soon as possible.”

In our review of Phantom Liberty, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Phantom Liberty is what Cyberpunk 2077 should have been three years ago. It’s an incredible expansion that boasts a gripping story, compelling characters, engaging moment-to-moment gameplay, and significantly improved progression mechanics. It’s so good that it uplifts all of Cyberpunk 2077, finally making good on the lofty promises CD Projekt RED made for the base game all those years ago.” Read the full review through here.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty launches tomorrow, September 26, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

⚠️Important information for PlayStation 5 gamers — If you purchased the Cyberpunk 2077 + Phantom Liberty bundle, to download Phantom Liberty claim it from the PlayStation Store by pressing "download" once the game releases at midnight local time. We apologize for the lack of a… pic.twitter.com/glld9mPbp1

— CD PROJEKT RED CS (@CDPRED_Support) September 25, 2023

Following YouTuber Blitzwinger’s report, Insomniac Games confirmed to IGN that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 would have a setting for fall damage. It’s off by default, and as senior programming director Doug Sheahan revealed, it’s in response to players who would “like to be able to customize their experience.”

“Something we’re seeing more and more of is that players like to be able to customize their experience. For those players, we added the ability to enable fall damage (fall damage defaults to Off) and even let people tweak how swinging feels with our Swing Steering Assist setting. We hope players who enjoy a deep dive into the details have fun experimenting.”

Sheahan didn’t go into too many details about Swing Steering Assist, but it could involve the game automatically dictating the correct direction while swinging. This should make it easier for players to round corners while web-swinging through the city.

As for fall damage, this is a first for the series since neither Marvel’s Spider-Man nor Miles Morales had the option. It’s unlikely that smacking into buildings at high speed will cause any damage to either Peter or Miles, but you never know. Regardless, it should provide an extra bit of danger to one’s web-swinging experience (should they desire it).

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20th for PS5. It went gold last week.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a game that fans of its predecessor have been waiting for for a long time, and now that the open world action RPG is finally beginning to take tangible shape, excitement surrounding it is continuing to grow. Capcom recently brought the title to Tokyo Game Show, showing off substantial amounts of gameplay that’s looked quite promising, and something that’s caught the eye of many is how closesly the sequel seems to be sticking to the original game.

In fact, it turns out that’s very much been the development team’s guiding philosophy as well. Speaking in an interview with VGC, Dragon’s Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno revealed that, above all else, he and the development team have been focused on implementing things they couldn’t do in the first game, whether that was due to time constraints or hardware constraints.

“We mostly just wanted to take things that we couldn’t achieve in Dragon’s Dogma at the time it came out, whether it be from just lack of time or pushing the limits of the hardware that was around at the time,” Itsuno said. “So the main inspiration was sort of ourselves, and finally being able to achieve what we wanted on this current console generation.”

Interestingly enough, however, Itsuno also mentioned that the one open world title that Capcom has taken inspiration from for Dragon’s Dogma 2 is its reactive world. According to Itsuno, the emergent nature of a living open world in the 2013 Rockstar title is something that Capcom’s upcoming action RPG tries to recreate.

“If I had to pick one other game that came out in the meantime, I would actually say GTA 5,” he said. “I kind of admired how they were able to create a world in which it really felt like the NPCs were going about their lives independently of the player. All kinds of interesting emergent behaviour could happen whenever you were exploring the city and all kinds of weird accidents felt like it would happen whether you were there or not. That feeling of a living world is something that I’ve definitely tried to achieve in Dragon’s Dogma 2.”

It’s also been confirmed that Dragon’s Dogma 2’s open world is entirely seamless, and has no loading screens whatsoever.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is in development for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It doesn’t yet have a release date.

Hideki Kamiya, the creator of the Bayonetta series and PlatinumGames’ vice president and co-founder, is leaving the company, it has been announced. The surprise announcement was recently made by the company on twitter, confirming that Kamiya will be leaving PlatinumGames in less than a month’s time, on October 12.

“We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day,” PlatinumGames wrote. “We believe that he will continue to succeed in his future endeavours as a game creator. We are looking forward to seeing the game industry grow into a better place with him in.”

Kamiya himself also confirmed the news on his Twitter page, saying that leaving the studio was “by no means an easy decision to make”, and that it was a decision he arrived at after “a lot of consideration based on my own beliefs”.

“However, I feel this outcome is for the best,” he added. “I will continue to create in my Hideki Kamiya way. I hope you’ll keep your eyes peeled.”

Hideko Kamiya has, of course, had an illustrious career in game development. Starting out at Capcom, he went on to direct a number of major big-hitters for the company, including the likes of Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Okami, and Viewtiful Joe. He co-founded PlatinumGames in 2006, where he directed Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101.

Kamiya was also set to direct PlatinumGames’ next major action title, Project G.G. It currently remains unknown who will be taking the reins of that project in Kamiya’s absence, or where Kamiya will be headed to next after leaving PlatinumGames.

pic.twitter.com/GHiSugPF42

— PlatinumGames Inc. (@platinumgames) September 25, 2023

However, I feel this outcome is for the best.
I will continue to create in my Hideki Kamiya way.
I hope you'll keep your eyes peeled.
(2/2)

— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) September 25, 2023

A new Mortal Kombat means many new experiences. There’s a new Story Mode, undoubtedly filled with brand new hijinks from Liu Kang and friends. Then you have Invasion, wherein you travel across various regions, battling invaders from alternate dimensions. The Kameo Fighters are also a nice mix-up to the formula.

However, if Mortal Kombat is renowned for one thing, it’s the Fatalities, and Mortal Kombat 1 offers plenty. They range from the intricate to the hilarious, with varying degrees of gratuity. Here are the 15 best Fatalities in the game.

Hollywood Walk of Pain – Johnny Cage

What’s worse than being beaten by a smarmy Johnny Cage? Being invited to take a selfie before he slams your face into a square on the Hollywood Walk of Pain. You think it would be the end, but then Cage pulls half of your head off the pavement for a pic and tags it as “YouGotCAGEd.” There are more painful ways to go out, but few are as demeaning as this. On the other hand, if you play as Cage, few Fatalities are as demoralizing for your opponent.

Nitara Takes Flight

Say what you will about her voice acting (and fans have said a lot), Nitara’s moves and Fatalities are the real deal. Her second Fatality is especially brutal, as she reaches into her opponent’s innards to pull out some intestines before taking flight. It’s probably the small intestine, which you know is a question that came up during development, but that’s not important. Eventually, Nitara gets bored carrying her opponent and yanks them up for one final kick that splits their skeleton from the rest of their body to crumble on the ground.

Geras Closes the Loop

Perhaps the most clever Fatality in the game, this one sees Geras opening a portal into the past and pulling off the opponent’s head before smacking their present version with it. One shattered lower jaw and a woeful look at the head later, a portal suddenly opens behind them and plucks their current head from their shoulders as Geras seals a potential paradox. The execution and imagination, as this fits very well with Geras’ abilities while still showing massive disrespect to his opponent, is on point.

Scorpion’s Execution Squad

Despite Scorpion starting the Fatality by disappearing into the ground amid flames, he doesn’t emerge to ignite his opponent. Instead, three other shinobi, likely from the Shirai Ryu, arrive. The first stabs the opponent with a sword while another embeds a battle axe in their skull. The third is a call back to the Scorpion we know and love by removing his mask to breathe fire. The man finally emerges to spear, pull and separate his opponent’s skeleton from their charred flesh, battle axe still embedded skull-deep.

Appetizer – Mileena

Mileena’s first Fatality is pretty simple when you think about it, but also the most gruesome. After sticking a sai in her opponent’s head, she turns them around, takes a big ol’ bite (gulping their brain down without pause) and then eats most of the rest with another chomp. Fittingly enough, this Fatality is named Appetizer, implying a main course that we’re thankfully spared from seeing.

Baraka Holds a BBQ

However, Baraka’s is more insane. Cutting open his opponent’s stomach, causing the intestines to fall out, he kicks them into the air over some support and hoists them from the ceiling over an open fire. Some of his Tarkatan buddies then arrive to pull off some charred limbs and chow down (while the opponent is still alive). And the Kameo Fighter? The Kameo Fighter gets to watch.

Tanya’s Spear Fishing

Tanya’s Fatalities aren’t too intricate, but still very brutal. For example, her second Fatality uses spectral hands to lift her opponent by the limbs and spread them. She then tosses her staff at their skull, piercing through but somehow removing it from the shoulders as it bisects the rest of the body before landing a few feet away. It’s one of those Fatalities that doesn’t seem over-the-top at first but is still appropriately violent.

Indigestion – Reptile

Would it be a Mortal Kombat game without at least three Fatalities of a fighter eating their opponent? Probably not, but Reptile’s Indigestion does mix it up a bit. First, he appears behind his opponent and chomps down on their head and shoulders before gulping them down. He then spits out said upper body as they attempt to flee, acid slowly dissolving their skin before Reptile squashes their cranium into bits. What more can you say?

Shang Tsung Probably Isn’t a Real Doctor

While capable of delivering tons of pain himself, Shang Tsung takes a different approach with his second Fatality. After cutting open his opponent’s chest on an operating table, he pours some green liquid into their innards. A bit bubbling and boiling later, a demonic snake emerges, devouring their face and brain with little fuss.

Kung Lao’s Torture Rack

In the story, Kung Lao initially doesn’t have a bladed hat, so how skilled could he get after acquiring one so quickly? Too skilled, as it turns out. His first Fatality is a display of precision, while his second is a showcase of tossing his hat high, hoisting his opponent on his back and holding them in place while it carves them in half. He then slams the two halves together for good measure.

Gymnastics, by Ashrah

Ashrah’s first Fatality is pretty quick, precisely skewering her opponent to win the match, which is why her second is hilarious. She turns her sword into a glowing whip and performs gymnastics, looping it across multiple limbs before giving it one big tug and slicing her opponent to bits. It’s graceful, we’ll give it that.

Royal Blender – Kitana

Among the many terrible ways to go is Kitana’s Royal Blender. Using the winds of both spinning fans to hold her opponent in place, she turns them into opposing blenders, mulching until they meet the middle before returning to her. Nothing too fancy but not too ordinary and just the right amount of “Wait, what?” before one moves on.

Kenshi Slices and Dices

Kenshi’s use of Sento is something to behold throughout the game but is all the more impressive in his Fatalities. The second sees him embedding it into an opponent and then telepathically slicing and dicing through them before sending it up and down on their skull, causing the pieces to scatter before it returns to his sheath in one fluid motion.

Smoke’s Hidden Blade

Compared to everyone else, Smoke’s second Fatality feels like more of an assassination than a Saw tribute. After generating a smoke cloud, he dashes through at insane speeds, slicing off a limb, then both legs and finally the middle of the head before kicking off the body. It’s a precise execution that remains fairly gory.

Twin Dragon – Liu Kang

Everyone loves Spaghettification, which is an actual term in Physics, by the way, but Liu Kang’s first Fatality is also pretty great. Twin Dragon sees him summoning two flaming dragons from his arms, hoisting the opponent in the air while they burn haplessly. He then proceeds to leap into the air and slam dunk their face into the ground while the rest of their body disintegrates. Over-the-top, gruesome, overkill – whatever the term, it’s awesome.

Payday 3 offers several progression systems, from weapon and Skill XP to Infamy Points. You still require cold hard Cash at the end of the day to purchase new primary and secondary weapons, not to mention cosmetics. However, the sequel introduces C-Stacks, a new form of currency that can unlock top-tier weapons and cosmetics as you progress through the game.

First, let’s look at the best ways to farm Cash in Payday 3. You may need specific Skills to pull these strategies off, so keep that in mind.

How to Farm Cash

Complete Tougher Heists at Higher Difficulties

Increasing the difficulty in Payday 3’s heists results in higher payouts, but later heists also award more Cash. It’s best to play through the game and unlock each heist as they appear in the story. When you’ve leveled up your Infamy for some potent Skills and weapons, you can try Gold and Sharke or Under the Surphaze at higher difficulties.

The former awards about $900,000 Cash on Hard difficulty and roughly $1.3 million on Overkill. The latter is a little more random, granting around $600,000 to $900,000 on Hard and about $1.3 million on Overkill. In both cases, you’ll need a solid team to succeed.

Speedrun Dirty Ice and Road Rage

Alternatively, you could do what everyone else does: Speedrun Dirty Ice and Road Rage. The former is best suited to stealth and can be cleared in less than two minutes if your team knows what to do. The best part is even if you play solo on Normal, you can still finish it quickly and amass a decent amount by picking up the minimum required bags. If a run takes three minutes and you earn $60,000, the returns can be higher than playing a longer heist on higher difficulties, and it’s soloable.

If stealth isn’t your preferred style, play Road Rage since it’s all about going guns-blazing. You can earn about $200,000 to $500,000 on Normal within ten minutes if you do everything right, and it’s possible to optimize further.

How to Earn C-Stacks

As you progress through Payday 3, you’ll notice that Cash doesn’t have much functionality, and C-Stacks become essential. They’re used to purchase preset weapons, which can be very strong, and cosmetics like masks, suits and gloves. Even if there’s no interest in the weapons, C-Stacks are still required for unlocking additional weapon slots and some mods. So how do you get them?

You can exchange Cash for C-Stacks by speaking to Setaggi from the main menu, who will present three options – a single, five-pack and ten-pack of C-Stacks. It becomes more expensive as you exchange more Cash for one of these options. You can only purchase 11 of these options weekly, and after the timer is up, their costs reset.

Of course, you can also earn C-Stacks by completing Career Challenges, but they’re tied to your Infamy Level. Hence, you must also complete Challenges which grant Infamy Points to increase your Infamy Level to earn C-Stacks. It shouldn’t be your main method for farming C-Stacks, but more of a bonus as you progress through the game. Check out our guide for earning Infamy Points and weapon/Skill XP.

Payday 3 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for more details on the co-op shooter in the coming days.

Starbreeze Studios’ Payday 3 has been facing some issues over the past few days, but its gameplay is a solid step up from Payday 2. One thing that may irk some long-time players is the progression system. The development completely overhauled progression and Skill Trees, so things work differently. You have weapon XP, Skill XP and Infamy Points, which all serve different functions.

Weapon XP will level up weapons and unlock mods, ideally making them better. Skill XP will unlock new Skills in a tree for you to equip using Skill Points (though the overall process is a bit more complicated, as we’ll explain later). Finally, there are Infamy Points, which increase your Infamy level and unlock new weapons, cosmetics and Skill Points.

If you want some of the best weapons in the game, then the Infamy grind is key. How do you earn weapon and Skill XP quickly and level up? What’s the best way to gain Infamy Points? Let’s look at all the different methods.

How to Gain XP and Level Up Infamy

Play Stealthy

Going loud is always an option in heists, especially in the starting ones, but playing stealthily nets more XP. For example, Dirty Ice is pretty quick if you know what to do and awards about 442 XP for weapons and each Skill on Normal difficulty. However, play it stealthily, and you’ll earn 924 XP, more than double. It can be soloed quickly, but your best bet is to play with a team to accomplish all the tasks quicker. Keep running this mission, and you amass a decent amount of cash and XP.

Increase the Difficulty

There are four difficulties in Payday 3 – Normal, Hard, Very Hard and Overkill. If you want the highest XP gains, the higher difficulty settings are the way to go. Of course, with increased enemy accuracy and damage and some sections becoming more punishing, it’s easier said than done.

Choose the heists you’re most comfortable with and play with a team as much as possible. The lackluster communication options don’t help, and you can’t stay with any random players you just completed a heist with. If possible, try to find teammates and party up with them. Otherwise, if you can consistently complete a heist quickly at higher difficulties, keep farming it for XP regardless of your methods.

Complete Challenges

Infamy Levels are pretty important in Payday 3 because not only do they unlock new weapons, but also Skill Points. Since Skill Points are earned every three Infamy Levels and the max level cap is 150, amassing Infamy Points as quickly as possible is key. However, as you play through the same heists again and again, you’ll notice that they don’t award Infamy Points.

To earn them, you must complete Challenges like the Heist Challenges and Combat Challenges (viewable in your Challenge Book). The former consists of completing Challenges like finishing a heist 15 times on Normal or higher difficulties before the Assault begins (and another after). There are 639 Heist Challenges to complete, so keep finishing the same heists and checking back for other remaining Challenges.

Then there are Combat Challenges, which have varying degrees of tasks, from defeating 10 Dozers and 10 Snipers to killing a certain number of enemies with specific weapons. As such, it’s a good idea to use different weapons as soon as they’re unlocked, kill Elite enemies, slide around and more as much as possible to get these Challenges done.

Note: Some Challenges are locked and won’t gain any progress until they become available. If you’re running through a list of Challenges, ensure they’re unlocked before attempting to progress any.

How to Unlock Skills

The Skill Tree from Payday 2 is gone, replaced with new Skill Lines. These allow for more mixing and matching when deciding on your build. You also have Master Nodes, which provide minuscule benefits from that Skill Line, but once unlocked, they don’t require the starter Skill or any others to allocate.

So, how do you unlock Skills in Payday 3? First, you need to research a Skill Line, and once the starter Skill becomes unlocked, you can spend a Skill Point to use it. For example, if you research the Medic Skill Line and unlock the Medic starter Skill, you must assign a Skill Point to activate it. Once done, any Skill XP gained can unlock other Skills in the same line.

You can repeat this process with other Skill Lines, but that’s not the end. With each available starter Skill that you’ve assigned a Skill Point to, you accrue Skill XP for that line. It goes towards unlocking new Skills, and regardless of how many starter Skills you have, each line gets the same amount of Skill XP. Remember: You must have activated the starter Skill to gain XP in that Skill Tree, which requires spending a Skill Point.

Finally, even if you succeed in unlocking all of the Skills, it’s impossible to use them all simultaneously. There are only 21 Skill Points in the entire game, so you must make choices. The option to respec is free, so feel free to switch up your build as the situation dictates.

Payday 3 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for more details on it shortly.

Sony has continued to aggressively expand its efforts in the live service space in recent years, and with the likes of Concord and Fairgame$, the company has also started to reveal some of the live service titles it currently has in the pipeline. And while some have been concerned that that will mean reduced emphasis on the narrative-driven experiences that PlayStation first party has become synonymous with, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has said that that is not the case.

His quotes come from a Q&A session with analysts from 2022 that was leaked as part of the recent Microsoft court document leaks. When asked whether Sony’s plans to double its revenue from first party games relies entirely on the company’s 10 live service titles due out before April 2026 (that has increased to 12 releases in the same period since this particular Q&A session), Ryan said that Sony doesn’t expect all of those releases to be successful, while whether or not they are viewed as successful will also vary from case to case. He went on to add that the company will also continue to publish the “narrative-rich” titles it has become known for, which, according to him, will remain a “bedrock” of PlayStation’s first party efforts.

“It would be naïve for us to assume that all 10 will be massive successes so that is not a necessary condition for us to double first party revenues,” Ryan said (via Reddit). “That is certainly not what we’re assuming. Clearly, the distinction between a hit and not a hit is not a binary one. And don’t forget that as we do this, we will continue to publish the games that have served us so well over the years. These single player, graphically beautiful narrative rich games will continue to be the bedrock of our first party publishing business.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time that PlayStation’s leadership has made such statements. Back in March last year, PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst said Sony’s studios will “always carry on making single-player narrative-based games.”

Meanwhile, during his Q&A with analysts, Ryan also said that he and publishers in the industry view Game Pass as “value destructive”. Read more on that through here.

Game Pass has become central to Microsoft’s gaming efforts ever since its introduction, driving the company to a much more platform agnostic approach. Interestingly enough, however, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan doesn’t seem to be a big fan.

A Q&A between Ryan and analysts from 2022 is one of several things to have emerged from the recent, massive Microsoft leak, and during the Q&A session, when asked about the company’s efforts with Game Pass, the PlayStation boss said that Microsoft’s initial approach “did not work at all”, which has “driven them to make large acquisitions.”

Ryan further added that publishers in the industry have told them they view Game Pass “value destructive” not only for individual releases, but for the industry as a whole. Interestingly, he also remarked on Microsoft’s last update for Game Pass’ number of subscribers – standing at 25 million as of January 2022 – and said that at nearly 50 million subscribers, he views PlayStation Plus as a more “meaningful” service.

“I can say with a very high degree of certainty that Microsoft has tried the first path and it did not work at all. That has driven them to make the large acquisition,” Ryan said (via Reddit). “I’ve talked to all the publishers, and they unanimously do not like Game Pass because it is value destructive, not only on an individual title-basis, but also on an industry level. The recent number of subscribers that Microsoft announced in January was 25 million. I am sure everyone has their own views on this, but I personally was expecting a larger number given all the money they have spent. We have close to 50 million PS Plus subscribers. We believe we have a meaningful subscription service.”

Interestingly enough, it also emerged from the leak that Xbox boss Phil Spencer is hoping to see significant growth for Game Pass in terms of its subscriber count by 2027, failing which Microsoft might even consider exiting the gaming business. Read more on that through here.

Given how many first party studios now fall under the Xbox Game Studios banner, it’s no surprise that Microsoft technically has the power to oversee revivals of as many dormant franchises as it can- a list that’s bound to grow further still once the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is finalized. However, one name in particular that Xbox boss Phil Spencer has personally had his eyes on that may take some by surprise is MechAssault.

During a recent interview at Tokyo Game Show, when asked about which of Microsoft’s published now-dormant properties he would like to see a revival for, Spencer brought up MechAssault, saying that the series was “ahead of its time”, and that it’s something that he would love to “revisit”.

“I always wanted us to go back and revisit MechAssault/MechWarrior space, I think there’s a lot we can do,” he said. “There’s so much about that whole franchise that in some way was ahead of its time, and it would be nice to get to go back and revisit.”

Jokingly referring to the recent, massive Microsoft leaks, Spencer added that nothing related to MechAssault is currently in the works, so you shouldn’t take his words as confirmation of a revival. “We don’t have a plan today, so it’s not a leak of anything. Speaking of leaks… But that would be a nice one,” he said.

We have, of course, continued to see new games in the BattleTech franchise – primarily with MechWarrior games – but the last mainline MechAssault game we saw was 2004’s MechAssault 2: Long Wolf, which released for the original Xbox. It was also followed by a Nintendo DS spinoff, MechAssault: Phantom War, in 2006, though that wasn’t published by Microsoft.

(FYI) In an Interview at #XboxTGS, Phil Spencer was asked what IP he would like to see revived

"I always wanted us to go back and revisit MechAssault MechWarrior space, I think there's a lot we can do. There's so much about that whole franchise that in some way was ahead of its… pic.twitter.com/qTVWIR0ogM

— Idle Sloth💙💛 (@IdleSloth84_) September 23, 2023