Death Stranding 2‘s PC launch on Thursday may have been overshadowed just a bit by Crimson Desert, but as I wrote in my review, it’s a great game, whether you’re in it for the Hideo Kojima story or the delivery sim sandbox. Folks who especially love the latter, though, like PC Gamer’s Morgan Park, almost universally have the same complaint: it’s too easy. Though Death Stranding 2 lets you challenge yourself by making deliveries on foot, the vehicles, upgrades, and shared infrastructure from other players can trivialize making flawless deliveries.
For the PC release Kojima Productions added a new difficult option called “To the Wilder,” which was created specifically to address player feedback, the studio said in an interview with PC Gamer this week.
“To the Wilder as a design concept was a way for us to provide more difficult ways to play missions through harsh environments,” said lead level designer Hiroaki Yoshiike. “Originally we had the Brutal difficulty, which in our opinion was enough. But it turned out that some users thought we could’ve done more. So To the Wilder is basically the upper limit that we, as developers, could provide [for] an experience that’s a challenge as well as something we can enjoy. We think that it’s a way for you to experience the world of Death Stranding 2 in a very realistic way.”
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Yoshiike said that the effect of Timefall, which gradually ages and destroys anything it touches, is “particularly pronounced” in To the Wilder, making resource management crucial—”almost a requirement.” He emphasized the need to plan out missions in advance and think about what tools will be best suited to the job and testing out combinations that may not have been important on lower difficulties.
“For players who have already beaten the game once, I’m sure there are times where they think ‘oh, I never use this item,'” he said. “But in To the Wilder those items can be key sometimes. So if they can give those a try, I think that will be particularly fun to test out.”
When Yoshiike told me that the developers had played through To the Wilder from start to finish and that there were “some items that [they] absolutely needed to unlock,” I asked for an example. Sorry, fellow porters—Kojima Productions wants you to learn the hard way.
“Some things were items that were used for deliveries, some were weapons, some were other items, but we don’t want to elaborate on what exactly they were. We want to have users figure that one out.”
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Yoshiike did offer one tip, though. The in-game social media, the Social Strand System, as well as the “Strand Agreements” you can make with other players online, are “particularly important” for easing your passage across this harsher version of Australia. So if you’re playing To the Wilder, make sure to visit that section of the menu and start strengthening those bonds with other porters.
Thomas and Friends: Wonders of Sodor Direct Download
Join Thomas and his friends on a special journey across Sodor! Hop into the cabs of North Western Railway’s classic steam team to enjoy nostalgic stories and all-new narratives right from the drivers’ seats. Explore the Wonders of Sodor – fun and magic await!
Take the controls of Thomas, Percy, Gordon, Emily, and Diesel to explore iconic landmarks across the Island of Sodor. At Sir Topham Hatt’s invitation, carry passengers in Annie & Clarabel along Thomas’ branch line, hurry express passengers over the top of Gordon’s Hill, or transport freight with the Troublesome Trucks.
Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor tells classic and original tales inspired by the Railway Series books and TV shows, now told for the first time in an interactive, first-person perspective – the first ever faithful recreation of Sodor in a game! Skeleseller
Experience the sights, sounds, and feelings of Sodor as you explore iconic Thomas & Friends locations like you’ve never seen them before, including Tidmouth Sheds, Knapford station, and the famous Windmills. A total of 8 stories await including Thomas & Gordon, Thomas & Bertie’s Great Race, Percy’s Troublesome Day, and more. Each story features full narration by the legendary Mark Moraghan for the ultimate storytelling immersion.
But that’s not all! Help Thomas and his Friends be really useful engines across a full working schedule for the Island of Sodor. See all the engines running about the island doing their daily tasks, get involved by driving Thomas on his branch line, or even ride as a passenger! While exploring the island, look out for hidden collectables to find!
Features and System Requirements:
Join Thomas and friends on a cheerful journey across the Island of Sodor filled with fun activities.
Drive trains and complete tasks while helping characters and delivering important cargo.
Explore colorful locations that bring the world of Thomas & Friends to life.
Take part in simple challenges designed for easy and enjoyable gameplay for all ages.
Screenshots
SystemRequirements
Minimum Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 11
Processor: Intel Core i5-4690 @ 3.5 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X @ 3.7 GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 460 with 2 GB VRAM or more
DirectX: Version 10
Storage: 35 GB available space
Support the game developers by purchasing the game on Steam
InstallationGuide
TurnOff Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
I’m carrying half a ton of metal scrap and the soul of my dead daughter over the crest of a red sand dune when a mournful folk song begins to play, the words All that I want is a home inside the woods, and a woman that I can love spilling softly out of the universe. One of Death Stranding 2’s endless notifications pops up to tell me the sun is beginning to set. Dusk settles right as I park the truck full of random crap I just stole from a camp full of bandits, and I cherish the uncanny timing of another perfect music video moment before I bring the new location into the chiral network, reconnecting the isolated outpost to humanity via magic wi-fi. One cutscene later, the dusty landscape behind me has transformed into a Las Vegas strip of player-made bridges, power generators, futuristic timefall shelters and neon holograms, each zapped into my game world because they’ve accrued hundreds of thousands of Likes from other porters who’ve run across them.
Need to know
What is it? The most complicated mail delivery sim conceivable by human minds
Release date: March 19, 2026
Expect to pay: $70/£70
Developer: Kojima Productions
Publisher: PlayStation
Reviewed on: Intel i5-13600K, Radeon RX 9070 XT, 64GB DDR5
I walk up to the closest one, refill my exoskeleton’s battery, and hammer the Like key on my keyboard 73 times in appreciation.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, like its predecessor, is a game of absurd dualities. It is a game of quiet, sometimes extremely deliberate locomotion as I balance the swaying cargo on Sam “Porter” Bridges’ back, marching alone over a craggy ridge, looking for a spot to plant a climbing anchor and descend without falling. More often though I’m ignoring the intricate physics and the route planning system’s 3D topographical map to haul ass across Australia in a truck that negates most of the challenge and lets me safely lug 10 times the cargo.
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It is a game of immense depth and freedom in play, showering me with guns and grenades, boots and buildable structures, skills and sunglasses, to use or ignore as I see fit. It’s also a game of lengthy cutscenes dead set on hammering home its themes with the subtlety of an ACME hammer. A character named Tomorrow asks “What is tomorrow?” a few hours before one of the rawest depictions of grief I’ve ever seen in a game, which itself comes a few hours before Sam shreds on an electric guitar so righteously it fires crackling laser beams at a bunch of evil mechs.
The mix doesn’t seem like it should work, and Death Stranding 2 is certainly an ungainly beast, willing to let you burn yourself out on frivolous chores before burying you in the avalanche of cutscenes that deliver the story’s emotional payoff dozens of hours in. But by the end, even its most awkward idiosyncrasies seem like, well, part of the point.
Delivering
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(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
When I played Death Stranding 2 on PlayStation last year, I spent nearly the entire journey in offline mode, with the servers that sync players’ helpful roads and bridges and ziplines disabled for the pre-release review period. It’s striking to replay the game on PC with nine months of accumulated player construction available for my game to yoink from the cloud and embed in the earth right where I need them. Other players’ holographic signs litter the landscape with glowing and cheering emojis, puncturing that sense of isolation Death Stranding 2 is often aiming for.
As you’d expect from any gaming populace, players figured out they could net themselves more Likes by placing their icons right outside a settlement or in the middle of a road where they’ll inevitably be driven though, an idea I quickly copied. The more Likes I accrue, the more skills I can unlock to increase my connection to other players, filling my world with even more free infrastructure.
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Crucially, Death Stranding 2 only Vegas Stripifies the Australian landscape once I’ve connected a region to the chiral network—which is Kojima-speak for completing a delivery to a new far-flung location the hard way. This elegantly plays into the game’s theme, highlighting both the value of human connection (it sure is nice to have a helping hand!) as well as the trade-offs (people can be kind of noisy and annoying). This inherent tension, like all the rest of the game’s absurdities, is deeply rooted in its design.
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
I treasured every one of the needle drops that set the last minutes of these lonely deliveries to music, prodding me to pay attention to the quiet triumph or contemplative mood of the moment. But the sense of progress is so much more palpable when playing online, even if it comes with a side of garishness. Though the story is masked by layers of sci-fi gobbledygook, Death Stranding 2 is mostly about learning to live with grief and loss, with each song a track on Sam’s recovery mixtape. By the time it’s over, he’s found a reason to keep living in the new world he’s helped reconnect.
Alongside those poignant moments are so many bits of Death Stranding that exist purely because they’re cool—a mech that does ninja moves with a glowing katana, Elle Fanning’s Tomorrow taking out hordes of bad guys with inexplicable kung fu skills while Sam looks on befuddled, a shootout with a ghost of Sam’s past set in a purgatory realm where particle fireworks fill the screen with pure razzle-dazzle excess.
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
And it all looks stunning on PC, with a port appropriately packed with upscaling options (four of ’em!), new tray tracing features, and even surprisingly good keybinds for what can be a complicated game to control. On my 9070 XT it runs well above 60 fps at 1440p, fully maxed out with AMD’s FSR set to balanced. It’s mostly smooth, though sometimes the game hit me with stutters while trundling across the landscape. Scoping in with a weapon seems to be its kryptonite—even outside combat, the sniper rifle’s scope causes a huge, second-long frame drop every time I zoom in. For this playthrough, that was all the impetus I needed to go loud.
Death Stranding 2’s combat and stealth lean unabashedly towards Metal Gear, though there’s still some bumbling awkwardness to how Sam moves and the need to pause mid-fight to go inventory diving for a shotgun or silenced sniper rifle or a blood grenade used to dispatch ghostly BTs. But as I wrote last year, some of that clunkiness comes from what is clearly an intentional lean towards the unbridled possibility space of an immersive sim, where having a hundred viable options to handle any scenario is way cooler than two or three slick ones. (While the standard difficulty does little to encourage the use of most of these tools, a new difficulty setting on PC offers a stick for players who weren’t motivated by the carrot of a constant stream of new toys to play with.)
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
As I also wrote last year, “inside Hideo Kojima there are two wolves,” one “desperate to say something about life” through confounding metaphors and ‘cinematic’ storytelling, the other constantly throwing out “wouldn’t it be cool if” ideas like Sam’s guitar weapon or slamming a Monster energy, then taking a piss outdoors to grow a mushroom that other players can smash Like on.
As much as it seems like these impulses should feel at odds with one another, in 2026 their coexistence makes Death Stranding 2 feel vividly human.
Heads up: Some vague spoilers for Death Stranding 2’s plot ahead.
The day is ending
When I played Death Stranding 2 nearly a year ago, I hadn’t yet had my own identity ripped off by an AI company. Generative slop had of course already made the internet noticeably worse, but the pace at which it’s gotten worse has only accelerated in recent months, as it becomes transparent that the entire global economy has hitched itself to the idea that this technology is life-changing. Grammarly, the company that impersonated me with an AI “expert,” offers tools that will write text for you so you don’t have to use an iota or brain power or human expression to craft a measly email; it also offers a tool that claims to “provide clear explanations for why a phrase may be flagged as AI-generated and offers one-click rewrites with AI Rewriter.” How are you meant to read that without going insane?
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
Death Stranding 2’s antagonist, revealed after dozens of hours of dutiful trekking, is a rampant AI system that claims it will protect humanity by severing all those connections, isolating everyone so as to prevent opportunities for pain and death. “Humanity will be free from the need to move around, and free from the need for porters. Bots are capable of handling deliveries,” it says, with the exact smugness of the billionaires who say AI will give workers more free time, despite empirical research and the entire history of human civilization indicating the opposite.
In the game’s goofiest—but also most poignant—moment, it rebukes this perspective with a song and dance routine that basically amounts to: Fuck AI.
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
If you asked ChatGPT how to waste a million dollars in the silliest way possible it’d probably regurgitate a half-assed Brewster’s Millions scheme while throwing in some sycophantic praise for your ingenuity. Kojima Productions instead turned a nursery rhyme into a disco diss track, sung and danced to by a classically trained actor in a mocap session I would kill to see the behind-the-scenes video of. It’s a cry-laughing rebuttal that revels in Death Stranding 2’s absurd see-saw from serious to shitpost, and our own limitless potential for creativity, as long as we never stop trying to come up with new and profoundly stupid ideas.
I’m not sure even Kojima himself appreciates how perfect a metaphor his game is for the current moment. In an interview just months after its release, he spoke about the potential to “co-create with AI” and using it to “handle the tedious tasks.” Yet at the heart of Death Stranding is a character whose existence is nothing but tedious tasks. Kojima’s team built layer upon layer of creative game systems around the stubborn idea of transforming the tedium of walking from one place to another in an open world game into a whole canvas for player expression. It rejects the idea of ceding control, free will, and the messiness of humanity for the sake of safety, whether bodily or creatively.
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)
“We would rather strive to achieve the impossible while remaining true to ourselves,” Kojima said through one of Death Stranding 2’s characters, as the climax laid bare every one of its themes. When he wrote that, perhaps he was just thinking about social media, and the trade-offs of noise and mess and harm that have come along with the ease of connecting today.
But we’re barreling beyond that era of technology into an even darker one now, and what may be his last game built without AI tools makes a deeply human case for keeping on that course. Because the spark of inspiration lies somewhere within the struggle and inefficiency of creation, and deep down the only reason to care about it is the knowledge that someone poured their small fire into it.
So sure, maybe a dash of Claude code or whatever won’t ruin Kojima’s next game. But perhaps that will end up proving to be Death Stranding 2’s ultimate duality: Joking its way into the profound without even taking its own message to heart.
There will come a time when you’ll run into a new project or game that your system can’t handle. Not infrequently, it will come well within the lifespan of your computer. If you’re comfortable opening up your PC, have a desktop or built one yourself, you might be in a position to make a simple upgrade that could help you get over the hump without needing to start from scratch. I’ll also make sure to mention a couple of scenarios that might demand a complete system refresh.
Storage
Let’s start with the most straightforward upgrade. Running out of space on your machine can put you in a chokehold and, when space is really running low, start messing with the performance of both apps and even basic functions like windows explorer. Luckily, it’s also one of the easiest to upgrade. There are a handful of different kinds of SSDs available, some many, MANY factors faster than others. You should see if your system is compatible with the fastest, then move towards the slowest in terms of what you can implement. Even at the low end, these are far faster than HDDs which at this point we really don’t recommend using at all for anything that might be mission critical for your PC.
RAM
Thanks to the AI boom, in terms of price, this one might be a moot point. However, RAM might be the easiest aspect of your PC to upgrade – so long as you can get your hands on identical units to your own. It’s also a component that acts directly in-tandem with your CPU, giving it the headroom it needs to perform both strenuous and quotidian tasks. An upgrade to your memory could improve your experience with pretty much every aspect of your PC.
For folks using a laptop, make sure to research whether or not your memory is soldered on. For my desktop folks, you’ll need to find precisely the kind of RAM you have on your system presently to make an upgrade. Otherwise, you could replace your RAM entirely, though in rare form, this might be a component you leave alone to save for your next system.
GPU
A GPU upgrade is one of the most often discussed among both gamers and enthusiasts operating on their workstation from home. It means better frames in games and rapid GPU-accelerated renders in professional programs, among much more. While one of the most attractive, the GPU is easily the most heavy-weight upgrade on this list as well. We now must unfortunately leave behind our friends with laptops and speak only to the desktop crowd. GPUs are surprisingly easy to slot in, though they do require a bit more hands-on work to get running. You’ll have to both download new drivers and uninstall old, especially when switching in-between brands. Note that you can always fall back on your integrated graphics by plugging into your motherboard’s HDMI to troubleshoot along the way.
Something worthwhile to note is that depending on your motherboard’s age and quality, you might not get the full spectrum of power that comes along with a GPU upgrade due to a bottleneck in feature compatibility. You’ll likely still see a performance boost – just not necessarily one that reflects the claims on the box. On top of all that, with the rising TDPs of GPUs, you might need to put yourself down for a PSU upgrade if you go too big, which usually means rewiring/rebuilding your whole system. On top of all that, especially with the larger 50 series cards many folks are upgrading to nowadays, your case might get in the way of actually physically fitting the GPU. Food for thought and reason to research before you commit!
CPU Cooler
Another upgrade that isn’t one we can extend to our Laptop friends is the CPU Cooler. This is a rare upgrade that could actually increase the lifespan of a component as well as its performance. This is one you should consider especially if you’re experiencing thermal throttling on your CPU. Though there’s less software involved compared to a GPU upgrade, there’s more physical work and research required to make sure you get a compatible cooler, in the same way you would when building a PC. There’s also the added need to pick up some thermal paste, though some coolers come with it pre-applied, and even if they don’t, thermal paste won’t really run you dry the way a new PSU and/or motherboard can.
If you’re stepping up to an AIO from an air cooler, make sure you take the time to find out what size of radiator your case can take, as well as the amount of power the pump will need. If you’re going from air cooler to air cooler, keep an eye out for how big the block is to assure you can actually fit the unit in your case.
The Not-So-Easy Upgrades
On the note of motherboards causing bottlenecks, we’ve entered the category of parts that oftentimes dictate the need for a new system. There are tons of resources out there related to upgrading these components yourself, and it’s not impossible, but we simply don’t recommend it against saving for a new rig, with some exceptions.
CPU: You’ll functionally always be getting a new motherboard alongside your new CPU. With the exception of making an upgrade within your chipset, which is rarely worth it outside of select scenarios (maybe going from an older AM4 platform AMD chip to a newer nicer one). Upgrading a CPU could ALSO mean a new PSU, or even a new case depending on the size of the new motherboard – you get the idea.
MOTHERBOARD: A motherboard upgrade is a common comorbidity with upgrading another component, and while it’s certainly not the most expensive component to upgrade, there’s usually very little reason to do so without upgrading your CPU. Even if you need features like wifi or bluetooth, there are simple ways of achieving those features via your USB ports.
PSU: If your parts are receiving ample power as is, and your PSU isn’t broken, there’s no need. Another upgrade side effect, this one more common with the GPU.
If you don’t want to make the jump to a new machine just yet, there are upgrades you can do on your own in order to improve the performance of your system. There are also tons of things you can do that don’t involve changing your parts at all, like preventing programs from starting on boot, or doing a fresh install of your OS. That being said, if you feel like you are in need of a new system or feel like you don’t have the time or the know how to make these upgrades yourself, you can check out our website for a system that’s tailor-made to meet exactly your needs. Velocity Micro also offers a lifetime upgrade program, so if you’re in the market for a particular component and not a new computer, we can do the heavy lifting.
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Josh has been with Velocity Micro since 2007 in various Marketing, PR, and Sales related roles. As the Director of Sales & Marketing, he is responsible for all Direct and Retail sales as well as Marketing activities. He enjoys Seinfeld reruns, the Atlanta Braves, and Beatles songs written by John, Paul, or George. Sorry, Ringo.
Battlefield 1 takes you back to The Great War, WW1, where new technology and worldwide conflict changed the face of warfare forever.
Join the strong Battlefield™ community and jump into the epic battles of The Great War in this critically acclaimed first-person shooter. Hailed by critics, Battlefield 1 was awarded the Games Critics Awards Best of E3 2016: Best Action Game and gamescom Best Action Game award for 2016.
Battlefield 1 Revolution is the complete package containing:
Battlefield 1 base game — Experience the dawn of all-out war in Battlefield 1. Discover a world at war through an adventure-filled campaign, or join in epic team-based multiplayer battles with up to 64 players. Fight as infantry or take control of amazing vehicles on land, air, and sea. Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War
Battlefield 1 Premium Pass — Plunge into 4 themed expansion packs with new multiplayer maps, new weapons, and more. (Expansion packs = They Shall Not Pass, In the Name of the Tsar, Turning Tides, Apocalypse)
The Red Baron Pack, Lawrence of Arabia Pack, and Hellfighter Pack — Get themed weapons, vehicles, and emblems based on the famous heroes and units.
Battlefield™ 1 takes you back to The Great War, WW1, where new technology and worldwide conflict changed the face of warfare forever. Take part in every battle, control every massive vehicle, and execute every maneuver that turns an entire fight around. The whole world is at war – see what’s beyond the trenches.
Key Features:
Changing environments in locations all over the world. Discover every part of a global conflict from shore to shore – fight in besieged French cities, great open spaces in the Italian Alps, or vast Arabian deserts. Fully destructible environments and ever-changing weather create landscapes that change moment to moment; whether you’re tearing apart fortifications with gunfire or blasting craters in the earth, no battle is ever the same.
Huge multiplayer battles. Swarm the battlefield in massive multiplayer battles with up to 64 players. Charge in on foot as infantry, lead a cavalry assault, and battle in fights so intense and complex you’ll need the help of all your teammates to make it through.
Game-changing vehicles. Turn the tide of battle in your favor with vehicles both large and larger, from tanks and biplanes to gigantic Behemoths, unique and massive vehicles that will be critical in times of crisis. Rain fire from the sky in a gargantuan Airship, tear through the world in the Armored Train, or bombard the land from the sea in the Dreadnought
A new Operations multiplayer mode. In Operations mode, execute expert maneuvers in a series of inter-connected multiplayer battles spread across multiple maps. Attackers must break through the defense line and push the conflict onto the next map, and defenders must try to stop them.
Features and System Requirements:
Fight in intense battles inspired by World War I across deserts, cities, and battlefields.
Use authentic WWI weapons, tanks, planes, and armored vehicles during combat.
Experience a dramatic War Stories campaign showing different soldiers’ perspectives.
Screenshots
SystemRequirements
Minimum Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Processor (AMD): AMD FX-6350 Processor (Intel): Intel Core i5 6600K
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Graphics card (AMD): AMD Radeon™ HD 7850 2GB Graphics card (NVIDIA): NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 660 2GB
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 50 GB available space
Support the game developers by purchasing the game on Steam
InstallationGuide
TurnOff Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
If there’s one thing I’ve always wished for, it’s for Animal Crossing to be available on PC. It’s impossible, I know, but every time I’ve picked up a new cozy game a little voice in the back of my head has reminded me of the hundreds if not thousands of hours I’ve sunk into life as the town mayor or island director, or just the only human on an island of fantastic animal companions, and reminded me of how much I miss it.
At long last though, my wishes have come true, and a native port of Animal Crossing on GameCube has finally made its way on PC as part of an existing Animal Crossing decompilation project. It’s been an unfathomable number of years since I booted up my save and was met with the scorn of my villagers—after all they weren’t the kindest creatures—but this is definitely the thing that will convince me to do so.
Unlike a port which you can just boot up and play, you do need a copy of Animal Crossing GameCube already, which does make it a bit more challenging as it’s not a particularly cheap game to buy if you don’t already own it. But according to the description of the GitHub project “this repository does not contain any game assets or assembly whatsoever” and the project reads all of the assets directly from the disc, so it’s sort of essential and completely worth it, if you ask me.
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With that said, the current version isn’t perfect, and few issues have been noted by players already, such as bass distortion in the fossil room of the museum, a low static hum, and a few random memory issues that can cause black screens and broken textures. But, the developer of the project shared in the comments of a YouTube video that they have “mostly fixed them for the next release” and just want to “test it a bit more before I’m confident.”
But it’s all looking good, and just knowing that the project is being worked on to make Animal Crossing GameCube on PC as polished as possible is enough motivation I need to dig through the boxes in my loft and dust off my copy. If it means I can be reunited with Filbert from the comfort of my desk without having to figure out how to use an AV cable adapter in 2026, I’ll do anything.
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BECOME THE SLAYER IN A MEDIEVAL WAR AGAINST HELL DOOM: The Dark Ages is the prequel to the critically acclaimed DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal that tells an epic cinematic story worthy of the DOOM Slayer’s legend. In this third installment of the modern DOOM series, players will step into the blood-stained boots of the DOOM Slayer, in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell.
DOOM: The Dark Ages is a dark fantasy/sci-fi single-player experience that delivers the searing combat and over-the-top visuals of the incomparable DOOM franchise, powered by the latest idTech engine.
REIGN IN HELL
As the super weapon of gods and kings, shred enemies with devastating favorites like the Super Shotgun while also wielding a variety of new bone-chewing weapons, including the versatile Shield Saw. Players will stand and fight on the demon-infested battlefields in the vicious, grounded combat the original DOOM is famous for.
STAND AND FIGHT
Experience an epic story of the DOOM Slayer’s rage in this cinematic and action-packed story. Bound to serve as the super weapon of gods and kings, the DOOM Slayer fends off demon hordes as their leader seeks to destroy the Slayer and become the only one that is feared. Witness the creation of a legend as the Slayer takes on all of Hell and turns the tide of the war. New Heights: Realistic Climbing and Bouldering
DISCOVER UNKNOWN REALMS
In his quest to crush the legions of Hell, the Slayer must take the fight to never-before-seen realms. Mystery, challenges, and rewards lurk in every shadow of ruined castles, epic battlefields, dark forests, ancient hellscapes, and worlds beyond. Armed with the viciously powerful Shield Saw, cut through a dark world of menace and secrets in id’s largest and most expansive levels to date.
Features and System Requirements:
DOOM: The Dark Ages Premium Edition delivers brutal demon-slaying in a dark medieval hellscape
Experience fast, aggressive combat with new weapons like the Shield Saw
Fight across massive battlefields with epic scale and savage intensity
Premium Edition includes DLC access, cosmetics, and digital extras
A bold reimagining of DOOM with raw power, metal vibes, and chaos
Screenshots
SystemRequirements
Minimum
OS *: Windows 10 64-Bit / Windows 11 64-Bit
Processor: AMD Zen 2 or Intel 10th Generation CPU @3.2Ghz with 8 cores / 16 threads or better (examples: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or better, or Intel Core i7 10700K or better)
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA or AMD hardware Raytracing-capable GPU with 8GB dedicated VRAM or better (examples: NVIDIA RTX 2060 SUPER or better, AMD RX 6600 or better)
Storage: 100 GB available space
Support the game developers by purchasing the game on Steam
InstallationGuide
TurnOff Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
It’s rare that a game as old as the venerable Tomb Raider gets an update, and you’d think it’d be cause for celebration. Not necessarily so with the newest patch that came to Tomb Raider I-III Remastered last Thursday, which came bearing a new challenge mode and 10 new outfits that, well, just have a look for yourself:
They’re certainly rough around the edges, and the user reviews on Steam have not taken kindly to the free update. A review from Steam user Engram reads, “The new update broke the audio, broke a ton of visuals, broke the enemy AI, added what appears to be low-quality AI slop into the game and deleted all of my saves.” Another post from user Harry DuN’wah, who has nearly 200 hours sunk into the remaster, states “Keep AI out of Tomb Raider, Lara deserves better than this.”
I can’t strictly confirm if generative AI was used in the creation of the new assets, but PC Gamer has reached out for comment. Giovanni Lucca, the original lead artist on the remaster, posted about the update on X, saying “I was not involved in the art direction of this new patch with the Challenge Mode for Tomb Raider I-II-III Remastered. None of the original developers at Saber was involved in it.”
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Two days later, he reposted a video showing the new outfits (which called the patch a “monstrosity”) with a clown emoji. That said, some of Lucca’s other posts just below those two are spent lamenting “activists and their woke shit,” so maybe take his particular brand of outrage with a grain of salt.
Still, it’s clear the patch is turning heads for all the wrong reasons. Concerns over AI usage are not new for Aspyr’s Tomb Raider remasters, as just last September a slew of “unauthorized” AI voice lines had to be patched out.
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Journey through a tumultuous Medieval Italy as Aeta, a young knight errant who sets off on a brutal quest to find and save her closest one. 1348 Ex Voto is a cinematic action-adventure game inspired by chivalric tales.
Brave the harsh realities of the Italian late medieval period through the eyes of a courageous noble whose life is about to change fundamentally. Follow Aeta (Alby Baldwin), a young knight errant, on a brutal journey through Italy to find and save her closest one, Bianca (Jennifer English).
1348, a tumultuous Medieval Italy
1348 Ex Voto is a thrilling 3rd-person action-adventure game inspired by classics of the genre and chivalric story tropes.
Discover a 14th-century-inspired Italy, a cradle of political strife and rural exodus. Banditry, mercenaries, and religious zealots run amok while pestilence festers in the countryside and cities.
Inspired by Historical European Martial Arts
Experience thrilling sword fighting in cinematic combat inspired by Historical European Martial Arts and animated with the help of trained Performance Capture actors.
Use Aeta’s martial knowledge to surprise and overcome your enemies by strategically choosing between 2 different combat stances, one and two-handed. Find skill books throughout your adventure to unlock new combos and personalize Aeta’s swordplay with different weapon parts. Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator
A ravaged Yet magnificent Italy
From medieval villages to castles and the beautiful grassy mountainside of the Appennino to the remnants of classical Rome, explore a magnificent 14th-century Italy through the eyes of a knight-errant. Search your surroundings to stumble upon trinkets & treasures to complete your collection.
Bianca, you are all that is left to me… I shall save you. This, I vow.”
Features and System Requirements:
Step into a dark medieval world during the Black Death, where fear and superstition dominate daily life.
Navigate a cursed village while uncovering mysteries tied to the deadly plague.
Experience a tense atmosphere with psychological horror and disturbing historical themes.
Solve environmental puzzles and search abandoned locations for clues and survival resources.
Unravel a haunting narrative as faith, disease, and fear collide in a tragic story.
Screenshots
SystemRequirements
Minimum
OS *: Windows 11
Processor: Ryzen 5 3600X / Core i5-10600K
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce RTX 3050 / Radeon RX 5500XT
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 35 GB available space
Support the game developers by purchasing the game on Steam
InstallationGuide
TurnOff Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
“Marvel Rivals definitely had an impact on us in a lot of different ways,” Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller said during a panel at the 2026 Game Developers Conference on Friday. While Keller didn’t mention the popular Overwatch 2 competitor while talking about Blizzard’s efforts to revitalize its multiplayer shooter, a fan brought it up in the Q&A at the end of the panel. And he gamely tackled the question.
“I think one of the biggest ones was seeing the amount of excitement that new players to Rivals had for this big drop of heroes,” Keller said. “It got us talking about, hey, what if we could just drop 30 new heroes into Overwatch? What would the player reaction to that be? Because it almost felt like the release of that game was something like that.”
Blizzard didn’t go quite that far, but Keller implied that NetEase’s competing shooter influenced its decision to add five new characters to Overwatch at once in the latest season: Domina, Anran, Emre, Mizuki, and most importantly, Jetpack Cat.
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Compared to most live service games, Marvel Rivals’ launch roster and subsequent update cadence have been intense—it has 47 characters as of this writing, just three shy of Overwatch 2. Blizzard’s had a decade to hit that number; Marvel Rivals didn’t release until late 2024.
Overwatch’s revitalization effort has been going well. The new season, which also saw the ‘2’ leave the game’s title, saw player counts rise for two consecutive weeks, rather than peaking quickly and then dropping, something Blizzard says hasn’t happened since the Overwatch 2 launch in 2022.
Another five new Overwatch characters are coming before the end of the year.
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