Shortly after that announcement, however, players noticed that the two games included in the collection had been pulled from the PlayStation and Xbox stores.
It could be that Konami has removed the older games to avoid confusion when pre-ordering the new collection. A less charitable interpretation is that the publisher has removed the original versions to funnel sales towards the new one. Even though the games were only available on very old systems like PSP, PS3, and Xbox 360, Metal Gear Solid 4 had previously been streamable on PlayStation.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 is coming to PC via Steam, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S. While we wait to see if Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 will have a more stable launch than its predecessor, you can read about what Konami is doing to reassure players.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Marking the game’s anniversary, from now until March 18, there’ll be a login bonus plus rotations of past Festivals of Accord. And, as we learned last week, we’re also getting the Arch-Tempered Arkveld, 10-star Arc-Tempered monsters, a special collaboration with Monster Hunter Stories 3 — a spin-off series that releases next month — plus an anniversary event where all previous awards and quests will be “re-available.”
We also learned last week that Monster Hunter Wilds will welcome a “large-scale” expansion later this year. Addressing fans in a video celebrating the open-world adventure game’s first anniversary, series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto teased that this expansion will be similar to Monster Hunter World‘s Iceborne add-on, but was otherwise coy about the details. He did, however, stress that this will be the “final update” for the monster hunting game.
Monster Hunter Wilds has had something of a bumpy ride. Title Update 4 arrived at the end of last year and ushered in a long list of gameplay and balance changes, as well as CPU/GPU improvements, load reduction, and the optimization of “PC-specific processes and addition of options and presets to reduce processing load.” A development roadmap, detailed in December, outlined plans to address the myriad issues impacting the PC version.
Note that you won’t be able to access DLC or play online multiplayer until this update has been installed. Steam users are also advised to update to driver versions to NVIDIA GeForce 581.57 (or newer) or AMD Radeon: 25.9.1. (or newer). “Some issues have been identified with AMD Radeon drivers versions 25.10.2 and higher on certain PCs using AMD Radeon graphics cards such as the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT/7800 XT,” the team warned.
Full patch notes for Monster Hunter Wilds Ver.1.041.00.00 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
Release Date
Wednesday February 18, 2026 2:30 a.m. UTC (Tuesday February 17, 2026 6:30 p.m. PT)
Note: Release date and time are subject to change without prior notice.
Note: Make sure to have enough additional storage to allow for slight differences in final size.
Major Additions and Changes
Monsters
– Arch-tempered Arkveld has been added as a permanent Event Quest.
– New 10★ difficulty quests have been added as permanent event quests for the following monsters: Arch-tempered Rey Dau, Arch-tempered Uth Duna, Arch-tempered Nu Udra, and Arch-tempered Jin Dahaad.
Player
– New equipment and pendants have been added.
Story Progression
– Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection Special Collaboration side mission “A Royal Request” has been added. This side mission will become available after reaching HR 9+.
– New side mission “Love for a Hero” has been added. This side mission will become available after completing the extra mission “Ghosts Pay No Heed to Tomorrow” and then talking to Nadia and Mina.
Bases and Facilities
– Added a new feature to the Melding Pot that allows you to meld Gogma materials.
– Added a new feature that allows you to earn random ingredients at the Ingredient Center after reaching HR 9.
– New Appraisal Items called “Timeworn Charms” have been added to quest rewards. (No changes have been made to the attributes of Talismans earned. Chances of receiving Talismans with high rarity are increased when using Timeworn Charms.)
– Increased the maximum number of Pop-Up Camps for the Windward Plains, the Scarlet Forest, and the Oilwell Basin. (This will be unlocked by talking to the Pop-up Camp Meowster or the Support Desk after completing the assignment “Germination”.)
– Added an option to the Barrel Bowling results screen that allows you to retry immediately. An option has also been added that allows you to use 10 Barrel Bowling Vouchers and receive all rewards at once.
– Adjusted the parameters of the Blossom Barrel Bombs used in Barrel Bowling to behave differently from the Large Barrel Bombs used out in the field. In accordance with this adjustment, new placement patterns have also been added.
– Reduced the waiting time between throws in Barrel Bowling, so that players can throw the second barrel while the results of the first throw are still being displayed.
System
– Reduced CPU/GPU processing and made adjustments to lower the load on the game. – Added internal Levels of Detail (LOD) for 3D models, adjusting them to display optimal quality based on the situation to reduce GPU load. – Optimized monster and endemic life spawn-time processing to reduce CPU load. – Added effect caching to decrease CPU load when generating duplicate effects. – Optimized rendering processes to reduce CPU/GPU load. – Performed other minor adjustments to lower the overall load.
– The following 9★ event quests have been made permanently available: – The White Wonder – Ultimate Berserker – The Monkey King – Sovereign Brute – There Goes the Neighborhood
– Added a new special environment quest. (This quest will become available after completing the existing three special environment quests as well as the 10★ Arch-tempered Arkveld event quest.)
– When quick-accessing “Quest Last Played” on the top screen at the Quest Counter, the default departure point will now be set to the last departure point used. (If the last departure point used is not available, the player will start from the base camp as usual.)
– Adjusted the display for event quests to make it clearer that the player is offline on the screens for accepting or joining a quest.
– Added a Refresh button to the search results list for SOS Flare Quests.
– Added Thai as a text language. Text language can be changed in the title menu options.
– Added Latin American Spanish as a voice language. Voice language can be changed in the title menu options.
– Added a “Favorited Items Safeguard” feature to the Start Menu options. This will lock the confirm button for specific facilities so that the player cannot use items that are registered as favorites. (Note: This setting can be changed back to “Require Confirmation” on the same options screen.)
– Added a shortcut button for checking the details before registering an equipment loadout for shared loadouts on the Invitation List screen.
– Added a shortcut button for going back and forth between the “Upgrade from Box” screen and “Transcending” screen at the Smithy.
– Adjusted the UI for when the player approaches a Hunting Assistant (Werner or Gemma) in the field, making it easier to distinguish between the positions of Werner or Gemma and their hunting tools.
– All nine permanent event quests that were only playable online have been made available for offline play as well. (Please refer to the Event Quest schedule for more details.) – Heart of Judecca (Arch-tempered Jin Dahaad) – Specter of Their Sins (Gogmazios), etc.
– All 29 event quests that yield equipment materials and that were only available for a limited time have been made permanent and playable offline. (Please refer to the event quest schedule for more details.)
Miscellaneous
– Made adjustments that should prevent the Handler from pushing the hunter while out in the field during hunts or exploration. An option to hide them completely during a hunt was also added.
Bug Fixes and Balance Adjustments
Bases and Facilities
– Fixed an issue preventing some pins from being displayed and the score from being tallied correctly if the player throws a barrel right before starting Barrel Bowling.
Monsters
– Fixed an issue where the outcome of a turf war between Lagiacrus and Rathalos would differ between players.
– Fixed an issue where a weak point appeared at the incorrect timing during a Rompopolo’s toxic gas attack.
– Fixed an issue where Compact Anti-Wyvern Guns that fall to the ground sometimes wouldn’t appear under specific conditions during the Gogmazios quest.
– Fixed an issue in Jin Dahaad, Tempered Jin Dahaad, and Arch-tempered Jin Dahaad quests where, under certain conditions, only the monster would move to the final area, preventing quest progression.
Player
General
– Fixed an issue preventing the correct system messages from being displayed when a skill effect ends due to the player switching weapons.
– Fixed an issue where Fabius could get hit by the player’s slinger during Gogmazios’s special attack.
Sword & Shield
– Fixed an issue causing some items to disappear temporarily from the Radial Menu when using items like traps and such while the sword & shield are unsheathed.
Dual Blades
– Fixed an issue where landing a Focus Strike with the Dual Blades on Gogmazios while airborne caused the player to move erratically.
Bowguns
– Fixed an issue causing unintended elemental effects to be displayed on Artian weapons.
Skills
– Fixed an issue that caused an elemental resistance increase icon to appear when the “Protective Veil I” skill was active, despite the skill not having that effect.
Support Hunters
– Fixed an issue where Support Hunters may fire Compact Anti-Wyvern Guns away from Gogmazios while riding Seikret.
– Fixed an issue where Support Hunters may stop to carve Gogmazios’s severed tail during the quest.
– Fixed an issue where Fabius would stop guarding if the quest leader changed during Gogmazios’s special attack.
– Fixed an issue where the direction of Fabius’s guard would deviate from the intended direction during Gogmazios’s special attack.
– Fixed an issue where Support Hunters would not take cover during Jin Dahaad’s large area-of-effect attack.
– Fixed an issue where Support Hunters would attack Omega Planetes instead of the Nerscylla while it was charging the Delta Attack.
– Fixed an issue where Support Hunters inside a shield could still take damage during Omega Planetes’s Delta Attack.
– Fixed an issue that caused Support Hunters to be unable to get in or out of the underwater combat area during the Lagiacrus hunt.
Miscellaneous
System
– During a Field Survey, if the player deals extensive damage to a large monster that isn’t the current quest target, the health value conditions that would prevent that monster from becoming a target in a subsequent Field Survey have been relaxed.
– Fixed an issue where unnecessary chat logs (indicating monsters leaving the locale) could display during a Special Environment Quest in which the environment contains a monster of the same species as large monsters that are already designed to appear in that quest.
– Fixed an issue where the Cosmetic DLC Pass text was not displaying correctly under Add-ons in the Support Desk menu.
– Fixed an issue where the pattern thickness for the “Whitewing Caparison” decoration could not be adjusted in Seikret Customization.
– Added a fix to correct weapon performance when unintended bonus combinations are applied during reinforcement of Artian Weapons or Gogma Artian Weapons.
– We have implemented a solution to reduce the load time experienced at startup when the user has a large number of add-ons.
Locales
– Fixed an issue that sometimes caused Pitfall Traps or Shock Traps to disappear after being placed in certain areas in the Windward Plains.
– Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause two Convergent Elderbreaker cannons to appear under specific conditions during the Gogmazios quest.
Other
– Fixed an issue where some voice lines would not trigger properly.
– Fixed various text issues.
– Fixed other miscellaneous issues.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Magic: The Gathering has become “crossover central” in recent years, and while some fans have conflicting thoughts on the game’s 2026 roadmap, it does lead to some absolutely bizarre combinations.
Artifact Creatures in Magic: The Gathering are essentially just that – a blend of two card types. That means cards that affect Artifacts, and those that buff Creatures, will help power them up nicely.
We mention this because Krang, Utrom Warlord, could be quite ridiculous when paired with a deck focused on Artifact Creatures, like Necron Dynasties from the Warhammer 40K Universes Beyond Commander deck lineup.
Krang, Utrom Warlord is a nine-cost (expensive, yes), but has the keywords Flying, Trample, Indestructible, and Haste. Oh, and it’s a 9/9.
That’s a pain to deal with on its own, but the card also gives other Artifact Creatures you control Flying, Trample, Indestructible and Haste.
For context, almost every single creature in the Necron Dynasties deck is an Artifact Creature, so dropping Kang onto the battlefield alongside them could be a potential game-ender.
It feels like it’ll find a spot in a lot of decks based around that creature type, given it’s colorless, too, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see it climb in value somewhat.
As for Necron Dynasties, you’ll need to find it on the secondary market these days, but the mono-black deck was already plenty powerful already.
We’ll find out soon, though – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set launches on March 6, with preorders available already.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
Highguard, the free-to-play PvP “raid shooter” announced at The Game Awards last year and released to preemptive criticism and mockery only for most of its developers to be laid off just weeks after launch, was apparently financially backed by Tencent, according to a report.
This comes from Game File, which reports that the Chinese gaming mogul was the primary financial backer behind developer Wildlight Entertainment, an arrangement that was not publicly shared by either company.
Prior to this report, it was unclear who was funding Wildlight, despite Highguard seemingly being in development for a number of years prior to its announcement at The Game Awards in December. Its official LinkedIn page has long included the line that Wildlight is “a new, fully-funded entertainment studio.”
It remains unclear how heavily reliant Wildlight was on Tencent, or whether a decision to pull funding was made at some point that led to the mass layoffs. Wildlight’s future as a studio also remains unclear, with a studio statement saying that it would retain a “core group of developers” to keep Highguard going. However, the game’s website went offline earlier today and has yet to be restored, leading some to speculate that the game or even the studio is about to fully shut down.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set was originally announced, it felt like we’d be getting one Commander deck per Turtle, Heroes vs Villains, or some other combo, so I was particularly surprised when Wizards said it’d be cramming attitude and pizza as much as possible into a single, 100-card deck. Having seen just some of the cards included, though, I’m impressed.
Magic’s New Turtle Power Precon Looks Awesome
I should preface this ‘precon preview’ with an explanation that in our behind-closed-doors look at the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set, Wizards revealed around a dozen cards from the Turtle Power precon – but there are more reveals to come.
That means we’ve not been able to see how the deck plays, but we do know that your Commander of choice can be any of the Turtles, two of them partnered up with the Partner ability, or all five with the Heroes in a Half Shell card.
There’s nothing truly revolutionary about this modular approach (swapping Commander precons to use other Legendary Creatures within them as their leader is part of the fun of the format), but having five options for Turtles means that no one is left behind.
That includes the likes of Splinter (who has the Partner mechanic, too), but also members of the TMNT’s rogues gallery like Baxter, Fly in the Ointment, Leatherhead, Iron Gator, and, of course, Shredder, Shadow Master.
There are also some fun nods to the gaming history of the awesome foursome. Electric Seaweed from the hard-as-nails NES game makes an appearance to strike fear into gamers of a certain age, while other cards reference the squad’s love of arcade machines, like High Score and, uh, Arcade Cabinet.
Will the deck play well? We’ll have to wait to find out, but in terms of cramming as much personality into a single precon as possible, I think Wizards of the Coast may have just nailed the assignment.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set launches on March 6, with preorders already available for the Turtle Power precon.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
WWE 2K26 is set to release for PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on March 13 — unless you order one of the more expensive editions, which come out March 6. This year’s standard edition features CM Punk on the cover, but three pricier editions are available as well, all of which come with extra stuff. One of them features Triple H on the cover. All are available to preorder now (see it at Target), so let’s dive into what comes in each edition, how much they cost, where they’re available, and more.
The standard edition of WWE 2K26 comes out March 13 and costs $69.99. It’s available for preorder at most of the usual retailers (with the curious exception of Amazon, at least for the time being). Buy it by March 12 and it will include the preorder bonus (see below).
It’s also worth noting here that the Switch 2 version is a Game-Key Card, so it doesn’t contain the game on it — it just lets you download the game.
The Monday Night War edition costs $149.99 and will be available to play March 6. In addition to the base game, here’s what comes with it:
7 day early access
Joe Hendry Pack
32,500 VC
Ringside Pass Premium Seasons 1-6
King of Kings Edition Pack (see above)
Playable Superstar: Triple H ’98
Playable Superstar: Stephanie McMahon ’00
MySUPERSTAR Emote: Triple H Signature Taunt
Superstar Mega-Boost
100,000 VC
MyRise Mega-Boost
Attitude Era Edition Pack
Playable Superstar: The Rock ’99
Playable Superstar: Kane ’98
Playable Superstar: Chyna ’97
MyFACTION EVO Card: Stone Cold Steve Austin
MyFACTION EVO Card: The Rock
Arena: RAW is WAR ’98
MySUPERSTAR Island emote: Undertaker Thumb Across the Neck
MySUPERSTAR Island emote: HBK DX Crotch Chop
Wrestlemania 42 Pack (coming Summer 2026)
Monday Night War Edition Pack
Playable Superstar: Shawn Michaels ’97
Playable Superstar: Macho Man Randy Savage ’98
Playable Superstar: Rowdy Roddy Piper ’98
Arena: WCW Thunder ’98
MySUPERSTAR Island emote: DDP’s Bang!
WWE 2K26 Preorder Bonus
Preorder the game by March 12 to receive the Joe Hendry Pack, which includes:
Joe Hendry as a playable Superstar
Joe Hendry MyFACTION EVO Card
MySUPERSTAR CAS Part: Joe Hendry T-Shirt
MySUPERSTAR Island Emote: Joe Hendry Spin
Note that all editions of the game except the standard edition will still include this pack after the preorder window.
What Is WWE 2K26?
WWE 2K26 is this year’s edition of 2K’s annual franchise, which has kept the party going each year since 2000. This upcoming installment includes the biggest roster of any game in the series, with over 400 playable Superstars and Legends. It introduces new match types, including I Quit, Inferno, and Dumpster. WWE Draft also comes to the sandbox mode Universe, and more.
This edition features CM Punk’s Showcase, which has three different categories of matches: historical matches, fantasy matchups, and “what if” scenarios. This comes with narration from Punk himself, who gives his perspective on things. Historical matches include Wrestlemania 41’s CM Punk vs. Seth Freakin’ Rollins vs. Roman Reigns, as well as Punk vs. Brock Lesnar from SummerSlam 2013 and Punk vs. Rey Mysterio from Armageddon 2008.
More Preorder Guides
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.
It’s only been about four months since Magic players last visited the streets of New York City, and in just a short few weeks, swinging through the skies and hotdog carts will be replaced by surfing through the sewers and slices of pizza with the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set of Magic: The Gathering.
Compared to some of the more recent sets like Avatar or Edge of Eternities, from a mechanics standpoint, TMNT is a bit on the light side, opting to bring back keywords—even renaming some—instead of big new systems like how Warp or the bending styles worked. That said, 2026’s debut Universes Beyond set still looks to be bringing some tubular cards and product to the table on March 6.
First up, let’s take a look at the different abilities that will be making up your radical decks with this set, including the likes of “Sneak,” “Alliance,” “Disappear,” and Mutagen Tokens. Both Alliance and Disappear are returning mechanics, originally appearing in Streets of New Capenna and Aether Revolt respectively, though you may recognize “Disappear” under its other name of “Revolt.” Alliance triggers via an ETB effect whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, and Disappear on the flip side triggers when a permanent you control leaves the battlefield (making it great for blink decks).
Sneak, while new, feels like the estranged sibling of Ninjutsu—the Venus de Milo, if you will. Similar to Ninjutsu, whenever a creature isn’t blocked, you are able to swap out that creature with a card by casting its Sneak cost from their hand, with sorceries and other non-creature spells featuring this new keyword this time around. Cards like “Michelangelo, Improviser” take advantage of this to great effect, allowing you to not only bring him out, but also any other creature or land out all for only 2GG, and will be great additions to any decks that rock Whispersilk Cloaks, Rogue’s Passages, or any of the other plethora of cards that make creatures unblockable.
As someone who has built a counter-focused deck running things like Parallel Lives and Doubling Season, the new Mutagen artifact token is particularly exciting. Based on the ooze that turned simple baby turtles and a rat into ninja masters with an unhealthy obsession with pizza, each Mutagen token can be sacrificed to put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature. It’s only appropriate then that “The Ooze” cards allow you to create more of these tokens whenever a creature that has +1/+1 counters on it already leaves the battlefield, or allow you to tap the card to exile a card from a graveyard and create a token too. My counter deck will no doubt be dining on turtle soup with cards like that once the set releases.
As mentioned earlier, this is the second time a set will be set in the real-world New York City location, so I was curious how the team was approaching its depiction here with heroes in the half-shell compared to the webhead and his rogues’ gallery.
Speaking with Crystal, the narrative lead for the set, she explains the approach was “the New York you visit (Spider-Man) versus the New York you are from or live in (TMNT).” Spider-Man showed off the more inspiring and beautiful sides of the city, with its sprawling skylines and towering buildings, while a big focus of TMNT has been showing off the beloved city in a more homey and lived-in state, where spaces are repurposed with a heavy emphasis on really nailing the lighting. Treatments like the Vanish Lands, depicting areas the brothers were just at, or the beautiful full-art rooftop lands showing them leaping from one rooftop to the next in the shadows, are particularly striking. The artists on this set have aced the assignment.
One of my biggest surprises from the preview came from the inspiration behind the lone Commander deck, the five-color “Turtle Power” pre-con. Among the many types of media that the turtles have battled Shredder and the Foot Clan across, my personal favorite has been the video games, and it is this legacy of media that Wizards have used as the main inspiration for the deck. Cards like “Level Up,” “Arcade Cabinet,” “High Score,” and the nightmare-inducing “Electric Seaweed” from the original NES title being featured in the decklist are just some of the new cards that drive home this nostalgic trip to the past from when video rental stores were still commonplace.
This precon also lets players pick from the largest number of possible commanders in potentially the entire product line’s history, with you able to pick from either a single five-color card featuring all four of the turtles, or a combination of Leonard and any of his brothers or his master as a companion. It’s just a bummer that TMNT is only getting a single precon (seriously, where is my Foot Clan / villains deck?!), but there are a good number of new goodies crammed into this deck with 40+ brand-new cards, and at least we are getting one at all, right? (looks at Avatar).
Aside from the Commander deck, the turtles’ lineup is packed like a Pizza Hut during “Book It” month from the ’90s. Along with the standard fare of Play and Collector boosters and bundles, a special bundle coming in a pizza box will also be released that comes with the special pizza-themed lands, but players will also be able to snag a brand-new sort of product that lets up to four players don the colored bandanas of the brothers to deal with the likes of Krang and Shredder in a cooperative battle.
In the Turtle Team-Up box, each brother has their own unique deck along with the chosen boss, with unique cards that are only compatible in this mode, but cards like “Turtle Tracks” are more selective group hug, which reads “Any number of target players may each search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield under their control, then shuffle.” The goal is to provide a new way to introduce new players to the game, allowing experienced players to serve as a sort of Splinter-mentor figure in a more welcoming cooperative sewerscape to learn in. I enjoy playing two-headed giant games with my friends, so I hope this product does well and we get more in the future, allowing me to build a solid deck around this more targeted group-hug style of gameplay.
My older brother and I grew up with our toy boxes full of Ninja Turtles, and I have fond memories of having my friends sleep over and renting the best TMNT game, Turtles in Time (SNES). It’s still wild to me to see the brothers jumping around Magic cards now, but I’m also still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I have a kid while I sit and theorycraft my next Magic deck. This new set looks chock-full of fun for fans of any generation of the turtles, and the new Turtle Team-Up game looks to be a great new way to teach hesitant friends what’s so great about this hobby of ours. And isn’t hanging out with our friends what Turtle Power is all about at the end of the day? That and pizza.
Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.
Embark Studios is keeping its promise to take action against players who took advantage of duplication exploits and other glitches in Arc Raiders by issuing warnings and suspensions.
The developer behind the popular survival shooter offered an update for its ongoing cheater crackdown with a blog post on its website. While its efforts to stamp out nefarious Raiders began last month, the message arrives as a sign that it shows no signs of slowing anytime soon.
Embark promised to subject those who utilized exploits to “further review and possible penalties” with the launch of last week’s 1.15.0 update. Today’s message follows up on that promise, offering a detailed explanation as to why it’s taken the team some time to issue a response. Now that reports of exploit usage have been confirmed and their impact on the in-game Arc Raiders economy has been measured, the studio is ready to act.
“We want to act once, with intention, and with confidence that we’re doing the right thing,” Embark said. “This is the first time we’ve handled an incident of this nature at such scale in ARC Raiders. Rather than rushing, we chose to take the time needed to fully understand the situation and make sure our response was consistent with our values and expectations.”
Players who took advantage of glitches such as the dupe exploit to a limited degree could find a warning on their accounts as soon as today and through the next week. At least one Reddit user has already shared such a notification, telling them that “continued use of exploits could lead to a suspension.”
Embark added that any Coins tied to dupe activity have also been removed. For “severe cases,” or instances where exploit usage had a notable impact on other players’ experiences, players could receive an immediate ban. It’s unclear how many warnings or suspensions Embark plans to deal through the week, or how long suspensions will be. The Arc Raiders team tells players to report new exploits and glitches on its official Discord.
“It’s our hope that this response provides a platform for future action, and we’ve already improved our detection and tracking, internal review tools, and safeguards to limit the impact of similar exploits,” the message continues.
“We take this incident seriously, and we’re approaching it as both a corrective effort and a learning opportunity to strengthen the systems that support fair play.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Early copies of Resident Evil Requiem have been glimpsed in the wild — meaning it is now time to take action to avoid spoilers, fans have warned, such as the ultimate fate of Leon S. Kennedy in Capcom’s hugely anticipated game.
Requiem has been pitched by Capcom as a special title in the series — one that returns to the franchise’s origins to wrap up long-standing plotlines and feature fan-favorite characters — such as Leon, of course, but also what appears to be Sherry — as part of a much-anticipated return to Raccoon City.
As the franchise celebrates its 30th anniversary, Resident Evil Requiem is believed by some fans to likely be the final time we see or play as some of these characters, as Capcom moves its franchise forward. (Also, hot uncle Leon is one thing, but hot grandad Leon seems less believable.)
All of which is to say that there’s a particular level of concern around Resident Evil Requiem plot leaks — with some fans now saying they will be avoiding social media fully for the foreseeable future.
“I can personally verify there is at least one person out there who bought Resident Evil Requiem from a store selling early,” wrote noted Resident Evil leaker Dusk Golem, who repeatedly stated that Leon was in the game months before Capcom made it official. “Funnily enough someone I vaguely know & have talked to a few times, no spoilers out there yet but brace yourselves.”
The account then shared a link to an image of a boxed PlayStation 5 copy of Resident Evil Requiem, seemingly out in the wild.
I can personally verify there is at least one person out there who bought Resident Evil Requiem from a store selling early, funnily enough someone I vaguely know & have talked to a few times, no spoilers out there yet but brave yourselves.https://t.co/xoDURKOWVw
— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) February 17, 2026
As ever, the best advice to avoid spoilers is simply to avoid the internet as much as you can before next week, but particularly to be careful of YouTube and Twitch comments where people spread spoilers in chat. Muting keywords on social media is also recommended.
Resident Evil Requiem’s February 27 release date is now just 10 days away, and we’ll be keeping spoiler free here on IGN as much as possible.
“After getting hands-on with a total of about four hours of Resident Evil 9 Requiem at this point, and sharing that experience with colleagues, I’m more excited for the series than I have been in recent memory,” IGN wrote after going hands-on with Resident Evil Requiem recently. “It’s the old mixed with the new, but all in a modern package with two protagonists I already like a lot.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Screamer doesn’t ease you in. Within seconds of the first race, a car zoomed past me and detonated — parts scattering across a rain-slicked tunnel — because an opponent activated Strike mode and clipped the wall at full speed. That’s the tone of this anime-inspired combat racer, which is kind of like Wipeout meets Mario Kart, but instead of picking up shells to shoot at the competition, every vehicle is equipped with a powerful device called the Echo, which gradually converts defensive energy into offensive firepower. Here, you have to weigh your decisions carefully instead of hoping to drive over a particular item. The satisfyingly complex resource management system underneath gives Screamer a tactical backbone that neither of those games attempted. After a few hours with a pre-release PC build, the arcade racing already has a confident mechanical identity — fast, physical, and surprisingly deep — and while the story mode serves primarily as a tutorial for those systems, the arcade racing is where Screamer’s identity truly shines. What I played suggests that Screamer’s combat racing foundation is strong enough to carry the weight the developer is placing on it.
Sync or Swim
Screamer’s central system is built around two resource meters that sit on opposite sides of the HUD, and the interplay between them sets it apart from the combat racing pack. On the left, Sync — the defensive resource — builds passively over time and actively through skilled play: cornering well, timing gear shifts, maintaining speed through turns. Sync powers your Boost (hold LB for a sustained speed increase) and your Shield (tap RB, which costs one full Sync tank and provides temporary protection against incoming Strikes and Overdrive hits). When you spend Sync on either of those actions, it converts into Entropy, the offensive meter on the right side of the screen.
Entropy is where things get dangerous. Two bars of Entropy activate Strike (press RB), which grants a temporary speed burst during which any opponent you collide with explodes — a full KO that removes them from the race temporarily. Fill all four Entropy tanks and you unlock Overdrive (click both thumbsticks), which turns your car into a flaming battering ram that detonates everything it touches. The catch is lethal: during Overdrive, hitting any track barrier detonates you instead. It’s the most powerful tool in Screamer, and it punishes even a slight misjudgment with the same instant death it dishes out.
I felt like I was making real decisions at 200 miles per hour, not just button mashing.
The conversion loop is what makes this more than a standard boost-and-shoot racer. Boosting spends Sync but generates Entropy, which means aggressive drivers who constantly burn speed are also passively building toward their combat abilities. Shielding spends Sync and directly banks one tank of Entropy, so even a defensive play feeds the offensive meter. Every race becomes a rolling calculation: do you burn Sync on a boost to close the gap, or bank a Shield to both protect yourself and charge toward a Strike? Do you spend two Entropy bars on an immediate KO attempt, or hold out for the full Overdrive? The system teaches restraint through its own logic rather than through punishment, and even on balanced difficulty, the races produced a rhythm that felt strategic rather than purely chaotic — I felt like I was making real decisions at 200 miles per hour, not just button mashing.
The right thumbstick handles drifting, and this is the control that makes Screamer’s handling feel distinct. Rather than braking into corners, you pull the right stick to execute a drift that whips the car sideways through turns without losing meaningful speed. Once you internalize the two-stick rhythm — left for steering, right for drifting — the movement stops feeling like you’re fighting the car and starts feeling like you’re commanding it. There’s also an upshift system: over the course of a race, you manually shift gears to increase your top speed, which layers a progression curve onto each race rather than just the meta-game. The cars have weight to them, too. Not the sluggish, input-delay kind — more like the satisfying heft of something that wants you to feel every collision and every wall scrape. Consecutive clean upshifts without collisions also accelerate Sync generation, rewarding precision beyond individual inputs. Meanwhile, hitting a barrier at speed costs you momentum but doesn’t destroy you (unless you’re in Overdrive), which keeps the racing forgiving enough to stay fun while the combat systems layer on the tension.
Built Different
Screamer’s initial boot experience demonstrates surprising care. Players can choose between a Quick Start, which throws them directly into the action, or a Guided Setup that walks them through video, audio, and accessibility options. The accessibility suite is particularly comprehensive, featuring: full one-handed control remapping for either the left or right hand, complete with automatic throttle and the ability to reassign every input to a single side of the controller; deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia colorblindness filters with adjustable intensity on a scale of one to ten; independently scalable subtitle and menu text sizing; and a tinnitus reduction filter with configurable frequency (default ten kilohertz) and gain (default negative twelve decibels). This level of audio accessibility is rare in racing games, and its upfront inclusion, rather than being buried in a submenu, is commendable.
Streamers, meanwhile, will immediately appreciate the licensed audio content toggle. A single switch disables copyrighted music before going live, eliminating the need for third-party workarounds. This small inclusion demonstrates an understanding of how people actually play and broadcast games in 2026.
This preview was played on PC at a 3440×1440 ultrawide resolution, where the visual style looked impressive. The arcade modes ran smoothly on medium settings with DLSS set to balanced, delivering solid visuals: neon-soaked tracks popped with color, car models showed visible collision damage, and the sense of speed remained strong even without maxed-out post-processing. The graphics menu is highly granular, offering individual sliders for anti-aliasing, post-processing, effects, shadows, reflections, global illumination, texture quality, foliage, and shading, as well as upscaling options across Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR 4.0, and TSR, with frame generation support for compatible hardware.
One final note: Screamer offers five AI difficulty tiers, ranging from Very Easy to Very Hard, along with driving aids, including arcade throttle (automatic full acceleration), neural throttle and brake assist, neural steer and drift assist, and neural handling for cornering and wall avoidance. While these are useful options, they are hidden within the custom game settings rather than being presented during the initial setup. For a game that otherwise prioritizes accessibility so effectively, burying the driving aids behind layers of menus feels like an oversight that could unnecessarily challenge less experienced players during their initial races.
Full Roster
Each of the fifteen characters is split across five teams of three — one Leader and two Members per squad — and brings a unique passive ability that meaningfully alters their playstyle. For example, Frederick’s Reaper’s Dance empowers his Strike and grants bonus Sync on KO, but makes him explode on contact with track barriers while Striking — a high-risk, high-reward tradeoff. Hiroshi’s Unstable Boost extends boost duration the longer you hold it, rewarding players who can maintain clean racing lines. Roisin’s One More Freckle reduces Strike’s Entropy cost and allows it to chain continuously, turning her into a relentless close-range threat. Only a handful of characters were accessible in the arcade build, but the differences between them were pronounced enough that swapping rosters changed your approach to the same tracks.
The character and world design leans heavily into an anime aesthetic, which sets the tone for Screamer’s hero shooter-esque vibe. Screamer’s opening cutscene uses fully animated, cel-shaded sequences to introduce its tournament cast — veterans and newcomers assembling for the Screamer Tournament, run by a figure named Gage who installs the Echo device on every vehicle. The voice acting, at least in the brief cinematic that played before the crashes began, is standard English-dubbed anime: serviceable, occasionally cheesy, and tonally consistent with the art style.
The Echo system — which in gameplay terms is the Sync-to-Entropy resource loop — is positioned in the lore as the bridge between narrative and mechanics, justifying why these racers can blow each other up. It’s an ambitious framework. However, the preview build’s story mode, which includes six episodes of anime-driven narrative with special race rules, functions effectively as a tutorial for Screamer’s systems but struggles with pacing and presentation. The dialogue frequently interrupts races mid-action to deliver exposition, and at least from my first impressions during the opening segments, the character writing lacks the personality needed to justify the dramatic framing. It’s functional, but the arcade modes remain the stronger draw.
Rules of the Road
Arcade mode, where I spent most of my time for this preview, offers substantially more customization than the genre typically provides. Three preset race types — Free For All (all fifteen racers on the grid), Leaders (just the five team captains), and Members (the ten sidekicks) — each produce distinct competitive dynamics. Free For All is maximum chaos, with fifteen vehicles jostling for position as Strikes and Overdrives erupt across the pack. Leaders is tighter and more personal: a five-racer sprint where every KO matters. Members sits in the middle, offering ten-racer fields with a different tactical flavor, since sidekick abilities tend toward more specialized functions.
The custom ruleset editor is the real surprise. You can adjust lap counts up to nine, set competitor numbers up to sixteen, and toggle from a long list of modifiers that reshape the racing experience: deactivate Overdrive entirely for a pure racing mode; disable all fighting mechanics to remove Strikes; toggle off individual character skills; force permanent Overdrive for every racer from the opening lap; adjust passive Sync generation rates; activate Power Shift (where Active Shifting unleashes a massive speed surge); enable Volatile Ecosystem mode where all racers are permanently vulnerable to KOs; or turn on Gage’s Finest, which prevents vehicles from losing parts on collision — essentially a no-destruction cosmetic mode. I didn’t test every permutation, but the breadth suggests serious potential for community-driven rulesets and custom competitive formats.
There’s also an upshift system: over the course of a race, you manually shift gears to increase your top speed, which layers a progression curve onto each race rather than just the meta-game.
Team Race adds another layer. Duo and Trio variants allow mixed teams across factions, as long as a Leader is present, and scoring combines final placement points with KO tallies. Smashing your own teammates hurts your combined total, which creates an interesting wrinkle when everyone is fighting for position in the same pack. The map selection across the preview’s initial tracks — Port, Downtown Run, Route 1N, Stadium Olympus — offers a strong mix of environments, and I even noticed a fifth map unlock as a reward for playing the mode. Tight urban corridors lined with neon signage give way to wider circuits with sweeping elevation changes, and day versus night settings noticeably affect visibility and atmosphere. Repeated arcade play also unlocked a new character, new music, and cosmetic items, hinting at a progression system that rewards continued engagement — though how deep that progression goes remains an open question.
Waiting for Green
After spending a few hours exploring the arcade modes, what emerged is a combat racer with a genuinely clever resource system, meaningful character differentiation, and a custom ruleset editor that could give Screamer real longevity. The Sync-to-Entropy conversion loop forces players to think two steps ahead, spending defensively to build offensively. This tactical layer elevates Screamer’s racing above the typical grab-a-pickup-and-fire template. Milestone’s expertise in crafting racing games shines through in every drift, boost, and well-timed Strike.
However, some big questions remain. It’s unclear whether the writing of the much broader campaign arc ultimately does justice to the character-driven structure, whether the pacing between cutscenes and races ends up feeling earned, and whether the campaign’s special rules add meaningful variety beyond what exists in the arcade mode. These unanswered questions are central to Screamer’s overall appeal, but for now, Screamer’s strong racing foundation warrants attention, and I look forward to its upcoming March 26 release on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC.
