Key Note Gaming

While folks may picture a certain gentleman spy these days when they hear IO Interactive, fans of Agent 47 and board games may want to listen to this: Hitman: The Board Game is coming, and its campaign is now live on Gamefound . IGN had a chance to go hands-on with a preview sample to see whether this cardboard adaptation could capture the thrill of the video games. Grabbing my best red tie and bald cap, I eagerly recruited some fellow assassins, and off we went to see who was the best among us. After the blood settled, it was easy to see that even with this small snippet of what's to come, it’s on the right track to succeed in that mission. Published by Mood Publishing, the same publishers behind the tabletop adaptations of Deep Rock Galactic , Valheim , and Goat Simulator , Hitman: The Board Game, pits up to four players against one another in a race to see who can take out the target first. Along the way, you'll do your best to secure helpful loot around the map, avoid gua...

Subnautica 2 has sold 2 million copies within 12 hours of its early access launch, developer Unknown Worlds has announced. It’s a huge start for the underwater survival and crafting adventure game after a turbulent road to release. Peak concurrent players across all platforms Subnautica 2 launched on (PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, and Xbox Series X and S), exceeded 651,000, with Steam alone reaching a peak of more than 467,000 concurrent players. That’s nearly nine times the all-time peak concurrent player count of the original Subnautica, which launched in 2018, Unknown Worlds said. Subnautica 2 was the most wishlisted game on Steam ahead of launch, and had enormous momentum off the back of 18.5 million sales across the series. This sequel, developed using Unreal Engine 5, has optional co-op for up to four players, fuelling multiplayer virality. IGN’s Subnautica 2 early access review returned a 7/10. We said: “It’s pretty impressive that wading in the shallow tides of Subn...

Pearl Abyss has released a new major patch for Crimson Desert — the second this week alone — that makes yet more significant changes to the game. There’s a lot to dig into with update 1.07.00, which adds more bosses for rematches and makes various bug fixes (patch notes, courtesy of the Crimson Desert website , are below). But perhaps the highlight here is the addition of Blinding Flash Finisher for unarmed combat with Kliff. For the uninitiated, Blinding Flash Finisher is an essential combat skill that lets you do big damage to stunned enemies while time is slowed down. But, even better, if you hold the button down until Kliff finishes the slow-mo combo, he ends it with a hit that sends a shockwave out in all directions. This is great for clearing groups of weaker enemies, as well as dealing serious damage against foes with more health. Adding it to unarmed combat means those who favor fisticuffs now have access to one of the most powerful combat abilities in the game. So, if you’re...

Marathon is attempting to broaden its playerbase with new offerings, such as a PVE-only mode. Depending on who you ask, Marathon has struck a chord with a dedicated playerbase, but may not have the wide appeal . It seems Bungie is acutely aware of the fact that it may need to expand its audience to make it more approachable and is planning on doing so. In a massive new blog post , Bungie laid out its plans for the future of Marathon. Among the many details in it, arguably the biggest takeaway content-wise is the introduction of a brand-new PVE mode being introduced in Season 2 . It's an experimental mode that won't have player-on-player combat to instead emphasize working together to complete objectives, fight UESC bots, and make progress in a less chaotic and hostile environment. Additionally, there will be a mode that focuses on "PVE, but with a light touch of PVP," though details are scarce on what exactly that means. For those fearing this means PVP will take a b...

Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the hotly anticipated racing game, both for its early access release and the full launch. Confirmation comes after Forza Horizon 6 suffered a significant leak on PC that led to the game being made available to pirates well before launch. Playground and parent company Microsoft have been working to plug the leak, and even issued pirates with lifetime hardware ID bans . Some had wondered if the leak would alter Forza Horizon 6’s release plans, perhaps with it being brought forward, but that is not the case. As confirmed in a post on social media , Forza Horizon 6’s early access launch goes ahead as planned on May 15, although on Xbox it’s playable on the evening of May 14 on the west coast in order to align with the eastern timezone. Steam access for everyone begins at 12:01 am with the U.S. Eastern time zone. This is a global release pattern, Playground said, so the Steam launch will be aligned to Eastern ...

Arc Raiders has announced that it will only have two big content updates every year, much to the dismay of players. In a new blog post , Embark Studios revealed that it will release the next big Arc Raiders update, Frozen Trail, in October. This will not only add new locations to explore, but also new enemies, new expansions to the story and lore, and updates to the game's progression systems. It's clear that Embark's ambition is to deliver something expansive and deep in one burst as opposed to drip feeding content throughout the year. The studio confirmed that it will be on a bi-annual schedule for future content updates. "Going forward, we've made the decision to release major updates twice a year – larger in scale, more impactful, with the goal to genuinely change how you play the game," reads the blog post. "Don’t worry, a dedicated live service team will continue running ARC Raiders day-to-day: regular live updates, plus balance fixes, bug fixes, s...