Key Note Gaming

2026 marked the 30th anniversary of Pokémon , and if you’ve been following the Trading Card Game scene lately, you know things are getting busy. We just finished the chaos of the first wave of First Partner collection , and the Pokémon Company is already moving on to the next set. If you missed out on Series 1 back in March, don't worry too much. Series 2 is on the way, and it shifts the spotlight to some of the best starters in the franchise . These First Partner collections aren't a full expansion set; it’s a nod to that first big decision you made on your journey - your First Partner Pokémon! These collections are small, curated series meant for display or specific pulls. Series 2 takes us back to Johto, Unova, and Galar region, with some familiar faces making an appearance. The star of the collection is the special promo pack that celebrates the bond between Trainer and Pokémon. This single pack contains 3 of 9 illustration rare-style promo cards consisting of stu...

Crusader Kings 3 is getting a new core expansion, By God Alone, and it's going to add playable popes to the Paradox strategy game alongside other new gameplay mechanics to let players influence the church. "For the first time in the Crusader Kings franchise, we're also introducing playable theocracies, allowing you to rise to the power of the Pope himself," said Mikael Andersson, lead designer on the expansion. "By God Alone extends your options of how to engage with your Christian faith and the church behind it. It gives you more strategic options for how to deal with this institution, as well as dealing with other rulers of the same faith as you." By God Alone will arrive in Q3 of this year as a paid expansion, so you've plenty of time to figure out how to wield the word of god to your strategic advantage. "In this core expansion, we're fleshing out the Christian church to make the institution itself feel like a living entity," Ander...

We now have our hands on the Nintendo Switch 2 , a new console from one of the biggest names in gaming. Alas, a new console is only as valuable as the library of games you can build on it. Thankfully, Nintendo hasn't been shy about planned releases over the next year, which include a mix of Switch 2 exclusives, third-party releases, and the benefit of backward compatibility with any games still launching on the original Switch. Without further ado, here are all of the new Switch 2 games we can look forward to in 2026. All Upcoming Switch 2 Games With Release Dates * indicates a Switch 2 exclusive Outbound (April 23, 2026) Outbound is a new cozy game that will be released simultaneously on Switch 2 and PC. The game hands you a camper van and an open world to explore with it, all while supporting up to four players in co-op. There’s also pets, and a whole lot of customization you can learn more about in our hands-on preview . Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth (April 27, 2026) ...

Pragmata has sold 1 million copies in two days, Capcom has announced. In its sales announcement , the Japanese game company highlighted Pragmata’s status as a new intellectual property. “A completely new IP, Pragmata was developed primarily by a team of younger Capcom developers, who created an innovative gameplay experience by fusing action gameplay with puzzle elements set within a distinctive world ruled over by artificial intelligence,” Capcom said. “In the absence of an established fan base or preexisting brand recognition, Capcom implemented a range of marketing initiatives — beginning with the early release of a playable demo — to communicate the unique features of the game to a wider audience. In addition, in line with the company’s multiplatform strategy, Capcom broadened the title’s availability by adding support for Nintendo Switch 2 at an early stage. As a result, these initiatives generated significant momentum, enabling Pragmata to achieve worldwide sales of over 1 ...

Battlefield 6 players think they’ve discovered that one of the three maps coming in Season 5 is set in Las Vegas after Battlefield Studios posted an enigmatic teaser last week. The team at EA outlined its plans to keep players coming back throughout 2026 last week after it pulled back the curtain to reveal a host of changes aimed at directly addressing fan feedback . While much larger multiplayer maps and a server browser are just the tip of the iceberg of what was officially revealed, some players have already set their sights on a single image that teased one of the maps launching toward the end of the year. "Today, I can also confirm that, as a holiday surprise, we’ll be dropping a third map into Season 5," Motive Studio executive producer Philippe Ducharme said in a video for the April 16 reveal while showing the first-look. "You’ll have to wait to learn about them, but I will say that the roadmap does offer a hint of where you’ll be fighting." The image...

Bandai Namco has announced Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. The announcement arrived alongside the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2026 event in Los Angeles today and comes with a first official trailer for the anime action-RPG follow-up. It’s news that came as a shock to fans and arrived as official confirmation that a follow-up is finally on the way after Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 launched in 2016, almost 10 years ago. Doubling the surprise is the fact that Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 was technically already revealed by Bandai Namco earlier this year as what was previously called Age 1000 . That title now serves as the name of the new world in which the game is set, with the trailer showing off some of what it has to offer. "As revealed in the announcement trailer for DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 3, players will get to explore and uncover exciting new stories in West City, the vibrant new world set in AGE 1000," an official description...

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Apple AirTags, 4K Movies, AirPods Pro 3, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, the limited edition Marathon DualSense, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, April 19, below. 3 4K Movies for $33 By far, my favorite deal this weekend is the Amazon 3 for $33 sale , where you can score 3 4K films for $33. This is one of the best deals on 4K movies in 2026 so far, especially considering each film ends up at $11 a piece. There are some excellent options available, including Jurassic Park, Tenet, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, and more. Refurbished Sony 4K OLED BRAVIA 8 TV for $1049.99 Woot has a great deal on this Sony 4K OLED BRAVIA 8 TV, with refurbished units available for $1049.99. Sony's Bravia line is well respected and usually more expensive, making this TV well worth a look if you're in the market for a new one. If you're aiming for the best picture quality and rich colors, you cannot do better ...

Cooperative pirate survival game Windrose has reached 1 million copies sold less than a week after its Early Access launch for PC. Pocketpair Publishing and Kraken Express announced the sales milestone with an update post on Steam today . It’s an announcement that saw it sail past the marker six days after launching for PC via the Valve platform and Epic Games Store April 14. Reaching 1 million copies is a feat worth celebrating for Kraken as it charts a course through Early Access development, especially as its concurrent player count on Steam alone continues to climb. It’s managed to climb to 200,000 active pirates on Steam alone, with SteambDB recording a peak of 211,177 at the time of this piece’s publication. Thank you! The boar sends its two-tusked regards. Jokes aside, your support has been incredible, and your patience while we work on fixes means the world to us. Moreover, Windrose surpassed 200,000 concurrent players on Steam! Thank you kindly, on behalf of our ...

Magic: The Gathering’s Secrets of Strixhaven set is fast approaching (with prerelease this weekend), and for the first time since Tarkir: Dragonstorm , we’re getting five Commander precons with it. One of the more intriguing options of the bunch is Silverquill Influence, a white/black deck that blends artifacts and auras with a Goad theme – and there’s one Final Fantasy card that slots in beautifully. This Final Fantasy Card Is Spiking In Price Eye of Nidhogg is a Legendary Enchantment — Aura that costs one Black mana and two generic. It reads “Enchant creature. Enchanted creature is a black Dragon with base power and toughness 4/2, has flying and deathtouch, and is goaded.” If you’ve not come up against a Goad-focused deck before, the idea is that it pushes players to attack each other instead of the one goading them. This enchantment also triggers Killian, Decisive Mentor, the Silverquill Influence deck’s Commander, because as Eye of Nidhogg enters, Killian can goad some...

Slay the Spire 2 developer Mega Crit has published a detailed roadmap for Slay the Spire 2 without promising any release dates because it doesn’t want to make "Sloppy Spire 2." Studio co-founder Casey Yano outlined a host of new Early Access updates the team has planned for the popular deckbuilder roguelike in the latest installment of its The Neowsletter . The message comes with 17 bullet points featuring additions Mega Crit hopes to add on its path to a 1.0 launch, including everything from support for more languages and bug fixes to a new character and alternate versions of Acts 2 and 3. It’s an ambitious list with a candid catch: The studio doesn’t want to share a release date for anything yet. Players who returned to the Spire when Slay the Spire 2 launched into Early Access March 5 might be disappointed to see the lack of even the smallest release window, but Mega Crit wants fans to know it’s only keeping its cards close to its chest because revealing too much too ...

Developer Embark Studios has once again announced tweaks to the Arc Raiders Expedition window, and players who have spent months saving millions of credits are feeling left behind. The developer behind the ongoing extraction shooter published a long list of adjustments for its prestige feature, which allows players to start over with bonuses depending on their performance, in a blog post on its website today. Instead of requiring the last-season switch of 3 million credits worth of stash value for the maximum amount of bonus skill points, Embark is removing the credit stipulation for the third Expedition and will now reward points based on damage dealt. The studio said it made these changes because "grinding for monetary value isn’t the most exciting experience," a point many fans seem to agree with. The catch is that players now have a five-day window from April 28 to May 4 at midnight to participate in and complete the challenge if they want to earn all five availa...

I’m no master deckbuilder just yet, but Secrets of Strixhaven (Magic: The Gathering’s next set) just gave me a pair of ideal Izzet (Red/Blue) cards to drop into a deck I already felt was finished. As with many, I loved how powerful (read: broken) Vivi Ornitier was in last year’s Final Fantasy set, so I took a pair of spellslinger decks, mashed them together, and put together something that’s all about casting as many spells as possible. Maybe I’m Not Quite Done With This Deck After All There will always be tweaks to make, of course: Spellslinger decks tend to get swamped by big stompy creatures if the draw doesn’t go your way, but after somehow packing a Confetti Foil version of Omniscience, if I can ride out potential awkward mid-games, I can start playing cards without their mana cost. So, what’s new in Secrets of Strixhaven? First up is Primari, the Inspiration. It’s a 7/7 with Flying, and makes up one of five Elder Dragons in the set. The Ward cost is 5 life, which is the...

Developer 3DClouds has announced it has partnered with the FIA Formula E World Championship for a fully licensed expansion for its 2025 racer Formula Legends. The Formula E: Electric Evolution expansion will arrive on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms on April 30, 2026, with Nintendo platforms arriving at an unspecified later date. The expansion will feature all the manufacturers, drivers, and teams, plus six real-world tracks from the official Formula E series (Berlin, Tokyo, London, São Paulo, Miami, and Shanghai). In sync with Formula Legends’ established approach to its representation of racing over multiple eras, it will also feature GEN1, GEN2, and GEN3 cars. “To have a series as prestigious and entertaining as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in our racing game Formula Legends is truly extraordinary,” said 3DClouds CEO Francesco Bruschi in a statement provided alongside the announcement. “Formula E has been a fantastic partner for us and incorporating drivers, te...

In March, Ubisoft released the first piece of concept art for Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced , confirming the existence of the remake of the beloved pirate installment of the series, and today we have a release date, July 9. The date was reported by Insider Gaming but hasn't been confirmed by Ubisoft as yet. In a (now deleted) March blog post from Ubisoft's Jean Guesdon, Head of Content did hint at the rumors of the remake. "Speculation around Assassin's Creed is not new, but it's worth repeating: " Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. " Well, except in this case, some whispers have a little more wind in their sails. Keep your spyglass on the horizon. 🦜" The project's official name, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, was seen in December , when it popped up via a European PEGI ratings board listing. That sighting followed a few hints from the original game's lead actor . "Players can be excited about some ...

Capcom has forced a YouTuber to remove more than 1,000 "adult-orientated" mod videos showing Resident Evil Requiem characters in skimpy clothing. British streamer GrizzoUK reported being contacted by Resident Evil publisher Capcom's legal division, and told to pull down his videos or face further action. "It has come to our attention that these assets have been used to produce adult-orientated MODs, and that related videos have been created and published on YouTube," the company wrote in an email to GrizzoUK that he subsequently shared on a stream. Capcom stated that the mod videos were "inconsistent" with the company's Terms of Service, "as well as relevant copyright and intellectual property laws." In response, GrizzoUK questioned why his channel was being targeted specifically (as similar clothing mods are shown on numerous other YouTube channels), though he did ultimately remove the long list of videos. "I've gotta fi...

A version of Starfield for Nintendo Switch 2 has been leaked by the Taiwan ratings board, suggesting Bethesda's space RPG will land on the console. As spotted by Universonintendo , the listing shows a Switch 2 version of the game being approved for release just this week, though there's no mention yet of a formal release date. Starfield just touched down on PlayStation 5 , nearly three years after its original arrival on PC and Xbox Series X/S. Billed as the next big franchise from the makers of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, the space-based role-player has received a more muted response. Bethesda has since launched various updates to add fan-requested features , though recently played down the game's latest big update as not being a "2.0" version of the game . "I think it’s the kind of thing where if you love Starfield, we think you’re going to love this," Bethesda development chief Todd Howard said last month. "It’s updates and things that c...

Between the ubiquitous virtual assistants cheerfully patronising us from almost every electronic device and the disposable slop that nobody asked for clogging up our social media feeds, it’s becoming pretty hard to escape artificial intelligence these days – but it could be worse: what if you had an AI actually implanted in your brain? Such is the premise of Replaced, a 2.5D action platformer that follows a scientist named Doctor Warren Marsh who’s on the run after a sentient AI called REACH is shoehorned into his skull. The twist here is that you don’t actually play as the scientist, you play as the AI that’s effectively puppeteering him – with your sole objective to return to the laboratory so you can unpair from your human host. It makes for a compelling 11-hour quest that winds its way through an alternate ‘80s America rendered in a pristine pixel-art style, and one that I ultimately remained engrossed in despite some dull sidequest design and combat that occasionally felt more u...

If you're planning out a PC build and have been hoping to get one of the new Nvidia Blackwell graphics cards at a reasonable price, this might be the best opportunity you'll get in the near future. Walmart is offering a retail boxed PNY GeForce RTX 5070 12GB graphics card for just $599 shipped. Mind you this is still $50 over MSRP, but it's the best price I can find right now for a standalone 5070 GPU and the first time I've seen this card drop below $600 this year. PNY GeForce RTX 5070 12GB OC Graphics Card for $599 The GeForce RTX 5070 GPU is an excellent choice for 1080p or 1440p gaming. Compared to the previous generation GPUs, the RTX 5070 offers a slight performance improvement over the RTX 4070 Super , which was and still is an excellent GPU. The fps gain is greater in games that support DLSS 4.5 with multi-frame generation. Read our RTX 5070 review for our hands-on impressions. This PNY model features a slim 2.4-slot triple-fan cooling system and a slig...

Starfield has seen “lukewarm” sales on PlayStation 5, according to one analyst, who is now questioning Microsoft’s strategy of releasing its games on PS5 after they’ve already come out on Xbox and PC. According to Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics , Starfield had sold 140,000 copies on PS5 as of a week after launch. Bethesda has yet to announce a sales figure for Starfield on PS5, or generally for that matter. The last we heard, in November 2024, Starfield had seen over 15 million players across all platforms . “While these would be decent numbers for many ports, it’s not fantastic for a port of the biggest Bethesda RPG in a decade (although launch-aligned, it's selling faster than other Xbox games that came to Xbox in the past six months, minus CoD),” Elliott said. “Still, Starfield's lukewarm PS5 sales obviously raise questions about the long-term viability of Xbox's delayed multiplatform releases (Starfield came to PS5 2.5 years after Xbox/Steam).” For context, Play...