MindsEye is easily one of 2025’s biggest fumbles, with the ambitious title from ex-Rockstar president Leslie Benzies and studio Build A Rocket Boy receiving less-than-stellar reviews upon its initial launch earlier this year. Perhaps in an effort to have a bit of a fresh start, MindsEye and its ARCADIA platform have now received a free Starter Pack.
Available on both consoleand PC, the MindsEye Free Starter Pack allows you to “Unlock the ever-expanding gameplay experience of MindsEye with free content”. As mentioned, this includes both the story-focused MindsEye as well as a slice of their live-service platform ARCADIA.
More specifically, the starter pack gains you access to MindsEye’s campaign mission ‘Robin Hood’ alongside a dozen or so ARCADIA activities, namely:
Garden Party – Drone Race
Chase The Sun – Drone Race
Honor Among Thieves
Downtown – Goin' Haywire
Crosstown Traffic – Checkpoint Race
Rude Interruption
Turbulence – Race
Free Bird – Sky Race
Winging It – Checkpoint Race
Craz-Eye Taxi – Checkpoint Race
Friendly Fire
Cruise Control – Sky Race
Fractured Echo – Survival Horde
Road To Hell – Race
While the story-focused MindsEye took the brunt of the limelight, Build A Rocket Boy’s ARCADIA platform serves as their greater long-term project. As such, it will be interesting to see what the response to this free pack is and whether it will help shift opinions on the game somewhat.
KitGuru says: What did you think of MindsEye at launch? Will you give this demo a go? Does ARCADIA have potential as a platform? Let us know your thoughts down below.
Where Winds Meet is an impressive free-to-play open-world action-adventure RPG from Everstone Studio and NetEase Games. Released just two weeks ago, the title has seen a great deal of praise – with its only sore spot being its use of AI chatbots for certain NPCs. Even so, the game has garnered a strong initial reception, with the PS5 / PC title having now surpassed 9 million players.
Making the announcement on Twitter, the game’s official page shared the following: “Winds rise through the bamboo forest, and with a sword in hand we step into the Jianghu. 9 Million wanderers have set out from our humble abode among the bamboo. Thank you.”
For context, Where Winds Meet managed to achieve a total playerbase of over 2 million within the first 24 hours of its launch on the 15th of November. Since then, the game has continued to see rising interest, peaking at a total of 251,008 concurrent Steam players within its first week.
Of course, 9 million in two weeks is far from the biggest launch ever, with the likes of other free-to-play games such as Genshin Impact managing to surpass 10 million players during its pre-registration period alone and Apex Legends exceeding 25 million players within a week of its surprise announcement / launch.
Still, being a new game from an unknown studio, Where Winds Meet has managed to achieve a solid foundational base with which to continue growing from.
KitGuru says: Have you checked out Where Winds Meet? How does it compare to other free-to-play offerings? Let us know down below.
Today we are reviewing the Nitro+ B850A WiFi 7 motherboard that Sapphire first showed at Computex 2025. The timing seems curious as AMD launched Socket AM5 back in 2022, but you could also argue Sapphire is getting ready nice and early for Zen 6 which will likely launch in 2027. Whatever their thinking might be, this budget B850 motherboard is rather decent.
Time stamps
00:00 Start
01:05 Accessories
01:35 The Board
02:22 Rear I/O and connectors
03:16 VRM Configuration
04:16 M.2 and Expansion Slots
06:05 SATA
06:16 Board Layout
07:03 Test PC Config
07:33 BIOS and Software
08:23 Processor Analysis / Power
09:39 Cinebench 2024 Multi Core
10:03 Cinebench 2024 Single Core
10:17 Geekbench 6 Multi Core
10:29 Far Cry 6
11:15 Assassins Creed Mirage
11:40 Total War Pharaoh
12:20 Leo’s Thoughts
12:55 Worth buying?
Specification:
Chipset: AMD B850
CPU Support: AMD Ryzen 9000/8000/7000 desktop processors.
VRMs:
12+2+1 x55A Smart Power Stages
Richtek RT3678 controller
AOS (Alpha and Omega Semi) AOZ5510Q1 DrMOS
Memory support:
4 DIMMs, Dual Channel DDR5, Maximum Memory Capacity 256GB up to 8000MT/sec
Expansion slots:
1x PCIe Gen 5 x16 slot (from CPU)
1x PCIe Gen 4 x4 slot (from chipset, shared with one M.2 slot))
1x PCIe Gen 4 x2 slot (from chipset)
Storage:
1x M.2 Gen 5 x4
1x M.2 Gen 4 x4
1x M.2 Gen 4 x4 (shared with PCIe Gen 4 x4 slot)
4x SATA 6Gbps
USB support:
1x USB 5Gbps Type-C (Front)
1x USB 10Gbps Type-C (Rear)
3x USB 10Gbps Type-A (Rear)
2x USB 5Gbps Type-A (Front)
4x USB 2.0 (Rear)
2x USB 2.0 (Front)
Ethernet: Realtek 8125BG 2.5Gbps LAN
Wireless: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3
Audio: Realtek ALC897 7.1-Channel Audio
Form Factor: ATX 305mm x 244mm
Testing and Performance
Test system
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Memory: 32GB ADATA XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-6000
CPU Cooler: Phanteks Glacier One 360MPH
Graphics card: MSI GeForce 4090 Ventux 3X 24GB
Power supply: Seasonic Vertex GX-1200 ATX 3
SSD: 1TB Crucial T700 M.2 NVMe
OS: Windows 11
Cinebench 2024 Multicore
In Cinebench 2024 Multicore the Sapphire does reasonably well but falls behind the other AMD AM5 motherboards we have used in the past few months The margin is small but tells against the Nitro+ B850A WiFi 7.
Geekbench 6 Multicore
It is a similar story in Geekbench 6 Multicore where the Sapphire performs OK but lags behind the competition by a fraction of a percent.
Far Cry 6 at 1080p
We see the same small gap in performance in Far Cry 6 at 1080p. It is a minor consideration when you factor in the low price of the Sapphire but it shows you rarely get a free ride with PC technology.
Closing Thoughts
When we first saw the new range of Sapphire motherboards at Computex we were taken aback. After all, Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte and MSI appear to have the entire spectrum of motherboards covered with a vast array of products, however it seems that Sapphire has found a niche.
This Nitro+ B850A WiFi 7 is the top model they have released to date, yet it is priced under £160. We have to assume the Nitro+ X870E PhantomLink will cost rather more, however we have hopes it will sneak in around £300 and won't head beyond £400.
In this light it seems Sapphire is aiming for the ‘Perfectly Reasonable' sector of the market, and we applaud this move. The Nitro+ B850A WiFi 7 includes all the features you require, and while it omits a few things such as fast USB-C this seems like a perfectly reasonable move when you consider the price.
Overall we are very happy with the Nitro+ B850A WiFi 7 and feel a sense of relief that Sapphire has managed to deliver on what looked like a bold promise.
You can buy the Sapphire Nitro+ B850A WiFi 7 for £157.99 from Overclockers UK HERE.
Pros:
Priced towards the budget end of the market
Understated styling with zero RGB
Sapphire TRIXX-M software does a decent job
Cons:
A single USB-C on the rear panel and no USB4 ports
Access to M.2 slots is laborious
M.2 support is effectively limited to two SSDs
KitGuru says: Sapphire has delivered a range of budget AMD motherboards and the Nitro+ B850A WiFi 7 does a fine job at a low price.
We're all back for this night! AMD brings the FSR Redstone, Nvidia essentially has all the money, DDR and especially the "5" will bleed your wallet dry, and Zoomers turn out to…
The Cougar CFV235 is a unique looking chassis that breaks the mold of the classic mid-tower by physically separating the PSU and storage from the rest of the system. Cougar did not stop there, making sure that everything still feels functional with lots of attention to detail.
AMD has officially launched the Ryzen 7 9850X3D, which up to this point has only been a rumored upcoming addition to the company's 3D V-Cache chip family. It's a quiet launch without a press release, blog post, or even a blip on AMD's social media accounts, and the only reason we know it's real is because there is a dedicated support document
Since pretty much the beginning, Fortnite has gone all-out for its end-of-chapter finales. Though not quite as massive as its previous peaks, the game’s recent Zero Hour event managed to draw in more than 10 million players in total.
Taking to Twitter to confirm the figure, the official Fortnite page revealed that “10.5M of you joined us in-game for Zero Hour, and 3M+ tuned in across livestream platforms!”
Of course, 10 million players for a single – relatively short – event is a big deal and proves that Fortnite still has the juice so many years on from its viral arrival. Still, the live-service title has yet to surpass its peak player count of almost 14 and half million during last November’s Chapter-ending event.
In terms of single-day figures instead of concurrents, Fortnite hit a staggering 44 million players on the launch day of OG Fortnite back in November of 2023.
The tail-end of the year has always been a pretty big time for Fortnite, not only in terms of content released, but the number of people playing. Whether the live-service title will ever re-enter the center of the zeitgeist as it did during the early years, we will have to wait and see – but regardless Fortnite continues to be a certified success for Epic Games.
KitGuru says: Did you take part in the event live? How did it compare to last year’s chapter conclusion? Let us know down below.
4 years on from Forza Horizon 5’s initial release, the team at Playground Games finally unveiled its successor back during Tokyo Game Show 2025. While we have so far only seen a brief teaser trailer confirming that the game will be set in Japan, notable insiders have claimed that Forza Horizon 6 is planned to release during the first half of 2026.
Responding to a post on Twitter in which one user asked the insider whether a “H1 2026 release window” was likely for Forza Horizon 6, leaker NateTheHate affirmed that “First half 2026 has been the target and remains as such.”
Given the fact that all we have seen from the game so far is a glorified logo reveal, it is a pleasant surprise to learn that the sequel will be arriving ‘soon’.
That said, even with a first half of 2026 release, the time between two Forza Horizon titles has never been wider, with the series previously having a consistent two-year cycle between all of its entries (aside from FH4 to 5 which took three years).
Seeing as how it will have been around 5 years by the time Horizon 6 is released, here’s to hoping that the sequel manages to live up to expectations. We may not have to wait too long to find out.
KitGuru says: What do you think of this target release window? Will the team manage to hit it? What issues (if any) did you have with Forza Horizon 5 that you’d like to see improved upon? Let us know down below.
For Day 1 of the KitGuru Advent Calendar, we are kicking things off with Philips. Today's prize is a Philips Evnia 27M2N3501PA gaming monitor, offering QHD resolution and up to a 260Hz refresh rate!
We reviewed this monitor earlier in the year and came away impressed by its low latency, motion clarity and wide colour gamut. Overall, it scored a 9/10, so we are confident one of you will greatly appreciate it as an upgrade.
How to Enter:
To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is head over to our competition announcement post on Facebook, HERE. In the comments, leave an answer to the following question – What was your most played game this year?
This competition is open in the UK and EU.
The winner will be picked randomly shortly after 11AM GMT December 2nd, and a new competition will be announced for Day 2. The chosen winner has 48 hours to respond, if we do not hear from them, a new winner will be picked.
Terms and Conditions: This competition is open in the UK and EU, starting at 11AM GMT on December 1st and ending at 10:59AM GMT on December 2nd. Due to the busy Christmas season, prize deliveries could take longer than usual, and some prizes may not ship until January. In compliance with GDPR, we will not collect or store any personal information as part of this competition. Once the winner has been contacted and their prize received, personal details will be deleted from our email servers. Your details will not be shared, we respect your privacy.
KitGuru Says: Good luck to all who enter, we'll be back tomorrow morning to announce a winner and turn the calendar over to Day 2!
The Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro Fold are Google’s best flagship phones yet with a more efficient SoC, brighter displays, bountiful camera tweaks, larger batteries, faster charging, and Qi2 magnetic accessory support. Add Google’s outstanding software and AI features to the mix, and you have all the ingredients for a winning
Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked will update the Hirelings system so they can also level up during campaigns.
Recently launched on most major VR platforms, Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is a co-op tabletop experience that we praised as a “natural crossover and a fitting evolution” of the original Demeo. Following two smallerupdates, Resolution Games confirmed it's planning a wider overhaul for Hirelings - additional characters used to fill out your party if you don't have four players.
Currently, you can't level up Hirelings alongside your main character during campaigns, something we criticized in our review. Stating it's addressing player feedback across two phases, Resolution will begin with single-player campaigns by letting you use customized heroes who can gather XP and level up, stating Phase 1 “will be prioritized for release as quickly as possible.”
Phase 2 will bring this to Battlemarked's multiplayer, though the studio calls this “much more complex” to implement because of how other players can join, leave, and rejoin campaigns. Calling this a “much larger task” from both a technical perspective and for the user interface design, this will arrive in a later update.
Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is out now on Steam, PlayStation VR2, Quest, and flatscreen platforms.
Valve has taken steps over the years to make releasing games on Steam easier. This has led to a massive influx of new titles launching on the platform, with the numbers growing each year. In 2025, around 18,000 new games released on Steam, although only a small handful made an impact.
As shown by SteamDB, 18,000 games joined the Steam platform between the 1st of January 2025 and now. However, when we look at the number of reviews, it becomes quite clear that many of these titles didn't find a wide audience.
As pointed out by MP1st, around 6,600 of these titles garnered less than 10 user reviews on the store. A further 2,174 have no user reviews at all. In all, around 8,782 titles appeared to go completely unnoticed. That is close to half of all the games released this year.
While a majority of these titles are likely to be shovel ware, something that Steam gamers have become quite used to seeing over the years, there could well be a few hidden gems in there that just didn't find an audience.
It will become increasingly difficult for those hidden gems to find their footing on Steam as well, as more and more titles flood the store each year. In 2020, more than 10,000 games launched on Steam for the first time and now just five years later, that number has almost doubled.
KitGuru Says: Have you spotted any hidden gem titles on Steam in the past year? Perhaps a game that has just a handful of reviews but deserves a bit more attention?
Capcom's Dead Rising series has been on ice for a while. We did get a ‘Deluxe Remaster' of the first game back in 2024, but prior to that, the last new game in the series was Dead Rising 4 all the way back in 2016. As it turns out, Capcom may be planning a new game after all these years.
According to MP1st, Capcom is currently working on a brand-new Dead Rising game, rather than another remaster or remake. While the game would be new, it would also bring original main character, Frank West, out of retirement.
Apparently, the game is in development under the codename ‘Rec' and has been planned since at least 2023. It is speculated that the game would be a direct sequel to the first game, rather than tying into any of the follow-ups. In fact, it may take place prior to the events of Dead Rising 2, which launched all the way back in 2010.
The Dead Rising games were a defining part of the Xbox 360-era, but popularity waned over the Xbox One / PS4 generation. It sounds like sales for the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster were promising, allowing a new entry to be greenlit after so many years.
This year, Konami finally released the remake for Metal Gear Solid 3. However, there does not currently appear to be any new remakes on the horizon. According to the series' producer, Noriaki Okamura, that could change but certain titles will prove to be a major challenge.
In a recent interview with Real Sound (via VGC), Okamura says that Konami is still deciding whether or not to pursue another Metal Gear Solid remake: “Right now, we’re still in the stage of thinking about what to make next. Since Metal Gear has given us a chance to reach a new audience, I’d like to keep building on that momentum. That said, the actual content of what we’ll make is still undecided. It could be another remake, or we might take on something entirely new.”
Specifically, when it comes to remakes, Okamura says that the Metal Gear series is “a history of video games in itself”, which means that the ‘best way' to reinterpret each title “differs greatly”. Konami has “no intention” of applying the same methodology used for Metal Gear Solid Delta to every game. In particular, Metal Gear Solid 4 would present “a real challenge”, as the game made use of “unconventional” code to get the game running well on the PS3.
With that in mind, it doesn't seem like Metal Gear Solid will be going down a similar route to Resident Evil, where we get a new remake every few years to bring the entire series up to modern standards. Instead, Metal Gear Solid will be handled on a case-by-case basis and the team may just decide to make something new entirely, rather than revisit an older entry again.
In the meantime, fans can still expect the MGS Master Collection Vol 2, which aim to get all of the classic games in the series running on modern hardware. Volume 1 included Meta Gear, Metal Gear 2 and the first three MGS games. Volume 2 would target MGS 4, which has never been playable outside of the PlayStation 3 platform, as well as MGS 5 and its small prequel title, Ground Zero. Potentially, games like Peace Walker and Portable Ops could also be included.
KitGuru Says: There has a huge lack of 3D stealth games on the market presently. Metal Gear could fill that gap perfectly, whether its through new titles or by remakes of older games.
There has been a lot of speculation around the cost of Valve's upcoming hardware devices, with most of it centred on the Steam Machine after learning that it will be priced . As it turns out, the device might be a bit more competitive with current console pricing than initially thought.
After a couple of price hikes in recent years, the PS5 Standard edition now costs $549.99 and an Xbox Series X costs a bit more at $649.99. The PS5 Pro goes a step further and is currently priced at $749.99 outside of holiday sales periods like Black Friday.
In a new video, LinusTechTips crunches the numbers and discovers that building a comparable PC to the Steam Machine could cost as little as $600, however, when taking into account recent rises in retail costs for components like RAM and SSDs, the current price falls between $800 and $900, as the AI boom has caused a supply and demand issue impacting even consumer electronics.
When taking into account the cost, Valve's direct-to-consumer model and lack of need for significant profit margins on the device, due to the company's cut of every sale on the Steam Store, they estimate that the Steam Machine will target a $699.99 introductory price point. This is a lot closer to current console prices than initially thought.
Of course, this price point assumes there are no further changes in the market. Right now, the fluctuation in the memory and SSD markets is believed to be the primary reason Valve has not yet announced a finalised price tag for the Steam Machine. It is hard to finalise a price on something when the goal posts are being moved on a day-to-day basis.
We've known for quite some time that Ubisoft is working with Netflix on a new live-action adaptation of Assassin's Creed. Since then, little about the cast or production plans has been revealed. According to recent leaks though, we now know which time period this new Assassin's Creed series will be set in.
Each of the Assassin's Creed games have targeted a different period of history. We've seen Ancient Egypt, 1800s London, Civil War-era America and many more. For the new Netflix series, it looks like the writers will be targeting a time period never featured before in the games.
According to Nexus Point News (via IG), the Netflix Assassin's Creed series will be taking place in Ancient Rome, during the same time period that Emperor Nero ruled. This means we will be getting a very different look at Italy compared to Assassin's Creed 2, which was set during the Renaissance era.
It is still unclear when the Netflix Assassin's Creed series will release but filming is due to begin in Italy next year, so we should get more news over the next 12 months.
Despite originally being announced in 2020, Ubisoft was forced to take its remake of The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time back to the drawing board after fans lambasted the artistic direction shown in the reveal trailer. Now all these years later, it looks like the wait for the new and improved version is finally ending.
According to Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming, the Prince of Persia remake is set to launch in mid-January. The re-reveal of the game is said to be one of the major announcements planned for The Game Awards this year.
Ubisoft has been very quiet publicly about the remake and considering how much time has passed since the original announcement, it seems likely that they throughout the original version entirely and started over from scratch, explaining the five-year gap.
The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was co-developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto. If this information is all accurate, then we should finally see the new version of the remake during The Game Awards on December 11th.
Yacine Salmi is the founder of Salmi Games, the Munich-based studio behind Sweet Surrender. He works across design, tech and production, with a focus on VR-first gameplay and building for longevity. Here's his breakdown of what they learned, what surprised them, and what they'll be doing differently next time.
We recently launched Sweet Surrender on PS VR2, and I wanted to share our experience, partly to help other developers and partly to give a transparent look at how things actually went.
Sweet Surrender originally released on Quest and SteamVR in late 2021, and we've spent the last four years updating it with 14 major updates so far. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s a good one: on Quest we’ve held a 4.6 rating across 700+ reviews, and the PS VR2 players who have picked it up so far have responded in a similar way.
Around April this year, we decided it was finally time to bring the game to PS VR2. We passed certification in late July, announced it on October 9th, and launched three weeks later on October 30th. We kept testing and polishing all the way until release.
Our expectations were modest. If we could have managed 2,000 units in the first month, that would have been a solid success for us.
Reality was sadly very different: 84 sales on day one, and just under 350 units after four weeks.
That’s… not good. And this post-mortem tries to unpack why.
Key Metrics
Units sold: 84 on day 1, ~200 by the end of week 1, ~330 by week 4
Wishlists: ~1,800 at launch, ~2,100 by week 2
Team size: 6 during original development (2020-21); PS VR2 port averaged ~1 full-time developer for six months
Port duration: ~6 months, including major Unity upgrades and transition to OpenXR
Estimated port cost: ~USD $50k (personnel, QA, PR support and platform-specific work)
Certification: 3 rounds (each takes ~4 days)
Why We Chose PS VR2
A few reasons PS VR2 looked like a sensible platform for us:
The port was relatively low-cost compared to building a new title from scratch.
The PS VR2 community has been consistently asking for more high-quality games.
We expected PS VR2 to be a strong “second-wave” platform with decent long-tail potential.
Sweet Surrender’s accessible, arcadey shooter style felt like a natural fit for a console audience.
The opportunity felt reasonable. The risk felt manageable. The audience felt right.
What Went Right
Sweet Surrender isn’t a hardcore roguelike shooter; it’s arcadey and meant to be accessible while still offering a challenge to more hardcore shooter players.
We Delivered a Strong PS VR2 Version
We made full use of the hardware:
Native 90fps with no reprojection
Adaptive triggers
Solid headset/hand haptic feedback
A Platinum trophy (players really care about this)
A wide set of comfort and gameplay options
We did miss capacitive support for the grip button, but that’s planned for an update.
Overall, we hit the technical expectations of PS VR2 players.
We Got Coverage from the Right People
We reached out to everyone, and we were lucky that most of the major PS VR2 creators covered us:
Our announcement and launch trailers appeared on official PlayStation YouTube channels (16k and 34k views), plus PlayStation Japan. Our PR team ensured we reached press and influencers, and we maintained a steady cadence of posts and high-quality clips across social media.
A Smooth Launch (really)
Anyone who has shipped on PlayStation knows how easy it is for something to go wrong in the backend configuration. We planned for the worst, double and triple-checking everything. In our case, the game went live globally, on time, and with no region stuck in a delayed “coming soon” state.
Technically, the build was solid at launch. This was a big contrast to our 2021 Quest launch, where a rare grenade tutorial bug could quietly break the entire game for affected players without crashing. The PS VR2 launch had none of that.
It’s a Good Game
Sweet Surrender has its limitations, but the core experience is solid and has proven itself over several years. The feedback we’ve received on PS VR2 so far reflects what we’ve consistently seen on other platforms: players who click with the game really enjoy it, and the updates we’ve added over time have made it noticeably stronger than the 2021 version.
What Went Wrong (or: what we learned)
Most of our missteps were strategic rather than technical.
Timing (we misjudged it across three dimensions)
This was our biggest mistake.
1. We launched into a very crowded holiday window
Players told us directly:
“I want your game, but there are too many new VR releases and I have to pick.”
October/November saw a surge of strong PS VR2 releases that we underestimated and maybe shouldn’t have. We’ve heard from other developers that we should do our best to avoid Q4 altogether. There will always be a rush of developers trying to release games before Christmas, and that can only dilute the possible attention you can receive.
2. We launched one week before Roboquest VR announced a release date.
Roboquest VR is an excellent and far more visible roguelike shooter. Its VR release date announcement landed right after our launch, and many players explicitly told us they were waiting for it.
3. We launched late in the PS VR2 lifecycle
A developer friend uses the “time-to-closet” metric - how long before a headset ends up unused forever.
PS VR2 is approaching three years old. The active addressable market feels smaller, and this mirrors trends we see across other VR platforms.
If we could redo anything: launch a year earlier, or even better - within the first three months of PS VR2’s release.
Pricing (we anchored ourselves to 2021)
We priced it at $25, the same as our original Quest launch.
But in 2025:
COMPOUND (a common comparison point) is less expensive.
The Light Brigade and Roboquest are priced similarly to us but are larger games.
We stuck to our original price out of principle, but realistically, a $15–20 price point would likely have helped first-month traction.
I still dislike the general “race to the bottom,” but pricing also has to reflect the current landscape, not what made sense four years ago.
Wishlists and Store Page Timing
We only announced Sweet Surrender for PS VR2 three weeks before launch because:
We wanted to pass certification first.
We wanted the store page to go live with the new trailer.
We didn’t want to announce “too early.”
In hindsight, this was a serious mistake.
It’s not discussed much, but the PlayStation Store is wishlist-driven, almost exactly like Steam.
We should have published our store page in May, let wishlists accumulate naturally, and then done a release-date announcement later.
Release-date featuring from PlayStation would have been the same, but we would have entered launch week with far more momentum.
Visual Expectations
Sweet Surrender was originally built for Quest 1. We designed a stylized, low-texture, outline-heavy look that worked well for standalone headsets. Last year we modernized the pipeline with Bloom, HDR, and improved particles.
Despite that, some PS VR2 players commented on the lack of shadows and the overall “Quest-first” look. Others praised the smooth performance, but visuals still divided opinions.
If you're targeting PS VR2, expectations lean toward modern rendering features, even for stylized art.
Platform-Specific Learnings
Working with PlayStation’s backend can be intimidating at first because it spans multiple systems and tools (store configuration, metadata, age ratings, trophies, builds, submissions, etc.). But once you understand how the pieces connect, the workflow is relatively logical.
Sony clearly put effort into making PS5/PS VR2 development more approachable and self-service than it used to be. Documentation is solid, and whenever we ran into issues, we were able to get guidance quickly. Getting modest promotional visibility (YouTube upload, some social support) was straightforward once we had our trailer and store assets ready.
Overall, our experience with the platform was positive. The real challenge was timing and visibility, not Sony’s systems.
Moving Forward
There are several things we would approach differently in a future PS VR2 or console VR release:
Open the store page months in advance - even before certification - and treat wishlist growth as the primary objective (just like on Steam).
Announce earlier and build long-tail visibility, rather than doing a tight three-week announce-to-launch cycle.
Be more aggressive with pricing strategy, anchoring to the current market rather than our 2021 launch.
Avoid crowded windows and major competitor landings, especially in the shooter or roguelike space.
Target the early lifecycle of any VR platform, not the late one.
None of these would guarantee success, but they would have significantly improved our starting position.
While disappointing, this release isn’t catastrophic for us. Our company’s survival is (thankfully) not affected by it. Wishlist numbers are healthy, and the game may still find a second wind during future sales.
We will keep improving Sweet Surrender, though we’re unsure how long we can sustainably support it. The release did give us something extremely valuable: fresh external feedback from first-time players after years of working in the same ecosystem.
The PS VR2 community has been generous and supportive. This outcome isn’t their fault, and I don’t think it’s necessarily a commentary on the VR industry as a whole. It’s just the reality of a late-cycle release combined with some strategic mistakes on our part.
The VR-dev community has helped us more times than I can count. I hope in turn this write-up will help others avoid a few mistakes, or at least go in with clearer expectations.
UploadVR takes occasional unpaid guest posts from professionals on topics of interest in virtual reality. You can reach out to our editors over email if you have a subject you'd like to write about. We don't guarantee publication and we ask that posts feature original writing by a specific author that illuminates some unique aspect of their work or this industry.
Australian developer Team Cherry has finally shed light on its post-launch roadmap for Hollow Knight: Silksong, confirming that cut content from the original game's development will eventually make its way into the sequel. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, co-creators Ari Gibson and William Pellen discussed how the studio intends to support the title with additional content, drawing direct parallels to the expansive updates released for the original Hollow Knight.
In an interview with Bloomberg (via IGN), the developers mentioned their plans include the Steel Assassin Sharpe, a character first teased a few years ago. Gibson described Sharpe and his companions as having been waiting for the right moment to appear. While the character was initially cut due to the sheer density of enemies in the base game, the team is now keen to reintroduce him. Gibson noted that Sharpe and his companions still require polishing, but the studio is committed to finally bringing the assassin and his team into the fold to hunt down Hornet.
When discussing the broader philosophy for Silksong's DLC, Gibson emphasised a balance between fulfilling old promises and exploring new creative avenues. He assured fans that the team intends to deliver on their obligations, citing the “Village of Lions” as a specific example, but also noted that they have their own internal ideas for expanding the universe. The scale of these updates will vary, with Gibson hinting at the possibility of larger expansions similar to Godmaster, which added a dedicated boss rush mode to the original game. The developers also highlighted how the shift to Hornet as a protagonist fundamentally changes how they approach new content. Unlike the silent Knight, Hornet has a distinct voice and personality, which dictates the narrative flow of any expansion.
On the topic of communication, which has historically been a point of contention for the fanbase, Pellen suggested that the studio would be more vocal moving forward. He stated that the silence was simply a result of having nothing concrete to announce, but with multiple projects now in the works, the cadence of updates is expected to improve. However, regarding specific feature requests, Gibson confirmed that a “New Game Plus” mode has not been discussed internally, so don't expect it anytime soon.
Pulsar has announced a renewed collaboration with Bruce Lee Enterprises to commemorate the martial arts icon's 85th birthday. This new limited-edition product line follows the company's previous partnership three years ago, which saw the release of a yellow-and-black X2 mouse.
While the previous collaboration leaned into the classic Game of Death tracksuit aesthetic, this 85th Anniversary collection draws inspiration from a different chapter of Lee's filmography. The visual identity features a navy and white colour scheme, modelled after the sparring gear worn by Lee during the famous “boards don't hit back” scene in Enter the Dragon.
The centrepiece of the collection is the Pulsar X2 CrazyLight mouse, which will be available in both Mini and Medium sizes to suit different grip styles. For keyboard enthusiasts, the collection includes the Pulsar PCMK3 HE, a magnetic switch keyboard that supports the rapid trigger features increasingly common in competitive play. This keyboard will be available in ANSI, ISO ND, ISO DE, and JIS layouts.
Rounding out the setup are several surface options. The release includes a standard Bruce Lee 85th Anniversary Gaming Mousepad in an XL size, alongside two Superglide3 glass pad options. The Superglide 3 Pad XL will be offered in a matching Navy colourway as well as a “Picture” edition featuring the martial artist's likeness.
The Bruce Lee 85th Anniversary Edition collection is now available, coinciding with Lee's birthday. The X2 CrazyLight mice cost $139.95/€159.90 and the Pulsar PCMK3 HE keyboards cost $179.95/€199.90. As for the mousepads, the Superglide3 ones cost $99.95/€119.90, and the standard gaming mousepad costs $24.95/€29.90.
After more than two decades of serving as a staple in the cross-platform benchmarking scene, Kishonti has announced the immediate discontinuation of its active services for GFXBench and CompuBench. The announcement marks the end of a 21-year journey that began in 2004 with JBenchmark, a tool that evolved from testing early mobile feature phones into one of the industry's most widely cited suites for evaluating GPU performance across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
According to VideoCardz, the creator, Laszlo Kishonti, confirmed that the source code for both suites is being made available under a BSD license on various GitHub repositories. This transition effectively hands the tools over to the community a decade after the majority of the original engineering team spun off to form the self-driving software startup aiMotive. While the software itself remains accessible for those willing to compile it, the centralised service infrastructure is being dismantled.
As part of this shutdown, the ability to upload new results has been disabled, and the extensive public database on the gfxbench website is being replaced with a static placeholder. The mobile applications for GFXBench and CompuBench are also scheduled to be removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play over the next month.
To preserve the historical data of previous entries, Kishonti has released a snapshot of the benchmark results (not a full dump), along with the code. The data is organised by OS, hardware type, and API, providing aggregated maximum, median, and average values for the most popular resolutions.
KitGuru says: While the days of CompuBench and GFXBench live rankings are over, the open-source release ensures the tools themselves remain available for local testing and historical comparison.
After a delay that pushed its launch out of 2025, SEGA has finally confirmed a release date for its upcoming cross-platform management title. SEGA Football Club Champions 2026 is officially scheduled to launch on January 22nd, 2026. The game will be available across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, Android, and iOS.
Previously titled SEGA Football Club Champions 2025, the game underwent a necessary name change following the delay announcement back in October. This title represents a new direction for SEGA's football portfolio, positioning itself as a free-to-play game distinct from other “Manager” titles. SEGA frames this as a more accessible entry point into the genre, sitting somewhere between EA's FC games (manager mode) and Football Manager
SEGA has confirmed the game utilises the Football Manager engine, but the gameplay loop differs significantly from it. Early details suggest a streamlined experience closer to mobile management sims, prioritising accessibility and strategy over granular control. The game features officially licensed data via FIFPRO, alongside specific leagues such as the J League and K League, offering training schedules, transfer scouting, and tactical setups.
However, the free-to-play model brings expected changes to the structure. The game includes stadium construction, global PvP leaderboards, and gacha-style player recruitment, suggesting a heavy reliance on microtransactions. The game will also feature cross-platform support, meaning club progression will carry over between console, PC, and mobile devices, allowing users to manage their team on the go. This connectivity confirms the game's live-service nature, with seasonal content updates expected to drive long-term engagement.
KitGuru says: Are you a fan of Football Manager? Would you like to have a more accessible version of FM? Maybe Football Club Champions 2026 can offer that.
Ayaneo has reintroduced its highly anticipated Ayaneo Next II design, first teased in January 2023. While the handheld looks similar, some obvious changes have been made, including a pivot to an AMD Strix Point APU and a 9-inch OLED display. This put the Ayaneo Next II handheld into a rare category of OLED PC gaming handhelds, and the only
If the price of memory's got you maudlin, don't despair, because there's still plenty of killer deals to be found on some seriously spectacular equipment. No, really! Check out these keyboard and mouse deals, and don't miss some deep discounts on a couple of quality headsets at the end, either.
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