Monopoly Go players have been looking forward to a major crossover event for what felt like months, and though most of the details ended up leaking, nothing actually beats official information.

The world of The Simpsons has officially arrived in Monopoly Go, and there’s a whole lot for players to dive into. The show’s creative team even produced a new animated short, featuring Mr. Monopoly, and Mr. Burns.

Available June 3 through July 29, the new event allows Monopoly Go players to jump in the world of The Simpsons. You’ll be able to build, and explore all around multiple iconic locations from the show.

Along the way, you’ll run into Simpsons characters like Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and of course, Mr. Burns. Developer Scopely teamed up with the show’s creative team to create many references, and Easter Eggs for you to discover. You’ll find some of those on chance cards, but most of the world has been changed to be part of The Simpsons, including getting to bribe Chief Wiggum to escape jail.

The developer promises a deeply connected world with Simpsons narratives and characters that alter seasonal maps, and offer unique sticker sets and animated sequences to dive in. Incidentally, this is The Simpsons’ first appearance in a mobile-exclusive game in 13 years.

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Here’s a breakdown of everything you can expect, straight from Scopely:

• Episodes: Narrative-driven encounters that create stories inspired by The Simpsons. Episodes play out across seasonal boards, sticker sets, and minigames, all capped off with an animated short.

• Sticker sets: Every Episode comes with its own limited-time sticker set, taking cues from the latest Simpsons story. Collectible artwork, character journeys and other rewards are yours to claim for the duration of each Episode.

• The Simpsons Run: Every two weeks, a new Springfield character will take over the Free Parking tile, kicking off character-driven runs.

• Simpsons-themed Shutdowns and Heists: Monopoly Go’s shutdowns and heists get a Simpsons makeover, with Springfield-inspired chaos and disasters.

• Bribe Wiggum: This changes Go to Jail to allow players to bribe Chief Wiggum, giving you a chance to earn a bigger reward, but not without introducing an element of unpredictability.

• Simpsons chance cards: The chance card collection grows with over 50 Simpsons-themed cards full of memes, references and one-liners from the show.

If you’re excited to jump in tomorrow, be sure to check out these Free Monopoly Go Dice Links before you dive into the new content.

Mystic Messenger, arguably one of the best dating sims around, has been dormant for about seven years. Despite not receiving new content or any meaningful updates in all that time, the game remains popular with its core fans, many of whom just woke up to some shocking news about their accounts.

The free-to-play mobile dating sim has started banning players with seemingly too many Hourglasses – the game’s virtual currency – saved up in their accounts. So far, it looks like players with 1,000 or more have been targeted, but others with far fewer hoards have reported getting the axe, too.

The news exploded on the Mystic Messenger subreddit overnight, with over a dozen reports from players logging in to play normally, only to receive an in-game notice that their accounts had been banned.

The message players received is identical, and doesn’t mention the specific reason for the ban. “Your account has been banned because abusive behavior has been detected from your account,” it reads, ending with a support email address the affected user can contact if they believe they’d banned in error.

It didn’t take a while for players to realise that most, if not all of the bans are for players with thousands of Hourglasses in their accounts. The virtual currency can both be acquired in-game just by playing, as well as through direct real-money purchases.

For a nearly ten-year-old game that stopped receiving content three years into its life, it’s easy to see how a dedicated group of players would be able to acquire so many Hourglasses by simply playing regularly for so long.

When contacted by the affected players, Cheritz, the developer and publisher of the game, has instructed them to send receipts of how they acquired Hourglasses (assuming they were purchased) to verify whether or not they’d been fraudulently obtained.

Considering that Mystic Messenger has practically been abandoned by its developer, certain exploits have emerged over the years that allowed players to farm Hourglasses faster than intended, but those instances have always been dealt with then and there.

The blanket and sudden nature of this ban is what’s spooked players, especially those who’ve been logging in for years and never thought accruing in-game currency from playing the game too much would make them the target of a ban.

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The running theory is that most of the bans are unintentional, and may be the result of a new automated security system that’s been implemented. It’s entirely possible, especially if its’s AI-based, that the new system simply couldn’t distinguish between those who have earned (or bought) their Hourglasses fairly, and those who used exploits.

The timing of the ban wave is also suspect. With the game’s 10th anniversary coming up in July, it could be that Cheriz is preparing to release a large update for Mystic Messenger, which may include new content. If most of the playerbase is already sitting on massive amounts of in-game currency, they may simply use that to fast-track their way to unlocking the new content, which would greatly affect the developer’s bottom line.

This is a problem that other live service games have run into in the past. Just recently, extraction shooter Arc Raiders added a cap to the amount of Cred players can hold in their accounts very quickly after its launch. That currency is used to buy cosmetic sets in the store, so the logic is easy to follow.

All of that has certainly put a damper on the enthusiasm of the game’s most active players, many of whom were excited to get together in person for the coming 10th anniversary, participate in community nights and so on to celebrate.

It’s also disheartening to see a fanbase so loyal; playing a game as regularly for so long without new content, to be treated so poorly. Even without knowing what the game is, it’s impressive that so many people have kept the flag of their favourite game flying for so long.

To find out how this dating system works, here’s a Mystic Messenger primer that explains it all. Once you’ve wrapped your head around it, you’ll no doubt want to pick the correct answers for every guest, and this guide will help you nail every one.

Steam is abuzz this week with a couple of long-anticipated launches, but in Forza Horizon 6’s case, at least, the game isn’t even out for what will be most of its players. The anticipated sequel in the open-world driving game series doesn’t officially launch until May 19, but owners of its most expensive version – the Premium Edition – can play it right now.

That version of the game includes more than just a few days of early access, of course, but you’d think the $120 price tag would’ve only been palatable to a small group of players. Not the case with this game.

Forza Horizon 6, which has spent 16 weeks in Steam’s global top sellers list, currently occupies the number two spot, having jumped up three spots this week in anticipation of the launch. The game has also naturally been popular with players, so popular in fact that it has already overtaken the player counts of all other Horizon games on the platform.

At the time of writing, the game has peaked at 128,157 concurrent players on Steam alone (via SteamDB). The figure has already climbed several times during the writing of this story, so you can only imagine how much higher it’s going to get deeper into the weekend.

All of that, of course, days before the official launch on Tuesday, when, theoretically, the majority of the game’s audience will be able to start playing. In just a few short hours, Horizon 6 has already gone well above Forza Horizon 5’s peak concurrent of 81,096, as well as Forza Horizon 4’s peak 75,689 players.

Steam is the only platform that publishes player numbers, of course, but it’s easy to see how similar the enthusiasm is going to be on Xbox. Though the game is not yet part of the Game Pass line-up, those who don’t want to wait could buy the Premium Edition Upgrade to get the included content, and play it right now.

Game Pass, and Xbox / Windows Store numbers don’t factor into Steam’s, which is another thing to consider when viewing the numbers holistically. Indeed, given how successful Forza Horizon 5 has been on PlayStation 5, Horizon 6’s upcoming release on Sony’s console is bound to be even bigger.

Forza Horizon 5 has been off to a similarly flying start in the first few days of its own advanced access launch, so it’s obviously not surprising to see Horizon 6 do better there. In case you missed it, check out our review of Forza Horizon 6. In short, we really liked it, even if we expected more.

There is this idea that, for a long-running series to remain as consistently popular as Forza Horizon has been, it needs to diminish itself somewhat with each new entry, gradually losing more and more of its edge in a bid to appeal to the widest possible audience.

I started playing Forza Horizon 6 hoping this won’t hold true; that Playground Games may have found a way to make a fun racing game that’s comfortable turning some people off. After 30-odd hours with the near-final build, it became clear that this was a foolish expectation.

Horizon 6 starts as confidently as each one of those games. The choice of opening song immediately communicates the tone the game is going for; a feeling it promises to make you have. The sight of the main menu’s looping shots of Cool Cars and the less cool people standing around them is iconic at this point, and it’s no less comforting.

The moment you hit ‘play’, you’re immediately thrust into the opening drive across a small part of the game’s new headline location, in this case a mix of downtown Tokyo and its surrounding rural areas. Before you know it, the game has established the vague structure of its particular competition, and you’re offered your first car.

Horizon 6 immediately makes clear that it’s still the car-collecting driving game you know, not a racing game – yes, there’s a difference. I never, at any point, felt like I needed to work on learning the intricacies of a circuit or tune my car to get through a tough race. If you’re too proud to consider simply lowering the difficulty of your AI opponents, you can throw money at the problem instead; pick a recommended car, look for a tune made by another player (though not always available pre-launch), and off you go.

Horizon 6’s world gradually opens up to you, similar to the older games. It’s pretty telling that the comparisons to past Horizon games are unavoidable, given how similar they are in most ways that mater. Though you can drive across 95% of the entire map the moment you get your first car, what’s actually gating your progress here is the new Wristband system, which is really a progress bar you need to fill by playing Qualifiers.

Every race that’s part of the Festival earns you points to push you towards the next Wristband tier. The biggest payouts are earned by winning, but even landing on the podium can be enough in the early tiers. You can supplement your points income through PR Stunts. That’s smashing XP Boards, speed cams, or trying to set a record across speed or drift zones. Festival activities are plentiful, even if they’re predictable. Naturally, the higher the tier, the faster the cars you’ll need.

The other half of Horizon 6’s let’s-find-reasons-to-get-you-to-drive-around-Japan stated mission is Discover Japan, a separate progression track that runs in parallel to the Wristband system. The focus in this one is mainly on showing you more of the world’s ten regions, while introducing the paper-thin characters who will take you through them.

Because of its unusual make-up, Discover Japan ends up being where you’re going to find the more interesting activities. There’s one where you deliver food, another that tasks you with testing the limits of freshly-restored cars, one that sends you on tours as part of a convoy and so on. They’re usually relaxed strolls through stunning locations that don’t ask much of you; racing and shaving seconds off your time is secondary.

They are, predictably, very effective at making good on the fantasy of driving cars you’ll never have the opportunity to drive in the real world, around places you’re not likely to visit. Discover also houses the more interesting race styles, including Touge, and the very exciting street races.

Sometimes, the developer finds clever ways to create analogues of long-standing features within the structure of Discover Japan. Barn Finds, for instance, have been a mainstay in the Horizon series since its inception. As you explore the world, you’ll hear rumours of certain classic cars, abandoned in sheds. Your map will then highlight a fairly sizeable radius where one of the cars in question can be found. Locate the barn and it’s yours.

Discover Japan has Treasure Cars, which instead shows you a photo of the car with certain monuments in the background, and you need to figure out the angle it would’ve been taken from and narrow down that location to find the car. It functions similarly to Barn Finds, though I found it much easier to locate those than barns, simply because the car could be parked anywhere, whereas barns are typically hidden in thick forests that require far more work to nail down.

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Like the events themselves, the menu also starts off filled with locked tiles, which gradually unlock the more you play. This has always been a clever way of preventing the game from overwhelming players. The sheer number of activities, cars, and features is simply staggering. Even as a longtime fan, the time between new Horizon releases is long enough that I am just as happy for the game to lead me by the hand there.

Horizon 6 doesn’t innovate much when it comes to the activities themselves, but Horizon Rush events are a standout new addition. These races take place in makeshift circuits – obstacle courses, really; characterised by their sharp corners, and a slight lack of clarity about where you’re supposed to go next.

Rush races require more precision than anything else I played in the game, and it’s been the only activity that actually got me to understand how my car handles, in part because your car is pre-determined. These are races against the clock that you can’t afford to treat like any other activity.

About as lively and demanding – on hardware, at least – is ray tracing, which brings the world to life in ways simply not found in other driving games of this scale. In the areas with a lot of nature and foliage, you’ll be tricked into thinking someone photoshopped a car from a video game into a real photo.

There’s a wealth of accessibility options, and though I don’t require most of them, there was one that I found useful. You can turn on a proximity radar that shows when other cars are getting close in a 360° radius. It’s incredibly handy when you want to partake in the unsportsmanlike behaviour of blocking trailing cars from passing even when they’re faster than you. It can be tweaked enough that most players will find a use for it – especially when driving in first-person.

Horizon 6 doesn’t do much to change what’s always been frustrating about those games. I’ve won many of my races at the third turn, and I’ve been equally frustrated by others where catching up to lead car(s) felt impossible, no matter what I did. I’ve seen my opponents go from the rowdy rammers of your typical online lobby, to world-class racers who never deviate an inch from the racing line – seemingly on a whim. That unpredictability is, ironically, where much of the challenge in races comes from.

If what you come to Horizon for is a space to live out your fantasies of collecting cars and driving them around stunning, real-world-inspired locations, there is simply no game that does it better. But if you wanted a little more from Forza Horizon 6; a bit of an edge or some rewarding friction, you should look elsewhere.

Reviewed on PC, code provided by publisher.

HoYoverse just wrapped up a new Genshin Impact Special Program, where the developer revealed everything there is to know about the game’s next major update. Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana, or as its friends call it, Luna 7, was unveiled as part of the showcase.

This next update has a lot going for it, and it will be in players’ hands everywhere on May 20.

Luna 7 will take us back to Sumeru for its new Archon Quest, where a new crisis that threatens to plunge the nation into chaos is brewing. Nahida is out of the picture, and someone who looks suspiciously like Il Dottore has emerged.

If you complete this chapter at launch, you’ll earn up to 560 Primogems, as well as Nicole’s Ascension Materials. Nicole is the first of three playable characters arriving with this update. Something else you’ll unlock if you finish the chapter quickly is a new Weekly Boss that HoYo says has “unpredictable abilities.”

And if you haven’t played in a while, don’t worry, you can refer to the Guiding Notes feature to catch you up on what’s been going on in the world. This is part of a larger effort from the team to make story progression more seamless, and also includes improved quest autosave prompts.

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Nicole Reeyn is highest-profile and most interesting, being the first playable member of the Hexenzirkel. The mage is a 5-Star Pyro Catalyst wielder intended as a support member of the team. She can boost the ATK of all party members, even those not currently on the field. She also generates a shield while doing so.

Her Elemental Burst allows her to summon an Arcane Projection that follows the active character, sending out Coordinated Attacks that match their Elemental Type. Outside of combat, Nicole can help you find treasures by calling upon a Seelie to guide you to them. Quite fitting, as you’ll be exploring in the inside of the Witch’s Lodge in Nicole’s Meeting Point in Luna 7, so bring her along.

Lohen, the Vice Captain of the Knights of Favonius’ Fifth Company, is the second new character. Also a 5-Star addition, he is instead a Cryo Polearm wielder designed for aggressive combat. His main use is dealing massive Cryo DMG, and he can do that by managing two resources unique to him: Joy, and Will to Win.

Through his Elemental Skill, he can enter the Masterstroke state, allowing him to build up (and consume) Joy to unleash enhanced skills. The more his teammates fight, the more Will to Win he biulds, which can later be used to boost his effectiveness further. For an even more powerful display of force, bring along a Hexerei character when he’s on your team.

Prune is the third and final addition. Prune is a 4-Star Anemo Catalyst wielder, and her kit is inspired by her Witch Hunter aspirations. Using a bell and a hammer, she can deal DMG of several elements at once, and trigger Swirl reactions.

Nicole, and Lohen will debut in Luna 7’s first half, while Prune will follow in the second. The first half will also see a Durin rerun, with Mavuika returning in the second half. You can look forward to a new limited-time event as part of Luna 7, with a focus on Klee’s Little Hexenzirkel.

You’ll find a series of mini-games you can play alongside Prune, as well as Qiqi, Yaoyao, and Sayu. If you play, you could earn the Super Awesome Magic Key, an exclusive weapon skin. Miliastra Wonderland is doing its thing, too, with a new sports festival for you to take part in.

One new gameplay addition worth calling attention to is that Manekins can now perform actions in Teyvat. The Kamera, which you can use to capture moments with Manekins, is getting upgraded, too, with new editing tools and assets.

Before you pick the game back up, be sure to check out our recently-updated Genshin Impact codes page for some free stuff you may be missing.

This isn’t a complaint, but I can’t help but feel like every new game I pick up at the moment is Animal Crossing. Heartopia? Animal Crossing. Pokopia? Animal Crossing. Tomodachi Life? You guessed it, Animal Crossing! I am unashamedly one of those people who thinks the gaming landscape of the 2020s peaked early when New Horizons gently shepherded us all through lockdown, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that – now that we’re well past the midpoint of the decade, I hate to remind you – a bunch of studios have come to the same conclusion, and either spun up their own take on the idea, or repurposed an existing IP to include more Animal Crossing-like elements.

Petit Planet – which just launched its second beta test – is, quite unashamedly, HoYoverse’s spin on the Animal Crossing formula. When the concept first leaked a couple of years ago this comparison was drawn instantly, and in typical HoYo fashion the studio has done nothing to distance itself from the inevitable name-drop whenever Petit Planet is mentioned. It makes sense when you consider that the developer’s flagship game, Genshin Impact, is well-known for being heavily inspired by Breath of the Wild, and having that parallel drawn frequently in its early days clearly hasn’t hurt it much.

The thing is though, I would argue that Genshin does in fact offer its own distinct spin on BOTW. For one thing, last time I checked, the Zelda games weren’t party-based action RPGs, even if the fantasy open-world exploration clearly borrows quite liberally from Nintendo’s genre-defining masterpiece. Indeed, attempting to reduce Genshin to a BOTW clone in the year 2026 will most likely just make you look hopelessly behind the times. But without wishing to set myself up to have to eat my words, I’m not sure what Petit Planet brings to the table that a quarter of a century’s worth of Animal Crossing titles didn’t already.

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I’m not saying that Petit Planet shouldn’t exist – as a lifelong connoisseur of games within the life/social/farming sim trifecta, I know that large-scale homages are even more common in this genre than they are elsewhere in the industry, which as a whole isn’t exactly shy about cribbing from existing concepts. The classic trio of The Sims, Animal Crossing, and Harvest Moon have intermingled in countless ways over the decades, influencing both one another and a whole slew of spiritual successors, many of which are now well-regarded in their own right. There’s no reason on paper that Petit Planet couldn’t become to the F2P mobile-led space what Stardew Valley is to indies. But somehow, I’m not quite convinced yet.

Perhaps I’d be less cynical on the topic if I hadn’t already sunk 100+ hours of my year so far into Heartopia – which, as a charmingly playdough-y gacha social sim, has definite echoes of the same classics of the genre that Petit Planet aims to emulate, and is targeting the same demographics. Heartopia currently has a couple of advantages over Petit Planet, though: for one, it’s been available globally since January, whereas HoYoverse is still being cagey about committing to a release window; and secondly, it has an easily-defined USP, in that all of your neighbours in the town are controlled by other players.

It’s hard to say what Petit Planet’s USP is, aside from the admittedly appealing aesthetic change from the usual desert island to a desert planet IN SPACE. It’s definitely cute and relaxing, but everywhere I turn I’m reminded of something from Animal Crossing – again, that’s not necessarily bad, but it’s also not giving me a solid reason to keep playing when I could just dip back into my 900-hour ACNH island to scratch the same itch. Shake some faintly apple-looking plums from a rather familiar tree, sure. Catch fish and insects and deliver them to a kindly and cultured anthropomorphic animal who displays them in his vivarium, okay. Help an energetic little monkey organise the settlement’s resources, cool.

Minute-to-minute I am in fact enjoying myself immensely – of course I am: I’m a sicko for this genre; I’m already a fan of this studio’s other games; I know what’s expected of me and can vibe on through it all with my eyes closed. But once I put this game down, I’m not sure what will draw me to pick it back up again when there are already so many extremely similar options available to me. I’m already actively managing, what, six other social sim settlements I built from the ground-up? Do I have room in my heart to begin all over again?

The elephant in the room, of course, is HoYoverse’s current commitment to the use of generative AI in developing its games, which Petit Planet doesn’t attempt to keep a secret. Honestly, though, if they’re going to do it – and clearly they are – I’m in favour of them at least flagging which content uses GenAI, which seems to be the case in Petit Planet, assuming that the disclosures already in place in this beta are reflective of the whole.

There’s still a frustrating opacity as to what exactly it all means, though – so far I’ve seen nothing that couldn’t have been sensibly developed using an SLM trained on HoYo’s own in-house data, which is far from the most egregious example. But of course, there’s also no guarantee that that’s how it’s actually been done.

Honestly, though, the most offensive thing is that after a lot of fuss and fanfare, NPCs are “conversing” with me in real-time with about the same level of naturalistic dialogue as that seen in Façade, which let’s take a moment to recall, is a 20-year-old indie game. Don’t get me wrong: Façade was ahead of its time, and it’s still a fun mechanic to play around with! But publicly declaring your intentions to go all-in on generative AI without apparent care for its potential harms to your workers and other creatives, your product’s quality and its audience, the environment, the economy, etc. etc., just to turn around and proudly announce that you’ve reinvented the wheel, isn’t exactly the best look.

There will, certainly, be plenty of people who don’t care about any of that – and presumably this includes many of the younger players towards whom Petit Planet clearly skews. Kids are, of course, already playing HoYoverse games. A friend’s tweenage daughter is a fan of Genshin, and accompanied by responsible parental oversight, I’d argue that’s no worse than her enjoying Fortnite or Roblox – but Petit Planet is the first game from the studio to explicitly target a “family” audience.

Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to the final curiosity of this beta: even after spending several hours with the latest build of the game, I’m still entirely unclear on where the gacha is and how it’s going to work. I’m even starting to suspect that there might not be a gacha at all, which is wild if true, since all five titles on HoYoverse’s current roster are monetised this way, and it’s clearly worked out pretty well for them so far.

But even though I can see where a seasonal pass subscription type model is going to sit in the full release, so far there’s no gacha-shaped hole in sight. I wonder if this is to make Petit Planet seem a bit more palatable to parents who are holding the wallet for younger players, who I think are probably going to be the demographic getting the most out of Petit Planet – particularly if they’re too young to remember the halcyon days of ACNH, as today’s cohort of primary school age kids presumably are.

Which is a grim thought for a number of reasons – not least of which is that if kids born circa 2020 are old enough to play video games today, that means that the rest of us certainly aren’t getting any younger. But mainly it’s down to the fact that seeing HoYoverse – a live-service specialist whose monetisation tactics are far from above reproach, even when aimed at fully-informed adults – turn its attention to making games for children is bound to set off some alarm bells, even without the presence of a gacha.

But credit where it’s due, Petit Planet will soon sit alongside Tears of Themis as proof that the developers at HoYoverse can turn their talents to more diverse genres than different flavours of RPG. It might sound like a backhanded compliment to call it a perfectly competent social sim, but it’s an achievement for a studio to step outside of its speciality and break into a new gaming space with something polished and presentable, even if a little by-the-numbers. Petit Planet may not be ready to set the world on fire, but finding its niche among life sim fans eager for a shiny new yet still comfortingly familiar playground feels like a modest yet achievable goal.

HoYoverse just wrapped up a pretty exciting Zenless Zone Zero Special Program that not only delivered all the details on the next big update, it also came with the unexpected announcement that the action RPG is on its way to Steam.

Previously, all HoYoverse games with PC versions have always been directly available from the developer’s website, or through the Epic Games Store. In other words, Zenless Zone Zero will soon mark the massive company’s debut on Valve’s platform.

The main focus of the livestream, of course, has been Version 2.8, otherwise known as New Eridan Sunset. This upcoming release is scheduled for May 6, though the Steam version does not yet have a date.The new release sees the release of two new Agents, as well as the brand-new Wind attribute enemy.

The release also acts as the last chapter of Season 2, and it sees Ramiel becoming the main target of different factions in the Outer Ring. The two new arrivals, together with Proxies and Cissia will embark on a quest to learn the new identity of Ramiel.

The first new Agent is Promeia, the executioner of Krampus. She’s an S-Rank Ice Anomaly Agent who can consume Trial by Cold to trigger Abloom on enemies. This is done by converting Corrosive Chill.

By using her EX Special Attack, she can enter the Bound Absolution state, which allows her to automatically Perfect Dodge any attack that targets her. If you have another Anomaly or Support Agent on the team, Promeia can further boost the entire squad’s Abloom damage.

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The second addition in 2.8 is Starlight – Billy, also an S-Rank Agent, though wielding Physical Rupture instead. This is the upgraded form of Billy, and he arrives on a combat motorcycle to bring his signature Starlight Knight to the fight. Through it, he can deliver big Physical burst damage.

The higher Billy’s health, the more Sheer damage he deals. In fact, all Physical damage he deals lands as Sheer damage. Further building on his tank-like role, his skills can also restore his own health.

Re-runs in Version 2.8 will be Lucia in the first half, and Orphie & Magus in the second. The other exciting addition coming with this update is the new Wind attribute enemy, and the accompanying Vortex mechanic.

When an enemy is inflicted with the Wind Attribute Anomaly, any other Anomaly attack type that gets applied will trigger Vortex, rather than Disorder. This deals AoE Anomaly damage of the type that matches the corresponding element.

Throughout the version’s runtime, you’ll be able to take part in the Marcel Bootopia-themed event, which gives you control of Eous and lets you explore a Bangboo resort island. The island has been closed due to an outbreak of Hollows, and you must rescue Bangboos and find treasures.

If you do, you’ll earn Booltergeist and its Bangboo core for your troubles. This is an A-Rank Bangboo that can float around and fire lasers in combat. Its damage is further boosted whenever certain teammates are present.

The Ultimate Verdict Trial is another event you can check out that lets you fight alongside newcomer Promeia, or take part in other mini-activities that all reward Polychrome. Finally, you can look forward to a new Hoshimi Miyabi outfit: Dignified Blossom, which will be available in the store.

Before you jump back in next month, it always helps to catch up on the latest Zenless Zone Zero codes to make sure you’re not missing out on any freebies.

Diablo 4 is gearing up for its biggest post-launch event yet: the upcoming release of the Lord of Hatred expansion. As was the case with Vessel of Hatred before it, expansion releases alter the seasonal flow in a few ways, and Blizzard has now explained how.

The game’s next season – its 13th – has been officially revealed as Season of Reckoning. The new season will kick off alongside the expansion’s release next week, and will be available to all players, just like all previous seasons.

Although Season of Reckoning will roll out as normal, the season itself won’t be as meaty, at least when it comes to the sort of gameplay mechanics and themes players have come to expect from each new season.

You’ll still find the normal Season Rank chase, Smoldering Ashes, and various rewards at each chapter. Season Blessings will also return, but that’s about it for progression outside of the game itself. If it’s any consolation, there are more goals and objectives to tackle this season.

The even better news is that, according to Blizzard, future seasons will follow the classic format, which makes sense. The new season will come with a battle pass, of course, featuring four Reliquaries, as usual. The first Reliquary is free, while the others are paid.

Blizzard has also confirmed the the pre-load for Lord of Hatred is available now on all platforms. Even if you’re not getting the expansion, patch 3.0.0’s pre-load includes all expansion content regardless, so you may as well pre-download it to be ready for April 27/28. On launch day, you’ll also need to download a smaller patch, version 3.0.1.

In case you missed it, we published our Lord of Hatred review earlier in the week. Give it a read if you’re curious about the expansion’s impact on the narrative, and how it changes core Diablo 4 gameplay.

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred has, without question, been one of my most anticipated releases of 2026. Diablo 4 is likely my most played game ever by sheer hour count, so it’s easy to see why this expansion is so high up on my list. However many rakes Blizzard has stepped on over the course of the game’s live service, however many seasons or events it botched, I maintain that no other ARPG matches Diablo 4 in either game feel or production value.

My memory isn’t that short, however, and I remember how disappointed I was with the game’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. Apart from giving us one of the best classes in the game with the Spiritborn, it did little to advance the narrative and often felt like it had the scope of a side quest.

Nevertheless, I remained hopeful that Blizzard’s eagerness for a comeback – and a one year gap – would result in something special.

The events of Lord of Hatred pick up shortly after the conclusion of Vessel of Hatred. Neyrelle has found herself in another new region in her continued search for a way to prevent Mephisto, the eponymous Lord of Hatred, from escaping the stone she and the rest of the squad precariously trapped him in at the end of Diablo 4.

One of the things I always look forward to in Diablo is how each of its regions informs narrative and character makeup. Just like VoH’s Nahantu, LoH’s Skovos stands as a distinct new destination that brings fresh aesthetics, sights and sounds to a world with a lot of already existing variety.

The Skovos isles occupy what’s essentially the Mediterranean region of Sanctuary. You can easily mistake them for the Aegean islands, or any of the various Greek provinces. Blizzard liberally borrowed the red-tiled roofs, textured stucco walls and cobblestone streets of those real-world locales to create Skovos. One sub-region in particular has the closest thing we have to a parthenon in Diablo 4.

Skovos’ people take after DC Comics’ Themyscira, Wonder Woman’s birthplace. Much like them, the Amazons of Skovos are a matriarchal society of warrior maidens, led by a queen who plays a sizable role in the events of the expansion.

Beyond its visual significance, Skovos has a unique place in Diablo lore as the birthplace of humanity’s progenitors, the direct descendants of Lilith and Inarius. This being the first time Skovos has appeared in any Diablo game immediately makes it the most exciting of any region to visit. The landmass in Skovos is a little smaller compared to some of the other regions, but there’s enough topographical and locational variety there that it never got boring in the 30+ hours I spent with the review build.

Given how much the Amazons factor into almost every facet of this expansion, you’d think that the Amazon class would be the no-brainer new addition. Blizzard decided, instead, to go with something bold: a hybrid class that may not immediately fulfil any existing fantasy, but ends up being the game’s most complex. The fantasy fulfilment has instead been left to the second new addition in Lord of Hatred, the Paladin.

The Paladin has been available for several months now, having shadow-dropped back in December. It is the sword-and-board class that Diablo 4 somehow survived years without having any version of; not even their Crusader off-shoot from Diablo 3. The Paladin does, however, borrow some skills from Amazons of games’ past, and one of its variants even incorporates Angelic moves.

The Warlock has the look of your edgy, metalhead highschool friend who’s now well into his 40s, and continues to dress like the days you first met him. He dons a Metal Band black tee and baggy shorts, and always brings his rubber sandals to every occasion; he’ll never be caught dead with a good haircut. That may or may not be off-putting, depending on where you stand, but it’s that devotion that adds to the Warlock’s charm. Much like that friend – and the Warlock’s in-game lore as the grimy practitioner of the dark arts who’s not afraid to literally rip demons from Hell to do their bidding – you have to bring a certain level of commitment to the way you play it.

The Warlock is a demanding class to play. It occupies the dual role of summoner-caster; a wretched spawn of Necromancer and Sorcerer. It requires a kind of skill management that goes several steps beyond the typical ARPG flow of cycling through skill rotations. Because you’re able to tactically sacrifice some of your minions, and use others to buff and inform certain attacks, you end up needing to plan ahead often, at least if you want to be as effective as you can. When you successfully pull it all off, you’ll feel like you’ve achieved a sort-of mastery of the battlefield none of the other classes could offer.

My favourite part of Lord of Hatred is its narrative. This is the most exciting and eventful campaign of the three, and it’s up there with the best of Diablo 3’s myriad stories. There’s practically no fluff, and it often comes across as an apology for Vessel of Hatred, whose forgettable campaign was characterised by long trudges through uninteresting story moments, only for each to amount to very little.

This campaign brings back the most interesting characters from the main game, in some ways representing the next stage of their arcs – and in others reexamining them altogether. Lilith (who remains D4’s most intriguing character) returns, but this Lilith feels like she’s in conversation with the Lilith from D4’s campaign. Her motives remain unchanged, but losing almost all of her power has exposed a side of her that I wished the first campaign had touched on. Her actions in LoH are more consistent with where I felt Blizzard should’ve taken her by the end of D4.

Lord of Hatred concludes with the sort of finality that signals the end of a story that began with Diablo 4. It’s not pulling any punches, and it’s not afraid to kill its darlings. It has a final boss with one of the most inventive mechanics in any recent action-RPG, a well-realised culmination of mechanics and themes.

If you’re the sort who skips cutscenes in ARPGs out of habit, you’re going to miss out on some of the most spectacular cinematics Blizzard has ever created. The acting, direction (and shot composition in some) combine to deliver moments as heartbreakingly-emotional as often as they are triumphant. This is a tale worth witnessing unfold, and it’s one I am eager to experience again on my personal, non-review account.

Whether or not you sit through the campaign, however, you’ll find plenty to get excited about in Lord of Hatred’s gameplay. The new level cap of 70 paves the way for reworked and expanded talent trees for all classes. The new skill tree borrows some of the best powers that were previously locked to Legendary gear, essentially making them more accessible to all players.

The Talisman builds on that, adding another way for players to attain abilities and passives that offer serious boosts to some of the most basic functions, such as the number of healing potions or dodges. You can further specialise your build through sets and their set bonuses, which ends up adding one more item to the list of things to chase.

When the loot you get isn’t quite what you wanted, you can now upgrade its rarity and further tweak its affixes through recipes using the returning Horadric Cube. I didn’t get much use of it during the review period, but considering how many times I’ve hit a ceiling in my hundreds of hours of Diablo 4 when I simply run out of interesting gear, I am eager to see how I can use the cube to dig myself out of that hole without having to pray for a Mythic Unique.

Indeed, another system that seems to target a pain point I’ve always had with Diablo 4 is War Plans, which essentially gamifies the endgame. Through it, you can create a playlist of the endgame activities you want to play, which feeds back into progression trees for each type of activity, all existing beyond the individual dungeons/runs. Completed plans offer extra rewards, on top of whatever else you earn after finishing each item in the playlist.

Lord of Hatred accomplishes the near-impossible task of delivering a game-changing expansion that fundamentally improves on the core of Diablo 4, and a weighty narrative conclusion that so brilliantly balances spectacle with emotional heft. Essential for any fan of ARPGs.

Reviewed on PC, code provided by publisher.