It seems like 2026 is the year of the achievement overhaul. Just as Xbox continues to revamp its achievement system, streamlining the experience across PC and Xbox and adding Mythic Achievements into the mix, Valve is also getting in on the action and rolling out Steam Achievement Sets.

Currently live in beta, this new achievement system completely changes how games handle base achievements versus post-launch DLC expansions, as well as season updates and new game modes. Completionists who have had headaches with these systems for decades can rejoice!

So what are Steam Achievement Sets anyway?

So you've poured 80 hours into a game to hit the 100% achievement mark, then merrily moved on to another game. Only to come back later and see your shiny 100% completion is now 80%. The game released new DLC, and you are now compelled to play it to get that 100% back.

Anyone who's played Vampire Survivors or the RE4 Remake can attest to this pain, though I don't really mind and enjoy the new challenge. Valve, however, is solving this issue with a new system that lets developers group achievements into distinct "sets."

Base game achievements are kept seperate from post-launch DLCs or extra mode, meaning if you 100% the base game you keep your base game completion ribbon regardless of what is added later on.

Beyond seperating DLCs, Valve is ontroducing a few other quality of life upgrades to it's achievement system.

• Archived Achievements: Developers can now officially archive dead, broken, or retired achievements. Archived achievements remain visible on the profiles of players who unlocked them, but won't block new players from achieving a 100% completion badge.
• Separating Campaign from Multiplayer: Developers can split single-player and co-op/multiplayer into separate sets. This is a massive win for titles like Portal 2 or Ghost of Tsushima, where dead servers or tacked-on online modes have blocked solo players from earning completion badges for years.
• Sub-ribbons & cleaned-up UI: Unlocking full sets earns distinct sub-ribbons, making massive achievement lists (like Payday 2 or Master Chief Collection) far less laborious to navigate.

Some notable concerns

Overall, the changes have been received positively, but developers could add seasonal or time-limited event sets to games that embrace FOMO mechanics, though I think the archiving feature Valve is proposing mostly solves this. As long as the event is archived after the fact, latecomers can still 100% the game without being walled off.

The update also removes overall Average Game Completion % from profile showcases, a metric many hardcore completionists have built up over the years. Completed game counts have also been replaced with completed sets, meaning a game with 16 sets, such as Team Fortress 2, that has a whopping 520 achievements could artificially inflate a profile's stats compared to a game with just one set. Hopefully these are issues that can be ironed out or addressed during the beta phase.

Will Developers actually use the new achievement sets?

Because Steam has historically given developers total freedom and few rules, Achievement Sets' success relies on studios manually opting in via Steamworks. Fortunately, smaller developers are already praising how easy it is to set up. The founder of Arcen Games (Heart of the Machine) has already noted on Reddit that categorizing 100 achievements into a DLC set took less than 10 minutes.

Titles like Against the Storm, Age of Wonders 4, DREDGE, PowerWash Simulator, and Modern Warfare 4 have already adopted the feature during the beta. There is full list on the Steam announcement page here.

How are you feeling about the update to Steam Achievements? Do you welcome the new structure to our virtual trophy cases, or could you not care less once you complete a game? Let me know in the comments!

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

A World of Warcraft player has a bunch of kind internet strangers offering her support right now, she shared her sad story on Reddit. This poor user believes her husband is secretly logging into her account and destroying her hard-earned Mythic+ gear to punish her for making social plans without him.

"I was so frustrated I wanted to cry."

The post is going viral after being shared in the Girl Dinner Diaries subreddit (where women share unconventional, low-effort meals and vent).

The poster shared that the couple usually play WoW together, but her husband has been struggling with severe depression and refusing to leave the house. While trying to maintain her own social life, she occasionally goes out on her own when he refuses to go with her, including to a concert with friends. It was after reminding him of this upcoming outing that the first incident happened.

A high-value crafted staff vanished from her inventory, something that likely took took either 100 hours+ of grinding or £50 worth of mats to create. Staffs don't just 'disappear' in WoW; you need to manually drag the item away and type DELETE to confirm you want to get rid of it. Evidence that it had been destroyed was found in her item restoration menu.

Other incidents leading up to the concert included Great Vault rewards going missing and other gear disappearing from her character or showing as sold to vendors. After another disagreement, all gear from one character was outright destroyed.

The poster doesn't say whether she has confronted her husband about this yet, but her husband has her passwords and she often leaves the PC logged into Battle.net. Additionally, she filed a support ticket with Blizzard, which said there is no suspicious activity on the account and no other IPs have been logging in.

"The call is coming from inside the house," one top commenter noted, pointing out that actual account hackers would drain gold or steal items to trade, rather than calculatingly deleting soulbound gear out of spite. The gaming community has also told her that destroying digital items a partner cares about may seem petty, but they are valued nonetheless and have taken time and effort to obtain. This could be a massive red flag for domestic abuse and controlling behaviour. Fellow players have urged the poster to change all her passwords, enable 2FA and reevaluate her marriage.

She has since changed all her Battle.net credentials and added security without telling her husband, and plans to test whether things still go missing the next time she's away from home. Personally, I would have already gone scorched earth and fed him his scrotum, but it takes all sorts.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Fresh from the bombshell that Diablo 5 is coming in 2029, I was lucky enough to get 15 minutes with the developers to ask some burning questions. Quickest 15 minutes of my life, but 15 minutes I am very grateful to have had, let me tell you!

Diablo 5... already?

Sitting down with Senior Producer Tiffany Watt and Art Director John Mueller, my first question was the obvious one: Why Diablo 5, and why now (or rather, why in three years)?

Since the announcement however, that question has been debated to death already, and the reason comes down to scope. Mephisto and Lilith's story has been told across an epic Hatred saga spanning three installments, and we certainly couldn't expect Diablo himself to be relegated to a simple expansion. The Lord of Terror deserves his own story, and that belongs in a brand-new chapter.

Now to anyone worried that this means Diablo 4 is effectively being taken out back and put out of its misery, you couldn't be further from the truth. I sincerely advise you to watch the Diablo 4 panel that took place at BlizzCon today, where the developers not only shared more about Season 15 but also laid out the roadmap for the game's future.

While it has been confirmed that there are no more planned expansions for Diablo 4, the team is introducing a cohesive "Seasonal Arc" rather than isolated, standalone seasonal stories.

"We have an opportunity now after Lord of Hatred to chart a little bit of a story that's based on Lord of Hatred," the team shared. They noted that upcoming seasons leading up to the launch of the Amazon will feature an interconnected story thread, ultimately culminating in a confrontation with the new Aspect of Death.

The narrative journey from Diablo 4 to Diablo 5

I asked Tiffany and John about the new status quo in Diablo 5's world and how they plan to bridge the narrative gap from the current events of Diablo 4. I also wanted to know how they plan to ensure everything we just went through in the Age of Hatred saga still matters.

"Because Diablo 5 is a new game, a sequel, it gives us the freedom to start with a really big idea. What if Diablo got everything he wanted? And that's where we open the game. As you go through the campaign and the story, you are just a survivor in a very apocalyptic state of Sanctuary. You're discovering what happened, and how did this come about? Your role in it is really unique, and that's something we have more to share about next year."

But for now...

"Diablo 5 takes place 100 years after Diablo 4, and there was a Golden Age after we defeated Mephisto. In Diablo 5 you'll actually get to see how it played out, how Diablo actually conquered Sanctuary. You have the opportunity to watch that. As you're playing the story, you'll discover more about what the fallout is. When you enter it's actually 7 years after he has taken over Westmarch, you are the heir to Westmarch. You have a deeply personal connection to the story, because you have something to fight for. You're trying to win back the lands he (Diablo) conquered, but you're on the run. It's your fallen kingdom."

The devs also noted that, while the game was just announced, it's still three years out. While the early announcement might catch some off guard, it gives them a vital opportunity to talk to the community right now and gather feedback early in development while the narrative is still fluid and subject to change.

My own personal theory is that the recently announced Netflix show could do some heavy lifting here, but we are still waiting for more details on that front.

Establishing memorable side characters, and where Diablo 4 was lacking in this sense

After a brief chat about the exciting, nostalgia-packed Season 15 of Diablo 4, I mentioned to the team that it got me thinking about how Diablo 4 really failed to cement any memorable NPCs in my memory.

I can name every NPC in Diablo 3, from Shen to Kadala, and reel off their voice lines, but a blacksmith or occultist in Diablo 4 feels like a generic background asset. How can Diablo 5 bring back some of that character?

"This is something we recognize, and as we were starting to work on Diablo 5, we wanted to get back to that smaller story where you could go deeper with the characters. You know a lot of Blizzard characters have resonated over time, hey I have a cat called Deckard Cain! And everyone remembers Charsi from Diablo 2. The caravan is how we are really spending time with the characters in Diablo 5. There is an incredible cast that Jennifer and John have partnered on; we announced Zarg yesterday. He's a treasure goblin. Because it's a post-apocalyptic world, there are very few survivors. So when you come across one in your travels, it's going to be really rare that you find someone who is worth saving. That person or demon is going to be very meaningful to you when they join the caravan, and you'll learn about their backstory.

During the campaign, we'll learn how these NPCs have survived since Diablo's return to Sanctuary, their reasons for joining us, and their motivations. Essentially, we'll be given reasons to care for others outside of our own character. "We want to sort of bring back that notion that you have one character you get to know as the blacksmith, one as the jeweler, because they're like the last denizens of Sanctuary.

Of course Diablo 4 had its memorable characters in Lilith, Lorath, and Neyrelle, to name a few, but I'm happy to see that some of the flavor of Diablo 2 and 3 is coming back to the gameplay loop itself. I want to know the guy who is salvaging my gear!

Lessons learned from Diablo 4, from launch to current day

When Diablo 4 launched, I was surprised that several quality-of-life features standard in Diablo 3 simply didn't exist in the game. Things we had to wait months, or in the case of things like Armory and Party Finder, years, to be implemented.

Given the team's previous Diablo iterations and what the community liked and disliked, how did we end up losing so much in a new game, and will Diablo 5 avoid similar pitfalls?

"This is one of the reasons we are so excited to talk about Diablo 5 today. Even though it may be 3 years out, because we are starting the conversation so early we have a lot of opportunity to hear from the community about what is important. We are able to move a lot more quickly on things, and better prioritize what needs to go into the game. As a producer, I can ensure that things don't fall by the wayside. We had every intention of having these things in Diablo 4 at launch, but were frankly prioritizing some of those amazing creative system features. But it's really important we bring the whole package, and why we want to start the conversation early here with the community. Ultimately we're building the game the community wants.

As players in the game ourselves, it's important that we're hearing back from the community like, "Hey, like, you know what? Party finder, armory- these are things that are really core to our experience, that really allow us to enjoy the game at the level that we want." Last thing is, we were building a new toolset. You know, it wasn't the same foundation; it wasn't the same tech (from the Diablo 3 to Diablo 4 engine). The whole rendering engine, basically, all of it had to be modernized because it was just from a different era.

We've had our own branch now for Diablo 5, for a while now, and we've been tooling that and making that specific to the game we're building, and I think that's something that is not broadly understood how that works in game development. But it's a big deal! Because it means we can make it for our specific needs, not just what people want. We also don't want to carry over any tech debt or things we don't necessarily want in the game for the future."

Excited for what's to come, for both Diablo 4 and Diablo 5

Unfortunately I didn't get chance to ask much more, at least nothing the team are ready to answer me on yet (e.g will the game go back to peer-to-peer servers again), but I'm hoping to get more time with them as development goes on.

It's easy to be positive when I'm in the thick of the crowds at BlizzCon and absorbing the infectious atmosphere of all the fans around me, but I haven't been completely oblivious to what's been a mixed-bag response to the announcement of Diablo 5 online and back home. There are as many who are cautious and critical of getting another chapter announced while Diablo 4 is thriving, and I totally understand the sentiment. Afterall, I lived through Diablo 3 getting dropped right before Reaper of Souls was a resounding success. However, I'm so excited for both games right now.

I remember Diablo 4 being the first time Diablo had been so, well, mainstream and thrust into the spotlight; it captured the zeitgeist in a way that no further expansions are ever going to do again, and I think that magic could be struck twice with a Diablo 5 release that will bring people back once more.

Plus, Diablo 4 is getting a new class, talk of more focused seasonal content now that the team isn't split between that and work on expansions, and we still have three years to enjoy it before Diablo 5 arrives (and I will be shocked if that goal date isn't delayed).

Season 15 celebrates 30 years of Diablo, and what better time to announce a new chapter coming than on its 30th anniversary?

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Sitting in the audience here at BlizzCon, I was curious to see why CD Projekt Red was attending, given we've already had the announcement of The Witcher 3 coming to Battle.net prior to the convention. It's clear, at least to me, that today this is a statement of intent for the relationship going forward, which they've just said themselves: "more coming in 2027," but we got a bunch of other tasty announcements on the Legends Stage today.

Cyberpunk 2077 joins Battle.net

The powerful partnership between Blizzard and CD Projekt Red has just been further cemented by the announcement that Cyberpunk 2077 is also coming to Battle.net later this year, following in the footsteps of The Witcher 3. For those who prefer to keep their gaming libraries streamlined under Battle.net alongside Blizzards multiplayer staples, Night City coming to the platform too will be a massive win.

Overwatch heads to Night City

The crossover ambitions don't stop at storefront integration. CDPR and Blizzard also teased a an upcoming Overwatch collaboration featuring Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

While full details on specific character skins and legendary bundles are still under wraps, the confirmation alone has the convention floor buzzing. Seeing the vibrant, gritty aesthetic of Night City clash with the hero shooter's roster promises some standout visual designs.

The Witcher arrives in Sanctuary

Of course, for Sanctuary fans, the crown jewel of today's reveals was our first in-engine look at the Barbarian styled as Geralt of Rivia. Available exclusively for players who preorder the upcoming Songs of the Past expansion on Battle.net.

The session is still ongoing as CDPR and Blizzard dive deep into the importance of Battle.net in linking communities together, and I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard has their sights set on other franchises to incorporate into their own launcher.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Well, there you have it: Blizzard just officially announced Diablo 5 at BlizzCon, and we don’t have to wait long. A brand-new era for the action-RPG starts soon (well, soon by Blizzard standards) with a scheduled release window of Spring 2029.

There’s been talk recently of not waiting as long between announcements; from Diablo 3's launch to the Diablo 4 initial announcement, we had to wait a painful 7 years, and then another 4 for release. So needless to say, I’m stunned we are getting a Diablo 5 tease so soon, but I’m extremely happy about it.

Diablo? In MY Diablo game? Surely not!

The announcement trailer offered a brief teaser confirming the return of the ultimate prime evil: the Lord of Terror himself, Diablo. Yes, Diablo 5 is actually bringing him out of retirement and making him make an appearance in his own franchise! However, the most exciting thing about the upcoming sequel isn't just who is returning, but the state of the world when players step back into Sanctuary.

According to Blizzard, Diablo 5 is set roughly a century after the events of Diablo 4 and the defeat of the Lord of Hatred, Mephisto. But rather than our usual task of preventing some impending catastrophe, players will wake up in a grim reality where the apocalypse has already happened. Sanctuary has officially fallen, and Diablo has won.

This narrative pivot shifts the franchise's core thematic question. Previous titles cast players as the heroes desperately trying to forestall catastrophe. In Diablo 5, the central question is what a survivor must become when the world has already ended, and darkness has claimed total victory. Post-apocalyptic Diablo. Just when you thought Sanctuary couldn’t get much more depressing, they are taking it further into despair.

While gameplay mechanics, system depth, and specific class rosters are still heavily under wraps, Blizzard is wasting no time diving deeper into the vision behind the project.

A dedicated panel titled "Diablo 5: Forging the Next Era" is on the BlizzCon schedule today, where developers plan to break down the game's evolving story, world-building, itemization, and early development milestones.

Now don’t worry, this isn’t the end of Diablo 4; we have a few years of content to come yet. But it’s really bloody exciting knowing that Diablo 5 is already being worked on.

As the dust settles on Diablo 4’s current era, it will need to find a way, whether with seasonal content or otherwise, to shift us to the new, bleak, revolutionary chapter for the franchise when Diablo 5 arrives in 2029.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

While the Diablo 5 reveal was certainly a bombshell, Diablo 4 got its fair share of announcements at today’s BlizzCon, with huge updates to look forward to, including another new class to add to the roster. During the BlizzCon opening ceremony, Blizzard laid out their roadmap for keeping the game fresh well into 2027.

The biggest news by far is that the Amazon class is finally heading to Diablo 4 in the first half of 2027. Following the exploration of the Nahantu and Scosglen regions in Lord of Hatred, the team is bringing back the fan-favorite warrior archetype to her proper homeland of Skovos. The Amazon promises to inject a whole new combat style and tactical depth into the current roster when she arrives.

When Lord of Hatred launched earlier this year with Paladin, many fans thought the Amazon would be the second mystery class given the setting of the expansion and the class link to Skovos, but we got the Warlock at the time.

It's interesting that Diablo 4 devs seem to be striking a balance with their class rollouts, doing something completely new to the franchise (like Spiritborn and Warlock), but also bringing back some classic archetypes, starting with Paladin and now getting the Amazon from Diablo 2.

In the near term, we also have Season 15 (Season of Hell's Legacy) to look forward to. Positioned as a massive franchise 30th-anniversary celebration, Season 15 offers some neat callbacks to the series' storied history. It will feature some iconic past enemies, legacy items like In Geom, Stone of Jordan, etc., and a bunch of stuff pulled from decades of Diablo lore, including encounters involving the Prime Evils themselves.

Attendees at BlizzCon can get hands-on time with a playable version of Season 15 on the show floor in Hall B, while broader details will be unpacked during the "What's Next" panel on Sunday.

And in the worst-kept secret in Diablo, Blizzard officially confirmed that Diablo 4: The Age of Hatred collection is heading to the Nintendo Switch 2. Playable demos of the portable version are currently available in both the press center and the show floor.

There's also confirmation that the long-rumored Netflix collaboration is actually happening.

I hadn't heard a peep about this since chatting to Rod Fergusson back in 2024, I had definitely felt during our interview he held back on answering my question about this "I think that's something that could translate very well to something like that (screen). You know, I wish I had something I could talk to you about today. But in terms of just the general idea, do I think it could work? I definitely do." But even this coupled with Johanna Faires recent comments about Blizzard being Blizzard Entertainment, not Blizzard Games, didn't prepare me for an official announcement. We don't know anything else at this stage, but animated adaptation like Castlevania and Cyberpunk Edgerunners have been such a hit for Netflix, I can't wait to see how they tackle Diablo too.

Between a nostalgic heavy anniversary season, the expansion to Nintendo Switch 2 and the inclusion of the Amazon class from Skovos, Diablo 4 players have plenty of blood, loot, and lore to sink their teeth into over the coming years.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Conversations with children have a terrifying way of making you feel horrendously old. Recently, I showed my teenager a cassette player, only to watch him tilt his head and ask me how to "skip a track."

My youngest is no better; after my last birthday, when he saw the number on the card, he asked if I was “going to die soon," and was completely serious. Of course, these conversations make me feel like I belong in a museum. Or at least, I need to book myself in for some Botox.

Heading into Gamescom to check out Age Twisters, the upcoming two-player co-op narrative adventure from Piccolo Studio, felt strangely poignant. I've tried to play Split Fiction with my youngest son, and unfortunately he lost patience because it was too punishing. We play a lot of other games together like Wobbly Life and Minecraft, but I was hunting for another co-op title to break up our normal routine and present him with something of a narrative. Thankfully, Piccolo Studio, known for emotional narrative hits like Arise: A Simple Story and After Us, is building something designed entirely around shared family fun rather than frustrating mechanics.

Bridging the gap between generations

Age Twisters is penciled in for a 2027 release across Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2. The game centers on a universal theme: the generation gap. As the developers explained during our hands-on session, the core concept explores how older generations often view younger generations as lazy and glued to entertainment like TikTok, while younger generations view older generations as grumpy and responsible for ruining the world.

To bring this to life, the game follows a charming pair: a cantankerous grandfather and his rebellious teenage granddaughter, who are searching for traces of her mother. Mum passed away when the granddaughter was a baby (like every good Disney movie, you gotta have a dead parent), leaving the grandfather to raise her while carrying the heavy burden of the past. It is an emotional family mystery, but while it has its moments, it won’t gut-punch too much. So don’t worry if you are playing it with younger kids. It’s definitely fun first and foremost.

Those age-twisting mechanics

The gameplay hook revolves around mysterious bracelets that let the duo shift in real time between four distinct ages: Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, and Old Age. Each stage comes it’s own unique capabilities that force you to switch between the generations to solve the cooperative puzzles.

• Childhood: Features fast movement and a sticky tongue/yo-yo tool that allows characters to swap positions with each other, enemies, or objects in the world.
• Adolescence: Introduces rhythm-based abilities that can slow down fast-moving objects, lasers, and enemy bullets.
• Adulthood: Adult forms bring heavy punches capable of destroying environmental obstacles and smashing through barriers.
• Old age: Grants magnetic powers to manipulate metallic objects, solve environmental puzzles, and pull items across the room.

Rather than using a traditional split-screen interface, Age Twisters keeps both players tethered and framed together in the same space. This design choice naturally keeps partners close, ensuring you always know where your teammate is and what they are doing.

Absurd and cheeky humor kids will go nuts for

Beyond the core age-shifting mechanics and puzzle-solving, the game moves at a relentless, comical pace. During our demo, we navigated a cute toy-and-chicken factory where we had to round up livestock by teleporting chickens across the map. Next we had to dodge menacing (but still cute) security bees, and later throw robotic sharks into giant pipes to break our way through to the next section.

I particularly enjoyed the dialogue between the two characters and how it changed depending on your age while navigating the level. Not only that, some ages will hamper you in insultingly realistic ways, such as being unable to jump from a height if you are elderly.

The developers noted that the adventure is constantly moving at pace so little players won’t get bored, introducing wild set pieces like riding an animatronic T-Rex into boss fights, dancing your way into enemy hideouts by matching button prompts, hiding inside suitcases or cactus disguises, and even shooting enemies with age-rays to turn them into babies. The enemies' behavior and dialogue really strongly reminded me of the Minions, so I know my son is going to find it particularly amusing when we play through at home.

Built like playing through a Pixar movie, and won't punish the less skilled player

Piccolo Studio has designed the game in such a way to make sure that no player 2 feels left behind or struggles. Skill disparities never ruin the experience. If one player struggles with a specific mechanic or puzzle, the game avoids making them feel like they are dragging the team down. Roles can be shared or adapted naturally, and the camera is deliberately positioned so that all puzzle elements remain visible in the room, eliminating stressful backtracking. There shouldn’t ever be anything genuinely frustrating in the game, but still satisfying for a pair to complete.

Best of all for budget-conscious parents, the game will feature a Friend's Pass system, a consumer-friendly way to allow a second to join the entire local or online adventure completely free with just a single copy of the game. It’s something you may already be familiar with from Split Fiction, and I’m glad it’s becoming a norm in these family-friendly co-op titles.

Age Twisters has genuine heart and a humor that will appeal to both parents who are constantly reminded of their own mortality and kids who just want to laugh at things being turned into chickens. I had a really fun session playing alongside a complete stranger, and I look forward to it bridging that generational gap between my cheeky and insubordinate kids.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

If someone told you PUBG Studios was making a new entry where you could slice off your own hands and replace them with blades or slither across water like an otter on cocaine, you would probably assume they had lost their minds. Yet, that is exactly what is happening in PUBG: Ded.net.

Led by Creative Director Dave Curd, this upcoming multiplayer FPS is taking the DNA of the game that popularized the battle royale genre (before Fortnite came to steal its lunch) and is reworking it into something completely unique. Set in 1996 Cascadia, a fictional Pacific Northwest region dripping with darknet culture, reality TV horror and uncensored violence, this is not just your average drop in loot and shoot.

A multi-match career journey

When I sat down with the developers at Gamescom fresh after the announcement, I simply asked what makes this different from the original PUBG I played years ago?

The answer is a brand-new concept the team calls the "multi-match journey." Instead of a single standalone match where everything resets when you die, your character embarks on a career-spanning run across multiple matches. You must wage a battle to see whether you can make it through several rounds before running out of career health.

Between matches, players are tempted with game-altering powers and abilities. You might choose to use a car door as a riot shield or pick up the "Peekaboo" skill to track enemy outlines through walls. However, you won’t be some all-powerful being; these benefits always come with a catch, and it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it. Every power is tied to a debuff or injury, meaning you might gain incredible offensive strength while simultaneously developing a bad cough that gives away your position, or a nervous twitch that causes you to accidentally throw your weapon on a swap.

By the time you reach your sixth or seventh match, you will have molded a completely unique yet heavily flawed fighter, before you inevitably burn out and start fresh.

Splitting a devoted player base

Naturally, taking a massive cultural phenomenon like PUBG: Battlegrounds, which still has its passionate fans, and sending it through a grungy 1990s meat grinder raises a big question: Is this going to cannibalize the audience of the original PUBG?

The developers are entirely upfront that this game is not for everyone, and that this division of their audience is completely intentional.

DED.NET is a deliberate push by Krafton and PUBG Studios to diversify the franchise and reach players looking for a more tailored experience. Expanding a massive battle royale universe is never a sure thing, especially given that past spin-offs like PUBG Blindspot struggled to find a lasting audience. But rather than playing it safe with a middle-of-the-road live-service project, the team built DED.NET to be kinda weird and kooky, with its own stark visual identity.

Some traditional PUBG purists will undoubtedly look at the multi-match game loop, jarring colors, and utterly ridiculous weaponry and opt to stick with the classic experience. But that’s totally fine. The studio is banking on the fact that enough players want something unapologetically niche. Rather than chasing a safe consensus that pleases nobody, they are intentionally hunting for fans who want a completely different flavor of survival.

Nurturing the trolls but not in the way you think

For those of us who have fond and frustrating memories of squadmates blowing up vehicles with grenades just for a laugh, this game will be quite the dedication to our troll buddies.

Ded.net will supports 60-player lobbies structured around three-player trios. Alongside standard survival tactics, there is a dedicated troll-friendly toolset. You can hack payphones used for buybacks to steal competitor money, play dead on the floor, or hide inside lockers to ambush unsuspecting rivals. There is even a snake mode that lets players slither across the terrain at high speeds, quite literally worming your way to victory.

A mighty glow up from PUBG: Battlegrounds

Visually, PUBG: DED.NET is quite the leap forward from the original game. Powered by Unreal Engine's Nanite and Lumen technology, the environment art team has had more room to play and express their vision.

The forests of Cascadia are visibly thicker, the buildings are packed with immersive props, and the overall world detail looks remarkably sharp for an online multiplayer title.

Of course, this is based on the trailers we have seen so far, and it will be interesting how it actually performs in the mass playtests. The game was available to play on the show floor during my time at Gamescom and had a steady queue throughout, so I imagine that when it officially goes online, it will be quite popular (let's just hope it can handle the onslaught)

So when can we play DED.NET?

While pricing and release dates are still TBD (I asked if the game would be free to play, and the team was not ready to discuss this yet), the devs have confirmed that a beta test is on the horizon and encouraged players to sign up at DED.NET.

Whether it converts traditional battle royale purists or alienates them entirely, it's clear PUBG Studios are taking a massive risk by doing something a bit weird, and I am here for it.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Jumping into the deep end of a multiplayer survival game can be a recipe for disaster, as I found it in my first-ever taste of the State of Decay series. My last encounter was with State of Decay 2, where I was unceremoniously dropped into a friend's game. It was complete with fully built settlements and swarms of zombies banging down the doors while I was still fumbling with the mechanics. I felt very much out of my depth and never really revisited the game.

Heading into our closed-doors look at State of Decay 3 at Gamescom, I was a little worried I wouldn’t enjoy it and would be going through the motions. I knew I wanted to love it, and I had already planned to play it on release just to support the studio following its ceremonious dumping (aka divesting) by Xbox. In fact, I have implored the Xbox community to buy it, whether it hits Game Pass or not.

As it turns out, not only is the relationship with Xbox not completely severed (it’s now officially confirmed to be launching straight onto Xbox Game Pass alongside its 2027 release window), but the demo proved to be an absolute blast in the time I had with it. The world of State of Decay 3 is pretty fascinating to navigate even amidst incoming waves of the dead.

Alpha playtests are smoothing out the road ahead for closed beta by end of 2026

Before jumping into the demo, the developers shared some roadmap news: the current build is being pulled apart by alpha playtesters, who are providing early technical feedback before us normies jump in. Undead Labs told us that a closed beta will launch by the end of this year, with player access and platform support continuing to ramp up toward the 2027 launch.

When you strip it back, State of Decay 3 remains a community management survival game set deep within the zombie apocalypse. You control a single character at a time in an open-world third-person environment, acting as the caretaker for a fragile community. You are forced to make survival decisions such as where to live, whom to trust, and whether to let newcomers in or grow your own food.

Procedural survivors and evolving traits

One of the unique hallmarks of the franchise is its character generation, and State of Decay 3 takes it further. Survivors are procedurally assembled from a vast pool of names, cultural backgrounds, voice actors, visuals, and traits, meaning you can play for hundreds of hours and never see the same person twice.

Take Pat, for instance, a daredevil with high health and stamina who unfortunately makes a ton of noise. Pat is a rocket scientist with expertise in mechanics and demolition, but he is also easily overwhelmed (same Pat, same). New to State of Decay 3 are evolving traits. If Pat were to kill 100 zombies, that negative trait would evolve into something better, though the developers deliberately retain minor flaws to keep characters nuanced.

Then there is Queenie, a lone wolf with fatigue resistance and sniper training boosting headshot damage, but burdened with a “sketchy vibe” that makes her a bad choice for diplomacy missions. Overall, the trait names were pretty funny and add a much-needed injection of humor into what is a bleak backdrop.

Surviving the plague war

The demo picked up at Green Heart, a newly established northern settlement. The team had recently been chased out of their previous base at the fire training center due to the Plague War, a new territory-control system.

Plague nests act as large-scale dungeons and epicenters for an expanding network of infestations that organically grow and actively surround player settlements. Because the current team had fled in a panic, they had prioritized offensive firepower over food and water and needed to establish a new settlement.

To tackle their food shortage and lack of beds, the developers headed into the nearby town of Carolina to clear an infested hunting store and claim it as a second settlement. This location offered a professional-grade animal press capable of crafting far more effective ammunition than standard scavenged garage setups.

Luckily, State of Decay 3 introduces the ability to manage up to three settlements simultaneously, allowing players to expand their territory as they push back this plague network.

Now, when on the offensive, whether you go straight for the heart of the Plague is up to you, but you can approach more strategically by taking out surrounding weaker infestation sites first.

Make the game as difficult (or as easy) as you like with friends or solo

Combat in State of Decay 3 feels incredibly satisfying, and Undead Labs have worked hard to make guns feel more impactful.

Limb damage is a necessity when trying to slow down the onslaught. You can target specific appendages, blow a zombie's legs off with a shotgun blast, and gleefully watch them topple over. Players can also lean into creative environmental puzzles. The team showed us how to use stealth, or splash fuel across the streets. In one example, they placed a tape deck to attract zombies, luring hordes into a trap before clearing out the weak points of the plague heart.

I was also really happy to hear that even if you play cooperatively with three other players, you can tune sliders for combat, plague aggression, and resource management so the game matches your preferred challenge level. Want to make the higher-level zombies a rarer occurrence or make scavenging supplies a little more rewarding? You can do that and more. I’ll be tuning mine down to scaredy-cat mode, thanks. The true sickos can play on ultra hard lethal mode.

When we asked what constitutes a fail state for your game, it turns out that morale is everything. If your community morale tanks due to poor management, characters will lose faith in you as their caretaker and disband, running off into the hills. Lose enough of your community, and you fail your playthrough.

Looking ahead to 2027

Customization in general has been vastly expanded from the previous franchise entries. Players can transform standard vehicles into heavy, tank-like variants outfitted with specialized gear like gas filters, cargo expansions, extra fuel tanks, or spike wheels.

Whether you are customizing vehicle paint jobs or strapping gas tanks to your ride, State of Decay 3 is shaping up to be quite the evolutionary leap for the series.

Whether you are completely new to State of Decay or jumping in enthusiastically from its predecessor, the developers seem to be doing a great job with balancing system depth with better onboarding for new players. I’m pretty confident this is going to be exactly the multiplayer smash that Xbox needs on Game Pass.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.