Destiny 2 Solar 3.0 builds

If you’re looking for new Destiny 2 Solar 3.0 builds for PvE, check out our guide

To get more Iron Banner daily challenges, you’ll automatically receive a new one at the daily reset for the first four days of Iron Banner – that’s Tuesday to Friday. Confusingly, they are marked as ‘Weekly’ challenges and don’t expire until the end of the Iron Banner event, so you can actually wait until the daily reset on Friday and you’ll have all four challenges ready to complete.

For the current Iron Banner event, you must complete an increasing number of Iron Banner matches, and progress carries over from each challenge, so you’ll need to complete 18 matches in total:

1. Complete 3 Iron Banner matches using a Solar or Void Subclass
2. Complete 7 Iron Banner matches using a Solar or Void Subclass
3. Complete 12 Iron Banner matches using a Solar or Void Subclass
4. Complete 18 Iron Banner matches using a Solar or Void Subclass

It’s also important to note that these Iron Banner daily challenges, their rewards, and the Forging Iron quest are character-based, not account-based. That means completing a challenge on one character will not complete it on your other characters, so you’ll have to do it again, but you’ll still get Pinnacle rewards and more for doing so. This is the same set of challenges as the previous Iron Banner event, but hopefully the objectives will change between future events.

Iron Banner daily challenge rewards

Once you’ve completed a daily challenge, which you will need to do as part of the new Forging Iron introduction quest for Iron Banner, you’ll get your rewards: a Pinnacle Iron Banner loot drop, which will help you reach this season’s power cap of 1570, and a 100% boost to your Iron Banner Rank gains. Each challenge awards this boost and there will be four daily challenges per character, per Iron Banner event, so completing them all will massively increase your rank gains. Be sure to check in with Saladin at the Tower to collect rewards and Iron Banner Engrams as you rank up too – you can get the reprised Wizened Rebuke Fusion Rifle and Hero’s Burden Submachine Gun.

Increase your Iron Banner Rank gains further by using up to 5 pieces of Iron Banner gear – that’s any Iron Banner weapon or piece of armor – and using any Iron Banner emblem. The armor can also be the item itself or as an ornament. If you wear a piece of Iron Banner armor with a different Iron Banner ornament on top, this counts as two pieces of gear, so you won’t need to wear a full set of armor to get the maximum rank boost.

While Iron Banner returns in Season of the Haunted, the seasonal quest aboard the Derelict Leviathan ship has come to an end. Of course, you can still explore in patrols and participate in Nightmare Containment, but you should definitely keep an eye out for Destiny 2 Calus Bobbleheads, or plunder chests with Destiny 2 Opulent Keys.

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As someone who has loudly and proudly held a candle for Rebirth Island since its introduction in December 2020, the fact that I’d rather play Fortune’s Keep is a testament to the quality of the new map, which was introduced in Warzone Season 4 as the featured Resurgence experience. It’s full of beautifully designed buildings, traversal variety, and tons of places to get into tense, condensed firefights – Fortune’s Keep has reinvigorated this battle royale and reminded me of why I continue to return to it all these years later. 

Variety is the spice of fights 

At first, I found Fortune’s Keep a bit dense and overwhelming, especially since I was jumping back into Warzone after several months. My Resurgence matches would end rather quickly, offering me precious little time to explore the underground caves, ankle-deep waters, and beautiful Mediterranean-style town. But once I refamiliarized myself with Warzone’s gunplay and had some time alive to properly explore the new map, I was instantly hooked.

Fortune’s Keep is all about variety. On this rather small island there are both dense, layered networks of paths above and below ground, as well as several wide-open areas dotted with cover. The map has a level of verticality that is quite honestly unexpected, with ziplines and redeploy balloons scattered around the caves and multilevel buildings filled with ladders, balconies, and windows that open to elevated back alleys. But unlike the larger core battle royale maps of Caldera and Verdansk – and even Rebirth Island, to a lesser extent – there’s no well-covered, extra-tall monolith where snipers can camp for entire matches. Everything on Fortune’s Keep is only a few stories high, and all the better because of it. 

Gone are the wide-open sightlines of all three previous maps, and in their place are plenty of areas that funnel players into close-quarters fights – many of which unfurl as you sprint around corners desperate for cover, or as you get lost in the island’s many winding corridors and dimly lit subterranean tunnels. The Town location exemplifies Fortune Keep’s thrillingly tight combat, with several multi-level buildings that are easy to get lost in but just as easy to exploit and use against your enemies. Every time I enter Town, my heart is in my throat as I try to hop through windows and slide around corners to evade gunfire. The graveyard overlooking Town seems like it would be a place to easily spy on and pick off enemy combatants, but the varying elevations of the surrounding areas mean camping in a building’s window is just as unsafe as darting through the tombstones. 

Fortune’s Keep also looks beautiful, with a vibrant color palette and ornate Italian-inspired architecture that stands in stark contrast to the brutalism of Verdansk and the militaristic functionality of Rebirth Island. When I’m not being actively shot at, I like to think about how much fun I’d have on vacation here. I could swim in the turquoise waters of Smuggler’s Cove, get tipsy at a tasting at the winery, and stay in a little old nonna’s garlic-tinged AirBnB in Town. Fortune’s Keep feels like a real place, not a barren space moonlighting as a Russian-ish town or an island created solely to imprison people.

 A breath of fresh ocean air 

Fortune’s Keep is not for the faint of heart. Expect to be attacked no matter where you go, especially as you near the final few circles. This is not a map where you can cheesily camp for a few rounds and pop out during the waning moments to snatch a win out from another team’s grasp – and that’s part of what makes it so special. You may not have to prove your skill in a 1v1 battle just to return to the battlefield (remember, you can come back every time you die, so long as Resurgence is open) but that doesn’t mean this is a game mode and map for green players.

But what’s beautiful about Fortune’s Keep is that it never feels unfair. You may be constantly getting attacked no matter where you run, but there are so many ways for you to get out of a sticky situation that it almost always feels like you stand a chance.  All three previous maps (Verdansk, Rebirth Island, and Caldera) were limited in terms of traversal, with only a few routes available to get out of sticky situations. Verdansk became defined by snipers overlooking its many open fields, while Caldera’s layout was all about open, vulnerable spaces stretching between densely populated hubs. And even though I adore Rebirth Island, getting trapped over by the Nova 6 factory was always a nightmare, as was trying to make it to Decon Zone from the prison roof while the gas was closing in. But Fortune’s Keep plays with space in a way like no other Warzone map has before it, offering you myriad windows to jump out of, trellises to climb up, and ledges to mantle onto. 

It’s because of these traversal opportunities that Fortune’s Keep always feels fresh. Even though my squad drops into the same place three matches in a row (Town, of course), each match plays out differently because of the density of the area and the opportunities it affords. In one round, we get pinned between squads in Graveyard and Overlook, who descend upon us in the low-lying town streets, eliminating us before we even make the final 10. In another, we hold down a single building until the final circle, rotating out to different rooftops to pick off teams in surrounding areas.

In a winning match, we ran out of Town in the late game and dropped into the Grotto’s caves during a Fire Sale, raining airstrikes down on the squads above us until there were only two teams remaining. On Fortune’s Keep, I never know what’s going to happen next, and I always felt like I had a way out, which is a feeling I haven’t gotten while playing this game in ages. Thanks to Fortune’s Keep’s beautiful visuals and wildly fun layout, I’m having consistent fun again in Warzone for the first time in months.

If you haven’t already, check out our definitive ranking of the best Call of Duty games.

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The technique was discovered by content creator McMagicMarv, and you can see it in action in the video below. It’s simple, though the timing is very specific – you fire a grenade straight up into the air, then just as the weapon’s cooldown refreshes and the explosive hits the ground, you fire another grenade at your feet. One big double boom and you’re flying through the air to previously unreachable locations.

This new bit of movement tech only became possible as part of the new beta launched on June 28. As revealed in the patch notes (opens in new tab), Bastion’s grenade has had its cooldown reduced from ten to eight seconds, which is just enough time to pull off the trick.

Getting into surprising new locations could give Bastion a major advantage, but the fact that this trick requires eight seconds of standing more or less perfectly still certainly limits its versatility. As it stands, players broadly seem to think (opens in new tab) it’s (opens in new tab) pretty (opens in new tab) cool (opens in new tab), and barring any more serious exploits, they’re hopeful it remains in the game.

Not every change in the new beta has proven so popular, however, as Mercy’s adjustments have proven pretty controversial. At least Junker Queen is here to ease our sorrows.

Blizzard has confirmed Overwatch 2 will fully replace the original game at launch, but your currency and loot box contents will transfer over.

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There was no shortage of space adventures shown off at this year’s Summer Game Fest. We saw terrifying new footage of The Callisto Protocol, Aliens: Dark Descent, a new game set in the Alien Universe was revealed, and we finally got a look at Starfield gameplay. On the lighter and more quirky side was High On Life, a space-themed first-person shooter from Squanch Games and one of the brilliant minds behind Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland.

With High On Life’s October launch fast approaching, the developer has given us another glimpse of the kind of absurdity we can expect from the game. It’s a short titled “Guy in a Hole” that brilliantly pays homage to those music compilations frequently advertised on TV. Only instead of it being a collection of banging tunes, it’s the sound of some poor soul (voiced by Roiland) who, as you’ve probably guessed, has gotten himself stuck down a hole. 

As the video below shows, “The Sounds of Guy in a Hole” includes classic hits such as “It’s Dark” and “At Night Coyotes Pee on Me”. There’s also our favourite, “Why Are You Recording Me?” According to the developer, this is just one of many little shorts that will be in High on Life. They’ll be shown on in-game monitors dotted around the world, allowing you to pause and have a little chuckle before continuing your quest to save humanity from an alien cartel. 

High On Life will be released on October 25, 2022, and will be an Xbox “console launch exclusive”. From what we’ve seen in the announcement trailer, it’s a bit like Psychonauts on psychedelics. 

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This series has had its ups and downs over the years – which is why you won’t find Battlefield 2042 here for the time being – but this list of the best Battlefield games shows what it is capable of when firing on all cylinders. Bigger, louder, and more destructive  than any other FPS on the market, set across some of the most stunning multiplayer battlefields ever created. So, let’s get into it: Here are the 10 best Battlefield games of all-time.

Best Battlefield games, ranked

10. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat 

Platform(s): PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Release year: 2005

While PC players were enjoying the delights of 64-player all-out-warfare, console players were treated to something a little smaller. It may seem quaint now, but in 2006 Battlefield 2: Modern Combat was a truly spectacular experience. In the earliest days of online play for console, this Battlefield 2 spin-off was unlike anything else on PS2 or original Xbox – and the polished-up version that landed on Xbox 360 in 2006 wasn’t so bad either. 

While many of you may remember the gimmicky solo campaign, which allowed you to hotswap between soldiers across the battlefield, it was the 24-player online rounds of Conquest and Capture the Flag that delighted. It’s a scaled down experienced compared to what PC players were dealing with, but it was a solid conversion for the comparatively underpowered consoles, letting those of us with early PlayStation Network and Xbox Live accounts dream of bigger, bolder multiplayer experiences. It was a good time. 

9. Battlefield 1943

Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360
Release year: 2009

In terms of content alone, Battlefield 1943 is very, very small. It features just a handful of multiplayer maps, vehicles, and weapons, with no single player experience to speak of whatsoever. But that didn’t matter, because what was there was one of the most enjoyable multiplayer FPS experiences that you could hope for, and one of the first games to exemplify the benefits of a digital market. 

1943 is the classic Battlefield experience distilled into its purest form. 24 players, three classes, one game mode, and three excellent maps – battles waged on Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima have become legendary for the players who were connected to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network at the time. Battlefield 1943 makes up for its lack of content with finely-tuned balance, memorable maps, and impossibly tight skirmishes that have been lost in DICE’s efforts to increase the player count in the years since. 

8. Battlefield 4 

Platform(s): PC, PS3, PS4 Xbox 360, Xbox One
Release year: 2013

With the foundation for a new era of Battlefield outlined by Battlefield 3, DICE’s follow-up is essentially more of the same. While the campaign is an improvement, it still had plenty of room for improvement – not that you cared all much once you were knees deep into Battlefield 4’s upgraded multiplayer options. 

While DICE clearly struggled as it worked to release Battlefield 4 on PC and across two console generations, there was a lot to love here. PlayStation and Xbox owners could finally appreciate the joyous chaos of 64-player matches, while the Levolution system – in which huge parts of each map could be drastically changed by weather and player activity – is still an impressive addition. Sadly, launch day troubles soured public opinion on the game for quite some time, its best qualities blighted by crippled servers and bugs aplenty. Battlefield 4 has come a long way since then, but we can’t ignore the shadow of its false promises, hence its somewhat diminished position on this list.

7. Battlefield 5

Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Release year: 2018

There’s a lot to love about Battlefield 5. It’s systematic, meticulous approach to subtly reworking multiplayer leads to some of the finest gunplay experienced in an online shooter to date, while the presentation has never been better thanks to detailed animations, state of the art technology, and a rousing, monumental original soundtrack. 

But this isn’t a Battlefield for everyone. By widening the skill gap and dialling down the spectacle, Battlefield 5 obfuscates the primordial craze of its predecessors for something a little more muted and a little less distinctive against the range of other shooters on the market. Your conclusions about Battlefield 5 will ultimately depend on what you want from a Battlefield game, but it’s hard to deny this instalment lacks that special X factor compared to the higher ranking entries on this list.  

6. Battlefield: Bad Company

Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360
Release year: 2008

Many fondly remember Bad Company 2, but few talk about the original with quite the same enthusiasm. Shame, because it was the prototype for most things that made the sequel so brilliant. It was one of the first Battlefield games with a proper story, characters who you enjoy spending time with, and it represents the first use of the now legendary Frostbite engine in the Battlefield series. 

The result was levels of destruction we simply hadn’t seen before, and that makes it a landmark game. Sadly, DICE’s lack of experience in crafting a solo campaign was exposed too, with occasionally poor AI and some strange control options marking an otherwise excellent experience. Multiplayer was a sticking point too, as the game only shipped with a mode called Gold Rush (a prototype of the new classic Rush mode). Fan requests saw Conquest added afterwards, but the real strength of Bad Company always remained the single player. 

5. Battlefield 1942 

Platform(s): PC
Release year: 2002

The first, the original and, for many, one of the best. Battlefield 1942 is a formative piece of gaming history, in which DICE first took the concept of the hardcore military sim and marketed it to a wider audience. Not just valued for its historical importance, Battlefield 1942 is a fantastic first person shooter in its own right. For its time, the open map design and record breaking 64-player limits were a jaw dropping feat of technical power that let PC players value every penny they’d invested into their gaming machine, and even today, the authenticity of the gameplay stands up well. 

All the DNA of Battlefield is here – class-based gameplay, vehicular, all-terrain combat, team-focused multiplayer modes – proving that DICE had struck gold with a formula that has maintained its appeal in the shooter genre all these years later. Oh, and it was the game which blessed us with Wake Island, a near perfect multiplayer map, which justifies its position in this list alone.

4. Battlefield 1

Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Release year: 2016

The biggest, wildest Battlefield game to date, Battlefield 1 turned the clock back after years of modern combat to offer a ferocious presentation of World War 1, in all its unhinged desolation. Coming off of a slew of forgettable, modern day campaigns, Battlefield 1’s War Stories took a different approach via a series of isolated vignettes, spotlighting the individuals on each side of the conflict, and paying off greatly in terms of both pace and pathos. 

As for the new multiplayer features, Behemoths were a game-changing, earth-shattering alternative to Levelution, so unfettered in their seismic power that we’re willing to forgive the tremendous competitive imbalances that they brought to almost every match. Battlefield 1 is up there not just as a definitive high point for the series, but for the FPS genre at large. 

3. Battlefield 2

Platform(s): PC
Release year: 2005

Modern Battlefield games began with Battlefield 2… and I don’t just say that because Battlefield 2 was literally the first one with a modern setting (and the first to totally disregard proper numbering conventions). It was here that the series began to move away from the mindset of players swarming around static capture points in miniature wars of attrition.

Players were encouraged to join up with one of their team’s squads, giving them both a mobile spawn point in the form of their squad leader and a way to receive more specific objectives than ‘get all the flags’. Adding the soldier-reviving defibrillator to the medic class and ammo bags to the support class also promoted a more mobile, dynamic game. Battlefield 1942 established the broad concept that all the following games would pursue, but Battlefield 2 refined and focused it in many ways that persist today.

2. Battlefield 3

Platform(s): PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Release year: 2011

EA positioned Battlefield 3 as true contender to Call of Duty’s throne in 2011. Developer DICE worked to go back to Battlefield’s roots, all as it positioned this massive sequel as a simultaneous release across PC and console. While the campaign suffered through to its linearity, lacklustre AI, and drag missions, the multiplayer side to play was truly world-class. 

What it lacked in Bad Company 2-levels of destruction and carnage, Battlefield 3 made up for with a deep multiplayer offering – a true showcase of the series’ all-out-warfare mantra with beautiful environments, great variety in vehicles and weapons, and solid rewards for team-play. Battlefield 3 set a new standard for the series in the modern era, one that DICE has struggled to match in the years since its release. 

1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 

Platform(s): PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Release year: 2010

For all its steely eyed militarism, it turns out that Battlefield has a real personality on its off hours. Battlefield Bad Company 2 features the best campaign of the franchise to date, with funny writing, unique mission scenarios, and a cast of characters who are actually a laugh to be around. There are cliches aplenty, but the snappy pace and expert mission design were just two bonus reasons to spend more time with the titular company of vagabond heroes, and that final, completely bonkers mission is still a total hoot. 

Bad Company 2’s multiplayer was equally carefree and chaotic, with varied maps and a whole suite of impressive physics, destruction, and sound effects for experimenting with. Plus, the tragically underrated Vietnam expansion nails the historiography of its setting better than most full Battlefield games, extending the shelf life of Bad Company 2’s multiplayer with a more ferocious, claustrophobic variant on the game’s irresistible slashings of PvP. This is Battlefield unshackled, tongue firmly in its cheek, surprising all of us to still stand tall as the best Battlefield game of all time. 

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The development team at Blizzard behind Overwatch 2 recently held a Reddit ‘ask me anything’ session with the game’s community. When one player asked what the launch of Overwatch 2 in early access in October this year would mean for the original game, one developer on the game revealed that it would effectively be replacing the current live service for the first Overwatch.

In other words, Overwatch will cease to exist when Overwatch 2 eventually launches. “When OW2 launches on Oct 4th it will be a replacement for the current Live Service” were the developer’s words in particular, leaving no room for any doubt about Overwatch 2 completely taking over the scene from the original Overwatch.

It’s hardly a surprise that Blizzard would switch all resources over to its new game. Earlier this year in March, Blizzard even admitted the focus on Overwatch 2 left the original game struggling with a lack of new content, so considering this, you can see why the development team would be keen to focus on one game alone.

However, there was good news for Overwatch players to be found in the new Reddit AMA. It turns out all your currencies and loot boxes from the original game will transfer over to Overwatch 2 as soon as it enters early access, so you don’t need to worry about leaving your hard-earned gains behind when you go.

Head over to our recent Overwatch 2 beta hands-on impressions to see why it made us feel like we were playing Overwatch 1.5.

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Hyenas was revealed with a pretty slick cinematic trailer, which is designed to give us a sense of the zero-gravity gunplay and focus on speedy movement mechanics. While Creative Assembly hasn’t shown any gameplay off just yet, its description of how Hyenas will play kind of sounds like a twisted version of Hunt: Showdown – Crytek’s PvPvE shooter. The biggest differences being that Hyenas is set in space, and is clearly carrying more positive, energetic vibes. 

Set in a world where the billionaires have abandoned Earth for Mars – shattering the planet with the very zero-gravity tech that allowed them to escape in the first place – Hyenas will have you and your friends assembling into crews of three to raid Plunderships, which are sprawling shopping malls packed with all sorts of nostalgic tat that the rich want to use to furnish their Martian mansions. 

To get your hands on this high value loot (such as Panini sticker albums, SEGA Mega Drives, Sonic the Hedgehog keychains, and PEZ dispensers) you’ll be going up against both human and AI threats. Five crews total (each made up of three real players) will enter into a single Plundership map, with each trying to get their hands on the best loot and then get out of dodge. You’ll need to contend with “a sandbox playground of interlocking systems” and work smartly to “exploit the environment, security networks, hired goons, and competing crews” to gain an advantage. Oh, and switchable zero-G zones that promise to create some spectacular shootouts. 

It’s a wild concept, which is why closed alpha sign ups for Hyenas are now available for PC players. Executive producer David Nicholson acknowledges how tough this genre is to crack, and Creative Assembly wants to be prepared. “We believe the key to modern shooter success is understanding what players want to see and where they want to take their experience. We know we’ve got something interesting on our hands, but we also know the odds are stacked against us.” 

“To take on the biggest games in the industry, we need to hear what players think, right up front and early. If you’re in, we want to take you along for the ride. That’s why after today’s announcement, we’re also launching into the first of our public Alpha tests.”

Hyenas is set to launch in 2023, and it’s coming to PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One. You can sign up for the Alpha here (opens in new tab). 

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The last time Valve addressed the rumors was in 2020, where the company said that it isn’t developing a new Left 4 Dead game. So where does that leave us? Sadly, it leaves us with uncorroborated Left 4 Dead 3 leaks and rumors, and with a lengthy new Left 4 Dead wishlist. Still, if you want to get caught up on all the information that’s out there, you’ll find details on every whisper we’ve heard over the years about Left 4 Dead 3.  

Left 4 Dead 3 Rumours

There have been a number of rumors pertaining to Left 4 Dead 3’s development, with many credible sources teasing its existence. While Valve addressed some of the rumors, there have been some notable rumors over the years. 

The first interesting tidbit arrived in 2014 thanks to an anonymous source posting a singular image to Neogaf (opens in new tab)with the garbled caption “jU$st fel acros myd esk, mbight b a thin.g”. 

The image is a screenshot of an open Powerpoint presentation, seemingly an internal, confidential Valve document that showcases levels from Left 4 Dead 2 enhanced and rebuilt in Valve’s Source 2.0 engine. The main event appears to be the Plantation mission, the final stakeout in the Swamp Fever campaign. With no official word on the matter, we can’t be sure that this came from Valve, but given how well-made it looks, it must have been the work of some incredibly talented modders and developers if not.

If we flash-forwards to 2016 we can then address the wonderful investigative sleuthing of Tyler McVicker of Valve News Network, who collected a number of leaks from the Steam VR Performance Tool (opens in new tab), which appeared to blow Valve’s entire future development plans wide open via a number of Source 2 files. As well as a “retired engineer” character found in the Left 4 Dead 3 directory, a new Special Infected is also referenced, known as The Nocturnal, whose abilities may have been tied to a day/night cycle, one of the features of the new engine. It’s worth checking out this run-through of the leaked content on the ValveTime website (opens in new tab) if you’d like to know more, which includes a potential Left 4 Dead test map, possibly bound for VR, and containing strings referencing a Moroccan lantern.

In what appears to be a gaffe on the side of Valve, references to the game (and Half Life 3, for Pete’s sake!) were found in the file directories, which led many to assume that the game was in development. Later that year, a tutorial posted to Valve’s official developer community website contained an image that referenced a ‘l4d3’ folder before it was swiftly replaced, too. Later in 2017, user Barnz posted a discussion thread to the ValveTime forum (opens in new tab) pointing to the portfolio website of one Moby Francke (opens in new tab), an ex-Valve artist who appears to have drafted up some concept characters for a potential Left 4 Dead 3. The two characters are armed to the teeth and look fit for fighting zombies. At that time it was surmised that the previously leaked VR files matched the actual textures for the 3D models of these characters, further turning the rumor mill.

Earlier this year in April 2019 we saw perhaps the most credible leak yet in a series of woefully boring screenshots (opens in new tab) of a walled middle-eastern city. These were once more provided by Valve News Network host Tyler McVicker and despite lacking confirmation, it certainly lines up with the conceptualized character designs. The problem is that at this point, it looks like the project was probably canned, as the images are from an old 2013 build of the game. At this point, it’s probably not worth getting your hopes up about Left 4 Dead 3.

Left 4 Dead 3 wishlist

Still, we can’t help but imagine just what a Left 4 Dead 3 would be like. Below, we’ve put together a wishlist for features we’d love to see as we continue to dream about one day seeing a sequel. 

1. New and returning characters

One of the Left 4 Dead series’ best features are the interesting and diverse cast of characters available to players. Though their backstories have previously been explored via easter eggs, external media and back and forth voice lines, characters like Louis and Bill have still become beloved in the eyes of fans, even appearing in other titles. 

Given the time since the previous game, Valve will have no doubt had time to dream up an even more unlikely team of protagonists from all corners of the globe, not just America. The avenues for exploration of their moral code via in-game side missions, environmental storytelling and more have opened up significantly since the days of Left 4 Dead 2, and the concept introduced in The Sacrifice of losing a player as part of the narrative and making genuine choices mid-gameplay could certainly be expanded in the next game.

2. Intercontinental maps and biomes

As well as an even more culturally diverse cast, it’d be great to see the game spread it’s wings from North America and travel to other continents. Whilst Valve risk muddying the waters by making the campaign an international journey, perhaps a change of scene would be good for exploring different biomes and their related infected (see the clowns at the carnival and the context-specific swamp zombies.) 

Even if it was set in Europe, or as the leaks suggest, the Middle-East, it’d be a fascinating new lens to present the unique zombie apocalypse that Valve has crafted. We already know that iconic maps can come from humble beginnings like No Mercy’s claustrophobic hospital, so by taking a step back, perhaps we could be in for some even more death-defying set pieces.

3. New special infected types

As referenced in the leaks, The Nocturnal is evidence that Valve already had plans for more special infected beyond the already stacked roster of Jockeys, Tanks, Spitters and the like. It’s worth noting that zombie dog sound files have been found as cut content from the game, and more notably The Screamer was cut from the game, a special zombie that alerts the horde to its position by yelling. With enhanced logic potential and increased player-infected interaction, the gate is open for swathes of new enemy types that learn from years of iteration and play mind games with the survivors rather than being purely physical like the Tank or Hunter.

4. VR capabilities

Given Valve’s focus on VR with SteamVR, the HTC Vive and now the Valve Index, it’d make sense to see Left 4 Dead 3 offer some kind of VR support. Whether that means cross-play with PC players or a specific game mode for designated VR players, it’d be fascinating (if not nauseating) to zip around the map as a hunter, scaling buildings and leaping through the air to land on prey. It’s certainly possible to load up a VR player with the abilities of the infected, and given Valve’s rumored work on a Half Life 2 VR release, perhaps the tricky design issues of implementing shooter gameplay into VR might have been remedied by the point of its release, allowing VR players to exist in an asymmetrical map and contend with one another. It would certainly be an ambitious concept to pull off, but well worth it if it works.

5. Horde and director intelligence enhancements

Left 4 Dead’s AI director is by far and away the most impressive and ambitious part of the zombie shooter’s formula, a dynamic means to control the pacing and difficulty of each round of survival, as the players strive to get to the safe room and proceed to the next map. Even though the A.I. is still fairly unmatched as far as online asymmetrical co-op multiplayer goes, the mind boggles as to what Valve could do with the directorial systems in-game given enhancements in machine learning since the previous game’s release. 

Horde and special infected management as well as the spawning of Tanks and Witches could be even more clever and adrenaline-pumping than before. Beyond the infected, the director is also in control of items, map events like car alarms and rain and music, which is the main means to figure out if you’re about to get swarmed or not. Technically, this is the most tricky part to work on but if done correctly, even slight improvements upon Left 4 Dead 2’s already stunning A.I. base would be a welcome shock to the system for co-op shooter fans. 

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What are Destiny 2 Adept mods?

Adept mods are powerful weapon mods with varying effects, but they’re generally a bit like masterworks, offering a significant boost to a particular weapon stat. Other Adept mods act as a superior replacement to existing mods, making them very desirable. Most Adept mods can also be used on all weapons, but there are a few that are exclusive to specific weapon types.

The caveat to these mods is that they can only be equipped on Adept Legendary weapons which are available from just a few sources. If you want to know about a particular mod, pick from the list below to jump to the relevant section:

• Adept Big Ones Spec
• Adept Blast Radius
• Adept Charge Time
• Adept Counterbalance
• Adept Handling
• Adept Icarus Grip
• Adept Impact
• Adept Mag
• Adept Projectile Speed
• Adept Range
• Adept Reload
• Adept Stability
• Adept Targeting

How to get Destiny 2 Adept mods

You can get Adept mods in Destiny 2 by:

• Reaching the Lighthouse in Trials of Osiris – You are guaranteed to get one Adept mod from the Flawless chest in the Lighthouse. You reach the Lighthouse by completing any Trials Passage with seven match wins and no losses.
• Completing Nightfall Strikes on Grandmaster difficulty – Adept mods have only a chance of dropping from Grandmaster Nightfall completions. This is the best method for getting Adept mods as there is no limit on rewards for Nightfall Strikes, so you can farm Adept mods from repeated Grandmaster completions.
• Completing Vault of Glass Raid encounters on Master difficulty – As with Grandmaster Nightfall completions, Adept mods have only a chance of dropping and are not guaranteed. Your chances are also limited to the first completion of each of the five major encounters in the Raid per encounter, meaning you have 15 chances if you run Master Vault of Glass once on your three characters.
• Completing Grasp of Avarice Dungeon encounters on Master difficulty – Similar to Master Vault of Glass, you have a chance of getting an Adept mod from encounter completions in the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon on Master difficulty.

Trials of Osiris, Grandmaster Nightfalls, and Master Vault of Glass encounters also give you the chance of getting Adept Legendary weapons, which are slightly improved versions of Legendary weapons and are denoted by the “(Adept)” in their names – Vault of Glass Raid weapons which have “(Timelost)” instead.

All Destiny 2 Adept weapon mods

Note that any of the following Adept mods can drop from these activities, except for Adept Icarus Grip, which can only drop from the Lighthouse Flawless chest in Trials of Osiris. You can see which Adept mods you have and which ones you’re missing by looking at your Collections tab, opening the Mods section, and then navigating to the weapon mod table. To equip an Adept mod, inspect an Adept weapon and choose an Adept mod from the list that appears when you hover the cursor over the weapon mod slot.

Adept Big Ones Spec

• Boosts weapon damage against powerful combatants, bosses, and vehicles. It’s an improved version of the Boss Spec mod that works against more enemy types.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon.
• Good to have on any weapon for high-level PvE activities.

Adept Blast Radius

• Increases an Adept Rocket Launcher or Grenade Launcher’s Blast Radius stat by 10 points, making the explosions from its projectiles slightly larger.
• Can be used on Adept Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers only.

Adept Charge Time

• Slightly shortens an Adept Fusion Rifle or Linear Fusion Rifle’s charge time stat by adding 10 points to its Charge Time stat.
• Can be used on Adept Fusion Rifles and Linear Fusion Rifles only.

Adept Counterbalance

• While this mod generally reduces overall upward recoil for any weapon, it can also change the recoil pattern direction, making it tend more to the left or right.
• Changes your Adept weapon’s recoil direction by giving it +35 to its Recoil stat (this is a hidden stat so you cannot see it in-game) but at the cost of -10 Range.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon except for Swords.

Adept Handling

• Gives +10 to an Adept weapon’s Handling stat, making it faster to aim, ready, and stow.
• Obtainable from Trials of Osiris, Grandmaster Nightfalls, Master Vault of Glass, and Master Grasp of Avarice.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon except for Swords.

Adept Icarus Grip

• Improves weapon accuracy while airborne by significantly reducing the in-air accuracy penalty and slightly increases weapon range.
• Obtainable from Trials of Osiris only.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon except for Swords.
• This is a must-have for any agile PvP players that jump around a lot.

Adept Impact

• Gives +10 to an Adept Sword’s Impact stat, slightly increasing its damage.
• Can be used on Adept Swords only.
• The overall damage increase gained from Adept Impact is not very significant, so use Adept Big Ones Spec instead.

Adept Mag

• Increases an Adept weapon’s magazine capacity by 40% at the cost of a -15 penalty to Handling.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon except for Rocket Launchers and Special ammo Grenade Launchers.

Adept Projectile Speed

• Gives +10 to an Adept Rocket Launcher or Grenade Launcher’s Velocity stat, making its projectiles fly slightly faster.
• Can be used on Adept Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers only.

Adept Range

• Increases an Adept weapon’s Range stat by 10 points, making its aim assist and damage falloff more effective.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon except for Swords and Bows.

Adept Reload

• Gives an Adept weapon +10 to its Reload Speed stat, making it reload slightly faster.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon except for Swords.

Adept Stability

• Slightly reduces overall recoil by increasing an Adept weapon’s Stability stat by 10 points.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon except for Swords.

Adept Targeting

• Increases an Adept weapon’s target acquisition by increasing its Aim Assistance stat by 10 points (this is a hidden stat so you cannot see it in-game) at the cost of -15 to Stability. Your Adept weapon will have more recoil, but slightly better aim assist to make your shots more likely to hit, even if they’re a little off target.
• Can be used on any Adept weapon except for Swords.

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Through investment and acquisitions, Xbox Game Studios is now an enviable force in the industry. There are more upcoming Xbox Series X games in development than ever before – something that is unlikely to change anytime soon, particularly with Microsoft Gaming on the precipice of purchasing Activision Blizzard. 

While the $70 billion acquisition is yet to be finalised, there are still 23 of the industry’s leading game developers creating new Xbox exclusive games – each of which will be available in Xbox Game Pass from its day of release. 

Below you will find the full Xbox Game Studios list, a breakdown of what each developer is famous for, and some insight into what they are working on next. 

Xbox Game Studios list

Every Microsoft-owned, first-party studio and what they are working on:

• 343 Industries
• Alpha Dog Games
• Arkane Studios
• Bethesda Game Studios
• Bethesda Softworks
• Compulsion Games
• Double Fine Productions
• id Software
• Inxile Entertainment
• MachineGames
• Mojang Studios
• Ninja Theory
• Obsidian Entertainment
• Playground Games
• Rare
• Roundhouse Studios
• Tango Gameworks
• The Coalition
• The Initiative
• Turn 10 Studios
• Undead Labs
• World’s Edge
• Xbox Games Studios Publishing
• ZeniMax Online

343 Industries

• Notable releases: Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox One, 2015), Halo Infinite (Xbox Series X, 2021)
• Working on: Halo Infinite (live service)
• Founded in: 2007

343 Industries has stewardship over the Halo franchise. The studio most recently released Halo Infinite on 15 November, 2021 for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC. The studio is set to continue working on Halo Infinite for the next decade, expanding Master Chief’s journey on Zeta Halo with campaign expansions, and continuing to maintain the Halo Infinite multiplayer live service experience with additional seasons of content. 

Alpha Dog Games

• Notable releases: Wraithborne (iOS, 2012), MonstroCity Rampage (iOS, 2017)
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2021

Alpha Dog Games is a mobile-focused developer that was actually acquired by Bethesda in late 2019 to support the publisher’s growing interest in the iOS and Android market. Given Microsoft’s investment in mobile and cloud gaming, it’s likely that Alpha Dog will continue working behind the scenes on the initiative.

Arkane Studios

• Notable releases: Dishonored (Multi, 2012), Prey (Multi, 2017)
• Working on: Redfall (Xbox Series X, 2023), Deathloop (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2021

Arkane Studios is known for building complex immersive sims, experiences that weave a reactive sense of choice and consequence right through the action. Arkane most recently released Deathloop as a timed-exclusive on PS5, and the studio is thought to be working on an Xbox Series X port now. Arkane is also developing Redfall, a co-op shooter which’ll let you and your friends hunt vampires across a sprawling open world – it’s expected to launch early 2023.

Bethesda Game Studios

• Notable releases: Fallout 3 (Multi, 2008), The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim (Multi, 2011)
• Working on: Starfield (Xbox Series X, 2023), The Elder Scrolls 6 (TBC)
• Acquired in: 2021

By acquiring Bethesda Game Studios, Microsoft has added one of the most successful and influential outfits in the industry to its arsenal. This is the studio responsible for overseeing the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises, although it also has a brand new IP in the works called Starfield. Starfield is a sci-fi RPG that is expected to launch in early 2023.

Bethesda Softworks

• Notable releases: N/A
• Working on: N/A
• Acquired in: 2021

Microsoft didn’t just acquire eight development studios, it also brought ZeniMax Media’s publishing wing into the fold too. That means that ‘Bethesda’ as you traditionally know it will continue to exist, with Microsoft allowing it to work semi-autonomously where it will continue to publish the games that are born from its portfolio of partners. 

Compulsion Games

• Notable releases: Contrast (Multi, 2013), We Happy Few (Multi, 2018)
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2018

Compulsion Games has only released two games since its formation in 2009, Contrast and We Happy Few, which are polar opposites in terms or theme and genre, although they are connected by a shared value: an undeniable sense of style. Compulsion Games is yet to reveal what it is working on now.

Double Fine Productions

• Notable releases: Brutal Legend (PS3/Xbox 360, 2009), Psychonauts 2 (Multi, 2021)
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2019

Double Fine Productions creates cult-classics. Ever since its formation in 2000, Double Fine has always made games its own way, with an unwavering desire to provide windows into weird and wonderful worlds. Double Fine released Psychonauts 2 to rave reviews in 2021, and the studio is yet to announce what it is currently working on.

id Software

• Notable releases: Doom (Multi, 2016), Doom Eternal (Multi, 2020) 
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2020

They don’t come more legendary than id Software. This is the studio that essentially created the first-person shooter with Wolfenstein 3D in 1992, Doom in 1993, and Quake in 1996, and is known for having the industry’s greatest shotgun. id is yet to reveal what it is working on following the release of Doom Eternal. 

inXile Entertainment

• Notable releases: Tides of Numenera (Multi, 2017), Wasteland 3 (2020, Multi)
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2018

inXile is a studio with speciality in c-RPGs, founded by Brian Fargo – director of Wasteland and executive producer of the original Fallout. inXile hasn’t revealed its next project, although it’s rumored that the studio is is building a ‘AAA-RPG’ for Xbox Series X. Given that Wasteland 3 released two years ago, hopefully it won’t be long before the studio shows us what it has been up to.

MachineGames

• Notable releases: Wolfenstein: The New Order (Multi, 2014), Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (Multi, 2017)
• Working on: Indiana Jones (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2021

MachineGames was founded in 2009 by former members of Starbreeze Studios, before being handed the reins to the Wolfenstein series in 2010. The studio made a name for itself with its subversive and tightly-designed first-person shooters. It was recently announced that Bethesda will be collaborating with LucasFilm Games to create a brand new Indiana Jones game, with MachineGames handling development.

Mojang Studios

• Notable releases: Minecraft (Multi, 2011), Minecraft Dungeons (Multi, 2020)
• Working on: Minecraft (Multi, 2011)
• Acquired in: 2014

Mojang is the Minecraft company. Acquired by Microsoft in 2014 for 2.5 billion dollars, Mojang has been dutifully updating and evolving Minecraft across all of its supported platforms since. While the studio rarely operates outside of the core Minecraft experience, it did release a family-friendly dungeon-crawler in 2020 called Minecraft Dungeons. 

Ninja Theory

• Notable releases: DmC: Devil May Cry (Multi, 2013), Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Multi, 2017)
• Working on: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 (Xbox Series X, TBC), Project: Mara (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2018

Ninja Theory built its reputation creating beautiful, detailed action-adventure games like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DmC: Devil May Cry. Since its 2018 acquisition, Ninja Theory has invested heavily into state-of-the-art motion capture, Unreal Engine 5, and other new technology to help drive forward Xbox Series X fidelity. The studio is working on Hellblade 2, and a new experimental horror game codenamed Project Mara. 

Obsidian Entertainment

• Notable releases: Pillars of Eternity (PC, 2015),  The Outer Worlds (Multi, 2019)
• Working on: Grounded (Xbox One, 2022), Avowed (Xbox Series X, TBC), The Outer Worlds 2 (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2018

Obsidian Entertainment is a legendary developer of RPGs. Whether it’s action-heavy, like Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, or leaning more heavily into the strategy-side with Pillars of Eternity, the name ‘Obsidian’ is a mark of quality. The studio currently has Grounded in early-access, which is working towards a 2022 release. The studio is also developing a new RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity universe named Avowed, and has begun early work on The Outer Worlds 2.

Playground Games

• Notable releases: Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One, 2018), Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox Series X, 2021) 
• Working on: Fable 4 (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2018

Playground Games was given the keys to the Forza franchise back in 2010, with Forza Horizon developed in collaboration with series stalwarts Turn 10. Ever since, Playground has consistently delivered open-world racing games that go above and beyond that of the competition. Following the release of Forza Horizon 5 in 2021, the studio is now full focused on its reboot of an iconic Xbox RPG – Fable. 

Rare

• Notable releases: Viva Pinata (Xbox 360, 2006), Sea of Thieves (PC/Xbox One, 2018)
• Working on: Everwild (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2002

Rare is a legendary British studio. So much so, it’s difficult to know where to even begin. So let’s skip the history lesson and fast-forward to the present. Rare continues to support and update Sea of Thieves, one of the best multiplayer games out there right now, while it works on a brand-new co-op adventure called Everwild. 

Roundhouse Studios

• Notable releases: N/A
• Working on: TBC 
• Acquired in: 2021

Roundhouse Studios is an unknown quantity. This is a studio created by Bethesda in 2019, staffed by developers that were with Human Head Studios right to the bitter end. Given that staff has experience in everything from FPS to RPGs, it’s impossible to know what it is working on – but whatever it is, it’s bound to still be in the very early stages of pre-production. 

Tango Gameworks

• Notable releases: The Evil Within (Multi, 2014), The Evil Within 2 (Multi 2017)
• Working on: Ghostwire Tokyo (Xbox Series X, 2023)
• Acquired in: 2021

Tango Gameworks is Shinji Mikami’s studio, the famed creator of such classics as Resident Evil and Dino Crisis. Tango’s first two releases were confident, terrifying psychological horror games, although its latest is a little weirder. Ghostwire Tokyo launched as a timed-exclusive on PS5 in 2022, and the studio is expected to release an Xbox Series X port in 2023. Tango is yet to reveal what it is working on in the meantime. 

The Coalition

• Notable releases: Gears of War 4 (Xbox One, 2016), Gears 5 (Xbox One, 2019)
• Working on: TBC
• Founded in: 2010

When Microsoft acquired the rights to Gears of War from Epic Games in 2014, it was handed off to The Coalition. The studio now leads production on the franchise, pushing the scope of the series with each new installment. The Coalition’s most recent release was Gears 5 in 2019, although it has since launched an updated version of the game for Xbox Series X. The studio is yet to confirm what it’s working on now, although it is known to be investing heavily in Unreal Engine 5.   

The Initiative

• Notable releases: N/A
• Working on: Perfect Dark (Xbox Series X, 2022)
• Founded in: 2018

The Initiative is a brand new video game developer, founded by former Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher. The studio is packed with talent from BioWare, Naughty Dog, Respawn Entertainment, and others, and is being touted as a key player in Xbox’s future. The Initiative is currently developing a reboot of the Perfect Dark series, which was revealed in 2020. Due to the scope of the project, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has been brought in to co-develop Joanna Dark’s long-awaited return.

Turn 10

• Notable releases: Forza Motorsport 7 (Xbox One, 2017)
• Working on: Forza Motorsport (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Founded in: 2001

Ever since its formation, Turn 10 has been known for its meticulous attention-to-detail, working to create the most realistic and engaging racing sims imaginable. It’s currently building a next-generation Forza experience for Xbox Series X, although Microsoft is yet to give the project an official title or release window – let alone any details. Given the five year wait, Forza Motorsport is expected to return sooner rather than later. 

Undead Labs

• Notable releases: State of Decay (PC, 2013), State of Decay 2 (Xbox One, 2018)
• Working on: State of Decay 3 (Xbox Series X, 2022)
• Acquired in: 2018

Undead Labs has had its sights on delivering the ultimate zombie survival experience ever since its formation. The studio is currently working on State of Decay 3 for Xbox Series X, which will be its first release since becoming a first-party Xbox studio in 2018. The game is thought to still be early in development, so we’ll likely be waiting a little while before we see any more of it in action. 

World’s Edge

• Notable releases: Age of Empires 4 (PC, 2021)
• Working on: TBC
• Founded in: 2019

While World’s Edge isn’t directly responsible for making new games, it has been positioned as a caretaker for one of Microsoft’s biggest franchises. The studio coordinates development for Age of Empires, working to ensure external studios such as Relic Entertainment and Forgotten Empires are properly aligned. To that end, World’s End helped to ship Age of Empires 4 in 2021 for PC, and is yet to reveal what it’s working on next.

Xbox Game Studios Publishing

• Notable releases: N/A
• Working on: N/A
• Founded in: 2000

Xbox Game Studios Publishing is an internal group within the Xbox Game Studios group that supports external developers, and those under the wider first-party group. In the past, the global publishing team has worked with partners like Insomniac and Dontnod to bring Sunset Overdrive and Tell Me Why to the platform; it’s currently helping Avalanche Studios with its co-op smuggling game Contraband. 

ZeniMax Online Studios

• Notable releases: The Elder Scrolls Online (Multi, 2014), Fallout 76 (Multi, 2018)
• Working on: N/A
• Acquired in: 2021

ZeniMax Online Studios is responsible for creating and overseeing Bethesda’s online-focused games, such as The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76. The studio isn’t known to have any brand new games in development, although it is continuing to support, develop, and grow Bethesda’s MMORPGs. ZeniMax Online Studios’ most recent release was the The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle expansion.

Extended Reading: What the Xbox acquisition of ZeniMax could mean for games like The Elder Scrolls 6, Starfield, and Deathloop? (opens in new tab)

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