In 2023, Unrecord made waves with its hyper-realistic graphics, and now the developer of the shooter has a big announcement: thanks to investor funding, including from a mega-corporation in gaming, they can now fully commence production of the game.
What kind of game is it? Unrecord is a first-person shooter, modeled after the camera perspective of a bodycam – much like those worn by American police officers. Combined with the mostly photorealistic graphics in Unreal Engine 5, the game has garnered significant attention.
For a long time, there was relatively little news about the project, until the developer of Unrecord resurfaced in 2025. Now there’s more big news, as the game is now – thanks to some strong financial partners – in full production.
Here you can see an official gameplay trailer for the shooter:
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Unrecord – Official Early Gameplay Trailer
Bodycam shooter starts production, receives funding from Tencent
The current status of Unrecord: The developer studio DRAMA announced in a X post that they finally have the budget to fully focus on the production of the game.
Today we are proud to announce that we finally have the budget to realize UNRECORD and develop the best possible game. […] We are now fully focused on production and are avoiding showing unfinished content in order to raise the bar even higher.
Developer studio DRAMA in a post on X
The team also thanks its investors in this post, who apparently have already had the chance to play the game. A look at the LinkedIn profile of Alexandre Spindler, co-founder of the studio and creative director of Unrecord, reveals: one of these investors is Tencent.
The mega-corporation from China has been heavily investing in gaming for years. Tencent owns Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, as well as stakes in studios like Epic Games, Blizzard, and Ubisoft.
Now that funding is secured, they plan to share updates in 2026 that “reflect the actual final vision.” When exactly, the developers have not yet shared – nor have they indicated when to expect a release. However, it sounds like 2026 might be too early for that.
The geese from Where Winds Meet are seen by some as the ultimate evil and by others as a funny meme, which even reflects the strength of all characters. Part of the community will soon be able to transform into a goose to drive other players into sheer madness.
What kind of mode is this? To celebrate the 1st anniversary, the Chinese version of Where Winds Meet will soon receive a new limited-time mode called “The Phantom Thief Goose.” In this mode, the goal is to quack and peck like a goose to instill pure fear in all who cross your path while stealing various possessions.
Imagine an adult version of “Untitled Goose Game” (which you can find on Steam, it’s a lot of fun in co-op with the kids). Anyone who has ever angered a goose in Where Winds Meet knows what can happen when players control a kind of quacking death demon.
Something big is coming to Where Winds Meet at the end of 2026:
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Where Winds Meet shows the first scenes of the new expansion “The Imperial Palace” in the trailer
“They are letting you transform into one of those demons!?”
When is the mode coming to us? Where Winds Meet is celebrating its 1st anniversary in the West around November 14, 2026. You can expect a similar event then. What is already specifically planned for the local version of the role-playing game can be found here: Where Winds Meet roadmap and upcoming content.
How is the community reacting to the event? The geese from Where Winds Meet have become a popular meme. They are not only tough opponents but also striking mounts, reliable companions, or linked to a useful martial arts skill. Accordingly, the comments are quite humorous.
Krystal Farr writes on X: “They are letting you transform into one of those demons!?”
iron wings draws the same comparison we do on X: “Welcome back, Untitled Goose Game.”
kitty_paw_punch writes on threads.com: “Okay, I need to play that.”
How do you know the player numbers? On December 14, 2025, there was an update from the developers on X. In one month, 15 million players are expected to have tried Where Winds Meet. According to steamdb.info, more than 115,000 players are still roaming in the world of Where Winds Meet during prime time.
The year 2025 was anything but a bad year for gamers. However, the year-in-review from Steam reveals: Players mainly played older games again this year.
How do we know this? This information comes from the Steam year-in-review 2025. It is personalized – each account on Steam gets a very personal year-in-review. However, there are also some exciting statistics that provide insights into the gaming behavior of other gamers on Steam.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is for many the game of the year 2025 and is so good that it leaves them with a feeling of emptiness:
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 hinterlässt bei den Spielern eine Leere
Despite new hits, old games dominate
This is shown by the Steam year-in-review 2025:
Most of the time (44%) Steam users spent in games released in the last 1 to 7 years
Almost as much time (40%) players invested in games that were released 8 or more years ago
New releases – meaning games released in 2025 – make up only 14% of Steam users’ playtime
This means, in short, that the Steam community also played primarily older games in 2025.
Steam users spent only 14% of their playtime on new games.
There was no shortage of good games in 2025. So what is the reason that old games still take up so much space? In a Reddit post, these results are already being discussed, but one isn’t surprised:
“Kinda expected when most consistently top played steam games is the like of CS2, DOTA2 or PUBG,” says user rickreckt on Reddit.
“Well yeah, there’s a lot more old games than new games,” points out another Reddit user, another adds: “And older games are constantly on sale/available for cheaper than new releases.” (on Reddit)
If you haven’t seen your personal Steam year-in-review 2025 yet: You can find it in the Steam store. At the top, there’s a banner that will take you directly to your year-in-review. Alternatively, you can also find it through your profile.
According to Korean media, publisher NCsoft is taking strict action against a YouTuber who allegedly spread false information about the new MMORPG Aion 2.
What happened? According to the Korean news website zdnet.co.kr, the publisher and developer NCsoft has sued the YouTuber “Game Chang-hyun” for spreading false information about Aion 2. The report states:
We have filed a report at the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul against the operator of the YouTube channel ‘Game Chang-hyun’ for spreading false information, etc. At the same time, we have submitted a claim for damages for defamation, insult, and business obstruction due to the spreading of false information to the Seoul District Court.
The launch trailer for Aion 2 for the start in Asia; the MMORPG is set to be released in the West in 2026:
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Aion 2: New trailer prepares for the Korean launch of the MMORPG
“Psychological damage to affected developer”
What did the YouTuber do? NCsoft explains that the lawsuit is not about suppressing normal criticism. However, “Game Chang-hyun” has made false or insulting claims about Aion 2.
The YouTuber claimed that NCsoft only affected customers who do not invest money, that they use macros for in-game sales, or that a certain NCsoft employee is the CEO of the company.
The intentional and repeated actions of ‘Game Chang-Hyeon’ not only had negative impacts on our service but also caused psychological harm to the individual developer. […] However, the greatest damage is the harm caused to the users due to the false information.
They intend to continue this approach in the future and take action against repeatedly false and defamatory posts. Additionally, they want to consider countermeasures against posts that aim to attract attention with sensational titles and images that are not related to the content of the respective announcement.
And what happens now? What punishment awaits the YouTuber? And to what extent have the claims in the videos negatively affected the psyche of an employee? Unfortunately, the report from Korea leaves many questions unanswered. However, it is clear that the pressure on NCsoft is high. 2025 was a difficult year for the company. They have great hopes for Aion 2.
Fans of MMO shooters are getting a new one with Pionernow available on Steam. However, the game, reminiscent of The Division with zombies, is being received quite poorly by players.
What kind of game is this? Pioner is a first-person MMO shooter where you fight for survival on a post-apocalyptic island. The mix of RPG, MMO shooter, and survival is somewhat reminiscent of The Division, but with zombies.
The game from the Russian indie developer GFA Games launched in Early Access on December 16, 2025, on Steam – and this, although it was supposed to be released in 2021 or 2022.
Here you can see the launch trailer for Pioner:
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The MMO shooter Pioner will start in early access in 2025, showcasing its dark world in the launch trailer
Server issues and bugs hinder gaming enjoyment
How is the game performing at release? The reviews from the first players are likely to be rather disappointing for the developers – especially after such a long development period. Only 47% of the total 340 reviews on Steam (as of December 17, 1:22 PM) are positive.
The gameplay is fun, the graphics are decent, and the story is interesting, but when your servers can’t support 1k players and you are advertising this as an mmo… thats not good. The majority of players cannot recommend Pioner, at least not yet. There are several reasons for this: Skeeb0 points to server issues right at release, and this with not even 1,000 concurrent players at peak on Steam (according to steamdb.info). However, the game is fun and looks good, he writes in his Steam review.
The gameplay is fun, the graphics are decent, and the story is interesting, but if your servers can’t even handle 1,000 players and you advertise it as an MMO… then that’s not good.
Skeeb0 in his Steam review of Pioner
ZombieZZ is outraged by the technical state of the game. Within 35 minutes, the game crashed four times, with any progress lost each time. Despite several delays, the game appears ” in such a sorry ass state,” he complains in his Steam review.
“At the moment, I cannot recommend this game,” writes Wintergewitter in his Steam review. The concept and storyline of the game seem innovative and interesting, but within less than an hour of gameplay, he already encountered a serious bug.
What do the positive reviews say? There are already some players having fun with the game and asking not to be fooled by the many negative reviews.
As stated in a Steam review: “I get that many games have a rough start, but in my opinion this one has a lot of potential.” This player is already having fun and does not regret the purchase, he says. According to other reviews, the developers have also managed to address the server issues.
Pioner started with some difficulties in Early Access. While the reviews show a lot of negative sentiment, there are also players who consider these reactions exaggerated. The game is still in Early Access, so one cannot expect everything to go smoothly right away.
With Season 11, Blizzard has surprisingly introduced the Paladin in Diablo 4. The new class not only brings really strong builds but also playstyles that feel almost like a cozy “weekend simulator” for gamer dads.
Here’s what it means for the “gamer dads”: Diablo 4 has quickly earned a reputation for being the optimal game for fathers with little time. Those who have to juggle family, work, and other responsibilities find here an ARPG that is fun even in short sessions.
On Reddit, a player presents a Paladin build that is perfect for the audience who just wants to casually slice through monsters. With the build that the player names “The Weedwhacker,” you zoom across the map like a lawnmower and cut down monsters without much effort.
What kind of build is this? On December 12, the Paladin unexpectedly appeared in Diablo 4 and is playable for everyone who pre-orders the new expansion Lord of Hatred. The class brings various playstyles, some of which fans might recognize from previous Diablo titles. One of them focuses on a two-handed sword and on destroying everything around you without much interruption and at high speed.
The “Zeal Build” builds on the Fanaticism Oath. You can see more about the Paladin and his oaths in the trailer:
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Diablo 4 shows the Paladin and his oaths in the gameplay trailer
More Life = More Attacks
This is what makes the build so strong: The Zeal Build revolves around the skill “Zeal,” which allows you to attack enemies in a 360-degree radius around you at extremely high speed. Unlike many other Paladin builds, you won’t use a shield here. Instead, you rely on the two-handed sword “Red Sermon” to significantly increase the damage of Zeal. You can find an overview of all Uniques in Diablo 4 here.
The build is designed for high attack speed and high cooldown reduction. You deal constant damage, heal yourself in the process, and can easily handle practically all game content. At the same time, the Zeal Build is very beginner-friendly and enjoyable to play.
Key points of the build are:
As a resource, you use life instead of faith. As long as you have enough life – or more precisely, can sacrifice – you attack.
“Falling Star” serves as a mobility skill that allows you to quickly move between enemy groups. “Aura of Fanaticism” additionally increases your attack speed and critical hit chance.
The defensive skill “Consecration” heals you and deals damage per second to enemies. “Aura of Resilience” also provides healing, enhances your armor, and makes you unstoppable. The Ultimate “Fortress” grants you immunity – especially helpful in boss fights.
With the unique sword “Red Sermon,” Zeal deals more damage and has a chance to inflict double damage. Until you obtain the sword, you use “Legacy of the Fanatic” as an upgrade for Zeal. This expands the attack, seeks random enemies, and hits four more times.
This is how the build plays out: You spam Zeal to deal constant damage and tear through enemy groups. In the process, you accumulate fervor, which strengthens you further. You use your defensive skills, Aura of Resilience, Consecration, and Fortress, as often as possible. “Fortress” is especially useful in tougher encounters. To ensure your auras are always available and that you benefit from buffs continuously, it’s especially crucial to stack cooldown reduction.
You can find an extensive build guide with experts and theorycrafters from maxroll.gg. There is also an overview of the strongest builds in our Tier List for Diablo 4 Season 11.
To get even more out of your builds, you can also rely on the new seasonal crafting feature Sanctification. This allows your items to gain random effects that can make them even stronger. However, Sanctification is not available at all times and comes with a few important rules. You can find out exactly how Sanctification works and what to watch out for here: Diablo 4: Sanctification is the final improvement of your items – here’s how it works
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The first part of the Winter Holidays starts in Pokémon GO. MeinMMO has looked into what you can expect at the event.
When does the event take place? The Christmas season is celebrated in Pokémon GO with an event that consists of 2 parts. The first part of the Winter Holidays starts on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at 10:00 AM and runs until Wednesday, December 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM. Right after the end of Part 1, the 2nd part of the Winter Holidays continues.
In the 1st part of the event, there is a dedicated GO Pass, new costumed Pokémon, and an increased chance of 2 rare Shinies. We have summarized what specific content you can expect in the coming days.
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Pokémon GO shows its new season in the trailer
All Content of Winter Holidays: Part 1 in Pokémon GO
What new costumed monsters are there? Within the event, you can obtain 3 costumed monsters for the first time in Pokémon GO. They are Mogelbaum, Akkup, and Donarion – each in holiday clothing. All 3 monsters can also be obtained as Shiny with some luck.
While you can find Mogelbaum and Akkup in the wild and in raids, you will only receive Donarion if you evolve Akkup at a PokéStop with an activated Magnetic Lure Module.
What bonuses are there? If you hatch Pichu with a holiday hat or Petznief with a holiday ribbon from 7-km eggs during the first part of the Winter Holidays, both monsters have an increased chance of being obtained as Shiny.
Additionally, event field research will be active, where you can earn Stardust and encounters with event Pokémon.
What rewards are in the GO Pass? A separate GO Pass is also part of the event. This will continue to be active in the 2nd part of the Winter Holidays. As usual, there is a free and a paid version of the pass. The GO Pass Deluxe contains all the content of the free GO Pass.
In the table below, you can see what rewards are known so far:
GO Pass
GO Pass Deluxe
Rewards
• Encounter with Snomnom* • Encounters with event monsters • Stardust • Experience points • Poké Balls • Candies
• Snomnom Hat • even more encounters with event monsters • Premium Battle Passes • Special Candies XL • Candies XL
Rank 1
double experience points for sent gifts
double amount of Stardust for opened gifts
Rank 2
you can receive more items from opened gifts
halved hatch distance for eggs placed in incubators
Rank 3
50% additional experience points for raid battles
double amount of catch experience points
What monsters are there? You can find special monsters in the event both in the wild, in eggs, and in raids. These include the following:
In the wild:
Quiekel*
Schneppke*
Seemops*
Mogelbaum with holiday clothing* (rare)
Akkup with holiday clothing* (rare)
In 7-km eggs:
Pichu with holiday hat*
Kussilla*
Petznief with holiday ribbon*
Frigometri*
Snomnom
In 3-star raids:
Mogelbaum with holiday clothing*
Hisui-Arktilas*
Akkup with holiday clothing*
All Pokémon marked with an * can also be found as Shiny.
Avatar Accessories: With the start of the Winter Holidays, you can permanently acquire 2 new items for your avatar in the in-game shop. These are the Akkup bag and the Mogelbaum sweater.
An expert trains rats to be gamers. After 4 years, the rats can shoot at enemies in Doom for the first time.In 2021, a neuroengineer and his team began training rats in gaming. Now, the project has received a major update.
A team led by neuroengineer Viktor Tóth has been trying to train rats to be gamers since 2021. In 2021, PCGamer first reported on this. Specifically, he and his team are teaching the rodents the shooter Doom. This includes movements, performing actions, and using weapons to defend themselves against demons.
By the end of 2025, the project has now received a significant update. The trained rodents can now shoot and defend themselves against enemies. This is reported by the English-language magazine TomsHardware.com. You can follow the entire project of the rats on the project’s own website.
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Students spy on passersby with hidden cameras and AI, find name and address in seconds
Rats are to become gamers; their gaming setup has now received an upgrade
How did the experiment start? At the beginning, the rats stood in a harness over a freely spinning ball, where forward movement was assigned to a simplified Doom II corridor. As a reward, they were given sweetened water when they performed the desired action. Further interactions with Doom were not possible at that time.
What changed in 2025? The team of Viktor Tóth has now presented a major update: he has extensively upgraded the gaming setup for his rats: the new system still maps the movements of the rats but now also supports more complex inputs. Additionally, he has incorporated a small, curved AMOLED display into the setup, providing the training rats with significantly more spatial feedback than before. The researchers state in their own blog:
The rats successfully learned to navigate the virtual environment and trigger the shooting mechanism. The adaptation took about two weeks per rat. Due to time constraints, advanced training could not be completed, but initial data showed promising interaction with the system.
Moreover, the rats can finally defend themselves in Doom against enemies: via a physical trigger mechanism, the animals can activate the fire function of Doom. Technically, they can now shoot enemies, but practically, this works with varying degrees of precision. A shooting god like Shroud is likely still far from the rats when it comes to precision.
After Doom Eternal, a new installment in the series, The Dark Ages, was released, which aimed to break the fast gameplay style a little. Bethesda invited MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus to check out Doom: The Dark Ages and play selected missions. The shooter is solid and extremely difficult; however, the unique selling point doesn’t quite stand out. More about this can be read directly on MeinMMO: The new Doom plays like a really hard shooter, but something is missing
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Streamers on Twitch come up with crazy challenges time and again. One of them wanted to chop 150 kg of onions while waiting for the next update for one of the largest games on Steam, Dota 2.
Which Twitch streamer is it? The streamer TeaGuvnor mainly plays Dota 2 on his Twitch channel. In the past, he has initiated crazy challenges to make the wait for the next patch for the largest MOBA on Steam more enjoyable.
After counting the individual grains of rice from 20 kg of rice for an earlier patch, he decided to chop 150 kg of onions this time. You can watch the event on Twitch.
How many onions did he manage? After eight hours, the Twitch streamer was relieved by Valve when the patch notes for update 7.40 (dota2.com) were released. He managed to chop a total of 211 onions, which according to him weighs 21.31 kg.
He will store the chopped onions in his empty freezer, and he will donate all the remaining onions to local restaurants.
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The new hero in Dota 2 is a frog with a guitar
The Twitch streamer will be rewarded with a frog that plays Guitar Hero
What kind of frog is this? The Dota community was already concerned that 2025 would be the first year with no new heroes.
As an early Christmas gift, Valve has now released the bard frog Largo. With his tongue, he pulls in enemies or allies and can support his team with various melodies.
The melodies must be played with the correct beat on the keys and is his ultimate ability. The community was immediately reminded of Guitar Hero, a game where a guitar controller is used to play well-known songs (reddit.com).
The Reddit user ccmdmc has apparently already found a way to play the new hero with the Guitar Hero controller.
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What else is new in patch 7.40? In addition to the new hero Largo, there are a lot of changes to Dota 2. Since every piece of news would exceed the scope of an article, we have summarized the most important points for you:
The new hero Largo is now playable
The heroes Slark, Lone Druid, and Treant Protector have been reworked
Several adjustments have been made to the terrain
Three items have been removed
Many items have been buffed or nerfed
Most heroes have received adjustments
On the patch page for 7.40, you can find all the changes that have been made to Dota 2 in detail.
In spring 2025, Dota 2 received one of the biggest updates ever. The map has been considerably enlarged, and a new mechanic for the strong neutral items from the jungle has been introduced.
Just in time for the holidays, Palworld is releasing Update 0.7 and aims to shine with quality of life adjustments: There are improved melee combats, new content for the building mode, and modding is supposed to get easier.
What are the highlights of Update 0.7? Patch 0.7 for Palworld comes with longer patch notes. Included are a whole lot of adjustments for the building mode. Certain building parts are now supposed to be paintable. Furthermore, there should now be much more freedom in design. For this, the team has implemented triangular components.
Melee combats are now also supposed to run better, which is good: with Patch 0.7 there is a new raid boss. The boss enemies can now also be taken to dedicated raid arenas. Previously, they had to be summoned in your own base and then defeated there.
In addition, there are also updates for modders, an experimental PvP mode, and a new collaboration with the early access shooter Ultrakill.
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Palworlds Update 0.7 brings many changes for the Quality of Life and a collaboration with a shooter
Easier modding and new collab outfits
What’s also included? In addition to updates for the building mode, combat adjustments, and the raid boss, there are a few more new features. Among them is the unlocking of the Steam Workshop. This should make sharing and using mods easier.
On top comes a new collaboration with the early access shooter Ultrakill: 0.7 implements weapons and armors from the game as well as a coin toss emote.
For PvP players, there are now also experimental new features. Fully integrating PvP into Palworld is claimed by the developers to be difficult in the patch notes. However, they have now implemented all the necessary tools for players to set their own PvP rules. They warn of balancing issues.
When will Palworld finally be released? Currently, it is not yet known exactly when Palworld will be released in its final 1.0 version. Recently, the developers stated, that they are aiming for 2026. Version 0.7 is also said by the developers to lay the groundwork for it.
In addition, there is also the ongoing lawsuit with Nintendo over allegedly violated patents by Palworld. Although this is currently taking place in Japan, there have been recent developments in the United States. There, Nintendo is currently trying to secure new patents. An originally newly approved patent has now been re-evaluated.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The perhaps best modern alternative to Skyrim currently comes from Poland and is called Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon. While fans are still waiting for news on The Elder Scrolls 6, this dark RPG is receiving a new story DLC on Steam– and it’s getting great reception.
What kind of game is this? Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is an open-world RPG developed by Questline, an indie studio from Poland. The RPG offers a dark reinterpretation of the Arthurian legend. Overall, the game feels very much like Skyrim, just more modern:
The game allows you to switch between first-person and third-person perspective like Skyrim did. Particularly in first-person, the combats feel very reminiscent of Bethesda’s model.
The game world evokes its dark, melancholic atmosphere, reminiscent of Skyrim’s setting of Tamriel.
Many players on Steam also believe that Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon feels like the “spiritual successor to Skyrim” (as mentioned in this Steam review).
The game was released on May 25, 2025, for PC on Steam, Epic Games, and GOG. The title is also available on the consoles PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. On December 15, 2025, the first story DLC, Sanctuary of Sarras, was released. This sends you to a mysterious underwater world.
Here you can see the trailer for the new story expansion:
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Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon schickt euch im neuen Story-DLC in eine gefährliche Unterwasserwelt
New adventure in an underwater world
What does the new DLC deliver? In Sanctuary of Sarras, you follow the trails of Nimue and the deserters who once stood against King Arthur. Throughout the story, you will also explore why the namesake sanctuary sank into the sea.
The DLC provides a brand-new area where fresh dungeons, enemies (including bosses), and equipment await you. Additionally, the DLC introduces a new progression system.
By activating sacred shrines in Sarras, you weaken enemies (who will now scale with your level, meaning they become stronger). Furthermore, these shrines grant you points that you can invest in three new talent trees.
How long will I be occupied with the DLC? The developers mention around 15 hours of gameplay on Steam. However, some players have stated that they completed it much faster:
Shepherd of Elo gives a thumbs up in his Steam review, but recommends playing the DLC with a new character or only on New Game +: “It only took me 7-8 hours with an Act 3 completed character on NG.”
Steam user andy is also enthusiastic and writes in his Steam review: “I really liked this expansion […] in fact it was so good that i played through this in one sitting”. However, he does not disclose how long that session was.
Overall, the reviews for the DLC on Steam are 90% positive, although there are currently only 54 of them. This value is likely to change as more players share their opinions.
On Steam, you can currently get Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon for €30.79 instead of €43.99. This offer is valid until December 19, 2025. A demo is also available on Steam. On GOG, the game costs €35.19, and this includes a DRM-free version, with a discount valid until January 3, 2026.
For Free2Play players, Destiny: Rising can currently feel very frustrating and tedious. The developers want to change that in the coming year.
What do the developers plan? A major update for Destiny: Rising is set to be released in January 2026. This is to include content for the main story, fresh activities, a tower defense mode, and a new pinnacle energy system.
In the announcement on playdestinyrising.com, the developers also address current criticism from the community that farming for resources and upgrade materials is too laborious and lengthy if you don’t invest money in the mobile version of Destiny.
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Destiny: Rising shows first gameplay in the trailer
More Free2Play fun starting 2026
What will change? For the upcoming Season 3, the developers plan a free pinnacle energy drop event. This event is to be active throughout the entire season and grant players free energy every day.
Furthermore, they want to significantly improve the rewards for Free2Play players and reduce the currently too strong restrictions on accessing content. Especially modes like “Calamity Ops” and “Bounties” currently do not offer enough rewards.
The goal of the changes in January: Those who do not invest money in Destiny: Rising should still have the opportunity to keep up with the new releases.
We firmly believe that active players are the foundation of a healthy gaming ecosystem, and we do not want monetization to become a barrier that prevents players from experiencing the game’s content.
A patch is already addressing the wound inflicted by the “The Dawning” event taking place in December. Through the associated activities, you can earn additional pinnacle energy and upgrade materials before the January update. By the way, what our Destiny expert Christos Tsogos thinks of the mobile version can be found here: I can hardly believe it myself, but Destiny: Rising is better than feared
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Patch 7.4 has entered Final Fantasy XIV and brought some exciting new features. And one new content is so good that MeinMMO editor Alex simply can’t get enough.
What content are we talking about? With Patch 7.4, the raid series of Dawntrail around the Arkadion came to an end in Solution Nine. The last 4 new raids were introduced and are definitely impressive. As a long-time extreme raider, I naturally had to jump in on patch day to see what awaits us in January when the hard modes become available.
So: Grabbed the raid group and off we went! And we were anything but disappointed. Because what unfolded before us in the next 2 hours was a pure fireworks display of emotions and fun. So much so that after our first run, we had to jump in again, even though we had already collected the weekly rewards, and we realized: These raids definitely rank among the best in the MMORPG.
Who is writing here? MeinMMO editor Alexander Mehrwald has been active as a Dark Knight in Eorzea since the beginning of the Heavensward expansion in 2015 and does not shy away from tough content. For the new raid tier, he is switching from tank to healer after 10 years and is looking forward to the Savage variants on January 6, 2026, which he will tackle with his long-time raid crew.
You can also get a brief impression of the raids in the trailer:
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Final Fantasy XIV: Rocking trailer for “Into the Mist” sets the stage for patch 7.4
A successful finale for the Arkadion
What was our experience? Already in the first of the four new raids, we noticed the rocking and captivating new soundtrack. Raids in FF14 often have really good music, but the new tracks resonated with us even more than the previous ones. They represent one of the great strengths of this raid tier.
This impression continued in Raids 2 – 4 and culminated in a song that is currently stuck in my head and plays on loop alongside my work. Because in Raid 4 you can listen to the song ‘Everything Burns’, which was created in collaboration with Tom Morello, the guitarist of the band ‘Rage Against the Machine’.
You can listen to the song here:
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The drive generated by the music also continues in the fight design and mechanics. The fights are fast, chaotic, snappy, and yes, they forgive little mistakes. Casual players may encounter some difficulties here, but nothing that can’t be mastered with a little patience and brainstorming.
Familiar formulas cleverly wrapped
The mechanics are, as always, based on the well-trodden, typical FF14 formula – however, they are wrapped and combined so cleverly that they feel fresh and new. Every fight had so many moments where we simply had to laugh, felt overwhelmed, and yes – even had to literally tank the floor collectively to restart the whole thing multiple times. A situation that hasn’t happened to us in several years.
The previous raids in the Arkadion were good and fun, but not more or less than, for example, the Eden series from Shadowbringers or the Pandaemonium from Endwalker. From our perspective, they were simply solid, with a slightly higher level of difficulty than before.
However, these last four raids of Dawntrail surprised us so positively that they have brought back the motivation and passion for the game that had somewhat faded during the expansion.
Just this achievement leads us to almost call the new raids the best in the game. Added to this are the really well-executed and fun concept, the very different arenas and designs, and the rocking soundtrack.
But the patch also brought some new features that are slowly but surely bringing back the fun of the game. For example, it is now possible to combine the armor pieces of all classes and glamor them over the equipped gear, so it feels like there are endlessly new possibilities for cool outfits.
Additionally, a strategy board for groups was introduced to facilitate planning for challenging content. Whether we will use it for our savage raids in the future remains to be seen. Yesterday, we primarily used it during waiting times to play chess or Tic-Tac-Toe in giant format. Apparently, we were not alone in this, as some posts on x.com show.
The new Anime season starts directly in January 2026. There are so many hits in winter that fans don’t even know when to watch it all.
What hits are coming? Right at the beginning of the year, several sequels of popular animes are available that fans can look forward to. Even though the rest of the year has more hits in store, some good series start right in January. These include:
But Oshi no Ko, Pokémon Horizons, and Fire Force are also part of the sequels. In addition, there are numerous new animes like Sentenced to Be a Hero, which will start in the Winter Season 2026. Fans reasonably ask themselves: When should we watch all of this?
Start video
Hell’s Paradise: Trailer for Season 2 shows the creepy flower island
Tight schedule in January for anime viewers
What do fans say about this? Since so many good series are starting simultaneously, many users on Reddit think that the season from January will be very packed. According to them, the current season was “starving”, while the upcoming season would lead to “forced feeding”.
This means, the users feel that after a long drought, suddenly too many good series are appearing. For example, One-Punch Man was one of the highlights in autumn, but disappointed with its animations.
By the way, some users don’t find the drought in the current period bad at all: They were able to catch up on rewatches of past seasons to prepare for Winter 2026.
The fact that the next season seems so full is also because it caters to every fan genre-wise. In the comments, there are all sorts of animes that users are looking forward to. There is no clear favorite.
User Cipher-IX receives a lot of support: “Frieren, JJK, and Hell’s Paradise. I’m in heaven.”
User Lodju replies to his post: “For me, there’s much more, Oshi no Ko, Golden Kamuy, and Tis Time for Torture Princess, to name a few. And I will watch all the new non-sequels that have piqued my interest.”
User xenon2456 keeps it short with his favorite: “My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.”
Therefore, a tight schedule is needed to largely cover all your interests in the upcoming season. Do you have a method for efficiently binge-watching many animes? Or are you perhaps not interested in many animes in Winter 2026? Feel free to let us know in the comments!
Chapter 1169 of the manga One Piece is coming soon. MeinMMO will tell you what happens in the chapter and when you can expect the release.
Update on December, 17th, 2025: We have updated the article regarding the upcoming chapter.
When does the next chapter come out? The new chapter will be released on December, 21st, 2025, at 4:00 PM Central European Time (10:00 AM ET / 7:00 AM PT).
Where can I read the chapter? The Shueisha Publishing publishes the latest chapter in digital format every week on the official page of Manga Plus or in the corresponding app on Google Play or in the Apple App Store. There you can read the manga completely in German or other languages.
When will the next chapters come? The release schedule for the following weeks is as follows:
Attention: Here are spoilers for the content of the upcoming chapter.
What happens in Chapter 1169? Thanks to Reddit, we know what happens in the upcoming chapter:
Gaban says Garp told him Roger has a son. Shanks says, then that child is like his younger brother.
Harald orders Giant Soldiers to kill him, that’s the scene we saw in Chapter 1152 when Loki and Jarul arrived to the castle.
Shanks explains he’s in Elbaph to tell Harald not to accept the “Knight of God” position.
Harald explains to Loki, Jarul and the Giant Soldiers that he worked with the government and betrayed they betrayed him. Then he asks Loki to kill him and tell Elbaph what happened.
Harald orders Loki to eat the Legendary Devil Fruit, otherwise he won’t be able to kill/defeat him.
Harald has lost his sense of mind completely, turning into a cruel monster and attacking everyone, including Jarul who got stabbed in his head
Shanks and Gaban tried to stop Harald, but it’s pointless since Harald lost his mind.
Loki goes to the treasure room to eat the legendary Devil Fruit. When Loki enters the treasure room, Ragnir’s hammer attacks him.
What happened last? If you missed chapter 1168, we can summarize the main things for you here:
Ida died on a snowy day. Harald and Hajrudin wept for her, and Loki suffered silently while he was held captive.
14 years ago, Shanks was supposed to receive the Deep Sea Pact, but he did not appear. Instead, they decided to promote Harald for the Deep Sea Pact and appoint him as the Knight of God.
Harald gained more power and immortality.
Imu commanded Harald to create the Abyss Circle in Elbaph. After that, Imu ordered him to build a huge army for the government.
The chapter ends with Loki and Jarul arriving at the castle.
Until Oda writes the last chapter of One Piece, it will probably take some time. Accordingly, we will experience several arcs and islands where we will follow the story of Luffy and his crew. MeinMMO has attempted to make a prediction of when the end of the pirate story might be reached: When does the story of One Piece end?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
A few days ago, the MMORPG community came across a lawsuit stating that the studio behind Ashes of Creation allegedly has not paid some invoices. Some speculated this is the reason for the sudden Early Access launch. Now, the founder Steven Sharif has spoken out.
What is the lawsuit about? The company Sara Software Systems LLC is suing Intrepid Studios because the game developer allegedly has not paid for the cloud services delivered since September 2022 despite multiple payment requests. You can find the lawsuit document on trellis.law.
Ashes of Creation stimmt im Trailer auf Early-Access-Start auf Steam ein
“$800,000 represents the studio’s weekly operating costs”
How does Intrepid respond? Studio head Steven Sharif has now commented on the assumption, clarifying that they deal with weekly expenses that make a penalty payment of $850,000 seem like proverbial peanuts.
Contract disputes are quite common in the business world and are resolved similarly to other disputes Intrepid has faced in its nine-year history. $800,000 represents the studio’s weekly operating costs. Anyone expressing concerns about this amount should take this into account.
The largest cost factor is likely salaries, as about 250 people are now working on Ashes of Creation. The penalty payment itself may not have been a reason for the Early Access launch on Steam, but the enormous total costs certainly were.
In the latest interview with YouTuber and streamer Esfand, the lead developer emphasized this again: Ashes of Creation is a risky project due to the genre, bringing additional uncertainties due to its innovations.
Memory is currently getting more and more expensive. One player gets lucky and finds 64 GB of RAM at a fair price.
This is what the user did: One player reports on Reddit that he had been at the retailer Walmart, a US chain, and purchased memory there.
Online, the memory already cost 240 US dollars, but Walmart apparently forgot to update the prices for the merchandise in one of its stores. The player shows a picture and in another post a receipt proving that he only had to pay 139 US dollars for the memory. Converted, that’s about 120 Euros without VAT (as of: December 17, 2025).
And this price is really a fair offer at a time when memory costs have nearly tripled. The price is at the level of before September 2025.
The seller reacts quickly: But for Walmart, the offer seemed too fair. The store soon adjusted the price significantly and nearly doubled it: Now you pay 240 US dollars per 32 GB kit, which is 100 US dollars more. The user himself writes in a further post on Reddit:
They [Walmart] have now updated the price, the remaining stock now costs 240 dollars. I left it there, hoping that other lucky ones would find it, but that didn’t last long.
Start video
Valve presents the Steam Machine in the new trailer
Prices for memory and other components have been rising drastically for months
How bad is the situation currently? Since September or October 2025, the prices for memory have doubled and in some cases even tripled, if you can still buy modules at all. In many retailers, memory is often already sold out.
Even other components are now affected: In addition to memory, prices for SSDs, M.2 SSDs, and graphics cards are also rising. Models from Nvidia are sometimes more affected. At AMD, especially models with a lot of video memory are expected to rise in price.
Housing in World of Warcraft is getting major improvements in a few months. Blizzard is already showing what will change.
The housing in World of Warcraft is a complete success and ensures that many players invest many dozens of hours into designing their small homes. However, what many forget amidst all the commotion in the neighborhoods is that this is just the Early Access. For Blizzard, this is a kind of test run to test server stability and make adjustments. Many great features and improvements are yet to come.
Start video
In WoW könnt ihr Häuser anheben – Pimp Your House Edition
What to Expect for Housing in WoW
In various posts on social media, in the forum, or even in the WoW subreddit, you can see small improvements that have been made to housing in the Midnight beta. Some of these improvements are:
Clear property boundaries: When decorating the garden, everyone has probably encountered the problem at least once. You move a tree or a fence, rotate it to what seems to be the perfect spot – only for it to be reset by ghostly hands because it protrudes over the property line. This is frustrating because you can’t see these boundaries clearly. With Midnight, that will change. In edit mode, you can always see at a glowing mark where your property ends and position objects precisely.
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Strong lighting options: Currently, the house level is capped at level 5, but starting from level 6, there will be brand new features. One of them is the “Armillar”. This allows you to provide different lighting for different rooms. A room can either have normal lighting (like during the day) or a significantly dimmer lighting, such as in the evening, or even an unnatural darkness. This can drastically change the atmosphere of a room, as these examples show:
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New rooms: Also new are room types that did not exist before. You already see these listed as rewards at housing level 5, but they cannot be used yet. These are rooms that do not have classic walls but instead use a “skybox” – a background with mountains and clouds.
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This allows for rooms to be created that give the impression of being “outdoors” – perfect for a balcony, a courtyard, or a nice garden that avoids the restrictions of the outdoor area.
Is there more to come? Yes. Housing is a long-term project and will be continuously expanded over the coming years. It aims to be a new “evergreen” feature, a new social component of World of Warcraft. That is why housing will be continuously developed, and you will likely receive new decorations and fresh options that are requested by the community with every major patch.
The first tournament of the new professional season in League of Legends is over. Former ADC of Faker, Gumayusi, has only reached second place and says he is still the best ADC in the world.
What kind of tournament was this? The KeSPA Cup 2025 was the first tournament held with the major teams in South Korea. In the final, T1, the multiple world champions, faced off against Hanwha Life Esports, Gumayusi’s new team, (lol.fandom.com).
What exactly did Gumayusi say? In an interview after the KeSPA Cup, Gumayusi was asked several questions. One of them was whether he still sees himself as the best ADC in the world. His answer was simple: “Yes, I do.” (reddit.com)
Of all people, his rival Peyz, the new ADC of T1, rocked the tournament and set a record while receiving the most coveted title.
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The trailer of the new champion of League of Legends showcases his abilities in action
Furthermore, Peyz was awarded MVP. This means he was the most valuable player in the final of the tournament and showed exceptional performance (reddit.com).
Peyz is one of Gumayusi’s biggest rivals
What else did Gumayusi reveal in the interview? Another question for the former ADC of T1 was who his major rivals in League of Legends are right now.
In addition to the ADC of GenG Esports, Peyz is certainly one of Gumayusi’s biggest rivals. The young ADC has not only taken his place but also shown that he belongs to the best team in the world.
What goals does Gumayusi have for 2026? Together with his team Hanwha Life Esports, Gumayusi wants to win many titles. Especially the fourth Worlds title is interesting for the ADC, as he has also won the League of Legends World Championships in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Gumayusi’s former teammate, Faker, also gave an interview during the KeSPA Cup 2025 and was asked for a few words about his former ADC. The best LoL player of all time was somewhat reticent and only found one word for him: Faker won 3 Worlds with his ADC, giving him only one word of advice
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Pokémon GO, a new Raid Day has been announced. And it’s really something.
What kind of event is this? The Raid Day is an event that occurs regularly with different monsters in Pokémon GO. During this event, you can participate in a large number of raids against a single monster within a time frame of 3 hours and benefit from various bonuses.
The next edition of the event has now been announced. It will take place on Saturday, January 10, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM and will be named “Fusion Raid Day.” As the name suggests, the event will bring back 2 really strong fusions – even with an increased Shiny chance.
Start video
Pokémon GO shows its new season in the trailer
What to expect on Fusion Raid Day
Which monsters will be in the event? The Raid Day will feature Kyurem in both desired forms, White and Black Kyurem, as well as Reshiram and Zekrom. You have 3 hours to battle the monsters in a variety of gyms.
The bosses will rotate every half hour during the event. First, Reshiram and Black Kyurem will appear for 30 minutes, followed by Zekrom and White Kyurem.
What rewards will there be in the event? If you defeat the respective monsters, you will receive Fusion Energy, which you need to perform the fusion with Kyurem.
If you defeat a White or a Black Kyurem, you can catch a regular Kyurem after a successful raid.
Additionally, there are exclusive moves that the monsters will know if you obtain them through raids in the event. These are:
Reshiram knows the Charged Attack Fusion Flare
Zekrom knows the Charged Attack Fusion Bolt
Kyurem can know the Charged Attack Ice Age
What bonuses will there be in the event? Additionally, there will be the following bonuses during the event:
up to 5 additional free raid passes at gyms
Increased Shiny chance for Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem
the limit for remote raids is increased to 20 (from Saturday, January 10, 2026, 2:00 AM until Sunday, January 11, 2026, 5:00 AM)
Event ticket: You can also purchase a ticket for $4.99 (about 5 €). This will grant you the following bonuses:
up to 8 additional raid passes (total 14)
increased chance for XL Special Candy through raids
If you don’t have the two fusions of Kyurem yet, you should take advantage of the event to fill this gap. Both monsters are among the best attackers in the game. If you want to know how strong they are, we have some additional information for you: Black or White Kyurem? Here’s how strong both forms are.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
