Soulslike Game Where You Play as a Sword-Wielding Dog Goes Viral Because, Well, You're a Sword-Wielding Dog

‘Stray Dog: nobody cares’ is going viral, and it’s not hard to see why: it’s an upcoming Souslike game where you play as a stray dog on a mission to rescue its master.

If you like Soulslike games, or really enjoyed the part of Twilight Princess where you play as Wolf Link (or Okami, for that matter), this is the game for you. In Stray Dog: nobody cares (yes, that’s the title, and that’s how it’s capitalized), you take control of a stay dog who was raised by a disgraced knight from birth.

As told by the game’s description on Steam, this knight once earned glory fighting for an unnamed legion, but was later slandered and cast aside after uncovering its “dark secrets.” Now an outcast, he travels the kingdom with only his hound by his side, teaching the animal how to survive the dangers they face on the road together.

Finally, we decided to make Stray Dog: nobody cares. https://t.co/PkJyPZz9zI Wishlist now! pic.twitter.com/CukYsRHmxL

— Stray Dog Official (@Parry_Frames) August 20, 2026

The knight is suddenly and tragically captured, forcing his pup to brave the treacherous border fief Greythorn and the tyrannical legion that has invaded it in order to save him, using only its wits and the sword it wields in its jaws.

The game promises a slew of the standard Soulslike mechanics we’ve become familiar with over the last two decades, with our trusty doggo able to parry, stealth kill, backstab, and deliver a fatal “death blow” to its opponents. Its Steam page touts multiple combat arts, custom levels, "brutal boss fights," and exploration of the standard dark and gloomy medieval environments common in the genre.

Screenshots and gameplay footage from Stray Dog have spread across social media, earning oodles of praise and countless comments promising to wishlist it once it finally releases at an as-yet unannounced date.

In fact, the game has gotten so much attention that its developer, Parry Frames Studio, published a statement on Steam thanking fans for their interest and providing an update as to its current progress.

“To our surprise, our game suddenly became popular on X, and in the past few days, many enthusiastic players have flooded in. Firstly, allow me to express our gratitude to everyone for their attention to us,” the statement reads.

"When we set out to create our own game, we were just a small group passionate about [Souls] games. We self-taught the Unreal Engine and last year, we were awarded a Megagrant by Epic Games as encouragement, which helped us release our first game, Crimson Oath.

“...What I want to express is that our team currently gathers a group of professionals, whose positions include battle design, game programming, game art, as well as level design and level art. We are a team that has a passion for Soulslike games, so please believe that we have sufficient technical capabilities to make this game.”

It’s currently unknown when Stray Dog: nobody cares will launch, but it looks like its title will need a change, because it seems a lot of people do care, actually.

For more games where you play as an animal, check out our review of Stray, a puzzle-solving action platformer where you play as a cat traversing a dangerous post apocalyptic world.

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

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YouTuber Named in Take-Two GTA 6 Leaker Subpoena Insists He Did Nothing Wrong

The YouTuber named in Take-Two's GTA 6 leaker subpoena has denied any wrongdoing.

Today it emerged that Take-Two had issued a subpoena in a federal court requesting information from both Microsoft and Discord as it hunts the leaker or leakers behind the recent spate of GTA 6 gameplay videos.

First reported by Kotaku, the Rockstar Games parent company issued the request yesterday, August 20, in the New York Southern District Court as part of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) subpoena. It wants information and records relating to the ‘CyberLeek’ account, which is allegedly behind the GTA 6 leaks.

The subpoena requests identifying information associated with user accounts that were members of a number of Discord servers. One of the Discord servers mentioned in the filing is 'discord.gg/darkviperau,' which is described as the DarkViperAU editors' server. DarkViperAU is the online name of Australian GTA content creator Matthew "Matt" Judge, who has 2.27 million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 900,000 followers on Twitch. Judge has published detailed breakdowns of the leaked GTA 6 videos this week on his various channels.

In a tweet, Judge responded to Take-Two's subpoena and the mention of his name within it. "I don't know anything," he insisted. "That isn't my editors’ Discord. There aren't even any clips of the leaks in either of my Discords.

"I am confused. I did say he can't drive multiple times, so maybe I caused him to write 'Cyberleek can't drive' on the most recent clips? Maybe he visited my Discord, I dunno. Rockstar hasn't emailed me, I suspect if they thought I knew something personally they would do so.

"Everyone is talking about these leaks, I am not special, hopefully."

Judge then held a three-hour livestream across YouTube and Twitch titled, “TakeTwo Has Subpoenad [sic] My Discord To Look For Leaker (News),” to respond further. Clearly shocked at recent events, Judge joked: “Rockstar just murdered me. I got better though.”

Judge said he “accidentally” showed a screenshot of the latest leaked GTA 6 video on-stream, but he immediately took it down and deleted it “because I don’t want to get in trouble.”

While the GTA 6 leaks were discussed and may have even been shared in his Discord, Judge insisted he had nothing to do with how the videos hit the internet. "I don't know this leaker!" Judge said. "I have personally shared nothing... at least not intentionally."

Judge continued: "I'm hoping this is one hand not speaking to the other hand, kind of thing. As in, the people at Take-Two have no idea who I am and so subpoenaed this stuff not knowing anyone at Rockstar could have DMd me at any time, or emailed me. I have had dozens of conversations with people from Rockstar Games. If Rockstar was truly unhappy with something I was doing, I think they would have just emailed me. Or they would have emailed all of us, because we're all on a community email."

"This has been an interesting time,” he concluded. “I'm sure I'm gonna be fine, guys. This is weird, but I’ve done nothing wrong. No-one’s done anything wrong. It’s just interesting. Definitely one for the history books. One more thing to add to my very very long, strange career.

“And if the feds ask you stuff, don’t tell them anything,” he joked, once again. "Deny everything chat! Burn the evidence!"

"The copyrighted material includes but is not limited to audio visual content, artwork, images, dialogue, or other creative elements," the filing reads. "Take-Two, through its counsel of record, has submitted a sworn declaration confirming that the purpose for which the DMCA subpoena is sought is to obtain the identity of an alleged infringer or infringers, and that such information will only be used for the purpose of protecting Take-Two’s rights."

Neither Take-Two nor Rockstar have commented on the recent GTA 6 leaks, nor have the companies commented on the court filing. IGN has asked for comment.

The subpoena has emerged even as the leaker continues to release GTA 6 gameplay videos. Today, August 21, the GTA 6 leaks stretched into a fourth consecutive day after yet another gameplay video hit the internet. As with the previously released videos, it advertises a memecoin, which one GTA fan recently traced to a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange that might be used to identify the leaker. The watermark on this latest video reads: "HIGHER MARKET CAP = MORE LEEKS."

The leaks come just a week before the release of Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look, which is a timed Netflix exclusive. That’s due Thursday, August 27, and will remain exclusive on Netflix for six hours before it makes its way to other platforms such as YouTube.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Malware Disguised as Leaked GTA 6 Copies Are Popping Up on Piracy Sites

No, despite claims online, there is not a downloadable and playable build of GTA 6 floating around on piracy sites.

Earlier this week, a leaker known as CyberLeek began posting alleged gameplay footage from Grand Theft Auto 6. Ever since these leaks began appearing, there's been no shortage of fake news and misleading claims spreading online. Various users have impersonated the leaker on social media to capitalize on the situation, fake AI videos claiming to be new leaks have also circulated, and now, people are suggesting that there's an actual playable version of the game floating around the internet.

Various pirating and torrenting sites have been populated with download links to an alleged GTA 6 build. Don't download these. They are malware and will compromise your computer in various ways. According to experts from NordVPN, these downloads have been floating around all year, but have experienced a resurgence with the recent leaks.

“Every time GTA 6 makes headlines, leaked footage spreads through re-uploads, Discord links, and unofficial mirrors, which is exactly the environment where fake 'leak' downloads and credential-harvesting pages thrive," said Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN. "Fans looking for leaks or removed clips might land on unfamiliar sites, and in that moment they trust what they find. That's the window attackers exploit.”

While some may find the idea of a GTA 6 build leaking online outrageous in of itself, there is precedent for such a thing. In late 2023, Insomniac Games was hacked and a playable version of Marvel's Wolverine found its way online. Three years later, and that game is finally about to be officially released to the public. There's no indication that a build of GTA 6 will find its way online, but the situation is ceratinly unique and disruptive to Rockstar.

As for the newly leaked footage itself, some thought it was obtained by hacking Rockstar, similar to the big leak for the game that happened in 2022. As it turns out, there may be more here than meets the eye, as the hacker spelled out their own name with bullets in-game in one of the leaked videos. This seems to suggest that the leaker is actually in possession of a working build of the game, but we don't know much else on the matter. Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive have yet to comment on the situation, so all we can really do is speculate right now.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected to officially unveil its gameplay next week on August 27 via an event on Netflix and, later in the day, YouTube. Not much is known about how long the event will be or the exact specifics of what will be shown, but it's hyped up to be the biggest look at the game to date.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will release on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 on November 19.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

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Worms: The Board Game Is on Sale for Its Lowest Price Ever at Amazon

You're likely already familiar with the Worms video game series. It's a traditionally multiplayer game where you take your worms to all-out war with your opponent. There's bazookas, there's bombs, and there's almost always a whole lot of mayhem. Taking all of that chaos and bringing it to the tabletop may seem impossible, but it has in fact been done before.

Worms: The Board Game was first released back in 2024 by Mantic Games. It's normally available for around $40, but Amazon has dropped the price down to $25.97 for the first time ever.

The Worms board game is pretty straightforward, making it a solid option for beginners. You can play with up to four players, each of which will control their own team of four worms. Over about 45 minutes of playtime, you will battle each other to the death, blasting each other and the battlefield apart in true Worms fashion. Once one of the player's team of worms has been completely eliminated, the game ends, and the person with the most worms left is declared the winner.

What we said in our review

IGN reviewed Worms: The Board game back in 2024. Here's a quick summary of what we thought of the gameplay:

"Worms has a competent design that occasionally produces brilliant moments of carnage, but ultimately offers an experience that is somewhat thin and faint. This is a game that's easy to forget, best suited to eat up some time with laughter and nonsense." - Charlie Theel

Worms: The Board game may not be one of the best board games we've reviewed over the last few years, but it's still a fun way to kill some time (and worms) with friends. If you're looking for a tabletop experience that doesn't take itself too seriously, it's definitely worth picking up at this price.

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Jacob Kienlen is a Senior Audience Development Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and 10 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different pop culture topics -- from TV series to books and the latest LEGO sets..

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Riot to End Active Development for 2XKO in December 2026, Online Play to Remain Unaffected

In one of the more heartbreaking developments in the games industry this year, Riot’s League of Legends fighting game, 2XKO, will officially end active development in December.

The writing has been on the wall for some time now, but the official news still hit the fighting game community like a freight train. The 2XKO team explained the situation in a blog post on August 20, admitting that there simply aren’t enough active players to justify continued support.

“Over the last few months, we’ve been monitoring 2XKO’s trajectory closely, and what we’ve seen is painting a clear, consistent picture: while a lot of you jumped in to try the game and there's an incredible community that plays every day, we haven’t seen enough players stick with the game to get to a path toward sustainability,” their post reads.

With a heavy heart, the @Play2XKO team shares an update about the future.
- Active development will end in December.
- The final content patch goes live in October.
- Servers stay online.
- In-game purchases made before August 20 will be refunded.https://t.co/3UQF7kh5S4 pic.twitter.com/FKquzTd6xc

— Riot Games (@riotgames) August 20, 2026

As of right now, 2XKO will remain online beyond 2026, and offline play will not be affected. The team will continue to introduce new content throughout the rest of the year, including feature improvements, two new champions in Lux and Samira, and a final bug fix patch in December.

It’s unclear if this will remain true in the future, though, as the wording of Riot’s blog post made it seem as though the status of active online play is subject to change. “We’ll give advanced notice if any of that changes,” it reads.

The team went on to give a preview of what’s coming next for the game: In the coming months, Riot will disable KO Points purchases, refund all purchases made prior to August 20, add a purchasable bundle of nearly all 2XKO cosmetic content for $39.99, and make most items available for Credits. Riot will also unlock most gameplay content, including all champions.

It’s also removing systems like Battle Passes, KO Points, Champion Tokens, seasons, and events, as well as disabling ranked lobbies to better streamline the casual lobby experience. “Ranked lobbies will be disabled to ensure that we can matchmake within a single pool of players per server,” the post explains. “Casual lobbies will still be matchmade by skill, so you should still expect to see players around your skill level.” Private lobbies will remain unaffected by these changes.

Notably, the 2XKO Competitive Series will continue through the end of 2026, but after that, it’s gone for good. Riot will continue to support players and tournament organizers during this time, including providing prizing for all Major and Challenger events. The final Competitive Series event will still take place in November. 2027 and onwards, TOs can continue to run both offline and online events featuring the game using their community competition guidelines.

The team went on to explain why development for the game is ending, saying “diehard tag fighter players loved 2XKO, but most other fighting game players struggled to find reasons to stick with the game. …We saw no meaningful, sustained change in 2XKO’s trajectory; only a fraction of what it would take to trend toward sustainability. Over time it became clear it would be impossible for us to continue actively developing the game as we are today.”

Although the team looked at all available options — reducing the size of their workforce (something that happened back in February), adjusting patch schedules, and changing their business model — they discovered that “finishing the rest of our work-in-progress content and sunsetting active development was the best route forward for players and Rioters.”

Needless to say, the response from the FGC hasn’t been positive. It even sparked a response from Evo, the world’s largest fighting game tournament, which wrote: “Not the news we wanted to hear today. Sending love to the team who worked so hard to bring the game to life.”

“I feel terrible for the 2XKO team and so sad for myself and everyone who loves this game,” one player wrote on X. “Shame on Riot for the way they turn their backs on games they develop that don't have LoL numbers.”

“Riot really needs to stop cancelling everything that isn't as big as LoL. You're never gonna reach that level of success again. It's unrealistic to shit-can everything (and everyone) that doesn't reach that bar,” another said.

As previously mentioned, the writing has been on the wall for 2XKO for some time now. Players feared the worst after Riot laid off dozens of the game’s development team back in February, worrying that this move heralded the eventual death of the title. Unfortunately, it seems they were right, though there's at least some silver lining with servers remaining online for the time being.

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

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'I Bet Many of You Would Not Like It' — Halo Co-Creator Says He Would Make Series 'Darker' if He Made a New Game

The co-creator of Halo claims fans wouldn't like his vision for new games in the series if he were still working on the franchise.

Marcus Lehto outlined his vision on Twitter, saying he would have a darker and more "grounded military feel" if he made a new Halo game. He believes that many fans wouldn't actually like it and it wouldn't be "everyone's Halo." He went on to note that, although he would respect the current lore of the Halo universe, he would "bench" it to pave the way for a new narrative future for new and old fans alike.

When a fan asked if his vision was close to something like Halo: Reach, Lehto pushed back and seemed to express displeasure with that game: "God no." Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski chimed in on the thread, noting that he wanted to see a "hard R" Halo game, likely suggesting something more edgy and violent. Lehto responded by saying he would want Bleszinski's help with such a thing, prompting the Gears of War creator to invite Lehto to DM him.

I would probably bench much of the current lore - respect it, but build a new future narrative for both the old and new audiences which makes much more sense.

— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) August 19, 2026

Later on, Lehto told fans that his vision is "fanciful" and doubts Xbox CEO Asha Sharma "gives a s**t." In essence, don't expect any of this to become a reality, at least under the Halo IP. He did, however, offer a piece of advice to leadership: "Halo MUST be built by a local team together, not outsourced around the globe to a group that has ZERO investment in making something great," he said.

This is partially in reference to the fact Halo Studios utilizes a lot of contractors with steady turnover. In many cases, these contractors are cut loose once their project is over, and they bring in a new batch of developers on the next game. Halo: Campaign Evolved experienced a lot of difficulties as a result of outsourcing, and the development challenges reportedly led to leadership diverting resources from a new Halo multiplayer game to save the remake. Lehto has also been outspoken in criticizing the recent Halo remake.

As of right now, the future for Halo is unclear. It seems like a Halo 2 remake may happen at some point and there will almost certainly be another mainline game. What that next step looks like remains up in the air, however.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beta Will Fix Issues That Have Plagued the Series for the Better Part of a Decade

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta will fix some issues that have plagued the series for the better part of a decade.

In a new blog post, Activision said it is reducing the number of times players will be prompted with the "update requires restart" message. For the last six years or so, Call of Duty players have been forced to restart their game right after booting up to apply new updates and patches. It's extremely annoying and slows down how fast you can get into the action. With the Modern Warfare 4 beta, the team is planning to reduce how often you see this upon booting up the game, but you might still get this screen if you're playing while an update is pushed out.

During the beta, your platform will dictate how much you see this screen. PC and PS5 will see it the least, with it only expected if you're actively playing during an update, while Xbox Series X and S and Switch 2 will continue to be prompted to restart the game. However, once the game launches, this situation is expected to be reduced across all platforms.

In addition to this change, the beta won't be a part of the larger Call of Duty HQ launcher. As many fans know, many Call of Duty titles fall under a single umbrella rather than being standalone executables. That has changed over time, with games like Modern Warfare 3 being offloaded into standalone releases, but Modern Warfare 4's beta will debut as a standalone file. That means you won't need to have the entire Call of Duty HQ app installed to play the beta, which should create a more seamless experience for fans.

As for when you can jump in on the action, Modern Warfare 4's beta begins on Friday, August 21 at 11am PT on all platforms except for Nintendo Switch 2, as Switch 2 players will only be able to join in on the beta's second weekend starting on August 28. Pre-loading for the beta will begin on August 20 at 9am PT. In addition to multiplayer content, the beta will also include a level from Modern Warfare 4's campaign in a first for the first-person shooter series.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

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