Sea of Remnants Is Like a Puppet-Punk Persona at Sea | IGN Preview

Sea of Remnants has come a long way since we first looked at it last year. High on style, but short on details at the time, we praised the aesthetics, even if we needed to see more from the story and gameplay to know if it has the substance to go with it. Thankfully, we got a fresh look at Summer Game Fest 2026, and what a difference a year makes. The turn-based swashbuckling and realtime ship combat, combined with a healthy dose of mystery and outrageous characters, has my spyglass trained squarely on the Sea of Remnants.

As the demo begins, it’s just me in a rowboat, the star-filled nights sky overhead, and the sea stretching infinitely in every direction. As I row forward, the ethereal music swells, and luminous sea creatures begin to coalesce around me. Just off my starboard, a whale made of light, shades of navy and turquoise, breaches the surface. A fleet of wraithlike boats join me in formation. Eventually, I come to a solitary ship's wheel extending above what I presume must be a shipwreck. As I reach out to touch it, a ghostly ship, a full-sized galleon, suddenly emerges from beneath the waves. The non-caporeal vessel passes straight into me, ignoring the solid wood of my boat entirely. It disappears just as quickly, as the moon itself rises from the sea, and my screen fades to black.

Sea of Remnants is a gorgeous, open-world fantasy RPG set in a world of ocean exploration and piracy. Already the vibrant colors and music create a spectacle tugging at my heartstrings. Up close, everything has a wooden puppetry aesthetic – a charming, hand crafted look that reminds me of Laiki, the studio behind modern stop motion classics like Coraline or ParaNorman.

Everything has a wooden puppetry aesthetic – a charming, hand crafted look that reminds me of Laiki, the studio behind modern stop motion classics like Coraline or ParaNorman. 

Now I’m at the controls of a full-sized ship. The calm seas are gone and a kraken-like creature is attacking my vessel. We are circling clockwise around the body, though tentacles the size of buildings lash out at us from beneath the water. I take careful aim with my cannons and fire, repelling the appendages as I move to fire upon the center of the beast. The ship shudders under its furious assault, but as I approach, its mouth is open, and I activate an ability that slows down time and allows me to stagger it with a carefully placed volley into its maw. However, this just seems to enrage the beast. It begins to gather energy in a massive orb of light above its body. I pour everything I have into it, but to no avail; it unleashes a burst of incredible power, and I’m wiped completely from the sea.

Your ship is your key to exploration. As the name suggests, the world in Sea of Remnants is made up of islands connected by vast tracks of water. Diver flora and fauna and dynamic weather color the journey. As you adventure around the world you’ll be building up your ship, upgrading and customizing it to allow you to explore further, and survive the dangers at sea. Ship combat is like a midpoint between The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. Simple controls and a mix of enemy ships and fantastical creatures resemble the former, while the ability to move and shoot, and importance of positioning to go with your aim are more like the latter.

A figure is standing over me. It’s fuzzy, I can’t make out the details, but he’s shining a flashlight into my eyes and asking me philosophical questions about the nature of death, hypotheticals about walking through a forest, and exploring what little I remember. I answer as best I can before fading away once again. When I come to, Sigmund, the figure I’d been speaking to, greets me properly, and offers to renovate my largely featureless body. With his help my puppet gains a flowing mane of hair, some stylish facial hair painted on my wooden face, and I don a stylish frock coat in place of my tattered cloak. Finally, I look like the pirate-puppet of my dreams.

As you sail the Sea of Remnants you’ll meet new characters, form your crew, and recover your lost memories. The first clue on that journey is a compass, my only possession, and it points towards Feffers, a tavern where sailors are known to store their valuables before departing on voyages. As I emerge from the workshop, I find I’m in a vibrant maritime town called Orbtopia. Tall buildings and cobblestone streets stretch around me, and hundreds of unique, named NPCs populate the area. After a slight mishap involving a chicken pilfering my compass, I find my way to Feffers.

Feffers is… a lot. Funky pirate tunes fill the air in a tavern the size of a department store. What appears to be a massive, mechanical octopus sits atop a round bar at the center. Tables and chairs, many filled with colorful patrons, are scattered about, with a stage at the far end. I make my way to the bartender and ask about anything I may have left behind. He pulls out a suitcase and hands it over, but before I have a chance to examine the contents, all hell breaks loose.

The commotion begins with a girl, RS. She swings around the room on a rope, distributing flyers recruiting for her crew. Unfortunately, her antics result in a cup of grog landing in the face of a particularly ornery looking pirate by the name of Whitebeard, who sends his goons to punish the lass for the insult. Her attempts to fight and evade probably would have worked if not for an ill-timed collision with one particular innocent bystander (me). Suddenly we are surrounded, and I’m dragged into a fight.

Sea of Remnants uses a turn-based battle system, like you’d see in Expedition 33 or your favorite classic JRPGs. The ruffians take the first turn and chip away at the health of the girl and I with some up close dagger slashes and a well-aimed thrown bottle. An action bar on the left of the screen lays out the order; I’m up, and I retaliate with some strong slashes from my sword, while RS deals some AOE damage with some sort of thrown concoction, finishing off one enemy and taking a chunk off the other.

Behind the pirate theme, the combat shares a lot of DNA with classic fantasy RPGs. Melee and ranged attacks do a lot of the work, but buffs, debuffs, and explosive potions factor in to create a layer of fine strategy. Your crewmates have unique weapon skills to contribute, like RS’s “Cutest Doll”, which, despite its fuzzy exterior, operates more like a rocket launcher. I put that to work wiping out the lineup of enemy pirates, though Whitebeard quickly replenishes them from his massive crew. This particular fight is pretty heavily scripted, so I can’t quite tell how good or deep the battle system is just yet, but the quick action and stylish flourishes definitely give off a Persona vibe.

The quick action and stylish flourishes definitely give off a Persona vibe. 

With no hope to overcome these numbers, RS drops a smoke bomb and sprints out the exit. After a short pursuit, I catch up to her on the beach. She’s not thrilled that I apparently ruined her recruiting effort, but after having her back at the barroom brawl I’m forgiven. She doesn’t know any more about my amnesia than I do, but when I crack open the suitcase the barman gave me, her face lights up. She recognizes a photograph, and the tattered remnants of a flag. We must be connected somehow. With this realization, we agree to form a crew together, and set sail on her ship to begin our adventure in earnest.

With the wind at our backs and answers ahead of us, our adventure begins in earnest on the Sea of Remnants. Sure, “I have amnesia” is a bit worn as a storytelling trope in RPGs, but the charm of the artstyle and characters more than makes up for it, and I’m intrigued to learn more about them and the world – especially if the battle system comes together and the ship combat continues to be an exciting spectacle. We will have to wait and see where these winds take us when Sea of Remnants releases later this year on PlayStation 5, PC, and mobile.

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CD Projekt Red Co-CEO Hopes Witcher 4 Wins Back Players After 'Heartbreaking' Cyberpunk 2077 Launch

CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michał Nowakowski thinks the studio has yet to complete a "full redemption arc" after the "heartbreaking" launch of Cyberpunk 2077, but he's hoping it can win back some fans with The Witcher 4.

Nowakowski reflected on the Poland-based game developer's journey during a recent conversation with Edge (via GamesRadar). The interview saw him open up about how "heartbreaking" the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 was for the team – and for fans.

"I'm not 100 per cent convinced we went through the full redemption arc," Nowakowski said. "I'm convinced that we lost the faith of some people indefinitely, and that's a fair thing."

It's been nearly six years since Cyberpunk 2077 undid much of the goodwill CD Projekt Red had accumulated following the release of its 2015 hit, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Years of excitement for the futuristic dystopian RPG quickly fizzled out after launch-day players were met with a long list of game-breaking bugs, annoying visual glitches, and frequent crashes.

These issues were especially prevalent on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and although early sales managed to see CD Projekt Red quickly recoup its development and marketing costs, the company's reputation had clearly taken a massive hit in only a few days.

Now, Cyberpunk 2077 is in much, much better shape, and it has managed to sell at least 35 million copies. Still, Nowakowski feels there's work to be done when it comes to how fans see CD Projekt Red, but he's hoping games like The Witcher 4 will help win them back.

"But I do hope we will be able to make it back – if not with The Witcher 4, then with whatever comes next," he said.

Nowakowski continued, explaining how CD Projekt Red changed in the aftermath of the launch of Cyberpunk 2077: "We were left with seasoned, battle-hardened veterans; leaders who were able to carry a different kind of challenge on their shoulders."

"Our dream is to be making more games, although we never want to turn into the studio that's going to be launching a big game every year," he added. "It may happen, but this is not the goal. We have a rough 10-year rolling plan, but the goal is not to flood the games market with CDPR games. We just want to make really cool games, and we don't want to have a ton of IPs either. We're not planning to grow in that way."

Although development on Cyberpunk 2077 has largely concluded and The Witcher 4 has no release date, CD Projekt Red isn't leaving fans with nothing to play. A surprise expansion for The Witcher 3 called Songs of the Past, for example, is expected to launch in 2027. Meanwhile, the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel known as Cyberpunk 2 also entered pre-production last year, and a Witcher remake is also in development.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

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Nioh 3 for PS5 Has Hit a New Low Price at Amazon Ahead of Prime Day

We're just days away from this year's Amazon Prime Day sale, and if you're eager to score some video game deals during it, the retailer won't make you wait. We're already spotting some excellent early deals that are worth adding to your cart. At the top of that list right now is Nioh 3 for PS5, which has dropped to its lowest price so far at Amazon of $49.99 (see it here).

If you've had this one on your wishlist, this is a great opportunity to grab it and save $20. Keep in mind, though, that it may not stay at this price for long since Amazon currently has a 'limited time deal' tag on it. Hopefully it lasts through Prime Day, but in the event it doesn't, now is better than never to pick it up.

While we're only halfway through the year, Nioh 3 has landed as one of our favorite games so far. Earning a 9/10 in its review, IGN's Mitchell Saltzman praised it by saying "Even in a genre that’s become as saturated as the soulslike, there’s still nothing that hits quite like the Nioh series, and Nioh 3 stands out as the best of the trilogy."

Saltzman also highlighted that it, "delivers best-in-class combat that revitalizes the established formula with a fantastic split between Samurai and Ninja styles, as well as a triumphant move to an open-world structure." If you've been craving that kind of gaming experience this summer, it sounds like an excellent addition to your library.

This certainly isn't the last we'll see of good gaming deals from Amazon, either. Make sure to set a reminder for June 23 so you don't miss out on Amazon Prime Day's big kickoff. We'll be sure to highlight anymore exciting game deals that cross our radar as well, so you can stock up on some new options to play this year.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

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7 Burning Questions for the GTA 6 Pre-Order Launch

GTA 6 is alive! Rockstar has confirmed that pre-orders launch on June 25, which means we’re just a week away from finally getting some meaningful answers on what to expect when the most anticipated video game of all time comes out this November.

With pre-orders beginning on June 25, we can expect to get answers from some of the biggest questions not just fans have, but the video game industry has. With GTA 6, Rockstar has perhaps the biggest entertainment launch on its hands. This is a huge moment for the video game industry, too. What Rockstar and parent company Take-Two do in November could be a reset moment for video games, and setting up rival publishers to follow suit.

I’ve got seven burning questions for the pre-order reveal, which I discuss below. But make sure to hit the comments to let us know what you’re hoping to see from the big GTA 6 pre-order day, too.

What is the GTA 6 price?

This has to be the biggest unanswered question around GTA 6 right now. Will Rockstar stick with $70, or will it go higher? Some analysts have suggested a $100 price point isn’t out of the question. Either way, what Rockstar does here will set a new standard for the industry. It’s hard to see any publisher getting away with charging $80 for a video if GTA 6 costs $70. Similarly, if GTA 6 goes to $80, $90, or even higher, you can bet other publishers will follow Rockstar’s lead. At a time when the video game industry is suffering, all eyes are on the GTA 6 price.

What are the GTA 6 editions?

We can bank on a standard edition for GTA 6, but will Rockstar release a fancy physical collector’s edition of GTA 6? And, if there are various editions, how much will they cost, and what extras will they include?

How will GTA 6 run on the consoles?

This is a big one. GTA 6 is coming out on PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S only. So, what frame-rate and resolution can we expect for each version? The game will run best on PS5 Pro, you’d imagine, but at what frame-rate? Is GTA 6 30fps across all platforms? How will it hold up on the weakest console performance wise, the Xbox Series S? Hopefully we’ll get some answers next week.

When will GTA 6 Trailer 3 be released?

With pre-orders going live you’d like to think a new GTA 6 trailer will be released. Could June 25 finally be the day Trailer 3 hits the internet? Perhaps Rockstar doesn’t need to release a new trailer, such is the existing hype for the game. Still, fans are depsertaely hoping for a fresh look at the game as they’re pre-ordering it. Fingers crossed for more than just a new animated image!

What will GTA 6 include?

Despite the fact that GTA 6 is only a handful of months away, we know very little about how the game actually works, and what it will include. What is the scope of the story? Will it include any bonus modes? And what about multiplayer? Will GTA 6 launch with a new version of GTA Online, or will that come later? Can we transfer our progress from the current GTAO to the new GTAO? Will it require a separate purchase to play? Will there be a GTA 6 season pass? A battle pass? Some other way of making extra money? With pre-orders going live, surely answers are coming.

Will GTA 6 have story mode DLCs?

GTA 5 is one of the best-selling games of all time, and GTA Online continues to make a huge amount of money. Fans desperately wanted story DLC, but it didn’t happen. Will GTA 6 have story mode DLC? This is a huge questions fans have that will hopefully be answered if, with pre-orders going live, we get a sense of what’s coming post-launch, especially if future DLC is included in a special edition.

And finally… how about that GTA 6 PC version?

With GTA 6 pre-orders going live on console, it feels unlikely that Rockstar will confirm the inevitable PC version next week, given it would probably cause some fans to hold off if they know it’s coming. But this question just won’t go away. Strauss Zelnick has spent years dodging the question at this point, so hopefully it can be put to bed sooner rather than later. We all know GTA 6 will eventually launch on PC. So the question is more a case of when, not if.

While we wait for answers to these questions and more, check out IGN’s analysis of the GTA 6 cover art, our report on the fresh look at Vice City, and how fans are finally accepting that GTA 6 won’t get delayed again.

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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Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok Preview: A Deeper Look at the New Summon System

Granblue Fantasy: Relink introduced a brand new audience to the floating islands of Zegagrande and the adventuring Skyfarers of the Granblue Fantasy series back when it launched in 2024. Marking the first console RPG adventure for the primarily mobile gacha series, Relink let players pull off dazzling arrays of anime spectacle as they worked together either with their CPU-controlled party or with their friends to tackle quests and monsters. Now, we are mere weeks away from diving into the massive new expansion, Endless Ragnarok, and during SGF we had a chance to sit down and speak with the creative director, Tetsuya Fukuhara, and narrative director, Sanshiro Hidaka, but also get some hands-on time with the new expansion.

Some of the most jaw-dropping moments of Relink were when Granblu's heroine, Lyria, would summon her big ol' lizard pal, Bahamut, to let him do what dragons do best - rain fire/laser breath down on chumps. Lyria's ability to summon Bahamut is a pretty big deal in the lore of the series, so it always bummed me out a bit that these moments were exceptionally rare in Relink. Serving more like set pieces than an actual system, imagine my surprise and delight when I saw that Summons was going to be a fleshed-out and powerful new mechanic in Endless Ragnarok.

Restricted to the expansion content and new chaos difficulty, these powerful allies are tied to a new bar that will fill as you fight. Depending on the strength of the summon, each will require one, two, or three bars of this new resource to call out onto the field. Instead of a lifebar, they have a timer and will stay out until that runs out. This fact makes summons not only a great offensive option but also a perfect option to absorb those particularly nasty Overdrive attacks that bosses in Relink like to bust out, since summons are invincible.

Multiplayer is a big part of Granblue Fantasy: Relink, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that summons can be used when you play with your friends too, and aren’t just a single-player-only treat.

Multiplayer is a big part of Granblue Fantasy: Relink, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that summons can be used when you play with your friends too, and aren’t just a single-player-only treat. When playing online, each player comes with their own set of four summons, but only a single summon can be fielded at any given time. That said, while you and your friends may not all be able to terrorize the field as giant creatures of destruction, you will be able to string a chain of summons together. Each subsequent summon one of your party members calls forth will have its cost reduced by one, down to a minimum of one. This will incentivize players to bring out cheaper single or double cost summons first so the most powerful options can be brought out for cheap!

On how summons came to be, Fukuhara-san shared that the system was a rather late addition in the expansion’s development and he wasn't sure how the team would respond to the idea. “So, from the beginning, there was the wish to have everyone you meet as an option, but he was expecting that there would be pushback and that along with the staff would say, ‘Oh, we can only do half, we won't be able to meet deadlines’, but instead the response was the vision as intended. So, it did require a lot of elbow grease, but everyone was having a lot of fun while they were doing it.”

Some summons have already been revealed in earlier trailers with Relink bosses, including Furycane and Nazarbonju, but the full number reaches past 100, with a mix of both imposing beasts, citizens, and some silly ones too. When asked for each of their favorite summons, both Fukuhara-san and Hidaka-san’s picks fell on that lighter side: “There's like a crab rain summon where you just rain crabs on the field. And depending on how many of the Wee Snippers you have collected, the amount of crabs that rain down will actually increase,” Fukuhara-san tells us. Hidaka-san continues: “I really like the cat summon, where if you do it well, a lot of cats come out, and the more cats you have, the more power you have, much like in real life,” he laughs.

If the summons aren’t selling Endless Ragnarok for you, the expansion offers far more than just that. Alongside a new story and quests to uncover, players can test their mettle with the new Chaos difficulty, experiment with the Master Traits for improved character specialization and customization, or dive into Conflux, an intriguing roguelike mode. Crossplay support and various quality-of-life improvements and UI updates fill out the rest of the package, costing existing Relink players $29.99. Even with the small glimpse we’ve had, Endless Ragnarok looks to be packed surprisingly full for an expansion.

I can’t think of a single game that hasn’t been made better by the ability to summon giant creatures to fight for you, and it looks like Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok continues to prove that theory. Thankfully, veteran and prospective Skyfarers won’t have long to wait as Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok launches on July 9 and comes either as an upgrade for owners of the base game or together with it for $59.99 on PlayStation 4/5, Steam, and now Nintendo Switch 2.

Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 Are Officially Being Ported to New Platforms Next Month

Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 are being brought to new platforms in July, courtesy of Iron Galaxy.

Treyarch confirmed today that its beloved Call of Duty games are making a grand return via new ports, courtesy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 developer Iron Galaxy. These ports will only be available on PlayStation, though it's unclear which PlayStation platforms. The initial leak for these ports indicated they'd likely be available on PS4 and, as a result, would also be available to play on PS5 through backwards compatibility. It's currently unclear if PS5 will get native ports.

Treyarch also confirmed that the ports will include campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies, so players will get to experience the full packages. It's not known if players will be able to carry over their progress, if cross-play will be enabled with other versions, or if these ports will simply live in isolation.

While Treyarch made no mention of any upgrades coming to Xbox or PC, keep in mind both of these games are readily available on those platforms already. Both Black Ops games have been available on Xbox for years thanks to the platform's far more extensive backwards compatibility environment, but there's no native support for PS3 titles on PS4 or PS5. Either way, it's exciting news and somewhat unexpected since Call of Duty has largely steered clear of re-releases over the years.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was remastered in 2016 and was a huge hit, but it also took focus away from Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. A remaster of Modern Warfare 2's campaign followed in 2020, but fans were upset that the game's iconic multiplayer mode was left on the cutting room floor.

Fans have speculated that Activision has avoided such projects since, as it can split the player base of newer Call of Duty games.

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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Epic Says Unreal Engine 6 Will Let Your Fortnite Skins Pop Up in Other Games

With past mainline versions of Unreal Engine, Epic would usually kick things off with a flashy tech demo that pushes photorealism to a new level. That didn't happen with Unreal Engine 6. Because while the company showed off the same Rocket League UE6 teaser that it did a couple weeks ago, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney spent way more time focusing on his vision of an open games ecosystem.

The idea, on the surface, is to get rid of the barriers between different games, letting you use skins and other cosmetics that you buy in other Unreal Engine 6 games in Fortnite, and vice-versa. It's a cool idea. After all, I barely play Fortnite, only ever peeking in when there's a cool Festival season going on (I miss Guitar Hero), but even I have a library full of cosmetic items that I'd love to import into other games. Unreal Engine 6, in theory, will let that happen.

In the past, this would have been incredibly difficult to actually implement. You'd have to independently model and animate a cosmetic across every game you'd want to actually use it in. But with Unreal 6, because the systems are going to be the same across any game using the engine, it sounds like you'll just be able to drop items from one game into another and it'll just work. Of course, only time will tell whether or not that'll actually work out.

More Than Just Fortnite Skins

The most immediate version of Epic's vision for Unreal Engine 6 will probably come in the form of Fortnite skins, but it really is just the surface. During his presentation, Tim Sweeney talked about how he has a vision for gaming something akin to the open web, where gamers can move from game to game, taking all of their digital belongings wherever they go.

Again, that sounds cool, but it's almost like I've heard this exact song and dance before, when Meta spent a few years hyping the Metaverse. The idea there was incredibly similar – a persistent online marketplace and ecosystem made up of a bunch of different companies, where digital possessions would follow users. And, well, the Metaverse kind of fizzled out without ever really amounting to anything.

I'm sure that Tim Sweeney took Meta's failure in mind, but it seems like he at least has a more realistic vision of what it could look like, and it helps that the Unreal Engine is already so central to game development. In short, Sweeney described a world where every game company is working together to create a centralized gaming ecosystem, with Epic, presumably, at the center.

All of this would be really good for Epic's bottom line, but Sweeney insisted that the company wouldn't be an 'overlord', saying "We want a system with no overlords, we’ve been spending some time fighting against overlords in the industry with some amount of success. And we don’t want to be the next one, rather we want to be a partner for all companies in the industry."

The 'overlords' he's talking about are clearly a reference to Epic's feuds against other digital store owners like Apple and Valve, and it's hard to not draw comparisons between those companies and what Unreal Engine 6 is trying to do. After all, Epic does collect fees on any game that uses Unreal, as long as it clears a certain revenue threshold.

But unlike a digital storefront that just collects a percentage of any game sold, Epic is hoping that this new interconnected gaming platform will provide game developers some added value – especially as it gets harder to make a profit in gaming.

"The Arithmetic Doesn't Lie"

At the end of the showcase, Tim Sweeney described the gaming industry as in a state of "both crisis and opportunity," because while more people are playing games than ever before, big-budget AAA games are having a harder time making a profit. It's a tale we hear over and over again, but the Epic CEO spelled it out yet again: "we're often seeing hundreds of millions in dev costs, followed by tens of millions in revenue, and dev costs are continuing to grow."

And, again, like we've heard in the past, the answer is apparently in microtransactions. According to Sweeney, "the economy is shifting from buying games to buying things in games" and "whether you're a fan of this or not, the arithmetic of it is undeniable." In his eye, this is a boon for huge games with established communities, but it's just another bar to clear for new games hoping to stay alive for more than a few months.

Really, you just have to look at how many smaller multiplayer games have gone live within the last year or two, only to fizzle out and die with little to no fanfare. Just look at something like Exoprimal or Concord for an example. Sweeney's explanation of this does make some sense. After all, it's hard to get motivated to buy a bunch of cosmetic junk in a game that you don't know if it will live for more than a few months, but the math looks a lot different for a game that you've played for years and you know isn't going anywhere.

I, for one, rarely spend any money at all in newer games, but I don't really think twice before buying a new mount or something in World of Warcraft. And that's where Unreal Engine 6 comes in. By creating this interconnected web of games through a common engine, you can buy skins and such in a new, smaller game, and know that those items will go with you when you inevitably move on to a different game. That means the devs of the smaller game get some extra cash, and it probably also means that Epic gets to enjoy a bunch of cosmetic skins they didn't have to actually make come to Fortnite, and still get a cut from their revenue.

Only time will tell whether or not this vision of Unreal Engine 6 is going to save gaming or whatever lofty visions Tim Sweeney has for it. But, we won't have to wait long to see it in action. Beyond the bones of this concept already existing in UEFN, or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, Unreal Engine 6 will enter early access in late 2027.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

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