Xbox Delays Fable to 2027

Xbox has announced a delay to its upcoming Fable reboot, which will now launch in February 2027.

The long-awaited RPG had been due to launch this fall on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, though Microsoft had not set a specific date for its arrival. Now, due to Xbox's busy release schedule (and a certain game named GTA 6), it's coming next year instead.

"This year is packed with incredible games for Xbox players to enjoy, from Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 to Control Resonant, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Grand Theft Auto VI," Xbox wrote in a post on social media.

"In order to plan our game launches through the holidays, in a way that works best for players, we’re moving Fable to February 2027 so it can have the dedicated moment it deserves. We’re excited to be giving players a major new look at Fable, as well as our broader lineup, at Xbox Games Showcase on June 7."

The news follows speculation last month that Microsoft had delayed Fable internally — something that the official Fable social media account stepped in to deny, pointing instead to its previously announced fall launch window.

Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb reported last month that there had been concern at Microsoft about Fable potentially running up against the behemoth that is GTA 6, which now appears to be locked in to its November 19, 2026 release date.

"I'll say that I’ve heard that Fable has been pushed internally," Grubb said. "That doesn’t mean that it’s coming out next year. Apparently, they’re still trying to get it out this year, but they are worried about the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6. And so if it's getting delayed beyond the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, that could push it into December, which might make it a prime candidate to get delayed into 2027. So while Xbox will have a lot of games coming out this year, that’s one that there's still a big question mark around."

Microsoft still has many other release dates to solidify, such as for Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day. Fans will undoubtedly get a clearer idea of Microsoft's release plans during its Xbox Games Showcase. Fable and Gears of War: E-Day will definitely be there, and perhaps we'll see more of InXile's Clockwork Revolution, Undead Labs' State of Decay 3, and maybe even Hideo Kojima’s OD.

Yesterday, the Microsoft-owned Activision announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which will launch on October 23.

Earlier this year, IGN spoke with Fable developer Playground Games about its bid to bring back the beloved British role-playing series, and we learned that not only are there 1,000 fully voiced NPCs, but you can marry every single one of them.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Team Is Evaluating Skill-Based Matchmaking Following Black Ops 7

Infinity Ward appears to be taking a careful approach to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's skill-based matchmaking after Black Ops 7. The developer told CharlieIntel that MW4's skill-based matchmaking will “not revert directly back to pre-Black Ops 7” and that the team is evaluating data from last year's title to inform its decisions.

Although Black Ops 7 was a divisive Call of Duty game and was a fall from grace commercially, there were some changes that fans hoped developers would retain. Some feared that the game's poor reception may lead to everything being reverted, but that may not be the case. Treyarch listened to fans when it came to the franchise's skill-based matchmaking, which has been notoriously punishing for years. Players have often felt that if they perform above average for a few matches, the game will put them into lobbies that are way above their skill level.

Not only that, but it wouldn't matter if you found a lobby of people who were equal in skill. The game's lobbies disbanded after every match. That approach made it hard to have a consistent and fun experience with Call of Duty. Black Ops 7 largely fixed this as lobbies were persistent, and skill had a minimal impact on matchmaking. Matches were more varied in terms of the players you'd get paired up with, which some felt was a much fairer and more reasonable approach to multiplayer.

It's unclear exactly what Modern Warfare 4 will do, but it doesn't seem like Infinity Ward is ignoring Treyarch's efforts. Previously, players felt like Infinity Ward wasn't as receptive to player feedback as it could be, but things may be shifting.

We got to go hands-on with Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer earlier this month and feel like it's a notable improvement from previous games with the removal of weapon bloom, fluid movement, and tighter gunplay. Modern Warfare 4 has also been freed from the shackles of last-gen consoles, allowing Infinity Ward the freedom to make something more expansive.

"Modern Warfare 4 feels like a confident step forward for the series, not because it's reinventing Call of Duty (it’s not), but because it stopped holding itself back," reads an excerpt from our preview. "It’s still Call of Duty at its core, but it finally feels like a version that isn’t constantly fighting its own limitations. And that alone makes it one of the more interesting multiplayer entries the franchise has had in a while."

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was properly revealed early on May 28, confirming that the game will center around a conflict between North and South Korea. Captain Price will return, though he will be at opposition with his allies from Task Force 141. As always, the game's story will take players around the globe in an effort to restore peace. Infinity Ward is also bringing back DMZ, an extraction mode previously introduced in Modern Warfare II. Warzone will also return once again, but will no longer be playable on last-gen consoles this fall.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will release on October 23 for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

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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007 First Light Review

Like the man himself, a James Bond game should ooze style and swagger. There’s no point in a timid tie-in with neither the balls nor ability to bring the Bond fantasy to life, and I’ve never particularly wanted one that simply gaffer tapes all the loudest bits of Call of Duty together and stuffs them into a tuxedo. What I’ve wanted is a Bond game that’s confident and charismatic; one that both ebbs patiently and peaks violently as it segues between social stealth, dangerous infiltrations, gadget-driven shenanigans, and destructive, never-tell-me-the-odds action. What I’ve wanted is a Bond game like 007 First Light – and what we got is the best Bond game I’ve ever played.

First Light’s greatest success is just how impressively developer IO Interactive has executed on its mission to create something it can call its own within a very established universe. What we get is something that’s unmistakably Bond – and respectfully adjacent to everything that has come before it – but confidently occupies its own space as a uniquely separate take.

That is, it never seems like a situation akin to 2001’s 007: Agent Under Fire – which felt like the series was in a holding pattern before EA cut another cheque for Pierce Brosnan. No, this is a fastidiously assembled world of its very own – inspired in all the key ways by the work of creator Ian Fleming and the expectations bred by the films, but tailored for IO’s take on the series like a bespoke suit. First Light has its own M, its own Q, and its own Bond – and, after playing it, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

First Light doesn’t rush this world building, patiently moving through Bond’s first encounter with MI6 as a Royal Navy aircrewman in the wrong place at the right time, to his initial double-0 training, and onto his transformative first field mission that sets up the core story to come. In another developer’s hands all of this may have been smooshed into a single opening tutorial, or partially handwaved off in a cutscene. Not so in First Light, which unfolds much more like a prestige TV series than a film. While I’ll stress vehemently that this is absolutely the last thing I’d want from current screen rights owner Amazon when it comes to Bond’s live-action future, for First Light’s purposes it works splendidly. It feels perfectly suited to sit back and play, say, a chapter at a time. There are 17 overall, and it took me around 18 hours to reach the end without rushing too much. The writing is excellent, blending a world of serious consequences with a steady supply of on-brand one-liners. The music is impeccable, too; a masterclass of restraint that sensibly limits the use of Bond’s iconic musical stinger to major moments, meaning I got chills each time it occurred.

The chapters are lengthy and rich with peripheral detail to explore, and this significantly bolsters First Light’s ability to build a world I can feel properly immersed in. The pace of both the action and the story is excellent, crescendoing brilliantly in its final act as the stakes explode (along with everything else) and IO takes a moment to fulfill one last Bond fantasy I’d feared it may have forgotten.

This world has been thoughtfully and convincingly fleshed out.

While I always felt properly propelled along, I have enjoyed the fact that – beyond a few time sensitive sequences and chases – First Light is more than happy to let you linger and absorb the detail. This is great as, since the world around Bond has been so thoughtfully and convincingly fleshed out, I found it largely impossible to blitz through. Whether it’s Bond’s London apartment, or the bustling MI6 headquarters packed with staffers, the iconic secret agent is seated in a believable world that doesn’t fall to pieces the second you try to scrutinize it. As a Bond fan, it’s delightfully immersive, and Easter eggs abound. You try moving through Q-Lab without pressing every button. Q’s helpless lackeys aren’t going to temporarily blind themselves, after all.

Perhaps above everything, I just adore the attention to detail – from the big-picture consideration of giving Bond the long, vertical scar on his right cheek the character boasted in his literary origins, to tiny embellishments like the scratched rims and ziptied trim on the busted-up, 2006 Aston Martin that acts as a test mule at MI6’s Malta-based training camp. If you don’t walk around and ogle it like I did, this car only spends about a minute or two on screen during the chapter. Yet the fact that IO saw fit to weather, damage, and field repair it like a teenager’s taped-up, track-day drift toy speaks volumes about where the studio set the bar for the level of authenticity it wanted to capture here – and I love that. Aston Martin is here with multiple models, as is Jaguar, Land Rover, and Triumph, and that’s meaningful. It doesn’t feel cynical; Bond is a British institution, and First Light surrounds him with others.

First Light is in rare air in this regard; it’s a licensed game built with an obsessive desire to faithfully bring an existing property to life. As its own take, it’s on a slightly different track to famously brilliant movie tie-ins like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, The Warriors, or even RoboCop: Rogue City – but IO’s commitment is the same. There are too many seamlessly embedded references to moments from various Bond films to argue that the movies aren’t at the bedrock of what the studio has built here.

First Light’s pace also allows us to marinate with these new riffs on the characters for a lot longer, which helps immensely. There’s no doubt that coming out of the gate with such a young version of Bond was a risk. Irish actor Patrick Gibson’s portrayal of a Bond in his late 20s – and brand new to the world of international espionage – is not initially the one we know. He’s an archetypal hotshot, cocky and inexperienced. He’s a successfully suave ladies man already, but encumbered with a little too much misplaced confidence elsewhere. However, this gives Gibson’s Bond room to grow as he becomes a product of all the new role models he’s suddenly found himself surrounded by.

These include Q (whose patient and more fatherly attitude makes sense in this context, because it now leaves room for him to potentially become a little more hilariously exasperated as Bond continues to break or lose everything he ever gives him) and Bond’s training mentor John Greenway (ably portrayed by British actor Lennie James in a similarly strong performance). The upshot here is that the Bond we get by the end is the patriotic, heroic, and appropriately horny man of mystery we’re very familiar with, but watching him get there was something we’d never seen before.

First Light typically looks quite fabulous, from its crowded clubs to its wide-open natural spaces.

With IO Interactive being the home of the Hitman series since its inception way back in the year 2000, First Light admittedly shares some very obvious DNA with its bald-and-barcoded stablemate. Running on the studio’s in-house engine, the look and feel are immediately familiar to me as a veteran player of the Hitman series. For the most part, this is a strength; Bond feels weighty and grounded as he smoothly moves, climbs, and vaults around, and First Light typically looks quite fabulous, from its crowded clubs to its wide-open natural spaces. Playing on a standard PS5, there were occasions where I found myself staring at a texture that seemed far murkier than it ought to be at such close proximity, but it’s otherwise sharp and packed with fine, granular detail.

The sandbox nature of Hitman’s level design is also here to a certain extent, albeit in the more managed fashion of 2012’s Hitman: Absolution. That is, First Light stitches together open areas that have multiple approaches with linear sequences you need to play the way the developers dictate.

There are levels here with large, crowded areas akin to those like the Paris fashion show in 2016’s Hitman, or the German nightclub in 2021’s Hitman 3, while other sections are a little more adjacent to something like the Uncharted series. The latter sequences are occasionally guilty of limitations that look a little silly in practice – like Bond’s inability to clamber up a small, rocky slope or duck under a waist-high booby-trap string. However, this is the kind of seam you can typically pick at in even the best third-person shooters in the business.

First Light also repurposes a lot of Hitman’s distraction-based sneaking. For instance, you can still turn on loud items and such to lure guards from their posts – only in this case it’s something Bond can do from afar thanks to the embrace of gadgets. Gadgets are obviously a core component of the 007 fantasy, and First Light features an array of them (my favourites are the laser and the missile pen). The only thing that gives me pause is IO’s solution to restrain their use. Gadgets are a consumable, so there’s a requirement to shuffle around and gather up battery power from loose phones, and replenish your chemical supply by scooping up gobs of hand sanitizer. The fact that there’s always so much of this stuff laying around means gathering it is just an arbitrary task, which arguably could’ve been easily replaced by a cooldown timer.

At any rate, I should note that this isn’t simply Agent 47 by way of His Majesty’s Secret Service, and there are a bunch of bespoke tweaks here that imbue First Light with its own, very distinctly Bond-branded flourishes. His abilities as a brawler put 47’s to shame, and there’s a layered system of dodges, counters, and satisfyingly devastating environment attacks. Melee combat is perhaps a little clunky at times, particularly when Bond finds himself swarmed, but it is nonetheless a major distinction from the Hitman series.

First Light is also far more suited for run-and-gun shooting. I initially found the shooting a little clumsy – and did find myself wondering about the worth of a mechanic that allows Bond to toss an empty gun right at the face of the nearest goon. Eventually, however, I almost started to relish running out of ammo, hurling an SMG like an oversized shuriken into some hapless bloke’s head and snatching his own weapon. The times I got it right, which increased the more accustomed to the action I got, were incredibly satisfying.

For clarity, there are also parts of the Hitman formula that haven’t crossed over into First Light’s universe. Disguises, for instance, are limited to only when they’re scripted necessities for the story, and Bond can’t hide or drag the bodies of guards he’s knocked out – which does leave the stealth feeling a little archaic in 2026. I’ll certainly concede that the idea of James Bond collecting a big pile of corpses doesn’t pass the sniff test, but it would’ve been nice to be able to at least yank a knocked-out bad guy behind cover in order to allow me to remain undetected a little longer.

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Paralives Early Access Review

If you’re a fan of life simulators, you’ve no doubt heard critics, developers, influencers, and all manner of social media-savvy people wax lyrical about the complexity of creating a compelling social simulation. As I said in my own inZoi review last year, curating a world that’s both representative of the murky mess that is being human and enjoyable to play is a seemingly impossible undertaking that few have managed. And yet, after spending 35 hours in Paralives crafting families, building homes, and sowing discord among residents, I have a renewed hope. This ambitious challenger to The Sims’ throne has captured not only the practical elements of humanity but, importantly, the weird ones we sweep under the rug, too. While its Early Access start has a lot of room to grow before it slays the reigning king of the genre, it’s certainly on its way.

Your time in Paralives begins on a train, with a quick tutorial for how to handpick the actions of the Parafolk (the name Paralives gives to its digital citizens) as God of this world. You’ll initially do so with predesigned families, including the father-son duo of the ​​Marquez household, who hide secrets beneath their chirpy veneer, and the party-loving trio from the Wolf household, who need to get it together if they want to pay the bills. These families all feel thoughtfully written and have their own issues to connect with, which is a boon for people who prefer a rich backstory to bounce off. But if you’d rather get straight into the nitty-gritty of people pottery like me, you can also create your own household via the Paramaker mode right away.

Comparable in layout to The Sims 4’s Create-a-Sim, the Paramaker mode splits avatar creation into three main sections: Appearance, Clothing, and Personality. From here, you can curate the look of your digital person through a selection of pre-fab facial and body features, dress them in stylish garb, and finally choose what kind of digi-person they will be with various traits. There is also the option to fine-tune your creation by using your mouse to tug and drag at anchor points to twist up their features like putty. It’s a reactive and rewarding process, particularly if you’re working from a reference photo.

There aren’t a great deal of options for customisation just yet, though it’s clear there’s been a particular effort made to replicate the diversity of the real world with what’s available. Hair presets span a variety of textures, including straight, wavy, curly, and coily, plus there’s an option to select hearing aids and prosthetic legs. What’s more, you can layer items like piercings, jewellery, and tattoos to really amp up your character’s personality. This blend of options safeguards your households from the cursed same-face syndrome, and ensures that every person you meet out in the world doesn't look like they're all related either. Clothing, too, has a decent variety and caters to a range of styles from goth to coquette, even including a full-body morph suit – to each their own.

Paralives' standout art style evokes the nostalgia of classic Telltale games.

No matter what you pick, Paralives' standout art style evokes the nostalgia of classic Telltale games like The Wolf Among Us. This dynamic comic book approach is not only easy on the eyes, it also helps details like wrinkles, facial hair, and eyelashes really pop. That’s particularly true as your Parafolk emote and perform actions like cooking or scrolling on their phone while ignoring their chores – they’re just like me, for real! By leaning away from the hyperreal and toward the more cartoonish aspects of humanity, Parafolks feel slightly goofier and a lot more likeable than the people of their competitors, conjuring favourable comparisons to The Sims 2. In this way, I found myself connected to their plights more so than the undeniably trendy but slightly soulless inhabitants of Krafton’s InZOI.

Unfortunately, the wheels start to fall off in the Personality section of character creation, which feels quite limited at the moment. You’ll give every Parafolk a Vibe, a Social Perk, and a Talent area, each of which is intended to influence how they move through the world. For example, if you choose the “Good at taking care of other people” Social Perk, that character can make chicken soup for sick friends. Alternatively, if you pick the Gloomy option for their Vibe, they will be happiest when in a bad mood. As you play out their life, you’ll unlock more slots to fill, though these choices don't translate clearly into practical gameplay. And, frustratingly, even with drastically different personalities, most of my households reacted more or less the same to major incidents.

Rounding out the start of each new family, you’ll also need to choose a specific Storyteller, which is a unique mechanic that will dictate the difficulty of your day-to-day life. Storytellers dole out cards every dawn that cause random events to happen in the lives of your Parafolk. One day, you might get a free computer from work. Another day, one of your household members may be encouraged to cheat on their spouse. This system adds much-needed entropy to your household's otherwise routine shenanigans. While many of the prompts seemed repetitive in concept, I found them to be effective in practice — they do well to keep things fresh in the long term, which is one of the biggest bugbears of the genre.

Once you have your household, the next step is to find a home, which once again gives you the choice between a pre-designed estate or an empty block with a budget to spend on all the essential amenities, like beds, baths, and beyond. Similar to the Paramaker, Paralives' build mode currently has a fairly limited pool of items and options, but there's at least enough customisability here to keep you busy building for hours on end.

Storyteller prompts seem repetitive in concept but are effective in practice.

In construction mode, you erect walls, add windows and doors, and then decorate the space with a selection of modern interior options. It’s an approachable process, thanks in part to a togglable snap tool that ensures your architecture is balanced and beautiful. Still, cowboy builders need not worry as there’s plenty of room to get weird with it, too, and Paralives isn’t keen to hold you to any building code. When renovating your space, you can place items almost anywhere you’d like. As a huge fan of cosy, cluttered spaces, I squeaked with joy when I realised I could stack ramen cups on top of kitchen fridges and select random throw pillows to jazz up plain couches. Yuckier touches like mould, damp, and body hair can also be dotted around for the sickos out there, with Paralives allowing you to make a truly bespoke, if totally gross, living space.

This customisation is a double-edged sword, though – while beautiful, much of the world isn’t actually interactable. Those ramen noodles might create a cool vibe, but they can never be eaten, and the cosy throw pillows will never crumple under the weight of a sleepy character, which feels like a missed opportunity. Such aesthetically pleasing but useless items also crop up in the open world and inevitably lead to deflating moments as you realise you can walk through a moving train completely unscathed. There has been an effort to provide the background city with a sense of liveliness through a daily newspaper and rotation of activities like run clubs and BBQs. Even so, these events can feel rather flat, with locals milling around as if on a timer. As such, Paralives' setting doesn’t feel like an entirely cohesive society just yet.

Moment-to-moment survival comes down to meeting a few basic needs: Hygiene, Hunger, Sleep, and the Toilet. Achieving these needs is a constant uphill battle, though failing them so badly that you die isn’t so easy either. As with real life, Parafolks' days are split between working a job that pays the bills, toying around with home appliances, and chatting with the locals to try and make friends. The way you progress is fairly rudimentary; you’ll often be stuck reading a book to level up skills or waiting out the in-game clock for a work shift to end. Thankfully, there is some reprieve in the socialising portion, with Paralives opting for a refreshingly alternate approach.

Instead of selecting another character and choosing a conversation topic, you’ll need the Parafolk to interact long enough to fill a conversation meter. From there, you’ll have a small pool of subjects to choose from, which includes asking other Parafolk if they’re single in a flirtatious way, telling jokes, and chatting about general life events. At first, I didn’t love this radical style, but it grew on me over my play sessions, and I eventually realised how handy this hands-off approach was. Instead of sitting with one of my household members, clicking topics on repeat, I could move on to another task or person while they were schmoozing, and periodically jump in to keep the conversation flowing. Like spinning personality plates, I could lock in as one started to wobble, before jumping over to another conversation to keep that one in play, too.

Alas, not even expert helicopter parents like me can keep everything in check, and across my time with Paralives, I fell prey to the inevitable chaos of an Early Access life simulator. One day, during some routine cupcake-baking, my house burned down because the firefighters kept spawning just outside my front door without being able to step through it, as if they were mocking me. Soon after, another of my households got stuck in some kind of viral loop, circulating a sickness through the entire family, like a never-ending, festering plague. During this time, they all had to take turns running back and forth between their beds and the home’s single toilet – no prizes for guessing how that shook out.

Such unfortunate occurrences might seem like frustrating, gameplay-halting events that make you want to ragequit. But its spirited art direction and goofy charms manage to make these scenarios feel funny and endearing to experience, as if they were intentional. Where the day-to-day activities lacked the depth to keep me entertained, these scrappy edges showcased more of the rich, chaotic personality that bleeds through all aspects of Paralives, and makes it stand out as a worthwhile contender amongst its more substantial and established peers in the genre.

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The First Wheel of Time Board Game Adaptation Has Already Blown Past Its Goals on Kickstarter

The Wheel of Time is one of the best-selling fantasy book series of all time, but it's a franchise that has struggled to take hold as an adaptation. Most notably, Amazon's live-action Wheel of Time show was tragically cancelled just last year after what IGN called it's "best season yet". But a new kickstarter for the first-ever official board game is bringing some fresh hope to fans of Robert Jordan's fantasy world that there's still more to look forward to.

War of the Dragon is an upcoming strategy game for 2-4 players that according to the Kickstarter page, "combines tableau building, action selection, and area control mechanics in a thrilling struggle for conquest and survival". The game just launched on Kickstarter today with a funding goal of $50,000 that was pretty much immediately met. At the time of writing, almost $300K has already been pledged and those numbers continue to go up.

This isn't the first time The Wheel of Time has been adapted for the tabletop, but it is the first actual board game for the franchise. Wizards of the Coast made a Wheel of Time TTRPG all the way back in 2001, but it has been mostly forgotten over the years. War of the Dragon is instead a full experience to the table with new illustrations, miniatures, and multiple game modes

The popularity of this game on Kickstarter isn't too surprising thanks to the publisher that is actually adapting the story into this format. Dire Wolf is known for publishing some incredible board games like Dune: Imperium and Clank! over the years. Dune: Imperium is a somewhat similar deck-building board game that has consistently been a favorite for IGN, with our reviewer giving it a glowing 9 out of 10 review. So while War of the Dragon is getting its start as a crowdfunding campaign here, it's backed by a trusted studio.

Outside of this Kickstarter, The Wheel of Time series has been seeing a bit of a revival in TV and games. It was announced fairly recently that a new Wheel of Time animated series and a video game are currently in the works. As of right now, there isn't any sort of release date attached to those projects or War of the Dragon. The Kickstarter campaign is set to run from now until June 23, 2026.

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 Pokémon games.

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Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams Update

Square Enix issued a significant update on Dragon Quest 12 today, giving fans a quick look at the long-awaited RPG sequel. The Japanese company also dropped the bombshell that the game’s development was restarted from scratch. As a result, Dragon Quest 12's original subtitle, The Flames of Fate, was ditched in favor of Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams.

In a special video to mark Dragon Quest’s 40th anniversary on May 27, Dragon Quest 12 executive producer Yosuke Saito and game designer Yuji Horii shed light on the upcoming game’s current state.

“We’re hard at work on 12,” Saito said. “But it’s going to be a bit longer until it’s in your hands.” He explaining that the title’s development was overhauled after a team reshuffle. “Work on the original version, Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate, hit a lot of hurdles along the way.” Saito added. “But as we kept talking with Mr. Horii and pinned down what a mainline Dragon Quest game should look like, we decided to move things around and start over from scratch.”

“It was a major decision, but I believe it’s the right one,” Saito said, citing that this rehaul will enable the dev team to make an enjoyable game that appeals to a wider range of Dragon Quest fans.

It seems the devs changed Dragon Quest 12’s protagonist, story and themes. Apparently, Beyond Dreams’ hero has mysterious visions in his sleep, and the plot will delve into what lies beyond these dreams. “The game has gone in a different direction to what we originally announced, but I think you’ll enjoy it,” Horii said. Dragon Quest 12 will explore a “bright and exciting future,” with Horii suggesting that Beyond Dreams may have ditched the darker tone that The Flames of Fate was set to bring to the 40-year-old series.

The game’s development has changed direction but Horii reassured fans that quintessential Dragon Quest elements remain. Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams will still have the late Akira Toriyama’s iconic character designs and composer Koichi Sugiyama’s epic score. Although Sugiyama passed away in 2021 and Toriyama in 2024, both creatives managed to complete work for Dragon Quest 12 before they departed. Both have worked on every entry in the series since 1986’s Dragon Quest 1.

However, it won’t just be the same old classic gameplay. Saito said that Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams will evolve the RPG series to the next level “with plenty of things you've never seen in a DQ game before.”

Dragon Quest fans have been waiting a long time. Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate was announced in 2021 during the series’ 35th anniversary celebrations. It’s also been eight years since the last mainline entry, Dragon Quest 11, was released. Saito and Horii did not give any hints as to a release timeline for Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams, so fans will have to wait a bit longer.

During the 40th anniversary celebration, Square Enix also revealed that spin-off title Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World will be coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Switch and Switch 2 (release date to be announced later). The game will feature Dragon Quest 5’s Nera and Bianca as dual protagonists. Also, Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age will be coming to Switch 2 on September 24.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.

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Best Buy's Daily Deals Just Dropped The Price On A Load of Magic: The Gathering Products

Just weeks after running a sale on Magic: The Gathering products as part of its daily deals, Best Buy is at it again.

The retailer is running it back big time, with savings across newer sets like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lorwyn Eclipsed, as well as more savings across Universes Beyond sets from yesteryear and accessories, too.

Here are our picks.

Best Buy Slashes The Prices of A Bunch of MTG Products

Working our way backwards, you can already save a whopping $70 on a Play Booster box for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which brings it down to $129.99 - that’s $4.33 per pack.

Also from the set, there’s $40 off the Draft Night box (which includes a Collector Booster), and $15 off the Turtles Team-Up co-op game in a box. They’re now $89.99 and $34.99, respectively.

The set before that, Lorwyn Eclipsed, is seeing $20 discounts on both of its Commander precons. That means Blight Curse and Dance of the Elements are now down to just $31.99 each. Its themed decks for Standard players are half price, too, but you don’t get to pick which one you end up with. Still, you can spin the wheel for $11.99.

In fact, the latest set, Secrets of Strixhaven, is also getting its theme decks reduced to the same price.

Elsewhere, 2025’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Beginner Box is down to $22.99 (a drop of $12), while you can save $75 on a Play Booster Box of Marvel’s Spider-Man, which nets you 30 packs for $114.99.

Finally, there are some great accessories on sale, too. Final Fantasy playmats, including the Traveling Chocobo, Cloud, Ex-Soldier, and Y’Shtola, Night’s Blessed, are all seeing discounts, with some dropping as low as $12 - that’s cheap for an Ultra Pro offering. My personal favorite, the double-sided play mat showcasing Clive and Ifrit from Final Fantasy XVI, is down to $19.99 - a 50% discount.

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