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Respawn has released a new trailer for the next event in Apex Legends, called Grand Soirée Arcade. The event begins on January 14 and will continue through to January 28. Given Season 3: Meltdown ends on February 3, Grand Soirée Arcade will likely be the final limited-time event for the season.

Unlike previous events, which have traditionally only added one new mode, Grand Soirée Arcade adds seven. Each mode will go live one at a time, with each available for two days before the game transitions to the next one. You can see all seven modes in action in the video embedded below.

The first mode is called Gold Rush Duos, which sees squads of two drop onto World’s Edge and the only weapons you can loot are gold, legendary tier items (L-STAR, Kraber, and Mastiff as well as fully outfitted versions of Flatline, EVA-8, Triple Take, G7 Scout, and Charge Rifle). After that is Live Die Live, which automatically respawns all fallen players on their still-living squadmates whenever the ring closes. This will be followed by Third-Person Mode, which forces you to play through the match entirely in third-person as opposed to first-person.

The fourth mode looks to be the most stressful of the lot. Called Always Be Closing, the mode will see the ring constantly closing in, meaning your squad will have to always be on the move or risk suffering massive damage. The all shotguns and sniper rifles Armed And Dangerous mode returns after that–though this time on World’s Edge instead of Kings Canyon. The sixth mode is Kings Canyon After Dark, which puts your squad into Apex Legends’ original map–only this time it’s at night, as seen in Fight or Fright’s Shadowfall mode. Dummies Big Day, the final mode, is an odd one, transforming all characters into colorful dummy-looking 3D renders that make it more difficult to discern who is who.

Grand Soirée Arcade adds several cool-looking legendary skins for the playable characters too–most of which seem to have a steampunk or 1960s’ funky look to them. Based on the trailer, Pathfinder, Bangalore, Bloodhound, Octane, Mirage, Wattson, Caustic, and Crypto are getting new skins. The cosmetics will rotate throughout the store during the event, so if one catches your fancy it will be better to buy it sooner rather than later. There are also new Peacekeeper, R-301, and Havoc skins that can be unlocked by completing event challenges

Going into 2020, the Nintendo Switch has no shortage of excellent games, but it’s a bit rare to find many of them discounted at the same time. Lucky for Switch owners, this is one of those rare times, as there’s a huge New Year sale going on in the Nintendo Eshop right now featuring many of the platform’s best games, including The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition, Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition, What Remains of Edith Finch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and more. The big New Year event also encompasses publisher-specific sales from Ubisoft, Capcom, and WB games.

Thousands of people are checking out the masterpiece that is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the first time following the success of the Netflix Witcher series, and if you want to play it on Switch, you can snag the Complete edition for a nice discount right now. The Switch version is currently on sale for $42, which might be the cheapest we’ve seen the port since it released in October.

Some first-party Switch games feature in the sale as well, including Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Yoshi’s Crafted World. All three of these games are excellent multiplayer options, and they’re down to $42, which is about as low as first-party Switch games go.

The Nintendo Switch has been a great home for indie gems as well, and you can snag some of the best indie Switch games for even cheaper than usual right now. We especially recommend Celeste ($10), Gris ($8.49), Neo Cab ($15), Wargroove ($16), the Hotline Miami Collection ($12.49), and Sayonara Wild Hearts (9.09). It’s also a great time to pick up Stardew Valley ($10) if you slept on it back in 2016, as the farming sim just received a huge update with tons of new content.

The New Year Switch sale is live now through January 16. That means you have about a week to check out the sale and take advantage of these deals, so check out our picks below and peruse the full offering of game discounts in the Eshop.

Best Nintendo Switch games on sale right now

• Ape Out — $7.49 ($15)
• Assassin’s Creed: The Rebel Collection — $30 ($40)
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night — $28 ($40)
• Celeste — $10 ($20)
• Civilization VI — $30 ($60)
• Devil May Cry — $15 ($20)
• Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition — $40 ($60)
• Donut County — $6.49 ($13)
• Dragon Ball FighterZ — $15 ($60)
• Fitness Boxing — $35 ($50)
• Gris — $8.49 ($17)
• Hotline Miami Collection — $12.49 ($25)
• Jackbox Party Pack 4 — $12.49 ($25)
• Just Dance 2020 — $26 ($40)
• Kirby Star Allies — $42 ($60)
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 — $34 ($60)
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — $42 ($60)
• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle — $15 ($60)
• Mega Man 11 — $15 ($30)
• Moonlighter — $10 ($25)
• Mortal Kombat 11 — $24 ($60)
• My Friend Pedro — $14 ($20)
• Neo Cab — $15 ($20)
• NBA 2K20 — $30 ($60)
• Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch — $35 ($50)
• Okami HD — $12 ($20)
• Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition — $14 ($20)
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy — $20 ($30)
• Resident Evil 0 — $15 ($30)
• Resident Evil 4 — $20 ($40)
• Samurai Shodown — $45 ($50)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts — $9.09 ($13)
• South Park: The Stick of Truth — $15 ($30)
• Splatoon 2 — $42 ($60)
• Stardew Valley — $10 ($15)
• Super Bomberman R — $10 ($40)
• Team Sonic Racing — $20 ($40)
• Terraria — $21 ($30)
• Wargroove — $16 ($20)
• What Remains of Edith Finch — $14 ($20)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition — $42 ($60)
• Yomawari: The Long Night Collection — $20 ($40)
• Yoshi’s Crafted World — $42 ($60)

The Pokemon Company revealed a ton of Sword and Shield news during today’s Pokemon Direct, but that wasn’t all to come out of the presentation. As has become tradition, a variety of freebies are available right now following the Direct, including a demo for the newly announced Pokemon Mystery Dungeon remake.

To help you catch up on all the offerings, we’ve rounded up everything that’s available after today’s Pokemon Direct below. You can also check out all the biggest news and announcements from the Pokemon Direct in our recap.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX Demo

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX launches for Nintendo Switch on March 6, but in the meantime, you can download a free demo of the game right now from the Switch Eshop. The demo lets you play through an early portion of the story, and any progress you make in it can be carried over to the full game when it releases. The title is also now available to pre-purchase. You can read more in our Pokemon Mystery Dungeon pre-order guide.

Pokemon Sword & Shield Update

A new update is now live for Pokemon Sword and Shield, which lets you get a small taste of the games’ expansion pass content, even if you haven’t pre-purchased the pass. After downloading the update, you can head to Wedgehurst station, where you’ll run into one of the new characters from the upcoming Isle of Armor expansion. The character you meet will differ depending on which version you’re playing: in Sword, you’ll see Klara, while in Shield you’ll meet Avery.

Free Galarian Slowpoke

The Sword and Shield update also adds a new Pokemon to the game: Galarian Slowpoke. All players will have a chance to catch this Pokemon, whether or not you’ve purchased an expansion pass.

Expansion Pass Pre-Order Bonuses

The expansion pass for Sword and Shield costs $30 USD and is available to pre-purchase now from the Switch Eshop. If you do pick one up, you’ll receive a special bonus: a Pikachu uniform and Eevee uniform for your trainer. You’ll get a code for the outfits via email after you’ve purchased the expansion pass, and you can redeem those codes in-game via Mystery Gift to claim the uniforms.

Pokemon Sword and Shield are getting two big expansions that will add a ton of new creatures to collect, but if you don’t want to buy the extra content you’ll still be able to obtain the monsters. Nintendo announced that the expansions will launch alongside free updates for all players, allowing all Sword and Shield owners to be on a level playing field for trading Pokemon.

“These updates will allow those who don’t have the Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield Expansion Pass to obtain the Pokemon that appear on the Isle of Armor and in the Crown Tundra through other means, such as trading,” the presentation stated.

That means if you don’t purchase the expansions but have your eye on the new Legendary Kubfu, you just need to find a friend to trade one to you. It’s probably not viable to ask your friends capture all of the new Pokemon for you this way, but it seems reasonable enough if you just want a few in particular.

The two expansions will take place on new territories, and also pack new cosmetic options for your avatar and even your bike. Free updates are also coming to Sword and Shield that will add more than 200 older Pokemon. The first expansion, Isle of Armor, is coming in June. The second, Crown Tundra, will follow this fall. The expansion pass costs $30 and includes both sets of DLC.

In the meantime, a free update has gone live that lets you talk with a few of the new characters from the expansions, and even catch a special Galarian Slowpoke. You’ll need items from the two expansions to evolve it into a new breed of Slowbro and Slowking, respectively.

The Pokemon Company has outlined a few changes coming to its trading card game with the introduction of Pokemon Sword and Shield. Among these changes–which include alterations to attributes, stats, and more–is the removal of the Fairy Pokemon type, which is said to go into effect on February 21.

The company announced that “the Fairy-type, which was introduced in the [Pokemon X and Y] series, will no longer be supported in the Sword and Shield series.” As such, all Fairy types seen in the Pokemon games will be “generally” represented as Psychic-type in the trading card game. Further, Poison-types are now Darkness-types instead of Psychic-types.

Other alterations to the trading card game come in the form of resistances and weaknesses. Pokemon from the Sword and Shield series will have a resistance of -30 instead of -20. Weaknesses remain uncharged but matchups have shifted a little. These include Water-types being weak against Lightning instead of Grass, Psychic-types losing to Darkness instead of Psychic, and Darkness-types being weak against Grass instead of Fighting. The Pokemon Company said these changes are meant to “maintain a balance among types.”

Also starting on February 21, the same day the Sword and Shield cards become legal for tournament play, is a minor adjustment to the first turn. In addition to preventing the player who goes first from attacking on the first turn, a rule introduced during the X and Y series, the player who goes first will now be unable to play a Supporter card on the first turn. The Pokemon Company said these changes should “make it less advantage[ous] to go first” and hopes they “result in interesting choices in both gameplay and deck building.”

Nintendo recently wrapped up a Pokemon-centered Direct, which contained 20 minutes of new information on Pokemon coming to Sword and Shield, a release date for the cloud-based storage service Pokemon Home, and more. Further, Sword and Shield is getting paid DLC expansions that will include additional Pokedexes to complete, new areas to explore, and more.

In case you missed it: The Epic Games Store has been giving away a ton of free games lately. The store’s holiday sale included a marathon of 12 free games, and this past week, Epic users could claim three more free games. Things are finally slowing down a bit this week, as this week’s offering includes just one game for Epic users, but it’s one you shouldn’t skip out on. From now until January 16, you can claim the chaotic, hand-drawn Metroidvania Sundered: Eldritch Edition for free at Epic. All you need is a free Epic account to claim the game, and it’ll be yours to keep forever.

From the developers of Jotun, Sundered released in 2017 and follows a woman named Eshe who finds an ancient monument and gets sucked into an otherworldly cavern. In the underworld, Eshe encounters a malevolent entity known as the Shining Trapezohedron, which becomes her guide, and learns the world is now overrun with monsters and machines. The terrifying hordes of enemies and ever-changing world are heavily inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

As Eshe fights her way through the world and attempts to escape, Eshe encounters corrupted Elder Shards, which can grant her the ability to use ancient eldritch powers. The game has multiple endings based on what you decide to do with those relics–embrace their chaotic power or destroy them for good.

Sundered also includes the Magnate of the Gong update, which added local co-op multiplayer support for up to four players. Eldritch Edition also includes new areas and a new boss battle. The game earned a solid 8/10 in GameSpot’s Sundered review for its fast-paced combat, well-paced progression, and overall creation of tension and unease.

“Sundered is an enjoyable journey that iterates upon the Metroidvania style in ways that are both satisfying and substantial,” wrote Matt Espineli. “Its progression systems are constantly fulfilling and combat is complex and exhilarating. While rare moments of unfair circumstances hold it back, Sundered remains a compelling and rewarding experience that you’ll be eager to play again, if only to seek out its other endings or simply to wipe out another swarm of grotesque creatures.”

On January 16, Sundered will be replaced by Epic’s next free game, platforming adventure Horace.