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After a long wait due to several delays, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has finally released for PC, PS4, and Xbox One (with its Nintendo Switch version dropping on June 25). If you’re planning to grab the Metroidvania-style game on PC, here’s a deal to put on your radar (or send to any friends who haven’t bought the game yet). Bloodstained is $40 at full price, but Fanatical is currently offering the game for 21% off, which drops the price to $31.59. Plus, new Fanatical customers can save even more with GameSpot-exclusive promo code GAMESPOT25, which slashes an additional 5% off the price. If you’ve never shopped at Fanatical before, that means you’ll get Bloodstained for $29.98–not bad for a new and highly anticipated game.

To claim the deal, just add Bloodstained to your cart, and during checkout, you’ll see a place to “redeem a coupon code” in the righthand sidebar. Enter GAMESPOT25, and you’ll see the price drop to $29.98. But even if you’re a Fanatical regular, it’s worth noting $31.59 is still a great price (Steam is currently offering the game for $36). After completing checkout, you’ll receive an officially licensed Steam key for Bloodstained that you can redeem right away.

GET BLOODSTAINED: RITUAL OF THE NIGHT FOR $29.98 »

Both the on-site deal and promo code discount will be valid until June 27 at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET (and 1 AM BST on June 28).

Created by former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has been marketed as a spiritual successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in terms of gameplay. The 2.5D, side-scrolling RPG follows the story of Miriam, an orphan who must fight her way out of a demon-filled castle using powers derived from cursed crystals on her body. Aside from Miriam, you’ll also be able to play as Zangetsu from Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon at launch. A recent launch trailer also revealed Bloodstained will receive 13 free DLC updates post-launch, adding features such as local and online multiplayer, three new playable characters (including Shovel Knight), “nightmare” difficulty, speed run mode, character customizations, and more.

The third annual Pokemon Go Fest took place in Chicago this past weekend, and as usual, developer Niantic held a series of Global Challenges during the event. As a reward for completing these challenges, the studio is making a variety of bonuses available in the game for a limited time, and it’s also bringing the popular Legendary Raikou back to Raids for one day only.

From now until June 25, players will receive twice the usual amount of Candy for capturing and hatching Pokemon. On top of that, Pokemon Eggs will hatch at half the distance they normally require. You’re also guaranteed to receive one Rare Candy each time you participate in a Raid.

Then, on Saturday, June 29, Niantic is holding a special Raikou Raid Day. On that day, the Legendary dog will reappear in Raid Battles from 4-7 PM local time, and you’ll have a chance of encountering a Shiny Raikou. You’ll also be able to receive up to five free Raid Passes during the event hours, which you’ll need to participate in Raids. You can read more details about the Go Fest rewards on the official Pokemon Go website.

In the meantime, you’ll have another chance to catch Kyogre. The Legendary Gen 3 Pokemon has returned to Raid Battles until June 27, and this time, you may encounter its Shiny form when challenging it. Kyogre marks the second of three Legendary Pokemon Niantic is bringing back to the game. The final one, Groudon, will appear from June 27 to July 10.

Niantic has two more Pokemon Go Fest events lined up this summer. The next one will take place in Dortmund, Germany, from July 4-7, with an event in Yokohama, Japan, following August 6-12. Even if you can’t attend in-person, Niantic will hold Global Challenges during each event. Meanwhile, the game’s next Community Day is scheduled for Sunday, July 21, although no further details have been announced yet.

Tripwire Interactive’s first-person shooter, Killing Floor 2, is free-to-play now on Steam through Tuesday, June 25. The free weekend kicks off this summer’s Back & Kickin’ Brass event, which adds a new mode, map, and weapons, running through July 31. As is usually the case with Steam free weekends, if you like the game and want to keep playing, you can purchase it at a 67% discount to keep it in your library after the weekend ends, retaining any progress that you made.

Play Killing Floor 2 for free on Steam this weekend »

Back & Kickin’ Brass adds a new gameplay mode called Objective, in which players must defeat waves of enemies while also completing particular objectives, such as delivering an object from one point on the map to another. It also adds a new map, the Steam Fortress, which is compatible with the Survival, Weekly, Endless, and new Objective gameplay modes, as well as new weapons, such as the Seal Squealer, which launches exploding harpoons.

First released in 2016, Killing Floor 2 picks up from the story of the first game, in which a mad scientist unleashed an army of clone soldiers onto the UK. Several months following the events of that game, the plague of Zeds had spread around the world, causing global chaos. Most of the action comprises taking on waves of enemies, often culminating in a boss. In his Killing Floor 2 review, GameSpot’s Miguel Concepcion found the single-player gameplay to be a little thin, but as a suite of multiplayer modes the game was perfectly satisfying.

It’s not easy keeping up with every new trailer, announcement, gameplay reveal, and rumor in the gaming industry. This is especially true in the wake of E3, when the internet is flooded with news.

To help out any Xbox fans out there, we’ve compiled this cheat sheet on the most important news in relation to Microsoft or the Xbox One family of consoles. Don’t worry, cheat sheets for Nintendo and the Switch as well as Sony and the PlayStation 4 are in the works as well.

The information below is a general overview of the largest announcements from the past few weeks. That said, there are plenty of links in the text that will take you to articles that provide more in-depth analysis and information breakdowns.

14 First Party Games Detailed

In comparison to Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Nintendo’s Switch, Microsoft’s Xbox One has struggled to deliver as many quality first-party console exclusives. Microsoft aimed to flip the script by revealing information about 14 upcoming first party games at E3 2019. Though we still don’t have gameplay for many of them, the roster of titles looks like it will strengthen the game library of Xbox One.

Some of the games had already been announced, such as Gears 5 and Halo Infinite. But Microsoft’s E3 2019 press conference revealed new details about them. Gears 5 is releasing with a fun-looking PvE mode called Escape, for example, and Halo Infinite will be a launch title on Scarlett, Microsoft’s next-generation family of consoles (but it is still coming to Xbox One and PC).

Several new first-party titles were announced though. One of the more notable announcements came from Ninja Theory (a developer Microsoft acquired last year): the reveal of a new 4v4 melee combat-focused game it’s been working on called Bleeding Edge. A technical alpha for the game starts this month.

For more, check out:

New Xbox Hardware: Next-Gen Scarlett Console

Plenty of Xbox fans want to know what Microsoft has planned for its next-generation family of consoles. We learned a little bit more about it at E3, including confirmation that its codename is Scarlett, but Microsoft is still keeping some details close to the chest.

We do know that the console is currently scheduled for a Holiday 2020 release, that Halo Infinite will be a launch title, and that Microsoft claims it will be “four times” more powerful than an Xbox One X. Specifically, Scarlett contains a custom-engineered AMD processor capable of 8K resolution at 120fps, supports ray-tracing, comes equipped with a solid-state drive, and has a custom AMD Zen 2 CPU, Radeon RDNA architecture, and GDDR6 RAM. Details such as price point and hardware design are, for now, unknown.

For more, check out:

Massive Showcasing Of Third-Party Titles

Microsoft delivered an expansive E3 press conference with announcements, new trailers, and gameplay reveals for dozens of third-party titles, all coming to Xbox One. The showcasing was huge, with more than a few surprises.

The three major highlights were the gameplay reveals for Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (both at EA Play and Microsoft’s E3 2019 press conference), release date announcement of Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds, and a first look at From Software’s Elden Ring–an open world Souls-like game designed in collaboration with George RR Martin. During Microsoft’s E3 press conference, the company also showcased new trailers for Cyberpunk 2077 and Tales of Arise, and also announced Phantasy Star Online 2 is finally coming to the West.

E3 was a pretty big showcasing for upcoming Xbox One indie games too. The most notable of the lot probably comes from Layers of Fear 2‘s Bloober Team, which is making Blair Witch, a spooky-looking game based in the same world as the 2016 horror movie. 12 Minutes–a psychological thriller about a man stuck in a time loop–also looks very good, as does Afterparty and Spiritfarer (both of which tackle the concept of death in unique ways).

For more, check out:

Microsoft Acquires Yet Another Studio

After acquiring over half a dozen studios last year, Microsoft announced during E3 2019 that it’s acquired one more. The studio in question is Double Fine, which is responsible for Psychonauts and Grim Fandango. During E3, Double Fine CEO Tim Schafer showcased the first gameplay trailer for Psychonauts 2.

Game Pass Just Keeps Getting Better

Game Pass continues to be one of the best subscription-based game services out there. Over the past few weeks, Microsoft has continued to expand the service, launching a PC version, bundling it with Xbox Live Gold, and adding several stellar titles to its lineup.

Microsoft’s new Game Pass Ultimate combines Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass for PC, and Xbox Live Gold in one $15/£11 per month subscription. Both Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold subscriptions get you limited-time discounts on certain games, and Game Pass lets you freely download from a library of hundreds of titles which is expanding and shifting all the time. Recently, Microsoft added some incredible titles to Game Pass, including Metro Exodus, Thimbleweed Park, Guacamelee 2, Everspace, SteamWorld Dig 2, and Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition.

For more, check out:

Microsoft’s Cloud-Streaming Future: Project xCloud

Google Stadia isn’t the only cloud-based game streaming service scheduled to launch this year. During E3 2019, Microsoft announced Project xCloud would release this October, a month before Google Stadia launches. Pretty much no other details have been supplied, so we’ll have to wait and see how exactly xCloud ultimately stacks up against Stadia.

The cast of the upcoming sequel Bill & Ted Face the Music keeps getting better. Following the recent news that the roles of Bill and Ted’s daughters had been filled, it has now been reported that Barry star Anthony Carrigan is joining the movie as the movie’s main villain.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Carrigan will play the “relentless adversary” to the movie’s now middle-aged metal-loving friends. Carrigan is best known for his role as affable Chechen gangster NoHo Hank in the HBO hit Barry, as well as playing Zsasz in the DC show Gotham.

Bill & Ted Face the Music reunites Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in the roles they played in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991). The cast also includes Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine as Bill and Ted’s daughters Billie and Thea, plus William Sadler, who will reprise his Bogus Journey role as the Grim Reaper.

After years of rumors that Winter and Reeves might return for a third movie, in March the pair confirmed Bill & Ted Face the Music was finally happening. They recorded a short video thanking the fans for their dedication to the series and announcing that the movie would start shooting this summer. The film hits theaters on August 21 2020, and is directed by Galaxy Quest’s Dean Parisot.

As for what the plot of the film will be, it was revealed by co-writer Solomon in January 2018 that the story finds Bill and Ted in the modern day, as family men that go back in time to revisit their younger selves, using footage from the original film.