I couldn't have a higher opinion of the Fatal Frame games, but I wouldn't say I have a tremendous amount of fun playing them. I enjoy and endure, I suppose, while occasionally yelping like a puppy and noping out of entering a particularly creepy room or opening a creaky door. These games can be as scary as it gets, and Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is one of the most downright freaky there is.

Publisher Koei Tecmo and its Team Ninja studio are in the final stages of a remake, imaginatively enough called Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake, and has today announced a new demo for the game, as well as a collaboration with Silent Hill f.

The secret sauce with Fatal Frame is that you don't have anything in the way of traditional weaponry, but you do have the Camera Obscura, a device that can…. I dunno, capture the souls of ghosts and monsters. It's a brilliant mechanic because, at the very moment you want to clench your butt cheeks and run, you've got to stay still, line up the perfect snap, and then hopefully get it right.

Team Ninja says the remake "introduces new gameplay elements, including a brand-new ending featuring the song 'Utsushie', composed by Tsuki Amano, along with new side stories and new locations to explore." It promises to expand on the game's (excellent) story, and says the new areas will include the "Umbral Mound, an ominous burial site tightly bound with ropes and hidden within dense bamboo groves, and the candlelit hall of Eikado Temple, with its pair of twin statues tied together by sacred cords." Both of those places sound extremely well-lit and cheerful.

One would hope that the gameplay improvements include a control overhaul: my memories are a bit dim, this was a PS2 game after all, but occasionally clunky controls are one of the things you just had to tolerate in the original. I also remember the camera upgrades being a real pain, though this is one of the areas that Team Ninja specifically mentions, with the remake including reversion beads allowing you to try different upgrade paths, and new "Special Shots."

These involve applying filters to your camera, with two examples given. The Paraceptual Filter activates the ‘Blinding’ special shot, which temporarily blinds the target. The Radiant Filter activates the ‘Purging’ shot, which sacrifices some of your character's willpower for increased damage. There's also a new photo mode that allows players to take screenshots and then layer various visual effects atop them, which should provide some amusing / horrific community moments.

The Silent Hill f collaboration involves free downloadable costumes, which will arrive after launch. The demo for Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake releases on Steam March 5, with the game arriving one week later on March 12.

I'll confess that when Capcom announced its multi-patch performance improvement plan for Monster Hunter Wilds, I was skeptical about just how much it would accomplish—especially when the first of the regimen's updates delivered the same mixed results as Capcom's previous attempts to address Wilds' technical woes. The early details for this month's PC-specific follow-up patch, which touted additional graphics and CPU options alongside the vague promise of yet more "CPU/GPU optimization," didn't inspire confidence either.

I'm pleased to say that, for once, I was wrong to doubt. The Steam-centric patch arrived last night, and—while I wish it hadn't taken almost a year for me to be able to write this—it certainly seems like a Monster Hunter Wilds performance improvement patch has finally, substantially improved performance. Sometimes when a patch note says "CPU/GPU optimization," it really means it.

Still, I'm going to ask that we all limit any sudden movements or loud noises. I don't want to break the spell.

After 11 months of Wilds patches producing reports from players saying their performance had inexplicably gotten even worse, seeing hunters sharing positive responses to the latest optimization fixes is downright refreshing. On Reddit, users are reporting vastly improved frametime lows; others claim "every performance issue I've had is fixed."

The patch is even being received warmly on Steam, where Wilds' harshest critics have been happy to unload their grievances since launch. There's been a massive uptick in positive reviews in the last 24 hours, with players saying they can now "wholeheartedly recommend" the game.

"After almost a year I can finally recommend this game after today's performance patch," says another reviewer with a staggering 1,042 hours of Wilds playtime. "We all expected this update to be a nothing burger but it's actually really good."

Some players are even finding settings configurations to get respectable performance on Steam Deck (with some hefty concessions in visual quality, of course).

Anecdotally, I was very pleased after knocking out a couple hunts to give the patch a test run: While fighting a few monsters during Windward Plains sandstorms and the Scarlet Forest's lighting-intensive plenty season, my 4070 was able to maintain a smooth, 70+ framerate running DLAA without frame gen enabled, and without any of the hitching I'd come to expect prior to the update.

Mileage will, of course, vary based on your own hardware, and you shouldn't expect the game to suddenly run flawlessly if it was genuinely unplayable for you before. But after so many months without seeing Capcom make any real headway on Wilds' performance faults, it's a very welcome change of pace.

That said, the fact that it took this long doesn't do much to dispel the sense that Wilds might have been better off launching this year instead. Better late than never.

It's been a wild few days in the gaming community following the arrival of Highguard and its "Mostly Negative" reviews – but it seems not everyone agrees with the criticisms, or perhaps such negative criticisms against games in general.

Baldur's Gate 3 director and Larian Studios lead Swen Vincke is one such person, taking to the web to share his thoughts on critiques following games' releases – especially those that are more negative in nature. "I don't like people shitting on things others have created," writes the developer. "Putting something out into the world makes you vulnerable, and that alone deserves respect, even if you dislike the creation."

He continues: "It's easy to destroy things, it's a lot harder to build them. The best critics understand this. Even when they’re being critical, they do their best not to be hurtful."

It does make sense – a lot of work goes into game development, after all, but I'd personally argue that reviews should be fair… and that means they're not always written in favor of the title they're covering. I do, however, get what Vincke means.

"The harsh words do real damage," as he puts it. "You shouldn't have to grow calluses on your soul just because you want to publish something." Vincke even says "there's plenty of games" he doesn't enjoy – but "it's incredibly rare for one to be made without there being someone behind it that truly cared about what they were making, putting a part of themselves in it." He does, however, get why people want a good product if they spend money on it.

The reviews they look to as a guide, in his opinion, shouldn't be so strongly worded if they are negative. "I get that if people are charging money, you want to know if it's good or not. But reviewers can just say –I didn't enjoy it, or I don't think it's well made, or I don't think it's worth the money they are charging. That's enough. No need to get personal for the sake of some likes." Vincke then goes on to remind folks to "be nice to one another."

"Think of the time you had to recite something in front of the class and how nervous you were," he says. "And how much any negative comment hurt. Be nice to one another, be nice to the people creating stuff to entertain you. Treat them like you would like to be treated if you made something. Consider it a strategic investment in the quality of your future entertainment. You won't regret it."

The Larian head clarifies he isn't "defending" devs or publishers who are "shitting" on players or milking those who enjoy their game. "I hate it wholeheartedly and vowed that Larian would never engage in it," he states. "What I'm trying to say is that most creative souls are sensitive souls, and those sensitive souls are the ones that care the most. When they check out because they can't handle the vitriol, we all lose because what's left are those who don't care."

Vincke says, "The effect the words have on those sensitive souls may not be underestimated. You don't want them to lose their idealism and love of players," before concluding that "you don't have to verbally hurt the people behind the game to express your disdain." Should enough folks stop playing a game, "those in charge will get the message and change course soon." After all, "There's enough other games there."

Although I'm not sure how I feel about Vincke's message in its entirety – I feel both negative and positive reviews are valuable and differing opinions will always lead to both – I do think that the community could benefit from being less vindictive overall. Some commenters seem to agree, with one writing, "The rise of the hating-games-as-a-hobby crowd has genuinely ruined gaming communities from a discussion standpoint."

They then add, "We have more great games than ever. Yet some people spend more time and invest a greater part of themselves in hate than in engaging with things they enjoy. It's sad." Others aren't so sure, though. "If you deliver an uninspired, unpolished game for a genre that most gamers have fatigue over, I think it's valid that you're going to have backlash," as one person explains in a separate response.

It's a complicated subject to discuss, that's for certain. One thing is for sure, though – there are plenty of wonderful games to enjoy in 2026, and you don't have to do a lot of searching to find one you'd probably like yourself.

Looking for something to wishlist? Be sure to browse our roundup of some of the best new games coming this year and beyond for great titles to anticipate.