Subnautica 2 will launch into early access on May 14, a new trailer confirms. If you're surprised I don't blame you: the sequel has been subject to endless controversy, with studio Unknown Worlds and publisher Krafton at loggerheads about when and how it should be released.

It's a long story at this stage, but the short of it: Subnautica 2 was initially meant to release in the second half of 2025. But in July Krafton gutted Unknown Worlds' leadership, including CEO Ted Gill, and then delayed the early access release into 2026 amid many and varied public accusations.

The most relevant of those accusations, to us at least, is that Krafton didn't think the game was ready for early access; it wanted more content. The publisher also claimed that had Subnautica 2 released in 2025 as planned, it would have caused "irreversible harm to the entire franchise". That claim was later mysteriously dropped.

Those are the key points—it's a tangled 'n' murky affair—but Gill was eventually reinstated as CEO in March at the command of a court, and a May release was set. But even that theoretically positive development was fraught with tension: Unknown Worlds wasn't happy with the Krafton-made release date announcement.

None of which instills much confidence in the early access aquatic survival sim that'll hit Steam on May 14. It'll be interesting to see whether Krafton was on to something when it hoped to delay the launch. Or perhaps Unknown Worlds will be vindicated? We'll find out in a matter of weeks.

There's a lot resting on it: Subnautica 2 is currently the most wishlisted game on Steam.

Ubisoft is once again hammering home the point that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is really, really, definitely not an RPG in the vein of Assassin's Creed Shadows and Valhalla.

After Ubisoft finally let the leaks loose and formally announced the remade pirate game, one of the first things game director Richard Knight noted about the project was that Black Flag Resynced "is not an RPG." Considering how divisive the more stat-driven entries in the series can be with long-time fans, the immediate clarification wasn't too surprising.

The publisher is now emphasizing the point even further, though. Not only is Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced not an RPG, according to Ubisoft, it's also not borrowing any RPG-adjacent systems from its older (or younger?) siblings.

"Please note: although health and defense bars are present in default settings, this does not change the fact that Black Flag Resynced remains an action-adventure game," Ubisoft writes in a recent post about the game's HUD. "The combat works similarly to the original game, with health and defense bars being optional. There are no levels, no gear scores, and no progression gates."

As Ubisoft explains, those new HUD elements aren't there to check damage points and whatnot. Specifically, the defense bar simply supports Black Flag Resynced's revamped combat, which lets you stagger enemies with quick parries and special attacks before opening them up to a lethal takedown once their defense is fully depleted.

"This display [the defense meter] will highlight how and when enemies are weakened, and how different enemy archetypes respond to specific combat actions – which is at the core of the new combat depth where your choices and the move you trigger will dictate a fight."

Best of all, you can tweak any of the HUD elements to your liking. Black Flag Resynced supposedly has four presets that chip away at the visual noise on screen or you can opt to toy with the game's HUD manually to completely turn off button prompts and parry indicators, for example, to your liking.

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag lead writer "wrote 2 new scenes" for Resynced, and "one of them is now a top 5 favorite" for him

Sony has released a statement clarifying the ongoing DRM situation finally explaining what's going on after days of conflicting information.

In a statement issued to Game File, a Sony rep explains, "Players can continue to access and play their purchased games as usual. However, "A one-time online check is required after purchase to confirm the game’s license, after which no further check-ins are needed." Effectively, your console will need to check once that you have access to the game's license, and after that, you'll be free to use it for good (or for as long as online services remain available for PlayStation platforms anyway).

Hopefully, this brings an end to what has been a week or so of disinformation about the subject, mainly thanks to Sony itself, as players reported getting answers on both sides of the coin from PlayStation's customer support. Players had somewhat figured this out on their own, as a ResetEra user noticed that the temporary license was replaced with an indefinite one after the 14-day refund window ended, leading some to assume this was due to exploits in the refund system.

Although I'd say this isn't exactly an amazing compromise either. Sure, it's fine now for anyone who legitimately buys their games from the store, but it assumes Sony will keep the PlayStation 4 and 5 servers running forever. Unfortunately, this just feels like something that's eventually going to become a preservation issue. Hopefully, Sony has measures in place to ensure this doesn't eventually lock players out of their entire libraries.

There's a "TV apocalypse" in video game preservation as CRTs go extinct, expert says, and that's just the tip of the iceberg as work continues to save retro hardware.