The latest Hades 2 update has introduced an entirely new game mode, but you wouldn't know it from reading the patch notes. I love it when developers sneak a surprise into their games without telling players up-front, but if you've already wrapped up your time with the roguelike you could be forgiven for glancing over these new Hades 2 patch notes and deciding there wasn't a big reason to come back. However, you'll probably want to return to the Crossroads once you see what Hypnos has in store.

A new Marathon update finally adds the one thing it's been desperately missing - a reason to respect your fellow players. The immaculate style and Bungie's trademark FPS game fundamentals make Marathon easy to get into, but the immediately hostile nature of basically every encounter with another real person can quickly grow stale and frustrating. Compared to Arc Raiders, which has that 'will they or won't they' tension of trying to convince other teams to work alongside you, it's rather one-note. But not any more.

Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck's 2021 novel Leviathan Falls marked the end of an era for authors, who write together under the pseudonym James S.A. Corey. They spent a decade together on their first series, The Expanse, a sprawling science-fiction story stretched over nine novels, a series of novellas and short stories, and a well-received six-season TV adaptation that started on Syfy and migrated to Amazon Video. Apart from a 2014 media tie-in novel, Star Wars: Honor Among Thieves, they'd devoted their entire writing careers to one universe. Starting over in a new setting, with a completely new story, must have been at least a little intimidating.

In the original trilogy of games, Durandal was an artificial intelligence originally in charge of mechanical functions aboard the UESC Marathon — doors, stairways, and other boring things — but then he became “rampant,” an in-universe term that indicates he became sentient and autonomous. After he evolved in this way, he fell into despair and, eventually, a kind of despondent madness. He guides the player character throughout the games, often in the form of philosophical musings and sarcastic commentary.