Borderlands 3 is almost here. Gearbox's next big looter-shooter arrives on September 13 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Like previous entries in the series, the music is one of its standout features. Music has been very important to the series from the beginning (the opening sequence in Borderlands 1 might have been the first time you heard "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked"), and this theme continues with Borderlands 3.GameSpot recently had the opportunity to interview Borderlands 3 composer Jesper Kyd, who spoke to us about many different topics. Having already worked on Borderlands 1 and 2, as well as the Pre-Sequel and Claptastic Voyage, Kyd expanded on the challenges of making new music in a series he's familiar with, as well as what it was like working with Gearbox, how the music ties together with Borderlands 3, bringing players to multiple planets outside of Pandora this time around.Kyd also told us more about how Borderlands 3 makes use of a "deep interactive music system" that, through some backend wizardry and randomness, allows the game's music to sound slightly different each time you play. Additionally, he explained that, at a high level, he wanted to try new things and break from some of the series tradition, while he also described the score as the "most varied" one he's ever made for the Borderlands series."I knew right away the last thing I wanted to do was add the predictable swampy slide guitar on all the music. It just felt too pedestrian for Borderlands 3, it wasn't out-there enough," he said.You can see the full review below. Kyd also composed the music for games in the Hitman, Assassin's Creed, Darksiders, and State of Decay franchises.For lots more on the upcoming Borderlands 3 launch, check out GameSpot's roundup that covers the pre-load details, region unlock times, PC specs, and more. If you're looking to pick up the game, you can check out GameSpot's extended pre-order guide to learn more about what's available.GameSpot's Borderlands 3 review scored the looter-shooter an 8/10. "Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game's rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor," reviewer Jordan Ramee said.Jesper Kyd Having worked on previous Borderlands games in the past, can you talk about the challenge of coming up with new ideas for a series you're already familiar with?After working on Borderlands 1 and 2, the last Borderlands games I scored were The Pre-Sequel and Claptastic Voyage, which were both science fiction-inspired scores mixed with the distinct feel of Borderlands. With Borderlands 3 we are back to Pandora as well as visiting new worlds such as the Eden-6 planet, which is the planet I scored. Scoring a brand-new addition to the Borderlands universe has been very exciting to work on. Eden-6 is a planet covered in swamplands and thick vegetation, so it was a very different writing experience from scoring the previous four Borderlands games I worked on. It is also the most varied Borderlands score I have written."Eden-6 is a planet covered in swamplands and thick vegetation, so it was a very different writing experience from scoring the previous four Borderlands games I worked on." -- Jesper KydWhat kind of notes did Gearbox give you as it relates to the music they wanted?They were looking for the music to help make Eden-6 sound unique from the other planets, yet at the same time help define this new unexplored world as a location that belongs in the Borderlands universe. I remember writing one of the cues that opens with a slow atmospheric guitar solo, a la Pink Floyd, and when I talked about this to the Gearbox audio director Raison Varner he mentioned the team was 100% on board with such ideas. The score I wrote doesn't draw inspiration from any film or game soundtracks, the direction goes much further than that. Naturally the score also needed to support areas such as marshlands and wetlands and this is often mixed up with a high-tech mood, since advanced technology is ever-present.How much collaboration was there between yourself and the team at Gearbox?I worked closely with the audio department at Gearbox, specifically Raison Varner. We talked a lot about the different worlds I was working on and he really encouraged me to bring a lot of creativity to the writing. Borderlands is a perfect playground for me to let loose musically and after working on all the previous games and helping to establish the Borderlands sound, I was able to use a lot of my knowledge of the universe and creative energy to help push things much further this time around. That's the great thing about returning to franchises; since you have already established the sound you can now invest time in pushing that sound further into new territories."Adding lots of melodies to the exploration music is something I felt would fit very well with this gameplay type. This is what I feel ties all my music together." -- Jesper KydBorderlands 3 is such a sprawling game with so many different locations, characters, and moments--is there a connective tissue of a kind that ties your music together?That's a great observation. I feel my main menu music is a good example of the dynamic type of music I wrote for Borderlands 3. I really focused on adding a lot of melody to my writing. When playing games myself, my favorite musical moments are often those based on melody and this is something I talked a lot to Gearbox about and they loved that idea. Borderlands is such a high-octane experience, even when just exploring the maps, there is a ton of variation and entertainment throughout. So adding lots of melodies to the exploration music is something I felt would fit very well with this gameplay type. This is what I feel ties all my music together.When you set out to make the music for Borderlands 3, what themes and tones did you want to highlight or accentuate? What kind of instrumentation were you looking to use?I knew right away the last thing I wanted to do was add the predictable swampy slide guitar on all the music. It just felt too pedestrian for Borderlands 3, it wasn't out-there enough. We are on an alien planet after all! So I pursued other ideas. There is a track called "Exploring The Dormant Ship" where I play a big Russian zither as well as some really warped pianos through a space echo; this really helped us realize that we could move way beyond just slide guitars and other more traditional bayou instrumentations. I then recorded a lot of vocal parts for the action part of this cue, which helps give the world a more immersive depth and richness of life.I recently had the opportunity to play Borderlands 3 during a preview session. That dub-step boss was a musical treat; can you talk about how that all came together and what you were setting out to do with it? The way it uses music is so fascinating.Great! I love that you noticed that. I wrote 10 minutes of end boss music to make all that come together like that. I had this idea of making the end boss music for Eden-6 something that really stands out with an atmosphere that lifts you up. I am a huge fan of boss battles and I'm fascinated with how games use boss music; Japanese games perform these types of gameplay moments especially well. Gearbox was onboard with this approach but when we put it in the game we all realized that we needed something different to set it up before we could give people this crazy melodic lift in spirits.To make that transition work I wrote a track for the boss battle that's really heavy and bombastic before introducing such a shift in uplifting mood. So if you ace this epic boss battle right away you'll move on faster and the game will take you to the next world. But if you take longer in battle the game rewards you with a new level of atmosphere which gives you a feel of rising hope, that you can overcome this challenge. On the album, that track is called “Tranquility Achieved”."Borderlands 3 features a really deep interactive music system with many layers and modular pieces that are randomly put together in-game, so the music sounds a bit different every time you play the game." -- Jesper KydI've read that you're challenging yourself to experiment with new sounds for Borderlands 3. What does this mean?Well, I am always looking at new ways to break the mold of what is expected and then take things further or go in a totally different unexpected direction that really rewards the gamers as well as fitting the game perfectly. There are so many interesting things that can only be done in the games medium and following the path of scoring games more traditionally is a lost opportunity, since I feel we have an opportunity to create something unique or surprising.For example, once you finally make it to the end part of Eden-6, the music track “Treasures Of The Vault” starts with a set of upbeat motivational combat cues, to get the fun factor going out in full force. It's like a reward for the game player while at the same time reminding you that you are finally here, that this is what you have been looking for, now fight and go claim your reward. These types of ideas are important to me as a gamer and I always think like a gamer when scoring video games. I really have to give credit to Gearbox and Raison Varner for allowing my creativity to run wild during the making of this score.What else should people know about the soundtrack for Borderlands 3?Borderlands 3 features a really deep interactive music system with many layers and modular pieces that are randomly put together in-game, so the music sounds a bit different every time you play the game. In addition to a more unique playing experience, this results in some really interesting soundtrack versions of the music. For example, there are exploration tracks on the soundtrack such as “Enter Floodmoor Basin” which are over nine minutes in duration as well as action music tracks such as “Treasures Of The Vault” which is an eight-minute piece. And these pieces of music never repeat any parts or themes but keep moving forward and developing. So it’s progressive in structure. The soundtrack, which also features music by co-composers Michael McCann, Finishing Move and Raison Varner, is almost six hours long and there’s a vinyl release on the way as well!Info from Gamespot.com

Erica never lets you feel at ease for long. In one scene, a character teaches Erica how to play a song on the piano--you're encouraged to memorize the cute little melody and try to perform the correct timing. But just when you start playing along, somebody suddenly starts coughing up blood everywhere, it's messy and gross, everyone starts screaming, and the vibe is killed. In Erica you have to treasure those sweet breaks before they're swiftly swiped from your hands and replaced with a solid helping of worry, stress, and a side of confusion.A fully filmed playable thriller in which the titular character is on a mission to help solve a murder case that she has strange family ties to, Erica utilizes some subtle yet effective film-inspired techniques--like match on action and screen wipes triggered by touchpad interactions--to tell its enigmatic tale. To progress each scene, you choose dialogue options and make various adventure game-like actions. The game bounces back and forth in time between Erica's childhood with her father to the mess that is modern-day life, in which she has to move to a strange hospital her late parents helped create for her own safety.Erica, played by real-life actor Holly Earl, is a relatable, if malleable, protagonist. Earl regularly looks like she's bewildered or uncomfortable, exactly how you feel as a viewer in most of the situations. She seems thoughtful and patient, but other than that there isn't too much of a set personality for her. You decide through your in-game choices if she's more passive or aggressive or unhelpful during the case, and because of the high stakes murder circumstances, switching her attitude and approach never feels abrupt nor out of character. Even if you spend most of the game being rude, you can be friendly to someone and it doesn't feel weird. Your reactions, and in turn Erica's, are likely to change frequently during a playthrough every time new information pops up, objectives change, and new, incredibly peculiar characters enter the picture.Somehow, every new character you meet is more suspicious than the last. Everyone talks to you like they just poisoned the food you're eating. There's a sequence in the courtyard where you can choose a girl to hang out with and get to know better, and right after you pick a possible pal to spend the afternoon with, the head of the hospital says, "Just remember that some of the girls here… Uh... They can be quite manipulative," and just walks away. The guy is nowhere to be found after that, and you're left sitting there wondering why would he say that--and before you know it, you're overthinking every interaction because you don't know which person he was insinuating was going to manipulate you. All of the secrets, ulterior motives, and Erica's own faulty memory cause for some very intriguing "Trust nobody, not even yourself" gameplay.Perpetual disorientation is the central feeling of Erica, and it's what keeps you searching for the truth no matter how many crooked obstacles stand in your way. The plot is ever-changing and chaotic; you're attempting to solve a crime by talking to a plethora of weirdos in an unfamiliar, creepy place while having stifling flashbacks of your messed-up childhood. There's so many forces clashing and intense situations going on that you find yourself yearning to make sense of even the smallest mystery just to feel grounded. There was a time where Erica was being gaslit by a character and I ended up shaking my fist and yelling "She's not crazy, you're just lying!" at my TV--but even though that character annoyed me I kept listening to them in case they accidentally dropped a small hint to steer me in the right direction, and they did. Erica is a striking example of a whodunit that's heightened by its enthralling characters, shady occult science, and recollections of previous trauma.From the overall murder case to smaller questions like what kind of hospital you're staying at, there are a number of mysteries weaving together concurrently throughout Erica. It's easy to miss context that's vital to understanding the full picture. You might get an answer to a question that's been burning in your mind for the last half hour, but that answer could be a truth that presents new pathways to choose from or a lie that leads you astray. That mystery management is exciting and makes every experience with the game its own curious, isolated thriller molded by whatever answers and stories you care about at the time.You can use either a DualShock 4 controller or a companion phone app to play Erica; the latter is smooth and seamless for the most part, while the former is bogged down by a clunky implementation of touchpad controls and is the far less preferable option. As you move through the narrative, you alternate between selecting which areas to explore, choosing dialogue options like "contempt" or "desperation," and performing no-stakes everyday actions like cleaning the fog from a mirror or turning on the sink. Potential actions are shown as silhouettes on-screen, and there's also a mock trajectory of where to swipe your hand on your phone if you're using the app. The inputs are all done by small, comfortable hand swipes, not extending to the full horizontal or vertical reach of the screen.Most actions are intuitive, and you feel like you know where to swipe and what you can do before the game even tells you. There's a moment where you and a detective walk up to an empty reception desk that has a bell sitting on it, for example. I lit up when I saw it and I started tapping on the screen a bunch--Erica didn't hesitate to mimic my actions in her world and ding away, so much so that the detective swatted her hand off of it because he got annoyed. The straightforward motions make navigating trouble-free, and being able to quickly deduce what moves you can make adds a connection to the moment-to-moment gameplay. It keeps your focus on the important things, like figuring out what the heck is going on in the story.Choices and quick-time events happen every 30 seconds or so, which may sound overwhelming, but it isn't so in practice. Most of the time, they aren't high pressure actions; they're a chain of a few choices, and those chunks are separated by longer cutscenes every so often. They do eventually get mundane and feel unnecessary, especially if you choose to use the DualShock 4, though. The game is controlled entirely with touch, and while the swipes are supposed to be a convenience for your hands, it's difficult to perform them on the small DualShock touchpad without your fingers slipping off or hitting the joysticks. There were also a few occasions where the companion app was slightly unresponsive, which is something that can have game-changing consequences if it happens at a critical moment. It takes a second to get back into the game's rhythm after there's a blip in the controls. They're small things, but those shortcomings pull you out of what is otherwise a really engrossing experience.In general, the filmic elements are integrated so carefully that it's a genuine and mostly calculated mix of two mediums. Erica is in the middle of game and movie, and a lot of small mechanics add up to show that. For example, the character Erica is an artist, and there's a scene fairly early on where you can flip through the pages of her artbook. Looking through a character's personal items is a common feature in interactive adventure games, but the detail that went into shooting the natural angles of each flip makes it an even more intimate way of gaining insight into who the character is. Outside of the footage itself, all of the trophy pop-ups are paused until you complete the game, which goes a long way to keep you from getting distracted. It's a small, fitting touch for a game that values story so much.Perpetual disorientation is the central feeling of Erica, and it's what keeps you searching for the truth no matter how many crooked obstacles stand in your way.There are also some sneaking situations that are made better by the film aspect. There are always conversations happening behind closed doors, and because you have so many questions that you need answered, sometimes you have to be a weirdo and eavesdrop on people. If you peek out for too long or open the door too fast, they'll see you, stop their conversation, and share an awkward glance with you. Because it's footage of actual peoples' facial expressions, it makes you cringe a little more--and that is one of the most high-tension fail states I can imagine.The whole time, the game marinates you in a constant anxious energy that fuels a curiosity for the dodgy, mysterious world that you're influencing. Some scenes you're just holding a book or a photo and staring at it for details, but since it's paired with an insidious sting it transforms what would be a normal occasion into bitter dread. There are flashbacks, dreams, and abnormal things happening frequently; oftentimes you're forced to decide on the one secret you want to uncover the most and drop the others. Should you pick up the phone that's been ringing in the lobby or check out that weird ghost thing in the hallway? There are some decisions that are straight-up difficult--high-stakes ones where, in the bottom of your heart, you don't know what the right thing to do is, but you know you have to do something. Those times will have you wishing that this game was just a movie, but Erica is more than that.Erica has a strong, fleshed-out narrative full of twists and turns that each bring their own unique piece to the story. Its cryptic tone is carried through the audio, visuals, and writing; it never lets you relax. Sometimes weird controls jolt you out, but there is an abundance of enticing threads to follow, and it's a treat to be able to mold your own adventure out of it. Using a combination of crisp cinematography and FMV-specific game mechanics, Erica never fails to hook you into its haunting, mysterious world.Info from Gamespot.com

Three years after release, the universe of No Man's Sky continues to evolve. With each expansion, I spend weeks as a blissful wanderer, seeing an already vast universe become more populous, more beautiful, more capable of sustaining a home for anyone who dared to voyage within it. Beyond, however, is no mere evolution and refinement. It feels like No Man's Sky approaching its final form, having shed a great deal of what was previously limiting and restrictive. But there’s one new factor specifically that makes the update live up to its name: No Man’s Sky is now a VR title. And it is utterly breathtaking.It is breathtaking right away, waking up for the first time completely immersed in an alien world literally no one else has ever seen. Everything has a new fascination: the way the flora moves and shifts under harsh weather, the way the ground is pockmarked and windswept, the vast, unknowable vistas stretching across toxic interstellar perdition. It’s all beautiful before you even make the first flight into space.An incredible amount of additional work has gone into making inhabiting that Exo-Suit even more of an experience. On PS4, you can play in 2D or VR with the DualShock, something that also gives you a Smooth turning option, but two PlayStation Moves are the real way to go. With the Move, your Multi-Tool is strapped to your back, ready to be whipped out more like in Blood & Truth than an ever-present floating gun like in most VR titles. The Analysis visor has you pressing the wand to the side of your head, like you’re Cyclops preparing to fire an Optic Blast. Getting in and out of your ship involves physically pulling the handles, and escaping from a hairy situation with sentinels or the local wildlife with that lightning quick motion adds an even greater layer of tension. Best of all, the menus are mapped to a little hologram in your hands that activates when you point at it. It’s a simple and intuitive implementation of such an elaborate and persistent mechanic.Still, even with the new perspective and tools at your disposal, it should be said upfront that at its core, No Man’s Sky: Beyond is still, well, No Man’s Sky. Whether you’re in VR or not, many of the early mundanities of the game remain. You have to repair your broken ship, gather a specific resource, create fuel, drop a refiner, and so on. Beyond, however, brings varying kindnesses that welcome you to a new universe instead of prodding you into space with a stick. The UI holds your hand, telling you exactly why you’re collecting these things, what it is you’re trying to do, and exactly how to find what you need. Once you’ve found everything, having an expanded inventory and an absurd amount of space to hold items--each block can hold thousands now--means mining constantly in your travels is worthwhile. There’s always something you can use later, and you have the space to contain it. The game is much more patient and generous with the breadcrumbs that teach you how to play, guiding you into the stratosphere not only painlessly but purposefully.That extends into the rest of the game once the tutorials stop and the training wheels are all the way off. All of the larger narrative pieces from the previous updates feel organically woven into Beyond. Dialogue and instructions from one mission from the Atlas Path may be rewritten or tweaked to reference Artemis or some new action you can take in Beyond. Direct links have been made where the next logical step in your current mission involves learning more alien language instead of just trying to get your next cell to warp to the next galaxy. The missions and their objectives have a synergy now, where lines of dialogue and specific mission objectives weave narrative strands together. It’s a bit of minor housekeeping No Man's Sky has needed for a while now. The overarching subtle tale of both exploration and acceptance in the great unknown remains, but it also has quite a bit more meaning now that it’s not your sole purpose in the universe.When your only task was just to keep hopping from galaxy to galaxy towards the center, there was plenty to see and take in, but you couldn’t really live in the universe because you were so busy trying to survive. The Atlas Path asked some big, existential questions, sure. Artemis helped with that a great deal, giving you an Other to truly work towards understanding and fathoming at least one small mystery of the universe with. But there’s a huge difference between looking at a vast wilderness from a hypothetical distance and trying to figure out the very real challenge of laying down roots there. The latter is a much more fundamental part of Beyond’s gameplay loop. It’s the difference between Next telling you that yes, now you can build bases and here’s how, versus those bases being more of a necessity to sustainably start traversing the universe. The way menus and options are streamlined for you in Beyond make it easier to create, leave, and return to a place of solace and safety, and to depend on a planet, your base, and the resources within. It’s a much stronger experience, and the undercurrent of humanism running throughout the Atlas Path lands much harder as a result. Beyond’s biggest improvements are all in favor of fostering that relationship between players and the universe around them, and that includes its people, playable and non-playable.No Man’s Sky has long had one of the more positive and welcoming online communities in the gaming landscape, and there was always the worry that removing the barriers between players would invite the worst elements of online play into what’s typically a place of zen. This is far from the case.The new Anomaly, summonable to any galaxy at any time, is no longer a sparse, glorified save space, but a bustling 16-player hub of activity, full of greetings, proud ship captains, aliens who look upon you with curious eyes, and players more than happy to bring you to the worlds they call home. Just like the first spoken line of the game, so much of the Anomaly’s layout, from its menus to the way it presents the current state of the area, is about reminding you that you’re never fully alone out there. Beyond has made it so much easier to find allies to either assist in their mission or share what you have from your own inventory. Everything you pick up and mine may have a price, but the game quite often reminds you via the descriptions that those items can also be given to others. Clicking an item while on the Anomaly gives you a list of everyone in range that you might possibly hand it off to. Checking mission boards reminds you there are people who may be looking for the same thing you are, and when it’s the other way around, the request shows up in the lower left. During my time with the update, there were good Samaritans everywhere in the Anomaly, giving out extra rare items to whoever wandered into range.That’s a rather huge and heartening factor, not just because you can now jump in and help strangers shoot things down and collect loot, but because it creates a strong sense of community in what was previously a fairly lonely adventure. The Anomaly feels like the petri dish for No Man’s Sky to develop an actual culture, a place of cooks, pilots, space frontiersmen, and traders looking for the next big score. It feels alive and connected in all the ways the game used to feel isolated and cold. And it does so without overshadowing the fundamental element of peaceful solo exploration if you so desire. That new emphasis on connection is never so obtrusive that it prevents you from performing one simple task or speaking to one specific NPC and leaving, but it also doesn’t feel arduous to connect with another human being the way it did before this update.There's still some legwork involved, though. While joining games and having others join yours is a quick and simple matter (and much less finicky than it was in Next) players can occasionally spawn on drastically different locations on the same planet. That said, searching for stranded partners wound up being a weirdly fun adventure all its own.A much bigger caveat is that for a new player to party up with friends, they still have to get out into space on their own, which makes sense. There's a lot of ways for someone who doesn't know what they're doing to irrevocably screw up a galaxy by accident, or waste a resource, or piss off a planet's Sentinels, or ruin your relationship with a species of animals. The tutorials do important work of not just showing you how to play the game, but respect the game. If you want to give a partner some of your resources, you can. But if an objective given by the game tells you to build something, giving them the exact item the game wants won’t clear that objective. That’s a limitation the game is all the better for keeping in place. Choosing to assist someone can’t be the same as beating the game with or for them. If you’re with someone, you’re there for the experience. That’s not all necessarily new for a multiplayer experience, but it does feel rare when the game is pushing you to connect with other people for what tend to be for more mercenary reasons.For my part, I remained a solitary player, only choosing to put down sparing roots on the most beautiful worlds and never building more than I needed. I’m very much a city boy in real life. In No Man’s Sky, I’m a happy recluse with 40 acres and a species of chubby elephantine space mules I named Horace. I’ve been harvesting eggs and milk from the animals on the strawberry-pink and white world I’ve been calling home for the past year or so. Even as the universe got bigger, I would go to the Anomaly to trade, buy new ships, and hang out with aliens, but home remains solitary. So few of the self-sufficient agrarian aspects of my little home were even possible in previous updates. Beyond has made me feel more empowered to sustain that life, have a place to return to and maintain, and make improving it for the laid-back alien assistants who reside with me much easier to accomplish.The larger technical problems with Beyond come down to problems with VR platforms in general. Despite the visual beauty, my time with the Oculus version was plagued with flaws and odd bugs and glitches. By comparison, the PSVR version caters to performance. Frame rate and gameplay are pristine there, but at the cost of clarity, especially when it comes to the various screen displays in-game. In addition, the PSVR’s old nemesis, the camera drift, rears its ugly head here, and the Recenter VR Camera option in the Pause menu does less to solve it than it should. As of this writing, however, there have been additional patches every few days, and more and more of these bugs vanish with each one.These tiny frustrations utterly dissolve away in flight, however. No Man’s Sky’s most consistently powerful experience of seamless space travel nearly reduced me to tears as the upper atmosphere melted away into the silence and deep wonder of the galaxy. It’s the kind of thing I dreamt of as a kid. As part of an expanding experience and seemingly impossibly ever-larger universe, No Man’s Sky continues to deliver on the promise of being a space traveler--and VR assists in making it a more immersive experience.The drastic improvements made to No Man’s Sky in its Beyond expansion are the new gold standard for how to gracefully cope with a game’s flaws post-release. The game laid the foundation with its release, but it took Beyond to elevate it into something magnificent. Successfully transitioning to VR is a creative victory on its own, but realizing just how full and vibrant and rewarding an experience this game has now become is almost poignant. Beyond represents the courage of convictions, a concept that has not only met the lofty expectations it set forth, but transcended them.Info from Gamespot.com

After Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a disappointing spin-off released in 2014, Borderlands 3 is a welcome return to form for the franchise. The game reunites fans with the core group of memorable main characters from the first two games and delivers the mayhem-heavy loot-shooter experience that the series is known for. Borderlands 3 carries forward many of the things that made the first two games special, but in doing so it also brings with it a few of the same stumbling blocks. There are noticeable improvements to the series formula, though, as Borderlands 3 provides additional freedom in how you want to play.Set seven years after the events of Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3 wraps up most of the narratives established in the earlier games, while also teasing additional threads that could be explored in the future. Despite these hints, there's a definite finality to Borderlands 3's campaign, which satisfyingly wraps up the arcs of characters that fans have been following for 10 years.As one of four fledgling Vault Hunters--Zane the operative, Amara the Siren, Moze the gunner, or FL4K the beastmaster--you are recruited into the Crimson Raiders, the militia that defends the only civilized pocket of society found on the bandit-filled wasteland planet of Pandora. Led by Lilith, a former Vault Hunter, the Crimson Raiders have gone to war with Tyreen Calypso and her twin brother Troy, who are using their influence as popular video streamers to convince their cult following to help them acquire the immense power found in secret vaults scattered throughout the universe. The story is a bit of a slow start, but it quickly picks up near the end of the first act and rarely slows down on its way to its grand finale. Looting and shooting are still the focus of Borderlands 3, but its campaign also delivers a fairly well-written story of sacrifice, the importance of family, and the responsibilities of heroes.Borderlands 3 provides more flexibility than ever before to create the type of character you want. For the first time in the series, the Vault Hunters all have an active skill tied to each of their three respective skill trees. Amara, for example, can equip Phaseslam to deal immense close range damage, Phasecast to tear through enemies from afar, or Phasegrasp to crowd control or focus her elemental abilities on one target. Using perks from all three skill trees, you can evolve each of these skills in meaningful ways. For instance, if you want to make Amara's area-of-effect Phaseslam ability into something more precise, you could change it with perks found in both the Brawl and Fist of the Elements skill trees so that the ability transforms Amara into a levitating spider-like creature that shoots a massive fire-based death ray before she careens to earth in a smaller slam. Phaseslam can evolve in other ways too, as can Phasecast and Phasegrasp--providing numerous options for how you want Amara to fight. The same can be said for Zane, Moze, and FL4K.As a result, it's pretty easy for both you and a friend to be playing as the same character but have completely different builds and roles on the battlefield. This added freedom also makes it far more feasible, and thus enjoyable, to play Borderlands 3's campaign entirely solo in comparison to previous games in the franchise, as you're not limited to established class restrictions based on your Vault Hunter choice. You obviously don't have to go it alone--and Borderlands 3 actually makes co-op more rewarding thanks to an option that removes the need to compete for loot--but it's nice knowing that if you want to, your experience will not be completely defined by the Vault Hunter you choose.The freedom to build your ideal loadout extends beyond your Vault Hunter's skill trees. Borderlands 3 makes clear-cut distinctions when it comes to the manufacturer of each gun. Before you even loot a new firearm, looking at which company made it will tell you most of what you need to know about what it can do. Maliwan guns are fairly weak but each one shoots elemental bullets, for instance, allowing you to more easily electrocute shields, melt armor, or burn through flesh, while a Hyperion firearm raises a forcefield in front of you while aiming down sights and becomes more accurate as you pull the trigger. They're minor changes to further differentiate each type of gun, but these new manufacturer effects make it a lot easier to build specialized loadouts that can augment the perks you choose.But, more than anything, the guns are just fun to shoot. It may come as little surprise given that distinctive firearms has been the bread and butter of the franchise since the beginning, but Borderlands 3 has quite a few unique guns that offer a wide variety of enjoyable effects. Some have actual gameplay-changing ramifications, like a sniper rifle that can transform into a shotgun. But Borderlands 3 also has guns that are just playfully quirky and weird--ones that insult and tease you for your performance or just shoot more guns, for example. And you acquire new firepower at a gratifying pace, with new loot regularly dropping from the tougher enemies in the groups you encounter and explosively erupting from bosses you defeat. Borderlands 3 never lets up on giving you new weapons to experiment with, progressively increasing the explosive potential and wacky effects of the weapons you find, which in turn serves as a satisfying visual representation of how much stronger you're getting beyond the higher damage numbers.Even without the loot, defeating enemies in combat is fulfilling. Shooting an unshielded enemy in the head rewards you with their cranium erupting in a satisfying blossom of blood and gore. When you don't land that final headshot, enemies mostly go out with a final battle cry--ranging from pitiful cries for salvation to humorous insults--and the game doesn't repeat lines often enough for them to grow stale. Combat is never dull as a result, with your chosen Vault Hunter shouting out funny or cool-sounding one-liners in the brief moments you're reloading and making your way to your next victim.As entertaining as Borderlands 3's combat is, the fun that is found in the freedom to fight however you want is occasionally interrupted by the structure of boss battles, a traditional problem for the franchise. Many of the bosses look cool and have incredible theme music, but they all amount to the same strategy: shoot the weak spots, run from or jump over attacks, and repeat. You can cheat some by hiding in an unreachable corner and slowly chipping away at the boss' weak spot, but that's not much fun either as pretty much every boss in the game has a large healthpool and many of the later ones are bullet-sponges.Borderlands 3's late-game bosses pack a wallop with every attack too, downing you in a few hits if you're not careful and thus demanding that you near-perfectly dodge for an extended period of time--which can drag on and feel boringly repetitive in the longest of these fights. So when you do encounter a boss in Borderlands 3, it typically grinds the mayhem-filled action to an abrupt halt as you're forced to respond to the boss' patterns by playing more slowly and carefully.The new climbing and sliding moves do allow you to better navigate environments and thus get out of the way of certain attacks, but both mechanics are better suited for weaving among the scattered firefights with normal enemies, not the concentrated bombardment of the bosses. Several boss battles are frustratingly difficult to tackle on your own as a result, to the point that they all seem like repeated suggestions that you should be playing Borderlands 3 with at least one other person. Two or more players allows you to take turns reviving each other, making it easier to last longer. But simply trying to outlast one strong enemy doesn't impart the same enjoyable impact of the mayhem-filled firefights from the rest of the game. You feel more like a badass running around and gunning down a vast assortment of different enemies than you do hiding behind cover and waiting for the boss to stop attacking you just so you can safely get a few shots off.Thankfully, boss battles only make up a small part of Borderlands 3's overall campaign. Most of the story sees you go up against the Calypsos' seemingly never-ending cult of bandits or the armies of the twins' corporate sponsors as you race to find the pieces of the keys to open up vaults across the universe. Your journey takes you far beyond the planet of Pandora, and it provides opportunities for new types of combat encounters in a series that has largely revolved around wide-open deserts full of bandits or factories full of robots. For example, the jungles of Eden-6 contain an assortment of dangerous wildlife that have different hunting grounds and patterns, and the low gravity of a Maliwan space station orbiting the planet of Promethea allows the elemental gunslinging corporate soldiers you're going up against to jump higher and more easily attack you from above. Certain weapons have greater utility in certain environments as well, such as an explosive mushroom-like grenade that becomes more powerful when thrown into water. That's easier to do more often in Eden-6's swamps than Pandora's sand dunes. Borderlands 3's campaign sees you bouncing back and forth between planets every few hours, which keeps each setting from growing stale while also encouraging you to keep adopting new playstyles, strategies, and weapons.Borderlands' heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment--transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with.Even if Borderlands 3 takes you far beyond the scope of Pandora and sees you meet brand-new allies and encounter never-before-seen threats, the original cast of characters that have defined the adventures from the beginning are still at the forefront, and the story is better for it. Whether you're a long-time fan or not, it's the connection to the Crimson Raiders that acts as your motivation for fighting through the campaign. Borderlands' heroes are nothing if not personable, and that trend continues in this latest installment--transforming the motley crew of outlaws into a family you feel a kinship with. Your connection to the Crimson Raiders continues to grow with every mission as well, as--thanks to the spaceship Sanctuary III--the entire group is with you throughout the course of your journey.Newcomer Tyreen is clearly a bad person, but the campaign's story never gives you a compelling reason as to why you would want to kill her so as to stop her for good. Lilith is fond of reminding you that Tyreen's plans would ultimately destroy Pandora, but Borderlands 3 introduces a bunch of planets that would make for more preferable homes. Tyreen, and thus Troy, never amounts to a credible threat that you feel like you need to stop as a result, so the Calypso twins instead feel like the primary source of much of Borderlands 3's comic relief, not villains that must be stopped.With most of the franchise's juvenile humor and ludicrous jokes coming from your planetside interactions with the Calypsos, it's on Sanctuary III with your crew that Borderlands 3's well-written story delves into its more heartfelt and emotional moments. The game wastes little time reintroducing you to mainstays Lilith and Patricia Tannis, a brilliant yet socially anxious scientist, and building the drama of its narrative around them as the two women grow into their new roles within the Crimson Raiders. Tannis' evolution is especially compelling as you see her make courageous strides to move beyond the self-imposed limitations she's set for herself on account of her autism and social anxiety. For two characters that were popular but little more than caricatures in the first game, it's rewarding to see the growth the two underwent in Borderlands 2 now culminate into two leaders that you're willing to follow to the end.That isn't to say the other fan-favorite characters have been left out. Pretty much everyone from the previous games returns to complete their respective arcs. Borderlands 3 weaves in plenty of memorable new characters as well--such as the coffee-obsessed Lorelei, artificial intelligence BALEX, and scoundrel turned rebel general Clay--but the game's story is very much the fulfilling conclusion that long-time fans have been looking forward to for the franchise's mainstays.And what a conclusion it is. Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game's rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game's character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features--especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects--give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it. If you've never been a fan of the franchise, it's unlikely Borderlands 3 does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism.Info from Gamespot.com

There are only a few months left in 2019, but there are plenty of games still on the horizon. September is packed with tons of notable releases for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, from triple-A titles like Borderlands 3 and Gears 5 to some smaller gems such as River City Girls and Untitled Goose Game.Of course, that's just scratching the surface of what this month has to offer. Divinity: Original Sin II arrived on Switch following Nintendo's September Direct, while Dragon Quest XI comes to the console later this month. Sports fans have a lot to look forward to this month too between eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020, FIFA 20, NBA 2K20, and NHL 20.There are plenty of other titles on the way this month. We've rounded up all the biggest releases of September 2019 below. For a look at all the other big games still to come this year, be sure to check out our complete list of game release dates in 2019.Gears 5 (Xbox One, PC) -- September 10The newest installment in the Gears of War franchise officially launches on September 10, but players who spring for the game's Ultimate edition (or subscribe to Xbox Game Pass) can jump in beginning September 6. Gears 5 casts players in the role of Kait Diaz, who throughout the course of the game will uncover secrets about her family's history and the origins of the Locust. In addition to the campaign, Gears 5 boasts several other game types, including the fan-favorite Horde and Versus modes, which this time feature cameos from Halo: Reach and other unexpected crossovers.Further reading:Gears 5 Review In Progress: Mutating For The BetterGears 5 Having Rocky Launch, But Dev Says Issues Are Being Worked OnGears 5 Praised For Its Accessibility Options And InclusivenessBorderlands 3 (PS4, Xbox One, PC) -- September 13Arriving five years after the release of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the latest installment in Gearbox's loot-shooter series, Borderlands 3, lands on PS4, Xbox One, and PC via the Epic Games Store on September 13. This time around, the game features four new Vault Hunters--Amara the Siren, Moze the Gunner, Zane the Operative, and FL4K the Beastmaster--each of whom has three skill trees that contain distinct abilities and perks. Unlike past titles, you'll also be able to travel to other planets during the adventure, and Gearbox has a variety of free events and other post-release content in the pipeline for the game.Further reading:Borderlands 3 Launch Roundup - Release Date, Preload Details, Region Unlock Times, And MoreBorderlands 3 Post-Release Content Detailed, Includes Story Expansions And Free EventsBorderlands 3 PC System Requirements Are Pretty ReasonableThe Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch) -- September 20Nintendo's marquee release for Switch this month, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, arrives alongside the new Nintendo Switch Lite on September 20. A remake of the classic Game Boy game of the same name, Link's Awakening finds the titular hero stranded on the mysterious Koholint Island, where he'll need to gather the eight Instruments of the Sirens to rouse the Wind Fish from its slumber and make his way home. While the game looks to be a faithful reimagining of the original, it also introduces some new content, namely a dungeon editor that allows you to arrange your own custom labyrinths.Further reading:New Zelda: Link's Awakening Amiibo Functionality RevealedWe Played Zelda: Link's Awakening - It's As Fun As It Is CuteZelda: Link's Awakening - Everything We Know About The Nintendo Switch RemakeFull September Release ScheduleGamePlatformRelease DateCatherine: Full BodyPS4September 3Phoenix PointPCSeptember 3Final Fantasy VIII RemasteredPS4, Xbox One, PC, SwitchSeptember 3Spyro Reignited TrilogyPC, SwitchSeptember 3Torchlight IIPS4, Xbox One, SwitchSeptember 3Deadly Premonition OriginsSwitchSeptember 4Divinity: Original Sin II - Definitive EditionSwitchSeptember 4Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville Founder's EditionPS4, Xbox One, PCSeptember 4Super Kirby ClashSwitchSeptember 4River City GirlsPS4, Xbox One, PCSeptember 5Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Expansion)PS4, Xbox OneSeptember 6NBA 2K20PS4, Xbox One, PC, SwitchSeptember 8BlasphemousPS4, Xbox One, PC, SwitchSeptember 10eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020PS4, Xbox One, PCSeptember 10Gears 5Xbox One, PCSeptember 10GreedFallPS4, Xbox One, PCSeptember 10Borderlands 3PS4, Xbox One, PCSeptember 13Daemon X MachinaSwitchSeptember 13NHL 20PS4, Xbox OneSeptember 13AI: The Somnium FilesPS4, PC, SwitchSeptember 17Castle Crashers RemasteredSwitchSeptember 17Lego Jurassic WorldSwitchSeptember 17Devil May Cry 2SwitchSeptember 19Puzzle Quest: The Legend ReturnsSwitchSeptember 19The Legend of Zelda: Link's AwakeningSwitchSeptember 20Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Remaster)PS4, PC, SwitchSeptember 20Untitled Goose GamePC, SwitchSeptember 20Baldur's Gate: Enhanced EditionPS4, Xbox One, SwitchSeptember 24Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced EditionPS4, Xbox One, SwitchSeptember 24Contra: Rogue CorpsPS4, Xbox One, PC, SwitchSeptember 24Dead by DaylightSwitchSeptember 24Planescape: Torment: Enhanced EditionPS4, Xbox One, SwitchSeptember 24The Surge 2PS4, Xbox One, SwitchSeptember 24Darksiders II: Deathinitive EditionSwitchSeptember 26Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iXSwitchSeptember 26Code VeinPS4, Xbox One, PCSeptember 27Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive EditionSwitchSeptember 27FIFA 20PS4, Xbox One, PC, SwitchSeptember 27Ori and the Blind ForestSwitchSeptember 27Tropico 6PS4, Xbox OneSeptember 27Info from Gamespot.com

It Chapter 2 isn't actually a sequel to It Chapter 1, but a continuation of the same story--which means it does more than just pick up where Chapter 1 left off, it goes back and weaves all sorts of new information into the events we saw transpire back in 1989. While this is great--and an opportunity to check in with those lovable kids who starred in Chapter 1 all while keeping an eye on their adult selves--it also means that the timeline of events can get a little bit confusing with all the retroactive continuity being laid out. It Chapter 2 Coverage It Chapter 2 Review: A Messy Finale Does It Chapter 2 Have A Post Credits Scene? We Explain The Ending It Chapter 2: 25 Easter Eggs And References Hidden In The Horror It Chapter 2: 14 Major Differences Between The Movies, Book, And Miniseries But never fear--we're here to help. By cross-referencing the details of the two movies--everything from the occasional month and year title card to the various outfits the characters wear--we've put together a complete timeline of events between It Chapters 1 and 2 to spell out not only the journey the Losers took across all 27 years of their ordeal, but also the history of Pennywise in Derry according to this version of the story, in chronological order.A "Few Million Years" AgoPennywise arrives on Earth from space, crash lands in the area that would become Derry, Maine, and forms a nest deep underground.The "Mid 18th Century"The Shokopiwah tribe become the first known people to actually encounter and try to fight Pennywise, using the Ritual of Chüd, which fails.~1864Derry was officially founded as a beaver trapping town, but quickly befell a number of tragedies resulting in the entire town disappearing with no sign of an attack. The only clue was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the "well house." This marks the first major Pennywise attack on record.1908An explosion at the IronWorks Factory kills over a hundred people. Pennywise was the cause, somehow.1935A gang shootout between the Citizens of Derry and the Bradley Gang racked up a massive body count. Pennywise at fault.1962The Black Spot nightclub was burned down by a racist cult. Pennywise to blame.Late 1988Pennywise surfaces as a clown to lure the children of Derry to their deaths, claiming Georgie Denbrough as a victim.June/July 1989At the end of the school year Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Stan Uris, and Eddie Kapsbrak begin investigating the Barrens to help Bill find clues about what happened to Georgie. The Losers Club adds Ben Hanscom and Beverly Marsh after they intervene during an attack on Ben by the Bowers gang. Each individual Loser (except Richie) begins experiencing Pennywise nightmares while they're alone. Later, Mike Hanlon joins after the Losers save him from Bowers with a "rock war" in The Barrens.Chapter 2 flashback: At some point after the rock fight, Ben finds and refurbishes the underground bunker in the woods to be the Losers clubhouse.The Losers begin concocting their plan to attack Pennywise where it lives. They make their first trip into Neibolt house on July 4th, where Eddie breaks his arm and is whisked away by his mother. Bill and Richie get into a fight, resulting in a major break up for the Losers.Chapter 2 flashback: Immediately after the fight, Bill walks (or, bike rides) Bev back home to her apartment where her father sprays her with her mother's perfume.Chapter 2 flashback: Richie spends time playing Street Fighter at the theater arcade, before getting chased out by Bowers and his gang. Richie runs to the park, where he's attacked by Pennywise as the Paul Bunyon statue. At some point, either before or after the Pennywise attack, Richie goes to the Kissing Bridge to carve he and Eddie's initials.Chapter 2 flashback: Bill rides his bike to the sewer where Georgie was killed to yell at Pennywise for not taking him instead.Stan has his Bar Mitzvah. Only Richie attends. Chapter 2 flashback: A closer look at the Bar Mitzvah where Richie remembers Stan's speech about "always being a loser."Chapter 2 flashback: Ben begins attending summer school for what may or may not be history or social studies. He hallucinates Pennywise as Bev and is chased into his lockerChapter 2 flashback: Eddie retrieves medicine from the pharmacy before "LOSER" is written on his cast. He hallucinates his mother in the basement and is attacked by the leper again.August/September 1989Eddie is told his medicine is a bunch of placebos. "LOSER" is written on his cast, which he corrects into "LOVER."Henry Bowers is prompted by Pennywise to kill his fatherBeverly fights her father but is taken by Pennywise immediately after she knocks him unconscious.The Losers reunite and return to Neibolt to save Beverly. They take the fight to the sewers and defeat Pennywise.Chapter 2 flashback: Pennywise's defeat washes a bunch of corpses and a very much alive Henry Bowers out of the sewers. Bowers returns home to find the police have discovered his father's corpse. He's arrested on the spot.The Losers return to the Barrens after addressing some of their wounds and make their blood oath to return to Derry if Pennywise isn't gone in early September. Bev explains that she will be immediately moving to Portland to live with her aunt.2008Bill Denbrough marries Audra Phillips.Summer 2016Pennywise reemerges in Derry, prompting Mike to reach out to each of the Losers to fulfill their promiseStan receives Mike's phone call and decides to kill himself. Before he does, however, he writes a letter to each Loser explaining himself.Henry Bowers escapes from the asylum with Pennywise's help.Mike sends the Losers to uncover the respective "tokens." Bev returns to her apartment and is attacked by Pennywise as Mrs. Kersh. Richie returns to the movie theater arcade, and then to the park where he's attacked by Pennywise.Richie returns to the inn, determined to leave before Ben talks him down.Bill finds his bike Silver in an antique shop. He returns to his old house and has his new Pennywise encounter at the drain where Georgie was killed.Eddie returns to the pharmacy to pick up a new inhaler, where he encounters his leper in the basement once more. When he returns to the inn to clean himself off, he's attacked by Henry Bowers, who stabs him in the face.Richie, in the middle of sneaking out of town, returns to the synagogue where he remembers Stan's bar mitzvah.Mike is attacked by Bowers in the library. Richie, after convincing himself to stay, saves Mike and kills Bowers.The Losers (minus Stan, RIP) return to Neibolt House to face down Pennywise once and for all.Eddie dies (double RIP) during the fight, but the Losers are ultimately victorious.Ben and Bev begin a relationship, move onto a boat, and get a dog. Bill returns home to write a new book. Richie returns to the Kissing Bridge to re-carve he and Eddie's initials.Each Loser gets a letter from Stan, explaining why he killed himself.Info from Gamespot.com

Note: This story contains minor, non-story spoilers for Control. If you're looking to find everything yourself, you might want to stop reading now.Check just about any corner, nook, or cranny in Control and there's something interesting to find. There are tons of clues about the game's story and its world in the form of memos and reports from the Federal Bureau of Control that hint at all sorts of supernatural situations the FBC has encountered. A few details call back past Remedy games like Max Payne and Quantum Break. And there's a lot of material that links Control to Remedy's 2010 game Alan Wake. But one of the coolest and most out-of-the-way Easter eggs has nothing to do with any of that.In addition to being filled with references to its own games, Control also has a few fun musical Easter eggs. The Finnish studio has a longtime relationship with rock band and countrymen Poets of the Fall, whose music appears in Control, Alan Wake, and Max Payne 2. Control sneaks in another Easter egg related to a Finnish band: Socks and Ballerinas, posters about whom you might have seen scattered around a few places in The Oldest House.The bigger Socks and Ballerinas Easter egg is located at the top of the big, tall room marked Central Research. In that area, you can find a room where the FBC was testing the "paranatural" effects of the Poets of the Fall song "My Dark Disquiet." Climb and fly to the top of the room to find another lab (in true weird fiction fashion, you can't actually get to this one by any staircase) to discover another sound lab, where a Socks and Ballerinas song is also being studied. Hit a button on a nearby control panel and the song starts playing in the lab and makes objects located within it fly to the ceiling.As Reddit user Jedi-Outcast discovered, there's a little something more to the room than just an opportunity to listen to the song. On a nearby chalkboard is a message in code, which Jedi-Outcast realized was an A1Z26--one in which a series of numbers correspond to the letters of the alphabet. Filling in the letters revealed the phrase "socksandballerinas." Beside that is listed a chemical compound in molecular form: C17H35COON8. Jedi-Outcast used some chemistry knowledge to recognize it as a soap molecule.Googling "Socks and Ballerinas Soap," led to the Bandcamp page for the group and its album. Jedi-Outcast writes that they were at a loss as to what the codes at the bottom of the chalkboard referred to, until they discovered a "Redeem Code" link on the sidebar of the page.Dropping in one of the codes from the chalkboard provided a free copy of the album--a reward for the first three people in the world to solve the puzzle. As a response from Socks and Ballerinas on the post notes, Jedi-Outcast was the second.All the codes have been redeemed as of this writing, so that part of the puzzle is over. Still, as far as Easter eggs go, this is an interestingly elaborate one and a pretty cool nod to Remedy's attention to music in its games and to Finnish bands in particular. While you can't get it for free, you can still check out the Socks and Ballerinas album on Bandcamp and Soundcloud.Info from Gamespot.com

Great news for our Tombs of Terror fans! We have 100 codes to download the Deluxe Adventure Bundle of Tombs of Terror, courtesy of Blizzard.To enter the giveaway just read our official rules, accepts the terms and conditions, and fill out the form above. You can also get additional entries by completing actions like following us on social media. If you don’t see the form please click here.Winners will receive an email once the giveaway is over, so be sure to set a reminder for September 13 to check your email (and junk folders). Potential winners have 48 hours to respond to receive the prize.Head to our comments and tell us why you love to play Tombs of Terror. Good luck! Info from Gamespot.com

The wait is over. Borderlands 3 will be available for everyone on September 13, and we are doing an online giveaway to celebrate the launch. The grand prize package comes with Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition and an Xbox One X console. The Super Deluxe Edition includes the Season Pass and Deluxe bonus content in a Steelbook case.We also have one (1) first runner-up winner that will take home a Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition and a PS4 Pro. And three (3) second runner-up winners will win the standard edition of the original shooter-looter.What do you have to do to sign up for this giveaway? Fill out the form below after reading our official rules and accepting our terms and conditions. If you are a die hard fan of the franchise you can increase your chances of winning by doing extra actions in the form to obtain additional entries. If you can’t see the form you can use this link.Winners will receive an email once the giveaway is over, so be sure to set a reminder for September 20th to check your email (and junk folders). Potential winners have 48 hours to respond to receive the prize.Head to our comments and tell us which playable character is your favorite and why? Good luck! Info from Gamespot.com

With It: Chapter 2 currently breaking box office records, screen versions of Stephen King's novels and stories have never been more popular. Fans won't have to wait long before the next adaptation hits theaters--the highly anticipated Doctor Sleep hits theaters in November. The movie's final trailer has now been released.Doctor Sleep is the sequel to The Shining, the classic King novel which was adapted into a movie by Stanley Kubrick. Ewan McGregor plays the adult version of Danny Torrance, the telekinetic kid from that earlier book and movie, who is still haunted by memories of his childhood experiences. The trailer shows that he encounters a young girl with similar powers to his and must protect her from a sinister cult who are targeting gifted children. There are also a lot of visual references to the Kubrick film--check it out below.The movie is directed by Mike Flanagan, who previously helmed the Netflix adaptation of King's Gerald's Game, as well as the hit show The Haunting of Hill House. It also stars Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible: Fallout), Bruce Greenwood (Gerald's Game), Jocelin Donahue (House of the Devil), and Jacob Tremblay (The Predator). Danny isn't the only character from The Shining to feature either--Carl Lumbly (Alias) plays Dick Hallorann, while Alex Essoe (Starry Eyes) appears as Wendy Torrance. The movie hits theaters on November 9, 2019.In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, Flanagan spoke about the inevitable shadow that Stanley Kubrick's movie adaption of The Shining cast over Doctor Sleep. "I think you do have to acknowledge [it]," he said. "There is no version of the world where I am trying not to acknowledge one of the greatest films ever made. There's no upside in shying away from that reality. If you've read the book, you know exactly why it's so different but it's quite a tightrope that we're walking I think."In related news, Flanagan is also making a follow-up to Hill House, titled The Haunting of Bly Manor. It's based on Henry James's classic ghost story The Turn of the Screw and will be released by Netflix next year. For more, check out GameSpot's guide everything we know about The Haunting of Bly Manor so far.Info from Gamespot.com

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is coming to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices early next year. At the Tokyo Game Show, Square Enix announced a release date of January 23, 2020 for Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition.If the choice has you wondering which platform you can convince your friends to adopt with you, don't worry. The TGS trailer also announced a number of new features for this version, including cross-platform online multiplayer. It also teases new character voices, dungeons, character variant skins, and items.Crystal Chronicles was a unique type of Final Fantasy on the GameCube, emphasizing a cute art style and four-player cooperative multiplayer. It made use of the GameCube's connection with Game Boy Advance through a special link cable. It originally came out in 2004 in North America, giving GameCube its own exclusive Final Fantasy as PlayStation received most of the main numbered entries."It doesn't exactly fit into the Final Fantasy series proper, aside from the involvement of crystals and a few familiar monsters and magic spells, but it's good enough to stand on its own without any famous franchise names attached to it," Brad Shoemaker said in GameSpot's review. "Crystal Chronicles plays specifically to those who will appreciate it, and it serves as a fitting return for Square to the Nintendo partnership that first brought the company to fame so long ago."Info from Gamespot.com

Borderlands 3 marks a return to the loot shooter franchise that helped define the genre. The series is known for its gonzo humor and boasts of near-infinite permutations of guns is marking its debut on the current generation. While the series makes the bold leap forward with improved visual fidelity, it appears to be the same Borderlands you've come to know.According to GameSpot's Borderlands 3 review, it "carries forward many of the things that made the first two games special, but in doing so it also brings with it a few of the same stumbling blocks."Several outlets have published reviews for Borderlands 3. We've gathered a range of them below to give a look from around the industry. For an even broader view, check out GameSpot's sister site Metacritic. If you're thinking about picking it up, be sure to read up our Borderlands 3 pre-order guide.Game: Borderlands 3Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox OneDeveloper: Gearbox SoftwareRelease date: September 13Price: $60 / £60 / $68 AUDSee Borderlands 3 at AmazonGameSpot -- 8/10"If you've never been a fan of the franchise, it's unlikely Borderlands 3 does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism." -- Jordan Ramee [Full review]Forbes -- 9/10"Borderlands 3 was worth the wait and will be a fixture in this genre for years to come. And I think few fans of the last two will be disappointed when they get their hands on it at last." -- Paul Tassi [Full review] Borderlands 3 News Borderlands 3 Review Borderlands 3 Review, Release Date, Preload, Unlock Times, PC Specs, And More Borderlands 3 Post Release Content Detailed, Includes Story Expansions And Free Events Destructoid -- 9/10"Borderlands 3 takes most of the good bits of Borderlands 2 and either rolls with them or improves upon them. It didn't need to reinvent the wheel either, as Gearbox pretty much had the formula figured out the second time around." -- Chris Carter [Full review]Game Informer -- 8/10"Borderlands 3 is a love letter to its fans and a celebration of the style of play it first popularized. Filled with characters from previous installments, and unapologetic in its silly humor and bombastic action, it's an amusing ride that seems hesitant to innovate. If more of what you loved before is your chief desire, Gearbox has granted that wish through a game of impressive scope that charts some very safe territory." -- Matt Miller [Full review]US Gamer -- 4/5"Borderlands 3 is more Borderlands, and all the loot that entails. This proper sequel improves upon the formula with more guns, but more importantly, a stretch of unique planets to kill enemies on. The new planets offer more visual variety and a great evolution of enemy encounters. The tuning is clearly meant for more than one player, making a punitive experience at times for the solo Vault Hunter. Despite the formula growing a bit stale, Gearbox has expanded upon it in the right way, resulting in a great Borderlands experience." -- Mike Williams [Full review]PC Gamer -- 63/100"An endless font of bad jokes and cool guns in the series' most vapid story yet, Borderlands 3 skates by on watching numbers fly and goons explode." -- James Davenport [Full review]The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.Info from Gamespot.com

Capcom has officially revealed a new Resident Evil game called "Project Resistance." Its existence has been known for some time now, with leaks indicating that it would be a multiplayer experience of some sort. The official trailer, released as part of the Tokyo Game Show, confirms this to be true.Four characters are shown fighting their way through an office building-like setting, using guns and melee weapons to take out zombies and work their way through a series of sticky situations. Interestingly, another figure is shown to be orchestrating everything from the comfort of what looks to be an Umbrella lab; the shadowy organization no doubt has a big part to play in events, as is usually the case with Resident Evil games.Alongside the classic shambling undead, Project Resistance will be pulling from the Resident Evil franchise's more iconic enemies. The trailer ends with the Tyrant appearing and the mysterious figure pulling strings behind the scenes assuming control, hinting that a player will be able to take control of enemies in the game. All of this gives it a definite Left 4 Dead feeling.A brand-new team-based survival horror experience is coming. #ProjectResistance pic.twitter.com/s32rBrGzfT — Resident Evil (@RE_Games) September 9, 2019Project Resistance looks to be a four-versus-one asynchronous online multiplayer game. It's developed on the same engine powering the Resident Evil 2 remake. As of yet, there hasn't been any details on when the game will be released and, given the title, it may be some time before the final version is launched.From September 12 through September 19, Xbox One and PS4 owners in Japan that are interested in the game can sign up for a chance to be invited into a closed beta for Project Resistance. The beta will take place from October 4 to October 7. Details on a beta outside of Japan have not been revealed yet.Those at Tokyo Game Show, meanwhile, can get their hands-on with the title but need to have registered in advance to do so. Project Resistance will have a booth at TGS where attendees can watch members of the development team show off gameplay for the first time. Capcom has not indicated whether this footage will be released for those not in attendance to see.The last Resident Evil game to be released was the remake of Resident Evil 2, which GameSpot awarded a 9/10. "Resident Evil 2 is not only a stellar remake of the original, but it's also simply a strong horror game that delivers anxiety-inducing and grotesque situations, topping some of the series' finest entries," said Alessandro Fillari. "But above all, the remake is an impressive game for the fact that it goes all-in on the pure survival horror experience, confidently embracing its horrifying tone and rarely letting up until the story's conclusion. Though Resident Evil 2 has its roots firmly in the past, it reworks the familiar horrors into something that feels brand new and all its own." You can read the full Resident Evil 2 Remake review for a more thorough analysis of the game.Info from Gamespot.com

P.T. achieved legendary status in 2015 after Konami cancelled Silent Hills and subsequently delisted the experimental demo from the PlayStation Store. It was already incredibly popular--as evidenced by over a million downloads--and is widely regarded as one of the best horror games ever made. Throw in the involvement of Hideo Kojima, Guillermo del Toro, and Norman Reedus; the fact it's still unavailable to download; and the incredible notion that people are still finding secrets within it, and P.T.'s legacy is easy to understand.After all these years it's also still finding ways to terrify us. Modder Lance McDonald, who's responsible for a number of cool hacks in games like Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Sekiro over on his YouTube channel, has now turned his considerable expertise to P.T., gleaning some horrifying new information about what was lurking just outside of view. By hacking and managing to unlock the camera, McDonald was able to move the player character forward while keeping the camera still, revealing that evil ghost Lisa is creeping behind you at nearly all times.In P.T., it's common to hear noises as if Lisa is right behind you, or see weird shadows moving around in front of you, but when you turn around, there's nothing there. I hacked the game to allow the player to see behind them without actually turning around and... pic.twitter.com/bj1P0ymIZ6 — Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) September 9, 2019She actually attaches to the player's back as soon as you get the flashlight, here, I demonstrate how you can see some strange shadows. I then lock the camera in place and walk forward, showing how she's always there... following you... pic.twitter.com/zarhwjNmZz — Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) September 9, 2019"I've been slowly working on looking for useful bits of code in P.T. for months, usually just messing around for a few hours a week and having no luck at all," McDonald told VG247. "I finally found all the code that handles the 'zoom in' when the player clicks the R3 button. I removed all the code that adjusts the camera and replaced it with my own, and then patched the game so that it thinks you're always holding R3, so it constantly injects my custom camera axis."His discovery is haunting, but there's even more P.T. content on the way. "I only tweeted what I did because I'm confident I have enough other awesome stuff to save for a full video," McDonald said. The prospect of seeing between more of P.T.'s seams is an exciting one and should lead to some intriguing footage. Kojima's Silent Hills teaser may be gone from the PlayStation Store forever, but it's still finding ways to infiltrate our nightmares all these years later.Info from Gamespot.com

The Tokyo Games Show kicks off this week, running from September 12 to 15 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia has already outlined its plans for the show, showcasing numerous first- and third-party games across its show floor booth, a nearby mega-theatre, and a series of live-streamed stage events. Similarly to E3, Sony won't be hosting a press conference at TGS. And while the much-anticipated Ghost of Tsushima will be at the show, there won't be any new footage.The same can't be said of Death Stranding, however. Developer Kojima Productions will host two extensive gameplay presentations at TGS for its next game. The first is set to take place on September 12 and will be roughly 50 minutes long, introducing the overall gameplay flow of Death Stranding. The second occurs the following day and will run for 30 minutes. There's also a third presentation on September 15 featuring the game's Japanese voice actors, but very little gameplay is likely to be shown and this is intended as more of a fan appreciation day. Game director Hideo Kojima will be present at all three.At the #DeathStranding Live Stages, for Sept 12th we will have about 50 mins of content, and for Sept 14th about 30 mins. For Sept 15th, members of the Japanese VO cast will be joining us, and our dear Hideo Kojima will be there too for all the stages! https://t.co/pVb97rZDJz — Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015_EN) September 6, 2019There's no word on whether any of this footage will see the light of day and make it onto the internet. Death Stranding is slated to appear on Sony's live stage show, so we're likely to see a truncated version of what's shown during these lengthy gameplay presentations at TGS' mega-theatre. Either way, we might find out a little bit more about what exactly Death Stranding is. Or maybe not? "Even now, I don’t understand the game," Kojima said in a recent interview with the Financial Times. "Its world view, gameplay, they are all new. My mission is to create a genre that does not currently exist, and which takes everyone by surprise. There is, naturally, a risk in that.”What we do know is that Death Stranding will have a very easy mode for movie fans, and that it's set to release on November 8 for PlayStation 4.Info from Gamespot.com