Paradox Interactive today launched two Creator Packs and two Radio Stations for their city-building game Cities: Skylines II on PC for a bundled price of $21.90. Utilize a diverse collection of soaring structures to transform your skylines with “Skyscrapers,” and take advantage of global-scale manufacturing with “Supply Chains.” All the while, hum to mechanical tunes of progress with the “Cloud Lounge FM” and “Synth & Steel” Radio Stations.
Watch the Deep Dive video about the Packs here:
Take a Tour of Cities: Skylines II Content:
Skyscrapers: Designed by community creator “REV0”, this pack introduces a bold collection of towering buildings that will transform the skyline of your city.
Cloud Lounge FM: Elevate the atmosphere in your city with uplifting lounge tunes, designed for sky-high living and building toward the clouds.
Supply Chains: Designed by community creator “Badi_Dea”, this pack captures the progression of your industrial production. From modest workshops to global-scale manufacturing, each building represents a step in your city’s supply chain.
Synth & Steel Radio: Inspire your city creations to be bold, driven by a mechanical yet melodic soundscape.
Asset Mods will also become available for Cities: Skylines II tomorrow, December 4. This free beta update to the Editor will allow modders to implement their own unique props and buildings, and share them with the Cities community through the Paradox Mods library.
If you are looking for the perfect way to say goodbye to 2025, Universal Studios Hollywood is inviting you to its massive annual “EVE” celebration.
On Wednesday, December 31, 2025, the theme park will transform into Hollywood’s biggest New Year’s party. The event combines the adrenaline of a theme park with the festivity of a countdown bash, offering guests a mix of exhilarating rides and holiday entertainment.
What to Expect
The festivities kick off officially at 9:00 p.m. and run late into the night until 2:00 a.m. throughout the park, you can expect:
Live Entertainment: Multiple party hubs featuring lively DJs to keep the energy up.
Rides & Attractions: The unique opportunity to experience world-class thrill rides and attractions late at night.
Photo Ops: Special themed backdrops to capture the final moments of the year.
The Big Finale: A brilliant fireworks display lights up the sky exactly at midnight to welcome 2026.
This event is designed to be family-friendly and suitable for guests of all ages, making it a great option for families, groups of friends, or couples.
Skills 2.0, a major overhaul of the PAYDAY 3 skill system, has now launched as a free update on PC and consoles. The update provides the player with more impactful choices, and deeper buildcrafting for every kind of heister.
A New Way to Build Your Heister
Skills 2.0 replaces the original layout with a clearer, theme driven structure. Instead of chasing a handful of “must have” nodes, players choose between identities: Soldier, Ninja, Hacker, Conman, and more. Each path is designed to change how you actually play, not just tweak numbers.
Players earn 51 skill points by leveling up, and can spend them freely across all categories. Investing points in a category unlocks higher tiers within that same category, rewarding commitment to a playstyle while still allowing hybrid builds that pull from several roles.
Weapon focused branches let you lean into assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns or sniper rifles, while defensive branches bolster your armor, survivability and staying power when things go loud. Utility branches round it out by powering up sentry turrets, throwables, medic and armor bags, ECM jammers and hostage control. The intent is simple: when you spend a point, you should feel it in the next heist.
Skills 2.0 Simulator available now
Ahead of the update, players can already start theorycrafting with the Skills 2.0 Simulator, a web based tool that mirrors the new system. The simulator makes it easy to experiment, save and share builds, and players arrive on launch day with setups ready to go. It serves as a key feedback tool, helping the developers see which combinations players gravitate toward before and after release.
Skills 2.0 key features
Rebuilt, tree based system – The entire layout has been redesigned into themed categories with clear fantasies such as armored Juggernaut, agile Ghost, crowd controlling Puppet Master, gadget focused Engineer and more, making it easier to understand what each line is about at a glance.
51 skill points to invest – Players earn 51 points across the level cap, allowing for sharply focused specialists or versatile hybrids that mix roles without feeling spread too thin.
Tiered unlocks within each category – Investing points in a skill tree unlocks the next tier of skills, not just within the tree, but across within the same category. Players can chase powerful capstone skills for dedicated builds while maintaining the flexibility of picking skills from the adjacent trees.
Deeper weapon and gadget mastery – Dedicated branches enhance specific weapons and tools: stronger headshot chains for snipers, improved performance for shotguns and SMGs, plus trees that specialize in throwables, armor and medical support, sentry turrets and hacking utilities.
More impact, less filler – The redesign tackles long standing feedback around build variety and the goal is to make more of the tree feel like real options rather than steps on the way to a single prize.
Ongoing live tuning – The team will continue to adjust values, synergies and outliers in future updates as more data and feedback comes in.
Since launch, PAYDAY 3 has grown to include 17 total heists, all set across the gritty landscape of New York City.
STRANGER THINGS: THE FINALE FAN SCREENING LOCATIONS CONFIRMED FOR DECEMBER 31 & JANUARY 1: GET YOUR SEAT NOW!
Visit www.ST5Finale.com For Full List Of Cities And Theater Locations
The Series Finale Episode Of Stranger Things Will Release Globally On Netflix On December 31 At 5:00pm PT
To celebrate the conclusion of the record-breaking series and following Season 5’s premiere last week, Netflix announced today the full list of cities and theaters participating in fan screenings of the Stranger Things 5 Finale across the US and Canada.
Fans can visit www.st5finale.com for the full list of locations and for information on how to RSVP.
The screenings will take place in over 500 theaters in the U.S. and Canada starting on December 31, 2025 at 5:00pm PT, timed to the finale’s global premiere on Netflix, and run through January 1, 2026.
Netflix today also confirmed the official run time of The Finale will be 2 hours 5 minutes.
Prior to the launch of Stranger Things 5 Volume 1, Netflix announced last week that all four previous seasons made their way to the Top 10, marking the first time a series has had four previous seasons in the Top 10 all at the same time.
Speaking to Netflix’s Tudum, the Duffer Brothers previously said: “We’re beyond excited that fans will have the chance to experience the final episode of Stranger Things in theaters — it’s something we’ve dreamed about for years, and we’re so grateful to Ted, Bela, and everyone at Netflix for making it happen. Getting to see it on the big screen, with incredible sound, picture, and a room full of fans, feels like the perfect — dare we say bitchin’ — way to celebrate the end of this adventure.”
Stranger Things 5 will release on Netflix across three premiere dates: Volume 1 is now streaming globally (Episodes 501-504), Volume 2 on December 25 (Episodes 505-507), and The Finale on December 31 (Episode 508). Each volume releases at 5 PM PT. Click here to see release times worldwide.
Created by The Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things is produced by Upside Down Pictures & 21 Laps Entertainment with The Duffer Brothers serving as executive producers, alongside Shawn Levy of 21 Laps Entertainment and Dan Cohen.
The cast includes Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Amybeth McNulty (Vickie), Nell Fisher (Holly Wheeler), Jake Connelly (Derek Turnbow), Alex Breaux (Lt. Akers), and Linda Hamilton (Dr. Kay).
Knights Peak and Windup Games are celebrating a special milestone for Hela. The heartwarming third-person open-world adventure, from the creators of the Unravel series, has now surpassed 500,000 wishlists. This rounds off an already fantastic year for the gang of mice, following acclaimed international event appearances and securing two prestigious gamescom Awards. Hela will be released in 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation®5, Xbox Series S|X and PC. This milestone for Hela is being celebrated with a new trailer, shown for the first time at the annual Best Indie Games Winter Showcase and available to view below:
Watch the new Hela gameplay trailer here:
At its heart, Hela is about having magical fun and playing in a beautifully designed world in the body of a mouse. Players can choose their own path and progress at their own pace, both in the narrative and in exploring a vast world, full of secrets. This freedom of choice is also reflected in flexible play options: single player, splitscreen with a friend, or online with up to four players.
Hela, the recipient of two gamescom 2025 awards for “Most Entertaining” and “Most Wholesome”, is set to launch on Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation®5 and PC in 2026.
Two Point Studios and SEGA Europe have opened the doors to the animal kingdom with Two Point Museum: Zooseum, the biggest DLC yet for Two Point Museum, now available on Steam, Epic Games, Xbox, and PlayStation, with a Nintendo Switch 2 release planned for 2026.
Zooseum brings a fresh dose of fun, chaos, and creativity to your museum. Players will care for unusual creatures, design immersive habitats, and craft interactive exhibits that delight visitors. With surprises around every corner, Zooseum offers a perfect mix of strategy, creativity, and lighthearted chaos.
To celebrate, players can enjoy a 10% discount during the first week on Steam, Epic Games, Xbox and PlayStation*.
Also available today, the Two Point Museum Soundtrack is available via Steam for £5.99, featuring 21 Two Point Museum tracks and delivering the perfect playlist for cozy curating beyond museum walls!
Not only that, from 15 –19 December, Two Point Studios are collaborating with the RSPCA for a fundraising initiative**. By playing Zooseum during this period, players can help raise awareness for the charity and support its vital work protecting and caring for animals across the UK. Check out the details for how to get involved HERE
Launching alongside Zooseum, the free Gingerbread Village Winter Seasonal update is now available for all players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, bringing a seasonal makeover to Two Point Museum with seasonal decorations, festive exhibits, and snow-dusted surprises. Gingerbread Village will also be launching on Nintendo Switch 2 at a later date.
The Gingerbread Village update invites players to dash through the snow to discover three Points of Interest across Winter Town, tucked away in the Bone Belt. Explorers can uncover five new exhibits, including a brand-new interactive display designed to bring festive cheer to guests of all ages.
Curators can also deck their museums with jolly new customisation options for walls and floors, alongside a sleigh-load of free decorative items including festive wreaths, nutcrackers, rugs, and more. To complete the look, staff can bundle up in two brand-new winter outfits, perfect for surviving the season in style.
Today, Ubisoft is launching Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Nintendo Switch™ 2, bringing the epic adventure of Naoe and Yasuke in feudal Japan to Nintendo players.
The Nintendo Switch™ 2 version has been carefully optimized to preserve the richness of Shadows’ experience while embracing the freedom of playing anywhere, anytime. At launch, players will have access to all free post-release content, including the Attack on Titan exclusive mission available until December 22. The Claws of Awaji expansion will be coming early 2026.
On Nintendo Switch™ 2, Assassin’s Creed Shadows introduces several Switch‑specific features designed making player’s experience seamless and intuitive. These include touchscreen navigation for menus and maps, targets 30fps for smooth gameplay in docked and handheld modes, offline play after download, and a game-key card physical edition for digital installation.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers cross-progression via Ubisoft Connect, letting players continue their journey seamlessly across all platforms. In-game store content is unified across platforms, so items purchased on Nintendo Switch™ 2 are shared with linked accounts. The game will be available for $59.99 on the Nintendo Store.
For the latest news about Assassin’s Creed Shadows and other Ubisoft games, please visit news.ubisoft.com. To purchase, please visit store.ubisoft.com
Yesterday, NEXON and The First Descendant development team revealed the roadmap for the first half of 2026 in a special livestream, unveiling plans for the next year of content.
The First-Half 2026 Roadmap
The First Descendant has unveiled its roadmap for the first half of 2026, focusing on expanding combat content, improving balance and enhancing the overall farming loop to completely reinvent the core fun of the game. To support these goals, new content updates will roll out monthly, alongside ongoing adjustments to Descendants and weapons.
A first look at what’s ahead for 2026 was revealed during the livestream, showcasing plans to reorganize the cycle from setting goals, to farming and to challenging endgame content. Players also received a first glimpse of new content, including the new Breach Tracking. This opens up a wide gold-farming region where fields and missions rotate randomly, helping reduce repetition. For players seeking high-intensity endgame action, the new Onslaught Mode offers a separate challenge. Parties of four face waves of increasingly powerful enemies, strategically placing turrets and buffs using resources gained during battle.
“Beyond just adding more content, we’re taking community feedback to heart by expending the best elements of the game and reorganizing and rebuilding the core experience to make it more compelling and welcoming for players as the game enters its next phase,” said Minseok Joo, Creative Director of The First Descendant. “As players reenter the world of The First Descendant, we hope they will discover a new vision of the game they knew.”
The new Descendant Dia will also finally make her debut in Season 3 Episode 3, arriving in February 2026, which features a main storyline centered around her. Upcoming plans also include a major overhaul of the farming loop with features such as the Operation Command System and Descendant Mission Dashboard, improvements to the early-game experience including Boost Path 2.0, monthly balance updates for Descendants and weapon reworks, and optimization and service stability enhancements including new performance and optimization settings. The Hard Mode of the Void Intercept Battle will also be renewed into a new endgame content.
Updates Coming to Season 4
Season 4, set to arrive next summer, will explore Karel’s story and the final battle, culminating in the introduction of a new Mega Dungeon designed to match the scale of its narrative. Players can expect missions featuring larger-scale combat and more dramatic presentation than previous Infiltration Operations and Void Vessels.
Season 4 will also introduce a complete overhaul of the weapon system. The current progression structure of research, readjustment, and augmentation cores has become cumbersome for players, and will be renewed with a more streamlined system. Transcendent-tier weapons will be restructured around farming content, with the goal of delivering an entirely new weapon system experience.
Details of the December Update
Additionally, players received an overview of the upcoming December Update, which includes an ultimate version of Descendant Yujin, ‘Ultimate Yujin.’ The update also includes the new ‘Forbidden Sanctuary’ Dungeon, the new Abyss Colossus ‘Grim Reaper,’ new items and more.
More information on the upcoming December update can be found below:
New Descendant: Ultimate Yujin
The update introduces the new Descendant Ultimate Yujin, revealed through Yujin’s Descendant Story.
Features a hybrid playstyle with two Ultimate Skill Modules: Combat Protocol, which introduces a new combat-focused playstyle that lets him to sustain his HP while dealing damage, while Battlefield Medic offers a support-oriented style that grows stronger the more he assists his allies.
New Dungeon: Forbidden Sanctuary
Players can also explore the Forbidden Sanctuary, an experimental facility in Axion that supports multiplayer co-op and features a challenging new boss.
The dungeon offers key rewards for acquiring Ultimate Yujin.
A number of Descendants, including Ajax, Freyna, Valby and Viessa, along with select weapons, also will receive balance adjustments to enhance playstyles and skill performance.
New Colossus: Grim Reaper
The Grim Reaper, a new Abyss Colossus and mutated form of Death Stalker, offers a poison-based challenge that requires players to master its mechanics through careful strategy and timing.
Airing live on Dec. 8th at 10:00 AM Pacific, 1:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM GMT, 7:00 PM CET, the 11 bit studios showcase will provide some inside looks at many titles in the 11 bit studios library, including new Frostpunk 2 DLC, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Early Access plans, new content for The Alters, and some launch info for Death Howl! There may be a surprise or two in there, of course, but if we told you… WE’D HAVE TO KILL YOU!
Announced last month, the Hive Scum have torn their way out of Tertium’s criminal underbelly and onto the side of the Imperium… for now. These dual-wielding, toxin-huffing miscreants bring a fighting style that’s as dirty as the sumps they crawled out of.
For the first time in Darktide, players can fully dual-wield pistols and shivs, turning close-quarters combat into a whirlwind of steel and firing bursts. Their customizable Stimms let players brew their own dangerous chemical cocktails, while toxin-coated saws, shivs, crowbars, and improvised explosives ensure no fight stays clean for long.
With a talent tree built for chaos, players can tailor their Scum into a darting glass-jawed killer, an explosives-heavy gun rat, or a relentless hybrid glass cannon. They’re not just deadly, they’re dripping in the raw, lawless underhive aesthetic! Full-body tattoos, gritty hairstyles and the first ever face paints! With new premium cosmetics to explore, players can sharpen their identity even more, giving your Hive Scum the swagger, scars and style of a true underhive operator.
The Hive Scum Class DLC is available now on all platforms for $11.99 / €11.99. Read more about the Hive Scum’s design, inspiration and full kit breakdown in the Dev Blog.
Darktide recently celebrated its 3 year anniversary, and today’s update packs in a new live event, a new mission, and plenty of Aquila to earn.
