The FBI spent part of this year explaining why that ninety seconds might be the most expensive free thing on your phone.

In March 2026, the bureau published an alert about something called residential proxy networks, and free Hypackel VPN apps sat right at the center of it. The warning was blunt. Some free VPNs quietly enroll your device into a proxy network the moment you install them, with your “consent” buried in terms of service written to be skimmed past. Your phone keeps working. Your games keep running. And in the background, strangers are renting your internet connection.

What The FBI Actually Said

Strip the alert down to its core claims and three things stand out.

First, free VPN services can turn your device into a proxy node without meaningful consent. The disclosure, when it exists at all, hides deep in legal text most users never open, or in language written to confuse.

Second, the scheme spreads through paid SDK deals. Proxy companies pay app developers for every install of an app carrying their software kit. The developer gets money, the user gets a free app, and the proxy firm gets one more household internet connection to sell. The kit runs silently in the background, routing other people’s traffic through your phone.

Third, and this is the part aimed squarely at gamers, free game content and pirated games are a major infection route. The FBI’s own guidance tells people not to download pirated software such as video games, because those files often hide malware that converts the device into a proxy, and to be cautious before installing any free VPN at all.

None of that is hypothetical hand-wringing. The enforcement actions this year put numbers on it.

What A Residential Proxy Actually Is, In Plain Terms

A proxy is a middleman for internet traffic. When a criminal routes traffic through a proxy, websites see the proxy’s address instead of the criminal’s.

So when a free VPN enrolls your phone as an exit node, here is the trade you never agreed to. You get encrypted browsing on the front end. On the back end, the operator sells access to your connection, and whoever pays gets to send their traffic out through your IP. Credential-stuffing attempts, scalping bots, ad fraud, scraping, worse. If any of it draws attention, the address in the logs belongs to your house, not theirs.

Your phone pays the operating costs too. Background proxy traffic burns battery, chews through mobile data, and drags down the connection you installed the VPN to improve. There is a bitter joke in there somewhere: people install these apps to fix their ping, then donate their bandwidth to strangers.

Why Gamers Make Perfect Recruits

The proxy business needs volume, and mobile gaming delivers volume like nothing else.

Gamers install more apps, more often, from more places than almost any other group. A ping booster for the weekend tournament. A free VPN to reach a region-locked title or a game banned locally. A modded APK sideloaded from a forum because the official version locks the good skins behind a paywall. Each of those is a chance to slip an SDK onto a device, and the sideloaded ones skip every protection the official stores provide.

The economics line up too. A teenager grinding a free-to-play shooter is not paying nine dollars a month for a reputable VPN. Free options are not a preference in that world, they are the default. Proxy operators know it, which is why their kits keep turning up inside free VPNs, game boosters, and free streaming apps rather than inside banking software.

The Receipts From This Year

If the March alert felt abstract, the takedowns around it did not.

In January 2026, Google’s threat intelligence team dismantled IPIDEA, which it described as one of the largest residential proxy networks in the world. Investigators found the operation offered its own free VPN apps that worked as advertised on the surface while joining each device to the proxy pool as an exit node. Its SDKs helped feed the BadBox 2.0 botnet, a network of more than 10 million uncertified Android devices. In a single week, researchers watched over 550 separate threat groups, including state-linked operations tied to China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia, hide behind IPIDEA’s exit nodes.

Then, on July 2, the FBI seized hundreds of domains connected to NetNut, a proxy service researchers linked to a botnet of roughly 2 million consumer devices. Security analysts examined more than 20 apps carrying its proxy code and found not one of them showed users a meaningful consent prompt. In one June week, over 300 distinct criminal and espionage clusters were observed routing traffic through the network.

And the pattern is old. The 911 S5 botnet, dismantled in 2024, had grown to around 19 million IP addresses, and it was built on the backs of free VPN apps with names like MaskVPN, DewVPN, and ShieldVPN. People who installed them became unwitting infrastructure for fraud and money laundering, some for years.

The research on the wider free VPN market reads just as badly. One widely cited study of Android VPN apps found 84 percent leaked user IP addresses, 75 percent embedded third-party tracking, 38 percent contained malware, and 18 percent did not encrypt traffic at all. An unencrypted VPN is a contradiction in terms. It is a tracking app wearing a costume.

So Is Your Free VPN Safe?

Probably not, and the uncomfortable truth is that you cannot reliably tell from the outside. Star ratings did not expose IPIDEA. Download counts did not expose NetNut. Several of the worst offenders had millions of installs and glowing reviews.

What you can do is read the signals that actually mean something:

• Who publishes it. A recognizable security company with a website, an address, and a business model beats a no-name developer with a shield icon every time.
• How it makes money. A VPN with servers to run and no subscription has to pay for itself somehow. If the answer is not visible, you are the answer.
• What it asks for. Bandwidth-sharing language, “earn rewards for unused data,” or permissions far beyond a network tunnel are the business model announcing itself.
• Where you got it. Official app stores with Play Protect active are imperfect but miles safer than sideloaded APKs, and Google now flags apps carrying known proxy SDKs automatically.
• What your phone is telling you. Unexplained battery drain, hot idle temperatures, and mobile data vanishing overnight are classic symptoms of a device working a second job.

The Boring Fix That Actually Works

The honest advice is not exciting. If a VPN matters to your gaming, pay a few dollars a month to an audited, well-known provider, because the entire danger here lives in the word free. If you will not pay, go without, since no VPN is safer than a hostile one. Keep your games and apps from official stores, skip the modded APKs no matter how good the cheat menu sounds, keep your OS updated, and delete every free VPN and booster you are not actively using today.

The FBI does not usually spend its time on app store hygiene. That it did this year tells you how big the problem got. Your connection is worth real money to someone. The only question is whether you are the one deciding who uses it.

The post Is Your Free VPN Safe? Why the FBI Warned Mobile Gamers This Year appeared first on ChoChoX.

For years, mobile games was dominated by landscape titles that required a committed, two-handed grip. But developers have finally cracked the code, delivering top-tier art, deep storylines, and addictive gameplay loops built entirely around vertical screens.

Whether you need a quick puzzle fix or a sprawling RPG adventure, here are the best games optimized for one-handed play.

Why Portrait Mode Dominates

Playing one-handed isn’t just about laziness; it completely changes how you approach your free time. It allows for true multitasking you can hold onto a subway strap with your left hand while gaming comfortably with your right. It offers discreet play, mimicking the posture of standard texting or web browsing so you don’t look like you’re aggressively gaming in public. Most importantly, these games respect your time, designing their core loops around 3 to 5-minute bursts.

Deep Strategy & Deckbuilders

You don’t need sprawling, wide-screen landscapes to command armies or build game-breaking card combos. These games offer intense tactical depth entirely vertically.

• Marvel Snap: If you want quick, high-stakes matches, this collectible card game is unmatched. You build 12-card decks featuring iconic Marvel characters and compete for control over three randomized locations. Matches last barely three minutes, making it the perfect blend of fast-paced thrills and psychological strategy.

• Balatro: The poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder that took the gaming world by storm recently made the jump to mobile and it plays flawlessly in portrait mode. You use standard poker hands mixed with game-breaking “Joker” cards to create massive score multipliers. It is dangerously addictive and perfect for thumb-scrolling.
• Dawncaster: For fans of dark fantasy, this deckbuilding RPG is a masterpiece. You choose your class, build a powerful deck, and battle through the corrupted realm of Umbris. It features a brilliant swiping mechanic that feels native to the smartphone experience.

Action & Roguelites

The classic arcade style is alive and well, offering high scores and twitch-based gameplay suited perfectly for thumb controls.

• Vampire Survivors: The ultimate “bullet hell” roguelite translates perfectly to mobile. Your only job is to maneuver your hero with a single thumb. Your weapons automatically fire, decimating endless hordes of enemies. As you survive, you upgrade your arsenal until your screen is an absolute chaotic mess of magic and monsters.
• Slice & Dice: A brilliant, minimalist dice-rolling roguelike. You control a team of five heroes, each represented by a custom die. You roll to attack, heal, and defend against waves of enemies. It is highly strategic, wildly replayable, and entirely one-handed.
• Shattered Pixel Dungeon: A traditional, turn-based dungeon crawler featuring charming pixel art. It is easy to learn but brutally difficult to master. Because it’s turn-based, you can pause your run instantly if you need to put your phone away.

Puzzles & Chill Progression

Perfect for casual players or those on strict time crunches, these games let you relax without demanding constant reflex-based input.

• Monument Valley: For a beautifully zen experience, this puzzle masterpiece remains the gold standard. You navigate a silent princess through stunning, impossible architectural mazes inspired by M.C. Escher. You twist, turn, and manipulate the environment with a single finger.

• AFK Journey: If you enjoy RPGs but don’t always have the time to micromanage combat, this visually stunning idle game is for you. You collect heroes, build your squad, and let them fight automatically while you multitask.
• Subway Surfers: A true classic that never gets old. Swipe left, right, up, and down to dodge obstacles and collect coins. It remains the quintessential vertical-screen endless runner for a reason.

The post Best Games to Play in Portrait Mode appeared first on ChoChoX.

Hybrid-casual is the patch on that bucket. And in 2026, it’s no longer a clever experiment on the margins it’s where the money is actually moving. Most players have no idea it happened, because the games still look as harmless as ever.

The numbers say it plainly. Hybrid-casual was the standout revenue gainer of 2025, climbing sharply while plain casual and mid-core stayed flat. Downloads slipped almost everywhere, yet hybrid-casual held its day-7 retention above traditional casual games even as casual kept sliding year after year. In a market that’s basically gone zero-sum, that gap is the difference between growing and treading water.

What is “Hybrid Casual”

Strip away the buzzword and the idea is simple: take a game anyone can understand in ten seconds, then give them a reason to still be playing two months later.

The second half is the meta layer, and this is where the genre earns its keep. Think:

• Upgrades and gear collection – fusing weapons, leveling stats, chasing rare drops.
• Character progression – talents, runes, unlockables that compound over time.
• Social and live systems – guilds, clans, leaderboards, seasonal events.

None of it is complicated on its own. But stacked together, it turns a throwaway time-killer into something with goals and momentum. The cleanest way to put it: hyper-casual optimizes for “play now,” hybrid-casual optimizes for “play now and come back tomorrow.”

The textbook example is Archero. Habby’s 2019 release is still the genre’s golden standard. The core is almost embarrassingly simple stand still and you auto-attack, move and you dodge. But underneath sits a full RPG economy of gear collection, fusion, talents, runes, and gacha chests. Survivor.io ran the same play and pushed it further, bolting on a season pass, idle income, clans, daily boss fights, and a “Growth Fund” that drip-feeds rewards across a player’s entire lifespan for one purchase. Same DNA, deeper hooks.

Spend ten minutes with either game and the trick gives itself away. The first session feels like a toy. By the fifth, you’re weighing which weapon to fuse and whether the battle pass is worth it. That slow handoff from reflex to investment is the whole philosophy in miniature.

The Monetization Shift That Changed Everything

This is the part that genuinely rewrote studio strategy.

The old playbook was binary. Hyper-casual games lived on in-app ads (IAA). Mid-core and hardcore games lived on in-app purchases (IAP). You picked a lane. Hybrid-casual refused to pick, and that refusal turned out to be the entire point.

The modern approach blends the two so they prop each other up:

• Rewarded video ads stay optional. Players choose to watch them for extra currency, a revive, or to skip a wait so the ad feels like a perk, not an interruption. This format now drives the majority of ad revenue in these games.
• In-app purchases carry the depth: premium currency, cosmetics, battle passes, and long-tail upgrades dedicated players are happy to buy while the base game stays free.

Why bother with the complexity? Because the math is lopsided. Hybrid lifetime value runs roughly three to five times higher than pure hyper-casual, mostly because IAP creates an upside ceiling that ads alone can’t reach. A 2026 wrinkle worth watching is “interventionist” monetization small revival packs and currency bundles priced around two to eight dollars that pop up right at a frustrating failure point, nudging an impulse buy when the player most wants to keep going.

Archero’s own transition is the cleanest proof. When Habby moved it from a thin ad-based model to a layered hybrid economy, the risk was churn an early hybrid pivot can overwhelm a casual base and bleed users fast. Done carefully, the payoff was a roughly 90% lift in average lifetime value and a meaningful retention boost, on top of a game that had already crossed tens of millions of downloads. That single result is why so many studios now treat the hybrid pivot as a question of when, not if.

Why Studios are Walking Away From Pure Hyper Casual

The honest answer is that the old model stopped paying the bills reliably.

The hyper-casual gold rush flooded the stores. Anyone learning to code could ship a tap-to-play game, publishers handed out easy deals, and the result was an ocean of near-identical titles fighting for the same attention. That saturation pushed cost-per-install up and dragged retention, playtime, and LTV down. When your only revenue lever is ad impressions and players churn in days, there's no room left to maneuver.

Hybrid-casual hands studios a second lever. By keeping the cheap, broad-appeal acquisition of hyper-casual while layering in systems that keep players spending for weeks or months, it builds a more defensible economy. For investors, that’s the appeal: scalable retention plus diversified monetization makes long-term revenue far more predictable than betting on a single ad-impression number.

There’s a marketing angle too. Rising acquisition costs and tighter data-privacy rules have made old hyper-casual marketing shakier. Hybrid titles get around it by letting one playable ad do double duty showing the simple core loop to pull in mainstream players, while flashing the RPG progression to hook veterans who’d never touch a pure tapper.

The Catch This is Much Harder to Build

• Over-complicating the core, until it loses the simplicity that made acquisition cheap.
• A meta layer too thin to motivate anyone past week one.
• Bad monetization balance leaning too hard on ads or on IAP instead of blending them.
• Treating launch as the finish line.

That last one matters most in 2026. A hybrid game’s development cycle typically runs nine to twelve months, and the expectation is sustained operation, not a quick flip. LiveOps, seasonal events, and social features aren’t optional polish anymore they’re what keeps the economy breathing after launch-week installs dry up.

This is also where AI stopped being a buzzword. Past the hype phase now, studios use it across the pipeline: prototyping and blending genres during ideation, simulating game economies before a line of production code is written, and personalizing difficulty and offers to individual players once a game is live.

Where This Leaves the Industry

The clearest sign hybrid-casual won the argument is that everyone else is copying it. Mid-core and hardcore publishers are now grafting hybrid mechanics onto their own genres RPG plus simulation, tower defense plus idle, match-3 plus narrative to feel fresh in saturated categories without reinventing their core. Titles like Royal Match and Survivor.io have already blurred the casual-versus-mid-core line until the old labels barely hold.

For studios deciding where to spend their next nine months, the takeaway is blunt. The era of bolting monetization and retention on after launch is over. In a flat market where downloads are shrinking and attention is the scarce resource, durability beats acquisition. Hybrid-casual is winning because it bakes that durability into the design from the very first prototype and right now, nothing else in mobile is doing it as efficiently.

The post Why Hybrid-Casual Games Are Quietly Winning the 2026 Mobile Race appeared first on ChoChoX.

Think about how you actually play games on your phone. It’s almost never a planned thing. It’s the ten minutes you’re killing in a waiting room, the ride home, those few empty minutes before a meeting kicks off. Get the right game on your phone and suddenly that dead time is something you kind of look forward to.

The real secret is matching the game to the moment you’re in. Some days you just want something brainless you can poke at for thirty seconds. Other days you’ve actually got time to spare and want something you can really sink into. So rather than dumping a massive list on you, I’ve split things up by the kind of mood you’re in.

Casual Games and Time Killers

These are the ones to grab when you don’t want to think. No endless tutorials, nothing to learn first. You just open them and go.

• Subway Surfers City: takes that endless-runner setup we’ve all seen for years and gives it a fresh coat of paint. The graphics look better, there are new areas to poke around in, and there’s always some seasonal event running to pull you back. That’s the nice thing about a runner like this. You can squeeze in a single run while your coffee’s brewing, or you can lose half an hour chasing a high score. It bends to fit whatever time you’ve got.
• Block Blast: is the one you’ll spot near the top of basically every puzzle chart, and honestly, it earns the spot. It’s a grid-based block puzzle that just feels good to play in short bursts. Drop your pieces, clear a few lines, get that little rush, and do it again. It’s made for one-handed play on a crowded train, which is exactly where most people end up firing it up.

Premium, Console Quality Experiences

Got a decent phone, or maybe a cloud gaming setup? Then you can play stuff that actually feels like a real game instead of a quick distraction. Mobile has come a seriously long way here.

• Control: is the one to beat. It’s a strange, sci-fi action-adventure that genuinely looks and plays like something off a console. You’ll usually reach it through cloud streaming or on hardware beefy enough to run it, but what you get is this moody, immersive world you’d never expect to be holding in your hand. Save this one for when you’ve got real time, not the bus stop.
• Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR): is still one of the greatest RPGs anyone has ever made, and being able to play the whole thing on your phone is honestly kind of incredible. It’s a deep, story-heavy Star Wars adventure packing dozens of hours, choices that actually matter, and a plot people are still arguing about decades on. If you want something with real meat on its bones, this is where you start.

Shooters and Action

Blood Strike has built up a name as one of the better-running battle royales on mobile games. The big draw is that it doesn’t need a top-tier phone to feel smooth. You get fast, frantic gunplay, custom weapon builds, and respawn modes that keep things moving, all in a package that plays nicely with mid-range hardware. If the heavier shooters chug on your phone, give this one a shot.

A Closer Look: The Best Puzzle Games

Puzzle games are worth their own section because they hit the sweet spot for so many people. They keep your brain just busy enough without ever stressing you out. Here’s how four of the best compare.

• Monument Valley is the one both critics and players keep circling back to. It’s built around impossible architecture and optical illusions, and steering the silent Princess Ida through those Escher-like structures feels more like a calm, meditative break than a real head-scratcher. It’s short, sure, but it sticks with you.
• Flow Free is the complete opposite kind of fun. It looks dead simple, just connect the colored dots without letting the lines cross, but it ramps up into something genuinely hard to put down. Over 1.5 million reviews should tell you people don’t walk away from this one fast.
• Arrow Maze: Escape Puzzle is the newcomer in this bunch, and that near-perfect rating shows it’s really landing with people. The whole thing is about working your way through mazes by following directional arrows, which sounds easy enough right up until the later levels start bending your brain.
• Prune is the quiet, artsy one of the group. You grow and shape a tree toward the light, snipping branches so it can flourish. It’s lovely to look at, a little thoughtful, and that 92/100 on Metacritic says a lot about the care that went into it.

The post The Best Android Games to Pass the Time (2026 Edition) appeared first on ChoChoX.

Top New and Trending Mobile Games

Forza Horizon 6 (Mobile via Cloud)

The mobile version of Forza Horizon 6 is the headline cloud title right now, and the Japanese street racing setting is the reason. Playground Games leaned hard into the culture, the touges, the underground scene, the neon-lit highways, and it shows in every frame. Streaming it on a phone shouldn’t feel this good, but on a decent connection it does. If you’ve been waiting for a real reason to try cloud gaming on mobile, this is probably it.

Cell to Singularity (CIFI)

Still one of the most respected idle games on Android, and the updates haven’t stopped. The premise, evolving from a single cell into a galactic civilization, sounds gimmicky until you actually play it and realize how much the developers care. Regular content drops have kept its core players coming back for years, and newcomers in 2026 still find it surprisingly deep.

Revolution Idle

This one keeps popping up in idle community discussions, and it’s earned the attention. The progression curve is satisfying without being predatory, which is rarer than it should be in this genre. Worth trying if you’re tired of idle games that feel like glorified ad-watchers.

Kittens Game

Yes, the text-based one with the kittens. No, it has not stopped being good. Bloodrizer’s classic has somehow remained one of the deepest incremental experiences ever made, and it’s still pulling in new players in 2026. If you’ve never tried it, do not be fooled by the minimalist look. There’s a hundred hours of strategy hiding under that plain interface.

Antimatter Dimensions

For people who want their idle game to break their brain. Antimatter Dimensions is famous for its scale, the kind of scale where numbers stop meaning anything and you start dealing with exponential notation. It’s not for everyone, but the people who love it really love it.

Idle Miner Tycoon

The reliable workhorse of the genre. Idle Miner Tycoon doesn’t try to reinvent anything, and that’s exactly why it keeps working. Tap, upgrade, watch the numbers go up. It’s a comfort game for a lot of people, and the simulation depth is more than the name suggests.

Universal Paperclips

A classic for a reason. What starts as a single button to make paperclips ends in places that genuinely make you think about AI alignment and the nature of optimization. If you haven’t played it, set aside an evening. You will not get up.

Upload Labs

One of the newer puzzle-incremental hybrids that’s been picking up steam this year. The puzzles are layered into the progression in a way that keeps things from feeling automatic, which is the usual trap of the genre.

Unnamed Space Idle

The space-themed corner of the idle scene has needed a flagship for a while, and Unnamed Space Idle has quietly become it. Resource management, fleet building, exploration mechanics, all running in the background while you go about your day.

Ethos Idle

The newest name on this list. Ethos Idle has been getting talked up in community discussions over the last few weeks. Early days, but worth watching.

Top Mobile Casino and Action Games

Mobile casino apps are a different conversation from regular mobile games, but they’re a huge part of what people are downloading right now, especially in markets like Australia where regulation has settled into something stable.

• Wild Tokyo has built its reputation on fast PayID withdrawals, which is the single thing players seem to care about most these days.
• Rolling Slots is the engagement-rewards crowd’s favorite, with a system that actually pays out in time you’d notice.
• Ozwin Casino is the go-to for Australian players who want an interface that doesn’t feel like it was designed in 2014.
• Red Stag Casino is the volume play, with a slot library big enough that you could spend a year and not see the bottom.
• LuckyVibe is the new kid, leaning on heavy promotional rotation.
• Boho Casino has the crypto crowd locked down with a deep mobile library.
• Slots Gallery has the loyalty program that mobile players actually mention by name.

The standard disclaimer applies. Gamble responsibly, know your limits, and remember the house always has its edge.

Top Emerging AI and Interactive Mobile Games

This is the section where most articles fall apart, because most of what’s marketed as AI-powered is just a chatbot bolted onto an old gameplay loop. There are a few real exceptions worth knowing about.

• OpenAI Daybreak: started life as a security research tool, but the framework it uses, interactive AI-driven problem solving, has begun crossing over into game design experiments. Whether it becomes a real game or stays research-adjacent is still an open question, but the mechanics are interesting enough that designers are paying attention.
• ChatGPT Pets and Codex: integrations have started showing up in mobile coding environments, blurring the line between productivity tool and game. You’re essentially raising a virtual companion that helps you write code, and the gamification has gotten more sophisticated than it sounds.
• Netflix Game Voice Chat: is the streaming giant’s latest push into mobile gaming, with voice-driven interactions getting more attention in recent updates. Netflix’s gaming arm has been hit or miss, but the voice features are an actual differentiator if they nail the execution.

The post Best Mobile Games May 2026: Top Picks Worth Playing appeared first on ChoChoX.

Quick Verdict

What You Should Know

• Combat carries the whole thing. Nero, Dante, and V play nothing like each other. Nero’s Devil Breakers turn his right arm into a rotating set of disposable gadgets, each one with its own combo extensions. Dante runs four styles (Swordmaster, Gunslinger, Trickster, Royalguard) on a hot-swap, layered over a weapon roster that includes the motorcycle-blade Cavaliere and the punching weapon Balrog. V is the experiment that worked you don’t fight directly, you direct his three summoned demons while staying back, then move in for the killing blow yourself.
• The RE Engine pulls its weight. Faces, demon designs, environment lighting all of it holds up against games released years later. Performance is steady on every platform it shipped to, and the Special Edition added ray tracing and a Vergil campaign for the current-gen versions.
• Story tone is exactly what it should be. Campy, melodramatic, frequently absurd, occasionally landing a genuinely earned emotional beat. It wraps the long-running Sparda family business cleanly enough that you don’t feel cheated, but with enough ambiguity that the door stays cracked open.

Where It Stands in May 2026

The franchise is in an odd spot. Devil May Cry 5 sold over 10 million copies and remains the highest-selling game in the series by a substantial margin, which by any normal measure should have made a sequel a foregone conclusion. It became the highest selling game in the franchise by a wide margin, mainly due to its exciting and deep action gameplay, with a sales rate only outpaced by Monster Hunter Wilds at the time of release. Instead, the series has been quiet on the gaming side since 2019.

Part of the reason is personnel. Director Hideaki Itsuno, who effectively rescued the franchise starting with Devil May Cry 3, left Capcom to start something new meaning whoever takes a future DMC project on won’t be him.

That said, Capcom hasn’t shelved the name. At a recent investor meeting, the publisher reiterated its plan to expand on dormant franchises including Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma, with COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto outlining intentions to revitalise the series through sequels, remakes, ports, or new entries. Remake rumours have been doing the rounds for months. Nothing’s confirmed, nothing’s dated, but the IP is officially on the “we want to keep going with this” list rather than the “we’re done” list.

The animated side is where things have actually moved. The eight-episode second season of the animated Devil May Cry series premiered on Netflix on May 12, 2026, returning after a first season that debuted in April 2025, hit the Top 10 with 5.3 million views in three days, and earned a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score. Showrunner Adi Shankar has already confirmed a third season is in production. The first season had a measurable knock-on effect on the games titles from the series on Steam saw player counts boost up to 20 times following the show’s debut which is the kind of data point Capcom’s marketing team will have noticed.

The Three Protagonists

• Nero: The most accessible of the three, but accessibility shouldn’t be read as shallow. His Devil Breakers are the headline feature: snap-on prosthetic arms with one-shot abilities ranging from time slowdown (Ragtime) to a giant grabbing claw (Buster Arm) to a rocket punch you can ride. You carry a limited set into each mission, can’t swap freely, and breaking one mid-fight forces you onto the next. It turns combat into a kind of resource economy on top of the usual juggling and sword-charging.

• Dante: Twenty-five years of franchise muscle memory poured into one character. Four combat styles, swappable on the D-pad in real time, each with its own button-mapped moves. Pistols, shotgun, sword, gauntlets, hat-weapon (yes), motorbike-sword. Mastering Dante is less a learning curve than a long ascent there’s no obvious endpoint, and high-level play looks unrecognisable from how a new player handles him.

• V: The divisive one, and the most interesting design swing in the game. V is physically frail. He summons three demons (a panther, a bird, and a giant golem) to do the fighting, while he reads poetry from a book and stays out of melee range until enemies are weak enough for him to finish off with his cane. It’s slower, more positional, more about reading the battlefield than executing combos. Some players bounce off it. The ones who don’t tend to rate the V missions among the game’s best.

What’s Genuinely Worth Praising

The ranking system. Every combat encounter scores you in real time D through SSS based on variety, style, damage taken, and how long you sustain the chain. It’s the engine that drives replayability. You don’t beat DMC5 once; you beat it, then beat it on Son of Sparda, then on Dante Must Die, then chase S-ranks on every mission, then try Bloody Palace.

The sound design. Each character has a custom battle track that intensifies as your style rank climbs, which sounds gimmicky written down but works absurdly well in practice. Nero’s Devil Trigger became a meme for good reason.

The bosses. Fights against Urizen, Cavaliere Angelo, and the final encounter are paced and choreographed at a level most action games don’t approach.

Where It Comes Up Short

Levels are corridors. That’s the honest summary. There’s a small amount of branching, the occasional hidden item, but nobody’s playing DMC5 for exploration. If you want a stylish action game that also has a world to roam around in, this isn’t that game.

Pacing across protagonists is uneven. The game decides when you play as Nero, Dante, or V you don’t choose. Most of the swaps work, but a couple feel arbitrary, and if V’s playstyle doesn’t click for you, his missions will drag.

The story leans on knowing the previous games. New players can follow it, but a lot of the emotional payoff lands harder if you’ve spent time with these characters before.

References

1. Vice – Capcom Confirms Future Devil May Cry Plans Amid Remake Rumors – https://www.vice.com/en/article/capcom-confirms-future-devil-may-cry-plans-amid-remake-rumors/
2. ComicBook.com = 2026 Doesn’t Bode Well For Devil May Cry Fans – https://comicbook.com/gaming/feature/2026-doesnt-bode-well-for-devil-may-cry-fans/
3. GamesRadar+ – Capcom wants to “nurture” dormant game series like Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma – https://www.gamesradar.com/games/devil-may-cry/capcom-wants-to-nurture-dormant-game-series-like-devil-may-cry-and-dragons-dogma-with-sequels-remakes-ports-and-more/
4. Yahoo Entertainment – Devil May Cry Season 2 Returns to Netflix on May 12 – https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tv/articles/devil-may-cry-season-2-110000420.html

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That all changed when Cortopia Studios and publisher Beyond Frames Entertainment dropped Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City on April 30, 2026. It hit Meta Quest, SteamVR, and Pico all at once for $25 and suddenly we could literally become a turtle.

The Quick Facts

Before diving deep, here’s everything you need to know at a glance:

• Developer: Cortopia Studios.
• Publisher: Beyond Frames Entertainment.
• Platforms: Meta Quest, SteamVR (PC VR), Pico.
• Release Date: April 30, 2026.
• Price: $24.99 (yes, really).
• Genre: First-person VR action-adventure / hack-and-slash.
• Players: Solo or up to 4-player co-op.
• Length: Roughly 6 hours for the main story.

Story & Setting

The story kicks off right after Shredder bites the dust. With the big bad gone, the Foot Clan splits into two warring factions both fighting tooth and nail for control of the city. And of course, our four green heroes get dragged right into the middle of it.

What The Story Gets Right:

• It’s an original, standalone tale you don’t need a TMNT PhD to follow along.
• Tons of fan-service moments sneak in, including April O’Neil, Master Splinter, and a whole rogues’ gallery of classic villains.
• The tone absolutely nails that late-’80s, early-’90s TMNT vibe goofy, cartoony, and just the right amount of edgy.

Where It Stumbles:

• The plot feels a little thin, stretched across roughly six hours of gameplay.
• Boss fights are all over the place Rocksteady, for example, has some seriously inconsistent difficulty spikes.

Gaeplay & Combat

You get to choose any of the four brothers, and each one brings their own signature flair:

• Leonardo – dual katanas (think precision and balance).
• Donatello – bo staff (all about range).
• Raphael – twin sai (aggressive, in-your-face brawler).
• Michelangelo – nunchaku (fast, flashy, and chaotic).

Yes, you can swap turtles whenever you want but here’s the catch: you’ll lose your expensive upgrades when you switch. So really, the smart play is to pick a favorite and stick with him.

What’s Fun About The Combat:

• A solid parry system, unblockable attacks, smoke bombs, and ninja stars keep things interesting.
• Each weapon genuinely feels different when you swing it.
• Donnie’s workbench lets you craft and tweak gear between missions, which is a nice touch.

What’s Not So Great:

• Hits often feel strangely weightless more Nintendo Wii waggle than modern VR brawler.
• It’s way too easy to just flail your controllers instead of actually using the cool tactical systems.
• Foot grunts go down so fast that you rarely need the fancy stuff anyway.

Visuals & Art Style

• Character designs are spot-on instantly recognizable but with a fresh, modern twist.
• The Turtles’ underground lair doubles as your hub, and it’s packed with personality: pizza boxes, training gear, dirty laundry the whole “four teenage mutants live here” vibe.
• Performance on Quest 3 is genuinely impressive given the visual style.
• A few oddities pop up floating loot, occasional pop-in but nothing that ruins the experience.

Co-op: Where the Game Really Comes Alive

If there’s one thing every reviewer agrees on, it’s this: co-op is the heart and soul of Empire City.

• Teaming up with three friends as cartoon turtles is pure comedy gold especially because the facial animations actually sync with your real voice. Watching your buddy’s turtle mouth flap while he talks trash? Never gets old.
• Co-op also smooths out the grindy bits and makes combat more fun.
• Little side activities time trials, basketball hoops, goofing off in the lair turn it into a proper hangout game.

Movement & Exploring the City

• Stick-based locomotion with both smooth and snap turning options.
• The parkour system is genuinely one of the best parts of the game wall-running, climbing, swinging across rooftops never gets boring.
• The open-world map is way more detailed than a $25 VR game has any right to be, especially on Quest hardware.

Technical Issues (Let’s Be Real)

No review is honest without flagging the bugs, so here we go:

• Enemy AI sometimes gets stuck in walls and floors.
• A few loading hiccups including reports of the tutorial flat-out failing on first launch.
• Quest markers occasionally break and refuse to trigger.
• A patch will almost certainly clean most of this up, but launch-window players should brace for some rough edges.

The Good and the Bad

What’s Awesome

• Gorgeous comic-book visuals straight out of the source material
• Parkour is a blast every single time
• Four-player co-op is hilarious and full of personality
• Each turtle and weapon feels truly distinct
• Killer value at just $25
• Voice acting and tone are pitch-perfect

What’s Frustrating

• Combat lacks punch it just doesn’t feel great.
• The story runs out of steam after a few hours.
• Bugs and broken quests can kill the momentum.
• Open-world activities get repetitive fast.
• Boss fights are inconsistent easy one minute, brutal the next.
• Not for first-time VR users.

What Other Reviewers Are Saying

Critical reception has landed somewhere in the mixed-to-positive zone and where each review lands really depends on what the reviewer cared about most:

• Road to VR called it one of the best casual VR beat-’em-ups out there.
• UploadVR said it lives up to its source material as a fun hack-and-slash adventure.
• CGMagazine felt it was under-realized, despite the obvious effort.
• COGconnected loved the co-op but called the content a little thin.
• On Steam, it sits at “Mostly Positive” with 78% of user reviews giving it a thumbs up.

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What Scott Pilgrim EX is

A side-scrolling beat-em-up with an open-world skeleton, built around an original O’Malley story that sort of, kind of sits after the 2023 Netflix anime Takes Off though O’Malley himself has said in interviews he doesn’t really think of it as a sequel to anything. It’s its own thing. The plot is barely a plot: Sex Bob-omb gets jumped during band practice, the members and their instruments end up scattered across a fractured Toronto, and Scott plus six other playable characters have to chase them down through pockets of subspace stitched into the city’s buildings.

Who Made It

Tribute Games. Same studio that did TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge in 2022 and Marvel Cosmic Invasion in 2025. A handful of the team worked on the original Ubisoft Scott Pilgrim game way back in 2010, and lead artist Paul Robertson the guy whose pixel art basically defined what Scott Pilgrim looks like in motion came back for this one too. Universal is publishing under license, O’Malley has a story credit, and the whole thing has the feel of a studio that wanted to do this and got to do it on their own terms.

If you’ve played a Tribute brawler before, you already have a rough idea of what this feels like to hold a controller during.

How It Plays

Here’s the structural shift that matters most. The 2010 game was strictly linear you opened a map, picked a stage, fought right, repeat. EX throws all of that out. There’s no level select menu. You walk around an interconnected Toronto on foot, talk to NPCs, follow leads to specific buildings, and step through subspace doorways inside those buildings to drop into the actual combat stages. The city is the connective layer between fights, and exploration is half the game.

The combat itself is recognizably classic brawler stuff:

• Light attacks, heavy attacks, throws, and character-specific specials.
• Combo extensions using environmental objects and pickup weapons.
• Coins drop off enemies and get spent at in-world shops on stat upgrades and gear.
• Badges unlock new abilities and reshape how each fighter plays.
• Food items (sushi, pizza, ramen) heal you and stack temporary buffs.

The Playable Cast

Seven fighters at launch:

• Scott Pilgrim – the all-rounder, the one you’ll probably default to first.
• Ramona Flowers – mobile, plays at range, subspace hammer for crowd control.
• Matthew Patel – fireball specials, quick and flashy.
• Gideon Graves – slow but heavy, long sword reach.
• Lucas Lee – grapple-focused, skateboard mobility, big personality.
• Roxie Richter – ninja weaponry, fast and tricky.
• Robot-01 – new character, mechanical kit, built different.

Each character has their own upgrade path and badge slots, and you level them up individually rather than sharing progress across the roster. That’s a deliberate choice to push you toward variety, though in practice most solo players are going to pick a main and ride it.

Multiplayer

Up to four players, local couch or online. Drop-in, drop-out. On Switch 2 the game supports GameShare, which lets one copy of the game host a local session across multiple consoles handy if your friend group is divided between systems. Online play on Nintendo platforms needs a Switch Online membership. Cross-platform multiplayer is not in at launch, and there’s no word yet on whether it’s coming.

Co-op is where most reviewers have settled on this being a really good game rather than a fine one. The seven-character roster makes a lot more sense when four of them are on screen at once.

The Soundtrack

Anamanaguchi did the music. Same band that scored the 2010 game and the Netflix anime, back for a third run at this universe. If you liked either of those soundtracks, this one’s in the same lineage but louder, sharper, and a little more confident. The Deluxe Edition box comes with the official soundtrack, and tracks are dropping individually through the band’s usual channels if you’d rather just stream it.

Editions And Pricing

Three retail tiers:

• Standard Edition $39.99. Base game, foil cover, reversible insert art by Crisppyboat.
• Deluxe Adventure Edition $64.99. Adds a collector’s box with alternate art by Matias Bergara, the full soundtrack, and an O’Malley-written tie-in mini-comic.
• Ultimate Adventure Edition. Limited run, sold through Limited Run Games. A faux “Game Goose” console box (a fictional handheld from the game’s universe), a hardcover art book that doubles as a strategy guide, an acrylic Scott-and-Ramona diorama, and a pixel art commemorative coin.

Limited Run physical pre-orders closed in September 2025, so the Ultimate is harder to come by post-launch. Standard and Deluxe digital versions are stocked normally on each platform’s store.

Platforms

Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. All four at launch on the same day. No Switch 1 version. No PS4 or Xbox One version. No announced plans for either.

What Carries Over From The 2010 Game

If you’re coming back from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Games, here’s the quick comparison:

Visually the two games are close enough that screenshots can look interchangeable at a glance and that’s the point. Robertson’s pixel work is the thread that ties them together.

A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Buy

The story is light. It’s a vehicle for cameos, gags, and set pieces, not a serious narrative payoff to Takes Off or the comics, and if that’s what you wanted, this isn’t it. The open-city design is one of the best ideas in the game but you will absolutely walk down the same street more times than you’d like in the back half. Replay value lives in character mastery, harder difficulties, and co-op there’s no real endgame loop beyond that.

For a feel-check, Tribute’s Shredder’s Revenge is the closest reference point in their catalog. If you bounced off that, EX is unlikely to flip you. If you loved it, this is more of that done with even more affection for the source material.

The title of this article is a joke. The game is good. There’s a demo on every storefront, and an hour with it will tell you more than any review will.

The post Scott Pilgrim EX Review: I Think We Should See Other People appeared first on ChoChoX.

“Popularity” is a blend of big sales, everyday active players, and that certain kind of cultural “stickiness”. Here’s the ultimate dissection of the top 10 most popular PC games of all time, why they matter, and what makes them tick.

*Note: While the base game for The Sims 4 is free, it relies heavily on paid expansion packs for the full experience.

1. Minecraft

Minecraft isn’t just a game; it’s a digital playground that redefined creativity for an entire generation. It is a boundless sandbox where players explore a procedurally generated world made of blocks. You can gather resources, craft tools, and build anything from simple huts to complex functional computers. It offers two primary modes: Survival, where you manage health and hunger, and Creative, which grants unlimited resources.

• The Review: 9.5/10. It is essentially “digital LEGOs” with infinite potential. While the graphics are simple by design, the depth of gameplay is staggering. It’s one of the few games that remains equally rewarding for a five-year-old and a professional engineer.

2. PUBG: Battlegrounds

The original Battle Royale, PUBG places 100 people on a vast island with nothing but their wits. You loot cars, guns and armor while a “blue zone” limits the playing area, bringing players into a last, dramatic showdown. It’s about realism, tactical positioning and high risk gunplay.

• The Review: 8.0/10. It can be punishingly difficult and sometimes lacks the “polish” of its competitors, but the tension of a final circle in PUBG is unmatched. Every shot fired feels heavy and consequential.

3. Counter-Strike 2 (CS2)

CS2 is a team-based tactical FPS where Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists battle for control of bomb sites. It is recognized for its mechanics being “easy to learn, impossible to master”. It really depends on exact aim, map understanding and team communicate. It includes a complex economy. Players need to manage money to buy gear each round.

• The Review: 9.0/10. It is the purest competitive shooter on the market. While the community can be intense, the satisfaction of a perfectly executed strategy is why it has dominated PC gaming for over twenty years.

4. League of Legends

In this MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), two teams of five “Champions” compete to destroy the enemy’s Nexus. It combines real-time strategy with role-playing elements, requiring players to level up, buy items, and control the map. With over 160 characters, the variety of playstyles is virtually endless.

5. The Sims 4

The Sims 4 is a life-simulation game where you create unique characters, build their dream homes, and manage their daily lives. From pursuing careers to dealing with domestic mishaps, the game acts as a virtual dollhouse. The focus is on storytelling and architectural creativity rather than winning or losing.

• The Review: 8.2/10. It excels in customization and “cozy” gameplay. While the base game can feel thin without its many expansion packs, the sheer freedom to live out any life scenario makes it a therapeutic and endlessly replayable title.

6. Terraria

Often described as “2D Minecraft,” Terraria is far more focused on combat and progression. You explore vast underground caverns, fight challenging bosses, and find increasingly powerful loot to upgrade your character. The world is fully destructible, allowing for massive construction projects alongside intense action-platforming.

• The Review: 9.8/10. For its price, Terraria offers perhaps the best “value per hour” in gaming history. The sense of progression starting with a copper shortsword and ending as a god-like warrior is masterfully crafted.

7. World of Warcraft (WoW)

Set in the fantasy world of Azeroth, WoW allows players to create a hero and embark on thousands of quests, join “raids” with dozens of others, or engage in player-versus-player combat. It defined the modern MMORPG by creating a massive, living world with deep lore.

8. Grand Theft Auto V

GTA V follows three criminals in the sprawling city of Los Santos as they execute daring heists. While the story is acclaimed, the game’s longevity comes from its “Online” mode a massive multiplayer playground where players run businesses, race cars, and participate in complex criminal enterprises.

• The Review: 9.6/10. It is a technical masterpiece with a world that feels incredibly alive. The PC version is particularly special due to the modding community, which allows for everything from photorealistic graphics to dedicated role-playing servers.

9. Stardew Valley

You inherit your grandfather’s old farm and move away from the city to restore it. Beyond just planting crops, you build relationships with townspeople, explore mysterious mines, and participate in seasonal festivals. It is a heartfelt tribute to classic farming sims, created entirely by a single developer.

• The Review: 10/10. It is a rare “perfect” game. Stardew Valley manages to be relaxing and incredibly deep at the same time. Its charming pixel art and wholesome vibe make it an essential title for every PC gamer.

10. Dota 2

Dota 2 is a 5v5 MOBA known for being significantly more complex and mechanically demanding than its rivals. Every hero is free to play from the start, and the game features intricate systems like “denying” creeps and a dynamic day/night cycle that affects visibility.

• The Review: 9.2/10. It is arguably the most strategically deep game ever made. While it can be intimidating for newcomers, the level of tactical nuance and the thrill of its high-stakes professional scene make it a permanent fixture of PC culture.

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Finding the best PC exclusive games is a journey through genres that define the platform strategy, simulation, and high-stakes competitive play. While many titles eventually migrate to consoles, the PC remains the home for games that thrive on technical complexity and player-driven communities.

Most Popular Best PC Exclusive Games

The most popular exclusives are often those that have built a “forever community.” These are the games that players don’t just play for a weekend; they play them for a decade.

• World of Warcraft (WoW): The undisputed king of MMORPGs. In 2026, it continues to lead with a massive annual subscriber base, blending nostalgic “Classic” servers with modern, high-stakes expansions.
• League of Legends: The MOBA titan that defines competitive play. Its seasonal updates and massive esports circuit keep it at the top of the charts year after year.
• Counter-Strike 2: The pinnacle of tactical shooters. Built for the precision of a mouse and keyboard, it remains the most-played competitive title on Steam.

Top PC Exclusive Games (True & Primary Exclusives)

These titles are “True Exclusives” games designed specifically for PC hardware and control schemes that haven’t (and often won’t) cross over to consoles.

• Dota 2: While similar to League, Dota 2 offers a deeper, more complex layer of mechanics that requires the precise micro-management only a PC can offer.
• Total War: Warhammer III: A grand strategy masterpiece. Managing a continent-sized map while commanding thousands of units in real-time battles is a feat of scale unique to PC.
• Escape From Tarkov: A hardcore extraction shooter that leans heavily into realistic weapon modding and complex inventory management, setting the standard for the “extraction” sub-genre.
• Star Citizen: The most ambitious space simulation ever attempted. It pushes high-end PC hardware to its absolute limit with seamless planetary transitions and massive capital ship combat.

Must-Play “Best Experience on PC” Games

Some games are available on consoles, but the “Best Experience” is found on PC games due to modding, higher frame rates, and superior control.

• Baldur’s Gate 3: While available elsewhere, the PC version’s point-and-click interface and robust modding community make it the definitive way to play this RPG masterpiece.
• Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultimate Edition): With path-tracing and ultra-high-resolution textures, the PC version transforms Night City into a visual benchmark that consoles cannot match.
• The Sims 4: The PC version is transformed by tens of thousands of community-made mods and custom content, allowing for a level of creativity impossible on other platforms.

Key Genres Thriving on PC

Certain genres simply live and breathe on the PC. If you love these styles of play, the PC is your primary home.

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