If you want to "Brandish the Elemental Splendor of Genies," then the Oath of the Noble Genies subclass will do just that for your paladin. This is one of eight new subclasses found in the Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun – Player Expansion. 

Almost all modern media wants to make all morality exist in a gray area. And that's true for Dungeons & Dragons as well. But being a paladin is one of the few choices you can make that, at least in theory, is for a character that sees Good as Good and Evil as Evil. And when it comes to paladins, breaking your oath and abandoning Good's ideals is a big deal.

Oath of the Noble Genies (Paladin)

This particular paladin is primed and ready for a background in the Calimshan region of the Forgotten Realms. They revere the forces of the Elemental Planes: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. Instead of placing their loyalty in a god (D&D 2024 seems to be moving away from that concept), an Oath of the Noble Genies Paladin—or an OotNG Pally, if you're nasty—draws power from four different types of genies: dao, masters of earth; djinn, masters of air; efreet, masters of fire; and marids, masters of water.

You can be from anywhere in the Forgotten Realms to snag this subclass. But again, Calimshan makes sense for this subclass because Calimshan is packed with genies.

Level 3: Elemental Smite. Cast Divine Smite and you can immediately expend your paladin's Channel Divinity to stack one of these effects:

• Dao's Crush. Earth rises up and grapples your target, restraining them. D&D is downplaying the slavery that built the genie realms, but restraining someone is still okay in combat.
• Djinni's Escape. Teleport to a spot 30 feet away and become incorporeal when you do it. You've escaped the lamp!
• Efreeti's Fury. This is like chain lightning but with fire. Bounce fire off one target and fire up a second target, too.
• Marid's Surge. Anybody within 10 feet of your Divine Smite now has to make a saving throw or get pushed 15 feet straight away from you. Don't stand so close to me.

Level 3: Genie Spells. You acquire two or three always-prepared spells at levels 3, 5, 9, 13, and 17. From Thunderous Smite up to Banishing Smite.

Level 7: Aura of Elemental Shielding. Give you and your buddies standing in your Aura of Protection resistance to either Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder. You land proficiency in Acrobatics, Intimidation, Performance, or Persuasion, too.

Level 15: Elemental Rebuke. Did somebody just hit you? Well, they're going to make a Dexterity saving throw or get hit right back with either Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder (your choice).

Level 20: Nobel Scion. Once a day you can fire off one of the following benefits. It lasts for 10 minutes:

• Flight. A Fly Speed of 60—and the rather important hover.
• Minor Wish. Basically, auto-success Silvery Barbs, allowing you or a buddy to succeed in any 20-sided die roll just rolled.

Hey, be whatever paladin you want to be; as long as your Dungeon Master is cool with it. While "Noble" is in the title of this subclass, that's just a social-class statement, not a morality-based judgement. Do you think earth, air, fire, and water care if you're a good Boy Scout or Girl Scout of America?

Have a look at the previous new subclasses we've covered: College of the Moon (Bard), Knowledge Domain (Cleric), or Banneret (Fighter). Or head over to D&D Beyond where they'll show you firsthand how to build an Oath of the Noble Genies Paladin.

Goblin? Yes

Sushi? Double Yes

Restaurant Simulation? Triple Quadruple Yes

Enter through the doors of your own fancy establishment and serve up the best sushi money can buy for your favorite patrons, Goblins. Fear not, Chef, for you, too, are a Goblin. A Goblin Sushi Chef. You heard it first.

Metaroot and Old Cake Factory are pleased to announce that Goblin Sushi will officially launch into Early Access on Steam (PC), iOS and Android on February 9, 2026. If restaurant simulation games are your jam - step right up to this kitchy take and mark your calendar for the release.

There's not much of the way of details released on the game yet, but it seems fairly straightforward, take orders, make orders, and make your patrons happy. Earn revenue, invest in upgrades, and earn top billing.

Check out the trailer below, but be forewarned - there is poop involved. It is Golbins we're talking about, afterall.

...No, I don't mean "tiny healer" as though you've shrunk from Medium to Small. 

There are eight new subclasses in the D&D Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun Player Expansion book. The College of the Moon Bard is trained by druids of the Moonshae Isles and has a connection to folk tales and moonwells. The Knowledge Domain Cleric has a basis of knowledge, craft, or secrets when they send thoughts and prayers. 

Next up is the Banneret Fighter who will "Rally Fellow Heroes with Inspiring Leadership." Warriors that lead. They want heroes, though. This isn't a subclass for the bad guys or players with bad intentions. The Banneret's writeup uses words like "justice," "freedom," "bravery," "freedom," and "protecting the innocent."

But in case you thought that meant they were soft, a Banneret can turn even a poorly equipped militia into a "ferocious" war band.

Banneret (Fighter)

Level 3: Knightly Envoy. This is where the Banneret shows off their Speech Class skills.

• Comprehension. You can Comprehend Languages but it'll take you 10 minutes casting it as a ritual.
• Polyglot. You can swap out a language you know with a language you've encountered in the last 24 hours. This is wildly useful, unless your Dungeon Master just says, "Everybody knows Common already."
• Well Spoken. Proficiency in Insight, Intimidation, Persuasion, or Performance. Useful if you'd made Charisma your dump stat.

Level 3: Group Recovery. As a Fighter, when you use your Second Wind to regain hit points, you share the wealth. Allies within a 30-foot emanation (radius) also regain 1d4 + your Fighter's level, in hit points.

Level 7: Team Tactics. When you use Group Recovery (above), your buddies have advantage on all d20 rolls until the start of the Banneret's next turn.

Level 10: Rallying Surge. When you use your Fighter's Action Surge, a number of your buddies can immediate use their Reaction to attack or move.

Level 15: Shared Resilience. Use your Reaction to activate your Fighter's Indomitable feature—to let a buddy reroll a failed saving throw.

Level 18: Inspiring Commander. Be even more Banneret. Also, nobody can tell you what to do.

• Bolstered Rally. Your powers with a 30-foot emanation now have a 60-foot emanation. That's 120 feet, end to end.
• Unshakable Bravery. Immunity to being Charmed and Frightened.

As you can see, most of these powers are useless if you're a lone wolf. Keeping your friends close is how this subclass shines. If you want to see what your other new subclass options are, check out this comprehensive post on D&D Beyond.

The Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun – Player Expansion launched in November, alongside the Adventures in Faerun – Dungeon Master Expansion.

Don't let the recent news surrounding the future of VR fill you with doom and gloom. Yes, it does seem as though Meta is pivoting away from active development on Quest 3 applications (or at least is slowing waaay down), as indicated by a recent wave of layoffs and studio closures. But fear not - plenty of independent studios are still actively developing for VR. And the brightest star shining in the VR sky may just be Mighty Coconut, which today released the latest course for its perennial hit Walkabout Mini Golf VR. 

The 38th (!) course for Walkabout is Tiki à Coco, a fun and light course set on a South Pacific island. As the lore goes, a small plane crashed in the ocean near the island, leading to the discovery of a tribe of cheerful coconuts. Just go with it. The course winds its way through the village, and you can practically feel the tropical breeze as you dip between grass huts and cross rivers of lava. 

The course itself is a lesson in positive energy, with happy coconuts banging on bongos and relaxing near a very cool poolside tiki bar. Coconut families play catch by rolling children back and forth, and grass-skirted coconuts twirl flaming batons while happy music chirps in the background. The whole thing feels like a bit of a vacation. The difficulty of this course is somewhat lighter than some other previous courses, too. I was able to finish the easy version of the course at two over par on my first try (this is a major accomplishment for me) and I made par on the difficult course (an even more-major feat). 

The hard version of the course also shows off some of Mighty Coconut's masterful use of lighting. Players engage with the world after dark, and the glow from the tiki torches and the nearby volcano is an absolute vibe.

As usual, the course comes with some fun avatar options - this time there is a customizable coconut that you can equip with different facial features, and then don one of 25 different hats and 10 different outfits. And I don't want to blow the surprise, but I've already seen people online discussing the fact that you can bang on the in-game bongos as well.

All VR enthusiasts know that there have been some real ups and downs over the years as the format swells in popularity and then wanes again. But it's great to know that the true greats of VR are still healthy and soldiering on. So if you need a little VR pick-me-up, as usual, you should look no further than Walkabout Mini Golf.

Bungie is back in the swing of things in this new year, and it’s preparing to launch PvPvE survival shooter Marathon in just two months’ time. Today, the dev team has shared a lengthy new ViDoc, or developer diary, if you will, that details what each Runner shell can do.

Think of shells as character classes, essentially, with each one having unique abilities that foster a certain playstyle. Runner shells can be customized functionally using the cores, implants, weapons, and mods that you loot and equip for runs. There will be visual customization as well that Bungie will touch on in the future.

At launch, Marathon will have seven Runner shells to choose from, each with its own archetype. The Destroyer is a combat specialist with a shield, missiles, and movement thrusters. Assassin thrives on stealth, as you might imagine, with synthetic smoke and camouflage tech to strike from the shadows. The Recon shell is an intel specialist that can identify threats and track movements using echo pulses, tracker drones, and the ability to see enemy footsteps. Vandal is a combat anarchist with enhanced movement speed and knockback cannon that keeps enemies disoriented. The Thief is a master of covert acquisitions (which is just a fancy way to say steal) that has enhanced vision, a butterfly drone, and grappling hook that allows them to locate and acquire loot and get out fast. Triage is your combat medic with deployable healing drones, combat buffs, and the ability to revive allies. And finally, the Rook shell activates scavenger mode, a unique way to play Marathon where you drop into an in-progress match as a solo player with no loadout. So, you drop in at a disadvantage, but you also don’t have any skin in the game, so to speak.

You can check each shell out in the new video below as we await word of a firm release date for Marathon.

Today it was announced that a new Life is Strange game will be releasing in 2026 and we also got the announcement that a livestream event revealing the game will happen next week. 

The first Life is Strange game is one of my favorite games of all time. The story, the mystery, the characters, the vibes, all of it connected with me in ways videogame hadn't until that point. The series continued on after that and while I did enjoy somewhat games like Before the Store, 2 and True Colors, they didn't come close to living up to the greatness of the original. Then we got Double Exposure. 

Double Exposure was.... well it started off pretty strong but then went completely off the rails by the ending and was just laughable at the "Max Caufield will return" card at the end of the credits like its a Marvel movie. With the way that story went I think it's inevitable here that in this game we see the return on one Chloe Price, which a certain portion of the fanbase let Deck Nine and Square Enix know that they were none too pleased about how that character was handled in Double Exposure. Either way, we will find out next week. 

The official reveal will happen on January 20th at 1PM EST. 

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves may not have set the fighting game world on fire when it released but it is still a great fighting game in it's own right that I hope continues to pick up steam in the years ahead. We got a trailer today that revealed that Season 2 will begin next week.

In a trailer that looks like it's mostly AI slop we got reveals for all of the season 2 DLC characters including...

• Jim Jae Hoon
• Nightmare Geese
• Blue Mary
• Wolfgang Krauser
• Two mystery characters that will be revealed at later dates

Season two of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves begins on January 22nd. 

There are eight new subclasses in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun – Player Expansion. Yes, that's probably the longest title of anything in D&D Fifth Edition (5e). Heroes of Faerun is geared towards players, although Forgotten Realms Dungeon Masters inevitably have to learn the info in this book, too.

Today we're checking out the Knowledge Domain Cleric, but here are all the new subclasses:

• College of the Moon (Bard)
• Knowledge Domain (Cleric)
• Banneret (Fighter)
• Oath of the Noble Genies (Paladin)
• Winter Walker (Ranger)
• Scion of the Three (Rogue)
• Spellfire Sorcery (Sorcerer)
• Bladesinger (Wizard)

Knowledge Domain (Cleric)

"Unearth Secrets and Master the Mind." Learning and understanding are your holy communion—your bread and wine. Sure, you seek to commune with your god (or at least your god's plane of existence), but your holy duties compel you to study stuff, collect old books and stuff, and to get lost in the weeds when it comes to dungeoneering into secret places. Sometimes those secret places are locked away in your own mind.

Here are the skills and abilities that unlock on a Knowledge Domain Cleric's character sheet on the climb from Level 1 to Level 20.

• Level 3: Blessings of Knowledge – You always have certain spells prepared as you reach their level, e.g., from Command and Comprehend Languages at Level 3 on up to Legend Lore and Scrying at Level 9.

• Level 3: Mind Magic – You don't burn a spell slot or need material components when you use your Channel Divinity to cast one of your Blessings of Knowledge spells.

• Level 6: Unfettered Mind – You learn telepathy and gain proficiency in Intelligence saving throws.

• Level 17: Divine Foreknowledge – You give yourself advantage on every roll of the 20-sided die. For an hour. Get a good night's sleep and you can do it again tomorrow.

This subclass is for clerics who'd rather operate more like wizards. For holy rollers that like books more than just their deity's one book. 

Next subclass we'll look at is the Banneret (Fighter), for folks that want to "Rally Fellow Heroes with Inspiring Leadership." Or you can get an overview right now over on D&D Beyond.

Imagine you're playing a game online. You're convinced to chat with your team while playing games. Reluctantly, you plug in your headset. You have to go into a side menu, and open the chat service to your console. You start asking if people can hear you, and they cannot.  Maybe your headset doesn't work. So you get a different headset, and that works, but your service is set to chat with only friends. Now you have to go back, and change the setting, and change your output, and change all the things. Then, maybe it works, and maybe you didn't switch it over to, or from, game chat. Maybe there are too many options for someone to yell "I need healing." Discord is supposed to be easier than all this, but don't get me started on that. 

Now, imagine you have a dedicated chat button. You push it. You can create a chat, or choose from an already created chat list. You choose. And you're in. You choose the people you want to talk to, whether it's your Nintendo already approved friends, or your in game chat. No headsets. No headphones. Nothing. The chat just works. This is what the Nintendo Switch 2 Gamechat is all about. Nothing fancy. It just works. Even for up to 12 people, if you have that many friends.  

It works, and you can even see the screen. It works, because even using the accessibility options, you get captions. You can use a camera (sold separately) to see the other person talking, if you so choose. You can also see someone's screen, at a very terrible frame rate, but you still do it. Discord has one up on this feature, but I digress. 

Yes, it's locked behind a paywall starting later this year, but aren't you paying for online services on every other console besides PC? People may choose discord, if they want to set up another account, with another login, and have to find someone's user name, but for me, Nintendo Gamechat doesn't deserve the hate it gets. When this Animal Crossing update gets to everyone, you'll see how cool it really is. 

Beyond that, if a game has in game chat, like Fortnite, you can still use the chat free of charge, just as you play the game free of charge. Still with no headphones, or extra accessories. The in-console mic adjusts based on your surroundings, and filters out unwanted noise. You would know more if you didn't use that same hate to say "I'm not paying $10 for a welcome tour!" 

You can even share certain games via game chat, even if the person, or people (up to 4) don't have the game! If you all have a Nintendo Switch 2, it just works, seamlessly. 

If you don't believe me, look up the details here, or you can watch the video below of us talking trash while playing Super Smash Brothers Ultimate with Gamechat, and playing Fortnite, via in game chat, without any additional hardware. Stop all the fussing. 

As a long-time Star Trek fan, I'm always excited for new Star Trek video games - though there haven't been very many that capture the look and tone of my favorite Next Gen era of Trek. But the more I see about Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown, the more excited I get.

The game puts players in the captain's chair on the U.S.S. Voyager, a ship that was accidently flung to the far corner of the galaxy, well beyond the reach (or even communication) with Star Fleet. The show followed the crew's efforts to both survive and get back home, all while dealing with new cultures and challenges well outside of the normal Star Trek lore.

It's absolutely fascinating to me that Daedalic Entertainment and developer gameXcite decided to create a large, detailed game about the mission and crew of Star Trek: Voyager. While Trek fans love the show, it isn't exactly as widely adored as Star Trek: The Next Generation, or even Deep Space Nine. Still, the show did well enough to garner seven seasons, and Daedalic is confident enough in the game that yesterday it announced that a Nintendo Switch 2 version will release alongside the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox versions of the game on February 18. 

Along with the Switch announcement, Daedalic also released an extended look at the ship-to-ship combat in Across the Unknown. And just like a real Star Trek captain, you won't be steering the ship yourself or firing the phasers. You will instead be issuing strategic orders to your crew, who you will just have to trust to do their jobs. Fascinating. Take a look here: 

It is clear that this game is being created by a team that deeply understands Star Trek, and appreciated the need to keep things faithful to the franchise's core. For those that can't wait for the February release, there is currently a demo available on PS5 and Xbox, which incorporates changes made to the game following player feedback from a previous demo. A Switch 23 demo and an updated PC demo will follow shortly. The demo follows the pilot episode of Voyager ("The Caretaker"), which I am absolutely going to rewatch before diving in. 

You can find more information on the demos as well as preorder options here. See you in the Delta Quadrant.