Naval warfare, an actual server browser and more on the way to Battlefield 6 this year as BF Studios reveals 2026 roadmap

Sam Hill is a news writer at Polygon covering gaming and entertainment. He's a Portland, Oregon–based journalist known for covering gaming, the outdoors, national parks, tech, food, and internet culture. He has written for a range of publications including Outside Magazine, Boston Magazine, Vice, the Seattle Times and Digital Trends. The trial includes every multiplayer map and mode, with a new season and a Dead Space crossover

Season 5 launched in Battlefield 6 this week as planned, and though most of the new additions - new maps, weapons and vehicles, and gameplay changes - were well received, the season began on a low note due to accusations of generative AI use and because of a major hit to XP gain. Upon launch, Season 5 players discovered they weren't earning as much XP as they used to. To make matters more confusing, Battlefield Studios did not communicate any change to XP earn rates prior to the patch's release. The developer has now said the change was "unintended" and reverted XP earn-rates to their previous values.

"But it would be inappropriate for me to talk about it" Peter Molyneux feels like a man who can never die. He's just sort of always been there, and seems like he always will be, making some kind of game where you can hypothetically do what you want, never quite living up to expectations. But hey, he's Peter Molyneux, what else would you expect? The complicated icon is still ticking away at his latest, Masters of Albion, but in a recent interview, he spoke of one of his old classics, Black & White, and the idea of a third entry in the series (and the fact that there might be something newish on the way).

Rebecca is a scientist-turned-storyteller and professional ghostwriter who enjoys forgetting common English words and making up her own in their stead. She's probably stuck between two basically-the-same dialogue options in a Larian game as you read this (there's so much at stake, obviously!!!). Rebecca currently lives with two gigantic puppies, a toddler consistently LARPing as Lara Croft, and her Halo-playing husband in Detroit, MI. You can find her past work at Zelda Universe and Verily Magazine. How much do you need your teeth, really?

There are simulators where you drive buses, farm corn, buy a zoo and manage fictional Twitch streamers. With the vibe coding epidemic, there’ll likely be even more in years to come. As expansive and particular as the genre has become, few really step up to the plate to exhaust themselves on the larger, societal consequences of your in-game side hustle. Car Park Capital, a new satirical parking lot simulator, asks how far you’re willing to go to build the world’s most successful parking space. And whether you’re willing to dismantle society to do it. I’ve joked that the lockdown-era overexposure to social media seemingly split people into camps of new age medicine nationalists and folks who could describe differences between the Haunted Mansion rides. I imagine the reason behind Robert Moses memes existing at all boils down to Defunctland, a popular YouTube channel that positioned the mid-century car-loving urban planner as the arch-enemy to amusement parks across America. This dynamic is at the forefront of Car Park Capital, a game that resembles RollerCoaster Tycoon and was picked up by the tycoon tycoons themselves, MicroProse.

With the devs behind RimWorld gearing up for their next game with a recent engine switch, it'd be entirely fair if you were hankering for something new (if still familiar enough) yourself. Trailblazers: Into The March is one such game, having introduced itself to us earlier this year, a mishmash of the aforementioned colony sim, Nausicaa, Moebius, Andrei Tarkovski, Jeff Vandermeer, and FTL: Faster Than Light by Edwin's measure. And now you don't just have to look at its trailers, because there's a demo for you to have a go at. "In today’s demo, we have packed in so much for you to explore. From overcoming dangerous excursions to battling threatening foes," explain developer Strangers of the demo. "Take on contracts from the fixer and build out your perfect Trailblazing crew! " If you've not actually clocked roguelite colony-sim Trailblazer before today, you are said titular Trailblazer, a captain of a landship which are essentially big, honking, vaguely animal-shaped, Shadow of the Colossus sized crafts you pilot across the ground, taking on similar such opposing vessels.