The new Helldivers 2 Devoid of Liberty update has arrived, alongside the Warhammer 40k warbond, but there are also a bunch of new titles you can unlock as you level up. Since the level cap has gotten a big boost, and you earn a new title every 10 levels, Arrowhead has added a bunch to fill in the gaps.

Any XP you earned above Level 150 was also banked this whole time, so you might have already unlocked a bunch of these with the new update.

All Helldivers 2 new titles

There are 15 new titles in Helldivers 2 coinciding with the level cap bump from 150 to 300. As before, you'll get a new title every 10 levels. The new ones are:

If you've been playing at Level 150 for a while, chances are you will have unlocked quite a few of these titles already thanks to our XP being banked this whole time.

Fields of Mistria romance walkthrough

FAQs

• Can you date multiple people? Yes! You can date all 12 marriage candidates simultaneously until you choose one to propose to.
• Do they get jealous? No, characters will comment on who you're dating but in a sort of parallel universe way where nobody realizes you're in multiple relationships.
• Are there rival marriages? No, marriage candidates don't express interest in each other, regardless of who you are or are not dating or married to.
• I heard there are breakups? There are breakup letters, yes, but NPCs only send these if you have proposed to someone else while dating them. See the breakups section below for info on turning these off in the settings.
• Divorce? There is no divorce in Mistria (so far) so be extra sure before you lock in a spouse with a ring!
• How do I choose who to marry 😭😭😭? I dunno, but tell me when you figure it out because I'm still torn and rocking multiple save files.

See also

Friendship points

Friendship points are essentially experience points for your relationships that you earn by talking to characters or giving them gifts. In the heart tab of your journal you can see your current heart level with every NPC and the pink meter showing friendship points earned towards the next heart. You cannot lose friendship points with NPCs. They do not decay over time (animals are a different story) and giving someone a gift they dislike or hate does not subtract points.

All NPCs have friendship points for you to earn, but only marriage candidates (listed as "single" in the relationship tab) have heart symbols and heart events.

How to earn Friendship Points

*The total friendship points earned by going on dates will likely be uncovered by modders and dataminers soon. For now, 70 points is my approximation based on an embarrassing amount of pixel counting and math in an image editor. It sure sounds like a lot but it's definitely worth more than a loved gift!

If you give a gift to an NPC after midnight on the in-game day prior to their birthday they will react as if it's a birthday present. When I tried it, this didn't appear to give the friendship points bonus for a birthday gift though, so it's only superficial.

Gift giving

Each character can receive one gift per day. Most items are giftable (flowers, produce, ores, food, etc.) and you'll be able to intuit some preferences like how Celine likes many types of flowers, March enjoys ores, and Balor likes expensive gems. Refresh your memory on what they like or love in the relationships panel of your menu.

There's no penalty for repeating gifts, so if you want to grind Friendship Points with a specific character, just keep giving them something they like that's easy for you to stockpile. There is a Steam achievement called "Thoughtful Gifter" for giving any one character all of their different liked and loved gifts. They react differently to gifts they like, dislike, love, or hate, with some pretty cute character details often coming from loved gifts, so that's a little motivation for seeking out all the different things your favorite singles love most.

Gift hints and lists

• If an item is mentioned with pink text during a conversation, that's something that character likes or loves.
• You can also get in-game hints by asking Elsie for "gossip" starting from the request board in your first summer. She'll reveal a liked or loved gift for a character once per day which is added to your gifts list in the game menu.
• Check my Fields of Mistria gift list for a guide to the easiest gifts for each marriage candidate.
• For gifts to give everyone else, I recommend the Fields of Mistria wiki!

Heart events

Heart events are special cutscenes with marriage candidate NPCs (other characters have friendship points but not heart events) that you can attend after reaching heart levels 2, 4, 6, and 8. After reaching the appropriate heart level, a character will send you a letter inviting you to meet them somewhere. You can check the details in the quests portion of your journal.

Heart events are scenes that explore each character's personal story and each new scene with a character will build on the ones before. Heart events don't award any friendship points, so you don't need to worry about choosing specific dialogue choices during these scenes to gain more points. Just roleplay how you like!

Heart event thresholds

*Friendship point totals via the Fields of Mistria wiki. Point totals are not visible in game, so these are just info for doing your own math, if you're curious.

Exceptions:

• Juniper's 2 heart event begins at the request board outside the general store, not from a letter in your mailbox.
• The secret bachelor and secret bachelorette (revealed by story spoilers) begin with 6 hearts unlocked, so you'll only have an 8 heart scene and, if you choose, proposal and wedding scenes with them.

Speedrunner math:

• Mathematically, you can reach 8 hearts by Summer 14, Year 1 by talking to an NPC and giving them a loved gift every single day. If this is possible to achieve at all, it would likely be with Celine by foraging spring flowers.
• (Slowrunner math) You can unlock 4 hearts with a character on exactly Summer 28 (to attend the Shooting Star festival date) just by talking to them every single day without giving any gifts, if for some reason you want to do that.

You must unlock the summit to take a date to the Shooting Star Festival. Unlock it by completing Adeline's town beautification quest which comes after you've repaired the bridge, stocked the food stores, and restored the mill in town. Get that done before Summer 28.

Dating

You can begin dating any (or all of) the marriage candidates by reaching 8 hearts. During their 8 heart event you will choose between becoming best friends or confessing your feelings. You must confess your feelings if you want to date someone. You can't be best friends and start dating later, sorry.

After confessing your feelings, Elsie will come to your house the next morning to give you a tutorial on dating. Basically, you can only go on dates on Saturday and Sunday and you can only take each person on one date per weekend. After each date, you get a commemorative photo that you can hang in your house.

Initially you'll just have the meal at the inn as a date option but you can find or buy other "date inspiration items" (unlock by using the same way as cosmetic items). You can only find date inspiration items after you've begun dating at least one person.

How dates work

On any Saturday or Sunday, walk up to a character you're dating and press the button (same button as giving a gift) to invite them on a date. You'll choose from a list of date activities you've unlocked and they'll have a couple short lines of dialogue to accept. Each date is a tiny little scene without dialogue (unlike a heart event) showing you and your date on your outing.

Afterwards, you'll get a photo of your date showing the day and the setting. You can hang the photo on the wall like other pieces of decor in your home and interact with it to view the picture any time. You'll only get one of these photos per date type for each character, so think twice before taking them on a park date in the winter! Unless that's the aesthetic you're going for. You'll also receive an item from your date like a flower, gem, or a meal, depending on the activity.

Dating around

You can date all 12 of Mistria's marriage candidates simultaneously if you want to. Reach 8 hearts and confess your feelings to absolutely everyone. I'm not judging; that's what I did. Here's what happens:

• Two dates per week: You can only take each character on one date per weekend but Saturday and Sunday are both valid date days. So if you have multiple beaus you can invite two on an outing per week. Gem cutting for March and a picnic with Reina, maybe!
• No jealousy: Characters will all comment on who you're dating but none of them acknowledge you being in multiple relationships. (So Adeline may comment on you dating Eiland without referencing that you're dating her as well, for instance.)
• No player-initiated breakups: There are breakup letters initiated by NPCs (see breakups section below) when you propose to someone else, but you cannot choose to end a relationship with a character you've confessed to otherwise. Sorry, you're dating forever until they say so.

Marriage

You can propose marriage after reaching 10 hearts with someone you are dating and crafting an engagement ring. Elsie will come to your house to give you the engagement ring recipe the morning after you reach 10 hearts. Be warned: You need to have reached level 100 in the mines in order to craft it, so don't neglect those quests!

How to get married TL;DR:

1. Earn 10 hearts with any marriage candidate you are dating
2. Craft an engagement ring
3. Offer the engagement ring to your partner to begin a proposal scene
4. In your proposal scene, choose the heart dialogue option when offered
5. Choose your wedding date when prompted
6. You won't be able to miss your wedding, the day begins with a cutscene

Proposals

You can begin the proposal heart event by offering an engagement ring to a character you are dating and have 10 hearts with. During this scene your partner will give you a gift to show their feelings for you—March forges a shield, Ryis gifts you a potted tree, etc. You can reciprocate by choosing the red heart dialogue option to propose marriage. You can also choose to put the conversation off by saying you want to wait and discuss things later and then come back to initiate the scene again later.

You can cheese wedding proposals by offering the engagement ring and then, during the cutscene, telling your partner you want to discuss things later instead of proposing. You can do this with multiple characters to get all the proposal gift items before committing to just one person. The recipe for an engagement ring disappears from your blacksmith station after you've completed a proposal, so you can't go craft another ring after getting married.

Wedding planning

The first day after you propose, your partner will have a cute little line about being excited to get married. On three other separate days leading up to the big day, they'll ask for your input on details about the wedding. For each decision, all fiancees offer three choices: two that are the same among all spouses and one choice that reflects their personal preferences.

• Flowers: Red, white, [spouse preference]
• Cake: Vanilla, chocolate, [spouse preference]
• Meal: Harvest plate, Mushroom steak dinner, [spouse preference]

Wedding day

On your wedding day, you don't get to do anything other than attend the festivities. Pro: Watering your crops and feeding the animals is handled for you, Elsie and Josephine promise. Con: You lose an entire day, so avoid scheduling your wedding for a Friday or Saturday so you don't miss the market or the night at the inn. You may not want to schedule it on the same day as another NPC's birthday (or your own!) either because you won't get a chance to give them a gift.

Wedding gifts

The morning after your wedding, Elsie sends you a letter with furniture unique to your spouse as "wedding gifts." Juniper has a desk, cauldron, chair, and a bed for Dozy, for instance. March has a desk, chair, and a forge station. You also get a wedding photo of your spouse that you can hang in your home like other date photos.

Breakups vs "Polyamory"

If you date more than one character and do want to marry one of them, one of two things can happen: Your other partners break up with you and become your best friends instead or you go on dating everyone alongside your spouse. Aside from getting engaged, NPCs will not autonomously break up with you since there is no friendship point decay if you ignore your partners for a period of time.

There are two toggles related to breakups in the "gameplay" section of the menu. Here's how the three possible configurations work:

Default settings

The day after you propose to someone, any other characters you are dating will send you a letter in the mail saying that they want to end your relationship but remain friends instead. The next time you talk to them they'll ask if you got the letter and how you felt about it. They're all pretty much bittersweet but leave you on good terms. In the relationships menu you will still have the same number of hearts with that character but their label will change from "dating" to "best friends."

Breakup letters off

If you toggle breakup letters off, any characters you were dating outside your fiance will still revert to "best friends" status the day after your proposal. You just won't receive a breakup letter or see any dialogue related to ending the relationship. So you get to have your cake and eat it without the sting of consequences.

Breakups off entirely

If you turn breakups off entirely, you will continue to have the "dating" label with all other characters you'd been dating. You can continue taking those characters on weekend dates, kissing them whenever you want, and having daily chats with them that refer to your being in a relationship even after you're married. Like with dating multiple people, no one references that you're married while still dating. It's not really polyamory and more like plausible deniability non-manogamy.

The new Arc Raiders Phantom Targets project is all about helping Shani track and trace some mysterious arc that seem to be popping up across topside. During the first phase, she asks you to "upgrade antennas found on top of any Cargo Elevator," and you'll have to find three and tinker with them to complete the objective.

In case you don't recall what a Cargo Elevator is in Arc Raiders, I'll explain where to find them below so you can complete this stage.

How to upgrade the Cargo Elevator antennas in Arc Raiders

What this objective calls Cargo Elevators refers to the extraction points you can find on Dam Battlegrounds, Spaceport, or Riven Tides—the ones that look like a little bunker with four doors that lower to let you inside.

What you need to do is climb onto the roof of one of these and fix the antenna (the scaffolding with the radar dishes on), then proceed to do it at two other extraction points. This does seem slightly bugged at the moment in that the icon you interact with on top of the elevator doesn't go away after you activate it.

However, if you open your map and check the quest progress, you'll see that it still counts towards the total of three elevators that you need to upgrade. You also don't have to do all three elevators in a single run, or on the same map, so you can break it up across any of the regions mentioned above. Once that's done, complete the first step in the project to get:

• Combat Mk.3 (Aggressive)
• Heavy Shield
• Vita Spray

Not too shabby a haul for such a quick and easy quest.

Early on in Big Walk, as you and your pals are scurrying around the world solving puzzles, you might come across a curious sight: a structure near the beach with an oblong prize (here at PC Gamer we call it a nubbin) inside a frosted glass container. Hanging on a hook above it: a sign with some numbers on it. Curious!

You've probably already seen a nubbin in a similar container, which could only be accessed when one of your companions held down a button in a nearby location. But what do these two four-digit numbers mean? And where's the button?

If you're stumped with this numbers puzzle, as we were for a while, we're happy to help.

Since Big Walk is best when you figure puzzles with your friends instead of by reading guides, I'll ease you into the solution to this number puzzle by giving you progressively more explicit hints below. This way you can get some help without completely spoiling the solution, if you like.

Hints

Hint 1:

When you first find this number puzzle, most likely just after you've completed the tutorial puzzles, you won't be able to solve it. It's just that simple. The best advice is to leave it for now and come back to it later, after you've solved five other puzzles and completed the red tower.

Hint 2:

When you're looking around the rest of the world, keep those numbers in mind. Specifically, the format: two four-digit numbers. Maybe you'll see something elsewhere that looks like it's related.

Hint 3:

You'll need a specific item to make sense of those numbers. There are actually two different items that can be individually used to help you with the number puzzle.

Hint 4:

The numbers 4166 and 1899 are coordinates, latitude and longitude, and they point to the button's location on the island.

Hint 5:

There's a map that can be used to find the coordinates, and there's a device that displays its current coordinates on a screen, like a GPS. Either of those can be used to solve the number puzzle.

OK, that's enough hints. Here's the solution:

Solution

First, you can find the map, which requires placing five nubbins on the red tower's roof. The map room will then open up right next to the starting hub, which features a large map on the floor, and a portable, foldable map and compass.

With the map opened in your hands, you can follow the longitude (the numbered lines on the sides) of 41 and the latitude (the numbered lines on the top and bottom) of 18. Where they meet on the map is the grid square to search for the button, which is east and south of the starter hub. The "66" in 4166 refers to a more exact measurement than the map shows, meaning it's about two-thirds of the way south from the top of the grid, and 99 means it's about as far east as you can be in the grid, right along the gridline.

Enlarge the image below by clicking on the arrows on the lower-left corner, if it helps.

That's where to look! You'll find a small button carefully camouflaged behind a rock. Someone will have to hold down the button while another player grabs the nubbin at that puzzle building when the glass container opens, so make sure you've got walkie-talkies with you.

The other way to find the button (and the more fun way, in my opinion) is by using the GPS device. This item will take longer to find than the map: you'll need to visit the green tower, which is in the same area you'll eventually find the button, and just outside it you'll see a red frame holding the GPS (and another sign with more numbers on it).

You can hold the GPS up to friends to show current coordinates, or stick it on someone's backpack.

With one player wearing the GPS on their back, another player can direct them which way to go. Just keep your eyes on the numbers: as you move across the island, the GPS readout will tell you if you're getting closer or further from the location of the button. Happy walking!

As soon as Fields of Mistria 1.0 landed I rushed to shove gifts into my lovers' faces and drag them on dates to hustle my way to the coveted 10 heart threshold for marriage, only to find out that, woof, crafting an engagement ring is a real investment! The material cost isn't actually that steep if you've already played a lot, but it does require you to get to the final level of the mines. I'd sort of neglected unlocking those final seals while totally engrossed in friendship grinding, which was apparently the wrong thing to do.

How to craft an engagement ring

To craft an engagement ring, you have to reach level 100 in the mines to unlock additional recipes for The Dragon Forge on level 90. After you make a Dragon-Forged Core, you can craft an engagement ring at a normal blacksmithing station.

Engagement ring recipe:

• 2 Diamonds
• 4 Mistril ingots
• 4 Gold ingots
• 1 Dragon-Forged Core (craft at The Dragon Forge on mines level 90)
  • 5 Monster core
  • 1 Mistril ingot
  • 1 Pink diamond
  • 1 Ancient firefly
  • 1 Medium essence stone

Engagement ring materials shortcuts

You can't just throw down the cash for an engagement ring outright, but you can pay your way to avoid some of the material grinding if you're ore poor but have tons of tesserae.

What you can buy or craft:

• Buy 40 gold ore from the blacksmith for 8,000 tesserae
  • Craft 4x gold ingots at the blacksmithing station
• Buy 50 mistril ore from the blacksmith for 20,000 tesserae
  • Craft 5 mistril ingots at the blacksmithing station (1 extra ingot is for the Dragon-Forged core you need to craft)
• Buy a Large Bundle of Stone to get 100 stone (you need 90) at the carpenter shop for 2,000 tesserae
  • Craft 2 diamonds at the stone refinery (in the mines entrance) with 70 stone
  • Craft 1 medium essence stone at the stone refinery with 20 stone

What you need to find or grind:

• 5 monster cores
  • Dropped by lantern enemies (mines levels 1-39) or by flame spirits (mines levels 61-99)
• 1 pink diamond
  • Mine pink diamond nodes (mines levels 81+)
  • OR take your partner on a gem cutting date on Saturday or Sunday for a chance to get one as a reward
• 1 ancient firefly
  • Catch with a net in the Ancient Ruins (mines level 81+)

Big Walk is a new co-op-only adventure from the creators of Untitled Goose Game. Chris Livingston has been playing it and he's having an absolute gas. It's a loosely structured open world affair starring quaint pointy-nosed folk that you simply have to play with friends.

And I mean that literally: it's impossible to get very far in Big Walk alone. You can load into the open world on your own, but since all puzzles require a modicum of collaboration, it's pointless to do so. Unless you just want to take in the scenery.

But does Big Walk have matchmaking that will pair you up with a gaggle of strangers? The answer is no. Big Walk doesn't have matchmaking. To play Big Walk, you'll need to make sure in advance that you have friends who want to play it.

To play Big Walk you'll need to either host a game or join someone else's game. The latter can be done via a session code shared with you by the host. This is the only way to join up with friends on PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2.

Alternatively, you can join a session via your in-game friends list, which draws from your Steam friends. This will let you jump right in without a code, providing there's space in the session.

If you've been looking forward to Big Walk but none of your friends are interested, that puts you in a rough position. But remember: the internet exists, and for the most part it's still populated by real breathing people. It could be worth hitting up the Big Walk subreddit where there's already a dedicated thread for matching up, or the PC Gamer forums.

After exactly two years in early access, shoujo-ified farm sim Fields of Mistria 1.0 is launching. Whether you've been playing consistently all this time or coming back after trying it two years ago, here's what you need to know about what's changing in the full release version of Mistria.

Fields of Mistria 1.0 highlights

Should you start a new save for 1.0?

You don't need to start a new save file for the 1.0 launch and personally I didn't. The biggest changes coming in the launch version of the game are mostly ones being added on to extend the story, so it shouldn't feel weird to play through even if you're in year three or four. I've come back to play Mistria a couple times after its early access updates and story content that's been added has always felt like a pretty natural flow from where I left off.

You also won't need a new save file to get any of the new achievements added to the game. They'll all be earned retroactively based on what you've done in your save so far.

What if you haven't played since the early access launch?

There have been several major updates over the past two years. If you stopped playing early on and are just coming back, here are some features you might not immediately realize were added:

• Shooting Star Festival on Summer 28 that you can invite a date to attend
• Harvest Festival in fall and Animal Festival in winter
• Riding mounts after upgrading Hayden's barn
• You can buy an expansion for your farm property from the carpenter's shop (and home size upgrades too)
• Greenhouses are available, but only after reaching renown level 70
• Apiaries for farming honey are now craftable
• After upgrading the general store you can buy a seed maker to turn crops (or forage) into their seed versions
• Hayden sells an auto-feeder for your barns and coops after you reach ranching level 45

Full 1.0 change list

Via the Fields of Mistria official blog.

[Highlights]

• The Town Repair Questline can now be completed!
• The Town Renown Cap has been raised to 100.
• The Mistril Town Rank Event has been added to the game.
• NPC Heart Level Cap has been raised to 10.
• 10 Heart (Proposal) Events have been added to the game.
• Wedding Events & Marriage have been added to the game.
• Children have been added to the game.
• The “Saturday Market Plaza” Quest has been added to the game.
• The “Repair the Bell Tower” Quest has been added to the game.
• Stillwell & Zorel join the Saturday Market.
• The Museum can now be completed.
• Steam Achievements have been added.
  • Note: Achievements will be retroactively received after loading an existing save, and will populate based on that save data. If you would prefer to start fresh without receiving retroactive achievements, all you will need to do is start a new save file.
• Beta localizations for 7 languages have been added to the game:
  • Chinese (Simplified)
  • Chinese (Traditional)
  • French
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Spanish 

🎮 Gameplay

• Unlocking Stillwell will allow you to access Mission Quests from his Mission Board at the Saturday Market.
• Unlocking Zorel will allow you to purchase Crystal Resonators and Song Crystals at the Saturday Market. This feature allows customization of the music that plays on your farm and in the rooms of your home.
• The exterior of your house can now be customized from a selection of styles after it’s been fully upgraded.
  • Note: You will receive a letter from Landen after fully upgrading your house, which will unlock this feature in the Carpenter’s Shop.
• 7 new perks have been added to the game, including:
  • Cooking:
    • Espresso Yourself
  • Ranching:
    • Playtime
    • Eggstra
    • Close Bond II
    • True Trust
  • Woodcrafting:
    • Hammer Timing IV
    • Deliberate Debris II
• The “Engagement Ring” item will now become craftable at a Forge after reaching 10 Hearts with an NPC you’re dating. 
  • Note: Elsie will deliver the recipe to you the morning after reaching Heart Level 10. Use the recipe scroll to unlock it.
• “NPC Special Items” received from NPCs 10-Heart (Proposal) Events have been added. 
  • Note: It is possible to view all events and collect all the special items before deciding to proceed with a proposal (if desired), as 10-Heart events can be retriggered with the Engagement Ring until you choose to propose and become engaged.
• Elements of your wedding (such as flower color, cake flavor, and meal served at the reception) can be customized via wedding planning dialogue with your fiance in the days leading up to your wedding.
• The “Mystical Feather” item will now become available via a cutscene in the weeks following your marriage, allowing you to trigger an optional family planning discussion for players who wish to have a child.
• Via the Combat Perk “Friend-Shaped,” all monsters now drop Pet Skins that make your pet take on the appearance of that monster.
• The Big Chicken mount has been added to the game.
• An additional “Friday Night at the Inn” storyline has been added after finishing the Mines Storyline.
• New Requests have been added to the Request Board.
• 2 new Museum Sets and associated rewards have been added.
  • Honey Set
  • Terrarium Treasures Set
• You can now interact with NPCs you are dating, engaged to, or married to, to kiss them.
• Taking an NPC on a date will now increase their heart level more.
• Town Rank Quests have been added to better guide existing progression.
• Museum Wing rooms can now be entered to view your collection.
• The order of popups when donating items to the museum has been updated such that Museum Set Complete popups now appear directly after seeing their respective donated items popup.
• Previously inaccessible cooking recipes are now available in-game.

✨ QOL

• 🌼 The player character can now be rotated in the customization menu.
• 🌼 Players can optionally disable the break-up letters and associated follow-up lines that acknowledge the change in status from “Dating” to “Best Friends” that occurs by default after getting engaged (when dating multiple NPCs).
  • Note: this setting will not disable the break-up themselves, and will become available in the gameplay settings menu via the engagement tutorial cutscene.
• 🌼 Players can optionally disable the status change from “Dating” to “Best Friends” that occurs by default post-engagement (when dating multiple NPCs).
  • Note: this setting will disable the break-ups entirely, and will become available in the gameplay settings menu via the engagement tutorial cutscene, but must be toggled prior to confirming an engagement in order to take effect.
• 🌼 Drop rates on items received from Mines treasure chests have been improved.
• 🌼Ritual Chamber and Treasure room spawn rates have been adjusted to be more common.
• 🌼 Your animals will be fed and your crops watered automatically during March’s 8-Heart Event.
• 🌼 The speak interaction now takes priority when multiple interactions overlap near NPCs.
• New Graphics settings have been added to the settings menu, including brightness & saturation sliders and options to better customize the game’s performance on your machine.
• The Birthday selection screen now has a header that says “Select Your Birthday”.

🎨 Art

• Cloud shadows now appear outside on sunny days.
• Ryis’ Hawthorn tree now has an intermediate growth stage.
• The Bathhouse water wheel now animates.
• 🌼Additional UI indicators have been added, including a directional arrow when placing furniture, an arrow icon over Mines ladders, and a talk icon over Caldarus’ Statue.
• New furniture items have been added to the game, including:
  • Monster Set
  • Ornate Set
  • Bonsai Set
  • Dragon Set
  • And more!
• New cosmetics have been added to the game, including:
  • Barrel Hat
  • Wedding Outfits
  • Beetle Mandible Horns
  • Dragonfly Wings
  • And more!

💛 NPCs

• NPC Heart Level Cap has been raised to 10.
• 10 Heart (Proposal) Events have been added. 
• Engagement dialogue has been added.
• Wedding Events have been added.
• Events related to having a child have been added.
• Post-Marriage dialogue and NPC routines have been added.
• New dialogue has been added to the game.

🔊 Sound

• A new winter song has been added.
• 4 existing seasonal songs will now swap to special extended versions after progressing through the game.
• 10 new songs have been added via Song Crystals

[Bug Fixes]

• 🌼 Substantial improvements to performance since the last update.
• 🌼 Fixed early errors on startup which prevented the game from launching on certain old PCs.
• 🌼 Reduced the game's VRAM usage by over 50%, which should help with performance on older machines.
• 🌼Players can no longer walk on water by moving diagonally into corners.
• 🌼The game no longer crashes due to the Pet being in the wrong location while their job is active.
• 🌼Players can no longer earn second place in the Harvest Festival despite turning in a winning amount of Queen berries.
• Hayden’s weathervane now correctly reappears on his barn after you return it during the Find the Weathervane quest.
• Stepping stones on the beach now play stone footstep SFX.
• Certain popups (e.g. unlocking new hairstyles) have been widened to better fit on the screen.
• Repeatedly ringing the Bell no longer raises the Ranching Skill level.
• Placeable forge animations have been restored.
• Rock Stacks can no longer get stuck in an idle animation.
• Flame Spirits no longer get stuck idle after attacking.
• 🌼The game no longer encounters a rare crash when scrolling through the museum menu rapidly.
• Shooting Star Festival-related dialogue can no longer fire past midnight on Summer 27.
• Players can no longer obtain cosmetics from the Chicken Statue for animals they haven’t unlocked yet.
• It is no longer possible to equip armor and miss unlocking its associated cosmetic.
• NPCs eat specific meals where intended during certain cutscenes instead of randomized meals.
• The camera no longer zooms rapidly when tabbing back into the game window during the End of Day pan.
• 🌼NPC sub-icons on Date Photos have been restored.
• 🌼You can no longer get stuck in certain doorways.
• The Flying Tome now appears at the appropriate depth relative to its wind attack VFX.

Somehow, Mistria's most popular bachelorette is the one who doesn't even want to be here. Are we all romancing Juniper due to chronic deficiencies in self-regard that can only be made worse fixed by earning the love of a woman who thinks she's definitely smarter and prettier than us? Maybe, but we don't have time to unpack all of that!

For the nittiest of gritties, you can always turn to the page for Juniper on the Fields of Mistria wiki but right here I'll be divining the ideal path to witch wife-ing. This is your quick cheat sheet on heart thresholds to hit, which gifts to stockpile, and what her heart events entail.

Juniper romance walkthrough

Juniper romance to-do list:

• Talk to Juniper every day! (You can reach four hearts just by talking every single day of spring and summer even if you struggle with her gifts list.)
• Always be foraging. In your first spring, morel mushrooms, nettle, and middlemist flowers are on her liked gifts list.
• Splurge on mushroom brew from Darcy's stall at the Saturday market if you spot one in stock; they're one of her more attainable loved gifts if you get lucky.
• Grow poinsettias in winter; it's one of the few gifts she likes that doesn't require luck or prerequisites to get your hands on.
• Reach four hearts by Summer 28 to go on a date to the Shooting Star Festival (and the Harvest Festival dance on Fall 10).
• Reach the lava caves on level 60+ in the mines; a Breath of Flame forageable is required for her 8 heart event.

Consistency goes further than perfection when romancing Juniper. It's tough to stock up on her favorite gifts, so just talk to her every day and give her foraged items she likes instead of holding out to give her gifts that she loves.

Juniper heart events

Best gifts for Juniper

The best gift for Juniper is wine

After much agonizing, I've decided the best gift for Junier is wine which you can buy from the inn. But don't run out and buy wine on day one! It's initially expensive and you can gift her forage items (see below) early in spring instead. When it comes to playing the long game with Juniper, though, wine will become the easiest gift since you can buy it on demand at the inn any day of the year.

Juniper's loved gifts list is almost entirely rare artifacts and high tier food recipes while her liked gifts are rare forage and deep mines loot. You may have lots of items she likes laying in your chests, but it's hard to stock up on any one of them.

• Juniper's most accessible loved gift is Mushroom Brew if you spot one in stock at Balor's daily cart or Darcy's Saturday Market stall, but you can't stockpile that.
• The cheapest gifts she likes are spring forage items like morels, nettle, and middlemist, (or monster powder from the mines) but you're going to eventually run out of those.
• Poinsettias are one of the few flowers she likes that you can actually grow in bulk without foraging, but only in winter. If you've been dilligently wooing her in your first year, you'll likely be close to 8 hearts with her already by then. If so, there's no need to go all in on flower farming when you've likely got pocket money to spare on buying your girl a nice glass of red every day.

Juniper gifts list

Marrying Juniper

Wedding planning with Juniper

Talk to Juniper on three of the days leading up to your wedding to choose details about your big day.

• Flowers: Red, white, or purple
• Cake: Vanilla, chocolate, or moon fruit
• Dinner: Harvest plate, mushroom steak dinner, or pizza (which she loves!)

Juniper's wedding day

On your wedding day, here's who gets featured at the celebration:

• Juniper's party: Celine and Dozy
• Toast: Celine and Elsie (sort of) joined by Dell, Maple, and Luc

Juniper's spouse items

Here's which special items you get to keep for marrying Juniper:

• Juniper's protection scroll (proposal)
• Juniper's desk
• Juniper's comfy chair
• Juniper's cauldron
• Dozy's dog bed

So you want a little rivals-to-lovers arc with the prickly blacksmith? No judgement, I too came of age at the height of the tsundere tsunami so I'm not surprised that March has become by far the most popular bachelor in Fields of Mistria (so long as his brother Olric stays un-romancable, that is).

For the nittiest of gritties, you can always turn to the page for March on the Fields of Mistria wiki but right here I'll be refining the raw ore of March's romance into a glittering tips list. This is your quick cheat sheet on heart thresholds to hit, which gifts to stockpile, and what his heart events entail.

March romance walkthrough

March romance to-do list:

• Talk to March every day! (You can reach four hearts just by talking every single day of spring and summer without gifts, if needed.)
• Mine some copper ASAP in your first spring to gift him an ore for his birthday on Spring 16 (or buy him a beer from the inn).
• Stockpile perfect copper ore (drop chance from copper nodes in levels 1-20 of the mines) as a repeatable loved gift to grind friendship points.
• Reach four hearts by Summer 28 to go to the Shooting Star Festival as his date and dance at the Harvest Festival on Fall 10.
• Prioritize clearing the mines because getting past the fire seal on level 60 is required for his 8 heart scene.

March heart events

Best gifts for March

The best gift for March is perfect copper ore

Perfect copper ore is the easiest of March's loved gifts to stock up on and gift to him repeatedly. You're going to be mining tons of copper from levels 1-20 of the mines early on and you'll pretty routinely score perfect ores as you're swinging away. Donate your first one to the museum and stash the rest to sweeten March up. Until you find your first one (and if you run out), he likes regular copper ore too.

March gifts list

Marrying March

Wedding planning with March

Talk to March on three of the days leading up to your wedding to choose details about your big day.

• Flowers: Red, white, or blue
• Cake: Vanilla, chocolate, or "triple chocolate!!!"
• Dinner: Harvest plate, mushroom steak dinner, or sushi platter (which he loves!)

March's wedding day

On your wedding day, here's who gets featured at the celebration:

• March's party: Olric and Ryis
• Toast: Olric

March's spouse items

Here's which special items you get to keep for marrying March:

• March's Mistrian shield (proposal)
• March's desk
• March's comfy chair
• March's forge

I've spent the last week playing Beast of Reincarnation and I've really enjoyed it, though I am not, admittedly, a huge lover of parry-centric action. And Beast of Reincarnation has loads of parrying. You can't not parry in Beast of Reincarnation, but there are ways to make the combat far less reliant on precise parries and dodges.

Protagonist Emma starts with a crossbow and when I realised this I wrote it off as a throwaway accoutrement that you can't really rely on, kinda like the rifles in Bloodborne, or the companion drone in Stellar Blade. But no. Focusing on the crossbow and the long bow—which you get about an hour into the game—is basically the game's easy mode, without resorting to the game's actual easy mode (which exists, by the way).

Because if you focus on upgrading projectiles they'll end up chewing through health bars at a stunning rate. While some bosses—especially those with two forms—will last longer than your ammo supply will, projectiles are a sure fire way to absolutely shred their health pool from a safe distance without taking too many close range risks in a game where two hits can kill.

Spoilers follow, but this is me against the first major boss in New Game +. The video isn't really meant to demonstrate how easy it is, but more to show what crossbow violence looks like when you invest in it. This boss has a second phase, but luckily I hadn't used a single one of my arrows yet.

(Yes, enemies can still close the distance on you if you're not careful. No, investing in projectiles will not completely eliminate the need for parrying and dodging.)

It's a lot of fun to float suspended in mid air, thanks to Emma's entanglement gauge, while raining down hell on the vast majority of enemies incapable of touching you. Arrows and bolts replenish at every checkpoint campsite, and since these are very, very common (perhaps too common) you can pretty much mainline projectiles from about a third into the game.

The best direction on Emma's skill tree to start with is the bottom left, where Tracking Shot is the first option. This, as you'd expect, makes your ranged arrows track enemies. Further on you can increase the chance of shots not consuming arrows or bolts by up to 15% percent, which dovetails nicely with a later skill that gives a 50% chance of replenishing up to 10% ammo for ranged weapons for every enemy killed.

Another skill, Magic Bullet, will have each tracking shot loop back around and hit an enemy again once its first made contact. Add to this Scatter-Shot, which splits every ranged projectile into three spreading shots, and you can probably imagine the potential for some intense audio-visual fire works here. Whenever I was popping off bolts the area felt like a News Years dancehall.

But for Scatter-Shot and the also awesome Entangled Shot—which makes every ranged attack "slightly" restore your world-pausing entanglement gauge—you'll also need to invest heavily in Emma's Hair skills as well. Overall, my focus on Emma's projectiles meant that I didn't invest a whole lot in the mutt Koo during my first playthrough, but there's always New Game + for that.

The skill tree isn't the only avenue to upgrade projectiles. At workbenches and campsites you can upgrade each ranged weapon to at least +11, in my experience, which takes in upgrades to reload speed and damage. Every individual arrow and bolt can be upgraded too. For example, I've upgraded acid arrows to +2, which increased its damage and the amount I have in my quiver. I put the vast majority of my amber into upgrading projectiles, which probably would have seemed silly to me in most other action games but not here.

Overall, I was surprised by how viable a projectile playthrough of Beast of Reincarnation is. Now, to focus on the dog...

While finding the Hokubu Treasure Hunt is undoubtedly the harder of the exploration challenges this week in Forza Horizon 6, locating Hirosaki Castle isn't easy either. It doesn't help that the cold front has come in and covered the whole map in a blanket of snow. So, here's what you need to do.

Forza Horizon 6 Hirosaki Castle location

You can find Hirosaki Castle in the northeast of the Takashiro region, not far from the eastern edge of the map. Look for the Hirosaki Castle speed trap event at the centre of the area, as this will place you right out at the castle's gates, though the Hirosaki Scramble dirt race is nearby too. Plus, since it's a tourist site, it's a marked, named location on your map.

To complete the Classy Castle photo challenge specifically, you need to take a photo of any classic sports car outside the castle. This includes cars like the Mazda RX-3, Chevrolet Corvette, and Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R Barn Find. Chances are you've already got something that fits the bill, so go to your garage and filter it by classic sports cars and take your pick.

For your hard work as a car photographer, you'll earn two Festival Playlist points and the White Suit clothing item, so not all too exciting. Thankfully, those points will at least get you one step closer to this week's reward cars—the 1982 Lancia 037 Stradale and the 2020 Ferrari Roma—and the Series' milestone rewards—the 2024 Lamborghini Temerario and the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB.

We're still cruising around in exotic Italian cars in Forza Horizon 6 Series 3 winter season this week, but, like clockwork, we've got a suite of new challenges. The most fun—and challenging—one is the Hokubu region Treasure Hunt. The only clue you're given is of a wooden house next to a snow-covered road. A pretty broad search area if you ask me.

Forza Horizon 6 Hokubu region Treasure Hunt location

This week's Festival Playlist Treasure Hunt chest is in Hokubu, next to the wooden house past the fields at Shikisai-no-Oka at the centre of the region. It's just north of the Flower Run speed trap and the Lincoln Continental Barn Find. Simply:

1. Travel to Shikisai-no-Oka at the centre of Hokubu. You can fast travel to the Flower Run speed trap if you've unlocked it.
2. Drive north past the snow-covered farm fields towards the greenhouses and wooden building, where you'll find the chest tucked around the corner in the parking lot.
3. Crash into the Treasure Hunt chest to smash it, completing the challenge.

As usual, you'll earn three Festival Playlist points, 5,000 XP, and 100,000 credits, which is a good reward for your time. You can put those credits towards the Lamborghini Huracan you'll need for the main weekly challenge, which is frustrating because it's going to be available for free next week. What are you playing at, Playground Games? That's just cruel.

This week, your Festival Playlist points will go towards the 1982 Lancia 037 Stradale at 20 points, and the 2020 Ferrari Roma at 40 points. I'm pretty stoked for the former, a classic Italian powerhouse. You'll also be one step closer to the Series' milestone rewards, the 2024 Lamborghini Temerario and the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB.

Tracking down all of the Halo: Campaign Evolved skull locations is a significant undertaking. While there were only ten of these in the original game, there are now 39 to find, including a bonus you get when you acquire your first three skulls. That amounts to three-per-mission, all unlocking new modifiers you activate during the campaign.

Some require you to play on higher difficulties, use other skulls to get them, or even pull off tricks like grenade jumps, so you've got your work cut out for you.

All Halo: Campaign Evolved skull locations

There are 39 skulls to find in Halo: Campaign Evolved, plus once you find three skulls, you'll automatically unlock an additional three skulls used only for the Campaign Remix mode:

• Armistice - Enemy factions never fight one another
• Adaptation - Randomizes the enemy factions present in the mission.
• Reload - Randomizes the pre-placed weapons in the mission.

There are three skulls in each mission, including the bonus ones, so I'll list each as you'll encounter it, the effect, plus the best Rally Point to use to be close to them.

Pillar of Autumn skull locations

1. Speed Limit

• Effect: Disables sprint
• Rally Point: Alpha

As soon as you exit the cryo pod, this skull is on the raised platform to your right, directly above the door. Head right into the alcove with the cryo tank, ascend the slope at the back so you can jump on top of it, then jump onto the platform and go right to find the skull.

2. Magnified

• Effect: 60-round magazines for the AR are now standard issue.
• Rally Point: Alpha

After the previous skull, continue through the mission towards the bridge until the door opens and the Elite jumpscares you. Carry on down the corridor, past the marines at the barricade, and into the room with all the weapon racks. The skull is just on top of one of them to your left.

3. Perspective

• Effect: Changes the player camera to third-person.
• Rally Point: Bravo

After the cutscene on the bridge of the Pillar of Autumn, head back inside, find the two pilots sitting at the front of the cockpit behind Captain Keyes, and drop down into the space below them to find the skull.

Halo skull locations

1. Grunt Funeral

• Effect: Grunts die in a blaze of plasma.
• Rally Point: Charlie

After you emerge from the underground section with the Warthog, continue on, turn left over the river, and follow the trail to find a Forerunner structure where you have to rescue a group of marines underground. If you climb the stairs to the top level of the structure, the skull is on top of the middle section halfway up, just by where the pillar of light emerges. You'll have to jump up as far as you can then grenade jump to reach it, as shown in the video.

2. Give and Take

• Effect: Firing your weapon drains your shield, but dealing damage to enemies recharges it.
• Rally Point: Charlie

From where you emerge from underground with the Warthog, follow the river on the left until it splits, then follow it right until you reach a cave. Passing some green fireflies above you, you'll spot the skull hovering above a rock to your left.

3. Floor is Lava

• Effect: Take continuous damage whenever touching the "ground".
• Rally Point: Charlie

After you exit the underground with the Warthog, head right to the crash site with all the big rocks and Jackal snipers. Go up to the top of the grassy area near where the marine sniper is, jump right onto the other grassy rock, then drop down onto the big rock in the centre below to find the skull, as shown in the video.

Truth and Reconciliation skull locations

1. Iron

• Effect: Dying in co-op resets you to your last checkpoint, dying in solo restarts the level.
• Rally Point: Alpha

When you get to the grav lift leading up to the ship, head to the other side and look for the light on the ground illuminating a cactus and a tree by the cliff edge. Step onto the rock just to the right of the light on the ground and look down to see the skull on a lower ledge. Kill yourself to get back up.

2. Endurance Spec

• Effect: Makes UNSC vehicles indestructible.
• Rally Point: Bravo

This skull is one of the hardest to grab due to its position, so I suggest grabbing the Acrophobia skull from Silent Cartographer first. After you enter the ship and defend the room you arrive in, you'll have to let the marines into a hangar. The skull is in here on the upper level. If you go around to the far end of the walkway and look back across the hangar, you'll see a crate and a bunch of pillars you can jump between with the skull at the far end, though this is hard to reach without Acrophobia active, since that skull lets you fly briefly.

3. Foreign

• Effect: Players cannot use weapons from another faction.
• Rally Point: Bravo

A little further on, through some corridors, you'll reach a hangar where a Covenant drop ship will close its doors and fly away as you enter. Head to the far right corner of this room, where there's a locked door, and wait for the reinforcements who'll open it to enter. Head inside and grab the skull on the left. It's unclear whether this door stays open, so make sure to go there as soon as you enter the room.

Silent Cartographer skull locations

1. Bandana

• Effect: Infinite ammo and grenades (disables some achievements)
• Rally Point: Alpha

After you clear the landing zone of hostiles and circle around the island to the entrance to the Forerunner structure, you'll find a cave just to the right of it. The skull is just inside on the sand in the sunny bit at the cave's centre.

2. Acrophobia

• Effect: The Corps: Now issuing rifles AND wings… (disables some achievements)
• Rally Point: Bravo

When you're directed to the plaza area with the two Hunter enemies to open the security door, climb the sloping structure in the centre (from the right side) and ascend to the far end to find this skull.

3. Hip Fire

• Effect: All weapon zoom functionality is disabled.
• Rally Point: Charlie

After you enter the main facility and defeat the two Hunters in the room, you'll head down a staircase with a hologram in the centre. Look over the edge directly below you, and you'll spot a skull down below on the right side. Drop down and grab it.

Assault on the Control Room skull locations

1. IWHBYD

• Effect: It would have been your dialogue
• Rally Point: Bravo

After you get the Scorpion tank, drive it through the valley and the tunnels until you come to the bridge across the ravine with all the turrets. Turn left at the other end, drive to the icy wall, and then jump on top of your scorpion, and use it to reach the cave halfway up its side with the skull in.

2. Angry

• Effect: Enemies fire their weapons faster and more frequently.
• Rally Point: Charlie

When you finally arrive at the entrance to the Control Center Ziggurat after the long section with the Scorpion (directly below the bridge you walked across at the start of the mission) you'll spot a strange Forerunner ravine structure with a bunch of bridge like struts placed along the top. The skull is on the third strut back towards the cliff.

3. Cowbell

• Effect: Physics mass of objects is reduced, making them more easily displaced
• Rally Point: Echo

When making your way to the control room, you'll emerge onto a bridge outside where two Banshees will be parked. Cortana will tell you to commandeer one. Walk along the bridge to about halfway, where it crosses above the Forerunner structure below, and drop down on the left side. In the channel there, you'll see the skull wedged in a pile of snow.

343 Guilty Spark skull locations

1. Fog

• Effect: Motion tracker is disabled.
• Rally Point: Alpha

Continuing on from the crashed Pelican, you'll find a crashed Covenant drop ship stuck in a tree, turn left here and climb the slope, then turn right at the top, hopping up over the rocks just past the tree and where its roots are sticking out—you'll know the right spot as you can see a weird Flood stalk growing out of the tree. You'll spot the skull on a rock to your left overlooking the fallen tree you cross to continue the mission.

2. That's Just… Wrong

• Effect: Enemies have increased awareness of the player.
• Rally Point: Bravo

After heading through the initial rooms of the Forerunner structure, you'll find a marine who's gone crazy and tries to shoot you with a magnum. Kill him and he drops the skull.

3. They Come Back

• Effect: Flood Combat Forms reanimated by Infection Forms are much more dangerous.
• Rally Point: Charlie

Towards the end of the mission, you'll eventually take an elevator up, meet some marines, and have to defend a tower door against Flood while waiting for evacuation. Instead of killing the enemies, head to the right of the big tower with the door and run until you find a fallen tree resting against a ledge. Climb the tree and jump onto the left side of the rock to find the skull.

The Library skull locations

1. Tilt

• Effect: Enhances both positive and negative damage multipliers, example: plasma does more damage against shields, but less against health.
• Rally Point: Alpha

Just after Guilty Sparks leaves, you'll go through a short tunnel and emerge the other side, where'll appear again with sentinels to help you. Turn right and jump up onto the sloping strut next to the door you came through and walk up to the top to find the skull.

2. Pop

• Effect: Shooting Flood in their weak point causes them to explode.
• Rally Point: Bravo

After you finish defending the lift with Flood dropping onto it, circle around to the left or right to arrive at the next door where Guilty Spark will be waiting. You'll have to defend the door here as he unlocks it. When facing the door, turn around, and immediately behind you'll spot a pedestal sticking out of the far wall a little way up with the skull on top. Climb the sloping strut to the side, hop across to the blocks between, and then jump to the pedestal itself.

3. Famine

• Effect: Weapons dropped by enemies contain half the ammo.
• Rally Point: Charlie

Right at the start of the fourth section, when you arrive at the bottom of the third big elevator, go straight ahead, down the stairs, and turn left before you reach the sentinel beam to find the skull in a little alcove.

Two Betrayals skull locations

1. Tough Luck

• Effect: Enemies always go berserk, constantly roll out of the way, and rarely run from a fight.
• Rally Point: Alpha

After you exit the Halo control centre and descend to the bottom level where the banshee's waiting, get inside, and use it to fly back up to the big crest structure sticking out in front of the light pillar above the control centre. Fly to the top to find the skull and time jumping out of your banshee to land on the platform.

2. Black Eye

• Effect: Your shields will only recharge when you melee enemies.
• Rally Point: Charlie

After you've destroyed the first conduit, you'll emerge out into the bottom of the valley (where you've been before in Assault on the Control Room) and see three bridgelike arches ahead of you. Cross the middle one to the other side, and head right to spot the skull on a pile of snow amidst the Flood growths.

3. Mythic

• Effect: Enemies have increased health (also unlocks LASO mode).
• Rally Point: Charlie

After the previous skull, you'll later have to fly to the top of a valley onto a platform where there are some Banshees, and two doors built into the valley walls on either side. Activate the terminal on the platform and head through the door directly opposite (so the door that's on the opposite side to where the objective marker is directing you). Now you need to:

1. Kill all the enemies in the room (including energy sword Elites and a lot of fuel rod cannon grunts).
2. Activate the terminal to open the door on the far side.
3. Now defeat all the enemies in this hallway and activate the next door.
4. Defeat all the enemies in the final room to spawn the Mythic skull in the pillarlike structure at the centre.

Keyes skull locations

1. Catch

• Effect: Makes enemies throw and drop more grenades.
• Rally Point: Alpha

Without a doubt, the hardest skull to get in Halo: Campaign Evolved, partly because you need to be on Heroic difficulty for it to appear. This skull is timed and will despawn if you take more than a few minutes. From the start of the level, you need to:

1. Rush through the first section to the grav lift (use the optical camo you can pick up at the bottom of the drop to make this easier)
2. Defeat the marked enemies on the lift platform
3. Stand in the centre and face away from the direction you came
4. As soon as you start rising, hold X on controller to grab the skull

The reason this is so tricky is because of the increased difficulty, time constraint, and because the skull is right before the end of the grav lift, meaning you only have one chance to catch it as you pass by. Play on co-op if possible to increase chances of survival and catching the skull.

2. Blind

• Effect: HUD and weapons do not appear on screen.
• Rally Point: Bravo

After you board the ship, you'll enter the upper level of a bay filled with ghosts and wraiths where Cortana comments that the Flood are gathering bodies in the corners. Drop down and look for the open doorway at the far end with the passage blocked by a destroyed Wraith and some Covenant crates. Blast them out of the way with a grenade and head up the corridor to find the skull by the locked door on the left.

3. Pinata

• Effect: Punching enemies makes them drop inert grenades.
• Rally Point: Charlie

After the cutscene plays with Keyes, turn around and melee the flood growth he's in until this skull drops out on the floor in front of him.

The Maw skull locations

1. Stowed Reload

• Effect: Weapons continue to reload while stowed.
• Rally Point: Bravo

After Guilty Spark stops the countdown at the bridge, you'll continue through the ship and arrive in a cryo pod bay that looks quite similar to the one you started the game in, with four pods in the centre facing each other. The skull is in the back left corner of the room on top of a pillar. You can jump to this from the walkway.

2. Boom

• Effect: Explosion radius is increased 2x.
• Rally Point: Bravo

When you enter the engine bay, go right up the slope, continue along the platform and go right through the door, follow the path up to the next floor, then turn left through the doorway and up to the next floor. Then go straight, turn right to where the far terminal is sticking out, jump across to the lower platform, then turn left and drop down between the pillar and the wall to spot the skull. This is quite complex, so follow the video above if confused.

3. Thunderstorm

• Effect: Upgrades the rank of most enemies.
• Rally Point: Charlie

During the final Warthog escape, continue along the main track until you reach the winding tunnel with pillars. You'll pass one vent shortcut on your right, take it, and continue along the main corridor until you spot a second vent shortcut on your right. Go down this about halfway, then get out and look to your right to see the skull on the ground.

Boarding Action skull locations

1. Malfunction

• Effect: Upon respawn, a random element of your HUD no longer appears.
• Rally Point: Alpha

When you meet up with Johnson in the room with the grav lift and fight the two Hunters, after having progressed through the hangar via opposing walkways, head right down the walkway Johnson came up from and follow it. Go down the stairs, past the ship on the left and through the door, then right past the turret onto the walkway, where you'll find the skull on ground overlooking the room with the dropship you started the mission in.

2. Johnny Ammo Seed

• Effect: When reloading, you lose the ammo remaining in the discarded clip.
• Rally Point: Bravo

This skull is on the third level of platforms in the white and gold room just after you start Change of Plans. To get here, you'll have to progress into the next training room with the gold energy sword Elites, climb the stairs at the far end, follow the platform around to the opposite side of the room, head left through the tunnels, and emerge into the third floor of the previous room (where Johnson was sniping from). The skull is on the walkway (by a bunch of elites) with the purple torch just ahead of you, so carry straight on, then turn right to find it.

3. Leadhead

• Effect: Headshots no longer provide extra damage or instant kills.
• Rally Point: Delta

After you meet the Prophet and survive the ambush, you'll return to the room where you originally entered the Gene Forge. After this, you'll get an objective to reach the upper decks and will find yourself in a small room with a grav lift at its centre, fighting waves of Brutes and Elites. Once done, don't go up the lift, but head through the door on the left side of the room to spot the skull a little way in.

The Most Dangerous Game skull locations

1. Temperamental

• Effect: Allies will attack the player more quickly if the player kills a friendly.
• Rally Point: Alpha

This is one of the more complex skulls to grab as it involves breaking a golden Elite's shield three times throughout the level.

1. After you meet Williams and enter the area with the mushrooms and the Jackal snipers, shoot the golden Elite standing up on the ledge to the right until you break his shield and he runs away.
2. Continue into the next area with the Covenant Base and the Wraith, just past the Wraith at the back door is the same golden Elite. Smash his shield before he escapes—this is also where you get the second skull, so check the next entry then check back here.
3. After you free the prisoners in the cell block, you'll emerge outside, at which point Johnson will mention he's spotted a high value target and Williams will mention it's the Elite that butchered her marines. He's up and to the left as soon as you exit into the circular space. Break his shield and kill all the enemies.

Once that's done, make your way up to the central podium which the skull will have spawned in the centre of.

2. Recession

• Effect: Every shot expends twice the normal amount of ammo.
• Rally Point: Bravo

When facing the Wraith in the Covenant base area, turn around and look towards the door with the two torches on either side above. These have fuel barrels inside them you can blow up, opening the door and revealing the skull inside.

3. Ghost

• Effect: Enemies no longer flinch when taking fire.
• Rally Point: Charlie

After you cross the gravity bridge and Chief mentions to Williams "not being able to choose who we are," the door will open into the next area with a couple of Elites with needle rifles ahead. The skull is directly above you on the left torch above the door. Climb around the tree to the left and hop onto the tree to get onto the cliff where the skull is.

Heavy Burden skull locations

1. Eyepatch

• Effect: All auto aim is disabled for all weapons.
• Rally Point: Alpha

After you fight the Hunters in the room with the alien plants, continue through the area until you reach a bridge across a chasm, with a smaller bridge off to the left (which two Elites will come running along). Head through the door to your left and go along the smaller bridge to the door at the far end, where you'll find the skull to your left.

2. Grunt Birthday Party

• Effect: Grunt headshots produce legendary celebrations.
• Rally Point: Bravo

After you descend from the ship's bridge to meet up with Williams, you'll pass through a bunch of rooms you've already been through before reaching a large room with some plants. As you descend a short stairs with a torch on the left, you'll spot a rock-like natural structure with the skull on top. You have to jump to this from the central platform then jump to grab it, as in the video above.

3. Efficient

• Effect: Enemies killed while the player is at full health drop more ammo.
• Rally Point: Charlie

After you reactivate the power on the moving platform, continue under the bridge into the following room, where you need to jump off the platform and run over to the far left corner, and grab the skull before you die of the timeout countdown.

One of your tasks in Forza Horizon 6's Series 3 Autumn series is to travel to Naruo Golf Course to photograph the 1997 Maserati Ghibli Cup for the Afternoon Tee challenge. But unlike most tourist destinations, Naruo Golf Course isn't explicitly marked on your map. To save you from driving around Japan to find the one golf course, I'll show you where to go.

Forza Horizon 6 Naruo Golf Course location

Naruo Golf Course is in the centre of the Minamino region, north of Tokyo. While spotting the course is hard from the map—it's all green and orange, after all—it's surrounded by landmarks such as the Dodge Charger 69 Treasure Car, an Aftermarket Car site, the Airfield Trail dirt race, and the Naruo Cross-Country Circuit event. You'll also find Skirakawa-Go to the north and Ito Airfield to the east.

Once here, just drive behind the 365 convenience store and past the golf buggies to find the course—it's hard to miss.

For the Afternoon Tee photo challenge, you need to take a photo of the 1997 Maserati Ghibli Cup on the golf course's grass. You can earn this car from the Scenic Scrambles championship or purchase it from the Autoshow for just 102,000 CR.

For completing the Afternoon Tee challenge, you'll earn the "Relax, you're doing fine" quick chat (pretty worthless for most of us) and two Festival Playlist points.

Those points will go towards Autumn's 2017 Abarth 124 Spider and the 2020 Lamborghini Huracan EVO reward cars. Plus, you'll also be one step closer to unlocking the Series 3 reward cars—the 2024 Lamborghini Temerario (exclusive to this Series) and the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB. These are the real reasons to complete this challenge, let's be honest.

We all have our favorites, but my strategy of 'use the cutest little guys' doesn't guarantee I've always got the best Palworld pals in 1.0. After my adventures in early access, I think I've learned my lesson, and finally have some actual recommendations for the best Palworld pals for suitabilities like Kindling, Handiwork, Medicine Production, and more.

Before you begin your hunt for the best pals

Handbooks make "best pal" lists far more subjective, so don't sweat it if you don't see your favorite companions here. This list mostly prioritizes base suitability levels first, but the occasional partner skill or pal availability may shake things up.

• You can use the Pal Condenser to improve a pal's rank, then use handbooks until they've reached level 10 in the selected work suitability.
• Check pal partner skills when searching for pals yourself. Some pals have base buffs that make them preferable over raw work suitability levels.
• Early Palworld players may recall pathing issues around their bases that prevented pals from working, but now they'll start working even if they can't reach an assigned station. That said, crowding furniture around the Palbox seems to cause occasional issues, so don't place it in tight spaces.
• It's not much of a problem after the pathing fixes, but I prefer smaller or medium-sized base pals if there's a negligible difference in their stats. They just get in my way sometimes, and I can't see what I'm doing with an Alpha Jourmuntide sitting on me.

Best pals for Cooling ❄️

Bastigor (No. 191)

Bastigor has the highest starting base suitability for Cooling in Palworld, and while I haven't tried popping this guy into the Pal Condenser just yet myself, I don't think I'll need to. My Bastigor stays assigned to Cooling tasks only, but it could be handy for Lumbering or Mining in a pinch.

Best pals for Gathering 🌿

Venusa (No. 178)

Jetdragon has the highest starting Gathering in Palworld, but Venusa is just such a strong jack-of-all-trades that it's my top recommendation. Gathering isn't a suitability I struggled to maintain, so I invested my time into Venusa's four suitabilities over Jetdragon's single talent.

Best pals for Generating Electricity ⚡

Oserk (No. 187)

I seemed miserably cursed when it came to Electricity Handbook drops, so stocking up on an army of Oserks made sustaining power at multiple bases a breeze. The only bummer is that you'll have to wait until you enter the World Tree to score one, but hey, at least it's not another boss pick.

Best pals for Handiwork 🤚

Solenne (No. 182)

Solene has the highest starting Handiwork suitability in Palworld, and boy did I need it when I finally stumbled upon one. The deeper into the late game I got, the more I dreaded most crafting tasks thanks to higher Handiwork demands. Solene is sequestered off in the World Tree, so you'll have to wait a while before capturing one, but I was more than happy to see it.

Best pals for Kindling 🔥

Dupin (No. 174)

Dupin doesn't start with the highest Kindling level—that honor goes to Renjishi—but adding the joker pal to your roster may be a deal too good to pass up. They're abundant in the World Tree, but you can actually find Dupin lurking around one spawn point on every island in Palpagos. Plus Dupin has more Handiwork and Medicine Production. Those are two stats I'll never pass up.

Best pals for Lumbering 🪵

Celesdir Noct (No. 157b)

A good Knocklem Ignis could pull double-duty if you don't mind splitting its attention between Lumbering and Mining, though Celesdir Noct was a nice upgrade since I seem to be perpetually out of wood. It's an overworld boss in the World Tree, so I've delayed upgrading its base suitability, but that's absolutely my next project.

Best pals for Mining ⛏️

Knocklem Ignis (No. 159b)

Aegidron starts with level 8 mining suitability, but I can't justify picking it for a single speciality when Knocklem Ignis is good for three. Its affinities make the hulking suit of armor good for mining, transporting its haul, and cooking up a quick snack.

Best pals for Medicine Production 💊

Silvance (No. 193)

Silvance has the highest starting work suitability for Medicine Production in the game, but it's only available as a boss in the World Tree, so it's a very endgame pal. Higher level crafts lean heavily into Medicine Production, and since Silvance has four other specialties it can lend a hand with, it's absolutely worth the hassle. Weird moth guy is definitely one of my favorite new pals in Palworld 1.0.

Best pals for Planting 🌱

Dandilord (No. 194)

Like Silvance, Dandilord is another World Tree boss that's well worth the investment. Not only is it fantastic as a base pal for Planting (and several other tasks), but it's also a real lifesaver when exploring the World Tree thanks to its poison immunity passive. Anything with high Medicine Production and Handiwork is a win, having the best Planting stats is a bonus.

Best pals for Transporting 📦

Mimog (No. 144)

Mimog doesn't have the highest Transporting base suitability by far, but the little guy is so stinkin' fast that it more than makes up for it. If you've got a Wumpo managing your Cooling stations, it gives Mimog a little capacity boost, too. I let a few other suitability pals occasionally help out here, but pairing that with Mimog and a few handbooks was more than enough to keep things tidy.

Tanks for the Coffee is one of the new challenges in Forza Horizon 6's Series 3 Autumn series, requiring you to smash 20 tank lattes for a frankly measly reward. While it gives you the hint to head to Ine, that's easier said than done if you're not familiar with the map. Plus, everyone's currently driving around there trying to break tank lattes, so it's a bit of a fight to get what you need.

Forza Horizon 6 tank latte locations

You'll find tank lattes in the town of Ine on the north end of the Ito region on the east coast. You'll see lattes spawn on the side of the road and along the dock—including the driveways next to houses, which can be harder to spot.

There are tons of spawns around here, but a good place to start is on the main road through the town, where multiple spawn around the Minka house and the Aftermarket Car location. All you have to do to smash them is drive through them at speed.

Unfortunately, other players can break these tank lattes, which prevents you from scoring a point, like the kind of cursed enemy kill camping you see in MMOs. If this happens, just keep on searching and double back later if you still need more.

For completing the Tanks for the Coffee challenge by smashing 20 of them, you'll earn the Karaoke emote (if you care about that) and much more importantly, three Festival Playlist points. This season, those points will go towards the 2017 Abarth 124 Spider (exclusive) and the 2020 Lamborghini Huracan EVO. You'll also be another step closer to unlocking the Series 3 reward cars—the 2024 Lamborghini Temerario (exclusive) and the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB. They're much more exciting prizes than an emote, if you ask me.

One of the biggest additions in Halo: Campaign Evolved is the inclusion of three new bonus missions set two years before the events of the original Halo campaign. This mini-adventure involving Master Chief and Avery Johnson is separate to the main story, however, meaning you can either play it before or after, or even during the main story if you're an absolute savage.

The remake also adds new terminals and 32 additional skulls—collectible modifiers you can find in each mission, including the bonus missions, and use to tweak your playthrough.

Should you play the bonus mission first in Halo: Campaign Evolved?

After having completed both, I recommend that you don't play the bonus missions first, but instead try them after Halo: Campaign Evolved's main story. You might be wondering why, considering the bonus missions are supposed to be a prequel to the original Halo, but they don't actually relate to the original game that much, acting more as a standalone story.

The bigger reason is that the bonus missions are very sandboxy in terms of weapons, giving you pretty much every gun available in quite a short window, where the campaign (as in the original Halo) trickles them to you a bit more, letting you enjoy each remade gun or new addition by turns, instead of having them all thrown to you at once.

Considering the weapons you find are a big part of the original game, I really wish I'd played the campaign first instead. However, the bonus missions do contain the Grunt Birthday Party skull, so if you're determined to play through the game with that active, you might want to do the bonus missions first instead to grab it.

The new skull modifiers added in Halo: Campaign Evolved do all sorts of things. There are classics like Grunt Birthday Party, but you can also swap to third-person perspective, playing the entire game over the shoulder should you wish.

Since this requires a skull, you'll have to first find the collectible, and then activate the modifier when choosing a mission or rally point to make it active.

How to play third-person in Halo: Campaign Evolved

You'll need to find the Perspective skull collectible to go third-person in Halo: Campaign Evolved, but thankfully you can get it right at the start of the game.

As shown in the video above, once you meet Captain Keyes on the bridge of the Pillar of Autumn and the cutscene has finished, you'll want to walk just behind him to where the pilots are sitting in the front cockpit, and drop down into the space below them. Here, you'll find the Perspective skull on the ground just off to the side. If you've already completed the first mission, then simply load Rally Point Bravo, which drops you in post-cutscene.

Once you have the skull, you'll need to enable it, which means starting a new game on your most recent mission or rally point and toggling Perspective in the skull menu before launching.

The third-person perspective the game gives you is relatively close to the shoulder, so it's not too bad when you're indoors. When you use a scoped weapon and zoom, it will revert back to first-person, so you can still shoot your magnum like you would otherwise.

Few things scream Halo so much as venting a Grunt's cranium to the sound of cheering children and a burst of confetti. Well, you'll be glad to know that Grunt Birthday Party is still available in Halo: Campaign Evolved. This skull collectible, alongside the other 32 added to the game, is actually available in the new bonus missions.

Though this guide won't contain anything particularly spoilery, I will describe a few details about the final bonus mission in order to indicate where the skull is, so be aware. All that said, here's where to find Grunt Birthday Party.

Halo: Campaign Evolved Grunt Birthday Party location

You can find Grunt Birthday Party in the third and final bonus mission, Heavy Burden, so not in the main campaign itself. The skull is accessible in the second section, 'Two-Fisted Cyborg Justice'. If you've already completed the mission, then you'll want to load into Rally Point Bravo, after you and Johnson acquire the info from the bridge.

Follow the nav markers down the lift, continue along the route until you ascend up another short lift, then carry on until you reach the spot shown in the video above—a big room with a load of purple torches to your left that you'll enter into on the upper level. Descend the short stairs ahead, look to your left, and you can spot the skull on top of a tall rock sculpture in the center of the room.

To reach this, you need to head over to the central raised platform you can also see to your left—you can get here by dropping down or via the walkway to your left. Then hop into the torch on its edge, and sprint jump over to the lower level of the rock sculpture. You can then jump up and grab the skull to unlock Grunt Birthday Party.

If you want to make the skull active, simply choose the 'new game' option or any mission and then toggle it on in the skull menu before loading in. It will stay active for any successive missions you play after that.

I'm not usually a fighting game person, but Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is my jam. Partly because it's superheroes, partly because it looks absolutely beautiful. And with the Marvel Tōkon beta dates coming up, our chance to finally play it is almost here—the previous playtest was exclusive to PS5, the greedy buggers.

Below, I'll go over when you can websling into the open beta and what you can expect to have access to. While the full release is only a month away, this beta doesn't reveal everything you'll find on launch day. For one, we're missing a few fighters.

When is the Marvel Tōkon beta?

The Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls beta runs for just three days on PC and PS5, from Friday, July 24, until Sunday, July 26, at the following times across the globe:

You'll be able to download the open beta via Steam or the Epic Games Store on PC, or on PlayStation, up to two hours before the playtest goes live.

What's in the Marvel Tōkon beta?

While the open beta features much more content than any previous closed test (which were also limited to PS5), it's still not everything we'll have access to at launch. Most notably, it includes 16 of the 20 characters, so a few teams are a little short-staffed:

Outside of the almost complete roster, there will be:

Marvel Tōkon system requirements

Below are the minimum and recommended requirements for both the open beta and the full launch:

Minimum requirements:

• OS: Windows 11
• CPU: Intel Core I5-8400/AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB/AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT 8GB

Recommended requirements:

• OS: Windows 11
• CPU: Intel Core I7-8700/AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 8GB/AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB

The Halo: Campaign Evolved release date is imminent. Those who spent extra on the premium edition have been playing for the last five days, which, as someone who's completed the whole thing, and seen the somewhat gaudy skins you also get, I can't say I necessarily recommend for the cost.

Especially when the game is also coming to game pass day one, giving you an even cheaper way to play through the whole thing. You can also get some skins just for preordering. Below, I'll explain the regular release date and time for Halo: Campaign Evolved now premium access is coming to an end.

Halo: Campaign Evolved release times

Halo: Campaign Evolved releases for everyone on July 28, but the good news is that the release times are exactly the same as the early access ones, just five days later, so:

• West Coast US: 8 am PDT
• East Coast US: 11 am EDT
• UK: 4 pm BST
• Europe: 5 pm CEST
• Australia: 1 am AEST (July 29)

If you're unsure as to whether you can run Halo: Campaign Evolved or you want to compare any of the different edition benefits, you can find all the info on Steam.

Can you preload Halo: Campaign Evolved?

Yes, preload for premium and collector's edition holders—so those who've been playing since July 22—went live previously, and now owners of the regular edition should also be able to preload before release later today.

The Palworld 1.0 update adds 72 new pals—most of which you can catch, while the remainder at least adds an updated entry to your Palpedia. That's a big undertaking with the expanded Palpagos map and the new World Tree region to explore, and referencing the in-game map can be a real pain, but that's where I come in to hopefully make the process a bit easier.

How to catch every new pal in Palworld 1.0

This list was made to highlight where you're most likely to encounter the new 1.0 pals for the first time, but some spawn in more than one region. Pals that pop up in multiple locations will have a note indicating other places you can find them, but are only listed once to keep the process simple.

The level recommendations don't account for bosses in the region, so keep that in mind before you go barreling into their arena. Some zones are harder or easier to catch new pals in depending on terrain obstacles and gear, so take them as loose guidelines—not hard and fast rules.

A few tips to start collecting all 72 new pals

• Make sure to catch five of every pal for bonus XP and a Mimog Effigy.
• Use the Pal Tamer's Glasses, Ring of Mercy, or a pal with Mercy Hit so wild pals don't drop below 1 HP before you can catch them.
• Think you have enough Pal Spheres? Wrong. Catching multiple of each pal for bonuses or better passives meant I never had enough, so keep stocking up.

Windswept Hills and Moonless Shore

Catching new pals in the early game

Recommended for Levels 1-30

You'll start Palworld in the Plateau of Beginnings on Windswept Island—where gradually heading north nets you a few new 1.0 pals. You should encounter Pupperai and Clovee first, while Tanzee Ignis and Wispaw spawn closer to the Autumn Rocks.

My next catch was an Amione floating over the water, and finally one of the scads of Mufflies in the Moonless Shore.

New pals in the Windswept Hills and Moonless Shore

Bamboo Groves and Twilight Dunes

The Bamboo Groves are easy, but be careful in the Dunes

Recommended for Levels 20-35

I caught the angry little lightning pup Puffolt in the Bamboo Groves first, and Elgrove is in the same area, so their spawns overlap in the map above. Then I wandered into the Twilight Dunes, and found Skutlass along the beaches while searching for Hardwood.

Just be careful here, I was a bit under leveled to be picking fights with the level 30+ pals in the desert, and I paid for it more than once.

New pals in the Bamboo Groves and Twilight Dunes

Frostbound Mountains and Verdant Brook

Grab your cold-weather gear and travel further north

Recommended for Levels 25-35

Leafan wasn't hard to catch in the Verdant Brook, but you'll have to craft cold-weather gear before going for Snugloo in the Frostbound Mountains. I found that the older pals lurking around here posed more of a challenge than either of the newcomers.

New pals in the Verdant Brook and Frostbound Mountains

Mount Obsidian

Defrost with a pitstop to catch Moldron

Recommended for Levels 35 - 45

There's only one new pal to capture on Mount Obsidian, and even though it's on Bicornis later, I picked up Moldron early to be my Kindling pal until reaching endgame upgrades. You'll have to make a stop by Mountain Obsidian eventually, anyway, so no harm in netting the fiery lizard. Just make sure you've crafted a set of heat-resistant armor—it gets a bit warm here.

New pals in Mount Obsidian

Desiccated Dunes and islets

New pals spawn practically anywhere in Palworld's desert

Recommended for Levels 30-40

The Desiccated Dunes make for a fairly easy tour around the block for four new pals. Needoll, Gildra, Sekhmet, and Tetroise can all spawn in the same areas, so they overlap in the map above, but Sekhmet and Gildra seem a bit rarer. When you're done here, head to three of the neighboring islands for another four pals, but beware of the hostile drones patrolling the Wildlife Sanctuary. They hit hard.

New pals in the Desiccated Dunes

Flamepulse Islet

Wildlife Sanctuary No. 3 and Islet of Circular Ruins

Astral Mountains

Catch two new pals before summiting the Astral Mountains

Recommended for Levels 40-55

Suit up before this trip, as the Astral Mountains make for another frigid trial where the cold is just as dangerous as the local wildlife. Catching a Dualith at the foot of the mountain wasn't so bad, but Rayhound Crysts seem to prowl around the snowy summit in packs. It makes for an easy time catching the five you need for bonuses, but I agitated a few too many of them while underleveled (again) and didn't have the best outcomes.

New pals in the Astral Mountains

Sakurajima and Suncrest Islet

Visit the Dancing Sakura Shrine and nearby island

Recommended for Levels 45-60

Sakurajima is a treat for folks who love pup-themed pals, even if I'm playing it a little fast and loose with the definition. You can pick up the bulldog Bulldosu closer to the center of the island, then swing by the neighboring Suncrest for Woolipop Terra and Polapup Terra.

New pals in Sakurajima

Suncrest Islet

Feybreak islets

Visit an island from every biome around Feybreak

Recommended for Levels 60-70

Sandstone Gate, Glacial Memento, and Bicornis Islets

Sunreach

New pals in the Sunreach Sky Islands

Recommended for Levels 65-70

The World Tree new pals

The Verdant Rootpath and Alluvion Lakefront

Recommended for Levels 75+

Gilded City Ruins, Lacrymal Shoal, and Shinespore Root

Dusty Ravine and Rotmist Root areas

Boreal Summit

Misc new Pals in 1.0

Bethesda's gone and done it again. It's reconfirmed that Fallout 5 is in development even though it's still years away from Reclamation Day. As we once knew about the next Elder Scrolls' place in the development pipes relative to Starfield, Fallout 5 will launch after TES6, and this time we've not even got a logo on a mysterious unidentified bit of scenery to obsess over.

I can't gloss over how Bethesda firehosed out an announcement of pretty much every single thing it's working on right now as either a distraction from, or refutation of, the impact that the massive Microsoft layoffs will have on its projects. Fallout 5 certainly is in development, but we don't know what its plans were prior to the layoffs and how they'll inevitably change the scope or direction of Fallout 5 after.

When might the Fallout 5 release date be?

What we know for sure is that Fallout 5 will release after The Elder Scrolls 6, which we still don't know even a release year for. Maybe it won't be as long as the still-widening gap between Starfield and TES6, though.

In its July 2026 announcement, Bethesda said that TES6 and Fallout 5 are both being developed in Creation Engine 3, "a shared technology platform" it's been building since Starfield's launch. "It allows our teams to support multiple projects simultaneously," Bethesda also said. So there shouldn't be any reinventing the wheel between releases this time.

Fallout 5 setting speculation

What's been (mostly) confirmed about the Fallout 5 setting:

• "Fallout 5 will be existing in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening," Todd Howard said of the Amazon TV show
• "Our plan is to predominantly keep it in the US," Howard told Kinda Funny when speculating about Fallout series locales

At this point, any specifics on when and where Fallout 5 will be set are total speculation. Todd Howard has said that the "Fallout schtick" is intertwined with "Americana naivete," so any official Fallout London probably isn't on the table, though jaunts up into Canada (in Fallout lore, it was annexed as the 51st state before the war) maybe could be.

Where in the post-nukes US might Fallout 5 be set though? Honestly I just don't want it to be Florida since I'm going to get enough of that from GTA 6 (and there's already a Fallout 4 mod in the works set in Miami). Say what you will about Fallout 76, it certainly has a vibe in chasing the Appalachian geography, folklore, and history. I'd bet on Fallout 5 attempting an equally strong pitch with a location that's really easy to sell the spectacle (or maybe just the accents) of.

Having already been to some iconic east coast and west coast locations, maybe Fallout 5 could take us into the midwest. Somewhere like Detroit would have a lot of potential for classic Fallout storylines about corporate industry tomfoolery. Somewhere up north like Montana would allow for some really striking scenery just like West Virginia did for Fallout 76.

How long has Fallout 5 been in development?

Fallout 5 hasn't been in development long, but what Bethesda has said so far makes it sound like it hopes to drastically cut down on the years between its major RPG releases.

Way back in 2021, Todd Howard said Bethesda has a "one-pager" on Fallout 5 and what it wants to do. Fallout 5 has likely been some excited scribbles on a whiteboard for most of the five years since then, honestly.

As of July 2026, Bethesda says "Fallout 5 is currently in preproduction" which means it's more than a twinkle in Todd's eye but still probably far out from any kind of playable version.

"Our teams are now developing The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 on Creation Engine 3, a shared technology platform we've been building since Starfield's launch," Bethesda also said in July.

For this week's photo challenge in Forza Horizon 6, you need to take a photo of a Ferrari in Shikisai-no-Oka, a large flower field. The thing is, there's not exactly a shortage of fields in Japan. To save you from having to scour the map like I did, here's exactly where you need to go.

Forza Horizon 6 Shikisai-no-Oka location

You can find Shikisai-no-Oka in the centre of the Hokubu region to the north of the map—you can actually see the vibrant flowers on the map. It's just up the road from the Lincoln Continental Barn Find, next to the Flower Run Speed Trap event.

To complete the photo challenge, all you need to do is take a photo in any Ferrari—sadly, there aren't any free ones from Barn Finds or Treasure Cars. However, this week's featured car is the 1969 Ferrari Dino 246 GT, so you'll probably want to buy this car anyhow. So, hit two birds with one stone.

Beating this challenge will give you two Festival Playlist points and the Pink Sports Coat (yippee). It's not particularly generous, but at least those points will go towards some new, exclusive Italian sports cars. More specifically, this week's 1984 De Tomaso Pantera GT5, the 2004 Maserati MC12, and the Series' milestone rewards, the Lamborghini Temerario and the Ferrari 296 GTB.

Next, you should drive down to Irokawa Space Center to find the much more lucrative Nangan Treasure Hunt chest before a new one arrives next week.

It's the season of exotic Italian cars in Forza Horizon 6 Series 3, and this week, we're being sent to find a treasure chest near a rocket in Nangan. While tracking down this iconic rocket isn't hard, pinpointing the exact position of the Nangan region Treasure Hunt is a much harder task.

Forza Horizon 6 Nangan region Treasure Hunt location

This week's Festival Playlist Treasure Hunt chest is in Nangan, next to the warehouses and silos to the northeast of the Irokawa Space Center at the bottom of the map, close to the rocket launch pad. Nearby you'll find the Irokawa Space Centre Drag Strip and the Nangan Cross-Country Circuit event. Simply:

1. Travel to the space center on the southern coast of Nangan, in the southwest of the map.
2. Head towards the rocket and turn right at its base to find a group of plain warehouses and silos.
3. Crash into the Treasure Hunt chest to smash it, completing the challenge.

As with previous weeks, you'll earn three Festival Playlist points, 5,000 XP, and 100,000 credits. A pretty good reward for a quick trip down to the space center, wouldn't you agree?

Keeping in the theme of the Series, those Festival Playlist points will go towards various new cars, including this week's 1984 De Tomaso Pantera GT5 and the 2004 Maserati MC12—two stylish sports cars that trump the last few weeks of rewards. You'll also be one step closer to the Series' milestone rewards, the Lamborghini Temerario and the Ferrari 296 GTB.

I was hoping to find a vendor selling Nightstar Sand after starting a new save for the Palworld 1.0 release, but it seems the mid-game crafting ingredient is still only available through good ol' fashioned gathering. You'll have to pick it all up by hand to craft several items from tech tree recipes starting around level 56.

Fortunately, I was farming this stuff in early access, so I know a thing or two about digging in the dirt for the glowy bits. Here's how to get Nightstar Sand in Palworld, along with a few recommendations on how to approach farming a haul respectful of your time.

Palworld Nightstar Sand location

Pals that drop Nightstar Sand

Starryon Primo

Starryon Primo, the white and gold horse trotting about the World Tree region, drops Nightstar Sand. You can find them hanging around in the middle of the map, just after entering the zone.

Nightstar Sand crafting recipes

The glowing sand is mostly used to make weapons, tools, and accessories, so you won't need a hefty supply for things like ammo or potions. Here are a few crafting recipes for reference:

• Advanced Bow: (20) Nightstar Sand, (25) Carbon Fiber, (40) Plasteel
• Beam Sword: (20) Nightstar Sand, (30) Plasteel, (100) Palladium, (1) Computer
• Metal Detector: (20) Nightstar Sand, (30) Plasteel, (100) Palladium, (15) Computer
• Double Air Dash Boots: (30) Nightstar Sand, (30) Plasteel, (100) Palladium, (30) Dark Fragments

Between playing with friends and maintaining my own save file, I've spent far too much time scouting the best base locations in Palworld 1.0. I'm practically a Palpagos real estate agent now, and like any good agent, I've prepared a few listings for your own base tours—though my editor says I'm not allowed to charge the typical fees associated with such a service. Bummer.

Best starting base locations in Palworld 1.0

Best Palworld 1.0 base locations for raids

Best Palworld 1.0 base locations for resources

Best Palworld 1.0 base locations for a view

Finding Ancient Bone in Palworld is rather tricky if you haven't clocked that each of the three ancient materials come from the wildlife sanctuaries dotted around the islands. These areas are easy to recognise because of the big shield domes protecting them, but that does mean you have to sneak about and avoid their protectors while doing your illicit mining.

Only one of these sanctuaries contains Ancient Bone, though, so you'll have to head there if you want to craft the fancy accessories that require it.

Palworld Ancient Bone location

You can find Ancient Bone in the No.3 Wildlife Sanctuary northeast of the Dessicated Desert, which is itself in the northeast of the game's starting islands. It's easy to spot, since, like other wildlife sanctuaries, it has a big blue dome shield you can spy at a distance. You'll want to head to the Deep Sand Dunes fast travel in the north of the desert (bring heat resistance for day and cold resistance for night) then use a flying or aquatic pal to ride across to it.

If you haven't been in a wildlife sanctuary before, be aware that you need to avoid the patrol craft flying around by staying out of their red spotlights when you're inside the dome. The resource node you're looking for is a skeleton, specifically a ribcage, which you can mine to get Ancient Bone.

You can use any mining tool, including pickaxes, though I'd suggest something faster if possible as you'll have a limited mining window while trying to avoid the patrolling ships and the hostile pals who live on the island.

Acquiring Cryogenic Coolant in Palworld lets you craft a bunch of different items, from a saddle for Jormuntide, to more advanced coolers, to the refined cold resistant metal armour. Chances are at some stage you'll need to use this material, so here's how to get it.

As with some other materials, players are reporting that the Cryogenic Coolant technology is missing for them, but it looks like this is primarily down to having mods installed when updating to 1.0, so make sure to get rid of them first.

How to get Cryogenic Coolant in Palworld

To craft Cryogenic Coolant, you'll first need to unlock a few upgrades in the Technology menu as you level up, namely:

1. Reach Level 26 and unlock the Power Generator (second from the left)
2. Reach Level 29 and unlock the Production Assembly Line (fourth from the left)
3. Reach Level 31 and unlock it in the Technology menu (third from the left)

This is because you'll need to build a Production Assembly Line in order to craft Cryogenic Coolant, and a Power Generator to make it run. All in, both will cost you:

• 150x ingots
• 5x wooden boards
• 20x nails
• 10x cement
• 20x Electric Organs

You'll undoubtedly have both nails and wooden boards unlocked (at Level 10 and Level 15 respectively), but you might not have cement, which is available at Level 19 in the Technology menu. Remember, you can get Electric Organs by capturing, killing, butchering, or breeding electric pals.

Once you've built all the prerequisites, Cryogenic Coolant will cost:

• 1x Aquatic Pal Fluids
• 1x Ice Organ

Aquatic Pal Fluids come from capturing, killing, butchering, or breeding water pals, and the same goes for Ice Organs with ice pals. With all that, you've got what you need to craft Cryogenic Coolant.

One of the biggest end goals in a farm sim (other than a massive wine-making operation) is getting married to your favorite townie. Moonlight Peaks lets you really play the field by going on dates with pretty much everyone before you lock down one chosen beau.

I've been through the process a couple times already, so I've broken down everything you need to know about popping the question, prepping for a wedding, and how to get divorced if you want to head along to your second (or third) marriage. I won't judge you for getting married early and then realizing that you want to date Samael later.

Marriage in Moonlight Peaks

How to get married in Moonlight Peaks

1. Reach 8 friendship hearts with your partner
2. See your partner's 8 heart cutscene (check your map for sparkles indicating where to go)
3. Invite your partner on a date
4. At the end of the date, you can now propose marriage instead of a hug or kiss
5. Set a date for your wedding when prompted (check your calendar after to see it logged there)
6. (Optional) Starting the day after your proposal, buy white attire from Third Eye Threads to wear on your wedding day
7. Your wedding ceremony will take place first thing on your wedding day

What happens when you get married

• Spouse moves into your house
• Spouse unlocks two final (10 total) friendship hearts for you to earn
• Anyone else you were dating becomes "hurt" and goes back to only four hearts
• You can no longer invite other characters on a date and are locked at four hearts with other marriage candidates

When you propose and become engaged, your partner will temporarily have the "fiancée" relationship label and a total of 11 friendship hearts. Any other character who you had a "dating" or "partner" relationship with will be in their feelings about it and temporarily gain the "hurt" relationship label. They will be reduced to just four broken-looking friendship hearts, will have sad dialogue when you chat with them, and will not accept gifts from you. This status seems to only last a day though, so singles in Moonlight Peaks move on fast.

After you get married, your spouse will move into your house but will still go about their own business in town by exploring or going to work like they always have. They will go back to having eight friendship hearts and will have two new hearts to earn while married for a total of 10. You can continue to ask your spouse to go on dates together, which will help you earn those final hearts. You cannot have children in Moonlight Peaks, but you can get divorced.

Divorce in Moonlight Peaks

How to get divorced in Moonlight Peaks

1. A few days after your wedding, Llemi will come to your house to tell you about divorce
2. Visit Llemi's house in the Pink Grove (must progress the main story and unlock Luna Bay to reach it)
3. Tell Llemi you want to divorce your spouse
4. Sleep until the next night and your spouse will return to "friend" status

Getting divorced in Moonlight Peaks is arguably way too easy. When Llemi first comes to your house a few days after your wedding to just casually drop the possibility of divorce into your mind, he calls it "A clean slate. No bonds, no vows, no lingering what-ifs. A love undone as if it had never been."

Despite his protests about breaking your partner's heart when you actually come to take him up on the offer, "as if it had never been" seems to be how Moonlight Peaks treats divorce because your ex-spouse will be totally unfazed by your marriage ending. They'll return to being your "friend" the following day with only four hearts, no "hurt" relationship label, and will not acknowledge the divorce in dialogue at all. In fact, they'll act like they want to start dating you all over again.

Remember though, getting married in the first place locked all your other relationships at four friendship hearts. If you want to tie the knot a second time, you've got a lot of gifting and dates to do to make it back up to eight hearts with your next prospective spouse.

Catching Panthalus isn't something you'll be able to do early on in Palworld. As with most other legendary pals, this newly-added giant whale is a tricky fight, and what's more, you'll have to complete a quest before you can even face it.

Despite the fact you get the Panthalus quest after the new tower boss added in 1.0, you can actually do it yourself at any time provided you visit the Ancient Civilization Researcher at the Deserted Islet. This means that if you're strong, but haven't progressed the towers much, you can still fight Panthalus and catch it.

How to get Panthalus in Palworld

To catch Panthalus, you first have to unlock its boss fight on the Deserted Islet, a fair way to the north of the Windswept Hills, just north of the Twilight Dunes. It's quite easy to spot, since it's right in the middle of the channel between Ice Wind Island on the left, and the ruins at the southern tip of the Astral Mountains on the right.

Here you'll find an Ancient Civilization Researcher, who will ask you to collect four bones from around the map, beginning the Panthalus quest. Besides being able to reach the researcher, there isn't an unlock requirement for this quest, though Panthalus is a very tough fight.

You also don't need to unlock this quest to find the bones—you can gather all four and then speak to the Ancient Civilization Researcher for the first time after, so it's entirely up to you which order you do things in.

Marine Echobone location (124, -524)

The first bone is on the skull of the giant whale skeleton to the west of where you start in the Windswept Hills. It's really easy to spot at a distance, since it emits a glowing light, so simply fly over and continue west up the skeleton to the skull where you can grab it.

Silent Echobone location (356, -111)

The second bone is a reasonable distance to the northeast of the Windswept Hills, east of the Verdant Brook, and northwest of Eastern Wild Island, right by where the Level 55 Jormuntide hangs out. As with the others, you're looking for a giant whale skeleton.

Head to the Altar of the Windcaller fast travel point, then go south across the water, over the protruding ribcage (and Jormuntide), to spot the glowing item on a low down bit of bone at the back.

Seafoam Echobone location (-515, -545)

This third bone is located far to the west of the Windswept Hills towards the center of Mount Obsidian. You'll want Level 2 Heat Resistance for this, so wear the Tropical Outfit or Heat Resistant Pelt Armour and keep your fire pals stowed.

Travel to the Eternal Pyre Tower Entrance fast travel, then head due east over the cliff edge to spot the giant skeleton on the right side of the lava pools area below. The item is just inside the skull, which is on the side of the skeleton closest to you.

Tidewind Echobone location (-265, 483)

The final bone is in the north of the Astral Mountains, which are themselves to the far north of the Windswept Hills. If you've already unlocked the Deserted Islet where the Ancient Civilization Researcher is, you could also head there and continue north. You should also bring at least Level 2 Cold Resistance for this icy biome.

From the Land of Absolute Zero fast travel, head west over the cliff and down into the frozen lake where you'll spot the head of the giant skeleton and the item glowing on top of it.

How to craft the Echoing Flute

Now you need to head to the Ancient Civilization Researcher on the Deserted Islet. If it's your first time speaking to them, you'll have to accept the quest first, and then speak to them again. This will get you the Faded Schematic, which you can use to craft the Echoing Flute at any workbench using the four bones you found.

After that, head back to the researcher, speak to them, and interact with the glowing symbols on the stone nearby to unlock the Panthalus boss.

How to beat Panthalus

As with any other legendary pal, Panthalus is really hard. The other way you get this quest is after the newest tower boss, so it's not something you're expected to do early. You also only have ten minutes to defeat them. You'll want to bring strong gear like a Plasma Cannon or Multi Guided Missile Launcher, but most importantly, bring a high level, fast-flying pal you can ride during the fight.

Panthalus's entire arena is water apart from one small island, so land-based pals will get decimated. Being able to fly fast will help you avoid most of the attacks. Once you reduce Panthalus's health fully, it'll collapse and you'll get an opportunity to catch it with a sphere—this is 100% guaranteed, so you can focus on the fight knowing you'll for sure catch the legendary pal at the end.

The Palworld 1.0 update sure is a big one, and with all of the new pals, weapons, and zones to track it's easy to miss the little things—like new resources for crafting. As I climbed the revamped tech tree again, I breezed through most recipes until I ran into Hardwood. It's a new tier of the basic building block you'll see pop up in later level recipes (around 40 to 50), after planks.

After deforesting a few islands, I finally realized I'd missed some spots to farm hardwood that were right in front of me. To save you the same headache, here's how to get Hardwood in Palworld.

Palworld Hardwood location

Make sure you gather a hefty stack and unlock a few of the surrounding fast travel statues, or just make a nearby base for easy access. You'll need 10 Hardwood per High Quality Wooden Board when you unlock the craft at level 43 in the tech tree.

I don't blame you for loading up Moonlight Peaks and saying: "Wait, how are you supposed to date Samael?" The broody bartender is easily the most conventionally attractive guy in town. If you peeked at the datable candidates list for Moonlight Peaks, you'll have seen Samael featured alongside all the other eligible townies. When you start playing, though, you notice pretty quickly that Samael only has four friendship hearts in his relationship panel unlike the other bachelors, so what gives?

Unlocking Samael's romance involves some main quest story spoilers about characters who you won't meet for several seasons, so scroll down with caution. If you just need reassurance: Samael is datable. Just keep plugging away at the main story improving the town and you'll likely see his relationship progress in the first autumn or winter depending on how fast you're progressing.

How to date Samael

Once you've got Samael's expanded relationship hearts unlocked (scroll down for spoilers on that below), you can approach going on dates with him just like other locals:

• Reach four friendship hearts
• See Samael's four heart cutscene
• Talk to Samael and "invite" then "ask on date"

Here's what you need to know to woo Samael fast:

• Samael loves red wine, so make sure you're keeping your kegs stocked with grapes and talking to him each day
• You can prepare to romance Samael by going ahead and reaching four friendship hearts with him before his romance is available
• Samael will take you on a stargazing date where you'll identify constellations he points out, how romantic!

How to unlock Samael's romance (spoilers!)

• Complete the quest "Bride's attendant duty"
• Wait one week for Orlock to visit your house
• Complete "Unfinished business"
• Earn four hearts with Samael to ask him on a date

To unlock Samael's romance, you need to progress through the main story quest until you unlock Luna Bay and meet the Hosu family. The quests "A Curious Passage" and "The Mysterious Bay" are the precursor to Samael's story. You'll need to lift a fallen tree, repair a bridge with Ludo, and help Samael prepare for a really big day.

Don't panic when it becomes clear that the guy you've been pining after is carrying a torch for your new mermaid neighbor. Samael's freakishly fast marriage to Kim doesn't actually go through. After you help them prepare for the ceremony, Kim's brand new feet get cold at the altar and she runs away. Samael will still be un-datable for one week after being ditched. One week later, Orlock will display some uncharacteristically perceptive behaviour by arriving at your house and enlisting your help to shake his nephew out of his sad funk.

You'll help arrange a meeting for closure between Samael and Kim and then, finally, you'll be able to open your relationship panel and see that Samael now has extra hearts for you to unlock past the first four hearts of friendship just like other datable characters. If you've already reached four hearts with Samael, you can go ahead and invite him on a date immediately. No shame.

During the quest The Mysterious Bay you're going to need to lift a fallen tree in Moonlight Peaks to help your newly-discovered mermaid neighbors rejoin the town proper. After you get the rundown, you might wind up scratching your head over where that tree you're supposed to clear was. It certainly isn't nearby in the Howling Marshes where you'd assume.

How to lift a tree

If you've perused the spells at Webb of Wonders, you'll have already noticed there's a spell for lifting a tree that you can buy from Sabrina You'll need three mana to cast the Arborascend spell, so hold off watering your magic crops for the day (or cook yourself a mana food to supplement) so you can go lift the fallen log.

In case you've forgotten, you can refresh your memory on casting each spell in the first tab of your almanac in the game menu. The pattern for Arborascend looks like a tree after you finish casting it: down, up, right, left, up.

Fallen tree location

The fallen tree is in Moonlit Pines near Luna's seed cart. If you forgot exactly what Rei and Kim told you, you may mistakenly think there's a tree in the Howling Marshes that you need to lift since that's the area adjacent to their home in Luna Bay. But nope, you're actually looking for a fallen log over in the forest where the witches hang out.

You can spot the fallen log blocking a small waterfall just west of the set of stairs that leads to Luna's seed cart and cottage. Cast your Arborascend spell to trigger a cutscene that removes the tree. Kim will rush down to thank you, excited to be reunited with her "Sammy" again.

It's Spring in Forza Horizon 6 Series 2, so we've got another treasure chest to find. While last week sent us into the snowy hills of Sotoyama, this week's Ito region Treasure Hunt calls for a beach day. Finding the specific beach you need on the islands of Japan, you know, where there are tons of beaches, isn't easy. Here's where you need to go.

Forza Horizon 6 Ito region Treasure Hunt location

This week's Festival Playlist Treasure Hunt chest is in Ito, on the beach at the northeast tip of the region, past the coastal town of Ine—you can see the white and blue sign on your map. It's basically as northeast as you can travel in the region, and there are no major events around here, just a billboard. Simply:

1. Travel to the coastal town of Ine in the north of Ito—this is where the Moto Auto Zine story missions take place.
2. Take the road northeast up the narrow coastline on the right side of the harbour.
3. Drive onto the sand and up to the northern tip, where you'll see the chest.
4. Crash into the Treasure Hunt chest to smash it, completing the challenge.

As always, you'll earn three Festival Playlist points, 5,000 XP, and 100,000 credits, which is a good reward for such a quick diversion.

This week, those Festival Playlist points go towards the 2017 Mercedes-AMG GT R and the 2017 Saleen S7 LM, which is much more exciting than last week's trucks to be sure. You should also grab the last few points to unlock the Series 2 milestone rewards, the 1993 Porsche 911 Turbo S Leichtbau and the 2018 Lotus Exige Cup 430, before Series 3 rolls around next week.

Legendary ships were the pinnacle challenge of the Caribbean in the original, and they return even stronger in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. These boss battles now have more unique gimmicks and phases, and pack a serious punch. But you've got a lot more tools of destruction to deal with them, the rewards have changed, and they now respawn so you can fight them again.

Black Flag Resynced legendary ships explained

Just like in the original, there are four legendary ships, located in each of the corners of the map. They'll be revealed once you destroy the fortresses in their respective regions:

• El Impoluto (Dry Tortuga)
• HMS Fearless & Royal Sovereign (Eleuthera)
• La Dama Negra (Serranilla)
• HMS Prince (Nevassa)

These are extremely tough battles that will require an almost, if not fully, upgraded Jackdaw to take on. I recommend at least having the best armour, broadside cannons, swivel cannons, and ram—check out the Ultimate Ship Plans, some of which are hidden behind treasure maps.

In fact, the legendary ships are even harder in Resynced compared to the original game, having more health and dealing more damage, as well as having clearer phases as you whittle their health down. Your biggest advantage, though are the three new naval officers, who you should recruit before going after the legendary ships:

1. Padre, recruited through the A Second Chance quest after Sequence 4: This Old Cove, lets you charge ram for bonus speed and damage.
2. Lucy Baldwin, unlocked in A Proper Shipwright after Sequence 4: This Old Cove, allows you to brace at the last second to almost nullify damage taken.
3. Tobias 'Deadman' Smith, unlocked in No Box Dark Enough after Sequence 11: Everything is Permitted and A World Without Gold, lets you maximise broadside cannon damage and completing his quest also gets you a powerful multi-shot mortar variant.

The major difference in the Resynced remake is the reward. You'll notice that the old Ram Dash upgrade you got for beating all four legendary ships is now unlocked by recruiting Padre. Given that these are endgame challenges, you can now get and use Ram Dash much earlier—it's been buffed, too. In its place, legendary ships now reward you with ship cosmetics for the Jackdaw's figurehead, hull, wheel, and sails.

Legendary ships are also repeatable now—they'll respawn after a period of time if you fancy a rematch.

Here are all four legendary ships and how to beat them:

El Impoluto

• Location: Dry Tortuga (161,804)

Despite stalking the seas of the starting region, I'd argue El Impoluto is the second-hardest legendary ship. It's incredibly tanky and deals obscene amounts of damage from its lengthy cannon barrages, which make it hard to perfectly brace and nullify the hits. Plus, while it favours close-range ramming, it's got very long-range cannons, so you can't just sail away from it.

Here are some tips for the fight:

Once you beat El Impoluto, you'll earn the following rewards:

• 12,000 Reales
• El Impoluto sails
• El Impoluto wheel
• El Impoluto hull
• El Impoluto figurehead
• El Impoluto ship model

HMS Fearless & Royal Sovereign

• Location: Eleuthera (811,858)

The HMS Fearless & Royal Sovereign legendary ship battle is unique in that it's actually a two-on-one. Rather unfair, if you ask me, and it's the one I had the most trouble with. Since you'll have to contend with two ships at once, they have reduced health compared to the other legendary ships. And once you destroy one of the pair, the other will set itself ablaze and chase you down.

Here are some tips:

Once you beat this legendary ship battle, you'll earn the following rewards:

• 12,000 Reales
• HMS Fearless sails
• HMS Fearless wheel
• HMS Fearless hull
• HMS Fearless figurehead
• Brothers in Arms ship model

La Dama Negra

• Location: Serranilla (241,73)

La Dama Negra is armed to the teeth and, in fact, the only ship with armour, too. Metal plates of the hull reduce damage you deal to the sides of the ship and prevent swivel gun critical hits. Your positioning is very important here.

Here are my tips:

Once you beat the ghost ship, you'll earn the following rewards:

• 12,000 Reales
• La Dama Negra sails
• La Dama Negra wheel
• La Dama Negra hull
• La Dama Negra figurehead
• La Dama Negra ship model

HMS Prince

• Location: Navassa (854,55)

Described as the ghost ship, HMS Prince is arguably the easiest of the legendary ships to fight, though it certainly drags on once you reach its second phase and it starts hiding in the fog.

Here are some tips to take it out:

Once you beat the ghost ship, you'll earn the following rewards:

• 12,000 Reales
• HMS Prince sails
• HMS Prince wheel
• HMS Prince hull
• HMS Prince figurehead
• HMS Prince ship model

Though it makes a variety of changes to the original, Black Flag Resynced adds quite a lot of new content to the much-beloved Assassin's Creed instalment. There's a boatload of new sidequests, including a whole new chapter you unlock later in the game. There are also tweaks to combat, stealth, the Jackdaw, and legendary ships.

The point of this guide is to walk you through the new content as you play, so you know what unlocks when, and don't miss anything along the way.

How to access all new content in Black Flag Resynced

Before I run through how to access all of the new stuff in order (so you can use this guide while playing), there are a few more general changes to the game.

First off, combat and stealth:

• A new blunderbuss-wielding enemy
• The ability to crouch anywhere by pressing X and a visibility meter
• You can perform Heavy Strikes by holding the attack button
• There are now Trinkets you can equip with unique buffs. For example, finding all Mayan Stones now also gives you a Trinket that absorbs gunfire as well are the Mayan Armor it used to
• You can't pick up enemy weapons anymore
• No more hidden blade combat beyond finishers
• No more fail conditions for stealth missions if you are found

And in terms of the Jackdaw and ship combat:

• Three new officer quests that provide upgrades, such as firing double broadsides, enhanced brace, and the ram ability you used to get by defeating all legendary ships
• New secondary firing modes for ship weapons, including:
  • Continuous Heated Shots for broadside cannons
  • Double shot for the bowchasers
  • Shrapnel barrels for the barrels
  • Deadman's Cohort for the mortar (unlocked via his officer quest)
  • Swivel guns can now be manually aimed AC Rogue-style
• Legendary ships are tougher and respawn over time
• New sea shanties, some of which you unlock via sidequests (like Captain Stede Bonnet)

The way you get many of Black Flag's outfits has also changed, the Jackdaw's Ship Plans are now called Ultimate Plans, and the Treasure Maps have changed somewhat, too. All that said, here's everything new in order of when it unlocks during the game.

1. Rope Dart (Sequence 3: Sugarcane and Its Yields)

This is Black Flag's new combat tool, a rope dart you can hang enemies with, or throw at them to pull them towards you, though it has a cooldown.

2. A bunch of quests, Rifts, and two new pets (Sequence 4: This Old Cove)

This is the first major set of unlocks once you take the cove at Great Inagua. This includes:

• Art Lover quest: You'll meet the butler, Bernard, during This Old Cove, and he tasks you with collecting art pieces to restore the manor's lost collection.
• Two new officer quests: A Second Chance and A Proper Shipwright will appear to the southeast and west respectively. These quests see you recruit two officers to the Jackdaw who provide special abilities and a nice pair of pistols if you complete their questlines fully.
• Rifts and Animus Projects: Rifts are new narrative activities that explore Edward Kenway's choices. The first one appeared for me on the south coast of Great Inagua after I finished This Old Cove. From this point on you can also earn Data Fragments for Animus Projects, unlocking cosmetics and gear. As you progress the story, you'll unlock more Rifts, so keep an eye out.
• Two new pets: The first new pet is Soot the Cat in the town of Great Inagua, marked by the Cat Distribution System local event. The second is Albert the Monkey, who you can find at the Monkey Business local event marker in southeast Havana, off the shore on a ship. Your equipped pet in your loadout will sit on the railing as you sail.

3. Blackbeard's Treasure sidequest (Sequence 8: Do Not Go Gently)

This sidequest unlocks after Do Not Go Gently in Sequence 8 and sees you tracking down Blackbeard's treasure via a special map. This quest automatically starts through the main story, so you don't need to worry about activating it yourself. This acts as an epilogue for Ed Thatch's character.

4. Captain Stede Bonnet sidequest (Sequence 8: Marooned)

Once you complete Marooned, you'll find the Captain Stede Bonnet sidequest marker in the manor in Great Inagua. As with Blackbeard's Treasure, this quest is about the merchant-turned-pirate, Stede Bonnet, who you encounter throughout the game.

5. A World Without Gold chapter and one more officer quest (Sequence 11: Everything is Permitted)

Though this is a very late unlock, it's actually most significant for my money, adding an entirely new chapter to the game. Once you complete Everything is Permitted, you'll find the That Bastard Maynard quest marker by the tavern in Great Inagua, after you leave the Assassin's Compound with Anne. As you might have guessed, this quest is about Maynard, the pirate-hunter you briefly met in the original game.

You'll unlock the officer, Tobias Smith, via this questline when you complete I Just Want to Talk as well as his upgrade. His quest then continues separately to A World Without Gold. If you then complete No Box Dark Enough (which you'll find in Great Inagua) and then his subsequent quests, you'll unlock a new mortar type for the Jackdaw which fires a continuous stream. This is the final major new unlock in Black Flag Resynced.

I'm not sure who asked for daily quests and what is essentially a battle pass in Black Flag Resynced, but here we are. Similar to Shadows, you can earn Data Fragments to spend on unlocking special cosmetics and keys in your Animus projects.

First off, make sure that you have the Eyes in the Dark project active, as this one gives you rewards in Black Flag itself versus AC Shadows. Otherwise, here's how to earn Data Fragments so you can spend them on new cosmetics and keys, which you can use to unlock further items in the exchange.

How to get Data Fragments in Black Flag Resynced

The main way you get Data Fragments is by completing anomalies located around the Caribbean. These activities first unlocked for me after I completed Sequence 4: This Old Cove, where you take over Great Inagua. If you open your map and press tab (X on controller) to open your quest log, you can cycle down to anomalies and look at all the different ones available.

The range of activities depends on which project you have active in the Animus, but generally they are quite straightforward, and either involve sinking corrupted ships and convoys, or completing short puzzle sections, such as the rifts. Once done, you'll earn the amount of Data Fragments listed, which you can then spend to unlock rewards on your active project track.

These rewards include cosmetics, weapons, but also keys, which you can spend in the exchange to purchase items themed around other Assassins Creed games, too. You'll get new anomalies to complete based on the timer above each one. So, if you complete one, you'll have to wait a while for another to replace it.

Completing the Art Lover quest in Black Flag Resynced sees you finding art pieces from Great Inagua's scattered collection to return them to the manor. This is one of the new quests that was added in Resynced, alongside a new character, Bernard. This aged butler served the previous owner of the house before Du Casse took it over.

There are lots of different ways to gather the Great Inagua art collection and the reward is one of Ezio's outfits, so I'll run through the easiest ways to gather what you need.

Black Flag Resynced art collection locations

To complete the Art Lover quest, you'll need to find 30 art pieces across the Caribbean, though you'll have to return to talk to Bernard once you've found 15 and then 25, before completing the quest at 30, earning yourself the Master Assassin outfit (One of Ezio's outfits) and the Obsidian Hull ornament.

There are many ways to gather art, but it's worth noting the Templar and pirate portraits you hang in the manor don't count towards this quest. Here's how to gather the art collection:

1. Collecting ship models

Every time you board a ship for the first time after defeating it, you'll earn its model, and these models count as part of the Inagua art collection since you can display them on a shelf in the main room. Since there's a British and Spanish variant for each ship type, that's ten art pieces you can easily earn, not to mention that you'll unlock extra ship models as you complete the main story.

2. Buying art pieces

You can buy six art pieces from any General Store, though since these cost Reales, you might want to hold onto your money and leave these as a last resort. It depends how quickly you want to complete the quest and get Ezio's Revelations outfit.

3. Looting plantation warehouses

The first time you loot a plantation warehouse, you'll get a painting you can hang in the manor, which counts towards the Great Inagua art collection. Plantations are easy to find; simply look for the island symbols that have three plants growing out of some soil. You'll have to head inside, find the key, and unlock the warehouse door. These can also contain treasure maps.

4. Kenway's fleet missions

Some of Kenway's fleet missions (the ones you organise via the map in the manor or Jackdaw's cabin) provide art pieces as rewards, specifically, the Piracy and Trade missions. They also have a scale and skull symbol on the map and list their type below their title.

You'll need a brig for Piracy and a schooner for Trade. Simply look for the missions that have a little furniture or art piece image in their listed rewards—they're usually pretty easy to recognise as, besides map pieces, they're the only rewards that have "1x" next to them.

5. Treasure maps

While not all do, some buried treasure maps contain art pieces as their rewards. Specifically:

• New Bone treasure map (722,607)
• Abaco Island treasure map (543,694)
• Jiquey treasure map (812,114)
• Principe treasure map (605,132)

That last one is locked by the main story until you go to the island of Principe, since it's not on the main map. If you're struggling with any of these, check out our treasure map guide linked above.

With all of these, you should easily be able to cobble together the 30 pieces you need, just make sure to return to Bernard when the quest marker reappears in Great Inagua. If you want to know your progress, open the world map, press X to open the quest list via the prompt in the top right, and cycle through sidequests to find and toggle it active.

Finding Blackbeard's Treasure in Black Flag Resynced is actually a lot tougher than the game's other treasure maps, mainly because it doesn't give you any coordinates, forcing you to rely on your knowledge of the Caribbean. This is a new quest that was added in Resynced, but you won't get it until after you complete the Do Not Go Gently main quest.

Edward finds the treasure map hidden in Blackbeard's hat, which starts the hunt, so you can't miss it. Below I'll explain where the map points to, and how to navigate the area it's contained within.

Where to find Blackbeard's Treasure in Black Flag Resynced

The location Blackbeard's Map points to is Anotto Bay (coordinates 590,245) to the north of Kingston on the north coast of the island, in the Charlotte region. When you arrive, you'll find a bunch of pirate ships also laying claim to the treasure, who you'll have to sink before landing the Jackdaw.

Finding the treasure is relatively straightforward. From where you land, hop across the boats to your left and dive down, looking for the sunken mineshaft. You'll have to navigate these tunnels, dodging sharks and sea anemones until you reach an area with wooden platforms, gunpowder barrels, and a bunch of enemies. Pick up one of the kegs and take it over to the far side of the room where the rubble is (this will glow green when you hold LT on controller).

Place the barrel down and shoot it to blow up the rubble. Continue on until you reach the cave where you have to confront Blackbeard's former sailing master, and then grab another gunpowder barrel and carry it up the path to the right of the waterfall, where you'll find a second pile of rubble to destroy.

Inside, you'll find the treasure, though you'll have to head back to Great Inagua afterwards to actually complete the quest. As a reward, you'll get Blackbeard's portrait, which you can hang in the loot cave area of the manor.

Just like the original game, getting all the outfits isn't simple in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, but for a slightly different reason. Most outfits are still bought from the merchants or crafted, but a few have moved locations for no apparent reason.

Everyone's favourite Crimson Cloak, for example, is no longer available from the General Store. Likewise, loyalty outfits like Ezio's robes are now behind quests. The remake also borrows a few tricks from Shadows to further complicate your wardrobe collection.

How to get all Black Flag Resynced outfits

There are 33 outfits in Resynced, or 35 if you're counting the exclusive pre-order and Deluxe Edition bundles, and more if you want to include the premium shop skins you can buy. You'll get at least two outfits by default a short way into the story. You start with Duncan Walpole's Robes for your trip to Havana, and when you leave, Cap'n Kenway will modify them, unlocking Edward Kenway's Robes. Unlike the original game, you can swap back to Duncan's Assassin robes if you'd rather they not be replaced.

If you've pre-ordered the game, you'll be able to equip Blackbeard's Crimson Outfit, and those with the Master Assassin pack (included in the Deluxe Edition) will also have the black and gold robes of the same name.

If you've played the original game, you'll notice a few odd absences, despite Ubisoft stating that every legacy outfit would return. For example, we didn't find the Explorer outfit, nor Ezio's and Altair's robes. I suspect the latter two will be available in the Exchange store in the future, however, similar to Connor's outfit.

Here's every other outfit you need to unlock in Black Flag Resynced:

Brown Cloak

The first outfit you can get is the Brown Cloak from the large chest in the Governor's compound in the southeast of Havana, Dry Tortuga, at the following coordinates: 204,573. You can grab this while you're sneaking around during the main mission, or return later.

Pirate Cloak

Purchase it for 600 Reales from the General Store after completing the main mission This Old Cove to liberate Great Inagua, Gibara. It's basically the Brown Cloak but with a cool skull on the back.

Captain Drake's Outfit

Loot the chest in the ocean off the northeast coast of Sacrifice Island, Conttoyor, at the following coordinates: 18,547. It will be marked when you use the nearby sync point.

Merchant Outfit

Purchase it for 3000 Reales from the General Store after completing the Sequence 4 main mission Overrun and Outnumbered.

Politician's Outfit

Purchase it for 3,000 Reales from the General Store after completing the Sequence 4 main mission Overrun and Outnumbered.

Privateer Outfit

Purchase it for 3,000 Reales from the General Store after completing the Sequence 4 main mission Overrun and Outnumbered.

Feline Pelt Outfit

Build the Treasure Dealer at Great Inagua, Gibara, after completing the Sequence 4 main mission This Old Cove, and trade the following items:

• 2x Ocelot Pelt
• 6x Jaguar Pelt
• 1x White Jaguar Pelt
• 2x Black Jaguar Pelt

Whaler Outfit

Build the Treasure Dealer at Great Inagua, Gibara, after completing the Sequence 4 main mission This Old Cove, and trade the following items:

• 2x Humpback Whale Skin
• 2x Killer Whale Skin

Shark-Hunter Outfit

Build the Treasure Dealer at Great Inagua, Gibara, after completing the Sequence 4 main mission This Old Cove, and trade the following items:

• 1x Great White Shark Bone
• 2x Bull Shark Skin
• 2x Hammerhead Shark Bone

Stede Bonnet's Attire

Masquerade as the one and only merchant (or gentleman pirate) Stede Bonnet by looting the largest chest on the east hill of Mystery Island in the far east of Navassa, at the following coordinates: 913,123.

Captain Morgan's Redingote

Part of The Black Island DLC pack in the original game, this content is included in the remake. You need to loot the large chest overlooking the shore in the hills north of Black Island, northeast Gibara, at the following coordinates: 915,618.

Pirate Captain Outfit

Complete the Ambergris Key treasure map. You can find the map next to the campfire on the northeastern beach of Corozal, western Chinchorro (31,230). Then head to Ambergris Key, southern Chinchorro (30,157) to collect the chest.

Crimson Cloak

Complete the Anotto Bay treasure map. You can get the map by looting the warehouse in the northwest of Havana (205,600), then sail to Anotto Bay, northeast Charlotte (590,245) to collect the chest. This outfit was available immediately from the General Store in the original game.

Governor Outfit

Complete the Isla Providencia treasure map. Grab the map from the warehouse in the south of Nassau (594,750). You then need to progress the main story until you gain access to Isla Providencia, where you'll find the buried treasure near boat wrecks on the southern beach (487,11).

Shade and Shadow Robes

Complete the Sacrifice Island (Preserved) buried treasure map. You'll need to restore this map at the Treasure Dealer in Great Inagua by raiding warehouses multiple times until you get four Preserved Map Pieces. Then follow the map to the northwest beach at Sacrifice Island, Conttoyor (14,554). You'll also get the Wooden Eyeball legendary trinket, which makes it so that quick shooting instantly kills brutes.

Hunter Outfit

Complete the Santanillas (Digested) buried treasure map. To restore this map at the Treasure Dealer in Great Inagua, you need to kill and skin the white jaguar at Great Inagua twice to get two Digested Map Pieces. Then use the map to find the treasure underneath the Mayan ruin to the south of Santanillas, Chinchorro (188,215). You'll also receive the Hunter's Amulet rare trinket, which reduces the detection range of animals. It's pretty terrible, sorry.

Haytham Kenway's Overcoat

Find all 11 portrait collectables (the final few require completing Sequence 12: A Governor No Longer) and hang them in the manor at Great Inagua to receive Haytham Kenway's Overcoat and a secret treasure map. This map leads to The Fortune legendary weapon.

Officer's Outfit

You can find the classic Officer's Outfit in the chest at the docks on Principe Island once you've unlocked it through the story, at the following coordinates: 116,11.

Explorer Outfit

The Explorer Outfit isn't missing after all, just extremely well-hidden—likely part of a community treasure hunt that's been uncovered early. It's in an unmarked chest under the ocean north of Corozal in Chinchorro, at the following coordinates: 28,293.

Sail here, past the rock jutting out of the water, and dive down to find a rocky mound covered in coral where you'll see the chest. You'll also get the Aveline Figurehead for your ship.

Stealth Outfit

Just like the original game, you need to complete 16, just over half, of the Assassin Contracts. You'll get the Stealth Outfit, plus the Hidden Ones Sigil legendary trinket. Completing every contract will net you the legendary Spring-Steel Swords.

Foreign Diplomat Disguise

You'll get this fancy red overcoat as a disguise during the Sequence 12 main mission Governor No Longer and keep it afterwards.

Mayan Armour

Find all 16 Mayan stones to recover the stones required to complete the Mayan Mysteries side quest and open the locked door on Tulum.

Templar Armour

After completing Sequence 3: A Single Madman and taking Julien du Casse's Templar Key, complete the four Templar Hunts and use the keys from each to open the gate in the manor in Great Inagua, Gibara.

Master Assassin Outfit

To get Edward's Master Assassin robes, you need to complete the Art Lover quest by collecting art, such as paintings from raiding warehouses, ship models from boarding enemy vessels, and sculptures from chests or merchants.

Edward the Legend

Fully restore and upgrade every building at your base, including the manor, in Great Inagua, Gibara, unlocked after beating This Old Cove. You'll need heaps of resources and Reales, so don't expect to do this quickly.

Naoe's Robes

Reach level 12 in the Riptides Animus Project to get Naoe's outfit from Shadows. This is a free battle pass progressed by earning and spending Data Fragments. These contain items available in both Black Flag Resynced and Shadows.

Yasuke's Yoroi

Reach level 12 in the Undertow Animus Project to get Yasuke's outfit from Shadows. This is a free battle pass progressed by earning and spending Data Fragments. These contain items available in both Black Flag Resynced and Shadows.

Dark Animus Corsair Robes

Reach level 18 in the Eye in the Dark Animus Project, a free battle pass progressed by completing Anomaly challenges. Unlike the other Projects, all the rewards here are exclusive to Black Flag Resynced.

Connor's Outfit

To get Connor's cool robes from Assassin's Creed 3, you need to purchase them for 3,000 Keys from the Animus Exchange store. This is effectively the replacement for Uplay challenges which used to be the home of legacy Assassin outfits.

Nomad's Bronze Ensemble

You can get the Nomad's Bronze Ensemble for free at the bottom of the in-game store. You should also grab the Rustic Flintlocks and Shipmate Monkey while you're here.

The Elite Ship Upgrades from the original game have been renamed in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. Now called Ultimate Ship Plans, these schematics still serve the same purpose: fully upgrading the Jackdaw. So you'll want to find each and every one of the locations if you're hoping to take on the legendary ships.

All Black Flag Resynced Ultimate Ship Plan locations

There are 12 Ultimate Ship Plans for you to find, locked behind either dives or treasure maps. You'll need to complete the first Sequence 6 main mission, Diving for Medicine, before you can start hunting for the plan locations in earnest, since this unlocks the diving bell, and most of the plans are located underwater.

Once you've found the plan, you then need to head to any shipmaster to purchase the upgrades for your ship—they're not free, unfortunately, costing both Reales and materials.

Here's where to find all 12 Ultimate Ship Plans in the remake:

Finding all the Mayan stone locations is one of your big distractions while sailing the Caribbean in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, and it's mostly unchanged from the original game. You still need to solve 16 of these stele to complete the Mayan Mystery task and unlock the Mayan Armour, one of the best outfits. But just like the treasure maps, a few locations have shifted around in the remake.

All Black Flag Resynced Mayan stone locations

While you might have stumbled upon some of these Mayan sculptures beforehand, you need to complete This Old Cove during the main story to be able to interact with the stele. James Kidd will explain how they work but, basically, you just need to climb to the top of the sculpture, interact with it, rotate the pattern until it aligns with the glowing objects, then grab the Mayan stone.

You need to collect 16 Mayan stones from the stele across the map in order to open the door guarding the Mayan Armour in Tulum, which you'll have access to after completing the main missions Nothing is True and Overrun And Outnumbered. This unique outfit now comes with a charm that houses its old perk of deflecting projectiles. That means you can gain the benefits of the armour without necessarily wearing the silly costume.

You'll find them on the following islands:

• Great Inagua, Gibara
• Cat Island, Eleuthera
• Cape Bonavista, Dry Tortuga
• Misteriosa, Serranilla
• Santanillas, Chinchorro
• Matanzas, Dry Tortuga
• Sacrifice Island, Conttoyor
• Tulum, Conttoyor
• Tortuga, Punta Guarico
• Pinos Isle, Castillo de Jagua
• New Bone, Serranilla
• Long Bay, Charlotte
• Isla Providencia, Serranilla

Here's exactly where to find all 16 Mayan stones via their coordinates and how to solve them in the remake:

1. Great Inagua, Gibara

You complete this one during the main story mission This Old Cove, so you can't miss it. It's a simple one to start you off, but just in case, rotate the overlay so that the squares line up with the square pillars on the left and top right.

2. Cat Island, Eleuthera (703,670)

On the northern beach, just a short distance from the warehouse that you'll have raided earlier in the main story. Flip the overlay so the large circle covers the rubble on the left and the oval is around the narrow rock.

3. Cape Bonavista, Dry Tortuga (159,583)

To reach it, head up into the mountains from the northernmost synchronisation point. Rotate and shrink the overlay so that the largest circle surrounds the bottom pillar, while the two smaller circles are around the top two posts.

4. Matanzas, Dry Tortuga (311,617)

This one's in the hills in the far southeast of the island, past the warehouse. Rotate it left so that the large circle near the cross on the overlap lines up with the tree, and the two medium-sized circles match the rocks on the far right side.

5. Misteriosa, Serranilla (265,171)

The first Mayan stele on this island is on the western beach, with Spanish soldiers on the walls above it. All you need to do is rotate it left so the two circles cover the posts at the bottom, and the arches line up with the broken arches on the wall.

6. Misteriosa, Serranilla (272,175)

The second sculpture on this island is on the ramparts leading up to the synchronisation point in the northeast, next to a treasure map. Rotate it left so that the largest circle lines up with the biggest rock on the left, next to the boat.

7. New Bone, Serranilla (400,92)

This stele is in the northwest of the island, conveniently where the warehouse guard and his muse will be talking. It's one of the easiest to solve: flip the overlay so that the four rectangles cover the rocks at the bottom.

8. Santanillas, Chinchorro (187,221)

There's only one Mayan stone on this island, but there were two in the original game, located in the ruins near the centre of the occupied island. Flip it so the thicker, parallel lines connecting two of the circles are around the two pillars at the top.

9. Sacrifice Island, Conttoyor (18,548)

Next to the synchronisation point in the centre of the island. All you have to do is flip the overlay so that the thicker, parallel lines of the triangle join up the two rocks at the bottom.

10. Tulum, Conttoyor (30,382)

This one's on the west side of the island, not far from where you finish the Overrun and Outnumbered mission (which immediately follows Nothing is True). To solve the puzzle, flip it almost fully so that the two circles on the same line match up with the top and right pillars.

11. Tortuga, Punta Guarico (846,352)

Just up the hill from the plantation's northern beach, you'll find another Mayan stele, not far from the island's synchronisation point. Solving it is as simple as flipping the overlay so that the smallest circle is on the rock at the bottom, and the line shoots off towards the ocean.

12. Pinos Isle, Castillo de Jagua (303,452)

There are two Mayan stones up for grabs on this island, the first of which is just a short walk south of the synchronisation point in the northwest. Rotate the grid left to match the rectangle with the collapsed pillar at the top.

13. Pinos Isle, Castillo de Jagua (312,454)

The second stele on Pinos Isle is east of the synchronisation point, on the hill overlooking the shipwreck on the shore. And solving it is very simple: flip it so the rectangle aligns with the wall at the top.

14. Long Bay, Charlotte (502,216)

You need to progress the main story until you gain access to Long Bay and reach the Observatory. Once there, the stele is to the left of the main entrance to the Observatory.

15. Isla Providencia, Serranilla (487,33)

You also need to progress the main story to unlock Isla Providencia, which houses the final two Mayan stones. The first stele on the island is in the northernmost temple ruin area close to the beach where the Jackdaw fast travels to.

16. Isla Providencia, Serranilla (476,16)

The second stele on Isla Providencia is just to the right of the synchronisation viewpoint in the southernmost temple.

As mentioned, once you've gathered all 16 Mayan stones, return to the locked door back on Tulum, Conttoyor, near the beach in the northeast. You'll be greeted by a short climbing section in the temple before grabbing the Mayan Armour. You'll also get the Yax Tun pendant, which absorbs all gunshots without you having to wear the (frankly, kinda ugly) Mayan fit like you had to in the original game.

Is there anything more piratey than searching for buried treasure? I think not. Digging up the treasure map locations was one of my favourite side activities in the original game, and that's not changed in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. If you completed everything in the original and thought you knew it like the back of your hand, you don't now. The tectonic plates have shifted, as the remake has moved the location of major islands, and the clues are different too.

All Black Flag Resynced treasure map locations

There are 27 treasure maps in Black Flag Resynced, most of which line up with the original game, plus a few extras. If you're wondering where the old Anotto Bay to Principe map has gone, that's more or less been replaced by Blackbeard's Treasure quest.

To be able to dig up the buried treasure, you need to have the associated map—you can't skip straight to the reward, sorry. That's why I've also included where you can find each map.

Speaking of booty, buried treasure chests generally include a handful of Reales and either an Ultimate Ship Plan upgrade, a Design Plan, or some art for the Great Inagua collection, making them a worthwhile distraction while not murdering Templars and boarding ships.

Here's where to find each buried treasure chest via their coordinates and the rewards you'll get, sorted into the order you're likely to encounter each clue (some are locked behind story progress or the Treasure Dealer at Great Inagua):

Cape Bonavista

• Rewards: 1,500 Reales

Havana

• Rewards: The Queen Anne's Figurehead design plan, 3,000 Reales

Salt Lagoon

• Rewards: Serpent Figurehead design plan, 3,000 Reales

New Bone

• Rewards: Maize Deity, 3,000 Reales

Abaco Island

• Rewards: Earth Monster relief, 2,500 Reales

Andreas Island

• Rewards: Harpoon Strength ultimate plan, 3,000 Reales

Nassau

• Rewards: Elite Sails design plan, 3,000 Reales

Isla Providencia

• Rewards: Governor Outfit, 1,000 Reales

Anotto Bay

• Rewards: Crimson Cloak outfit, 2,400 Reales

Kingston

• Rewards: Gilded Hull design plan, 3,000 Reales

San Juan

• Rewards: Fire Barrel Strength ultimate plan, 3,000 Reales

Petite Caverne

• Rewards: Heavy Shot Storage ultimate plan, 3,000 Reales

Pinos Isle

• Rewards: Ivory Wheel design plan, 3,000 Reales

Matanzas

• Rewards: Mortar Storage ultimate plan, 3,000 Reales

Tulum

• Rewards: Fire Barrel Storage ultimate plan, 3,000 Reales

Jiquey

• Rewards: Baroque Guitar, 2,500 Reales

Cumberland Bay

• Rewards: 4,000 Reales

Princípe

• Rewards: Standard Bearer art, 1,000 Reales

Cayman Sound

• Rewards: 4,800 Reales

Ambergris Key

• Rewards: Pirate Captain outfit, 2,400 Reales

Misteriosa