The latest Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 8 update replaces the game’s standard pistol with a stronger model. Called the Combat Pistol, this powerful variant packs a serious punch and a strong kick to boot.

Fortnite Update: November 9 Hotfix: The Combat Pistol

Fortnite’s Combat variants are better suited for war. Similar to the Combat Assault Rifle, itself a stronger variant of the Assault Rifle, this new pistol packs a punch. That’s not to say that the Combat Pistol is an instant win item of course. While it offers better accuracy via condensed bullet spread, a strong kick with each shot makes them ultimately harder to aim. Landing several shots on a moving target will take some skill.

Thankfully, the Combat Pistol isn’t a rare item. It can be found in chests, randomly on the ground, or snagged via fishing at one of Fortnite’s many lakes and rivers. Meaning, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to test your aim against rival players.

The Combat Pistol is the latest weapon to be added to Fortnite as just last week we saw the return of Grapplers. Epic Games isn’t just bolstering our inventories with new items, the company is also tweaking existing tools of destruction. That includes a refined version of The Sideways Rifle.

The Sideways weapons were introduced at the start of Chapter 2, Season 8 as powerful rewards for dispatching Cube Monsters – violent beings from an alternate dimension. The Sideways Rifle was one of the better options, making it ripe for a few balance changes.

The Sideways Rifle is more accurate than ever. That said, it will now overheat sooner and stay overheated for a longer duration, forcing you to switch weapons in the middle of a fight. The idea is to fire the gun long enough to unlock its powered-up state (close to overheating) ramping up the damage but edging off before it overheats.

And that’s it for Fortnite’s latest update. Be sure to check back here for more Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 8 patch notes!

Kenneth Seward Jr. is a freelance writer, editor, and illustrator who covers games, movies, and more. Follow him @kennyufg and on Twitch

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, one of Borderlands 2's best expansions, is getting a surprise standalone release on modern consoles. The game is available today for $9.99 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S through backward compatibility. It's also free on the Epic Games Store until next Tuesday, November 16.

Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure stars Ashly Burch's Tiny Tina in her first main appearance. In the game, she is the Bunker Master in a game of “Bunkers and Badasses”, in an imaginary world inspired by all the tropes and characteristics seen in tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons.

In our original Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep review, we called the expansion "amazing", saying it was, "an example of how DLC can match, and in some ways surpass the quality of the original release." We also ranked the Tiny Tina expansion as the best Borderlands DLC of all time.

The Tiny Tina DLC is coming just a few months ahead of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, which is coming to last-gen consoles as well as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on March 25, 2022. Revealed at E3 2021, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is a Borderlands spin-off with a D&D twist, which seems to pick up right where the DLC left off nearly a decade ago.

We recently got a look at some of the new classes coming to Tiny TIna's Wonderlands, including the "Stabbomancer" and "Brr-Zerker" classes. You can also check out our details on weapons, loot, magic, and enemies.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Among Us just got one of its biggest updates yet, adding new roles and abilities as well as setting the stage for players to earn new and exclusive cosmetics.

As revealed in a Direct-style “Emergency Metting” presentation, Among Us developer Inner Sloth revealed a massive new “Roles & Cosmicube” update that's available now.

The biggest addition with the update is four brand new Roles which give players unique abilities that add new layers to the core murder mechanic. Check out a rundown of the new roles below.

• Scientist: The Scientist can access a portable vitals panel to check on the status of the crew. The portable vitals panel has to be charged, so they will receive a unique task to refill the battery.
• Engineer: The engineer can use vents to move around quicker, and also catch venting imposters in the act. However, Engineers can’t stay in a vent forever.
• Guardian Angel: The Guardian Angels is the ghost of the first dead Crewmate who can temporarily shield and protect other living Crewmates. If timed properly, the Guardian Angel can prevent Imposters from killing a victim.
• Shapeshifter: This imposter role lets a player change their appearance and disguise themselves as other Crewmates. If done properly, the Shapeshifter can frame another Crewmate for a crime they didn’t commit. But the disguise doesn’t last forever.

Another new addition with the update is an expanded cosmetic and customization offering. Firstly, visors and special nameplates will be added so you can personalize your Crewmate further.

Currently, cosmetics can only be purchased with real money. Going forward, Among Us will add a new currency called Beans that can be earned through gameplay. Beans can be exchanged for new cosmetics in the Shop.

Among Us is also adding a new Battle Pass-style progression system called Cosmicubes. These Cosmicubes can be purchased from the Shop or given out to players during promotions. When a specific Cosmicube is activated, players can earn rewards unique to that Cosmicube by playing Among Us.

There are multiple paths in a Cosmicube meaning there are different ways players can spend their Pods for different rewards. Players can own multiple Cosmicubes at once, but only one can be activated at a time.

Real money can still be used to purchase a new currency called Stars, which are Among Us’ new premium currency. Between Stars, Beans, and Cosmicubes, there are numerous new ways for players to purchase or earn cosmetics.

The roles should add a new layer to Among Us’ popular Imposter gameplay, while new cosmetic offerings inch Among Us closer to games like Fortnite which feature unique ongoing rewards and collaborations. As one of the most popular games currently running, Among Us is showing everyone that it’s taking the ongoing service seriously.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Spider-Man star Tom Holland says Spider-Man: No Way Home is dark and sad, which is very unlike the other solo Spidey films he's starred in to this point. In an interview with Total Film, Holland spoke about the differences between the upcoming film and the other two entries in the Homecoming trilogy.

"What people will be really surprised about is that it’s not fun, this film," Holland said. "It’s dark and it’s sad, and it’s going to be really affecting. You’re going to see characters that you love go through things that you would never wish for them to go through. And I was just really excited to kind of lean into that side of Peter Parker."

Holland went on to say Peter feels like he's "met his match" in this film, which is a part of the character Holland hasn't had to tackle until this project.

Previously, Holland has said the cast and crew are treating No Way Home as the "end of a franchise", meaning that future appearances of these characters would look very different than the three movies they've made so far.

Along with the apparent tonal shift, Spider-Man: No Way Home is setting itself up to be a huge Marvel event. The newest Spider-Man poster shows off a new look at the return of one classic Spidey villain, while a magazine reveal may have confirmed even more Spider-Man villains for the movie. And if you're trying to avoid all details for the movie, be careful, because two images that appear to show major spoilers are floating across social media.

If you still need to prepare for No Way Home, check out our ranking of every Spider-Man movie. Or, if you want to binge the essential MCU movies, check out our crash course in all things MCU.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Bethesda Game Studios, the developer behind The Elder Scrolls, Starfield, and modern Fallout, is "absolutely" still committed to single player games, according to creative director Todd Howard – but that doesn't mean it won't experiment with adding social elements to solo experiences.

Speaking during an episode of IGN Unfiltered covering Skyrim's 10th anniversary, Starfield, The Elder Scrolls 6, and more, Howard was asked if – after making the massively multiplayer Fallout 76 – the studio was still focused on making single-player games.

Howard replied, "Absolutely," adding later that "It's part of who we are, it's what we love about games." From the little we know of each project, BGS' next two games, Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6, will likely both be broadly single player games in the vein of the developer's best-loved work.

Howard pointed to the fact that even the studio's big multiplayer experiment added an expansion that facilitated more single-player play: "With Fallout 76, once we added Wastelanders and that kind of questing stuff, the amount of people that want to play it as a solo experience is very, very strong." Wastelanders was a free update that added human NPCs, a new storyline, and more that we said made the game begin to "feel like a true Fallout game."

However, Howard clearly sees opportunities to allow for interaction of a kind between players within the margins of a traditional single player game. "There are various ways you can talk about adding social elements to a game that I don't think take away from [the solo experience]," he added. "We've dabbled with some of that and not put it out, or things on paper, things we'd like to try in our games. So I don't want to rule that out."

Howard didn't go into detail on what those social elements might be, but you could look to the likes of Death Stranding for how social elements can affect a single-player open world. Hideo Kojima's game saw players collaborating to build structures and provide hints for others as they travelled alone through its world. It's possible Starfield or The Elder Scrolls 6 could similarly reflect the effect of many players adventuring alone.

That said, it seems that for the moment, Howard and his team are ready to move back into more familair waters with its next games. "Fallout 76 has really ended up being a great experience for us, and a great learning one," he explained, "but our passion is behind, 'Who are you going to be? This world is for you, go make it your own.'"

Howard talked about much, much more in his IGN Unfiltered interview – including why Starfield was a "now or never" project, and about the fact that an idea for Fallout 5 exists, but likely won't become reality for many years yet.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Elder Scrolls fans love to joke about the long gap between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls 6, which is now 10 years and counting. Director Todd Howard is more aware of this gap than ever, but when it came to making Starfield and diving into a whole new world, it was pretty much now or never.

In a wide-ranging interview with IGN Unfiltered covering Skyrim's 10th anniversary, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls 6, Howard talked about the lengthy list of projects that wound up pushing the project back upon the conclusion of Fallout 4 in 2015.

"Would you plan to have the kind of gap we're having between Skyrim and the follow-up? I can't say that's a good thing," Howard says. "Do I wish I could wave a wand and the game we wanted to make [...] just came out? Absolutely."

However, there were other projects that came first, including Fallout 76. What's more, if Bethesda Game Studios wound up prioritizing The Elder Scrolls 6, it was unclear if it would ever get another chance to truly do something new.

"We felt doing something like Starfield... we'd been wanting to do something else for a long time and play in a new universe, so if not now — I'm going back in time, we started right after Fallout 4, so 2015 — if not now, when? It felt like, if we didn't do it then, the 'when' could be 'never," Howard said.

Bethesda Game Studios ultimately decided to push forward with Starfield, effectively putting The Elder Scrolls 6 on the backburner. Both games were announced at E3 2018, but while Starfield is targeting a release for late next year, The Elder Scrolls 6 remains in pre-production. Based on the usual timescale of Bethesda's development, that could mean that Elder Scrolls fans wind up waiting another several years before finally getting a chance to revisit Tamriel.

Elder Scrolls 6 remains years away

In the meantime, precious little info has been revealed about Elder Scrolls 6, which Howard described as being in the "design phase" back in June. We do know that both Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield will utilize a substantially updated version of the Creation Engine in what will be a "huge jump" from Skyrim. Fans also suspect that it will be set in Hammerfell based on what seemed to be a subtle easter egg buried in the Starfield reveal trailer, along with other clues.

In describing what he would change about Skyrim, Howard hinted at the future direction of the series. "There are a number of parts of [Skyrim] where we don't go deep enough, where it's a veneer in terms of its interactivity. [...] When we think about games and what we would want to do going forward, it's okay... whatever that system is... how deep can we make it? The other thing is how AI and NPCs interact with you. That's something I think we still have a long way to go with."

Ultimately, the success of Elder Scrolls Online and the overall health of the franchise gave Bethesda the confidence to focus on Starfield, Howard said. "[E]verything takes longer than we'd like as well, but we want to make sure we get it right. Hopefully Elder Scrolls 6 — you don't want to say that it's worth that kind of wait — but it does stand up to the series as it has been in a really big, impactful way when it comes out."

Starfield is currently due to release on Xbox Series X|S and PC on November 11, 2022, with Skyrim 10th Anniversary Edition out later this week. You can listen to the rest of our interview with Todd Howard on IGN Unfiltered, where he delves into Skyrim, Indiana Jones, Starfield, and more.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Bethesda's Todd Howard has explained that there is an idea for Fallout 5 at the studio, but refused to commit to any other details, from a timescale to possible developers.

Speaking during an episode of IGN Unfiltered primarily covering Skyrim's 10th anniversary, Todd Howard was asked if there was a world where – with Bethesda Game Studios focusing on creating on Starfield, followed by The Elder Scrolls 6 – the next mainline Fallout game could be passed to another developer (previously Fallout: New Vegas was handed to Obsidian, for example).

Howard seemed to play down that idea, adding that there is a tentative idea for what a prosepective Fallout 5 could be: "I don't see... Look, Fallout's really part of our DNA here. We've worked with other people from time to time – I can't say say what's gonna happen. You know, we have a one-pager on Fallout 5, what we want to do."

A one-pager is a term used for a high-level document that outlines a product or business idea. In terms of games, a one-pager would usually include a broad concept for the game, its plot, intended mechanics, target audience, and unique ideas. Essentially, somewhere in Maryland, a vision of Fallout 5 exists.

But don't expect that idea to become reality for some time yet. Howard referenced a previous part of the interview in which he discussed how he'd love to have sped up the time between Skyrim and its sequel, adding: "Again, if I could wave my hand and have [Fallout 5] out – you know, I'd like to find a way to accelerate what we do, but I can't really say today or commit to anything, [like] what's going to happen when."

Howard explained that Bethesda Game Studios' only firm commitments right now are Starfield followed by The Elder Scrolls 6 and, with the developer making clear that TES6 is still years away, a new mainline Fallout is almost certainly even further in the future.

We continue to know very little about what Fallout 5 could be, but we have some suggestions – although Fallout 76 didn't capture the hearts of many Fallout fans, we do think it has some ideas that could be carried over into a mainline sequel.

There's much more to learn from Howard in our huge IGN Unfiltered interview. That includes his thoughts on why Starfield had to be made now, and how Bethesda remains committed to single-player experiences, even if it has some ideas for how to add social aspects.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Squid Game writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk has confirmed that the show will be returning for a second season, though it's too early to say when it will be back on our screens.

Hwang told the Associated Press that Squid Game Season 2 is in the works, following the soaring success of the South Korean survival drama's first season, which arrived on Netflix in September. The first season saw hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in various children's games — with deadly high stakes.

COMEBACK SQUID: Hwang Dong-hyuk, the director, creator, writer of #SquidGame says the show will be back with more Gi-hun adventures. pic.twitter.com/uqC1DIdZqy

— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) November 9, 2021

"There's been so much pressure, so much demand and so much love for a second season. So I almost feel like you leave us no choice!" Hwang exclaimed. "But I will say there will indeed be a second season. It's in my head right now. I'm in the planning process currently. But I do think it's too early to say when and how that's going to happen."

Although he wouldn't divulge any details or even share a timeframe for the follow-up season, Hwang did reveal that Squid Game's main protagonist Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, would return for some more adventures. "I will promise you this, Gi-hun will come back," Hwang told the Associated Press. "He will do something for the world."

The director previously pondered how the story could evolve beyond the nine episodes of the first season, which was left open-ended with plenty of loose threads waiting to be tied up. Hwang suggested that the next season might not be strictly about the contestants, though, as he's actually interested in further exploring the role of the Korean police.

Squid Game scored the biggest series launch ever on Netflix and is expected to generate almost $900 million in impact value for the company, yet the show was stuck in development for 10 years. And when Netflix finally went ahead and produced the show, Hwang revealed the intensity of the shoot caused him to lose six teeth to stress.

IGN awarded Squid Game a 9 out of 10, calling it "one of the most exciting series to hit Netflix in some time." We praised the way it unravels the story to deliver "a white-knuckle thriller, drama, and episodic psychological breakdown with a sickly pastel veneer," which is "equal parts gut-wrenching and squirm-inducing" for both the players and the audience.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Sega recently filed new trademarks for a number of its franchises including one for a game called Sonic Frontiers, which may well be the name for Sonic's mysterious 2022 entry.

As reported by Gematsu, the video games publisher filed a number of new trademarks last month, including a move to secure a trademark in both Japanese and English for a new game called Sonic Frontiers - a move that has prompted speculation around its still-unnamed upcoming Sonic project.

While the publisher hasn't stated the purpose of the trademark, it is possible that it could be the name of the new Sonic Team game currently in development by the studio. The game was initially teased back in May during a short trailer that showed Sonic running through a forest-like setting and confirmed a 2022 release date.

Despite announcing the project a number of months ago, the game is still yet to receive an official title. At the time of the teaser's release, a range of trailer files and a hastily altered press release seemed to suggest that the game might take the name Sonic Rangers, though this was never confirmed by Sega or the Sonic Team at the time.

Rumours have centred around the idea that the new Sonic game could take an open world approach, something that the name Frontiers would tally with, although it must be stressed that this amounts to speculation at this point.

Aside from the game's initial teaser, little else has been shown off by the developer that could point fans in the direction of a potential title for the game. Whether Sonic 2022 takes the name Sonic Rangers, Sonic Frontiers, or something completely different, it seems that Sega and the Sonic Team have big plans for the game.

Speaking in an interview with Sonic Stadium earlier this year, Sonic Team's Takashi Iizuka said, "Sonic Adventure laid the foundation for 20 years of Sonic titles after its release, so in the same way, I really hope that this new title releasing in 2022 lays the foundation for the following future Sonic titles — that is the idea behind the challenge for the team."

For more from the world of Sonic and friends, make sure to check out this piece discussing how Idris Elba's says that he won't make Knuckles the Echidna 'sexy' following his confirmation of the role in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie sequel.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Images that purport to show spoilers from the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home have appeared online – if you're trying to avoid details about the upcoming movie, you may want to tread carefully on social media.

Two images – which we won't be reposting or describing – are being shared across social media. While it's unclear whether they're legitimate at time of writing, they appear to show major spoilers from the third Tom Holland solo Spider-Man film.

If you hate spoilers, you'll want to exercise caution online today as new purportedly leaked images from Spider-Man: No Way Home are circulating. Maybe mute "Spider-Man" where possible? pic.twitter.com/bvUUDjBLf9

— IGN (@IGN) November 9, 2021

We've got a little over a month until No Way Home is released, and it's clear from the official trailer and posters that the movie will include some major changes to the MCU, including some unexpected villains. Spoilers for a movie with these ambitions are perhaps even more damaging than other fan-favourite fare.

It may even be our last outing with Tom Holland's Peter Parker, with the actor saying that the movie was being treated as the "end of a franchise", and reports of Marvel battling to keep the rights to the character among others.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.