When you think of sci-fi first-person shooters, your mind may immediately go to titles such as Halo or Destiny. However, before they saw the light of day, there was System Shock 2. The game set a huge bar for FPS titles and even set the foundation for its spiritual sequel series that would become what we know as BioShock.

If you’ve finished Hollow Knight: Silksong and want more adventures in the same spirit, you’re in luck. The platforming/Metroidvania genre is filled with games that have atmospheric worlds, tough battles, and rewarding exploration. Here are five great games that capture what made Silksong feel so special.

Every once in a blue moon, we come across a game on Steam that's brand new, highly rated, and available at a pretty decent introductory offer. It doesn't happen often, but when the holy trifecta aligns, it's absolutely worth checking out.

Although your life doesn't necessarily depend on it, the M.2 slot roulette is real, and you need to take note of all the available slots, ensuring you make the most of your expensive NVMe SSD. This standard has become the norm for connecting super-fast storage to your PC, be it a range-topping desktop system, portable laptop, or compact mini PC. Depending on which PCI generation you have available on the motherboard — this all boils down to your CPU and motherboard chipset — you could experience speeds up to 15,000 MB/s. The issue is that not all PCIe M.2 slots are the same, and you could end up hampering your PC's performance.

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the intersection of gaming and technology, follow Sean Hollister. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.How it startedThey used to be called the "console wars," and to the victor went the spoils. When Sony's PlayStation and PlayStation 2 dominated the Sega, Nintendo, and Microsoft competition, selling over a hundred million boxes into our living rooms - each! - they created a profitable virtuous cycle. More consoles meant selling more games, which meant attracting more developers …Read the full story at The Verge.

Donald Trump has never made his distaste for immigrants a secret. It's been a cornerstone of his political movement since he descended that escalator on June 16th, 2015 and started hurling racist vitriol in the general direction of Mexico and Mexican Americans. On the surface, his assault on the H-1B visa program seems like part of the White House's ongoing campaign to reduce the number of immigrants in the country. It might have that effect, but the biggest goal for Trump may not be forcing companies to hire more Americans or cutting down on the number of workers from India moving to the US. It's giving the government more leverage over his …Read the full story at The Verge.

Voice control has become the default interface for many smart homes, but it usually comes at a cost. Amazon, Google, and Apple all push their own ecosystems where your voice data lives in the cloud, limiting your choices while expanding theirs. Wyoming Satellite takes a different approach. It is a free, open-source project that lets you turn nearly any PC into a local voice controller for Home Assistant. That alone makes it appealing, but there are deeper reasons why this project matters and why it deserves serious consideration.

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 98, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, please tell me if you bought an orange iPhone, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about competitive massage and space soda and how people really use AI, checking out Adolescence now that it won all those Emmys, playing The New York Times' new domino game, finally listening to The Lazarus Heist, doing a bunch of writing in Ulysses, using Remind Me Faster for all my task-writing needs, and taking copious notes on Federico Viticci's iOS 26 review.I …Read the full story at The Verge.

This is the laptop to get if you're trying to buy something for gaming on a budget. Not only does it come from a reputable brand, but the specifications are also pretty good, considering the $580 price tag. This laptop has more than enough power for your favorite AAA games and can even work with your favorite photo or video editing software.

The choice between air and liquid cooling comes down to several factors. Most users pick one or the other based on esthetics or price, unless they're using the highest-end CPUs. In that case, performance is often the deciding factor. For the majority of PC users, however, air coolers are predominantly the smarter choice. Liquid cooling is not only unnecessary for most modern CPUs, but also comes with additional concerns around installation and longevity.

It's always nice when Microsoft officially adds a feature previously exclusive to third-party apps. It's not common, and it usually takes Microsoft a few years to catch up; however, sometimes it surprises us. I can't remember how long it took for the Redmond giant to finally add tabs in File Explorer, long after third-party apps had added them.

Since I started self-hosting, Home Assistant was at the top of my list of services to try out. The main reason I delayed implementing it is due to my lack of always-on hardware that could host a VM with Home Assistant. Home Assistant OS is my preferred method to host the service, since it supports add-ons.