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If you played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 after it’s release in 2009, the Intervention is a rifle that you’ll be familiar with. It went from being a relatively unknown weapon in the real world, to a digital firearm capable of seemingly impossible feats of sniping in COD’s multiplayer battlegrounds. But how exactly did the Intervention become so infamous?

Over the next few days, we will reveal what we believe are the 10 best games of 2019, organized by release date. Then, on December 17, we will reveal which of the nominees gets to take home the coveted title of GameSpot’s Best Game of 2019. So be sure to come back then for the big announcement, and in the meantime, follow along with all of our other end-of-the-year coverage collected in our Best Games of 2019 hub.

Disco Elysium is unlike anything else we played this year. It takes traditional CRPG mechanics and puts a psychological spin on them, with your skills feeding into how conversations unfold in clever and unexpected ways. To that end, it has some of the best writing we’ve seen in a game to date–at once unavoidably bleak and effortlessly funny, both a brilliant detective game and an incredible work of existential fiction besides.

While the bulk of the game is reading, Disco Elysium’s inventive twist on traditional RPG systems sets it apart from a regular novel. A lot of the text you read consists of the main character’s interior monologue, and the loudest voices are the skills you spec into–things like empathy, logic, and even electrochemistry, the part of him that’s addicted to drugs and alcohol. How you craft your amnesiac, alcoholic cop transforms how conversations play out, what responses are available to you, and the kinds of clues you pick up on in relation to the murder investigation at the core of the story. Logic might tell you that a locked door must have a key somewhere, while electrochemistry might encourage you to do the drugs you confiscated from a kid and empathy will suggest that you look into his clearly troubled home life.

Whether you listen to any of these inner voices is up to you. Sometimes they’re wrong; there are always skill checks being rolled in the background, and if, say, your empathy isn’t high enough for a particular situation, it might suggest something inaccurate or insensitive instead of helpful. While you are afforded some freedom in how you roleplay the detective–including whether he’s a communist or a fascist, for instance–a lot of the time, you are instead deciding whether to act on his impulses or not, and that makes him feel more human.

Because of that, you really do feel like a detective, even if the detective you control is a bit of a disaster. A passing observation early on can lead to an unexpected revelation down the line, leaving you to wonder what you might have missed. The side activity that seems like a distraction may very well lead back to the case, if only because it gives you a fuller picture of the city you’re in and the people who live and die there. Seemingly unrelated events and interactions come together in surprising ways. And crucially, the story isn’t tied up with a neat bow–events and people intersect in believable ways that make Disco Elysium’s world feel lived-in, and while the murder mystery has its satisfying aha moments, it’s also beautifully messy.

The game finds humor in flaws, too. Choose too many non-committal answers and you’ll unlock an achievement mocking you for being a centrist. Fail a critical skill check while trying to crack a joke and everyone will just stare at the detective blankly. He can even die from sitting in an uncomfortable chair for too long (heart attack–the alcoholism has done a number on his body). Often incisive comedy provides much-needed levity in Disco Elysium’s darkness: the immense emotional pain the detective feels but can’t identify, the ills of late capitalism and corruption that rot its world, the frank descriptions of human decay during an autopsy.

It’s a testament to the quality of Disco Elysium’s writing that the sheer volume of it doesn’t get overwhelming. It’s a dense game, both in the number of words and the depth and breadth of the subject matter, but no words are wasted. Not everything has a direct purpose–you might inspect something suspicious-looking at the behest of your drama skill to discover it’s obviously unrelated to the murder case, for example–but every conversation, observation, and interaction provides something for your trouble. It might be a deeper insight into the world, its inhabitants, or yourself, or it might just be a witty joke, but regardless, taking the time to read and explore in Disco Elysium always yields something worthwhile.

In The Mandalorian Chapter 6, Mando teams up with some shady individuals to help breakout a prisoner while Baby Yoda hides from a droid. Here are all of the guest star cameos and best Star Wars Easter eggs from Episode 6 that you may have missed!

New cards have been introduced into Magic the Gathering: Arena. A cinematic trailer that debuted during The Game Awards introduced the new expansion, which will surely please fans of the Magic the Gathering franchise.

The trailer is below, and some of the cards from it are available right now, including Black Lotus.

The expansion is now available to preorder.

PUBG creator Brendan Greene moved on from the development team earlier this year and relocated to Amsterdam to work on the “special projects” division to cook up new ideas. One of those projects has now been revealed, as Playerunknown Productions revealed a game called “Prologue” during The Game Awards.

A teaser trailer for Prologue aired during the awards show, but it didn’t reveal much at all beyond showcasing some nice-looking environments. The developer’s website has a few more details: “Prologue is an exploration of new technologies and gameplay. Our aim with this game is to give players unique and memorable experiences, each and every time they play.”

Take a look at the announcement trailer below.

Nothing else is known about Prologue at this stage. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more.

In Watchmen Episode 8 we learn more about Doctor Manhattan’s relationship with Angela Abar and what he has been up to all these years. Meg and Mike break down “A God Walks Into Abar”.

Axiom Verge 2 was announced this week as part of Nintendo’s Nindies showcase, and it’ll be exclusive to the Switch at launch. The first Axiom Verge is available widely, releasing first on PlayStation 4 before making its way to PC, PS Vita, Wii U, Xbox One, and Switch. It’s unclear whether the sequel will follow a similar verge, but developer Thomas Happ has talked to USGamer about launching on Switch, and given a few details about the game’s setting.

Asked about the game coming to Switch first, Happ says that the system “was kind of a natural platform to start with this time around. It seems as though every few years platforms shift in terms of popularity of indies and at the moment the Switch is really the best place for it.” The first game’s sales of the system have remained strong, while other platforms have dropped off. “It also helps that the Switch is the lowest spec of them all so I can be guaranteed that if I develop on Switch, the same thing will run elsewhere without making sacrifices,” he says.

That last statement suggests that the game will eventually come to other systems, but Happ can’t say anything specific yet. “I can’t really talk about where you’ll see Axiom Verge 2 other than the Switch. That said, it took several years before Axiom Verge reached every platform, and that worked out pretty well since each time I could devote all my energy to whatever platform it was currently releasing on.”

Axiom Verge is far from the only indie game to enjoy great success on the Switch. Indie-darling Celeste has been a huge success on the system, and 25% of all Shovel Knight sales are on Switch, to name just two examples.

Elsewhere in the interview, Happ elaborates on the game’s setting, saying that “depending on how you view things, Axiom Verge 2 is both in the future of Axiom Verge and in the past, but probably more of the latter.” He also hints at faster-than-light communication playing a part in the game’s narrative.

The original Axiom Verge scored an 8/10 in our review, and reviewer Peter Brown wrote that “Axiom Verge is a game that’s easy to fall in love with because it hits so many high notes.”

The latest patch for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, update 5.3, is now live on the game’s test server on PC. It’s the final patch for 2019, and although it’s not adding any new maps or weapons, it’s still an interesting one. The full patch notes outline every little change introduced, but the three most important additions are the new blood effect improvements, the removal of locked crates, and the new addition of cloud saves for your settings.

The blood effect changes mean that locations will now tell you more of a story about the fights that have erupted across them. Shots to the head or neck now have a more distinct visual effect, and blood impact effects on characters now better show off where they’ve been hit, but the most important change is that blood splatter will now show up on walls and floors. If a major battle happened in a building, you might walk in and find it coated in blood after this update.

Cloud saves for settings mean that you’ll easily be able to load up your settings if you switch to a different PC. Settings dependent on hardware can’t be saved, nor language settings, but you can bring most of your preferred settings over to another computer easily now.

Meanwhile, loot crates bought with BP will no longer have the possibility of being locked. This follows on from the developer’s promise to improve crate content, and random crate contents and percentages have been tweaked a bit. You have a 16% chance of getting a Wanderer, Survivor, Biker, Militia, or Raider Crate, a 17% chance of getting a Fall 2018 Crate, and just a 3% chance of a Venetian Crate.

PUBG is currently in season 5, and recently changed how its circle system works to deter camping. The rest of the 5.3 patch notes are below. It should be live on PC soon, and then for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One after that.

GAMEPLAY

Blood Effect Improvements

• Headshots including the neck area produce more distinct visual effect to ensure clear identification of hit
• Blood splatter will be shown on walls and floors if the character is hit near it
  • The size of the blood splash is unified across all color settings
• Blood impacts on characters will now provide a more precise visual representation of which body parts have been hit

Vending Machine

• Reduced the maximum number of uses per Vending Machine from 15 to 10

SETTINGS

Cloud Saving

• Settings now can be saved to the cloud in the settings screen
• Saved settings can be loaded in the settings screen when needed
  • This also allows players to load their account settings even when playing on a new PC
• Settings that are dependent on hardware cannot be saved
  • GRAPHICS: All settings in the GRAPHICS category except “Language Setting”
  • GAMEPLAY: “Inventory Character Render” setting cannot be saved
• The Cloud Saving option can be found at the bottom right of the SETTINGS screen
• Test Server settings will only be saved on to the test server account

WEAPON MASTERY

Favorite Weapon

• Players can now choose their “favorite weapon” in the Mastery tab
• The weapon of choice will show up as the first weapon stat in your PUBG ID, regardless of whether the weapon has the highest level or not
• A grey star will show up when player’s mouse is hovered over it. Clicking the star will favorite the weapon
• A gold star will show up next to a chosen weapon when a player favorites it
• Players can only favorite individual weapons and not categories
• There can only be one favorite. That’s just logical
• The favorite weapon will always show up at the top of players’ list, even when the sorting feature is used

UI/UX

Lobby Theme

• Lobby background will change to a HAPPY HOLIDAYS theme once the patch is updated on live servers
• To set the winter mood, the lobby music has also been changed

Weapon HUD Improvement

• Heal and acceleration icons on the weapon HUD will now flash when activated

CUSTOM MATCH

Esports Mode

• Boats and Aquarails now have fixed spawn locations and numbers on Sanhok

Observing UI Improvement

• Enabled rear camera flip (180 degrees flip) by pressing Ctrl+R key during freecam perspective
• Enabled adjusting camera movement speed during observing
  • Speed up: =
  • Speed down: –
• Bullet tracer setting indicator will now be shown on the bottom left of the UI

REPLAY

• Old replays cannot be played due to a version update to the replay system.

WORLD

• All PGC signs and banners on Miramar have been removed

SURVIVOR PASS: BADLANDS

• The current season of both the Survivor Pass and Survival Title System will end on January 14 PDT
  • Starting January 1st, there will be a countdown on the Survivor Pass lobby banner notifying players of the pass end date
  • A pop-up message will be displayed to users purchasing Premium Pass and Level-up items, alerting them of the time left until pass end
• Premium Pass and Level-up items can be purchased until the Pass period ends

SKINS & ITEMS

The following items will be added to the Store after Update 5.3 hits live servers:

• Added 2 BattleStat weapon skins (QBU and P1911)
• Added 2 BattleStat weapon skins (SKS and P92)
  • Purchasable with BP
• Added 3 Factory Worker skins
• Added 4 Punk Destruction skins

Crates

• Crates requiring keys to unlock are no-longer included in the pool of Random Crates purchasable with BP
  • For more information, please go to the following link: Dev Letter: Improving Crate Content
• Random Crate contents and percentages have been adjusted as shown below:

Wanderer, Survivor, Biker, Militia, or Raider Crate: 16%

Fall 2018 Crate: 17%

Venetian Crate: 3%

BUG FIXES

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where the reticle would shake when ADS with a 6x Scope equipped
• Fixed an issue where character movement would stutter when firing the DBS in certain situations
• Fixed an issue where BRDM collision damage was higher than intended
• Fixed an issue where a disconnected player could float when displaced by a prone character

World

• Mitigated an issue which causes players to be bumped into the air when moving close to certain objects

Custom Match

• Fixed an issue while observing and using the x-ray feature where the character outline is not visible after a player is revived
• Fixed an issue where healing items would not show while spectating in free cam when in observer mode

UI/UX

• Fixed an issue where only the ammo of one weapon is updated in the inventory when holding more than one weapon using the same ammo type
• Fixed an issue where the character size would show incorrectly in lobby when moving to lobby after seeing preview of PGC 2019 bundle
• Fixed an issue where character rendering is done late when changing gender while creating a character
• Fixed an issue where item equipped icon and new item notification icon would appear at the same location in CUSTOMIZE menu