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If you’re shopping for a new pair of headphones, you’re not exactly short of options. As an audio reviewer, I naturally have to consider sound quality when recommending headphones, but I’m also partial to pairs that look distinctive. Who wouldn’t want to stand out in the crowd for all the right reasons? And if you can get a set for basement-bargain prices without too many compromises, who am I to say no?

That’s where Nothing comes in. The fledgling brand has made a serious mark on the headphone industry with its distinguished style, which you can see clearly across both its over-ear and in-ear headphone models. What’s more, we’ve found they perform exceptionally well under review. A double win.

Right now, some of our favourite pairs have received generous discounts on Amazon, including a 44% saving on the highly rated Headphone (a), and the same 44% discount on the Ear (a) if you prefer in-ear buds. And Black Friday 2026 sales in Australia haven’t even started yet!

The only caveat with these deals is that they’re exclusive to Prime members and ship from Amazon Japan, so you’ll need to wait a bit longer than usual for them to arrive at your doorstep. If you’ve not been a Prime member before, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial, make your purchase, then cancel any time.

The Ear (3) are Nothing’s current flagship buds and admittedly, at full price, they are a little tricky to recommend over the Ear (a) below. This mega discount takes care of that, however, making it money well spent. You get excellent ANC, LDAC support for higher-res streams and some hearing tests that help tailor the sound to your preferences. We said the sound quality had “excitement, energy, bass clout and oomph” in our Nothing Ear (3) review, and we love the level of customisation on offer. Note that the best price is on the white model only.View Deal

We love the Nothing Ear (a) earbuds. They sound fantastic, offer excellent noise cancellation and they boast an impressive 42.5 hours of battery life. Plus, if you pair them with a Nothing phone, you get the added benefit of ChatGPT integration. They were around AU$10 cheaper during Black Friday last year, making this a great price outside of a major sale. All three colours are discounted to below AU$100.View Deal

They’ve now been superseded by the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro for flagship status, but the Headphone (1) are well worth considering for their looks alone. We thought the audio was a little flat in our review, at least compared to price-comparable rivals, and this discount helps to fix that gripe. Plus, they’re brimming with useful features like tactile controls, and they deliver strong ANC.View Deal

The jewel in Nothing’s headphone crown if you ask me, the Headphone (a) represents a big improvement over the Headphone (1). The sound quality is objectively better, while the customisable EQ, spatial audio, and adaptive noise cancellation make them more useful for day-to-day listening. Add the obscene 135-hour battery life and IP52 dust and water-resistance rating into consideration, and it's basically golden. Only the yellow version is available at this price. Black, white and pink are all available for a smidge under AU$210 via Amazon US. View Deal

• Human error remains one of the biggest challenge to online security, according to industry leaders
• 68% of security professionals cite human error, compared with just 55% for email-based scams
• A worrying 80% of contributing factors in recent security incidents can be traced back to poor user practices or lack of training

New research into the challenges facing cybersecurity professionals has revealed the naked truth: that humans are considered the main challenge to security.

A new Kaseya survey of over 1,100 MSPs and IT professionals around the world uncovered a startling trend: that the risks posed by humans to their cybersecurity are considerable. Some 68% of respondents cited human error (including social engineering and distraction) as the most concerning attack vector over the next 12 months.

With the overwhelming majority of cybersecurity incidents attributable to human error, security suites and the teams that use them are increasingly focusing on ways to mitigate the challenges posed by people.

Human error

We know that humans need security as much as the data they’re working with. But the results of this survey illustrate a sad truth: that cybersecurity professionals are more concerned about user error and the vulnerabilities of “soft” targets than the threats from automated attacks against network hardware and servers.

Hackers know that humans make mistakes. Organizations need to be on the same page.

From the results of the report, we can see that after the prospect of risks caused by human error, social engineering, and distraction, 55% of those surveyed are concerned about attacks via email. Gullibility is also considered a risk (41%) as is a lack of cybersecurity training for users (40%).

Auditing isn’t always the answer, either. Of those surveyed, 65% said they would pass a compliance audit today, but 49% noted that incomplete documentation and procedures could create problems.

True cyber resilience

Worryingly, only 20% of IT departments have a budget that is growing in line with the risks they face, with 77% describing themselves as under-resourced.

“People aren’t perfect, and everyone knows it,” noted David Baggett, SVP and GM of Security Suite at Kaseya. “Yet much of cybersecurity still depends on people making the right decision every time.”

Unfortunately, it seems as though human error is here to stay. So what is the solution? Bagget says its about factoring in the poor practices and errors.

“The path to true cyber resilience isn’t about eliminating mistakes. It’s about building an organisation that can withstand them. Expect mistakes, account for constraints and engineer around them.”

As far as Kaseya is concerned, that means building security systems and practices that withstand those mistakes.

• Ukrainian drone strikes knock key Yandex data centers offline in Central Russia
• Bot traffic on Yandex networks has dropped significantly as a result, with many services knocked offline and Yandex's Cloud Zones operating with 'limited functionality'
• Data centers are quickly becoming key military targets as intelligence gathering and communications rely on cloud services

Ukraine has launched a series of drone strikes over the past week that have knocked multiple Russian data centers offline, resulting in internet bot traffic from the country dropping to almost zero.

The data centers were operated by Yandex - Russia’s domestic answer to Google - and traffic for the search engine has dropped to just 0.4% of its two week high.

Yandex traffic first dropped on October 8, 2026 after Ukraine struck a data center in Sasovo, Russia, and a second strike on a data center 220 miles to the west of Sasovo on October 10.

Russian bot traffic collapses following strikes

It is important to define what this bot traffic actually is. There is a common tendency to automatically associate 'bot traffic' - especially Russian bot traffic - with the fake social media accounts that spread Kremlin-aligned propaganda. The bot traffic taken offline in this context is more likely to be automated programs that crawl pages, index search results, and gather data for AI platforms.

The drone strikes have been particularly devastating for Yandex’s cloud services. The Yandex Status Board shows that Yandex’s Central Russian Cloud Zones are currently unavailable, and the platform is running in a “limited functionality” mode with most services offline.

Ukraine’s strikes on data centers appear to be retaliatory. Russia began striking Ukrainian data centers in late September under the reasoning that they were being used by Ukrainian military intelligence. A strike on a building within the business center of Kyiv killed four people and knocked internet connectivity offline for 100,000 households in the Kyiv region.

These strikes have been the latest escalation of the war which has been raging since the Russian invasion in 2022, although some observers say the war began with Russia’s annexation of Crimea following the collapse of Ukraine’s Pro-Russian government in 2014.

Since the outbreak of the war, civilian infrastructure has been a key target of strikes by Russia. Energy production and infrastructure has been repeatedly hit in strikes specifically orchestrated to demoralize the Ukrainian population, especially during the winter.

Data centers become a key target

As military intelligence and warfighting capabilities become increasingly digital, data centers have become a key part of war.

At the outbreak of hostilities between Iran and the US and Israel, numerous AWS data centers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were struck by missiles knocking numerous services offline in the region.

Iranian media later reported that the strikes were deliberate, and were intended to “to identify the role of these centers in supporting the enemy's military and intelligence activities.”

To adapt to the role that data centers now play in military conflict, Palantir have begun deploying shipping containers packed with Nvidia's B300 AI accelerators to be used in warzones. They are designed to be quickly set up and capable of processing information within any connection to public cloud infrastructure and can be fully isolated from external networks when required.

Iran’s strikes in the Middle East show just how vulnerable data centers and the infrastructure they rely on are to airborne munitions. Some experts have argued that the US should begin building redundancy and decentralization into the infrastructure required to coordinate logistics, intelligence gathering, and communications.

Save your preferred phone color, storage, mobile carrier and payment method in advance so you can quickly complete your purchase on Friday.

• Cybercrime group BYOD has published records on 3,615 Trump Mobile customers, including names, home addresses, phone numbers, and order details
• BYOD says it got in via malware on a Liberty Mobile employee's device, and that Trump Mobile told it there was "no team" to respond
• The published data appears to cover the wireless service rather than T1 phone orders, and includes abandoned sign-ups and the Trump Organization's own CIO

A newly formed cybercrime group calling itself BYOD says it has stolen and published personal data belonging to 3,615 Trump Mobile customers, the latest setback for the Trump-branded wireless venture and its gold-colored T1 smartphone.

Straight Arrow News first reported the leak after reviewing the dataset, which contains names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, and order details, and contacting people listed in it.

Trump Mobile has not responded to Straight Arrow, and neither the Trump Organization nor Liberty Mobile, the Florida-based operator behind the service, answered questions from The Register.

A ransom note that skipped the ransom component

BYOD posted the data to its dark web leak site in late September 2026; a ransomware tracker cited by IBTimes UK dates the entry to September 29. The Register describes BYOD as a new ransomware-as-a-service operation, with Trump Mobile as only the third organization named on its site, though IBTimes UK notes that nothing published so far shows encrypted systems or a ransom demand.

The group's account of how it got in is consistent in outline, even if the details differ slightly: BYOD told International Cyber Digest it compromised a Liberty Mobile employee with an infostealer, while Cybernews and Android Authority describe a remote access trojan.

Regardless of how they got onto the device, BYOD's messaging indicates it pivoted from that foothold to exposed Trump Mobile subdomains, still has live access to a customer dashboard, and claims neither company used multi-factor authentication.

As proof, it sent Straight Arrow a dashboard screenshot showing one customer's personal details, but said access has not been independently confirmed yet. The more damning part of this is that Trump Mobile's answer to this has been "We have no team to handle this" and branding anyone who hacked it a terrorist, an exchange that BYOD alleges took place.

The data, however, has held up; Straight Arrow reached people who confirmed their details were accurate, Cybernews said its samples looked genuine and did not match earlier breaches, and PCMag reached three people in the file, one of whom was surprised to find an accurate record of canceling a 30-day unlimited plan.

BYOD may not even be the first to cash in: a separate group, EndZone, claimed on September 23 to have taken data on 4,000 Trump Mobile users, IBTimes UK reports, and security researcher Dominic Alvieri told The Register the EndZone dump "appears to be the same original breach." BYOD denies a formal tie, with a representative telling PCMag that one member "just knows a few people behind EndZone," according to IBTimes UK.

At launch in June 2025, Eric Trump promised that "Trump Mobile is going to revolutionize cell phones" - but what followed has been less revolutionary.

The "Made in America" promise disappeared from the website within two weeks. Shipping slipped from August 2025 to December, then March, then April, and in April the company rewrote its preorder terms to state that "a deposit is not a purchase." In January, lawmakers urged the FTC to examine the brand's marketing.

For consumers, there is a silver lining: No payment card data has been reported in the dump, so the immediate risk is phishing rather than direct fraud. This doesn't completely solve the problem, however: names, phone numbers, home addresses, and order histories are exactly what scammers need to pose convincingly as a carrier or a delivery service.

Anyone who signed up, or merely started signing up, with Trump Mobile should treat unexpected messages about orders, refunds, or account problems with suspicion at a time when Trump Mobile continues to drag its feet on the matter, much like its May breach, when the company said it was still deciding whether to notify people. This time is a little different, however: it has said nothing at all.

When you read ‘video game fashion’, you likely picture faintly embarrassing Pokémon-inspired onesies, awkward PlayStation-branded rucksacks, or cringeworthy Sonic the Hedgehog T-shirts. But the world of video game and lifestyle collaborations has changed markedly over the last few years. With gaming becoming more of a major cultural force, higher-end brands have started to get involved.

You can probably already think of some examples. It wasn't long ago that cult streetwear brand ARK/8 launched a capsule inspired by the world of Elden Ring at the peak of that game’s popularity, including a coat that made headlines thanks to its eye-watering $1,700 price tag.

On the more approachable end of the cost spectrum, premium watchmaker Hamilton has been collaborating with some of the biggest names in gaming for years and has big plans for the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launch in just a few weeks.

From Hollywood to high scores

(Image credit: Hamilton)

“What’s fantastic about Hamilton is that the brand keeps working to its DNA and its roots,” explains Hamilton International CEO Francesca Ginocchio as we chat about the company’s gaming efforts. “I would say the American spirit of the brand, now with Swiss movement, is very strong, as is the link with cinema and entertainment, which has been so consistent starting back in 1957 with Elvis Presley.”

The King of Rock and Roll himself famously owned and frequently wore a Hamilton Ventura, the watch even appearing on his wrist in the 1961 musical film Blue Hawaii. The asymmetrical design became so synonymous with the star that the model is still dubbed the ‘Elvis watch’ today.

Hamilton continues to work closely with the glamorous world of Hollywood today, collaborating with directors including Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve to create custom pieces for titles like Tenet and Dune: Part Two.

“We have been in more than 300 movies so far, but we keep on trying to update ourselves,” Ginocchio continues. “Gaming is really a new part of the DNA of a brand linked to entertainment and movies. It’s the next step.”

“We have been in more than 300 movies so far"

Francesca Ginocchio, CEO

Hamilton’s gaming collaborations began back in 2021, when eagle-eyed Far Cry 6 players might have spotted a custom titanium field watch on protagonist Dani Rojas’s wrist. Designed specifically for the game, Hamilton made 1983 identical real-world pieces available for dedicated fans to buy.

For a tie-in product, the design was understated: a vintage brown leather strap, military-style titanium case, and a simple watch face with beige numbering. It looked like an object that could plausibly exist in the game’s fictionalized Yara setting, which draws heavily on the aesthetic of modern-day Cuba. You would be hard-pressed to identify it as a collab unless you spot the vertical line dividing the dial’s number six in a reference to the game’s logo.

According to Ginocchio, this subtlety is by design and all in view of delivering a product that feels authentic to the fictional universe: “We have this credibility in the entertainment world, and we apply how we work with movies to the gaming industry. Basically, we try to do the best watch for the character in the movie or in the game.”

Mission readyFutureFutureFuture

This approach is evident in Hamilton’s latest video game endeavor, a collaboration with the upcoming blockbuster first-person shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

Fan-favorite hero Captain Price wears a Hamilton Khaki Field watch on his wrist throughout the story campaign, with a matching model releasing alongside the game.

It’s a pairing that Ginocchio says came naturally given the brand’s heritage. “When the Call of Duty collaboration came up, a big pillar of a business and big part of our story, or DNA, is the Khaki collection,” she explains. “It was born in the US and used in World War One and World War Two. It’s very recognizable; Khaki, I would say, is almost a brand within the brand. If you have a Khaki on your wrist, everybody can tell you’re wearing a Hamilton, and Call of Duty was the perfect combination to put all that storytelling and this part of the collection in a game.”

"Khaki, I would say, is almost a brand within the brand"

Francesca Ginocchio, CEO

The Hamilton x Modern Warfare 4 special edition is outfitted with a 38mm black PVD-coated stainless steel case, a rugged material in an unassuming color befitting a man trying to keep a low profile.

There is some brightness, though, in the highlighter yellow arrow of the second hand and little triangle shape at 12 o'clock – a dominant color in the upcoming game’s marketing. Otherwise, the dark green numbers are perfectly legible against the black dial and, if you look closely, you’ll spot the Korean character 사 in place of the usual Arabic number, reflecting the game’s Korea setting and mirroring its branding.

The watch comes bundled with a custom travel case. (Image credit: Hamilton)

It’s paired with a durable green cloth strap for a look that the brand says is inspired by British-issued service watches. Interestingly, this model uses Hamilton’s mechanical H-50 movement, which offers an 80-hour power reserve but requires hand winding.

Ginocchio notes this as another conscious choice steeped in history, saying that "Mechanical hand winding was really important for us" as it harkens back to old service watches and "really represents Hamilton."

She goes on to explain that, although the finished watch is something entirely new, it’s important to use existing real-world models as a starting point to maintain believability. She also says every design decision was the result of close conversation with Activision and the Call of Duty team: “It’s really done in collaboration, because we don’t want to make the perfect Hamilton watch. We want to make the perfect watch for the character of the game, and that’s a different story.”

Custom packaging is also an important part of the real-world product, and the Hamilton x Modern Warfare 4 watch comes nestled inside a cigar-box-like travel case – a not-so-subtle allusion to Price’s frequently lighting up in-game.

Never slowing down

The Hamilton x Call of Duty Black Ops 7 limited edition watch was much less distinct. (Image credit: Hamilton)

This isn’t Hamilton’s first Call of Duty collaboration: the brand released a special edition Black Ops 7 model last year (worn in-game by multiplayer operator Axel Vermaak).

Last year’s watch was noticeably tamer, however, with far fewer customized elements and little more than a branded caseback to set it apart at a glance – something that many online commenters were quick to lament.

The CEO says that the choice to make this year’s model more adventurous came as a result of such feedback: “Last year, we had some enthusiastic people, and some people who were saying, ‘Oh, but we wanted something more customized. You could have done more!’ [...] People that buy a Hamilton watch, they are passionate, and so we listen to them.

"This year we said, ‘Okay, let’s do something stronger. Something with more differentiation.’ [...] This year, as it’s the second collaboration, we feel we can push a little more and go with something more aggressive.”

Of course, for well-known brands like Hamilton, gaming collaborations are a way to reach a new audience outside of their core market. “We have our usual watch 'passionates' who have to buy everything we propose, and they will go for this because it's something totally new, totally fun,” she adds. “Then we have many, many people who are gaming passionate – but they don’t know about Hamilton, and they get to know us.”

It’s a strategy that seems to be working, with Ginocchio stating that Hamilton’s top sellers “are all watches with a movie or storytelling behind them” and teasing that there are even more collaborations to come. “We already have three new projects for 2027,” she reveals. “It’s a long-term strategy; we want to keep on going and be consistent.”

You can learn where to buy the Hamilton x Modern Warfare 4 special edition via the brand’s official website, or see it in-game when Modern Warfare 4 launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on October 23, 2026.

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says Copilot Code and local AI make every Windows PC an infinite software factory with no cloud token spend
• Rather than killing app stores, Microsoft is moving app hosting into Copilot, while IT leaders stay wary of citizen-built tools
• Microsoft's own engineers say local inference doesn't make sessions offline, and the routing ships later this month

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has a new pitch for the Windows PC, and it targets one of the most lucrative ideas in consumer tech.

In a post on X summarizing Microsoft's recent Windows and Surface event, Nadella told followers they no longer have to settle for whatever an app store happens to stock, because Copilot can now build the software they need on the desktop without spending any cloud tokens.

He wrote this idea without mincing any words, saying, "Your PC becomes an infinite software factory."

Today marks a new chapter for Windows, as we bring unmetered intelligence to every desk and every home, and make every PC a place where agents can work securely on your behalf.Some highlights of what we announced:• MAI-Code-1.1 Flash: 137B parameter coding model w/ 256K context window, which is now optimized to run on your PC!• GitHub Copilot now hands off work to local models like MAI-Code-1.1 Flash, helping projects cost a lot less without sacrificing quality.• With Hybrid Intelligence, Copilot can now take action directly on the PC and keep sensitive work on your device.• And with Code in Copilot, you can essentially build any software you need on your desktop, without any cloud token spend, and it’s just super at it. You’re no longer limited to what’s in an app store! Your PC becomes an infinite software factory.• Security is foundational to all this, which is why we are also bringing together Windows and Agent 365 so agents can work within secure boundaries on-device, including MXC a local sandbox for agent execution. Windows becomes your secure agent box!• All this comes to life on a new generation of devices, like Surface Laptop Ultra, powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark.Can’t wait to see what you build with all this.October 7, 2026

From Gates' factory to your desk?

The narrative is a striking line from the head of a company that sells more software than almost anyone.

But read Microsoft's own engineering documentation for the same launch, and the infinite factory starts to look rather finite: it runs best on a $5,899 laptop, it still reaches into the cloud, and the businesses Microsoft most needs to convince have spent the past year telling researchers they are worried about exactly this kind of thing.

More importantly, the factory metaphor is not new for Nadella: In a 2025 staff memo, he recalled that Bill Gates had envisioned "not just a software company, but a software factory," and argued the AI era demanded a rethink.

At a recent customer gathering, the CEO said Microsoft had progressed from code assistance through agentic coding "to software factory all within one year," and he now wants customers to open software factories of their own, spending more with Microsoft along the way.

The October 7 2026 launch builds on this ambition: a Windows Experience Blog post by Windows and Devices chief Pavan Davuluri describes hybrid intelligence, in which Copilot reads local files with permission, acts across Windows, and hands work to on-device models.

Copilot's Code experience builds an app, dashboard, or workflow from a plain-language description, and on Windows, Microsoft says it can produce native apps from one prompt. Jared Spataro, Microsoft's chief marketing officer for AI at Work, argued that building such tools is becoming "as basic a skill as writing a memo or modeling a budget."

The engine underneath is MAI-Code-1.1 Flash, Microsoft's in-house 137-billion-parameter coding model, which Nadella's post said is now optimized to run on a PC. There is a catch, however: despite Microsoft painting it as a situation where consumers are finding their AI needs "outpacing what their cloud budgets can support."

Microsoft's own engineers are more grounded about what the process entails, saying GitHub Copilot's automatic mode decides task by task whether work runs locally or in the cloud, and one diagram caption is blunt: "local inference does not make the session offline."

That routing doesn't ship until the end of October 2026; the hybrid Copilot features reach Copilot+ PCs over the coming months, and Code is rolling out first through Microsoft's Frontier early-access program. This is interesting, but somewhat predictable, because Nadella's approach, as stated, would cannibalize Microsoft's token-based business model.

An approach that routes harder tasks back to the Azure cloud makes far more sense by conserving compute where possible while still putting Microsoft's cloud compute at the center of things.

The hardware is another factor that one might be overlooking here: according to the Command Line post, the on-device version of MAI-Code-1.1 Flash is quantized down to 53GB, roughly an 80% reduction from the cloud model, and peaked at 75.5GB of memory at full context on Microsoft's test machine, a Surface Laptop Ultra built on Nvidia's RTX Spark.

That matters because eight Surface Laptop Ultra configurations are in play; only one has more than 64GB of memory, per TweakTown: the 128GB model at $5,899, which costs $3300 more than the base model and isn't available to purchase yet, meaning that potential users can't really test out how well it does compared to cloud-based solutions at a time when all performance-related figures come from Microsoft.

The death of modern enterprise software? Not yet

Despite the hardware limitations in play, it might indicate a death sentence in the making for most basic enterprise-level software solutions, even as more ambitious ports have already been in play: Developer Brandon Thomas, for one, has just released seven open source Adobe Creative Cloud alternatives that he says he built with Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5, declaring that "software is over."

His own roadmap, however, puts the Photoshop stand-in at roughly a quarter to a third of what a professional needs for daily work. Building software has become cheap. Building software someone can depend on has not.

The bigger issue will be enterprise IT, which will, I suspect, keep the gates closed for now; enterprises don't just buy features; they buy someone to call when it breaks, a patch schedule, an audit trail, and a vendor that carries liability.

Getting an open-source or AI-assisted app someone designed with zero liability in tow that could break things, create security risks, and may not come with future software updates that resolve either issue.

The survey data points the same way: a June 2026 Retool study of 307 CTOs, CIOs, and CISOs found 93% concerned about vibe-coded tools reaching production, though Retool sells an internal-tools platform pitched as the governed alternative.

A Harris Poll survey for Dataiku of 600 CIOs found 81% worried that citizen-built AI could expose sensitive data, and over half had already discovered unsanctioned AI in their organizations.

Gartner, meanwhile, predicts that over 40% of agentic AI projects will be scrapped by the end of 2027, with analyst Anushree Verma describing many as "mostly driven by hype and are often misapplied."

Microsoft's own launch materials quietly concede the same, even taking measures to ensure that agents do not run rogue while building software or solutions on-device.

The Command Line post admits Copilot's built-in file tools are policy-checked inside the app rather than isolated by the operating system, and GitHub requires Business and Enterprise administrators to enable a policy before staff can use MAI-Code-1.1 Flash at all, while Microsoft Execution Containers, which are now generally available, allow IT to define what agents can read, modify, or execute.

The real test for Nadella's factory isn't individuals with a $5,899 laptop and a tolerance for alpha software, but businesses willing to take the risk and trust Microsoft's safeguards. Until then, one could assume the AI factory narrative will continue to run well below its advertised potential.

Some tech executives say they want more regulation and safety guardrails, but critics are skeptical.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Monday, October 12 (game #1722).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1723) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1723) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #1723) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1723) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1723) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• F

• D

• T

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1723) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1723, are…

• FLUFF
• DEBUT
• TEETH
• STEIN

I didn’t make any mistakes today, but this game still took me a long time to complete.

My difficulty was in finding a three-letter combination beginning with U from the letters I had left. Eventually I landed on the only possibility and a rare five-letter word containing three of the same letter — FLUFF.

Daily Sequence today (game #1723) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1723, are…

• TIDAL
• PAUSE
• SUING
• SHYLY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1722, Monday, 12 October: HELLO, BELOW, RIGHT, SLANT
• Quordle #1721, Sunday, 11 October: LILAC, INLET, TRIAD, SHAPE
• Quordle #1720, Saturday, 10 October: SWEAT, THIRD, RURAL, CLASP
• Quordle #1719, Friday, 9 October: OLDEN, DUNCE, SWATH, HILLY
• Quordle #1718, Thursday, 8 October: MINTY, ROWER, BROOD, RESET
• Quordle #1717, Wednesday, 7 October: PALER, FROTH, DOZEN, ERASE
• Quordle #1716, Tuesday, 6 October: FRESH, SKULK, BATCH, ENSUE
• Quordle #1715, Monday, 5 October: SIXTH, SPEAK, SEDAN, HEIST
• Quordle #1714, Sunday, 4 October: INFER, RAINY, THING, ARENA
• Quordle #1713, Saturday, 3 October: CHORE, FLYER, STICK, PURSE
• Quordle #1712, Friday, 2 October: IVORY, SADLY, ANGEL, LLAMA
• Quordle #1711, Thursday, 1 October: NAVEL, SHEER, BIRTH, TACKY
• Quordle #1710, Wednesday, 30 September: CHOKE, BATCH, MOSSY, EAGER
• Quordle #1709, Tuesday, 29 September: BILGE, MEDAL, LODGE, PORCH
• Quordle #1708, Monday, 28 September: BRUNT, TORSO, STONE, HEATH
• Quordle #1707, Sunday, 27 September: VALET, CHEST, VIGIL, PUREE
• Quordle #1706, Saturday, 26 September: SNORT, BIBLE, LAPSE, CRANE
• Quordle #1705, Friday, 25 September: SWEAR, FLOOD, GUPPY, GROAN
• Quordle #1704, Thursday, 24 September: TOPIC, METRO, SCALP, FREED
• Quordle #1703, Wednesday, 23 September: SHEET, BLAND, JOIST, GUAVA

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, October 12 (game #1219).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1220) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• EYE
• LASH
• LIPS
• JACKET
• TIE
• SENSE
• CHANGE
• BELT
• RING
• TASTE
• CUP
• HITCH
• CANNON
• TETHER
• FLAIR
• ENDS

NYT Connections today (game #1220) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Very particular
• GREEN: Put together
• BLUE: What winners get
• PURPLE: Begin with the opposite of tight

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1220) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: DISCERNMENT
• GREEN: FASTEN
• BLUE: SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZES
• PURPLE: LOOSE_____

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1220) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1220, are…

• YELLOW: DISCERNMENT: EYE, FLAIR, SENSE, TASTE
• GREEN: FASTEN: HITCH, LASH, TETHER, TIE
• BLUE: SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZES: BELT, CUP, JACKET, RING
• PURPLE: LOOSE_____: CANNON, CHANGE, ENDS, LIPS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

Seeing LIPS, LASH and EYE on the top line of the grid immediately made me think about makeup, but I resisted the temptation to cobble a group together and instead waited to see if I could find anything more concrete.

I stumbled on a Purple First after trying to think about what possible group could contain CANNON and could only come up with weaponry and the phrase “loose cannon”, which chimed with CHANGE, ENDS, and LIPS.

Sadly I ruined my clean run with eight tiles left, as I thought we were looking for ways of strapping items of clothing, so I had BELT instead of TETHER in the group that became FASTEN.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, October 12, 2026, game #1219)

• YELLOW: STATUS: CONDITION, SHAPE, SITUATION, STATE
• GREEN: TOLERATE: BEAR, HANDLE, STAND, WEATHER
• BLUE: WORD SHORTENINGS, OFTEN: ABBREVIATION, CONTRACTION, ELISION, NICKNAME
• PURPLE: WORDS MADE USING U.S. POSTAL ABBREVIATIONS: ALKYLAMIDE, CALAMARI, MANDARIN, MELAMINE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, October 12 (game #953).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #954) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Well, this is awkward

NYT Strands today (game #954) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• SOME
• BREWS
• PART
• PATH
• FROM
• FROGS

NYT Strands today (game #954) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 12 letters

NYT Strands today (game #954) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 1st row

• Last side: right, 7th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #954) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #954, are…

• EMBARRASS
• APPALL
• NONPLUS
• CHAGRIN
• MORTIFY
• SPANGRAM: CRINGEWORTHY

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

I’m classing this as tricky because despite getting by without hints it still took me longer than usual to complete the board.

After getting the spangram fairly quickly I was confident I’d roar through the board at speed, chuckling at memories of CRINGEWORTHY scenes from Something About Mary and Meet The Parents.

Alas, after getting EMBARRASS I struggled to think of any other synonyms for awkward; I thought NONPLUS meant you were indifferent. Ah well, every day’s a school day.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, October 12, game #953)

• PARLANCE
• JARGON
• VERNACULAR
• LINGO
• DIALECT
• SPANGRAM: TURNOFPHRASE

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

The models build upon the Muse Spark AI model, launched earlier this year.

• Kioxia's upgraded GP drive exceeds 20 million random-read IOPS
• Third-gen XL-FLASH improves memory access through shorter wiring and additional planes
• Kioxia LD4 launches with 15.36 TB and 30.72 TB capacities

Kioxia has announced a faster edition of its GP series drive that exceeds 20 million IOPS when reading 512-byte data blocks at random.

The GP1 unveiled in August 2026 delivered about 10 million IOPS, so the new version roughly doubles the speed of the earlier model.

The faster model relies on third-generation XL-FLASH memory, which delivers three times the reading speed and roughly 150% higher writing speed than before.

How flash is meant to rival DRAM

The company is pursuing a plan to take on DRAM in AI markets by offering flash storage that approaches memory-class speed.

“Kioxia is making game-changing high-performance flash storage solutions for AI infrastructure,” said Neville Ichhaporia, SVP and GM of the SD business unit at Kioxia America.

“As AI drives new performance demands, scalable, efficient storage becomes the foundation for innovation.”

Its XL-FLASH technology is designed to deliver higher operation rates, finer 512-byte access and lower power per operation than conventional SSDs.

The third-generation XL-FLASH shortens its word and bit wiring to cut RC delay and fits more planes in each die than the 16 of Gen 2.

Its efficiency is forecast to rise roughly 40% for reads, and 80% for writes, yet energy used by each operation is expected to keep climbing.

The first-generation GP1 uses MLC cells storing 2 bits, a faster SLC mode, a 16-plane layout, and read latency below 5 microseconds.

It is a PCIe 6.0 NVMe 2.2 drive meant for GPUs to reach storage directly, with endurance rated at up to 50 DWPD.

Kioxia has not disclosed the upgraded model's endurance rating or confirmed whether it keeps the PCIe 6.0 interface, but it will most likely follow the path of its predecessor.

LD4 arrives without performance figures

Kioxia also exhibited the LD4, a QLC drive with one port that stores 4 bits per cell in E1.L format using a four-lane PCIe 5 link.

It comes in 15.36 TB and 30.72 TB capacities, though its design can scale to 122.88 TB for hyperscalers, which is still modest compared to the Kioxia LC9’s 246 TB capacity.

The 15.36 TB model fills a quarter of the E1.L enclosure, with a 61.44 TB version likely at the three-quarter point.

The LD4 uses 218-layer BiCS 8 flash and appears to succeed the October 2023 LD2, which ran on PCIe 3 with identical capacities.

It also supports NVMe 2.0, OCP specification 2.6, and full-path safeguards against data loss.

Kioxia skipped an LD3, so the LD4 follows the LD2 after roughly three years and swaps in a faster PCIe 5 bus.

Rival E1.L drives with a PCIe 5 interface include the 6550 ION from Micron, the R6060 from DapuStor and the Echo from FADU.

As of the time of writing, the company has not released the speed or durability figures for the LD4.

Via Blocksandfiles

Katie Zacharia worked for one of Trump's companies and raised her profile appearing on conservative-leaning talk shows. She also amplified right-wing conspiracy theories. Now she'll be the president's chief spokesperson.

(Image credit: Terry Wyatt)

Nearly $22 million in taxpayers funds has been spent to air the ads, with nearly half spent after Trump promised to fund what the White House calls public service announcements through his super PAC.

(Image credit: Alex Wong)

The future of AI lies squarely in the physical realm, according to many industry figures such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Much of the evolution of AI in recent years has, as expected, been in aid of building machines that can learn quicker, think faster, and interact with the physical world in a more compelling way.

Checkmate

Nearly 40 years ago, the scientist Rodney Brooks authored a significant robotics paper that argued real-world robotics should focus on simpler, layered behavioral systems to understand the world rather than complex internal models.

Quote of the day

This article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.

His comments in the study 'Elephants Don't Play Chess' signalled a major paradigm shift in the way scientists saw the training and learning process for robots then and in the future. It challenged the established status quo for how scientists considered physical AI, and proved fairly divisive at the time.

The old sense-model-act-plan (SMPA) approach to AI – in which robots would scan a room to build a 3D digital map inside their memory and plan the optimal path within that map – was out. Instead, Brooks proposed that when a robot changes the world around itself, it doesn't need to compute the impact of everything – just the most relevant parts.

One man saw it coming

Brooks co-founded the company now known as iRobot alongside two colleagues from MIT's AI lab in the same year as he published his seminal paper, although back then it was called IS Robotics.

The first product was Geghis, an insect-like space explorer that weighed 1kg and served as a prototype for low-cost space exploration. Then, more than 10 years later in 2002, the company launched its first Roomba robot vacuum cleaner.

Despite enjoying success through the decades, iRobot filed for bankruptcy in December 2025 and the company was eventually taken private and absorbed into the operations of Chinese company Shenzhen Picea Robotics.

• Blizzard Entertainment says it learned plenty of lessons from World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery
• It acknowledged that "we were going too far" with class changes in Season of Discovery and "Forever will be a lot more careful and cautious with slower class changes"
• The studio also learned "what levers we could create to help us manage the in-game economy" in Forever

Blizzard Entertainment has learned a lot from World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery, but it's taking care not to overindulge in class experimentation for World of Warcraft: Forever.

In the same lengthy interview with TechRadar Gaming, where Blizzard confirmed it doesn't plan to modernize Forever's classes, as it wants to preserve the Classic experience, the team shared what it learned from Season of Discovery, a seasonal release for Classic that reimagines progression systems, adds new abilities, unconventional class roles, and redesigned instances, and how it will apply those lessons to Forever.

The team said that it had fun exploring class changes, but admitted it went "too far" and is taking steps to be more considerate with how it applies updates in Forever.

"We pushed every class to the limit and explored every power fantasy on every class," Blizzard said. "But we knew we were going too far. It’s like eating all your Halloween candy on October 31. It’s fun and amazing, but afterward you are sick to your stomach.

"Forever will be a lot more careful and cautious with slower class changes."

Another lesson it learned from Season of Discovery was "what levers we could create to help us manage the in-game economy," something that sometimes suffers from botting and real-money trading (RMT).

It told us that it's actively working to combat RMT in Forever and has already devised penalties that, depending on the terms of service infraction, could result in permanent bans.

Blizzard continued, saying, "We built several systems both under the hood and player-facing that allowed us to control the inflow and outflow of key resources, which led to a much healthier economy, with much less problematic behavior such as RMT."

RMT has always been a huge issue in WoW, whether it's retail or Classic, and Blizzard confirmed it has "a number of new systems in place" to support detection.

"It’s a cat and mouse game, so talking too much about our plans here could tip our hand," it said. "Suffice to say, we are watching very closely, and engaging in RMT is not worth putting your account at risk."

Blizzard has also addressed WoW: Forever's controversial Skyborne race and explained why the Elf race is available to both Alliance and Horde. It's also shared why Summoning Stones won't be in the upcoming game.

Higher phone prices are seriously squeezing consumers’ wallets, says Counterpoint Research.

• US Army awarded $4.15 billion in counter-drone contracts to 10 companies
• Seven of the ten winners each received a $500 million base award
• The framework carries a maximum ceiling of $7 billion across all awards

The US Army has awarded contracts worth $4.15 billion to 10 companies developing technologies against cheap drones threatening military installations and critical infrastructure across the country.

The awards fall under Domestic Shield, a Department of Defense initiative intended to strengthen protection against unmanned aircraft without restricting procurement to individual suppliers.

Seven companies will receive $500 million each, while three others secured smaller awards, establishing a multi-vendor arrangement with a maximum value of $7 billion.

Ten suppliers share billions in counter-drone contracts

Allen Control Systems, Digital Force Technologies, DroneShield, L3Harris WESCAM, Napatree Technology, RADA Technologies and SRC each received contracts with $500 million base values under the initiative.

Echodyne and PVP Advanced EO Systems secured awards worth $250 million apiece, while Smart Shooter received a contract valued at $150 million.

The contracts allow military services, federal agencies and allied partners to obtain commercially available counter-drone equipment through a common procurement framework rather than relying on separate purchasing arrangements.

Officials expect further awards below the established contract threshold before the end of October 2026, keeping additional suppliers eligible to participate as procurement continues.

The Army is working with Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the Pentagon unit responsible for coordinating efforts against unmanned aerial threats, to administer the initiative.

The arrangement uses multiple suppliers to maintain competition and reduce dependence on technologies controlled by individual vendors.

Open architecture allows different counter-drone systems to work together

The contracted technologies include robotic weapon stations, optical rifle sights, compact radars, long-range tracking cameras, and command-and-control software.

These systems handle different tasks, including detecting aerial threats, tracking their movements and supporting responses, making coordination between equipment an important consideration.

To support that coordination, the Army is requiring open architecture standards that allow equipment from different suppliers to connect with existing defense networks.

“This multi-vendor marketplace enforces strict open architecture standards, breaking proprietary vendor lock, and ensuring new technologies can immediately integrate into our existing defense networks,” said Brent Ingraham, assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.

The need for these systems became more apparent during the 2026 US–Iran war, when Iranian drone attacks damaged American military facilities and equipment across the Middle East.

On March 3 2026, two Iranian drones struck the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, causing physical damage estimated at approximately $11.5 million.

Iranian drones also struck a fuel tank and damaged a US Army asset in Kuwait, while attacks against power stations and desalination plants continued after the ceasefire.

In Saudi Arabia, Iranian drones struck a CIA station in Riyadh, while attacks within a week left 29 American servicemen wounded.

Congressional Research Service estimated that 81 American aircraft and drones were destroyed or damaged during the conflict, with potential losses reaching $3.3 billion.

Iran carried out many of these attacks with swarms of cheap drones and bombs, necessitating affordable counter-drone systems that can intercept incoming threats without exhausting expensive military assets.

Via The Drone Front

There’s little else quite so satisfying in gaming as a really chunky parry sound effect. When you read your opponent precisely and time a deflection to perfection, hearing that impactful audio cue as a reward is about as good as it gets — especially if you can follow it up with a devastating finishing move. Valor Mortis nails this.

I never tired of hearing the reverberated twang of blades clashing in my time with the first-person ‘Souls-like’ from One More Level. And given how much time is spent duelling with the reanimated corpses of Napoleonic soldiers, body horror monstrosities, and a few unique creatures I won’t spoil, it’s really something the developers had to nail.

So, I’m pleased to say that they have, and it’s one reason why I stuck with Valor Mortis through several of its other less successful aspects.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release date: October 13, 2026

The opening, however, is strong. You awaken on a battlefield, surrounded by corpses, the rousing voice of Vincent Cassel as Napoleon in your ear encouraging you to move forward. But this conflict has turned into something far worse than just blades and cannon fire. A plague of sorts has torn through the land, transforming humans into monsters and unlocking mystical powers for you to use in your quest to understand exactly what’s happened while you’ve slumbered.

It’s all a setup that fits the Dark Souls-inspired core of the game, with its dangerous, foreboding, war-torn world to explore. This time, lanterns serve as the safe spaces to save your progress, level up using the blood from dead enemies, tweak your build with several skill-tweaking gems, and restart from when you inevitably die.

Your power to fight back against the horrors builds slowly and doesn’t ever get massively expansive. First, a sabre. Then, a pistol. After that, well, it’s the ability to shoot fire from your hands and put enemies in stasis. You can switch between these and a handful more melee, ranged, and magical powers at will — and will often need to do so to tackle different enemy types most effectively.

Bonjour

(Image credit: Future / One More Level)

For example, basic soldiers can be taken out with a few sword slashes. A more imposing axe-wielding officer is better handled by keeping your distance as you burn it with fire to set off the explosive keg on its back. There’s a malformed grenadier who protects its sack of explosives with an engorged hand, but when it moves to lob a grenade at you, a well-timed shot can cause a massive explosion.

As you proceed forward, each encounter requires you to assess whichever threats you’re facing and break down the best way to take them out or exploit a weakness with the tools at your disposal. Of course, you can always go wailing in with a sword, but it’s rarely the smartest move. You have limited stamina, and the aggressive enemies can obliterate you in just a few hits.

As is the trial-and-error nature of these types of games, it takes a few encounters with some new foes to get the better of them, but I wish Valor Mortis wasn’t so obsessed with the trickery of it all. Long delayed attacks that are preceded by multiple feints and five seconds of interpretive dance before a sudden blow pulverises you is kind of funny the first couple of times, but by the dozenth time I was getting irate.

(Image credit: Future / One More Level)

The same goes for some aspects of the level design, which is regularly full of traps and “gotcha” moments. Enemies pop up out of bushes, others surprise you from behind doors, items are placed for you to be ambushed, or trigger rocks falling on you, or make you step on sections of floor that fall out from under you. I get that these moments are meant to keep you on your toes, but when they happen repeatedly in quick succession, they start to feel cheap rather than challenging.

Best bit

(Image credit: Future / One More Level)

There are a couple of boss fights that I could call out here that feel awesome to emerge from victorious because you perfectly parry all attacks to deliver a satisfying riposte or are wowed by a piece of clever inventiveness, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the specifics. Instead, I’ll keep it vague and just say that when a set piece cleverly mixes combat, puzzle, and platforming elements well, that’s when Valor Mortis hits its peak.

What I do like is that at least Valor Mortis mixes up linear gauntlets with open areas that give you more freedom in how you approach. There are opportunities to sneak up or around to get better vantage points and backstab enemies for an instant kill or significant damage. Thinning out larger groups is definitely something you’ll need to do, as even facing just two enemies at once puts you at a massive disadvantage in the game’s first-person view.

Variety is added further with some fantastic sections that combine the frenetic platforming of the team’s previous Ghostrunner series with the tight combat mechanics to create some entertaining and inventive set pieces. A section across broken-up ships that are suspended in time above the sea is a highlight, as you hop and swing between the splintered decks, take out snipers with your musket, and slash through any remaining soldiers prowling around.

Finding its footing

(Image credit: Future / One More Level)

On the other hand, a diversion into a mine is perhaps one of the game’s most dreary and aggravating sections. Here, lots of tight, dark, and windy corridors are not the easiest to see or fight in. Then, while you’re also trying to dodge and parry different enemies, the game decides to throw freewheeling minecarts that can almost kill you in one hit down these same small alcoves at the same time. A fun idea, in theory, but there’s a point where a situation becomes too chaotic for you to assess it and react to it quickly enough, and so my approach changed to brute force and luck rather than skill.

But then I was quickly brought back again by another thrilling on-rails segment that makes full use of all abilities and weapons you’ve gathered until now, before culminating in a surprising out-of-this-world boss fight that puts the rewarding parrying mechanics front and centre.

When that works, it really works. And the flourishes One More Level adds with ranged weapons and magical abilities are welcome tactical options — even if you will have to rely on swordplay more than anything else. The fact I kept getting beat up but wanted to keep coming back to nail a parry combo shows where the strengths of Valor Mortis lie. It’ll likely scare many away, but if challenging Souls-likes are what you enjoy, here’s another with an intriguing premise and a neat twist to add to your list.

Should you play Valor Mortis?

(Image credit: One More Level)Play it if…

You’re looking for your next Souls-like
As far as Souls-likes go, Valor Mortis is a good one, especially if you prefer the parry-focused combat seen in the likes of Lies of P and Sekiro.

You enjoyed Ghostrunner but wanted more involved combat
Valor Mortis is far from the speedy pace of the Ghostrunner series, but some of the developer’s inventive platformer and set piece design is in here, just with more emphasis on combat.

You’re a fan of horror
The world, environments, and monsters of Valor Mortis are tinged with horror, while some of the side stories you come across are equally unsettling or downright devastating.

Don’t play it if…

You get frustrated repeating encounters
You’d probably expect this based on the genre alone, but if quick deaths and repeating encounters until you master them are not what you enjoy, then Valor Mortis is best avoided.

You like a lot of weapons and build variety
A trio of swords, a trio of guns, and a few magical skills are all you really get in Valor Mortis. These all work fine and have different strengths and weaknesses, but it doesn’t make for a whole lot of variety in the long run.

Accessibility features

Valor Mortis offers very few accessibility features. In terms of dialogue, there is only an option to adjust the subtitle size between small, medium, and large. Mouse and keyboard, and controller options are available, with full key rebinding possible on the former and several control schemes available to choose from on the latter. You can also adjust the field of view, turn off or tone down camera shaking, as well as turn blood splatter and dismemberment on or off if you prefer a less gory experience.

How I reviewed Valor Mortis

I played over 10 hours of Valor Mortis on PC using an Xbox Wireless Controller and playing audio through my Bose QuietComfort Headphones. I’m using a fairly mid-range rig with a Ryzen 5 9600X, an AMD Radeon RX 9060XT, 48GB of RAM, and a Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD. My monitor is the MSI MAG 27CQ6F.

With some tweaks to the settings, I was able to play the game on High at 1440p with frame generation on and maintain a comfortable 100+ fps at almost all times. It may not be a hugely demanding game, but it looks good and runs smoothly, which is ideal for reaction-based combat.

First reviewed October 2026.