Look, if you’ve ever wondered what goes on inside a video game composer’s head while they’re scoring that moment where you’re flying through the clouds in Journey or sneaking through Victorian London in Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, you’re about to get the closest thing to a live answer.

Austin Wintory, the Grammy Award winning composer behind some of gaming’s most iconic soundtracks, is teaming up with Troy Baker (yes, that Troy Baker, the voice of Joel in The Last of Us and Sam in Death Stranding) for a one night show called The Art of Game Music. It’s part of Game Music Festival 2026, and it’s happening on Friday 19 June at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, South London.

But here’s the thing that makes this different from your standard “orchestra plays video game music” gig. This isn’t just a greatest hits setlist. Sure, you’ll hear pieces from Journey, ABZÛ, The Pathless, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, and the Grammy winning Sword of the Sea. The London Mozart Players are handling those, and they’ve been around for over 75 years, so you know the performances are going to sound incredible.

The really interesting bit, though, is the live composition element. During the show, Wintory is going to score gameplay in real time on stage. As in, there’s a visual prompt playing, and he’s composing and adapting the music as it happens, right in front of you. That’s the kind of creative process you never normally get to see. Usually it’s just the finished product layered under gameplay and you never think twice about the thousands of micro decisions that went into making that music feel right.

If you know anything about Wintory and Baker together, you’ll know these two have serious chemistry. They’ve been doing podcast conversations about games and music for a while now, and this show is basically them taking that energy and putting it on a stage with a full orchestra behind them. Baker put it well when he said that their conversations always come back to celebrating what makes game music so powerful, and this is the live version of that.

The whole performance runs about 90 minutes with no interval, so it’s a focused, uninterrupted experience. VIP ticket holders also get a meet and greet session afterwards.

Tickets are available now at gamemusic.net, including a limited pool of VIP options that come with premium seating and access to an educational event with special guests (details on that are still to come). You can also book directly through the Fairfield Halls website.

For a proper look at how the live composition element is going to work, Wintory has posted a video breakdown on his YouTube channel that’s worth checking out.

Black Myth: Zhong Kui is the next official entry in the Black Myth series from Chinese developer Game Science, introducing a new protagonist rooted in traditional Chinese folklore. Rather than following Sun Wukong’s story directly from Black Myth: Wukong, the upcoming title follows Zhong Kui, a legendary figure from Chinese mythology known as a powerful exorcist and ghost catcher. That’s a notable thematic shift from the Journey to the West narrative of the first game.

If you’re not familiar with the folklore, Zhong Kui is a fascinating choice. He’s a scholar who took his own life after being denied recognition despite excelling in the imperial exams, only to be granted divine authority over demons in the afterlife. It’s a darker, more tragic origin than Wukong’s, and it suggests this new chapter could take the series in a very different emotional direction.

While the broader Black Myth universe will continue to grow, this title represents a fresh chapter with a different lead and narrative focus. The Wukong storyline isn’t finished either, with further exploration such as expansions or DLC for Black Myth: Wukong remaining part of the long-term plans, so if you’ve been hoping for more of the Destined One’s journey, that door is still open.

Game Science officially unveiled Black Myth: Zhong Kui at Gamescom Opening Night Live on 19 August 2025 with a cinematic CG teaser trailer above. The teaser shows Zhong Kui arriving in a rain-soaked town riding a massive tiger, accompanied by ogres carrying his iconic sword. If you watch closely, the visual style of the demons and spirits shown has some similarities to Wukong’s Yaoguai, which could hint at a shared mythological world rather than completely separate stories. More recently, a six-minute in-engine Chinese New Year 2026 trailer (below) arrived in February, labelled as non-canon but featuring some strikingly detailed mythological creatures that give you a sense of the game’s tone.

The game will be a single-player action role-playing game continuing the core style established by Black Myth: Wukong, and will be released on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. As of now, there is no announced release date or window, and no gameplay footage has been released beyond those trailers. The project is still in its early stages, but the foundation Game Science built with the first game’s combat and visual fidelity makes this one worth keeping on your radar.lan, so if you’ve been hoping for more of the Destined One’s journey, that’s apparently still on the table.

Dungeons & Dragons is getting its very own fan expo, and it’s going big. Wizards of the Coast has partnered with AEG Presents to bring a two-day D&D celebration to The O2 Arena in London on 21-22 August 2026, and if that line-up is anything to go by, this could be one of the most exciting tabletop events the UK has ever seen.

The Short Version

Friday 21 August kicks off at Indigo at The O2 with a live one-shot from High Rollers, the UK’s biggest actual play group who are currently celebrating their tenth anniversary. Then on Saturday 22 August, the main O2 Arena, yes, the full 20,000-capacity arena, hosts a live actual play spectacular featuring an absolute dream team of voice actors and D&D performers.

Tickets go on general sale Friday 6 March at 10am via dndfanexpo.com. There’s a presale for AEG Presents newsletter subscribers from 10am on Wednesday 4 March, and a venue presale through The O2 on Thursday 5 March at 10am.

That Cast Though

Right, let’s talk about who’s actually playing on that Saturday night. Jasmine Bhullar, known as ThatBronzeGirl, is running the game as Dungeon Master. If you know, you know. She’s the DM behind Dimension 20‘s Coffin Run, the creator of DesiQuest, and has written and performed for Critical Role and Acquisitions Incorporated. She’s one of the most versatile DMs working in actual play right now.

Sitting around the table? Four members of the Baldur’s Gate 3 cast: Neil Newbon (Astarion), Samantha Béart (Karlach), Devora Wilde (Lae’zel), and Theo Solomon (Wyll). That’s four of the six origin companions from one of the biggest RPGs ever made, all playing D&D together on stage. If you’ve ever wanted to see the people behind those characters improvise their way through a live campaign, this is your shot.

Rounding out the party are Anjali Bhimani (Symmetra in Overwatch, plus she’s a frequent presence on Critical Role and is actually part of the DesiQuest cast alongside Bhullar) and Jasper Cartwright, co-founder of the award-winning 3 Black Halflings podcast and a Dimension 20 alumnus through Rotating Heroes and Oaths & Empires.

High Rollers’ Big Anniversary Moment

High Rollers hit their tenth anniversary in January 2026, which makes this August show a continuation of what’s been a massive year for the group. DM Mark Hulmes and the crew, Kim Richards, Chris Trott, Katie Morrison, Rhiannon Gower, and Tom Hazell, have been running their current campaign, Altheya: The Dragon Empire, and are also in the middle of a Kickstarter for the Altheya campaign setting sourcebook.

The official expo site specifically says they’ll be bringing the world of Altheya to the Indigo stage, so expect a one-shot set in their homebrew world rather than an off-the-shelf adventure. For High Rollers fans, that’s a big deal.

What Else Is Happening?

Beyond the headline shows, both days will feature panels and Q&A sessions with creators and performers, gaming tables where you can actually sit down and play, traders from across the D&D ecosystem, and cosplay meetups. The organisers have promised more announcements before August, including meet-and-greet and photo op add-ons.

It’s worth noting that Friday’s High Rollers show requires a separate ticket from the main Saturday event, though VIP upgrades are available. Saturday’s main event ticket gets you access to all the daytime activities plus the evening arena show.

Easter Egg Watch

The cast list is absolutely stacked with Baldur’s Gate 3 connections, but there’s one notable absence: we’ve got Astarion, Karlach, Lae’zel, and Wyll represented, but no Shadowheart (Jennifer English) and no Gale (Tim Downie). The press release does say “more announcements to follow.” So it will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

And keep an eye on the staging. The press release mentions “bespoke staging designed to immerse fans directly into the campaign.” For a venue the size of The O2, that could mean some seriously ambitious set design. The production values could be something we’ve never seen from a live D&D event before.

Also: this is being billed as the “first ever official D&D fan expo.” The word “first” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. If this goes well, expect it to become an annual event, and potentially expand to other cities.

Why This Actually Matters

D&D being played live in the main O2 Arena is a genuine milestone for tabletop gaming in the UK. This isn’t a side room at a comic convention. This is the same venue that hosts Beyoncé and the NBA. The fact that an actual play show can headline that space says something real about where tabletop gaming sits in the culture right now.

Whether you’re a seasoned player who’s been rolling dice since the THAC0 days or you got into D&D because of Baldur’s Gate 3 or Stranger Things, this feels like the kind of event that’s worth paying attention to.

Tickets go on sale Friday 6 March at 10am. We’d suggest signing up for the AEG Presents presale if you want the best chance of getting in.