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Will Bitcoin Beat Every Asset Class? Bitwise Says Institutions Are Taking Notice
GameFi Guides

Will Bitcoin Beat Every Asset Class? Bitwise Says Institutions Are Taking Notice

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Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Bitcoin’s role in institutional portfolios is continuing to evolve, with new research from Bitwise Asset Management suggesting the asset could become the strongest-performing major investment class in the years ahead.

According to a preview of the firm’s forthcoming Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions (LTCMAs), Bitwise expects Bitcoin to deliver an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28% over the next 10 years while experiencing gradually declining volatility.

The report, authored by Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, frames Bitcoin not as an opportunistic play but as a maturing asset that is increasingly being considered a core portfolio component.

Hougan noted that the launch and adoption of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2024 marked a turning point, prompting large investment platforms and allocators to begin requesting long-term models for Bitcoin alongside traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate.

Growing Institutional Interest in Bitcoin

Hougan explained that long-term capital market assumptions serve as the foundation for how major financial institutions design portfolios. Each year, firms like JPMorgan and BlackRock release detailed outlooks that guide asset allocation strategies.

For the first time in 2025, professional investors have begun requesting that Bitcoin be included in these frameworks, with Bitwise reporting 12 such inquiries this year compared to none in previous years.

“The fact that they’re now asking for long-term capital market assumptions means that they’ve shifted their view: It’s no longer a one-off for the fringes of the portfolio; it’s starting to be considered for the core,” Hougan said in the memo.

He attributed this change to greater accessibility through regulated ETFs and approval by large account platforms managing trillions in client assets.

Bitwise also emphasized that Bitcoin’s path toward institutional recognition has been gradual, requiring both regulatory clarity and infrastructure improvements.

The launch of spot ETFs in January 2024 created a new on-ramp for traditional allocators, and subsequent approvals across national platforms have since accelerated the process. Hougan described the transition as occurring “brick by brick,” as Bitcoin gains a foothold in professional investment strategies.

Outlook for the Next Decade

Looking ahead, Bitwise forecasts that BTC will not only outperform but stand apart from traditional assets in terms of expected returns. The firm projects a 28.3% CAGR over the next decade, significantly higher than the long-term expectations placed on equities, bonds, and private credit by leading Wall Street institutions.

Bitwise Bitcoin projection against other assets. | Source: BitwiseInvestments.com

At the same time, while volatility is expected to remain elevated relative to other asset classes, Bitwise anticipates a steady decline as market depth expands and liquidity continues to improve.

The implications of such a forecast extend beyond performance projections. A consistent inclusion of BTC in LTCMAs could formalize its role in balanced portfolios, shaping how pensions, endowments, and wealth managers approach diversification.

Hougan cautioned that while risks remain, the framework is designed to give professional allocators a basis for strategic decision-making rather than a speculative outlook.

BTC price is moving downwards on the 2-hour chart. Source: BTC/USDT on TradingView.com

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.



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Elden Ring Nightreign Libra on purple background looking at camera with goggle eyes
Product Reviews

15 attempts in, I actually love that Elden Ring Nightreign’s Everdark Libra is the first FromSoftware boss who’s harder to beat in co-op than solo

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The handshake deal in FromSoftware games, the obfuscated difficulty option that’s always been there since Demon’s Souls, is co-op: Summoning phantoms controlled by other players or the computer⁠. In OG Elden Ring everybody’s best friend was the Mimic Tear, a powerful summon to make a copy of yourself to fight by your side.

This has held true in the co-op centric, roguelike spinoff Nightreign, with the sturdy tripod of a full party clearly being what the experience was catered towards. The new duos mode is nice enough but still slightly compromised, while even with post-launch patches, solo is still the worst way to play.

But now they’ve gone and turned all that on its head: The latest Everdark superboss, the ultra instinct version of Baphomet dealbroker Libra, only gets more challenging the bigger your posse is. I managed to take him down solo after just three runs, while I’m somewhere north of 15 attempts deep in duos and trios, a W still evading me at every turn.


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Everybody hates Everdark Libra. My peer, Austin Wood at GamesRadar, thinks he’s “100% getting nerfed.” Just like with the similarly loathed Everdark Augur, I disagree. I love this sick freak of a boss and how he turns all the rules on their heads.

To make Everdark Libra easier would compromise the beautiful vision at his core, the product of a sensitive, poet’s soul that’s clearly been hurt by this cruel world of ours and wants to inflict that pain right back. We’re all letting Libra down. Champions adjust. Spoilers for Everdark Libra below.

Make your choice

Yeah man, we get it. (Image credit: FromSoftware)

Libra’s already a real piece of work in his base form, tied with end boss Heolstor as the hardest in the game by my reckoning. He has an arsenal of unusual, difficult-to-read projectile attacks that all build up the madness status effect, which does huge damage and a stun if you manage to survive the initial burst.

His signature move is a delayed blast sigil that brutalizes you with madness build-up after a quick beat. It comes out fast enough that you can’t exactly respond to it carefully and can get royally screwed if you’re in the middle of an animation, while a slight delay punishes immediate panic rolling. It is deliciously evil.

Libra’s Everdark form ups the ante by summoning invader clones of the player party with all the same abilities and a number of potential weapon loadouts thoughtfully constructed to inflict the most pain and frustration. Some of my favorites:

  • Mini Malenia Executor: Equipped with the Hand of Malenia Sword and can perform a weaker, but still potentially instant-death version of Waterfowl Dance. Yes, that Waterfowl Dance.
  • Terminator Ironeye: Possesses the Jar Cannon and One-Eyed Shield (which has a built-in cannon), as well as a seemingly-permanent buff resembling the Ironjar Aromatic: He walks extremely slowly but is extra tanky and can’t be interrupted.
  • Sniper Wylder: Uses a greatbow to spam the Rain of Arrows ash of war, doing crazy damage in a huge AoE from long distance.
  • Rot Duchess: Dual wields Scorpion’s Stinger daggers for fast Scarlet Rot buildup.

Much like the player-style NPC enemies of FromSoft’s previous games, they don’t play by the same rules that you do: Malenia-Executor is particularly difficult to interrupt out of his signature move, while all of the clones are capable of dodge rolling out of attack combos a normal player could not.

The pièce de résistance is how they shuffle in: It does not feel like Libra has a consistent timer for summoning a fresh wave of evil twins. Wiping them out is not a guarantee of breathing room to DPS the boss, while it’s far more likely for them to start piling up as you fail to clear out old ones before the new clones spawn in.

The final indignity is that Libra summoning a new wave heals any surviving invaders, buffs their defense and damage, and the buffs stack. A veteran six rounds deep Executor spamming Waterfowl Dance is who I wish I was playing as.

All of this while Libra has new, more aggressive madness-inflicting AOE attacks to fling at you. A mature Everdark Libra fight is pure chaos, a field of evil clones glowing gold with layered buffs, some attacking each other, but most chasing you around like it’s Yakety Sax while Libra turns the field into a bullet hell screen. It’s utterly deranged. I don’t know how a group of randos with no coordination is supposed to beat it. It’s hilarious.

The time is ripe

The Gamer’s Gambit. (Image credit: FromSoftware)

Whether fully intentional or not, FromSoft’s classical deferred difficulty system works in reverse with Everdark Libra. It’s like a martial arts movie thing or Bruce Wayne climbing out of Bane’s house without the dang rope or something: If the enemy draws its strength from you, make yourself weaker.

Not only is one evil twin far more manageable than triplets, the singleplayer mode’s adjusted health values mean they go down quicker too. Even in the solo runs I failed, I didn’t experience the chaotic pileups of a three-player slugfest.

This inversion is another example of how flexible and surprising FromSoft’s well-worn systems can still be. Yet another boss in Nightreign is challenging in a way that took me off-guard, that wasn’t just another really tall, sad guy with a sword who moves super fast.

That has me even more excited for what the studio does next: After Promised Consort Radahn in Shadow of the Erdtree, I was worried there might be a ceiling to FromSoft’s arms race with itself to make ever greater twitch reflex challenges in its bosses. In Nightreign, the studio sidestepped this issue, proving there’s nothing stopping it from delivering spectacles, challenges, or sheer curveballs we just won’t see coming.

As for the fight itself, it’s a new favorite. Everdark Libra feels like a joke at my expense, a prank played on us players. That’s one of my favorite things to see in a game, and FromSoft is the master when it comes to this rare art.

Could they ease off the gas with the clone spawns just a touch? Maybe, it depends on how soon you ask me after a failed run. Is it kinda bullshit that Vyke’s War Spear, the only melee weapon Libra is weak to, is such a rare drop that I’ve only seen it twice in 111.8 hours (but who’s counting)? Perhaps.

I hope they never nerf Everdark Libra. He’s so stupid. It’s all so meanspirited. I love him like a son.



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Multiplayer stealing sim Thick As Thieves lets you leave snide calling cards when you beat people to the loot
Game Updates

Multiplayer stealing sim Thick As Thieves lets you leave snide calling cards when you beat people to the loot

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While prowling the ramparts of this year’s Summer Game Fest, I rode a zipline to a broken attic window and snuck into a sealed chamber containing Thick As Thieves, the unofficial multiplayer Thief game from Otherside Entertainment. Also in the sealed chamber: celebrated Looking Glass dude and Deus Exman Warren Spector, who walked us through a hands-off demo of the PvPvE heisting sim.

I didn’t, if I’m honest, see much that wasn’t broadly covered by Jeremy Peel’s write-up of Thick As Thieves from last December. As such, I’m in two minds about whether to do a full impressions piece – this news article is testing the waters. But I did turn up a few objects of novelty. For one, the new multiplayer burgling sim features an ability that lets you pose temporarily as an NPC, as with the Semblance power in Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider. For another, it turns out that when you rob a joint, you can leave a knavish calling card for other players hunting the same treasure.

It’s possible, Spector told me, that you’ll be able to customise your calling cards, beyond just displaying your player alias. Being a fundamentally vindictive person, I already have a few ideas for what I’d write on mine.

[placeholder]

The earlier bird caught the worm.

The second mouse did not get the cheese.

The third anteater did not bag the swag.

The fourth raccoon did not scoop the loot.

You snoozed and you losed.

Opportunity knocked.

The real treasure was hopefully the friends you made along the way.

IOU one quest reward

Let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll.

Behind you.

Naturally, a topic like this demands the attention of the full Treehouse. I asked our recently recruited newsfiend Mark what he’d put on his card, and he suggested transcribing the entirety of this Seinfeld video into the textbox. James, our hardware Gandalf, came back with “didn’t expect weak foe”. Reviews reassembler Brendy had the pithiest and, I think, most obnoxious proposal: “first”.

But you, reader dear – what would you leave on your catburgling calling card?



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Beat Saber support is ending on PS4 and PS5
Esports

Beat Saber support is ending on PS4 and PS5

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VR rhythm action game Beat Saber will no longer be updated for PlayStation 4 and 5 users from this month onwards, with multiplayer being discontinued on both platforms.

Developer Beat Games, which has been owned by Meta since 2019, shared the update on social media. “As we look to the future and plan the next big leap for Beat Saber, we have made the decision to no longer release updates for PS4 and PS5 starting in June 2025.

“Our passion for VR remains unwavering. We are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead and what we can bring to Beat Saber fans who have been on this journey with us over the past 7 years.”

The game and existing DLC packs will still be available to purchase on PS4 and PS5. Any content released after June 18, 2025 will not be released on PlayStation platforms, however.

Beat Saber’s paid content updates – which comprise new playable tracks for the game – have recently included songs from artists like Britney Spears and Lady Gaga.

The game is a fixture in the best-selling games for PS VR 2, with Beat Saber being the third best-selling game for the platform in the US and Canada for the month of May 2025, and the sixth best-selling game in the EU region for the same time period.

The update ends by reiterating that the developer is “excited to share what the future holds for Beat Saber”.

Support for the game continues on Steam and Meta Quest headsets.



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Keep the beat going with an Overview Trailer for Patapon 1+2 Replay
Esports

Keep the beat going with an Overview Trailer for Patapon 1+2 Replay

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Today, Bandai Namco released an overview trailer for the upcoming remaster of Patapon 1 and 2, Patapon 1+2.

In PATAPON 1+2 REPLAY, players act as the Mighty One, guiding the Patapons, a tribe of fierce warrior spirits, towards the “Earthend” using rhythmic beats to drum out marching orders. Build the perfect team by choosing from various classes of Patapons and enhancing them by combining items acquired from the battlefield, with more than 400 types of equipment to build the strongest units and lead the tribe to glorious victory. 

PATAPON 1+2 REPLAY also comes with new support functions that keep the appeal of the original games, while making the gameplay visually enhanced and more accessible. New features include a drum command always on display, a skip function for some scenarios, input timing delay settings, and new three-level difficulty adjustment.

PATAPON 1+2 REPLAY will release on July 11 on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC

For more on Patapon 1+2 Replay, stay tuned to GamingTrend.


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Rematch screen - two kneeling soccer players celebrating a goal as other teammates run in behind them
Product Reviews

Ball hogs and ‘wannabe Messis’ are already the heels of the Rematch community: ‘Coach should run out onto the field and beat them with a stick’

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Rematch just isn’t a game where you can 1v5. Goalkeepers are blessed with unlimited stamina, ball hogs are easily stolen from, and it’s pretty easy to react to a lone player’s desperate shot at the goal. That hasn’t stopped some players from instantly dropping ten smackers on the Ronaldinho skin and treating the ball like the One Ring.

Rematch is in the advanced access phase of its Steam launch (it’s out in full on Thursday) and players on Reddit have already been bonding over a mutual disdain for anyone with anime protagonist syndrome, particularly those dressing up their characters to look like those from soccer manga Blue Lock.

“During the beta I was wondering why every wannabe Messi who doesn’t know where the pass button is had the same exact haircut,” observed user fkitbaylife. “Looks like it has carried to release as well lol.”


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The game launched with a skin available for $10 in the shop modeled after the Brazilian wizard himself, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, and some players are finding it’s a reliable indicator of World Cup-grade egos.

“Every single person who uses the Ronaldinho skin is trash as well,” said Business_Criticism42 on the same thread. “Think they are the best thing since sliced bread trying to 1v1 everyone and never pass. I’m gonna continue to quit if I ever see a skin in a lobby.”

Of course, plenty of folks are just having fun and finding their footing in the world of Rocket League sans cars. X user GameParax laid out their experience of an earlier beta as a Blue Lock fan: “After playing Rematch all weekend I can 100% say everything they do in Blue Lock is justified, it’s 1000% that serious.”

Reddit user The_Falenator also stood up for the soccer shonen community: “Not everyone is like this. I’m Tabito Karasu or Reo normally, but I’m a more defensive type of player and cant attack to save my life. I personally don’t think I’m toxic myself, though.”

Underneath the jokes, the common complaint is that some players refuse to pass, a behavior they’ll have to shed to move up the ranks. Players are debating whether there should be some more obvious mechanical incentive to convince these players that it’s a team game.

Reddit user Adventurous-Peak-778 argued that “without some kind of penalty, people have no need to pass;” though in the replies, Next-Cheesecake381 pointed out “the penalty is losing.” Taking a more imaginative posture, MysteriousElephant15 replied: “Yeah, coach should run out onto the field and beat them with a stick.”

Suffice it to say, hogging the ball won’t get you far and it certainly won’t make you popular. No asymmetrical roles or carry mechanics exist to prop up all star players; the true mark of a great Rematch player will be the ability to make nice with strangers for the six minutes or so it takes to get through a game.

“If they throw, play selfishly, be an asshole, then yeah, fuck them, but as a sub can we not just hate on everyone and anyone who likes Blue Lock and also plays Rematch,” said SerowiWantsToInvest. Reddit user Jangerows, who started the thread calling in-game Blue Lock cosplayers “mediocre LARPers,” issued a simple reply: “I’ll try.”

If you’re prepared to join hands with your fellow gamer, whether they love Blue Lock or have no idea what that is, and hit the pitch together, you can find Rematch on Steam.



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Ripple’s legal moves could push XRP to 10x gains: Can it beat memecoins?
NFT Gaming

Ripple’s legal moves could push XRP to 10x gains: Can it beat memecoins?

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Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

XRP’s recent moves have bulls eyeing a 10x rally, but a cheeky new challenger, Angry Pepe Fork, could steal the spotlight with meme-powered momentum and real token utility.

The latest SEC moves, asking for a 2-month delay in the current SEC-XRP case, are a sigh of relief for crypto traders and for XRP. Now, optimistic bulls are even calling for 10-fold gains as banks and big funds scramble to tap speedy, low-cost cross-border payments powered by the XRP network.

Yet while that is to materialize, a fresh arrival – Angry Pepe Fork (APORK) is quietly building a story that some holders think could outshine XRP’s resurgence. Let us check out more about this new altcoin. But first, let’s get straight to XRP’s comeback story: 

XRP court moves opens institutional doors

The green light from the US SEC should unleash trapped demand from family offices, hedge funds, and payment outfits already piloting Ripples On-Demand Liquidity corridors. Even if a fraction of the multiple trillion-dollar global remittance pie moves through XRP, a 10-fold jump from today’s price isn’t pure fantasy. 

Credits: CoinMarketCap

With top exchanges drafting relisting schedules, institutional squads are staring at staggering upside. XRP currently sits at $2.32 and has had an exceptional past year. It has broken all records by growing over 370% in the past twelve months. If regulatory clarity comes in, it could expect something similar even in the coming days.  

Angry Pepe Fork

Still, investors hunting for outsized returns shouldn’t overlook the memecoin sector entirely, especially when the entry cost is so low. Angry Pepe Fork is doing just that. Launched via a hot presale at $0.0269 per token, APORK marries Pepe’s viral energy with mechanisms that reward holders and developers alike:

Presale details:

Start Date: June 9, 2025

Price: $0.0269 per APORK

Supply: 1.9 billion total tokens, with 380 million allocated to presale

Funding Caps: $4 million soft cap to launch; $10 million hard cap to avoid oversaturation

Deflationary mechanics:

Every win on the forthcoming GambleFi mini-game burns some APORK, slowly trimming supply and backing long-term value. This makes sure that as the demand for the coin grows organically, investors will make huge profits. 

CommunityFi rewards:

Through the CommunityFi system, active supporters earn bonus tokens for tweeting updates, memeing or referring friends, converting organic hype into real profit.

Multi‑chain launch:

Once the presale wraps, APORK will debut on Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Solana, giving everyone a seat at the table and spreading liquidity so fees stay low.

With a hard cap, regular burns, community rewards, cross-chain presence, and eye-popping presale returns, Angry Pepe Fork fuses classic meme fun with real earning power, a fresh alternative to both legacy coins and casual meme tokens.

Conclusion

Sure, XRP’s new legal breathing room might ignite a ten-fold jump, and its corporate use-cases look bulletproof. Still, wise portfolios will have a mix of both XRP’s reliability and APORK’s ability to generate heavy returns.

For traders who can tolerate a little risk in exchange for big, double-digit moves, Angry Pepe Fork’s presale stands out. By eyeing both XRP and APORK, investors can enjoy institutional acceptance in the crypto world while also tapping next-level meme creativity and utility.

Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. crypto.news does not endorse any product mentioned on this page. Users must do their own research before taking any actions related to the company.



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Seven years later, Nintendo fans beat Switch game even the devs didn’t
Game Updates

Seven years later, Nintendo fans beat Switch game even the devs didn’t

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For every massive success Nintendo releases, there’s an oddball that confuses everyone. In 2017, that was the two-player party game 1-2 Switch, a collection of accessible mini-games. Think Wii Sports, but without the cutesy Miis, or Mario Party without the brand recognition. Players would be prompted to do anything from milking digital cows, to inflating fake balloons as fast as possible. The casual party game sold a few million copies, but by and large the world seems to have forgotten Nintendo’s inclusive experiment. Except for at least two people, who recently sought out a record that defied the very people who made the game.

A gamer with the username Elfilin tells Polygon that they initially bought the game when it was released and they were in high school. It quickly became a favorite for introducing people to video games regardless of their background.

“I’m a big fan of Nintendo’s deeper, technical games, like Super Smash Bros., but with 1-2-Switch, I can pluck someone off the street and they might beat me in a Quick Draw,” Elfilin says, referring to mini game where players have to draw fake guns out as fast as possible, cowboy style. Elfilin thus brought 1-2 Switch to college, where it became a running bit that helped them develop a social life.

“It’s honestly a good ice-breaker when you’re just getting to know someone,” Elfilin says, noting that half of the games encourage players to maintain eye contact as they’re instructed to do things like thrust their butts at one another.

One of the games included in 1-2 Switch is called Plate Spin. As the name implies, players must balance platters using their Joy-Con. The twist is that players can try and mess with one another in real life while the game periodically shrinks the dishes further. It’s a fun game, but a tough one. Most of the time, matches of Plate Spin don’t last very long. Here’s one video from IGN in 2017 where the round lasts just barely over 20 seconds; here’s one where the match is over about 10 seconds in. Curiously, Plate Spin includes a 2 minute timer while the events unfold. A friend of Elfilin’s noticed this in 2024, and asked if they’d ever managed to get to the end of it.

“I said that I’ve never done it, and that I haven’t been able to find anyone online posting them beating it or even acknowledging that it could be beaten,” Elfilin recalls. “It was then that my friend agreed to join me in attempting this Herculean task.”

Over the course of three separate sessions, the duo pushed themselves to the limit in what is a surprisingly demanding game. You’ve got to move your hands the entire time, and so does your partner. If either of you fails, then the timer is over and neither of you gets to see what happens at the end. It didn’t take long for Elfilin’s arms to start getting sore, and the pair had to start using cushioned stools to rest their appendages.

Strategies had to be developed. Though it was difficult, the players realized that Plate Spin telegraphed some of its nuances. If you go slowly, the plates wobble. If you go too fast, the sticks holding up the plates go off-center. Recovering from speediness was possible, though — you could simply stop moving for a few seconds. The two resorted to trying to go as quickly as possible until the game gave its telltale warning.

Adjustments had to be made as the plates minimized every 30 seconds; the two had to maintain the same pace while the radius of their spins progressively got smaller. Easier said than done. It took six hours and plenty of soreness before the two got to see the timer hit zero.

So, what happens? See for yourself:

The audience roars, and the game acknowledges the player’s feat before calling a draw. It might sound silly — and it is — but to their credit, it’s something seemingly no one has done before. There’s no evidence online of a Plate Spin ending, which makes sense, because it’s not exactly the sort of thing that would typically bestow gaming glory, like a speedrunning world record in a popular game. Though it’s a first-party game developed by Nintendo itself, most people never played 1-2 Switch. If they did, they probably didn’t get through every single mini-game in its entirety. That includes the very people who made the game themselves.

After posting about the feat on Reddit, a game tester on 1-2 Switch came out of the woodwork to reveal that even folks internally hadn’t seen the ending of Plate Spin.

“As one of the testers on that game, congrats! I dont think any of us beat it in-house,” wrote a user named cellShock_r, which belongs to an account that has a history of posts revolving around game development prior to the thread. “Tbh I’m surprised we even bothered making it.”

Elfilin says that they technically accomplished this achievement last year, but with the launch of the Switch 2, it seemed like a good opportunity to brag about something outside of their immediate friend circle.

“There was clearly a lot of effort put into programming the mechanics of the minigame, which I appreciate,” Elfilin tells Polygon.

“It’s a big flex to be able to say that I’m the only person to complete a first-party Nintendo game, especially one that has sold 4 million copies.”





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The Alters: How Long To Beat
Game Updates

The Alters: How Long To Beat

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Frostpunk developer 11 Bit Studios has just released its newest game, a sci-fi adventure called The Alters. This game mixes base building with sim management and has a really engrossing story about self-discovery and existentialism. It follows Jan Dolski as he crashlands and gets stranded on a planet as the only survivor.

This Narrative Adventure About Doomed Teenage Dinosaurs Feels Too Real

In order to replace his lost crew members, Jan has to create clones of himself from different timelines. In one timeline, he never went to college, so this version of Jan is a mechanic. There are many different variants of Jan, including a scientist and a botanist. They all have different specialties that can keep your base running smoothly. Now, all Jan has to do is find a way home.

You can’t see everything the game offers in one playthrough, so you’ll have to do multiple playthroughs to experience everything The Alters has to offer.

How long does it take to beat The Alters?

Depending on how much time you spend building your base and talking to the different Jans, your playtime may vary. There are three acts in the game, with the third one feeling noticeably shorter, but still as exciting as the previous ones. However, if you want to be as efficient as you can and only go for the primary objectives, you’re looking at somewhere between 25-30 hours for a single playthrough.

Screenshot: 11 bit studios

During each playthrough, there are some Alters that you’re required to create, such as the scientist, but a good amount of them are optional. Choosing which Alters to bring into the world can lead to some interesting conversations between them. At one point, I had my scientist and mechanic argue about eating healthy foods and I had to choose who’s side I was on.

You’ll learn that each of these Jans are fully-fledged characters and not just cardboard copies of himself. They have vastly different personalities and it creates a sense of underlying tension that adds a personal touch to the story that elevates The Alters above other contemporary survival games.

Screenshot: 11 bit studios

It’s worth going through multiple playthroughs to see how the different Jans interact, as their different life paths can help the main Jan discover parts of himself that he didn’t realize before. I created five different Jans across my first playthrough, and it looks like there are about 10 Jan variants. So in order to create all Jans at least once, you’re looking at at minimum two playthroughs for somewhere of a total of 55-60 hours—possibly even more if you want to see the different ways the Jans can interact with each other.

The Alters is now available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

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Synology DiskStation DS925+ on a table wide image
Product Reviews

I spent weeks with the Synology DiskStation DS925+ NAS box and it didn’t miss a beat, no matter what I threw at it

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We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Synology DiskStation DS925+: Two-minute review

Specs

(Image credit: Nick Ross)

CPU: AMD Ryzen V1500B
Graphics: None
RAM: 4GB DDR4 ECC SODIMM (Max 32GB)
Storage: 80TB (20TB HDD x4), 1.6TB (800GB M.2 x2)
Ports: 2x Type-A (5Gbps), 1x Type-C (5Gbps), 2x 2.5GbE Ethernet ports
Size: 166 x 199 x 223mm (6.5 x 7.8 x 8.8 inches)
OS installed: DSM 7
Accessories: 2x LAN cables, 2x drive-bay lock keys, AC power cord

Synology has been producing network attached storage (NAS) technology for over 20 years, and its devices have maintained a consistent look and feel. In that time, the company has developed a highly polished operating system that’s packed with a wide variety of bespoke and third-party apps that do everything from simply backing up files on a home or office network, through managing a household’s multimedia requirements, to running a business’s entire IT stack. The latter includes enterprise-grade backup, all kinds of server functionality, email and web-hosting, virtual machine management, surveillance camera management and much, much more.

In more recent years, Synology has hunkered down in its own segment of the NAS market – eschewing broad compatibility with third-party hardware providers and a Wild-West application community in favor of a more closed and professional operating environment, where you have to buy expensive Synology drives to populate the boxes. While these compatibility changes have driven some users away, what remains is still an incredibly robust, well-supported and well-documented ecosystem that has a huge community following.

The new DiskStation DS925+ is something of a popular, sweet-spot size that can suit new users and network admins alike. At a glance, it looks exactly like several generations of its predecessors and it operates very much like them. Its most significant features include four bays that support both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives and two M.2 NVMe SSD slots. Its tool-less design and simple setup wizards make it quick and easy to build, and you can be up and running in less than 15 minutes. It runs quietly and can be positioned on top of a desk or hidden away (in a ventilated location) discreetly. To casual users (with deep pockets) who want access to Synology’s apps and need only basic NAS functionality, we could stop there. Enthusiasts will want to know more.


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(Image credit: Nick Ross)

The list of compatible drives is now smaller than ever. While Synology has kicked certification of third-party drives over to vendors like Seagate and WD, it doesn’t appear to have resulted in more choice… yet. At the time of writing, you’re still limited to Synology’s latest Plus Series consumer drives (which go up to 16TB), its Enterprise drives (up to 20TB), its 2.5-inch SSDs (up to 7TB) and its Enterprise-level M.2 NVMe drives (up to 800GB). All of them are considerably more expensive than incompatible third-party counterparts.

The DS925+ comes with one of its two SO-DIMM slots populated with 4GB of DDR4 ECC RAM. You can upgrade to two sticks of Synology’s own 16GB ECC RAM (for 32GB total) if required, but not if you’re looking to save money. The introduction of error-correcting (ECC) RAM at this level is a boon, nonetheless.

It should be noted that if you’re looking to the DS925+ as an upgrade for an older Synology NAS, it will allow third-party drives if it recognizes an existing DSM installation. However, you’ll get constant drive compatibility warnings in return.

Positive new hardware features include a beefed-up, quad-core, eight-thread AMD Ryzen V1500B processor (note that there’s no integrated GPU) and its two network ports are finally 2.5GbE. There are both front and rear-mounted USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports plus a new, slightly controversial, USB-C port for connecting an external, 5-bay extension unit (replacing old eSATA-connected options). What’s most bothersome, though, is the lack of a PCIe network expansion for upgrading to 10GbE connectivity, which limits the possible network transfer speeds.

Ultimately, the initial outlay for a DS925+ can be enormous compared to rivals on the market. However, if you’re going to make use of the vast libraries of free software applications and licenses, it’ll represent great value.

Synology DiskStation DS925+: Price & availability

Synology’s DiskStation DS925+ only recently launched and has limited availability in only a few markets. It’s listed at $830 / £551 / AU$1,099.

Overall, it’s well priced compared to its closest competitors such as the TerraMaster F4-424 Max, as well as other Synology NAS devices.

Synology DiskStation DS925+: Design & build

While the DiskStation DS925+ looks like its predecessors, I felt that it was somewhat more robust and less rattly than some of its forebears. Regardless of that, it’s still a small and discreet black box that will not draw attention to itself, wherever it’s located.

(Image credit: Nick Ross)

The tool-less design makes adding hard drives simple. For 3.5-inch drives, you just lift up the drive bay door, pull out the drive tray, unclip the tray’s side bars, put the drive in the tray, clip the bars back on (they use rubber grommets to reduce sound and vibrations) and slide it back in. If you want, you can ‘lock’ each drive bay with a key to deter opportunistic thieves.

Adding RAM involves removing the drive bays and adding SO-DIMMs to the internal slots on the side. Adding the M.2 NVMe drives involves simply unclipping the covers on the base and sliding them in. Adding six drives takes less than five minutes.

A fully populated DS925+ runs very quietly – Synology says just 20dB – and I can attest that there’s only a very quiet whooshing noise made by the dual 92mm fans, and the drives only make occasional, very low clicking and popping sounds.

Installing the operating system is also simple. A QR code in the box provides access to an online setup document with a link that automatically finds your NAS on the network before offering to install everything for you. After a quick firmware update, it reboots and you’ll be looking at the DSM desktop, in a web browser, just a few minutes later. The NAS will then prompt you to sign into a Synology account, set up SSO and MFA log-ins and install some basic apps.

Newcomers might struggle at first with the terminology surrounding the initial setup of the drives, but (at the basic level) the NAS walks you through the process. It involves organizing the drives into a storage pool, then creating a volume and then adding folders. You’ll also be prompted to list which users can have View, Read or Write access. At this point you’ve got functional network-attached storage that can be accessed across your network.

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(Image credit: Nick Ross)(Image credit: Nick Ross)(Image credit: Nick Ross)(Image credit: Nick Ross)

The operating system is well-polished and installing bespoke and third-party apps is simple thanks to the Package Center application which operates like a free App Store. It’s also simple to enable remote access using Synology’s QuickConnect ID short-web-link system.

An interesting change with the DiskStation DS925+ is the removal of the (6Gbps) eSATA port for connecting Synology’s optional, legacy, external drive bays and its replacement with a single (5Gbps) USB-C port which connects to a Synology DX525 5-bay expansion unit. I didn’t have an expansion bay on hand to test this, but the performance difference should be minimal.

While there are only two 2.5GbE network ports, you can combine them in various ways, with the easiest (load balancing) becoming operational in just a few clicks. It’s more suited to multiple connections rather than improving top speed, though.

Finally, it’s worth noting that compatibility with third-party drives is now strictly limited. At the time of writing, the DS925+ was only compatible with its own (up to 16TB) prosumer Plus Series hard drives, its (up to 20TB) Enterprise Series hard drives and (up to 7TB) SSDs, plus its 400GB and 800GB M.2 NVMe drives. All of these cost considerably more than third-party equivalents. Synology is blunt about why it has limited compatibility so much – it got sick of dealing with support requests that often boiled down to conflicts and crashes caused by drive failures and subsequent arguments with third-party drive vendors. While it’s annoying, I can sympathize with that.

  • Design & build score: 5 / 5

Synology DiskStation DS925+: Features

(Image credit: Nick Ross)

It’s tricky to know just where to start with the numerous features that are available with the DiskStation DS925+. It performs just about every business and consumer task you can imagine. For many smart-home users, the various multi-device backup utilities, multimedia organization tools and media-server functionality (including Plex, Emby and Jellyfin) will be used more than anything else.

For prosumer and business users, it can be your full-stack IT service provider. There are apps that can transform your NAS into an enterprise-grade backup solution with off-site (third-party and Synology C2) cloud capabilities; email server; web server; Synology Office application provider; surveillance camera manager; anti-malware protection; virtual machine manager and a VPN server.

In all of these applications, multiple user licenses are included, which boosts the value proposition through the roof.

There’s a multitude of third-party applications and high-quality documentation (covering just about everything) that has been created by a large and mature Synology-enthusiast community.

Network admins will also like the numerous drive-formatting options, granular user permission management and SSO and MFA security options.

Storage capacity can be increased via a USB-C connected, five-drive-bay expansion unit.

The two USB-A ports (front and rear) have had many functions removed so they can no longer be used to connect potential security nightmares like printers, media devices, or network adapters, but they can still be used for connecting external USB storage devices.

The twin 92mm fans are quiet and, in conjunction with well-designed vents, do a good job of cooling the NAS. That said, be sure to place it in a location where airflow isn’t impeded and the vents won’t get clogged with dust.

Synology DiskStation DS925+: Performance

(Image credit: Nick Ross)

To test the DiskStation DS925+, I installed four Synology 3.5-inch, 4TB hard drives and formatted them with Synology’s own RAID-5-like Btrfs file system which offers striped performance boosts, disk-failure redundancy protection and numerous enhancements that work with Synology’s backup utilities. It left me with a 10.4TB volume and meant I could lose/remove any one drive without suffering data loss.

I also installed two 400GB M.2 NVMe SSDs as a single Btrfs storage volume (they can also be used for caching) which gave me a usable capacity of 362.4GB.

I transferred files from one volume to the other and hit sustained transfer speeds that peaked at 435MB/s, but most people will be moving data externally.

I subsequently performed multiple tests to find its real-world limits, see what doing without a 10GbE port option meant and discover what benefits the two (configurable) 2.5GbE LAN ports offered. I did this by connecting the NAS to a high-end, TP-Link Deco BE85 Wi-Fi 7 Router (with 10GbE LAN ports) via Ethernet and downloading large video files using various wired and wireless configurations.

I compared the DS925+’s performance to that of an older, two-bay Synology DiskStation DS723+ that has a 10GbE wired connection, a dual 3.5-inch hard drive volume and a newly fitted, single, 800GB Synology M.2 NVMe SSD-based volume.

I tested using a high-end Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D gaming laptop with a 2.5GbE LAN connection and Wi-Fi 6E, as well as a new Core Ultra (Series 2) Asus Vivobook 14 Flip with Wi-Fi 7.

I started with the DS723+ which I’ve been using for testing Wi-Fi routers. With the Scar’s 2.5GbE Ethernet port connected by wire to the Deco router, I saw sustained transfer speeds that hit 245MB/s for both the DS723+’s HDD volume and its NVMe volume. Over a 5GHz Wi-Fi 6E wireless connection, this dropped to 194MB/s for both volumes. Over a 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E wireless connection, it achieved 197MB/s using the HDD volume and 215MB/s for the NVMe volume.

Switching to the Wi-Fi 7 VivoBook, on the 5GHz wireless connection, it managed 180MB/s for both the HDD and NVMe volumes. However, when using the 6GHz Wi-Fi 7 network, it achieved 244MB/s for the HDD volume and an astonishing 347MB/s for the NVMe volume. That right there is the power of having a 10GbE-equipped NAS (with an NVMe drive) connected to a Wi-Fi 7 network. Cables, schmables! That’s more than enough for editing multiple streams of UHD video at once.

(Image credit: Nick Ross)

So, how did the newer DS925+ compare? When it was connected to the Deco via a single 2.5GbE port, the 2.5GbE LAN connected Asus laptop reached 280MB/s for the HDD volume and 282MB/s for the NVMe volume – a good 35MB/s quicker than the two-bay DS723+. Over 5GHz Wi-Fi these scores both dropped to 190MB/s which is similar to the DS723+, illustrating a likely 5GHz Wi-Fi bottleneck. Interestingly, performance was consistently slower during the Scar’s 6GHz tests, where it hit 163MB/s (HDD volume) and 172MB/s (NVMe volume), but this is again likely caused by the network, not the NAS.

When the VivoBook connected via the 5GHz network, it managed 186MB/s transfers for both volumes. Over Wi-Fi 7 this jumped up to 272MB/s for the HDD volume and 278MB/s for the SSD volume. So, thus far, the file transfer performance benefits of having NVMe storage on the DS925+ aren’t significant when passing through the bottleneck of its 2.5GbE LAN port.

Consequently, I bonded the two 2.5GbE connections together to form a ‘single’ 5GbE connection in an effort to boost performance. This takes just a few clicks in DSM’s control panel. I opted for the basic Adaptive Load Balancing option, but there are several other configurations for various types of network topology.

(Image credit: Nick Ross)

So, with the DS925+’s two Ethernet cables forming a single 5Gbps connection to the Deco router, I ran the tests again. The 2.5GbE-connected ROG Strix Scar saw transfer speeds (to both the HDD and SSD volumes) only reach 168MB/s, which is around 120MB/s slower than when the NAS was connected via a single 2.5GbE wired connection. Over 5GHz Wi-Fi this boosted (slightly) to 188MB/s for both volumes and over the 6GHz network, it dropped back to 170MB/s for both volumes. It’s fair to say that combining the DS925+’s two 2.5GbE ports is better suited to handling multiple network streams rather than boosting performance of a single connection.

Nonetheless, I repeated the test with the VivoBook. Over 5GHz Wi-Fi, both volumes saw transfer speeds of 176MB/s. Over 6GHz Wi-Fi 7, it hit 283MB/s.

So, what have we learned about the DS925+’s file transfer-speed potential? Using a 2.5GbE wired connection to and from the router, it tops out at 280MB/s. Connecting the laptop via 5GHz Wi-Fi typically sees transfer speeds of between 160MB/s and 185MB/s, but over 6GHz Wi-Fi 7, up to 283MB/s is possible. This means that, in the right circumstances, Wi-Fi 7 can match 2.5GbE connection speeds.

We also learned that combining the DS925+’s two 2.5GbE connections (at least, in my particular setup) reduces the top transfer speed. Most importantly, that means losing the option for a 10GbE upgrade stops us hitting insane 347MB/s speeds over Wi-Fi 7, and 283MB/s is the reduced ceiling. As such, it’s straight-up not worth using the M.2 drives for file transfer performance boosting as the 2.5GbE connection(s) act as a bottleneck.

That all said, the M.2 drives can still improve performance through caching functionality and Synology notes it can give a 15x improvement to random read and write IOPS. This will be a much bigger deal in situations with multiple connections occurring simultaneously.

While some high-end users will miss the option to upgrade to a 10GbE performance ceiling, I found it’s still more than enough to facilitate very high bitrate, 60FPS, UHD+ video playback (and multiple UHD video stream editing) in addition to having multiple simultaneous connections performing numerous lesser tasks.

  • Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the Synology DiskStation DS925+?

It has become normal to gripe about the design decisions and limitations that Synology imposes on each generation of its prosumer NAS boxes. However, if we eliminate the potential purchasers it won’t suit – i.e. those who need a 10GbE connection and those who cannot afford all the expensive Synology hard drives required to populate it – it’s absolutely worth buying.

Its highly evolved chassis is deceptively well built in terms of tool-less access, rigidity, cooling and airflow. Its operating environment remains secure, robust and intuitive and is packed with features. Its software library will satisfy casual and demanding consumers plus network admins alike and almost all of it is free.

While it’s lost the hodgepodge, stick-your-old-hard-drives-in-a-box-and-hack-a-NAS-together old-school vibe, it’s now a reliable (and scalable) professional backbone for any business or smart-home.

As an all-around package, it’s the best on the market for its target audience. Yes, it can be expensive to populate with drives, but the subsequent total cost of ownership borne through reliability, software licensing and built-in security features help offset the burden of the initial outlay. This means that the DS925+ is, once again, a highly desirable winner from Synology.

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Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

A closed market makes buying drives expensive. But, the free software library can make it a bargain, regardless.

4.5

Design

It’s incredibly simple to put together thanks to its tool-less design. The software is voluminous, polished, mature, secure and reliable. It also runs cool and quiet.

5

Features

Whether you’re an undemanding consumer or a network admin, the DS925+ can do it all. 

5

Performance

The lack of an upgrade option to a 10GbE port limits peak performance, but it’s still not slow.

4.5

Total

Synology’s latest 4-bay NAS is as attractive as its predecessors, which is high praise indeed.

5

(Image credit: Nick Ross)

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Synology DiskStation DS925+: Price Comparison



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