Gaming News

Forgotten Gems: Shadow Complex

Forgotten Gems is a regular column about notable games that have moved out of the public eye and may not be easily accessible anymore. To see all the other games I've covered so far, check out the previous issues of Forgotten Gems in our Columns section. Metroid-like games and their roguelike off-shoots are everywhere today. Not a week goes by without an indie game announcement promising “metroidvania” gameplay elements – and even Nintendo returned to making new Metroid titles after a near six year hiatus following Metroid: Other M in 2010. And that’s me being generous and counting Metroid Prime: Federation Force as a Metroid game… But it wasn’t always so. After a Metroid renaissance in the early 2000s with Fusion, Prime, and Zero...

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Persona Director Reveals the Secret to Atlus' Beloved Games

Katsura Hashino knows exactly what he wants when it comes to video games. The legendary game director, who is responsible for the modern Persona games and more recently Metaphor: ReFantazio, believes that, in a world obsessed with pixel count and frame-rates, only one thing matters: the people who made it. “I want something – even if it’s not complete, even if it’s really rough, even if it’s something really unfinished – to give me a glimpse of the humanity behind it. [I want to know] who created it and for it to give me a glimpse of the emotion that inspired it,” he explains. It’s a philosophy that has served him well over the past 30 years and it’s one of the reasons the Persona games have such a devout following. Yes, the art...

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Fortnite's 2024 Halloween Event Arrives Today, Features Outfits from Saw, Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Fortnitemares 2024, Fortnite's annual Halloween event, goes live today and will feature the return of Horde Rush, a pile of fresh quests and rewards, and a host of recognisable, horror-themed outfits hitting the Shop. Horde Rush will be available for the duration of this year's event, and players will be able to complete Horde Rush quests and Rocket Racing Nitemares quests for XP that will grant a variety of rewards. Fornitemares 2024 also arrives with a new chainsaw weapon dubbed the Boom Billy, which can be used to carve through enemies (or thrust into the ground and revved to drag your character forward at "frightening speeds"). In addition to this, the Wood Stake Shotgun, Pumpkin Launcher, and Witch Broom are all returning for...

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The Slim TSA-Approved Baseus Blade 20,000mAh 100W Power Bank Is Down to $49.79

Right now, Amazon is offering Amazon Prime members this Baseus Blade 20,000mAh 100W USB power bank for only $49.79 after you clip a 10% off coupon and also apply promo code "SGH4BTPY" during checkout. This TSA-approved portable battery features a generous 20,000mAH capacity and a powerful 100W charging rate with Power Delivery 3.0 and PPS. It's the perfect backup for a Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally. Baseus hasn't been long around enough to develop the same reputation as Anker, but its power banks have been steadily racking up favorable reviews and recommendations. They're also a lot less expensive than a comparable Anker power bank. Baseus Blade 20,000mAh 100W Power Bank for $49.79 Amazon Prime member exclusive The Baseus Blade...

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Now There’s ANOTHER Disco Elysium Spin-Off Studio, and This One’s Coming Out With Some Proper Fighting Talk

Hot on the heels of two ZA/UM spin-off studios proclaiming their existence to the world alongside an intention to make separate Disco Elysium spiritual successors of their own, another developer made up of some of the people who made the game has exploded onto the scene. But this new, seemingly fifth(!) outfit trying to keep the Disco dream alive doesn’t sound too thrilled at today's confusing and chaotic group of announcements from various collectives of former ZA/UM staff, who are all saying they’re doing sort of the same thing. This latest studio, Summer Eternal, was founded by Argo Tuulik, who was involved with co-creating Disco Elysium’s worldbuilding all the way back from ZA/UM’s tabletop RPG sessions in early 2000s Estonia...

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Witching Stone Is An Adorable Match-3 Roguelike Puzzle Game

There are a lot of roguelikes out there, but one subgenre that’s been popping up recently is the Match-3 puzzle roguelike. Think Puzzle Quest, but with permadeath and different mechanics. If you’ve not played Puzzle Quest, then you can consider this a recommendation for that as well. In the simplest terms, Witching Stone is a […] Continue reading...

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IGN UK Podcast 769: They Pasteurise Mayonnaise, Don't They?

Cardy, Jesse and Mat celebrate one of the best games of the year, one of the best shows of the year, and one of the most disapointing second episodes of an anime ever made in this latest podcast. We're chatting Metaphor ReFantazio, It’s What’s Inside, Uzumaki, Industry and finding a little extra time with Nintendo's Alarmo.Remember to send us your thoughts about all the new games, TV shows, and films you're enjoying or looking forward to: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com. IGN UK Podcast 769: They Pasteurise Mayonnaise, Don't They? IGN UK Podcast 767: Where's Tokyo Games Tho? IGN UK Podcast 768: Pure Misery, Both Good and Bad IGN UK Podcast 766: PlayStation Series That Need to Come Back IGN UK Podcast 765: PS5 Pros and Biscuit Pockets IGN UK...

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Terrifier: The ARTcade Game Announced for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S

Introducing Terrifier: The ARTcade Game, the retro-inspired, pixel-art beat-'em-up based on Art the Clown's world from the Terrifier horror movies. In fact, you play as Art in this four-player local co-op brawler with a chiptune soundtrack. Terrifier: The ARTcade game, published by Selecta Play and developed by Relevo, will be released in 2025 for Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Terrifier: The ARTcade game goes full old-school with its Sega Genesis-era graphics, six different game modes, and over-the-top violence. The developers describe the actions as such, with you playing as Art, who "disrupts movie sets where films about his own gruesome acts are being shot. Instead of letting the cameras capture the...

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Anime Voice Actress Nobuyo Oyama, Voice of Doraemon and Danganronpa's Villainous Mascot, Dies at 90

Anime voice actress Nobuyo Oyama, one of the main voices of Doraemon in addition to playing the villainous mascot in Danganronpa, has died. She was 90. The new was announced by Oyama's agency and circulated on X/Twitter. Oyama had been living in a retirement home since 2016 and reportedly suffered from dementia. She died on September 29. Prior to her retirement, Oyama had been best-known for her role as Doraemon, the robotic cat from the future who is often seen as being right up there with Astro Boy as one of the foundational characters of modern anime. Oyama voiced Doraemon for an incredible 2,338 episodes over the course of more than 25 years before finally handing the role to Wasabi Mizuta for a new show that began in 2005. She...

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Three Tomb Raider Games From an Awkward Time in Lara Croft's History Are the Next to be Remastered

Three more Tomb Raider games are getting remastered courtesy of Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr, bringing fans back to the time when the hallowed series was starting to be considered a little long in the tooth. The Tomb Raider IV-IV Remastered features updated version of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider: Chronicles, and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. The first two were originally released for the PlayStation 1 and Dreamcast, while the third one came out on PlayStation 2. All three are considered lesser entries by many fans, with Angel of Darkness in particular being known for being buggy and unfinished. Here are the official descriptions of all three games. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999) Lara Croft uncovers...

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Metaphor: ReFantazio Has Already Sold 1 Million Copies and It’s Only Been Out a Day

Atlus’ Metaphor: ReFantazio has sold over one million copies as of its official release date, publisher Sega has announced. That's enough to make Metaphor: ReFantazio the fastest-selling Atlus game of all time, breaking Persona 3 Reload's record of hitting one million in a week. Metaphor: ReFantazio’s October 11 global release date has already seen the Persona-style game shoot up Steam’s most-played game list, with 42,992 concurrent players at the time of this article’s publication. That figure will no-doubt rise as we head into the weekend and fans in other regions get the chance to play. The game also launched across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, but neither Sony nor Microsoft makes player numbers publicly...

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You’d Be Forgiven for Thinking This Disco Elysium Spiritual Successor From Some of the People Who Worked at ZA/UM Is Disco Elysium 2

On Disco Elysium’s five-year anniversary, two separate studios each made up of people who used to work at developer ZA/UM have announced they're both making a spiritual successor of their own. Disco Elysium is a 2019 narrative role-playing game developed and published by controversial studio ZA/UM. Gameplay revolves around navigating dialogue trees rather than combat, with each of the 24 skills representing a different aspect of the amnesiac detective protagonist's abilities and thoughts. The player is free to support or suppress his ideologies as they work through the story. Disco Elysium is considered by some among the greatest video games ever made. It went on to enjoy enormous success, winning numerous game of the year awards and...

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Why the Moza VGS Wheel is A Shift Up in Excellence and the Best Prices For It

Even though I'm a satisfied owner of Moza's GS V2P, the Vision GS wheel's extra features blew me away. Space age enough to look like it belongs in some kind of anti-grav hoveracer, the VGS, as it's known to its friends, represents a new peak of engineering within Moza's family of swappable wheels.I was fortunate enough to put this beast through its paces recently and have gathered my thoughts below. For now, though, let's identify the first hurdle of entry if you're of a mind to wrap mitts around one yourself: price. You can, of course, skip that eye-watering window shopping by clicking here to jump right to my words instead. Our Moza Test Setup Moza VGS Steering Wheel Let's kick off with the positives, because they're certainly...

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Steam Deck Will Begin Officially Shipping to Australia Next Month

Valve has today confirmed that the Steam Deck will begin officially shipping to Australia next month, in November 2024. The announcement comes as Steam marks its first-ever appearance at PAX Australia, where attendees can trial Steam Decks on the show floor. Since March 2022, Valve's handheld gaming computer has been shipping to North America and Europe, as well as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. Now Australia will be added to the regions where Steam Deck can be shipped to, directly from Steam itself. "We've been working on bringing Steam Deck to Australia for a while," the company said in a statement accompanying today's news. "It took a bit more time than we expected, and we're pleased that we can finally make this...

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Red Dead Redemption PC Price Confirmed as Pre-Orders Go Live

Pre-orders went live today for the highly anticipated PC port of Red Dead Redemption, finally revealing the cost: $49.99. That's the price listed across Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Rockstar's own website on Thursday. That $50 will get you the complete single-player experiences of Red Dead Redemption and the Undead Nightmare expansion, as well as bonus content from the Game of the Year Edition (it does not, however, include multiplayer). Rockstar finally announced earlier this week that the PC version will arrive on October 29, a full 14 years after Red Dead Redemption first launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in 2010. In addition to the aforementioned content, it'll also include the following features: Native 4K...

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Ahead of Black Ops 6’s Launch, Activision Says Call of Duty’s AI-Powered Voice Moderation Has Already Had a Massive Impact on Toxicity

Activision has delivered a report on the work it’s done to combat toxicity in Call of Duty, insisting it’s already made a huge impact ahead of the launch of Black Ops 6. Call of Duty was for years associated with toxic player behavior, both in voice chat and over text message. But Activision has worked to reverse the franchise's thorny reputation, launching 2023's Modern Warfare 3 with in-game voice chat moderation powered by AI. Activision is using ToxMod from Modulate, which uses AI to identify in real-time and enforce against toxic speech including hate speech, discriminatory language, and harassment. Addressing privacy concerns from the Call of Duty community, Activision has insisted voice chat is only monitored and recorded...

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Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Already Has Double the Peak Player Count of FighterZ on Steam, and It's Not Even Fully Out Yet

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is just still in early access, launching in full tomorrow (October 11), but that hasn't stopped fans from pushing it to massive early numbers on Steam. In fact, Sparking! Zero has sped past the peak player counts of every other Dragon Ball game — and it's not even close. SteamDB currently reports a peak player count of 91,005, which was achieved two days ago. As of the writing of this story, the game still has a sizeable amount of players (55,732 currently, with a 24-hour peak of 70,558), sustaining inarguably healthy momentum leading up to its proper release. That's already impressive when you consider that's just players who shelled out $100 or more for Sparking! Zero's Deluxe or Ultimate Editions...

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Amazon Announces Halloween-Themed Prime Gaming October 2024 Lineup

Amazon has announced the October 2024 Prime Gaming lineup of free games (Prime Gaming is a benefit of Amazon Prime membership). There’s a Halloween-theme to this month’s lineup, which includes the likes of BioShock Remastered, Doom Eternal, and Scorn. Other horror games in the deal include Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation (fresh from the studio’s announcement that a sequel is in the works), Tormented Souls, a survival horror game inspired by the original Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark series, and Death's Door. Illfonic's Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is also on the list. October 2024 Prime Gaming lineup in full: Now Available Hive Jump 2: Survivors [GOG Code] – Hive Jump 2: Survivors is a sci-fi, action-packed, bullet...

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Dragon Quest 3 Remake Sets Up a 'Surprise' Ending for the HD-2D Trilogy

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii has said players will encounter a "new discovery" if they play through the Dragon Quest HD-2D Remake trilogy in chronological order. As reported by Famitsu and translated by Automaton, Horii teased some fun changes to the trilogy, which strangely begins with Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake on November 14, including a "bit of a surprise." Dragon Quest 3 was, thankfully, a prequel to the first two games, meaning this instruction to play them chronologically also matches the release order. Square Enix announced the third game's remake in 2021 but years later revealed the first two games were also being remade for a collection coming in 2025. Square Enix has already confirmed Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake will...

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Silent Hill 2 Remake Mod Switches Pyramid Head for Thomas the Tank Engine, Obviously

A Silent Hill 2 Remake modder has continued the tradition of turning a game's big bad into Thomas the Tank Engine, this time replacing Pyramid Head with the children's cartoon character. The Pyramid the Tank Engine mod from ZombieAli is available to download on Nexus Mods and, as per the description, it simply "replaced Pyramid Head with Thomas the Tank Engine." The pyramid head does remain, however, but comes across more like a bold fashion choice for Thomas as opposed to the focal point of a horrific monster. "As the mod prophecy once foretold, thou shalt always put Thomas into moddable games," ZombieAli said. The trend seemingly began with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, when a modder replaced the mighty dragon Alduin with the...

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Sand: The First Preview

If stomping your way across the desert on a giant, leggy, weaponized platform with a few of your best friends sounds like a good time, have I got a game for you. Especially if along the way you want to explore a ruined world, scavenge wrecks and ruins, take pot shots at other scavengers, and get in a few knock-down drag-out landship brawls with hostile crews with their own custom-built Trampler mechs. That's just what goes down in Sand, an upcoming PvPvE survival shooter where you and your crew want to get down to the planet Sophie, get the goods while exploring the surface, and get out—hopefully making a profit in the process. The world is an alternate history before World War 1, so your gear and the world is all this riveted...

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Former Blizzard Boss's New Company Reveals Its Debut Game, a Whimsical Co-Op Strategy Game Called Sunderfolk

Secret Door, one of the two game developers under the umbrella of Dreamhaven, has revealed its first game — a new four-player co-op adventure called Sunderfolk. Billed as a tactical turn-based RPG, Sunderfolk brings players together to complete missions on a top-down map. Secret Door calls it a "streamlined alternative to the traditional tabletop gaming experience" in its official release, saying that it requires "no elaborate setup, rulebooks, or materials," but will include six distinct heroes, deck building, and other familiar RPG elements. To further increase accessibility, Sunderfolk will support phones or tablets to control the onscreen action, calling it as a "new spin on the classic game night experience." “We have a bunch...

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Football Manager 25 Gets Huge Delay in Shock Move, Now Releasing Just Two Months Before the End of the Season

In a shock move for the popular sim, Sega is delaying Football Manager 25 until March 2025, putting its release barely two months before 2025's European Champions League Final. Developer Sports Interactive and Sega released a statement calling it "tough decision" and saying that specific platform dates will follow once confirmed. The statement continued, "In our last Development Update in September, we explained that we needed to push FM25's original release back to give ourselves more time to deliver the best possible experience for this first installment in a new era of Football Manager. This additional time has not been sufficient to ensure the game quality and experience meets your expectations and our very high standards." The...

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Microsoft Picks Up MechWarrior 5: Clans for Day One Xbox Game Pass Launch

MechWarrior 5: Clans launches day one on Microsoft’s subscription service, Game Pass. Piranha Games, best known for MechWarrior Online, releases MechWarrior 5: Clans across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on October 16, and we now know it also hits Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass then. MechWarrior 5: Clans is pitched as the long-awaited return to story-based gameplay for the franchise. It’s actually Piranha Games’ third game in the MechWarrior franchise, and follows 2013 MMO MechWarrior Online and 2019 single-player and co-op sandbox game MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, which sold more than two million units. In contrast, MechWarrior 5: Clans “brings a story rich, linear-based single-player/co-op narrative-driven action game...

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Little Nightmares Becomes a Horror Comic Book in 2025

2025 is shaping up to be a great year for the Little Nightmares franchise. Not only is this unique horror adventure series returning for a third game thanks to developer Supermassive Games, it's also getting a comic book spinoff. IGN can exclusively reveal the first details about Little Nightmares: Descent to Nowhere, a collaboration between Titan Comics and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe. First, check out the cover art for the first issue below: Little Nightmares: Descent to Nowhere is written by Lonnie Nadler (Cable) and illustrated by Dennis Menheere (Etheres), with Damien Worm providing the cover art to issue #1. Nadler is no stranger to the Little Nightmares franchise, as he also serves as the showrunner and lead writer on...

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Sega Competition Gives Metaphor ReFantazio Fan a Real Royal Title: 'Hand to the Sovereign Prince of Sealand'

Sega is giving UK fans of its upcoming Persona-esque role-playing game Metaphor ReFantazio the chance to become a member of the royal family of the world's smallest (but unofficially recognized) country: Sealand. Where to begin... Metaphor ReFantazio arrives from the creators of Persona 3, 4, and 5 on October 11 as a fantasy RPG with themes of royal families and knights and so on. To celebrate, publisher Sega is hosting a competition that gives one fan a royal title of their own. "Sega has created a new and never to be repeated noble title: Hand to the Sovereign Prince of Sealand," it boasted. The Principality of Sealand is a sea fort turned country off the coast of England with a population of one. Not one million or 100,000...

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Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero DLC Revealed Via Steam Backend

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero developers Bandai Namco Games and Spike Chunsoft are seemingly planning some downloadable content for the fan-favorite fighting game not already announced. As reported by ComicBook, the Steam backend has been updated to reference a new DLC called the Martial Arts Pack. This is listed on SteamDB alongside already announced extra content including the Season Pass and Ultimate Edition bonuses, the Anime Music Packs 1 and 2, and the upgrade and preorder packs. No details on what's included in the pack were revealed on the SteamDB page but Reddit user Zeucleio discovered its contents through a companion book released for the game in Japan today, October 10. According to their post, the book contained a bonus...

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EA Sports FC 25’s First ‘Live Tuning’ Update Patches Out Exploit That Was Ruining Competitive Play

EA Sports has issued FC 25's first live tuning update, which patches out an exploit that was ruining competitive play. Live tuning lets EA Sports roll out some changes without requiring a full title update. The developer said it can make tuning changes “faster and with more frequency while working on the balance of the game.” Live Tuning Update #1 reduces ball trajectory height for lobbed passes and crosses in Rush matches (Ultimate Team’s eye-catching new mode for FC 25), and reduces the accuracy of first-time lobbed through passes and lobbed through passes taken at severe angles across all gameplay. But it’s the end of the game-breaking speed boost exploit that will be of most interest to core FC 25 fans. This speed boost glitch...

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Old Rivals Konami and FIFA Sign eFootball Esports Deal Following EA Sports Split

The world of soccer video games took another twist today after Konami and FIFA — for years rivals on the virtual pitch — signed their first deal following the end of EA Sports’ long-running FIFA games. But don't get too excited yet, it's just for esports. Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series had for years tussled with EA Sports’ all-conquering FIFA series before finally pivoting to the free-to-play eFootball. EA has largely cornered the market, locking up the rights to the Premier League, La Liga, and other popular leagues, with Konami left fighting for scraps. EA dropped the FIFA license in 2022 amid reports that the organization, which serves as the governing body for the various national associations around the world, had asked...

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PlaySide Studios on Kill Knight

With Kill Knight, PlaySide Studios has stepped into the console (and PC) space with a compelling and challenging high score-chasing, twin-stick shooter. We already gave you our thoughts after extensive hands-on time with the game, but we also spent a day at one of PlaySide Studios’ Melbourne offices, chatting with the team about their goals for the game and getting the inside track on how it changed over the course of development. Here are some of the most interesting insights that Ryan McMahon (General Manager of PlaySide’s PC and Console Games Division) and Sean Gabriel (Lead Game Designer on Kill Knight) told us during our visit. The Eldritch Layer Pitch Ryan McMahon: Kill Knight is an ultra-responsive, arcade-inspired isometric...

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