Gaming News

Capcom released the incredibly intricate character creator for Dragon's Dogma 2 early and, naturally, players are already creating some wonderful and horrific things.Players can download the character creator now before jumping straight into the action on March 22 when Dragon's Dogma 2 launches proper. It allows the creation of the player character and the first of many pawns, which are the devoted followers of the player and the main mechanic of Dragon's Dogma 2.The character creator in Dragon's Dogma 2 is already being praised as one of the best ever. "This character creator truly feels next gen," wrote TheShiniestHobo on Reddit. "The best I've seen in any game," added EMT-Fields.For as many wonderful and dramatic characters...

The Helldivers 2 community has liberated Tien Kwan just a day after it became available to play, unlocking the use of mechs in the process. But before you log on expecting to stomp on bugs and shoot up bots straight away, there’s something you need to know first.While on your spaceship, check out the stratagems list and scroll to the bottom. There you’ll see the EXO-45 Patriot Exosuit, which comes equipped with a rocket launcher and heavy machine gun. And here’s the catch: it’s only available to buy at level 25.Helldivers 2 is just a month old, which means there will be a lot of players who have yet to hit such a high level. Prior to the exosuit’s arrival, the highest level required for a stratagem was 20. So, most players won’t...

There are fresh fears Warner Bros. Discovery plans to delist all Adult Swim games, including the likes of Pool Panic, Duck Game, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, and Kingsway, within the next two months.This week, the creator of Small Radios Big Televisions, Owen Deery, tweeted that Warner Bros. Discovery had informed him that his indie game would be retired in the coming weeks. The game, Small Radios Big Televisions, is published by Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiary Adult Swim Games.Deery told Game Developer that Warner Bros. Discovery will pull Small Radios Big Televisions from storefronts in the next 60 days. According to an email sent to Deery, Warner Bros. Discovery said it can no longer support Small Radios Big Televisions...

Developer Mighty Koi Studio announces The Night Wanderer, a new sci-fi/fantasy soulslike with RPG elements based on the Polish book series "Lord of the Ice Garden" by Jarosław Grzędowicz.Mighty Koi, established in 2022 and also at work on the just-announced Thorgal, describes The Night Wanderer as such: "Players will take on the role of Vuko Drakkainen - a mercenary sent to the mysterious planet Midgaard to find a lost scientific expedition. The storyline combines science fiction with traditional fantasy. The gameplay will feature a compelling protagonist, an engaging story, and a vivid, extraordinary world shaped by mysterious forces."Drakkainen is also the main character of the novel, which is a four-volume saga that was first...

Developer Mighty Koi Studio announces Thorgal, a new action-adventure game with RPG elements based on the famous Polish comic series by Grzegorz Rosiński and Jean Van Hamme.According to Mighty Koi, which is also working on the just-announced soulslike The NIght Wanderer, players of Thorgal "will take on the role of the main character and experience many adventures known from the comics, encountering dangerous bandits, formidable monsters, and invincible gods - but also powerful allies."Thorgal was first published in 1977 and has since sold over 20 million copies and been translated into 18 different languages.Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well...

It looks like some Helldivers 2 players are accessing the hotly anticipated mechs early — and this time it may well be official.This week, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead seemingly locked the release of mechs behind the liberation of a planet, sending hundreds of thousands of players off to fight back against the Automatons on Tien Kwan.While the battle to liberate Tien Kwan rages on, some players have provided footage on the Helldivers subreddit and Discord showing what looks like mechs on the planet. They’re able to then jump in and play around with Helldivers 2’s new exosuits, although based on the reports from players who claim to have found the mechs, they are extremely rare.It’s hard to discern what’s legit and what’s...

There are some games that keep you entertained for a weekend. Some keep you busy for an hour on a weeknight after failing to settle on what new Netflix documentary to watch next. But then, every so often, a game like Balatro turns up and takes hold of your entire life – to the point where you open up your wardrobe and the only four suits your eyes can make out are clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts. This poker-influenced roguelike may appear straightforward at first, but take the risk of picking it up, and its ludicrously fun gameplay loop won’t let you put it down.Never has the power of placing down a simple pair of kings garnered more delight than in Balatro, where it can suddenly conjure up an 82 x 146 multiplier as you watch the...

It feels like the video game console is at a crossroads. With Xbox Series X and S floundering in the ‘console war’, Sony suggesting PlayStation 5 is approaching the second half of its life after missing sales targets, and uncertainty around the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, there is growing concern that the traditional video game console business could be under threat.Why? There are a number of reasons. Perhaps chief among them is that the console business has failed to grow meaningfully in years, offering a sizable but static customer base that is increasingly playing a handful of enormous games and leaving little room for everything else. After the pandemic boom and huge revenue increases from new types of monetisation like...

It’s been a tumultuous week in the world of Helldivers 2, which saw the game’s first balance patch nerf its best loadout, an associated backlash, and, most recently, a call-to-arms to unlock mechs. Now, developer Arrowhead has addressed the backlash in particular, and signaled plans to change the game as a result.First, some background. This week’s patch 01.000.100 nerfed the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack, three items considered essential to higher difficulty play and Helldivers 2’s best loadouts. But it also buffed weaker weapons and stratagems, including the Flamethrower, Laser Cannon, Punisher, and the 380mm and 120mm Orbital Barrages.It was the nerfs to the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack that...

The battle for Olympus is ready to begin in Fortnite, with Epic revealing details on the map, mythic weapons, the Myths and Mortals Battle Pass, and more. Particularly exciting for Fortnite fans is that Chapter 5 Season 2 introduces flying mechanics via the Wings of Icarus, offering new and interesting ways to traverse the map in service of hunting your foes.The Fortnite community was abuzz on Thursday when Epic released the cinematic trailer for Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 5, which is themed around Greek mythology. Myths and Mortals should be live by the time this article is published.Ares, Cerberus, flying mechanics, and meme skinsThe official blog offered some of the following details on what Fortnite fans can expect from Myths...

Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball and the artist behind Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and numerous other works, has died. He was 68.News of Toriyama's passing was made public by the official Dragon Ball Z X (formerly Twitter) account on March 7. According to the statement, Toriyama died due to an acute subdural hematoma."It's our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm. Also, he would have many more things to achieve." Bird Studio and Capsule Corporation Tokyo wrote in the tweet."However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world. Thanks to the support of so many people round the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities over 45...

Thank your own personal deity—possibly the titular Dragon's Dogma 2 dragon—it's Friday! This morning, I should like to turn your attention to a sale of some old EA-owned gold that's made its way to Steam for the first time. Chief among them for me is The Saboteur, basically a WWII GTA set in Paris. I'm also all about the dirt cheap tsunami of Command & Conquer games, too.In retro news, I'm celebrating the 22nd birthday of one of the greats, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. I have vivid memories of replaying the Tanker demo disc that came affixed to the Official PlayStation Magazine about...oh, forty times. The full game continued to delight with memorable bosses, level detail we'd simply not seen up until that point, plus a...

Dragon's Dogma fans have been anxiously awaiting a demo for the sequel, and while today's Capcom Highlights stream didn't announced a full-blown demo, it did reveal that the character creator and storage will be available today.If you take advantage of the pre-release character creator, you'll be able to transfer your character to the full game when it releases on March 22. Dragon's Dogma II features a pretty in-depth character creator (which we broke down as part of our IGN First coverage right here), so it's a good opportunity to get a heads-start on your own Arisen ahead of the official release.Developing...Continue reading...

Yesterday, Bethesda released the latest beta update for the Steam version of Starfield. Update 1.10.30 lets players test a list of changes before they're publicly released on all platforms, including new facial expressions and postures in photo mode.As it teased last week, Bethesda is emphasizing quality-of-life improvements. The beta update includes hundreds of changes, from bug fixes to graphical errors. The biggest change, though, may be the addition of new poses and facial expressions for you and your companions, providing players with more creative freedom in photo mode.Some other highlights include removing the penalty of losing a Digipick when you press the "undo" command during the Security mini-game. Several players in...

Today, Blizzard revealed a stylish trailer for Overwatch 2's next big crossover collaboration event with none other than the fan-favorite 90's anime series, Cowboy Bebop. The special collaboration will launch as a part of Overwatch 2 Season 9 on March 12.In typical Overwatch fashion, the Cowboy Bebop collaboration trailer spoofs animation studio Sunrise anime's iconic opening animated sequence and opening theme song "Tank" by Yoko Kanno. In it, we see Cassidy as the bebop's laissez-faire bounty hunter, Spike Spiegel; Ashe as its femme fatale, Faye Valentine; Mauga as the gruff ex-cop, Jet Black; Wrecking Ball as the super-smart hound, Ein; and Sombra as the crew's rambunctious hacker, Ed.Blizzard first revealed a Cowboy Bebop...

The three most important things to know about South Park: Snow Day are 1) that it's a roguelike-inspired battle game rather than an RPG, 2) it's 3D rather than 2D, and 3) the South Park TV show supplied over 50 different fart sound effects for use in the game. We went hands-on with the multiplayer spin-off ahead of its March 26 release and, full disclosure, got our asses handed to us by Stan and his elves.Head into the snowy landscapes of the South Park streets and the reason for the 3D upgrade is obvious, allowing for the type of chaotic action that the previous South Park games could only dream of. Playing as New Kid, you can team up with three friends, or bots if you have social anxiety, to do Hades-like runs through different...

Kingmakers was announced just a little over two weeks ago, but all of IGN’s audience metric data suggests that it might soon follow Palworld and Helldivers 2 as a huge breakout sensation.So why do we think it's about to blow up?With nearly 11M views across IGN's social media channels, Kingmakers is the most-watched video game trailer on IGN social so far this year. Kingmakers is also one of the most viewed new games in 2024 so far across IGN's YouTube channels, racking up over 1.1 million views with just two trailers. It’s the 55th most wishlisted game on Steam as of this writing – and it’s climbing.If you’re not yet familiar with this rising star on the gaming scene, here’s what you need to know: The time-traveling...

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League's Deluxe Edition, which includes the upcoming Battle Pass alongside the base game, is currently down to $59.99 for PlayStation 5 users. That's a $40 drop in price compared to its $99.99 MSRP, and $10 cheaper than its standard edition which is still $69.99 on the PlayStation Store (this is also available at the same prices in the UK).That's good news for anyone looking to pick up the game before the Season One and Joker content drop on March 28, especially as you can get the Justice League Outfits, Black Mask Notorious Weapons, Squad Golds Weapon Dolls, a Battle Pass Token, No Shade Color Swatches at what is an effectively significantly reduced price.If you're going to buy the game, it's a...

The Helldivers 2 galactic war has taken another turn, as it always promised to, this time seemingly locking the release of mechs behind the liberation of a planet.A tweet from developer Arrowhead was all it took for hundreds of thousands of players to descend upon planet Tien Kwan in the hope that its liberation would unlock the hotly anticipated exo suits.“THIS IS NOT A DRILL!” the tweet reads. “Our factories are under attack, halting all output. Helldivers have been deployed to liberate Tien Kwan!”A fresh in-game message signaling a new Major Order fleshes out this call to arms. It seems the Automatons have captured the planet solely responsible for the manufacture of the mechs (that was your first mistake, Super Earth), so...

New IP fans, rejoice! Unknown 9: Awakening, the debut project from developer Reflector, is coming this year. You might remember the teaser trailer from Gamescom a few years ago that turned some heads, and after taking a first look at an hour of gameplay, I left eager to get some hands-on time with it and dive deeper. Any day we get to take a break from playing sequels and explore uncharted territory is a good day, and with some serious thought put into an all-new universe and a psychically souped-up protagonist with some interesting combat abilities, this third-person action-adventure definitely has potential.With a plethora of fantastic action-adventure games likely already in your games library, Unknown 9 hopes to set itself apart...

BAFTA has announced the nominations for the 2024 BAFTA Games Awards — and Baldur’s Gate 3 leads the pack.Larian’s sprawling Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game is up for 10 BAFTA Games Awards, including Best Game. Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has a strong showing with nine nominations, Remedy’s Alan Wake 2 has eight, and Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor have six each.Outside the triple-A space, MintRocket's marine adventure Dave The Diver and Tango Gameworks' rhythm action game Hi-Fi Rush have five nominations each, with Cocoon, Dredge, and Viewfinder four apiece.11 out of the 12 nominees in the performance categories receive their first BAFTA nomination, including...

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has revealed what’s coming soon to its smash hit co-op shooter, and announced a release date for its next Warbond.The new Warbond, dubbed Cutting Edge, launches March 14. It includes new armor sets, new guns, new capes, and new emotes, all with high-voltage vibes.Here’s a list of everything coming with Helldivers 2's new Cutting Edge Warbond, per Arrowhead:The EX Series PrototypesEX-03 Prototype 3 - Includes a rubber underlayer for insulation. Handy, really, as this prototype’s wires operate at a shocking 400,000 volts. EX-16 Prototype 16 - Warning: Electric arc generates a strong magnetic field. Avoid use while near stapled paperwork. EX-00 Prototype X - The end result of several billion Super...

It’s been a dramatic 24 hours for Helldivers 2 players after the game’s first balance patch set the cat among the pigeons with its nerf to the best loadout.Patch 01.000.100 nerfs the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack, three items considered essential to higher difficulty play and Helldivers 2’s best loadouts. But it also buffs weaker weapons and stratagems, including the Flamethrower (more on that later), Laser Cannon, Punisher, and the 380mm and 120mm Orbital Barrages.It’s the nerfs to the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack that have sparked the most vociferous discussion within the Helldivers 2 community, given their popularity. On higher difficulties, Helldivers 2 throws an often overwhelming number of...

Starfield's Premium Upgrade was originally notable for the five days of early access it granted during its release window, and while this early access period has since expired, there are still a few other goodies up for grabs in a brand-new offer. It's currently down to just $17.99 at Amazon (or £19.95 in the UK) a considerable drop from the MSRP of $34.99, and almost 50% off.What's included? I hear you ask. This is the physical edition of the Premium Upgrade, so you're getting the following: Starfield Steelbook, Starfield Patch, Shattered Space Expansion, Digital Skin Pack, Digital Soundtrack, and Digital Artbook. That seems like quite the steal at $18, especially if you're looking forward to trying out Shattered Space and what...

An indie developer has said Warner Bros. Discovery is removing his game from sale, so he made it free to play.As reported by VGC, the creator of Small Radios Big Televisions, Owen Deery, tweeted that Warner Bros. Discovery had informed him that his game would be retired in the coming weeks. Small Radios Big Televisions is published by Warner Bros. Discovery subsiadary Adult Swim Games.Small Radios Big Televisions was released on November 8, 2016 and lets players "explore the inner workings of deserted factories in search of data cassettes that contain boundless virtual worlds".In lieu of being told it would be removed from sale on both Steam and PlayStation, Deery has made the PC version available to download for free from the...

The updates for Baldur’s Gate 3 are coming thick and fast. The latest, Hotfix 21, is live now across PC, Mac, and PlayStation, but Xbox players must wait.Hotfix 21 takes aim at bugs, crashes, and blockers, and restores the ability to send items to specific camp companions while outside of camp. “Feel free to send all your heavy items to Karlach for easy access,” developer Larian said in typically fun patch notes. “She can handle the strain, don’t worry.”What isn’t fun, however, is what’s happening with the Xbox version of the sprawling Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Xbox players are still waiting on Hotfix 20 and are now waiting on Hotfix 21 also, with both updates still undergoing testing for Microsoft’s console. Larian...

WWE 2K24 blurred out former WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon's face from some archived footage in its Showcase of Immortals game mode, although there's another instance where he appears fully uncensored, IGN has verified.There's been much speculation over how 2K would handle McMahon in the latest game after a former WWE employee filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of sexual assault and sex trafficking.In Showcase of Immortals, players can relive 21 of WWE's most iconic Wrestlemania matches. These matches span from Ricky Steamboat vs. Macho Man Randy Savage's Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 3 in 1987 to Cody Rhodes and Roman Reign's Undisputed WWE Universal Championship bout at WrestleMania 39. Each...

Today, it's time to pay not that much to score quite a heck of a lot, thanks to Humble Bundle. The tastiest component in said package has got to be Nioh 2, top action-RPG and spiritual predecessor of the imminently forthcoming Rise of the Ronin. The latter keeps all the samurai action, strips out the supernatural enemies (plus giant enemy crabs), and adds in a backpack glider not unlike the Bat-tastic one from the Arkham series. Pretty good formula so far, no?In retro news, I'm celebrating the 15th birthday of H.A.W.X., a Clancy-verse Top Gun that sounded like the noise made when too much flem builds up in one's throat. My overriding memories of it include a third-person lock-on cam, and a fly-through-these-boxes mini-game that would...

Since Mojang added wolves to Minecraft's Java Edition beta in 2011, they've remained pretty much the same, with only one variant (in comparison to the game's 11 different cats and an impressive 2,700 different tropical fish). Quite a few players have begged Mojang to add more wolves — and now, after 13 years, it seems their work has finally paid off.In a blog post today, Mojang revealed that it's testing out eight new wolf variations for the game's next update. According to the blog post, each new wolf variant lives in its own biome and has its own rarity. (The game's original wolf is also sticking around in the taiga biome, but it's now called the Pale Wolf.)While Minecraft's revamped wolves aren't in an official release of the...

Since the release of the Nintendo Switch back in 2017, the race to become the best handheld gaming device has quickly heated up. While it looked like the Steam Deck was set to become the king of handheld gaming PCs, it was quickly met with fierce competition from some of the best Steam Deck alternatives out there.TL;DR - These are the best Steam Deck AlternativesASUS ROG Ally Nintendo Switch OLED PlayStation Portal Lenovo Legion Go GPD Win 4 Logitech G CloudAlthough the Steam Deck might be one of the most popular handheld gaming devices out today, it’s not without flaws. And thanks to its Linux-based operating system, some users might find it a little too complicated, which is where a Steam Deck alternative comes in handy...