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Few premises are more immediately appealing than Squirrel with a Gun’s. A sandbox game where you control a gun-toting rodent and wreak havoc on the local population? Yes, please! And that premise certainly delivers to some extent, with quite a few laugh-out-loud funny moments right out the gate and a lot of enjoyment to be found in the goofy adventure’s opening hours. But this wacky Sciuridae simulator isn’t sitting on a stockpile of comedic acorns, instead stuffing its cheeks with silly gags all in one go, before finding its stores empty as the winter season fast approaches. Compounding that short-lived mirth are fairly serious performance issues, including regular crashes that made me repeat long stretches, which really took the wind...
Star Wars Outlaws is one of the biggest gaming releases of 2024, and IGN is your ultimate destination for the game. Whether you're looking for guides to assist your journey through each of the massive planets or for a review to determine if you're going to pick up the game, we've got you covered. Detailed Map Genie Maps for Each Planet The IGN team has Map Genie maps live for each planet in the game, ensuring you won't miss a collectible or side quest in your playthrough! These maps will continue to be updated throughout the next week, but dozens of collectibles are already live across four planets! Leading Game Help IGN is your go-to for all the latest guides on Star Wars Outlaws, from a complete walkthrough to tips on Kessel...
Amazon Games said it "regrets confusion" over remarks by CEO Christoph Hartmann on voice acting and AI that drew sharp criticism online, seeking to clarify that it thinks generative AI needs to be used "responsibly" and calling actors "essential creative contributors." Amazon's statement was in response to a lengthy comment from Hartmann, in which he mused on the difficulties games face with lengthy development cycles, and suggested that AI may "streamline processes" and help shorten the time it takes to make games. Asked for his thoughts on the SAG-AFTRA union strike seeking better AI protections, Hartmann responded in part: "[W]hen we talk about AI, first of all, hopefully it will help us to have new gameplay ideas, which has...
There’s something… well… magical about 2010’s Wii-exclusive Epic Mickey getting a remake in 2024. As those who played the original know, the game itself is a quest through a realm of forgotten Disney characters and attractions called the Wasteland and, after playing a demo of Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed at D23, I’m more confident than ever that this adventure with an impressive new coat of paint will thankfully not be lost to the unforgiving hands of time, like some that sadly came before it. What impressed me the most about Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is how much it looks and, perhaps most importantly, feels like a 2024 game. In our original Epic Mickey review, we gave it an 8/10 and said that this ‘Great’ game was held back by a...
When Showa American Story was first announced in 2022, its reveal trailer depicting a parallel 1991 in which the United States had become a colony of Japan went viral, with nearly half a million views on IGN’s YouTube channel alone. It has been a year since the last update via an interview with IGN Japan. Chinese developer Nekcom has since pushed back the game’s release, switched development from Unreal Engine 4 to 5, and devoted additional time and resources in order to meet gamers’ intense expectations. Now, in a fresh interview with Creative Director XY.Luo, IGN can exclusively reveal a brand new boss character and several new screenshots that show how work is progressing on this fascinating new game. Gokou is the impressive new...
Star Wars: Outlaws may focus on a new character - smuggler, thief, and all-around scoundrel Kay Vess - but it’s also a story set smack dab in the middle of the original Star Wars trilogy. The game takes place in between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. That leaves plenty of room for familiar heroes and villains to appear during the course of the game, and they definitely do. How exactly does Outlaws fit into the bigger picture of the Original Trilogy? How does the game forge connections between Kay and iconic Star Wars heroes and villains? Here’s what you need to know. Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Star Wars: Outlaws! Lady Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn In Outlaws, Kay slowly makes a name for...
Warner Bros. Games has announced the closure of mobile game Harry Potter: Magic Awakened just over a year after its global launch. Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, a collectible card role-playing game developed by Zen Studio, launched in the west in June 2023 courtesy of Warner Bros. Games’ Portkey Games publishing label. In the game you play as a new student at Hogwarts and collect cards you deploy as spells in duels. Harry Potter: Magic Awakened was removed from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store on August 26, with servers running until October 29, 2024. It is now no no longer possible to make in-game purchases. Its Asian release was handled by Chinese games company NetEase, currently in the headlines for reportedly shutting...
Ubisoft has released a hotfix for the PC version of open world space game Star Wars Outlaws, which brings it to version 1.1.1. and aims to improve performance. The game's offiical X/Twitter account posted to say version 1.1.1. would arrive for PC players only and look to address "known issues" including VRAM improvements and overall stability improvements. "Thank you for continuing to share your feedback to us - we hear you and we're working hard to make sure the Outer Rim is the best it can be for you to explore," Ubisoft said. Star Wars Outlaws launched August 27, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC for those willing to spend $109.99 on the Gold Edition, $129.99 on the Ultimate Edition, or $17.99 a month for the...
Castlevania fans may have just received the Castlevania Dominus Collection during the August 2024 Nintendo Direct but they're already thinking about the next dream collection. Nintendo announced the imminent release of the Castlevania Dominus Collection during its August 27 showcase to the delight of many fans. It collected Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia alongside a remake of Haunted Castle. This put some very hard to get games, mostly from the Nintendo DS, on a modern platform, and fans are already pulling some other entries together to manifest a similar collection. "Someone is already trying to manifest this into reality and honestly I'm here for it," said...
Valve has released a major patch for its invite only hero shooter Deadlock which adds wall jumping and much more. Though it only comes in at 683MB, the patch includes a long list of changes large and small. Wall jumping is perhaps the most notable and exciting additions, and players can do so without consuming stamina by pushing their input direction away from the wall. In addition, four teleporters have changed locations and will now remain closed for the first 10 minutes, two bounce pads have been added next to sideland walkers at the cultural center and courthouse, and several buildings have changed size to make their rooftops out of bounds. The full patch notes are available below. Deadlock is a six versus six, third person...
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has revealed which game in the series he thinks is "most complete," and it's not the fan favorite Final Fantasy 7. Instead, Sakaguchi told Inverse he believes Final Fantasy 6 sits at the top. This was released as the last 2D Final Fantasy game in 1994, before Final Fantasy 7 arrived on the original PlayStation and redefined the franchise in 1997. "In terms of the Final Fantasy that I think is the ‘most complete'; I believe Final Fantasy 6 comes close, and does stand out above the other Final Fantasies, especially because it was the last Final Fantasy to use pixel art in all of its visual expression," Sakaguchi said. Final Fantasy 6 is certainly among the most beloved in the franchise and...
Valve hero shooter Deadlock is a certified hit on Steam, somehow crossing 100,000 concurrent players while still being invite only. Data from player tracking website SteamDB shows Deadlock crossed the 100,000 milestone on August 29, 2024, with exactly 106,447 players online at the same time. Its popularity has been steadily increasing throughout August and will surely continue to do so, especially as the weekend approaches. But what makes Deadlock's success particularly interesting and definitely strange is that it's not officially out yet. Valve seemingly looked to keep the game a secret for weeks despite, again, SteamDB showing that thousands of players were already online. It was released in this beta or playtesting equivalent...
If you type ‘scariest animals’ into Google, the search engine spits out a variety of expected results: killer spiders, disgusting centipedes, hideous fish, and flying snakes. You will notice that ‘sheep’ are not on that list. Watch the debut trailer for Reanimal, though, and you’ll quickly develop a fear for the woolly bleaters – particularly giant mutant ewes with far, far too many arms. Developed by Tarsier, the studio behind the first two Little Nightmares games, Reanimal is both a continuation and an extension of the team’s prior work. At gamescom 2024 I was able to play a half-hour hands-on demonstration, and what I saw suggests that Reanimal is very, very close to its predecessors in the broad strokes. Like Little Nightmares, it...
We're back from gamescom and we have a TON of games to talk about. We dig deep into Star Wars Outlaws and Black Myth: Wukong, and Matt P and Dale talk about their hands-on time with the hotly anticipated Metal Gear Solid Delta and Silent Hill 2 remakes. We've also seen Alien: Romulus, and not only do we have a spoiler-free chat, but we also dive into a spoiler convo after we've read your feedback. Don't worry if you haven't seen it yet, there are plenty of warnings to stop listening. 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 763: Star Wars Outlaws, MGS Delta, and Alien: Romulus IGN UK Podcast 762: The Best of...
Chinese video game company NetEase has reportedly laid off most staff at Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios with plans to shut it down altogether. Anonymous sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that the studio, which only opened in 2020, will be kept afloat by the few remaining members until its final games have been released. Visions of Mana only launched yesterday, August 29, 2024, and earned high critical praise. (IGN's Visions of Mana review returned an 8/10.) The closure of Ouka Studios is reportedly due to major Chinese companies like NetEase and its rival Tencent shifting away from a Japan-centric approach. Bloomberg reported that Tencent is also reconsidering how much it invests in Japanese video game...
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 publisher Focus Entertainment has answered a number of burning questions fans had about the soon-to-be released action game in a FAQ that addresses everything from console performance specs to cross-play. Space Marine 2 sees Titus of the Ultramarines go up against the Tyranid horde as well as the forces of Chaos in a sequel that arrives 13 years after its predecessor. It includes a campaign that can be played co-op, a PvE Operations mode, and a PvP mode. Let’s start with the console performance specs. On PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, Quality Mode enables 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, and Performance Mode enables “up to” 60fps at 1080p resolution. Focus said that on the less powerful Xbox...
Thank your own personal deity—possibly the Omnissiah—it's Friday! When it comes to today's deals, I feel that the nada prices of Fallout Classics Collection and Borderlands 2 speak for themselves—acquire and love playing them for triple digit hours. That said, I've also arranged a who's who list of other reduced games worth playing. Also, games kinda...sorta worth playing, by virtue of being really, really dirt cheap. Lookin' at you, Suicide Squad. In retro news, I’m commemorating the 29th birthday of Panzer Dragoon, a Saturn rail-shooter and progenitor of a small but legendary series. I have fond memories of saving up weeks of Woolies trolley boy pay to buy this at my local Cashies. All the sunburn and random Karen abuse was worth...
PUBG: Battlegrounds celebrated its seventh anniversary this year, and it’s still going strong. The free-to-play battle royale shooter has welcomed millions of players from around the world during those seven years, and the development team has been focused on releasing new content and updates to keep that massive community engaged. “The key thing that I’ve learned over the past seven years is how important fans are,” said Taehyun Kim, Production Director of PUBG: Battlegrounds. “Our game has been serviced globally and it has been played in many countries and by many people around the world. So we keep looking for ways to satisfy diverse countries and diverse fans.” Kim has been a member of the PUBG team since its initial phase of...
During their livestream today, Blizzard announced a rather unexpected feature will be returning to Diablo 4 with Vessel of Hatred: Runewords. Found exclusively in Diablo 2 up until this point, Runewords are an upgrade system that lets you imprint your equipment with special properties by combining specific runes to form words with potent effects. Though Diablo 4's take on this mechanic has been overhauled, the fundamentals remain the same, and will offer an entirely new way for players to power up their heroes of Sanctuary. In an interview with IGN, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred game director Brent Gibson explained, "The biggest change is that the requirement is sockets. The D2 system is great, but it's also not super approachable for...
Black Myth: Wukong's delay on Xbox is due to an exclusivity deal with Sony, a knowledgeable source has told IGN, corroborating reporting on Forbes as well as what IGN has heard elsewhere. The source denied that Black Myth: Wukong's delay is due to a memory leak issue, which was circulated by Spanish leaker eXtas1s after what they said was a conversation with Xbox developers at Gamescom. Because of that, they claimed, Black Myth: Wukong had not been able to pass bug detection tests and was thus delayed indefinitely. However, IGN understands that no tech issue that would delay Black Myth: Wukong has been reported to Xbox. Rather, the Xbox delay is the result of an exclusivity deal neither Game Science nor Sony have publicized, the...
The extraction first-person shooter Hunt: Showdown has been going strong for five years and has gotten dozens of patches and updates, but none as big as the one that launched recently. It’s such a significant upgrade that the game itself got a new name — Hunt: Showdown 1896. If you’re not familiar with Hunt: Showdown, it’s a multiplayer shooter on PC and console that mixes the supernatural with dark realism. It’s a PvPvE extraction shooter that puts you in the shoes of a bounty hunter. In order to claim your bounties, you need to venture across large maps, kill supernatural creatures, and fend off your fellow hunters to survive long enough to reach the extraction point. The game’s recent update might have changed the name, but it’s...
Indiana Jones' iconic outfit from Temple of Doom is locked behind the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Premium Edition at launch. The Digital Premium Edition of MachineGames' hotly anticipated adventure costs $99.99 instead of the Standard Edition's $69.99 and comes with the base game, story expansion The Order of Giants, a digital artbook, and the Temple of Doom Outfit, deemed by Microsoft itself "Indy's iconic look" on the Xbox Store page. This edition also arrives three days before the Standard Edition, meaning those only willing to pay $69.99 have to wait longer to play. It's worth noting that Game Pass subscribers can upgrade to the Premium Edition for $35, which is a cheaper route to the Temple of Doom outfit in the short...
It's a good day for fans of the Alan Wake and Control universes. Remedy Entertainment announced today it's partnering with Annapurna Interactive to work on film, TV, and "other audiovisual formats" based on these franchises...as well as help fund the upcoming Control 2. In a press release, Remedy and Annapurna revealed that Annapurna would serve as a co-production and co-financing partner on Control 2. Remedy will remain focused on developing that and other games, while Annapurna takes the lead on multimedia adaptations. "This deal with Remedy isn't just about adapting great games—-it's about breaking new ground in how companies can collaborate," said Hector Sanchez, former head of Unreal Engine games business at Epic and...
In my experience, Labor Day sales tend to skip over video games. But, for some reason, most of the games I’ve been waiting for a good deal on are at their lowest prices ahead of Labor Day weekend. In fact, I'm seeing better Switch deals now than anything I could find during Prime Day earlier this year. If you’re like me and have been waiting to pick up Tears of the Kingdom or the new Mario Kart, now might be the time to go for it. Best Zelda Deals I've Seen This Year Before Echoes of Wisdom drops in September, Walmart has cut prices on the two most recent Zelda games on Switch. Last year's Tears of the Kingdom is at a lower price than it’s ever been on Amazon. BotW and TotK were both released to critical acclaim (IGN gave them both...
Baldur's Gate 3 currently holds the world record for the video game with the longest script, but Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will seemingly take that award for itself when it launches in 2025. Dan Vávra, co founder and creative director at Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developer Warhorse Studios, said on X/Twitter that the game script currently totals 2.2 million words. Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios said on Steam its game totalled "roughly 2,000,000 words" at launch, meaning Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 could be the new champ. "Yesterday, we were counting with our lead designer Prokop Jirsa how much we actually wrote for KCD2," Vávra said. "So guess how big the script is? 2,200,000 words! Or 11,000 typical screenwriting...
Amid the cacophony caused by Call of Duty Next, one new Black Ops 6 feature flew under the radar — but it could end up as the most impactful of all. Black Ops 6, out October 25, 2024, has a new Body Shield feature in multiplayer that lets you grab an enemy and hold them in front of you to soak up bullets, while firing off a few rounds of your own. We’ve seen a body shield feature in plenty of shooters over the years, but what developer Treyarch has done here is enabled voice chat between the attacker and the victim. “Be nice…” the studio tweeted, perhaps in hope more than expectation. As you’d expect from the notoriously toxic Call of Duty community, reaction is a mix of disbelief and excitement. Disbelief in that some can’t...
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 stars Cyberpunk 2077's most famous actors in Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba, and developer CD Projekt is loving it. Using its Cyberpunk 2077 X/Twitter account, CD Projekt replied to a post from the Sonic the Hedgehog account sharing the first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. "Remember Knuckles and Shadow's first meeting? In Dogtown," it said. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 features the regular cast of anthropomorphic beasties such as Tales and, of course, Sonic himself, but also features Knuckles and the brand new character of Shadow. These latter two will be familiar to fans of Cyberpunk 2077, as Knuckles is voiced by Elba and Shadow is voiced by Reeves. Both previously starred as the most recognisable faces in Cyberpunk...
It sounds like the console and mobile ports of Stardew Valley’s game-changing 1.6 update are proving troublesome — so much so that developer Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe, hasn’t worked on his follow-up game “in a long time.” The free 1.6 update, which sparked a fresh 10/10 Stardew Valley review from IGN, launched on PC in March, which means console and mobile players of the phenomenally successful farming and life sim have waited nearly half a year so far. ConcernedApe initially expected the ports would be released a month later. In a tweet, a clearly frustrated ConcernedApe apologized to disgruntled fans, and promised not to return to work on his next game, Haunted Chocolatier, until Stardew 1.6 is finalized. “Console and mobile...
Two Twitch streamers got married at a Black Ops 6 themed wedding outside the Call of Duty Next event in Washington, D.C. As reported by PC Gamer, streamers TheCallofDutyDJ and chloejagger tied the knot on August 28, 2024 in celebration of their love of each other and Call of Duty. Publisher Activision held the Next event to show off its upcoming shooter Black Ops 6 and the happy couple held their wedding alongside it. TheCallofDutyDJ, real name Brad, wore a black suit with white shirt and orange tie (in the colors of Black Ops 6) and chloejagger, real name actually Chloe, carried a bouquet of orange flowers. Their four-tier wedding cake was adorned with Call of Duty branding and a cake topper of the pair playing video games together...
The Black Myth: Wukong updates are starting to kick into gear following its record-breaking launch. Today we have patch 1.0.8.14860, out across PC and PlayStation 5. The patch, which weighs in at around 1.6GB, makes a number of fixes and adjustments, as well as a solitary balance change to one boss in particular. When Black Myth: Wukong launched, developer Game Science apologized for any tech problems players encountered, and promised to release patches aimed at these performance issues. In a statement, Game Science warned that “despite multiple internal full-process tests of Black Myth: Wukong, given the game's vast scale and the myriad of software and hardware environments, occasional serious issues may still arise.” Patch...