Gaming News

Dragon's Dogma 2 is right around the corner, and our month-long IGN First covering the game has revealed tons of new details about its incredible new monsters, systems, and vocations. In our conversations with creator Hideaki Itsuno, we also learned about a number of new features of the NPC systems in Dragon's Dogma 2, including one that might result in NPCs fighting one another over the player character.The first Dragon's Dogma featured a "pawn" system, where players could customize an NPC assistant that would follow the player around the world, fight alongside them, and assist with quests. They could then flesh out their party with two additional pawns borrowed from other people playing online who would arrive with their own...

We already know that Dragon's Dogma 2 will feature a massive map, four times the size of that in the original game. But after a conversation with series creator Hideaki Itsuno, we now know a bit more about how that map was created, and just how stuffed it's going to be with interesting things to do. The answer? Quite stuffed!Speaking to IGN as part of our IGN First this month on Dragon's Dogma 2, Itsuno explained some of his thinking around creating the Dragon's Dogma 2 world. He says he initially only intended it to be 1.5 to 2 times the size of the first game's world, but it ended up being roughly quadruple the size. "That's what's causing us to struggle right now," Itsuno explains."I don't want to go too far and make people...

Much like how when one thinks of Nintendo, the first developer that comes to mind is Shigeru Miyamoto, when I think of Capcom, the first developer I think of is Hideaki Itsuno. Over the course of his nearly 3 decade long career, Itsuno has worked entirely at Capcom as a planner, producer, consultant, and director for some of Capcoms biggest and best games. So of course, during our visit to Capcom in Osaka, we wanted to pick his brain on what he believes is special about Dragon's Dogma 2, the lessons he learned from the first game, and his overall vision for this sequel.IGN: What kind of game is Dragon's Dogma 2?Itsuno: Well, if you go by the numbering of the title, Dragon's Dogma 2 is the game following the first Dragon's Dogma...

Blizzard Entertainment has posted Diablo 4’s update 1.3.0 patch notes in preparation for its upcoming third seasonal update, Season of the Construct.It’s a meaty update with changes and tweaks for players across PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S. These include new items that should help some Class Skills pack a slightly bigger punch.“It’s important to us that when a player chooses to fully invest in a Skill, the payoff is immense,” a developer note for patch 1.3.0 says. “In pursuit of this goal, several of our new Unique and Legendary items are targeting Skills that have yet to reach their full potential.”All Classes are gaining access to the Paingorger’s Gauntlets, Aspect of Adaptability, and...

So, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a first-person game. This has come as a bit of a surprise to some people, who likely were expecting a third-person perspective thanks to not just the Great Circle’s movie roots but also Indiana Jones’ influence on the video game industry. But do you really want another Uncharted game where the only significant difference is that your sarcastic hero now wears a hat? After six Uncharted games, a reboot trilogy of Tomb Raiders, and uncountable third-person adventures going back to the dawn of the medium, I think developer MachineGames has made a wise move in making Indiana Jones first-person.MachineGames’ DNA is coded in first-person. Most of its 15-year existence has been spent working on the...

Sega is raising some eyebrows with its decision to essentially paywall the New Game Plus feature in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.Spotted by PCGamer, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth's official website details the differences between each version of the game. In total, there are four different versions of Infinite Wealth: three digital and one physical.As you can see in the screenshot below, the Standard Edition includes the base game and nothing additional. But what's caught some attention is how New Game Plus mode is mentioned as a perk if you decide to buy the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition digitally.Additionally, Redditor Megasomark posted a month ago that they contacted Sega's support team to clarify the situation. Sega's support...

Palworld has sold over one million copies just eight hours after launch, developer Pocketpair has said.Palworld, dubbed ‘Pokémon with guns’, launched this morning, January 19, and quickly shot to the top of Steam’s best-selling games list and broke into Steam’s top-four most-played games list by concurrent players. At the time of this article’s publication, Palworld had overtaken battle royale PUBG into third place with 365,000 concurrent players and a 'very positive' user review rating.Palworld’s true concurrent player count will be much higher, with the game also available on Xbox and Windows PC via Game Pass.The huge influx of players at launch has caused server problems, however. Pocketpair said Palworld’s servers had become...

Palworld, aka ‘Pokémon with guns’, is out now and already shooting to the top of Steam’s most-played games list. It’s early days of course but already it seems safe to declare the game a hit. And it’s going down well with players, too. On Steam, Palworld has a ‘very positive’ user review rating.But some Pokémon fans are less than impressed, and that’s because of the clear and obvious similarities between Palworld and Nintendo’s all-conquering, family friendly gotta catch ‘em all franchise. Are Palworld’s Pals too similar to Pokémon? Are we in “rip-off” territory here?As Palworld trends across social media, one vociferous debate cutting through the din revolves around this very question. For some Pokémon fans, Palworld is a...

I learned so many intriguing things about Nightingale during my visit to Inflexion Games that it’d be impossible to unpack everything in one succinct article – so I won’t, but I will hopefully shed some light on its development process, setting, and gameplay loop. Nightingale isn’t necessarily the game you’d expect from seasoned ex-Bioware devs, but the years of experience behind its ideation is evident in what I saw in more than six hours of gameplay: a stylish take on a shared-world survival crafting game.The world of Nightingale is similar to ours in the “best of Victorian times,” as Inflexion CEO Aaryn Flynn put it, in the late 1800s. However, in this alternate reality, the Fae appeared in the 1500s to share their knowledge of...

Bungie has announced Destiny 2 will soon let players change their character’s appearance, a long-requested feature that has never been available in either Destiny or Destiny 2 before.Up to now, Destiny characters were locked in once created, leaving players who’ve invested heavily in their Guardians stuck with their virtual faces and body types.Changing your Guardian’s look arrives in Destiny 2 as part of an update scheduled for before the release of The Final Shape expansion on June 4, 2024. When the feature goes live, it will be available for free and without any virtual currency cost or restriction. But it’s worth noting that you won’t be able to change from one origin to another (for example, switch your character from Human to...

'Pokémon With Guns' survival game Palworld is currently blowing up on Steam, where players can create and join dedicated servers that enable up to 32 players to play in the same world and create guilds together. On Xbox however, co-op is much more limited.Speaking in the Palword Discord, developer Pocketpair said those playing on Xbox console or Xbox PC through Game Pass or the Microsoft Store cannot create or join dedicated servers, which means online co-op is limited to between two and four players.“We’d like to have dedicated servers on Xbox but it’s unfortunately not up to us and is quite difficult to negotiate at this time!” a Pocketpair representative said. “But… we are trying!”It's unclear what Pocketpair means when it...

Cardy, Emma, and Jesse are ready to be excited about the promising-looking Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. They discuss that, as well as other highlights from the Xbox Developer Direct including Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 and Avowed. Cardy's also had the chance to play a few hours of Foamstars which is surprisingly fun. But that isn't all, there's also time to talk about two very different, but two very good films in the shape of The Zone of Interest and The Holdovers.What are you most excited about watching or playing in 2024? Get in touch at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.IGN UK Podcast 732: Indiana Jones and the Fantastic TriangleIGN UK Podcast 731: The Big 2024 Preview IGN UK Podcast 730: Flo Rida's Christmas Catch-Up IGN UK...

Sony has revealed the games leaving PlayStation Plus Extra later in February via the 'Last chance to play' section of the PlayStation 5 dashboard.According to the PS5’s Last chance to play PS Plus tab, 10 PlayStation 4 games are set to leave the subscription catalogue, probably on February 20 when the next round of games are set to be added.Here’s the list:Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Hue I Am Setsuna Lost Sphear Lost Words: Beyond the Page Oninaki Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Tacoma Tekken 7 Thomas Was AloneWith Tekken 8 nearly upon us, it makes sense Tekken 7 would be pulled from PS Plus Extra. You now have a month to play these games before they’re removed.The full line-up of PS Plus Games Catalog additions for January...

Microsoft’s second (hopefully annual?) Xbox Developer Direct went, like the first, exceptionally well. While we didn’t get a shadow-dropped killer exclusive – and let’s be honest, that’s not an expectation that Team Xbox probably wants to set – we did still get the surprise of a behind-the-scenes look at Square Enix’s upcoming Visions of Mana. Better yet, we got a good look at gameplay from Obsidian’s upcoming first-person RPG Avowed, we got the Hellblade 2 release date we’ve been waiting for, and best of all, we got the proper reveal of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the new first-person (!) action/adventure/puzzler/whip-simulator that’s being executive produced by Elder Scrolls and Fallout director Todd Howard. I’m extremely...

Following the reveal of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, developer MachineGames’ decision to go predominantly first-person for the game has become perhaps its biggest talking point.Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is first-person for the bulk of the action, with the camera pulling back to go third-person for parts of traversal and cutscenes.Given the player assumes direct control over Indiana Jones himself, not seeing the iconic character on-screen has come as something of a surprise to some. But for developer MachineGames, which is famous for its in-your-face first person-shooters such as Wolfenstein, first-person was the correct move.In an interview published on the Lucasfilm website, MachineGames game director Jerk...

Palworld has launched big on Steam, where it’s already one of the most-played games.At the time of this article’s publication, Palworld, which has been described as "Pokémon With Guns”, was just shy of 200,000 concurrent players on Valve’s platform, making it the fourth most-played game on Steam behind only PUBG, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike 2. Palworld is also the top-selling game on Steam by revenue, outperforming the likes of Warframe, Baldur's Gate 3, and FC 24.Palworld’s popularity on Steam will no doubt increase throughout the day and into launch weekend, when it may well break concurrent records. Palworld has also launched straight into Game Pass, which will increase player figures further.Ahead of Palworld’s launch...

The main developer of Call of Duty Warzone has explained what went wrong with this week’s Season 1 Reloaded update, and issued an apology to players.Following the mid-season update’s release, players ran into intense visual and gameplay glitches that made the battle royale pretty much unplayable. The problems were so bad that Raven had to pull the Champion's Quest feature, which tasks players with winning five Warzone matches in a row or 30 total in the season.Activision developers worked through the night to get on top of the problems, issuing a raft of issues that look to have sorted Warzone out for the most part. Champion's Quest has now returned, and players have already managed to complete it.Now, Raven Software has tweeted...

Square Enix appears to be on the verge of shaking up its development portfolio. According to its president, we may soon see fewer titles, but a more diverse array of genres coming out of a developer and publisher traditionally known for its massive RPG franchises.In an investor Q&A that took place back in November but which was only recently published in English, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu addressed multiple questions from investors about the company's portfolio going forward. In response to a question about what Square Enix was lacking that it needed to achieve sustained growth and meet its business goals, Kiryu cited two points: the limited diversity of the company's portfolio, and a lack of strong marketing. On the...

Thank your own personal deity—possibly Zodiark—it's Friday! You've just about made it through the grind of the working week, so pat yourself on the back. Better yet, reward yourself with some good old-fashioned escapism from the lists below. Because, hey, it's probably gonna be too bloody hot to do anything on the weekend anyway. Staring down the barrel at 36°C+ over here. Awesome.In retro news, we're celebrating the big two-three for cult classics Armored Core 2 and Tokyo Highway Challenge 2. The former was largely unappreciated outside of Japan in its day, though the series is now bona fide AAA with its seventh iteration. The latter—which copped the suckiest EU market renaming since 'Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles'—garnered an IGN...

Another year, another annual 30+ hour Chapter to further expand the already mind-bogglingly expansive RPG universe of The Elder Scrolls Online, which is now steadily approaching its 10th anniversary (coming up on April 4). This special occasion calls for a long-awaited classic TES feature to finally make its way into Zenimax Online Studios’ massively multiplayer online spinoff when the newly announced Gold Road expansion becomes available later this year. And for what it’s worth, that classic feature is indeed spell crafting in the form of Gold Road’s new Scribing system, as some theorized on Reddit following an unintentional leak of Gold Road’s introductory videos on YouTube via Zenimax itself.Gold Road will release in June on all...

We now know who is voicing Indiana Jones in Bethesda/MachineGames' upcoming game - and it's not Harrison Ford, although it sure sounds like it.EW confirmed shortly after the Xbox Developer Direct on Thursday that it's Troy Baker, best known for originating the role of Joel Miller in The Last of Us, who'll be playing Indy in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The report put to bed immediate speculation about who might be taking on the iconic adventurer, as the clips shown in the Developer Direct featured a darn good Ford impression.Notably, the EW story also confirms that Candyman's Tony Todd, fresh off his role as Venom in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, will voice a mysterious character named Locus.While Baker's portrayal of Joel may...

Dragon’s Dogma was always envisioned as a single player game that gave off the impression of a multiplayer one, or a “Single-Player Online Party Action Game” in Director Hideaki Itsuno’s own words. And one of the key elements of driving that feeling home are the AI-controlled Pawns that make up 3/4s of your party. Pawns were a fascinating inclusion in the original game – at times endearing with their amusing (and frequent) comments on whatever was happening, other times bewildering with some of their behaviors in battle, and very often a great source of humor and levity.That system is largely the same in Dragon’s Dogma 2 – you still create your own Pawn with their own Vocation that you can gear up however you like, and that Pawn will...

It's official: we've finally gotten our first look at the upcoming Indiana Jones game from Wolfenstein developer MachineGames: it's called Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and it's out later this year.Our first real look at the game opens with Indy in a bit of a tight spot, buried up to his shoulders in the desert. While we never see exactly how he wiggles out of that one, that's only the start of the trailer. Indy seems to very much be in actor Harrison Ford's likeness, though voiced by Troy Baker, as he explores temples, trips up enemies with his characteristic whip, shoots Nazis, and finds secrets buried in tombs and behind statues. And yes, he has his iconic whip, which can be used for combat, traverse, and as a distraction...

During today's Xbox Developer Direct, we got a second look at the publisher's upcoming tap into the grand strategy genre, Ara: History Untold. And we now know it's coming out in Fall 2024.During the look, the devs revealed some important new details, saying that they wanted to "challenge pre-conceived notions of the genre." For one, they dove into their simultaneous turn system, which aims to eliminate the downtime in between turns that happens in other turn-based strategy games.They also showed a bit of their "living world," which is procedurally generated to reflect players' choices. The Prestige System, meanwhile, is what will prove the players' "worth as a leader," allowing them to build up their score through several different...

At today's Xbox Developer Direct, Square Enix made a surprise appearance to show off Visions of Mana, its upcoming action RPG that will bring the Mana series to Xbox for the first time in the franchise's over 30-year history. And Square Enix brought a new release window with them: summer of 2024.New footage shown today gave a longer look at Visions of Mana's creatures, exploration, and combat. Series creator Koichi Ishii came on screen to talk about the game's roster of returning fan-favorite monsters, such as the Rabite.He also introduced a new creature: A Pikul. Conceived as a cross between a Yorkshire Terrier and a pangolin with some elements inspired by the mythological Anubis, Pikuls are big fluffy dog creatures that the...

During today's Xbox Developer Direct, we just got another in-depth look at Obsidian's upcoming RPG Avowed, alongside a release window of this fall.The new footage we saw today shows off more of Avowed's combat, specifically focusing on customizable loadouts and speedy swapping between them to adapt to different situations. Players will be able to move quickly between spellcasting, sharpshooting, and melee combat as necessary to tackle enemies with different specializations. Some are healers, some have defensive focuses, and some are incredibly challenging, per Obsidian.We also got a look at some of how Avowed will handle choice and consequences, via a quest where the player finds the bodies of fallen soldiers. Players can confront...

Microsoft is starting the year with its 2024 Xbox Developer Direct, where we're expecting to see more on Indiana Jones, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, and a lot more.Xbox's first Developer Direct took place last January, and that presentation was highlighted by the surprise shadow drop of Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush. While we know not to expect any shadow drops for today's presentation, we're still hoping for some solid details about Xbox's upcoming 2024 slate. Read on to learn about everything announced during today's Developer Direct, live as it happens. And, to tune in for yourself, check out our article on how to watch the Xbox Developer Direct and what to expect.Obsidian Gives a Deep Dive on Avowed, Release Window RevealedAvowed...

Nightingale wasn’t always a shared-world survival crafting RPG. Though it’s always retained its gaslamp fantasy flair during its nearly five years in development, at one point, Nightingale could have been an MMO. That change came from the natural progression of developer Inflexion’s preferences and vision, but much more has changed because of consistent, constructive feedback from thousands of players during closed alpha playtests over the last year.Inflexion CEO Aaryn Flynn has been so impressed by the experience he said, “I don’t know how you go back and do it more old school like we used to do it.” Where the traditional way of game dev includes getting plenty of smart, creative people in a room, doing their best with what they...

Rockstar is looking to the horizon as it begins to “approach the limits of what’s possible” on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and it’s starting by removing the Rockstar Editor from those versions of Grand Theft Auto Online.The Grand Theft Auto maker announced plans to make a shift toward the future in a news post on its website. It says that, while the Rockstar Editor will survive on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S, players on last-gen consoles will lose access come February 20, 2024. The editor’s removal is said to be part of the “necessary steps” that Rockstar is taking to ensure GTA Online additions continue to roll out on PS4 and Xbox One.“This update will help to ensure the stability of these platforms and keep them...

Bethesda has released Starfield's first major update in 2024 into beta, with "over a hundred fixes and adjustments" introduced, most of which address fixing quests and adding quality-of-life improvements to the company's space RPG.In a blog post, Bethesda detailed every change coming to Starfield as part of update 1.9.47.0. Some of the tweaks that immediately stand out include improved widescreen support, allowing for the game to now support 32:9, 21:9, and 16:10 aspect ratios, and fixes to the Eye of the Storm Quest. The latter has been one of the quests some have been unable to complete, most notably when the player reaches the data transfer section.Bethesda further reiterated that it will "continue to have a steady stream of...