Gaming News

Now that’s what I call a big hunt! It took Helldivers 2 players less than 24 hours to complete its latest Major Order: to kill two billion Terminids.On April 18, developer Arrowhead triggered the next step in Helldivers 2’s ongoing Galactic War after the PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter’s community successfully completed a Major Order to slow a significant Automaton invasion. Game Master Joel turned players’ attention to the Terminid front with the biggest kill order since the game’s explosive launch in February.Helldivers 2 players were given six days to kill two billion Terminids, which sounded like an insurmountable task, but players made it clear they’d hit the kill count sooner rather than later. So fast was progress that...

Capcom has detailed an upcoming patch for Dragon’s Dogmas 2 that makes a number of changes and fixes, but there’s no mention of the performance mode so many players are waiting for.Following the release of the sprawling action role–playing game in March, players experienced inconsistent framerate performance, particularly on PC. Whereas games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gives players a Performance or Graphics mode option — prioritizing either a consistent framerate or increased graphical output — Dragon's Dogma 2 only has one visual mode across all consoles. Check out IGN’s Dragon's Dogma 2 Performance Review - PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S vs PC, for more.Now, Capcom has announced an upcoming Dragon’s Dogma 2 patch, due out later in...

Dataminers are doing their thing with World of Warcraft expansion The War Within now that developer Blizzard has made an alpha build available for early testing, and already there are some interesting discoveries.Warning! Potential spoilers for World of Warcraft The War Within follow.As Wowhead reports, The War Within appears to contain a new playable race called the Harronir. The Harronir, so far unannounced, have so many customisation options that Wowhead speculates they will become playable at some point in the future, if not at the launch of The War Within, based on past experience with existing playable races the Nighborne and Vulpera.So, what are the Harronir, exactly? Without further information from Blizzard, we can...

Valve has updated its near 17-year-old competitive first-person shooter Team Fortress 2 to finally add 64-bit support.The update, which some fans are calling the most significant from Valve itself in years, should result in a performance improvement for most users. Reports indicate Team Fortress 2’s frames-per-second count is increased by around 20%, resulting in a much smoother experience.While this Team Fortress 2 update is certainly welcome, it has done little to calm the constant stream of requests from the player base for Valve to tackle the game’s most troublesome issue: bots. Team Fortress 2 has had a bot problem for years, and despite a community-wide drive to raise awareness for the issue, there is little sign of...

Thank your own personal deity—possibly the Mother Sphere—it's Friday! I'm not going to spend too much time waffling this morning, as the deals speak for themselves. Just get in and secure something awesome to play for the weekend. In case I don't see you, stay safe, save often, and catch you Monday!Lastly, in retro news, I'm celebrating the 42nd birthday of Dig Dug, an arcade classic. Reports on how it came to be are spotty at best. Wikipedia states it was planned and designed by Masahisa Ikegami, with help from Galaga creator Shigeru Yokoyama...however, I've also been told it was created by Larry, the Architect of the Matrix. Ergo, concordantly, vis-à-vis, Lar' also made Q-bert and came up with the name for Frogger.This Day in...

The team at Rabbit & Bear Studios is continuing with the development of a new Eiyuden Chronicle sequel following the death of series creator Yoshitaka Murayama.The studio opened up about its future and what’s next for the Eiyuden Chronicle series in a recent Reddit AMA conducted with Studio Head and Character Designer Junko Kawano, Director and System Designer Osamu Komuta, and Art Director and Producer Junichi Murakami. With the release of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes only days away, fans were quick to ask about how the team might continue without Murayama at the helm. Rabbit & Bear acknowledges the unfortunate passing of their former studio head but hopes to carry his legacy into the future."It is very sad that Murayama is...

Gamers worldwide have long wondered whether Microsoft’s historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard would lead to structural and organizational changes for the World of Warcraft developer. Now, six months after the acquisition’s finalization, a higher-up at World of Warcraft has revealed that the Xbox maker has “let Blizzard be Blizzard.”Speaking with Video Games Chronicle, World of Warcraft executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale revealed that developers' day-to-day operations have remained largely unchanged.“There’s no one asking us to do anything,” Longdale told VGC. “World of Warcraft is doing very well and they’re very proud of what it’s been able to accomplish, so it’s almost like just let it be, and let it keep...

As Manor Lords prepares to finally make its way to the public, developer Slavic Magic has stepped in to make sure fans’ expectations are in check.The one-person studio has been painstakingly crafting the medieval city builder for the last few years, and the PC community has taken notice. The promise of city-building features, realistic gameplay mechanics, and more have continuously positioned Manor Lords at the top of Steam’s most Wishlisted titles. Now, with its Early Access release just more than a week away, Slavic Magic has published a post to clarify a few things. Most notably, they want soon-to-be leaders to remember that Manor Lords isn’t an RPG or a game that’s meant to go toe-to-toe with Sega’s Total War franchise.“Manor...

Warhorse Studios has officially announced Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the sequel to its popular RPG set in medieval Bohemia. Warhorse Studios fully unveiled the sequel at a private event last week, confirming among other things that it will be twice as large as the original, touting it as a “behemoth” of a game.“What we are making now is what it was supposed to be in the beginning, but we weren’t able to do it because we didn’t have enough resources and experiences and all that stuff,” creative director Daniel Vavra said in a presentation. “We’ve proven the concept works, so now we can take it to another level, which is what we always wanted.”To that end, Kingdom Come will be “much bigger in scope,” with “five hours of cutscenes...

Earlier today, Warhorse Studios officially announced Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the sequel to its popular RPG set in medieval Bohemia. In a private presentation to media, Warhorse Studios revealed it would be "twice as big" as the first game, among other details. It also confirmed that the sequel will continue the story of Henry, the protagonist of the first game.Speaking with IGN over email, Warhorse Studios spokesperson Tobias Stolz-Zwilling shed additional light on what to explore from Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, including some of the practical implications of what it means to be "twice as big" as the original game. Warhorse Studios also touched on how the sequel will approach historical accuracy, and what the introduction of...

Tencent Games subsidiary MoreFun Studios has revealed that its realistic shooter franchise, Arena Breakout, is coming to PC in the form of a new title called Arena Breakout: Infinite.The free-to-play foray into the PC realm is set to release for Steam later this year. MoreFun says players can expect “unparalleled firearm customization” and first-person shooter realism, calling Arena Breakout: Infinite “the most visually stunning and immersive FPS experience that isn’t in a perpetual alpha state.”The original Arena Breakout launched for iOS and Android devices last year and has been hailed as a mobile alternative to Battlestate Games’ Escape from Tarkov. MoreFun described its PC version of the tactical military experience in a...

Next up in our IGN First coverage of Eternal Strands, we're diving into the unique and colorful art in the land of the Enclave. We sat down with art director Sebastien Primeau and lead character artist Stephanie Chafe to ask them all about it.IGN: Let’s talk about Eternal Strands’ distinctive art style. What were some of the guiding principles behind the art direction?Primeau: I think what was guiding the art direction at the beginning of the project was to find the scale of the game, because we knew that we were having those gigantic 25-meter tall creatures and monsters. So we really wanted to have the architectural elements of the game – the vegetation, the trees – to reflect that kind of size.So one of my inspirations was...

The developer of PC city builder Cities Skylines 2 has offered refunds for the game’s latest DLC amid a backlash from players over the state of the game.Mariina Hallikainen, CEO of developer Colossal Order, and Mattias Lilja, deputy CEO of publisher Paradox, issued a joint statement that included a frank admission: that the heavily criticized Beach Properties DLC was rushed out in a bid to improve sentiment around the disastrous launch of Cities Skylines 2.Colossal Order’s troubled city-builder sequel launched in October 2023 on PC via Steam and immediately ran into a number of issues. Player sentiment turned a ‘mixed’ Steam user review rating into ‘mostly negative’ for recent reviews, with the first Cities Skylines game currently...

The next step in Helldivers 2’s ongoing Galactic War is here, and it’s just about the most straightforward yet: kill bugs. Lots of bugs.Two billion to be exact. After the PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter’s community successfully completed a Major Order to slow a significant Automaton invasion, Game Master Joel has turned players’ attention to the Terminid front with the biggest kill order since the game’s explosive launch in February.Helldivers 2 players now have just under six days to kill two billion Terminids. That sounds like a lot, but at the time of this article’s publication, with five days and 20 hours left to complete the major order, players had already hit 19.6% completion. That is, over 391 million bugs had already...

In April 2020, Borderlands 3 developer Gearbox Software teamed up with a group of biomedical researchers - and Big Bang Theory actress/scientist Mayim Bialik - to create a novel minigame for the popular looter shooter with a unique scientific twist.The goal of the Borderlands Science project was to harness the entertainment value of video games to convert player enthusiasm into valuable real-world scientific data, which could be used by biologists to shed light on the complex microbial ecosystem within the human body.Each and every one of us plays host to tens of trillions of microbes, which have a profound impact on our overall health and which may even influence the onset of a range of serious medical conditions and diseases...

The Fallout TV show is stim-packed full of easter eggs and treats for fans of the games. From obvious crowd-pleasers like the Brotherhood of Steel’s T60 armour and the New Vegas skyline to smaller blink-and-you-’ll-miss-it glimpses of Radaway and Fancy Lads Snack Cakes, there was plenty plucked from the long-running RPG series to get excited about. Bethesda has crafted such dense and plentiful worlds, though, that there's still a plethora of characters, creatures, quests, and locations left to be brought to life in the Prime Video series. So here are 14 things we’d love to see from the games in Fallout season 2.DeathclawsLet’s kick off with one of the last images of season one – a lonesome Deathclaw skull. This tease was sure to...

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has detailed Patch 7, the next big update coming to the sprawling Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.In a post on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam page, Larian offered a sneak peak at the improved evil endings coming to the game with Patch 7. These will offer “even darker conclusions to your most sinister playthroughs, and yes, that includes you non-Durge players,” Larian said.Warning: Baldur’s Gate 3 spoilers ahead!There are two teasers for these new cinematic cutscenes, which have also been given the musical treatment by Larian’s BAFTA award-winning composer, Borislav Slavov.Elsewhere, Patch 7 aims to fix several bugs, including Jaheira’s “unwillingness to follow the group and jump into combat...

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has addressed player concern about bugs (not those bugs) as the studio continues to release new content and new premium warbonds.Since Helldivers 2’s explosive release on PlayStation 5 and PC in February, Arrowhead has maintained a monthly release schedule for new premium warbonds. They're essentially new battle passes that players work through to unlock new content, such as new weapons, new armor, and new cosmetics. Premium warbonds are unlocked via an in-game currency that can be obtained through gameplay, but can also be bought with real-world money.Meanwhile, Arrowhead maintains the Galactic War, Helldivers 2’s meta narrative that has captivated the community since launch. Game...

As Sea of Thieves prepares to set sail for PlayStation 5, developer Rare has announced it has seen 40 million players since launching in 2018.In a blog post, executive producer Joe Neate said Sea of Thieves’ 40 million player milestone comes from users across Xbox, Windows 10, and Steam. Since launching on Xbox One and PC six years ago, Rare has released over 100 free updates. Season 12 launches soon, and with it brings new additions like throwing knives and the Bone Caller.Sea of Thieves launches on PS5 on April 30, with the premium edition offering five days of early access from April 25. Progress and items transfer from the Xbox version to the PS5 version, and there are PlayStation-only servers with the ability to disable...

Diablo 4 is now available on Xbox Game Pass, but there's some good news for those who have yet to play the game but want to own a physical copy. Diablo 4 is down to just $20 at Walmart right now (see here), which is a huge saving for a critically acclaimed game that only came out last year and a discount we're unlikely to see again for a while. Also, it's worth noting that this price could be based on your location, so fair warning as YMMV!Diablo 4 launched with a $69.99 MSRP, so a $50 reduction is pretty substantial, and well worth considering if you want to own the game to play whenever you want. Even when the Prime Day sales eventually roll back around this summer, we'd be increasingly surprised if the deal comes anywhere close...

If you're after a nice price slice on Stellar Blade, today's the day to unsheathe your wallet. Why put the preorder down? For starters, it's cheaper than RRP. For finishers, famed game director Yoko Taro heaped quite a bit of praise on it, saying: "Stellar Blade is a really amazing game. I'd say that it's much better than NieR: Automata." 'Nuff said, really.In retro news, I'm celebrating the 13th birthday of Portal 2, one of the funniest video games ever made. I still have vivid memories of being guided by the artificial unintelligence of Wheatley (Stephen Merchant) while hungering for any new audio log from eccentric turbo-narcissist Cave Johnson (J. K. Simmons). The icing on the cake (that is a lie)—a rock solid 2P split-screen...

Bethesda and Tango Gameworks have quietly removed Denuvo DRM technology from Ghostwire: Tokyo on PC as part of a recent update.The controversial anti-piracy measure was removed (via SteamDB) as part of an unscheduled update that arrived earlier today. This comes more than two years after Ghostwire: Tokyo originally launched, and with no comment or patch notes from the developers, it’s unclear why the move was made.Although Bethesda hasn’t officially commented on Denuvo’s removal, there are many who will no doubt be pleased to hear it’s gone. The software’s primary use allows it to keep associated games from being tampered with, with plenty of developers using it as a roadblock against those looking to pirate their games. Many...

An animated Golden Axe series is in the works at Comedy Central, based on the popular Sega video game series of the same name.Per a Comedy Central press release, Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan has teamed with American Dad producer Joe Chandler to create a 10-episode Golden Axe series that will take fans of the side-scrolling beat 'em-up arcade games on an all-new adventure with some of the franchise's beloved characters.Chandler will serve as showrunner and co-write the first episode with McMahan, which, according to the logline, will tell the story of "veteran warriors Ax Battler, Tyris Flare, and Gilius Thunderhead as they once again battle to save Yuria from the evil giant Death Adder, who just won't seem to stay...

The best games like Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes will let you enjoy the wonders of anime-haired protagonists, teenage angst, an abundance of characters, even more abilities, and possibly a god battle or two. There are just an uncountable number of games out there nowadays, but thankfully one of the things that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes […]Continue reading...

Blizzard has just given the wider public its first proper look at The War Within, the next expansion to World of Warcraft coming later this year and the start of its three-part, MCU-like Worldsoul Saga.Over the last few days, I've been playing an alpha build of the game featuring its first zone and some early questlines, and I got the chance to sit down with game director Ion Hazzikostas to talk about what I experienced. We started off our conversation by talking about the expansion's VERY spoilery, very dramatic opening, so if you don't mind spoilers and want to hear more, check out my separate piece on that subject.For the rest of the interview, which is free of story spoilers, here's a transcript of my conversation with...

Correctly, Blizzard loves to start new World of Warcraft expansions with a Big Explosion of some sort. In Legion, Khadgar teleports an entire city to float above an island chain. In Battle for Azeroth, there's a tense ship battle influenced by a demigod. In Shadowlands, basically everyone dies. Seriously. Now, with The War Within on the horizon, Blizzard has conceived of another way to kick off an expansion with some proper fireworks, by completely demolishing a beloved in-game location.Warning: Major spoilers for the inciting incident of The War Within lie ahead. If you don't want to know anything about the story of the expansion going in, don't read onward! Stay away!So, I didn't actually get to play through the opening scenario...

World of Warcraft: The War Within is out later this year, and at launch will be trying something new for a WoW expansion: a three-day, paid early access period. When this was announced, a lot of people were pretty upset! But in an interview with IGN ahead of the game's alpha launch, game director Ion Hazzikostas defended the decision, calling it an "experiment."Essentially, World of Warcraft as it currently exists has a number of price gates. It's entirely free to try up to level 20, and for a $15/month subscription, you can play most of the game's past expansions and reach up to level 50, and you'll also get access to World of Warcraft: Classic on top of that. For an additional $50, you get access to the current expansion...

Back in 2022, I previewed World of Warcraft's last expansion, Dragonflight, in a press pre-alpha situation. Though I'm always hesitant to glowingly recommend an entire MMORPG expansion based on brief early alpha storyline play and not the sum of its content, Dragonflight felt exceptional out of the gate, and was, largely thanks to the transformative new dragonriding mechanic and other major changes that shook off the dust from the widely panned Shadowlands expansion. Blizzard designed the Dragon Isles with bombast in mind, and my very early experiences zipping around them adequately conveyed the sense of increased scale and majesty that would carry throughout the entire expansion.Looking at The War Within's pre-alpha by comparison...

Square Enix has released Final Fantasy 16 update 1.31, and it’s a big one.According to the patch notes, highlights include the addition of a quick complete sidequest function, custom controller type, the ability to save up to five skill sets, and additional photo mode functionality. Elsewhere, there are a number of quality-of-life improvements across the board, new content, and, crucially, adjustments to when Torgal can be petted and lowered time before re-petting. You can see these new features in the screenshots below.The update also allows for the purchase and installation of the DLC package The Rising Tide, due out tomorrow, Apr 18, 2024 Here’s the setup:Final Fantasy 16 launched as a PlayStation 5 exclusive in June 2023...

Steamworld is hitting the high seas with Steamworld Heist II, the sequel to its critically-appreciated tactics game. As revealed in the initial trailer during Nintendo's Indie World Showcase, Steamworld Heist II will retain the turn-based richochet strategy of the original game, but also add new elements like an interactive world map.Set in a tropical environment called Carribea, Steamworld Heist features a new cast led by Captain Leeway and a host of other crewmembers. It is the seventh entry in the burgeoning Steamworld universe, all of which are connected by a single timeline, and according to producer Peter Magnusson it is a "milestone of size and scope for the series," with a deeper story, a greater emphasis on crew...