Gaming News

Kojima Productions Makes Clear It Still Has 'Very Good Partnership' With PlayStation After Xbox Announcement

Kojima Productions has made clear it still has a good relationship with PlayStation, despite announcing an Xbox exclusive game. Hideo Kojima revealed his studio would be making "a completely new game that no one has ever experienced or seen before" at the Xbox Bethesda Game Showcase on June 12, causing some to question the studio's ties to PlayStation. "After the announcement of our partnership with Microsoft using the cloud technology, many people have asked us about our collaboration with [Sony Interactive Entertainment]," the Kojima Productions Twitter page posted (below). "Please be rest assured that we continue to have a very good partnership with PlayStation as well." The developer has previously been synonymous with Sony's...

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Half-Life Alyx: Levitation Gameplay Shows Off Impressive VR Mod

Half-Life Alyx is one of the best VR games around, and a talented team of modders are building upon the original with a campaign expansion titled Half-Life Alyx: Levitation. At today's PC Gaming Show, seven minutes of gameplay were revealed for the upcoming mod, which follows up on the events from the main game's campaign. The mod is coming from CS:GO map designer and artist Shawn Snelling, who is known as FMPONE in the modding community, and animator Corey Laddo, who is known among Half-Life fans for creating viral G-Man memes. The two modders, along with a team of volunteer modders, animators, and voice actors, have created the free campaign that takes between four and five hours to complete. The story picks up right after the end...

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Ex-Cyberpunk 2077 Devs Unveil Gameplay for The Invincible

The Invincible is an upcoming sci-fi exploration game coming from veteran AAA developers, and we got our first look at footage for the game as part of today's PC Gaming Show. The new gameplay features Dr. Yasna, a scientist exploring a desert planet to find their missing crewmates. The game takes cues from Firewatch, as Dr. Yasna is speaking to a character named Novik on the radio, as they discuss what could have happened to the missing crew. The game's pace is very calm and quiet, letting the players experience the highly-detailed environment and listen to the conversation play out. The trailer ends with what appears to be Yasna's death, implying the game could feature multiple playable characters. You can check out the gorgeous...

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System Shock Remake: New Trailer Revealed, Development 'Largely Complete'

We're inching closer and closer to the release of the long-awaited System Shock remake, as the game got a new trailer as part of today's PC Gaming Show. Today's trailer opened with a voiceover from ther antagonist SHODAN breaking the fourth wall by introducing the trailer to the audience. What followed was new footage of System Shock's first-person gameplay, showcasing shooting, electric swordplay, and some puzzles on the colorful cyberpunk Citadel space station. The original System Shock released on PC in 1994. It's a horror game set on a spacestation in 2072 called Citadel Station, and players control a hacker tasked with ruining the plans of a rogue AI named SHODAN. No release date for the remake was given, but director of...

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STALKER 2 Now Targeting the First Half of 2023, According to New Xbox Graphic

After pausing development due to the war in Ukraine, STALKER 2 now appears to be set for a 2023 release. Following today's Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, Xbox tweeted a graphic with images of its upcoming games. You'll notice STALKER 2 is listed under the 2023 side of the graphic, seemingly confirming that the game has been delayed again. However, it seems the game is targeting the first half of 2023, as Xbox notes that all games listed in the image are targeting to release over the next 12 months. Earlier this year, STALKER 2 was pushed back from April 2022 to December 2022. At the time, GSC Game World said the delay would help the team "fulfill our vision and achieve the desired state of the game." Shortly after this...

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Despite Years of Requests, Persona Still Isn't Coming to Switch

Nintendo Switch owners have been asking for Switch ports of the beloved Persona series for years; a request that only intensified after Persona 5 Strikers came to the platform. However, even after PC and Xbox ports of three Persona titles were announced today, the series still isn’t headed to Nintendo's hybrid console. The fabled Switch port of Persona 5 has been rumored for years, sparking hope among the community. There was even a Best Buy listing for a Persona 5 Switch release back in 2019, but it still hasn't come to fruition. After Persona 5 protagonist Joker arrived as a DLC fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, an Atlus representative even told fans to "never ever give up on hope" and to "keep fighting" for a Switch port...

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Hollow Knight: Silksong Release Window Seemingly Confirmed For Next 12 Months

During today's Xbox-Bethesda Showcase, Microsoft announced that everything shown would be playable in the next 12 months. There was some question whether that would include the Hollow Knight: Silksong, but now Xbox has seemingly confirmed that the long-awaited follow-up will indeed be out within a year. The confirmation came via a tweet from the official Xbox Twitter account reading, "Everything you're seeing today is playable over the next 12 months." When a fan replied asking whether that included Silksong, Xbox confirmed that it did. Xbox head of global gaming Sarah Bond also confirmed that Silksong would be available within the year. The confusion stemmed from a graphic listing every game coming to Xbox and PC over the next 12...

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No Man's Sky Is Trending After Microsoft's Big Starfield Reveal

Bethesda finally pulled the curtain back on Starfield at today's Microsoft and Bethesda Games Showcase, and new gameplay footage of the upcoming space epic is reminding gamers of another sci-fi exploration game: No Man's Sky. No Man's Sky is the procedurally generated space exploration game developed by Hello Games that originally launched in 2016. While early reception of the game was not so positive, consistent content updates have managed to turn the game around. Earlier this year, No Man's Sky creator Sean Murray said the game isn't close to being finished, even after 19 major updates. There are certainly grounds for comparison between the two titles, as Starfield's first gameplay video showed a character in a spacesuit exploring...

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Ark 2 Sounds Like a Very Different Game to the Original Ark: Survival Evolved

Ark 2 will be a third-person game with "Souls-like melee combat" and a whole AI enemy force to fight against in PvE. In other words, it sounds pretty different to the original Ark: Survival Evolved. After the game got a new trailer at the Xbox-Bethesda summer showcase, developer Studio Wildcard sent a press release explaining a number of newly announced features, and it uncluded some surprising details. The biggest is that the game swaps the original's first-person perspective for third-person, promising, "Advanced character traversal mechanics include mantling, free-climbing, parkour, sliding, and swinging!" Connected to that change is a promise of melee combat similar to FromSoftware's Souls games, offering "Target-lock, blocks...

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Starfield Customization Shown Off For the First Time — And There's a Lot of It

Fans were treated to an extended look at Starfield during today's Xbox + Bethesda Showcase today, including an in-depth look at the character customization and ship building, which were shown for the first time. Bethesda's character creators have long been a core part of their appeal, allowing players to assume a variety of different identities as they explore wastelands, fantasy worlds, and now space. It's not just your character's physical appearance you'll be changing. Touted as Bethesda's most complex character creator ever, the trailer revealed a large number of available traits, including: Alien DNA Empath Extrovert Freestar Collective Settler Introvert Kid Stuff Neon Street Rat Raised Enlightened Raised Universal Serpent's...

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Starfield Will Have Over a Thousand Planets You Can Explore

We finally got our first look at Bethesda's upcoming sci-fi RPG Starfield at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, and the scope is as big as expected, maybe even more. According to director Todd Howard, there are over 1,000 planets players can fully explore. In a preview of how space exploration works in Starfield, Howard chose the planet Jemison. Players can either land in the city of New Atlantis, "but you can also land and explore anywhere on the planet." Howard then zoomed out and showed off how massive this planet is. But it's not just one planet. "From barren but resource-heavy ice balls, to Goldilocks planets with life. And not just this system, but over 100 systems - over 1,000 planets, all open for you to explore."...

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Redfall Will Be a Classic Arkane Single-Player Game (Even When You’re Playing in Co-Op)

When Arkane Austin announced its vampire-slaying shooter Redfall last year, it was understandable that a portion of its community was a little skeptical. Why were the creators of Prey and Dishonored moving away from meticulous, hand-crafted precision in favour of the messy chaos of co-operative open worlds? A year later I’ve learned that, well, they haven’t. The minds behind Redfall are determined to translate Arkane’s trademark smarts into a game that can be enjoyed by four cooperating players, and that begins with what the studio has always done best: single-player. “We put an inordinate amount of work into making the single-player feel right,” says Harvey Smith, studio director at Arkane Austin. With no desire to make solo and...

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Cocoon is a New Puzzle-Adventure From the Developer of Inside and Limbo

Announced during the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, here's our first look at Cocoon, a new puzzle-adventure game from Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of Inside and Limbo. Developed by Geometric Interactive and published by Annapurna Interactive, Cocoon is a described as a sci-fi puzzle adventure. In addition to Carlsen, the game is also being worked on by programmer/composer Jakob Schmid, who worked on 140, which won the 2013 IGF award for Excellence in Audio. Not much else is known about Cocoon just yet, other than the short bit of gameplay seen here. I'm looking forward to learning more about it leading up to launch in 2023. For more Summer of Gaming news, be sure to check out our full roundup of everything from the...

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Starfield: We've Finally Seen Gameplay

Starfield finally showed off its first true gameplay today. While we've seen multiple in-engine shots, we've never seem what the moment-to-moment experience of playing Starfield will be, until today's Xbox-Bethesda showcase where the show ended on an extended look. After opening on a gorgeous moon landscape, we looked at exploration of the world, including examining local creatures, mining for resources and invading a hostile base. The gameplay then showcased some of the shooter combat, with the player fighting off a group of pirates and swapping between first- and third-person gameplay. Later, we saw space exploration, including the ability to fly your own ship, space combat, land anywhere on an entire planet and explore multiple...

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What Is Obsidian’s Pentiment?

Josh Sawyer’s just-announced medieval narrative mystery, Pentiment, has been in development for about four years now. But if you ask Sawyer, it really started way, way back in 1992. At the time, Sawyer was enjoying an RPG called Darklands, developed by Microprose Labs for MS-DOS. It was set in the Holy Roman Empire in the 15th century, but with a supernatural bent that left room for demons and Templar conspiracies. Sawyer fell in love with its approach to historical fiction, and as he went on to get a degree in history and subsequently work in games, the idea of a historical fiction game stuck with him. Sawyer first pitched the seed of what would become Pentiment to now-Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart back when they were still working...

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Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, And Persona 5 Royal Announced For Xbox Game Pass

Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal are all headed to Xbox Series X|S and PC. Microsoft revealed the ports during today's Xbox + Bethesda Showcase, which were previously only available on PlayStation platforms and PC. They will also be available on Xbox Game Pass. Persona 3 is the most notable of the ports, as its availability has been limited over the years. Originally released way back in 2006, Persona 3 helped to popularize the series in America by introducing many of the conceits that fueled Persona 4 and 5, such as its daily calendar. It was last released on PlayStation Portable as Persona 3 Portable, marking the first and only time that the sub-series has made it possible to play as a female main character...

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Lightyear Frontier Gets a Spring Release Window

At today's Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, we got another look at farming and planet exploration game Lightyear Frontier, including a new release window of spring 2023. We first got a look at Lightyear Frontier late last year, where it was revealed to be a farming sim rather like Stardew Valley, but with mechs. It's a non-violent adventure where players travel to a distant planet and build a life by farming crops, adventuring out to explore new areas, and building a homestead. Critical to Lightyear Frontier is the ability to cooperate with up to three friends, working together to farm and explore more efficiently while unraveling the secrets of the planet. Lightyear Frontier is developed by Framebreak and is headed to PC, Xbox...

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Diablo 4 Debuting in 2023, Necromancer Revealed As Final Class

Diablo 4 will be arriving in 2023, it was announced during today's Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. Blizzard also confirmed that the Necromancer will be reintroduced as the "fifth and final" class for Diablo 4. Diablo 4 will also feature cross-play and cross-progression for all platforms. It will be available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, as well as the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. Blizzard also showed off some new gameplay footage, which showcased Diablo 4's open world. The Necromancer joins previously announces classes like The Barbarian, Sorceress, Druid, and Rogue as the next playable class. As in previous games, the Necromancer utilizes bone and blood spells, along with undead minions they can summon into combat...

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Minecraft Legends Is an Action Strategy Spin-Off Coming in 2023

After delving into dungeon crawling and narrative adventures, Minecraft is getting another unexpected spin-off - this time becoming an action strategy game. The new game is coming in 2023. Revealed at today's Xbox-Bethesda showcase, Minecraft Legends is an action strategy game that combines real-time strategy elements into the world of Minecraft. In a brief gameplay video, a character on a horse is seen leading an army of minions into battle with the ability to command the legion in real-time. As one of the world's biggest ever games, Minecraft needs little introduction. It success has led to multiple spin-offs, from Telltale's Minecraft: Story Mode – a narrative adventure starring Patton Oswalt – to Minecraft Dungeons, a...

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Grounded Is Exiting Early Access With 1.0 Release After Two Years

After two years of development alongside the community, and over 10 million players on Xbox Game Pass, Obsidian’s backyard survival game Grounded is finally getting a 1.0 release this September. 1.0 brings Grounded out of early access, as well as adds a number of major updates, including the introduction of a new part of the backyard (the upper yard), new armor and weapon recipes, new secrets, and a new boss: the Mantis. By far the most impactful of these updates is the completion of Grounded’s story about a group of kids shrunk to insect-size and forced to survive in a backyard full of much larger insects and other hazards. IGN spoke with game director Adam Brennecke, who’s been with Obsidian for 18 years now – almost since the...

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Obsidian's Xbox-Exclusive Pentiment Is a 16th Century Mystery Styled Like a Medieval Manuscript

After a number of rumors, the next project from Obsidian's Josh Sawyer has finally been revealed: it is indeed called Pentiment, and it's a narrative crime story of sorts set in 16th century Bavaria and styled like a medieval manuscript. While we got a look at a visually fascinating trailer at Xbox's showcase today, IGN spoke with Sawyer ahead of the announcement about what exactly Pentiment is. As Sawyer explains it, Pentiment follows a medieval artist named Andreas Maler, an educated journeyman who's near to becoming a master artist. While visiting an abbey to make an illuminated manuscript, a monk who is also Andreas' friend and mentor is accused of a murder he claims he didn't commit. Since no one else steps in to solve the case...

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As Dusk Falls Release Date Revealed

As Dusk Falls, the first game from developer Interior/Night, has set a release date for July 19. Shown at Xbox's showcase today, it's a branching story-driven game that can be played solo or in co-op with up to eight players at a time. The developer described it as being written with the style of a prestige televison show, but with a unique painterly art style. As Dusk Falls was originally revealed by Microsoft in 2020, alongside the formation of Interior/Night as a new Xbox Game Studio led by Caroline Marchal, who was previously a lead game designer at Quantic Dream This story is developing... Continue reading...

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Ark 2 Is Now Arriving in 2023

We got a new cinematic look at Ark 2 today, which will now be released in 2023. At today's Xbox-Bethesda summer showcase, we got a fresh cinematic trailer for the game – which if you don't remember, stars Vin Diesel – and a new release window, 2023. Ark 2 was first announced last year, and was subsequently dated for 2022, but it looks as though that date has slipped slightly. Not only does Vin Diesel star, but he's also a developer – the "President of Creative Convergence" to be exact. Ark 2 is the sequel to Ark: Survival Evolved, a sci-fi/prehistoric survival game we gave a 7.7/10 review, saying it "has some great moments of battle with prehistoric beasts, but just as many of AI bugs and grind." Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive...

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Scorn, the Very Bloody Horror Game Inspired By H.R. Giger, Has a Release Date

Scorn, the upcoming "biopunk" survival horror adventure game inspired by H.R. Giger, has a release date. It will release on October 21, and will be available day One on Xbox Game Pass. The new trailer shows a decrepit world, bloody skin, and an umbilical cord. It looks appropriately gory and horrifying, as befits a game that takes inspiration from Giger, who also provided the imagery for Alien. The description suggests you will play as a skinless humanoid on a nightmare alien planet, with various biomechanical weapons that can be attached to your body. One thing is for sure: This game does look a lot like Alien, making its release date, which is quite close to Halloween, pretty much perfect. The Scorn announcement was part of the...

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Forza Horizon 5 Is Getting Hot Wheels DLC

Forza Horizon 5 is returning to familiar, plasticky ground with a wild-looking Hot Wheels expansion. Revealed at today's Xbox-Bethesda showcase, the DLC showed off the game's beautiful Mexican setting with added toy-like tracks, like a loop-the-loop through a volcano and into the sky. The DLC launches on July 19, 2022. Forza Horizon 3 also got a very popular Hot Wheels expansion, which we awarded a 9/10 review, saying it was "a delightful, daring, and different expansion that reinforces Forza Horizon 3’s reputation as one of the best racing games ever made." Given that we awarded the core Forza Horizon 5 a full 10/10, we can only hope its own Hot Wheels DLC similarly improves on its predecessor. For more, check out our full...

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Overwatch 2 PvP Release Date Announced, Will be Free-to-Play

Overwatch 2's long-awaited PvP mode will be released into early access on October 4 – and it will be going free-to-play. As announced during the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase, Blizzard made a special appearance to give an update on Overwatch 2. After years of waiting, the PvP portion of Overwatch 2 will be released this October. But where the first Overwatch was a paid release, Overwatch 2 will be going free-to-play. This will likely mean Overwatch 2 will undergo some serious business model changes, and likely incorporate some form of Season Pass for monetization. It's also unclear how this will affect the way new heroes can be acquired, which were previously released for free under the first Overwatch. Blizzard also announced a...

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Overwatch 2: New Tank Hero Junker Queen Announced

Overwatch 2 will be adding a new Tank character, the Junker Queen, to the line-up. As announced in today's Xbox and Bethesda showcase, the Junker Queen is the second new hero announced for Overwatch 2 after Sojourn. The character was referred to within the original Overwatch, but never made a formal onscreen appearance inside the game. In a cinematic trailer, the Junker Queen is shown in a very Thunderdome-esque brawl for the throne of Junkertown. A full look of the character and her kit will be revealed later, but a brief look at the character's gameplay was in the Overwatch 2 release date trailer. Fans of the series will know the Junker Queen from Junkrat's animated short, where she was briefly seen on a poster in Junkertown. As...

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Halo Aircraft Coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator

An aircraft from Halo -- specifically, the UNSC Pelican -- is coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator, it was announced during today's Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. The free add-on is available today, and a short glimpse at it during the showcase even showed the Pelican in space. The Pelican is the first licensed fictional aircraft to appear in Flight Simulator. The Halo crossover was just one of a few Flight Simulator-related bits of news announced; it was also revealed that the 40th Anniversary Edition, which partnered with Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, will release in November 2022 for consoles, PC, and Cloud, and will include classic airplanes, gliders, and helicopters. It will be free for those who also own Flight...

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Forza Motorsport Finally Shows Gameplay, Coming in 2023

After being teased in 2020, we've finally seen true gameplay of Forza Motorsport, which will arrive in Spring 2023. Revealed at today's Xbox-Bethesda showcae, we saw a montage of appropriately gorgeous cards racing around similarly lovely tracks. It was followed up by a longer, real-time gameplay demo that showed its upgraded visuals and physics up close. Representatives from Xbox said it will have a "generational leap in immersion" driven by raytracing on tracks, improved physics and vehicle destruction, and a full day-night cycle. Forza Motorsport was first announced at 2020's Xbox showcase, where we learned that it will run at 4K / 60FPS. An in-engine teaser showed what the game was aiming for, but we hadn't seen live gameplay...

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League of Legends, Wild Rift, Runeterra, Valorant, and Other Riot Games Are Coming to Xbox Game Pass

Xbox is starting up a Riot. The company's biggest games including League of Legends, Wild Rift, Legends of Runeterra, Valorant, and TeamFight Tactics are coming to Xbox Game Pass. League of Legends: Wild Rift is a streamlined version of Riot's popular MOBA, and a version with all champions unlocked is coming to Xbox Series X/S. Runeterra is Riot's competitive card game, Valorant is Riot's tactical shooter, and TeamFight is the studio's auto-battler. Each Riot game will be coming with full unlocks or other extras, whether that's every Agent in Valorant, the Foundations Set in Runeterra, or select Little Champions in Teamfight Tactics. While these games are already free-to-play, Agents, cards, and Champions are sometimes locked...

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