Gaming News

We open this week's busy episode of Unlocked by discussing two big new games we just played a bunch of: Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty and Alan Wake 2. After that we discuss Phil Spencer's wish to bring back MechAssault and have a fantasy draft for which Xbox developer should make it -- along with our own picks (complete with preferred developers) for other dormant Xbox franchises we'd like to see return. Plus: we get lost wondering how the heck we're going to play all of the games in this historically busy stretch of major game releases that we're in right now, and more!Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out my Alan Wake 2...

Valve surprised everyone when it announced earlier this year that it was making a Counter-Strike 2 - and after months of limited testing, it's now available for PC players.The company announced the news with a new trailer today, which you can watch below.Counter-Strike 2 was announced back in March. Running on Source Engine 2, the same game engine used on other Valve games including Dota 2 and Half-Life: Alyx, Counter-Strike 2 is not a separate sequel to the original game but rather a major free update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.As we have previously seen, Counter-Strike provides a graphical facelift to the popular first-person shooter while adding upgrades and redesigns to the game's maps. More importantly...

Sony has finally announced Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition after a series of leaks. It launches on PlayStation 5 on October 6.The PC version, however, launches early 2024 via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The PC version of Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition is developed by PC port specialist Nixxes Software, which Sony acquired in 2021.The Complete Edition includes the Horizon Forbidden West and Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores DLC, and costs $69.99 / €59.99 / ¥7,980 on PS5. Here’s the complete list of contents for Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition on PS5:Horizon Forbidden West for PS5 Burning Shores DLC for PS5 Digital soundtrack Digital art book Horizon Zero Dawn Vol. 1: The Sunhawk digital comic...

Blizzard has suffered a round of layoffs at its Hearthstone development team.In a statement issued to IGN, Activision Blizzard confirmed the layoffs, without specifying the number of staff affected."Organizational changes were made to the Hearthstone team; as a result a small number of roles have become redundant. We want to thank these employees for their many contributions."Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach tweeted to say 10 members of staff, all within the Hearthstone team, were affected.Hearthstone is Blizzard’s free-to-play digital card game set within the Warcraft universe. It launched on PC and Mac in March 2014, with a mobile version launching later that year. For a time Hearthstone was one of the most popular video games in...

Elden Ring fans have quite the treat available to preorder right now in the IGN Store: a Nendoroid of Iron Fist Alexander. This adorable figure stands about 3.9 inches high and can be posed in several different ways, making him an excellent addition to your collectible collection. With an estimated release date of July 2024, you can preorder this figure at the link below for $50.99.Iron Fist Alexander Nendoroid is Up For Preorder at the IGN StoreThis figure is the latest Elden Ring collectible available on the IGN Store, joining figures of Melina, Vargram the Raging Wolf in his Raging Wolf armor, and a Festering Fingerprint Vyke figure from S.H.Figuarts. These figures are available to purchase right now as well and are still in...

In time-honoured Bethesda game tradition, Starfield players are using objects found in the game world to play Dominoes.YouTube channel Holy Moe uploaded a video showing an early effort at in-game Dominoes, which uses books, space food and other junk items to have fun with Bethesda’s physics playground. Footballs are also used to add extra complexity to the run. You can see the video in the tweet below.“It’s just a concept right now using books as Dominoes,” Holy Moe explained. “Perhaps I will make something more advanced next time. The Bethesda physics are spectacular!”Holy Moe’s video is a starting point for Starfield Dominoes, and already other players are creating more complex runs. The attempt below adds sandwiches to the...

Remedy Entertainment has confirmed Alan Wake 2 will get Performance mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X.The news comes by way of Remedy’s communications director Thomas Puha, who announced on in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the developer will add a Performance mode to the game after programming it to run at 30fps to begin with. He said it was done to place emphasis on graphics and the game’s macabre environment.“I’m glad to say that Alan Wake 2 will have a Performance mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X,” Puha said. “The game has been built from the beginning as a 30fps experience focusing on visuals and ambiance, but somehow we have managed to include a solid Performance mode. We’ll talk details later.”Fans on X pointed out...

Part of me was worried that Alan Wake 2 would be disappointing. The pessimistic side of my brain feared that it would be a situation where, sure, the sequel we've waited over a decade for was finally getting made – yay! – but what if it didn't live up to the cult-classic legend of the 2010 original? After all, anticipation – particularly so many years' worth of it – has a way of overpowering the reality of the thing you've been waiting for.Though Alan Wake himself is rewriting reality as he seeks escape from the Dark Place in Alan Wake 2, the reality of the game in front of me needed no rewriting. I played a few hours of it across two different missions and what I’ve experienced is fantastic, simultaneously feeling almost nothing...

2019’s Wargroove turned out to be one of the best tactics games of recent years, thanks in no small part to its great strategy gameplay clearly inspired by Nintendo’s Advance Wars series. Four years and a proper Advance Wars remake later, Wargroove 2 has arrived with much more of everything that made the first game so impressive, even adding an all-new game mode and improved map creation tools. It breaks very little new ground when it comes to its story or the actual tactical combat options, but that’s forgivable since what’s there is just as much fun the second time around. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.Wargroove 2’s single-player campaign takes place a few years after its predecessor and introduces a new faction of...

At Tokyo Game Show 2023, Microsoft announced Octopath Traveler 2 is finally coming to Xbox. Now, in a new interview, Microsoft has confirmed it has signed a deal with Square Enix to bring the role-playing game to Game Pass.In an interview with Sarah Bond, Corporate Vice President at Xbox, published on Xbox Wire, Octopath Traveler 2 is mentioned alongside Sega’s Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name as coming soon to Xbox Game Pass.Octopath Traveler 2 launched on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam in February this year. IGN’s Octopath Traveler 2 review returned a 7/10. We called it “a very enjoyable JRPG sequel that feels a little too safe and familiar”.Microsoft has worked to improve...

Dark Souls and Bloodborne inspired Lies of P's latest patch has made the game easier and a lot of fans are actually pretty happy about it.As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, developer Neowiz has reduced the health of several enemies and bosses including Fallen Archbishop Andreus, King of Puppets, and Simon Manus, Arm of God. The full patch notes (below) were shared on Steam.Basic health reductions aren't the only things making what is, like its FromSoftware inspirations, a notoriously difficult game. Neowiz has also increased the chance of breaking some monsters' stance and the frequency of stagger and increased the staggerable window time. One boss (that we won't mention for the sake of spoilers but can be seen below) has also has...

Some within the Starfield community were surprised to learn that rain only ever falls on the player this week after a Reddit post revealing the normally unseen trick saw nearly 30,000 upvotes.“In Starfield, rain only exists in a small area around the player,” redditor thelastfastbender wrote alongside a screenshot showing the effect in photo mode.The Reddit post then made its way onto social media where the video game community helped explain what’s going on. It turns out pretty much all video games handle rain like this, although usually in a slightly different way.Thomas Francis, lead visual effects artist at Darkest Dungeon 2 developer Red Hook Studios, posted to say rain is normally attached to the camera rather than the...

Spoiler Warning: The following article features minor spoilers for some characters and dialogue appearing within the first five missions of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, up to and including The Damned.Cyberpunk 2077 players are able to find Idris Elba's Solomon Reed working his deep undercover day job ahead of the events of Phantom Liberty.Reed works as a sleeper agent for the New United States of America but has been undercover for seven years as a bouncer at the start of the Phantom Liberty expansion.As recorded in IGN's Cyberpunk 2077 Guide on Easter Eggs and References, players who frequent Night City's bars can actually see Reed before they meet him officially in Phantom Liberty, working at the Corpo Plaza club wearing an...

Some fighting game fans have a favourite side to play on, whether it's the left of the screen on the Player 1 side or the right of the screen as Player 2. While there is normally no gameplay advantage that comes from starting on either side, some players find input commands easier from the left or right. But when it comes to Mortal Kombat 1, it turns out there's a very good reason to pick Player 1.YouTuber mrAPchem published a video demonstrating how Player 1 can perform some combos Player 2 cannot. mrAPchem showed this issue affecting chilly Mortal Kombat veteran Sub-Zero, but it turns out it affects every character in the game across all modes and in all versions. In short: Player 2 cannot connect some combos.It’s a significant...

EA Sports has delisted FIFA 23 from online storefronts ahead of the release of FC 24 this week.X user MauroNL noticed that FIFA 23, which is just a year old, was pulled from the PlayStation Store, the Microsoft Store, the Nintendo eShop, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. EA’s own website is now littered with dead links pointing to pulled listings. However, FIFA 23 is still currently available via a subscription to EA Play.EA Sports delisted FIFA 23 without warning. A note on the Steam page for FIFA 23 reads: “At the request of the publisher, EA Sports FIFA 23 is unlisted on the Steam store and will not appear in search.” IGN has asked EA for comment.It is likely the delisting is the result of the expiry of EA’s FIFA licence. Last...

The PC version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 launched as an Epic Games Store exclusive in September 2020. Now, three years later, it’s ready to hit Steam on October 3.Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is the remastered collection of Activision-published PS1 classics Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater & Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. It was seen as a successful turnaround for the series following the disastrous release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 in 2015. “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 proves that going backwards has been the best step forward for the series in 15 years,” reads IGN’s Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 review.The Steam page for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 lists Vicarious Visions and PC port specialist Iron Galaxy as developers of the game...

After Project Mugen's announcement trailer hit last month at Gamescom, many were quick to draw parallels between the high-flying movements of its main characters and that of Marvel's Spider-Man. However, when I made the comparison to Project Mugen lead producer Ash Qi at Tokyo Game Show last week, he revealed that the inspiration actually came from another source."When I was maybe 10 or 12, I played Prototype and Prototype 2," explaned Qi, referring to the 2009 and 2012 open world games developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision. "Those are the games that inspired me to make Project Mugen. [Prototype] reminded me of the Venom character from Spider-Man, and it was so cool. And I loved the city."Prototype and GTA...

What’s in a name? When EA announced it would change the title of its premiere soccer series from FIFA to EA Sports FC24, we all wondered: is this also the year it finally takes a real step forward, out of the microtransaction-focused darkness and into the light of its full potential? Well, the answer is a resounding… kind of. There are breadcrumbs of greatness in EA Sports FC 24, with many new mechanics like Evolutions and Tactical Visions showing the series can evolve into something better. Yet, for every exciting improvement added in, there's still far too many of the same things, like poor AI, that have frustrated me for years.For the first few hours of EA Sports FC 24, everything feels familiar gameplay-wise, for better and for...

Capcom president Harushiro Tsujimoto claims that the retail price of video games is currently too low.According to a report from Nikkei (per a translation from Kotaku), during Tokyo Game Show 2023, Tsujimoto said that development costs for video games have become too high. “Development costs are about 100 times higher than during the Famicom era, but software prices have not gone up that much,” he explained.Additionally, he claimed that there needs to be pay raises, saying, “considering the fact that wages are rising in the industry as a whole, I think raising unit prices is a healthy option for business.”Tsujimoto also went on to claim that a slow economy wouldn’t have a big impact on video game prices either: “Just because...

For those who want to take another stab at High on Life, its first DLC, High on Knife, just got an official release date – and just in time for spooky season.High on Knife will launch next week, on Oct. 3, on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 4 and 5 (High on Life’s Xbox console exclusivity ended when it surprise-launched on PS4 and PS5 in July). A horror-inspired expansion that leans into body horror, as Squanch told IGN at San Diego Comic-Con over the summer, it also got an appropriately spooky new claymation trailer, which you can watch below.The DLC will be a paid one, although we’re still not sure how much it will cost. Still, in an interview back when High on Knife was first announced, Chief Creative Officer...

Three years after Xbox and CD Projekt Red partnered to release a limited edition, Cyberpunk 2077-themed Xbox One X console, many of those who bought it are beginning to regret the purchase. Why? Because they're still waiting, years later, for any information at all regarding a refund for the recent Cyberpunk 2077 DLC release: Phantom Liberty, which was originally supposed to be in the bundle.Back in 2020, CD Projekt Red and Xbox partnered to offer a limited edition, Cyberpunk 2077-themed Xbox One X console for sale. The $400, 1TB console came with a Cyberpunk-themed controller, a digital copy of Cyberpunk 2077, a one-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate trial, and was promised to also include the "future first expansion release" per a Best...

Blizzard Entertainment has announced today that Chris Metzen, former creative lead on multiple World of Warcraft expansions, is moving into a full time position as executive creative director on the Warcraft franchise once again."We are excited to share that Chris Metzen has taken on a full-time role as executive creative director of the Warcraft universe," the statement reads. "Right now, his main focus is supporting our World of Warcraft leadership in crafting the next generation of adventures."Metzen has played a key role in the Warcraft franchise since its very beginning on WarCraft 1, going on to work on all three WarCraft games and serving as creative director on the original World of Warcraft and its subsequent expansions...

Capcom quietly revealed how much Resident Evil 4 Remake for iPhone 15 Pro will cost, with the mobile-centric version retailing for $60.On the App Store page, Resident Evil 4's pricing is tucked away under the "In-App Purchases" section on the game's product listing page. A drop-down showcasing all the in-app purchases appears, with the top of the one including the base game retailing for $59.99, as you can see from the screenshot below, along with prices for other in-app purchases available for the game.Resident Evil 4 Remake, costing $60, aligns with the debut price for the PC and console versions when it was released earlier this year. Apple has previously touted that the iPhone 15 Pro is a smartphone capable of console-quality...

Don’t Nod and Focus Entertainment have announced that Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden has been delayed to Feb. 13, 2024. The game was originally supposed to launch on Nov. 7 this year.Don’t Nod CEO Oskar Guilbert and Focus Entertainment managing director John Bert were upfront about their reason to delay the game, which was to avoid clashing with the heavy release schedule in the coming months.“We have decided to postpone the release of this new franchise by three months, as the market is experiencing an intense release cycle for AAA titles on PC and consoles at the end of the year” they said in a joint statement. “We are convinced that a commercial release of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden during a less saturated period will give it...

Publisher Devolver Digital and developer Croteam have announced today that The Talos Principle 2 is launching at last on Nov. 2, nearly nine years after the initial release of its predecessor.The original The Talos Principle was a much-loved 3D puzzle adventure that stood out for its examination of philosophical questions including the nature of humans, AI, God, science, and progress. Mobile and VR versions were released over the years, as well as a Road to Gehenna DLC in 2015 that fleshes out the post-apocalyptic universe of the original game further.The Talos Principle 2 seems poised to pick up where the original left off and explore what lay in wait for the androids who passed the test of the first game, but apropos for the...

CD Projekt has disabled Cyberpunk 2077 mods today, September 26, to ensure they don't clash with content added in Phantom Liberty and disrupt the playing experience for PC players.A message on CD Projekt Red's support account on X informed Steam and Epic Games players that their versions of the game would automatically disable mods. The developer confirmed those who absolutely want to use mods can still reactivate them, but they do so at their own risk."We wanted to let you know that mods will be automatically disabled for the launch of Phantom Liberty," CD Projekt said. "This is to prevent issues with the game that are caused by mods before they receive their update from the modding community. We want to make sure you have the...

If you're a fan of the hit 2001 film Shrek and have a strong desire (like me) to stay the night at the character's swamp, you're about to have your chance soon enough. Airbnb has successfully recreated Shrek's Swamp, with bookings opening next month - but you'll have to be quick and lucky.Beginning on Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. ET, Shrek fans will have a chance to request to stay the night at this beautiful, moss-covered, murky-watered paradise. Located in the Scottish Highlands, some lucky renters can spend two nights at Shrek's home.The booking dates, however, are currently only from Oct. 27-29 for one, two-night stay for up to three guests. The cost for booking Shrek's Swamp is $0, with Airbnb noting in a press release that the company...

13 years after the launch of its predecessor, Alan Wake 2 finally continues the story of gaming’s favourite haunted novelist. But the sequel is expanding more than just Alan’s tale. This game is the third entry in the Remedy Connected Universe, an idea that will see the Finnish studio’s works overlap, connect, and influence each other.For IGN First we spoke to Sam Lake, creative director of Alan Wake 2 and Remedy’s beloved storyteller, to learn more about the Remedy Connected Universe and how the studio’s games have always been linked in weird and interesting ways.Remedy Entertainment has been in business since 1995 and has created five different worlds over the years. But while this new connected universe will unite Remedy’s...

So you’re ready to start Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, but you’re not sure when’s the best time to begin the expansion? Well, having played the full DLC and completed its various endings, I can tell you exactly where to begin to get the best experience from Phantom Liberty in a way that makes sense within the full story.CD Projekt Red is taking a page from how it handled its Witcher 3 DLC and integrates the new Phantom Liberty expansion directly into the base game of Cyberpunk 2077, meaning you won’t find Phantom Liberty in a separate menu selection (but you can skip to it if you select New Game, more on that below). Note that you will need to install the free 2.0 update to play the Phantom Liberty DLC, which costs $29.99.While...

If you are bummed that planet exploration in Starfield is not as challenging as expected, Bethesda originally planned to make the system much more punitive, according to the game's director.In a recent interview on the Game Maker's Notebook Podcast, Howard and Insomniac Games Founder Ted Price dissected the development of Starfield. When discussing cut content for Starfield, Howard explained how punishing planet exploration was before fine-tuning it to make it streamlined."So the way the environmental damage works in the game, on planets, and your suit, you have resistances to certain types of atmosphere effects, whether that's radiation or thermal, etc., and that was a pretty complex system - actually, it was very punitive,"...