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NEO: The World Ends With You Hints at the Return of Another Old Friend

Posted: 14 May 2021 09:18 AM PDT

We've already seen trailers for NEO: The World Ends With You confirming that certain characters from the original game are returning, with both numbers-obsessed Minamimoto and former reaper Kariya stepping back into the Reaper's Game for the sequel. But a new press release for the upcoming game seems to indicate that another character may be making a cameo, or at least is playing a role in the background of Shibuya in NEO. Spoiler Warning: The following contains spoilers for the end of the original The World Ends With You. Read on past the video at your own risk (don't worry, the video itself is safe). [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/14/neo-the-world-ends-with-you-opening-movie-trailer"] At the end of The World Ends With You, one of your companions, Shiki manages to escape the Reaper's Game along with Neku and the rest of his friends. Though we never learn her fate after the crew meets up, much of her arc in the game was focused around her friendship with her friend Eri, a talented designer. Shiki is an adept seamstress and is able to make the clothes Eri designs, and even made "Mr. Mew," a stuffed cat she carries around in Shibuya and who aids her in battle. We've seen Mr. Mew reappear already in the hands of Tsugumi, a young woman who's been teased multiple times for NEO: The World Ends With You, though it's never been explained why she has Mr. Mew. However, a slide presentation about NEO: The World Ends With You sent out to media today reveals that Tsugumi's Mr. Mew may hold answers to Shiki's ultimate fate. "The stuffed animal she carries resembles the mascot of Gatto Nero, a new brand that's all the rage in Shibuya -- but her plush pal apparently predates the establishment of said brand." There are two clues in this excerpt about Shiki: the first is in Gatto Nero, the brand Mr. Mew is a mascot for. This implies that Shiki and Eri possibly went into business together and started their own brand, Gatto Nero, and may make an appearance tied into that brand's existence in Shibuya. The second is a bit more cryptic -- if Tsugumi's Mr. Mew predates Gatto Nero, then is it the original Mr. Mew? If so, it begs the question of how Tsugumi got him, as Shiki seems unlikely to have given him up easily. Either way, it lends more credence to the theory that she may reappear in NEO. Spoilers End Here [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=neo-the-world-ends-with-you-food-and-fashion-screenshots&captions=true"] The slideshow includes a number of other new details about NEO: The World Ends With You, such as a new type of mission in the Reaper's Game: Scramble Slams. In Scramble Slams, you'll have to earn points to win by either erasing Noise in an area, or by fighting rival team members to claim an area for yourself. Chaining Noise battles together can earn you even more points. We also get a closer look at fashion and food, which mostly seem to work the same as in The World Ends With You, though with a number of new brands and styles like Gatto Nero. And finally, the slideshow highlights the abilities of one of your party members: Fret. Fret has a psych called "Remind," which instigates a small puzzle game to help jog the memory of whoever it is used on. Though not highlighted in the presentation, the new trailer above shows that Nagi, your third party member, also has a psych called Dive. NEO: The World Ends With You is out on July 27 for Nintendo Switch and PS4, with an Epic Games Store release coming sometime this summer. Last month, we spoke with the game's dev team about how with a fourteen year gap between NEO and its predecessor, NEO will reflect those years of changes to Shibuya, culture, and gaming hardware. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Xbox Series X and S Insiders Getting Dolby Vision HDR Soon

Posted: 14 May 2021 07:45 AM PDT

Microsoft is starting to roll out Dolby Vision gaming to Xbox Series X and S consoles registered to users that are a part of the Xbox Insider's program. Microsoft's Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb announced the news in a tweet today. According to Microsoft, the new feature means "brighter highlights, sharper contrast, and more vibrant colors" in games, as long as your next-gen console is connected to a TV that supports Dolby Vision. Dolby announced in September, ahead of both Xbox Series consoles' launch, that X and S would be "the first consoles to support the Dolby Vision HDR format with dynamic metadata for gaming" sometime in 2021. Both consoles already support HDR, but it's HDR10 - a less advanced standard for HDR video. Users enrolled in the Xbox Insider program will want to check the specs to make sure their TV supports the Dolby Vision HDR format, in addition to making sure their TV has installed the latest firmware update to take advantage of the features. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/05/xbox-series-x-review"] This is not the first time members of the Xbox Insider Alpha ring have received access to test out the feature. In March, Forbes reported that Xbox Insiders noticed all HDR games were outputting Dolby Vision instead of only a select handful of games that were supposed to support the feature, with testers noticing improvements to various things brightness and color saturation in HDR games. Still, the feature was limited to a refresh rate of 60Hz, but the publication noted that TV manufacturers are working with Dolby to enable the standard to work at 120Hz. But it's unknown which games will currently support the feature during the initial alpha testing, and Microsoft has yet to say when the Dolby Vision standard will be available to all users. As with most Insider updates, the feature will be rolled out to select users first, with a general release likely to come a little way down the line after mass testing. We've recently seen Xbox roll out new Quick Resume features, as well as dropping certain Xbox Games With Gold requirements for Insiders before committing to the idea wholesale. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Move Over Lady Dimitrescu, the Resident Evil Community Loves the Duke Now

Posted: 14 May 2021 07:22 AM PDT

Lady Dimitrescu has held an unassailable position as the Resident Evil community's favourite new character since months before the game arrived. But with Resident Evil Village now in players' hands, a new fan-favourite character could be on the way to take her crown – The Duke. Resident Evil Village's unusually friendly merchant was shown a little in trailers for the game, but becomes more or less Ethan Winters' only friend throughout the game – and that's led to a huge surge in fan appreciation for him. To go some way towards showing that love, check out a Reddit post from Naillian603, titled, "I didn't think The Duke would live up to the RE4 merchant but he proved me long. I'd go as far to say I love The Duke". In a single day, it's gone on to earn over 5,500 upvotes, becoming the 12th-most upvoted post of all time on the r/ResidentEvil subreddit. Untitled-2 The comments below that post are similarly appreciative, singling out the Duke's voice (and English-language voice actor, Aaron LaPlante), his bizarre habit of appearing in just the right places at just the right times, and his callbacks to previous Resident Evil games. "Hands down, best character." wrote CaptainAlabama91. "Mostly [because] he is the only person who is genuinely pleased to see you. And you know, doesn't try to end you." It's far from the only post pointing to The Duke as a favourite character. There's fan art, speculation about his potentially supernatural origins, and even self-referential posts about how much the community loves The Duke. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/05/resident-evil-village-review"] In an interview with Dan Allen on YouTube, Duke voice actor Aaron LaPlante was asked if he'd expected the huge reaction to the character. "No, absolutely not. Not even for a second," he replied. "I'm so thrilled that people are into it. I think one of the most thrilling aspects is that I'm a fan too – I'm a huge fan of a lot of this stuff [...] It's kind of nice to contribute to that excitement for someone else." He also explained that The Duke was originally directed to have a gravelly-voiced Russian accent, but LaPlante eventually found his more English-inflected style. It remains to be seen if The Duke will hit the same cultural impact as Lady Dimitrescu, but it's more than clear that this character – who could so easily have been a run-of-the-mill merchant – will be remembered beyond this game. And he's far from the only memorable thing about Village – we awarded the game an 8/10 review, pointing out that it's "like visiting a disturbing and deadly Disneyland, where every attraction is a house of horrors." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast #592: Mass Effect feat. Uncle Cherry

Posted: 14 May 2021 04:20 AM PDT

Cardy and Matt are joined by two visitors from the GameSpot Galaxy, Lucy James and Tamoor Hussain, to talk everything Mass Effect. They also delve into what works and what doesn't in Apex Legends' new Arenas mode, as well as give their verdict on new animated movie, The Mitchells vs. The Machines. Plus, an epic three-way Endless Search and of course, your feedback. Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast #592: Mass Effect feat. Uncle Cherry

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Disco Elysium's Australian Ban Has Been Overturned

Posted: 14 May 2021 03:51 AM PDT

Update 05/14/2021: The Australian Classification Review Board has reversed the ban on Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, after developer ZA/UM formally challenged the decision. It seems the tipping point for the game's ban stemmed from Dico Elysium's depiction of drug use, and the temporary benefits it offers you character. However, as reported by Kotaku Australia, the Review Board (which is separate to the Classification Board that originally refused to classify the game) has specifically made clear that Disco Elysium's depiction of drug use is shown in an ultimately negative light, such that it can now receive an R 18+ classification. "In the Review Board's opinion," reads the Review Board's report, "while drug use linked to incentives and rewards cannot be accommodated at R 18+, this game does provide disincentives related to drug-taking behaviour, to the point where regular drug use leads to negative consequences for the player's progression in the game. It was, specifically, the disincentives for drug use that influenced the Review Board in making their decision. Drug use is not explicitly depicted within the game." The classification means that Disco Elysium: The Final Cut can now be sold in Australia without impediment, although the R 18+ rating means that only adults can puchase the game. Despite the refused classification, The Final Cut (and the original, unclassified version of Disco Elysium) was still available to buy on Steam in Australia while the game was technically banned. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/31/disco-elysium-the-final-cut-review"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Disco Elysium: The Final Cut has been refused classification in Australia. You can see the 'Refused Classification' page on the Australian Government's Classification Board website. According to the rating explanation page, a product will be refused classification if it "contains content that is very high in impact and falls outside generally-accepted community standards." The refused classification will mean that, without alterations, the game cannot be sold in Australia. More specifically, The Final Cut was refused classification as a game that has been seen to "depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/11/disco-elysium-final-cut-trailer"] Disco Elysium features alcohol and drug misuse, not to mention a plot that often centres on crime, cruelty, and violence along the way, which could explain why the game has been refused. This seemingly only affects the new version of the game, as the original PC version of Disco Elysium is still available on Steam in Australia, as it has been since its launch in 2019. Developer ZA/UM may have to edit the game's content if they want to get past the rating board in Australia. The news arrives as the PC, PS5, PS4 and Google Stadia launch of The Final Cut version of the game looms on March 30th. Disco Elysium was originally exclusive to PC, but developer ZA/UM announced a console version of the game during The Game Awards last year. The Final Cut adds voice acting and some bonus content and will be a free upgrade to users who own the game already on PC. A TV adaptation of the game is currently in the works at dj2 Entertainment. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Mass Effect: Every Important Choice and Consequence

Posted: 13 May 2021 11:46 PM PDT

Elsewhere Forest Course Guide: How to Unlock All Season Routes in Pokemon Snap

Posted: 13 May 2021 09:45 PM PDT

Mass Effect Complete Walkthrough, Tips, Romance Guides, and More

Posted: 13 May 2021 07:30 PM PDT

Nintendo Revealed the GameCube at E3 20 Years Ago - NVC 560

Posted: 13 May 2021 03:00 PM PDT

Welcooome to Nintendo Voice Chat! Nintendo's beloved purple box was first shown to American audiences at E3 two decades ago, and the NVC crew is here this week to reflect on the reveal, as well as how E3 has changed over the last 20 years. Join host Casey DeFreitas, Peer Schneider, Zach Ryan, and IGN cofounder and NVC alum Matt Casamassina for that discussion, as well as conversations about Nintendo failing to keep up with Switch demand, Capcom breaking sales records, and a whole lot more. Timecodes:
  • 00:00:00 Welcome! 20 years since GameCube's introduction
  • 00:41:27 News!
  • 00:52:00 Games out this week
  • 00:54:58 What we're playing
  • 01:06:30 Question Block!

NVC is available on your preferred platform!

You can also Download NVC 560 Directly Here

You can listen to NVC on your preferred platform every Thursday at 3pm PT/6pm ET. Have a question for Question Block? Write to us at nvc@ign.com and we may pick your question! Also, make sure to join the Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast Forums on Facebook. We're all pretty active there and often pull Question Block questions and comments straight from the community.

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Logan Plant is the Production Assistant for NVC. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.

PSA: Mass Effect Legendary Edition Won't Be On Game Pass

Posted: 13 May 2021 02:21 PM PDT

If you hoped EA and Xbox's recent partnership on Game Pass meant you might be able to play Mass Effect Legendary Edition on the subscription service, we have some bad news. An EA community manager has confirmed that the only subscription service it's available on is EA Play Pro.

If you're a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you've instead automatically got a basic EA Play membership, which gets you a 10% discount on games in addition to access to the EA Play game library. You can of course still purchase Mass Effect Legendary Edition on the usual digital or retail storefronts.

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Keep in mind that EA Play Pro is also a PC-exclusive membership, so if you've only got consoles around the house, you're similarly out of luck. EA Play Pro is available for $15 a month, which gets you access to all the latest EA PC games at launch.

Still, it's possible that Mass Effect Legendary Edition may come to Game Pass in the future. FIFA 21 similarly debuted on EA Play Pro, but landed on Game Pass a mere six months later. That'll depend entirely on EA's plans for the remastered trilogy, though.

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"[Mass Effect Legendary Edition coming to Game Pass is] certainly a possibility, though I'm not aware of any current plans or a timeframe for anything beyond EA Play Pro access at this point," EA said.

Still on the fence about whether or not to pick up the Mass Effect remaster? You might have to stay there a little while longer for IGN's review. EA provided review codes on Monday, so reviews editor Dan Stapleton is still cracking through the massive RPG franchise, just not at the expense of his *checks notes* family? You can check out his very, very early off-the-cuff impressions in the link above.

In the meantime, check out the 10 biggest changes in Mass Effect Legendary Edition, or what comes in each pre-order edition. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Resident Evil Village: Animal Ingredient Locations

Posted: 13 May 2021 01:35 PM PDT

Returnal's Systems Are Hindering Auto-Save, Housemarque Says

Posted: 13 May 2021 01:18 PM PDT

Auto-save has been a hot topic of conversation among Returnal players since its release last month. Housemarque's roguelite is excellent, but it's also very hard, and runs can last for more than two hours. That's a long time to anchor yourself to your PS5. Housemarque says it's heard the feedback from fans, but that implementing a save feature is easier said than done. "We understand that there are some systems in place that are currently a hindering factor," Housemarque marketing director Mikael Havari told Axios today. Havari's comments dampen hopes of a solution that would enable players to quit without fear of losing their progress. While other roguelites like Hades includes a quicksave solution that retains the tension of permadeath, it's clearly not so easy to implement such a feature in Returnal. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/04/29/returnal-review"] Other developers have sounded off on this subject. "I often see players exclaim how easy it is to add something, especially if other games have it," Spelunky designer Derek Yu told Vice Games last week, "but every team and game has different priorities and nothing is really as trivial as it seems from the outside." As one of the first so-called "AAA roguelites," Returnal stands out for its beautiful visuals, arcade mechanics, and storytelling features. While its progression revolves around discrete "chambers," they tend to flow more smoothly than in other roguelites, where you pass through a door to enter the next room. This is in part because Roguelite is meant to highlight the lack of load times on the PS5. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/how-returnal-shows-the-ps5s-power-performance-review"] Still, difficult as it is, Havari says Housemarque is looking for a solution. "But currently, we just don't know exactly what it is. So it's very difficult to announce anything, because I think there's a lot of different people looking for different things." Looks like you'll have to keep your PS5 in rest mode a little longer. If you're impatient, here's info on Returnal's main ending and its true ending. You can also read our Returnal review right here. Returnal is available now on PS5.

Dave Bautista Says He Turned Down Fast and Furious to Pitch a Gears of War Movie

Posted: 13 May 2021 12:16 PM PDT

It's no secret that actor Dave Bautista really, really wants to play Marcus Fenix in a Gears of War movie, but it may not be entirely clear just how bad he wants it. In an interview with Collider, Bautista says that he turned down an offer from Universal to play a role in a Fast & The Furious movie in order to promote a Gears of War adaptation.

"I don't make any pretense about it," Bautista said. "I had a chance to get a meeting at WB, they were talking to me about this and that and I said 'hey, let's talk about Bane.' That happened to me one other time in my career. They wanted to talk to me about Fast and the Furious, and I said 'I'm not interested, let's talk about [Gears of War character] Marcus Fenix.'"

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Bautista later added that he thinks Universal was "a little put off," but that he didn't regret taking his shot.

"I don't mean to offend anybody," Bautista said. "I'm not putting down anything else, I'm just saying [Gears] is way more interesting to me. I don't want to pretend like I'm actually interested in something I'm not when there's something I'm actually really excited about that you guys have under control. 'Would you consider me for that?' I don't think there's any harm in that. I'm not trying to step on anybody else's toes, I'm just saying like this is what I love and I'm seriously passionate about this. 'I can do a good job for you guys on this.'"

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The Gears of War movie has wallowed in development hell since 2007, with writers coming and going from the project until ownership transferred over to Universal. Bautista has lobbied for the position of the COG soldier Marcus Fenix for so long that the actor was actually added to Gears 5 as a playable multiplayer character.

While the Gears of War movie shows no recent signs of life, it can't be understated that turning down a Fast & The Furious job simply to badger Universal again is no small decision. The Fate of the Furious surpassed $1 billion at the box office as of mid-2017, and F9 stars one of Bautista's old WWE coworkers John Cena in a starring role as the brother of Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Where's IGN's Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Review?

Posted: 13 May 2021 12:11 PM PDT

Late on Monday afternoon, a Mass Effect: Legendary Edition code arrived in my email inbox. As of this writing, that's about 65 hours ago – which would be roughly enough time to hurriedly play through two of its three large-scale RPGs if you did literally nothing else. I decided not to do that, because by now my only opinion on their quality would be that they are not as good as sleeping, eating, or seeing my family once in a while. Put another way, I haven't had enough time with them yet to write anything close to a review. My early impressions based on the first 10 or so hours haven't revealed much about the updated original Mass Effect that you haven't seen or heard previously: it looks much better than it did 14 years ago and the writing and voice performances are still wonderful but the human facial animations (and running) don't compare to modern motion capture tech; combat holds up pretty well even though it's not as smooth as the latter games (switching weapon mods on the fly is still a pain); the Mako is still bouncy but not ridiculously bouncy. I've had a few minor bugs but nothing too disruptive yet. Here's 21 minutes of footage to give you an idea: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/mass-effect-legendary-edition-the-first-21-minutes-of-gameplay-4k-60fps"] Off the cuff, I can say that revisiting the story after 14 years has been great – I'd forgotten how quickly things get going, the original crew is introduced, and we're off on a hunt for the secrets of the Protheans and the Reapers. But there's still a long journey ahead and it's not meant to be played in one long forced march, so it's going to take a while before I can get my head around all of it for a review. (Whether or not that'll take the form of a full playthrough of all three games and their DLC or some abridged version of that I still don't know, but I'll make sure to be very clear on what I did and didn't play in my final review.) So, wish me luck, and I'll see you on the other side. In the meantime, we've got a ton of Mass Effect content to shoot directly into your veins/eyeballs (your preference), including a rundown of the gameplay changes made in the Legendary Editions, a recap of the entire Mass Effect story so far, and our reviews of every prior BioWare game to date. We're also working on a full performance review video from IGN Graphics Wizard Destin Legarie to do a deep-dive into all the improvements EA has made to the trilogy, so keep an eye out for that! [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-bioware-game-review&captions=true"] [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=7a68469c-2ece-424b-be61-0cb42482ba5e"]

Koei Tecmo Would Love to Make Mario and Star Wars Musou Games

Posted: 13 May 2021 12:00 PM PDT

Koei Tecmo has found a good deal of success of late with its licensed Dynasty Warriors spinoffs, ranging from Dragon Quest to The Legend of Zelda. More are undoubtedly coming, but what next? Koei Tecmo's president has a couple ideas. Speaking with TheGamer, Koei Tecmo President Hisashi Koinuma talked about the games he would personally love to see as a subject for a Warriors (also known as "musou") game. "Mario and Star Wars are two great series that come to mind. Unfortunately, we haven't had the opportunity to collaborate with these IP yet." Koinuma didn't elaborate on why he picked those franchises in particular, but with a little imagination, it's not hard to envision a Mario Warriors or Star Wars Jedi Warriors. Both franchise feature all the ingredients of a great musou game: distinctive settings, huge casts, and interesting settings. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/18/hyrule-warriors-age-of-calamity-review"] Koei Tecmo's most recent foray was Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which we called a welcome trip back to the world of Breath of Wild. While it missed some characterization opportunity, it was still a blast from start to finish, our review said. Koei Tecmo has developed a strong relationship with Nintendo in general. Aside from Warriors versions of Fire Emblem and Zelda, it played a large part in the development of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. As for Star Wars, the opportunity exists now that Disney is looking to partner with other developers outside of EA. It's all too easy to imagine slicing through hordes of Battle Droids and Stormtroopers as Luke Skywalker or Mace Windu. For now, Koei Tecmo is focused on the more traditional side of the Warriors series. Its next release is Samurai Warriors 5, which is due out on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch next month.

AC Valhalla Wrath of the Druids DLC: Where to Find the Last Snake in Ireland

Posted: 13 May 2021 11:14 AM PDT

Total War: Warhammer 3 - The First Hands-On Preview

Posted: 13 May 2021 10:00 AM PDT

I've had some pretty wild ideas in my day, but probably none as ill-advised as Tsarina Katarin of Kislev deciding to invade the chaotic, unearlthly realm of the Blood God, Khorne. If you want to survive the daemonic invasion in Total War: Warhammer 3's campaign, though, you don't have much choice. Taking the fight to the Ruinous Powers won't be a simple matter of routing a few armies from the field and laying siege to a fortress, though. It will play out as a new type of Survival Battle that combines elements of tower defense and resource management in ways we've never seen in Total War before. The Slavic-inspired realm of Kislev has generally been the first to bear the brunt of Chaos throughout Warhammer's history, and their playstyle definitely reflects this. They're built around a core of rugged hybrid infantry – that is, fighty guys who can also shoot, and shooty guys who can also fight. Kossar archers can hold their own against a melee charge much better than the missile troops of the neighboring Empire. The burly Streltsy come to battle with big ass axes that make them great shock troops, but if you look closely, are also guns for softening up the enemy at range first. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=total-war-warhammer-3-may-2021-screenshots&captions=true"] Their unique ability fits them perfectly, as well. By Our Blood makes all of your core units fight harder once they've lost at least half of their numbers, in contrast to most other mortal factions. This allows you, as Creative Assembly put it, to ask for greater sacrifices out of your soldiers than you would normally. It's a great feeling to have your back against the wall in a desperate defense and see your bloodied units somehow still hold the line, against all odds. Kislev also has a really strong cavalry component. Winged Lancers are swift shock cav who might not be as tough as Bretonnian knights, but can inflict similar damage on the charge. They've got horse archers for general harassment. And last but definitely not least, their signature bear cavalry carves through the daemonic hordes so savagely that it brought a tear to my eye. All the while, Katarina's lore of ice can strengthen your defenses or slow down your enemies to great effect.

Skulls for the Skull Throne!

On the other side, Khorne's armies are pretty much exactly what you'd expect. They're red. They're angry. They cause quite a bit of a mess when they get into melee range. Keeping them at safe distance seems like a smart play, though quick units like the winged Furies and daemon-mounted Skullcrushers can close the gap before you have much chance to respond. The daemonic units also work much like undead in Warhammer and Warhammer 2: They don't suffer morale damage, but will start to dissipate once they've taken enough damage. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/03/total-war-warhammer-iii-announce-trailer"] Winning a survival battle requires holding out against wave after wave of these bloodthirsty beasts, spending a slow trickle of resources on towers, barricades, and reinforcements. I found it really hectic and challenging the first couple times, and it made me think in ways Total War never has before. Especially at the end when you're trying to hold three different control points and deal with a terrifying Exalted Greater Daemon, one of Khorne's most powerful servants, the sense of desperation is palpable. Survival battles won't only be available to the human factions, either. While Creative Assembly didn't want to spoil too much about the story, they did confirm that each of the four Chaos Gods will have their own version of this battle to play, and that you'll get to experience them even when playing as the daemons. In Warhammer lore they rarely get along very well, so it's easy to imagine that they may invade each other's realms to prove who gets to be the headlining act at the apocalypse. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/04/total-war-warhammer-3-trailer-breakdown"] We'll also be able to play these battles in multiplayer co-op, which sounds like a great way to cut down on how hectic and difficult to manage they feel in the later stages. I was never able to actually bring down the big guy on my own, so I'd be more than happy to call in a friend for support. But until that day, I only have one thing to say to the Blood God: You won the battle. But the war is far from over. Do svidaniya. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Leana Hafer is an avid PC gamer. Talk strategy games and more with her on Twitter at @TilFolkvang.
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