IGN Video Games

IGN Video Games

Overwatch Hits Peak Twitch Viewership After Overwatch 2 Beta Opens

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 04:45 PM PDT

The long-in-development Overwatch 2 finally went live with a PvP beta this afternoon. Soon after launch, the first Overwatch broke its previous record of total Twitch viewership in mere hours.

In honor of the sequel beta, several high-profile twitch streamers such as Lirik, Myth, and most notably, xQc streamed the first Overwatch. The game peaked at around 450,000 views today, and xQc's amassed over 150,000 views of Overwatch on his own.

Overwatch fans have been dying to see if they were selected for the Overwatch 2 PVP beta. The only way of accessing a beta key is to watch partnered streamers for a certain length of time while having their Blizzard battle.net account linked on Twitch. Lucky users can pick up a PC beta key only until May 17th.

In a tweet from Nathan Grayson of the Washington Post, sources have stated that Overwatch has suffered from Activision Blizzard's aggressive demands for both a sequel and an esports league. The company's well-reported workplace lawsuits haven't helped either, and there have been several high-profile exits from the company in the past several years.

With over fifty million units sold in the original Overwatch, there is a whole lot riding on Blizzard for developing a worthy sequel. For years, fans of Overwatch had been seeing issues from delayed hero releases to seeing Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch's original game director, leave the company entirely exactly one year ago.

Christian Angeles is a freelance writer for IGN.

Xbox Makes Bank in Latest Sales Figures – Unlocked 541

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 04:19 PM PDT

The Xbox has its best March since the Xbox 360 era, and IGN's Xbox crew discusses the ins and outs of the numbers. Plus: Gearbox is bringing back Tales from the Borderlands itself – and Ryan has a bone to pick with them – 343 Industries details Halo Infinite's 2022 roadmap, and more!

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our latest IGN Unfiltered interview, where Joseph Staten – one of Halo's original creators and now the head of creative on Halo Infinite – discusses his fascinating career:

Oh, and you can be featured on Unlocked by tweeting us a video Loot Box question! Tweet your question and tag Ryan at @DMC_Ryan!

For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Sifu Is Getting Difficulty Modes

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 01:47 PM PDT

Players turned off by Sifu's unrelenting difficulty can give the game another go thanks to an easier difficulty mode coming next week. Sloclap, developer of the martial arts beat-em-up, has revealed the roadmap for Sifu for the remainder of 2022.

The first major update for the game, coming next Tuesday, May 3, includes advanced training, outfit selection, and most importantly of all, difficulty options. The three options are Student, Disciple, and Master, with Student presumably offering an easier road for players want to experience the world, combat, and story without the brutal learning curve. On the flipside, players looking to challenge themselves can look forward to Master difficulty.

The Spring update is just the first of four planned content drops for Sifu this year. This Summer will see new gameplay modifiers added to Sifu, including stronger enemies, a one health point challlenge, a way to unlock all skills instantly, and more. The Fall update will bring a replay editor, and the Winter update will add a new Arenas game mode.

Sifu is an unforgivingly brutal martial arts beat-em-up that launced on PlayStation back in February. We called the game "amazing" in our Sifu review.

"On the other side of that vicious learning curve, though, is one of the most impressive beat-em-ups I've ever played, with excellent level design, fantastic music, and – once it was all over – a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that few other video games can provide."

It also made our list of the best-reviewed games of 2022 so far.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

The Gears 5 Map Builder Is Being Removed

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 12:17 PM PDT

The Coalition announced that it will be removing the Map Builder from Gears 5 so that the team can focus on future projects. However, the studio says it will also unlock the Achievements related to the mode for players so that they don't become unobtainable.

The Map Builder is used to create custom Escape Hives for Gears 5's Escape Mode, which will still be available. For Achievement hunters, the two Achievements related to the Map Builder are "I Made It By Myself" and "Homegrown Hive."

These two Achievements are relatively easy to unlock. The former requires players to simply create and publish an Escape Hive map, and the latter just requires players to complete a featured community build Escape Hive.

Those who've already unlocked these Achievements before the Map Builder's sunset will receive some nice consolation prizes. Players will receive an exclusive banner if they've already completed "I Made It All By Myself" while "Homegrown Hive" earns players 10K in-game coins.

These two Achievements are worth 10 Gamerscore each for a total of 20. It seems like all players need to do is simply boot up Gears 5 and the Achievements will automatically pop up.

In IGN's Gears 5 review, we praised the game's character-focused story, saying, "And that's just the campaign: add in a heavy-hitting multiplayer lineup of Versus, Versus Arcade, Horde, and Escape and it makes Gears 5 one of the best and most versatile action-game packages in recent memory."

The Coalition is currently working on a new project and is utilizing Unreal Engine 5.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Best Anime Series on Netflix Right Now (May 2022)

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 11:56 AM PDT

May's bringing more than just flowers (and allergies) this time around. The previously announced, abruptly postponed, release of new seasons of One Piece. Hope that at least the entire Sky Island saga of the longest running shonen anime will finally be available on the streamer. We're cautiously optimistic that the May 22nd release date will hold.

The slow increase of new anime content that started with a second season of Netflix Originals Tiger & Bunny (fifty episodes) and Ultraman (26 episodes). The long awaited return of Ultraman did not disappoint. Plus if you burned through these two new series, Richard Linklater's feature length Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood offered up some background nostalgia and an engaging story about family in the foreground to hold you until Director Tetsurou Araki's take on a fairytale, Bubble debuted.

But May promises an even higher level of animation and storytelling innovation. The reimagining of season one of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War with new scenes hitting the streamer May 9, 2022 ahead of season two. Which means, there's certain to be a few new additions to the 'best of' list in the near future.

Note: As this is a list of anime series to watch, no anime movies were considered for this feature. This list applies to U.S. Netflix subscribers. Some titles may not currently be available on international platforms (yet). This list will also be periodically amended to remove series no longer available on Netflix, as well as add anime shows now available for streaming on the service.

Death Note

Death Note follows Light Yagami, a teen who comes into possession of a magical notebook that allows him to kill anyone he wants just by writing their name inside. What comes after is a captivating cat-and-mouse game between him and the investigator intent on discovering who's behind the deaths. This classic from director Tetsurō Araki is an engrossing exploration of morality, justice, loyalty, honor, and friendship. With illustrations and character design that never go out of style, Death Note is an absolute classic. The world seems intent on being a never-ending dumpster fire. So you can never go wrong with a classic anime series that isn't afraid to dig into the dark side even as it reminds you that life's direction is always a choice.

Komi Can't Communicate

Directed by Ayumu Wantanbe and based on the popular manga series written and illustrated by Tomohito Oda, Komi Can't Communicate follows Shouko Komi, an extremely popular girl, and socially average Hitohito Tadano. Komi comes off as poised to others at school but in fact suffers from severe social anxiety that makes it difficult for her to interact with others. When Hitohito discover's beautiful classmate's secret, he vows to help her achieve her goal of making 100 friends at their prestigious prep school.

Komi Can't Communicate is a stellar example of a slice-of-life anime. It explores touchy themes with a light-hearted, humorous edge. The characters' personalities are engaging, the various situations they find themselves in at turns ridiculous, humorous or relatively serious but alway relatable. Brought to life with near flawless animation color scheme and impressive character design this series is a well balanced delight. If you're into slice-of-life anime series, not necessarily into waiting. The full first season Komi Can't Communicate is now in the anime library.

High Score Girl

High Score Girl follows Haruo Yaguchi, a sixth grader gamer, as he encounters a true challenger to his supremacy at the local arcades. Classmate Akira Oono who appears to be practically perfect on every level, best his favorite game, Street Fighter 2. From there this unlikely duo bond over vintage video games that allow them to decompress and avoid the anxieties of their everyday lives. Yaguchi slow learns that Oono's life isn't as idyllic as it seems and that he has a lot to learn about himself and life. High Score Girl's full of funny misadventures, sly life lessons, and acts of ego. Sometimes, you need a coming-of-age story with a side of nostalgia and irony. If you're a gamer, and have a chaotic internal monologue hyping you up, then High Score Girl may be just the ticket.

Kill la Kill

Kill la Kill follows high school girl Ryuko Matoi on her quest to hunt down her father's murders. Armed with half of her father's scissors blade, Ryuko enters Honnouji Academy. This turn of events leads to her acquiring, not entirely by choice, a uniform with special powers. Kill la Kill offers up a magical girl action-comedy with a plot that goes all over the place full of tournament fighting, friends-to-lovers story arc, ever-escalating villains riddled with themes that are almost evergreen in their timeliness.

One Piece

One Piece is a long-running shonen anime about Monkey D. Luffy sails with his globetrotting crew of Straw Hat Pirates on their hunt for the treasure One Piece and quest to become the new king of the pirates. Based on Eiichiro Oda's manga the anime adaptation is full of high action and laughs. With an ensemble made up of an eclectic group of male and female characters, there's a camaraderie and sense of adventure that keeps the series engaging season after season.

The Orbital Children

Set in 2045 The Orbital Children, also known as Extra-terrestrial Boys and Girls, follows two children born on the moon and three from Earth. The story takes place in outer space (where internet and artificial intelligence are widespread) on a Japanese commercial space station. A massive accident leaves this group of kids stranded with little hope of rescue. They must rely on their wits, limited communications, and what's available to try and avert further disaster…and possible death.

Written and directed by Mitsuo Iso (Ghost in the Shell, Rurouni Kenshin and Blade Runner: Black Lotus) this two part science fiction series not only takes anime to space, it stares directly into the distance and asks, are humans necessary? Iso takes direct aim at the ticking clock on Earth's ability to adequately sustain human life. Then it ponders whether humans are capable of doing what's necessary to save themselves.

Although this philosophical schism should come as no surprise given it is Mitsuo Iso, The Orbital Children blends smooth animation, a striking color palette, relatable character design - that puts its excellent voice cast to great use - turning this into a coming of age story and full blown existential (and literal) crisis that shouldn't be missed.

Record of Ragnarok

If you're a fan of The Seven Deadly Sins, list mate JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or the just idea of the gods giving humanity one last chance to prove itself tournament-style appeals, then get into the twelve episode first season of Record of Ragnarok. The pace is binge-perfect, the animation traditional, and the battles over the top (it's a race to seven victories out of thirteen rounds). If we must contemplate our own humanity and face the end, let it be watching 13 champions fight their way through the pantheon of gods.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

After a demon attack leaves most of his family slaughtered and his sister turned, Tanjirou Kamado swears to save her and avenge his family. He joins a mysterious group calling themselves the Demon Slayer Corps intent on doing anything to exact revenge. If you've finished all the few remaining seasons of Attack on Titans the streamer has in its library but still want your fight scenes crisp then give Demon Slayer a go. You won't be disappointed.

7 Seeds

You're minding your business, living your life. Then between one thing and the next, the world ends; leaving you behind. What would you do? Those left behind are confronted with giant bugs and flooded cities being reclaimed by nature. What a time to realize you weren't ready for the apocalypse.

Aggretsuko

December 2021 meant a fourth season for Aggretsuko fans. This slice of life anime is full of subtle lessons about not letting life's challenges get the best of you. Turns out, ten more episodes following 25 year-old Retsukothe as she deals with the highs and lows of her crap job as a police accountant, lackluster dating life, and life's frustrations with heavy metal (and her werewolf-esque transformations) as her main outlet surprisingly still isn't too much of a good thing. The simple art style is a perfect foil for the wry, witty writing and fully-loaded soundtrack. This is one series possibly destined tolist staple as long as it remains in the Netflix library.

Super Crooks

Based on the four-issue comic series by Mark Millar and Leinil Francis Yu, Super Crooks debuted on the platform in December. This prequel to the comic series follows Johnny Bolt and his band of crooks as they attempt to pull off the ultimate heist. This world of super-powered people offers a slick opening, simple, yet action-packed story full of quips, quirks, interesting characters, and crisp (Studio Bones) visuals. Although it won't be to everyone's taste (if redemption arcs and character growth are your bag then you'll be left wanting), this 13-episode was definitely a 2021 surprise.

Akame ga Kill!

Adapted from the manga of the same name, Akame ga Kill! is a dark anime series with mature themes and some of the best character development to be had in shonen stories. Akame follows Tatsumi, the newest member of the assassins group Night Raid, as he and fellow assassins fight a corrupt Imperial Kingdom. With A-level writing and animation, this series doesn't waste a single episode. If you like your character's backstories morbid and your action brutal and bloody then Tatsumi's journey to becoming an assassin with a cause is calling your name.

B: The Beginning

The vigilante "Killer B"'s turning the island of Cremona into their personal hunting ground. To catch this escalating killer, the Royal Investigation Service calls its ace - if eccentric - detective Keith Flick back into active duty. But the kills aren't what they seem and Flick will need to unravel dangerous secrets in order to solve these crimes. If you're in the mood for a cat-and-mouse detective story - with more than a few science fiction twists - then look no further than B: The Beginning. This visually stunning story offers a blend of mystery and horror for fans who like their anime to take ambitious risks (even if it doesn't always stick the landing).

Code Geass

Sent to Japan as a hostage, Lelouch, a prince of Britannia, escapes after an encounter leaves him with the power to control anyone. Lelouch becomes the masked rebel known as Zero and begins to mercilessly exact vengeance against Britannia. Code Geass is a genre blend with action, charisma, and just the right amount of bombasticness to carry the story from episode to episode. This alternate history full of mechs and magic is a wild ride.

Dorohedoro

Set in a grim world, Dorohedoro is a quixotic and disorderly series about a big crocodile man who loves gyoza. It's almost equal parts comedy and carnage. It's a bizarre, gory, sci-fi world full of surprisingly compelling characters. With bold color and a brisk pace, Dorohedoro makes the most of its strange world to confuse and entertain.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Based on the wildly popular manga series, this multigenerational story follows the adventures of a Joestar family member - each with the same titular nickname and endowed with immense psychic strength - as they battle against rivals (and evil) down through the ages. With each new protagonist comes an independent story that expands the universe and keeps the narrative fresh and engaging. It's sly wit and frequent hattips to popular Western trends add just the right amount of hilarity to this adventure-driven fantasy. With five quality seasons (Stone Ocean being the latest installment) now available on Netflix as of December 1st, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's addition to the best of list may just be a bit overdue.

Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop's set in a world where a hyperspace gateway accident's left Earth inhabitable. What remains of humanity colonized the rocky planets and moons in the solar system. Fifty years of rising crime prompts the Inter Solar System Police to legal bounty hunting and authorized hunters, known as Cowboys, to track and capture criminals across the system in order to bring them to justice. The series follows the crew of spacecraft Bebop as they hunt down criminals in 2071. This Japanese sci-fi noir and it's now iconic soundtrack and vintage (but still solidly stylish) animation style offers up the space (mis)adventures of former syndicate member and hitman Spike, his former ISSP officer partner Jet Black along with a con artist with memory gaps, a wacky hacker and Ein a too-cute- for its own good genetically engineered Welsh Corgi with human-like intelligence.

The twenty-six episode series offers a genre-blending narrative, visually kinetic action, and audacious good fun for long-time fans and is a great place to start for those new to the anime space. Only time will tell if dropping the entire anime run just ahead of the live-action Cowboy Bebop November 19, 2021 premiere helped or hurt the movie franchise. Be sure to check out how IGN thinks film adaptation stacks up against the source material.

Bleach

Bleach is based on the massive manga run written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. It's adaptation played a pivotal role in mainstreaming anime in the US. A fateful series of tragic and extraordinary events turn Ichigo Kurosaki from ordinary high schooler to a Soul Reaper. But when the Soul Reaper who granted him use of her powers is unable to regain them, Ichigo must not only master these new abilities but pick up the fight tracking down the corrupt spirits known as the Hollows to keep them from devouring human souls. Bleach is best as a gateway into anime; the first three seasons are possibly the best of the entire run. They are tense, action-packed, witty, and character-driven. With the promise of a new arc about the Thousand-Year Blood War in the offing for 2022, now's a good time to start that series re-watch.

Beastars

If you prefer your shounen occasionally NSFW and built on a narrative designed to explore themes like prejudice, choice, introspection then Beastars may be the slice of life fantasy series for you. This drama-heavy mystery series digs into the lives of anthropomorphic animals; where carnivores and herbivores are trying to coexist peacefully. If Zootopia-eques that dig into slice-of-life stories and self-discovery are what grab and hold your interest then Beastars is definitely an anime series for you.

Violet Evergarden

Based on a light novel series this thirteen episode show brings to life a story of post-war reintegration into civilian life through the lens of fourteen-year-old Violet Evergarden. This fantasy coming-of-age story tells the tale of the young orphan's attempt to find purpose beyond soldiering. It's an introspective and touching narrative with a phenomenal score. This series is why phrases like "visually stunning" won't soon go out of use. It is simply one of the most beautifully animated series around.

Now's an excellent time to revisit this show then pick up with Violet Evergarden: The Movie added to the streamer on October 13, 2021.

Your Lie in April

Based on the manga series of the same name, Your Lie in April follows piano prodigy Kousei Arima as he rediscovers his love of music, and ability to hear his piano in the aftermath of his abusive mother's death. This show aims right for all those emotional weak spots as it takes you on a heartfelt journey full of music and drama. The pastel-drenched color palette and deceptively straightforward narratives will reel you in and make you a believer in music-driven stories henceforth.

Erased

Follow 29-year-old Satoru Fujinuma as he discovers an ability to time travel and ends up in the past trying to solve a murder mystery. This powerful ability he calls "Revival" permits him to jump back to the recent past (a few minutes) to change events and save lives. But after being accused of a murder himself, however, Satoru wakes up, as his younger self, eighteen years in the past. Soon realizing the crime he's accused of is connected to an abduction and death of a classmate, Sartoru strikes out to unravel the mystery, prevent his classmate's death, and ultimately clear his (future) name. Erased is a gripping adaptation of Kei Sanbe's full manga run. The story is dynamic and brought to life through gritty and immersive animation. Set aside time, because it's a binge-worthy series.

Hunter x Hunter

It's pronounced Hunter, Hunter (the x really is silent). Young Gon sets out to find his missing father. Along the way, he makes new friends, enters a martial arts tournament, and comes face to face with creatures - on his quest to become a Hunter - that any horror prop master would kill to get their hands on. Gon's enemies have zero chill so between the action sequences and well-crafted story Hunter x Hunter is some of the best shonen anime has to offer, ever. Come for the familiar premise, stay for the character depth, darker tone, and its engrossing and increasingly complex story arc.

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

All-powerful psychic Kusuo Saiki attempts to fly under the radar are continually thwarted and result in a high comedy. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. follows Saiki as he tries to navigate school drama free despite his magnetic ability to attract people. It's quirky, full of lovable characters, and hijinks. Despite its lighter tone, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. offers a quality crowd-pleasing story.

Great Pretender

Makoto Edamura's a con man on the run. But don't think that'll stop him from falling head-first into new schemes instead of laying low. The Great Pretender is colorful, quick-step, offering all the elements of a perfectly designed heist film. If you like your anime stylish and your character's too-slick for words, then this Netflix exclusive is tailor-made for you.

Parasyte: The Maxim

Based on the horror manga series by Hitoshi Iwaaki, Parasyte (re)sets the bar for horror anime. This stunning blend of sci-fi/horror isn't just for horror fans. If you like your storylines built on dark humor and complex character development then following Schinchi Izumi as he struggles to establish a symbiotic relationship with the alien parasite intent on taking him over then, Parasyte is an absolute must watch.

New Anime Series on Netflix

On May 16, you can see more of Wit Studion (Attack on Titan) usually exceptional work in Netflix Original Vampire in the Garden. The exact number of episodes remains an unknown quantity but given Wit's track record, you'll kick yourself if you miss out. Then head back to the near future, and some of the best CGI-style animation in the game, on May 23, 2022 when Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 returns for a second season.

The latest batch of Pokemon Master Journeys: The Series (Part 3) are tentatively expected to hit the streamer May 26th but given the drops for part one and two were late, don't be surprised if part three doesn't make that release date. And it's with great delight that I remind you that new episodes of Komi Can't Communicate (Season 2) will keep premiering on the platform every Thursday.

How We Choose the Best Anime Series on Netflix

The goal is to have a list of great anime series that span many subgenres. We've included a mix of popular classics like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, along with relatively more obscure titles like The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Whether you're a complete anime newbie or a hardcore otaku, there's something for everyone here.

Or follow these links for the best of other genres:

Sonic Games Are Being Delisted Ahead Of Sonic Origins Release

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 11:49 AM PDT

Sega is delisting individual versions of the included classic Sonic games from digital storefronts in anticipation of Sonic Origins.

Sega announced in a press release that Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD will not be available as standalone titles as they will be a part of Sonic Origins which compiles the Blue Blur's earliest adventures in one collection.

The press release says Sega plans to remove the digital versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD from digital storefronts on May 20. There are a couple of exceptions, as Sonic 1 and 2 will still be available on the Nintendo Switch eShop through the Sega Ages collection, and Sonic 2 will remain on the Sega Genesis Nintendo Switch Online app.

If you want just one of these games and don't want to pay for Origins, you have less than a month before these cheaper options disappear. Right now on Steam, you can grab Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles, and CD for $4.99 each. Combined, this comes out to $20, which is significantly less than Sonic Origins' $39.99 standard/$44.99 digital deluxe price point.

However, these $5 versions are basically ports of the original Genesis trilogy, while Sonic Origins features digitally remastered versions of Sonic's earliest adventures, which explains the higher price point.

In addition to the remastered versions of the game, Sonic Origins also includes a mirror mode, boss rush, music library, difficult missions, and more. But to access all the content, you'll need to preorder the digital deluxe edition or piecemeal it together through DLC, which many Sonic fans aren't happy about.

The negativity surrounding Sonic Origins' release is a blemish on what is otherwise a fairly positive time for Sonic fans. Beyond Origins, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie series has been a success among fans and critics, while 3D Sonic fans are looking forward to the series' first "open-zone" adventure in Sonic Frontiers. And, Sonic even just got an official new game inside of Roblox.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

GTA 5 Next-Gen Patch Adds A Host Of Highly-Requested Improvements

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 11:14 AM PDT

Grand Theft Auto V might be nearly 10 years old, but Rockstar Games is still working on the game. Today, the publisher introduced long-awaited improvements for the next-gen version of Grand Theft Auto V via Update 1.56.

Update 1.56, which quietly released for PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, hosts a variety of improvements and bug fixes detailed on Rockstar's website. While most of these tweaks simply fix minor glitches, the update also includes some highly-requested quality of life improvements, including:

  • Even shorter load times
  • Music now continually plays while in an Xbox Live party
  • Tweaked adaptive trigger feedback on PS5

Perhaps the most exciting addition for players, however, is the newly added option to turn motion blur off, which has become a massive talking point for players of the game's next-gen version.

According to Kotaku, some players have pointed out that the update also adds next-gen files to PC versions of the game, which could hint at this update arriving on PC in the near future as well.

Despite the game's age, this isn't the only recent update to GTA 5, which was released for next-gen consoles in March. Last year, GTA Online received a story-focused expansion. And, most recently, Rockstar removed transphobic content from the game following complaints from players.

We dubbed GTA 5 a masterpiece in 2013, praising its detailed environment and enjoyable single-player campaign mode.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer for IGN.

Ghostbusters VR Is 'Not a Sequel To Afterlife' But Features Plenty of Familiar Elements

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 10:41 AM PDT

Ghostbusters VR won't be a direct follow-up to the 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Sony Pictures VR has confirmed to IGN.

Senior VP of Virtual Reality for Sony Pictures Entertainment Jake Zim tells IGN that Ghostbusters VR will not be a follow-up to the story explored in Afterlife, though there will be a lot of familiar elements based on the film.

"Our game is not about Afterlife," Zim says. "It is not a sequel to Afterlife. It does not go deeper directly into the stories. It is a new story, it's a new concept, but it ties closely back into lots of things that people loved from Afterlife and the broader Ghostbusters world itself."

As for where Ghostbusters VR fits in the franchise's timeline, Zim says there's "a little bit of a time gap," noting that players can think of the time period as "being modern day and maybe slightly in the future." Fans shouldn't expect any characters from the films to appear in Ghostbusters VR, with Zim noting that it was "really important" for the development team to "move forward and create a whole storyline."

Unlike the original movies, which were set in New York City, Ghostbusters VR will be set in San Francisco. Zim says that the developers will have a lot of fun with the setting, but will still try to make it fit within the franchise's universe.

"When we talked about designing a game, we thought about a city, a place that could offer a lot of really cool environments," Zim says.

"If you think about San Francisco, if you think about earthquakes, about its history, about locations, bridges, certain prisons, neighborhoods, the environments, the type of people who are in San Francisco, and the history that it has, it offered up a lot of opportunity for nDreams to really have fun with that, while still playing in the world of Ghostbusters."

Ghostbusters VR currently does not have a release date, but it is expected to launch on the Meta Quest 2 at the very least.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Galactic Civilizations 4 Review

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 10:01 AM PDT

I'll be blunt: if I were to rank prominent space 4X games of the past decade, Galactic Civilizations IV would come in near the bottom of the list, even behind Galactic Civilizations III. It's not a disaster – like the previous three Galactic Civilizations games, this is a decent, functional 4X space game – but its predecessors were good for at least a round or two before they wore thin due to the lack of an "X factor" to really keep me hooked. None of them stacked up to Endless Space 2, Stellaris, or even 1996's Master of Orion 2, which each deliver more substantial variety, flair, polish and creative identity than any GalCiv game managed for me.

I had hoped that GalCiv's fourth iteration would finally find and deliver the spark that the series has been searching for. Instead, it's had the opposite effect on me: After completing several playthroughs, its glaring design problems and balance issues are painfully clear, to an extent that I worry that Stardock won't be able to pull it out of this tailspin and salvage its handful of smart ideas anytime soon. If the stars align I can see playing Galactic Civilizations IV and not having an unpleasant time, but it's done so disappointingly little to keep up with the heights the rest of the genre has reached since 2015 that I'm usually wishing I was playing one of those instead.

Upon hitting the new game button, you'll be greeted with a generous selection of nicely animated space empires both familiar and original to the franchise. There's a decent array of colorful and bizarre alien species amidst the human and humanoid, with the terrifying Festron bugs or literal giant mantis shrimp standing out the most at first glance. Each race comes with a selected set of traits that (supposedly) dictate the style of play they lend themselves to, but you can customize a number of these bonuses to your liking. It's also possible to make your own empire entirely from scratch.

You'll continue the customization spree right into your game details, where you'll set up the size and qualities of the galaxy. There's a respectable selection of options in all these areas, and Stardock is kind enough to give you a system specs suggestion when you start scaling up the settings to insane degrees (my measly 16GB of RAM and four CPU cores were half of what a "Galactic" size map suggests).

I was constantly having to shift my perspective just to glean basic information and get all my commands through.

Beyond the alien/empire selection, the most important cornerstone to this setup process are Sectors. By default, I was just playing with a couple of average-sized regions, but you can scale it up to your CPU-melting desires. By breaking the map up, Stardock's stated intention is to dial down the amount of dead space and empty tiles we see between systems in previous GalCivs. It's also meant to keep empires relatively contained to a smaller playing field in the early game, until a few technologies have been researched. Unfortunately, with the way things are currently balanced it completely fails at both of these goals, and it doesn't take too many turns into a fresh campaign to see why.

Arrayed before you is a grid of your starting sector, which contains your homeworld, shipyard, and a couple of starter starships. It can be hard to tell just what you have at a glance, as planetary icons and names tend to blot out the ships beneath them. Zooming out a little will shift objects to icons, but zooming out a little further than that will hide smaller ones. I was constantly having to shift my perspective just to glean basic information and get all my commands through. Just about every time I wanted to deploy survey ships I'd have to zoom in to click the ship underneath a planet banner, then zoom out to get a feel for the map layout, only to zoom back in a little for the anomaly icons to actually show.

Even once you're familiar with what the icons and tiles all represent and how to find them, it still proves to be an unclear and ugly mess to try and sift through. There are a lot of systems at play and information to keep track of in any 4X game of this scale, sure, but in Galactic Civilizations IV I frankly struggled to uncover the essential information I needed to manage them. Plenty of times I was having to mouse over a dozen or so tooltips to figure out the specifics of how some resources and statistics interacted. I'm still not convinced everything is there either, such as the exact impacts of citizen skills, and even after playing multiple games I still felt like I was winging it.

To be fair, the rest of the initial experience was much smoother. Galactic Civilizations IV is a turn-based strategy game, so you have all the time you need to consider your moves and come to grips with things. This includes deploying the many fleets of starships you'll be building. Combat is simply a matter of moving fleets onto the same tile as another fleet and then seeing the results. While you are given the option to see a cinematic view of the battle play out – which looks cool, but is prone to all sorts of camera issues and display bugs – there's no influencing the outcome. All you can do is build your fleets and move them across the map, hoping that your fleet is bigger and more powerful when conflict happens. That's fine, as this is a strategy game rather than a tactical one, but considering the impressive ship editor it feels like a missed opportunity.

To be fair, the rest of the initial experience was much smoother.

The colored blob that represents your empire's sphere of influence will form through a combination of building starbases and colonizing planets. Starbases can be built anywhere, though they gather minerals and trigger the effects of precursor relics in their field of influence, making tactical placement important. Planets, on the other hand, can have colonies built on them. But most colonies aren't going to be all that impressive, as many planets lack the resources and space to be worth developing in full.

In previous Galactic Civilizations games, you'd have to manage each of those worlds individually regardless of their quality, and that got tedious as your empire grew. So one of GalCiv IV's new features that I'm fond of is the Core World system, which aims to mitigate all that micromanagement. Rather than force you to hand-craft each of them, unimportant colonies will instead transfer their resources and stats to the closest Core world (with increasing decay over distance). If a colony world becomes lucrative or of strategic importance, you can opt to install a governor and promote it to a Core world. This streamlines the process for when your empire gets massive and spreads across multiple sectors.

Still, this means the early game narrows into a galactic land grab – which is true of most 4X games to some extent, but especially so here. If there are loose resources, floating relics, or even the most inhospitable rock with a mineral count on it, you'd best be setting up shop on it. Because if you don't, then one of your AI opponents absolutely will.

My first game (playing as the Terran Resistance) was going decently enough, but I quickly realized just how outclassed I was getting in terms of production and territory relative to the neighboring Yor or Drengin empires. It turned out that I was being too selective with my colony ships, mostly focusing on claiming worlds and regions that I'd want to later convert to core worlds and fully build up. Merely a few turns later, I'd find all the other planets in that solar system sporting new colonies from the Drengin, who cared naught for anything except that they had claimed the territory.

That leads me nicely into a major issue: the AI has no clue how to prioritize which planets to colonize and which are a waste of everybody's time. Computer empires might see snapping up every unoccupied world that I hadn't as the correct decision, but nearly all of those colonies only lasted a couple of turns before they belonged to me. Part of that was because they were left undefended, but oftentimes, I wouldn't even need to fire a shot! During peacetime, those brand-new colonies were so deeply within my empire's zone of influence and away from theirs that decay affected 100% of their resources. They literally did nothing for them, only to then have cultural rebellions that saw them joining my faction. So this actually worked out to my advantage, with the downside being it exposed the reality that my opponents have no idea what they're doing.

When it comes to war, territory control becomes even more annoying.

When it comes to war, territory control becomes even more annoying. You conquer a world by putting a fleet in orbit and, after a couple turns – depending on the colony's strength and size – the planet will flip to the invader's side. The colony itself can do nothing to stop this, and only other fleets can intercept and destroy the besieging force before the turn count runs out. However, "fleet" is a bit of an overstatement because you only need one single ship to take a non-core planet. It doesn't even have to be a specialized battleship or transport; any ship will do. Core worlds at least require a ground invasion via transport and take longer to capture, but by nature they're few and far between.

This means that every single ship, big or small, is a threat. This results in wars becoming an endless game of whack-a-mole in which you're frantically trying to deploy enough fleets and hopefully have enough sensor coverage to stop every single ship from getting past your front lines. Of course, it's not exactly a huge deal should they succeed, as you can just as easily undo any damage they inflict with your own ship. It's just a constant annoyance, and it means that there's a huge amount of tedious trawling through vast sectors of space until all opposition is quashed.

Another idea that doesn't pan out is Sectors, which might break up the galactic map in theory, but in practice? Every sector is still thousands upon thousands of tiles to manage, even on smaller map sizes, so the empty space problem is still very much in play.

And if a war does happen to spread across multiple sectors, this just means there's a very narrow funnel – just one tile – through which reinforcements can arrive. That sounds like it could get tactically interesting, but the substreams between sectors cannot be blockaded: even if you plant a starbase on either side of the stream, other empires can just fly their fleets right past your defenses if they so choose, and the whack-a-mole game across galactic miles resumes in earnest. All your efforts at tactically controlling the space accomplished was to give you vision and a staging ground for launching an attack of your own; it's a good start, but it makes the entire concept of sectors feel pointless. With a grid size this vast, Galactic Civilizations IV needed something like the hyperlanes of Stellaris or Endless Space for Sectors to work; without them it's just more space. Rather than solve the problems of GalCiv III, Stardock has only amplified them.

In Galactic Civilizations IV, building tall was never an option.

Do Sectors at least buy you time in the early game to get established before too many rivals are knocking at your door? Not really! The technology to see and travel between sectors is fairly low tier, so it's usually not hard to unlock. Technology choices are randomly selected from what's available when it's time to research something, so you might get unlucky… but you can reroll the choices at the cost of a slight penalty to their research rate, so not having the appropriate technology pop up when you want it is only a mild inconvenience. What's more, there's a trait that you can simply start with to be able to use them anyway (which the Navigators get for free). At absolute best, it might keep your unluckier opponents low in the opening land grab, but I sincerely doubt you'll be able to fully capitalize on that before new challengers arrive to your sector.

The way things are balanced, Galactic Civilizations IV inadvertently discards a staple tactical choice of 4X strategy games regarding empire building: you can choose to "build wide," meaning you spread out many colonies across huge territories, or "build tall," where you focus your efforts on a small number of hyper-developed core worlds. That decision leads to some very different playstyles and adds to a game's replayability. But in Galactic Civilizations IV, building tall was never an option. No matter how much you micromanage the efforts of a core world or two, that can't compete with having the input of potentially dozens of colonies added to it. The inability to actually set up chokepoints and really maintain your territory only compounds that frustration.

Actually micromanaging your empire can be a fun process, at least. Core worlds have a grid layout of their own representing the buildable spaces on their surface, and you can fully plan out the construction of specialized improvements to maximize the incoming resources. Add in adjacency bonuses, tile bonuses, and later the ability to terraform to access more tiles, and you have a system that gave me probably the most enjoyment I had in GalCiv IV – it was one of the only aspects that didn't end up feeling hollow or incomplete.

Speaking of, the Citizen system is among those that felt hollow. Every citizen in your empire will have a name and a selection of stats, and you can assign roles to them (such as workers, farmers, scientists, entertainers etc.) to best capitalize on their strengths. But the minor boosts I was able to squeeze out of them never seemed to reward the time spent. It's worth keeping your people happy, as approval rating is a flat multiplier of your trade and manufacturing income, but that can be handily accomplished without directly interfacing with your needy citizens. This isn't Crusader Kings III, which sports all sorts of vignettes and story development that can occur to make citizens seem like fully fledged characters; your people in GalCiv IV are just thinly veiled sets of numbers. And it's inessential, too: when I outright ignored the Citizens system, the difference in my empire's performance was negligible – so why bother with it?

Ideologies fall equally flat. There are 14 different Ideologies split into seven pairs of "conflicting" beliefs, and as random events occur throughout your campaign your choices can increase the Ideology score of your empire. For example, you might find a scavenger ship in your territory; choosing to trade with it might boost Opportunity, forcing it to turn over its haul boosts Authority, and helping it with its task rewards Compassion. On occasion you'll gain culture points, which can then be assigned to an available ideology tree for a bonus. In theory, this should let you tailor make your empire to better suit your playstyle and get into the roleplay aspect that usually accompanies 4X games.

Galactic Civilizations IV, however, has no restrictions on letting you take qualities from completely opposing ideologies. You can just cherry pick the mechanical boon of your choosing – which you'll want to do, as the balance (which Stardock says is still being tweaked across the board) is wildly inconsistent – and eat the minor approval hit of going against the wishes of a couple of your citizens. It's made even worse by how flat and repetitive the random events are: most are just a single dialogue box of bland description and the same generic image with up to three choices. There's little variety here, and I saw the exact same events multiple times within each and every playthrough I've done.

What actually stuck out with me during these events was not their contents, but how utterly bizarre or nonsensical some of the outcomes were.

What actually stuck out with me during these events was not their contents, but how utterly bizarre or nonsensical some of the outcomes were. Switching off life support to the dangerous aliens in stasis is "Equality," but waking them up and giving them a colony ship to claim a new world has no ideological gains? Frankly, there are enough oddities in the descriptions of anything to do with the Ideology system that I'm convinced the writers must have radically different ideas of what these concepts mean.

Likewise, it doesn't appear much thought or effort was put into developing a sense of individuality or personal story to really hook you into any given run. The story campaigns of previous Galactic Civilizations games are gone in IV, but frankly that's no great loss, as they were usually just abridged versions of regular, randomized games with a little more flavor attached to them. Still, Stardock claims that GalCiv IV is full of lore and storytelling in the standard mode in order to replace those. Unless we're counting random communications from other empires that provide an impromptu lore dump and the single option of "OK", I'm not sure where that's supposed to come from. Not a single thing I've encountered in multiple games of Galactic Civilizations IV came even close to having the lore or development of GalCiv II and III, let alone the race-specific stories of Endless Space 2, or the wealth of random vignettes Stellaris can throw at you.

On top of that, I've found more errors and weirdness with every subsequent game I've attempted. It was the final playthrough that really highlighted just how much of Galactic Civilizations IV doesn't work as intended, though. See, I'd noticed a pattern in every preceding game where the Yor Singularity – a race of robots – seemed to dominate the scoreboard. So this time I decided to play them, and it was here that everything unraveled.

Synthetic races don't develop population normally, and instead have to manufacture new ones as a building project. They need a specific resource to do that, but it's commonplace enough that it only slows them in the early game until they find an additional source and start snowballing. Then, in exchange for that labor, they don't need food. That's a big deal because normally, investing heavily in manufacturing has the offset of increasing pollution, which decreases the growth of food and therefore stunts your population growth. But if food is pointless, nothing stops me from going all in on industry. Furthermore, Yor citizens ignore any approval loss from high pollution or from hitting the population cap on planets, so again my growth was completely unchecked. This is an oversight in the faction design, sure, and it can (and hopefully will) be patched and adjusted to prevent every game ending with the galaxy bowing to its new robot overlords. But this flaw is just one of many in GalCiv IV, and they are so prevalent that balance seems more than a few simple patches away.

Here's another: Yor citizens have no expectation stat, which is intended to further balance approval rating when you deploy them to distant starbases or lackluster colonies. As such, I would just deploy them to land-grab everything as I'd learned to do in previous games. It's a minor and inconsequential modifier, nothing more, and made the citizens feel even less worth interfacing with than they already were.

I then encountered my first competing empire in my starting sector. Diplomacy requires you to research a universal translator technology which becomes available shortly after first contact. Afterwards, you're able to open up dialogues with them, trade resources or technology, and arrange for treaties or alliances. More often than not though, I would struggle to reach terms that would really be worth my time at all, even when in a position of significant power. Otherwise, I'm constantly being asked to declare war on whoever else is present in the galaxy, because the AI just never seemed able to make nice. As the Yor, I just decided to pre-empt the lackluster deals I would be rejecting and chose to disregard diplomacy entirely.ly.

Before I'd even developed a translator to start listening to them, we were at war and sniping each other's colonies. The sheer manufacturing advantage I had meant that they were quickly swamped and overrun. This also translated to a research advantage, since I could rapidly build new science buildings. The only diplomatic message I received from them at any point was on the verge of their total subjugation. What did they say? I quote: "Hey Yor, we're really tired of fighting. We ask for peace." That's it. No offerings of placation or attempt to smooth things over.

"Hey Yor, we're really tired of fighting. We ask for peace."

So I refused their request, which drew my attention to the fact that Galactic Civilizations IV also has nothing akin to Stellaris' Casus Belli systems or war weariness. With no mounting cost outside of manufacturing spaceships, these conflicts can last forever without any issues or incentive to stop before absolute victory is achieved.

At this point, I decided to flip the switch on another new feature: Galactic Challenges. Completing these themed challenges – such as building a new wonder first, or spawning waves of hostile space monsters to survive – nets you prestige. This is needed for the primary victory condition and can allow you to speed up completion of a game that's already "won," but might otherwise take hours to fully complete the task of mopping up. GalCiv III felt like that at times in the late game, so it's a worthwhile endeavor.

The vast majority of these challenges, however, are a single text box of brief, simplistic dialogue and then an incredibly basic quest objective. Given that many of these should ostensibly be major lore moments or defining achievements, the writing and descriptions are incredibly lackluster. By contrast, reaching early milestones like building your first colony or starbase will reward the player with a short little video celebrating it. It feels like the wrong allocation of resources and attention, and leaves these bigger moments and marquis features feeling undercooked. There's also nothing stopping you from selecting multiple at once, and some feature quite a bit of overlap.

So I activated the Everwar, forcing every empire in the galaxy to declare war on everyone else. It sounds a lot more impressive than it actually is; this is no end-game Crisis from Stellaris, just a switch to flip based on how things are going to expedite the game's conclusion. Activating the challenge gave me another bland dialogue box about dwindling galactic resources, and then a countdown timer which I must survive to achieve prestige points. I was intending to conquer them all anyway, so I might as well be rewarded for the effort and have the task made easier by having them fight amongst themselves before I got there. And then I started jumping across sectors in pursuit of my continual goal of conquest – only to find that the sector borders once again proved totally ineffective at stopping rogue ships from making a nuisance of themselves (even colonizing one planet I had missed in the heart of my empire). One last mole to whack.

There are still systems that I haven't described here, like the Leaders and Executive Orders. If they had made enough impact then I might have done so, but I've been able to handily win games both when using them as intended, or just flat out ignoring them. Again, the differences in my experience between playthroughs was minor at best. There wasn't even any point in engaging with them for the sake of forging my own thematic identity for the run. Nothing seemed to change the bland, boring experience I was having. This was all on Normal difficulty, mind you. Higher difficulties might force you to engage with every system in order to be competitive, but given how minor an effect they seem to have currently, that just sounds more adding more tedium to a game I was already feeling bored by.

One system I did attempt to use was the weapon types. Weapons are split into three categories (beams, missiles, and kinetics) each with a corresponding defense system to counter it. But I quickly stopped worrying about it when I realized that it just didn't matter: whether through balance issues or bugs, the defensive systems barely seemed to make a difference in outcome even in textbook situations. The battle predictions didn't seem to matter, either; I would frequently demolish fights that I was told I had no chance in while also being defeated in what were said to be certain victories. I thought these outliers might have been determined by hit points or hull size categories instead of weapons systems, but absolutely nothing proved certain despite my best efforts to figure it out.

The final nail in the coffin for Galactic Civilizations IV came when I was halfway into conquering the second sector as the Yor.

The final nail in the coffin for Galactic Civilizations IV came when I was halfway into conquering the second sector as the Yor. Only one other empire that was a threat still remained: the dreaded Manti, who had equally little regard for other species and who had forced most to surrender to them as the Everwar continued. Yet despite my absolutely overwhelming superiority, with the vastly larger infrastructure and spaceship fleet, the significantly more powerful technology… I was dangerously close to losing the battle in prestige points to this opponent. I outclassed them in every other category by a long shot, barring two: they had more sectors controlled (thanks to the surrenders) and they had an extra relic within their starbase control to farm points from. This put them at 82% of the way to a points victory, compared to my 64%. That seems incredibly off to me.

It's worth mentioning that there are fewer victory conditions in GalCiv IV than in previous Galactic Civilizations games. There's Conquest, which requires the elimination of all other empires; Culture, which requires your blob of influence to dominate the majority of the map while also being at peace with everyone; and then there's Prestige, which is a points-victory based on a total sum of empire statistics and further bolstered by sector control and points earned from completing Galactic Challenges.

In short, there's no real way to play without coming back to the galactic land-grab, most likely forcing you into the wargame. The Culture victory might seem like the best way to approach things peacefully, but having borders come into contest very quickly makes neighbors unhappy, so trying it will eventually antagonize them into fighting you.

If you're going just for a Prestige victory, most of your points will come from territory control and the resources you amass. The Galactic Challenges on offer are largely war focused, or else you're just building what unique wonders you can manufacture. The condition of unlocking those is entirely based on how many worlds you control, though. Thus, everything comes back to the land-grab. Anything that doesn't directly contribute to that is pointless, or undercooked, or has the balance and design issues outlined thus far. There's very little variety from game to game, and wholesale features can just be ignored with little consequence.

Perhaps the one aspect of Galactic Civilizations IV that actually has some unique expression is the ship designer. Out of the box, most species have their own style of fully modular and customisable ships. If you jump into the editor you can freely outfit its stats and abilities, but what's much more fun is being able to change up the look of it entirely as you see fit. Whether you want to design ships from scratch (and knock off any protected intellectual property you see fit), or just tweak the look of a cruiser that you didn't care for, there's a wealth of options and tools to do so. There's even the promise of community support for accessing and downloading player-made ships, but this was presently unavailable in the review build.

Regrettably, playing with this system was the only time I experienced a hard crash to the desktop, thereby losing all the work I'd put into making a TIE Defender. (Stardock says it's aware of stability problems with the ship creator and multiplayer and will patch in fixes at launch.) The toolkit here is certainly extensive, but realistically, this is a specialized feature for a small subset of players.

A Pokémon Fan Has Crocheted More Than 500 Different Species

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 09:55 AM PDT

If you want an example of how much Pokémon's world has grown since original 151, look no further than Reddit, where one user has crocheted more than 500 monsters and counting.

Aptly named reddit user pokemoncrochet first shared their 300-strong collection more than two years ago but the collection has now reached 503 different pocket monsters. It doesn't feature any doubles, and in the post featured below, pokemoncrochet said they plan to complete the collection by crocheting every single species.

While this currently means crafting 905 different Pokémon, that number may shoot up to more than 1,000 when Pokémon Violet and Scarlet are released in late 2022. Pokemoncrochet is making around 100 a year, so depending on how often The Pokémon Company and Nintendo release new entries, it could be years before they're caught up.

That being said, this is clearly a passion project, so extending it a little likely won't deter pokemoncrochet from completing their goal, which they said was to make one of every Pokémon and line them up in National Dex order.

They explained their process to a commentor, saying: "I don't really think about what I'm doing to make a thing, I look at a reference picture and then make the picture. I started off learning how to make single crochet stitches and the magic ring/circle and some basic increasing/decreasing rules for rows."

The final result is very impressive, and pokemoncrochet shares 'Mon by 'Mon updates on their reddit and Tumblr.

Nintendo hasn't yet revealed how many new Pokémon will feature in the upcoming Violet and Scarlet, but have only revealed the three starters so far.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

PlayStation Reportedly Now Requiring Developers to Create 2-Hour Game Trials

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 09:45 AM PDT

Game developers are reportedly now required to create timed game demos for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers. Going forward, any game that costs $34 or higher must have an accompanying game trial for Sony's subscription service that lasts for at least 2 hours.

According to a report from Game Developer, many studios received this news in a new update in Sony's developer portal and were reportedly not provided any previous communication about such a change. This new policy doesn't apply retroactively or at all to PlayStation VR games. However, developers who plan to launch PlayStation games in the future will have to adhere to these updated guidelines.

Developers reportedly have up to three months from the release of their games to put out a timed trial and they are required to be available on PlayStation's subscription service at a minimum of 12 months.

Custom game demos for the service will reportedly be considered, but it seems like Sony will only approve them on an individual basis. This new policy is also separate from normal demos and developers are still allowed to pursue initiatives like free-to-play weekends for all PlayStation owners.

Sony announced its rebranded subscription service last month and unveiled the three new tiers for PlayStation Plus. It's set to launch next month in Asian markets (excluding Japan) on May 23. Japan soon follows on June 1, with the Americas on June 13 and Europe on June 22.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Pokémon Getting a New Web Series Based on Legends: Arceus

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 09:06 AM PDT

The first details have surfaced for Pokémon: Hisuian Snow, a new anime miniseries that takes place in the same locale as the franchise's hit videogame Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

The Pokémon Company shared new information and artwork for its upcoming series Pokémon: Hisuian Snow, which was previously teased during a Pokémon Presents on Pokémon Day 2022. The web series will launch on May 18, with the first episode of the three-part animated series arriving on Pokémon TV and the official Pokémon YouTube channel.

Pokémon: Hisuian Snow will center around Alec, an aspiring doctor, who boards a boat bound for the Hisui region, originally explored in the Pokémon Legends: Arceus video game. According to the press release, Alec's quest to find medicinal herbs during his trip to the ancient land will see him reminiscing about the first time he accompanied his father there.

Alec's father is said to have relocated to the Hisui region to procure materials for his woodwork but "came to fear Pokémon after a certain incident." He offered a word of warning to his son, insisting that humans and Pokémon cannot coexist, but Alec's interactions with a Hisuian Zorua might end up teaching him a different lesson about their relationship.

The Hisuian Zorua is a regional variant of the popular Pokémon that can only be found in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The action RPG, which was released for the Nintendo Switch earlier this year, dropped players amid the history of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl's Sinnoh location at a time when Pokémon were feared much more than they were friends.

IGN's review of Pokémon Legends: Arceus described it as "an ambitious revamp that successfully revolutionizes the defining Pokémon experiences of catching and battling, but is unfortunately set in a drab, empty, and at times tedious world," killing "the immersion of running around what should be an exciting natural world stuffed with Pokémon."

Pokémon: Hisuian Snow is being produced by The Pokémon Company International in collaboration with WIT STUDIO, the acclaimed team behind Pokémon the Movie: Everyone's Story as well as the popular anime show Attack on Titan. The new Arceus-inspired web series is directed by Ken Yamamoto from a screenplay written by Taku Kishimoto.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

The Quarry: How to Write a Story with 186 Different Endings - IGN First

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 09:00 AM PDT

The Quarry has, to be precise, 186 different ending variations. The ending you get depends on the choices you make with nine different playable characters; some of your camp counselors will be forever changed by their experiences at Hackett's Quarry, while others may not even make it to see the new dawn. A story that shifts and changes depending on your choices is nothing new for developer Supermassive Games, but creating The Quarry was a "mathematical nightmare" that resulted in a script longer than a thousand pages.

As part of IGN First, we spoke to The Quarry's director, Will Byles, about the challenges involved in creating a choice-driven horror game.

"Writing a branching narrative is a really interesting exercise," Byles tells us. "We write a full, hundred page screenplay as if it were a movie. We develop our character styles, and once we've got that, then we can start looking at how we break that out into a full 10 hour experience."

That first script is expanded to include all sorts of alternate pathways, covering different relationships, story twists, and — the classic — adapting to the potential death of all nine main characters. This colossal, final tome is then passed to the acting talent.

"Actors are used to, on a feature film, a hundred page script," explains Byles. "So when we send the actors the scripts they get very alarmed because they're huge. The script for this is over a thousand pages. We have to shoot about 50 pages a day, which is unheard of. It's just a mad amount of footage. But obviously a lot of what they're learning is the same thing again and again and again, but a different branch."

The script for The Quarry is over a thousand pages.

Anyone who has loaded a previous save to retry a decision in a choice-driven game knows exactly what this means. It's the same scene, but one version ends with the character walking away alive, while the other ends with an axe lodged in their skull. But when a major decision creates two unique outcomes that must then be continued for potentially another eight or nine hours, the script can quickly spiral out of control.

"When it comes to branching it really is a mathematical nightmare," says Byles. "It's just exponential. As soon as you branch, that's two completely different routes. You branch again, and [it makes] two more and two more. By the time you're 20 choices in, you're in ridiculous amounts of data. We have to look at how we make a genuinely branching game without making it so ridiculously huge that it's unplayable or even unmakeable."

So how is this gargantuan task possible? Supermassive Games' solution can be broadly broken down into two approaches. The first is making use of large and small decisions to ensure that not every choice creates an entirely different storyline. The second is smart placement of those choices; perhaps they happen when only a few people are around, thus forcing the wider group of characters to be ignorant of your decision.

"The big choices we have are these things called Paths Chosen, and those will significantly affect the story," explains Byles. "We'll announce it to you. You never know when that's going to come up. You're never warned about it and it might seem trivial, but it's a big, big deal."

"The biggest thing that affects those really big choices is how much they affect the other characters," Byles says. "If you've got these nine stories always all leading into each other, it is relatively straightforward to truncate one of those stories by killing somebody. That's not hard to do because it's a binary thing, they're alive or they're dead. When it affects somebody else [in the cast of characters] massively, that's when it all starts to turn into a bit of a house of cards."

To prevent that house of cards from tumbling down, there needs to be a certain amount of restriction on how often a choice can create a major story branch. In order to do that and simultaneously keep the decision-based gameplay flowing, Supermassive has created dozens of smaller choices. These are focused on adding depth to the links between each of the camp counselors rather than creating divergent plotlines.

The Quarry has 186 different endings to reflect the many, many different choices you have made.

"The smaller choices [are ones] that affect the story that you're actually playing, like relationships and stuff," Byles says. "We really like the idea of giving you context… You can have the exact same conversation, but know that a person has just killed someone, and the context changes everything. We announce [in small text on the side of the screen] every time you do something, how that's affected the other person you're talking to or how that choice has affected a very small part of what's going on. As soon as you know that, everything else just is tilted slightly."

To make all this easier on the script, Supermassive uses a classic horror trope. "Obviously, what we do is split everybody up," Byles says. "That's rule one of horror. The good thing about doing that is if you split everybody up, if we do something that's majorly affective to one or two of those characters early on, we can keep it with them. It doesn't necessarily have to go and affect everybody else."

By keeping some decisions to smaller pockets of characters, it prevents the entire story from branching and creating two completely different, unmanageable storylines from forming every time a decision is made. But Byles explains that story threads can also "go wide" and then be brought back together again. Reuniting those threads presumably gives the script moments throughout that can be reliably stable and (at least somewhat) unaffected by branching, which provides a fresh starting point for the next round of big decisions.

The concluding point of all this is the ending. It's a vital part for any choice-based game, as it works as not just a story finale but also the final assessment of your choices throughout the game. Supermassive is not taking this duty lightly; The Quarry has 186 different endings to reflect the many, many different choices you have made. Your personal ending will reflect who lived, who died, the relationships forged, and the variety of smaller things that happened on your journey. It's thanks to The Quarry tracking all those variables that there can be 186 unique variations of the ending, rather than just a good or bad finale.

Of course, the main thing any horror fan wants to know is: can we kill everybody? The answer is yes, and it's the way Byles likes it. "With a horror like this, my personal favorite way through it is that a fair few people die quite horribly. But you can also play it right through and you can have everyone live. It depends on what you want to play

For more on The Quarry, be sure to take a look at our behind the scenes look at the work that goes into making the many parts of one section of the game, as well as our hands-on preview. We've also got a look at how it builds upon the legacy of Until Dawn, and 30 minutes of gameplay to watch.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Call of the Sea Developer Reveals Truman Show-Like Game, American Arcadia

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 08:00 AM PDT

Call of the Sea developer Out of the Blue has revealed American Arcadia, a '70s retro-futurist game that promises to mix 2.5D platforming and first-person puzzling.

The game has a Truman Show-like concept, in which a whole metropolis is unknowingly part of a 24/7 TV show – and those who fall out of favour with the viewing audience are killed off. The story follows Trevor Hills, whose uninteresting life is interrupted by a mysterious voice seemingly helping him escape backstage.

Players will take the role of two characters – presumably Trevor and his guiding voice – one of whom will play in a chase-filled 2.5D platformer, and the other in a first-person puzzler featuring hacking, exploration, and stealth.

The voice cast is made up of familiar video game names, including Yuri Lowenthal (Spider-Man), Krizia Bajos (Cyberpunk 2077) and Cissy Jones (Firewatch, Call of the Sea).

We'll learn more about American Arcadia at Summer Game Fest later this year, and it's also a part of the Tribeca Game Festival line-up.

The game marks the second collaboration between Out of the Blue and publisher Raw Fury after Call of the Sea, the first-person puzzler we awarded a 9/10 review to back in 2020. We called Call of the Sea "a gorgeous homage to the films and games that inspired it," and said it was "a fun, but emotionally affecting adventure".

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.

World Famous Classical Music Concerts to Feature Video Game Songs for First Time

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 07:29 AM PDT

The BBC Proms, an annual series of classical music concerts, will include video game music for the first time.

Music from Kingdom Hearts, Shadow of the Colossus, Battlefield 2042, and Dear Esther will feature in the concert, revealed by the BBC and spotted by Eurogamer.

The gaming Prom, From 8-Bit to Infinity, takes place on August 1 in London's Royal Albert Hall - which will be decorated to represent the history of gaming - and is being performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Robert Ames - who's previously conducted a sci-fi themed Prom with music from Interstellar, Alien: Covenant, and more - will conduct the event, with the longest performance of 14 mins coming from Battlefield 2042's "suite" composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater.

This will be followed by excerpts from Shadow of the Colossus's music (composed by Kow Otani) at eight minutes, excerpts from Kingdom Hearts (composed by Yoko Shimomura) at four minutes, and the song "I Have Begun My Ascent" from Dear Esther (composed by Jessica Curry), also at four minutes.

The event's description reads: "Fantastic worlds, epic adventures, complex characters and huge moral choices – the universe of computer gaming is a natural match for orchestral music, and in the 21st century games have created a huge and passionate global audience for some of the most vivid, ambitious and inventive music currently being written for symphony orchestra.

"In this first ever Gaming Prom, Robert Ames – best-known at the Proms for his explorations of sci-fi and electroacoustic music – takes an electronically expanded Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on an odyssey from the classic console titles of the 1980s, through Jessica Curry's haunted soundscapes to the European concert premiere of music from Hildur Guðnadóttir's and Sam Slater's score for Battlefield 2042."

DICE's latest didn't make it to IGN's Best Video Game Music of 2021 nominations, with spots instead taken up by Sable, Psychonauts 2, Deathloop, The Artful Escape, and eventual winner Guardians of the Galaxy.

Kingdom Hearts has previously enjoyed recognition though, with last year's Tokyo Olympics using music from the series alongside that of Nier and Final Fantasy.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Starfield’s Music Reflects Its Gameplay Loop

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 07:00 AM PDT

Starfield's composer has explained how Starfield's music reflects what you do in the game, with a flowing signature theme that's inspired by heading out into the stars and then returning home.

Talking as part of the latest Into The Starfield developer diary, composer Inon Zur said " The way I looked at Starfield is what I call 'The Sanctified Triplet'. Which is, everything is streaming, right? Everything is changing and everything is returning back."

Zur used the signature theme of Stafield, heard in the trailer and the dev diary, as an example. "So basically it presents itself, it develops, it goes back. Some sort of circular journey. There's always this drive to go back home. And that's what feels so complete for us, right? We want to complete the mission. We want to complete our journey. We will find something, we will discover something, we'll take it with us, and we will go back home with it."

Within that composition, Zur wanted to create soundscapes that reflected the nature of space. "For example, [we] took the woodwinds and we created a whole woodwind layer that almost represents particles in space, because they don't play melodies at all," he explained. "They play sort of like a high frequency sequence. So they almost don't sound like woodwind, they sound something between organic and synthetic."

As with the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, the signature theme of Starfield bleeds into the rest of the game. "I relax a lot once we feel good about the main theme because the rest is going to, it'll be work in iteration, but it's going to write itself," said Mark Lampert, Starfield's Audio Director.

"I'm kind of salivating thinking about 'What can I do with that on a sound design side?'" he said. "Not just to weave the main theme into different key points within the game, leveling up, discovering new places, but could we use that as straight up sound design? To take those woodwind tremolos and just slow them way down, let's reverse them. I'll take any of that music and turn it into ambience somewhere."

Lampert noted that the score often perfectly fits a gameplay moment, despite it not always being scripted to a player's movements. "The music has a funny way of playing the right chord change at the right time, and a lot of that just happens at random," he said. "You look over the valley at just the right moment and that just happens to be when this one chord change happens, and there are times like that, that feel scripted and they're not. And I like that each player has that experience for themselves, personally."

For more, check out Starfield's first revealed companion, the dialogue mechanic it's borrowed from Oblivion, and learn about how you can join multiple factions including the bad guys.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

PlayStation has Created a Game Preservation Team

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 07:00 AM PDT

PlayStation has created a new team focusing on game preservation.

Revealed by a new employee's Twitter and LinkedIn posts (as spotted by Video Games Chronicle) the division will focus on preserving PlayStation IPs to "ensure our industry's history isn't forgotten".

Garrett Fredley said his new role of senior build engineer is one of PlayStation's initial hires for "the newly created preservation team."

PlayStation Studios' global QA manager Mike Bishop hired Fredley and said in another post - presumably about the same team - that "the day-to-day focus is on IP Preservation for the business, ensuring the titles of today are captured, catalogued, and secured for the games industry of tomorrow."

With Fredley being an initial hire, the preservation team still appears to be in its early stages but will seemingly focus on ensuring the longevity of PlayStation games that date as far back as 1994 when the original console was released.

PlayStation has shown a little more commitment to its retro library recently with the announcement of its new PlayStation Plus tiers, the most expensive of which includes access to hundreds of PS1, PS2, and PSP games.

While the timelines align on the preservation team hirings and the new PS Plus tiers it's unclear how closely linked the two departments are, if at all.

The importance of preservation has been an ongoing conversation for years amid concerns that video games, as a relatively young and mostly digital form of media, will be lost to time when older hardware stops being supported.

Apple was criticised earlier this week for removing games from the App Store that haven't been recently updated, potentially causing countless completed games to be deleted.

IGN has reached out to Sony for comment.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Telltale's Walking Dead Was Originally Pitched as a Left 4 Dead Spin-Off

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 03:48 AM PDT

Telltale's The Walking Dead was originally pitched as a Left 4 Dead spin-off game, before the team took the idea to Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman.

In a documentary celebrating the game's tenth anniversary, as spotted by Eurogamer, the game's original developers revealed they were at first in talks with Valve about a Left 4 Dead narrative-led spin-off.

A simple prototype was made but the plans fell through, and only later did Telltale approach The Walking Dead's creator Robert Kirkman about setting a game in his universe.

"The very first Walking Dead prototype, which actually was for a different zombie thing that ended up turning into the Walking Dead, the first conversation was actually with Valve," said season design and direction lead Jake Rodkin. "It was about: what if we did a narrative side-story in the universe of Left 4 Dead?"

The protype was a completely text-based game that presented options for the player to choose, instead of seeing them actually play out in the game world as in the final version of The Walking Dead. The gameplay saw players attempting to 'spin plates' by looking after a number of characters simultaneously, with bad or late decisions causing thwir narratives to go wrong.

"Thematically that's a lot closer to what The Walking Dead was about than Left 4 Dead, or even a lot of other zombie franchises, so it ended up being a really good fit," Rodkin added.

"I'm really glad that didn't work out!", Robert Kirman added about the Left 4 Dead idea.

Telltale's The Walking Dead Season One became a huge critical and commercial success and essentially inspired an entire generation of games at the studio.

In our 9/10 review of Season One, IGN simply said: "The Walking Dead: The Game demands to be experienced."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Vampire Survivors' Latest Character Is a Dog That Farts Flowers

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 03:24 AM PDT

The latest addition to the Vampire Survivors roster is a dog that farts flowers, part of an update that also adds a new challenge map called The Bone Zone.

The game's most recent patch notes revealed the addition of O'Sole Meeo the dog, whose weapon of choice is an array of really quite beautiful flowers that come in all shapes and sizes.

You can check out O'Sole Meeo in glorious action in the tweet below:

The patch also adds a hard Challenge Stage called The Bone Zone – in which hundreds of skulls will come after you – a new weapon, one more rank for the Reroll and Skip power ups, two Arcanas, and a handful of minor tweaks and bug fixes.

Developer Poncle announced in March that it would be adding five more levels, nine more characters, 16 more weapons, and two more power ups, plus more achievements and Relics as a result of Vampire Survivors' popularity.

In our 7/10 review, IGN said: "It may look extremely basic, but if you give Vampire Survivors' clever one-stick shooter idea a chance to sink its teeth into you it might not let go for a while."

Below the following video, we'll explain how you can unlock O'Sole Meeo, but if you want to keep that surprise for yourself, turn back now.

The new content comes after Vampire Survivors shot to success on Steam after launching in Early Access last December.

O'Sole Meeo isn't available upon opening Vampire Survivors for the first time but can only be accessed after unlocking all the basic stages in the game.

Following this, players must head into the Gallo Tower area and kill 3,000 Dragon Shrimp across any number of runs and with any character. Upon doing so, O'Sole Meeo will unlock through a new achievement.

Players who've already massacred hoards of Dragon Shrimp will unlock the new character after completing any run in the game, or even by starting one and immediately quitting.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Best Nintendo Deals in April 2022: $5 Off $50 eShop Cards Right Now

Posted: 26 Apr 2022 02:55 AM PDT

There are so many great game deals to check out in the spring sales right now, and that includes Nintendo Switch games and more. To help you find the absolute best Switch deals, we've created this handy little round-up on all the latest and greatest offers right now.

One of the biggest deals right now is the $50 eShop gift cards coming down to just $45. That's a small but effective discount, netting you an extra $5 off any of your digital purchases — I mean it's basically free money (kinda). Plus, if you need a fancy Switch to play it all on, why not check out the new Switch OLED Model? It's in stock at Amazon right now, and available for $349.99.

$50 Nintendo eShop Card for Just $45 Right Now

Switch OLED In Stock at Amazon

Nintendo Switch Game Deals at Amazon

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
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