Steam

Each of the 3 playable characters will have a theme song performed by their respective voice actor. View the full article

Players prepare themselves each time a new Monster Hunter is released, wondering how their favorite weapon will feel in their hands in the upcoming game. Each of the 14 weapon types displays its own unique characteristics while still changing to fit the design of each new title. Monster Hunter: World did away with segmenting off each area during a quest, while Monster Hunter Rise is notable for its Wirebug action. The weapons that feel at home in the hunters' hands show a new side of themselves in line with a game's design. So, what kinds of concepts guided the tuning of each weapon in Monster Hunter Wilds, a game that aims to create a seamless hunting experience? To hear about these weapon details that act as determining gameplay factors, we spoke with the Monster Hunter Wilds art director and executive director, Kaname Fujioka, and Wilds director, Yuya Tokuda. Fujioka was also the director of the first Monster Hunter game, while Tokuda has had a hand in the series since Monster Hunter Freedom. In the interview, we heard about the concept and development process for various weapons, garnering new details on weapons that players have been particularly interested in, as well as the kinds of adjustments made for the release version of the game after the feedback they received from the November 2024 Open Beta Test. Adjustments for a Seamless World Tokuda starts by saying that significant changes needed to be made to how a number of weapons are used due to major shifts in the gameplay loop, affected by Wilds’ seamless map and changing weather conditions. "There are a number of large changes to the Light and Heavy Bowgun, as well as the Bow," he says. While previous Monster Hunter titles featured a routine of returning to your base to replenish your resources after each quest, Wilds aims to offer seamless play, making this process no longer required. Ranged weapons in Monster Hunter historically use consumable ammo and coatings, so there was a possibility that they would be more of a burden to use in Wilds without an established time to restock these items. "That's why we designed it so that basic damage sources can be used without expending resources,” says Tokuda. “We balanced it around the idea that things like normal, pierce and spread ammo for Bowguns and coatings for Bows can fire unlimited times while managing your gauge. But we still wanted it to be possible to use what you’ve prepared ahead of time or what you find in the field on top of that, and so our balancing took into account the presence of design that allows you to create powerful ammo with attributes from gathered materials." One change after the next was made to each of the weapons while considering the new elements found in Wilds and the game's concept, with ranged weapon changes being the most notable. Fujioka says that this goes beyond playstyle and mechanics, even stretching into design. "We had the idea of wanting to properly show the movement of charging a Bowgun for a special shot,” he says. “Shots that cancel out a monster's attack look properly convincing as they perform that canceling. Ever since the previous game in the series, we've put a lot of work into making it visually clear to the player what they're doing in the moment." He says that advances in technology increasing the ability to create such depictions also play a major role in these animation changes. Players can swing weapons, put them away, and switch between them. Tokuda says that adding more fine detail to the transitionary animations that connect each action changed even what hunters can do. "One common concept shared by all weapons is that we made sure it's possible for hunters to use them in a natural way given the situation at the moment,” he says. “Our goal was to do this particularly when you can't make any inputs." For example, in previous games, you needed to stow your weapon and stop moving before using a healing item. The greater ability to depict actions through animations played a role in changing that. Fujioka continues: "The Focus Mode that we added to [Wilds] is something we put a lot of work into when it comes to action. You can move while facing a specified direction, making continuous attacks possible while on the move but slightly off-center from your target. Players can properly go in the direction they want. We wanted to make a game that made possible the image players have in their minds about how they want to play. “There have been incredible technical leaps for the development environment in recent years, such as in managing animations, and there have been even greater changes in how games themselves are played. For action games, in particular, the question of how you meet the players’ desires to play in a certain way in the moment they actively want to make a movement is an important one. During development, we're always conscious about not being left behind by changes in the times." Focus Strikes One major change in Wilds is the new system that allows you to wound a monster if you continuously attack a specific spot on its body. Whether or not a wound is formed is generally determined by the amount of damage dealt to that area. Some acts wound a monster more easily, such as attacks that use environmental elements like falling rocks or battles between monsters. When it comes to attacks from player weapons, though, they generally form due to accumulated damage, which is why there aren't any differences between weapon types in this regard. Hunters can deal massive damage to wounded monsters by using Focus Strikes while in Focus Mode. Completely different animations were prepared for each weapon type, such as acrobatically flying all around a monster with the dual blades, making it appear at first glance like there are differences in abilities here. So do different weapons have different Focus Strike effects aside from the visuals? Tokuda gives us an answer. "For Focus Strikes, we wanted to have animations that show each weapon's uniqueness,” he says. “But I admit that this also created a variation between weapons during the open beta test where some were far too strong, while feeling the strengths of others was difficult. Though we do allow differences between weapons in order to give them personality, we don't want the disparity between weapons to be too extreme, and so we're tuning them to be more standardized for the official release of the game." The wound system gives hunters a new option when hunting. For example, if you're attacking the head while using a hammer to flinch a monster, the accumulated damage can create a wound there. You're then able to deal a large amount of damage by then hitting it with a Focus Strike, but that wound will turn into a scar, meaning that you can no longer create a new head wound. You can of course continue to focus on the head, or you can target another body part that can be wounded. Once players are in the latter half of the game, they will learn that there are ways to use the environment that lead to unexpected scars. Tokuda says that, like flinching and part breaking, the wound system acts as a new option for players, where they may expect to create a wound on a monster by hitting it just one more time in a certain location. "Monsters are unwounded when a quest begins, but you can hunt monsters as you explore the locale in Wilds, so as the situation in the locale changes, monsters can have turf wars even without a hunter's involvement,” he says. “This means that a monster may already have multiple wounds by the time it interacts with the player. You can think yourself lucky and hunt a monster when it's in that state. There may also be special additional rewards for felling monsters wandering the locale. In some cases, there are even monsters that give gems as additional rewards." In this game, the use of Focus Mode and wounds has made it easier than before to land dramatically damaging attacks, like the Great Sword's Charged Slash. So were changes made to monster health and toughness to go along with the addition of these features? "It's not as if that was our intention from the start, but health did end up being a little bit higher than World once we thought about maintaining appropriate playtimes and player satisfaction, compared to past titles,” says Tokuda. “Elements like flinch resistance are also higher, but this doesn't mean that hunts will be tedious. Part of the purpose of Focus Mode is to allow players to feel more accomplished through shorter loops. We tried to design it so that the time they spend hunting is even more concentrated than before." The Tempo of the Great Sword You can imagine that tuning each of the 14 weapon types requires quite a lot of development work. We asked Tokuda if each weapon type had a dedicated director or designer. "There are some staff members who oversee multiple weapon types, which ultimately makes for about six individual planners, who are responsible for player experience,” he replies. “We don't just have game designers, of course. We include artists and animation designers to discuss details like what kinds of movements would be good and how that may mean a weapon could be better off used in a different way as we polish the weapons. We didn't have staff members assigned to weapons from the start; their number grows as development progresses. We generally begin by developing the Great Sword as a prototype, then verify weapons like the Sword and Shield and Heavy Bowgun, applying the knowledge we get from there to the other weapons as we create them." Designers and artists work together to create a weapon's action as they think about how much fun it is to use along with how good it feels to look at. It seems that Focus Strikes were an inspiring idea for the art team led by Fujioka as well. "Attacks like the Focus Strike didn't exist in the series before, so now that we had this new form of expression available to us, we began by coming up with ideas while focusing on making it feel good over anything performance related,” Fujioka explains. “The Great Sword is an all-rounder weapon, so we generally begin with it when creating animations. It's one of the first weapons we created for the original Monster Hunter, and there's a strong sense of wanting to challenge ourselves with the Great Sword first. We felt excited when we first made the Focus Strike for the Great Sword, thinking that if we were able to create something that feels this good, we'd be able to do even more with the other weapons." It seems that the Great Sword has an even larger presence when it comes to the development of Monster Hunter's animations than we expected. Tokuda continues: "I feel like weapons with a sense of heavy tempo like the Great Sword are rare in other action games. That's why it's a Monster Hunter standard to begin by making sure that the Great Sword is fun to use. The concepts for the other weapons come together in part by placing the Great Sword at the center and seeing how we can differentiate each of the other weapons from it. “I guess you could say that once you're used to the game, you'll have noticed that the Great Sword is the most rounded of them all. While the speed of weapons like the Dual Blades or the Sword and Shield will always result in there being technical elements needed in order to earn damage in small ways, you're able to go straight to defeating a monster once you're good at using the Great Sword's style as it exists. It can even block, it has area of effect attacks, and it can create moments where you can deal solid damage. It's actually made so that you can go back and forth with a monster in the most straightforward way if you can just get used to its weight." "Creating a game that's fun to play using the Great Sword's weight makes it easier to create weapons that fight with a quicker tempo,” adds Fujioka. “If high-tempo weapons become the focus, or if we match the speed of the monsters to them, movements will just get quicker and quicker. I think that we're able to create a game that feels like Monster Hunter when you play it by making sure that both sides are properly tuned with a weapon that has the Great Sword's tempo." Weapons with Personality Every hunter has a favorite weapon, with strong feelings about weapon types in general. But at the same time, it's an unavoidable fact that there will always be a most used and most popular weapon along with a 14th-place weapon. Players will make themselves heard if they feel that a weapon is being treated unfairly, and many players will inevitably pick a weapon up if its strengths are easy to understand. There are no right answers when it comes to weapon tuning, which is why these creators aim to bring out their individuality instead. Fujioka explains, "We always think that it's better to focus on how to design what makes a weapon unique rather than trying to make all weapons equally easy to use. That said, we do think it's a problem if players can't have the gaming experience we want them to have. Of course, it's not a good thing to have a weapon that's both easy to use and overpowered, so there are weapons we've made a lot of changes to for the release version of the game given what we saw in the open beta." What exactly does he mean by "what makes a weapon unique?” Tokuda explains, using the example of the Hunting *****. "At the outset, I told the team that I wanted the concept of this weapon to be that it can produce proper amounts of damage when used where it performs best, the area around you,” he says. “Instead of being able to unleash one attack after the next, you can use something like an Echo Bubble to deal damage by controlling the area. Since we have this element of sound that other weapons can't produce, how do we make use of that while outputting damage? That's the kind of thing we challenged ourselves to do with the weapon. Instead of thinking that it's all about damage, we care more about making the most out of each weapon's personality.” “Now that you're able to carry two weapons in this game, there was some discussion during the open beta about the most powerful choice being to buff yourself with the Hunting ***** before switching to another weapon and fighting. We're tuning the release version, balancing with the end content in mind, to make sure that the Hunting ***** isn't the only choice for a secondary weapon by having self-buffs be worthwhile but not too strong." There are always going to be certain weapons that do better or worse against each individual monster. The developers accept that these discrepancies are going to exist, but they want to avoid there being a certain build for a certain weapon that would allow anyone to hunt every monster in the most efficient way possible. Of course, the range of monsters that players target will narrow the further into the endgame they go, and weapon usage will narrow to some degree from an efficiency standpoint. Yet flattening the uniqueness of the game's weapons and monsters would be to erase the roots of Monster Hunter. Fujioka has this to say. "While I think that weapons that stand at the top in terms of time efficiency–ease of use and ease of hunting–are going to see more popularity, we have made it so that if you really care about a weapon type, you'll be able to beat a monster through enough trial and error." Regarding this, Tokuda brings up the fact that hunters can carry a primary and a secondary weapon in Wilds. "Even if you have somewhat specialized weapons, it'd make me happy if players brought two in order for them to complement one another as they play," he says. Build Your Own Skills When thinking about weapon performance, one ultimately begins to wonder about the endgame content that is decorations. The decoration system affects skill builds, so what does it look like in this new title? Tokuda explains. "Decorations are currently similar to the system in World, with decorations having specific skill abilities,” he says. “These skills are still activated by placing them into weapon or armor slots (In Wilds, weapon and armor skills can each be activated separately). However, you can make single-skill decorations through something like alchemy. So in [Wilds], players won't have the issue of never being able to get a specific skill." Fujioka nods vigorously from his seat beside Tokuda before speaking about his experience with World. "I never ended up getting it once. My Shield Jewel 2... I ended up finishing the game without having completed my build." (Read more about how equipment skills work in Monster Hunter Wilds.) Now that we are on the subject of builds, I decide to ask the duo about their favorite weapons. Tokuda says he often uses long-range weapons like the Heavy Bowgun and Light Bowgun, and the Sword and Shield which has high adaptability to show monster actions and movements, because as the game's director, he needs to explain what's going on as he plays. He says that he'd like to take plenty of time after the release of Wilds to try out all the weapons now that hunters can carry two. Meanwhile, fans are aware that Fujioka's favorite weapon is the Lance. "I'm a Lance main, or rather, I only use the Lance,” he admits. “I think that the Lance is a weapon where positioning is very important, as you stick to a monster's feet or some other part. Until now, you had to perform this kind of positioning by walking or sidestepping, but in Wilds it's now a lot easier to make minor adjustments, like shifting over slightly as you attack. It's a simple change, but it's important for players to have more choices, so in that sense I think that's one of the positives for Lance users in this game." Then again, the Lance is also the weapon that generated the largest reaction during the open beta. While the developers have already announced that major tweaks will be coming to a number of weapons before the official release, we ask Tokuda about the user reaction they received during the beta. "We received a lot of feedback during the open beta test, and to be honest, one of the largest reactions we got was that the Lance isn't embodying its concept as a weapon,” he says. “Our intention was for players to guard in a variety of ways, sticking to a monster as required and counterattacking. But there were a lot of actions that weren't working properly, such as it being hard to use and perform the right action at the right time, actions going off by mistake, actions coming out late, and so on. Surrounded by so many other actions that worked properly, it ended up feeling like a pretty dull weapon. We're now making major improvements to this for the release version, and we hope you look forward to that." Even at the time of our interview, the Wilds creators were working tirelessly in order to give hunters the best time they can. They've heard what players had to tell them during the open beta. Both as developers who've made Monster Hunter for many years now and as hunters, they're coming face to face with the 14 weapon types to build the greatest gaming experience. Monster Hunter continues to be an unmatched action game series because of the support it receives from both the players' passion and the developers’ tireless spirit of inquiry. You can see for yourself just how much the Monster Hunter Wilds developers take feedback from passionate players into account in their official detailed community update video, where Tokuda covers performance enhancements, detailed weapon changes, and more. Shuka Yamada is a freelance writer for IGN Japan. This article was translated by Ko Ransom. Casey DeFritas is deputy editor of guides for IGN. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

A new Call of Duty season is nothing without new weapons to level up and master, and ****** Ops 6’s season two has plenty to grind with. With at least six weapons coming throughout the season, BO6 season two is chock full of opportunity for players to find the next meta gun, or just the next weapon to mess around and have fun with while playing online with pals. View the full article

Xiaomi's Software Development Director, Zhang Guoquan, recently described WinPlay as a potential turning point for tablet gaming. WinPlay is a new virtualization technology designed to run Windows games on HyperOS, a sophisticated translation layer enabling AAA gaming on mobile devices. Read Entire Article View the full article

The big release is here! The Windows compatibility layer Wine version 10.0 is officially out now bringing lots of big new features. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Don't Nod has announced that Tape 2 of its upcoming narrative adventure game Lost Records: Bloom and Rage has been delayed by almost one month. Known for creating the acclaimed Life is Strange franchise that's now handled by Deck Nine Games, Don't Nod has been releasing titles in a wide array of different genres and styles over the past few years. Lost Records: Bloom and Rage seems like more of a return to form for the studio as a Life is Strange-like narrative adventure. View the full article

Lead Rose, an elegant Mythic weapon skin for Ashe, is officially available for purchase in Overwatch 2. Featuring four tiers of unlockable effects, the fourth Mythic weapon skin in Overwatch 2 is one that fans of the Deadlock Gang’s rebellious leader won’t want to miss. View the full article

A new Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land gameplay overview trailer covers field gimmicks, battles, synthesis, and more ahead of the game's launch in March. View the full article

Insomniac Games has said it’s interested in its properties potentially being adapted for film or TV. Earlier today, it was announced that Insomniac president Ted Price will retire in March, more than 30 years after founding the Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank studio. Following his departure, Insomniac veterans Chad Dezern, Ryan Schneider and Jen Huang will step up from their current roles to serve as co-studio heads. Read More... View the full article

As soon as I fired up the Tempest Rising demo for the first time, I had a good feeling. Watching the opening cinematic, which set the tone with cheesy dialogue from bulky armored soldiers and a reedy scientist, I couldn’t help but smile. The music, UI design, and units seem tailor-made to take me back to high school, when I’d stay up late playing Command & Conquer with my friends, hopped up on Mountain Dew, taco-flavored Pringles, and sleep deprivation. Recapturing the feeling through a new game in the modern era is a blast, and I’m excited to see what else the developers at Slipgate Ironworks have in store at launch and beyond. Whether I was jumping into Skirmish to play against bots with clever AI, or Ranked Multiplayer, playing Tempest Rising feels as comfortable as putting on my well-worn baseball glove. My initial reaction is no accident, either. The developers told me they set out to create a nostalgic real-time strategy (RTS) game that evoked the classics of the 90s and 2000s, with quality-of-life improvements expected of modern games. Set in 1997, Tempest Rising takes place in an alternate history in which the Cuban Missile Crisis exploded into World War 3. In the wake of widespread nuclear bombardment, strange flowering vines started to grow. These plants contain vast amounts of electrical energy, ushering in a new era of power for those prepared to withstand the fallout to harvest them. Since the build I played was focused exclusively on multiplayer, I’ll have to wait to see what story mode will bring, but it will feature two replayable 11-mission campaigns, one for each of the main factions available in the preview. The Tempest Dynasty (TD) is an alliance of Eastern European and Asian countries who were the most devastated by WW3. The Global Defense Forces (GDF) on the other hand, are an alliance between the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. There is a third faction, but we’ll have to wait to learn more until the campaign is available, as they aren’t playable in the preview build, the Steam RTS Fest demo, or at launch. The Tempest Dynasty called out to me, not just because they can create an incredibly silly ‘death ball’ vehicle called the Tempest Sphere, which rolls over enemy infantry, squishing them into a fine paste. Of the two factions, the Tempest Dynasty called out to me, not just because they can create an incredibly silly ‘death ball’ vehicle called the Tempest Sphere, which rolls over enemy infantry, squishing them into a fine paste. The Dynasty also has access to something called ‘plans,’ which are used to activate faction-wide bonuses of three specific kinds. Your Construction Yard, the main building everyone starts with, can activate one plan at a time. All you need is a little extra power generation and, apart from the 30 second cooldown for switching plans, you’re good to go. The Logistics Plan let me build new structures faster and harvest resources more quickly. Mobile resource harvesters move more quickly, too. The Martial Plan boosted the attack speed of my units and gave them resistance to rockets and other explosives, as well as giving Machinist units the ability to drain their own health to gain 50% additional attack speed. Finally, the Security Plan cut the cost of making units and buildings, improved the Repair function certain units have, and expanded Radar vision. I found a fun rhythm by alternating between economy-boosting phases where I would gather more resources with the Logistics Plan, then sped-up building phases under the Security Plan, and finally going on the offensive with the enhanced combat potential of the Martial Plan. This sort of flexibility extends to other aspects of the Dynasty, as well. Instead of having to establish a base with a Refinery to harvest nearby fields of tempest (like the GDF does), the Tempest Dynasty builds Tempest Rigs, vehicles which drive to a resource-rich area and harvest until the field is depleted, then are free to pack up and go somewhere else. Because of this, my favorite ‘fast expand’ RTS strategy is easier than ever, particularly because it doesn’t matter how far away from my base these self-contained units go. In fact, sending a few Tempest Rigs to faraway places was a great way to let them harvest in peace, generating reliable cash for me without being discovered by my opponents. The Dynasty also has a fun unit called the Salvage Van, which repairs nearby vehicles. It can, however, also be converted into Salvage Mode, which destroys nearby vehicles no matter who they belong to, giving resources back to the salvaging player. I love sneaking up on opponents who aren’t paying attention, parking a salvage truck next to their vehicles, and destroying them to both deplete their army and claim those resources for myself. I love sneaking up on opponents who aren’t paying attention, parking a salvage truck next to their vehicles, and destroying them to both deplete their army and claim those resources for myself. Finally, power plants created by the Dynasty can switch from power generation to ‘Distribution Mode’ which speeds up the construction and attack speed of nearby buildings (yeah, some upgraded Tempest Dynasty buildings have cannons. It’s awesome), at the cost of taking damage while the mode is active. Thankfully, the mode will stop affecting buildings at critical health, so I didn’t need to worry about destroying my own base for the speed boost. While I prefer the Tempest Dynasty, the GDF certainly has its allure, too. They focus more on buffing allies, debuffing enemies, and exercising control over the battlefield. My favorite synergy between GDF units revolves around the Marking mechanic. Certain vehicles and infantry can ‘mark’ the enemies they target. Marked enemies drop Intel when defeated (a currency used for creating advanced units and structures), but if you invest in certain Doctrine upgrades (Tempest Rising’s version of ‘tech trees’), Marked enemies will get various debuffs including dealing less damage, taking more damage, and even increasing the range of certain units who attack them. Each faction has three tech trees to explore, which is where you’ll decide which part of your faction you’ll lean into. Like the GDF ‘Marking & Intel’ tree, the Dynasty has a tree which boosts the effectiveness of their ‘Plans,’ and that’s just the start. In addition to fun tech trees,there are cooldown abilities enabled by constructing specific advanced buildings. They cost money to activate, and each has its own cooldown, but these abilities are powerful ways to swing the tide of battle while adding flavor to the type of strategy each faction excels at. While both factions have abilities which deal damage in an area, or spawn extra troops, the GDF can also create spy drones, spawn beacons to allow building in remote locations, and even stop enemy vehicles from being able to attack for 12 seconds. Because the Dynasty has fewer buildings, with each basic building capable of being upgraded into the advanced version, losing a structure to an enemy Engineer can be rough. To counter that, the Dynasty has a special ability called Lockdown, which prevents enemy takeovers, but simultaneously stops the building from taking action. The Field Infirmary was the ability I got the most use out of, which let me drop a stationary troop-healing area anywhere on the map. This ability is a great compliment to the Dynasty, which already has both special infantry units and vehicles to repair mechanized allies. There is more to dig into, and I can’t wait to do it, particularly because the launch version will let me jump into Custom Lobbies with friends, letting us team up against the very clever AI bots (which used impressive hit-and-run and harrying tactics on me during Skirmishes). Until then, I’ll have to settle for fighting alone, squishing my bot enemies with swarms of death ******. Brian Barnett writes reviews, features, & more for IGN, GameSpot, & Kotaku. Follow him on Bluesky & Backloggd & enjoy his absurd video game talk show, The Platformers, on YouTube, Twitch, Spotify, & Apple Podcasts. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Activision and Treyarch have revealed more Call of Duty crossover content in the form of a Terminator event and themed cosmetics for ****** Ops 6 Season 2. The developers behind the long-running first-person shooter franchise detailed its plans for the upcoming seasonal content drop in a blog post on its website. It comes with news about all the maps, modes, guns, and changes set to arrive when Season 2 starts next week. Included in the rundown is information about how The Terminator will make its Call of Duty debut with a special limited-time event that comes with unlockable rewards and in-game store skins that look like they were cooked up in a Skynet factory. The Terminator Tracer Pack is the real headline here, as it comes with two skins modeled after the T-800 cyborg Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron made popular in the ‘80s. The Titanium Core skin is ripped straight out of the movie, featuring the machine’s iconic, cold facial features and glowing red eyes. The T-800 skin, meanwhile, aims to bring Schwarzenegger's appearance to the battlefield, though it doesn’t exactly look like the younger version of the action star it’s based on. Still, it’s no doubt a fun callback to a classic series that also comes with four Weapon Blueprints, a special finishing movie, the “Tracking…Tracking…” emote, “What Pain?” emblem, and “Lookin’ Fly” calling card. The Terminator Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 Season 2 crossover content doesn’t stop there. From February 6 to February 20, Warzone, Multiplayer, and Zombies players will enjoy The Terminator event, which sees players collecting skulls to unlock up to 13 rewards. This is in addition to two other events – Shadow Hunt and St. Patrick’s Day: Clover Craze – which will add even more unlockable upgrades in February and March, respectively. Activision and Treyarch tease more reveals for the upcoming Season 2 Reloaded patch set to arrive at a later date. The Terminator collaboration follows Season 1’s popular Squid Game crossover event, which included more tie-in skins that coincided with the release of Netflix’s Squid Game 2. Although some players were upset to find its rewards locked behind a premium battle pass, many were quick to purchase bundles that included cosmetics like the Young-hee bundle and the Pink Guards bundle. We’ll have to wait to see everything included in The Terminator Call of Duty crossover, but in the meantime, ****** Ops 6 Season 2 is set to launch January 28, 2025. Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe). View the full article

One of the latest heroes added in Deadlock and the second made by former Risk of Rain developers is an agile, formidable, and sometimes too-complex hero, Vyper. She requires a ton of quick thinking and action and, if executed perfectly, can glide across the map with murderous intent, able to take down even the tankiest of opponents. Here is our build for Vyper in Deadlock to make mastering her much more convenient for you. View the full article

Ubisoft has revealed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will get a story trailer on January 23. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is Ubisoft’s biggest game set to launch during the first half of 2025, and the publisher has been ramping up its marketing ahead of its impending release. View the full article

The Sukhothai region of Indiana Jones & The Great Circle has plenty of puzzles, but the ones associated with Khmer Cogwheels are directly tied to the main story. Unlike optional Mystery quests, some of these puzzles must be solved to progress through the game. While you could stop after finding a couple of Cogwheel solutions, you can complete a few more for some rare rewards. View the full article

The leaked battle tower in Genshin Impact 5.4 is building up to be a promising activity, but a new leak has shown that floor 24, the final stage in the combat-centered event, will be impossible for most regular players. Version 5.4 is the next patch for HoYoverse’s action RPG. The update will steer away from the focus on Natlan as the final missions in the main story arc have been added with Version 5.3, the current patch which has also added Citlali and Mavuika. The next update is confirmed to add an Inazuman character called Yumemizuki Mizuki in Genshin Impact. View the full article

Warzone‘s season two update doesn’t have as much content as usual in Call of Duty, unfortunately, but Raven Software says it’s better for the game. Raven says it will “prioritize focus on gameplay tuning, adding more quality of life improvements, and addressing ongoing bugs” in lieu of exciting gameplay content, which means that it’s a season of fixing, rather than adding. View the full article

On the heels of Conan the Barbarian's gameplay trailer, Mortal Kombat 1's latest update has launched, granting players access to the sword-wielding slab of a playable DLC character, alongside a number of fixes, improvements, and other additional content. Mortal Kombat 1 is currently in the midst of its Khaos Reigns storyline, which follows Liu Kang and his allies in an alternate timeline as they battle against the Titan Havik. View the full article

One of the most popular FPS faces, Shroud and other popular streamers have raised over $260k through his Fragathon streams on Twitch where he is donating everything to St Jude’s charity. In a YouTube video, Shroud went over the tragic incident of losing his dad to lung *******, and said he wanted to support the people who are going through similar situations. Instead of a regular subathon on Twitch where fans can donate to keep extending the stream, he’s doing a Fragathon, where each elimination inside whatever game he’s playing is worth one dollar. View the full article

League of Legends is in a bit of an odd state just now. While it feels like early games can be decided by a single death or objective win, as things start to go late we've seen miracle steals and mammoth comebacks galore. At pro level, Atakhan seems to be relatively low priority despite his controversial Guardian Angle-style buff and the XP gains from Bloody Petals. And then there's the Blue Essence drama which, while somewhat ironed out, shook the faith of a lot of players - especially with Hextech Chests and level-up rewards biting the dust coming into 2025. League of Legends patch 25.S1.2 fixes a lot of these issues, but the addition of Arcane's Mel Medarda may just shake things up all over again. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Which League of Legends skins are currently on *****? Riot "screwed up" on LoL's new battle pass, reveals fixes for upcoming patch Riot responds to "alarming" claims about League of Legends' new battle pass View the full article

Call of Duty seasons continue to blow my mind with how much content they pump into the latest premium title and the free-to-play Warzone. ****** Ops 6 Season 2 is no different. A massive lineup of new maps, weapons, and more is descending upon multiplayer, ****** Ops 6 Zombies is getting its fourth round-based experience, and a new event featuring The Terminator is on the way too. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: ****** Ops 6 Season 2 release date, anti-cheat update, and more ****** Ops 6 meta - best weapons tier list All ****** Ops 6 camos - how to unlock BO6 mastery camos View the full article

Don’t Nod has delayed the second part of its upcoming episodic game Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. Previously scheduled to launch on March 18, 2025, Part Two (Rage) will now be released on April 15. “We want to give the team the necessary time to refine the experience, address more bugs, and enhance the storytelling for a truly immersive continuation of the journey,” Don’t Nod said. Read More... View the full article

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is set to release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on February 21. The latest in a long line of ***** games about Japanese organized crime, it brings the beloved character of Goro Majuma to Hawaii. Where he becomes a pirate. It’s all there in the title, see? The game is available to preorder now (see it at Amazon) in a variety of editions. Read on to see what comes in each. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii - Standard Edition PS5 Get it at Amazon - $59.99Get it at Best Buy - $59.99Get it at GameStop - $59.99Get it at Target - $59.99Get it at Walmart - $59.99Get it at PS Store (digital) - $59.99 PS4 Get it at Amazon - $59.99Get it at Best Buy - $59.99Get it at GameStop - $59.99Get it at Target - $59.99Get it at Walmart - $59.99Get it at PS Store (digital) - $59.99 Xbox Get it at Amazon - $59.99Get it at Best Buy - $59.99Get it at GameStop - $59.99Get it at Target - $59.99Get it at Walmart - $59.99Get it at Xbox Store (digital) - $59.99 PC Get it on Steam - $59.99 If all you want is the game, pick up this edition, which just comes with the game and the preorder bonus (see below for details). Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Collector’s Edition PS5 Get it at Amazon - $129.99Get it at GameStop - $129.99 Xbox Get it at Amazon - $129.99Get it at GameStop - $129.99 The collector’s edition costs $129.99 and comes with the game itself, plus the following extras: 6" Acrylic StandeeEye PatchTreasure Coin PinDigital Deluxe Content: Legendary Pirate Crew Pack, Legendary Outfit Pack, Ship Customization Pack, and Extra Karaoke & CD PackLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Digital Deluxe EditionGet it for PS5 - $74.99Get it for Xbox - $74.99Get it on Steam - $74.99 Those ready to embrace the all-digital lifestyle and want more than just the game can pick up the digital deluxe edition. It includes a digital copy of the game, plus the following digital extras: Legendary Pirate Crew PackLegendary Outfit PackShip Customization PackExtra Karaoke & CD PackLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Preorder Bonus Preorder any version of the game, and you’ll get the following digital items for free: Ichiban pirate crew setIchiban special outfit setWhat Is Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii? Goro Majima is back in this installment, with a memory that’s been wiped as clean as the chalkboard in your granddaddy’s kindergarten classroom. He’s also in Hawaii, so he hops aboard a ship and sets out to do pirate things. As you can probably tell, the series’ goofy humor remains fully intact in this installment. Unlike the recent Like a Dragon games, however, the combat isn’t turn-based. It’s more of the real-time beat-‘em-up style from earlier Yakuza games. See our Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii hands-on preview for more information. Other Preorder Guides Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky [Hidden Content]. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The first time I lost my mech in Synduality Echo of Ada was on my second sortie, and a lot of things went wrong. I didn’t buy insurance beforehand and I took way too much stuff out with me because I hit the wrong button, and then I chose not to take a moment to repair right before I got into the encounter that killed me. I made a series of avoidable mistakes followed by a bad decision, and this mech-flavored extraction shooter made sure I lost everything I had for it – so it’s a good sign that, after I was done cursing Synduality and then myself, I was immediately excited to try and get it all back. Satisfying combat means going out on a sortie is always tense, but its slow start can really bog down an otherwise great run, and I wouldn’t blame anyone for dipping out before they see the good stuff. There’s a pretty cool premise: In the far future, humanity has been nearly wiped out by a mysterious blue rain which, in addition to killing humans on contact, makes animals and plants gigantic and aggressive. To survive, society has moved underground and adopted the use of enormous mechs called Cradlecoffins to explore the surface world and gather energy-producing crystals. Your goal: Get up there, get the things you need to upgrade your base and make some cash, and get out before the locals turn your Cradlecoffin into a… gravecoffin? Cradlecoffins aren’t your traditional mechs. They’re slower than something you’d find in Armored Core – though similarly armed – but faster than the behemoths you’d see in MechWarrior. Ready for a deep cut? They’re actually a lot like the mechs from 2002’s Phantom ******, which is to say they are a nice balance of being reasonably fast but still heavy and limited in terms of, shall we say, vertical mobility. Armored Core mechs can dunk like Jordan; Cradlecoffins got no ups. But you’re not out there alone. In addition to your mech, you’ve got a Magus — think a humanoid AI you can fully customize and play dress-up with — helping to guide you when you’re out on the surface by marking objectives on your map, alerting you to threats, and even keeping track of the weather. You can be as normal or as strangely intimate as you want about the creation process (you can bathe them, which is… weird), though it kinda seems as if Synduality assumes you’re more likely to pick a robo-girlfriend than a robo-boyfriend based on the clothing choices available. (Even the AI-controlled Cradelcoffins largely have robo-girlfriends.) There are several different personalities to choose from, including supportive mentor lady; demure, eager-to-please girl; encouraging big brother; and spicy athlete who just wants you to be the best version of yourself. They’re an oddly likeable little crew — I chuckled when my robo-girlfriend essentially told me to stop whining and eat my veggies (read: weeds that we had removed from the base) or she’d beat me up. And since they’re the only companion you’ll have for most of your time with Synduality, their presence is welcome. Most of the other players I've seen aren’t out there to kill you. In addition to their clothes and look, you can also customize the special abilities and focus of your Magus, whether that’s finding crystals, providing more info about different hostile creatures (called Enders), or giving you the lowdown on the other Cradlecoffins you’ll run into once you pop out on the surface. I liked both the option that’s good at protecting me from the evil rain and the one who has a knack for spotting other Cradlecoffins at range because hearing another potentially hostile player’s engine in this game is stressful, but I appreciate that you can tailor your Maguses (Magi?) to assist you be the best pilot (AKA Drifter) you wanna be. You’ll run into other players in Synduality’s world, but in my experience, most of them aren’t out there to kill you and take your things. Usually, an encounter means the two of you being very cagey, aiming your guns at each other, until one of you finally uses the wave emote. Then the other returns it and you both go on your way, always facing each other as you retreat like you’re a gunslinger staring down somebody you’re unsure of, because the back of your Cradlecoffin is its most vulnerable point. It’s admittedly tense, as an extraction shooter like this should be, because you’re never more than a single uninsured run away from losing all your things. The whole “we’re all working together to help humanity” thing sets up that cautious camaraderie, but there is always the danger that someone’s gonna see your shiny shotgun and think “I want that and I don’t wanna work for it.” I’ve exchanged some gunfire with other pilots, but it’s pretty rare early on. It’s very funny when three Craddlecoffins share one of the elevators that bring you to and from the safety of the underground, and very relieving when you’re about to put a sniper round through the back of someone’s Cradle but then notice that they are running with two buddies and your patience probably saved your life. Of course, another time I saw somebody take a bad fight against some Enders with their back to me while I was above them with a sniper rifle, and… well, I hope they were insured. That was exhilarating and tense and, one day, somebody’s going to nail me and I won’t blame them. What’s that old Hemingway quote? “There is no hunting like the hunting of mechs, and those who have hunted armed mechs long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.” Yeah. Yeah. Admittedly, taking a golden opportunity like this will put you on the Drifter Support Association’s naughty list for a while (and doing it enough will make you a bounty target for other players), but if you go long enough without taking a shot at somebody when you’re only on probation you’ll be fine. One day, somebody’s going to nail me and I won’t blame them. Managing each mission means making a lot of interesting choices. How far from the elevators are you willing to venture? What kind of materials are you looking to collect for your base, and how much are you going to risk to get them? How much ammo will you head out with? What kind of mech? Will you prioritize carrying capacity or defense? All of these choices matter, and you may regret your words and deeds when you’re sitting at low health with no repair kits, far away from an elevator in a world where everything wants to kill you. Knowing what you want to accomplish on a given run, and choosing the right tools to do it, is key. The stuff you bring back to base can be used to spruce it up, which is good because it starts off as a literal cave covered in weeds. That could mean something simple like adding floors to your living space, upgrading your Item Warehouse so you can store more stuff, or building a Production Space to create your own repair kits. Every little upgrade you manage feels meaningful, and it’s cool to watch your base go from an empty shell to something functional with a lot of different systems to make your life easier. But this also brings me to Synduality’s biggest problem: the grind. There’s just not a lot of variety here, and the first dozen or so hours have you doing the same thing over and over again: you’ll go out on the same map, head to the same areas to find the upgrade supplies you’ve wishlisted so your Magus can track them, fight the same Enders, deal with the everpresent threat of violence from other players, and then head back to base and do it all again. That’s fine; this loop remains tense, and while fighting Enders loses its appeal after a while because you learn how to deal with them quickly and then just repeat those strategies, the threat of losing all your stuff carries the day. Again, though, the issue is how long it takes to make real progress. Getting enough of the supplies you need for any given upgrade or to complete a Request (quests that send you to do something specific on the map, like collecting so many of X thing, killing so many of Y Ender, and so on) takes several runs, and a lot of progress early on is hidden behind unlocking the right stuff. Once you do, things really open up, but those early hours can drag. Even when you do finally get enough materials, you often have to wait for an arbitrary, real-world time gate before your next upgrade goes through, which means you’re stuck either vibing in your base with your Magus in admittedly pretty enjoyable chatting sequences, taking a break to go do something else (like make a sandwich), filling that time with sorties to stockpile resources, or ponying up some currency (either in-game or real-money) to make it go faster. This brings me to Synduality’s biggest problem: the grind. That said, you’re only ever one run away from something really cool. Once, I had two back-to-back deaths to Enders; the first time I was repairing and a flying Gazer swooped in and ended me before I could react; the second, I got jumped by a group of Chasers. I was insured, thankfully, but insurance takes a while to pay out, and it doesn’t actually replace what you lost – it just reimburses the total cost of those items. I was… upset, to put it lightly. Some of the lost stuff I’d gotten from progressing through Synduality’s battle pass, which meant I didn’t actually have the means to replace it manually yet. But on my very next run, where I was forced to play small ball with a basic mech that costs nothing to replace, I ran into someone else’s destroyed mech and took everything I could, which got me some parts I’d lost on my very first death and stuff I could use while I waited for my insurance payout. The luck I had early on had mostly been bad, but that was the moment things changed – including my view on Synduality overall, which had been more mixed until that moment. Once you get into the groove it’s a lot of fun, and you can really drill down on what you want to focus on each run, whether that’s finding supplies to upgrade your base, completing requests, or whatever else. And you never know when you might find something cool. Once, I ran into two downed Craddlecoffins full of loot and grabbed as much as I could, then booked it immediately back to the elevator. Christmas came early. It’s just a shame it takes so long to get to that point – though, to Synduality’s credit, it does try to ease you in and is more friendly to new players than many extraction shooters because of the insurance system and the way it flags people who’ve been hostile to other players. I just wish it opened up for you faster after that introduction. Synduality does, eventually, give you more to do. You’ll unlock another map with new environments, harder Enders, and more difficult objectives, but that also means more experienced players with better stuff, some of whom will be helpful and some… not. There are also single-player missions which play out like combat gauntlets, and I really enjoyed the ones I played. They’re a great way to learn to deal with other Cradlecoffins in particular. Unfortunately, they don’t give you anything you can carry back with you besides some video and audio logs that explain the lore. These missions are fun, but right now they feel disconnected from the main activity of hunting for resources, and that’s a shame; I just wish completing them gave you money or plans to build some of the mechs you use, or something. Beyond those there are co-op missions you can do, but since there’s unfortunately no way to squad up with your friends before you head out onto a map you have to team up with players you run into. Joining up with them gives you a new co-op objective — the first one I did asked us to destroy a corrupted crystal protected by lots and lots of Enders who spawned in to give us trouble. The thing with these missions is you’re only squaded up for as long as that objective lasts, so once that crystal was history, our alliance was broken. Neither of us ended up shooting at each other, but we were both pretty wary as we backed away. Like everything else in Synduality, there’s a lot of risk/reward to co-op missions, but you also get a lot of good stuff if you get home alive. Then there are the microtransactions and battle pass (we live in Hell!) that can speed up the process of getting a better Cradlecoffin (or goodies for your Magus) substantially, which chafes because this is not a free-to-play game. When I lost everything in that first run, I was able to get back on my feet pretty quickly because the code provided by Bandai Namco for this review unexpectedly came with the deluxe version of the battle pass and several level skips. If I hadn’t had that, progress would have been slow outside of regularly completing daily and weekly quests, which award a ton of experience – though at least you’re always making progress towards one and they rarely feel stuck. Because of that, Synduality feels like it’s made to be played in chunks – but to its credit, the battle pass gives you a decent amount of stuff for free… assuming you don’t then immediately lose all of that stuff to another player. Whether it’s in-game currency or real money, you’ll have to pony up for everything, but Synduality is at least upfront about that, and it does feel like you can make progress at a reasonable pace even if you don’t open your wallet to buy the deluxe version. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Believe it or not, the undead are still thriving, so it’s time to get the ****** Ops 6 Zombies squad back together for a new map and new adventure as a part of season two. With season two’s arrival in BO6, The Tomb map is available, and there’s a new Easter egg hunt, story quest, Wonder Weapon, and more to unravel as you play solo or with friends. Here’s everything coming in season two as part of the BO6 Zombies patch notes. View the full article

One of the things you can find while exploring dungeons in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2 is a Pyre. But most likely, it didn’t react to your presence when you got close or tried to interact with it. You only need to worry about it if you’re cursed. What Pyres do in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2 Light the Pyre to cleanse your character from the curse. Image via Crackshell The Pyre looks like a shrine if you don’t know what it is at first, and it’s mostly found in the Courts levels. It will only light up if you have stacks of Shadow Curse on your character. If you do have Shadow Curse on you, the Pyre will light up when you interact with it and remove half of the stacks. It will always remove at least eight stacks, even if half of the stacks you have is less than eight. View the full article