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PlayStation 5 exclusive Astro **** has wowed critics and delighted players — but not everyone is happy with it. Astro ****, developed by Sony’s ********* studio Team Asobi, is a 3D platformer that delves deep into PlayStation history for its many cameo bots. Check out IGN’s feature, Astro ****: Every PlayStation Character - Easter Eggs, for more. The **** cameos are little more than fun nods to PlayStation games past and present, and include joyful animations that lean on each character’s heritage. But for John Garvin, creative director of 2019 PlayStation 4 exclusive Days Gone, including protagonist Deacon St. John in Astro **** promotional material is the cause of upset. Quoting a tweet from Days Gone developer Bend Studio that celebrated the release of Astro **** with an image of Deacon St. John on a beach, Garvin said: “Kinda sad that Deek has been reduced to promoting other games... Well done Bend Studio! Way to protect your legacy!” Kinda sad that Deek has been reduced to promoting other games … well done Bend Studio! Way to protect your legacy! [Hidden Content] — John Garvin (@John_Garvin) September 7, 2024 Then, responding to the backlash to his tweet, Garvin doubled down: “Haha. I see my character reduced to a cartoon schill promoting some small game and I’m being harsh? Sit down, my brotha, adults are talking.” Garvin’s tweets were roundly criticized (one current PlayStation Studios developer responded to call Astro **** “a love letter to Playstation games. Not exactly sure what you're getting all hot and bothered about. Very happy to see games I've worked on referenced in this way”). But they are also unsurprising, given his previous comments on Sony’s treatment of Days Gone and the sequel that never happened. In December 2022, Bend Studio addressed an outburst from its former employee, who had blamed “woke reviewers” for Days Gone’s critical reception. “We are aware of the comments made by our previous creative director on Days Gone regarding his personal view on the critical reception of our intellectual property,” Bend said at the time. “Bend Studio does not share his sentiment, nor does it reflect the views of our team.” It seems unlikely Sony or Bend Studio will respond to Garvin’s latest outburst. Garvin, by his own admission, was fired from Bend Studio for being “a disruptive personality”. In a talk with fellow former Sony developer David Jaffe, Garvin said he “had a few heated arguments” at the studio, and that he “sucked” at being a people person, a skill required in his position at the helm of a large team. In our 9/10 review of Astro Bot, IGN said: “A fantastically inventive platformer in its own right, Astro **** is particularly special for anyone with a place in their heart for PlayStation.” Our Days Gone review, meanwhile, returned a 6/10. “Fun in small bursts, but Days Gone's repetition, bland world, and meandering story make for an unremarkable ride," we said.” Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

One Baldur's Gate 3 player has already unlocked Larian Studios' complete developer toolkit meaning modders can now create fully custom content and campaigns in the Dungeons & Dragons based role-playing game. GamesRadar spotted the BG3 Toolkit Unlocked mod from Siegfre on NexusMods, which "unlocks all features and write permissions for the BG3 Toolkit including level editing, save editing, and more." The BG3 Toolkit arrived alongside Baldur's Gate 3's highly anticipated Patch 7 and acts as an official modding tool for the beloved game, letting players pull assets already made by Larian and create custom content with them. But the BG3 Toolkit Unlocked mod takes this one step further, essentially breaking through the pre-approved list of features and granting players full access to Baldur's Gate 3. Larian didn't intend on players having access to this much, as CEO Swen Vincke told PC Gamer in March 2024 that Baldur's Gate 3's mod support wouldn't be as extensive as the one released for Larian's previous game, Divinity: Original Sin 2. This was because its "tools are very complicated" so Larian instead focused on things it knew players wanted to mod. "Not all tools are going to be shipped, because we wouldn't be able to support them," Vincke said. Only time will tell what players do with both the official mod support and now the unofficial unlocked version. Baldur's Gate 3 captured the attention of fans to such an extent that it's still a regular topic of conversation one year later, despite it being a predominantly single-player game with no expansions. Players are already hard at work too, as Vincke revealed on X/Twitter more than a million mods had been installed within 24 hours of the Toolkit's release. The founder of ModDB replied later that day to reveal the number had crossed three million and was "accelerating." Patch 7 added much more than just official mod support though, including an "absolutely metal" ending for Karlach and a hidden evil ending too. Players will also be relieved to hear that it's not the final Baldur's Gate 3 patch after all. In our 10/10 review of the game, IGN said: "With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur's Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs." Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day. View the full article

Two days after Larian added official mod support for Baldur’s Gate 3 with Patch 7, modders have unlocked disabled features for the toolkit. Among the disabled features is the full-blown level editor, which allows modders to create custom levels and campaigns. The mod in question that unlocks the disabled functionality is BG3 Toolkit Unlocked from Siegfre on Nexusmods. It “unlocks all features and write permissions for the BG3 Toolkit including level editing, save editing, and more,” according to the mod’s description. View the full article

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has sent out a player survey, asking fans to share their thoughts about the current state of the game. This comes after it was once again review-bombed on Steam, bringing its overall rating down to "mostly negative". View the full article

The Sims 4 is far from being free of bugs, even a decade after its initial release. While the High School Years expansion pack hasn't been out for as long as the base game, it seems to be plagued by more bugs than other packs. What is perhaps the most annoying issue of the pack has finally received a fix, but it's such an unusual glitch that it's rather funny it existed in the first place. View the full article

NonSteamLaunchers has a new release out with version 3.9.4 bringing in Ludusavi, a tool that can help you backup your game saves. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

InZOI developer Krafton has responded to player concerns around the game's use of generative AI technology. The life game's growing community is worried that Krafton would be training its AI on the work of others without consent, which is largely deemed unethical as many models indiscriminately scrape the internet for resources. Krafton has now put these concerns to rest, confirming that InZOI will only use its own assets or copyright-free material in its gen AI. This level of creativity could help The Sims rival stand out from the crowd, but many players don't want this at the expense of using other's work. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: InZOI release date window, trailers, gameplay, and latest news Sims rival InZOI has lofty ambitions, but even the sky needs a limit New InZOI demo lets you sample the ambitious Sims rival, but act fast View the full article

The Bro Athlete challenge in Bitlife lets you become the buffest man in California who regularly hits the gym and has a great history in Wrestling. Bitlife regularly puts out tricky challenges that give everyone a chance to win exclusive cosmetics to use on their avatars. This week’s challenge is completely free-to-play-friendly, and you need a bit of persistence and luck to finish it. Here’s everything you need to know about finishing the Bro Athlete challenge in Bitlife. View the full article

During the Chapter 1 Prologue of Zenless Zone Zero, you can try to solve the puzzles tied to the Last Delivery Order for some early rewards. During this commission, you need to create pathways within TV Hollows to reach different endpoints. However, these are trickier to solve than any similar puzzles you may have figured out during the game's tutorial. View the full article

The first 90 minutes of Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake have appeared online ahead of its October 8, 2024 release date. The 2BRO YouTube channel streamed Silent Hill 2 from the beginning as part of a paid promotion with publisher Konami, meaning that unlike most early gameplay reveals, this one won't be taken down for copyright infringements. While the commentary is in ********* the gameplay itself is in English, and introduces protagonist James Sunderland as he comes across the ever so spooky town of Silent Hill and all the nastiness one would expect from a survival horror title. Those looking forward to the remake can therefore check out the gameplay, though should be warned that, as there isn't any branching paths in the game's opening, it is also full of spoilers. The first 90 minutes will cover just under 10% of Silent Hill 2 according to Bloober Team's own estimates, as it said players could complete it in "around 16 to 18 hours." This increase over the original's length will account for myriad gameplay changes but apparently nothing in the story department, as Bloober Team has been adamant about not changing any plot points of the original game. Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day. View the full article

Unlikely as it sounds, someone really is selling an alleged fashion item that is just a plastic purse with some gold trimming and a GT 730 encased in resin inside it. If that isn't appealing enough, the bag also has a Gigabyte-branded case fan glued to the outside that spins. Read Entire Article View the full article

For a long while The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's title was a secret for ***** of spoilers, and that's apparently because it used to have a different name. Big spoilers ahead for Tears of the Kingdom, so read at your own peril. Back in 2019, Nintendo surprisingly revealed that a sequel to Breath of the Wild was in the works, but at the time it didn't have a proper name. For a good few years everyone just referred to it either as the sequel to Breath of the Wild, which is what Nintendo generally referred to it as, or Breath of the Wild 2. Eventually, in 2022, Nintendo gave it its great title, Tears of the Kingdom, but a year prior the developer had said they didn't want to reveal it yet for ***** of spoiling the game. I was one of the many people that felt confused by that point, as Tears of the Kingdom as a title doesn't really tell you anything. But as revealed in the recently released Master Works book, it turns it that it's because the game had a completely different name quite late into development. Read more View the full article

Now that the upgraded enhanced releases of ***** and ***** II from Nightdive Studios and id Software are available, Valve have given it a fresh test to get it Steam Deck Verified. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Slimbook have announced their latest KDE Slimbook VI, with it being shown off during the KDE Akademy 2024 event taking place in Würzburg, Germany. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

To get the Rock Drake on Aberration in Ark Survival Evolved, you need to first find a Rock Drake Egg. It’s not the easiest thing to get, so here’s where to find Rock Drake Eggs on the Aberration map in Ark Survival Ascended. Rock Drake Eggs location on Aberration in Ark Survival Ascended A good place to start. Screenshot by Dot Esports You can find the Rock Drake Eggs in the Red Zone of the Aberration map in Ark Survival Ascended. It’s one of the most dangerous areas on the south side of the map, so you have to make a few preparations. View the full article

The word “staff” in today’s NYT Mini Crossword clue is sure to cause confusion. ‘Symbol on a music staff’ literally hinges on you understanding the word “staff” in this context—otherwise, this clue probably isn’t music to your ears. ‘Symbol on a music staff’ NYT Sept. 9 Mini Crossword hints and answer Two down clue. Image via Dot Esports Hint one: The answer is a musical symbol. Hint two: Almost a chef. Hint three: Rhymes with deaf. Hint four: It ends with “F.” Not only is this not an easy clue, but it’s even ******* to come up with tips, so let’s ***** straight into the answer for you. View the full article

If a game is online, it's bound to get cheaters eventually, and it looks like Deadlock has them before it's officially been released. It was only a matter of time before someone decided they had to ruin everyone else's fun by cheating, but yes, it seems like those that are just in it to win it have come to Deadlock. As spotted by 80 Level, users on the Steam subreddit have started reporting instances where they're coming up against cheaters in the Valve hero shooter. A video clip was shared to Reddit showing the cheaters in action, demonstrating some pretty egregious cheating. It's some pretty classic stuff at the very least, with what appears to be an opponent player using an aimbot, as well as at least one player ********* straight through a wall and another around a corner. This will obviously be frustrating for anyone that comes up against cheaters like them, but it is still technically early days for the shooter, so hopefully Valve will get it under control soon enough. Some users in the comments of the Reddit post noted that if anyone spots a cheater to remember to report them, though the original poster points out that the report function doesn't actually have a cheating option. As it turns out you can report cheaters in the game's official Discord at the very least, so if it's something you end up coming up against a lot, that's your best bet. Read more View the full article

Look, modders are like sand. Let me explain. I mean that as a compliment - they get everywhere, and often do it faster than you'd ever think. Take, for example, the modder who's already managed to unearth and unlock a developer mode in Baldur's Gate 3's brand new official modding tools, which could soon make custom levels a reality. Yep, if you're counting, Patch 7 only came out last Thursday, bringing with it that long-awaited official mod support after a few months of beta testing, and we're already chatting about people going 'Sod the official stuff you're making it a lot easier for me to do Larian, I'm gonna try something properly difficult'. The mod that unlocks the chance for folks to have a go at this complex stuff is 'BG3 Toolkit Unlocked' from modder Siegfre, who's previously had a go letting you have a LAN party in Skyrim by playing with your mates. Read more View the full article

Night School Studio sent out an email to owners of Oxenfree on *****.io, to notify that it's going to be completely removed from the store on October 1st. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Operations mode in Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 is a three-player PvE co-op mode, and we’ve got all the details on whether you can play it solo. Space Marine 2 offers plenty of features, including customization of your character in various modes, and the PvE Operations are already very popular—with more missions to be added in the future. View the full article

Lost in the Darkness is part of a quest chain in WoW The War Within and the Sojourner of Hallowfall achievement. The entire questline is short, and since the quests aren’t complex, you can complete this quest chain rather quickly. So, here’s our full guide to start and complete the Lost in the Darkness quest in The War Within. View the full article

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 offers the feature to customize your character in specific game modes, but the option to do so is not immediately clear. We’re here to clear up any confusion. Whether you want to flex on others in PvP or match your friends in cooperative modes, customization in Space Marine 2 allows you to add your own look to the armor—an important feature given how much freedom there is when painting Warhammer figures. View the full article

The new AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D is out in the wild and, despite previously being touted as a US exclusive for Micro Center, it's now on ***** in Germany. It looks like a good chip too. Initial hardware tests are showing that it outperforms the new Ryzen 7 9700X, making it an interesting alternative for gamers looking to save some money. There's a lot to like about the Ryzen 5 7600X3D, on paper. This chip might have two fewer cores than the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which is still the best gaming CPU on the market right now, but the use of 3D V-cache in this Socket AM5 AMD CPU means it's actually out-performing AMD's new Zen 5 CPUs in some game tests. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This AMD Radeon GPU ***** hints at a new bargain graphics card Make sure you avoid these fake AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D gaming CPUs AMD has a new budget Ryzen X3D gaming CPU, but there's a big catch View the full article

As a Warhammer 40,000 experience, Space Marine 2 is excellent at many things. The relentless tide of Tyranids. The ******* patterns of each individual model of Bolt ****. The way Imperial Guardsmen look up at you as if you are a vengeful angel sent from above. As a video game, though, Space Marine 2 has less to boast about. In fact, it is only truly accomplished at one thing: combat. This is far from the negative critique it first sounds. Space Marine 2, much like its 2011 predecessor, is built on the bones of Gears of War. It offers spectacle and destruction in equal measure, with linear levels designed purely to funnel you from one ******* battle to the next. Aside from the fun fact that such a singular focus makes it an authentic digital embodiment of space marines (who exist purely to ****** in a galaxy-spanning external conflict,) Space Marine 2’s design harks back to the time of the Xbox 360, an era before the bloated, overstuffed ‘everything game’. It’s a modern demonstration that sometimes it’s best to dedicate yourself to one idea rather than attempt shallow versions of every feature currently in vogue. Developer Saber Interactive has crafted such a brilliant combat system thanks to its deep understanding of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. This isn’t a translation of the tabletop game, rather the conflicts those models represent. In fact, Space Marine 2 feels more like an adaptation of the artwork that adorns the pages of Warhammer manuals – so much so that one late-game sequence feels like a reenactment of a piece painted by renowned Games Workshop artist John Blanche. Blanche’s work often captured both the glory and horror of a final stand against an unending sea of enemies and that same feeling is successfully replicated in Space Marine 2. Your foe, the Tyranids, are space bugs capable of swarming the screen by the hundreds thanks to an upgraded version of Saber’s World War Z horde tech. Space Marine 2 has one of the smoothest transitions between ranged and melee I have ever seen. That approaching tide of Tyranids is initially the target of your ranged arsenal. Gunplay in Space Marine 2 is magnificently weighty thanks to the thunderous roar of your Pringle can-sized **** barrel and the explosive blood bursts that accompany each round detonating inside your targets. Saber shows a true understanding of the many, many different Bolter types in the 40k universe, and so an arsenal that at first seems like the same **** in seven different formats soon reveals itself to be several discreet weapons with meaningful gameplay applications. There’s the reliable cadence of the Auto Bolter, the quick precision of the Occulus Bolt Carbine, and the unrelenting damage of the Heavy Bolter, among others – all of which have their own effective ranges and damage profiles. But, as good as those Bolters (and their plasma brethren) feel to *****, it’s when the horde gets within slashing distance that Space Marine 2 really gets into gear. It starts with one of the smoothest transitions between ranged and melee I have ever seen in a game. A pull of the trigger can flow into the swing of a Chainsword in a split second, allowing for rapid response to approaching foes. It works the other way, too, which enables a unique, rapid flow between long and short range encounters. When melee starts in earnest, it’s much, much more involved than the rifle whacks and contextual ****** stabbings of so many other third-person shooters. Against the waves of cannon-fodder Hormagaunts it’s a button-mashing bloodbath as you string together light and heavy attacks to stun and skewer. But when the Tyranids (and, later, the Chaos-worshipping Thousand Sons) bring out their heavy-hitting larger units, the melee reveals itself to be a fully-featured, surprisingly deep sword combat system with dodges, parries, and counters. As the smaller enemies grow in number and begin to chew away at your armour and then your health bar, it becomes vital to hunt down the special enemies that tower above the swarm. Engage them in a brutal melee and a gory ********** finisher will replenish your armour and keep you in the ****** for another minute. All the way through the campaign, Saber has crafted combat scenarios that push you to the very edge of ******. It’s incredibly satisfying (and very Warhammer) for a ribcage-breaking finisher move to be the thing that saves you from the corpse pile. Outside of this absolutely brilliant combat system, though, Space Marine 2 is largely unremarkable when it comes to many of the other things we value in video games in 2024. The level design is incredibly linear, frequently interrupted by loading screen elevator rides, and features none of the knotty, surprise-hidden pathways we’ve begun to prize over the last decade. It’s also lacking in any kind of mechanical or mission variety – outside of a couple of levels in which you use a jetpack, Space Marine 2 is purely about pushing forward through crowds of enemies. You never drive a tank, and there are no environmental puzzles. There’s not even an on-rails turret section. There are no mini-games. No underbaked space sections. No endlessly-recycled procedural content in the name of ‘longevity’. While I’d have liked a few moments or set-pieces that explored the wider scope of space marine warfare (a section where you pilot an Invictus Warsuit in a sequel, please,) this singular focus reminds me of the straightforward joys of the Xbox 360 era. Back then we were treated to many ‘B-tier’ games which were similarly honed in on a single ******* feature. There was Dark Sector with its gory glaive, Singularity and its ******-withering time manipulation device, Dark Void’s jetpack combat, and – of course – the original Space Marine with its mass Ork **********. Many AAA studios also trod this path, too, notably Epic’s Gears of War with its cover-based ********* (a game Space Marine would later take inspiration from, even if it did resolutely ******* the idea of hiding behind walls.) Such a singular format is in direct contrast to what many AAA studios chase today, in which games are designed to cater to as many gameplay tastes as possible. Ubisoft in particular has fallen foul of this, building open worlds that are bursting with features, many of which feel underbaked or superfluous. The recently released Star Wars Outlaws, for instance, is an open world stealth adventure that also has action combat, an RPG-adjacent gear progression system, faction reputation, and space flight; many of which have been criticised by reviewers and players for feeling anaemic. Prior to Outlaws, Ubisoft had similar over-scoped troubles with Ghost Recon Breakpoint (a blend of tactical combat, stealth, survival mechanics, and looter shooter systems) and Watch Dogs Legion (stealth, hacking, action, and a play-as-anyone mechanic that proved far shallower than its design implied). It’s not just Ubisoft struggling with such ‘everything games’, though. Bethesda’s attempt to affix a traditional RPG to a procedurally generated galaxy with base building and ship crafting in last year’s Starfield resulted in a game that’s widely considered unsatisfactory in its many individual fields. It’s something we even saw creep into the most recent Gears of War game – linear campaign design was partially shunned in favour of a mostly empty open world, underwhelming side missions, and an unwarranted tech tree for Jack in Gears 5. Space Marine 2 feels like an antidote to all this. There are no mini-games. No underbaked space sections. No endlessly-recycled procedural content in the name of ‘longevity’. It’s laser-focussed on the mass destruction of humanity’s enemies. Yes, such a narrow focus does come with its downsides; I had hoped Space Marine 2 would have featured stronger mission and level design that cherry-picked a few more esoteric ideas from the Warhammer universe. But despite that, Space Marine 2 is a good reminder of an era when one ******* feature was enough. While I certainly love ambitious studios and wouldn’t want to curtail important creativity, in a ******* where sales are struggling and budgets are soaring, maybe Space Marine 2’s approach is something more studios in the AAA and AAA-adjacent space should consider. The Xbox 360 era wasn’t some dark age of technology to be feared, and something could be learned by looking backward. Space Marine 2’s campaign did just that and the results are worthy of the Omnissiah’s blessings. Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 has a variety of game modes to enjoy, although they are not all available immediately. If you want to unlock Operations, we’ve got a guide for you. Alongside a lengthy campaign, Space Marine 2 offers three-player co-op missions in the Operations mode and PvP combat in Eternal War. Unlike the campaign, however, neither mode is available when you first boot up the campaign. View the full article