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It's been two weeks since The Final Shape's release, and I'm spoiled for choice. Loading into the new Pale Heart destination, my map is filled with icons all fighting for attention. I could go exploring, hunting down Visions of the Traveler—hidden collectibles that give progress towards the exotic version of the Khvostov auto rifle. I could run a Cyst activity to collect more of the item needed to unlock the last few Fragments of the new Prismatic subclass. Or I could matchmake into Overthrow, the new patrol event. Completing it gives another drop of the exotic sword Ergo Sum, which randomly rolls perks taken from other exotic weapons. I really want a version with Wolfpack Rounds—essentially a Gjallarhorn, but for swords... Read more.View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

An Elden Ring player has revealed an interesting way to defeat one of the game's hardest bosses, the Draconic Tree Sentinel. Even though the Lands Between features over 230 powerful bosses, the Tarnished only need to defeat 16 of them to complete the main storyline. View the full article

Destiny 2 players list out some nitpicky issues they have following The Final Shape and many point to a small but annoying trait of Rally Banners, filling everything but the Transcendence meter. In the eyes of many Destiny 2 fans, the last couple of months have been a huge turnaround for the franchise, after a down ******* due to numerous factors like a dry ******* of content, low morale at Bungie due to mass layoffs, and more. However, major game updates from the Into The Light event to The Final Shape expansion have really managed to turn things around. View the full article

There is a new expansion in Destiny 2 called The Final Shape, and in the Echoes activity players can now play the Enigma Protocol. It is an echo back to the Season of the Splicer event a couple years ago, and the Enigma Protocol is specifically for three players to complete and enjoy. It is also on a timer, so you have to complete it before that timer runs out. This can make it fairly challenging and it is helpful to know the ins and outs ahead of time to make a successful run. View the full article

When BioWare announced that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf had been renamed Dragon Age: The Veilguard, general manager Gary McKay explained the decision was rooted in a wish to reflect the game’s “really deep and compelling group of companions.” It's a logical pivot considering the immense cultural effect Baldur’s Gate 3’s collection of misfit heroes triggered last year. BioWare no doubt hopes that at least one of the Veilguard will resonate at a scale akin to Asterion, Karlach, or Shadowheart. A camp of companions is about as far as the similarities with Baldur’s Gate 3 goes though, if the recently showcased 20 minutes of gameplay is to go by. Dragon Age: The Veilguard appears to be a cinematic fantasy adventure with linear momentum, action combat, and huge set-piece moments. Little of what was shown could correlate with Baldur’s Gate 3’s expansive and reactive world. And that’s okay because Dragon Age is not Baldur’s Gate. BioWare is not Larian. And nor should they be. Rather than attempting to hit Baldur’s Gate’s lofty standards, Dragon Age: The Veilguard should instead be seeking to resurrect BioWare’s golden era. An era that produced very different RPGs to what Larian does. Before we start, it’s worth recognising that the term ‘BioWare’s golden era’ will mean different things to different people. For some, it’ll be the Infinity Engine years – the time of deep, crunchy CRPGs like the original Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. For what I suspect is many more people (myself included), it’s the 2007-2014 ******* of epic and emotional choice-driven storytelling, best demonstrated by the Mass Effect trilogy and Dragon Age. Seeded by Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’s need to offer a choice between the light and dark side of the Force, BioWare became more interested in the narrative spun by good dungeon masters rather than organic player-driven adventures. As a result, the studio found itself progressively less invested in systemic rules and dice rolls, instead putting all of its efforts into crafting unforgettable stories around a player. The biggest, most impactful moments would be the consequences of weighty decisions that formed narrative tent poles. The shift from pre-rendered isometric environments to fully 3D worlds enabled BioWare to push its storytelling ambition, with conversations shot like TV dialogue and set-pieces scripted to appear like blockbuster movies. It’s a format that proved hugely influential on the likes of CD Projekt Red, but has somehow remained singular in video game history. Fans now lament the absence of “BioWare-style RPGs”, which disappeared following the shaky Mass Effect: Andromeda and disastrous live-service shooter Anthem. Meanwhile, renewed interest in old-school RPG design means genre trends have shifted. Companies like Larian, Obsidian, and Owlcat have found ways to advance and evolve BioWare’s original, more systems-driven template, resulting in the likes of Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder, and Baldur’s Gate 3. The magic of BioWare’s glory days is singular, and still just as valuable to the RPG space as any of Larian’s most important offerings. With old-school being the norm these days, it’s now the gameplay showcase for Dragon Age: The Veilguard that’s a blast from the past. It feels nostalgic, so much so it seems that we could be on the verge of a BioWare renaissance. Depicting a quest from very early in the game, the 20-minute demonstration carries the same sense of cinematic spectacle and drama that powers some of BioWare’s best moments. Tonally and structurally, it reminded me a lot of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s ‘Here ***** The Abyss’ quest, which saw the party push forward through a besieged castle to eventually clash with a group of Grey Wardens conducting a demonic ritual. This Veilguard quest, however, carries even greater weight because it is Solas that awaits at the climax of the demo: Inquisition’s ally-turned-****** and the Dreadwolf himself. There’s such a strong sense of character in this sequence, both in terms of the personalities within it and the atmosphere of the entire event. It is unmistakably BioWare storytelling. And, despite this being a snapshot shown entirely out of context, the scene successfully conveys the narrative stakes; as fan-favourite dwarf Varric attempts to talk down Solas from his ****-summoning ritual, the conversation carries the weight of their former friendship and the uncertainty of the Dreadwolf’s deception. Watching for the first time, I even questioned if BioWare was about to ***** Varric off in what is effectively a trailer, which is testament to how well the demo’s writing conveys threat and how strongly it is anchored in the previous Dragon Age stories. This effect makes sense when you consider the people working behind the scenes. While detractors like to focus on the key figures who have left BioWare, it’s worth noting that The Veilguard’s creative director, John Epler, is a 17-year studio veteran who was a cinematic designer during the era of Dragon Age: Inquisition, a role dedicated to delivering story beats. Additionally, many of the project’s longest-serving BioWare staff are writers who have penned games as far back as Dragon Age: Origins. The right hands are here to ensure The Veilguard delivers another strong Dragon Age tale. Of course, Dragon Age isn’t just a story. It’s an RPG, a genre that has evolved significantly since Inquisition released a decade ago. But it is unfair to expect The Veilguard to pilfer from and build upon Baldur’s Gate 3, a game that was only fully launched less than 12 months ago and was built by a team approximately twice as large as BioWare’s current staff roster. However, it is vital that BioWare doesn’t ignore the genre’s recent achievements, especially in the areas that its golden era recipe was once a leader. That means stronger, more impactful, and more nuanced reactivity when it comes to narrative choices. Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s story cannot simply branch into binary pathways at every decision; there needs to be deep, long-held consequences across the entire narrative experience. While the demo’s brevity means it isn’t able to showcase how Veilguard’s approach to narrative choice works, there are nonetheless small glimpses that provide hope. You are able to select a background for your protagonist, Rook, during character creation, and that history is said to impact how you navigate the story. The demo makes a couple of references to the Shadow Dragons background (a resistance group from Tevinter who opposes the mage imperium’s corrupt leadership), suggesting that your character’s traits will impact dialogue, relationships, and opportunities. Longterm fans will recognise this as an echo of the first Dragon Age’s origin stories, but I’m actually reminded of the tag system from Larian’s Divinity: Original Sin 2, in which key traits such as race and class would open up new dialogue trees where appropriate. I’m hoping that BioWare has crafted its own version of this system to ensure our Rooks feel significant within their own story. Veilguard completes Dragon Age’s full transition into action combat with a system that looks to do for swords and sorcery what Mass Effect did for rifles and telekinesis. The big question is how any new approach to character choices will fold into the larger structure. In an interview with IGN, game director Corinne Busche explained that Veilguard is “a mission-based game. Everything is hand-touched, hand-crafted, very highly curated.” It’s a design that will presumably feel akin to the linear main quest chain that runs through the core of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Or, more likely, Mass Effect 2 (arguably the pinnacle of BioWare’s work in this ‘cinematic RPG’ field.) That means we can thankfully say goodbye to the MMO-like bloat of Inquisition’s busy work-filled hubs, but potentially at the cost of a world that feels alive, organic, and reactive. The narrowed scope means the focus may entirely be on character narrative – a perfectly valid approach, but one that can’t use the same toolkit as Baldur’s Gate 3. Where Larian crafted a world that reacts to your every move, BioWare should focus on building a story that reacts to your every decision. To some, that will sound like a low-level ambition. But let’s face it, BioWare has been in a bad place for a decade and realistically needs to get back to what it was good at before it leaps too far into the unknown. That also means addressing its pre-Anthem faults too, which brings us to combat. Without beating around the bush, combat in Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition sucks. Their design points to a reluctance by BioWare to admit it had moved on from the Infinity Engine era of real time-with-pause battles, and so what we were given was a hybrid action system that was unfulfilling both tactically and mechanically. While I do pine for the robust tactical combat of old, that’s what we have modern CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3 for. And so thankfully Veilguard completes Dragon Age’s full transition into action combat with a system that looks to do for swords and sorcery what Mass Effect did for rifles and telekinesis. It appears active and impactful, with an even mix of character abilities and skill-based mechanics. Hopefully it will offer something much more engaging than Inquisition’s barely readable slog-fests. While I welcome Dragon Age’s shift to proper action combat, I do still hope it’s more reliant on tactics and squad command than Mass Effect. The series’ roots still need to be acknowledged, and so I wish the demo showed more of the new Ability Wheel, which can be used to issue commands to your two NPC allies. While the party size is down by one member, I do hope that Veilguard’s battles are still built on a foundation of interesting interplay between fighters. A screenshot featuring much more developed characters than those in the gameplay demo shows an Ability Wheel populated by skills that can combine and ‘detonate’, indicating the Power Combos system from Mass Effect Andromeda (one of its few good ideas) has been adapted for Dragon Age. It’s stuff like this that makes me hopeful that Veilguard will offer the best Dragon Age combat since Origins, even if it’s of an entirely different format. At a time when Baldur’s Gate 3 is incontestably the strongest RPG ever made, it’s understandable to be a little surprised that Dragon Age: The Veilguard looks so unlike it, especially considering the series was developed as the spiritual successor to BioWare’s original Baldur’s Gate games. But while those roots are experiencing an unprecedented surge of new popularity, we shouldn’t forget BioWare’s golden ‘cinematic RPG’ era was really, really good. Dragon Age: Inquisition’s story and relationships remain top-notch. Dragon Age 2’s detonation of the Chantry is one of the most memorable moments in Western RPGs. Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest games ever made. These games may be not be as systemically advanced as the best RPGs of the moment, but they gave us stories and characters that stir significant emotions in players both old and new to this day. The magic of BioWare’s glory days is singular, and still just as valuable to the RPG space as any of Larian’s most important offerings. If it's back, then that's nothing but a good thing. But don’t just take it from me. As Larian’s own publishing director Michael Douse recently tweeted: “Two deliberately very different games (which is good) joined thematically by a few principle vibes (character, narrative, romance) that should be enjoyed as part of a giant RPG buffet.” Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor. View the full article

The next Lords of the Fallen game launches in 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, publisher CI Games has announced. The Polish company confirmed it had signed a publishing deal with Fortnite maker Epic Games for the PC version of the game, which does not yet have an official title. However, the rights to the game and the series, as well as publishing rights on all non-PC platforms, ******** with CI Games. Lords of the Fallen was developed by Hexworks for release in 2023 and went on to sell 1.3 million copies as of the end of the year, a result Marek Tyminski, CEO of CI Games, recently called “solid.” “From its release to December 31 last year, Lords of the Fallen's sales totaled approximately 1.3 million units,” Tyminski said. “This is a solid result, which allows us to plan further development of the brand. Now, our aim is to ensure its next installments attract even more players, partly through refined and improved game design, and partly thanks to the increasing popularity of this IP.” IGN’s Lords of the Fallen review returned an 8/10. We said: “Lords of the Fallen is an awesome soulslike with a fantastic dual-realities premise, even when performance shortcomings and wimpy bosses ****** the party.” CI Games let go of 10% of staff across the entire company in January. Then, in May, it cut 30 more members of staff. Speaking to [Hidden Content], CI Games said this would be the "final targeted round of redundancies" on its way to reaching "maximum efficiency in delivery strategic priorities going forward." Hexworks was said to be unaffected by the round of layoffs. 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 For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

A Minecraft player has built the Eiffel Tower without using any tools, weapons, or armor at all. The player showcased a montage of their project, drawing mixed reactions from the Minecraft community. View the full article

Despite Marvel's Avengers shutting down and ******** Squad: ***** The Justice League's dwindling player numbers, the team behind Marvel Rivals isn't worried about entering the live-service superhero market. The team-based hero shooter even has to compete with the free-to-play Overwatch 2, so we talked with the developers at NetEase and Marvel Games about where superhero games are headed, and how they're planning on making Marvel Rivals different. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Marvel Rivals developer explains how it's going to beat Overwatch All Marvel Rivals characters and full roster Marvel Rivals release date estimate, trailers, and latest news View the full article

Brighton studio The ******** Room has had an interesting few years. The studio renowned for titles like Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture ***** off a big chunk of its staff in 2017 before being bought by Sumo Digital in 2018. Following the acquisition, the studio announced it was working on games that simply didn’t seem to fit its usual wheelhouse, including Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 and adventure-platformer Little Orpheus. There was a sigh of relief, then, when the narrative horror Still Wakes the Deep was announced in 2023. Finally, the studio was going back to its narrative-led roots, and fans like me rejoiced. View the full article

Lords of the Fallen publisher CI Games was recently spotted filing for a sequel set to come out in 2026. While it is planned for a multiplatform release, its PC distribution partner is bad news for Steam partisans. Reported first by Polish site Bankier on June 15, the binding report between CI Games and Epic Games mentions the 2026 Lords of the Fallen sequel, which currently has “Project 3” as its working title. The legal agreement grants Epic exclusive worldwide distribution rights on PC “for the entire product life cycle.” View the full article

The upcoming reboot of Fable promises to return a memorable series to the limelight, but one problem could end up dooming the game's chances at success. The Fable series has had its fair share of issues over the years, starting with the massive promises made for the original 2004 game that were never able to fully materialize. Despite their shortcomings, however, the Fable games provide a charmingly *******-in-cheek twist on the fantasy formula, and there's a reason why the franchise still commands attention today. View the full article

Years after the games' releases, Bethesda director Todd Howard has revealed his one big regret applicable to both Fallout 4 and Skyrim. Even though Bethesda continues to release small updates for both games, there's still one regret that Howard holds to this day. View the full article

Scottish petrochemical horror is not exactly a genre, but maybe it ought to be. From the opening moments of Still Wakes The Deep you know life on its 1970s North Sea oil rig is precarious. Leaky ceilings, busted panelling, faulty drill machinery - the omens pile up as you spend your first thirty minutes wandering through the colleague-packed canteen and over the platform into the boss' office for a severe dressing-down. It's a classic pre-disaster setup for a mostly traditional monster story, yet the game sticks expertly to the first-person horror form, and its voice actors' performances are so spot-on, that it'd feel churlish to judge this foaming ***** simulator for sticking to type. It also has some markedly unsettling use of the shipping forecast, a famously dull feature of British radio I definitely did not expect to freak me out in a video game. Read more View the full article

Well, that's certainly different. Usually a deck-builder card game is about building up your deck, here's it's about sacrificing them and burning them away. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Fans beg MTG head designer to explain Octopus invasion Old MTG card sees 1000% price spike due to Eldrazi commander Busted Boros energy deck makes red MTG card spike 570% View the full article

Screen Rant can exclusively reveal the gameplay trailer for the upcoming The Smurfs Dreams a full day ahead of its wider release, and it looks to be a charming and beautiful game for the whole family. The Smurfs must traverse mysterious worlds of dreams and nightmares to figure out what their arch-nemesis, Gargamel, is up to this time. The dreamlike quest is full of unpredictable danger and challenge, set in a 3D magical world. The smooth gameplay is blended with a cheerful and engaging backdrop of colorful flowers and worlds, even making the nightmare worlds appear a bit less threatening. View the full article

First of all, Still Wakes the Deep is an incredible artistic achievement. It may be The ******** Room’s best ever game, blending the tense creeping horror of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs with the evocative, beautifully researched world-building of Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. And there are familiar themes here: a sense of weariness about industrialisation, remote places that howl with the absence of far away loved ones. A shockingly effective sense of place that grounds the whole thing. Whether or not you have any lived experience of Scotland in the 1970s, Still Wakes the Deep will make you believe you do. But I think it could have been bolder. More on that later. Along the East Coast of Scotland there can be found some of the most beautiful places on Earth. Soaring cliffs topped with the ruins of forgotten castles. Sleepy villages hidden away from the world as they nestle in the crags of natural harbours. Every town having a big successful chippy that all the tourists go to, and the small, actually good chippy off the main street that all the savvy locals go to. Arbroath, with its grin-inducing duality of being a location of great historical importance, where kings were made, and also the host of Pleasureland, a comically dilapidated indoor amusement park that feels like a living Reeves and Mortimer sketch. Read more View the full article

Pieces Interactive, the developer behind the recent Alone in the Dark reboot, was shuttered by its parent company, Embracer Group, after the mixed reception of the survival-horror game. Alone in the Dark was the first major commercial outing for Sweden-based development studio Pieces Interactive—and it’s also the last. The official Twitter/X account for the company released its swan song post on June 17 after months of uncertainty following the release of Alone in the Dark. View the full article

Cyberpunk 2077 files allegedly stolen from developer CD Projekt Red in 2021 have appeared online and seemingly revealed scrapped missions set on the moon. As reported by Insider Gaming, images which surfaced online of concept art, blueprints, file repositories, and map data appear to hint at what could be a cancelled expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 that would have taken players well beyond Night City. CD Projekt Red declined to comment on the alleged leaks when contacted by IGN. The moon is an established hub in Cyberpunk 2077 lore and can be visited fairly simply for those with enough money. It features as a significant plot point in the Cyberpunk Edgerunners animated series but is only touched on briefly in the game, though off-planet locations are teased in a handful of missions. The leaks allegedly come from the stream of stolen data hackers obtained from CD Projekt Red in 2021. Other content including a scrapped third-person build appeared at the time but these references to moon missions, if real, are the first to emerge in a long time. It's no secret CD Projekt Red scrapped a wealth of post-launch content for Cyberpunk 2077 after it launched in 2020 with myriad issues, however, including a multiplayer mode that will never see the light of day (but maybe in Cyberpunk 2077's sequel). CD Projekt Red thus switched its focus to fixing Cyberpunk 2077 though eventually released Phantom Liberty as its one and only expansion. This arrived after the game-changing Update 2.0, which completely revamped Cyberpunk 2077 with features such as a new perk system and improved AI, and was followed by another big update in 2.1 but only minor changes afterwards. In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Cyberpunk 2077 throws you into a beautiful, dense cityscape and offers a staggering amount of flexibility in how you choose to take it from there." Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day. View the full article

Elden Ring creator and FromSoftware boss Hidetaka Miyazaki appears to have very high standards, saying the beloved role-playing game isn't quite the "ideal fantasy RPG" despite its universal acclaim. Speaking to PC Gamer, Miyazaki said that Elden Ring — dubbed a masterpiece by IGN and countless others — is just one step on his path towards his ideal game, with the likes of ******'s Souls, the Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows **** Twice all acting as predecessors too. "Back when doing interviews about Elden Ring, I think I mentioned that I'm still in the process of making my ideal fantasy RPG," Miyazaki said. "While Elden Ring is not quite it, it's pretty close. It's getting close." This likely comes as welcome news to fans of the soulslike genre created by Miyazaki and FromSoftware, who seemingly have games even better than Elden Ring to look forward to in the future. While Elden Ring is not quite it, it's pretty close. It's getting close. Miyazaki didn't share what elements were missing from Elden Ring, because "it's hard to say without giving spoilers for [his] next idea or [FromSoftware's] next games," but did say the slightly tragic reality that he never gets to experience the wonder of his own games is one thing holding him back. "I think one thing that's not necessarily missing, but makes it difficult to achieve my ideal, is that when I play it, I know everything's going to happen," Miyazaki said. "I already know everything that's going on. So in terms of enjoying the game from a player's perspective, I'd love to not know that, and for somebody else to make my ideal fantasy game, please, if possible. Then I can enjoy it just as a player." Players will get to experience that feeling once again when Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion launches on June 21, 2024. Just like previous FromSoftware games Dark Souls and Bloodborne, however, accessing the DLC isn't as simple as selecting it on a menu, as players must tick off a handful of obscure feats beforehand, including beating an optional boss. Thankfully, IGN has a guide on how to prepare for the Shadow of Erdtree DLC if you need to scramble ahead of the expansion's release. And make sure to check out our Elden Ring interactive map to ensure you're not missing any important collectibles. The new map, story, bosses, and items will add more intrigue to the almost mythical status of Elden Ring, which proved somewhat of a cultural phenomenon when it launched in 2022. Many fans are therefore waiting with bated breath for the release of Shadow of the Erdtree, which will likely add hundreds, if not thousands, of new secrets and story threads to be discovered. Beware of spoilers online, however, as FromSoftware has issued a heads up to players after major story details leaked ahead of launch. In our 10/10 review of the base game, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path." Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Gawr Gura, one of the most popular VTubers in hololive (and overall!) has announced her upcoming birthday stream for later this week on Thursday June 20. Gawr Gura was the sleeper hit from hololive’s first English generation holoMyth, until then hololive had only been expanding in ****** markets with hololive Indonesia (holoID) and the now […] Source View the full article

Publisher Serenity Forge and developer Stage 2 Studios announced console ports for Lifeless Moon, their spiritual sequel to Lifeless Planet. Lifeless Moon is coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5 on July 9th. The sci-fi 3D platformer is also coming to the Epic Games Store the same day. The new 3D platformer successor […] Source View the full article

*****: The Dark Ages was announced recently at the Xbox Games Showcase, accompanied by a crunchy trailer that introduces many new and outrageous weapons to the Slayers arsenal. As the title suggests, the theme this time around is everything medieval, though *****s interpretation predictably has more in common with dark fantasy and metal album covers than it does with smallpox and Chaucer. Considering all the vicious weapons on display, from rail-guns and chainsaw shields to skull-spitting miniguns, hells demons will likely have a poorer life expectancy than even the sickliest tenth-century peasant once the player shows up. View the full article

Publisher Annapurna Interactive and The Artful Escape developer Beethoven and Dinosaur have announced Mixtape, a new nostalgic teenager adventure game. Mixtape is in development for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 with a release set for 2025. The game will be on Xbox Game Pass, too. Here’s a rundown on the game, […] Source View the full article

Well, shovel me timbers! Shovel Knight, the retro platformer that started it all (it all being everything from a roguelike spin-off to a ***** Cells cameo) turns 10 this month, and Yacht Club Games are releasing a ultimate edition to celebrate. Entitled the ‘Shovel Of Hope DX’, this definitive-me-doo bundles in the original game with old and new features like saving and rewinding, over 20 playable characters, local and online co-op, and new modes. Grab your shovel and prepare to dig for the trailer, then look foolish as you realise it’s directly below this paragraph. Read more View the full article