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This is a minimalist step-by-step guide to help you complete Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. View the full article

Former Epic Games Chief Creative Officer Donald Mustard has explained why Fortnite was never able to add a Nintendo representative like Samus Aran as a playable character. Fortnite has raged on as one of the biggest crossover titles in pop culture for nearly seven years, and that’s thanks to the long list of characters from across movies, TV, and games that it features. With PlayStation and Xbox mascots like Kratos and Master Chief already available as playable characters, many fans expected to one day see a Nintendo character join the fray. When documents revealed that Epic had once considered the possibility of including someone like Samus, excitement grew even more. However, Mustard said the chances the sci-fi bounty hunter appears in Fortnite are currently pretty slim. He opened up about some behind-the-scenes talks at Epic during an interview with Stephen Totilo’s Game File, saying Nintendo wasn’t interested in seeing its characters appear on other consoles. "They would be thrilled to have Nintendo characters in Fortnite, but just only if it's on their platform. "They got really hung up on their characters showing up on platforms that weren't their platforms," Mustard explained. Fornite is available on nearly every game-playing device players can get their hands on. Were Mario to appear in Fortnite on Switch, he would need to also appear on PlayStation, Xbox, and even mobile platforms, too. "They would be thrilled to have Nintendo characters in Fortnite, but just only if it's on their platform," he continued. Epic could theoretically release Samus as a Nintendo Switch-exclusive character, but Mustard said the company isn’t interested in walling off content from other players. "For me and for all of Epic, we’re like, ‘That is an absolute must. We want to make sure that Fortnite is the same experience, no matter what screen or device you're playing on,'" he said. Nintendo’s strategy has been seen in previous crossovers before. Rocket League, a game that is also available on a wide variety of platforms, received Mario, Luigi, and even Metroid-themed vehicles in 2017. However, those cars are Switch exclusive, meaning those who play on different consoles cannot access the content. Epic would go on to buy Rocket League developer Psyonix in 2019. Nintendo could always change course when it comes to allowing its beloved cast of characters to appear on other consoles. For now, though, don’t expect to see Bowser winning any battle royale matches. For more on Fortnite, be sure to check out some of its newest content, which saw Epic include familiar faces from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Image credit: Photo by Euan Cherry/Getty Images for University of St Andrews Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx. Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe. View the full article

A popular Star Wars title is making its way to the EA Play subscription service this week, so it could be the perfect time to pick up a membership. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor earned critical acclaim after its release in 2023 and now, just a year later, you’ll be able to play it on EA Play. Continue the journey. Image via EA Fans started to spot Star Wars Jedi: Survivor appearing on the PlayStation version of EA Play on April 22, dropping a major hint that big news was coming, which was then confirmed in a post on Xbox Wire. View the full article

Valve released another small SteamOS Preview update for Steam Deck, along with an additional Steam Deck Client Beta update. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

A fresh Desktop Steam Client Beta has been released, and it sounds like a useful one for those of you who do Remote Play. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

The long-awaited, highly-anticipated RPG by Atlus based on a brand-new IP is only several months away. View the full article

Cloud9 chief executive Jack Etienne has dispelled rumors of a Counter-Strike 2 disbandment after the departure of another two players overnight, with Abay “HObbit” Khassenov and Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy moved to the squad’s inactive list a week after Denis “electroNic” Sharipov’s shock signing with Virtus.pro. The organization farewelled HObbit and Perfecto on April 22, thanking the pair in a short post on X (formerly Twitter) and wishing them success in their future endeavors. Also departing the squad is assistant coach Ivan “F_1N” Kochugov, who oversaw the core’s move through former org Gambit Esports as well as management of C9’s academy. View the full article

League of Legends game designer Phreak has made it his next mission to help correct inconsistencies surrounding each champion’s hitbox, with a first pass of adjustments coming in next week’s Patch 14.9 update. Riot Phroxzon mentioned “consistency lover” Phreak was taking aim at hitbox issues as part of the 14.9 preview on April 22. Adjustments are set to be made to a range of champs that will make them easier to click on and select as targets for spells. “Champions will more consistently have hitboxes that feel in line with their size,” Phroxzon said, with plans to do away with “Yordle-sized” Warick and Briar as an example. View the full article

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming Mass Outbreak event has a golden theme with boosted Shiny odds for some of the best Shiny ‘mons in the game. Starting Friday, April 26, special Mass Outbreaks will appear across Scarlet and Violet’s three maps. In Paldea, look out for Magikarp and Varoom Mass Outbreaks. If you have the DLC, Mass Outbreaks for Shinx will pop up in Kitakami, and Rellor will be rolling around Blueberry Academy’s Terarium. Pay close attention for any Shinies, because the Pokémon in these special Mass Outbreaks will have increased Shiny odds. View the full article

Diablo 4’s season four Public Test Realm (PTR) is sadly over, and while it’s been an incredible way to test all the upcoming item and system changes going live on May 14, it’s unlikely we’ll see another PTR any time soon. The Diablo 4 devs introduced a PTR for season four because the team needed feedback on all the exciting changes in the next season, which includes new crafting systems, huge item changes and overhauls, and an improved Codex of Power. And while players enjoyed the testing platform and were eager for more in season five, Diablo producer Rod Fergusson has suggested future PTR runs are a “TBD” due to the many “***** and *****.” View the full article

With the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational metagame totally locked in, Riot Games is now unleashing the balance change floodgates in League of Legends Patch 14.9 with a hefty 29 planned buffs, nerfs, and adjustments. Riot has been hard at work prepping the League landscape for MSI 2024⁠—which just recently took shape team-wise—with changes mainly focused around pro play and the competitive metagame. With the shackles off, balance boss Riot Phroxzon and his squad can turn their attention solely to the Rift’s other issues. View the full article

Skarner’s journey since his rework in League of Legends Patch 14.7 has been a rollercoaster. He has undergone three additional adjustments since then, and now he’s going to be nerfed again in Patch 14.9, which is going live on May 1. Since Skarner’s rework went live, the Primordial Sovereign has been nerfed in Patch 14.8 because he was considered too overpowered, and again in a hotfix for Patch 14.8 on April 18 for similar reasons. That rushed balance-change onslaught continues today, with League balance head honcho Riot Phroxzon confirming on X (formerly Twitter) on April 22 that the updated brackern is just about to get whacked again. View the full article

Walking Wake and Iron Leaves, two of the rarest Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet, will be up for grabs once more in the next upcoming Tera Raid. From Friday, April 26 to Monday, May 6, Walking Wake Tera Raids will appear in Scarlet and Iron Leaves Tera Raids will appear in Violet. Walking Wake will have the Water Tera Type, while Iron Leaves’ Tera Type will be Psychic. The raids for this event are five stars, so they won’t be as difficult as any of the Unrivaled Tera Raid events, as long as you have the right counters. View the full article

Zenless Zone Zero appears to be releasing on July 3. Zenless Zone Zero is a highly anticipated release from popular developer Hoyoverse. The developer's banner of video games includes Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. This game appears to be putting its own unique spin on the action RPG genre, emphasizing its characters with unique personalities. View the full article

Diablo 4’s paid cosmetics have been controversial since its launch due to their pricing. Despite that, the Blizzard team has continued to look for new ways to improve the feature, with the latest being a new “earnable” cosmetics plan. Rod Fergusson, one of the big bosses in Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo team, today unveiled an ambitious future for microtransactions, including personalized discounts and improved earnable battle pass cosmetics, in an interview with Windows Central. The plan includes discounted cosmetics tailored to you and how you like to play and improved cosmetics players will be able to get through seasonal passes. View the full article

The latest premium DLC pack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 adds a playable dinosaur operator skin to the game. The skin is available from the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in-game store, and is usable in both MW3 and Warzone. View the full article

The No Rest for the Wicked developers have been hard at work on more updates for the early access title, dropping an April 22 patch focused on fixes and balancing. Hotfix Three features performance improvements, bugfixes, much-needed clay-drop buffs, and even a nerf to parrying, which is already challenging for players. Although No Rest for the Wicked is in early access and still has a lot to do on the development front, the devs have been heads-down since April 18 to release three significant hotfixes, with the latest going live today. Like the past two patches, this one has a core focus on game performance and graphics improvements, with several bugfixes. View the full article

Destiny 2‘s much-anticipated next expansion The Final Shape will welcome back more than just our beloved Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6, with an April 22 trailer for the update revealing Hive Goddess Savathûn will be back to guide us through the Pale Heart of the Traveler in search for The Witness. Keen-eyed Destiny 2 fans spotted the trailer via Sony’s PlayStation YouTube channel in the early evening of April 22. It’s believed the trailer was to be withheld a little longer but—similar to Season of the Haunted’s leaked preview in 2022—Bungie pulled the trigger on its release on official platforms within the hour. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Illaoi has finally gotten a dedicated gameplay trailer and explainer, ahead of a new 2XKO demo available to play at Evo Japan. The character, first revealed during the game's free-to-play announcement is the fifth to be fully playable by members of the public. The video in question, released on 2XKO socials and viewable below, comes alongside commentary by Caroline Montana Riot Shyvana who designed the champion alongside a dedicated development pod, and explains that this bruiser is a hard-hitting brawler who makes good use out of her infamous tentancles to extend combos and apply additional pressure. Back when we first got a peak at Illaoi through a dedicated design blog on the Riot Games website, we knew the team wanted to go heavy on the character fantasy of big hits and tentacle assists. In this final version of the character, it looks like the team ended up on a summonable tentacle system, in which you can actively bring them out and trigger their attacks to nearby enemies. It's worth noting that Shyvana also emphasises that Illaoi isn't a "puppet character" like you'd see in other series like Blazblue, but rather a bruiser who's at their best when applying pressure with tentancles set up. Read more View the full article

In its early access state, No Rest of the Wicked is already full of surprises. Mostly those are great, like how one moment I found myself marveling at its slow and precise combat (all but unprecedented in the action RPG genre) and the next I found myself decorating my home like I was in an M-rated Animal Crossing. On the other side, although it’s certainly to be expected from a game that’s clearly labeled as unfinished, there were also some not-so-fun surprises, like various technical issues, a loot and inventory management system that needs some serious tweaking, and some levels that can be a headache to navigate from an isometric perspective. There’s nothing there that feels unsolvable, though, and all of those problems are eclipsed by just how exciting and special this genre-blending pioneer felt throughout my 30+ hours with the content that’s already available. The setting doesn’t rock the boat too much: You play as a magically imbued warrior and generic chosen one, sworn to ****** back an ancient plague that seems to be a pretty serious problem for folks, since they absolutely cannot stop transforming into Lovecraftian horrors at every opportunity. After arriving in the land of Sacra by boat, you immediately set to the task of helping these poor souls out by slaughtering all manner of ghoulish, feral wildlife, infected humans, and murderous bandits, all while suspiciously side-eyeing the zealous, militant ******* that will almost definitely become the bad guys in the back half of the campaign. It’s not exactly a peachy world to explore, but the compelling characters with top-notch voice performances and depressing vibes of a beautiful world gone terribly wrong are both exceedingly well done and quickly become an extremely alluring reason to press on through each harrowing area and lethal boss. As of now, this story is cut short 10 hours in, just as things are getting interesting, so time will tell if it delivers on that front. So far, though, it’s off to a very strong start. It definitely helps that No Rest for the Wicked is quite easy on the eyes at nearly every moment, owing to its painterly art style, expressive and memorable characters, and gobsmackingly beautiful foliage. Man, oh, man does Moon Studios sure know what it's doing when it comes to plants – clearly that experience working on the ****** Forest that Ori enjoys jumping around in has been put to phenomenal use. I will say, though, that at first glance the bizarre humans can be a bit off putting, with their creepily disproportionate, gorilla-like limbs, especially when you jump into the character creator and immediately see a default that looks like a waxed sasquatch. But once I hopped into the world and saw how it fit in with the stylized art, I was quickly put at ease with how I looked from a bird’s eye view. When you jump into the character creator you immediately see a default that looks like a waxed sasquatch. Combat sets itself apart as much as the art style, as this divergent action-RPG takes the brisk skirmishes of Diablo or Path of Exile (where you’re triggering a cascade of powerful abilities to ***** hundreds of enemies in seconds) and replaces them with steady, methodical, and wonderfully deadly swordplay against small numbers of opponents. Instead of running around as a **** of the battlefield, you’re a squishy adventurer who will have to master dodge rolls, perfect parries, and the rare combat ability here and there to scrape by, which makes battles much more challenging and demanding of your full attention. We’re not racing back to our corpses to recover lost loot or working with a finite number of healing items or anything like that, but there’s still plenty of difficulty for us masochists to enjoy. That fresh take on the genre works incredibly well, making for a journey that starts out as much more challenging than most, and where every downed opponent feels like a victory just barely snatched from the jaws of defeat. For someone who’s delved all of Diablo 4’s dungeons already, that’s a lot more engaging than mindlessly plowing through armies with ease (though that can be a lot of fun too). Exploring the early access portion of the land of Sacra makes for an extremely enjoyable time, whether you’re wading into rotting sewers filled with bandits or navigating ancient ruins where one false step will send you plummeting to your ****** (even if some of those spills are annoying). There’s an impressive number of ****** types packed into the small number of areas currently available, from diseased, split-faced rats to slimy, four-legged aliens who multiply when *******, and flying witches who teleport around the map and lob fireballs at you. You’re given plenty of reasons to revisit areas and dig into every ***** and cranny. On top of that, there are lots of secrets to discover and hidden loot to claim, a surprising amount of things to climb, leap to, or precariously balance across that aren’t usually present in isometric level designs, and some really clever shortcuts that allow you to quickly get back to Sacra’s one and only safe haven, located in the center of the map, you’re given plenty of reasons to revisit areas and dig into every ***** and cranny. The only issue is that, because you can’t move the camera as you explore, sometimes the fixed view makes it a little hard to tell what can be climbed on, or to understand the exact dimensions of any given narrow walkway you’re maneuvering through. That caused me to accidentally leap to my ****** on more than one occasion. The RPG mechanics are similarly inspired, allowing for a ton of customization without locking you into a specific subclass or role that dictates your playstyle (at least initially). Since your build is largely determined by the weapons and armor you bring into battle, each of which comes with their own attacks, abilities, and stats, you get a nice layer of RPG mechanics to mess around with however you like. In one stretch I played as a lightly armored ********* with dual daggers that applied an elemental *****; later I switched to a katana and a shield that healed me as I blocked attacks. The buildcrafting is quite in-depth, and there are already so many combinations I had a hard time picking any one and running with it. That’s a good problem to have! Unfortunately, which options are available are limited by how the RNG Gods treat you, since you won’t always get a decent ******* that aligns with how you want to play. Even worse, you might find a ******* you really like but not have the right stats to wield it, and since there’s currently no way to respec, you’ll eventually lock yourself into a certain kind of loadout playstyle and find all other loot basically useless, unless you’re willing to spend attribute points inefficiently just to change styles. For example, I started finding really great two-handed claymores that required lots of strength to use long after I’d committed all my skill points to dexterity. Theoretically you could hand this loot off to your other characters or to fellow players once co-op multiplayer is added, but most of the time it feels like a real bummer to get cool loot you can’t use. That can really pump the brakes on the fun of experimenting with different loadouts, especially after you’ve been playing awhile. That’s not the only way in which loot can be unkind, either. No Rest for the Wicked falls prey to one of my biggest action-RPG **** peeves: a small inventory that constantly needs to be managed. Loot drops constantly, and even though your carrying capacities can be upgraded little by little, doing so is a slow process and you don’t gain access to real storage options until hours into the adventure, by which time I’d been forced to sell or abandon dozens of items I’d rather have kept. And since there are tons of different materials needed to level up, enchant, and craft weapons, you’re constantly being told to store up stuff you absolutely don’t have room to carry, which creates an infuriating dilemma. Which options are available are limited by how the RNG Gods treat you. That kind of thing might work in a game like Baldur’s Gate 3, where something has to stop you from looting every dinner plate you come across (and you have the option to trudge back to camp if you simply refuse to drop your prizes) but here it just doesn’t feel good to pause exploration every couple of minutes to juggle items in my inventory and make gut-wrenching decisions about what to leave behind. You’ll also find yourself bogged down by the weird way in which healing items are handled. You have to craft them all from raw materials, and they aren’t replenished when you ****. This means that if you encounter a particularly tricky part where you’re using lots of healing items and dying a lot, you’ll need to stop what you’re doing, retrace your steps through old areas to harvest herbs and mushrooms, then craft more potions before returning to whichever part was giving you trouble. And if you happen to take damage as you’re foraging and need to use healing items while making these supply runs, you’ll set yourself back even more. (Even Bloodborne’s biggest fans will usually admit restocking health vials is the worst part of it.) It would probably be a better idea to just make healing items more accessible, or make some of them replenish upon ******, because it’s always an annoying chore to get through before I can get back to the task of avenging my most recent ******. When you aren’t fighting diseased abominations and stuffing baubles into your cute little fanny pack-sized inventory, you’ll find yourself in the cozy town of ********** where the goal surprisingly shifts to rebuilding the place, like you suddenly stepped into a Stardew Valley for goth kids. By bringing back materials to invest in the refurbishing of various local establishments and infrastructure you can turn the place into a veritable oasis of friendly vendors and scenic views, from a warm tavern and diner you can build near the town’s entrance, to an elevator in the center that can quickly ferry you from lowtown to the fancy upper level and back again. You can even purchase property for yourself, then spend way too much time decorating your place and filling it with the loot you don’t have room to carry. It’s very weird to find any of this stuff in such a dark, action-packed crusade, but this ended up being one of my favorite aspects. Every piece of wood or ore harvested from the world could be used to build a new facility, or to upgrade a vendor to expand their inventory and make life a bit easier. Plus, it’s just nice to take a break from the monstrosities trying to chop your head off to chill in your house and craft some furniture. Resting, if you will. The goal surprisingly shifts to rebuilding, like you suddenly stepped into a Stardew Valley for goth kids. Once you beat the campaign, you’ll unlock a roguelike endgame activity that pits you against a dungeon filled with powerful enemies and enormous amounts of loot (assuming you have inventory space for it). This mode is a lot of fun and makes the early access version of No Rest for the Wicked feel much more substantial. Unfortunately, every run at this activity requires a consumable that you have to grind to earn, and because you’ll likely be using lots of healing items during runs as well, you’ll more than likely have to stop whatever you’re doing to grind out areas you’ve already explored to stock up on items you’ll need to power your future attempts. Between that and juggling my inventory, I found myself spending an awful lot of time staring at menus instead of practicing my perfect parry. Another caveat is that, while it might be unsurprising for an early access game (or heck, a lot of full launches these days), No Rest for the Wicked has performance and tech issues to iron out. The frame rate is known to dip no matter how powerful your PC is (as evidenced by my own Ryzen 9 and RTX 4090), your character can get stuck in the side of a cliff until you spend some time dodge-rolling to break free, and sometimes massive parts of the environment (like a bridge or part of the ground) are invisible when you approach them until they awkwardly pop into existence right in front of you. Or sometimes they appear to be there when they aren’t: One time I dodge-rolled away from an ****** and went straight through the ground to **** in the empty space below. But again, these are the sorts of things one would expect to encounter in early access and then watch as they’re ironed out as development continues, and none of them were such a big deal that I wanted to stop and play something else. Except falling through the map – that’s never fun. It’s also important to note one of the major things unavailable in this version of No Rest for the Wicked: multiplayer of any type. While this is the very first thing listed on the roadmap of things Moon plans to roll out, its absence is acutely felt by those who, like me, really look forward to playing a game like this with friends. It’ll also be interesting to see how much the balance of combat is altered by adding allies to the mix, because right now the whole campaign feels very specifically tuned for solo play – I almost can’t imagine what a multiplayer version of these quests would feel like. But I’m intrigued to find out! View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Metaphor: ReFantazio has revealed a release date of October 11 and showcased more gameplay. Metaphor: ReFantazio is the next release from the creators of Persona that will take players through a medieval world. Set in the ******* Kingdom of Euchronia, a nation of three countries inhabited by eight tribes, the story of Metaphor: ReFantazio begins with chaos ensuing after the king is *******. View the full article

YouTube Fortnite is rolling out an update on Tuesday that includes a new setting that filters out “confrontational” emotes. The v29.30 update will let players “choose not to see” the following emotes: “Laugh It Up”, “Take the L”, “Whipcrack”, and “Make it Plantain.” The four emotes won’t exactly be hidden per se, they’ll appear as still images in the game — but players performing them won’t dance and they won’t play music. Players can opt to only see these emotes from friends, or hide them altogether. Though Fortnite has hundreds of different emotes, this group of four are controversial because of how and when players will use them. Fortnite players will often play emotes like “Laugh it Up” and “Take the L” after ******** another player or... Continue reading… View the full article

HoYoverse’s upcoming action RPG, Zenless Zone Zero, is releasing much sooner than expected, with its arrival date confirmed thanks to Apple’s accidental early *****. Whether accidental or not, Zenless Zone Zero‘s release date has now been leaked, with HoYoverse’s Genshin and Honkai follow-up launching on Wednesday, July 3. This date was revealed by gaming content creator Wario64 on X (formerly Twitter) on April 23, who quickly discovered the date via a listing in the Apple App Store hours after the upcoming title’s release page was updated today. View the full article

A Helldivers 2 player discovered the model for Eagle-1 came with its own hitboxes after a comedic midair collision. Since the game's release, there's been no shortage of videos showcasing the many ways Helldivers 2 players can expire in the line of duty, but one unfortunate soldier met a particularly gruesome end when they were launched into the air and subsequently hit by the series' iconic Eagle Fighter. View the full article

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple will reveal its first AI applications later this year, noting that they will run locally without an internet connection. Gurman's comments align with prior speculation deduced from the company's hiring records. Read Entire Article View the full article