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We did a few runs of Bellring Games' upcoming Mistfall Hunter while at SGF and came away intrigued by its action RPG approach to the punishing extraction genre of games. View the full article

Cuphead did something in 2017 that we'd arguably never seen before in a video game, or at least nowhere near the degree Cuphead went to: it built an entire game around completely hand-drawn art and animation a la a 1930's cartoon. We haven't seen it since probably since doing all of that painstaking visual work by hand is incredibly difficult, time-intensive, and laborious. But now, a new hand-drawn and hand-animated project is getting ready to grace our PCs and consoles. It's called Mouse: P.I. for Hire, and fully handcrafted art is about the only thing it's got in common with Cuphead. Mouse is its own, equally gorgeous game, and after getting a look at a hands-off demo, I'm just as interested in it as I was when I first saw Cuphead. Which is to say, I’m very interested. As you can obviously see, Mouse is in ****** and white. It's reminiscent of the Steamboat ****** era of early animation, complete with guns that are always wobbling even when they aren't in use, as if they're made of rubber. (More on the guns in a bit.) As you can also plainly see, Mouse is a first-person shooter. In it, you play as Jack Pepper, who in-demand video game voice actor Troy Baker plays with a stereotypical-on-purpose New York accent. He's an early-20th-century gumshoe, after all, see? He's got to sound like one. What I really liked about the demo I saw of Mouse was that it wasn't just a mindless run-and-gun first-person shooter (not that there's anything wrong with that). Instead, the mission I saw part of was set at an opera house, where Pepper had to find and question the stage designer. We started at the back door, where we spoke to a waiter and asked about Roland, the aforementioned stage designer. He hasn’t seen him, so in we go to investigate for ourselves. What I really liked about the demo I saw of Mouse was that it wasn't just a mindless run-and-gun first-person shooter. Inside, the kitchen gives you a better look at the visual aesthetic at play here. Notice how the characters are 2D within the 3D space, not unlike the monsters in the original Doom. A peek through the porthole window of the kitchen door shows off one of Mouse’s detective-y features: reconnaissance, as Jack takes a photo and sees some members of the Big Mouse Party – aka not guys we want anything to do with. Moving to the back of the kitchen, we meet up with a slick waiter who’s happy to help sneak us upstairs to where we need to go quietly – for $30. We decline the bribe and instead find a vent we can sneak through. A bonus stash of cash hiding in the vent is appreciated, but the bottom falling out of the vent, ******-landing us back outside where we started, is very much not appreciated. Attempt number two takes us back through the kitchen and into the same vent, carefully crawling around the newly made hole in the floor and taking us to the dressing room, where a Thompson machine gun and some ammo await. You’re not supposed to be in here, of course, and the Big Mouse Party members don’t take kindly to your presence. It’s here that we get our first look at the first-person shooter combat, including one of the gorgeous reload animations. We hear a muffled voice that might be Roland, but first a safe gives us a chance to see the lockpicking minigame in action, along with what the safe was hiding: a cup of coffee? Then things get really loud, as the wall in front of us blows up and we have to snuff out the bad guy that emerges from the smoke before using **** ourselves to make a hole in the floor so we can make our way down into the bowels of the opera house. Finally, we’ve found Roland. He’s been beaten up by the extras, who Jack deduces aren’t extras at all, and learns the Big Mouse Party’s real plan: to assassinate mayoral candidate Stilton, who’s sitting in the balcony for that evening’s show, during intermission, using the cannon on stage that is both full of live ammo and pointed directly at him. Fast-forward to more combat, including the shotgun, which looks like it packs a nice wallop – and also has a pretty awesome reload animation of its own. Plus a look at explosive barrels that leave the bad guys burning in the most cartoonish way possible. There’s even an ice barrel – liquid nitrogen, perhaps? – that freezes nearby foes when detonated, allowing you to kick them so they shatter into a thousand pieces, Terminator 2-style. Moments later we also got a look at the third weapon featured in the demo: the turpentine gun, which melts these cartoon characters who are literally made of paint, not unlike the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The turpentine gun melts these cartoon characters who are literally made of paint, not unlike the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? After a bit of platforming and fighting a new helicopter-tailed enemy type, we found our way back upstairs…only to have a trap door below our feet open up, dumping us back into the basement. It’s here we meet the Old Rat Stuntman, who teaches Jack the double-jump maneuver. After testing it out and discovering a secret – a baseball trading card of “Brie” Ruth (get it, because they’re mice and love cheese?) – we find our way back on stage to sabotage the cannon and save Stilton, which triggers a boss battle with a raging opera performer. The turpentine gun finishes him off, and we get a look at its reload animation, which if you ask me is even cooler than the others we’ve already seen. The fire from the stage has spread to the rest of the opera house, and we’ve gotta get out of here. But we’re going to have to shoot our way out using every weapon at our disposal. No problem for Jack Pepper. Let’s watch some combat now, uninterrupted. Finally escaping the building, we meet up with the stage designer, who coughs up what he knows about the performer who’s vanished. Something about a secret lab underneath his mansion? No, that doesn’t sound suspicious at all… And with that, we exit the level and the demo ends. And so, though I haven’t yet played it myself, from what I’ve seen of Mouse – and you just saw most of what I saw – I’m really eager to give it a try. It seems like it’s got the right lighthearted, somewhat comedic tone while also being self-aware but offering a solid first-person shooter at the core of it. After all, as gorgeous and admirable as its hand-drawn art and animation are, if the gameplay can’t back it up and also maintain my interest in it over the course of its campaign, then it won’t really matter how pretty it is. But at this point, I’m extremely optimistic. Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan. View the full article

Capcom has been firing on all cylinders with its marquee franchises – Monster Hunter is seeing increasing success, the Resident Evil train is continuing to roll, and Street Fighter continues to be a staple in the fighting game community. It has a new Onimusha on the way, and the last time we saw ****** May Cry was on a high note. But every now and then, Capcom experiments with something new, to varying degrees of success. And that latest experiment is in Pragmata, a sci-fi third-person shooter that stole the show for me at Summer Game Fest 2025 – even after just a brief 15-minute hands-on demo. Another sci-fi third-person shooter may not sound too enticing on the surface, but Pragmata is an example of how a single idea can go a long way in distinguishing a game from the rest of the pack. Here’s the thing – in Pragmata you don’t just damage your enemies by shooting them, you have to hack them to open up their weaknesses. The way this works is by aiming down sights and engaging in a hacking minigame where you navigate a five-by-five grid using the face buttons to draw a path that connects specific nodes together. And you have to do this in real-time. Along that path, you can hit additional nodes to inflict status effects or open up weak spots, which can be risky when you’re locked in a room of multiple menacing robots chasing you down. If you’re nimble enough with your rocket-boosted dodge and smart with your positioning, you can pull this off unscathed, and it is so damn satisfying when it all comes together. When you’re mostly fighting in tight spaces, creating space to hack and shoot can be challenging. Pragmata isn’t exactly a fast-paced game in the same way as Vanquish or Returnal, and it moves more like a Dead Space or Gears of War, and I enjoy that chunky, heavy feel. You’re also not outfitted with a ton of weapons – while you have a six-shot pistol with unlimited magazines, you pick up disposable weapons like a slow, powerful heavy rifle and a Bola gun to temporarily immobilize enemies. These effective, limited-use weapons push you to be more resourceful and make combat more interesting. Since you’re not blasting through waves of robots and drones, the combat encounters feel more deliberate – and I think that’s important for not overdoing it with the hacking minigame. My worry for now is that the novelty of the hacking minigame will wear off the deeper you get into Pragmata, but that’ll be determined by how the gameplay mechanics evolve and the way further combat encounters present new challenges. I’m actually bummed that the demo ends right when you approached a huge mech for what appeared to be a boss fight because it could’ve been an opportunity to showcase more of Pragmata’s potential. [Capcom's] latest experiment is in Pragmata, a sci-fi third-person shooter that stole the show for me... Hacking is also integrated in environmental puzzles and exploration, presenting you with different styles of sequential button prompts to deactivate security locks or access terminals. Little things like this to break up the pace are important in a fairly linear game where you’re chomping at the bit for the next big fight. You need that variety to balance out even the best parts of a campaign, and I at least enjoy the fact that engaging with levels still revolves around the hacking premise in some form. Whether it be in combat or in exploration, I find a lot of fun in games that give you a more active element to engage with in its core gameplay. Although completely different genres, the timing-based mechanics of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 made its turn-based RPG combat feel fresh, and even the gesture-based inputs for abilities in Scarlet Nexus were a fun way to distinguish itself from other action-RPGs, which I still praise to this day. If Pragmata can build on its best ideas in smart ways, it might be able to wedge itself into this conversation. The demo didn’t have much in terms of story (and I’m glad it focused on its enticing gameplay hook instead), but it does leave me curious as to what the hell is going on in Pragmata. The basic premise is that you’re stuck on a high-tech space station on the moon, and you control a man named Hugh who dons a mech suit and uses a small arsenal of high-powered firearms, all while a mysterious little girl named Diana, who’s the hacking genius, sits on your shoulders to hack enemies. But even if the story is simply a vehicle to take you through its uniquely thrilling combat scenarios, I’m inclined to believe that’s all it has to be. I had no idea what Pragmata was when it was first revealed in 2020, and after years of silence and delays, we know that it's real and on its way in 2026. I’m not expecting it to be the next greatest game or become a pillar of Capcom’s catalog, necessarily, but I’m all for new and well-executed ideas – especially at a time when AAA releases sometimes blend with each other. View the full article

This June, the teaser for The Elder Scrolls 6will hit its seventh anniversary. First announced at E3 in 2018, Bethesda revealed everything fans of The Elder Scrolls could have wanted: confirmation that the follow-up to Skyrim was in development. The 40-second trailer only featured sweeping landscape shots of what is likely the land of Tamriel and a title card reveal, but at the time, it was more than enough to generate hype across the internet. Now that well over half a decade has passed, I hope no other AAA game is ever revealed like this again. View the full article

We compare Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma on Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Nintendo Switch vs Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade impressions, Steam Deck recommended settings, and more. View the full article

"ORDER OVERVIEW: If a negative review was left for region lock, change negative reviews to positive."View the full article

The Finals has seen a significant boost in popularity, with the player count on Steam recently surging by approximately 10,000. Embark Studios released Season 7 for The Finals on June 12, giving new and lapsed players a compelling reason to jump into the FPS title's unique gameplay. View the full article

GTA Online's next major update is called Money Fronts, and it introduces a trio of new businesses that players can use to butter up their bottom line with some extra passive income... Read more.View the full article

Think Resident Evil's zombies and mutant monsters are terrifying? A major new update for reverse-horror game Deck of Haunts lets you summon the Grim Reaper. This eerie deckbuilder, which casts you as a haunted mansion, will let you introduce all those meddling ghost hunters to the literal embodiment of death roaming your halls. At least, you can if you prove that you're sufficiently evil. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Card-based roguelike Deck of Haunts has a beefy new demo on Steam Play as a haunted survival horror mansion in Deck of Haunts, demo out now View the full article

Although FBC: Firebreak is still a few days away from its official launch, Remedy Entertainment has shared some information about free future content updates for the game, codenamed "Outbreak" and "Blackout" respectively. FBC: Firebreakrepresents a totally new approach by Remedy Entertainment, with the game being the studio's first multiplayer co-op-focused title that's set to receive continuing support from the developer in the coming years. View the full article

I remember the first time a boy made me a mixtape (okay, mix CD, same diff). It wasn't even a romantic gesture - he made them for all our friends. Mine had a now-embarassing mix of Morrowind music, Naruto OPs, Queen and Kansas (inexplicably), and uh, this song. It was a wild mix of nerd stuff and absolute bangers that made no sense together at all. So I can appreciate a really, really good mixtape, one that makes you feel big feelings and think big thoughts. Sure, I make my own Spotify playlists now for myself, but there's something tangibly retro about someone handing you a physical item of songs, perfectly selected and ordered, that they curated for a person, a moment, a space and time. So what if that, in video game form? That's the entire premise of the aptly named game Mixtape that I previewed at Play Days last week. Mixtape follows three teens: Rockford, Slater, and Cassandra, though it's told from the perspective of Rockford and their final mixtape of the summer: a collection of musical hits to encapsulate their last night together with their best friends. See, Rockford has big dreams, and is headed to New York in the morning to take a huge, ridiculous swing on a future career that's incredibly, appropriately teenager of them and unlikely to pay off (though Rockford's plenty confident). So Rockford has assembled a pretentious lineup of perfect songs, each backing a different vignette from the crew's final night of mischief (and, occasionally interrupted by a flashback or a song they didn't necessarily intend to include). Mixtape manages to effectively capture a very specific flavor of reminisence for one's youth. Look, even if Rockford's whole schtick is being a music elitist, they're right about one thing: they do compile an excellent mixtape. The whole game opens on "That's Good" by Devo, and the segment I played proceeds through Jesus and Mary Chain, Alice Coltrain...I don't want to spoil it too much, because the songs themselves are such a fundamental part of each moment and do a lot of heavy lifting to play into Mixtape's overall aura of nostalgia. In fact, I think one thing I appreciate most about Mixtape is that aside from the music, this isn't a game jam-packed with specific pop culture references like so many other nostalgia plays love to do. The songs have got it covered. I'm not stopping every few seconds, pointing at an artifact or a joke and going, "I recognize that!" And yet, Mixtape manages to effectively capture a very specific flavor of reminisence for one's youth, and that feeling is injected into everything from Rockford's room decor to how the characters speak to the gentle, golden, almost-autumnal light permeating everything in the opening. Here's another thing that struck me: the three main characters are, frankly, pretty annoying! And I love it! They're such teens. Older teens, sure, on the cusp of adulthood, but teens! I'm 34! I can't take them remotely seriously, and I'm not supposed to. The trio, while distinct in their personalities, all carry a slightly exaggerated self-obsession, that feeling I remember well from being 17, 18, 19, and thinking my concerns were at the center of the universe. Obnoxious quirks and all, I'll be happy to spend a full evening with all three in the full game. The actual meanest thing I can say about Mixtape is that at least in the snippet I played, you're not doing very much. There's some skateboarding, and a sequence where you careen through the town on a shopping cart, and in both situations you steer, but I'm not sure there's really any consequences for doing either activity well or poorly, or any reason to try very hard. You can headbang to music played loud in a car. Mostly, from what I saw, you walk around a room and look at things while talking to your friends. The most interesting gameplay was an extended section where you simulate two awkward teenage tongues making out in a simultaneously hilarious and disgusting interchange. I get the sense that the wider game will likely play out more as a series of minigame vignettes that one specific flavor of video game, but as it stands I'm hard-pressed to explain to you what it is you're going to be doing, mostly, throughout the rest of Mixtape. The thing is, whether the rest of the game turns out to be action-packed or not, I'm not really sure it matters for what Mixtape is going for. This is a vibes game through-and-through, and Mixtape's vibes are impeccable. I'm happy to let Rockford take me along on whatever journey they and their friends are about to head out on, one song at a time. Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected]. View the full article

After nearly 40 years, Mel Brooks is finally making a follow-up to his classic Star Wars spoof, Spaceballs. The nonagenarian announced the project with a hilarious clip parodying the opening scroll made famous by the Star Wars series – created by George Lucas and now run into the ground by Disney. Read Entire Article View the full article

The Finals is unlikely to crush Call of Duty or Valorant, but this FPS has a character all its own. The Running Man meets Titanfall 2 meets Red Faction (remember that one?), it's a ridiculous high-octane outing that deserves to do well. Now, The Finals' Season 7 update has dropped, giving it a major boost in player count and introducing one of the strangest FPS weapons you're likely to encounter. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Best The Finals settings for PC The Finals system requirements Underappreciated FPS The Finals heads to Mexico for Season 5 View the full article

Baldur’s Gate 3has always prided itself on offering an unprecedented level of player freedom, allowing your Tav to alter the fates of countless NPCs across the game world. Even some of the most doomed characters in Baldur's Gate 3 can still have their fate altered with the right preparation, but one character still can't seem to catch a break years after release. View the full article

In a development that will surprise basically no one, Stellar Blade's arrival on Steam two days ago has created an influx of mods for the title on PC, and a lot of them are just straight up porn. The game's page on Nexus Mods boasts 238 results at the time of this article, and most of the first two pages are nudity mods, including the most-downloaded one that switches up the appearance of the main character, "Eve with No clothes on (Original Proportions)." Because of course. Image via Shift Up A good amount of the mods seem to replace the main menu screen with all sorts of looping videos of Eve in X-rated fashion, while others give her interesting or cute outfits, and there's even one that makes her pregnant. Yeah. Judging by the Overwhelmingly Positive Steam reviews (of which there are over 13,000 total), whether gamers are playing the title or simply watching the main character Eve walk slowly around the pretty environments, they are having a blast with the former PS5-exclusive action game where the heroine hacks and slashes her way across the storyline, battling monsters and epic boss battles in a skin-tight body suit. "Plot?" said one review. "I only saw hips swinging and melons jiggling. 10/10, would simp again!" This is a common thread in the reviews I've browsed, but a lot are also praising it for being a solid PC port with good performance, too. By all accounts, Stellar Blade is a really solid action game, regardless of how the "gooner" attention seems to overshadow it. It has an 81 critic rating and 9.2 user score on Metacritic, and so not everyone can only talk about the main character's attire (or lack thereof) when praising it. "The game is high-quality hack and slash representative with a well written story and interesting characters," one Steam reviewer said. "Another undisputed plus is that the game runs smooth. I also would like to highlight the beautiful animations. Despite all the fan service in the game, Stellar Blade would be just as good even without it." That's good to know! I bought Stellar Blade on PS5 last year at launch and haven't gotten around to playing it yet, but perhaps I will soon. But for my PC brothers enjoying the new launch on Steam, please make sure to wash your hands before returning back to the game. The post Stellar Blade PC mods are overflowing with risqué content as satisfied gamers quench their thirst in the Steam reviews appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Q will teach the young Bond "manners"View the full article

Steam users in multiple countries can now purchase and launch some PlayStation titles without any restrictions. Following months of backlash from fans, the PlayStation games Helldivers 2, God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 are once again available for Steam users to purchase and play in several countries. View the full article

The MSX version notably had more powerful bosses compared to prior releases. View the full article

The 2021 relaunch of Splitgate solidified that Valve-style portals and old-school arena shooters are two great tastes that taste great together. Splitgate 2 carries that same great melding of run-and-gun action and tactical trickery that helped the original plant its flag in the genre, so it’s starting from a good place. However, even though the addition of character classes and a wider range of weapons help bring Splitgate 2 through a new threshold of promise, some of the other shots it takes through the looking glass come back to bite it and have made me a bit less optimistic about the time I’ve spent with this free-to-play followup so far. Visually, quite a bit has changed relative to the original. Gone is the muted, more industrial look of the battle venues, replaced by lots of vibrant colors and brighter lighting, making it look less distinctive and more like the many games trying to catch the eye of Fortnite players. In the trade up from the grubby metal walls to the cleaner, sleeker surfaces, Splitgate 2 is also absent of the more interesting features that made the original’s maps interesting and memorable. Features like deserts and trees that would be smack-dab in the middle of a map (like in one of my favorites, Oasis) are now relegated to background decorations, and every surface you’ll actually run and gun across feels samey across the 15 map options. The returning map creator mode, now called The Lab, is powerful enough that it’s already filled with dozens and dozens of fan-made recreations of famous PvP maps from ******* games, alongside some more interesting and original user creations that serve as great side shows to the main action. But they are often too gimmicky to be considered good replacements for the developer-made maps as far as having consistent and competitive rounds of the standard modes (to the extent that's possible considering there’s no ranked mode currently available). I had a pretty hard time getting strangers to ****** for some of the wackier-looking options, often sitting in lobbies alone for long periods of time in hopes some other curious Splitgaters would stumble in. I was often disappointed. Splitgate 2’s biggest win, though, is in gameplay tweaks that have a huge impact on pacing from match to match. The signature portals are still the X-factor, allowing you to create paths between two points on the map on the fly. They are the perfect tools for setting up ambushes, tricky getaways, and even manipulating physics to slingshot you across the map. I mostly use them here like I did in 2021, pulling off one-man flanks on jerks attempting to take my team's objectives. This time, though, it only takes one button to create both ends of your personal wormhole when shot in succession, making them much more convenient to use. It comes at a slight cost, in that opening one of your portals on top of an enemy’s is the only way to close theirs, and that can force you to close off your own routes. But after logging 10 hours this week, I much prefer this minor drawback over the anti-portal grenades of yesteryear. It only takes one button to create both ends of your portal, making them much more convenient to use. What We Said About Splitgate: Arena Warfare Splitgate: Arena Warfare’s portal guns turn what would’ve been a forgettable arena shooter into one of the smartest I’ve played in years. Placing portals gives you endless chances to outthink and outmanoeuvre your opponents, which means you can climb the rankings even if you don’t have the best aim. It’s let down by its drab maps that repeat too often in the first hours, and its current lack of players can make it hard to find an evenly matched game if you haven’t brought your own teams. But it’s fun, free, and it proves that portals can work in a competitive shooter. It deserves at least a few hours of your time – which would help with the player population, incidentally. – Samuel Horti, June 7, 2019 Score: 7.1 Read the full Splitgate: Arena Warfare review [/url] Movement always felt smooth, quick, and controlled in Splitgate thanks to its fast (but not too fast) sprinting and the limited jetpacks. In Splitgate 2, both of these things combine with a new slide mechanic to make getting around the maps feel like I remember my best rounds of Titanfall. The jetpack seems more powerful, with more lift before cooldown than the original’s version. Being able to stay aloft for longer means firefights more often begin or end in the air, adding a level of dynamism that makes every skirmish a challenge at every angle. The arsenal isn’t much different than the original, though, which is a shame because it’s not very imaginative. Most weapons have slick futuristic curves and color schemes but function exactly like the assault rifles, SMGs, and carbines you’ve wielded in other games, and I wasn’t motivated to do much exploration of the options or customization of loadout presets because of it. They really just make me want to sprint to grab power weapons, which spawn with some fanfare on neutral points during matches, as soon as possible. These returning super guns have gotten a couple of notable additions to their lineup, including my favorite: a pair of machine pistols that can be combined to form a longer machine gun when aiming down the sights. These are all awesome, game-changing weapons that are worth the effort to secure every time they’re available. Mechanically, the biggest change to the way Splitgate 2 plays is the addition of three character classes, avatars of competing corporate entities who settle their differences in this futuristic sport of gun-toting portal slipping. Sabrask, Meridian, and Aeros all have their own unique active abilities, like Sabrask’s Smart Wall, which plops a one-way bullet shield that protects anyone standing behind it while being free to shoot through it at the enemy (much like non-portable version of Reinhardt’s shield in Overwatch). They each also have passive effects that they can grant their whole team simply by being present, incentivizing teams to have at least one of each in play. That means actives are more obviously impactful than the passives, largely because I’ve yet to play a game where every team involved wasn’t receiving boosted health regen from Meridian and faster ability and equipment recharges from Aeros and Sabrask, respectively. Is it really a “boost” if it’s basically the standard? I think there’s an argument to be made that the choice to forgo class-based, hero shooter-y design was a keystone of the monument to the past’s simpler shooters that the original Splitgate was building. It meant every player started from the same base capabilities and had to earn every advantage during a match. I am sympathetic to this old-school Halo-style mentality, but I've come to prefer the diversity of these three new classes, which add just enough tactical expression to give old people like me a chance against fast-twitch no-scoping youth so long as I can out-think them. It’s a bummer that these new modes rely on isolatingly large spaces. Matches, regardless of which of the suite of returning modes you’re playing, are almost always more fun on smaller maps, which may not be as interesting as they were in Splitgate but at least are built to take the most advantage of portaling in a way that ensures you’re never too far from the action. Larger maps, like the ones found in the new three team, 24-player Onslaught game types that supersize Team Deathmatch and Hotzone, can feel almost lonely because you have to run a fair distance to find some other players exchanging fire before plotting your portal game. It’s a bummer then that all of these new modes rely on increasingly isolatingly large play spaces. Across the board, it strikes me as odd that maps seem to deemphasize the advantage that using portals would have – so many objectives sit in places completely hidden from a portal wall, and it felt much more difficult to use portals for aggressive pushes. Fortunately for me, someone who mostly uses portals to set traps and for escapes, and I felt like Splitgate 2’s layouts firmly establish that my more passive approach is the right way to play. Firstly, thank you so much 1047 Games, but secondly, this means that offensive strikes on objectives, especially the ones you have to hunker down on like in Firecracker or Domination, happen with the kinds of jetpack assaults and high-energy flanks that you could do anywhere else. Even modes that require lots of movement or rotating objectives, like Splitball and Hotzone, don’t afford many more opportunities to use the feature in a way that couldn’t be done without it. The most damning realization of this came when I was playing one of the No Portals limited-time playlist maps and realizing my games didn’t feel all that different without them. Finally, the big new marquee feature of Splitgate 2 is the battle royale mode, which at the time of this writing, I haven’t spent too much time with (hence why this review is still in progress). But from what I have played, it operates mostly as expected: many teams of four drop into a semi-random zone on the map and fight each other to be the last squad standing. The wrinkle it adds to the genre (besides portals) is that the greater map is made up of four smaller maps connected to one another by jump paths and tunnels. Splitgate 2’s version of the storm closing in around you is shutting down one of these regions, forcing all surviving squads toward each other in a shrinking set of rooms. These maps are styled as different environments – there's a snowy zone and a lava zone, for instance – so it’s easy to communicate which one you’re talking about when planning with your team. I haven’t noticed if these zones have too many differences from one another outside of how they look, though. Does the lava burn you? Does the ice make you slide uncontrollably? I’ll report back when I wrap up this review next week. View the full article

I play a lot of competitive shooters – and I mean a lot of competitive shooters. Whether it’s being an unfortunate son in Grey Zone Warfare, flipping cards in FragPunk, or smashing and grabbing in The Finals, this has been my default “gaming night with the friends” genre since I was in school many, many (many) years ago. And even after many thousands of hours spread across Destiny, Call of Duty, Halo Infinite, and Valorant, there is something about the action on the Rainbow Six series that stands out and just feels right. Now that Rainbow Six Siege is celebrating its tenth year with a massive new update in the form of Rainbow Six Siege X, it seems like a perfect time to reevaluate how this popular tactical shooter stands among its peers after a decade of tweaks, updates, and additions. The fundamentals of Siege are as strong as ever, which is great to see. Bomb is the headliner mode: Two teams take turns on offense and defense trying to either fortify position and protect a bomb, or battle their way in to defuse it. That setup has been around for decades (and is also the core mode of games like Counter-Strike) but Siege’s distinctive entrenchment and destruction mechanics make its version stand out, and both sides of that coin are extremely fun. I love throwing down a bunch of temporary walls, setting up razor wire or other boobie traps, and getting ready to ambush attackers. And it’s just as satisfying on offense, knowing the other team has set up similar defenses, and blowing a wall open with some thermite to bypass all of it and get the drop on the enemy. The fast time-to-kill rewards position over twitch skill, and I appreciate the way the relatively slow aim-down-sites animation forces you to decide before a fight how you want to engage. This is a thinking man’s shooter, through and through. The cast of playable characters is an impressive 75 Operators. Each has a different loadout and slightly unique playstyle, with half reserved for Attackers and the other playable only when you are on Defense. They do a great job catering to different playstyles, whether you want to smash through walls with your big hammer as Sledge, or dash around at high speed as Oryx. It is surprising that the Siege X update didn’t add anyone new to the roster, though we did get Rauora just a few months ago. Dual Front mode hasn’t yet grown on me in the time I’ve spent with it so far. In addition to Bomb, Siege X adds a new 6v6 mode called Dual Front, but that one hasn’t yet grown on me in the time I’ve spent with it so far. Here, both teams have an area to attack and another to defend simultaneously. There are no restrictions on what type of character you can use, though only 37 of the 75 operators are eligible selections. The single available map is enormous, which, combined with the fast time-to-kill of Siege, means you tend to spend just a very small fraction of the match duration involved in actual action. Unlike in Bomb you can respawn after you die, which seems like it would make this a good mode for onboarding new players, but so far I feel like it really just takes away the pulse-pounding stakes that make Siege what it is. What We Said About Rainbow Six Siege in 2018 Rainbow Six Siege’s focus on teamwork and strategy over just aiming prowess sets it apart in exciting ways, and the constant stream of new maps and operators have made it a wonderfully varied FPS. All that new content has made it harder for new players to catch up, and I wish more work had been done to address this, but smart play and good communication will still win you more games than having the newest operator. It’s got some growing pains to sort out, but the future continues to look bright for Siege. – Tom Marks, January 18, 2018 Score: 8.5 Read the full Rainbow Six Siege 2018 Review [/url] Siege X is built around a limited free-to-play model. I say limited because, while you can absolutely play Siege X for free, it locks some key modes, like Ranked and Siege Cup, behind a paywall. You’ll need to spend around $20 USD if you want access to those. That seems like an odd choice for something that already has a robust shop and battle pass system for generating money, particularly when other popular games, like Marvel Rivals, don’t do any such segmentation between paid and unpaid players. The community has long been a bit weary of how slow progression and a protracted Operator unlock pace push people towards the paid battle pass, but with the revamps in Siege X I still need to spend more time unlocking things to get a feel for how much better or worse that has gotten. One of the hallmarks of Siege has always been the way you can punch through walls. One of the hallmarks of Siege has always been the way you can punch through walls, breach barriers, or come crashing down through the ceiling into your assault, but that feels like it could’ve used an update for this relaunch. For all the walls you can Kool-Aid Man through, there are still a surprising amount of invincible barriers, like thick walls, certain window coverings, and any sort of furniture that make its destruction system less flexible than a more modern game might be. This is especially true on rooftop maps, which limit your options for a vertical breach to the small number of predetermined access points. Those limitations really stand out when other games that’ve come along since Siege first paved the way let you smash through almost anything. I’m not saying Siege needs to let you literally bring down the house, but the fact that I can’t throw some thermite under the bomb and drop it through the floor like I can with the bank in The Finals really sticks out. A decent audio system, especially headphones, has always been an advantage in Siege thanks to its outstanding sound design, and Siege X has noticeably improved it. Explosions and gunfire sound as great as ever, but it’s the ability to locate the general direction of sounds really impresses me. It’s always been handy for finding enemies trying to get the drop on you, but the revamped soundscape now feeds a lot more detail into it. The most significant difference I’ve heard is in footsteps above and below you – once you learn to recognize the difference between the boomy noise above versus the more hollowed-out sounds below you can start to close your eyes and pinpoint exactly where threats will come from, which is such a cool gameplay-based reward for paying attention to the details. There are a few other extremely situational upgrades I quite like. Rappelling is one of the most fun offensive options in Siege X: Hanging upside down like a tactical Spider-Man and getting the drop on enemies watching stairways and doors is supremely satisfying, though until now the actual usefulness in combat has always been somewhat limited. That’s because the rope has tended to leave you a sitting duck – or a pinata – if the enemy sees you. But new options to sprint along the wall or jump around corners means getting spotted isn’t instant death, and I’ve found myself using it a lot more as a result. On top of that, new destructible objects like gas pipes and fire extinguishers can be shot to create jets of flame or smoke. It’s extremely rare for that to matter in a fight, but it does have a very cool cinematic flair with just a touch of area control that I really appreciate. All that said, I’m still early enough in my return to Siege that I’m not quite ready to render a final verdict on its new iteration. I can certainly say that Siege X is a lot of fun to play, and mastering every Operator will be enough to keep me busy for the long haul. I’m a big fan of most of the new additions like the improved sound design, more mobile rappelling, and destructible elements, though at this point I don’t know if Dual Front will be a destination mode – I need to give it more time to gel before I write it off. Overall, I think this a solid step forward that I’m eager to keep playing and evaluating, so stay tuned for the full review next week. View the full article

Some of the top Soulslikes are toning down their difficulty in some wayView the full article

During Summer Game Fest, Techland released a 30-minute gameplay walkthrough for Dying Light: The Beast, its upcoming zombie RPG. At around the 29-minute mark, protagonist Kyle Crane radios a mysterious character called Olivia, informing her of his successful mission to kill one of the antagonist's monstrosities. According to Samantha Beart, the actor behind Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3, Olivia's voice is their own, yet Beart tells PCGamesN they were never actually cast. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Dying Light The Beast puts the focus back on the zombies, promises punishment Dying Light The Beast release date, gameplay, and news The Dying Light The Beast launch date is confirmed, and there's not long to wait View the full article

Steam Next Fest usually feels like videogame Christmas. I get to try out a bunch of exciting new games for an hour or so each. Some bad, some good, and some future favorites. Be it due to time constraints, the overwhelming flood of Summer Game Fest announcements, or fewer obvious standouts, this time around just didn't feel the same. So, instead of my usual round-up of seven, eight, nine demos you should try, here's one: Hotel Barcelona. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Suda 51 and Swery's Hotel Barcelona could be the weirdest roguelike of the year View the full article

Following yesterday's Estelle trailer, Falcom showcases a new Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter character trailer for Joshua. View the full article

Overwatch 2 just revealed some of the balance changes coming in Season 17, including a 10% reduction to Bastion’s size. This hilarious buff arrives alongside adjustments to Junker Queen, Pharah, Lifeweaver, and more when Overwatch 2 Season 17 begins on June 24. View the full article