Within minutes I had that classic Zelda N64 feeling when playing the Azaran: Islands of the Jinn demo – this 90s homage feels like a homecomingView the full article
A new rumor claims that pre-orders for Call of Duty: ****** Ops 7, the upcoming shooter from Treyarch Studios and Raven Software, will begin on June 20. Call of Duty fans have seen very little of ****** Ops 7, as the next entry in the series was only revealed a few days ago during the Xbox Games Showcase. However, if rumors are to be believed, new information on the title may be shared soon, as pre-orders are expected to begin in just over a week. View the full article
The PC version of Stellar Blade only launched yesterday, June 11, but it's already Sony's biggest single-player Steam launch ever. Right now, the concurrent player peak is almost 105,000, but that's the seventh all-time peak the game has set since I started writing this story. There's no doubt player numbers will continue to climb, especially as we move into the weekend. By comparison, Ghost of Tsushima topped out at 77,154 players, God of War peaked at 73,529, and Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered sports a peak of 66,436 players. In fact, the only Sony-published game to have a higher concurrent record than Stellar Blade is Helldivers 2, which is, of course, a multiplayer game. PC-specific features include AI upscaling via Nvidia DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 3, an unlocked framerate, Japanese and ******** voiceover, ultrawide display support, higher resolution environment textures, and DualSense support for haptic feedback and trigger effects. The PC version was originally region locked in 100+ countries, but is now available in "over 250 regions." And yes, there are mods. Dozens and dozens have popped up, with modders making all kinds of tweaks and buffs since the demo dropped a few weeks ago. Not all of them are safe for work, though... Stellar Blade has done so well for developer Shift Up that a sequel is already confirmed. The Sony-published action game launched to a positive response back in April 2024, with players saying its gameplay mixed elements of NieR: Automata and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. IGN's Stellar Blade review returned a 7/10. We said: "Stellar Blade is great in all of the most important ways for an action game, but dull characters, a lackluster story, and several frustrating elements of its RPG mechanics prevent it from soaring along with the best of the genre." Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article
Theropods is an upcoming point and click adventure that combines puzzles with a cinematic story. The demo in Steam Next Fest is quite impressive. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
As yet another Balatro-style roguelite hybrid emerges raging from the volcanic portals of Steam Next Fest, as the smaller-scale gamedev scene at large threatens to melt into a soup of RNG and deckbuilding, I want you to picture me leaning over you like Samwise Gamgee leaning over Frodo, trying through his tears to remind the Ring-bearer of life back in the Shire, before the horror of Mordor. "Do you remember the taste of strawberries?" Sam whispers. I do not want you to remember the taste of strawberries. I want you to remember how good it felt to sneak a ball behind the blocks in Breakout. It is the only thing that will save you now. Read more View the full article
A popular Fortnite leaker has revealed that a new mode called "Expeditions" could be coming to LEGO Fortnite in an upcoming update. Fortnite recently concluded its Galactic Battle mini-season, which added Star Wars characters, locations, and items to many of the title's game modes. View the full article
Stellar Blade is surprisingly playable on Steam Deck, but this gorgeous action RPG might be one to play on your more powerful PC or PlayStation 5 if you have the option available. View the full article
The newly released PC version of Stellar Blade has become only the second PlayStation-published game to pass 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. The PC port of the game was released on Wednesday and has seen its concurrent player count continue to gradually grow since then. At the time of writing, the game’s concurrent player count has just passed six figures, with a current all-time peak of 100,904 players. Read More... View the full article
Follow some great and interesting stores in the Narrative Arc Humble Bundle with 7 games available to grab for cheaps. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Stellar Blade is finally available on PC, and it looks like a lot of you have felt every second of the year and a bit long wait since it launched exclusively on PS5. The Shift Up game hasn't even been available on Steam for 24 hours, and it has already outperformed every single PlayStation PC port in the most important demographic. View the full article
Sony have confirmed the cancellation of a live service project amid mass layoffs at Sony Bend, the team behind open world zombie biker Days Gone. Read more View the full article
Pine Studio have confirmed their plan to launch Escape Simulator 2 in October, with a note about Steam Deck / Linux support. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Selaco is by far my favourite upcoming shooter in Early Access. After the recent big update, they've put out some essential fixes. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Ever looked at the bulky helmets and garb of Elden Ring Nightreign's Nightfarers? Well, wonder no more, as one YouTuber has taken the mask off and shown the little details hiding underneath the coverings of Elden Ring Nightreign's cast. YouTuber Zullie the Witch posted a behind-the-mask look at Nightreign's cast on June 5. All of them have distinct models, with some surprising details under the hood. Some are just little curiosities, like Ironeye's face being fully modeled from the front. Zullie also notes that the Nightfarers' eye colors change depending on their skin. Other characters have some fun ties to other FromSoftware games, like the Duchess' similarity to Dark Souls 3's Firekeeper. Revealing the face of characters like Ironeye or Executor is neat, but the real question I'm sure you're asking is whether the avian Guardian is truly a bird, or if he has a human face underneath? Well, the answer is that yes, he is truly a bird. The Revenant also hides a skull beneath her porcelain facade, though, so there are still some surprises in store for those who haven't seen them in-game yet. While there aren't any profound lore discoveries to be made here, they do add a little extra character to each of the Nightfarers, and show off FromSoft's attention to detail, even down to the tiny things that would probably go unnoticed in most players' runs of the game. The one strange note is Wylder, who does not seem to have a face model at all. This might just be a design quirk, but it's interesting to imagine there might be some deeper lore reason for his under-armor presence remaining a mystery. Elden Ring Nightreign players are slowly getting to grips with the game, and some are already completing impressive challenges. This week, IGN reported on one player who used the Wraith Calling Bell clear the final boss of Elden Ring Nightreign. We’ve got plenty of Nightreign tips and tricks to help you take down all the eight Nightlord Bosses, and if you’re wondering how to unlock the two locked Nightfarer Classes, check out How to Unlock the Revenant and How to Unlock the Duchess, plus How to Change Characters. Eric is a freelance writer for IGN. View the full article
It's official — the video game voice actor and performer strike is over. The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) confirmed it had reached a "tentative agreement" on the interactive media contract earlier this week, potentially bringing to an end almost a year of industrial action across the video game industry. Now SAG-AFTRA has formally suspended strike action as of noon PT yesterday (June 11). The SAG-AFTRA video game strike was instigated back in July 2024 after the union and the major game companies — Activision, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Take 2 Productions, and WB Games — that sit on the board failed to agree on AI provisions. Over 98% of members subsequently voted to strike. While the union hasn't quite signed everything off — there's a special meeting later today, June 12, to consider the agreement — if all goes well, the paperwork will then be sent out to the union's membership for ratification. Not only does that mean video game performers can get back to work, it should also mean less disruption for players and their favorite games. Players reported that a number of ongoing games such as Destiny 2 and World of Warcraft appeared to leave some NPCs unvoiced in otherwise voiced scenes, likely due to the strike, and late last year, SAG-AFTRA struck League of Legends after Riot allegedly tried to subvert the strike by canceling a game in response. Activision also confirmed Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 characters were recast after players expressed concern about new voices, and Epic Games is facing an unfair labor charge after SAG-AFTRA filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) when the company implemented an AI-voiced Darth Vader NPC in Fortnite. If you're wondering if the industrial action was necessary, this story from Horizon actor Ashly Burch may help. In a now-deleted video, Sony Interactive Entertainment director of software engineering, Sharwin Raghoebardajal, has a conversation with an AI-powered Aloy via voice prompts and AI-generated speech and facial animations. The voice heard coming from Aloy's mouth was clearly not that of Burch, but rather a robotic voice similar to those heard from text-to-speech voice generators. AI Aloy's facial movements are stiff, and her eyes appear lifeless as she converses with Raghoebardajal. “You have to get our consent before you make an AI version of us in any form, you have to compensate us fairly, and you have to tell us how you’re using this AI double,” Burch said at the time. “I love this industry and this art form so much, and I want there to be a new generation of actors. I want there to be so many more incredible game performances. I want to be able to continue to do this job. If [the union and striking performers] don’t win, that future is really compromised." Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images. Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article
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Within minutes I had that classic Zelda N64 feeling when playing the Azaran: Islands of the Jinn demo – this 90s homage feels like a homecomingView the full article