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Ever since I watched it on opening night back in 2011, I’ve always wanted to play a video game that captured the essence of Nicolas Winding Refn’s masterpiece, Drive. The absolute effortless cool of Ryan Gosling’s unnamed getaway driver has yet to be replicated in any game I’ve played. Well, until now, that is, thanks to a… hoodie-wearing, down-on-his-luck, dad-looking dude in his mid-40s named “Samson McCray”. Yeah, this is going to take some explaining. Drive’s prologue is not a classic high-intensity getaway sequence. Instead, Gosling’s calm demeanour sees him drive two masked criminals through the streets of LA in such a casual manner that it pretty much distresses his on-edge passengers. Where most Hollywood drivers would be pedal-to-the-metal in an attempt to flee the scene, Gosling goes smooth to blend in with the traffic. By far his coolest move is to park up, cut the lights, and let the searching LAPD mistake his Chevrolet Impala for average Joe’s sedan. In this high-stakes escape situation, the most thrilling moment is when it comes to a complete standstill. And that’s exactly how I evaded the law during my first major escape in Samson, the GTA-ish debut from new developer Liquid Swords. With a tap of the right bumper button you can cut your engine, hushing its cylinders and extinguishing the lights. When I first noticed this unusual addition to Samson’s otherwise traditional driving control scheme, my mind immediately replayed that moment from Drive. And so, when the blue and red lights lit up the streets of Tyndalston, a fictional New York analogue trapped in the grimy 1990s, I tried to escape Gosling-style. And it worked. I pulled into a side street, applied the brakes, cut the engine, and watched as the cops drove on by, ignoring my parked car in their search for something with squealing tyres. It was absolute magic. And I’ve never been able to properly replicate it since. You see, Samson is a deeply flawed game – not so much rough around the edges, but rather rocky to its core. It is glitchy and repetitive and janky… so much so that I don’t know if the engine turn-off trick is a genuine feature that’s a little bit broken or simply a bug in the police’s AI routines. Liquid Swords’ founder and creative director, Christofer Sundberg, has admitted that Samson was released in a “flawed” state, and that the most game-breaking problems are “unacceptable”. And while I’m not here to champion games being released to the paying public in a broken state, I can’t deny that in this specific circumstance, a bug – if indeed it is a bug – created a remarkable moment that made me pleased this awkward urban open world made it to the finish line (which it very nearly didn’t). Not everything that’s interesting about Samson is rooted in what may or may not be technical difficulties, though. After ditching his Impala in a parking garage, Drive’s protagonist gets back behind the wheel of his own car for the rest of the film: a 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu so gorgeous that Gosling now keeps it as part of his own personal collection. Its sleek lines and primer grey bodywork are as much a part of Gosling’s character as his scorpion jacket. Liquid Swords has taken a similar approach with Samson, who drives a stocky, roaring ‘70s muscle car that conveys McCray’s blunt criminal persona. Its heavy body, aftermarket roll cage, and nitrous oxide system make it the very best choice for chases, escapes, and high-speed takedowns – crime movie staples that form the vast majority of the work that Samson finds himself caught up in. If you need further convincing of its getaway credentials, the control scheme features a dedicated downshift button, immediately dropping the car into a lower gear to redline the revs and gain that sudden boost of torque that’s mandatory in any cinematic chase sequence. You’re naturally driving Samson’s personal vehicle by default. It makes it your car. Just like Gosling had his Chevy in Drive. While Samson is undeniably influenced by GTA and other old-school urban crime hits like Driver, it plays very differently. As my colleague Jim Trinca has already pointed out, Samson uses a modified roguelite approach – each day you’re allocated six action points to spend on unlocking various jobs, and when you’ve spent all six, you head back to bed and wake up to a brand new day and a new batch of action points. Every time you exit your apartment to take on the new day, your car is waiting for you. Such a set-up means you’re naturally driving Samson’s personal vehicle by default. It makes it your car. Just like Gosling had his Chevy in Drive. Like Steve McQueen had his Mustang in Bullitt. Like Mel Gibson had his Falcon GT Coupe in Mad Max. That last one’s perhaps more important to Samson than you may initially realise. Among Liquid Swords’ team members are several staff who worked on Avalanche’s Mad Max game, including the aforementioned Sundberg, plus designer Alex Williams and programmer Josef Sundberg. In terms of games that truly forge a bond between you and your car, few are better than Mad Max, and so it’s perhaps only natural that Samson is able to give you a genuine sense of ownership over your trusty getaway machine. But car ownership is about more than just pride. It’s also about responsibility and financial risk. And that’s surprisingly central to your day-to-day existence in the city of Tyndalston. Damaging your car runs up eye-watering repair bills – it’s just over a grand for a complete fix, which is quite the squeeze when you’re being rinsed $3,000 every single day by rival criminals who have taken your sister hostage, and jobs often only net you just enough to cover those daily repayments. Failing a mission can wipe out any profit you were set to earn, and landing in the hospital cleans out your entire wallet. Visiting the garage for repairs, then, is not just a steep investment, but a risky one – is the mechanic’s fee better put towards clearing your debt? It's a question you’ll find yourself asking over and over, considering your line of work involves almost constant reckless driving and purposely ramming into other cars. There’s always a busted axle or cracked manifold to patch up. And if it’s not that, it’s refilling tyres or refuelling the boost-enabling nitrous oxide. Crime ain’t cheap. It’s here where any regular GTA clone would say: Why bother? What’s the point in maintaining a personal vehicle when you can just pull any random driver out of their car and steal their wheels? But Samson’s no regular GTA clone. For starters, you can’t ******* moving traffic, only cars that have been parked and are unoccupied – almost certainly an unfortunate outcome of the game’s troubled development. That means having to sprint around the block in search of stationary vehicles, which does put a minor dent in the game’s pacing. And when you do find something to steal, the vehicle variety is miniscule and, quite frankly, boring – an endless fleet of budget sedans occasionally punctuated by the odd minivan and knock-off BMW. Samson’s own ride is the only car in the entire game that has any personality. Furthermore, it’s the only thing that’s truly suited to the job; the majority of the city’s motors are sluggish tin foil boxes that just can’t do crime as well as your tank-like piece of ‘70s metal muscle. And so you simply have to find a way to foot the bill. This weird approach to open world traffic manufactures an unusual bond between you and the car. After a few in-game days, I began to take corners more carefully. I was more cautious on the accelerator. I judged my ramming attacks with more precision, always aiming for the wheels to maximise my impact and minimise damage taken. I took care of the car, and in exchange, the car took care of me. Its NOS canisters, upgraded thanks to smashing up hundreds of local voting advertisements (yeah, this is definitely a PS3/360-era style video game), would propel me to victory in any chase. Its rollcage would brush off the worst dents. Its colossal, wide front end would shunt rival drivers into oncoming traffic. There was really no other option. This was my 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu. And while it really had no chance of making me feel as cool as Ryan Gosling in Drive, for a few hours, I got a fraction closer. Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features. View the full article

All the details about Honkai: Star Rail 4.2 have been officially revealed by developer HoYoverse, including its release date, the new playable characters being introduced in the patch, the banner structure for the *******, story updates, and much more. The turn-based RPG is about to celebrate its third anniversary, though it is still currently in the midst of Version 4.1, a smaller patch that added Ashveil to Honkai: Star Rail. View the full article

Olaf's Grand Exhibition is open, and this special building tasks you with completing vast collections throughout various rooms in Disney Dreamlight Valley. One of the many rooms you need to fill is themed around Dazzle Beach. You're not given any official guidance for filling out this particular room, so figuring out which items are required to finish it can be rather tricky. You need a massive amount of unique resources to finish it, so here's how to complete Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach room in Disney Dreamlight Valley. Table of contentsAll Dazzle Beach room items for Olaf's Grand Exhibition in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach Aquarium items in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Dazzle Beach GemsAll Dazzle Beach fish and seafoodAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach Diorama items in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Dazzle Beach flowersAll Dazzle Beach Diorama suppliesAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach Habitat items in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Dazzle Beach foodAll Dazzle Beach critter CompanionsAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach room rewards in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Dazzle Beach room items for Olaf's Grand Exhibition in Disney Dreamlight Valley Screenshot by Destructoid To complete the Dazzle Beach room in Olaf's Grand Exhibition, you need an array of resources found throughout the entire biome in DDV. Specifically, you need: Dazzle Beach Gems and fish for the Aquarium.Dazzle Beach flowers and various key resources for the Diorama.Dazzle Beach food and Sea Turtle critter Companions for the Habitat. Figuring out what each portion of the room calls for can be pretty tough, so here's a full breakdown of everything you need to get. If you haven't yet, it's a good idea to fully work through the Olaf’s Grand Exhibition quest first, as this mission gets you familiar with how this system works. All Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach Aquarium items in Disney Dreamlight Valley You can complete the Aquarium stage of the Dazzle Beach exhibition on the left side of the room. First, you need to place the required Gems to unlock the Aqaurium tank, then you need to gather an array of fish and seafood found throughout the region to fill it up. All Dazzle Beach Gems There are five different gems you need to mine rock spots around Dazzle Beach to find for the first stage of the Aquarium in the Dazzle Beach room. These Gems can be placed on the podium near the left side of the room once you have them. AquamarineShiny AquamarineOnyxPeridotShiny PeridotAll Dazzle Beach fish and seafood Screenshot by Destructoid Next up, you need to gather a total of nine fish and seafood. Most of these items can be found by fishing in the ocean with your Royal Fishing Rod, but some are instead gathered by foraging along the beach. Here's everything you need to fill out the Dazzle Beach Aquarium. FuguCodHerringKingfishSwordfishShrimpClamScallopOysterAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach Diorama items in Disney Dreamlight Valley The Diorama portion of the Dazzle Beach exhibition is located in the middle of the room. First, focus on filling the central podium up with flowers, as doing so lifts the curtain behind it to reveal the spot where all the Diormas go. To make each Diorama, you need a variety of materials found around the biome. All Dazzle Beach flowers To get started on the Diorama portion of the room, you need to find five different flowers native to the Dazzle Beach region. These flowers can all be placed at the podium in the center of the room. Blue HydrangeaSunflowerPink HydrangeaPurple HydrangeaWhite & Red Hydrangea Screenshot by Destructoid All Dazzle Beach Diorama supplies Next comes the toughest part of the entire room, which is gathering the required supplies to fill out the four Diorama panels. This portion of the exhibit asks you to obtain a massive amount of various resources found around the Dazzle Beach area. Here's everything you need to make each one. DioramaThemeMaterialsFirst panelStitch53 Softwood 24 Sand 12 Dream Shards 11 OystersSecond panelCursed Cave29 Softwood 26 Pebbles Two Peridot Three AquamarineThird panelAncient Energy14 Softwood 10 Seaweed Five Red Algae Five ClamsFourth panelUrsula56 Softwood Six Red Algae Eight Dream Shards 30 ClamsAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach Habitat items in Disney Dreamlight Valley The last part of the Dazzle Beach exhibition is the Habitat, which can be found on the right side of the room. For this stage, you start by placing various food items on the podium. This unlocks the critter Companion area behind it, which you need to fill with Sea Turtles. All Dazzle Beach food For the first part of the Habitat, you need six food items that are native to the Dazzle Beach region. Some of them originate from bushes and trees that started off in this area, while others must be grown from seeds that can be purchased at Goofy's stall in this region. BananaCornSugarcaneTomatoBlueberryCoconutAll Dazzle Beach critter Companions Screenshot by Destructoid Next, you need to place all five Sea Turtles that call the beach home in the Habitat. To do so, you must fully befriend each critter, which can be done by feeding them when they're out and about. Since all Sea Turtles have unique schedules, this step may take a while to get done. Classic Sea TurtleBrown Sea TurtleWhite Sea TurtlePurple Sea Turtle****** Sea TurtleAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach room rewards in Disney Dreamlight Valley For all your hard work helping Olaf fill out the Dazzle Beach room in the Grand Exhibition, you get to claim a variety of rewards. Each portion of the room that's completed drops a red chest you can open for a prize. Finishing the full room also gets you an extra special bonus item. StageRewardAquariumPeaceful Meadow AquariumDioramaPeaceful Meadow Diorama Goofy Peaceful Meadow Diorama Mirabel Peaceful Meadow Diorama Pillar Peaceful Meadow Diorama ThornsHabitatPeaceful Meadow Companion HomeDazzle Beach roomDazzle Beach Button-Up The post How to complete Olaf’s Grand Exhibition Dazzle Beach room in Disney Dreamlight Valley appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Each biome you can explore in Disney Dreamlight Valley is home to a wide variety of unique resources. Olaf's Grand Exhibition acts as a museum that allows you to display your findings in rooms themed around each biome, with the first one being the Peaceful Meadow. Every room in this building has a set of specific requirements that need to be met to build up the room as a fully functional exhibit. As you progress, you also gain access to exclusive prizes, which makes all the hard work well worth the effort. Here's how to complete Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow room in Disney Dreamlight Valley. Table of contentsAll Peaceful Meadow room items for Olaf's Grand Exhibition in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow Aquarium items in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Peaceful Meadow GemsAll Peaceful Meadow fishAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow Diorama items in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Peaceful Meadow flowersAll Peaceful Meadow Diorama suppliesAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow Habitat items in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Peaceful Meadow foodAll Peaceful Meadow critter CompanionsAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow room rewards in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Peaceful Meadow room items for Olaf's Grand Exhibition in Disney Dreamlight Valley Screenshot by Destructoid The Peaceful Meadow room can be completed by gathering and submitting all key resources found throughout this biome in DDV. You work through this process in stages, including the Aquarium, Diorama, and Habitat sections. To tackle all parts, you need: Peaceful Meadow Gems and fish for the Aquarium.Peaceful Meadow flowers and various key resources for the Diorama.Peaceful Meadow food and Rabbit critter Companions for the Habitat. This room is unlocked during Olaf’s Grand Exhibition quest. It's the first one you're able to complete, and the best starting point for tackling the museum, as it'll help prepare you for the tougher areas that come after, like the Dazzle Beach room. All Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow Aquarium items in Disney Dreamlight Valley This guide is a work in progress and is receiving live updates. All Peaceful Meadow GemsGarnetShiny GarnetPeridotShiny PeridotOnyxAll Peaceful Meadow fishBassBreamRainbow TroutCatfishAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow Diorama items in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Peaceful Meadow flowersPurple Rising PenstemonGreen Rising PenstemonYellow DaisyRed DaisyWhite DaisyAll Peaceful Meadow Diorama suppliesPanelThemeMaterialsFirst panelMirabel and the Golden Doorknob67 Softwood 21 Soil Five Rich Soil Seven Dream ShardsSecond panelPillar of Friendship31 Softwood 24 Stone Two Garnet Three PeridotThird panelNight Thorns14 Softwood 10 Coal Ore Five Night Shards One OnyxFourth panelGoofy fishing51 Softwood 31 Seaweed Five Red Algae 13 Dream ShardsAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow Habitat items in Disney Dreamlight ValleyAll Peaceful Meadow foodAppleCarrotRaspberryWheatLettuceBasilAll Peaceful Meadow critter Companions****** RabbitClassic RabbitBrown RabbitWhite RabbitCalico RabbitAll Olaf's Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow room rewards in Disney Dreamlight ValleyStageRewardAquariumPeaceful Meadow AquariumDioramaPeaceful Meadow Diorama Goofy Peaceful Meadow Diorama Mirabel Peaceful Meadow Diorama Pillar Peaceful Meadow Diorama ThornsHabitatPeaceful Meadow Companion HomePeaceful Meadow roomPeaceful Meadow Green Ensemble The post How to complete Olaf’s Grand Exhibition Peaceful Meadow room in Disney Dreamlight Valley appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Valve recently launched some fresh fixes for SteamVR, and thankfully it seems Linux is finally seeing some more attention with it. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

The CEO of blockchain game development studio Gunzilla Games has posted a lengthy and defiant response to claims that the studio doesn’t pay its contractors. Gunzilla Games is the creator of NFT battle royale game Off The Grid, and blockchain platform Gunz. The studio has the backing of Hollywood director Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie), who is credited as co-founder and Chief Creative Officer on the company’s website. Earlier this week Paul Creamer, a VFX, cinematic and gameplay animator who worked for Gunzilla for a year, posted a message on his LinkedIn page claiming that he hadn’t paid by the company for months and that he wasn’t the only one this had happened to. Read More... View the full article

Framework's "[Next Gen] Event" is coming on April 21 where we expect new hardware announcements, and it looks like something big for Linux too. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Bethesda games certainly aren't lacking in launch issues—the presence of charming bugs and funny physics glitches are sort of the studio's maker's mark at this point, although with the lukewarm reception of Starfield, that reputation's also begun to tip over into subpar features, too... Read more.View the full article

Bazzite Linux is easily one of the most popular gaming-focused Linux builds to run on handhelds and gaming PCs, with a major new update launched. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

What year is it?View the full article

Razer's brand new Hammerhead V3 Hyperspeed gaming earbuds are out today, and feature a charging case that doubles as a handy 2.4GHz wireless receiver.View the full article

With all the different countries and US states expanding age verification laws for various devices, here's what the Debian Linux team had to say about it. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

The RPCS3 have been busy and just recently showcased various improvements to the open source PlayStation 3 emulator running on handheld gaming PCs. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Pywel is getting even prettier, tooView the full article

Valve continue making some big changes to the Steam store, with the Steam Workshop getting a Beta with quite a lot of mod browsing improvements. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Valve have bumped SteamOS 3.8.1 from Preview to Beta, as it's now ready for more people to get testing to find any issues. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Pocketpair's publishing lead knows folks will "throw our name around" at Temtem: Pioneers' devs trying to "cause a fuss"View the full article

Facepunch founder Garry Newman has denied the existence of a secret Rust sequel, after a Steam listing for the game popped up online. Suspicions of some kind of viral Rust 2 announcement were piqued last night when a reddit thread appeared highlighting a — real — Steam page for "Rust 2." Within minutes, the thread elicited a swift, potentially teasing response from a Facepunch developer, stating: "You saw nothing." But as players debated whether this new game might be a full sequel or the long-awaited port of Rust on a new engine (the current version was built using Unity), Newman ultimately stepped in to set the record straight. "Nope. We're not making Rust 2," Newman said in a short statement passed to PC Gamer, claiming that he had "no idea at all" what the Rust 2 Steam page was all about. At the time of writing, the page remains online. Newman has mentioned the possibility of a Rust 2 before, such as when he spoke out against Unity's infamous plan to introduce costly Runtime Fees for the use of games built on its engine. "Let's not make the same mistake again, Rust 2 definitely won't be a Unity game," Newman said back in 2023. Originally launched for PC and Mac in early access back in 2013, the popular survival game was later ported to consoles in 2021, at a time that the game was receiving a lockdown-era resurgence in popularity. In the years since, the game has remained a Steam favorite, and more modern versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S arrived in 2025. Fans have long wondered if and when a sequel might arrive, especially as Facepunch has spent years building its own new engine, s&box (pronounced Sandbox), that's finally set for launch later this month. With that timeline in mind, was the Steam page just a hoax — or is Newman being coy about future plans? Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social View the full article

Pragmata is shaping up to be one of the biggest releases of this month, and even this year, but you can already score a bargain on preorders, which have dropped to just £41.99 in the ***. Pragmata lands on PS5, Switch 2, Xbox, and PC on April 17, landing not long after the success of Resident Evil Requiem. It's already looking like it could be another banger for Capcom. If you're interested in picking the game up for launch day, then you'll be pleased to know that there's already a slew of outstanding preorder deals that you can take advantage of. Let's take a look at what's up for grabs. See on PS5 - £41.99See on Xbox - £41.99See on Switch 2 - £41.99 One of the standout deals right now is at Amazon ***, where you can lock in a preorder for £41.99 on Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox. That’s £8 off the list price, and genuinely good value at a time when most new releases are creeping up towards £70 or even £80. Currys is also offering a discount, knocking 10% off its £45.99 price if you preorder before April 17. Meanwhile, Argos is matching Amazon’s £41.99, so there’s no shortage of options if you’re shopping around. It's also worth noting that if you're preordering Pragmata, you will also score the following in-game outfits as additional freebies (I'll drop a picture of them just below as well): Hugh Outfit - Neo BushidoDiana Outfit - Neo Kunoichi"One of the Biggest Releases of the Year" - Is It Worth the Hype? So what is Pragmata? I've been wondering that myself for quite sometime, that is until I checked out the brilliant demo on my Switch 2. Pragmata itself is a brand-new sci-fi IP, completely separate from any of Capcom’s existing series. You step into the heavy boots of Hugh Williams, joined by a mysterious android girl, as you explore a lunar research station, solve environmental puzzles, and take on hostile threats. What stands out straight away is how Pragmata blends puzzle-solving with combat rather than treating them as separate systems. Diana can hack into the armour of security bots, exposing weak points and opening them up strategically. Hugh, on the other hand, handles the firepower. He’s a trained shooter, and it’s his job to capitalise on those openings. The result is a back-and-forth rhythm where you’re constantly switching focus between the two, using both skillsets in tandem to bring enemies down. Beyond that, there’s a ******* mystery driving things forward. As you explore the lunar research station, you’ll piece together what went wrong, all while trying to find a way back to Earth. The demo is worth jumping into as soon as possible. It’s the easiest way to figure out whether this is a day-one buy or something to revisit once the price dips. More games should be doing this, frankly, it cuts through the guesswork. Check out our Pragmata hands-on preview for more information. IGN's Michael Higham got to check the exciting new IP out last year, and was remarkably impressed with what was shown off. "[Capcom's] latest experiment is in Pragmata, a sci-fi third-person shooter that stole the show for me... It is an example of how a single idea can go a long way in distinguishing a game from the rest of the pack." "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." Robert Anderson is IGN's Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky. View the full article

"Players should have the agency to tailor their experience"View the full article

If Balatro completely took over your brain (totally understandable), then you might want to pay attention to this one. Fanatical's latest Platinum Collection is packed with discounted Steam games, and hidden among them is a weird little gem called This Ain't Even Poker, Ya Joker (wow, it rhymes) - and yes, the game is just as unhinged as its title. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Arc Raiders is at an all-time low price, but this deal is only available for 48 hours If you think Steam's 90% discount on Resident Evil 3 is good, Fanatical's just beaten it Fill the gaps in your Bethesda collection with Oblivion, Fallout, Doom, and other classics from just $3 each View the full article

"DDLC is widely celebrated for portraying mental health in a way that meaningfully connects deeply with players," the lead dev and publisher sayView the full article

Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss has outlined a number of significant changes coming to the game in the coming months, each addressing various community complaints that were highlighted recently. There are some real crowd-pleasers in Pearl Abyss’ blog post, including boss rematches, enemy territory recapture, and difficulty settings. But beyond that, Pearl Abyss also confirmed upgrades to the two secondary characters, Damiane and Oongka, to bring them more in line with main playable character Kliff, new pets and mounts, new outfits, and significant changes to storage. Meanwhile, user interface and control improvements are on the way, as well as improvements to distant scenery quality. Perhaps the most important change is you’ll be able to hide items on Kliff’s back (finally!). There’s a lot to unpack here (all the details are below), but let’s start with ‘re-blockading:’ “Peace is fleeting, and darkness does not retreat so easily. Enemy remnants are waiting for their chance to reclaim liberated locations. Drive out the forces that have seized these locations once more and continue proving the strength of the Greymanes.” That’s a timeline upcoming change, given we reported just this week that some players with hundreds of hours under their belt had started to complain that the world had become too peaceful because they’d basically killed all the enemies. The changes to difficulty settings are welcome, too. Here’s the note: "A difficulty settings feature will be added so that everyone — from new Greymanes to the more advanced — can enjoy the adventure at the level that suits them best. You’ll be able to choose from easy, normal, and hard difficulty." As IGN had reported, some players had called for a hard mode because they felt updates had made the game too easy. But now we know we’re also getting an easy mode, which should be good news for those who prefer a more easy-going experience (Crimson Desert can be brutal in places, particularly with some of the bosses). It will be interesting to see how the game changes with each setting. And this is a really important one: new skills for Damiane and Oongka: "We fully understand your feedback about the need for Damiane and Oongka to have skills comparable to 'Force Palm' and 'Axiom Force.' To address this, both characters will receive new abilities equivalent to those skills." This is key, because players have found that Damiane and Oongka are limited in scope compared to Kliff, and indeed much of the game simply can’t be completed while using either of the characters because they don’t have the same abilities to, for example, solve puzzles. Hopefully with this change, Damiane and Oongka will become genuine alternative choices. Other quality of life improvements are also welcome. Crafting from camp storage is a big deal for a game that currently forces you to take resources out of your storage box and pop them into your inventory every time you want to use them. And more summonable mounts and new pets will be added. Overall, all this is good news for Crimson Desert. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a developer make such sweeping improvements to a big, AAA single-player open world video game this quickly before, and Pearl Abyss is rightly being praised for it. The pace of change with this game really is remarkable, and you wonder each week what’s coming next. Pearl Abyss said the changes, below, will be rolled out from April to June. Changes coming to Crimson Desert April-June 2026: ◆ New Content and Features We’re preparing new challenges so you can continue testing yourself throughout your journey across Pywel. ■ Boss Rematches The powerful bosses you encountered across Crimson Desert are waiting to challenge you once again. With boss rematches, you’ll have the opportunity to face off against any boss again, test how much you’ve grown, and further refine your own combat style through different strategies and approaches. ■ Re-blockading Peace is fleeting, and darkness does not retreat so easily. Enemy remnants are waiting for their chance to reclaim liberated locations. Drive out the forces that have seized these locations once more and continue proving the strength of the Greymanes. ■ Difficulty Settings A difficulty settings feature will be added so that everyone—from new Greymanes to the more advanced—can enjoy the adventure at the level that suits them best. You’ll be able to choose from easy, normal, and hard difficulty. We’re also working on new combat-focused content, so stay tuned. ◆ Improvements to Character Play ■ New Skills for Damiane and Oongka We fully understand your feedback about the need for Damiane and Oongka to have skills comparable to “Force Palm” and “Axiom Force.” To address this, both characters will receive new abilities equivalent to those skills. ■ Hide Back Weapons A new option to hide the weapons on your character’s back will be added, so certain equipment worn on your back won’t break immersion during combat. ■ Addition of New Outfits: New outfits for characters will be added. Additionally, certain outfits that can only be sold or donated will be updated so that they can also be worn. ◆ QoL Improvements and Life Features ■ New Specialized Storage - Food storage: We plan to add a new food storage, from which you can directly take out ingredients for use in cooking. When preparing meals, you’ll be able to use ingredients from both your food storage and your inventory. - Wardrobe: A new wardrobe storage will be added so that you can store your headgear, armor, gloves, footwear, and cloaks. - Gatherables Storage: A new gatherables storage will be added, from which you can directly take out items for use in tempering and crafting. This storage will be able to hold a variety of crafting materials, including insects, stones, ores, and more. - Collections Storage: A new Collection Storage will be added, giving you a place to keep quest items tied to your adventures, along with recipes and other items you've collected on your journey. ■ Pets & Mounts More summonable mounts and new pets will be added. Also, in addition to existing horse tack sets, dedicated armor for other mounts is also being planned. ◆ System and Graphics Improvements ■ UI Improvements To improve legibility, we’ll be adding a minimum font size adjustment option. Since Crimson Desert supports 14 UI languages, fully optimizing this feature across all of them will take some time, but we plan to introduce it first to help make the game more comfortable to play. We also plan to continue improving various UI elements and QoL features, including improvements to the map, inventory, and housing. ■ Improvements to Controls We are carefully reviewing your feedback about controls. To provide a better gameplay experience, we plan to add customization options for certain controller inputs. We will also expand the range of configurable keys for keyboard and mouse to improve usability. ■ Improvements to Distant Scenery Quality We are working on enhancing the realism of distant backgrounds so you can enjoy Pywel’s landscapes in greater depth. Please note that the patch size may be somewhat larger due to improvements to how distant scenery changes and the quality of rendering under different conditions. Take a look at the image below for a preview of how Pywel will look after the update. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

The test will be open to select countries in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. View the full article

The action RPG inspired by Korean folklore was originally set to release on May 26. View the full article