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The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered was the best-selling game in the US last month. The news was posted on Bluesky by Mat Piscatella, executive director and video game industry analyst at Circana (formerly NPD), which tracks US games retail data, including both physical sales and digital sales. According to Circana’s data, Oblivion: Remastered was April’s best-selling game on Xbox, best-selling game on PlayStation, fifth best-selling game on Steam and best-selling game overall across all formats. Read More... View the full article

The backlash to ****** Pitchford’s controversial Borderlands 4 $80 comment has leveled up, with video game publishers jumping on the bandwagon to promote their games. Meanwhile, Pitchford himself has pointed to previous comments he made about Borderlands 4's price, declaring: "If you want the truth, here it is." One such publisher is Devolver Digital, which has a reputation for edgy marketing that often takes advantage of hot topics on social media. Devolver, which is behind the likes of Hotline Miami and Cult of the Lamb, has done just that with Pitchford here. If you’re late to the party, Pitchford sparked a backlash by responding to a fan who expressed concern about the prospect of paying $80 for Borderlands 4 by saying: “if you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.” Here’s the exchange: "******, this game better not be 80 dollars. Don't take that risk, a lot of gamers aren't gonna pay 80 dollars and feed this notion of constant increase of the price tag. You are the CEO, you have some say with the price when it comes to your publisher." And here's ****** Pitchford's response: "A) Not my call. B) If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen. My local game store had Starflight for ***** Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen." Devolver QT’d IGN’s X / Twitter post on this story to promote Mycopunk, its upcoming Borderlands-style mission-based co-op first-person shooter, saying: “You're gonna be able to buy Mycopunk for you and three of your friends for the price of one copy of Borderlands 4.” Pitchford himself caught wind of the tweet, and QT’d it himself, saying: “Mycopunk is cheaper than a point of meth - probably has fewer side effects, too!” Mycopunk is cheaper than a point of meth - probably has fewer side effects, too! [Hidden Content] — ****** Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 21, 2025 As you’d expect, the response to that tweet has been mostly negative. “I am going to pirate Borderlands 4,” said one X / Twitter user. “Please stop. Just apologize and move on. This isn't fair on your developers. If you care about them, just do the right thing dude,” added another. “****** we are begging you to stop. BL4 had so much hype and it’s being ruined in a day. Let people want to like and support the game and all the amazing people who made it,” said one commenter. At the time of this article’s publication, Pitchford has yet to retract his comment or apologize for it. But he did point to a recent answer he gave on-stage at PAX East on Borderlands 4's price, calling it: “If you want the truth, here it is.” Last week, during a PAX East panel, Pitchford insisted that he didn’t know the Borderlands 4 price but refused to rule out $80. "I'll tell you the truth. I don't know. That is the truth. I'll hit it straight on. It's an interesting time,” he said. "On one level, we've got a competitive marketplace where the people that make those choices want to sell as many units as possible and they want to be careful about people that are price-sensitive. There are some folks who don't want to see prices go up, even the ones deciding what the prices are. "There's other folks accepting the reality that game budgets are increasing, and there's tariffs for the retail packaging. It's getting gnarly out there, you guys. Borderlands 4 has more than twice the development budget than Borderlands 3. More than twice. So the truth is, I don't know what the price is going to be.” Pitchford continued: “Here’s the philosophy we have, whatever the price is: we’re entertainers. Yes, we want to get more resources so we can make ******* and better games. There's a reason why Borderlands 4 is so awesome: it’s because you guys showed up and supported Borderlands 3 and we had the budget. So we could more than double the budget and feel confident in that. And that’s awesome. When the revenue comes in we can spend it to make ******* and better games. “As artists we want everybody to have it. We want to make it as easy as possible for everybody to enjoy what we’re creating. So it’s a weird thing. The fundamental philosophy is, we want people to buy it so we have the resources to make more, but we want everyone who buys and plays a Gearbox game to feel certain that they got the better end of the bargain, whatever the price is that they got the best value. And that’s the philosophy we live by. “And so we’re going to have the price set soon. It might be the new price that Nintendo and Microsoft have led with. It might be that we stay back. It’s going to be the people at the publishing house that decide that. And if it is cheaper, then maybe we’ll sell you that mini-map that you guys want that we’ll develop later. How bad do you want that? 10 bucks? I’m just kidding… or am I?” He concluded: “Borderlands is f***ing amazing and it’s worth it.” Some social media users have said Pitchford's PAX East comment would have been worth pointing to in the first place, with the backlash now a significant brand problem for Borderlands 4 ahead of launch. "This was a perfect response and should have been left at this," said Borderlands streamer Moxsy. "Your second response is receiving backlash not because of the price of the game but because of the wording. Every game is gonna be 80 dollars by this time next year. However fans of Borderlands want the price to be justified because of the ambition, the passion, and the quality that BL4 will have. They want to feel good about the purchase they are making in a franchise they have loved for more than a decade and support the devs that have had a real impact on their lives. This toxic “not a real fan” mentality is not it and is only hurting the people that want to support the game." Publisher 2K Games is expected to announce the price of Borderlands 4 when pre-orders go live soon. Borderlands 4 is due out September 12, 2025. In a recent interview, IGN asked Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick if the company would go to $80 for its games. Zelnick wouldn’t say either way, but did say consumers would be “willing to pay for the very best.” “I have said for a long time that we offer enormous value and that that's our job,” Zelnick said. “Of course, we certainly believe that compared to other forms of entertainment, whether that's movie tickets or live events or streaming services, the value for our entertainment that we offer is just astonishing, and it's our job. It's our job to deliver much more value than what we charge. That's our goal. We think consumers are willing to pay for the very best. It's our job to make the very best.” Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Lionsgate. 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 For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Remastered launched in a not-so-surprising shadow drop at the tail end of the month, and in just one week managed to vastly outsell the original Oblivion's first 15 months on the market. This comes from Circana, which reports that Oblivion was not just the best-selling game in the U.S. for the month of April in dollar sales, and the third best-selling game of 2025 so far, it also sold more units in April than the original Oblivion managed in its first 15 months, and brought in more money than the original Oblivion did in its first 14 months. While that's admittedly not a huge shock given the massively larger install base Oblivion sold into now compared to 2006, it's still an incredible feat. The remainder of April's top 20 present some fascinating twists on the usual suspects we see on the charts. In second place for the month was Forza Horizon 5, up from No.42 last month due to its PS5 launch. Following it is MLB: The Show 25 at No.3, and then Minecraft at No.4, up from No.11 and almost certainly riding a high from the release of the Minecraft movie earlier in April. At No.5 was last month's winner, Assassin's Creed: Shadows, and it's followed by Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at No.6. It's up from No.118 last month thanks to, like Forza, its PS5 release. As Circana analyst Mat Piscatella notes, four of the top five — and five of the top seven — best-selling games of the month on PlayStation platforms were published by Microsoft. It's also worth pointing out that The Last of Us: Part 2 jumped from No.23 to No.13 this month, possibly due to the second season of the TV show. And while Schedule 1 doesn't appear on the sales charts, it did rank No.1 in U.S. total monthly active users on Steam (Call of Duty topped the MAU charts on PlayStation and Xbox). If you're an RPG fan, you might be wondering where the heck Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is. Per Piscatella, publisher Kepler Interactive doesn't share digital data with Circana, and thus Expedition 33's digital sales aren't counted and likely resulted in it not appearing anywhere on the chart. Piscatella did tell me that its physical sales ranked it among the top 35 best-sellers in April, No.22 on PlayStation, and it was 19th in monthly active users on Xbox and 21st on Steam. "It released towards the end of the month, and started a bit slow (player count rankings have improved each week since launch through May 10)," he said. "All of those bits reflect a very successful result for a game of its type. "It's a game that was been incredibly well received by the enthusiast audience, but by the end of the month had not crossed over to the mainstream in a significant way. We'll have to see what May ends up looking like (with more physical copies entering the market and word of mouth pushing the game to a ******* audience)." Overall, April consumer spending on video games was down 3% year-over-year to $4.1 billion, with content spending down 2%. Non-mobile subscription spending and console digital premium downloads were up, but all other content segments were down. And accessories spending was down 2%. Hardware was also down 8%, reaching the lowest monthly hardware dollar sales total reached in the U.S. market since July 2020. The PS5 was once again the best-selling console in both unit and dollar sales despite dropping 5% from last year. The Switch dropped 37%, but the Xbox Series console actually grew its sales year-over-year by 8%. April 2025 U.S. Top 20 Best-Selling Games:The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Remastered (NEW)Forza Horizon 5MLB: The Show 25Minecraft*Assassin's Creed: ShadowsIndiana Jones and the Great CircleCall of Duty: ****** Ops 6WWE 2K25NBA 2K25PGA Tour 2K25Monster Hunter: WildsSplit FictionThe Last of Us: Part 2EA Sports FC 25Grand Theft Auto VRed Dead Redemption 2The Elder Scrolls: OnlineElden RingKingdom Come II: DeliveranceHogwarts Legacy * Indicates that some or all digital sales are not included in Circana's data. Some publishers, including Nintendo, do not share certain digital data for this report. 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

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Game Pass May 2025 Wave 2 lineup, which is headlined by Metaphor ReFantazio, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, and To a T. The list was announced in a post on Xbox Wire. First up, today, May 21, is Monster Train 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass. Here’s the official blurb, as per Xbox Wire: Available on day one: Powerful beings known as Titans have seized control of Heaven. A makeshift alliance is formed between former angels and demons, who must learn to work together against their common foe. Now, you must command these clans aboard newly forged trains, and embark on your journey through Hell, Heaven, and the Abyss, to defeat the Titans before they destroy this world. Tomorrow, May 22 sees four games hits Game Pass: Creatures of Ava (Xbox Series X|S), now with Game Pass Standard; Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II (Xbox Series X|S), now with Game Pass Standard; S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (Xbox Series X|S), now with Game Pass Standard; and Tales of Kenzera: Zau (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) via EA Play on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass. Moving on to May 27, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC) launches into Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. Join an elite group of civilian agents in this action-packed RPG shooter, as Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 kicks off its Year 7 Season 1! Engage in intense tactical combat, team-up with your friends, and survive in a dynamic open world to save Washington D.C. from hostile factions. To a T (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) launches day one on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass on May 28. Available on day one with Game Pass! A charming, colorful adventure game from the creator of Katamari Damacy and the uvula team about a teen navigating life in a small town with their cute dog companion. While their body is stuck in a T-pose, they do their best to make the most of it. And here’s a big one: Metaphor ReFantazio (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard on May 29. Winner of IGN’s Game of the Year & TGA’s Best RPG. In this turn-based fantasy RPG you enter a Royal Tournament to claim the throne for a cursed prince. Awaken over 40+ Archetypes with magical powers. Explore vast lands, conquer dungeons, and forge bonds to shape your destiny and unite the kingdom. May 29 is a big day for Game Pass, as Spray Paint Simulator (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) also launches into Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Available on day one with Game Pass! Spray Paint Simulator is a relaxing, satisfying game that invites you to build your own painting business from the ground up! Meet with quirky clients in Story Mode and take on each job right from the start. Paint everything: rooms, homes, cars, bridges, even giant robots! Unlock Free Spray mode and play alone or with a friend to make the entire town your canvas! Microsoft also dipped into early June with its list, confirming Crypt Custodian (Cloud, Console, and PC) and Symphonia (Cloud, Console, and PC) both hit Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard June 3. Xbox Game Pass May 2025 Wave 2 lineup:Monster Train 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – May 21 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game PassCreatures of Ava (Xbox Series X|S) – May 22 Now with Game Pass StandardSenua’s Saga: Hellblade II (Xbox Series X|S) – May 22 Now with Game Pass StandardS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (Xbox Series X|S) – May 22 Now with Game Pass StandardTales of Kenzera: Zau (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) EA Play – May 22 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game PassTom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 27 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass StandardTo a T (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – May 28 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game PassMetaphor ReFantazio (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – May 29 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass StandardSpray Paint Simulator (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – May 29 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game PassCrypt Custodian (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 3 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass StandardSymphonia (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 3 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard Meanwhile, 15 more games are coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) on May 23: Brütal LegendCostume Quest 2Day of the Tentacle RemasteredFull Throttle RemasteredGrim Fandango RemasteredMax The Curse of BrotherhoodNeon AbyssQuantum BreakRare ReplayScreamRideState of Decay Year-OneSteamWorld Dig 2Sunset OverdriveSuper Lucky’s TaleZoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection As always, a number of Game Pass games are set to leave the service at the end of the month. The Game Pass membership discount lets you save up to 20% to keep them in your library. Leaving Xbox Game Pass on May 31:Cassette Beasts (Cloud, Console, and PC)Firework (PC)Humanity (Cloud, Console, and PC)Remnant 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC)Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer (Cloud, Console, and PC) 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

Originally called Regulator City and now just Regulators, it's the latest action game from indie developer Orangepixel known for the likes of Gunslugs, Heroes of Loot, Residual and more. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Former Dragon Age narrative lead David Gaider said that both Baldur’s Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are “love letters to their genre,” and reflected on how games need “time to cook” in order to deliver memorable experiences. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the biggest surprises of 2025 so far, and Gaider believes there’s something in it—and in Baldur’s Gate 3—that the industry should take note of when developing games for large audiences. View the full article

Microsoft has announced the next wave of Xbox Game Pass games arriving next week and beyond. Notably, Atlus’s game of the year nominee Metaphor: ReFantazio will join Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard for cloud, PC, and console on May 29. A week earlier, on May 22, Tales of Kenzera: Zau will join Ultimate and PC Game Pass, and Stalker 2 and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II will join Game Pass Standard. Read More... View the full article

It looks as though, against all odds, Rayman is still alive after all. Job postings spotted for a "AAA Rayman game" have been hastily taken down, but not before they were archived by eagle-eyed Reddit users. Read more View the full article

Opinion | Visiting random NPCs’ houses in The Elder Scrolls 4 was a favorite pastime of mine, and Oblivion Remastered has re-enabled meView the full article

New leaks about Dahlia in Genshin Impact 5.7 have emerged, and while it seems like the character is getting much-needed buffs to his gameplay kit, the enhancements may not be enough to save the playable unit from a disastrous release. Developer HoYoverse has already teased Dahlia as a new playable character in Version 5.7 via drip marketing posts, following his debut as an NPC in Version 5.6’s Archon Quest. While it is only known that Dahlia is a Hydro character from Mondstadt, Dahlia’s leaked kit in Genshin Impact has revealed much more information about the upcoming unit. View the full article

Details about the upcoming Spiral Abyss in Genshin Impact have leaked, with Version 5.7 promising to have a somewhat easier endgame than previous updates. Despite not having a map expansion, Version 5.7 is set to debut two new Genshin Impact characters, a game mode, and the next chapter of Dainsleif's storyline. While it will be a dry patch in terms of Primogem income, it should keep players entertained until Mare Jivari opens its doors in Version 5.8. View the full article

Sony надеется, что Marathon понравится игрокам, но в то же время понимает, что всё может пойти по негативному сценарию. Генеральный директор корпорации Хироки Тотоки назвал новый проект Bungie "рискованным" — на рынке сервисных тайлов наблюдается огромная конкуренция. View the full article

Konami подтвердила, что новый хоррор Silent Hill f не будет связан с предыдущими частями серии — это сделает его идеальным проектом для новичков, желающих познакомиться со знаменитой вселенной. View the full article

Rainbow Friends Chapter 2 is out, and it's time to survive the onslaught of colorful monsters... again. While you're running away for your dear life, you may be confused about what you should be doing. To help you out, we made this Rainbow Friends Chapter 2 Walkthrough. Table of contentsRainbow Friends General TipsTip #1 - You can outrun the monstersTip #2 - Ladders and holes are your friendsTip #3 - If there's nowhere to hide, use your boxTip #4 - Don't follow your teammatesRainbow Friends WalkthroughPart 1 - Find 25 LightbulbsPart 3 - Find 10 LookiesPart 4 - Find 9 Sugar PacksPart 5 - Mine Cart RidePart 6 - Escape the ParkRainbow Friends General Tips If you're new to the game, here are a few tips that could save your life. Tip #1 - You can outrun the monsters Even though it doesn't always work, generally, you can get away from the monsters just by running in the opposite direction. They will chase you, but as soon as you get too far or break line of sight, they will stop. Just try not to panic, and you should be fine. Tip #2 - Ladders and holes are your friends Screenshot by Destructoid If you're running away from a monster, go for a ladder to escape. No ladder in sight? Find a hole you can crawl into. We can't even begin to tell you how often the Bouncy Castle saved us. Speaking of that, boarding the Ferris Wheel is also a good way to escape. In short, any place where you need to crouch or climb to get to is a good place to escape your pursuers. Tip #3 - If there's nowhere to hide, use your box Screenshot by Destructoid When there's nowhere to hide, your box is there to save you, but you need to know how to use it. If you pull out the box while Blue is chasing you, he's just going to flip the box over and catch you anyway. So, be smart about it. If you see a monster approaching with no way to hide, use the box, don't move, and let it pass. If a monster is chasing you, break line of sight first, and then hide inside the box. Solid Snake approved! Tip #4 - Don't follow your teammates Even though you are working as a team, there's no reason to follow your teammates. They can't save you, and they can't revive you. So, it's usually a good idea to just go out on your own and hope your teammates won't die out there. Rainbow Friends Walkthrough Here's how to survive each section of Chapter 2. Part 1 - Find 25 Lightbulbs Screenshot by Destructoid In this first round, you need to run around the park and collect yellow and blue lightbulbs. You can carry a couple of them at once. The lightbulbs aren't hidden very well, and you'll find most of them out in the open. Once you have a few, bring them back to the Laser Tag plaza and put them in the big reflector light. As for the monsters, you'll only have Blue and Green chasing you, and they should be pretty easy to avoid. Even though this round is relatively easy, you should expect to see a lot of players drop out of the game. The more that make it to the next round (and the following rounds), the easier it will be for you. Part 2 - Find 15 Gas Canisters Screenshot by Destructoid This is very similar to the first round, except most of the Gas Canisters are going to be hidden indoors. So check inside offices and ride attractions to find them. Just like in the first rounds, bring the Gas Canisters back to the Laser Tag Plaza. This time, you can only carry one at a time. Screenshot by Destructoid As for the monsters, Yellow will spawn in this round (the pterodactyl monster). Yellow is a little faster than other monsters, but if it catches you, you can actually survive. If Yellow catches you, it will fly you high in the air, and if you struggle and fall, you'll die from fall damage. This means that you should only do this if you are above the bouncy castle, and that's pretty easy to do, actually. Other than that, you'll likely have fewer players in this round, so definitely try to gather as many Gas Canisters as you can while avoiding the monsters. Part 3 - Find 10 Lookies Screenshot by Destructoid Lookies are little colorful ****** that roll around the park. You can only carry one at a time, and if you use a Box, you'll lose it. Half of the Lookies are in the park, around the river, and the other half is in the Go Kart area. Cyan will spawn in this round, but fortunately, he is the same as Blue and Green, so other than the park getting a bit cramped with monsters, it's still relatively easy to avoid them, as long as you hide correctly. Again, you'll likely have fewer players (we usually have around 4-5 at this round), so try to contribute as much as you can when collecting Lookies. Part 4 - Find 9 Sugar Packs Screenshot by Destructoid Final difficult part. You need to get Sugar Packs. These things are usually hidden inside buildings. Again, you can only carry one, and you need to bring it to the Laser Tag plaza. No new monsters will spawn in this round, but you'll likely have the last amount of players by this round (there were only two of us during this last round). Use the same tactics to hide and escape, and you should be fine too, even if there's very few players. Part 5 - Mine Cart Ride Screenshot by Destructoid The sugar you gathered in the last round is going to lure the giant Blue ball away from the Crystal Caverns. When you gain back control of your character, head inside and sit in one of the Mine Carts. The first time we did this, we were expecting a long Donkey Kong Country style mine cart mini-game but boy were we wrong. This was really easy. All you need to do is enjoy the ride and occasionally tilt the cart to one or the other side. If that wasn't enough, you even get a guide kart (filled with Lookies) which pretty much tells you where you need to go. Finish the mine cart and get ready for the final part. Part 6 - Escape the Park Screenshot by Destructoid Screenshot by Destructoid Once you get out of the kart, Cyan will spawn and start chasing you. Just run towards the exit. The path is very straightforward, and you won't need to do anything special except crouch to get under small gaps. Once you make it through the metal bars, you're done. Congrats, you finished Chapter 2. Now, are you ready to do it again, even faster? That's all there is to it. Have fun surviving in Rainbow Friends Chapter 2. If you need a different type of coop game, check out Dead Spells. The post Ultimate Rainbow Friends Chapter 2 Walkthrough appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Inject it into my veinsView the full article

"Not fair on the devs to f*** BL4's hype like this"View the full article

Stray Fawn Studio just announced that The Wandering Village, a city-builder on the back of a giant walking creature, will fully release on July 17th. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

There will be a limited box set and standalone releases for the Assassin's Creed Shadows vinyl soundtrack releases. View the full article

Thinky Games have announced the Thinky Direct showcase for May 29, bringing with it some exclusive new trailers and reveals for various games. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

2K has announced that NBA star Tyrese Haliburton will be joining the WWE 2K25 roster through the Dunk & Destruction Pack. Haliburton plays for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and became the first former Iowa State player to win Olympic gold in men's basketball through the national team roster at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Unfortunately, Haliburton's future addition to WWE 2K25 hasn't received the warmest reaction from fans. View the full article

Yep, this is a thing the Gearbox exec has tweeted. He's posted that indie shooter Mycopunk is "cheaper than a point of meth" and "probably has fewer side effects, too", in response to publisher Devolver Digital making a joke about Borderlands 4 potentially costing $80. Read more View the full article

One of the many game studios smashed to pieces by Embracer Group has come back to life. Campfire Cabal, which was seemingly shut down in 2023 as part of their parent corporation's scorched earth "restructuring" policy, have crawled out of the grave to announce they're still around and, in fact, "never stopped working". They've been making a new game in the Expeditions series of historical RPGs, and have been given "the green light to scale back up and transition into full production." Read more View the full article

To mark the anniversary of Marvel Rivals' first release into Early Access, the devs cooked up a couple of prizes and events for players. Most are just harmless trinkets, but there's one new item that is wreaking havoc in the low-ranked elos... Read more.View the full article

Avowed director Carrie Patel has quit legendary RPG company Obsidian Entertainment, just months after its most recent game's launch. In an update to her LinkedIn page, Patel revealed she had begun a new job at Night School, the Netflix-owned developer behind the Oxenfree series of narrative adventures. "I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position as Game Director at Night School: A Netflix Game Studio!" Patel wrote in a brief update. Patel's new role at Night School will again be as a game director, though what she's working on remains unannounced. Night School is most famous for its Oxenfree series of games, the most recent being 2023's Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals. The Netflix-owned studio launched ****** Mirror spin-off Thronglets earlier this year, around the same time it suffered an unknown number of layoffs. Months before, Netflix completely shut down another of its studios, working on a AAA game project headed up by Halo veteran Joseph Staten. Patel had been a veteran of Avowed developer Obsidian, and over 11 years worked in various senior positions on games such as Xbox sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds and the classic Pillars of Eternity series. More recently, Patel had taken on the reigns of directing Avowed after the game was rebooted early in its development. Avowed had initially been planned with a darker fantasy setting closer to The Elder Scrolls, with one big open world and multiplayer co-op. Ultimately, Patel steered the game to launch as a brighter, more unique-looking experience, now featuring multiple large individual maps to explore, and an entirely single-player experience. The response to Avowed was mostly positive, and Patel had initially discussed plans for the franchise to continue — either with expansions, a fully-fledged sequel, or both. Now, however, Patel won't be part of that future. An Avowed development roadmap announced last week detailed an array of mostly minor additions coming for free over the coming six months, including a Photo Mode and New Game Plus offering. "With awesome worldbuilding and stellar character writing, Avowed reminds me why I fell in love with Obsidian's RPGs in the first place," reads IGN's Avowed review. "However, the ******* picture is that it plays it quite safe, with a by-the-numbers fantasy adventure that's more familiar than evolutionary." Obsidian's next project to launch is The Outer Worlds 2, which is due to be shown off in detail at this year's Xbox Games Showcase in June. 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

If it being set outside Silent Hill didn't already give that awayView the full article