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I really wish there was any bit of good news or a general positive vibe around Bungie's upcoming shooter Marathon, but it's just about all terrible right now. After an utterly lackluster alpha test, Marathon and Bungie have been thrust into even more negative limelight following yet another plagiarism incident at the studio, and it may serve to be the proverbial nail in the coffin for the game over four months before it even launches. Image via Bungie Forbes reporter Paul Tassi echoed what many in the industry (and those who have played it) have been feeling since the alpha, and it's that Marathon isn't going to succeed. It's just not. And as if it couldn't get any worse, the game's impending failure could have a cascading impact on Bungie's other game, Destiny 2, which seemingly does have a future and some good vibes going within its community. "This will hurt Bungie and its actual healthy child, Destiny," Tassi said of Marathon's assumed flop. "There will be layoffs. There will be Sony takeover of leadership as they bail out with millions in vested cash." The impact of Marathon flopping, a game that likely has tremendous internal expectations at both Sony and Bungie, will undoubtedly affect the rest of the company, and this could mean delays, cancelations, or just plain chaos spreading within the studio and having an adverse effect on Destiny 2 as well. And that just sucks. Tassi expanded on Marathon's big expectations and very low chance of reaching them in a YouTube video, stating he heard from sources within Bungie that the game needs to be a top-five title in 2025 to be considering a success. That just isn't happening, and that likely wasn't happening even before the alpha and plagiarism fiasco. That sort of forecast likely was never possible, regardless of the game's potential, and is just the latest example of unrealistic expectations for games when it comes to profitability. Destiny 2, meanwhile, has hype behind it. Bungie recently announced a whole year of content in the game, including The Edge of Fate DLC in July and Renegades in December, along with two more expansions coming in 2026. It's even gotten the Lucasfilm stamp of approval for Renegades, a Star Wars-inspired story, and the game got some shiny new skins to prove it. Image via Bungie It would really, truly ***** to see Destiny 2 take the brunt of Marathon's failure, especially considering how exciting the game's new expansion and direction seems to be looking, and that's without even getting into the unfortunate truth that jobs and lives at the studio will be affected ten-fold. Marathon's collapse would be a low-point for Bungie, which could mean a low-point for Destiny, of which the franchise has already had several. And after that, I really don't know what happens at the studio next, but it won't be good. The post Marathon might flop so hard it could affect the future of Destiny 2, and that’s a brutal truth appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Амбициозный шутер Doom: The Dark Ages от издательства Bethesda Softworks и разработчиков из id Software поражает простых пользователей и специалистов графикой уже сейчас, а скоро в игре появится и трассировка пути.View the full article

According to the CEO and creative director of Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 opted not to include a mini-map in the hit RPG because doing so would have distracted fans from its beautiful and otherworldly level design. Though some might criticize Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for its lack of a mini-map, the developers believe it allows players to better immerse themselves in the world. View the full article

Amazon dropped one of the best games of 2024 to the lowest price I've seen. As part of the Amazon Memorial Day *****, you can pick up a physical copy of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X for just $39.99. That's 43% off the $70 list price and beats the previous price low (during last year's ****** Friday) by $10. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (PS5, Xbox) for $39.99 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 follows Demetrian Titus, a newly minted Primaris Space Marine super soldier, reinstated into service after a century of inprisonment following the events of the original Space Marine game. Chris Reed reviewed it and gave it a "Great" 8/10 score, mentioning that although "[Space Marine 2] may not break the third-person shooter mold, it looks amazing, makes good use of its Warhammer lore, and has brutal combat that just feels great." Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Review by Chris Reed "Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a terrific third-person shooter with a compelling story, loads of weapons that are a blast to use, and a healthy variety of enemies to use them on. It once again borrows many of its ideas from the Gears of War series, but they’re good ideas, and Space Marine 2 does a fine job of making them its own. And while the Operations PvE mode that accompanies it doesn’t currently offer enough to keep me coming back, the deep customization options for your Space Marine do look promising if it’s supported in post-launch updates as planned. Besides, when you’re eviscerating aliens on planets as pretty as these, it’s hard not to leave satisfied." [/url] Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The creator of Karate Master Isekai is working with a Gen VII Pokemon composer and a pixel artist experienced with Square Enix games. View the full article

I remember how little time it took—just a few hours, really—for me to realize that The Witcher 3 was treating quests differently than any other RPG I'd played. In so many games, particularly ones released before The Witcher 3 in 2015, there's a clear distinction in complexity and production value between the main quest and sidequests... Read more.View the full article

Activision confirmed that Thursday, May 29 will mark the start of Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone Season 4. Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin from Call of Duty: ****** Ops Cold War will make his triumphant return in Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone Season 4, and the season is expected to introduce major changes and new content, including additional weapons and maps. View the full article

With over 1000 hours invested in Baldur's Gate 3 since launch, I thought it might be worth taking a look at how to best prepare for and get through the later stages of the game. Act 3 is a massive undertaking with dozens of side quests that can become overwhelming, and typically, this is where most players hit a bit of a wall. To make things worse, if you're under-prepared for Act 3 and the final battle, enemies will wipe the floor with your party. View the full article

Death, taxes, and Clash causing problems in Rainbow Six Siege. Even as Ubisoft's competitive tactical shooter approaches its 10th birthday, the developers are still trying to get Clash's abilities to vibe with the rest of its extensive Operator roster. View the full article

Most modern RPGs still can't match what The Witcher 3 did 10 years ago. It's a huge game with almost no filler, cool monsters to fight, and sidequests that don't feel like sidequests. It's a tremendous achievement that a lot of us at PC Gamer remember fondly and will be reminiscing about this week for its anniversary. But if you've never touched it, Steam has it available for 90% off during this week's CD Projekt Red *****... Read more.View the full article

The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is filing an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Epic Games, after the company implemented an AI-voiced Darth Vader NPC in Fortnite last week. The complaint, which can be viewed here, alleges that over the last six months, Llama Productions (owned by Epic Games) has failed to bargain in good faith with SAG-AFTRA's video game actors and has made "unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilizing AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work" on Fortnite. Fortnite added the AI Darth Vader last week, as an NPC character that can join or leave your Fortnite squad and have conversations with players over voice chat in the persona of Darth Vader. Though the AI Darth Vader has been programmed to offer support for individuals who express they might be struggling with mental health, Epic Games also had to patch it almost immediately after it launched to keep it from dropping F-bombs. The character of Darth Vader was originally voiced by James Earl Jones, who passed away in September of last year at the age of 93. This AI recreation was done with the blessing of James Earl Jones' estate, with his family stating that: "James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character." However, the use of AI voices at all by Epic Games presents a major issue for SAG-AFTRA, given its efforts to come to an agreement on a contract for its video game performers over the last year. The video game performing members of the union have been on strike for around 10 months now. The strike was started specifically due to a lack of agreement on AI provisions, even as 24 out of 25 other contract proposals had been affirmed by both sides. Earlier this year, SAG-AFTRA publicly shared a breakdown of the portions of the contract still disagreed upon by both sides, expressing that it was still "frustratingly far apart" on the provisions. In light of this, SAG-AFTRA has issued a statement explaining its unfair labor practice charge against Epic, essentially claiming that Epic's use of AI was undermining the work of human SAG-AFTRA members who have previously or could potentially do work of matching Darth Vader's voice with their own performances. Here's the statement, in full: We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of those legacies and renowned roles. However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader's iconic rhythm and tone in video games. Fortnite's signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology. Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms. As such, we have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against Llama Productions. With the charge filed, the next step will be a review by the NLRB, potentially followed by an investigation and hearing if the agency believes the charge has merit, or dismissal if the NLRB believes it does not. In the event that it is determined Epic Games has committed an unfair labor practice, the NLRB can force it to remedy the situation in various ways, such as potentially hiring an actor to record a voice for Darth Vader or removing him from the game entirely, or some other penalty. However, these cases often take months or even years to progress, or can be settled outside by the two parties and the charge dropped. 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

The Borderlandsfranchise is currently facing a wave of negative user reviews on Steam, with players expressing frustration over changes to Take-Two Interactive's updated End User License Agreement. The Borderlandsseries is one of the most iconic action role-playing game franchises, particularly lauded for its excellent characters and co-op mechanics. View the full article

SAG-AFTRA affirms that Epic Games acted unfairly by replacing workers with artificial intelligence technology to create the Darth Vader NPC added to Fortnite with patch v35.10. On May 16, Fortnite released an update for Galactic Battle, its Star Wars-themed mini-season. Gamers had been waiting for an update for two weeks, so they were eagerly anticipating the new content that would come with the patch. View the full article

Compile Heart also shared details about the game's limited editions and pre-order bonuses. View the full article

The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann has revealed he’s involved in a second unannounced project at Naughty Dog, alongside his sci-fi game Intergalactic. Naughty Dog has historically struggled to work on multiple games simultaneously, and following the cancellation of its The Last of Us online game 17 months ago, it was unclear whether it would be destined to continue focusing on a solo project, even though it insisted at the time it was planning multiple games. Now, speaking to the Press X to Continue podcast, Druckmann has reiterated that Naughty Dog is still working on at least two projects, and confirmed that he is producing an unannounced game alongside Intergalactic. Read More... View the full article

I love it when a plan comes togetherView the full article

"We fully acknowledge that this is our responsibility"View the full article

On Monday, SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Epic subsidiary Llama Productions for implementing an AI-generated Darth Vader voice in Fortnite on Friday without first notifying or bargaining with the union, as their contract requires. Llama Productions is the official signatory to SAG-AFTRA's collective bargaining agreement for Fortnite, making it legally responsible for adhering to the union's terms regarding the employment of voice actors and other performers. "We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies," SAG-AFTRA stated in a news release. "However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader's iconic rhythm and tone in video games." Read full article Comments View the full article

A popular Marvel Rivals leaker has revealed more details about the upcoming playable character Armor, who appears to be a melee-focused Vanguard. Marvel Rivals is currently nearing the middle of Season 2: Hellfire Gala, which recently added Emma Frost to the popular hero shooter as a Vanguard. View the full article

Overwatch 2 recently shared a few hero skin ideas that didn’t make the cut during the Street Fighter 6 collaboration, including Ken Hanzo, Ken Genji, and Dee Jay Lucio. Though these combinations didn't make it into this collaboration, Overwatch 2 is not against doing so if it has the chance to do a second crossover with Street Fighter. View the full article

The third installment in the modern DOOM series, DOOM: The Dark Ages, is the latest rip-and-tear romp from id Software. The title's been getting stellar reviews, and many players love it, but there is one nagging issue that Microsoft continues to pull. DOOM: The Dark Ages is not an Xbox exclusive, as it's readily available on PS5, a platform with far more physical media buyers than the green brand. View the full article

The new test will have four playable characters; two more from the previous pre-alpha test. View the full article

The Elder Scrolls VI is coming. Slowly, but it is. We all dearly miss this series that's already way older than many of the people playing it nowadays, so we should perhaps look to the past for some great TES moments that we might have missed. What better time than now, or the four years that we'll have to wait in line, to read about the best and worst games in the series to get you ready for TES VI? Note that this is about the single-player RPGs, so The Elder Scrolls Online is not part of our rankings here. 12. The Elder Scrolls: Arena Image via MobyGames I know I'm a big meanie for putting the oldest game in the franchise in the lowest rank, but this is actually a great achievement for the series. How many franchises can boast that every single sequel in their catalog has managed to outdo the original? Arena, even with the help of some neat fan-made mods, looks and plays very dated nowadays. Still, it was a revolutionary thing back in the day—and one that you can still enjoy for some of its merits and archeological value. 11. The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall Screenshot by Destructoid Daggerfall greatly improved upon its predecessor in terms of graphics, scope, and size. Though ancient, Daggerfall remains one of the games with the largest play area in gaming history, although you'll probably get bored before seeing one-tenth of the whole thing. I'd call Daggerfall too dated to play nowadays if you're not a game history buff, but you can experience a much prettier version if you get the Unity remaster, which I totally recommend. 10. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion - Knights of the Nine Oblivion's first expansion begins with some dumb and repetitive design choices that might end up causing a bunch of players to give up on it, but those who brave through the great filter are in for one hell of a treat. Knights of the Nine invites players to go through the trials and tribulations of knighthood, and it turns out it's actually a pretty fun ordeal. Also, one of the things that always bothered me about Oblivion was the lack of a direct confrontation against a villain. Yeah, sitting back while a dragon goes on a kaiju fight against the ****** isn't that awesome, Oblivion. Luckily, KON more than solves that problem. 9. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion - Shivering Isles Image via Bethesda Remember when I talked about a confrontation with a cool villain in the entry above? Well, Shivering Isles is all about going after a mad god in an equally mad world. This one is filled with memorable moments worthy of Morrowind, but the star of the show is the main quest. One of the quarrels one can have with Oblivion is the lack of open-endedness, but you won't find that here, as your decisions will finally impact the story. 8. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Dawnguard Image by Bethesda You can never do wrong with vampires and werewolves. Both had been staples of the series for a while, but now they take center stage in the main plotline. The main story is fun, but even more fun are the Werewolf and Vampire skill trees that you can now unlock and explore to quench your thirst. 7. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Dragonborn Before there was Bloodborne, there was Skyrim's Dragonborn. It teased a great confrontation with someone capable of rivaling the Dovahkiin, and we got that, but the star of the show, in my opinion, was the Lovecraftian elements. Skyrim is gorgeous, but I find the environments a bit repetitive. Dragonborn solves that in spades by taking us to a new area filled with eldritch horrors that will likely stay in your mind, as you slowly lose it to madness. 6. The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind - Tribunal Tribunal, the first expansion for Morrowind does away with the massive and beautiful areas of the main game. It makes up for that, however, by inviting players to solve an engrossing conspiracy whose setting is based on classic TES concepts. It's a short but sweet experience that you should totally get into if you like the original Morrowind, as it raises the overall difficulty and expands upon its challenges. Important note: Do not install Tribunal as soon as you begin your adventure in the original game. This will create a high chance of powerful ninjas showing up to kill your character whenever they go to sleep. This is not a joke. 5. The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind - Bloodmoon A hero arrives at a snow-covered island to go on a werewolf-hunting adventure. Bloodmoon isn't Skyrim, but only because it doesn't take place in Skyrim. Morrowind's second expansion more than sows the seeds for what would become Skyrim by sending players on a darker adventure in a Norse mythology-inspired land. If you love Skyrim and want to experience a "demake" of sorts, this is the one for you. 4. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered Image via Bethesda Softworks They finally did it. There was speculation, there were rumors, but when the Oblivion remaster shadow dropped on one sleepy day, the internet was damn near set on fire. It was a fun time, sure, but still just a remaster. That's why it ends up in the fourth spot on this list, two whole places behind the original. The OG was the one that showed us all what games could really do with its living world and roaming NPCs. The remaster is a fantastic homage to what is undoubtedly an Elder Scrolls classic. 3. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Image via Bethesda/Steam. Well, there's not much left to say about this one. I mean, there are a lot of people talking crap about it on the Internet, but they write their negative reviews while on their coffee breaks from their 500+ hour-long playthroughs, so do those even count? Skyrim is a massive success, a game that has remained popular for over a decade, and one that so many claim is the strongest entry in the series. I disagree, as I'm not a fan of how it hand-holds us throughout the main quest, but who am I to say that this is not the ultimate TES experience for you? 2. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Image by Bethesda Even though Skyrim blew its numbers out of the water a few years later, Oblivion was the breakthrough game for this series. Oblivion made not just the series, but RPGs in general, the hot new mainstream thing. Back when it came out, Oblivion looked better and brighter, thanks, absurd HDR, than any other game on the market. Oblivion looked like an impossible feat for a console, but it was the real deal. Moreover, it featured a more console-friendly approach to its combat and overall gameplay than its predecessor, which sacrificed some depth but allowed Oblivion to put the Xbox 360 on the map as a serious threat to the PlayStation 3. 1. The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Image by Bethesda Even though many might contest my decision, I must rub salt in the dissidents' wounds by stating that this wasn't even a close one. Though old enough to drink in the US, Morrowind remains not just one of the best RPGs of all time, but one of the best exploration games ever — an achievement it simply did not owe us. If you ever feel like taking a break from the main quest, you can just walk in a direction — any direction. It's ok, as you'll surely stumble upon some underground area where you'll have an unforgettable adventure and likely get a cool new item. Morrowind doesn't take players by the hand and never fails to reward the adventurer inside you. The combat might be a bit dated by today's standards, but it also features the deepest gameplay in the series, making it a perfect marriage between clunky and fun. We may never ever get anything quite like Morrowind, and the world is a sadder place for that. The post Every mainline Elder Scrolls game and DLC, ranked appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Malys is a slick roguelike deckbuilder from folks who can't help but put a little RPG in everythingView the full article

The Brushes with Death DLC patch for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 seems to have fixed two of the game's toughest achievements. Not even four months after its release, developer Warhorse Studios has already released its first story DLC for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, named Brushes with Death. This paid DLC adds several more hours of rich storytelling to dig into and over ten new achievements for players to earn. View the full article