Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 6 Is Colossal

Larian Studios has revealed a few features coming in Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 6 alongside its colossal file size.

The developer made a series of posts on X/Twitter to tease the update, which is due sometime this week, and revealed its 21GB download. Those on PC and Steam Deck will need around 150GB of free space to download Patch 6, though Larian said those short on space can uninstall the full game and redownload the patched version. Mac players will receive the Patch at a later date, which is yet to be announced.

Though Patch 6 will no doubt feature a lot more given its size, Larian teased a handful of changes the update will make to the beloved Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The first is a time-saving change, as players will be able to dismiss a recruited companion while recruiting another in camp, instead of having to do these both separately.

Two skills, Shield Bash and Rebuke the Mighty, have both been fixed too, so Patch 6 will have players’ passive abilities working properly again. Larian has also addressed an issue where party members would begin talking to non-player characters instead of the player during automatically triggered dialogue.

The developer announced other changes when it revealed Patch 6 earlier in February, including “improved smooches”, new camp animations, more Legendary Actions, and more. Patch 6 will also come packed with myriad bug fixes.

Baldur’s Gate 3 launched in 2023 and became a smash hit, earning a 10/10 in IGN’s review. “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs,” we said.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Helldivers 2 review: a co-op shooter mixed with comedy genius

Helldivers 2 is a third-person co-op shooter that’s centred as much around action as it is comedy. Gigantic insects and red-eyed robots threaten the sanctity of Super Earth and, frankly, this isn’t on. As a Helldiver, you must team up with your compatriots and pulverise these menaces for freedom (a shoulder-mounted laser cannon) and democracy (an aerial bombardment). Seriousness is reserved for the act of extermination, which adds tactility to the familiar motions of a shooter, making for horde management that promotes efficiency and frequent lapses of judgement in equal measure. Helldivers 2 is a slapstick masterpiece.

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Mario Party-Style Demon Slayer Game for Nintendo Switch Gets Overview Trailer

The Mario Party-style Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! game coming to Nintendo Switch has received an overview trailer ahead of its April 26 release date.

The trailer, below, shows how the dramatic and action-packed Demon Slayer anime has been transferred into party game ridiculousness, showing the likes of Tanjiro and Nezuko rolling dice and taking part in myriad minigames.

Up to four players can choose from 12 characters and move around boards inspired by the likes of Tsuzumi Mansion, Mount Natagumo, and the Mugen Train. Players move around by rolling dice just like in traditional board games, with the separate squares triggering minigames, offering the ability to buy helpful items, giving upgrades, and more.

The minigames also pull scenes from the anime, like one revolving around smacking Tanjiro with a stick when he stops breathing properly, another with Inosuke smashing bits out of his sword, and more.

The Demon Slayer anime continues to prove popular and will likely continue to do so due to its fourth season imminently premiering in April 2024. Though its first two seasons were incredibly well-received, IGN wasn’t a fan of the latest.

In our 5/10 review, we said: “Demon Slayer Season 3 continues to show ufotable’s skill at crafting visually stunning action, but the season is bogged down by repetitive and overly long fight scenes and a dull story.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Typing dungeon crawler Cryptmaster’s demo is a delight

One of the best things in games is the freeform ability to type commands for another character, then having them respond with voiced dialogue recognising your weird directions. That’s one of the joys of Cryptmaster, an upcoming typing-driven dungeon crawler where one of the first things you can do in the demo is get your disembodied necromancer pal to lick a mysterious metal object to help identify it (it’s a helmet). He’s like if Hand Of Fate’s dastardly dealer was a bit of a dingus and also your only hope of escaping the underworld. I love this guy.

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New Splatoon 3: Side Order Trailer Details Spire Of Order, Objectives & Color Chips

Disorderly.

Splatoon 3: Side Order, the long-awaited single-player DLC for Splatoon 3, is just nine days away, and Nintendo has dropped an in-depth overview trailer to act as your guide for climbing the Spire of Order.

We know the gist of Side Order already — as Agent 8, you wake up in a new “world of order”, a grey-scale world which needs a bit more colour added to it. You need to climb the Spire of Order to figure things out, and the tower holds many, many secrets.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

PlayStation Store: January 2024’s top downloads

It’s time to see which PS5, PS4, PS VR2, PS VR, and free-to-play games topped the download charts last month. New release blockbusters and vintage fan favorites are included in January’s PS5 list with Tekken 8 and Grand Theft Auto V both breaking the top five. The PS VR2 list saw Beat Saber rock and roll to the top of the list with the most downloads in both US and EU regions.

Check out the full listings below. What titles are you playing this month?

PS5 Games

US/CanadaEU
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare IIIGrand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto VEA SPORTS FC 24
Madden NFL 24Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
TEKKEN 8Hogwarts Legacy
NBA 2K24TEKKEN 8
Baldur’s Gate 3Baldur’s Gate 3
EA SPORTS FC 24Gran Turismo 7
Hogwarts LegacyMarvel’s Spider-Man 2
Gran Turismo 7Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2The Last of Us Part II
The Last of Us Part II RemasteredUFC 5
Hell Let LooseIt Takes Two
UFC 5Prince of Persia The Lost Crown
Like a Dragon: Infinite WealthNBA 2K24
Mortal Kombat 1ARK: Survival Ascended
God of War RagnarökCyberpunk 2077
Avatar: Frontiers of PandoraThe Crew Motorfest
Granblue Fantasy: RelinkELDEN RING
Prince of Persia The Lost CrownNeed For Speed Unbound
ARK: Survival AscendedAssassin’s Creed Mirage

*Naming of products may differ between regions
*Upgrades not included

PS4 Games

US/CanadaEU
MinecraftEA SPORTS FC 24
Red Dead Redemption 2Minecraft
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare IIINeed for Speed Heat
Need for Speed HeatRed Dead Redemption 2
Batman: Arkham KnightA Way Out
Grand Theft Auto VGrand Theft Auto V
theHunter: Call of the WildHogwarts Legacy
Mortal Kombat XNeed for Speed Payback
EA SPORTS FC 24Batman: Arkham Knight
NBA 2K24Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
A Way OuttheHunter: Call of the Wild
Injustice 2Mortal Kombat X
Gang BeastsCarX Drift Racing Online
Hogwarts LegacyBattlefield V
Overcooked! 2Gang Beasts
Call of Duty: Black Ops IIIWRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship
God of War III RemasteredLEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Resident Evil 6Goat Simulator
God of WarSTAR WARS Battlefront II
CarX Drift Racing OnlineResident Evil 6

     *Naming of products may differ between regions

PS VR2 Games*

US/CanadaEU
Beat SaberBeat Saber
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2Among Us VR
Among Us VRPavlov
Job SimulatorHorizon Call of the Mountain
PavlovMoss: Book II
Moss: Book IIUltrawings 2
Horizon Call of the MountainJob Simulator
Vertigo 2Kayak VR: Mirage
Ultrawings 2Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2
Arizona Sunshine 2Arizona Sunshine 2

 *PS Store purchases only. Game upgrades or games bundled with hardware not included

PSVR Games

US/CanadaEU
ASTRO BOT Rescue MissionJob Simulator
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VRASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
SUPERHOT VRBeat Saber
Beat SaberSUPERHOT VR
Job SimulatorBatman: Arkham VR
Surgeon Simulator: Experience RealityMoss: Book II
Arizona SunshineThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
Borderlands 2 VRVR Ping Pong Pro
Fruit Ninja VRSurgeon Simulator: Experience Reality
Dead Land VRTitanic VR

Free to Play (PS5 + PS4) 

US/CanadaEU
RobloxFortnite
FortniteRoblox
THE FINALSCall of Duty: Warzone
Call of Duty: WarzoneTHE FINALS
Apex LegendsRocket League
Fall GuysFall Guys
Rocket LeagueFortnite Battle Royale
The Sims 4The Sims 4
War ThunderApex Legends
LEGO FortniteeFootball 2024

Granblue Fantasy: Relink Hits 1 Million Copies Sold

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a hit, selling over one million copies since going on sale early February 2024.

Cygames’ action RPG hit the million milestone worldwide across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam just 11 days after it came out on February 1. It’s been a particularly big hit on Steam, where it remains one of the most-played games with a concurrent player peak of 114,054.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink joins a growing list of successful Japanese role-playing games that launched early 2024 and hit one million sales. RGG Studio’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Atlus’ Persona 3: Reload have each sold one million copies, breaking records for each franchise.

IGN’s Granblue Fantasy: Relink review returned an 8/10. We said: “Granblue Fantasy: Relink has a succinct story, fantastic battle system, and fun multiplayer options that help it stand out.”

Announcing the sales, Cygames said Granblue Fantasy: Relink players can look forward to a new quest, new playable characters, and other surprises featured in planned updates starting from March.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Diablo 4’s Latest Microtransaction Backlash Is Over Portal Reskins That Cost the Same as Palword

Diablo 4’s troubled history with microtransactions has grown more grim after Blizzard began selling class-locked portal reskins.

“Portal through Sanctuary in style,” begins the description for the $29.99 Dark Pathways pack, as noted by PC Gamer. The pack includes the Hell and Back bundle containing the Tempest Gate Sorcerer Town Portal, Transit Artery Rogue Town Portal, Netherworld Threshold Necromancer Town Portal, Wildroot Way Druid Town Portal, Warpath Barbarian Town Portal, and 1000 Platinum (which is itself worth $9.99). There is currently no way to buy the portals individually.

As you’d expect, players have reacted negatively to the existence of the cosmetic pack, and not just because the price of the thing is equivalent to some other hugely popular PC games, such as Palworld, but that the price of the bundle is needlessly raised by the inclusion of premium currency, a standard tactic to make virtual bundles appear more valuable in customers’ eyes. but

It’s the fact the portals can only be used by the applicable character class that’s really sent Diablo 4’s community into a furore. Each portal is unique with a theme that matches the class, so it’s not possible to swap freely between the portals while using the same class. Don’t have a Druid on the go? Then you can’t use the Wildroot Way Druid Town Portal.

It’s worth noting that Diablo 4 is a full-price action role-playing game, and while these portal skins are purely cosmetic and do not affect gameplay, they join a long list of controversial microtransactions that have hit the game since its record-breaking launch in June.

Of course, Diablo 4 developer Blizzard is now owned by Microsoft following the company’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year. It was a move that some had thought would usher in a new era for Blizzard, but it got off to a troubling start after Microsoft announced nearly 2,000 staff would be let go from its gaming division, a devastating round of layoffs that have hit Blizzard hard.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Play as a sheep with a Cloud Strife Buster sword in this fast and fluid action roguelike

Steam Next Fest may be over for another few months, but dozens of demos are still alive and kicking, it seems – which is good news for me, who still has a good half dozen on my to do list, and also good news for you, as it means you still have time to check out the really quite good demo for Stand-Alone, a fast, 2D hack and slasher where you play as a robot-powered sheep packing a very large sword. Wolves have broken into your home and murdered all your friends, but you play as the one sheep who got away – or rather, a sheep that’s been fused with a surprisingly powerful robot capable of producing a honking great greatsword to make their escape with. Thus begins the wolves’ hot pursuit – not least because this robot also seems to be kind of sleeper agent for them – and your roguelike-shaped quest to avenge your fallen friends.

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Dungeons & Dragons Announces Updated Core Rulebook Release Dates, but Not All of Them Arrive in 2024

Dungeons & Dragons has announced the release dates for its new Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual, though they won’t all arrive in 2024 despite that expectation set by publisher Wizards of the Coast.

After more than two years of teasing a major update to the tabletop role-playing game known as One D&D, Wizards of the Coast revealed it will officially kick off on September 17, 2024, with the updated Player’s Handbook.

The Dungeon Master’s Guide will arrive a little later on November 12, 2024, but despite Wizards of the Coast itself suggesting the One D&D refresh would kick off fully in 2024, the Monster Manual has slipped into 2025, launching on February 18.

“The new core rulebooks are expected to be released in 2024,” reads a frequently asked questions post still available on the Dungeons & Dragons website.

The publisher didn’t share much about the contents of these new core rulebooks, but as previously announced they will revamp core elements of the current fifth edition without making it redundant to address player feedback.

While some fans will be frustrated with the delay, especially as One D&D was expected to launch fully as a celebration of the game’s 50th anniversary, which is in 2024, Wizards of the Coast still announced a handful of other events to tide players over.

An adventure campaign called Vecna: Eve of Ruin will be released on May 11, letting players engage in “a high-stakes adventure in which the fate of the entire multiverse hangs in the balance.” The heroes begin in the Forgotten Realms and travel to Planescape, Spelljammer, Eberron, Ravenloft, Dragonlance, and Greyhawk as they race to save existence from obliteration by the notorious lich Vecna who is weaving a ritual to eliminate good, obliterate the gods, and subjugate all worlds.

A book called The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970 – 1977 is being released on June 18 too. Wizards of the Coast described it as “the ultimate book showcasing D&D’s inception, including Gary Gygax’s never-before-seen first draft of D&D written in 1973.”

The Quests from the Infinite Staircase adventure anthology will be released on July 16, weaving together six classic D&D adventures while updating them for the game’s current edition (which will be compatible with One D&D). Exactly which adventures these will be hasn’t been announced, but it will be targeted at characters between levels one and 13.

Wizards of the Coast announced the biggest miniature booster set ever in January, also in celebration of the 50th anniversary. The game is growing more popular than ever before, helped by the likes of its appearance in Netflix hit Stranger Things, the Hollywood film Honor Among Thieves, and one of 2023’s most beloved games, Baldur’s Gate 3.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.