Author: Game Infliction

Upcoming Obsidian RPG Avowed takes place in Eora, which in the fictional universe of Pillars of Eternity, is pretty diverse. But after Pillars let players choose from a number of different character races, fans have been wondering for some time now why Avowed is only letting them pick human or elf when customizing a player character.

We’ve learned that Avowed player character creation is limited to making either a human or an elf in previous game reveals – no dwarves, no aumauas, and definitely no godlikes. While this has been a disappointment to some fans, Avowed game director Carrie Patel has made it clear that the reasons for this limitation are twofold: it’s both a story choice and a development decision.

On the story side, Patel explains in an interview with IGN, it’s because the player in Avowed is a representative from the Aedyr Empire, which is predominantly made up of humans and elves. Those familiar with Pillars of Eternity lore will recognize that this is indeed established canon, and has shaped a lot of the region’s particular culture.

Still, that might be cold comfort to those hoping to recreate their aumaua OC from Pillars in Avowed. For those folks, Patel offers some additional context that helps things make a bit more sense from the development side:

“We want to make sure that whatever experience we’re offering is smooth and natural and well paced to the player,” she says. “And one of the things about the species of Pillars that I think is a lot easier to account for in an isometric game is just the variation in sizes. You have aumaua and then you have humans and elves who are at roughly the same scale, and then you have orlans and dwarves who are quite a bit smaller. And for each of those, especially in first person, you’re adjusting the height of the player character’s capsule and sort of where their weapons are relative to enemies and how their hits land and how hits land on them. And it’s obviously not that any of these things are impossible to solve, but you’re always making choices and choosing your priorities and development.”

Patel declined to comment further on the character creator in Avowed, which we haven’t seen much of yet, but it’s also important to remember that Avowed is a game that largely or entirely takes place in the first-person. While it’s a bummer not to be able to be a dwarf, realistically, the only part of yourself you’ll be seeing for most of the game is your hands.

Avowed got a 2024 release window recently, after first being teased back in 2020 at the Xbox Games Showcase and getting a more complete reveal at a 2023 Xbox showcase. We also spoke to Patel last week about why Avowed is foregoing romances to focus on different kinds of companion relationships.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Developer 4A Games has made clear Metro Awakening, the PSVR2 game announced during the January 2024 PlayStation State of Play, is not the next mainline Metro game but instead a spin-off.

Following its announcement at the State of Play, Metro fans without Sony’s $550 / £530 PlayStation 5 accessory grew a little concerned they’d waited five years for another game only to see it announced for a platform they didn’t own or want.

4A Games took to X/Twitter to alleviate these concerns, however, reassuring fans it’s still working on the next multiplatform mainline Metro game, while Awakening is developed by Vertigo Games.

“This is not the next mainline Metro game by 4A Games,” the developer said. “That is still in development and, as we have stated previously, will come to generation nine consoles and PC. This is a different project developed by Vertigo Games.”

Generation nine refers to the current generation of consoles, meaning the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S. Nintendo continues to allude typical console cycles, though its imminent Switch successor could also be a possibility for whatever this next mainline Metro game is.

Awakening will arrive as a PlayStation VR2 exclusive sometime in 2024, bringing the single-player, first-person post-apocalyptic shooter franchise to virtual reality for the first time. It’s set before the events of 2010’s Metro 2033 and has players take control of Serdar, a doctor searching the metro tunnels to find his wife.

The State of Play also saw a typically bizarre Death Stranding 2 trailer released alongside the revelation that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima is returning to his stealth action roots with a PlayStation exclusive. Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin and Shift Up’s Stellar Blade also received enhanced looks, and you can read about every other announcement right here.

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

Sony is giving PlayStation Plus Premium members on PS5 a free trial of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac Games.

Revealed on the PlayStation Blog, those subscribed to the $159.99 / £119.99 a year PlayStation Plus tier can download Spider-Man 2 at no additional cost on February 6 and play two hours before making the decision to purchase it fully or not.

As is the case for all PlayStation Plus Premium game trials — which also include heavy hitters Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and more — all saved data and trophies will carry over if players do decide to purchase the game later.

Spider-Man 2 continues the story of Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they take on a rogues’ gallery of Marvel villains headlined by the big bad Venom. It earned an 8/10 in IGN’s review, as we said: “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 delivers Insomniac’s best tale yet, and despite its open world falling short, is a reliably fun superhero power trip.”

Those picking up the game now will also enjoy its various post-launch patches, as Insomniac has removed myriad bugs (thankfully not arachnids) from Spider-Man 2 while upping the stability and general level of polish.

February 6 brings a handful of other games to PlayStation Plus users including hero shooter Foamstars, which has received both praise for its gameplay and criticism for its use of AI generated assets.

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

Palworld developer Pocketpair has released a significant new patch for the Steam version of the game that makes a number of fixes.

Steam patch v0.1.4.0 fixes crash issues, gameplay issues, and glitches, among other things. Elsewhere, there are fixes for base issues, including one that means Pals who are manually assigned to a breeding farm will not become hungry and their manual assignments will not be removed.

Some of the bugs fixed by this patch are worth highlighting because they’re quite funny. For example, there’s a fix for an issue where Pals at the base would continue to cut down trees that were already cut (talk about a thankless task), and a fix for an issue where Pals at the base were on the verge of death due to unexplained falling damage (we’ve all been there). Here’s another one: a fix for an issue where Pals at the base would float under some conditions. What are those Pals smoking?

On a more serious note, the patch makes an initial fix for an issue where the game would always crash and save data would be corrupted when the guild’s total number of Pals captured reached around 7000. However, save data that has already been in this state (in the case of a server, the server’s world data) prior to this update will still be unable to load, Pocketpair said.

While the Steam patch is out now, Pocketpair said Xbox patch v0.1.1.3 “will be released as soon as it is ready”. There is a disparity between the Xbox and Steam versions of Palworld, not least in the Xbox version’s lack of dedicated servers, which limits the number of players who can play together. This week, Microsoft said it will be working directly with Pocketpair to assist in supplying the resources necessary to keep the momentum of the monster survival game going strong, including providing support to enable dedicated servers.

Palworld is a smash hit, crossing over an eye-watering 19 million players across all platforms since going on sale January 19. It’s the most-played game on Steam right now, and the biggest third-party launch in Game Pass history with over seven million players and a daily player peak of just shy of three million. On Steam alone, Palworld has sold 12 million copies.

But Palworld is also one of the most controversial video game releases in recent memory. Developer Pocketpair has said its staff have received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s interactive Palworld map.

Here are the Palworld Steam update v0.1.4.0 patch notes in full:

▼Major Fixes

・Fixed an issue where the game would crash under certain conditions

・Fixed an issue where if another player’s pal/base pal had HP 30% or less, it could be captured by using a sphere.

・Fixed an issue where enemy pals would get stuck in walls due to charge attacks.

・Implemented the first fix for an issue where the game would always crash and save data would be corrupted when the guild’s total number of pals captured reached around 7000.

*The game no longer crashes even if the total number of captured objects exceeds 7000.

However, save data that has already been in this state (in the case of a server, the server’s world data) prior to this update will still be unable to load.

We are continuing to work on fixing this issue permanently.

▼Key Configuration

・Added support for mouse side keys and numeric keypad in keyboard key configuration.

*Further improvements are currently planned, such as support for interact key configuration.

▼Player Issues

・Fixed an issue where players on dedicated servers and co-op (online) were receiving damage twice.

・Specifications have been changed so that you can move at extremely low speed even when you have exceeded the weight limit.

・Players will no longer pass through walls when dismounting.

・Fixed an issue where capture power strengthened by Lifmunk Effigies was reset when using memory reset drugs.

・Fixed an issue where armor could be equipped in the wrong slot.

・Adjusted camera positions of several Pals to make it easier to see when mounted.

▼Base Issues

・Specifications have been changed so that Pals who are manually assigned to a breeding farm will not become hungry and their manual assignments will not be removed.

・The key to lift Pals has been changed from F → V (Pad: X → Y) in order to prevent accidents.

・Reduced the speed and range of fire spreading on wooden buildings.

・Fixed an issue where manual work assignments could not be set at all under certain circumstances.

・Fixed an issue where extremely high-level Relaxaurus would attack the base during raids.

・Added several measures to prevent base Pals from getting stuck.

・Fixed an issue where Pals would get stuck while transporting items and would drop them on the spot.

・Fixed an issue where Pals at the base would continue to cut down trees that were already cut.

・Fixed an issue where Pals at the base were on the verge of death due to unexplained falling damage.

・Fixed an issue where Pals at the base would float under some conditions.

・Fixed an issue where if a farm was built on the second floor or above, work pals would be unable to move on the floors below.

▼Other

・Corrected incorrect text

・Measures have been added to prevent cheating and stealing other players’ Pals.

・Many other minor fixes such as the addition of a UI key guide.

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.