Minecraft Gets a Free Map of Iconic Underground Tokyo Location, Thanks to Japanese Government

The Japanese government has released a Minecraft map of the world’s largest underground flood prevention facility. Not only is it free to download, but it lets you explore one of the Tokyo area’s lesser-known iconic locations from the comfort of your home.

The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, known as G-Cans for short, is a real-life disaster prevention facility. It is best-known for its “pressure adjustment water tank” — a huge cavernous space with 59 massive pillars. A truly epic looking, boss battle-worthy location, it is G-Can’s most iconic sight, and even has the nickname “underground temple” (chika shinden) in Japan. With bags of atmosphere, it also gets used as a location for music videos, Japanese TV dramas (like Kamen Rider) and movies.

In dry seasons, it is possible to tour G-Cans in real life, but thanks to the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), you can now explore this atmospheric facility in Minecraft too. The ministry have released a video on their official YouTube which briefly summarizes the purpose of G-Cans and shows what it looks like in the blocky world of Minecraft.

Minecraft’s free G-Cans map doesn’t just include the facility though — there is also an overground area featuring rivers, homes, and neighborhoods, giving the player a sense of how G-Cans protects people and places in real life. You can also go into the control room and try draining flood water into the shafts to see how it works for yourself.

MLIT’s recreation of G-Cans in Minecraft is designed to educate people about the facility and how it prevents disasters. Exploring it, even in Minecraft, also gives the player a sense of how absolutely huge G-Cans is. In real life, G-Cans’ concrete tunnels run for over 6km under Saitama Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. Its five shafts capture water from flood-prone rivers during Japan’s rainy season (June) and typhoon season (usually around September), before gradually releasing it into the much bigger Edogawa River and Tokyo Bay. Completed in 2006 after over a decade of construction, G-Cans has played a huge role in combating flooding in the area ever since.

MLIT’s G-Can’s Minecraft map can be downloaded for free from the official website of the Edogawa River Office, which manages the facility. At least Version 1.21.1 of Minecraft Bedrock Edition or Version 1.21.0 of Minecraft Education Edition are required.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.

Sorry MindsEye, even with your first actual gameplay trailer I still don’t believe you’re a real game

MindsEye isn’t a real game, right? I mean, I’m sure it is a real game, it’s meant to be coming out June 10th, that’s only two weeks away now, and GTA 3 to 5 producer Leslie Benzies is helming it. It just doesn’t feel like a real game. Take for instance the fact that the game’s latest trailer, which was released today, is its first proper gameplay trailer. There’s been a few teasers over the past few weeks, but absolutely zero extended looks at the shooter. That’s weird for a game due out in two weeks!

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Venture to the Source of a Deadly Curse in Wizardry Variants Daphne

Beware: The Abyss has opened and the curse of death is spreading across a world that’s falling into despair. In the free-to-play Wizardry Variants Daphne, you do everything you can to brace yourself before diving into the pit that’s the source of the curse. Expect failure, expect death, but also expect an RPG journey built around Wizardry’s hardcore dungeon-crawling legacy.

Wizardry Variants Daphne takes place in a doomed world that’s being consumed by the forces of the dead. A generational seal holding back a twisted warlock has failed, and now the warlock’s curse emanates from the depths of the Abyss.

The decay needs to be stopped, but a job like stopping a death-obsessed warlock comes with a very high body count. Wizardry Variants Daphne lets you build up a party of up to six fellow adventurers from a wide variety of classes and races. As with previous Wizardry games, your party’s balance of skills and battle chemistry is vital to your long-term success. Wizardry Variants Daphne balances tough difficulty with compelling visual design, making it a great game for established fans and a good entry point for anyone curious about Wizardry.

Wizardry fans are already familiar with the brutal bite of the monsters and traps that live in its narrow dungeon corridors. Newcomers to the series who pick up Wizardry Variants Daphne should expect a challenge that’s tough, but not insurmountable if you’re the type of person who can make observations and learn from their mistakes.

Take heart: Your manpower isn’t as low as it seems. Your right hand is capable of reversing time, allowing you to revive the skeletons of dead adventurers and restore them to their previous selves. This is the unique gacha mechanic of Wizardry Variants Daphne that allows you to recruit new characters. You’ll gather items called Adventurer’s Remains, which you can take into the Ruins and use to restore and recruit new characters. Once you’ve revived a skeleton, you’ll get info like their name, class, alignment, and stats.

Both old and new fans can appreciate the names on Wizardry Variants Daphne’s creative team. The detailed characters are designed by veteran manga artist and character designer Yusuke Kozaki, whose work has appeared in Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes, AI: The Somnium Files, and dozens of other games. The bosses are designed by Katsuya Terada, an illustrator whose work goes back to previous Wizardry adaptations and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Its eerie, moody music comes from celebrated game composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, whose credits include Final Fantasy Tactics, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Dragon’s Crown, and dozens more games.

Whether you’re ready to feel Wizardry’s burn again or you’re ready to travel down its grimy corridors for the first time, Wizardry Variants Daphne is waiting for you. It’s been downloaded more than 1 million times worldwide, so it’s clearly making its mark on fans. It’s available for free on the App Store, Google Play, and Steam.

Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD2D Remake will complete the Erdrick Trilogy when they launch this October

As someone who’s never played a Dragon Quest game, seeing Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake last year confused me simply because I didn’t know it was a prequel. I generally prefer to play things in release order, but I understand why Square Enix did it that way around, and why they subsequently announced a double remake of the first two games. The third one launched just last November, leaving 1 and 2 with a vague 2025 release window. Well, until today, when Square Enix shared that the pair of remakes will be launching October 30th.

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Nintendo Shares Video Detailing New N64 Features For Switch Online

Be kind, rewind.

Nintendo has released a new video detailing some of the planned features for the N64 app on Nintendo Switch Online.

As shared by TodayNews, the video showcases three core features for N64 games on Switch Online, including the ability to rewind (exclusive to Switch 2), a new CRT filter (also exclusive to Switch 2), and viewing / remapping controls as you see fit.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Dragon Quest Day is Here – How the Iconic RPG Series Gained Legendary Status

Dragon Quest Day is Here – How the Iconic RPG Series Gained Legendary Status

Dragon Quest Day Hero Image

Summary

  • May 27 is Dragon Quest Day – learn all about the legendary franchise that created the JRPG genre.
  • Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is available now on Xbox – start your journey in the Erdrick Trilogy.
  • Get ready for Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake – the continuation of the Erdrick Trilogy. Available October 30, 2025 on Xbox and PC.

Dragon Quest is the beloved series that’s widely credited for founding the entire JPRG (Japanese role-playing game) genre. Every year, fans around the world celebrate Dragon Quest Day on May 27 – the release date of the very first game in 1986. And so: Happy Dragon Quest Day!

Whether this is your first time hearing about the series or you’re a longtime fan, today’s the perfect day to step into the world of these amazing games! So, celebrate with us as we tell you all about the wonders of Dragon Quest.

Introducing Legendary Creators

The Dragon Quest franchise was brought to life by a trio of legendary creators. Yuji Horii is the visionary game designer and creator of the series and has shaped its direction since the original title’s release in 1986. The distinctive character designs were crafted by the late Akira Toriyama, the world-renowned manga artist. Complementing visuals and storytelling is the iconic music composed by the late Koichi Sugiyama.

Together, these three pioneers established a legacy that continues to inspire RPGs today, and each of their specific elements have become the defining traits of the Dragon Quest experience.

Dragon, Quest, Warrior – oh my!

Yuji Horii has stated that the name Dragon Quest is derived from combining the impactful and familiar name “dragon” with “quest,” a word that was relatively unfamiliar in Japan at the time. When Dragon Quest games first came to North America, it was renamed to “Dragon Warrior” because Dragon Quest was already trademarked!

The series continued under that name in the West until Dragon Quest VIII (2005), which marked the first time the Western Market was able to use the Dragon Quest name. Fun fact: this game was also the first Dragon Quest game released in Europe! The franchise has gone by that title globally ever since.

An RPG For Everyone to Enjoy

The first Dragon Quest was designed to be an RPG that anyone could enjoy. Players become the main character on an epic adventure, where they travel through a fantasy world and take on many different threats, from the humble and iconic slimes to the powerful Dragon Lord that threatens all.

The turn-based combat experience meant that battles hinged on careful planning, character roles, and turn order strategy. The game was a critical hit and, as the franchise grew, it gained such popularity that it’s become a true phenomenon in Japan.

Since that first release, right through to the exceptional Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age S – Definitive Edition, the series has maintained a clear identity. While each entry adds new stories, modern gameplay mechanics and other features, they all share the same key traits: that delightful turn-based RPG feel – and an unwavering level of quality.

Remaking the Legendary Erdrick Trilogy in HD-2D

Last year saw a very special release for the series – Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake! The original Dragon Quest III is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most impactful JRPGs of all time. Not only is it beloved by fans, but it also continues to inspire game creators to this day.

Last year’s release reimagined this legendary game with modern features, new content and a beautiful makeover in the HD-2D art style pioneered by games like Octopath Traveller I and II. It’s also a part of the ‘Erdrick Trilogy’ – a saga about a legendary hero and their legacy within the Dragon Quest lore. While each of the three games in the trilogy work as standalone adventures, there are threads and connections between them. As Dragon Quest III is chronologically first, it made sense to release it before the upcoming Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake.

Of course, remaking such an important and beloved game was no simple task, as producer Masaaki Hayasaka told us:

“I was of course aware that this was a legendary title, so my first thought was, ‘If this fails, I won’t be able to stay in this industry. I would be branded as the man who botched the remake of a legendary title for the rest of my life [laughs]. However, I never felt constrained by that pressure – in fact, I think it served as a constant source of discipline in a positive sense. The choice to use the HD-2D graphical style was born out of a desire to maintain the game’s original identity – while still giving it the visual glow-up that people want.

“Dragon Quest has what you might call a Dragon Quest-ness, characterized by its vivid hues and colorfulness. We knew that if we created the game in the same manner as our previous titles, we would lose some of that distinctiveness.

“Even if we were to sum up the Dragon Quest-ness in one word, each member of the development team had their own ideas, so it was quite a challenge to coordinate our ideas and to make sure that we were all on the same page”

The hard work paid off and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake was a critical success – an epic, approachable RPG that feels classic and modern at the same time! It left many players wondering what’s next for the series. The answer is, of course, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake.

Celebrate Dragon Quest Day & Start Your Journey

Each year, the Dragon Quest team looks forward to celebrating Dragon Quest Day with fans, who express their fandom with congratulatory messages, art and excitement for upcoming games.

The team will continue to do their best to live up to fan expectations – and as such, we are excited to announce the official release date of Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake on October 30, 2025. Pre-order now on Xbox! Can’t wait? Neither can we!

In the meantime, we recommend you start playing the first chronological title in the Erdrick Trilogy, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remakeavailable on Xbox right now!

With that, we thank you for taking the time to learn about Dragon Quest Day and the legacy of a franchise that inspired a genre. We hope you tune in to Dragon Quest Day from now on – that would be slime-tastic!

DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake

SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.

The Legacy Begins

DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake
Planned for release in 2025.

Xbox Play Anywhere

DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake

SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.


102

$59.99

The Legacy Begins

DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake is a stunning reimagining of the beloved masterpiece and narrative beginning to The Erdrick Trilogy.

Story:
Years ago, the great hero Ortega bid farewell to his wife and child as he set off on a quest to defeat the villainous Archfiend, Baramos. Ortega failed his quest, and Baramos still threatens the world. Now, on their sixteenth birthday, Ortega’s only child is summoned by the king of Aliahan and entrusted with a mission of the highest import: to take on Ortega’s quest, vanquish Baramos, and save the world.

Build your perfect party:
Recruit a variety of allies, with three able to join your party to aid you on your quest. Choose their vocations, appearances and their voices. There’s even a brand new vocation exclusive to this remake: the monster wrangler!

Travel across an expansive open world:
Explore a wealth of towns, castles, caves, towers and dungeons to explore on your adventure, with hidden secrets waiting to be discovered.

Strategic, turn-based battles:
Battle a vast array of monsters in classic DRAGON QUEST turn-based battles. Set party tactics and switch up weapons, abilities and spells to take on all of the challenging foes that await you.

Added PC specifications.
12/27/2024

The post Dragon Quest Day is Here – How the Iconic RPG Series Gained Legendary Status appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Destined Rivals Market Watch: Best Singles to Chase and Buy

Destined Rivals is one of the best Scarlet and Violet era sets, it’s banger after banger as far as chase cards go. In our preview, we pulled 18 big card across 46 packs. This includes a load of regular ex cards, 1 hyper rare, 1 SIR, 1 ultra rare and 5 illustration rares. It’s good odds for sure, but chasing down Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex SIR or Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex SIR is likely to take a lot more than 46 booster packs.

TL;DR: The Best Destined Rivals Single Pokémon Cards

Let the cost of those booster packs sink in. Of course, you’ll probably find some cool cards, and there’s always a chance you’ll get the chase card you want, but what if you could just pay the market value of the card you wanted for less instead?
Destined Rivals single card market is already booming before the official release date, which is just day’s away on May 30. To save trainers the trouble of stressing about stock and paying MSRP at big box retailers (good luck with that), here’s the best chase cards from Destined Rivals. They’re available as presale items now, then will be shipped to you on release day. Let’s get into it:

Hyper Rare

Hyper Rares have become the black sheep of the Scarlet and Violet era. They’re more of an aquired taste, but Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex looks fantastic in this style, as goes Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex. it’s also around half the price of collecting the secret art rare variants, which are supposed to be easier to get than hyper rares. Go figure.

Secret Art Rare

Secret art rares are the absolute bangers of every Scarlet and Violet era set. Whilst Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex SIR is an eye watering $599.99, Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex SIR and Arven’s Mabosstiff ex SIR are far reasonably prices at $225 and $49.99 respectively.

Illustration Rare

The two best cards of Destined Rivals are Illustration Rares in my option, so it’s a good job I have them already! Cynthia’s Roserade’s artwork is stunning, it’s got that late 80s anime vibe and is so well-made. Ethan’s Typlosion is one of the best artworks of the entire Scarlet and Violet era so far. The movement of the artwork and blatent bond it shows between trainer and Pokémon is what Pokémon is all about for me. It’s going to take something epic to beat this cards artwork for me personally.

Destined Rivals Sealed Preorders

TCG Player is also running preorders for sealed product too. It’s market value prices, which will likely be cheaper than most big box retailers on release day. Everything, including Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Boxes are available for presale right now. Don’t sleep on this set, it’s one of the best we’ve had in the last 12 months.

This Weeks Pokémon TCG Crashers and Climbers

The Single Pokémon TCG market on the other hand is going through a grand reset right now, which is down to a few factors. The crypto bro mentally to reselling products is dying down a little and more product is becoming available thanks to reprints. We’re not out of the woods yet by any means, but this weeks Crashers and Climbers show recent cards going down in price and cards from the X and Y era shooting up in value. We’re 100% moving in the right direction.

Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.

Assassin’s Creed Shadow’s latest update adds in collabs with Dead by Daylight and Balatro, of all things

A new Assassin’s Creed Shadows update is here, version 1.0.5, with this one mostly having a focus on parkour improvements. There are, however, a couple of collaborations that have arrived in the game too, one with Dead by Daylight, and another with Balatro. We’ll get to those in a second, for now let’s take a look at those parkour tweaks.

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Exclusive: Behaviour Tells Us Everything We Need to Know About Five Nights at Freddy’s in Dead by Daylight

Dead by Daylight is just weeks away from celebrating its ninth anniversary, so developer Behaviour Interactive is rolling out the party favor fans have begged to see for years: Five Nights at Freddy’s. A Chapter based on Scott Cawthon’s legendary animatronic horror series will finally, officially arrive in Dead by Daylight June 17, marking the end of a long wait and the beginning of another year of more crossovers, quality-of-life fixes, and more. It’s a collaboration years in the making, and we got a first look at how it’s shaping up.

IGN sat down to interview Dead by Daylight Creative Director Dave Richard and Killer Designer Jason Guzzo ahead of the upcoming Chapter’s public test build (PTB), which launches today at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET, to learn more about how this latest collaboration stays true to the looks and lore of Five Nights at Freddy’s. Alongside learning more about how the new Killer, Springtrap, uses doors, cameras, and jump scares to terrorize Survivors, our chat revealed more details about some of the other horror icons Behaviour would love to add and exactly how much Markiplier they watched to prepare for the new update.

Eager Nintendo Switch 2 fans will also be happy to know that Behaviour confirmed with IGN separately that Dead by Daylight’s startup issues on the device will be resolved by the time the new console launches next week, June 5. Meanwhile, the team has an explanation behind why they opted out of including a new Survivor this time around, but if we’re lucky, Freddy Fazbear’s time in Dead by Daylight is just getting started.

IGN: Heading into the PTB, how are you feeling about how Springtrap looks and feels to play compared to other past Killers in previous PTBs.

Dave Richard: Jason will be able to answer that in more details, because, of course, he’s the main designer on this. I feel excited. I feel confident. We know that this is the top-requested franchise and Killer. It has been for many, many years, so a little bit stressed as well. There’s a lot of hype, there’s a lot of expectation, but the team did great to be authentic and to create a very, very cool Five Nights at Freddy’s experience within the Dead by Daylight metrics.

Jason Guzzo: I mean, I think Dave put it pretty well, I have not been at behavior for 23 years and on DBD since the beginning, so I think my stress is a little higher than his. For him, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is just part of the, part of the flow.’ But for me, this is, this is my third Killer. So yes, I did Chucky and Dracula previously, but being able to kind of be trusted with FNaF on DBD was so awesome. I’m really excited about it. It takes us almost a year to do a Killer, so it’s really cool to finally be able to say, like, ‘Oh, here’s what we’re doing,’ and everybody can see it and play with it and let us know… hopefully their view on it aligns with ours, and hopefully they love it as much as we did.

Just reading over some of the details I saw beforehand, this seems so authentic to Five Nights at Freddy’s and what the gameplay is in that series, which I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect to see doors, cameras, and even jump scares. Were there discussions about playing as other animatronics, or was it always Springtrap the team had their eyes on?

Richard: Obviously, it’s not something we can answer easily on, like, all the inner workings that we have with our different partners. There were many, many iterations of what this Chapter could be, and we ended up here, and it’s great, and that’s all I can share.

This is the first time players get to play a spring trap in a video game, which I’m sure for the Five Nights at Freddy’s community is huge. Can you talk about what it’s like creating original gameplay for this character with such a limited blueprint to base things off of?

Guzzo: That’s a great question. Really, like, as you implied, the gameplay from FNaF is very different from DBD – drastically different. So really, the goal was to say, ‘What’s the experience of FNaF? What the – my favorite word in the whole world – what’s the vibe? That’s the millennial word: ‘What’s the vibe?’ So, I mean, I watched, no joke, about 70 hours of content. I won’t name names, but the king of FNaF. Everybody knows who it is.

Richard: Shoutout to Markiplier. Yeah!

Guzzo: [Laughs] I mean, I love him now. I hadn’t really watched him before, and now I’ve watched so much of his FNaF stuff, and I’m subscribed. I watch all of his new videos and stuff. It won me over. But no, it was really cool to be able to kind of see, not only just the gameplay. I’m going to be honest: I don’t love jump scares as a player. I love horror movies. Horror games with jump scares… I’m a bit of a baby about it, but it was cool to not only just watch the gameplay, but watch, of course, the streamers’ reactions and the people playing it in the community.

When you watch people playing live, you see the community interacting. Also, just seeing what people react to… because you can make a game like FNaF, and you go, ‘Oh, it’s all going to be jump scares,’ and people just kind of ignore that, and they kind of focus on something else. So, being able to watch somebody play, and watch people play, and read all the lore – because Five Nights at Freddy’s lore is crazy – and just say like, ‘Well, what are people reacting to, and how can we kind of adapt that to into the context of DBD?’ There was a lot of back and forth.

There was a lot of cooks in this kitchen on this Chapter because everybody has ideas for FNaF. It’s the big one. Everybody wanted to make sure that it was as authentic as possible, and, of course, everything went through Mr. Scott Cawthon. So, yeah, it was really cool to do all that research and take a ton of notes and say, ‘What can we mess with and what can we do, and how can we enhance DBD with a flavor – or with the vibe – and the experience of FNaF.

Richard: I have to jump back to the very start of that question, when you talk about the announcement and how people reacted. I had the chance to reveal it was Springtrap at PAX, and in that room there was almost 1000 people, and they shouted so loud that the floor was shaking. It was just… it just amazing.

It’s super exciting and a big moment for everyone right now. I spoiled it a little bit, but can you guys give me more detail about what players can expect from Springtrap in the PTB, a little more specifically? How does your version of this Killer and that new map do the character justice?

Richard: Jason, that’s all for you. I just want to say real quick that, going back to your previous question, you know, the task that the team had was quite challenging. To distill that vibe and to have the mechanics of a single-player experience where you’re the Survivor transformed into that duality, that you can create that fear, or you can experience it in another kind of way, in a very different kind of game. Before we jump into the mechanics of it, absolutely, we wanted jump scares. That’s part of the vibe. Absolutely we wanted to create these moments of hunting corridors and of surveillance. Then the thing I’m really happy about, and Jason, you’ll be able to describe, but that whole door thing was not an afterthought, but it was a thing that you came up with afterwards, and it made it through, and it’s absolutely brilliant.

Guzzo: Wow. The creative director, calling me brilliant [laughs].

Richard: You can end the interview now.

Guzzo: [Laughs] So, he is primarily a projectile Killer. The power kind of comes in two flavors. There’s two halves of it. I’m gonna attempt to ramble and go on tangents a little bit, but I promise I’ll get to where I need to be in a second. One of the things that I wanted to do with this one was, as mentioned, FNaF is like a Survivor game, right? In the context of DBD, you’re playing from the Survivor’s point of view. You’re sitting in the security office, and you’re managing the battery, and you are trying not to get yourself killed. So, I wanted to kind of step back and say, ‘How can we enhance the Survivor side of the gameplay for this Chapter?’ Because that’s kind of what people know from FNaF.

Obviously, we couldn’t just say, ‘Oh yeah, all four people stand still and open and close doors and manage a battery’ – that’s not DBD. What we came upon was the idea of, ‘Well, the security doors, they’re pretty iconic, and obviously the security office is super iconic.’ Where we landed was that the security office is this transitional space for both Survivors and Killers. There are doors that are spawned around the map. Each has a camera and a number. So, you know kind of which camera is which or which door is which.

Survivors, when they interact with the door, they’re given the camera view with the battery, and they see the little map of the cameras in the corner. You can flip through them, see what’s on the other side of any door. If you find a door that you like, if it looks safe on the other side, or if you’re going to save somebody, or whatever it is, you can hit our input and you get a little canned animation, almost like a cinematic. It’s not pre-rendered or anything, but it’s very hands-off. I kind of equate it to a super short theme park ride, where you see, in first-person, your Survivor walks through the security office and looks around, and it’s spooky. Then the door opens on the other end of the room, and you leave, and then now you’re on, potentially, the other side of the map. It’s basically a teleport, but it’s very thematic.

The trick here is that even though it’s a safe space – or it feels like a safe space – it is not. The Killer doesn’t have access to the cameras but can enter the doors and can look around at any of the other doors he likes and teleport to it. He gets the same thing: He gets kind of a movement through the security office, but if his path happens to cross paths with a Survivor, they get a little jump scare, and he grabs them, and he walks out of the door, carrying them. It feels really thematic, and the animation is so good. It’s so good. The anim team killed it. The first thing I said was, ‘Can we do a grab Killer?’ We have melee and M1 Killers. We have range Killers. Can we just do a Killer that’s all based around grabs? Because grabs in DBD are inherently kind of jump scares. We wanted to lean into that a little bit. Obviously, it’s not the only thing you can do – that’d be kind of boring – but we did lean into those kinds of things.

With the other half of his power is his projectile. He has a big old fire axe that he can lob. It’s a very unique arc. It’s not like anything we’ve ever done with a projectile Killer before. It’s not built for sniping. It’s not designed around sniping. It’s not balanced around sniping. It’s really to do some really gnarly trick shots, and we’ve already had some people pulling off some crazy things internally. It’s been really fun to watch. We wanted to marry those two things with the door gameplay, and ‘How can we expand on that, and how can we expand on this idea of him being the grab Killer?’ One of the things that we did is, if you hit a Survivor with your projectile, you can chase them down, and you hit M1, and really, I mean, it’s a thematic thing. We’re basically just skipping a step. Normally, they would fall down, and you would pick them up, but we’re doing that all in one shot. You get in close, and you hit your basic attack, and Springtrap very violently grabs the axe, spins you around, you get a nice little jump scare animation, and then he’s carrying you.

The axe functions in a couple of different ways: He can disable cameras and doors and get a little bit of an AoE with stuff, but that’s all my tangents to describe the whole Power. We really did our best to be as authentic as possible when it came to both sides of the aisle, so to speak, when it comes to the Survivor experience of using these cameras and sneaking through these doors and seeing the security office and still being this menacing, lumbering beast. You can’t even call him a man or a robot. He’s a monster, right? We tried to be as authentic as possible in making him feel like he’s both pretty stompy and loud, but also can show up right behind you and – Boo! You know what I mean? [laughs].

It’s going to be really interesting to see Springtrap marry Five Nights at Freddy’s into Dead by Daylight itself. When you guys were coming up with ideas for Springtrap, was the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 movie something the team had to keep in consideration? Was Behaviour able to pull any elements from that film or the first film when creating its version of its character?

Richard: Great question, and the answer is no. Actually, it was all about, for us, the classic experience of the game, especially the first titles, that we wanted to recreate. We often go for that in Dead by Daylight, as you can see. We go for the classics. What creates a little bit of nostalgia as well, and then make it more modern, or whatever it requires to be in Dead by Daylight in today’s flavor. Of course, the movie was out, the first installment, and it is also based a lot on that aspect, with some changes, but we were really focused on the games.

So, at what point during conversations with Scott Cawthon, did you both say we’ve got to get Matthew Lillard in here for this?

Richard: It actually came directly from Scott. We had discussion about the different outfits that we could create for Springtrap. It’s a discussion we have with partners all the time, like, ‘What’s your comfort level? We want to respect that. Do you want us to create new outfits like the Blight, or do you want to keep to the specific? Do we have the rights to this and that,’ etc., and he actually suggested it. We were thinking, ‘We have to stick to the games,’ and he said, ‘Oh, we absolutely need the Yellow Rabbit from the movie. That would be awesome.’ Like, f**k yeah. Yeah, it would. Then having, on top of that, Matthew Lillard’s participation and being able to – I didn’t personally hang out with him – but part of the team did, and he’s just fantastic to work with. He’s done fantastic work on making this character alive in our game. It’s just awesome.

Guzzo: I mean, he’s an icon, right?

A horror icon in the game, portraying this massive character.

Richard: Yeah, I mean, if you if you squint… maybe you’re Shaggy [laughs].

Moving over to a different topic now, I’ve seen some express disappointment that this next Chapter doesn’t come with a Survivor. Can you talk about whether there were ever conversations about including a Survivor and why you ultimately chose not to include one this time around?

Richard: Yeah, absolutely. So, in early discussion in our planning, and how we wanted to tackle this Chapter and what we had access to when we started this, having a Survivor was, for many reasons, challenging and not a perfect fit that we wanted to make happen. So, yes, I understand the disappointment, like, 100%, but in our mind, we were in the first game, where, at that point in the story, security is anyone. It’s the player. It’s you, right?

We know that this evolves in the FNaF timeline to something else, but that’s kind of the vibe we’re going for. I’d like to say… maybe we’ll get the chance to do it eventually, or do something else. I definitely think that would be really cool, especially [knowing that] FNaF is vast. It’s a large franchise, and that’s something we’ve done before, with big licenses. We’ve done more content after the first release. So, maybe that would be a possibility. That’d be cool.

Dead by Daylight will let players freely run and hide around Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza restaurant. Without spoilers, can you talk about some of the details in the map that you’re proud of and excited to see players uncover in the PTB?

Richard: The map is truly amazing. It’s one of those buildings that we faithfully recreated, of course, in the metrics of Dead by Daylight. It’s comparable to [Raccoon City Police Station] as in it exists. It’s something that players already lived in some ways, without necessarily roaming around in that fashion. Being able to do so and to see that in the contemporary fashion and the DBD style is a lot of fun. We’ve packed it with surprise, and yeah, I’m not spoiling anything, but there’s a lot of you know hints about the lore of FNaF, about cool moments that happen. There are some extra jump scares in there. There’s a lot of a little surprises like this. You know, we aim to delight with this level of detail, and this one serves.

I saw Behaviour mention in another interview that it took some time to make the Five Nights at Freddy’s collaboration happen for so many different reasons. Part of what took so long involved a desire from both Cawthon and the Dead by Daylight team to establish what was important and how to please fans on both sides. Can you talk about what that process was like and which elements took the longest to nail down?

Richard: I can’t, I can’t answer this. I don’t have the knowledge of it. If [Game Director Mathieu Cote] was here, you would be able to say so. But usually, we don’t also talk about the process with partners.

This is the collaboration fans have wanted to see for so long. How do you feel about the reception so far, and what is it like for the team specifically to finally give this to players who have been asking for it?

Guzzo: What else can you say other than it’s amazing? Obviously, people are, I don’t want to say nervous, but there’s always a bit of trepidation when you work hard on something, and then you’re putting it out into the world. We all know people on the internet have opinions, but overall, we’re all really excited. We’ve been staring at this for, you know, 40-plus hours a week for almost a year, and we’ve played it to death. We’re just excited to, not necessarily even see how people feel about it, because, you know, you’re never going to make everybody happy, but more like, see how people explore it.

As a game designer, I like to approach my designs as like… I want to give you tools to play with and figure out and kind of make your own moment-to-moment. That’s a big thing that we talk about with DBD a lot – those moment-to-moment… moments. Those moments that you talk with your friends about. ‘Oh, do remember when that happened, and this happened,’ etc, etc. So, we really wanted to make sure that, like I said, with like the extra Survivor gameplay, we wanted to give players the tools to really have a lot of those super fun, cool moments and the jump scares and the laughs. That’s the best part; when we do a play test and I’m sitting and watching people play and they’re laughing and s**t-talking each other, that’s when I know I’ve succeeded, personally. As soon as people don’t talk about bugs or whatever, because, you know, bugs come up, and they’re just focused on having fun and laughing and calling each other names and everybody’s joking around… that’s when the magic happens.

It’s cool to see it internally, and then when we put it out there, go on Twitch or YouTube or whatever it is, and just watching people have those moments on kind of a much bigger scale. So yeah, the team is super excited, obviously. We’ve also been waiting to do this for 10 years, right? It’s not just the community that’s been waiting for it. We’ve been waiting to do it. So, it’s cool that we’re finally able to do it, and we can kind of bring that to the community.

Richard: I’ve been there a little bit longer, obviously, on the project, and I was talking with other colleagues yesterday, and they actually asked a similar question. They’re like, ‘Well, OK, so now you’ve done it. What’s next? Is this the top?’ Then, I was reflecting, I’m like, ‘Well, pretty much every Chapter we do in, the latest and greatest is the most important thing we’re working on.’ I understand that FNaF is huge, and it’s been highly requested, and after it, there’s going to be a new top request, and there’s still a lot of universes to explore. Either they’re original or they’re licenses, so this will happen again. We’re definitely not done.

When did Five Nights at Freddy’s first come up as a topic for you guys, where you said ‘We’d love to have this in Dead by Daylight.’

Richard: For me, I wouldn’t be able to target the year exactly, but I didn’t know Markiplier, and I was actually… this is a long story. I’m going to try and make it short. So, I wasn’t watching a lot of streamers, and a colleague just said, ‘Oh, you should look at the videos that Markiplier does. He’s really funny.’ Of course, I watched FNaF videos, and this is where I actually learned a lot about FNaF, that I was really interested in the franchise, that I learned about Markiplier. I had a lot of fun with it, and it triggered this idea, and this want. Then it really solidified when the community started asking for it.

So, it wasn’t even necessarily like everybody was clamoring for Five Nights at Freddy’s. It almost started just from organically seeing Markiplier.

Richard: I have to say that this is a very personal view on the matter. Of course, what I do on the project, I look around on anything horror to get inspired by it. So, I can’t say that when I saw Markiplier play, it was like, ‘Yes, this needs to be in DBD, and the power should be like that.’ Absolutely not because it was very early on, and DBD at that point was… what’s the word. We were less on the team, and of course, big things like FNaF were not necessarily as possible, but when it crystallized into something that we needed to do, it definitely was because the community was asking for it. Yes.

Is there a crossover that members of the Dead by Daylight team would love to see happen? NO restraints.

Richard: There’s a few that Mathieu Cote already said that we like to say because they’re kind of obvious. You know, Pennywise would be amazing. There are other kings of horror that would be amazing to have. You could guess any one of them, I’m thinking. Frankly, I just want to collect them all.

Guzzo: Dave treats DBD like Pokémon [laughs]. Just to be clear, this isn’t a hint about something that is being worked on. As far as I know, it’s not something that is being discussed above me, but my dream – and probably my favorite horror movie – is the obvious one: The Thing. I would love to get The Thing into DBD. I have been here for two and a half years, and I have been on a crusade to figure out how to get The Thing into DBD.

It has a lot of potential design problems. It’s an internal thing of trying to figure out how to make that character work, but yes, that would be my… I don’t want to say my dream Chapter because every Chapter has been a dream so far. I got to do Chucky and Dracula and Springtrap. I don’t know who on this team gets to talk about being on some of the biggest licenses on the planet, but The Thing is the one that I am on a crusade to get done at some point.

Richard: That’s really cool. Yeah, it’d be a nice one. The other ones that we always share, too… they could be mostly a joke, but I think there’s a way to make it work, especially now in the timeline: Cujo. Christine.

A popular theory floating around about an upcoming Chapter involves some faded letters on a recent roadmap you published. Have you seen this theory floating around, and is there any chance we could get you to comment on it?

Richard: I haven’t seen it. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about the upcoming PTB, Five Nights at Freddy’s, or the future of Dead by Daylight?

Richard: So many things. Jason, I’ll let you start. It’s your baby.

Guzzo: We love this game. We love the franchise. If you love FNaF, we want you to feel welcome to coming into DBD and seeing what we have to offer. I’m going to be honest: It might not be the Chapter that you think it is. I think it being so requested and so loved by the community for so long that there have been… trust me, I did the research, there is a lot of really interesting and cool community concepts on how we could have done FNaF.

Richard: And we can only do one.

Guzzo: And we can only do one, and obviously I’m not just going to be like, ‘Oh, this guy, JoeSmith123 on Reddit has a really good idea, let’s just steal that.’ It might not be the Chapter you expected, but know that we went in not just to make something that, like, ‘Oh this is like the big one. We’re going to sell a million – a billion billion billion copies of this DLC,’ or whatever. We went in wanting to be as authentic as possible and, with Survivors having a little bit extra gameplay in this Chapter, we really wanted to make sure we were authentic to the franchise but also honor the community of that game, and make sure they understand that, when you come to DBD, you might recognize the faces, but you’re going to get a new experience.

I hope everybody likes it. I genuinely do. I don’t do this because it’s an easy job. I don’t do this because it’s glamorous – although I get to do an interview with IGN, I guess that’s pretty glamorous to be honest [laughs] in terms of being a game dev – but I do it because I love horror. I’ve been a horror fan my whole life. Working on a horror game is very literally a dream come true, even though, as mentioned before, I don’t really like playing scary games because I’m a big baby, but I love working on them and I love the genre. I try to watch new horror movies two or three times I week, and my wife has to also watch them, too bad for her [laughs]. Just understand that this is coming from a place of love and a place of respect as much as possible. I hope everybody loves it. I hope everybody loves playing it as much as I loved working on it. I think that’s the best way I can put it.

Richard: Good stuff.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Cronenbergian bear mutator Winnie’s Hole gets a Steam demo

You may remember that in January of 2022, A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-pooh stories entered the public domain, inspiring deeply crap ideas like “what if children’s character but knives?” in the case of Blood And Honey , and “what if children’s character but mildly naughty word?“, in the case of smirking billboardian human doppelganger Ryan Reynolds. Videogames were not immune. “What if children’s character but Cronenbergian body horror?” asked the developers of Winnie’s Hole when they announced a roguelike dungeon crawler based on the bear in 2023, and there’s now a Steam demo available, should you wish to scoop up honey with arms-where-no-arms-should-rightly-be.

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