Author: Game Infliction

Blue Protocol may have been shut down last year, but it lives on in a new form now with Blue Protocol: Star Resonance. Publisher A Plus unveiled the new MMORPG today, and it’s set for launch sometime in 2025.

Blue Protocol: Star Resonance is an anime-inspired MMORPG, with action combat and an open world to explore, targeting PC on both Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as iOS and Android. Currently, the game is set to launch in Europe, North America, and Latin America sometime in 2025.

Per Gematsu, Blue Protocol: Star Resonance was previously only announced for China. It was licensed to Bokura, the developer, after the closure of Blue Protocol and picked up some members of the original team in the process. Now, Star Resonance looks to be heading to new territories.

You’d be forgiven for thinking Blue Protcol: Star Resonance is the original Blue Protocol, as the gameplay and world look very similar. The original Blue Protocol was a collaboration between Amazon Games and Bandai Namco. The MMORPG went live in Japan and was planned for a worldwide release. IGN even previewed it in 2023, calling it “gorgeous” and “cool.”

Then in 2024, Bandai Namco announced it was cancelling the worldwide launch and would discontinue service for Blue Protocol by January 18, 2025.

“We have enjoyed a strong relationship with Amazon Games throughout the development of Blue Protocol, and both of our teams are disappointed that we will not be able to deliver the game to players around the world,” Bandai Namco said in a statement at the time. “We have worked hard to prepare for the release; however, we have come to the conclusion that it will not be possible to provide a service that satisfies all of you.”

Cut to now, and Blue Protocol: Star Resonance bears all the hallmarks of Blue Protocol. There’s the anime-inspired aesthetic, action combat, character customization, and community events. This, in essence, may just be the return of Blue Protocol for those who were interested in seeing it arrive in the west.

While this news might feel like seeing the ghost of old games past, it might be some good news for anyone who didn’t get the chance to try Blue Protocol before its closure. Maybe the second time’s the charm? We’ll know for sure when Blue Protocol: Star Resonance arrives sometime this year.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Atlus has revealed its free-to-play spinoff, Persona5: The Phantom X, is coming to PC and mobile devices June 26, 2025.

The Persona series developer announced a release date for its latest Persona 5 spinoff with an hour-long breakdown video today. It’s being developed as part of a collaboration between Atlus, Sega, and Perfect World and reintroduces players to the Phantom Thieves along with new faces, too.

Japanese and English versions of Persona5: The Phantom X will launch simultaneously next month, but this scaled-down story from the Persona 5 universe isn’t completely new. It was announced in 2023 and originally launched in China in 2024. The live-service title’s developers have continued to iron out the kinks since then, and now, it’s finally ready to reach new audiences.

“Encompassed in the unique turn-based RPG gameplay and setting of Persona 5, players will lead a double life as a student and a Phantom Thief with a brand-new protagonist and band of Phantom Thieves,” an official description from Atlus says. “During the day, players will build up life experience as a student and engage in various activities such as hanging out with your friends and part time jobs, while at night, they will sneak into the cognitive dungeons to steal Treasures and change the twisted desires of corrupt adults!”

If you’re a Persona 5 fan, you’ll be happy to know The Phantom X still features that game’s stylish turn-based gameplay. Players can also look forward to exploring jobs and extracurricular activities while enjoying new mini-games unique to this specific entry. Atlus wants you to know this is a tried-and-true Persona experience, as it confirms its involvement in writing and supervising some of the original side stories the game offers.

Persona5: The Phantom X will be viewed through the eyes of an entirely new protagonist as well as a new collection of Phantom Thieves, but Joker and other original Phantom Thieves members will show up via special contracts, too. Players will also be free to take advantage of new modes, including a PvE mode called The Velvet Trials as well as new Mementos and a new Guild feature.

“However, one regret we have is that we had to take this long to be able to announce a Western release,” Sega’s Jun Matsunaga said during the video presentation, “and we’re very sorry to our Western fans for keeping them in the dark for so long. As we know, this game was originally developed by Perfect World in China. When we first started to plan for a global release, for a series like Persona that is very popular in the West, we wanted to make sure that for a Western release, everything in the game from the setting to the tone of story matched the standard Western fans had for a Persona game.”

Persona 5 launched all the way back in 2016 and has received a plethora of spinoffs since. These include crossovers with other titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as standalone experiences, such as Persona 5 Strikers, Persona 5 Tactica, and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight. We’ve heard little about what a potential Persona 6 might entail, but you can still read up on everything we know about it here.

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).

The wait is over, as Doom: The Dark Ages is now available to play. If you haven’t picked up the game yet, we’ve got even better news: It’s already on sale for Xbox and PC so you can save some cash before jumping in. Fanatical and GMG are offering a nice little discount on it right now for PC players (17% off down to $58.09) while Newegg is offering an Xbox digital code for $10 off with promo code EPESA522 (dropping it to $59.99).

No better time than now to pick up the shield and start bashing your way through the armies of Hell. Head to the links below to take advantage of these deals while they’re still available.

Doom: The Dark Ages PC Deal

Extraction shooters are, at this point, a dime a dozen. And for my money, you’ve got to really do something different to stand out in that increasingly crowded genre. That’s why I was eager to meet up with a couple of developers from the team at Good Fun Corporation so they could show me Hunger, their upcoming zombie-tastic Unreal Engine 5-powered first-person action-RPG that utilizes an extraction loop.

Yes, the developers specifically phrased it that way, as they seemingly aren’t looking to be thought of as just another extraction shooter. And in fairness to them, based on what I saw of an impressive early build (the team’s Early Access launch is still far enough away that they weren’t comfortable giving me an on-the-record release window quite yet), Hunger is going to be anything but another generic extraction shooter in the Steam pile.

Two things about Hunger piqued my interest immediately: its visual aesthetic and its actual visuals. Starting with the former, game director Maximilian Rea described Hunger’s look as “Renaissance gothic,” which seems like a fair way to sum it up. As you can see in the videos and screenshots in this article, Hunger mixes first-gen firearms with brutal melee weapons inside of filthy lived-in towns and glorious castles. And then, in terms of raw graphics, the foliage, lighting, and texture detail are all absolutely stunning. This is easily one of the best uses of Unreal Engine 5 I’ve seen so far.

But, you might ask, how does it actually play? Sadly I can’t answer that quite yet, as my demo was just a hands-off first look, but it does seem built to last. In short, the team tells me, they’re aiming for the simplicity of ARC Raiders with the complexity of Escape From Tarkov. You begin in the Outer Ramparts, a social, violence-free hub within the Chateau where other players and NPCs alike roam. Like Destiny, you can switch to third-person perspective here if you like (though in proper combat, you’ll always be in first-person). Here you can shop with Piro, a quirky shopkeeper who wears a weird metal mask and offers items up for sale on a tray that’s worn around his neck as if he’s some cigarette girl from the 1920’s. Or you can add or remove items from your stash by checking in with Louis, the Stashmaster who also doles out the occasional quest. Reynauld, meanwhile, is the Expedition Master. He’s missing parts of a couple fingers, indicating that he’s tussled with the zombies at least once, and talking to him queues you into an expedition (i.e. a raid).

The initial Early Access release will have three maps: Jacques Bridge, Sombre Forest, and Sarlat Farm. Each is one square kilometer, and each one has a big dungeon beneath it as well. Expect six weather varieties per map, including noon (clear), noon (fog), sunset, and sunrise. More dynamic stuff will be added post-release. Rea explained that they’re aiming for 50-60 hours of content here, and then you unlock the Cauldron, a new area of the Chateau. You will learn your profession there. There are six professions: three gathering (like Scavenging, which means you’re a purveyor of metals and materials; a Conservator who finds mechanisms and trinkets to make tools or guns; and the Naturalist, who gathers herbs and spices to make food, drinks, and medicine) and three crafting (examples here include Metallurgy, Gunsmithing, and Cooking). You can have two professions at a time.

The story of this map is that there was civil conflict when The End – the bacteria that led to the Hunger – began. As you play, there’s lore to find and extract with. Missives and Maps, as examples of this, are Common, Rare, or Legendary. And if you extract with a Missive you can read it back in the Chateau and get a quest’s worth of XP, and once you’ve found everything you can read the whole story of the game. The developers also plan to tell the story through NPC dialogue. “We try to infuse every aspect of the game with story,” Rea told me.

The Hunger all have different qualities and aspects, which means that going melee-only has the advantage of letting you be silent. Shooting, on the other hand, makes noise and invites more Hunger. The Bloater, as an example of one such Hunger, is a blob-like thing that explodes into a cloud of poisonous gas. Shambler hits, meanwhile, cause bleed damage.

There are a whopping 33 weapons between melee and ranged, from daggers, pistols, and rifles to maces and primitive machine guns. You can find exotic ammo for the guns that add additional damage effects to the bullets. And yes, there will be dedicated PvP experiences if you need to scratch that itch. Furthermore, there’s a Mastery Tree, and as you level up from 10-100 you get a mastery point. This includes four trees: Physiology, Survival, Martial, and Cunning, and the developers hope this ensures there are multiple ways to progress through the game besides PvP.

In fact, you can play solo or in duos if you want as well. “Being a solo or duo player isn’t a death sentence,” Rea said. “In fact it’s one of the quickest ways to progress in the game.” You’ll also unlock progression cosmetics as well when you level up, kill bosses, etc. And yes, there are cosmetics for every weapon and bag.

Hunger won’t be free-to-play, which hopefully helps ensure its design principles won’t be compromised by pay-to-win nonsense, and there definitely won’t be any battle passes. They did mention a “Support the Developers” edition that would include extra cosmetics for whatever it ends up priced at above the $30 the team is aiming for on the standard edition.

As to how long a session might last, Rea suggested that the low end of an expedition might be 30-35 minutes, hopefully ensuring that Hunger is an easy game to jump in for a little while with at night with friends, and then go to bed feeling accomplished and not feeling guilty for having hopped off of some live-service hamster wheel. If and when you die, everything you do contributes to XP gains, so the goal is for you to never have a pointless session. “If they’ve played for an hour, we want them to feel like they’ve meaningfully moved the ball forward for their character,” Rea said.

Hunger might still be a ways away, but from what I’ve already seen, it looks like the team – who also made Hell Let Loose – is cooking up something unique and worth keeping an eye on. We’ll have more on Hunger on IGN as development progresses.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.