If you’ve been hankering for a return to Tony Hawk’s Underground, you’re not alone — Tony himself is “campaigning” for a remake, too.
“I always have aspirations,” Hawk told ScreenRant. “It’s not up to me generally. I’ll campaign all I can, but I’m working with a much bigger company that’s a lot smarter than me.”
Asked if Activision had given any indication of what may be next once Pro Skate 3 + 4 is released, Hawk kept his cards close to his chest, replying: “We haven’t even released this game [yet]!”
Tony Hawk’s Underground released way back in 2003, getting an impressive 9.2 review score from us at the time due to its “virtually flawless” level design and “stellar gameplay.” For the first time ever in the series, it gave us the chance to get off our boards and explore the expansive levels on foot.
“In a time where it seems like every game from the early 2000’s is getting a modern facelift, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is shaping up to be a welcome addition to a year full of excellent remakes and remasters,” we wrote in IGN’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 first impressions preview.
“From its faithful recreation of what made the PS2-era classics so memorable, to its modern quality of life improvements, excellent soundtrack, and overall love letter to the series’ early days, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is very much something that should be on your radar if you’re a fan of skateboarding, enjoy action sports games, or just want to play something that’s simple and fun. It might be the easiest kickflip you’ll land this year.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Ahoy, consumer of PC games! I fear that Void War may be highly relevant to your statistically determined interests. It’s a space combat game in which you steer ancient, crenellated starships through a frightful cosmos of blood cultists, imperial zealots, and ravening corsairs. You will warp from node to node on a roguelite system map, with each node harbouring battles, story encounters, and the occasional friendly or at least, not immediately hostile face such as a merchant.
Fast forward to 2025, and Druckmann has been “bootcamp-ing” Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet’s Tati Gabrielle on The Last of Us Part 2 online hate that occurred five years ago in preparation for what might be coming as a result of simply playing the protagonist in Naughty Dog’s upcoming video game.
Naughty Dog revealed Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet at The Game Awards 2024. It features a star-studded cast that includes Tati Gabrielle from the Uncharted movie as protagonist Jordan A. Mun, and Kumail Nanjiani of Marvel’s Eternals as a man called Colin Graves.
In a March interview with Alex Garland, the writer of zombie movie 28 Days Later, Druckmann talked candidly about the development process, confirming Intergalactic had been in the works for four years already.
“I joke about this with the team. We made a game, The Last of Us 2, we made certain creative decisions that got us a lot of hate. A lot of people love it, but a lot of people hate that game,” Druckmann said, to which Garland joked: “Who gives a shit?”
“Exactly,” Druckmann added. “But the joke is like, you know what, let’s do something that people won’t care as much about — let’s make a game about faith and religion.”
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet takes place in an alternate historical timeline and features a “pretty prominent religion,” too, which has “changed and bastardized and evolved” over the years.
“This whole religion takes place on this one planet, and then at one point, all communication stops,” Druckmann teased. “And you’re playing a bounty hunter that’s chasing her bounty, and she crash lands on this planet.
“So many of the previous games we’ve done, there’s always, like, an ally with you,” he said. “I really want you to be lost in a place that you’re really confused about what happened here, who are the people here, what was their history. And in order to get off this planet — again, no one has been heard from this planet for 600 years or so — if you ever have hoped to have a chance to get off, you have to figure out what happened here.”
Now, speaking to Entertainment Weekly as part of promotion of The Last of Us Season 2, Gabrielle revealed Druckmann’s preparation as she begins life as not just a movie and TV star, but a video game star.
“Neil’s been bootcamp-ing me,” she said. “I know Troy’s experience, I know Ashley’s experience… I know Laura Bailey’s experience.”
As EW pointed out, Bailey endured online hate simply because she played the character Abby, who kills Joel. Gabrielle has also received racist and misogynistic online hate following the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet reveal, she said.
“I got a lot of love, but there was a lot of hate over me being a woman, me being a woman of color, me having my head shaved, all these things that I didn’t even actually initially see — I’m out of the social media zeitgeist for that reason — but once I did, Neil was like, ‘Ignore it. No matter what, me and you, we’re going to make something beautiful. We’re going to make something that we’re proud of.'”
Gabrielle said that because she is entering the world of video games for the first time, she is trying to prepare herself as best as possible.
“This is a world — video games — that I’ve never stepped into before. So I don’t want to put one thing in my mind of expecting it’s going to be this way and then it’s not, and then I’m unprepared or take it too lightly,” she says.
Gabrielle also briefly touched on the theme of faith, which Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will revolve around.
“The question of faith is not black and white,” she said. “When you initially think of faith, you think of religion, which is a part of it, but there’s also faith in oneself. There’s faith in your environment or your community. All that faith means is, what are your beliefs? What are the things that you hope for? Faith sounds flowery, but we all experience it day in and day out. What is your reason for waking up?”
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is not expected to release until 2027 at the earliest. It’s a pretty long wait, but speaking to IGN on the red carpet ahead of The Last of Us Season 2 premiere, Druckmann said that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is not only playable right now, but “really good.”
“I will say we are playing it at the office and it’s incredible,” Druckmann teased. “It’s really good. I’m so excited to finally put gameplay out into the world and show people about it, because we just showed you the very, very, very tip on the iceberg. The game goes pretty deep beyond that.”
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.
I couldn’t offer many Steam Deck-specific insights in my look at Doom: The Dark Ages’ PC performance last week, because a crashing issue was inconsiderately – dare I say, rudely – blocking me from even reaching the main menu. Over the weekend, however, a purpose-built SteamOS Preview update stepped in, making the brawly sci-fantasy shooter playable on the handheld. Just in time for its launch on the 15th, no less.
I’ll confess that as I set about parrying imps between my plastic-calloused fingers, the “playable” part was still dropping minor bombshells. My main complaint with how The Dark Ages runs on desktops is the mandatory ray tracing effects that have, compared to the hardly much uglier Doom Eternal, slowed it right down. The Steam Deck can run many things, but it usually reacts to traced rays by curling up and sobbing until they go away. Still, maybe I should have had more faith in the series that essentially brought functional RT effects to the Deck in the first place, as this most recent, most demanding instalment can still run around a playable 30fps. Without resorting to its lowest settings, too.
The first Please, Touch The Artwork was a stylish puzzler inspired by Piet Mondrian and De Styjl, the Dutch abstract art movement that reached its height around a century ago. We enjoyed Belgian dev Thomas Waterzooi’s cracking little curio immensely back in 2022, and this follow-up (which has been available elsewhere since February 2024) focuses on Belgian painter James Ensor. It’s a decidedly simpler composition, but one that carries through the first game’s humour and low-stakes, gallery vibes.
Described in the PR blurb as “‘Where’s Waldo’ meets Modern Art”, there’s a touch of Python in the animation and sound effects of this “cosy hidden-object adventure”. Split into six short chapters, you control a well-attired, genteel skeleton risen from the grave to wander Ensor’s paintings collecting items at the behest of the artist’s subjects.
Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 will be hadouken-ing its way into an anime this year. Kadokawa recently revealed a teaser trailer for Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, an anime adaptation of Eri Ejima’s manga of the same name.
The story is set in Kuromi Girls’ Academy, an exclusive school for rich kids which aims to produce refined young ladies. Gaining entry to the prestigious institution on a scholarship is main character Aya Mitsuki, who has played fighting games since elementary school. She soon becomes fascinated by beautiful and graceful fellow student Mio Yorue, nicknamed Shirayuri (white lily). However, appearances can be deceptive, as beneath her elegant exterior, Mio is a tough-talking button-mashing gamer! Will a mutual love of fighting games result in a deeper relationship between the girls?
📰(NEW) Seinen Anime ‘Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games’ Promotional Teaser featuring Street Fighter 6!pic.twitter.com/MAVLSBiWGW
In the original manga, the characters played a fictional fighting game, however, with Capcom’s sponsorship of the anime, it seems like they will be battling it out in Street Fighter 6. Interestingly, FAV Gaming (Kadokawa’s professional esports team) is credited in the trailer for collaborating on recording.
The anime of Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games is due out sometime in 2025. If you are interested in catching up with the story before then, Seven Seas have already released the manga in English.
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.
Our regular PC game round-up column underwent further mysterious ructions during my absence last week, when substitute news chief Brendy introduced a list format with subheadings. I can only assume he had been driven mad by terror of being eaten by the Maw. Regardless, I will trust his instincts and follow in his footsteps. Here’s what’s coming down the pipe this week.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is packed with spooky stuff — skeletons, spirits, and even zombies — but no-one can remember seeing this ‘ghost horse’ in either the original 2006 game or this 2025 remaster.
“So I was crafting stupid spells in Frostcrag Spire, as it’s possibly my favourite way to have fun in this game, however this time when I left the Cosy Chaos Spire that has divided this community so very much I noticed something suuuuuuper strange in the distance,” TaricIsNotASupport began.
“I did as any of us of the right mind would do and B-lined it over there like a maniac. To my amazement was this spectral horse with no name.
“I have played thousands of hours of the original Oblivion — and have already sunken over a hundred hours into the Remaster — yet this is the first I have ever seen this horse.
“I don’t know if it’s something new that’s been added, or if I’ve just missed out on it before and never knew.”
TaricIsNotASupport then called on the community to help them work out what had happened here, which sparked something of a ghost hunt online, with players searching through the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages website for any word of a spectral mount in the original Oblivion. So far, nothing.
Could it be a mod? TaricIsNotASupport followed up their post to say they are playing on PlayStation 5, where mods are unavailable. TaricIsNotASupport also posted a clip of their character riding the horse. Despite its non-corporeal form, it appears this horse is very much present and correct, and works how any other horse would in Oblivion. “He fast travels and even gets stabled!” TaricIsNotASupport said. “By all accounts it’s now my steed!”
Some are suggesting this ghost horse is the result of a glitch, perhaps caused by a spell gone horribly wrong. Bethesda games are known for their bugs (in fact one is making the camera break the longer you play the game), and maybe this ghost horse is another to add to the list.
“Very weird, the wiki says there’s only 2 unique horses, Shadowmere and unicorns,” ClaymoreBeatz commented. “And there’s no horse mods that I can see that do this so I highly doubt your [sic] lying about not being on PC, this is probably some sort of glitch that the new Remastered has or glitched magical effect. Armored horses names change to Armored horse I think so maybe it’s an Armored horse that got hit by a spell and now its name and spell effect is glitched.”
Others are wondering whether the developers at Bethesda and Virtuos might have added this ghost horse to the game as a spooky secret for players to discover in Oblivion Remastered. This seems less likely, although it is a fun thought because if it’s true, then what other secrets might be hidden within the ramaster?
There are plenty of players who want to work out how to replicate the steed so they can have a ghost horse for themselves. Again, there doesn’t appear to be any particular process TaricIsNotASupport used to spawn it, at least none so far discovered.
In lieu of an in-game name, TaricIsNotASupport has called their Oblivion ghost horse ‘Spookmane,’ which I think is a wonderful effort. TaricIsNotASupport has pledged to continue their adventure with Spookmane by their side. Perhaps this is a one-off, perhaps it’s a secret, perhaps it’s a bug. Either way, Spookmane has captured the attention — and maybe even a few hearts — of the Oblivion community and its fans.
“This creature might be my favourite new friend I’ve made,” TaricIsNotASupport said. “Spookmane, you’re glorious and I love you.”
Oblivion Remastered, developed by remake specialist Virtuos using Unreal Engine 5, has a long list of visual and feature improvements. It runs at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, as you’d expect, but other changes are more meaningful. Everything from the leveling systems to character creation, and combat animations to in-game menus have been improved. Meanwhile, there’s lots of new dialogue, a proper third-person view, and new lip sync technology. The changes are going down well with fans, some of whom believe Oblivion Remastered would be more accurately described as a remake. Bethesda, however, has explained why it went down the remaster route.
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.
Among the first terrain fixtures you discover on Dune: Awakening‘s Arrakis are moisture seals: puffy wads of fabric that fill cave entrances to create makeshift microclimates, where travellers can escape the constant threat of dehydration. Awakening’s moisture seal are, in practice, the paper lid on a tube of wilderness Pringles: poke through with your dagger to find resources and the occasional hostile NPC. But what if you could place your own moisture seals, rather than just tearing open the ones left by NPCs? I’d love to play a game in which you are constantly reading the barren landscape for the shallowest of shady depressions that can be plugged and converted into shelters. Think of the attentiveness it might teach, the sensitivity to the geometry of a world that can drain your O2 bar dry in moments.
