Author: Game Infliction

The 15-person team behind Tales of Kenzera: ZAU was recently put on notice, following struggles to find funding for their next project. But Surgent Studios isn’t shutting down, its staff aren’t gone forever, and it’s not asleep at the wheel, according to its founder, Abubakar Salim.

They are, he says, “literally raring” to go the second money comes in, like a “cocked gun.”

“We still have so much more to say and so much more to build on,” Salim tells IGN. “And the audiences that we’ve already started to build as well, and the players and the people who want to champion us, they want to hear more…We are ready. We’re so ready. It is just about taking that leap of faith with us.”

Leap of Faith

So what’s the leap of faith? It’s called Project Uso, and it’s a single-player, isometric, Afro-gothic action RPG. You play as a vampiric android containing the spirit of Eshu, the Yoruba god of chaos. As Salim explains, the idea is to explore the idea of two minds in one body through the mechanics of tabletop RPGs. But rather than rolling against a dungeon master, in Project Uso, the player sometimes must roll against themselves.

Project Uso is about the concept of identity, with Uso meaning “face” in Swahili. It’s inspired by Salim’s exploration of his own dual nature in the wake of his daughter’s birth. While ZAU was about who he is without a parent, Salim says that Uso is about asking who he is as a parent.

“As a parent, I always used to find myself being like, I love my daughter, cleaning her dirty nappy. I also want to go see my mates to the cinema, go outside with my mates or whatever. You know what I mean? There’s a battle of freedoms here. And there’s that sense of, do I do this or do I do that? Or even when I’m talking to my daughter and I’m making choices, how do I make sure that she listens to me? Am I strict or am I soft? You are having this battle within you.”

Salim is candid that he’s relatively new to game development. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU was the first game he’s made, having come into the industry from acting. He’s best known in gaming spaces as Bayek in Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and has held a number of other gaming roles since then in addition to his numerous film and TV acting credits (including the most recent season of House of the Dragon). But the last four years of working on ZAU have been a learning experience for him, particularly in how games are typically funded.

“What I’ve learned is that mainly when you get funding for a game, that funding is really there to get you to launch and maybe just a bit more after,” he says. “Maybe. And you are supposed to have your next project turned up and done and signed either before you’ve even launched the first game or maybe just afterwards. That gap in between is frightening because you can see that coming like a train.”

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this, he explains. While gaming companies briefly poured funding into new projects, there’s been an industry-wide wake-up call in the last two years resultings in mass layoffs, financial struggles, and funding drying up. As a result, Salim explains that companies have become far more cautious in the bets they’re willing to make on new games. That includes EA, whose EA Originals label published Tales of Kenzera: ZAU but which hasn’t picked up Salim’s next project.

Salim says he understands, but doesn’t agree that it’s the best strategy. On the contrary, he thinks now is the time for companies to take risks.

“Why would I, as a player of Call of Duty or as Fortnite, want to leave that to go to something new when I’ve already established myself in this space?” he says. “I totally understand that. It’s like going to your favorite cafe or going to your favorite restaurant. The way that you entice people to go to somewhere different and somewhere new is by doing something different or something new, by being bold, by being creative.

“I think a great example of this is Animal Well. You look at Animal Well and it’s completely unexpected. You didn’t know what you were getting into. And that was a risk that was taken by a YouTuber. I think we need to see more of that from people in positions of power and in positions of stability.”

Bouncing Back

Surgent Studios and Salim have had a rough time finding funding for Project Uso, but there’s been another layer to their struggles: harassment. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU has found itself the target of ongoing, racist attacks online, largely targeting the game for its Black protagonist and its Bantu inspirations. But none of this has discouraged Salim from pitching Project Uso. On the contrary, he’s of the belief that it’s important to address such attacks directly.

“I think that the anti-diversity, equity, inclusion sort of movement, it’s about not having the right information,” he says. “I think we are seeing a lot of gaps being filled with conspiracy theories, like ticking boxes and all this sort of stuff, which isn’t actually true when you look into it. And that dialogue needs to happen.”

Salim acknowledges that directly speaking with harassers can be dangerous, and isn’t for everyone. Both parties, he says, have to come to the discussion in good faith, and harassers often don’t. But he believes such engagement can change hearts and minds, and is worth doing for those able. And on a higher level, he adds, companies have a responsibility to take even firmer action against harassment.

“There is definitely a fear of having a stance, I feel, when it comes to businesses. They kind of want to be neutral, which again, totally understand. But there is a level where it goes a bit too far…We’re in a time right now where someone can post a YouTube video and say my garb is like a Rafiki outfit and call my studio Spear-Chucker Studios, and I don’t know whether there’s going to be repercussions or not. I have to call them out on it. And it’s like, come on. It should be down to the [company], be it YouTube, or be it Twitch, or be it even Valve, for example, to be like, ‘Yeah, that’s not cool. Get out.’”

Though Surgent Studios is currently in a holding pattern with Project Uso, Salim has faith that the industry will bounce back from its rough patch, and he’ll bounce back with them. He believes that while video games are both art and business, they are art first and foremost, and “the arts always survive.”

“The beauty though, about games, I feel, is that the conversation and dialogue is a lot more open,” he says. “And so I feel that bouncing back can happen sooner and bolder and more brilliant than any other art form. And that’s what gets me, that’s what inspires me. That’s what kind of drives me to continue going on even after everything that’s happened. Because it’s a beautiful space to be in. It really is. And don’t get me wrong, the amount of times I’ve wanted to be like, ‘I should just stay as an actor, man. I’m in a big TV show. I should just be really comfortable here and just doing my thing here.’ But there is something inside me that just says, ‘Nah, man, I wouldn’t be happy. That’s just not enough.’”

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has confirmed what graphical enhancements the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game has received in time for the launch of the PlayStation 5 Pro.

Larian said it’s tweaked the game’s Quality and Performance modes “to achieve crisp console visuals without sacrificing smooth performance.”

“Tinker away in the settings to find the perfect array of pixels for you!” the studio added.

On PS5 Pro, Quality mode runs at a native 4K resolution and 30 frames per second, whereas Performance mode upscales from 1440p to 2160p 60fps. Meanwhile, split-screen on the PS5 Pro will now offer either 30fps or 60fps depending on whether you’re using Quality or Performance mode.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is of particular interest when it comes to PS5 Pro given the game’s early performance troubles on the base PS5. Act 3 in particular, with its dense city area filled with NPCs, caused the game’s framerate to struggle. Performance has improved with various updates, but clearly the PS5 Pro will be the platform of choice when it comes to console.

Alongside Baldur’s Gate 3’s PS5 Pro update is a “quick” multiplayer fix, detailed in the patch notes below:

Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5 Pro patch and multiplayer fix:

IMPROVEMENTS

• On PS5 Pro, Quality mode now runs at native 4K (2160p) 30fps.
• On PS5 Pro, Performance mode will upscale from 1440p to 2160p 60fps.
• Split screen on the PS5 Pro will now offer either 30fps or 60fps depending on whether you’re using Quality or Performance mode.

CRASHES AND BLOCKERS

• Fixed an issue on PS5 preventing you from downloading or subscribing to mods when loading into another player’s multiplayer game with mods enabled.

Larian has of course said it’s moving on from Baldur’s Gate and the world of Dungeons & Dragons to develop something entirely new. However, it continues to update Baldur’s Gate 3, and has teased more patches to come.

The $700 PS5 Pro launches today, November 7, and there is a long list of games with enhancements for the mid-gen upgrade. Check out IGN’s PS5 Pro review for more.

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.

It’s a big day for No Man’s Sky thanks to the launch of cross-save support, the release of PS5 Pro footage, and the return of the Normandy from Mass Effect.

Following hot on the heels of the Halloween-themed The Cursed update, Hello Games’ long-running space sim finally has cross-save support on all platforms, a feature the developer said had been years in the making. “This has been a huge undertaking, and is one of most requested features,” Hello Games said.

“Being able to jump seamlessly between platforms is really transformative. Players can play from the comfort of their sofa on console, continue an Expedition on the move with Switch or Steam Deck, build an incredible base on their beefy PC rig, and view it in incredibly immersive Virtual Reality.”

No Man’s Sky now supports cross-play and cross-save between a huge number of platforms including PC, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S, Game Pass, GOG, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, PlayStation VR 1 and 2, and PCVR.

“Adding the ability to transfer saves between platforms via a server is especially difficult for No Man’s Sky, as the work involved increases with each platform supported and how long folks have already been playing for,” Hello Games continued. “Both those numbers are large for our tiny team.

“It’s very common for players to rack up thousands of hours of saves exploring across space, building elaborate bases and cataloging their discoveries, with incredibly detailed saves. Adding cross-save for us is a little bit like moving house, the longer people have lived there the more complicated it is to move them! We also have players who played once at launch, eight years ago, suddenly loading up that save on a platform that didn’t even exist back then!

“For these reasons we have secretly been introducing the technology for this update for over six months. We are now ready to start rolling cross-save out to a small number of players.”

From today, No Man’s Sky all players can link their different accounts together at https://cloud.nomanssky.com/cross-save. A subset of players will be enabled to then select their saves from multiple devices on the in-game save screen. In the coming weeks all players will be invited to do so, Hello Games added.

Moving on to today’s launch of PS5 Pro and No Man’s Sky’s support for the $700 mid-gen upgrade, Hello Games said users can expect PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) to provide 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. No Man’s Sky is also an early supporter of 8K resolution, running at 30 frames per second.

Check out No Man’s Sky running on PS5 Pro in the video below:

“As well as a much sharper resolution at higher framerates, the increased power of the PS5 Pro has enabled us to ramp up the graphical quality across the board,” Hello Games explained.

“Players on PS5 Pro will see improved lighting, with ultra quality reflections and higher quality ambient occlusion in all modes. Explore the most beautiful and detailed alien worlds No Man’s Sky has to offer, for the first time on console.” All these improvements are also coming to PSVR2, Hello Games added.

And finally, the Normandy from Mass Effect returns to No Man’s Sky as part of BioWare’s N7 Day celebrations.

“It was back in 2021 that the Normandy made its first appearance in one of the first expeditions we ever ran,” Hello Games said. “The limited-time expedition starts today, runs for two weeks and culminates in players being able to claim the Normandy for their fleet.

“In the intervening years since that event, we have welcomed a huge number of Travellers, not least a whole new cohort of Switch players and an increasingly large number of Chinese fans. Many of these new players have envied those who proudly displayed their Normandy in their frigate collection.

“Mass Effect fans know that this legendary freighter only appears when it is most needed! Today, and for the next two weeks, as a love-letter from one science fiction game to another, we are giving everyone another chance to encounter the Normandy in an overhauled version of the original mission and add it to their collection.

“Huge thanks to our friends at EA and Bioware for helping make this happen.”

No Man’s Sky launched in 2016 initially for PC and PS4 before coming out on Xbox One in 2018, and PS5 and Xbox Series X and S in 2020. A Nintendo Switch version followed in 2022. Over the years, Hello Games has issued a long list of major updates that have continued to boost player numbers.

Indeed, it’s a busy time for Hello Games, which alongside updates for No Man’s Sky is working on its next game, Light No Fire. It’s about adventure, building, survival and exploration together, set on a fantasy planet the size of Earth.

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.

It’s November 7, which means it’s once again Mass Effect Day for all who celebrate. That also means Dark Horse is back with another jaw-droppingly cool collectible, this time spotlighting the main hero of the original Mass Effect trilogy.

IGN can exclusively reveal a first look at the Mass Effect: Commander John Shepard 1:6 Scale Statue. Get a closer look at this piece in the slideshow gallery below:

This Commander John Shepard statue is a follow-up to last year’s Commander Jane Shepard statue, obviously spotlighting the character in his male incarnation this time. The statue depicts Shepard ready to leap into action while holding an M-8 Avenger assault rifle and Omni-Blade. It also includes interchangeable helmeted and unhelmeted heads.

The Mass Effect: Commander John Shepard 1:6 Scale Statue measures 14.5 inches tall and is made of polystone. The piece was sculpted by Substance Model Works, with prototyping and paint by Substance Model Works and J.W. Productions.

This statue will be sold exclusively through the Dark Horse Direct website. It’s priced at $199.99 and is limited to 1000 units worldwide. Orders placed between now and November 13 will receive a $20 discount.

You can also check out the Mass Effect collectibles available on the IGN Store. That includes past Dark Horse releases like the Tali’Zorah figure and the Liara figure.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.