Author: Game Infliction

Fallout: London has passed the major milestone of one million players, cementing its place as one of the most successful video game mods of all time.

Fallout: London is a total conversion mod developed by Team FOLON for Bethesda’s Fallout 4. It ditches Fallout’s traditional United States setting for a post-apocalyptic London packed with famous British landmarks and references. It even secured the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3’s Neil Newbon for its voice cast, with former UK Speaker of the House John Bercow in the game, too.

IGN’s Fallout: London review returned a 7/10. We said: “Fallout London is a massive mod that makes good use of its untapped setting, with an impressive scope and some great stories – you’ll just have to be prepared for technical issues and occasionally obtuse design choices along the way.”

The mod was originally due to arrive on April 23, 2024 but actual Fallout developer Bethesda announced a surprise update for Fallout 4, which the mod developer feared would impact Fallout: London’s release.

Team FOLON lead project manager Dean Carter later lamented how Bethesda, which had made clear it was aware of Fallout: London, failed to inform Team FOLON of its plans. “That has, for lack of a better term, sort of screwed us over, somewhat,” Carter said at the time.

Fallout: London eventually launched in July in partnership with GOG, which made the announcement today, October 23 – aka Fallout Day (October 23 is the day the bombs first fell in fallout lore).

“Today, we couldn’t be happier to see the success that Fallout: London has become – reaching the entirety of one million owners on our platform, and achieving it on Fallout Day no less,” GOG said. “We’d like to take this moment to wholeheartedly congratulate Team FOLON on their groundbreaking record!”

In a statement posted on the Fallout: London Discord, the mod team added: “You’ve made this journey unforgettable. We’re blown away by your support, and we can’t wait to share what’s next.

“We’ll keep calm and carry on fixing those bugs, and we’ll see you at our next milestone.

“Stay safe, and remember. Mind the gap.”

The Fallout: London announcement comes ahead of an official Fallout Day broadcast from Bethesda, which promises to reveal more of what’s to come with Fallout 76.

It’s a busy time in the world of Fallout, of course, which was boosted by the smash hit Prime Video Fallout TV show. Bethesda continues to update Fallout 76, and plans for Fallout 5 at some point in the future, perhaps when it’s done with The Elder Scrolls 6. In June, Bethesda Softworks head Todd Howard said he wasn’t interested in rushing a new Fallout game out the door, just because Fallout is hot right now. Could Fallout eventually leave the United States for a setting on foreign soil? No chance, Howard has said.

While fans wait they have mod projects such as Fallout: London to get stuck into, and there’s always Fallout 76 and the existing Fallout games available to play.

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.

No Man’s Sky has launched its 16th expedition, The Cursed — an “unexpectedly creepy update” that hits the eternally popular space game just in time for Halloween.

Developer Hello Games said The Cursed is a “weird and unsettling” gameplay event in which players “fight to keep a grip on reality” while haunted by visions and voices from another dimension. It takes place in what’s described as a “sort of twilight universe” in which time can shift unexpectedly, day turning to night “at a vertigo inducing rate.”

The Cursed introduces the new Boundary Starship, No Man’s Sky’s first flying saucer. “It’s a gorgeous Giger-esque coil of tubes, pipeworks and engines,” Hello Games said. Here’s the official blurb:

Players must protect themselves against the weakening of the boundaries of reality. The exosuit’s usual hazard protection has been replaced with a specialized Anomaly Suppressor — maintaining this is the key to surviving while the universe begins to break down around you.

As players struggle to navigate these haunted worlds, they may come face to face with the ghostly beings that drift across the boundaries. Sometimes these spectral anomalies merely observe, and sometimes they can turn much more hostile… These encounters provide players with new challenging enemies and boss battles, at a scale not seen before in No Man’s Sky.

Travellers will not have access to hyperdrive technology, meaning no warping between star systems. Instead, interstellar travel requires careful planning and use of the ancient portal network.

Haunting voices leak through from another dimension, providing guidance, information, strange blueprints… and mystery. Players will have to decide who these voices belong to, where they are coming from, and if they are to be trusted…”

As you’d expect, The Cursed has a set of exclusive spooky rewards, including a Cthulhu-esque Horror Exosuit customisation, bioluminescent pets, and the aforementioned UFO-like Boundary Herald Starship.

The expedition begins today, October 23, and runs for approximately three weeks. Hello Games added that in the coming weeks it will launch an update for No Man’s Sky that takes advantage of the incoming PS5 Pro at launch. The $700 PS5 Pro comes out on November 7.

No Man’s Sky launched in 2016 initially for PC and PlayStation 4 before coming out on Xbox One in 2018, and PlayStation 5 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.

The Day Before developer Fntastic has cancelled its failing Kickstarter for one game and announced another in the same breath.

Fntastic, who released the utterly disastrous The Day Before in December 2023 before pretending to shut down, resurfaced in September asking for money for a new game: the physics based multiplayer game Escape Factory.

It has now cancelled this project, however, after it reached just 15.73% of its Kickstarter goal with $3,146 raised of a $20,000 goal. “Our campaign on Kickstarter is unlikely to reach our goal,” Fntastic said in a statement published to X/Twitter announcing another game.

“After careful analysis and discussion with the team, we have decided that our Escape Factory project has not generated enough interest,” it said. The Kickstarter reached the 15.73% mark after four weeks. “With this in mind, we have decided to temporarily suspend work on Escape Factory and postpone it until a more appropriate time.”

Fntastic is now allegedly working on Items, an action horror prop hunt game. “Your wishes are very important to us,” it said. “This is exactly what many of you have been waiting for.”

No Kickstarter was announced but Fntastic said it may return to the crowdfunding route “or explore other options” once a demo for the game is made. Development will “require significant resources” so Fntastic has “decided to release mobile games” to support the process.

“All funds generated from these apps will go directly into development,” it said. “We believe this will help us create the game of your dreams.”

The term “dream” was often used in Fntastic’s marketing for The Day Before. “We hope that after the game’s success, we’ll give people faith that in this life, if you persevere toward a dream, it will come true, despite all the obstacles and doubts,” Fntastic told IGN in January 2023.

The Day Before launched to an almost impossibly rare 1/10 in IGN’s review and its shutdown was announced just four days after it launched in Early Access. It was one of the most controversial and catastrophic game launches in recent memory (now joined by PlayStation 5’s Concord) as what was touted as the “next generation of post-apocalyptic MMO open-world survival games” was released as a barebones and broken extraction shooter.

Once Steam’s most wishlisted game, suspicion mounted around The Day Before and Fntastic as time went on. It announced delay after delay amid revelations the studio used unpaid workers to develop its games, then a trademark dispute caused more issues.

Allegations the entire game was a scam then emerged from the disgruntled fanbase, made worse by the myriad copycat accusations against Fntastic. Shots in its trailers and screenshots lined up almost perfectly with other games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Cyberpunk 2077, and Grand Theft Auto 5.

For example, a trailer for The Day Before used the phrase: “Welcome to the next generation of post-apocalyptic MMO open-world survival games like never before. Immerse yourself in The Day Before.” Alongside not making grammatical English sense, Cyberpunk 2077’s Official Gameplay Trailer, published years earlier in 2020, used the very similar phrasing: “Welcome to the next-generation of open-world adventure. Immerse yourself in Cyberpunk 2077.”

Red Dead Redemption 2’s Official Gameplay Video, published even further back, used the phrases “…to make combat deep and engaging at all times. Each weapon has unique characteristics, with realistic reload and recoil.” A trailer for The Day Before used: “…to ensure that combat remains deep and engaging at all times. Each weapon boasts unique characteristics, as well as realistic reload and recoil mechanics.”

These are just two examples of myriad accusations with similar weight, but Fntastic denied any wrongdoing, leaned on the “fake news” defence, and implied the accusations were just an attempt at attention seeking. “We all live in a time of disinformation and lack of fact-checking,” it said following the second wave of accusations. “Anyone can say anything for views, and everyone will believe it,” it said. “Disinformation needs to be dealt with.”

Fntastic has put out plenty of disinformation and blatant lies of its own, however, like saying the aforementioned trademark dispute caused a delay when one was planned all along, and saying the studio was shutting down before announcing another game just months later. “S**t happens,” it told fans who were frustrated with the misleading information and failure of The Day Before.

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

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a decent bit longer than previous Yakuza spin-off Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has said.

In an interview with Famitsu translated by Game Rant, series producer and RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama said the incoming pirate adventure’s story is roughly 1.3 times to 1.5 times longer than Like a Dragon Gaiden.

This last game, which arrived just a few weeks ahead of the colossal mainline entry Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, could be completed in around 12 hours if players ploughed through the main story, though completing everything took upwards of 32 hours, according to How Long to Beat.

Based on this, Masayoshi estimates the story of Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will take around 15 to 18 hours to complete. This appears to be reflected in the price, as Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be available for $59.99 compared to Like a Dragon Gaiden’s $49.99 and the standard video game price point of $69.99.

Perhaps the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series’ wackiest spin-off yet (besides the zombie apocalypse one), Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii stars Goro Majima as he wakes up on a beach with amnesia and becomes a pirate, obviously.

It’s a spin-off to Infinite Wealth in particular, taking place roughly six months after its story concluded but not starring too many of the same characters. Only Majima’s sworn brother Taiga Saejima is confirmed to return so far, as the game largely focuses on a new cast of pirates including a Tiger played by main game protagonist Ichiban Kasuga’s voice actor.

Trailers and gameplay shown so far shows more of the flashy and fast-paced action the series was known for before switching to a turn based role-playing game with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Plenty of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag vibes are present too, as the game features ship combat, pirate hideouts, and plenty of brutal action.

It was revealed in September with a February 28 release date but, after Monster Hunter Wilds announced the same launch date just five days later, RGG Studio shifted its own up a week. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii therefore now launches on February 21, 2024.

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