Publisher Good Shepherd Entertainment and developer LEAP Studios have today unveiled the first DLC pack for the dice-based monster-catching roguelike Dicefolk, set to roll onto Switch this Fall.
The ‘Will Chimeras Pack’ adds 21 brand new ‘Chimera’ creatures into the game and a bonus ‘Will Talisman’ — a modifier which influences which Chimera you will encounter and recruit throughout a run — to mix up your strategy. There’s also a batch of new enchanted equipment for even more mid-run customisation.
Geoff Keighley has teased the reveal of a brand new game some fans believe is a new entry in the Dying Light series.
Keighley tweeted a live action video called The Beast, which depicts a woman desperately trying to escape from a terrifying beast in a wooded area. Alongside the tease is the promise of more information at ONL, which kicks off at 11am PT / 2pm ET tomorrow, August 20.
👹 The Beast Is Coming 👹
Tune into @gamescom Opening Night Live, tomorrow at 11a PT / 2p ET / 8p EST for the reveal.
But what is The Beast? Fans have already linked it to a recent trademark for a new Dying Light game called Dying Light: The Beast, which popped up on the United States Patent and Trademark Office last week. Dying Light developer Techland is listed as the owner of the trademark.
The question now is whether Dying Light: The Beast is DLC for Dying Light 2, a standalone expansion, a smaller-scale entry or spin-off, or what should be considered a fully-fledged sequel in the Dying Light series.
So, it looks like we’re going to see a new Dying Light game at ONL, but we won’t see the hotly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong, which Geoff Keighley has already ruled out. Confirmed games set to appear during the two-hour show include Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Civilization 7, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
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.
Silent Hill has a messy, up-is-down relationship with time and history, so let’s go about this hands-on with the Silent Hill 2 Remake in a messy, up-is-down way. Developed well over two decades ago, the original Silent Hill 2 is the magnum opus of Polish horror stalwarts Bloober Team. Running on then-innovative “Unreal Engine 5” technology created by Jazz Jackrabbit publishers Epic MegaGames, it’s a wonderful abyss of a game that remains perfectly playable today, given a certain amount of tolerance for the quirks of the era.
It begins with your character, James Sunderland, descending from the road towards the eponymous Midwestern nowhere-town. Like many games of the period, Silent Hill 2 uses a third-person, over-the-shoulder manual camera, which allows you to glance fearfully up at the monstrous pine trees that fringe the path – each rising from a bulging tide of fog that menaces with the suggestion of approaching figures. There is moisture everywhere, gushing from drain pipes and dribbling down concrete barriers. As you amble into the murk, deathly chords and groaning, unmechanical motifs reverberate from somewhere deep underground.
The PlayStation 5 and PC version of Until Dawn reportedly costs $59.99 and fans are once again debating what a good price for remakes is.
The $60 price tag hasn’t been confirmed officially but comes from Dealabs’ billbil-kun, one of the most reputable leakers who for the past several years has announced each month’s PlayStation Plus games before PlayStation itself. This price is therefore likely.
Its reveal has been met with mixed reactions from PlayStation fans, with some saying the level of remaster or remake going on here justifies the near full price product. Others, who point out Until Dawn turns a decade old in 2025, are less enthused.
“I’m not paying full price for a game that’s been about $10 for the past decade,” said noelle-silva on Reddit. “It was free with the PS Plus Collection that came with the PS5,” said another. “Damn, that’s greedy as hell,” said LovelyOrangeJuice.
Others, meanwhile, argued the opposite. “How hard is it for people to understand that it’s not a remaster,” said No_Caregiver8718 on another Reddit post. “You can still go to your local game store and buy a copy of the original for PS4,” said TechSmith62626 on another.
And the case for Until Dawn is a touch more complex as it’s not just a graphical upgrade. It features a revamped opening with new scenes, revised cinematography throughout that uses a combination of fixed and over-the-shoulder camera views, myriad accessibility and usability changes including an alternative to its somewhat infamous “Don’t Move” mechanic, and the wealth of graphical upgrades such as updated character models and environments, visual effects, animations, and more.
Many fans point out that playing the PlayStation 4 game on PS5 already runs it at 60 frames per second, but the full PS5 and PC version obviously provides much more than that. Whether or not it’s worth it to each individual player remains to be seen, and Sony is yet to announce whether any form of discount will be available to those who already own it on PS4.
This option isn’t available for PC players, of course, who must pay $60 to play Until Dawn regardless of whether or not they care about the upgrades. Some have pointed to this as a sore spot after seeing the PS4 version priced at under $20 for the last several years.
Amazon’s recently revealed Prime Video animated anthology series reportedly includes a Warhammer 40,000 episode.
Last week, Deadline reported that Amazon was working with the team behind Netflix’s much-loved series, Love, Death & Robots, for an adult-focused animated anthology of its own called Secret Level.
Secret Level is made up of original short stories set in the worlds of video games. Deadline reported that Amazon Games’ New World, Spelunky, and PlayStation titles were “rumored to be among the games and IP featured on the series,” with a reveal potentially set for gamescom’s Opening Night Live this Tuesday, August 20.
Now, Redanian Intelligence has followed up with a report that claims that Clive Standen (Vikings) will reprise his role as Lieutenant Titus from the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 in Secret Level on an episode called Chaos. Chaos is the blanket term for factions associated with Warhammer 40,000’s ruinous powers, and revolves around demons and traitor Space Marines.
Redanian Intelligence adds that Max Rinehart (Unforgotten, Noah Hawley’s Alien) is set to play a character called Julius, speculated to be another Ultramarine alongside Titus.
Other Secret Level episodes reportedly in the works include one called The Outer Worlds, which is perhaps based on Obsidian’s sci-fi RPG of the same name. Brenock O’Connor, who played Olly in Game of Thrones, is set to play a character called Amos in that episode. An episode based on id Software’s Doom is also reportedly on the list. Sequels to both The Outer Worlds and Doom are in the works.
Meanwhile, Games Workshop publishes Warhammer animations of its own via its Warhammer+ subscription service. However, Warhammer+ has had a tough 2024 on the animation front, with fans expressing disappointment at the number of series released so far. A hotly anticipated sequel to the fan-favorite Astartes series is currently AWOL, with Games Workshop yet to comment on a release window.
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’ve likely mentioned hitting Lovecraft fatigue so often that it’s now evolved into a second phase of Lovecraft-fatigue fatigue. This is not the same as Lovecraft refreshment, no matter how much I might want to return to the days before old one plushies and Cthulhu children’s books terrorised the internet en masse. There’s not quite enough information about “story generator” simMarry a Deep One: Innsmouth Simulator for me to confidently say it’ll cut through my exhaustion with all things tentacular and horrifically be-gilled. But it is beguiling, isn’t it? There’s all sorts of little widgets and details shown off that remind me of everything from Sid Meier’s Pirates to classic adventure games, and maybe even a little Rimworld? It’s a heady soup, although one I’d recommend against quaffing, given where the water comes from.
PQube & Octeto Studios have revealed the release date for Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire, an intriguing Skies of Arcadia-inspired RPG in which players partake in aerial combat controlled via classic turn-based gameplay.
Launching for the Nintendo Switch on 10th October 2024, there’s a demo available via Steam right now if you want to get a taste of the action ahead of its release. The general gist of the story, however, is that you take control of captain Glenn Windwalker who must recruit and manage a group of rag-tag pirates. You’ll be able to explore various locations on foot, but the real meat of the gameplay takes place in the skies.
Last week, the Xitter account for H2M – a mod aiming to recreate the heyday of classic Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer inside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered – announced that they had received a cease and desist from Activision Blizzard, and would shut down the project. The 2022 version of Modern Warfare 2 lacked the original’s multiplayer, and H2M was so highly-anticipated that Steam sales of the 2016 FPS balooned in the lead-up to the mod’s planned release date. It didn’t hurt that Activision had it on sale, of course, but the timing lined up so well that some fans speculated the discount was a deliberate bait-and-switch on the publisher’s part to profit from excitement over a mod they were already planning to shut down.
An email sent from the Black Myth: Wukong marketing team tells content creators they must not include “feminist propaganda” or use what are called “trigger words” such as COVID-19.
The email, which hit social media after it was sent to a number of content creators by a representative of Chinese games company Hero Games, was verified by IGN over the weekend via a source who asked not to be named. It includes a Steam key to pre-download the game on PC ahead of the Black Myth: Wukong release date of August 20, and a link to a Google document that outlines the “Do’s and Don’ts” for content creators who intend to cover Black Myth: Wukong during its August launch period.
There is just one entry in the “Do’s” category: “enjoy the game!” However, there are five entries in the “Don’ts category,” reproduced below:
Do NOT insult other influencers or players.
Do NOT use any offensive language/humor.
Do NOT include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that instigates negative discourse.
Do NOT use trigger words such as ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation’ or ‘COVID-19’.
Do NOT discuss content related to China’s game industry policies, opinions, news, etc.
While some of these entries, such as the request not to insult other creators or players, or use offensive language, are standard across many content creator agreements, some are not. Asking content creators not to include “feminist propaganda,” mention Covid, or discuss China’s game industry policies, for example, are unusual requests and have already been criticized by some on social media in the context of previous reporting on Shenzhen, China-based developer Game Science. IGN has asked Hero Games for comment.
IGN understands this email is intended for content creators who plan to cover Black Myth: Wukong at launch, as opposed to pre-launch reviewers. There is no non-disclosure agreement (NDA) tied to the provision of the Steam key.
Beijing-based Hero Games claims to be the largest external investor in Game Science, which has yet to respond to IGN’s previous report compiling numerous sexist comments made by the studio’s founders and other developers spanning the last decade.
IGN has asked Hero Games if the Black Myth: Wukong guidelines are standard for all games it promotes, or if they are a directive from Game Science. Game Science itself has yet to respond.
IGN’s Black Myth: Wukong review returned an 8/10. We said: “Despite some frustrating technical issues, Black Myth: Wukong is a great action game with fantastic combat, exciting bosses, tantalizing secrets, and a beautiful world.”
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.
Silent Hill 2, a remake of the iconic 2001 PS2 survival horror game, takes players on a journey as the main protagonist, James Sunderland. Venture through the mostly deserted town of Silent Hill, a place filled with memories of his late wife Mary, as he comes to terms with these memories while encountering monsters and a cast of characters. The remake launches on PS5 October 8.
I recently had the opportunity to play the highly-anticipated remake. Join me for a chilling recap that stretches from the opening scene to the imposing boss encounter with Red Pyramid Thing (a.k.a. Pyramid Head).
The story begins in a grimy public restroom
The game begins with James recollecting the content of the letter he received from his deceased wife in the dimly lit public restroom of the observation deck at the outskirts of Silent Hill. Back in 2001, the level of dirt and detritus in this bathroom was a high-watermark for realistic, atmospheric visuals in games.
At first glance, I noticed that although the public restroom was almost proportionally identical to the original, it looked more detailed and realistic, with graffiti and scribbles on the walls, dirty floors, and a filthy toilet bowl. This instilled eeriness as if to foreshadow the grueling journey that James was about to embark on.
A new, immersive over-the-shoulder perspective
The first thing that struck me when I started the game was the new over-the-shoulder perspective. While the original’s overhead perspective felt like I was watching a movie, the remake’s updated view put me closer to James’ point of view, supporting greater immersion and the feeling of being in Silent Hill. 3D Audio also deepens the immersion, making swishing leaves and James’ footsteps feel audibly real.
Thickening fog shrouding James’ state of mind
In the original game, the observation deck in the opening scene was shrouded in fog, whereas in the view is clear in the remake. At first… As James approaches the town the fog grows denser, almost symbolizing his state of mind and evoking anxiety in the player.
The first area that James visits is the eastern district of Silent Hill. At first the in-game map didn’t look much different from what I had remembered in the original, but I was soon proven wrong. The houses, apartments, shops, and other buildings are dramatically improved, with intricate details that were not present in the original. The detailed chairs, flowerpots, abandoned trash, and other props all faithfully recreat the ambiance of the fog-shrouded streets of Silent Hill.
The more explorable buildings add more fun
As I was exploring the town, I was surprised to find that the remake boasted more buildings James could go into compared to the original. In some instances, he had to smash window panes to break into the building. Ammunition and recovery items were hidden inside, making exploration vital and, at the same time, more rewarding. However, the monsters lurking inside these buildings meant I had to stay vigilant and engaged, adding an extra layer of challenge to the game.
Intense, up-close-and-personal combat
Fighting the terrible creatures of Silent Hill feels entirely different from the original. Monsters in earlier stages of the 2001 original are rather passive and can bludgeoned to death without much recourse. In the remake, some enemies can now counterattack between player’s attacks. Successfully dodging these counterattacks and timing retaliation have adds a new engaging later to gameplay. The new, over-the-shoulder perspective also gives players a closer look at the grotesque foes.
Puzzles that challenge your wisdom and observation skills
The Silent Hill series is celebrated in the Silent Hill series, and that aspect of gameplay is present in both the 2001 original Silent Hill 2 and the remake. I had a chance to play new puzzles where I had to collect multiple items to combine in order to solve them. Still, I encountered puzzles with clever references to the original, so I’m sure this will bring joy to fans of the original Silent Hill 2 and offer them something new to solve. It is also good to know, for those who are not avid puzzle solvers, that the difficulty level for puzzles can be set separately from that of game action elements such as combat level.
Newly renovated apartments
Remember the Wood Side Apartment and the Blue Creek Apartment from the beginning of the story? Well, their layouts have changed significantly from the original version. While the overall story remains the same, the locations where James finds items and puzzles and encounters enemies are entirely different, consequently challenging returning players to come up with a new approach for the remake.
Fans of the 2001 original remember loading screens when traversing between rooms. In the remake James can seamlessly move around the building. But be careful when dashing into a room. I was so focused on making progress that I was ambushed by a monster that made me jump.
Frantic Pyramid Head
The Pyramid Head encounter at the end of the apartment has also evolved significantly. James confronts the humanoid monster in a larger, more intense warehouse-like area than the original’s small room. Watching the iconic villain stalk towards you while dragging his massive, sparking blade across the ground is still an intimidating sight.
Pyramid Head’s movements and attacks are fairly slow. Staying calm is key to dodging its attacks or maintaining a safe distance. However, each blow from Pyramid Head is devastating, as I discovered when it swung its arm and sent James flying through the air.
As my time at the event was limited, I’m sure there must be some highlights that I missed. But for now, I will have to wait to explore every nook and cranny of the streets and buildings of Silent Hill until it launches on PS5 October 8.
