Game Infliction, Author at Game Infliction

2024’s must-play PlayStation indie games so far

We’re only halfway through 2024, and it’s already been a banner year for indie games. These games from small developers offer big-time fun, showcasing new and unique approaches to gameplay, visuals, and storytelling. This year’s bounty of indie goodness offers an amazing variety of experiences, from old-school throwbacks to bold new experimental designs. Whether you want to immerse yourself in the foreboding wilderness on your big screen monitor or make some poker hands on the PlayStation Portal before bed, something here is sure to please.

Ultros

2024’s must-play PlayStation indie games so far

As you awaken in the depths of a ship floating in space, a stunning neon landscape spreads before you, teeming with bizarre lifeforms and untold mysteries. What happened here, and what has transformed this craft into a womb of cosmic horror? Combat vicious foes with an arsenal of hard-hitting combat skills, then nurture the strange seeds you discover on your travels to sprout secrets. Strengthen yourself and explore all you can before a time loop engulfs everything and begins anew. Will you be able to escape the cycle of birth and destruction?

Publisher: Kepler Interactive | Developer: Hadoque | PS5, PS4

Penny’s Big Breakaway

A rollicking 3D action adventure for all ages, Penny’s Big Breakaway sees the titular heroine getting up to comical shenanigans in a bright, colorful fantasyland. Small-time performer Penny thinks she’s found her path to success with a special string that brings her yo-yo to life, but when her newly sentient accessory pulls a humiliating stunt on Emperor Eddie, her freedom’s left hanging by a thread. Use Penny’s yo-yo to attack, swing around, and ride through the numerous skill-testing stages in this speedrunning-focused platformer that’s packed with charm.

Publisher: Private Division | Developer: Evening Star | PS5

Pacific Drive

Take it from a resident–the Pacific Northwest is a very strange place. There’s the constantly changing weather, the bizarre terrain, and so many trees. As beautiful as nature and wilderness are, it’s very easy to isolate and consume you, so how will you survive when it’s just you, your trusty station wagon, and a handful of other humans stationed in an abandoned garage against bizarre phenomena transforming hundreds of miles of wilderness into a life-sucking hellscape? Each trip is unique, exciting, terrifying, and perhaps the one where you’ll finally escape.

Publisher: Kepler Interactive | Developer: Ironwood Studios | PS5

Harold Halibut

Stop-motion animation’s distinct look and feel combined with Harold Halibut’s narrative-driven gameplay. Set in an alternate history where a space colonization expedition was launched in the 1970s, things went disastrously wrong, and now the ship’s stuck at the bottom of a hostile planet’s sea. As Harold, a wholly average handyman, you meet and befriend the various personalities onboard while doing your duties, learning about the various ideas everyone has to escape this decades-long rut. When the time to act comes, what role will Harold play?

Publisher: Slow Bros. | Developer: Slo Bros. | PS5, PS4

Balatro

So, you think you’re a real card shark, huh? You might think you have an unbeatable poker face, but we all know the house always has the advantage, or does it? The first (and only) poker roguelike sees you constructing decks with special Jokers, Vouchers, Tarot, and Planet cards. Play your cards well, score big, beat the Blinds (or even strategically skip them), and take on the Bosses who have some of their own aces up their sleeve–then earn new decks to expand your strategic possibilities even more.

Publisher: PlayStack Limited | Developer: LocalThunk | PS5, PS4

Tales of Kenzera: Zau

Journey through a gorgeous world inspired by African tribal art, music, and culture. Abubakar Salim, the voice behind Beyek in Assassin’s Creed Origins, weaves a story of loss and self-discovery inspired by his experiences. As the headstrong shaman youth Zau, you must pass an arduous trial, offering up the souls of three beasts to the God of Death to revive your fallen father. Switch seamlessly between the Sun and Moon masks with different navigation and combat skills as you amass the power you need for your goal.

Publisher: Electronic Arts | Developer: Surgent Studios | PS5

Another Crab’s Treasure

Do you love the gameplay and exploration of games like Demon’s Souls and Elden Ring, but feel a bit weary of dark fantasy? Another Crab’s Treasure is an undersea adventure with a colorful, cartoony aesthetic and all the skill-testing challenges you’ve come to love. Take over the claws of hermit crab Kril, whose underwater paradise is ravaged by pollution. Use the trash you find as weapons and armor to take on the nastiest underwater baddies on this side of Amity Bay. Find the legendary treasure and get back your precious shell!

Publisher: Aggro Crab | Developer: Aggro Crab | PS5

Animal Well

The debut game from new publisher Bigmode takes players on a dark, wild exploration adventure. Here in the labyrinth, there’s very little light–but plenty of creatures, several of which are less-than-docile, let’s say. You control an odd little something and are here to delve into the labyrinth’s mysteries, assuming you can survive. Beautiful, atmospheric pixel art blends with exquisite exploration and an atmosphere that’s both beautiful and terrifying to create a game packed with secrets, discovery, and replayability.

Publisher: Bigmode | Developer: Billy Basso| PS5

Crow Country

Edward Crow’s famous amusement park, Crow Country, shuttered years prior, and its founder went missing, but something remains in this wonder-wasteland. Travel back to the 90s in this survival horror adventure inspired by ‘90s PlayStation classics. As special agent Mara Forest, you’ll traverse the abandoned park to discover why it abruptly closed, savoring the creepy atmosphere packed with brain teasers, environmental storytelling, dangerous encounters, and terrifying surprises.

Publisher: SFB Games | Developer: SFB Games | PS5, PS4

The Alters: Exclusive Playable Demo Announcement and Trailer – IGN First

Developer 11 Bit Studios has announced an upcoming playable demo of The Alters, the team’s alluring and unique new survival game. Check out the stellar new trailer above, and then play the demo for yourself on Steam on June 10 until June 17.

So what is The Alters? Well, we encourage you to watch our recent hands-on preview below, but in short, you play as Jans. But not just one Jans. Lots of Jans. See, you’re a miner on a hostile planet who must pull in versions of yourself from other realities in order to survive. But they’re not mere clones. Rather, they’re you but they’ve lived their own completely unique lives, and as such they’ll bring different looks, skills, and personalities to your tall task at hand.

Our exclusive month-long IGN First coverage starts now with the demo announcement trailer at the top of this page, and it continues tomorrow with exclusive gameplay footage from the very demo you can play for yourself on Monday.

And be sure to check back all June long for lots more coverage of The Alters as our June IGN First “cover story”! Check out more of The Alters on their Steam page.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our 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.

Enotria: The Last Song’s demo reveals a sunnier Soulslike with a powerful sense of theatre

This week we finally got our raging bear gauntlets on Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree, an even dingier and danker edition of 2022’s best and dankest open worlder, but perhaps you’d rather play a Soulslike with a Florentine flounce and the warmth of a Mediterranean sunset on its brow. A brighter, stagier variety of action-role-playing, which deepens the connection between Italian folklore and Soulsliking established by last year’s Lies Of P. Well then: cast aside those ursine mitts, slip on a pair of immaculate white theatre gloves and get your thumbs into Enotria: The Last Song, which has a demo on Steam.

Shenmue Fans Rented a Times Square Billboard to Campaign for Shenmue 4

Shenmue fans are so desperate for another game in the long-running action adventure series they bought an advertisement in New York’s famous Times Square to campaign for Shenmue 4.

Fan website Shenmue Dojo launched a campaign on June 4, 2024 to “support the continuation of the series and attempt to spread global awareness to find [developer] Ys Net a potential partner for Shenmue 4.” Part of this campaign involved renting a 15-second advertisement on Times Square, which can be seen below, that displayed a handful of characters from the series alongside “#LetsGetShenmue4.”

“Shenmue fans do some insane things to try and get recognised,” an X/Twitter post from Shenmue Dragons said. “Are you watching Sega?” While a 15-second advertisement at Times Square can cost as little as $40, a fanbase paying to promote a series over its developer or publisher is still an unusual move.

Broadcast live during our #Shenmue Day stream, #LetsGetShenmue4 hit the streets of New York with a full on 15 second advertisement on Times Square! 🏙️
Shenmue fans do some insane things to try and get recognised…are you watching @SEGA @SEGA_OFFICIAL?👀 pic.twitter.com/gzfLzQWZb9
— Shenmue Dojo 🐉 (@Shenmue_Dojo) June 4, 2024

The effort paid off too, as Shenmue was trending on X/Twitter around the advertisement and campaign. “Thank you to everyone that helped to show their support with the timed mass tweets/posts today,” Shenmue Dojo wrote. “It was very much appreciated and proves that together, as a collective, we can spread the awareness that we are not going to sit back without a fight. We will continue to strive until Shenmue 4 is a reality.”

The campaign began after series creator Yu Suzuki told Shenmue Dojo he’d potentially make Shenmue 4 if he found a publishing partner to fund it.

Shenmue follows a teenage martial artist called Ryo Haz as he hunts his father’s killer in 1980s Japan and China. Shenmue 1 and 2 were released in 1999 and 2001 respectively but the franchise then went quiet for almost two decades before Shenmue 3 arrived in 2019, partly funded by a Kickstarter campaign.

Suzuki told IGN in 2023 that he wants to create another entry but, following the poor critical reception of the third game, would look to make it more accessible to new fans.

“I want Shenmue 4 to be enjoyable for newcomers,” he said at the time. “To make that possible, the most important thing is to make it enjoyable without knowing previous events in the story.

“I don’t think that a new player wants to know 100% of the story. 20% or 30% could be enough. In Shenmue 3, we implemented a digest movie that teaches the player the main events of the previous games, but for Shenmue 4 I want to integrate that part into the main game. It would be great if the player could naturally learn about previous events just by playing the game. For example, rather than watching a separate movie, having playable flashbacks could be a way to do it.”

“I want Shenmue 4 to be enjoyable for newcomers.

Suzuki also said he’d thought about making a prequel instead of a sequel, but didn’t indicate anything was being actively worked on. He has other projects in the works too.

In our 5/10 review of the last game, IGN said: “Rejoining Ryo Hazuki’s quest to avenge his father is exciting, but Shenmue 3 feels like a game that has ignored the innovation and progress of the last 20 years of video game development.”

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

I met a money-eating axe murderer in Sorry, We’re Closed and now so can you

In Sorry We’re Closed, an axe-murdering entrepreneur called Jenny is described in newspaper clippings as both a serial embezzler and as the city’s “wealthiest bachelorette”. Aside from being a dry reflection of tabloid reporting on women who commit crimes (bad woman! sexy, bad woman!) this is also the kind of incidental character-building you can expect in this perky, retro-styled survival horror. It plays like Silent Hill charged with the hot pink body horror of Porpentine interactive fiction. And judging by my hour of unsettled strolling through the decrepit tube station of the game’s demo, it’s a powerful combo.

GTA Online’s Next Major Update Lets You Set Up Your Own Bounty Hunting Business

GTA Online is getting its own take on Dog the Bounty Hunter with the game’s next major update.

Developer Rockstar Games announced this summer’s update to the hugely popular GTA Online lets players set up their own bail enforcement and bounty hunting business. There’s very little to go on at this point, not even a release date, but already fans are getting excited by the prospect of living out their Dog the Bounty Hunter fantasy within the virtual world of GTA Online.

Elsewhere, players will get to “conduct a range of off-the-books enforcement activities” across Los Santon for Vincent. There are new tools and props to create custom Drift and Drag Races in the Creator, and “much more” later this month.

Here’s the official blurb, per Rockstar:

This summer’s action-packed GTA Online update also delivers a collection of new rides to covet and collect, boosts to payouts across a number of existing modes and missions, including Taxi Work, Open Wheel Races, Operation Paper Trail, and more.

Creator upgrades include the aforementioned expansion of custom Drift Race tracks and Drag Race circuits, and new units in all tracks — from drivers doing donuts and bouncing lowriders, to crowd animations, and more.

The summer update also makes various improvements to GTA Online, including an increased Sell Mission timer to make it easier for solo players taking on Biker and Gunrunning sales, snacks automatically replenishing when launching most missions, and buffing defensive and armor capabilities for the Sparrow and Bombushka.

“As we continue to monitor and balance payouts to ensure all mission types are fun and rewarding, we will be increasing base payouts for players taking part in Open Wheel Races, Taxi Work, and many Contact Missions,” Rockstar said.

The GTA Online summer update comes amid increased excitement around GTA 6. So far Rockstar has dropped a solitary, record-breaking trailer for the game, due out fall 2025 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. Rockstar is yet to detail its plan for GTA 6’s version of GTA Online, or say what becomes of the existing GTA Online once GTA 6 comes out. Until then, however, GTA Online remains hugely popular, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars for parent company Take-Two each quarter.

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.

Hades 2 Early Access Patch 2 Adds More Night Time Encounters, Refreshed UI, and More

Supergiant Games has released Patch 2 for the Early Access version of Hades 2, which adds more night time encounters, refreshes the UI, and more.

Outlined in a Steam post, Supergiant first thanked fans for playing this early version of Hades 2 and for providing feedback which influences patches. This second update arrives less than three weeks after Patch 1 but features dozens of changes, improvements, and bug fixes.

Balance changes take up a large part of the spoiler heavy patch notes, available below, but Supergiant has also made larger gameplay changes including the ability to encounter up to one additional Olympain each night, increased the invulnerability duration after Death Defiance, and the option to press and hold to continuously harvest Crescent Pick outcroppings.

Hades 2’s menus and UI were also updated to include several new icons, the Chaos Trials have been reduced in difficulty, and some resources are now easier to come across in certain areas. As for weapon and ability buffs and nerfs, Nocturnal Arms, Keepsakes, Daedalus Hammers, Hexes of Selene, and more are all affected.

Hades 2 arrived on Steam in Early Access on May 6, 2024 (delaying fellow roguelite The Rogue Prince of Persia as a result) and immediately proved a hit after doubling the original game’s peak concurrent player count in a single day.

As a sequel to the critically acclaimed Greek mythology themed action roguelite, Hades 2 returns players to that world as they meet legendary figures like Odysseus, Nemesis, and Dora through a blend of storytelling, action gameplay, and dungeon crawling.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “Even in its Early Access state, Hades 2 is just about everything one could ask for in a sequel to one of the best roguelites of all time. Featuring excellent refinements to its roguelite progression, a fantastic new main character in Melinoe, and two unique sets of levels that have you fighting foes on the surface and in the underworld.”

Hades 2 Early Access Patch 2 Notes

General Gameplay

You now can encounter up to one additional Olympian each night (as in the previous game)
You now are likely to find one more Boon or other major reward while in Erebus
Increased invulnerability duration after your Death Defiance effects activate
Improved rewards of Ash and Psyche can now be found in Oceanus and the Rift of Thessaly
You now can press-and-hold to harvest repeatedly from Crescent Pick Outcroppings
Toula should now stay closer to you in Encounters, especially in the Fields Mourning
Nemesis no longer offers Death Defiance items if you do not need to refill the effect
Reduced Gold cost of Selene’s Boon and Path of Stars in Charon’s Shop
Minor adjustments to the order in which Olympians may first appear early on
Normalized chances of finding Fishing Points in various regions

Nocturnal Arms & Abilities

Witch’s Staff: Special knocks foes away, but is slightly slower; Omega Special is faster
Sister Blades: Special staggers standard foes longer; Attack visual FX better match the hitbox
Umbral Flames: Attacks are stronger and faster; Omega Attack channels faster and uses less magick; Special gives a speed boost, but has reduced damage; Omega Special can be channeled while moving
Moonstone Axe: reworked Special provides a lingering barrier; Omega Attack channels slightly faster; Omega Special channels faster
Argent Skull: Omega Attack channels faster and hits a larger area

Aspects of the Nocturnal Arms

Witch’s Staff (Circe): adjusted activation and duration of Serenity effect; Serenity now adds Omega bonus damage that scales with this Aspect’s rank
Witch’s Staff (Momus): reworked; each of your Omega Moves automatically fires several times in succession from where you use them
Sister Blades (Artemis): you will Block again if the effect recharges while you are channeling; Block now takes priority over Dodge and similar effects
Umbral Flames (Eos): reworked; Omega Attack now fires a slow shot that occasionally creates damage blasts and also copies your Specials
Moonstone Axe (Melinoë): reworked; now adds Power and Max Life
Moonstone Axe (Thanatos): reworked; faster Attack adds Critical chance to Omega moves
Argent Skull (Medea): improved hit detection on foes near impassable obstacles
Argent Skull (Persephone): you now earn Glory much faster, but only by using your Omega Cast; improved control responsiveness during Omega Special

Keepsakes

Moon Beam (Selene): increased bonus to Path of Stars upgrades

Daedalus Hammer Upgrades

Marauder Wallop (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…
- Rapid Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks become faster
Double Wallop (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…
- Wicked Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks gain bonus Power
Double Cataclysm (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…
- Mirrored Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks hit twice, but you take more damage
Rapid Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega Special
Dual Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega Special; reduced range; renamed from Double Moonshot Shimmering Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega Special
Aetheric Moonburst (Staff): increased Magick restoration from Power Shot
Concentrated Flurry (Blades): cut from game; replaced with…
- Melting Dart (Blades): new! Your Special destroys a large percentage of a foe’s Armor
Flick Knives (Blades): new! Your Dash-Strike also fires several Special knives in a fan pattern
Rapid Onslaught (Blades): reworked to also affect Omega Attack; renamed from Marauder Slice
Hook Knives (Blades): removed damage bonus; slightly reduced speed of knives returning to you
Furious Fire (Flames): cut from game; replaced with…
- Mega Spark (Flames): new! All your Attacks travel farther and deal more damage
Inverted Spark (Flames): new! Dash to make shots from Attacks reverse direction and hit foes again
Leaden Spark (Flames): new! Your Attacks knock foes away and have bonus Power
Sustained Spark (Flames): also increases move speed, instead of reducing; formerly Sustained Fire
Melting Coil (Flames): no longer fires straight; also affects Omega Special; formerly Melting Comet
Origin Coil (Flames): also affects Special
Rapid Slash (Axe): reworked to also affect Omega Attack; renamed from Marauder Slash
Giga Cleaver (Axe): removed two-stage channeling (it always double-fires but uses more Magick)
Dashing Heave (Axe): removed damage bonus; instead, it now hits twice
Sidelong Crash (Skull): cut from game; replaced with…
- Mega Driver (Skull): new! Your Specials travel farther and deal more damage
Colossus Driver (Skull): also affects Omega Special

Hexes of Selene

Wolf Howl: reduced Magick-spend requirement
Twilight Curse: greatly reduced Magick-spend requirement; reduced foes afflicted; reduced cast time
Night Bloom: reduced Magick-spend requirement, effect duration, bonus damage, and cast time
Lunar Ray: greatly reduced Magick-spend requirement; reduced damage; reduced cast time
Moon Water: slightly increased Magick-spend requirement; slightly reduced healing
Dark Side: slightly increased Magick-spend requirement; slightly reduced cast time

Foes & Encounters

Chronos: various fixes and adjustments; there should be fewer cases where he’s patently unfair
Infernal Cerberus: minor adjustments to some attack patterns in the first phase
Eris: grenade attacks no longer wildly bounce around
Polyphemus: reduced effectiveness of Mutant Sheep
Goldwrath: reduced accuracy and tracking of beam attack
Queen Lamia: slightly increased Armor; increased speed; other minor changes
Reed-Stalker: increased projectile speed and target distance; reduced rotation speed
Mourner: slightly increased rotation speed; slightly increased speed while attacking
Lamia: slightly increased life and Elite armor
Dire Shambler: reduced tracking speed between attacks
Hippo: self-destruct area should more closely match the visuals

Level Design & Environments

Driftwood resources are more common in the Rift of Thessaly (a further increase since last patch)
Burning Oil Slicks in the Rift of Thessaly will extinguish after Encounters, though may be reignited
Adjusted Oil Slicks in some locations in the Rift of Thessaly
Minor fixes to several locations

Fated List of Minor Prophecies

Clearing Original Sins no longer requires choosing the very rare Barren curse from Chaos

Chaos Trials

Trial of Heartache: reduced difficulty and adjusted based on Aspect changes
Trial of Haste: reduced difficulty and adjusted based on Aspect changes

Oath of the Unseen

Vow of Forsaking: no longer helps ensure you quickly get Duo and Legendary Boons

Menus & UI

Added many new UI icons for Keepsakes, Weapons, Well of Charon offerings, and more
Insight Into Offerings (Cauldron) now also lets you check each Olympian’s list of offerings in the Book of Shadows while choosing their Boons (or the equivalent with other characters)
With the prior change, adjusted default key binding for Rarify; some custom bindings have been reset
Added a warning when you are down to your last use of Death Defiance
Opening the Book of Shadows should show entries for nearby characters more reliably
Removed the Unused Grasp notification when exiting the Altar of Ashes while at a high Grasp limit
Updated Pitch-Black Stone screen to use Aspect-specific icons
Adjusted input action bar layout at the bottom of the Boon Screen and similar
Added borders to icons for Selene Hexes on the Gifts of the Moon screen
Added informational pop-up when using F10 to report bugs
Other minor changes

Art & Visual FX

Reduced some full-screen flashing or strobing, such as from time-slow effects

Music & SFX

Added SFX for when certain active abilities such as Serenity are ready to use
Updated placeholder SFX for various Keepsakes
Updated SFX for projectile collisions with Umbral Flames (Moros)

Voice & Narrative

Unique voice lines should play more reliably when certain incantations are revealed in the Cauldron
Added voice lines when using Phase Shift (Selene) vs. Chronos (or trying to…)
More voice lines should play when confiding in Frinos in certain contexts

Miscellaneous

While brooding over the family portrait in the Crossroads, you may now snap out of it sooner
You now can fully control the game using keyboard only if you rebind Attack and Special
All timers now pause while in the presence of Charon
An Anvil of Fates will no longer be offered in Tartarus if you have not found a Daedalus Hammer
In the Hades Flashback, adjusted timing of hint for players who don’t realize they are in control
Reduced requirements for the incantation Power to Pause and Reflect to be revealed
Melinoë now respawns in the center of her magick circle near her tent (she was a bit off before…)
Improved compatibility with more types of controllers
Updated text for various upgrades and abilities

Bug Fixes

Fixed Double Up (Poseidon) sometimes doubling Mystery Boons; clarified description
Fixed Nightmare resources dropping unexpectedly in Chaos Trials
Fixed Omega moves occasionally becoming unresponsive after being chomped on by Polyphemus
Fixed deadliest attack of Chronos occasionally hitting when Melinoë was in a supposedly safe point
Fixed Umbral Flames Attack preventing Magick regeneration before channeling Omega Attack
Fixed The Queen and Judgment (Arcana) appearing active while no others Arcana are active
Fixed Hearth Gain (Hestia) no longer restoring Magick if chosen as a Sacrifice Boon
Fixed certain later Oath Testaments for the Sister Blades sometimes not appearing as expected
Fixed cases where you could go out of bounds using the Argent Skull in the battle vs. Chronos
Fixed more cases of some visual effects vs. Chronos lingering between phases or after the fight
Fixed Toula unceremoniously vanishing after you vanquish Chronos
Fixed additional issues with Sun Worshiper (Apollo)
Fixed additional issues with Dark Side (Selene)
Fixed additional issues with Twilight Curse (Selene)
Fixed a visual issue where Headmistress Hecate could appear to slide after snared by your Cast
Fixed Spark of Ixion (Charon) causing a Chaos Gate to appear in Asphodel
Fixed Golden Boughs sometimes not marking all available rewards in the Fields of Mourning
Fixed several narrative events that could play out of sequence
Fixed Odysseus rather rudely walking away while in conversation with Nemesis
Fixed Heracles sometimes leaping away forever
Fixed Melinoë’s voice reverting during her return sequence despite certain Circe enchantments
Fixed incorrect Echo portrait in the Book of Shadows
Fixed incorrect music playing in some Chaos Trials, or not playing as intended in some instances
Fixed rare cases of a looping sound playing indefinitely
Fixed a rare instance when objectives in the Training Grounds could overlap
Fixed several minor issues on the Victory Screen that shows when you prevail
Fixed additional miscellaneous issues when playing in ultrawide resolutions
Fixed a rare crash in which the effect of Winter Harvest (Demeter) could repeat forever
Fixed various other rare crashes
Fixed several text errors
Other minor fixes

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

How Bryan Fury’s Infamous Laugh Kicked Off Dialogue in the Tekken Games

Katsuhiro Harada, chief developer of the Tekken series, has offered a fascinating insight into the making of the fighting game franchise’s characters, specifically their dialogue — and in the process revealed why one Tekken character in particular became popular despite saying nothing at all.

Harada tweeted in response to one user who asked about a line of dialogue spoken by the character Reina in the recently released Tekken 8, but the answer went on to describe the process of adding dialogue to Tekken characters, kicking off with Bryan and Yoshimitsu in 1997’s Tekken 3. Before that game, Tekken characters did not speak, but it was felt that with the demise of the arcade scene in the West and a shift toward consoles, there was a need to strengthen characterization.

This is when Bryan’s famous “Muwahaha!” laugh comes in, but only when the camera was not pointed at the character’s face as much as possible due to hardware limitations.

“So I decided to include dialogue such as laughter or yes!! in the throwing scene where Bryan turns his back to the camera’s gaze and in the scene where Bryan is down (and Nina stomps),” Harada said. “I also wanted to express Bryan’s character as both a sadist and a masochist.”

“I also wanted to express Bryan’s character as both a sadist and a masochist.

Subsequent Tekken games released on more powerful hardware added more characterization, although, as Harada points out, there’s an irony in Bryan becoming a character known for not speaking much at all. Another Tekken character who does not speak is Dragunov, and Harada offered an insight into how that came to be — and revealed his surprise at the character’s popularity despite his silence.

In short, Dragunov was designed as the “negative” to Lili’s “positive”, with the expectation that Dragunov would not be a popular character, whereas Lili would be. Indeed, Harada asked the developers to “keep his personality down, keep him plain, and he doesn’t need to be so popular.”

And so, Dragunov does not speak in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, the 2005 update to Tekken 5 in which he was introduced. This also helped lighten the load on the development team, as Dragunov had few facial animations, very little lip-sync, and no more dialogue to localize.

Harada said he was nervous about Dragunov because he had become “soooo plain and brooding.” But then something unexpected happened: “the sober Dragunov, who did not speak at all, on the contrary, became popular among Tekken players because he was unique.”

The conclusion: times have changes, Harada suggested.

“In the 90s, if you didn’t have characters speaking dialogue as soon as possible, ‘they wouldn’t have any characterization!’ I thought.

“But I see, in a world where it is normal for game characters to speak after a generational change, I learned the opposite, that not speaking is also a matter of individuality.

“And even today, it is rare to find a fighting game character who does not say a word at all while fighting, at the start of a round, or throughout the entire win-pose (even Kuma and Panda communicate). Is there any other fighting game character that doesn’t talk as much as Dragunov?”

This is not “iisou” but “iizo” (like “iizoou!” a little stronger than “iizo!”). The nuance is NOT JUST “That’s good,” but includes a “Good! Go ahead, I dare you!”.
Originally, this specification was developed by me during the development of TEKKEN3, when Nina made a specific… https://t.co/lQqTCbuOfh
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) June 5, 2024

So there you have it! Harada just dropped Tekken deep lore, delighting veteran fans of the series. But this isn’t the only hot topic Harada has discussed on social media recently. This week, months after he was made painfully aware of fans’ grassroots movement to get an official Waffle House stage in the long-running fighting game series, and having received tons of information about the American Southern diner chain via memes, viral videos, and earnest replies from fans, Harada said he was still baffled at the “culture” of Waffle House.

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.

Silkbulb Test’s demo is a fun quiz game as long as you ignore the noises and don’t look behind you

Silkbulb Test is a game in which, going by its demo, you are strapped to a chair and made to answer questions projected onto a screen. You answer the questions by looking ponderously down and pressing the big red and yellow buttons on the desk in front of you. The questions begin with relatively innocuous, CAPTCHA-style inquiries, such as “is this a door?” accompanied by a picture of a face. A few minutes later, there’s stuff like “Are you alone?” and “Is it safe to be alone?” and “You are alone” and yep, time to smash Pause or better, throw the Steam Deck behind the sofa and go stare out the window for a while.

The Last of Us 2 Reportedly Set for PC

PlayStation game The Last of Us 2 will see a release on PC according to a reliable leaker.

Dealabs’ reliable leaker Billbil-kun, who has a long list of accurate PlayStation reveals under their belt, reported the PC version of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us 2 is essentially wrapped up, but is potentially being held back to coincide with the 2025 release of Season 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us show.

Sony is yet to comment.

The Last of Us 2 first launched on PlayStation 4 in June 2020 before releasing on PlayStation 5 in remastered form in January 2024. A PC version of The Last of Us 2 would come as no surprise, given Sony has already released the first game on PC.

The company’s strategy is to release its big single-player games on PlayStation consoles first, before coming to PC later. The Last of Us launched on PC in March 2023. Perhaps The Last of Us 2 will launch on PC in March 2025.

Before then, Sony Santa Monica’s God of War: Ragnarok launches on PC on September 19, 2024. Live service PlayStation games, however, launch on PlayStation 5 and PC at the same time. Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 did exactly that earlier this year and went on to become the fastest-selling PlayStation game of all time with an incredible 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks. The upcoming Concord, another live service shooter, is also set to launch on PS5 and PC on the same day later this year.

It’s worth noting that all PlayStation games on PC, even single-player only games, now require a PlayStation Network account to work, much to the annoyance of some Steam users. God of War: Ragnarok launches on PC with the new PlayStation overlay featuring shared trophies and more that was introduced with the PC version of Ghost of Tsushima.

Sony revealed PS5’s upcoming slate during a May edition of State of Play. PS5 exclusive Astro Bot stole the show, but there was also room for the aforementioned Concord, Silent Hill 2 Remake, and 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.