Reports that modders unlocked a secret multiplayer mode in Stellar Blade aren’t quite as they seem, claims the player who first posted a split-screen gameplay video that’s going viral across social media.
While overnight reports popped up that Stellar Blade developer Shift Up had built a defunct multiplayer mode directly into the game, the modder who discovered it and shared a two-player gameplay clip of Stellar Blade in Discord has insisted this is not the case.
“I woke up to everyone posting clips that I shared in a Discord completely out of context, I avoided tweeting these for a reason,” PhantomSomnus wrote on X/Twitter. PhantomSomnus then explained that “split-screen mode is built into Unreal Engine, [Stellar Blade developer] Shift Up did not create it.”
That’s how PhantomSomnus managed to load a second Eve into their game. The split-screen multiplayer in the video was not developed by Shift Up, it was made by PhantomSomnus using Unreal Engine’s native local multiplayer support. “The reason why I set up split-screen was to see if I could get any of it to work, but as you can see I failed,” PhantomSomnus explained in a post on Reddit.
— Stellar Blade Brasil (@StellarBladeBR) June 1, 2025
“There ARE signs of multiplayer in the game,” PhantomSomnus said, “but they’re online only.” A previous post of theirs includes a screenshot depicting what they found when digging around the demo’s backend. The “old scrapped/unused multiplayer PVP mode,” as Somnus calls it, no longer works, but they did discover “some menus left over.”
Does this mean be any kind of multiplayer update or mod in the future for Stellar Blade? “Very unlikely,” PhantomSomnus said.
The PC version of Stellar Blade launches via Steam on June 11 along with a raft of PC-specific features, including AI upscaling via Nvidia DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 3, an unlocked framerate, Japanese and Chinese voiceover, ultrawide display support, higher resolution environment textures, and DualSense support for haptic feedback and trigger effects. It was originally region locked in 100+ countries, but is now available to pre-order on PC in “over 250 regions.”
IGN’s Stellar Blade review returned a 7/10. We said: “Stellar Blade is great in all of the most important ways for an action game, but dull characters, a lackluster story, and several frustrating elements of its RPG mechanics prevent it from soaring along with the best of the genre.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
By strange coincidence, the odds that I will actually play Nightreign have now gone up 1.011 times. I was pretty disenchanted by Nic’s review, in which he summarised the game’s Extended Fromverse battle royale bum-rushing as “a stripped-off part of FromSoft’s creative identity with little appeal absent the whole”. If they can significantly decrease the reliance on jolly cooperation I’ll be much more interested – I had similar feelings about Helldivers 2 – though this still feels like a game I’m comfortable skipping.
FromSoftware has released Elden Ring Nightreign patch 1.01.1, the game’s first since launch, and with it made single-player mode a lot easier.
Update 1.01.1, available now across PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S, adds the effect “Automatic Revival Upon Defeat,” which allows revival once per night boss battle to solo expeditions, and increases the amount of runes gained for solo expeditions.
That will come as some relief to players who had found solo mode a brutal experience. As explained in IGN’s Elden Ring Nightreign review: “Let’s get the most important caveat out of the way first: if you are hoping to tackle Nightreign entirely solo, and are anything less than a hardcore Elden Ring player that actively seeks out ways to make that already difficult game even more challenging, Nightreign isn’t for you. Yes, there is technically a single-player option, but it is so poorly balanced that I would be shocked if it isn’t patched and adjusted within the first month of release. And this is coming from someone who lives and breathes these types of games.”
Elsewhere, the update increases the number of high-rarity Relics that can be obtained as a reward when reaching Day 3 during Expeditions, and increases the probability of obtaining high-rarity Relics from Scenic Flat stones purchased at the Small Jar Bazaar. The patch notes, published by Bandai Namco, are in full below.
Over the weekend, FromSoftware acknowledged matchmaking issues on Elden Ring Nightreign, and offered suggestions to players affected. There had already been some negative reaction, mostly due to Nightreign’s lack of duos co-op, lack of voice chat, and other archaic mechanics. That age-old multiplayer struggle to find enough friends to make up a coordinated three-player group is very much a part of the Elden Ring Nightreign experience, too.
Last week, producer Yasuhiro Kitao took to social media to comment on Elden Ring Nightreign’s early sales success (2 million units in its first day). “Nightreign has some peculiar aspects to its game design and is different from our recent titles in various ways,” Kitao said. “Nonetheless, many of you have bravely jumped into this world, and for that we’re immensely grateful.
“As with Demon’s Souls or Sekiro, it may be confounding at first, but just like those games, Nightreign offers its own challenges and experiences. Once you overcome the initial hurdle, it’ll surely provide a sense of accomplishment that’s also its very own.
The effect “Automatic Revival Upon Defeat”, which allows revival once per night boss battle, has been added to solo expeditions.
The amount of runes gained has been increased for solo expeditions.
General balance adjustments
Increased the number of high-rarity Relics that can be obtained as a reward when reaching Day 3 during Expeditions.
Increased the probability of obtaining high-rarity Relics from Scenic Flat stones purchased at the Small Jar Bazaar.
Bug Fixes
Adjusted camera behavior when activating the Guardian’s Ultimate Art, “Wings of Salvation.”
Fixed a bug in the Duchess’s Character Skill “Restage” where Status Ailments would not trigger when built up from other players’ attacks.
Fixed a bug where some attacks of Raider with Greataxe and Great Hammer weapon types had higher damage than intended.
Fixed a bug where some “Those Who Live in Death “ enemies would revive when defeated with the “Sacred Blade” skill.
Fixed a bug where the “Bleeding” Status Ailment would not build up when the Skill “Bloody Slash” hit an enemy.
Fixed a bug where the “Ghostflame Ignition” attack would not occur under certain circumstances.
Fixed a bug where the status ailment “Frostbite” would not build up when the light wave released by a strong attack hit an enemy while the “Moonlight Greatsword” skill was active.
Fixed a bug where the speed of arrows fired with the “Mighty Shot” and “Enchanted Shot” skills was slower than expected.
Fixed a bug where the attack range of the magic spell “Rock Sling” was longer than expected when using it with a staff equipped in the left hand.
Fixed a bug where the effect of reducing the maximum HP of enemies when the incantation “Black Blade” hit them was not activated.
Fixed a bug where the Passive Effect “Successive Attacks Negate Damage” would stack when successive attacks were made while the Effect was active.
Fixed a bug where some Passive Effects were not displaying their effects at the correct values.
Fixed a bug where the Relic Special Effect “[Guardian] Become the target of enemy aggression when ability is activated” would not activate under certain situations.
Fixed a bug where certain effects were not being applied to Relics obtained from Expedition Rewards or purchased from the Small Jar Bazaar.
Fixed a bug where items that could be obtained upon completing a Remembrance in the Remembrance world when the scenario conditions were met could not be obtained when changing characters and concluding a Remembrance.
Fixed bugs in the behavior and specifications of certain attacks and actions of specific enemies.
Fixed a bug that caused the game to become unstable under certain conditions during battles with specific enemies.
Fixed a bug in the graphics rendering during battles with specific enemies.
Fixed some incorrect information in the staff credits.
Fixed some text.
Fixed a bug where some sound effects were not playing correctly.
Fixed a bug where the “Exit Remembrance” effect was not displayed during a “Wylder” Remembrance on some platforms.
Fixed a bug where the HUD was not displayed on some platforms.
Fixed a bug where the game would crash under certain circumstances on some platforms.
Fixed a bug where Expeditions and reconnecting to sessions would fail under certain circumstances on some platforms.
Fixed a bug where background music would not play properly under certain circumstances on some platforms.
Steam-only adjustments
Fixed a bug where some graphics were not rendered correctly when “Low” was selected in “Quality Settings” under “Graphics.”
Fixed a bug where the Climb up action sometimes failed when using the keyboard.
Fixed a bug where the Climb up action was difficult to perform when using a gamepad.
The version number of this update shown at the lower right corner of the Title Screen will be as follows:
App Ver. 1.01.1
Regulation Ver 1.01.2
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Ubisoft’s unannounced but widely-expected Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remake has been referenced again, this time by a collectible statue maker.
PureArts, which makes figurines and busts of countless video game characters, recently held a livestream showing off a range of new Assassin’s Creed merchandise.
Here, PureArts representatives strongly hinted that the remake would surface in the not-too-distant future, and noted that “there is something going on.”
During the livestream, Assassin’s Creed fans noted the absence of Black Flag hero Edward Kenway from PureArts’ latest range, prompting a presenter to acknowledge the situation and state that the company was holding off launching a new version of Edward Kenway right now for a specific reason (thanks, Insider Gaming).
“Assassin’s Creed fans out there, you should be aware there is something going on with Edward,” the presenter stated.
“Has that been announced?” their co-presenter asked.
“I think so,” the presenter confirmed. (It has not.) “I’m pretty sure I saw rumours about it,” they continued. “No I definitely saw an article about this. So I mean, if you’re not a true Assassin’s Creed fan it’s not my fault… There’s going to be something going on with Edward and our PVC 1/8th scale Edward statue will reflect that accordingly. Am I saying that well?”
Something big is definitely happening regarding the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Remake. 🏴☠️🔥
The people at Pure Arts unveiled a new collection of figures, but the EDWARD one was missing. 🧐
Indeed, fans expect the game to boast all of the visual fidelity found in the recent Assassin’s Creed Shadows, as well as expanded wildlife and combat systems.
The suggestion by PureArts that its new Edward statue would “reflect” Black Flag’s launch also suggests the fan-favorite character might get something of a new look. IGN has contacted Ubisoft for more.
With no all-new Assassin’s Creed game set for the end of this year, fans believe the Black Flag remake would be well positioned to arrive in time for the holidays.
In the meantime, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set to continue its first year of post-launch content with the arrival of its first major expansion, Claws of Awaji, likely due this September.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
It begins as every Japan-set dating sim worth its salt does — with a transfer student.
It’s Aya’s first day at the ominously-named ‘Love-Love All-Girls High School’, and they’re (understandably) a little nervous. Shy and socially anxious, they hope they’ll manage to make a friend or two. Turns out their classmates are eager – perhaps a little too eager – to get acquainted. Aya is set upon by a stampede of besotted young women, but Aya doesn’t have romance on the brain themselves. “I Just Want To Be Single!” they yell. Cue chirpy acapella theme music.
I Just Want To Be Single!!: Season One, recently released on Steam in Early Access, is a game you’d be forgiven for overlooking on a Steam Store that today is packed with visual novels from Western indie devs. A handful carry a reverence and understanding of the medium (the excellent VA-11 HALL-A, for example), but many take a mocking, ironic approach, or exist primarily to titillate, such that fans have grown wary. Tsundere Studio’s debut, I Just Want To Be Single!! stands out from this crowd.
Billed as ‘aromantic, asexual, and nonbinary’, I Just Want To Be Single!!’s player protagonist, Aya, is a reflection of its mononymous lead developer ‘m.’. “I’m still figuring things out about myself and this game is an extension of that,” m. tells me over Discord. “The story in this game is largely about finding yourself and who you want to become.”
It’s the week of Switch 2’s launch and Nintendo is marking the occasion in the only way that seems fit… a new overview trailer for one of the console’s hottest topics: the £7.99 / $9.99 Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.
The five-minute trailer was shared via the Nintendo Today! app in Japan (we expect to see it crop up in other regions soon enough), and it gives a rundown of everything we can expect from the tutorial software.
Beloved YouTuber Shirley Curry, colloquially known as the Skyrim Grandma, has started playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered — and chat is giving her all the help she needs.
In a video titled ‘Oblivion Remastered #1 Learning’ posted to her 1.3 million subscriber YouTube channel, the 89-year-old began her journey in Bethesda’s recently released remaster having just left the tutorial area.
“Good morning grandkids. This is Oblivion Remastered,” Curry began. “I am out of all that creepy jail and dungeon and sewers and all that mess you have to come through for so long before you ever get to come out of that into the world. This is the first thing that I see.”
Curry is struggling somewhat with Oblivion Remastered, asking for chat’s help on things like how to show her character from a third-person perspective. She spends a lot of her time looking around, exploring, and getting to grips with Oblivion Remastered’s movement, control scheme, and mechanics. And yes, lockpicking is a real problem. But isn’t it for everyone?
A second video, titled ‘Oblivion Remastered #2 Still Learning,’ was also mostly about getting to grips with the game. “I guess you’re gonna have to hear an awful lot of complaining from me,” Curry said while in a cave infested with goblins and giant rats.
But through it all are comments from helpful fans who are posting tips for Curry’s first few hours in the game.
“Wow, Grandma Shirley! Welcome to TES4!!!” reads one such comment, which Curry acknowledged with a ‘heart.’
“If you use keyboard, you can change from 1st Person to 3rd Person by clicking the mouse wheel button. On controller, it’s the same as Skyrim: click the right joystick. Lockpicking is the worst in Oblivion! I just spam the auto attempt until I reach level 10. If I run out of lockpicks, I run out of lockpicks. Then I go to Nocturnal’s Shrine and do her quest to be rewarded with the unbreakable Skeleton Key. Auto attempt to successfully unlock then becomes simple! There are also open lock spells, and a doom stone (like a standing stone in Skyrim) that will give you a lesser power to open a lock once a day. It’s the Tower Stone. You have to activate it at night, and you can see it glowing from the Waterfront area of the Imperial City.”
Here’s another helpful comment: “Glad to see your [sic] starting to get the hang of it Shirley, if you click wait you can choose what time of day you’d like but you can’t near enemies.” Curry responded to that one to say thanks for the tip.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
You know how it is: you rush to the bus stop because you think you’re going to miss it, then it arrives 12 years late. Typical. The makers of Euro Truck Simulator 2 have shown off a short trailer with a big shiny European coach in it. It confirms that the sim will add driveable buses in some form soon, fulfilling a long-forgotten tease that was first made by the developers back in the cloudy days of 2013.
People Can Fly, the Polish studio best-known for Outriders and Gears of War Judgment, has confirmed even more jobs are at risk as it cancels two projects: Project Gemini and Project Bifrost.
“Today we made a very difficult decision to suspend the development of project Gemini and project Bifrost — the relevant current reports have been released to the market,” CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski wrote in a statement.
“The suspension of the Gemini project is a consequence of the fact that the Publisher has not presented us with a draft of the subsequent content rider to the Publishing Agreement covering the terms and conditions of further milestone on project Gemini and the lack of communication from the Publisher as to its willingness to continue or terminate the Gemini project.
“Project Bifrost was suspended due to the above and the analysis of the Group’s cash flow, which showed a lack of prospects for securing organisational resources and funds necessary to continue the production and release of this project.”
The CEO concluded: “As a result, we have to significantly regroup as a studio and scale down our teams, which hurts the most. We wish to express our deepest regret and sadness over how these events have unfolded and our sincere gratitude for everyone’s contribution up to this point.”
While the statement from Wojciechowski does not specific what publishing companies led to the decision to halt development, the Outriders developer’s own website confirms Gemini was partnered with Square Enix, and Bifrost was a self-published project. Square Enix is yet to comment.
People Can Fly’s most recent release is Bullestorm VR, an updated version of the classic shooter for Meta Quest and PSVR 2.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
We might rightly judge Batman Arkham-style combat by how cool the counters make you feel, what with the core of it melting into second-nature rhythmic meditation that renders you basically unkillable after a few minutes of practice. You will win the fight. This is guaranteed. The combat is designed to make you win. Usually the second tutorial prompt is “here’s the button that makes you win. Don’t worry if you don’t know when to press it. We’ll tell you”.
Likewise, you will win the fights in Dead As Disco‘s Steam demo. Maybe the action after the demo gets harder. I dare not predict the future. But this is not the important part. The important part is that you will feel very cool as you easily win. You can hold down a button to beat your enemies with a glowstick that hits about three times to every beat in the music. It feels like doing violence with a turbo maraca made of steel and also filled with steel balls. You can also import your own music, so maybe this doesn’t exactly line up with, say, Meshuggah’s Bleed. But it certainly lines up with Michael Sembello’s She’s A Maniac. Here’s a trailer.
