Author: Game Infliction

Grand Theft Auto 5 and several other titles are leaving the PlayStation Plus Games Catalog available to Extra Tier members in June 2024.

As reported by Push Square, the PlayStation Store’s Last Chance to Play page has beem updated to include a dozen titles headlined by the beloved GTA 5 but also including Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and Indivisible. Players can no longer access these as of June 18.

Also being removed is DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace, Dodgeball Academia, Monster Jam Steel Titans, MotoGP 23, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, The Talos Principle, Deluxe Edition, The Wild at Heart, and Unturned. PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers will also lose access to Baja: Edge of Control HD on the Classic Games Catalog.

GTA 5’s removal will come just one month after developer Rockstar Games’ latest, Red Dead Redemption 2, was added to the service. This was a launch title of the PlayStation Plus Games Catalog but removed in September 2022, before being finally added back in May 2024. The decade old GTA 5 has been available on the service since December 2023.

May 2024’s additions otherwise include Cat Quest, Watch Dogs, and G-Police in what was perhaps a thinner line-up than usual, though Red Dead Redemption 2 will likely carry it a long way.

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

The Alone in the Dark reboot failed to meet sales expectations at the embattled Embracer Group, it has said.

In a financial report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, Embracer said Alone in the Dark and Outcast: A New Beginning both endured “a softer-than-expected performance” and “performed below management expectations.” That’s corporate speak for failed to sell the required number of units to make money.

Alone in the Dark launched in March as a reimagination of the famous franchise and “a love letter to the 90’s cult classic horror game.” It featured performances from high-profile Hollywood actors Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, Free Guy) and David Harbour (Stranger Things, Black Widow) in their first video game roles, complete with captured likenesses.

But despite this, Alone in the Dark failed to capture the attention of the wider gaming public. According to SteamDB, it peaked with 1,628 concurrent players on Valve’s platform upon launch, but that figure has tumbled since. At the time of this article’s publication, just 23 accounts were playing Alone in the Dark, with a 24-hour peak of 52.

IGN’s Alone in the Dark review returned a 6/10. We said: “It’s not without its memorable moments, but Alone in the Dark fails to escape the shadows of the other contemporary survival horror titans that it helped spawn.”

Embracer’s comments about the commercial performance of Alone in the Dark come a month after its developer, the Embracer-owned Pieces Interactive, reportedly suffered a round of layoffs. Embracer has yet to comment on those layoffs.

Embracer has laid off thousands of staff since the collapse of a $2 billion deal, reportedly with Saudi government funded company Savvy Games Group, in 2023. In January it emerged that Embracer had canceled a new Deus Ex game that was two years in development and laid off some staff at Eidos Montreal. Some of the Embracer-owned studios to shut down include Saints Row developer Volition and Timesplitters developer Free Radical Design.

Last month, after selling off multiple businesses including Borderlands maker Gearbox and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic remake maker Saber Interactive, Embracer announced its intent to split into three separate companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. The largest shareholder, controversial CEO Lars Wingefors, intends to form a new long-term ownership structure, and “will remain a long-term, active, committed and supportive owner of all three entities,” Embracer said.

While Alone in the Dark and Outcast: A New Beginning both failed to set tills alight, Embracer said Tomb Raider I-III Remastered “was positively received and performed above management expectations”, and Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection “saw negative reviews from users, but performed in line with management expectations.” South Park: Snow Day! saw “a mixed reception from critics and users but delivered within expectations.” Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, “launched to great reception and outperformed management expectations.” Lightyear Frontier, meanwhile, “saw a positive reception and performed well-in-line with management expectations.”

Dead Island 2, developed by UK studio Dambuster Studios, is a hit, selling over three million units and reaching over seven million players since launch, a figure boosted by the game’s release on Xbox Game Pass.

As for what’s coming up from Embracer, it has high hopes for open-world medieval RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which is due out later in 2024. It said it expects the game will hit Dead Island 2 sales numbers. There’s also Killing Floor 3, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, Hyperlight Breaker, Gothic Remake, Titan Quest 2 alongside at least three other “important, unannounced releases,” Embracer said. In total, more than 70 game projects are currently expected to be released during the financial year ending March 31, 2025.

Embracer also owns Middle-earth Enterprises, and has licensed the Lord of the Rings IP to Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema for two new films.

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.

Rise of the Ronin version 1.05 is now available and brings some major changes to the game by adding new missions (including the most difficult one so far), applying quality of life improvements, and making a big change to cat collecting.

Detailed in an update on X/Twitter, the extensive patch notes are headlined by the addition of new content, including five new ally missions while playing on the Midnight difficulty. Three missions have the player “team up and improve local security in Unruly Areas”, while one called Path of Chaos presents different enemies on each playthrough.

Hardcore fans may be most interested in Eternal Night, however, which developer Team Ninja called “the most difficult mission thus far.”

Set bonuses have also been added to Ferocious Tiger and Prodigious Dragon, with the former receiving the Blade Flash attack, an upgraded forward dodge, and more. The latter is receiving the Last Ditch Counterspark, Neutral Combat, and more.

Formidable Foes of the Foreigner faction will now have a chance of dropping new glider appearances too, and players can otherwise test their skills against new training opponents such as their Blade Twin and bosses previously only available through bond missions.

Players can now manually reset Unruly Areas too, sync missions that have been completed on Midnight difficulty, equip two of the same weapons individually (allowing for different styles in each hand), and more. Perhaps most importantly, progressing cat collecting will now place cats that can be pet around Usugumo Dayu.

These changes come on top of a wealth of balance updates and bug fixes. The full patch notes can be seen below.

Rise of the Ronin arrived March 22, 2024 as an open-world action role-playing game exclusive to PlayStation 5 where players take on the role of a wandering samurai at the dawn of a new era in Japan. It earned a 7/10 in IGN’s review. “Rise of the Ronin marries a cool setting, Team Ninja’s mastery of tough-but-fair combat, and smart RPG design, even when map clutter and junk loot can get in its way,” we said.

Rise of the Ronin Version 1.05 Patch Notes

NEW CONTENT

• Midnight difficulty: Added new Ally Missions
  • Team up and improve local security in Unruly Areas – Thugs: Honmachi, Thugs Honjo, and Thugs: Honnoji
  • Path of Chaos – Each play through will have different enemies
  • Eternal Night – The most difficult mission thus far
• Added new set bonuses Ferocious Tiger and Prodigious Dragon. Masterwork armor and accessories will now have a chance to drop with these new Set Bonuses separately from other set bonuses
  • Ferocious Tiger set bonuses:
    • Blade Flash Attack
    • Upgraded Forward Dodge
    • Attack ↑ (Martial Skill Swap)
    • Ki Regeneration (Blade Flash)
  • Prodigious Dragon set bonuses:
    • Last Ditch Counterspark
    • Enemy Max Ki ↓ (Grapple Attack)
    • Neutral Combat
    • Upgraded Counterspark
• Added new training opponents, such as your Blade Twin, and bosses that were only available in bond missions
• Added new glider appearances that can be obtained from Formidable Foes of the Foreigner faction: Glorious Crimson, Elegant Brown, and Imperial Blue

NEW FEATURES

• Added feature to manually reset Unruly Areas that is unlocked by completion rate of a chapter on Midnight difficulty
• Added system where you can level sync missions that you have completed on Midnight difficulty
• When equipping the same two main weapon type (for example two katanas), you can now equip different styles for each weapon individually
• Can now register Jizo Statuette for item preset loadouts
• Number of times Martial Skills hit is now added to technical points in Training
• Now shows difficulty in the results screen of Training, as the higher the difficulty, the higher the possible score will be
• Added filtering for Training
• Progressing cat collecting will now place cats that can be pet around Usugumo Dayu in Yokohama, Edo, and Kyoto

WEAPON ADJUSTMENTS

• Adjusted so Violent Gale and Flash attack is easier to do after certain martial skills
• Katana: Yagyu Shinkage-ryu – Follow-up attack after counterspark is now easier to land
• Katana: Nioh-ryu – Adjusted so you are less likely to accidentally trigger Nioh-den: Iai Quickdraw when performing Veiled Arts after Blade Flashing
• Katana: Nioh-ryu – Nioh-den Iai Quickdraw consumes less Ki, and overall increase in damage and Ki damage
• Katana: Aisu Kage-ryu – Crimson Light consumes less ki, and at max blood gauge, damage, and Ki damage is increased
• Saber: British Training – Reduced Ki consumption of throwing knife, and increased damage
• Bayonet: Mumyo-ryu – Bone Shatterer now easier to follow up with critical hits on enemies with depleted Ki
• Bayonet: French Training – Follow-up show after counterspark is now easier to hit
• Oxtail Blade: Mumyo Kaishin-ryu – Midnight Banquet now easier to follow up with critical hit on enemies with depleted
• Great Sword: Mumyo Kaishin-ryu – Midnight Mist is now easier to hit
• Unarmed: Mumyo-ryu – Raging Wolf is now easier to hit

CHARACTER ADJUSTMENTS

• Adjusted player knockback distance on successfully countersparking enemy attacks
• Now possible to switch styles when: Guarding enemy attacks, during some animations of being hit by enemy attacks, and during Flash Attack
• Calling your horse while sprinting will continue the sprint after mounting the horse
• Adjusted and improved stats of unique attacks of Ally characters across the board
• Adjusted so that you will no longer switch lock on targets when controlling the right stick with the combat style UI showing during Critical Hits

ENEMY ADJUSTMENTS

• Shortened flaming area that certain bosses create
• Adjusted and nerfed Bayonet bullet damage and state of certain enemies

OTHER ADJUSTMENTS

• Increased chance of obtaining Masterwork equipment from formidable foes
• A portion of main weapons and sub weapons can now have set bonuses
• Adjusted so that specific equipment that had limited ways of obtaining to now drop from enemies as well
• Can now overwrite set bonuses when bond transferring on Masterwork equipment
• When selecting equipment for bond transferring, equipment that cannot be selected is now filtered to not show
• Items that heal status ailment are now affected by Skill Bolster Duration ↑ and Technology Development Inventory ↑
• Can now obtain the unique accessories by triggering the Veiled Vow dialogue event, and no longer need to commit to the Veiled Vow
• Dialogue lines played after breaking a Veiled Vow now resets after certain conditions
• Fertilizer purchased from Robert Fortune is now cheaper
• Increased the types of material you can purchase from Robert Fortune and Alexandria Moreau
• Increased Red Nuts gain when gardening
• Can now change the time in the Redesign menu
• Midnight difficulty, Edo: Location hubs – Yoshinobu Tokugawa, Taka Murayama, and Hachiro Kiyokawa will now appear in their hubs
• Shintaro Nakaoka will now appear at Choshu Clain Estate in Kyoto when using the Testaments of the Soul
• Adjusted to increase chance of encountering other player’s ronin avatars at towns or roads

BUG FIXES

• Fixed bug where you could transfer despite lacking materials or money through an unconventional method
• Fixed bug where you could not purchase Coal from blacksmiths
• Fixed bug where Blade Twin’s Kimono and Modernizing Vassal’s Kimono – Belt were not shown as selectable pieces
• Fixed bug where each equipment sometimes were shown in different colors each
• Fixed bug where Current Equipment showed default appearance under certain conditions
• Fixed bug where saving and loading before arriving at Kannai disabled Chance Encounters until arriving at Kannai
• Fixed bug where Veiled Arts set for other styles would have different stats compared to the original
• Fixed bug where some Martial Skills would ignore guard
• Fixed bug where you would be forced into swimming when performing certain Martial Skills nearby water
• Fixed bug where while using Martial Skill Blossom Blizzard, if you take damage from certain enemy skills will make you unable to dodge out of it
• Fixed bug where in Niph-ryu, switching to middle stance would sometimes switch to high stance
• Fixed bug where after drop down assassinations, performing certain martial skills would cause you to take fall damage
• Fixed bug where Ki Blaze effect would vibrate excessively
• Fixed bug where when using Ally Alexandria Moreau, her grapple throws were not matching the indicator
• Other minor fixes

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

One of the most high-profile Mortal Kombat 1 modders on YouTube has pulled their content offline after alleging Warner Bros. “threatened to destroy” his channel.

Toasted tweeted to allege Warner Bros. had issued an intellectual property infringement notification that states the Mortal Kombat mods showcased in his videos “infringe” on the company’s IP rights. Toasted claimed that Warner Bros., which owns the Mortal Kombat IP as well as its developer, NetherRealm, requested he delete all Mortal Kombat 1 videos from his channel “or else they will issue copyright strikes and essentially delete my channel in its entirety.”

These are all the videos I’ve had to private, I’m sorry to everyone who enjoyed them but Warner Bros isn’t really giving me a choice pic.twitter.com/AB6fop5ot3

— Toasted (@ToastedShoes) May 23, 2024

IGN has verified the notification, sent by AI-powered brand protection company Tracer. It includes the takedown request, which also extends to Toasted’s Patreon, where the mods in question were made available to download to subscribers. IGN has confirmed Toasted has also pulled the Mortal Kombat 1 mods down from his Patreon. IGN has asked Warner Bros. for comment.

I voiced Rick, Morty, and Meeseeks in another @ToastedShoes mod 🙂 pic.twitter.com/IoI5GgBLhT

— Sean Kelly (@RealMortysays) December 26, 2023

Toasted’s Mortal Kombat 1 mod videos have showcased NetherRealm’s fighting game with various characters from the likes of Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Warner Bros., and Dreamworks properties. In January 2024, IGN reported on how Toasted had replaced the likes of Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Liu Kang with Woody from Toy Story, Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles, and even Carl Fredricksen from Up for various Mortal Kombat 1 mod videos. Other mod videos showed Rick & Morty and Family Guy in gory Mortal Kombat 1 battles.

I voiced Morty, Rick, and Meeseeks in a ToastedShoes mod 🙂 pic.twitter.com/pftgehu7mS

— Sean Kelly (@RealMortysays) December 25, 2023

Toasted said clips of his mods have more than one billion views across all platforms, and highlighted that NetherRealm development chief Ed Boon has shared clips of mods himself on social media.

“For over six months Warner Bros. have had zero issues with people modding the game and @noobde himself has shared countless mod videos and clips praising them,” Toasted said.

“The clips of my mods have over one billion views across all platforms that have allowed me to bring attention to the game as well as to continue supporting the team of developers I work with. My team of modders work with me on both a part time and full time basis and the revenue from these videos pays their wages.”

Yeah it’s pretty whack. There’s clips of the mods with 50+ million views on the internet. If anything it would make people want to play the game more would it not? I’ve had many people reply saying they are getting the game PURELY for the mods pic.twitter.com/532r85YUyg

— Toasted (@ToastedShoes) May 23, 2024

Toasted also claimed he is unable to reply to the email sent by Warner Bros., which means he has no way of asking follow-up questions. “I also seem to be the only content creator that I know of that has been sent a cease and desist from Warner Bros.,” he added.

Toasted said the cease and desist has “forced” him to remove all the Mortal Kombat 1 mod videos from his channel. “This isn’t what I wanted to do but I feel I have no other option,” he said.

Warner Bros.’ cease and desist comes just a few days before the company’s franchise-combining brawler MultiVersus launches across PC and consoles. MultiVersus, a free-to-play take on Nintendo’s Smash Bros. series, sees characters from across Warner Bros. properties, including Rick & Morty, battle in a distinctly more family friendly setting than NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat.

This isn’t the first time Toasted has found himself in hot water over his mod videos. In January 2024, Toasted claimed “Nintendo has come for me” after a takedown of a tweet teasing a Palworld mod with a clip showing Pokémon’s Ash Ketchum in place of the player character, as well as famous Pokémon such as Pikachu replacing Palworld’s Pals.

The question now for Toasted is how to respond to the cease and desist beyond taking down the mods and videos. In a statement provided to IGN, Toasted insisted he will contest the decision. “We are currently listening to and abiding by Warners Bros request to remove the videos,” Toasted said. “However we are going to contest their decision. Right now we are waiting for actual communication from Warner Bros so we can resolve the matter.”

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.

Blizzard Entertainment is removing Overwatch 2’s Hero Mastery Gauntlet PvE mode as it felt it “hasn’t resonated” with players.

The developer announced the news on its forums, explaining the reasoning behind its decision in a statement. Starting with Season 11, the Hero Mastery Gauntlet, a round-based tower defense mode that sees players team up against robots, will no longer be accessible.

Hero Mastery Solo Courses will remain available as a single-player offering, with more courses promised to arrive in future seasons. You can see the full statement below:

Hero Mastery Gauntlet launched in March 2024, meaning it will have only been available for around three months before it’s dropped. Although the mode has been criticized by many, some are disappointed not only because it’s leaving so soon, but because it represents another scrapped PvE mode in the history of Overwatch 2.

In May 2023, Blizzard announced it would no longer be adding the long-promised PvE Hero mode to Overwatch 2. It had been touted as one of the biggest changes for the franchise, which was largely known for its PvP content, since Overwatch 2 was originally announced. Director Aaron Keller eventually apologized for the change of course, calling the mode an “exciting but gargantuan vision.”

Overwatch 2 launched in 2022 as a sequel to Blizzard’s original hero shooter. While we enjoyed it upon its release, giving it an 8/10 in our review, the hero shooter follow-up has changed in a few major ways in the last few years.

Following the decision to shutter the Overwatch League late last year, Blizzard announced that it would make new heroes available to all players to enjoy instead of locking them behind a premium battle pass purchase. The company made good on that promise with Season 10, delivering all past playable characters and its newest Damage hero, Venture, available to all.

The current season runs for another 28 days, meaning you have just less than one month to squeeze out that last bit of fun from Hero Mastery Gauntlet before the co-op mode is gone for good. For more on Blizzard’s future, you can read up on the cancelation of BlizzCon 2024 and check out the new Overwatch 2 Porsche crossover event.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.