Category: IGN

The Magic: The Gathering product release schedule continues, with anticipation building for the arrival of Spider-Man next month, but there are plenty of price changes to come before then. From classic cards seeing new life and staggering value changes, to big drops for some of Edge of Eternities’ most popular cards, there’s plenty to keep up with. Here are the big shifts this week for August 28, and why they’re happening.

This Week’s Climbers

Need for Speed debuted in 2001 (the card, not the video game series) and it lets you sack lands to give creatures haste, but folks have noticed that Toph, the First Metalbender from the upcoming Avatar set can take advantage of its effects.

Considering it was revealed to the world with a trailer that featured four zombie-blasting soldiers singing along to Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name”, I expected John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando to be much funnier than it is. Inspired in equal measure by the supernatural horror and buddy action movies of the 1980s, it is big and dumb and goofy… yet never as batshit bananas as you’d expect for a game that’s quite literally about fighting an entity called the Sludge God. But while it may not be that funny, it is fun. You may have already forgotten about that 2023 reveal trailer, but after playing three hours of its co-op missions, I don’t think Toxic Commando is going to fade into the background thanks to its surprisingly solid Left 4 Dead-alike antics.

While it is presented akin to a story campaign shooter with cutscenes, plot points, and a lore-dropping man-in-the-chair vaguely modelled after John Carpenter himself, Toxic Commando is clearly designed to be a regular destination for a team of four friends who can run through its missions on repeat. Each expedition takes place on a reasonably-sized open map, dotted with a handful of optional objectives and loot caches alongside the quest’s main goals. With no ticking timer or shrinking circle, you can take your time to collect everything, scour every point-of-interest, and generally mess around with your pals before pushing onwards to the mission’s finale. It’s surprisingly leisurely… at least until the horde applies the pressure.

Developed by Saber Interactive, Toxic Commando is built on the studio’s now-signature horde technology that renders hundreds of sprinting zombies simultaneously, allowing for enemies to clamber up walls like a reverse waterfall of rotting flesh. In many ways, Toxic Commando feels like a successor to the game where this tech originated, World War Z, and even features near-identical mechanics – during frequent hold-the-line defence objectives, you mow down incoming enemies with the same array of emplaced machineguns, mortars, and electrified grids. It’s just that this time it’s all rendered with a gloriously gross horror aesthetic. Who wants zombies to look like humans when they can look like lamp-eyed freaks from the death dimension?

Those freaks burst and break when they’re introduced to the hot lead dispensed by a very healthy arsenal. They’re all based on real-world guns (aside from the wildly powerful rail gun, which scatters foes like bowling pins) and divided up into your regular groups of shotguns, SMGs, sniper rifles, and other formats not beginning with “S”. Saving them from feeling utterly ordinary is how they fire with the exaggerated bravado of an ultra-violent b-movie – all sputtering muzzles, wide bullet spread, and explosive impacts. Legs are severed, ribcages torn open, and brains pinwheel out of busted skulls. It’s all as squelchy and sinewey as you’d hope from a game associated with the director of The Thing.

Your choice of loadout defines the combat experience much more than the four character classes, which feel like minor augmentations to standard FPS action rather than crucial battlefield roles. Each is defined by a single special ability – the Operator uses a drone that automatically bombards enemies for a few seconds, the Strike can unleash a barrage of energy blasts, the Medic has an area-of-effect heal, and the Defender can put up a damage-absorbing barrier. At least during my hours of play, these abilities came in handy during a pinch but did little to direct how I played. Perhaps filling out the skill tree will give each class stronger definition, but right now it seems like the regular shooting is the main event.

Mowing down a lot (a lot) of zombies is the crux of Toxic Commando’s objectives. Sometimes that’ll involve the genre-trademark special infected that largely work exactly as Left 4 Dead dictated (sticky ones that grab you, tanky ones that charge at you, gross ones that spit at you.) Elsewhere you’ll need to unload a belts-worth of ammunition into a tangled mess of tentacles, or use demolition charges to blow some kind of growth to smithereens. It’s mostly by-the-numbers co-op shooter fare, but across the few missions I’ve played there’s the odd one that shines brighter. One quest sees the map covered by a Fortnite-ish, life-sapping storm, and the only way to navigate between the shielded pockets of safety is to drive an ambulance that can trickle heal those sitting inside it. It’s a really coherent meshing of environment, situation, and equipment design.

Regardless of if the mission requires one or not, vehicles are as significant to Toxic Commando as its zombies and guns. The spaced-out objectives and open nature of the maps mean you’ll need some wheels to effectively cover ground, especially as that ground is so often practically carpeted by the undead. Cars like the armoured Maverick are good for both protection and doubling as a battering ram – you’ll just need to occasionally deal with the zombies who clamber aboard like particularly diseased monkeys at the safari.

All vehicles have a special ability, such as the ambulance’s healing aura or the Thunder pick-up’s flamethrower, but it’s the winch attached to all but the family sedans that really makes a difference. Essentially a grapple hook that can be fired into a variety of anchor points, it can be used to rip gates off their hinges, bust open treasure containers, and pull your vehicle up slippy inclines. See, the Sludge God, in his infinite sticky wisdom, has covered each map in great big stretches of gloop, and so without a MudRunner-lite approach you’ll be spinning tires and going nowhere.

There’s admittedly very little new or experimental in Toxic Commando, but what’s here is genuinely good fun. It’s a more open take on Left 4 Dead’s horde-filled adventures, fuelled by the same “arcane evil” feel that’s made Call of Duty’s zombie mode feel so aesthetically solid. There are some issues that threaten that fun, though. Every mission I played felt like it had had the wind kicked out of it by the final stretch thanks to dwindling resources. Health kits are in short supply, ammunition can get a little tricky, and spare parts – a currency that unlocks special weapons and defensive structures – can only be found in a limited number of loot caches. By the end of a mission it can feel like the odds are really against you, and while I appreciate the need to ratchet tension and create a challenge spike in the final objective, in a game where zombies arrive by the truckful, restocking ammo only to find you’ve been given a single magazine does feel a bit unbalanced. I was having a lot more fun during the earlier minutes, when bullets were plentiful and the blood spilled like wine, so I’m not sure if the flow and tone really mesh with the current resource levels.

The more concerning thing, though, is progression. All weapons have individual XP bars, and must be levelled up to particular milestones to unlock different modifications. When you unlock a mod, you then need to spend a currency to actually fit it to the weapon, and each one costs several thousand. I can’t help but look at the entire armoury and envision the hundreds and hundreds of hours I’d need to sink into Toxic Commando to achieve a decently functioning, varied loadout. It’s the sort of system that funnels you into picking a single favourite, rather than encouraging you to constantly switch between missions. This, combined with a trio of different currencies and palette-swap character skins, has me a little suspicious that the sludge of live-service has tainted something I’ve otherwise had a pretty good blast with. But these grindy woes can also be found in Saber’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and they didn’t stop it from being one of my favourite games of 2024.

That’s not to say I’m expecting John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando to have anywhere near the same impact Space Marine had. But, provided the full game has a solid range of missions that genuinely prove replayable, I do think the strong shooting and entertaining enemies have a decent enough chance to secure it a home among friendship groups who’d happily re-watch gloopy ‘80s horror over and over until the VHS wears out. Whether they’ll ever unlock the attachments they want for their favourite weapons… well, we’ll have to wait to find out.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Executive Editor of Features.

If you’re sick of looking at the insane pricing of Pokémon TCG at big box retailers, I’m here to help. I’ve gone through the Amazon’s latest stock updates, and I’ve found some deals that are either in-line with their current value on the collectors market, or below if you’re quick enough. ETBs, Booster Bundles, Big box ex collections, single boosters and more, I’ve got you covered in today’s daily deals.

TL;DR: The Best Deals For Today

There’s some awesome preorders up for console and PC gamers too. Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater is available to preorder for $52.38 for the standard edition and $59.87 for the digital deluxe edition. Expedition 33 is getting an Amazon exclusive physical editions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X that drops on New Years Eve, more information on both below.

I’ve even dragged up the best prices for hot Pokémon TCG singles with the latest set from Japan, Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia and the latest edition of Crashers and Climbers, of which there’s some amazing bargains for those holding off on Shrouded Fable and Stellar Crown. Let’s get into it:

Pokémon Card ETB Deals

TCGPlayer is showing up Amazon’s predatory pricing practices with Pokémon TCG, with up to 10% on some of the latest sets, including Black Bolt, White Flare, Destined Rivals and more. Still above MSRP, but its by far the best deal players and collectors are going to get on sealed ETB’s right now.

Pokémon TCG Booster Bundle Deals

Booster Bundles are even cheaper, and again from the most popular Scarlet and Violet sets. Prismatic Evolutions is 21% cheaper, Black Bolt is 22% down, White Flare is 18% and Destined Rivals is a moddest 8% down. Don’t pay more when you don’t have too.

Pokémon TCG Big Box Collection Deals

Binder boxes, special collections and more are the big box Pokémon TCG products that make great gifts that usually come with a few exclusive pormo cards and other cool swag that can only be found in these boxes. Infact, if you’re just after the bits and bats inside, you can usually find seperate listings on TCGPlayer for just that to save a few dollars.

Pokémon TCG Tins and Booster Packs

With up to 44% off booster tins, blisters and single packs, it’s an absolute no-brainer hopping over to TCGPlayer over Amazon. It’s actually amazing that some of these products are nearly double the price of the secondary market, but I’m here to save you some money after all!

Most Expensive Pokémon Cards from Japan’s Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia

Japan’s Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia Pokémon TCG sets have quickly gained popularity with collectors and competitive players alike, thanks to their focus on iconic Mega Evolutions, powerful Supporter cards, and premium artwork. High-value chase cards like Mega Gardevoir ex 092/063 and Mega Lucario ex 092/063 are priced at $664 and $444 respectively, while many others remain above the $100 mark.

These sets combine strong gameplay mechanics such as Psychic energy acceleration and hard-hitting Fighting-type attacks with visually stunning Special and Ultra Rare treatments that elevate their appeal. Booster boxes and Premium Trainer Boxes are available on TCGPlayer and include guaranteed rare pulls due to Japanese packaging rules. While the most expensive cards draw attention, more affordable options like Lillie’s Determination 086/063, Mega Kangaskhan ex SAR, and Mega Absol ex SAR offer great value with solid gameplay and collector-friendly art, making these sets a standout release for fans looking for both playability and display-worthy cards.

This Weeks Crashers and Climbers

Stellar Crown’s Illustration Rares like Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Terapagos ex are dropping fast, with nostalgia-driven hype fading as supply grows and competitive players move on. Squirtle is down about 32% since February and Bulbasaur is down 31%, both sliding because their gameplay value is minimal. Earthen Vessel and the Special Illustration Rare Fezandipiti ex are also slipping, while Terapagos ex has been hit hardest, losing over half its value.

On the other hand, Shrouded Fable cards with practical utility are steadily climbing. Hyper Rare Basic Darkness Energy has gained around 17% as Dark-focused decks get more popular, and Dusclops is creeping up thanks to its creative ability. Even the Double Rare Fezandipiti ex is bucking the trend, nearly doubling in value as competitive players embrace it. Smaller gains from Powerglass and Okidogi ex reinforce the idea that functional, playable cards are holding their ground while flashy artwork is losing steam.

METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Mirror Edition – PlayStation 5

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Mirror Edition – Xbox Series X

Elden Ring Nightreign Amazon Exclusive Deluxe Edition

Apple AirPods 4 Wireless Earbuds

LEGO The Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree 2in1

Here’s some good news for RPG fans. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the surprise blockbuster from earlier this year, is getting a new physical edition for PS5 and Xbox Series X. It’s called the Mirror Edition, and it comes with some new physical goodies. It’s only available at Amazon (see it here), with a price tag of $59.99 and a release date that’s yet to be announced. Read on for a rundown of everything you get with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Mirror Edition.

Preorder Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Mirror Edition

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Mirror Edition Contents

In addition to the game on disc, the Mirror Edition also includes the following items:

• Collectible Cards – includes 3 of 10 possible cards
• Exclusive steelbook – featuring Verso and Alicia
• Tuckbox

Regarding the collectible cards, there are 10 available, but you get three random cards included with your copy. The only three cards shown on Amazon’s listing page feature Gustave, Maelle, and Lune.

Other Preorder Guides

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Pokémon Go is introducing a new, higher level cap and rebalancing the XP requirements for existing levels — though no player will see their current level reduced.

The game’s current level 50 cap, introduced back in 2020, will rise to level 80, giving players a significant new milestone to aim towards.

But the game’s levelling curve should be smoother, developers told IGN in a pre-announcement briefing, meaning XP levels overall should be hit more frequently. This will be achieved by a rebalance of all XP levels to date, and the removal of additional, time-consuming levelling tasks between levels 41 to 50.

Indeed, players who have already earned the necessary XP will be boosted up to the new level system’s requirements when they go live on October 18 — though the exact XP amounts required post-rebalance are yet to be confirmed.

Don’t expect hitting the new level 80 cap to be easy, however. Alongside the necessary XP requirements, a fresh set of levelling tasks will be added for the final climb from level 71 to 80, ensuring only the toughest Trainers hit the game’s new top level (and there’s still plenty to grind for).

New rewards for levelling up will include fresh avatar items, plus increased storage capacity for Pokémon, items and gifts — upgrades you would otherwise pay for. (And if you’re already at the game’s maximum limit for one of these, developers confirmed you’ll still be boosted above that.)

There’s even a new boost for friends at level 70 and above, who will have an increaed chance of becoming Lucky Friends with other players.

2025 is turning out to be a stellar year for fans of 2D ninja platformers. The 16-bit blood sprites have barely dried on Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s katana, and now Sega’s iconic Shinobi series has emerged from a 14-year stay in the shadows to fling a fistful of kunai straight into your adrenal glands. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance brings back the series’ slash ‘n’ dash with plenty of modern day flash. It empowers returning hero Joe Musashi with an enjoyably expansive suite of hypercharged ninja skills and presents it all in a gorgeous hand drawn art style, making for an adventure that’s occasionally hard on the reflexes but always easy on the eye. While the Shinobi series may have been in exile for an agonising amount of time, its triumphant return has been well worth the wait.

Art of Vengeance’s setup seems to have spilled straight off the circuit board of an ‘80s arcade machine. Led by the maniacal Lord Ruse, the nefarious paramilitary organization ENE Corp has achieved world domination by force, and the responsibility of toppling them falls squarely on the crisp linen-covered shoulders of Joe Musashi. Musashi had resigned himself to the simple life, mentoring young ninja students in obscurity like some sort of Obi Wan Shinobi, but when the ENE brings violence to his village he’s forced to seek vengeance on every soldier, spectre, and samurai that stands in his path over the course of a 10-hour cross-continental killing spree. It’s simple stuff for sure, but it’s really all the motivation I needed to turn the ENE forces into a series of slash test dummies, and I was perfectly happy for Musashi to let his blade do the talking. Quite literally in fact, as he only ever grunts during conversation cutscenes, which brings some welcome bursts of comic relief in between each sprawling showdown.

Its plot may be true to the uncomplicated action movie era the series was born out of, but its looks are strikingly modern. Much like developer Lizardcube’s Streets of Rage 4 before it, Art of Vengeance’s characters and environments have that painstakingly-drawn-by-hand style to them that produces consistently phenomenal results. From hulking container ships that loom in the backdrop of the fish market stage right down to the reflections in puddles that whip past Musashi’s unceasingly determined sprint, it turns out that vengeance isn’t the only art that this latest Shinobi has set out to nail. There are clear contrasts between each setting too that make them uniquely captivating to explore, from the lush bamboo forest of the opening level through to the disgustingly gloopy explorable innards of a Kaiju that seem like something straight out of a Rick and Morty episode.

No two of Art of Vengeance’s 14 levels are structured the same, either. One stage hustles the chaos across the carriage rooftops of a speeding train, another has you stalking across the skyline of Neo City in all directions in an effort to find and rescue hostages, while another still takes you deep into a labyrinth of dark corridors in a secret ENE base where Metroid-like mutants suddenly lunge at you through the shattered glass of their stasis tanks to keep you on your toes. There’s also plenty of variety within each level, like the mountain stage that shifts from a lava-lined steelworks area to a breathless rockslide descending into a chasm. While the occasional switch puzzle or chase sequence is repeated here and there, there are enough fresh objectives to complete and unique environments to explore that the journey remains as sharp as a shuriken from start to finish. There’s even a bonus stage that reimagines the surfing level from Shinobi III, which is a welcome throwback to that brief period in the early ‘90s when there was no cooler conceivable combination to kids than a ninja on a surfboard.

Art of the Steel

Of course, all of this would be for nothing if the combat didn’t pull its weight, but fortunately Art of Vengeance’s fighting is frenetic, fluid, and consistently fantastic. Unlike Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s enemies which can mostly be dispatched with single hits, the bulk of the bad guys in Art of Vengeance have health bars that need to be whittled away with snappy combo attacks, making it feel more like a platform-based brawler in comparison to Ragebound’s more demanding, precision-based striking. Musashi can pull off a growing number of combos over the course of the campaign built upon light and heavy sword attacks and kunai dagger throws – but as I unlocked new attack chains from the in-game merchant, I was soon juggling enemy ninjas in the air with sword slashes, divebombing them with flaming jump kicks, and shredding their defenses with spin attacks like a Catherine Wheel of katana blades as my combo tally ticked towards triple figures. It all feels incredibly intuitive, and there’s reward for sequencing your attacks just right – time an execution move when an enemy is on their last legs and they disappear in a spectacular spray of blood, but also valuable coins and health boosts that are funneled straight into your back pocket.

Each successful attack you land also fills up your Ninpo gauge, which allows you to trigger a powerful special move from four customisable slots. I tended to favour the Yoga Flame-style dragon breath to quickly wipe out the additional green health bar found on more heavily armoured foes like the riot shield-toting tank types, as well as the bomb that can be lobbed midair to stagger an enemy before you start your combo. Combined with the two amulet slots that can be equipped with a healthy variety of active and passive buffs, like a booster that increases your damage output the longer your combo lasts or a vampire ability that steadily replenishes your health bar with each enemy you dispatch, and Art of Vengeance provides a satisfying amount of flexibility in terms of being able to slay your own way.

Deepening your combat options even further is the Ninjutsu gauge, which fills as Musashi takes damage or collects rage orbs from fallen foes. This turbocharged update on the original games’ ninja magic is pretty slow to replenish, and as a result I tended to keep it up my sleeve until I reached each end-of-level boss, since it can greatly turn the tide of battle – either offensively, like dealing health bar-halving damage with flaming dragon blasts, or defensively, such as bringing a flatlining Musashi back from the brink with a revitalising wave of water.

Perhaps as a result of my strategic deployment of these super special moves, I didn’t really face too much resistance from any of Art of Vengeance’s bosses on the hardest Shinobi difficulty setting, but that’s not to say they weren’t still plenty of fun to encounter. Although the returning Mandara from the original arcade game is a bit clunky and probably should have remained trapped inside a dusty Master System cartridge, elsewhere there are some hugely entertaining battles with big bads to be found. My favourites are the twin mutants in the ENE laboratory that combine into one towering freak like a pair of kids trying to sneak into an adult movie, and the monster-conjuring beastmaster in the desert level that surprises you with minotaurs and griffins to force you to deftly maneuver from the land into the air and back again. The majority of these boss battles bring each stage to a climactic close, and typically reward you with another ability-enhancing trinket to further tweak Musashi’s skill set with.

Running Hack and Forth

To be clear, Art of Vengeance’s 14 main levels are not interconnected, so it’s not structured like a classic Metroidvania. However, while there isn’t any compulsory backtracking required to complete the story, there are still plenty of compelling reasons to return to earlier levels as you unlock new abilities for Musashi over the course of the journey, which in turn open up sizeable new areas to explore that were otherwise blocked off the first time through. A charged up punch for shattering Yokai barriers, ninja claws to scale walls and overheads, a glider to take advantage of updrafts, and even a grappling hook aren’t just crucial for reaching the story’s conclusion, but also for sniffing out all the secrets in each stage. Even though I’ve rolled credits on the campaign, I’m still steadily working my way towards 100% completion of each level and having an absolute blast doing it.

Some of these secrets are as simple as tokens to unlock more goods at the merchant or new costume colours for Musashi – I’m pretty partial to slaughtering ENE goons draped in cherry blossom pink myself – but there are also up to three Elite encounters to find in each level which drop you into an intense arena fight against hardened hordes like some sort of sword-swinging Super Smash Bros. battle. Clearing every Elite encounter in a level will grant you a new amulet to equip, further enhancing Musashi’s attack power or his ability to heal, which become invaluable buffs against the late game bosses.

My favourite optional extra, however, are the rift challenges. These typically punishing platforming tasks demand pinpoint chaining of Musashi’s double-jump, air-dash, and wall-running abilities in order to clear formidable Super Meat Boy-style obstacle courses of spinning sawblades and swirling jets of fire suspended over bottomless pits. They’re deathtrap-lined levels that are often fiendish but yet to become too frustrating thanks to the instant restarts and level design that’s fierce but ultimately fair.

Retracing my steps through Art of Vengeance’s stages to search for secrets has also highlighted some of its minor shortcomings, however. I don’t love the way that enemies seem to respawn instantly once their patrol points have disappeared off camera, drawing me into unnecessary additional fights as I doubleback in search of a specific spot. But what’s really annoying is the way the pause menu map doesn’t seem to indicate whether falling down a gap between platforms will mean you land safely on the ground below or instantly lose a chunk of health and respawn back on the platform above. It brings an unwanted element of trial and error to the otherwise obsessive hunt for secrets.

That said, I ultimately really admire how Lizardcube has structured Art of Vengeance, in the sense that it’s made its most challenging combat and platforming sections entirely optional for the most part. If you just want to focus on the story, you’ll find a 2D ninja platforming experience that’s challenging enough but a touch more approachable on its default difficulty setting than the comparatively trickier Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. But if you do want to put your skills to the test, there are those optional Elite battles and rift challenges to dive into, along with Boss Rush and timer-based Arcade modes to unlock for the more serious speedrunners. (Conversely, there are a number of accessibility settings to make life even easier should you still find yourself struggling.)

Fans have always felt that Dragon Age: Origins’ mage class was more complete, perhaps even more dominant, than the game’s other two classes, the rogue and the warrior. But why was that? Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has said it’s mostly about second edition Dungeons & Dragons.

In a recently published video, Darrah explained why the mage in BioWare’s much-loved 2009 role-playing game ended up feeling so much better to play.

“It’s actually I would say more because the design space that Dragon Age: Origins was being built into was heavily influenced by second edition D&D,” Darrah, who worked at BioWare from 1997 to early 2021, said.

“So in that case, the reality is mages and rogues were less… they were thinner classes, they were simpler classes. And the mage was the stronger, more fully implemented, more fully considered class. Much more complicated, much more in terms of spells and such.”

Dragon Age: Origins was not designed to be played with Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rules, but rather it was built on a custom system that was heavily influenced by the design principles of the 2nd edition era of D&D.

Darrah also said Origins’ more grounded tone affected the abilities of the warrior and the rogue, which in turn had more grounded abilities than in subsequent games in the fantasy franchise.

“Also, of all the Dragon Ages, Dragon Age: Origins is the most grounded. It’s the one that’s worrying the most about everything making perfect sense within the overall lore of the game. So, warriors and rogues in Origins basically don’t have talents, or they don’t have talents or skills that violate physics.

“Whereas, as we move into Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition and Veilgard, you get a lot more things that are not really possible for someone to physically do.”

There’s plenty of agreement with Darrah’s assessment from fans, particularly on his point about Origins’ more grounded setting and tone, but also on how important mages were to the game’s story. Morrigan, a mage party member, ended up one of the most popular in Origins. That was in part because she was powerful, but there were also… other considerations.

Of course, this unbalance was rectified for subsequent Dragon Age games, as Darrah points out. But following the failure of Veilguard and the layoffs that followed, fans often point to Origins as the kind of Dragon Age they would love to see BioWare return to one day.

Will that day come? It seems unlikely any time soon, given BioWare is focused squarely on Mass Effect 5. Darrah, meanwhile, via his YouTube channel, has been running through his time at the studio, explaining everything from why there has never been a Dragon Age: Origins remaster to what went wrong with Anthem.

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.

With Borderlands 3 and its divisive story in the rearview mirror, developer Gearbox Software is driving full speed ahead to Borderlands 4 and the totalitarian planet of Kairos.

The long road to the launch of a fourth mainline Borderlands game had a bumpy start. While plenty fell in love with Borderlands 3 and its improvements to the looter-shooter series’ gunplay, others still struggle with its joke-fueled story and reliance on toilet humor. It will have been almost exactly six years since its launch when Borderlands 4’s September 12, 2025 release date arrives. Now, fans are on the edge of their seats, waiting to see how Gearbox spent its time.

We caught up with Gearbox narrative director Sam Winkler, lead writer Taylor Clark, and managing director of narrative properties Lin Joyce to learn more about why the team decided to create a more grounded story for Borderlands 4. Along the way, we found out how the elusive Timekeeper can stand toe-to-toe with Handsome Jack, how controversial characters like Ava could still have a future in the series, and we even learned how the upcoming DLC will fit in with Borderlands 4’s main campaign.

IGN: Gearbox has been very clear that Borderlands 4 will feature a more grounded story and tone. How did the conversations to shift the tone begin, and is this the direction the team has followed from the beginning of development?

Sam Winkler: Those conversations started as early as the conversations of, ‘Hey, what the hell does Borderlands 4 look like?’ Even before Borderlands 3 was shipped and out the door. Something I like to remind people is that the devs are often the first fans of a game and also the first critics. I think that we had some own internal critiques about the tone and the level of humor present in Borderlands 3.

[It’s] something that we already were starting to address in the DLCs for Borderlands 3, but we wanted to really make that a central point of Borderlands 4. So, as we had these very large conversations of, in world context, ‘Where is this? What does it mean? Why are we doing this next big, monolithic game with a 4 in its title?’ [we said], ‘How are we also going to evolve the storytelling, the humor, and the characters, and what we want to do with them?’

Taylor Clark: I came aboard a lot later than Sam. I’ve been on the game for a couple of years, and it was definitely something from the moment that I came on board, when I was talking to Sam, the grounded tone was a priority. Grounding the humor in the world, he made it very clear that if I tried to put a meme in the game, he would come to my house with a baseball bat [laughs]. So, it was definitely in the brief from the beginning to make the tone fit the world.

Winkler: I don’t want to swing the needle too hard on that front. I am not anti-meme. In fact, hey, exclusive: There’s a specific meme in this game, and I feel justified putting it in because I accidentally created it. Yes, I didn’t mean for it to become a meme, but it became a meme, and it’s in the video game. That is all I’m going to say.

IGN: We can’t know what meme it is?

Winkler: Look, I have a couple of Know Your Meme pages that credit me, and I will let you do any journalistic dirty work that you need to.

Clark: It does not involve a Skibidi Toilet.

Winkler: It does not. Yeah, there are toilets in our game. I’ll say that.

Clark: Where else would you get ammunition?

Winkler: Exactly. In Borderlands, only toilets and washing machines.

IGN: No Skibidi Toilets, though.

Clark: No. No.

Winkler: None.

IGN: I think some people are going to be really happy to hear that. I’m wondering if you can compare the tone in Borderlands 4 to some of the previous games. It seems like the team definitely wanted to have a more grounded tone than 3, for sure. So, how would you compare the tone or joke frequency to something like 1, 2, or even spinoffs like Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands?

Clark: The way that I’ve always talked about it, personally, was that, in Borderlands 1, 2, and 3, we were on Pandora, right? Pandora was a wild west. It was a place where corporations were stabbing each other in the back for supremacy. So, there was a lot of antic energy in that place, and with those villains that we were dealing with, it made a lot of sense to have more zany, like, gun-slinging jokes, you know? Hip-firing jokes tone.

Kairos is a different place. Kairos is a totalitarian planet ruled over by this dictatorial figure known as the Timekeeper, who sits far above it all. In this context of global oppression, the Whac-A-Mole joke style didn’t make as much sense. So, a lot of it had to do with making sure that the tone fit the stakes of the world, and that the humor was rising organically out of situations, out of character moments, rather than the wild west feel of the first games.

Lin Joyce: I will let Sam talk to the contrast, too, in the mandate between 3 and 4, but I will double tap too, that what we were looking for is that the humor in Borderlands 4 works at the level of Kairos and the characters. We weren’t making jokes that would only land for the player.

It was a gut check, ‘Is this as funny to the characters and their lived experience as it is to the player? Can we do both?’ That situational comedy and context helped us also keep the tone grounded, and the comedy then has purpose. But Sam can talk about the frequency between Borderlands 3 and 4.

Winkler: I mean… I went back and played every single Borderlands game. 1, 2, Pre-Sequel, [Tales from the Borderlands], everything like that. Just to observe, not just the tone of humor, but also the vectors of humor, right? I think people talk a lot about our humor from the perspective of people chatting in your ear. But I was really struck by, for example, in Borderlands 1, most of the NPCs didn’t have a ton of actual audio to say.

It was pretty sparse on that front, and a lot of the humor came out of situations. Comedic, usually darkly comedic, circumstances, but also the way things were named, the text in the mission accept, that sort of thing. I think that contributed a lot to players’ perception of Borderlands 1 as having a more dark, grounded tone, is it is a quieter game, and a lot of the humor stems situationally and organically.

So, that was something that we tried to work with the design team, the mission design team, and everything like that, to say, ‘Hey, we can have heavy moments. We can have grounded moments, but we can also have wacky circumstances that arise out of the players’ actions and the NPCs that come at them.’ We wanted to make sure that humor wasn’t just some sticker that we’re slapping on something, you know what I mean? The other thing is that, with design shifts, our mentality to humor had to shift as well. With Borderlands 4 going into this seamless, explore-to-your-own-tastes gameplay experience, we could not control where the player was going to go next.

We couldn’t always script people’s open-world exploration, [and] that allowed that space to just be naturally filled. Whether it’s through combat dialog or player characters, or just silence and soundtrack and ambience and mood. It just inherently changed our approach to it.

IGN: One of my other questions is, ‘Why should players who have been with the series for 16 years not be worried about this shift?’ But I think that kind of answers it. It still feels and sounds like it’s very Borderlands.

Clark: For sure. It is unmistakably Borderlands, but we’re constantly tweaking the dials of certain factors to make the tone match the game that we want to create, and to respond to our internal and external feedback.

Joyce: At no point did we say, ‘Let’s stop being funny in Borderlands. Let’s not do that anymore.’ It is still a Borderlands game made by a Borderlands team, many who have been here since 1.

Clark: We’re not making an arthouse Borderlands game [laughs].

Winkler: But, also, it’s a big game, right? It is not a monolith. There are areas of our game that are more serious. There are areas of our game that are more humor-filled. There are characters that don’t take things as seriously, in a diegetic way. For the players who have been long-time franchise fans, I think they’re going to find flavors that they’re looking for all across Kairos. If they play one side mission or interact with one character that doesn’t quite vibe with them, there’s probably another one not too far off that they will vibe with.

IGN: For the sake of comparison, are there any other stories from across movies, books, TV, or games that the team feels are similar to the tone that you guys are going for? Are there any particular inspirations that you can point to?

Joyce: There have to be so many. We’re constantly throwing around, ‘Have you seen…? It’s a little like that.’ But now that you’re asking it directly, I’m like, ‘Which one…’

Winkler: I don’t want to use it as a straight comp, but a show that I’ve been really inspired by has been Star Trek: Lower Decks, which is very, very much a comedic show. It has wacky energy to it, but it works, and it works really well — it just won a Hugo Award — because it takes its characters seriously. It takes its circumstances seriously, and if something is wacky, there’s usually someone there to point out, like, ‘This is wacky and super unsafe, and it shouldn’t work that way.’

It is a project that is clearly made out of love for Star Trek and the characters in the story, rather than some sort of parody of it. I think that on Borderlands 3, in our worst hours, it sometimes felt like parody, and that is where we edged into a red line, I think, for a lot of fans and for myself, personally. So, we wanted to look towards other media that could balance that. [That] could balance both humor, levity, and authentic character storytelling that takes itself seriously.

IGN: One character I did want to ask about from Borderlands 3 that I didn’t particularly mind at all but others had a problem with is Ava. She’s a character that a lot of fans associate their dissatisfaction with Borderlands 3’s story with. With so many other memorable faces back for Borderlands 4, can fans expect to see her show up, too? If not, is there any room for her to return in the future?

Winkler: I don’t think we’re going to answer any questions about characters that we haven’t shown off yet. I think the only thing that I will say is, I am not a huge fan of removing or killing off characters off-screen unless it absolutely has to happen. We don’t forget about characters, and we want to make sure that storylines are completed. That’s it.

I hear all the complaints about Ava. I had some issues with how we were able to portray her. We were unable to show some of, I think, her more heartfelt moments in the base game of BL3. We used the Director’s Cut to show off what Maya’s funeral could have been and what the relationship between Ava and Lilith could have been. We didn’t have that opportunity in Borderlands 3, but it’s the kind of thing that I still believe in and that I would love to address again some other time.

IGN: In typical Borderlands fashion, Gearbox has free and paid post-launch DLC in the works. A lot of it, by the sounds of it. We don’t have to get too into specifics; I know a lot of that stuff is still very much in development. But will that same grounded tone carry over to the DLC? Will the team take the opportunity to show us some of the less grounded corners of Kairos?

Clark: Just like the last question, I think we are limited in what we can say about the post-launch content that we’re working on. I think it’s safe to say that the plan is for the tone to be consistent between the products.

Winkler: I’ll say this: the best thing about Borderlands extra content, like full campaign DLCs, or some of the live events that we’ve done — we did the holidays and stuff like that in previous games — is it allows us to explore different tones and different corners of the Borderlands world and do different genres and everything like that. So, I would expect that same level of creativity and exploration from where we go in the future.

Joyce: I would extend it to be… I would look at the DLC content and call it complementary, right? It complements the base game. It is going to be different, but complementary. Or, if you prefer a different metaphor, the pieces of attire will be coordinated to make a nice outfit, really. You pick which metaphor you like better there.

Clark: It’s tough to talk about in vague terms. We’d love to talk about it more.

Winkler: Especially because some of it we don’t know yet. It is in active development. Borderlands 4 is getting stamped onto DVDs somewhere and… actually [laughs] I think it’s Blu-rays. But in the meantime, we are cooking on that next group of content, and we know a whole bunch of it. We’re actively working on it, but some of it is still in development.

IGN: How long do you think it will take to complete Borderlands 4’s main campaign, and then how long will it take to complete the main campaign plus all of the side content?

Clark: This came up some in prior interviews. The answer that I and Chris Brock, our lead producer, gave on this was to point out that, while we can’t say a specific number, we can say that, when we got together to do a playthrough together — Sam, me, Lin, a bunch of others, our creative director, Graeme [Timmins], Randy Pitchford — when we were doing work, doing play throughs of this stuff, and to evaluate how it was going, playing through the entire main campaign took us days and days. It took a long time. It is a meaty piece of content.

Winkler: And that was a straight line. That was doing basically no side content.

Clark: That was scaling damage to 10,000% and just mowing through stuff.

Joyce: The other anecdote I could probably give there, safely, is, I meet every week with Andrew Reiner, our global creative executive officer. Last week he said, ‘I’ve started, I’m going to say, the million-teenth run of the game.’ He’s like, ‘This time, the goal is 100% it.’ I was like, ‘How long have you been playing?’ All week. ‘How far have you gotten?’ Still in the first zone [laughs].

Winkler: That’s a very good factor, and going back to what I said, the seamless world allows players to have a little bit more choice about the order in which they take on the story. We have seen play testers want to go through the mainline, so they’re bouncing around between the different zones and seeing all sorts of the game.

We’ve also seen testers who are just like, ‘I’m going to go into this zone. I’m going to see everything I can possibly see. I’m going to scrape the barrel, and then I’m going over to the next zone.’ One player’s first 15, 20 hours could look very, very different from another player’s.

IGN: It’s a big Borderlands game.

Winkler: It do be big.

IGN: For so many people, Borderlands villains are the reason a lot of folks show up for this series. Obviously, Handsome Jack is one of the all-time great video game villains. I’m wondering, because there are so many theories about the Timekeeper, specifically, and I don’t want to know what it is, but does this character have any identity past that Timekeeper name? Is there some mystery, some intrigue you want to build up with him?

Joyce: You ask great questions [laughs]. To what degree can we answer them is a tough one.

Winkler: The Timekeeper is like an onion. He has layers… No one’s used that before, right?

Clark: I think the answer is yes. Is there a mystery to him? Yes [laughs].

Joyce: We could talk about, certainly, how we approached crafting him and writing him. That’s another angle into answering your question. The timekeeper, one of the things that makes him different and keeps an air of intentional mystery around him, is that he is not in your face at all times. He sits in his high tower with a view of the entire planet, and his prerogative is to keep the entire planet under order.

So, when we first show up, the Vault Hunter is mildly of interest, but he’s got many other things to do. So, we also have to, as players, over time, gain his attention more and more. That was a very different way to approach writing a villain into a Borderlands game than we had done before. And I’ll let Sam and Taylor run from there.

Clark: I think we, as creative people, are always challenging ourselves to not repeat ourselves, to have characters who are appreciably different, who have different kinds of stories and have different kinds of things to say in each entry. The Timekeeper is appreciably different from the prior villains in the Borderlands series. He is a new frontier, I think, as a character.

Metal Gear Solid: Delta is not the first remake of Metal Gear Solid 3.

In the two decades since Metal Gear Solid 3 first HALO-dropped into our hearts, Konami has reissued, remastered, and remade Hideo Kojima’s tactical espionage opus more than a few times– adding to, subtracting from, and significantly changing Snake’s adventure in the nonexistent jungles of the Soviet Union.

You can dig up the raw PS2 original that hit 2004 like a tactical nuke, or feast on the more refined and rounded Subsistence. You can enjoy it on the go, or accept some sacrifices to play it on the newest tech. And if none of those get you charged up, perhaps Delta will deliver the Snake Eater of your dreams.

There are plenty of ways to enjoy one of the greatest games ever made– but what’s the correct way to experience MGS3? Is authenticity the aim, or even achievable? Are we willing to lose some of its original truth in the name of enjoyability and accessibility? In short: what’s the real Metal Gear Solid 3?

Your mission, Jack, is to infiltrate the various versions of this virtuous masterpiece and explore the changes it’s accumulated throughout the years, for better and for worse, beginning with…

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Try to remember some of the basics of life in 2004: You’re wearing your “Vote for Pedro” shirt, rocking a Livestrong bracelet, and T9 texting your MySpace top 8 on the brand-new Moto Razr. Spider-Man 2 is at the movie theater, on your iPod Mini, and inside your sixth-generation console. Other games vying for your attention in this absolutely stacked year include a squad of S-tier sequels like Half-Life 2, Halo 2, and GTA: San Andreas. MGS3 hangs with them all.

Etched on this PS2-exclusive disc is an all-time classic. Hot on the heels of the mind-shattering Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake Eater is the platonic ideal of a prequel– an approachable action epic, with excellent voice-acting, and intricate, quirky game systems. It’s the perfect on-ramp to the Kojima experience and it easily deserves our contemporary score of 9.6.

But the game is about all you get.

The first release of Snake Eater had no VR missions, no multiplayer, and no bonus features beyond Snake vs. Monkey, a charming hide-and-seek minigame starring the titular simians of Sony’s Ape Escape series. Since the campaign itself is more than a hearty meal, no one much complained at the time, though there was some grumbling about the fixed, overhead camera carried over from MGS2.

A top-down view worked great for the bases, tankers, and… struts of past Metal Gear games, but a lot had changed since the heyday of 8-bit Japanese PCs. The first release of Snake Eater can be aggravating at times, and the cramped perspective doesn’t take full advantage of the wide-open jungles of Tselinoyarsk.

Still, the PS2 original is the rare, unseasoned Snake Eater experience– and there’s nothing quite like sinking your teeth into the earliest draft of a masterpiece. It doesn’t get more authentic than this flawed but foundational text from which all MGS3 is derived.

It only took a few months for Kojima and Konami to start tinkering with the game. Like MGS2 before it, the PAL version of Snake Eater includes a boss rush mode, cutscene theater, and the “European Extreme” difficulty level– perhaps one of the highest honors ever bestowed upon a continent.

The game itself was substantially unaltered, but it would see subSISTantial changes in MGS3: Subsistence.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

The new-and-improved version of Snake Eater didn’t come as a surprise, since both prior MGS titles were followed by revised expansions. Metal Gear Solid: Integral included an entire disk of VR missions, a playable first-person view, and a bizarre photoshoot mode that has since been reborn in Death Stranding 2.

MGS2: Substance was flush with bonus content, including non-canon, largely silly Snake Tales to appease the angry anti-Raiden army. The game itself received lots of subtle refinements, though nothing near the extent of MGS3.

With MGS3: Subsistence, the Snake Eater experience is now composed of double disks, with a second DVD bursting with bonus material, as well as new ports of the original MSX games– including the first official localization of the magnificent Metal Gear 2.

And if that wasn’t enough bang for your buck, the so-called “Persistence” disc also includes a full-fledged online multiplayer mode: Metal Gear Online. Other MGS games, including Delta, would offer their own spin on the PvP formula, but this is the only release of MGS3 that includes it– though the servers have been dark since 2007.

Goodies aside, it’s the massive change to gameplay that makes Subsistence such a big deal. It’s why the rerelease has been the blueprint for all future iterations of the title, and it’s a big enough deal that one could plausibly argue that Subsistence is a remake unto itself.

Subsistence incorporates a brand-new, player-controlled, third-person camera system– essentially a prototype borrowed from the then in-development Metal Gear Solid 4, and a huge improvement in terms of user experience. The game now allows you to peek around corners and scope out your surroundings, without the tedium of popping into first-person. The old way is still available as an option, though not a very appetizing one– even if some of the experience is lost in the transition:

The new POV makes the game slightly easier, though nowhere near the extent to which Twin Snakes trivialized the halls of Shadow Moses.

Some cinematic setpieces originally contained bespoke camera shots and movements that go unseen with the new system. They’re still there, but you’d have to know about them to switch over beforehand.

Finally, the wide-open Soviet jungle loses just a little magic when the camera is unshackled. Without the curated, limited angles of vanilla Snake Eater, it’s easier to see past the illusion of a sprawling wilderness and recognise the region for what it actually is: a series of surprisingly small rooms connected by loading screens.

Issues aside, the new camera makes Subsistence a strong candidate for the definitive version of MGS3. It’s almost purely additive and, unlike future releases, it’s content-complete. Our more granular review scale of the era deemed the upgrade worth two whole tenths of a point, and many others would agree that it’s the better game over the original… But is it the same game?

The enhanced rerelease is a Kojima tradition at this point. Even Death Stranding has a “Director’s Cut,” although Kojima himself disagrees with that label– he prefers the term “Director’s Plus.” His expansions exist to supplement the original, not cast shade on or replace them– even though in several cases, the vanilla versions are no longer commercially available.

Subsistence is the smoothest way to play MGS3, and it’s probably the camera the game should have shipped with. The thing is… it didn’t. The first release of Snake Eater remains Kojima’s uncompromised vision– and so does Subsistence. It’s up to you if you want to endure an aggravating camera in the pursuit of historicity, sans the temptation to switch to the better system.

Subsistence remained the final word on MGS3 for five years, until another version brought Snake Eater into a new generation. Most of it, anyway.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD

Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection was released in November of 2011, the same day as Modern Warfare 3, making for one interesting midnight at Gamestop. The Collection contains updated ports of MGS 2 and 3, plus a brand-new big screen version of the PSP-exclusive Peace Walker, all in glorious 720p.

Snake Eater HD is based on Subsistence, incorporating the free camera while offering higher resolution, native 16:9 widescreen support, and 60 frames per second performance. The HD collection was also the first opportunity for XBox owners to experience MGS3, although that came with a massive caveat.

Back in the optimistic early years of the millennium, console manufacturers went kind of crazy with controllers. It was a big period of innovation, leading to the abandonment of wires, built-in rumble, buttons shaped like beans, and controllers modelled after TV remotes and chainsaws. Pressure sensitive buttons were an evolutionary dead end of this era.

In addition to analog sticks and triggers, the DualShock 2, 3, and original XBox controllers all utilized analog face buttons that responded to pressure, meaning instead of a simple on/off state, they can report how hard they’re pushed. Not many games took advantage of this feature, but Kojima, the man who turned the sun itself into a game peripheral, gleefully stitched pressure-sensitivity into the very fabric of MGS2 and 3.

To raise your weapon, lightly press the designated Weapon Button. Let go to lower your gun without raising the alarm or spending silencer health. Push it all the way in to pull the trigger. With today’s muscle memory, it’s kind of jarring to not touch the shoulder buttons while handling an in-game firearm, but it works.

MGS3’s focus on close-quarters combat adds the wrinkle of questioning enemies at the end of Snake’s blade, where one slip of the thumb can turn interrogation into exsanguination. The slightest difference of pressure is all that stands between snagging some shiny new dogtags or splattering GRU guts on your camo and losing the precious Pigeon rank.

The pressure-sensitive controls can be inelegant at times, but they’re how the game was meant to be played– a uniquely tactile, immersive mechanic that might be forever lost to history.

The PS3 version of MGS3 HD is the last release of the game to support pressure sensitivity. Starting with the XBox 360 release of the HD Collection, Snake Eater has replaced it with a clumsy but functional scheme that involves clicking sticks, because today’s controllers are no longer capable of this level of input.

Analog face buttons are expensive, and the general apathy toward them led console manufacturers to dump them like a sack of spoiled tree frogs with the seventh generation. Today’s controllers are in their haptics and internal microphone eras, and no one has shown much interest in reviving pressure controls.

Not a lot can be done about an industry-wide decision to drop a feature, but it does mean we might never get a chance to experience the game like this again. Even emulation requires original, aging analog hardware to enjoy Snake Eater as it was intended. You really can’t know what it’s like unless you’ve actually felt it

The HD Collection is also the first release of MGS3 to remove content from the game. Every single bonus feature from Subsistence is absent save for the 8-bit Metal Gears. Metal Gear Online is gone, and so is Snake vs. Monkey– a component of Snake Eater since its first printing in 2004. Sony didn’t want their Ape Escape on other platforms, and as of Delta they still don’t. We’ll get to Konami’s clever compromise soon.

The HD Collection replaced the lethargic framerate and hazy PS2 sheen of Subsistence with smooth performance and HD clarity. Some cutscenes don’t play super well with widescreen, and some visual effects are lost in translation, but it suits its purpose as a solid, adaptable, almost archival edition of MGS3.

It’s just a shame Guy Savage didn’t make the cut.

In previous releases, after Snake is captured and imprisoned deep within the fortress Groznyj Grad, our now-cyclopic hero has the option to call Para-Medic and save his game. This, naturally, sparks a discussion about Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Snake falls asleep, and when the player loads the save again, they find themselves in a completely different video game.

Without any explanation we are tossed into a barebones, black-and-white hack-and-slash sequence in control of a hook-sword wielding anime hunk. There’s a textured warehouse environment, a horde of zombies with rudimentary AI, and even a basic “heating up” mechanic, but the action ends after just a few minutes of mayhem and Snake Eater returns to your regularly-scheduled adventure.

Snake’s nightmare, known as the “Guy Savage” sequence, is Kojima’s trademark fourth-wall trolling at its finest. It was intended as a teaser for another game the team had been kicking around at the time, using a battle system borrowed from the never-released Zone of the Enders 3.

But, beginning with the HD Collection, Guy Savage has been M.I.A. from MGS3.

We don’t really know why. Maybe the separate game engine proved too laborious to port. Perhaps Konami doesn’t want the hassle of licensing old concepts for a cancelled game. For whatever reason, we must endure the seemingly-permanent loss of Guy Savage– along with the related codec banter from your kooky crew of future global authoritarian overlords.

Cutting an entirely missable non-sequitur fantasy sequence isn’t the end of the world, but Snake Eater is less complete without it.

Imagine if Psycho Mantis no longer talked your ear off about Suikoden, or MGS4 didn’t open with surreal live-action in-universe TV shows. It’s these playful, winking moments of weirdness that make Kojima games so special, and it would sincerely be a shame if Guy Savage has joined the likes of P.T., skateboarding Snake, and Sam Bridges slamming Monsties in the catalog of Kojima content that we may never see again.

The MGS3 HD port was carried forward into the currently-available Master Collection, meaning it’s the only way to legally purchase and play the original Snake Eater on modern hardware. For that reason alone we would easily recommend it, especially since the game was actually delisted for a while over rights issues surrounding stock footage.

The best version of any game is the one you can actually play, after all, and unlike other Metal Gear titles stuck in limbo, you can own and run this extremely solid version of Snake Eater on pretty much anything. It’s not the same game that was released in 2004, but until Delta, it’s all we’ve got.

There’s one more iteration of Snake Eater to talk about before we reach the current day, though, and it’s one of the most interesting of all:

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D

Until the Switch, there’s never been a straight-up port of the core MGS trilogy to a Nintendo platform. Metal Gear is no stranger to the company, but whenever the series appears on Nintendo hardware there’s usually some sort of twist.

The Game Boy Color received a meaty 2-D throwback title, the GameCube enjoyed the extremely extra Twin Snakes remake, and Snake himself dukes it out with the Super Smash Bros. on the regular. Even the NES port of the first Metal Gear game was a bespoke, albeit wildly inferior, version that spawned a Nintendo-exclusive sequel without Kojima’s blessing, prompting him to continue the series purely out of spite.

The Nintendo 3DS port of Snake Eater is no exception to this trend. Snake Eater 3D isn’t simply a portable port of the PS2 title– it’s more like a full-fledged remake. Rather than cram the HD edition onto a cartridge, Snake Eater 3D applies the art, sound, and content of MGS3 to the more modern, portable-first engine of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The differences are subtle, but quite clear in your hands.

The color scheme and character models are slightly altered, and new button prompts demystify the confusing CQC mechanics. Collectible Kerotan dolls have been replaced by Yoshi. The game takes full advantage of the 3DS’s hardware, using the onboard camera to create your own PhotoCamo, while the secondary touch screen does wonders for MGS3’s notoriously convoluted menu system.

The real giveaway that Snake Eater 3D is built on the bones of Peace Walker is the new movement and aiming system. Like in Peace Walker and MGS4 before it, Snake can now quickly scamper across the jungle floor via crouch walking, eliminating the need for slow crawling and tedious tip-toeing in the original versions.

Gone are the thumb-twisting weapon controls, replaced by a conventional over-the-shoulder third-person aiming system, complete with modern “aim with the left trigger, shoot with the right” scheme. The easier ability to move while aiming gives Snake far more mobility options during combat.

That freedom combined with the rather exploitable create-your-own-camo feature, on top of the free camera from Subsistence, makes Snake Eater 3D the easiest iteration of MGS3– though it’s far from the most pleasant to play. The framerate is abysmal, the resolution is miniscule, and good luck stopping the Shagohod without a Circle Pad Pro.

The distinct gamefeel and quality of life improvements can’t really make up for these massive downsides. Still, Snake Eater 3D is sui generis. There’s no other version quite like it, and it’s worth experiencing– but mostly as a curiosity, provided you have access to a 3DS with two sticks.

Besides, most of its better features have been incorporated into our final and most recent incarnation of MGS3…

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

Delta actually has a lot in common with Snake Eater 3D. It too grafts the story and gameplay of MGS3 onto a brand new engine, in this case Unreal 5, with the aim of updating but strictly adhering to the classic content.

The Peace Walker-style controls carry over from the 3DS, including crouch-walking and third-person shooting. Delta also borrows from the godlike traversal of Metal Gear Solid V for some slick new additions to Snake’s moveset, although this time around, the developers are directly addressing the balance changes by tuning up the enemy difficulty in response.

Snake’s camouflage is now directly impacted by the environment around him, with a coat of mud or a refreshing bloodbath helping Snake stay hidden. The clunky healing system of the original is now enhanced by wounds and scarring that persist throughout the game, as does damage to Snake’s drip.

The UI has been streamlined and the graphics given a gorgeous, if somewhat expected, photorealistic shine– but if you’d prefer a more vintage experience, the original color filters and fixed-camera controls are available courtesy of a “Legacy” mode. Like Snake Eater 3D, Delta leaves the essential aspects of the game intact and brings the gameplay up to par with the series’ evolution.

While the original Snake Eater slithered into our hearts via a 4GB DVD, Delta weighs in at an eye-popping 100GB of Metal Gear greatness. Most of that can be attributed to high-resolution Unreal Engine assets, but Delta is also packed with bonus features both new and surprisingly old.

Secret Theater has returned, while the multiplayer Fox Hunt mode serves as a spiritual successor to the dearly-missed Metal Gear Online. Even Snake vs. Monkey has reared its siren-toting head once more, though only on the PlayStation and Steam versions. Thankfully, XBox players won’t be left out this time: In place of Sony’s Ape IP, Konami is offering an exclusive Snake vs. Bomberman mode. We’re just one bad dream away from having quite possibly the most complete package of MGS3 ever.

Twenty years from now, when someone asks which version of MGS3 to play, will the overwhelming consensus be “just play Delta?”

Some fans are relieved that Delta’s ambitions are limited to a remaster, sticking to the original design, script, and hall-of-fame voice acting of a singular artistic achievement. Others are disappointed that it’s not a full-on reimagining of the scenario ala the Resident Evil remakes or Konami’s own Silent Hill 2, bemoaning the dated environments and annoying interstitial screens that come with such classic territory.

Can Delta become the definitive form of Snake Eater, or will there still be a place for the more awkward, idiosyncratic vintage versions? If the 2004 release will always be the purest incarnation, and Subsistence holds onto its title as the best, how will history look upon Delta?

Metal Gear Solid is famous for its complicated story, but ultimately it’s actually quite simple. The conflict at the heart of the series revolves around the will of the Boss– the greatest soldier in history who sacrificed everything for her country and left behind a vision of a better world. The warriors who came after her spent their lives fighting and killing each other over their own clashing interpretations of the Boss’s dream.

In the end, it’s the humble, doomed clone Solid Snake who finally unlocks the meaning of her will: Freedom. The freedom achieved by respecting the will of others. The freedom to fight for causes you believe in. The freedom not to fight at all.

There’s no “correct” way to play Metal Gear Solid 3, no “real” Snake Eater that obviates all the others. We have the liberty to choose the version that speaks to us the most, whether we desire a nostalgic trip to the days of Shrek 2 and The Simple Life, the jam-packed, fully-loaded final form of Hideo Kojima firing on all cylinders, or a fresh and gorgeous, fun and accessible new coat of paint that reminds us just how timeless this game truly is.

The trench-ridden battlefields of Napoleonic Europe were never going to be a nice place to wake up in. Turns out they’re much worse when mutated mashups of former soldiers and gruesome, blistered horrors also trudge through its mud. Valor Mortis places you right in the thick of it, and trusts that your skill with a blade, pistol, and superpowered palm will ensure you make it through alive. Despite being rooted in the fundamentals of the Soulslike genre, it adopts a non-conventional first-person perspective, which not only fully immerses you in this horrifying world but also adds an additional layer of precision and satisfaction to its parrying, slashing, and sharp-shooting combat. And while I found that its battles can be tough, during my time playing it at gamescom 2025, I found several signs this won’t be as punishing an exercise as can be found elsewhere in the genre.

Face down in mud, Valor Mortis’ protagonist William hears the words of his general, Napoleon Bonaparte, echoing in his ears and telling him to get up. Dozens of corpses line the forest path ahead as a tattered French flag droops in presumed defeat. No other context is given as to how we’ve ended up here, but the infamous emperor is insisting that I get up, so I do exactly that and trudge on ahead. Initially armed with a sword and the ability to perform a block, parry, dodge, and both light and heavy attacks, there’s nothing initially revolutionary about developer One More Level’s new project, which has slowed its Ghostrunner melee action to a much more deliberate pace here.

The swordplay may not be too different, but it remains incredibly enjoyable to take part in. Blocking doesn’t completely negate damage, so the timings of your parries become your best bet for quickly dispatching your opponent. There’s a wonderful metallic clang that rings out when you get it just right, followed by a momentary shift into slow motion that reminds me of Dishonored’s equally gratifying maneuver. I later find a pistol nestled in an ornate trunk decorated with a portrait of Bonaparte himself. Further adding to the Dunwall of it all, this centuries-old sidearm hands me a ranged option, albeit one with a limited supply of bullets.

But then things get a bit weird as a dash of the supernatural is added to my arsenal in the form of a burst of flames I can project straight out of my palm. This flamethrower ability will look familiar to anyone who has guzzled a shot of one of Bioshock’s tonics. It’s a delightfully explosive skill that helped me deal with crowd control, and even inflict a burning state on the demo’s boss (much more on him later). There are definitely aspects of the two aforementioned immersive sims here, but I wouldn’t go in expecting anywhere near the flexibility in its combat system as you may find in one of Arkane’s or Irrational’s games. This is fundamentally still a Soulslike that relies heavily on one-to-one melee encounters while delicately managing your stamina gauge, so I wouldn’t expect to be mixing elemental effects and creating chaos of your own design here. Aside from the odd opportunity to sneak up on one of your opponents and skewer them deliciously from behind, the demo’s options when entering combat rarely stretched beyond toe-to-toe duels.

The creatures I fought across this 45-minute sample can all, to varying degrees, be described as being rooted in some sort of humanity. What starts out as lowly infantry staggering around like the undead made way for more interesting enemies the deeper I pushed on. I found an optional area, unlocked via blasting a glowing structural weak point with the pistol, where I was greeted by a foreboding duelist who gracefully stepped towards, his haunted manner only emphasised by an emotionless metal mask. His attacks were fast and health bar-ravaging, and his parry windows tight – I quickly decided that he was a challenge for another day. I almost made it halfway through this preview without mentioning Bloodborne, but the speed and thrust of his blade did remind me of one of Yharnam’s Hunter threats. An elevated challenge, but not quite a true boss.

Fans of the genre’s traditional disgusting foes also appear to be well catered for, as there are also many more mutated, monster-like enemies. Though all still appear to be clinging onto their former selves — army uniforms hang off of them, or human heads (sometimes multiple) watch your movements closely — they are very much not of this world, or at least how early 19th century Europe is depicted in history books, at least. A mysterious plague has infected the battlefields, creating these aberrations that can pose quite a challenge. One such brute appeared to be two soldiers conjoined together, who also happened to have grown an extra arm and developed a massively oversized, meaty, clawed hand. He took swipes at me at close range, but enjoyed nothing more than throwing explosive cinders if I stepped too far back. Luckily, a big ol’ glowing red sack looked ready to pop where his elbow should be, so I aimed a few pistol rounds at it to take advantage of his weak point.

But he was outclassed by another, far more horrendous-looking entity. The demo’s final boss was General Lothaire, The Eagle Bearer, a man-mountain of a bastard with a comically normal-sized head that I would have laughed at more if it hadn’t been for the three guns pointing at me that emerged from his fleshy, contorted right shoulder. Dual-wielding a sweeping flagpole and slicing cutlass, his reach was vast and the hits heavy. I’ll freely admit it took me a fair few attempts to take him down, but after a few upgrades at a nearby rekindled Lantern (this universe’s version of the classic Dark Souls bonfire), I managed to take him down.

Well, his first form anyway. Yes, One More Level has decided to take the piss and give the very first boss of Valor Mortis a second phase. This version of Lothaire still has a deadly mix of ranged and close attacks that keep you on your toes, but also packs the ability to summon annoying minions and capture you in his clawed clutches. He’s tricky, but thankfully, nothing overly difficult for anyone trained in this genre of combat.

But to those who are relatively new to Soulslikes, or even find first-person combat a challenge, Valor Mortis is lenient… to a certain extent. Catalysts are your resource upgrade here, and you can use them to level up your stats at what seems to be a reasonably cheap cost. I pumped points into getting a bigger stamina bar, as a few quick stabs can quickly drain your initial meter, and it made overcoming the boss a much more manageable affair. Crucially, though, upon dying, your collected catalysts are dropped at the outside perimeter of boss arenas, not through the murky, smoky gate that precedes them. One More Level doesn’t want you to have to grind elsewhere in its world in order to progress, and this offer of saving you a little frustration, combined with special traits that can be unlocked through exploration that utilises a little of parkour design the studio perfected in Ghostrunner (you can swing from trees, for instance) all come together to help you feel more powerful more quickly.

My demo ended as I finally took down Lothaire, the words “Abomination Eradicated” filling the screen. I imagine there are many more abominations to be dealt with, though, if Valor Mortis’ reveal trailer is anything to go by. All in all, I had a very satisfying time with it, finding its blend of first-person swordplay and superpowered magic abilities an enjoyable power trip. I look forward to digging deeper into what secrets its combat suite may have in store and taking on more of those abominations with it when Valor Mortis arrives sometime in 2026.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.