We’re dumping the clutch on our March IGN First “cover story” effective immediately with Forza Horizon 6! As such, feel free to slide into the passenger seat and enjoy nine minutes of exclusive gameplay from the next instalment of Forza Horizon: the reigning heavyweight champ of open-world racing series.
This never-before-seen gameplay features a Saleen S7, an American turn-of-the-century cult supercar, being taken on a brisk journey through a portion of Forza Horizon 6’s Japan-based map. Moving from the south, you’ll be able to observe segments of rural, rolling countryside and a section of Tokyo itself before reaching the base of the mountains. We’ll have much more exclusive coverage of Forza Horizon 6 all throughout March as part of IGN First!
Forza Horizon 6 takes the acclaimed driving delights of the series and finally sets them loose on the distinctive roads of Japan. With more cars than ever on day one, a progression system inspired by the original 2012 Forza Horizon, and long-awaited tweaks to customisation, Forza Horizon 6 appears it’ll be barrelling into our homes with its foot flat to the floor. After you’ve checked out the exclusive gameplay above, check out the first developer gameplay overview, as well as our initial interview with the Playground team following the game’s announcement.
Forza Horizon 6 is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC via the Microsoft Store and Steam on May 19, 2026, though it will be available with Early Access for Premium Edition players starting four days earlier (on May 15). It’s also coming to PlayStation 5 later this year.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
If you’ve seen anything of the upcoming survival horror game Hellraiser: Revival, then you’ll know it isn’t for the faint of heart. Full of bloody violence, gruesome gore, and BDSM-themed sex and nudity, it’s a true translation of the pain and pleasure film series, which, despite all of these extremities, has managed to secure an ESRB rating.
Chief creative officer at Saber Interactive, Tim Willits, shared the news in a recent interview with IGN. “I can say that we have our ESRB rating, which was great, and we had to take nothing out for that,” he confirmed.
The fact that nothing had to be cut may come as a surprise to some. Of course, different ratings boards around the world weigh different aspects of mature games more than others. In the U.S. and Canada, the territories covered by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) are traditionally stricter when it comes to sexual content, something that Hellraiser: Revival certainly doesn’t shy away from — its opening scene is an extended sequence of sadomasochism involving hooks and other sharp objects. So, it’s somewhat impressive that the game has passed through with nothing needing to be taken out.
As for other regions around the world, that’s still very much work in progress for Saber. European ratings boards such as PEGI and the USK view graphic violence in a different way than America does, but are more liberal when it comes to the sexual side of things. Similarly, the Australian Classification Board is far stricter on games involving drug use, so it remains to be seen if just one version of Hellraiser: Revival will be able to be released globally, or if altered versions exist depending on where you live.
‘Oh my God, I can’t believe they did that.’ That’s the kind of emotion that we want to get out of people.
It’s something that Saber is exploring currently and feels confident about. “We’re working with all the other ratings groups now, and I think that we’re going to do really well,” said Willits. “It’s all context. It all fits with the IP. It is an artwork, and it is a mature game for mature audiences. We’ve stayed within those lines, and we’ve been very successful at moving the game through all rating boards.”
Willits and the team are not shying from the graphic side of the game either. “It’s an active goal for the team. Yes. You can actually say that,” Willits explained. “Because if you are familiar with the franchise, if you’re familiar with what Clive [Barker, Hellraiser creator] has done, it definitely pushes. And when we announced that we were making this, lots of people online were like, ‘They better do it right, they better not make some ‘whooshy’ game that’s all censored.’ So we’ve tried to embrace it as much as we can. I really hope that players, they’re kind of like, ‘What’s around the next corner? What crazy stuff am I going to see next? Where is this going to go? Oh my God, I can’t believe they did that.’ That’s the kind of emotions that we want to get out of people.”
Last year, we heard from Willits that Saber intended to push its M Rating as far as it could with the upcoming video game adaptation. In that interview with IGN, he said: “We are going to go as far as we possibly can, as far as the people that make rules will let us go.” Well, it looks like that’s exactly what the team has done, securing an ESRB rating long before we even know the game’s release date.
Having played a good chunk of Hellraiser: Revival at gamescom 2025, I can indeed confirm first-hand that the limits for what’s allowed in a video game are being stretched by this blood-soaked pain and pleasure fest, where internal organs more often than not end up becoming external ones. You can read my full Hellraiser: Revival preview here, where I called it “Resident Evil for sickos.” I stand by it, even following some of the gory sights I’ve seen in Capcom’s latest, Resident Evil: Requiem.
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.
Highguard, the free-to-play PvP raid shooter announced at The Game Awards last year and set to close next week, has released its final update.
Developer Wildlight announced that it would permanently shut down Highguard on March 12, but not before a “farewell tour,” which also just-so-happens to be the name of the shooter’s final patch.
Highguard launched on January 26 after almost no communication with prospective players between its December announcement and launch day. While Steam concurrents almost hit a high of 100,000, peak concurrents on Valve’s platform soon plummeted (neither Sony nor Microsoft make player numbers public). And though Wildgate was quick to address issues with the game, even adding a 5v5 game mode to counter 3v3 complaints, shortly thereafter, most of the studio was laid off.
Now, as the team issues its final patch, it thanked everyone who has and is still playing Highguard, writing: “Even though we are shutting the game down, we are excited to give our remaining players one last big update to keep you entertained over the weekend. Thanks again for playing with us. Enjoy!”
This final update adds a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression, and a skill tree for those who want to get their final matches in.
Highguard ‘The Farewell Tour’ Patch Notes:
For our final patch, we’d like to thank everyone who has played and is still playing Highguard. Even though we are shutting the game down, we are excited to give our remaining players one last big update to keep you entertained over the weekend. Thanks again for playing with us. Enjoy!
Account Progression
You’ll now level up your account level just by playing the game. As you return to the lobby, you’ll gain XP, level up, and earn Skill Points to be spent on the new Skill Tree!
Everyone’s account will start at level 0, and goes to level 100.
Your first level acquired will reward you with 5 Skill points. Afterwards, you receive 1 skill point per level up until level 40 for a total of 44 points to spend. This allows players to choose up to two skill trees to max.
Skill Tree
The Skill Tree is designed for players to build out their upgrades in 4 distinct playstyles. Each branch has a variety of options for players to choose from, with 2 tiers of power on all small nodes. Here is a list of what each branch focuses on, along with a few examples.
Raider – for players looking to be unstoppable during Raids, along with some buffs and abilities focused on general combat efficiency.
Infiltration – while raiding, zipline further into the enemy base
Juggernaut – destroying a wall provides a short duration overshield
Spearhead – you receive a Domesplitter and a Thumper Charge when your Siege Tower rolls in
Harvester – for players who are looking to increase their Vesper gain and the power of their Warden Axe
Heavy Swing – you swing your axe with two hands, instantly destroying Vesper Nodes
Shatter Orb – destroy enemy soul orbs with your Throwing Axe or Regular Axe Swing
Field Crafting – Create Armor, Equipment and Raid Tools in the battlefield
Treasure Hunter – for those players who love to loot
Treasure Seeker – hidden chests can be found and opened at PoIs
Archaeologist – Can sell items to Trader Flynn
Artifact Mastery – Amulets have a bonus magical property when equipped
Protector – for players who enjoy defending and keeping the team together
Resonant Walls – reinforced walls are more durable
Unbreakable Armor – once every 2 minutes, armor loss is prevented on death
Vanguard – while defending your base, allies can spawn on you
You can unequip a skill easily, and you can Reset all your points at no cost by clicking the button at the bottom.
We’ve tuned the XP gain to be very fast so players can earn points quickly and enjoy the full spectrum of the feature.
New Warden – Koldo
Koldo was discovered on Highguard. A lost soul from long before the continent disappeared, trapped inside a suit of armor, he searches for answers to his past. Koldo uses the power of his soul to protect his allies.
Passive: Guardian Angel
Protect any friendly orbs around you from destruction.
Automatically deploy your shield when reviving allies.
Tactical: Soul Shield
Deploy a shield for you and your allies.
Ultimate: Battle Cry
Koldo raises a standard that creates a protective dome. He can pick up and carry the standard, and drop it again at will.
Being inside the dome gives allies faster health regeneration.
New Weapon – The Switchback
The Switchback brings unparalleled versatility, comfortably handling both close range and long range encounters. When used in hipfire, it’s a shotgun. Aiming down the sights will transition the weapon into a marksman rifle.
The name “Switchback” originates from its unique double-barrel design. You’re able to rapidly shoot twice before needing a rechamber, though you also can pace your shots to keep up a continuous stream of fire.
In the field, many Wardens have sought to wield the Switchback. Only a few have truly learned to master it.
Gold Versions
The Switchback has 2 gold versions that can be found in loot chests, or with Trader Flynn.
Basebreaker
Repeater
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
This article contains spoilers for Resident Evil Requiem.
Resident Evil Requiem is now in our hands and, as our review makes clear, it’s a massive success. But what’s next for Capcom’s long-running horror series? Resident Evil has settled into a release cadence over the last few years that alternates between new mainline entries and extravagant remakes. With the most recent remake being an overhaul of Leon S. Kennedy’s iconic Spain-set adventure,Resident Evil 4, the next one up on the docket is likely to be Chris Redfield’s co-op odyssey,Resident Evil 5. That would be interesting for many reasons, but to make matters more intriguing, one of Resident Evil Requiem’s third act plot reveals seems to hint at the ways Capcom intends to alter the series’ continuity in a hypothetical remake of the fifth mainline chapter. Let’s take a look at how Requiem may be quietly setting up a lore-altering remake of Resident Evil 5.
Big Spencer
Even people who have never played a Resident Evil game before have probably at least heard of the Umbrella Corporation, the nefarious pharmaceutical company behind many of the series’ biohazardous events. Who they’re less likely to be familiar with is Oswell E. Spencer, the founder and CEO of Umbrella. Although he’s rarely made direct appearances in the games, Spencer could arguably be considered the overarching antagonist of the entire franchise. The first game took place in his mansion, after all, and the series’ dense web of viruses, monsters, and shady villainous factions almost all tie back to Spencer in one way or another because of his initial work with bioweapons.
Resident Evil Requiem brings Spencer back in the spotlight, but in an unexpected way that recontextualizes his place in the Resident Evil universe. Where previous lore depicted Spencer as a megalomaniacal oligarch who wanted to remake the world using weaponized viruses, Requiem presents a more human side of this ambitious scientist.
In the game’s final act, protagonist Grace Ashcroft learns that her mother, reporter Alyssa Ashcroft, interviewed Spencer in his twilight years. As part of their meeting, Spencer explained that he’d been taking care of an orphaned infant – Grace herself – and gave her to Alyssa to raise. He also seemed to express genuine remorse for all the death and destruction he’d caused. Requiem doubles down on this idea with the twist that Elpis, Spencer’s secret final project that the villains have been seeking all game long, is not a new bioweapon like they believed, but in fact an antiviral agent that can cure infections caused by Umbrella’s viruses. In Requiem’s “good” ending, Grace realizes that Spencer wanted to atone for his actions by using Elpis to nullify the bioweapons he once created. She releases the antiviral into the world, and Leon is saved from his T-Virus infection.
The scene of Spencer and Alyssa’s conversation is remarkable because it managed to evoke pity and even a bit of sympathy from me for a character who I know is an egotistical madman responsible for numerous atrocities and millions of deaths. That’s the power of strong writing and voice work. But while making Spencer more sympathetic serves a self-contained purpose within Requiem’s story, the idea that he had regrets before his death carries huge implications for the series’ established canon, especially as it relates to Resident Evil 5’s place in the timeline.
Flashback Attack
Spencer made one of his few in-person appearances in Resident Evil 5, popping up in aflashback cutscene that featured him talking with another recurring series antagonist, Albert Wesker. Spencer is shown as an old man in a wheelchair, barely clinging to life while still espousing his eugenics-minded philosophy. He raves about how he had the “right to be a god,” and reveals to Wesker that he was part of a program designed to create superior beings whom Spencer was to be the master of. Wesker then kills Spencer, saying that he was “arrogant even until the end.”
This is Spencer’s canonical death, although this version of him is incongruous with the revelations in Requiem. But that might not be a problem if a Resident Evil 5 remake reworks this scene and Spencer’s role in the plot to fit with his newer, more regretful portrayal.
Spencer’s death in Resident Evil 5’s main campaign is merely part of a cutscene, but the sequence became more interactive with the Lost in Nightmares DLC. The expansion sees Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine battle Wesker shortly after he kills Spencer, with you fighting in the very same room he commits the deed in. Should this sequence be recreated and integrated into the main campaign of a potential RE5 remake, Capcom would have the opportunity to rewrite Spencer’s final moments so they line up better with Requiem’s reveals. This could be the first moment in the series’ timeline that our heroes learn of Spencer’s real feelings on his legacy. And with the DLC being one of the only parts of RE5 that mechanically feels akin to the franchise’s classic survival horror gameplay, it’s a prime candidate for a level that could be included in a remake that would, presumably, look to reformat the story to better suit the series’ renewed survival horror ambitions.
Capcom has already been fairly liberal with Resident Evil remakes making adjustments to previous continuity.
It makes a certain amount of sense for Capcom to do this, because this very scene has already been the subject of a retcon. The villains’ conversation sees Spencer claim that Albert was the only survivor of the Wesker program, but that turned out to be untrue when we learned about Alex Wesker, who was the main villain of Resident Evil: Revelations 2.
Capcom has already been fairly liberal with its Resident Evil remakes making adjustments to previous continuity. The first game’s remake introduced entirely new characters, the most notable being Lisa Trevor, the daughter of the Spencer Mansion’s architect. Umbrella used Lisa as a test subject, and her mutated body was the vessel from which William Birkin, one of the main villains of RE2, first harvested that game’s G-Virus. Resident Evil 2’s remake, meanwhile, adds a lot of flesh and nuance to characters like Ada Wong, Marvin Branagh, and Annette Birkin.
Most pressingly, Resident Evil 4’s remake ends with Ada stealing the dominant plaga sample (referred to as “the Amber”) and refusing to give it to Wesker, something that very much did not happen in the original game. Since Wesker’s work with Las Plagas created many of the threats present in Resident Evil 5, this alteration (as well as the reveal that Wesker recovered Jack Krauser’s corpse), hints that the context for how RE5’s monsters come to be will be different in the seemingly inevitable remake.
What Does This Mean For Resident Evil 5?
Recent Resident Evil games hinting that the events of RE5 will be different in the new continuity are pretty big clues that a remake of the fifth game is all but assured. While the remakes have been a largely successful creative endeavor, Resident Evil 5 in particular is an interesting subject for a remake. Both its mechanical and narrative relationships to the rest of the franchise are somewhat fraught, and a remake provides the opportunity to smooth over those discrepancies. I doubt that a remake would ditch the co-op campaign – one of the original version’s most beloved and foundational features – but the game marked the point where it was borderline impossible to argue that the series was still trying to be a survival horror game. Resident Evil 4 got away with the shift to a more action-heavy style because it revolutionized third-person shooting and was a masterclass in tension. RE5 doesn’t have the same pedigree and moved even further away from the atmosphere of the early games, something that could be rectified in a remake.
I say this as a fan of the fifth game: it could really use some serious changes. I have played through Resident Evil 5 somewhere north of 20 times, on multiple platforms and with many different co-op partners. It’s an excellent game to throw on with a buddy, and is easy to play as a casual hangout activity. That said, the series’ adherence to the “stop and shoot” mechanic, as appropriate as it is for the classic entries, is not conducive to the fast-paced two-person experience RE5 wants to be, nor is its incredibly primitive attempt at cover mechanics for specific encounters. A version of RE5 that uses the many refinements the franchise has made to its gameplay in the years since the original’s release would let it feel more fresh and dynamic instead of an awkward midpoint between Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War.
More substantively, the Resident Evil remakes have done a tremendous job of improving the franchise’s narrative credibility with stronger writing and more believable performances while not significantly altering the actual plots of each respective entry. Resident Evil 5 could use this more than most, both because it pushes RE4’s carefully considered campy tone a bit too far into maximalist absurdism, and also because the game did not do the best job of navigating the perils of being a horror game with an African setting. RE5 has been a subject of controversy for racial insensitivity since before it was even released, and while your mileage may vary on how big of a problem that is for you, it’s difficult to absolve the game of the accusation. Not even secondary protagonist Sheva Alomar being a heroic figure can eliminate how misguided some parts of RE5 are. It’s not that the story can’t be set in Africa, but the game’s middle chapters with plaga-infested tribal warriors could be easily swapped out for something that feels more in line with contemporary sensibilities.
No matter how Capcom decides to tackle a Resident Evil 5 remake, the alterations in these recent games indicate that the studio won’t be faithfully remaking RE5’s story. Quite how changes to Spencer’s legacy and Ada Wong’s decision will change the direction of any hypothetical remake is not yet clear, so we can’t yet say if such retcons will pave the way for Capcom to better align the game with the creative sensibilities of the modern era, or if it simply means the lore around its story will feature minor adjustments.
We don’t know what the next Resident Evil game following Requiem will be, but whenever the Resident Evil 5 remake does come together, it seems like it won’t be exactly like we remember it.
Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse — announced at Sony’s State of Play showcase last month as part of Konami’s celebration of Castlevania’s 40th(!) anniversary — will play like a classic Castlevania game rather than a roguelike, despite the expertise of the studio making it.
That’s according to Konami, which told The Verge earlier this week that while the game is in development by Dead Cells maker Motion Twin, it will play like a traditional Castlevania game.
“Castlevania Belmont’s Curse is a 2D action-exploration game where players can freely explore vast, elaborately crafted maps,” Konami’s Tommy Williams said. “It is not a roguelike or roguelite game.”
As for why Konami’s making this clear now? Well, the announcement trailer did leave some fans wondering about the gameplay, not least because some thought they spotted a whip card pop-up on screen, as though it was a roguelike power-up.
As one prospective player said on Reddit following Konami’s clarification: “Okay NOW I’m interested. I’m so sick of Metrovania games that are roguelike or roguelite or Soulslike, for that matter.” Another simply said: “I wouldn’t want it any other way, to be honest.”
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is out later this year on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and is already available to pre-order. The new stylized 2D Castlevania game co-developed by Evil Empire and Motion Twin is set in 1499, where Medieval Paris is engulfed in flames as monstrous creatures suddenly emerge from the shadows. Armed with the legendary holy whip, the Vampire Killer, Trevor Belmont’s successor ventures into the burning streets and the looming castle to hunt down the beasts.
Konami says this is just the first announcement to mark the series’ fourth decade, which started way back on the original Nintendo Entertainment System and has since spawned a hugelysuccessful and critically acclaimed adult animated series on Netflix.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
The current CEO of Build A Rocket Boy, Mark Gerhard, has announced further layoffs at the struggling UK development studio following the disastrous release of MindsEye, while doubling down on “organised espionage and corporate sabotage” claims.
In July last year, IGN reported that Edinburgh-based BARB had issued at-risk of redundancy emails to its around 300-strong UK workforce after MindsEye flopped at release. Soon after MindsEye came out, BARB said it was “heartbroken” over the issues players had faced with the game, and promised to release a series of patches to fix the significant performance problems, glitches, and AI behavior bugs.
Story-driven action adventure game MindsEye was initially designed to be a part of Everywhere, the ‘Roblox for adults’ creation platform led by former Grand Theft Auto design chief Leslie Benzies. BARB eventually switched to focus on MindsEye, but it has so-far failed to do the business for the company.
Back in July, Benzies told staff that the studio would bounce back and relaunch MindsEye, blaming its struggles on internal and external saboteurs, among other things. Now, in announcing even more layoffs are on the way, CEO Mark Gerhard said the studio had been investigating what he called “criminal activity” that took place around the launch of the game. Apparently that has resulted in “overwhelming evidence” of “organized espionage and corporate sabotage” affecting MindsEye. Gerhard did not share details because, as he put it, “this matter is moving toward prosecution.”
The layoffs announcement was made on Build A Rocket Boy’s LinkedIn page, and the comments from various people in the development community are critical of Gerhard’s statement, with one person calling it “incredibly rude,” and another “delusional.”
In January, Gerhard accused YouTuber Cyber Boi of “media manipulation, espionage, [and] sabotage,” and of “interference targeting” Build a Rocket Boy, as part of a cease and desist demand posted to the MindsEye Discord.
“It is profoundly disappointing to learn that certain BARB employees continue to leak confidential information to you, thereby betraying their colleagues, our studio, and the broader community we serve,” Gerhard said.
“This letter serves as a formal cease and desist demand: You must immediately stop all activities related to receiving, disseminating, or otherwise utilizing any confidential information from BARB, as well as any further involvement in media manipulation, espionage, sabotage, or interference targeting our organization. Failure to comply will result in escalated legal action.
“Rest assured, you and your associates involved in this media manipulation cabal will be served with legal papers imminently, as BARB proceeds with complaints alleging criminal espionage, sabotage, and interference.
Earlier this year, BARB said Benzies was on “well-earned temporary leave.” A company spokesman told The Times: “He is simply taking a short, planned break following an intense period of work and will return shortly.”
Gerhard, who had been BARB’s co-chief executive, told staff at the time that Benzies was on “well-earned temporary leave to recharge after more than a year of working round the clock.”
“He has our deepest gratitude and, with the leadership team and your support, I will guide us forward,” he added. Gerhard signed the email as “CEO.”
As for MindsEye itself, it’s still struggling for players despite a number of updates. At the time of this article’s publication, just 11 were playing the game on Steam, with a 24-hour peak concurrent player count of just 39.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Ubisoft has just released the first piece of concept art for Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, finally confirming its long-awaited remake that has been rumored for years.
Ubisoft’s focus is now firmly on the future, though the series’ next all-new entry Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe sounds like it’s still some way off. In the meantime, then, Ubisoft has at last begun acknowledging its upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remake, which is expected to arrive at some point later this year.
“Speculation around Assassin’s Creed is not new, but it’s worth repeating: ‘Nothing is true. Everything is permitted,'” Ubisoft wrote. “Well, except in this case, some whispers have a little more wind in their sails. Keep your spyglass on the horizon. 🦜”
Previous reports have suggested that Black Flag Resynced will be a substantial remake of the series’ beloved piratical entry, with visual and gameplay upgrades that see the game closer in quality to last year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
New story content will reportedly be added to flesh out more of hero Edward Kenway’s life, though the game’s modern day gameplay sections have apparently been excised — something that many fans aren’t happy about. It will be interesting to see how Ubisoft handles the game’s new ending — which previously tied together story elements from its historical and modern day narratives — in light of that change.
Officially, Ubisoft has only previously referred to Black Flag Resynced’s upcoming arrival by acknowledging that there had been an unannounced game due to arrive before the end of its current financial year (on March 31). In January, however this game was then delayed into the coming financial year (ending March 31, 2027) due to the company’s major recent reshuffle of teams, projects and studios.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
For just $14.99 when you sign up for a Humble Choice membership, you can add all of these games to your PC library. On top of that, you get a bonus month for free of IGN Plus. It’s a pretty sweet deal. Head to the link below to sign up, and further down you can see this month’s full lineup. Keep in mind this selection of games only lasts for the month, so be quick to make a move on it if they interest you.
March’s lineup offers up a nice variety of games for your library, too. Tempest Rising is one that writer Dan Stapleton called, “A loving homage to classic Command & Conquer,” noting that its “single-player campaign brings back the fast-paced RTS gameplay but can’t quite recapture the campy vibe” in our review. Hard West 2 is another that caught our attention, with our review from writer Jon Bolding saying it, “has plenty of little annoyances, but it’s a supernatural western tactics game with a lot of style and the substance to back it.”
Those with a Humble Choice membership get to enjoy much more alongside a monthly drop of new games. This membership also allows you to save up to 20% on select games in the Humble Store, and a nice bonus is that 5% of your Humble Choice membership goes to a charity each month. As for March, that portion of your membership will go towards the Malala Fund.
The free month of IGN Plus is a great add-on with everything else, too. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll be able to get rid of ads across the website, enjoy free games, and much more that you can learn about on the IGN Plus page.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
RPGs don’t always require compelling stories or innovative trappings to be fun. Sometimes, all you want or want are a few engaging systems, some brought colors, and a delightful loop of grinding, exploration, and reward. Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection seems to deliver all that in spades based on what I’ve played so far, matching a fairly innocuous, almost infantile narrative with well-tuned mechanics to create something thoroughly enjoyable in the early going.
The three Star Force games included in this collection don’t even try to hide the influence Pokemon clearly had on their design. All three are split into multiple versions clearly inspired by ye olde Blue and Red. A total of seven variants exist across the trilogy, and they’re all represented well here, with some content unique to each.
The Star Force games share a lot of DNA with the earlier Battle Network titles while reflecting the mid-2000s hardware migration from Game Boy Advance to Nintendo DS. Capcom has solved most of the two-screen play issues fairly elegantly, miniaturizing the second screen to an upper corner and allowing the player to instantly bring it full-screen with a trigger hold. This works remarkably well. Environments have been colorfully and crisply translated from the low-resolution DS screen. The designers wisely maintained a close to 4:3 form factor, so graphics don’t display any appreciable stretching or distortion. The Wave World dungeons seamlessly overlap the human world. The vibe and feel of all three optimistic meladramas appears to be lovingly preserved.
Capcom has solved most of the two-screen play issues fairly elegantly, miniaturizing the second screen to an upper corner and allowing the player to instantly bring it full-screen with a trigger hold.
Combat, though, is the gravity that holds Star Force Collection on its winning trajectory. Fundamentally, all these games are combat-centric action-RPGs. Though cards, abilities, and other nuances vary, the 3×5 battle grid where you take on enemies is the most fleshed-out part of the the Star Force trilogy, a formula perfected all the way back on the GBA with the Battle Network games. You can rig clever card combos, juggle timing counters, sprint forward for melee attacks, nimbly dodge attacks, and snipe with your P-shooter. It’s a sprightly, light action-RPG combat system that rewards focus but is also fairly forgiving of miscalculation, and the battles are quick enough you likely won’t mind the random encounters.
Capcom did a good job updating these titles for the modern player, but for my tastes are less successful at contextualizing their place in the Mega Man pantheon. Some effort was put into visual or audio museums, but there’s nothing here comparable to, say Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master series, where the history and legacy of each game is celebrated by curated timelines or original documentaries. The historic features stack up poorly even next to the original Mega Man Legacy Collection, which allowed players to pop directly into certain gameplay moments directly from museum boss art. No such luck here.
As for the plot… well, that’s probably not really why you’re here. Plucky hero, quirky friends, buddy aliens made of electromagnetic energy, and maybe a dark conspiracy or two. You know, the usual stuff. It carries the collection and the combat forward, and for these games, that’s enough.
Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection doesn’t seem poised to shake up the world, but it doesn’t really have to, nor did it likely set out to. It’s appropriate for anyone who remembers whittling away hours on their GBA playing Battle Network or their DS playing Star Force. It’s also a perfect pastime for eleven-year-olds (or kids at heart) who love deck building, combo breaking, and diving into complementary, overlapping gameplay systems. Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is, based on my time with it, shaping up to be a real winner.
Jared Petty does all kinds of things with video games. When he’s not marketing with Other Ocean or writing for IGN, he’s creating new episodes of The Top 100 Games Podcast. Find him on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky as @pettycommajared.
Resident Evil: Requiem is the first in the horror franchise to be released solely for current-generation consoles, but what really makes it special is the engine that runs it. The RE Engine was built initially for Resident Evil 7, and Capcom has since used it to power everything from Monster Hunter: Wilds to Exoprimal – remember that one?
But while the engine has had issues in open-world games, it’s still incredible for the franchise it was created for. As a result, Resident Evil Requiem looks exquisite on the PS5, and runs smoothly no matter which version of the platform you’re using.
I was particularly interested to see how the first Resident Evil game designed first and foremost for the current generation of consoles would perform across all its platforms, but I only got pre-release code for PS5 and PC. So while I’ll be looking at the Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2 after launch, I went ahead and dove into the PS5 and PC versions to see how they compare.
The Display Modes
While it’s become the norm for console games to have multiple display modes that prioritize quality or frame rate, the base PS5 only has one mode. That will get you a 4K image upscaled from roughly 1080p, but running at an incredibly stable 60 fps. Capcom probably could have scaled the game down a bit more to add a high frame rate mode to the basic PS5, but it really does strike a nice balance between resolution and performance.
The PS5 Pro is a little more flexible. There are two display modes here, revolving entirely around ray tracing, or the lack thereof. Without ray tracing, the PS5 Pro looks very similar to the base PS5 version of the game, but it does appear to be upscaling from a higher resolution – 1300p from my count.
Instead of changing too much about the visual quality, the ‘RT off’ mode instead focuses on delivering a high frame rate, targeting up to 120 fps – though it didn’t quite reach that mark in my testing.
The ray tracing preset takes the place of a “prefer quality” type of preset in Resident Evil Requiem on the PS5 Pro. The underlying quality settings and resolution don’t seem to change too much here, but ray tracing is turned on, which enhances the lighting, reflections and shadows. And while early ray tracing modes on the PS5 dropped performance down to 30 fps, Resident Evil Requiem still targets 60 fps with the fancy lighting enabled.
What’s particularly impressive about this mode, though, is how close it looks to the PC version with ray tracing set to “high”. While a gaming PC with a high-end GPU will get better performance with these quality settings, it’s still awesome that a console can deliver this level of visual fidelity while still hitting a solid 60 fps.
Performance
More than anything, it looks like Resident Evil Requiem is continuing the trend of 60 fps gaming being the floor. Even on the base PS5, the game doesn’t drop below 60, and the PS5 Pro takes those quality settings and pushes for even higher performance.
With the non-ray tracing preset on PS5 Pro, Capcom is targeting high-refresh displays, with performance hovering between 99 and 110 fps during the opening scene here. There are some quality differences between this version and what’s running on the base PS5, but they’re extremely minor, and mostly come down to the slightly lower resolution.
The minor differences in presentation here make it even more impressive that Capcom was able to raise the frame rate by so much. In the worst case scenario, where the PS5 Pro drops under 100 fps, it’s still getting around a 40% boost to frame rate.
Even on the base PS5, the game doesn’t drop below 60 fps.
The ray tracing preset drops the frame rate back down to 60, but it looks much better, especially in darker scenes. You can debate all day long whether or not 60 fps is enough, but with how important lighting is in Requiem, having that extra fidelity is totally worth the tradeoff – especially if you don’t have a display that can actually output a higher frame rate.
On PC I tested the game with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, with ray tracing set to high, along with graphics quality and lighting quality also set to the high preset. This isn’t fully maxed out, but with DLSS set to ‘Performance’ it looks remarkably similar to the PS5 Pro’s ray tracing preset.
With the RTX 5080, which is admittedly more expensive than the PS5 Pro by itself, Requiem runs at around 110-120 fps at 4K, without frame generation. However, there are some scenes with a lot of NPCs, like this street scene that we’re using for testing, where performance can drop down to around 95-100 fps, but that’s still more than enough.
Requiem also supports path tracing on PC, which looks incredible, but will absolutely gut your performance. In the same scene, the frame rate dropped down to 55 fps. That’s not great, but that tends to happen when you take ray tracing and turn it up to 11. I was also able to turn on frame generation, which saw the frame rate shoot all the way up to around 200 fps – more than my capture card can actually capture. Frame generation does add extra latency, but it wasn’t enough to actually be noticeable when playing the game.
Image Quality
No matter how you’re playing Resident Evil Requiem, it looks incredible, even when it’s showing you pretty gnarly scenes.
Right at the beginning of the game, after you get out of some cinematics, you’ll find yourself on a city street. What’s surprising is that, at least on PC, this was one of the most demanding sections of the game that I’ve played through so far, likely due to the NPCs walking along the street, on top of the rain creating a ton of reflective surfaces.
However, due to the somewhat random assortment of NPCs that appear here, it’s easiest to look at this cinematic that triggers once Grace gets to a crime scene. Just pausing at the beginning of the scene and zooming in on her jacket, you can tell the difference in resolution between the base PS5 and PS5 Pro – it’s subtle, but it’s there.
What’s less subtle, though, is the differences ray tracing makes to the same scene. Swapping to this mode on the PS5 Pro, and the button is a little reflective, which gives it much more depth. Then, zooming out a bit, you can see a lot more depth and shadow in Grace’s hair. Then, if you zoom in behind her, you can see that on the ray tracing mode, the cop car in the scene projects its emergency light on the subway’s support beam – where it just looks like flat metal on the base PS5.
This scene also illustrates how close the PS5 Pro is to the PC version when it comes to image quality. The shadows are a bit more pronounced on the PC version, which gives some more depth to Grace’s character model, but the differences are minor.
Fast forward a little bit, though, and you can see one of the biggest differences between ray tracing and path tracing. Once the cop lifts the tarp to let Grace into the crime scene, most versions of the game show the alley behind it as dark, losing a lot of detail. Turn on path tracing, though, and the light naturally illuminates what’s on the other side of the tarp. Again, a pretty minor detail in the grand scheme of things, but these things add up over time.
Ray tracing really shines in Requiem’s darker scenes with a lot of reflective surfaces. Luckily, you also spend much of the first hour of the game in a dark, rainy city. A little later on, you gain control of Leon, where there’s a zombie outbreak of sorts in the city.
In this scene there’s virtually no difference between the PS5 and the PS5 Pro beyond frame rate, so I’m just going to focus on the two performance modes on the PS5 Pro. Without ray tracing, the scene looks alright, but a lot of the reflections in the various puddles are a bit muddy, with vague shapes of light showing up. That’s a side-effect of using screen space reflections, which are a lot less precise than ray tracing.
With RT enabled, though, you can make out the shapes of the street lights in the puddles, and Leon’s leather jacket also reflects light, which makes it look like, well, a leather jacket.
The PC version, of course, takes it to another level. You can zoom in on the hotel sign here, and the details on the hotel wall are much more clear, thanks to improved global illumination. That’s something that you’d have to zoom in a bunch to actually see, but it’s a nice detail regardless.
Then, if you enable path tracing, the reflections are especially enhanced here. Just look at this van, with regular old ray tracing, you can make out some small reflections of lights. But with path tracing, you can see the full reflection of the street signal behind it, while also making the rear view window actually look like a transparent glass panel. It looks incredible.
The care center also shows huge gaps between the ray traced and the non-ray traced versions of the game. When you get to this spooky looking hallway, with its flickering lights, look at how the lighting behaves. With the non-RT mode, the light cuts off almost like it hits a hard boundary. However, with ray tracing, the ray traced global illumination takes the light from the lamp at the end of the corridor and makes it extend much more naturally down the hallway, tapering off the further away it gets from the source.
You can also see along the edges, where the pictures on the wall are in complete darkness just a few feet into the hallway, where the light bounces more naturally when ray tracing is enabled. It’s a small touch, but it really does do a lot to make the game a bit more atmospheric.
Though, to be fair, even without ray tracing, I was much more worried about what was lurking around the next corner than I was about slightly unrealistic lighting.
At the end of the day, the same age-old advice applies to Resident Evil Requiem. If you have a high refresh display and you like the extra visual smoothness that comes from a high frame rate, turn ray tracing off if you have a PS5 Pro. The game looks great regardless, and going up to 100-ish fps will make a huge difference when you’re panicking.
But if you don’t have a high-refresh display, or if you just like having your games look as good as possible, go ahead and turn ray tracing on. Yeah, you’ll take a hit to performance, but it still gets a solid 60 fps on PS5 Pro and it looks incredible.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
