Category: IGN

Pillars of Eternity is the surprise recipient of a patch to add turn-based mode, developer Obsidian has announced.

Fresh from releasing Avowed, Grounded 2, and The Outer Worlds 2 this year, the Microsoft-owned studio has gone back to its isometric, party-based fantasy RPG over a decade after it came out with a fresh update.

Obsidian announced a new public beta for Pillars of Eternity opens on November 5 for players on Steam and Xbox PC, which adds the turn-based mode. The reveal comes alongside a message from game director Josh Sawyer (last seen directing Pentiment), with his thoughts on what turn-based mode means for Pillars of Eternity.

“Fans who enjoyed experimenting with turn-based mode in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire will find familiar ground here, but with key improvements shaped by your feedback,” Obsidian said in a blog post. More details are below.

How turn-based mode works in Pillars of Eternity:

• Unbound Turns: All turns are now influenced by a character’s overall speed, improving the value of Real-Time with Pause attributes and mechanics.
• Smarter Free Actions: Actions like swapping weapons, drinking potions, or enabling modals are now free actions. Each free action is limited to one per turn per type for balance.
• Faster Pacing: Combat lethality has been significantly increased for both enemies and players to keep battles tense and impactful.
• Mode Flexibility: You can choose Turn-Based Mode alongside difficulty when starting a new game — or swap freely between Real-Time with Pause and Turn-Based Mode in the game options. We’re also investigating a direct HUD toggle for even more convenience.

As this is a public beta, please expect bugs and ongoing adjustments, Obsidian warned. The beta will run for “some time” as the developer continues to roll out updates and prepares for a full release.

I’m not messing around with today’s Daily Deals. We’ve got Pokémon TCG product under market value on Amazon alongside some great related deals on TCGPlayer. On the otherside of the TCG sphere, Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar: The Last Airbender set releases this month, and I’ve found the best prices online to preorder right now.

TL;DR: Deals for Today

Xbox controllers are awesome not just for the latest generation of Microsoft consoles, but for PC gaming too. I’ve got some great discounts on Elite V2, Special Editions and Hyperkin blasts from the past that you can’t ignore. Looking for an extra special edition of Resident Evil: Requiem? I’ve got the preorder deets for the deluxe edition that comes with an awesome steelbook too. Let’s get into it:

Amyet V9-G60 1000W Electric Bike for $426

The Best Pokémon TCG Deals

The main highlights of these Pokémon TCG deals has to be the Black Bolt and White Flare Elite Trainer Boxes. White Flare is at market value for $82.94, whilst Black Bolt is dipping under market value at $84.95. It’s a great time to get into the dual set that capped off the Scarlet and Violet era. Don’t forget the latest set, Mega Evolution, either. TCGPlayer is destroying big box retailer Amazon in pricing right now, and that includes the Enhanced Booster Box featuring a stamped Bulbasaur Illustration Rare.

The Cheapest MTG: Avatar Preorders

The biggest saving here is with the single Avatar Collector Booster. It’s half the price of market value on Amazon now at $37.99, which is 100% worth the a look. Bar the Jumpstart Booster Box and Begginer Box, Amazon is under market value for preorders right now. Don’t forget that Amazon don’t charge for preorders until they ship, and their preorder price guarantee ensures you’re getting the best price.

Xbox Series X|S Controller Sale

Hyperkin knocked it out of the park with their OG Xbox S controllers. Yes, they’re wired, but that also means they’re perfect for competitive play thanks to zero input lag. There’s also three special edition controllers which never stick around for long, and one of the best controllers ever made, Xbox Elite V2, is on offer for $139.99 currently too. Don’t sleep on these deals.

Resident Evil: Requiem Deluxe + Steelbook

No discounts, but this is one for steelbook collectors. You’ll get the base game, deluxe edition content and a cool steelbook and sleeve for this special edition of Resident Evil: Requiem. The Deluxe Edition include’s the Apocalypse costume for Grace as they flick between first and third person views whenever they want, a first for the series.

Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.

Rockstar, the developer of Grand Theft Auto VI, reportedly fired between 30 and 40 employees in a move that the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is claiming was “blatant” and “ruthless” union busting.

According to Bloomberg, the workers fired this past Thursday were all UK and Canadian employees who were also part of a private trade union chat group on Discord, and were either union members themselves or trying to organize Rockstar. IWGB has issued a press release in response to the firing, claiming that the employees’ dismissal was explicitly due to union activities.

Rockstar has just carried out the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry. This flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions is an insult to their fans and the global industry.

Despite this calculated attack on workers organising for a collective voice and to improve their difficult working conditions, the Rockstar Union remains undeterred. They will keep organising for respect and better conditions whilst continuing to pour their blood, sweat and creativity into games that are loved by millions.

The IWGB will pursue every legal claim possible to ensure our members are reinstated and receive interim relief.

In response, Rockstar has issued its own statement via a Take-Two spokesperson, countering that the firings were for “gross misconduct, and for no other reason.”

We strive to make the world’s best entertainment properties by giving our best-in-class creative teams positive work environments and ongoing career opportunities. Our culture is focused on teamwork, excellence, and kindness. Rockstar Games terminated a small number of individuals for gross misconduct, and for no other reason. As always, we fully support Rockstar’s ambitions and approach.

These dismissals occur as Rockstar is on the cusp of releasing Grand Theft Auto 6 in May of next year, with the game projected by some analysts to make $3 billion in its first year on sale and said by others to be one of the most important game releases of all time.

Amidst massive public anticipation for the game, Rockstar has been sparing with its marketing, releasing very little information about the game ahead of launch. However, after a massive leak of the in-development game in 2022 and the day-early release of the game’s first trailer the following year, Rockstar has been increasingly tight with security. Last year, the studio began asking employees to come to the office five days a week, citing a desire for both increased productivity and security. This decision was criticized by workers affiliated with the IWGB, who said Rockstar broke promises with the forced return to office, and accused the studio of refusing to engage with workers on the issue.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has offered the best explanation yet for why the developer’s open-world spy thriller Agent fell by the wayside.

Agent is the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption developer’s long lost spy game, which was announced as a PlayStation 3 exclusive in 2009 but has since disappeared. Rockstar has never officially canceled the project, but images leaked in 2015 showed some of its levels, and while some hope remained due to renewed trademarks, this was eventually scrapped in 2018 and its website was shut down in 2021.

So, what happened to Agent? Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption writer Dan Houser, now of Absurd Ventures, has finally offered fans a detailed explanation in an interview on the Lex Fridman podcast. According to Houser, despite multiple versions of Agent being attempted at Rockstar, the game never came together, and that’s because, fundamentally, an open-world spy game simply doesn’t work.

“We worked a lot on multiple iterations of an open-world spy game, and it never came together,” Houser began.

“It had about five different iterations. I don’t think it works. I concluded — and I keep thinking about it sometimes, I sometimes lie in bed thinking about it — and I’ve concluded that what makes them really good as film stories makes them not work as video games. Or we need to think through how to do it in a different way as a video game”.

The version of Agent Rockstar announced was set in during the Cold War in the 1970s, but Houser revealed this was just one version of many Rockstar tried and failed to turn into a fun video game. Indeed, there was a version set in the modern day that also failed to go anywhere.

“That was one of the versions,” he said. “There was another one that was set in the current… we had so many different versions of this game, we worked with so many different teams.”

He continued: “Espionage, assassinations… I don’t know what it would’ve been because it never really… We never got it enough to even doing a proper story on it. We were doing the early work as you get the world up and running. It never really found its feet in either of them. And I sort of think I know why.

“Because in one of those films, they’re very, very frenetic and they beat to beat to beat — you gotta go here and save the world, you gotta go there and stop that person being killed and then save the world. An open-world game does have moments like that when the story comes together. But for large portions, it’s a lot looser, and you’re just hanging out and you’re just doing what you want. And I want freedom. I wanna go over here and do what I want, and I wanna go over and do what you want. That’s why it works well being a criminal, because you fundamentally don’t have anyone telling you what to do. We try and create external agency through these people kind of forcing you into the story at times.

“But as a spy, that doesn’t really work because you have to be against the clock. So I think for me, I question if you can even make a good open-world spy game. So lots of things would work as open-world games, but I don’t know if a spy does.”

Keanu Reeves would love to play Johnny Silverhand again, but how can he given the events of Cyberpunk 2077? It turns out Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith has worked out a way to make it make sense, and has told the much-loved actor: “contact me.”

In September, speaking with IGN while promoting his movie Good Fortune, Keanu Reeves said that he wanted to be part of the sequel to CD Projekt’s 2020 game.

“Absolutely. I’d love to play Johnny Silverhand again,” Reeves said when asked if he’d be interested in revisiting his legendary rockstar terrorist character in Cyberpunk 2.

Reeves’s love-affair with the Cyberpunk community began with his viral “you’re breathtaking” moment at E3 2019. Reeves, on-stage to announce the release date of Cyberpunk 2077, was interrupted by a fan who shouted out “you’re breathtaking!” Reeves’ response was to double-down with his own “you’re breathtaking… you’re all breathtaking!” Cue wholesome memes across the internet forever more. You can see the iconic gamer moment in the video below.

The question is, could Reeves actually play Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2 even if he wanted to? In other words, could Johnny Silverhand return in the sequel, given the events of Cyberpunk 2077?

Warning! Spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077 follow:

While many players believe Cyberpunk 2077 provided a suitable ending for Johnny and V’s story, depending on which ending of the game CD Projekt makes canon for Cyberpunk 2, the door may be left open for Reeves’ return. Could Johnny return in cameo form perhaps, having downloaded himself into someone or something else? Canon ending dependent, could V end up becoming Johnny Silverhand in mind and body for Cyberpunk 2? Perhaps we could see Johnny as part of a flashback to events before Cyberpunk 2077, as Cyberpunk 2077 had?

It sounds like Mike Pondsmith has been thinking about this ever since Reeves’ interview with IGN. In a CD Projekt livestream to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Cyberpunk 2077, Mike Pondsmith said, matter of factly: “Not that long ago, I saw that Keanu would like to find a way to come back from the dead and play Johnny again. I have ways to do that, Keanu. Contact me.”

Pondsmith, understandably, did not reveal what those “ways” were, but as we’ve mentioned, there are plenty of theories fans have come up with to make it make sense.

Reeves isn’t the only big Hollywood name to appear in Cyberpunk 2077. Idris Elba starred in the successful expansion, Phantom Liberty, which Pondsmith was delighted by. Indeed, he revealed he worried that CD Projekt might get sued because his character, looked so much like Elba, before it was revealed it actually was Elba playing the role.

“‘So let me get this straight,'” Pondsmith recalled of his reaction to the news. “‘You got Keanu Reeves, and then you turn around and get Idris Elba. What’s next? Scarlett Johansson?’

“Scarlett, you know, I have roles for you. You can do anything.”

Scarlett Johansson in Cyberpunk 2? That remains to be seen. But Pondsmith has been chatty about the hotly anticipated sequel in the past. In May, Pondsmith teased some previously unknown details when he was asked about the scope of his involvement with Cyberpunk 2 (then known as Project Orion) at the Digital Dragons 2025 conference.

Pondsmith admitted he wasn’t as involved this time around, but said he does review scripts and had been to CD Projekt to check out the ongoing work.

“Last week I was wandering around talking to different departments, and seeing what they had, ‘Oh look, this is the new cyberware, what do you think?’ ‘Oh yeah, that’s pretty good, that works here.’”

And then, the morsel on the sequel: that it features a brand new city in addition to the Night City we know from Cyberpunk 2077. Pondsmith described this new city as “like Chicago gone wrong.”

“I spent a lot of time talking to one of the environment guys, and he was explaining how the new place in Orion, because there’s another city we visit — I’m not telling you any more than that but there’s another city we visit. And Night City is still there. But I remember looking at it and going, yeah I understand the feel you’re going for this, and this really does work. And it doesn’t feel like Blade Runner, it feels more like Chicago gone wrong. I said, ‘Yeah, I can see this working.’”

Former Rockstar boss Dan Houser has explained why the Grand Theft Auto series won’t leave the United States in terms of its setting.

Speaking on the Lex Fridman podcast, Rockstar co-founder and former lead writer Houser said that — GTA London apart — Grand Theft Auto remained firmly rooted in the United States because it leans so heavily on Americana.

“We made a little thing in London 26 years ago — GTA London — for the top-down for PS1. That was pretty cute and fun, as the first mission pack ever for PlayStation 1. I think for a full GTA game, we always decided there was so much Americana inherent in the IP, it would be really hard to make it work in London or anywhere else.

“You know, you needed guns, you needed these larger-than-life characters. It just felt like the game was so much about America, possibly from an outsider’s perspective. But that was so much about what the thing was that it wouldn’t really have worked in the same way elsewhere.”

It’s a trend that’s set to continue with next year’s GTA 6, which is set in the fictional U.S. state of Leonida (a reimagining of Florida). And based on the two GTA 6 trailers we’ve seen so far, that parody of American culture is once again front and center.

It’s an interesting time, then, to wonder if GTA might hop on a plane and venture abroad at some point in the future. But it feels unlikely, not just based on Houser’s comments, but based on the GTA brand — built up over decades at this point — and what the public expects from it. Indeed, such is GTA’s relationship with America over the course of its many video games, that a University of Tennessee history professor will teach a GTA college history class early in 2026.

Professor Tore Olsson recently told IGN: “Video games are great at conjuring fictional worlds, but they also impact players’ thinking about real-world times and places. And just as Red Dead Redemption 2 has shaped folks’ perception of the nineteenth-century American West or Ghost of Tsushima has informed their vision of feudal Japan, millions of people around the globe imagine contemporary America through the lens of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Just think of how many GTA veterans have recognized landmarks in Los Angeles and New York thanks to their hours in Los Santos and Liberty City!”

Houser’s position on GTA is similar to that of the creators of post-apocalyptic role-playing game series Fallout, which has also remained in the United States. Last year, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard ruled out leaving the U.S. behind for a future Fallout video game, saying he’s a big fan of the “Americana naivete” that informs so much of Fallout’s tone.

Meanwhile, the wait for GTA 6 goes on, with May 26, 2026 the current release date. We’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including all the details we’ve discovered so far, a roundup of 70 brand new screenshots, and the expert opinion on how GTA 6 will look on PS5 Pro. As for how much will Grand Theft Auto 6 cost? Amid the speculation, new research has suggested that a $100 price point would actually earn Rockstar less money than if went for the “sweet spot” of $70.

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.

Microsoft has confirmed the next batch of games set to leave Xbox Game Pass, and one in particular has caused a degree of frustration with subscribers: Stalker 2.

GSC Game World’s Stalker 2 launched as an Xbox console exclusive last year alongside backing from Microsoft. While it is not an Xbox Game Studios-published video game, Microsoft played a key role in its marketing ahead of its much-delayed release date in November 2024. It even worked with the Ukrainian studio on a 90-minute documentary that revealed the difficulty the developers faced building the game amid Russia’s full-scale invasion.

As confirmed by the Xbox app, Stalker 2 is set to leave Game Pass on November 16, 2025, alongside four other games detailed below.

We’ve rounded up the best deals for Sunday, November 2, below, so don’t miss out on these limited-time offers.

Bleach Rebirth of Souls for $34.99

We’ve rounded up the best deals for Saturday, November 1, below, so don’t miss out on these limited-time offers.

Save $5 Off Kirby Air Riders

I thought I was only going to play five or six hours of ARC Raiders on launch day before sitting down to write this initial review in progress, but after just a handful of matches, I suddenly couldn’t pull myself away – and before I realized it, I’d been playing for 10 hours. This is without question the most hooked I’ve found myself on an extraction shooter (and I’ve played a lot of them), with clean and tense gunplay, a progression system that’s been incredibly satisfying so far, and a loot game that has me sweating over what to put in my backpack and what to leave behind. I’ve still got loads more to do and see before I can draw any final conclusions, but what I have played has made an incredibly good first impression.

ARC Raiders follows the usual extraction shooter formula of dropping you into a zone to take down NPC enemies and scramble for loot, all while looking over your shoulder for rival crews who would love nothing more than to crack you open like a meat pinata and take everything you’ve collected. From what I’ve seen so far, ARC Raiders hasn’t done much to iterate on those fundamentals, but it does absolutely nail them, and that’s harder to do than it might sound – for example, a big budget attempt like Battlefield 2042’s Hazard Zone mostly fell flat, and the alpha for Bungie’s Marathon landed with such a thud it was delayed indefinitely.

One of the main ways it succeeds is in its stressful gunplay, where weapons only have a few rounds in each magazine, take a good deal of time to reload, and the robotic NPCs are either much faster than you or can rain down missiles to take you out in a single blast. This means I’m usually feeling like a rodent sneaking around to scavenge food and supplies from the world before slinking back to base – but when combat does break out, it’s charged with delightful anxiety thanks to the high-risk, high-reward situation of knowing you’re either about to lose everything you’ve fought for or grab some awesome gear off the corpses of those you’ve bested. This includes both AI-controlled and human players, as both can be found and fought out in the world, though it’s best to avoid either of them unless you know you’ve brought the gear and skills required for a fight. That’s because firing a shot has a good chance of drawing all robot enemies and loot-hungry players to your position, taking advantage of your vulnerability to do as much damage as possible.

All four of the maps I’ve seen so far have very cool and distinct vibes to them, from the ruined husk of a waterlogged dam to a city buried in red sand. It’s a good thing that they’re so great to look at, too, because you’ll spend a whole lot of time trekking back and forth across them in search of loot. I still feel like I haven’t seen most of the nooks and crannies of these areas, despite having played on them for dozens of matches already, but they are starting to feel a little familiar to me. Here’s hoping they’ve still got secrets to uncover that expand the amount of time I’m willing to spend on each.

As I work toward exploring every last zone, one thing I’m still looking for is an enemy combatant I haven’t faced yet (aside from the massive tanks, which I’m just steering clear of at this early stage). Most of my NPC combat encounters have been against the small roly poly bots and flying drones that are fairly easy to destroy, with my fellow players being the only proper challenge so far. I’m looking forward to the point where I’m powerful enough to actually engage with some of the chonkier enemies more seriously, but it still would have been nice to have a wider variety of low level AI combatants to shake up the early game a bit.

Thankfully, even as maps and enemies have begun to feel familiar, that hasn’t dampened my desire to play just because of how good the loot and progressions systems are. Every run, win or lose, has me excited to return to the cozy sanctuary of Speranza, where I can chat with vendors, turn in and accept new quests, upgrade my facilities that allow me to craft items and gain access to new upgrades, customize my character’s appearance, and spend skill points that make me slightly better at things like keeping quiet while rifling through loot during matches. There’s so much to do and unlock that I truly feel I’ve only scratched the surface in this regard, and that’s kept me glued to my controller and eager to dive into new matches.

Anyway, there’s still lots to do and robots to slay, so I’ll be headed back out to the wastes for more just as soon as I’m finished typing. You can expect a full, scored review early next week!