Category: IGN

Baldur’s Gate 3 actor and performance director Aliona Baranova has questioned why TV and movie adaptations often overlook in-game talent when casting for the big screen.

At a panel at the Tampa Bay Comic Convention moderated by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt, Baranova said: “I feel like it’s a shame that the video game audience is being overlooked when it comes to screen projects. We see from you guys how dedicated you are… and I feel like that’s been neglected at the moment by filmmakers [and] studios.”

It’s a pertinent challenge, not least because rather than simply reading a script into a mic, game performers often provide so much more than just their voices when it comes to bringing games to life, with some even providing the mo-cap and faces of our favorite characters, too.

“We see all the time how willing everyone is to support us in the screen projects we do,” Baranova — who’s also performed for Cyberpunk 2077, Lies of P, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, added. “Why are filmmakers not seeing that yet?”

The director and performer pointed specifically at HBO’s recent adaptation of The Last of Us, which cast both in-game Ellie (Ashley Johnson) and Joel (Troy Baker) in the show, too, albeit in different roles. The impact? “Ashley Johnson was the number one most looked-up person on IMDb when the TV project came out.”

“Why is more of that not happening?” Baranova asked. “Why was Doug Cockle not in the TV series, The Witcher? Why are we not being considered when there’s video game adaptations? Even animated adaptations like Arcane, we would love to be part of those.”

The role of Geralt went to Superman star Henry Cavill, who has since exited the series. Cockle did not appear in the show, even in cameo form. But he did voice Geralt in Netflix’s recently released animated The Witcher movie.

While most video game performers are fully and professionally trained, Baranova suggested that the screen industry still views video game actors as niche performers. “We are also theatre-trained,” she added. “A lot of us are formally trained in the UK… and I think that’s something that maybe execs are a bit short-sighted about. They think, ‘They just know how to do a video game.’ Studios are neglecting the video game audience who are so willing to support and so dedicated and passionate about… their favorite video game actors. And I think it’s a shame that that’s being overlooked. It’s being slept on.”

It feels as though we’re in the best of times when it comes video game adaptations, not least due to stellar projects like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog, and TV series based on The Last of Us and Fallout. There are plenty more still to come, however — keep on top of things with our handy list of all the upcoming new video game movies and TV shows coming in 2025 and beyond.

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.

Mafia: The Old Country will be PS5 Pro Enhanced at launch.

We already knew that Mafia: The Old Country would boast both quality and performance modes on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and now developer Hangar 13 has confirmed the game will also be ready for PS5 Pro when it releases later this week, on August 8, 2025.

This includes support for variable refresh rate, 120Hz displays, and higher dynamic resolution in both quality and performance modes.

The announcement follows last week’s reveal of the PC and console specifications, with Hangar 13’s statement simply saying: “We’re excited to confirm that Mafia: The Old Country will be PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced at launch.”

On PS5 and Xbox Series X, Mafia: The Old Country will have both Quality and Performance modes, with the game running at an average 60fps in Performance Mode. “Players who want to prioritize higher resolution and visual fidelity should select Quality Mode, while players who prefer to prioritize framerate should select Performance Mode,” Hangar 13 suggested.

As for those aforementioned PC specs and features, here’s what you need to know.

Mafia: The Old Country — PC Features

• Uncapped gameplay framerate
• Anti-aliasing and upscaling
• Remappable keyboard inputs
• Frame generation with AMD PFSR, NVIDIA DLSS and Intel XESS
• HDR support
• Accessibility Options
• Untrawide monitor support
• V-Sync

We’ve been covering Mafia: The Old Country in an exclusive way through our IGN First cover story, with gameplay and our hands-on preview. Last month, IGN had the pleasure of talking to Hangar 13 studio president Nick Baynes and game director Alex Cox about returning the Mafia series to its not-open-world roots, which games The Old Country takes design inspiration from, the plentiful amount of fruit found throughout the upcoming prequel, and more.

Mafia: The Old Country is a gritty mob story set in the brutal underworld of 1900s Sicily wherein you’ll fight to survive as Enzo Favara in this immersive third-person action-adventure that sees you uncover the origins of organized crime. If you’re hungry for more, check out the newly released The Family Code: Vehicles & Villas Gameplay trailer. It shows how players will be able to traverse through a variety of different ways, from horseback to foot travel and occasionally in vehicles.

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.

HoYoverse is discontinuing support for Genshin Impact on PS4.

In a statement, the publisher thanked PS4 players for their “continued support and love,” but claimed that, “due to limitations related to hardware performance and platform application size,” it would be discontinuing support and updates for the RPG on Sony’s last-gen system.

The “removal and discontinuation plan” for Genshin Impact will unfold in three phases: firstly, the PS4 version of the game will be removed from the PlayStation store on September 10 (although you’ll still be able to re-download it if it’s already in your library). Secondly, in-game purchases will be delisted on February 25, 2026, and finally, support will end completely in August 2026.

Thankfully, HoYo has given a decent notice period, so you’ll still be able to play Genshin Impact on PS4 right up until August 4, 2026.

PS5 players are not to worry — the change shouldn’t affect you at all, and Travelers will still be able to “enjoy the latest content updates.”

“These adjustments apply only to Genshin Impact on PS4,” the publisher reiterated. “We recommend that Travelers currently playing on PS4 transition to PS5 or other supported platforms to continue enjoying the game. Your game progress will not be affected. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please feel free to contact Genshin Impact Customer Service.”

The announcement has garnered a lot of attention in the post’s comment section, with hundreds of players sharing their thoughts. Some are confused why the game has to be discontinued on PS4 at all, given that the game is accessible on mobile devices, while others accept that PS4’s decade-old architecture had an inevitable end date.

While a PS5 may still be out of reach, don’t forget that Genshin supports crossplay across all platforms, including mobile — here’s now to cross-save between your accounts.

In the open-world action RPG Genshin Impact, you are a traveler drifted from another world who has awoken in a new land. You will explore this wondrous world freely, make friends along the way, and look for “The Seven” — Archons of the seven elements.

We thought it was ‘amazing’ when it released back in 2020, awarding it 9/10 in the IGN Genshin Impact review, writing: “Genshin Impact is an amazing open-world adventure that draws heavily on both its Breath of the Wild and anime inspirations to create something truly special. Even if the gacha model introduces some undesirable level grinding deeper in, the excellent combat, addictive exploration, and beautiful world make this one of the most exciting games I’ve played all year.”

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.

While it wasn’t ready for a gameplay demo at Evo, the new Virtua Fighter project was still one of the most exciting games of the show, thanks to a brand new trailer released during Finals day that gave us our best look yet at what Sega and RGG have cooking for this revival of a series that has been dormant for more than two decades at this point.

At the show, I got a chance to sit down with Riichiro Yamada, producer on the New Virtua Fighter project, to dig into some of his previous statements about the game, ask about how he plans to modernize the series to compete with other more, current 3D fighters, and more.

[Editor’s Note: This interview has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity]

The concept gameplay that we’ve seen for the new Virtua Fighter project has been very fluid with guards going for each individual attack, the arms moving to block each individual attack. How close to this do you expect the final game to look?

Riichiro Yamada, Producer on New Virtua Fighter Project: In terms of how it looks, yes, [the battle system is] 70% there, and tomorrow there will be an announcement made at EVO [Editor’s Note: This interview was recorded the day before the trailer release]. So I really feel that I’ll be able to showcase what the current situation is. And from a vision perspective, I really have a very strong vision and really feel that we are getting very close to that vision.

So fighting games are in a very different place than they were when Virtua Fighter V was released. What are some of the ways that you’re ensuring that the new Virtua Fighter project will modernize the series?

Yamada: Virtua Fighter originally was a very simple game. It only has three buttons and everyone could basically touch and play it, but as the series went on, it became very complicated. And in terms of that and in terms of the progression, I feel that Virtua Fighter 5 is the complete version. In terms of a new Virtua Fighter, we need to keep progressing even more, not just in the gameplay but function as well.

I really feel that I need to look towards how do we progress this game, how do we improve this game, in terms of functionability, gameplay and how do we make it more modernized? Otherwise, I really feel like it won’t sell. So those are the places that I’m really looking into. Not only gameplay, but functionality as well. We need to modernize those parts.

In a previous video, you said that the two words that come to mind when asked what is Virtua Fighter were innovation and reality. Can you explain a little bit more about what that means and how those words have guided you through production on this new game?

Yamada: So in terms of innovation, I really won’t be able to specify in details, but it used to be graphics at the very beginning, and then computer graphics like CG has been improving. But with CG, it’s really up there right now. It’s really difficult to improve the current CG.

CG is already innovated, it’s really up there. So in terms of innovation, I really feel that bringing up more ideas is very important when it comes to that term. And then as for reality, I feel like reality is a very difficult word, but Virtua Fighter, it’s not a very UFC-like battle. It’s more of like a kung-fu movie battle. It’s more of that type.

And when I played Virtua Fighter at the very beginning, I felt like the reality of being hit, when you’re being hit by an opponent, you felt that hurt in your arms or your legs, your body. So that sensation, I really felt that. So with the new project, not just the battles but reality, I really want that reality to be felt within the players, not only the battles but the other places as well, which I feel is very important.

So with this new Virtua Fighter project, do you envision this as a new beginning for the franchise? Not just for the franchise but for the characters? Like Akira obviously looks a lot different than what we’re used to. He is not in his traditional gi, his hair is not styled up, he’s wearing a hat. Are these the same characters from the previous games or is this kind of just a new reboot of Virtua Fighter?

Yamada: So in terms of characters, I really feel that new characters are necessary, and as you said, Akira looks different. So in this one, Akira is a little bit older than the previous series. So in terms of that, I feel that a new generation of characters is needed and [I’m not] saying that the character designs in the previous VF is not very good. That’s not true.

I don’t want to say that the VF characters previously, that the character designs were a little bit weak. I’m not trying to say that. I feel that they were stylish, but we do need to evolve these characters, we need to make the character designs look better, to look cool.

Not saying that they were bad before, but I just need to make them cooler. So that’s why when I think about new characters, I said reality is one of the statements that I’m really focusing on. That too, when I create new character designs, I have to bring this reality to it and to make it a more good-looking character. So yes, using the same characters, but evolving it from the past, putting more elements to it, putting more design characters to it, making it more real is my stance.

Speaking of characters, in a previous Virtua Fighter direct, you revealed Stella, a character that bears a striking resemblance to Sarah Bryant. Is there anything you can tell us about this character? And on the screen the text says that she’s the bridge between worlds. Can you elaborate a little bit about what that means?

Yamada: Unfortunately, I won’t be able to answer your question on that, sorry. But please be excited. Please look forward to that.

You touched upon this earlier, Virtua Fighter traditionally is a three-button game — punch, kick and guard — but it derives a lot of depth from that very simple control scheme. Do you feel like the three-button control style for Virtua Fighter is core to the series, or is that an area where you see an opportunity to evolve the franchise by either adding another button or just changing the way the typical Virtua Fighter core gameplay works?

Yamada: So originally when Yu Suzuki created the Virtua fighter, he did a lot of testing. He actually tested with more than three buttons, like a lot of buttons. But they came to the three button conclusion. At the time it was more of a Game Center (Arcade) focused game, so that was the best at the time.

And the concept was that they wanted to create a game that was not too complicated and that anyone could enjoy. And so from that concept, I feel like, yes, I need to respect that concept. I want to create a game where anyone can play.

But currently, or moving forward, it’s not just a Game Center game, it’s more of a household game. So when you think about how people could enjoy playing this game in their living room or in their house, that’s when it kind of changes a little. So yes, the concept does stay the same, But… I’m not really focused on, oh, we need to keep it to three buttons. The more important thing is I want to create a game where anyone can play in their household when it comes to the new style.

For all the years that Virtua Fighter has been around, Akira has been the face of the franchise and he’s also the character that you revealed the new Virtua Fighter project with, but we don’t really get to see his face all that much. Do you feel like Akira is still the kind of face of this series or is it a new generation? Is there going to be a new person that’s going to take that mantle of being the face of the franchise?

Yamada: So when it comes to the protagonist, I really feel that users will still buy a game because of the protagonist. For example, for Street Fighter, it’s Luke, there’s probably a reason why it’s still Luke. For Ryu-Ga-Gotoku (The Yakuza series), it used to be Kiryu, but it’s changing. They did bring a new protagonist, Kasuga. Originally, RGG fans love Kiryu.

So I think there were challenges in bringing a new protagonist, a new character, Kasuga, into the series. Ideally, I would like to bring out more characters, but it feels like users really like Akira. History has proven or is proving that there is a lot of love for Akira.

Yes, I would like to bring out new characters, but I really feel that the protagonist, because Akira has been a strong face, the users will still look forward to or see or would like to buy the game because it’s Akira. So I feel that changing characters or bringing new characters is not a very easy thing to do.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit

The Nintendo Switch 2 console only has two high-profile original games that you can get right now: Mario Kart World Tour and Donkey Kong Bananza. Although both are great games, Donkey Kong Bananza has staunchly entrenched itself as one of the best games of the year and an absolute must-buy game for any Switch 2 owner.

Donkey Kong Bananza is the Only 10/10 Masterpiece of 2025

Not only did we rate Donkey Kong a 10/10, it’s the only game we’ve given a Masterpiece rating so far this year. Granted there isn’t too much competition in the way of Switch exclusive games for 2025, this has been a fantastic year so far for console gaming in general. We’ve seen some of the best games released in recent history, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Death Stranding 2, and Doom: The Dark Ages, all of which got close to a Masterpiece rating but didn’t quite hit the mark. That’s not to say that Donkey Kong Bananza is necessarily better than those other games since, after all, different people have reviewed each of these games, but it’s a testament to just how outstanding Donkey Kong Bananza is on its own merits to have achieved that score.

Pick it up in under an hour at Best Buy

There’s a moment right before the start of a 1v1 RTS match that’s like nothing else I’ve felt in games, and Stormgate delivers it. I see that countdown timer start to tick, I can feel my own heartbeat, and I take a deep breath. Then I’m looking at a colorful command center and a gaggle of workers, and it’s just me and some random stranger fighting it out for glory or ruin. The twists and turns Stormgate has taken during Early Access to get to where it is now haven’t all been in the right direction, but it is moving the basecraft formula forward on a design level in some subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

Stormgate has come a long way in the year since its Early Access launch, and while it has now shed the Early Access label, it is not being dubbed Version 1.0. There are still major faction reworks and graphical overhauls promised, as well as multiple major modes that are now flagged as “In Development” (whatever that even means anymore). I’m not absolutely thrilled with all of the changes that have been made to the 1v1 competitive mode, which I still enjoy quite a bit overall. I’m going to focus mainly on what’s different here rather than explaining the basics of it all again, so check out my Early Access review from last year if you want to hear more about how things used to work.

Unsurprisingly, since it’s made by a bunch of former Blizzard RTS devs, Stormgate has the feel and overall rhythm of a classic Blizzard RTS. At its best, it’s like home cooking for someone who was raised on Brood War and WarCraft 3. I order around my scrappy human Vanguard recruits while zipping back to my base to click an upgrade just at the optimal moment, and I imagine myself like the food critic in Ratatouille being transported back to his childhood. There is something that just works about the mental coordination and almost musical hotkey strokes in this type of game – even all these years later – and developer Frost Giant gets that.

It has also clearly put a lot of thought into what could be improved about that experience. And it’s here that I feel like the conversations I’ve had with people glibly calling it “StarCraft 1.5” are not seeing the big picture. On an underlying design level, it’s a thoughtful progression even from the flash and polish of StarCraft 2. Quality-of-life features like automated control groups and quick commands for accessing production queues and upgrade menus without having to find the right building smooth out the moment-to-moment experience in a way that took some getting used to, but now I want them in every RTS.

All In the Craft

As a Terran and Human main in StarCraft and WarCraft respectively, it’s no surprise that the faction that spoke to me the most in Stormgate was the Human Vanguard. I know, I’m really fun at parties. They play very similarly to a standard RTS faction, making them a great point of entry. But like almost everything in Stormgate, there are little things here and there that raise the skill ceiling a lot.

Vanguard units gain veterancy from fighting, for instance, which increases their stats substantially. This means, to play them at a high level, you want to minimize casualties as much as possible in every engagement. And you especially don’t want to lose your fully-promoted units. This might, unexpectedly, make them one of the most micro-heavy factions if you want to truly master their advantages. And it presents an opportunity for their opponents to focus-fire down veteran units as well. This sort of, “Easy to learn, difficult to master” philosophy is all over Stormgate, and I love to see it.

I am pretty happy with the changes that have been made to Celestials so far, even if they’re the only ones not to get a visual overhaul yet, leaving them looking the most chunky and bland. They were very confusing to play originally, diverging so much from my expectations for an RTS faction in non-intuitive ways that I couldn’t really get a handle on them. Now they’re much easier to pick up and play without sacrificing too much of what made them unique. Morph Cores have a much more obvious and sensible role, I understand when I’m supposed to put down a new Arcship, and power generation is quite a bit less confusing.

I can’t say the same for every faction, though. The Infernals recently got a significant rework that removed the Animus bar – which would fill up and allow you to cast spells when yours or your opponent’s units died. In fact, all of the top bar command abilities have been removed or moved onto buildings, which feels like a step backwards to me. Especially in the case of the Infernals, you’ve taken a mechanic that was thematically awesome and kind of central to the faction and ripped it out. Frost Giant told me they want to bring it back in an improved form in the future, but for now we have to do without. Of all the changes made between the first time I played Stormgate and where it is now, this is the one I’m most disappointed by, even if it’s temporary.

And while the community was pretty split on them, I actually liked creep camps as a way to give you more things on the map to fight over and positions to hold that weren’t expansion bases. The replacement, the titular Stormgates, don’t feature hostile NPCs and don’t give any benefit for hanging onto them, so they’re more like sounding a horn to summon both players to battle for a choice between some neat, randomized rewards. That can be exciting, but I can’t say I love them in their current iteration, unfortunately. They can also, a bit counter-intuitively, encourage the kind of “jousting with razor blades on a long stick” base trade scenarios that I don’t like so much, rather than creating big, fun field battles.

Take It From the Top

Where Stormgate has seen the biggest glow-up is in its 12-mission campaign, which was its most disappointing pillar in Early Access. Very little actually remains from that affair, with all the Vanguard characters and units having been given more grounded and realistic models and all but the basics of the story being completely redone. In most cases, this is a massive improvement. But it’s also obvious in some ways that it was rushed through production.

To give you an idea of the buy-in for what I’d call the complete Stormgate experience, you can snag all four episodes for $25, while the 1v1 and experimental modes remain free to play. The whole thing took me around 10 hours to finish as an experienced RTS player going for all the bonus objectives and chatting up my crew for juicy lore tidbits between each one.

The newly-introduced deck of the Raptor 1 does a lot to make the whole experience feel cohesive, especially with the addition of unlockable unit upgrades and an item locker that let you customize your hero and armies across multiple missions. The campaign missions themselves are clever and challenging. And the reworked story tosses out some of the tired Blizzard tropes I was less than thrilled with in the Early Access rough draft.

The main thing dragging it down is that it’s still clearly lacking at least one coat of polish. This is most apparent with some rushed or unfinished cutscenes, particularly at the conclusion of certain missions, where a throwaway line will mention something important that apparently happened off screen instead of showing it to us. The bad guy got away with the McGuffin! Darnit, you just missed him!
Also, some of the new voice lines for some characters, including the protagonist, Amara, honestly sound like the actor is reading them for the first time and only got to do one take, or weren’t told how their character is feeling in a scene. The cadence is totally off to the point of coming across as bizarre.

Holy Tutoroli

I’ve always learned about each faction in most prior RTSes from their campaign missions first, and there still isn’t much context at all for the Celestials, which makes it hard for me to get excited about them. What are they even doing here? What are their ideals? What is their society about? I know there are Infernal and Celestial campaign chapters planned. But compared to even StarCraft 1, in which we spent multiple hours with each faction, I think this really hurts the onboarding.

Different missions can highlight different units or faction mechanics, and ease you into thinking about how to use them. It can be very intimidating to simply jump into 1v1 and sink or swim. Stormgate currently doesn’t feature any hands-on help for new players in terms of how to think about Infernal shroud, or the neat things you can do with Celestial Arcships. There’s a “Learn to Play” link on the main menu, but it just sends you to a web page with some short YouTube videos, several of which are outdated at this point. I don’t know… does that even count?

Novice players can enable a feature called BuddyBot in non-ranked matches that helps you out with some busywork like base management, but I honestly find this to be the worst kind of assistance. It doesn’t actually teach you how to play. It just does things for you. I’d much prefer a “buddy” that notices when I’m messing up, like banking too many resources, and pops up with some tips on what I could improve. StormClippy, if you will.

While it’s still in the experimental phase, I am pleased that Stormgate finally has an editor and custom games available. There are still some key features missing, like triggers, but this hasn’t stopped dedicated community members from already creating some really wild and impressive maps and game modes that I never would have thought possible with the current tools. For what they are at the moment, I found them very easy to use and quite flexible as someone who cut my teeth making custom scenarios for Brood War and Warcraft 3.

The 3vAI Co-op mode has actually been pulled back from center stage into the experimental “Sigma Labs” section along with the map editor, but it’s still a fun place to mess around as they try to dial it in. I like RTSes with hero units and interesting abilities, and that’s all here. Plus, account progression and some unlockable cosmetics added since the Early Access launch give me more motivation to keep at it than pure bragging rights.

Riot Games and parent company Tencent have come under fire after fans noticed they allegedly published a shocking AI-generated trailer for League of Legends: Wild Rift.

Reddit user Winter_underdog was one of the first to share the footage, calling attention to what is said to be a two-minute trailer for the League of Legends spinoff’s third anniversary. Riot allegedly published the footage on Chinese social media website Weibo before removing it following uproar from players. There’s at least no trace of an AI trailer for League of Legends: Wild Rift on Weibo at the moment, but that hasn’t stopped fans from republishing it elsewhere.

Wild Rift China released a cinematic made using AI and it is diabolical 😭 To think this was an official release that several people approved of 🙄
It features Seraphine, Jinx, Aurora, Yasuo & Ezreal. pic.twitter.com/8FxtfdyL4S

— Aroush (@AroushTheKween) August 4, 2025

The video above features elements that one may find in some of the most blatant AI-generated content out there, including strange facial expressions, bizarre eye movement, and visuals that look like a cobbled together Pixar film. Although recognizable faces like Jinx, Seraphine, and Aurora also appear, it’s not always easy to pin down what exactly they’re doing as the group puts on what seems to be a KPop Demon Hunters-inspired concert for League of Legends: Wild Rift fans.

“Oh ew, who are those skinwalkers ??” one Reddit user said.

“What in the league of legends fever dream is this,” another added.

im dying laughing from how bad it is. Jinx is using a glock, seraphine is kicking like she wants to be lee sin, yasuo is using a lightsaber, Ezreal is using a glock too. Jinx uses a flamethrower?

— Tellah_hi🔫🤠 (@TellahH) August 4, 2025

It’s not just the look of the League of Legends: Wild Rift trailer that has fans suspicious that artificial intelligence played a role in its creation. Audio for the video is also a bit off-putting as it leads up to a song with similarly questionable lyrics.

No matter how you spin it, fans are not happy with the video circulating online and what it means for how Riot is approaching League of Legends: Wild Rift. While some are happy writing off the third-anniversary video as “bootleg KPop Demon Hunters,” others are concerned about what the future of League of Legends looks like.

“Why fk around with AI when you have proper animators?” one user added. “Using this much AI is disrespectful not only for the fans but towards the animation industry.”

First of all, Seraphine is a mess 😭 Girl what happened to your voice?
But in all honestly, it is so disappointing how Riot allowed this. This is a slap in the face for every artist who has worked to bring the world of Runterra to life through their art for the past 15 years! 😢 pic.twitter.com/yLE7XASKfI

— Aroush (@AroushTheKween) August 4, 2025

this is so depressing cuz it woulda been so cool if it just wasn’t ai, like the idea is cute but.. seriously ? no effort for their anniversary even ? 😭💔

— Xaykawa !!! (@Xaykawa) August 4, 2025

Companies across the globe have mostly adopted the use of AI-generated content in their products and marketing strategies as the technology has improved throughout the last five years. Although fans have been particularly vocal when it comes to how Riot may be using AI to fuel its games, it’s far from the first entity in the gaming space to double down on it.

Activision admitted to using AI for some Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 content after being called out by fans earlier this year. Ark: Survival Evolved fans were also quick to point out AI spotted in a trailer for one of its new expansions.

While companies like Microsoft move forward with plans to integrate AI into its digital ecosystem, not everyone is onboard with the role artificial intelligence could play in the future. Minecraft developer Mojang said in March that it has no plans to include AI in its development process. Meanwhile, NieR director Yoko Taro has warned that game developers will lose jobs because of the technology as it progresses.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Just in time for the final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, preorders are now open for the “Dungeons & Dragons Stranger Things: Welcome to The Hellfire Club” Adventure Box, due to release October 7 (see it at Amazon). It’s a cooperative 3–5 player D&D adventure set that’s designed for newcomers and seasonsed D&D vets alike. As such, it comes with you everything you need to play through four Stranger Things-based adventures.

D&D Stranger Things: Welcome to The Hellfire Club Adventure Game

Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala may well have inherited the dreaded Madden curse as this year’s EA FC coverstars, having both made their way to operating theaters in recent weeks, but they can at least rest up by playing each other on FC 26. EA Sports FC 26 will be released on September 26th, 2025, or a week early on September 19th if you purchase early access. But what’s new this time around?

Well, fundamental tweaks have been made to gameplay, as well as the inevitable suite of new activities to get stuck into in Ultimate Team, Career Mode, and Clubs. So, without further ado, here are 74 changes that actually make a difference in EA FC 26.

Ultimate Team

1. Live events are a big new inclusion for Ultimate Team. These include the return of tournaments. These knockout competitions are comprised of up to four rounds, all the way up to a high-stakes final. Win it all and you’ll receive exclusive rewards. Once you win a tournament, however, you won’t be able to enter it again. Each tournament will have specific requirements and rules, such as all players being from a certain league or the first player to score two goals winning the match.

2. Another form of live event is gauntlets. Gauntlets will test the depth of your club, are different squads are required in each round, meaning the same players can’t play twice on one run. Unlike tournaments, these aren’t knockout competitions, but the more wins you get, the better your rewards will be.

3. And then we have Linked Events. These are special locked competitions that become available after completing specific objectives. For example, winning a qualifier tournament or reaching a certain division in Rivals might open these up for you to enter and earn more rewards.

4. Changes are coming to Rivals in FC 26. The first of those is bounties. Bounties are aiming to make each match feel less “win-centric”, meaning even if you’re 3-0 down, you have something to play for, such as scoring the last goal of a match and getting rivals points for doing so. Other bounties could include winning by a certain number of goals, scoring first, or keeping a clean sheet. Rewards range from card packs, coins, and progress points.

5. Rivals win streaks are being tweaked. When on a streak, you will now receive double reward points to get your weekly rewards faster. Plus, you’ll now see if the player you’re facing is on a win streak before playing them, putting a target on their back.

6. Rivals checkpointing is also changing. To prevent players from getting to a point where they’ve reached their skill ceiling and are mostly losing matches, but can’t be relegated to face opponents of more equal standing. New “breakable checkpoints” will be introduced to keep track of your losses and allow for relegation where appropriate.

7. Champions is also being tweaked. More reward tiers are being added, further increasing the importance of every match played and win gained.

8. Changes are being made to the qualifying for Champions. Playoffs are being removed and replaced by a system based on which division of Rivals you’re in. The level hasn’t been decided on yet by EA, but it could mean having to be at around division five before being able to enter Champions.

9. But if you’re in a lower division, you’ll still get your own weekend league to play in. This will be called Challengers (think of it as the Europa League to Champions’ Champions League) and is a second-tier competition that runs in parallel. It will follow the same format, just with less prestigious rewards awaiting you. You can only play in one of either Champions or Challengers on the same weekend, though, to prevent smurfing.

10. A new competitive camera angle is being introduced purely for Ultimate Team stadiums that combines a tactical view of the pitch, while also letting players see more of the details of their chosen customisations.

11. You will now be able to evolve every player card in Ultimate Team, as well as repeat evolutions that will allow you to take different members of your squad through the same set of objectives. In addition, you will also now be able to stack card cosmetics.

12. Big changes are on the way to how Ultimate Team handles player disconnections. In FC 26, you’ll now get the win if your opponent quits in the second half, after a red card has been issued, or a penalty has been given at any point. Players who repeatedly quit Rush matches will now also get a matchmaking timeout.

Gameplay

13. Gameplay fundamentals are getting a healthy amount of attention this year. Dribbling is promised to be more consistent and responsive, with more frequent touches of the ball giving increased player control.

14. Changes to the locomotion and running ability of players will also be seen. They’ll feel more explosive thanks to faster acceleration and deceleration.

15. As well as speed, strength will also be a focus in FC 26. Shielding will now be consistent both on and off the ball, allowing players to jockey for possession with an increased physicality. This will, in theory, mean fewer defenders just being able to step in front of an attacker and stealing the ball when a long pass is sent to a target man.

16. This newfound focus of strength will also apply to dribbling, with beefier players being able to hold off defenders coming in for a challenge.

17. “Tackle backs” emerged as a huge point of frustration for FC 25 players — the all-too-often circumstance where you go in for a challenge, win the ball, but then it bounces straight back into your opponent’s path — but in 26, work has been done to stop this from happening regularly.

18. Similar changes are also being made to interceptions, meaning when darting in the path of an opponent’s pass, the ball is more likely to now stick to your boot as opposed to cannoning off to the other team. Both of these tweaks aim to create a cleaner game.

19. Goalkeepers have always been a tricky puzzle for EA to solve, but in FC 26, the developer is promising big improvements. Saves and deflections from keepers will now produce more varied results, meaning, in theory, the ball will fall into the path of a waiting attacker less often.

20. Keepers will also now take up smarter positions when faced one-on-one with an attacker, meaning fewer easy chances for forwards.

21. Fresh goalkeeper animations will provide a greater range of types of saves we’ll see from them, in theory increasing the number of ways they can be effective stop-stoppers.

22. Two different types of fundamental gameplay experiences will now be available: Competitive and Authentic. The former is designed for online players and is high-speed and super responsive. The latter is for offline and career mode players who may favour a speed more grounded in reality.

23. Competitive mode is not only faster, but also comes with its own mechanics, such as a revamped fatigue system, meaning that whenever your player gains possession of the ball online, they’ll feel as fresh to control in the final minute of a match as the first. This means fatigue now only affects AI-controlled players.

24. Authentic will focus more on the unpredictability of real sport, with players more likely to miscontrol or let the weather affect the game, with matches turning on the bounce of a ball.

25. Accessibility is a big focus for the development team this year. Among the biggest improvements being made so everyone can enjoy FC 26 are a simplified skills system that allows players to perform skill moves with the flick of the right stick, as well as a variety of high contrast modes to aid those with visual impairments. Everything from the colour of the kits and ball to the pitch and stadium shadows is customisable in order to meet as many needs as possible.

26. Input delay has been an issue plaguing online play and Ultimate Team in particular in EA FC. Improvements have been promised in FC 26, however, with in-depth research done into what causes these issues, ranging from player setups to player animations causing delays. For more information on this subject, check out our full dedicated article on how the studio is addressing input delay.

27. With the aim of further improving responsiveness is the introduction of one-frame passes and shots — touches of the ball so quick they happen the moment your thumb presses the button.

28. Playstyles have been rebalanced, with some new ones being introduced. These include Precision Header, which has a focus on heading accuracy and winning aerial battles, and Fortress, its defensive counterpart that aims to dominate in the air at the back. Another new playstyle is Enforcer, which emphasises the physical hold-up play of attackers as mentioned earlier.

29. Trivelas (hitting the ball with the outside of the boot) are now locked being the new Game Changer playstyle.

30. Low-driven shots are also making their comeback. A quick double tap of the shoot button will fire a low strike towards the net, and will now also apply to all types of effort, including headers and volleys.

31. The reintroduction of low-driven shots means that the timed finishing mechanic has been removed from FC 26. The developers felt that it “didn’t add meaningful skill depth and proved very difficult to balance”.

32. Positions are less constrained by roles now, so, for example, a winger can cut in-field and temporarily act like an inside forward would if they see a big opening emerge in the penalty area.

33. New roles are being added to the tactics screen. These include ball-playing keepers, the modern inverted fullback, and box-crashing CDMs that attack from deep.

34. The negative impact of players being out of position has been reduced too, with launch players having more positions and roles available to avoid situations such as a right midfielder not being able to perform well in the right winger spot, as they don’t have it listed in their bio.

35. New set-piece assignment slots have been added, as well as new ones added to both attacking and defending corners.

36. You can now save tactics and copy and paste codes between modes, so if you have a setup you’re really happy with, which you’ve been messing around with in career mode, you can then transfer it to Ultimate Team.

37. AI attackers will now perform runs into space with greater regularity, with a lower reliance on trigger runs desired.

38. Playing as a goalkeeper has been overhauled thanks to a completely new control scheme.

39. Of course, new skill moves are making their way into FC 26. These include the explosive step over, among many others.

Career Mode

40. The new Manager Live Hub acts as your portal to everything Career Mode. Challenges, both long and short term, will appear here, as well as content tailored to your chosen preferred clubs.

41. A huge number of varied career challenges will be available with a vast number of variables. These range from transfer restrictions, not being able to simulate fixtures, and playing on certain difficulty levels.

42. Rewards for completing objectives include over 30 retro jerseys. Some revealed include classic Real Madrid, Germany, and Napoli shirts.

43. You’ll now be able to add both icons and heroes to your Career Mode squads by unlocking them throughout the season pass.

44. The pre-order icons that are available in FC 26 are Alex Morgan, Toni Kroos, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

45. The Manager Market is a new system where coaches from other clubs in your Career Mode save will take jobs at other teams, both domestic and international. Managers can be poached, fired, or even retire.

46. The Manager Market menu also lets you see which coaches’ positions are under threat and what jobs are currently open to apply for if you fancy a fresh challenge.

47. Manager stories will also weave in and out of your careers, with commentators even mentioning when one coach might be coming under fire and on the verge of the sack if they lose the match.

48. Live events will also take place in Career Mode, which can inflict unexpected consequences on your team with the aim of encouraging creative problem-solving. These can be positive, such as a sudden financial takeover granting you a healthy new transfer budget, or negative, such as a player getting injured on international duty or a rogue bout of food poisoning leaving you with numerous players unavailable for your next fixture.

49. For the stats heads, you can now select up to five other leagues and get a full statistical breakdown of which players are performing in that division, which can aid with knowing who to scout.

50. Youth tournaments will now actually have stadiums, and the size of those arenas will depend on the stature of the club.

51. You can now substitute youth players in youth tournaments.

52. Rival teams will rotate their squads more regularly, meaning a top Premier League club won’t go full strength in early Carabao Cup rounds, for example.

53. You can now loan out a player immediately after buying them

Clubs

54. Archetypes are a new way to build your player in Clubs, effectively acting as classes. There are 13 in total, with each representing a unique playing style and modeled on real-life professionals.

55. Within each archetype are three different specialisations — effectively subclasses in RPG terms. As you progress, branching paths will appear as you select the specalisation for you. For example, the Finisher archetype leads to the Finisher Plus, Presser, and Hunter specialisations, each containing their own traits and perks.

56. Picking a certain archetype doesn’t lock you into only playing that position on the pitch.

57. You can re-spec your clubs player at any time using in-game currency, but can’t save builds to easily switch between.

58. The old skill tree upgrade system is gone and has been replaced with a more traditional menu where you can put points into individual attributes, granting you more direct control over your pro’s progression.

59. Your archetype card is displayed at the beginning of every match, Ultimate Team style, and can be customised as more cosmetics are unlocked.

60. New playstyle slots will be added over the course of FC 26’s lifetime, and the level caps for pros will increase season on season, meaning players will be able to reach overall ratings not previously seen before in Clubs.

61. Live events and tournaments will encourage players to experiment with a variety of different archetypes and playstyles.

62. Limited-time multi-round knockout tournaments are coming to Clubs, but only in Rush.

63. Players can now join multiple clubs simultaneously, so you can play with up to three different friend groups easily.

64. Long-term fatigue is being removed in clubs, but short-term fatigue still remains.

65. AI facilities can be unlocked to target and train specific positional groups of CPU-controlled players in your Clubs squads.

66. Your match rating is now measured against what’s expected from your chosen role, rather than a general metric of how well you played.

67. Quick chat has been expanded from four to sixteen different messages.

Presentation

68. Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena makes its return in FC 26.

69. 13 new real-life mascots are joining this year after their introduction in FC 25.

70. New Premier League broadcast intros harness the power of Google Earth as the camera zooms in on stadiums from high up in the sky.

71. Mix and match commentary is being introduced for the English broadcast teams, meaning you can pair up commentators Derek Rae and Guy Mowbray with whatever pairing of analysts Stewart Robson and Sue Smith you desire.

72. Derek Rae has also been added as a possible Rush commentator to further add to the variety.

73. To try and achieve a more realistic colour palette during matches, the saturation has been dialed back, with extra fog and air density added.

74. You can now customize what information is shown on the player name cards at the bottom of the screen, such as what their strongest foot is or how many stars in regards to skills moves they have.

And those are the 74 biggest things coming to EA FC 26. What are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below.

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.

After almost 20 years of the MCU’s dominance—where characters like Gamora and Groot have miraculously become household names and command the careers of A-list actors—we’ve suddenly found ourselves in a period of nostalgia for Marvel’s ramshackle 1990s era. This was first felt with the warm reception that found Disney+’s hugely charming X-Men ’97 series, a show that was completely disconnected from any overarching multiversal storylines whatsoever. And the same principles apply to Marvel Cosmic Invasion, which is a throwback in every conceivable way. The retro-themed arcade-style spiritual successor to X-Men: The Arcade Game intends to be a back-to-basics brawler, teleporting everyone behind the controller to a simpler time—a dilapidated arcade, deep in the bowels of a suburban mall, right after school lets out for the summer.

Cosmic Invasion is developed by Tribute Games, the Canadian studio best known for their work on the 2022 revival, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The two projects clearly share the same DNA. Like Tribute’s turn with the Turtles, Cosmic Invasion is gorgeously rendered in beautified pixel art, with all the sprites popping off the screen with vibrant primary colors. There is hardly any story to speak of, at least in the demo I played. (The intergalactic villain Annihlus has unleashed a universe-spanning conquest, and we’re here to fend him off.) It’s a plot that could fit on the back of a cereal box, and I think that’s the point. Cosmic Invasion is not a grimdark, Synder-fied vision of Marvel. Our superheroes have been brought to life exactly as they were found in the comics three decades ago. Captain America looks resplendent in his red white and blue, Wolverine wears a spiky black cowl, while She-Hulk—as she ought to be—is lime green. Too many Robert Downey Jr. monologues have detracted from the fact that these characters are cartoons, at the end of the day. And in that sense, Cosmic Invasion attempts to correct the record.

Cosmic Invasion won’t take anyone by surprise with its gameplay. If you are a veteran of quarter-gobbling brawlers—Streets of Rage, Armored Warriors, or my personal favorite, The Simpsons—you know what you’re getting into here. A stream of baddies enter from the right side of the screen, and all of them are quickly dispatched with a cocktail of punches, kicks, and grapples until they blink out of existence for good. Once they’re clear, you’ll move onto the next battleground and rinse and repeat. Eventually you’ll encounter a boss at the level’s conclusion, which is usually dispatched by standing outside of whatever screen-filling ability they unleash every 20 seconds or so. Like Shredder’s Revenge, the controls are simple enough that pretty much everyone can pick up a gamepad and become a useful member of a winning team. (Beat-em-ups are historically amenable to button-mashing younger siblings, and this one is no different.)

But with the expanded roster of 15 unique superheroes at launch, Cosmic Invasion does seem eager to provide a few more opportunities for strategy compared to its forebearers. Our Marvel superstars here have loosely defined roles, corresponding to RPG-esque arrangements. Captain America and his vibranium shield functions like a tank, while Rocket Raccoon—and his arsenal of grenades and laser pistols—excels at taking down enemies from farther away. Across the board, everyone has what you could call an “ultimate” that can only be dispatched when an energy bar ticks full. Yes, Cosmic Invasion is a retro experience, but it has taken a few important cues from the previous decade of game design.

For what it’s worth, I was most drawn to She-Hulk. Tribute just announced that she would be joining the roster, and I found her powerhouse offense exactly what I was looking for. The tight acrobatics of Spider-Man and eldritch deep-space assaults of the Silver Surfer are all fine and good. But, sometimes, all I want to do is grab an enemy by the throat and drive them into the ground, snuffing out any chance of a comeback. I imagine Cosmic Invasion will inspire that same feeling in a lot of players. This is a game where it’s possible to claim a “main.” Don’t be fooled by its featherweight exterior. It is very much possible to master all the nuances of your preferred character, and carry the rest of the team.

So it’s no surprise Cosmic Invasion seems designed to be a co-op experience first and foremost. That is where the genre historically tends to shine—four buddies on a couch, burning off a Saturday night by fighting through the Negative Zone. But Tribute Games has smartly introduced a mechanic that makes the adventure surprisingly adaptable to a solo campaign. Players select two superheroes at the character select screen, and they can swap them out at will during the levels—like a tag-team from Marvel vs. Capcom. Time the swap correctly, and you’ll be able to chain together some truly flashy combos that look like a triumphant splash panel. I like the idea of being able to mess around with my own builds, and construct some devastating synergies, without necessarily having someone join me on our quest to crush Annihilus. It may offer Cosmic Invasion more staying power than the delightful but transient Shredder’s Revenge.

I only saw two levels of Cosmic Invasion. I carved up the streets of Midtown Manhattan—in front of Spider-verse locales like the Daily Bugle, and billboards for the in-universe soap opera Secret Hospital. (If there’s one thing Tribute Games truly excels at, it’s populating their licensed products with the sort of references that only superfans will get.) Later we explored a helicarrier that seemed to exist primarily so that I could toss hapless soldiers off the edge and to their death. (It also was the site of an elevator battle, which remains one of the great beat-em-up traditions.) It remains to be seen if Cosmic Invasion will be able to sustain its magic across a full campaign. Will tearing apart the legion of evildoers be as joyful during hour six as it is during this glorious prelude? It’s tough to say for sure. But if nothing else, Cosmic Invasion makes an indelible first impression.