Category: IGN

Pull on your gloves and ready your hose: PowerWash Simulator 2 approaches, and so far it’s looking ultra-polished (in a gloriously unhygienic kind of way.) I had an absolute ball of a time revisiting Muckingham to correct the townsfolk’s filthy ways.

In the niche of “oddly satisfying” games, its predecessor PowerWash Simulator (and its oodles of DLC) already blasts away competitors. So what does the sequel offer, besides just “more dirty stuff”? To find out, I went hands-on with a single-player PC build of PowerWash Simulator 2, checking out five levels showcasing hot new technology like abseiling and floor washers.

PowerWash Simulator 2 starts off with the expansion of your business to a fully fledged office building. Your first job is to clean up the mud-caked removals van that transported your furniture and gear over. Couldn’t you have found a neater moving company to work with? It seems that the residents of Caldera County are still unable to clean up after themselves, which is great – more work for you!

And it’s entertaining work, too. None of your jobs are quite ordinary. For instance, you’re not going to clean any old generic car – yours will have a dog tail and headlights that weirdly seem to flit around like eyes. Don’t forget to wash inside the ears!

You’ll be travelling farther afield this time, to hilariously named neighboring towns like Lubri City and Pumpton. And this time, the true hero of PowerWash 1, Ulysses the cat, tags along to supervise you. You’ll be glad to know that yes, you can pet the cat.

Gearing up

PowerWash 2 stays very true to its predecessor, with gameplay actually remaining mostly untouched. That’s not a bad thing – you can’t fix what isn’t broken, y’know? It means that, if you’re a PowerWash veteran, you’ll jump right in and feel like you’re simply picking up where you left off. And don’t fret if you’re new: PowerWash 2 is first-timer friendly as well, with simple controls and “no talk, skip to the action” gameplay that barely warrants a tutorial.

Progression mechanics have stayed pretty much identical to PowerWash 1 – you’ve got a checklist of specific details to clean, a key to highlight stubborn remaining dirt, and equipment upgrades to buy in the shop with your earnings. And, of course, the “ding!” that lets you know you’re doing a bang-up job.

One major addition is a brand-new, delightful, and very satisfying washing tool: the “SwirlForce,” a washer which has a wide, circular head. I think it’s supposed to be used for cleaning floors, but I used it on basically every flat surface I came across, from ornamental windows to trucks. It was too fun not to!

The other notable addition to your loadout? Suds. The soap mechanic has been retooled a bit – it’s now specific to certain types of washer tools. It coats a surface with a thick layer of foam that can then be hosed off in one gratifying burst. I’m curious to learn just how much this precious commodity will cost, because I hope to use it as much as possible.

To Muckingham, and beyond

Some levels now have multiple stages, which adds a bit of fun. For instance, I was tasked with cleaning a vaguely described “public facility,” which at first appeared to be a sort of knee-high pedestal in the middle of Detergento’s eerily quiet town square. Once I had it sparkling, it began to rise out of the ground – it was actually a pop-up bathroom! Yes, it was absolutely filthy. And yes, I was pleasantly surprised to have even more scum to clean.

My favorite job was the billboard level – a great opportunity for my SwirlForce washer, but also a great example of the new abseiling equipment. Just slap that equipment on a tall, wide surface, and you’re ready to get in the swing and bounce all over the billboard to make sure every corner is gleaming. Looking down at the highway from my billboard actually felt dizzying, in an unexpectedly thrilling sort of way. If PowerWash Simulator 2 also makes it to VR, I think that’s where abseiling will really shine.

The other new piece of heavy equipment is the scissor lift. Its purpose is similar to the scaffolding you’ve already got in your lineup – the difference is that it’s adjustable. Press the button to go up. And down. Up. And down. It doesn’t meaningfully add much to the whole cleaning experience, but it’s a fun toy.

Making it sparkle

With all sequels come visual upgrades, and PowerWash Simulator 2 is no different in that department. Mud looks slimier, and grime looks even more convincingly like it’s harboring bacteria.

Additionally, your jobs simply feel bigger now thanks to more detailed level backgrounds. The art deco house I scrubbed felt like a real part of the suburban neighborhood around it, complete with lush trees and even distant, snow-capped mountains.

One of my most anticipated graphical upgrades was water behavior, so I’m sad to say that PowerWash 2 does not introduce any new water physics. I was hoping to see rivers of mucky brown water streaming down walls and puddling at my feet, resulting in another mess I’d have to deal with. Dirt still pretty much disappears once you hit it with your washer, though, making it look more like you’ve taken a giant eraser to the town rather than hosed it down with an ocean’s worth of water.

There is one minor upgrade, at least: a new, momentary rippling water texture on windows and other glassy surfaces. It’s a small step towards the dream of water physics. Maybe for PowerWash Simulator 3?

The minimal change to water is understandable (adding new, from-the-ground-up physics is hard for developers!). But remember, there’s still a lot of satisfaction to be had in a classic, eraser-style deep-clean. Plus: we’ll always have gnome physics.

An epic tale of cleanliness

One of the best things about PowerWash 1, in my opinion, was the absolutely bonkers single-player campaign. It’s one thing to spray stuff with water, but another entirely to slowly uncover deep lore beneath the dirt. Given that the first game featured everything from the mayor’s cat to egg-flinging monks and even time travellers, I needed to know if the madness would continue.

It’s hard to say for sure; with two hours of hands-on time, there was only so much story that I could experience beyond “power-washing business opens a new branch, cleans a couple of things.” But the clues were there.

I scrutinized what lay beneath the grime I scoured away. What are those weird rainbow lasers in the sky? Why does the art deco house have a giant trilobite on it? In the oddball universe of PowerWash Simulator, such details usually have a deeper, quirkier meaning, and I can’t wait to find out what it is.

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