A terminally-ill Borderlands fan recently visited developer Gearbox to play Borderlands 4 early after his story went viral.
In October, 37-year-old Caleb McAlpine took to the Borderlands 3 subreddit to reveal his late stage four terminal cancer diagnosis after being given seven to 12 months left to live, or less than two years if chemotherapy slows the progression of the cancer.
“So I am a die hard Borderlands fan and don’t know if I will be around for Borderlands 4,” McAlpine said. “Is there anyone that knows how to get in touch with Gearbox to see if there is a way to play the game early?
“Long shot but thought I would try.
“Thanks for your help.”
After McAlpine’s post went viral with over 19,000 upvotes on Reddit alone, Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford chimed in to say the studio would do everything it could “to make something happen.” Thankfully, last week McAlpine was able to visit Gearbox’s Texas headquarters to play Borderlands 4.
“Caleb is cool – a legit gamer who knows Borderlands inside and out,” Pitchford tweeted. “I’m glad he got a chance to play. I am praying he makes to when we are done. Thanks, internet, for signal boosting Caleb’s story.”
“We’re deeply thankful to the Borderlands community for rallying around Caleb after he shared his story several weeks ago,” Gearbox added. “His courage, strength, and determination are an inspiration to us all. Our team was honored to host him last week at our studio.”
McAlpine himself returned to the Borderlands 3 subreddit to post pictures of his Gearbox visit and reveal what had happened.
“So Gearbox flew me and a friend down 1st class the 20th of this month and we got to tour the studio and meet an amazing bunch of people from some of the devs of all of the Borderlands games up to Randy the CEO,” McAlpine posted.
“We got to play what they have for Borderlands 4 so far and it was amazing. I don’t know if I will be around when the game comes out but I just want to say thank you to all of you for all of your love and support and for helping in making this happen. It truly was an amazing experience and it was just awesome.
“We stayed at the Omni at the Star (the Dallas Cowboys headquarters) and the hotel wanted to do something nice as well and got us in on a VIP tour of the entire facility. Needless to say me being a Lions fan I got to talk a lot of smack lol.
“Thank you everyone.”
Borderlands 4 is due out at some point in 2025.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Black Friday is like a bonus holiday for Pokémon TCG fans. We’re talking about deck building, chasing rare cards, or just stockpiling boosters for a rainy day. This year’s Black Friday deals are stacked with good finds. From big boxes packed with collectibles to pre-built decks ready for action, we’ve combed through the Electro-Web (thank you) to highlight the best ones. Let’s get into it!
Pokémon TCG: Premium / Ex Boxes
Premium and Ex boxes take things up a notch with exclusive cards, collectible figures, and extra booster packs to sweeten the deal. Highlights this year include the Scarlet & Violet—Paldean Fates ex Premium Collection, which combines great gameplay with collector appeal, and one more standout box featuring a familiar fire starter.
Pokémon TCG: Big Boxes
Big boxes are a mix of everything we love about Pokémon TCG, which includes promo cards, booster packs, and fun extras. They’re perfect for new players looking to dive in or seasoned collectors adding another prize to their shelf. This year’s lineup has options like the Scarlet & Violet Build & Battle Stadiums, which focus on competitive play, and the Pokémon TCG Classic, a sleek, display-worthy set for serious fans.
Highlight: Charizard ex Super Premium Collection
If Charizard isn’t already the king of your collection, this box might make it happen. Inside, you’ll find a foil promo Charizard ex card, 10 booster packs, and a code for Pokémon TCG Live. But the star of the show? A Charizard figure that looks straight out of an action scene, complete with translucent flames and a slot to display your favorite card. It’s flashy, fun, and kind of a no-brainer if you love this fire-breathing icon (fine, fire/flying).
Pokémon TCG: Booster Packs, Boxes and Tins
There’s something undeniably satisfying about tearing open a booster pack to see what pulls are inside. This year’s Black Friday lineup includes crowd-pleasers like the Scarlet & Violet — Paldea Evolved Booster Display Box and even themed packs like the Trick or Trade BOOster Bundle. Chasing rare pulls or bolstering your deck? This is the time to stock up.
Pokémon TCG: Elite Trainer Boxes
Elite Trainer Boxes (ETBs) are like survival kits for Pokémon players. They include booster packs, dice, markers, and even themed card sleeves to keep your setup looking sharp. The Scarlet & Violet series continues to deliver with options like the Temporal Forces and Stellar Crown ETBs. These are great for anyone who plays, collects, or likes having everything in one tidy box.
The Stellar Crown Elite Trainer Box might be the MVP of this year’s ETBs. It packs nine booster packs, a full-art foil Noctowl promo card, and 65-themed sleeves featuring Terapagos in all its glory. Add dice, markers, and a collector’s box, and you’re set for both battles and showing off your collection. It’s practical, but it still brings plenty of flash.
Pokémon TCG: Pre-Built Decks
Pre-built decks are the ultimate convenience for players who don’t want to spend hours fine-tuning their strategy. This year’s options include everything from beginner-friendly sets like My First Battle to the Chien-Pao ex and Kangaskhan ex Battle Decks for competitive players. If you’re ready to shuffle up and go, these are calling your name.
We’re in the home stretch: Black Friday falls on November 29 this year. All month long, retailers have been rolling out sales, ramping up to massive discounts on Black Friday and through the weekend into Cyber Monday. We already know what PlayStation and Xbox have in store, and most general deals will be available well in advance.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
Bloodborne announced a surprise server maintenance that coincides with PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, and it’s fair to say fans are struggling to cope with what it all means.
FromSoftware’s much-loved action game launched on PS4 in 2015 and has never received an official next-gen update for PS5, or even a hint at a PS5 remake or PC release. Fans desperate for an announcement from Sony have so far fed on scraps from director Hidetaka Miyazaki, who is asked about the prospect of more Bloodborne pretty much every time he’s interviewed by press.
Now, fans have the surprise in-game server maintenance notice, which just so happens to coincide with PlayStation’s 30th birthday on December 3. Why would Bloodborne undergo server maintenance now, nearly a decade after its launch? And why would it fall on PlayStation’s 30th birthday, which Sony is already celebrating with a number of initiatives?
Fans are debating this now, but amid the frenzy of speculation there are messages of caution. “Friendly reminder that they’ve periodically done server maintenance before and that’s exactly what it’s always been: server maintenance,” warned redditor amygdalapls. “Not a new patch, not an update, not anything along those lines.
“I do wish it was more but alas. Brace for disappointment!”
What does add a dash of spice to the debate this time around is Sony’s confirmed attempt to buy FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa as part of a deal that could be confirmed imminently. That acquisition, should it go through, sparks all sorts of questions of its own, including whether Sony would seek to make FromSoftware’s future games PlayStation exclusive.
For now, though, it seems more Bloodborne disappointment is on the cards, and the wait for that elusive 60 frames per second next-gen upgrade will continue — perhaps forever.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
I adore PC gaming. It’s the platform that gets almost every game, with plenty coming out on PC years earlier than they reach consoles. And if you enjoy your games on PC, you know one of the best times to buy games is during Steam’s sales. Many people (myself included) have been looking forward to the Steam Autumn Sale, which runs from now until December 4th.
Strangely, the Steam Autumn sale is currently being outdone by a Black Friday sale going on at Fanatical, even though Fanatical is selling the exact same Steam keys! If you want to buy some games (and who doesn’t?) and save extra cash, check out my round-up of the best deals on digital PC game codes.
In our review of Metaphor, we said, “There’s a certain familiarity in Metaphor: ReFantazio, but Atlus takes the principles of its already excellent RPGs and refines them in a way that effortlessly ushers you through its brutal, and sometimes beautiful, new fantasy world. The Archetype system and all the new wrinkles it added to the turn-based battles build upon a strong foundation, and the social elements are streamlined to better deliver the most important aspects of the stories they tell. The sense of adventure you get from traveling across the kingdom and the powerful sense of purpose you have to do so drive its memorable journey, distinguishing itself from those that came before it.”
“When I finally closed the book on Metaphor after 80 hours, I felt a unique warmth in its message, because it’s driven by the ideals of a just society smartly contextualized in a unique metanarrative. Metaphor: ReFantazio is poetic, and at times, idealistic, but it also understands its complexities and that change requires action, and that even far-fetched fantasy stories can serve as inspiration to make our world a better place.”
In our 10/10 review of Shadow of the Edrtree, we said, “FromSoftware says Shadow of the Erdtree is the only expansion Elden Ring will get, so it’s fortunate that it’s hard to imagine a better DLC than this – as long as you’re not hoping for it to do anything radically outside the box. Everything I loved about the original has been condensed into an incredibly tight package – one that’s the size of many standalone games all on its own, and can only be considered “small” in comparison to the absolutely massive world of Elden Ring itself.”
“Erdtree’s absolutely jam-packed with secrets, valuable treasures, challenging boss battles, and horrific monstrosities to face off against, as well as cool new weapons, spells, Ashes of War, Spirit Ashes, talismans, and more to play around with and use to find even more novel ways to tackle its memorably brutal battles. Add on some very interesting lore revelations, not to mention the same spectacular visual design and stellar music that accompanies its larger-than-life bosses, and you’ve got what is certainly one of the best DLC expansions I’ve ever played.”
Helldivers 2 for $27.99
This chaotic multiplayer gem is playable on Steam Deck and only $27.99 on Fanatical, or $31.99 on Steam. (If you watch the video review below, you’ll also see me make a ridiculous decision at 7:10 while trying to get back to the ship)
In the Helldivers 2 review, we said, “Helldivers 2 is the rare modern multiplayer game that does almost everything right. It gives you a ton of freedom, feels fantastic to play, and has a smart progression system that doesn’t nickel and dime you or rely too much on a paid battle pass. It manages to keep its missions fresh by introducing a ton of enemies, modifiers, and objectives, and varying them in interesting ways.”
“There are some matchmaking and performance issues that still need to be worked out, and you can only go so far by yourself or with random players – but if you’ve got a solid squad, it’s an incredible time, and certainly one of the most fun multiplayer shooters I’ve played in years. When I’m not Helldiving, I’m thinking about Helldiving, counting down the time until my next drop. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pour myself a nice, hot cup of Liber-tea and get back at it. Those bugs and robots look like they could use some freedom, and Managed Democracy isn’t going to spread itself. For Super Earth!”
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero for $61.59
This Steam Deck playable return-to-form for arena fighters is just $61.59 on Fanatical, as opposed to $69.99 on Steam.
In our review of Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, we said, “Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a final flash from the past, sometimes to a fault, as demonstrated by its archaic menus and remedial training tools. Its Episode Battles have the kind of reaction-heavy difficulty that doesn’t really exist in most games these days, more than once crossing the line between challenging and frustrating.”
“But the feeling of traveling back to a simpler time when games didn’t have to be balanced or competitive to be fun is a good one, especially when that action stays so true to that of the show it’s recreating. Reliving a story that was foundational to my youth, looking and sounding as great as I remember it, with the opportunity to alter it in sometimes dramatic new ways is clever, and the addition of tools to attempt to create our own stories could elevate the experiment even further if a community can figure out how to make the most of them.”
Silent Hill 2 Remake for $41.99
Silent Hill 2 got a beloved remake this year, and it’s already available for $41.99 on Fanatical, but still $55.99 on Steam. Silent Hill 2 was also nominated for several awards at The Game Awards, including Best Narrative, Best Action/Adventure game, and more.
In our review of Silent 2, we said, “Silent Hill 2 is a welcome modernisation of a survival horror masterpiece. It smoothly polishes down the rough edges of the original game’s combat while taking a piece of heavy grit sandpaper to scuff up every rust and mold-covered surface of its nightmarish environments, successfully making them appear far more abrasive and menacing to explore.”
“Previously primitive boss battles have been transformed into substantially more intense encounters, and its intimidating audio design kept me acutely aware that every fog-cloaked street I walked down could quickly hurry me towards my own dead end. It does feel a little padded out in parts, and I do wish that Bloober Team had streamlined some of its more convoluted puzzle sections to prevent the story’s momentum from sagging on occasion. Still, intermittent pacing problems aside, Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”
God Of War for $17.99
This Steam Deck-verified RPG made quite the splash when it was revealed. It’s been a while, but you can get it for $17.99 on Fanatical and $19.99 on Steam.
In our review of God of War, we said “I expected great action from God of War, and it delivers that handily. But I didn’t expect it to be a thrilling journey in which every aspect of it complements the others to form what is nothing short of a masterpiece.”
“It’s a game in which Kratos, a previously one-note character, becomes a complex father, warrior, and monster, embattled both on the field and within his own heart about how to treat his son; one in which the world opens up and shifts, offering rewards in both gameplay and knowledge of its lore that I treasured with each accomplishment. The obvious care that went into crafting its world, characters, and gameplay delivers by far the most stirring and memorable game in the series.
Ghost of Tsushima – Director’s Cut for $41.99
Jin Sakai’s journey to reclaim Tsushima comes with some extras in the Director’s Cut version, which was originally a PS5 exclusive. Right now you can grab a PC Steam key on Fanatical for $41.99, even though it’s $47.99 on Steam.
In our Ghost of Tsushima review, we said, “Ghost of Tsushima is an enormous and densely packed samurai adventure that often left me completely awestruck with both its visual spectacle and excellent combat. By steadily introducing new abilities instead of stat upgrades, its swordplay manages to stay challenging, rewarding, and fun throughout the entire 40 to 50 hours that it took me to beat the campaign.”
“A few aspects are surprisingly lacking in polish in comparison to other first-party Sony games, especially when it comes to enemy AI and the stealth part of its stealth/action split. Still this is an extraordinary open-world action-adventure game that solves several issues that have long gone unaddressed in the genre, while also just being an all around samurai slashin’ good time.”
Persona 5 Royal for $20.99
This game helped put Persona on the map— (even though Persona 3 has a superior cast and story. I’ll have that conversation in the comments if you like)— and it’s just $20.99 on Fanatical or $23.99 on Steam.
In our Persona 5 Royal review, we said, “Persona 5 was already a strong front-runner for being the best JRPG ever made, and Royal really gets me wondering what else could even compete. The excellent story and its lovable, multidimensional characters along with the challenging, tactical combat are all refined and back for another round with new surprises and new friends in tow.”
“There are new areas to explore and new twists to leave your jaw on the floor. Very little has been left untouched, and just about everything that has been touched is better off for it. The Phantom Thieves have stolen my heart all over again, and I don’t really want it back.”
More From Fanatical:
Build your own Platinum bundle for $9.99:
Game options include Definitely Not Fried Chicken, Nocturnal, FixFox and more.
From Humble:
Humble has over 6,000 games on sale right now in its store’s library! Humble Bundle’s ‘Pay What You Want’ purchasing option allows you to always save big on bundles. For example, right now you can pay just a minimum of $19 and get 8 items in the Sci-Fi Shooter bundle, which is valued at $209. One of the best deals is 60% off Life is Strange, but there are literally thousands more. Use the filters to narrow down your favorite genres and scan the deals you want to see.
Outside of video games, there are tons of LEGO, collectibles, streaming services, tech gadgets and more to shop for now through Cyber Monday. For instance, the incredibly popular (for good reason) Calvin and Hobbes Complete Hardcover box set is down to just $83. There are true hidden gems across retailers’ sales, so keep your eyes peeled on IGN for the best discounts that are worth your time. Plus, you could even get some early holiday shopping done while you’re at it. See our tech gift guide, our PC gift guide, our ultimate gamer gift guide, and more shopping guides for 2024.
Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more forIGN,GameSpot, & Kotaku. You can get more than your fair share of him onBluesky & Backloggd, & enjoy his absurd video game talk show, The Platformers, on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
If you are into horror games and still haven’t played Silent Hill 2, now is a great chance to start as the PS5 version of Silent Hill 2 is more than half off at Walmart for Black Friday. As one of several Black Friday video game deals going on right now, the Silent Hill 2 remake was one highly requested by fans, and it did not disappoint. The game makes you uncomfortable but in an effective and thrilling way. In true horror fashion, there’s blackout darkness, suffocating fog, unknown noises, grotesque enemies, and isolation. From our review, Matt Purslow states “The remake is a modern reminder not just of an era where Konami was a master of survival horror, but also the significant power of Silent Hill 2’s unrelenting misery.” So, are you ready to play one of the best horror games of all time?
We’re in the home stretch: Black Friday falls on November 29 this year. All month long, retailers have been rolling out sales, ramping up to massive discounts on Black Friday and through the weekend into Cyber Monday. As mentioned above, there are already fantastic deals on PS5 consoles (including PSVR2), PS5 controllers, and tons more.
Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN, GameSpot, & Kotaku. You can get more than your fair share of him on Bluesky & Backloggd, & enjoy his absurd video game talk show, The Platformers, on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
This year has been so incredible for fighting game fans, from the return of fan-favorite characters like Guilty Gear’s Dizzy to Tekken 8’s Heihachi Mishima, that you may have forgotten Tekken 8 actually came out at the beginning of this year.
Since launching in January, it’s been beloved by the community, whether it’s players online or the crowds at EVO waiting for their turn to compete. If you haven’t jumped in yet, I heartily recommend it (you’ll see my Jin dressed like Beast Gohan in the lobby, so challenge me to matches any time). Right now several shops are selling physical copies of the game for PS5 and Xbox Series X for just $30. This is a fantastic deal for such a great fighting game you can play and enjoy for years to come.
Get Tekken 8 for $30
More Black Friday Gaming Deals We’ve Found
For more gaming discounts, check out the best PlayStation Black Friday 2024 deals so far. Starting now and ending on December 2 (Cyber Monday) retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart will offer discounts on PS5 hardware, PSVR2, games, and accessories, including the Fortnite Cobalt Star Bundle, which will launch alongside the new Black Friday promotions.
We’re in the home stretch: Black Friday falls on November 29 this year. All month long, retailers have been rolling out sales, ramping up to massive discounts on Black Friday and through the weekend into Cyber Monday. There are already some fantastic deals available on PS5 consoles (including PSVR2) and PS5 controllers, video games deals for all platforms, AirPods Pro, and tons more.
Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN, GameSpot, & Kotaku. You can get more than your fair share of him onBluesky &Backloggd, & enjoy his absurd video game talk show, The Platformers, onSpotify & Apple Podcasts.
Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has detailed the game’s last major patch — and it’s a big one.
Patch 8, due out in 2025, adds crossplay, photo mode, and 12 new subclasses to the hugely successful role-playing game. In a blog post, Larian said Patch 8 is the game’s last major update, with the developer moving on to brand new games away from the Dungeons & Dragons universe.
However, Larian promised to continue to support Baldur’s Gate 3 modders, with “big updates still to come,” including more functionality “to let you tell your own stories.”
The addition of crossplay means Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer will soon feature full cross-platform progression. Once the update is live you’ll be able to invite your friends to join your crossplay lobby directly, regardless of platform and find available multiplayer lobbies with friends on other systems using the Larian Network.
Meanwhile, Patch 8 adds one new subclass for each of the existing Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard classes in the game. Larian said to expect new abilities, animations, VFX, summons and cantrips, and unique voiced dialogue lines for the Oathbreaker Knight with written reactivity for Oathbreakers, along with “a touch of homebrewing” on certain actions to enhance your role-playing experience.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 new subclasses:
Bard – College of Glamour As a College of Glamour Bard, you’ll find you have the power to heal friends and command enemies in equal measure. Cast Mantle of Inspiration to bestow your allies with 5 temporary hit points. And should an enemy attack while it is cast, they’ll find themselves Charmed. Play your hand correctly and you’ll be able to use this to your advantage with Mantle of Majesty. Target Charmed enemies and you can command them to flee, move closer, freeze, drop to the ground, or drop their weapon.
Barbarian – Path of Giants
Opt for the Path of Giants, and your newfound giant strength will make it easier for you to yeet friend and foe alike. Forget chugging potions to pump those muscles, these Barbarians benefit from the Giant’s Rage passive that grants both strength and size – allowing you to deal additional damage with Throw attacks. Pockets weighing you down? Not for you and your increased carry capacity!
Cleric – Death Domain
As a cleric of death, you’ll find a few dark new tricks up your sleeves – from spells that specialise in necrotic damage to three new necromancy cantrips. This includes Toll The Dead, a cantrip that causes 1~8 damage when your cleric rings the bell of impending doom – a number that scales if your target has already been damaged. We’ve also added the homebrewed ability to explode nearby corpses, damaging enemies.
Druid – Circle of Stars
These Druids look to the stars for answers, accessing powers beyond those offered through the classic wildshapes. Taking on one of three Starry Forms for their power – the constellations of the Archer, Chalice, and Dragon. Each one favours a different play style and strategy – the Archer dealing radiant damage with astral arrows, the life-giving Chalice restoring hitpoints to you and others nearby, and the wise Dragon, allowing you to deal damage with an added bonus to constitution rolls. The Starry Forms offer not just a celestial aesthetic, but practical, powerful options to enhance your role as a healer, fighter, or strategist.
Paladin – Oath of the Crown
You’ve been sworn to uphold the principles of law. Stay true to your oath and you’ll be rewarded with the power to aid your allies and disrupt your foes. Guide your companions in battle with Righteous Clarity, taunt enemies with strategic interrupts, and keep your party standing strong with Divine Allegiance, absorbing their damage while restoring their health.
Fighter – Arcane Archer
Mastering the dual arts of magic and marksmanship, the Arcane Archer subclass offers unique skills on top of new shooting animations. Banish foes to the Feywild, removing them from the battlefield for a turn, or unleash Psychic damage that forces enemies to make a Wisdom saving throw or be blinded until the start of their next turn.
Monk – Drunken Master
Putting the brew in homebrew, as the Drunken Master, you have the ability to consume alcohol straight from your inventory, as well as drink from bottles you see around the Sword Coast, in order to recover Ki. By sharing the bottle with your enemies using Intoxicating Strike, you’ll generate a buff towards your Armour Class and your Chance to hit Drunk targets. Drunk enemies are also susceptible to the Drunken Masters’ other abilities, like Sobering Realisation – which sobers up drunk targets, dealing physical and Psychic damage.
Ranger – Swarmkeeper
The Swarmkeeper subclass provides Rangers with three kinds of deadly swarms to assist them in combat. The Cloud of Jellyfish deals extra lightning damage – potentially shocking your enemy. The Flurry of Moths deals Psychic damage, giving you the potential to Blind your enemy. The Legion of Bees deals piercing damage and forces the enemy to make a strength-saving throw or be knocked back 15ft. Each swarm also has the ability to provide you with teleportation capabilities!
Rogue – Swashbuckler
This Rogue subclass introduces a range of new actions fit for the piratical life. Play dirty by tossing sand at enemies to Blind them. Flick your weapon at a target to Disarm them. Or use your new Fancy Footwork passive while meleeing your enemy to ensure they can’t make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of your turn.
Sorcerer – Shadow Magic
As a Shadow Magic Sorcerer, you deal in a form of magic that makes you deadliest in darkness. This subclass gives its sorcerer Superior Darkvision, as well as the ability to Shadow Walk between places of dim light or darkness. It also lets you call forth the perfectly homebrewed Hound of Ill Omen to harass your foes, and use Strength of the Grave to prevent you from being downed – ideal for those attempting Honour Mode runs.
Warlock – Hexblade
Hexblade Warlocks make a pact with an entity from the Shadowfell that manifests in the form of magical weapons. Curse your enemies and force their souls to do your bidding. Slay any enemy that isn’t generally an element of nature, construct, giant blob, or already dead, and you’ll be able to raise their spirit from their corpse for ten turns. This new summon can deal necrotic damage and will rip away a chunk of your enemy’s soul to provide your Hexblade Warlock with healing.
Wizard – Bladesinging
The Bladesinging subclass merges swordplay with wizardry. Expect new spellcasting animations when casting spells with your weapon, a new Bladesong ability to grant you supernatural speed, agility, and focus, plus gives you a bonus to any Constitution saving throw you make.
And here’s the rest coming with Patch 8:
Photo Mode
Finally, you can stop using pictures of fish you’ve caught on your dating profile and start snapping photos with your Hound of Ill Omen. Photo Mode is coming to Baldur’s Gate 3 in Patch 8!
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Photo Mode is a little like a photo booth that lets you set up pretty much any shot you’d like. This new feature introduces a whole slew of options to let you customise and edit your in-game photography, with various levels of freedom depending on whether you’re using it while adventuring, or during combat, dialogue, and cinematic scenes.
Camera Settings
Toggleable from the HUD, located near the minimap, or by using the hotkey binding (F9 on PC, and by pressing both analog sticks at the same time on console), you’ll get to choose which character you want to take centre stage, determine their best side, and adjust the camera position to suit.
As long as they’re in your party while you’re adventuring, you’ll be able to line up your scene perfectly – including summons and those in a Wild Shape! For all budding virtual photographers, you can also turn on the camera reticle and composition grid to make sure you’re lining up the perfect shot.
Lens Settings
Determined the angle and sorted the positioning? You’ll be able to jump over to the Lens Settings where you can play around with the Field of View, Exposure, Depth of Field, and Focus.
Scene Settings
NPC ruining your shot? Toggle off either Playing, Party, NPC or Enemy characters.
Now you’re ready for your close-up! Or, if you’re feeling creative, set the scene for a full-on Faerûn musical – choose a set facial expression, plus a range of over 40 static and animated poses, each with multiple variations to help give you the perfect layout.
Post Processing Effects
While you won’t be able to adjust your party or play around with lens and camera settings during cinematic scenes and dialogues, you’ll be able to colour-grade your shot and experiment with contrast, saturation, highlights, brightness and vignette.
Frames
Add flair to your scene with a range of different frames and letterboxing to nail those cinematic shots.
Stickers
Choose from over 300 stickers and add up to 30 to your scene, including emojis, icons, blood splatters, textures, objects and items, and of course, cat ears.
In your hands soon, you’ll be able to take role-play to the next level with unique combinations of poses, stickers, and frames. We can’t wait to see what absolute nightmare fuel you come up with.
Larian plans a Patch 8 stress test on Xbox and PlayStation, as well as PC in early January. “The goal is to go beyond our internal testing and help us catch things before they can become an issue once a patch has been released,” Larian explained.
“Along with all of the newness coming in Patch 8, we’ll also be integrating a large selection of bug fixes and polishing up cinematics, including ensuring Shadowheart’s hair dye no longer washes away when she takes a dip with her romantic partner. We’ll be sharing more on what’s been fixed in a future update!”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
IGN can exclusively reveal that Dark Sector, the 2008 third-person shooter from Warframe developer Digital Extremes, is now free on Steam for the next 72 hours in celebration of the upcoming free Warframe: 1999 expansion that is set to be released in December 2024.
Aside from a small number of regions like Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, Steam users can head over to Dark Sector’s Steam page and download the game right now and skip its current $9.99 price tag.
For those unfamiliar, Dark Sector places you in the shoes of Hayden Tenno, a covert operative who must invade the fictional Eastern European city of Lasria that hides a very dangerous Cold War secret. During his mission, he gets infected with a Technocyte Virus that turns him into a killing machine with powers and a deadly glaive that he must use to save everything.
In our Dark Sector review, we said, “Dark Sector’s fun. Hearing guards scream for help just before they take a glaive to the face, marching around in this Metal Gear-looking Jackal tank while rocketing bad guys into the air and wielding a pimped-out shotgun make the experience something any action fan can get behind. However, when the really similar levels and waves of opponents get too repetitive towards the end of the game, Dark Sector’s weak storyline might not be enough to carry the more fickle fan to the finish line. It’s fun, but it’s not perfect.”
As for how Dark Sector is connected to Warframe: 1999, the expansion will take players to the year before Y2K and a retro European-style city of Höllvania to become Arthur Nightingale. This is obviously a far cry from the space setting Warframe fans are used to, but it should be an exciting one.
Speaking to VG247, creative director Rebecca Ford shared that Dark Sector was definitely an inspiration for this expansion and the team looked to the game for its tone and a city that felt European.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
Whether you’re looking for extra Spins, potions, or Crates, these Attack on Titan Revolution codes will have you covered. Here you can find a list of all the currently active and working AoT Revolution codes in Roblox to give you a little helping hand on tackling those Titans.
Active Attack on Titan Revolution Codes (November 2024)
As of November 2024, newly released AoT Revolution codes are only active for one week, so check back regularly to avoid missing out. Here are all the currently active Attack on Titan Revolution codes in November 2024, and the rewards you’ll get for redeeming them:
ENDERSPINS: 150 Spins
COLESPINS: 150 Spins
UPDATE2HALLOWEEN: 600 Halloween tokens
UPDATE2FATE: 4 crates
UPDATE2DEMON: 4 crates
UPDATE2SPINS: 350 spins
All Expired Attack on Titan Revolution Codes
The following codes can no longer be redeemed as of November 2024:
CODESEXPIREAFTER1WEEK
UPDATE2PATCH
LIKES350K
ARMOREDTITANSOON
SOSORRY4DELAY
WELOVEBRASIL
ROBLOXFIX
LIKES325K
DEVCODE3
MYBAD
UPDATESOON2
SORRY4DELAY3
LIKES300K
RANDOMCODE1
RANDOMCODE2
How to Redeem Attack on Titan Revolution Codes
Reach Level 15 in Attack on Titan Revolution
Launch AoT Revolution
Find Codes on the Main Menu as you load up the experience
Click on Codes and the box will appear on the bottom right corner
Paste in your code and press enter to get your goods
Why Isn’t My Attack on Titan Revolution Code Working?
If you find your AoT Revolution code isn’t working, it could be for a few reasons. Firstly, you’ll need to be Level 15+ before codes will work, so spend some time leveling up before attempting to use them.
If you’re Level 15+ and your code isn’t working, it’s either because there’s a typo in the code or it’s expired. If a code has run out, it will say “Expired” when you press enter. If there’s a typo, or the code is very old, it will say “Invalid.” If you don’t meet the level requirement to use the code, it will say “Error.”
To avoid typos, we’d recommend copying the code directly from this article. Then, paste it into the Codes bar on the Main Menu of the AoT Revolution screen. Just be sure to check that there’s no extra space at the beginning or the end of the code.
How to Get More Attack on Titan Revolution Codes
We update this article daily with any new Attack on Titan Revolution codes. But if you want to get AOTR codes the moment they drop, it’s best to follow the AoT Revolution Discord. Codes are posted in the #Announcements channel.
What is Attack on Titan Revolution in Roblox?
Attack on Titan Revolution is a Roblox experience inspired by the AoT Japanese manga. In an attempt to save humanity and lead the revolution against giant creatures, you’ll be tasked with slaying the Titans and reclaiming freedom. Customize your fighting style with Gear, Upgrades, Perks, and more, to take on tougher challenges as you level up.
Lauren Harper is a freelance writer and editor who has covered news, reviews, and features for over a decade in various industries. She has contributed to guides at IGN for games including Elden Ring, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield, Pikmin 4, and more. With an MA in Victorian Gothic History and Culture, she loves anything that falls under that category. She’s also a huge fan of point-and-click adventures, horror games and films. You can talk to her about your favourites over at @prettyheartache.bsky.social.
Just like its predecessor, with the entirety of planet Earth available to explore, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has a whole lot to do. 2020’s Microsoft Flight Simulator was the first (and, so far, only) 10 I’ve given in a review, and the enormity of the options available in this year’s follow-up have only been tempered by the lingering problems that accompany them. Because codes weren’t available early and unexpected turbulence at takeoff made it literally impossible to play for the first 24 hours, I’m still working on my up and coming aviation career, as well as this review. For now, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has some extraordinary features to set it apart, but its impact is also falling short of how blown away I was by the last edition, and I really wanted to be blown away. Instead, I’m “merely” impressed.
Right off the rip, the biggest new addition to Flight Simulator 2024 is its career mode. You pick a starting airport as your home base, get hired by a fictional aviation company, and begin progressing through your career as a pilot. It all plays out like a traditional video game skill tree: after you master the beginner missions, you open up new options, and completing them opens up further opportunities still. So you can get a tail wheel endorsement, for example, after you complete the requirements for a commercial pilots license, which then opens up options for newer planes and jobs like search and rescue, or you can get certified in rotor craft (helicopters) which leads to stuff like operating a sky crane. Which, to me personally, elicits a “hell yeah.” Each new certification or endorsement also opens up different jobs you can pick from, ranging from simple stuff like flightseeing, to more complex operations like, well, anything to do with the helicopters, basically.
Eventually you earn enough money and reputation to throw off the bonds of your employment and start your own aviation company. I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I am moving along with my fixed wing endorsements at a pretty good pace. To what end, I haven’t yet decided, but I’m looking forward to opening my own company and taking the lion’s share of the profits. Those profits are used to further grow your business, and I can’t wait until I can afford my own fleet of aircraft.
The first few missions in career mode are just basic flight training, meant to familiarize you with the ins and outs of flying a plane. What I found disappointing is that the flight training is pretty much identical to the tutorials from 2020. All the training missions take place at the same airfield in Sedona, Arizona as 2020 and the actual tasks are exactly the same. The only real difference is that the AI-generated instruction and on-screen advice is a little more clear about what’s expected of you in any given mission. I do appreciate the default tooltips in 2024 because there are about a million different buttons that do a million different things, and I used to have to go to Google whenever I’d forget how to release my parking brake. (I don’t even think I’ll end up turning them off like I did in 2020, just because I’m a forgetful fellow.)
The further you get in career mode, the more mission types open up.
After the initial training missions, you do a few flights to get enough hours in to test for your commercial pilot’s license. Taking the tests costs in-game currency, but you only need to pay for it once and you can retake it as many times as you need. You also need to have enough experience and do well enough in the training missions – but if you are already an experienced pilot, you can just jump right into the test and skip the lessons.
The further along you get, the more missions and mission types open up. What I thought was a little strange, however, was that they don’t all open up near your home airport. I picked a small airfield in the deepest parts of eastern Maine, KMVM Machias Valley Airfield, but after my initial missions, I was being sent to Europe to complete aircraft delivery and skydive missions. It’s not something that bothers me too much, but it did come across as odd, which pulled me out of the “career” illusion I had built up for myself. Lousy imagination!
Otherwise, I’m actually really loving career mode. In 2020’s iteration, I would make-up little missions for myself, like delivering pizza by air from Knox County Regional Airport in Owl’s Head, Maine to the remote Matinicus Island 20 miles off the coast (a real thing that happens, by the way). Having structured reasons to better familiarize myself with the aircraft and patterns in the sky is going to keep me on course, so to speak, and stealthily make me into a better sim-pilot. So far it’s my favorite part of Flight Simulator 2024 and I’m looking forward to starting either my own airline or a helicopter sky crane company. Or both! I’ve got time.
Another new addition is the challenge league. This mode is the most game-y of them all, but retains all the simulation flight models and physics I love. There are three challenges each week, as well as leaderboards, which I am a huge fan of because I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed.
Of the three available in the first round, my favorite is the F/A-18 rally race through the Grand Canyon. You fly Maverick’s modern jet of choice through a section of the canyon, slaloming gates in a hunt for pure speed. Since it’s still the same flight model under the hood, that’s not as easy as it seems – but holy crap is it fun as hell. It took me a lot of tries to get to my final score of around 1 minute 54 seconds, and that’s not even a good score: it only put me in the Bronze league. But the satisfaction of seeing my time raised up above the Xbox Live Gamertag of someone who I don’t know at all, but is unknowingly my arch-nemesis, is great. I’m looking forward to revisiting the challenges each week. The previous Flight Simulator had landing challenges with leaderboards, too, but as fun as those were, they didn’t quite hit the dynamism of flying a fighter jet through one of the world’s seven natural wonders.
Take Your Pic
One of the things I liked the most about the last Flight Simulator was how it let me visit places I’d either never been before or would almost certainly never visit again. In Flight Simulator 2024, sightseeing has been placed front and center in the photo challenges mode. You visit famous landmarks and places around the world and take photos of them. The type and criteria of the photos changes with each landmark. For example, in the first photo challenge, you need to take a picture of the Great Sphinx while the sun is above its right shoulder on the equinox. Oh, and you need to do it on foot.
And that’s one of the biggest and coolest new features: you can land, get out of your plane, and walk around. However, it’s not quite as elegant as I had hoped it would be. First of all, your walking speed is paced realistically, just like the rest of the simulator, (who would have guessed?) so if you’ve been playing first-person video games all your life, walking at an actual human’s pace feels almost painfully slow. Secondly, the level of detail is going to depend on a whole bunch of different factors, like the power of your PC, the strength of your internet connection, and the health of the cloud servers, so your mileage can (and probably will) vary.
Still, in spite of some weirdly GoldenEye-esque objects around the Great Pyramid complex, the up-close terrain itself is really detailed. The sand and desert rocks look incredibly realistic, and the ground in general now seems to look more like how ground is actually supposed to look around the world. If you taxi through tall grass at the end of a rural runway, for example, the tracks from your wheels remain even when you return later. Same thing with snow or mud. Mud will even stick to your wheels and supposedly have an effect on your aerodynamics, although I can’t speak to how true that is on account of never having flown an actual plane with mud-caked tires.
There are also way more animals now. Instead of static points on a map telling you “there is a giraffe here,” animals now pop up in the places you’d expect them to be. I very much felt like I was actually at an airfield in Maine when a bull moose plodded its way across the airstrip as I held short of the active runway. I haven’t seen any other animals myself, but I know they’re there because Flight Simulator 2024 uses an open-source database of animal locations to put them where they’re supposed to be – so with some luck, I can go to Africa and see some lions before long.
And when you lift your head up from the ground, Flight Simulator 2024 can look much better than its predecessor across the board (with an emphasis on can). The improvement is especially stark in a place like the Grand Canyon, which I visited many times in 2020’s Flight Simulator. Whereas before it looked very obviously like a smooth, texture-mapped computer model up close, now it looks amazingly like the real thing. I am currently running Flight Simulator 2024 on a pretty beastly PC: it has an i9-13900K processor, a Radeon RX 7900XT GPU, and 64GBs of DDR5 RAM (disclosure, the RAM was provided by Corsair). With that setup, this year’s Flight Simulator looks and runs way better. Mostly.
The problem comes from the fact Flight Simulator 2024 is streamed from the cloud, and so far they haven’t ironed out all the issues. In career mode, I did a flightseeing mission around Venice, Italy, and St. Mark’s Basilica was a purple-checkered polygonal model with no textures whatsoever, while the rest of Venice was rendered in perfect detail. I honestly would rather have something like the world map packs of 2020’s Flight Simulator living on my SSD and only stream the boring parts. Right now, though, there’s no way to do that, and the reliance on cloud streaming was something the Flight Simulator team really hammered on the importance of leading up to launch, so I’d be surprised if they switched to some kind of hybrid model at this point.
And in spite of everything looking really good on my beastly PC, it’s worth noting that my GPU is running at 100% capacity at the recommended settings in order to make that happen. When I turned the graphics down to the next lower preset, it only brought GPU usage down to 98%. That ain’t good.
Current Thoughts
In spite of what can reasonably be described as a catastrophic launch, I’m already pretty much in love with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – I’m just not blown away like I was five years ago, when I first found myself faced with the opportunity to fly to literally any place on Earth. That option remains, of course, and it’s been vastly improved by some smart new features, but it doesn’t have that same impact, either. As we move away from the rocky launch, I’m encountering fewer and fewer issues, which gives me the chance to focus on what I love about Flight Simulator. Usually that’s flying around aimlessly, but this time career mode is also giving me real reasons to take off, as well as a better understanding of the world of commercial aviation. I’m going to keep at it before I render my final verdict, but right now, in spite of its initial problems, I think Flight Simulator 2024 is pretty damn great, even if it hasn’t caught the lightning in a bottle that was the last Flight Simulator once again.
