Category: IGN

The price of Borderlands 4 was officially confirmed this morning as preorder listings for the upcoming game went live for the Standard, Deluxe Edition, and Super Deluxe Edition. The initial wave of preorders only included digital versions of the game, but Amazon has jumped in late in the day with the first round of physical copies.

These new Amazon listings are currently only for the PS5 and Xbox versions of the game and only two editions are currently up for preorder: Standard and Super Deluxe. You can check out the preorder pages at the links below. The current release date is set for September 12, 2025 for the console and PC versions of the game. We do not yet have a release date for the Switch 2 version, but it is coming sometime in 2025.

Preorder Borderlands 4 – Physical Copies

Standard Edition – $69.99

One of the biggest problems in fighting games is preservation. It doesn’t matter how good the game is, or how influential it was, or whether it’s a beloved classic or a flash in the pan or anything in-between. It’s just hard to play old fighting games on modern hardware. If you want to play any Tekken earlier than 7, you’d better have an old console hooked up. SoulCalibur? I hope you have a Switch 2 and/or the delisted re-releases or physical discs. The best version of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike? Still trapped on the Xbox 360 and PS3. And on and on and on it goes. Some have done better than others (Capcom, SNK, Arc System Works), but the reality is that a lot of the best, most important fighting games of yesteryear are lost to time or trapped on old hardware or saddled with bad ports that make them essentially unplayable at worst and deeply flawed at best. And that’s the best-case scenario. The ones that burned out or faded away? You probably can’t legally play them at all. Rest in peace, Masters of Teras Kasi fans.

That’s the situation Digital Eclipse is stepping into with Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, a compilation of Mortal Kombat’s glory days from the early days. If Digital Eclipse seems like the right studio for this type of thing, it’s probably because they have a lot of history doing it, having made Tetris Forever, Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection, and, my personal favorite, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, among many, many others. They know what they’re doing here; the only question will be execution.

The most important things, of course, are the games themselves. The classics are all here: Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat 4. But it’s not just the arcade games. The console and handheld versions are here, too. If you prefer the sweaty SNES release of the original Mortal Kombat, it’s there for you. If you’re more into the gory Genesis game, that’s here, too. Me, I’m an arcade purist, but it’s nice that there are options here for people who aren’t, or who’d just like to see the different versions of each one.

But we’re not limited to the klassic (sorry) versions that everybody and their mama played. The weird stuff is here, too. That means the Game Boy Advance version of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is included, plus things like the 32X version of Mortal Kombat II and the Game Boy and Game Gear versions of the original Mortal Kombat. I didn’t even know they made a Game Boy version of the original Mortal Kombat, but it’s here for you if you want it.

In addition, every game in the Legacy Kollection will support online multiplayer with rollback netcode powered by GGPO, one of the best rollback solutions in the business. This release will mark the first time most of the games in this collection have online play. That’s meant a lot of extra work for Digital Eclipse (adding online play to fighting games that don’t already have it is a notoriously difficult undertaking), but if they can get it right, it’ll be an enormous accomplishment.

Online play isn’t the only new deal in this package, though. Digital Eclipse is letting you unlock every secret with the touch of a button. That means characters, game settings, hidden developer menus, the whole enchilada. If you’d rather do things like unlock Reptile normally (seriously, go look up the process for that in the original MK just to remember how wild some of MK’s arcade secrets were), you can do that. But if you don’t want the hassle, every secret is at your fingertips.

What I’m most looking forward to, however, is Digital Eclipse’s propensity for archival work, which will appear in the Legacy Kollection. That means interviews with the likes of Ed Boon, John Tobias, Dan Forden, John Vogel, and many, many more – but also archival stuff, like footage of the actors that was scanned into the game and the Mortal Kombat prequel comic book, written and illustrated by Tobias himself, that you could send away for by mail and is, like all collectors items, now prohibitively expensive to acquire. Throw in a timeline of the series that traces each character’s history and the story of MK’s various realms, and it sounds like the Legacy Kollection will have everything an oldhead MK fan (and young guns looking to learn the series history) could want. And as someone who grew up in the arcade with those games, I’m glad that they’ll be available for everyone. I’ll see you online in UMK3.

In the last Crashers and Climbers, I was focused on Destined Rivals, thanks to it just launching. I was going to look into older sets this week, but the volatility of this set right now forced me to revisit some of the market values on this set.

It’s also a good time to be savvy on the secondary card market right now and pay attention to pricing trends and market values across the whole of Pokémon TCG.

After prices plummeted as predicted following the launch weekend, most cards are once again trending up if they haven’t already.

It doesn’t help that there’s a rise in sellers on TCGPlayer charging way above market value for their stock. It sticks out like a sore thumb and could be a collective push to artificially inflate market values.

Pokémon Card Crashers

PC gaming mod hub Nexus Mods is under new ownership for the first time in 24 years as creator Robin “Dark0ne” Scott hands off the baton for the sake of his mental health.

The figurehead of one of the biggest gaming sites on the internet posted about its next chapter in a message published today. It comes with confirmation that Scott has already officially stepped away from Nexus Mods, “following months of meetings, face-to-face talks, and a whole lot of soul searching.”

The message keeps many of the behind-the-scenes details under wraps but says two new individuals — one named Victor (a.k.a. Foledinho) and another named Marinus (a.k.a. Rapsak) — have adopted the leadership role, with both of their profiles now bearing the “Site Owner” title. The leadership change signals the beginning of a new era for Nexus Mods, and for Scott, a much-needed break.

“The strain of being responsible for the behemoth I created has taken its toll,” Scott explained. “The stress of the job has been a regular source of anxiety and stress-related health issues. I realised that I have been burning out and this started to have an impact on my staff and Nexus Mods as a whole. So, I firmly believe that the best thing for the future of Nexus Mods is for me to step aside and bring in new leadership to steer the business forward with renewed energy to make Nexus Mods the modding community we all truly deserve.”

The small project born in Scott’s bedroom for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind eventually ballooned into a massive entity in the gaming space. The Nexus Mods About Us page notes that this beating heart of the PC gaming community is made up of 63.4 million users and 16.8 billion file downloads, positioning it as one of the most highly trafficked UK-based websites on the planet.

As Nexus Mods has grown, so too has its impact on Scott, who has spent “every single day” for more than 20 years “on call.” Losing his direct input in the day-to-day operations of Nexus Mods will surely result in some changes, but Scott assured modders and gamers alike that the shift should not be cause for concern.

“Behind the scenes, I’ve already been stepping back bit by bit,” Scott clarifies. “Over the past few years, the team has taken on more of the weight and the site’s been doing better than ever. What’s changing now is simply the formality of it, making sure the right people are in place to guide Nexus Mods into the next era.”

Scott says his stepping down from Nexus Mods, as well as a few small structural changes, are moves made to ensure “long-term stability” and won’t impact how the site has been operating recently. He goes as far as to say, “Nexus Mods is community-first and mod-author focused, that’s not up for negotiation.”

As Scott steps away from his direct leadership position, the modding creator says he’ll still engage with the Nexus Mods community on its Mod Author Discord, forums, and more. He’ll also help guide the site’s 40-person team as the page is turned, relieving his duties as its face and figurehead.

“So yes, the ownership of Nexus Mods has changed hands, but I want to be clear, this isn’t some corporate ‘exit’ or a backroom deal,” Scott adds. “This is me doing something I probably should’ve done years ago: taking care of myself. Reclaiming some headspace. And finally letting go of the idea that I have to do everything and be responsible for everything myself.”

Nexus Mods has housed thousands of fan-made creations for games like franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Stardew Valley, Baldur’s Gate, Cyberpunk 2077, and many, many more for decades. In fact, just moments after The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion shadow-dropped earlier this year, dozens of minor mods had already been published on the site. It’s the go-to place for PC gamers to modify their games to their liking, and with its first change in leadership in 24 years comes a fair amount of uncertainty for its future.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor 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).

As players dive deeper into Elden Ring Nightreign‘s endgame, they’ve been unlocking numerous skins FromSoftware has laid out as alternate options and rewards. It’s not too surprising how many of them are references to previous Souls games, but some of the deeper cuts are certainly interesting.

Souls YouTuber BonfireVN put together a side-by-side comparison of Elden Ring Nightreign’s Dark Souls skins with their origins in their respective Souls games. These skins unlock once you’ve cleared the final boss of Elden Ring Nightreign, and offer some big visual shake-ups for the various Nightfarers of the realm.

These “throwback” skins are callbacks to various pieces of Dark Souls history, mostly through NPCs and armor sets seen throughout the games. It’s a nice bit of nostalgia, and also a way to commemorate how Elden Ring carries the Souls torch forward. Some of the choices and details are fairly interesting to dig into, though, as BonfireVN shows.

The Guardian’s Solaire outfit, dubbed the Sunlight Knight Outfit, is a fairly obvious reference to everyone’s favorite Dark Souls 1 NPC. The Catarina Outfit for the Raider is a similarly clear reference, to Siegmeyer of Catarina.

But in sets like the Duchess’ Wraith Outfit, you can see the evolution of the Darkwraith design over the course of Souls, and how the set evolved from its first appearance to Nightreign.

Others, like the Ironeyes’ Sellsword duds, are surprising references to characters like Chancellor Wellager in Dark Souls 2. While it’s not surprising to see firekeeper outfits, or characters like Solaire or Artorias, it’s nice to see some deeper cuts. The Recluse’s Heretic Sorcerer Outfit calling back to Dark Witch Karla may not even be obvious at first glance, but it’s fun to see.

Plus, the detail FromSoftware has put on these armor sets is impressive, especially side-by-side with previous Souls games. A long string of games led FromSoftware from its early days to Elden Ring, and these Nightreign outfits are a solid commemoration.

We’ve got plenty of Nightreign tips and tricks to help you take down all the eight Nightlord Bosses, and if you’re wondering how to unlock the two locked Nightfarer Classes, check out How to Unlock the Revenant and How to Unlock the Duchess, plus How to Change Characters.

Image credit: Souls YouTuber BonfireVN.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Nintendo Switch 2 owners who say they’ve lost Pokémon save files are strongly recommending other fans make use of the franchise’s Pokémon Home storage app, before booting up their new consoles and initiating a system transfer.

One report on reddit details a fan’s experience transferring their original Switch’s data to their new Switch 2, only to find their Pokémon Scarlet save file had been lost in the process. Other fans responding to the post have reported similar issues, and an IGN staff member has had the same experience happen to them.

The reddit post, by user ThatOtaku26, claims their save file had more than 1,000 hours of gameplay and over two decades of beloved Pokémon, brought over from generations of previous Pokémon titles stretching back to Pokémon Leaf Green and Pokémon Diamond, on the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance.

For Pokémon fans, this is why their save files are so precious — as some players bring over creatures they have already been playing with in multiple previous games, some released years ago. At the same time, Pokémon games on Nintendo Switch are some of just a handful of titles not compatible with the console’s in-built cloud save functionality (available if you subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online). Indeed, Switch games Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee and Pikachu, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Sword and Shield, plus Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are all unsupported.

Of course, the Pokémon franchise does have its own cloud save offering, the Pokémon Home app, which comes with its own subscription plan that kicks in if you want to store more than 30 creatures. And it’s this app that fans are now recommending to anyone wanting to continue their Pokémon save files on Switch 2, just to make sure their virtual creatures survive the move to Nintendo’s new console.

“I just got a switch 2, did the startup and initial data transfer with no issues,” ThatOtaku26 wrote. “My Scarlet save file is gone. It loads straight into the language selection and create a character screens. No data on my OLED. Just all gone.

“THERE WAS NO ERROR IN DATA TRANSFER AT ALL,” they continued. “IT WENT FINE. ALL MY OTHER POKEMON DATA IS STILL THERE, BUT NOT SCARLET. I had mons from my original GBA up to current on there. Literally 20 years worth of data. There’s nothing I can do. I don’t even know if i wanna play anymore.”

Some fans comiserated with the player, and said they had experienced similar issues.

“This same exact thing happened to me when I was transferring from my original Switch to the OLED,” wrote Grouchy-Cress-215. “Tears were shed.”

“The same thing happed to me but literally all my saved data isn’t there anymore like BOTW, TOTK, MK8, Pokémon Sword and Shield, Scarlet and Violet, and so on,” added Existing-Possible550. “I literally have to play everything from the start.”

Many fans said the situation, however rare, meant that backing up beloved creatures to Pokémon Home was a necessity, just to be on the safe side.

“I’m afraid of this happening to me so everything I have is going in Home before I do the switch,” wrote Mexican_Chef4307.

“If I get Switch 2 in the future, I will first transfer all my Pokémon to Home before data transferring,” added TheJannikku. “I can’t imagine how I would if that happened to me.”

Not all fans were as compassionate, however.

“Ngl the fact that you didn’t transfer all of your important Pokémon to Home first is on you,” wrote IAmTheWire. “We’ve known that this is the only way to preserve your Pokémon for sure in this kind of circumstance or if your old Switch broke, otherwise they’d be gone forever. I’d have done it just to be safe if nothing else since it’s so obvious and easy to transfer them back if something was to go wrong.”

Nintendo Switch 2 released earlier this month and shifted 3.5 million consoles over its first four days on sale. Switch 2’s launch sales have outsold the launch of the original Switch by two to one — though Nintendo’s previous console suffered at launch from hardware shortages.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Borderlands 4 will cost $70, publisher 2K Games has confirmed as preorders go live.

The cost of Gearbox’s next game was thrust into the headlines after development chief Randy Pitchford had sparked a backlash with a series of controversial tweets.

Pitchford had responded to a fan who had expressed concern about the prospect of paying $80 for Borderlands 4, saying: “if you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.”

Pitchford addressed the negativity surrounding his comments in a series of follow-up tweets, but now we have confirmation that the Borderlands 4 standard edition is $69.99 after all.

Borderlands 4 offers three editions of the game: Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition, and Super Deluxe Edition, detailed below:

All editions are available for preorder today and will release worldwide on September 12, 2025. Players who preorder one of these editions will receive the Gilded Glory Pack, which includes one Vault Hunter Skin, one Weapon Skin, and an ECHO-4 Drone Skin.

• The Standard Edition includes the base game and will be available for £59.99 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store.
• The Deluxe Edition will feature a variety of bonus items and will be available for £89.99 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store.
  • This edition includes the Bounty Pack Bundle, featuring four separate post-launch DLC packs, each with distinct areas, new missions, and unique bosses; four Vault Cards with unique challenges and rewards; new gear and weapons; four new vehicles, and Vault Hunter cosmetics; and the Firehawk’s Fury Weapon Skin.
• The Super Deluxe Edition will include all bonus digital content from the Deluxe Edition and will be available for £119.99 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store.
  • This edition also includes the Vault Hunter Pack, featuring two new Story Packs, each featuring a new Vault Hunter, story, and side missions; two new map regions; new gear and weapons; more Vault Hunter cosmetics; and new ECHO-4 cosmetics.
  • Additionally, it offers the Ornate Order Pack with four Vault Hunter Skins, four Vault Hunter Heads and four Vault Hunter Bodies.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Don’t let Elden Ring Nightreign’s status as a spin-off fool you. It has plenty of stuff to pick apart for lore fiends. Much like the towering Erdtree, Nightreign is just one branch, one alternate timeline, with roots in the world of Elden Ring. Nightreign brings its own unique ideas and new characters to Elden Ring, even if the events of the game don’t tie directly to the original. You’ll know what we mean when we start exploring the ending of Nightreign below.

This article contains spoilers for the ending of Elden Ring Nightreign.

Is Nightreign Canon?

Nightreign bends the history of The Lands Between in a different direction, forking off from a pivotal moment in the lore to give us a peek at what might’ve happened if things had gone much, much worse. It’s better to think of the events of Nightreign as an alternate timeline rather than a canon storyline. You don’t need to know everything about Elden Ring to enjoy it, but you do need to spend quite a bit of time running expeditions and fighting Nightlords to get the full picture. Once you do, you’ll start to grasp how Nightreign fits (and doesn’t fit) into the story of the Lands Between.

Elden Ring Nightreign Ending Explained

As the intro cutscene explains: Nightreign takes place in a world where the Tarnished never show up. The war between the gods—known as The Shattering—breaks out after Marika stirs chaos in The Lands Between by smashing the Elden Ring. Thousands of years pass and nobody takes the throne, eventually luring “an abomination” known as the Nightlord to the land. This unnamed being is basically a walking natural disaster. Wherever he goes, the Night follows, and an endless torrent of rain slowly dissolves the world into nothing.

Leave it to FromSoftware to come up with an even bleaker version of the timeline than what we have in the original game. Here, the Elden Throne is just an empty chair sitting in the ruins of a world fading out of existence. There’s nothing to rule or to conquer. And yet a peculiar group of people have been chosen by some unknown master to try and defeat the Nightlord anyway and end the Night.

That’s where we come in. The Nightfarers team up to hunt down lesser Nightlords on their way to the source of the catastrophe. This involves dropping down onto what’s left of Limgrave and battling familiar monsters and bosses from not only Elden Ring, but the Dark Souls series as well. While the game doesn’t explicitly state why the worlds have converged, I like to think of it as the result of ruptures in reality as the universe collapses in on itself.

Once you bring enough of the Nightlords down, the true culprit is revealed to be the husk of a man named Heolstor. He carries what looks like the Moonlight Greatsword from Dark Souls in one of his three arms, and is one of the most spectacular boss fights FromSoftware has ever created. Defeating him rewards you with the Primordial Nightlord’s Rune, which resembles the Great Runes you find in Elden Ring, only with an inky hue.

Usually you return to see your allies hanging out in the Roundtable Hold after defeating a Nightlord, but killing Heolstor leaves you standing in front of a Roundtable Hold that has been long abandoned. A petrified corpse sits inside and when you place the rune before it, it causes your Nightfarer to dissipate into streaks of light that fly into the sky.

A post-credits scene shows the Lands Between as we know it from Elden Ring—Erdtree and all—with golden leaves wafting in the air. One of those leaves lands on a tree branch atop a giant that looks a lot like Heolstor if he were made out of wood. It rises out of the sea, pausing a moment to face the Erdtree, and then steps away.

It’s heavily implied that by defeating Heolstor we’ve retroactively stopped the Night from ever happening in the first place. In other words: We’ve chopped off Nightreign’s branch of the story for good, leaving the events of Elden Ring to play out as we know them from the original game.

Who is Heolstor and what happens in the alternate endings?

We don’t know a lot about Heolstor outside of the relic you get from defeating him. It tells a brief story of a knight who was slain by a hero before mysteriously waking up to curse the world. It’s vague enough to fit into several different interpretations, but the most plausible one seems to be that he is intentionally a nobody, a cosmic inevitability as natural as the sun setting in the evening.

This lines up thematically with the alternate ending the Wylder can get if you finish his remembrance quests. Instead of erasing the timeline, the Wylder takes up the mantle of Nightlord by using a Larval Tear, an item from Elden Ring that is associated with rebirth. You learn earlier in his quest that the Roundtable Hold only exists because the Nightlord exists, and his sister, the Duchess, is locked to the same fate. He sacrifices himself to the Night to keep her alive.

In the Ironeye’s unique ending, he cuts the throat of the petrified corpse in the empty Roundtable Hold and prolongs the Night. His goal is to protect his clan of undying warriors who you might remember from Elden Ring as Those Who Live in Death. In Elden Ring’s timeline, Those Who Live in Death are hunted by the followers of the Erdtree. The Ironeye’s decision saves them from this outcome, but dooms the world as a result.

The Recluse’s ending is the second most hopeful one you can get. Her remembrance reveals that she once had a child who she abandoned, leaving it to succumb to an endless hunger and start to devour everything in sight, including her own sister. After defeating Heolstor, the Recluse can find the Night-touched baby in the Roundtable Hold and embrace it. Her love calms the infant and seemingly prevents a new Nightlord from forming.

The remaining Nightfarers don’t have special endings associated with them. Their stories follow the events of the default ending and they likely disappear along with everything else when it’s erased. But Nightreign’s story isn’t completely over: FromSoftware will eventually release new Nightfarers as DLC and they could provide even more insight into the nature of this sad world— possibly through their own alternate endings.

Another Monday and another fresh start for daily deals, and it’s starting off with a bang. Big box online retailers have Pokémon TCG product in stock that’s near or under market value, while Prismatic Evolutions and Journey Together single card values cool off (Finally). The same can’t be said for the wave that is Destined Rivals however, with single-card prices bobbing up and down the secondary market seas.

TL;DR: Deals For Today

Outside of the worlds biggest Franchise ever, Magic: The Gathering – Aetherdrift sealed product has been discounted on Amazon, so there’s never been a better time to rip open the expansion. Whilst MTG: Final Fantasy has finally dropped, there’s still plenty of buying options for sealed product from big box retailers and TCG Player. I’ve also found some cracking bargains on SSDs, portable storage, DDR5 RAM, games and more. Let’s get into it:

Pokémon Restock Updates

Checking these prices against TCG Player secondary market values, a lot of these products aren’t far off the mark. Make no mistake, they’re still way off MSRP, but finding Pokémon products on shelves that haven’t been marked up past the point of anyone caring is a positive. Still refusing to pay over MSRP for new sets? Well played, I’m proud of you. Here’s some single card highlights for you to shuffle through instead. Spoiler, there’s plenty of deals to be had.

Destined Rivals Singles Are On The Rise (Again)

It’s hard to stick a pin on Destined Rivals single card values right now, and the dips in value seem to match the little bits of stock distributors release to stores. Looking at the tracking charts for each of these cards, we can see mostly plummets from day one, then either upticks or cards for sale that exceed the original value at launch. It’s crazy, but we now know how low these cards can go. Sure there’s always attempts at market manipulation, but I wouldn’t buy any cards on the rise right now.

Journey Together Singles Are Settling In Value

Having keeping an eye on the market since launch, Journey Together singles are now more affordable than ever. Many of these cards have stabilized, with the main chase card – Lillie’s Clefairy ex SIR, settling at around $150. If you were planning on getting into Journey Together at some point to collect the illustration rares and SIRs, now is a great time to jump in.

Epic Primastic Evolutions Cards That Aren’t Umbreon

There’s so many great cards in this set that aren’t Umbreon ex SIR, all of which are a damn sight more affordable right now. Because I hate anything popular (Yes, I know I’m a massive fan of the most popular IP on earth), my two favorite cards are Dragapult ex SIR and Roaring Moon ex SIR. The former is now down to a respectable $125, with the latter holding it’s value well since launch, floating towards the $200 mark. These prices and below are great deals for these cards, so don’t miss out.

Discounted MTG: Aetherdrift Boxes

Magic: The Gathering discounts at a big box store like Amazon? Surely not! Aetherdrift turned the MTG meta on its head introducing vehicles and other unique mechanics. This is a great time to jump into it and rip open some packs, it’s deffinately one of the most “out there” twists on the ever popular trading card game.

Where To Buy MTG: Final Fantasy

It’s finally here, Magic the Gathering: Final Fantasy is out in the wild. If you got a preorder for MSRP, well played, but many TCG and Final Fantasy fans missed out. Fear not, there’s still some options on sealed products available right now, including options from the secondary market with TCG Player which is around the same or lower than the pricing of big box retailers right now.

Big Discounts On Crucial DDR5 and Storage

Crucial are one of the most dependable brands when it comes to M.2 and portable drives, and is a great option for those wanting the benefits of DDR5 RAM without flashy RGB and it’s price tag. Here’s some of the best deals in the Crucial price slashing marathon on Amazon right now. I currently use the X10 Pro 4TB for backing up files and folders on my PC and for watching videos on my projector, just a solid piece of kit.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (PS5)

DOOM The Dark Ages Art Print

Power Up Pride Bundle

CD Projekt has explained why it has taken a “console-first” development approach for the hotly anticipated The Witcher 4, having gone with a PC-first approach for its previous games.

Earlier this month, CD Projekt revealed a stunning The Witcher 4 tech demo, built using Unreal Engine 5, that gave fans a clear sense of what to expect from the game.

The tech demo, captured on a PlayStation 5 and running at 60 frames per second, follows Ciri as she explores the never-before-seen region of Kovir in the midst of a monster contract.

There is an incredible amount of detail in the tech demo, with fluid animations on a level we have yet to see on the current generation of consoles. Ciri and her horse Kelpie have particularly impressive movement and interactions with each other, NPCs, and the game world as they make their way through the mountains of Kovir to the bustling port town of Valdrest. At one point in the demo, CD Projekt upped the NPC count in the market scene to 300 individually animated characters. The showcase ended with a first look at Lan Exeter, the winter capital and a major port city in Kovir.

Speaking to the tech experts at Digital Foundry following the demo reveal, CDPR’s VP of technology, Charles Tremblay, explained why the studio showed off The Witcher 4 tech demo running on PS5 first and before PC, saying it’s going for a “console-first” development approach for the game.

“We always do PC and we push and then we try to scale down,” he said. “But then we had so many problems in the past that we tried to say, this time around we really want to be more console-first development.”

That mention of having problems in the past is a nod to the disastrous launch of 2020’s Cyberpunk 2077, which ran so poorly on consoles on release that Sony ended up pulling it from the PlayStation Store and offered refunds. Amid the furore, CD Projekt apologized to customers for not showing the game on base last-gen consoles ahead of launch, admitting “we should have paid more attention to making it play better on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.”

CD Projekt spent years recovering from the game’s technical issues, but has done so successfully, to the point now where Cyberpunk 2077 is a massive hit and was even successfully released on the Nintendo Switch 2 as a launch title.

Now, with The Witcher 4 in development but not due out until 2027 at the earliest, CD Projekt is clearly keen to avoid making the same mistake. Later in the same interview, Jakub Knapik, VP, Global Art Director, CDPR, talked in vague terms about the benefits of going with console first then “scaling up” to platforms such as PC.

“We wanted to solve certain foundations,” he said. “It’s pretty logical when you think about it, because it’s easier to scale up than down.

“We knew that once we set up certain foundations both visually and technically, there’s room to scale up. Now what that means is another question. We’re CDPR, we always like to push PCs to the limit. It’s just a creative process how to really use it.”

Tremblay then stepped in to insist PC gamers will get their money’s worth from The Witcher 4 when it eventually comes out, despite the “console-first” approach.

“In the past, something that’s super important for the group is that if people pay good money for their hardware, then we want them to have what the game can provide for that, not like a simplified experience,” he said.

“So this is something we will definitely explore. The company started as a PC company, and we’ll definitely want to have the best experience for the PC gamer for sure. But it’s too early to say what this will mean for The Witcher 4.”

It’s worth remembering that by releasing The Witcher 4 on Xbox Series X, it must also release it on the less powerful Xbox Series S. All the talk so far has been about how CD Projekt has committed to 60 frames per second for The Witcher 4 across console, but in the DF interview Tremblay admitted that scaling down to Series S while maintaining 60fps will be “extremely challenging.”

“I wish we did a lot of work already on that but we did not,” he said. “So this is something that is next on our radar for sure. I will say that 60fps will definitely be extremely challenging on the Xbox Series S. Let’s just say this is something we need to figure out.”

There is still a long way to go for The Witcher 4, and as IGN has reported, the tech demo is not representative of The Witcher 4 gameplay. But it does show CD Projekt’s “ambition” for the title.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.