Category: IGN

There’s a moment at the very beginning of El Paso, Elsewhere, where the protagonist James Savage leans over the hood of a car pulled over in the middle of nowhere and makes a plea directly to the player. “I need you to believe…that I’m going to get back into this car, on the count of three, and stop my ex before she destroys us all. I need to know that you believe, so I can too.” He slowly counts to three, and in a blink, he’s in the El Paso hotel where she lies in wait. “Well,” he says, as if pleasantly surprised. “Here’s to believing.”

The parallels between this specific moment of James’ opening monologue and the story told to me by Strange Scaffold studio head Xalavier Nelson Jr. of the game’s development aren’t lost on me. He’s worked on over 80 projects in the past eight years, he tells me over a video call, across video games, comics, and tabletop, AAA and indie, licensed and original IP. His studio, Strange Scaffold, was founded out of a “deep passion for advocating to make games better, faster, cheaper, and healthier because our players deserve it.” As he speaks to me, Nelson walks Aristotelian laps around the brightly-painted living room, kitchen, and hallway of his house. Occasionally, he sprints to the PC to check a fact, then resumes his peripateticism.

I’ve interviewed Nelson before about his move from writing to every other aspect of game development, and his game-making philosophy centered around sustainability, broad collaboration, and deep introspection. When we last spoke on these subjects, it was about An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs – an extremely different kind of video game. And yet, not at all different. Both games center protagonists who are deeply in love, deeply hurt by it, and who spend a lot of time thinking about those feelings. Both games take place in colorful, almost surreal environments – albeit very different flavors of surreal. And both games are made with a distinct earnestness and sincerity that’s almost overpowering.

Two very different games, yes, but with the same heart. It’s intentional, Nelson says, and reflective across all of Strange Scaffold’s manifold projects. Wildly different swings all, but with the intent of cultivating a community that sticks around for their shared core of sincerity and introspection. That’s the Strange Scaffold portfolio strategy, but it almost destroyed them, for a lack of believing.

“So September 26th is when the game is supposed to come out, and we were going to run out of practically all of the money on October 1st,” he says. “I [started] to interact with the corporate and investment sectors of the games industry and they tell me, ‘You can’t make games like this.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, we’re doing it now. We do it over and over again. We do it profitably. We do it on time and on budget.’ And they say, ‘Yeah, that’s amazing. That’s astounding. You can’t do it like that though.’ And that ends up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy in that if we don’t receive support, we don’t get to keep making games this way.”

Nelson laments what he sees as a trend from industry publishers and investors to demand that studios like his make their games less risky by effectively risking the physical and mental health of their staff. “The assumption around the process of building games is that it must be harmful on some layer for it to have the chance of being successful,” he says. “Even on this game, again and again, we…were being told [by publishers and investors] that our emphasis on player and team health was a measure of our lack of ambition.”

“People kept asking me in rooms, ‘What game do you really want to make though? What do you really want to make? What’s your big swing?’ And I think it’s a big swing to give people amazing games over and over and over again that each provides something different for their lives. So we stuck by that. Yeah, it is what nearly drove us out of business. We managed to find some like-minded people that we’re no longer on the red line but I’ll be honest, we’re still on the knife’s edge hoping that as we show up for our players, they show up for us too.”

Like James Savage, like Tinkerbell in the Peter Pan stage play, studios like Nelson’s rely on audience belief. Even El Paso’s game over screen reiterates the message: You Keep Going. My own adventure with the game took a bit of a leap of faith, too. I loved the sincerity, silliness, and sadness of An Airport for Aliens Run by Dogs, but I’ve never played the shooters El Paso is inspired by (Max Payne, Hotline Miami) nor am I enthralled by the idea of shooting zombies. But I did exactly what Nelson hoped I’d do: I took a chance on El Paso, Elsewhere. And was rewarded many times over.

El Paso, Elsewhere is beautiful. It’s beautiful to look at, in its dramatic color contrasts of light and shadow and mixture of complex lighting effects against haunting PS1-style models and structures. Retro and modern all at once. It theoretically takes place in a hotel, if the hotel is infinitely deep and leads to hell, and the conceit works to keep the environments not just varied but perpetually and appropriately unsettling.

Writing is where El Paso especially shines, specifically Savage’s steady narration and interplay with the player. His speech is heavy with the poetry we imagine we think of when we stare out the window, nearly hungover, at 3AM in the wake of some grief. But El Paso is also full of hope and energy, both in its overall story (which I shall not spoil, but it’s good!) and in the relentless total radness of slow-mo dodging a zombie and filling its head with bullets midair while a punchy hip-hop soundtrack thrums in your ears. Yeah, James Savage is righteously sad and on a lot of drugs, but he still looks really freaking cool shooting biblically accurate angels out of the sky. Shooting feels cool too, fast and snappy, and action movie-esque in its momentum. Put it all together? Consider me a believer.

Though he’s the one speaking to me, Nelson’s whole philosophy is against the idea that one person could be the face of the entire project, or even that a faceless Strange Scaffold “brand” could be responsible for it. He wants players to feel the creativity and identity of each individual developer that touched the project, from the music of RJ Lake to Romero Bonickhausen’s cutscenes to Gary Kings’ work on the game’s trailers. And every other name in the credits, too.

“I honestly feel like we have done players a disservice, so earnestly making them focus on studio brands or legacy characters rather than saying, ‘This person told the story that made you cry. This person made the characters who you cosplayed as. This person made the gameplay that when you play every other game in this genre, this person and this group of people designed the mechanics that you miss in your hands years later.’”

Nelson gives a personal example: Binary Domain. It’s a game made by Yakuza and Like a Dragon developers Ryu Ga Gotoku studio, and it’s wildly different from the franchise the developers have become known for. But Nelson loves it, because it has the same heart as the Like a Dragon series that he already loves.

“It’s a little bit like comic books,” he continues. “You probably aren’t a fan of Batman, you’re a fan of how Frank Miller wrote them or Tom King. You’re a fan of how a specific person’s lens of interpretation changes a work. I think if you apply that lens to video games, we’ve seen a lot of things where people are not allowed to just think about making video games and doing their jobs and delivering the experiences that players love. Layoffs, the recent Unity news, there’s a variety of distractions…I have realized the reason that buying games for me is such a roll of the dice is because I’m just looking over and over to see when and where a team is allowed to have that earnestness and that creative spirit and that individual expression is allowed to really speak. Because I believe it is in AAA games, I believe it is in indie games, it’s in AA games and it is one of the first things to be strangled by production decisions that do not acknowledge its existence at all.”

El Paso, Elsewhere was not free of those “distractions” – Nelson is candid about that too. Apart from the funding crisis, he says the game was essentially made entirely in 10 months (though in planning for two years). 50 chapters, a full rap album, over 40 minutes of 3D animated cinematic cutscenes – it was a lot in a short time period, even with Strange Scaffold’s efforts to keep its people from overworking. “Every single time someone does something cool, it creates work for other people if only because they are inspired to do something amazing,” Nelson says. Exhilarating, yes, but exhausting.

“As a leader, I’ve done what I can to mitigate some of the negative effects of that, but the process of pulling this game together and making the best version of it according to our vision and our time and our scope and our budget has been, I think, pretty intensive for the team,” he says. “And while we’ve created periods of rest, we’ve spoken, we communicate really intelligently, there’s one thing I look at with some pain and regret it is that we made a game so big and so cool that the end of its development cycle did not represent the philosophical desires that we have for the development cycle as a whole.”

But Nelson isn’t giving up on his vision. He and Strange Scaffold plan to continue looking for ways to keep the studio’s structure but nix the urgency, speed, and pain that so often comes with deadlines. And perhaps with the critical success of El Paso, Elsewhere, he’ll find more believers willing to support future earnest endeavors, whatever the genre or theme. Like Savage and the player, mutually staring down death and heartbreak and game over screens: You keep going.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

You’re reading the fourth chapter of my eight-day travelog recounting my unbelievable trip to Japan to cover the 2023 Pokémon World Championships.

If you already haven’t, be sure to check out the other chapters:

• Day 1: The Birthplace of Pokémon
• Day 2: Pokémon Sweets and Unbearable Heat
• Day 3: Creature Feature

Day 4 – Psyduck Fan, Unleashed

7:45 am – I wake up actually feeling rested for the first time since we got to Japan. The first stop of the day is to Pokémon Center Shibuya, and then we’ll be set free to explore the area, shop, and eat, so I figure I should have a light breakfast. I go to the buffet and grab a Malasada donut, Spanish omelet, croissant, orange slices, berry pastry, chocolate pastry, coffee, orange juice, thin pancakes with berries, and a piping-hot slice of lasagna.

8:25 am – We pile onto the bus and start our journey to Shibuya. It strikes me how this is our fourth day here and the World Championships haven’t even started, yet we’ve seen and done an astounding amount of stuff. We’re getting the full experience, indeed. This feeling continued to strike me for the next two hours.

10:25 am – Two hours later, we arrive at Pokémon Center Shibuya, on the sixth floor of the Shibuya Parco shopping mall in Tokyo. This is the third Pokémon Center of the trip yet there are still new things to be found. The first thing that catches the group’s eye is the newly released Wigglet plushie. As you can see, it looks totally fine and there’s nothing more to say about it.

After a surprise announcement earlier this year, Valve surprised players once again by suddenly releasing Counter-Strike 2 as an update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Wednesday after a long beta period. Along with several new gameplay aspects, Counter-Strike 2 brings a few major changes, like weapon refunds and overhauled graphics, to the model that helped its predecessor become one of the most-played Steam games of all time.

Unfortunately for quite a few players, though, the original Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was completely replaced by Counter-Strike 2 (aside from being playable as an offline “demo”), which seems to be missing quite a few beloved features from the original game. Now, players caught off guard are taking to Reddit and X/Twitter to share their concerns about the game’s current state.

Just hours after CS2’s release, players began taking note of missing features. Reddit user u/cosmictrigger01 compiled a list of larger aspects of CS:GO that have mysteriously disappeared from CS2, which includes several competitive and Wingman maps, workshop maps, and entire game modes like Arms Race, Flying Scoutsman, and Danger Zone. In the replies, and across Twitter and Reddit, other players have now joined in on wondering where these modes went and if they’ll return.

“I played Arms Race so much, usually with the same group of guys who just happened to be on at the same time as me,” Reddit user u/theicarusambition commented. “So many strangers turned friends, and so many good times. It’d be a real shame if CS2 nixes it.”

As GamesRadar pointed out, some Arms Race maps were leaked, hinting at the potential return of the mode in the near future. Still, these players felt concerned that Valve took away these modes without warning.

Aside from removed features, a small chunk of CS2’s playerbase can’t even access the game at all anymore — Valve also removed support for players on Mac, with no word on if it’ll be re-added or not.

Players have also raised issues about other technical features, including commands like the bob animation-changing “cl_bob,” the absence of which sparked outcry during CS2’s beta.

Other players have complained about CS:2’s servers. While Valve upped CS2’s tick rate with a new system, some international players have noted that the game’s servers have led to an “almost unplayable” game in comparison to CS:GO.

“My agent and enemy agent lag very hard, can’t switch weapons sometimes…, can’t jump sometimes when I try to throw a grenade and there a lot of lags like these,” Reddit user u/ykoonab (who mentioned that they’re playing from Central Asia) posted.

For its part, Valve has acknowledged the server issues, having “hit server capacity in different regions.” They said they’re adding more server capacity “as fast as possible.”

Turns out a lot of you want to play Counter-Strike 2!

If you’re having trouble finding a match it’s because we’ve hit server capacity in different regions.

We’re adding more server capacity as fast as possible. Thanks for your patience while this is being addressed.

— CS2 (@CounterStrike) September 28, 2023

As with other Counter-Strike games, quite a few players also have felt like Counter-Strike 2 just hasn’t added enough new features since its beta version (or since the original CS:GO entirely).

They basically released no NEW content with the launch.

And I guess to not divide the audience they completely removed CS:GO, so the only game we’re left with is the seemingly rushed CS2.

Very weird how all of the hype for the last few weeks lead up to… basically nothing.

— Anomaly (@anomalyxd) September 28, 2023

“Very weird how all of the hype for the last few weeks lead up to… basically nothing,” streamer Anomaly said on Twitter.

Of course, the reaction to CS2’s surprise launch hasn’t been all negative. Twitter and Reddit are also filled with players praising the game’s overhauled graphics, discussing new features like responsive smoke grenades, and (of course) sharing some impressive clips.

Still, though, the players that are disappointed have been pretty vocal, and Valve hasn’t yet responded to concerns about the game (other than threatening to ban cheaters and their friends). Now, it’s just a matter of waiting to see if Valve brings these missing features back, or if this is just what Counter-Strike will look like going forward. Valve has not yet responded to IGN’s request for comment.

IGN has reached out to Valve for comment.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Almost seven years after the release of Skyrim, Elder Scrolls fans were treated to a glimpse of the future back at E3 2018, with Bethesda Game Studios confirming it was officially working on The Elder Scrolls 6. The newest entry in the iconic RPG series was unveiled with a cryptic teaser following the official announcement of Starfield, but since then, we’ve not seen any additional trailers or footage.

However, Bethesda hasn’t been entirely silent on it. Whether it’s discussing the game’s current stage of development or the potential platforms it’ll release on, the studio has offered several updates on The Elder Scrolls 6. Below, we’ve compiled all the information we currently have about the upcoming sequel, so grab yourself a sweet roll and get ready to recap everything we currently know about Bethesda’s next adventure through the vast realms of Tamriel.

Jump to:

• Potential Release Date
• Latest Trailer
• Potential Setting
• Gameplay Rumors

Potential Elder Scrolls 6 Release Year

The biggest question surrounding The Elder Scrolls 6 is when exactly we can expect to play it. Although there’s very little information about a potential release date, the one thing we do know is that it won’t be anytime soon. Bethesda Game Studios has been very vocal about the fact that Starfield is currently its main priority, and considering the sci-fi RPG only hit shelves last September, it’s safe to assume the team has a lot of loose ends to tie up before they can turn their full attention to Skyrim’s successor.

In an interview with Vandal that was later transcribed by ResetEra user Shoot back in August, Bethesda Head of Publishing Pete Hines revealed that The Elder Scrolls 6 is currently “in early development”, confirming that: “Starfield is our focus for now, and it’s going to remain our priority for a while before we talk about anything else.”

As for exactly when we can expect the conversation to shift to the next Elder Scrolls entry, Xbox Head Phil Spencer noted during Microsoft’s FTC trial back in June that the game was still “five plus years away.” In short, it’s going to be a while before we learn more about The Elder Scrolls 6, and even longer before we get to play the game for ourselves, with a tentative potential release year of 2028 at the earliest.

What Platforms Will The Elder Scrolls 6 Release On?

Although The Elder Scrolls 6 is still a ways off, one thing we do know is that it’ll very likely be an Xbox and PC exclusive. With Microsoft acquiring Bethesda and its parent company Zenimax back in 2020, the publisher’s extensive range of franchises now falls under the Xbox banner. As we saw with Starfield’s Xbox console exclusivity earlier this year, it seems pretty likely that The Elder Scrolls 6 will become a flagship exclusive for Microsoft, releasing on PC and Xbox consoles but skipping PlayStation.

That’s not the only evidence suggesting The Elder Scrolls 6 may be forgoing PlayStation consoles either. A recently leaked document from the Microsoft vs. FTC court case, spotted and shared by Axios reporter Stephen Totilo over on Twitter, revealed that the game is internally planned to launch on Xbox and PC. Microsoft has yet to officially confirm or deny the details leaked in the document, but early signs point to the sequel eyeing up an exclusive release on Xbox consoles.

That being said, which Xbox consoles it’ll launch on is still a mystery. While the Xbox Series X and S are currently Microsoft’s core platforms, the aforementioned leaked Microsoft vs. FTC court documents reveal that plans are already underway for the next generation of Xbox hardware. According to the leak, this mysterious next generation of Xbox is tentatively planned to hit shelves in 2028. With The Elder Scrolls 6 said to be at least five years away, there’s a good chance Bethesda will launch the sequel on this new Xbox platform.

Will Fallout 5 and Indiana Jones Affect The Elder Scrolls 6’s Release?

Outside of the major questions, what else do we know about Elder Scrolls 6? Well, for one, it’s confirmed that it’ll be coming before Bethesda’s next project, Fallout 5. Speaking with IGN back in 2022, Todd Howard confirmed that Fallout 5 is the next project in the pipeline after Elder Scrolls 6, although he noted that it’s still many years away.

According to the developer, there’s a “one-pager on Fallout 5” with a rough outline of what the team wants to accomplish, however, it won’t be the studio’s focus until after Elder Scrolls 6 hits shelves.

Todd Howard is also involved in another major project, with The Elder Scrolls director acting as a producer for Machine Games’ upcoming Indiana Jones title. Speaking on whether the role would affect The Elder Scrolls 6’s release, Bethesda’s Head of Marketing, Pete Hines, confirmed via Twitter that Howard’s work on Indiana Jones won’t delay Bethesda Game Studios’ projects. “Todd is currently EP on many BGS and other projects,” Hines told fans. “His main focus remains Directing the upcoming Starfield and TES6 games.”

The Elder Scrolls 6 Teaser Trailer

Back when The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced at E3 2018, it came with a 36-second teaser trailer. The footage doesn’t offer viewers much information about the sequel, but might hint towards the setting, showing a brief look at a sprawling landscape.

Elder Scrolls 6 Potential Setting

Speaking of the setting, Bethesda has remained tight-lipped on where the latest Elder Scrolls will take place. In terms of confirmed information, all we have to go on is the game’s 36-second announcement teaser, which presents a towering stretch of mountains and a picturesque coastline overlooking a vast ocean. But that hasn’t stopped eager Elder Scrolls buffs from trying to work out where exactly the next game’s adventure will lead us.

The prevailing theory is that the sequel will let players loose in Hammerfell – the central setting of The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall and The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, as well as a visitable location in The Elder Scrolls Online. With tropical forests, harsh mountains and scenic coastal cities, Hammerfell’s depictions in previous Elder Scrolls games seem to align pretty perfectly with the teaser, hinting that we may be set to explore the Redguards’ homeland once again.

Considering the lore established in previous entries, there’d be more than enough in store to warrant a visit to Hammerfell. Whether venturing through the harsh Alik’r Desert, climbing to the mountainous orcish capital of Orsinium or returning to the Iliac Bay years after Daggerfall, a modern take on Hammerfell could easily be the franchise’s most varied and diverse setting yet.

But there are plenty of other locations The Elder Scrolls 6 could take us to instead. Speculation has pointed to High Rock potentially being the central setting of Elder Scrolls 6, with the locale’s environments and terrain quite accurately mirroring Hammerfell as they’re neighboring regions. With the power of a potential next-generation platform on Bethesda’s side, we could even be set to explore multiple regions. Until we get more official information, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Elder Scrolls 6 Gameplay Rumors

Much like the sequel’s setting, we currently know very little about how The Elder Scrolls 6 will play. However, early comments from Bethesda appear to hint it’ll follow in Starfield’s footsteps of being a project that Bethesda hopes players will enjoy for years to come.

During our IGN Unfiltered interview with Todd Howard back in 2020, the Bethesda Game Studios director revealed that “this is a game we need to design for people to play for a decade at least.” It seems the idea is to create a project that’s constantly evolving and infinitely replayable, keeping players invested in the years between major Elder Scrolls releases.

When we caught up with Howard during a later episode of IGN Unfiltered, he also hinted that interactivity is a big focus going forward. Speaking on what he felt could be improved about The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Howard notes that “there are a number of parts of it where we don’t go deep enough. Where it’s a veneer in terms of its interactivity.” Elaborating on this point, he claims that the team’s new approach is to look at each of the game’s systems and think “whatever that system is, how deep can we make it.”

That approach is pretty evident in the team’s latest RPG, Starfield, which gives players the options to engineer ships, modify weapons and create large outposts on planets. It appears this same desire to create a deeper level of interactivity will be present in The Elder Scrolls 6.

Will The Elder Scrolls 6 Be Todd Howard’s Final Elder Scrolls Game?

As for other info we know about the sequel, this could potentially be legendary Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard’s last Elder Scrolls game. Speaking to us about the lengthy process of developing modern games back in June, Howard claimed: “as we look to an Elder Scrolls 6, that is one where… I probably shouldn’t say this. But if I do the math, I’m not getting any younger. How long do people play Elder Scrolls for? That may be the last one I do. I don’t know.”

With Todd Howard being a fixture of the series for decades now, his departure would be the end of an era for The Elder Scrolls franchise.

What Engine Will The Elder Scrolls 6 Be Made On?

We also know that the game will benefit from an upgraded version of Bethesda’s Creation engine. The engine used to develop The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, the Creation engine has long been controversial among fans, many of whom believe it’s outdated.

Over the last few years, Bethesda has been working on a vastly updated version of the Creation engine, which was implemented in Starfield and will be used to develop The Elder Scrolls 6. Speaking in a Develop: Brighton keynote session, Todd Howard called the upgrade “the largest [overhaul] we’ve probably ever had, maybe larger than Morrowind to Oblivion,” praising its rendering, pathing, procedural generation and animation.

With Starfield showing us our first full glimpse at the Creation engine upgrade in action, it stands to reason that the tech behind Elder Scrolls 6 will share a lot in common with Bethesda’s sprawling open-world space RPG.

Callum Williams is a freelance media writer with years of experience as a game critic, news reporter, guides writer and features writer.

Spoiler Warning: The following article features minor spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty’s fourth main mission: Lucretia My Reflection.

Cyberpunk 2077 players have found a super sneaky reference to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt hidden by CD Projekt inside the Phantom Liberty expansion.

As recorded in IGN’s Cyberpunk 2077 Easter Eggs and References Guide, players will encounter a wall-mounted phone in Phantom Liberty’s Lucretia My Reflection mission. While this is a one-off encounter where players contact Idris Elba’s Solomon Reed for the first time, going back to it and dialling a bunch of different phone numbers will net some interesting results.

Thanks to Cyberpunk 2077 being open-world, players can simply head back to the phone inside Capitan Caliente whenever they like to encounter the Witcher reference. By dialling one of the numbers scribbled on a post-it note nearby, 5745552377, the player will be treated to The Witcher 3’s main theme.

Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand smiles and gives a thumbs up at the successful hit, as a crackly version of the song The Trail plays over the phone. You can check out some other fun references found with Capitan Caliente’s phone in the video above.

Phantom Liberty arrived September 26, with Update 2.0 laying its foundation a few days earlier. It completely revamped Cyberpunk 2077 with features such as a new perk system and improved AI and also brought closure to an Elon Musk fan theory, a reference to the late racing legend Ken Block, and bizarre additions to the game’s biggest mystery.

All this caused a spike in Cyberpunk 2077’s popularity on Steam, a number that only grew as players got their hands on Phantom Liberty, and players are discovering all sorts of neat Easter eggs and references in the new content. Idris Elba’s Solomon Reed can be found deep undercover even before the events of Phantom Liberty, for example, and Dogtown has a harsh response to players driving police vehicles.

Bizarrely, CD Projekt even included a way for players to turn down the events of the paid expansion altogether, with certain dialogue options locking the missions away for good.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty completes an immense turnaround for CD Projekt Red’s future RPG kickstarted with the anime spin-off, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and its latest 2.0 Update.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

The talking stack of pancakes, Xur, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week’s reset. If you’re looking to get you some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he’s got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We’ve rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr Located Today?

Xûr’s location can be found at Winding Cove in the EDZ on September 29 through October 2. To reach him, travel to the landing point at Winding Cove. When you arrive, make for the rock cliffs at the far end of the cove and look for a cave winding up to a platform next to some Fallen. There you’ll find the retail monster who inspires us all.

It has been 13 years since the original Alan Wake was released as an Xbox 360 exclusive. That’s a long time, and if you’ve not played since then (or even played Alan Wake at all!) then you may want a recap of the story to help prepare you for Alan Wake 2. You could read a plot synopsis, or you could join us for the finale of this month’s IGN First, in which the game’s writer himself – Sam Lake – tells us the entire Alan Wake story so far.

In today’s video, Sam will cover the events of Alan Wake and its two DLC episodes; the standalone expansion Alan Wake’s American Nightmare; and AWE, the Alan Wake crossover expansion for Control. With these games covered, you’ll be more than caught up on the events of Bright Falls and the Cauldron Lake incident.

If you’ve never encountered Alan Wake before but you think the sequel looks interesting, let IGN be your introduction to the haunted world of Bright Falls before you watch Sam Lake tell the bigger picture. Alan Wake is a crime fiction author who heads to the small town of Bright Falls, Washington on vacation with his wife, in hope that time away will cure him of his writer’s block. This idyllic cabin getaway soon turns sour, though, as Alan has nightmares of shadowy figures who try to kill him. Soon nightmares become reality as Alan’s wife goes missing overnight. Not only that, but the figures from Alan’s dreams begin to stalk him in the woods. As he tries to work out what is going on, Alan keeps finding pages of a new, twisted novel that he has no memory of writing… and it seems to know exactly what is happening to him.

Things go from bad to worse as the entire town, from its people to its trucks, are possessed by dark forces intent on killing Alan. And if that wasn’t bad enough, an FBI agent arrives in town with the sole mission of arresting Alan by any means necessary. And so the story unfolds as Alan attempts to dodge the ire of both the possessed townsfolk and a wild FBI agent, all while attempting to free himself from this dark nightmare and find his wife.

For more from Alan Wake 2, check out all of the videos and features from this month’s IGN First:

• Our exclusive Alan Wake 2 hands-on preview.
• How Alan Wake 2 is combining horror and detective fiction like never before.
• How Alan Wake 2’s dual protagonists change the game.
• How the Remedy Connected Universe links Alan Wake to Control and more.
• 5 minutes of Alan gameplay
• 11 minutes of Saga gameplay

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.

The massive Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic Collection is officially up for preorder (see at Walmart). This collection is set to release on November 17, though Walmart has it listed for December 23 at the moment, and will set you back $400. It’s an investment that’s great for fans looking to get their hands on some classic cards in a sleek case, and it includes a wide variety of cards as well. The full collection includes three 60-card decks, a two-player game board, and so much more for Pokémon fans to enjoy. Click the link below to pick up yours.

Preorder The Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic Collection

Per Pokémon’s official website, the full Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic Collection includes:

• A game board that folds up to store all the items included in Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic.
• A toolbox for storing stackable damage counters, Poison and Burn markers, and metal orbs.
• Three Pokémon TCG decks featuring Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise, as well as newly printed cards to go along with the classics.
• Three deck boxes featuring Energy symbols matching the included Pokémon TCG decks.

These decks, and the collection in general, are great for some competitions between friends and family, especially if you want to show off classic characters you know and love. Its sleek case will keep all of your new cards and items safe as well.

On top of this new release, if you’re in the Halloween spirit with October right around the corner, you can also pick up Pokémon’s Trick or Trade Booster Bundle right now at various retailers for $20. This bundle is a great option to give out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night if you want some variety with the candy, containing 50 mini-packs with 3 cards each.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone are getting a raft of licensed bundles over the course of Season 6, and now the update is out in the wild, players have dug up gameplay clips showing off how they look.

Courtesy of Twitter user @BoomstickButch, we have an early look at gameplay showing off various operators and weapons. The highlight here has to be the Doom Tracer Pack, due October 9. This adds the Super Shotgun from id Software’s famous series to Call of Duty as well as its chainsaw. Both weapons are reminiscent of classic pixel Doom graphics and get bloodier as you get more eliminations. Here’s how they look:

Better video of the doom shotgun in action.
Note: it has no inspect animation pic.twitter.com/cIhoFcY0zW

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 28, 2023

Doom bundle pic.twitter.com/VGScHhfRIP

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 27, 2023

Elsewhere, we have a first look at the Lilith and Inarius operators, parachuted into Call of Duty from Blizzard’s Diablo 4. The Lilith operator bundle, due out October 15, includes the Daughter of Hatred Finishing Move. The Inarius operator bundle, out October 26, has the Inarius Impaling Finishing Move.

Diablo bundles pic.twitter.com/z5JxjDEoXj

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 27, 2023

We’ve also got a look at Ash Williams from Evil Dead 2:

Ash’s Finisher in all 3 stances pic.twitter.com/fnJlmhzjB6

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 29, 2023

Ash’s idle and selection animation pic.twitter.com/aCgnw58hBE

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 29, 2023

New blueprints and animated emblem for the Ash Bundle. pic.twitter.com/JT7VerFMtf

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 28, 2023

Ash with the Chainsaw pic.twitter.com/C3vyBfmqKC

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 28, 2023

Ash Williams pic.twitter.com/0Na15Yw1YQ

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 27, 2023

Here’s Alucard from Hellsing:

Alucard pic.twitter.com/m2xkWx6mrh

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 27, 2023

We’ve even got a look at the Sardaukar operator skin from the as yet unannounced Dune Part Two: Sardaukar Pack.

S6 Bundles pic.twitter.com/mgd5Tv0OyH

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 27, 2023

And let’s not forget Skeletor from Masters of the Universe.

pic.twitter.com/acnnluORFJ

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 27, 2023

And the rest:

Grim Reaper ghost bundle pic.twitter.com/39ppACCgpQ

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 29, 2023

Rest of the finishing moves for the season pic.twitter.com/xjlC4W0ZB4

— Boomstick Butcher (@BoomstickButch) September 28, 2023

Activision has clearly gone big with the crossovers for Modern Warfare 2’s final season ahead of the launch of Modern Warfare 3, and for this Halloween’s seasonal update. Let’s not forget Spawn is joining the fray, too.

The Haunting marks the conclusion of Modern Warfare 2’s final season, which increases the Prestige Rank cap from 21 to 25, with a new maximum level of 1,250. The Modern Warfare 3 beta kicks off October 6 on PlayStation consoles, with crossplay across all platforms from October 12.

Modern Warfare 3 campaign early access begins November 2, with the full launch set for November 10. The content you earn in Modern Warfare 2 will carry forward to the Modern Warfare 3, which means you can take your weapons and Operators with you to the new game.

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.