In a statement, The Pokémon Company announced that Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which debuted on October 16, has already sold 5.8 million units worldwide, with around half of those bought for Nintendo’s new console, the Switch 2.
This means the first Pokémon game to feature real-time Pokémon battles is the fifth best-selling game of the franchise in terms of first week sales.
By comparison, that’s more than Pokémon X/Y and Let’s Go Pikachu / Eevee managed in their first weeks, but, according to X / Twitter user Pierre485, not as much as Pokémon Scarlet / Violet, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and Pokémon Sword / Shield managed.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is set in Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon and features a new battle system. It returned 8/10 in IGN’s review in which we concluded: “Pokémon Legends: Z-A finally feels like Game Freak hitting its stride in Pokémon’s 3D era, with a fun setting to explore, a well-written story, and a total battle system overhaul that works surprisingly well.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Halloween may be right around the corner, but the winter holiday season will come at us just as fast. If you’re a big Zelda fan or have special someone in your life that is obsessed, Hallmark has a handful of awesome ornaments spanning the franchise’s storied history you can buy right now. Ranging in price from $12 to $32, purchasing one of these won’t break the bank and will last for holidays to come. If you’re looking for an affordable Legend of Zelda gift to buy ahead of the 2025 Christmas season, this is a delightful option worth considering.
Legend of Zelda Hallmark Ornaments
Pretty much every era from Zelda’s history is represented with these ornaments, from the NES original 8-bit Link to 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom Decayed Master Sword. The Link with his sword and shield ornament is another notable inclusion, since it plays classic Zelda tunes at the push of a button. I personally would have appreciated some Twilight Princess love with this collection, but I can’t complain with what’s on offer here.
Each ornament is only a few inches in every dimension, so storing them efficiently in the off-season or utilizing them as year-round decor is definitely on the table. I have a game shelf that the Toon Link ornament would be right at home on. The 8-bit Link ornament is low on stock, so if you’ve had your eye on it, now’s the perfect time to pick one up.
More Hallmark Nintendo Ornaments
Naturally, The Legend of Zelda franchise isn’t the only Nintendo property receiving the Hallmark treatment. There’s an Elephant Mario from Super Mario Bros. Wonder would look great on any Christmas tree, and the winter hat Rowlet is one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.
Is Hallmark a Good Ornament Brand?
Hallmark isn’t the only ornament brand out there, but it is certainly one of the most well-known. The main appeal of Hallmark Keepsake ornaments is that the brand offers yearly releases from popular IPs like Nintendo, Star Wars, Disney, and more. If you’re looking for a little piece of your favorite movie or video game to hang on your tree, it’s most likely going to be a Hallmark-branded ornament. Seeing as the ornaments are officially-licensed, they are also likely to be of higher quality than any knock-off brands you find elsewhere.
Do you remember the worst day of your life? It’s okay; you don’t have to answer. I do. I was doing something I loved, I made a mistake, and a story someone else told about it for their own purposes cost me almost everything I had. People I thought were my friends walked out of my life, doors slammed shut in my face, and everything I’d worked for evaporated. My family resorted to communication by postcard because I refused to answer the phone, and I spent the next two years contemplating suicide before finally finding some semblence of peace. Nearly a decade later, those moments, that mistake – such a little thing, really – impacts every aspect of my life. I spend a lot of time grappling with that, wondering if I’ll ever be the person I was before that moment again. I don’t know the answer.
The worst day of Clementine McKinney’s life reminded me a lot of my own, though it came inside the cockpit of a Raptor mech rather than behind a keyboard. She made a decision, one rooted in trying to do the right thing and defend people she loved, and it cost her everything she had. Clementine McKinney died that day, and Graveyard Clem was born from the ashes. Bounty Star is about who you are after the worst day of your life, about what you do when the only option is to climb back into the machine that put you there in the first place. I didn’t have a choice; neither does Clem. We don’t know how to do anything else.
Clem is a bounty hunter. Building and piloting a Raptor is all she knows, and it’s the main thing you’ll do across the roughly 15-20 hours it took me to finish Bounty Star’s story (though there is ample replayability if you want it). After her world collapses, her friend Jake Triminy, the local marshall of a post-plague future that caused the collapse of human civilization and the return of the dinosaurs, sets her up with an old workshop that has enough space to double as a farm. Nobody much trusts her after what happened, so the bounties she is offered are for small fry: local bandits and the like. You spend her money to buy food and cook it in her kitchen for stat increases before going out on a mission. The first time she gets into her Raptor after the decision she made inside one destroyed her life, she spends a long time staring at the ol’ girl, her heart beating fast. Then she closes her eyes, exhales, and gets to work. Clem sees the irony, but it might also be her only way out. Both she and I sit in that cockpit, but we are not in the same place.
Clem wears her battles on her body. There’s a nasty burn on the side of her neck, a deep scar on the right side of her face, and another on the opposite cheek. She’s not young anymore; if you leave her alone long enough, she’ll stretch and complain about the way her body is failing her, even though her physique tells the story of a woman who builds Raptors and welds steel. Her clothes are covered in engine grease and stained with sweat. Her accent bears the twang of the American South. She drinks, smokes, plays guitar, and swears like it’s going out of style – and yet, when she gets stuck on a problem, she’ll pull out a stuffed dinosaur named Jeremy and talk to him until she realizes the solution. After a completed bounty, Clem sits on her Raptor and writes down her thoughts in a small journal, a warrior poet hoping that she’ll find herself in the words she arranges on the page. She is a person, messy and flawed and glorious, and I loved her in the way you love a kindred soul, someone whose failings you understand and strengths you admire.
Clem is a person, messy and flawed and glorious.
Once you’ve got your assignment, it’s time to outfit your Raptor and get to work. Raptors are relatively tiny mechs – think an Armored Core’s AC, but smaller, less well armed, and faster. They have melee and ranged weapons that range from chainswords and giant hammers to assault rifles and grenade launchers. You can customize them to fit your playstyle even further by popping in things like a booster for quick dodges, a burst repairer for on-the-spot healing, or a thermal computer to restore your Raptor to its base temperature faster.
There’s a lot to consider: each weapon has one of three types (Blade, Bludgeoning, Boom) that operate in a rock, paper, scissors style against different types of armor. Weapons and systems also build or reduce heat. Too much or too little, and your Raptor will shut down until it comes back under control, leaving you vulnerable. But there are benefits. High heat speeds up your melee weapon swings, while a cooler Raptor fires its guns more quickly.
Some bounties are only available in the morning, afternoon, or evening. It’s cooler at night, so weapons that generate heat are more viable than they would be in the afternoon, when you’ll want systems to keep your Raptor running cool. The right build takes your targets, time of day, and heat into account, and there is a joy in stepping into Clem’s mind, getting under the hood, and building a smooth-running rig.
In the field, a Raptor is nimble but purposeful, a force of fury and steel. It can dodge and run to avoid fire, but when you swing that chainsword, you commit to its weight and momentum. An assault rifle will kill a man in a single shot, but it will be less effective against a Driller mech built heavy for mining and repurposed by outlaws for combat. A double-barreled shotgun will chew through an unmanned Sieger, but you’ll need to be more precise against another mech. The heavier enemies – Drillers, Raptors like yours – have stability that must be reduced before your melee weapons stagger them, but once it’s gone, a hammer, chainsword, or flame gauntlet will rock them to the frame, steel grinding against steel until something breaks. But be wary of counter-attacks, which can stop your offense cold and send your Raptor reeling. To compensate, you have melee and dash tricks of your own. Cancel a swing of your hammer into an evasive maneuver while leaping backward and firing your shotgun, or dash forward into a swing of a built-for-a-mech baseball bat. To fight another Raptor is to tango, two gunslingers circling until one finds an opening.
It’s satisfying, though repetition does set in when you see the same Raptor, the same Sieger, the same group of enemies again and again, especially during the Low Priority repeatable bounties you’ll do between High Priority story missions. The environments Clem navigates, clearly a loving tribute to the American Southwest, are stunning at least. Though you’ll see some of the maps several times, many of them never lose their beauty, especially at night. Variety is found in optional objectives that offer additional cash and challenge you to take no damage, use a specific build, complete a bounty quickly, destroy objects scattered around the environment, find a hidden item, and so on. And it is always worth scavenging an area to find secret chests for additional rewards like world lore, resources, or even blueprints for new weapons or recipes for Clem to whip up in the kitchen.
I found joy in the repetition of a life lived outside of the cockpit.
Between bounties, you’ll use the money Clem earns to build up her new home and improve her Raptor. Things start small. But soon enough, you’re crafting new weapons, unlocking additional slots or loadouts, producing your own fuel, making your own ammunition, growing crops, and raising chickens. As she rebuilds herself, a place she didn’t want to be becomes a home. These chores are minor – feed the chickens, water the plants, sow new seeds, make sure the fuel producing systems have enough water, cook a meal before you head out – but I found joy in the repetition of a life lived outside of the cockpit, of seeing the real, tangible progress Clem and I were making on our journeys of healing.
A I invested more time and money into the farm, I was able to do these jobs faster, more efficiently. Carrying water to each plant will get the job done. But it’s much more fun to build a firearm-activated irrigation system, to watch empty space get filled in by the work you’ve done, slowly, piece by piece. Isn’t that a life? And my Raptor was becoming fiercer, too, the bounties bigger. At the start, one feeds the other. The Raptor. The farm. Over time, they intertwine, and it’s harder to see where one ends and the other begins.
In one of her journal entries, Clem reflects on her relationship with Raptors, wondering if she should loathe them on principle as machines of war or lean into the power and joy she feels while piloting one. It’s a question not just for her, but us as the player, too. She opts for the latter, partly because she has no choice, and partly because she feels she is making the world a better place by removing bad men from it. You can thankfully take bounties alive or scare off dinosaurs with fireworks instead of killing them (and sometimes you are paid more for it), but you’re going to rack up a lot of bodies either way. The home she builds is the opposite of that. At first, she resents it, wanting out as quickly as she can find a way. But she comes to see its potential. Soon, I was making just as much money from farming as I was from bounty hunting. What was a chore became a way of life.
And as she builds a new life, other characters come to inhabit it. She befriends a reformed bandit who offers her a way to relive past battles, useful for completing optional objectives in bygone story missions; a former thief atoning for his crimes by wearing a ridiculous steak outfit and selling meat as Mr. Meat; a miner trapped inside his suit who has dedicated himself to building an ethical mine for other miners; a weapons dealer who becomes a confidant; a giant insect driven from its colony who becomes a friend (and, when fed and watered, a weapon to be mounted on a Raptor).
Each is a mirror that offers Clem a chance to reflect on her life, her choices, to show us who she is, and who she still might be. Shall she be a woman at war with herself, reliving the battles that brought her here? There are many kinds of prisons. Some you carry with you wherever you go. Clem’s Raptor could be a cell. But it could be armor, too, the key to something else. Something better. The past is prologue, but it doesn’t have to define us. We choose who we are every day.
Bounty Star is a simple game. You would never mistake it for something with a ton of money behind it, though the writing and voice acting are excellent. And there were times it frustrated me, such as when it locked story progression behind building an engine I couldn’t afford. (Luckily, I had a pretty sizable farm at that point, and chicken eggs and corn command a premium.) It crashed on me a few times. It can be repetitive. I’m not sure I care about much of that, but it was part of my experience. But I did care about Clem, about her story, the people she loved and who loved her in return. This town takes in all kinds. I wanted her to rebuild her life, and that saw me through.
With its unsettling backdrops and detailed worldbuilding, Tormented Souls 2 may look like a contemporary horror game, but don’t let that modern dressing fool you. At its core beats the blackened heart of stone-cold classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, with all the treats — and tricks — that both endeared me to and enraged me about these formulaic survival horror games when they first gained popularity. Fixed camera angles? Check. Tank controls? Check. Insanely complex puzzles and an even more bizarre story, complete with cheesy dialogue and a manual save system? Check, check, check, and check. It makes Tormented Souls 2 a surprisingly faithful homage, bringing back all the stuff I loved about old survival horror games… as well as many of the things I loved to hate.
Tormented Souls 2 picks up right after the events of its 2021 predecessor, but you don’t have to have met the Walker sisters before to make sense of this sequel. That’s partly because it tells a standalone story, and partly because it’s so fantastical that nothing makes sense anyway. Sure, you may have questions about Caroline’s fetching eyepatch, but all you really need to know is she’s searching for answers about her little sister Anna’s terrifying visions and reality-bending drawings. For reasons that seem to exist exclusively in schlocky horror tales, that answer apparently sits somewhere in the depths of a creepy convent nestled in a far-flung location.
Before Caroline even gets the chance to shrug off her (exceedingly 90s) leather jacket, though, Anna goes missing, and it’s up to the older sibling to both find her sister and figure out what the hell is going on before it’s too late… with an emphasis on the “hell” bit, naturally. As stories go, it’s not unique, no, but the twists and turns of Tormented Souls 2’s roughly 20-hour campaign are delightfully over-the-top in the same way the original Resident Evil games are. It’s packed with cheesy dialogue, curious flavor text, and some truly bizarre encounters I couldn’t help but smile at. Caroline’s stay in the remote town of Villa Hess will take you to a number of wonderfully grim places, including a processing plant, spooky school, abandoned mall, bunker, and the sprawling convent you start off in, keeping the creepy environments feeling fresh.
And those environments are so detailed! Stuffed with interest and plenty of lore, Villa Hess and its surroundings are such fascinating, atmospheric places to explore. You never know when a key item or a helpful tool may be secreted away in a hidden room somewhere, so it’s always best to keep your curiosity piqued. While your investigation is sometimes interrupted by a bladed demon or shambling zombie, you’ll find that enemies have a tendency to stay dead in Tormented Souls 2 — once you’ve cleared out an area, you’re usually left to explore at your leisure. With little more than a flickering candle to guide the way, though, it’s a little too easy to miss things; I’ve been caught out a couple of times by overlooking a key clue or item, even in areas I thought I’d examined pretty closely.
As is seemingly the law for old-school survival horror, the more you play, the more you’ll find yourself opening up new routes to old places, providing access to rooms and entire areas that were previously blocked off. I suspect the backtracking will irk some — there’s a lot of it, particularly early on — but as the levels and fetch-quests are well-designed and usually rewarding, I couldn’t begrudge it. That said, there’s a reason fixed camera angles and tank controls are considered relics of the past. I grew up playing the games Tormented Souls 2 pays homage to (Resident Evil, Silent Hill 3, Parasite Eve, Alone in the Dark), but moving around Villa Hess is frustrating even when there isn’t a demon on your tail, with tight corridors and dead ends that make getting from one side of a building to the other unduly long-winded.
Add in Caroline’s fear of the dark: she’ll freeze and start to hyperventilate if plunged into darkness for even a split second, dying completely if you leave her there too long. You can’t even put away your lighter to shatter a porcelain pot or smash open a wooden crate unless there’s an ambient light source nearby… which there very often isn’t. The lighter sure does add to the atmosphere, though, which is almost continually tense and unnerving. As the primary source of light quite often, you’ll have to proactively step into a room to illuminate what, if anything, is hiding in the shadows, which inevitably means unwittingly getting up close and personal with the denizens skulking around the place.
It all falls apart a bit when there is something hiding in the dark, though. Tormented Souls 2’s combat isn’t clumsy as much as it is enraging. The reliance on Caroline’s lighter means you’re often unarmed when something lunges at you, and the fixed camera angles and stiff character movement make it harder than it should be to retreat or create a little distance. Caroline protects herself with a range of acquired and improvised weapons, from a shotgun to a nail gun. Some of them can be upgraded to improve their rate of fire or reload speed, but they’re still slow to use and difficult to wield accurately in a panic. I know it’s kind of a genre convention to ensure we feel weak and underpowered, but this could’ve been achieved through scarcer ammo or by throwing more enemies at us; inefficient weapons and fixed cameras don’t ramp up the tension as much as snap the immersion entirely.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, that jankiness follows you into boss fights. One of the first you’ll encounter, a giant nun, stomps around the room trying to batter you with a gigantic steel cross. But in that one single room, there are at least three different fixed camera angles, which means you may find yourself inadvertently sprinting towards your foe if the camera shifts while trying to put distance between you. This wouldn’t be so bad if your shotgun held more than two shots at a time or if the nun flinched with each hit, but she’ll keep galloping like an aggravated rhino, which made the camera feel like the real boss I was fighting.
Thankfully, for every underwhelming boss fight you’re forced to endure, you’ll happen across a good half-dozen puzzles which confuse and delight in equal measure. I never felt closer to an old Resident Evil or Silent Hill game than trying to figure out how to open a door, or decode a cipher, or prise open the jaws of a dead shark for reasons I still don’t quite understand. Often deeply cryptic, maddeningly illogical, or completely unsolvable because I stupidly missed a clue somewhere, these puzzles were exactly what I want from a game like this, all the way down to the mini-puzzles that ask you to combine specific items in your inventory. Yes, I’ll admit one or two (or five) brain teasers truly stumped me for an embarrassing amount of time, but if that isn’t old-school survival horror, then what is?
Bethesda has used Fallout Day to announce the Fallout: New Vegas 15th Anniversary Bundle, which celebrates Obsidian’s much-loved post-apocalyptic role-playing game turning 15 years old.
This edition will be available for pre-order on October 23 via the Bethesda Gear Store, and includes:
Fallout: New Vegas: Ultimate Edition PC Code
Victor Statue (8″ PVC): The friendly Securitron stands tall and is ready to roll
Doc Mitchell’s Evaluation Cards (8×8 cardstock set): Straight from your first moments in Goodsprings, a true piece of New Vegas history
Vault Boy Enamel Pin (1.5″): Vault Boy stacks the odds with poker chips in hand
Mojave Express Patch (3.5″ × 1.9″): Woven, iron-on, and full of wasteland charm
NCR Recon Patch (3.25″ × 3.5″): Woven, iron-on insignia of the New California Republic’s finest
Collector’s Big Box: A throwback-style display box created exclusively for the anniversary
2010’s Fallout: New Vegas still lives long in the memory, and interest in it is surging as a result of Fallout Season 2, which will head to New Vegas for Season 2 in December. Indeed, there are all sorts of rumors floating around about potential Fallout remakes now that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is out the door (Fallout 3 Remastered was leaked back in 2023, but those plans may have changed). And we know Bethesda wants to eventually get to Fallout 5, albeit after The Elder Scrolls 6.
“For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76… we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that,” he said. “The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling.”
The last mainline Fallout game was Fallout 4, which was released in 2015. DLC content for the entry was steadily released for PC and consoles over the next year, and in 2018, Bethesda launched its multiplayer-centered offshoot, Fallout 76. While fans slowly flocked to the West Virginia-set open-world RPG, it wasn’t until the premiere of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show that the Bethesda series leveled up in terms of attention.
Still, Howard wouldn’t budge when it came to desires for a substantial video game release. For him, it comes down to wanting to treat Bethesda’s franchises with care.
“Totally get the desire for a new kind of mainline single-player game,” he said. “And look, those things take time. I don’t think it’s bad for people to miss things. We just want to get it right and make sure that everything we’re doing in a franchise, whether it’s Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or now Starfield, that those become meaningful moments for everybody who loved these franchises as much as we do.”
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.
Gearbox has released the big Borderlands 4 Day 30 patch, which makes a number of key balance changes to the game.
This update, released October 23, includes widespread stability improvements, multiplayer fixes, UI polish, and a suite of quality-of-life upgrades across visuals, audio, and accessibility. It also addresses various reported issues for Vault Hunters including major balance tuning, loot systems, gear, and achievements — further refining late-game, mission flow, and overall player experience.
“We will monitor the community closely for feedback and respond after the changes have settled,” Gearbox said. “This measured approach to your input will provide a consistent and better experience. As a reminder, our primary goal with balance adjustments is to provide you the greatest number of viable builds.”
The update launches alongside the free Horrors of Kairos Seasonal Mini-Event. From today, October 23 to November 6, players will experience “a terror-inducing blood rain during all world boss encounters, with the added chance to loot the all-new legendary ‘Murmur’ Tediore Assault Rifle and ‘Skully’ Order Grenade.
Borderlands 4 Day 30 October 23 update patch notes:
Change List:
Horrors of Kairos!
Added support for the Horrors of Kairos! This free mini-event will be live from October 23 to November 6.
Added the “Murmur” Legendary Tediore Assault Rifle and “Skully” Legendary Order Grenade to the rewards for world bosses across Kairos! These special drops will only be available during Horrors of Kairos, and delivered to the Reward Center. These do not change the rates on any other gear for that boss.
Read the official announcement article for Horrors of Kairos for more information on the event and a spooky SHiFT code to shoot fear into your enemies!
Progression, Loot, & Rewards
Reduced Specialization Respec Machine cost from 5000 Eridium to 1500
Added drops to a certain boss fight that was not dropping loot
[PC] Ultimate Vault Hunter Level 5 Rank Up mission now correctly increases rank on Steam
Granted missing cosmetic rewards for players who completed Kairos Speaks with 155 Echo Logs prior to a previous update
Improved equipment handling when opening Rewards while driving
Lost Loot Machine logic updated to better prioritize higher-quality loot in overflow situations
Lost Loot Machine SDU upgrades now properly expand slots in multiplayer sessions
Addressed a reported issue with the Lost Loot Machine that could cause duplications in multiplayer
Loot enemies now drop more cash
Golden Chests can now consistently be opened after joining a session and redeeming SHiFT keys
Reward Center behavior adjusted after claiming the Gilded Glory Pack, to prevent it from losing function
Break Free reward bundle redemption standardized, will now correctly apply account-wide as intended
Adjusted unlock conditions so Rift Incompatible achievement now correctly completes for all players in multiplayer
Cut That Out achievement now unlocks when viewing the board from a further distance.
Level-based progression updated so Crimson Rising achievement unlocks at character level 10 as designed
Timing adjustments made so Catch a Ride! achievement unlocks only at the intended progression point
Challenge tracking updated so Jakobs Throwing Knives no longer count as gun kills
Ensured that Bobblehead collectibles in Pester’s Grotto and Motherbird Node were accessible.
Discovered locations now stay discovered when returning to single-player after multiplayer
Various Fast Travel stations have been adjusted to unlock when they’re intended to, including concerns seen in Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode
Vault Key animations now play correctly during ECHO-4 sequences
ECHO Log pickup in Unpaid Tab now counts properly
Amara’s Escort to Core objective now consistently advances when replayed
Improved various instances of mission waypoints not showing up accurately
Gameplay & Missions
Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine is able to be interacted with reliably in multiplayer
Legendary Vending Machine no longer closes unexpectedly during Vend of the Line
Made general improvements to prevent enemies from getting stuck when spawning, and addressed various reported spawn point issues
Addressed bounties Beatloaf, Grip, and Shagriculture not reliably spawning
Addressed reported instances of Terminus Range Vault enemies getting stuck on ledges during encounters
Addressed a reported issue in co-op during the Splashzone boss fight, leading to more consistent behavior
The Howl Capture Station no longer reactivates after safehouse capture
One Fell Swoop has been updated to prevent players from being left floating in the air. Bio-Bulkhead now shows the correct elemental icon and movement has been smoothed to eliminate jitter after certain attacks
Warden Scathe no longer clips through arena walls in his boss fight
Improved Echo Location guidance across several missions
Patched collision gaps, holes, clipping, and invisible walls
Corrected Order drop pod events to consistently reach that ground and no longer appear stuck in the air
NPCs should no longer cause players or vehicles to get stuck when the player runs them over
Pangolin enemies can now be damaged by grenades while in ball mode
Chain Master trait now tethers to all allies in range when multiple enemies have the ability
Mangler enemies no longer desync their position when dodging in multiplayer
Vault Hunter Changes
Harlowe the Gravitar
Addressed some Gravitar builds that reportedly caused performance slowdowns; they should no longer prevent UI elements from updating or Fight For Your Life sequences from completing
Gravitar passive and Augment bonuses to Gun Damage now correctly apply to Ripper Heavy Weapon barrels and the Ripper Legendary Heavy Weapon Steamer; Entanglement interactions also function as designed
Gravitar class mods have been adjusted to no longer roll +5 Pencils Down and push passives past their intended cap
Creative Bursts
Balance Adjustments:
Neutron Capture now converts all Gun Damage into radiation, and now only applies to Gun Shots, and not all instances of Gun Damage.
Dev Note: Neutron Capture is one of the best damage scalars in the entire game, but during testing, we found that this was erroneously applying to all instances of Gun Damage and was able to scale in unanticipated ways as a result. This new change will still see Neutron Capture being one of the best (if not the best) damage scalars in the game, but the power level will be much more in line with our expectations. Additionally, since all damage from the Gun is converted into Radiation, it should have more scaling vectors for clever build crafters, and allow for meaningful boosts from Gun Damage.
Cosmic Brilliance – Passive
Flux Generator + Annihilation interaction updated so spawned grenades now scale correctly with character level
Amon the Forgeknight
Shield visuals adjusted for improved clarity in combat situations
Trait – Forgeskill
Adjusted interaction with Forge Master class mod so Forgeskill now respects its cooldown in multiplayer
Onslaughter – Calamity
Camera behavior stabilized when combining Onslaughter with Order Legendary Pistol Noisy Cricket
Attack frequency of Rocket Punch is now consistent in multiplayer
Balance Adjustments
Seeing Red Duration restored no longer increases per point invested, and is now 4 seconds for all ranks.
Dev Note: Seeing Red was always meant to have huge damage scaling potential, but was always meant to be hard to maintain. We didn’t want to nerf this passive’s power, but we’re making the effect harder to maintain.
Scourge – Vengeance
Scorched Kairos passive now displays consistent magazine size values for the Ordnance gadget
The Forgewave no longer fires unintentionally during Glacial Rapture
Projectiles no longer get stuck in the air when Forgemaster Firewall is active during the Fortress Indomita boss fight
Blackout Shock Damage now properly scales with points invested
Blackout is now 15% per point, down from 21% per point
Dev Note: After fixing the scaling of the DoT (damage over time), we found that Blackout was overperforming a bit, so we gave it a slight re-adjustment. This will still be an overall buff, now that the DoT properly scales.
Crucible – Cybernetics
Visuals corrected so Forgeknight Forgeaxe no longer disappears when activating Crucible at the same time as throwing with Double-Edge
Corrected animation of Crucible while climbing
Raging Inferno Incendiary Damage now properly scales with points invested
Vex the Siren
Challenge “Me, Myself, Myself, and I.” now tracks correctly in multiplayer, independent of clone duration on other players
Dead Ringer – The Fourth Seal
Specter’s copied weapon now displays proper visual effects when firing with a Maliwan Element Switcher
Incarnate – Vexcalation
Bleed from Bloodletter has been updated so it no longer recursively triggers itself, preventing unintended damage loops
Phase Phamiliar – Here Comes Trouble
Balance Adjustments
Double Trouble Illusion Damage Multiplier is now 75%, up from 50%
Double Trouble Illusion’s Duration is now 8 seconds, up from 5 seconds
Apex Beast Damage Dealt increase increased to 15% from 10% per stack of Unsealed
Rafa the Exo-Soldier
Free Grenade from Filantropo class mod now deals appropriate damage even when no grenade is equipped
People Person skill tree
Action Skills – APOPHIS Lance
APOPHIS Lance changed to penalize Gun Accuracy instead of Gun Handling, resulting in projectile speed being unaffected.
APOPHIS Lance now benefits from cooldown reduction effects
Gear
Skills that boost Gun Handling now properly increase Projectile Speed
Addressed reports that swapping weapons with the Free Loader Enhancement on an Order weapon with a Ripper magazine would cause all weapons to not consume the accurate amount of ammo
Health restoration from Legendary Repkit Adrenaline Pump now works correctly when combined with Legendary Shield Guardian Angel
Reduced critical chance on Jakobs crit knife to 30%
Dev Note: It had to happen, you knew it was going to happen!
Jakobs Legendary Pistol San Saba Songbird no longer stacks infinitely when swapping weapons
Using a Jakobs Shotgun with Torgue sticky projectiles and the Knife Launcher underbarrel no longer deals knife damage after switching fire modes
Jakobs weapon parts updated so ricochet effects only trigger from intended damage sources
Ripper Legendary Shotgun Golden God overheating effect now clears correctly when switching weapons
Corrected behavior on Maliwan Legendary SMG Ohm I Got so the first three shots no longer consume ammo without dealing damage during continuous fire
Maliwan Legendary Heavy Gun Gamma Void corrected to apply proper increased Radiation damage to enemies inside the Singularity
Weapons with COV magazines now function correctly if a repair animation is interrupted with a Repkit in multiplayer
Daedalus Legendary SMG Frangible removed from chest loot tables
Daedalus Legendary AR First Impression reduced the critical damage multiplier
Recoil behavior improved while charging and firing Order ARs and Torgue Heavy with Triple Barrel parts with Gun Handling passives
Vladof Flamethrower underbarrel no longer deals infinite damage or bypasses Bio Armor
Torgue Grenades with Spring and Apex Augments now always explode on its first apex
Grenades with Spring Augment and Divider Payload now have the intended three additional bounces when paired
Gadgets no longer reset to maximum uses after gaining Second Wind
Healing Orbs spawned from Legendary Repkit Kill Spring can no longer heal enemies
Order Legendary Shield Cindershelly combat voice lines now trigger at the intended frequency, less often to be less distracting
Tediore underbarrel names now match correctly across item cards and ammo widgets
Maliwan Lingering Payload and Splat Pack Augment projectiles no longer persist when thrown at vending machines
Gear Balance: Assault Rifles:
Star Helix fire rate increased by 33%
Bonnie and Clyde base damage increased by 40%; Pair of Thieves: Bonus damage granted increased to 150% from 100%
Bugbear base damage increased by 40%; Rotary Gun: Max Damage increased to 200% from 100%
Rowan’s Charge base fire rate increased by 100%
Rowan’s Charge recoil reduced slightly
Lucian’s Flank base damage increased by 50%
Lucian’s Flank recoil reduced slightly
Aegon’s Dream base damage increased by 35%
Heavy Weapon Ordnance:
Gamma Void base damage increased by 450%; Singularity Duration decreased to 6s from 10s, Radiation damage amp increased to 50% from 40%, Gamma Void Cooldown increased by 100%
Ravenfire base damage increased by 25%
Class Mods:Dev Notes: Class Mods relating to Melee Damage, Action Skill Damage, and specific one-off stats on Legendaries have been buffed to make them more desirable.
All Class Mods:
Melee Damage Action Skill Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
Skill Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 45%
Siren Class Mods:
Avatar’s Attunement Skill Duration on level 50 class mods has increased to 45%
Kindread Spirits’ Command Skill Cooldown rate on level 50 class mods has increased to 45%
Forgeknight Class Mods:
Blacksmith’s Forgedrone Duration on level 50 class mods has increased to 45%
Blacksmith’s Legendary Effect now also increases all Forgedrone Damage by 20% per active Forgedrone
Viking’s Detonation Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
Forge Master’s Forgeskill Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
Elementalist’s Legendary Effect now also increases all Damage Dealt by Amon by 2% per active Affinity Stack
Gravitar Class Mods:
Bio-Robot’s Hazard Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
Skeptic’s Stasis Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
Other Gear:
Dev Notes: Gear effects that are related to Melee and Action Skill Damage have increased effectiveness. We want these builds to be pushed up a bit, but wanted to distribute the power among the various pieces of gear to make them more desirable.
Rep Kits:
Hard Hitter now grants 50% Melee Damage Dealt, up from 40%
Firm Ware:
Reel Big Fist now grants 25% Melee Damage at rank 1 and 2, up from 15%/25%
Action Fist now grants 25% Melee Damage at rank 1, up from 15%
Action Fist now grants 30% Action Skill Damage at rank 2, up from 30%
Action Fist now grants 30% Action Skill Damage on Melee Kill, up from 25%
Shields:
Boxer Armor Shields now grant 20%/30%/50% Melee Damage depending on parts rolled, up from 15%/25%/40%
Berserker Energy Shields now grant 20%/30%/50% Melee Damage depending on parts rolled, up from 20%/27.5%/35%
Specializations
Groundbreaker:
Groundbreaker now only stores Gun, Action Skill, and Ordnance damage.
Dev Note: Groundbreaker was causing recursive loops that could lead to infinite damage by storing “Bonus Damage” across the board. We still want this skill to be effective, but it should not be able to scale infinitely. We’ll be monitoring Melee builds after this change to make sure they are meeting expectations, and will further adjust if necessary. This ultimately had to be fixed so we can establish a baseline before we investigate further buffs/changes.
UI & UX & Text
Sorting settings in menus now persist when switching tabs or leaving the menu
“Toggle Junk” behavior has been corrected to target the desired item in Bank menus and Backpack
Weapon wheel no longer sticks when opened near Guns vending machines
Combat Radar now features a dedicated Legendary Loot Indicator, making high-value drops easier to spot in the heat of combat
Press/Hold input now cancels correctly without triggering unintended actions
“Apply Settings” prompt only appears when changes are made
[PS5 and Xbox] Splitscreen updates, including number text scaling, Equipment/Backpack improvements, scrollbar behaviors, Party list layout, and “Flip Card” functionality
Restored Fullscreen resolution controls and switching behavior
Weekly Activities now populate after campaign completion
Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine timer updates to show correct cooldown
Firmware 3-Piece bonuses (Ahoy, Oscar Mike, Daed-dy O’) now show cooldown icons; Deadeye Tier-3 stacks now appear in the passive bar
Boss Bar spacing corrected when Combat Radar is active
Transfer Machine naming has been standardized across the game
Travel notification now displays the initiating player’s name
ECHO Location path remains readable over time; made improvements to pathfinding
Updated various UI visuals and icons for alignment, consistency, and clarity
Updated localization and various text descriptions across the game
Standardized/updated terminology across gear, menus, customization, and manufacturers
Visuals
Updated various character and NPC animations
Corrected various reported instances of VFX not rendering correctly
Grapple Vault points now show proper models instead of placeholders
Reduced reported instances of visual pops at cinematic starts
Audio
Audio and VO now remain active when returning to menus after level traveling in multiplayer
Adjusted audio mix for improved balance across gameplay and VO
SFX volume slider now correctly applies to high HDR-value sounds
Addressed several reported instances of VO not playing as intended across multiple missions and scenarios
Vault Hunter battle voiceover frequency has been tuned so lines repeat less often
Missing pain reaction audio restored for several named NPCs
Improved various subtitle timing and text
Background music now continues as expected during the Idolator Sol boss fight
Unique audio cue restored for Phosphene (shiny) gear spawns
Settings & Accessibility
Personal Cross-play settings can now be adjusted immediately after switching Party Privacy from Local Only to Public in Session Settings
Air Dash is now fully usable on controller when Toggle Crouch is set to Off under Accessibility → Gameplay
Individual graphics options now reset properly after making changes and then selecting Run Auto-Detect in Options
[PS5 and Xbox] Field of View resets consistently to Default on consoles without showing mismatched values
Player Experience
Improvements to stability
We are continuing to investigate and will make further improvements to stability and performance.
Addressed multiple reported issues across multiplayer, missions, menus, and engine systems.
Improved matchmaking and session stability.
Addressed performance in multiplayer when there were large numbers of homing projectiles
Refined graphics settings and shader handling
Improvements made to patch reliability and automation processes
Ocean could occasionally fail to load
Miscellaneous
[Epic] Rich Presence now displays correctly in non-English languages on Epic
[PS5] Friend list now loads properly after logging out and back in during patch checks on the title screen
Joystick input now behaves consistently when lowering deadzones
[PS5 and Xbox] SHiFT account linking verification codes now auto-copy and apply correctly on console
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.
Some Battlefield 6 players are up in arms after first information about Season 1 revealed what they believe is an out of place soldier skin.
Fans have waited weeks for a first look at Season 1 and its new maps, modes, and guns. However, after EA and Battlefield Studios finally pulled back the curtain with a trailer yesterday, the only thing on the community’s mind was a question: could this be the beginning of the end?
New Battlefield 6 maps like Blackwell Fields and Eastwood certainly served as meaningful attention grabbers, but it’s just one skin that has completely controlled the conversation. The cosmetic in question is Wicked Grin, a new skin for the Assault Class. A sneak peek at the suit arrived via various Battlefield 6 Season 1 previews that hit the web yesterday, revealing a wardrobe that fans feel ranges from grounded to gaudy.
PC Gamer was one of a few sites to share an image of the skin, which features dark blue highlights from head to toe. It’s Class operator also sports a toothy smile painted across their bandana. It’s been more than enough to set off alarm bells among the Battlefield 6 community, especially considering the Wicked Grin skin description teases that it can be “unlocked as a free store gift.” It suggests Assault players could flood lobbies with those standout blues as soon as next week, potentially bringing fans’ fear of goofy skins into reality. Even if this or any of the other Season 1 skins remain a far cry from the dozens of celebrity, superhero, and cartoon character crossovers present in other popular shooters like Call of Duty and Fortnite, tens of thousands of fans are clearly unhappy with what they’re seeing so far.
“So, weren’t we supposed to have realistic skins for some time?” one popular comment from a fan says. “Something that someone would really wear during a war? Yet it seems that with the start of Season 1, everything will turn to colorful mess, with no way of differentiating teams based on uniforms, the game will look more like a Paintball or [ActionSportGames] event.”
“I will not revive anyone wearing this kind of skin. My take,” one Reddit user says. “I’m gonna miss the days when everyone has default and beta skins,” another Reddit user adds. “I’m afraid this game won’t be recognizable in the future.”
EA and BF Studios have never set a hard rule describing what exactly their version of a grounded Battlefield 6 looks like. Still, the Season 1 skin is being perceived as a breach of trust after the community had been told to expect grounded visuals across the board for at least a while.
“We are a gritty, grounded, realistic shooter,” Ripple Effect and BF Studios technical director Christian Buhl told IGN last month. “That’s what we intend to be, and that’s what the game is going to look like for a while.”
Many admit that there is still much ground to cover before Battlefield 6 stops looking like the grounded military shooter that it currently is and starts introducing some of the more outrageous characters seen in other games. There’s also the fact that there are, of course, many other more grounded outfits both in the Battlefield 6 base game and coming in Season 1. As for what we’ve seen from Season 1 so far, though, fans are now more on edge than ever.
“Is it realistic? No,” another community comment adds. “Is it more grounded then Beavis and Butt-Head, Peter Griffin, Sgt. PsPsPs, Wubz, Feelin Sloothy, the list goes on… I would say yes.”
“If you want to use regular, realistic outfits, there are plenty,” someone else says. “If someone wants to wear one with a bit of colour, they can. It’s a video game, not real war.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
With Fallout Day upon us and rumors swirling around remakes, remasters, and even new games in the famous post-apocalyptic role-playing series, one Hollywood star has made his thoughts crystal clear.
That star is Danny Trejo, whose appearances in the likes of From Dusk till Dawn, Con Air, and Spy Kids made him a cult figure. But he’s intimately familiar with Fallout, too, having played Raul Alfonso Tejada, a Ghoul companion, in the much-loved Fallout: New Vegas.
So it stands to reason that Trejo would, like so many fans, love to see Fallout: New Vegas return in some fashion. Responding to Bethesda’s official Instagram post on what to expect from Fallout Day, Trejo said: “Remaster New Vegas boss!” alongside a fire emoji. Trejo has 3.1 million followers on Instagram, so his comment will be heard loud across the social network.
Alas, a Fallout: New Vegas remaster was not on Bethesda’s official list of games set to appear during its Fallout Day broadcast, which is set for 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm UK today, October 23. Specifically on Fallout 76, Bethesda will show more of the Burning Springs update. This big expansion, due out in December, sees Walton Goggins reprise his fan-favorite role as The Ghoul from the Fallout TV show.
Fallout Shelter is also mentioned, as is Fallout 4 and Creations, which suggests the decade old role-playing game will get some new content soon. Creations are community created mods released officially for Bethesda’s video games.
Elsewhere, there are new merch drops, community in-person events, and a post-show celebrating the community. There is no specific mention of the Fallout TV show, either. with Season 2 due out in December.
There are all sorts of rumors floating around about potential Fallout remakes now that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is out the door (Fallout 3 Remastered was leaked back in 2023, but those plans may have changed). And we know Bethesda plans to eventually get to Fallout 5, albeit after The Elder Scrolls 6.
“For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76… we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that,” he said. “The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling.”
The last mainline Fallout game was Fallout 4, which was released in 2015. DLC content for the entry was steadily released for PC and consoles over the next year, and in 2018, Bethesda launched its multiplayer-centered offshoot, Fallout 76. While fans slowly flocked to the West Virginia-set open-world RPG, it wasn’t until the premiere of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show that the Bethesda series leveled up in terms of attention.
Still, Howard wouldn’t budge when it came to desires for a substantial video game release. For him, it comes down to wanting to treat Bethesda’s franchises with care.
“Totally get the desire for a new kind of mainline single-player game,” he said. “And look, those things take time. I don’t think it’s bad for people to miss things. We just want to get it right and make sure that everything we’re doing in a franchise, whether it’s Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or now Starfield, that those become meaningful moments for everybody who loved these franchises as much as we do.”
Perhaps Danny Trejo should have a word?
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.
Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released the Into the Unjust: 4.1.0 update, which it said is designed to make the game “feel better to play.”
This much anticipated update overhauls how Arrowhead approaches patching “to better target the pain points you’ve shared with us.” The studio said that means “more focus on stability, balance, and the issues that affect your experience the most.”
Over 200 bugs have been fixed, along with key balance updates and quality-of-life improvements. Arrowhead said that while new features are coming, this patch marks “a big step forward: both in the game itself and in how we work to improve it.” More refinements are already underway, the studio continued.
In terms of balance, the overall effectiveness of primary weapons, sidearms, throwables, and stratagems is increased. SMGs and pistols, for example, have been adjusted to emphasize their role as close-quarters weapons, with increased close-range damage and increased damage falloff.
It’s worth noting changes are made to enemies across the board. The Dragon Roach, for example, has seen its spawn rate decreased, and destruction of the wings now results in instant death. Each wing has a health pool, and the Dragon Roach should be more susceptible to explosions because even if you hit the body you now also hit the wings and do more damage. Overall, there should be fewer Dragon Roaches and they should be easier to take down.
Check out the patch notes, courtesy of the Helldivers 2 Discord, below:
Helldivers 2 Into the Unjust: 4.1.0 patch notes:
Balancing
General changes
Primaries, Sidearms, Throwables, and Stratagems
Improvements have been made to increase the overall effectiveness of primary weapons, sidearms, throwables, and stratagems
Light vs. Medium Penetration Weapons
Light and medium penetration weapons now offer more distinct advantages.
Light penetration weapons generally deal a higher percentage of their total damage against durable enemies, differentiating them more clearly from medium penetration options
SMGs and Pistols
SMGs and pistols have been adjusted to emphasize their role as close-quarters weapons. Close-range damage has been increased, and damage falloff has been increased to reinforce their short-range combat identity
Melee Weapons and Throwables
Melee weapons and throwables have been improved to make each feel more impactful and unique in their function
Resupply Rack
The resupply rack is not climbable anymore
Primary weapons
SG-8P Punisher Plasma
Damage projectile decreased from 100 to 0
Damage explosion increased from 150 to 225
SG-8S Slugger
Damage increased from 280 to 330
Durable damage increased from 75 to 90
AR-23 Liberator
Damage increased from 80 to 90
Durable damage increased from 15 to 22
AR-23A Liberator Carbine
Damage increased from 80 to 90
Durable damage increased from 15 to 22
AR-23P Liberator Penetrator
Damage increased from 60 to 65
AR-23C Liberator Concussive
Damage increased from 65 to 75
Durable damage increased from 30 to 35
AR-61 Tenderizer
Durable damage increased from 22 to 30
AR-32 Pacifier
Damage increased from 50 to 55
Stun value per projectile increased from 1.5 to 2
SMG-37 Defender
Damage increased from 80 to 100
Durable damage increased from 8 to 18
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
MP-98 Knight
Damage increased from 70 to 90
Durable damage increased from 7 to 18
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
SMG-32 Reprimand
Damage increased from 125 to 135
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
SMG-72 Pummeler
Damage increased from 70 to 85
Durable damage increased from 7 to 18
Stun value per projectile increased from 1.5 to 2
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
LAS-16 Sickle
Damage increased from 55 to 60
Durable damage increased from 5 to 6
MA5C Assault Rifle
Damage increased from 80 to 90
M7S SMG
Damage increased from 70 to 80
Durable damage increased from 7 to 16
Drag increased from from 0.6 to 1.2
StA-11 SMG
Damage increased from 70 to 90
Durable damage increased from 7 to 18
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
PLAS-39 Accelerator Rifle
Extra spare magazines increased from 8 to 12
Ergonomics increased from 40 to 60
Sidearm weapons
CQC-2 Saber
Damage increased from 110 to 125
Durable damage increased from 55 to 65
CQC-5 Combat Hatchet
Damage increased from 110 to 160
Durable damage increased from 55 to 80
Attack speed has been slightly reduced
CQC-42 Machete
Damage increased from 170 to 200
Durable damage increased from 80 to 100
P-2 Peacemaker
Damage increased from 85 to 95
Durable damage increased from 25 to 30
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
P-19 Redeemer
Damage increased from 60 to 70
Durable damage increased from 5 to 12
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
P-113 Verdict
Damage increased from 125 to 135
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
M6C/SOCOM
Damage increased from 100 to 110
Drag increased from 0.6 to 1.2
P-92 Warrant
Drag decreased from 0.3 to 0
Gravity multiplier decreased from 1 to 0.3
Throwables
TED-63 Dynamite
Damage increased from 700 to 1000
Armor penetration increased from Medium to Heavy
Demolition strength increased from 30 to 40
Stagger increased from 30 to 40
Uses decreased from 4 to 3
G-7 Pineapple
Shrapnel from main explosion increased from 7 to 18
Demolition strength on the main explosion increased from 20 to 30
Inner radius on shrapnel explosion increased from 1 to 2.5m
Damage on shrapnel explosion increased from 70 to 100
Removed lifetime on the shrapnel
Shrapnel from the shrapnel explosion decreased from 6 to 0
G-50 Seeker
Higher priority for flying enemies
Highest target priority for marked target
Damage increased from 400 to 500
G-6 Frag
Uses increased from 5 to 6
G-3 Smoke
Uses increased from 4 to 5
Throwing knifes
Damage increased from 250 to 300
Durable damage increased from 100 to 150
PLAS-1 Scorcher
Plasma projectiles will now pass through foliage without losing velocity
Stratagems
PLAS-45 Epoch
Duration until explosion increased from 3 to 3.25 sec
Delayed muzzle charge VFX by 0.5 seconds so it now appears when the projectile is overcharged, improving visibility of the charge state
Damage on standard projectiles explosion increased from 400 to 500
Demolition strength on overcharged projectile increased from 10 to 30
M-105 Stalwart
Damage increased from 80 to 90
Durable damage increased from 15 to 22
FLAM-40 Flamethrower
Canister capacity increased from 130 to 150
Starting canisters increased from 2 to 3
Max spare canisters increased from 4 to 5
APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle
Durable damage increased from 180 to 225
Starting magazines increased from 4 to 5
Max spare magazines increased from 6 to 8
AC- 8 Autocannon
Damage increased from 260 to 325
GL-52 De-Escalator
Damage increased from 55 to 100
Durable damage increased from 55 to 70
MS-11 Solo Silo
Health increased from 800 to 1500
Enemies will not attack it
Increased demolition strength needed to destroy it
Orbital Railcannon Strike
Cooldown decreased from 210 to 180 sec
EXO-45 Patriot Exosuit
Missile Armor penetration in worse angles increased from 6-6-4-0 to 6-6-5-0
Rotary gun ammo capacity increased from 1000 to 1350
Enemies
The goal is to make light and medium armor-piercing weapons equally effective against certain common enemies by adjusting their durable damage and durable resistance values
Illuminates
Fleshmob
Targeting the faces deals extra damage to its main health, effectively creating weak spots
Main health decreased from 6000 to 5000
Most health zones are slightly more durable
Slightly less vulnerable to fire to balance health decrease
Elevated Overseer
Main health decreased from 600 to 450
Head health increased from 150 to 200
Head zone armor decreased from 3 to 2
Torso health decreased from 600 to 450
Arms health decreased from 300 to 250
Slight increase on how easy it is to set on fire
Leviathan
Now equipped with beam-based weaponry
Leviathans will not show up in missions outside of cities
Terminids
Rupture Strain enemies
Updated textures for all Rupture Strain enemies for better readability
Rupture Warrior
Movement speed when underground has been decreased
Needs to surface more often when moving underground
Its burrow attack is slightly slower and leaves more space to be dodged
Smaller damage boxes when attacking from below
Front legs armor decreased from 3 to 2
Will prefer to emerge before attacking turrets instead of destroying them from below ground
Rupture Spewer
Retuned the timing of how fast it starts to act from when it unburrows
Bile Spewer Variations
Increased size of its mouth weak spot
Brood Commanders
Slightly harder to set on fire
Warriors
Slightly harder to set on fire
Slight durable increase in head and body
Dragon roach
Spawn rate decreased
50% lower on difficulty 5,6
40% lower on difficulty 7,8,9
33% lower on difficulty 10
Destruction of the wings results in instant termination of the Dragon
Wings now have their own health pool of 4000
Increased how much damage wings take from explosion
Bile spewers
Slightly harder to set on fire
Larger body parts are slightly more durable
Hive Lord
Improved performance during Hive Lord encounters.
Automatons
Base Alarming
Automaton troopers in bases will require better visual confirmation before calling in reinforcements, instead of calling them in immediately
Devastators
Slightly harder to be put on fire
Large body parts are slightly more durable
Command Bunker Turret
Removed ragdolling from its projectiles explosion
Factory Strider
Slightly less vulnerable to fire
War Strider
Shoots 2 fewer grenades per salvo
Shoots grenades less often
Removed ragdolling from its projectiles explosions
Added weak spots aim for the eyes and the vents on the back
Scout Striders
Armored top shield is more durable
Fixes
Stratagems
Fixed an issue where Helldivers were unable to call down stratagems in the objective area of the “Nuke Nursery” cave mission
Fixed an issue with the B-100 Portable Hellbomb stratagem sometimes falling on Cave roofs in the “Destroy Spore Lung” mission
Fixed an issue with the drill objective stratagem sometimes landing in unintended places such as on top of caves, in Nuke Nursery Hive World missions
Players can now stay aiming down sights when activating the LIFT-860 Hover Pack
Crashes
Fixed a rare crash occurring when fighting Illuminates
Fixed a crash when hotjoining and readying up before other hotjoiners
Fixed a crash occurring when a player would re-join multiple times
Fixed a rare crash caused by Eagle-1
Fixed a rare bug where the Eagle-1 would never be removed from the game session and eventually cause crashes
Fixed rare crash bug that could happen when spawning in groups of enemies
Fixed crash affecting Helldivers trying to lean out from a vehicle
Fixed a crash that could happen when scrolling through the weapon customization menu
Fixed a crash that could happen during game shutdown
Weapons
Fixed armor penetration values in the Stats Menu for CQC-5 Combat Hatchet, CQC-30 Stun Baton,CQC-19 Stun Lance, CQC-2 Saber, CQC-1 One True Flag and the G-7 Pineapple grenade; the armor penetration value displayed as Medium instead of Light
Improved initial bullet alignment while strafing and riding in vehicles
Moved the first person camera further away from the MS-11 Solo Silo’s Target Designator scope
Fixed the weapon reload animations desyncing when wielding armor passives that give increased reload speed
The FAF-14 Spear can now lock onto Automaton AA turrets
Fixed projectiles hitting direct center of sights when extremely close to objects
Haptics feedback is now present throughout the firing of the FLAM-40 Flamethrower stratagem
Miscellaneous
Fixed a bug where Hive Lord body parts would not spawn properly
Fixed an instance where the Helldiver couldn’t re-join their previous host, if said host left a joined game in progress from the loadout
Fixed a bug where the LIFT-182 Warp Pack would sometimes get stuck suspended in the air or crash
Fixed disconnection issues when joining a solo player with 3 cross-platform players
Fixed mesh clipping for the arms on some animations
Reduced the chance of the Extraction Shuttle clipping through terrain
Fixed a flickering bug on the avatar when the Helldiver gets affected by mud or snow
Fixed a bug hole covered by terrain in one of the CR10 Mega Nests
Rupture Warriors can no longer destroy deployable turrets while still underground
Fixed an issue where the front door of the GATER could become inaccessible
Fixed a rare issue where the player could be disconnected when they are a part of a mixed platform, 3 person lobby that joins a solo player under poor network conditions
Fixed an issue with Illuminate dropships not taking correct damage during the “Repel Invasion Fleet” missions
The currency symbol for Saudi riyal is now displayed correctly in the in game shop
The Oil Rigs reverse audio will no longer continuously play if the player attempts to reverse during oil extraction
Fixed Helldivers going through the floor in the tutorial mission, when diving near the barbed wires
Fixed a rare soft-lock in tutorial
Helldiver is now killed when driving into drill holes during Nuke Nursery missions
Fixed an issue where Helldivers could enter a vehicle even though the seat got claimed by someone else first
Fixed controller vibrations behaving incorrectly when connecting or disconnecting controllers on PC
Fixed miscellaneous threading issues in the audio system
Fixed minor texture clipping issues on the floor between hellpod launchers on the ship
Fixed an issue where voice chat could sometimes change volume unexpectedly – particularly when entering caves
Optimizations
Optimized status effects
Optimized physics by only enabling powered ragdolls when needed
Optimized physics body handling for damage calculations
Optimized Automaton units and NPC eyes, by changing them from particle effects to shaders
Optimized AI behaviors by analyzing and stripping out redundant code
Reduced stuttering during drop-in sequence for missions on Hive Worlds
Improved audio IO performance
Snow distribution and overall look has been reworked
Improved performance by tweaking LOD settings for characters
Optimized asset distribution for several planets types
Optimized scattered assets such as grass on various planet types
Optimized asset distribution in Hiveworlds and Terminid caves
Optimized asset setup and geometry for assets used in Hiveworlds and Terminid caves
Optimized status effect physics and particle systems while maintaining visual feedback and fidelity
Optimized various Automaton explosion VFX
Optimized Acid Rain effects during Acid Storms
Optimized Dragonroach fire attack VFX
Made various optimizations to the fire system, including particle and light optimization.
Improved performance by optimizing the rendering of several shaders
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.
The trouble is, there’s always been a discrepancy in price, with the Final Fantasy 6 deck ‘Revival Trance’ going for much less, Final Fantasy 7’s ‘Limit Break’ going for much more, and the other two falling somewhere in between.
Best Buy’s answer? Discounting them all to the same price.
Best Buy Has Every Final Fantasy Magic Deck Under MSRP
On the positive side, this means you can get Limit Break, a deck that regularly sells for much more than its MSRP, for $48.99.
It’s a very fun deck that’s themed around equipment and dealing combat damage, and will no doubt be an easy pickup for anyone who waited for a discount.
On the downside, that means Revival Trance is also $48.99. It’s under MSRP, sure, but this deck’s messy game plan and lack of big reprints mean you can snap it up for around $35 elsewhere if you keep an eye out.
Rounding out the quartet, I’ve been having more fun with Scions and Spellcraft recently, the Final Fantasy 14 deck helmed by Y’Shtola. It’s all about pinging opponents around the table for damage, which isn’t something you often get in a blue/white/black deck. It’s $48.99 now.
Finally, arguably the best deck from the set, Counter Blitz is helmed by Final Fantasy X’s Tidus and Yuna, and lets you manipulate counters to deal big damage or keep Summons around longer. And, guess what? It’s $48.99 now, too.
Each deck also comes with a ‘Collector Booster Sample Pack’ which includes two cards in foil or borderless treatment, too.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
