Now that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is out, more and more players are fully exploring its top-down, toy-like, open world. And they’ve gradually been discovering a pretty cool secret about its map: it “links” up almost perfectly with the map from A Link to the Past.
More and more players have been sharing posts on social media comparing the maps of Echoes of Wisdom and A Link to the Past, and have figured out that Echoes of Wisdom basically uses the same map from A Link to the Past… just expanded. A number of major landmarks can still be found in the same spots as in Link to the Past, though they’ve changed or aged seemingly with the passage of time.
What’s more, most of Echoes of Wisdom’s brand new locations exist outside the boundaries where Link to the Past’s map stopped, implying that civilizations like the Goron and Gerudo could have always existed in Link to the Past, they just weren’t accessible in that particular game.
It’s truly amazing how Grezzo made the Echoes of Wisdom map with such care. It lines up with A Link to the Past’s Hyrule in a way that maybe the Gorons, Gerudo, Zora, and Dekus DID live there, just outside where we could explore. And it explains why they don’t know Zelda/Hyrule. https://t.co/MANVHl5S97
— Rebecca Stone (Taylor’s Version) (@forestminish) October 4, 2024
We chatted with our own reviewer, Tom Marks, about this phenomenon, who agreed with the parallels. He pointed out to us that landmarks especially around Hyrule Castle will be familiar to Zelda veterans. The graveyard and church are in the right spots, and the hill where Link’s house was in Link to the Past is still there too, even though the Echoes of Wisdom Link lives in Suthorn Village.
There are other comparison points fans are finding. Eastern Palace, for instance, is still present in the same spot and even includes a sidequest. Where Kakariko Village used to be, Echoes of Wisdom has ruins, implying it was moved at some point. There are also Desert Palace ruins, Swamp Ruins is in the right place, and so much more.
There’s A Link to the Past DNA scattered throughout the overworld in Echoes of Wisdom and it makes me feel warm inside. Let’s take a quick tour, starting with the destroyed ruins of the Desert Palace. pic.twitter.com/CCP1eifuRF
Echoes of Wisdom is far from the first Zelda game that’s involved clever, if subtle, map tricks. A Link to the Past itself famously included both a Light and Dark variation on the same world. And when Tears of the Kingdom came out, we wrote about how its Depths was essentially an underground mirror of the surface.
What’s most curious for Zelda lore buffs will be whether or not this answers meaningful questions about Echoes of Wisdom’s place on the Zelda timeline. Could this in fact put Echoes of Wisdom in the timeline post-Link to the Past and Link Between Worlds? Or is this some alternate universe situation? We’ll need Zelda scholars to sort this one out.
As you look for these parallels in your own playthrough, check out our wiki guides and our own interactive map whether you’re exploring the similarities yourself, or just looking for more heart containers.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
SAO: FD is already quite different from the previous in the video game series, but we had to ask: What’s next for the Sword Art Online video games? Here’s what SAO: FD producer Shoehei Mogami and SAO game series producer Yosuke Futami had to say about the possibility of a more mature SAO game and the MMORPG-style SAO game they know fans want.
“Sword Art Online itself, the anime and the game, will keep going into the future,” Futami said. “We do want to bring SAO to the next level, maybe even to a higher-performing console.”
Futami also explained that while Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is more character-based, they maybe also want to try to do something around the concept of SAO that if you die in game, you die in real life. That’s something they want to explore in the future, but Futami clarified they likely wouldn’t implement a permadeath mechanic because “the current SAO game fans might be angry and just might break their keyboard or something.”
“We want to try to have more for those SAO fans who are adults and experience an SAO which is more mature,” Futami explained.
We want to try to have more for those SAO fans who are adults and experience an SAO which is more mature
The future of SAO probably also wouldn’t be something like a Souls-like, and because of the difficulty behind development, neither an MMORPG.
“MMORPGs are very difficult to make,” Futami said, joking that in Japan it’s said to take 70 years to make one. “While we know the IP [Sword Art Online] would be great for it, and many of our fans and player community are interested in it, it’s something we would only pursue once we know we have a strong concept and could do it right. Maybe, if all the stars aligned, we would be able to start making it.”
Though it isn’t an MMORPG, Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream seeks to emulate raids found in MMORPGs with 20-person dungeons and raid bosses, complete with boss-specific, rare loot that not everyone can pick up at the end of the fight. It’s also a standalone title, so anyone familiar with just some of the anime would be able to get into and understand SAO: FD, no previous SAO game knowledge required.
“There’s a barrier to entry after ten years of [SAO] games,” Mogami said. “We want people who haven’t played the games to be able to enjoy SAO games.”
The team also wanted to challenge themselves by implementing cross-play in SAO: FD, so friends aren’t barred from playing with each other, Mogami explained.
There is one more thing we know about the future of SAO games, too: Though the chance is not entirely zero, don’t expect an SAO game without Kirito or Asuna. Having an SAO game without Kirito and Asuna, Futami said, “is like having a Dragon Ball without Son Goku.”
The new trailer for Ghost of Yotei is here and in three minutes, Sucker Punch has managed to tease a ton of cool details from Japanese history. Placed 300 years after the story of Jin and Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yotei takes us to a time of turmoil in the Hokkaido region, which was known as Ezo in 1603 and not really considered part of Japan. It was the perfect destination for fleeing Ronin and Wokou (aka pirates), who were escaping the newly appointed Tokugawa shogunate. Since the trailer released I’ve been poring over the details it contains, translating the text, brushing up on Japanese history, finding out about the Matsumae clan, and learning all about the indigenous people called Ainu, because I’m incredibly hyped for Ghost of Yotei. Here’s why.
“We are beyond the edge of Japan.”
Let’s talk about that opening quote because knowing a bit of history helps set the stage as to why it’s important. In 1600 the well-known Battle of Sekigahara took place, which was fought and won by famed warrior Tokugawa Ieyasu. Following his victory he hunted down and executed those who stood against him and folded many into his shogunate if they accepted. By 1603 clans like the Takeda clan – who may have their crest or one like it represented in the trailer – would have either joined Tokugawa or been left to their own fate.
In March of 1603, Ieyasu was made Shogun and guess which region was deemed important around that same time? That’s right, Ezo, which would explain the scene of Ronin and Pirates trying to burn down what we think might be a Tokugawa building or one teased to be like it.
In addition to that turmoil, the Matsumae clan was defending the southern region of Ezo from the Ainu. Since Ezo wasn’t really considered part of Japan and the Ainu were local to the area there was friction between the two factions, which came to a head when the Ainu and Matsumae faced off in 1669 during the revolt of Shakushain over control of the land. The Ainu are a very spiritual people believing that everything from flora and fauna to animals had a spirit. In fact they believe they were born from a union of a wolflike creature and a goddess. They also have a ritual involving bears who they consider to be gods, but more on that later.
In 1603 the conflict between the Ainu and Japanese was coming to a bit of a head. The Matsumae clan established a base on Ezo near the southern edge of the island, and would eventually build the Matsumae Castle in 1606. Ezo was seen as an important point of defense from Russia, but it wasn’t until the Castle was built that trade was more well-established with the Ainu in 1606.
Also a fun fact about Mount Yotei. It’s referred to as the female mountain by the Ainu people but let’s not forget about the nearby Mt. Shiribetsu, known as the male mountain is nearby and I believe it’s teased as a location a bit earlier.
“People will come north to disappear. But you… you are hunting.”
So how does our new protagonist Atsu fit into all of this? There’s a lot of Wolf iconography in the trailer, which is interesting because the now-extinct Ezo Wolf, also known as the Ezo Okami, are known as a god who had the power to dispel evil. They also symbolize mountain worship, which ties in nicely with Yotei’s setting. Atsu also has Wolf iconography on her hilt, which makes me wonder if she has ties to the Ainu, given their belief that many animals were gods roaming the earth, and the Wolf god’s importance I noted earlier is particularly important in Ainu culture.
The Ainu loved animals, but despite this had ceremonies that by modern standards could be seen as somewhat violent. For example, the Ainu believed Bears were gods waiting to be set free, so they would take bear cubs, raise them like they were their own children until they were about two years old, and then sacrifice them and drink their blood in a ritual they believed sent the god back to where they came from. It’s also interesting that Atsu has what appears to be a bearskin cloak for warmth. While this may not have been from the ritual itself, it could have been traded or acquired from the Ainu in some other manner related to the ritual. Sucker Punch has teased an upcoming video about the other animals we can expect in Ghost of Yotei so I’m intrigued to know more about the blood sacrifice… or maybe the Ural Owls of Ezo which would be a bit more my speed.
But beyond the bear cloak, Atsu also has several interesting traits that could paint her as having a Japanese background. Besides her stances, weapons, and attire which we’ll discuss in just a moment, her instrument, the Tsugaru Shamisen, is an interesting choice. The Shamisen was popular in the pleasure districts, highbrow theater, and even with folk music of Japan which have led some fans to wonder if Atsu may use subterfuge as a Geisha in Yotei. Her well-kept nails also lend to this theory as they looked pretty nice for a roaming Ronin who’s just committed a brutal murder. Regardless, the Shamisen is an interesting choice because while it has been depicted as a weapon in some Japanese cinema, chances are it’ll instead be a replacement for Jin’s Shakuhachi (flute).
Japanese attire included a ghost mask that had been repaired with a technique known as Kintsugi. Kintsugi is the practice of fixing a break using a lacquer mixed with gold, and it was a very popular repair method of the time. The gold repair hints at the history of the item and was seen as beautiful by collectors. All this makes me wonder what story the mask seen in the trailer is hiding.
That question leaves us wondering how Atsu became a wandering Onna-musha warrior, which were basically the female version of a Ronin. Of course, there have been many well-documented Onna-musha throughout history, as it was common to train women to defend their homes and children during time of unrest. Tomoe Gozen one of the most feared Onna-musha warriors of all time has been well documented, and while she is more of a legend who’s authenticity is debated, there are still plenty of documents about women going to battle in Feudal Japan. I imagine Atsu would be inspired by one of those stories.
For this time period, Yodo-dono stands out to me as she has often been portrayed as fighting against the Tokugawa Shogunate. Yodo-dono was a concubine for Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and gave him two children. When Hideyoshi died in 1598, she was very powerful as the mother of Hideyoshi only heir. She declined meetings with the Tokugawa clan. Rebuilt Osaka Castle with a bell that read “Toyotomi’s force will rise again” and let’s just say that was not received well by Ieyasu. It’s said that she resisted Tokugawa until she met her end in Osaka castle by committing suicide with her son. She’s an interesting character of the time period, who could make good inspiration for Atsu and has been portrayed many times in Japanese films, but I digress.
The bigger question for Atsu is why is she wanted? The sign we see in the trailer reads: “Wanted List. We have 100 Ryo rewards for this woman’s head. There are rumors that she was witnessed on Mount Yoteizan. 28 or 29 years old.” Ryo isn’t the modern currency for Japan, but, let’s just say that’s a large bounty by today’s standards.
“Wanted List. We have 100 Ryo rewards for this woman’s head. There are rumors that she was witnessed on Mount Yoteizan. 28 or 29 years old.”
Why does she have a list of names on her waist? The list reads Demon, Fox, Dragon, Spider, Snake, and Saito. Snake is crossed off with blood near the end of the trailer. Does that mean she has eliminated whomever Snake is? And who sent her and why is she on this quest?
“Still think your the hunter?” is the final quote we hear before Atsu defeats her enemy, and it leaves me wondering… where did she get those toys? Atsu uses the niten’ichi, or two sword style, Miyamoto Musashi popularized and which roughly translates as two heavens as one. It appears that she has a Katana in one hand and a Wakizashi in the other. She also wields an Arquebus Tanegashima rifle with a Serpentine matchlock and is shown with a Kusarigama twirling around the chain. Other weapons spotted in the trailer include the Odachi teaser, indicating there will be even more to master in Ghost of Yotei.
Of course, we have other questions about the game, like if hot springs will make a return, or if the crest that we see slashed will wind up being an homage to the Toyotomi clan that was wiped out. Time will tell. For now, the history, turmoil, and drama surrounding Ezo, the Ainu and the Tokugawa Shogunate has me hyped for Ghost of Yotei. Let’s see what you’ve got, Sucker Punch!
A special thanks to… IGN Japan & my friend Hanako for helping translate, YouTube reactions from Shohei Kondo | Gaijin Goombah | The Shogunate | Tales of Dawn and Dusk for historical context and details that helped guide my research!
Osment stopped by our IGN Arcade series to look back at movies like The Sixth Sense as well as talk about his most recent film, Blink Twice. But, as part of the show, he also played a little bit of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, which is when he asked, “Are they ever gonna make a movie out of [The Legend of Zelda]?”
When we told him that yes, there is a live-action film on the way and asked him if he’d want to throw his hat in the ring, Osment didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, my hat’s in the ring, they know my hat’s been in the ring,” he said. “Link was like 37 when he did all this, right!? Seventeen, 37? As a kid, I was like, ‘obviously they’re gonna make [Ocarina of Time] a movie soon, the story’s all written out for you!’ And you’re like, ‘that’d be very challenging to make into a compelling two-hour movie.’ “
As far as what Zelda lore he’d like to see in the film, Osment said, “Ocarina and Majora’s Mask, those are my original Star Wars [trilogy].”
Nintendo and Sony Pictures first made the massive announcement about a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie last November, with Wes Ball (The Maze Runner, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) set to direct and Avi Arad and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto producing. Unfortunately for Osment and other Zelda fans hungry for information, Ball refused to reveal his favorite Zelda game in a previous IGN interview, so we’ll likely have to wait and see if he’s an Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask fan like Osment.
“Ocarina and Majora’s Mask, those are my original Star Wars [trilogy].”
We’ve gotten a few other pieces of information since then, including the fact that Ball plans to take a “grounded” approach to adapting The Legend of Zelda. We still don’t have other key pieces of information however, including castings and a release date.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
The developer of a number of upcoming virtual reality titles including Sony’s Starship Troopers VR game has suffered a significant round of layoffs amid what it called a “challenging VR gaming market.”
72 staff were reportedly let go, retaining only 12 out of around 84. The downsizing cast doubt on the launch and support of both Zombie Army VR and Starship Troopers: Continuum, but in a statement issued to IGN, XR Games insisted both would still release later in 2024.
Here’s the statement, from Bobby Thandi, Founder and CEO of XR Games:
“I’m heartbroken that we’re going to be losing some of our incredibly dedicated, talented and valued colleagues. We’ve spent many months carefully exploring alternative solutions in the face of a challenging VR gaming market and a tough broader gaming landscape, and this is one of the hardest business decisions we’ve faced.
“Our priority during and after this consultation process is to treat all team members with the utmost respect and care. We are committed to helping those affected by this through outplacement support, such as CV clinics, portfolio advice, interview preparation and practice, and signposting available jobs in the industry. We also have mental health support available for our staff.
“I’m so very proud of our teams for their hard work on Hitman 3: VR Reloaded, which will continue to receive patch support, as well as Zombie Army VR and Starship Troopers: Continuum, both of which are due for launch this year. We want to be able to develop innovative titles for many years to come, and we’ll work to navigate this transition and shape the future of XR Games.”
Hitman 3: VR Reloaded, developed by XR Games in partnership with Hitman owner IO Interactive, is a standalone port of Hitman VR for the Meta Quest 3 that was supposed to address some of the biggest criticisms of the PC game, like the lack of dual wielding. But it launched to negative reviews from players as well as press, with Eurogamer calling it “about as grim as VR games can get.”
The VR market has struggled. The PSVR2, for example, lost momentum soon after launch despite its technical prowess, though Sony hasn’t shared figures since revealing it sold 600,000 within six weeks of its February 2023 launch.
Sony Interactive Entertainment’s head of global business Eric Lempel told the Financial Times in December 2023 that VR was “a bit of a challenging category right now.” In March, Bloomberg reported that Sony had allegedly paused the production of the PSVR2 to clear the backlog of unsold units it had.
Starship Troopers: Continuum, meanwhile, is due out on Meta Quest 2 and 3 on October 17, 2024, and PSVR2 on October 31, 2024. Zombie Army VR is set for launch on PSVR2, Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro, Oculus Rift, and PC headsets via Steam later in 2024.
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.
This story contains minor spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
After almost 40 years, Zelda finally has her own mainline The Legend of Zelda game in Echoes of Wisdom. So, naturally, someone has already figured out how to show her the door and play the game as Link instead.
Okay, jokes aside, the glitch itself is pretty cool. First found by Japanese speedrunner Ikaboze, it makes use of a combination of speedrunning glitches and the fact that you play as Link in the game’s prologue to make Link available in the rest of the game. Ikaboze’s original video is here, but for English speakers, a few other Zelda fanatics have put together instructions. Here’s an explanation in video form from ZeldaMaster that we’ve summarized below:
First, start a brand new game. In Suthorn Ruins once you gain control of Link, make a manual save of the game. From here, do not make any more manual saves. Autosaves are fine.
Beat the entire prologue sequence without manually saving the game. Escape Hyrule Castle as Zelda, do the first dungeon, and get to the point of the game where you are free to explore all of Hyrule (when you acquire the “Searching for Everyone” quest).
Collect the Sign echo from Suthorn Village or another location.
Go north of Hyrule Field to the Eternal Forest and start getting a feel for how far you can enter the forest before it warps you back outside. As you move, try dropping Sign echoes and try to get the signs as close to the edge of where you get warped out as possible. Your goal is to be able to examine/read a sign right at the point where the forest warps you out, so when you close the dialogue box you warp out immediately.
Once you’ve gotten used to the timing here, make sure your pause screen is set to the Load/Save screen so that opens immediately when you pause. Then, do the sequence with the sign reading/warping again. This time, try and hit the pause button on the exact moment you exit out of the dialogue box and are being eaten by fog.
If you’ve done it right, you should be in the pause menu, but still have control of Zelda underneath the menu. The map buttons should be overlaid on top of the pause screen.
From here, keep the pause screen open, and move Zelda around until you find an enemy; there should be a few nearby. Let her get hit until she dies. The second you see her die, hit the “Load” button and be on the file selection screen at the same time that the Game Over screen pops up over the top of your pause menu.
Your arrow buttons should impact both menus at the same time, so carefully navigate the menu so that you have “Retry” selected at the same time on the Game Over screen as you hover over the original, manual save file where you were Link in the Suthorn Ruins. Take a deep breath, and press A!
When the screen goes black, press Up, and when you hear the sound effect indicating you’ve moved on a menu, immediately press A again. If it works, you should hear the “load file” jingle play. If you messed up, you’ll be back as Zelda near the Eternal Forest, but the whole world will be blacked out. If this happens, don’t worry, just load your most recent autosave and try again.
But if you’re successful, you’ll be in the same spot by Eternal Forest, but playing as Link!
The glitch is tricky, so we recommend watching a video or two before attempting and practicing to get the timings right, but it does seem to consistently work on the current version of the game at the time of this piece: 1.0.1.
There are some limitations to be aware of. Though you’ll be on the overworld and able to explore, your game state will revert to what it was at the very beginning as Link, so you won’t have the map or most of your menu options unlocked. However, Link will come with two full lines of heart containers, bombs, arrows, his sword, and the bigger jump. You can unlock warp points and the map, and if you manually save the game at this point, you can reload it and still be running around as Link.
Critically, though, you won’t be able to use Echoes at all, which is currently where notions of beating the entire game as Link fall apart. When the glitch was discovered, the Echoes of Wisdom speedrunning Discord members began floating the idea of a “Link%” run, but lacking Echoes, they can’t meaningfully progress the game to a finished point…yet. Several intrepid individuals are goofing around with Link, trying to find ways to either get the Tri Rod or otherwise bypass points where Echoes are needed so that a Link% can be achievable. It’s possible that it won’t be long before beating the game as Link is discovered…though it’s also just as possible that Nintendo patches the game to get rid of the glitch before people figure it out.
We gave Echoes of Wisdom a 9/10 in our review, calling it “far more than some second-tier spinoff, combining the expertly crafted dungeons and item progression you’d expect from a 2D Zelda with the wild creativity provided by Tears of the Kingdom.” And for everyone still just trying to beat the game as Zelda, check out our wiki guides and our interactive map for help finding everything from heart pieces to every Echo in the game.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Revealed during September’s State of Play, the Limited Edition Fortnite DualSense Controller is officially available to preorder (see it here at Walmart). This colorful controller will set you back $85 and is set to release in a little over a month on November 7.
If you’ve had your eye on it since it was announced, it’s best to jump on preorders now as it’s already sold out once and is still sold out at Amazon. Considering preorders only went live yesterday, that’s a lot of demand for the controller, so better to be quick about putting a preorder in before it’s gone again!
Preorder the Limited Edition Fortnite DualSense Controller
This wasn’t the only new DualSense announced during September’s State of Play, either. The fancy new Chroma Edition controllers are now available to preorder as well, sporting some very shiny colors in Pearl, Indigo, and Teal. If you’ve been looking to give your PS5 a bit of an upgrade with a sleek splash of color, now’s an excellent time to do so with these controllers.
And if buying new PS5 hardware isn’t something you’re interested in right now, there’s always our roundup of the best PlayStation deals to check out. There, you can find discounts on everything from headsets to storage to a wide variety of PS5 games. We also have roundups for the best Xbox deals and the best Nintendo Switch deals, if you want to see what’s happening on other platforms. Or, if you’d rather see the highlights from each of these gaming deal roundups, have a look at our collection of the best video game deals or our Daily Deals write-up to see the best discounts that have caught our eye.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
Cardy, Matt, and Jesse are here to deliver a week full of misery. That isn’t always a bad thing, though. Case in point: Silent Hill 2, a fantastic remake of a horror classic. It can, however, definitely be a bad thing. Just like the incredibly boring Joker: Folie à Deux. We have reviews of both this week, as well as thoughts of Hell Is Us, the Until Dawn remaster (remake?), and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Remember to send us your thoughts about all the new games, TV shows, and films you’re enjoying or looking forward to: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.
Sony’s controversial PlayStation Network requirement for its PC games is once again in the spotlight after the company delisted the original Horizon Zero Dawn on Steam and the Epic Games Store and added the PSN requirement to the upcoming single-player remaster.
This week, fans noticed the original Horizon Zero Dawn, previously available to buy in all countries where Steam is accessible, was delisted from the Epic Games Store and then from Steam itself. The Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition Steam page remains live, but the game itself is unavailable for purchase. In its place is the option to pre-purchase Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered or buy its sequel, Forbidden West.
The Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Steam page signals the PSN account requirement in the small print of the game’s features. Again, the original game did not have this requirement on PC.
Already negative user reviews are mentioning Sony’s actions here. “Delisted the original game just to add the remaster with PSN account forced into the game,” reads one recent Steam review for the Complete Edition of Zero Dawn. “Now countries unsupported by PSN can’t buy this game anymore whether it’s the non remastered version (which doesn’t require PSN) or remastered version.”
It seems likely, then, that Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered will suffer from review bombing when it goes on sale on Steam on October 31. It seems unlikely that Sony will reverse course here, having suffered a backlash from PC gamers to pretty much all its Steam releases since Helldivers 2 went on sale.
It has so far failed to comment on its PC PSN policy, although during the Helldivers 2 backlash it offered reasoning that was widely ridiculed by Steam gamers. “We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable,” Sony said at the time. Unlike Helldivers 2, Horizon Zero Dawn is a purely single-player only game.
It’s worth noting that Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition is still available on GOG. There it is DRM-free, with no activation or online connection required to play.
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.
Diablo 4 and its upcoming expansion Vessel of Hatred will be PS5 Pro Enhanced, Blizzard has confirmed. It is the first Microsoft game with confirmed Enhanced support for Sony’s $700 mid-gen upgrade.
Microsoft owns all Activision Blizzard’s franchises following its $69 billion acquisition of the company in 2023, and since then has added a number of the company’s games to its subscription service, Game Pass. Diablo 4 is in Game Pass, although not in its Standard tier.
Diablo boss Rod Fergusson confirmed the support in a tweet, without adding any details such as when the game will be updated or what players can expect on PS5 Pro. “Very proud of our hardworking team to make this happen,” Fergusson added. “More details at a later date.” PS5 Pro itself launches on November 7, with the Vessel of Hatred expansion out next week.
PS5 Pro has an AI-powered upscaling feature called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) that can automatically improve the image clarity of games, but PS5 Pro Enhanced games take particular advantage of the beefier console’s features.
PS5 Pro customers are now wondering whether more Activision Blizzard games will get the Enhanced treatment, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 of particular interest.
At a recent PS5 Pro preview event, we spoke with the technical leads of some of PlayStation’s biggest games, including Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and The Last of Us Part 2, to discuss the improvements we can expect to see now there’s a more powerful PS5 on the market.
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.
