Category: IGN

Nintendo has announced Splatoon Raiders, a brand-new Splatoon spin-off exclusive to the Switch 2. The surprise reveal was made with a trailer that was released first on the Nintendo Today! app.

Hey, everyone—you might have seen this in the Nintendo Today! app, but we thought you might want to hear it straight from the squid’s beak: SRL has prepared a little trailer for you. Take a look! pic.twitter.com/sOEaHor5yX

— Splatoon North America (@SplatoonNA) June 10, 2025

Splatoon Raiders is the first ever Splatoon spin-off game. Nintendo failed to announce a release window, but said to keep an eye out for more information in the future.

Splatoon Raiders revolves around a mechanic adventuring with the Deep Cut trio to the mysterious Spirhalite Islands. This new protagonist for Splatoon Raiders is described as an “expert mechanic with a mysterious background.”

The new protagonist for #SplatoonRaiders is an expert mechanic with a mysterious background. That ink tank and walking robot look rather intriguing, wouldn’t you say? pic.twitter.com/XeP9t75JAW

— Splatoon North America (@SplatoonNA) June 10, 2025

We’ve identified a variety of interesting findings, including a floating ship-like structure that serves as the mechanic’s base and an island with a unique atmosphere. We’ll keep investigating! #SplatoonRaiders pic.twitter.com/huFy5BlF4Z

— Splatoon North America (@SplatoonNA) June 10, 2025

Meanwhile, a significant free update for Splatoon 3 is also coming, due out on June 12. Splatoon 3 ver 10.0.0 includes 30 new weapon kits from the Barazushi and Emberz brands (the Splatlands Collection), the return of the Urchin Underpass stage from the original Splatoon game on Wii U, and performance and visual improvements for Switch 2. Nintendo said Switch 2 players will notice more detailed visuals, and the game will appear smoother in certain locations such as Splatsville and the Grand Festival Grounds. Switch 1 and Switch 2 Splatoon 3 players will still be able to play together.

Plus, all weapon Freshness caps will be raised and players can earn new in-game Badges, Nintendo said. A new stat will be added for Anarchy Battle (Series) called Series Weapon Power. It will track a player’s effectiveness per weapon based on their win/loss ratio in battles – and will then match them with players of a similar power. This makes it possible for players to try new weapons without being disadvantaged and push the limits their favorite weapons.

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.

With seemingly excellent timing following the launch of the Switch 2, the steelbook edition dual pack of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet is now back in stock at My Nintendo Store for £99.99 physically.

As the name implies, this not only comes with both Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, but with a special gold-themed steelbook adorned with Legendaries Koraidon and Miraidon, with dual cartridge slots, so you can store both games together.

Lies of P developer Neowiz did indeed drop DLC Overture during Summer Game Fest, introducing new locations, new enemies and bosses, new characters, weapons, and the very controversial decision to add in two easier difficulty options. And now, those options are getting easier again as the team preps for “difficulty reduction.”

As a “Soulslike” game, Lies of P can be punishingly difficult, especially for inexperienced players perhaps attracted by Lies of P’s dark story and setting. Director Jiwon Choi had previously said the team didn’t think Soulslike games should have difficulty options and it shipped without any, but has since had a change of heart, saying: “We wanted to make sure a wider audience of players could play the game.”

For those attempting the Overture DLC on the “intended” difficulty, Legendary Stalker, however, things seem tougher than ever. There have been so many comments — both for and against the DLC’s difficulty spike — that the Lies of P subreddit has had to merge them all into a “megathread” to stop the community from being overwhelmed by complaints.

Some comments and reviews on Steam echo this, with one writing: “I’m at level 300 and should not be getting 2-shot from basic enemies. It doesn’t help that the enemy grouping is designed for you to have to deal with multiple at once. This wouldn’t be a problem if even one of those enemies doesn’t take out half your health with one hit.”

Now, courtesy of a new Lies of P Director’s Letter, it seems the difficulty will be tweaked once again.

“We’re reviewing all of [the player feedback] carefully and are already looking into when to implement some of your suggestions,” Choi said, as spotted by Eurogamer. “Among all the feedback, we are paying the closest attention to the combat experience.

“We identified areas that did not turn out quite as we intended. Therefore, we are reviewing various adjustments, including difficulty reduction. However, combat is one of the most fundamental experiences in Lies of P, so any modifications or changes require meticulous work and thorough testing.” It’s perhaps because of that “fundamental” issue that Neowiz has not given an indication of when the game will be patched.

We had a good time with Lies of P, awarding it 8/10, and Overture itself also secured a 8/10. “Even if it’s clearly dancing on the same old strings, Lies of P: Overture is an excellent expansion that adds a whole lot more to a game that was already great,” we wrote.

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.

While sandworm-riding is usually the first thing we want to try, and then fail at, in Dune: Awakening, it turns out that if you’re super patient and don’t mind a little screen-tearing or clipping through assets, it can be done.

No, it isn’t an official feature that can be unlocked — although developer Funcom did apparently consider it for a while before discarding the idea — but it turns out that if you have lightning-quick reflexes and study the sandworms’ behaviors and attack patterns like they’re an Elden Ring boss, you can climb aboard.

Redditor SgtDolphin has now shared not one but two videos of him riding the worm, using a combination of skills and equipment like the super-sprint Bindu Sprint ability, the Full Suspensor Belt, and Emperor’s Wings to help move quickly and better control his player in the air (thanks, PC Gamer). Once you’re on, no, you can’t control the worm any more than you can stop yourself flying off it from time to time, but Dolphin shows it can be done.

“It’s very glitchy at times especially on the sand that’s being displaced,” SgtDolphin explained in the comments. “Many deaths from the worm to get these rides, it’s a pretty dangerous sport!”

We’re still in the process of reviewing Dune: Awakening. While there’s no score at yet, and we’re still a little unimpressed by the gunplay, our reviewer wrote: “After more than 35 hours I still feel like I’m fairly early into my Dune: Awakening adventure, and still have new zones to visit, haven’t gotten very far into the main story, and have only had a few encounters with PvP. There’s a ton for me to do, so look for an update sometime this week as I work my way through to the endgame.”

If you’re wondering what players are making of Dune: Awakening so far, the survival multiplayer game has already set a concurrent player peak on Steam of over 117,000 players. For more, check out details on the MMO’s business model and post-launch plans.

To help you survive on Arrakis, we’ve got Dune: Awakening resource guides that’ll help you find iron, steel, aluminium, and more. If you’re just getting started, check out all the Dune: Awakening classes you can choose from, and keep an eye on our in-progress Dune: Awakening walkthrough for a step-by-step guide to the story.

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.

The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has reached a “tentative agreement” on the interactive media contract, potentially bringing to an end almost a year of industrial action across the video game industry.

The SAG-AFTRA video game strike was instigated back in July 2024 after the union and the major game companies — Activision, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Take 2 Productions, and WB Games — that sit on the board failed to agree on AI provisions. Over 98% of members subsequently voted to strike.

While at first it was difficult to tell exactly how the strike would affect our games, there were visible impacts across the industry; players reported that a number of ongoing games such as Destiny 2 and World of Warcraft appeared to leave some NPCs unvoiced in otherwise voiced scenes, likely due to the strike. Then, late last year, SAG-AFTRA struck League of Legends after Riot allegedly tried to subvert the strike by canceling a game in response, and Activision confirmed Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 characters were recast after players expressed concern about new voices.

Medieval zombie survival game God Save Birmingham exploded onto the scene in April with an 8-minute “gameplay” trailer that sparked as much skepticism as it did excitement. Among jokes about its Birmingham setting, some said it looked too good to be true, with animations that suggested what we were seeing in the trailer wasn’t so much gameplay, more pre-rendered footage designed to hoodwink the gaming public.

Perhaps most damning of all, some compared God Save Birmingham to the infamous The Day Before, calling it a “fake game” and even a “scam.” For the uninitiated, The Day Before was one of the most controversial and catastrophic game launches in recent memory, as what was touted as the “next generation of post-apocalyptic MMO open-world survival games” was released as a barebones and broken extraction shooter. The Day Before received an almost impossibly rare 1/10 in IGN’s review, and its shutdown was announced just four days after it launched in Early Access.

After God Save Birmingham’s April video went viral, Korean publisher Kakao Games and its developer Ocean Drive brought a demo to PAX East and released an updated gameplay video that offered perhaps a more realistic view of where the game is currently at in terms of development. This latest video has gone some way to addressing the narrative established by God Save Birmingham’s explosive April promo. But still, those The Day Before “scam game” comments remain.

It was with this in mind that I interviewed Ocean Drive CEO and founder Jae Kim and head of publishing Jungsoo Lee to find out if God Save Birmingham can ever shake off The Day Before. What surprised me is that both seemed perfectly happy with the comparison. Read on to find out why.

IGN: Can you give us some background on Ocean Drive?

Jungsoo Lee: We founded our studio back in 2020 and it’s our fifth year. We currently have about 80 developers in Korea and about 12 people in the States working on business, narrative design, and localization. As Ocean Drive Studio, our first game was Lost Eidolons. It was developed using Unity, which was one of our mistakes actually on decision-making. But we tried to have a quality of Unreal, and that was story-driven, Fire Emblem style turn-based tactical RPG. That was our first project.

Currently internally we have four different teams. Two of those projects are pretty small-scale, more like an indie style. One of the projects is positioned as more like AA scale. It’s unannounced, but it’s an action RPG project based on one of the reputable IPs in Korea. Our last final project is God Save Birmingham. We started small, but as of last month we had about 28 people working on the project.

IGN: So how did God Save Birmingham come about? How did that project start? Where did the idea come from?

Jungsoo Lee: Overall our company’s vision is basically, we only work on the game that the creative director knows the genre as a hardcore player, because we believe understanding the community needs, what kind of game should be there for the genre, is the most important factor making a successful game there. And Hyeonseong Cha [creative director] really loves Project Zomboid.

We also had a test project from Mr. Cha, one of the prototypes — it’s on the Steam market right now — it’s called Dropkick Navvy. It’s a puzzle game using physics. So he was really into using the physics in his game design. So we actually mixed those two. And on top of that we had a Lost Eidolons medieval art style production experience. So all these concepts came together after one year of prototyping, and our past project became God Save Birmingham.

IGN: The surprise for me is Birmingham. Even British developers don’t make games set in Birmingham. But a Korean developer deciding to do it in Birmingham is very surprising. So I’d love to know why you decided to go there.

Jungsoo Lee: Last year at gamescom, we had a lot of interviews at the show, and the most-asked question was, why Birmingham? So I know the answer pretty well! What happened was, we are a small team and they were really into working on medieval, especially the art director who used to work on our first game and he loves medieval art style. So we were looking at medieval, and they were searching for a medieval city. We are based in Korea, right? We are not really familiar with any of the cities in medieval times in Europe. So they were just looking at the list of cities, and they had a condition which was, it shouldn’t be big because we’re not a big team, so we can’t create a huge town. So that was the first condition. The second condition was, we wanted to have some diversity in the city, meaning that city must have some trade, a lot of trade and things going on at the time.

So they were doing research and somehow they came to this YouTube video from the Museum of Birmingham, and they had recreated 14th century Birmingham there. They were looking at that and they loved how the town looked. They did some research on Google and they learned, oh, this background is perfect, let’s just do Birmingham. And our entire team was actually surprised after our trailer released at gamescom, because there were so many British people making fun of Birmingham, and we started to wonder, what’s going on with Birmingham? Because we had zero idea what was really going on at the modern day Birmingham.

So it was a coincidence how we picked Birmingham and the situation at Birmingham got mixed up together. It helped us gain more views there because on Reddit, like Birmingham Reddit and UK Reddit, the trailer was there and they were making fun of Birmingham, like it’s better than modern day Birmingham. So initially we asked Gary [PR] and the team, ‘Is it okay? Did we do something wrong?’ And Gary told us, ‘No, it’s part of the joke.’

IGN: Did any of the developers actually visit Birmingham to get a sense of what it’s like? I’m curious about some of the research that went on to try and nail the setting.

Jungsoo Lee: In terms of how the town looks, we referred to the video from the Museum of Birmingham. That video gave them a lot of inspiration, especially how the town was looking at the time and what was the biggest landmark at the time, like Moor Street. And another research they did, our team in Korea, they purchased all the books related to medieval Birmingham.

There was a case of, they had a potato as one of the foods, and they looked at the book, what was the main food there, and potato wasn’t there. So they actually took out the potato. We have a carrot now, but we learned the color of the carrot was different at the time. It wasn’t orange, like carrot-ish color. So we are in the process of changing that.

So for now, we are actually referring to all those materials that we could get from the books or online. Also we are working with Gary to see if they can find somebody who can actually consult us about medieval times. One of the key pillars we have is recreating 14th century Birmingham as accurately as possible. So we are trying to find ways to actually make that happen right now.

IGN: I know the game is about the last survivor, so it’s not like you’re going to have lots of voice acting for characters that you’ll meet along the way. They’re zombies. Will the character have a Brummie accent?

Jungsoo Lee: Yes. We are trying to have that for the final product. The current voice acting for the trailer and the game demo, we couldn’t actually find the right person in the short period of time. But we are planning to find somebody who can recreate that medieval accent, the Brummie accent. So that’s in the plan. And we have multiple different classes and we will try to have different voice acting for those.

IGN: The April gameplay reveal trailer had a huge amount of interest and comments. Some people were saying the animations were too good to be true, some of it looked scripted, it wasn’t true gameplay. You’ll have seen all of these comments yourself. Was that something you anticipated from that video? Or did it take you by surprise?

Jungsoo Lee: I say half and half. Meaning we didn’t think the impact of The Day Before… because lots of people are referencing The Day Before and saying it’s another scam, right? I mean we read everything! Even internally, Jae and especially myself were thinking some people might say something similar, it might be too good to be true. Because we acknowledge we never say it’s from the build, but the title is correct, meaning this trailer is there to show people this is what we are aiming to create in terms of gameplay experience that people will have at the final product.

So reception, we were a little bit surprised. There was another video from a YouTuber with almost 1 million views, ‘Another fake scam’ was the title. So in that sense we are a little bit surprised, but it wasn’t something we weren’t expecting.

IGN: Just to clear up for our audience exactly what is going on in that trailer, what are we seeing in that video in terms of gameplay versus things that you’ve created to give the impression of the experience you’re going for?

Jungsoo Lee: So the map, environment, props, everything is exactly as what we are working towards. So it’s already there in the build, the map and the objects, buildings, they’re all there. But as you have pointed out, some of the animations are not there yet. Some are a work in progress, and in the near future it’ll be implemented as a demo build. Some will take a longer period of time to actually get there.

But ultimately what we can tell you is we are actually working towards that direction, and nothing is really exaggerated there. Here’s one caveat though: if you play a sandbox game, you’re not going to move the camera like that. Yeah, we acknowledge that. But what we intended with the trailer was basically we want to show the environment, what kind of features will be there. That was the major intention. If the player wants to create a video like that, our final build will let you actually make the video look like that.

There will be camera options, especially for console controller players, it’s kind of common. So if you want to move the camera like that, you can actually do that. If you want to grab props like in the video, where the hand exactly grabs the objects, you can do it. But in sandbox gameplay, real-world players, what they’re going to do is open up the tab in the menu and drag everything into your inventory. You don’t want to pick one-by-one. So there will be that difference. But endgame, the animation where you walk and grab the apple, those are already in the works. So they’re actually working towards that right now.

IGN: So what you’re saying is that everything we see in that video will be achievable in the final game once it’s finished?

Jungsoo Lee: Correct.

IGN: This isn’t a situation where people are going to feel like the final product doesn’t have some of the things suggested by the video? You’re saying everything we see there eventually you’ll be able to do in the game?

Jungsoo Lee: Correct.

IGN: You had a follow-up video and took the game to PAX. From what I can see online, the reaction to that has been better, with people saying this looks a bit more realistic and not the same thing as the previous trailer. What is your assessment of the reaction and the sentiment now that that video has come out, and how different it is compared to the sentiment after the first video?

Jungsoo Lee: We definitely had much more positive comments there, but at the same time of course those people who talked about another The Day Before situation, some players are still saying, see, look at the difference between it. Our plan was basically, let’s share this, our end goal, and then we’ll regularly share how we are making progress towards that.

One thing we didn’t really expect was, we really underestimated how people perceived The Day Before situation, how hurt they were, because they were so excited. Because they were really excited, they got much bigger disappointment towards the project. And another thing was, we are not that reputable yet, so people don’t really understand what kind of pedigree we have, what kind of people we have here, how many people we have here working towards the game.

We had a lot of supporters, some of them said, ‘Why didn’t you just release this video first?’ And that part, we take the feedback seriously. But one interesting story there, Jae and I actually told the dev team not to make a pre-rendered video. We basically said, ‘Let’s just use our build and then share our current build video based on that.’ But our team, they’re so into the project that they were the ones basically insisting, ‘No, we are very confident we can do it and we have to show them how ambitious we are.’

So that was one of the interesting parts, because lots of people were thinking vice versa, where marketing and business folks were pushing them to create this marketing video to attract a lot of players into our community. But it was actually vice versa. They were very confident, ‘We can do it.’ Every week we kept asking them, ‘So this is our end goal, you have to deliver this, you’re making a promise to our players.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, we understand, and we’re very confident.’ That’s how this video came about actually.

IGN: There have been multiple occasions in this interview where you’ve referenced The Day Before. It seems to me that what happened with that game has created a difficult situation for you. How damaging do you think The Day Before has been for you specifically? Are you confident you’ll be able to get to a place where people stop mentioning it with your game? Or do you think that it’s just something you are going to have to live with for the rest of the development and until the game comes out?

Jungsoo Lee: Jae and I had this conversation after the video. I don’t think it was just only giving us the damage. Because it went viral, although it wasn’t all positive, I think we got more views on the video because lots of people were actually saying, ‘Another scam here, there’s The Day Before.’ Getting more interest towards a small studio like us, every type of interest helps. So we don’t really think it’s giving us that damage.

Part of that is because we are pretty confident. The Day Before, they never had a test. They said they’re going to have a beta test, but they suddenly say only for volunteers. Everyone was confused at the time. And we are not doing pre-orders; we’ve never done pre-orders on any of our games. So while we are internally confident that by showing the progress that we are making regularly — for example we’re going to be at gamescom and we’re going to share another demo on-site, then people will see how we progressed from the PAX East demo to the gamescom demo.

So because of that level of confidence internally, I think we are fine with people actually comparing us to The Day Before, because if we can turn this around with actual gameplay and the demo, those people who are disappointed can actually be huge strong supporters of ours, and this is how you actually have to build a game with the community.

IGN: Do you have a target year in mind for when people might be able to play it via Steam either in early access or otherwise? Or is it too early to say at this point?

Jungsoo Lee: Our official communication about timeline is early access sometime next year. What we are internally debating is what volume of content do we want to have for early access? We don’t want to monetize the game too early with a very empty game, right? So we have been assessing what will be our optimum volume of the content where players can actually enjoy the game to provide us meaningful feedback about how we should evolve the game.

Project Zomboid is doing a great job. They started small and with the Build 41 update, they truly achieved commercial success from that update. And ever since they’ve been working with their community to actually create a feature that their community is asking. So we want to take a similar approach where we should have good enough of a game to… and especially with the video, we raised our internal standard bar for early access. So once we have that, I think we can get into early access. But Jae and we are targeting sometime next year. I don’t think it’ll be early next year, but probably between summer and the end of 2026.

Jae Kim: Actually, we are very impressed by the viewer count of our game reveal trailer on IGN. Our studio is the child company of Kakao Games in Korea, the big listed company. So maybe we can make the team bigger after discussing with Kakao Games, because this game has a lot of buzz right now. So maybe we can invest more into this project to make it better when we launch this game. The schedule is quite open, but personally I really want to do the early access within the next year.

IGN: For someone who has seen the April video and the reaction and dismissed it as a scam game or a fake game, or another The Day Before, what is your message to that gamer right now to convince them otherwise?

Jungsoo Lee: Actions speak louder than words. The only thing we can tell them is, we understand, we’ll try to prove it with our actions, especially with testing. Even though we have a trailer, there is a possibility people might think it’s scripted, although it’s actually the build happening. So I think hopefully they can at least wait for our future alpha, our beta tests, so that they can actually experience the game, and also follow us so that they can see what kind of progress we are making. Actions speak louder than words, so we’ll focus on our actions going forward.

Jae Kim: Our team is quite capable to deliver this quality of the game. We are not a newbie team. We have a lot of experience. It was mostly the free-to-play games, but the core members in my company, they really hate to make free-to-play games right now, because they’re all hardcore gamers, and they really want to make story based or a game with core play. So I’m quite confident to deliver this quality of the game.

My only worry is that the game should be fun, right? That’s the main concern I currently have. The quality, we can provide the quality. But I really want to provide a fun game. So please keep an eye on us, and I really appreciate all the comments on the video. Even if it’s good or bad.

God Save Birmingham is due out on PC via Steam in early access form in 2026.

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.

If there’s one thing beyond doubt after more than 35 hours with Dune: Awakening, it’s that Funcom has done its homework in crafting the most authentic take on the Dune-iverse imaginable. As a longtime fan of Frank Herbert’s iconic sci-fi setting, that’s an incredible thing to experience more often than not, and my time on Arrakis has been filled with moments of genuine shock. It’s very clever how the harsh environments and empty space are repeatedly used as progression checks, turning what seem like they should be weaknesses into strengths. Other times, that stubborn adherence to established lore results in annoying or just plain boring irritations, like how you’re all but forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle in a genre where putting down roots and building up your base is one of the fundamentals. There have also been plenty of technical issues and bugs in the days immediately following launch, plus combat hasn’t landed with me much so far (though I’m admittedly still early in crafting my combat build), but on balance my friends and I are having an absolutely awesome time nerding out.

If you’ve ever played a survival game (and have seen a Dune movie) before, you’ll know most of what you need to feel at home among the giant sand worms: you gather materials from the world, build your own ugly-as-heck home, and upgrade your equipment to gain access to more dangerous areas with rarer materials. Like plenty of survival games, including Funcom’s own Conan Exiles or last year’s Once Human, all of this is happening on a server full of similarly sunburnt players in a perpetually online world, where cooperation and limited instances of PvP are both a distinct possibility, and which account for most of its best moments.

Where this game sets itself apart, though, is by just how much it adheres to its legendary setting, and that has a major impact on just about everything you do. For example, intelligent use is made of Arrakis’ harsh environment, which is weaponized against you quite literally every second you stay within its atmosphere. Standing directly in sunlight unprotected will bake you alive in a matter of seconds, sandstorms blow on a regular basis and will kill you if you aren’t able to get to shelter first, and most notably, there’s the issue of those pesky enormous man-eating worms which gobble you up if you dare tread upon their domain for too long. By leaning into the unforgiving world as much as it does, Awakening puts you in a constant battle against the planet itself. So instead of casually trotting around collecting resources at your leisure and settling your own little piece of the world, you’re frantically ducking behind rocks to avoid the sun’s harsh rays and drink what little water you have left, and playing a never-ending game of “the floor is lava” as you rush from one place to another with a shai-hulud hot on your heels.

All of these hazards give you obstacles to overcome. For example, early on you’re unable to leave the tutorial area thanks to a massive gap of empty space where sun exposure or, more likely, a massive worm would certainly kill you if you attempt to go on foot, so you have to craft your first vehicle in order to safely cross it. Later on, you start to encounter places that are too hot or irradiated to explore without proper equipment. There are plenty of examples just like this, where the unique nature of the setting is turned into an interesting mechanic. Similarly, you’re constantly starved for water, which is used both as a crafting material and a resource to keep yourself alive, and usually Awakening is a better, more interesting survival game for it.

But there are other times where this fanatical adherence to Dune conventions can be quite obnoxious, like how you’re encouraged (and in some cases required) to move your base of operations from place to place as you unlock access to higher-level regions. Pulling up stakes means you either have to abandon all you’ve built up to that point or tediously relocate as much of your equipment as you can, piece by piece. Then there’s stuff like the fact that guns are often useless, since many enemies make use of the all-important Holtzman shields that completely protect from ranged attacks. This creates a weird situation where you’re juggling back and forth between guns and melee weapons depending on which enemy is currently running towards you, oftentimes having to choose between addressing the swordsman barreling down on you or the guy a few feet behind him with a chaingun, which can create a really oppressive rhythm to combat. I honestly kinda respect how much Dune: Awakening sticks to its guns by making its guns ineffective to keep with Dune lore, even as it sometimes comes at the expense of me having a good time. Even when this stuff annoys the hell out of me, I can’t help but respect it.

That’s just part of the reason that, like almost every single one of its peers, Dune: Awakening has pretty awful combat. I knew going into a survival MMO that would be the case, but it’s still a particularly bitter pill that never gets any easier to swallow. I’m still quite early in unlocking all the options for battle and seeing some of the more interesting weapons and builds available, but so far gunplay is sloppy, melee combat is repetitive and janky as heck, and I’ve mostly just been trying to get through it as quickly as possible. It’s such a low point in a game I’m otherwise enjoying.

Thankfully, the combat miss is more than made up for by the absolutely stellar survival mechanics, which are some of the most thoughtful and polished I’ve seen in a while. There’s a constant stream of new technologies to research, equipment to craft, and material to hunt for with almost no filler or grind along the way. Every time I’ve collected the right materials to craft the latest shiny thing I want, I’ve immediately had another enticing item to chase, and with unique schematics dropping left and right, I’m always making interesting decisions on whether to spend my rarest materials on a cool item with a special effect versus taking the more conservative route and just crafting common items to save those resources for a rainy day. (It’s bound to rain on Arrakis one of these days.)

It’s especially impressive that they accomplished this loop so well in a desert world where there are no other locations aside from hot sand, and almost no plants or wildlife available to harvest. A major hallmark of survival games is punching trees, and there are no trees on Arrakis – instead you’re making tools to pull water from morning dew collecting in the world at night and by pulling it from the air, which is just really smart and a welcome change of pace that embraces the weird and barren setting, even if it is still essentially the same thing.

When I played the beta for Dune: Awakening, I ran into tons of bugs and hoped the delay of its launch would improve things a bit. That certainly seems to be the case, as I’ve had a significantly more stable experience so far, but even as improved as it is, it’s still fairly troubled in the technical department. I’ve had disconnects, seen entire mountains disappear and reappear before my eyes, and even had a few hours where all sand worms just up and deleted themselves from existence, making everyone on the server swarm to the resources normally protected by their constant threat. It’s not been the smoothest launch by any stretch – but also far from the worst.

After more than 35 hours I still feel like I’m fairly early into my Dune: Awakening adventure, and still have new zones to visit, haven’t gotten very far into the main story, and have only had a few encounters with PvP. There’s a ton for me to do, so look for an update sometime this week as I work my way through to the endgame.

While some longtime Magic: The Gathering players may grumble about Universes Beyond’s growing importance to the game’s release calendar, it’s hard not to feel like it’s getting more eyes on the brand.

The latest Final Fantasy set has sold better than any other through preorders alone, and it’s not even out until this weekend (June 13). There’s also the Secret Lair set to consider on June 9, but that’s a whole other beast.

Still, suppose you picked up a prerelease box at your local game store last weekend, or you’ve got some more boosters on the way this week, you may be wondering which cards are seeing demand, particularly if you’re looking to offload some or just get the sweet satisfaction of owning what’s hot.

Let’s take a deep dive into the best-selling Final Fantasy presold cards right now, all according to the trading card marketplace TCGPlayer.

10: Jumbo Cactuar

I often get excited when I get to preview an upcoming game. Who wouldn’t? Getting to check out a game pre-release, and then getting to share that experience is one of the joys of this job. But when a code for a new build of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound materialized in my inbox, I’m pretty sure I started drooling. It’s a Pavlovian response, really; see, us Ninja Gaiden sickos have been pining for the good old days for a while now, but this year has been like stumbling into an oasis in the desert, only the oasis has air conditioning, a made-to-order menu from your favorite local joint, and an open bar. Ninja Gaiden fans have been wandering these sands for a long time. But this year, it feels like we’re coming home.

I hadn’t played the demo we previewed last time, so Ragebound was a new experience for me. But it felt like slipping into a pair of old shoes. It took a second to get back into the swing of things — I haven’t played a 2D Ninja Gaiden in a hot second — but once I did, it felt like I’d never left. There’s so much to talk about here, but we’ve already done a more traditional preview that looks at the meat and potatoes experience of playing Ragebound, so this time, let’s dig into the nitty gritty. These are the 7 coolest things about Ninja Gaiden Ragebound.

#1: The Guillotine Boost Lets You Bounce on It (and “It” is Everything)

There are a ton of cool mechanics in Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, but I’m starting with the guillotine boost because everything else flows from it. Once you’re in the air, you can jump again when you’re about to make contact with an enemy to both attack them and bounce off of them for another jump. Cool, right?

But it’s not just enemies. You can do this to projectiles, too, and even some enemy attacks. Obviously, you can use the guillotine boost to get to places you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, but you can also use it to bounce between enemies and stay on the attack. I managed to bounce on Gurthka, the boss of the demo’s second level, for a solid few seconds while he was trying to attack me. And those weird samurai spirits with the spears? Just bounce off their attacks and keep going. Is the guillotine boost as cool as the Izuna Drop? No. Nothing is. But it’s pretty close.

#2: Hypercharges Are One-Hit Kills with Style

Okay, so the guillotine boost lets you get to hard-to-reach places, stay on the attack, and style on bosses. But what happens when you need to kill something in a single stroke? Well, that’s where the Hypercharge comes in. You can get Hypercharge by killing enemies with auras. Do so, and you’ll gain a Hypercharge for a few seconds. When you have it , your next attack will kill enemies instantly. To be fair, most enemies in Ragebound die in a single hit. But the ones that don’t? You don’t wanna go toe-to-toe with those cats. In a pinch, you can sacrifice some health to manually Hypercharge, but you’ll want to avoid that if you can. When you’re really cooking, you can chain these together to cut down enemies in rapid succession, or unleash them on a boss to stun them and lay on the hurt, and it feels great. Speaking of which, that brings me to my next point.

#3: Simon Says Is Cool Now

A lot of video games really like Simon Says combat design. You know what I mean; the enemy is a certain color, so you use a specific kind of attack (I’m looking at you, DmC: Devil May Cry), or they’re wielding a specific weapon, so you drop in a stance built to counter that (don’t think I didn’t notice, Ghost of Tsushima). Kinda boring, right?

Ninja Gaiden Ragebound flirts with Simon Says combat design, but it gets away with it because it does it in a cool way. You can still kill anything in the Ragebound demo I played any way you want. But some of those auras that give you Hypercharges? You gotta kill those enemies a certain way if you want that Hypercharge. A blue aura means you gotta slice ‘em up with Kenji’s katana, while a purple aura means you need to use a kunai. Once you get that Hypercharge, you can spend it however you want; but forcing you to match the aura to the right weapon on the fly adds a welcome element of challenge, especially when enemies are only on-screen for a few seconds and you have to react quickly.

#4: Rollin’ with Kumori Rocks

At some unspecified point in Ragebound’s story, our boy Kenji fuses with Kumori. Like any good member of the Hayabusa Clan, he’s pretty upset about cavorting around with a ninja of the Spider Clan, but he shouldn’t be. Palling around with Kumori has a lot of benefits. First, she gives Kenji access to a kunai to deal with enemies at range (and teleport to certain objects in the environment), but also a Spider Weapon. In my demo, that took the shape of a throwable sickle with an arc that reminds me an awful lot of the throwing axes from Castlevania. And she gives you access to the screen-clearing Ragebound Arts. When everything around you absolutely, positively has to die, accept no substitutes. So hey, more toys, right? But that’s not all Kumori brings to the table.

She can also commune with Demon Altars to navigate the otherworld. With her spirit separate from Kenji’s body and traipsing around the otherworld, she can go places he can’t, opening new paths. She also has access to her kunai, even without ki, something Kenji doesn’t have. The downside? She needs to constantly replenish a meter to stay in the otherworld. Otherwise, it’s back to Kenji, and you have to do it again. Sometimes, that means you’ll repeat a section a few times. It also breaks up the action and gives you a new way to play. Pretty cool. Also, Kumori says “Good grief” a lot. I love her.

#5: Exploring is Worth Your Time

One of the things I really appreciate about Ragebound is its purity. It’s not another roguelite in the endless sea of roguelites (thank God); it’s a side-scrolling action game, in the vein of the series’ original trilogy. But that doesn’t mean there’s not stuff worth going off the beaten path for. There are scarabs and crystal skulls to find, and while it was unclear what either of these do (the scarabs serve as currency for Muramasa’s shop, which was not available in my demo, so I can only guess at the goodies he’ll have on offer), it definitely gives you an excuse to explore. My favorite one of these “do an optional bit, get a cool thing” sections was one where I had to navigate a tricky, teleport-y platforming section as Kumori. It took me several tries to get it right (I kept messing up right at the end), but by the time I nailed it, I knew that thing like the back of my hand. And that feels good.

#6: It Rewards Mastery

Oh, and speaking of mastering something, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound wants you to play these levels over and over again as much as you want. Once you’ve beaten one, you can immediately access it again from the map. And each time you play, you’re scored on time, collectibles, number of enemies killed, and your best combo. And if that’s not enough, there are also optional challenges that range from completing levels without being hit to level-specific tasks like killing so many enemies with a lunge attack or beating Ryu Hayabusa himself in the tutorial. I… did not do that one. He Izuna Dropped my ass. It was rad as hell. I’ll get you one day, Ryu.

#7: It Hurts So Good

I wouldn’t call Ninja Gaiden Ragebound easy, per se, but it’s also not impossible on the regular difficulty, either. This series has something of a legacy to maintain when it comes to being hard, and you’ve gotta be kind of a masochist to see the deepest levels of depravity it has to show you. What can I say? I like pain.

Good news for me, then, because beating the demo unlocked a hard version of one of the levels I’d just played. And, uh… it’s a lot harder. There are new enemies! Everything’s on fire! Developer The Game Kitchen has put in something for the sickos, and I appreciate it.

I came out of my time with Ninja Gaiden Ragebound like a man who has just had a fine meal with portions that were far too small. Appreciative, but wanting more. What can I say? I love action games, and this series in particular holds a special place in my heart. I get the shakes when you’re not around, Ninja Gaiden. But it’s so damn good to have you back.

Over the last few years, Steam’s Next Fest has become a valuable showcase of upcoming games, particularly from indie developers. It includes free demos from participating games, livestreams, and interviews with developers that can help shed a light on games made by passionate people.

Next Fest has regularly featured games from indie.io, a publishing platform that works with developers of all shapes and sizes. The latest Next Fest just landed today, will last until June 16, and has 25 different titles from indie.io — the most games the platform has ever had in one Next Fest. You can see the full lineup on this page, and there’s a little something for every type of gamer, including old-school co-op RPGs, rhythm-driven brawlers, spellcrafting roguelites, cozy farming sims, and party games.

There’s a lot to choose from, but we picked what we think are the six standouts of the group that all have playable demos and also show the wide range of options on offer:

Shrine’s Legacy

A clear throwback to the SNES era of 16-bit games, Shrine’s Legacy is an action RPG that follows a pair of heroes on a quest to save the world of Ardemia. You’ll need to find eight elemental magic gems to restore the fabled Sword of the Shrine and use its power to vanquish the evil force that threatens the world. The demo allows you to play a pretty sizable chunk of the game, with two towns, two dungeons, and three boss battles. You’ll get a glimpse at the character-driven story and a sense of the game’s tone, with some goofy moments and dramatic twists mixed in. You can play it in couch co-op where you each control one of the characters, or play it solo and have the game control the second character.

Troublemaker 2: Beyond Dream

Troublemaker 2 is an open-world action-comedy beat-em-up game, which is not a combination of hyphenated words you see very often. It’s the sequel to 2023’s Troublemaker and follows the Parakacuk gang from the original and a band called Beyond Dream through the city of South Jayakarta. The demo drops you into the city in the middle of the game with free roam unlocked, so you’ll have access to the whole city. You can walk around town getting in street brawls, find some side jobs to complete for the local populace, or just chill at the music studio, where you can play rhythm-based minigames. The demo has a total of 12 side quests and minigames (one of which turns you into a cow, so that should give you an idea of the tone).

Don’t Die, Collect Loot

Gotta love a game whose title pretty much spells it out, right? Don’t Die, Collect Loot is an arcade roguelite RPG where you mow through enemies in chaotic bullet-hell combat and gather loot. If you’re the type of person who finds it oddly satisfying watching your EXP bar fill up, then this is the game for you. In fact, you have three bars to watch fill up: your EXP, skill points, and research points. The demo lets you play as one of three classes: the Adventurer, Arcanist, and Beastmaster, each with their own skill trees and gear, and all with overpowered abilities to take advantage of. Whichever class you choose, you’ll tackle the Endless Nightmare mode, a never-ending challenge where the only goal is to last as long as possible and gather as much loot as you can. Perfect your build and compete for a spot on the global leaderboard. If you play the demo during Next Fest, you can face off with the exclusive superboss Alethia and obtain unique items that won’t be available any other time, so don’t miss out.

Mythrealm

Mythrealm is a single-player third-person fantasy RPG where you play as the adventurer Alaris, who has been summoned to this world by a mysterious magic. Demons have caused the wizards of Zelanar to disappear, putting the world in peril. You’ll need to use your wit, skill, and weapons to defeat the demons, rescue the wizards, and save the world. Alaris will start as a novice adventurer, but as she grows, you can choose whether to guide her down the path of a melee warrior, archer, or mage. You’ll also need to utilize jumping and platforming to navigate treacherous environments and find hidden items. The demo lets you explore the first level of Mythrealm, where a legendary warhammer is hidden. Can you find it?

Aris Arcanum

In this Victorian-era, spellcraft-focused roguelite, you are Clyde, a scholar who was on a path to becoming leader of the grand library of Aris. But now, an alien entity that was sealed within the library has twisted the minds of the other scholars, and the library is facing ruin. You must dive into its now-corrupted halls, defeat those who were once your fellow scholars, and face cosmic horrors on the path to cleansing the library. On each run, you’ll craft new spells that can lead to a variety of different builds, encouraging you to test different possibilities to find your favorites. The demo offers a look at an early build of Aris Arcanum, giving you a taste of the gameplay and narrative structure. You’ll also be able to take on an early side quest and face off against a boss encounter, and there’s always more to experiment with on subsequent runs.

Heroes of Mount Dragon

Heroes of Mount Dragon is a side-scrolling brawler developed by RuniQ, a Canadian indie studio largely made up of former employees of Activision, Beenox, and Ubisoft. You’ll choose from one of eight heroes, each of whom can transform into powerful dragons and lay waste to the battlefield. You can play solo or team up with three friends in couch co-op or online, and you’ll need to manage your hero’s unique abilities, dragon transformations, and powerful upgrades to make it through. You can also compete against your friends for supremacy, and you can use devious curses to disrupt them — electrify them, shrink them, or flip their controls. In the demo, you’ll have access to four of the eight heroes and can explore half of the game’s first kingdom (there will be a total of four kingdoms in the final game).