The developers of Hellraiser: Revival intend to push its M Rating as far as it can with the upcoming video game adaptation.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is a story-driven, single-player survival horror action game set in the Hellraiser universe. It’s developed by Boss Team Games, creator of the recently delisted Evil Dead: The Game, and is due out on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC via Steam.
Hellraiser, for the uninitiated, is a cult classic horror franchise made up of 11 films and various comic books, all based on The Hellbound Heart novella by English author Clive Barker. The star of the show is Pinhead, a ‘Cenobite’ who harvests human souls to torture in sadistic experiments. And you can see that in action in the trailer, which — content warning! — contains as much sex as it does body horror.
Hellraiser: Revival is not for the faint of heart. If you’re wondering just how extreme the game gets, be sure to check out IGN’s hands-on Hellraiser: Revival preview for all the gory details. But in short, expect body horror, sex, no holds barred nudity, nightmarish scenes, and a healthy dose of hell.
It’s ‘Resident Evil For Sickos,’ we said coming out of our time with Hellraiser, but just how extreme can the developers at Saber Interactive take it? In an interview with IGN, Saber development chief Tim Willits said the studio plans to push Hellraiser as far as the people who make the rules around an M Rating will let them.
“We are going to go as far as we possibly can, as far as the people that make rules will let us go,” Willits insisted. “And I hope that we can make one version, but we are willing to go as far as we possibly can go.”
Of course, what we’ve seen of Hellraiser: Revival so far is in keeping with Clive Barker’s cult classic Hellraiser movies, so tonally, there’s no real difference. But there’s something unique about seeing and doing all this horrific stuff from a first-person perspective that’s a bit more in your face than watching a film in a theater or at home.
“We want to be a responsible publisher / developer, but we are going to push it as far as we possibly can in the context of the game and the movie.”
Clive Barker is working with Saber on Hellraiser: Revival to ensure it fits with his vision for the universe. This back and forth should result in a game fans of the movies will get a real kick out of, Willits added.
“He’s come back and said, ‘Yeah, Pinhead wouldn’t do that,’” Willits explained. “And he’s come back and said, ‘Yeah, you got to tweak this a little bit.’ Because this is his world and he knows stuff that we don’t even think about.
“And he’s been really fast too. Sometimes when you work with famous people you throw something over and then six months later they come back and they complain about something. No, he’s that on it.”
Doug Bradley, the original actor behind the Cenobite leader Pinhead, has reprised his role for the game, adding to the authenticity of the project.
Here’s the official blurb:
Discover the tale of Aidan, who must unlock the dark powers of the Genesis Configuration, a mysterious puzzle box, to help his girlfriend from a hellish abyss. As Aidan, you’ll harness the box’s infernal abilities to survive your pact with the sinister Pinhead and battle against the twisted cult that worships him and the Cenobites. Fail, and your suffering will be legendary, even in Hell.
Hellraiser was thrust back into the public consciousness in 2022 with a franchise reboot film. IGN’s Hellraiser review returned an 8/10. We said: “Hellraiser is a reinvigorated reboot that gets the blood pumping, starting with Jamie Clayton’s worthy Pinhead performance that sets a fresh tone with immense reverence paid to Clive Barker’s works.”
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.
Ubisoft employees have raised concerns around the company’s partnership with Saudi Arabia to create new Assassin’s Creed Mirage DLC, a fresh report has revealed.
The upcoming content was first reported on back in January by a French financial newspaper, Les Echoes, which stated that the DLC had received funding from Saudi Arabia’s controversial Public Investment Fund (PIF). Ubisoft did not respond to me when asked for comment on that report at the time.
Months later, Ubisoft quietly announced the DLC itself in late August, in a social media post sent out early one Saturday morning. The brief reveal confirmed that the add-on would see Mirage hero Basim visiting AlUla, an ancient site that’s now one of Saudi Arabia’s cultural highlights.
In an internal Q&A shared with Ubisoft staff and published by GameFile, an employee asked if management believed partnering with Saudi Arabia, specifically following the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, would tarnish the company’s image.
Management responded by addressing the fact that Guillemot had recently visited Saudi Arabia as part of a delegation alongside French president Emmanual Macron, but dismissed this as a “classic diplomatic tool for expanding France’s influence and reach around the world” that would help disseminate the country’s values.
As for the origins of the DLC, the management response to the query simply stated Ubisoft did “not comment on rumors.”
Assassin’s Creed Mirage players, we have a surprise coming your way later this year!
📖 New story chapter & missions set in 9th century AlUla 🎮 Gameplay improvements for the base game and the new location 🎁 All for free
Ubisoft management also attempted to draw a distinction between the country’s leader and chairman of the PIF, Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, and the PIF itself. “The latter’s money is not MBS’s, and talking with partners who do not share our democratic values does not mean abandoning them,” the company’s response reads.
GameFile reports that Guillemot visited Saudi Arabia again last month to speak at the New Global Sport Conference and announce Mirage’s AlUla DLC at the event (something which also explains the unusual timing of the news being made public at the same time, albeit with no mention of Guillemot’s speech).
“We are working with AlUla, which is a UNESCO site, which is not known yet very much,” Guillemote said, announcing the DLC at the Saudi event. “But we are creating content that will be given for free to players that play Mirage, and they will be able to go in that site.
“As you can see, they will be able to play there, to have a story in this environment. I am sure they will love this region, just also because it has been done with specialists [of] archaeology, really people that know what happened then and why it was so important.”
IGN recently asked Ubisoft for more detail on the matter and was told that, as with every Assassin’s Creed game, it had creative control on the proposed content. This title update to Assassin’s Creed Mirage was “made possible thanks to the support of local and international organisations,” Ubisoft added, “through access to experts, historians and resources to ensure the creation of an authentic and accurate setting.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Embark Studios just launched Season 8 of free-to-download shooter The Finals, introducing new, revamped destruction and improvements to competitive play. But it also added a standard competitive multiplayer feature that — at least at launch — won’t be available on Xbox Series S.
Season 8 introduces quality of life features to “enhance player experience and help strengthen their competitive skills,” including the beta version of the Instant Replay feature — aka a kill cam.
Here’s the official blurb:
A major addition aimed at boosting competitive clarity and supporting skill development. Players can now replay intense gameplay moments linked directly to their opponent’s point of view, making it easier to identify the exact source of eliminations. Instant Replay has been a significant but fulfilling development challenge and is currently in BETA with ongoing improvements.
It’s interesting to note the disclaimer Embark Studios added to the announcement: “this feature will not be compatible with Xbox Series S, PlayStation 4 and certain PC builds at launch.)”
Killcam is a pretty standard FPS feature at this point, indeed it has been a part of, for example, Call of Duty for years. And usually it is available across all platforms the game is on. Again, with Call of Duty, the killcam exists on Xbox Series S, PS4, and all PC builds the game itself can run on.
So it’s surprising to see it miss out for The Finals on these platforms. Clearly, there is a performance issue the developer is still working on, and it mentions this is a problem “at launch,” so hopefully some point soon killcam will be added to all platforms.
In a blog post, Embark Studios explained the challenge it faces adding the Instant Replay feature, calling it “mind-bending tech.”
To be honest, at first and second glance, this was an impossible task. But at Embark we take a challenge seriously. Prototypes for this feature date back to the early days of the project, before The Finals even had a name, trying to prove it possible. What you will see in Season 8 is the result of all that hard work. We had to calculate everything that matters: player movement, environmental destruction, object interactions in a level of data fidelity that’s hard to pull off in a Dynamism Shooter. Then take all that info and quickly reconstruct the moment.
It’s not enabled for everyone by default (especially on systems under 16 GB RAM), but you can toggle it on manually. If you’ve got the horsepower, turn it on, try it, and tell us what you think. We’ll be gathering feedback, polishing performance, and expanding integration throughout the season.
The Instant Replay feature’s omission from Xbox Series S specifically is interesting for another reason. Usually Microsoft insists on feature parity when it comes to games running on Xbox Series X and S. Yes, there are performance differences, as games will inevitably run worse on the less powerful S, but we’re used to feature parity, and a killcam would certainly fall under the feature category as opposed to performance.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has indicated the parity clause is staying put, but it will be interesting to see what the company does as it heads into the next generation.
Meanwhile, The Finals Season 8 adds two new weapons, mouse and keyboard support for console players, detailed match recaps, a fresh Battle Pass, an update to anti-cheat and more.
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.
In the run up to Black Ops 7’s November launch, Activision is, like EA for Battlefield 6, employing extra steps to help stop cheating on PC. When Black Ops 7 launches on November 14, PC players will be required to enable both Secure Boot and TPM 2.0. “These hardware-based features will give us a stronger, more trusted foundation for detecting and blocking certain cheats before they can take root,” Activision said in a new blog post.
Other security features will be tested during the Black Ops 7 beta to see how they perform. “These tools are designed to identify and remove cheaters faster, and we’ll be closely monitoring how they respond in real matches,” Activision said. “The full force of our protections will be reserved for launch, when all systems come online together.”
But Activision, as so many other video game companies have done, qualified this work by saying the war on cheaters is a never-ending one.
“We also want to be clear: there’s no one-and-done solution to solving the challenge of cheating. Every major game faces this issue, and cheaters are constantly looking for new ways to exploit systems.
“What matters, and where we’ve seen real improvement, is how quickly we adapt. In Black Ops 6, detections are faster, mitigations are stronger, and enforcement is cutting deeper into the networks that try to harm fair play. With Black Ops 7, hardware protections like Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 will add another layer of defense.”
Elsewhere, Call of Duty will now tell players directly in-game if they’re placed into shadow ban status for Warzone and Multiplayer.
“More than 75% of the LMM [Limited Matchmaking] pool is made up of users who have been brought into the system through parties, so this notification is important to clarify account status,” Activision explained.
“As a reminder, being placed in Limited Matchmaking doesn’t signal that an account is a confirmed cheater. It means an alarm was raised that requires examination.”
He continued: “It does prevent some players from playing the game. Some people’s PCs can’t handle it and they can’t play; that really sucks. I wish everyone could play the game with low friction and not have to do these sorts of things.”
Still, Buhl sounds pleased with the effectiveness of the likes of Secure Boot, which are “some of the strongest tools in our toolbox to stop cheating.”
“We were pretty happy with how the anti-cheat performed. Obviously I’ll say we can never be perfect, anti-cheat is always a cat-and-mouse game where we’re constantly going back and forth and keeping on top of what the cheaters are doing. But from the beginning this was something we put a high priority on, so when we launch this game we have a really strong anti-cheat program in place.”
Buhl continued: “Again, nothing makes cheating impossible, but enabling Secure Boot and having kernel-level access makes it so much harder to cheat and so much easier for us to find and stop cheating.”
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.
After ghosting fans in 2024 by cancelling FM25, Football Manager is finally back in the game. FM26 has a confirmed release date of November 4, 2025, and yes, you can already preorder it.
If obsessing over player stats on your commute sounds like heaven, FM26 Touch also lands on Switch December 4, while FM26 Mobile arrives on Netflix, meaning you can now play Football Manager on the same app you binge Squid Game (yay?).
Where to Preorder Football Manager 26
FM26 is launching on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. FM26 Touch is Switch-only, while FM26 Mobile is Netflix-exclusive. Basically, unless you’re gaming on a toaster, you’ll be able to play.
For now, preorders are open for PC through Steam, Epic Games Store, and Fanatical (Steam key). Console preorders are “coming soon,” which is PR-speak for “sit tight and wait your turn”.
For those on PC, your best option is currently to preorder through Fanatical, which has FM26 down to £40.99 in the UK and $44.99 in the US. That’s 18% off the list price, and a tidy saving if you were almost certainly going to buy the game.
It’s the best discount amongst the bunch, with Epic and Steam currently offering 10% off for those who preorder. It’s also a Steam key, so you can immediately quell those fears of juggling it in any other libraries.
FM26 isn’t just showing up late to the party; it’s arriving with a full makeover. The series is moving to the Unity engine, bringing a big graphical upgrade and more realistic animations. Sports Interactive dropped a Match Day First Look in September, showing off the new tech in action.
Women’s football is finally making its debut too, with major leagues from England, Spain, Germany, France, and the US expected. Tactics are getting deeper as well, with new player roles, more formation tweaks, and control over how your squad plays with or without the ball. Translation: even more ways to yell at your virtual fullbacks for ignoring instructions.
Expect the usual UI polish and quality-of-life updates, but FM26’s real pitch is clear, after a year warming the bench, it wants to be seen as a proper next-gen reboot, not just another spreadsheet simulator with vague grass background.
Other Preorder Guides
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN’s resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
Better yet, not only does Amazon have Sidon, Riju, and Tulin in stock, but they’re all discounted for a limited time right now.
Amazon Amiibo Sale: Save $10 for a Limited Time
Each of these amiibo figures would set you back $29.99 when they first released, but Amazon has discounted three of the figures to $19.99. That’s a saving of 33% each, and $10 off per amiibo.
So, whether you want Riju, Tulin, or Sidon to drop into your latest adventure, you’re in luck.
As for what they do in-game, all three unlock content in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Using any of the three figures via NFC will net you amiibo-exclusive paraglider fabric options, as well as some additional materials and a weapon or rare item.
Since they’re part of The Legend of Zelda series, you can snag extra goodies in other titles. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening has amiibo-exclusive Chamber Dungeons, for example, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe players can get a new Mii racing suit.
If you are playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2 with the upgrade pack, you’re in for a treat.
The update smooths out that frame rate and improves the resolution throughout, fixing just about the only thing that was wrong with the Switch 1 original: Its performance.
Tom Marks said in his review update that ”This [Switch 2 upgrade] really does feel like the way this game was always meant to be played, and I’m thrilled by the idea of a new generation discovering it for the first time.”
Hard to argue there, really.
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.
After a month-long showdown packed with nostalgia, fan debates, and surprise upsets, IGN’s fan-voted tournament to decide the Greatest Racing Game of All Time has reached the finish line.
The Road to Victory:
Starting with 32 legendary titles across four regions: Arcade Racing, Simulation, Street Racing, and Wild Card, the bracket pitted generations of racers against each other in a battle of genre, style, and pure fun. Each round was decided by fans voting across IGN’s website & social platforms throughout August.
Arcade Racing Region
This region saw Burnout 3: Takedown dominate with its high-octane crashes and signature chaos. It knocked out nostalgic favorites like OutRun, DriveClub, and Hot Wheels Unleashed on its way to the Final Four.
Wild Card Racing Region
The unpredictability was real, but Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was an unstoppable force. The Switch-era racer powered through Diddy Kong Racing, Wreckfest, and Crash Team Racing to secure its spot among the elite.
Simulation Region
Representing the most realistic and technical side of racing, Gran Turismo 7 stood tall. It beat out heavyweights like Forza Motorsport, iRacing, and F1 2020, proving that sim racing still has a loyal fanbase.
Street Racing Region
In a battle of urban horsepower, Forza Horizon 5, with its stunning Mexico backdrop and open-world freedom, outraced Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition to reach the Final Four.
Final Four Showdowns
The penultimate rounds delivered some dramatic clashes.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sent Burnout 3 spinning off the track with a decisive win.
Forza Horizon 5 edged past Gran Turismo 7 in a tight race between street style and simulation mastery.
The Grand Finale: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe vs. Forza Horizon 5
It all came down to a battle between two modern icons: Arcade Racing vs. Street Racing, Mario vs. Mexico. In the end, fan nostalgia, polish, and sheer fun factor helped Mario Kart 8 Deluxe take the crown as IGN’s Greatest Racing Game of All Time.
Did You See It Coming?
Did your favorite make it to the top? Were there any upsets that still sting? Let us know in the comments!
One of my favorite board games, and one that I always recommend as an excellent choice for board game beginners, is Z-Man Games’ Pandemic. A tense and strategic cooperative game that pits players in various specialized roles with the goal of stopping and eradicating deadly viruses. Now, Matt Leacock, the designer of Pandemic, has done it again, replacing viruses with Urakai, and first responders with Legolas and Gimli. The game is called The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. I love Pandemic, but after diving into this, it’s going to be hard to go back.
Fate of the Fellowship recounts the struggle of the Fellowship trying to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, with 1 to 5 players taking up the cloaks of various members of the Fellowship and their allies. Turns are spent maneuvering friendly forces and characters around Middle-earth, completing missions, halting the forces of Sauron, and inching Frodo and Sam closer to Mount Doom.
Before the game begins, players choose two characters to control from the impressive roster of 10 possible heroes, including the likes of the King himself, Argorn, the rest of the Fellowship, and elves Eowyn or Arwen. Each character comes with their own player card detailing their special abilities and starting location, where you place the screen-printed wooden meeples.
Some characters help more with movement, such as Gandalf being able to move double the spaces when traveling alone. Others, like Eowyn, are better suited to being hurled into combat, letting her permanently remove Nazghul from the game board. Being able to play to each of the available heroes’ strengths is a big factor in determining if you manage to chuck that annoying piece of metal into the volcano or not.
The players’ goal is to complete three randomly assigned objectives before finally getting Frodo to Mt. Doom to destroy the ring – a pretty straightforward goal. In order to avoid defeat, everyone has to work together to keep Frodo hidden, and to stop the dark forces from overtaking too many safe havens around Middle-earth, like Rivendell.
You lose when the Hope track hits zero. A number of situations cause your hope to lower, including havens falling to shadow, Frodo being spotted, or when you need to draw a player card but there aren’t any left. There are ways to gain Hope, but those opportunities are far fewer, including capturing a shadow stronghold and some objective rewards. This tug-of-war is always present and sometimes requires you to make hard decisions, such as drawing the eye away from the region Frodo is in at the cost of risking friendly army units in an encounter skewed in favor of the shadow.
When it comes to taking actions, Fate adds some additional elements and requirements that can limit what you can do on your turn. You can take four actions with a character. These include preparatory actions like Travel (moving your character), Muster (adding friendly army units), Fellowship (giving or taking a card from another player), and Prepare (exchanging one of your cards for its associated resource – more on this in a moment). You can also Attack (engage enemies with friendly army units), or Capture (take over/retake a stronghold of an enemy).
Since each player controls two characters, in a pretty creative move, everyone is able to take a single action as their other character, too, in addition to their primary character for that turn, who can take up to four. There are some restrictions present, such as not being able to split up your turns (i.e. take two actions with your main character, your single action with your secondary, and finish with the remaining two actions with your primary) but I do enjoy how this lets you have your hand in two places anywhere on the board at once. And you choose which of your characters is the primary each turn, so you are never locked in either.
While in the original Pandemic game, you have to turn in a set of similar colored cards to cure a virus, this concept of using resources to conduct an action has been expanded in Fate, with many of your actions requiring, at least in part, one of four different resources to do. Player cards feature one of these icons and can be played as that resource’s cost, such as Friendship being spent to Muster new forces or Valor for Attack.
Debatably, the most important of these resources are the Stealth and Resistance ones that have a more direct hand in whether or not you will fail or succeed in the game. Spending Stealth cards allows Frodo’s player to move him without causing a search by Sauron and removing the risk of losing hope. The Resistance resource not only lets you re-roll dice, but you MUST spend five of these even to attempt to throw the ring into Mt. Doom to win.
My feelings on these added action requirements are split. While I appreciate the added strategy and thematic component they bring to Fate of the Fellowship, it also shifts the game more into the realm of randomness. When you have what you need or can get it on your turn, pulling off big plays feels awesome. However, if you don’t, it can lead to some pretty lackluster turns, especially when I or my friends have little we can do to impact our odds of winning. Moments like these just didn’t feel good, since regardless of how much or how little you manage to do on your turn, you still need to draw from the Darkness deck, which could make things worse for the good guys instead. Thankfully, though, I would say that these sorts of turns only come about every so often, and I felt far more productive most of the time, and that my decisions made a difference.
My plays of Fate of the Fellowship were full of tense moments, dramatic victories, and risky plays that sometimes paid off in spades.
My plays of Fate of the Fellowship were full of tense moments, dramatic victories, and risky plays that sometimes paid off in spades and other times brought about cataclysmic failure. When the countdown begins closing out 2025, I have little doubt that Fate of the Fellowship will have delivered one of the best gaming moments of my year.
As a hail-mary, last-ditch attempt at victory, we flew Frodo straight to Mt. Doom on the backs of the giant eagles using a special event card one of us had drawn. Doing so not only caused every Nazgul to rush back along with the Eye of Sauron directly on him, but we also needed to roll 14 dice and cross our fingers our hope track could withstand it. The first roll of seven dice put us dangerously close to losing all hope, and all that stood between the Fellowship and seven more dice.
Unfortunately, the results of those seven dice resulted in an outcome that dropped our hope to zero. Or at least it would have, had Tom Bombadil (or at least his event card) not come in to save the day. After slamming it down, I was able to re-roll three of the search dice, with a brand new result keeping our hope alive. The Fellowship and free peoples of Middle-earth had done it! The hype we felt at that moment was real.
17 years separate the original Pandemic and Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, and this latest adaptation of Matt Leacock’s system proves that its bones are still solid. Fate of the Fellowship expands and grows what has already proven to work, delivering a challenging yet rewarding cooperative experience.
It isn’t a title that I want to recommend for people looking to get into board games, thanks to the added mechanisms and heavier reliance on chance compared to Pandemic. Plus there’s the occasional turn where you are left just waiting and hoping to get what you need. Still, it’s a game I would quickly bring to the table with players who enjoy Pandemic already and are more receptive to heavier board games. The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is hands-down one of the best Lord of the Rings and Pandemic games on the market right now, and proves that Gandalf meant to literally fly to Mt. Doom when he said “Fly, you fools!”.
Ubisoft has detailed a fresh update coming to Assassin’s Creed Shadows on September 11, which will add support for the game’s upcoming Claws of Awaji expansion as well as a list of other freebies — including some very special armor and a very special cat.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows update 1.1.1 will launch at 7am Pacific, 10am Eastern or 3pm UK time tomorrow, and weigh in at 12.94GB on PlayStation 5, 33GB on Xbox Series X/S and 42GB on PC (though only 17GB through Steam).
As a taster of Awaji, all players will get access to the expansion’s new Bo staff weapon via an introductory quest that will be made available whether you own the new content or not. (This will unlock in-game on September 16.)
Other major changes include another level cap increase, this time to level 100, plus two new gear qualities and fresh hideout upgrades with two additional levels for each building that grant further bonuses to Naoe, Yasuke and their allies.
Several fan-requested additions are also included, such as the ability to advance the time of day (handy for sneaking into castles under cover of darkness) and improved scouts that will reveal viewpoints and safehouses. This update will also completely unfog a map region once all its viewpoints have been synchonised. Phew.
Last but definitely not least comes a fresh Animus Hub project, Sanctuary, which includes items themed around the franchise’s fan-favorite Renaissance hero Ezio. Of particular note here is the “Rooftop Cat” pet for your hideout, a white feline with custom Assassin robes. Adorable.
Below lies the patch’s list of bug fixes, in addition to all of the above.
Fixed an issue where the game crashed during the cutscene of the “Chained” rift.
Fixed various localization issues.
Fixed an issue where the vertical sliding sound effect continued if you switched characters during a slide.
Fixed an issue where some tutorials repeated themselves after unlocking Yasuke.
Gameplay
Fixed an issue where the Naginata Ronin were not vulnerable after using the Vault ability.
Addressed an issue where the Scale of the Koi and Soaring Tatsu trinkets were not functioning as expected.
Fixed an issue where the aiming reticle option “Only While Aiming” was missing from the settings.
Fixed an issue where a persistent “New Item” notification appeared after looting weapons from scout supply chests.
Fixed an issue where players were unable to start horse archery in Iga because the quest giver had moved locations. Get back in your spot!
Fixed an issue Ikko Ikki Kamon banner was missing after completing the “Collection of Crests” quest.
Fixed an issue where the Mount Nukai contract targeted a chest that was already opened.
Fixed an issue where multiple waypoints were not synchronizing.
Difficulty Options
Fixed an issue on Nightmare difficulty where Teppo enemies appeared broken.
Fixed an issue on Nightmare difficulty where the Samurai Spear Guard had a combat glitch.
Fixed an issue where Canon Mode disabled itself on the second launch of the game.
Hideout
Fixed an issue in the Hideout when selecting the option to duel with Naoe or Yasuke did nothing.
Fixed an issue in the Hideout where certain buildings or set pieces could not be rotated.
Fixed an issue in the Hideout that prevented players from moving the horse stables after changing their original location. Back to your Hideout planning!
Fixed an issue where Rufino remained stuck in the Hideout after being recruited.
Skills, Abilities & Upgrades
Addressed an issue where the Shadow Piercer ability was not functioning correctly.
Addressed an issue where the 33% health recovery on posture attack perk was not functioning as expected.
Visuals & Graphics
Fixed various visual issues.
Fixed a visual issue with the architect’s lip sync in the “Seta-Killers” quest.
Fixed a visual issue affecting Yasuke’s aim with the Teppo when wearing variations of the Samurai Hat.
Fixed a visual issue with the Ronin Kasa Hat.
Fixed a visual issue with the Blush of the Earth bow quiver.
Fixed a visual issue with Oni’s Flesh Armour.
Fixed a visual issue where Gashadokuro’s mask did not have red eyes on the Memories screen.
SPOILERS WARNING!
Quests
“A Critical Encounter”: Fixed an issue where players could not interact with Rufino to trigger the quest. He was just being shy.
“Broken Horn”: Fixed an issue where players could not progress due to being stuck by the Animus wall.
“Face the Oshiroi Baba”: Fixed an issue where Yokai objective member rewards were not being granted correctly.
“Feast For Thought”: Fixed an issue where requirements were automatically completed for the quest.
“Man Behind the Curtain”: Fixed an issue where after Ermigo died, Gaspar was incorrectly shown as dead.
“My Name Is Yasuke”: Fixed an issue where players could not progress due to being stuck outside the Animus wall.
“Of My Enemy”: Fixed an issue where Hiromichi’s man stopped moving if the player entered combat while following him.
“Out of the Shadows”: Fixed an issue where the game crashed after the cutscene.
“Silver Smugglers”: Fixed an issue where Yoshisada could be assassinated early before the quest.
“Tea Bowls for Rikyu”: Fixed an issue in the Hideout where tea bowls could no longer be placed after completing the quest.
“The Tournament”: Fixed an issue where players could not interact with Gyoji despite a blue marker being shown.
Fixed an issue where players were unable to talk to Katsuhime in the crop field when she was sitting on the ground.
PLATFORM-SPECIFIC FIXES
PC
Fixed an issue where the heavy attack (LMB+Shift) was not functioning correctly on keyboard and mouse.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
“After 50, 70, 100 hours, you need something a bit unique,” says Simon Arsenault, content director for Assassin’s Creed Shadows expansion Claws of Awaji at Ubisoft Bordeaux. And it’s true to say that — despite much of the upcoming add-on feeling familiar — Awaji still contains just enough distinct moments that the portion of its additional 10 hours we’ve now played felt fresh enough, rather than only offering more of the same.
Ubisoft is keen to showcase more of these distinct moments individually, and also keep some surprises back for players at launch, when the expansion arrives next week on September 16. But for now, IGN is able to highlight a cool Metal Gear Solid-inspired boss fight that doubles down on the series’ focus on stealth, and is a highlight of the expansion’s first half.
Set in an atmospheric arena deep within Awaji’s dense forest, players are tasked with repeatedly tracking down Awaki, one of the expansion’s four main villains. Awaki is a master of stealth and disguise, and near-indistinguishable from a set of straw decoys also spread around the area. To counter her, you’ll have to scuttle, sneak and crawl while staying out of sight, or risk getting sniped from long range by Awaki, who’s equipped with a teppo rifle.
Every time you’re discovered, or mistakenly attack a decoy, Awaki changes her position — forcing you to start your hunt afresh. The only clues you’re given are an ability to focus in on her voice whenever she taunts you, affording you a sense of direction, and the ability to use Naoe’s Eagle Vision when in very close range, in order to confirm your suspicions.
It’s a relatively elaborate set-piece and something quite unlike anything else in Assassin’s Creed — though stealth genre fans will find it somewhat similar to showdowns seen elsewhere. Indeed, while on a tour of Bordeaux’s studio, developers acknowledged to IGN that the mission was inspired by Metal Gear Solid 3’s The Fear fight, as well Dishonored, and Snake’s MGS5 showdown with Quiet.
The fight also plays into Awaji’s more isolated island setting , and the darker, creepier atmosphere the expansion hopes to differentiate itself with. “We really liked the idea of an island region, with natural boundaries all around, it’s compact, there’s a seclusion we like, something where you’re a bit isoloted,” Arsenault notes. “It brings increased tension to the experience, increased danger. As soon as we added a new faction in there, it’s their world. As players you’re coming into their land. You’re not in control anymore, not as much.”
Awaji’s quartet of antagonists embody much of that tension, and always seem one step ahead of Naoe and Yasuke as they search for answers regarding the former’s mother, and hunt for Shadows’ final mystery box macguffin. Standing in their way are Kimura Yukari, the daughter of a Templar Yasuke previously killed, her bodyguard Imagawa Tomeji, their spymaster Yasuhira, and lastly Nowaki — she’s the cloaked character in a horned mask, above.
Most of these characters look set to have their own unique boss encounter, and it’s these — alongside smaller tweaks to Shadows’ main gameplay, the expansion’s new weapon (the Bo staff), and a smattering of extra skills and abilities for existing play styles that Arsenault is hoping will keep players further entertained.
“It’s not as much countering it, it’s more kind of spinning it,” he tells me, when I ask about disrupting player expectations. “So you’re expecting something and it doesn’t behave the same way.” I mention to him how, when going hands-on with the expansion, I sent out scouts to determine a mission’s location as usual — only to discover a new gameplay system in Awaji where doing so alerts the local populace, making them antagonistic when you arrive. It’s a new trade-off to using an existing system, and something Arsenault hopes will give veteran players something else to consider.
“What should I do? Should I find a new strategy? Should I avoid sending scouts or should I send them somewhere else? That’s what’s interesting with it,” he continued. “You take something that has been learned and has become kind of a routine and you just add a small twist. And we did that with a lot of systems. You’re used to civilians [needing help], or merchants, but now some can attack you — that didn’t happen.”
For much more on the expansion’s story, IGN sat down with Arsenault for an in-depth discussion detailing how Claws of Awaji picks up from Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ finale and, finally, answers the game’s two major narrative threads — even as various story elements shifted during development.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
