Category: IGN

Fans of Magic: The Gathering have been waiting months to explore the cosmic reaches of the Blind Eternities, and the big day has finally arrived. Edge of Eternities has launched worldwide today, ushering in a new era of space fantasy for the traditionally high-fantasy trading card game.

But if you were hoping to snag your boosters or bundles from Amazon, you’d better hurry, because stock’s selling fast.

The highly anticipated set, which launched today and introduces mechanics like Warp, Void, Station, and Lander tokens alongside the long-awaited return of Slivers and Eldrazi, appears to have flown off Amazon’s digital shelves within hours of release. As of this morning, only a handful of listings remain, and prices are climbing fast, compared to other stores.

For instance, Amazon’s listing for the standard Play Booster Box (30 packs) is hovering at around $163.50, while Bundles, including nine Play Boosters, a foil promo, and a set of borderless Basic Lands, are available from $58.00.

The Pre-release Kit (six packs, dice, and a Traditional Foil Rare/Mythic card) can still be found for about $50.95, but it’s marked with low stock at the time of writing, with there only being a handful of units left.

Outside of Amazon, though, several major US retailers are currently filling the gap for players eager to get their hands on the new set, some at far better prices. Walmart is offering Play Booster Boxes for a slightly lower $159.99, Bundles for $55.99, and both Commander Decks, World Shaper and Counter Intelligence, for around $49 each.

Amazon finally has more realistic pricing on recent Pokémon TCG Elite Trainer Boxes, with Black Bolt and White Flare both down to $79.97 and Destined Rivals sitting at $88.

The White Flare Binder Box is $47.99, which still feels steep for what you get, but it’s better than the inflated listings we’ve seen lately. Shining Fates is becoming harder to find sealed, so the Pikachu V Box at $55.93 is worth grabbing before stock dries up completely.

TL;DR: Deals For Today

For Magic: The Gathering fans, the Final Fantasy VI Revival Trance Commander Deck is a top deal at $54.43.

If you’re eyeing up the full Final Fantasy crossover set, the four‑deck bundle at $233.41 works out at around $58 per deck, which is much better value than buying each one separately overall.

Confirming rumors that have swirled for months, Battlefield 6 will indeed have a battle royale mode.

Battlefield global community manager Kevin Johnson took to social media to confirm that battle royale arrives on Battlefield Labs for testing soon.

EA had teased the battle royale mode with a short clip also posted to social media, which shows chaotic, explosive gameplay.

Play soon in Battlefield Labs 🌴 #Battlefield6 pic.twitter.com/qbjcfhFHSZ

— Battlefield (@Battlefield) July 31, 2025

This is not Battlefield’s first foray into battle royale territory, of course. 2019’s Battlefield V had a battle royale mode called Firestorm, although it failed to catch on and was eventually blown out of the water by Call of Duty’s battle royale mode, Warzone.

According to previous leaks, Battlefield 6’s battle royale features a map set in California, with insertion via CH-47 Chinook. The destructive ring is apparently made out of a compound called “NXC.”

EA, then, will be hoping for a better return from this new attempt, although it remains to be seen exactly when and how it will be released in the context of Battlefield 6’s October 10 launch date.

While we wait, check out IGN’s Battlefield 6 hands-on preview, and comments from its developers who are insisting it won’t go down the goofy skin route Call of Duty has taken.

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.

EA has opened up about the fate of its hugely popular The Sims franchise, offering a sneaky tease about what to expect from the upcoming multiplayer game, and why we probably shouldn’t expect The Sims 5 any time soon.

In an interview with Variety, EA Entertainment president Laura Miele said that a multiplayer spin-off from The Sims “represents one of the biggest growth opportunities for EA,” teasing that the team is “hard at work and feverishly developing what this [multiplayer] platform is going to be.”

“What we’re doing is upgrading and refreshing all this technology, and we’ll be adding modes of play — but we also are going to be creating and updating the base technology and the base user experience on the core game,” Miele said.

“So you’re going to have this life simulation, you’re going to have multiplayer capabilities, we are going to have mobile expressions of this. We’re doing cozy games as well and more to come on that. We did a release with Nintendo on cozy games in Asia for The Sims. I see The Sims as a significant ecosystem, and a universe of multiple Sims experiences that we have to build on.”

If you were hoping for a hint that The Sims 5 is on the way, however, brace yourself for disappointment — Miele said that it wouldn’t be “player-friendly” to release a new game with its community has invested so much time and money in The Sims 4.

“What I wouldn’t want to have happen is you to have to start from day zero and start from scratch and give up all of the things that you have created, give up all of the content that you’ve purchased over the years,” Miele said. “We put out over 85 content packs over the last 10 years on The Sims 4, and so resetting that is not player-friendly and not a good idea for our community.

“Where we sit today, from a technology perspective, innovation perspective, we are in a moment where we can actually co-create content and be a multiplier for each other and have these great experiences for fans,” Miele said. “It’s going to be so full circle and so fulfilling to bring content in a linear way and an interactive way, simultaneously, and even have it adapt to fans and how things are going. When we have a couple of ideas about how we would go to market with a movie and a couple of different expressions, I just think the opportunity is so ripe.”

Project Rene — the codenamed game initially thought to be The Sims 5 until EA distanced itself from those rumors — was first teased in 2022 during a Behind the Sims Summit. It’s a free-to-play Sims game that features multiplayer inspired by Animal Crossing and Among Us. It hasn’t yet been formally revealed or received a release date, but EA has been holding small, invite-only playtests for the game since its announcement, with the latest playtest presumably spawning these recent leaks.

The name Rene was chosen because it references words like “renewal, renaissance, and rebirth” that “represent the developer’s renewed commitment for the Sims’ bright future.”

Last October, however, images of Project Rene leaked from a closed online test, prompting complaints about the art style, limited features, and the use of microtransactions. It was the addition of a café that drew the most skepticism, primarily due to the smiliaries to 2018’s The Sims Mobile. It was then that EA said Project Rene was not The Sims 5 but would, in fact, be a different “cozy, social game” released under The Sims franchise.

Another video purportedly taken from the next iteration of The Sims also popped up online earlier this year, and that too did not go down well with fans.

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.

Nintendo’s first financial report since the launch of Switch 2 is in, and it’s smiles all round for the company after record-breaking sales.

Switch 2 has sold more than 6 million units globally in the seven weeks since launch, breaking a number of sales records for video game consoles. Nintendo said demand for Switch 2 is exceeding supply in many countries, and it apologizes to consumers. “We will continue to strengthen our production and supply systems to deliver as much Nintendo Switch 2 hardware as possible,” the company said.

It’s a fantastic result for the Switch 2 hardware itself, which is comfortably the fastest-selling in Nintendo history. Nintendo said demand “has surpassed our expectations.” Still, it’s sticking to its forecast of selling 15 million Switch 2 units in the financial year ending March 2026.

As for games, Nintendo said Switch 2 software sales reached 8.67 million units. Launch title Mario Kart World made up the bulk of those game sales, shifting 5.63 million units (almost as many as the Switch 2 itself has sold). But it’s worth noting that figure includes units bundled with the hardware.

The end result is that overall sales totaled 572.3 billion yen (approx. $3.8 billion), and operating profit grew 4% to 56.9 billion yen ($378 million) for the three months ending June 30. After all the furore over Trump’s tariffs and changing product prices, in its financial report Nintendo said “at this time there is no significant impact on our earnings forecast for this fiscal year.”

Interestingly, demand for the OG Switch has remained even after the launch of the Switch, and sales of the console inched ever higher, and are now at 153.1 million. The number of annual playing users between July 2024 and June 2025 has remained above 100 million, which means Nintendo launched Switch 2 into an environment where a huge number of people were already playing Switch.

Upcoming Switch 2 exclusives include Drag x Drive, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Kirby Air Riders, and FromSoftware’s The Duskbloods. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is due out on the OG Switch and the Switch 2 later this year.

This week, Nintendo held a Direct showcase focusing on upcoming games from third-party developers and publishers, including Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, Octopath Traveler 0, and The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.

Photo by Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.

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.

As someone who loved Bloober Team’s 2024 remake of Silent Hill 2, I’m happy to report that while being made by an entirely different developer, Silent Hill f boasts that same level of quality and polish. From story to worldbuilding, from graphics to combat and exploration, Taiwan-based developer Neobards has crafted an experience that meets the high bar set by the Polish developer, albeit in a drastically different setting.

As I started walking the dense yet deserted streets of Ebisugaoka, it was immediately apparent just how detailed and well-realized this fictional remote town in the mountains of rural Japan in the Sixties is. With an immersive over-the-shoulder view and no UI on screen during exploration, Silent Hill f is a game that tells a convincing story through its visuals.

Admittedly, I was initially skeptical of Konami’s decision to entrust a non-Japanese developer to create a game set in Japan, but five hours of actually playing Silent Hill f shattered such prejudices. Ebisugaoka is undoubtedly one of the most impressive contemporary Japanese townscapes I have ever seen in a video game, and that comes from someone who has lived in Japan for the majority of his life and loves games like Shenmue, Persona, and Ghostwire: Tokyo.

Exploring a Japanese mountain village

One of the few minor issues I had with the Silent Hill 2 remake was that the majority of its playtime is spent inside buildings and facilities. While these functioned as well-designed dungeons packed with horrifying enemies to fight and intricate puzzles to solve, the increase in volume compared to the 2001 original made it feel like exploration of the actual town of Silent Hill was limited.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised that the vast majority of my playtime with Silent Hill f was spent exploring Ebisugaoka. Old wooden houses with tin roofs line the narrow alleys, scattered with bicycles, flower pots, and mailboxes. Small streams and footpaths between rice fields gently lead the way to the village. Fences along the river and concrete stairways following the slopes create a townscape that oozes with atmosphere. Files and other documents scattered throughout the town add context to Ebisugaoka, which flourished as a mining town during its heyday. Now, it has become a largely forgotten village and its people are stuck in old ways, such as favoring traditional healthcare methods over modern medical science and being overly devout to the Shinto deity Inari. The context of Ebisugaoka and its people immediately feel like they are an integral part of Silent Hill f’s cohesive story, which made me eager to go off the beaten path and obtain every hidden file.

The story starts after protagonist Hinako – a female high school student – runs away from home after being scolded by her drunk father. Walking the empty streets of Ebisugaoka and heading to the local candy store to meet up with Hinako’s fellow high school friends feels like an authored walking simulator reminiscent of games like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

Of course, it doesn’t take long until Hinako and her friends discover something is wrong in town, and before you know it Hinako is holding an iron pipe in her hands, an iconic weapon of the series. Ebisugaoka then gradually proves to not just be suited for a captivating walking simulator experience, but also the perfect setting for a horror game, as its narrow alleys and staircases are ideal to hide enemies behind corners while also functioning as a maze for the player to get lost in.

In some instances, doors left ajar and open windows invite Hinako inside traditional tatami-floored houses, where she will have to solve some simple puzzles in order to make her way through to the next area. These puzzles play out in an unconventional way. One puzzle, for example, had me obtain keys to a locked door, but there was nothing noteworthy inside. Then, as I went back to the corridor another door suddenly swung open, which gave me the chills.

Something feels off

Silent Hill f’s scenario writer Ryukishi07 sees Japanese horror as a sub-genre that doesn’t so much rely on threats to the protagonist’s life, but rather makes you feel uncomfortable by creating situations that feel off.

When you think about it, Silent Hill is a series known for just that. While there isn’t a lack of life-threatening encounters, some of the series’ most uncomfortable moments are in conversations with its outright weird characters.

In Silent Hill f, Hinako and her friends are trying to find a way to escape the haunted town of Ebisugaoka. Interactions with these friends seem normal at first, but then suddenly they say or do something that catches you off guard.

Also, in typical Silent Hill fashion, puzzles often reveal something about Hinako or the world she inhabits. A puzzle on a misty rice field has you examine scarecrows in order to learn the direction you should be heading, which is connected to a childhood trauma of Hinako getting lost and being afraid of the scarecrows.

During my playthrough, puzzles never felt too difficult. Hints provided by files you obtain never make the solution too obvious, while still giving the player an idea of what they have to do. On a related note, Silent Hill f has difficulty settings for both its combat and puzzles, and while Konami advised me to play on Story mode for both, I stubbornly chose Normal mode as I wanted to take on a challenge. While the difficulty of the puzzles never overwhelmed me, combat proved to be a bit more demanding.

Weapon durability at its best

Silent Hill f’s combat relies entirely on melee attacks. Hinako can obtain all sorts of weapons ranging from iron pipes to kitchen knives and baseball bats, but no guns come into play. With some exceptions, these weapons are not obtained through story beats, but are scattered throughout Silent Hill f’s world like other resources, and Hinako can carry up to three weapons at a time.

As you wield iron pipes and stab at enemies with knives, you will notice that the game has weapon durability. It is a nice touch that weapons that are about to break actually change in appearance, so expect to be holding a bent pipe or a broken bat. This also functions as a hint to the player, which Hinako will acknowledge by mentioning that she should fix it. Weapons can be fixed by using a repair kit, but these are so scarce that on many occasions you will have to say goodbye to your new favorite weapon.

While weapon durability is often regarded as a burden in games, it works here as finding a new weapon and repair kits quickly becomes an integral part of the resource management that the survival horror genre is known for, especially since you won’t be having to look for ammo this time around.

A clever system allows you to turn in your resources for an in-game currency at save points, which can be used to increase your stats or obtain new amulets that can be equipped to give you certain buffs. That means that if you are careful and don’t waste your resources, leftovers can be turned into something useful, which feels like a great reward to a well-planned expedition. Hinako can only carry a limited amount of items, which also seems to stimulate active use of this new trading system.

In the Silent Hill 2 remake, resources were so abundant that skilled players didn’t really have to worry about resource management, to the extent that they would have a large stock of unused ammo and items by the end of the game. Silent Hill f solves this problem by making resources tradable.

Silent Souls?

Combat itself has a similar feel to Silent Hill 2’s close-range combat. You can dodge enemy attacks with the DualSense’s circle button, while you can activate a light and heavy attack with R1 and R2, respectively. Your limited reach and lengthy attack motions give a realistic, weighty feel to combat. Heavy attacks especially are slow and need to be timed well, contributing to the feeling that Hinako is just a teenager with limited strength.

Meanwhile, each weapon type has a completely unique set of motions and reach. Swinging a newly obtained baseball bat at an enemy or charging at them with a knife you found in the kitchen of a local residence always creates new and exciting situations.

What sets Silent Hill f’s combat apart from Silent Hill 2’s more limited melee combat is the implementation of timed dodges and counterattacks. The latter in particular deals lots of damage and is key in battle. Enemies briefly show a sign when a counterattack can be utilized, but unless you have trained your reflex skills by playing games like of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you will likely have a hard time reacting. That’s where the Focus mode comes in, which can be triggered by holding L2. When in Focus mode, enemy signs for counterattacks appear for longer, while also charging up a power attack that staggers an enemy. That means you might head into Focus Mode with the intention of going for a counterattack, but find yourself switching to a power attack when it charges before the enemy shows an opening.

Focus Mode is tied to Hinako’s mental energy gauge, which exists separately from her stamina and health bar. Interestingly, the upper limit of her mental energy decreases when enemies do something that scares her or when she is frightened by a certain event, connecting the gameplay to the story and Hinako’s mental state.

Luckily, there are items that can recover the upper limit of your mental energy gauge, but Hinako’s stamina is limited too. When she runs out of stamina and mental energy, she can become so frightened and tired that she won’t even be able to move for a while. Managing her energy resources, therefore, is key to survival.

Fighting one regular enemy is fairly manageable, but when confronted by multiple enemies, running away often felt like the best option, especially since enemies don’t give experience points or drop resources. Combat was fun enough that I found myself actively engaging in fights even if there wasn’t a real benefit to it beyond being able to explore the environment more freely.

While keeping combat engaging and complex, Silent Hill f does a great job in making the player feel weak. The design cleverly incorporates this by having what seems to be a boss battle at first actually play out as a sequence in which the player has to find an escape route.

Another iconic element to the series is the existence of an alternate world, which is present in Silent Hill f as well. Hinako is occasionally transported to a different dimension that shows a more traditional Japan, where a mysterious masked figure guides her through the grounds of various shrines. Here, Hinako obtains traditional Japanese weapons such as the Naginata, a pole weapon with a curved blade on the end, similar to a glaive or halberd that is known to be mostly used by women. Weapons that Hinako finds in this alternate world don’t break, but Hinako won’t be able to carry them over to Ebisugaoka.

It was in this realm that I encountered the main boss of my playtime, which proved much more difficult than I had anticipated. Even with my full understanding of the combat mechanics and systems, its long reach, hard-to-predict attack patterns, and multiple stages required significant trial and error. The boss took me nearly an hour to beat, but gradually learning how to take on the boss was a welcome challenge that never felt unfair. For reference, my colleague was playing on Story Mode and defeated the boss on his second try, but an acquaintance from another media outlet who was also playing on Story Mode didn’t manage to defeat the boss and ran out of time.

While he didn’t specifically mention the Soulslike genre, series producer Motoi Okamoto says that Silent Hill f’s combat was inspired by the current popularity of more difficult action games. With multiple difficulty settings, Silent Hill f is by no means a Soulslike, but its boss design shares a similar learning curve that ultimately results in a great feeling of satisfaction when you finally beat it. Silent Hill f is a story-driven experience above anything else, but it just happens to have really solid combat mechanics and systems at the same time.

One unique component of Silent Hill f’s storytelling is the notebook Hinako carries. Here you can read about characters, locations, and events that appear in the story, all written from Hinako’s perspective. At first, it seems to be a pretty straightforward archive, but events in the story can trigger additional text for previously unlocked entries. Instead of simply repeating what events in the story already told you, these additional texts go much deeper into the lore and background. Sometimes, they can slightly contradict or change your view on characters and events, indicating that things are never what they seem to be on the surface. It is not hard to imagine that for a deeper understanding of Silent Hill f’s story and characters, examining these texts will be essential.

Back to school

The last part of my demo took place inside a school, which was essentially a dungeon similar to Silent Hill 2’s aforementioned apartment buildings, hospitals, museums and hotels. Upon entering the school, Hinako obtains a map of the building which the player will have to use to navigate their way through. Luckily, Hinako is just as diligent a note-taking enthusiast as Silent Hill 2’s James, so whenever you learn that a door is locked or that there is a passage somewhere, it will be noted on the map. Inside the school, I had to solve a multitude of puzzles in order to find keys to reach different classrooms and floors while fighting and running away from enemies along the way. Just like the town itself, the old wooden school building oozes with atmosphere and feels lively even though none of its students or teachers are there, and Hinako’s remark to herself, “I haven’t been here since graduation,” subtly added to the atmosphere.

While in recent video games, the abundance of self-talk by the protagonist can sometimes feel a bit too much, Hinako’s occasional monologue succeeds in subtly contributing to the situation without ever coming over as an exposition dump.

According to Okamoto, the average playtime for Silent Hill f will be about 12 or 13 hours, which should indicate that I have played through roughly one third of the game. While I don’t know how things will go from here, so far the game’s balance between town exploration and interior facilities feels like an improvement over the Silent Hill 2 remake.

Also, while the first five hours of the game felt like they were structured linearly, Silent Hill f has multiple endings like many other games in the series, including the famous UFO ending.

My time with Silent Hill f was promising to say the least. Its worldbuilding and story had me so intrigued that I still think back on my brief visit to Ebisugaoka almost a week later. The deep fog that envelops the town somehow feels more natural than in the town of Silent Hill, perhaps due to the fact that Ebisugaoka is a mountain village. Ebisugaoka just feels like the perfect fit for a psychological horror narrative, and all of Silent Hill f’s systems and mechanics complement the setting. Series composer Akira Yamaoka’s soundtrack also does a stellar job in making the player feel uncomfortable throughout.

So far, Silent Hill f seems to be a horror game that gets everything right. If, like me, the Silent Hill 2 remake was one of your favorite games of 2024, Silent Hill f has the potential to become a serious game of the year contender when it releases for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 25.

Silent Hill 2 f ©Konami Digital Entertainment

*In-development footage and screenshots are shown.

Octopath Traveler 0 is set to release for PS5, PS4, Switch 2, Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on December 4. Like the previous entries in this turn-based RPG series, it’s made in the visually striking “HD-2D” art style that uses pixelated 2D characters and gorgeous HD environments, with visual effects only possible on modern platforms. The game is available for preorder now in several editions. Read on for details about what comes in each one, how much they cost, where you can preorder, and more.

Preorder Octopath Traveler 0

Octopath Traveler 0 Digital Deluxe Edition

• Get it for PS4 or PS5 – $59.99
• Get it for Xbox – $59.99

The digital deluxe edition comes with the game itself, plus the following digital items:

• Digital art book
• Deluxe Travel Provisions:
  • Action Skills
    • Triple Strike Mastery, SP Saver Mastery, Extra JP Mastery
  • Consumable Items: 8 Types of Nuts
    • Fortifying Nut, Magic Nut, Tough Nut, Resistant Nut, Light Nut, Critical Nut, Sharp Nut, Slippery Nut
  • Town Decorations: Festive Decoration Designs
    • Table with Roasted Chicken, Festive Arch, Large Festive Arch, Festive Flag, Grand Vase

Octopath Traveler 0 Collector’s Edition

• Get it at Square Enix Store – $229.99

This Square Enix Store-exclusive edition comes with the game itself, plus the following extras:

• Digital Deluxe Edition Upgrade Code
• Ring of the Flamebringer (JP ring size 21)
• Traveler’s Playing Cards
• 8-Sided Dice of Wealth, Power, and Fame
• Orsterra Continent Map Gaming Mat
• Arrangements Break & Boost Vol.3 (Music CD)
• Art booklet

Octopath Traveler 0 Preorder Bonus

Preorder Octopath Traveler 0, and you’ll receive a set of in-game items called Travel Provisions, which Square Enix describes as “A set of items and skills useful for the start of your journey.”

• Healing Grape (M) x5
• Inspiriting Plum (M) x5
• Revitalizing Jam x2
• Icewind Mastery

What Is Octopath Traveler 0?

Octopath Traveler 0 starts with you creating your own character from scratch. The story kicks off with your hometown of Wishvale burning to the ground, and it’s up to you and your companions to rebuild it. This all goes along with the “start from zero” theme of the game.

Combat is turn-based once again, complete with the “Break and Boost” system from previous games. But this time you can control parties of up to eight characters, so battles could be pretty big. There’s also a whole town-building mechanic, in which you have a grid to build houses and buildings on, placing them wherever you’d like. You’ll join up with over 30 different characters along the way.

More Preorder Guides

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Borderlands 4 has been available to preorder since June, but only for PS5, Xbox, and PC gamers. We knew that the new game would be coming to the Switch 2, but it wasn’t until recently that we finally got a release date. The Switch 2 version of Borderlands 4 is set to arrive on October 3, almost a full month after its console and PC release. And as of today, you can now preorder your copy for $70.

Preorder Borderlands 4 for Nintendo Switch 2

What Is Amazon’s Preorder Price Guarantee?

If you’ve never actually preordered anything from Amazon before, it’s worth noting that if you purchase this art book ahead of the release date, it includes Amazon’s preorder price guarantee. According to Amazon’s own help page, this means that if the price decreases between now and when the item ships, you’ll pay the lowest price. So in this case, if any of these editions of the game get a discount before they actually start shipping then you’ll pay whatever it dropped to rather than the full price.

Although not every preorder gets discounted, physical editions of games especially seem to rarely drop in price compared to other product categories before they actually release. That is especially true for popular Nintendo Switch games, which rarely receive discounts of any kind even after release.

Considering we’re living through a period where it feels like every other game is a remake, remaster, or throwback of some sort, perhaps I should be less surprised that Battlefield 6 feels a lot like Battlefields 3 and 4. They were, of course, the glory years for EA and DICE’s large-scale multiplayer shooter – excellent maps, engaging objective-based modes, spectacular destruction, and the all-important class system. It seems like Battlefield 6 replicates all of that, at least as far as I can tell after having played two hours and change of the new, contemporary-set FPS across a number of maps and modes. That is a good thing, of course, especially since recent Battlefield history has been a bit of a rocky ride. But is this resurrection of past glories actually exciting? In the moment, absolutely. But on a grander scale? That’s a more difficult question.

Those exciting moments are often the result of the well-defined class system, which returns in a comfortingly familiar guise following Battlefield 2042’s missteps with its hero shooter-like Specialists. The Assault class can use their grenade launcher to breach through walls and then turn the startled soldiers who once huddled behind it into swiss cheese. The Engineer is the vital cog in a tank battle, using their acetylene torch to repair friendly armour and keep the cannon fire rolling, even as an entire building collapses around them. The Support is the squad’s literal lifeline, diving onto the objective with bags of spare ammo and soldier-reviving defibrillators at the ready. And finally there’s the Recon, the tactitician who marks enemies for all to see before scoring a hattrick of headshots with a sniper rifle.

There’s nothing revolutionary about these classes, but they are much clearer in their parameters than they have been in the past. You won’t find the team’s dedicated infantry killer fulfilling anti-tank or medic duties, for instance, as the Assault has been forced to do in the likes of Battlefields 4 and 5. But as clean and traditional as these roles are, there is a minor shake-up. Like Battlefield 2042, any class can use any weapon, but now each role has a “signature” specialism designed to encourage you into the specific loadouts of yesteryear. For example, the Recon is able to hold their breath while aiming sniper rifles, making them the clear choice for long-range engagements, while the Engineer benefits from improved hip-fire control when using SMGs. As someone who would score a low-end grade in a sniper exam, this means I can play Recon while swinging around an assault rifle or LMG, which fully opens up the class roster. But I can’t help but wonder why I should brute-force my way into playing Recon when I could find my specialism elsewhere. Isn’t that what class play is all about?

The odd, freeform elements of 2042’s weapon system saw their fair share of criticism, and I agree that tighter restrictions would have been of benefit both there and here in Battlefield 6, especially since there’s real strength in the design of the prescribed specialist gadgets for each class. The Support’s deployable cover is a solid example – it’s great for hiding behind while resurrecting fallen squaddies, provides a safe space for allies to restock on the ammunition bags you can drop, and acts as a surface to mount the LMG that the class specialises in. In short, the components of each kit can harmonise wonderfully, and I think the interesting choice is finding which class kit provides the best melody for your playstyle, rather than adjusting the individual notes within that.

Ultimately the weapons system is a small wrinkle in a very familiar package, and that applies to basically all the new ideas present in Battlefield 6’s demo. A new movement system (ridiculously dubbed the “Kinesthetic Combat System”) promises smoother leaning around corners, bracing against cover to reduce recoil, combat rolls as you land from high jumps, and several other improvements, but I can’t say I found these valuable additions – especially the contextual lean, which rarely seemed to activate. Like the omnidirectional movement in last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, I wonder how much genuine impact this will have on the experience of regular players. The one addition that I do love is the ability to grab a fallen soldier by the scruff of their neck and drag them to safety before reviving them. It’s a useful ability that everyone has access to (which admittedly does infringe on the Support’s duties, but it’s far from the instant revive of the defibrillator.) More importantly, it’s something that creates a “moment” – there’s few things more heroic than dragging a buddy to cover while machine gun fire kicks up dust around you. If all the small additions add up to something that feels as good as that, then maybe Battlefield 6 will develop a more distinct character in time.

But what about the battlefields themselves? The series has always had to find its own formula when it comes to level geography, simply because the classic three-lane design doesn’t work for 64-player chaos. Thankfully that rule still applies, which means Battlefield still feels unlike any other shooter out there. The flagship Conquest maps retain that almost open-world feel – much more expansive than Call of Duty arenas, with an eye for real-world authenticity. City streets feel like genuine (albeit thankfully evacuated) population centres, and buildings are realistically laid-out with coherent stairwells and floorplans. The designer’s hand can be felt when you realise that there are maps nested within maps, but they leave a good impression. The broad edges of Empire State replicates the wide, tank-friendly streets of New York City, but push further into the centre and there’s rabbit warren-like alleys and a large concrete multi-storey building that’s perfect for claustrophobic, close-quarters fighting.

One or two matches simply isn’t enough time to understand the nuances of a map, and so I can’t say where exactly the few on offer would rank among the all-time greats. But Liberation Peak, set along the slopes of the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan, provides the ideal amount of wide, rocky terrain for land vs air battles alongside pocketed military bases that give birth to desperate infantry fights, while Siege of Cairo has the dense street networks ideal for luring tanks into RPG ambushes. With no demolition centrepieces there’s nothing that instantly becomes a map’s signature element, but I hope that continued play will reveal carefully-placed details in each street, room, and capture point.

Talking of demolition, Battlefield’s trademark chaos remains very much in-tact. It is somewhat restrained in comparison to the map-shifting “levolution” system that powered Battlefield 6’s most obvious touchstones, but the alternative is much more useful in the minute-to-minute play. Entire building facades crumble away under cannon fire, opening up buildings like sardine cans to reveal the fleshy fiends hiding within. You can breach floors, allowing for Rainbow Six Siege-like downward assaults… or simply blow the support from beneath a pesky sniper. This late into Battlefield’s lifespan it’s hard to be truly excited about all this – this is the series’ schtick and likely always will be now – but it’s nonetheless impressive. As much as it is a technical feat to be boasted about alongside the most photo-realistic graphics in the series’ lifetime, it’s also a foundational tool that makes Battlefield its own distinct beast.

If it seems odd that we’ve reached this far into the preview without mentioning the multiplayer modes – you know, the things you actually play – then it’s only because they almost blend into the background among the explosions and squad roles. The hands-on session provided matches of Conquest, Breakthrough, and Squad Deathmatch, and they’re exactly as Battlefield tradition dictates. Personal preference naturally applies, but at least from my perspective it’s the classic story of the objective-focussed modes reigning supreme and the smaller-scale, kill-everything-in-sight games still feeling like a square peg in Battlefield’s round hole. It’s not that they’re a bad time, it’s just that the “Battlefield Moments” EA likes to shout about seem to only happen when you’re desperately holding down Point C during a close game of Conquest, or pushing tooth-and-nail through the fiercest defence in Breakthrough.

As part of what seems like a project attempting to recapture the glory days of Battlefields 3 and 4, I don’t hold any grudge against these modes feeling like business as usual. This is a series that needed to find secure footing after a couple of wobbly outings, and it certainly feels like this new iteration is standing on reinforced concrete. But I can’t help but feel that those old, faithful objectives could have been freshened up a little, perhaps with unconventional capture point designs or equipment used specifically for objectives. Perhaps new thrills lie in the new Escalation mode, which was unavailable to sample at my hands-on demo, although considering the official description provided to press claims that it “sees two teams fight to capture strategic control points,” I’m not expecting it to add too much extra fizz to the established formula.

When Battlefield 6’s open betas go live across a couple of weekends in August, I expect there will be a lot of fans who will be relieved to find a package that largely seems focussed on returning Battlefield to its peak years. And I can’t deny that the modern combat aesthetic, equipment, and classes speak to me in a way that the series’ near-future and pseudo-historical guns never could. I had a good time. More than a decade after Battlefields 3 and 4, though, it doesn’t fill me with the same sense of adrenaline it once did. But nostalgia’s still a hell of a drug, and maybe that’s just what the medic ordered.

Do you have any questions about Battlefield 6? Tell us what you want to know in the comments, and we’ll do a follow-up soon to bring you as many answers as we can.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.