Our most recent sighting of Silent Hill f came during Sony’s State of Play June 2025 showcase, and with it came our first look at Hinako in action. Literally.
For some, the emphasis on combat encounters may be surprising, as Silent Hill is a series that has tended to focus on environmental storytelling and psychological horror over combat. However, this latest trailer — the first we’ve seen to offer a meaningful glimpse at gameplay and combat — coupled with a new interview with producer Motoi Okamoto, suggest that our protagonist may have to endure a more physical experience.
“The game features unique combat,” Okamoto said in a post on PlayStation Blog. “The encounters are as challenging as the obstacles that Hinako must overcome in life. The combat will have a heavier focus on melee and be more action-oriented compared to last year’s Silent Hill 2.”
That last sentence surprises me, as Silent Hill 2 Remake itself involved significantly more combat that the original game — or, indeed, any other game in the series bar perhaps Silent Hill Homecoming.
Okamoto said that tougher combat, with the visuals and music’s “juxtaposition between beauty and terror,” along with the “terrible beauty of the game’s monster design,” makes for a terrifying adventure. Even the puzzles are apparently “grounded in psychological anguish and suffering.” Yikes.
Silent Hill f takes us to 1960s Japan, where we’ll follow Hinako Shimizu, a teenager struggling under the pressure of expectations from her friends, family, and society. The story was written by Ryukishi07, creator of the When They Cry visual novel series. As displayed at the beginning of the Japanese-language reveal trailer back in March, it is the first Silent Hill game to get an 18+ rating certification in Japan.
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.
This trailer has leaked just hours ahead of the Summer Game Fest showcase and two days before Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase, so perhaps we’ll get an official announcement and release at one of the presentations. Summer Game Fest kicks off at 2pm PT / 5pm ET today, June 6, while Xbox Games Showcase starts at 10am PT / 1pm ET on June 8.
Lies of P is a unique, darker twist on the classic story of Pinocchio, offering a challenging action game with a unique “lie” system where what you do and say dynamically affects gameplay. The upcoming new DLC — which features new locations, new enemies and bosses, new characters, and new weapons — also introduces Death March, a new mode that enables you to face off against the game’s myriad of bosses all over again. In all, the DLC will take experienced players roughly 15-20 hours to complete, and will unlock once they’ve passed a “certain” chapter of the game. Neowiz has also already announced a full-blown sequel to Lies of P.
Neowiz changed its mind, however, following feedback from players, saying: “We wanted to make sure a wider audience of players could play the game. We have a lot of feedback from customers, and from our developers. So by making development adjustments and introducing these difficulty options, we can offer the experience to different types of players. This broadens the base.”
We had a good time with Lies of P, awarding it 8/10. We said: “Lies of P might not branch out particularly far from its soulslike inspiration, but it plays the part extremely well.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Persona 4 Remake — one of the worst-kept secrets in video games — is reportedly set for an official reveal during Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase.
Both Windows Central and MP1st reported that the so-far unannounced game will finally get confirmed at the Xbox showcase this Sunday, June 8.
While Atlus’ Persona 4 Remake will be announced during the Xbox Games Showcase, it’s set for launch across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. A Nintendo Switch 2 version remains up in the air.
Persona 4 Remake has endured a number of remarkable leaks from voice actors who have said they are not in the game. Last month, three of the original voice actors said they weren’t coming back for Persona 4 Remake — despite Persona 4 Remake not being announced yet.
“And for those who keep asking, no, I will not be returning as Yosuke for the Persona 4 remake,” said Lowenthal in a since-deleted post. “I asked. Maybe I even begged, but they don’t want me to come back.”
There have been rumors to this tune bubbling up over the last year, with a recent domain registration fueling hope that its announcement might be coming soon.
Xbox Games Showcase 2025 will be livestreamed on Sunday, June 8, starting at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK time.
Xbox Games Showcase 2025 will offer a look at upcoming titles from across Microsoft’s first-party studios, Microsoft said, “in addition to incredible new titles from our third-party partners across the globe.”
It seems likely Persona 4 Remake is among them.
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.
According to Streams Charts, this week’s State of Play peaked at over 2.2 million live viewers for the first time in the series’ history. According to data compiled by the website, State of Play now ranks as the third most-popular gaming or tech showcase of 2025 by peak concurrent viewership. Only two Nintendo Direct presentations pulled in bigger numbers (understandably, Nintendo’s Switch 2 reveal is top by a long way).
As spotted by Push Square, the State of Play wasn’t Sony’s most-watched livestream ever — that honor goes to the PS5 reveal event, which currently boasts 44 million views. The Horizon Forbidden West and Horizon Forbidden Dawn presentations were also astonishingly popular, clocking up 15 and 10 million views, respectively. But Tuesday’s livestream remains hands-down the most popular State of Play showing ever.
The State of Play focused on third-party — and particularly Japanese developers — with strong announcements from the likes of Capcom, Grasshopper Manufacture, Konami, ArtPlay, Square Enix, and Team Ninja. There were surprisingly few first-party titles in the presentation.
It also felt very much like this year’s summer presentation was focused on committed gamers, too. There seemed to be a propensity of action games, many of which will likely come with mature/18+ ratings.
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.
Now, following server maintenance conducted on June 6 “to improve expedition matchmaking with an active Remembrance,” online functionalities have been restored, and fans are hoping for a better experience.
“Thank you for your patience, Nightfarers,” FromSoftware said. “Limveld awaits.”
Despite these issues, Elden Ring Nightreign sold 3.5 million copies after just five days on sale. Elden Ring was a massive hit, selling 30 million since going on sale in 2022, and it seems unlikely that Nightreign will come close to matching that success. For better context, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion sold 5 million copies within three days of its release in 2024.
Nightreign has also seen its Steam user review rating improve from ‘mixed’ to ‘mostly positive.’ Much of the initial negative sentiment revolved around Nightreign’s brutal solo experience, its lack of duos co-op, lack of voice chat, and other archaic mechanics.
So, what happens next? FromSoftware also said that in addition to the DLC releasing later this year, new additions will be “gradually implemented,” including enhanced fights against existing Nightlords starting this month.
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.
Dune: Awakening isn’t even properly out yet, but it has already set a concurrent player record on Steam of almost 100,000 players.
According to Steam’s official stats, Dune: Awakening peaked at 93,634 concurrent players yesterday, June 5, even though the game only released for “head start” (read: early access) players who bought either the $69.99 Deluxe Edition or the $89.99 Ultimate edition. For everyone else, the game goes live on June 10, 2025.
Concurrent players isn’t the only metric we should use when measuring how successful a game is, of course, but it’s a good starting point, even though it doesn’t account for players on other platforms (not that Dune: Awakening is available on other platforms just yet; the PS5 and Xbox Series release will follow at a later date).
Historically, weekends are usually when most players opt to jump into a game, so it’s possible Dune: Awakening will hit an even higher peak concurrent count before official launch on June 10. Of the thousands of games currently on sale on Steam, it’s currently 195th in the chart of the highest-ever concurrent peaks. Not bad for a game that’s not even out yet.
We haven’t yet had chance to review Dune: Awakening, but we did have take an extended peek when the beta was live. “As a longtime fan of Dune, it also just feels so good to explore and learn more about a world that I’m quite fond of, and Funcom has clearly put a ton of effort into worldbuilding and lore, even despite taking quite a bit of creative liberty by placing Awakening within a parallel reality and canon than the books/movies,” we wrote in IGN’s Dune: Awakening closed beta impressions preview.
“There are little details that have a massive impact on gameplay. I won’t go into spoilers, but this kind of attention to detail touches just about every aspect of the world, including the factions and characters you meet along the way, which should be a treat for any fan of the setting.”
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.
Cyberpunk 2077 was thought done and dusted, and with good reason — CD Projekt had said it was itself! But alas, just when you thought the developer was out, it pulled itself back in, and now fans are set to get a surprise last (for real this time) patch for the game.
CD Projekt announced patch 2.3 is coming to Cyberpunk 2077. “We have been cooking for you in secret for a bit,” Paweł Sasko, Associate Game Director at CD Projekt on Cyberpunk 2, said in a post on social media.
“As usual, I’m taking care of the update personally and we will communicate more, when it’s ready. Much love chooms 🥰”
CD Projekt didn’t say what is in patch 2.3, but given how meaningful December 2024’s patch 2.2 was, fans are already getting excited. Let’s remember that last patch, created in partnership with support developer Virtuos, added in lots more customization options and made Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves, appear next to you more frequently. There were new secrets to discover, too. Could patch 2.3 go one step further and add new quests and characters? More information will be revealed later this month, CD Projekt said.
In the meantime, it seems the five-year-old Cyberpunk 2077 still has a lot to offer.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The Nintendo Switch 2 has finally arrived, and call me crazy but I’ve opted to celebrate its launch by playing the same game I played day one on the original Switch: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is of course an enhanced version with visual upgrades, faster loading times, and support for the Zelda Notes service via the Nintendo Switch App on your mobile device. It’s admittedly a fairly modest upgrade in terms of actual new features or content, but a welcome one, and it makes this undoubtedly the best way to play a sprawling epic that still stands tall as one of the greatest achievements in Nintendo’s iconic adventure series.
Before we get to what’s new, here’s what IGN said about Breath of the Wild in our original review:
Yes, Breath of the Wild is a 10 out of 10 game. It was a 10 out of 10 eight years ago, it’s a 10 out of 10 today, and it will probably remain a 10 out of 10 until the end of time. It’s just one of those milestone games that will be remembered as being hugely influential upon so many great games that were released in its wake, from Ghost of Tsushima to Halo Infinite and Elden Ring. Those incredible open worlds and many more have clearly been inspired by Breath of the Wild’s groundbreaking approach to experimental and emergent gameplay, and I’ve got no doubt that it will continue to influence game developers for many years to come.
Therefore, this is not a re-review of Breath of the Wild. Instead, it’s some early observations based on my first few hours back in Hyrule in the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.
It runs at 4K when docked and 1080p in handheld mode, and both look as sharp as a Master Sword’s edge.
This is Breath of the Wild as It Should Have Always Been
Gaming landmark that it was, Breath of the Wild almost seemed too ambitious for the original Switch – in fact it ran so poorly in parts that I really pity the poor folks who were somehow playing the Wii U version at the time. At any rate, the Switch 2 version has finally delivered Breath of the Wild as I assume the developers intended. It runs at 4K when docked and 1080p in handheld mode, and both look as sharp as a Master Sword’s edge. HDR is now supported also, and the kingdom of Hyrule really pops as a result – particularly once the blood moon is hanging in the sky above or the blue glow of a shrine can be glimpsed in the distance.
Of course, that resolution jump does have some downsides – the clarity it brings only makes it more obvious how basic a lot of the texture work on things like rocks and logs is when viewed up close, and it also doesn’t really clear up the jagged edges on blades of grass and the like. Still, the character models look fantastic, and more importantly it’s all so much smoother in motion than it was before thanks to the consistently 60fps framerate.
That Means You Can Now Explore Korok Forest Without Your Switch 2 Suffering a Nervous Breakdown
Pretty much the first thing I did when I hopped back into Breath of the Wild on Switch 2 was to beam myself directly into the Korok Forest, since that seemed like the best way to stress test this version’s improved framerate. Setting foot into the Korok Forest in Breath of the Wild on the original Switch forced the system to stutter like a shy Goron on a first date, but here in the Switch 2 it runs as smooth as goat butter.
In fact, no matter where I’ve roamed in this enhanced Breath of the Wild, the framerate has stayed locked at 60fps, whether I was shield-surfing down the slopes of the Hebra Mountains or scrapping with large groups of moblins in Hyrule Field. No matter what I do or where I go, Breath of the Wild on Switch 2 has been more stable than a barn full of Hyrulian horses. It really is a big step up.
No matter what I do or where I go, Breath of the Wild on Switch 2 has been more stable than a barn full of Hyrulian horses.
While the Framerate Now Holds Firm, the Weapons Still Break
Breath of the Wild on Switch 2 might look and load to the modern standards we’ve come to expect in 2025, but it otherwise plays in almost the exact same way that it did back on the original Switch. That’s either a really good thing, if, like me, you were a big fan of the sandbox structure, shrine-hunting, and unprecedented sense of freedom. However, if you tried Breath of the Wild on the original Switch and you bounced off it because the weapon degradation system ticked you off – and I know quite a number of people did – or perhaps you simply prefer an old-fashioned Assassin’s Creed style of open-world that leads you around by the nose instead of giving you the freedom to find your own fun, then you’re unlikely to change your mind with this Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.
The core Breath of the Wild adventure has been preserved, nothing has been tinkered with – at least nothing that’s been obvious to me in my first few hours with this Switch 2 port. If this style of Zelda game wasn’t your cup of tea before, then this is still that same flavour of tea. It’s just been poured into a noticeably prettier cup.
Loading Times Have Been Sped Up Significantly
It’s also a cup of tea that is served substantially faster, as this Switch 2 version of Breath of the Wild has had its loading times cut dramatically. Of course, that might not sound like the most sexy of features. You probably won’t want to invite your friends over to marvel at how quickly your game boots up, and you’re not going to buy a brand new TV to show off the rapid-fire rate at which Breath of the Wild now gets in and out of fast travel. But it becomes a meaningful difference the further you get into the main quest, because so much of Breath of the Wild involves hopping back and forth from one side of the sprawling map to the other searching for shrines or returning to quest givers and so on, and cutting down the time spent staring at the loading screen becomes hugely important after a while. In fact, you barely have enough time to watch the little animated silhouettes anymore, and you virtually have to speed read the loading screen pro tips!
There Is Some New Content, it’s Just on Your Phone Instead of Your Switch 2
Along with the performance upgrades, there is some new content to be found in Breath of the Wild on Switch 2, but you’re going to have to keep a phone or tablet handy in order to access it. By pairing your game with the Nintendo Switch App on your mobile device, you can get access to the Zelda Notes suite of tools. One enables voice directions much like Google Maps, which is handy for tracking down shrines, enemies, or even those hundreds of Korok seeds that are scattered across the map. It works as advertised, and will automatically adjust even when you beam in and out of fast travel. Since I’ve already completed Breath of the Wild I was fine with map spoilers, but I like that there’s a toggle to disable them if you’re a newcomer.
125 audio logs have been spread around the map as well, which are essentially recordings of Princess Zelda making observations on certain places and characters. These are signalled by a pinging proximity sensor in the phone app, and when you find the sweet spot they’re added to a collection of recordings that you can playback on your phone whenever you like. Theoretically, that is, because I can’t really see myself listening to any of these more than once. While I’ve only found a few so far, they’ve been pretty inessential anecdotes like Zelda describing the hospitality she was once treated to by Lurelin villagers, or explaining why the mayor of Hateno village had trouble selling Purah’s house. If you’re a completionist then these small scraps of backstory are yet another collectible to search for, but I doubt I’ll bother seeking them all out myself.
There’s also detailed stat tracking of your travels and enemy kills, the ability to share an item with a friend via the generation of a QR code if you’re particularly proud of that hearty meal you just made, as well as a daily bonus which is like a wheel of fortune you can trigger once a day to give you a prize like replenishing your hearts on the spot. One of them even allows you to repair a broken weapon! Most of these are welcome and useful additions, my only wish is that they were just added in-game rather than accessed through my phone. Sure, I do have my phone beside me at all times, even when I sleep at night. I’m not proud of that. However, I don’t really want to drain my phone battery if I don’t have to, and I feel like things like voice directions and audio logs could have easily been added into Zelda itself, saving me from playing through with both hands on the controller and my phone balanced on my knees.
You Can Now Add a Second Save File
Now, I had planned on spending the $10, or in my case, $20 AUD to upgrade my existing copy of Breath of the Wild to the Nintendo Switch 2 edition, mainly because it seemed like a relatively small asking price to be able to finally play at a higher resolution and stable framerate. In my mind, I was only going to play my existing save game for a few hours of fun before I got stuck into some of the other Switch 2 launch games. However, as it turns out eight years is quite a long time, and at least in my case it’s long enough for me to have forgotten large parts of the Breath of the Wild story and its various shrines and quests, and I’ve found myself sucked back in and eager for another full playthrough. Luckily, this Switch 2 version adds a second save game, and I fully intend on starting the story over again – so it’s nice that I can do so without having to write over my original completed save and lose the hundreds of hours I invested in Breath of the Wild back in 2017.
So there you have it, that’s a very quick look at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. If you’re yet to try this masterpiece then this is the best place to jump in, and if you’ve already got a copy of the original then the performance upgrades alone make the upgrade price worth it. We’ve got plenty more Nintendo Switch 2 launch coverage to come in the days and weeks ahead, so be sure to keep checking IGN for updates.
Tristan Ogilvie is a Senior Video Editor at IGN’s Sydney office.
Black Myth: Wukong, the action RPG inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West, will finally make its way to Xbox Series X/S on August 20, 2025, exactly one year after it was released on PS5 and PC.
Xbox shared the news on Twitter/X, saying, “You are the Destined One. Black Myth: Wukong is coming August 20. Pre-order begins June 18!”
“The only thing missing is the Xbox,” he said, per machine learning translation, “which somehow feels a bit wrong, but that 10GB of shared memory — without years of optimisation experience — is really hard to make work.”
Now, it appears those issues have been resolved and Xbox players will soon be able to add this game to their libraries.
In our Black Myth: Wukong review, we said, “Despite some frustrating technical issues, Black Myth: Wukong is a great action game with fantastic combat, exciting bosses, tantalizing secrets, and a beautiful world.”
Gearbox Software is giving away Borderlands 2 for free on Steam, but some fans are warning others to stay away from the series due to a recent controversy surrounding its terms of service.
The studio behind the looter-shooter series surprised PC gamers with the free offer today, allowing all Steam users to add the sequel to their libraries for free. It’s a freebie that grants access to the 2012 title at no extra cost, but as many share their excitement online, Borderlands 2 Steam reviews are telling a different story.
While the All Reviews section boasts a “Very Positive” rating on Steam with more than 287,000 user reviews, the more than 3,300 Recent Reviews have the second Borderlands game’s reactions labeled “Mostly Negative.” The downward trend began around May 20, 2025, with a particularly large movement of negative responses filling its reviews section today.
This spike in negative Borderlands 2 reviews comes not from a gameplay update or troubled servers but instead key changes Gearbox parent company Take-Two Interactive made to its Terms of Service in February of this year. Players are using their reviews to point to a few topics, including concerns the end-user license agreement (EULA) condemns the use of mods, cheats, and VPNs. However, the primary concern being echoed across social media channels relates to fears Take-Two, 2K Games, and Gearbox are harvesting data and private information.
“One of the best games ever made. I cannot recommend it to anyone right now due to the publisher adding spyware into an updated EULA that you have to accept to launch it,” one popular review from Steam user RyeTheTactician says. “It’s called forced arbitration and it’s one of the scummiest things shady people want to normalize. I will not change it to a positive review until this is fixed, too bad, I had fun will all the Borderlands games in multiple devices, but will probably not play this or [Borderlands 4] for a long time.”
Another complaint working its way to the top of the conversation involves the wider idea of a publisher altering the terms of service for a game that launched nearly 13 years ago. Some have gone as far as to ask for refund options if they wish to decline the updated document’s conditions. Others are also highlighting Borderlands 2’s status as a relatively casual video game with a focus on single-player and co-op experience. The idea is that, without a substantial, competitive multiplayer component, there should be no reason for Take-Two to fear how cheaters may impact the experience of the average Borderlands player.
People are review-bombing the Borderlands games because Gearbox/2K made EULA changes
Looks like people are review bombing the entire **Borderlands** series because Gearbox/2K made EULA changes that can apparently gain root-level access to your machine under the guise of… pic.twitter.com/fZwAoSr9wo
Take-Two’s terms of service update can be found when booting up other 2K titles, including the original Borderlands and Borderlands 3, which are currently on sale for $9.89 and $3.99, respectively, on Steam. Each title has received a different level of review bombing, with nearly all users pointing to the EULA as the cause behind their freshly added thumbs-down rating. There’s even a specific list of grievances being copy-pasted across the Steam reviews section for each game, which includes concerns that Take-Two is taking advantage of sensitive information such as names, email addresses, IP addresses, billing details, phone numbers, and more.
“Changing the ToS and turning games into spyware and then offering the game for free in order to then steal data from unknowing people is pretty bold,” Steam user =SilvioHammer= alleges.
Many have used their reviews to specifically call out Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford, who attempted to address privacy fears with a post on X/Twitter last week. When one fan said the EULA update had “essentially turned every Borderlands game into spyware with access to all of our information,” Pitchford assured PC fans that there are no software-level changes to the Borderlands games that should have players worried about spyware.
“Nothing has or will change about the software,” Pitchford said at the time. “I think the publisher legal team is covering their bases, but that has nothing to do with what we’re doing. I cannot change the EULA – that’s decided at the publisher level. But I can assure that there is no spyware in the software.”
Yeah – humans are involved. It sucks to get brigaded when we’re over here making good games. Everyone should make their own decisions, though, so if running a protest because of fear over some lawyers covering their butts, I guess that’s the world we have to live in.
Pitchford’s comments have been backed by other players who feel the reaction to the Take-Two’s changes is a bit overblown. This includes clarification from some who say the EULA has gone largely unchanged for years, going as far as to say previous versions of the document already included several of the conditions players are voicing concern about now. It’s unclear how the significant the February changes to the terms of service were, but overreaction or not, it’s clear a vocal portion of the Borderlands community is no longer happy with what the agreement entails.
“People are overreacting for sure,” one Reddit comment says. “The EULA is hardly any different than the one before it all the way back in 2018. People are just freaking out now because some clickbaiting content creator told them to.”
It’s currently unclear if Take-Two will update its terms of service in any way that could alleviate privacy concerns or the criticism related to mod support. For those who pick up Borderlands 2, which is available to own for free until June 8 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, the terms of service agreement in question pops up when you boot up the game for the first time. Those who decline it can continue to enjoy the experience but only while playing offline.
The updated terms of service will likely need to be accepted in order to play Gearbox’s Borderlands 4 online as well. It’s set to launch September 12, 2025, for PC via the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. A Nintendo Switch 2 version will launch at a later date. You can check out all of the latest gameplay details revealed as part of a Borderlands 4-focused State of Play here.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
