Category: IGN

FromSoftware has once again delivered a critical darling in Shadow of the Erdtree, its gargantuan DLC expansion for Elden Ring. But while it has received glowing adoration from professional critics, a not-insignificant slice of players have rallied against Shadow of the Erdtree’s difficulty. Perceiving its enemies and bosses to be so challenging that they make the game unfair, some fans have review bombed the DLC on Steam and even crafted mods for the PC version that make the experience easier.

And so comes the inevitable question – is Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree too difficult? Has FromSoftware finally gone too far? The answer, at least according to the various journalists and Souls content creators I’ve spoken to, is no. However, the answer to Erdtree’s steep challenge lies in much more than that age-old, condescending advice of ‘git gud’.

A Challenge Too Far?

“I was surprised to see people passing judgement on the difficulty so quickly,” says VaatiVidya, the YouTuber known for his meticulously researched FromSoft lore videos, about the review bombing. “If you’re up against something difficult, you need time to explore different areas or come up with a different strategy, and I think many critics were overlooking that.”

It’s easy to characterise some of that backlash as naivety. It is entirely unsurprising that Shadow of the Erdtree is difficult. Elden Ring is difficult, and so this DLC – locked behind two of the base game’s most challenging bosses – was bound to be a hurdle designed for the most dedicated fans. FromSoftware’s approach to DLC has always been to cater to those hardened players. In a list of the studio’s most punishing bosses, fearsome DLC foes such as Sister Friede, The Orphan of Kos, Ludwig The Holy Blade, and Darkeater Midir will all inevitably rise to the top. But it’s not just the bosses. Pushing forward through Dark Souls 3’s Ringed City and Bloodborne’s Fishing Hamlet is an uphill struggle thanks to tricky enemy placement and ‘mid-tier’ monstrosities that are practically bosses without ceremony. Such areas demand complete mastery of your abilities. There is no way to be ‘relaxed’ in FromSoftware’s expansions. By being more punishing than its parent game, Shadow of the Erdtree is merely following tradition.

There is something Elden Ring has that Dark Souls or Bloodborne never had, though: mass popularity. “I think the reality is that Elden Ring is the most successful game FromSoftware has ever released, and introduced literally millions of newcomers to the genre who’ve never played a FromSoftware game before,” says Matt Kim, IGN’s senior features editor. “Which means they’ve effectively dove straight into the hardest DLC the studio has ever produced. But there’s a progression here that they may have missed, with the Elden Ring DLC being harder than the Dark Souls 3 DLC, which was harder than the Bloodborne DLC which was harder than — you get my point.”

Newcomers have been raised on what is the most approachable Souls-style game the developer has ever made – one with strong NPC allies available at beck and call, incredibly powerful magic and weapon skills, and an open structure that allows you to bypass bosses until you’re suitably ready. All this also exists in Shadow of the Erdtree, but so do the aforementioned increased difficulty traditions. And so fans have quickly discovered that the medieval superheroes they built and perfected, with stats stacked higher than skyscrapers thanks to countless hours spent grinding out runes, are now far from the devastating powerhouses they once were.

“People have come up with builds that can shred [the base game’s] hardest bosses without breaking a sweat,” says Mitchell Saltzman, who reviewed Shadow of the Erdtree for IGN. “All of the weapons and talismans to complete those builds have been painstakingly mapped out and can be relatively easy to obtain, and there are rune farming spots that can skyrocket a player’s level by the hundreds in just a handful of hours. So FromSoftware had to make this DLC difficult to account for all of the above.”

But while many a FromSoft veteran will have entered Shadow of the Erdtree with full understanding of this, they may have been surprised at just how quickly the height of that challenge smacks you in the face. When you stumble across the Western Nameless Mausoleum, the first optional location in Erdtree’s Land of Shadow, you’re forced into a fight with the Blackgaol Knight – a foe equally skilled at ranged and close combat. Inside his arena you are prohibited from summoning Spirit Ashes, Elden Ring’s NPC allies, and so you’re entirely on the backfoot. It’s like going back to level one all over again. And, in a way, you are. Progression works differently in this expansion. Your stat levels, earned over hundreds of hours by spending hard-earned runes, are… not exactly useless here, but less impactful. Instead, your ability to inflict and resist damage comes from Scadutree Fragments, a new collectible that increases your stats.

A Blessing or a Curse?

“A big part of the issue seems to be people not understanding the Scadutree Fragment mechanic, whereby your character gets stronger from the process of wide exploration,” explains VaatiVidya.

Scadutree Fragments fit together to make Scadutree Blessings, which when used at a Site of Grace buff your character’s ability to both inflict and resist damage. The logic behind them makes a lot of sense: those aforementioned boss-shredding builds could steamroll through the DLC, bypassing the artistic intent of its many bosses and challenges. And so to ensure everyone experiences Shadow of the Erdtree as intended, FromSoft has put everyone back on a roughly even playing field from which only Scadutree Blessings will raise you up. In short: they made you start again from scratch.

“I think the Scadutree Blessing system is actually a pretty smart solution that allows Shadow of the Erdtree to be difficult right from the start, but also allow people to overcome that difficulty by doing the thing that Elden Ring has always been about: exploration, discovery, and being rewarded for your curiosity,” says Saltzman. “There are a ton of Scadutree Fragments that can be obtained right from the very start of the game, without even having to fight any of the big bosses that players seem to be getting stuck on.”

It is worth considering how that system impacts Elden Ring’s values of exploration and discovery, though. In the base game, simply playing is enough to acquire the runes needed to level up and become more powerful. But by locking increased stat power behind specific items located in specific places, Shadow of the Erdtree has arguably turned the entire experience into something of a scavenger hunt. The effect of this will vary depending on taste; for some, this further encourages exploration of a world that frequently rewards the curious. For others, it may turn any reward that isn’t a Scadutree Fragment into a disappointment, or even a waste of time.

I’ve been getting a vibe check on people’s reactions to the DLC, and the one thing I keep seeing is people underestimating the impact of Scadutree Blessings. These make a MASSIVE difference and you CAN come back later. No, you don’t need to kill the lion or Rellana at the start. pic.twitter.com/B6ZGivK1yh

— Iron Pineapple (@IronPineapple_) June 22, 2024

Personally, I agree with Saltzman’s views on the Scadurtree Blessing. But while the system is certainly mechanically sound, it does function very differently to what players are used to. For those trained on not just Elden Ring but FromSoft’s historic reliance on traditional levelling, it may not be immediately clear just how vital to the experience the Scadutree Blessing truly is. A tool tip does explain that the blessing “bolsters the recipient’s abilities to deal and negate damage,” but – in FromSoft tradition – there’s little further information on the system to be found within the game itself. It’s been down to the community, guides writers, and even the Bandai Namco X/Twitter account to emphasise the Scadutree Blessing’s importance. It’s therefore understandable that many people outside of those circles may have missed the very system designed to aid with Shadow of the Erdtree’s escalating difficulty.

Beyond the Golden Path

Another, less obvious contributor to Shadow of the Erdtree’s apparent difficulty is the community focus on boss fights. While these spectacular showdowns are Elden Ring’s centrepieces, it’s important to remember that they are the spine of the experience rather than the body. With so much discussion in the community around conquering each foe and getting closer to the final boss, it’s easy to be caught up in the need to speedrun through the chain of major fights. Down that path lies not just frustration, but a distraction away from a wider world that holds the many tools required to achieve an easier victory.

“I don’t enjoy spending four hours learning a boss,” says Daniel Krupa, IGN’s former Prepare to Try loremaster and founder of the Souls-focussed YouTube channel RKG. “I love exploring these worlds and piecing together the stories they tell, and I’ll do everything I can to make that easier. I’ll horde equipment, constantly reconfigure my Talismans, and over-level my weapons as quickly as I can. I still wouldn’t say I’m good at these games, but over the years, I’ve learned enough to survive.

“It’s what I always tell people who are interested in these games but put-off by the perceived difficulty,” he adds. “Yes, there’s no in-built ‘easy mode’ but you can make your experience far less punishing.”

“The online community has always been a huge help in this regard,” says VaatiVidya. “Making it clear how your build can be optimised, or telling you which things are overpowered. For example, the Mimic Tear summon, or the Blasphemous Blade. As the days go by, even more powerful things are being found in the DLC to make use of. If you’re truly struggling, you can use these to move the difficulty level of the DLC more in line with your ideal level of challenge.”

Remix and Retry

Shadow of the Erdtree is full to bursting with a variety of exciting new weapons and talismans that can either boost your existing build or encourage a new one entirely. As a long-time Moonveil user with high intelligence and dexterity stats, I was delighted to discover the DLC features a thrusting sword that can be used to cast spells. That’s a game changer, and has entirely altered my tactics when it comes to combat. But I know it won’t be a catch-all solution to every boss down the line, and that being open to experimentation is more valuable than ever in this expansion.

“I’ve got to the final boss,” says Krupa. “Yes, it’s tough – but I’m choosing not to suffer. I’ve always seen bosses in these games as problems to be solved, rather than gruelling challenges to overcome. So I’ll go explore the Cerulean Coast some more, and maybe I’ll find something that will help.”

“I had a great experience against the final boss,” says VaatiVidya. “I had trouble, and so I switched up my build to incorporate a greatshield and Scarlet Rot […] I like when bosses force you to switch up your strategy…however I wish an infinite source of Larval Tears could have been made available in the DLC, so people could have more freedom to test out different strategies.”

There are just 18 Larval Tears in Elden Ring – the item that allows you to reallocate your stats – while Shadow of the Erdtree adds at least another nine. But that’s still a very limited number of times you can completely rebuild your character’s stats. It makes exploring other gameplay avenues a risky business. Sure, a new weapon may sound like the key to defeating a boss, but if respeccing your character to use it results in yet more defeat, then it’s a waste of precious resources.

“They’ve made more Larval Tears available in the open world as they spawn at night time, which is great, but I personally would have loved if these could have respawned infinitely as a resource for players to make use of to overcome difficulty,” says VaatiVidya. Such a system would bring Elden Ring in line with other build craft-focused RPGs like Diablo 4, which allows for infinite reallocation of skill points and thus promotes freeform experimentation. It’s easy to see how Elden Ring could benefit from this, not just in regards to its difficulty, but in allowing players to experience its incredibly broad range of weapon types and approaches.

Legitimate Concerns

It’s clear that the key to success in Shadow of the Erdtree is the exact same as it was in its parent game: explore the world and the world will provide the answer. Elden Ring is not a boss rush, it is an open world game, and that structure is key to overcoming what can initially seem an overwhelming difficulty spike.

Despite this, everyone I’ve spoken to acknowledges just how challenging Shadow of the Erdtree is, especially in its later hours. “FromSoftware definitely skirts the line between fair and unfair with some of the later boss designs in particular,” wrote Saltzman in our review, while Kim tells me that he thinks “FromSoftware pushed the envelope further in Shadow of the Erdtree, particularly with the final boss”.

That challenge scales with your New Game+ progress, too. If you’re on your second, third, perhaps even fourth or fifth run on the game, then your character will suffer more than those using a fresh save file. A future balance patch could potentially address this. “I’ve heard some complaints from a lot of people struggling on their NG+ characters, so I guess I could also see the effects of NG+ being toned down as it applies to the DLC areas,” VaatiVidya says.

There’s also the issue of Elden Ring’s performance. Digital Foundry notes that, two-and-a-half years on from launch, the game still suffers from long-standing technical issues. Shadow of the Erdtree has come with no stability fixes. When perfect parries and desperate dodges are part of the game’s core fabric, an unstable frame rate is just as much the enemy as Messmer the Impaler. Without fixinging such long-standing performance woes on all platforms, FromSoftware is sadly leaving players vulnerable to frustrating defeats. These issues may not be an intentional increase in difficulty, but they can contribute all the same.

So far, there’s no indication that FromSoftware has any intention of reducing Shadow of the Erdtree’s difficulty. However, the studio has already responded to the playerbase: in the DLC’s first update, the buff provided by Scadutree Blessings has been increased for the first 10 you obtain. That’s half of the maximum blessing count. To balance this adjustment, the latter 10 will offer more gradual buffs, leading up to a slightly increased final blessing. The overall effect is that the initial areas of the DLC will feel more achievable, but the actual difficulty of the expansion overall remains the same. Of course, that additional level of ease will only be available if you actually engage with the Scadutree Blessings in the first place. Ignore that and you’ll still face the same issues that seemingly triggered the review bombing in the first place.

So, Shadow of the Erdtree is hard. We know it. You know it. FromSoftware knows it. As to if it’s too hard… well, that’s naturally a subjective topic. But from a purely design standpoint, the DLC’s approach continues in the lineage of both Elden Ring and its FromSoftware predecessors.

“It’s not too hard,” concludes Satlzman. “Use the tools the game gives you, go explore, find Scadutree Fragments. You can do it. I believe in you.”

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.

Don’t Nod has delayed its upcoming game, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, from the third quarter of 2024 to early 2025 in order to avoid clashing with the new Life is Strange game.

Don’t Nod Entertainment is the original developer of narrative adventure Life is Strange for publisher and franchise owner Square Enix. It’s currently working on new narrative adventure Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, while Square Enix has tasked Deck Nine with developing Life Is Strange: Double Exposure for release in October.

Don’t Nod announced the decision to delay Lost Records: Bloom & Rage to avoid a narrative adventure showdown with Life is Strange later this year.

“We’ve made the decision to move the release dates of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage to early 2025,” a statement published to X/Twitter read. “We know you’re all excited for both Lost Records and the new Life is Strange game, and we wanted to ensure both have adequate space to shine. The wait will be worth it!”

In a note to press, Don’t Nod boss Oskar Guilbert expanded on the decision, saying: “We know that many of our fans are eagerly awaiting this game, just as they are the recently announced next installment of Life is Strange. Let’s give both titles the space they need to be enjoyed by our players within the large community we have built.

“We firmly believe that the wait for Bloom & Rage will be worth it. We look forward to sharing this new adventure, which we hope will become another memorable chapter in the Don’t Nod universe.”

Lost Records revolves around a group of friends who reunite after over two decades of no contact to “confront a long-buried secret that made them promise to never speak again.” Announced at The Game Awards 2023, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is meant to kick off a new connected universe, but Don’t Nod is also working on a number of other games.

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, meanwhile, stars the main character of the original Life Is Strange, Max Caulfield. It’s planned for release on October 29 Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

It’s been some time since Amazon announced its Tomb Raider and The Lord of the Rings video games, and it sounds like fans will have to wait a while longer for a reveal.

Amazon announced it had signed a deal with Crystal Dynamics to develop and publish the next major Tomb Raider game back in December 2022. We’ve heard nothing in the year-and-a-half since, although Crystal Dynamics was forced to reassure fans that it was unaffected by devastating cuts at embattled parent company Embracer.

Meanwhile, Amazon announced it had signed a deal with Middle-earth rights owner Embracer to develop an as-yet-untitled The Lord of the Rings MMO back in May 2023. Again, we’ve heard nothing since, but we do know this game is set in Middle-earth and features the stories of The Hobbit and more.

Speaking to Variety, Amazon Games chief Christoph Hartmann said a reveal for either game is not imminent, but is not long away. “It’s not going to be tomorrow, but it’s not too far away,” Hartmann said, before insisting Amazon Games is now “getting into a much more regular cadence of shipping games.”

“That’s all I’m allowed to tell you right now,” Hartmann added. “It’s all about quality. You don’t want to just be rushed out. That doesn’t work. It has to be triple-A quality, because the bar is so high.”

Amazon will be keen to capitalize on other Tomb Raider and The Lord of the Rings projects it has in the works by lining up the TV shows with the video games. Prime Video has confirmed a Tomb Raider live-action series with Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge in place as writer and executive producer, although it has yet to say when it will launch. Meanwhile, Rings of Power Season 2 kicks off on Amazon Prime in August, with more seasons confirmed to be in the works.

In the interview, Hartmann pointed to Microsoft’s recent success with the Prime Video Fallout TV show, which boosted interest in the Fallout games. “And so you can see a world where Amazon would do well to release a game simultaneously available to play on PC, console, mobile, as well as launching a TV series or an animation on its Prime Video service,” Hartmann explained.

However, fans shouldn’t necessarily consider the Tomb Raider TV show canon with the video games. While that’s worked out well for the Fallout TV show, which is set after all the Fallout video games, Hartmann suggested Amazon’s plan for Tomb Raider is closer to Sony’s with its hugely successful Marvel’s Spider-Man games, which are separate to the Spider-Man movies.

“You see it with Tomb Raider, where we’re gonna have a Tomb Raider game coming and they’re doing a show,” Hartmann said. “And some people say, ‘Oh, will they be linked together?’ And I give them the example, look at Spider-Man. There’s amazing, amazing games. There’s great animated content, there’s great live-action, and everyone seems to be very happy with that. So it does not need to be always that everything is mingled together, but it’s really one brand, which really just shows for me why transmedia nowadays is so important, and how games is such a vital part.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has spoken out about “malicious and personal online attacks” that have been directed at his employees and partners, citing it as one of his major concerns in the games industry at the moment.

Guillemot gave a wide-ranging interview that was posted on the Ubisoft website on Thursday, speaking about various topics including the future of Assassin’s Creed, XDefiant, and more. He was also asked what dismays him about the industry currently, and pointed specifically to online harassment in response.

“One thing I am concerned about right now is the malicious and personal online attacks that have been directed at some of our team members and partners,” Guillemot said. “I want to make it clear that we, at Ubisoft, condemn these hateful acts in the strongest possible terms, and I encourage the rest of the industry and players to denounce them, too.”

This article contains minor spoilers for the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

The Elden Ring community’s greatest co-op hero “Let Me Solo Her” has officially rebranded himself “Let Me Solo Him.” After years of crushing Malenia, he’s seemingly announced the beginning of a new pasttime of brutalizing one of Shadow of the Erdtree’s toughest bosses: Messmer the Impaler.

Let Me Solo Her first rose to prominence in the Elden Ring community in April 2022, when he took on the role of a loincloth-clad jar-headed messiah, bringing much-needed aid to the countless players grappling with the hit RPG’s most infamous optional boss Malenia, Blade of Miquella.

Since then, by his own estimation, he has played for over 1,200 hours and fought Malenia thousands of times, in each instance allowing the Tarnished who summoned him at the threshold to her arena to stand by and watch as he went toe-to-toe against the rot-infested demigod until only one stood triumphant. His efforts earned him legendary status in the Elden Ring community, and even saw FromSoftware send him an actual sword in recognition of his contributions.

I’m ready. https://t.co/CbIiH9X2mu pic.twitter.com/e9Dw6xzE9K

— Let me solo her (@TsuboiKlein) June 27, 2024

Now, having rebranded himself “Let Me Solo Him,” the co-op MVP has seemingly returned to hunt a new but no less imposing target in the form of late-game DLC boss Messmer the Impaler. The name change announced in an X/Twitter post earlier this week was accompanied by the simple phrase “I’m ready,” along with a link to a YouTube video, in which he systematically wore down the boss without ever allowing him to land a blow in return.

Without getting into spoilers, Messmer the Impaler is among the DLC’s toughest bosses, who attacks with a brutally swift set of powerful, fire-imbued attacks, and boasts a second stage that would leave Rykard, the Lord of Blasphemy with a case of serpent envy. Yet in the face of Messmer’s onslaught, Let Me Solo Him was able to calmly and consistently evade and counter, his signature look enhanced by the addition of a ragged cloak.

“This is actually Messmer’s boss fight against LMSH, not the other way around,” commented YouTube user Maxwellschmid588. “This man could walk through a monsoon and not get wet,” chimed in Firstlast-cg2nk. “If an asteroid were to hit Earth, he’d take no damage because he’d dodge roll at exactly the right moment.”

Only time will tell if Let Me Solo Him is back to his old boss-busting ways, but given the short video description of “it’s time,” it certainly seems as if a new co-op campaign is about to begin. Be sure to check out IGN’s comprehensive guide if you’re looking to face down Messmer yourself, or simply need help traversing the perilous environments of the Land of Shadow.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Hours after revealing the best offensive teams, EA Sports has revealed the best defensive teams available in College Football 25.

EA Sports revealed the top 25 best defensive teams available in its long-awaited return to the college football video game franchise. Like the top-ranking offensive teams, EA Sports factored in several parameters when compiling this list, such as vetting thousands of players, “years worth of game film,” and viewing a slew of statistics when compiling this list.

The top-ranking defensive team in College Football 25 is The Ohio State University, with an overall rank of 96. Led by head coach Ryan Day and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, Ohio State has been consistently a good team overall, with recent years showing its dominance as a defensive powerhouse. Last season, the Buckeyes went 11-2 record, losing the last two games in its season. The first loss was to longtime rival and the eventual 2023 national champions, the Michigan Wolverines, and the second was in the Cotton Bowl to the Missouri Tigers.

Georgia, Oregon, Alabama, and Clemson are some other top-ranking defenses in College Football 25. The full list of the top 25 defensive teams, as well as each team’s overall offensive ranking in College Football 25 will be available below

College Football 25 is out on July 19 or July 16 if you buy the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle. For more information, check out yesterday’s Sights and Sounds gameplay deep dive, the top 25 toughest places to play, and our hands-on preview.

Top 25 Defensive Teams in College Football 25

1. Ohio State – (96 OVR)
2. Georgia – (94 OVR)
3. Oregon – (90 OVR)
4. Alabama – (90 OVR)
5. Clemson – (90 OVR)
6. Notre Dame – (90 OVR)
7. Michigan – (90 OVR)
8. Texas – (88 OVR)
9. Penn State – (88 OVR)
10. Utah – (88 OVR)
11. Florida State – (88 OVR)
12. Oklahoma – (88 OVR)
13. Iowa – (88 OVR)
14. Virginia Tech – (86 OVR)
15. Wisconsin – (86 OVR)
16. USC – (86 OVR)
17. Auburn – (86 OVR)
18. LSU – (84 OVR)
19. Texas A&M – (84 OVR)
20. Colorado – (84 OVR)
21. Oklahoma State – (84 OVR)
22. Louisville – (84 OVR)
23. North Carolina – 84 OVR
24. Kansas State – (84 OVR)
25. Florida – (84 OVR)

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Concord was originally teased last year with a simple video that showcased a ship cruising through space. I think a hamburger was involved. Anyway, after seeing that short teaser, I honestly expected to see a story-driven FPS – this is a first-party Sony game, after all – but maybe it’d be something like an MMO, a la Destiny. I was on board for a new experience regardless, but then I was somewhat surprised to learn that Concord is, in fact, a 5v5 shooter.

And now that I’ve played it, I’m very glad that Concord does plan on keeping up with its world lore and ongoing storyline, since some of my favorite FPS games like Overwatch and Apex Legends do this seasonally as well . Additionally, each season that releases will be free to all players, who only have to purchase the game and enjoy future updates to come.

While I enjoyed my time in the limited hands-on preview overall, I have several concerns for the longevity of Concord and what it has to offer. Concord’s meat-and-potatoes formula is a pretty standard 5v5 set up, with two teams choosing their preferred character before diving into an objective-based team battle.

During the preview, I was able to play three of six modes that will be available at launch: Trophy Hunt, Cargo Run, and Clash Point. Trophy Hunt was the only one that featured respawns in the match and was basically Kill Confirmed team deathmatch.

Cargo Run, meanwhile, was a single-life match where the objective was to run to the center, steal a Blue Buddy package and plant it at one of two sites. If planted, the enemy team could go and stand on the package to diffuse it and take it back. And finally, Clash Point was a round-based single-life game mode with the objective being to control the only capture zone in the entire map multiple times to get the victory.

The single-life modes were tough to warm up on while still getting to know the game, as failure obviously means you’re out of the action for a bit. And while Concord is a fairly straightforward FPS, I have a core criticism a mere two months from its August 24 launch: in the build I played, the movement felt extremely floaty and required a bit of time to get used to. This is exacerbated by the fact that each Freerunner character you can play has a unique set of movement and skills they bring to the team, so each time you swap to a new character, you’re then attempting to learn and configure your brain to how they work. So you can imagine that it gets a bit disorienting.

And while Concord will be released on PC day and date with PS5, I was only able to preview this on the PS5 with a controller, and so with that in mind, I’d say the movement is heavily reminiscent of Destiny and Halo. Again, it is incredibly floaty, which could be a fun element if it is done well. However, the way the preview build felt, the feather-light jumps and hang time really did not match the amount of fast-paced fights that could occur at any time in the matches.

While Halo does utilize a similar floaty jump mechanic, the rest of the mechanics and gameplay in Halo justify that reasoning and do not make it feel like the odd element out. Grenades also feel light when lobbed through the air, the various abilities in Halo all have the same weight and cadence to them, and the match pacing reflects the balancing between the base game mechanics. Players in Halo, even in competitive ranked matches, do heal over time after avoiding taking damage for a while.

Similarly, Destiny is a game that’s more PvE related and thus does not need the incredibly snappy mechanics that Halo or Concord need in PvP fights. Even in the PvP fights in Destiny, the usual TTK is slower since the fights can be drawn out due to the different class abilities allowing for slower or faster play, depending on how players choose to engage (i.e. more directly or more reserved). Each class also has different movement capabilities and healing abilities that ensure match pacing stays consistent throughout.

So the problem in Concord, at least in this preview version, is that it takes little pieces from games like Halo and Destiny and mixes them together in a formula that doesn’t quite come together for me as of yet. Concord actually utilizes the same type of dodge animation from Destiny that pulls you out in third person. While I liked this element in Destiny, in Concord it doesn’t quite work because there’s a brief-but-noticeable delay between your input of the dodge and the actual deployment. This can make or break your life since timing is everything in competitive play and a single hesitation, or simulated hesitation through the delayed input, can punish you greatly.

Sony says there will be six total maps at launch, so perhaps some of the game modes will feel better paced and optimized on the others when spread out. But the way things stand currently, most maps felt very oddly misshapen. Some lanes were too long or big and barely saw rotations while the second lane in another map would just feel entirely too small and cause prolonged team fights due to its claustrophobic size.

Concord touts its competitive nature and fast-paced fights. I love all of that but found that the competitiveness risks being unwelcoming to new players attempting to learn the game because most of the game modes are single-life-focused.

It’s important to note that even if you are an incredible player, Concord is not a game that allows for many 1v2 fights to be won. Unlike a game of Apex or Halo where you can potentially outsmart your opponents and win in 1v2 scenarios, Concord is so heavily a team game that you’re not able to succeed if you’re on your own. While this is the point of team FPS games, it’s pretty punishing for modes like Trophy Hunt where you’re encouraged to go off and get kills for the objective.

Another reason these lopsided matchups are impossible to win is the fact that each character in Concord has their own health pool and hitbox. This would be fine if these characters had your traditional classes, but Concord doesn’t utilize your typical class system. Usually, each class has their own health stats that you can expect each character in that label to have.

Taking a look at Overwatch, for instance, most Tanks have a base health of anywhere from about 525 to 700 (with combinations of shields or armor in game for specific characters that have them like DVA and Reinhardt). In Concord, it was incredibly difficult to tell what exactly the health pool was for any of the classes since nothing was really quite established with their system.

For example, 1-Off is a cute robot who sucks up trash and is most definitely a tank character with his big physique and clunky movement and hard-hitting weaponry who has 300 health. However, Teo, who is essentially a DPS that plays like your traditional ground soldier-like character with no tank qualities, has 220 health as a Concord Ranger class. But Roka, another character who is essentially a DPS, is classified as a Haunt and has 170 health.

What these non-traditional classes mean is extremely confusing. In the preview, we weren’t given details on each class and what the terms mean, but it all seems a bit arbitrary when the health pools and damage numbers vary so much, causing an even further division of game balancing.

Overwatch also utilizes the system of ensuring there is a roster for the amount of characters allowed from each class. Concord currently does not utilize a mechanic like that and allows players to use whatever characters they want, since these class systems are not traditional. While this is fun in theory, in my brief experience playing a competitive game like Concord, it doesn’t pan out too well.

Another reason Concord is so heavily a team-based game is that each character has their own running speed and damage output. It could be argued that this is an extension of the lack of clear classes, but I did want to focus on this as its own balancing issue. The DPS on characters is pretty important since you’re allowed to have a team of whatever characters you want.

There were some definitely “overpowered” characters in the preview build that you really did need on your team if you wanted to win, especially in Trophy Hunt. Let’s look at the rocket launcher Freegunner, Roka.

She’s able to deal 43 damage with direct hits while firing rapidly and establishing her lock-on target almost instantly. After having done some watch backs, it seems there’s no real answer to what the distance of Roka’s splash damage is and how much it does consistently. So far I’ve seen it hit from a decent distance for 12 damage, then also hit for 27 damage closer to the target. Roka also has eight total rockets to use before she has to reload so these numbers add up.

Comparing this to Overwatch’s Pharah, another rocket-launcher-wielding character, she only does 40 damage to an enemy when it is a direct hit, with her splash damage being about half that. She also only has six rockets before having to reload and does not have any abilities for lock on fire.

Obviously comparing these two games head-to-head isn’t fair to either, but it’s important to note the difference between balancing. It’s entirely possible that with time, Concord will be able to get a better grasp for how its balancing should be maintained. But the way it stands currently, I’m concerned for the more casual players’ experience and general approachability.

The option to play crossplay with PC and PS5 will be available at launch which is good news for players like me who have friends on both platforms, but it’s a bit of a double-edged sword. The preview build I played showcased heavy aim assist on controllers. It was most noticeable on Roka, the rocket launcher character, since her weapon locks-on. I would find myself having to really rip the thumbstick away to get her to turn away from the nearest enemy that I didn’t even want to target.

The other characters I played didn’t feature nearly as aggressive aim assist, but I could feel the magnetization there, which was a bit frustrating and concerning considering the option for crossplay would be enabled at launch. While yes, you can argue that on PC you can do more rapid movement adjustments on the fly, the ever-ongoing battle between controller aim assist versus keyboard and mouse movement seems to just be aggravated here.

Fortunately, there are still a couple of months to go until Concord’s launch – still a decent bit of time for the balancing and tweaking of every aspect of the game that always happens at this stage of the development process. Fingers crossed Concord is able to tighten up its floaty controls and address its character balancing before it drops on August 24 for PS5 and PC.

Rockstar Games co-founder and former head writer Dan Houser has said a Grand Theft Auto movie “never made sense.”

As reported by GI.biz, Houser told The Ankler that making the film — which has faded in and out of obscurity over the years — was a “huge risk” considering the reputation of the GTA brand.

“Why would we do this?,” Houser and the other Rockstar leads asked the film executives. “What you’ve described is you making a movie and us having no control and taking a huge risk, that we’re going to end up paying for with something that belongs to us.”

“They thought we’d be blinded by the lights and that just wasn’t the case. We had what we considered to be multi billion dollar IP, and the economics never made sense. The risk never made sense. In those days, the perception was that games made poor-quality movies.”

Various concepts for a GTA film have risen and fallen over the years, including one reportedly starring Eminem, though Rockstar has remained firmly against it. This comes despite films stars like Jack Black unable to believe the likes of GTA and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption franchise haven’t been made into films amid the rise if video game adaptations such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Minecraft, Borderlands, and more.

The CEO of Rockstar parent company, Take-Two Interactive’s Strauss Zelnick, made a similar comment to Houser in 2019. “Part of it is, if we were to do something like that, we’d want to have complete creative control to make sure we expressed [GTA] in the way we wanted — and that would mean we’d need to finance that motion picture,” Zelnick said at the time.

GTA makes plenty of money sticking to its video game roots, of course. Grand Theft Auto 5 generated more than $1 billion within three days of launch in 2013, a number which will likely be blown out of the water when Grand Theft Auto 6 is released in fall 2025.

The GTA 6 trailer — which reintroduced fans to Rockstar’s take on Miami, Vice City — featured a ton of intricate details (here are 99 things IGN spotted) and plenty of references to wild and wacky real life events too. While the game was revealed as a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S game, PC players were left frustrated, though not necessarily surprised, that their platform was left off the list.

They weren’t the ones a little peeved though, as several developers from Rockstar itself took to social media to express their frustration at the trailer leaking early. In fact, the entire industry shared their disappointment that the exciting moment was dampened. Several streamers were also hit with content strikes and takedowns in the wake of the leak.

Regardless, it still surpassed Minecraft to become the second most-watched video game trailer of all time with more than 168 million views in the first three months.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.