Sucker Punch Productions will debut a Ghost of Yōtei gameplay deep dive with a special State of Play presentation next month.
A promise to show off more of how the highly anticipated samurai follow-up has sharpened its blade was revealed in a PlayStation Blog post published following today’s June 2025 State of Play showcase. The Ghost of Tsushima sequel did show up for a brief appearance during the tail end of the presentation but mostly served simply as a reminder that Sucker Punch is still hard at work to meet its October release date.
While it may have been disappointing to see Ghost of Yōtei come and go so quickly, it sounds like the July State of Play gameplay deep dive will do more to help with the wait. Sucker Punch’s showcase doesn’t have a release date yet but is said to focus entirely on Ghost of Yōtei and its “evolved gameplay mechanics, including exploration, combat, and much more.”
Sucker Punch formally announced its Ghost of Tsushima sequel last September, promising to place players in the shoes of new protagonist Atsu as she embarks on a bloody journey through Japan in 1603. Although the wait for story and gameplay details has been painful for those hoping for a sequel since the original game launched in 2020, director Nate Fox has said the experience will be “a respectful representation” of Japan, just like its predecessor.
Ghost of Yōtei has a release date of October 2, 2025 for PS5. For everything else announced during today’s June 2025 State of Play presentation, you can click here. To help with the wait for more information, you can read up on everything we know about Ghost of Yōtei.
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).
Arc System Works, the developer of the Guilty Gear series, is making a 4v4 Marvel fighting game called Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls for Sony.
Announced during Sony’s State of Play June 2025, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is due out on PS5 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store at some point in 2026.
In a post on PlayStation Blog, Reed Baird, Senior Producer, XDEV, PlayStation Studios, confirmed the inclusion of iconic Marvel heroes and villains such as Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, Storm, Ms. Marvel, Star-Lord, and Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) – each with Arc’s unique twist on their character designs and gameplay styles.
A 4v4 tag fighting game sounds overwhelming, but Game Director and Lead Battle Designer, Kazuto Sekine, insisted that wouldn’t be the case.
“Generally, a team VS fighting game requires the player to learn multiple characters, but for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, you only need to master one character in order to play the game,” Sekine said.
“We have designed the mechanics in such a way that you can perform a variety of actions with either traditional fighting game inputs or simple inputs. With the press of a few buttons, multiple characters can appear on screen to provide backup or attack together – creating a new and exciting team VS battle experience.”
Visually, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has the Japanimation style Arc system Works is known for. As for gameplay mechanics, each character has a bespoke set of Normal, Special, and Unique attacks inspired by their abilities and powers in Marvel lore. And of course there are cinematic Ultimate Skills.
“Team VS fighting games have a long tradition of 2v2 or 3v3 team formats, so this is something we discussed in-depth within the development team,” Sekine added. “We went back and forth many times, from thinking we might be better off making a 1v1 game or sticking to the established 3v3 format.
“At its core, we felt that the appeal of team VS fighting games is the intensity of battles with multiple characters on screen at once. Additionally, one of the appeals of Marvel comics is seeing the vast cast of characters coming together to create all kinds of unique team-ups.
“With these two ideas in mind, we concluded that creating a 4v4 team VS system would be the best way to not only create those over-the-top moments, but to further evolve the tag fighting genre.”
Most stages also feature multiple areas, with transitions that play a “strategic role.” Sony suggested fans check out the screenshots from Marvel’s New York City to see what you can find.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
In a haunting new trailer at today’s Sony State of Play, we learned that Silent Hill f’s fog of fresh horrors is imminent: it’s coming out on September 25, 2025.
In a deeply upsetting new trailer today, we saw a longer, darker look at what’s in store for us in Silent Hill f. We saw the main character, Hinako Shimizu, and her friends in Ebisugaoka living normal, peaceful lives, just before a mysterious fog envelopes the town and makes everything real weird.
Creepy red flowers bloom. Heinous, jerky dolls start chasing Hinako around and trying to rip her apart. Her friends don’t seem to be doing so hot, either. There’s gore, there’s violence, lots of paranormal, and Hinako proving remarkably efficient with a crowbar.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Drivers, ready your A buttons, because Mario Kart World’s countdown clock is finally about to tick down! Unfortunately, Nintendo opted not to send out the Switch 2 for any early coverage, so my review is still in the garage getting tuned up. The good news, however, is that I’ve already gone hands-on with Mario Kart World twice, and when this article is published, I’ll probably already be standing in line to pick up my copy so I can jump right back in. (Sorry, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer to get my 10 bucks.)
You can read my most recent thoughts on World from a preview earlier this week, but I also wanted to take a moment to briefly share who I am and why I’m assigned to this review. (Those who have been watching our video reviews to the end may have seen us sharing some context about our reviewer’s tastes and history there as well.) Earlier this year I took over hosting duties for IGN’s Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, and I’ve been excitedly reporting on Nintendo for roughly a decade. I’ve also been doing more and more Nintendo reviews for IGN, including both Super Mario Party Jamboree and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door last year.
I’m also an enormous Mario Kart fan. I’m not sure there’s a video game franchise I’ve spent more total hours playing than this one. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is my favorite entry – and in my top 10 favorite games of all time – and I’ve logged over 500 hours of track time there alone. That’s not even counting the base Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, which I proudly picked up at launch back in 2014 as one of the few Wii U owners out there at the time. (There were dozens of us!) With its gorgeous art direction, amazing track design, and impressive amount of content (including the return of F-Zero!), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe felt like the franchise reaching the finish line of the more-or-less linear Mario Kart formula that began on Super Nintendo, so I’m very excited that World is tackling something entirely new to this series rather than simply iterating on what came before.
I’ve logged over 500 hours of track time in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe alone.
Beyond that one, my favorites are Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart 64, which are the two I spent the most time playing with friends and family growing up. Double Dash’s two-character mechanic is such a blast and 64 is an undeniable classic, but I’ll also shout out the 3DS’s Mario Kart 7, which I believe is the most underrated entry in the series. I’ve always loved just playing as Mario in Mario Kart – which leads some of my friends to call me crazy – but I am looking forward to racing as the new-look Donkey Kong in World.
As I mentioned, I do have a bit of a head start here because I’ve already played a healthy amount of Mario Kart World at a pair of Nintendo preview events. I went hands-on with the Switch 2 and Mario Kart on the same day as their reveal Direct, and I was intrigued by what I saw from the new Knockout Tour mode – even though that initial demo was fairly limited. But earlier this week, we published my impressions from a more robust Mario Kart World preview event where I got unmitigated access to the launch version. You can check out my final preview while you wait for the full review, but there I said, “I’m confident Mario Kart World’s thrilling racing will kick off Nintendo’s eighth generation with a rocket start, even if I’m still not completely sold on its open-world exploration.” The combination of that hands-on time means I’m going into launch with roughly eight hours of gameplay already logged, so I can hit the metaphorical A button right after the “2” flashes to have a good boost off the line. I’m hoping to get our final, scored review published before the end of next week.
I’ll even be working on my review from the floor of IGN Live 2025, which is happening in downtown Los Angeles at The Magic Box this weekend, June 7-8. There’s a ton happening at the show, and you can come on down to IGN Live yourself for a chance to be part of the review process by playing against me. We’ll have an official “Game with IGN” setup featuring Mario Kart World where you can play against IGN editors like myself, our co-founder Peer Schneider, and many others – and if you see me on the show floor, you can channel your inner Pokémon trainer and challenge me to a race. (You can’t back out of a trainer battle once a stranger locks eyes with you, that’s just how it works.) Last year at IGN Live 2024, I had a great time playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe against fans that came out to the show, and I can’t wait to do it again – this time with a brand-new Mario Kart.
You can look forward to some updated thoughts on Mario Kart World in the coming days – and, if you managed to secure a Nintendo Switch 2 at launch, then I’ll see you on the open roads!
Magic: The Gathering (MTG), the world’s premier trading card game, is as popular as it’s ever been. Aside from the cards themselves, longtime Magic players (like me!) know that there are countless accessories and other goodies to enhance your experience.
With Father’s Day coming up soon (June 15), I’ve compiled a list of great MTG gifts, from playmats and card sleeves to dice and merch, for that special Magic player in your life.
As a competitive player of 10+ years, these are products I’ve had and would buy for my personal use, so rest easy knowing that these suggestions aren’t without extensive trial and error.
Properties like The Lord of the Rings, Fallout, Assassin’s Creed, and more have all received the MTG treatment, with Final Fantasy being the next crossover in June.
There’s even a full Spider-Man set coming later this year. So there’s plenty of great sets to choose from now, and incoming in the near future as well.
You have booster boxes, collector boosters, starter kits, commander decks, the list goes on. I recommend starting with bundles of the most recently released sets, or looking ahead to expansions like Edge of Eternities.
They make great gifts, as they include nine booster packs, an alternate-art promotional card, extra land cards, a spindown life counter, and the box itself is a great storage solution for extra cards.
Card Sleeves
You have all these fancy new cards, what are you supposed to put them in? Card sleeves are the perfect solution not only for protection but for easily shuffling.
Ultimate Guard and Ultra PRO are some of the best MTG accessories brands around, but Dragon Shield sleeves are my go-to recommendation as a gift for dad.
The Ultimate Guard Katana sleeves are great, too. The matte sleeves are crisp and feel great in your hands. No matter what you pick, make sure you get standard size sleeves, not Japanese card size — Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are much smaller than Magic cards!
Deck Boxes
Your cards are now sleeved up and ready for battle. Now you need a reliable deck box. Here, you can’t go wrong with Ultimate Guard’s sturdy options.
I’m a big fan of the Flip ‘n’ Tray myself, as it can hold a fully sleeved deck, sideboard, and tokens, along with a built-in dice compartment.
For larger storage solutions, there are massive boxes that can hold up to 500 loose cards. All Ultimate Guard options come in a handful of different colors, and the Ultra PRO boxes sport some great official MTG art.
Playmats
Playmats are a must-have for any Magic player, since playing without one can make it hard to pick your cards up off the kitchen table.
Usually made of the same material as a standard mousepad, many people (myself included) like to use mats featuring art of their favorite cards or of their proudest Magic accomplishments.
You can even buy blank white playmats if you find yourself at a Magic Con and want to commission your favorite artist to make it look snazzy!
Dice and Counters
Keeping track of Planeswalker loyalty, +1/+1 counters, or Finality counters are a massive headache without an efficient way of doing so. Luckily, a set of D6 will set you right.
Some more unique cards, like Qarsi Revenant, give other creatures ability counters that are hard to keep track of, so I highly recommend a set of ability counters to go along with your accessories arsenal.
Binders
If you have rare or valuable cards you don’t want to store in a bulk storage box, binders are the way to go to keep them nice and pristine.
You can get various sizes and colors from both Ultimate Guard and Ultra PRO, but the Zipfolio from Ultimate Guard is my go-to for expensive singles. These fit great in your backpack for when you’re heading out to your local Friday Night Magic
Other Accessories
These suggestions are just scratching the surface of what these accessory makers have to offer. There are countless other sleeves, boxes, and mats to pick from, so pick your favorite Magic player’s favorite for a great gift.
Other accessories I recommend are lifepads; some Magic player prefer to write their life totals down and take notes instead of using the MTG Companion app or a spindown counter.
Dry erase tokens are great for cards with copy abilities. A playmat tube is a great storage solution to keep your mats dry and safe, and the Ultra PRO land station is a good way to sort your basic lands or have lands ready for your booster draft night.
As players dive deeper into Elden Ring Nightreign‘s launch content, more discoveries are being made and Nightlords felled. Some Nightfarers would like a little bit of assistance, though, when it comes to knowing what’s dropped on the ground.
One post on the Nightreign subreddit that picked up a bit of traction is asking for more weapon info when items drop on the ground. Clearing a camp or point-of-interest in Nightreign tends to result in a decent amount of loot to sort through, and so the idea is that you’d like some more details to quickly scan over.
As commenters have pointed out — and I went in to verify with a quick run — you are able to see a weapon class type by hitting R3 for details. This also provides info on Weapon Arts and passives, which helps a ton. You can still get confused by an item name in the heat of the moment, but otherwise, you’ll need to pause for a moment and read over.
It still doesn’t account for scaling, though, and while commenters note scaling is incorporated into the overall damage number on a weapon, sometimes seeing scaling can help. For example, knowing a raw damage number only tells you the damage of one hit, not how fast you can swing it. It’s uncertain whether that incorporates split damage weapons, either.
In another, potentially more controversial post, one Redditor suggested loot names on the drops, in colored text. This one honestly got a mixed reaction from me, as I don’t know that seeing a bunch of cluttered names littered on the ground would help that much. I also like the stress of picking an item up off the ground and debating its merits, pit against the ticking clock and urgency of the Night closing in.
Still, in this thread, others are asking for the same clarity in the previous one. While scaling and other details can be found in the sparring grounds, through the equipment chest, that does mean internalizing a lot of knowledge or having a wiki handy. There’s some desire for even a few extra tidbits of info, to help make those swift calls and decisions.
It’s an understandable desire, even if I’m not sure that any of the suggestions yet have looked like the right implementation. FromSoftware is clearly paying attention to player feedback though, as evidenced by its quick patch to nerf solo player difficulty and the commitment to adding a Duos mode. We’ll see if this is an area FromSoftware feels like it needs to fine-tune, or if it’s left as-is. Either way, some study time in the sparring grounds could ultimately do every Nightfarer some good, in their quest to take down the Nightlord.
A new adventure set in Lumiose City of Gen 5’s Kalos region, launching on October 16th, Legends Z-A is on average priced a good number of pounds higher at other online stores.
The Switch 2 version of the game is currently priced at £59.99 at shops like Very, Smyths, and Game UK. Some retailers’ prices are even higher, with ShopTo asking for a whopping £66.85, making Amazon or TCG the best options by far right now.
If the Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Switch vs Switch 2 comparison is anything to go by, following our first look at the older game’s free update, the new console’s upgraded hardware will make the higher price tag worthwhile.
While some older Switch games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have the option to buy an upgrade pack for the Switch 2, those two being for £7.99 each, it’s currently unconfirmed as to whether Pokemon Legends: Z-A will have the same option.
Based on that pricing, though, it’s possible the Legends: Z-A upgrade pack will cost even more since it will be a brand-new game. While still in stock at The Game Collection, we’d recommend jumping on this lower price for the Switch 2 edition now, so you won’t have to worry about potentially paying more in the future.
Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney believes small teams will soon be able to use AI prompts to make video games on the scale of Nintendo masterpiece The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Speaking to IGN at Epic’s State of Unreal 2025 event (where CD Projekt revealed a stunning The Witcher 4 tech demo), Sweeney said AI prompts will be “a fundamental part” of game engines, and will result in “entirely new genres of games invented that weren’t possible or practical before” without it.
“Every significant advance in technology has led to the rise of new games,” Sweeney explained.
“I remember 3D gaming just became possible and then Doom and Wolfenstein introduced the 3D shooter. The battle royal genre itself only became possible when you had enough performance on hardware and engines that you could have a hundred players in a single play space.
“AI characters giving you the possibility of infinite dialogue with a really simple setup for creators means small teams will be able to create games with immense amounts of characters and immense and interactive worlds. What would it take for a 10-person team to build a game like Zelda Breath of the Wild in which the AI is just doing all the dialogue and you’re just writing some character synopsis? That’s totally going to be within reach over the next few years.”
Sweeney’s enthusiasm around AI is no secret, of course, and Epic Games is all in. AI Darth Vader hit Fortnite last month in a first for the all-encompassing battle royale. He can serenade you, join and leave squads at will, respond intelligently to the player, issue impromptu dialogue, summarize gameplay events, and warn the player if something’s about to go down.
Darth Vader is voiced by the inimitable James Earl Jones, who died in September 2024 at the age of 93. This AI version of his voice, powered by Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model and ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5, is used with the Jones family’s permission.
This sparked a debate about the ethics of generative AI, particularly when it comes to NPCs such as Darth Vader that revive the voice of dead actors. Sweeney, though, believes AI technology is ultimately of net benefit to society, despite some drawbacks.
“I see AI as technology that’s ultimately there to empower human creators to create stuff more efficiently,” he said. “I think that’s a good thing. It’s unfortunate that the advent of modern AI has been tainted by companies just ripping massive amounts of content off of other companies and individuals on the web. But as a base level technology, it should be a multiplying factor and multiplying force on our abilities.
“Certainly enabling indie teams to build bigger and better games means also enabling AAA teams to build staggering, immense huge games and to polish it ever further. So I think there’s going to be a massive evolution as everybody scrambles to learn new skills as you get on top of what’s possible here. But I think as with any other technology that’s improved our lives, the ultimate net opportunity for people is higher.”
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.
A Switch 2 Edition for No Man’s Sky will be available alongside the launch of Nintendo’s new console, developer Hello Games has announced.
This version will come as a free upgrade for current No Man’s Sky owners, and offer a range of improvements such as full multiplayer, high-res texture support, and improvements to resolution and frame-rate.
No Man’s Sky on Switch 2 also offers cross-save and cross-play, so you can pick up exactly where you left off on Switch 1 — or elsewhere.
Hello Games has said the Switch 2 version of its successful sci-fi adventure survival game is the product of 12 month’s work getting to grips with Nintendo’s new hardware, after receiving development kits a year ago.
This new version arrives alongside (and, unsurprisingly, also contains) the latest big update for No Man’s Sky, entitled Beacons. This overhauls settlements and adds town management to the game, with some surprising new features.
Alongside new homesteads to discover, you’ll be able to become mayor of multiple locations. This will let you design hangout locations such as bars or fishing ponds, defend your towns from attack, and even get involved in the lives of your settlers, welcoming them in and helping them resolve disputes.
Beacons launches as a free update on all No Man’s Sky platforms today, ahead of the game’s Switch 2 version launching tomorrow, June 5.
Nintendo has a swathe of Switch 2 Editions also set to arrive tomorrow, although some of these will need paying for, while others (Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom) also come included with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Mario Kart 8’s souped-up 200cc difficulty isn’t yet included within Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World — but Nintendo has hinted at the possibility of its reappearance via a post-launch update.
Nintendo added 200cc mode to the Mario Kart series for the first time in Mario Kart 8, though it only turned up in a post-launch patch. Could Nintendo be planning to do the exact same thing for the series’ follow-up? It seems very likely.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki acknowledged that 200cc had been a popular addition to the series, but stopped short of confirming anything around its return — for now.
“Some players are really happy with the addition of high difficulty modes likes this,” Kosuke teased. “However, does that mean we’re going to consider adding engine sizes that are larger than 150cc to Mario Kart World? I’m afraid I can’t say just yet.”
It’s not surprising that Nintendo has not included 200cc within Mario Kart World at launch. The mode’s arrival at a later date allows the game’s fans to learn courses and get used to playing at the standard 150cc (or lower, if you need) before the tougher challenge of 200cc arrives at a later date.
This will likely only be more of a consideration with Mario Kart World’s multiplayer-friendly gameplay, in which groups of players are encouraged to team up and explore together, their GameChat open, and cameras switched on.
Presumably, whenever Mario Kart World’s 200cc update does arrive, all players will need to be playing at the same level to explore the game’s map together. It’s therefore better, once again, to let players get to grips with 150cc first before things step up a gear, or engine size.
