Category: IGN

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released update 01.000.202 and via the patch notes confirmed it addresses general game stability and crashes. But as the Helldivers 2 community anxiously awaits what’s next for the game following the apparent eradication of the Automatons, players are wondering what secrets the update may hold.

Let’s start with what we know. Update 01.000.202 tweaks stats user interface for weapons to take into account any explosive damage done by them. According to Arrowhead,this is to give weapons that do damage with explosive projectiles a more fair representation in the UI. Most notably affected is the PLAS-1 Scorcher, the developer added.

Then there’s a long list of crash fixes, which are certainly welcome. Arrowhead also updated its ‘known issues’ list to add scopes on some weapons, such as the the Anti-Materiel Rifle, that are slightly misaligned, and the area around Automaton Detector Tower that makes blue stratagems such as the hellbomb bounce and be repelled when trying to call them down close to the tower. Of course, with the Automatons dealt with, it’s not possible to play on Automaton planets. They’ll be back, sure enough. Meanwhile, there is no mention of the ‘rogue Item’ currently in the game that Arrowhead has warned players off buying.

It’s a simple enough patch on the face of it, but Helldivers 2 players are now conditions to suspect Arrowhead of sneaking in unannounced changes and additions. After all, the developer added new Automaton enemies without telling players so that they could discover them for themselves. And with the Automatons dealt with, players are now wondering if it’s finally time for the heavily rumored arrival of the Illuminate faction.

If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.

Helldivers 2 update 01.000.202 patch notes:

Overview
This update includes

• Stability fixes

Gameplay

• We have updated the stats UI for weapons to take into account any explosive damage done by them. This is to give weapons that do damage with explosive projectiles a more fair representation in the UI. Most notably affected is the PLAS-1 Scorcher.

Fixes
Crash fixes

• Fixed some crashes that occurred when deploying to mission.
• Fixed some crashes that occurred during extraction and right after it.
• Fixed crashes that could occur if the squad deployed a large amount of support weapons.
• Fixed various crashes that could occur during gameplay.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when using heat based weapons.
• Fixed crashes which could occur if a player died while using the jetpack.
• Fixed crash which could occur when large volumes of enemies were present.
• Fixed crash which could occur when the player picked up a snowball.
• Fixed crash which could occur when completing an objective.

Other Fixes

• Fixed hang that could occur while navigating the social menu.
• Picking up Medals and Super Credits will no longer lock the player in place.

Known Issues

These are issues that were either introduced by this patch and are being worked on, or are from a previous version and have not yet been fixed. This list is not exhaustive, and we are continuing to identify issues and create fixes. These are organized by feedback, reports, severity, etc.

Various issues involving friend invites and cross-play:

• Player name may show up blank on the other player’s friend list.
• Friend Request cannot be accepted when the requesting player changed their username before the request was accepted.
• Cross-platform friend invites might not show up in the Friend Requests tab.
• Players cannot unfriend players befriended via friend code.
• Players cannot unblock players that were not in their Friends list beforehand.
• Damage-over-time effects may only apply when dealt by the host.
• Players may experience delays in Medals and Super Credits payouts.
• Enemies that bleed out do not progress Personal Orders and Eradicate missions.
• Certain weapons like the Sickle cannot shoot through foliage.
• Scopes on some weapons such as the Anti-Materiel Rifle are slightly misaligned.
• Arc weapons sometimes behave inconsistently and sometimes misfire.
• Spear’s targeting is inconsistent, making it hard to lock-on to larger enemies.
• Stratagem beam might attach itself to an enemy but it will deploy to its original location.
• Explosions do not break your limbs (except for when you fly into a rock).
• Area around Automaton Detector Tower makes blue stratagems such as the hellbomb bounce and be repelled when trying to call them down close to the tower.
• Planet liberation reaches 100% at the end of every Defend mission.

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.

There’s what looks like a bug (not that kind!) in Helldivers 2 that has left some players scratching their heads — and the developer of the game is certainly having fun with it.

Players noticed the unannounced addition of the ‘Catalogue Expansion’ ship module for the bridge. According to its description, this adds “new stratagem permits” to the ship management terminal for purchase. But the description for its upgrade effect is lifted from the ship module viewed prior, rather than its own distinct descriptor.

Paramount wants its live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movies to become “Avengers-level” cinematic events that bring together some of the franchise’s biggest characters.

Franchise and series executive producer Toby Ascher spoke about how Paramount is looking at Sonic and his friends through a wider lens during an interview with Paste Magazine. He says that the goal is for shows like Paramount+’s upcoming spinoff series Knuckles is to look at “supporting characters in depth and really build them out in cool ways.” Movies, meanwhile, will focus on a larger cast of characters and more epic narratives.

“We got really excited about the idea of expanding our characters in our world into television, specifically, because it gives us a platform to really do character studies,” he said. “We knew that, with Shadow coming into Sonic 3 and some of the bigger things that we want to do, the Sonic franchise on the movie side is going to be these Avengers-level events. They’re going to be these big, exciting stories that have a lot of different characters.”

Ascher reminds fans that when Sonic the Hedgehog 3 comes to theaters later this year, it will introduce one of the franchise’s most important characters: Shadow the Hedgehog. He’s the Vegeta to Sonic’s Goku and has proven to be a formidable foe in the past, but the series has plenty more to pull from that we have yet to see. One character fans have begged for since the live-action movies began is Metal Sonic, and with dozens of other games, shows, and even comics to pull from, there’s no telling how Paramount will proceed.

Knuckles will star in his own show when it premieres later this month on April 26, and we’ve already seen that it does use the opportunity to introduce even more characters. No other spinoff shows have been announced yet, but the door does seem to be open for more. Ascher says they started with Knuckles because Idris Elba’s comedic take on the character was strong enough to support a show.

“We thought we could translate that into a full series,” he explained. “I think it’s by far the funniest version we’ve had in any of the Sonic movies so far. It leans into weird comedy partially because of Adam Pally and because of what Idris brings in a really great way.”

It looks like Paramount is committed to making the mainline films feels huge. In addition to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 introducing Shadow, the film will callback to the ultimate lifeform’s first appearance by including Sonic Adventure 2’s main theme, Live and Learn. It’ll also play into that character’s background by including one of his most important friends, Maria Robotnik. We have yet to actually see the film for ourselves, but with its release date set for December 20, 2024, we hopefully won’t have to wait too long to at least see a more substantial trailer.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Today Amazon has dropped the price of the recently released Unicorn Overload game. You can pick it up your choice of the PS5, Xbox Series X, or Nintendo Switch edition for only $39.99. That’s a hefty 33% off its original MSRP and the best price we’ve seen since its release.

Save 33% Off Unicorn Overlord

PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch

Unicorn Overlord is an outstanding fantasy tactical strategy game from Atlus and Vanillaware. If you like games such as Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem, you’re in for a real treat. We gave Unicorn Overload an “Amazing” 9/10 and you can read up on our Unicorn Overload review to see why this is one of the best console strategy games in recent history. Here’s reviewer Eric Zalewski’s final verdict.

“Reflecting on the incredibly diverse and remarkably creative world I explored across my 45-hour journey, any issues I had with Unicorn Overlord ended up feeling like nothing more than nitpicks. The tactical combat system is unique and complex while also being easy to understand, expertly blending mechanics from many of its peers with smart new additions of its own. The interesting terrain across the continent of Fevrith makes every fight feel unique, with some of the best map gimmicks I’ve seen in any strategy RPG. Because the campaign is told through the eyes of a diverse and creative cast, its trope-filled fantasy story is elevated in a way that a more traditional storytelling style wouldn’t manage. The shorter, more personal stories work wonderfully to support a loop of exploration and liberation that had me begging to see one more tale told, one more town rebuilt, and one more battle fought.”

If you’re looking for ways to expand Starfield’s replayability, a new “DLC-sized” mod is now available, allowing players to build their own colony, create mechs, and more.

Over on Nexus Mods yesterday, modder TankGirl444 uploaded their latest project, TGs Galactic Colonies Expanse. The creator describes it as a “new DLC-sized mod” for Bethesda’s 2023 space action RPG. The description touts that those who download it will be able to “land on any world and build [their] own empire!”

TankGirl444 explains that the mod took them a month to craft and that it expands on their previous mods that were aimed at improving and expanding player home and building in Starfield. More importantly, it greatly expands the Outpost mechanic, allowing players a more streamlined way to mine materials without having to create different outposts.

Amazon has discounted the SanDisk Ultra 512GB Micro SDXC Card down to $25.99. This is an excellent price for a 512GB Micro SDXC card from a well-known and respected brand. It’s fully compatible with the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ASUS ROG Ally portable handhelds. It also comes with a SD adapter for devices that only take full-sized SD cards. SanDisk Micro SDXC cards are far and away our most recommended memory cards for the Nintendo Switch console.

512GB SanDisk Ultra Micro SDXC Card for $25.99

If you’ve started compiling a collection of digital games, you probably already know just how limited the Switch’s base storage capacity. The Switch and Switch OLED consoles have 32GB and 64GB of internal storage, respectively, with some of it reserved for the OS. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom uses up 16GB and Breath of the Wild about 13.5GB. If bought digitally, those two games alone would take up all of your internal storage on the OG Switch console. There’s only one expansion slot in the Switch console so you want to make sure you get the biggest card you can afford.

The SanDisk Ultra Micro SDXC card is compatible with virtually any device that accepts the Micro SDXC card standard. That includes the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and the ASUS ROG Ally. It boasts a U1 A1 rating with read speeds of up to 150MB/s. This is the perfect card for the Switch because the Switch console cannot take advantage of higher speeds (its card reader is limited to U1 A1). However, if you want to get a Micro SDXC card for your smartphone, GoPro, DSLR, or any other device that can benefit from faster speeds, you might want to check some other excellent Micro SDXC cards that having a U3 A2 rating.

Check out all of the best Nintendo Switch deals for sales on other games and accessories.

Friday the 13th: The Game continues to be a legal nightmare for anyone involved. The team behind the Resurrected mod announced that the project’s future is up in the air after receiving a copyright infringement claim.

Announced on the official Friday the 13th: Resurrected Discord and X/Twitter, the team behind the project announced it received a cease and desist letter from an attorney representing Horror, Inc., which owns the rights to the Friday the 13th film franchise. The cease and desist letter, which is attached to the post below, mentions that the fan mod is an “unauthorized use” of the IP, describing it as an “unlicensed, knockoff Friday the 13th video game.”

As you may be aware, we have received a cease and desist from @joshgeller2 who works for @GreenbergGluske and is Horror Inc’s legal representative. With that, the project is most likely over but we do plan to work on other projects. We are still waiting for response from some… pic.twitter.com/Uk2QORRRvg

— Resurrected (@GameResurrected) April 8, 2024

In the post, the team behind Friday the 13th: Resurrected states the project is has been canceled in response to the letter. They plan to pursue work on another project. The team notes that it’s “still waiting for response from some people we have contacted,” but is currently working on erasing all of the content behind the project, including the official X/Twitter account and the recently launched website.

“It’s a shame that someone wants to fight against a fan-made project with no profit made,” the team behind the project wrote. “It wasn’t our intention to ‘hurt the brand’ as Horror Inc. claims we did.”

Friday the 13th: Resurrected’s development team initially planned to announce a release date next Monday, April 15. The project was designed as a free mod based on the 2017 horror game. The mod would have been free to own and include dedicated multiplayer services and fan-made content, including new characters and skins.

The fan project aimed to revive the horror game after its publisher, Gun Interactive, announced it was delisting at the end of 2023. While the game remains playable for those who bought it before its delisting, Gun Interactive plans to shut down the servers altogether on December 31, 2024. Before its delisting, Gun Interactive was forced to halt development of the new game roughly two years after its release; among the canceled content planned for Friday the 13th, The Game included a werewolf mode, with gameplay similar to Fortnite’s Imposters mode or most notably, Inner Sloth’s social deduction game Among Us.

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

Sometimes, you want to just escape from reality and lose yourself in a new, fantastical world. And sometimes, you want to do so for hours on end. When you want to set up a long-term board game night or ongoing campaign with a group of likeminded and passionate board gamers, we’ve got you covered with our list of some of the best legacy board games around. Some of these games are also light on difficulty, creating a low barrier to entry for newer players.

TL;DR Campaign Board Games

• Betrayal Legacy
• Frosthaven / Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
• Star Wars: Imperial Assault
• Roll Player Adventures
• One Deck Dungeon
• Mortum: Medieval Detective

Betrayal Legacy

Taking place over the span of multiple decades, Betrayal Legacy is a 13-episode campaign set within the same creepy mansion. In it, each player assumes the role of a generational family member exploring the house and enduring the Haunt, where one player may or may not betray the rest of the group. Players have a lot of creative license here, because as you play through the campaign, you’re crafting the story by the actions and choices you make – some of which are permanent and will affect the game next time you play, incentivizing multiple playthroughs.

Frosthaven / Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

The original Gloomhaven may be out of print, but its stand-alone sequel Frosthaven is in stock and ready for adventure. This is a fantasy-themed cooperative game where players take on the roles of adventurers and skirmish their way through various tactical combat scenarios. Consisting of tons of these scenarios, Frosthaven is a long-term campaign best enjoyed if you’re sticking with the same group throughout. Setting up and learning the game takes a while, but it’s worth it for dedicated gamers, and it’s great for repeat playthroughs. For a more less daunting and more streamlined take on the same game world, be sure to check out the more Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion as well. Your gaming group can even use the same characters in both games.

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Thrust yourself into the Galactic Civil War, where you can play as either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire. Choose between two game modes: campaign and skirmish. In campaign mode, you fight against the Empire in a series of continuous scenarios and experience the detailed narrative taking place after the destruction of the Death Star. The gameplay consists of tactical combat where players will utilize over 250 playable cards to outfit their heroes, modify weapons, and develop your character’s skills.

Roll Player Adventures

Roll Player Adventures is a tightly-designed choose your own adventure-style fantasy cooperative roleplaying game. Not exceptionally challenging, Roll Player Adventures is a good pick for entry-level campaigners with hundreds of different cards, tokens, and dice to help supplement your session. You can also create your own character or import a preexisting one. Gameplay is done through dice manipulation with your fast-growing deck of cards, essentially modifying rolls to complete combat encounters or other challenges.

One Deck Dungeon

What do you get when you mix Roguelike video game mechanics with a quick and easy fantasy card game? You get something like One Deck Dungeon. With the game’s Campaign Mode, players can take control of one of five heroes and choose from four difficulty levels to adventure through the dungeon, defeating bosses and learning talents while filling out their character’s campaign sheets. Like other legacy-type games, talents earned will be carried over into future playthroughs, incentivizing you to play on higher difficulties and experience more of what the campaign has to offer!

Mortum: Medieval Detective

More narrative-focused and mechanics-lite, Mortum: Medieval Detective is a cooperative game of mystery and deduction. Consisting of three decks that make up just as many scenarios, the goal of the game is to work your way through the story and solve the surrounding mysteries through classic detective work and keeping track of time via the game pieces. Settle in, as one scenario takes upwards of two hours, and each story leads into the next, creating a fully immersive campaign.

Looking for board games on a budget? Check out our list of the best cheap board games. If you’re more in the mood for something spooky, check out our picks for the best horror board games. And if you don’t have a whole lot of spare time, take a glance at our favorite quick-playing board games.

I get an itch to put on my gardening gloves and get planting when spring comes around. While practicing patience for the right weather, I’ll read up on books and try to learn new techniques – but this year, Botany Manor has helped satiate my excitement. It’s a cozy, first-person puzzle game that puts a blank herbarium book in your hand and asks you to grow different plants until the pages are full. Botany Manor is a short and sweet story that safely sits surface-level, but its witty mysteries engaging enough to keep me happily digging for more.

Botany Manor puts you in the boots of retired botanist Arabella Greene as she returns to her grand, and adorably stylized, English manor in 1890 Somerset. Each “puzzle” is actually a fictional plant waiting to be grown, with clever clues scattered around that help you tend each new seed type. Those can start simple, like the Fulguria needing flashes of lightning to bloom, but clues gradually increase in complexity and quantity in order to bring these whimsical plants to life. Real-world science and the time period both inspire unconventional growing methods, such as needing to play the buzzing sound of morse code for a certain seedling. Botany Manor may not teach you much about actual gardening – though I probably read the word “chloroplasts” for the first time in a very long time – but I enjoyed the surreal nature of it.

For example, picking up the first packet of seeds at the potting bench reveals an imprint of a fictional plant called Windmill Wort, with slots for three clues waiting to be found nearby. From the start, it was evident that these clues would not only help solve this puzzle, but also string together a much larger story about Arabella and the manor she lives in. Heat and wildflower charts on a chalkboard helped me figure out the right temperature to grow Windmill Wort, which then bloomed into a lovely pink flower that literally spins like a windmill to clear up smog, smartly tying into a newspaper I had found that discussed the issues of the era’s recent industrialization.

Some information took an embarrassingly long time to decipher as I ran back and forth from one clue to another while head-scratching theories tested my memory. Chapters in the herbarium tell you what clues you’ve found and where to find more, but it doesn’t save the more specific information from them. So, if you forget what that pamphlet in the attic said, you’ll have to walk back to examine it – which makes Botany Manor feel a lot like a walking simulator. My hands were off the keyboard quite often taking physical notes on my discoveries, essentially writing up my own botany book. I also had to tirelessly retrace my steps several times to reread or flip around clues in case I may have missed something, which could get a little tedious. But it helps that icons will pop up when you walk past an item to let you know you can examine it, and musical cues acknowledge that you’re on the right track.

Between solving plant mysteries, you’ll occasionally visit the front gate to pick up a key or decrypt secret locks to access a new area, which helps cut down on the otherwise repetitive nature of the roughly six-hour campaign. I looked forward to what awaited in each new section of the manor, not only because the clues became progressively more creative, but also because it was always fun to find more pamphlets, bottle labels, advertisements, and other environmental details full of vintage charm. The books about art I stumbled across made the space all the more quaint, too, and were later upstaged by a dreamy painting room that reminded me of my own canvases of houseplants.

Botany Manor beckons you with strange ideas and picturesque scenery in every challenge, but Arabella’s story trails behind. Rather than telling her tale through characters and spoken dialogue, it opts for written notes on pretty stationary and significant items that peer into Arabella’s life to tell its overarching story. I liked Arabella, a strong-willed botanist who has suffered unjust rejection in her field, but these notes and letters fail to dig deep into her emotions. Even letters from family, friends, and groundskeepers have the potential to create intimate moments, but are instead easily forgettable in the hunt for clues. The manor is clearly not abandoned, either, as fire burns beneath the stove in the kitchen, but the space feels as if everyone left at the drop of a hat. It’s a bit odd, but it does work in that it prevents any distractions from the puzzles themselves – and after all, Arabella needs to focus to get this herbarium published and earn her rightful flowers as a woman in STEM.

Ring of Honor wrestler Athena debuted some striking new ring gear inspired by Karlach from Baldur’s Gate 3 during the most recent Supercard of Honor event.

Fans of Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios’ latest video game based on the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role playing game, went wild for Athena’s epic entrance, with those in the crowd and watching at home commending her Karlach-inspired outfit, which came complete with the iconic character’s twisty horns and signature axe.

Oh wow 🥰❤️‍🔥🥰❤️‍🔥🥰

Congratulations to real-life Karlach @athenapalmer_fg on retaining her title!!! https://t.co/G4UFGKBVg6 pic.twitter.com/AdHUfstq7s

— Samantha Béart is Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3 ❤️‍🔥 (@SamanthaBeart) April 6, 2024

Even Samantha Béart, who provided the voice and motion capture for the game’s beloved barbarian, reposted a video of Athena’s arrival and gave her a shoutout. “Oh wow,” Béart wrote on X/Twitter alongside some heart emojis and a gif of the fan-favorite character. “Congratulations to real-life Karlach, Athena, on retaining her title!”

Those on Reddit were also impressed with Athena’s efforts. “Oh wow, this works on so many levels,” one person wrote in a thread dedicated to the wrestler’s new gear. Another added: “This is the mashup I needed this year,” concurring with the original poster, who wrote: “It’s cool to see some Baldur’s Gate 3 representation in wrestling.”

Karlach is a tiefling barbarian in Baldur’s Gate 3 who seeks revenge on the man who sold her to an archdevil when she was young. She often channels her rage into ferocious attacks while also surviving vicious strikes from others, making her a particularly fierce fighter (and certainly one who would be formidable in a wrestling ring).

Athena, also known to the WWE Universe as Ember Moon, shared a carousel of photos from the event on Instagram. “A massive thank you to Larian Studios and D&D for letting me be my favorite character from Baldur’s Gate 3, Karlach!” she wrote, tagging another user to thank them for the hair, make-up, and body paint.

The Baldur’s Gate 3 tribute from Athena is one of several video game cosplays seen at wrestling events. It follows Kenny Omega’s Final Fantasy 7 Sephiroth-inspired costume at Wrestle Kingdom last year and Will Ospreay’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Jacob Fyre-style entrance gear for the 18th edition of the event this year.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter @AdeleAnkers.