Category: IGN

Helldivers 2 has only been out for a handful of days, but already its community is working to establish the “unspoken” rules of engagement, with an etiquette for good co-op play.

For the uninitiated, Helldivers 2 is a co-op focused shooter in which players team up to defeat giant alien bugs and terrifying automatons. It’s a dangerous game, and I don’t just mean just because of the bad guys. In Helldivers 2, you’re as much a danger to your teammates as the big bugs you face. With friendly fire very much a part of the gameplay, Helldivers 2 is a game in which you need to watch where you’re shooting – and where you’re landing in a drop pod.

And so, across the Helldivers subreddit, Discord, and social media, players are setting down best practice for co-op play. There’s a great thread by redditor RhuanSqx in which the Helldivers 2 is essentially crowdsourcing this early-days rule list. There’s some obvious stuff in there, such as do not walk in the way of your teammate when they’re shooting and be careful where you place your strategems (that area of effect!). But there’s some less obvious stuff that’s really helpful for promoting positive play, too. For example, when someone calls in a resupply, share the ammo by only grabbing one cache. The more ammo everyone has, the merrier a time you’ll have. Oh, and reload your weapons before snagging that resupply.

Here’s a nice suggestion: don’t loot your teammates’ equipment without their permission, but feel free to loot their samples (extracted samples are shared equally at the end of a mission). In Helldivers 2, turrets are particularly useful, but they can also hit your teammates hard (friendly fire, remember!). Combat this by placing them on high ground, making the low ground as safe as possible.

Some of this etiquette is as much about avoiding griefing as it is promoting effective play. Helldivers 2, as I’ve said, is a dangerous game, and so it’s as much about what you don’t shoot as it is about what you do shoot. So, firing at an enemy off in the distance while the rest of your squad is focused on something else probably isn’t the wisest course of action. Lobbing a teammates respawn right at a titan isn’t smart, either.

Do not shoot the nuke in Helldivers 2… pic.twitter.com/YpUtJq1dDO

— Papa JoPa – King Shark Main (@JoPaWrites) February 11, 2024

Speaking of griefing, I’ve already seen some players report that they’ve encountered players who’ve engaged in a spot of teamkilling. Some are even orbital-striking the entire group as soon as they spawn onto the map, only to do it again seemingly just for a laugh. And teamkilling during an extraction, or kicking a teammate during extraction after a 40-minute mission? Yikes!

But in Helldivers 2, it’s not always clear when teamkilling is accidental or deliberate. Redditor PassageLongjumping24 shared an interesting experience in which they dropped the carpet bomb at their feet knowing they and a teammate were about to die, taking at least 40 bugs with them. “It was a success and saved the team,” they said. But the other two players in the squad were less than impressed.

“Friendly fire is part of the game, embrace it,” PassageLongjumping24 said. “Teamkilling is a different beast altogether. After being insulted for saving the mission, I blew the dissident away with my shotgun, which led to a brief but bloody teamfight in which no-one won.

“Know the difference. Don’t cry like a baby when you get nailed by a strat and happen to be in the blast zone. Or if you weren’t even in the area of effect, just laugh and move on.”

Griefing is of course as old as online gaming, and, tonally, it might even fit Helldivers 2. This is a game inspired by Starship Troopers, a game in which you really do need to learn to embrace the chaos. You will die. Over and over again. So will your teammates! Sometimes random silliness is just that. But, as Helldivers 2’s co-op etiquette shows, there’s a fine line between slapstick and frustration.

The most important thing, though, is to have fun, and Helldivers 2 is all about that fun. According to Arrowhead boss Johan Pilestedt, Helldivers 2 has already sold one million copies across PlayStation 5 and PC, smashing all expectations in the process. And despite various matchmaking issues, Helldivers 2 shows no sign of slowing down. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 tips and tricks for getting started if you’re jumping in.

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.

With the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo in full swing, players are enjoying getting to grips with Cloud, Tifa, Aerith and co in this PlayStation 5 remake of one of the most beloved role-playing games of all time. But it has also sparked yet another debate about the ways video games help players work out where to go — this time via yellow paint.

If you’ve been playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth you’ll have seen it: colour-coded paint that signals the parts of the environment that can be used for platforming.

THE YELLOW PAINT VIRUS HAS INFECTED FF7 pic.twitter.com/calN0dqHf4

— The Oshborn (@DaveOshry) February 8, 2024

The debate in summary: some people don’t like how in-your-face this hand-holding is in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and indeed modern video games. Others, however, point out that it can be helpful, and is an important accessibility feature.

While the yellow paint on climbable ledges wasn’t designed with disabled players in mind. It has helped people with low vision or who are cognitively disabled to see at a higher contrast and recognize where they should go. Is it the only solution to this problem? No, but it helps https://t.co/2RaORPKAzf

— Steve Saylor (@stevesaylor) February 8, 2024

Developers, too, are weighing in, with some highlighting how in playtests and focus groups, players sometimes struggle to work out where to go, get frustrated, and quit playing altogether. Because of this, somewhat obvious, and sometimes unrealistic, visual clues are needed to help point players in the right direction.

Others say that video games have featured visual clues for exploration and progression for decades now. Indeed, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman pointed out that the original Final Fantasy 7 included visual aids of its own.

With discussion around the yellow paint in FF7R, who remembers the options red/green arrows plus giant pointer available in the original FF7? pic.twitter.com/qMLnKh3rGw

— John Linneman @dark1x.bsky.social (@dark1x) February 11, 2024

If all this sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve been here before, perhaps most notably with the Resident Evil 4 remake last year. When Capcom’s superb remake came out, a similar debate was had about the rights and wrongs of yellow paint plastered over climbable ladders.

the yellow paint is so unnecessary obviously a ladder is climbable obviously a crate is breakable why did they do this pic.twitter.com/oWTxn8rmGT

— nes (@feydemon) October 2, 2023

While the debate continues, and will no-doubt resurface again in the future when the next big game that includes obvious visual clues for platforming comes out, let us know where you stand on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s yellow paint.

For more, check out IGN’s Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Demo PS5 Performance Review, and find out how Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth players are already using Tifa’s piano to show off.

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.

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios has issued an apology to players for login and progression issues that have blighted the game’s launch.

Helldivers 2 launched on PlayStation 5 and PC last week and soon saw a concurrent peak in the hundreds of thousands, blowing past Arrowhead’s expectations for the Sony Interactive Entertainment-published co-op shooter. In fact, Helldivers 2 is Sony’s biggest Steam launch ever, with a peak concurrent player count of 155,926 on Valve’s platform.

But as the player count hit greater heights, so did the servers struggle, with login problems compounded by progression failing to track. For a game that lacks offline play and in which progression is tied to your ability to succeed on the battlefield, Helldivers 2 endured a tough weekend.

Now, Arrowhead boss Johan Pilestedt has issued a statement explaining what went wrong. The long and short of it is that as Arrowhead worked to increase Helldivers 2’s rate limiter for its servers, the number of players logging on surpassed the limit. Even when the total capacity was increased from 250,000 to 360,000 total, the player count jumped to 360,000 after just five and a half minutes, Pilestedt said.

Pilestedt issued an apology, and said Arrowhead was working as hard as it could to sort the server problems out. Here’s his statement in full, posted to the Helldivers 2 Discord:

Hey Everyone,

Thank you for your patience during the server maintenance. With it we deployed three “rapid-fixes” aimed at improving the situation with rewards often not being handed out properly, login-issues, and server capacity.

To speak in technical terms, our services as well as our partner services have a rate limiter that denies connections beyond a volume per minute to prevent the entire system from failing. We managed to increase the rate limit from 10,000/min to 20,000/min and the total capacity of concurrent players was increased from 250,000 total to 360,000 total. This was however still not enough as the player count jumped to 360k after 5 1⁄2 minutes.

As such, the issue with login remains. If for any reason you get the “Failed to connect to server”issue it means that the maximum number of login requests for that particular minute is exceeded and/or that the servers are full and will require someone to log out before allowing new players in. As mentioned above, the increased capacity should require less retries to get in.

As for the reward issue, the fix was mitigated but not resolved. And without additional server maintenance this will still not work as intended. If you get the issue you can try rebooting the game to increase the chances of it being reset. This is due to the high traffic on the servers leading to rewards not being tracked correctly by our servers.

I know the progression issue is frustrating, especially for newer divers that want to unlock sweet gear. For now, please once again accept our sincere apologies for the issues you’re facing and rest assured, we’re doing our utmost to make it right. In order to do so, right now it is crucial that our team gets some sleep and we will be back at this again in a few hours.

Regards,

Johan

Despite the server issues, Helldivers 2 is going down well with players. After an initial ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, Helldivers 2 is now up to ‘mostly positive’. IGN’s Helldivers 2 Review in Progress was equally enthusiastic. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 tips and tricks for getting started if you’re jumping in.

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.

We’ve finally arrived at the weekend, which means it is time to score on this weekend’s deals! A solid variety is available this weekend, including hardware, video games, and accessories. The best deals for Sunday, February 11, include Armored Core 6, an HP Omen 45L Desktop, Splatoon 3, 10th Gen iPads, the Anker Prime Power Bank, and more.

Armored Core 6 for $39.99

Kicking things off, Amazon has both the PS4 and PS5 versions of Armored Core 6 on sale for just $39.99. The latest title by FromSoftware is a return to the Armored Core series, with plenty of blitzing action to discover. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, stating it “lands direct hits where it counts.” This price matches the previous low, so it’s a great time to pick up the title if you haven’t already.

HP OMEN 45L Desktop for $1497.99

This HP OMEN prebuilt desktop is an excellent deal if you’re in the market for a new PC. You can play any of the latest titles with the included AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Additionally, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB solid state drive are both included in this build. With over $1200 worth of savings, this is a deal that won’t be around for much longer.

Splatoon 3 for $39.99

Target has a great deal on Splatoon 3 this weekend, with $20 worth of savings on the physical edition. Splatoon 3 features loads of multiplayer content in addition to a story mode to play through. Its expansion, Side Order, is set to release later this month, so it’s a perfect time to grab this title while it’s on sale. If you liked Splatoon 2, Splatoon 3 brings more weapons, more maps, and more fun.

Lowest Price Yet for 10th Generation iPads

Amazon has the 10th Gen iPad for $349 right now, which is the lowest we’ve seen the device since it was launched. Powered by the A14 Bionic, this iPad packs a 10.9-inch display, 64GB of storage, Touch ID, and a long battery life. If you’re interested in purchasing an iPad but don’t want to jump to the iPad Air or iPad Pro, this is an excellent option.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land for $39.99

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is still one of the most overlooked Nintendo Switch titles. Forgotten Land marks the first full 3D game in the entire series, with a massive amount of new gameplay mechanics and offerings compared to its 2D counterparts. If you’ve yet to play Kirby and the Forgotten Land, pick the title up for a discount this weekend!

Save 31% Off This Anker Prime Power Bank

You can use the Anker Prime Power Bank to charge any of your standard devices, including your phone, wireless headphones, etc. However, this power bank can also be used to charge bigger electronics such as the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ASUS ROG Ally. This makes it the perfect companion on any trip you might find yourself on. At 20,000mAh, you can charge all of your devices multiple times and still have some juice left.

Eternights for $19.99

If you haven’t had the chance to check out Eternights yet, this is a great opportunity to pick the game up at a discount! A blend between a visual novel and an action game, Eternights released last Fall to plenty of love from fans and critics alike. The gameplay progression is often compared to Persona. Both the PS4 and PS5 copies are on sale for $19.99.

Meta Quest 2 for $229

If you haven’t yet purchased a VR headset, this deal on the Quest 2 is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for the headset. The Meta Quest 2 is an excellent VR headset that works great standalone or hooked up to a PC. You’ll be able to access your entire Steam library with Steam Link, either wired or wirelessly. The screen provides an 1832 x 1920 resolution per eye, with up to a 90Hz refresh rate.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns for $19.99

You can grab one of the best tactical RPGs of 2022 on Amazon at a discount right now. Marvel’s Midnight Suns features a unique cast of Marvel characters with plenty of fan favorites, such as Iron Man, Wolverine, and more. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, stating the game “makes excellent use of card game mechanics to keep battles fresh, evolving, and unpredictable over the course of an epic-length campaign.”

HORI Split Pad Compact for $31.99

The HORI Split Pad Compact is one of the best ergonomic controllers you can buy for the Nintendo Switch. Attaching like standard Joy-Con, the Split Pad Compact slides onto each side of your Switch and immediately widens the console. This makes longer handheld play sessions much more comfortable and bearable over time, especially if you have larger hands. The Pac-Man model features all sorts of fun details to personalize your system.

Save $10 Off Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is available on Amazon with a $10 discount! It’s rare to see the latest Nintendo Switch titles go on sale this early, especially big series like Mario. Wonder offers loads of exciting content you can play through, such as eight different worlds, three new powerups, and endless surprises with the Wonder Flower.

Apple AirPods Pro with USB Type-C for $189.99

Walmart has dropped the price of the 2nd gen Apple AirPods Pro truly wireless noise cancelling earbuds with the universal USB Type-C connector by $60, now only $189. With this current gen AirPods Pro, Apple has replaced the proprietary Lightning port with the more universal USB Type-C. For people who want to bring along a single charging cable for all of their mobile devices, this is a godsend.

LG 32″ Ultra-Gear QHD 165Hz Gaming Monitor for $209

This LG Monitor has a steep discount you won’t want to miss out on. Originally priced at $349.99, you can pick this QHD 165Hz monitor up for just $209 from Walmart right now. At 32″, this is a big screen with all kinds of features to ensure you get the best playing experience possible. This monitor has SRGB 95% color gamut with HDR10 support, AMD FreeSync Premium, and a 1ms response time.

We’ve finally arrived at the weekend, which means it is time to score on this weekend’s deals! A solid variety is available this weekend, including hardware, video games, and accessories. The best deals for Saturday, February 10, include an HP Omen 45L Desktop, 10th Gen iPads, the Anker Prime Power Bank, and more.

HP OMEN 45L Desktop for $1497.99

This HP OMEN prebuilt desktop is an excellent deal if you’re in the market for a new PC. You can play any of the latest titles with the included AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Additionally, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB solid state drive are both included in this build. With over $1200 worth of savings, this is a deal that won’t be around for much longer.

Lowest Price Yet for 10th Generation iPads

Amazon has the 10th Gen iPad for $349 right now, which is the lowest we’ve seen the device since it was launched. Powered by the A14 Bionic, this iPad packs a 10.9-inch display, 64GB of storage, Touch ID, and a long battery life. If you’re interested in purchasing an iPad but don’t want to jump to the iPad Air or iPad Pro, this is an excellent option.

Save 31% Off This Anker Prime Power Bank

You can use the Anker Prime Power Bank to charge any of your standard devices, including your phone, wireless headphones, etc. However, this power bank can also be used to charge bigger electronics such as the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ASUS ROG Ally. This makes it the perfect companion on any trip you might find yourself on. At 20,000mAh, you can charge all of your devices multiple times and still have some juice left.

Eternights for $19.99

If you haven’t had the chance to check out Eternights yet, this is a great opportunity to pick the game up at a discount! A blend between a visual novel and an action game, Eternights released last Fall to plenty of love from fans and critics alike. The gameplay progression is often compared to Persona. Both the PS4 and PS5 copies are on sale for $19.99.

Meta Quest 2 for $229

If you haven’t yet purchased a VR headset, this deal on the Quest 2 is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for the headset. The Meta Quest 2 is an excellent VR headset that works great standalone or hooked up to a PC. You’ll be able to access your entire Steam library with Steam Link, either wired or wirelessly. The screen provides an 1832 x 1920 resolution per eye, with up to a 90Hz refresh rate.

HORI Split Pad Compact for $31.99

The HORI Split Pad Compact is one of the best ergonomic controllers you can buy for the Nintendo Switch. Attaching like standard Joy-Con, the Split Pad Compact slides onto each side of your Switch and immediately widens the console. This makes longer handheld play sessions much more comfortable and bearable over time, especially if you have larger hands. The Pac-Man model features all sorts of fun details to personalize your system.

Save $10 Off Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is available on Amazon with a $10 discount! It’s rare to see the latest Nintendo Switch titles go on sale this early, especially big series like Mario. Wonder offers loads of exciting content you can play through, such as eight different worlds, three new powerups, and endless surprises with the Wonder Flower.

LG 32″ Ultra-Gear QHD 165Hz Gaming Monitor for $209

This LG Monitor has a steep discount you won’t want to miss out on. Originally priced at $349.99, you can pick this QHD 165Hz monitor up for just $209 from Walmart right now. At 32″, this is a big screen with all kinds of features to ensure you get the best playing experience possible. This monitor has SRGB 95% color gamut with HDR10 support, AMD FreeSync Premium, and a 1ms response time.

Hades 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to IGN’s 2020 Game of the Year. Supergiant Games set a new standard for roguelikes with stylish design, dynamic combat, and reactive writing that embraced the looping nature of the genre and propelled a compelling escape-from-hell plot.

With its Early Access release now months away, we’ve put together this breakdown of everything you need to know about Hades 2.

Jump to:

• Release Date
• Early Access Details
• Story Details
• Gameplay
• Development

Hades 2 Release Date

Hades 2 will first be released in Early Access during Q2 2024 (between April 1 and June 30). This section will be updated as soon as Supergiant Games announces a specific Early Access release date.

A release date for the 1.0 version of Hades 2 is “still to be determined,” according to Supergiant.

Hades 2 Platforms and Price

Hades 2 will launch in Early Access exclusively on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store).

The 1.0 release is expected to come to consoles as well, though specific platforms have yet to be named. For reference, the first Hades is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Hades 2 Early Access Details

According to Supergiant, Hades 2 “will have at least as much content from day one in Early Access as the original did back when it launched in Early Access on Steam.” Players can expect updates throughout its time in Early Access, including content additions, expansions to the story, and gameplay/systems refinements.

Early Access players will have access to the 1.0 version upon its release. Supergiant added it is “committed to making sure your save data works all through development, including once we launch v1.0.”

Supergiant has not given a timetable for how long Hades 2 will be in Early Access. “Our experience developing in Early Access has taught us (among many things) to expect the unexpected,” it wrote. The original spent one year and nine months in Early Access.

Hades 2 Story

Hades 2 is a direct sequel to the original “set in and around the Underworld of Greek myth.” You play as Melinoë, the Princess of the Underworld and sister of Hades protagonist Zagreus. She’s described as “an immortal witch and sorceress with powerful magical abilities, deadly skill with a variety of shadowy weapons, and a score to settle.”

In the sequel, Hades is imprisoned, and his father, Chronos, the Titan of Time, serves as the main villain. After escaping his own imprisonment, the deity wages war on Olympus. Supergiant posits, “Can Time itself be stopped?”

Hades 2 once again explores the rich world of Greek mythology, though for the sequel Supergiant is incorporating the myth’s “deep connections to the dawn of witchcraft.” At the heart of this is Hecate, “the secretive goddess of witchcraft and the crossroads,” who’s shown training Melinoë in the game’s reveal trailer.

Beyond these early details, Supergiant says Hades 2 contains “a sweeping story that continually unfolds through your every setback and accomplishment.”

Hades 2 Gameplay

Hades 2, like its predecessor, is a single-player-only, roguelike dungeon crawler. Based on its reveal trailer, it, too, will feature action-heavy combat played from an isometric perspective.

Supergiant has yet to reveal much about the sequel’s updates to gameplay, though it has promised “new locations, challenges, upgrade systems, and surprises.” The following blurb from Supergiant’s announcement hints at some of these new systems, though none of which is elaborated on: “Reveal the mysteries of the Arcana Altar, tame witchy familiars, and gather reagents using Tools of the Unseen to get closer to your goal.”

Boons — the good-for-one-run skills and buffs granted to the playable character by the Olympian Gods — return in the sequel. We got a peek at three Boons in the Hades 2 reveal trailer offered to Melinoë by Apollo, God of Light:

• Nova Strike: Your Attacks deal more damage in a larger area.
• Blinding Sprint: Your Sprint is faster and inflicts Daze on nearby foes.
• Clarifying Light: While standing in your Casts, gradually restore Magick.

Also returning in the sequel is God Mode, according to the Hades 2 Steam page. As it worked in the first game, enabling God Mode results in taking 20 percent less damage from enemy attacks, with 2 percent resistance added after each death, capped at 80 percent.

Hades 2 Development

Hades 2 is being developed by Supergiant Games, the studio behind the original, using improved versions of the same proprietary development tools the company has leveraged since the development of its first game, 2011’s Bastion. The development team has added “a few more” employees for the sequel, though the team is still comprised of fewer than 30 people.

The sequel was announced at the 2022 Game Awards, though Supergiant began development “in earnest at the start of 2021.”

Hades 2 is the developer’s first-ever sequel; Supergiant’s previous four games — Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, and Hades— were all original IPs. All four games received a review score of 9 or higher from IGN.

Should You Play Hades Before Hades 2?

While Supergiant says you don’t need to play the original before Hades 2, we recommend you do so. The developer calls Hades 2 a direct sequel and says those who play the first will “find plenty of connections.” Based on the quallity of writing in the original, it will likely be rewarding to understand these connections — and if nothing else, Hades is an extraordinary game worth playing.

Hades is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC for $25. It will also be released on iOS (iPhone and iPad) in 2024, exclusively through Netflix Games, which requires a Netflix subscription.

IGN’s Hades review called it “a one-of-a-kind rogue-lite that does a brilliant job of marrying its fast-paced action with its persistent, progressing story through a vividly reimagined Greek mythological underworld.”

Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.

Based on the first couple of days with it, Helldivers 2 strikes me as hilarious, smartly designed, and intense whether I’m playing solo, with a squad of other random Helldivers, or serving up a nice hot cup of Liber-tea across the galaxy with buddies. I still need to see more of its varied missions, unlock a wider selection of its huge catalog of weapons, emotes, armor, and abilities, and see how Managed Democracy’s campaign against alien bugs and robots plays out during the long haul, so I’m not ready to give a final review just yet. But for right now, I’m enjoying traveling to exciting new places, meeting exotic life forms, and killing them for the glory of Super Earth. God, what a sentence.

After a gut-busting opening piece of mandatory propaganda (refusal to pay attention is treason) that explains that Super Earth is under attack from the robotic Automatons and the “legally-distinct-but-still-totally-the-bugs-from-Starship-Troopers” Terminids (which are also definitely not Warhammer 40K’s Tyranids!), you’re dropped into Helldiver basic training. Your instructor tells you that he isn’t easily impressed… before letting you know how impressed he is by the fact that you’re not backing down. After mercilessly gassing you up (remember, Super Earth is run by fascists; everything they do is awesome and perfect) and telling you how invincible you are – while conveniently avoiding the fact that the average Helldiver has a lifespan of about, oh, I don’t know, about 30 seconds – you’re given command of your own destroyer space ship (I named mine the Elected Representative of Family Values) and sent to the front lines with your buddies.

Once you’re out in the Galactic War, you’re free to head to either the Automaton or Terminid front to bring Liberty and Managed Democracy to their occupied planets. Each world has multiple missions with multiple objectives, which range from destroying Termanid eggs to activating your local, nuclear-armed ICBM. Just a regular day at the office.

What’s nice is that once I’d picked my landing zone and dropped in, every mission so far has felt different, even if I’d done those objectives before. That’s largely because maps are distinct and unique, even on the same planet because of the way the terrain changes – one map might have a lot of water and hills, while another might be heavily forested. On top of that, each mission usually has a couple of optional objectives to complete, like blowing up outposts or terminating a treasonous broadcast. So especially if you’re checking those out, no two missions play out the same way.

You don’t start with a big selection of gear — a couple of primary weapon options, a sidearm, and a grenade — but shooting feels satisfyingly weighty, especially with the DualSense’s haptics. Plus, Helldivers 2 forces you to coordinate to succeed as a group – or play smart if you’re alone. You’re racing against the clock and your squad’s limited reinforcements (AKA extra lives) so you have to pick your priorities, manage your resources, and choose where to spend your time. It’s always challenging.

What makes Helldivers 2 cool, though, are the little touches that make sure you’re always thinking about how to manage your limited resources while hordes of bugs and robots throw themselves at your squad. Reloading, for instance, discards any remaining rounds you have in a clip; bullets don’t just teleport back into your inventory. If you want to call down reinforcements, special weapons, or a resupply, you’ve got to rapid-fire a series of directional inputs on the d-pad, which can be a little challenging when you’re running from a horde of bugs hellbent on tearing your Helldiver limb from limb. These abilities all have cooldown timers, forcing you to be careful when picking when to deploy them and to coordinate with your teammates.

It’s also generous with rewards. Don’t have a cool weapon yet? You’ll probably find something during the first mission or two. One of my favorites I’ve seen so far is the Anti-Material Rifle, an anti-armor behemoth of a rifle that let me take on the huge, bile-spewing bugs without ever getting close to them — and that’s handy because they can kill you in a single volley if you do. You don’t get to keep these weapons once the mission ends, but it does allow you to try them out before you permanently unlock them with in-game currency you get from completing mission objectives, which is a nice touch.

Speaking of unlocking stuff, Helldivers 2 has a ton of goodies for you to earn. Yes, there’s a paid battle pass with lots of weapons and armor, but there’s also a free one with more stuff than the paid one, and naturally you also unlock gear the old-fashioned way, just by completing missions. Helldivers 2 has microtransactions, sure, but thus far I’ve never felt like I was missing out on anything important by not going near them.

Better still, a lot of these unlocks can make a huge difference in how you play. One of the first things I earned was the ability to call in a stationary turret that automatically blasts away. I found out the hard way that friendly fire is a thing and this thing can kill you if you stand in front of it, which makes for some really funny moments, but it’s a legitimate game-changer when you have to hold off a swarm of bugs or defend your extraction zone. I never leave the Elected Representative of Family Values without it.

If there’s a downside here, it’s that there’s just so much stuff to unlock that it’s tough to decide which things to get first. Should I save up for an airstrike, the Anti-Material Rifle, or a portable supply pack? Without a guide (like the one our IGN Guides team is actively cooking up as we speak) to help me craft a potent build it’s a bit like flying blind, but again, none of those options are battle pass items so it’s not like it’s trying to trick you into spending money for something you don’t know if you’ll want. You get these by just playing. That might sound like faint praise, but in an era where so many games are trying to nickel and dime us for absolutely everything, the fact that Helldivers 2 doesn’t force you to deal with a battle pass to make your experience better feels awesome.

I still have a lot more to play before I issue a final review and a score. I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface when it comes to unlocks and I’ve spent most of my time killing bugs. Those robots look like they could use some freedom, and I wouldn’t want to deprive them of it. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make myself a nice hot cup of Liber-tea and get back at it, and hopefully I’ll be able to squash enough enemies to finish off this review next week. Managed Democracy isn’t going to spread itself, you know.

As the first anniversary of Resident Evil 4 Remake approaches, the game’s producer has addressed lingering questions regarding The Darkside Chronicles, clarifying whether or not a certain chapter in the 2009 on-rails shooter is considered canon to the current main story of Resident Evil.

In an email interview with IGN, Resident Evil 4 Remake producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi clarified whether or not Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is considered canon to the Resident Evil universe. Specifically, the in-game scenario titled “Operation Javier” focuses on Leon Kennedy and his first mission as an agent for the United States government with his partner, Jack Krauser.

Warning: Potential spoiler for the end of the Resident Evil 4 remake below:

Resident Evil fans are likely familiar with Operation Javier as the events of that mission played a key role in Jack Krauser and his disdain for both Leon and the U.S. government. While the mission was not directly mentioned in the original Resident Evil 4, the 2023 remake references Operation Javier towards the end.

When asked about Darkside Chronicles’ status as a canonical entry in the Resident Evil lore, Hirabayashi clarified that while Operation Javier itself is canon to the Resident Evil universe, the events depicted in Darkside Chronicles are not exactly the same as those depicted in the remake.

“The fact that ‘Operation Javier’ occurred is in fact part of the current Resident Evil main story. However, as to what that mission was, it’s not exactly the same as the events portrayed in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles,” Hirabayashi told IGN. “I can’t share the details, but you will find that the relationship between Leon and Krauser, as well as their conversations, give you some idea!”

For years, Resident Evil fans often discussed whether or not the on-rails spin-off games the Umbrella and Darkside Chronicles are considered canon to the Resident Evil lore. Both games released in 2007 and 2009 as exclusives on the Wii before getting ported onto the PS3, provide retellings of some of the mainline Resident Evil games, such as Resident Evil 0 and Code Veronica. Both games also had original scenarios not found in other Resident Evil games, such as Operation Javier.

In our review of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, we said: “The rail shooter genre will never be the true Resident Evil experience, but Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles shows that the franchise can be spun out into different, successful styles of gameplay. Even with my complaints about the bouncy camera, I believe this follow-up is a significantly better experience than the original Umbrella Chronicles and one fun ride from start to finish.”

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

It looks like Sony’s PlayStation 5 has sold around double the number of units as the Xbox Series X | S, according to data shared in a recent Take-Two Interactive earnings report (h/t GameSpot).

In one slide, the gaming company shared that 77 million Gen 9 consoles have been sold as of December 31, 2023. While that figure doesn’t give us too much insight on its own, on December 20, 2023, Sony announced that it had just sold a little more than 50 million PS5s. Microsoft usually keeps its numbers under wraps, but with Take-Two’s information in mind, we can estimate that Xbox Series X | S sales sit at around 27 million units sold.

It’s an approximate look at the state of Gen 9 that keeps in line with previous sales updates. In July of last year, Sony revealed that its latest PlayStation console was still going strong with 40 million units sold. At a games event in Brazil around this same time, Xbox Series X | S sales were said to be at just over 21 million.

Both the PS5 and Xbox Series X | S launched in November 2020. The Sony console received a bit of an update with the Slim model last year. While the Xbox Series X | S consoles haven’t quite gotten their mid-gen refresh yet, leaked documents suggest that Microsoft might have plans to release something later this year.

Today’s Gen 9 update are interesting in the context of other rumors surrounding Xbox’s future. More than a few reports have recently come out, suggesting that many Xbox exclusives — including games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Starfield, Sea of Thieves, and Hi-Fi Rush — will soon come to console competitors like PlayStation. When fans were shocked by the news that exclusive titles may soon come to rival platforms, Xbox head Phil Spencer chimed in with a promise to address concerns as part of a business update next week.

For more, be sure to check out our thoughts on Xbox’s future and Microsoft’s messaging strategy. You can also take a look at our list of the best-selling consoles of all time.

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.

For me the disappointment of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League isn’t just about its quality. It’s about what it’s not as much as what it is. There’s very little of what made developer Rocksteady’s games so great in the past – near-unparalleled superhero power trips that sit alongside Insomniac’s critically acclaimed Spider-Man series. It’s also the latest in a frustratingly long line of beloved single-player-championing studios delving into unwelcoming loot-infested live-service waters. It’s been a perilous leap for many to make, with success limited to very few not called Bungie, and I hope we’re now at the end of this detrimental trend that’s plagued so many.

In recent years, BioWare abandoned the comfort of its trademark deep RPG writing in favour of Anthem’s cold, hollow, RNG-fuelled exosuits. It was the first real notable example of this happening; a studio ripping apart from its roots to chase high-risk trends popularised by the likes of Destiny. “Anthem was the ultimate expression of that,” BioWare veteran James Ohlen told Rock Paper Shotgun. “It got away from everything. It’s kind of like the anti-BioWare game.”

There have since been others chasing these online looter shooter trends that have rapidly gone out of fashion with each passing year. Arkane brought none of its best-in-class level design to the empty, vampiric streets of Redfall. Crystal Dynamics promised much in its Marvel’s Avengers campaign, but lost its way completely regarding its live-service offerings. And most recently, Rocksteady traded in their expertly designed Gotham for a shallow Metropolis.

Suicide Squad’s main problem isn’t in its art direction, character design, or storytelling (although mileage may vary on that last one). These are all things we’ve come to expect and enjoy from Rocksteady, masters of their craft when it comes to creating superhero open worlds. But while it has largely delivered on that trio of creative disciplines, the studio’s other notable strengths – best-in-class campaign design, genre-leading combat systems, and engaging open worlds – are the areas in which Suicide Squad has stumbled. And that faltering is rooted in the pivot to creating a long-term content delivery machine – AKA a live-service shooter.

In the nine years it has taken the London-based studio to finish work on Kill the Justice League, numerous examples of exactly the same kind of pivot project failing have come and gone, yet no change of direction has seemingly been plotted. That’s likely because of the weight of the AAA machine; like a heavy cruise liner, it can be difficult to change the course of all those resources and staff when the journey begins. But the result of that is a wholly incongruous mess of a looter shooter where bland gunplay makes neither canonical sense nor an engaging gameplay loop.

Gear progression and how it intertwines with talent trees and class abilities is a delicate balance that is by no means easy to achieve. The Borderlands series has historically done it very well, and while the Pandora gunfests do have significant stories told throughout, you always get the feeling that developer Gearbox’s focus is on making the most outrageous and fun arsenal to play with possible. But Borderlands games are, of course, not live-service. Tackling that added demand of a long, long life of ever-expanding content adds a whole new weight on top of all that to balance.

A more pertinent example, then, might be Diablo, which has achieved this as successfully as anyone over the years thanks to Blizzard, a studio whose very DNA is built around online multiplayer experiences. For almost 30 years the developer has refined a game loop completely centered on chasing that next piece of loot. That desire to want to come back repeatedly and grind for the next piece of gear is key to the success of loot-based games, and is what I look for over all else in the genre. Strike gold with that, and even games that possess just a slither of Rocksteady’s storytelling chops, such as 2021’s Outriders, can keep me engaged enough to keep playing thanks to fun weapons and abilities.

One note combat is a common thread between all of these recent failed experiments. Redfall’s selection of identikit weapons didn’t offer anywhere near the sort of malleable approaches that Dishonored’s blades and powers brought to encounters. Although Marvel’s Avengers’ heroes did each have a set of abilities intrinsically linked to their character, the rote defend and capture the objective scenarios you were placed in offered limited thrills. And Anthem’s mission design was near non-existent as you jetted around its open world searching for any semblance of BioWare’s famous quest writing.

Rocksteady created one of the most influential combat systems in the form of Batman Arkham’s counter-based melee flow, and to step away from this and create a gun-based looter shooter was a bold move. Sadly, it just didn’t pay off. Each gun feels fundamentally very similar to the next and last, with interesting perks and alternate fires kept at a real premium. The least you’d expect from a looter shooter is to have interesting loot to shoot with, but the focus on that in Suicide Squad just isn’t quite there. I’m all for developers trying something new in an attempt to avoid things becoming stale, but successful new beginnings are rooted in a recognition of historic strengths. I wish Rocksteady had used its previous top-tier melee combat, dense open world, and thrilling storytelling experience as a base, rather than shifting to what is an almost entirely different development format.

This challenge is something, to its credit, that Sony has managed well with PlayStation Studios. Time is given to each creative team to make the project they want to make, with story-driven single-player games remaining a dominant focus. Naughty Dog has become the standard bearer for this philosophy in the years that Rocksteady has spent making Kill the Justice League. But that isn’t to say they didn’t attempt to branch out to multiplayer in that time, either, with Sony recently cancelling a stuttering The Last of Us online project. We’ll never know how this would’ve turned out, but if recent history has told us anything, it’s that halting development before it rumbles on for years might have been the right move by PlayStation. Something confirmed by Naughty Dog itself in the statement announcing the cancellation:

“To release and support The Last of Us Online we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”

That’s not to say that risks can’t and shouldn’t be taken, though, if approached in a sensible and measured manner. Interesting results can come from developers stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something new; dipping their toes into the water before diving headfirst. In regards to PlayStation, Sucker Punch’s Legends expansion to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima was a well-constructed online co-op offering rooted in its fundamentally exciting sword combat. The experience was scaled appropriately for an experimental DLC, offering a small but rewarding pool of gear for progressing through missions, which culminated in a challenging multi-part raid full of memorable art direction. The key, though, was that this focus was narrow, adding a handful of hours of multiplayer fun onto an already solid single-player base.

I still want to see more Sucker Punch single-player stories, but this smaller-scoped experiment has at least given me confidence that they could make the looter-shooter live-service jump where others have fallen. Maybe it would have been wise for Rocksteady to test out some of Suicide Squad’s online components in an Arkham Knight expansion before fully implementing those ideas nine years later.

Unfortunately, it’s still unclear to see how far those who leaped have fallen. It can’t be a coincidence, though, that these studios all find themselves reverting back to what made them such respected names in the single-player space. BioWare is hoping to recapture that story-driven RPG magic with new Dragon Age and Mass Effect games in development. Arkane has light at the end of the tunnel with Marvel’s Blade being helmed by their Lyon studio, a stealth combat game that hopes are high for. Crystal Dynamics finds itself under the parasitic control of Embracer Group, who has seemingly done nothing but cancel projects and lay off staff since making their huge financial gamble – I hope the Tomb Raider studio manages to survive and thrive again.

I sympathise with all of these developers, none of whom set out to make games that would go on to be considered dead on arrival. Instead, eyes need to be turned towards those making the decisions, whether those be studio heads, publishers, or other executives, on what type of games these studios should make. The list of previously mentioned failures to launch should be the wake-up call needed to stop mismanaging talent and siphoning their passion into projects that benefit neither their developer’s skillsets nor the player’s ultimate enjoyment.

It’s a lesson that Warner Bros. seemingly never learned with Kill the Justice League – although hopefully one they’ve now learned, considering Suicide Squad’s questionable success (as of writing, it’s not even in Steam’s top 100 played games) comes not long after the news that WB’s own Hogwarts Legacy, a single-player open-world story-driven game, happened to be 2023’s biggest-selling game. It’s too soon to say what’s next for Rocksteady, which still has the first steps of its live-service roadmap to make when Joker arrives as a playable character next month. Suicide Squad could buck the trend, becoming a huge success that grows strong as the months and years go on. Warner Bros. will certainly be hoping so. I have my doubts, though. I just hope it does well enough that a studio home to so much single-player talent is allowed to spread its (bat)wings again.

Simon Cardy really does hope this signals the end of the trend. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.