Category: IGN

Roughly a year after its original release, it looks like Xbox console exclusive Hi-Fi Rush is indeed headed to new platforms.

Hi-Fi Rush was released in early 2023 and received strong praise for its distinct art style and unique rhythm-based combat. We wrote in our review, “I swear Hi-Fi Rush could be a premier cartoon series. It’s got best-in-class animation, endearing heroes to cheer for, and villains you love to hate, all wrapped in good-natured humor.”

Hi-Fi Rush Anniversary Update t-shirt texture (platform exclusive designs) datamine seem to suggest that PlayStation/Switch port is happening

I’m Here Baby – PlayStation
Rock Out Anywhere – Switchhttps://t.co/jwaolt1dkFhttps://t.co/lkvpkOTA7a pic.twitter.com/WjjRwIWtCw

— Wario64 (@Wario64) February 1, 2024

Hi-Fi Rush was held up as a solid example of Xbox’s console exclusives strategy, but newly-datamined t-shirt textures appear to suggest it won’t be a console exclusive for much longer. They include a red t-shirt that says “Rock Out! Anywhere” — an apparent reference to the Nintendo Switch — and a blue t-shirt that says “I’m here Baby,” which fans have interpreted as a nod to the PlayStation.

Xbox and Epic Game Store get references as well, with the former being a green t-shirt that reads, “Shadow Dropped” — a nod to Hi-Fi Rush’s surprise release in 2023. The in-game t-shirt are part of a broader collection released as part of Hi-Fi Rush’s one-year anniversary update, which quickly spread among fans on Reddit. Verge reporter Tom Warren subsequently corroborated the datamine on X/Twitter.

The datamined info adds additional fuel to rumors that Hi-Fi Rush is headed to rival consoles, which have been circling since last week. The rumors have sparked speculation on Xbox’s overall approach to first-party exclusives going forward.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has further fueled the rumors by saying that Xbox can be a “good publisher” across all platforms. “We love gaming. In fact, Flight Simulator was created before even Windows. But, we were number three, number four. And now with Activision, I think we have a chance of being a good publisher — quite frankly — on Sony and Nintendo and PCs and Xbox. We’re excited about that acquisition closing and I’m glad we’ve got it through.”

For now, Xbox is sticking to console exclusives, with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Hellblade 2 both slated to release in the first half of 2024.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

It has been a long month of coverage for Dragon’s Dogma 2. We kicked it all off with 18 Minutes of Gameplay, continued with extended looks at character creation and everything that’s new with Pawns, had some insightful interviews with Game Director Hideaki Itsuno, Art Director Daigo Ikeno, and the rest of the team at Capcom Japan, and revealed brand new footage and information for both the Trickster Vocation and the mysterious Sphinx.

We’ve now reached the end of our IGN First coverage, and to wrap everything up, myself and Casey thought it might be best to sit down and just have an unscripted conversation about everything that we got to experience at Capcom. There will be some overlap with what we’ve already covered in previews and other extended looks, but this is also our opportunity to talk a bit about the story, things we liked, things we didn’t like, and much more.

We hope you enjoyed this month of coverage, and thanks for sticking around.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit

The information surrounding developer Fntastic’s December game release, The Day Before, just got a lot worse, according to reports from German game outlets GameStar and Game Two.

The two sites published their findings from investigations today, explaining that they spoke with 16 former employees from the studio as well as one volunteer and seven employees from publisher Mytona to get to the bottom of what happened behind the scenes to result in last year’s disastrous release.

While there are plenty of two-player board games that are excellent, board games for couples to play together deserve their own special sub-category. A lot of two-player games are pretty hardcore war board games or abstracts, for example, which are difficult categories for couples to agree over. Even if you can avoid such niche picks, two-player games also have a tendency to be fiercely competitive, which might also be a bad idea unless you’re both super forgiving. So here are our picks of the best games that balance the competitive and the cooperative, and the luck with the strategy, just so you can find a sweet spot to enjoy together.

TL;DR The Best Board Games for Couples

• Race to the Raft
• Sky Team
• The Search for Lost Species
• Fog of Love
• Patchwork
• Codenames Duet
• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• Hive
• Onitama
• Five Tribes
• The Fox in the Forest
• 7 Wonders: Duel
• Schotten Totten

Race to the Raft

Some of you may remember the movement puzzle games that were popular in the early days of the internet: they’re a clear predecessor to this bright and absorbing board game about guiding finicky cats to safety. Each cat will only travel over one colour of terrain, so it’s your job to work together to build a path for it to reach a raft before a blazing fire cuts it off. Your goal is hampered by the random nature of terrain cards you draw, the likelihood you’ll cut off another cat’s route with each play, and limited communication rules that may see you meowing desperately at one another to try and get a point across. Both challenging and hilarious, the game offers more than 80 scenarios of ever-increasing difficulty.

Sky Team: Prepare for Landing

What better way to say “I love you” than to take a flight together to an exotic destination? That’s what you get to do in Sky Team, with the notable catch that you’re playing as the pilot and co-pilot, and you have to work together to land the plane first. It’s far harder than it sounds: both of you have your own pool of dice and sets of instruments you must attend to using the results. Some of them even require you to balance the two values assigned by each player, a task made even trickier by the fact you can’t discuss strategy during the placement phase. At least that should avoid the potential for arguments when you find the dice pool is running short, the plane is tilting at a dangerous angle and there’s a queue of air traffic in front of you for the runway.

The Search for Lost Species

Boasting an appealing theme and an ever-shifting puzzle dynamic, this app-driven game sees players racing to map the ecology of an island and discover a long-lost animal. This engaging skin hides a logic puzzle of fiendish complexity. Each animal on the island has several rules dictating where it lives: some of them are fixed and some change from game to game, revealed by the app as the players research. They must use these rules, and clues from their island exploration, to figure out what hexes hold which species and slowly pin down the location of the mysterious beast. It’s complex but plays quickly once mastered, and every game is a fresh puzzle thanks to the app. You can even work together against the app, although you’ll have to share one playing piece.

Fog of Love

We have to start a list like this with a game designed specifically to tell the story of a couple in a relationship. However, it isn’t your relationship but one that you’ll create between a pair of fictitious characters and then go on to explore its nuances and ups and downs. Although there’s a certain amount of blue and pink in the visuals it’s also open to same-sex relationships, too. Your couple each get a brew of secret traits and destinies and then go on to play through a number of scenes, making choices based on traits that affect the outcome. As an experimental game, there is no winner here in the strict sense, but you’ll win by enjoying a fascinating journey through an imagined relationship instead.

Patchwork

Patchwork works because it’s a super simple synthesis of several clever concepts in one small package. Players buy geometric pieces using buttons to try and form a quilt with as few holes in it as possible. Each purchase also moves you forward on a time track, which intermittently earns you extra buttons or very useful single-square patches for your quilt, but the person last on the time track always takes the next turn. This lets you set up interesting plays like planning for double turns or trying to leapfrog your opponent to snatch a one-square patch. Gently addictive while it transfixes several parts of your brain at once, it’s no wonder it won a slew of awards and nominations.

Codenames Duet

The original Codenames was a rare breakout hit into the wider world of party games. Players laid out a grid of cards with words on them. Then one player per team had to give out single-word clues to try and link multiple words together in order to help their teammates identify which cards were coded to their side. Codenames: Duet is very similar but it’s been refined for two into a much sleeker cooperative game. Now you’re trying to find fifteen clues between you before a timer runs out. Because you both take turns giving clues, downtime while someone thinks of a clue to give is almost eliminated, bringing a fun slice of party game magic to the table with just the two of you.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Unlike the other games on this list, The Adventures of Robin Hood is a narrative-driven title where you retell the legend of the famous outlaw across nine scenarios. But it brings all sorts of clever ideas to the formula, making it intriguing and engaging to play. There are no board spaces for starters: instead, you measure your progress across the map with a long base on your wooden playing piece, trying to stay in printed shadows and out of sight of guards. The board is like an advent calendar, with hundreds of numbered pieces you can lift out and flip over to create the feel of a living, dynamic world you encounter by looking up the numbers in the included book. Can you and your partner work together to save Nottingham from the clutches of the evil Sheriff before Guy of Gisborne hunts you down?

Hive

Played with delightful chunky plastic hexes, Hive is a game with an unfortunate tendency to make your skin crawl thanks to its insectoid subject matter. On the plus side, it also makes your brain crawl in all the best ways with its ever-escalating web of interlocking strategies. Each player has a Queen hex and you win by surrounding your opponent’s Queen with your pieces. There are four other types of insects, each with its own movement rules that you must leverage in pursuit of your goal. There are only eleven tiles on each side, which enter play one by one, and the Hive itself must always be a single conglomeration of tiles. That makes Hive easy to transport, set up and play, but the complex interaction of movement rules makes it devilishly hard to win.

Onitama

Onitama gets a lot of mileage out of a very simple idea. It’s played on a grid where each player starts with a master pawn and five students. Moving any of your pieces onto an opponent’s piece knocks it off the board and you win either by knocking out the enemy master or moving your own master to the opposite end of the board. The kicker is that the legal moves for your pieces depend on a random deal of cards: you have a choice of two each turn and the one you pick is discarded and refreshed from an extra card from the side of the board. This creates a fascinating and challenging interplay of cause and effect where you can see the likely path to plan ahead but the ever-changing roster of potential moves muddy the waters.

Five Tribes

You may have played the classic board game Mancala where you grab a handful of beads from a pit and pop one each in the following sequence of pits. Five Tribes translates this concept into a modern strategy game played on a grid of tiles. Each handful you pick up will consist of multiple color pieces and the final tile you drop one on determines what actions you take for that round. However, the changed board state then determines possible combinations for the next player to take, making each turn a mind-bending puzzle of balancing your own needs against your opponent’s opportunities. Add in an auction to determine the first player and you’ve got a modern classic. With two, Five Tribes lets you double your turns meaning there’s a whole other layer of using your first turn to set yourself up for a combo second turn.

The Fox in the Forest

If you’ve ever played a traditional trick-taking game like Whist you might be baffled that such a thing could work with two. Yet that’s what The Fox in the Forest achieves thanks to its three-suit deck in which even-numbered cards work like standard playing cards, but odd-numbered cards all have a special power. The 3-value Fox, for instance, lets you change the trump suit while the 9-value Witch is treated as always being a trump. Its other clever coup is the scoring system which rewards you for winning either the majority or the minority of tricks, making it very hard to eke out a lead unless you can time your wins to perfection. Fast, fun and innovative, The Fox in the Forest is an incredible answer to a seemingly impossible question.

7 Wonders: Duel

While the original 7 Wonders was a smash hit by itself, this two-player refinement is widely regarded as being even better. The core concept is the same: you’re drafting cards to make point-scoring sets representing aspects of an ancient civilization. Different types of cards represent different aspects such as military, technology or wonders of the world, and will give you bonuses and resources when added to your tableau. However, instead of the standard pick and pass drafting of the original game, 7 Wonders: Duel instead has players drafting from a pyramid of overlapping cards, most of which start face down and only become available when the cards atop them are taken. This adds a wonderful element of timing to the draft as you balance taking your best picks against giving more options to your opponent.

Schotten Totten

A classic from back in 1999, Schotten Totten still holds up well today. Its central idea is that you’re battling across nine stones with each player trying to create Poker-style three-card combos on their own side, one card at a time. This creates the most delicious tension as your opponent wonders what meld you’re aiming for, and you worry whether you’ll draw the right cards to complete it. Just like Poker itself, there’s plenty of strategy in playing the probabilities, plus there’s an extra deck of special power tactics cards to spice things up. And if that wasn’t enough for you, you can also use the cards with their amusing cartoon art to play a completely different game called Lost Cities.

Matt Thrower is a freelance with years of experience reviewing and writing about board games.

Hideo Kojima has announced he is returning to the world of spycraft.

During the latest PlayStation State of Play, Kojima joined PlayStation Studios boss Herman Hulst to announce Physint, a new “Action Espionage” game from the creator of Metal Gear. Kojima alluded that it will also be a movie, but clarified on X that the “look, story, theme, cast, acting, fashion, sound, etc… are all at the next level of ‘Digital Entertainment’ that could be called a ‘movie.’”

“PHYSINT (working title)” will be the third, new original IP since the establishment of KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS. It is a completely new “Action Espionage” for the next-generation. It will be created using cutting-edge technology and the best talents from around the world, both from… pic.twitter.com/0vnMXJbGNz

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) January 31, 2024

A bit redundant, I’d say, since Kojima’s already leveraging movie-calibur production on his current project, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. But nevertheless, Kojima’s return to the genre he revolutionized and popularized nearly four decades ago is worth celebrating.

For nearly 30 years Kojima cut his teeth on the world of Metal Gear, a tactical espionage action series that was synonymous with the PlayStation brand. Metal Gear pushed the boundaries of gameplay and video game storytelling to new heights thanks to a thoughtful approach to cinematic presentation, genuinely fun and inventive gameplay, and ultimately a story about hope and peace. Kojima likely would have continued with the franchise had he not had a very public split from Konami, which retained the rights to the iconic Metal Gear franchise.

When Kojima set up his studio — Kojima Productions — and released his first post-Metal Gear game, Death Stranding, it seemed like the director was trying to find his way forward in games knowing he will never be able to return to the world of Snake and Outer Heaven. Death Stranding had elements of Metal Gear — there was some sneaking, some gunplay — but it mostly carried forward Kojima’s trademark multimedia directing style and love of symbolism and metaphors.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a vague feeling while playing Death Stranding that some of its elements were just slightly penciled over Metal Gear iconography (the whale is made of goop, not fire), but for the most part it was an honest attempt at creating a new franchise distinct from Metal Gear. Where Metal Gear centered on how Snake and Big Boss could utilize the natural world to their advantage, Death Stranding was, to me at least, about how Sam Porter Bridges must find a way to survive through the destroyed world.

The theme of struggle and survival carried into the gameplay. Where Metal Gear, especially Metal Gear Solid 5, was a game where controls could be mastered to the point where Snake could perform even the most precise actions, Death Stranding was clumsy. Snake could CQC through the toughest battles whereas Sam would trip and stumble over a rock. It was fun sometimes, but also very not fun at other times.

All this makes Kojima’s return to the action espionage genre such an exciting prospect. The last Metal Gear Solid game felt like the first chapter in the next-generation of Kojima spy games before it was cruelly cut short. It’s not an exaggeration to say Metal Gear Solid 5 is the best-playing game in the entire franchise, regardless of how you ultimately felt about the story. Between the seamless open-world, excellent combat controls, and attention to the smallest details, MGS 5 still manages to be an astonishing game to play, nine years after it was released in 2015. And we’ll finally get to see how much that kind of gameplay will be improved now that Kojima is ready to make a proper spy action game again.

So what can we expect from Physint at this stage? Nothing much, other than Kojima will likely continue hiring famous actors to be a part of the game. The working title, “Physint,” is likely a combination of the words “Physical” and “Intelligence” so presumably these two traits will be important in the gameplay, but other than that we won’t know more until after Death Stranding 2 is released in 2025.

One final note – whatever Physint ends up being called, one name it won’t be called is Metal Gear Solid 6. While it’s truly a shame we’ll never really get closure to the abrupt way the series ended, had Kojima stayed at Konami, and with the way AAA game development is at the moment, there’s a chance he would’ve spent the last years of his career making two or three more Metal Gear sequels.

Instead, we’re probably in the most prolific era of Kojima’s career between Death Stranding, the recently announced horror game OD, and now the upcoming spy game Physint. Where some studios will spend the next 10 years on another sequel, we’re at a time where we get to potentially play three new Kojima games in that same timespan. Leaving Konami may have closed the door on Metal Gear, but it opened a path to so many new stories and games. And that to me is more exciting than ever getting Metal Gear Solid 6.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

IGN Fan Fest returns this February with a lineup filled with the biggest names in games and entertainment.

Everything kicks off on Feb. 19 and continues throughout the week with exclusive interviews, trailers, gameplay, sneak peeks, and more. The event continues with two days of Fan Fest livestreams on Feb. 23 and 24, featuring even more reveals and surprises.

Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire are just some of the big movies coming to this year’s show that also includes the hotly-anticipated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, Tracker, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Plus, we dig deep into new seasons of fan-favorites such as Abbott Elementary, Invincible, and others.

Fan Fest 2024 also features new and exciting looks at WWE 2K24, Street Fighter 6, G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Brawlhalla, and more of your favorite (and soon to be favorite) games.

New for Fan Fest this year is a huge celebration of popular anime, including Gear Five From One Piece, Oshi no Ko, and Solo Leveling. From the world of comics, fans can expect exclusive reveals from Marvel Comics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution, and Spawn: Rat City.

Now in its fourth year, IGN Fan Fest is a celebration of everything fans love from the world of games, movies, TV, streaming, comics, collectibles, and more.

Last year’s event saw highlights including the first look at the opening of Diablo IV, a peek behind the stunts of John Wick: Chapter 4, and an in-depth conversation with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey from HBO’s The Last of Us.

In 2024 IGN Fan Fest promises to be bigger and better than ever, so stay tuned over the coming weeks for first looks at some of the show’s biggest reveals as well as more details about the epic lineup.

We got our first proper look at the Silent Hill 2 Remake during yesterday’s State of Play and, as someone who adored the original game, I immediately noticed a handful of familiar scenes. From James’ first steps into the Woodside apartments to his encounter with Pyramid Head, it’s possible to see that while many things have remained faithful in the Remake, others things have changed.

Take a look at the video or slideshow above to see the similarities and differences we spotted in the first trailer for Silent Hill 2 Remake. And if you haven’t already, check out the trailer itself below.

Annual sports games always face the same issue: What do you add to an already refined (and successful) formula for an individual effort to stand out from the pack? Countless series’ have had to tackle this problem, such as NBA 2K, EA Sports FC and now, following its recent revival, WWE 2K. Last year’s hugely popular WWE 2K23 is without question still an extremely good wrestling game package, so cynical players may just conclude that this year’s upcoming entry, WWE 2K24, isn’t an essential upgrade. But from what I’ve played so far, WWE 2K24 has added enough exciting gameplay-focused innovations that it’s definitely worth your attention. Let me talk to ya…

Although the next game in this long line of releases will naturally update and modernise the roster and cosmetics of WWE, 2K24 still requires headline additions to hang its hat on. This year they come in the form of four brand new match types: Special Guest Referee, Casket Match, Gauntlet Match, and an Ambulance Match. Only the latter was available for me to sample during a hands-on demo, but if its quality standard is anything to go by then I’m very excited to play the others.

For the uninitiated an Ambulance Match involves two superstars pummeling the snot out of each other under hardcore rules until one is weakened enough to be loaded by the other into the back of an ambulance, concluding the match. At first, this plays out like any other traditional no-holds-barred bout, but concludes with furious button bashing in an attempt to close both ambulance doors, locking your opponent away and awarding you the victory. The ambulance is parked at ringside, which leads to the vehicle being used in the action; you can ascend the truck and then throw your opponent off the top to a rapturous reaction from the commentary team. It’s a simple spin on the formula of a WWE hardcore match, but one presented with an ever-present spectacle. And, at least from my experience, the mode consistently delivers a dramatic conclusion as you desperately fight to either close the doors or escape.

Although I didn’t get to sample the other aforementioned modes, the care the Ambulance Match has received (primarily in presentation) bodes well for the other new match types on offer. I’m slightly apprehensive about the casket match, though, considering it appears to be mostly just a slight tweak on the ambulance match design based on the premise (rather than being dumped into the back of an ambulance, you load your fallen opponent into a ringside casket).

Along with the new additions all previous modes from 2K23 make their return. The only notable returning match type I got to sample during my hands-on was an updated Backstage Brawl which, despite now offering four-player support, initially disappointed. The entire play zone of the backstage area at first appears unchanged; it was only when exploring that I discovered the all-new environmental interactions, such as a wacky working elevator, smashable glass panels, and – easily my personal favourite – a 20-foot drop into a giant, conveniently placed searchlight. The area is now littered with new interactable ways to punish your opponent, but it still feels like another step could be taken to enhance the mode further, particularly in how fights conclude (you simply just KO them, which rarely feels satisfying) and the intro and outro presentation, which is currently is non-existent.

Both the Ambulance Match and the updated Backstage Brawl are extremely hardcore in nature, and this gave me ample time to play with perhaps my new favourite feature: Throwable weapons. Reminiscent of the latest Hitman games, you can now hurl your ringside weaponry at fying thud worthy of Agent 47’s best improvised weapon shots. I heaved microphones, kendo sticks, trash cans, and even ringside steps at my opponents and always without fail legitimately laughed out loud. Considering wrestlers have been throwing ring steps and other such weapons for decades, I can’t believe it took so long for this to appear in a game, but it’s an extremely welcome and funny inclusion.

Hardcore rules aside, the core gameplay of WWE 2K24 is almost identical to not only last year’s grappling action, but 2K22 as well. It’s understandable though, because it really does feel like developer Visual Concepts managed to nail the perfect balance of sports entertainment in its first attempt post-refresh, and since then the studio has only needed to make small, smart iterations. This year the notable additions to the core wrestling systems are trading blows and super finishers, with the latter being a long overdue reward system for patient and dominant players. Super finishers are made available when you bank all three of your finisher slots, encouraging you to not only build to a dramatic, leveled-up version of a superstar’s finishing move, but also – due to the time it takes to build – create a better pace for your main event fight.

Super finisher examples I was able to execute included Seth Rollins’ springboard version of the Stomp, and a top rope, avalanche Riptide executed by Rhea Ripley. Enhanced and ‘deadly’ variations of iconic moves (regularly reserved for big occasions in WWE) now being available for patient players is a vital inclusion, as they not only replicate the drama and spectacle of WWE, but they also add a long-term risk/reward strategy for players, encouraging you to pick your spots and bide your time far more than anything else has previously. It’s a very welcome addition, especially when the formula is so familiar.

Trading blows, the other previously mentioned addition, also furthers the agenda of replicating the drama of a WWE bout, but perhaps less successfully. At certain intervals (sometimes after a light attack, other times after a reversal – it was hard to get clarity on this) you and your opponent will enter a turn-based punching mini-game that requires you to hold and release a button within decreasing windows. This continues until someone fails three times, giving their opponent an advantage. This plays out as an extremely WWE-like exchange of blows that, on television, always encourages audience participation. In terms of presentation in the game, this again fits the agenda, but unlike super finishers, I never really felt satisfied or like I really achieved anything. Time will tell how this feels in terms of usefulness in the long term.

Presentation-wise, WWE 2K24 makes all the iterative steps you’d expect, with further improvement in replicating the sights, sounds, and superstars of WWE. Nothing particularly screamed out to me as a huge improvement, but from my small sample, it definitely felt like commentary was marginally improved, as were subtle details in object animations and interactions. There’s also now a second camera angle option, allowing you to point your perspective towards the ramp like you could in WWE games of yore, and the series’ recent competitor; AEW: Fight Forever. This might all seem insignificant, but again these are the iterative steps required to build on an already polished offering and move ever so closer to that goal of representing the ultimate WWE video game package.

Last year I said (perhaps controversially – especially to the purists!) that I truly believed WWE 2K23 was the best wrestling games had ever been. From what I’ve seen so far, WWE 2K24 builds strongly on that successful formula and I can’t imagine that opinion changing, at least not this time around. Ultimately these iterative upgrades will likely result in what I imagine will be a near-perfect wrestling game for fans of the series. It might just fall short of creating its own individual legacy, like No Mercy or Here Comes the Pain, but the series in its current state feels like it’s only one revolutionary feature away from becoming the head of the wrestling game table.

Dale Driver is an Executive Producer of Video Programming at IGN and a lifelong WWE fan/apologist who acknowledges his Tribal Chief. Be thoroughly bored by following him Twitter at @_daledriver.