Sony appears to be refunding customers who own the PlayStation 4 digital version of The Last of Us 2 and who bought the PlayStation 5 remaster at full price.
A message circulating online shows the offer of a refund in that specific circumstance, pointing out the $10 upgrade path currently available. The message reassures customers they will receive any pre-order bonuses included in the original pre-order.
PlayStation Refunding The Last Of Us Part II Remastered PS5.
According to some PlayStation owners, The Last of Us 2 Remastered on the PlayStation Store appears unavailable to those who own the PS4 version, but this was not always the case, potentially leading to purchases of the PS5 version by those unaware of the upgrade.
The Last of Us 2 Remastered launches today, January 19, on PS5. In our 10/10 review of the original game, IGN said: “The Last of Us Part 2 is a masterpiece that evolves the gameplay, cinematic storytelling, and rich world design of the original in nearly every way.”
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.
Microsoft’s second (hopefully annual?) Xbox Developer Direct went, like the first, exceptionally well. While we didn’t get a shadow-dropped killer exclusive – and let’s be honest, that’s not an expectation that Team Xbox probably wants to set – we did still get the surprise of a behind-the-scenes look at Square Enix’s upcoming Visions of Mana. Better yet, we got a good look at gameplay from Obsidian’s upcoming first-person RPG Avowed, we got the Hellblade 2 release date we’ve been waiting for, and best of all, we got the proper reveal of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the new first-person (!) action/adventure/puzzler/whip-simulator that’s being executive produced by Elder Scrolls and Fallout director Todd Howard. I’m extremely pleased with Microsoft’s showing, and it helps set the tone for what should be a very good year of Xbox exclusives.
Let’s start with the unquestionable headliner of the event: Indiana Jones. It’s looking stellar on the latest version of id Software’s idTech engine, and it surprised many with the fact that it takes place primarily from the first-person perspective. In hindsight this makes a lot of sense, because not only is developer MachineGames’ entire catalog comprised of first-person games (i.e. Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, their various expansion packs, and the incredible original-Xbox exclusive the team made when they worked together at Starbreeze, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay), but quite frankly, Naughty Dog already did the whole third-person Indiana Jones thing quite well four times. If MachineGames had gone third-person, the online discourse following the reveal would be absolutely toxic, with Sony fanboys downvoting and comment-bombing the trailer, calling it an Uncharted clone. Going first-person not only leans into the studio’s expertise, it allows them to put their own spin on an Indiana Jones game.
More exciting for me was how much of the aforementioned Riddick’s DNA is plain to see in Indiana Jones. The Great Circle promises first-person melee combat, stealth, and a little bit of gunplay – a description you could also apply directly to Riddick. And let me be clear: if Indiana Jones ends up being a 2024 version of Riddick but with Indiana Jones, I would be fully on board with that. Riddick is, in my I-played-everything-on-original-Xbox opinion, one of the five best games for Microsoft’s first console. It’s that good. And if Indiana Jones delivers something of that caliber by 2024 standards then we’re all in for a treat. And speaking of a treat, The Great Circle is due out later this year!
Hellblade 2 had perhaps the next-best showing, simply because it looks absolutely stunning and has all the makings of a top-tier third-person narrative-driven action-adventure game. If it suffered in the Xbox Developer Direct, it’s only because most fans, I’d argue, are more than convinced and simply want to know when they can play it. We got that long-awaited release date, fortunately, meaning we’ve got something that has the potential to be very special to look forward to on May 21.
Avowed was the third heavy hitter in this year’s Xbox Developer Direct lineup, and it showed well, but I don’t think it knocked off nearly as many socks as Indy and Hellblade did. Don’t get me wrong: Avowed has a lot going for it. The diverse landscapes look absolutely gorgeous, the character interactions look ripe with multiple-choice potential, and the dialogue will no doubt shine, given Obsidian’s track record. The renowned RPG developer has already told us to expect a smaller-scale game than the Elder Scrolls games it might immediately resemble, but that’s OK! We can be confident the story will deliver based on the studio’s own recent smaller-scale first-person RPG, The Outer Worlds. Combat looked a little stiff, and that’s what’s dragging it down a bit for me. But I have every reason to believe that it’s going to be an RPG well worth playing.
I don’t have much to say about Ara: History Untold, as we knew going into the Direct that it would be a deeper look at a very niche PC game. And that’s perfectly OK! I would respectfully argue, though, that perhaps the Xbox Developer Direct wasn’t the best venue to showcase it, given that the event was almost certainly watched primarily by Xbox console fans rather than PC gamers.
Though Indiana Jones carried most of the weight for this year’s Xbox Developer Direct, it was nevertheless an excellent showcase
Finally, we got a surprise in the middle of the Direct: Visions of Mana, the next entry into the long-running action-JRPG series. I adore the art style here and it’s great to hear that it’s not only arriving this summer, but it will launch the same day on Xbox as it does on rival platforms. To that end, I think this unexpected appearance would’ve hit a lot harder had Visions not just been announced a month ago at The Game Awards, but this was clearly a public display by Microsoft to say, “Look Square, we really care about you and your games and we want you on our platform!” Which, quite frankly, I don’t blame Microsoft for.
All in all, though Indiana Jones carried most of the weight for this year’s Xbox Developer Direct, it was nevertheless an excellent showcase. Xbox gamers now know, here at the very start of the year, that it’s going to be a pretty solid year of exclusives: Hellblade 2 in May, STALKER 2 in September, and Indiana Jones and Avowed in the Fall. And again, it’s only January. There will no doubt be more exclusives than that hitting Xbox this year (Replaced, for instance). We’re off to a great start!
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Palworld has launched big on Steam, where it’s already one of the most-played games.
At the time of this article’s publication, Palworld, which has been described as “Pokémon With Guns”, was just shy of 200,000 concurrent players on Valve’s platform, making it the fourth most-played game on Steam behind only PUBG, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike 2. Palworld is also the top-selling game on Steam by revenue, outperforming the likes of Warframe, Baldur’s Gate 3, and FC 24.
Palworld’s popularity on Steam will no doubt increase throughout the day and into launch weekend, when it may well break concurrent records. Palworld has also launched straight into Game Pass, which will increase player figures further.
Ahead of Palworld’s launch, developer Pocketpair insisted it definitely is not a scam. The assurance came in the wake of games like the disastrous The Day Before, which has fuelled distrust between players and early access developers on Steam.
Pocketpair celebrated today’s launch with a new blog post:
“Palworld started with a small team of four people. With Craftopia, we realized the potential that survival crafting games had, but as we continued development, we realized new possibilities.
“How much fun would it be if you went on an adventure, lived, and built a base with Pals, who had their own quirks and personalities?
“With this in mind, we have worked hard to develop this game for the past three years.
“Developers who sympathized with Palworld gathered one after another, and the scale of the game grew far beyond what we ever imagined.
“Palworld starts from here.”
Pocketpair said it will continue to add new features to Palworld, including PvP/Arena, “major” building system updates, a raid boss to fight that guild members must gather and cooperate to defeat, and trading Pals with players in other worlds.
“We are confident that if we continue to update Palworld properly, it will become the best game ever,” Pocketpair said, rather confidently.
“We will continue to do our best to update the game in order to bring it one step closer to becoming a great game.
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.
Following the mid-season update’s release, players ran into intense visual and gameplay glitches that made the battle royale pretty much unplayable. The problems were so bad that Raven had to pull the Champion’s Quest feature, which tasks players with winning five Warzone matches in a row or 30 total in the season.
Activision developers worked through the night to get on top of the problems, issuing a raft of issues that look to have sorted Warzone out for the most part. Champion’s Quest has now returned, and players have already managed to complete it.
Now, Raven Software has tweeted to explain what went wrong, saying parts of an upcoming, in-development feature accidentally went live, causing the bugs
Here’s the statement in full:
“We wanted to address the issues that players encountered during the Season 1 Reloaded launch period.
“We’ve been laying the groundwork for the return of some fan favorite features in upcoming seasons, which has required a degree of preemptive setup in our live environment.
“Yesterday’s update shipped with some of that work, and we unfortunately encountered a conflict between live player data and our servers. Our teams were made immediately aware of the issues and began investigating shortly after the update went live. We rallied studio teams from around the world to get these issues resolved as swiftly as possible.
“We – as devs – love this game and apologize for the disruption that resulted from these events. Please know that we hold ourselves to a high standard and yesterday’s issues did not align with that.
“With that said, we’re also very excited for what’s ahead and look forward to bringing the best we can to #Warzone!”
Raven followed that tweet up with another, teasing one of the in-development, upcoming features for Warzone (the fan-favourite Specialist Perk bonus is coming to Warzone):
So anyway, what are some of the features we’re preparing for well ahead of time – you ask? 👀 pic.twitter.com/WhFYyCUE6P
The Specialist Perk was an ultra powerful and rare Perk from the original Warzone that activated the other perks in the game all at once. Given this teaser image shows the Specialist Perk on Rebirth Island, perhaps players will have to wait for the map to come out before its introduction later this year.
There’s a lot going on in the world of Call of Duty, with Season 1 Reloaded also refreshing Modern Warfare 3 with Ranked Play. Meanwhile, Call of Duty’s anti-cheat tech was updated so that it crashes the game if it detects a mouse and keyboard player using unauthorised tools to enable aim assist. There’s even a hint at an upcoming Warhammer 40,000 collaboration.
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.
Square Enix appears to be on the verge of shaking up its development portfolio. According to its president, we may soon see fewer titles, but a more diverse array of genres coming out of a developer and publisher traditionally known for its massive RPG franchises.
In an investor Q&A that took place back in November but which was only recently published in English, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu addressed multiple questions from investors about the company’s portfolio going forward. In response to a question about what Square Enix was lacking that it needed to achieve sustained growth and meet its business goals, Kiryu cited two points: the limited diversity of the company’s portfolio, and a lack of strong marketing. On the limited diversity point specifically, he went on to explain the need to increase the different kinds of games in Square Enix’s portfolio by strengthing internal development capabilities, or perhaps even making acquisitions.
“Because we possess strong IPs like the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy franchises, I believe that we have tended to be overly reliant on certain gameplay styles or genres,” Kiryu said. “Meanwhile, the tastes of customers in the gaming market have diversified, and customers have come to enjoy content from a variety of genres. Moreover, blockbuster titles are not the only ones that enjoy popularity. For example, our title Powerwash Simulator is somewhat of an outlier in our portfolio in that it is a game well suited for casual play, but we have been able to steadily build up our earnings from it.”
Later in the Q&A, Kiryu was asked again about the company’s development efforts, and repeated that he wanted to strengthen Square Enix’s internal capabilities and “take on new challenges, partly because we want to add to the diversity of our portfolio of titles, as I noted earlier, while also enabling our developers to expand their skill sets.”
But, at the same time, Square Enix also appears to be very aware of its reputation as the RPG company. Elsewhere in the Q&A, Kiryu noted that the “numerous entries in our lineup” were making it difficult to keep tight control over development efforts. “I want to structure our development function so that we are able to ensure higher quality from each title by slimming down our lineup,” he said.
In a follow-up question, Kiryu continued:
“As our customers’ needs and the types of devices available have diversified, we have tried to produce hits by developing a wide variety of titles rather than by focusing only on certain ones. I believe that this has resulted in the splintering of our resource pool. Meanwhile, there have been clear winners and losers among the major titles released recently in the gaming market, and it has become possible for even indies titles to make their presence felt. The market is increasingly polarized between blockbuster and indies titles, but I feel that we have developed many titles that fell somewhere in the middle. I want to make clearer distinctions going forward.”
The market is increasingly polarized between blockbuster and indies titles, but I feel that we have developed many titles that fell somewhere in the middle.
What the president of Square Enix seems to be indicating here is that the company has been a bit too reliant on just making lots and lots of mid-budget RPGs that weren’t massive successes – see recent efforts like Harvestella, Various Daylife, or Valkyrie Elysium. While the big AAA swings like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are unlikely to stop being hits for Square Enix, Kiryu is noting a need to spend some development energy developing games like Powerwash Simulator (developed by Futurlab) internally and capitalizing on title diversity, instead of just reiterating the same formula across dozens of different, AA releases.
That’s one interpretation, but we’ll have to wait and see what Square Enix is cooking up in 2024 and beyond to say anything definitive about Square Enix’s plans. We do know it’s on the verge of publishing Foamstars from Toylogic, and has Visions of Mana in the chamber for 2024 alongside a remake of Dragon Quest 3, the new Dragon Quest 12, and (maybe someday) Kingdom Hearts 4. We also know the company is really interested in getting AI to make content for some of these games, as Kiryu stated in a New Year’s Letter earlier this year. it’s also one of the few companies that hasn’t fully given up on blockchain tech, even as other companies appear to be abandoning the idea.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Another year, another annual 30+ hour Chapter to further expand the already mind-bogglingly expansive RPG universe of The Elder Scrolls Online, which is now steadily approaching its 10th anniversary (coming up on April 4). This special occasion calls for a long-awaited classic TES feature to finally make its way into Zenimax Online Studios’ massively multiplayer online spinoff when the newly announced Gold Road expansion becomes available later this year. And for what it’s worth, that classic feature is indeed spell crafting in the form of Gold Road’s new Scribing system, as some theorized on Reddit following an unintentional leak of Gold Road’s introductory videos on YouTube via Zenimax itself.
Gold Road will release in June on all platforms, with PC and Mac versions releasing on June 3 ahead of its console launch on June 18.
As ZOS puts it, Scribing lets you “collect and customize” unique skills called Grimoires across ESO’s open-world zones through various means, and it’s even being described by Zenimax as a “fictional precursor to what could become spell crafting 1000 years in the future,” so take that as you will.
It’s exciting to hear that those skills each have a “primary, secondary, and tertiary effect” which you can alter and build upon with socketable Scripts. In theory, that could immediately open up tons of opportunities for new builds no matter which class you play as – and if I’m being optimistic, it could even shake up what many (myself included) believe is a stagnant combat system where skill rotations rarely change within a given CP160+ build.
But hey – if you’re more obsessed with getting your ESO character’s visual style just right, they’ve got you covered. At launch, Gold Road will feature 22 collectible styles that can be applied to your customizable Grimoires, and The Elder Scrolls fans who remember spell crafting from Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion may be pleased with the new system – which will tie directly into the skill lines that already exist for all classes, whether or not you directly engage with Gold Road’s content.
To that end, there will be “at least one” Grimoire for each of the major Weapon and World (Mage’s Guild, Fighter’s Guild, Soul Magic, Assault, Support) skill lines. Frankly, it’s been a long time since the Soul Magic line got any love, and I’m stoked to finally replace Soul Trap on my Templar’s skill bar.
It wouldn’t be a new ESO Chapter without a new zone featuring the usual mix of new quests, delves, points of interest, a new 12-player trial called Lucent Citadel, and a new main story – as we’ve come to expect from ESO’s annual Chapters since the Morrowind expansion released in 2017. The only thing missing is the usual duo of fresh NPC companions, who Zenimax says are coming in the final DLC of 2024.
The new area is set in the West Weald region of Cyrodiil, home to one of Oblivion’s iconic cities – Skingrad – which serves as Gold Road’s capital city.
The West Weald sounds like a sizable region, split threefold. There, you’ll find yourself exploring the titular Gold Road which is described as a “deciduous forest with windswept fall colors,” the jungle rainforest-inspired Valenwood Annexation, and the arid Colovian Highlands. From what’s been shared by Zenimax Online Studios, it sounds like you can simply walk into the West Weald via Cyrodiil, Reaper’s March, Craglorn, or the Gold Coast.
Once you get settled in the West Weald, you can choose to embroil yourself in the politics of a faction of Bosmer splintered off from the Valenwood named the “Recollection,” as they try to help out the newly-introduced 18th Daedric Prince, Ithelia – who, without spoiling too much about her identity or her connection to the broader story, was first mentioned during the events of 2023’s ESO Chapter, Necrom.
Like Necrom, that makes Gold Road’s role in terms of expanding broader TES lore especially important because we haven’t seen any additions to the Daedric Pantheon – which typically numbers 17 – since The Elder Scrolls series was in its infancy.
If you complete the main stories of both expansions, you’ll get to experience “capper” quests that resolve the combined stories. Ithelia and her realm Mirrormoor could very well make an appearance in The Elder Scrolls 6 in the far-flung future, so Gold Road may make it worthwhile to jump back into The Elder Scrolls Online and play the new main quests – even if you’ve been burned out of ESO’s otherwise decent Chapters over the last few years.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is currently in development for PC, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation.
Dragon’s Dogma was always envisioned as a single player game that gave off the impression of a multiplayer one, or a “Single-Player Online Party Action Game” in Director Hideaki Itsuno’s own words. And one of the key elements of driving that feeling home are the AI-controlled Pawns that make up 3/4s of your party. Pawns were a fascinating inclusion in the original game – at times endearing with their amusing (and frequent) comments on whatever was happening, other times bewildering with some of their behaviors in battle, and very often a great source of humor and levity.
That system is largely the same in Dragon’s Dogma 2 – you still create your own Pawn with their own Vocation that you can gear up however you like, and that Pawn will get shared online with the rest of the world so that another player can hire your Pawn that’s equipped with both the gear and knowledge that you provide to it. You’ll then fill out the remaining two slots of your party with two other Pawns that you can hire from The Rift – essentially a Pawn Network – who will provide you with quest knowledge and information that they themselves gained from their own creator’s adventure.
One of the key things that I noticed in my own playthrough, and something that Itsuno also highlighted when speaking with IGN, is that both Pawns and NPCs in general are much better this time around at guiding the player to a quest, or pointing out areas of interest, basically themselves acting as replacements for UI elements like markers or arrows.
We wanted it to feel like a friend who’s played the game before is sitting there next to you and giving you advice.
“We wanted it to feel like a friend who’s played the game before is sitting there next to you and giving you advice. Like, ‘Hey, go this way,’ or ‘In this case, you should go with this here,’ or ‘This is what you do.’ In other words, having a friend there with you who provides guidance in an enjoyable way,” said Itsuno. “We wanted to avoid putting too many markers and such on the screen, if possible. We didn’t want too much that kills a player’s mood, so we put a lot of effort into having Pawns and NPCs be your only guides in the world.”
Like the first game, Pawns will also have Inclinations as well, with you being able to outright select whether you want your Pawn to be kindhearted, calm, simple, or straightforward, without having to go through a questionnaire first. Your Pawn’s Inclination has a substantial role in dictating how that Pawn will behave in battle, with kindhearted Pawns favoring a balanced approach with an emphasis on support; calm Pawns being more proficient with defense and evasion; simple Pawns being extra diligent about looting items; and straightforward Pawns being more daring when it comes to attacking foes head-on. Each Inclination also has its own set of voice actors, with different options for pitch modulations, and their own unique actions that they can take as well.
We’ve very consciously tried to expand the number of ways in which Pawns are individuals.
According to Kento Kinoshita, lead game designer for Dragon’s Dogma 2, “If you want to think of it in terms of individuality, I think we’ve very consciously tried to expand the number of ways in which Pawns are individuals. There’s personality, as we just mentioned; while in terms of knowledge, they might have knowledge of certain enemies. This game also isn’t really about a specific main quest that they freely play through, but instead contains lots of different quests. It isn’t very forceful. The game is made in such a way where only the Pawns on a quest with a player learn from that quest, so I think there will be clearly individual experiences based on how different people play the game, what quests they go on, and what kind of knowledge they have. Part of the fun in finding Pawns will be the reaction of ‘Oh, this Pawn knows about this particular subject, awesome.’ where all the different parts of the game work together.”
Finally, one new aspect of Pawns are Specializations, which are special abilities given to Pawns, similar to what we would call licenses or qualifications. The idea is basically that Pawns can learn the ropes from their master – they can develop the Woodland Wordsmith specialization, which allows you to understand Elvish, by getting close with an NPC that speaks Elvish. Another example is the Chirurgeon Specialization, which allows Pawns to use healing items on others, as opposed to only being able to use them on themselves, allowing you to basically make a Pawn a healer, even if they aren’t a Mage.
“In this game, we have also made it possible for players to leave some things to their Pawns that they might find tedious or uninteresting, including not only combat, but also some other elements. We believe that by combining Inclinations and Specializations, players can create a Pawn that best suits their preferences,” said Itsuno.
Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit
Rockstar is looking to the horizon as it begins to “approach the limits of what’s possible” on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and it’s starting by removing the Rockstar Editor from those versions of Grand Theft Auto Online.
The Grand Theft Auto maker announced plans to make a shift toward the future in a news post on its website. It says that, while the Rockstar Editor will survive on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S, players on last-gen consoles will lose access come February 20, 2024. The editor’s removal is said to be part of the “necessary steps” that Rockstar is taking to ensure GTA Online additions continue to roll out on PS4 and Xbox One.
“This update will help to ensure the stability of these platforms and keep them updated with GTA Online additions for as long as possible,” Rockstar says.
Clips and projects created on these platforms will be deleted when the Rockstar Editor is removed next month. Those who are interested in saving or exporting their projects can view instructions on the Rockstar support page.
Today’s update isn’t all bad news. The post also includes promises to deliver more GTA Online love to players this week, including doubled rewards and vehicle discounts through January 24.
GTA Online has thrived for around a decade, so it makes sense to see Rockstar making new moves toward what’s next while still supporting its existing fans. These plans obviously include the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6, which was officially unveiled late last year. Potential online plans for the new open-world entry in the studio’s trend-setting series are a mystery for now, though we might have some guesses thanks to T-Pain.
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.
Bethesda has released Starfield’s first major update in 2024 into beta, with “over a hundred fixes and adjustments” introduced, most of which address fixing quests and adding quality-of-life improvements to the company’s space RPG.
In a blog post, Bethesda detailed every change coming to Starfield as part of update 1.9.47.0. Some of the tweaks that immediately stand out include improved widescreen support, allowing for the game to now support 32:9, 21:9, and 16:10 aspect ratios, and fixes to the Eye of the Storm Quest. The latter has been one of the quests some have been unable to complete, most notably when the player reaches the data transfer section.
Bethesda further reiterated that it will “continue to have a steady stream of updates about every six weeks,” telling those that might not have seen an issue addressed in this latest to not “lose faith” and encouraging users to continue sharing issues and feedback with the team.
In our review of Starfield, which we awarded a 7 out of 10, we said: “Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually, the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.”
You can check out the full Update 1.9.47.0 notes below.
Starfield Update 1.9.47.0 Notes
Animation
Fixed player character’s eyes remaining closed instead of blinking in third person view.
Addressed rare cases where small animation pops could be seen in third person.
Creatures and Enemies
Fixed incorrectly invisible creatures on some planets.
Fixed an issue that could occur on some enemies causing them to stand instead of falling to the ground.
Crew and Companions
Fixed crew members and companions positioning near the cockpit after fast traveling to the ship.
Companions: Fixed a possible control-lock when talking to a companion without entering a dialogue while simultaneously trying to exit the ship.
General
Fixed an issue that prevented Windows users saving if their username featured certain characters (PC).
Fixed rare save game corruptions on PC (MSS and Steam).
Fixed an issue that could lead to a control lock or a crash after loading a quicksave while in the targeting mode.
Fixed player marker following the camera on the surface map.
Fixed a rare issue that could prevent access to the main menu on when prompted to “Press any button to Start” (Xbox).
Body type should no longer reset to default when loading a Starborn save from the main menu.
Fixed flickering on Neon’s Trade Tower elevator panel.
Improved the appearance of the Ryujin Kiosk material during nighttime.
Fixed rare issue with how Cydonia’s panel could display the hours without incident.
Added Optimizations to cloud syncing of save games (MSS/Xbox).
Improved how crowds behave when desired target is reserved.
Fixed an issue that could cause airlock doors to sometimes appear floating in sky when arriving at locations.
Fixed unintended text appearing on the shipbuilder’s UI.
Fixed game session not properly resuming from shutdown in Energy Save mode (Xbox).
Various stability improvements.
Graphics
Improved widescreen support (32:9, 21:9 and 16:10).
Added support for stars displaying sun disk geometry.
Shadows can now be seen on planet rings from planet surface.
Improved eyes and skin on crowd characters.
Improved reflection on water.
Improved contact shadows on character skin (Xbox and PC Medium/High/Ultra).
Improved contact shadows on character cloth (PC High/Ultra).
Improved contact shadows on first person (PC Ultra).
Improved lighting in character generation menu.
Reduced the appearance of some minor artifacts during cutscene camera transitions.
Fixed flickering on a number of VFX (Sandstorm, corrosive liquid pools, waterfall).
Fixed a rare issue where the camera would lock while in handscanner mode whenever watching flying fauna (Xbox).
Fixed potential control lock when opening a game menu a moment before triggering a dialogue with another character.
Addressed various shadow popping, flickering and artifact issues.
Improved the visibility of the sun’s lens flare during sunrise and sunset.
Fixed a rare issue where foam or grime would not show up.
Fixed rare flickering VFX that could occur in space (Xbox Series S).
Fixed rare hair flickering (Xbox Series X/S).
Fixed occasional flicker on digiframes and TV screens.
Adjusted the appearance of bloom when activating the handscanner.
Improved the appearance of clouds during weather transitions.
Fixed rare cases where alignment of grass and wind could appear disconnected.
Reduced bloom intensity effect while motion blur is active (PC).
Addressed issues with concealment effect not always applying when using the handscanner.
Fixed visible edge of the ocean in the distance when seen from a very high point of view.
Fixed rare white flickering dots around characters’ hair during cut scenes.
Fixed a readability issue in the Starmap when using large menu font mode.
Fixed inventory menu occasionally failing to generate previews when using a mouse (PC).
Fixed a brief Depth of Field issue that sometimes occurred when aiming, alt-tabbing or leaving a dialogue screen.
Fixed occasional lighting transition issues after loading or exiting a location.
Fixed an issue that could cause intermittent bands to appear in distance fog.
Fixed a rare issue that could cause fog color to appear inconsistent.
Fixed a rare issue that could cause rocks to disappear near the player on the surface of a planet.
Fixed a crash that could occur when switching to DLSS with dynamic resolution active (PC).
Fixed flickering and delayed shadows sometimes occurring after unpausing the game.
Fixed various FSR2 and DLSS artifacts (noise, black dots, ghosting).
Fixed flickering when using the handscanner with DLSS enabled.
Fixed initial lighting conditions when landing on a planet.
Improved lighting at 73 locations.
Fixed various geometry, texture, and ghosting issues.
OUTPOSTS
Fixed a rare missing terrain issue that could occur after fast traveling to an outpost near New Atlantis.
Fixed an issue that could cause bulldozed objects to reappear when returning to an outpost.
Fixed and issue that caused hazard damage to remain even when the hazard was removed by bulldozing in outposts.
Fixed an issue where outpost’s cargo links would be removed from the terminal list if connected, disconnected, then reconnected to another cargo link during the cargo ship landing sequence.
Fixed an issue where weapon cases built by the player in an Outpost would populate with weapons and ammo after reloading the game.
Powers
Fixed a rare issue that could cause the Phased Time power to remain enabled.
Fixed the extreme speed that could occur in zero G when using the Phased Time power.
Solar Flare Power now accounts for critical hits.
Quests and Random Encounters
Absolute Power: Fixed missing slate in the safe preventing from completing the optional objective “Locate Evidence to Extort Ayumi Komiko”.
Background Checks: Fixed possible control-lock that could occur if caught by security.
Derelict Ship: Fixed an issue preventing the player from reaching the pilot seat if they did not have access to advanced locks.
Drinks on the House: Fixed rare occurrence where the door to Sub 12 could remain locked.
Echoes of the Past: Fixed Delgado getting stuck at bottom of stairs during “Continue Exploring the Lock” that could occur if The Lock was left during Delgado’s history dialogue.
Echoes of the Past: Resolved an issue that could cause Mathis’ and Delgado’s guns to be invisible.
Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue that could cause data transfer to not start after placing the Data Core.
Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where the docking prompt would be missing on the Legacy ship if the player undocked with the Legacy and then reloaded a save before having started the mission.
Executive Level: Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on a chair in the Ryujin Industries HQ conference room.
Failure to Communicate: Fixed an issue that prevented the player from finishing the quest if they downed all the members of the defense pact (Alban Lopez, Jacquelyn Lemaire, and Chanda Banda).
Further Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare crash that could occur when trying to dock with The Eye.
Groundpounder: Fixed an issue where the door to Lezama could sometimes be locked if the player left the location during the quest and came back later.
Hostile Intelligence: Fixed blocked doors in the Steam Tunnels room where the Terrormorph transformation occurs.
Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent the quest from starting after completing The Old Neighborhood.
Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare issue where a Temple location might not populate when receiving the “Go to” objective.
Legacy’s End: Fixed an issue that could prevent interacting with Delgado when he was behind the glass inside in the command center of The Key.
Legacy’s End: Fixed a debris pile where to player could become stuck while trying to reach the Mess Hall.
Missed Beyond Measure: Fixed a dialogue between Sarah and Walter not playing at The Lodge.
No Sudden Moves: Fixed companions not following player during personal quests.
On The Run: Fixed various issues related to Mei Devine becoming inaccessible the objective updated to “Listen to Mei Devine’s Introduction”.
On The Run: Fixed a possible control lock when sitting at the table to talk to Jade MacMillan.
One Small Step: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent Lin / Heller from exiting the airlock.
Operation Starseed: Fixed a bad view that could occur if the Beagle was boarded after a long idle.
Power From Beyond: Fixed an issue that caused missing Starborn temples and scanner disturbances that could prevent obtaining all Starborn powers from that universe.
Rough Landings: Resolved an issue that could occur during the “Meet up with Milena Axelrod” objective that could prevent ships from appearing at the desired location.
Shadows in Neon: Fixed an issue that could occur when repeatedly using the door to Jaylen Pryce’s office before he progressed to Neon Core.
Supra et Ultra: Fixed a control lock that could occur when entering the Flight Simulator while a guard is attempting arrest.
Tapping the Grid: Fixed inaccessible junction boxes that could occur after the Hunter attacks the Lodge.
The Best There Is: Fixed an issue that could prevent objective from advancing when talking to Naeva and Jasmine in the engineering room.
The Empty Nest: Fixed and issue that could cause Sam Coe’s gun to be invisible when inside Jacob’s house.
The Heart of Mars: Fixed another location that could potentially prevent recovering The Heart of Mars.
The Pale Lady: Fixed rare case of inaccessible ship crew log data slate making it impossible to complete the encounter.
Top of the L.I.S.T.: Phil Hill should now accept survey data for Sumati.
War Relics: Resolved an issue that could prevent Kaiser from moving to the mission site.
Where Hope is Built: Fixed a crash that could occur with a specific set of player behaviors.
Ships and Ship Customization
Fixed another case that could cause an asteroid to follow a ship in space.
Fixed ship hatch being marked inaccessible after swapping to a new home ship.
Fixed an issue where the ship could end up in an unintended state by simultaneously attempting fast travel during a grav jump.
Fixed a view issue that could occur when fast traveling during ship targeting mode.
Fixed an issue that could occur when entering Ship Targeting mode immediately after selecting a Grav Jump.
Fixed an issue that caused non-functional ladders to appear when the player modified their ship with a Taiyo All-In-One Berth Top A and a Deimos 1×1.
Fixed an issue where the Legendary ship could take too long to resume firing after the weapons were repaired.
Space combat should now match ground combat difficulty increase with successive trips through the Unity.
Fixed an issue where loading an exit save made while docked to a space station could cause names of ships to change.
Fixed marker not pointing to the current home ship after performing a save/load between different ships.
Fixed in issue that could cause the Frontier to incorrectly appear if a non-home ship was removed from a landing pad.
Skills
REJUVENATION: Rejuvenation skill VFX no longer replay whenever the handscanner is opened in third person.
SURVEYING: Fixed surveying challenge progress issue with mineral resource.
TARGETING CONTROL SYSTEMS: Fixed inconsistencies with level 3 and 4.
Weapons and Items
Fixed incorrect reload amounts that could occur when consuming a Trauma Pack.
Fixed FOV and zoom issues with weapon scopes.
Fixed weapon sound effects occasionally continuing to play after killing an enemy.
Fixed turret state not being restored properly after and save and load.
Fixed an issue that could cause the helmet light to not reappear in third person after a save and load.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Nothing about what Palworld attempts to do seems like it should work in the slightest. A thinly veiled Pokémon clone where you and your collectible monsters shoot people in the face with literal guns? A base building survival game where you use your kidnapped creatures as laborers, and are then forced to cook and eat those unpaid employees when times get tough? An open-world co-op adventure where you and your friends thwack helpless sheep over the head with a baseball bat to harvest their wool? Defying the odds, this wholly irreverent, gun-toting take on the creature collection genre has proven unrelentingly fun for the 15 hours I’ve binged so far. Its survival mechanics are intuitive and deep, its action-packed combat is silly and satisfying, and exploring the world in search of new Pals to kick the snot out of hasn’t come close to getting old – all of which is even more impressive considering this is just its Early Access release. I am baffled to report, dear reader, that Palworld is very good.
Despite the clear, eyebrow-raising inspiration it takes from a certain creature collecting powerhouse, Palworld more closely resembles a formulaic survival game like Grounded, with a roster of lovable monsters to capture as a clever twist on that formula. You find yourself inexplicably dropped into the wilderness of a strange land filled with oversized, dangerous beasts called Pals. From there you’ll need to build a base, hilariously force the local fauna into your servitude, and upgrade your gear to wage war against the rotten members of the Syndicate who try to murder you with assault weapons every chance they get. You won’t find yourself hanging out in idyllic towns or challenging gym leaders to friendly contests – this isn’t that kind of adventure (unless it has a very stark change of tone later on). Instead, your goal is to survive the harsh land and face off against evil and/or psychotic Pal trainers who raze villages, attack your base, and command foreboding towers and dungeons filled with goons who shoot to kill.
And yeah, tonally, that’s an utterly unhinged combination. One moment I was taking in pastoral views as I explored for new Pals, gliding, climbing, crafting, and cooking like this was an off-brand Tears of the Kingdom. The next moment I was firing guns at armed thugs and considering the possibility of butchering a Pal who had been mentally broken by the poor working conditions of my sweatshop so I could consume his meat to avoid starvation. Rather than not addressing the questionable aspects of the creature collecting genre, Palworld amusingly leans into them and lets you do absurd things like pick up your fiery fox Pal and use it as a flamethrower to burn your enemies to a crisp, or equip your monkey Pal with a machine gun (which sure beats using tail whip). Once you get over how incredibly weird that all feels, it’s a complete blast.
It’s definitely a bit weird to hack a penguin unconscious with an ax.
Catching Pals out in the open world has been a ton of fun so far, though it’s definitely a bit weird to hack a small penguin unconscious with an ax, or even more alarmingly, take out a gun and riddle your target with lead before stuffing it into a capture sphere. It feels extremely wrong at first, to be sure, but I found myself disturbingly used to the ritual after a few hours – I mean, is doing the dirty work myself really all that different from battling them with another captured creature instead?
The Pals themselves, on the other hand, aren’t quite as original as the process of catching them, as I’d mostly describe the ones I’ve seen as “almost copyright infringement.” Seriously, there’s a mouselike lightning Pal, a sassy two-legged cat Pal, a dinosaur with a flower on its head, and many more that reminded me an awful lot of some collectible monsters from the days of my youth. That said, uninspired as they are, most have pretty neat designs and a lot of personality, which makes each one a ton of fun to hunt and do battle against.
Though capturing, leveling up, and fighting alongside Pals is a major and awesome part of the adventure, you’ll likely spend much more time hanging out at your bases, where you’ll craft useful items and facilities, cook meals, and arm yourself for war in the epic battles ahead. Just like most other survival games, you’ll need to keep a steady stream of crafting materials flowing in, like wood, stone, and food, and the key to automating that process so you don’t spend endless hours mind-numbingly chopping down trees and swatting rocks with a pickaxe is by making clever use of the Pals themselves. For example, farming could soak up lots of your time as you plant seeds, water your plots, and then harvest the crops, but once you’ve captured some Pals and put them to work at your base, you can have a plant Pal spit seeds out of its mouth, then have a water Pal blast them with water, before another Pal comes along to harvest the crop and move it to your storage container.
This Pal-based cooperation is not only ridiculously adorable to watch, but gives you even more reasons to catch every creature you find. You might not have much use for the fox-like Pal Foxparks in battle, but if you keep one at your base, whenever you fire up the grill to cook or use the furnace to smelt some ingots, your charming fire friend will come running to shoot fire at the appliance and make the task go by faster. Even the weakest creatures give you a whole new reason to catch not just one of them, but a whole bunch to be put to work at whatever it is they do well.
I’ve only barely scratched the surface of a world map that seems quite large, but so far running around and looking for hidden chests, battling dangerous boss Pals, raiding dungeons stuffed with loot, and chatting with a handful of NPCs and vendors scattered throughout the wilderness has been consistently entertaining. In one area I was ambushed by some wolflike Pals and a giant boss who was way beyond my level absolutely destroyed me, while in another I fought a camp of evil Pal trainers who had raided the area and put Pals in cages, and in another yet I found a shady blackmarket trader who was selling rare, probably illicitly obtained Pals. I recently unlocked the ability to ride some of my airborne Pals, too, which has opened up a lot of exploration options, but there’s still quite a lot left to do and see. Time will tell just how much depth there is, but after taking down a few bosses and with a few dozen Pals unlocked in my Paldeck, I’m absolutely champing at the bit to see more.
