In IGN’s review, Simon Cardy called the game “an enthralling spectacle to behold,” and “a complete work of art from top to bottom.” That’s a pretty winning argument for it, so why wait any longer to grab it? This 64% discount may not last beyond today, so now’s the time.
Depending on who you talk to, beat ‘em ups are either repetitive, button-mashy coin munchers or a deceptively simple vehicle for absolute combat mastery. Me? I’m in the latter camp. But how do you get people who aren’t sickos like myself interested? How do you lure them into taking the first steps down Sicko Road? This year’s Absolum tried by merging a mechanically excellent beat ‘em up with a middling roguelite. Marvel Cosmic Invasion developer Tribute Games – the cats behind Shredder’s Revenge, the best TMNT game since Turtles in Time– takes a different approach. It looks to the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting games of old and asks one of the boldest questions I’ve seen a beat ‘em up pose in a New York minute: what if it was a tag game where you controlled multiple heroes? The answer, as it turns it, rules, even if the actual execution of Cosmic Invasion doesn’t quite live up to that concept.
I’ll be real with y’all; I’m not a Marvel guy. My dad’s into comics, and he got me into them, but DC was always his bag (he owns every Wonder Woman comic ever published, and no, that’s not an exaggeration), so I’m a DC kid at heart with a soft spot for indie comics. But I love the weirder parts of Marvel, especially the million conflicting X-men timelines and the cosmic stuff. It’s not the most popular thing Marvel publishes (that is and always will be Spider-Man, though X-men is no slouch), but it’s the most interesting. Give me that over the MCU stuff any day.
If the title didn’t give it away, that’s what Marvel Cosmic Invasion is about. The story here is real simple, almost like it has been ripped straight from the pages of a multi-issue event series. Big Bad Annihilus’s Annihilation Wave (listen, it’s comic books, okay?) is sweeping the galaxy! All life hangs in the balance! So it’s up to a rag-tag assortment of Marvel heroes, whether Earthborn or cosmic in origin, to bring him down. That’s all you gotta know. And you know what? It works.
A lot of it comes down to the team of 15 heroes that Tribute Games has assembled. Yeah, you’ve got the icons, the regulars who absolutely, positively accept-no-substitutes gotta be there. You know the ones: Storm, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America. Then you’ve got cats that were B-listers before the movies elevated them to prominence: Black Panther, Iron Man, Rocket Raccoon, She-Hulk, Nova, Phoenix, Venom. And then there are the weird and wacky inclusions. Thor isn’t here; instead, you get Beta Ray Bill. Real ones know. How do you feel about Cosmic Ghost Rider? Then there’s my girl Phyla-Vell. Oh, and because this is cosmic Marvel, the Silver Surfer is also here, and he is caked up. To the Silver Surfer degenerate at Tribute Games: I see you, and I appreciate you.
Everyone looks stunning because the spritework is absolutely gorgeous.
But the reality is that everyone here looks stunning because the pixel art spritework is absolutely gorgeous. Whether it’s Phyla-Vell’s hair blowing gently in the wind, how Wolverine always looks like a coiled spring, or the subtle transformations that sometimes reveal Eddie Brock beneath the symbiote as Venom, Cosmic Invasion captures the essence of these characters, right down to their voices. Go ahead and watch one the videos on this page, tell me that doesn’t sound exactly like the way Wolverine or Storm or Iron Man sound in your head. True believers, the vibe is immaculate.
Structurally, Cosmic Invasion is a pretty standard beat ‘em up. Not counting the tutorial, there are 15 stages, including old Marvel standbys like New York City, Wakanda, the Savage Land, and Genosha, as well as more exotic environs like Fort Galactus, each with a fun little sub-description (Genosha’s is Heavy Metal; the Savage Land’s is Rumble in the Jungle). Stage selection is mostly a straight line, but occasionally the path will split before reconverging and you’ll have to complete both branches before moving on.
Levels themselves are good but unremarkable beat ‘em up fare with the occasional environmental hazard. There is a collectible to find to liven things up, as well as three challenges in each stage – two are hero specific, such as defeating a certain number of enemies with a certain character’s special attack, while the final one is related to the stage itself. All of this is good: the challenges encourage you to use new characters and learn the intricacies of each arena, and stages are well-designed, snappy (each one takes around 10-15 minutes), and visually distinct in cool ways – you’d never mistake Savage Lands for Klyntar or Genosha – but nothing here is going to redefine your expectations for what a beat ‘em up can be.
What makes Cosmic Invasion special is its characters. Up to four people can play Cosmic Invasion at once, each controlling two characters, and it’s impressive how different each character is, even if they might not feel that way at first. Take Nova and Iron Man; sure, both of their unique attacks are ranged energy blasts, but Nova’s can pass through and hit multiple targets at once. Iron Man’s don’t. Nova’s special attack is an energy field that only hits foes at close range, while Iron Man’s giant, Marvel vs. Capcom 2-esque laser can hit anyone standing anywhere on-screen, but it does require you to line up your enemies and aim well.
Levels themselves are good but unremarkable beat ‘em up fare.
Meanwhile, Rocket is a ranged powerhouse, but his charged heavy attack does massive damage, while Phyla-Vell’s, who is more melee focused, can stun – and no one else has anything like her sword, which she can throw and then teleport to in order to start combos and then keep them going across the screen. Beta Ray Bill and Cap can both throw their weapons, too, but Cap’s shield returns to him automatically; Bill’s will spin in place, potentially juggling anyone unlucky enough to come into contact with it until you manually call it back. Even She-Hulk and Wolverine, both up-close-and-personal bruisers, play differently. Logan is faster and all about chaining long stabby-stab combos together, while Jen is a powerhouse who focuses on short combos that launch her victims into the air for potential follow-ups. They both have grabs, but they operate in very different ways.
Some characters have dodges, while others can block and parry if they time things right, opening up more defensive options. Characters that fly have a much easier time dealing with winged foes than those who don’t, and it’s easier for them to avoid stampedes. Everyone is a little different, and that can have a massive impact on how they play.
What’s really cool, though, are the tag team elements. You only actively control one character at a time, and you can summon your tag partner for various assists to keep laying on the hurt, opening up cool new offensive possibilities – that could be a launcher, a standard combo, their unique ability, their metered “I want these guys dead” special attack, and so on. Figuring out the best combinations and how movesets interact is a lot of fun, especially since you don’t start with everyone unlocked. It’s possible to lose a character mid-level (they have separate health bars), but even then, all isn’t lost. You continue on with your remaining hero, and if you stumble upon some floor food, a time-honored beat ‘em up tradition, they’ll come back with a little health.
Characters also level up as you use them, gaining more health, passive abilities, and so on, encouraging you to experiment, especially in co-op. I played the whole game with my wife (a single run through the campaign took three hours), and while I think Cosmic Invasion is a good time solo, like basically every beat ‘em up, it’s better with friends.
If this beat ‘em up has any black eyes, it’s the lack of enemy variety. You’ll see the same core cast of baddies a lot in Cosmic Invasion, and while that’s not a huge problem (this happens in most beat ‘em ups), it can get a little old. It’s also hilariously obvious when you’re fighting a boss that will become a playable character later on because it feels like you’re fighting someone you’ll be able to play later. It can lead to some really funny moments, like when we were fighting the Silver Surfer on an elevator and kept knocking him into the abyss. Eventually, he’d levitate back up to us for more, only to get knocked down again. It wasn’t bad, but it was as goofy as Rob Liefeld-drawn feet or pouches.
If you get bored of beating on Annihilus’s minions, you can head to the Vault, where you can see each hero’s progress in the Hero Lab, learn about their history and the history of your foes in the Nova Corps Files, and listen to some of Cosmic Invasion’s excellent tracks. You can also spend Cosmic Cubes you earn to unlock nodes in the Cosmic Matrix for more color palettes, hero profiles, tunes, and Nova Corps Files. It’s a cool little system, and it even doubles as a neat way to make art if you unlock the right nodes in a way that forms a pattern. I made an adorable little bug, and I’ll miss him when I fill everything out and he’s gone.
IO Interactive is busy working on James Bond video game 007 First Light, but it has said it also has plans to release Hitman 4.
In an interview with Variety, CEO Hakan Abrak said “of course there will be more Hitman.” But it may be some time before Hitman 4 comes out. Abrak said that any talk of a Hitman 4 announcement will have to wait until Hitman co-op arrives in World of Assassination, which continues to enjoy support via DLC from the studio.
“So of course there will be more Hitman,” Abrak said. “But right now, I think we need to get to the other side of this year and next year you’ll get more news about Hitman co-op, because I think co-op is a really, really good extension to the universe, and will introduce very interesting mechanics and combinations in World of Assassination. But we will, after that, be talking about the next Hitman — because, of course, there’s going to be a next Hitman.”
The Hitman franchise kicked off in 2000 with Hitman: Codename 47. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin followed in 2002. Hitman: Blood Money came out in 2006, and served as the third game in the original Hitman trilogy. Hitman: Absolution followed in 2012, before Hitman, which acted as the first installment of the World of Assassination trilogy, came out in 2016. Hitman 2 followed in 2018, then Hitman 3 in 2021.
IOI has three main productions right now: ongoing work on Hitman: World of Assassination, 007 First Light, and a new fantasy IP appropriately codenamed Project Fantasy. “It’s not announced yet, exactly what it is, but it’s a multiplayer fantasy project, which is extremely ambitious and really cool and is something else than a gun in a suit,” Abrak teased. “So that’s also good to have something new within the creative outlook here.”
Will Hitman 4 have to wait until all three projects are wrapped up? Abrak didn’t say, but you can see why the studio would want to return to the franchise with a brand new sequel: overall, Hitman has had more than 85 million players and over 25 million copies sold. Each more, more than a million people play Hitman, Abrak added.
Cyber Monday is your last chance to secure the best offers of the year before the holidays. If you’re on the hunt for some last minute deals, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Cyber Monday discounts, and you can all our top picks and price drops in IGN’s comprehensive Cyber Monday hub.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Grand Theft Auto 6 work-in-progress development footage appeared online over the weekend before it was scrubbed from the internet. But while Rockstar’s hotly anticipated sequel has suffered substantial and damaging leaks in the past, this latest leak is anything but.
Eagle-eyed leak hunters uncovered an animation reel uploaded to Vimeo by a developer who has worked on a number of Rockstar games. In it were three snippets of development footage apparently showing GTA 6 (they were indeed labeled as such).
As you’d expect, the video was pulled from Vimeo, but the internet noticed and so the GTA 6 clips are doing the rounds. There are three separate clips, each brief and showing animations on what looks like a test map.
The first shows a male character removing and inserting a bike into a rental bicycle rack. We see the word ‘LomBike’ on the frame of the bike, which is probably a parody of real life LimeBike rental bicycles. No big surprise there for GTA 6! And we even saw this bike rental system in an official GTA 6 screenshot released by Rockstar earlier this year.
The other two, similarly brief clips, show a female character, presumably Lucia, getting out the back of a pickup truck in various stages. Again, nothing to write home about.
In truth, these very brief animation clips do hint at what we can expect from GTA 6 when it eventually comes out, but they tell us nothing we didn’t already know. Of course you’ll be able to rent bikes in GTA 6; it was right there in the screenshot, above. And of course you’ll be able to jump off a pick up truck. This is GTA 6 we’re talking about!
And let’s remember that when you’re actually playing GTA 6, you’ll see these animations in finished form — wonderfully detailed and high quality as you’d expect from Rockstar.
Cyber Monday is your last chance to secure the best offers of the year before the holidays. If you’re on the hunt for some last minute deals, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Cyber Monday discounts, and you can all our top picks and price drops in IGN’s comprehensive Cyber Monday hub.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Jennifer Hale has opened up on PlatinumGames’ controversial decision to hire her and replace original voice actor Hellena Taylor for Bayonetta 3, admitting, “I definitely got thrown under the bus by that whole thing.”
Just ahead of the third instalment of Hideki Kamiya’s stylish action game series, PlatinumGames revealed that Taylor — who voiced Bayonetta in the first two games — wouldn’t return, and would instead be portrayed by Hale.
“Various overlapping circumstances made it difficult for Hellena Taylor to reprise her role,” Platinum said at the time. “We held auditions to cast the new voice of Bayonetta and offered the role to Jennifer Hale, whom we felt was a good match for the character.”
A subsequent report from Bloomberg (and later corroborated by VGC) revealed that Platinum allegedly attempted to hire Taylor for five four-hour sessions at a rate between $3,000 and $4,000 apiece. This would have put Taylor’s total compensation for Bayonetta 3 at $15,000, much higher than the amount she claimed she was offered. Taylor then released a new statement, saying she was in fact offered $15,000 for the role, but she denied aspects of the reports.
Hale also released a statement amid increased scrutiny and social media harassment over the situation, although it was vague due to non-disclosure limitations.
Now, considering whether or not she’d reprise her role as the titular witch, Hale was cautious but candid, admitting that while she’d “love to play Bayonetta again,” “it was not fun getting thrown under the bus like I had.”
“I definitely got thrown under the bus by that whole thing, and I was unable to speak on my own behalf because I was under not one but two NDAs. Eventually, I was allowed to make a statement, which I appreciated, and I was able to present the facts,” Hale told GAMINGbible.
“There were some things said [that were] presented as facts, but were false. I would have never taken a role otherwise. Before I accepted the audition, I checked everything thoroughly, and I trust the director. Thankfully, playing Bayonetta was so much fun, and the community was so welcoming to me, especially after the fiasco had passed and the facts came out. But it was not fun getting thrown under the bus like I had, but I was happy to come out on the other side.”
It turns out she wouldn’t even need to reprise her role as Commander Shepard — just being able to step back into that world again in any form would make her happy.
Cyber Monday is your last chance to secure the best offers of the year before the holidays. If you’re on the hunt for some last minute deals, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Cyber Monday discounts, and you can all our top picks and price drops in IGN’s comprehensive Cyber Monday hub.
Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for ReedPop.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
CD Projekt is sticking to its ambitious plan to release all three video games in the new Ciri-fronted The Witcher trilogy within a six-year period.
Speaking during a recent financial call, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said that future The Witcher video games “should be delivered in a shorter period of time.” That’s because CD Projekt has switched to Unreal Engine 5 for the full production of not only The Witcher 4, but The Witcher 5 and 6.
Here’s Nowakowski’s quote in full:
“We’ve been using UE5 for The Witcher 4 for almost four years now, and we’re very happy with what we’ve achieved. I think you could have seen some of that with your own eyes with our tech demo reveal at Unreal Fest couple of months ago, and we’re very happy with the results of that as well – we’ve already said that, but I’m always happy to say it again – and we’re happy with how the engine is evolving through the Epic team’s efforts, and how we are learning how to make it work within a huge open-world game, as TW4 is meant to be.
“In a way, yes, I do believe that further games should be delivered in a shorter period of time — as we had stated before, our plan still is to launch the whole trilogy within a six-year period, so yes, that would mean we would plan to have a shorter development time between TW4 and TW5, between TW5 and TW6 and so on.”
That’s a hugely ambitious release plan that comes across as all the more surprising given The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was originally released on May 19, 2015 — four years after The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Based on Nowakowski’s comment, CD Projekt plans to release The Witcher 5 three years after The Witcher 4, then The Witcher 6 three years after that, assuming it wants to spread each release out equally.
As we’ve seen, AAA video game development can be a difficult endeavor that takes years to complete. Bethesda is still beavering away on The Elder Scrolls 6, which it announced in 2018. Microsoft’s new Fable game, due out in 2026, was announced in 2020, but development began before then. And there was a five-year gap between Sony’s release of Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei.
So, the idea that CD Projekt will release three new The Witcher games in six years is certainly ambitious, and it remains to be seen if this plan holds when all is said and done. But assuming it does, when can we expect the games to actually come out?
CD Projekt has indicated The Witcher 4 won’t be out in 2026, which means 2027 at the earliest. According to CD Projekt’s latest financial report, 447 people are currently working on The Witcher 4, up slightly from the number reported at the end of July. Clearly, it is CD Projekt’s focus right now, and production is in full swing. Let’s say The Witcher 4 comes out in November 2027. That would mean The Witcher 5 in 2030, and The Witcher 6 in 2033.
There are multiple spanners that may end up being thrown in the works. CD Projekt will no doubt have to manage a console transition, which may or may not occur before The Witcher 4 comes out. And who knows where the world, generally, will be in just a year’s time, let alone four or five? The video game industry, already struggling through perhaps the most transformative, disruptive time in its history, could be in a very different place in just a couple years. It’s just impossible to predict much of anything right now.
Meanwhile, CD Projekt has Cyberpunk 2 in the works, although that’s further behind The Witcher 4. Will Cyberpunk 2 come out in between one of these new The Witcher games, or will CD Projekt wait until the new trilogy is out before pulling the trigger? And let’s not forget The Witcher 1 remake CD Projekt is working on in some fashion. Will that launch amid the new trilogy? There are other projects too at various stages of development at the Polish company, as well as non-video game projects involving its IP. In short, CD Projekt has a lot going on. A hell of a lot.
CD Projekt recently ruled out The Witcher 4 from this month’s The Game Awards, so don’t expect any new trailer there. Our last look at the game came via the hugely impressive Unreal Engine 5 tech demo in June, which Nowakowski mentioned in his comment. So, don’t hold your breath for The Witcher 4, but when it finally comes out — assuming everything goes according to CD Projekt’s plan — fans are potentially in for an incredible six years.
Cyber Monday is your last chance to secure the best offers of the year before the holidays. If you’re on the hunt for some last minute deals, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Cyber Monday discounts, and you can all our top picks and price drops in IGN’s comprehensive Cyber Monday hub.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Phantasmal Flames is arguably the best first expansion for a new era of Pokémon cards ever, and Mega Evolution was really good for a start. Mega Charizard X heading up this set is such a win, as Charizard is arguably the real mascot of Pokémon over Pikachu (I love them both, don’t hurt me)
For Cyber Monday, Amazon has dropped the price on its Phantasmal Flames Booster Box from $279.99 to its lowest price yet, $254.99, which is also $15 cheaper than TCGPlayer’s lowest listing right now. Bargain, catch it before it runs away.
Phantasmal Flames Booster Box
36 booster backs are inside, which is the best feeling in the world when you’re ripping everything open in one go. Surprisingly, there seem to be quite a few Mega Charizard X ex SIRs and Hyper Gold Rares floating around.
I don’t have numbers or anything to back this up, but there are a lot more posts in Pokémon TCG community groups finding these over previous sets. Maybe that’s just due to more stock being available thanks to increased print runs starting to finally surface?
Who knows, but it’s awesome for collectors and players alike.
There’s more bangers to pull in this set too, such as Dawn – 129/094 for some Diamond and Pearl Nostalgia, Mega Sharpedo ex – 127/094 with some amazing comicbook color use, and even the Alt Ultra Rare Mega Charizard X ex looks amazing with that classy use of neon green and pink to make Mega Zard x stand out.
Just buy what you want then get 10% back as store credit. You can rack up to 16% cashback today just by signing up for the $8.99 TCGPlayer Subscription, which also get your free delivery and a flat 1% cashback on purchases year-round.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
The caption of the tweet leads to the monolith above, alongside its real-world location in the Mojave Desert. As you’d expect, people tracked it down and uploaded footage to social media.
Amid all that, Windows Central reporter Jez Corden took to social media to say the tease related to an expansion for Blizzard’s action role-playing game, Diablo 4. Blizzard had said Diablo 4 was set to get an expansion in 2026 (alongside a new ranking system and leaderboards), so an appearance at The Game Awards later this month would make sense.
There’s no detail yet on what this expansion will contain, although earlier this year Diablo 4 fans suggested Blizzard had leaked the Paladin class, perhaps the most-requested by fans since Diablo 4’s June 2023 release. The Paladin is one of the most popular classes from Diablo 2, so its arrival in Diablo 4, should it happen, would be celebrated by the game’s community. The game’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, added the Spiritborn class.
Corden’s “more” could relate to a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Diablo 4 — a shadowdrop perhaps? Or it could be to do with something else entirely.
With The Game Awards less than two weeks away, we’re starting to get an idea of what to expect. CD Projekt has ruled out more of The Witcher 4, but we do know that Exodus, the new sci-fi RPG in development at Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by former BioWare developers James Ohlen, Chad Robertson, and Drew Karpyshyn, and published by Wizards of the Coast, will get a new trailer at the show.
Cyber Monday is your last chance to secure the best offers of the year before the holidays. If you’re on the hunt for some last minute deals, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Cyber Monday discounts, and you can all our top picks and price drops in IGN’s comprehensive Cyber Monday hub.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
FromSoftware just doesn’t miss, eh? It’s hard to believe that it’s been over three years since Elden Ring landed on consoles and PC, and it somehow lived up to all of the expectations fans had placed on it.
A game we awarded a 10 out of 10 review score to, the joy of Elden Ring’s age now is that discounts are more plentiful, and the epic action RPG is now at its lowest price of $15 in Walmart’s Cyber Monday sale – and it’s not alone.
Elden Ring And Nightreign Score Big Cyber Monday Discounts
Whether you’re on PlayStation or Xbox, you can pick up the open-world fantasy epic for $19.99 – a 60% drop from the MSRP.
“Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path,” Mitchell Saltzman said in his review, and we stand by it.
It’s worth noting that this version doesn’t include the huge expansion Shadow of the Erdtree, which is large enough to be its own game – and even more challenging. We awarded it a 10 out of 10 score in our review, too. Unfortunately, the Shadow of the Erdtree version of Elden Ring is no longer discounted anywhere..
If you’re looking for something to play with friends, then Nightreign is well worth checking out. It condenses Elden Ring’s combat into a three-player hybrid between roguelite and battle royale as you’re pushed ever closer to challenging bosses.
Mitchell gave Nightreign a 7 out of 10 in his review, saying, “When Elden Ring Nightreign is played exactly as it was designed to be played, it’s one of the finest examples of a three-player co-op game around – but that’s harder to do than it should be, and playing solo is poorly balanced.”
Subsequent patches have smoothed out those jagged edges, but it’s still best played with a couple of buds.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
It’s time to draw the curtains, as the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door deal from Black Friday has gone out of stock pretty much everywhere! If you missed your chance to grab this deal, Walmart might still have some copies in stock at your local store, but pickings are slim This turn-based Mario adventure is a must-own for any Nintendo Switch player, and this discount was the best price we’ve ever seen on it.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for $30
Paper-Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is one of the most beloved Mario games of all time. The Nintendo Switch remake introduced several new features and quality-of-life updates, including the Partner Ring, which lets you quickly flip between partners, and new badges to unlock. Additionally, you can explore concept art and listen to the soundtrack in the Art and Sound Galleries, which can be filled out by obtaining Star Pieces. Beyond this, much work was put into the visual department, with updated sprites, enhanced graphics, and new lighting added to create a more premium experience.
Of course, the star of the show is the turn-based combat that Paper Mario is known for. Battles take place on a stage with toads in the audience, who actually can help change the course of battle by refilling the SP gauge. Each turn, you’ll have the chance to choose your attack, whether that be a jump, hammer, or special move. The Thousand-Year Door is a game of strategy, which is a huge shake-up to the traditional Mario formula found in the 3D platformers.
Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.
