One of the best days of the year is finally here: the Steam Summer Sale has arrived at last. If you’re unfamiliar, the Steam Summer Sale is one of the two biggest sales available on the platform annually, with the other occurring around the holiday season in December. You can expect to save big on PC games both new and old, which makes the sale a perfect time to buy games in bulk.
This year’s Steam Summer sale is set to run through July 10. Some of the top-reviewed games of 2025 are included as part of this sale, in addition to newer PC ports from publishers like Square Enix or PlayStation. We’ve sorted through the sale and picked out some of the best deals you can find this year. Don’t miss your chance to save as much cash as possible on these PC games.
Steam Summer Sale – The Best Deals Today
One of the best deals I recommend checking out is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for $41.99. With the main story and side content combined, there is easily over 100 hours of content in this RPG. This game just made its way to PC in late January, and it’s one of the best RPGs to release in the last five years. If you haven’t yet played Final Fantasy VII Remake, you can grab both games together in the Twin Pack for $59.99.
You can also save on three major 2025 indie games: R.E.P.O., Schedule I, and Blue Prince. The latter sits as one of the highest rated games of the year, offering a unique house of puzzles to solve. Schedule 1 puts you in the shoes of a drug dealer, and the game is still one of the most played Steam games of 2025. Finally, R.E.P.O. is a wonderful time with friends that is sure to cause both laughs and headaches. All of these smaller games are generally great to stream to your phone if you want a more mobile experience.
If you’re looking for deep discounts, I recommend Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Wars Battlefront II. Each of these games is 90% off, and you can pick all three for a grand total of $14. Star Wars Battlefront II is an especially good deal, as there has been a major resurgence in online players as of late.
One of the smaller discounts available is for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. While you’ll only save $5 during the Steam Summer Sale, this is the lowest we’ve seen this game yet. If you’ve been on the fence about picking this one up, it’s not likely to dip much further until late this year, especially since it is one of the highest-rated games of the year.
Amazon Prime Day Arrives at the End of the Steam Sale
While the Steam Summer Sale is ongoing right now, Amazon Prime Day is set to kick off on July 8. This year, Amazon has doubled the length on the sale, making it the longest Prime Day to date. Though PC games are not usually a focus of Prime Day, you can expect to have the opportunity to score a few deals on PC hardware, monitors, accessories, and more. If you’re looking to either enter the PC market for the first time or upgrade your existing setup, keep your eye on Prime Day. This is also when more of the console games will likely go on sale.
Amazon is also currently offering free PC games as part of an early Prime Day promotion. So if you are a Prime member already, it’s worth diving into that and picking up some freebies before they’re gone.
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.
Elden Ring Nightreign is close to a month old now, and FromSoftware has been rolling out enhanced versions of its bosses. The first one, Gaping Jaw, was an absolute terror. But in the first 24 hours of players facing off with the second Everdark Sovereign, the Darkdrift Knight, they don’t seem quite so overwhelmed.
Fulghor, Champion of the Nightglow is the latest Everdark Sovereign fight. To take on the fight, you’ll have to beat the base-level Darkdrift Knight expedition. He’s available to battle until, presumably, the next Everdark Sovereign rotates in; the hefty centaur replaced the shadow-drop enhanced Gaping Jaw battle, which was no slouch.
As for Fulghor? Players don’t seem to be having as tough a time with the stomping warrior. That’s not to say he’s outright easy; bosses are still, broadly, challenging in Elden Ring Nightreign. But it seems like, compared to the first Everdark Sovereign fight, players aren’t struggling as much with this one.
While Adel, the Gaping Jaw fight, had some big flashy moves and surprise on its side, Fulghor is comparatively chill. He does start the fight with his Venom-like arm appendage out, and his mid-fight transition sees him ascend into the sky and gain a normal arm back, allowing him to unleash a bunch of explosive, shiny attacks.
Still, it’s a bit more subdued than the literal storm and lightning frenzy that Gaping Jaw could whip up. “I feel as though Fulghor is easier but it’s just more fun to do. Chasing a boss for 20 minutes to get a few hits in is boring,” one Reddit user said. “Feel as though Fulghor could have been harder or had flashier moves, but I’m having way more fun repeating runs against him than Adel.”
Conversely, some like the flashiness of Adel compared to the (again, relatively) subdued enhanced Fulghor. “I liked the specific attacks Adel had like the tornado where you have to jump stream into the eye or you take constant damage,” another user said. “This seemed well thought out. The new attacks of Fulgor are pretty easy to understand even the first time youre seeing them.”
A true foe, at least for some players, were the servers. Around the launch of Fulghor, players started reporting disconnect issues, and you can them in other posts and replies.
But unless you’re this player specifically, you might not have as much trouble with the enhanced Darkdrift Knight as you might think. Still, there are more enhanced fights to tackle either way. Per Bandai Namco’s announcement post, there’s still a Sentient Pest Everdark Sovereign on the way. Other bosses are also due to get their enhanced versions over time, too.
A Fortnite player who consistently cheated in competitive tournaments has been handed a huge fine and banned from the game “forever,” developer Epic Games has said.
Sebastian Araujo from Lomita, California, was sued by Epic after participating in 839 cash tournaments within just four months, while using a device designed to evade Fortnite’s anti-cheat detection.
According to Epic, which won its legal action against Araujo this week after he attempted to ignore the lawsuit, the player’s winnings amounted to “at least $6,850.” That’s no small amount, but his fine now is 25 times higher: an enormous $175,521.
How has Epic landed on such a figure? Court documentation shared with IGN shows the developer demanded the statutory minimum $200 fine for each violation of the game’s copyright for all 839 tournaments Araujo took part in — for a total of $167,800. The remainder of the fine is then mostly attorney fees and costs.
“While the Court notes the amount sought by Plaintiff exceedingly surpasses Defendant’s alleged actual gain, $6,850, Defendant took significant measures to conceal the true scope of his cheating activities by creating multiple fake accounts and employing a hardware spoofer to circumvent detections,” the court documentation reads.
Further examination shows Epic had pushed for an even higher fine — with an additional $100,000 penalty in statutory damages for copyright infringement — though it’s here that the judge decided this amount would have been “excessive” versus Araujo’s actual ill-gotten gains.
If it feels like Epic is making an example out of Araujo, then it wouldn’t be the first time. Back in February 2025, Epic humiliated another Fortnite tournament cheater by forcing them to post a public apology video acknowledging they had cheated, and were similarly now banned for life.
As with that case, the money Araujo must now pay will be donated by Epic to Child’s Play, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing access to toys and games.
Both cases follow a promise made back in November 2024, when Epic said it was “ramping up legal action against both players who cheat and cheat sellers,” as it sought to bolster “competitive integrity in tournaments.”
This latest public announcement, eye-watering fine and lifetime ban are all likely designed to act as deterrants for any other players with ideas of doing the same.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has seen a big boost in players after launching its first new class, but complaints over monetization have continued especially after developer Fatshark released a version of the Arbitrator’s default helmet with its visor up for $5.
This week’s Battle for Tertium update, which arrived alongside the new Adeptus Arbites class DLC, reworked the core player experience to provide a new, clearer narrative focus for the co-op first-person melee / shooter hybrid.
Players now experience a linear campaign with new mission debriefs and embedded cinematics. It’s designed to “ease in new players and gradually unlock features that were previously gated by character level,” Fatshark has said.
But the big draw for veteran players was the release of the Adeptus Arbites class, and it appears to have done the trick. This $11.99 DLC looks like it’s sparked the interest of players who have stuck with the game since its troubled launch, as well as convinced lapsed players to dip back in.
Following the launch, Darktide hit a peak concurrent player count of just over 43,000 on Steam, the highest it’s been on Valve’s platform for over two years. And this doesn’t even paint the whole picture of the game’s success, given it’s also out on console.
In a statement provided to IGN, Product Marketing Manager Rodrigue Delrue said Fatshark had noticed the uptick, but failed to say exactly how many were playing Darktide across PC and console.
“We’ve seen a high level of engagement across all platforms, even if we don’t have exact numbers to share at this time,” Delrue said. “What’s important is that the community remains active and passionate, and we’re incredibly thankful for that.”
However, there is one sticking point: monetization. Darktide’s Adeptus Arbites DLC launched alongside a fresh round of premium cosmetics, bought with the in-game currency called Aquilas (the Aquila is the ancient symbol of the Imperium of Man in the Warhammer 40,000 universe). And within that monetization debate, one item in particular has set the community off: a helmet with its visor up.
This helmet, specifically for the Arbitrator, is identical to the default visor-down helmet you get with the new class. So, you’re paying 900 Aquilas (approx. $5) just to lift your visor up.
As you’d imagine, this hasn’t gone down well with some Darktide players. “We’ve reached the current peak of Fatshark greed,” reads one thread on the Darktide subreddit, upvoted 3,000 times.
“Yeah, it’s bulls**t that this wasn’t just included alongside the otherwise identical default visor-down helmet,” said one player. “Just give me a button push that lets me do this,” suggested another. “I’m just glad the visor up isn’t default and they make you pay for down,” joked one fan. “You mean I have to pay extra to actually see my character’s ugly face? I was buying skins to cover it up.”
IGN put the complaints about this cosmetic and Darktide’s monetization generally to Fatshark, and Delrue explained the studio needs to sell items in order to continue working on the game, but took the feedback on board.
“Cosmetic pricing is always a balancing act,” Delrue said. “As a live service game we want to be able to keep working on the game while respecting what players feel is fair value. We appreciate when these topics are brought up, these conversations help us better understand what the community values and helps inform how we approach cosmetics going forward.”
The question now is, how much longer will Fatshark continue to work on adding new content to Darktide, which is approaching its third birthday? Delrue pointed to the studio’s continued support of the even older Warhammer game, Vermintide, as evidence of its commitment to its players, and even confirmed more new classes are on the way.
“Since launch, we’ve continuously supported Darktide with free updates — and that commitment isn’t changing,” Delrue said. “As we’ve shown with Vermintide, we’re in this for the long haul. Players can naturally expect ongoing support, including new classes and additional free content as the game continues to evolve.”
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.
“The PvE area has been adjusted to encompass the entire southern half of the Deep Desert map,” Funcom confirmed in its latest patch notes, below. “This means that players who have no interest in PvP should be able to find what they want without engaging in PvP. Imperial Testing Stations, caves, and so forth found in this area are thus now PvE.”
“Rest assured that we will continue to listen to your feedback and make adjustments in the future,” the team said.
“We want PvE players to be able to play the endgame and have access to the content of the endgame,” said creative director Joel Bylos. “Our goal is not to force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in.
“We still believe in the core concept of the Deep Desert — an endlessly renewing location that resets every week and creates an activity loop for great rewards. The tension of heading out there, head on a swivel, eyes peeled for foes as you enter the most dangerous part of the most dangerous planet in the universe. Our wish was that players would embrace this loop, forming guilds to work together to overcome the bleakness of the Deep Desert.”
For those wondering, yes, Control Points and Shipwrecks will continue to be PvP “throughout the entire map,” which means you will find “localized pockets of PvP within the PvE section still. Similar to how Shipwrecks are PvP in Hagga Basin.” Work has also begun on changing the Ornithopters; equipping a rocket launcher module will now decrease the top speed of your Scout Orni by 20%, and Assault Ornis by 10%.
After the patch has been applied, players will also be able to report other players’ messages from the text chat or report them by using the Inspect menu.
Dune: Awakening Patch Notes 1.1.0.17
Deep Desert
As outlined in A message from the Creative Director on PvE and PVP » Dune: Awakening, this hotfix will see the first iteration of the changes to the balance between PvE and PvP in the Deep Desert. Rest assured that we will continue to listen to your feedback and make adjustments in the future.
The PvE area has been adjusted to encompass the entire southern half of the Deep Desert map.
This means that players who have no interest in PvP should be able to find what they want without engaging in PvP. Imperial Testing Stations, caves, and so forth found in this area are thus now PvE.
Control Points and Shipwrecks will, however, continue to be PvP throughout the entire map, which means you will find localized pockets of PvP within the PvE section still. Similar to how Shipwrecks are PvP in Hagga Basin.
To retain the Risk vs Reward setup for the Deep Desert:
The density of resources increases the further north you go. This includes high-density clusters of valuable resources.
The largest spice fields will also spawn in the north.
The majority of Control Points will exist in the northern part.
As part of these changes, we have made some balancing adjustments in the Deep Desert:
The lower half of the Deep Desert now offers PvE loot that is balanced toward shared loot and PvE activities. You may find better loot in the more dangerous PvP area located further north on the map. In the PvE area, for example, each player gets their own loot and can expect to receive one schematic. In the PvP area, loot is distributed on a “first come, first served” basis, with higher quantities of everything. Players can expect to find 2–6 schematics there, which are among the rarest.
Plasteel plates can only be found in PvP zones.
The amount of active medium spice fields has been reduced from 8 to 5.
The number of active small spice fields has increased from 20 to 22.
The spawn rate of Titanium and Stravidium has been reduced in the PvE areas so that large quantities only spawn in the far-out PvP areas.
The number of nodes in resource hotspots in the PvE part of the map has been reduced.
The respawn time of Titanium and Stravidium has increased from 30 to 45 minutes.
Some Imperial Testing Stations are still in the PvP region, and players who want all schematics available each week will want to visit both the PvP and PvE Imperial Testing Stations. Keep in mind the loot in them rotates each week, so even if you’re not interested in PvP, you could obtain it at a later date if you’re not able to trade for it or buy it off the Exchange.
Vehicles
We have begun work on the outlined changes to the Scout Ornithopters.
Equipping a Rocket Launcher Module will now decrease the top speed of your Ornithopter.
For Scout Ornithopters, the reduction is 20%.
For Assault Ornithopters, the reduction is 10%.
Infocards for the modules now reflect this change.
Exiting ornithopters mid-air will now cause them to drop straight down instead of gliding away. This should decrease the chance that you lose your ornithopter upon disconnecting from the game or exiting by accident your ornithopter mid-air (yes, we have seen the videos).
Known issue: There is an edge case that if your vehicle ends up in the quicksand you might not be able to interact with it if you are in the quicksand. The workaround is to try to get on top of the vehicle to interact with it. This will be fixed in the very next patch.
Visiting
We removed the restrictions when visiting other sietches. Before this change, players had their “home” sietches, and could visit other sietches in their world but couldn’t claim land. Now, any player can go to any sietch in their world and claim land wherever they want.
Technical and stability
Increased game stability.
The latest NVIDIA driver was added to the GPU driver check at the game launch.
Other
We have introduced Player Reporting, allowing players to now report other players’ messages from the text chat or report players from the Inspect menu on players.
FIXES
Technical and stability
As a continuous effort, we have closed several exploit vulnerabilities.
Fixed an issue where a specific type of network issue would cause players to be stuck in an infinite loading screen.
Fixed an issue where some players could experience a client freeze when traveling between Deep Desert servers.
Combat
Fixed an issue where players performing a melee attack could get obstructed by corpses lying on the ground.
User Interface
Fixed an issue where the guild faction alignment was not localized on the Guild Overview tab.
Fixed an issue where players could encounter a black screen if they skipped the cinematic at “The Wreck of the Hephaestus”.
Fixed an issue where several Sandbike research schematics failed to mention the Imperial Testing Stations as the primary source.
Travel
Fixed an issue where players could use an ornithopter pilot service to fly from the cities to Hagga Basin if they had arrived in a city with their ornithopter.
Miscellaneous
You will no longer lose learned emotes when respec’ing your skill tree.
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.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl‘s 1.5 Patch is here, introducing various tweaks and fixes, but it’s the first phase of GSC Game World’s modding tool that’s dominating our interest… and our hard drives.
“Shape the Zone in Your Way with the Stalker 2 Zone Kit,” GSC Game World said. “Modify existing content or create new experiences — animations, weapons, mechanics, and even wonders of the Zone.”
Sounds great, right? Which it is, if you happen to have 700GB of space free… on top of the 160GB you need to run the base game itself.
The reason, GSC said, is because as part of its partnership with the modding community, the team is sharing a slew of uncompressed files so modders are using original assets in the development of their mods, which is better for everyone, of course.
“The size of the mod kit is a result of the in-game assets being uncompressed for the mod makers,” GSC told PC Gamer. “It’s a big game, and the assets are many, resulting in a considerable size of the download. The Zone Kit is currently in phase one, so we’ll explore the opportunities to optimize its size (if possible) in the future.”
“Yeah, we launched the Zone Kit as Phase 1, because we want to develop it together with Mod Makers,” a community representative explained on Reddit. “It already has a lot of features, but still this is Phase 1. On Phase 2 there will be even more things to do with the Zone via the Zone Kit.”
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.
If you’re looking for P5X codes, IGN’s got you covered! In this article, you’ll find a list of all the active and working Persona 5: The Phantom X codes in June 2025 that you can redeem for free rewards and bonuses in P5X on PC, iOS, and Android.
Active Persona 5: The Phantom X Codes (June 2025)
There are currently no active Persona 5: The Phantom X codes. Seeing as the game has just released in the West, it’s likely we’ll see at least one new code in the coming days. Stay tuned as we’ll update this page as soon as new codes are released.
Note that there are some active codes for the Chinese version of P5X, but these cannot be redeemed in the global version.
All Expired P5X Codes
There are currently no expired Persona 5: The Phantom X codes as of June 2025.
How to Redeem P5X Codes
To redeem P5X codes in Persona 5: The Phantom X, follow the steps below:
Complete the Prologue: Discover a Secret World. This takes around 15 minutes after starting the game for the first time.
Open the main menu.
Click on “Exchange Code.”
Input your code into the box.
Click on “Confirm.”
If your code is valid, you’ll obtain your free rewards.
Why Isn’t My P5X Code Working?
If the code you’re trying to redeem in Persona 5: The Phantom X isn’t working, it’s likely because of one of two reasons:
The P5X code is expired
There’s a spelling mistake in the code
The code is region-locked
When inputting a P5X code, ensure it’s spelled correctly (for example, a zero isn’t a capital O, a lowercase L isn’t a capital I, etc.) and that there are no spaces before or after the code.
If your P5X code still isn’t working after checking for typos, it’s more than likely expired and can no longer be redeemed in Persona 5: The Phantom X.
Sometimes, the developer releases codes that can only be redeemed in specific regions, so if you find a code online that you can’t redeem in your game, this could also be why.
How to Get More P5X Codes
To find more Persona 5: The Phantom X codes, the best way is to join the game’s official Discord server. Codes may also be posted on the P5X X account, so we’d recommend turning notifications on for that so you can be notified every time there’s a new post in case they’re posted there.
Of course, you can bookmark this page too, as we check for new P5X codes regularly and update it each time there’s a new code.
What is Persona 5: The Phantom X?
Persona 5: The Phantom X is a gacha spinoff of the popular ATLUS RPG, Persona 5. Like in Persona 5, you attend school and answer classroom questions, forge bonds with characters, and explore various dungeons. You pull for new characters and weapons via gacha banners, which can then be used in combat.
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she’s not working, you can find her playing an RPG or cuddling her corgi.
Warning: Major Spoiler For Death Stranding 2: On The Beach Follow
Hideo Kojima returns us to a world of porters, BTs, BBs, Voidouts, and more with the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. As you’d imagine, it’s a story filled with complex terminologies, philosophical concepts, metaphysics, and more, but we’re here to help you make sense of it all.
So, whether you finished the sequel and need help understanding the full picture of the ending, or just looking to see how Hideo Kojima’s newest adventure unfolds, here’s our full Ending Explained for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.
Setting the scene
Death Stranding 2 picks up 11 months after the events of the first Death Stranding. Following the successful connection of the former United States to the Chiral Network (this world’s magical internet that is helping the world rebuild following the apocalyptic titular Death Stranding), defeating the terrorist leader Higgs, and preventing his sister Amelie from destroying the world, Sam Porter Bridges attempts to settle into a quiet life with his daughter, Lou. But that idea is quickly brought to a halt by the reappearance of former accomplice Fragile and her new company, Drawbridge, when she asks Sam to head south and get Mexico back on the grid.
Upon connecting Mexico to the Chiral Network, it’s discovered that linking together a country appears to open a Plate Gate (a giant teleportation portal) to other continents. This is vital because after the events of the Death Stranding, civilization is still largely separated from each other, and Plate Gates would go a long way towards making Earth one interconnected society again.
But as Sam completes his Mexican mission, tragedy strikes when a mysterious armed group in red invades Sam’s home and kills Lou and injures Fragile, sending Sam into a depressive spiral over the loss of his child. Lost, he agrees to join Drawbridge and the crew of its ship, the DHV Magellan, on a mission to connect Australia, the destination of the Mexican Plate Gate.
Who are the Armed Red Attackers?
Knowing who attacked Lou and Fragile is the first step to understanding the ending of Death Stranding 2. The group in Red are mechanical soldiers 3D printed by a reborn Higgs, who, after the events of the first game, killed himself on his Beach only to come back as a glam rock mercenary robot hellbent on getting revenge on Sam and Fragile. This is why he attacks her and Lou.
But Higgs didn’t just come back to life by himself. His soul was revived thanks to an entity known as APAS, a private corporation that manages the automated delivery robots transporting packages around the UCA. Their goal is to connect Mexico and later Australia to the Chiral Network to open even more Plate Gates and eventually link up the whole world.
But behind the scenes, APAS is actually run by a sentient entity known as APAS 4000, which is the fusion of the APAS AI system that manages deliveries and 4000 human souls from people who were killed in a massive Voidout. Their ultimate goal is to elevate all humans into souls, preventing humanity from evolving and instead keeping them trapped in the world of the dead, stopping them from triggering another Voidout ever again. A benevolent, but ultimately misguided attempt to try and contain humanity from once again exploring the world and making connections with one another. It would keep Earth’s population safe, but at the cost of what makes them human, changing people further into digital entities in the shape of their saviors.
How Sam Defeats APAS 4000
In a game of cat-and-mouse, APAS 4000 believes it is using Sam to further its goal of one day containing humanity from ever leaving their shelters ever again. But behind the scenes, Fragile’s Drawbridge knows about this plan and is working to stop APAS 4000. Fragile and Drawbridge’s benefactor, who is eventually revealed to be former President of the UCA, Die-Hardman, as well as the crew of the DHV Magellan, were in fact connecting various settlements in Australia using a new Q-Pid. This device would sever the connection between the world of the living and the dead, and by extension, cut off APAS 4000’s connection to the world due to it being an entity made up of dead souls.
By fully connecting Australia with the new Q-Pid, APAS 4000 is split from the world of the living, and its plan to trap humanity fails.
Wait, but what about Higgs?
While Higgs may have been brought back by APAS 4000 to try and push along its plans, Higgs is by no means a lackey. Instead, Higgs uses his newfound robot body to carry out a separate, more personally fuelled plan of revenge. It was he who attacked Fragile and Lou while Sam was busy reconnecting Mexico, and eventually it’s revealed that Higgs plans to finish what he started in the first Death Stranding game and bring about the end of the world via “The Last Stranding”.
Whereas in the first game, Higgs tried to use the Extinction Entity known as Amelie to trigger the earth-ending event, this time he tries to use Tomorrow, a young woman Sam recovers from the world of the dead, who has mysterious powers that allow her to use tar to speed up decay. By using Tomorrow as an Extinction Entity, Higgs’ plan is to once and for all end human life, killing Sam and Fragile in the process. While Sam manages to defeat Higgs and finally end his apocalyptic fantasy via a combo of samurai sword duelling, electric guitar battle, and good ol’ fashioned fistfight, Higgs does succeed in completing one of his goals…
Fragile Dies
For much of Death Stranding 2, we’re made to think thatFragile survived the attack by Higgs, but Lou died. In reality, Fragile used her trans-dimensional teleportation powers to send Lou to the world of the dead, while Fragile was the one killed by Higgs. Because time dilation and the distinction between life and death are all kinds of messed up in the world of Death Stranding, the Fragile that Sam and the DHV Magellan crew have been travelling with the entire game is actually Fragile’s soul that she temporarily left behind to help Sam and the crew defeat Higgs, stop APAS 4000, and reconnect the world.
Unfortunately, her time in the world of the living is only temporary, and she dies for real at the end of the game. But what about Lou?
BB-28/Lou/Tomorrow/Louise
As it turns out, Lou was spared in the attack by Higgs in Mexico as Fragile used her powers to send Lou to another beach, effectively another dimension. Sent away by Fragile, Lou grew up in the world of the dead as manifested by the soldier Neil Vanna (more on him later). Years later, Sam Porter Bridges will end up fighting Neil in this world and inadvertently rescue Lou, who is none other than Tomorrow.
That’s right, Tomorrow is in fact the same baby Lou that Fragile sent away at the start of the game. Lou, short for Louise, is also BB-28 that Sam traveled across the UCA with in Death Stranding, and more than that, is actually Sam’s biological daughter.
The Neil, Sam, and Lucy Love Triangle
Okay, now we explain the final puzzle that ties all of Death Stranding 2 together. So Louise survives Higgs’ initial attack in Mexico and grows up to become Tomorrow. But why did Higgs want Lou in the first place?
That’s because decades ago, Sam, who I should remind you is a Repatriate — someone who can resurrect themselves thanks to the effects of the Death Stranding — was in a relationship with a therapist named Lucy. Around this time, Lucy was seeing another patient, a man named Neil Vana, who was a smuggler working for Bridges to deliver illegally acquired brain-dead pregnant women whose stillborn babies would become the very first Bridge Babies. Wracked with guilt, Neil sought the help of Lucy, who, it turns out, saved Neil when they were both children from the same village under attack by BTs.
Reunited after all those years, Neil rekindles a relationship with Lucy that becomes romantic even though Lucy was in a relationship with Sam at the time. Despite Neil and Lucy’s close relationship, Lucy chose to stay with Sam, and together they conceived a child.
Unfortunately, a baby born from a Repatriate like Sam held high value for Bridges, who were still conducting their original experiments with BBs. Once they discovered Lucy’s pregnancy, Bridges sought to take the child from her.
To protect the unborn baby Louise, Lucy convinced Neil to pretend to be the father of the child, making the baby less valuable to Bridges. Together with the baby, they would escape the city and Bridges, but would sadly never make it that far as both Neil and Lucy are killed, but not before Louise is removed from Lucy’s dying body, thus saving the baby.
Louise becomes BB-28, but is thankfully hidden away by Sam’s adoptive mother and President of the United States, Bridget Strand, keeping her hidden long enough to be reunited with Sam decades later during the events of the original Death Stranding.
As for Neil, his final act of revenge against Bridges is for his body to necrotize, therefore causing a Voidout and destroying the city and everyone in it. Meanwhile, Neil’s soul wanders the earth, unable to find peace. Similar to Mads Mikkelsen’s Cliff in the first game, Neil’s mercenary soul haunts Sam until the two men face off in a destined duel that finally gives Neil peace and Sam closure with Lucy.
Post-credits scene, and will we get a Death Stranding 3?
But that isn’t quite the end of the revelations. Yes, Death Stranding 2 does have a post-credit scene, and it features a seemingly even more grown-up Tomorrow/Louise dressed up in full porter gear, as well as inheriting Fragile’s creepy second set of hands and her smoking habit. She’s faced with a Plate Gate, perhaps signalling that she’ll follow in her father’s steps and attempt to connect another new continent to the Chiral Network. Could Death Stranding 3 have us going to Europe, Asia, or Africa, for example? And could we be playing as Tomorrow in the sequel? We certainly wouldn’t say no to playing around with her unique tar-infused martial arts skillset.
And that’s the full ending of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach explained. Be sure to check out our review to read why we loved Hideo Kojima’s newest adventure and also check out our ranking of every Hideo Kojima game.
The Dying Light: Retouched update will add enhanced visuals and remastered audio to Techland’s original zombie parkour experience on PC and consoles tomorrow – but Nintendo Switch players won’t be able to join in on the fun.
The studio laid out all of its plans for the free update yesterday, revealing a content drop that will make the 10-year-old post-apocalyptic hit feel fresher than ever. Improved textures and lighting, as well as an audio experience that’s been completely remastered from the ground up, are just the start of what was outlined for players on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S. Nintendo Switch, however, was left out of the lineup entirely.
IGN reached out to Techland to ask about a potential Dying Light: Retouched update for Nintendo Switch and if it’s something players can look forward to in the future. A representative for the studio tells us it’s not in the cards.
“The Dying Light: Retouched Update is not coming to Nintendo Switch,” Techland explained in an email exchange.
Dying Light first arrived for Nintendo’s original hybrid gaming platform in 2021 as an all-encompassing Platinum Edition bundle. It’s unclear how this version fared in terms of sales, but we do know its performance was affected by a ban in Germany that has rendered it unavailable to purchase digitally through the Switch eShop across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Those hoping that Retouched or a similar update could instead arrive for Nintendo Switch 2 are also out of luck. For now, Dying Light is only playable on Nintendo’s new hardware via backward compatibility.
“When it comes to a Switch 2 port of the original Dying Light: We have no plans at this moment,” Techland tells us. “We’re currently fully focused on delivering Dying Light: The Beast on August 22, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. We have no news to share about Nintendo Switch 2 at this time.”
It means Techland’s Dying Light support for Nintendo fans remains limited to Dying Light: Platinum Edition on the original Switch. Dying Light 2: Stay Human – Cloud Version was announced for Switch in 2021 but never released despite the sequel arriving for other platforms in 2022. There’s no word on when or if it will ever be released.
Meanwhile, Dying Light: The Beast, a spinoff that puts players back in the shoes of original protagonist Kyle Crane, is set to leave out Nintendo platforms when it launches for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S August 22. Dying Light Franchise Director Tymon Smektała told Wccftech last week that Techland would “love” to bring The Beast to Switch 2 but had “nothing to announce” at the time.
Dying Light: Retouched is still set to introduce a healthy number of changes to the decade-old zombie game when it launches tomorrow. You can read more about everything included in the developer’s blog post here. You can also check out our original 8.5/10 Dying Light review here.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Humble Bundle has a ton of bundles that you won’t want to miss in June, including a Mafia x BioShock collection, a Capcom publisher sale, and much more. Now through the end of the month, be sure to pick up bundles of games, ebooks, software, and other digital content at a deep discount to help support a wide array of charities,
You can check out our favorite Humble Bundles below, and be sure to keep checking back as we’ll be adding more as they go live!
Get June’s Humble Choice Benefits at a Discount, Including Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered
June is a great month to purchase a membership for Humble Choice, as it will get you access to a monthly mix of PC games, indie favorites in the Vault, up to 20% in Humble’s store, and the good feeling of knowing 5% of your subscription payment will support charitable causes like The Trevor Project. The best part? The $11.99/month fee can be reduced to just $6.99 for one month with the code JUNE25 until June 30 for new subscribers!
In June, subscribers will be able to unlock Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered, Nobody Wants to Die, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Tchia, Sker Ritual, Biped, Havendock, 1 month of IGN Plus, a 1-month subscription to Boot.Dev, and more.
3 Item Bundle collection, Mafia Definitive Edition, Mafia II Definitive Edition, and Mafia III Definitive Edition
Capcom Publisher Sale: Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and More
If there have been some Capcom games you’ve wanted to add to your collection, Humble is hosting a Capcom Publisher Sale through June 30 that can get you up to 85% off certain titles.
Some highlights include 50% of the Ace Attorney Anthology, 75% off Devil May Cry + Vergil, 58% off Dragon’s Dogma 2, 75% off Monster Hunter Rise, 60% off the Mega Man Legacy Collection, first-time discounts on Humbles’ Marvel vs. Capcom games, and 75% off Resident Evil Village alongside discounts on most major RE games.
Focus Entertainment Publisher Sale: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, A Plague Tale: Innocence and Requiem, and More
Focus Entertainment is offering big discounts on games in its catalog through June 30, and some of the highlights include 40% off Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, discounts on both A Plague Tale: Innocence and A Plague Tale: Requiem, 67% off Atomic Heart, 60% off Aliens: Dark Descent, 82% off The Surge 1 & 2- Dual Pack, and much more.
Machine Learning, AI, and Bots by O’Reilly
If you are looking to level up your coding skills and even build your own bots, this Machine Learning, AI, and Bots by O’Reilly bundle is worth a look. For $25, you can unlock $1,182 in value by gaining access to 17 courses like Learning LangChain, The Developer’s Playbook for Large Language Model Security, and more. Furthermore, this bundle supports Code for America.
There are three tiers of unlocks for this bundle, and they are as follows;
1 Item Bundle (Pay at least $1)
Natural Language Processing with Transformers, Revised Edition
3 Item Bundle (Pay at least $18)
1 Item Bundle Course, Generative Deep Learning, and Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow
Entire 17 Item Bundle (Pay at least $25)
3 Item Bundle Courses, Learning LangChain, AI Engineering, Prompt Engineering for LLMs, Hands-On Generative AI with Transformers and Diffusion Models, The Developer’s Playbook for Large Language Model Security, Hands-On Language Models, Developing Apps with GPT-4 and ChatGPT, Prompt Engineering for Generative AI, Machine Learning Interviews, Training Data for Machine Learning, Generative AI on AWD, Architecting Data and Machine Learning Platforms, Low-Code AI, and Machine Learning with Python Cookbook
RPG Game Master Book Series
Become the best Game Master around with this RPG Game Master Book Series bundle, which includes up to 11 ebooks filled with knowledge to improve your skills and give you the tools to create unforgettable gaming experiences. Furthermore, this bundle helps support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
There are three tiers of unlocks for this bundle, and they are as follows;
2 Item Bundle (Pay at least $1)
The Game Master’s Book of Villains, Minions, and Their Tactics and The Game Master’s Book of Legendary Locations Sampler
4 Item Bundle (Pay at least $8)
2 Item Bundle ebooks, The Game Master’s Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying, and The Game Master’s Book of Legendary Dragons
Entire 11 Item Bundle (Pay at least $15)
4 Item Bundle ebooks, The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters, The Game Master’s Book of Non-Player Characters, The Game Master’s Book of Traps, Puzzles, and Dungeons, The Game Master’s Book of Astonishing Random Tables, The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters Digital Map Pack, The Game Master’s Book of More Random Encounters, and The Game Master’s Book of Instant Towns and Cities
The Witcher x Cyberpunk 2077 by Dark Horse
If you can’t get enough Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher in your life, this bundle will provide you with up to 25 books and comics from the CD Projekt Red franchises, offering $438 in value by spending at least $24. Not only will you get new stories in comic form, but some of the bundles include art books and more to round out your collection. Furthermore, this bundle supports SpecialEffect.
There are three tiers of unlocks for this bundle, and they are as follows;
1 Item Bundle (Pay at least $1)
The Witcher: Classic Collection
6 Item Collection (Pay at least $12)
1 Item Bundle comic, The Witcher Volume 8: Wild Animals, Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher: The Edge of the World, The Witcher Volume 9: Corvo Bianco, Cyberpunk 2077: XOXO, and Cyberpunk 2077: Kickdown.
Entire 25 Item Bundle (Pay at least $24)
6 Items Bundle collection, Gwent: Art of the Witcher Card Game, The Witcher Volume 7: Ballad of Two Wolves, The World of Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher Volume 6: Witch’s Lament, Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams, The Witcher Volume 5: Fading Memories, The Witcher Volume 4: Of Flesh and Flame, Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher: A Grain of Truth, The World of the Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077: Trauma Team, Cyberpunk 2077: Where’s Johnny, Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher: The Lesser Evil, The Witcher: Ronin (Manga), The Witcher Volume 3: Curse of Crows, The Witcher: Volume 2 – Fox Children, Cyberpunk 2077: You Have My Word, Cyberpunk 2077: Blackout, The Witcher Volume 1: House of Glass, and Cyberpunk 2077: Your Voice.
Puzzle Pizzazz
Puzzle fans, rejoice! Humble’s Puzzle Pizzazz bundle is offering brainteasers and the incredibly named ‘Metroidbrainias’ like Homebody, Entropy Centre, and The Abandoned Planet for deep discounts through June 27. Furthermore, this bundle supports The Trevor Project.
There are two tiers of unlocks for this bundle, and they are as follows;
4 Item Bundle (Pay at least $8)
Paper Trail, A Guidebook of Babel, Kingsgrave, and Homebody
Entire 8 Item Bundle (Pay at least $12)
4 Item Bundle collection, The Entropy Centre, The Abandoned Planet, The Star Named EOS, and Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery
Big Bang Unreal & Unity Asset Packs Bundle
If you are more into developing games than playing them at the moment, this Big Bang Unreal & Unity Asset Packs Bundle may be for you as it offers up to a $7,440 value for those who spend at least $20.
Yes, this bundle includes up to 5,000 assets, including realistic and stylized environments, SFX packs, and more powerful tools to bring your games to life. Those who purchase will also gain access to resources, tutorials, and beta-testing-ready content to get you building ASAP. Furthermore, this bundle supports One Tree Planted.
Humble Bundle is part of IGN Entertainment, the division of Ziff Davis that includes GamesIndustry.biz, IGN, and MapGenie.
