“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.
It’s a tasty one today. Coke Zero is down to just $6.64 for a 12-pack over on Amazon, and you don’t even need to commit to Subscribe & Save to cash in. If your snack drawer’s looking thin, there’s also a Doritos variety pack ready to restock the goods—with all the classics and some spicy curveballs too.
TL;DR: Today’s Deals
Then there’s gaming. New Borderlands 4 preorders are live, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is up for both Switch generations, and Fanatical’s still running that stellar $25.49 price for Lies of P and Overture with the FANATICAL15 code. Don’t forget the new Donkey Kong and Pauline Amiibo either — it unlocks gold tiles and looks awesome on a shelf.
Coke Zero Sugar 12 Pack
Even if you change your mind and don’t want to subscribe and save, you can still get this great deal on Coke Zero when you purchase. It’s Coke with zero sugar, and there’s 12 cans that you can drink out of and recycle (thumbs up).
Doritos Variety Pack
Get that snack drawer stuffed up with this Doritos variety pack. There’s heatwave and original as standard with some of their more novel bags of chips, and it’s also on a subscribe and save deal too.
Nintendo Switch 2 in Stock at AliExpress
If you’re still on the hunt for a Switch 2 console, here’s an opportunity you might want to consider. The Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World Tour Console Bundle is currently available for $547.90 with free delivery from a local US-based warehouse. This is a genuine gaming console that has been imported from Hong Kong. Region locking is determined by your account, not by console, so all of these systems will play in the US without any problems. You’ll also be able to select English as your default language just like any console you buy here. AliExpress offers a return window but the length varies depending on the item. These consoles all ship locally from the United States and usually arrive within one week.
Note that although the console is region unlocked and works fine anywhere, the Mario Kart World Tour digital game voucher is region locked to Hong Kong. One of the reviews, however, mentions a workaround:
Donkey Kong and Pauline Amiibo Preorder
This Amiibo will unlock a new dress for Pauline and give players access to explosive gold tiles in Donkey Kong Bananza. Plus it looks awesome and you need to collect all Amiibos ever, unless you don’t. That’s fine too.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Switch 2)
This is going to be the definitive edition of POkémon Legends: Z-A thanks to it’s 4K 60 FPS gameplay performancce. I’m sure they’ll be more cheeky features revealed closer to launch, but if you have a Switch 2 grab this version.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Switch 1)
Tunise Rechargeable Portable Neck Fan
It’s a fan that you don’t have to hold because it sits comfortably around your neck. This is such a cool and handy product for under $15, especially if you’re like me and get warm at the thought of some sunshine.
Symphonic Journeys Pokémon Red & Blue – IGN Exclusive Vinyl
Symphonic Journeys: Pokémon Red & Blue is now up for preorder in a stunning IGN-exclusive Fire Red vinyl variant. This 1xLP release features orchestrated arrangements of classic tracks like Pallet Town, Gym Leader Battle, and the Pokémon Center theme, performed by the renowned Budapest Scoring orchestra.
Lies of P (Steam)
We gave Lies of P a solid 8/10, so there’s no reason to not pick up this absolute banger for $25.49. Just make sure to use the discount code FANATICAL 15 to get the full deal.
Lies of P: Overture
Overture also got an 8/10 from us because it does exactly what it says on the tin, gives us more Lies of P. It’s an excellent expansion that adds a whole lot more to a game that was already great.
Borderlands 4 PC Preorders
September 12th is closer than you think, so get Borderlands 4 preordered from Green Man Gaming and secure your preload on Steam. Randy Pitchford reckons that it’s co-op mode will be “The best ever”, too.
Pokémon TCG Classic
The Sam’s Club Pokémon TCG Classic deal is back, and it’s massively undercutting other big box retailers and the secondary market. Just for comparrison, the top four cards from this set, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur and Mewtwo, are worth the same price as this discounted offer. This deal is well worth it and should be snapped up as soon as possible.
Pokémon TCG Stock Updates
As usual we’re looking at over-inflated pricing at big box stores, but it’s a dependable source of sealed product for trainers looking to add to their collections or rip open boosters. Although we’d recommend checking out secondary market prices first, as big retailers are now regularly selling over market value now too. I’ve already done the hard work for you:
TCG Player and eBay Pokémon Sealed Product
The Most Expensive Japanese Black Bolt White Flare Cards
The most expensive cards from Pokémon TCG’s Black Bolt and White Flare sets are already commanding serious prices in Japan. Top of the list are the Special Illustration Rares of Zekrom ex and Reshiram ex, both featuring intricate, hand-drawn artwork and fetching well over ¥20,000 (around $130–$150 USD) on the secondary market.
Also climbing fast are the new BWR (Black White Rare) cards and the full-art Victini promos from the themed file sets. With stunning clay and knitted art styles also making their debut, collectors are pushing prices up across the board, especially for low-population, high-style secret rares.
This Weeks Pokémon TCG Crashers and Climbers
With Black Bolt and White Flare wrapping up the Scarlet & Violet era, all eyes are now on what’s next—and Mega Evolution is officially back. The Japanese Championships 2025 confirmed MEGA Symphonia and MEGA Brave as the first entries in the new Mega Expansion Packs, launching August 1 in Japan. These sets reintroduce Mega Evolution ex cards in a powerful new form, now Stage 2 Pokémon worth 3 Prize Cards when knocked out. Cards like Mega Gardevoir ex, Mega Venusaur ex, and Mega Lucario ex are leading the charge, and collectors are already snapping up classic Mega cards in anticipation of their return to the spotlight.
MTG Live Preorders
Preorders are now live for Magic: The Gathering’s next major set, Edge of Eternities, ahead of its August 1 release. You can lock in Play Booster Boxes, Bundles, Commander Decks, and Collector Boosters, with prices already dipping below MSRP in some spots. With some chunky lore, borderless cards, and premium packaging teased, now’s a good time to grab your picks before stock tightens closer to launch.
I was going to say how insane MTG Final Fantasy’s popularity is, but it’s completely understandable. Whilst sealed stock is going up in value and becoming harder to get, there’s plenty of option for the most in-demand cards for your deck or collection.
MTG Aetherdrift Chase Cards
Aetherdrift is one of Magic: The Gathering’s more experimental sets, blending high-speed vehicle mechanics with a bold visual style. Released as part of the Universes Beyond series, it introduced new archetypes and card types designed to shake up both casual and competitive formats.
3 Months for $0.99 Audible Deal
Audible’s doing that 99c a month deal again for Premium Plus, and it’s a steal. Amazon Prime Members get three months free, so make sure to check for an active subscription before looking for this deal. You get three audiobooks to keep, full access to the big library, and it works even if you’ve had a sub before as long as it’s not active now. I just logged in, saw the banner, and grabbed it. Sunrise on the Reaping is already in my library, and I’m eyeing that massive new Sanderson one next. Less than three bucks for all that? Easy win.
3 Months Free Kindle Unlimited
I’ve never really stuck with audiobooks before, but this Kindle Unlimited deal finally got me into them properly. Right now you can get three months free if you’ve got Prime, and it works on your phone or tablet, not just a Kindle. I gave it a go, downloaded a couple of books, and now I’ve actually started finishing them while I’m out walking or doing stuff around the house. It’s made getting through my backlog way easier and I didn’t have to pay a thing to try it. If you’ve been on the fence, this is a solid excuse to dive in.
Sound Explosion Software Bundle
If you’ve ever needed music or sound effects for a game, video, podcast, or anything creative, this Humble Bundle is ridiculous value. For $20, you get over 100 royalty-free audio packs covering everything from cinematic hits and ambient drones to meme sounds and upbeat pop tracks. I grabbed it just to have a library ready for whatever project pops up, and it’s already saved me time and cash. You can pay as little as a buck if you just want to check it out, and part of what you pay goes to charity too. Easy win if you ever mess with editing or content creation.
Alienware AW3423DWF Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor
Alienware 34-inch QD-OLED is down to $649.99, and it’s an absolute beast. You’re getting a 165Hz refresh rate, deep blacks, punchy colours, and a super sharp 21:9 curved display that makes everything from games to edits look incredible. It’s fast, smooth, and built like a tank with FreeSync support and a proper creator mode if you need colour accuracy. It even comes with a 3-year burn-in warranty. For this price, it’s hard to beat.
The Legend of Zelda Master Sword by Proplica
The $200 Master Sword from Tamashii Nations is a full-size 41-inch replica with sound, rumble, and music from eight Zelda games built in. Press the buttons on the hilt to cycle through tracks from Ocarina of Time, Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and more. It comes with a sheath, a stand, and needs two AA batteries. Stock is limited, so if you’re in move fast.
Monster Hunter Wilds PS5 and Xbox Series X
Monster Hunter Wilds has hit its lowest price yet for the standard physical edition on PS5 and Xbox Series X at just $55.99, down from $69.99. This latest entry takes the series into a fully voiced narrative, dynamic biomes, and crossplay multiplayer. If you’ve been waiting for a price drop to jump into the Forbidden Lands, this is a solid time to grab a copy.
Symphonic Journeys Pokémon Red & Blue – IGN Exclusive Vinyl
Symphonic Journeys: Pokémon Red & Blue is now up for preorder in a stunning IGN-exclusive Fire Red vinyl variant. This 1xLP release features orchestrated arrangements of classic tracks like Pallet Town, Gym Leader Battle, and the Pokémon Center theme, performed by the renowned Budapest Scoring orchestra.
Elden Ring Nightreign Official Strategy Guide
The official strategy guide for Elden Ring: Nightreign is now up for preorder, with a hardcover release set for September 30, 2025. Created by Future Press, this companion book dives deep into the game’s new roguelike multiplayer systems, class mechanics, and shifting world of Limveld. You’ll get detailed Nightfarer builds, bestiary entries, system breakdowns, and beautifully illustrated maps plus bonus art prints and lore. Sounds like a bargain to me.
Donkey Kong Bananza
Donkey Kong Bananza is available now for preorder on Nintendo Switch 2 at $69.99, with a release date set for July 17. This all-new 3D platformer brings DK back into the spotlight with a full physical edition and gameplay reminiscent of Super Mario Odyssey. If you’ve been waiting for the return of classic Donkey Kong exploration with modern polish, this looks like the one to watch.
amFilm Switch 2 Tempered Glass Screen
amFilm’s 3-pack tempered glass screen protector for the Nintendo Switch 2 (7.9″) is down to $7.99 and includes everything you need for a smooth installation. The 0.3mm ultra-clear glass offers 9H scratch resistance, touchscreen sensitivity, and an oleophobic coating to reduce smudges. It also comes with a alignment frame, making it easier to apply without bubbles.
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.
Crisol: Theater of Idols aims to blend Bioshock with Resident Evil-style gameplay in a horror FPS influenced by classical Spanish folklore. I crawled through abandoned streets, popping zombie-like enemies with guns that used my blood for bullets, ducking in and out of derelict storefronts looking for the ever-reliable genre staple bolt cutters, and dodging powerful enemies along the way. While Crisol showed more to set itself apart from stalwarts in the genre during my hands-on demo, its weapon designs and distinct aesthetic in particular left me interested to see more.
Exploring a horrific, reimagined version of Spain called Hispania, Crisol’s world and character designs blew me away – especially the guns. Here, your blood is your health and your ammo, so reloading each gun triggers a spine-tingling reaction like when your handgun’s handle bristles with little needles, drawing blood from your hand, or when needles stick out of the base of your double-barrelled shotgun’s barrel, waiting to trade health for survival.
This push-and-pull forces you to keep tabs on both to keep yourself from wasting either and landing yourself in a sticky situation. You can pick up healing syringes to help restore ammo, but Crisol also encourages you to drain the blood from dead bystanders, killed by your mysterious foes, to heal and reload.
Crisol also encourages you to drain the blood from dead bystanders, killed by your mysterious foes, to heal and reload.
The gun designs themselves are cool too; gilded with red accents, they add a gothic pop of color that stands out, but doesn’t clash with the environments I saw in my short demo. The environments, on the other hand, didn’t have nearly as much character to them. While the trailer promises some pretty cool-looking set pieces, the dark streets of Hispania I wandered didn’t offer much deviation from the norm. That’s surprising considering just how well-designed the enemies and guns are.
Crisol doesn’t waste any time throwing you into the action. Within seconds of picking up the controller, lurching, puppet-like enemies stumbled towards me. Low light revealed unsettling details in their mask-like faces as they approached, eventually collapsing under my gunfire. Each enemy I encountered (or at least each one I was able to kill) reacted based on which part of their body I shot; crawling headless after I kneecapped them, and popped their heads. Both of the blood-soaked firearms I tried have an older feel to them, more like the oomph of the original BioShock than the punchy crack of the guns found in most contemporary shooters, though Crisol’s trailer (and weapon wheel) promise a seemingly diverse arsenal of sanguine shooters.
After making my way through a few city blocks, absorbing blood from dead bodies and popping zombie-like critters blocking my path, I came across a locked gate with a winch. Locked by a padlock with a chain – classic! Like clockwork, I set out looking for the bolt cutters I’d found in half a dozen survival horror games before. But before I could start looking, some kind of gigantic, arcane cyborg – a towering mass of blood-soaked bones and clanking machinery with a mask of a woman’s face crying blood – picked me up and tossed me around.
The beast chased me down the street to the window (conveniently) of the hardware store, but couldn’t touch me once I dove in. Safe for now, I grabbed the bolt cutters from the back storeroom and every coin in the cash register and set out to snip the chains that kept me from safety. But the beast was back at my heels practically the moment my feet hit the dirt road, hurling threats my way as it hunted me down.
I hope Crisol doubles down on these two different kinds of survival horror to produce layers of tension between the blood-for-bullets combat and high-stakes stealth in the full release.
Crouching to minimize the noise I made, I found a shortcut through a fish store, making a bunch of noise at one end before cutting through the store, snipping the chains, and cranking away at the winch to open the gate in front of me. I heard the creature thudding towards me, and just pushed away in the quick-time event faster, hoping I could squeeze through instead of running back to cover. The gate opened with just enough time to spare; I rushed out of the courtyard to safety, the gate snapping shut before my assailant could catch me.
This puzzle-like stealth section, though very simple, added a lot to my demo. I can see the ways this could evolve into a tense blend of stealth and shooting if I eventually need to dodge bigger enemies at the same time as popping the smaller, stoppable ones with my sanguine arsenal. I hope Crisol doubles down on these two different kinds of survival horror to produce layers of tension between the blood-for-bullets combat and high-stakes stealth in the full release.
While I enjoyed my demo well enough, I felt like I hadn’t seen anything new beyond the Bloodborne-like, health-for-ammo trade-off and some really cool weapon and enemy designs. I’m sure puzzles and progression will begin to differentiate themselves from Resident Evil as the game gets more complex. But I didn’t get to see much of that in this demo, which was clearly very early in the campaign. Still, I have a feeling Crisol: Theater of Idols will be worth checking out for its distinct take on survival horror with a Spanish flair.
She arrived in Fortnite back in April as the Season 8 Icon for Fortnite Festival, instantly derailing the battle royale with Jam Tracks like Juno and Nonsense, plus a skin that had players laying down their weapons just to vibe. The chaos came bundled with cosmetics, a themed outfit, and something called “A Sweet Little Bundle”, because of course it did.
Her new album, Man’s Best Friend, drops August 29 and follows the global success of Short n’ Sweet. Preorders are already live at all the usual suspects, including Amazon and Walmart. Amazon’s even got an exclusive Translucent Light Brown Vinyl LP for $33, plus a Light Blue Cassette for $18, and an Audio CD for $14, because physical media is well and truly on a comeback, and honestly, it’s about time.
With the new album up for preorder, Sabrina’s likely going from virtual peacekeeper to real-world chart-topper all over again this year (in my humble opinion, at least).
Alongside the pop star’s inclusion earlier in April 2025, Epic’s still busy throwing ideas at the wall to keep Fortnite sticky, whether it’s superhero seasons, that bizarre Star Wars mode with zero actual ammo, or the new Blitz Royale experiment.
Player numbers have dipped since last year’s chaos-fuelled highs, Squid Game maps, Doctor Doom boss fights, Times Square concerts, and an in-game spectacle starring Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Ice Spice, and Juice Wrld, but there’s movement again.
Whether any of this helps Fortnite claw back ground from Roblox hits like Grow a Garden remains to be seen. But if getting Sabrina Carpenter in-game helped start that rebound? Epic won’t mind riding the vibe a little longer.
Survival horror is finally coming home. Raccoon City is the setting for the classic Resident Evil games, its awesome remakes, and some surprisingly relevant spinoffs. As far as iconic locations in zombie fiction go, Raccoon City easily hangs in the hallowed company of holy horror spaces like the Monroeville Mall and the Winchester pub.
Just as it seemed that Resident Evil had definitively closed the book on RC, Capcom announced a return to the ruins of Raccoon City for the ninth main entry in its seminal survival horror series. For longtime fans, Resident Evil Requiem feels like it could be a joyous reunion…
But life in Raccoon City can be… complicated. Infrequent visitors might find themselves asking questions like “Where am I?” “What the heck happened here?” “Does the world know about the miraculous healing powers of colored herbs?” and “Why do I have to put jewels in a statue when I go to the DMV?”
That’s why we’ve assembled this ultimate field guide to Raccoon City. We’ll explore RC’s behind-the-scenes history, discuss everything that went down in the games, unpack the town’s enduring appeal, and solve a few mysteries along the way.
Why “Raccoon City?”
Introduced in the opening seconds of the original Resident Evil, or “Bio Hazard” in Japan, “Raccoon City” had an important role to play in establishing the series.
Resident Evil’s predecessor, the Japan-only Famicom game Sweet Home, took place in a haunted mansion in the Japanese countryside. Producer Tokuro Fujiwara wanted to remake the 8-bit cult classic for a new generation of consoles, but Capcom no longer had the rights to the film from which Sweet Home was adapted.
So Fujiwara and director Shinji Mikami reworked the concept to center around zombies instead of haunted paintings, envisioning the game as an interactive horror movie, complete with a haunting score, cinematic pre-rendered backgrounds, and jump scares a-plenty. Instead of taking inspiration from supernatural, psychological J-horror such as Sweet Home, the developers instead looked toward the West.
Resident Evil clearly owes a massive debt to George A. Romero, the godfather of the zombie genre who shot his movies in the small cities surrounding Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Setting the game in a fictional Anytown, U.S.A. allowed Capcom to capture the vibe of classics like Dawn of the Dead and create inroads to a Western audience more effectively than any live-action FMV sequence with cheesy American actors
Early drafts of Bio Hazard had the action taking place in a town called “Harnbee,” located in either New Jersey or Arkansas. Capcom ultimately decided to name the city after an animal, which isn’t strange by itself, as the fine folks from Buffalo, New York or Dinosaur, Colorado will tell you. Still, adorable trash pandas seem like an odd choice for spine-chilling survival horror.
One longstanding theory is that Capcom was referencing the species of “raccoon dog” called tanuki, which Western gamers might be familiar with from its presence in Japanese folklore and pop culture. These cute little guys look a lot like raccoons, save for some slight anatomical differences, and they’ve quite frequently appeared in video games. So could “Raccoon City” just be a localized version of “Tanuki Town?” It’s not likely.
For one thing, tanuki aren’t even raccoons at all as far as taxonomy is concerned. More importantly, the original Bio Hazard refers to its setting as “Rakūn Shiti,” using the English transliteration of “raccoon” as opposed to “tanuki” or “araiguma,” the Japanese word for the actual species. With Raccoon City, Capcom is very specifically referring to the North American mammals. But why?
Raccoons aren’t native to Japan, but in the ‘70s, a popular anime called Rascal the Raccoon led to tons of Japanese people importing the little critters to keep as pets. This was not a good idea, as anyone who has to deal with these feral, garbage eating creatures can tell you, and today, raccoons are classified as an “invasive alien species” that causes millions of dollars in damages to crops and wildlife all throughout Japan.
Were the mindless swarms of flesh-devouring zombies that infest “Raccoon City” inspired by these destructive varmints? Could it be a commentary on America’s less-than-stellar reputation on the global stage, or at least the behavior of its most obnoxious tourists? It’s certainly possible, but it’s unlikely that a game that’s such a loving homage to American horror films would make that kind of dig. The real answer is probably more simple: the mansion is in a forest, Raccoons live in the forest, hence “Raccoon Forest,” which in turn gave the city its name.
In the end, Capcom wanted to make a zombie game set in the U.S. and came up with a plausible-sounding place for it to happen. There’s no hidden meaning or dark secret lurking at the heart of Raccoon City… At least, behind the scenes. Within the world of Resident Evil, there’s a lot going on beneath the surface.
Raccoon Rising
Nestled in the Arklay mountains, bordered by the sprawling Raccoon Forest to the north, was a small midwestern town called Raccoon City. Founded in the 1800s, RC was largely unremarkable until the end of the swinging ‘60s, when its struggling economy was revitalized by a corporate benefactor that would one day bring about its total destruction.
In 1968, three best buds with a crazy dream got together to form the Umbrella Corporation. The plan? To create a superior breed of humans through twisted science. While none of the deeply unpleasant men who founded Umbrella had any deep ties to Raccoon City, Oswald E. Spencer just so happened to have some valuable real estate that would be perfect for their evil ambitions.
A few years earlier, in 1962, Sir Spencer commissioned a famous New York architect named George Trevor to build his dream home in Arklay County. Situated above a sprawling limestone cavern large enough to host a secret underground laboratory, the mansion was to be a recreation of Spencer’s childhood estate back in England… with a few twists.
Trevor made his name designing intricate buildings with traps, secret passageways, and tricksy puzzles– the kinds of gimmicks that make lunatics like Spencer (and strategy guide writers) squeal. As the mansion neared completion in 1967, Spencer grew more paranoid, as evil masterminds tend to do. He was convinced that Trevor would reveal his secrets, so he convinced the architect to bring his family to Raccoon City and conspired to wipe them all out.
Spencer infected Trevor’s wife Jessica and daughter Lisa with the Progenitor Virus, precursor to the T-virus, the manmade zombie plague that would later doom Raccoon City. Jessica died, and was entombed beneath the mansion. Lisa survived, but mutated into a shambling, nigh-unkillable monstrosity. Umbrella kept Lisa prisoner for 28 years, experimenting on her to produce even deadlier concoctions like the G-virus.
As for old George Trevor himself, he wound up trapped in a labyrinth of his own making. According to his diary, while searching for his family he actually forgot the solutions to the puzzles he created, which is relatable if nothing else. Unable to juggle all the crests, keys, and cranks that unlocked the Spencer Mansion, Trevor died of thirst and starvation deep within the bowels of his final masterpiece.
With those loose ends somewhat messily tied up, Umbrella was free to continue with its mad science, thriving within a blissfully unaware Raccoon City. The town was growing rapidly, and the jobs provided by Umbrella paid for some much-needed infrastructure. Founded in 1969, the Raccoon Police Department eventually purchased a palatial art museum to convert into its headquarters at the urging of future chief (and madman) Brian Irons.
Now safe under the watchful eye of a deranged serial killer, the growing population soon enjoyed the benefits of a zoo and its adorable mascot, Mr. Raccoon, a kick-ass public transit system, a training school for gifted youngsters, a university, a bustling downtown shopping district, and at least one pro football team. Give it up for your Raccoon City… Sharks? RC also hosted a thriving media industry that somehow sustained eight newspapers and a TV news network, all cut down in their prime twenty years before the pivot to video.
Umbrella kept the city’s economic blood pumping with its legit industries above ground, but the real money came from the top secret research it conducted under Raccoon City’s nose. The eugenicist vision of Spencer and the founders was largely replaced with the extremely lucrative industry of creating bio-organic weapons (B.O.W.s) for the highest bidder. Deadly as they are, the Hunters, Lickers, and Chimera Umbrella churned out by the truckload were merely the beta versions of its ultimate creation, the mighty Tyrant.
In the early ‘90s, Umbrella cemented its hold on Raccoon City by pouring tons of money into a revitalization project called “Bright Raccoon 21.” It built hospitals and orphanages, renovated the landmark clock tower, and recruited a special ops police unit called S.T.A.R.S. in 1996. It also took the opportunity to construct not one but two secret NEST facilities underground, where scientist William Birkin was hard at work on the G-virus.
Umbrella owned the mayor, the police department, and employed 40% of the city’s 100,000 citizens. It had infected Raccoon City like one of its patented viruses, transforming the rust-belt industrial town into a bustling metropolis under the iron grip of Umbrella.
This didn’t last very long.
The Raccoon City Destruction Incident
The situation began spiraling out of Umbrella’s control in early 1998, when strange occurrences around Raccoon City started drawing unwanted attention. Strange dogs with wet, decaying flesh were spotted in the woods, and a series of grisly murders seemingly committed by cannibals had residents spooked about a possible death cult lurking in the forest.
The heat made Umbrella nervous, so it called upon its intelligence agent extraordinaire, Albert Wesker. As the company man in charge of S.T.A.R.S., he was to lead the unit on a sham investigation to clean up the mess and retrieve precious combat data, the single most valuable commodity in the Resident Evil universe. Wesker, magnificent bastard that he is, was plotting to ditch Umbrella at the first opportunity, but he complied with his orders.
On the 23rd of July, 1998, the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team helicopter crashed in the forest, courtesy of Wesker’s sabotage. The man in the shades personally led Alpha team on a so-called rescue mission that trapped them in the iconic foyer of the Spencer Mansion. As the events of Resident Evil 1 play out, S.T.A.R.S. members Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine battle through zombies and B.O.W.s, discover the hidden lab beyond the manor walls, and learn of Umbrella’s role in the slaughter.
As Bravo Team rookie Rebecca Chambers discovered in the extremely mid prequel, Resident Evil 0, the Mansion outbreak was the work of Umbrella co-founder James Marcus, or rather, a mutated leech posing as the murdered magnate. She reunites with Jill and Chris, only to be betrayed by Wesker, who unleashes Umbrella’s apex weapon on his former comrades. Wesker is seemingly skewered by the Tyrant, which is destroyed by a deus ex rocket launcher courtesy of cowardly pilot Brad “Chickenheart” Vickers, as the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members (and a chemically-enhanced Wesker) escape the exploding facility.
Umbrella immediately went to work covering its tracks, hushing up any media murmurs and bribing Chief Irons to discredit and disband S.T.A.R.S. The corporation’s containment efforts were about as successful outside of the lab as in it, and the walls were closing in. Sightings of monsters in the Arklay region continued, growing ever closer to the town as summer turned to fall. William Birkin had seen enough.
The man behind the mutagenic G-virus was preparing to hand over his research to the U.S. government, in exchange for a clean slate and protection for himself, his wife Annette and daughter Sherry. Umbrella caught wind of his intentions and dispatched a spec-ops task force to NEST on September 22nd. In the ensuing firefight, Birkin injected himself with his G-virus, transforming into a body horror monstrosity and releasing T-virus samples among the city’s rats and into the water supply. Raccoon City would be overrun within days.
The military descended on the city in a failed attempt to contain the disease, while Umbrella dispatched its own private mercenary group, the UBCS, to contain the situation. Umbrella also made the most of the opportunity to test new B.O.W.s, airdropping a Nemesis pursuer and handful of Tyrants into the chaos to dispatch unwanted survivors, recapture the G-virus, and explore their combat capabilities in a disaster scenario of its own design.
By the 28th of September, the RPD had fallen and the army had all but abandoned Raccoon City. Those who remained alive did whatever they could to survive the outbreak, often in episodic scenarios perfectly suited for online co-op sessions. On the 29th, a rookie cop with heartthrob hair arrived in Raccoon City, late for his first day on the job and somehow unaware of the destruction that lurked within. Welcome to Resident Evil 2.
Leon Kennedy linked up with Claire Redfield, a young woman searching for her brother Chris, who was off in Europe doing his own research on Umbrella. Together, the two sought refuge in the zombie-infested RPD, evading “Mr. X” and a mutated William Birkin with help from Ada Wong, an agent working for Umbrella’s unnamed corporate rival. Together, they storm the NEST, rescue Birkin’s daughter Sherry, witness Ada’s apparent demise, defeat their tormentors, and haul ass out of the self-destructing facility on a speeding train.
Resident Evil 3 revealed that Jill Valentine was trapped in town while all this was going down, her last escape halted by the relentless Nemesis, programmed to murder any remaining S.T.A.R.S. members. Jill teams up with Carlos Oliveira and his ragtag group of UBCS spooks to infiltrate the secondary NEST facility and find a vaccine. The Nemesis is destroyed, along with any potential T-virus cure, and Jill and Carlos flee the city shortly before its destruction.
On October 1, the U.S. government decided to wash its hands of Raccoon City by wiping it off the map. The President ordered the launch of an experimental thermobaric missile to destroy the town, any evidence of the outbreak, and every living and unliving creature still inside. When the dust settled, all that remained of Raccoon City was a smoldering crater.
Umbrella’s role in the disaster was exposed by journalist Alyssa Ashcroft, a survivor who revealed the existence of B.O.W.s to the world. The U.S. President resigned in disgrace, but the government managed to keep its dealings with Umbrella under wraps. Facing prosecutions, lawsuits, and dwindling sales following the death of 100,000 people, the Umbrella corporation shriveled and died, leaving Raccoon City as its final, shameful legacy.
The Uncanny City
The few brief mentions of Raccoon City in Resi 1 sparked our imaginations, and RE 2 made them a reality. While the sequel largely took place inside the ornate RPD building, RE 2 begins with a bang, throwing Leon and Claire into the burning streets of Raccoon City proper and daring them to survive the horror. Clambering up fire escapes and sprinting past zombie-filled basketball courts was such a mind-blowing expansion of scope in 1998 that we didn’t really notice that Raccoon City doesn’t make any sense. At least, not for an American city.
The pre-rendered backgrounds of the original Resi 2 and 3 are chock-full of narrow, winding streets and mazes of tiny alleys that lead to dead ends, none of which are really representative of a bustling mid-sized midwestern metro. In fact, Raccoon City as originally envisioned feels a lot like the commercial area of a Japanese city– Shinjuku draped in grimy Western set dressing.
Most Japanese game devs in the ‘90s weren’t given the budget to fly across the Pacific to do in-depth research on cities in the United States– Konami famously used the Arnold Schwarzenegger family comedy Kindergarten Cop as its primary reference when conceiving the streets of Silent Hill. RC isn’t supposed to be an accurate U.S. city, it’s an imaginary version of one cooked up via Capcom’s cultural osmosis, based on its impressions of American culture from afar– it’s no coincidence that RE 2’s only accessible building outside of the RPD is Gun Shop Kendo. The result is a Raccoon City that feels familiar enough to Western audiences with a subtle undercurrent that something is wrong, the uncanny valley effect played out in environmental design.
This sensation diminished as the series evolved beyond pre-rendered backgrounds, with the multiplayer-focused Outbreak games returning to a fully polygonal RC. The somewhat forgotten spinoff has been thrust into the spotlight with the reveal that Resident Evil Requiem will star Grace Ashcroft, daughter of reporter Alyssa Ashcroft who was a prominent playable character in Outbreak. It’s a series worth revisiting even without the ability to play online, in large part because of how it expands Raccoon City. Survivors explore bars, hotels, apartment buildings, a zoo, and even Raccoon University campus, fleshing RC into a more fully realized space while maintaining the gritty, pre-HD vibe.
The advent of the Resident Evil remakes gave Capcom the opportunity to update Raccoon City for a new generation. The impressive RE Engine provided realistic, high fidelity graphics, but it feels like something was lost in translation. While the city more closely resembles a thriving midwestern tourist destination, with towering skyscrapers and a more sensible urban layout, it sacrifices the otherworldly aesthetic of the original games. It feels less like a waking nightmare and more like an actual place– even though a real-life Raccoon City is rather implausible. Umbrella funding aside, the sheer amount of amenities and infrastructure built to serve such a small population would probably raise some suspicious eyebrows and definitely jack up the rent prices.
And even if it could exist in our world, that begs our final question: where is Raccoon City supposed to be? Capcom has never definitively stated its location, and the most specific the canonical series ever got was in the intro to the Resident Evil 3 remake.
The (fantastic) tie-in novels by S.D. Perry explicitly placed the city in rural Pennsylvania, as did the screenplay for George Romero’s legendary unproduced Resident Evil adaptation. The Paul W.S. Anderson movies kept things vague, with some clues that Raccoon City is either near Allentown, PA or somewhere in Michigan, but most of the action was filmed in Toronto, Canada. The ill-fated Welcome to Raccoon City film was similarly shot in Ontario, but it too declined to name the state it stood in for.
Countless fan theories have emerged throughout the decades, using every snippet of lore and a whole lot of logical leaps in an attempt to deduce the location of Raccoon City. Plausible arguments exist for Colorado, South Dakota, and even Cleveland, Ohio, but the prevailing hypothesis is that Raccoon is a stand in for Springfield, Missouri. There aren’t many mountains in the midwest, after all, but the foggy Arklay hills could be interpreted as Missouri’s Ozark region. Springfield also happens to be situated above massive limestone caverns with plenty of room for growing young B.O.W.s.
There are a few holes in this hypothesis, like the fact that Leon and Claire emerge from Raccoon City into a sprawling desert that is far removed from any geographic feature of the Show-Me State. The truth is, we probably were never supposed to know exactly where Raccoon City is– and maybe that’s what makes it so creepy.
Raccoon City could be the growing town up the road where a soulless corporation just built a new billion-dollar data center. It could be the quaint hamlet up by the woods that hosts a mysterious old house that’s rumored to be haunted. It could be your city, that one day you might have to escape in a desperate dash for survival. For nearly 30 years, Raccoon City has played host to countless mysteries and unanswered questions, some of which may finally be revealed in Requiem. But one thing has never been in doubt: Raccoon City is a scary place to be.
