Fallout Day has just recently concluded, and plenty of news was released for Bethesda’s online RPG. Fallout 76 continues to deliver new content each year, with the Burning Springs DLC set to release later this year. Next year, Bethesda is finally set to release native PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game. Similar to the rest of the franchise, nothing is more iconic in Fallout 76 than Vault Boy. Today, you can pre-order the Vault Boy 76 Nendoroid at IGN Store. If you’re a fan of the legendary RPG series, this is the perfect item to level up your collection.
Shop the Vault Boy 76 Nendoroid at IGN Store
The Vault Boy 76 Nendoroid is set to include three face plates: smiling face, grinning face, and jealous face. Depending on where you put Vault Boy 76, you can customize these for a completely different style of figure! Additionally, the following optional parts are included:
Nuka-Cola
Hat
Limbs of other Vault Boys
Other optional parts for different poses
If you’re unfamiliar, Nendoroid is a line of figures manufactured by Good Smile Company. Each figure sits at approximately four inches tall, offering owners many different poses and parts to customize their Nendoroid to their liking. This Vault Boy 76 Nendoroid is set to release in Q2 2026. Be sure to head over to IGN Store today and secure yours before pre-orders close!
About IGN Store
IGN Store sells high-quality merch, collectibles, and shirts for everything you’re into. It’s a shop built with fans in mind: for all the geek culture and fandom you love most. Whether you’re into comics, movies, anime, games, retro gaming or just want some cute plushies (who doesn’t?), this store is for you!
Battlefield 6‘s battle royale mode REDSEC is out now, a “genre shifting free-to-play destination” that includes both the promised Fortnite functionality and a new squad-based competitive mode, Gauntlet – no, not that Gauntlet, auto-keyword tool, stop it, you’re making me look daft, UGH I don’t have time to argue with you, please just go away – together with additional gubbins for Battlefield’s Portal editor. You can find it either via your Battlefield 6 install or as a separate release on Steam.
REDSEC’s battle royale map is Fort Lyndon, pictured below, with takes place in the backyards and beaches of California, and is apparently the series’ biggest map ever. The setup is familiar: 100 players divided into squads are dropped into the world and must scrounge for pick-ups and do shooticuffs and fistibangs within a shrinking (and partly destructible) playspace.
Acclaimed indie developer Simogo is celebrating its 15th birthday today, but it feels like we’re the one getting presents. Fans of the Swedish studio are going to be thrilled with the projects the team has revealed, so buckle up.
First up (thanks, VGC!) are Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Lorelei and the Laser Eyes and Sayonara Wild Hearts, two of our favourite games on the Switch. Sharper visuals and frames are likely part of these packages, and we only have to wait until early next year to try them out. No upgrade path has been revealed just yet.
Redsec is Battlefield’s first-ever free-to-play Battle Royale game, and it’s launching today. But it’s not just Battle Royale – this experience includes Gauntlet, a round-based elimination mode that samples from the franchise’s rich Multiplayer history, as well as Redsec’s Portal Community Creations, an ever-evolving sandbox from our community developers.
However, your first steps into Redsec will more than likely come in the form of the Battle Royale Initiation playlist:
Battle Royale initiation
In BR Duos, eliminate hostels, track intel, and dodge the chemical ring on a condensed map.
Battle Royale Initiation is built for new players as a low-stakes learning environment. In this variant, you and a squadmate can drop into a match with the following key differences:
This version of Fort Lyndon is significantly smaller than its full version.
Players who can access this mode are limited to newer players.
A 48-player maximum, inclusive of Bots.
Your path towards victory will involve the following:
Dropping in
Choose your class
Assault – The ultimate frontline fighter, skilled at punching through enemy defenses. Dominate close to mid-range encounters and limit the enemy’s ability to fight.
Engineer – The battlefield’s leading vehicle and equipment technician. Execute repairs to keep allies combat effective, or strike hostile armor with force to break their attack.
Support – The backbone of any combat unit for defense and sustained fighting. Heal and resupply friendly forces, while fortifying defensive positions to keep them protected.
Recon – The perfect intelligence and counterintelligence operative. Neutralize targets from a distance, or infiltrate, gathering intel and disrupting hostile forces.
You also get to choose a Sidearm, a small personal defense weapon that is great in a pinch, but is not meant to carry you through an entire match.
Next, get ready to parachute into Fort Lyndon. Either you or your duo will be labelled as the Squad Leader; when the Squad Leader calls for a jump, both of you will leap out of the infiltration plane.
At any point, the non-Leader can break away from the formation and continue dropping on their own. However, we highly recommend that new players stay in formation. Your parachute will automatically deploy when you get close to the ground. Alternatively, you can manually deploy the parachute to delay landing in favor of a more intentional landing spot.
Securing better weapons, ammo, and armor
Scavenging for weapons, ammo, and armor become the tools for survival.
These are all available through a variety of crates found in the map; look for giant rectangular boxes that are green (Common), red-and-black (Rare), or red with Class symbols (Class Chests). Look for vehicles that can be opened to contain more items, as well as locked vaults.
Crates can also contain ammo, which is shared between all weapons in a given weapon category. While there are other ways to gain more ammo, like picking it off eliminated enemies or getting an Ammo Resupply Call-In, the easiest way to restock is to use the Support Class’ Supply Box.
Completing Contracts
Your primary mission in Battle Royale is to eliminate all enemies. Second are Contracts, objectives that can be accepted on your full map screen and reward powerful items. Whenever a Contract becomes available to choose, you will receive a prompt below the compass on your HUD.
Avoiding the Circle of Death, respawning, and achieving victory
The Circle of Death. One step into this area will near instantly down and eliminate you. Mind the red-shaded areas on your mini-map or heed the warnings on your HUD when it shows a red skull icon and a distance.
In Battle Royale, death is not always finite. In the first few minutes of every match, you automatically get a Second Chance, redeploying immediately from the sky. If you don’t use your Second Chance, you get a sizable chunk of XP, which is great for ranking up and unlocking more Loadout items.
Alternatively, Battle Royale includes Respawn Points where squad members can revive their allies. After activating a Respawn Point, stay within its radius for a short period of time to respawn all dead allies. If you are spectating from beyond, you are able to request a respawn.
The last remaining Battle Royale squad wins the match.
Tips for Battle Royal survival and victory
At the end of your Initiation journey, you should be ready to drop into Battle Royale.
Stick to your initiation zones. Learning the backstreets, rooftops, and corridors can give you an advantage over other new players who may be unaware of the surroundings.
Know your class. Remember to use everything your Class offers and ask a battle buddy with more experience to walk you through its basics.
Work with your team. Battle Royale is about surviving as a squad; don’t stray too far from squadmates, be sure to share enemy locations and precious high-value items, and remember to revive them whenever it is clear to do so.
Gauntlet – round-based elimination multiplayer
In Gauntlet, eight squads of four players each go head-to-head in a series of special operations that push every squad to their limit. If you like traditional Multiplayer FPS experiences, then you’ll love Gauntlet.
Gauntlet involves creating a custom loadout and pits squads against each other in a series of high-octane missions. Every mode includes a helpful in-game description and demonstration of how to play, including what actions score points for your squad. Failure to secure enough points results in elimination, while winning four modes in a Gauntlet match means victory.
Here are three quick tips to get started in this pick-up-and-play experience:
Watch the briefing. The small sequence before each operation gives a short demonstration of how it is played, as well as the points earned for each action.
Play the objective. Using what you learned in the briefing, focus on the actions that will score your team the most points.
Communication is key. Use the ping system, voice chat and text chat to effectively plan and execute coordinated efforts, otherwise be prepared to be reassigned or get sent back to the start of the Gauntlet.
IGN has once again teamed up with ID@Xbox for a brand-new showcase that arrives today, just a few days before Halloween. This show promises to be packed with exclusive trailers and new gameplay for games from such studios as Serenity Forge, Thunder Lotus, Raw Fury, Skybound, and many more.
To help ensure you don’t miss a thing, we will be gathering all the biggest announcements right here, as they happen. Be sure to refresh during the show to stay up to date with all the exciting reveals, and then let us know what your favorite moment was below!
How to Watch ID@Xbox on IGN and What to Expect
You can watch the ID@Xbox fall showcase on Tuesday, October 28 on the following platforms. The show kicks off at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST and will run for roughly 50 minutes.
My flesh-coloured form tightens up beneath my body armour. The sausage fingers of my massive human hands grip the trigger of the SMG with white-knuckle desperation. The tiny eyes halfway up the huge head which forms the majority of my unnaturally lanky form spot it. A flash of green. I open fire mercilessly. Blood and bullets fly for 30 seconds. I’m still standing. Shaken, panting, and staring at a perfectly cooked bird on a plate.
The free-to-play Battlefield 6 battle royale game mode has officially arrived in the form of Battlefield REDSEC – but it’s probably not exactly what you think it is.
EA and Battlefield Studios surprise launched their Battlefield battle royale experience across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S just moments ago, bringing months of rumors and leaks to an end with a standalone offering that’s free for both those who do and do not own Battlefield 6. Its name, shorthand for “Redacted Sector,” teases an updated take on a popular multiplayer pastime that’s been bundled in with two additional modes: Gauntlet and Portal. There’s more to REDSEC than fans may have expected, and it’s all tied in with the Battlefield 6 experience under one unified umbrella.
Battlefield Battle Royale
Battle royale is no doubt the headline here, offering access to 100-player matches where classic battle royale gameplay is mixed with the Battlefield 6 formula. Infantry can be seen parachuting over and into explosive firefights in its first trailer, which reveals how BF Studios translated familiar elements into the Battlefield universe, all while 2Pac and Dr. Dre’s California Love plays in the background.
Finding rare loot, hoarding armor plates, mastering small and large points of interest, and completing missions with friends are core parts of many battle royale experiences, and each is necessary to survive in Battlefield, too. It’s more Warzone than Fortnite, but REDSEC has some features that help it stand apart.
Fort Lyndon, a Southern California location that EA and BF Studios call the “biggest Battlefield map ever,” serves as the backdrop for each match. As the trailer highlights crumbling buildings, REDSEC aims to convince players it can build on battle royale without sacrificing what so many love about the franchise: tactical destruction.
Map-altering vehicles are a mainstay for any true Battlefield experience, and that remains the case for Battlefield 6 battle royale, which features everything from tanks to attack boats to golf carts to find. As the ever-present, ever-shrinking ring of fire (fans may remember it from Battlefield V: Firestorm) forces teams out of the frying pan, discovering an M1 Abrams could mean the difference between victory and succumbing to the flames. There will be plenty of less-threatening vehicles to discover around the new battle royale map, but those looking to drive a heavily armored tank will first need to complete missions, nab a keycard reward, and then use it to unlock specific garages.
Battlefield 6 and REDSEC will coexist, so those who have already enjoyed the former can expect to find familiar vehicles, guns, and gadgets in the latter – save for a few tweaks. Class upgrades are just one element to consider and give Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon players upgrades to work toward. Earn enough XP as the Recon class, for example, and you’ll gain access to an enhancement that powers up drones with bomb-dropping capabilities. Custom loadouts can also be built and used, with players able to earn them by completing missions or by betting on the slightly riskier option of waiting for limited global drop events.
Battlefield 6 players have not-so-patiently waited for battle royale updates for months. Now that REDSEC is finally here to toss Battlefield into a battle royale blender, fans should know that it’s not the only new experience dropping today.
Gauntlet
If you need a break from battle royale, Gauntlet is a separate mode that is also offered as part of today’s new standalone free-to-play experience. While Battlefield battle royale may see squads prowling for loot in between shootouts throughout longer matches, Gauntlet is propped up as a relatively short, elimination-driven gameplay experience.
Instead of 100-player matches, just 32 players (eight squads with four players each) are spread across Fort Lyndon. BF Studios says Gauntlet is structured as a tournament, with teams tasked with fighting through fast-paced, round-based missions.
Players have five minutes to complete the objective for each round, with Gauntlet keeping everyone on their toes with rotating missions and locations. As objectives and settings shift, it’s teamwork that will determine which squad emerges victorious.
REDSEC takes the promise of limitless game-creation tools and brings them over to Fort Lyndon’s massive play area. It’s more room for fans to let their imaginations run wild, with one example we’ve seen including a midair obstacle course that features golf carts, colorful shipping containers, and narrow paths.
REDSEC Portal looks more Grand Theft Auto Online than Battlefield, but that also seems to be what EA and BF Studios are going for. Two official Portal maps will be available at launch, with more set to follow in the future.
How Does Battlefield 6 Work With REDSEC?
The base Battlefield 6 experience takes after Call of Duty, bundling in REDSEC so that players can access it from one main menu. Those who don’t own the recently released Battlefield game can still download REDSEC without issue and at no extra charge, but there are a few differences for those who own the full, premium experience and those who don’t.
Coinciding with the launch of Season 1 today is Battlefield 6’s battle pass system, which shares unlocked rewards and XP progress between both the base game and its REDSEC counterpart. Though some unique challenges and events will be tied to each experience, and some Battlefield 6 vehicle skins won’t appear in certain REDSEC experiences, EA says “there are no plans” for REDSEC-exclusive unlocks.
Portal is where things get slightly complicated. Creative fans who own Battlefield 6 can enjoy the new Portal tools introduced with REDSEC completely unrestricted, gaining access to all the new standalone experience and Fort Lyndon have to offer. Those without the base game, however, won’t have access to any Battlefield 6-exclusive content, such as maps, when making Portal creations. These restrictions don’t stop at the creation side of the user-generated community content hub, either, as EA clarifies that REDSEC-exclusive players won’t be able to create or play any content using Battlefield 6 materials.
Battlefield REDSEC isn’t just battle royale – it’s a completely different beast. This three-pillar standalone experience will change as seasonal updates continue to roll out, and if the weeks following the launch of Battlefield 6 are anything to go by, it will also likely rapidly change as community feedback pours in.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer 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).
Being part of a community that has always strived to be welcoming and inclusive, some The Sims creators now fear the documented conservative values of EA’s buyers — which include Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud — will impact the game’s development, with insisting “the values represented by the people acquiring EA are fundamentally at odds” with that of The Sims’ community.
Streamer Kayla “LilSimsie” Sims, who has over 2 million subscribers and has worked with EA in the past to develop DLC, said news of the sale “devastated” her, and that “the situation is a nightmare for our community.”
“I have made the decision to remove myself from the EA Creator Network. It is my hope that pressure from creators and the community might encourage EA’s leadership to reconsider the long-term impact of this sale and to preserve the values that have made The Sims so beloved,” she wrote in a heartfelt message on YouTube (thanks, Polygon).
“This means that I will no longer receive early access to Sims packs, and I will not have a creator code. Under this new ownership, I feel I cannot maintain a direct association to the company. I also truly believe that they benefit more from my early access content than I do, and I think that stepping away is the strongest action I can take against the sale.”
She continued: “This situation is a nightmare for our community. Nobody supports this sale, and it is putting creators in a very difficult position. They have built their entire career and livelihood over a game that they have no control over. I ask that you please not harass other Sims creators over their decisions regarding the game and the creator network. I am very fortunate to be in a position where I can make a choice like this, but not everyone has that ability. I don’t truly don’t believe there is a ‘right’ answer here, and everyone is still trying to figure out their next steps.”
Sims closed on writing: “I’m really, really distraught over this sale, and I know that many of you are as well. It’s scary, and it’s breaking my heart. I really appreciate your support as I try to navigate this.”
“Due to the recent sale, I have asked to leave the EA Creator Network, and I will not buy or make content around any future release,” McNamara wrote.
“I think taking this stand is the right choice for me personally, but I’m not going to judge anybody on their decision. I’m in a privileged position to be able to say I’m leaving so easily. I hope that the sale falls through, and if it doesn’t, I hope that those that stay put pressure on EA to maintain the level of inclusiveness that The Sims has always been about.”
EA has issued a statement on the matter via the official The Sims social media accounts. In it, the company insisted “we deeply respect that everyone experiences The Sims in their own way and will make choices that are right for them. However you choose to play, create, or share, we’re grateful to be part of your journey. Our mission, values, and commitment remain the same. The Sims will always be a space where you can express your authentic self.”
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.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment launches on 6th November, and Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have been busy drip-feeding thirsty hack-and-slash fans tidbits of information about the follow-up to 2020’s excellent Age of Calamity.
We’ve put together the following guide to all playable characters in Age of Imprisonment (that we know about thus far). Post-launch, naturally, we’ll update this with any secret characters you unlock throughout the game.
