Every game, trailer, and release date.
The first Future Game Show presentation of the year is here. The Spring Showcase 2024, which was broadcast earlier today, gave us a look at over 40 different games across all genres and platforms.
Broadcast live at PAX East 2024, the showcase was hosted by Samantha Béart (Baldur’s Gate 3) and Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI) — or Mama K and Mama C, if you prefer.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
From the moment you set eyes on it, it’s clear that Harold Halibut is a particularly intricate labor of love. A narrative adventure set under the sea, the game places you in the squeaky shoes of its titular protagonist Harold, a lab assistant working aboard an underwater spaceship.
As Harold, you’ll bimble around the confines of the (admittedly, quite large) spaceship, cleverly separated into different districts by the game’s water tube system, which essentially fires humans through little pipes to their destinations. Along the way, you’ll encounter a quirky cast of characters, all busy with their existences but ready to involve Harold in their wacky goings-on, whether it’s looking for a lost pet bird or helping the local shopkeeper win back his wife’s love. The characters spread around Harold Halibut are written brilliantly and bursting with a quintessentially British humor.
The premise of Harold Halibut is equally as fascinating. Without giving too much away, Harold descends from a small colony of explorers that ventured out to find a new planet to inhabit. The ship ended up stranded underwater, and generations of humans have managed to survive and thrive there. As you progress, Harold starts to uncover stories about the history of humanity, the fate of Earth, and the people he’s surrounded by, all while proving to himself that he’s capable of bigger things.
The delightful writing is encased in Harold Halibut‘s most obvious quirk – the game is physically made out of clay, every asset you see in game is handcrafted and then digitally scanned into the game, which is an utterly incredible process. This method makes Harold Halibut feel pleasantly retro, harking back to 90s point-and-click adventure games like The Neverhood, but with a slick, modern feel.
Harold Halibut‘s stunning retro-futuristic aesthetic is also complimented by some incredible audio design; every interaction, conversation or environmental noise comes with a satisfying crunch that makes you feel like you’re really in the room with Harold. The pairing of the sound and handmade visuals together gives Harold Halibut a super unique visceral joy, making even an empty corridor or quiet room feel immersive and interesting.
You’ll visit most of the game’s environments and speak to its cast of characters repeatedly to uncover their stories, but stopping to explore these gorgeous environments never feels like a chore. The game is filled with lovely little puzzles and mini-games too, which adds a pleasing level of interactivity to the walking and talking you’ll do each in-game day. Harold Halibut wants you to pay attention to the little things, its quirky set dressing, subtle, silly jokes, and the thought that has gone into those things is truly rewarding.
I only spent a few hours with Harold, but I’m already enthralled with where the narrative is going, and what weird and wonderful creatures I’m going to encounter on Harold’s journey to resdicover Earth. Harold Halibut is shaping up to be an incredibly special game, and one I can’t wait to play more of.
Harold Halibut is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S and via Game Pass on April 16.
The post Harold Halibut Hands On: A Heartfelt, Handmade Tale About Fish, Friendship and Finding Home appeared first on Xbox Wire.
After dying several times to an introductory worm boss that Path of Exile 2 had me face, I started to wonder if I was missing something while playing as the Ranger class. The grind to this early-level boss hadn’t unlocked a ton of Skill Gems for me, and the few I had slotted weren’t combining together to make a power combo like I had become accustomed to during the Affliction League that’s currently ongoing in Path of Exile. Speaking with other, much better players than myself who I met at the event it turned out I wasn’t the only one that took a try or two on the boss. It was time to get back to the grind and come back at it with better gear.
So far I had unlocked Lightning Arrow and Escape Shot thinking that the AoE ice projectile from escape shot would help me get out of any tricky situation I had found myself in. But it felt like I had made a mistake pairing this with Lightning Arrow which arced to 2 additional enemies near my target. I was also too slow, and the mouse controls made it difficult to stand in place and use my bow without walking into a pile of enemies. So I committed and made the change to WASD controls and that’s when this class really opened up.
The Ranger is very powerful, and being able to precisely move is a gift I didn’t realize I wanted from this action RPG. It made me nearly unstoppable, even in missions I’d tackle later in the day where I was definitely underleveled. WASD controls give you complete control of how your character moves on the screen in a PC game, and while I hadn’t used it before, it may now have become my favorite control scheme. At least for this particular class. An archer needs to have complete control over their movement, and as Jonathan Rogers said during his opening speech it helps sell the fantasy they’re trying to deliver: that’s you’re Legolas from Lord of the Rings, in complete control of every arrow you release from your quiver.
The first thing I’d do is start working toward my Honed Instinct passive skill which would increase my Attack speed for the Ranger. While on the journey, I also acquired the first piece of gear that would help my build come together. A ring that gave me plus 24 Maximum Mana. Then, I’d find a Fire Arrow Quiver which added 3 to 5 fire damage to my attacks. A nice passive boost of damage can go a long way in a fight. This alone would be enough to defeat the Devourer Worm that had given me trouble and finally get me to level 6.
The Devourer would drop Suede Bracers which added more physical damage to attacks, added a level to my melee skill gems, and most importantly gave me 2 mana per enemy killed. I had also acquired the Shortbow of the Pugilist which would give me a 45% increased stun buildup which would be extra handy against those lumbering baddies who needed a stun to be taken down quickly.
But the next skill gem I received from Renley for defeating the Worm is what made the whole thing come together harmoniously. Lightning Rod is an arrow that you shoot into the air creating a lightning burst that will remain on the ground. When you shoot it with your lightning arrow for example, that will create beams that chain to it and cause the Lightning Rod to release another Lightning Burst. It stays there for 12 seconds, an eternity in an ARPG and it will convert 100% of physical damage to lightning damage with a burst radius of 2 meters. And if all that doesn’t sound like much, just know that you can lay down several lightning rods and absolutely melt any pack of baddies coming at you, or a boss that decided to spawn in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is deadly.
After an hour and 30 minutes of game time, what started out as a somewhat slow burn finally clicked for this class. The Ranger had its starting kit, and I felt unstoppable.
Anyone who plays a lot of ARPGs knows how good it feels to have something that works for your class after you’ve played for a bit and unlocked a few skills and abilities that pair well together. Path of Exile 2 is proving again that Grinding Gear Games understands how to mix and match different abilities together to make compelling gameplay moments that keep you coming back to get that next piece of gear to make it just a tad bit better. Jonathan Rogers demoed some of these for me back at Gamescom 2023 showcasing how the Warrior, Huntress, and Druid will mix and match their skills to give players that satisfying loop of gameplay. And Path of Exile 2 is proving, yet again, that the team gets what the player wants.
One example of this team getting it is the drastic overhaul the game has been given since Gamescom. Since August, the team at Grinding Gear Games has added WASD controls to every single character, added moving while shooting to all classes, redone many of the animations, and as Rogers said during the introductory presentation this not only improved WASD, but also had a beneficial effect to how click to move felt as well.
To get into more specifics, we were given a hands-off demonstration of the changes to each class. For the Warrior, the new usable shield was shown alongside a one-handed weapon with a shield. By holding a button you can keep your shield up for full damage immunity including from spells. Not from the ground or sky, but still a neat option for Warrior players. There is a gauge that can fill up for this class now which will stun you out of your block animation. There are some unblockable attacks from bosses that you’ll still need to pay attention to as noted by a red flash.
Attacks for the Warrior that have changed include rolling slam which will now add a follow-up if an enemy has been hit with bone shatter which gives enemies another debuff to consider. And we also got a sneak peek at Shield Charge, which knocks down Monsters leaving them vulnerable to follow-up attacks. And you will block attacks while doing a shield charge.
The Sorceress benefits a lot from being able to move and shoot at the same time and the precision WASD offers makes the class look like one I’d consider maining for the full release. A quick demo of Flame Wall, which sets projectiles ablaze as they pass through, makes even a spark flame wall build viable according to Rogers.
While my playthrough detailed the early game in Path of Exile 2, we were given a tease of a high-level Ranger using the full swath of support gems in a fight. I already loved the basic version of Lightning Rod, as it gave me a huge boost to damage against enemies. But we were given a sneak peek at the “Multiple Projectiles Support” gem, which would create 3 arrows each time Lightning Rod is cast, just to give you an idea of one way you could build out your Ranger to do tons of damage.
Then the “Chain Support” gem will make it so your attacks chain an additional time, plus an additional time for each chain from other sources. Put it all together and you create an electric disco deathfield. And this is just a taste of the electric options the Ranger has. They also teased a vine build, poison build, and a ton of support gems you can see in the full gameplay video on IGN, or in our Path of Exile 2 wiki.
Besides the fact that they added mounts in Path of Exile 2, the most important takeaway from my nearly 3 hour play session, and the 45-minute demo of mid to late-game builds from Grinding Gear Games, is that Path of Exile 2 is improving in a lot of important ways and taking the lessons others have learned in the ARPG genre to heart. They aren’t afraid to delay their highly anticipated beta so players have a better experience. They aren’t afraid to implement entirely new systems like WASD, or moving while firing to all classes. And it’s because of this commitment to making something great that Path of Exile 2 has my attention.
For more on Path of Exile 2, don’t miss our Druid class hands-on preview as well as some Warrior and Huntress gameplay. And for everything else in the world of video games, keep it locked to IGN.
During a talk at GDC 2024, Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke announced that Larian Studios would not be making any DLC, expansions or sequels for the highly-regarded RPG, which took home another Game of the Year award at Wednesday’s Game Developers Choice Awards. However, speaking with IGN, Vincke did say that Larian began work on DLC and even gave some thought to a potential Baldur’s Gate 4 before pivoting away to other projects.
“Because of all the success the obvious thing would have been to do a DLC, so we started on one. We started even thinking about BG4,” Vincke says. “But we hadn’t really had closure on BG3 yet and just to jump forward on something new felt wrong. We had also spent a whole bunch of time converting the system into a video game and we wanted to do new things. There are a lot of constraints on making D&D, and 5th Edition is not an easy system to put into a video game. We had all these ideas of new combat we wanted to try out and they were not compatible.”
Vincke has spoken before about the challenges about working with 5th Edition, particularly when it comes to how powerful players get when they reach Level 12 and beyond. Shortly after release, Larian Studios said that the team wanted to do new content but didn’t know what yet. To date, Larian Studios has mostly focused on adding content that wasn’t available at release, such as a new epilogue and additional endings.
When it came time to make DLC, though, Vincke says Larian was going through the motions. “You could see the team was doing it because everyone felt like we had to do it, but it wasn’t really coming from the heart, and we’re very much a studio from the heart. It’s what gotten us into misery and it’s also been the reasons for our success.”
Vincke says that he took a vacation over the Christmas holidays, and when he returned his mind was made up. ‘[I] came back and I told the team, ‘You know we’re not going to do it. We’re going to shift around and we’re going to start doing these other things that we talked about, that we planned on doing before we started on BG3.’ Those were always the plans for afterward, we have two games that we want to make, and we have lots of concepts. So let’s just have closure on BG3, it’s been great. We’ve done our job. It’s a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. So let’s pass the torch to another studio to pick up this incredible legacy.”
Asked how the studio responded, Vincke said the team was “elated.”
“I thought they were going to be angry at me because I just couldn’t muster the energy. I saw so many elated faces, which I didn’t expect, and I could tell they shared the same feelings, so we were all aligned with one another. And I’ve had so many developers come to me after and say, ‘Thank god,'” Vincke says.
“I’m always the one where it starts with the initial idea and then I give it to the team and they start iterating it and they turn it into something much better. During BG3 I pitched to them what the next game would be…If I see they’re excited, I’ll say, ‘Okay let’s do that.’ If they’re not, it’s back to the drawing board. So they were very excited about a couple of the things we were planning on doing. Then the pivot to start doing BG3 DLC was expected because it’s what you do…We didn’t have any antagonism against BG4 or DLC, but the heart wasn’t there. It was more routine work than actually being excited. Now we have the excitement back in the room and that’s a big important thing.”
Vincke says the next game won’t be Divinity: Original Sin 3, and that it will be “different than what you think it is” but that it’s “still familiar.” Elsewhere, Vincke said that the new project will “dwarf” the scope of Baldur’s Gate 3, which would be quite impressive given the scope of that game.
In the meantime, Vincke has confirmed that Larian Studios is still working on more new content for Baldur’s Gate 3, including cross-platform mod support. After that, though, the future of Astarion, Karlach, and the rest of Baldur’s Gate 3’s now-beloved characters will be in the hands of Wizards of the Coast.
One way or another, Baldur’s Gate 3 leaves behind an impressive legacy. We gave it a perfect 10 in our original review and it has largely swept awards season. Even if you’ve finished it, there’s still plenty more to see so make sure to check out our complete Baldur’s Gate 3 walkthrough. As for Vincke, he reckons he’s figured out Act 1 for his next game. But if it’s anything like the development of Baldur’s Gate 3, which took some six years to complete, it may be a while before we get to play it.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
The developers behind the wonderful tile puzzler Dorfromantik have revealed the first teaser trailer for their next game. Currently known as Project Mango, the game will be made in collaboration with the German animation and edutainment YouTube channel Kurzgesagt – In A Nutshell, releasing in 2025. Not much is known about it right now, but come and have a watch of its teaser reveal below.
Stardew Valley players have been going into overdrive since the release of version 1.6 on PC, scouring the game for hidden easter eggs introduced in the new update, and generally enjoying all of the new content that developer Eric Barone has crafted to augment his beloved creation.
Many of the new additions are listed in the extensive patch notes, which can be browsed here. However, fans are already experimenting and testing the boundaries of the game in an attempt to discover any hidden easter eggs that Barone may have introduced in the 1.6 update.
These detective efforts have already borne fruit, as just hours following the release of 1.6, fans were able to uncover the existence of a newly implemented – and pretty sinister – cutscene, which punished players for using an exploit to access a late game area of the map. Well, it would appear that fans have struck gold once more, this time by discovering a crossover item gifted directly from the world of developer Re-Logic’s Terraria, in the form of the fabled Meowmere sword.
Meowmere is one of the most powerful swords that Terraria has to offer, and so it’s hardly surprising that you’ll have to jump through some monster-infested hoops in order to get your pixelated hands on it in Stardew Valley. First, as detailed in a video by YouTuber Slime – and reported by GamesRadar – you’ll need to find yourself an ancient doll. This item, while rare, can be obtained from a number of sources, such as by digging the earth, receiving it as a gift, or simply getting lucky with a fishing chest.
Next up, you’ll need to make your way to the 100th level in the mines, and throw the ancient doll in a pit of lava, which will cause a bone serpent ripped straight from Terraria to leap from the burning mass, and gift the player a jewel-like object called the Far Away Stone.
With this otherworldly relic in hand, all you need to do is head to the basement of the Wizard’s Tower and place the stone on the Terraria pylon, which will prompt a cat to casually stroll through a newly opened portal and hand you the Meowmere sword.
Be sure to check out IGN’s Stardew Valley Wiki and guides to find out everything you need to know about the 1.6 update, along with the latest news on Eric Barone’s next title, The Haunted Chocolatier.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
Not so Horrid Henry.
Set in the 15th century and taking place in the tumultuous land of Bohemia, Kingdom Come Deliverance follows the exploits of nice-but-dim blacksmith’s son Henry. Struggling through the political and religious machinations of the lords and ladies around him, he seeks to avenge the death of his family and find a place in the world. But first, he needs to learn how to use a sword…
One of the very first tasks in Warhorse Studios’ epic RPG is to collect a debt from a lowly drunkard. After a short intro to dialogue choices, you proceed to confidently throw hands with the peasant. After being roundly beaten within an inch of your life, you limp off to mother to get fixed up. It’s an appropriate intro to this gritty journey of bloody revenge. There are many ways to approach a confrontation, it’s going to be a while before violence is the easy option.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Mention Lionhead’s ’05 management sim about running a film studio and someone will crash through the wall, Kool-Aid Man style, to say they really liked it and there should be a remake or a sequel. In recent years there have been a few attempts to make a game like The Movies, with games like Moviehouse and Filmmaker Tycoon sitting pretty at ‘mostly negative’ status on Steam because they are not, in fact, like The Movies beyond the basic premise. But Blockbuster Inc. has shouldered its way into the conversation, wearing big puffy trousers, shouting through an old-timey megaphone, and openly billing itself as a “spiritual successor” to The Movies. It’s launching on June 6th this year, but you can play the prologue on Steam for free right now.
Hey Xbox Insiders! We have a new Xbox Update Preview releasing to the Delta ring today.
It’s important we note that some updates made to these preview OS builds include background improvements that ensure a quality and stable build for Xbox consoles. We will continue to post these release notes, even when the noticeable changes to the UI are minimal or behind the scenes, so you’re aware when updates are coming to your device.
Details can be found below!
Thanks to all the great feedback Xbox Insiders provide and the hard work of Xbox engineers, we are happy to announce the following fixes have been implemented with this build:
Capture & Share
Installation
System
While known issues may have been listed in previous Xbox Insider Release Notes, they are not being ignored! However, it may take Xbox engineers more time to find a solution. If you experience any of these issues, we ask that you please follow any guidance provided and file feedback with Report a Problem.
Audio
Networking
As always, be sure to use Report a problem to keep us informed of any issues you encounter. We may not be able to respond to everyone, but the data we’ll gather is crucial to finding a resolution.
If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please visit the community subreddit. Official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help with your concerns.
When posting to the subreddit, please look through the most recent posts to see if your issue has already been posted or addressed. We always recommend adding to existing threads with the same issue before posting a new one. This helps us support you the best we can! Also, don’t forget to use “Report a Problem” before posting – the information shared in both places helps us understand your issue better.
Thank you to every Xbox Insider in the subreddit today and welcome to the community if you’re just joining us! We love that it has become such a friendly and community-driven hub of conversation and support.
For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding your Xbox Update Preview ring!
The post Xbox Insider Release Notes – Delta (2404.240318-2000) appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke has had some time to reflect on Larian Studios’ Google Stadia deal, and he thinks it was “really stupid.”
The studio’s founder opened up about the early days of Baldur’s Gate 3 during a Game Developers Conference (GDC) panel that IGN attended today. While explaining how Larian learned to adapt to issues on the fly, he spoke about how Stadia played a role in the Baldur’s Gate 3 reveal.
For those who may have forgotten, Vincke and his team revealed the latest Baldur’s Gate at a Google Stadia conference in June 2019. It was a bombshell announcement during an event for a product that would ultimately fail, but it also came with other potential benefits. Stadia originally promised enticing features for developers to take advantage of while also offering a path to boost word of mouth.
“You talk to these people who say ‘I didn’t think it was for me, it looks like maybe a little bit too much,’ ” Vincke said to us in 2020. “With something as easy as sending somebody a link and saying, ‘Hey, let’s try it out and you can jump into my game instantly without having to install anything,’ I think that has a very great conversion power.”
Fast forward to 2024, however, and Stadia is no more. Google officially shut down its game streaming service in early 2023, with Baldur’s Gate 3’s full PC launch not arriving until that following August. Vincke says hindsight is 20/20, calling out the challenges of releasing the Early Access build for an additional platform.
“It was a really stupid deal and I should never have done it, but it allowed me to pay for the CGI,” he said.
All of the details of the Stadia deal have not been made public, but unsurprisingly, Vincke isn’t happy with the way things turned out. Elsewhere in the GDC panel, Vincke talked about how the team’s ambitions grew throughout development.
One thing Larian wanted form the beginning was a lot of cinematics and a big narrative, for example. These plans absolutely came through, as Vincke also confirmed that Baldur’s Gate 3 contains triple the word count of The Lord of the Rings books and double the cutscene runtime as Game of Thrones. It’s clear the game has come a long way, as he also showed off an early version of Astaron that was a Tiefling instead of a High Elf.
While Baldur’s Gate 3 has turned out to be a massive success for Larian, the team won’t be revisiting the world with DLC or even a fourth game anytime soon. For more on the studio’s latest, be sure to check out our 10/10 review.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
