Category: Video Games

Out now in early access, The Tribe Must Survive is Frostpunk for people who love being afraid of the dark

Yesterday I was off sick with a fever and, as I often do when I’m laid up ill, immediately set out to consume the most nihilistic and depressing entertainment media I could find. On the film front, I watched Session 9, in which some men hired to remove asbestos from a collapsing 19th century asylum do not have a very nice time. On the game front, I played The Tribe Must Survive, a colony management sim from Walking Tree Games GmbH and Starbreeze Publishing, which is now available in early access.

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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Isn’t Out Yet But Fans Are Already Obsessing Over Tifa

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth may not be available until February 29 but fans are already obsessing over Tifa’s appearance in the game.

A clip of the remade Costa Del Sol section of Final Fantasy 7 has gone viral, with Tifa trending alongside Aerith. The clip shows the party at the beach, with Cloud seemingly taken aback by Tifa and Aerith’s swimsuits.

The internet has already grown obsessed over it, with one post from X/Twitter user @Genki_JPN having clocked 1.6 million views by itself.

Tifa’s popularity isn’t anything new, of course, but the fact she’s trending over Aerith upon the release of a game that already has fans fiercely debating the latter’s fate is telling. Tifa was trending in January too, when fans called for her to be added to Tekken 8 so much that Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada had to address it.

“We all know she is attractive and I understand that,” Harada said in a post on X/Twitter. “But as yet we have not decided anything about guest characters etc.”

The Costa Del Sol section of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is just one of several cities players can explore. Unlike the first game, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the sequel takes place throughout a large portion of the world and also includes the likes of Gold Saucer and Junon. The latter can be explored in the recently updated demo too.

In our 9/10 review of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, IGN said: “Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth impressively builds off of what Remake set in motion, both as a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenges and an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long.”

Those looking to see how long it takes to get through the epic can also check out IGN’s How Long Is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth? guide.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Nightingale to add offline mode “as soon as feasible”, as devs say they “misjudged” player demand for it

After launching Nightingale into early access on Tuesday, developers Inflexion Games (led by former BioWare CEO Aaryn Flynn) have quickly realised a big miscalculation: lots of players want an offline mode. The gaslamp fantasy survival game requires you be online even if you want to play by yourself, which dovetailed poorly with server issues at launch to frustrate folks. Inflexion say that early in development they needed to make a choice between focusing on co-op or offline first, and now think they made the wrong call. They plan to remedy this, but it’s not yet clear when they’ll actually add an offline mode.

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‘Runner2’ Leaps To Switch Next Week, Complete With Charles Martinet

He did a Runner.

Charles Martinet may have hung up his cap as the voice of Mario, but next week you’ll get to hear his dulcet tones in a new Switch release. On 29th February, the snappily named BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien is making the leap from Wii U to Switch (see what we did there?) with Martinet’s narration present and correct.

The acclaimed rhythm-based runner from Bit.Trip series originators Gaijin Games — now Choice Provisions — launched on Wii U and other platforms back in 2013, with the sequel Runner3 arriving on Switch in 2018.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Helldivers 2 Patch 1.000.12 Raises Server Cap to 700,000 Concurrents as Dev Braces Itself for the Weekend

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has raised the game’s server cap to a whopping 700,000 concurrent users as it braces itself for another weekend of massive player numbers.

Helldivers 2 is a smash hit following its explosive launch across PC via Steam and PlayStation 5, but the co-op focused third-person shooter has suffered from significant issues as server capacity is hit time and time again.

Arrowhead has released a number of patches in a bid to combat the problem, including raising the server cap to 500,000 concurrent users, and indeed this week released a major update (Helldivers 2 patch 1.000.11) targeted at sorting out the most egregious issues. But now, Arrowhead has upped the server cap yet again as it prepares for another influx of players over the weekend.

Helldivers 2 patch 1.000.12 raises the server cap, and fixes an issue where some players would get stuck in cinematics for an extended period of time. In a tweet, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt said the developer had updated the server cap to an incredible 700,000, but warned: “Unfortunately, we expect the CCU to reach that level.” Still, Pilestedt predicted “wait times will be much more bearable.”

In another tweet, Pilestedt insisted that this new server cap is “above what we have been able to support”, and that Arrowhead is “actively monitoring the situation.”

Helldivers 2 is Sony’s biggest PC game launch of all time, with a peak concurrent player figure of 457,649 on Steam. Helldivers 2’s success has even sparked renewed interest in Starship Troopers, the film from which it draws quite a bit of inspiration.

Arrowhead and the Helldivers 2 community will be hoping the servers are able to hold the line going into the weekend, when most expect that peak concurrent record on Steam to fall by the wayside, potentially multiple times.

Arrowhead is still working on a number of issues with Helldivers 2. Here’s the list:

  • No text is present for the Requisitions and Social Menu on the Player HUD
  • PS5 players may encounter error code 10003001 on the login screen
  • Login rate limiting when many are logging in at the same time
  • Players can become disconnected during play
  • Rewards and other progress may be delayed or not attributed
  • Various UI issues may appear when the game interacts with servers
  • Pick-up of certain objects in-game may cause characters to freeze in place for an extended period of time
  • Some games would not be joinable by others for a short period of time during heavy load
  • Other unknown behaviors may occur
  • Japanese VO is missing from intro cutscene and Ship TV
  • Armor values for light/medium/heavy armor do not currently function as intended

If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 guide.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Some Elden Ring devs had “concerns” about its open world style, which the DLC will make “denser and richer”

From Software president Hidetaka Miyazaki has acknowledged that members of the Dark Souls studio had misgivings about Elden Ring‘s shift to a full-blown open world format, while qualifying that Elden Ring’s vision for an open world was never “traditional”. Rather, Elden Ring is an “open world” game in the same way that Dark Souls is a “hard” game, Miyazaki feels. Confused? Well, this is the godfather of the notoriously unforthcoming Souls series we’re talking about. I’ve never interviewed the guy, but I suspect he composes his responses using the game’s soapstone messaging system.

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Get Intel’s legendary Optane 905P 1.5TB SSD at a discount in the US

Intel’s Optane drives are legendary in PC tech circles, offering random performance and low latency that remains unmatched amongst PCIe 3.0 drives. This Intel Optane 905P drive is the biggest they ever made at 1.5TB, and now it’s reduced to $380 when you use code SYADP2Z384 at Newegg.

For systems that accept PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 5.0 drives, I’d recommend sticking with our usual gaming SSD recommendations, but for PCIe 3.0 systems this is a fascinating option that emphasises random performance against sequential speeds. I recorded some of the very fastest game load times with this drive when I tested it against other PCIe 3.0 options, and its random write speeds are competitive even with later generation PCIe 4.0 alternatives.

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New SteamWorld Game Sales Fell “Slightly Short” Of Thunderful’s Expectations

It’s also putting one SteamWorld project “on hold”.

The December release SteamWorld Build has not met Thunderful’s sales expectations according to its latest fiscal report.

Thunderful CEO Martin Walfisz explained how despite “new momentum” the game had fallen “slightly short” of expectations. He further noted how the genre didn’t really appeal to the company’s “most dedicated target audiences” and wasn’t well suited to the Switch, which has always been a “key platform” for Thunderful.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Switch Online’s Mobile App No Longer Compatible With Older OS

The new update has arrived.

If you’re still making use of Switch Online mobile app, and happen to be using an older device, you might want to read on.

As highlighted by My Nintendo News, Nintendo’s latest version of the app (Version 2.9.0) will no longer support iPhone users running on anything below iOS 15. The latest version of the Switch Online app also requires Android users to be running on “Android 8.0 or later”. Here’s the official update from Nintendo about this:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Mortal Kombat 1 Crossplay Release Timing Confirmed by Netherrealm

Netherrealm has confirmed that the crossplay will be added to Mortal Kombat 1 in its upcoming patch next week. The studio will share more details about the feature early next as well.

Dubbed “Krossplay,” players will be able to link up with each other on other platforms, including PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC for both Steam and Epic Games Store. Unfortunately, it seems like the Nintendo Switch won’t be getting the crossplay feature in the next update.

Netherrealm has been consistently pushing out updates for Mortal Kombat 1 since its launch back in September 2023 and confirmed that Krossplay would be coming in early 2024. One of its most notable features already added is Wi-fi filter support. This allows players to decline matches based on the opponent’s internet connection. For example, someone who uses a wired connection can opt out against playing someone who uses a wireless connection.

Mortal Kombat 1’s latest DLC character, Peacemaker, will arrive on February 28 for those who purchased the Kombat Pack 1 and its early access. Everyone else will be able to purchase Peacemaker in about a week shortly after. A new gameplay trailer for Peacemaker was recently released, showing off his jetpack-powered fatality and a Janet Cage Kameo.

In IGN’s Mortal Kombat 1 review, we said, “The bone-crunching gameplay of Mortal Kombat 1 is some of the best the series has ever seen, thanks to the game-changing Kameo system. Netherrealm delivers a fantastic single-player story mode as well. However, the new Invasions mode is a grind and the online options feel dated.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey