Category: Video Games

Capcom has quickly rolled back a Resident Evil Revelations update which added digital rights management (DRM) after it was review bombed on Steam.

As reported by Eurogamer, the addition of DRM — which essentially looks to stop piracy but allegedly causes performance issues and mod malfunctions too — arrived on January 10 and slammed by Steam users who brought Revelations’ rating down to “mostly negative”.

It didn’t take long for Capcom to hear the outcry and revert Revelations to its former state, though it did say DRM would return once the associated issues were resolved

“Due to an issue observed with the latest update released, we have reverted the corresponding update,” Capcom said in a Steam update. “We apologise for the inconvenience caused, and once the issue is resolved, we will re-release the update. Thank you very much for your patience and cooperation.”

Fans complained the DRM update had stopped mods working for the 2012 single player game. “Added DRM to an 11 year old game,” nyenye said on Steam. “F**k you Capcom. This is the second downgrade in recent years.” GigaDesu said simply: “Capcom killed modding.”

Revelations was originally a Nintendo 3DS game that soon saw itself ported to just about every other platform. It starred Resident Evil mainstays Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine investigate a deadly threat aboard a stranded cruise liner.

In our 8/10 review of the original, IGN said: “Resident Evil Revelations is a great handheld game, one that not only pushes the boundaries and standards of the Nintendo 3DS but one that recaptures a long-forgotten spirit of a classic franchise.”

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

The third-person multiplayer online battle arena Smite is getting a shiny new standalone sequel: Smite 2 has been officially announced at the 2024 Smite World Championship. The sequel will retain the same core gameplay Smite players are familiar with, but the game itself is being rebuilt from the ground up for the next generation. Check out the announcement trailer above and our first-look preview video below.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Smite is a MOBA like League of Legends or Dota 2 – two teams of five players battle for control of a three-lane map, each team growing stronger throughout the match until one is able to destroy their enemy’s base. Unlike other MOBAs, though, Smite is played from a third-person perspective, so you’re right in the heat of battle clashing with powerful gods, instead of strategizing from a top-down overview. It’s also designed to be console-friendly, and easily played using a controller.

The original game was released in 2014 and runs on Unreal Engine 3, so Smite 2 – built using Unreal Engine 5 – represents a significant leap in technology. Travis Brown, General Manager at Titan Forge Games, describes Smite 2 as a “chance to go back, take all the learnings from 10 years of making Smite into one of the most successful multiplayer games of all time, and do it all strictly better.”

Alongside visual upgrades and new animations and effects for Smite’s pantheon of playable Gods, Smite 2 will also include several gameplay improvements: new abilities for certain characters, a brand new backend and matchmaking system, new map features, and new UI.

5 new Gods are also planned for Smite 2, starting with Hecate, the Greek goddess of sorcery, who will be available to play as part of the Smite 2 alpha playtest, planned for Spring 2024.

Since they’re rebuilding Smite 2 from scratch, the development team at Titan Forge Games are also taking the opportunity to make some more fundamental adjustments to the game, in an effort to introduce more strategic depth.

In Smite 1, Gods use either Physical or Magical Power, and can’t use items that don’t belong to their power type. Smite 2 will eliminate these restrictions, allowing all Gods to build all items, and scaling individual abilities based on new Strength and Intelligence stats. Relics are being removed entirely, and the item store will be restructured to make it easier for players to dynamically adapt their builds during a match.

Creating a brand new version of the game after 10 years of continual updates is a huge undertaking – there are 130 Gods in Smite 1, and they won’t all be available to play in Smite 2 right away, though the developers plan to eventually bring every God over to the sequel.

Not all Smite content is going to make it over to Smite 2, however. In-game Skins released before Year 11 won’t carry over, as the team state it simply isn’t feasible to recreate the vast amount of content released over the past 10 years, although there is a Legacy system planned to reflect the investment veteran Smite players have made.

Fortunately, for those who’d prefer to stick with the original, Smite 2 won’t be replacing Smite 1. The original will still continue to run as a standalone game, and will receive regular updates for the foreseeable future.

Smite 2 will be released on PC, Steam Deck, Xbox Series X and S, and PlayStation 5 with full crossplay, and signups for the alpha playtest are live now.

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered includes a Guitar Free Play mode where the series’ composer Gustavo Santaolalla is a playable character.

A post on X/Twitter from developer Naughty Dog revealed the “familiar face” while announcing the option to play the banjo in Guitar Free Play, too. Santaolalla composed the soundtrack for both The Last of Us games, and actually leaked the remastered second game back in July 2023 by referencing this cameo.

“In the new editions you can make me play certain themes and well, I can’t tell you anything else,” he said at the time, before any new editions or musical modes had been revealed.

Yes, you can play the banjo in The Last of Us Part II Remastered’s Guitar Free Play mode… and you can even do it with a familiar face! 🪕

Pre-order now, available January 19: https://t.co/rjaUcqYTL5 pic.twitter.com/czmuYDYCZn

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) January 11, 2024

It wasn’t to be the only leak for the game, however, as the PlayStation Store posted details of the remaster’s existence before its official announcement. Naughty Dog confirmed it soon after, revealing The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered would arrive on January 19 with a roguelike mode called No Return, Lost Levels with developer commentary, graphical enhancements, DualSense integration, and the Guitar Free Play mode.

The Lost Levels — which were cut from the original game but are being included as bonus content for the PlayStation 5 upgrade — are called Jackson Dance, Boar Hunt, and Sewers, the last of which has fans particularly worried.

In our 10/10 review of the original game, IGN said: “The Last of Us Part 2 is a masterpiece that evolves the gameplay, cinematic storytelling, and rich world design of the original in nearly every way.”

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