Astro Bot just got a brand new update, adding five new challenge levels complete with their own new special bots to unlock. And two of the new bots are from a series that had previously gone unrepresented in the game, despite being beloved by PlayStation fans.

If you don’t want it spoiled, we’ll just say that you can unlock one of these bots by rescuing it from the challenge level High Inflation, while the second bot comes only after you beat all five brand new challenge levels in the Vicious Void Galaxy and rescue the other bots inside.

Warning! We’re going to spoil exactly who all the bots in the DLC are below the video, so if you don’t want to know, get outta here!

The two bots in question are Cloud and Sephiroth, both from Final Fantasy 7. Cloud is the reward from High Inflation, and Sephiroth shows up if you beat all five new challenge levels.

Final Fantasy representation, and specifically from 7, has been long-requested by Astro Bot fans. The game launched with a whopping 173 bot cameos from PlayStation history, so the lack of Final Fantasy 7 — a game traditionally associated with PlayStation both in its original and remake forms — was surprising. When asked at the time, Astro Bot developers attributed this to the choice of publisher partners, meaning it sounds like Square Enix wasn’t previously willing to play ball. But it seems the company has changed its tune more recently.

Cloud and Sephiroth aren’t the only bots you’ll find in the new DLC, and not even the only Square Enix representation. In fact, it sounds like Square was happy to hand over several cameos, with 2B from Nier: Automata and Serge from Chrono Cross also showing up to be rescued. Atsu from Ghost of Yōtei also shows up, though we already knew she’d be in this update.

Astro Bot has received a number of special challenge stage updates since launch, and it’s no surprise Team Asobi was able to give it that extra love given how well-received the game has been. It sold 1.5 million units in just its first two months, and earned a 9/10 from us. “A fantastically inventive platformer in its own right, Astro Bot is particularly special for anyone with a place in their heart for PlayStation,” our reviewer wrote.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is almost here! The legendary franchise returns on July 11 (or 10, depending upon where you are in the world and what platform you’re playing) with everything you loved, only this time expect more skaters, new parks, gnarlier tricks, eardrum shattering music, plus a whole lot more.

While most people will be able to play from midnight local time this coming Friday, July 11, those who bought the digital deluxe edition are able to jump in early from midnight their time on Tuesday, July 8 (although Steam and Battle.net users get a head start on their head start and can play from 9pm on July 7).

We thought the long-anticipated remake was great, slapping it with a 8 and writing in the IGN’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 review: “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 proves yet again the series’ over-the-top skateboarding formula is totally timeless, even if some of the changes to THPS4 miss the mark and the soundtrack has been fumbled.”

Activision is also running a Grind to 100 competition that rewards the fastest player to secure all in-game achievements with a set of real-life bespoke 24-carat gold skateboard trucks worth £100,000.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 global release times — early access for Deluxe Edition:

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

AEST (Sydney):

• 12.01am

BRT (São Paulo):

• 12.01am

BST (London):

• 12.01am

CEST (Berlin):

• 12.01am

EDT (New York):

• 12.01am

GST (Dubai):

• 12.01am

JST (Tokyo):

• 12.01am

PDT (Los Angeles):

• 12.01am

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4 global release times — standard access, including Xbox Game Pass:

Friday, July 11, 2025

AEST (Sydney):

• 12.01am

BRT (São Paulo):

• 12.01am

BST (London):

• 12.01am

CEST (Berlin):

• 12.01am

EDT (New York):

• 12.01am

GST (Dubai):

• 12.01am

JST (Tokyo):

• 12.01am

PDT (Los Angeles):

• 12.01am

Please note: The UBI Connect release date is TBD at this time.

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.

With anticipation for Fallout Season 2, fans are wondering if Bethesda will capitalize on the smash hit Amazon show in a more significant way this time around.

Fallout Season 1 hit Prime Video in April 2024 and was an instant breakout hit. While the show’s popularity sparked a flood of new players across all Fallout games, Bethesda — and by extension parent company Microsoft — failed to make the most of it with, for example, the release of a new Fallout game.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer ended up insisting that everyone involved benefited from the show’s success, and that not having a new game lined up for the launch “gave us some creative liberty that [we] wouldn’t have had if we tried to coordinate production of two very different creative processes to land at the same time.”

That mention of “creative liberty” is a reference to the Fallout TV show’s canon status within the Fallout timeline, and the fact it takes place after all the existing Fallout games. While this has meant Fallout lore fans have analyzed the TV show to within an inch of its life, its creators were able to move on from what’s gone before and tell a brand new story. If a new post-Fallout 4 video game had come out at the same time, Bethesda and the TV showrunners would have faced a tricky job ensuring all their Fallout timeline ducks were in a row.

But will Microsoft and Bethesda fail to capitalize on Season 2 of the Fallout show? When it comes to Fallout 76, at least, it sounds like tie-in content is indeed planned.

Speaking to Variety, Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 76 creative director Jon Rush said the development team is “always focused on the game,” but confirmed the two teams (TV show and video games) do talk to each other about “lining things up with the seasonal releases of the show.”

“I think a distinct trait of the Fallout 76 game is that we’re the furthest back in time,” he said. “And it’s kind of funny, because the show’s the furthest into the future. So there’s a lot of room where we don’t necessarily need to overlap. There are some things that we could overlap the stories, that could exist, but we largely try to keep those pretty simple.

“So the show is very effective storytelling, great storytelling, very Fallout, being made by folks that are big fans of the game and the series, and so are we. The two go together really well. So folks see the show and want more of that same kind of story, and they’re going to come into 76, they’re going to come into Fallout 4, or come into Fallout 3.

“Lining things up with the seasonal releases of the show, it’s stuff that we talk about all the time, and we do have plans for things here and there. I’m not going to go into detail on any of those now, but the two teams do talk to one another.”

So, we don’t know what exactly Bethesda is planning for the launch of Fallout Season 2, but we do know something is in the works for Fallout 76. There are still a lot of unanswered questions. For one, we don’t have a Fallout Season 2 release date yet. Could Bethesda have a new Fallout video game in the works to go alongside the show? There is about as much anticipation for a new Fallout game as there is for Fallout Season 2 — and the speculation to go along with it as remaster and remake rumors swirl.

But perhaps we shouldn’t hold our breath. In June last year, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard said he wasn’t interested in rushing the next Fallout game out the door.

“For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76… we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that,” he said. “The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling.”

Of course, a brand new Fallout game is coming down the pipe, with Howard confirming Fallout 5 is in the long-term plan, potentially after The Elder Scrolls 6 comes out. As for Fallout Season 2, it’s off to New Vegas, the setting of Obsidian’s much-loved Fallout: New Vegas.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

ARK: Aquatica — the new expansion for ARK: Survival Evolved — finally has a release date, and it’s soon: July 15, to be precise.

Snail Games announced its “in-house developed new expansion map, Ark: Aquatica” at GDC in March. The studio described the expansion as a non-canonical side story to Ark in “an ambitious underwater setting featuring 95% of gameplay taking place beneath the surface.” However, the Ark: Survival Evolved expansion trailer released alongside the announcement was resoundingly condemned after fans discovered evidence of generative AI imagery.

OG developer Studio Wildcard immediately distanced itself from the discussion, clarifying on social media that Ark: Aquatica was not being developed by its team. It also revealed Ark: Lost Colony, a new expansion for Ark: Survival Ascended that will lead into the sequel, although since missing its previously planned late 2024 release window, the future of Ark 2 remains unclear.

ARK: Aquatica introduces the first submerged ARK with above-water islands, “challenging players with new survival mechanics, extreme environmental hazards, a huge explorable map area, and unique gameplay elements”.

The underwater biome adds 21 new tameable creatures, 74 new Engrams — including seven tek Engrams — and underwater survival thanks to features like air pockets and propulsion vehicles.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latest teaser has been under intense fan scrunity, with some going as far as to implore others to report it to Steam if they suspect anything is generated by AI. Some are also questioning the purpose of the trailer posted to Snail Games’ YouTube, with one asking of the 11-second teaser: “Okay, so what the f**k does this tell me about the expansion?”

“I am 200% sure that this update was created to kill all existing mods and plugins,” added another YouTube commenter.

ARK: Aquatic is in development by Studio Sirens to “commemorate the 10-year anniversary of ARK: Survival Evolved” and will be available exclusively on PC. A price has yet to be confirmed.

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.