Last month was a time of love for video games. What game from last month’s lineup won over your heart? Some of the big new releases included Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 1, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. After the polls close we will tally your votes, and announce the winner on our social channels and PlayStation.Blog.
What is the voting criteria? That’s up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? Note: re-released games don’t qualify, but remakes do. We define remakes as ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds such as Resident Evil 4 (2023) and Final Fantasy VII Remake.
How are nominees decided? The PlayStation Blog editorial team will gather a list of that month’s most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll.
Since launch, PC players of Monster Hunter Wilds have been tinkering with the game, working to optimize their performance and settings. As it turns out, some even dug all the way into the config files and found a typo, which they subsequently tested to see if that could bump up their numbers.
As discovered on Steam over the weekend (thanks, Kotaku), inside the config file of Monster Hunter Wilds, there’s a line where “Resolution” is spelled “Resoltuion”. According to the original Steam poster, fixing the misspelled word gave them a “perfomance boost,” though they also said it made their processor temperature “jump significantly,” from 50 degrees Celsius to 70.
A Reddit thread spun up too, where the original poster claimed to get a mild performance bump from around 120 FPS with Frame Gen to around 140. “Again, maybe a coincidence but I have no idea,” the OP said. “Needs more testing. I’m just happy to gain FPS somehow.”
Now, several repliers have commented with some words of caution and reason: adjusting this variable could be doing something completely different. “Renaming could just be setting whatever it is to a default which is lower than whatever it was, hence the perfomance increase,” one Reddit commenter said.
Another user said it’s a placebo. The executable contains the same typo, so it actually refers to a specific node. “By ‘fixing’ the typo, that makes the game not find this one specific config key/value, so perhaps [its] defaulting to some other value,” the responder said.
There are, of course, posts disputing the placebo effect. Without official confirmation from Capcom, this does seem like a red herring. And it’s best to advise caution when diving into the config files or other parts of the critical game files.
Players’ avid search for what fixing the typo does, however, indicates the fervor with which Monster Hunter Wilds players are hunting for performance bumps. The PC optimization has been a point of discussion for Monster Hunter Wilds players, up to the point that even social posts about an upcoming fix for a progression-breaking bug are garnering responses asking for optimization fixes.
PC players continue to flood into Monster Hunter Wilds though, as Capcom’s latest has been a record-breaking entry for both the series and the Steam storefront. With this much popularity, hopefully we see some fine-tuning in the weeks and months ahead, typo or not. A title update for Monster Hunter Wilds is expected in April, which is due to add a new endgame area to gather, as well as more monster hunting action for players to embark on.
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
Monster Hunter Wilds has a patch arriving soon, addressing a known but fairly important issue with its story progression.
As noted over the weekend by the Monster Hunter Status account on X/Twitter, players encountered an issue where a certain NPC didn’t appear. Without the NPC there, this disabled story progression for Main Mission: Chapter 5-2 “A World Turned Upside Down.”
The main Monster Hunter account followed up with an update this morning, and confirmed a patch addressing the known progression blcokers will be deployed tomorrow morning, March 4. The update will briefly drop players from their online sessions when it goes live, but they will be able to jump back in after updating.
It’s a fast turnaround for a very frustrating bug, which is good to see. Hopefully anyone stalled out by the random disappearing NPC will be able to find them now.
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
Another Steam Next Fest is drawing to a close, having had to compete with Monster Hunter Wilds for PC-beholding eyeballs – yet losing none of its knack for highlighting interesting and offbeat games set for future release. A quick dangle of our indie demo astrolabe indicates we’re a few months off the next Next Fest, though at the time of posting, there are still a couple of precious hours to download and try out the best samplers that this wintery showcase has to offer. Here are our favourites from the past week, and if you’ve played something you think deserves some more attention, why not share it in the comments?
Monster Hunter Wilds players have likely spent the weekend diving into the many hunts and activities. PC modders have also been busy, addressing one of the early frustrations with Wilds: Character Edit Vouchers.
It’s a community fix that PC players would have seen coming, since modders have also tinkered with the same particular point of frustration in past Monster Hunter games. It’s a fairly straightforward mod, simply allowing the player to not have to worry about having edit vouchers on-hand before heading back to the character creation screen. While minor edits like hair and makeup are freely available, anything extensive does usually require a paid Voucher, and this mod sidesteps the requirement.
Judging by past games, Monster Hunter Wilds will likely see some popularity in the modding scene. Most of the time, modders take aim at cosmetics, user interface, drop rates, or performance, and the latter will probably be a key point.
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, there’s an oft-quoted interaction in which the titular character, having fallen down the rabbit hole and become trapped in a dreamlike world, complains to the Cheshire Cat that she doesn’t want to be among mad people. “Oh, you can’t help that,” says the Cat. “We’re all mad here.” The Cat’s observation, and this interaction as a whole, perfectly captures the feeling of Everhood 2, the latest release from Foreign Gnomes.
In the best of ways, this Toby Fox-inspired RPG is as confusing and menacing as it is fascinating and funny, and while it likely won’t top most people’s lists when discussing the best RPGs on the Switch, it provides a memorable and worthwhile adventure that we’d suggest you try out.
Make Plays at Light Speed With Waylay, Valorant’s New Agent
Kenny Cameron, Global Community Manager, Riot
Rise and shine. The Dawn of the Duelist is upon us with the arrival of Waylay—Valorant’s latest high-mobility Duelist hailing from Bangkok, Thailand. Here, you’ll learn everything you need to know to get in the game and get fragging.
Waylay is a new take on an iconic subclass of Duelist. She’s also the first new space-taking Duelist since Valorant’s launch with Jett and Raze.
“We saw an opportunity in this space since it’s been so long since we’ve created a Duelist like this,” explains Waylay’s Design Lead, June “Riot Junebird” Cuervo. “We wanted to add some more variety to this role since we see one on basically every team, especially in Pro play.”
Space-taking Duelists are designed to be highly mobile in order to break chokepoints and displace enemy crosshairs. They’re the tip of the spear for their team and create opportunities for others to follow-up and get on the plant site.
Abilities Rundown
Refract (Signature)
Waylay Refracts out of harms way after she sees Raze send a rocket her way.
With Refract, Waylay instantly places a beacon of light on the floor. When she reactivates the ability, she travels back to that beacon’s location as a pure mote of light, invulnerable to all damage and abilities. It’s essentially a safety net for Waylay, but not necessarily one for her team.
“With Jett, once you’re on the site, you’re on the site. With Raze, once you’re there, you live or die. But Waylay has this backup plan. She can still break that angle, displace crosshairs, and draw attention, but also keep herself safe,” Riot Junebird says about Waylay’s Refract ability. “But once she uses that ability, nobody has to pay attention to you anymore. All eyes are back on her teammates and now they have to be the ones to continue taking that space and getting those kills.”
Light Speed
Waylay using her Light Speed ability to dash into Ascent’s B site.
Light Speed allows Waylay to dash up to two times in the direction(s) of her choosing. However, only the first dash will allow you to move upwards at the same time, givingWaylay a lot of potential to take some creative spots on site.
“I wanted movement to be the focal point of Waylay’s kit,” Riot Junebird adds. “Raze is an example of an Agent with really expressive movement utility, but with that comes a really high mastery curve. With Waylay, I wanted to provide the same amount of skill expression but make it a little bit more accessible.”
Saturate
Cypher experiencing the Hindering debuff after being hit by Saturate.
Beyond the movement, Waylay has a couple of other tools at her disposal with a throwable cluster of light called Saturate. Saturate acts as a light grenade that debuffs enemies hit in its area of effect. Enemies are affected with a new debuff called Hindering. Think of Hindering as a softer version of a Concuss that slows vertical movement and reload times as well, without the blurred vision.
“We felt like it was probably really out-of-line from a power budget perspective for a Duelist to have all this mobility and also a debuff as strong as a Concuss,” Riot Junebird explains. “But we thought there was an interesting gameplay space here where the character could have some kind of debuff that would help unlock their Duelist potential. We think that Hindering is like a softer, more appropriate debuff version of a Concuss for a Duelist.”
Convergent Paths
Waylay’s Convergent Paths spreading onto the plant site and Hindering a hiding Killjoy.
With Convergent Paths, Waylay focuses her prismatic power to create an afterimage of herself that projects a beam of light. After a brief delay, you gain a powerful boost of speed and the light expands, Hindering everyone in its path.
“Waylay is still a Duelist. The ult might make people think of initiator utility at first, but the way the ult is shaped, and the way there’s that delay up front—that’s the moment where the Duelist part of her still shines,” Riot Junebird reveals. “The delay from your afterimage casting the ultimate still gives you the window of opportunity to still be the first one out and on the site for your team.”
Waylay is out with the start of Valorant Season 2025 Act 2, coming March 5. You can get in game and start grinding during her recruitment event, or unlock her instantly with an active Xbox Game Pass subscription linked to your Riot Games account. GL HF GG.
VALORANT is a character-based 5v5 tactical shooter set on the global stage. Outwit, outplay, and outshine your competition with tactical abilities, precise gunplay, and adaptive teamwork.
DEFY THE LIMITS
Blend your style and experience on a global, competitive stage. You have 13 rounds to attack and defend your side using sharp gunplay and tactical abilities. And, with one life per-round, you’ll need to think faster than your opponent if you want to survive. Take on foes across Competitive and Unranked modes as well as Deathmatch and Spike Rush.
CREATIVITY IS YOUR GREATEST WEAPON
More than guns and bullets, you’ll choose an Agent armed with adaptive, swift, and lethal abilities that create opportunities to let your gunplay shine. No two Agents play alike, just as no two highlight reels will look the same.
FIGHT AROUND THE WORLD
Each map is a playground to showcase your creative thinking. Purpose-built for team strategies, spectacular plays, and clutch moments. Make the play others will imitate for years to come.
Call of Duty cheat provider, Phantom Overlay, is reportedly shutting down.
In a statement posted to Telegram, the cheat provider declined to comment on why it was closing down “immediately,” adding: “This is not an exit scam and no external entity could ever compel me to exit scam my customers. I’ll keep everything updated, safe, and online for 32 days longer.”
The reason Phantom Overlay is committed to staying online for 32 days is to ensure people with a 30-day key “get their full money’s worth.” The cheat creator also said they would partially refund lifetime keys, too.
Crucially, many other cheat providers piggyback off Phantom Overlay’s systems, so this shock closure could have a broader impact on the cheating ecosystem.
“I can’t believe it!!” commented one gamer on X, formerly known as Twitter (thanks, Dexerto). “Does this mean the Season 3 cheat update is really gonna work?!”
Other commenters were less convinced, with one stating: “They’re just rebranding. They have the same provider under multiple names/brands. The cheaters won’t stop.”
It did, however, assure players it now routinely bans cheaters due to increased “velocity” from several Ricochet Anti-Cheat systems, in addition to the over 19,000 accounts it recently removed.
The apparent prevalence of cheaters is considered by some to be ruining competitive multiplayer, and Activision had come under fire for failing to address the problem. Things got so bad that last month, with the release of Season 2, Activision let console Ranked players disable crossplay with PC players.
Cheating is not unique to Call of Duty, of course, but it has become more problematic for Activision ever since it released free-to-download battle royale Warzone in 2020. But despite investing millions of dollars developing its anti-cheat technology — as well as pursuing cheat makers in the courts, with a number of recent high-profile successes — fans remain sceptical of the Ricochet system.
In related news, earlier today, we reported it looks like we’ll finally find out more about the return of Call of Duty Warzone‘s much-loved Verdansk map on March 10.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Video Games Deluxe has a history of working with Rockstar on a number of games, including the 2017 re-releases of L.A. Noire, L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, and most recently on upgrades to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition for iOS and Android, Netflix, and modern consoles.
“After working together closely over many years, we are excited to have Video Games Deluxe join the team as Rockstar Australia,” said Rockstar Games Head of Publishing, Jennifer Kolbe.
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.
Now, however, players visiting the Call of Duty shop get a pop-up that reads: “The Verdansk Collection,” and a countdown that looks set to explore a week today, on March 10, 2025 (thanks, InsiderGaming).
Accompanying the pop-up is a simple, tri-color sketch that shows an alpine scene of snow, pine trees, a dam, and a crashed plane — a familiar sight for anyone who spent time in Warzone’s original sandbox before it was superceded by Verdansk ’84 in Season 3, and then replaced completely by Caldera in 2021. Right now, the only way to revisit it is to playCall of Duty Warzone Mobile.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Season 2 is now live. It adds five Multiplayer maps — Bounty, Dealership, Lifeline, Bullet, and Grind — the return of the fan-favorite Gun Game mode, and new weapons and operators. And don’t forget the super expensive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover event.
Warzone, however, received less content than originally planned as the team works to address some of the more severe issues currently afflicting the game, including gameplay tuning, bug fixes, and quality-of-life improvements.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
