Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Officially Ends After Final Update, Offline Mode, and True Ending

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League just received its final update, which along with the promised offline mode, adds an official ending to the game’s story that wraps everything up in a tidy, if rather uninteresting, way.

As previously announced, Episode 8: Balance is the final update planned for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Alongside some new armore and exotic weapons, the biggest feature in the update is a new Offline Mode that will allow players to continue playing Suicide Squad Game by themselves without requiring an internet connection.

The Offline Mode was announced in December 2023 as part of Rocksteady’s post-launch plans, but the studio was also committed to releasing its promised DLCs and additional characters, leaving the Offline Mode for its final update.

There’s also a big comic book ending to wrap up the story of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, so if you’re okay with spoilers feel free to read below the break. You’ve been warned.

Okay so Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, as the name implies, is about taking out members of the Justice League who have been brainwashed by Brainiac. One of the biggest shocks in the game was when Harley Quinn shoots Batman point blank in the head.

However, Batman was actually still alive. In his masterful gambit, he allowed Brainiac to create clones of the Justice League and then oversaw the events of the game from the shadows as he worked to take down Brainiac in secret.

The ending is told via the comic book illustrations that the different post-launch episodes have been presented in and in true comic book fashion, your favorite heroes are still all alive and the bad guys are defeated. Woo-hoo.

Is this how Rocksteady envisioned the end of Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League? Who can say. The game released to mixed reviews and Warner Bros. said the game fell short of expectations when it came to sales, and the developers announced that it was ending future updates on the game after Season 4.

You can read our full review of Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League here and for anyone looking to play the game, the Offline Mode means you’re able to fully. So if you see it on sale next time, don’t worry about picking it up as the game will still run just fine.

Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.

Marvel Rivals Dev Promises a New Hero Every Month and a Half

NetEase Games is telling Marvel Rivals players that a new hero will launch every month and a half as additional seasons roll out.

The studio’s creative director, Guangyun Chen, clarified the team’s post-launch plans during an interview with Metro. He doesn’t mince words, promising to release a playable character every half-season. That equals out to at least one new hero every month and a half, or roughly every six weeks.

“Every season we’ll be rolling out fresh seasonal stories, new maps, and new heroes. We’ll actually be breaking down each season into two halves,” Chen said. “The length of one season is three months. And for each half of the season, we will introduce a new hero. We just eventually want to continue to enhance the experience, and, you know, keep everyone excited in our community.”

It’s a tall order that will leave fans with one question as every season winds down: who’s next? Marvel Rivals Season 1: Eternal Night Falls already kicked things off with a strong start by introducing both Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman for the first half, with The Thing and the Human Torch primed to launch with the second half in a few weeks. These are Marvel mainstays who have undeniably earned their place as legendary superhero characters, but keeping up that momentum over time will be quite the challenge.

Marvel Rivals already launched with a strong list of playable heroes that includes names like Wolverine, Magneto, Spider-Man, Jeff the Landshark, and Storm, but there are so many other faces to include. Blade is one character rumored to appear in Season 2, for example, with fans also hoping to see characters like Daredevil, Deadpool, and other X-Men at some point. It’s unclear how NetEase will expand upon the Marvel Rivals roster in the future, but with the success it’s seen so far, the team is showing no signs of slowing down.

Marvel Rivals Season 1 also introduced a laundry list of balance changes and general gameplay tweaks, with more promised to arrive in future updates. For other news on the studio’s hero shooter hit, you can check out how some players are using the Invisible Woman to ward off an alleged bot problem. You can also read up on the Hero Hot List, and why some players are using mods despite fears of being banned.

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.

Stellar Blade for PlayStation 5 Is Now Down to Just $39.99 at Best Buy and Amazon

PS5 gamers rejoice, because a popular PS5 exclusive game is on sale today. Stellar Blade is currently discounted at Best Buy for only $39.99 after a hefty 43% price drop. This is $10 lower than the best price I saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This discount is exclusively at Best Buy, although other retailers like Amazon may price match later.

Update: Amazon has price matched this offer.

43% Off Stellar Blade (Save $30)

Stellar Blade, the first stateside non-gacha from Shift Up, is a well-reviewed game that’s best known for its challenging soulslike gameplay, outstanding graphics, killer soundtrack… and, of course, its suggestive character design.

In our Stellar Blade review, Mitchell Saltzman wrote that “Stellar Blade stands out as a gorgeous and well-crafted action game with very impressive strengths and very clear weaknesses. Both its story and characters lack substance, and some of its RPG elements are poorly implemented, like dull sidequests that very often require you to retrace your steps through previous levels with very little done to make the return trip feel unique or rewarding. But its action picks up most of that slack thanks to the rock solid fundamentals of its Sekiro-inspired combat system, a deep well of hideous monstrosities to sharpen your sword against, and plenty of hidden goodies that do a great job of incentivizing exploration throughout.” IGN officially rated Stellar Blade a 7/10, although I personally loved this game and would have given it a higher score. It didn’t make it into our list of best PS5 games of 2024, but only because it was too new (had to be out for 6 months or longer).

Stellar Blade is a technically demanding game and I run it in “Performance” mode to maintain 60fps. If you own a PlayStation 5 Pro, however, you’ll get the best of both worlds and play in “Enhanced” 4K mode and still get great framerates. According to the official PlayStation blog post, “With PS5 Pro, players will be able to enjoy Stellar Blade in 4K resolution at 50fps or more, with smoother gameplay, and you’ll notice an improvement in grain and detail in the game in PSSR upscale mode. Plus, the HFR (high framerate) option is supported, allowing you to enjoy a fluid gaming experience at 80fps (120hz display support required).”

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

Why Bethesda Cut Gore and Dismemberment From Starfield

Bethesda originally planned to include gore and dismemberment mechanics in Starfield but had to remove them due to technical limitations.

Former employee Dennis Mejillones, who was a character artist on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield, told Kiwi Talkz that Bethesda had to cut the feature because the interaction with space suits became too complex.

“There was a lot of implications with the different suits from a technical perspective,” he said. “There’s a lot that has to go with it. You have to cut the helmet in a certain way and it’s got to come off, you have meat caps to the bottom where the flesh is.

“We had systems for all of that and it turned into a big rat’s nest. All these things you have to count for now with all these crazy hoses on the helmets and all that kind of stuff that we added. Or now you could change the body size significantly. The character creator had evolved quite a bit.”

Some fans lamented that Starfield, which was the first full single-player role-playing game from Bethesda in eight years, didn’t have the gore and dismemberment mechanics that were present in Fallout 4. Mejillones said these mechanics make more sense in Fallout than in Starfield, however, given their “tongue in cheek” humor. “It’s part of the fun,” he said.

Starfield arrived in September 2023 and in the time since has reached more than 15 million players. “Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist,” IGN said in our 7/10 review.

Last month, another former Bethesda developer revealed his surprise at the sheer amount of loading Starfield ended up launching with, particularly in the city of Neon. Since launch, Bethesda has worked to improve the game, with 60fps now possible as part of performance mode. Expansion Shattered Space launched in September.

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

Rejoice wandering emperors, for Civilization 7 will be Steam Deck verified at launch

A quick one: Firaxis have confirmed that Civilization 7 will be Steam Deck verified at launch. It’s a pleasant surprise, given that 2016’s Civ 6 is still only listed as “playable” on Valve’s oversized Switch. I like this news about as much as I’m terrified to realise that Civ 7 is just under a month away. I do not need that much strategy game, this early in the year. But hey, at least I’ll be able to play the new 4X in bed as Sid Meier intended.

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Lunar Remastered Collection Brings Classic JRPG Series To Switch This April

Physical release also confirmed.

Classic JRPG fans, rejoice. The Lunar Remastered Collection will be coming to Nintendo Switch on 18th April 2025. Plus, it’s confirmed that the collection will be getting a physical release.

Launching digitally on the eShop for $49.99 USD / €49.99 EUR — with physical releases coming in at $54.99 USD (on Amazon.com) and €54.99 EUR (at Clear River Games), Lunar Remastered Collection enhances two of the most beloved turn-based RPGs from the ’90s.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

33 Immortals Third Playtest is Back from Jan 28 to Feb 7

Happy new year!

33 Immortals is back for Xbox Insiders with a third playtest starting January 28. The playtest will be available for 10 days and end on February 6. Thunder Lotus Games incorporated more updates and is excited for Xbox Insiders to try them and to get your feedback. Limited space is available so be ready to join on January 28 to experience this co-op action-roguelike for 33 players.

About the Game:

Play a damned soul, and rebel against God’s final judgment. Dive straight into epic 33-player co-op battles with instant “pick-up and raid” matchmaking. Cooperate with your allies to survive against hordes of monsters and massive, challenging bosses. Expand your arsenal and equip powerful new relics to permanently upgrade your soul. Face the Wrath of God in a fight for your eternal life.

If you want to learn more, please sign up on the 33 Immortals Website!

Updates and Fixes:

First Time User experience:

  • New cutscene has been added to welcome players to the game.
  • Dialogue has been streamlined.
  • New dialogue added.
  • New compendium entries have been added with updated UI.

Other:

  • Relics can now be rerolled in the Relic Inventory.
  • Meta currencies (Eternal Shards, Paragons, Stardust) totals will now appear when collected during a run.
  • Reduced the speed of a player being revived while in soul form.
  • Players will now be healed for a % of HP instead of a flat number when using Bone Shrines.
  • Adjusted the difficulty of Inferno Wrath of God phases to allow them to scale in difficulty in later maps.

For a full list of updates, please see our patch notes.

Playtest Times:

Start: Tuesday, January 28, 7:00 AM PT (10:00 AM ET / 2:00 PM GMT)

End: Friday, February 7, 7:00 AM PT (10:00 AM ET / 2:00 PM GMT)

How to Participate:

  1. On January 28, sign-in on your Xbox Series X|S console or Windows PC and launch the Xbox Insider Hub app (or install the Xbox Insider Hub from the Store first if necessary)
  2. Navigate to Previews > 33 Immortals
  3. Select Join
  4. Wait for the registration to complete and be directed to the Store and install 33 Immortals Beta

NOTE: Limited space is available and offered first-come first-served.

NOTE: This playtest is available on Xbox Series X|S consoles and Windows PC.

How to Provide Feedback:

If you experience any issues while playing 33 Immortals Beta, don’t forget to use “Report a problem” so we can investigate:

  • Hold down the home button on your Xbox controller.
  • Select Report a problem.
  • Select the Games category and 33 Immortals Beta subcategory.
  • Fill out the form with the appropriate details to help our investigation.

Other resources:

For more information: follow us on X/Twitter at @XboxInsider and this blog for announcements and more. And feel free to interact with the community on the Xbox Insider SubReddit.

The post 33 Immortals Third Playtest is Back from Jan 28 to Feb 7 appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Marvel Rivals Fans Are Using the Invisible Woman to Detect Alleged Bot Matches

New Marvel Rivals character the Invisible Woman is proving useful when it comes to detecting what fans believe are bot enemies in their lobbies.

Bots are an issue Marvel Rivals fans have obsessed over for weeks, with many believing that developer NetEase Games may be pitting them against low-level AI opponents to help keep players engaged. Discussion on this topic has only ramped up since Season 1 introduced Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman last Friday, but the hero additions brought more than changes to the current meta.

As players began to tap into what made these new Fantastic Four characters tick, Reddit user barky1616 shared a video showing an off-the-wall use for Invisible Woman’s trademark ability. The clip shows Sue Storm turning invisible and, somehow, blocking the path of half of the enemy team by simply standing in front of them. They don’t try to walk around or fight her until she is booted out of invisibility mode, at which point the battle continues as you’d expect. It’s a bizarre video that many are using as additional evidence to suggest that bots are quickly becoming a bigger issue for Marvel Rivals.

The idea is that, because the other team is supposedly made up of bots, they are unable to realize their path is blocked by this new hero. Your results may vary if you choose to try this Invisible Woman trick on your own, but it’s still a strange clip that has the community scratching their heads at best and fearing a more substantial bot problem at worst.

Without confirmation from NetEase, it’s unclear if AI enemies are truly sneaking their way into Marvel Rivals matches or if there’s something else going on. IGN has reached out to NetEase about the alleged existence of bots in Marvel Rivals.

In between what many are referring to as bot matches, players are continuing to enjoy the content drop delivered with Season 1. While this first wave of the season brought half the Fantastic Four as playable characters, the second half arrives with The Thing and the Human Torch. While we wait to see how these Marvel icons fare in the hero shooter setting, you can read up on every major balance change introduced last Friday. You can also read up on how players are responding to NetEase’s crackdown on mods and why some are having trouble taking Reed Richards seriously.

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.

Trigger Happy’s Sam Prebble on perfecting the survival horror of Total Chaos – and playing the genre’s classics for the first time

“Coming off Turbo Overkill has been great,” Trigger Happy’s Sam Prebble tells me over call. “That game’s development… I mean, it worked out. But it was very messy because it was my first game and I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. So I found myself, when it came to pumping content out, I was like: oh, shit. This code base is fucking awful. Like, I can’t put stuff together easily. I’m running into bugs everywhere. But now shit just works!”

You might know Sam Prebble as Trigger Happy Interactive, the solo developer behind frenetic FPS Turbo Overkill. Before that he went by a different name, attached to a very different project. Total Chaos, first released in 2018 under the moniker Wadaholic, is a total conversion mod for Doom 2. With its focus on a thick survival horror atmosphere of tension and disempowerment, it’s about as far removed from Turbo Overkill’s manic, Doom Eternal-inspired action as a game can get. As Prebble puts it, the only thing the two projects have in common is the first person perspective. Even so, he found himself returning to Total Chaos after wrapping development on Turbo Overkill, resulting in the standalone remake.

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One Piece: Luffy’s Bento Panic Board Game Review

With over 1100 chapters, nearly as many episodes of the anime, movies and OVAs, a live-action Netflix series, a card game, and much much more, One Piece has become its own media empire. The tales of the Straw Hat Pirates are beloved all over the world, and now One Piece: Luffy’s Bento Panic, a new board game from Kess Entertainment, brings the crew to your tabletop! This party game is fun for even those that haven’t hopped on the pirate ship themselves.

Designed by Anthony Thorp, three to nine players take on the roles of crew of the Straw Hats, returning after a successful adventure. In typical fashion, Luffy and his crew decide to celebrate the only way they know how – with a giant feast full of the crew’s favorite delicacies. What follows is a mad rush as each person tries to eat as much as they can before Luffy devours everything and the party’s over. The goal of Bento Panic is to amass the most points (finished piles of food) by the time the bag of food is empty or Luffy wakes up the third time. This is a fast game where a full session, even at larger player counts, won’t take you very long, making it perfect for parties.

Each turn is fairly straightforward, with each player being able to take one of five possible actions: grab food from the bag, eat piles of food that are in front of them, try to steal your neighbor’s food, block someone trying to steal yours, or use your character’s special ability. Each action is associated with a simple one-handed gesture that each player performs two at a time. Stealing, for example requires you to point at one or both of the players to your left or right while grabbing food tokens from the bag requires you to simply reach out towards the bag. It makes for a silly time, and it’s the fact that everyone performs the actions together that makes the game so quick to play.

When I first saw the player count of Bento Panic could go up to nine people, my immediate concern was that this game would quickly spiral into chaos. Few games manage player counts so high, but luckily I never found this to be the case here, because you really only need to worry about the people on your immediate left and right. It’s only your neighbors that you have to worry about attempting to steal from you, so regardless if you are playing with only three of you or the full roster of nine, your risk of being stolen from never increases beyond those two people.

One of the ways the game can end is when Luffy wakes up for the third time. In the grab bag that contains all of the food tokens (a nice fabric drawstring bag adorned with the iconic Straw Hat pirate logo no less) are special “juicy meat” ones that move Luffy down his sleep track. Once that track hits zero, Luffy wakes up and will steal all the food that hasn’t been eaten yet from whomever has the biggest pile of meat in front of them.

Fans of One Piece know just how “on-brand” it is that Luffy would lose control when meat is involved. This mechanic also provides the game with a good “push your luck” feeling, where you have to risk waking up Luffy and losing your piles of uneaten food, or do you play it safe and try to eat a smaller pile or two first, and have others take the risk?

This is a fast game where a full session, even at larger player counts, won’t take you very long.

Another aspect to take into account when making your choice of actions are the special abilities that your other opponents have at their disposal. Each Straw Hat has an ability that can be activated by striking a dramatic pose as your action, with abilities like Jinbe’s “Fishman Karate” that cancels out any steal actions being taken against you while letting you then take a food pile from any pirate that attempted to steal your food. Once these are used, they can’t be used again until you’ve been stolen from, which means sometimes you want someone to steal from you. Using these skills is completely optional, and the game is fun with or without them.

Bento Panic can still offer up a good time for folks who may not be into One Piece and can’t tell one Straw Hat from the other. At its heart, this is a set collection game mixed with reading other players’ intentions. It’s fun, but it doesn’t offer much depth. However, it also never overstays its welcome, which makes it great as a party board game, or as a palate cleanser between other complex games. Bento Panic gets better with more people playing it – in my play sessions, even at the max player count of nine, everyone was still having fun, which a lot of other games can’t say.

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