The Premium Edition of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle comes with some nice extras alongside the main game, including The Order of Giants Story DLC (which will be available once it’s released), a digital artbook, and Indy’s Temple of Doom Outfit alongside two day early access to the game.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Preorder Bonus
No matter which version of the game you decide to preorder, you’ll get some fun bonuses to enjoy. The preorder bonus is called ‘The Last Crusade Pack’, which comes with the Traveling Suit Outfit and Lion Tamer Whip that are featured in The Last Crusade. You can get a good look at those items below.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Trailer
What Is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle?
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, following Indy on a global adventure to uncover the mysteries of the Great Circle. Our review from IGN’s Luke Reilly had a lot of praise for it. He said, “With a host of gorgeous and lavishly detailed levels, satisfying combat hinged on jawbreaking haymakers, and a focus on slow-paced exploration, platforming, and puzzle solving (interspersed with a handful of high-voltage action scenes), The Great Circle is an irresistible and immersive global treasure hunt for Indy fans who’ve felt underserved by the likes of The Dial of Destiny and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”
More Preorder Guides
If you’re itching to preorder some more exciting games coming out this year, we’re here to help. Have a look through the preorder guides below to start building up your physical library, from Death Stranding 2 to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
Capcom hosted a Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase today, spotlighting everything coming to its latest entry in the Monster Hunter series. Alongside a look at Title Update 1, we also got news about more cosmetic DLC, some surprise additions, and the next Title Update on the way too.
Title Update 1 arrives on April 4, 2025, as a free update for all owners of Monster Hunter Wilds. In tandem with the launch, several pieces of free and paid DLC will be going live as well. A new hub will expand the hang-out potential for hunters, new armor and cosmetic pieces shake up the fashion game, and more fearsome monsters await on the horizon.
We’ve now got a date, details, and more for the next big update in Monster Hunter Wilds. What part of the update are you most looking forward to? Let us know down below!
A New Hub For Hunters
The showcase started with a look at the new endgame hub for hunting parties. Dubbed the Grand Hub, there are plenty of new things to do in the area. Feast together, arm wrestle, or listen to the Diva sing at night. There’s also a Barrel Bowling mini-game, which you can obtain vouchers for through various activities, and more rewards to be earned through it.
The Grand Hub can be unlocked once you’re Hunter Rank 16 by talking to Tetsuzan in Suja, the Peaks of Accord.
Mizutsune Arrives
As confirmed, the big addition for Title Update 1 is the bubbly monster Mizutsune. It’s got swift tail strikes, water jets, and many other moves ready to burst your bubble when it arrives in Title Update 1. Once you’ve reached HR 21 or above, head to the Scarlet Forest and talk to Kanya for the quest. And of course, there’s some new gear to make from the hunt.
Additional Hunts on the Way
A new Event Quest will bring Arch-tempered Rey Dau to Monster Hunter Wilds. Arch-tempered is a scale above the usual Tempered fight, making this a potentially challenging bout. You’ll have to be HR 50 or above to challenge it, and new armor awaits those who can clear.
Zoh Shia is also getting its own fight. Previously, you’d only fight Zoh Shia once, as part of the main story. With the new update, you’ll be able to re-fight Zoh Shia through new quests after reaching HR 50, and craft new armor from it.
Arena Quests
Speedrunners get their own challenge to tackle in Arena Quests, which will allow hunters to compete for the fastest clear times. Both Challenge Quests and Free Challenge Quests will be available, with pendants given out for participation and achievement alike. You can access them through the counter in the new Grand Hub.
Change Alma’s Outfit
One of the hardest-working handlers around is finally getting some cosmetic options. You’ll be able to change Alma’s attire through an appearance menu in camp, and one new outfit is being given out for free. After completing a certain side mission, you can also change out Alma’s glasses.
More DLC is on the way
A mix of free and paid DLC is arriving in tandem with Title Update 1. Some additions, like some classic gestures from Monster Hunters prior, will be made freely available for hunters in the store. Others, like those in the Cosmetic DLC Pack 1, are available through the store, or for those who picked up the Cosmetic DLC Pass or Premium Deluxe Edition. New stickers, looks for Alma, and even more are on the way.
More Event Quests and Seasonal Events
Even more Event Quests are on the way, alongside Seasonal Events. The latter are special windows of time where the Grand Hub will change appearance, and available meals will also change. LImited equipment, gestures, decorations, and more are available during these Seasonal Events.
The Seasonal Events kick off with the Festival of Accord: Blossomdance on April 23, adding pink cherry blossoms and some new decor to the game. Capcom confirmed that most previously available events and Event Quests should return in the future, too.
The Roadmap Ahead
Here’s how Title Update 1 and its related content will roll out over the coming months. Title Update 1 arrives on April 3 for U.S. players, with the Blossomdance starting on April 22. On April 29, the challenging new Arch-tempered Rey Dau arrives, and by end of May, some other features and a Capcom collaboration will debut.
Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 2
To end the show, we also got a tease of the upcoming Title Update 2, due to arrive this summer. No firm date has been announced just yet, but we did get a brief image that teases the possible return of a long-awaited monster: Lagiacrus, the underwater leviathan, who looks to be causing some chaos on the surface.
The latest in Capcom’s long-running monster-fighting series brought in some big numbers with its launch, and with Title Update 1, the company will be setting the cadence for how it moves forward.
Alright, Steam Deck owners. Time to treat your favorite handheld like the MVP it is. The Amazon Spring Sale is live from March 25 to March 31, and some of the best gear I’ve tested is getting hit with serious discounts.
I’ve dug through the clutter and picked out the actually good accessories that are worth your time and cash. These are the docks, cases, power banks, and SD cards I’d recommend to my friends.
If your Deck still lives naked in your backpack or you’re swapping out SD cards like you’re playing cartridge roulette, this roundup’s for you.
A good dock turns your Deck into a command center. A bad one turns it into an overheating USB spaghetti pile. I’ve tried all of these, and these four? Certified solid. My favorite overall is the UGREEN 9-in-1—it’s like a Swiss Army knife that also makes your desk look cooler. The JSAUX HB0609 is the only one here that supports 4K at 120Hz, which makes it perfect if you want smooth frame rates on a big screen. And for under $30, Anker’s 6-in-1 is such a good deal I had to double-check the price wasn’t a typo.
Best Steam Deck case and protections deals in Amazon Spring Sale
Slim, military-grade, shock-proof, charging port access
Steam Deck OLED/LCD
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen someone throw their Steam Deck into a bag unprotected like it’s a stress ball. Look, I love chaos too—but not when it leads to cracked screens. I bounce between the JSAUX Sling Bag for travel and the tomtoc Armor Case for daily use. That tomtoc case? Shockproof, slim, and built like it’s ready for war. Also, props to JSAUX for including screen protectors that even I couldn’t mess up during install.
These are the best power banks I’ve tested—period. The Anker Prime is like carrying an electrical outlet in your backpack. It’s pricey, but it’ll fast charge your Deck, your phone, and your laptop without breaking a sweat. The UGREEN Nexode is the sweet spot for performance and price, and if you want something that looks cool too, the Shargeek 170 has a transparent design that screams “I mod Game Boys for fun.” I don’t, but I like the energy.
I don’t care how big your Steam library is. At some point you’ll need a bigger microSD card. The Lexar PLAY 1TB is the one I keep in my Deck. It’s fast, reliable, and actually built for handheld gaming. The Samsung PRO Plus series is also rock solid, especially the 512GB if you want speed without going full terabyte. These are the cards I’d buy again if I ever somehow filled mine. Which I will. Probably next week.
Capcom has announced Monster Hunter Wilds’ title Update 1 comes out on Friday, April 4, 2025.
In a showcase video, Capcom confirmed the release date as well as what players can expect from Monster Hunter Wilds’ first major post-launch update.
The headline here is the Grand Hub, a new gathering place in which players can interact in new ways. Here you can play a new mini-game called Barrel Bowling and listen to the Diva perform at night.
Mizutsune hits Monster Hunter Wilds with Title Update 1, alongside a Zoh Shia quest. Arch-tempered Rey Dau launches later via an event quest.
Arena Quests, where players can compete for fastest completion times, launch with Title Update 1. Free content is coming to all players, including classic gestures from the series. Cosmetic DLC Pack 1 launches alongside this update, too.
A second title update for Wilds is set to release in the summer, and Capcom teased what to expect with an early glimpse at the arrival of a new monster.
Developing…
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.
Creating a brand-new IP can prove risky at the best of times, yet when Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodakamentioned that Too Kyo Games’ latest venture, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, had effectively plunged the studio into debt, it demonstrated just how much he and collaborator Kotaro Uchikoshi (Zero Escape, AI: The Somnium Files) believe in their vision.
Launching on Switch on 24th April 2025, The Hundred Line looks to combine the visual novel approach of Danganronpa with tactical gameplay that might be more akin to Fire Emblem or Into The Breach. It boasts a vast, eclectic cast that, if past works are anything to go by, will no doubt be completely expendable after they are forced to defend a school from invading creatures.
Designing the Iconic Liquid Metal T-1000 Terminator for Mortal Kombat 1
Joe Epstein, Combat Designer, NetherRealm Studios
Do you think there’s a villain cooler than the T-1000? Get out of here, no you don’t. The T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day stands right on the intersection of early ‘90s cool, late 20th century technological advancements, visionary storytelling, and a perfect match of performer to role. One of the guiding lights we use to decide on which guest characters to incorporate in Mortal Kombat 1is simply… who’s the coolest fit that we haven’t included yet? Enter the T-1000.
In contrast to the tank or trucklike brute-force-instrument qualities of the T-800, the T-1000 is a sportscar. Instead of the T-800’s towering, aloof, biker-jacketed demeanor, you get Robert Patrick’s gracile and intense police officer impersonator. The T-1000 fights, shoots, and sprints without wincing, blinking, or heaving for air. He walks and scans in a hawklike, inhuman way. But when needed, he’s a better social chameleon than his predecessor. Patrick’s T-1000 can plausibly question civilians as a friendly cop and demonstrates emotions like frustration and arrogance in places the T-800 would not. Surprisingly, extreme moments are when Patrick’s T-1000 seems most human (realizing you have a live grenade round implanted in your midsection qualifies as extreme).
That’s just talking expressions and demeanor. The kicker here is what the T-1000 is made of. While the T-800 is a solid cyborg—machine endoskeleton surrounded by living flesh—the T-1000 is an experimental android composed of a cloud of liquid metal material, described in the movie as a prototype ‘mimetic polyalloy.’ With a chrome flicker that ‘resets’ its surface to a reflective silver blank slate, it can reshape itself to mimic humanoids, objects, and simple weapons. It can pour through small openings or around obstacles like an evil molasses, it can flatten and extend its mass to blend into the floor or run along it like a live oil slick, and it can extrude and then harden portions of itself to act as improvised blades, bludgeons, or prybars depending on what the situation requires. The rule in the fiction is, if the T-1000 has touched something or someone, it has scanned for information and is now capable of impersonating appearances.
The upshot for us as developers is a faster, more flexible, and cunning infiltrator than the classic T-800 Terminator (itself a guest character in Mortal Kombat 11), with an abundance of reference material to draw from, and seemingly unlimited gameplay, special effect, and cinema potential. Spoiled for choice is the expression.
But flavor-wise, its lack of blood needed addressing. A T-1000 getting slashed up by Baraka wouldn’t send red matter everywhere. At best it would be small chrome drops of the goop it’s made of getting flung away from the main mass. And that stuff wouldn’t just sit wherever it splatted, either. After the initial shock of being scattered, pieces would dust themselves off and go looking for the main entity.
An even bigger issue: Mortal Kombat 1 is filled with dozens upon dozens of signature Fatalities, Animalities, Brutalities, Fatal Blows, etc., and each one of these finishing moves is a bone crushing cinematic moment with various unpleasant things happening in detailed X-ray and cross-sectioned ultra-HD views. Well, the T-1000 is a liquid metal android so you can imagine how pulling or slicing the machine apart might be sort of like ballistics tests through dense fluids. Dedicated attention was paid to every cinema to convey the T-1000’s unique viscous characteristics when meeting grisly ends as a losing kombatant.
Then there’s the limb and form morphing. It was decided early on gameplay-wise what the T-1000 would be about, broadly—as not just a Terminator but the most advanced Terminator, he should seem implacable, always steadily forward moving, and feature an arsenal brimming with every direct movie reference we can cram in, alongside fun extrapolations we can add.
Direct film references include numerous attacks where some or all of the T-1000 reforms. For example, forearms reshaping into large blades or hooks and fingers extending into thin needles, which you’ll see throughout most of the character’s arsenal of moves. And as a police officer imposter, it’s clear the T-1000 has acquired service pistols that provide a kinetic way to stand off at range or to slowly advance. A particularly strong enhanced special move combines the two, with the T-1000 sprinting while shooting, before lunging with extended spear-arms, just like in the hospital corridor scene in the 1991 movie. A couple normal combo chains feature bladed finger extensions that skewer like little spears or the T-1000 extending a portion of itself to use as a rebar-like bludgeon mid-combo, both callbacks to the iconic steel mill setting towards the end of the film.
Some moves take creative license, embellishing to open new gameplay avenues and display more of the T-1000’s capabilities. Taking inspiration from the character dropping through the ceiling of a ruined elevator in a poured-liquid form, it can quickly reform in midair and fall to the ground as a dense fluid droplet. And like after being frozen, shattered and thawed, the T-1000 can dive into a surging blob form low to the ground, closing distance before emerging with bladed attacks. For a move that’s in between a mid-range poke and a long-range projectile attack, it can melt halfway into the floor to send out a spiny tendril of liquid metal, quickly forming the base for a rising stalagmite-like spear. The most whimsy is displayed within the T-1000’s moveset that clues eagle-eyed fans it has faced familiar Outworld kombatants before, picking up a duplication trick or two along the way.
Implementing a character design isn’t always straightforward, depending on the nature of the fighter. Of course, most characters are complicated with different moves, animations, and FX, and T-1000 has just about every complication possible. Throw animations—anything where a grappler and their victim need to be synced up—are trickier to design, motion-capture, animate, and implement than typical strikes. Moving, warping, and morphing options set up all kinds of potential variables to account for. FX themselves can be complex, involving cross-discipline efforts to solve lighting, physics, and model issues that get in the way of coordinating the intended look and feel.
Doing justice to the T-1000 was a full-team effort, and we couldn’t be more excited to add this amazing guest fighter to the Mortal Kombat 1roster. The T-1000 Terminator is available today on Xbox Series X|S as part of the Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos ReignsExpansion, or a la carte via separate purchase.
New to Mortal Kombat 1? Get started with the Kollection Edition! Mortal Kombat 1 ushers in a New Era of the iconic franchise with a New fighting system, game modes, and fatalities.
Includes instant access to the Base Game, Kombat Pack, and Dragon Krystals. Gain access to the upcoming Story Expansion, Kombat Pack 2 and more!
Khaos Reigns Story Expansion
Kombat Pack 2*
Khaos Reigns Fighters Available At Launch:
Noob Saibot
Cyrax
Sektor
Guest Fighters Available Post-Launch (includes 1 week early access)
Ghostface (Scream Franchise)
T-1000 (Terminator 2)
Conan the Barbarian
Kombat Pack (Available Now):
Omni-Man (Invincible)
Quan Chi
Peacemaker (DC’s Peacemaker)
Ermac
Homelander (The Boys)
Takeda Takahashi
The T-1000 embodies the ultimate evolution of assassination technology. This pack includes playable character the T-1000, including all new move-sets based on Terminator 2
There’s more to being a Hobbit than fleeing for your life and trying to survive increasingly hostile environments. This is why Wētā Workshop invites you to a taste of adventure that’s a little more… wholesome. I had a cozy chat with Stephen Lambert, Tales of the Shire: A Lord of The Rings Game creative director, to dig a bit deeper into why this particular Hobbit hole will feel like a home away from home when it launches on PS5 on July 29.
How would you describe the main pillars of gameplay in Tales of the Shire?
Stephen Lambert: So much of the game is about community. We’ve got four main areas that we focus on while living your idyllic life as a Hobbit: how you spend your time cooking, gardening, fishing, and doing peaceful activities.
The other aspect is exploring by water, so looking around the environment and discovering little secret moments and lovely little glades and areas to hang out within the world.
And then there are obviously the tales within the community. So getting to meet new people and help them along their journeys.
How important is relationship building in terms of progression?
It’s pretty important. Every thread of the story is going to help you not only expand what’s available to you as a player, but also broaden the depth of the characters and storylines. But you can explore the game at your own pace. So you can either dive deep into those stories or just live out your own little life along the side. It’s all about enhancing your feeling of peace and tranquillity.
Can you go into more detail about the game’s shared meals?
With meals being a central part of Hobbit life, it was really important to be central to our game. You’ve got to find a new recipe, grow ingredients or go to the market for them, or fish or forage for them. And then you’ve got to go through the process of cooking, and that’s not just a case of putting the ingredients together. It’s how much of something you add, how much you stir it, and how much seasoning you add that adds characteristics to the food.
You want to make sure your food is to your guests’ taste, because the closer you get to their peculiarities the more you’ll please them and build stronger relationships. And like in the real world, the act of actually having food together helps build community. So presenting the food and enjoying it with people is huge. One of our 3D artists who modeled a lot of the meals used to work as a chef so they’re all beautifully plated up.
Can you describe the decorating system and highlight what inspired the grid-less placement system?
The biggest thing about Hobbit holes is they’re not really square or rigid shapes. Everything’s kind of curved and a bit more organic, so the idea of having something that goes on a grid just didn’t fit. It just made sense to build something that allows for a huge amount of expression, to be able to tinker with things and put them in exactly how you want. You can put things on top of tables, and on top of or in bookshelves, and then move those things around together. It’s about freedom of expression, more than anything.
How have Tolkien’s works inspired some of the choices made in terms of gameplay?
We really wanted what we made to fit within Tolkien’s world, so we positioned it just after The Hobbit and before the events of The Lord of the Rings. Our artists spent a lot of time researching the families, events, and histories of what was written and weaving everything they could into that particular framework.
The other thing was creating sort of Hobbit-sized problems in a Hobbit-sized world. It’s fun trying to think of those small-town problems that cause conflict and drive their story forward.
What were the sort of challenges that you faced in creating a game in such a beloved IP?
It’s hugely intimidating, but it’s also quite exciting to take on a world like this. The beauty of the written word in books is where your imagination takes things. My imagination obviously took me in a different way with some things, and it’s lovely to be able to kind of explore different directions.
How do you want players to feel when they’re playing the game themselves, whether they’re fans, or not as familiar with The Lord of the Rings?
I very much wanted the storyline to carry itself. We didn’t want you to have to be a Tolkien fan to enjoy it, even though there are lots of references. This game was very much born out of the COVID period, a world that was so full of stress and anxiety. We wanted our game to be that place of peace and relaxation. Hence, The Shire meets a cozy game. We felt a strong idea centered around cooking and community felt the best match for that theme.
Is there anything in particular that you’d like players to pay attention to in the game?
[We spent] a lot of time putting in lots of little easter eggs, details, and researching the history of the world. So it’s very subtle, but one of the things we really focused on is worldbuilding. You might be given an asset to design or an artifact, and it’s not just about making it look interesting – it’s about who owned this? Where did it come from? How was it made? What was the world like when it was made? You start asking so many questions about what goes into making and creating a final object so that it feels grounded, and we wanted to apply that same methodology to what we did.
What was your favorite moment in developing the game itself?
The IP is such a huge part of my childhood because it inspired my love of goblins, dragons, and all those kinds of things. So that’s what’s brought me here. To get a chance to put my own spin on things and have a heavy influence on a new take on that world has been hugely satisfying.
It’s really important to us to make something that we felt Tolkien would be happy with. He’s been quoted as saying he wanted other hearts and minds to add to his world like a real mythology, and we wanted to be part of that.
Civilization 7 developer Firaxis has outlined the game’s crucial update 1.1.1, which hits at a time when the recently released strategy game has fewer players on Steam than Civilization 6 and even the 15-year-old Civilization 5.
On Valve’s platform, Civilization 7 has a 24-hour concurrent peak player count of 16,921, which isn’t enough to get into Steam’s top 100 most-played games. Civilization 5, released in 2010, had a 24-hour peak of 17,423. Clearly, most Civ fans are sticking with 2016’s Civilization 6, however, which had a 24-hour peak of 40,676 players.
In a post on Steam, Firaxis listed some of the “additions and refinements” coming with Update 1.1.1, including:
Quick Move Functionality
New Natural Wonder Mount Everest
Additional UI Updates & Polish
Settlement & Commander Renaming
And more!
In a more in-depth video, lead designer Ed Beach ran through the changes while pointing to the patch notes in full, which are imminent.
Civilization 7 update 1.1.1 patch notes:
Quick Move is now an optional setting you can toggle on in the game’s menu. It makes it so units move to their destination immediately so you can play through the game faster.
Another big update is the new start position option related to map generation. The new default for single-player games is Standard, which feels more like Civ 6, where the continents are more varied and less predictable. For multiplayer games, the Balanced setting is retained to put players on a level playing field on more consistent maps.
Settlements and commanders can now be renamed. (Historical accuracy be damned!) You can now restart the game with the click of a button to get that perfect first settlement. Just like in Civ 6 it recreates the map with new seeds but with your same leader and civ selections.
As for UI improvements, the city and town panel will stay open when you buy things, there’s a new notification that appears when one of your cities is under attack, there are new indicators for crises, and improved resource tool tips. There are significant pacing changes, too.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria is a new civ going live alongside Nepal and new leader Simón Bolívar today, March 25, as part of the paid Crossroads of the World Collection.
Civilization 7 has proved a controversial game among series veterans for some of its new mechanics, and clearly it’s struggled on Steam (the console makers do not make player numbers public). Civ 7 has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Valve’s platform, and received a 7/10 from IGN’s review.
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.
On paper, Steel Hunters is a serious left turn for World of Tanks developer Wargaming. But just because the developer’s next project is rooted in a sci-fi, futuristic setting with larger-than-life mechs doesn’t mean they’re not tapping into their 27 years of multiplayer expertise for this mech hero shooter.
I spent about 45 minutes racing other mechs to an extraction point in Steel Hunters’ battle royale-lite extraction mode, trying out half of its seven-character launch roster. Although I hit a few snags as I got myself used to controlling a building-size robot shaped like a spider, I could see Wargaming’s multiplayer pedigree on full display.
Aside from a short tutorial, which introduced me to Steel Hunters’ movement and controls, I spent all of my time in one mode. This extraction-based mode was kind of like a scaled-down battle royale: a few squads of two are dropped onto a map and sent toward points of interest, picking up helpful stuff along the way. Each mech is fully loaded out with weapons and abilities, so instead of guns or armor like in Fortnite, you’ll pick up various upgrades for your mech’s stats, healing items, and experience points.
While you can find some loot in the wild, most of the upgrades and loot you’ll find in-match come from downing nearby NPC drones. These weaker enemies are scattered all over each map and put up just enough of a fight that they’re a pain to deal with if another squad is attacking you as well.
Different points of interest pop up during the match, giving you and your non-AI opponents something to race toward against each other, creating random chokepoints around helpful supply drops. Eventually, an extraction point gets marked on the map, beckoning all remaining squads towards the final objective. Once you get there, you’ll need to defend the extraction point (or attack it if someone beats you there) for a little while before the match ends.
Players descending on the chokepoint trying to outflank each other using their mechs’ various toolkits to their advantage was always the best part of the matches I played.
This was always the best part of the matches I played, as players descended on the chokepoint trying to outflank each other using their mechs’ various toolkits to their advantage. Maybe the agile Fenris uses their speed to flank an unsuspecting duo as they try to maintain control over the extraction point while the self-healing Razorside draws cover, ducking behind cover to patch themself up. Or maybe the sniper, Heartbreaker, might post up behind the defensive, map-controlling Weaver as they set up defensive barriers to protect their glass cannon teammate.
I played all four of those mechs in different matches, favoring Heartbreaker and Weaver the most. Weaver has this extremely satisfying Gatling gun that just melts enemy health and shields and their movement felt the best. Aiming down sights with Heartbreaker reveals weak points in every enemy, delivering extra reward for patient, precise play.
If there was any problem with the demo I played, it was the in-between stuff. While it was fun to pick off weaker enemies, grab their loot, and find other players, the maps all felt a little too big up until the end. I’m certain some of this came from the fact that I was playing against AI-controlled bots in an early build of the game, but that inconsistent pace felt at odds with the relatively quick match times.
To give the team at Wargaming the benefit of the doubt, the studio is a well-oiled multiplayer machine at this point. Just because Steel Hunters trades historical context for futuristic fiction doesn’t mean the studio’s throwing the baby out with the bath water. It’s clear that Wargaming has been through a few multiplayer game launches in the past based on its launch plans.
Starting out with a manageable scale for its upcoming early access launch on April 2nd, Steel Hunters is going to launch with 7 playable characters, one mode, and only a few maps to start out—and no monetization. This calculated approach to launch, with the promise of new content every 5-6 weeks, shows this team’s pedigree and tact when it comes to multiplayer games. This approach gives me a lot of faith in Wargaming’s ability to listen to its player base and take feedback as it moves toward an eventual 1.0 release. Wargaming even teased the first new character coming to Steel Hunters post-launch, reiterating its commitment to three-month seasons.
If you’re hoping to hop into Steel Hunters, you won’t have to wait long, as it launches into early access on April 2nd.
Game development can be stressful, I’m sure you’ve heard. The director of fighting game series Tekken yesterday shared an anecdote about how wild that stress can get. Speaking about the release of Tekken 4 in 2001, director Katsuhiro Harada remembered it didn’t perform as well as previous games. And the game’s relatively weak reception (alongside a lack of support at Bandai Namco) sent his body into a spiral of ill-health from anxiety.
“I was under so much stress at the time that I developed a mysterious condition where all the hair on the right side of my body fell out – just the right side,” said the director in a post on Xitter. “Even the hair on my arms, eyebrows, and eyelashes disappeared.”
1: Khaos Reigns Kollection
