At the end of last year, Falcom announced that it was working on a Switch remaster of the 2012 PS Vita title Ys Memoire: Memories of Celceta (in Japan, at least). Well, what do you know, that very remaster now has a release date of 22nd May 2025 (thanks, Gematsu).
Yes, this one isn’t confirmed for a Western release at the time of writing, but seeing how Oath in Felghana ended up getting localised around two years after its Japanese release, we’d wager that it will get an international launch at some point in the future.
Next Week on Xbox: New Games for February 17 to 21
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Xbox App on Windows PC, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
Avowed – February 18 Game Pass / Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Xbox Play Anywhere
Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger. Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment. Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members can purchase the Avowed Premium Upgrade Addon to receive access up to 5 days early, two sets of premium skins, and access to the Avowed Digital Artbook & Original Soundtrack.
Blow it up is a physics destruction game with light-puzzle elements where you shoot bombs to destroy enemies hidden behind tower-like structures. Master seven unique bombs in a realistic physics simulation and explore over 70 levels of mayhem.
Upgrade and manage zoos to become a top tycoon in Idle Zoo Park! Revive old zoos and construct new ones, add various animals to boost appeal and income, build income-generating spots, and attract more visitors to grow your zoo empire and achieve tycoon status!
Rewind back to the 90s and live the defining summer of four high school girls as they forge bonds through their growing friendship, their punk band, and an unexplained event that will forever change their lives.
Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of Bee Flowers, a delightful puzzle game where you guide busy bees through hexagonal grids to pollinate vibrant fields of flowers. With its relaxing mechanics and progressively challenging puzzles, the game offers the perfect blend of strategy and serenity.
Engage in block-building activities by reconstructing three sets of islands in the Build Lands mode, or by building and sharing your own creations in the Land Editor. With a wide selection of blocks, you can create various structures such as mountain cabins, castles, forests, or other designs.
Harmony Chronicles: Demon Of The Void Collector’s Edition
Mona is about to travel through dimensions again! After her adventures, she meets her divine protector before a magic portal sends her to a collapsing world, finding herself at the decayed Interdimensional University of Magic. Now she must navigate awe-inspiring worlds with unique challenges, creatures, and allies in this hidden object adventure game.
A beautifully crafted 2D platformer designed to provide a relaxing yet engaging experience. With mesmerizing hand-drawn landscapes and a soothing soundtrack, players are invited to explore a serene world filled with light challenges and immersive gameplay.
A first-person found footage psychological horror survival game where it tells the story of a young teen after accidentally falling into the depths of The Backrooms in 1998.
A 2D narrative RPG set in a 19th century Eastern European inspired world, with a modern twist. Guide Liza, a young vampire struggling with her morality and the supernatural world she has been pulled into. Will you retain your humanity or descend further into the horror you have become?
Goro Majima, a notorious ex-yakuza suddenly finds himself shipwrecked on a remote island in the Pacific. Unable to remember even his own name, he sets sail in search of clues to his lost memories, accompanied by a boy named Noah who saved his life. Before long, they’re caught up in a conflict between cutthroat criminals, modern-day pirates, and other scoundrels over a legendary treasure.
An evil curse that transforms the dead into living corpses was cast upon the land. The only way to stop the entire nation from crumbling to the undead is defeating the Kind of Undead, but entire armies of soldiers were annihilated and transformed into zombies. Only the master of steath, Ninja Master Toru, can infiltrate into the enemy territory and claim the leader’s head!
Dodge, roll, block incoming cats! Use power-ups to turn the scores. If you’ve always wanted to catch your friends with a giant laser pointer or shoot’em with a cheese cannon you can do it all! Just watch out for those flying yarn balls.
You thought they’d come from space? Wrong! It’s up to you alone to stop an alien invasion from the depths of the ocean in this legendary, home computer era shoot ‘em up, dredged up and faithfully rebuilt for modern platforms – X-Out: Resurfaced!
Bay Breaker is a game that involves navigating across serene seascapes and using a boat to launch balls that break rocks. Players can collect jewels and coins hidden within the levels. The game includes challenges where players destroy all the blocks and earn enchantments to improve their abilities.
An arcade game for all ages. With 40 levels, your goal is to use skill and quick reflexes to destroy all the blocks on the screen. The blocks get tougher as you progress, requiring clever strategies, keeping you engaged and provides a sense of achievement with every level.
Dr. Cavor is trapped inside the Moon, held captive by the mysterious Selenites. He endeavors to escape to the surface and from there to Earth, but first he must match wits with the dwellers of the lunar underworld, whose catacombs are complex and deadly!
An electrifying twin-stick shooter that propels you into a whirlwind of action and intensity. Dive into an immersive experience with lightning-fast gameplay that will keep your adrenaline pumping and your reflexes sharp.
After many years of battles, a group of Vikings decided it was time to conquer new lands. With the protection of the god Njord, a new clan specialized in navigation sets off in search of glory! Arrange the Viking villages in the islands to expand their domains, in this logic puzzle game!
Lulu’s Temple challenges you to venture inside a deep horrifying pyramid, filled with dangerous foes, traps and mysteries. Play as a curious archaeologist who foolishly traps himself inside a temple after stumbling his way in. Use your powerful gun to blast the undead and your torch to light your path ahead.
The master of golf sims is back! Tee off with the world’s top golfers on the most storied courses on golf’s biggest stages. Pre-order PGA Tour 2K25 Legend or Deluxe Edition for up to 7 days of Advanced Access starting on February 21. Get the Legend Edition to upgrade your play, and your look, with a staggering six extra content packs full of powerful upgrades, chic cosmetics, and a new playable character as well as the Clubhouse Pass Premium (Seasons 1-5).
A comfy, slice-of-life visual novel set in a fictional version of Wellington, New Zealand. Born as a fox in the forest of Korea, Miho carries with her the memory of a traveler who showed her kindness and spoke of home. Now more human than fox, Miho has spent a long, long time searching for her person.
The ultimate race is here, and you are one of Earth’s chosen drivers. Compete in an extraordinary tournament beyond time and space, hosted by the galaxy’s gods. Each planet sends one driver to race through 27 stunning tracks filled with giant titans. The stakes are high: losing planets face elimination.
Everybody has a story in their mind that they’d love to tell, but maybe they don’t feel like they have the ability to tell it effectively. But that’s about to change in Hazelight Studios’ Split Fiction, which launches March 6 on PS5.
In the game, the publisher Rader has a new, advanced machine capable of bringing a person’s stories to life and letting the authors live through their tales. They’ve invited some aspiring storytellers to give their tech a try–among them Mio and Zoe, two women with dramatically different backgrounds, tastes, and personalities. But when the on switch gets flipped and the stories emerge, an unexpected development causes these two’s most elaborate tales to intertwine. Mio and Zoe need to team up to survive each other’s stories–and figure out some of the secrets Rader’s been hiding from its test subjects. So begins Split Fiction: a co-op adventure about unlikely companions, imaginations running wild, and very strange adventures.
Double vision
Developer Hazelight is a studio known for creating memorable cooperative gameplay experiences like A Way Out, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and the award-winning It Takes Two. Their games are known for unique themes, strong emotional moments, surprise gameplay twists, and a good dose of off-kilter humor. We’re pleased to report that Split Fiction offers plenty of everything players have come to love from their previous works, all while amping things up to new heights.
Players who jump into Split Fiction will take control of one of the two leading women. Mio, a somewhat cold and curt city girl, is a massive sci-fi nerd who loves interstellar battles, cyberpunk aesthetics, and futuristic weaponry. Zoe, a chatty lass from the countryside, enjoys high-fantasy tales of heroic trials, dragons, trolls, and magic. A glitch in the system is causing the pair to journey together while switching between each other’s stories: They might be cyborg ninja assassins in a dystopia one moment, only to turn into magical shapeshifters on their epic quest through the wilds the next. All the while, the machine generating these story worlds is digging much deeper into each girl’s memories and story ideas than either one expected.
You’ll start by playing split-screen co-op, with both players traversing the same route. You’ll soon discover obstacles that can’t be overcome by just one person, so you’ll have to cooperate to proceed. As the story environments they encounter change, so do Mio and Zoe’s abilities– each character will often have a different skillset where one player can perform attacks or movements that the other can’t, such as Mio being able to transform into a giant gorilla-monster while Zoe gets to be a tiny, nimble faerie. You’ll need to work together to figure out how to use these asynchronous abilities to get past the obstacles and enemies impeding you. We were able to play a boss fight against a massive robotic law enforcement machine in Mio’s cyber-ninja story that required some careful coordination: Mio had to use her gravity abilities and swordplay to expose the boss’ weak point, while Zoe had to dodge attacks and use a whip-like weapon to grab leftover objects and smash them into the enemy.
Tales to tell
Not every story players will encounter in Split Fiction involves combat. One area was a callback to classic extreme sports games where the duo had a friendly competition performing tricks on futuristic hoverboards. Another surreal story area transformed the women into a pair of portly pigs powered by springs and rainbow-colored farts–and it only got weirder from that point. Many of these areas are optional side stories that can be discovered during the main quest, giving players an incentive to explore a bit and rewarding them with unique experiences and character moments.
The gameplay in each section can change dramatically, too. While third-person split-screen action and exploration was the most common experience during our test run, there were sections with fast-paced vehicle chases, side-scrolling run-and-gun action, and even some tricky puzzles that tested players’ skills at pinball. Every new world we saw in Split Fiction felt like a delightful surprise, since we never knew what sort of theming or gameplay twist to expect.
We’re eager to see more of this odd duo’s strange adventures, and fortunately, we won’t have to wait much longer–Split Fiction will debut on March 6 on PS5. Bring a friend–it’s about to get wild.
Civilization 7 features some of the most significant gameplay changes the long-running strategy series has ever seen. Chief among them is the ability to, for the first time, mix leaders with civs they have nothing to do with, going by real-world history.
In previous Civ games, the civilizations themselves are tied to a specific leader, usually a famous head of state, in such a way as to make historical sense. Elizabeth I, for example, leads the English. Gandhi leads the Indians, and so on.
Civilization 7, however, lets players mix and match history for some crazy combinations, and while some players have said they are enjoying the gameplay possibilities this system unlocks, others have bemoaned what they consider to be an assault on historical accuracy — a quality the Civilization franchise is known for.
A full campaign in Civilization 7 is one that goes through all three Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Once the Age is completed, all players (and any AI opponents) experience an Age Transition simultaneously. During an Age Transition, three things happen: you select a new civilization from the new Age to represent your empire, you choose which Legacies you want to retain in the new Age, and the game world evolves. The Civilization games have never had such a system.
In an interview with IGN, Civilization 7 lead designer Ed Beach explained Firaxis’ thinking here, and defended the gameplay changes as they relate to historical accuracy.
“I think what we actually did is moved it around to a different place,” Beach said.
“So if you look at previous Civ games, you would have historical anomalies such as America existing in 4,000 BC or Sweden and Canada in 4,000 BC. And none of those things actually made any sense. They were just accepted parts of the Civ canon.
“But now if you’re going to get to America, you’re going to start somewhere else. You’re going to start with Rome and go to the Normans and then go to America. I just did a Harriet Tubman playthrough where I was trying to honor her African heritage, and so I played as Aksum and then as the Songhai and then came over to America. So these are all valid pathways through history. You can set them up so that the leaders make good sense with this one, and arguably the history is more solid this way than it was before.”
Beach acknowledged, however, that Civilization 7 opens up the possibility for players to create combinations “that seem like we’re breaking history even more than before,” but insisted its fresh take on video game history “is a healthy one.”
“There are ways you can take the game that we’re putting together with Civ 7 and mix up the history in an even more scrambled fashion than you ever had before,” Beach said. “So you can take Confucius and you can have him lead Spain, or you can take Xerxes from Persia and have him lead the Mayan civilization.
“So absolutely, there are crazy combinations that seem like we’re breaking history even more than before, but there are some problems that we fixed. So I’d like to look at as we’ve moved it around. It’s a new way for players to experience and think about history, and I think that kind of fresh take is a healthy one.”
Generally speaking, Civilization 7’s changes have divided the franchise’s fanbase, although the game’s ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam has more to do with launch deficiencies Firaxis is working to address. Beach told IGN he never set out to deliberately cause a furore within the Civilization community, but insisted the changes came from a desire to have more players actually finish a game of Civilization 7 compared to previous titles in the series.
“Anyone who knows me, that’s really not sort of in my personality or DNA to purposely try to shake people up,” Beach said.
“There are people that do that for sure, but that’s not where I usually come from. We really just wanted to, I think, accomplish two things. One, we needed to really think about the Civ formula and what was working and what wasn’t working. And it’s not just the Civ formula, it’s the 4X strategy formula in general. There is this exponential explosion of objects in the world and decisions forced on the players. And in most 4X games that just sort of continues linearly from the beginning of the game, exploding outward in all directions. But it’s really hard to finish a 4X strategy game because the end of the game is so tedious to get through usually that it’s just a problem. So it was really that was the number one thing that we were trying to address.
“Now, I’d say the second point is that every time we do a new version of Civilization, it’s not okay for us to take the exact same gameplay that we had before, put a fresh coat of paint on it, sharpen up the units models and the way the game world looks and say, Hey, we’re done. We really want each version of Civilization to have sort of a signature element that people associate with it. And so if breaking the game up into big chapters where each chapter has a climactic finish to it and then you take a breath and reset and go into the next stage, if we felt like that was going to be an improvement to the whole 4X strategy formula, we wanted to do that. And it also gives a signature element for Civ 7.”
Executive producer Dennis Shirk chimed in to say Firaxis didn’t want to take the Madden team approach putting out an “iterative release” with Civilization 7. “We’ve got a highly polished Civilization 6 planted there right now,” Shirk said. “We’ve got a ton of players playing it. Ed and his team… every time they do a version of the game, everything is put on the table. We put everything into it as a team to make a new experience. It’s not something where we strategize over the next few iterations the kind of things that we want to do from version to version. It just gets all on the table.”
Perhaps in the shorter term, Firaxis will be working to address Civ 7’s ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, which stems from various community complaints around the user interface, a lack of map variety, and a feeling that the game has launched without a number of key features fans have come to expect.
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.
Elden Ring Nightreign’s first network test — ongoing at the time of this article’s publication — is suffering from significant server issues that have prevented many from playing.
IGN staff with access to the test reported server problems so extreme they were unable to access the game for the test’s first hour.
The issues were bad enough that FromSoftware issued a statement on social media, confirming that players were struggling to find a match due to server congestion. The developer apologized, but encouraged players to try matching again after a while.
It appears the PlayStation servers in particular are having problems, and indeed were brought down for maintenance. “The #NIGHTREIGN PlayStation servers are currently under maintenance,” FromSoftware tweeted. “Work is ongoing to restore server functionality. Further updates will be provided. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
Exacerbating the problem is the fact the Elden Ring Nightreign network test is only available during five three-hour periods on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S from February 14 to February 17. Here’s the current schedule:
Elden Ring Nightreign network test session timings:
February 14: 3am-6am PT / 6am-9am ET
February 14: 7pm-10pm PT / 10pm-1am ET
February 15: 11am-2pm PT / 2pm-5pm ET
February 16: 3am-6am PT / 6am-9am ET
February 16: 7pm-10pm PT / 10pm-1am ET
The network test is a “preliminary verification test in which the selected testers play a portion of the game prior to the full game launch,” Bandai Namco said.
“This large-scale Network Stress Test is designed to evaluate various aspects of the online system’s functionality and performance. We are looking forward to your cooperation to make Elden Ring Nightreign even better.”
It is of course better that Elden Ring Nightreign suffers server issues now than when it launches in May, but players who had earmarked time to try out the game now have expressed their frustration. Hopefully subsequent play sessions will run more smoothly.
Elden Ring Nightreign is FromSoftware’s standalone co-operative spin-off set in a world parallel to that of 2022’s Elden Ring. The network test will allow three players to team up and take their chosen Nightfarers to battle “against new terrors, and explore an ever-changing map to defeat increasingly challenging bosses and ultimately take on the Nightlord,” Bandai Namco added, before confirming the network test features a three day-and-night cycle squads must try to outlast.
Last year IGN had the opportunity to visit FromSoftware and go hands-on with an early build of Elden Ring Nightreign. We came away impressed, stating that Elden Ring Nightreign “takes the cautious dungeon crawls of Elden Ring and turbocharges them into propulsive, slash ‘n’ dash speedruns.”
Elden Ring Nightreign launches on May 30, 2025 priced $40 across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.
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.
Elden Ring Nightreign will officially arrive on May 30, 2025, across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. But for those eager to get an early taste, Bandai Namco is running a network test this weekend—offering a first look at what’s to come.
If your time with foundational PC strategy 4X game series Sid Meier’s Civilization consists of exactly one save file that ended somewhere in the Middle Ages, don’t beat yourself up, for you have plenty of company. When they got hold of detailed audience data for Civilization 6, Firaxis creative director Ed Beach and executive producer Dennis Shirk were dismayed to discover that fewer than 40% of their players ever finish a single game. Hence, to some degree, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII‘s new Age system, which is designed to counter feelings of exhaustion by smashing the chronology up into more digestible chunks, with something of a Civ power level reset between Ages to stop you feeling like you’re either hopelessly behind or so far ahead that ultimate victory is guaranteed.
Although Wario’s core platforming series has been overshadowed for years by the surrealist microgames of WarioWare, his excellent platformers have the sort of devoted following that inspires 600-page eBooks. It’s easy to see why: Wario Land 4 takes the basic 2D platforming concepts of Mario and turns them on their head in an irreverent, boisterous adventure unafraid to take risks.
What happens to GTA Online when Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out? That’s a question a lot of GTA Online players have been asking ever since GTA 6 was announced. And now, as GTA 6’s fall 2025 release date approaches, they’re no closer to an answer.
GTA Online is Rockstar’s hugely profitable live service that continues to pull in players even now, well over a decade since launch. Its enduring appeal and ability to print money is thought to have influenced Rockstar’s decision to prioritize the live service over story DLC for Grand Theft Auto 5, much to the annoyance of some fans. But there is a more pressing concern looming over the horizon.
When GTA 6 eventually comes out, it is expected to bring with it a new and improved GTA Online. Perhaps this will be GTA Online 2. Perhaps it will be called GTA Online, as before. Either way, players of the existing GTA Online have expressed concern that all their time, effort, and money spent in the current GTA Online will be left behind for a potential clean break later this year.
So, why invest time and money into GTA Online now, in early 2025, when the new GTA Online is potentially due out in perhaps eight months or so? That’s a question IGN put to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick during a recent interview ahead of the company’s third-quarter financial report, and his answer makes for interesting reading.
While Zenick wouldn’t be drawn specifically on any new GTA Online because it has yet to be announced, he did talk generally about Take-Two’s form when it came to NBA 2K Online, a free-to-play online-focused version of 2K Sports’ hugely successful basketball franchise aimed at the Asian market.
NBA 2K Online launched all the way back in 2012, and then 2K Sports released NBA 2K Online 2 in 2017. Both games were maintained simultaneously, so fans of the first version could continue to play and invest their time and money safe in the knowledge they wouldn’t be left behind.
“I’m going to speak theoretically only because I’m not going to talk about a particular project when an announcement hasn’t been made,” Zelnick began. “But generally speaking, we support our properties when the consumers are involved with those titles. As an example, we launched NBA 2K Online in China, I think originally in 2012 if I’m not mistaken. And then we launched NBA 2K Online 2 in China in 2017. If I’m not mistaken. We did not sunset Online 1. They both are still in the market and they serve consumers and they’re alive and we have this massive audience.
“So we’ve shown a willingness to support legacy titles when a community wants to be engaged with them.”
That last line is of particular importance. It suggests — but doesn’t confirm at this stage — that if there is a GTA Online 2, it won’t come at the cost of GTA Online falling by the wayside. If people keep playing GTA Online, Zelnick is suggesting here, then Rockstar will continue to support it.
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.
Elden Ring Nightreign will get “additional playable characters and bosses” via DLC, according to an entry on the game’s Steam page. This isn’t massively surprising, given that Nightreign is a multiplayer-focussed spin-off featuring preset Nightfarer heroes rather than custom RPG characters, as in vanilla Elden Ring. It also supports the idea that Nightreign is the foundation for a From Software Connected Universe of sorts, with characters and antagonists from the original Elden Ring, Dark Souls trilogy, Sekiro and Bloodborne reappearing in Nightreign via the Mystic Nexus of Monetisation.
