The Rogue Prince of Persia celebrated its 1.0 release yesterday with a remarkably honest behind-the-scenes video from developers Evil Empire, detailing the ups and downs of a year-long Early Access period, including the decision to completely overhaul the game’s art style and redesign its purple-skinned protagonist.
Stardew Valley developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has revealed he doesn’t ask for any compensation when his fan-favorite farm sim collabs with other franchises, saying he only does them because “[he] was a fan of the other games, or because [he] genuinely thought players would like it.”
The statement comes as fans prepare for a crossover event between Stardew Valley and Infinity Nikki, which goes live on September 1. Although we still don’t really understand what this will involve, exactly, there are already some surprisingly mixed reactions coming from the community, with some players upset about the timing, suggesting it’s an all-too-convenient distraction from the recent controversy around leakers.
“There have been a few collaborations between Stardew Valley and other games over the years,” Barone posted on X/Twitter yesterday. “To be clear, I never receive any money from these collabs. I’ve only done them because I was a fan of the other games, or because I genuinely thought the players would like it.”
Interestingly, Infinity Nikki responded directly to Barone from its official X/Twitter account.
“We really appreciate you sharing your feelings on this. Any unintended stress was the last thing we wanted. It was our way of saying thanks — a free love letter to Stardew Valley from our team and for the community,” the message said.
“Working on it felt like we were all tending a little farm together. The care and detail you pour into your world is exactly why we want to make cozy games too. We’re still learning from you every day.”
To be fair, it feels as though the fallout from the Stardew Valley collab is just a matter of bad timing here. The Infinity Nikki community has been unhappy ever since update 1.5 added some controversial changes to the game, such as retconning Infinity Nikki’s story, and ramping up the money and time investments required to collect full outfits.
It’s not that Barone does this all that often, either. Stardew Valley has only ever worked with a handful of other games, such as Balatro and Terraria.
Back in May, Barone admitted that he “didn’t want to just be the Stardew Valley guy,” explaining that was why he’s currently working on Haunted Chocolatier. We shouldn’t expect a release date anytime soon, though — there’s “still a lot to be done,” Barone recently admitted, particularly as he feels it’s “got to be better” than Stardew Valley.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
DICE has outlined what it’s learned — and what it’s changing — following the open beta test for Battlefield 6.
With “tens of thousands connecting on Discord to play together, over 600,000 hours streamed, and over 30 million hours watched,” the Battlefield team said it would “like to take a moment to look back at the recent Open Beta to share our key learnings and in-game changes we’re making based on your feedback and in-game data,” including tweaks to weapons, movement, maps, modes, player counts, and playlist options.
Perhaps one of the biggest complaints from players was around movement mechanics, particularly the speed of movement, and moving out of a slide into a jump. DICE says it’s now “adjusting” this “to create a more balanced and traditional Battlefield experience.”
“Momentum, especially horizontal speed, carried from a slide into a jump has been reduced,” the team wrote. “There is now a greater penalty for consecutive jumps, which lowers jump height when jumps are spammed. Firing while jumping or sliding will result in increased inaccuracy. These changes are designed to make sliding and jumping more situational, so they are no longer ideal options for engaging in gunfights, and will contribute to a gameplay pace that rewards skillful movement without becoming too fast or unpredictable.
“Parachute physics have also been re-tuned, with reduced initial acceleration when opening the parachute for more controlled aerial movement.”
The team was also keen for you to know that it heard your “strong feedback” about larger-scale maps, and says that while the Open Beta intentionally featured smaller, more fast-paced maps, “larger-scale maps are already part of our package, delivering action-packed gameplay and memorable, unique moments for every player.” As Battlefield Labs continues — that’s the closed test available to select players who sign an NDA — it’ll introduce two new multiplayer maps: one set in Mirak Valley, the other a remake of the fan-favorite from Battlefield 3, Operation Firestorm. These two maps “include the full complement of vehicles, like Liberation Peak, along with a more vast combat space.” Details about Mirak, you may remember, leaked earlier this week.
And of course, the studio is looking at feedback on modes, too. DICE recently made changes to Rush mode after a negative response from fans, noting “the conversation we observed wasn’t just about player count, but also about how maps play, and the tactical experience they offer.”
For those who aren’t aware, Rush was initially known as Gold Rush in Bad Company, where matches typically ranged from 12v12 to 16v16 players.
“We’ve experimented with larger player counts over the years, such as 64- and even 128-player versions. While these matches created intense, fast-paced moments, they also led to issues: Overwhelming defenses, stalled frontlines, and too many games ending in the first sector,” DICE explained. “Rush is especially sensitive to higher player counts due to its tactical and strategic requirements; when a player tries to arm the M-COM while more than 20 opponents are defending, the intended gameplay becomes less tangible. Based on feedback throughout recent titles, we’re lowering the default player count for Rush to improve the flow of combat and restore the tactical, methodical experience that defines the mode.”
Those who enjoy a “large-scale” Rush, however, will still be able to “experiment” with different player counts via the Portal from launch. “Finding the right balance is an ongoing process as everyone gets familiar with map size, lanes, and combat spaces,” the team added. “For now, we’ve found that 8v8 provides a solid starting point for small-scale, fast-paced modes like Team Death Match, Squad Death Match, Domination, and KOTH.”
“With the insights gathered during the Open Beta play sessions, we will be introducing in-game adjustments in upcoming Battlefield Labs events. Stay tuned for progress updates and future opportunities to get involved,” the team concluded. “Lastly, thanks again for joining the Battlefield 6 Open Beta. Your feedback and participation made it an incredible experience.”
We’re having a great time with what we’ve played so far, writing in our Battlefield 6 review-in-progress: “We are still in the beta period, but I’m already having an absolute blast with Battlefield 6’s multiplayer. The action is sublime, with a cinematic quality to the constantly raining debris that is enhanced by how legitimately effective it is to take strategic advantage of that destruction.
“Right now, even in beta form, Battlefield 6 might be the most fun shooter I’ve played this year.”
Don’t forget that from now until October 7 — Battlefield 6’s launch day — EA has a “wave of content” planned for Battlefield 2042, including a free new pass “celebrating the legacy of Battlefield,” new hardware, and a reimagining of the fan favorite Iwo Jima map. As you progress through the ‘Road to Battlefield 6’ pass, you can expect 50 “exclusive cross-rewards,” including 20 for Battlefield 6 that will be ready for you on launch day.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Docked and loaded.
Earlier this week, we were lucky enough to head to the Nintendo booth at Gamescom and go hands-on with Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Switch 2. Bandai Namco didn’t allow any footage to be recorded from our handheld session (and we quickly saw why), but it seems such recording rules are not in place at Canada’s Fan Expo, which kicked off yesterday and was allowing over-the-shoulder recording of the docked demos.
One visitor, MDee14, recorded footage of their entire play session and has quickly shared it online, giving us our first proper look at how this thing runs when the Switch 2 is up on a big screen. Fortunately, it looks better than the handheld offering seems to be.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater contains a secret mode developed by PlatinumGames, the studio behind the likes of Bayonetta and Nier: Automata.
Warning! Spoilers for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and the original Metal Gear Solid 3 follow:
Fans of the original Metal Gear Solid 3, which Konami has remade for this Delta version, may be aware of Snake’s Nightmare. Dubbed Guy Savage by fans, it’s a time-limited third-person hack and slash sequence in which ‘Guy Savage’ cuts his way through a demon-filled hellscape, triggered by saving while Snake is in prison and then reloading.
Guy Savage was in the original Metal Gear Solid 3 on PlayStation 2, but was removed for most of the versions that followed. Now, Guy Savage is back as ‘Guy Savage Delta,’ courtesy of PlatinumGames. Even better, you’re able to unlock the secret mode to replay it via the main menu screen once you’ve beaten the game (or you can trigger it the old-fashioned way).
IGN’s Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater review returned an 8/10. We said: “Between its old-school stealth-action gameplay and engaging spy-thriller story, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater largely succeeds as a faithful, visually impressive remake of the 2004 classic.”
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater launches Aug 28, 2025, across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
For as long as Call of Duty campaigns have existed, so has the option to play them at whichever difficulty suits you best. Whether recruit, normal, hardened, or veteran, long-term COD players know their level. But this year’s entry, Black Ops 7, won’t let you pick.
Black Ops 7 has a campaign that can be played solo or in co-op for up to four players. As part of that, the difficulty scales based on how many are playing, and cannot be adjusted in the settings.
“For the difficulty, it’s baked in,” associate creative director Miles Leslie told IGN in a recent interview. “We’ve built it for solo or four-player squads as well. You cannot pick a difficulty like past games. We’ve baked it in because you have to approach a co-op campaign differently, and we wanted to make sure the missions felt right for solo players — we’re not forgetting about you, we love you — but also because it is a social experience we want to make sure it’s fun, but the right amount of challenging for two, three, and four players as well.”
So, no more veteran-level runs for single-player fans in this year’s Call of Duty. Are you someone who enjoys testing yourself with the toughest challenges COD campaigns have to offer? Are you disappointed by the fact that Black Ops 7 won’t have this option at launch?
For now, you can check out my full preview of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. For more from the devs, check out their thoughts on Call of Duty being called “lazy,” the proliferation of “goofy skins,” and how generative AI is being used in Black Ops.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
I feel for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. If it was named something like Fang Bastard: The Punching Of The Many, the trailers wouldn’t have so many views, but those who’d watched them would probably be quite jazzed for that new bitey-talky game that looks a bit like Dishonored with more story branching. It isn’t, and they aren’t. Instead, it’s called Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, a name packed with some of the weightiest words in RPGdom.
I don’t pity it, though. Three hours and change into Bloodlines 2, I’ve determined that I’d quite enjoy a Dishonored with more story branching, actually. Not as much as if I could express my roleplaying chops outside of very specific dialogue menus, or if I cared more about the fellow nightcrawlers on the other side of those conversations. But for all the tricky development and heavy heritage, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t enjoyed being The Chinese Room’s version of a souped-up vampire prowling a snowy, bisexual-lit Seattle.
No joke.
Persona 5‘s Joker has made surprise appearances in games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and now he’s making his way to Blizzard’s free-to-play hero shooter, Overwatch 2.
The Season 18 trailer has gone live and it finishes with the Persona 5 theme along with a silhouette of Joker. Atlus has also acknowledged the collaboration, which will go live on 26th August 2025.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Eight years after its initial launch, first-person extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov has a version 1.0 release date: November 15, 2025. That’s over eight years after Escape from Tarkov first entered beta, and 13 years after initial development began.
Developer Battlestate Games announced the release date alongside patch notes for update 0.16.9.0, which serves as an “interim milestone” that brings a significant number of improvements and changes. Meanwhile, the development team is focusing on optimizing the final version of the game.
The main highlight, Battlestate Games said, is synchronization between EFT: Arena and EFT PvE Zone. Its “key feature” is a one-way sync: progress in EFT: Arena will sync with PvE Zone, but progress in PvE Zone will not sync with EFT: Arena.
“This one-way synchronization includes the addition of the trader Ref, the ability to transfer currency, synchronization of Tactical Clothing sets and Battle Pass rewards, along with several other innovations,” Battlestate Games said. “Additionally, improvements have been made to enemy AI systems and in-game audio.
Changes:
PvE mode synchronization
Added synchronization between Escape from Tarkov: Arena and Escape from Tarkov PvE mode.
The main feature of this synchronization is that it only works one-way (excluding regular tasks), meaning the progress in EFT: Arena syncs with PvE mode, but not the other way around.
Trader Ref
Item transfer
Tactical clothing
BattlePass
In-game tasks
Trader standing
Character experience, skills, and weapon mastery
Character wipes
AI:
Audio:
QoL:
Balancing changes
Fixes:
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Get ready for “instant driving enjoyment”.
It’s been announced another racing game is joining the Switch 2 library. This time it’s Gear.Club Unlimited 3 for the Nintendo Switch 2 and it’s arriving at some point in “late 2025“.
This game will follow on from the first two games, which were released on the eShop during the original Switch generation.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
