Today at BlizzCon, Blizzard announced that the upcoming tenth, eleventh, and twelfth expansions to its ongoing popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, all three of which will be contained in a larger narrative called World of Warcraft: The Worldsoul Saga. The first of these will be entitled World of Warcraft: The War Within, and it’s coming next year.
During the keynote, Blizzard brought out WoW legend Chris Metzen, who recently returned as executive creative director of the Warcraft franchise, to announce the update. He called the expansion “the culmination of the first 20 years of our storytelling” that will “vector us into the next 20 years of adventure.” And boy, did what he announce sound massive, with Metzen unveiling an almost MCU-like setup for the coming years of World of Warcraft.
The tenth expansion and the first in the Worldsoul Saga, The War Within, will send adventurers inside Azerioth, to subterranean kingdoms, where Nerubians and an Allied race called the Earthen Dwarves await. We got the most details on The War Within, such as the promised return of former talking knife Xal’atath, new zones like Azj-kahet, Isle of Dorn, The Ringing Deeps, and Hallowfall, a new treasure hunting adventure activity called Delves, a community feature called War Bands, and new dungeons and raids.
The other two expansions had fewer details, but that’s fine for now as they’re both farther off. Expansion 11 is entitled simply World of Warcraft: Midnight, and will take place in Azeroth’s “Old World” in Quel’thalas, where Void forces have invaded and are trying to destroy the Sunwell and plunge the world into darkness. And the third part of the Worldsoul Saga, and WoW’s 12th expansion, will be called World of Warcraft: The Last Titan. It also takes place in the Old World, but in Northrend, previously the staging ground for Wrath of the Lich King. In this expansion, the titans return to Azeroth, and players “uncover a vast conspiracy” about the Titans and their intentions.
There are more details expected later at BlizzCon, but we did get one more taste of what’s to come in a gorgeous new cinematic featuring Anduin and Thrall discussing recent visions and a strange voice calling to them, before finally addressing the literal giant sword in the room: yes, the giant sword that Sargeras plunged into Azeroth at the end of the Legion expansion is finally getting dealt with. Anduin and Thrall note that the sword was clearly aimed at something…hinting at the adventure to come.
The current expansion, Dragonflight, has been met with enthusiasm from the community, especially in its new dragonriding mount system. Our own reviewer gave the expansion a 7/10 at its initial launch, calling it “a sharply-written and breathtaking experience for the first few dozen hours, but suffers from somewhat threadbare endgame options.” Notably, subsequent patches since have expanded that endgame. Patch 10.2, Guardians of the Emerald Dream, is planned to drop next week and will include a new raid, a new zone, and numerous new quests, items, events, and other updates.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Today at Blizzcon, Blizzard teased an upcoming expansion to Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, which will include a brand new, never-seen-before in Diablo class. It’s coming in late 2024.
We didn’t get too many details about Vessel of Hatred beyond that, though we did learn it will take place in Diablo 2 region Nahantu, and will concern the fate of Mephisto and his plans for Sanctuary.
Diablo 4 has been on a roll lately, with a successful season of vampire-themed content in Season of Blood. We’ve loved the game since launch, giving it a 9/10 and calling it a “stunning sequel with near perfect endgame and progression design that makes it absolutely excruciating to put down.” Its most recent patch, 1.2.1, made respecs a lot easier for players. Meanwhile, players are still hard at work trying to solve the mystery of the game’s secret Cow Level.
This year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 remake will no longer feature Weapon Tuning, a feature introduced by last year’s Modern Warfare 2 remake, which lots of people appear to despise. Unlocked by levelling up a weapon to the max, Weapon Tuning is an extra layer of the game’s Gunsmith weapon-building editor that lets you tweak individual attachment stats such as weight and length of grip, as displayed on a radar graph.
As part of its early Black Friday Sale event, Walmart is offering the Xbox Series X Diablo 4 console bundle bundled with a second Xbox Core Wireless Controller in Shock Blue for only $519.00. The bundle by itself without the controller normally retails for $559, so you’re saving an extra $40 and getting a free controller.
Xbox Series X Diablo 4 Bundle with 2nd Controller for $519
The Xbox Series X is a current generation system able to drive 4K games at up to a glorious 120fps. It is technically a more powerful system than the PS5 and games that are compatible with both consoles usually perform better on the Xbox console. Compared to the $300 Xbox Series S, the X features more powerful hardware to enable it to run games in 4K (the Xbox Series S runs games at 1440p). The Xbox Series X also has a disc drive that can play 4K Blu-ray movies and physical game media. The Series S doesn’t.
This is a great time to get started on Diablo 4 because Season 2, Season of Blood, launched in mid October. After you hit your level cap and max out your gear, expect a host of new additions like the Battle Pass to keep you occupied for hours and hours to come. This bundle does come with a DLC freebie in the guise of horse armor. It’s just a cosmetic item, but hey it’s free. Diablo 4 itself as an incredible game. IGN gave it a pretty glowing review and I fully agree with the score.
Vampire Survivors is getting an Adventures update that will add “self-contained miniature story modes that reset and remix the game’s content, following the Survivor’s cast on a series of wacky sidequests”. That’s according to developer Poncle, who are clearly in a whimsical mood this week. After all, if there’s one thing this game about auto-massacring ever larger crowds of kamikaze night creatures has been lacking, it’s some proper narrative context.
Today saw the launch of the long-time-coming Princess Zelda and Ganondaddydorf amiibo for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Did you get them? Against his better judgement, this writer caved and pre-ordered both. How else are you going to get those absolutely vital paraglider fabric unlocks in TOTK, eh?
Yes, the toys-to-life craze may have been a fad in the mid-2010s, and Nintendo’s line of NFC figures (and cards) was essentially an experimental side project as the firm sought to diversify and distract while regrouping during The Lean Wii U Years™, but amiibo, somehow, are still going in 2023.
Ebenezer and the Invisible World, releasing today,is a fantasy reimagination and sequel to Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas ghost story, “A Christmas Carol”. In this beautiful 2D Metroidvania, players play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge after the events of the original story as he sets off on a Victorian adventure to help the people of London from the greedy industrialist Caspar Malthus.
Jacob Marley as Archetype for a Ghost Filled London
The creative process for Ebenezer and the Invisible World began with exploring one character in particular: Jacob Marley.
As many of us know, Jacob Marley was Ebenezer’s friend and business partner who died after living a greedy life. Marley explains that he is condemned to walk the earth among his fellow men while wearing “the chains I forged in life” made “link by link, and yard by yard.”
We thought to ourselves, what if Jacob Marley was not the only ghost in London tethered to the mortal world? What if there were others? In fact, what if the world was full of ghosts just like Jacob Marley – all draped in the chains they forged in life? Jacob Marley became our visual archetype for a ghostly population that would fill Victorian London.
This is a natural extension of the “Christmas Carol” universe. In fact, Charles Dickens contemplated this same concept. He wrote in “A Christmas Carol”, “the air was filled with phantoms. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power, forever.”
This idea that Dickens puts forth – ghosts wanting to help people but are unable to do so – inspired our next concept: What if these ghosts who want to help “in human matters” but were unable to do so asked Ebenezer to help on their behalf? Afterall, Ebenezer can see and speak with Jacob Marley, so wouldn’t Ebenezer be able to speak with other ghosts? And if they could speak with Ebenezer, we think these ghosts would do more than just seek him out, they would implore Ebenezer to help them.
And so, from this premise the core gameplay loop was born: Ghosts would ask Ebenezer to help a mortal, and he would then engage on a mission to help them on behalf of ghosts.
Importantly for making a fun game, ghosts provide incredible freedom in developing compelling gameplay. We focus on the potential of ghosts in creating gameplay mechanics and a narrative universe that is compelling, meaningful, and engaging.
Powerful Ghosts and the Unrepentant
In Ebenezer and the Invisible World, a ghost will join Ebenezer on his adventure after completing a mission on their behalf. In gameplay, this means players can toggle between ghosts in the Ghost Select Wheel and, with the press of a button, summon the ghost to perform a special attack or movement. Each ghost has a unique special ability, contributing to the core gameplay loop in our Metroidvania, such as accessing previously gated areas, discovering secrets, and defeating new enemies.
Ebenezer and the Invisible World also features ghosts as enemies, known as the Unrepentant. These are wicked ghosts that do not regret the misdeeds in their human life and instead are content continuing along their old ways. These ghosts spurn humankind and occupy abandoned areas, such as forgotten tunnels, the deep forest, abandoned homes, and other places typically void of human presence. Because they separate themselves from humanity, the Unrepentants’ spectral shape begins to lose its human form and appears more creature-like… more monstrous.
Ebenezer Reimagined
With this framework of the Dickensian universe, we began crafting the journey that our redeemed Ebenezer would embark on. Our central premise revolved around the notion that the events experienced by Ebenezer Scrooge during “A Christmas Carol” were not isolated incidents. Dickens implies that Ebenezer Scrooge is the only person to ever be visited by the Christmas Spirits, but we like to think that following Ebenezer’s first adventure, the connection between this “invisible world” and the real one only became stronger.
In our game, ghosts tethered to the mortal world who witness the moral decline of a friend or loved one call upon the Christmas Spirits to offer a chance at redemption, much like Jacob Marley did for Ebenezer before he was visited by the Christmas Spirits.
The story of Ebenezer and the Invisible World starts with the spirit of a deceased British naval officer Eric Fellows warning his childhood friend, the cold-hearted industrialist Caspar Malthus, that he would be visited by the Christmas Spirits. However, in the case of Caspar, rather than being persuaded by the Three Ghosts, he uses the information he obtained during his visit with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to develop a technology that he would not be able to invent until far into his future. This future technology puts the workers of the city in crisis and brings chaos to London. Eric is horrified by this result and recruits Ebenezer to help rectify the situation. This is where our game begins.
A Deep, Story Rich Metroidvania
Players will explore various segments of London from a celestial observatory to a terrifying asylum. They will meet ghostly friends and foes eager to lend a hand with their ghostly ability, or hell-bent on stopping him by any means necessary.
The game is filled with features including an Heirloom slot system, multiple attack Canes and Spirit Weapons, stat-buffing Spirit Kids, and a wealth of ghosts and NPCs with rich dialogue and backstories, with gameplay that reminds players that everyone deserves a second chance. And since it’s a Metroidvania, players will likely need a second…third…fourth…more chances to progress through the game and discover the true evil at play.
We hope Ebenezer and the Invisible World brings players a new way to celebrate the holidays, as well as pays homage to one of the most famous pieces of holiday literature of all time.
Join Ebenezer Scrooge and a team of spectral allies as they battle to save London from the clutches of the wealthy industrialist, Caspar Malthus, and his militant Private Guard. With each Ghost lending their unique abilities, explore the dark corners of London and uncover the sinister influence of the Dark Spirit and an army of Unrepentant Ghosts. Will you have the courage to confront Caspar and stop his malevolent plans before it is too late?
Last week, we asked you to swing into Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and share moments using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:
DiogOliveiraVPshares Miles and Peter swinging alongside a bridge in their standard Spidey suits.
PKDroneshares Miles swinging by a taxi in the Bodega cat suit, with Spider-Cat hanging out the backpack
AjGamingPics1shares Venom snarling and reaching towards the camera while running
RevolutionAndreshares Miles narrowly avoiding Sand-Man’s giant fist bursting through the building’s side
Sil3ntSnakeshares Venom baring its teeth and saliva in the lights of Times Square
EliteGamingPshares Peter striking a pose in the Advanced Suit 2.0
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – Peter Parker SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on November 8, 2023
Next week, we want pictures of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2! Particularly, pictures of Peter Parker. Share your best moments playing as Peter using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.
Fortnite has seen a huge surge in players with the launch of its OG update that brings back the original battle royale map.
According to unofficial but reliable stat website Fortnite.GG, Fortnite has a 24 hour peak of 3.9 million concurrent players, compared to the roughly two million concurrent players it held for most of September and October.
Its previous highest peak arrived alongside Chapter 4 Season 4 in August, but this spike only saw concurrent player numbers rise to 2.8 million.
The OG update arrived November 2 and let players return to the beloved Fortnite map that revolutionised battle royale games and perhaps video games as a whole. This means players can once again visit locations such as Tilted Towers, Paradise Palms, Salty Springs, and more. The movement evolutions Fortnite has made since Chapter 1, like sprinting and mantling, remain.
CEO Tim Sweeney even admitted in an internal memo that, “while Fortnite is starting to grow again, the growth is driven primarily by creator content with significant revenue sharing, and this is a lower margin business than we had when Fortnite Battle Royale took off and began funding our expansion.”
Fortnite’s OG update will last as long as the current season, which generally runs for around 50 to 70 days. The original map will presumably be removed from the game when the season ends, though Epic may reconsider given the renewed popularity. IGN has asked the publisher for comment.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
