Whether you love stealth games or hate them, Eriksholm isn’t worth your time

Great stealth games are basically forever games. Whether or not they’re boosted with regular live service jabs like a Hitman, it always feels like it’s worth returning to a Dishonored, or a Metal Gear, or a Desperados 3. Always ways to finesse or experiment or utterly style on encounters you’ve slipped your way through dozens of times before. If you love stealth, you’ve likely got a library full of such games you’ve been meaning to get back to at some point. If you don’t, you’ve likely been put off somewhere along the line by the sort of tired and punishing design tropes Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is full of. Naturally, I don’t think it’s worth your time either way.

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Review: The Wandering Village (Switch) – Charming City Builder Has You Manage A Community Atop A Marching Giant

Movable feast.

The world is an unpredictable place, full of strife and economic instability. So, there will always be room for another cosy city builder.

Swiss developer Stray Fawn Studio sticks to the genre formula but delivers a charmingly fresh thematic twist. The Wandering Village casts you as the steward of a tiny community, striving to survive on the back of a gigantic creature that quite literally wanders a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4 Developer Says It’s Pulling an Odd Reference to Guitar Hero, and ‘Investigating’ How It Got in the Game

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 developer Iron Galaxy says it is “investigating” a curious “Easter egg” that some fans believe references an Activision series resigned to the trash. Literally.

Shortly after the highly-anticipated Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 remake went live for all players last week, players noted a familiar-looking — if “legally distinct” — box in a trash bin on the new Waterpark level. While not everyone may make the connection, you can see what appears to be a boxed copy of Guitar Hero — or ‘Banjo Champion’ as it’s been rebadged as here, albeit with all the Guitar Hero branding — stuffed into the can.

It’s a particularly curious addition given the developer of the Guitar Hero series from Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock to 2010’s Warriors of Rock was Neversoft… which also just-so-happened to have developed the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series.

As fans debated whether or not it was an Easter egg, a joke, or even dig — at Neversoft, or publisher Activision — THPS 3+4 developer Iron Galaxy promptly distanced itself, writing: “We have the utmost respect for anyone who makes games, we’re investigating how that got in there in the first place. Thank you to the community for bringing this to our attention and we’ll be removing that from the environment art in the next update.”

Some players have told Iron Galaxy not to worry as the “benign joke” was “nothing serious,” and others say it’s “edgy, like the older THPS games,” the truth is the ‘joke’ has been around for years, as ‘Banjo Champion’ references popped up in THPS 1+2, too, five years ago.

We thought the long-anticipated remake was great, slapping it with a 8 and writing in the IGN’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 review: “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 proves yet again the series’ over-the-top skateboarding formula is totally timeless, even if some of the changes to THPS4 miss the mark and the soundtrack has been fumbled.”

If you’re just getting started, check out our Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 walkthrough, where we take you through all nine levels, showing you how to get every collectible, goal, gold medal, and panda plushie en route to unlocking everything available before reaching Pro Goals in THPS 3.

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.

Grow a Garden Pet Mutation Update – Everything New In IGN’s Guide

IGN’s Grow a Garden wiki guide has been updated to cover everything new in the Pet Mutation Update. Each week, GaG releases new content, and Saturday July 12, 2025 was no exception. This time, the Pet Mutation Event launched, so if your pet hits 50+, you can throw it in the mutation machine and see it returned to you with a new ability from 12 possible variations!

Pet Mutations

With the new Pet Mutation machine, it’s not just plants that can receive mutations now. Where mutations and multipliers increase the value of your crops in Grow a Garden, pet mutations can give them new abilities. These range from the Golden mutation, which can boost a pet’s passive ability, to Mega, which increases a pet’s hunger, but also means they earn XP faster.

Our Pet Mutation Update page lists all the 12 possible mutations, as well as the chances for your pet to get them. Spoiler! Some traits like Ascended have just a 0.32% chance of being applied.

Primal Egg

With an update focused on pets, it’s no surprise that there’s a new Pet Egg for us to earn. Following the release of the Animal Update, we’ve regularly seen new Pet Eggs added to GaG. This time, it’s the Primal Egg. There are 3 Legendary, 2 Mythical, and 1 Divine Pet up for grabs in this egg. Be sure to visit our guide to see all the chances for a Pet to appear in the Primal Egg, as well as each of the new abilities and traits that the Primal Egg Pets have.

Prehistoric Event Expansion

The previous update to Grow a Garden launched the Prehistoric Event, which came with a set of daily Dino Quests and rewards. The final reward in this series of quests, is the Bone Blossom. You can still get it as the Prehistoric Event has been expanded, so be sure to complete 21 quests to get your hands on it before it’s too late! If you missed out on the Candy Blossom, you won’t want to miss out on this one.

New Gear

With the requirement that pets need to reach 50+ before you can throw them in the Mutation Machine, it makes sense that we’d see the addition of new gear to help you level up your pets. Some of this new gear, like the Levelup Lollipop can be purchased in the shop, which you’ll find listed in our Gear Guide. Other items, which give a boost to XP and passive abilities for pets, you’ll find in the recipe list at the Crafting/Cosmetics Stall instead.

New Seeds

Rounding off the Pet Mutation update, it wouldn’t be Grow a Garden without new seeds for us to plant. There are five new seeds, but only one of these can be purchased from the Seed Stall. This is the Giant Pinecone. To get hold of the others including the Horsetail Seed and Amber Spine, you’ll need to craft them.

For more Grow a Garden help, or if you’re just getting started with this farming experience on Roblox, visit our wiki. We upload all the patch notes as soon as they’re released, and we have guides on everything from Weather Events to in-game events and updates. You’ll also find useful how-to guides including:

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.

Subnautica 2 leak is “authentic” say publishers who benefit the most from that leak

A battle between three former Subnautica 2 developers and their publishers at Krafton intensified over the weekend, after an internal document appeared online showing how the scope of the survival game has reduced during development. The source of this document remains unknown. In fact, quite a lot of facts about the document remain unknown. Nevertheless, Krafton have since leapt at the chance to confirm its authenticity.

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Subnautica 2 Drama Gets Even Messier As Krafton Confirms Internal Document Leak Is Real

Amid an increasingly bitter row over a $250 million bonus, Krafton has now chosen to confirm a leaked Subnautica 2 development document purportedly criticizing the highly-anticipated sequel is, in fact, real.

But first, some context. Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds in October 2021 and at the time, said the Subnautica studio would continue to operate as an independent outfit. Last week, however, former Striking Distance CEO, Steve Papoutsis, joined Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds as CEO. The shock announcement confirmed that the previous leadership team — Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire — were replaced “effective immediately.” In a subsequent statement, co-founder Cleveland responded to what he called the “shock” decision to replace the leadership team, saying that “after all these years, to find that I’m no longer able to work at the company I started stings.” The statement also intimated that while the former leadership team considered the game ready for early access release, Krafton did not.

Then, last week, reports came to light that Subnautica 2 had been delayed to 2026 just months before Krafton was due to pay a $250 million bonus to the development team. Bloomberg said the delay was “against the wishes of the studio’s former leadership,” and that the $250 million bonus would have kicked in if Unknown Worlds hit certain revenue targets by the end of 2025. Now, without Subnautica 2 coming out this year, that bonus wouldn’t be paid out.

In a statement to IGN, Krafton insisted the decision had nothing to do with “any contractual or financial considerations.” Instead, Krafton claimed, the delay was about responding to feedback from playtests, and delay talks were already under discussion before Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill were outed. Shortly after this statement, the former leadership team revealed they were filing a lawsuit against Krafton.

And now the drama continues, with the leak of an internal review document that shares a less-than-stellar mid-cycle review. Rather than deny the leak, however, Krafton has authenticated it, saying: “Given these circumstances, Krafton has determined that transparent communication is necessary and has chosen to confirm the authenticity of the document.”

The leaked images themselves show two pages of a development review, and appear to be photographs of a PC monitor. They show the disconnect between where Krafton expected development to be versus the as-is position. While we don’t know who or which company authored the report, it’s clearly critical of Unknown Worlds, recommending Subnautica 2 should “launch with an MVP-level build that allows players to experience the core loop at a high level of quality,” but adding that, as it currently stood, the game “lacks the level of polish and market impact required to drive IP growth and expansion.”

“It is recommended to enhance the content volume and level of polish before launching so that it can appeal to a broader market from the [early access] release stage,” the report says. “While the game includes a variety of content, it currently lacks the freshness and volume expected of a sequel.

“In addition, it falls short of meeting the high expectations of the OWSC and the Asian market.”

It is currently unclear how the leaked document began circulating publicly online.

“Krafton is issuing the following statement in response to growing speculation surrounding the development of Subnautica 2,” Krafton said in a statement to Eurogamer. “This statement aims to offer clarity and context regarding the current situation.

“The document that has been circulating on social media and reported by various outlets is indeed part of an internal milestone review conducted as part of the Subnautica 2 project. Krafton has confirmed that portions of it have been leaked and are now being widely shared across online platforms and within the fan community. Krafton recognises the confusion this has caused.

“Given these circumstances, Krafton has determined that transparent communication is necessary and has chosen to confirm the authenticity of the document,” the publisher added. “Krafton believes that minimising speculation and ensuring accurate communication with players must take precedence.

“Milestone reviews are conducted regularly in collaboration with Krafton’s creative studios across all projects. These reviews help assess development progress, define clear objectives, and ensure that each project aligns with Krafton’s standards in both creativity and quality. This process is central to Krafton’s commitment to delivering polished, high-quality games at the right time.

“Krafton will continue working closely with Unknown Worlds to ensure that Subnautica 2 meets the expectations of players who have supported the franchise over the years,” the statement concluded.

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.

This week in PC games: Stronghold, Destiny and Neverwinter Nights lead a host of drifters, necromancers and Pac-Monsters

Morning all! The working week once again looms above us like a bulldozer driven by raucous and somehow loveable sheepdogs in top hats and cufflinks. Quickly now, lob a few new PC game releases under the caterpillar treads to slow its passage. It’s not clear where those sheepdogs are going, but your and my wellbeing are clearly of secondary importance.

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Donkey Kong Bananza Gets Short Clip Celebrating Three Days Until Launch

Not long now!

Are you excited? Because we are excited! Yes, it’s getting mighty close to the return of everyone’s favourite video game ape, and to celebrate Nintendo has posted a little movie on its social media (and to its Nintendo Today app, naturally) to remind us all that there are precisely three days to go until the launch of Donkey Kong Bananza.

Nice! We hope DK gets over that rather crushing blow in time for our adventures later this week, though.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

PSA: Donkey Kong Bananza Spoilers Have Hit the Internet, After Early Copies Land in Fans’ Hands

Donkey Kong Bananza spoilers are being spread online, after early copies of the game have turned up in the hands of several fans.

Story details that players will want to keep as a surprise for themselves are now circulating on the internet, as seen by IGN — though we will not be sharing them here.

Instead, we’d strongly advise Nintendo fans be careful where they click over the coming days, in the run-up to Donkey Kong Bananza’s official launch date this Thursday, July 17.

While it may seem odd to raise a note of caution over story spoilers for a Donkey Kong platformer, this new blockbuster title from key members of Nintendo’s Super Mario Odyssey development team is shaping up to be something special.

There has already been intense speculation over whether Bananza is some kind of Odyssey prequel, based on the inclusion of key character Pauline, and Nintendo’s unusual decision to detail her age in the new game.

Indeed, when IGN asked Bananza’s producer Kenta Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi specifically about these points, the pair said that these were questions players should be considering as they played the game.

“Certainly because a lot of team members also worked on Super Mario Odyssey, there are some similarities in terms of how they think about the setting of the characters for both games,” Takahashi told IGN.

“But it’s something we really can’t explain all of for now because we need to leave something for people to consider as they’re playing the game,” he continued. It’s probably better you find out by playing it, then, rather than on a random internet forum!

We spoke to Motokura and Takahashi about a number of topics related to Bananza, including how the game was first conceived and the necessity of releasing on the Nintendo Switch 2. You can read our entire interview in full right here, and check out our hands-on preview of the game here.

And in other Donkey Kong news, a Nintendo copyright notice has been spotted for an unannounced Donkey Kong film — something which fans suspect may arrive as a spin-off from the blockbuster Super Mario Bros. Movie and its upcoming sequel.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Elden Ring Nightreign’s inevitable randomiser mod is here to spice up your runs with extra funky map scrambling

It’s time. Elden Ring Nightreign‘s gotten a randomiser mod, just in case the base game isn’t quite maxing out your unexpected chaos-per-run meter at this point, despite its revamped bosses.

While FromSoft’s roguelike-ish twist on the established souls formula already switches things up in a manner that’s a bit like a randomiser mod makeover of one of the series’ traditional entries, modder thefifthmatt has still found ways to tinker with it.

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