Category: Video Games

Not all video game remakes are recreated equally. For every genuinely game-changing Final Fantasy VII Remake or Metroid: Zero Mission, you have comparatively more surface-level restorations like 2018’s Shadows of the Colossus or 2020’s Destroy All Humans! that transplant most of the original material into a new game engine that looks nicer but doesn’t really change how it works. Until Dawn fits firmly into that latter camp. Its colourful cast of horny teenagers and spooky snowy mountain setting have never looked better, but its gripping, life-or-death decision-based gameplay is more or less identical to how I remember it from the 2015 original. The general lack of gameplay improvements and noticeable performance problems are a poor trade-off for what it offers, and that makes it tough to recommend, particularly since its premium price makes Until Dawn seem less like a must-have bit of moonlit murder and something closer to a case of daylight robbery.

Here’s what our reviewer said in her review of the 2015 original:

That sentiment still largely rings true – it’s basically the same game, after all. While Supermassive’s subsequent choose-your-own-misadventure horror stories, like 2021’s The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes and 2022’s The Quarry, have come close to matching it, Until Dawn still remains the most well-rounded execution of the choice-and-consequence-heavy formula that the developer has made its own. Its schlock horror story is crammed with entertainingly gory scenarios inspired by the likes of Saw, The Descent, and Poltergeist, and its cast is headlined by strong performances from Hayden Panettiere, Peter Stormare, and Rami Malek, whose characters remain just as engaging today as they were nine years ago – even in spite of the occasionally cringe-inducing dialogue.

Back in Blackwood

While the cast and remote Blackwood Pines setting remain the same, everything has been rebuilt on an entirely new engine (Unreal 5) for this remake, and it shows in ways both good and bad. There’s no question that the higher-quality textures and dramatically improved lighting combine to give this interactive slasher film a considerably more realistic edge, and there are a number of welcome environmental touches, like snow that visibly crumples underfoot and the rays of a setting sun reflected in the window glass of a gondola.

However, these enhancements come at the cost of a frame rate that’s often every bit as shaky as the freaked-out teens onscreen, and at its worst this rebuilt Until Dawn is also prone to coming apart completely like a serial killer’s victim on the sharp end of a saw blade. I managed to make it through my full playthrough without ever being unceremoniously bumped out to the PlayStation 5’s home screen, but another member of IGN’s staff reported no fewer than six crashes within the eight-hour story’s opening half. Until Dawn is supposed to be about preventing its cast of characters from meeting a sudden end at the hands of an unspeakably evil presence, not an indecipherable Sony error code.

Whereas the original Until Dawn is experienced mostly from fixed camera perspectives, the 2024 version – for the most part – favours an over-the-shoulder, third-person view not unlike the recently released Silent Hill 2 remake. There are definite benefits to this manual camera control system, both in the sense that it allows you to better observe the heightened detail in the creepy environments around you, and also swivel your viewpoint around to identify the small number of new areas to explore off the beaten path. For instance, you’ll find a car park outside the ski lift station in the story’s opening hours that wasn’t there before. However, there’s not much of interest to find in this handful of new locations, and I can’t help but feel that the new camera system works against the overall cinematic presentation. Until Dawn’s consistent close-up chase cam meant it felt less like I was puppeteering the characters in an interactive slasher movie and more like I was sauntering my way through a survival-horror shooter, minus the actual combat.

It’s also a strange choice that developer Ballistic Moon has scrapped the ability to walk faster in this remake. Characters will automatically break into a sprint during quick-time event-heavy chase sequences, but otherwise there’s no longer the option of speeding the exploration of environments up a bit with the press of a button like you could previously. Combine that with a distinctly drunken sluggishness to character movement that sees them stumble a few steps too many in one direction after you’ve changed to another, and Until Dawn is now slower and clumsier to control than it used to be, which is not exactly ideal when you’re trying to herd a group of hapless teenagers towards surviving the many horrors of the night.

Teenage Future Injure Totems

The sloppier movement also makes it more of a chore to scour your surroundings for totems. Collecting these scattered Native American artifacts once again gives you brief glimpses at potential character fates, which provide some foresight into your decision-making, only this time their placements have been reshuffled – presumably to make finding them more of a challenge for returning players. That’s all well and good, but I wish that actually triggering the premonitions hadn’t been turned into such a fiddly process.

In the original Until Dawn you found a totem, flipped it over to see a character’s potential death, then moved on. Now you have to pick the totem up, then slowly shift it up and down and swivel it left and right before a tiny glimmer of light appears somewhere on its surface and the vision is finally revealed. It just feels annoyingly unwieldy, like trying to retrieve a pick from an acoustic guitar after you’ve accidentally dropped it into the soundhole, and really only serves to needlessly drag out what was previously a fairly immediate and straightforward process.

This token totem twist is pretty much the only new gameplay mechanic of note. Aside from a slightly lengthened prologue and a new post-credits scene that hints at the possibility of a sequel, Until Dawn otherwise features all the same choices, quick-time events, and potential character fates that it did previously, and the crowd-friendly, pass-the-controller co-op gameplay introduced in later Supermassive Games adventures sadly hasn’t been retrofitted in here. It is slightly more tailorable to personal preferences, though, so if you find that your hands are too shaky for the ‘Don’t Move’ sequences that instruct you to keep the controller as still as possible, you can just go ahead and disable them from the pause menu, for example.

Overall, however, this Until Dawn remake remains a pretty hard sell given that right next to its listing on the PlayStation Store is the PlayStation 4 version, which still looks sharp and runs at a smooth 60fps on the PlayStation 5 at only a fraction of the cost. The new Until Dawn costs over four times as much as the original (at least, here in Australia), and there’s no upgrade path for existing owners of the PS4 version like there has been previously with other first-party Sony games like the PS5 ports of Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last of Us Part II. To be fair, those were technically remasters rather than remakes (The Last of Us Part I is a remake that also had no upgrade path from the PS3 or PS4 remastered versions), but I’d argue that the improvements to Until Dawn are so superficial that it feels much closer to a remaster than a remake anyway.

For Prime Day, Amazon is taking 40% off the popular and highly rated SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7p wireless gaming headset, now only $109. The Nova 7p is one of the best wireless PS5 gaming headsets (it’s also compatible with PC) and at this price point there’s really nothing else that can even remotely compare. If you’re in the market for a new gaming headset, you shouldn’t hesitate. For one reason or another, deals on SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 headsets expire quickly.

40% Off the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7p Gaming Headset

IGN writer Matthew Adler reviewed the PC version of the Arctis Nova 7. He writes “SteelSeries continues to push the boundaries of what a headset is capable of. With the addition of simultaneous Bluetooth audio, you can enjoy music, podcasts, or just chat with your friends without losing your game audio – all with a single pair of headphones. The Arctis Nova 7’s new design is sleek, lightweight, and still remains one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve ever used.”

The SteelSeries Arcis Nova 7p is the latest successor to the highly rated Arctis 7 series of headsets. This is a sturdy and comfortable headset; the headband has a flexible metal core that can be twisted without snapping and, in my opinion, the AirWeave memory foam earcups are more comfortable than the pricier Arctis Nova 7 Pros. It’s every bit as good as its predecessor but with some welcome upgrades like a USB Type-C charging port, longer 38-hour battery life, fast charging (6 hours of battery with just 15 minutes of charging), simultaneous wireless and Bluetooth connectivity, and multi-platform compatibility. It’s also fully compatible with the PlayStation 5’s Tempest 3D Audio.

If you’re looking for deals on other PS5 accessories, check out the best PS5 deals going on right now (we update it often). If you don’t yet own a PS5 console, you’re in luck. The PS5 Slim is currently on sale for Prime Day, and Sony recently announced a more powerful PS5 Pro that is currently up for preorder and ships out next month. For all other deals, head over to our Prime Day megapost to see our cherry-picked list of the best deals we’ve found.

More Prime Day Deals on Gaming Hardware

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

If you thought video games were an expensive hobby, you should check out board games. These things can cost a lot, so it’s great that you can save money on a bunch of popular board games during Amazon’s October Prime Day, which runs until midnight October 8. Tons of popular board game favorites are on sale right now, often at the lowest price they’ve ever been. So if you’re looking to stock up your board game collection, you’ve come to the right place.

Board Games on Sale

A wide range of board games are on sale, with a good variety of genres and prices. Pandemic Legacy is a great campaign board game to pick up if you have a board game group that meets regularly, because it’s a has you play a series of game sessions, each one leading into the next. Catan and Ticket to Ride are great beginner board games for people who are interested in getting into the kinds of deeper games on the list.

Dominion and Splendor are fantastic engine-building games that can become quite cutthroat as you and your opponents piece together resource-making machines. Azul is a beautiful game that’s easy enough to learn that you can play it with the family. If you like it, check out our Azul buying guide, which has info about the base game and its many, many spinoffs and expansions.

And if you like board games based on video games, you’re in luck here. There’s not one, but two games based on Bloodborne, the video game that everyone wants to be remastered but maybe never will? The board or card game may have to keep you occupied until it happens. Or if you’re more into the Fallouts and Cyberpunks of the world, you can pick up board games for those on sale now too.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Threads.

Another day, another video game adaptation has been announced. This time, it’s Sega’s Shinobi series.

Universal and Sega announced Tuesday that they’re developing a film adaptation of the hack-and-slack video games, and they’ve found a director appropriately well-versed in action to take the helm. Sam Hargrave, a stuntman and filmmaker best known for directing the Chris Hemsworth-starring Netflix movie Extraction, is on board to direct. Ken Kobayashi will write the script.

Plot details haven’t been revealed yet, but the Shinobi series largely followed the ninja Joe Musashi as he fought evil. The first Shinobi game originally launched in arcades in 1987, with Musashi becoming one of Sega’s flagship characters. The series spans 14 games and in an unexpected announcement at last year’s Game Awards, Sega revealed that a new Shinobi game is in development (alongside new entries in other Sega series like Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, and Golden Axe).

Roblox Corporation stocks dipped on Tuesday after a new report from investment firm Hindenburg Research, which accused it of deliberating inflating its daily active user stats and fostering what it described as an “X-rated pedophile hellscape” for children.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Hindenburg Research is a well-known short-selling firm known for investigating high-profile stocks and making bets against them, which sometimes leads to investigations by the U.S. Justice Department. Its previous targets have included green transportation company Nikola, India’s Adani Group, and Super Micro Computer.

In its report, Hindenburg Research says Roblox’s claim of 79.5 million daily active users is inflated by between 25 percent and 42 percent, citing a technical consultant that it says monitored 7,200 Roblox games across 2.1 million server, collecting 297.7 million rows of real-time player data. It also notes that in 2023, Roblox told the SEC that it is “unable to identify if a user has multiple accounts,” and claims that a large amount of engagement stems from bot rings operating out of countries such as Vietnam.

“A former data scientist told us that activity in Vietnam ‘inflated a lot of our numbers. Like crazy, insane, in terms of engagement, DAU[s],” the reports says.

Elsewhere, the report accuses Roblox of being a haven for groomers and pedophiles due to its lack of “up-front screening to prevent them from joining the platform.” In one of its most serious accusations, the report claims to have found a group called “Adult Studios,” which has since been blocked, with 3,334 members openly trading child pornography and soliciting sexual acts.

Roblox’s response is an abject failure to address the two core allegations in our report, including:

1. Evidence that Roblox has been systematically lying for years about the number of people on its platform and their genuine level of engagement.

2. That the platform is a… pic.twitter.com/Tj2KiANOnI

— Hindenburg Research (@HindenburgRes) October 8, 2024

A Roblox spokesperson called the report “misleading” in a statement to the Wall Street Journal and accused Hindenburg Research of having an agenda. “We firmly believe that Roblox is a safe and secure platform and in the financial metrics we report.”

Hindenburg Research responded by arguing that the company’s response failed to address the report’s core allegations. IGN has reached out to the Roblox Corporation for any further comment.

Many of the accusations within the report have been circulating for some time now. A 2023 class action lawsuit in California accused the Roblox Corporation of being misleading about “the efficacy of its filtering technologies and its ability to make the site safe and appropriate for children.” A 2021 report by YouTube channel People Make Games alleged that Roblox was exploiting child labor.

“Overall, we think Roblox has adopted the Silicon Valley approach of ‘growth at all costs’, whether by misleading or outright lying to investors about its key metrics or by opening its platform to dangerous
predators and illicit content unsuitable for children,” the report says, with the Hindenburg Group saying that it has taken a short position in shares for the Roblox corporation.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.