Category: Video Games

The Mortal Kombat 1 launch trailer doubles as a Reiko and Shang Tsung gameplay trailer, revealing a first look at a pair of suitably gruesome fatalities.

The potentially NSFW trailer, below, shows off story elements lifted from cutscenes of the new Shang Tsung, who is reborn in the universe created by Fire God Liu Kang. Shang’s famous shapeshifting magic is present and correct, and lets him morph into his opponents and copy their moves.

We also see Shang Tsung’s fatality (shown off in the slideshow of images below). This fatality shows the evil sorcerer open a wound in his hapless opponent’s chest, pour some foul concoction in the hole, then sit back as a demonic horror bursts out for a savage bite. You can see why fans have already dubbed Shang Tsung’s big finisher the ‘alien fatality’.

The trailer also showcases gameplay for General Shao’s second-in-command, Reiko. Reiko’s equally gruesome Krushing Blow sees the savage warrior chuck a spear straight into his opponent’s chest, break it in two, then run the remaining part through their skull.

Meanwhile, developer NetherRealm revealed Mortal Kombat 1’s set of accessibility options, which includes audio descriptions amd cues for on-screen action that play contextually during gameplay.

Mortal Kombat 1 launches September 14 for those with early access from the Premium Edition, and on September 19 for everyone else. As with previous games in the series, Mortal Kombat 1’s Shang Tsung is a pre-order bonus.

For more information, check out the recent reveal that series veteran Nitara is joining the roster (and is voiced by actress Megan Fox), our interview with development chief Ed Boon at gamescom last month, and the live-action trailer featuring Dave Bautista, which pays homage to the iconic Mortal Monday TV commercial.

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.

With the past few games in the series it’s felt like Assassin’s Creed has lost a little bit of what made it so special back when it launched in the late 2000’s. Don’t get me wrong: Odyssey and Valhalla were extremely solid RPGs that offered a vast and unique setting and a definite bang for your buck in the runtime department, but there’s something about those games that didn’t necessarily feel necessarily “Assassin’s Creed” due to their hefty open-world settings and heavy RPG gameplay mechanics. Thankfully, the next installment in the franchise is Mirage, and based on my playtime with it so far, it manages to capture what made the series so special and brings the social stealth history simulator back to its roots in the best way possible.

Gone are the vast vistas of England, the oceanic traversal of Greece, and pyramid-scaling of Egypt in favor of a dense and populated Baghdad full of life and vibrancy. That’s not to say Mirage ever felt small, but from the few hours I played I regularly found myself exploring and getting lost in the latest Creed’s hyper-detailed and fully realized big city playground. The City of Baghdad is, as it should be in an AC game, its own character this time around. From its dangerous and often crowded city streets, to its dense Bazaar and connected rooftops, it was never a chore getting from point A to B.

Due to Mirage’s revamped notoriety system, it’s not as easy to run through a group of guards undetected this time around. The more trouble you cause, the more enemies MIrage throws at you, such as archers and overpowered heavy guards. Civilians will react to your presence and point you out in a crowd if you’re not blending in, and guards notify each other while giving chase and doing everything in their power to stop you. Bribery and vandalism were the easiest ways to lower my notoriety meter, and moving between the high ground and city streets helped me lose packs of enemies that were surprisingly difficult to fight in groups of more than two. In short, getting chased by guards in Assassin’s Creed Mirage felt more like a fun challenge than an annoyance – and in some ways helped bring back that classic Creed feel to the series.

Combat in Mirage, meanwhile, feels as tight and fun as it has in the series of late. The general combat mechanics from Odyssey and Valhalla are here, though enemy levels and damage numbers have been removed in favor of health bars, countering, and dodge rolls. While this may look like a step back into the older games’ often too easy and simple combat style, Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s combat felt significantly more challenging and reactive. If I didn’t try to single out my enemies I found myself quickly becoming overwhelmed by groups of as little as three guards. While dodging and properly timed counter attacks can lead to some pretty sweet kills, it’s nowhere as easy of an experience as it was in some of the older entries – and for the first time in a long time, I found the combat in an Assassin’s Creed game not only challenging, but also fun.

To that end, Stealth combat is where Assassin’s Creed Mirage truly shines. Moving around the shadows and hiding in plain sight feels more rewarding and engaging this time around, and I quickly found myself trying to stay as hidden as possible as often as I could, even if it was in a busy street among crowds or hidden in the shadows. For the first time in a long time, Assassin’s Creed feels like a proper stealth adventure again, similar to the series’ early days.

To put it bluntly, Assassin’s Creed Mirage seems set to bring the series back to its roots in the best way possible. The story and gameplay feel more like what made AC so popular in the first place, and its new setting and social stealth-heavy gameplay mechanics feel like the series has finally realized what was promised back in 2007. While some may not be too happy with the scaled-back RPG elements, Mirage’s focused setting, intuitive controls and fun stealth gameplay has me excited to dive back into the franchise.

Ahead of the launch of the Phantom Liberty expansion and 2.0 update for Cyberpunk 2077, developer CD Projekt has warned PC players to double-check their rigs are up to the task.

Lead scene programmer Filip Pierściński took to X to ask Cyberpunk PC players to check their cooling systems in particular.

“We use all that you have, so workload on CPU 90% on 8 core is expected,” Pierściński said. “To save your time please run Cinebench or similar and check stability of your systems.”

Cinebench is a free cross-platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s hardware capabilities. Pierściński focused on cooling systems due to concern players may hit “thermal throttling”, which in turn may result in poor performance or even crashes.

In June, CD Projekt updated Cyberpunk’s PC system requirements, highlighting the game will support SSDs for minimum requirements going forward. The developer said the changes were designed to be more up to date (given the expansion is launching nearly three years after the base game) and target a resolution output of either 1080p or 4k.

While the Phantom Liberty expansion is a paid DLC, it launches alongside a significant patch that overhauls the base game and therefore means the PC version will become more demanding.

Cyberpunk 2.0 launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC alongside the Phantom Liberty expansion on September 26. For more, check out IGN’s hands-on impressions of Phantom Liberty.

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.

The recently released NBA 2K24 is currently the second-worst-rated Steam game of all time after a backlash from PC gamers.

The $60 basketball game, developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K, has an “overwhelmingly negative” user review rating on Steam, where players are tearing the PC version apart.

The long list of complaints include the fact the PC version is yet again not on par with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S version (the PC version of EA Sports’ FC 24, for example, is on par with the current-gen console version), rampant cheating, and a lack of cross-play in key modes.

The furore is fuelled by a PC playerbase who are fed up with the state of the game on their platform, with anger coming to a head now the latest game has come out. Steam reviewer akuzi summed up the sentiment: “I stopped playing the game with the release of 2K22. I wanted to give 2K another chance after two years and once again, I was disappointed. The gameplay and animations are the same as in the previous versions. Once again, there’s only the current-gen version available for PC, which I don’t understand. The main menu and the textures of the park still look very cheap as always. What annoys me the most is the abundance of cheaters in the park since day one.

“Purchase recommendation, definitely no!”

Another Steam reviewer wrote: “This game is essentially the same as the previous title with no new features or any improvement at all, and 2K even dare to charge with full price with updated roster? Man, this is so bad.”

But across all versions, NBA 2K24 is under fire for its aggressive microtransactions, which some are saying are worse than ever. IGN’s NBA 2K24 review scored it 6/10: “NBA 2K24 scores big with gameplay, but its microtransaction tactics feel like a costly turnover,” we said. According to IGN’s review, the “heinous” microtransactions “plague many of the most popular game modes”. “These in-game purchases aren’t just present and optional – they are essential to compete with other players online. It’s especially frustrating because MyCareer, the focal point of many changes to this year’s iteration, has so much potential. But if it truly aimed to emulate the beauty of pro basketball, it would reward skill and effort more than open-wallet shortcuts.”

The backlash on Steam is so vehement, NBA 2K24 is now second on Steam250’s Hall of Shame, behind only Blizzard’s Overwatch 2. Steam250 tracks the 100 worst Steam games of all-time according to user reviews. There, five days after it went on sale, NBA 2K24 has a score of just 1.07 based on an approval rating (percentage of positive Steam user review votes) of 11% from 3,391 votes.

IGN has asked 2K for comment.

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.