Category: Video Games

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is coming to PS5, PC October 31, 2024

Over seven years ago, we released Horizon Zero Dawn into the wilds. Players got to meet Aloy, our leading hero, thrust into a journey of (self-)discovery in a mysterious, far-future world ravaged by deadly machines.

It was also the beginning of a thriving community of cosplayers, virtual photographers, fan artists, and content creators who inspire us to this day with their incredible creations. Horizon Zero Dawn is near and dear to many fans, as well as to everyone at Guerrilla.

And that community has not stopped growing. Each year, many millions more pick up Horizon Zero Dawn for the first time. But 7 years is a long time in the world of computer graphics; technology improves. As time moved on, we really wished that new players who join Aloy on her origin story can do it with a version that is worthy of their PS5 or compatible PC. And so, we are thrilled to announce that the game has been remastered by our talented friends at Nixxes.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered launches on October 31. The captivating story and awe-inspiring post-apocalyptic world returns alongside a host of technological improvements, visual enhancements, and upgraded features. It also includes The Frozen Wilds content, a vast expansion featuring additional lands, skills, weapons, and machines. Take a look at the announcement trailer below.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered features over 10 hours of re-recorded conversation, mocap and countless graphical improvements that bring the game to the same visual fidelity as its critically acclaimed sequel Horizon Forbidden West. The game’s lush world includes frozen mountains, dense jungles, and arid deserts with stunning new visuals and 4K1 graphics and travelling between settlements is now lightning-fast.

The story’s many compelling characters have been upgraded, bringing them in line with current generation advances in character models and rendering. We hope that improved animation, lightning, textures and more will make new and existing fans excited to dive into the action!

The audio experience in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered has been significantly enhanced. We’ve completely revamped the sound mix, now supporting PS5 Tempest 3D Audio Tech2 for higher-order ambisonics and Atmos rendering for an immersive soundscape. Our sound design has also seen major improvements, with hundreds of improvements both in-game and in the cinematics. 

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered takes full advantage of the PS5 console’s power and features. The DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers ensure incredible immersion during tense combat, stealthy exploration, or scaling a gigantic Tallneck. We’ve integrated custom  haptics for the DualSense controller throughout the game, providing tactile feedback that heightens immersion. Additionally, we’ve introduced a new optional accessibility feature that utilizes sound and haptic feedback to notify players of interactable elements, such as pickups, that were previously only indicated visually. 

We’re also very happy to share that Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered comes with native support for PlayStation 5 Pro. This includes a range of graphical features that have been improved to make use of the power of the PS5 Pro, while also delivering ultra-high fidelity at blazing fast framerates.   

The PC version3 on Windows includes the PlayStation overlay with Trophy support and has its own set of features, such as support for ultra-wide resolutions and the latest performance enhancing technologies like NVIDIA DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.1 with frame generation4. We will let our Nixxes partners expand more in a future blog.

Many of the accessibility features that were first introduced in Horizon Forbidden West have been included for this Remastered version as well; remappable controls, haptic cues, and various assist toggles will enable all players to fully enjoy the game.

For those that have already played it, we’ve made sure that your old save games will work; so this is a great opportunity to dive into New Game+ or get back into Photo Mode with all your previously unlocked outfits and customizations.

 We’re excited to share that pre-orders for Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered will open on 3 October for both platforms. 

For existing owners of Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4, PC) and/or Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (PS4, PS5, PC): you can upgrade to the digital version of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered for $9.99 on both PlayStation 5 console and on PC (via Steam or Epic Game Store). This includes fans who added the game to their libraries during PlayStation’s Play At Home initiative. 5 

Owners of the Horizon Zero Dawn PS4 game disc can access this offer by inserting the game disc into their PS5 console (and will need to keep the disc inserted each time to play the game). PS4 game disc owners who buy the PS5 Digital Edition disc-free console will not be able to access the upgrade offer. 

For new fans, the game can be purchased for $49.996 on PlayStation Store, Steam, or Epic Game Store. You will receive the Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition.

We will have some more information as we get closer to release day on October 31, so keep an eye on our social channels for updates. From all of us at Guerrilla and Nixxes, thank you for your continued support!

1 4K resolution requires compatible 4K TV or display.

2 3D audio via built in TV speakers or analog/ USB stereo headphones.

3Account for PlayStation Network required on PC.

4 Compatible PC and graphics card required.

5 Redemptions via PlayStation Plus are not eligible to upgrade. 

6 Price shown in U.S. currency and may vary by country. Check PS Store at launch on October 31, 2024 for local pricing.

PlayStation State of Play September 2024: Everything Announced

Sony’s latest PlayStation stream is happening live right now and we’re gathering all of the news and trailers from the event as they happen. The September State of Play is focused on updates about 20 PS5 and PS VR2 games and we are also expecting our first public look at the PlayStation 5 Pro after the reveal earlier this month.

You can dive into all of the latest PlayStation news from the show below, and we will keep updating this page with new announcements as they arrive.

Astro Bot DLC Announced for Fall 2024

Astro Bot arrived on PS5 earlier this month and we gave it a sparkling 9 out 10 review. The game is receiving a free DLC sometime in Fall 2025 that has five new online speedrun levels and 10 new bots to rescue.

The Midnight Walk Announced

From the creators of Lost in Random comes a claymation style game with some rather Tim Buron-esque art. We do not yet have a release window for the The Midnight Walk, but you’ll be able to play it on PS VR 2 or PS5.

Hell Is Us

The new trailer for Hell Is Us showcased another horror game that looks a bit like a soulslike game. It includes sword combat, a drone on your shoulder, and does not yet have a release date for PlayStation.

Developing…

Looking for more PlayStation news and games? You can dive into our picks for the best PS5 games or see our updated database of all of the upcoming PS5 games coming in 2024 and beyond.

Worms: The Board Game Review

Making a board game based on a video game is no easy task, particularly when that video game is focused on physics and kinetic weaponry. At first glance, you might assume Worms: The Board Game is a dexterity game – that is, a game about flicking or flinging projectiles at the opponent. This is not the case. Worms: The Board Game does focus the experience on chaos and unintended consequence, but it arrives at this destination through heaps of random chance. This is Worms if your carefully aligned bazooka shot was at the whim of a fistful of dice and a prayer.

I think designers Jack Caeser and Matt Gilbert deserve some credit. Attempting to capture the physics engine at the heart of the Worms video game series would be a nearly impossible task. Instead, this duo decided to emulate the environment and energy at the heart of the game. The core tenet of Worms is Murphy’s Law, and the turmoil of unexpected outcomes is a prominent feature in this board game.

The Worms board game uses a straightforward system. Up to four players each control their own team of four worms. Over roughly 45 minutes, you will battle to the death, blowing each other and the battlefield itself apart. Once a player’s entire team of worms has been eliminated, the game ends, and the person with the most worms remaining is the winner. So it’s a fight to the death, but one where pink fleshy nightcrawlers wield bazookas, uzis, and cluster bombs. The video game is hilarious, and this tabletop adaptation includes a dose of humor as well.

The ruleset is easy to understand, even for board game beginners. On your turn, you choose one of your worms to activate, move it up to two times, and then play a weapon card from your hand to unleash hell on your fellow invertebrates. The complexity is contained in the weapon cards themselves. Bazookas blast entire hexes and cause mass damage. Machine guns harm only a single target. More exotic weapons are plucked from crates that litter the board and feature highlights from the video game series such as the banana bomb and holy hand grenade. There are dozens of items with various capabilities and strengths. The large variety here is core to the experience as the weaponry births the chaos and personality of the design. It’s also where the board game both fantastically captures and wildly diverges from the spirit of the video games.

This is Worms if your carefully aligned bazooka shot was represented by a fistful of dice and a prayer.

The majority of weapons require you to toss dice. These are chunky 12-siders that map to the various edges of your target hex. For instance, if you roll a one your shot scatters north of your intended location and hits whatever is in the hex above it. Three of the die-faces show direct hits, meaning your shot doesn’t scatter and instead lands where intended. The closer you are to your target, the more dice you typically roll, allowing you to choose the best option for your intended consequence. It’s relatively simple and slick. The best part is the wind.

Wind faces one of the hex-side directions and will randomly change throughout the game. Three of the 12 faces on the target dice show a wind result, which means the shot scatters in the direction the wind is blowing. It’s such a key feature of the Worms video game that it had to be represented here. What’s marvelous is that it encourages a targeting strategy on the table top that’s similar to what’s employed in the electronic version. This is reflected in better overall odds by aiming upwind of your target and hoping your shot blows just shy of where you’re aiming. It’s a clever little inflection that results in meaningful gameplay with minimal rules overhead.

Another humorous quality is that the scatter dice are not only used for targeting weapons. When worms are hit with blast effects from explosions, the worms themselves scatter into nearby spaces. Sometimes this can throw you into a safe patch of dirt, other times it tosses you onto a mine and creates a hellish chain reaction. This is when the game is at its best.

In addition to worms, there are various objects littering the battlefield. Crates of course to dispense the implements of justice, but also mines and barrels. Mines have a 50% chance to explode when you enter the hex. They’re another tool of carnage that can be set off unintentionally. Barrels are grand. When they blow, they spit fire into surrounding spaces. This can hurt other worms, but it can also set off other barrels or mines. It’s not hard to envision a scenario where you fire a bazooka and nail your target which causes a worm to fling onto a nearby hex and set off a mine that also blows up a barrel. I’ve had plays of this game where I’ve lost half my team before I even got a turn due to these unexpected chain reactions.

This chaos also introduces the possibility of harming yourself. Your cluster bomb could scatter backwards, landing on your own space and blowing your worm off the board and into a deadly water hex. The most memorable moments feature these dramatic resolutions, with players holding their breath as handfuls of dice are dropped to the table and violence reverberates. It can be splendid.

It also can be somewhat uneventful. Occasionally, multiple spouts of flame scatter into water and no one is harmed. Sometimes your shot misses altogether and lands into an empty hex. It’s even possible you run low on weapon cards and have nothing terribly useful. A game with high variance can result in such situations of non-event.

Barrels are grand. When they blow, they spit fire into surrounding spaces.

This unpredictability is a large aspect of the game. It’s also a key component in avoiding any sense of malice. The light tone inherent to the property means you’ll generally laugh – rather than get angry – when bad luck runs your way. The stakes feel extraordinarily low, which is fun, but can also be a problem. So much nonsense occurs that it’s difficult to be totally committed. The experience is somewhat hollow, resulting in a game that serves as filler to something more meaningful at game night.

Those beautiful moments of anarchy butt right up against that ceiling. They aren’t frequent enough to truly tip the scales, instead, punctuating play occasionally and teasing some chuckles from the group. The result is a perfectly serviceable mass market game that manages to capture some of the Worms experience. But it’s also unfortunately forgettable, edged out by stronger competitors with either richer and more evolving gameplay, or an extended amount of content to keep players’ interest. It offers exceptional components with high quality plastic worms, crates, mines, and barrels that would be lovely to paint. Everything is crisp and the graphic design, while garish, fits the Worms aesthetic well.

Worms: The Board Game is enjoyable and certainly offers fun, but it never manages to push through and actually achieve a sense of greatness. It’s sure enough to please most players, but it fails to leave a lasting impression. It’s less the game to repeatedly explore, and more the one someone sees on your shelf only to ask, “There’s a Worms board game? Does it involve flicking?”

Where to Buy

Sonic Adventure 2’s Biolizard Is Getting A LEGO Set

The prototype of the ultimate life form, in brick form.

There’s a heck of a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog LEGO out there nowadays, but during today’s Sonic Central, a rather exciting set for Sonic Adventure 2 fans was teased.

During a 3-minute-long LEGO Sonic-themed skit, Sega showed off a brand new set featuring Shadow the Hedgehog and one of the big bosses of Sonic Adventure 2, the Biolizard.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — All the Changes Coming to Multiplayer for Launch Based on Feedback to the Beta

Activision has announced all the changes coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Multiplayer based on feedback to the recent beta.

Black Ops 6, due out October 25, has Multiplayer developed by Treyarch, with the Campaign developed by Warzone developer Raven.

Treyarch outlined the various changes to Multiplayer that will be made in time for Black Ops 6’s release date. The developer also addressed the ongoing community debate about the size of the multiplayer maps after the beta maps revolved around very small, often chaotic close quarters gameplay. Treyarch insisted the majority of Black Ops 6’s 12 core 6v6 maps at launch are medium-sized, and that the eight maps in the beta “trended smaller in size” and included some Strike maps (playable 2v2 up to 6v6).

Elsewhere, there are changes to weapon balance, movement, spawns, improvements to performance, and even tweaks to headshot damage. The Winner’s Circle, which lets the top three players show off via emotes at the end of a match, has been toned down, with a shorter overall duration and “mitigated emote spam.” The Winner’s Circle had become a talking point after the beta, with some players saying it lasted too long and held up getting into another Multiplayer match.

It’s worth digging into the detail of the headshot damage change, too. Treyarch said it agreed with feedback that low headshot damage reduced the impact of skillful play and made it difficult to challenge certain power positions, and had worked on adjustments to many weapons to reward players who land multiple headshots during an engagement.

“That said, we do not want hit location multipliers to significantly affect the consistency of time to kill in Black Ops 6, so we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of headshots during launch and beyond,” Treyarch continued.

Black Ops 6 has a new Body Shield feature, a new Omnimovement feature, and various features returning from Treyarch’s 2020 game, Black Ops Cold War. Check out IGN’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Multiplayer Review in Progress to find out what we thought of the beta.

Black Ops 6 is the first mainline Call of Duty game to launch straight into Xbox subscription service Game Pass (Microsoft acquired Call of Duty as part of its $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard last year).

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Multiplayer changes coming out of the beta:

MAPS

While our selection of 8 total maps in the Beta trended smaller in size and included some of our Strike maps (playable 2v2 up to 6v6), we recently shared that the majority of our 12 Core 6v6 maps at launch are medium-sized.

We’re excited about the map variety we’ve got this year, and we always take competitive play into consideration for Multiplayer. We’re looking forward to unveiling our map selections for CDL and Ranked Play (arriving Season 1) in Black Ops 6 in the coming months. Map size and game flow are critically important to us, and we look forward to seeing you all jump into all 16 maps at launch, with many more to follow in our live seasons.

We’re also evaluating some changes to cover placement across multiple maps, including some of our Beta maps, which we’ll be able to share more details on closer to launch.

SPAWNS

As a key companion to maps, we want to update you on the spawn system. One of the most important reasons we have a public Beta is gathering spawn data from our players. Now that we have two weeks’ worth of player data, we’ve already made big strides in dialing in our spawn logic and identifying and resolving issues within the spawn system across the game for launch.

Players may have noticed improvements to spawn logic throughout Weekend 2 of the Beta, and as new content comes into the game and we generate even more spawn data, we’re always assessing our spawn system and will continue to make necessary updates to it through launch and beyond.

PERFORMANCE

Our Beta was immensely helpful in identifying and resolving some performance related issues. Over the course of the Beta, we identified several areas that were impacting in-game performance. Some areas where we’ve made progress on performance include resolving general script errors, addressing issues related to our in-game user interface as well as overall improvements and fixes to our asset streaming.

A smooth game performance is paramount to the player experience, and we’ve been able to chase down sources of in-game “hitching” and deploy major fixes since the close of the Beta. We will continue working with experts across all disciplines to improve overall performance for launch and into the live seasons.

WEAPONS

Headshot Damage

We were so excited to see our new weapons in the hands of players throughout the Beta and are grateful to have plenty of data and feedback to process as we look to balance updates for launch. A common piece of feedback we saw was that low headshot damage reduced the impact of skillful play and made it difficult to challenge certain power positions. We agree with these points and are working on adjustments to many weapons to reward players who land multiple headshots during an engagement. That said, we do not want hit location multipliers to significantly affect the consistency of time to kill in Black Ops 6, so we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of headshots during launch and beyond.

Bullet Penetration

Bullet Penetration is another system that we will be improving for launch. In general players should notice fewer extreme cases of bullets doing far too much damage through certain surfaces (AKA Wall Bang), while also not penetrating as expected through others (e.g., those pesky snipers behind the radar dish on Scud).

More to Come

And of course, we continue to review data and feedback regarding general weapon feel and tuning, and we’re always keeping tabs on overall weapon class balance in the context of our entire map pool.

Some specific changes coming at launch include:

  • Improvements to fluidity of sniper ADS
  • Improved fluidity when swapping weapons during sprint and tactical sprint. We’re excited about this one!
  • Reduction of weapon motion during crouch transitions
  • Small lift to shotguns and targeted adjustments across all weapons to keep SMGs from over-performing relative to other classes

Weapon balance is an ongoing process and something we’re working towards at every point in our live seasons. We’ll be sharing specific details about balancing in our launch Patch Notes.

MOVEMENT

We were blown away by all your Beta gameplay clips and Omnimovement highlights, including the awesome action hero moments you were all able to pull off! We are currently working to dial-in some additional updates to improve fluidity and allow players to tune their sprint behavior to their individual playstyle.

Movement Updates

  • Continued improvements to animation fluidity and fidelity throughout

o We identified several areas for improvement to our 3rd Person animation fidelity across slide, dive, jump and supine prone. Our goal is that what you see in 1st Person is representative of what others see in 3rd Person in order to maintain immersion and predictability.

  • Adjustments to slide for improved predictability and fluidity

o During Weekend 2 of the Beta, we increased the time before you could enter supine during a slide. After further assessment based on your feedback, we’ve reduced that time to find a nice middle ground between where we were in Beta Weekend 1 and Weekend 2.

o Reduced the minimum time to slide after sprinting to prevent accidentally crouching when intending to slide, also known as a “dead slide”

o Slight increase to initial slide speed and slight reduction to maximum slide duration.

  • Intelligent Movement updates

o As a reminder, you can find our suite of Intelligent Movement settings in the Movement tab under the Controller or Keyboard & Mouse settings. These settings are broken down by Sprint Assist, Mantle Assist and Crouch Assist with the intention of letting you fine-tune your experience with the result of requiring drastically fewer inputs with basic movement and Omnimovement in Black Ops 6.

o We identified an issue in Beta with the additional settings for Mantle Assist that allows for further tuning of directional mantles. These have been resolved and should now behave as expected.

AND A FEW MORE…

While we’ll be sharing a more comprehensive list in our launch Patch Notes, we wanted to give you a quick taste of a few changes coming at launch based on community feedback:

Winner’s Circle

  • Shortened overall duration of Winner’s Circle
  • Mitigated emote spam
  • Improved usability of emote wheel
  • Improvements to fidelity and lighting

Kill Counter

  • By popular demand, we’ve added a Kill Counter on your HUD that will track your progress toward Killstreak Medals, including those who are chasing the coveted Nuclear Medal and Nuke Scorestreak.

Camera Motion

  • We’re reducing overall camera motion on sprint, tac sprint, and slide

Kill Order

  • Increased ‘Kills as HVT’ team score to 3
  • Reduced ‘HVT Survival’ score to 20
  • Increased Score Limit to 150
  • HVT will no longer drop their pistol when they are eliminated
  • Improved notifications when player is selected as HVT

Sleeper Agent

  • Removed the time added when earning Eliminations while Sleeper Agent is active

Equipment

  • Stim Shot has been changed from Inventory Based to Cooldown Based by default.

o Quartermaster (Strategist) will decrease the cooldown time.

  • Resolved an issue where the Combat Axe would not deal lethal damage at round start. It wouldn’t be a Black Ops game if you can’t hit those cross-maps at match start!

Perks

  • After assessing Perk data from our time with the Beta, we’ve made a few updates to ensure compelling decisions are being made:
  • Assassin (Enforcer) and Bruiser (Enforcer) moved from Perk 1 to Perk 2
  • Dexterity (Enforcer) and Gung Ho (Enforcer) moved from Perk 2 to Perk 1

RC-XD Controls

  • Updated to classic BO view-based control by default, with an option to switch to gas/brake; on controller, detonate swapped from R2 to R1 so accidental mistakes aren’t made.

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.

Try the demo for top-down undead slayer Moon Watch, in which time is movement and movement is garlic grenades

A week ago, while belabouring the nuances of Arco, I expressed a wish to play more bullet hell games with time freeze mechanics, the better to savour the intricacy of their projectile patterning. Now here’s Moon Watch, a Vampire Survivors-ish pixelart shooter in which you have a watch that stops time when you stand still. Snug within that frozen instant, you’re free to laugh in the gurning faces of the living dead while you idly choose and aim garlic grenades, stake launchers and bouncy ice comets.

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Dead By Daylight developers Behaviour acquire Darkest Dungeon developers Red Hook

Dead By Daylight developers Behaviour Interactive have announced that they’re acquiring Red Hook, the creators of Darkest Dungeon. This is the same Behaviour Interactive who recently laid off a bunch of people, cancelled a game and closed a studio, Midwinter Entertainment, after snapping up a bunch of developers (the others are SockMonkey, Codeglue and Fly Studio) over the past two years. Darkest Dungeon is a horror game like DBD, so I guess the acquisition chimes from that perspective. All the same, my snap judgement is “yikes”.

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Feature: Child’s Play: From Bokunatsu To Natsu-Mon – The Kaz Ayabe Interview

A sit-down with the creator of My Summer Vacation & Attack of the Friday Monsters.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer has come to an end. Fortunately, through the magic of video games — and the video games created by one man in particular — it’s never too late to take a little summer holiday…

With the recent English-language release of Spike Chunsoft’s open-world summer simulator, Natsu-Mon, coming hot on the heels of 2022’s Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation, and the upcoming Shin-chan: Shiro and the Coal Town, the time seemed right to sit down with Natsu-Mon director, game designer, and writer, Kaz Ayabe. We discuss the hard-earned breakthrough in the West of the ‘cosy game’ genre he helped establish in Japan with his long-running series Boku No Natsuyasumi — colloquially known as ‘Bokunatsu’ — made popular on PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 3.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com