Category: Video Games

The Beastmaster of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, part one: How to make friends and eviscerate people

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl challenges you to survive the Zone, a land where the rules of nature are more like half-hearted suggestions and death may come from a mutant’s fang as quickly as a bandit’s bullet. But what if you could not only survive it, but tame it?

I am Bohdan Beastmaster, aspiring wrangler of all the radiation-twisted insults to God that occupy the Zone. One of its rogue Artifacts exploded my flat, and rather than find a place on SpareRoom, I’ve gone for the easier and safer option of venturing into the wilds of Chornobyl – armed not with rusty AKs or scavenged grenades but the teeth and claws of my mutant soon-to-be companions. The absence of any actual fauna-influencing tools or techniques only makes my plan even simpler: find beasts, aggro beasts onto human enemies, win.

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I play Foxhole as a pacifist medic who refuses to carry a gun but the enemy doesn’t seem impressed

Another explosion sends the bodies flying. “Has anyone been here long enough to tell me what the hell is going on!?” the sergeant yells. He sounds annoyed. The field hospital is gone, probably blown to pieces. Troops keep wandering north and disappearing from view, only to come flying back as airborne cadavers moments later. The number of corpses and spilled backpacks on the road imply that someone in battalion headquarters (if such a place even exists) has made a terrible decision. If the Colonial forces want to win the persistent online war of Foxhole, suggests the sergeant with his many irritated noises, then someone needs to piece these dying fools together. As the only medic in a 500 metre radius, that means me.

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Palworld X Terraria Coming in 2025, December Update Set to Add Huge New Island

Palworld developer Pocketpair has teased a major update for the game coming in December as well as a crossover with Terraria.

Taking to the Palworld Discord, Pocketpair said the December update adds the “largest, harshest, and most mysterious” island yet to Palworld. This new island is about six times bigger than Sakurajima, which hit Palworld in June.

“Don’t miss it!” Pocketpair teased alongisde the screenshots, below.

Meanwhile, Pocketpair teased a surprise crossover with indie smash hit Terraria. There are no details yet, but artwork, below, shows characters from both games clasping hands. Expect whatever this is to arrive in 2025.

All this comes, of course, as Pocketpair works to defend itself in a high-profile patent lawsuit filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. After Palworld’s huge launch earlier this year on PC and Xbox, comparisons were made between Palworld’s Pals and Pokémon, with some accusing Pocketpair of “ripping off” Pokémon designs. But rather than file a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have gone down the patent route. They want 5 million yen (approx $32,846) each plus late payment damages, as well as an injunction against Palworld that would block its release.

Earlier this month, Pocketpair confirmed the three Japan-based patents, which revolve around catching Pokémon in a virtual field, that it’s being sued over. Palworld does include a mechanic that involves throwing a ball-like object (called a Pal Sphere) at monsters out in a field to capture them, similar to the mechanic seen in the 2022 Nintendo Switch exclusive Pokémon Legends: Arceus. One of the three patents in question is about riding on top of Pokémon (Palworld also lets players ride Pals).

One patent expert has suggested a GTA 5 mod dating back to 2016 may be recognized as a precedent by the court because it included the catching Pokémon mechanic long before Pokémon Legends: Arceus. If that happens, it could work in Palworld’s favor.

Palworld launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC earlier this year, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said Palworld’s launch was so big that the developer couldn’t handle the massive profits the game generated. Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment that’s tasked with expanding the IP.

Patent experts have said Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s lawsuit against Pocketpair is evidence of the threat posed by Palworld, which has since gone on to launch on PS5. Pocketpair has vowed to take on Nintendo and The Pokémon Company in court, saying: “We will continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings.”

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.

Japanese Charts: There’s No Stopping Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

Another big one for Square’s latest.

Famitsu is back with our latest look at the physical software sales chart for Japan, and it’s another week in the top spot for Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake.

Square Enix’s latest pulled in an additional 91,362 copies between Switch and PS5 this week, which is far from its debut’s 821,770 total, but it’s still enough to keep the Nintendo version in pole position. Meanwhile, the PS5 edition slips to third after another strong week from Super Mario Party Jamboree.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Gearbox Flew Terminally-Ill Fan to Its Studio to Play Borderlands 4 Early — “I Am Praying He Makes to When We Are Done”

A terminally-ill Borderlands fan recently visited developer Gearbox to play Borderlands 4 early after his story went viral.

In October, 37-year-old Caleb McAlpine took to the Borderlands 3 subreddit to reveal his late stage four terminal cancer diagnosis after being given seven to 12 months left to live, or less than two years if chemotherapy slows the progression of the cancer.

Don’t know if this is possible
byu/Cjmac87 inborderlands3

“So I am a die hard Borderlands fan and don’t know if I will be around for Borderlands 4,” McAlpine said. “Is there anyone that knows how to get in touch with Gearbox to see if there is a way to play the game early?

“Long shot but thought I would try.

“Thanks for your help.”

After McAlpine’s post went viral with over 19,000 upvotes on Reddit alone, Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford chimed in to say the studio would do everything it could “to make something happen.” Thankfully, last week McAlpine was able to visit Gearbox’s Texas headquarters to play Borderlands 4.

“Caleb is cool – a legit gamer who knows Borderlands inside and out,” Pitchford tweeted. “I’m glad he got a chance to play. I am praying he makes to when we are done. Thanks, internet, for signal boosting Caleb’s story.”

“We’re deeply thankful to the Borderlands community for rallying around Caleb after he shared his story several weeks ago,” Gearbox added. “His courage, strength, and determination are an inspiration to us all. Our team was honored to host him last week at our studio.”

McAlpine himself returned to the Borderlands 3 subreddit to post pictures of his Gearbox visit and reveal what had happened.

Just an update, Thank you everyone
byu/Cjmac87 inborderlands3

“So Gearbox flew me and a friend down 1st class the 20th of this month and we got to tour the studio and meet an amazing bunch of people from some of the devs of all of the Borderlands games up to Randy the CEO,” McAlpine posted.

“We got to play what they have for Borderlands 4 so far and it was amazing. I don’t know if I will be around when the game comes out but I just want to say thank you to all of you for all of your love and support and for helping in making this happen. It truly was an amazing experience and it was just awesome.

“We stayed at the Omni at the Star (the Dallas Cowboys headquarters) and the hotel wanted to do something nice as well and got us in on a VIP tour of the entire facility. Needless to say me being a Lions fan I got to talk a lot of smack lol.

“Thank you everyone.”

Borderlands 4 is due out at some point in 2025.

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.

Gearbox Flew in Terminally-Ill Fan to Play Borderlands 4 Early — “I Am Praying He Makes to When We Are Done”

A terminally-ill Borderlands fan recently visited developer Gearbox to play Borderlands 4 early after his story went viral.

In October, 37-year-old Caleb McAlpine took to the Borderlands 3 subreddit to reveal his late stage four terminal cancer diagnosis after being given seven to 12 months left to live, or less than two years if chemotherapy slows the progression of the cancer.

Don’t know if this is possible
byu/Cjmac87 inborderlands3

“So I am a die hard Borderlands fan and don’t know if I will be around for Borderlands 4,” McAlpine said. “Is there anyone that knows how to get in touch with Gearbox to see if there is a way to play the game early?

“Long shot but thought I would try.

“Thanks for your help.”

After McAlpine’s post went viral with over 19,000 upvotes on Reddit alone, Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford chimed in to say the studio would do everything it could “to make something happen.” Thankfully, last week McAlpine was able to visit Gearbox’s Texas headquarters to play Borderlands 4.

“Caleb is cool – a legit gamer who knows Borderlands inside and out,” Pitchford tweeted. “I’m glad he got a chance to play. I am praying he makes to when we are done. Thanks, internet, for signal boosting Caleb’s story.”

“We’re deeply thankful to the Borderlands community for rallying around Caleb after he shared his story several weeks ago,” Gearbox added. “His courage, strength, and determination are an inspiration to us all. Our team was honored to host him last week at our studio.”

McAlpine himself returned to the Borderlands 3 subreddit to post pictures of his Gearbox visit and reveal what had happened.

Just an update, Thank you everyone
byu/Cjmac87 inborderlands3

“So Gearbox flew me and a friend down 1st class the 20th of this month and we got to tour the studio and meet an amazing bunch of people from some of the devs of all of the Borderlands games up to Randy the CEO,” McAlpine posted.

“We got to play what they have for Borderlands 4 so far and it was amazing. I don’t know if I will be around when the game comes out but I just want to say thank you to all of you for all of your love and support and for helping in making this happen. It truly was an amazing experience and it was just awesome.

“We stayed at the Omni at the Star (the Dallas Cowboys headquarters) and the hotel wanted to do something nice as well and got us in on a VIP tour of the entire facility. Needless to say me being a Lions fan I got to talk a lot of smack lol.

“Thank you everyone.”

Borderlands 4 is due out at some point in 2025.

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.

Man in charge of Diablo thinks we should start calling games that he thinks are like Diablo ‘Diablo-likes’

The genre of ‘Action RPG‘ is supremely annoying to write about, because the term can mean different things to different people, but here’s how I see it: Diablo 4 and similar games, such as Path Of Exile, are ‘ARPGs’. Which stands for ‘Action RPG’. But Zelda games are ‘Action RPGs’, which is a totally different genre that you could, if you felt like it, also shorten to ‘ARPG’. So, to summarise: ARPGs and ARPGs are two different things, and both are Action RPGs. Got it? Great.

It’s because of this kerfuffle that I’m not exactly mad at Diablo boss Rod Ferguson recently suggesting that we just call games that are similar to Diablo ‘Diablo-likes’. I just find it very funny that he’s the one saying it, in a bold faced act of admittedly very inconsequential linguistic colonialism that carries the unspoken connotation that something is “like the game I make, but a bit crap”.

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Killing Time: Resurrected Updated On Switch, Here Are The Patch Notes

DUNCAN.

Nightdive Studios has released a new patch for Killing Time: Resurrected on Switch, bringing the game up to version 1.1 and adding a wealth of new features and improvements.

The highlights here include the ability to toggle low and high res weapons and actors independently of one another, the ability to burn enemies to cinders with fire attacks, and a new ‘Duncan Chase’ mode that can be activated by setting your player name to “DUNCAN” at the beginning. We’ve yet to test this out, so we can’t comment on what it does, exactly, but we’ll give it a whirl shortly and update this article with the details.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Blizzard’s old manual art is a real nostalgia trip

I’ve gone on record as not being a huge fan of the artstyle choices used in the new Warcraft I & II remasters. It’s crisp and readable, sure, but I’m never exactly thrilled to see all the roughness of older sprites completely done away with, especially when I always felt some of that ruggedness was the point. The tendency of remasters to treat every characterful oddity as a blemish is a wider topic than the scope of this article, but one day, Bluepoint will remaster Bloodborne, and the world will feel my pain.

Anyway. Nowadays, I’d say Blizzard – or, World Of Warcraft, at least – is pretty much synomous with a softer, more colorful approach to fantasy worlds. While I don’t pine for a return to the more boobily ridiculous elements of Frank Frazetta‘s style, I do often wish that some of the more expressive, pained, and physically grounded elements of classic Sword And Sorcery art was a bit more common. I’m no art scholar, and there’s undoubtedly a bit of tunnel vision of my part to this assertion, but as far as as pop culture goes: I see the Blizzard version of fantasy more than I see the Frazetta version, and I don’t exactly love it. Same goes for the older, punkier, less uniform sci-fi art from things like 2000 AD and Warhammer 40,000. Edwin touched on some of this in his excellent Space Marine piece.

Anyway, a valued RPS community member on the Discord shared an older bit of art by Blizzard’s Chris Metzen, from the original Starcraft manual. I figured a few of you might enjoy seeing these older pieces, considering how much the overall look of their games has changed over the years.

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