The best indie games rocking the show floor at Bitsummit Let’s Go 2023

Japan’s biggest yearly indie games event returned to a blisteringly hot Kyoto last weekend, just in time for the world-famous Gion Matsuri taking place in the city that same weekend. Bitsummit Let’s Go was the name given to the 11th incarnation of the event, expanding to three days for the very first time – also featuring over 100 games, the largest showcase yet. With so many games on show it’s hard to narrow them all down. Keeping with the event’s spirit of showcasing independent talent and undiscovered gems, I’ve chosen to pick out some of the smaller games peppering the show floor and highlight just a few favourites.

Read more

Remnant 2 Developer Promises to Improve Game’s Performance Following Huge Launch

The developer of Remnant 2 has promised to improve the game’s performance following its huge launch.

The well-received looter-shooter soulslike is currently the second best-selling game on Steam, up 14 places since last week. Remnant 2 has enjoyed a significant launch on Valve’s platform, with close to double the amount of concurrent players than Remnant: From the Ashes had at launch. At the time of publication, Remnant 2 was the 12th most-played game on Steam with 53,848 concurrent players and a peak today of 82,872.

Developer Gunfire Games said it was “humbled” and “grateful” for the overwhelmingly positive response from the community, while acknowledging a “small portion” of players have encountered some bugs.

“We know that encountering bugs and glitches can be frustrating and can hinder your excitement for the game,” development director Ben Gabbard said in a blog post. “We take these issues incredibly seriously, and our team is working to identify and address these issues as quickly as possible.

“Since we’ve launched, we’ve already addressed some early issues that have popped up such as progression blockers in the Labyrinth and Nightweaver’s Web and issues with the Waterharp Puzzle. We will continue to work to deliver fixes for remaining issues over the coming days and weeks.”

Gabbard outlined some of the issues Gunfire is currently looking at:

  • Improving overall performance
  • Addressing crashes and issues with higher end systems
  • Addressing issues with the trait system
  • Other Progression blockers and missing items
  • And other fixes

Some of these fixes are coming in hot. In a tweet, Gunfire warned players not to use the Orb of Undoing if you have negative trait points, or the points will be gone forever.

“Thank you for your support and understanding,” Gabbard continued. “We are determined to make Remnant 2 an unforgettable adventure for all players, and we will continue to refine and improve the game.”

Earlier this week, Gunfire said it was still working to address a PlayStation 5 friend invite issue that has blighted Remnant 2’s launch on the console. Remnant 2 is meant to let players invite friends from within the Friends menu under the System tab, but for some reason this screen was absent from the PS5 version of the game.

In a tweet, Gunfire issued an update on the PS5 co-op issues: “While it does work for some of you, others can’t join or invite their friends. Rest assured that we’re still working to get this fixed for everybody. Thank you for your patience!”

While the first Remnant did well enough to justify a sequel, it’s clear Remnant 2 has attracted a much larger audience across PC and console. IGN’s Remnant 2 review returned a 9/10: “Where Remnant: From The Ashes was a strong first draft, Remnant 2 is a revolutionary sequel and a sterling manifesto for the looter-shooter soulslike,” we said.

One of the most-requested features so far is crossplay. At launch, Remnant 2 does not have crossplay between PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Gunfire has yet to announce plans to add the feature.

If you’re playing the game, it’s worth bearing in mind Remnant 2 has a post-credits scene you won’t want to miss.

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.

It’s time to say goodbye to the immaculate vibes of reviews editor Rachel Watts

It’s always a sad day when someone leaves the Treehouse, and today we bid adieu to Rachel Watts, as she leaves being our reviews editor for pastures new. Rachel definitely left an impression here, and I know she’ll do the same wherever she goes. For now, join us in saying goodbye with some nice comments, and a look at some of Rachel’s coolest work for us here.

Read more

Tekken 8 Fans Use Cheat Engine to Uncover Potential Unannounced Playable Characters

Tekken 8 fans used Cheat Engine to dig into the game’s files, uncovering a list of potentially unannounced playable characters.

Players scraped the build used for the recent PlayStation 5 Tekken 8 closed network test, which ran from July 21 to 24, and took to Discord to report their findings. An image showing a list of character files that includes those already announced also mentions unannounced characters such as Shaheen (Tekken 7), Raven (Tekken 5), Zafina (Tekken 6), Yoshimitsu (Tekken), Steve (Tekken 4), and Alisa (Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion).

Fans currently believe this leaked is incomplete because it does not include series mainstays such as Kuma. But it’s a solid indication of what to expect from the fighting game upon launch. For reference, here’s a list of all the currently announced characters for Tekken 8:

  • Jin Kazama
  • Devil Jin
  • Kazuya Mishima
  • Devil Kazuya
  • Jun Kazama
  • Paul Phoenix
  • Marshall Law
  • Jack-8
  • King
  • Lars Alexandersson
  • Ling Xiaoyu
  • Nina Williams
  • Leroy Smith
  • Asuka Kazama
  • Emilie “Lili” De Rochefort
  • Hwoarang
  • Bryan Fury
  • Claudio Serafino

Check out IGN’s Tekken 8 closed network test preview to find out what we think of the game. At San Diego Comic-Con 2023, we had the chance to interview Tekken 8 director Katsuhiro Harada and producer Michael Murray, who revealed feedback is making them a bit nervous as it’s been “overwhelmingly positive”.

An additional closed network test is set to run on PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC from July 28 to 31. Tekken 8 does not have a release date.

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 RPS 100 (2023): our top PC games of all time (50-1)

Welcome to Part Two of The RPS 100 for 2023, our annual countdown of our favourite PC games from across the ages. Earlier this week, we ranked our favourite games from 100-51, which can be found over in Part One of this year’s list. But now it’s time for the big 50, going all the way to our collective number one. And I’ll tell you now, it’s not the same as last year.

Read more

Poll: Disney Illusion Island Is Out On Switch Today, Will You Be Getting It?

Another exclusive in the bag.

The Switch has been getting a number of pretty high-profile exclusive games this year so far, and the latest to add to the pile is Dlala Studio’s 2D platformer, Disney Illusion Island.

With support for up to four players via local co-op, the game stars Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as they embark on a grand adventure to locate three magical books and save the island of Monoth.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Activision Hauls 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Steam Multiplayer Offline to Combat Hackers

Activision brought Steam multiplayer for 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 offline to combat hackers.

TechCrunch reports hackers were infecting players with a worm that spreads automatically in online lobbies from one infected player to another. As Techcrunch points out, this suggests hackers have exploiting bugs in Modern Warfare 2 to execute malicious code on players’ computers.

“Multiplayer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) on Steam was brought offline while we investigate reports of an issue,” Activision said in a tweet.

Despite being 14 years old, Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 retains a modest fanbase that sees hundreds of concurrents on Steam.

Older Call of Duty games on Xbox 360 received a surprise shot in the arm recently after apparent matchmaking improvements from Microsoft. Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by IGN.

These older Call of Duty games, while still playable online a decade after launch, were riddled with hackers, boosters, and cheaters. But reports emerged last week that some unannounced work was done to improve matters on Xbox 360 versions of the games, and, when word got around, thousands of fans ended up jumping back in.

But players have reported hackers continue to cause problem in lobbies, and it seems a particular concern on PC.

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.

Homeworld Remastered Collection is currently free to keep on the Epic Games store

Homeworld Remastered Collection, the bundle which contains prettier versions of cult-classic RTS’ Homeworld and Homeworld 2, is currently free to keep from the Epic Games Store. We thought it was a corker of a collection when it first released eight years ago, so strategy-heads who like to build space fleets may want to get on this one.

Read more

PS5 Consoles Get Their First-Ever Standalone Discount

Hold the front page, PS5 consoles are officially on sale right now. Not only that, but it’s a proper standalone discount as well, not a bundle deal like we’ve seen before. As part of PlayStation’s Summer Sale, PlayStation 5 consoles have seen an impressive discount of up to £80 in the UK. The PlayStation has been a massive success for Sony, selling over 40 million units as of July 16, 2023, putting it only slightly behind the sales pace of PS4 (likely due to the previous semiconductor shortage).

But this shortage is absolutely over, and with the console well stocked it’s also now on sale. In the UK, The console can now be bought for £404.99 from Amazon or John Lewis, and £399 from retailers like Argos, Currys, and ShopTo. There is currently no word on a discount in the US, but we’re anticipating this will happen sooner or later so keep an eye on this page or @IGNDeals for further updates.

Spider-Man 2 PS5 bundle and its accessory preorders are also live today at 10 AM local time, or 7 AM PT in the US, so it’s a big day for PlayStation owners. We’ll leave all the relevant links you need here but don’t forget that there are also a bunch of other deals to check out today for PlayStation fans in the UK.

This includes games like The Last of Us on sale, new deals on DualSense Controllers, and even discounts on PS5-compatible SSDs. For folks in the US, we’ve already got a handy PlayStation deals roundup to explore, but as we’re nice we’ll also add a few of the new deals in here once they go live.

Best PlayStation Summer Sale Deals in the UK

Click Here for US PS5 Deals

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Double Dragon Advance, Super & Collection Announced For Switch

“The first official ports” of Advance & Super.

Following the release of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons on the Switch this week, Arc System Works has now announced Super Double Dragon and Double Dragon Advance for all platforms including Nintendo’s hybrid system. They will both be available as standalone digital purchases.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com