Category: Video Games

Looks Like Palworld Is Coming to PlayStation

One of the developers of Steam and Xbox hit Palworld has teased the release of a PlayStation version.

Pocketpair community chief Bucky tweeted adding blue-colored hearts to Palworld’s existing black (PC), green (Xbox), and white (Mac) hearts. Blue is, of course, the color of PlayStation branding. With this context, a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 release now seems likely.

Palworld, dubbed ‘Pokémon with Guns,’ launched in early access form in January 2024 on PC via Steam and on Xbox as a day-one Game Pass title. It saw enormous popularity overnight, becoming one of the biggest game launches of all time. But it’s also one of the most controversial. Pocketpair has said its staff has received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

Player numbers have tailed off in the last half year, but the addition of a PS5 version would certainly provide Palworld with a shot in the arm. Whether Nintendo would greenlight a release on Switch is another matter entirely, of course.

Meanwhile, Palworld gets a major new update this week, called Sakurajima. It increases the level cap, adds new Pals, a new raid, a new faction and boss, and a whole new island. This update also comes with Xbox-dedicated servers, something the game had conspicuously lacked up to this point.

IGN’s Palworld early access review returned an 8/10. We said: “Palworld may crib quite a bit from Pokémon’s homework, but deep survival mechanics and a hilarious attitude make it hard to put down – even in early access.”

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.

Shadow Of The Erdtree’s mixed Steam reviews paint a different picture to the critical reception

Despite an overwhelmingly strong reception with critics, Shadow Of The Erdtree is currently sitting at a ‘mixed’ review rating on Steam, with nay-sayers citing performance issues and overbearing enemy design. The Elden Ring DLC is currently metacritic’s highest rated expansion of all time at 95, beating out the The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s Blood And Wine’s 92. However, roughly a third of the 41,000 user reviews on Steam are negative.

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Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree Down to ‘Mixed’ on Steam as Players Complain About the Difficulty and Performance

It’s been a bruising weekend for many Shadow of the Erdtree players. The DLC’s extreme — and intended – difficulty has sparked a debate about the rights and wrongs of developer FromSoftware’s approach with this Elden Ring expansion. But now that debate has spilled over into Steam user reviews, which currently have a ‘mixed’ rating after a flood of complaints about the rock hard bosses as well as PC performance issues.

Ahead of Shadow of the Erdtree’s release, director Hidetaka Miyazaki signaled the DLC would significantly test players’ abilities. “The new challenges for the player are going to be the boss encounters as well as the different kinds of threats that the world will impose on people,” Miyazaki told CNET. Some of these bosses are aimed at players who’ve completed most of the base Elden Ring, meaning FromSoftware has “kind of really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player,” he added.

And so it has proved. Over the weekend, players began to complain about the extreme difficulty with bosses and performance issues. “As a huge fan of all soulgames, I would love to like the DLC, but the enemies’ damages are completely overtuned, especially for some bosses,” reads one negative review. “Some have a completely erratic moveset rendering the whole experience just painful without any fun.”

Some have a completely erratic moveset rendering the whole experience just painful without any fun.

“Good DLC, but performance has gone down as of the latest update,” reads another negative review, this time focused on the PC performance problems. “Constant micro-stuttering and frame drops, freezes as well as increases in loading times make it difficult to enjoy and play the game. One of the early boss fights takes place around a puddle of water, which drops frames considerably. Wait for performance improvements before buying.”

Perhaps mindful of the growing negative feedback over difficulty, publisher Bandai Namco tweeted some advice for struggling Shadow of the Erdtree players: “This is a suggestion to level up your Scadutree Blessing.” This tallies with advice IGN itself has offered. Indeed we believe Shadow of the Erdtree’s Scadutree Blessings are the answer to the Elden Ring DLC’s difficulty (Scadutree Blessing bolsters the recipient’s abilities to deal and negate damage). You can check our guide to track down every last Scadutree Fragment.

Meanwhile, the Shadow of the Erdtree review bombing continues, but it’s worth pointing out that at the time of this article’s publication, 65% of the DLC’s 32,722 user reviews are positive on Valve’s platform.

FromSoftware game difficulty has been a hot topic for years, with the likes of Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Bloodborne all called too hard by some. But extreme difficulty has not hindered their sales success. Indeed Elden Ring has sold an incredible 25 million copies, and is by a clear distance the biggest FromSoftware game ever.

Speaking to The Guardian, Miyazaki explained why FromSoftware looks to continuously push players, rather than offer easier difficulties that would theoretically open up its games to a wider audience.

“If we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down more and more, but that wasn’t the right approach,” Miyazaki said. “Had we taken that approach, I don’t think the game would have done what it did, because the sense of achievement that players gain from overcoming these hurdles is such a fundamental part of the experience. Turning down difficulty would strip the game of that joy, which, in my eyes, would break the game itself.”

An amusing upshot of the debate around Shadow of the Erdtree’s difficulty is a renewed nostalgia for the base game and its bosses, now said to be relatively easygoing in retrospect.

Shadow of the Erdtree has certainly enjoyed critical acclaim, and has become the highest-rated video game expansion of all-time by overtaking Witcher 3 DLC Blood and Wine on Metacritic. IGN’s Shadow of the Erdtree review returned a 10/10. We said: “Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single-player DLC expansions. It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark RPG, condenses it into a relatively compact 20-25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”

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.

Sega Won’t Be Airing A ‘Sonic Central’ Broadcast This Month

Sonic turned 33 this week.

Sega has been hosting a special broadcast titled ‘Sonic Central’ around the time of the blue blur’s birthday since 2021, but this year the anniversary celebrations are a little different.

Sonic brand social media and community manager Katie Chrzanowski explained during a surprise live stream this week how a Sonic Central broadcast wouldn’t be happening this year in June. There’s no need to worry though, as Sega hasn’t forgotten about these events:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

What’s on your bookshelf?: Sluggish Morrs and Dujanah developer Jack King-Spooner

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! I do not have a completely true fact to share about books with you this week, because I just read a book telling me that sharing facts about books is actually destroying the online book facts industry. Check back next week, by which time I may have finished another book debunking these claims. This week, it’s the developer behind Sluggish Morss, Dujanah, and the upcoming Judero, Jack King-Spooner! Cheers Jack! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

An eclectic collection for your pile of shame, although Jack joins this column’s pile of shame with all the other guests who’ve failed to name every book ever written. Will we somehow track down someone for next week who recognises this most secret of goals? The faithful shelf-heads among you may have noticed I’ve changed the fifth question, as is my want. Maybe I’ll change some other questions too, just to keep you guessing. Or maybe I won’t, but doesn’t the possibility I might fill you with a thrilling uncertainty about what the future might bring? Book for now!

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Return In A New Roguelike Action Game Next Month

Cowabunga, dude!

At Nintendo’s Indie World showcase in April, publisher and developer Super Evil Megacorp announced it would be releasing the roguelike action title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate on the Switch in July. As we get closer to next month, it’s now been confirmed this former Apple Arcade exclusive will be launching on 17th July 2024.

As part of this announcement, a brand-new trailer has been shared on the official Nintendo YouTube channel. Pre-orders are also live on the eShop, with the game priced at $29.99 / £26.99 (or your regional equivalent). In case you missed our first story, Splintered Fate allows you take control of the four turtles, take down bosses, explore iconic locations, unlock temporary upgrades and permanent ones, and enjoy 4-player co-op where “no two runs are the same”.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Poll: Box Art Brawl – Duel: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Primed for battle.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Before we get cracking with this week’s battle, let’s see how things panned out last time. We looked at Turok 2: Seeds of Evil for the N64 and golly gosh, was it a close one. It seemed many of you weren’t too keen on either design, but ultimately, it was the western variant that won the day with 51% of the vote.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

PSA: Shadow of the Erdtree’s Scadutree Blessings Are the Answer to Elden Ring DLC’s Difficulty

Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has only been out for a few days, and many players are already finding that their character — who became the Elden Lord of the Lands Between — is barely a match for the first chakram blade-wielding weirdo you can run into. These early punishing fights are merely a prelude for the raw aggression of the DLC bosses, who are able to turn you into a bloody smear on the ground with just a few attacks. Even worse, this difficulty ramp-up spares no one — regardless of your level, the weapons you wield, or the armor you equip.

The key to salvation in the Realm of Shadow lies within a brand new Shadow Realm Blessing system, but if you aren’t paying attention you may just miss out on how it works.

With a bit of exploring, you’re likely to find at least one Scadutree Fragment, which gives a short tooltip:

It can be easy to overlook this tip in the thick of battle or when distracted by distant points of interest, but it’s safe to say Shadow of the Erdtree may be underselling just how important your Scadutree Blessing really is. Simply put, it can quickly become the difference between victory and defeat in almost every encounter, and it’s barely even comparable to Elden Ring’s normal leveling system.

The reason for this is because Shadow of the Erdtree has to account for a wide variety of players looking for a challenge in this DLC realm: Fights have to be difficult enough for a level 500 player on New Game+ 7, but also winnable for someone who just beat Mohg for the first time the other day. The solution: Make everything hit extremely hard, with incredibly high health pools, but introduce a new item to rapidly raise your own abilities to deal and negate damage.

Using just one Scadutree Fragment to increase your Shadow Realm Blessing to Level 1 will raise your armaments damage AND your damage negation to all sources by around 5%, and there are many more fragments to find just in the first region alone.

As a test case, let’s use an early enemy many players are likely to get a rude awakening from: The Blackgaol Knight of the Nameless Western Mausoleum. His Greatsword of Solitude seems to hit harder than the Radagon himself, and leave players wondering if any amount of leveling up can even the odds.

For my level 162 character with 50 Vigor and 50 Strength, my Blasphemous Blade had 795 attack power; and my armor and other stats were giving me 157 Defense Power with 44.355% physical damage negation as a multiplier.

Facing down the Blackgaol Knight, my basic one-handed swing was only dealing 398 damage to his 525, which I was only able to meet with a jumping attack that did 550. His did… a lot more.

However, with just one Scadutree Blessing level, my attack power was boosted to 834, and my physical damage negation to 47.004%. This increase had me dealing 416 while only taking 496 in return, which was roughly a 4.9% increase in damage given and 5.5% damage taken.

Even if that sounds small — I then grabbed every Scadutree Fragment in the Gravesite Plain, raising my Scadutree Blessing to Level 4. Now my attack power shot up to 954 and damage negation to 53.629%, which meant my hits were now doing 20% more damage that were hitting harder than the Blackgaol Knight’s, which was reduced by around 17.3%!

As you can see from the table above, each blessing can increase your powers by a substantial amount, and with a maximum of 20 Scadutree Blessings that you can obtain over the course of the game, you’ll be dealing a LOT more damage by the end than when you first entered the Realm of Shadow.

But what about regular leveling? My table also includes spending enough Runes to put four points in Strength vs four Scadutree Blessings. At 50+ Strength, the returns barely resulted in a measly percent of damage increased, and the flat Defense Power increase instead of damage negation from all sources meant I was losing roughly the same amount of HP per hit. This is an important aspect to note, because it means since all players will be in and endgame setting, you can’t overcome bosses just by spending runes. However, it’s still worth adding a few points here and there anyway, especially to increase your HP pool with Vigor, add more stamina with Endurance, or hit a requirement to equip a new weapon.

So where can you find more Scadutree Fragments? You can check our guide to track down every last Scadutree Fragment, but if you prefer to explore on your own, here are some tips to keep in mind:

  • Scadutree Fragments most often appear in front of statues of Marika, like those found in churches or soldier camps.
  • You’re also guaranteed to find one at every Cross of Miquella that the demigod has left behind marking their journey to important locations in the Shadow Realm.
  • Certain areas like ruins or destroyed towns can sometimes include a Shadow Undead holding a sparkling pot. Rush them down before they run away and you can gain treasure that sometimes includes a Scadutree Fragment.
  • Progression in Shadow of the Erdtree is rarely permanently gated by a boss. If you find yourself lacking power, try looking for alternate paths to new regions where you can find more Scadutree Fragments.
  • Similar to these fragments, you can also find Revered Spirit Ash in front of large headless corpse altars or from Shadow Undead pot holders. The Revered Spirit Ash Blessing will increase the power of your Spirit Ash Summons similar to how the Scadutree Fragments boost your own.

Once you feel strong enough to take on the toughest challenges, there’s plenty more to do, and we have it all catalogued in our full Shadow of the Erdtree Guide.

Brendan Graeber is a senior guides writer for IGN, and is still hard at work discovering every last secret in Elden Ring. You can find him on Twitter/X @Ragga_Fragga

DeathSprint 66 Hands-On Preview

What if when playing Mario Kart and you throw a red shell at an opponent, instead of just knocking them aside, you blow them up instead? That’s the kind of outside-the-box thinking Sumo Digital is cooking up with DeathSprint 66, which is basically a real murder-y version of Mario Kart.

Set in a dystopian future that’s part GhostRunner, part Running Man, DeathSprint 66 has a story insofar as you play as a runner forced to partake in a deadly race for the amusement of viewers on the internet. This race isn’t just built for speed, however, it’s also built for danger. This futuristic race course is full of buzz saw traps, laser beams, and other deadly additions to make your run truly a run for your life.

I was able to play a few rounds while at Summer Game Fest and came away thoroughly impressed by what I saw thanks in part to the tried-and-true arcade racing style mechanics but with violent twists.

While there are no racing karts here, your runner will effectively sprint very much the same way. The right trigger serves as your accelerate, and you will need to “drift” around corners and time your release correctly for a burst of speed. Along the way you’ll need to dodge deadly environmental traps and collect random power-ups like tripmines, buzzsaws, and a powerful and deadly dash that’s DeathSprint 66’s answer to the Mario Kart Bullet Bill power.

It’s not just deadly obstacles, though. There are neon-lit rails to grind on, and large walls for you to wall-run on as well, plus boost pads to further give you a jolt of speed. It’s all very over-the-top and races are fairly quick, so I imagine it’ll be easy to get a few rounds in with friends online.

For fans of Mario Kart, DeathSprint 66 will seem awfully familiar. But, as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The core gameplay of violently racing your way to victory while trying to sabotage seven other players was incredibly fun during my hands-on, even when I was just playing against A.I. opponents. I imagine the challenge and the fun will only go up when these are seven other real players.

Visually, too, DeathSprint 66 is going all-out. This is meant to be a futuristic game show and the neon-soaked race tracks, lasers, and futuristic cityscape paints a gorgeous, dystopian portrait of cyberpunk excess. And while the player character was a bit generic, I’m told there will be customization options and cosmetics in the final game to help make your character truly your own.

DeathSpring 66 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it has a good sense of what makes arcade-style racing games fun. I can easily see DeathSprint 66 becoming a new Fall Guys, a quick and fun pick-up-and-play game in between marathon sessions of your favorite RPG.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Soapbox: ‘Switch 2’ Is Nintendo’s Chance To Adopt The PC Feature It’s Desperate To Take For A Spin

No need to reinvent the wheel.

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today, Francisco considers a little Joy-Con addition that could help set the upcoming “Switch successor” apart…

Nintendo can’t resist an enticing hardware innovation. Think of the Game & Watch’s D-pad, the SNES’s nifty shoulder buttons, or the Wii’s revolutionary motion controls; and we’ve barely scratched the surface of its long legacy of pioneering video game controllers. Despite its efforts, one hardware feature has evaded Nintendo for decades.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com