Category: Video Games

How Embracer’s cuts killed a potential Red Faction sequel and gutted a promising studio

A phoenix is a mythological firebird that is periodically reborn from its own ashes, a symbol of cyclical renewal. It’s also, according to several former employees of Chorus developers Fishlabs in Hamburg, an internal title for the massive cost-cutting project begun by Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group in June 2023.

The current incarnation of a bewildering series of mergers, renamings and acquisitions that date back to the founding of Nordic Games in 2004, Embracer have spent much of the past decade buying up video game studios and licenses, from Deus Ex developers Eidos Montreal to the adaptation rights for The Lords Of The Rings. According to a February 2023 earnings report, by the end of December 2022 the conglomerate had 134 internal studios on the books (including table-top developers) and owned or controlled over 850 IPs, with 224 games in development. Our Graham warned of the perils of such consolidation in 2019, and his misgivings have been borne out. Following the reported collapse of a billion dollar Savvy Games investment deal, Embracer set out to recover their debts by cancelling projects, laying off staff and closing whole studios. Fishlabs – acquired by Embracer in 2018 alongside their parent company Koch Media, nowadays Plaion – were among those burned by “Project Phoenix”, first losing a dozen people in September 2023, and then around half their remaining workforce in November. In the process of these reductions, Embracer also binned off two video game projects – a sumptuous sci-fi metroidvania that was in full development, and a “visual prototype” for a brand new Red Faction game.

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Elden Ring Steam Deck Bug Can Leave Game Inoperable

Steam Deck users looking forward to the release of Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree tomorrow, June 21, 2024, may grow a tad concerned to realize the latest patch 1.12 includes a bug which can make the entire game inoperable.

FromSoftware revealed on X/Twitter it is working to fix an issue on Valve’s handheld PC where inputs stop working if the game is left inactive for more than five minutes. Unfortunately for Steam Deck players, FromSoftware said “the date and time of the hotfix will be announced separately,” suggesting it won’t be released in time for Shadow of the Erdtree launching.

“A Steam Deck related issue has been identified and a hotfix is being worked on,” FromSoftware said. “Leaving your Steam Deck inactive for more than five minutes may stop the game from accepting inputs. We apologize for inconvenience.”

Leaving your Steam Deck inactive for more than five minutes may stop the game from accepting inputs.

Thankfully the issue isn’t too game-breaking as long as players don’t step away from Elden Ring for more than a few minutes, but it will likely lead to a few frustrating moments for those who forget or aren’t aware of the problem.

A hard reset will presumably be required in these instances, but doing so for Elden Ring, as is the case with previous FromSoftware games such as Dark Souls and Bloodborne, poses a chance of save data corruption.

The odds of this happening are slim, but FromSoftware games insist players officially quit from the main menu instead of closing them outright. Not doing so, regardless of whether the player quits intentionally, their system crashes, or a bug like this Steam Deck issue stop them from logging out proper, poses a slight risk of data corruption.

Elden Ring’s patch 1.12 doesn’t include any other know issues, and FromSoftware will hopefully have this Steam Deck bug addressed sooner rather than later. The update otherwise includes new hairstyles, additional quality of life improvements, and the ability to summon Spirit Steed (horse) Torrent in the final fight, to the glee of many Elden Ring players.

The changes come just in time for Shadow of the Erdtree, but accessing the DLC isn’t as simple as installing the update and selecting it on a menu. Players must instead tick off a handful of obscure feats beforehand, including beating an optional boss.

IGN’s guide on how to prepare for the Shadow of Erdtree is fully up to date with everything you need, however, and make sure to check out our Elden Ring interactive map to ensure you’re not missing any important collectibles.

You can also catch up on IGN’s “How Long to Beat” for Shadow of the Erdtree and kill some time ahead of its imminent release byf reading our extensive 10/10 review.

“Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single player expansions,” we said. “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.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Should you bother with… ultrawide gaming monitors?

I realised recently that a juicy subject for another Should You Bother With has been staring me in the face – or rather, I’ve been staring at it. Ultrawide gaming monitors have clearly avoided non-starter status, given they’ve been around for years, seemingly being exchanged for currency – and yet they’re nowhere near what you might consider the ‘default’ option when making a display upgrade. Regular widescreen monitors, with regular 16:9 aspect ratios, remain the go-to. So why switch?

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Microsoft Says Xbox Is Going Big at Gamescom 2024, While Sony and Nintendo Skip the Show

Microsoft has announced plans to return to gamescom this year with what it says is its biggest booth ever at the German games show.

Gamescom 2024, which runs from August 21-25, will see Xbox maker Microsoft showcase the likes of Obsidian’s Avowed, Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76, and Blizzard’s Diablo 4 expansion Vessel of Hatred and World of Warcraft expansion The War Within. It is Blizzard’s first gamescom following Microsoft’s $69 billion aquisition of Activision Blizzard last year.

Here’s the list of games Microsoft said it’s bringing to gamescom 2024 (this list is not comprehensive — expect more announcements at the show):

Sony and Nintendo, meanwhile, have confirmed they are skipping gamescom 2024. Sony told Eurogamer it has no plans for the show, and Nintendo confirmed the same back in April.

While Sony’s decision was expected (it hasn’t attended gamescom in years), Nintendo’s decision came as something of a surprise given it has turned up at gamescom in recent years. But given the Nintendo Switch successor console isn’t due out until 2025, a quieter 2024 makes sense.

Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo outlined what to expect from PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch respectively during each company’s summer showcase: Sony’s got Astro Bot, Lego Horizon Adventures, and Concord due out in 2024; Microsoft has Avowed, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, and World of Warcraft: The War Within; and Nintendo has The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, and, creeping into early 2025, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD.

On the hardware front, Microsoft has a new series of upgrades for both the Xbox Series X and S, including an all-digital Series X, all of which will be available this holiday. Sony is reportedly set to release a PS5 Pro model later this year, too.

Microsoft’s confirmed attendance at gamescom 2024 comes amid deep cuts at its gaming business, which have seen some 1,900 staff let go and the closure of Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, among other studios. Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who will no-doubt be at gamescom 2024 to show off the company’s games, told IGN recently: “I have to run a sustainable business inside the company and grow, and that means sometimes I have to make hard decisions that frankly are not decisions I love, but decisions that somebody needs to go make.”

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.

Review: Dicefolk (Switch) – An Incredibly Fresh-Feeling, Monster-Catching Roguelite

Want to be the very best, like no one ever was?

These days, roguelites and deckbuilders are a dime a dozen, but it seems like developers are finding ways to get creative with the genre mechanics to produce something that sticks out from the glut of releases these past several years. Dicefolk offers one such creative take on the roguelite formula, mixing in a dash of Pokémon-esque monster catching as part of its unique approach. Those who love deckbuilders will find tons to appreciate here, as it builds around an addictive and strategically in-depth combat system that’ll keep you constantly coming back for one more run.

Dicefolk’s story is pretty basic. A girl named Alea, a member of the titular folk, discovers she can use her powers to tame and befriend powerful creatures called chimeras which roam the land. Using this newfound ability, Alea sets out on a quest to battle an evil wizard who was sealed away years ago, hoping to stymie his dark influence and bring peace to the world. Those of you looking for a lot of narrative elements in a roguelite may be disappointed at the relatively thin worldbuilding and plot here, but we didn’t feel that the lack of a strong storyline took away much from the core monster battling.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Metroidvania Grappler Rusted Moss Mixes Physics with Creativity

Armed with a bouncy grapple hook and an arsenal of guns, swing your way through desolate landscapes in Rusted Moss, an action-packed metroidvania with complex and powerful movement, where the only limit is your creativity and skill. 

In this bittersweet tale, humans are at war with the cold and capricious fairies who have invaded their rusting world. You play as Fern, a changeling determined to put an end to the war. Uncover forgotten tales and pick a side – fae or human? The world of Rusted Moss is inspired by our love of English folktales, which portray fairies as malevolent tricksters rather than gentle beings.

Traversal is physics-based and designed to be mastered. Aside from the grappling hook, players can use juicy gun recoil to boost their momentum (think classic FPS action – rocket jumping and bunny hopping). 

Gameplay might seem diabolical due to its complexity – players will juggle a physics-based grappling hook with a variety of guns – but Rusted Moss has one of the most powerful traversal mechanics in any metroidvania. A player can break our game so long as they have the skill, determination, and creativity to do so.

Developed by my friend (Emlise), my sister (Sunnydaze), and me (Happysquared), we wanted to create an uncompromising game that prizes player skill and exploration. Rusted Moss is truly nonlinear. Unlocking new regions does not depend on discovering a “key” or getting a new ability. Instead, progression in Rusted Moss is determined by a player’s creativity and capability. 

In one platforming challenge, five players each found a different solution! 

Did we design that challenge to be solved in five different ways? Not at all. We didn’t design our puzzles to have an “intended” solution. We wanted to encourage players to “break” our game and show us moves we didn’t even consider during Rusted Moss’ development. The open level design, combined with the physics-based movement and momentum, is the perfect playground for players to express their creativity and skill.

We also didn’t want to limit our game to just our vision of how it should be played. Before Rusted Moss’ release, the QA team found a bug that gave players an unintentional movement ability we found hilarious. We decided to keep it in. We hope that perceptive players who discover it get as much joy out of it as we did; it’s a feature, not a bug! 

We’ve also included highly customisable accessibility options so players can make the game easier (or harder!). Though we developed Rusted Moss’ default settings to match our own tastes, we really didn’t want to stifle the way some players might prefer to experience our game. 

Along with the Xbox release, Rusted Moss is getting 7-8 hours(!) of additional content. Much harder content. It is funny to think about because Emlise had no plans to develop Rusted Moss into a game because she felt its grappling hook would be too difficult for players to grasp (we ended up having to peer pressure her into actually making Rusted Moss). In fact, during the development of Rusted Moss’ base content she had made an extremely difficult challenge course that was cut as it was extremely difficult. However, our playerbase has exceeded all expectations: due to popular demand, this area will be an optional challenge in our major update. 

So if there’s anybody raging at that content, please blame our players and not us. 

The Xbox release and update will also include a boss rush mode, two new areas of more reasonable difficulty (for the not insane players), and an unlockable playable character! All of this adds seven to eight more hours of additional gameplay.

We worked hard on this update and hope you enjoy it!


Rusted Moss
Xbox Live

Rusted Moss

PLAYISM

☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★

$19.99
Get it now

[Metroidvania with a Physics-Based Grapple]
This metroidvania utilizes your grapple and weapons with a full 360° aiming system. The freedom created by these controls creates a smooth experience for users to feel in complete control of their character. Find creative solutions to flexible traversal challenges, and blast away witches and machinery with precise aiming.

[Now for the Hook…]
The grappling hook is hard to learn yet rewarding to master. This unique physics-based elastic grappling hook uses your kinetic momentum to propel your character forward. Similar to rock climbing, there’s no set path through this melancholic abandoned wasteland. Latch onto any moss covered structure and swing your way through this rugged terrain.

[Shotgun blasts, Precision shots, Rocket jumps!]
No more aiming in just 8 directions. As a twin-stick shooter, Rusted Moss emphasizes tight and precise gunplay. Quickly switch between your arsenal of weapons to best suit your playstyle and situation. Get up close and personal with a shotgun before grappling away and pulling out a sniper for the killing blow!

[Boss fights!]

Push your gunplay and grappling hook skills to their limits! From powerful witches to machine monstrosities, each boss fight throws its own unique challenge at you. Dodge swords, avoid energy fields, and blast away at conjured spiders.

[Story]
Journey across desolate landscapes drenched in melancholy; witness the remnants of humanity and their rusting iron inventions… Humanity is on the brink of collapse and will soon be invaded by faeries. In a desperate bid to survive, humans have empowered their own witches with stolen fae magic.

But all is not lost, as the humans were deceived – for one of their own is not what she seems. The fae have stolen a human baby, and replaced it with something else…

Raised by unsuspecting human parents, Fern is a changeling whose true loyalties have emerged. Alongside a mysterious shadow named Puck, she sets off on a journey to return fae to the world and end the Age of Men.

Whose side will you choose – human or fae?

The post Metroidvania Grappler Rusted Moss Mixes Physics with Creativity appeared first on Xbox Wire.

The Banana Game May Not Be a Scam But It’s Still Not Worth Your Time

Quick, you only have a few seconds to answer this question: What games are on Steam’s top 10 concurrent players of all time list? PUBG, yes. Counter-Strike 2, absolutely. Elden Ring, for sure. But if you answered Banana, you would… also be correct. The bizarre indie game that consists of repeatedly clicking on a picture of a banana (and nothing else) has become a sensation, at least in sheer number of alleged players. But if you were thinking of giving it a download and checking it out for yourself, let me give you some advice: don’t bother.

Banana is not the first game of its kind; the virtually identical game Egg was released earlier this year in February, and new contender Cats showed up after Banana’s release back in April. All of these games follow the same format of mindlessly clicking on an image for no discernible reason other than to raise the click counter and to be gifted a Steam item on timed intervals. In Banana’s case, players are rewarded for their clicks with various digital bananas every three hours, many of which are common, but some of which are quite rare. Players can also outright purchase bananas from the game’s store, but the bananas available are rotated out at the developers’ discretion.

And therein lies the real purpose of Banana: to artificially generate an economy for useless digital “goods.” Now, to be clear, Banana is not technically a scam. The game is free-to-play and it doesn’t push you to monetize it if you don’t want to. You can download it, spend a few minutes satisfying your fruit-clicking urges, and then uninstall it without spending a cent. Unlike many free-to-play games that find ways to restrict or annoy players enough so they spend cash to alleviate the friction, Banana doesn’t really have any gameplay to restrict. You click and the number goes up. The number isn’t even saved across play sessions, meaning it resets every time you turn off the game. The digital bananas you receive are dropped right into your Steam account, and seemingly serve no purpose beyond the pure euphoria of possessing them and the opportunity to sell bananas to other players.

We’ve already covered how the economics of Banana work in regards to the percentages the devs and Valve take from each banana transaction, which is now up in the tens of thousands per day. Although the developers have been adamant that Banana is not a scam, and even went through the trouble of ejecting developer Theselions (their Steam name) because of their previous association with a Bitcoin scam, they don’t seem to have the highest view of their own product. In an interview with Polygon, developer Hery referred to Banana as a “stupid game,” and that the reason it’s become popular is because it’s a “legal infinite money glitch. Users make money out of a free game while selling free virtual items.”

Banana is exactly what it looks like: a clicking simulator designed to waste your time and maybe convince you to try selling the fruits of your labor

It’s a telling admission, but it does nothing to mitigate the underlying issue with exactly this type of “game.” Banana and other games like it skirt by on technicalities and appeals to the absurdity of their premise while still raking in plenty of money for their creators, and Valve does nothing to deal with such shovelware on its platform because it too stands to make a tidy profit from the endeavor. That Hery also admitted during the Polygon interview that a significant chunk of Banana’s player base is made up of bots doesn’t help either. Even though Hery claims the team has contacted Valve for help addressing the bot issue, they have still inflated the game’s player count to give it more visibility on Steam in the short term, enticing even more curious players to give it a try and perhaps be part of a transaction or two.

That attention has caused many to ask just what exactly is going on here, including us at IGN. YouTuber Jauwn did a deep dive into Banana, including a look at the game’s code. Luckily, there’s no indication that it’s malware, using your computer to mine cryptocurrency, or any other obviously deceptive scheme. Banana is exactly what it looks like: a clicking simulator designed to waste your time and maybe convince you to try selling the fruits of your labor on the store for some cash. But why is it so popular? Once you subtract the bots, are there really that many players who are feeling enough banana-fever to maintain an entire economy around virtual fruits?

As with other recent digital get-rich-quick schemes like NFTs or niche cryptocurrencies, Banana is trying to tap into a meme market. It’s a speculator bubble fueled by misguided hopefuls who think the bananas might be worth something someday, irony-poisoned edgelords who know it won’t but like being in on the joke, and bots that flood the market to make the whole enterprise seem more popular than it actually is. Sure, buying and selling bananas is less harmful than blockchain-based transactions because it isn’t burning down the planet to generate these digital tokens, but anyone looking to add bananas to their investment portfolio should reconsider.

The devs have absolute control over how the bananas are distributed, and there’s no way to regulate the digital economy they’ve cultivated. The more players that dive into Banana, the less likely it is that you’ll manage to snatch one of the coveted rare bananas that have sold for a decent sum. What’s far more likely than us all becoming part of a banana republic is that the game’s 15 minutes of fame will soon wind down and anyone who’s spent real money collecting rare bananas in the hopes of flipping them will be left holding the bag. So heed my warning: do not give in to the call of Banana. Don’t reward low effort nonsense like this with your valuable time, because when you start clicking the banana, the only game really being played is on you.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.

Praise the yak, thanks to Elden Ring’s latest update you can finally summon Torrent during the final bossfight

We’re less than a day now from Shadow Of The Erdtree’s launch, and as promised, FromSoft have just released the latest patch (notes here) for the open world game. It’s only 6GB, and you’ll need it to play the expansion, so do click that button if you haven’t already. The updates headline features – new hairstyles, plus inventory and summoning QOL tweaks – were announced last week. However, it seems they buried the lede deeper than my disgust at the game’s Albinuaric murdering community: Torrent, the game’s spectral steed mount, is finally summonable in the fight against the final boss – just as the community have long speculated it was always intended to be.

Spoilers for the name of that boss below, if you’d rather not know.

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Elden Ring Finally Lets You Summon Torrent Against the Elden Beast and Fans Are Buzzing

Spoiler Warning: This article features mild spoilers for the final boss of Elden Ring.

On the eve of Elden Ring’s expansion Shadow of the Erdtree launching, FromSoftware has finally allowed players to use Spirit Steed (horse) Torrent against the infamous Elden Beast boss, addressing one of the few complaints players have about the beloved role-playing game.

The first chunky Elden Ring patch in a long time was release today, June 20, 2024, with a wealth of features, but perhaps none more exciting than the ability to summon Torrent for the game’s final fight.

The Elden Beast isn’t a particularly difficult fight but many fans did find it quite frustrating due to the arena’s colossal size and the boss essentially teleporting around the arena. A lot of time is therefore spent running after the Elden Beast instead of actually fighting it.

“I just saw someone beat the Elden Beast with a cheat engine enabling the use of your horse Torrent during the fight, and this was absolutely the way the boss was meant to be played,” wrote X/Twitter user @velvetbnuuy earlier in June. “This is one of the biggest design fumbles in an otherwise amazing game I can think of.”

As the fan notes, many mods have been created to allow Elden Ring players to summon Torrent in the fight, and YouTube videos showcasing the modded battle in action have thousands of views.

“I got tired of Chase the Boss Simulator 2022 towards the end,” wrote GameFAQs user OnyxZephyr333. “I’m here to fight you. Not watch my character run for a minute while you do a move then roll, teleport, or slither away.”

X/Twitter user @ZullieTheWitch asked their followers how Torrent would affect the fight, and of 27,771 responses, 66.2% said Torrent would improve things. Needless to say, many players wanted FromSoftware to allow Torrent in the fight, and the Elden Ring community has erupted in excitement about today’s change.

“Oh my god, thank you Miyazaki,” said one Reddit user, referencing Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki. “We can finally summon Torrent for the Elden Beast.” “Torrent buddy we made it,” said someone in the replies.

The update makes this and several other changes ahead of Shadow of the Erdtree’s launch tomorrow, June 21. Just like previous FromSoftware games Dark Souls and Bloodborne, however, accessing the DLC isn’t as simple as selecting it on a menu, as players must tick off a handful of obscure feats beforehand, including beating an optional boss.

IGN’s guide on how to prepare for the Shadow of Erdtree is fully up to date with everything you need, however, and make sure to check out our Elden Ring interactive map to ensure you’re not missing any important collectibles.

You can also catch up on IGN’s “How Long to Beat” for Shadow of the Erdtree and kill some time ahead of its imminent release by reading our extensive 10/10 review.

“Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single player expansions,” we said. “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.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Danganronpa Writer Took Out a Loan to Fund New Game The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy

Danganronpa writer Kazutaka Kodaka’s new studio had to take out a loan to fund its next big game, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, which was revealed during June 2024’s Nintendo Direct.

Speaking to Famitsu and translated by Automaton, Kodaka said his team at Too Kyo Games was “risking their lives” for the game due to financial and mental pressure, though a publishing partner has since been secured in Aniplex.

Development started off rocky, however, after a deal with an initial publisher fell through after “numerous difficulties.” Work on The Hundred Line was then restarted but what began as an “indie scale game” quickly grew and demanded more funds.

“We decided to take the plunge and take out a loan,” Kodaka said, a move which is unusual for game developers who are traditionally funded by publishers. Aniplex eventually came through for Too Kyo Games though, and Media Vision and Jet Studio joined as co-developers.

“It was tough both financially and mentally, but I may never have another opportunity to put this much effort into a project,” Kodaka said.

The Hundred Line puts fans of Danganronpa in a similar setting: a hellish high school full of despair. They take on the role of Takumi Sumino, who lived an unremarkable life until he was forced to transfer to the Last Defense Academy.

We decided to take the plunge and take out a loan.

Players must protect the school from mysterious enemies known as School Invaders for 100 days through tactical role-playing combat and delve into the “enigmatic truth of the school” alongside 15 of his companions, each looking to reclaim their lost everyday lives.

The Nintendo Direct was full of other major games too, with a brand new Zelda announced alongside Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood. The show ended with the re-reveal of Metroid Prime 4, now subtitled Beyond, seven years after it was first announced. Read about every announcement, big and small, in our Everything Announced article.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.