Picture a himbo tent. Now, see if you can get your mind around the concept of a flirtatious windmill. What exactly are the key architectural qualities of dwellings you might wish to go to bed with? Actually, don’t bother stretching your grey matter – you can just play Building Relationships, which is sort of A Short Hike but also, Love Island for anthropomorphic toy houses. There are demos on Itch and Steam. Be warned that you will be asked whether you’re a rooftop or a bottom floor.
Ubisoft officially announced its long-expected Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition on Thursday, but the publisher deleted its post on X/Twitter about 20 minutes after going live.
Still, it didn’t take long for the news, which you can see a screenshot of below, to circulate on social media. According to the since-deleted post, it’ll arrive pretty soon as well, set to release on all platforms on June 25.
It’s likely the announcement was the subject of a scheduling mishap, as the remaster had been expected to be revealed at the Limited Run Games Showcase later on Thursday at 11am Pacific. IGN has reached out to Ubisoft for comment.
The announcement also arrived with the trailer, which announced that the 20th Anniversary Edition would include a new treasure hunt, an anniversary gallery, a re-orchestrated soundtrack, support of up to 60FPS, and other “exclusive new content.”
There had been mentions before of Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary, first surfacing in November 2023, when Microsoft accidentally published (and later pulled) a store listing for the unannounced project. Last week, achievement and trophy database website Exophase spotted a list of trophies for Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary.
Most recently, on Wednesday, Beyond Good & Evil was pulled from Steam ahead of the expected remaster announcement.
Beyond Good & Evil was originally released in 2003 for the PS2, PC, Xbox, and Gamecube, created by Michel Ancel, the creator of the Rayman series. The original Beyond Good & Evil is set in a third-person perspective where players control Jade, who is uncovering the dark secrets of her government. Beyond Good & Evil would see an HD re-release in 2011 for Xbox 360 and PS3.
In our review of the original Beyond Good & Evil, IGN wrote: “Ultimately, for all its similarities to Zelda, this is where Beyond Good & Evil finds its own ground. Not only does it avoid many of the frustrations of the games it draws from (and yes, that includes Zelda‘s flat story and tedious item-chasing), but it is pierced throughout with humor, intelligence, and humanity.”
Beyond Good and Evil 2, which will serve as a prequel to the original game, was initially revealed in 2017 at E3, but Ubisoft has kept a tight lip in the years since. In February 2022, we learned that the game was still in pre-production. In August that same year, we learned that Ubisoft hired Sarah Arellano as the game’s lead writer.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
The new big bad in town.
If you’ve been following the development of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond since its initial announcement in 2017, then chances are you’ve heard the name ‘Sylux’ mentioned in passing along the way.
If you’re not completely up-to-date on your Metroid Prime history (and not everyone is, that’s okay), then you might not know who this enigmatic bounty hunter is. Given that it shows up at the end of the latest gameplay trailer for Beyond, however, it’s clear that Sylux is due to play a pretty prominent role in Retro Studio’s upcoming FPS.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The post Microsoft Flight Simulator Releases City Update VIII: Las Vegas appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Rise, Tarnished. Your time has come again.
After a long wait, Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree launches tomorrow on PS5 and PS4. With a massive new world to explore, weapons to be found, skills to master and, of course, bosses to face, FromSoftware’s latest expansion could seem like a daunting undertaking. But fear not, Tarnished, as our tips – spoiler-free and covering the first few hours – will help set you on the right path. To begin, a crucial step: what’s required to enter the Shadow Realm.
If you’ve ever played a FromSoftware expansion, you’ll know that gaining access is never a straightforward process. Shadow of the Erdtree continues this tradition. In order to enter the Shadow Realm, you’ll need to complete a few tasks in the base game.
On your journey through the Lands Between, you’ll firstly need to have defeated Starscourge Radahn, a notoriously challenging boss. To face him, traverse Redmane Castle in Caelid during the Radahn Festival and take the elevator down to fight him on the beach.
You’ll also have to have bested Mohg, Lord of Blood. He can be found at Mohgwyn Palace, reached by following Varré’s questline or using a Waygate hidden in the Consecrated Snowfield. Mohg is known for being a particularly tough fight, but other Tarnished have been setting up summon spots next to the battle to help shepherd fighters through and open the DLC.
At the back of the Mohg boss arena you’ll discover Miquella’s cocoon. If both foes have been conquered (and expansion downloaded) a new interaction option will appear when you stand by the cocoon. Accept, and you’ll enter the Shadow Realm and begin your journey into the Shadow of the Erdtree.
If you put dozens of hours into Elden Ring’s base game, it’s easy to forget that you originally had to collect map fragments in order to build up a picture of the world around you. In Shadow of the Erdtree, this feature returns, meaning when you first enter the Shadow Realm, your map will be blacked out, with one exception; a single bright spot somewhere in the darkness.
One of your first objectives should be to navigate to this point, where you will find a map fragment beneath a tall obelisk. Collecting this will reveal the region’s map, but be warned — Shadow of the Erdtree’s world design uses verticality on a scale unlike almost anything seen in the Lands Between, meaning there is still so much more to be discovered – both above and below – what the map can show you.
This world is dense with secrets, so be sure to explore every nook and cranny. You’ll no doubt be rewarded with weapons, spells and items for your effort.
The starting area of the Shadow Realm is full of friendly (and not-so-friendly) characters who can help fill you in on the story, point you in the direction of hidden areas, send you on missions or challenge you to a duel.
You’ll come meet warriors, tribesmen, worshipers and devotees among others within your first hour or so of gameplay. Speaking to them, bringing them items they require, or taking the correct action in front of them can help progress their story arc within the overall narrative. And of course, they may reward you with items, join you as companions in battle and more.
While you can still level up your character as before, within the Shadow Realm, character progression comes in the form of special blessings. Two new consumables, Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes, can be found around the world and used at a Site of Grace to buff your character and their skills, so seeking them out during your first few hours is a worthwhile endeavor.
Scadutree Fragments: These increase both damage negation and attack power for your character, meaning you receive less damage from enemy attacks and deal more with your own.
Revered Spirit Ashes: These have a similar purpose but apply to your Spirit Ashes, granting your summons more survivability and power, so you can beef up your Mimic Tear or Black Knife Tiche before facing that next boss. (Other Spirit Ashes are available…)
Note that both of these special blessings only apply to the Shadow Realm, and therefore will have no effect in the base game.
Like all FromSoftware games, Elden Ring is chock-full of items and consumables, some useful, others mysterious. Alongside Shadow of the Erdtree, Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team have introduced a new quality of life feature that allows you to more easily explore the recent commodities you’ve discovered on your adventure.
This new feature, which is turned off as standard, will highlight new pick-ups with a “!” in your inventory, making it easier to survey your collection. It also offers an optional Recent Items Tab, where everything you’ve found recently is collated into one easy-to-understand menu. Both of these features make it simpler to uncover the use of the many new items in Shadow of the Erdtree, but the choice of whether to use them or the original system is entirely yours.
If you wish to turn these features on, they can be found under the Display section of the Settings menu. Here you can turn on either Mark New Items or Show Recent Items Tab, or use both together.
These tips should help you enter the Shadow Realm and make smooth progress during your first few hours. But there is still so much to be discovered when Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree launches tomorrow, June 21.
The newest trailer for The Alters has Jans asking himself, “What if?” about his life – a question we as players will get to see the answers to in 11 Bit Studios’ upcoming survival game in which you’ll pull in alternate-dimension versions of yourself (Jans) in order to try and survive a hostile mining planet. Watch it above, and you can see more about how the branching narrative will work in the video below.
We’ve been covering The Alters exclusively all June long as part of our IGN First editorial “cover story” initiative. We kicked off the month by announcing the playable demo before showing you exclusive footage from that demo before it dropped, and then posted the branching narrative explainer video below. You can also read our recent hands-on preview of The Alters.
Wishlist The Alters on Steam if you’re interested. We also have more exclusive IGN First coverage on The Alters coming next week to close out the month of June, so stay tuned!
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
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.
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.”
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.
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?
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.
The Xbox team is heading BACK to @gamescom
Visit us at our biggest booth yet August 21-25! #Xboxgamescom pic.twitter.com/5lO8uvfsQJ
— Xbox (@Xbox) June 20, 2024
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.
