After almost 20 years of the MCU’s dominance—where characters like Gamora and Groot have miraculously become household names and command the careers of A-list actors—we’ve suddenly found ourselves in a period of nostalgia for Marvel’s ramshackle 1990s era. This was first felt with the warm reception that found Disney+’s hugely charming X-Men ’97 series, a show that was completely disconnected from any overarching multiversal storylines whatsoever. And the same principles apply to Marvel Cosmic Invasion, which is a throwback in every conceivable way. The retro-themed arcade-style spiritual successor to X-Men: The Arcade Game intends to be a back-to-basics brawler, teleporting everyone behind the controller to a simpler time—a dilapidated arcade, deep in the bowels of a suburban mall, right after school lets out for the summer.

Cosmic Invasion is developed by Tribute Games, the Canadian studio best known for their work on the 2022 revival, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The two projects clearly share the same DNA. Like Tribute’s turn with the Turtles, Cosmic Invasion is gorgeously rendered in beautified pixel art, with all the sprites popping off the screen with vibrant primary colors. There is hardly any story to speak of, at least in the demo I played. (The intergalactic villain Annihlus has unleashed a universe-spanning conquest, and we’re here to fend him off.) It’s a plot that could fit on the back of a cereal box, and I think that’s the point. Cosmic Invasion is not a grimdark, Synder-fied vision of Marvel. Our superheroes have been brought to life exactly as they were found in the comics three decades ago. Captain America looks resplendent in his red white and blue, Wolverine wears a spiky black cowl, while She-Hulk—as she ought to be—is lime green. Too many Robert Downey Jr. monologues have detracted from the fact that these characters are cartoons, at the end of the day. And in that sense, Cosmic Invasion attempts to correct the record.

Cosmic Invasion won’t take anyone by surprise with its gameplay. If you are a veteran of quarter-gobbling brawlers—Streets of Rage, Armored Warriors, or my personal favorite, The Simpsons—you know what you’re getting into here. A stream of baddies enter from the right side of the screen, and all of them are quickly dispatched with a cocktail of punches, kicks, and grapples until they blink out of existence for good. Once they’re clear, you’ll move onto the next battleground and rinse and repeat. Eventually you’ll encounter a boss at the level’s conclusion, which is usually dispatched by standing outside of whatever screen-filling ability they unleash every 20 seconds or so. Like Shredder’s Revenge, the controls are simple enough that pretty much everyone can pick up a gamepad and become a useful member of a winning team. (Beat-em-ups are historically amenable to button-mashing younger siblings, and this one is no different.)

But with the expanded roster of 15 unique superheroes at launch, Cosmic Invasion does seem eager to provide a few more opportunities for strategy compared to its forebearers. Our Marvel superstars here have loosely defined roles, corresponding to RPG-esque arrangements. Captain America and his vibranium shield functions like a tank, while Rocket Raccoon—and his arsenal of grenades and laser pistols—excels at taking down enemies from farther away. Across the board, everyone has what you could call an “ultimate” that can only be dispatched when an energy bar ticks full. Yes, Cosmic Invasion is a retro experience, but it has taken a few important cues from the previous decade of game design.

For what it’s worth, I was most drawn to She-Hulk. Tribute just announced that she would be joining the roster, and I found her powerhouse offense exactly what I was looking for. The tight acrobatics of Spider-Man and eldritch deep-space assaults of the Silver Surfer are all fine and good. But, sometimes, all I want to do is grab an enemy by the throat and drive them into the ground, snuffing out any chance of a comeback. I imagine Cosmic Invasion will inspire that same feeling in a lot of players. This is a game where it’s possible to claim a “main.” Don’t be fooled by its featherweight exterior. It is very much possible to master all the nuances of your preferred character, and carry the rest of the team.

So it’s no surprise Cosmic Invasion seems designed to be a co-op experience first and foremost. That is where the genre historically tends to shine—four buddies on a couch, burning off a Saturday night by fighting through the Negative Zone. But Tribute Games has smartly introduced a mechanic that makes the adventure surprisingly adaptable to a solo campaign. Players select two superheroes at the character select screen, and they can swap them out at will during the levels—like a tag-team from Marvel vs. Capcom. Time the swap correctly, and you’ll be able to chain together some truly flashy combos that look like a triumphant splash panel. I like the idea of being able to mess around with my own builds, and construct some devastating synergies, without necessarily having someone join me on our quest to crush Annihilus. It may offer Cosmic Invasion more staying power than the delightful but transient Shredder’s Revenge.

I only saw two levels of Cosmic Invasion. I carved up the streets of Midtown Manhattan—in front of Spider-verse locales like the Daily Bugle, and billboards for the in-universe soap opera Secret Hospital. (If there’s one thing Tribute Games truly excels at, it’s populating their licensed products with the sort of references that only superfans will get.) Later we explored a helicarrier that seemed to exist primarily so that I could toss hapless soldiers off the edge and to their death. (It also was the site of an elevator battle, which remains one of the great beat-em-up traditions.) It remains to be seen if Cosmic Invasion will be able to sustain its magic across a full campaign. Will tearing apart the legion of evildoers be as joyful during hour six as it is during this glorious prelude? It’s tough to say for sure. But if nothing else, Cosmic Invasion makes an indelible first impression.

Phasmophobia developer Kinetic has finally lifted the veil on its next small map — and it’s a diner.

Nell’s Diner is described as a run-down, retro restaurant complete with a “classic diner counter, comfy booths, and a kitchen preparing some less-than-savoury encounters.” Apparently, every meal at Nell’s “is an (un)happy meal.”

While we don’t have a release as yet — yep, I’m sad about it, too — Phasmo’s 14th map has been confirmed as a “small” venue “with its size akin to the game’s houses. This’ll be excellent news for smaller teams who struggle to get much done on big maps like Brownstone High School or the Sunny Meadows Mental Institution.

That’s not all, of course; the long-awaited rework of Grafton Farmhouse is also set to launch, and we even have a release date for that: August 12.

“Set in an isolated farmland surrounded by fields of corn, Grafton’s design has been totally overhauled to create a dilapidated home that’s best not entered alone,” the team teased. “Faulty electrics, caved-in ceilings and layers of dust await players bold enough to explore the building and its newly themed rooms – from an eerie attic, to the harrowing seamstress room.”

“Nell’s Diner, alongside the Farmhouse reworks, are all so central to our efforts in amplifying the horror in Phasmophobia, and I can’t wait for our community to experience it for themselves,” said Daniel “Dknighter” Knight, director of Kinetic Games and lead developer of Phasmophobia. “Our incredible art team have worked tirelessly on the upcoming content, and the Diner map in particular is one of the most unique maps we’ve added yet. We don’t want to spoil anything, but just know there are plenty of surprises to look forward to.”

It follows a similar reworking of Bleasedale Farmhouse earlier this year, and the release of the Point Hope lighthouse map this time last year.

Phasmophobia is a four-player online co-op psychological horror where you and your team of paranormal investigators enter haunted locations filled with spooky activity and gather as much evidence of the paranormal as you can. Since it launched in early access in 2020, spawning a new genre of ghost hunting games, it’s passed 23 million sales thanks to its blend of co-op horror and investigative gameplay. It made IGN’s 25 best horror games ever made list… but do you agree with our placement?

Phasmophobia is also the latest video game to get the Hollywood treatment. Horror specialist Blumhouse — the credits of which include Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Conjuring, and M3gan — has partnered with the UK developer to create a feature film adaptation. At the moment, nothing else is known, so we’re not yet sure who’ll be writing or directing it, let alone starring in the movie. Nonetheless, it’s an exciting time to be a Phasmo fan.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

As Silent Hill f fans pore over the slew of previews that went live recently (you can read ours right here), two questions are consistently popping up on social media and fan communities: is the latest mainline Silent Hill really a ‘Soulslike’ game? And if it is, what does the term ‘Soulslike’ even mean anyway?

As we described in IGN’s Silent Hill f hands-on preview, combat itself has a similar feel to Silent Hill 2 Remake’s close-range combat. You can dodge enemy attacks with the DualSense’s circle button and activate a light and heavy attack with R1 and R2, respectively. Your limited reach and lengthy attack motions give a realistic, weighty feel to combat. Heavy attacks, especially, feel slow and need to be timed well, “contributing to the feeling that Hinako is just a teenager with limited strength.”

On top of that, however, Silent Hill f’s combat also features timed dodges and counterattacks, with the latter particularly important in combat sequences. Enemies briefly show a sign when a counterattack can be utilized, but we suggested that “unless you have trained your reflex skills by playing games like of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you will likely have a hard time reacting.” That’s where the Focus mode comes in, which can be triggered by holding L2. It allows counterattacks to last longer, while also charging up a power attack that staggers an enemy.

While series producer Motoi Okamoto hasn’t specifically mentioned the Soulslike genre, and by our estimation, Silent Hill f is “by no means a Soulslike,” talk of parries and counterattacks come as quite the surprise to Silent Hill fans. The franchise has never been famous for its clunky combat — story and atmosphere have almost always come first — but Okatomo’s suggestion that f’s combat sequences had been ratcheted up because “challenging action games are gaining popularity among younger players nowadays” has pretty much split the fandom.

The legacy of FromSoftware’s Souls series isn’t just defined by the amazing games in its back-catalog, but also the subgenre that’s been given life thanks to its very existence: The Soulslike. While defining one is kinda tricky, there are core elements that tend to apply to Souls games, such as punishing consequences for death, Souls — or a similar currency — gained by defeating enemies that is integral to character progression and can be lost upon death, methodical combat, typically tied to a stamina meter, and checkpoints that reset the world.

For some, however, Soulslike can simply mean tough melee combat that involves learning to predict an enemy’s attack pattern.

In a thread entitled, “Silent Hill f is not ‘souls-like’ and no one here seems to know what that means,” a Redditor said: “Genuinely baffling. This is link [sic] second graders being told to name an object and call a toaster a blender. Like, I don’t think you even know what a Soulslike is.

“Having a dodge roll and hard bosses applies to like 90% of third-person games that exist lol. Like you people cannot be serious. Souls games have heavy and light attack, tight-nit dodge intensive combat. You have frame-perfect dodges […] huge emphasis on stamina management, with shields, break meters, and focus on killing enemies to get c[urrency].

“Silent hill f has like 1.5 of those. This blatant lie needs to stop. Anyone with eyes who isn’t full of sh*t can see this is nothing like a Soulslike.”

It’s the broader confusion between what and what is not indicative of a “Soulslike” game that’s frustrating players, though.

“To be fair, nobody knows what a Soulslike is,” admitted a respondent. “This is clearly demonstrated on the Soulslike sub by daily arguments about whether or not a game is a Soulslike.”

“I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into FromSoftware’s games and Soulslikes like Nioh,” said someone else. “Nothing about Silent Hill f looks like a Soulslike other than there’s a target lock-on system and a stamina meter. Which is in, you know: a million other games that are not goddamn Soulslikes.”

Confusingly, others who have also played Souls-inspired games don’t concur, however, leading to considerable disagreement to what does, and does not, make a Soulslike game. Is it the melee combat? The need to parry? Or does any game that requires players to learn an enemy’s attack pattern count?

“I’m still excited for the game, but the comparisons to Souls combat are really clear guys, like come on…” posited one. “Invincible dodge, lock on system, light and heavy attacks, multiple attempt boss fights testing your combat prowess… Even the combat UI is clearly inspired by action games.”

“People complain about the combat becoming melee-focused like they don’t remember Silent Hill 4. Breakable weapons are essential without the firearms if we still want the game to stay a survival horror,” explained another fan. “This whole situation feels like Silent Hill 2 Remake all over again with almost the same talking points.”

Okamoto said that tougher combat, with the visuals and music’s “juxtaposition between beauty and terror,” along with the “terrible beauty of the game’s monster design,” makes for a terrifying adventure. Even the puzzles are apparently “grounded in psychological anguish and suffering.” Quite how players react to all that when Silent Hill f finally releases next month, of course, remains to be seen.

Silent Hill f takes us to 1960s Japan, where we’ll follow Hinako Shimizu, a teenager struggling under the pressure of expectations from her friends, family, and society. As displayed at the beginning of the Japanese-language reveal trailer back in March, it is the first Silent Hill game to get an 18+ rating certification in Japan. It’s out for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series on September 25.

In case you’re wondering, no, Silent Hill f is not a sequel to any of the existing Silent Hill games, so you can play it even if you’ve never jumped into a Silent Hill game before. Instead, it will offer a standalone story “independent from the series.” That came from publisher Konami itself, which finally confirmed on X/Twitter that the latest instalment of the horror series — which is usually, if not always, set in a sleepy resort town on east-coast America — will be “a completely new title” that “people who have never played the Silent Hill series can enjoy.”

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

If you’ve played FC 25 online, then chances are you will have encountered input delay, that fraction of a second between pressing the button and a pass or shot on screen being performed, which can often be the difference between a win and a loss.

Just like any twitch FPS or frame-perfect fighting game, EA’s football simulation relies on the actions being performed by its characters feeling as responsive as possible in order for the playing field to feel fair. The developer knows this, and so has put an extensive amount of research into solving this often-vocalised concern among the Ultimate Team community ahead of FC 26’s launch.

“We really needed to understand the root of the problem”, senior producer Sam Rivera told IGN. “We worked with pro players, we gathered data from players all around the world to try to understand the issues, but we didn’t want to only listen to the feedback. We wanted to experience input delay ourselves. So we also traveled to Europe to meet with pro players at their eSports studios. We actually met with content creators at their homes, and we learned a lot.”

Through this research, EA discovered that the issues were manyfold, both at the player and developer end of the pipeline. On the player side, there are things you can do to minimise the chances of input delay occurring. It may seem obvious to some, but connecting to the internet via Ethernet cable is much more stable than Wi-Fi.

“If you play on Wi-Fi, you can have jitter and packet loss, which can create a very delayed experience”, explained Rivera. “We know that more than 50% of FC players are playing on Wi-Fi, so we recommend that [connecting via ethernet] if possible. And then things like TV settings. If you’re playing outside of game mode on a normal TV, you can get anywhere between 20 to over 100 milliseconds delaying your experience, regardless of your connection, regardless of the game, just because of the TV. So there are a lot of things that go into the equation, but what are the causes of delay when you are playing in a high-quality or good connection, or when you’re playing offline?”

Yes, input delay is not strictly an internet-based issue. With players reporting the phenomenon in offline play too, it led Rivera and the team to look into the construction of the game itself to see what was causing the issue:

“First is limited animation coverage. Sometimes we request actions in the game that are very difficult to perform. So if there’s a very fast incoming ball and I want to go for a long pass backwards, that is very difficult, and sometimes there are no animations for that. So it is like in real life, very difficult to perform. It’s difficult for us to capture those animations. However, this year we’re adding many new animations as well to make sure we have more coverage in general.”

“The next one is the animation system box,” Rivera conitnued. “Our animation system is perhaps one of the most complicated systems in the game, and it has to solve every request, every shot, every pass, considering what animations are available, where the opponents are, how the ball is moving, and all of that.

“And sometimes there can be a bug. So, for example, you may want to take a shot immediately, but then the system may decide to delay the shot slightly, to prefer to use the strong foot instead of taking it earlier but with the weaker foot. So things like that happen often, not very often. But when you play 20 matches on your weekend, you will experience it a few times. So this year, we’re fixing dozens of those problems in the game.”

Improvements are on the way in FC 26, then, and from the short amount of time I spent playing it, it did feel noticeably smooth and responsive — with the new one-frame passes and shots being a real highlight. But will input delay ever be an issue that’s completely eradicated?

“Well, it depends”, Rivera responded. “There are many factors that go into input delay. There are factors that are sometimes internal, sometimes external. Then there’s not a simple fix other than providing more information to the community, trying to help with their setups as well, making sure everyone has the right setup. But at least we think that there’s a big opportunity. There’s a big opportunity there. We have done a very good step in FC 26 to create a more responsive game.”

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.