Listen, if you’re of a certain vintage, one of the standout summer holiday movies of your youth will undoubtedly have been Disney’s excellent Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. Back in those terrible and endlessly cruel times we didn’t have all your fancy CGI smothering the life out of every frame, you see, or superheroes like…er…any of those weird Chris guys to entertain us. No, instead we had to make do with amazing practical effects that added texture and believability to everything, and comedic geniuses like Rick Moranis in lead roles so we were guaranteed a certain level of fun.
Yes, for us old fogies, the reveal trailer drop for Obsidian’s Grounded was a very exciting time indeed. Heart monitors were double-checked and pants were quickly changed as we were shown what looked to be a Honey I Shrunk The Kids simulator disguised as a very cool survival game. And really, having spent hours playing the Xbox version over the past year or so, we can confirm that’s exactly what you’ve got here — an incredibly immersive and atmospheric game that drops you (and up to three pals in online co-op) into a backyard full of secrets, stories, and great big bleddy spiders. There are filters for arachnophobes, do not panic.
IGN x ID@Xbox Digital Showcase Returns April 29, 2024
Brenda Saucedo, Communications Manager, Xbox
Summary
The ID@Xbox Digital Showcase will premiere on April 29, 2024, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST.
Get the latest updates on games like Vampire Survivors, Dungeons of Hinterberg, 33 Immortals, Lost Records Bloom & Rage, and more!
If you miss out, IGN will have the ID@Xbox Digital Showcase archived on their channel after the show concludes.
Last year, you got a first-hand look at Karateka, Axiom Verge 2,Sea of Stars, and many other incredible games during the first IGN x ID@Xbox Digital Showcase. Today, we’re excited to announce that the show is returning on April 29, 2024, with another batch of hotly anticipated indies for you to play across Xbox and PC.
On top of epic trailers, fresh gameplay, and new reveals, the show will feature new details on upcoming games like Dungeons of Hinterberg, 33 Immortals, Lost Records Bloom & Rage, and many others.
The ID@Xbox Showcase will premiere on April 29, 2024, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST and you can tune in across all IGN Platforms.
We are also proud to share that the ID@Xbox Digital Showcase will also be available in American Sign Language (ASL): Stream the ID@Xbox Digital Showcase in ASL. We hope you’ll join us for lots of indie goodness, but if you cannot watch live, the showcase will be available on demand post-premiere on IGN’s channels, and of course, we’ll have a recap of everything showcased on Xbox Wire!
We finally have the first full trailer for Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, an upcoming single-player life simulation set in the Middle-earth universe inspired by the books of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tales of the Shire, published by Take-Two-owned Private Division and developed by Wētā Workshop Game Studio, lets you live life as a Hobbit in the idyllic town of Bywater, which is not yet established as an official village in Hobbiton. The idea of the game is to help bring the community together and achieve official village status by throwing the greatest Bywater Festival the Shire has ever seen.
Expect plenty of wholesome, Hobbit-centric gameplay, including creating and personalizing a Hobbit with an array of customisations, decorating a cosy Hobbit home, and venturing outside for cooking, fishing, foraging, gardening, and more relaxing activities in the Shire.
According to Private Division, the Embracer Group-owned Middle-earth Enterprises has licensed the literary works of The Lord of the Rings series, providing Wētā Workshop Game Studio with “the broadest creative license to interpret the underlying lore of the books.”
Here’s the official blurb:
Toss your lure to catch trout from the glistening waters of Bywater Pool, gather wild mushrooms, and then use the collected ingredients to bake a succulent pie to serve for luncheon. With a full belly, stroll back outside to explore the Shire and build relationships with the Bywater locals by helping them to build a garden, sharing one of the many daily Hobbit meals, and more.
There’s also word that you’ll meet “iconic characters and familiar Hobbit families” to trade for upgrades to skills, clothes, home, and more. Private Division failed to say which characters, although the trailer shows a glimpse at a famous wizard.
Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game launches in the second half of 2024 on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
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.
Perhaps you are fatigued by orcs and swords. Maybe you yearn for a simple life of bucolic betterment to recover from your addiction to spicy wedding bands but still fear to stray too far from your beloved fantasy franchise. Oh look, it’s Tales of the Shire, a game set in Middle-earth which features not a single ounce of stabbing nor – as far as I can tell – any gigantic spiders at all. It’s a life sim about building a home in Hobbiton and keeping up with the Proudfeet. Maybe you will also get to lie around getting totally blazed on halfling reefer. Although I did not spot that in this hearthful new trailer.
IGN is proud to once again partner with ID@Xbox to exclusively present the next ID@Xbox Showcase, which promises to feature some of the most exciting upcoming indie games from around the world, including Vampire Survivors, Dungeons of Hinterberg, 33 Immortals, Lost Records Bloom & Rage, and more.
This next ID@Xbox Showcase will premiere on Monday, April 29, 2024, at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm BST. In addition to being packed full of trailers, gameplay, reveals, and much more, the crew of IGN’s Podcast Unlocked will be breaking down all the biggest moments revealed in the post-show, immediately following the main show.
If you’d like to tune into the ID@Xbox Showcase, IGN will be hosting the livestream on IGN.com as well as across our accounts on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more. You can check out the full list below:
While we wait for the big game reveals, we encourage you to check out what was shown at July 2023’s ID@Xbox Showcase, including Karateka, Sea of Stars, Axiom Verge 2, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellboy Web of Wyrd, and Mythforce.
This is another big show from Xbox in 2024 and follows its Xbox Developer Direct, which was headlined by such heavy hitters as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, and Avowed.
The ID@Xbox Showcase is also a great sign that we are getting ever closer to all the video game fun happening this summer, including IGN Live – our one-of-a-kind in-person fan event that will take place June 7 – 9 in downtown Los Angeles. Alongside exclusive reveals, trailers, and interviews from some of the biggest names in gaming and entertainment, IGN Live will also have demos, photo ops, exclusive merch, screenings, food trucks, live music, and more.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
In an ocean of new action-platformers, it’d be easy to overlook Tales of Kenzera: Zau, but casting it away without a second thought would be a mistake. This is a short, sweet side-scrolling action game inspired by the many, many children of Metroid and Castlevania. It’s full of crunchy combat and springy platforming, all of which is fun if not groundbreaking in a genre where others seem to raise the bar on a regular basis. But most importantly, its the touching love letter from a grieving son to their deceased father, told in clever and moving allegories about sending restless spirits to the afterlife, that helps it stand out in the pack.
The biggest first impression Tales of Kenzera makes is how great it looks. With a bold color palette and dynamic environments like lush jungles and rolling hills, finding a screenshot of this game that looks anything less than beautiful would take an act from a spiteful god. Though some of the human characters have clunky or stilted animations, the monsters you’ll fight move with a supernatural gait that is fitting for restless spirits, but also useful for clearly identifying when to attack and when to dodge.
Tales of Kenzera’s African inspirations don’t stop at its looks. Its story of a shaman named Zau that must usher restless spirits into the after life – itself being told as a story within a story about the loss of a loved one – is rich with parables about surviving through grief. This is a common refrain in much of the ancestor-worshiping mythology of Central and East African people, where death, though painful, can be a rite of passage. Besides being a solid representation of a culture that goes under-represented in fiction outside of royal cats fighting over space rocks, it’s also an extremely personal tale about a son losing his dad, inspired by director Abubakar Salim’s own relationship with his late father. The simple, delicate, and poignant way Tales of Kenzera speaks to loss is one that will stay with me long after any specific platforming sections or enemies fade from memory.
The simple, delicate, and poignant way Tales of Kenzera speaks to loss is one that will stay with me.
This is partially because of how well each of its three big sections entwine the actual game mechanics with those larger themes – for instance, the key ability gained during a section that involves climbing a volcanically active mountain to chase the Great Spirit of Humanity is one that lets your indomitable human will run through walls like a charging bull. But its also effective thanks to how well written and acted the sparse cast of characters is, especially Zau himself and Kalunga, the God of Death who is more wise uncle than Grim Reaper.
On the other hand, the action of this roughly six-hour adventure through the exotic land of Kenzera meets modern Metroidvania standards, but rarely exceeds them. Each zone is jam packed with platforming sequences that don’t really test your reflexes or abilities, with the exception of some optional sections that limit checkpoints and push the pace for some sort of reward. I enjoyed all of the dashing, diving, and wall jumping in Tales of Kenzera, especially a mid-game chase through a shadowy pocket dimension – but there are very few moments that stand out like this, let alone when compared to the impressive areas of contemporaries like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
I enjoyed all of the dashing, diving, and wall jumping, but there are very few moments that stand out.
There’s a distinct lack of collectible chasing in Tales of Kenzera, too. That might bum out folks who enjoy the treasure hunting aspect of Metroidvanias, but I quite enjoyed the trade off of having to do much less backtracking through winding paths I’ve already explored. And some findables do exist like Echoes, which are voice notes for unexplored lore bits, I just didn’t feel much incentive to stick around any particular place simply to find them. Approachability seems to be the main focus here, and I think Tales of Kenzera succeeds in that regard.
Combat is simple but satisfyingly quick and impactful. Zau’s shaman masks grant him powers of the moon and the sun, which have ranged and melee focuses, respectively. You can switch back and forth between them instantly to adapt to whatever an encounter calls for, usually breaking color-coded shields to open monsters up for big damage. As a fan of Housemarque’s Outland from 2014, I was happy to see this mechanic return in an evolved and more refined form. The moon and sun also have other unique utilities, be it shooting hovering enemies or rushing down ground-based baddies.
Synergies between these enemies add an extra challenge that is by no means controller-breaking, but still clever enough.
Enemy variety is rather small, but the monsters are all pretty different from one another, and they are introduced at a gradual pace. That includes things like the tanky Ngao thats near invulnerable head on, or the bug-like Adze that drains life from all creatures in the area, friend or foe. In the later half of the campaign, the synergies between these enemies add an extra challenge that is by no means controller-breaking, but still clever enough to force tactical thinking and prioritization.
Zau doesn’t have many skills to choose from, and the skill tree itself is limited, but after the first tier of upgrades I didn’t feel like I was truly missing out on much. You get all of his vital skills through progressing the story, such as Kabili, which lets you hover across gaps, or the Zawadi grappling hook, and a few of them have some value both in and out of fights. For example, the same cerulean spear that can freeze waterfalls into walls to kick off of can also freeze enemies and open them up to free damage.
That said, freezing enemies and then nailing them with Zau’s big spirit attacks really trivialized some encounters toward the endgame. This includes some of the bosses, who are high in spectacle but low in difficulty, with fights that end up being pretty similar to one another. I wish there were more of the Spirit Journey trials, which are sets of enemy gauntlets that were consistently the most demanding fights available, forcing me to mix all of my skills and know how to survive.
Until I played Tales Of Kenzera: Zau I figured people had run out of ways to make original platformers, but an Afrofuturist story-in-a-story framing for a mythological platformer about healthy ways to deal with grief sure did teach me to not underestimate human creativity. I really liked a lot about Tales Of Kenzera, and got annoyed by a bunch of stuff too – and the division seems to be that a lot of the former falls on the story and design side, and the latter on the mechanical side, which I guess isn’t ideal for a platformer. But still, I think it’s worth persevering.
The Switch is no stranger to an arcade racer or two. While it’s all well and good playing these with a standard Joy-Con or Pro Controller set-up, this latest dock prototype from Far East Pinball has left us firmly of the belief that the likes of Out Run should be played no other way.
Is it a pure novelty? Maybe. But the independent manufacturer’s arcade-inspired add-on at least appears to be the most authentic way of capturing that driving cabinet feel from the comfort of your own home (albeit on a much smaller scale).
Explore New Worlds and Solve Environmental Challenges With Gaming This Earth Day
Trista Patterson, Director of Sustainability, Xbox
Summary
Explore games that allow players to explore and engage with the natural world
Help Duriel sacrifice his horde as they donate buckets of maggots to Tiggywinkles animal rescue hospital
Learn about a new building at Rare, which has sustainability at its heart
At Microsoft we have made bold commitments to improve the impact of our business on the environment. Consequently, Xbox has made strategic, innovative and meaningful investments that scale up across the gaming industry:
Our Shutdown (Energy Saving) power mode, Active Hours and Carbon Aware console updates have made the use of our consoles more energy and emissions efficient.
The Xbox Sustainability Toolkit has empowered game developers to optimize their game code for energy efficiency on Xbox consoles and beyond.
In addition to these software innovations, we are making advancements in hardware and infrastructure spaces as well:
We are supporting impact reductions in-office, with Rare unveiling a new LEED Gold accredited building on its UK campus — Xbox’s first mass timber building in Europe for Xbox Game Studios.
As important as it is that we make these material changes, one of the great benefits gaming can have on environmental issues is often overlooked! The medium of gaming can act as a tool which provides world exploration for those that may not easily access the natural environment. It also fosters outside of the box thinking, empathy, and team action – all necessary ingredients to solve environmental issues. Gaming can unlock the world, break the barriers of what is possible and inspire environmental action for generations to come.
Read on to learn more about gaming as a medium for environmental change and how Xbox is celebrating Earth Day.
Bring climate and sustainability science to life with incredible animals. Minecraft Education Planet Earth III created in partnership with BBC Earth engages students with a free curriculum that includes lesson plans and discussion guides. Explore the way these animals’ lives are intertwined by playing as both predator and prey, parent and offspring, friend and ally, and discover the precarious balance of survival.
Research climate change while learning the principles of AI. With Minecraft Education AI for Earth students will learn principles of AI while taking their first steps into this exciting realm of computer science. Learners will use the power of AI in a range of exciting real-world scenarios, including preservation of wildlife and ecosystems, helping people in remote areas, and research on climate change.
Explore games with environmental themes on Game Pass
Simulation games provide a unique ability to explore and grow environments while also managing and regenerating natural resources. Check out these games that highlight these themes within their mechanics and stories:
Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) (Available with Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Cloud) – Build a sustainable ecofarm and carefully manage your relationship with the ecosystem in this peaceful open-world farming adventure on a planet at the far edge of the galaxy. This game encourages sustainability efforts, including planting trees to replace those you harvest and cleaning up pollution. Invite up to three friends to create a flourishing homestead.
Coral Island (Available with Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Cloud) – Play a part in conserving native flora and fauna, dive into the seas to clean up the coral reef, and pick up trash all around the island in this family-friendly farming simulator inspired by Southeast Asia. The development team from Indonesia included themes of conservation in the way players must maintain the island’s ecosystem all while encouraging you to form a bond with nature.
Stardew Valley (Available with Xbox Game Pass on Console, PC, and Cloud) – You’ve inherited your grandfather’s overgrown farm plot and with a little dedication, you might be able to restore Stardew Valley to greatness! With an anti-consumerism plot against the JoJa Corporation and a whole lot of land to explore, Stardew Valley showcases love of nature and focuses on life’s simple pleasures.
Give
The Seattle Aquarium uses Xbox Controllers to research the depths of local waterways
Xbox is excited to spotlight and support the incredible underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) research work of the Seattle Aquarium—a program designed to inform habitat restoration efforts throughout the region and reverse the decline of local kelp forests. The aquarium’s ROV Nereo, named after the scientific name for bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), is a small, customizable, and easily maneuverable device that can dive up to 100 meters deep and transmit live video and data to the surface. Our favorite part? The researchers use Xbox controllers to pilot the ROV Nereo and navigate through the dense and dynamic kelp forests in Elliott Bay, the waterway surrounding the aquarium.
In addition to providing food and shelter for hundreds of marine animals, bull kelp also sequesters carbon from the water and locally mitigates the effects of ocean acidification. While some regions in the Salish Sea have thriving kelp forests, other regions are seeing up to a 95% decline, and researchers aren’t always sure why. The aquarium’s ROV work helps researchers survey declining kelp ecosystems and the factors that impact their health so the broader Washington kelp conservation, restoration, and management community can work towards restoration.
To expand the scope and scale of this work, the aquarium is collaborating with the Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources Shellfish Program to help them get their own ROV program up and running. The aquarium is also partnering with state agencies and Reef Check to compare ROV and scuba diving as methods for collecting data, and to evaluate the effectiveness of different environmental monitoring strategies. By using Xbox controllers to operate the ROV, the aquarium is not only making research more fun and accessible to future generations of marine conservationists, but also demonstrating the power of technology for environmental conservation and education. Through education and outreach events with a variety of local organizations, the aquarium hopes this program will inspire more people to appreciate and protect the kelp forests and the marine life they support.
Duriel the Maggot King has enlisted Diablo IV fans to help sacrifice his horde. For every 25 likes on the Earth Day post from Diablo’s X account, Blizzard will be donating a bucket of Maggots to Tiggywinkles, up to 666 buckets of maggots, to help feed their bird nursery. With each bucket containing roughly 45,000 maggots, you could help Blizzard fund Tiggywinkle’s bird rehabilitation program for more than two years by simply liking their post.
Tiggywinkles is a specialist animal rescue hospital in the UK. They are dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating all species of local wildlife. Every animal brought to the hospital is given a chance and treated with the best available care. Any animal or bird unable to be released back to the wild is maintained at the Hospital, in as natural conditions as possible. Head to the Diablo X account to help turn likes into buckets of maggots for the birds.
Engage
Barn X on the Rare Campus
Xbox has constructed its first mass timber building in Europe at Rare, the Xbox Game Studio and creator of Sea of Thieves. The new solar-powered studio is already inspiring game developers to create unique shared experiences for players.
Located in Twycross, Leicestershire, Rare’s new building – called ‘Barn X’ – was opened in early 2023 on the Rare campus, which is surrounded by nature in the heart of the English countryside.
Rare’s Studio Head, Craig Duncan, said: “Our new barn is a demonstration of leading-edge sustainability and environmental design, creating a model green workplace. The opportunity to expand our campus by building a state-of-the-art environment for our teams while supporting Microsoft to achieve its sustainability goals has been genuinely rewarding. The new space design promotes collaboration, creativity and wellbeing, which are essential ingredients for a team to create fun experiences for players everywhere.”
Barn X has recently been certified LEED GOLD for its design and construction – a worldwide-recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership. It is one example of how Microsoft is implementing sustainable solutions for the future as it pursues its goal to be carbon negative by 2030.
You can read more about the new building and how it is enabling creativity and enhancing wellbeing here.
Playing for the Planet Annual Impact Report
As a founding member of the Playing 4 The Planet Alliance, we are excited to share the 2023 Annual Impact Report. The report includes:
A measure of progress towards Playing 4 the Planet’s strategic goals.
Updates on focus areas, such as decarbonization, The Green Game Jam, and more.
A review of members’ commitments towards sustainability.
And even more from Team Microsoft: Visit Microsoft Unlocked to explore innovations across Microsoft products, partners and customers that are helping to achieve our carbon goals!
Earlier in April it emerged that EA Play would get a price increase starting May 10. EA plans to increase the standard tier for EA Play from $4.99 to $5.99 per month, or for those that prefer to pay for a year in advance, the price will increase from $29.99 to $39.99. In contrast, the Pro tier of EA Play will increase from a monthly fee of $14.99 to $16.99 or $119.99 annually (a $20 increase).
The inclusion of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor in EA Play would soften the blow of a price rise. Presumably it will also be available as part of an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which includes EA Play, although the Microsoft Store is yet to show it.
IGN’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor review returned a 9/10. We said: “If Respawn makes a third game like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Fallen Order, it’ll complete the best Star Wars trilogy in 30 years, hands down.”
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.
