Category: Video Games

Content Warning publisher Landfall Games has announced the viral Steam hit has sold an impressive one million copies even after its eye-catching free launch period.

Landfall released Content Warning for free for the first 24 hours, signaling that it planned to charge for the game after the launch period. The Lethal Company-style co-op survival horror saw an impressive peak concurrent player number of 204,439 on Valve’s platform off the back of the promotion, but some questioned whether it would prove successful in the long run.

Clearly, the launch strategy has paid off. In a statement published on X/Twitter, Landfall Games said Content Warning has now sold one million copies on top of the 6.6 million players who downloaded the game for free. “Thank you all so much for liking our scary Iill game,” the publisher added.

It’s a remarkable success for Content Warning, which was developed by just a handful of people and released on April 1 as part of Landfall’s tradition of releasing a game on April Fools’ Day. Take a look at IGN’s Guides for all the info we’ve gathered so far on the monsters, useful items available to purchase, and our tips and tricks for maximum views.

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.

If you’re watching the Fallout TV show as a fan of the video games, you might be wondering what XP level Lucy would end up with, based on all the events of the series.

It’s a question that has popped up on social media ever since the Fallout TV show made its debut on Prime Video and fans worked their way through to the end of season one. Some are now having fun trying to offer an answer, applying the levelling system from Fallout 3 to what we see Lucy get up to during the show.

We won’t spoil the show at this point, but it’s worth pointing out that it revolves around vault dweller Lucy MacLean venturing out into the wasteland for the first time in a scene reminiscent of the Bethesda’s trademark ‘stepping out into an open world’ set piece.

Warning: spoilers for the Fallout TV show now follow:

If the eight episodes of the Fallout TV show were a Fallout video game, what amount of XP might Lucy have accumulated? X/Twitter user Many A True Nerd has some theories. At the start of the show, Lucy mentions her proficiency with repair, science, and speech skills. There are subsequent signs that suggest Lucy is playing Fallout on one of the easier difficulties (that bear went down with one shot from a pistol!), but also on Survival Mode, given the problems she has with water.

Ok, let’s run some data here;

The Fallout TV series presumably runs by Bethesda rules, and thus we can reasonably assume the ratio of XP-from-combat to XP-from-quests is going to skew heavily towards combat. This works against Lucy’s levelling speed. https://t.co/JN3WewswPv

— Many A True Nerd (@ManyATrueNerd) April 14, 2024

But what do we see Lucy actually do in the show that would earn XP? Not much combat (she shoots a few radroaches at one point, but talks her way out of most situations). She leaves the Vault, discovers Filly, escorts Wilzig, then goes off on a few side quests. One of these involves taking down an organ harvesting organization (potentially the biggest source of XP), and another involves shenanigans in a separate Vault.

Here’s Many A True Nerd’s verdict: “Overall, four quests representing the main plot, and two side quests, plus extremely limited combat, though technically she probably receives XP for Maximus’ kills when he’s an active companion. There’s also XP for location discovery, but it feels like she didn’t explore that much.

“Even allowing for bonus survival mode XP, it’s hard to see her having more than 4,000 – 5,000 XP across the entire journey, with probably an extra 1,000 tossed in for Main Quest completion. That would put her about Level 8, and I feel like I’m being generous.”

Ubisoft has already come under fire for single-player game Star Wars Outlaws having a Season Pass, but fans are expressing frustration once again upon noticing its highly anticipated Jabba the Hutt mission is locked behind it.

As reported by Spanish outlet Area Jugones, Ubisoft’s website outlining the contents of the Season Pass —an optional extra to the $70 / £70 standard game so far only available through its $109.99 gold edition and even more expensive $129.99 ultimate edition — reveals it includes access to the Jabba’s Gambit mission at launch.

“Play the exclusive Jabba’s Gambit mission at launch,” the Season Pass explainer reads. “Just as Kay is putting together a crew for the Canto Bight heist, she receives a job from Jabba the Hutt himself. Turns out that ND-5 owes Jabba a debt from years ago, and he has come to collect.”

It’s unclear how much of the Jabba the Hunt content will be locked behind the Season Pass, but Ubisoft has said in the past players can work for and even betray Jabba as the head of one of Star Wars Outlaws’ criminal factions. It’s now unclear whether this content comes at a premium or if it’s a part of the standard game.

The mission description very much sounds like the introduction to working for Jabba, however, and at the very least, this confirms $70 / £70 won’t give players access to all of Star Wars Outlaws. IGN has asked Ubisoft for clarification and comment.

“And that’s why you don’t defend these sh**ty early access editions with arguments like, ‘it’s not taking anything away from other players, it’s just to play a few days earlier’,” Zephy said on ResetEra.

“I get missions and stuff being added after release, free or paid depending on the scope and what have you, but I think it’s a jerk move to lock stuff that’s otherwise going to be there day one behind an extra paywall,” added Temascos.

Star Wars Outlaws was revealed in 2023 as a scoundrel adventure set between Star Wars: Episode 5 – The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode 6 – Return of the Jedi. It stars Key Vess, her droid partner ND-5, and her beastie companion Nix as they attempt to carve out their own success during Star Wars’ golden era of criminal activity.

It arrives August 27, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC, with the $70 / £70 Standard Edition joined by the aforementioned $110 / £105 Gold Edition, which comes with three days of early access alongside the Season Pass.

An even more expensive, digital-only Ultimate Edition comes with both of these perks alongside cosmetics (the Rogue Infiltrator Bundle and the Sebacc Shark bundle) alongside a digital art book.

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

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has ruled out a transmog system coming to the hit PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter, insisting: “it doesn’t make sense.”

Ever since Helldivers 2’s explosive launch in February, some players have called for a transmog system for the game’s myriad armor pieces. Transmog, short for transmogrify, itself a portmanteau of “transfigure” and “modify”, would theoretically let players change the appearance of armor pieces without affecting their stats.

Helldivers 2 armor does feature gameplay affecting stats, and some are deemed more “meta” than others. One of the most popular armor pieces gives players a 50% chance not to die when taking lethal damage, for example.

Responding to a user on X/Twitter, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt said a transmog system wouldn’t make sense for Helldivers 2, and put that down to a commitment to realism.

“We are not doing transmog,” Pilestedt said. “It doesn’t make sense – equipment looks different because it has different effects. Swapping one for the other is like having an apple that tastes like bacon or the other way around.”

While Pilestedt’s comments are sure to disappoint some Helldivers 2 players, it is consistent with the philosophy underpinning the game. Things work as they look like they should, from the way weapons fire to enemy weak points. Even loading into a mission and dropping down onto a planet is rooted in this idea that everything you see is happening in real-time and for a reason. Indeed, much of Helldivers 2’s eye-catching emergent gameplay stems from this design. A transmog system would perhaps undermine Helldivers 2’s thus far crystal clear visual communication.

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.

The success of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show has spilled over into the video games upon which it is based, boosting player numbers in even decades old titles.

Steam data tracker SteamDB reported that Bethesda’s Fallout games have collectively more than doubled their concurrent players on Steam with the release of the Fallout TV series. That’s for Fallout 4, released in November 2015, Fallout New Vegas, released in October 2010, and Fallout 76, released in April 2020. The boost is significant enough to propel Fallout 76 to a new peak concurrent players Steam record of 39,455 — four years after it came out.

Even the older, non-Bethesda developed Fallout games are enjoying a resurgence, albiet more modest. Fallout 2 has a new Steam concurrent peak of 1,062 players, achieved on April 14, and the first Fallout video game hit over 2,300 concurrents on the same day.

While Steam maker Valve makes player concurrents public, equivalent stats for games on console and PC are unavailable. But it seems safe to assume the Fallout games are enjoying a boost everywhere they are played, given the breakout success of the Fallout TV show.

Indeed, Fallout 4 is the top-selling video game on Steam by revenue, ahead of Counter-Strike 2 and Helldivers 2. Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition is fourth, Fallout 76 is fifth, and Fallout New Vegas is 11th. Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition is 14th. Fallout 76 is up a whopping 41 places in the chart.

Social media is littered with anecdotal reports of people who have finished the Fallout TV show and are now either jumping back into a Fallout game they already own, or buying one to experience more of the post-apocalyptic world.

Fallout has more than doubled its concurrent players on Steam with the release of the Fallout TV series. pic.twitter.com/eE0dQiYXQW

— SteamDB (@SteamDB) April 14, 2024

Bethesda was ready to capitalize on the expected renewed interest in all things Fallout with a number of promotions and sales across the series. It also announced a release date for the hotly anticipated next-gen update for Fallout 4, although that has had consequences for the equally hotly anticipated DLC-sized mod, Fallout London.

Elsewhere, we know Bethesda has Fallout 5 in its long-term schedule, but don’t expect that to come out for many years, given The Elder Scrolls 6 is next after Starfield and that itself isn’t due out until at least 2018.

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.