Sunday, February 28, 2021
Valheim: Improve Your Performance by Enabling the Vulkan API
Complete the Sapporo Requests Easily With This Persona 5 Strikers Guide
Google Stadia Reports Detail Internal Troubles, 'Millions' Spent on AAA Ports
Call of Duty Zombies: How to Complete All Dark Ops Challenges in Outbreak
Animal Crossing: It's Your Last Day to Catch These Bugs, Fish, and Sea Creatures
The Sinking City Developer Frogwares Says to Not Buy the Game on Steam
Valheim: How to Get Honey and Craft Your Own Beehives
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Pokemon 25: The Album Set to Feature Katy Perry, J Balvin, and Post Malone
CoD Zombies: How to Complete the Dragon Relic Easter Egg in Outbreak
Call of Duty Zombies: How to Unlock Wonder Weapons in Outbreak Mode
The Day Before Devs Break Down the New Gameplay Reveal
"The game has multiple choices after the takedown: using different types of finishing moves depending on the weapon, healing and tying up another player. And especially creative players will be able to come up with various other methods: they can down and tie up another player, and then attract the attention of a horde of zombies, who will happily dine [on the character], and so on," they explained.
As for the gameplay's final shot of a mysterious, darkened hall and a doorway, the developers teased that locations like this will "be like a cold show after a boiling hot day." And really, much of what Fntastic is aiming to do is hoping to bring something fresh and unique to the genre.
"It's no secret that [moost survival MMO's] are all built on the sandbox model, when you set goals for yourself and wander around the desert world. In The Day Before, we reinvented everything from the in-game goals to the ways we approach the quality of the game mechanics," the developers noted.
The Day Before currently has no release date, but be sure to check out the original announcement trailer.Sci-Fi Survival Game Breathedge Gets April Console Release Date
Valheim: All Cheat Codes and Spawn Commands
Friday, February 26, 2021
Valheim: How to Summon and Defeat Moder
CoD Zombies: 10 Essential Tips and Tricks for Getting Started in Outbreak Mode
Bravely Default 2 Beginner's Tips and Guide
Outriders Review in Progress: Demo Impressions
Since seeing our first hands-on preview of Outriders last summer, I’ve been cautiously optimistic about People Can Fly’s new co-op shooter/RPG. I was disappointed by the latest delay, but as a consolation prize, Square Enix has released the first act on schedule as a demo for us to start forming impressions off of. After spending the last day or so wreaking superpowered havoc on PS5, I’m still not sure whether the final game will end up being the Mass Effect/Destiny/Gears of War mashup I’ve been hoping for, but it’s definitely sold me on the fun of its sci-fi setup.
What I find most engaging about the Outriders demo – which covers its prologue and first chapter and has kept me going for about six hours so far – is its insistence on more closely resembling a single-player RPG than a “shared-world” shooter in the vein of Destiny and The Division. I may not be able to make huge, story-altering decisions like in a classic BioWare RPG, and they’re still yet to crack the code of making every player the story’s Chosen One simultaneously, but being able to have optional conversations with almost every NPC I interact with and seeing tangible in-world consequences to my actions – like unlocking a new merchant with a permanent discount by completing a side quest – goes a long way toward getting me invested in Outriders’ post-double-apocalypse world.
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Though maybe “post-post-apocalytic-apocalypse” is a more appropriate way to phrase it, because while the planet our crew of survivors from “Earth that was” land on was originally full of verdant forests and bizarre fauna, by the time the story kicks off in earnest it’s become anything but. The world dubbed “humanity’s last hope” quickly goes awry for our titular customizable character and their friends, and an unexpected lengthy time jump (which is a trope I’ll admit I’m a sucker for) sends things into territory that would make even the maddest of Maxes wince.
Its writing may not win any awards this year, and cutscenes suffer from some unfortunately out-of-sync audio, but it does a serviceable job of moving the story along and endearing its NPCs to you, whether they’re novel takes on established archetypes or making good use of People Can Fly’s affinity for self-aware banter. The latter can create some clashing tones, though. This is clearly a story that wants to address serious themes like humanity’s penchant for conflict and overconsumption, but it also kicks off with a somewhat bombastic attitude that doesn’t really let up, especially in the first chapter showcased in the demo. It sort of feels like hearing someone yell “YEE-HAW” during the somber acoustic part of a country set; it’s not entirely out of place, but it doesn’t quite fit in, either.
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Similarly, the prologue (and several trailers, too) hinted at a lush and colorful world to explore, but most of what we see in the demo is the drab browns and greys of war-torn lands and refugee camps. Hopefully we’ll see more varied environments and characters in the full release, but for now the majority of the color in the world comes from the flashes of red, blue, and green as you carve your way through each early-game zone with a variety of weapons and special abilities.
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Combat is, for the most part, some solid fun – as one would hope since it’s where 90% of Outriders’ gameplay lies. It follows the satisfying (if familiar) formula from other co-op heavy looter-shooters and adds a gory dash of time-bending elemental superpowers for good measure. Gunfights – whether playing solo or with friends – are frenzied affairs that leave battlefields literally coated in blood, and there’s something morbidly hilarious about seeing a whole-ass ribcage rolling through a skirmish like a bony tumbleweed.
In more or less standard fashion, the four classes all boast strengths, weaknesses, and skill sets that will be familiar to anyone with some experience in classed-based action games – though where other squad shooters typically have a variety of roles for players to fill (healer, support, etc), Outriders is very clearly focused on the DPS side of things, at least based on the abilities available in the demo. Yes, the four classes each “fill a role” on the team, but aside from the Devastator’s Golem ability (which effectively just turns on “tank mode”) they’re all in service of how quickly you can reduce your opposition to a sticky red paste. That uniformity may be a turn-off for anybody who really loves to play The Healer or Buffy McBufferson, but it also allows those who opt not to team up with others to feel safe playing as any of the four classes. And there’s a very real possibility that they’ll become much more different as they level up in the full game – there was an entire skill tree that the demo barely scratches the surface of.
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I spent a decent amount of time exploring on my own as both the tank-ey Devastator and the far squishier Trickster, and found that the combat was balanced as well for one person as it is for a group – the only notable difference being that while I was playing with friends there were a lot more enemies to deal with in each encounter to scale up the challenge. The roster of enemies present in the demo is fairly limited, featuring run-of-the-mill riflemen to melee-focused berserkers and the occasional superpowered miniboss – but they provided enough tactical variety to demand some quick thinking and strategy, especially in larger groups. Aside from some floaty movement and a frustrating lack of clearly climbable (or, perhaps more importantly, non-climbable) objects, I’ve had a grand time-bending earth or using teleportation and stasis powers to chunkify hordes of nameless baddies, and there was something sadistically gratifying in seeing just how ruthlessly one set of powers could crush, incinerate, or straight-up disintegrate enemies when paired with a teammate’s if I was playing with a group.
Thus far, what I’ve played of Outriders might not revolutionize the looter-shooter formula, but it’s a solid take on it and has a good variety of upgrades and perks that mesh well with the chaotic pace of combat and promise some really interesting builds for late-game characters. While the weapons are a fairly standard array of assault rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles – with some notable inclusions like the “double gun” or more powerful Legendary-tier weapons – the inventory metagame gets more interesting as you collect rarer gear. While “Unusual” (I don’t know why they can’t just call them “uncommon” like everybody else) items have simple passive buffs like additional crit damage or armor piercing, Rare (or better) items often have special perks that can either enhance your class-based abilities or even provide new ones, like generating a protective shield with every hit.
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Similar to other loot grinds, it appears you can either sell or disassemble items to purchase or craft better gear, though the crafting system was offline in the demo. I’m glad that progress from the demo will transfer to the final game when it launches on April 1, though, because I’ve found a winning set: a rifle with the aforementioned shield ability and a preposterously powerful auto-shotgun that restores health with each kill. I hope I can upgrade these bad boys as I reach higher levels and world tiers (which increase both enemy difficulty and loot quality as you level up) in the full game.
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Outriders’ demo highlights a lot of what it has going for it – fun combat, both for fire teams or solo players (though it’s definitely more fun with friends so far), intriguing sci-fi plot hooks with a lot of potential, and a unique take on how co-op shooters can adopt elements of more traditional RPGs. That said, it also shows some spots where the apocalyptic space shooter is starting to stumble. Replayability is a big part of whether a not a co-op RPG shooter remains enjoyable, and while combat in Outriders is a bloody good time, I found myself yawning through my third and fourth runs of its several sample missions. Similarly, while I really enjoy some of the concepts introduced in the story, what I’ve seen so far is on a tightrope between being the first game to crack the “shared-world shooter with a good story” puzzle or another instance of mashing “skip cutscene” as fast as possible – and nothing takes you out of a story faster than buggy cutscenes.
What I don’t think the Outriders demo has done yet is really sell me on it in the long-term, and while that’s very hard to do in a few hours it’s also crucial in determining whether a game like this is worth becoming invested in. I’m definitely interested to see more of its world and unlock more nifty pseudo-magic, but I’d venture a guess that 70% of my playclock in similarly structured games takes place well after the credits have rolled, and this demo provides little to no insight on what to expect from Outriders’ endgame. Its developers have detailed a fairly robust endgame plan, but whether or not it has the staying power of other service-adjacent co-op shooters – or if that’s even the team’s goal – remains to be seen. Hopefully, it’ll keep up the fast pace of its action and decently fun, pulpy story – because I really want to level up that auto-shotgun.
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This demo hasn’t been quite substantial enough that I’m willing to put a temporary score on Outriders yet, but I am having a good time with it and am looking forward to playing more for the full review. Look for that sometime on or around the release date of April 1.
State of Decay 2 Devs Apologize and Explain Confusing 'Nazi Punching' Trait
Tensions over a confusing in-game character trait’s effects have left at least one State of Decay 2 fan feeling burned by developer Undead Labs, who has now issued an apology and clarification, PC Gamer reports.
Steam Marines developer James Seow had been innocuously tweeting about their experience playing State of Decay 2 for the past month, until they discovered one of their characters possessed the “punched nazis” trait. The gist of the trait is that the character is quick to resolve conflicts with physical violence, particularly when arguments arise from strongly held convictions.
Materially, the trait just adds a damage bonus and makes your character more irritable to others and was flagged as a negative trait.
As Undead Labs refined State of Decay 2 post-release, that trait became less and less nuanced. All arguments between characters had ended up being categorized under one umbrella, making any strongly held belief, no matter how ideologically different, penalized the same.
Noticing this, Seow tweeted at both the Undead Labs and State of Decay 2 Twitter accounts asking why the game had “Nazi shit” in it. Seow was soon blocked by both Undead Labs' and the State of Decay 2 Twitter accounts.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-games-to-play-on-xbox-series-xs&captions=true"]Undead Labs tweeted Thursday that the blocking of Seow was the result of auto-blocking software that was inflamed by negative comments regarding Black History Month.
Undead Labs continued by saying the “punched nazis” trait was created long before State of Decay 2’s 2018 release date and was never intended to be a negative trait.
“One designer actually told us firsthand stories about punching Nazis in the underground music scene,” Undead Labs tweeted. “We loved it and boom, the trait was born. It was designed as an overall positive trait with a skill bonus — it grants four stars of Fighting experience, and also made the character more likely to argue passionately for their beliefs. We figured someone punching Nazis in a mosh pit is going to have some strong feelings.”
State of Decay 2’s morale system, which came later in development, altered the readout of the trait’s text to highlight the damage bonus as a positive and the propensity for arguments as an exclusively negative.
“So today, this trait has a positive skill bonus (white text) and red text in the UI due to the likelihood of arguing,” Undead Labs tweeted. “It’s been that way for years and we never realized how confusing that looks until tonight. It’s not common, we have over 1300 traits.”
Undead Labs concluded by saying their next hotfix will address the issue by making the trait only have the positive damage bonus and remove the “irritable towards other people” sub-trait.
Now that we know it, we’re fixing it. We’re removing the negative Morale effect from the trait and it will only have its positive effect on Fighting experience going forward (that has never changed). This change will be in an upcoming hotfix ( how it will appear before & after) pic.twitter.com/URDlsq6RuJ
— State Of Decay 2 (@StateOfDecay) February 25, 2021
“We think it's better overall for no one to think of it as a negative trait ever again,” Undead Labs replied to one Twitter user.
IGN has reached out to Seow for comment, but Seow says on Twitter that Undead Labs reached out to them via a private message.
“[I] woulda accepted the design explanation and ‘we'll fix this’ eight days ago, sounds very corporate damage control to me now,” Seow tweeted. “Glad it only took a week of me and other people yelling.”
[poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/shambler for IGN.Mortal Kombat Trailer Breaks Record Previously Held by Deadpool 2 and Logan
Mortal Kombat was created by Midway in 1992. The series quickly spawned two film adaptations with Mortal Kombat in 1995 and its sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in 1997. Mortal Kombat 11, the latest entry in the video game series, was released in 2019 and was named IGN's best fighting game of the year. For more about the upcoming movie, take a look at a who's who of the cast to get familiar with the actors taking on these iconic characters. Mortal Kombat will debut in theaters and on HBO Max (for 31 days) on April 16. [poilib element="accentDivider"] J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.Because of our fans, Mortal Kombat became the most viewed red band trailer of all time. #MortalKombatMovie pic.twitter.com/JTrRGorb8N
— Mortal Kombat Movie (@MKMovie) February 25, 2021
Reacting to the Pokemon Presentation and Bravely Default II - NVC 549
Timecodes:
00:00:00 An Announcement! 00:00:30 Pokemon with Miranda Sanchez! 00:25:10 Bravely Default 2 Review Discussion 00:41:00 More News! Monster Hunter Rise, Pyra/Mythra presentation 00:47:00 What we’re playing: Curse of the Dead Gods 00:53:00 What we’re playing: Ghosts ‘n Goblins: Resurrection + more 01:01:00 Question Block!NVC is available on your preferred platform!
You can also Download NVC 549 Directly HereYou can listen to NVC on your preferred platform every Thursday at 3pm PT/6pm ET. Have a question for Question Block? Write to us at nvc@ign.com and we may pick your question! Also, make sure to join the Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast Forums on Facebook. We're all pretty active there and often pull Question Block questions and comments straight from the community.
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Hood: Outlaws and Legends Shows Off Its Take on Robin Hood
Deathloop Brings Back Powers From Dishonored
New Pokemon Snap Gameplay Reveals New Features
IGN Fan Fest: Everything Announced and Revealed So Far
New Shadow and Bone Trailer Revealed
IGN debuted a new trailer for the upcoming fantasy series from Netflix, Shadow and Bone, during an exclusive cast Q&A. Based on the Grisha book trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone will follow a young soldier who uncovers a mystical power that may bring some peace to a war-torn world. If you’re looking forward to the upcoming Netflix series, make sure to also check out the cast’s breakdown of the new Shadow and Bone trailer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/26/netflixs-shadow-and-bone-official-teaser-trailer-ign-fan-fest-2021"]Open-World Pokemon Spin-Off, Pokemon Legends: Arceus Announced for 2022
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Remakes Revealed
Where to Preorder New Pokemon Snap
Preorder New Pokemon Snap
- Get it at Amazon - $59.88
- Get it at Best Buy - $59.99
- Get it at GameStop - $59.99
- Get it at Nintendo eShop (digital) - $59.99
Other Preorder Guides
[poilib element="commerceDeal" parameters="slug=other-preorder-guides&type=list"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Chris Reed is IGN's shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed. [widget path="ign/modules/recirc" parameters="title=&type=articles%2Cvideos&tags=us-shopping&count=3&columnCount=3&theme=article"]Pokemon Presents 2021: Everything Announced
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Remakes Announced
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/26/pokemon-brilliant-diamond-shining-pearl-official-trailer"] Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be released for Nintendo Switch in late 2021. These are remakes of Ninendo DS' Pokemon Diamond and Pearl from 2006.Open-World Pokemon Legends: Arceus Announced for Early 2022
Taking place in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl's Sinnoh Region from long ago, Pokemon Legends: Arceus is an open world take on Pokemon.First came Sinnoh remakes. Then came Sinnoh pre-makes.
Introducing #PokemonLegendsArceus, a new challenge and a new frontier for the Pokémon world. pic.twitter.com/Kgm8Y1UPjm — Pokémon (@Pokemon) February 26, 2021
New Pokemon Snap Gets a New Gameplay Trailer
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/26/new-pokemon-snap-official-gameplay-trailer"] New Pokemon Snap, which will be released on Nintendo Switch on April 30, 2021, got a new gameplay trailer. Developing...IGN UK Podcast #581: BlizzCon and State of Play Post-Mortems
IGN UK Podcast #581: BlizzCon and State of Play Post-Mortems
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=ign-uk-podcast-episode-500-photos&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"]Batman and Harley Quinn Are Returning to Fortnite
Harley Quinn's DC Rebirth costume is the first of several new items and skins being added to Fortnite. (Image Credit: Epic Games)[/caption] Zero Point is a six-issue limited series scripted by Christos Gage (Spider-Geddon), based on a concept and story consultation from Epic's Chief Creative Officer Donald Mustard. The series features art from Reilly Brown, Christian Duce, Nelson DeCastro and John Kalisz. Zero Point brings the Dark Knight and other DC icons like Catwoman and Harley Quinn crashing into the Fortnite universe, with Batman struggling to remember who he is and where he came from and solve the mystery of the Zero Point. The series will be in-canon with the Fortnite universe and add new layers to the game's mythology. DC's press release teases, "As [Batman] fights to recall his past and escape an endless loop of chaos and struggle, he’ll come face-to-face with the likes of Renegade Raider, Fishstick, Bandolier, and more. While the world's greatest detective strives to make sense of this strange new world, he’ll uncover the shocking truth about the Island, what lies beyond the Loop, and how everything is connected to the mysterious Zero Point." Each issue of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point will be released day-and-date in print and digital formats, but Fortnite fans will have special incentive to buy the print versions. Each print issue will include a DLC code for a Batman-themed item or costume to use in Fortnite, with the first being a DC Rebirth Harley Quinn costume. Collecting all six codes will allow players to unlock an exclusive "Armored Batman Zero" skin. So yes, you can finally be Batman again in Fortnite, but that privilege requires a certain level of commitment. Alternatively, Zero Point will also be free to read for subscribers of the DC Universe Infinite service, along with the DLC codes. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=batmanfortnite-zero-point-1-preview&captions=true"] “When DC first approached me about doing a Batman/Fortnite series I thought it would be a lot of fun,” said Gage in DC's press release. ”After speaking with Donald [Mustard] and discovering just how deeply we'd be diving into the secrets behind the world of Fortnite, I was amazed! This series will reveal things about Fortnite that have never been seen or heard before yet are very much part of the canon of the game.” “I’m also looking forward to integrating other DC Super Heroes into the series, characters that Batman has existing relations with,” Gage continued. “It’ll be exciting to share with fans how these relationships will be reshaped in this new world. The art by Reilly, Christian, Nelson, and John is stunning, and my prediction is that this series will blow everybody’s mind, whether you’re a fan of DC, Batman or Fortnite.” Each issue of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point is priced at $4.99 for the standard cover and $5.99 for the cardstock variant cover. The series will debut on Tuesday, April 20, with new issues shipping twice-monthly until the finale on July 6. Batman isn't the only DC hero putting in an appearance in Fortnite this year. Epic recently added a Flash skin modeled after the Arrowverse TV series. The game is also bringing in Ellen Ripley and the Alien Xenomorph. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/26/fortnite-ripley-and-alien-xenomorph-trailer"] Previously in 2020, Epic collaborated with Marvel Comics to bring Thor, Wolverine and other playable Marvel heroes into Fortnite: Season 2, Chapter 4. That crossover also had a comic book tie-in in Fortnite X Marvel: Nexus War - Thor #1, though that issue was framed a standalone prelude to the in-game content. Funnily enough, this shared Fortnite connection is the closest thing to a Marvel/DC crossover we've seen in almost 20 years. The two publishers haven't collaborated on a crossover together since 2003's JLA/Avengers, though the final issue of DC's Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock offers some hope that'll change one day. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
PlayStation Plus Games for March 2021 Announced
We awarded Final Fantasy 7 Remake an 8/10 review, saying that it "delivered on letting me relive (part of) a classic in stupendous fashion, while also standing as a great RPG all its own." While this PS4 version won't upgrade to the shiny new version later this year, it is of course compatible with PS5. Maquette is a PS5 recursive puzzler from Graceful Decay and Annapurna Interactive, and will make its debut on PS Plus. The game stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Seth Gabel playing romantic couple Kenzie and Michael, who are characters that will guide players through the game but won't be "explicitly seen on screen." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/06/final-fantasy-7-remake-review"] Remnant: From the Ashes is a Dark Souls-inspired shooter that we awarded an 8/10 review, calling it "a co-op action-RPG that's punishing and grotesque, but exciting and beautiful all at the same time." Farpoint VR earned itself a 7.5/10 review, as we said, "fantastic gunplay and freedom of movement sets PSVR's Farpoint apart from most VR shooting galleries." You have until March 1 to claim February's free PS Plus games, Destruction AllStars, Control: Ultimate Edition, and Concrete Genie. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.Final Fantasy VII Remake, Maquette, Remnant: From the Ashes and Farpoint are your PlayStation Plus games for March: https://t.co/tQFJNoURI9 pic.twitter.com/cPOmwsKxHN
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 26, 2021
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade: Square Enix Clarifies Yuffie Episode Is PS5 Exclusive
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Could Be Coming to PS Plus in March, But Won't Be Upgradeable to PS5 Version
PlayStation 5 Internal Storage Upgrades Will Reportedly Be Enabled This Summer
Monster Hunter Rise Is Coming to PC in 2022
Nintendo Switch title Monster Hunter Rise will eventually come to PC, according to producer Ryozo Tsujimoto. While the latest title in the Monster Hunter series will launch on Switch on March 26, Tsujimoto told IGN Japan in an interview that PC players can expect to get their hands on the game sometime in early 2022.
“We received a lot of requests for a PC version of Monster Hunter Rise, particularly from overseas players, and so we have decided to develop a version for PC, which we aim to release in early 2022,” said Tsujimoto. “This is still under development, so I’d like to share more detailed information when the time is right.”
No other details of the PC version were available.
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While Monster Hunter has long been a killer franchise in Japan, 2018’s Monster Hunter: World and its Iceborne expansion brought the series to global success, with World selling over 16.8 million units worldwide, and a further 7.2 million sales for Iceborne. It’s encouraging to hear that Capcom is listening to series fans around the world when it considers platforms for new entries such as Rise.
Monster Hunter Rise has been specifically designed with the Switch’s capabilities in mind – for example, Tsujimoto said in the interview that during development “we considered the characteristics of the Nintendo Switch, which can be used as a handheld, and with that in mind we focused on hunting at a higher tempo than before.”
It is not clear how such aspects will translate to a PC version. But Rise’s emphasis on action results in tightened core mechanics that should be fun to play regardless of platform, and the game has been made even more welcoming to new players than the already accessible Monster Hunter World.
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For example, in addition to the feline Palico buddies from previous games, Rise introduces Palamutes, canine creatures that assist the player in battle and that can even be ridden like a horse, making exploration much faster and more dynamic. “We especially wanted to have the fun of traveling around on the Palamute available in multiplayer,” said Tsujimoto. “Getting the necessary performance out of the [Switch] hardware required some adjustments, but we were able to achieve it eventually through continued development.”
While the Switch hardware does come with technical limitations, Rise is a beautiful game with stunning art direction and a complex ecosystem that allows monsters to interact organically with one another. It is notably the first Monster Hunter on a handheld system to feature seamless maps with no loading between areas, a challenge that the development team worked hard to pull off. So there should be no reason to worry that a PC version would be held back by the game’s Switch origins.
Capcom has had success with previous ports to more powerful hardware, such as when 2011’s Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate received a gorgeous HD update for Wii U in 2012. So perhaps a PC version of Rise could receive a similar makeover.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/26/monster-hunter-rise-kamura-village-tour-and-new-details"]
For more on Monster Hunter Rise, take a tour of Kamura Village in the video above, with brand new surprising details about its facilities, like the Gathering Hub, Canteen, and Training Area! Also, check out our Monster Hunter Rise preview of the game overall.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]Ryuichi Kataoka is a freelance writer for IGN Japan. Daniel Robson is Chief Editor at IGN Japan.
Valheim: How to Use the Ymir Flesh
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Outriders: Demo Tips and Guide
7 New Halo Infinite Shows Off Zeta Halo, Day and Night Cycle
Ripley and the Alien Xenomorph Join Fortnite
Ripley and the Xenomorph follow both Fortnite's addition of Street Fighter's Chun-Li and Ryu and the crossover with Tron. This news also arrives a few days after Epic Games announced that any player who purchased its loot boxes called Loot Llamas in the Fortnite: Save the World mode will receive 1,000 V-Bucks for free following a class-action settlement. For more on Fortnite, check out where you can find every Surface Hub so you can scan every server, and other crossovers including the Flash, The Terminator, and Sarah Connor. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Xbox Live Is Down and Users Can't Sign In
The official Xbox Support team says it's working to fix these issues but until that services like Xbox Live, multiplayer, and xCloud are all down for the moment. It's unclear what the cause of the outage is, but it's severe enough to knock out all of Xbox's major services. IGN will update this story as it develops, but for the time being, anyone looking to play multiplayer or cloud games on Xbox will have to wait. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is News Editor at IGN.We are aware that users may not be able to sign-in to Xbox Live at this time. Our teams are currently investigating to fix this issue. We will update here and on https://t.co/PzAdjUFMJj when we have more information to share!
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) February 25, 2021
Fortnite: Where to Scan a Server at a Surface Hub
Where to Scan a Server at a Surface Hub in Fortnite
The tricky part of this quest is present in the name. “Surface Hubs”. One would assume that these hubs were located somewhere on the surface of the map. In actuality, they all can be found in secret bunkers underground. There are three surface hub locations:- Hunter’s Haven
- Colossal Coliseum
- Stealthy Stronghold
Hunter’s Haven Surface Hub Location
Head to the South West side of Hunter’s Haven; you’ll be looking for the building with only one door. Enter and descend the stairs. Once you hit the bottom, head towards the stairs going up. The hub can be seen in a little area right above your location. Run up and scan away.
Colossal Coliseum’s Surface Hub Location
As soon as you land, make your way to the bottom, Southside of the Coliseum. There will be stairs heading underground – you may have to break a few gates first. Once you hit the bottom, head towards the stairs leading up to a small room. Two servers will be waiting inside but you can only scan one of them.
Stealthy Stronghold’s Surface Hub Location
Stealthy Stronghold’s surface hub is located on the South East side of the map. You’ll want to find the ruins seen below. As soon as you enter, turn to the left and drop down the hole leading to the steps. Once you hit the bottom, look around for a small room. Head inside to scan the server.
Fortnite Week 13 Challenges
Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 5 is almost over so you'll want to make sure to get on this week's quests if you want to hit level 100 and unlock that sweet “Baby Yoda” back bling. Here are this week’s quests:- Scan a server at a Surface Hub
- Throw three fruit at Hunter’s Haven
- Deal 300 damage opponents at Hunter’s Haven, The Orchard, and Retail Row
- Deal 300 pistol damage
- Bathe in the purple pool at Steamy Stacks
- Enter the Zero Point
- Destroy five Crystal Trees
How Returnal Takes Advantage of PS5’s New Features
Returnal Is a PS5 Exclusive Roguelike with Plenty of Promise
Arcade Is Dead… But Not Entirely
As a longtime fan of Housemarque’s games, I was quite disheartened when the studio announced in 2017 that it would be moving on from its arcade bonafides because, despite critical acclaim, the studio’s games just weren’t selling as well as they’d hoped. One free-to-play shooter experiment aside, Housemarque returns with what feels like very much a blend of the studio’s arcade roots, married with the grander shooter work done on the unreleased Stormdivers. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/returnal-atropos-trailer"] That marriage of the new and old is immediately clear in Returnal’s behind-the-back, third-person shooter gameplay, which, as evidenced by past trailers and my most recent look, has all the promise of past Housemarque hits like Resogun and Nex Machina. Playing as astronaut Selen crash landing on an alien planet, Returnal quickly throws players into the gauntlet of this dangerous new world. Action looks fast, frenetic, and engrossing, as the more cinematic third-person camera puts the player’s perspective more directly into the midst of battles. Enemies can take on all matters of shape and form, from tentacled nightmares to overtly Alien-inspired designs, and they can swarm the player on land and by air quite easily if you’re not smartly controlling the crowd. But I don’t want to speculate on how its gunplay will feel too much just yet, since I haven’t gotten a chance to go hands-on with Returnal,. Everything I’ve played from the studio before gives me confidence in what’s to come, though, and the gameplay certainly looks like it’s capturing that intense, thrilling flair that has been a hallmark of Housemarque’s past work, including some epic boss battles like the first one I saw that will certainly test how well a handle you have on the gameplay so far. Instead, what interests me most is Returnal’s focus on roguelike elements, a core gameplay design that’s more in depth than any randomization we’ve seen from the studio before, while also simultaneously being the most story-focused game they’ve made yet. And while the design of a rougelike may be new for Housemarque, their design has always been about imbuing experiences with replayability. “Returnal, just like many of our other games, is designed fundamentally for replayability,” Game Director Harry Krueger said. “So anything that is only fun once should only be experienced once. In practice, that means that we've adopted a somewhat hybrid approach to our procedural generation. So we have a series of different areas, such as treasure rooms, combat spaces, narrative spaces. And these of course, are handcrafted, to allow those flourishes of quality to really be dialed in, to let the narrative beats appear consistently, to let the mood and the audio and all of those elements just consistently appear, no matter what the configuration of the world is. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=returnal-game-awards-trailer-screenshots&captions=true"] “However, the configuration of those rooms, the order they appear in, the numbers they appear in, and whether some will appear at all, is dictated by the random generation. Even after you do familiarize yourself with some of these spaces, you will find yourself in very unfamiliar situations in them.” He pointed to the example of a treasure room, which I saw in my hands-off demo, that could have a different configuration of rewards, or traps, with different types and numbers of enemies or victorious spoils appearing in each go. Given that Returnal is a roguelike, though, and its DNA is wrapped up in the live-die-repeat ethos of the genre, it can often be just as important to make sure the new aspects of each run are as engrossing as what carries over throughout the entire experience. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/returnal-combat-trailer"]The Connective Thread
While Housemarque is definitely keeping some of those specifics secret to let players discover them, Krueger did speak to some of the mechanical elements that remain permanent throughout Returnal. “In the beginning, you will have a fairly limited move set. You will be teased by a lot of seemingly inaccessible areas and obstacles that you cannot overcome. But then as you reach these milestones of progress, for example, when you defeat a boss or you reach a new discovery through exploration, you will gain permanent unlocks, either as abilities or items, that will allow you to reach previously inaccessible areas, and also give you strategic advantages, both in traversal and in combat,” he explained. Krueger also noted that this will translate to the world of Atropos as well, so opening a key bridge in one run will ensure that it is open in future runs, too. He emphasized that because Returnal is meant to encourage exploration quite heavily, players should find permanent progress in this capacity. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-game-delay-announced-in-2021&captions=true"] “You're opening more shortcuts and more traversal possibilities for our exploration-heavy world. And that allows each player to define their own pace and their own style. So you want to just go straight to the boss again, be my guest. But you can also feel free to have that pressure valve, where you can just explore, power-up your character and give yourself more of a fighting chance as well,” he said. One of those areas that will see progress, as Krueger alluded to, is Returnal’s story. As glimpsed in some previous trailers and shown at length in my demo, Returnal makes time for its story by shifting the player’s perspective to Selene’s in first-person. Those quick flashes of a more terrestrial home in previous looks are no accident - as Selene’s journey continues, players will intermittently stumble upon an earthly home, her home, amidst the ominous expanse of Atropos. “[The shift to first person] was about providing that intimacy,” Narrative Director Gregory Louden said. “The best way to see things is to be in someone's shoes. It's to be in the space suit, within there, and looking at these objects. It also obviously allows a closer camera You should look around the house for clues and remnants of the story for you to uncover. On first look, they may seem inconspicuous, but they have much larger ramifications once you know the full story.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/returnal-gameplay-reveal-trailer"] While I of course only saw glimpses of that story play out in the demo, as a fan of the work Hades did in the roguelike genre of really bringing story to the forefront, it seems like Selene’s journey is a key component of Returnal’s adventure. And that extends beyond just these house sequences - as the game progresses, Selene will begin to discover her own corpse with audio logs that help to fill in more gaps in the story. And players can progressively learn more of the alien language present on Atropos to discover more about the world. “Our main goal has been for it to be mysterious and haunting, not in a sense of horror, but haunting in a sense that it's a story you can replay in your mind and you can rethink,” Louden said. “And when you see an image the second time, you re-contextualize, and you understand. “It's a roguelike, it's a game about repetition, and it's a game about discovery...Great stories are about loops, and it's about a character coming back to the start and re-contextualizing, learning from, growing from information they didn't have at the start and evolving.” While I’ve only seen a bit of Returnal’s loop, it’s clear Housemarque is ready to learn and grow from its own loops, pushing its ethos for action-packed gameplay with replayable hooks to evolve with new ideas and a deeper interest in story than ever before. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.-
Don't miss any of those sneaky stars hiding in Princess Peach's Castle in Super Mario 64.
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Watcher of Realms is a next-gen fantasy RPG with a big focus on collecting and upgrading heroes that will take to the battleground and fig...
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Playing Super Mario 3D All-Stars? Don't miss these classic secret stars in Super Mario 64.
