The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has concluded its investigation of a case the Communication Workers of America filed against Activision Blizzard, opting to file a complaint with charges alleging the company illegally surveilled employees and violated labor laws by threatening to shut down company communication channels. However, the NLRB also dismissed a charge that the company violated Section 7 laws by shutting down a chat channel during an all-hands meeting last summer.
The three charges
The charge of surveillance goes back to July 21, 2022 when employees staged a walkout in protest of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, demanding protections from a growing strain of anti-abortion laws in the US, as well as labor-neutrality commitment from Activision Blizzard amid growing unionization efforts and repeated reports of company union busting. The CWA alleges in its filing that Activision Blizzard illegally surveilled employees "through managers and security" while they were engaged in protected labor activities.
The second charge moving forward relates to alleged threats that Activision Blizzard threatened to cut off access to certain internal communication channels "because employees are discussing wages, hours, and working conditions."
Meanwhile, the dismissed charge is related to an all-hands meeting "where employees were discussing wages, hours and working condition," with the CWA alleging that Blizzard violated Section 7 rights protecting employee organizing efforts by cutting off access.
The news was shared with employees today in a Slack message from Activision Blizzard chief administrative officer Brian Bulatao, where he claims that chat for future all-hands meetings was disabled following feedback that the chat in one particular meeting "was particularly disruptive after some employees used the chat to disparage the work of the Diablo Immortal team and others."
He goes on to claim that "Blizzard leadership" then "suggest[ed] a future change to Blizzard's Slack policy to limit harassing content in company-wide channels." Finally, he states that Blizzard presence at the walkout consisted of "communications teams (to assist with press) and security (to ensure a safe environment)".
His message continues:
We stand by our Slack and Workplace Integrity policies, and we stand by you and your right to opt-out of channels not directly related to your job function should you choose to. We continue to support employees' rights to express their views and values. you have the right to express those views on public and private company-provided communications channels - but abusive behavior is never okay.
Blizzard vs. the CWA
In an official statement from Blizzard, the company claims that the shutdown of the all-hands chat was done in the name of protecting employees from "toxic workplace behavior," and refers to the remaining allegations as "false claims."
“We strongly believe employees shouldn't have to be subjected to insults and put downs for their hard work – especially on company communications platforms," the statement concludes.
IGN has reached out to the CWA for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.
Ever since 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took the Zelda franchise in a new direction, it’s become somewhat common for audiences to point to other game franchises’ similar shifts as “Breath of the Wild moments.” Super Mario Odyssey, Sonic Frontiers, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Elden Ring, and a handful of other games have been described in these terms, and not just because most of them also had large, open fields of grass waving in the wind. And when Kirby and the Forgotten Land was announced as the first fully 3D mainline Kirby game in the franchise’s 30-year history, Breath of the Wild was once again mentioned.
Speaking to Shinya Kumazaki, general director of the Kirby franchise, and HAL Laboratory expert director Tatsuya Kamiyama at the 2023 Game Developers Conference, I asked them if they felt that Kirby and the Forgotten Land was such a moment for the series. After all, as Kirby’s first fully 3D game, it significantly changed the ways in which players move around levels, explore, and fight as Kirby.
In response, Kumazaki clarified that developer HAL Laboratory doesn’t try to develop Kirby titles with the intent of becoming like any other game in any other series. But then he elaborates further:
“If we're talking about what Breath of the Wild perhaps did for the Zelda series in that it was a revolution, revolutionized the series, I think Kirby [and the] Forgotten Land was kind of at a turning point. And I think you can consider it as the first step in our kind of ongoing moving forward challenge of now also creating 3D Kirby games.”
However, Kumazaki clarified further: just because HAL made one 3D Kirby game, that doesn’t mean the entire future of the franchise is going to follow suit.
“Really, it's about the kind of gameplay experience that we can provide to the players, and how best to optimally bring that gameplay experience that really dictates how we kind of express that in the game,” he says. “It's just that now we have this new genre of 3D as another method, another way, another form of providing that optimal gameplay experience through an optimal Kirby gameplay experience.”
In fact, he told me later that HAL Laboratory’s first concern in making a Kirby game is its gameplay experience, and what the core gameplay idea is. From then, they decide whether the best expression of that is 2D or 3D – though he notes that it was only more recently that HAL felt comfortable enough working in 3D to express their ideas fully (seemingly in part due to various quirks of Kirby’s simple, spherical design). It wasn’t until Kirby’s Blowout Blast — a 3DS eShop title that featured basic 3D gameplay — that the team felt confident enough to make the jump.
“With titles like Air Ride, we had the environment to create a 3D [game]...but it's the creative skill and experience that we didn't have as much. And we wanted to really be able to experiment and see if that's something we can bring to the mainline series…We understood the hurdle for creating a 3D Kirby game was going to be high. And really with Kirby's Blowout [Blast] is when I looked into some of the previous challenges that the series have had, and really tapped into the experience that people have gained, the teams have gained while we're developing for that. And we got to a point where we felt like we had the skills, we had the experience. And when we tested out, it started to kind of come together, and that's why we felt like we're able to provide a 3D Kirby experience that's going to be approachable for many people.”
We also spoke to Kumazaki and Kamiyama about whether or not HAL might remake more Kirby games in the future like Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe, as well as whether or not the final boss of Forgotten Land was too challenging (or not challenging enough) for players given Kirby’s approachable nature - keep an eye on IGN for these stories later today.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter@duckvalentine.
Watching developer Alx Preston walk me through some early Hyper Light Breaker gameplay at this year’s Game Developers Conference makes the already inscrutable world of Hyper Light feel even more esoteric. Hyper Light Breaker was already a game told in strong imagery rather than language, with a story to be slowly puzzled out over time and significant effort. But Breaker is a total gameplay departure from Drifter, so experiencing it through cryptic hints from Preston about what’s going on as he pummels his way through piles of enemies in rainbow-tinted biomes gives it even more of an aura of mystery.
As with Drifter, Hyper Light Breaker’s world is awash in brilliant colors, littered with strange runes and ruins, and is completely devoid of actual language explaining what’s going on in it, with characters using pictograms to express their thoughts instead. Everything I see is vaguely futuristic, but also ruinous, and somewhat overgrown, with characters and enemies alike fusing technology with vaguely shade-like presences and monstrous forms. Lacking explicit storytelling context and full of colorful mystery, it’s easy to recognize Breaker as a Hyper Light game on sheer force of aesthetic alone.
But aesthetic is where most of the at-a-glance similarities end. Where Hyper Light Drifter was a single-player (at launch), top-down, action-adventure game, Hyper Light Breaker is a different genre entirely. It’s a multiplayer 3D roguelike action game centered around players heading out from a hub into a procedurally generated world, defeating bosses, and returning to do it all again. I watch Preston putter briefly around a bustling hub city full of NPCs before he heads out into the world for a run. He’s playing single-player, but tells me Hyper Light Breaker will include online cooperative multiplayer that’s flexible to wherever different players might be in the game’s story. There will be different character classes, he says, with different abilities as well as some degree of customizability.
As a “Breaker,” players are sent out into the Overgrowth to take down minions of the Abyss King, the mysterious big bad at the heart of Hyper Light Breaker. But it doesn’t seem easy to get to said Abyss King. To do so, players have to take down multiple bosses across different procedurally generated biomes, each of which is gated behind multiple “beacons” that must be activated for each boss to appear. Preston starts out in a lovingly pink biome deeply reminiscent of the first area of Drifter, and begins zipping around in search of beacons as a number of small enemies pop up to waylay him.
I’m optimistic that the transition from top-down to 3D combat won’t be too tough to make for those who loved Drifter.
Fortunately for Drifter fans, combat in Breaker (at least visually) seems familiar. There’s a wider array of weapons than before for stringing together combos, with customizable loadouts of melee and ranged weaponry alongside special abilities such as grenades and (my favorite) a giant cube that Preston dropped on enemies’ heads repeatedly. But the familiarity comes from a certain pleasant chunkiness that I loved from Hyper Light Drifter, where hits connect hard with satisfying sounds and reactions. While it’s hard to say more without actually having hands-on time, I’m optimistic that the transition from top-down to 3D combat won’t be too tough to make for those who loved Drifter.
That familiarity is also aided by what looks to be some fun movement tech. Breakers can do more than just dash around the Overgrowth – they can climb, leap off cliffs and glide, and (my favorite) scoot around on a hoverboard, shooting off ramps and walls in a system clearly taking cues from Heart Machine’s recent Solar Ash. I’m not sure just yet if the movement tech will be quite as robust as Solar Ash, but letting players parkour their way around each biome freely was certainly the right lesson to take.
I watch Preston track down a few beacons, each of which is accompanied by its own challenge. Most are combat-oriented – he fights a miniboss to gain access to one, another is guarded by several waves of smaller enemies – but one beacon he finds hidden inside a crumbling building that isn’t guarded at all, just tricky to find. It strikes me as a significant diversion from the narrow, room to room structure that’s become the common parlance of the roguelike genre lately. At any point, Preston can wander off to a different biome and tackle some beacons there, or farm some enemies, or just explore some of the cool decaying structures if he feels like it. It’s all open from the start of each run, though some biomes may be trickier to navigate early in a run than others. He later plunders a lush, nature-themed green biome, and I can see a snow-covered area in the distance that we don’t visit. I point out a massive, building-sized sword sticking out of the ground in the distance, and Preston confirms I can go there if I want. He notes there are five biomes “right now” – he’s coy as to whether or not there may be more.
There’s a lot happening on screen at once as Preston explores. He’s collecting materials off enemies that he hints will be used for weapon upgrades, noting that you’ll keep some currency after each run. Players will always get something out of a run, he says, “even if you die in like ten seconds.” There’s also a day/night cycle constantly chugging along that coincides with periods of relative safety and danger in the world, as well as indicating that the enemies in the current run are growing more and more challenging as time passes.
With all the requisite beacons lit, Preston heads for a “boss gate,” where the area’s boss appears for a confrontation that showcases more of Breaker’s combat. He’s fighting in a sizable colosseum of sorts against a bipedal, vaguely lizard-like creature that throws enormous punches. There’s another boss I see later that’s a large bipedal wolf holding a giant glowing sword. It’s tough to get a sense of boss combat at this stage – Hyper Light Breaker is still months away from its planned early access launch, so some of the monsters and bosses such as these are still a bit overtuned and not representative of final combat, Preston tells me. But I do learn that story progression is tied to these bosses, and every boss kill unveils a little more of the story, the Abyss King, and the “mystery of the Never-Die Curse,” which Preston says is at the heart of Hyper Light Breaker.
My takeaway from seeing almost 45 minutes of Hyper Light Breaker played in front of me is that this is functionally a very different game from Hyper Light Drifter, but that the vibes are right. It’s a different genre, a different (if linked) story, and with wildly different gameplay loops and combat styles, even if the chunky feel and fundamentals remain at the heart. But the dreamy futuristic aesthetic and overall mysterious vibe is, thus far, spot on, and I’m eager to see how Hyper Light Breaker fits in the larger Hyper Light universe that Heart Machine seems to be building.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter@duckvalentine.
The end of March has brought the PS5 even more success than ever before. Circana named it the best-selling console of February 2023, driving 29% of gaming hardware sales. Some of the credit for the PS5’s sales growth goes to Hogwarts Legacy, which became the #1 best-selling game to date, selling over 12 million copies two weeks after it launched.
Meanwhile, Tchia became an instant indie open-world darling upon its release on PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium. Developed by Montreal-based Awaceb, players assume the role of a titular 12-year-old girl and embark on a Breath of the Wild-style journey through an island inspired by the South Pacific nation of New Caledonia — and learn some Drehu and French along the way. Here are the 25 best PS5 games that take place far beyond the peaceful island.
Some games make excellent use of the DualSense controller’s innovative haptic feedback, others will make your gaming TV shine with 4K gameplay, and some are just plain great games. Without further ado, here are our updated picks for the 25 best PS5 games.
Most recent game updates were made on January 27, 2023.
The Traveler, the Genshin Impact protagonist, has been stranded in the magical land of Teyvat, searching for their estranged sibling, ever since the open-world game was first released in 2020. Their tale is still in the midst of unfolding, as new updates continually add new map pieces to the puzzle - magical jungles, vast deserts, treacherous mountain peaks - and introduce us to extraordinary new characters who become part of their story. It’s a joy to explore and discover each new chapter that arrives - apologies to our protagonist’s lost sibling, but we’re glad to savor the journey rather than race to its resolution.
“Windblume’s Breath,” the 3.5 update for Genshin Impact, is now available. Two characters have been added to Genshin Impact since the update: Dehya and Mika.
24. Apex Legends
From its inception, Apex Legends shook up the Battle Royale genre, featuring a handful of unique characters, fast-paced action, and some of the best movement in an FPS still to this day. While Apex Legends has had its ups and downs over the years, especially with issues surrounding its matchmaking, bugs, and expensive cosmetics, its dedication to consistency for content and pro-play still makes it one of the best FPS on the PS5. Apex has remained consistent with releases of new maps, characters, weapons, game modes, cosmetics, and balance updates.
The PS5 update for apex Legends improved on it with 4K output, Full 60hz gameplay, HDR, higher resolution shadow maps, and greater LOD distances to bring it closer to the true current-gen experience. And future updates are still planned to take advantage of the adaptive triggers, haptics, add 120hz gameplay, and other visual improvements, meaning, in theory, it should only get better with time. If you have a few friends and want to play a stellar FPS together without spending money, Apex Legends is the game for you.
The Sun Squad Collection Event, which brings a new battle royale mode called Heatwave, is running in Apex Legends until April 11.
23. Dead Space
The 2023 remake of Dead Space takes players back to dismembering necromorphs in the terrifying hallways of the USG Ishimura with not only an extremely gnarly new lick of paint, but a new focus on improving Issac Clarke’s story at every opportunity. While rebuilding from the ground up, EA Motive masterfully manages to remain extremely faithful and respectful to the original, while also adding all the exciting extra bells, whistles, and violence we’ve come to expect in a modern survival horror game. Simply put, 2023’s Dead Space is the ultimate way to experience this horror classic.
In a recent Reddit AMA on the Dead Space subreddit, senior game writer Jo Barry expressed EA Motive’s interest in continuing to remake the Dead Space series. He said in part, “We've said both internally and externally that we'd be interested in continuing our work on the Dead Space franchise. Our Core group is passionate about the brand and we need to discuss what's the right next step for us.”
22. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves takes the two PS4 Uncharted games, polishes them up for the PS5 with 4K visuals, optional performance modes, haptic feedback and adaptive triggers with the DualSense, and more. While it clearly wasn’t as heavy a lift as The Last of Us Part 1's translation to PS5, these two action-adventure classics simply hold up incredibly well, even with just a few improvements.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End still delivers gut punches, massive set pieces, and grins in spades, giving Nathan Drake, Elena Fisher, and Victor Sullivan the send off they so rightfully deserve. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a generally underrated PS4 gem, also stands tall, telling a thrilling side story in India with fan favorites Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross. If anyone with a PS5 missed these two heavy hitters the first time around, this collection is a no-brainer.
21. Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is something simultaneous fresh and familiar. It puts a huge spin on the Little Big Planet universe, swapping its typical freeform customization with a linear platforming structure worthy of comparison to the Mario games that clearly influenced it. It’s a platformer full of charm and delight, from its creative levels to its absolutely fantastic music, and one that’s even better when played in co-op with a few friends. There aren’t a whole lot of games like Sackboy: A Big Adventure on PlayStation 5, and it’s fun enough that it would likely standout from the pack even if there were, making it a must-play for any platformer fan.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla doesn't reinvent the wheel, but does offer one of the series' biggest worlds to date. What better way to break in your new PlayStation 5 than spending hundreds of hours in a Viking epic that will take you across three Kingdoms and even into the halls of Valhalla? The PlayStation 5 version massively improves the frame-rate, resolution, and loading times making the journey across the frozen north smoother and faster, making it the ideal platform to jump into Ubisoft's latest assassin adventure.
Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition is the rare next-gen upgrade that is only available on consoles, not PC. The new Vergil Mode, hyper-difficulty mode, Turbo Mode, and high-frame-rate mode are all console exclusive, meaning if you want to play Capcom's blistering action game at its best, you'll have to play it on a PlayStation 5. The long-awaited sequel in the Devil May Cry series is a return to basics, ditching the convoluted mythology for pure, unadulterated action.
18. Hitman: World of Assassination
Hitman: World of Assassination is the complete package of IO Interactive’s stunning stealth trilogy. Across 20 globetrotting locations, Agent 47 embarks on the biggest and most intricate missions of his career, from the catwalks of Paris, through the race tracks of Miami, to the pulsing rave halls of Berlin. That journey showcases the finest examples of IO's formula: your targets can be dispatched with cold-blooded efficiency, or fall prey to Rube Goldberg-style series of events that results in a much more comical death (or if something backfires, a Wile E. Coyote-grade failure.) Each mission is so packed with opportunities and creative methods of murder that not even five replays will reveal every secret. This truly is a treasure trove of trouble.
World of Assassination, initially released as a three-game trilogy, was great on PS4, but it’s even better on PS5. The missions from the original two games have been upgraded and polished to a modern shine, ensuring this feels a coherent package. It also now includes Freelancer, a roguelike mode that pushes your stealth skills to their very limits. Regardless Of the mode, though, you can kill a guy by making him slip on a banana peel, which is funny anywhere, but on PS5 it’s also very pretty thanks to increased resolution, a steady 60fps, and an overall smoother experience over the last-gen version.
Death Stranding was a divisive game upon launch for sure, even for fans of Hideo Kojima's madcap video game concepts. But if the idea of an Odyssian journey to reconnect a broken United States by delivering packages appeals to you (there are dozens of us) then you were rewarded with one of the most visually stunning, uniquely playing games of the generation. The Director's Cut adds several quality of life improvements that should make the game easier for players who just want to experience the story, and adds a bit more combat and stealth for fans who miss the Metal Gear universe.
Kojima Productions is producing Death Stranding 2, which may not be released until 2024.
16. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition
Everyone has heard of The Witcher 3 by now. One of the best RPGs of the last generation and the game that firmly cemented CD Projekt Red as one of the world's premier game developers. While critics have heralded the game's visuals, storytelling, and gameplay, the same can hardly be said about The Witcher 3's technical performance. The new Complete Edition with a bevvy of next-gen updates fixes most, if not all, the technical shortcomings. With smooth frame-rate, 4K textures, and loads of other fixes, The Witcher 3 on PS5 is the definitive version of one of the best RPGs of all time.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt recently got the 4.02 patch, improving Performance Mode and adding refraction to ray-traced water reflections, among other quality-of-life changes.
15. Gran Turismo 7
Gran Turismo games have always been as much tech showcases for the latest PlayStation console as they are excellent driving sims. As such the series has only improved with each generation, and with racing more popular than ever, now's the best time to dive into PlayStation's marquis driving sim. It's difficult to say whether or not Gran Turismo 7 is the most accessible game in the series, but there's a robust training mode that will take you through every aspect of the game's realistic driving elements. While you can find yourself spending hours on just learning how to turn a corner, if you put in the work, you'll be rewarded with access to the most beautiful racing sim released on this generation of consoles.
Gran Turismo 7’s 1.31 update is now available, bringing five new cars, a new Scapes location, and the Nurburgring Endurance and Nurburgring Sprint layouts.
14. Deathloop
Arkane Studios’ Deathloop is undoubtedly one of the more unique experiences to grace the PS5 so far. Arkane builds on the immersive sim bones from its past to create an incredibly dense and playful world. Figuring out the right paths to take, weapons and powers to use, and even times of day to visit certain locations makes exploration its own puzzle, and Arkane's beautiful, Saul Bass-inspired world is filled with peculiar oddities to pick up on and exploit to complete your objectives. In a time where timeloops are the feature du jour in gaming, Deathloop's is one of the most unique and satisfying to navigate, making knowledge its own reward, on top of a suite of incredible powers. And don't even get us started on its stunning soundtrack.
Control is a wonderfully weird game. On one hand, it’s very Remedy - the game’s tone, gameplay, and mixed-media previously used in games such as Alan Wake and Quantum Break feels familiar. On the other hand, it’s something wholly original. Control showcases more style in its full-screen title treatments than many games do in their entire aesthetics, and its suite of psychic abilities to inflict pain upon your foes is utterly bonkers.
Sometimes funny, sometimes scary, and always interesting, Control is a one-of-a-kind game that shouldn’t be missed. And the Ultimate Edition is worth playing for the new bells and whistles added on the PS5, especially if you’re interested in Remedy’s extended universe and if you would like to make use of PS5's Activity Cards in a way few games had so far. Just be warned: you will never look at a refrigerator the same way again.
Final Fantasy VII Remake/Intergrade was the pipe dream that many fans hoped would happen but didn’t believe would see the light of day. Seeing the first chapter of FFVII remake in crisp HD and fully voice-acted not only made the day for those who tout it as the best in the franchise but also for those who may have missed out in the PS1 era. It's a shining example of how far gaming has come in the five generations of Playstation.
The game updated more than its visuals opting for faster real-time action that rewards skill and preparation while still allowing anyone who wants the traditional turn-based combat a way to choose that option as well. Because you never get to leave Midgar, Square-Enix improved and added to the side stories with the other members of Avalanche, your time in Wall Market, and added a few more areas to expand upon the original. The materia system is back and optimized with new materia for the updated gameplay style and introduces new ones to compliment it.
The Intermission expansion puts Yuffie front and center and gives her a chance to shine before the next release. It includes arguably the best and most engaging combat via her elemental ninjutsu, synergy attacks, and other ninja skills. Both the core game and the Intermission DLC add to the context of the world and give a sneak peek at what we can expect for the next installment of the FFVII Remake and is worth a try for the first time and longtime fans of Final Fantasy.
FF7R Part 2, officially titled Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, is due out "next winter." Before that, Square Enix will release Final Fantasy 16 on June 22 as a PS5 exclusive.
11. Ghost of Tsushima Directors Cut
When Ghost of Tsushima was released on the PlayStation 4, it already felt like a next-gen game thanks to its stunning visuals and impressive open world; it was clear Sucker Punch had learned a lot about creating an engaging open world since its (admittedly admirable for the time) efforts on the Infamous franchise. But the Director's Cut is the definitive take on Ghost of Tsushima, and it's all the better on the PS5.
This robust package, even as a refined PS4 game, makes great use of the DualSense in both exploration and combat. Add in new lip sync for Japanese voice over, and, somehow, visual and performance improvements, and you’ve got what is the must-play version of a must-play PlayStation game.
Sucker Punch's next project is another open-world game with stealth and action elements — perhaps Ghost of Tsushima 2? What has been confirmed is a Ghost of Tsushima movie. Directed by Chad Stahleski (John Wick), the movie will be a retelling of the game's story.
10. Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil has never shied away from the mystical and supernatural, and Village leans into those themes more than any entry in the series to date. From severed hands that can just be simply reattached, to floating killer dolls, to nine foot tall lady vampires, Resident Evil Village feels like wandering through a demented circus. In one fell swoop, it gave us what will go on to become one of the most recognizable Resi villains ever: Lady Dimitrescu, while still respecting the main antagonist's story that began in Resident Evil 7.
It brings the series back to its Metroidvania roots, requiring you to revisit areas seen several times throughout your playthrough, but with new tools at your disposal to explore them. It’s by far the most fantastical the series has ever gotten, and it remains to be seen whether or not Resident Evil will ever return to its more straightforward zombie roots, or at this point, if we’d even want it to.
The DualSense Controller is one of the most defining characteristics of the PS5, as the nuanced haptic feedback and strategically used adaptive triggers create a level of immersion that feels genuinely special. Nowhere is that tech better showcased than in Astro's Playroom which is – quite literally – designed to show off the capabilities of the Dualsense controller.
But this would-be tech demo is also a fantastic game in its own right, with a delightful set of worlds to explore that all celebrate a different facet of the PS5 and the different eras of PlayStation software and hardware. Astro's Playroom reminds players why they've loved PlayStation while giving them a reason to fall in love all over again. Its solid platforming, fun environmental puzzles, and enticing set of collectibles will have you gunning for the platinum and getting it in no time.
Developer Team Asobi is now working on its "biggest" game to date. Studio director Nicolas Doucet said it will be a full commercial title that's "not limited by any money or time."
8. Returnal
Returnal is a trailblazer of sorts. Roguelikes have long been one of the most popular genres on the indie scene, with games like Spelunky 2, Dead Cells, Enter the Gungeon, and The Binding of Isaac leading the charge, but in the AAA space, we’ve never really seen anything quite like Returnal. Returnal combines Housemarque’s expertise in intense, bullet hell, arcadey shoot-em-ups, with deep roguelike mechanics and a dense, chilling atmosphere, resulting in unforgettable experiences. Returnal’s one issue on release was the inability to suspend its lengthy runs and save your progress, but since that’s been patched, it’s hard to find flaws in this incredibly bold and ambitious take on the AAA roguelike.
Horizon Forbidden West builds on the already impressive foundations of Horizon Zero Dawn to tell a deeper, more thrilling story that amps up the series’ explosive fights against complex robotic foes and blockbuster action sequences, while also adding lively settlements and thoughtful, intriguing sidequests to the world. The Forbidden West itself is absolutely gorgeous on PS5 - ranging from the incredibly detailed faces of the people you meet and costumes they wear to sweeping and frequently stunning landscapes. There’s a genuine sense of exploration, and loads of completely involving worldbuildingto uncover as well for those wanting to learn more. A triumphant combination of enthralling combat, top-tier creature and character design, and a captivating open world, Horizon Forbidden West is an absolute blast and fantastic showcase for the power of the PS5.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, the game's first DLC, was revealed during The Game Awards. Coming exclusively to the PS5 version of Forbidden West, Burning Shores takes Aloy to the LA region in pursuit of a "sinister threat."
6. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart
As Insomniac's first truly exclusive PS5 game, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart is a stunning showcase for what Sony's next-gen console can do, thanks to a series practically built to take advantage of all the new bells and whistles. Whether you're a newcomer to the duo's adventures or a longtime fan since the PS2 days, there's charm a-plenty to be found in returning characters, and brand new ones like the incredible Rivet and Kit.
The delightful, and surprisingly emotional story, is at the core of a theme park ride-like adventure through a host of varied alien worlds, which are stunningly realized in both depth and clarity of detail while running so smoothly on the PS5. And Rift Apart includes one of the franchise's best suite of weapons, from the wacky Topiary Sprinkler to the powerful Executor, all of which make great use of both the DualSense's haptics and adaptive triggers. Ratchet and Clank may be one of the longest-running Sony franchises still seeing new entries, but if Rift Apart is any indication, there's still so much life, humor, and dazzling action to left to experience.
5. Demon's Souls
Bluepoint Games had some high expectations to meet with the PS5 remake of Demon’s Souls. Not only was it an anticipated remake of a beloved and landmark game, but also as the first major showcase of what a dedicated PS5 game of this scope could look like.
Fortunately, Bluepoint delivered, and Demon’s Souls is not only jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but it’s also incredibly faithful to the source material.It's handily one of the deepest, richest, and most challenging experiences currently found on the console.
Developer Bluepoint Games was officially acquired by PlayStation in 2021. The studio's next project will be an original game, rather than another remake.
4. Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Though not a full-blown sequel, this standalone expansion sends Peter Parker on vacation and leaves his young spider-apprentice Miles Morales to look after New York. Building on the rock-solid foundations of Insomniac's first game, New York has been gorgeously blanketed with snow, holiday cheer, and next-gen polish.
The improvements aren't just cosmetic, however – the eponymous hero has a few more spider-powers at his disposal than Peter Parker, and these are cleverly adapted into new gameplay mechanics that, while they don't reinvent the wheel, they put enough of a spin on it to make it feel fresh - sometimes literally, thanks to the DualSense controller. It doesn't feature as robust of a campaign or as many colorful villains as 2018's Spider-Man, but Miles Morales' story has just as much charm and heart as its predecessor, possibly more. Its tagline of "Be Greater" set a high bar, but Miles Morales somersaults over it with ease.
And if you're loving Miles Morales but somehow missed out on or want to replay its predecessor, there's no reason not to get the ultimate edition and pick up Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered as well. We previously had MSMR as a standalone game on this list because it was such a great port, but considering the breadth of games we want to now highlight on the PS5, and its availability only as a part of Miles' special edition, we decided to couple it with our recommendation here.
The Last of Us Part I is arguably the best way to experience the story Naughty Dog was initially told back in 2013. While there is a point of contention on whether this remake was necessary overall, the improvements and changes introduced are enough to warrant this as a great first way to experience this decade-old franchise. The improved character models and facial animation are the biggest praises for this remake, making the phenomenal acting done by the cast more meaningful and realistic. The Last of Us has an incredible and emotional story, and the updated technology allows even the most touching scenes to hit the closest to home. The utilization of the PS5's DualSense controller also greatly improves the core gameplay and is some of the best showcases of what the controller is capable of to date. The haptic feedback you can feel in every weapon used, from melee to firearms, and the fact that environmental effects such as the sensation of falling rain helo immerse you into this ravaged and desolated world. Not only that, but the DualSense features also have been a great tool in accessibility, using the controller's haptic feedback to allow players to feel everything they encounter, whether through physical interaction or hearing it, such as in dialogue exchanges.
While the remake does not include the multiplayer mode found in 2013 original, and the remastered version was ported just a year later, we know that Naughty Dog is working on a standalone multiplayer game set in The Last of Us universe.
2. God of War Ragnorok
God of War Ragnarok is hands down one of the easiest games to recommend to anyone asking what game they should play first on their PS5. The gameplay is an immensely satisfying combination of combat, puzzle solving, and exploration that is bound together with a heartwarming story of family, adolescence, and letting go. The combat rewards players for experimentation and precision but also is versatile enough that even using a fraction of the moves at your disposal feels effective and rewarding. Each moment is bolstered by its fantastic soundtrack that elevates everything from the smallest interaction to the most impactful moments in the story. The world's jaw-dropping landscapes feel organic and filled with life (except for Helheim, of course), but it's hard not to stop and admire it every step.
Its story, gameplay, soundtrack, and nearly every other part of the game culminate masterfully to live up to expectations for a flagship PlayStation game. Some may take issue with the pacing in certain parts of the game, but the next chapter in Kratos and Atreus's saga is filled with heart, charm, and humor. With the combination of the improvements from God of War (2018) and the path it's carved out for itself among other action-adventure games, God of War: Ragnarok is one of the new benchmarks for what Playstation exclusives can do on the PS5.
1. Elden Ring
It’s hard to encapsulate everything that makes Elden Ring such a monumental game in a short blurb, but let’s try: at the core of it all is Elden Ring’s incredible sense of freedom and discovery. There are open world games that are bigger than Elden Ring, prettier than Elden Ring, and quite frankly run better than Elden Ring, but few, if any, are as robust or as rewarding.
The Lands Between is positively littered with branching paths that lead to catacombs, dungeons, caves, forts, castles, towers, even entire underground cities, and within each of them is some sort of unique challenge, from a trap filled crypt with insta-kill chariots racing down every slope, to one of Elden Ring's many fantastic boss fights. The best part of it all is that every challenge comes with its own bountiful reward that may bend the difficulty curve in your favor, whether that’s a new spell, summon, weapon, or material that lets you upgrade your gear. Elden Ring can be an extraordinarily difficult game, sure, but the freedom it gives you to maneuver through or around that difficulty is absolutely liberating, and makes it the most universally recommendable From Software game yet.
It can really depend on what types of games you like to play, but if you are looking for recommendations on the for what to play on the PS5, we recommend picking up a copy of Elden Ring. If you're looking specifically for a PlayStation Exclusive game, Horizon Forbidden West is also a very good option you can't play anywhere else.
What are the Best Games on PS Plus?
If you happen to have PlayStation Plus Extra or PlayStation Premium than you have access to some of the best games on the console. A few of the best PS Plus games include Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Bloodborne, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Updates: On January 27, 2023 our best PS5 games list was updated to include 10 more titles. Rankings were also updated to reflect the opinions of IGN staff.
Poncle has announced a second expansion for Vampire Survivors called Tides of the Foscari, which will arrive on April 13.
As revealed on Xbox Wire, the expansion takes players to western Europe in the Great Forest with the developers were influenced by local fairy tales and folklore. At the center lies the Foscari Academy, a school that trains the next generation of warriors, scholars, and leaders.
It’s divided into three houses: the Azure Tower trains magical sorcerers and warlocks; the Crimson Anvil focuses on strength, engineering, and blacksmithing; and the Amber Sickle consists of professions such as accounting, agriculture, and archery.
As for the new content, there are eight new characters, 13 new weapons, one new stage, seven music tracks, and 20 new achievements. And this all costs $1.99.
Vampire Survivors’ first expansion, Legacy of the Moonspell was released back in December 2022, and now Tides of the Forscari will arrive soon.
In IGN's Vampire Survivors review, we said: “Vampire Survivors is outwardly simple but turns out to be an incredibly deep hole to fall down – though it's not without extended dull periods when you get ahead of its curve."
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He's been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
CD Projekt Red has officially confirmed that The Molasses Flood's upcoming Witcher game, codenamed Sirius, is not canceled, but it has restarted development on the upcoming multiplayer game.
During a recent financial earnings call, The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer confirmed that it decided to reevaluate the project but that it would not scrap the entire concept altogether. Noting that the company was looking at ways to extend the popular fantasy IP.
"So this is a project which is, I would say, insourced. It's also new to us in terms of design and format. For those reasons, it's very different from the big productions we are known for. To stay competitive, we have to keep looking for new ways to extend our franchises," said the president and joint CEO of CD Projekt Adam Kiciński, during an earnings Q&A. "At the same time, we need to be ready to reevaluate our original concepts, even if the development work is already underway."
Earlier this month, the developer shared an announcement from investors, noting that it was taking an impairment charge on Project Sirius. Kiciński noted that while it was "a tough decision to make," the company felt it was the right choice. "Our intention was to cut costs early and give ourselves time for reassessment. We don't want to carry on with projects that we are not aligned with. So basically, that's all we would like to share about Project Sirius for now," Kiciński explained.
With the rocky launch of Cyberpunk 2077 firmly in the rearview, CD Projekt seems to have fully bounced back from where it was at the end of 2020 both in good will and in financials, celebrating its second-best earnings year in 2022 despite no new major releases.
Per CD Projekt's earnings report, Cyberpunk 2077 revenues were up 18% year-over-year in 2022, with 94% of the units sold being digital. That's a pretty unusual figure in video games, which typically release to enormous unit sales and then see a steady but consistent drop over time. CD Projekt attributes the sales to their long-term work on improving issues with Cyberpunk 2077, as well as the success of the companion Netflix series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. And having The Witcher 3 around doesn't hurt either.
CD Projekt expects to release a Cyberpunk 2077 expansion in the second half of this year, titled Phantom Liberty. One slide in the investor presentation indicates that a "marketing campaign" is planned to begin for the expansion in June.
Consolidated revenues for CD Projekt in 2022 reached 953 million PLN ($222 million), with 347 million PLN ($81 million) in net profit. Both revenue and net profit were the second-best in company history. CD Projekt says it has reinvested over 200 million PLN ($47 million) back into future development projects, including the recently "re-evaluated" multiplayer Witcher game codenamed Project Sirius from Molasses Flood.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter@duckvalentine.
Tim Sweeney isn't a fan of what blockchain has done to game development. Epic's CEO bemoans "a whole generation" of computer scientists focusing on technlogy such as cryptocurrency, which he believes is impacting the core technology needed to make truly revolutionary game experiences
"There's been a lot of neglect, as everybody's going off...we're missing a generation of computer scientists who would traditionally be pushing forward that set," Sweeney says. "So, we're trying to fill in the gaps in building the research team we have here. I think there are new genres of games that will emerge from the technologies that are just in the pipeline being built right now."
Saxs Persson, Epic's executive in charge of Fortnite's ecosystem, agrees.
"I think it's non-obvious because it's not like the thing you put on screen right now, but most... all game engines really... commercial game engines, their architecture is what it's been for, I don't know, 20, 30 years," he says. "Nothing really has changed. It has to change, or you're just trying to squeeze more blood from that stone. The fundamental programming model has to change in order to break into beyond what battle royale really can do."
The pair is fresh off Epic's State of Unreal presentation, which last week saw the company unveil Unreal Engine 5.2 while rolling out new creation tools and revenue sharing for Fortnite players.
Speaking with IGN in an interview conducted during the Game Developers Conference [GDC], they talked about the potential of the Unreal Editor for Fortnite [UEFN] toolset, which they liken to an evolution of the modding scene that has birthed a host of new genres over the years. They also reflected on state of gaming tech in 2023, which is so heavily driven by Epic's Unreal Engine.
Looking toward the future
Both are planning ahead, as they so often do, with Sweeney regularly bringing up the concept of the metaverse – a term that tends to serve a punchline in gaming circles, but makes more sense when paired with Fortnite's flourishing ecosystem. Epic's latest developments, which empower Fortnite's creators while giving them a share of revenue, are intended to make good on the common sentiment that Epic's battle royale is the real metaverse, though Persson cautions against calling it a "platform."
"It's not a technology platform; it's a place people go to get entertained and we need to entertain them, and more and more of them. That's the challenge: how do we find a way for people that don't care about shooters? They should be welcome too...The real challenge for us is, in the maturation of Fortnite, is to embrace that we are much broader than just the day one shooter that was launched," Persson says.
Epic recently announced a new revenue-sharing plan, setting aside 40% of the game's net revenue for creators. Payments are based on overall engagement with custom islands and other creations. It's a major change that seeks to push Fortnite further beyond the bounds of the battle royale genre.
But even as Epic looks to grow Fortnite's ecosystem, fans are looking back with growing nostalgia for the original battle royale. When the UEFN tools became available, players immediately scrambled to remake the original Fortnite Battle Royale as it existed in 2018. Asked for his reaction to this development, Sweeney said "we have nostalgia for it too," but that for him it "immediately highlighted a topic about intellectual property."
How do we find a way for people that don't care about shooters? They should be welcome too.
"You can't just remake a Call of Duty map. And we were digging into what was happening with Fortnite Chapter One map, and we decided that was a really cool thing to happen because it was for Fortnite, so we gave permission to do it on a non-monetized basis. But I think the real innovations here have got to be an original new work, right?" Sweeney said. "Because some of these things... Works of nostalgia are cool, but most of the time they're going to be other people's work and they're likely not going to give permission. And we really urge everybody to think about what can we really do to create news genres or games and really very original things"
Persson added that "nostalgia is often the first thing that comes to people's mind when you get capabilities," but that Epic "wants people to make their own [stories and characters]."
What they really want is something like what happened with Defense of the Ancients, better-known as DOTA, which was popularized by Warcraft 3's map editor scene, or PlayerUnknown's Battleground [PUBG], which sprang out of Arma 3. In fact, Sweeney says he recently ran into PUBG creator Brendan Greene at GDC, whom he credits with "really reinvigorating shooters."
The problem, Sweeney claims, was that map developers on platforms like Warcraft 3 couldn't easily profit on their creations, leading them to create standalone games elsewhere. It's a problem that he claims Fortnite's newly updated revenue-sharing system will solve.
"The tragic thing that happened there was, in order to succeed on their own scale, they had to leave their own ecosystem behind and build a new one. That's a failure we don't want to have in our system. We would love to be able to grow Fortnite and the financial opportunities for all creators, to the point where if you build a really successful game, you don't have to leave and build it as a standalone game in Unreal Engine," Sweeney says. "Now, you'll be able to, and we'll support you in doing that if that's what you want. We really want the best opportunity to stay in this as we build the open metaverse together."
'Underestimating the opportunity'
Elsewhere, Sweeney says that he's interested in further advances in proceduralism, calling the implications "really awesome." He's also impressed by the growth of content marketplaces, which are making it easier for game developers to obtain generic assets that allow them to save time. But there are still a lot of improvements to be made, he says.
"I think people are underestimating the opportunity for advances in the programming, language technology, and programming stack to improve the state of game development. Fortnite Battle Royale is 100 players because we can't support more. That's as many players as we can fit on a single server, on a single floor, on a machine," Sweeney says. "We don't have the technologies to scale up to lots of cores or a core data center. Nobody's just built technology for doing that without really dire loss of quality in the programming model. I think there's a lot of core computer-science level improvements that can be made there."
With the release of Unreal Engine 5.2, though, Sweeney is hopeful developers will "jump right in" to the new tools.
Fortnite Battle Royale is 100 players because we can't support more.
"I start using this month, and of course the pipelines... building a game of the caliber that uses this kind of tools is generally pretty long. But I think people can immediately use the procedural systems, the MetaHuman animator capabilities and these things, and they're all just designed to take away the existing flows developers already use, make them more productive and higher quality. I think what the big impact you'll see is that just quality goes up without an increase in cost or development time," Sweeney says.
Persson claims that developers are already reaching out to him about the possibilities of the tech.
"The first demo we did with the Rivian R1T demo... two separate indie developers that were in the audience that I know both texted, and one of them was like, 'That's the workflow that will enable us to make the game we want. Taking custom-built areas, but turning them into procedural assemblies.'
"And the second one had a comment about MetaHuman and how this is what was missing for them to unlock the last bit of how they can make a range of NPCs, not just the one NPC that they could afford. I think that's the beauty of it. A lot of these tools they lay upon workflows that already exist. They just make them more productive."
That's ultimately one of the biggest themes in the games industry right now: streamlining game development in a way that makes today's increasingly ambitious projects more achievable. Otherwise, game development teams will be forced to continue scaling up in a way that's unsustainable.
In the meantime, AAA developers are still working to unlock the secrets of Unreal Engine 5. While several Unreal Engine 5 games are currently under development, with others pivoting to the technology, it has yet to reach mass adoption.
We'll see it gain more of a foothold later this year, with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and Ark 2 among the games that will utilize Epic's tech. For now, Epic will try to realize its dreams for the future elsewhere, with its new Fortnite ecosystem serving as the starting point.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
Crusader Kings 3's critically acclaimed Royal Court DLC is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S on May 17.
Royal Court is a major expansion to Crusader Kings 3, adding several elements including the Throne Room, Grandeur, an Inventory System, and more.
The Throne Room is available to king and emperor characters as a visual representation of the player's royal court that reflects their success. The royal court can also be improved with the Grandeur feature that lets players bling up their residence to attract better guests and impress rivals.
Similarly, Inspired People such as talented artists, craftspeople, and thinkers can work on new projects, adding further treasures and artifacts.
The Royal Court update also adds hybrid creatures, cultural divergence, and more that resulted in the expansion being praised by critics. In our review of the PC version, IGN said it's "the best kind of strategy expansion, weaving in new features that make running a kingdom a more complete and cohesive experience."
And this comes on top of the already critically acclaimed base game. In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Crusader King 3 takes the throne as the new king of historical strategy by expanding on and deepening the best parts of what made its predecessor memorable and unique."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
Naughty Dog has released its first patch for the troubled PC port of The Last of Us Part 1. The hotfix addresses "several performance and hitch-related issues," according to the developer.
In addition to remedying some of its performance woes, The Last of Us Part 1 v1.0.1.5 adds "extra crash diagnostic information to assist in investigating shader building related crashes and other common reported stability issues", according to Naughty Dog.
The studio notes it is "closely watching player reports and actively working on a patch with more bugfixes, to be released soon."
The patch comes just two days after The Last of Us Part 1 was released on PC. Users have reported issues with excessive crashing and performance, specifically related to shader compiling, leading to a "mostly negative" rating on Steam with over 9,000 reviews.
The troubled PC launch has temporarily taken the wind out of the sails of a franchise that had been flying high following the release of The Last of Us Part 1 for PS5 in September and the conclusion of its HBO series earlier in March, which we called "a breathtaking adaptation" in our The Last of Us: Season 1 review.
Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.
The Amnesia series from developer Frictional Games sits comfortably among the scariest horror games ever. Each entry tells a personal story about survival against supernatural forces, injecting a palpable sense of dread as you carefully move in near-darkness, constantly staying one step ahead of nightmarish monsters nipping at your heels or the growing anxiety that slowly chips away at the sanity of the protagonist.
But the upcoming sequel, Amnesia: The Bunker, takes a unique approach to story-driven survival horror, focusing more on the moment-to-moment actions and choices you make taking that daring plunge into the unknown. After my hands-on time with it, I felt more unnerved and impressed with what tricks this series has yet to show off.
Amnesia: The Bunker takes place during the height of World War 1. Playing as the French soldier Henri Clement caught in the trenches during a grueling battle, he finds himself in a seemingly abandoned bunker's infirmary, with little memory of what occurred since the conflict. Planning an escape, he procures resources and uncovers the creepy experiments that have occurred in the facility, including an encounter with a monster known as "The Beast," which lurks throughout the bunker while avoiding the light.
According to game director Fredrik Olsson, he stated that he wants The Bunker to be a game that you'll want to play multiple times over, with each run leading to different moments in the "player story."
"It's a game where the gameplay is definitely in the center, and the story has a bit of a backseat," said Olsson. "However, it's more about the player story. Even in the early stages of design, we talked about how everything in this game should be fun to play a second time. Even up until the ending of the game, there is really not that many strictly narrative-driven walking moments, and I'm super happy we managed to do that. Everything is a bit of a challenge, and we even put a custom mode for you to tune the game how you want, so we put a lot of effort into replayability for this one."
After the more cinematic and plot-heavy Amnesia: Rebirth, The Bunker feels more like a back-to-basics approach with a more streamlined narrative. This is to give way for the new world design, which features a less guided and semi-open setting to explore. As Henri, you'll need to collect resources and ammo to survive in the base, all while keeping the bunker's power on. In an added twist, the placement of collectible items like bullets and fuel, are also randomly placed around the environment to ensure you will stay comfortable within the base.
What I found truly unique and intriguing about The Bunker is that it moves the moody aesthetic of the Amnesia series to a more traditional survival horror experience. Compared to previous entries, this sequel is closer in the vein of classic Resident Evil but with that deliberate and steadfast pace that Amnesia is known for. Henri, who you'll learn more about from the game's many diary entries and bits of storytelling, is a soldier and more capable of survival than other protagonists from the series. Along with a gun, Henri can also use grenades, flares, and other makeshift instruments to defend himself.
However, as with Amnesia, you're much better off avoiding conflict and laying low. For instance, using your revolver will require careful aim, and to check your ammo, you'll need to unfasten the ammo cylinder to count how many bullets you have. It's all very Amnesia in how it carefully and deliberately gets you to interact with the world, which adds to the tension.
During my first hour, I had to find some explosives and a detonator to blow open a collapsed exit. Both key items were in different areas of the bunker, requiring some maneuvering to get to. Outside of the safe room in the administration office, which has the storage container and the bunker's generator, some tunnels led deeper into the bunker. While checking the rooms, I could find some precious fuel for the generator and cloth to craft healing items, but just as I was about to descend further, the lights in the halls began to dim, and the growing roars of the beast filled the halls. I immediately returned to the safe room and locked the door behind me.
Therein lies the core of what sets The Bunker apart from the rest of the Amnesia series, in that it's a game of extremely careful resource management in an open setting, as opposed to a tight, linear narrative experience. Every time you decide to leave your safe haven, you're on the clock before the generator runs out, so you'll need to make your moves outside count.
One more terrifying and unsettling moment came when I had an almost face-to-face encounter with The Beast. As I hid in a room near a booby-trapped officer's quarters, it came and inadvertently triggered an explosive device, destroying several doors, which sent it scurrying away. I immediately picked up any stray items and bolted back to the safe room.
I did enjoy the expansive nature of the game and its freeform approach to careful navigation, but sometimes I felt that it caused a paralyzing feeling. In addition, there were some moments when I felt overwhelmed by the game's scope and relentless vibe, which ended up making me make some wasted trips because I was too careful. This did cause some feelings of minor frustration, but I always managed to find my footing again and made some progress.
The Bunker, so far, feels like an exciting and still terrifying move forward for the Amnesia series. However, I do appreciate the change in scope in gameplay, and its larger storytelling. This isn't to say that the game ditches the narrative in favor of open-ended exploration, but Henri's survival story serves as the bedrock for a more front-facing focus on the story that the player will see as they explore the bunker.
The Bunker, so far, feels like an exciting and still terrifying move forward for the Amnesia series.
Blending the dense and unnerving atmosphere of Amnesia with the resource management and the act of carefully navigating into danger is a potent mix for a horror game, and Amnesia: The Bunker so far feels like an exciting turn for the franchise that I've got my eye on.
