IGN

At first glance Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior appears to be a stylish but somewhat straightforward isometric hack ‘n’ slash in the vein of Hades, but after having some hands-on time with it at Tokyo Game Show it’s clear that there’s considerably more to it. While rewinding time has become a common function in everything from platformers to racing sims over the years, Lysfanga implements its time manipulation in a surprisingly interesting way - allowing you to basically record yourself completing a series of attacks, rewind, and then fight alongside a time-shifted duplicate of yourself who serves as a sort of deadly instant replay of your previous run.

Thus each and every enemy encounter in Lysfanga quickly blossoms into an all-out attack of the clones. As you enter each arena the action is paused for a moment, allowing you to pan the camera around the environment and plot your most efficient path of attack, a bit like at the beginning of each scrap in Mario + Rabbids. Since you’re on a 10-second timer for each version of yourself, maximizing the number of enemies that each clone can take down and shortening the distance between targets with smart uses of the boost button is essential if you want to clear each zone in the fastest total time and score the maximum number of points.

At a special showcase for members of the press at Bandai Namco Entertainment in Tokyo, Japan, I had a chance to play an early build of Tekken 8. While renowned director Katsuhiro Harada’s latest sequel will launch with 32 characters, only 16 were available during this meeting. The roster included a blend of old and new faces, including long-established stars like Paul Phoenix and Jin Kazama alongside more recent creations like Claudio Serafino and Lars Alexandersson. However, series producer Michael Murray stated that all Tekken 8 models have been redesigned from scratch, befitting the transition from the Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5.

With a series that celebrates its 30th anniversary next year, Tekken walks a tricky line. The 3D fighter has built up a fan base all over the world over three decades, but the franchise necessarily needs new blood to remain competitive. Tekken 8 will try to satisfy both crowds with dual control options: Arcade style retains the classic four-button attack scheme—one input per limb—while Special style lets players execute command moves and complex combos with simple button presses. Murray emphasized the importance and flexibility of Special style, acknowledging that other long-running fighting games have introduced similar systems. "Ours, you can turn on or off in the middle of a match any time you want," he said.

Announced earlier this year, Bandai Namco's Sand Land looks to translate a cult Japanese comic into an open-world adventure. Playing it on the floor of Tokyo Game Show, I came away intrigued about the characters and story, but less thrilled about actually playing the full game.

Sand Land debuted in the year 2000 as a short-lived tale of a demon prince exploring a desolate wilderness – hence the title. Created by Akira Toriyama, a manga artist of major renown for his Dragonball series as well as his contributions to many games such as Dragon Quest, Sand Land remained a print-only phenomenon until 2023. A feature-length film debuted this summer, with this game serving as the next multimedia tie-in.

The demo opens on a strong note, with graphics that lean into its manga origins. All the characters look like they've wandered onto the screen straight from the page, with thick line art giving everyone sharp features. The characters all have personality, especially the protagonist, Beezelbub. He may look like an anime version of Hot Stuff the Little Devil (kids, ask your grandparents) but from minute one he's looking for adventure and action.

We live in a time of exceptional video game quality and abundance: There’s always too much to play (especially as I type this in September of 2023). So it’s all the more surprising that The Making of Karateka, which focuses on a game from nearly 40 years ago, totally captivated me. Part classic game collection and part documentary, wrapped in an interactive historical experience, The Making of Karateka follows the true story of a teenager’s path to publishing a hit video game in 1985. And the story is a good one. While Karateka is not a particularly fun 2D-fighting game to play, exploring its story in this weird and wonderful package is very much so.

What makes this story extra special is twofold: First, the surviving documentation of college student Jordan Mechner (who went on to make the original Prince of Persia) creating a video game for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and other early PCs with the help of his immediate family, especially his father, is extensive and exquisitely preserved here. Jordan’s personal journals and goofy development sketches, playable code of multiple game iterations, typewritten paper correspondence between him and his publisher, and even 3D scans of 5.25-inch floppy discs with their original Sharpie-on-sticker labels – the amount of detail gets even more exacting from there.

Hello, IGN reviewers in training. Welcome to another week of community reviews, in which we give you the opportunity to score your favorite (or not-so-favorite) games that are based on a specific theme. Our previous theme was space, which you can check out here. This week we’re bringing it back to Earth by showcasing a Playlist featuring some of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

With this week’s theme being superheroes, and with all the recent news about Spider-Man 2, it is a great time to see how you rank some of the previous Spider-Man games and/or those starring other popular superheroes. So head to the page for your favorite games and leave your reviews to help them get the attention they deserve. We've compiled a playlist featuring 50 of the biggest superhero games, including Spider-Man, Batman, the X-Men, and other franchises to get you started – but feel free to leave a review for any of your favorites we may have missed. All you have to do is head to a game's page and click the Rate Game button to get started.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a game full of intricate detail. With so many dialogue options, characters, classes, and quests, everyone's experience is a little bit different. Discoveries are around every corner, and the only thing seemingly separating you from success or tragedy is a dice roll.

That being said, it's a lot easier to somewhat plot your destiny when you know where you're going. IGN's Baldur's Gate 3 interactive map can help guide you on your quest through Act 1, 2 and 3.

We have the most updated Baldur's Gate 3 map with the location of every item, chest, enemies, NPC, and more throughout the prologue, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. You can also check out our Baldur's Gate 3 walktrough for quests guides and details.

Baldur's Gate 3 Interactive Map

Currently, our Baldur's Gate 3 map features locations for the Prologue, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. This include a Nautiloid map, a map of the Wilderness and Underdark, a map of the Shadow.

Here are some of the important location markers we've added to help guide you on your adventure:

Konami has unveiled new information about the expected resolution and framerates of the three games in its upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1. But fans aren't happy with what they're seeing, particularly regarding Metal Gear Solid being locked to 30fps across all consoles.

If you're bummed that Starfield is not more like No Man's Sky, where you can seamlessly travel from space to planet, there's now a mod available that does just that.

Spotted by PCGamesN, modder 105gun has introduced a mod that finally adds seamless space travel into Bethesda's sci-fi RPG. As described on NexusMods, when installed, the mod Slower Than Light allows Starfield players on PC to control the speed gear of their ship using hotkeys. The maximum speed is the equivalent of "hundreds of times the speed of light," allowing players to travel between planets without fast travel and, more importantly, no load times.

As you can see from our captured footage, the mod allows for much faster traversal through space without having to fiddle in the in-game menus to planet hop, making it a lot quicker to venture to other locations. Unfortunately, the mod does not allow you to land on a planet similar to that like in No Man's Sky (maybe will get a mod for that in the future).

The pile of squid ink spaghetti, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week's reset. If you're looking to get you some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he's got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We've rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr Today?

Xûr's location can be found at The Tower on September 22 through September 26. To reach him, travel to the landing point at The Courtyard and make your way to the Hangar. Hang a left when entering the hangar and you'll come face-to-face with space Amazon.com.

Payday 3 had a less-than-spectacular launch yesterday, as Starbreeze Studios' first-person shooter was plagued with server issues. With the developer under scrutiny, the studio's CEO has apologized for the issues.

In a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren acknowledged the release day issues. "We are so sorry that the infrastructure didn't hold up as expected, and although it's impossible to prepare for every scenario – we should be able to do better," Sjögren wrote. "We work tirelessly until we have restored all services and our players can get back to heisting again without issues!"

We are so sorry that the infrastructure didn’t hold up as expected, and although it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario – we should be able to do better. We work tirelessly until we have restored all services and our players can get back to heisting again without issues!

The leaked news of Microsoft’s plan for a slim version of the Xbox Series X is not surprising – the Xbox 360 had not one but two slim versions, and the Xbox One got the significantly smaller Xbox One S, while Sony has released smaller versions of every PlayStation so far up through the PS4. But what is shocking, at least if the plan hasn’t changed, as Phil Spencer suggested some of it has in his acknowledgement of the embarrassing spillage of Microsoft’s hardware roadmap, is that the “Brooklin” (as the skinnier Series X is codenamed) doesn’t have a Blu-ray drive.

This begs the question: is the Series X that’s on store shelves and in my gaming room right now the last Xbox console that will ever include an optical drive – since the Gen10 Xbox due out in 2028 would likely follow suit and drop the disc drive? And if so, what does that mean for the future of how we buy and play games?

EVE Online's starry realm of New Eden is a vast expanse of more than 7000 star systems, which we have so far experienced almost exclusively from a distance aboard swooping starships or in the colossal interiors of mega-scale space stations. But all the while, I've imagined what might be going on down on these lonely planets I'm sailing by at impossible speeds. EVE Vanguard, a new shooter module for EVE Online built in Unreal Engine 5, will let us set foot on them and scavenge their riches in person. Well, sort of.

This isn't CCP's first attempt at an FPS set in the EVE universe. From 2013 to 2016 they operated Dust 514, an on-foot experience that was eventually shut down due to low player numbers. Vanguard represents a fresh attempt at introducing a human-scale component to EVE, which the developers hope will eventually combine to create a complete sci-fi experience on the ground and in space. Rather than being sold as a separate game, like Dust, Vanguard is being described as a "module" for EVE, which will use the same launcher and be free to play.

The EVE universe is full of high-concept, high-tech ideas, and Vanguard is no exception, so stay with me here. When you load up Vanguard, you will be taking on the role of an "Infomorph." This is separate from the capsuleer character who pilots your starships in EVE Online, though they similarly make use of cloning technology to achieve functional immortality. This character will "burst" their mind into specialized war clones called Vanguards, who are the ones that actually do the running and the shooting. If you die, you can just activate a new clone.

EVE Online has featured several of the biggest PvP battles in gaming history, but it only lets you fly one ship at a time. Set in the same universe but from a very different perspective, EVE Galaxy Conquest is a multiplayer 4X strategy game that puts you in command of your own outpost and an entire fleet.

The factions and warships should be familiar to EVE fans, but you'll be able to command large numbers of them without having to yell at a bunch of mercenaries over discord to stick to the freaking plan.

In typical 4X fashion, a foray into a contested star sector will begin with a humble stronghold surrounded by unexplored space which can be captured, exploited for resources, and fought over. Galaxy Conquest is PvP-centric, with the ability to form alliances with and backstab other players to reach the center of the map and take on a difficult final challenge. This will involve exploring, mining resources, building and upgrading fleets, and navigating player-driven politics in a similar vein to the MMO.

Galaxy Conquest has a seasonal structure, with each season representing a fresh start with new mechanics and ships available. Each season will be a few months long. Some progression will be account-wide, but unlike in EVE Online where dominating an area of space might require endless vigilance, jumping in at the beginning of a season will allow you to stake your own claim without decades of entrenched politics to work around. We'll also be running into some major NPCs from the EVE universe, many of whom have never been given a canonical look before now.

Announced at EVE Fanfest, the next expansion for the 20-year-old space sandbox MMO is called Havoc, and it's focused on new factional gameplay for players who align with the chaotic and criminal element of New Eden.

Space piracy has long been a part of the EVE ecosystem, but as a mostly informal affair. Now, you'll be able to align yourself with the swashbuckling Guristas and Angel Cartel groups and take part in large-scale player conflicts as a destructive interloper.

Last year, the Uprising expansion added a new frontline system that brought along new mechanics for faction wars over contested areas of space. Piratical players in Havoc will gain ways to mess with these systems, as pirates will be able to set up a Forward Operating Base right on the front lines and do battle with either or both opposing factions. The non-pirate factions in the warzone will have to decide how to handle these incursions. You could temporarily set aside your differences with your opponents to chase the pirates out, or maybe keep them around to act as a drain on your enemies' resources.

Throwing your lot in with the pirates will grant access to a new system, Zarzakh, where a creepy cyborg Sith lord guy called The Deathless (I haven't kept up with EVE lore the last few years, but he seems like a pretty big deal) is offering a refuge for those who don't wish to follow the whims of the major empires. This hive of scum and villainy will feature new faction shops where enterprising pirates can spend faction currency to unlock five new ships, including a new Titan-class ship – the largest class of ship in EVE. The Angel Titan is only the eighth of its kind released in EVE's 20-year history.

His name may quite literally be the title of the game, but Alan Wake is not the only main character in Remedy Entertainment’s upcoming survival horror. The ‘2’ in Alan Wake 2 doesn’t just point to its sequel nature, but also to the duality that runs through the entire game. Two protagonists. Two perspectives. Two worlds. And two approaches to gameplay.

“Obviously we're making a sequel and we knew that Alan was going to be a big part of it,” says Kyle Rowley, Alan Wake 2’s game director. “But we also knew that we wanted to have a different perspective for the players who are maybe not familiar with Alan Wake 1.”

The second perspective is that of Saga Anderson, an FBI agent investigating a ritual murder. For September’s IGN First we spoke to two developers at Remedy to learn how they created different experiences for both Alan and Saga, how they developed two unique spins on the core survival horror gameplay, and how swapping between the two leads affects the way Alan Wake 2’s story unfolds.

Saga’s case brings her to Bright Falls, the small town America setting of the original Alan Wake. “She's here with her partner, Alex Casey, trying to solve this increasingly impossible seeming series of mysteries,” explains Molly Maloney, principle narrative designer on Alan Wake 2. “She's a really complex person, and I think as you go deeper into the game, you get to see more and more sides of her.”

Rockstar Games has announced that players subscribed to its $5.99 GTA+ membership on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles will now get access to a “rotating assortment” of classic titles, beginning with Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition.

The reworked trilogy is comprised of GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas, all of which were billed to have benefitted from a slew of graphical and gameplay improvements. The collection released in November 2021 in a pretty rough condition, but Rockstar has since pushed out a series of patches that have alleviated some of the many bugs and graphical issues faced by players at launch.

In IGN’s 5/10 review we noted that the new features “are slight and only partially implemented”, while “visuals are mixed, performance is inconsistent at best, content is missing and bugs and glitches abound”. These technical issues did little to dull consumer enthusiasm, with the collection significantly exceeding Rockstar’s expectations by selling up to 10 million in the months following its release.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s much-anticipated Patch 3 is live now, bringing significant changes to the Dungeons & Dragons-themed role-playing game as well as the full release of the Mac version.

The patch notes are once again too big for Steam as they exceed the platform’s character limit. As such, the patch notes in full are on the Baldur’s Gate 3 website (beware spoilers!).

Developer Larian recommended Mac users fully uninstall the early access version of the game and remove any mods before installing the latest version to minimize potential compatibility issues. The minimum and recommended specs for Mac users have also been updated: Larian recommends an M1 Pro processor and FSR enabled to run the game at high or ultra settings on a Retina display.

Elsewhere, Patch 3 adds the Magic Mirror. “Tucked away in your camp, exuding a certain ‘we found this at a vintage fair and it’s too fancy for our current home’ energy, is an item called the Magic Mirror,” Larian explained. “Tales have been told of its legendary ability to permanently alter the appearance of one who gazes into it.”

The Magic Mirror lets you change up your appearance whenever you’d like, however many times you’d like. There are some restrictions: your appearance, voice, pronouns, and nether regions can be changed, but your race/subrace and body type cannot. Origin characters, hirelings and full illithids cannot use the Magic Mirror. Cosmetic modifications that are a consequence of your gameplay choices will persist. If you know, you know.

IGN can exclusively reveal five Flesh and Blood trading cards arriving in the Bright Lights set including the four Evo Steel Soul pieces and Singularity, which evolves new hero Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate into a souped-up Demi-Hero.

The four Evo Steel Set cards will also be available in highly coveted Marvel versions, special full art cards with unique foiling, alongside Singularity. All five cards can be viewed in the slideshow below.

Developer Legend Story Studios' senior game designer Bryan Gottlieb confirmed to IGN that Teklovossen will be the Evo equipment focused hero of Bright Lights. "Having the ability to play Evo equipment from the banished zone means that not only is Teklovossen benefitting from the inherent power of Evo equipment, he’s also doing so at card advantage," Gottlieb said.

"Furthermore, Mechanologists thrive off the bonuses granted to them by banishing cards. Boost is already powerful as a means to gain action points, and that’s before you’re able to potentially play the cards after they are banished. Add in the brand-new Scrap mechanic, and you can start to see the whole picture of what Teklovossen is capable of."

Teklovossen will bring something completely new to Flesh and Blood thanks to 24 unique Evo pieces that can be mixed and matched, Gottlieb said. "Not only do I think Teklovossen can be played at any point along the traditional aggressive/control spectrum, he’s offering some hybrid options which don’t really have any other analogues in Flesh and Blood.

While HoYoverse is perhaps best-known in the west for Genshin Impact and the recently released Honkai Star Rail, but it has a third, older game it’s been running since 2016: Honkai Impact 3rd.

At Tokyo Game Show 2023, HoYoverse announced Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2, which sounds like a full-blown sequel due out in February 2024. According to HoYoverse, this new chapter upgrades the combat system, adds a new story set on Mars, and lets players assume the role of a team supporter named ‘Dreamseeker’.

Sea of Thieves is set to add one of its most significant updates yet: solo play.

Ever since Rare’s multiplayer-focused pirate adventure game launched in 2018, the developers have faced questions about the addition of solo play. Now, it’s finally coming as part of Season 10 in December. Finally, you won’t have to worry about rival pirates stealing your hard-earned treasure!

In a post on Xbox Wire, creative director Mike Chapman explained the decision. “Just as we hope that the Skull of Siren Song will encourage competitive play, we recognize that for some players, a quieter, more independent experience can be preferable,” Chapman said.

“That’s why, in December, Season 10’s third major feature will introduce an entirely new game mode that grants players the ability to sail the Sea of Thieves alone or with a crew of friends, within their own private game session.”

Solo play comes as part of the Safer Seas feature. It’s intended to offer a “gentler” introduction to Sea of Thieves for new players, as well as a quieter map for existing players who want to play their own solo adventures.

“If you’re hoping to get some peaceful fishing done, or complete a few Tall Tales without interference, Safer Seas is the perfect choice,” Chapman continued. “All applicable Commendations can be progressed in this game mode, so there’s a lot to work towards without needing to keep an eye on the horizon for enemy players.”

Hispanic Heritage Month is here, and what better way to kick off the season than to look back at some of the most iconic Hispanic video game characters? From heroic protagonists such as Spider-Man’s Miles Morales to unforgettable side players like Jackie Welles of Cyberpunk 2077 and villainous favorites like Sombra from Overwatch, there's no shortage of excellent Hispanic characters in gaming.

Hispanic representation in video games has gone from sidekicks and villains to leading heroes and scene-stealing, beloved icons. Here are some of our favorites...

Carlos Oliveira (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis)

While Carlos may share the spotlight with series protagonist Jill Valentine in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and its subsequent remake in 2020, he’s only been in one game since (three if you count The Umbrella Chronicles). His heroic demeanor, tragic backstory as a child soldier, and snazzy haircut make him not only one of the standout characters in the series, but also one of the most memorable heroes in a franchise full of iconic protagonists and villains. Here’s hoping we see Carlos again sometime…

We need to have a conversation about Starfield. In June, I wrote a story highlighting disabled players’ concerns regarding the lack of accessibility information for a game that’s been in development for years. We had no information aside from a brief mention of larger fonts from Todd Howard on Kinda Funny’s Xcast. Disabled people were cautious at best, and terrified at worst. And unfortunately, their fears were ultimately correct.

From an accessibility standpoint, Starfield is the most perplexing game I’ve played in years. Its accessibility menu is minuscule, but its control rebinding is almost flawless. It features numerous inclusive designs beneficial for an array of disabled players, but it locks them away behind specific missions. For this month’s Access Designed, I’m not going to review Starfield. Disabled voices have already expertly critiqued why this game fails. Instead, I want to examine my time with Starfield, my relationship with previous Bethesda titles, and how Xbox cannot be the ultimate savior of accessibility.

Style can go a long way for an action game, where looking good is just as important as being good. Enotria: The Last Song got that message loud and clear, leading with remarkable landscapes and avant garde costumes to dress up its largely soulsborne-like combat fundamentals. I love some good soulslike clash and bang as much as the next gamer, but I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t ready for something new to the genre. Enotria, at least in theory, agrees with me there, and though my hands-on time was a great introduction to some bold new attempts to bring true combat classes and flashy special abilities into the very familiar system, it’s still a bit too early to know just how showstopping they are.

Enotria checks all of the soulslike boxes. It has stamina-regulated combat, with different weapons sporting various weights and animations, the greatsword being my favorite. It has dangerous enemies of various shapes and sizes, including jerky mini-bosses and a truly mean boss. You’ll collect “souls” that can be used to upgrade your character, so long as you don’t get killed, drop them, and fail to retrieve them before getting killed again. You’ll activate “bonfires” that serve as checkpoints and rest stops between legs of the sometimes stressful adventure. If you’ve played any of these in the past decade or so, you’ll know these are as basic to the sub-genre as boost pads are to kart racers.

The release of Spider-Man 2 is coming up quick (October 20, to be exact!), so there’s no better time than now to go back to the two previous games and brush up on everything that’s happened in the story. If you’ve yet to pick those games up for yourself, though, now’s a great time to do so. At the moment, you can save over $25 on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition for PS5 (see it at Amazon), dropping the price from $69.99 to $42.57. Get in on the web-slinging action and pick up this game for yourself at the links below.

Save on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition at Amazon and Best Buy

• Also at Walmart - $42.57
• Also at Best Buy - $43.99

This edition of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales also comes bundled with Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered - which comes complete with all three DLC chapters from Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps as well - so you can get the full experience before swinging into the new story of Spider-Man 2. Upon release, we gave both of these games a 9/10 in their reviews, stating that Spider-Man Remastered is “one of the best superhero games ever made” and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales “earns its spot as a fantastic follow-up”.

Maybe the first rule of Fight Crab was that you don't talk about Fight Crab, because I somehow completely missed the 2019 original. Up until I got my hands on its sequel at Tokyo Game Show this week the only battles with crabs I’ve ever known were written about in multiple chapters of the Motley Crue biography. But after going pincers-on with Fight Crab 2 I now consider myself an instant fan. It seems brilliant and utterly bonkers in the best way possible.

If you’re a newcomer like me, you’ve probably got a lot of questions - particularly if you just watched the nine minutes of gameplay above. Questions like: why are there giant crabs bashing each other with everything from swords to overgrown carrots and corn cobs? Why is there an armoured knight clinging to the back of their shells? Why is that crab riding a tricycle? The truth is that I don’t really have a good answer to any of these questions, but if you’re wondering if Fight Crab 2 is fun then the answer is a confident yes.

The control system is simple, at least if you want it to be. While I’m told there’s a more advanced control setup for crab-fighting connoisseurs, I opted for the ‘Modern’ control setup during my short demo. In this setup you steer your crab around with the left stick, use the left and right triggers to attack with whatever weapon you have equipped in each claw, and hold the two shoulder buttons to block. There’s slightly more to it than that such as the ability to pinch and hold enemies or throw weapons as projectiles, but the bottom line is you need to use your considerable heft and consistent attacks to tip your opponent over and keep them on their back until they’re down for a short three-count.

This article contains serious spoilers for the Netflix animated series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

Cyberpunk 2077’s 2.0 update includes a touching tribute to the fallen cast of Netflix’s Edgerunners anime, which has led some to speculate that a character from the series could be hiding out somewhere in Night City.

The tributes were discovered by players exploring Night City’s Columbarium, a location on the eastern side of the game map that serves as a cemetery. Here, the cremated remains of the dystopian metropolis’ deceased residents are laid to rest, accompanied by a neon sigil representing their character, and a short epitaph.

Edgerunners’ 10-episode run saw the demise of a number of fan-favourite characters, some of which met their brutal ends at the hands of the cybernetic monstrosity Adam Smasher. Cyberpunk 2077’s recent 2.0 update added a number of new niches to the Columbarium, honouring the dead edgerunners.

Among them are memorials for David and Gloria Martinez, Kiwi, Rebecca, Julio, and another for Pilar, Dorio, and Maine. David’s epitaph is particularly heartwrenching, reading: “you didn’t take me to the Moon, but you were there with me,” in reference to the final scene of the series. For more, check out IGN's Cyberpunk 2077 Easter Eggs and References guide, which fully details this Edgerunners Easter egg.

Spider-Man 2 has claimed its spot at the forefront of the most anticipated lists for ardent Spider-Man and PlayStation enthusiasts, and with good reason. However, if you're not inclined to shell out the full, and rather hefty, price tag of £70 on its launch day, there are some enticing opportunities already available.

For starters, Amazon has significantly trimmed down the preorder of the game to £62.99, complemented by a preorder price guarantee to safeguard against potential further reductions. Currys also has a new deal as well, bringing the game down to just £59.49 when using code WEBSLINGER15. These aren't the only deals available either, so check out the full range of options below as well.

If you do preorder through Amazon, you won't need to pay a penny until the game ships, so you won't be out of pocket until the game is on its way to you. This preorder deal has already gone out of stock once, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that it will sell out again. Currys has the game for cheaper as well, but it will require you to pay upfront for the game, so that's also worth keeping in mind.

First announced back in 2021, Star Wars Eclipse has remained largely a mystery since its striking first reveal. Last year, developer Quantic Dream quashed rumours the game had been delayed and was suffering development trouble, noting it had yet to announce a release date. In a subsequent interview, Quantic Dream CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere said Eclipse would retain Quantic Dream's fundamentals despite being an action-adventure game at heart.

But 2023 has so far been a no-show for Star Wars: Eclipse, leaving some to wonder what’s happening with the game. During a recent interview with IGN at Tokyo Game Show 2023 in Japan, Lisa Pendse, Vice President of Marketing for Quantic Dream, described development as “simmering”.

“Can I say it still exists? Because it exists,” Pendse said when asked for an update. “It's just not ready. It's simmering.”

Star Wars Eclipse is a new action adventure game set in the High Republic era of Star Wars, a golden age of Jedi hundreds of years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker. While a lavish teaser trailer paints a thrilling picture of the game’s setting, details are still scarce.

Spawn isn’t the only horror-themed crossover for Call of Duty’s upcoming Halloween event. Diablo 4’s warring bosses are heading to the game, too.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0’s The Haunting event, set to arrive as part of Season 6, adds Diablo-themed bundles that include the Queen of the Succubi Lilith and the fallen archangel Inarius as Operators.

Lilith is the antagonist of the recently released Diablo 4, which also sees Inarius play a key role in the story. Perhaps the only surprise here is that it’s taken this long for Call of Duty and Diablo to cross paths. Both games are owned by parent company Activision Blizzard, and Call of Duty left military realism behind years ago as battle royale Warzone became a playground for licensed crossovers.

The Nintendo Switch Online’s Game Boy Advance library swells next week with the addition of Kirby & the Amazing Mirror.

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, developed by HAL Laboratory and released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance, is set in the Mirror World, a place where Kirby is split into four and must battle against Dark Meta Knight.

It stood out at the time for its Metroidvania-style gameplay and, in a first for the series, co-op multiplayer. The Switch Online version supports four-player co-op locally on one Switch console or online.

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror launches on Nintendo Switch via the $49.99 / £34.99 / €39.99 Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription on September 29.

The addition of Kirby & the Amazing Mirror to Nintendo Switch Online means its Game Boy Advance library now has 12 games. Here’s the list:

• Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
• WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania
• Kuru Kuru Kururin
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
• Metroid Fusion
• Super Mario Advance
• Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
• Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
• Fire Emblem
• Kirby & The Amazing Mirror

Golden Sun and F-Zero Maximum Velocity are coming at some point, Nintendo has said.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

2023 is finally the year where 2TB PS5 SSD upgrades are actually worth the price. Last year, prices for 1TB PS5 SSDs averaged around $150, whereas 2TB SSDs hovered closer to $300. This year, we're seeing 1TB SSDs trickle below the $70 price point and 2TB SSDs can drop to $100 or lower (like the Silicon Power 2TB SSD w/Heatsink for $95.97). Note that you can't use any old SSD and expect it to perform well on the PS5 console. You'll want to pick up a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid-state drive with at least a 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5's internal drive.

TL;DR - The Best PS5 SSD Deals Right Now

Note that Sony recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD and not all SSDs listed here have pre-installed heatsinks. For the ones that do, we'll be sure to mention it. For the ones that don't, all you have to do is purchase your own heatsink (like this one for $9) and install it yourself. For our top recommended picks for 2023, check out our full breakdown for the Best PS5 SSDs.

Silicon Power 2TB PS5 SSD with Heatsink for $95.97

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is gearing up for launch on October 20, and the latest Nintendo Switch exclusive has already gotten a fantastic discount. Act quickly, as this outstanding offer is bound to vanish soon – you can now preorder the new Mario game for just £37.49 at Currys. Simply apply the code WONDER25 during checkout, and you'll secure a physical copy of the game for release day. What's more, this deal includes complimentary delivery, so there are no extra costs to worry about.

This is arguably the best deal you'll find in the lead-up to the game's release. Given the rarity of significant discounts on first-party Switch games, even during events like Black Friday, we strongly recommend seizing this opportunity ASAP. Trust us when we say that this offer will vanish quickly, and it's unlikely we'll see such a remarkable deal again anytime soon.

But what can we expect from Super Mario Bros. Wonder? For starters, the game's art style is a departure from the New Super Mario Bros. visuals that have been consistent across the 2D Mario games for the last 18 years. Backgrounds appear more detailed, and the characters themselves have been slightly redesigned as well.

Other gameplay shown included Mario grinding on rails, swimming up waterfalls, avoiding rollerskating Koopas, and more. In addition to Mario and Daisy, Peach, Luigi, and Toad were also shown to be playable. Mario was also seen riding on Yoshi.

Like many video games, ones from Nintendo don't come cheap. This was especially true when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was revealed to be $69.99 on release, a whole $10 more expensive than other Switch titles. However, this doesn't mean there aren't deals to be had for Nintendo fans. In fact, there are plenty of sales on games, Switch consoles, and various accessories that are worth checking out throughout the year. You can also follow @IGNDeals on Twitter or Threads for even more updates on the latest discounts, or check out all our handpicked Switch deals just below.

TL;DR - Best Switch Deals

The Best Nintendo Switch Deals - Navigate to:

• Switch SD Card Deals
• Buy 2 Get 1 Free Best Buy Deal
• Switch Video Game Deals
• When Should You Buy a Nintendo Switch?

Perfect Switch SD Card for $26.99 (and More Deals)

The Cyberpunk 2077 redemption is here with Phantom Liberty, and Cardy and Dale are here to tell you why you shouldn't miss it. They're joined by Matt as upcoming games Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Alan Wake 2 are delved deep into. Also, there's a little bit of sausage sandwich and cake chat so enjoy that!

What do think of cake? Get in touch at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com

IGN UK Podcast 715: Idris Elba's Sausage Sandwich

• IGN UK Podcast 714: Daddy's Back
• IGN UK Podcast 713: Starfield - Bethesda Strikes Back
• IGN UK Podcast 712: Starfield - The Good, The Bad, and The Inventory
• IGN UK Podcast 711: The Best of gamescom 2023
• IGN UK Podcast 710: Goodbye Xbox 360

As players continue to dig up all of Baldur's Gate 3's secrets, someone has found a hidden Karlach interaction where she looks at and talks to the player directly. It's pretty cool – and only a little bit unsettling.

As found by YouTuber Chubblot (h/t GameRant), the interaction involves fan-favorite Karlach, who's become so popular that Larian Studios included an ending with "better closure" for her romance in Patch 2. In the recently discovered clip, everyone’s favorite Tiefling Barbarian asks the player a series of questions before having what appears to be a bit of an existential crisis as she realizes she's locked in a video game, only to repeat the same hundred or so hours over and over again.

Just Karlach randomly becoming aware of her status as a video game character nbd. pic.twitter.com/9Vzq2n8AfW

— Chubblot (@chubblot) September 16, 2023

At first, things start off pretty tame, with Karlach asking the player character if she can try a magic trick she learned in Avernus that involves discerning whether or not the person she's talking to is telling the truth. And, instead of facing the player character, she faces the screen and stares right at it. First she asks you what your name is, then about her name.

Oh my gosh, it's finally happening. After years of social media posts pining for a Lord of the Rings game where you can just be a cozy hobbit, it looks like someone's finally making it. That someone is Wētā Workshop, in partnership with publisher Private Division, with the two having just teased a new game called Tales of the Shire.

We don't know much about Tales of the Shire just yet beyond the tease, but just from what we saw today we know that it's explicitly cozy, and involves hobbits somehow. We can gather a bit more from what we know of the Wētā x Private Division partnership, though. They first announced it a year ago, at the time stating only they were developing a game set in the Middle-Earth universe. For those concerned about lore ownership though after Embracer Group's acquisition of Middle-Earth Enterprises, fear not. The pair stated at the time that they had "licensed the literary works of the series, providing Wētā Workshop with the broadest creative license to interpret the underlying lore of the books." That means it sounds like when it comes to hobbit lore, there are no limits. We also learned that it would be "so different from what fans have played previously" which makes sense given the genre.

Resident Evil 4 sure knows how to set the tone: the remake’s intro sees Leon slowly advancing through creepy woods and rotting, ominous houses, culminating in the horrifying crescendo that is the infamous village attack. But with that groundwork already laid, The Separate Ways DLC has no need for such a slow build-up, and smartly wastes very little time shifting into high gear: we’re put up against an extremely imposing boss mere minutes after taking control of Ada Wong, the star of this show. In fact, though it only took me just over four hours to complete this side story’s seven chapters, Separate Ways rarely wastes a moment of your time, and proves to be a highly entertaining roller coaster that includes some very satisfying new takes on ideas from its original 2005 inspiration.

The story of our cool and competent covert operative runs basically parallel to that of Leon Kennedy’s quest to find the President’s daughter in a remote Spanish village, and while their paths often intersect in interesting ways, it’s the objectives that Ada follows on behalf of a familiar shadowy figure – and some revelations that should surprise even those who know the original’s story inside and out – that make her adventure worth playing.

We are two weeks away from Forza Motorsport, and pre-loading began earlier this week for most versions. Fair warning: you'll want to make some room on your PC or Xbox, as Turn 10 Studios' next entry in the racing sim series has quite a hefty file size.

Noted in a recent blog post, Turn 10 Studios detailed that Forza Motorsport is now available to pre-load and revealed the list of in-game Achievements. But the most interesting part is the big file sizes that come if you want to install Forza Motorsport.

File sizes vary depending on which console or PC version you are installing. For example, the smallest file size is found on the Series S version, where you have to sacrifice 100GB of free space to install Forza Motorsport. The Steam version's installed file size is 118GB, but as Turn 10 points out in its own post, the download size is 108GB. The Microsoft Store version is 1GB more at 119GB, and the biggest file size out of all four versions belongs to the Xbox Series X with a file size of 133GB.

It is important to note that only three of the four versions of Forza Motorsport are available to pre-load, as Turn 10 says Steam users will have to wait closer to release before they can pre-install the game.

2019 was some year. Baby Yoda. The end of Avengers and Game of Thrones. Two separate Fyre Festival documentaries. The first documented case of COVID-19. Suffice to say, there was… plenty going on. In fact, just about all we didn’t get in 2019 was a new instalment of the Forza Motorsport series.

We were due for it, so to speak. Since the arrival of the original in 2005, a new Forza Motorsport had dependably arrived every two years – across three generations of Xbox console hardware – for over a decade. But there would be no Forza Motorsport in 2019, despite the fact it had been two years since the launch of 2017’s Forza Motorsport 7. There’d be no Forza Motorsport in 2020, 2021, or 2022 either.

Building the next evolution of the Forza Motorsport series was going to take time, because the next evolution of the Forza Motorsport series had to be more than just a product. It was going to be a platform.

“We supported Forza Motorsport 7 more than we had any of the previous Motorsports,” explains Dan Greenawalt, GM of Forza Motorsport. “So there were a lot of updates, there were changes – both free and paid. We really supported that game. And you could see the trend from Horizon 4 and into Horizon 5, and Horizon 3 even, where there’s just more supporting of our games going on.”

“We made some pretty fundamental changes in Forza Motorsport 7. Some based on fan feedback and reaction, and some based on things we wanted to do. But looking at Forza all up, we believed there was a new chapter; there was a time to turn the page.”

Warning: This article contains limited spoilers for Spider-Man 2!

Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 video game is fast approaching its October 20 release date, and IGN got to play a hands-on demo to get a taste of what’s to come (check out our in-depth Spider-Man 2 gameplay preview). Being the big superhero fans that we are, we couldn’t help but geek out about the story they’re telling with the symbiote, which we all know starts with black-suit Spider-Man and ends with Venom. The small chunk of story we played through was overflowing with all manner of references to iconic black-suit Spidey and Venom comics as well as movies and television shows, so here’s a rundown of all the Venomized stuff we saw, and a look at how Insomniac is crafting a new story from these old classics.

Before we begin, a note on spoilers. Our demo was essentially the same part of Spider-Man 2 shown in the first gameplay preview where Peter and Miles chase the Lizard while battling Kraven’s goons. The demo began a bit before that action scene and ended not long after. The demo didn’t contain any huge plot twists, but still, we will be describing everything we saw, so if you want to go into the game with a clean slate, then best to skip this article.

If you haven’t already, check out the first Spider-Man 2 gameplay preview below, which sets the tone for everything we played in the demo: