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A well-known Super Mario 64 speedrunner has smashed his own world record for a 16-Star run, clocking in a time of 14:35.50 to secure his place at the top of the leaderboard for this particular challenge.

Speedrunner Suigi set a new world record with a 16-Star run on Super Mario 64 that he completed in just over 14 minutes and 35 seconds. He shared his achievement on YouTube and celebrated the win on Twitter, writing: "FIRST 14:3X, WORLD RECORD, WITH NO MISTAKES."

FIRST 14:3X, WORLD RECORD, WITH NO MISTAKES. i am done. its time to move on. pic.twitter.com/Di6tPhxMyY

— Suigi (@GreenSuigi) March 23, 2023

As shown on Speedrun.com Suigi's latest 16-Star run on Super Mario 64 puts him at the top of the global leaderboard for this category by a fair margin, with second place going to a speedrunner who collected 16 stars in 14:50.69 and third place clocking in at 14:53.45.

The record-breaking result was acknowledged by viewers, with one person commenting on the YouTube video: "Quite possibly the greatest speedrun of all time, across all games." And another adding: "Already had an OVERWHELMING lead in this category, then DESTROYS his best time by 6 seconds. This is the GOAT run of SM64. Nothing comes close."

Sonic Origins Plus is bringing even more classic Sonic games to modern consoles when it launches on Sonic’s birthday: June 23, 2023.

It adds all 12 Game Gear games; a playable Amy to Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD; and a playable Knuckles to Sonic CD.

This content will be available as a $9.99 expansion for those who own 2022’s Sonic Origins, while those who don’t can purchase it and all the regular Sonic Origins content in a single package for $39.99.

Those buying Sonic Origins Plus as an expansion for the base game will also get every piece of previously released Sonic Origins DLC. The new content will, of course, align with the main game in being digitally remastered for modern platforms, as it will be available on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The physical edition of Sonic Origins Plus will come with a 20 page art book and reversible cover sleeve with never before seen artwork.

The Sonic Origins base game launched on June 23 last year but not without controversy. Some fans were already upset over the state of the game’s DLC, as Sega had announced that Hard Missions, camera controls on elements of the main menu, and some character animations were all locked off content.

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for a key plot point in The Witcher 3.

The Witcher 3 took some bold risks with Andrzej Sapkowski’s canon when it was released in 2015, even going so far as to kill off Vesemir, Geralt's mentor and a prominent character from the books. It was a surprising move for the time, and it was even somewhat controversial within CD Projekt Red’s design team.

Looking back on the decision during a GDC 2023 panel titled “10 Key Quest Design Lessons From The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077,” CD Projekt Red quest director Pawel Sasko recalled the moment he concluded that he needed to kill off Geralt’s venerable mentor.

“I needed the moment for Ciri to actually make a decision that she’s not going to be hunted anymore…she’s going to be a hunter, she’s going to go after the Wild Hunt. But to do that I needed an actual event that would break her inside, and that was the moment when I proposed to our writer’s team that we kill Vesemir,” Sasko recalled.

The rest of The Witcher 3’s development was hesitant, not the least because of the role Vesemir plays in the books. Would players accept the death of such a high-profile character?

“At first, they weren’t sure we should be doing that. But in the discussions with Marcin Blacha, our story director, we reached the conclusion that it was actually a really good decision for Ciri to make that step,” Sasko said, pointing to the psychological impact that traumatic events can have.

It’s difficult, but deeply rewarding. It’s a lot easier when you have help. You can’t pause it. And at some point, you WILL ask, “wait, what am I supposed to do with the umbilical cord?” Am I describing Bloodborne… or parenting? Or both?

We’ve all heard something difficult described as “The Dark Souls of ____” - but hear me out: the first thing you do in Bloodborne AND as a parent is stumble out of a hospital terrified at what happens next and with no clear instructions about how to approach it. In both cases, this terrifying new scenario is the result of some reckless behavior involving bodily fluids.

Early on, it’s not easy – it can be frustrating, confusing, scary – and everybody’s talked it up so much that you might feel like there’s something wrong with you personally for not immediately loving it… and if we're being honest, a lot of people DO give up and just walk away.

Elden Ring now has a ray tracing graphics option for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC versions of the game, courtesy of patch v1.09.

The update was pushed out earlier today, March 23, to all versions of the game, though the new ray tracing feature won't be available on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.

Ray tracing can be toggled on and off via the game options menu on console and via the graphics menu on PC. Bandai Namco also cautioned in a post on its website that both frame rate and resolution “may be impacted while playing with ray tracing on”.

ELDEN RING update 1.09 is now available.

Full patch notes can be viewed here: https://t.co/Su9mOtjsXj

Please apply this patch to continue playing #ELDENRING online. pic.twitter.com/hsKqa1usku

— ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) March 23, 2023

Along with the new ray tracing option, the v1.09 patch brought a slew of bug fixes and balance adjustments to the game that affect everything from attribute scaling and buffs, to attack speeds and Ashes of War.

A number of PvP specific nerfs have also been introduced, as has an invincibility window for players respawning in the colosseum. The full patch notes are available below.

Developer Build A Rocket Boy has confirmed that its upcoming game Everywhere does not use NFTs and is not built on the Blockchain. The confirmation comes following speculation around Everywhere’s link to Web 3.0 that began when the game was revealed at Gamescom 2022.

At a recent preview event attended by the press, Build A Rocket Boy made it clear that Everywhere was not linked to the Blockchain at all and will not use NFTs. In a roundtable interview, IGN asked why Build A Rocket Boy had decided to avoid the controversial technology.

“We don't need it, is the basic point,” said Mick Hocking, Chief Development Officer at Build A Rocket Boy.

“Blockchain and NFTs are useful when you want to take content outside of your walled garden and go onto an exchange or to go between products. [In Everywhere] everything is within our world, so players can share content, they can create content, we don't need the technology. So why implement it?”

Back in the summer of 2022, speculation emerged around Everywhere’s use of NFTs due to Build A Rocket Boy advertising multiple open job positions for a blockchain team. The developer quickly responded, saying “These are research positions, as we do not like dismissing new technologies only because others haven’t found a solution for them yet.”

Leslie Benzies, the former president of Rockstar North and producer of eight Grand Theft Auto games, is hard at work on a brand new AAA action game. Along with hundreds of developers at his new studio, Build A Rocket Boy, he’s developing MindsEye; a cinematic conspiracy thriller with glossy photo-realistic visuals, car chases, and shootouts. But MindsEye is not like any AAA video game you’ve ever played for one important reason: it's exclusively available to play inside another video game, also in development at Build A Rocket Boy. That game is Everywhere, a free-to-play title coming initially to PC later this year, and it’s about as far away from GTA as it could possibly be.

As part of a recent trip to Build A Rocket Boy’s HQ in Edinburgh, Scotland, I was able to watch barely more than a minute or two of MindsEye in action. But I did get to see a reasonable amount more of Everywhere, a platform most simply described as big-budget Roblox. Less simply, Everywhere is many things: a PlayStation Home-like social space, a third-person shooter, a racing game, and – most importantly – a game creation tool. While it will launch with numerous game modes and locations, Everywhere’s flagship feature is its suite of comprehensive tools that allows anyone to make their own game or experience. Imagine Media Molecule’s Dreams with a Fortnite aesthetic and you’re more than halfway there.

The Lords of the Fallen, the long-awaited sequel to 2014 Souls-like Lords of the Fallen, has now been renamed... Lords of the Fallen.

As reported by PC Gamer, the name change was subtly baked into a technical showcase released on March 22 (below). This means the sequel now shares the exact same name with the original game despite only being released around a decade apart.

A similar naming debacle happened in February with Layers of Fear, as a remastered collection of the series was originally called Layers of Fears before the second S was also dropped.

The Lords of the Fallen sequel was re-revealed at Gamescom 2022 after years of troubled development spread across several different studios.

It's back on track, however, and a first look at its gameplay was released in December last year. Developed in Unreal Engine 5, the RPG promises tough as nails combat in a dark fantasy world, taking place 1,000 years after the events of the original game.

The new Lords of the Fallen doesn't have a release date yet, but is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.

Atari has entered an agreement to acquire Night Dive Studios. This agreement would support Atari’s retro-focused growth strategy and provide access to Night Dive’s IP, which includes System Shock, as well as utilize the studio’s proprietary KEX engine and publishing capabilities.

Chairman and CEO of Atari Wade Rosen said in a statement: “Night Dive’s proven expertise and successful track record in commercializing retro IP are well-aligned with Atari’s strategy and I am confident that their combined talent, technology, and IP portfolio will contribute to Atari’s future success."

“Night Dive and Atari have a long history together and we know that Atari shares our passion for retro games and our focus on producing high-quality new and remastered games that do justice to the original IP,” added Stephen Kick and Larry Kuperman of Night Dive. “As we look to grow our business and expand our capabilities, we could think of no better long-term partner than Atari.”

The acquisition is expected to close in April 2023. Night Dive Studios is currently working on a remake of System Shock, which was delayed from its original release date in March to now May 30 on PC. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions will follow after its launch on PC, but no date has been solidified yet. The game's Kickstarter page first launched back in 2016.

Resident Evil 4 has a lengthy story compared to its predecessors and a ton of strange side quests to take on, but just how long is it? Here we’ll let you know exactly how many hours it took different members of the IGN team to finish the game, and what they prioritised doing with that time.

How Long is Resident Evil 4?

• Our fastest player finished Resident Evil 4 in 12 hours on standard.
• Our “slowest” player spent 22 hours before credits rolled.

Everyone plays games differently, so read on for more details about how everyone played, how long it took to reach the credits, and how much extra time it took to fully explore all the maps. Once you've finished the game yourself, be sure to submit your times on How Long To Beat and see how your time compares!

Tristan Ogilvie - AU Video Producer and Reviewer

Since I was reviewing Resident Evil 4 IGN, I tried to be as thorough as possible; leaving no stone unturned or parasite-riddled villager un-murdered as I battled both the relentless hordes and my own ageing reflexes to complete this incredible and meaty campaign in a tick under 16 hours. However, my attempts to slow down and take my time were often thwarted as I was regularly caught up in the story’s constantly surging forward momentum, and by the end, I’d only managed to complete 61 out of the 101 in-game challenges and just 15 of the 19 merchant side quests, so there’s plenty of incentive for me to start over again on New Game+. Since Resident Evil 4’s campaign is one of the most exhilarating single-player rides I’ve enjoyed in a long time, I won’t be thinking twice about having another go around.

There’s something about the wild, deranged look in Crash Bandicoot’s eyes that tells me he’d be perfect for a chaotic, competitive multiplayer game, and clearly I’m not alone. After sitting down with the people at Toys for Bob to howl and hurl trash talk at one another for an hour as we played their upcoming Crash Team Rumble, it’s clear they’re onto something. The over-the-top world of Crash Bandicoot fits very nicely with the surprisingly nuanced competitive slugfest they’ve created, and I was hooked after the first scream-inducing match.

Crash Team Rumble is a 4v4 brawler where teams compete to be the first to score 2,000 points in the form of Crash’s iconic wumpa fruit. To do so you’ll need to smack crates, slap other players, make use of power ups, and of course, master platforming. That’s all with the goal of gobbling up as many wumpa fruits as possible to stash into your team’s bank before some heartless goon stomps on your head and takes you for all you’re worth.

Elden Ring has won Game of the Year at the 23rd annual Game Developer Choice Awards. The awards ceremony took place this evening as part of the 2023 Game Developers Conference (GDC), running throughout this week at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. As a peer-based event, the Game Developer Choice Awards are voted for by developers themselves.

FromSoftware’s hugely-successful fantasy blockbuster also picked up the awards for Best Visual Art and Best Design.

Sony Santa Monica Studio’s God of War Ragnarok also enjoyed a successful evening with its own trifecta of trophies. God of War Ragnarok was awarded Best Audio, Best Technology, and the Audience Award.

This year’s Game Developer Choice Awards also recognised industry legend John Romero with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The id Software co-founder, who helped create Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II, and Quake, is renowned as a pioneer of the first-person shooter genre and spearheading the concept of the multiplayer deathmatch – a term he is often credited with creating. This year’s Pioneer Award was posthumously given to Mabel Addis, designer and writer of The Sumerian Game in 1964. Addis has been recognised as the first female game designer, and her work on The Sumerian Game’s story has been mooted as the first video game narrative ever.

The full list of awards and winners is below.

We all played a ton of the Diablo 4 beta this past weekend, and we were all also lucky enough to play Redfall recently as well. We've got a LOT of thoughts about both. Join us!

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:

For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Over three years after its initial release, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners remains one of my favorite VR games, holding its ground next to the likes of Half-Life: Alyx and Gran Turismo 7 VR. That's why it was such a major disappointment when its long-awaited sequel, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution, was released as a Meta Quest 2 exclusive back in December. It came with a slurry of bugs and performance issues that left such a middling taste in my mouth that I genuinely wondered whether it was even intended as a sequel to begin with, especially given the lack of a proper PC VR version at the time. Fast forward three months and we now have a PC re-release, plus a PlayStation VR2 version that visually blows everything about the original Quest 2 release out of the water. It's still not quite as polished as Chapter 1, and its ideas are safer than I would've hoped for a full-blown sequel, but its increased action is far tenser with the horsepower to sustain it.

Minecraft is a phenomenon that continues to take the world by storm even 12 years after its full release. Selling over 238,000,000 copies worldwide, the game is just as captivating an experience now as it was upon its debut..

If you are among those that have yet to jump into the blocky digital world of one of the best-selling video games of all time, you may be surprised to hear there are multiple ways for you to play Minecraft (and its various spinoffs) for free!

Minecraft Free Trial

For those wanting to get a taste of the endless hours of entertainment that Minecraft can provide, but are yet unwilling to pay the entry fee, there is in fact a free trial of both Bedrock and Java versions of the game. Via Minecraft’s official website, you can access links that will lead to the download pages for the Bedrock Edition, available on Windows, Android, PS3/4/5, and PS Vita.

In terms of the Java Edition, which is available exclusively to Windows, Mac, and Linux, an additional set of links are available lower down on the same page, with specific instructions on how to download and install each respective version.

Ubisoft has introduced a new AI scriptwriting tool called Ghostwriter, saying it will help game writers develop better dialogue for NPCs.

According to a blog post published by Ubisoft on Tuesday, Ghostwriter, created by Ubisoft's R&D department, La Forge, "isn't replacing the video game writer." Quite the opposite, Ubisoft claims. It is actually saving game writers time coming up with the best lines, or barks, to give NPCs.

Ghostwriter generates first drafts of barks and gives writers room to flesh them out to better fit the game's narrative. Ben Swanson, an R&D scientist at La Forge Montreal, said he created Ghostwriter to solve the issue of writing barks that would be triggered by certain situations, especially when there's a crowd full of NPCs.

"Rather than writing first draft versions themselves, Ghostwriter lets scriptwriters select and polish the samples generated," he said.

Swanson demonstrated the use of Ghostwriter at GDC, showing bark trees that show up for an NPC character confronting a certain topic, such as speeding or being hungry. The program generates lines for either situation, then the writer selects the most suitable line and combines it with their own input to better fit it with the game's narrative design.

As we inch closer to the release date of Arkane Studios' first-person shooter Redfall, it has been confirmed that it will not be using Unreal Engine 5.

Harvey Smith said in a WccfTech interview that the game will be running on Unreal Engine 4. He noted that while they were developing the game, "Halfway through the project, Epic came up with Unreal Engine 5, but the game is based on Unreal Engine 4.26. If we had more time, we would have probably gone with UE5, but it was a lot of work just upgrading to 4.26."

It is worth mentioning that Arkane has said in the past that they wouldn't be using Unreal Engine 5. Over on the Redfall FAQ page, you'll find a question asking, "What game engine is Redfall utilizing?" with the answer being Unreal Engine 4.

Redfall is the most recent title to come out of Arkane Studios. The game is projected to come out on May 2, 2023, for PC and Xbox Series X|S. There was originally going to be a PlayStation 5 version of the game, but Microsoft scrapped it when it acquired Bethesda, Smith revealed in a recent interview with IGN France.

Luis Joshua Gutierrez is a freelance writer who loves games. You can reach him at @ImLuisGutierrez on Twitter.

The domestic violence charges filed against Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland have been dropped, IGN has confirmed.

A representative with the Orange Country District Attorney, which originally filed the charges, told IGN that they were dropped today as "we did not have sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt," in addition to "additional information that came to light during the investigation."

“I commend the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for conducting a thorough review of the facts and deciding to dismiss the case against Justin," Roiland's attorney, T. Edward Welbourn, told IGN in a statement. "I’m thankful justice has prevailed.”

Roiland also broke his silence today, speaking publicly on Twitter for the first time since the allegations came to light.

"I have always known that these claims were false - and I never had any doubt this day would come," Roiland tweeted.

"I'm thankful that this case has been dismissed but, at the same time, I'm still deeply shaken by the horrible lies that were reported about me during this process."

"Most of all," he continued, "I'm disappointed that so many people were so quick to judge without knowing the facts, based solely on the word of an embittered ex trying to bypass due process and have me 'canceled.' That it may have succeeded, even partially, is shameful. However, now that the legal case has ended, I'm determined to move forward and focus both on my creative projects and restoring my good name."

justice pic.twitter.com/1q9M4GA6MV

Redfall was also in development for PlayStation 5 before Microsoft acquired Bethesda, according to the game's director. This version was ultimately canceled and the game became exclusive to Microsoft platforms.

In an interview with IGN France, Arkane's Harvey Smith explained, “We got bought by Microsoft and that was a huge sea change. They said, ‘no PlayStation 5. Now we’re gonna do Game Pass, Xbox, and PC.’”

Originally, Redfall was meant to release on all platforms. Smith said that the studio didn’t mind that decision, however. He continued, “Support from Game Pass and have to worry about one less platform, one less complexity. And Game Pass has a ton of people that can play. It could be our biggest game ever because of the 30 million Game Pass [members] or whatever that number is.”

Since Microsoft acquired Bethesda, both Starfield and Redfall were confirmed to be Microsoft exclusives while Microsoft still honored Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo’s timed console exclusivity periods on PlayStation 5. Redfall’s now-canceled PlayStation 5 version is also an interesting revelation considering Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

At GDC 2023, Epic Games held a State of Unreal event, where the company unveiled the latest updates for Unreal Engine. We got a fresh look at some new tools coming soon to creators, as well as how some of these tools are being used in upcoming games like Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.

If you missed the livestream, here's a quick roundup of everything announced during the 2023 State of Unreal event.

Unreal Editor For Fortnite allows players to develop their own games inside the popular Battle Royale

Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) is a new add-on available for the PC version of Fortnite. As Epic Games notes, the application works side-by-side with Fortnite's existing creative toolset and is to be used for "designing, developing, and publishing games and experiences directly into Fortnite." UEFN also includes a new scripting language called "Verse," which Epic notes is a "powerful customization capabilities such as manipulating or chaining together devices and the ability to easily create new game logic."

The Unreal Editor for Fortnite is available now on the Epic Games Store as a public beta.

Welcome back to Forgotten Gems, my column about games that have faded but shouldn’t be forgotten. Last time, I took at a look at the unexpected return of one of Square’s most unique 16-bit RPGs, Live a Live. While there may be no happy ending this time, hopefully you’ll still enjoy this look back at an entire game series that almost all but faded from public discourse: Goemon, Konami’s Mystical Ninja.

Namco has Pac-Man. SEGA’s got Sonic. Nintendo has Mario. Konami’s got… Frogger? Twinbee? The Parodius Octopus? It’s honestly a bit surprising that one of the most prolific game developers of the ‘80s took so long to develop a stable of recognizable characters; let alone a core company mascot. Before it became known for the exploits of the Belmonts and Solid Snake, Konami dazzled us more with clever concepts like Time Pilot, Gyruss, and Track & Field, as well as competent game adaptations of animated shows like TMNT or the Simpsons.

When Miles Tost moved from The Witcher 3 to Cyberpunk 2077 in 2016, he soon realized that he was dealing with a unique challenge. Despite both being RPGs, the two “couldn’t be more different,” with CD Projekt aiming to make a “gigantic leap forward” in terms of the freedom that Cyberpunk 2077 offered with gameplay. As a level designer, Tost was asked to create levels that supported every style of play, from brute force to stealth to everything else in between, all in a huge open world.

“As insane as it sounded, it also sounded f*cking awesome, and boy were we up to the challenge,” Tost said.

Of course, we know what happened next. Cyberpunk 2077 struggled when it was released in 2020, especially on older consoles like the PlayStation 4. Even beyond its technical problems, though, many players observed its shortcomings as an immersive sim. In particular, it did a poor job of making the various playstyles feel meaningful, dampening the sense of reward gained from exploration. Cyberpunk 2077 has since recovered somewhat, but CD Projekt remains keen to figure out exactly what went wrong with its ambitious RPG.

For those who have been waiting to pick up a PlayStation 5, we have good news: every version of the console is now available on Amazon, without requiring invitation or inflated, third-party seller prices. This includes the disc edition, the digital edition, and both the God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West bundles (which also come in disc and digital editions). Below, you can see a breakdown of each available console on Amazon's website.

PlayStation 5 Consoles Available on Amazon

It was only very recently that it became possible for people to buy a PlayStation 5 (and Xbox Series X, for that matter) without the panic of stock immediately running out. Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan said at the start of this year that "everyone who wants a PS5 should have a much easier time finding one at retailer globally,” now. This was revealed at Sony's CES tech conference, where the company also boasted how they've now surpassed more than 30 million units sold.

If you’re curious to see what other PlayStation items are worth picking up alongside the console, make sure to visit our gift guide for the best PlayStation and PS5 gifts to pick up this year. Alongside games, this guide also includes the PlayStation Pulse 3D wireless headset and the PS5's DualSense controller.

Valve has suddenly confirmed Counter-Strike 2 - and it's arriving sooner than you might think.

An exact release date has yet to be announced, but it's been given a Summer 2023 release window, and will run on Source Engine 2.

It will be a free upgrade to CS:GO. It's also available in limited testing to some CS:GO players starting today, with Valve revealing more details on how to become part of the limited test.

Per a CS2 website that popped up today, it's "the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike’s history, ensuring new features and updates for years to come." In several videos released today, Valve gave a closer glimpse at what Counter-Strike players can expect.

Specifically, Valve spotlighted its "upgraded and overhauled maps," "game-changing" smoke grenades, tick-rate-independent gameplay, and redesigned visual effects and audio.

All of CS2's overhauled maps "have been fully rebuilt from the ground up, leveraging all of the new Source 2 tools and rendering features," says Valve. The updated grenades, meanwhile, now have the ability to interact with other gameplay events, will expand to fill spaces naturally, and will react to lightning.

Plus, "regardless of tick rate, your moving and shooting will be equally responsive and your grenades will always land the same way," per the announcement.

All of a player's CS:GO items will carry with them to CS2.

Are you looking to build out your collection of board games at home, or want something new and exciting to play during your next game night? If so, there’s no better time than now to buy one, thanks to Amazon’s board game sale. During this time, you can save plenty (up to 51%!) on select board games, from Pandemic to Betrayal to Azul.

Below, you can see which board games are included in Amazon’s sale right now, along with how much you can save on each one.

Board Games on Sale At Amazon

If you want to see a collection of some of the best board games to play throughout this year, we’ve got you covered there, too. In our guide to the Best Board Games to Play in 2023, we've curated a wide selection of board games, from classic picks to exciting new ones, that are perfect for including in your next game night. This selection includes Ticket to Ride, Gloomhaven, Codenames, Pandemic, and many more. Some of these games are even included in Amazon's board game sale listed above, which is even better! You can now add some of the best board games around to your collection at home for a much cheaper price.

Arkane Austin has said that it is working on a fix that will reverse Redfall’s always-online requirement, an aspect that was met with backlash when first announced.

In an interview with Eurogamer, game director Harvey Smith said, “We listen. And we have already started work to address this in the future. We have to do some things like encrypt your save games and do a bunch of UI work to support it. And so we are looking into - I'm not supposed to promise anything - but we're looking into and working actively toward fixing that in the future.”

Smith also went into more detail about why Redfall was designed as an always-online experience from the start. It wasn’t to sell microtransactions from an in-game store, as the game doesn’t even have one (DLC is planned, including guns and costume bundles, but they will be sold via the Xbox store). Instead, the decision behind requiring an online connection was to help Arkane understand how people were playing Redfall and when they were facing difficulties.

“It allows us to do some accessibility stuff. It allows us for telemetry, like - if everybody's falling off ladders and dying, holy shit that shows up,” Smith explained. “And so we can go and tweak the ladder code. There are reasons we set out to do that that are not insidious.”

In a game all about vampire slaying it’s pretty important that killing your blood-feasting foes feels like an event in and of itself. That’s exactly what Arkane Austin has done with Redfall; much like how assassination-sim Dishonored had gloriously bloody backstab animations, Redfall revels in the act of plunging a wooden stake through a vampire’s heart. There’s weight in the blow as you knock your foe backwards and slam them into the floor, pushing a boot into a jaw that quickly evaporates into fiery dust. Yeah, killing vampires in Redfall feels good.

At a recent hands-on event I played around 90 minutes of Redfall, which gave me the first taste of something akin to a Far Cry game made by Stephen King. It’s an open-world shooter set in modern day Massachusetts, filled with gothic small-town vibes, fanged horrors, and a buffet of activity types.

That means Prey and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin is operating in uncharted territory. Redfall is very different to the studio’s other games and initially feels a lot more conventional. A freely explored map with safehouses, enemy camps, side errands, and tier-graded loot? Check, check, check, and check. But the more I played, the more I saw of what I’d expect from the historically ambitious developer. The island town of Redfall has clever environment design that’s engineered to compliment your skills. The enemy AI is there to be toyed with, allowing you to bait your foes into traps. And every second room I entered felt staged to tell a story. Redfall definitely is an Arkane game, just not the one I expected.

Playing as a scion of the hereafter fighting his way through the realms beneath in a roguelike graveyard shift might sound familiar. I also played Hades. But Have a Nice Death let me take control of your boy, Death himself, who runs a very different kind of quirky, new underworld order. Full of dark and dry workplace humor, this clerical reimagining of life after death as a soulless corporation forms the backdrop for some wicked hard, frantic, side-scrolling combat. And at its best, it's a killer time, even if the progression systems don't do the best job of providing ongoing motivation.

Slaying my way through randomized levels and laying the smackdown on the various, rank-and-file deadbeats was the highlight of this Stygian adventure, with fast and responsive combat featuring a lot of different techniques to master. A variety of swappable scythes with multiple special attacks each are just the beginning. You can also unalive the undead with magic spells and secondary weapons found randomly throughout the levels – from a big, beefy hammer to a sorcery that summons a flock of hungry crows. In addition to responsive jumps, dashes, and powerful "frenzy" finishers, no dust-up is lacking for variety.

Each chapter, based on a different method of death, from war to food poisoning, is distinct and full of new enemy types. One moment I was swatting away slimy seagulls who died in an oil spill, and the next I was doing aerial combat with bubble-headed nerds who suffocated on chewing gum. The designs, both visually and in terms of how they attack, are consistently creative and charming. And the excellent soundtrack compliments all of the mayhem very well.

Tony Todd, the voice actor behind Venom in Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, revealed that the game will release sometime in September. It was previously only revealed that it would drop Fall 2023.

On Twitter, Todd posted a picture of himself working with motion capture. When someone exclaimed that they couldn’t wait for more details about Spider-Man 2, Todd responded with, “Looks like September! Massive publicity coming in august. Commercials start dropping in august so I’m told. Hold on to your … and hold breath! Gonna be necessary.”

Looks like September! Massive publicity coming in august. Commercials start dropping in august so I’m told. Hold on to your … and hold breath! Gonna be necessary

— Tony Todd (@TonyTodd54) March 21, 2023

Sony did not respond to IGN's request for comment.

While this is far from a confirmation since Insomniac itself didn’t officially announce a release date, having the information coming from someone who is directly working on the game is worth noting.

Microsoft says Sony has no reason to worry about an inferior version of Call of Duty launching on PlayStation consoles, should the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard acquisition go through.

In its latest submission to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, Microsoft responded to Sony's concerns that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard would sabotage the PlayStation version of future Call of Duty titles. In its filing, Microsoft referenced a new remedy proposal that addresses Sony's concerns of a "worse version of CoD titles on PlayStation consoles".

Microsoft claimed that its current proposal would would actually encourage the Call of Duty developers and publishers to create a PlayStation version that's optimized for the platform.

"As Microsoft will be shipping CoD on PlayStation in compliance with its remedy commitments... Microsoft will have every incentive to develop games with optimised support for PS5 features, such as haptics, and future consoles in order to maximise sales on the platform."

Elsewhere in the document, Microsoft also wrote about the length of its proposed 10-year deal to Sony, saying, "Microsoft considers that a period of 10 years is sufficient for Sony, as a leading publisher and console platform, to develop alternatives to CoD."

EA has announced that it'll stop selling Battlefield 1943, and Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2 from all digital storefronts on April 28.

The move comes before the company shuts down online services for all those games on Dec. 8. Once their online features are removed, they'll no longer be playable online, but you'll still be able to play both Bad Companies' offline features.

EA announced the news on its website, where it wrote, "While these titles hold a special place in our heart, we're now looking forward to creating new memories alongside you as we shift our focus towards our current and future Battlefield experiences." As the blog post goes on, EA details what these games meant to them and how some of these features are still being used in modern games.

An earlier version of their announcement also said Mirror's Edge would be removed from digital storefronts, but EA later clarified that was an error.

An update about Battlefield 1943, Bad Company and Bad Company 2 👇https://t.co/mqYW5VVi2i

An earlier version of this announcement included Mirror's Edge. That was an error. We currently have no plans to remove Mirror’s Edge from digital storefronts.

Activision and Toys For Bob have announced that Crash Team Rumble will be released on June 20, and the closed beta for the game will be held from April 20-24.

The publisher and developer dropped the new trailer with the release date attached today, and said fans can pre-order Crash Team Rumble starting today so that they'll get a chance to participate in the closed beta come mid-April.

During the beta, they'll be playing as one of five characters: Crash, Coco, Tawna, Neo Cortex, and Dingodile. Each character will be paired with unique powers that can be used strategically with special moves and other abilities across three maps — all of which vary in size, layout, challenges, and Relic Stations that unlock even more powers to give teams an advantage over each other.

The wait is over! Pre-order now and get access to the Closed Beta April 20-24. https://t.co/RbWYwPL45Q #CrashTeamRumble pic.twitter.com/SHnlHgAJQ4

— Crash Bandicoot (@CrashBandicoot) March 21, 2023

CD Projekt Red is re-evaluating The Molasses Flood's upcoming Witcher game, codenamed Sirius, and has filed an impairment charge as a result.

Twitter user Game Over Thirty (below) shared an announcement to investors from CD Projekt Red, indicating that all may not be well with one of the many upcoming Witcher games. An impairment charge is filed by a business to write off assets that have dropped in value or been lost completely.

What this means for the game is currently unclear, though it is possible that CD Projekt Red has essentially reset development.

1/ CD Projekt Group is taking an impairment charge on Project Sirius. It looks like they evaluated the commercial viability of the current design and decided against it. Taking a charge indicates they want the expenses taken *NOW* because they serve no value to the company. https://t.co/mjuxGcozSX

— Game Over Thirty (aka RallyCarDelta) (@GameOverThirty) March 20, 2023

It has denied the project is scrapped altogether, however, as senior communication manager Paweł Burza told IGN that "our current focus is ensuring that Project Sirius is aligned with the strategy of the CD PROJEKT Group.

"At this point in time, we are neither providing insight into the evaluation of the project nor the potential future frameworks thereof."

Former Firaxis director Jake Solomon said that he wants to start his studio, but it most likely won’t be another turn-based strategy game. He worked as the director for Marvel’s Midnight Suns and the XCOM franchise.

On an episode of the podcast My Perfect Console, Solomon explained, “After I made Midnight Suns I looked at, ‘ok, I’m going to make another turn-based strategy game, and am I excited about that?’”

He continued: “I found that I wasn’t that excited about doing another turn-based strategy game, not because the genre isn’t amazing. It’s where I’ve spent my life, but I felt like I didn’t have anything more to say in that area.”

When asked what kind of game he’d make, Solomon said that he’d most likely create a simulation game rather than another turn-based strategy one. He went on to explain that he can’t stray too far away from his expertise and that system design is important to him, as he designed the individual heroes, enemies, and abilities in Marvel’s Midnight Suns.

“My intention, if anybody gives me the funding for it, is to open my own studio locally and make a new kind of game,” Solomon said. “I can’t move too far away from what my experience is. I’m a creative director, but the truth is I’m actually a very in-the-weeds system designer.”

Solomon hasn’t officially announced a new studio just yet, but he left Firaxis last month after working for the studio for over two decades.

Blizzard has said the technical issues that plagued Diablo 4’s “rocky” open beta have helped pave the way for its full launch on June 6.

Last weekend saw Blizzard hold the first mostly open beta for Diablo 4, which was accessible for gamers who had either preordered a copy of the game or obtained a promotional code by ordering chicken from KFC. Unfortunately, the three-day event was marred by numerous technical issues that forced players to endure prolonged queue times while encountering frustrating error messages.

“The word beta nowadays has kind of been misconstrued, where people start calling things beta that’s [actually] a marketing beta, and it’s just another term for a demo,” said Diablo 4’s general manager Rod Fergusson in an interview with NME. “That’s not our case at all. Our beta is actually us testing our technology — especially on the server side. We had a little bit of a rocky start on Friday.”

Fergusson added that the development team pushed out six hotfixes and “solved dozens of issues over the course of the weekend. Those fixes will hopefully smooth the way for the second open beta taking place this coming weekend, and ultimately pave the way for Diablo 4's launch on June 6."

It's a shame we don't see more open-world games set in the sweeping dunes of a great desert, and yet Atlas Fallen embraces this setting stylishly – bringing plenty of new ideas to the table, including a sand slide move that replaces the traditional sprint and quickly makes me feel like I’m back playing Journey again as I pave my way through Atlas Fallen’s golden oasis of destruction. That’s saying nothing of the unique combat system which has me darting around mid-air between explosive attacks that often leave my foes shattered into a thousand bits of sand and crystal dust, and I do mean that literally! Granted, the demo build I spent several hours testing didn’t always feel as smooth as I’d have hoped, and I couldn’t figure out whether it was my ultrawide monitor or something in my PC causing random slowdowns and frame drops at inopportune moments, but I found it difficult to walk away from my overall experience with Atlas Fallen without remaining curious and excited for what’s to come when it finally launches on May 16 in a, hopefully, more stable state.

Atlas Fallen centers around your own custom character who has come into possession of a magical gauntlet, an important piece of gear that's central to its post-apocalyptic story. I really enjoyed the pacing here: a quick cutscene explains why the world is in its present state, you're introduced to each major element of gameplay, and then it's right to the action. Atlas Fallen deftly explained everything I needed to know during the first few minutes of play, and its early tutorials also served the purpose of bonding me with Nyaal, the mysterious entity living inside my powerful and legendary gauntlet.

Few video games in history have cribbed more of its foundation from the Warhammer universe than the original Doom. The landmark '90s first-person shooter was filled to the brim with titanic demonspawn, disemboweling shotgun blasts, and sweaty comic-book machismo — not unlike the goliath space marines in the grim darkness of the far future. So it's fitting that Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is such a dogmatic tribute to the tenets of vintage, id Software-hewn monster slaying. The latest entry in Games Workshop's digital empire aims to take us back to a happier age: a time of 2.5D sprites, gelatinous blood splatters, and level maps dotted with secrets, keys, and ammunition pickups. The 90s are back, baby. John Carmack would be proud.

You are a Space Marine, a superhuman race of militant intergalactic zealots, who scorch across the universe to eradicate all of the forces who wish ill upon the Emperor of Mankind. After a brief expository overture, Boltgun discards all of its narrative precepts and gets right down to business. Your space marine is dropped into the opening level equipped solely with his quintessential Gears of War-esque chainsword; with one right click, you'll saw a hapless chaos demon in two. Your hero will unlock an ever-expanding arsenal as they make their way through the gauntlet, the particulars of which will be immediately familiar to anyone who's ever conquered Mars or Hell. Soon enough, you'll be mouse-wheeling between a shotgun, a plasma gun, and the titular bolter, all of which are capable of reducing your enemies into a misshapen pinkish lump.

It’s very easy for disabled people to feel betrayed when a game lacks proper accessibility, and rightfully so. How can studios expect us to celebrate these innovations and victories if we still can’t play their games? But if there is one lesson I’ve learned from personally playing and professionally critiquing some of our favorites, it’s that major developments should be celebrated, even if that means potentially missing out on brand-new experiences.

When I write, I tend to avoid including my own perspective, aside from reviews. I’ve always felt uncomfortable discussing personal stories, especially since I share a space with over 400 million disabled players, each deserving to highlight how the games industry is helping or failing them. But in some instances, I think sharing personal stories is almost cathartic and crucial when exploring the necessity of accessibility. So, for this month’s Access Designed, I’m breaking my rule to tell you about my growth and evolving understanding of accessibility as a disabled player.

My birthday is in March – March 19 to be exact. Throughout my 29 years of life, I’ve gamed on just about every system. From handhelds like the Game Boy Advance to my current PC, I familiarized myself with some of the best games this industry has offered.

Rare and Microsoft are celebrating the fifth anniversary of Sea of Thieves, but the developers are also looking out toward the horizon for the next five years of the live service pirate adventure.

In an article on Xbox Wire, Xbox revealed that the Sea of Thieves team at Rare recently sat down to plot out the next five years of the game.

“I think 10 years of Sea of Thieves will feel like a long time – but also, we’ll blink and be there," creative director Mike Chapman said. "And I still think we’ll have unfinished business when we get to that point.”

The Sea of Thieves team is apparently discussing ideas for smuggling mechanics, rewards for protecting other players from griefers, and a mechanic for "painting" screenshots. The development team's mantra is "Players Creating Stories Together", and this wide vision has the team feeling like they'll never run out of ideas, as long as players are there to experience them.

There are some other interesting stories in Xbox Wire's celebration of Sea of Thieves. The developers revealed that the original pitch for Sea of Thieves starred secret agents instead of pirates, and that they "ripped up our roadmap" after launch and changed the approach to the game's content updates.

The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book Game is the third title in a series from publisher Ravensburger, the previous two entries featuring The Wizard of Oz and The Princess Bride. These are all unique tabletop games where unfolding storybooks are used as the foundation to retell iconic narratives from film and literature. While the previous two releases have been entertaining and effective, The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book pushes the format strongly forward with a sense of maturity and accomplishment.

This is a wonderful combination of charm and lightweight gameplay that finds its groove when played across a diverse age range. It’s perfect for a family as both adults and children can sink into the story and fully grasp the structure and mechanisms. The main attraction is the book itself. Each set of pages is a new chapter in the familiar J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy. It’s a hard and sturdy manual, reminiscent of children’s board books in material. The illustrations are vibrant and the graphic design is excellent, easily accomplishing a sense of immersion through the synthesis of presentation and systems.

All of the expected beats are here. From the hobbits departure from the Shire to the forming of the Fellowship, through Moria and the gates of Helm’s Deep, and finally at the mouth of Mount Doom. Each of the eight chapters utilizes a small number of special rules and objectives that sit atop a very concise core ruleset. All of the action takes place on the pages of the book, which form a unique board tailored to the current story chapter.