Category: Gaming

THQ Nordic has presented a new digital showcase today, with a slew of new trailers and surprise reveals. From a new Alone in the Dark trailer to the reveal of the new South Park game, and a game adaptation of a popular TMNT comic, there are plenty of titles coming from THQ Nordic to be excited for.

If you missed the showcase, don’t worry, IGN has a complete roundup highlighting all the announcements that came out of the event, which you can check out below.

TMNT: The Last Ronin Video Game Announced

Teenage Mutant: Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, the popular 2020 comic book mini-series, is getting a video game adaptation. While no release date was revealed, we did learn that the studio handling development is Black Forest Games, which is most notable for remaking Destroy All Humans! and Destroy All Humans! 2.

South Park: Snow Day is a New 3D Game Coming Next Year

At its showcase last year, THQ Nordic snuck in a teaser revealing it was working on a new South Park game. And today, the publisher finally unveiled South Park: Snow Day, a new 3D co-op multiplayer game coming next year for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Gothic 1 Remake Gets New Trailer

THQ Nordic announced a remake of Gothic in 2019, and today we got a new trailer for the reimagining of the 2000s-era action RPG. The latest trailer focuses on a brief overview of the fantasy world players will get to venture across. No release date as of yet, but it will be available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S when it becomes available.

Titan Quest 2 Officially Announced

Titan Quest 2 is real and officially in development. A sequel to Iron Lore’s 2006 game, Titan Quest 2 is being developed by Grimlore Games, a studio best known for developing SpellForce 3, which was released in 2017 on PC before making its way onto PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Alone in the Dark’s Gets New Trailer Focused on the Two Playable Characters

We learned last year that a new Alone in the Dark game was in the works, and THQ Nordic gave fans a new trailer for the upcoming reboot. The latest trailer introduces Edward Carnby, a private investigator played by David Harbour, and one of two playable characters in the game.

A second trailer for the game was also shown highlighing the second playable character Emily Hartwood, played by Jodie Comer.

Last Train Home’s Latest Trailer Focuses on Gameplay

The Last Train Home is a RTS game coming exclusively for PC. Players will command soliders and try to make their way home while fending off enemies as a result of an ongoing civil war.

Outcast – A New Beginning Gets New Trailer

An upcoming open-world third-person shooter from Appeal Studios, Outcast – A New Beginning had an explosive new trailer shown off at the digital event. The video focuses on gameplay and touches on the in-game universe.

Space For Sale is Getting a Closed Beta

THQ Nordic and Mirage Game Studios announced today that the upcoming simulation game Space for Sale is getting a closed beta test, with sign-ups now open.

Tempest Rising Gets A New Action-Packed Trailer

Tempest Rising is an upcoming base-building RTS game for PC inspired by RTS games released in the 1990s and 2000s. The latest trailer focuses on gameplay, but no release window was announced.

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy’s New Gameplay Trailer Focuses on Multiplayer

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is out on August 31. Ahead of the release date later this month, THQ Nordic debuted a new trailer that focuses on the co-op multiplayer gameplay fans can expect.

Way of the Hunter: Tikamoon Plains’ Latest Trailer Showcases the Various In-Game Locations

Way of the Hunter: Tikamoon Plains got a new trailer focused on the post-launch content and the new locations player can visit. The Tikamoon Plains DLC is out now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Wreckreation Receives a New Trailer

Wreckreation is an upcoming arcade-style racing game for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The latest trailers show that players will drive and help craft an open world called MixWorld where you will create, race, and wreak havoc across the setting with an option to play solo or with friends.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

After an initial tease at its showcase last year, publisher THQ Nordic has revealed South Park: Snow Day, a new 3D co-op multiplayer game coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S next year.

South Park: Snow Day focuses on Cartman and the crew as they celebrate not having school for the day, thanks to inclement weather. While not much is known about the game, it appears to be fantasy-inspired as Cartman is shown wearing his Grand Wizard King costume while other children in the trailer are shown wearing fantasy-inspired outfits.

South Park: Snow Day is developed by Question Games, a studio whose previous projects include 2015’s The Magic Circle, a fantasy puzzle game, and The Blackout Club, a first-person co-op horror game released in 2019.

This is the most recent South Park game made for consoles, following the 2017 release of South Park: The Fractured but Whole, a 2D turn-based RPG by Ubisoft. While the most recent game based on the South Park IP was the free-to-play RTS title South Park: Phone Destroyer, released in 2017 for Android and iOS.

South Park: Snow Day was one of a handful of games THQ Nordic announced at its digital showcase today. For more information on the event, check out our Everything Announced roundup.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Update #2: August 11, 2023

I’ve sunk another 20-some hours into Baldur’s Gate 3 since we last chatted, and I’m nearing the end of the gloomy and spooky Act 2. It’s getting harder to go into specifics without spoiling major elements of the plot, but the shift in tone and visual style has been welcome and refreshing. The shadow-shrouded lands I am now adventuring through have a completely different vibe and set of challenges from even Act 1’s Underdark.

What has really stuck out to me the most at this point in the adventure is the care and thoughtfulness with which the encounter designers are torturing me. I mentioned in the last update that no two combat encounters felt the same, but it’s more than that. It’s like each one is carefully designed to make me want to scream and throw my monitor out the window in a way I’ve never seen before. And I mean that in the best possible way.

If this were a tabletop D&D game, I would have to conclude that the dungeon master is a right bastard. But I still gotta hand it to him for the creativity and craftsmanship with which his sadistic bullshit is shaped. One fight will involve teleporting imp creatures who garrote my party members before carting them off to separate locations, preventing spellcasting and forcing everyone to fend for themselves. The next might be against some terrifying insectoids who leave everyone literally petrified with fear, so I have to find a way to win without being able to move. At no point have I been able to fall back on a repetitive, grinding routine. And I love that.

It also continues to amaze me how almost nothing in this enormous game feels like filler. Every random house I wander into or side quest I pick up rewards me with a memorable, unique, handcrafted experience. In a recent encounter, I was able to skip an entire boss fight by having our barbarian win a drinking contest against a powerful being. It’s not just the amount of stuff there is to do in Baldur’s Gate 3 that is exceptional, it’s the amount of stuff that is actually worth doing. That’s set it apart from the likes of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and, dare I say, even Tears of the Kingdom. This type of love and care really is what I want to see big-budget CRPGs focus on in the future, even if they have to sacrifice quantity to make it happen.

Ascending to level 8 and picking up the druid Halsin (yes, the guy from the famous bear sex trailer) as a permanent companion have given me even more combat options, though I’m not thrilled with how druids work overall. For all the, er, hype over Halsin’s bear form, it seems like it kind of sucks in combat. When he transforms he has only 10 AC and about half as many hit points as in his humanoid form. Some of the higher-level transformations, like saber-toothed tiger and owlbear, may be a lot more useful, and I might just not have gotten the hang of him yet, since he joined my party when I had already gotten used to the other characters for about 70 hours. But I was looking forward to having my bear boyfriend be my new tank, and it seems like he’s just not that good at it.

I’m at an odd point in the story, still, where I’ve definitely had more new questions arise than I’ve had answered. But looming just ahead is Moonrise Towers, where I’ve been promised by various characters that I might finally come to a better understanding of what’s going on. And judging by the ominous drums in the distance, that’s coming not a moment too soon.

Update #1: August 8, 2023

I’m now about 55 hours into Baldur’s Gate 3, with the first 50 of those having taken place almost entirely within the first act – which has been considerably expanded and cleaned up from what was available in Early Access. My party is now level 7, and much like in tabletop 5th Edition D&D, hitting level 5 was a huge moment at which the combat really started to feel satisfying. Getting extra attacks for my martial characters and big area-of-effect spells like Fireball for my casters has greatly expanded the destructive tactical combos I can string together, allowing me to best even some truly terrifying boss monsters with my wits and careful planning. The first few levels were a bit of a slog, but the payoff has been worth it.

I’ve gotten to know my companions better as well, and yet they remain full of surprises. I’m also dating most of them at this point, and I haven’t been punished for my anime protagonist harem antics yet. Also full of surprises is Baldur’s Gate 3’s map of the Sword Coast, which is so packed with varied and memorable side quests that I’ve been searching every corner of every shack and meadow. Usually, I’m at least rewarded with some loot. In some cases, I’m treated to an entire storyline that I might have missed entirely otherwise.

Dealing with a mischievous hag or making a very unlikely ally out of the last creature you would expect to be sympathetic to my plight have been among the main highlights. But there hasn’t been a single one that left me bored or underwhelmed, as though it was there simply to pad out the campaign. The creativity and care with which every little side adventure is constructed is delightful. And Larian has made excellent use of the vast D&D bestiary to ensure that no two combat encounters ever feel the same.

I’m also still encountering some bugs, but the first post-launch patch seemed to fix some of the more persistent ones, like the weird lighting glitches in dialogue scenes. Some have stuck around, though: My journal’s recounting of one side quest that I resolved by knocking a person unconscious claims that I both killed and spared them, leaving them in a state of narrative superposition that you’d need to read Schrödinger to make any sense of. I also had a save become corrupted to the point that I’d crash to the desktop every time I loaded it, which lost me about 45 minutes of progress. Luckily, this has only happened once so far.

As I march on into Act 2, I’ve really hit a stride with Baldur’s Gate 3’s mechanics, but I also feel a bit dejected and aimless as all of the promising leads I was following to get this tadpole out of my head have dried up. I can only hope that new possibilities await me in the city of Baldur’s Gate itself. And maybe some nicer clothes, considering I’m sitting on a huge pile of gold and our only options for apparel in Act 1 were the druid commissary, GoblinMart, Mushroom Town, and a smuggler cave. When I finally stroll those glittering streets, I’ll be back with another update.

First Impressions: August 3, 2023

Baldur’s Gate is estimated to clock in at around 100 hours on a first playthrough. Review copies were distributed this past Sunday morning; this first draft you’re reading was due the following Wednesday. I am, sadly, not a Time Wizard (yet), so I’m going to do my best to help you make a day one buying decision based on what I’ve played so far and update this article as I go along with new thoughts and insights until we can roll credits. At around 22 hours deep – still within the first act that was available to Early Access players – I can say that I more or less love Larian’s latest high-fantasy behemoth.

One issue video games often run into when trying to adapt the experience of playing Dungeons & Dragons on the tabletop is the freedom and imagination you get to express in overcoming problems using real-world logic. And while no game will probably ever match that level of freedom, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a big step forward from the likes of Skyrim or Dragon Age. And that goes such a long way toward making the world feel more real and making me feel really smart for coming up with unconventional solutions.

If something looks flammable, you can probably light it on fire with a fire spell. If an enemy is standing in water and you zap the water, it does about what you would expect. You can get to a lot of secret areas by climbing and jumping. Just about anything that looks like you should be able to pick it up, including most furniture, can be picked up and even thrown if you have enough strength. This level of care extends to the people who inhabit the world, as well. Everyone has a name and is fully voice-acted – including, astoundingly, all the animals. Playing through as a ranger with the Speak to Animals spell, I have yet to find a single bird, ox, or wolf who didn’t have something to say. I was even able to talk a ferocious owlbear out of eating me.

The writing is strong so far, as well. (My biggest criticism of Larian’s Divinity: Original Sin games was that they didn’t really succeed in making me care about the plot.) Baldur’s Gate 3 starts with an appropriately epic intro featuring a squid-like spaceship being chased through magic portals by dragons, and the player characters becoming infected by mind parasites that will slowly turn them all into brain-eating cthulhu monsters called mind flayers if they can’t find a cure. The voice acting across the board has been excellent, too. And while I don’t exactly like all of my traveling companions, they’re all very interesting with lots of secrets and rich backgrounds I’ve only begun to unfurl.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Full Release Screenshots

And while Faerûn may be a more grounded and serious world than Divinity’s Rivellon – and I definitely prefer it that way – there are still some quirky and off-the-wall side quests to vary the tone. At one point I accidentally walked in on a female ogre and a bugbear about a quarter of her size… um… spending some quality time together. It didn’t end well for anyone, but I got a good laugh out of it after I did my best to will that image out of my mind forever.

I have run into several bugs, but nothing game-breaking. In one area, a goblin I spoke to failed to play her dialogue lines, the camera hung on a shot of one of my party member’s faces for far too long, and then a different party member from the one who had initiated the conversation was forced into the negotiating role – something she was very poorly suited for. There are also some cases of clothing on models clipping into their bodies when they bend a certain way, lighting glitches in certain dialogue scenes, and other visual weirdness. It could all be filed under annoyances. We’ve also gotten two large bug fixing patches since the review build dropped, so I’ll go back and check if these issues are still present once the final launch version of the code is available.

Combat has been improved from the Early Access version I first played in 2020, and it feels much more fluid and flowing now. That being said, it does suffer somewhat from trying to be such a faithful adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, a system that works better on the tabletop than it does in the digital realm. There are a lot of buttons to learn about and deal with even at first level, and every caster you add to the party makes this worse. Leveling up a spell-focused character is an exercise in decision fatigue. There are simply too many spells, many of which I feel like no one will ever use. And the amount of damage enemies do in comparison to your health pool at lower levels can make even small battles really stressful.

At the same time, death has been made somewhat meaningless – you meet a character fairly early on who can resurrect any party member for 200 gold, which honestly isn’t that much. I would have much preferred a Baldur’s Gate 3 balanced around a lower risk of death, but with higher consequences if you do kick the bucket.

Progression also feels a bit stingy. There are only 12 levels available out of the 20 in 5th Edition, meaning you will level up 11 times over 100-plus hours. Gaining a level does feel like a significant event, but the fact that my party is still only level 4 after over 20 hours of play feels kind of glacial. I have been rewarded with other power increases like magic items along the way, and those can make a big difference. But many times I’ve completed a big quest, seen how little it filled up my experience bar, and sighed in disappointment.

The art and music, though, I have almost no complaints about. Both bring the Forgotten Realms to life as a colorful but grounded high fantasy world with everything from humble halflings to terrifying red dragons rendered in a style that feels realistic without becoming uncanny or weird. It’s exactly how I would want an infinity-style CRPG in 2023 to look. The character creator is wonderful, too. I spent at least an hour or so messing around with the different playable races and all of the visual options available to them.

On the whole, I really am loving Baldur’s Gate 3 so far. It definitely has some blemishes, from minor bugs to a combat system that I don’t exactly adore at lower levels. But I’ve been waiting 14 years for another alignment of the planets like Dragon Age: Origins, when an old-school CRPG got a big enough budget to look like a high quality animated movie – but the design hadn’t been completely steered in the wrong direction in a misguided attempt to reach a different market like the later two Dragon Ages. This is the closest anyone has ever come to recapturing that magic.

Check back in the coming days for more of my thoughts as the story progresses, and stick around for the final review in the coming weeks.

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has revealed a number of statistics from the game’s launch weekend, including the most popular player character class and race choices.

In a post on Steam, Larian showed off graphs for both, revealing that the most popular player character class so far is Paladin with over 200,000 players, followed by Sorcerer, Warlock, Rogue, and Bard in that order. Cleric was the least popular, as the only class with fewer than 100,000 people choosing it.

In a similar breakdown of character race choices, Halfelf was revealed as the most popular, but was only a slim margin ahead of Humans and Elves. The least popular races were Halflings and, at the very bottom, Githyanki. So if you’re playing a Githyanki Cleric, you’re a rare person indeed.

Larian also revealed that the vast, vast majority of players (93%) are choosing to play as custom characters, but of the Origin characters Gale is the most popular (closely followed by Karlach and Astarion). And of those making custom characters, 10% were in the character creator for over an hour mulling over every aspect of their avatar. And all players combined on opening weekend spent a total of 88 years in character creation. Wowzers.

One of the most fascinating stats is that a total of 368 people finished the game entirely during opening weekend. This is a surprising stat, but maybe not for the reasons you’d think. Baldur’s Gate 3 achieved a peak concurrent player count over the weekend of above 800,000 players, and total had many, many more though we don’t have an exact number. And 79% of players got at least as far as the end of the tutorial on the Nautiloid, according to Steam achivements, which is a pretty high number given how many players buy games and just don’t play them. Baldur’s Gate 3 only takes about 32 hours to beat if you mainline the story, so given the huge amount of players, it’s rather surprising that statistically, more didn’t sprint to the end as fast as possible. That’s possibly a testament to how endlessly distracting Baldur’s Gate 3 can be!

Finally, a few other fun stats include Scratch the dog being pet over 750,000 times (pet him more, cowards!), 65% of players making a morally “good” decision in Act 1’s major questline, and 100,000 people being rejected by Astarion (with many, many more surely to come).

If you’re still stuck in the character creator yourself, check out our guides to Races and Subraces, Classes and Subclasses, and How to Build a Character before you get started in Baldur’s Gate 3. Then take a peek at our walkthrough whenever you find yourself stuck.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

A Wipeout fan tired of waiting for Sony to remaster the classic PlayStation game has taken it upon themselves to port the game to PC, daring the publisher to take it down and make its own remaster in the process.

As reported by VGC, programmer Dominic Szablewski wrote a lengthy blog post outlining their approach to turning the original game’s leaked source code into a working browser version.

Szablewski also doesn’t seem to mind if Sony shuts the project down, noting that “re-distributing the leaked source is questionable at best”, but insisted the publisher make its own remaster if it does.

“If anyone at Sony is reading this, please consider that you have (in my opinion) two equally good options: either let it be, or shut this thing down and get a real remaster going,” Szablewski said. “I’d love to help.”

Porting this version of Wipeout wasn’t all fun and games though. “The quality of the leaked source is abysmal,” Szablewski said. “From what I can piece together, it mainly contains the Wipeout ATI 3D Rage Edition of the game, a lacklustre port for Windows that was bundled with ATI GPUs.”

The original game was released in 1995 as a launch title for the first PlayStation but has disappeared from the limelight despite being a beloved Sony exclusive.

In our 8/10 review from 1996, IGN said: “WipeOut is a good, solid game that pushes more boundaries than most. Ten years from now, when most other games have been long forgotten, Wipeout will be viewed as a classic.”

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

Saddle up, Red Dead Redemption fans, as Rockstar’s iconic game is now available to preorder for Nintendo Switch. Not only do you get the full game with this purchase, but it also comes bundled with the Undead Nightmare DLC for you to enjoy. It’s currently listed at Amazon, GameStop, and Walmart for $49.99, which you can find at the links below, and you can expect this physical copy of the game to release this year on October 13.

Preorder Red Dead Redemption for Nintendo Switch

There’s no word yet about when/if physical versions will be available for the PS4 port, but if listings go live, we’ll drop them here as well.

Red Dead Redemption For Nintendo Switch & PS4 Trailer

What is Red Dead Redemption?

For those of you who are new to the world of Red Dead Redemption, it’s a phenomenal Western adventure from Rockstar Games that follows former outlaw John Marston as he sets out on a journey to track down members of his old gang. Back when it was originally released, we gave the game a 9.7 out of 10 in our review and stated that “Rockstar has taken the Western to new heights and created one of the deepest, most fun, and most gorgeous games around. […] Red Dead Redemption is a complete game in every sense — both the single player and multiplayer modes are excellent — and still manages to offer an attention to detail you rarely see from a game of this scope.”

Alongside the announcement of the Switch port, this re-release of Red Dead Redemption will also be making its way to PS4 with PS5 backwards compatibility supported. It’s set to run for the same price on PlayStation of $49.99 as the Switch port above, too.

Other Preorder Guides

If you’re curious to see even more games that are available to preorder right now, we’ve got a wide selection of preorder guides to look through below, from Armored Core VI to Lies of P to Spider-Man 2.

The blanket lad, 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 Located Today?

Xûr’s location can be found at Winding Cove in the EDZ on August 11 through August 15. To reach him, travel to the landing point at Winding Cove. When you arrive, make for the rock cliffs at the far end of the cove and look for a cave winding up to a platform next to some Fallen. There you’ll find the retail monster who inspires us all.

What’s Xûr Selling Today?

Exotic Engram

Lord of Wolves – Exotic Shotgun

Lucky Pants – Exotic Hunter Leg Armor

• 3 Mobility
• 29 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 14 Discipline
• 6 Intellect
• 10 Strength
• Total: 64

Stronghold – Exotic Titan Gauntlets

• 20 Mobility
• 4 Resilience
• 12 Recovery
• 6 Discipline
• 10 Intellect
• 17 Strength
• Total: 69

Verity’s Brow – Exotic Warlock Helmet

• 18 Mobility
• 12 Resilience
• 4 Recovery
• 18 Discipline
• 2 Intellect
• 11 Strength
• Total: 65

Titans have the roll to check out this week, with a beautiful 69 stat total to work with. Unfortunately it’s a high Mobility roll, so may have limited use for most Titans out there. Still, it’s the best you’re going to get this week when it comes to Exotic armor — the others are bad!

Exotic Weapons

Hawkmoon – Exotic Hand Cannon

• Paracausal Shot
• Full Bore
• Alloy Magazine
• Hip-Fire Grip
• Textured Grip

Dead Man’s Tale – Exotic Scout Rifle

• Cranial Spike
• Smallbore
• Armor-Piercing Rounds
• Subsistence
• Hand-Laid Stock

Both of the rolls we got this week are middling at best. I’d recommend waiting until Xur brings you some better offerings down the road!

Legendary Weapons

Timeline’s Vertex– Fusion Rifle

• Impulse MS3/Jolt PS
• Enhanced Battery/Ionized Battery
• Lead From Gold
• Disruption Break
• Range Masterwork

True Prophecy – Hand Cannon

• Truesight HCS/Hitmark HCS
• Appended Mag/Flared Magwell
• Overflow
• Explosive Payload
• Reload Speed Masterwork

Sailspy Pitchglass – Linear Fusion Rifle

• Hammer-Forged Rifling/Smallbore
• Ionized Battery/Liquid Coils
• Compulsive Reloader
• Frenzy
• Right Hook
• Reload Speed Masterwork

Night Watch – Scout Rifle

• Arrowhead Brake/Fluted Barrel
• Tactical Mag/Extended Mag
• Subsistence
• Multikill Clip
• Range Masterwork

Without Remorse – Shotgun

• Smoothbore/Corkscrew Rifling
• Tactical Mag/Accurized Rounds
• Hip-Fire Grip
• Fragile Focus
• Extrovert
• Reload Speed Masterwork

Farewell – Sidearm

• Corkscrew Rifling/Polygonal Rifling
• Accurized Rounds/Flared Magwell
• Subsistence
• Vorpal Weapon
• Handling Masterwork

Extraordinary Rendition – Submachine Gun

• Corkscrew Rifling/Extended Barrel
• Appended Mag/Steady Rounds
• Surplus
• Tap The Trigger
• Stability Masterwork

My top picks this week are Night Watch with a reliable, if unexciting, combo of Subsistence and Multikill Clip, and True Prophecy with Overflow and Explosive Payload. Even these aren’t amazing or anything though — certainly no God rolls this week.

Warlock Legendary Armor

For Warlocks, Xûr is selling the Simulator set which includes:

Simulator Gauntlets

• 19 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 12 Recovery
• 14 Discipline
• 17 Intellect
• 2 Strength
• Total: 66

Simulator Chest Armor

• 12 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 20 Recovery
• 11 Discipline
• 18 Intellect
• 2 Strength
• Total: 65

Simulator Helmet

• 24 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 6 Recovery
• 24 Discipline
• 2 Intellect
• 7 Strength
• Total: 65

Simulator Leg Armor

• 2 Mobility
• 30 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 7 Discipline
• 16 Intellect
• 10 Strength
• Total: 67

Simulator Bond

My word — Warlocks certainly have a haul this week, including one of the best rolls I’ve seen on an exotic piece of armor in quite a while: the glorious boots. With the lowest Mobility and highest Resilience possible, these ultra spikey shoes are an absolute must-buy. The other pieces of armor are also pretty good, with high stat totals all around, but none so wonderful as the boots.

Titan Legendary Armor

For Titans, Xûr is selling the Simulator set which includes:

Simulator Gauntlets

• 22 Mobility
• 2 Resilience
• 10 Recovery
• 10 Discipline
• 15 Intellect
• 6 Strength
• Total: 65

Simulator Chest Armor

• 15 Mobility
• 10 Resilience
• 7 Recovery
• 10 Discipline
• 12 Intellect
• 10 Strength
• Total: 64

Simulator Helmet

• 17 Mobility
• 14 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 7 Discipline
• 2 Intellect
• 24 Strength
• Total: 66

Simulator Leg Armor

• 2 Mobility
• 30 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 12 Discipline
• 6 Intellect
• 16 Strength
• Total: 68

Simulator Mark

I appear to have spoken too soon…THESE boots are the best piece of armor I’ve seen in a long time. With an even higher stat total than the Warlocks, this roll also has the lowest Mobility and highest Resilience possible, plus a pretty darn good distribution elsewhere as well. You love to see it!

Hunter Legendary Armor

For Hunters, Xûr is selling the Simulator set which includes:

Simulator Gauntlets

• 15 Mobility
• 15 Resilience
• 2 Recovery
• 15 Discipline
• 7 Intellect
• 10 Strength
• Total: 64

Simulator Chest Armor

• 10 Mobility
• 15 Resilience
• 7 Recovery
• 6 Discipline
• 15 Intellect
• 12 Strength
• Total: 65

Simulator Helmet

• 6 Mobility
• 15 Resilience
• 12 Recovery
• 10 Discipline
• 7 Intellect
• 16 Strength
• Total: 66

Simulator Leg Armor

• 6 Mobility
• 15 Resilience
• 10 Recovery
• 6 Discipline
• 6 Intellect
• 18 Strength
• Total: 61

Simulator Cloak

Hunters have some decent stat totals to work with, similar to Titans and Warlocks, but none of them are especially spikey, which is a little disappointing. Worst of all, their boots pale in comparison to the other two classes. Sorry, Hunters!

That’s a wrap on Xûr for this week, Guardians! What did you think of Bungie’s recent “State of the Game” blog post? Let us know in the comments! For more on Destiny, check out some of the new weapons and gear you can find in Lightfall or our walkthrough of Lightfall’s campaign.

Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.

We are now less than one month away from the launch of Starfield, the new space-exploration RPG from Bethesda Game Studios – makers of The Elder Scrolls series as well as Fallout 3 and 4. And after an excellent and very well-received 45-minute Starfield Direct presentation in June, hype is running high. This is the first game from this team, led by decorated game director Todd Howard, in eight years (Fallout 4). It’s topped the Steam wishlist charts for the past two months. It is, by the developer’s own account, the biggest game it’s ever made (and for what it’s worth, from the hour I got to play it with Howard – first from the beginning and then quickly jumping between a couple of other save files – I saw nothing to doubt the team’s claims). And as the Xbox’s first-party/exclusive game journey continues to carve out its strange and unforeseen path, it’s turned out to be the most important launch for the platform in a long time.

And that’s what I wanted to talk about today. I don’t want to get into the tired old discussion about the lack of blockbuster Xbox exclusives again. But I do think it’s interesting, without dwelling on that, to see how far we have to walk back to get to a game launch as notable as the one Starfield is about to have. It’ll provide some good context for why Starfield matters so much.

First, let’s look at the existing Xbox Series generation. I’d argue that Starfield’s launch trumps anything we’ve had over the past (almost) three years. Halo Infinite in 2021 is probably the game you’d think of first, and while Halo 6 was certainly a big deal – it had been six years since the previous mainline Halo game was released, and it was excellent! – I’d argue there was way too much baggage weighing down Infinite’s launch for it to have been as big of a deal as it could’ve (and probably should’ve) been.

The other Xbox Series candidate – though it was a cross-gen game – was Forza Horizon 5. Its launch couldn’t have gone much better, really. It earned a 10/10 review score from IGN (among many other outlets), and it went on to win IGN’s 2021 Game of the Year award. But despite the accolades and player-count success, Forza’s car-game nature works against it when you’re looking solely at what game makes the biggest, most impactful launch.

That brings us back to the Xbox One generation. Again, the dearth of big exclusives is a story we need not retell, but what were the biggest and most important game launches for that system? Gears 5 in 2019? Gears of War 4 in 2016? While I personally adore The Coalition’s pair of Gears entries (here are both reviews to prove it) and feel they get a bad rap from the Xbox community, it is nevertheless true that Gears was not as big of a deal after the original trilogy (this includes Epic’s own Gears of War Judgment).

This brings me back to 2015 and the game I’ve landed on for this exercise: Halo 5: Guardians. While Halo 5 ended up being a Jekyll-and-Hyde of a product – its Locke-centric campaign was a massive letdown by Halo standards, while its brilliant multiplayer showed that 343 was pretty darn dialed in to the Bungie-developed glory days of competitive Halo play – it was nevertheless a huge launch. This was in no small part due to its brilliant marketing campaign, in which players were promised by both ads and the outstanding Hunt the Truth tie-in podcast that they’d be hunting down a renegade Master Chief. As we all know, the campaign couldn’t live up to the excitement and potential that the marketing campaign displayed.

Still, Halo 5’s launch was a big one. It was the first mainline Halo release for the Xbox One, its unique marketing campaign and podcast had players pumped up, and we’d had to wait two years into the console generation before it arrived. Demand was real and it was pent-up.

So too now is the community ready to pop off in support of Starfield. Bethesda Game Studios is the most accomplished blockbuster game development studio Microsoft has had since Bungie, Howard and team haven’t shipped their own game in eight years, and Starfield is their first original IP – and one in which, from my own observation, it looks like its scope will run both wide and extremely deep. We’ll know for sure on September 1, when Starfield is released for those players who purchase the pricier version of the game. It’s almost time to party like it’s 2015.

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.

All we’ve been doing is playing Baldur’s Gate 3, so Cardy, Matt, and Mat, are here to give an update on their adventures so far and why they continue to be impressed by Larian’s latest. Somehow, Cardy has managed to find a few hours to check out the new season of Overwatch 2 and its long-awaited story missions. Has it been worth the wait? Listen to find out.

What do you think of Baldur’s Gate 3? Had any good snacks recently? Drop us an email: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast 709: More Baldur’s Gate 3 Because Why Not

Tekken 8 development chief Katsuhiro Harada has hit out at a threat of violence over whether or not a character will be in the game.

Harada tweeted a response to the threat from a Twitter user demanding Tekken character Eddy Gordo is playable in the upcoming Tekken 8.

“When people make these silly threats, I and everyone at FGC [fighting game community] suffer the following losses,” Harada began before making three key points (below).

One, event operators overreact and increase security, which increases costs and the burden on players. Harada said in some cases his attendance at events may end up being cancelled.

Two, company bosses respond to these sorts of threats by asking Harada to cancel “inclusion in the game”, which relates to the inclusion of certain characters in Tekken, such as Eddy.

And three, if the person making the threat uses the word “we” instead of “I”, the probability of the first two points becoming a reality increases.

“By enthusiasts behaving excessively, repeating these words and actions, or fake information and hoaxes, or threats, the motivation of the development staff will decrease rapidly, and as a result, the requests of enthusiasts will be far from being realised,” Harada said.

Harada has been an outspoken critic of toxicity from the Tekken fanbase, often pulling no punches when it comes to responding to tweets from “fans”.

“Thank you for [the] pointless reply,” Harada replied to one Twitter user who criticised his tweet. “I’ve never seen anyone as unreadable as you. You ‘seriously’ need to study up. Farewell.”

It sounds like Harada has had enough of these sorts of threats, which are on the rise as Tekken 8’s roster of playable characters comes into focus. Harada’s tweet went viral, with 2.3 million views and trending status on Twitter. “Seriously?” Harada tweeted in response.

Harada’s tweet is a stark reminder of the shocking abuse video game developers often face from so-called fans. It’s an age-old problem, but it shows no sign of improvement. In July, Destiny developer Bungie said it refuses to return to the game’s subreddit due to abuse.

Earlier this week, Harada confirmed Tekken 8 does not include anti-piracy software Denuvo. Harada made the statement after a now-deleted tweet pointed out Tekken 8’s End User License Agreement [EULA] on Steam mentions Denuvo is being used under the third-party software category.

“[T]his EULA is probably simply a copy/paste of Tekken 7 or something…” Harada said. “Anyway, I’ve no plans to introduce Denuvo or anything else in Tekken 8, so stop your tedious allergic reactions to every single thing and sit quietly (sit the hell down).”

Tekken 8 is set to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Check out IGN’s Tekken 8 hands-on preview for more.

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.