Category: Gaming

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is getting some visual enhancements as well as some additional content thanks to a new patch. The patch finally fixes the bug that made the game run slowly on PC if your characters had hair, reducing the frame rate for some players.

It also includes quality of life improvements including adjustments to the game’s use of anti-aliasing as well as higher inventory limits for certain crafting items. Final Fantasy Origin is a game full of loot and things to pickup, so it is a welcome addition.

In terms of content, it adds a Battle Simulator side mission that allows players “to try out jobs, equipment, and abilities” With the 28 jobs available in the game, the Battle Simulator sounds like a great way to test out new builds and playstyles.

If you’ve been hesitant to pick it up, there is now an up to 25% off discount for the game across all platforms. You can snag all the chaos of Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin on sale in both PlayStation and Epic Games Store until May 25. It is discounted on Xbox until May 26 at 3AM PST.

In our review, we said that while the game’s story doesn’t come together until the end, its “respectable combat keeps this reimagining of the original Final Fantasy on track.” If you need help staying on track, be sure to check out our video detailing some of the best tips for surviving all the chaos in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

EA announced that it would be removing Battlefield 2042‘s 128 Breakthrough multiplayer mode on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC and will stick with the 64 player count version. The change will be reflected in Update 4.1 when it releases on May 19.

“When reviewing the available experiences in All-Out Warfare, we felt that the 128 player modes are better suited for Conquest where gameplay spaces are larger, and where you have a more natural fit for sandbox gameplay,” said EA on its website.

EA notes that the player count was reduced as it felt like each individual player’s contributions were reduced due to the sheer intensity and chaos during combat that come with having 128 players on one map.

“As a result, squads in Breakthrough 64 have a better opportunity to work together, to flank the enemy, place a spawn beacon, use their plus menu to attach suppressors, then clear, and hold a point – one squad helping turn the tide as an example,” EA continued. “We believe that the move to 64 players will bring back the pacing that helps celebrate these moments of teamwork and PTFOing, and will be keeping a close eye on how our changes help to improve the experience ahead of the start of Season 1.”

There are other changes to the game within the 4.1 update, including weapon re-balancing with improved base recoil and Specialist adjustments, such as Angel no longer being able to grant Armor Plates with his Supply Bag and Irish’s Fortification System recharge time being reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.

Battlefield 2042 hasn’t had the best time in the spotlight. It was late with features such as adding a Scoreboard and voice chat functionality. At one point, it even had fewer concurrent players on Steam than previous entries in the franchise. EA reportedly also blamed the timing of Halo Infinite’s surprise multiplayer release on Battlefield 2042’s troubles.

In our Battlefield 2042 review, we said, “For a game claiming to be the future of Battlefield, 2042’s impressive Portal options make it clear that it doesn’t stack up to the past. Instead, it’s those same customization tools that could come to define it in time.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

God of War’s debut on PC in January 2022 ushered in a whole new way to play the game thanks to the addition of mods. But thanks to a mod by OmegaFactory, God of War replaces its father-son duo with another iconic pair from The Simpsons.

While many mods just replace characters with the likeness of another, this Simpsons mod takes it a step further. It features new dialogue and some great voiceover work that takes the original game’s mood from dark and sometimes somber to knee-slapping hilarious.

The mod also replaces The Stranger with everyone’s favorite Hi-Diddly-Ho Neighborino, Ned Flanders.

If you’ve ever wanted to see Ned Flanders leap through the air to dodge a swing from Homer’s Wonder Bat, this mod will give you that and a whole lot more. It also comes complete with taunts from Ned to “repent your sins” as Homer tells him to “go back to church, loser.”

Be sure to check out the mod in action on ToastedShoe’s YouTube.

The character models for Homer, Bart, and Ned are all from the hit sandbox action game The Simpsons: Hit and Run. While the character models don’t quite reach the highs of the Hit and Run’s fan-made remake in Unreal from 2021, they still have that classic Simpsons charm.

If you’re anxiously awaiting the 2022 release of God of War: Ragnarok, this mod might be a fun way to try and pass the time. We gave 2018’s God of War a glowing review and praised it for its “outstanding characters, world, and combat come.”

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

IGN and Rogue Games teamed up to produce the first-ever Rogue Jam that not only offered publishing deals to indie developers, but also $800,000 in total prize money that will be used to help bring these games to life. Now, the winners have been revealed.

Throughout five episodes over the past few weeks, a team of judges that includes IGN EVP and CCO Peer Schneider and former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has selected the top games in five categories – Huge Potential Winner, Eye-Poppingly Beautiful, WTF?, Overall Winner, and Audience Choice.

If you’d like to watch all the episodes before seeing all the winners, be sure to check out each one below before checking out more details of the victorious games and a video preview of each one.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead for Rogue Jam!

Rogue Jam Episode 1: Huge Potential Winner – Enter the Chronospherse

Enter the Chronosphere won the Huge Potential award at Rogue Jam 2022 and took home $50,000 and Rogue Games right of first refusal. In Enter the Chronosphere, players must master a turn-based “bullet hell” roguelike game where the action only takes place when they move. While this allows players all the time in the world to plan their next move, the challenges that wait will still require precision and careful thinking.

Rogue Jam Episode 2: Eye-Poppingly Beautiful Winner – I See Red

I See Red won the Eye-Poppingly Beautiful award at Rogue Jam 2022 and won a cash prize of $100,000 and a Rogue Games publishing deal. In I See Red, players take on the role of a space pirate who loves nothing more than invading enemy spaceships and stealing weapons and other goods. The game is a fast-paced, frantic twin-stick shooter that also proudly wears its roguelike aspects on its sleeve.

Rogue Jam Episode 3: WTF? Winner – Zapling Bygone

Zapling Bygone was named the ultimate WTF? game at Rogue Jame 2022 and is taking home $100,000 for that honor and a Rogue Games publishing deal. Zapling Bygone is a mix of open-world, roguelike, and metroidvania styles and puts you in control of a hive mind that must platform through the world, defeat their enemies, and wear their skulls to absorb their consciousness. These skulls give you new powers that help you navigate an alien world.

Rogue Jam Episode 4: Overall Winner – Seadog

Of all the games to enter Rogue Jam 2022, Seadog took home the ultimate prize to become the Overall Winner. In doing so, the developers earned $500,000 and a publishing deal with Rogue Games. So, what is this game that secured victory above all others? It is a game about a skateboarding frog that also happens to be a sailor.

Seadog puts players aboard a ship that is stranded in a ship graveyard and tasks them with traversing through the world by using the skateboard and the many tricks this sailor frog can learn. You won’t be alone in this mission, however, as you will be accompanied by your ship’s captain – an A.I. that’s stored on a flash drive.

Rogue Jam Episode 5: Audience Choice Winner – Mysplaced

In the final episode, Mysplaced took home the award for Audience Choice alongside $50,000 and a Rogue Games right of first refusal. This Zelda-like game doesn’t shy away from its inspiration and should feel right at home for those who loved the top-down entries of the franchise like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, specifically the remake! While not much has been revealed about the game, we do know it follows a hero who finds himself in a mysterious world.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Here’s some good news for all the Magic: The Gathering players out there — a bunch of upcoming cards are up for preorder on Amazon. We’ve got Dominaria United, Double Masters 2022, a new Universes Beyond Warhammer 40K crossover, and more. There’s a lot heading our way this year, so take a look at what’s available.

Magic: The Gathering Dominaria United Cards

Out September 9

Magic: The Gathering Dominaria United Set Booster Box | 30 Packs + Box Topper Card (361 Magic Cards)

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Out September 9

Magic: The Gathering Dominaria United Bundle | 8 Set Boosters + Accessories

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Dominaria United releases September 9. It represents the beginning of a major story arc that’s planned to comprise four sets. Details about the plot are hazy for now, but you can expect to hear more in August.

This set includes Draft, Set, and Collector boosters, as well as Jumpstart boosters, which replace Theme boosters. Basically, each Jumpstart booster is based on a theme, and if you combine two of these packs together, you’ll have everything you need to play.

MTG: Double Masters 2022

Out July 8

Magic: The Gathering Double Masters 2022 Draft Booster Box | 24 Packs (384 Magic Cards)

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Out July 8

Magic: The Gathering Double Masters 2022 Collector Booster Box | 4 Packs (60 Magic Cards)

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Only July 8, Double Masters 2022 arrives. It includes popular (and powerful) cards from previous sets, some of which will sport new artwork. These may be pricy, but every Draft Booster includes two rare and/or mythic rare cards, as well as two foil cards. These are also available at Best Buy.

MTG: Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000

Out August 12

Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond Warhammer 40,000 Collector’s Edition Commander Deck Bundle

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Out August 12

Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck Bundle

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A new set of Warhammer 40,000 commander decks is heading our way on August 12. You can buy them individually or as a bundle — or, if you want to go all out, you can preorder the collector’s edition of the bundle. It’s a bit on the pricy side, but hey, it’s a collectable.

MTG: Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate

Out June 10

MTG: Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Collector Booster Box | 12 Packs (180 Magic Cards)

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Out June 10

MTG: Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Draft Booster Box | 24 Packs (480 Magic Cards)

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Out June 10

MTG: Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Set Booster Box | 18 Packs (270 Magic Cards)

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Out June 10

MTG: Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate 4 Commander Deck Bundle

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Finally, arriving June 10 is a whole big batch of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate cards. They come in the typical Collector, Draft, and Set boosters, as well as Commander decks.

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

Publisher Nacon and developer Spiders have announced GreedFall 2: The Dying World for PC and consoles. The game is set to launch in 2024.

GreedFall 2’s story is a prequel, taking place three years before the events of the first game. Players will assume the role of a Teer Fradee native who is uprooted from their island and is taken to where the colonists originally came from, the continent of Gacane, which has been decimated by both war and the Malichor plague.

“We are very excited to reveal GreedFall 2 to everyone, the new game from Spiders,” said Nacon CEO Alain Falc in a statement. “Many fans across the world were begging for this sequel, and we are delighted to be publishing this new game that these fans are sure to love. We also hope it will appeal to new players and all fans of role-playing games, great stories, action, and fantasy.”

Spiders founder and director Jehanne Rousseau added, “While we were working on Steelrising, our love of the Greedfall universe never faded, and so we are thrilled to be returning to it.” She continued, saying, “In this new chapter, players will explore the old continent with its bigger and more diverse environments. They will meet new companions and new factions, and I hope they will have unforgettable adventures.”

While GreedFall 2 is planned for release on consoles in 2024, it’s currently unknown whether it will skip the previous generation with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One like Gotham Knights did.

In our original GreedFall review, we said, “GreedFall is almost everything I want out of a big, juicy, old-school RPG. While it’s still lacking a lot of polish, the exciting combat and excellent, complex quest writing bring it very close to that winning formula of a mid-2000s BioWare game.” Spiders and Nacon have announced that it has so far sold 2 million copies.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Final Fantasy VII Remake director Tetsuya Nomura has said Square Enix will be making “various” announcements next month regarding the original game’s 25th anniversary.

As reported by RPGSite, Nomura teased the announcements on a livestream for Final Fantasy VII spin-off The First Soldier, saying that Square Enix would be celebrating the original game’s 25th anniversary.

“Next month, we’re planning to publish information related to VII’s 25th anniversary,” he said. “I wonder how [much] I’m allowed to share about it. Next month we will publish various things.”

Final Fantasy 7 turned 25 years old in January this year, the anniversary of its original Japanese release. It’s western 25th anniversary is still upcoming; the original game launched in the States on September 7, 1997, and in Europe on November 17.

Remake Part 2 entered full development in July 2020 and original Final Fantasy VII director Yoshinori Kitase said earlier this year that the development team would like to announce the game in 2022 if possible.

That being said, Square Enix has other Final Fantasy VII related projects in the works (including The First Soldier and upcoming mobile RPG Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis), but the announcements could be much smaller and more akin to the recent clothing line reveal.

An announcement regarding Final Fantasy XVI is also expected soon, with producer Naoki Yoshida previously promising a big reveal was coming this spring.

The first brand new mainline entry since 2016 is currently in the final stages of development but Square Enix is yet to confirm a release date.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Bungie has released a statement on the Buffalo, New York mass shooting that saw ten people killed and three others injured in a what police are investigating as a racially motivated attack.

The Destiny developer has pledged that, for at least one year, all profits from its Black Lives Matter “Be Heard” pin – which has also been moved to the front page of the Bungie Store – will go to a charity who monitors and reports hate groups and extremists in the United States. Bungie worked with its internal inclusion club, Black at Bungie, to plan the response.

Its statement said: “All profits from this pin will be donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a charity whose work includes monitoring hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and exposing their activities to the public, the media, and law enforcement.

“In addition, our studio is committed to supporting the success of our inclusion, diversity, and equity initiatives for 2022 and beyond. We understand the fight for equality and equity is not easily won but is a constant effort by all people.”

Black at Bungie will also partner with the developer’s player support and community teams to bolster its efforts to make its online spaces safe and anti-racist, urging other game developers and communities to do the same.

It’s not the first time Bungie has been vocal over issues of social injustice, as on May 5 it spoke out against the proposed overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the historic Supreme Court judgement used to secure rights to abortion across the U.S.

Bungie’s message on the Buffalo mass shooting also came after streaming platform Twitch and online chat service Discord released statements over their association with the shooting. The gunman streamed the attack for two minutes on Twitch and planned it using Discord.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Thunderful Games has four separate SteamWorld games in development with three expected to launch next year.

The company revealed during its latest financial results that SteamWorld Headhunter – a third person action adventure that was revealed in November – is just one of four different genres the SteamWorld franchise is exploring. It is expected to launch in 2023, along with two others.

Those two, codenamed ‘Strawberry’ and ‘Coffee’, will be followed in 2024 by ‘Caramel’. Are all listed as “SteamWorld IP” games, with Strawberry and Coffee actually listed before Headhunter in Thunderful’s development timeline.

Strawberry is a puzzle game being developed for mobile, Coffee is a city-building game for PC and console, and Caramel is a turn-based tactical shooter and strategy game in development for PC, console, and mobile.

Mixing and matching gameplay styles isn’t unusual for the SteamWorld franchise which has released games in the deck-building, platformer, and Metroidvania genres since the original Tower Defense game was released in 2010.

The number of games in development is a little surprising though, as Thunderful plans to release as many SteamWorld games in next two years as it has in the last nine.

While Headhunter was only official announced in November, the game’s official Twitter account revealed in May last year that several SteamWorld were in development, though we now know a bit more about how many, what they are, and when they’ll be released.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Most of Dead by Daylight is spent running away from its stable of horror villains, but a surprise visual novel will soon have players running toward familiar characters like The Trapper… for romance.

At a recent anniversary event, Behaviour Interactive announced a new dating sim titled Hooked On You: A Dead By Daylighting Dating Sim. Developed by Psyop, the creators of I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator, it will feature “romance, steamy references and… shirtless outfits.”

Hooked On You’s stars will be four familiar Dead By Daylight killers who inhabit something called a magical land called “Murderer’s Island:” The Huntress, The Spirit, The Trapper, and The Wraith. Here’s how the official release describes it:

Hooked on You: A Dead by Daylight Dating Sim takes players on Murderer’s Island. Their companions: four dead-sexy Killers who, underneath their murderous exteriors, just want a little romance. Fans flirt their way into the hearts of The Huntress, The Spirit, The Trapper, and The Wraith, uncovering dark twists along the way. Will they find true love, forge friendships or get hacked to death? Only they can decide. As mystery unfolds, it’s their job to make sense of it all. What brought them here? Where did these Killers come from? Why do they show so much interest? And, most importantly, if only one had to be chosen for love… who would it be?

On top of its new dating sim, Behaviour Interactive also announced another crossover with Resident Evil titled “Project W”; a new original chapter titled “Roots of Dread”; an Attack on Titan collaboration, and a major update for its mobile game.

Now seven years old, Dead by Daylight has grown to include some 31 survivors and 28 killers, collaborating with famous franchises such as Hellraiser, Ringu, and Stranger Things. As for its quirky new dating sim, Hooked On You will be out this summer on Steam.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.