Here’s what you can expect.
Octopath Traveler 0 launched for the Switch and Switch 2 earlier this month and Square Enix has now released a small update for this new entry in the HD-2D RPG series, where you’re the hero.
This includes an update to the game’s camera, a fix and some other small adjustments. Here’s the official rundown:
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As Stardew Valley fans continue to wait patiently for the previously announced 1.7 update, creator Eric Barone (ConcernedApe) has dropped a couple small, vague, yet exciting hints about what said mysterious update might entail: a new farm type, and “more character/social stuff.”
This comes from a tweet/X post from ConcernedApe, where he was asked if he could give any hints about the upcoming update. His response was pretty simple: “there will be some more character/social stuff, it’s also traditional to add a new farm type. Lots more but I don’t want to reveal much yet.”
there will be some more character/social stuff, it’s also traditional to add a new farm type. Lots more but I don’t want to reveal much yet
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) December 17, 2025
That’s not a ton of detail, but certainly enough to spark the imagination. The new farm type was indeed to be expected. Stardew Valley started with just one style of farm map, and since its release, most major new content updates have added at least one for a total of eight different options. Each farm map centers around a different specialty, with the Standard map being fairly generic and open-ended, and other maps promoting fishing, foraging, mining, combat, multiplayer, a combination of fishing and foraging, and animal raising. Currently, this means that basically every type of playstyle is supported, so there’s a lot left to wonder about when it comes to imagining what new farm type could be added. Perhaps something that encourages building NPC friendships?
The “character/social stuff” is a little more vague. This could mean anything from new scenes and events with existing characters to new characters entirely. It’s really hard to say at this stage!
Popular fan requests for future Stardew Valley features include more NPCs, including more romanceable NPCs, more dialogue and world lore, but also just generally more of everything: more animals, more crops, more decorations, more clothing, more enemies to fight, dishes to cook, and so forth. ConcernedApe hasn’t really revealed anything so far about what 1.7 will contain, or even when we might expect it. He’s given no release date, only suggested that it’s possible it doesn’t come out until after Haunted Chocolatier releases. Maybe. It’ll be ready when it’s ready.
ConcernedApe did drop one other thing, though. When asked about a potential Nintendo Switch 2 edition, he said he’s announce something “very soon.” A Switch 2 edition was first announced back in September, and will bring mouse controls, four-player split screen multiplayer, and Game Share multiplayer to the Switch version. No release date has been given yet.
We re-reviewed Stardew Valley in 2024 to account for its many, many updates since launch in 2016. While our original review gave it an impressive 8.8/10, the re-review called it a 10/10 masterpiece, saying, “Stardew Valley is not only the best farming game I’ve played, it is one of my favorite games of all time. That myself and others keep returning to this eight-year old gem each time it gets even the smallest update speaks to how it’s truly a masterpiece in the genre it both reinvigorated and has come to define.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Horses, the indie horror game that was banned from both Steam and the Epic Games Store ahead of its launch two weeks ago, has nonetheless managed to sell over 18,000 copies, says publisher Santa Ragione. However, that’s not enough for the publisher to fund a new game.
This comes from a press release sent today by Santa Ragione, which says Horses has generated approximately $65,000 in net revenue thanks to sales on GOG and Humble [Disclaimer: Humble and IGN are both owned and run by IGN Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc.]. That was enough to pay royalties owed to creator Andrea Lucco Borlera, as well as pay off the loans the publisher took out to finish development.
But that’s not enough to begin work on a new game, and it doesn’t seem likely that amount will be reached despite the significant attention the game’s controversy gleaned. The team members are still planning to take on other jobs and projects, with the hope that the publisher may be able to fund a new prototype in the future if sales remain steady for long enough.
“While the launch of HORSES compares very favourably to our most recent launches on Steam, Steam’s economics rely heavily on multi-year long tail sales and, for our past projects, on Steam key distribution through bundles, which has also lately been restricted for low-selling titles,” the publisher said in a statement. “These structural differences are why a strong two week result on smaller storefronts does not tell us what a full Steam release could have looked like.”
Horses is a horror game that follows a young man who travels to a horse farm to work for several weeks during the summer, only to discover that the farm’s “horses” are actually naked humans with horse masks forcibly attached over their heads. The game explores themes of complicity and what horrors people are willing to participate in, via the farmer and eventually protagonist’s treatment and continued enslavement of these people.
The game contains a lot of disturbing imagery, including violence and sexual content, but none of that’s new for either Steam or Epic. Nevertheless, Horses was banned from Steam two years ago after the team submitted an in-progress prototype. While some suggestions were given as to the reason for the ban, no specifics were shared with the team at the time, nor was there an opportunity to appeal. Santa Ragione believes Valve may have objected to a scene present in the earlier version where a child “rode” one of the naked horses by sitting on their shoulders and being carried around. That character was aged up to an adult in the final version of the game, and there are no underaged individuals in the released version.
With Valve unbending, Santa Ragione said at the time it may have to close its doors, due to the overwhelming necessity of a Steam release for most games to recoup development costs. The publisher put its hopes in Epic, GOG, and Humble, but at the last minute right before launch, Epic also banned the game, with Epic citing violations of its policies on “inappropriate content” and “hateful or abusive content.”
Both bans prompted a wave of criticism from developers and audience members, who called out the banning of the game as both censorship as well as hypocritical, given some of the other content that’s allowed on Steam in particular. Santa Ragione specifically has called out Valve for having unclear policies and communication, problems that it feels essentially ensured the studio’s demise.
We also want to emphasize that this outcome should not distract from the broader issue at stake: the need for clearer rules, transparent processes, and meaningful accountability from near monopolistic distribution platforms and the systems they enforce. For every case like HORSES that becomes visible, there are many more games that are quietly banned, delisted, or trapped in indefinite review for unclear reasons, with developers too worried about retaliation or future approval to speak publicly. We are grateful to the journalists and outlets who have reported, and who will continue to report, on these cases.
Critical response to Horses has been across the board, with our own reviewer giving it a 7/10 and calling it “an affecting first-person horror game that, despite some repetitive tasks and signposting issues, delivers a harrowing story you won’t forget in a hurry.”
Publisher Santa Ragione has a long history of both developing and publishing standout games. Its most recent successes are Mediterranea Inferno, which it published from developer Eyeguys and which won Excellence in Narrative at the 2024 Independent Games Festival, as well as nominations for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and Nuovo Award. Saturnalia, developed in-house and released in 2022, received generally positive reviews. Both games remain available on Steam and Epic.
Update: Switch 1 confirmed, too.
Well, here’s a nice piece of news! Fresh off a couple of nominations at The Game Awards, it looks like AdHoc Studio’s superhero workplace comedy Dispatch will be flying onto Switch and Switch 2 early next year.
A surprise listing has popped up on the Australian eShop (thanks to Vooks for the heads up), displaying the game and a free Switch 2 upgrade with a planned 29th January release date.
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We factory sim perverts have all known the joy of combing a mile of conveyor belt tagliatelle for that one empty hopper or unplugged furnace that’s stalled the entire production line. Now, imagine that the stalled production line is producing plasma swords for your army of murder droids.
You need your army of murder droids to fight another army of murder droids, but unfortunately, all of your murder droids are now swordless, and therefore murder droids no longer. They advance placidly into the firestorm, falling like mown dandelions, while you run your cursor desperately over the hexagonal smokestacks. There it is! A misfiring 3D printer, right in the centre.
Oh look, zombies. And in full colou…ah, they’re eating me!
Back in the middle of 1999 (a weird time for everyone, rest assured), British developer HotGen attempted something that was considered to be somewhat of an impossible task. Namely, porting the full glory of 32-bit Resident Evil to the dinky little 8-bit Game Boy Color. In the end, not only did these maestros manage to do it, but they did it in a way that, judging by the gameplay vid above, makes for a more than decent stab at the “impossible”.
Unfortunately, the port was then cancelled and thought lost to time before popping up online in various states throughout the years – though none of these were anywhere near playable from start to finish. That is until now, thanks to Games That Weren’t (thanks to VGC for the heads-up).
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The Invincible universe just got even bigger. Our upcoming 3v3 tag fighting game, Invincible VS, arrives next year with an abundance of fan-favorite characters like Mark Grayson (Invincible), Rex Splode, Omni-Man and more. But our latest fighter is someone Invincible fans didn’t see coming.
Revealed at The Game Awards last week, Ella Mental is an all-new original character born from the creative minds of Invincible co-creators Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker, and is sure to make waves across the universe. At Quarter Up, Skybound’s in-house game development studio, it’s been our honor to bring Ella to life, and we’re excited to give you an extended look at what this powerhouse is capable of.
Ella Mental radiates positivity and energy, always the first to jump in and solve a problem. She comes from wealth and is the heiress to her family’s fortune. Due to her humble outlook and studious, hardworking nature, Ella quickly became her grandfather’s favorite and was given access to an ancient totem — the source of her superpowers. Ella is nothing like what we’ve seen in the Invincible universe thus far, capable of controlling all four elements: earth, water, fire and air.
Able to pull energy from these elements, Ella unsurprisingly has a very versatile move set. She is primarily a ranged fighter who uses her Elemental Auras to adjust her combat approach and upgrade her Special Moves, which are super impactful in battle. Earth Wall allows Ella to conjure a floating mass of earth in front of her that can be destroyed to cause a shotgun blast attack or used as cover. Water Needle has Ella generating and compressing water between her hands until she unleashes it like a bullet. Flame Burst summons a cloud of rolling flames that hang in their air before causing a major explosion. Whether attacking in-air, on the ground or with her specials, Ella will find a way to take down any opponent.
The story behind Ella Mental is a unique one. We always thought it would be super fun to bring an original character into Invincible VS, so our team approached Robert Kirkman with the idea — and he loved it.
“What was cool was that this idea gave Cory Walker and I an opportunity to create someone new,” said Robert Kirkman. “Our way into the character was a ridiculous-sounding name we came up with: Ella Mental. We thought, ‘hey, look at that, that sounds like an Invincible-type name.’”
From there, Cory Walker gave us an amazing sketch for her.
“The name originated from Robert, and from that came the element-based powerset,” added Cory Walker. “I just started throwing stuff on her, and it was important that everything be asymmetrical, and just overall cool-looking.”
Contrary to belief, Ella’s parents are actually nice, a real change from many others in the Invincible universe. This was a purposeful choice from Robert, and makes her an even more distinguished addition to the lineup. When constructing Ella’s backstory, Kirkman noted, “The Invincible universe’s thing is that everyone has terrible parents, so we wanted to give Ella nice parents and a constructive family dynamic.”
Beyond her background, bringing Ella into the game was a welcome challenge for us. When you’re dealing with attacks using all four elements, there’s a lot happening on screen, and we’ve made sure her gameplay looks amazing without sacrificing performance.
Speaking of performance, we were so excited to get visionary rapper, Tierra Whack, to voice Ella Mental. We knew our Ella Mental needed to be the right combination of talent and presence, and Tierra is just that. She’s also a huge Invincible fan, and her passion comes through in each voice line. And in case you were wondering, her dream team is Ella Mental, Rex Splode and Atom Eve — solid choices!
I’ll leave you with some tips for kicking butt as Ella Mental: make sure you truly spend time understanding her kit and getting used to her ranges. She’s excellent teamed up with Robot for a good juggling pair, and Atom Eve for an immense power overload.
We’re so excited to see what our players pull off with our badass roster of fighters, especially Ella Mental.
Invincible VS launches on April 30, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud as an Xbox Play Anywhere title. The game is available for pre-order now.
Find out more by following Invincible VS on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, YouTube, and online at InvincibleVS.com. Add Invincible VS to your wish list on the Microsoft Store below.
Skybound Games
Invincible VS features a variety of game modes including a captivating cinematic story mode with an original narrative from a writer of the animated series. Jump into Arcade and battle with your team, hone your combos in Training mode, and test your skills against the world in competitive and casual multiplayer. Show, comic fans, and fighting game lovers will experience unparalleled heroic brutality, where every earth-shattering blow will leave you feeling… Invincible.
This is the debut title from the newly formed Quarter Up
—the first in-house studio at Skybound—led by former members of the core Killer Instinct (2013) dev team.
The post Invincible VS: Extended Look at Brand-New Character, Ella Mental appeared first on Xbox Wire.
“I wouldn’t go in there,” warns traveling storyteller Ugetsu, as Atsu approaches two large and looming wooden doors. “Because you may not return.”
It’s a caution many Ghost of Yōtei players loved to ignore. As the trigger point for revered side-quest The Spider Lily General, that ominous gate is the start of a haunting mythological adventure that lingers long in memory after its completion. Only fitting for a game that launched so close to Halloween.
I spoke to Creative Directors, Nate Fox and Jason Connell, to find out the inspiration and secrets behind The Spider Lily General, and how they felt about the optional quest’s popularity. But, similar to Ugetsu, I must warn you – there are spoilers ahead. You might want to play this mission before venturing any further…
“The Spider Lily General was actually one of the earliest missions in the game and one of the first Mythic Tales we created,” reveals Jason. “It came from one of our designers and writers, and we dissected what makes a great Mythic mission, how they’d look and feel.”
While these particular side-quests can be inspired by historical figures, The Spider Lily General was crafted as an original tale to represent the trauma of war. The titular warrior’s battle prowess and armour turned him into a legend, but after retiring, the General accidently injures his daughter during a sparring session. Seeing his child die from a wound he inflicted poisons the General with unrelenting grief, leading to him haunting the forest. And now looters hunt for his armour, often dying by the ghost’s sword.
“We knew we wanted the story to maybe have some tragedy associated with it,” says Jason. “And at some point the writer suggested it could be a point of reflection for Atsu, who helps him heal. She’s fighting him, but understands his trauma.”
But why spider lilies? Was there some specific symbolism in their use, given the myth says they sprouted wherever the General spilled his victims’ blood?
“They’re actually toxic, and in real life they’re planted in graveyards to keep away animals,” explains Nate. “So they represent death, as well as connecting to emotional relationships. They also had a functional in-game purpose – early playable feedback suggested it was a bit hard to understand where to go and what to do in the mission because the area is so large. So the lilies made it clearer how to move through the mist.”
The practical use of the lilies were just one of many mechanical aspects Sucker Punch had to consider for a quest which took on such an eerie feel in contrast to much of the main game.
“We don’t have a lot of experience with that sort of horror tone,” says Nate. “So there were specific ways to make it feel like the world is not as you know it. The little maze, a music stinger, and hearing people wailing in the distance. Or reaching a bunch of enemies before a mist rolls in and you then find them all slaughtered.
“There’s also the use of negative space, like when you start the quest and go up a staircase with the mist coming down and the spider lilies going up, with old corpses present… but nothing is attacking you. That long walk is simply there to immerse you in the tone.”
“We were inspired by elements from past survival horror games,” explains Jason. “The prototypes explored weird camera angles. It was really challenging, but even if we didn’t use them it set the vibe for what we were trying to achieve.
The atmosphere is one of the biggest tools we have. You paint the whole scene with mood. We made the spooky moon a little bigger and changed the lighting and colour grading to get the right black level. Sound design is a big thing, too, as well as the music, like the special track during the duel.”
Similar to the impact The Spider Lily General had on players, its early inclusion to Ghost of Yōtei’s development helped set a high bar not just for the other Mythic quests, but also for the entire adventure.
“The mission paved the way to ensure that the rest of the game had that level of quality and majesty,” says Jason. “A lot of the core parts of what makes the atmosphere and visual style of a Ghost game distinct got re-pioneered in that moment – and it reminded us of how important it is to use really great visual attractions to draw the player in.”
“That’s one of my favourite things about the mission,” agrees Nate. “When you’re riding your horse in this expansive field, the player has the choice of where they want to go. But when you look at the forest, it’s got a little bit of mist on it and you see this beautiful pagoda popping up out of the top, and it really excites your curiosity. The player discovers the story under their own power. It’s a powerful experience.”
The work and thought gone into The Spider Lily General is reflective of the entire game, but the team is happy with how players have responded to this particular mission, especially given how invested the studio was in creating the Mythics.
“Nate and I were pretty excited about the way they came out in Ghost of Tsushima,” says Jason. “So we knew that we wanted to build them again in their own new way for Ghost of Yōtei. And it’s cool to see people really enjoy The Spider Lily General. It’s got a lot of the hallmarks of a Ghost game in its roots. So as creators it’s really joyful to see people take photos and talk about why they like that mission.”
“We set out to make a game that is an anthology of stories where the player is invited to really wander, and follow their curiosity,” says Nate. “And The Spider Lily General is a great example of the kinds of things you can discover by going out there and exploring, in its own self-contained short story.
“It has a really strong beginning, middle, and end, with characters you get to know. Everyone in the team is very proud of how it came together.”
Fallout 5 will indeed take into account the canon events of the Fallout TV series, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard has confirmed.
While Fallout 5 is years away (Bethesda is still working on The Elder Scrolls 6, which doesn’t have a release window), Howard said that what we see in the Fallout series will impact the game.
“In short, yes,” Howard told BBC Newsbeat. “Fallout 5 will be existing in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening. We are taking that into account.”
The Fallout TV show, which is set after all the existing Fallout video games, has sparked much debate within the fandom. Questions on how it fits into the overarching Fallout timeline and whether it makes particular video game endings canon have dominated discussion in the run up to each season’s release. Indeed, Fallout Season 2 had left fans wondering about the fate of New Vegas following the events of the video game, although the show’s creators have avoided making a clear call.
What Howard is confirming here is that TV show characters such as Lucy, Maximus, and The Ghoul and the events of the show must now be factored into Fallout 5, although we don’t know when or where the game will be set. Could either actually appear in Fallout 5? It sounds like it’s possible, but we’ll have to see what happens in the show itself.
It’s worth remembering that we’re guaranteed Fallout Season 3, and the hope is there will be more seasons after that. There’s a long way to go before the show wraps up, and there’s a long way to go before Fallout 5 comes out. In the meantime, could Bethesda follow The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and release a remaster of Fallout 3 or New Vegas, or perhaps even a Fallout: New Vegas 2 as a stop gap? In a recent interview with IGN, Howard remained coy on the possibility.
We’ve got plenty more on the Fallout TV show. Check out IGN’s Fallout Season 2 Episodes 1-6 review to find out what we think of it, as well as our roundup of details and Easter eggs.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The ongoing RAM shortage (and subsequent and pricing explosion) is imposing a wider range of grim effects than even the Great GPU Famine of 2020. First came the death of one of gaming hardware’s most reliable memory and SSD makers, and now… uh… Larian’s new Divinity game is going to be more optimised for PC than it otherwise would have been?
That’s what Larian CEO Swen Vincke (clearly on a media tour – here’s him discussing Divinity with our Edwin) told TheGamer, anyway. Vincke notes that because the lack of affordable RAM options is making it harder to predict the horsepower of future PCs, “we already need to do a lot of optimization work in early access that we didn’t necessarily want to do at that point in time.” That doesn’t sound especially horrible to me – higher performance on lower-end rigs ultimately means more players can join in – though nowhere in the full interview does Vincke acknowledge that the shortage is being directly caused and sustained by demand from data centres that power generative AI, a technology that Larian are using in Divinity’s production, and that Vincke himself is defending the use of.
