Author: Game Infliction

Survival Horror is a genre we take for granted, but back in 1992 a little game called Alone in the Dark really kickstarted the whole idea, giving us a taste of limited resources and investigative adventure against the odds. Now Pieces Interactive is remaking that classic in a star-studded, atmospheric take that promises to deliver the classic horror plot to modern audiences. Heading that up is Mikael Hedberg, writer and director of Amnesia and Soma, and between his answers and answers from publisher THQ Nordic at a press Q&A things are looking pretty promising as we gear up to return to the deeply haunted Louisiana Bayou around Derceto.

The big reveal is that Stranger Things actor David Harbour will be playing the role of detective Edward Carnby, a hard boiled scenery-chewing role that’s a perfect cast for Harbour and one that he seems genuinely excited to undertake. Meanwhile Killing Eve actress Jodie Comer will take over as Emily Hartwood, the woman who has hired Carnby to investigate the fate of her uncle while she pries deeper into her family secret, the mystery-shrouded “Hartwood Curse.”

Pieces looks to be keeping many key elements of the early Alone in the Dark games in their remake, especially the series’ classic melee combat: While getting stuck in with a monster was a death sentence in later Survival Horror, carving up Ghouls with a sword was always a much better choice than wasting precious bullets on them.

The original Alone in the Dark is a pretty big deal. It’s one of those things where, when looking at it, nothing seems special only because so many games since have done everything exactly like Alone in the Dark did them. That fixed camera for a 3D space? The way the mystery is investigated? All Alone in the Dark’s creations. It all showed up again later in a little game called Resident Evil, which you might have heard of. That makes it all the cooler to see where the new Alone in the Dark is drawing from design work done in the Resident Evil remakes while still staying unique to what it is. An over the shoulder camera should be a real improvement to both navigating and appreciating the locales, not to mention fighting monsters.

Being Southern myself, one of the most important bits of Alone in the Dark is the setting. The Louisiana Bayou is iconic for a reason, and the Southern Gothic is a genre far older than Survival Horror. Mikael Hedberg gave me a pretty satisfying answer to whether Alone in the Dark will explore those roots, noting that expanding the story in the remake gave Pieces space to expand on the local historic traditions and connect the story more deeply to Voudou, among other things. He also referenced the oppressive atmosphere of the 1986 movie Angel Heart, a psychological thriller that I think will set him on the right path to some good old down-home horror.

While the setting is certainly home-grown for me, I’m even more pleased to hear the musical choices that Pieces has made. Jazz is a Louisiana staple, but the Alone in the Dark directors have pulled in a modern European twist: The metal-infused ambience of Doom Jazz. Most horror games aren’t willing to risk a heavy soundtrack, but it looks like Pieces knows you can’t have noir—even horror noir—without a good saxophone. The involvement of Doom Jazz legend Jason Köhnen is a really powerful choice for the aesthetic direction of Alone in the Dark: There’s just not much like the power that these strange ambient pluckings and pressurized drum rolls can achieve.

In all, the team and motivation seem right to deliver an exciting take on a classic of horror gaming. I’m looking forward to learning more about Alone in the Dark as we get closer to release, and you can bet I’m downloading the free prologue Grace in the Dark right now.

Developer Blackbird Interactive and publisher Gearbox have announced that Homeworld 3 has been delayed to February 2024. It was originally planned to launch during the first half of 2023.

“Our primary goal is to deliver a Homeworld experience that lives up to the standards set by its predecessors and is worthy of this series’ incredible legacy,” Blackbird and Gearbox explained in a statement on Twitter.

They continued, saying, “Homeworld 3 is shaping up to be exactly that, but in order to fully realize that vision we need more time to refine and polish the game.”

We are moving the launch of Homeworld 3 from the first half of 2023 to February 2024 so that we deliver the quality experience that fans deserve. pic.twitter.com/DaCX4eFMm4

— Homeworld (@HomeworldGame) May 25, 2023

Homeworld 3 was first announced all the way back in 2019 for PC. The game was initially scheduled to release in Q4 2022 but then was delayed into 2023 in order to protect the health of the developers. The game will also feature simplified controls. Now, fans will have to wait at least another year.

In the meantime, fans can play Homeworld: The Remastered Collection, which has the first two games included. In IGN’s Homeworld: The Remastered Collection review, we said, “Gearbox gives Homeworld the respect it deserves in this impressive refitting of Relic’s classic RTS games.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

Look, we don’t want to tell you how you should play Tears of the Kingdom. Go out, make a mess, explore the world, do whatever you want. But there are certain things in this game that if you don’t do early, you might find yourself later wishing you had chosen differently. And one of those is the order in which you tackle the Regional Phenomena quests, which lead to Tears of the Kingdom’s dungeons.

Once you pass the tutorial of Tears of the Kingdom, you’ll be handed a main quest called Regional Phenomena, which sends you to complete the game’s four major dungeons in any order you like by visiting the Rito, the Zorah, the Gerudo, and the Goron cities and people. You can put these quests off as long as you want, do them in a random order, or go wherever your heart takes you, but there is a recommended order to do these in, and it’s for pretty good reason: some of the rewards are much, much better than others, and can make the rest of the game significantly easier.

Put simply: we recommend doing Regional Phenomena – To Rito Village first. It’s the one the game pushes you toward first, so if you’re feeling contrarian, consider saving that for other areas of the game and just go to Rito Village immediately. Make sure you grab some warm clothes on the way.

Spoiler Alert: Below the video, we explain exactly why Rito Village is the best way to go. Read on at your own risk!

Rito Village partners you with the new Rito champion, Tulin, who comes with a truly awesome ability. He can create wind gusts that will blow you forward quickly in a direction when you’re on your paraglider. It’s a massive gamechanger, making it much easier to get around the world, especially in the sky. Trust me – you’re going to use this ability a lot, and once you have it, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to get it.

By contrast, the other Regional Phenomena quest abilities aren’t quite as impressive. The Goron ability, used by Yunobo, is a close second: he can use it to bust through breakable rocks, meaning you don’t have to keep grinding through rocks on sticks to mine your way through caves. We recommend heading to Goron City second for this reason.

But the remaining two abilities, used by Riju and Sidon, are more combat-oriented and less useful for traversal. Riju’s power, which zaps foes with lighting from a distance, is great when fighting mobs – especially Gloom Hands. Prince Sidon’s ability is a shield that can send out a magical orb when released, but is a little more situational in its use. It’s good to have, but probably the lowest priority of the four.

Along with heading to Rito Village first, we also recommend players track down an important quality of life feature, Autobuild, before getting too far into the meat of the game. Again, trust us, you really want this. And we have a detailed guide on how to get it.

Once you have visited Rito Village, gotten Tulin’s power, and collected Autobuild, there’s tons more to do. We have it all catalogued in our full guides to Tears of the Kingdom.

• 14 Things Tears of the Kingdom Doesn’t Tell You
• How to Uncover the Full TOTK Map
• TOTK Cheats and Secrets
• All Amiibo Unlocks We’ve Gotten So Far
• How to Find and Unlock the Great Fairy Fountain

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Fistfighting has been around since the beginning of time, and boxing (or some form of martial pugilism) has been around basically as long.

Celebrate the ancient tradition (as well as the modern advancements in boxing) by taking fighters under your wing, coaching them, and leading them to victory (or defeat) in World Championship Boxing Manager, which you can claim right now as part of IGN Plus.

Plus members – get your key for World Championship Boxing Manager 2 here on its IGN Rewards page. Not a Plus member? Sign up now. You can also follow the devs on Twitter.

Developer Interview: Creative Director Andrew Marsh

I sat down with Andrew Marsh, the Creative Director for WCBM2, to discuss the development of the game, its goals, and what players can expect when they jump into this retro (but approachable) management sim.

Making a Sequel to a Beloved Retro Management Sim

Boxing games have been around since very early in gaming history, and the team at MegaCat was interested in creating a boxing management game for several reasons. One major draw was to tell a wide range of stories, from stories about up-and-coming boxers, to underground club fighters and huge prize fighters, and depicting the seedy underbelly, the massive spotlight, and everything in between.

The team also found the style of the original World Championship Boxing Manager (WCBM) appealing, so the idea of creating a sequel that built off the (beloved) original was enticing to the retro-enthusiast team, who took this opportunity to iterate and improve upon the original, adding new quality-of-life improvements and even entirely new phases of the game.

Melding Old and New

Nothing was off the table for the development team, who want to bring a classic experience for older players, while making it easy for new players to jump in, particularly those who are new to management sims, new to boxing, or new to retro-style games. Playing the original game, they started by streamlining and modernizing it, then looked for new elements they could bring in to make it more fun for players.

Just like the original, players take on the role of a boxing manager who is trying to find up-and-coming boxers and make a career for them both, but unlike the original, there is more interaction when it comes to the real fights, and not solely an adventure-game focus.

In the original game, announcers would simply tell players how the boxing match was going, but in WCBM2, players will see the fights play out, watching as the fighters land hits and expend their energy. Between rounds, the player will be able to restore either their boxer’s health or endurance a bit, then tell them whether to stick with their current strategy, or switch it up. This is all unique to WCMB2, and it creates an engaging rhythm of strategizing during the week, and seeing if the training paid off when it comes time to fight on Friday night.

Representation of the Sport and its Champions

I enjoyed the strategic rhythm of planning training sessions for boxers, then picking tournaments to enter and managing the ‘big picture’ strategy for the boxer as they fought, round to round, and the team at MegaCat saw that puzzle-solving and strategizing as a key part of the sport.

Another addition was the Knowledge section, which has a ton of interesting information on boxing, including techniques, equipment, and other things. Beautiful, detailed art pieces depicting different styles of boxing gloves are there, and a whole lot more, which is great for someone like me, who doesn’t know much about the more intricate aspects of the sport.

The dev team also talked to classic boxers (and their estates) to get first-hand knowledge about the sport to bring a higher level of realism, and to craft their stories, which players can enjoy in WCBM2. In story modes, you can play as more than a random boxer. You can certainly do that, but you can also manage Sugar Ray Robinson, from before his career even began. Even if you aren’t into simulation games, give it a chance, and you may find something new (and old) to enjoy.

What Is IGN Plus?

IGN Plus is the paid membership program for IGN, and right now you can grab an annual membership for just $29.99, or just $4.99 a month, if you prefer to go that route. You can also try it for just $1 for 30 days.

What you get as an IGN Plus member:

• Monthly Game keys (Like Lil Gator Game, Kung Fury: Street Rage, & more)
• Removes all ads from IGN
• Grants 15% off most items at the IGN Store
• Gives you a MapGenie Pro membership (for tons of game maps & collectible locations)
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• & more.

Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN & GameSpot. You can get your fix of his antics on Twitter (@Ribnax), Backloggd (Ribnax) & Twitch (Ribnax) or check out his fantastic video game talk show, The Platformers, on Twitch & Apple Podcasts.