Author: Game Infliction

In a surprise plot twist, Microsoft’s Activision-Blizzard acquisition has been BLOCKED by the UK’s CMA regulatory authority. We spend most of the show discussing the ramifications of this as well as what Microsoft might do next. Plus: we kick off the show with some quick impressions of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor!

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

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

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

What you lack in lucky five-star gacha pulls, Honkai: Star Rail may make up for in trash.

Well, perhaps not quite that good, but the new HoYoverse RPG has treasures lurking even in the dump. As Star Rail officially went live less than 24 hours ago, fans have already found themselves fascinated by investigating every trash can they encounter.

Rewards range from resources like Ancient Coins to an actual trash can avatar for your profile.

What happens when you repeatedly interact with the trash can in Honkai Star Rail?#honkaistarrail pic.twitter.com/g4IHDVOKPT

— Jiu Jiu subs (@qwertdwlrma) April 26, 2023

Dialogue exchanges with the assortment of junk vary, too.

In the video above, the boring bin looks about as ordinary as can be minus the whole video-game-inspect-this-thing shine. After a few bizarre interactions and judgmental expressions from March 7th and Dang Heng, the Trailblazer scores an Ancient Coin.

I think my favorite thing about honkai star rail is that all the trash cans have something unique to them, literally spent like an hour just talking to every trash can i see pic.twitter.com/F8qscodMTy

— LE PEPSI GIRL (@Awsie6662) April 26, 2023

“The two trash cans stood tightly side by side as if no force in the world could separate them,” reads the dialogue shared by Awsie6662 on Twitter.

Other snippets include all sorts of moments of infatuation with the world’s cheeky garbage lore. It’s not a particularly new RPG mechanic, but the HoYoverse take has about as much charm as digging through the literal trash… can.

Star Rail’s receptacles have even earned a spot in the hearts of fan artists, like this dumpster-diving comic from Renai1000se on Twitter. The game’s subreddit and official channels have a scene for the Star Rail Trash Can Fandom, too.

Some comments make their own declarations of love, while Reddit users like Crysaa add: “I didn’t expect the trash can lore to be so deep BUT I AM HERE FOR ALL OF IT.”

Honkai: Star Rail just made its debut on PC and mobile with a PS4/PS5 version still in the works. It’s yet another free-to-play RPG from Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse, serving as a follow-up to its older action title, Honkai Impact 3rd.

IGN recently broke down the basics of the astral adventure, particularly charmed by the voice cast and setting.

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She’s worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today’s FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

Diablo IV will let you skip its campaign with a press of a button, but don’t think you can just bypass the forces of Hell — you’ll need to finish the campaign first.

In the latest Diablo IV video titled, Inside the Game: Your Class Your Way, a brief shot shows characters being able to skip the campaign. That way, players don’t have to redo all of the story content again with future characters they create. Diablo global community development director Adam Fletcher clarified that players will have to beat the game at least once in order to skip future campaign reruns.

Lead quest designer Don Adams also noted that players can skip the campaign at any time, including at the character creation screen or after. Furthermore, he says that there are other uses as well. Players can explore different classes with alternative accounts before settling on a favorite, replay their favorite parts of the story, or grab a specific quest reward before skipping to endgame content.

As @PezRadar mentioned, this becomes available for your account after beating the #DiabloIV campaign once.

Each character can then skip at creation or any time after…? https://t.co/yPph2CueUi

— Don Adams ? (@_DonAdams) April 25, 2023

Diablo has a long history of deep endgame content that can stretch over months or years, with players rolling up new characters and trying to beat increasingly difficult dungeons. Diablo 3 made it possible to access its version of the endgame, Adventure Mode, by going straight to its rifts, but Diablo 4 streamlines it still further with a simple button.

A lengthy grind

This is a good way to respect a player’s time because, according to Diablo IV’s director, it will take at least 150 hours to reach level 100. Additionally, it will take around 80 hours to complete each season’s battle pass.

Diablo IV launches on June 6, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. In IGN’s Diablo IV review in progress, we said, “I continue to adore its build-crafting system, the joy of spontaneous alliances that its online model allows for, and the surprisingly engaging combat, which was made even better with the new classes in play.”

Diablo IV is going to have a final beta test from May 12 to 14 called “server slam” which will stress test the game’s online infrastructure.

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