Author: Game Infliction

Stalker 2’s bulletsponge mutants can be nerfed with this handy mod, saving you precious rounds

The mutant enemies in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl are very hungry. Hungry not only for your flesh, but also all the bullets in your AK-47. It can take entire clips of ammo to take down some of these tough beasts, and you get nothing back for killing this wildlife except the hollow satisfaction of pest control. Alongside the bugs and performance issues, it’s a common enough complaint to players of the first-person survival shooter that it’s already been addressed by a modder, who has created a tweak to lower the health of various dogs, boars, and bloodsuckers.

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Has Already Sold 1 Million Copies, With Many More Playing on Xbox Game Pass

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl already looks like a hit, with developer GSC Game World declaring one million copies sold.

In a tweet, Ukrainian studio GSC said that in addition to these sales, “much more” are playing via S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s day one launch on Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service.

“No wonder it feels a bit crowdy in the Zone,” GSC tweeted. “A million copies were sold, and much more stalkers joined the artifact hunt with Game Pass.

“This is just the start of our unforgettable adventure. The Heart of Chornobyl emanates stronger with each of us.

“Thank You, stalkers!”

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl hit the one million sold milestone less than 48 hours after launching across PC and Xbox Series X and S. On Steam, it has a peak concurrent player count of 117,928, putting it among the most-played games on Valve’s platform. Microsoft does not make Xbox player numbers public.

Clearly, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is already a success for GSC even before its first weekend on sale. However, the launch is not without problems, with players reporting a variety of bugs (check out IGN’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 review in progress to find out more). GSC has promised to sort out what it called S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s “rough edges” with a steady stream of patches.

Free in-game content is also coming to the game. Expect more on that when GSC Game World shares its roadmap later in December.

To help you survive in the Zone, we’ve got a list of Essential Stalker 2 Tips and Tricks, plus a guide on Things to Do First in Stalker 2 to help you through the early game, and Things Stalker 2 Doesn’t Tell You – everything we wish we knew before we started playing. Save time scouring the wasteland with our Artifacts checklist and locations guide, and every Stash location we’ve found so far.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 suffered a number of understandable delays, most recently in July when the game was due out in September. GSC said at the time that the extra two months would give the developers the chance to fix “unexpected anomalies,” aka bugs.

GSC has also been vocal about the challenges the studio faced getting S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 up to scratch after a mixed reaction to its debut public showing last year. At gamescom 2023, GSC addressed what some had called a “downgrade” sparked by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s then latest gameplay trailer. At the time, GSC told IGN it was still targeting a visual quality and level of polish suggested by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s eye-catching 2021 trailer despite the horrendous conditions suffered by the staff amid the war with Russia.

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.

Kura5 is a free spiritual successor to Kojima’s sun-loving Boktai vampire-hunting series

Long before Hideo Kojima made the first triple-A walking simulator, he was trying to spin sunlight into bullets. The game in question, Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand, is a Game Boy Advance title from 2003, in which you play a vampire-slaying gunslinger. The gun you’re slinging is a “solar-powered” pistol, which you could charge up using a cartridge-mounted photometric sensor by physically standing in sunshine. This was 13 years before the launch of Pokemon Go. Sadly, Boktai’s debut didn’t result in city parks or rooftops being flooded by crowds of GBA-wielding undead killers. But it was a fun gimmick and the game itself is good enough to carry it – an isometric dungeon-crawler in which you have to find a vamp’s coffin and drag it to the surface for purgation.

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I no longer care about Grand Theft Auto 6, for I have the open world of Vivat Slovakia

Upon some serious soul searching following a little time with the early access build of open world game Vivat Slovakia, I have unfortunately had to admit to myself that it is probably not the GTA 6 killer I was hoping for. This upsets me slightly, because I find Rockstar’s constant self-assured bloviating to be quite irritating, even though I’m sure I’ll play their game for a billion hours. What Vivat Slovakia is, then, is a very ambitious homage to the Grand Theft Auto series that isn’t shy about it, right down to the font choices. I’m not sure if you should play it, but I do feel enriched for learning of its existence. Here’s a trailer.

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NES-Inspired Platformer ‘Everdeep Aurora’ Is Bringing Wholesome Vibes In 2025

Feline fine.

We got our first peek at Nautilus Games’ Everdeep Aurora in the 2023 Wholesome Direct before going hands-on with it at BitSummit earlier this year. We’ve liked what we have seen so far, so it’s exciting to hear the cute cat adventure now has a release window: Q3 2025.

Admittedly, that does feel like a long way away, but we’re hopeful that 2025 will bring plenty of exciting drops before then (please), so we’re sure it’ll fly by.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Nintendo Switch Online Adds Rare’s Game Boy Platformer Donkey Kong Land

Donkey Kong Land is out now for Nintendo Switch Online.

Rare’s 1995 Game Boy platformer is available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription for the Switch, and joins a growing list of classic Game Boy games available to download and play. Check out all the games available on Nintendo Switch Online here.

Donkey Kong Land offers a condensed version of the side-scrolling gameplay in Rare’s much loved 1994 SNES classic Donkey Kong Country, with different level design and boss fights. As you’d expect, it stars Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy Kong, who team up to defeat King K. Rool and collect many, many bananas.

The game did well enough to get three sequels: Donkey Kong Land 2 (1996), based on Diddy’s Kong Quest; Donkey Kong Land 3 (1997), based on Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!; and a Game Boy Color version of Donkey Kong Country (2000).

Here’s the official blurb:

Cranky Kong doesn’t think Donkey Kong has proven himself to be a hero yet. So, he decides to work out a deal with the closest villain that he knows. K. Rool and his baddies have hidden bananas in new places across Donkey Kong Island in another attempt to outwit the best-friend duo. And the only response is for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to go off on another adventure!

The Game Boy launched in 1989 with the likes of Super Mario Land, Tetris, Baseball, and Alleyway, all of which are now on Nintendo Switch Online. Other Game Boy games on the service include Metroid 2 – Return of Samus, Kirby’s Dream Land, Super Mario Land 2 – 6 Golden Coins, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, and Wario in Wario Land 3.

As for Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a remake of the Nintendo Wii original that was also ported to Nintendo 3DS, launches on Switch in January. Last week’s Super Nintendo World Direct offered fans their long-awaited first look at the new Donkey Kong Country-themed expansion while announcing it will officially open December 11, 2024 in Japan.

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.

Don’t Wake The Beast is a blend of Thief and Spelunky where you must let sleeping dragons lie

The Hobbit movies are a mixed Baggins indeed – at once thunderous and thin, like butter scraped over too much bread – but one sequence I love from The Desolation of Smaug is Bilbo searching Khazad-dûm for the Arkenstone, while trying not to rouse the titular dragon from his slumber. Don’t Wake The Beast is sort of that sequence plus Spelunkified procgen levels and Thief-esque stealth mechanics.

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Turn Medieval II: Total War into Redwall with this Mossflower TW mod

If the surprising number of you brought scurrying out of the woodwork by the announcement of Redwall-style survival game Hawthorn is anything to go by, the medieval rodent fanatic to RPS reader pipeline is a sturdy one, despite being constantly nibbled at. Here’s some more delicious bait for you, then. Mossflower TW is a campaign mod for Medieval II: Total War expansion Kingdoms that lets ranks of mace-wielding mice, helmeted hedgehogs, and ornery otters skitter wildly all over the venerable strategy game. It’s been about since Summer, and the team have been working on patching since. It seems very playable, if the footage of people playing it is anything to go by. Here’s a video by YouTuber Tharshey so you can see it in action:

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PlayStation VR 2 Just Got Massive Discount for Black Friday, It Even Includes Horizon: Call of the Mountain

PlayStation VR2 is one of the standout deals in this year’s PS5 Black Friday sale, offering an incredible discount. The PSVR2 Horizon: Call of the Mountain bundle has dropped by $250, bringing it down to just $350—matching the price of the standalone headset in this sale. (This deal is also available in the UK at an equivalent price).

Opting for the bundle is an easy choice, as it includes a fantastic game to pair with your new VR headset. This deal positions the PSVR2 as a compelling alternative to more affordable VR options like the Meta Quest, making it an enticing option for newcomers and enthusiasts alike. Considering the sheer value of the headset, this seems like a no-brainer for PlayStation enthusiasts.

What We Said In Our Review

In his review for IGN, Gabriel Moss bestowed the PSVR2 with a 9, saying: “The PlayStation VR2 may seem pricey, given that it costs $150 more than the base PS5 Digital Edition console you’ll need to use it. Even so, it’s such a quantum leap over the original PSVR in terms of ease of use, visual quality, and immersion that any PlayStation owner who loves VR should upgrade as soon as possible.”

“Its 4K HDR OLED screen and excellently tactile Sense controllers are the most obvious improvement, but plentiful quality-of-life changes and the raw horsepower of the PS5 set a new standard for how VR games should play and feel on console.”

PS5 Black Friday Deals Are Now Live at Amazon

PlayStation’s PS5 console deals are also now live for Black Friday, featuring the Fortnite Cobalt Star Bundle, and NBA 2K Bundle, at just $374.99 for the Digital Edition or $424.99 for the Disc Edition. These deals are also available in the UK at an equivalent price.

This is the best PS5 console deal of the year – and it’ll likely be the last major discount heading into the holidays. If you’ve been holding out for a great price, now’s your chance. However, these deals could sell out or expire before Black Friday itself, so act quickly to secure yours and avoid disappointment. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer.

When Is Black Friday 2024?

The actual date of Black Friday in 2024 falls on November 29 this year, but the deals have already kicked off. Leading up to the big event, retailers have begun to open deals online.

Each day leading up to the event will slowly roll out more deals, which ultimately leads to massive discounts on Black Friday. We already know what PlayStation and Xbox have in store, and most general deals will be available well in advance, such as this excellent discount on DualSense controllers.

PlayStation Games On Sale for Black Friday

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Wario Land-Like Indie Antonblast Releases Explosive Final Trailer

Blasting onto Switch eShop this December.

Antonblast is arriving on the Switch in just a few weeks and before we blast off, Summitsphere has released an explosive final trailer.

This Wario Land-like platformer is filled with fast-paced action, and in case you missed it, there’s a demo available on the Switch eShop right now. The developer has also lined up a physical release with Fangamer, and it’s scheduled to arrive at some point in 2025.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com