Author: Game Infliction

Review: Star Trek: Legends (Switch) – Competent Combat But Fails To Engage

Fire at Will.

As a mischievous omnipotent being once said, Star Trek isn’t about mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence. The voyages of the starships Enterprise et al. are journeys of self-discovery. It’s about the people we meet on those strange new worlds and what they teach us about ourselves. It’s not about taking turns to phaser each other in the face. Despite issues elsewhere, that’s where Star Trek: Legends really fails.

It’s not all bad, though. Emerald City Games’ turn-based trawl, published here by Qubic Games, debuted on Apple Arcade back in 2021 and though some may baulk at its mobile-first design, it translates fairly well to Switch. The UI is well-proportioned and the touchscreen integration functions as you’d hope.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Steam Users Are Review-Bombing Assassin’s Creed Origins Because Microsoft’s 24H2 Windows Update Has Bricked the Game

Ubisoft’s PC woes have continued into 2025, with the generally much-loved Assassin’s Creed Origins suffering a review-bomb campaign on Steam after a Windows PC update rendered it unplayable for some.

In November, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 11 version 24H2 accidentally killed Ubisoft games such as Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and more. The issue was so bad that Microsoft updated its support website to reveal it has placed a temporary block on Windows 11 for users with those games installed.

“After installing Windows 11, version 24H2, you might encounter issues with some Ubisoft games,” Microsoft said at the time. “These games might become unresponsive while starting, loading or during active gameplay.

“In some cases, users might receive a black screen. The affected games are Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Star Wars Outlaws, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

“To safeguard your Windows update experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on devices with these games installed. These devices will not be offered to install Windows 11, version 24H2 via the Windows Update release channel.”

Ubisoft released an update to fix the problem in Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, but Microsoft and Ubisoft are both still working to sort out the Assassin’s Creed games, and frustration has finally spilled over into Steam user reviews.

Negative reviews for Assassin’s Creed Origins ramped up mid-December before hitting a peak as we crossed into 2025, with the game’s recent user review rating dropping to ‘Mixed.’ Overall reviews for the game remain ‘Very Positive.’

Pretty much all the recent negative reviews complain about the Windows update making Assassin’s Creed Origins unplayable. Until a resolution is found, Ubisoft told customers not to manually update to version 24H2 using the Windows 11 Installation Assistant or the media creation tool. If the game stops responding, you’ll need to use Task Manager to close the application.

Ubisoft’s Windows problems have hit the company at a particularly troubling time. The company is reportedly in buyout talks with Chinese megacorp Tencent after a torrid 2024 in which it closed studios, shut down games, and made mass layoffs. The company’s next big game, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, was delayed into 2025 and Star Wars Outlaws failed to meet sales expectations.

Ubisoft’s shares fell to their lowest level in the last decade in September after it made a series of dramatic announcements around the performance of its games. As well as delaying Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft announced a return to Steam after a period of PC launch exclusivity on the Epic Games Store, with Star Wars Outlaws recently releasing on Valve’s platform.

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.

Gar-Type is a free pixelart shooter based on a cosmic horror meme about a lazy, ravenous housecat

I think the last time I read an actual, original Garfield comic was in 1998. Since then, my experience of the character has been one long litany of Gar-memes and in particular, Gorefield memes. For those blissfully unaware, Gorefield is a version of Jim Davis’s otiose, lasagne-loving housecat who has broken his comic strip shackles and become a cosmic abomination. Gorefield’s manifestations are many: centipede Gorefields, arachnid Gorefields, Gorefields that extend serpentine necks of unfleshed bone towards a cowering Jon Arbuckle, demanding to be fed in a voice that sounds nothing like Bill Murray, a voice as deep and velvety as the eternal Monday before the Big Bang.

In Gar-Type, a free Gorefield fangame from Youtuber and pixel artist LumpyTouch, Garfield has become a planet. The good news is that, unlike many other Gore-variants, this Gorefield is vulnerable to bullets. It falls to ace pilot Jon Starbuckle and his prototype starfighter, Gar-Type D, to save the Earth from lasagnnihilation.

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Indiana Jones And The Great Circle is a game about a man with hands

Indiana Jones is a man with hands. Deny this at your own peril. ‘Write what you know’ they say. Indiana Jones And The Great Circle’s writers knew about having hands. They’d picked up a thing or two. Turned the odd key. Raised the occasional entire lemon to their lips and devoured it whole. Clicked a camera button. Placed an object upon a table. They had touched things, and beyond this, they had felt them. They knew that the player could never truly be Indiana Jones, but they could be allowed to make a pretend man who sounded at least 83% like Indiana Jones do things with his hands that very much resemble the sort of things Indiana Jones might do.

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Nintendo Download: 2nd January (North America)

Ys Memoire! Rivenaar’s Grove! Uh… That’s it!

The latest Nintendo Download update for North America has arrived, and it’s bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region. As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!

Switch eShop – New Releases

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana (Marvelous (XSEED), 7th Jan) – Originally conceived as a reimagining of the 16-bit console classic Ys III: Wanderers From Ys, this fan-favorite entry returns, newly remastered for the Nintendo Switch™ system as Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana. Nearly 15 years after its previous release, longtime fans can look forward to numerous improvements and upgrades, including an all-new voiceover for legendary protagonist, Adol Christin. With remastered high-definition visuals and music, the epic adventure has never looked or sounded better.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Hideo Kojima’s Xbox and Sony Games Affected by Actors’ Strike

Hideo Kojima has revealed the ongoing video game actors strike has affected production on his Xbox game as well as his upcoming action espionage title for Sony.

In a tweet, Kojima said that Kojima Productions was forced to suspend actor scanning and filming for the Xbox-published OD during the second half of 2024 after the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) video game actors’ strike began in July.

Similarly, casting for Physint, Kojima’s hotly anticipated return to the “action espionage” genre, was suspended due to the strike. Kojima added that he hopes to resume production in 2025.

SAG-AFTRA video game voice actors accuse gaming companies of refusing to meet their demands on artificial intelligence. Negotiations over a new contract began in October 2022 and SAG-AFTRA members approved the strike in September 2023. Check out IGN’s feature, What the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Actors Strike Means for Gamers, for more.

What this means for both OD and Physint remains to be seen, with both games without an official release window. Both are video game / movie hybrids, with Nope and Get Out Director Jordan Peele collaborating with Kojima on OD. Physint was announced during a Sony State of Play broadcast, suggesting it may release on PlayStation 6.

Meanwhile, Kojima is working on Death Stranding 2, which is out at some point in 2025, and the live-action Death Stranding film with A24. In his tweet, Kojima teased “other adaptations” are underway, without saying any more.

OD and Physint aren’t the only video games affected by the SAG-AFTRA strike. Last month, Activision confirmed it had recast some members of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 cast after fans noticed much-loved Zombies characters with new voices in-game. Activision said at the time: “We respect the personal choice of these performers. Out of respect for all parties, we won’t add new commentary about the ongoing negotiations with SAG-AFTRA. We look forward to a mutually beneficial outcome as soon as possible.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is not subject to the strike because it was in development before July 25, 2024, when the strike began. However, as suggested by Activision’s statement, the voice actors may have decided against signing new contracts in solidarity with striking union members. IGN has asked SAG-AFTRA for comment.

Photo by Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty Images.

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.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds creator wants to build a “metaverse” but says it might take 15 years and can’t explain what it will look like yet

Brendan Greene, the modder-turned-millionaire who designed battle royale game PUBG: Battlegrounds, wants to make his studio’s next game a “metaverse”, although he says he’s wary of using the term. The project is called “Artemis” (at least for now) and you won’t be seeing it any time soon. That’s because the studio is still working on the tech behind it all, and plans to release two other games before it. Meaning it’ll be 10-15 years before it actually comes out.

Greene describes Artemis as an internet-like platform where users create and share things, but doesn’t say specifically what those things might be. He doesn’t know how his user-led “multiverse of worlds” will be moderated, or how it will prevent copyright infringement, or what makes this idea distinct from, say, Roblox. He is nonetheless “full of confidence”.

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Ancient Chinese RPG The Bustling World is, in fact, all of the genres, from city builder to life sim

It’s frightfully early in the year to be bustling, but I can’t get enough of the crowded streets of ancient “Chinese-style” RPG The Bustling World. The latest trailer is a series of sweeping yet intimate, colourful urban cross-sections, showing dozens of NPCs selling fish, shaking hands on balconies, shouldering barrels, dancing with fans, honing their feng shui, and various other pursuits that allegedly form part of full NPC life simulations. It’s like scrutinising a Hitman level from above, except that all of these people have evolving relationships and sleeping patterns and they might hunt you down if you murder any of their relatives. Me, I just want to play Where’s Wally.

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Rumour: Supposed Images Of The ‘Switch 2’ Motherboard Appear Online

Chips ahoy.

Well folks, part of us had hoped that 2025 would mark the end of leaks and rumours regarding the upcoming ‘Switch 2’, but apparently not. Ahead of Nintendo’s expected announcement before the end of March, new images have appeared online that seem to reveal the successor’s motherboard.

Posted on Reddit by MHN1994 (who has since stated that they are not the original leaker and had actually found the images on Facebook), the post’s legitimacy is certainly up for debate (though many have rightly pointed out the comparisons to a previous leak showcasing alleged prototype components of the Switch 2), but the internet has gone wild with speculation on what this means for the upcoming console regardless.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com