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The ninth entry in the mainline Resident Evil series is fast approaching, but if you’re thinking that it could be the ideal point to jump in for the first time, you’ll almost certainly be left wondering what the hell is going on as you play through its opening hours. Resident Evil Requiem builds atop a three-decade legacy of survival horror, so you’re going to have to do some homework before you get started.

To help you out, we’ve put together a (very condensed) synopsis of the main Resident Evil story and everything you need to know leading into Resident Evil Requiem, presented in chronological order. As I’m sure you’ve already worked out, the following contains spoilers – lots and lots of spoilers – for the entire Resident Evil series prior to Requiem.

Resident Evil Zero
July 23, 1998

It’s July 23, 1998. The Bravo Team of Raccoon City Police’s elite S.T.A.R.S division is dispatched to investigate a number of murders in the Arklay region. The team believe evidence can be found in the area’s mountains, but their helicopter crashes before they can reach their landing zone. Survivor Rebecca Chambers makes her way towards a nearby spooky-looking mansion in an attempt to find the rest of Bravo Team.

Before she makes it to the house, Rebecca, along with her newly acquired convict companion Billy Coen, come across an abandoned training facility where they discover that its former director, Dr James Marcus, along with former partner, Oswell E. Spencer, were responsible for a new biological weapon dubbed the T-Virus: a deadly infection that turns humans into zombies and other monstrosities.

Resident Evil
July 24, 1998

The S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team is dispatched to find out what happened to the missing Bravo team. Their search leads Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Barry Burton, and team leader Albert Wesker to the aforementioned grand estate, the Spencer Mansion.

The gang splits up and discovers the horrible fates of the missing S.T.A.R.S. members, who have been decimated by the monstrous results of the T-virus. As he explores the mansion’s many rooms and hidden chambers, Chris finds Bravo team member Rebecca Chambers still alive.

Jill and Chris eventually discover that the Umbrella Corporation, a pharmaceutical company with shady business practices, is behind the illegal experiments that led to undead horrors (and the odd oversized animal) roaming the mansion’s halls.

Eventually, once they reach a sinister laboratory hidden beneath the house, the duo discover that Wesker is not actually a loyal S.T.A.R.S. operative, but a traitor who works for Umbrella. Wesker infects himself with a strain of the T-virus as part of an elaborate plan that also involves releasing a new biological super weapon, the “Tyrant”, from containment. Unfortunately for him, the creature swiftly kills him. After managing to defeat the Tyrant, the remaining S.T.A.R.S. team members escape the lab (relatively) unscathed.

Our heroic survivors return to Raccoon City, only to learn that the corruption runs deep. They decide to go rogue, leaving the RPD to investigate the grand corporate conspiracy. Chris heads off to Europe solo, while Jill stays in the city to learn more about Umbrella.

Resident Evil 3
September 28, 1998

It’s September 1998, just a few months after the Spencer Mansion incident, and Raccoon City is overrun with zombies. Umbrella sees the outbreak as an opportunity to test its latest bioweapon, the experimental Nemesis; a hulking beast armed with a rocket launcher, tasked only with the destruction of all remaining S.T.A.R.S. members.

While Jill desperately tries to escape the outbreak with the relentless Nemesis hot on her heels, rookie R.P.D. officer Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield’s younger sister, Claire, both arrive in Raccoon City at the worst possible time.

Resident Evil 2
September 29, 1998

After being separated following a car accident, Leon and Claire agree to meet up at the nearby police station. Unfortunately for both of them, the building is already infested by the undead.

As she navigates the station’s dangerous hallways in search of information about her brother’s whereabouts, Claire runs into Sherry Birkin, a young girl pursued by a monstrous weirdo who not only turns out to be her Dad, but also Umbrella’s leading scientist, William Birkin.

Turns out Billy B had planned to betray his corporate masters and sell his newly developed G-virus, but he was gunned down by Umbrella before he had the chance. As he bled out, William managed to infect himself with the G-Virus. His monstrous form massacred Umbrella’s troops and proceeded to dump both the G- and T-virus formulas into Raccoon City’s water supply, creating the enormous mess all our characters now have to deal with. Nice one, Willy.

Meanwhile, Leon runs into Ada Wong, an FBI agent seeking the G-Virus for her own investigation into Umbrella’s corruption. The two decide to form an alliance, for now…

Leon and Ada run into Birkin’s wife, Annette, who is not a big fan of the pair. They follow Annette deep underground to a secret Umbrella facility called NEST in hope of securing the G-virus sample.

Pretty much simultaneously, Claire also arrives at NEST, in search of a vaccine for the now-infected Sherry. Leon manages to obtain the G-Virus sample but runs into the hideously deformed William, who mortally wounds his wife. As she struggles to hold on, Annette reveals to Leon that Ada is not what she seems: she’s actually a mercenary looking to sell the G-Virus to the highest bidder. Ada arrives on the scene and demands the G-Virus, but before Leon can hand it over, Annette manages to shoot her, sending both Ada and the virus sample falling into the lab’s seemingly bottomless chasm.

Meanwhile, Claire finds a vaccine for Sherry. As Annette administers it to her daughter, Claire tangles with an out-of-control William. Sherry is cured, but Annette eventually dies of her injuries. The facility is set to self-destruct, and Claire, Sherry, and Leon board a train to escape.

With NEST destroyed, the crew finally manage to escape the nightmare and, on the outskirts of Racoon City, vow to continue their fight against Umbrella.

Resident Evil Outbreak
September 23 – October 1, 1998

While Jill, Leon, and Claire are dealing with their own issues amidst a zombie outbreak, eight other Raccoon City residents are also in a desperate fight for survival. Among them is a local journalist, Alyssa Ashcroft, who is trying to shine a spotlight on Umbrella’s evil ways. Remember her name, as it’ll come in handy when you start playing Resident Evil Requiem.

Alyssa manages to escape Raccoon City before the government annihilates the entire area with an evidence-destroying thermobaric missile strike, carrying information that could expose Umbrella once and for all.

Resident Evil 3 (continued)
October 1, 1998

Elsewhere in Racoon City, in the hours before the missile strike, Jill Valentine is infected with the T-Virus. Fortunately for her, Carlos Oliveria – an uncharacteristically friendly Umbrella mercenary – arrives on the scene to not only cure Jill, but also help her find the important vaccine that could save the city. Unfortunately, the government has a different “cure”; our heroes discover the plans to wipe out Raccoon City, which is publicly explained away as the only sure method to eradicate the zombie outbreak.

Carlos and Jill head to another underground lab, this time creatively called “NEST 2”. Unfortunately, the Nemesis is still alive and very much still in pursuit. Jill and Carlos manage to take out the abomination once and for all, and with the vaccine sample in hand, manage to escape the city before the missile hits. Unfortunately, Nicholai, Carlos’s former colleague/secret operative, is waiting for them and manages to destroy the vaccine vial. Jill and Carlos take down Nicholai, leaving him for dead, and escape just before government-approved thermobaric hellfire arrives to completely demolish Raccoon City for good.

And as is tradition, our hero vows to take down Umbrella before the credits roll…

Resident Evil: Code Veronica
December 27-28, 1998

Three months after escaping from Racoon City, Claire Redfield, still in search of her brother, attempts to raid a European Umbrella facility. Things go south and she’s captured, taken to an island prison ruled over by Alfred Ashford, the governor of Rockfort Island.

As is mandatory for a Resident Evil game, an outbreak occurs, and amidst the chaos Claire is freed, allowing her to get to work looking for Chris and escaping the island. Unfortunately, Mr. Redfield is nowhere to be found, so after much trouble, Claire tries to escape in a plane. Ashford, who is revealed to have a split personality disorder and often believes himself to be his twin sister, Alexia, remotely takes control of the plane and crashes it into another Umbrella facility, this time in Antarctica. Knocked unconscious, Claire has a dream that turns out to be the plot of Resident Evil Survivor 2. Weird.

Ashford, believing Claire to be a spy, pursues her in a quest for revenge. But after he’s fatally wounded, he frees the real version of his sister, Alexia, who has been cryogenically frozen this entire time, her body riddled with a new virus called T-Veronica.

Meanwhile, back on Rockford Island, none other than Chris Redfield shows up, looking for Claire. But rather than finding his sister, he runs into his old pal/mortal enemy, Albert Wesker, who’s alive, super strong, and on a mission to find the T-Veronica sample. Turns out he had actually planned to be killed by the Tyrant back in the Spencer Mansion, as that would ensure he could reach the full potential of some experimental virus he was infected with… or something.

The pair make their way to Antarctica, where Chris hopes to be finally reunited with Claire, and Wesker hopes to secure the T-Veronica sample. A restored, very powerful Alexia becomes the final boss of Chris’ latest adventure, and everyone escapes the facility before – you guessed it – it self-destructs.

Wesker claims a virus-infected corpse to experiment on. Chris and Claire vow to take down Umbrella… are you seeing a pattern here?

Resident Evil 4
Autumn, 2004

Six years have passed, and the Umbrella Corporation is now long gone due to a government suspension and stock value crash. Is this the lamest way possible for a big bad to go out? It’s certainly up there.

Leon S. Kennedy, former rookie RPD officer, is now a government agent with full permission to roundhouse kick anyone who stands in his way. He’s sent on a mission to rural Spain, where the president’s daughter, Ashley, is being held by kidnappers. As he explores the area, he discovers that not only are the kidnappers part of a cult called Los Illuminados, but they’re also all infected by a brand new mind-controlling parasite: Las Plagas.

As Leon hunts for Ashley, he unexpectedly bumps into someone he thought long dead, Ada Wong, who is very much alive and is once again on the hunt for virus samples.

After rescuing Ashley, Leon confronts the cult’s leader, Saddler, and, with the help of Ada, defeats him, bringing down the parasite and all the hordes it infected. Once again showing her true colours, Ada takes a sample of Las Plagas and escapes by helicopter, but not before – you guessed it – setting the base to self-destruct.

Leon and Ashley manage to dramatically escape on a jet ski, which they appear to ride all the way from Spain back to the US. I mean, they probably just went back to the mainland and took more traditional routes, but imagining they jet-ski’d across the Atlantic is funnier, so let’s just say they did that.

Resident Evil: Revelations
2005

Shortly after the events of Resident Evil 4, our original protagonists, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, become involved in a new investigation into biological organic weapons. They discover a new strain of the T-Virus called T-Abyss, developed by evil organisation Il Veltro, which plans to use its new weapon to infect a fifth of the world’s oceans.

A lot of evil plots and betrayals unfold, involving names and organisations that mostly don’t feature in the wider series except for one: the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, or BSAA. Chris and Jill are founding members, and this new organisation’s motives become the driving force for these characters going forward.

Naturally, Chris and Jill survive the events of Revelations, taking us directly into the next chapter of Resident Evil.

Resident Evil 5 – Lost in Nightmares DLC
August, 2006

Two years after Resident Evil 4, our original big bad, Wesker, is still on the loose. Chris and Jill, now operating under the banner of the BSAA, follow a thread that should lead them to Umbrella’s founder, Oswald E. Spencer. Instead, they run into Albert Wesker, who has killed Spencer.

Wesker, seemingly even more powerful than before and now dodging bullets for fun, is more than a match for Chris and Jill. To save a wounded Chris, Jill sacrifices herself, sending both her and Wesker to their deaths. Chris, understandably, is a bit sad.

Resident Evil 5
March 4-6, 2009

Almost three years after Jill’s death, Chris is tasked with apprehending terrorist Ricardo Irving, who is selling bio-organic weapons in Africa. Along with his new partner, Sheva, Chris discovers that the locals are infected by a modified Las Plagas parasite. The duo set out to solve the crisis, but Chris has another thing on his mind: the BSAA believes Jill could still be alive.

After defeating a mutated Irving, Chris and Sheva learn that Tricell, the company that funds the BSAA, has taken over Umbrella’s seedy work in conjunction with – shock, horror – Albert Wesker, who is very much still alive and has been conducting human experiments. Unfortunately, one of his victims is Jill, who is also still alive and now under Wesker’s control.

Chris and Sheva manage to subdue Jill and remove Wesker’s mind-control device before it’s too late. Wesker tries to flee on a plane, which crash-lands in a volcano. After some boulder punching, Chris and Sheva finally kill Wesker once and for all, and all is well in the world… for now.

Resident Evil: Revelations 2
January, 2011

Claire Redfield is now a member of TerraSave, an anti-bioterrorism taskforce, and once again finds herself trapped in an island prison, this time with her new partner, Moria Burton, daughter of Barry Burton. Remember him from the Spencer Mansion incident? He’s the “Jill Sandwich” guy…

Jill and Moira are directed around the prison’s labyrinth-like halls by someone known only as the Overseer, all while being stalked by mysterious monsters. After the entire playbook of typical Resident Evil hijinks involving other survivors, shady corporations, and betrayal unfold, it’s revealed that the Overseer is a woman named Alex Wesker. Although she shares the surname, she’s not actually a relative of the series’ infamous villain, but rather a child who was kidnapped for her “talents” and inducted into “The Wesker Project”, a sinister plot developed by Umbrella founder Oswell E. Spencer to try and develop a race of superior beings. Alex has been doing her own experiments on the prison island, creating a fresh batch of monstrosities.

Eventually, Claire and Moria corner Alex, and with nowhere left to run, Alex commits suicide. But not before, of course, setting the base to self-destruct. Claire manages to escape, but unfortunately, Moira is trapped under the rubble. Enter big daddy Barry.

Six months pass before Barry reaches the island, who has been desperately chasing Moria’s SOS signal. But before finding his daughter, he comes face-to-face with Alex, who’s now heavily mutated into her disgusting final form, complete with orange glowing weak points. Fortunately, both a still-alive Moria and a returning Claire armed with a rocket launcher arrive to swing the odds in Barry’s favour.

In the epilogue, Claire receives a message about Chris and his jaunt to China, where he’s off to handle another bioterror threat…

Resident Evil 6
December 2012 – June 2013

Next up is Resident Evil 6, which features three interwoven campaigns, and it all gets really, really messy. So strap yourself in….

In 2012, a new virus is developed by a company dubbed Neo-Umbrella, led by someone who appears to be Ada Wong. Mercenary Jake Muller is immune to the virus, on account of being the child of Albert Wesker (who has… let’s say “unique” DNA after all those experiments), and so is believed to be the key to creating a vaccine.

In 2013, the American president decides enough is enough with all these bioterrorism incidents, and that it’s time to reveal what really happened in Raccoon City. However, before he can spill the beans, there’s another viral attack. The president, now a zombie, must be taken down by his loyal agent, Leon Kennedy.

Ada Wong arrives on the scene to tell Leon that National Security Advisor Derek Simmons is affiliated with Neo-Umbrella, and is behind the terror attack that zombified the president. Leon heads to China in pursuit of Simmons. Chris Redfield, now wracked by post-traumatic stress and a thirst for revenge after his team was slaughtered by Ada, also heads to China. As does Jake, because, you know, plot.

It’s no secret that Resident Evil 6 is the most convoluted game in the series, so let’s just get through this quickly:

• Chris finds out Jake’s true identity, and despite an awkward moment where Chris tells Jake he killed his dad, they mostly work it out.
• Simmons dies.
• Chris’s buddy, Piers, is wounded, then grows a new arm thanks to the C-Virus, and saves Chris.
• Jake kills his boss, who’s not worth talking about.
• We discover that there are two Adas, with one being an imposter called Carla.
• Finally, all the good guys win and go their separate ways.

Basically, a lot is going on, and it’s not very good. Maybe just ignore this bit – I highly doubt anything that happens here will have any implications for the future of Resident Evil.

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard
July 19-20, 2017

In 2017, Ethan Winters is looking for his missing wife, Mia. His search eventually leads him deep into Louisiana, where he finds her imprisoned by the Bakers, a very odd and very disgusting family.

Ethan is captured by the family’s patriarch, Jack Baker, and forced to join a vomit-inducing dinner with Jack’s wife, Marguerite, son Lucas, and a mysterious elderly woman. It turns out the entire family is infected by something called “mold”, a sort of parasitic, fungal virus that has the added benefit of increasing your resilience, but the downside of making you just a bit gross.

Side note: you can find a newspaper clipping written by Alyssa Ashcroft in the Baker’s house. Remember her from Resident Evil Outbreak? Turns out she’s still a journalist, now investigating the disappearances in Louisiana.

After escaping and managing to kill hideous forms of both Jack and Marguerite, Ethan reunites with his wife and develops a serum to help shake off her apparent mold infection. The couple attempt to flee on a boat, but the vessel is capsized by a mysterious creature that turns out to be a “girl” named Eveline. This child is actually a bio-weapon that Mia, who’s actually a secret agent, was tasked with escorting. Eveline is responsible for the Baker family’s mind-altering infection because she was desperate to create her own family. You know, like all bioweapons are. Classic stuff.

Ethan injects Eveline with a toxin, which causes her to revert to her true form: the mysterious old woman from the Baker’s disgusting dinner. It turns out she’s been rapidly aging. Of course, a senior is hardly an ideal final boss, so Eveline mutates into a giant blob like all classic Resident Evil big bads do, and after a climatic confrontation with Ethan (who gets a little help from a recently arrived military squad), she’s finally destroyed.

In a final twist, the leader of the military squad is revealed to be none other than Chris Redfield, who emerges from a helicopter branded with the Umbrella logo. Man, things have really changed around here.

Resident Evil 7 – Not a Hero DLC
July 20, 2017

Chris and his team pursue Lucas Baker, who had avoided Eveline’s mind control thanks to a serum provided to him by a new shadowy organisation called The Connections.

They were the ones behind Eveline’s creation, and Lucas had been gathering data on her for them. Naturally, he planned to betray his masters, because Lucas is a Resident Evil villain, and that’s apparently part of the contract.

After working his way through a series of traps, Chris manages to kill a mutated Lucas. He then returns to base to take an urgent phone call…

Resident Evil Village
February 8-10, 2021

Over three years later, Ethan and Mia have settled in Eastern Europe, but their new-found family bliss is violently interrupted by Chris Redfield, who shockingly and mercilessly guns down Mia and kidnaps Ethan and his child, Rose.

Ethan wakes to find himself in a rural village that has been besieged by a horde of marauding lycans. On a desperate quest to find Rose, Ethan works his way through the abandoned village and into a nearby castle inhabited by vampires, most notably an enormous goth mommy called Lady Dimiterscu.

Lady D, along with a wider group of oddities including a fish man and a cowboy Magneto, all belong to cult that worships Mother Miranda; a god-like, mold-infected matriarch who, in a quest to resurrect her dead daughter, Eva, became consumed by the infection and spread it to her four elevated lords and houses. Ethan discovers a crest for these four lords that looks eerily similar to Umbrella’s logo.

Ethan’s journey to rescue Rose and take down Miranda’s lords eventually leads him back to Chris Redfield, who explains that the Mia he gunned down wasn’t actually Mia at all, but rather a shape-shifting Mother Miranda. Miranda believes Ethan and Mia’s daughter, Rose, is the successor of bioweapon, Eveline, based on the fact that both her parents were infected by the mold. After Miranda finally confronts Ethan in her true form, she explains that the mold will help rebirth Rose as her own daughter. Without hesitation, Miranda rips out Ethan’s heart.

Chris and his squad launch a full assault against Mother Miranda, battling through her waves of monsters and destroying a large mold barrier that protects her. Once inside, Chris and the team discover a large mold root called the Megamycete; the source of the mold that plagued both the village and the Baker family. Turns out the Megamycete not only infects its victims, but it also absorbs their DNA and memories.

Chris plants a bomb, but before destroying the mold once and for all, he passes through Miranda’s lab for one last lore dump. He discovers the entirety of her plan to find a suitable vessel for her daughter’s consciousness to be reborn into. Miranda was also responsible for the creation of Eveline, working with The Connections.

That’s not the most shocking revelation, though: Chris discovers that Oswell E. Spencer, founder of Umbrella, was actually a student of Miranda’s and began his work on the progenitor virus based on her teachings. To honour this, he designed Umbrella’s logo after Miranda’s four lords’ symbol. So not only is Miranda responsible for everything in Resident Evil 7 and Village, but she’s the inspiration that started this entire 30-year, virus-riddled affair!

After Chris exits the exposition-packed hallway, he encounters the true version of Mia, who’s very much alive and reveals that Ethan isn’t quite dead, either. It turns out that Miranda didn’t kill Ethan after all – Jack Baker did, way back at the start of Resident Evil 7. Ethan was infected by the Mold, which had kept him moving and “alive” this entire time, and explained how he could regularly reattach body parts with just a bit of healing juice.

Despite his mold infection, Ethan is falling apart, only able to muster just enough energy for one last stand against Mother Miranda. Upon defeating the big bad once and for all, he hands his daughter over to Chris and agrees to stay behind with the detonation device that will activate the bomb planted on the Megamycete, destroying the village, the mold, and himself once and for all. Ethan triggers the explosion as Chris, Mia, and Rose escape.

Resident Evil Requiem
October 2026

The upcomming adventures of Leon Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft take place in 2026. If the trailers are to be believed, the story will take us to the bombed out remains of Raccoon City, as well as the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, which we explored in our hands-on preview. But until we play the full game, we don’t know what this chapter will mean for the Resident Evil timeline.

Resident Evil Village – Shadows of Rose DLC
2037

In 2037, a teenage Rose learns about her abilities, one of which is the power to connect with a surviving piece of the mold root recovered from the incident 16 years prior. After jacking in, Rose enters a new realm filled with the memories of the Megamycete’s victims. She takes a jaunt through a version of the village her father was once trapped in, guided by the spirit “Michael”, who is actually Ethan’s remaining consciousness. As she explores, Rose is taunted by the trapped consciousness of Mother Miranda, who is desperate to escape this realm of memories. With the help of Ethan and her newfound abilities, Rose manages to defeat Mother Miranda and share one last moment with her father before she returns to the real world. In the aftermath, she visits Ethan’s grave while shadowed by a mysterious agent who calls her Eveline. After threatening him, Rose reveals she has abilities that even Chris doesn’t know about.

And there we go. That’s the entire plot of Resident Evil – well, all the stuff that actually matters. Yes, we skipped over some bits here or there, but there’s a lot to cover in the wacky world of Resident Evil, and that should be everything you need to know before diving into Resident Evil Requiem. Now, excuse me while I set my base to self-destruct and vow to get my revenge.

Dale Driver is an Associate Director of Video Programming at IGN. Be thoroughly bored by following him on Bluesky at @daledriver.bsky.social

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A new Arc Raiders duplication glitch has fans worried about exploits, but others just want to know why it’s being used to spawn mountains of rubber duck trinkets.

The Headwinds update brought new content, alongside fresh gameplay tweaks, when it launched for Arc Raiders players across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S earlier this week. While the 40+ level matchmaking option, Solo vs. Squads, was positioned by developer Embark Studios to be its big selling point, some players are more concerned with the return of an item duplication exploit and how it has affected the in-game (duck) economy.

Although players are no doubt using the dupe glitch to amass piles of rare items like blueprints, it seems a few fans are manipulating the system to make some serious coin – and maybe even a quick joke. The duck has slowly become a bit of a running gag for fans on its own, as the squeaky bath toy is one of a few lightweight trinkets that can be found topside and then sold in Speranza for a decent chunk of Raider Coins. It also happens to be the sillier items in Arc Raiders, so when a recently patched dupe glitched returned in a new form, those looking to exploit the system knew just what to do.

Those who are discovering topside players with hundreds of ducks, however, are just confused.

“Did we come across the duck Santa Clause or something?” one Reddit user said a few days before the launch of Headwinds. “Dupe hacking gone wild? At first we thought it was some joke because the stash was just full of ducks but then we realized they were stacks of 15 ducks each.”

“Okay so I actually came across a guy in blue gate in a random house just spamming ducks on the ground,” another replied. “I assumed he was duping. The floor was littered with them, probably like 100 of them. He wouldn’t respond and kinda just stared at me til I walked away.”

Arc Raiders’ mallard problem has only gotten bigger in the aftermath of Headwinds, as the January content update also introduced a handful of more valuable (and more vibrant) ducks to collect as part of the new Bird City map condition. It’s resulted in an abundance of ducks across Buried City…and some very awkward moments.

“A raider caught on fire in Buried City Metro, went down without saying a word, and left behind a mountain of Familiar Ducks,” another user shared. “I extracted with $2.8M. Still confused.”

“Was doing the pharmacist quest for Lance, heard the tell tale duck noise…came upon this silent raider,” one person said, sharing a picture of a solo Raider standing alone in a dark attic.

Referencing a recent cyber-attack against Embark and Arc Raiders, someone replied, “This must be what brought down the servers. DDOS (Duck Duplication on Server).”

In a game that constantly sees players backstabbing each other for a small chance to net worthwhile resources, it’s hard to deny the comedy in PvP players only finding stacks upon stacks of little rubber duckies. Still, it’s definitely the kind of thing Embark promised to clean up earlier this month. Players have complained of cheaters and exploiters in Arc Raiders for weeks, so as goofy as these issues are, they are still causing some players to worry that others have an unfair advantage.

It’s especially concerning for those who have kept up with Arc Raiders updates since launch. Embark issued update 1.12.0 January 20 and fixed a handful of exploits, including an item duplication glitch. It took less than a week for players to begin reporting what appears to be a new version of the exploit, and it’s unclear how long it will take for the developers to publish a new patch or how many other glitches will be discovered in the meantime.

The Arc Raiders cheater crackdown has seen holes plugged in Stella Montis to try and ward off wall explolits, while some players, like streamer Tfue, have found themselves banned (and then unbanned) without notice. As Embark tries to bring cheats to a halt, players are still finding the fun both in and outside of the game. Some have even looked to the real-world Stella Montis hotel to leave positive reviews. Others are just enjoying Headwinds while they wait for everything else promised in the 2026 roadmap.

For more, you can read about why we think the best Arc Raiders loot needs a serious buff. You can also check out why Embark believes players who spawn into a raid late actually benefit more than most.

Image credit: endgame2937 / reddit.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Just one day after the announcement of Genie, Google’s generative AI-powered virtual world creator, a number of major video game companies are seeing their stock prices tumble, seemingly because some investors think you can just generate an entire video game with AI now.

Of course, that’s not what Genie is. Genie essentially lets you create a virtual “world” by offering prompts to describe the environment, a main character, and first or third-person view. Once it’s created, you can control the described character and wander around the world you’ve made.

And that’s…kind of it? While you can walk around these virtual spaces with your keyboard, critically, there’s nothing else you can really do. There are no game mechanics, there’s no one to talk to, no goals, no scores or meaningful interactions. Additionally, each generation is limited to just 60 seconds. And while you could maybe argue that this is just the first step on a road to eventually getting AI to generate playable 3D video games, there’s no real evidence yet that such a thing is possible, or that the games would be good or even coherent. The Verge, for instance, tried to basically copy Breath of the Wild using Genie, and while they got something that essentially looks identical, that’s just it. It’s not playable, the “Link” looks kind of frightening actually, and Genie had to copy something that already existed to make this. It didn’t come up with this on its own.

But that hasn’t really stopped a lot of investors from suddenly jumping off the video game train, a conclusion first posed by Investing.com and shared by others, including Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier. Perhaps the most notable decline is Take-Two Interactive, which reached a six-month low this morning and, while it rallied somewhat by the closing bell, still ended down 8%. Engine maker Unity is in a similar spot, dropping 24% today also to a six-month low. Roblox stock also cratered today by 13% by close today, though notably Roblox has been on a downward trend since November. Still, it’s a six-month low for Roblox, too.

Not every gaming company is seeing a massive nosedive. Ubisoft is technically down 7% today, but with its stock down to just $1/share, any small movement in either direction will seem significant. The company has been in pretty dire straits for months, even years now, and its announcement of more layoffs, closures, and cancelations earlier this month already had stock even further in a downward spiral. EA stock hasn’t changed much today at all, but that’s understandable, given EA announced last fall that it was preparing to sell to an investor group headed up by the Saudi Arabian government and will soon exit the public trading market. Meanwhile, Nintendo stock, down just under 5% today at the time this piece was written, has been all over the place all month, following a steady downward trend since November.

The pattern I’m seeing here between Take-Two, Roblox, and Unity is a sudden distrust not in games as an idea, but rather concerns about “platforms”. Unity is a game engine. People use it to make games. If Genie can also make games, who needs Unity? In Roblox’s case, Roblox is a pure user-generated content (UGC) factory – something that would likely become obsolete quickly if Genie took over. And for Take-Two, the publisher is about to release Grand Theft Auto VI later this year (we hope), which would very likely be accompanied at launch or not long after with some new version of GTA Online. While the current GTA Online doesn’t rely on UGC, there have been recent suspicions this new version might. Again, the thinking here is seemingly that if people can just make their own little games in Genie, why would they bother doing it in Roblox or GTA or Minecraft or Fortnite or Unreal or anywhere else (Microsoft, for its part is too big to see any stock impact from Genie today and Epic Games is not publicly traded).

Is selling shares of major game publishers going to pay off for these investors? I’m not a stock expert, but if nothing else, it doesn’t seem to be like a good idea to bet against GTA 6 right now (though Take-Two’s earnings are next week, so we’ll see I guess). And while Genie doesn’t seem up to the task of making a whole video game out of nothing, plenty of other studios are coming out on one side of the fence or the other on using generative AI of any kind in their work. It seems that one way or another, the folks betting big money on generative AI will reap whatever harvest of that investment there is sooner rather than later.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Catherine O’Hara, the beloved actress best known for her roles as Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek and Kate McCallister in Home Alone, has reportedly died at the age of 71.

This comes from TMZ, which spoke to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, as well as Variety, which confirmed with her manager. Variety reports that O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles, following “a brief illness.”

Battlefield Studios and EA have published Battlefield 6 version 1.1.3.6 patch notes, revealing the next update will alter the controversial “Call of Duty: Ghosts” skin and a seemingly AI-generated sticker.

Details on the incoming patch, which launches across PC and consoles February 3, were published via the official Battlefield website today. It’s a relatively insubstantial update that targets quality-of-life issues across the experience, but one bullet point tucked under the “Player” changes section makes it clear the developers are still listening to fans as they move toward the delayed launch of Season 2.

The one-sentence change says the Objective Ace and Winter Warning cosmetics will be altered to “better align with Battlefield’s visual identity.” It’s easy to miss but one of the more important changes Battlefield 6 has received in the last month, as it relates to two of the biggest controversies for the entry so far.

This definitely looks AI Generated right? #Battlefield6 pic.twitter.com/VLYMhEMOqQ

— Battlefield 6 News (@BF6Updates) December 21, 2025

Winter Warning was perhaps the most infamous of the two cosmetics, drawing criticism from players who feared it had been generated using artificial intelligence. Questionable features, such as unrealistic finger placement and, most notably, a double-barreled M4A1, were what first saw players cast accusations regarding the use of generative AI. In the time since conversation began in mid-December, players still reference Winter Warning as one example of their issues with Battlefield 6.

The Objective Ace Assault skin brought upon completely new issues when fans took notice of its mask’s resemblance to the logo for 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts in late December. What began as poking fun turned into allegations of stolen art when users across social media began to call attention to specific details, such as shared cracks across both designs and streaks of paint that seemed almost identical.

Players have noticed similarities between a NEW Battlefield 6 Skin and the #CallofDuty Ghosts Logo 🤔 pic.twitter.com/fsf5fbBSbK

— DETONATED (@DETONATEDcom) December 31, 2025

Interestingly, it doesn’t seem like BF Studios will be removing Objective Ace or Winter Warning, saying only that they’ve been “updated.” Although Battlefield 6 already has a history of tweaking skins to appease fans in its nearly four-month lifespan, it’s unclear how each cosmetic will be altered to lower the temperature in the community.

Also included with Battlefield 6 update 1.1.3.6 are fixes for player movement related to sprint-jump momentum, REDSEC battle royale parachute behavior, and glitch-y destruction, as well as “a handful of UI, audio, and stability issues.” The patch is set to arrive this Tuesday, two weeks before EA attempts to regain its balance with the launch of Season 2. The publisher announced it had chosen to delay the season earlier this month amid complaints from fans related to both cosmetics and gameplay as a whole.

As the extended Season 1 continues, you can check out the full patch notes for the February 3 update below.

Battlefield 6 Update 1.1.3.6 Patch Notes

Update 1.1.3.6 is a small quality-of-life update focused on polish, stability, and targeted fixes across Battlefield 6. It addresses a selection of gameplay flow issues, UI reliability improvements, audio consistency fixes, and map-specific adjustments, with a particular focus on smoothing out edge cases reported by players.

The update will be available on Tuesday, February 3 at 09:00 UTC.

Major Updates for 1.1.3.6

• Fixed player movement issues, including cases of excessive sprint-jump momentum and unintended movement behaviour. This won’t impact player movement at a large scale and is meant to target those specific edge cases.
• Addressed REDSEC Battle Royale issues affecting insertions, parachute behaviour, and redeploy UI elements.
• Resolved a set of destruction-related visual and lighting issues on Eastwood that could result in lighting artifacts, blackouts, or incorrect colour rendering.
• Fixed a handful of UI, audio, and stability issues, including crashes related to challenges, minimap accuracy, unintended gadget audio playback, and platform-specific problems.

CHANGELOG

PLAYER:

• Fixed an issue where sprint-jump momentum could behave inconsistently and grant higher or lower momentum than intended.
• Updated the Objective Ace and Winter Warning cosmetics to better align with Battlefield’s visual identity.

MAPS & MODES

• Fixed an issue on Eastwood where destroying a building near the A flag could cause unintended green or purple visual effects across nearby structures.
• Fixed an issue on Eastwood where destroying a building near the B flag could cause a complete lighting blackout across the map.
• Fixed an issue on Eastwood where destroying the villa near the B flag could cause excessively bright lighting artifacts to appear.

UI & HUD:

• Fixed an issue where downed squadmates were shown on the minimap for classes unable to revive them.
• Updated legal text to reflect current policies and requirements.

AUDIO:

• Fixed an issue where UAV Drone enemy detection audio could be heard by all teammates instead of only the operator.

PERFORMANCE & STABILITY:

• Fixed an issue on PlayStation 5 where ownership validation could fail during system lifecycle events, causing connectivity issues.
• Fixed an out-of-memory crash on Xbox Series S that could occur when loading Daily and Weekly Challenges.

REDSEC

PLAYER:

• Fixed an issue where Battle Royale Initiation matches did not end after eliminating the final AI opponent.
• Fixed an issue where parachute deployment could remain linked to the jump leader after breaking off.
• Fixed an issue where players could become stuck mid-air during insertion after progressing through the pre-deploy sequence.

UI & HUD:

• Fixed an issue where the Second Chance redeploy icon could incorrectly transfer to a living teammate.
• Fixed an issue where the Second Chance redeploy timer refreshed each time the map was opened.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

When you say the words “creature collector,” you already have my attention. I’ve been both curious and wary in equal measures since Aniimo was first announced. I’m far from the only person hungering for a worthy competitor in the creature-collection, monster-taming space, and I’ve dabbled in quite a few. Aniimo looks particularly vibrant, vast, and cutesy to boot. It’s the addition of gacha elements that has had me a little on the fence. If you’ve ever sunk hours into a gacha, you understand the trepidation. Will this be the sort of gacha experience that has me gleefully forking over my credit card info, or resenting every microtransaction?

After about four hours with Aniimo, I’d say I’m still cautiously optimistic. It has all the ingredients of my favorite games: open-world exploration set in a fantastical alien world, lots of critters to collect, challenges to complete, and… farming? Okay, there might be a few too many ingredients added to this pot, but I’m willing to let Aniimo cook.

Big Butts, Tiny Waist

We leap straight into creating our Aniimo character. I can easily sink hours into a good character creator, so I was pumped to give Aniimo’s a try. From the get-go, the character creator feels super in-depth. I was given six default presets for both a “male” and “female” avatar (not great for all my non-binary pals). You can combine up to three different face presets to get something a little different, or you could just dive head first into the face customization options.

Aniimo’s character creation allows you to adjust the position, prominence, and size of pretty much every facial feature, from your nasal wings to your eyelids. However, it didn’t take me long before I noticed one glaring oversight: skin tone. After searching for a bit, I finally found the options for skin tone buried under all the other menus for “makeup”. Don’t let the three default options take you aback – like it did me – Aniimo won a bunch of points in my book by including a color wheel for unlimited skin tone options.

However, the character customization lost me again in two areas: one, hair options are extremely limited. I can only assume – based on the “fashion” vouchers I saw redeemable later on in my playthrough – that you unlock more hairstyles through in-game currency or progression. Having appearance and cosmetics locked behind gacha mechanics might be expected. The fact that there is only one natural curly hair option – if you can even call it that – available from the start, however, is frankly disheartening.

And second, I was similarly disappointed in the body customization. While I had so much control over fine-tuning the shape of my face, the sliders for body proportions were lacking to say the least. I never expect much in terms of body diversity when it comes to this genre of game, but having to choose between being eerily thin or skinny with a nice butt and boobs was disconcerting.

Which Aniimo Are You?

With character customization out of the way, I got my first look at my in-game self – and the adorable Aniimo! – in a cutscene reminiscent of a Twitch “IRL” livestream. The livestream overlay, complete with “real-time” chat bubbles from fictional viewers, threw me off a little bit, but luckily, we didn’t linger in the social media influencer realm for long. I found myself in the alien world of “Idyll”, an aptly named “idyllic” planet teeming with lush greenery and charming wildlife with unique powers, called Aniimo.

Our first Aniimo crosses our path – an adorable little fire-type Emberpup – smoothly introducing catch mechanics I’m already plenty familiar with. With an Emberpup at my side, my friend Nico laid down the basics of commanding Aniimo to use their abilities to remove obstacles or solve puzzles in the world. After catching a few more Aniimo and commanding my new pals to charge into deadly combat, the story began in earnest.

BINI, our little robo companion, is abruptly hijacked by a mysterious glowing D20 die, which pulls me and Nico into some sort of pocket dimension. In these strange ruins, I encountered murals on the wall depicting Aniimo I’ve yet to encounter. Each mural poses a cryptic question, ala a Buzzfeed personality quiz. The reason for this soul-searching became clear once I reached the glowing mural at the end of the path. The depictions of a yellow lion and blue fox in this mural materialized into two tiny Aniimo who can… talk? I was recommended to choose between Helion or Lunara, based on how I answered the murals’ questions earlier.

I really liked being offered a “sorting quiz” to guide me towards which “starter” Aniimo I should choose. After all, the “starter” you choose clearly says so much about you. Only having two options to choose from was a little unsatisfying, though it appears to tie into some sort of “sun and moon” mythology which could be central to Aniimo’s story. I went for Helion, personally, not only because he was recommended, but because of his sassy little personality. With Helion by my side, I was thrown into combat with my first big foe: a giant armored dragon Aniimo.

The combat was fun enough for my tastes, if a little button-mashy. I can imagine that timing your dodges and managing your cooldowns might take some deeper consideration as you progress. What really impressed me was the Twining mechanic. Yup, in Aniimo, you actually get to be the creatures. Playing as Helion – rather than just sitting back as a trainer – made for some engaging, brawly combat.

Getting Schooled

Just as quickly as I was transformed into Helion and defeated the dragon-type Aniimo, I was thrust into a whole new region. I found myself transported to the Polaris Institute, a futuristic academy devoted to studying Aniimo, located on my home planet of Astra. At this stage of the tutorial, things became a little bogged down in dialogue and instructional demos. To continue my adventure, I needed to become an official student at the Polaris Institute, instead of just a particularly precocious livestreamer, or whatever I was doing before.

To qualify to be a student, I was strong-armed into a combat simulation, which broke down the bare bones of accumulating “EP” and how to choose Aniimo that are elemental counters. Next up, I received my first free outfit – a school uniform – and sat through a quick Character menu breakdown. When I was finally teleported back down to Idyll with this hot anime guy and his hot wolf Aniimo – don’t judge me, you know that’s exactly what they were going for here – I hunkered down for another round of tutorials. After using the Report Terminal and building my Aniimo loadout, I finally had my first taste of exploration.

The Creatures

This is where I could start to see myself becoming hooked on Aniimo. There’s something so intrinsically appealing about running around a beautiful countryside and stopping to look at every shiny thing on the ground. There are fast travel spots to discover, new areas of the map to unveil, treasure chests to find, and most importantly, Aniimo to catch!

It quickly became clear that catching Aniimo has a bigger role to play than simply filling out your Aniilog or battling other Aniimo. Depending on their elemental type or other abilities, I relied on my Aniimo to help me solve environmental puzzles, like excavating buried treasure chests or floating on geysers of air. Getting to transform or “twine” with my Aniimo had me squealing with joy. Who doesn’t want to be a tiny little rock crab, walking through a field of flowers?

I quickly discovered how foundational the first Aniimo I caught were, as I swam across streams as Skippy, burned thorny obstacles with Emberpup, or glided around as Celestis. This gave me plenty of motivation to constantly be swapping around my “team” of Aniimo for a reason other than battle prowess. As I discovered later, even keeping starter evolutions – or “Lumin” stage – Aniimo is integral to completing some of the challenges and puzzles scattered around Idyll.

I spent a lot of time wandering around the map, catching new Aniimo, and collecting Lumin Amber to upgrade the Branch, a giant dandelion which improves the capture chance in that region, and completing miscellaneous milestone tasks, called “Elite Training”. These tasks felt a bit like chores: open “x” amount of chests, hatch “y” eggs, and so on, but completing them did fast track my level quickly while giving me a solid understanding of the core mechanics of Aniimo.

All of the Aniimo I caught while exploring were super cute, if a little… bland. I love some whimsy in my creature-collectors, a healthy mixture of adorable critters with some cursed-looking monstrosities. What’s neat about Aniimo, however, is that there seems to be a bunch of variations in each type. Most Aniimo have branching options for their second or final “stage” of evolution, and on top of the rare “Prismana” Aniimo which can be caught, I found a few fun “alternative” versions with different appearances based around the region I found them in.

#VanLife Influencer Era

A few hours into my playtime with Aniimo, I stumbled upon another of its key features: the RV. After discovering this NPC in the middle of a field, I abruptly found myself the proud owner of my own interdimensional RV. After a quick customization, I was prompted to teleport to the nearest “RV Park”. This vibrant campsite seems to be some sort of meeting place where you can get together with other Aniimo players and show off your own little outdoor deck.

As an aside, it wasn’t until I found the RV Park that I discovered that while – no, you cannot pet your Aniimo (boo) – you can pick up the Aniimo. Huh. That revelation made, I stepped through the interdimensional door in the back of my new RV and entered the “Homeland Space.” I assumed that this would be some sort of home-building mechanic, perhaps allowing me to decorate my own little space or interact with my Aniimo. Instead, I found myself on a small patch of barren farmland.

The Homeland tutorial had me clearing up the farm’s clutter and sowing my first seeds. Once grown, I was able to harvest my crops to sell. As reward, I received “Home Coins,” a currency I can only assume is unique to the Homeland section of Aniimo. With only this brief experience to go off of, I’m guessing that the Homeland farming is meant to be a sort of supplemental gameplay element which will let me idly generate currency every day. In exchange for my Home Coins, it appears that I can trade for other important in-game items, such as Eggs, or purchase “RV Welcome Packages”, which I’m hoping offer plenty of RV furniture and customization.

Honestly, the RV and Homeland feel a little discordant with the rest of my Aniimo experience. I love a good farming sim, but I cannot see myself motivated to spend time planting and selling crops every day if my only reward is just a slow grind to purchasing rare materials. Completing order requests just for extra Home Coins and coupons for RV furniture feels like it would quickly become a slog.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised during my time playing Aniimo. This is exactly the type of game I can see myself sinking hours into exploration and creature-collecting. The Aniimo were super adorable, and getting to play as the creatures you’re collecting is novel enough in itself to keep me interested. In some other areas, including the main story, Aniimo does feel admittedly empty or bland. I don’t imagine I’ll be filling out my entire Aniilog or progressing far enough to reach late-game mechanics. I’m still hyped to download Aniimo on my PC – maybe even on my mobile or Xbox Series X|S – when it releases, so I can run around as a little Nimbi once again.

A former veteran Bethesda developer has cast doubt on the possibility of a Morrowind remaster in the same vein as the recently released Oblivion remaster, saying going back to play The Elder Scrolls 3 now, over 20 years after it came out, would make fans “cringe.”

Bethesda is heavily rumored to be preparing Fallout remasters, with Fallout 3 and New Vegas suggested as in the works. But Morrowind — considered by many to be the greatest The Elder Scrolls game ever released — does not seem to be part of the remaster conversation.

Why? In an interview with Press Box PR, Bruce Nesmith, who left Bethesda in 2021 midway through the development of Starfield having worked at the company for over 17 years, highlighted a number of reasons why Morrowind probably won’t be top of Todd Howard’s remaster list.

“The problem with doing Morrowind is that I bet they don’t have the original code,” Nesmith said. “The game is so old. I don’t know if the original source code exists anymore. If it does, can you even compile it? When you’re looking at Oblivion, they still had the code. They could still compile it. Putting the code into the new version of the engine was a possibility.

“The other thing I would say is go back and play Morrowind and tell me that’s the game you want to play again. We all have these fond memories of things that were pivotal moments in our gaming fantasy histories that we absolutely move but you go back and play a 20 year old game and you will cringe.

“People even had cringe moments with the Oblivion remake but they forgave it because they’re reliving something, they’re enjoying the nostalgia. I worked on Oblivion. I’m even responsible for some of those cringe moments! The further back you go, the more that’s going to be an issue. The reality of playing Morrowind would not stand the test of time, in my opinion.

“Now if you were to completely remake Morrowind with the Skyrim engine, to try and rebuild it from the ground up, that’s a whole other story, but that’s an entire project. That’s a whole four-year development cycle. Why not go and make something new?

“Let’s revisit the lands of Morrowind and do a new story. You can include the giant crab palace and all of that stuff but make it new and avoid all the things that would not have survived the test of time.”

On that point, Nesmith suggested Morrowind could be an area Bethesda returns to in another game, perhaps The Elder Scrolls 6, alongside Hammerfell, High Rock, and Summerset Isle.

“If anything, there’s places that would be too interesting,” Nesmith suggested. “I think Elsweyr would be a challenge with its cat people who change the nature of their catness as they mature. That one might be a little challenging to do. But I think pretty much anywhere you go, there’s lots of cool, interesting stuff you could do.”

Earlier this month, Bethesda’s former Elder Scrolls loremaster revealed his idea for The Elder Scrolls 6 story, and how it would have set up The Elder Scrolls 7. In January last year, The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement became as old as predecessor Skyrim was when The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced. Skyrim was released on November 11, 2011, and The Elder Scrolls 6 was revealed on June 10, 2018 — 2,403 days afterwards. It is now seven-and-a-half years since the announcement, and we’re no closer, it seems, to the release of the game.

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.

Woot (an Amazon-owned retailer) has refreshed its ‘Video Game Mega Sale!’, and there are some real gems included in it right now. Among the variety of gaming deals is Silent Hill f for PS5, which is marked down to $44.99 on the sale page. However, Woot’s offering the chance to save even more on this game right now by using the code ‘GAMER’ at checkout. This knocks that price down even lower to $35.99 (not including tax).

This saves you an extra 20% on top of the discount that’s already there. Considering it’s usually priced at $69.99, you’re saving 49% overall with this deal, which is an excellent offer to jump on. The sale page states that this bonus 20% off deal only runs through Sunday, February 1, though, so time is ticking to take advantage of it.

Save on Silent Hill f for PS5 at Woot