The trailer, below, shows one of the elves raising their speech level to 27 after suggesting Skyrim launch on Switch 2, with their overall character level progress working towards 20. Why pick 20 and 27 specifically? Because The Elder Scrolls 6 is coming out in 2027, some fans are now saying.
“This honestly might be the best piece of evidence we have for a release date,” one fan said. “Those are very specific numbers and I don’t think they would use those numbers by accident.” “My god we’ve gotten so desperate,” countered another.
They are oddly specific numbers though, and you’d like to think Bethesda knew what it was doing by choosing them, rather than rolling the dice and coming up with random numbers. This is The Elder Scrolls 6 we’re talking about — it’s one of the most anticipated video games currently in development. Fans want — need! — to know when it’s coming out, and so anything like this was always going to set them off.
But is 2027 a likely release year? Last month, Bethesda chief Todd Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 wouldn’t be out for some time yet despite being announced over seven years ago. In an interview with GQ magazine to celebrate the release of Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 is “still a long way off.” He added: “I’m preaching patience. I don’t want fans to feel anxious.”
In the GQ article, Howard once again admitted that it has taken too long to get The Elder Scrolls 6 out the door, but did tease a The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered-style shadowdrop — without confirming anything.
“I do like to have a break between them, where it isn’t like a ‘plus one’ sequel,” Howard said of making The Elder Scrolls games again. “I think it’s also good for an audience to have a break — The Elder Scrolls has been too long, let’s be clear. But we wanted to do something new with Starfield. We needed a creative reset.” Bethesda is currently playtesting The Elder Scrolls 6, Howard revealed.
“I like to just announce stuff and release it,” Howard continued. “My perfect version — and I’m not saying this is going to happen — is that it’s going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear.” The Oblivion Remastered shadowdrop was “a test run,” Howard teased. “It worked out well.”
As for what Bethesda has going on right now, hundreds of people are working on Fallout, Howard said, across Fallout 76 “and some other things we’re doing, but The Elder Scrolls 6 is the everyday thing.”
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.
In a lengthy thread on reddit that brands the port as a “disaster,” there are widespread complaints about input lag and the game’s locked 30 frames per second visuals. “There’s like a whole second between me flicking the stick and my character moving its head,” the post’s author wrote, describing the experience as worse than “online Smash Bros.”
Many have compared Skyrim’s Switch 2 port with that of the far more recent Cyberpunk 2077, which offers 40 frames per second on Nintendo’s new hardware while rendering considerably more detailed environments. And there has been criticism, too, of the fact the game hogs 53GB of space on the Switch 2’s relatively limited internal memory, compared to just 25GB on PC.
A separate reddit post with more than 2,400 upvotes showing a video of the game’s input delay can be seen below:
On Bethesda’s official support site, the publisher has listed a question that asks: “Why am I experiencing frame rate issues with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim following the Anniversary Edition update on Nintendo Switch?”
“We are investigating reports of performance issues on Nintendo Switch with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim after the Anniversary Edition update,” is the official response. There’s no word on fixes yet, but the publisher said anyone experiencing issues could subscribe to the article for updates.
“In addition, you can provide feedback and information regarding on this topic via the Feedback form,” Bethesda concluded.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is being sold for $59.99. Alternatively, anyone who owns Skyrim Anniversary Edition on the original Switch can pay $19.99 to upgrade the game and play on both consoles.
Included for your money are Skyrim’s base game and the three official Expansions: Dawnguard; Dragonborn; and Hearthfire. Players on Switch 2 get experience enhanced resolution, improved load times, performance optimisation, Joy-Con 2 mouse support, motion controls, Amiibo support, and more versus the OG Switch version, taking advantage of the more powerful hardware.
This week, IGN talked with Bethesda Game Studios exec Todd Howard about the company’s future plans. Intriguinly, Howard said that while The Elder Scrolls 6 was still the next big new video game to be in the works, Fallout is the franchise the studio is doing the most in right now.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Jonathan Blow has just “announced an announcement,” teasing he just may be getting on a plane today to join a “gaming industry event coming up.”
Blow — perhaps best known for 2008’s Braid and 2016’s The Witness — popped up on his YouTube channel with a brief video, revealing that a project that has likely taken “nine or 10 years to make” is “finally get[ting] out to people.” And while it’s probably not “a trailer for like an RPG where you fight monsters from hell” — “nothing wrong with that,” he hastily added — whatever it is seems likely to be showing up at 2025’s The Game Awards.
“We’ve been working hard on projects for a very long time. We have a wide variety of things that we’ve been developing. They’re very complicated. Sometimes they take a while to come to fruition. Do we give up? No, we do not. We keep going, and we get them done because ultimately, even if something took nine years or 10 years to make, if you work hard for a long time, you can produce something that is tremendously good, much better than you ever expected in the beginning, and then you can finally get it out to people.
“I’m speaking in generalities right now,” Blow teased. “I cannot actually say anything specific because this is not the announcement, okay? This is the announcement of the announcement, and therefore, I cannot relay any actual facts that are being reserved for the actual announcement. But I am announcing that this announcement will occur sometime soon. Maybe very soon. Maybe, you know, I don’t know if there’s any gaming industry events coming up this week where stuff about upcoming projects might get shown. I don’t know, if there’s something like that, you might keep an eye out, right? You might just want to look, and you might see, you know, a trailer for like an RPG where you fight monsters from hell.”
“That’s probably not what we’re announcing,” he hastily added. “Nothing wrong with that, but that’s not what we’re announcing. You might see some other things. So, that is the announcement of the announcement. If there’s any game industry events, such as something happening in Los Angeles — which I wouldn’t even know about because I have to get on a plane tomorrow morning to go to some show — if there’s something like that, some Game Awards. I don’t think we’re getting an award tomorrow, but if there’s something like that that also has information in it besides like awards, then just keep your eyes peeled…”
“Yeah. Just keep an eye out, because at such a place — if I were to make an actual announcement that conveyed the actual facts that I wanted to provide that people often ask about — that would be a good place to do it, to have the actual announcement that we are announcing today. All right. Thank you.”
Wondering what the new game could be? Well, according to one commenter, the game is expected to be called Order of the Sinking Star. “The game has been called that for over a year, and there’s even a subreddit for it,” they pointed out.
Blow’s most recent game, The Witness, secured an impressive 10/10 from us. In IGN’s The Witness review, we called it “a beautiful, powerful, and cleverly designed puzzle game with a wealth of mysteries to unravel.”
We’ve been keeping tabs on what’s been confirmed to make an appearance so far, what’s been teased, and some of the pie-in-the-sky dream games we know deep down in our brains won’t be there, but our heart tells us there might just be a chance. Don’t worry, we’re not going to be quite as far-fetched as to say GTA 6 will be at The Game Awards, nor The Witcher 4, which CD Projekt Red has already confirmed won’t be. But that’s enough of that. For more, check out our round-up of what you can expect from The Game Awards 2025.
Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Another day, another leak ahead of The Game Awards 2025 — which is set to feature a look at what’s next for Tomb Raider heroine Lara Croft.
Ahead of time, cover artwork has leaked for Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, what looks to be a full remake of the franchise’s original game. There are stills from a new trailer, too, showing Lara Croft in action.
Croft’s design here appears to be a blend of the character’s ‘classic’ design with her look from the franchise’s more recent reboot trilogy, which showcased her origins. It’s presumed that this remake will fully position the series’ first Tomb Raider adventure as taking place after that trilogy, as had always been suggested.
Se habría filtrado “Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis”, el remake del primer juego con algunas imágenes, portada incluida.
After the images leaked online last night via video game forum ResetEra, fans quickly noted that Croft’s box art pose perfectly matches that seen in The Game Awards’ official social media teaser for tonight, where she is stood atop a rock, with one arm outstretched, iconic dual pistols raised.
Indeed, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has been working now for several years on its next chapter of the franchise. Here’s hoping we get some word of that tonight too.
Alongside all this, we know there’s a live-action Tomb Raider series in the works at Amazon in partnership with Story Kitchen, starring Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner as Lara Croft. The show will, per Story Kitchen, “reinvent the franchise on a massive scale” and will interconnect “live-action television series and video games into a unified storytelling universe.” How will it all connect? What else is in the works? We may well find out more tonight.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Games Workshop has revived the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book after scalpers descended upon its pre-orders, forcing Warhammer.com itself offline.
Siege of Terra: End of Ruin is an anthology of short stories set during the aftermath of the Siege of Terra and the Horus Heresy. For the uninitiated, the Horus Heresy is the Space Marine civil war that took place 10,000 years before the current Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is the foundation of 40K’s grimdark universe, and reveals how the carrion Emperor ended up on the Golden Throne.
Siege of Terra: End of Ruin was a hugely exciting release for 40K lore fans, but its special edition is even more enticing. It features a leather-effect cover with gold foil details, gilt page edges, and a metal emblem of a ruined Imperial eagle.
Games Workshop had signaled the special edition would be available “strictly while stocks last,” and that it would go on sale at 10am UK time on June 10. It also told fans it planned to use a queue system “to ensure fair distribution.” Unfortunately, this queue system caused chaos, with fans desperate to pre-order the book unable to make progress. Amid frantic messages of complaint across social media, Discords, and subreddits, Warhammer.com suddenly… stopped. It was offline, and no-one knew why.
Eventually, Games Workshop issued a statement on the debacle — a rare event in of itself — to say it had brought Warhammer.com offline because it had noticed scalpers were bypassing its systems. “Scalpers attempted to use bots to bypass our normal safeguards,” Games Workshop said. “Our eagle-eyed Tech Priests caught this happening in real-time, so we pulled Warhammer.com offline.”
At the time, Games Workshop promised Siege of Terra: End of Ruin would return, but half a year went by without any news. Now, Games Workshop has announced plans to sell the special edition once again — but with one key chance that has already got real fans excited.
In a post on Warhammer Community, Games Workshop said the special edition of Era of Ruin is being made available this coming weekend as a “guaranteed stock run.” Order it between Saturday and 8am UK time on Christmas Eve, and “you’ll be on the list to receive a copy of this sumptuous edition capping off the Siege of Terra series.”
This means the special edition is a “guaranteed stock product,” with Games Workshop printing the books based on demand. As a result, production and delivery can take up to 180 days.
Reaction to the news among fans is hugely positive, with some declaring it a win for real fans of the Warhammer 40,000 setting and a big L for scalpers. “Era of Ruinin’ Scalps,” declared one fan on the Black Library subreddit. “It’s the best decision they could make,” said another. “The secondhand market is 95% scalpers.” Another fan added: “Print on demand, what sweet words to read!” “Do I need this book? Absolutely not. Will I be purchasing so they see how positive this move is? Absolutely,” declared another fan.
Some are now hoping Games Workshop uses this release method for all its special editions going forward. “I’m totally cool with waiting a bit of time to get my copy if print on demand is an option moving forward,” said one hopeful. “It’s about freaking time. I’ve been saying this for five years. It’s about time they did something sensible,” added another.
“This is REALLY great news, HUGE win by GW and BL. And here I thought we weren’t going to have anything for Christmas, this is the best present. And I hope they see the potential of this kind of order, it could literally change everything. Really really pleasantly surprised.”
Games Workshop has suffered pre-order problems for years now, and special edition book launches are often plagued by scalpers who go on to sell the products at hugely inflated prices. Fans are now crossing their fingers this new method of selling books actually gets them into the hands of real fans.
Image credit: Games Workshop.
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.
If you hadn’t already heard, there’s a weird, spiky monolith in the Mojave Desert. Adorned with a massive eye-like orb and a legion of demonic creatures, it’s a hint at something due to be revealed as part of The Game Awards 2025. And, following the registration of a few new trademarks, it seems like we already have the answer as to what it is: a brand new game from Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios called “Divinity”.
If you are one of the millions of players who first learned of Larian through the gargantuan success of Baldur’s Gate 3, then the word Divinity may not mean much to you. Fans of the studio, however, will tell you that BG3’s success is rooted in Divinity, a series of six games that Larian worked on almost exclusively between 2002 and 2017. If this monolith and trademark leak really do point towards Divinity, then the Belgian studio is returning to its original fantasy universe… and likely bringing a whole new fanbase along with it.
If such a currently-very-much-hypothetical game would mark your first foray into the Divinity universe, then you may want a quick primer on what to expect. Let us be your guide to Divinity, and be the first to (very pre-emptively) say…
Welcome to Rivellon
Much like how Baldur’s Gate takes place in the Dungeons & Dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms, Divinity has its own rich, original setting: the world of Rivellon. There are broad similarities between the two; both are rooted in Tolkienesque fantasy tropes, with classically styled medieval landscapes and locations. There are multiple races; like in D&D, you can expect to meet humans, elves, dwarves, lizard-like beings, and the living dead. Magic is commonplace in Rivellon, although sorcery is considered more dangerous and is more heavily regulated there than it is on D&D’s Sword Coast.
Like Baldur’s Gate, Divinity also features a number of more esoteric elements, from steampunk to sci-fi and beyond, that make its world a little quirkier than the lands explored in more traditional fantasy like The Lord of the Rings. Rivellon can also often be a very silly place, and the influence of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels has frequently been felt in Divinity’s writing. In fact, Terry’s daughter, Rhianna Pratchett, even wrote a tie-in novella for the second game. But that’s not to say Rivellon is frivolous – there’s a deep vein of fascinating lore that has been mined over the series’ six installments.
In short, Rivellon is the stage for stories similar to those you enjoyed in Baldur’s Gate 3, but is beholden only to Larian’s rules, rather than those set by the owners of Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast.
What is Divinity?
Divinity is an RPG series, but its evolution has been far from usual. Take a quick look at each of the six games, and you’ll find at least four different approaches. Divine Divinity, the very first game in the series, and its sequel, Beyond Divinity, are Diablo-influenced action RPGs. Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, meanwhile, is a third-person RPG that feels a little closer to the likes of Dragon Age and The Witcher. Divinity: Dragon Commander is a slightly Total War-flavoured strategy game, and the Original Sin duology – the most recent games in the series – are classic-style RPGs that bear the most resemblance to Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian has experimented wildly over the years, and so there’s no clear indication as to what format the next game in the series will use (although considering the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, the sensible bet would be on something similar).
Another unusual element is its approach to the timeline. While Rivellon does have a coherent history and storylines that are threaded across the series, each game is set years (sometimes even centuries) apart, meaning each one is something of a standalone experience. Similar to how Baldur’s Gate 3 demands no experience of the series but has plenty of nods to the two earlier games, you can play Divinity: Original Sin 2 without any experience of its predecessors. I suspect any future game in the series would continue this tradition, especially since Larian now has a legion of new fans who are unfamiliar with the studio’s previous work. If the leaked trademark is to be believed, this new project is simply called “Divinity” – a name that has likely been chosen since it comes with no suggestion that you need to have played multiple other games.
What Does “Divinity” Mean?
Divinity’s name is drawn from its foundational lore. Thousands of years before the events of Divine Divinity, the first game in the series, Rivellon’s ruling body, the Council of Seven, sacrificed themselves to defend the realm from evil wizards. The “Divine Order” was established in remembrance and assigned to pass on their knowledge to the next generations.
By the events of Divine Divinity, a prophecy tells of a messiah who will protect Rivellon from the next existential threat, a demon called Chaos. That messiah, it turns out, is you, and you ascend to become Lucian the Divine – a character that goes on to make appearances in Divinity 2: Ego Draconis and Divinity: Original Sin 2. The concept of the Divine is frequently explored in the stories, although it’s not the central focus of each and every game.
How Similar is Divinity to Baldur’s Gate 3?
Since the series has changed so much over its lifetime, most of the Divinity series is actually pretty different from what Larian created with Baldur’s Gate 3. However, the Original Sin duology is very clearly the blueprint for BG3. These are isometric RPGs set across multiple regions, with tactical turn-based combat and a similar “hands-off” approach to quest design.
While both are worth playing, Original Sin 2 is by far the most accomplished, both in terms of gameplay depth and narrative strength. It is where Larian pioneered the “origin story” characters that would later become the heroes of Baldur’s Gate 3, and Rivellon’s answer to the likes of Astarion, Gale, and Shadowheart are just as brilliantly written. It’s also the game in which the studio established “tags”, the system that provides character-specific dialogue options to help you better roleplay your specific race or class.
Perhaps the Original Sin duology’s most lauded system is its elemental effects – cast a rain spell to make something wet, and then use a lightning ability to conduct electricity through that sodden surface. Tip over an oil barrel to create a puddle, and then shoot a flaming arrow into it to create a blaze. Stab an enemy, freeze their blood, and watch them slip on their own icy innards. Much of this elemental interplay made it into Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s much more pronounced in Original Sin. Expect at least a quarter of your battles to result in arena-wide bonfires.
How to Play the Divinity Games in Order
As previously mentioned, the timeline gaps that separate the Divinity games mean there are no strictly direct sequels, and you can more or less play them in any order you choose. If you’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3 and are looking to learn more about Divinity, I’d only truly recommend playing Original Sin 2, which is widely regarded as the best in the series. Initially a PC exclusive, it is now available on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and even iPad. But if you really do want to delve into the lore and explore the entire timeline, this is how you’d need to tackle the series:
Divinity: Dragon Commander (2013)
A grand strategy game set thousands of years prior to the events of the RPGs.
Divinity: Original Sin (2014)
A CRPG with turn-based combat, set 1000 years before the original game, focused on a pair of “Source Hunters” tracking down dangerous magic users.
Divine Divinity (2002)
A Diablo-like ARPG that chronicles the ascension of Lucian the Divine.
Beyond Divinity (2004)
The ARPG sequel to Divine Divinity, set 20 years later, tells the story of one of Lucian’s servants, who has been soulbound to an evil Death Knight.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 (2017)
A CRPG that’s a sequel to Original Sin in terms of game design, but takes place after the original two games and deals with an outbreak of “Voidwoken” monsters in Rivellon.
Divinity 2: Ego Draconis (2009)
A 3D action RPG set decades after Lucian’s ascension, during an era when the Divine’s adoptive son has become a tyrant, in which you play as a knight who can transform into a dragon.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Executive Editor of Features.
Rockstar’s controversial recent firing of 31 Grand Theft Auto 6 staff has now reached UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has described the matter as “deeply concerning” and pledged that ministers would invesigate.
The layoffs, which took place at the end of October, were raised in the UK’s Parliament during today’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions, by Rockstar North’s local MP Chris Murray.
“The video games company Rockstar in my constituency last month fired 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation,” Murray told the Prime Minister. “The [Independent Workers Union of Great Britain union] IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting.
“Given this government is responsible for the biggest increase in workers rights in a generation,” Murray continued, “does the Prime Minister agree all companies regardless of profit size must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?”
“It’s a deeply concerning case,” Starmer replied. “Every worker has the right to join a trade union and we’re determined to strengthen workers rights and ensure they don’t face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case that he [Murray] raises and will keep him updated.”
For its part, Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two Interactive previously described the firings as due to “gross misconduct, and for no other reason.” IGN has contacted Take-Two again for further comment today.
Several reports on the issue, including by Bloomberg and People Make Games, have examined what is alleged to have occured in more detail. Bloomberg was first to report that the workers were all UK and Canadian employees who had been members of a private chat server on Discord, where union organization had been discussed.
A subsequent report by People Make Games, meanwhile, revealed that employees on that Discord server had shared and discussed a specific message from Rockstar management regarding changes to the company’s Slack message policy, designed to cut down on off-topic conversations. It’s this sharing and discussing of an internal policy that is believed to have given Rockstar its legal justification to fire these workers.
But was this drastic action, which saw some employees who had worked at the company for over a decade marched out of the office by security, justfied? The IWGB previously branded Rockstar’s decision as “the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry,” made with “flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions.”
In a statement sent to IGN today, MP Chris Murray shared further, eyebrow-raising detail of his attempts to discuss the matter with Rockstar itself, including a joint meeting alongside fellow Edinburgh MPs Tracy Gilbert and Scott Arthur at Rockstar North’s offices which began with a standoff over the need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
“The meeting began with us as MPs refused entry unless an NDA was signed, a request they eventually withdrew after it being made clear this would not be signed,” Murray said.
He continued: “The meeting only entrenched my concerns about the process Rockstar used to dismiss so many of their staff members. I was not assured their process paid robust attention to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this course of action was necessary, and alarmingly, I did not leave informed on exactly what these 31 people had done to warrant their immediate dismissal.”
Following Grand Theft Auto 6’s most recent delay, the highly-anticipated blockbuster is now set to arrive on November 19, 2026. Despite the extra wait, the game is projected by some analysts to make $3 billion in its first year on sale and said by others to be one of the most important game releases of all time.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Sometimes, the best thing you can do is pick a goal and move towards it. You might have no idea how to get where you wanna go; you might have no idea where you are when it comes to accomplishing it; and you might not have much outside help, but you’ll do it anyway. What other choice is there? Just keep moving forward, and maybe something good will happen. That philosophy guided me through my three hours with Outward 2, a video game that mostly wanted me dead and was very good about making it happen. Everybody needs goals, right?
After making a character in Outward 2’s fairly (at least right now) limited character creator and choosing different elements of my backstory, which altered my starting stats – the RPG standard Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, and Willpower – my journey started in the city of Haboob, which has been recently reclaimed from the Scourge. I don’t know what that means, exactly, but it sounded good. Anyway, my recently arrived character won the housing lottery when a guy named Sebastian decided to move. Here I was, less than five minutes into the game and already a homeowner. Talk about a fantasy. We chatted before he left, and he seemed nice enough, and then I headed out to explore the city.
Haboob is gorgeous – a multilayered city of stone, with these giant rotating fans (there’s one in my house, near the bed) and I enjoy walking around it for a bit, grabbing an “on the house” (pun intended) drink at the local tea shop, and enjoying the vibe. Outward 2 isn’t the most visually sophisticated game out there – the character models kinda look like they stepped out of an Xbox 360-era Bethesda RPG – but its environments are pretty grand. After wandering around for a bit and speaking to the local Chamberlord, who hands over the deed to my new house, I call it a night. There’s not much else to do.
Haboob is gorgeous – a multilayered city of stone…
I’m awoken when a guard breaks in and tries to rob me (rude!) and whacks me in the head with a mace. Sebastian shows up to kill him, takes whatever it is, and then places the pistol he used to take care of the guard in my hand. At least he looks sorry about it, but because all the evidence of the murder points to me, I’m exiled with little more than what’s in my possession. The Chamberlord suggests I find Sebastian to prove my innocence.
Back to Square One
Outward 2 is a survival game, which means I need to find, craft, or buy my supplies. Out in the world, there’s nothing to guide you. I had no map and no leads. The only thing around was a big, dead bird under what looked like some sort of mystical lamp post. I decided to head east. Always into the east. I got into a couple fights, one of which was against a dude that really didn’t seem to want to be there. Outward’s combat isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it’s weighty and generally pretty solid. I’m doing all right even though I only have an ice pick and a bow I picked up in the city until I fall into a small, rocky hole. I can’t walk or roll out of it and Outward 2 has no jump button. I end up starting a new run. I ran into a lot of bugs in my time with my preview build of Outward 2 – items would duplicate or not be usable, characters would float in mid-air, and so on – but that’s to be expected of something this early.
I tried to use it as an opportunity. This time, I spent more time in Haboob because I knew I was going to get kicked out, found some new people to talk to, and was generally better equipped when I was framed for murder. Again. I just bought a house in real life, so I was particularly upset about this. How dare this dude? Who does he think he is?
But I was lucky in other ways. Remember that dead bird from last time? In its place, I found a woman named Oliele who helped me out by offering me some supplies, including a tent and a map, and told me where I might find Sebastian. There were a couple possibilities. I opted to head northeast to the True Levantines. Even with my supplies, life wasn’t easier. Drinking river water made me sick to my stomach, and my ice pick wasn’t a force in combat. I scavenged enough wood to build a shield and mostly tried to avoid fights. Even the map wasn’t much help. Oh, yeah, it was nice to see what the region looked like, but the map doesn’t track where you are, so… you know, it works like a real map. Outward 2 is willing to let you get lost, and I appreciated that.
Second Chances
This time, I didn’t fall into a hole, but I did run into other problems. Combat was risky, and when I camped for the night because my character was exhausted, I got attacked and… I couldn’t fight back. I could move, but I couldn’t swing my weapons. I opted to die, thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, I got a special little sequence because I died near a river, and washed up on its banks, my gear close by. Minus my tent.
Soon after, I spotted a weird ghost and tried to pick a fight. That was a bad idea. Not only could I barely hurt him with my ice pick, he never stopped following me when I tried to run away, so I followed the path I was on, the spectre hot on my heels, until I just happened to run into the True Levantine settlement and the guards finished him off for me. No sign of Sebastian, but I had a lead: south. Okay.
Then I got back on the road and died a whole bunch. I died to a big bird. I died to a weird bat thing. I fell over once and died. I died because I bled out. Each time I was rescued. Sometimes by a nice guy named Gep who I never met but left me a drink at his campfire. Sometimes by the healers at the True Levantine camp. Eventually, I decided it was time to buy a sword. I sold what little I had, and from there, things got easier. I made progress south. I found a weird tower where everything wanted to kill me. I killed an exiled mercenary and stole *his* tent. Ha! I explored a weird little cave and did some mining.
At this point I was rolling, and I figured I’d keep going until I died. Then I ran into one of those weird bat things again, and that was that. Three hours had flown by. Outward 2 doesn’t hold your hand, and I admire that. Exploring its gorgeous world is a lot of fun. I wish it was a little less buggy, and I wish that there was a bit more to do in a world that can sometimes feel big and empty – gathering materials in the areas I explored was difficult, and I didn’t get to craft as much as I wanted; I really wanted some linen, and I could not find or buy any of me for the life of me – but I did enjoying just picking a direction, setting off into the world, and seeing what I could see. There’s something special in that, and if the full release of Outward 2 can capture it, it might just make you want to go for a stroll.
Ah, the licensed video game. Once a collection of underwhelming retellings of big-screen blockbusters, littered with haunting polygonal nightmares (Hagrid, that’s you) and aimless Atari attempts (yes, E.T., that’s you), we’ve seen an uptick in actually good adaptations in recent years, with the upcoming Terminator 2D: No Fate looking like a promising attempt at turning James Cameron’s classic into some enjoyable retro action. So, we thought we’d pick out the best of the bunch.
We do have a few little rules, though, that stop just any old film-adjacent game from making the list. They need to either be:
A direct translation or adaptation of a feature film
An official movie sequel or prequel.
Or a game that attempts to continue the story or provide backstory and additional canonical lore.
So, for example, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man is not eligible as it takes place in a Marvel universe separate from the movies and is much more rooted in the original comic books, but the PS2’s Spider-Man 2 would be allowed due to it being directly based on the Sam Raimi film of the same name. Make sense? I hope so. Let’s rank the top 10 best licensed games based on movies.
10. Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
Console launch games come with the power to stun thanks to the leap in technology they inherently are unlocked by. The Xbox 360’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong definitely benefited from this, as the Lord of the Rings’ director’s epic retelling of the classic monster movie made a huge splash at the dawn of gaming’s HD era. With Rayman and Beyond Good and Evil creator Michel Ancel helming it at Ubisoft Montpellier, King Kong felt more than a standard movie tie-in thanks to its many interesting and novel ideas. You had the freedom to explore its vast jungle spaces, which offered an unprecedented sense of cinematic immersion and was a breathtaking contrast against the previous generation’s more limiting, corridor-like spaces. King Kong not only ushered in a whole new generation of hardware but also a new way of thinking about how licensed games could be approached.
9. Scarface: The World is Yours
Scarface: The World is Yours has balls. Not only does a “Balls Meter” fill up as Tony Montana causes mayhem across an open-world ‘80s Miami, allowing for him to slow down time, enter first-person mode, and gain infinite ammo as he guns down as many gang rivals as possible, but it also has an audacity to position itself as a sequel to a film in which its protagonist dies at the end. In this alternative universe, Al Pacino’s antihero coke fiend survives the ambush at his mansion thanks to a certain little friend and escapes out of the back door, free to continue building his drug-running empire. Yes, it’s largely a GTA-clone, as was commonplace in the era — see the also actually quite good The Godfather adaptation for further evidence — but its wild concept alone is enough for it to deserve a place on this list.
8. Rockstar’s The Warriors
In terms of creating immersive worlds and capturing a tone, not many do it quite like Rockstar. The Warriors comes from an era when we’d get more than one game a decade from the developer, and sometimes multiple in one year. A much smaller-scale project than the likes of GTA: San Andreas or Vice City, The Warriors acts as both a prequel and a retelling of the cult ‘70s thriller of the same name, focusing on the titular New York gang. Taking the form of a beat ’em up, it successfully drenches you in the seedy underworld alleyways that its characters inhabit, as Rockstar once again displayed their world-class world-building credentials. And that grimy tone is what The Warriors achieves most successfully, making it an adaptation that shouldn’t be overlooked, even when compared to the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption studio’s other headline-stealing projects.
7. Mad Max
Avalanche Studios’ Mad Max is the perfect example of taking the essence of a film series and turning that into the driving force behind a video game adaptation. In this case, it’s the exhilarating car combat witnessed all the way back in the original 1979 movie, through Road Warrior, and into Fury Road’s landmark action. When Max is on foot in the 2015 game, it’s perfectly good as it apes the successful melee formula concocted by Warner Bros. stablemate Rocksteady for its Batman Arkham series, but it’s when the Australian drifter gets those hands out of raiders’ jawbones and behind the wheel of his iconic Interceptor that it really comes to life. Now a cult favourite, much like the original film that inspires it, Mad Max is one of a kind and a fantastic translation of George Miller’s vision in video game form.
6. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Years before the Rocksteady Batman: Arkham and Insomniac Marvel’s Spider-Man games, the prospect of a successful comic book game was bleak. Even rarer was the thought of a genuinely fun movie tie-in. Treyarch’s Spider-Man 2, based on the Sam Raimi film of the same name, flew in the face of both those ideas. An incredibly detailed New York City (for the time, at least) felt like a revelation to swing around in, and Peter Parker’s web-slinging provided a whole new way to explore the sort of 3D open world that the PS2’s Grand Theft Auto games had pioneered. In a legitimately impressive technical revelation, Treyarch’s Spidey actually attached his webs to buildings rather than empty skyboxes. Flying between skyscrapers and thumping petty criminals was a thrilling sensation back in 2004, and, while it has since been far eclipsed by more modern Peter Parker and Miles Morales adventures, it certainly paved the way for those to exist.
5. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
It’s difficult to think of a movie series that’s had more games to its name than Star Wars. Classics such as TIE Fighter and Rogue Leader were contenders for this pick, but we just think there’s nothing like the fulfillment of the Force fantasy that is delivered by Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Bridging the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, this 2023 action-adventure is part of the official canon, with references to Order 66 and clashes with Darth Vader fuelling Cal Kestis’ story, but with an originality that doesn’t just lean on Star Wars cliches. An improvement in pretty much every way over its predecessor, Fallen Order, it’s an easy pick for our representative of the most famous of film universes.
4. GoldenEye 007
It may not be the best to play now, but there’s just no denying the impact that GoldenEye 007 had when it arrived in 1997 on the Nintendo 64. Perfect Dark, shortly after, would go on to expand on the ideas established in its campaign, and games like TimeSplitters would borrow from its revolutionary approach to FPS multiplayer, making it so much more than just a movie adaptation. Yes, it featured a whole host of famous James Bond heroes and villains — including a truly broken Oddjob, who takes the term “sharply dressed” to its extreme —- and successfully captured the globetrotting exploits of 007 as much as a console with the limited power of the N64 could at the time, but it also shaped the next three decades of online shooters. This makes it so much more than just a movie tie-in, and something developer Rare should never be forgotten for achieving.
3. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
A video game prequel to the 2000 Vin Diesel vehicle, Pitch Black, has no right to be as good as The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, yet here we are. Taking a heap of Half-Life campaign design and a healthy dose of Thief-like stealth, the Swedish Starbreeze Studios and Vin Diesel’s own Tigon Studios transformed a perfectly decent film series into a genuinely great video game, and one that many believe surpasses its source material. Its smart level design is enhanced by intelligent translations of Riddick’s abilities from the film, such as his trademark “eyeshine”, which lets you see in the dark, and a healthy amount of improvised blunt and sharp weaponry that fits perfectly with the movie’s grimy aesthetic. The plot’s premise — a prison escape — is fundamentally cinematic, but it’s the ways in which Butcher Bay asks you to play intelligently in its world that pushes it beyond the big screen and into a truly great game.
2. Alien Isolation
The original Alien film from 1979 is a haunted house movie in space, with lone survivor of the Nostromo, Ripley, aiming to survive its dark corridors and the roaming Xenomorph threat until the credits hit. As such, it would become a natural inspiration for many survival horror greats, from Dead Space’s infested spaceship, to SOMA’s unnerving futurism, and, of course, Resident Evil 2’s stalking Mr X threat. So, naturally, when the time came for yet another Alien game to be made, survival horror seemed a logical choice for developer Creative Assembly, who would be the next in a long line to take up the challenge of translating the unique atmosphere of Ridley Scott’s original film.
What the studio made was beyond what could have been expected, as it evolved the idea of RE 2’s Tyrant into an ever-present danger that scuttled along the map’s sprawling web of vents. The Xenomorph, and the tech powering it, are the jewel at the centre of Isolation’s crown, and are what make it such a faithful recreation of Alien. By stepping into her daughter’s shoes and sneaking around the Sevastopol, you get as close a feeling as to what it would’ve been like to be Ripley and walk those Nostromo hallways yourself. It may not quite make the number one spot on our list, but it is the entry that most successfully captures the overall tone of its source material, embracing its terror to astonishing effect.
1. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
We wouldn’t have the likes of Tomb Raider or Uncharted without Indiana Jones, and in 2024, the king came back to claim his throne. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle took everything that made the original trilogy of Steven Spielberg films so special and managed to translate it into a lovingly designed video game from Wolfenstein developer MachineGames — perhaps not so coincidentally, a studio formed by former Escape from Butcher Bay developers. Not only is The Great Circle a fantastic, stealthy, puzzle-filled action-adventure that really places an emphasis on the adventure part, but it borrows all of the archaeological intrigue and, crucially, humour that makes the likes of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade so special. So much, in fact, that the story told here would slot in nicely between them and act as a superior third of that trilogy than Temple of Doom ever did.
Throw in a fantastic pitch-perfect Harrison Ford impression from Troy Baker, a suitably swarmy performance from Marios Gavrilis for the villainous Emmerich Voss, and a healthy amount of Nazi punching, whipping, and shovel-smacking, and you’ve got all of the ingredients you need. But it’s so much more than just a playable film, instead grounding itself in flexible immersive-sim-esque gameplay systems that emphasise using brain over brawn. Violence is rarely considered a first option, and gained knowledge is always a much sharper weapon. It makes for a truly fantastic game in its own right, but one that is as referential as it is transformative, and a true-to-life version of what the Indiana Jones character is — a doctor, not a soldier. The Great Circle is as thought-out a licensed game based on a movie as you could wish for, and a perfect fit for the top of our list.
And those are our picks for the best games based on movies. What game that you love didn’t make the cut? Let us know in the comments! And for more licensed games, check out our list of the best Marvel games of all time.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
Netflix has admitted it did not attribute any value to Warner Bros.’ video game business in its $82.7 billion acquisition deal, sparking concern for the future of everything from Mortal Kombat to Hogwarts Legacy.
While Warner Bros. is best known for its movie and TV business, Warner Bros. Games includes a number of well-known video game developers and brands. Batman Arkham developer Rocksteady, LEGO games developer Traveller’s Tales, Hogwarts Legacy developer Avalanche Software, and Mortal Kombat maker NetherRealm are all on Warner Bros. Games’ books.
And despite the fact some of Warner Bros. games, in particular smash hit Hogwarts Legacy, have sold tens of millions of copies and generated billions of dollars in revenue, as far as Netflix is concerned, they’re pretty much an afterthought in this mega deal.
Speaking during a conference presentation about the deal reported on by Pocket Gamer, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters responded to a question about whether buying Warner Bros. would accelerate its own gaming plans.
He said that while Warner Bros. had done “great work in the game space, we actually didn’t attribute any value to that from the get-go because they’re relatively minor compared to the grand scheme of things.”
“Now we are super excited because some of those properties that they’ve built, Hogwarts is a great example of that, have been done quite well, and we think that we can incorporate that into what we’re offering.
“They’ve got great studios and great folks working there. So we think that there’s definitely an opportunity there. But just to be clear, we haven’t built that into our deal model.”
While Warner Bros. Games does have some big hitters under its belt, it has struggled since the release of Hogwarts Legacy. In January, previous games boss David Haddad exited the company following the costly failures of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and MultiVersus. Soon after, Warner Bros. Games announced plans to shutter Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. San Diego alongside the cancelation of its Wonder Woman game. And in June, Warner Bros. Games announced a restructure to focus on four key franchises: Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, DC, and Game of Thrones.
Indeed, 2024 was a brutal year for Warner Bros. Games, with Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League sparking a $200 million hit to revenue, and then Smash Bros.-style brawler MultiVersus flopping to the tune of $100 million. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, meanwhile, failed to make an impression. Speaking in a financial call, Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav said: “We recognise [the games business] is substantially underperforming its potential right now.”
So what’s next for Warner Bros. Games while it awaits its fate? The promising Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to launch at some point in 2026, and given Netflix’s deal may not close until summer 2027, this one feels safe.
Elsewhere, there’s a Hogwarts Legacy sequel in the works and a single-player Batman game from Rocksteady reportedly in development, but neither is announced nor do we have release windows. NetherRealm has yet to announce its next project, having ceased work on Mortal Kombat 1 updates. Will it make another Mortal Kombat game or another game in the DC fighting game series, Injustice? Gotham Knights developer WB Games Montreal, meanwhile, reportedly pitched a John Constantine game but it was never approved. A Flash game was scrapped after the DCU Flash film bombed. It’s now allegedly helping out with other games and is reportedly working on a pitch for a new Game of Thrones game.
Will Netflix be interested in any of this? So far, Netflix has seen mixed results from its video game efforts, with a number of high-profile hires and subsequent studio closures. It’s currently focused on narrative games based on Netflix shows, games for children, social party games, and Grand Theft Auto ports.
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.
