Nintendo has commented on the controversial topic of generative artificial intelligence in video game development, outlining the pros and cons as it sees them.
In a shareholder Q&A, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about the company’s initiatives involving AI. In response, Furukawa said generative AI can be used “in creative ways,” but said its use “also raise issues with intellectual property rights.”
Artificial intelligence and its uses in games is one of the hottest topics within the video game industry, with some studios touting AI-generated NPCs or AI-driven level creation, Others have expressed concern about its potential impact on jobs, particularly in art, quality assurance, and performance.
Generative AI thus far has drawn criticism from players and creators due to a mix of ethical issues, rights issues, and AI’s struggles to produce content audiences actually enjoy. For instance, Keywords Studios attempted to create an experimental game internally using entirely AI. The game failed, with Keywords citing to investors that AI was “unable to replace talent.”
As for Nintendo, which is readying the reveal and release of the Switch successor console, Furukawa said the company is “open to utilizing technological developments,” but will “work to continue delivering value that is unique to Nintendo and cannot be created by technology alone.”
Here’s Furukawa’s statement in full:
In the game industry, AI-like technologies have long been used — for example, to control the movements of opponent characters — so I believe that game development and AI technology have always had a close relationship. Generative AI, which is becoming a big topic recently, can be used in creative ways, but we recognize that it may also raise issues with intellectual property rights.
We have decades of know-how in creating the best gaming experiences for our players. While we are open to utilizing technological developments, we will work to continue delivering value that is unique to Nintendo and cannot be created by technology alone.
Nintendo’s mixed statement here comes as its video game console rivals go all-in on AI. Microsoft, for example, is reportedly making an Xbox AI chatbot to automate support tasks such as game refunds, deal with broken consoles and subscription issues, and answer questions about error codes.
Meanwhile, head of PlayStation Productions and head of product at PlayStation Studios Asad Qizilbash weighed in on AI to say its use in video games is important to Gen Z and Gen Alpha gamers who seek “personalization across everything.”
While we are open to utilizing technological developments, we will work to continue delivering value that is unique to Nintendo and cannot be created by technology alone.
“For instance, non-player characters in games could interact with players based on their actions, making it feel more personal,” Qizilbash said. “This is important for the younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences, who are the first generations that grew up digitally and are looking for personalization across everything, as well as looking for experiences to have more meaning.”
Earlier this yeah, EA boss Andrew Wilson told the investment community that “more than 50% of our development processes will be positively impacted by the advances in generative AI.” Wilson, who oversees EA Sports FC, The Sims, and BioWare games, added that AI will make game development “more efficient”, revealing that the EA Sports FC developers can now make stadiums in six weeks rather than six months.
The Witcher voice actor Doug Cockle has also expressed caution and frustration at the growing presence of AI within the video game industry, calling it “inevitable” but “dangerous.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The First Descendant has enjoyed a big launch, but it’s also been marred by a number of issues that developer Nexon has continued to apologize and offer compensation for.
Since the free-to-play co-op focused looter shooter launched a long list of issues has emerged, including frame-rate problems, the failure to deliver on promised items such as Twitch drops, and for some players, the failure to deliver items they’ve paid real-world money for.
The latter issue revolves around a problem where customers have yet to receive items when they’ve bought the same item multiple times through the basket on Steam or the PlayStation or Xbox platform stores.
Developer Nexon issued an update on this “mass Caliber purchase error,” promising a fix. In the meantime, it asked players to buy “Caliber” items (items that are bought with the premium in-game currency that is itself bought with real-world money), individually “to avoid any inconvenience.”
For those who bought items from July 2-4 and have yet to receive them, these purchases will be canceled, Nexon warned. “The same measures will be taken for any further mass purchases until the error is resolved,” Nexon said.
“We apologize once again for the inconvenience caused by this error. We are working diligently to fix the issue as soon as possible to minimize inconvenience.”
Meanwhile, producer Lee Beom-jun published a developer chat to YouTube in which he thanked and apologized to players. In the video, the Nexon developer promised a hotfix that would optimize performance of the PlayStation 5 version (The First Descendant runs particularly poorly on PS5). There’s work on those missing Twitch drop rewards, as well as a promise for gun sound improvements and crash fixes.
Interestingly, Lee Beom-jun offered an explanation of sorts for The First Descendant’s controversial third-party data collection and sharing policy that Nexon asks players to agree to before playing the game. This personal information sharing, one of the leading complaints amid the game’s ‘mixed’ Steam user reviews rating, is supposedly required because Nexon uses it to track what players are doing in The First Descendant in order to improve it. Lee Beom-jun insisted Nexon does not use players’ personal data, rather the nicknames they choose.
Despite all these problems, The First Descendant has enjoyed a big launch, with a huge 239,513 peak concurrent players so far on Steam. That’s enough to put the game in Steam’s top five most-played games. Sony and Microsoft do not share player numbers. Check out IGN’s The First Descendant review in progress to find out what we think of the game so far.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Ubisoft is finally taking Assassin’s Creed to Japan with Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The highly requested setting for Ubisoft’s biggest franchise will be explored through two protagonists: the fictional shinobi assassin Naoe and the real-life Black samurai Yasuke.
In anticipation of Ubisoft’s highly anticipated journey into feudal Japan, we’ve put together this breakdown of everything you need to know about Assassin’s Creed Shadows, from its price and release date to its gameplay and story.
Ubisoft has released several trailers for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the most informative of which — the reveal trailer and the most recent gameplay trailer from Ubisoft Forward — are embedded below.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Release Date
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be released on November 15.
It will be playable three days early, on November 12, for those who preorder either of Shadows’ three premium editions (more on these below) or subscribe to Ubisoft+ Premium on PC ($18/month).
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Platforms and Price
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (via Ubisoft Store or Epic Games Store), Mac, iPad, and Amazon Luna
The base version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows costs $70 across all platforms. An internet connection will be required to install even the physical version of the game, though it can then be played offline.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Story
Plot and Characters
Assassin’s Creed Shadows stars two protagonists: the shinobi assassin Naoe and the samurai Yasuke. Naoe is the fictional daughter of the real Fujibayashi Nagato; Yasuke is based on the real, 16th-century Black samurai of the same name.
Set during the late Sengoku period (or Azuchi-Momoyama era) of feudal Japan, Shadows begins in 1579 during a time of civil war within the country, complete with the era’s samurai, shinobi, Portuguese merchants, and Jesuit missionaries. The two protagonists converge as they find themselves on opposite sides of conflict: Yasuke served as a retainer to Nobunaga, the daimyo who led the Oda clan in its invasion of Iga; Naoe, under the leadership of her father, is part of the Igan resistance.
Here’s the official synopsis from Ubisoft:
Live the intertwined stories of Naoe, an adept shinobi Assassin from Iga Province, and Yasuke, the powerful African samurai of historical legend. Against the backdrop of the turbulent late Sengoku period, this remarkable duo will discover their common destiny as they usher in a new era for Japan.
Like Assassin’s Creed Mirage and the original AC before it, Shadows’ main targets can be assassinated in any order. “One thing that we really wanted is [to make] sure the world feels alive, and those targets are always in the world,” said game director Charles Benoit. “So it’s possible that you’ll encounter some of them without really knowing about them before.
Quests, therefore, won’t point you toward your next target but will “guide” you with hints. “It’s less of ‘follow a quest up to a point’, but it’s much more, ‘I want to do this’ and then you’ll find the way how to do it,” said creative director Jonathan Dumont.
Feudal Japan Setting
Assassin’s Creed is well known for its exploration of different places and eras with each new entry. This year’s game takes players to feudal Japan, specifically 1579 through the early 1580s. Shadows is set during the end of the tumultuous Sengoku period at the height of Oda Nobunaga’s power when the warlord overthrew the Ashikaga shogunate and began his campaign to unify the warring factions of Japan.
Central Japan, where Nobunaga held power, will serve as the center of Shadows. Locations we’ve seen in the hitherto released trailers include the Iga province and Takeda Castle.
Game Length and Map Size
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is closest in size to 2017’s Egypt-set Assassin’s Creed Origins, according to Dumont. “It’s in-line with the latest Assassin’s Creeds that we’ve done,” he said, referring to the series’ post-Syndicate RPGs. “On a scale level, maybe we can compare it a little bit more to the size of Assassin’s Creed Origins.
“We did want to have a much closer to real life scale ratio,” Dumont added. “So because castles took a lot of space, and we really wanted the mountains to feel like mountains, [we’ve made] the environments feel wider in the game. But I would say around the same size as Origins.”
Dumont didn’t comment on game length, though we’ll note Origins main story takes roughly 30 hours to complete, according to IGN sister site How Long to Beat.
Does Assassin’s Creed Shadows Have a Modern-day Story?
Ubisoft has yet to reveal details about Shadow’s potential modern-day segments, though it sounds like there will be one. Assassin’s Creed executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté told Game File, “You are in the Animus,” when asked about the modern day in Shadows. He also revealed Assassin’s Creed Infinity will be known as the Animus hub and serve as a portal to the series’ modern-day sections moving forward.
This section will be updated as more information is announced.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Gameplay
Yasuke and Naoe Differences
Assassin’s Creed Shadows allows you to switch between Yasuke or Naoe at will, with the exception of introduction quests and character-specific missions.
Naoe plays as a more typical assassin; she’s equipped with a Hidden Blade and the ability to kill stealthily by scaling walls and hiding in foliage. As Naoe, you’ll also have access to throwable kunai and her chained blade, which is swung around to slice through enemies and environments. The assassin is also given a grappling hook to improve traversal; it can be attached to the edges of roofs and other miscellaneous anchor points. “It’s all physics-based, so there’s a little bit of improbability sometimes when using it,” said Dumont. “There’s a danger to using it, but you could also perform assassinations from it.”
Yasuke, on the other hand, has a more head-on approach to combat; the samurai’s heavy armor keeps him on the ground, where he excels as a master swordsman.
Each character has individualized skill trees and gear, though XP, collected weapons, and resources are shared.
General Combat
Dumont says the team’s goal was to make Shadows’ combat feel “spectacular,” and to this end they’ve increased the amount of environmental items that can be carved up or destroyed and reintroduced instant kills with the Hidden Blade. “The thing that shines the most, I feel, in Assassin’s Creed, it’s really the Hidden Blade, the assassination, being able to stay hidden,” said Benoit. “So that’s the core that we want to keep. What we needed to push forward [was to make it] feel a bit more modern in the approach.”
Shadows also adds duels reminiscent of those seen in Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films. “When we have a mini-boss type of fighter, we really want it to feel like a duel,” said Benoit. “So this exchange of blocking, parrying, dodging. So it’s always like a dance.”
Weapons you’ll acquire throughout Shadows include katanas, the kanabō war club, yari spears, shuriken, kunai, and the kusarigama (sickle on chain). Weapons have their own skill trees, and proficiency is increased by playing with each weapon. These can be found or crafted by gathering components throughout the game world. And yes, the ability to transmog is still here, allowing flexibility in the appearance of your gear.
Yasuke and Naoe will also be faced with a new enemy type: servants. These characters exist between civilians and enemies, and are able to raise alarms and call for reinforcements.
Exploration and Traversal
The big addition to Shadows world is a light-dark system, which has a major influence on the game’s stealth mechanics. Powered by an upgraded version of Ubisoft’s Anvil engine, Shadows global illumination system creates dynamic light and shadows that affect enemy vision. You can influence this by snuffing out lamps and taking out torch carriers. The degree to which you are hidden is displayed through a new light meter on the UI.
The light-dark system intersects with Shadows new seasons mechanic, which changes the terrain (and therefore how you interact with it) as spring turns to summer, fall, then winter. Seasonal differences include changes to weather/wind, bodies of water (swimmable or frozen), the height of grass, foliage, enemy positioning, and visibility. “Players will have to adapt constantly to what the environment is giving them,” said Dumont. The seasons will change as you progress through the main quest.
Eagle vision, which allows you to see characters through walls, returns in Shadows, though gone are the drone-like birds used to scout locations in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. In an effort to reduce the amount of map icons, climbing to the top of synchronization points no longer unlocks a portion of the map, rather they provide a vantage point from which you can survey the surrounding area for highlighted points of interest. However, these locations still serve as fast-travel points.
Shadows will take you through Japan’s diverse landscape of towns, trading posts, farmland, mountains, forests, and historic castles rendered nearly to scale. Each castle serves as a type of bespoke dungeon, according toBenoit, who added, “It’s so big, it’s like an adventure each time you go in the castle.”
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Development
Ubisoft Quebec is leading development of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The studio previously headed up development on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Syndicate, and Black Flag, as well as 2020’s Immortals: Fenyx Rising. Over a dozen other Ubisoft studios are providing development support.
Jonathan Dumont, creative director of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, is again overseeing the creative direction of Shadows. Charles Benoit, who served as a game designer on Odyssey, is the game director for Shadows.
Ubisoft is selling three editions of Assassin’s Creed Shadows — Standard, Gold, and Ultimate — as well as a GameStop-exclusive Collector’s Edition. Preordering any version will net you a bonus quest called “Thrown to the Dogs.”
Here’s everything you need to know about each edition:
Standard Edition
$70 USD
Includes base game
Gold Edition
$110 USD
Includes base game
Three days of early access
Season Pass
Ultimate Edition
$130 USD
Includes base game
Three days of early access
Season Pass
The Ultimate Pack
Sekiryu character pack
Sekiryu hideout pack
5 skill points
Red dragon filter in photo mode
Collector’s Edition
$280 USD
Includes Ultimate Edition of game
Diorama figurine with dual protagonists
Steelbook
Hardcover artbook
Shinobi’s metal tsuba replica with stand
Silk creed kakemono roll
Set of 3 sumi-e lithographs
Separately, the IGN Store is offering a life-sized, officially licensed replica of Yasuke’s helmet. This ultimate collector’s item is now available to preorder, with an estimated ship time of Q4 2024.
Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.
During Anime Expo, Arc System Works unveiled a world premiere teaser trailer for its upcoming Guilty Gear anime, Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers, which is set to be released sometime next year.
Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Riders is a 3D CG anime adaptation of the eponymous fighting game that is being animated by SANZIGEN. While the teaser gave little away story-wise, the trailer did showcase the long-running fighting game’s central characters, Sol Badguy and Sin Kiske. The trailer, which is stylized in a similar fashion to the game’s cutscenes, pits the pair against a mysterious new foe named Unika, who has a grudge against Gears.
— Arc System Works America (@ArcSystemWorksU) July 4, 2024
Guilty Gear stands head and shoulders above other fighting games series thanks in part to it being one of the flashiest anime fighters of all time. Consequently, Guilty Gear also has a reputation for being one of the hardest story timelines to follow. A case in point is the fact that the story mode for Strive’s predecessor, Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, is essentially an uninterrupted hour-long anime unto itself. For folks wondering where Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Riders will sit in the series storied lore, here’s a plot synopsis for the show:
“After the decline of the once robust fields of science and technology, a new energy source known as magic fuels the modern era,” the official description reads. “Humanity creates forbidden biological weapons: Gears. Those Gears eventually stand against humanity in a rebellion. Although they manage to overcome in the struggle for survival known as the Crusades, humanity’s losses are so great that even after several decades pass, their emotional wounds remain unable to fully heal.
“Sin Kiske, the child of a human and a Gear, heads to his father Ky and mother Dizzy’s wedding ceremony. Their wedding breaks the ultimate taboo: a union between a human and a Gear. Even with the world at peace, it took many years for such a ceremony to come to fruition. Despite the complex array of emotions surrounding it, the wedding ceremony is met with blessings. When suddenly, a mysterious girl appears… The fated child inheriting Gear blood–and the mysterious girl who despises Gears. Their meeting would shake the world.”
In our review of Guilty Gear Strive, we gave the game a 9/10, saying, “Guilty Gear Strive sets a new standard for anime-like fighting games with its visuals, stellar netcode, and flexible fighting system that encourages and rewards creativity.”
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
PlayStation has announced a new line of collectible figures called The Shapes Collection which includes franchises such as God of War, Horizon, and Ghost of Tsushima.
Revealed on the PlayStation Blog, the six inch figure collection will premiere with an Aloy figure from Horizon Forbidden West for $49.99. It’s a “deluxe collector grade figure with 42 points of articulation and 12 different accessories including multiple face plates and alternative hands.” The figure will be released in August 2024, with preorders now available.
Coming soon after in The Shapes Collection is Kratos and Atreus from God of War Ragnarok, Varl from Horizon Forbidden West, and Jin Sakai from Ghost of Tsushima. These figures have between 24 and 34 points of articulation depending on the model, and two to four different accessories each. Preorders will open on July 15, 2024 for this second wave, with shipping beginning in September.
“[The figures] are based on the actual digital sculpts used for the game, something you can really see in the final result,” said Horizon developer Guerrilla Games’ lead character artist Arno Schmitz. “We made sure the many articulation points made sense and even the finest textural detail shows up on the figures.”
Creative director at Ghost of Tsushima studio Sucker Punch Jason Connell chimed in too. “Jin’s Ghost armor has so many beautiful details, including intricate fabric patterns and overlapping armor plates that are integral to the design of his character,” he said. “In addition to his katana, it’s also always important to us to see all of his various Ghost tools represented to capture his different fighting techniques.”
PlayStation didn’t reveal if further figures would be released down the road, but as these four just scratch the surface of its wealth of franchises, it’s perhaps likely. Other potential figures could include Ellie from The Last Us, Nathan Drake from Uncharted, Spider-Man from, well, Spider-Man, and more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
There’s nothing quite like the first time you explored Skyrim. From the moment you narrowly escape your grisly execution in Helgen and emerge into the legendary RPG’s vast wilderness, it’s an adventure that allows you to go anywhere and everywhere with no limitations, and it’s this sense of sheer freedom that’s had millions of players returning to its cold, untamed landscape for over a decade.
But after spending years exploring the many different versions of Skyrim that have been released, it’s safe to say we’re all looking for some new games to scratch that fantasy adventuring itch. So, to ease the wait until we get an official follow-up in the long-anticipated Elder Scrolls 6, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best games in the same vein as Skyrim that you can play right now.
1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
An obvious one to kick us off, but one of the best places you can go to get an experience similar in style and scope to Skyrim is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The fourth game in Bethesda’s landmark RPG series, Oblivion may be Skyrim’s predecessor, but it still has all the components that made its younger sibling such a hit.
Casting you as a prisoner who finds themselves in the center of a conflict involving demonic gods, fiery doors to a hellish plain and the murder of Tamriel’s emperor, you set forth across the land of Cyrodil on a daring adventure. Along the way, you’re free to explore this realm however you see fit, completing quests, allying with factions and building your character with new skills, weapons, armor sets, spells and more.
Simply put, it’s more Elder Scrolls, and a great way to continue your journey through Tamriel while you wait for Elder Scrolls 6. As for where and how you can play it, it’s available on PC and can be played through the Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One’s backwards compatibility feature.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The poster child of the Nintendo Switch and one of the best fantasy RPGs ever made, you really can’t go wrong with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo’s acclaimed reinvention of its seminal series really has it all: a secret-filled open world to explore, a range of physics-based systems that you can toy with to battle enemies and navigate precarious terrain, phenomenal quests, a stunning art style, and much, much more.
Breath of the Wild is a game that never holds your hand. It lets you loose into a fully explorable Hyrule, sets you up with some essential tools and, from there, you’re free to do what you please. Whether you want to scour the land for lore tidbits, climb to the peak of the tallest mountain or even head straight into the final boss room, everything is available to you from the moment you make your descent from the Great Plateau.
It gives you the reins and lets you do whatever you see fit. If you’re looking for a game that has the same freedom and unguided exploration that makes Skyrim so compelling, Breath of the Wild is a perfect substitute. It’s available exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can also jump straight the sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, but you’ll get a similar experience.
3. Dragon’s Dogma 2
One of the more recent releases on our list, if you’re looking for a big, sprawling RPG that puts exploration at the forefront, Dragon’s Dogma 2 could be a great pick. Spread across two realms, Vermund and Battahl, Dragon’s Dogma 2 drops players into the boots of The Arisen: a player-created warrior whose heart has been stolen by an ancient dragon.
Tasked with finding and killing this dragon, they embark on a quest across a vast, untamed world. Much like Skyrim, the true draw of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is its heavy focus on exploration. Its world is full of secrets to uncover, and with monsters patrolling every inch of its map, you’ll quickly amass organic stories as you clash with colossal foes and survive dangerous encounters by the skin of your teeth.
It’s also a deep RPG with various classes to master, a wide range of weapon types and armor sets, and a unique party system where you can recruit allies created by other players. All in all, it’s sure to satiate those hungry for a massive fantasy RPG on the scale of Skyrim. It’s available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC.
4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
In the pantheon of 100-plus hour RPGs, Geralt’s quest to stop the Wild Hunt in The Witcher 3 is a top-shelf pick. Set in a morbid, Slavic-mythology-inspired world of monsters, magic and shady politics, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is often lorded as one of the best RPGs ever made and for good reason. It boasts a giant open world filled with difficult battles, morally gray choices that affect the outcome of quests and an engrossing story to follow.
You play as Geralt: a gruff, white-haired, yellow-eyed mercenary searching for his surrogate daughter, Ciri. His quest will take him on a perilous journey, where he’ll face mythical monsters and evade the ever-present threat of the spectral warriors known as the Wild Hunt.
Much like Skyrim, The Witcher 3 sets you up with the basics and then releases you into a lore-rich fantasy world untethered. Whether you want to live the bounty hunter lifestyle, taking on contracts to kill monsters while ignoring the main quest, or face the Wild Hunt head-on by following its supremely well-written story, it puts the control in your hands. The base game and its two sizable DLCs are well worth a playthrough once you’ve conquered everything Skyrim has to offer. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC.
5. Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Moving away from high-concept fantasy and into the more grounded world of a realistic medieval epic, another game that manages to capture the sense of unbridled freedom Skyrim offers is Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Quickly becoming a cult hit when it launched in 2018, Kingdom Come: Deliverance tells the tale of a blacksmith’s son on a quest for revenge.
Set in Bohemia in the 15th Century, the story follows an apprentice named Henry living in a small village. After his parents are brutally murdered during a Cuman invasion, Henry is forced to flee, entering the service of Lord Hanush of Leipa and pursuing the men who killed his parents. From here, the game lets you loose on a giant open world complete with authentic medieval locations to explore, a range of open-ended quests which react to your decisions and an intricate battle system to master.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an experience that focuses on immersion, from its high-stakes battles to its range of survival mechanics, which task you with managing everything from food and sleep to your hygiene and armor degradation. If you’re looking for something a little more involved than Skyrim or an RPG with a more grounded setting, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is definitely worth a look. It’s currently available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC.
6. Elden Ring
One for fans of a challenge, Elden Ring is a punishing game, but one that’s more than worth the blood, sweat and tears it takes to roll credits. FromSoftware’s latest serving of bleak RPG goodness is simply one of the most gratifying RPGs ever made, and that’s not just because beating some of its most challenging bosses makes you feel like you’ve just gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Elden Ring just fundamentally masters the art of exploration, from hiding routes to brand new areas off the beaten path to burying useful rewards for those who choose to search every nook and cranny. No area is meaningless; no detour is fruitless. It makes you feel like you’re charting your path across a living, breathing world. A dying world that takes pleasure in crushing you beneath its boot, definitely, but one that rewards your curiosity all the same.
With the game’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion now available, there’s never been a better time to play. So if you’ve finished Skyrim, are looking for a new world to explore and don’t mind getting eviscerated by a giant lobster or two, The Lands Between could be worth a visit. Elden Ring is available on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
7. Fallout 4
Granted, it’s the furthest thing from a fantasy RPG, but if you’re done with Skyrim and want something that shares its design philosophies, Bethesda’s work on Fallout 4 naturally has a lot in common with The Elder Scrolls series. It’s a massive open-world RPG that focuses on letting you build a unique character, explore sprawling environments and complete quests. The major difference is that you’ll be shooting big green mutant abominations while listening to alternate-history corporate propaganda instead of casting spells at mud crabs.
Taking the series to Boston, Fallout 4 sees a new vault dweller, known as the Sole Survivor, embark on a mission to save their kidnapped son from a mysterious faction known as The Institute. Much like Skyrim, that mission is just one of the many objectives scattered throughout the Wasteland, and you’ll be able to explore freely without an invisible hand guiding you down any single path. It’s a great way to get an experience that shares the same DNA as Skyrim with a post-apocalyptic twist. Fallout 4 is playable on PlayStation, Xbox and PC and remains one of the best Bethesda games available.
8. Dragon Age: Inquisition
Bioware’s most recent take on the sprawling fantasy RPG, Dragon Age: Inquisition is another big ol’ fantasy RPG that offers over 80 hours of gameplay to sink your teeth into. Tasking you with saving the realm of Thedas from mysterious rifts opening in the sky, you’ll lead a faction known as The Inquisition as you explore a series of massive open-world maps, defeat monsters and uncover a new Dragon Age story.
Much like Skyrim, Inquisition allows you to build a character, pick their class and race, and then set forth on your adventure. As you journey through the game’s various worlds, you’ll add new party members to the Inquisition while completing a range of quests and making choices that affect the story, your keep and Thedas as a whole.
In essence, it’s another meaty fantasy RPG to play after you’ve wrapped up Skyrim, and there’s never been a better time to get stuck in, with Dragon Age: The Veilguard slate to launch later this year. Dragon Age: Inquisition is available on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
9. Baldur’s Gate 3
On a gameplay front, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Skyrim don’t share much in common. Baldur’s Gate is a top-down CRPG that focuses on strategic fights, carefully constructing a party of characters with complementary abilities, and completing quests by using your chosen party’s list of stats and skills.
However, Baldur’s Gate 3 is arguably one of the best introductions to CDRPGs out there, and a must-play for those who enjoy a big, expansive fantasy RPG like Skyrim. Its world is a carefully curated expanse of tactical combat, engrossing storylines and outstanding quests, the latter of which react and evolve to your choices, leading to a playthrough that feels distinctly tailored to you. But the biggest boon of all is how it freely allows you to play your way.
From giving you the option to mix and match a mind-boggling number of classes, races, backstories and more in the character creation screen to giving you free rein with how you approach and complete quests, Baldur’s Gate 3 encourages you to experiment and tinker with its systems to your heart’s content. If you liked how Skyrim never pointed you in a direction or forced you down a set path, Baldur’s Gate 3 is going to be a game you get along with. It’s available on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
10. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning
A cult classic brought back to life through its 2020 remaster, Kingdoms of Amalur is a great pick for those who’ve wrapped up their time with Skyrim and are looking for a new fantasy RPG with fun combat, a huge world and plenty of quests to complete. The story takes place in the world of Amalur, with the player taking on the role of the Fateless One: a corpse brought back to life by the Well of Souls, severing them from fate.
After waking in a pile of bodies, they embark across a realm known as the Faelands in hopes of stopping a destructive force fated to eradicate Amalur’s people. Along the way, you’ll be able to build your character, pick a class and freely explore the Faelands, completing quests, delving into dungeons and bringing down formidable threats. It’s available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.
11. The Forgotten City
The Forgotten City is a unique entry on this list because it actually started its life as a Skyrim mod. However, it doesn’t take long to see why it was given the full game treatment. The Forgotten City’s story starts in modern-day Italy, as you wake on an island and discover you were brought to shore by a mysterious woman. After a brief conversation, you search a strange ruin in the center of the island and, somehow, are transported back in time to Ancient Rome.
It’s a killer set-up, but it only becomes more compelling when you realize this city is stuck in an eternal time loop, and whenever a mysterious law known as the “Golden Rule” is broken, the loop resets. From here, the Forgotten City takes the base fundamentals of Skyrim and uses them to craft a completely different type of experience. The Forgotten City is, at its core, a detective game; one that tasks you with talking to citizens, learning more about the Golden Rule and uncovering clues to solve its underlying mystery. It’s almost entirely devoid of combat, and that makes for a game that somehow doesn’t feel like Skyrim at all while retaining the game’s inherent DNA.
If you’re looking for something akin to Skyrim that plays with the formula and tries something wholly different, The Forgotten City is more than worth a look. It’s available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.
12. Outward
Another one for the fans of a hardcore adventure, Outward is an RPG that casts players as a regular, everyday person instead of some prophecised warrior fated to save the world. Their initial task is simple. Pay off a debt hanging above their head within five days. However, it quickly spins into a large-scale open-world epic, as the player crosses the land of Aurai, faces tough threats and contends with the elements to survive.
What sets Outward apart is its focus on realism and consequence. It includes various survival systems, which force the player to contend with hunger, sleep and the harsh environment around them, while quests and other objectives can fail if they aren’t attended to in time. There’s no fast travel in Outward and, in the place of a standard respawn system, you cannot die, instead triggering random events that move you around the map.
In short, it’s a game with a ton of interesting systems, and one that’s well worth a look if you’re searching for Skyrim’s sense of open-world exploration with a few twists to keep things interesting. Outward is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC.
13. The Elder Scrolls Online
Another obvious one, but if you’re ready to move on from Skyrim, why not continue your Elder Scrolls experience with a few friends? As the name suggests, The Elder Scrolls Online is an MMO take on the series, allowing you to visit various realms across Tamriel while completing a laundry list of new quests.
From Skyrim and Cyrodil to Morrowind and Highrock, there are a lot of returning locations for longtime fans of the series, as well as some brand new locales to explore, including the Khajit homeland of Elsweyr and the High Elves’ home of Summerset. Along the way you can tag along with other players, bringing down enemies, completing missions and building your own unique characters.
If you’ve exhausted everything Skyrim has to offer and want more Elder Scrolls, The Elder Scrolls Online is a surefire bet, especially as the game has been updated with a multitude of DLCs over the years. The Elder Scrolls Online is available on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
Callum Williams is a freelance media writer with years of experience as a game critic, news reporter, guides writer and features writer.
Elden Ring developer FromSoftware has released the first hefty game update, Version 1.12.3, following the release of Shadow of the Erdtree, which reduces the strength of overpowered weapons.
Detailed on publisher Bandai Namco’s website, the patch includes several changes and bug fixes including the reduction of power of several weapons deemed too strong.
The Smithscript Dagger and Smithscript Cirque have both had their throwing attacks’ range increased too, slightly compensating for the overall damage reduction. The full patch notes are available below.
In our 10/10 review, IGN said: “Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single player expansions,” we said. “It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark RPG, condenses it into a relatively compact 20-25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Update 1.12.3 Patch Notes
PvP-exclusive balance adjustments
Decreased the damage and damage animation of the shearing vacuum effect of the “Swift Slash” Skill.
General balance adjustments
Increased the Intelligence scaling of the Carian Sorcery Sword and slightly decreased the base damage.
Extended the throwing attacks range for the following weapons:
Smithscript Dagger / Smithscript Cirque
Changed the placement of the bosses in the re-fight against the Golden Hippopotamus and Commander Gaius bosses to be in the same position as in the first fight.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks Skill to deal more damage than expected.
Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks and Wall of Sparks Skills to deal no damage while some special effects were applied to the player.
Fixed a bug where some special effects of a right-handed weapon would also be applied to the following Weapon Skills when cast with the left hand:
Feeble Lord’s Frenzied Flame
Discus Hurl
Fixed a bug where successfully guarding while attacking using the Thrusting Shield weapon type would consume less stamina than intended.
Fixed a bug that prevented players from cancelling the attack recovery of two-handed strong attacks by rolling for certain weapons of the Backhand Blades weapon type.
Fixed a bug that caused the Lightning Perfume Bottle and Frenzyflame Perfume Bottle weapons to deal double damage under certain circumstances.
Fixed a bug where the Arcane scaling of the Bloodfiend’s Arm weapon was higher than intended when setting an affinity. The status buildup of the heavy attack was also reduced.
Fixed a bug where the Faith scaling of the Gazing Finger weapon was not being applied correctly.
Fixed a bug where the damage animation of some attacks of the Fire Knight’s Greatsword against players was different than expected.
Fixed a bug where the attack affinity of some attacks of the Fire Knight’s Greatsword were different than expected.
Fixed a bug that caused some affinities for the following weapons to be higher than intended:
Smithscript Dagger
Smithscript Cirque
Smithscript Axe
Smithscript Greathammer
Smithscript Spear
Golem Fist
Smithscript Shield
Fixed a bug that caused enemies to heal when the Maximum HP reduction gradual HP reduction effect applied by Black Knife Tiche wore off.
Fixed a bug that caused summoned NPCs to behave differently than expected under certain circumstances.
Fixed a bug that where the unblockable bite attack of the Golden Hippopotamus boss would connect with players more easily than intended.
Fixed a bug that caused text to display differently than expected.
Several other performance improvements and bug fixes.
Possible unstable performance fixes
For the PS5 version of the game, unstable framerate may be improved by using the “Rebuild Database” option from the device’s safe mode.
In some PC versions, Ray Tracing may be unintentionally enabled and cause unstable performance. Please check the Ray Tracing setting in the “System” > “Graphics Settings” > “Raytracing Quality” from the title screen or in-game menu.
In the PC Version, the message “Inappropriate activity detected” may appear without cheating.
To fix this issue, please verify the integrity of the game’s files before restarting the game.
In the PC version, unstable framerate may be caused by third party applications that control mouse behavior. Deactivating these third party applications may improve performance.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Playing with nostalgia-laden imagery from the early 2000s, Zenless Zone Zero sees developer HoYoverse pivot gracefully from the fantastical settings of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail into an enticing urban dystopia. It’s a universe where you’ll duke it out in glitzy real-time fights as a trio of streetwear-clad agents, solving simple puzzles as their handler between battles to help them navigate a labyrinth of encounters – and that’s before you get to the carousel of social side activities layered on top. A mouthful of tasteful influences combine into something effortlessly stylish but also a bit inconsistent, occasionally undone by a lack of depth. Yet Zenless Zone Zero got its hooks into me regardless; its relentless charm compelled me to keep fighting, one combat puzzle or bowl of ramen at a time.
Zenless Zone Zero takes place in a world where monster-filled pocket dimensions called Hollows have devastated civilisation. While much of humanity has been wiped out, the cyberpunk bastion of New Eridu survives through a fraught codependence with the Hollows and the valuable resources found within. You play as either Belle or Wise, a brother-sister hacker duo with a knack for navigating this dangerous territory, tackling commissions from a roster of lovable rogues searching for their next big score. It’s a unique and gritty setup that, while convoluted at times, kept me engaged by testing my strategic intuition across a smorgasbord of challenges I became hungry to best.
Your brawling excursions embark from the retro tech-strewn backroom of the siblings’ video rental store, where you’ll pick from an impressive roster of unlockable agents to make up a three-person party and then dive into the perilous Hollows, trading success for XP and upgrade resources. The review build provided by HoYoverse ahead of launch gave me access to all of the currently available agents, and I soon found an affinity for the ones from a faction called Victoria Housekeeping, thanks to their charming British inflexions and battle maid outfits. My personal favourite of the bunch, the shark-tailed Ellen Joe, swipes and slashes with an icy blade, stacking elemental debuffs on enemies and dropping blase quips in the process. While the makeup of your dream team will largely be in the hands of the Gacha Gods, as characters are unlocked through the genre’s usual method of randomized pulls, it’s handy that story missions allow you to try out the cast without the need to pull them first.
Despite how intense it can seem in motion, Zenless Zone Zero’s combat is forgiving and approachable. You have a basic attack and a dodge for timely escapes from signposted attacks, as well as the ability to swap to other agents to avoid scrapes, parry, or compound their combos. Building an enemy’s daze meter leads to a persistently satisfying chain attack, a slo-mo quick-time event where your colleague swoops in to lay the smackdown. Basic and ultimate abilities round out each character’s combat options, though like any good action game, there’s plenty of variety available through the combination of timely button presses and latent passives.
Districts are full of details that make them a joy to explore.
Challenging boss encounters surfaced to test my reflexes, though I rarely felt overwhelmed as long as I could connect the dots of my combat strategy and juggle incoming attack patterns to keep different enemy types at bay. Intricate build-tinkering systems, difficulty options, and endgame content help raise the skill ceiling for challenge-hungry players, but Zenless Zone Zero seems content to stay out of your way if you just want to simply pick it up and do some flashy moves. Elegant animations footnote most of your attacks, down to the way domestic demon Van Lycaon gracefully lowers his metal heels after a kick. Ultimately, the focus is on indulging the fantasy of fighting with one of Zenless Zone Zero’s wonderfully designed and passionately voice-acted characters rather than rivaling the likes of Devil May Cry with its combat nuance – a tradeoff I’m comfortable with, even if it means less mechanical depth.
Unfortunately, the dazzling combat is undermined by an overabundance of hacker puzzles meant to signify the link between your team of agents and the proxy guiding them through the Hollow from back home. You’ll be kicked into a labyrinth of chunky CRT monitors between pockets of combat, pushing a little avatar around to trigger mechanisms that lead to your next checkpoint or encounter. The fuzzy aesthetics of this mode are delightful to look at, but the process feels arbitrary and murders the momentum. After marching through walls of screens, I started seeking out the next encounter as fast as possible to boost my morale and return to the frenetic action sequences that actually make Zenless Zone Zero compelling.
That hefty loop of taking on commissions and then venturing into the Hollow to complete them could easily be all there is and it wouldn’t feel scant, yet surprisingly, it only accounts for half of what’s here. The other half is a life simulator where you’ll roam cosy suburbs, manage your heroes’ Blockbuster-esque business, and maintain relationships with locals through dialogue-driven side stories across an atmospheric day-to-night cycle. While not strictly an open world, Zenless Zone Zero’s stunning districts are thoughtfully dressed with environmental details that make it a joy to explore. From rusty riverside kiddy rides to messy bedrooms and vandalised backstreets, there’s attention paid everywhere you look that helps centre you in this fashion-forward science fiction world.
Once the initial excitement of exploring Hollows started to settle, I became drawn to all the extracurricular activities I had at my fingertips. Stocking my video store turned into the nexus of my daily routines, as each morning, I’d start by pairing eclectic videotapes from my collection with the genre demands of the public. After that, I’d need to venture outside in search of better merchandise, completing tasks for locals like solving quirky riddles or taking editorial pictures in order to earn my VHS reward. That symbiotic process worked well to funnel my attention toward the different social activities, not to mention the money provided by running my business certainly helped fund my story mission exploits.
This side of Zenless Zone Zero isn’t quite as focused as something like the Persona series it’s so clearly inspired by, so there are some dull spots, but it offers an engaging workload for players to log in and tackle on a daily basis nonetheless. All of your activities are tied together well via a helpful submenu called the Inter-Knot, which let me find my rhythm amid all of the options I was handed. This in-game, everything app quickly became my best friend, taking on the role of job finder, social media platform, and, most importantly, scheduling tool, ensuring I wasn’t completely paralysed by the overwhelming prospect of what to do next.
I enjoyed shirking my pressing responsibilities by chasing high scores at the Godfinger Arcade, whose moreish snake and spelunking minigames stole an embarrassing amount of my time. But the funny and sometimes profound substories left the biggest mark, reminding me of the human stakes in this world. One side quest involves a homeless robot whose ghostly silhouette scares a local citizen, leading to a surprisingly moving crossed-wires situation. Easily forgotten in a sea of adorable shopkeepers and in-game currencies, the underlying frailty of Zenless Zone Zero’s post-apocalypse is always in frame. Overarching themes of displacement and corruption come through in the cinematic story and the design of its city wards, which range from dilapidated to gentrified.
Given the unusually generous nature of HoYoverse’s review build, it was difficult to get a clear picture of how Zenless Zone Zero’s progression systems will feel long-term, but nothing I’ve seen looks wildly out of line with the developer’s other gacha games. Still, it’ll be illuminating to start again on a new account at launch and get accustomed to the grind in a more organic live service setting (and we’ll be sure to update this review if things are unexpectedly out of line). Regardless, I forged a strong attachment to this rich world and its cosplay-friendly characters by the end of a main story that easily takes dozens of hours to complete, and left feeling that this ambitious pivot certainly lives up to the high standards set by Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.
I’ve spent every evening the past week reuniting with a dear old friend. Super Monkey Ball and I were inseparable back in the GameCube days, but we grew apart when the series traded in its perfect blend of devilish challenges and finely-tuned physics for bland level design and imprecise motion controls aimed at a more casual audience – so you can imagine my apathy when Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble’s initial announcement focused so heavily on the uncontrolled chaos of its 16-player online battles. But I’ve never been happier to be wrong, as tucked away inside Banana Rumble is the greatest set of traditional Super Monkey Ball levels the series has seen since the GameCube originals, backed up by tight mechanics that give me the complete control I needed to overcome its demanding late-game obstacles. Monkey Ball is finally back, and now all I want to do is roll.
Banana Rumble’s impressive set of 200 courses is divided into 20 cartoony worlds containing 10 stages apiece. In classic Monkey Ball fashion, the setup is delightfully simple: You have 60 seconds to roll your monkey from the start to the goal, but the hurdles between those points change radically across the adventure. The opening stages aren’t too challenging, smartly acquainting you with Banana Rumble’s mechanics so you’re ready to go when it does turn up the heat.
As a certified Super Monkey Ball 2 master, I had no trouble with the first 80 levels or so. But they’re still a joy to roll through, as I had to deal with curves, ramps, rails, switches, and bumps reminiscent of the level design seen in the excellent Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2. Plus, speedrunning is a classic element of the originals, and it was a ton of fun to see how rapidly I could blast through levels that don’t demand too much precision, like stages where you can slam dunk into the goal with a perfect launch right from the start if you know what you’re doing. I realized pretty quickly that Banana Rumble was a return to form for the series, and I had the best time rolling through the early levels while bopping to the wonderful GameCube-inspired soundtrack.
That breezy feeling didn’t last long, though, as Banana Rumble does not hold back in its second half. The 10 EX worlds unlocked after completing the main story delivered on all the Monkey Ball challenge I’ve been begging for the series to bring back. Suddenly, I was dealing with grueling stages that truly tested my monkey mettle, from crazy rotating contraptions to invisible tilting seesaws to the narrowest of walkways you have to carefully tiptoe across, Banana Rumble is constantly introducing new challenges and smart twists on old ones. Some of the final levels took me dozens of attempts, and there’s nothing quite like the feeling when my main monkey AiAi finally breaks through that one elusive goal. In fact, I’ve been so engrossed in completing every stage Banana Rumble has to offer that one night I couldn’t even be bothered to get up to turn the lights on after it got dark outside, so I was sitting in complete darkness rolling my monkey around until well past midnight. Totally worth it.
Chaos, Controlled
That fantastic stage design and variety means nothing unless it feels right, and Super Monkey Ball nails it for the first time in decades. While it may look like you are directly moving your orb through each course, Super Monkey Ball is actually about controlling the stage, not the monkey. At its best, the control stick is aligned 1:1 with the angle of the stage, giving you pinpoint-precise command over how the terrain tilts – and in turn, how your monkey rolls through it.
2021’s Banana Mania (which remade all the levels found in Super Monkey Ball 1, 2, and Deluxe) should have been a home run as it returned to the best stages in series history, but the controls were so sluggish and imprecise that it made them overly frustrating at best and borderline unplayable at worst. Exact controls are a necessity for the toughest levels, and Banana Rumble handles so well that whenever I fell off the stage it almost always felt like my fault, which inspired me to improve on the next run. Banana Rumble even offers extensive control options for both the stage and the camera, so I cranked every possible setting to the max and found that gave me the expert level of control I was seeking. The physics aren’t entirely perfect – sometimes I didn’t get the level of bounce I expected when dropping from a high ledge – but this is still easily the best-feeling Super Monkey Ball since the first two.
This is easily the best-feeling Super Monkey Ball since the first two.
Banana Rumble has also finally ditched the series poorly-implemented jumping mechanic (if I’m tilting the stage and my monkey is trapped in a ball, why would they be able to jump?) in favor of an exciting new spin dash, which takes a page from Sonic the Hedgehog and lets you charge up and release a quick burst of speed. Whereas the jump never amounted to more than a gimmick in past games, the spin dash is a genius evolution of Monkey Ball’s core mechanics. It’s only mandatory in a handful of levels, but almost every single stage has some sort of shortcut or exploit that’s only possible to pull off thanks to this new ability.
A properly-aimed spin dash can catapult your poor monkey across the map in the blink of an eye, and it’s a speedrunner’s dream to uncover all the ways to take advantage of this smart addition. Banana Rumble rewards players who understand the mechanics and level design with optional routes hiding in plain sight that require expert skill to reach, and it adds a lot of replay value to an already packed adventure.
Banana Split-Screen
Multiplayer has been welcomed back to the main game, which was shockingly missing from the last two entries. You can tackle all 200 stages with up to three other players in split-screen local multiplayer or online co-op. Playing with others online is pretty seamless – I played through the entire campaign online with a friend and we never had a disconnect. Banana Rumble also runs at a very smooth 60 FPS when playing alone on Nintendo Switch, and it maintains that level of performance when you add online play into the mix. The frame rate takes a slight hit in split-screen, but not to the point where it feels unplayable.
Playing with others turns Banana Rumble into a surprisingly strategic cooperative experience. Everyone begins the stage at the same time, and only one player has to complete it in order for the group to move on. This also makes each level’s optional missions easier to complete: Every stage tasks you with collecting a certain number of bananas, completing it in under a certain number of seconds, and finding the hidden golden banana which often requires a high-level technique to snag. Assigning one person to get to the goal as fast as possible while the rest seek out bananas adds a fun layer of planning to the whole experience. I even had fun tackling levels online with random players, as I helped some Monkey Ball rookies clear some easier worlds and worked with others to grab some tricky golden bananas in later stages, using encouraging emotes and phrases to cheer my teammates on. I only wish Banana Rumble also included a more traditional Challenge Mode where you take turns and work through all of the levels individually at your own pace.
One issue with online multiplayer is that it kicks all of you out of a party after you complete a world, so I would have to share a new lobby code with my friend every single time we wanted to keep playing. Additionally, when working through the adventure mode online, Banana Rumble doesn’t show you the story cutscenes, meaning if you want to know what’s going on with AiAi, MeeMee, Baby, GonGon, and their new friend Palette, you’ll have to either play locally or catch up on all the cutscenes in the gallery after the fact. I don’t play Monkey Ball for the story – and the story here is extremely basic and barebones anyways – so I actually preferred not seeing the cutscenes so we could get straight to the stages, but it does feel like a strange omission.
Banana Rumble’s biggest monkey’s paw wish is its aforementioned battle mode. Longtime Super Monkey Ball fans know how iconic legacy party games like Monkey Target and Monkey Bowling are, but there’s nothing here that held my attention for more than a couple minutes. The five modes all feel extremely shallow and uninspired, with so few maps in rotation that I felt like I’d seen everything they had to offer after less than an hour. There’s generic racing, banana gathering, and bomb passing that feel like cheap knockoffs of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s battle mode. I’m guessing others feel the same way, as it took me several minutes to find a match with a full 16 players just a few days after launch. The performance also takes a serious hit in battle mode, reducing the smooth 60 FPS of the adventure mode to a choppy slideshow at times. Local multiplayer comes with its own set of limitations, as you can’t play battle mode online with two people on the same system, and three-to-four player battles aren’t even an option locally.
The five battle modes all feel extremely shallow and uninspired.
But even if you completely ignore Banana Rumble’s undercooked battle mode, there’s still so much to do here. I’ve already completed all 200 stages, but I’m nowhere close to finishing all of the stage missions – some of which I’m still scratching my head at as I try to figure out how I’m supposed to grab dozens of bananas and make it to the goal in time. There are hundreds of cosmetic items to buy with in-game points to style your monkey, too. I’m a simple man, so I bought AiAi’s classic orange T-shirt from the original games and called it good, but it’s cool how many outfits and accessories are available for Banana Rumble’s 12 playable characters (or more, if you get the optional SEGA Pass that adds Sonic the Hedgehog and friends to the mix).
Tekken 8 director Katsuhiro Harada’s official X/Twitter account has quickly become the fighting game community town square thanks in part to his extra long behind-the-scenes trivia posts and occasional Waffle House asides. Harada’s latest bit of Tekken lore dump put to bed a long-running fandom perception that Tekken devs have always hated Anna Williams.
In an impromptu Q&A X/Twitter post, Harada responded to a fan’s question about the relationship dynamic between Nina and Anna. In his 1,317-word response — which was written during his lunch break — Harada also addressed the community rumor about Tekken devs hating Anna by stating the exact opposite.
“By the way, there is a small group of people who believe that Anna is not loved by the development team and they even say that Anna is hated [by the] dev team,” Harada wrote. “Well, it doesn’t matter, Because it’s NOT true at all, but the Anna portrayed in the story of TEKKEN is filled with a lot of thoughts and feelings from me and the animation staff.”
For those unversed in the melodramatic soap opera that is fighting game story modes, Tekken’s long-running narrative can be boiled down as a family drama playing out in a series of high-stakes martial arts tournaments. While the epicenter of the series’ familial beef involves the Mishima family’s ever-increasing family tree, Anna and Nina Williams serve as Tekken’s tertiary rivalry. Some FGC players have felt Tekken developers heavily favor Nina as the series’ golden child in that rivalry and view Anna as its black sheep.
Much of the Tekken fandom’s perception of Anna being disliked by its developers was instilled by the number of times Nina would trounce Anna in a myriad of cutscenes and win quotes throughout the series. This perception also wasn’t helped by the fact that Nina Williams is more often than not guaranteed as a launch character in Tekken game rosters, including Tekken 8. In contrast, Anna was allocated as a DLC character in Tekken 7 and has yet to be announced in Tekken 8.
In the post, Harada revealed that he mainly worked on the development of Anna in Tekken 3 and that he personally created the names of her moves.
“Originally, Nina was very popular with players since the beginning of Tekken. There is a yin and yang to things, and Anna’s popularity was often contrasted with Nina’s,” Harada said. “Back in Tekken 1 and 2, many mid-boss characters were ‘convertible character’ to other characters, but we wanted to make Anna from Tekken 3 as unique as possible to gain popularity.”
Harada also acknowledged the gap in the sister’s popularity throughout the years and took the position that even when Nina outshines Anna like a one-sided episode of Tom and Jerry, the team made sure Anna’s charms shone through for players.
“For this reason, Anna’s settings in the game reflect the feelings of the people in charge of Anna on our development team. For example, Anna’s settings include the following: “Anna is tired of losing not only the battle with Nina, but also the popularity ranking in the Iron Fist Tournament. I believe that was the very sentiment of those of us in charge of Anna (myself, the animation team, and the modeling team),” Harada added.
Harada concluded his huge Anna and Nina Williams lore dump with a list of triva about their relationship that basically doubled down agaisnt the miconception that Anna is completely washed in compasioson to her sister. Here are some of the notable bits of pro-Anna trivia:
Anna is a better cook than Nina
Anna is better at darts
Anna is better with heavy weaponry like an anti-tank rocket launcher
Nina only assassinated Anna’s fiance in Tekken 7 (and stole her wedding dress) because her would-be hubby had a “very dark side” that Anna wasn’t aware of. Nina is also awaiting a thank you from Nina for the trouble.
In our review of Tekken 8, we gave the game a 9/10, saying, “Tekken 8 is an incredible evolution for the series, with tons of single player content, an excellent suite of training tools, a great online experience, and exciting new mechanics that make Tekken more dynamic than ever.”
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
