The Witcher 3 now has REDkit, a comprehensive and advanced modding tool for PC that enables the creation of DLC-sized mods.
All who own Witcher 3 on PC can now download REDkit through GOG, Epic Games Store, and Steam. On Steam, it features Steam Workshop integration.
Here’s the official blurb:
Developed and implemented by Yigsoft with close collaboration from the CD PROJEKT RED team, The Witcher 3 REDkit offers a plethora of advanced features as well as full Steam Workshop integration, making publishing — and using — mods easy for both creators and casual players. As a repurposed, reworked, and extended codebase of REDengine 3, it gives modders unparalleled freedom in creating new quests, characters, locations, and more. Today’s release was accompanied by a trailer that features some of the modding possibilities contained within the tool as well as an overview of its major features.
The Witcher 3 #REDkit is now available for free for all owners of the game on PC!
As a player, you’ll soon be able to enrich your time in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with a wealth of new content created by the community!
The hope is these modding tools will breathe new life into the nine-year-old Witcher 3, and may even spark a collaboration that results in a DLC-sized mod akin to the Fallout London mod for Fallout 4. To coincide with the release of REDkit, Witcher 3 on PC gets an update that enhances the modding experience and supports Steam Workshop and DLC-style mods. The patch notes are below:
Witcher 3 REDkit update patch notes:
Enabled Steam Workshop. Manage your mods with ease on Steam! We’ve integrated the Steam Workshop support into The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. While Steam users can still use Nexus Mods or whatever modding platform they like, they now can install any mod available on the game’s Steam Workshop with a single click. Just find the mod you like, click “Subscribe” and it will install automatically!
Added Steam Workshop support for DLC mods (mods that include completely new content).
Added support for an easier way to add new world IDs in mods.
Added full support for loading DLC mods – fixed an issue that occurred when loading additional content from mods.
CD Projekt announced REDkit in November 2023, saying “it will allow you to create your own experiences in the game by making something completely new or editing existing quests and content.”
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.
It feels like a thousand years have passed since Princess Peach first summoned Mario to the seedy city of Rogueport to hunt for the legendary treasure that sleeps beneath the town. In reality, it’s only been 20 since Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door graced the GameCube, but it seems longer because the Paper Mario series has abandoned its traditional turn-based RPG battles ever since. The Thousand-Year Door rapidly faded into legend, kept alive by the spoken word of longtime Nintendo fans who clung onto hope that it would one day open again.
Finally, that patience has paid off, as the Nintendo Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the definitive version of this classic adventure. It unquestionably justifies why the original is so treasured, pairing a faithful recreation of one of Mario’s most iconic quests with a set of welcome additions and modern improvements that keep it feeling fresh off the printing press even two decades later. Just as Princess Peach tells Mario he MUST come to Rogueport, I’m telling you that you MUST play The Thousand-Year Door.
From its opening moments to the end credits, it’s still impressive how distinct this RPG feels from any other game in the wide Mario universe. The surprisingly gritty world of Rogueport and its surrounding towns, a lovable cast of offbeat partners Mario recruits along the way, and an Indiana Jones-style race between Mario and the scheming X-Nauts to unlock the secret behind the sleeping door give this journey an unforgettable identity that has passed the test of time with flying colors.
It helps that the Switch remake is absolutely gorgeous, with lovingly redone character models and dazzling environments that fully commit to the original’s papery, storybook aesthetic. It’s always a joy to look at, and the lighting in darker environments like Hooktail’s Castle, Boggly Woods, and Twilight Town is stunning. It maintains 30 frames per second very consistently, as I only noticed slight framerate dips in moments where the screen is flooded with hundreds of characters at once, but that doesn’t happen often so it never really bothered me. The revamped soundtrack is similarly amazing, with outstanding updated versions of the original tunes and new battle theme arrangements specific to each location.
The sharp, laugh-out-loud script is consistently as funny and charming today as it was in 2004.
The exciting premise and artistic world are backed up by a sharp, laugh-out-loud script that’s consistently as funny and charming today as it was in 2004. The Thousand-Year Door wastes no time setting its comedic, irreverent tone: Just minutes after Mario sets foot in Rogueport, he’s witness to the town’s high crime rate as members of the Pianta Syndicate get in a brawl with their rival Robbo Thieves in the background. Almost every character does or says something hilarious that also serves the excellent worldbuilding, like the evil, cackling spirits who are convinced they’re cursing Mario for all eternity, when they’re actually blessing him with a useful upgrade. Side characters like those from the Pianta Syndicate and Robbo Thieves constantly intertwine with Mario’s journey, and some folks even email life updates to his Game Boy Advance SP-like phone with adorable photos of themselves attached. How thoughtful!
Small interludes also stand out, like ones where you play as Princess Peach while she’s held in captivity by the X-Nauts or as Bowser as he searches for the mythical treasure with his moronic band of minions. Some story elements from Princess Peach’s segments haven’t aged super gracefully – it plays up the fact that she has to take off her dress not one, not two, but three separate times across less than 30 total minutes of Peach gameplay – but it’s still fun to see how she assists Mario from afar. The Bowser sections offer a glimpse of how the King of the Koopas comically mismanages his dysfunctional army when he’s not getting tossed around by Mario.
Another clear highlight is bumping into Luigi throughout Rogueport, where he updates Mario on his parallel misadventures in the Waffle Kingdom. Mario can’t even stay awake to hear the whole story (poor Luigi!), but I love soaking up every word of it. This remake enhances the endearing dialogue even further, as developer Intelligent Systems replaced the generic typewriter text sound from the original with an amusing Animal Crossing-like babbling noise unique to each character type. It’s an impressive touch that shows a willingness to go above and beyond to polish this beloved tale.
Mario’s quest to collect the Crystal Stars before the X-Nauts do is the backdrop for each of the eight chapters, but some of the most unforgettable moments come from within the smaller stories that pop up. For example, one Crystal Star is the crown jewel of a wrestling championship belt, kicking off an incredible sequence where Mario – dubbed by his promoter as “The Great Gonzales” – climbs the ranks in the Glitz Pit’s cutthroat pro wrestling world. Every chapter has its own flavor like this, and it’s always delightful to see where Mario and friends will end up next.
It’s Dangerous to Go Alone… Take Partners!
Speaking of friends, Mario’s party of seven partners is one of The Thousand-Year Door’s greatest strengths. Each character you recruit has a well-defined design and personality: Koops is an insecure, shy Koopa who musters up the courage to travel with Mario to avenge his father, while Goombella is a smart, sassy student at the University of Goom who’s interested in archaeology. Every chapter provides some backstory for the new companion it introduces that’s generally very sweet and oftentimes strikingly mature and emotionally resonant, which highlights how the series hasn’t managed to match their quality since.
When exploring, each partner helps out in a unique way: You can kick Koops’ shell to hit far-off switches, while Yoshi significantly increases your speed and can flutter across gaps. The remake’s new Partner Ring lets you change characters on the fly in the overworld, making some late-game puzzles that require lots of partner switching much snappier. And, there’s a robust new hint system you can access at any time where Goombella will tell you exactly what to do next. Some quests are a little bit obtuse at times, like when it’s unclear who exactly you need to talk with to advance the story, so that was a nice fallback that ensured I never got stuck.
Partners also fight alongside Mario during The Thousand-Year Door’s excellent turn-based battles. Paper Mario’s trademark Action Commands are here, where you deal more and take less damage if you properly time the correct button presses. But The Thousand-Year Door takes it much further than basic jumping, hammering, and blocking, spicing up its battles with a great Badge-based upgrade system and electric live audience so I never got tired of fighting at any point during the 30-hour campaign.
Collectable Badges – which are hidden throughout the world and on sale at Rogueport’s Lovely Howz of Badges – let you customize Mario’s abilities however you want as long as you have enough Badge Points to equip them. There are over 80 Badges to choose from: Some give Mario powerful new types of jump or hammer attacks, like the Quake Hammer, which attacks all non-flying enemies with one big smash. Other badges impact Mario’s stats, like the P-Up, D-Down Badge that boosts attack power but sacrifices defense. I turned my Mario into a glass cannon, to the point where perfect Action Commands disposed of enemies in a flash, but any mistake led to him taking serious damage. As a Paper Mario pro, I loved turning up the heat with my Badge builds to create more of a high-risk, high-reward balance, and it’s always fun to mix and match to try out different combinations if anything starts to feel stale.
Pumping up the crowd is one of the coolest mechanics I’ve ever seen in an RPG.
It’s the live audience, though, that truly pushes battles to the next level. Lots of Nintendo games are presented as stage plays (a tradition going back to Super Mario Bros. 3 and most recently seen in Princess Peach: Showtime!), but The Thousand-Year Door has my favorite implementation of this idea. When a fight begins, Mushroom Kingdom citizens frantically rush into an auditorium to watch it unfold on stage, cheering when Mario does well and leaving early when things go poorly (are they trying to beat traffic?). Hecklers threaten to pelt Mario with rocks and stage lights or fog machines might malfunction during the battle, requiring a timely block.
Balancing fighting with appealing to the crowd is so dynamic, and it’s even more entertaining when you pull off the Stylish Moves that add flourishes to attacks and make the crowd go wild. Mario can backflip after pulling off a Hammer attack, or Koops can breakdance after rushing through a line of enemies in his shell. Pumping up the crowd through well-executed Action Commands and Stylish Moves fills up Mario’s special attack meter, and it’s one of the coolest mechanics I’ve ever seen in an RPG. The fights aren’t especially difficult – with the exception of some late-game bosses and optional challenges like the returning Pit of 100 Trials – but keeping track of all the mechanics at play during battle meant I never fell into a repetitive rut where I stopped having to think. If you love punishment, the Double Pain Badge doubles the amount of damage Mario takes, but besides that there aren’t traditional difficulty options to be found here. On the flipside, if you’re a Paper Mario rookie and want to improve your skills, the new Battle Master Toad hanging out in most towns lets you practice your Action Command timing whenever you like with no penalty for messing up.
There and Back Again
The Thousand-Year Door’s one major flaw I wish this remake had done more to fix is the main quest’s overreliance on backtracking. Most areas have two major points of interest separated by several linear pathways, and the campaign frequently forces you to travel back and forth between them multiple times over the course of a chapter.
Adventures on the pirate island of Keelhaul Key and in the spooky Twilight Town are especially bad about this. These chapters make Mario travel all the way to the edge of an area, realize he doesn’t have the means to progress further, walk back to the town he started in to get something, then return, and so on. It’s about as much fun as realizing you forgot your wallet as you pull into the movie theater parking lot. The new Partner Ring means your trusty Yoshi steed is more accessible than ever, so at least it’s quicker to run back and forth than it was on GameCube, but that’s a half measure when it comes to fixing the level design, which is noticeably outdated in a remake that otherwise feels pretty modern.
I do wish more had been done to fix the overreliance on backtracking.
To its credit, Intelligent Systems made several changes to at least somewhat address the backtracking problem without fundamentally changing the original’s design. In Keelhaul Key, a helpful new spring shortcut means you only have to do an annoying section of precise Yoshi platforming once, rather than every time the chapter asks you to go back and forth across its screens. So they removed the painful part, but not the actual trek.
It’s not as if major changes were unthinkable, because The Thousand-Year Door has some big ones elsewhere, the best of which is its revamped Warp Pipe Room. This fast-travel hub opens up underneath Rogueport a few chapters in, and it’s a total game changer for quests that make you revisit previous locations. In the original, the only way to get to the Glitz Pit was to ride the blimp all the way on the far side of Rogueport. Now, there’s a pipe that zips you straight there, and it’s conveniently labeled in a room filled with pipes that lead back to the central locations from every chapter. Similarly, longtime fans will remember that Chapter 7 contains a particularly ridiculous quest that requires revisiting every major town in the world, but with the help of the new-and-improved Warp Pipe Room I was done with this mission in less than 10 minutes. It wasn’t a particularly stellar 10 minutes in terms of actual entertainment, but it was a lot less tedious than what I’d been braced for.
Even if solutions like this feel like putting makeup on a blemish that we all can tell is still there,I respect the decision to keep this remake extremely faithful, and the combat, story, music, and graphics are so much fun that I really don’t mind the back-and-forth exploration too much. And thankfully, you don’t see any tedium in the fantastic dungeons, which are packed with interesting puzzles, collectibles, and epic boss fights that shake up the usual battle conventions in interesting, cinematic ways. Mario also learns clever paper abilities throughout the campaign, like turning into a paper airplane or rolling up into a tube, and those open up new shortcuts and secrets in the Rogueport Sewers to give exploration an almost metroidvania-like feel at times.
Outside of the main campaign, the entirely optional side quests are your pretty standard RPG fetch-quest fare. Sometimes they’re good for a laugh, like a mouse who asks Mario to whack him with his hammer over and over again until he remembers something important, but from a reward standpoint they’re largely skippable because they mostly give you items or coins that can easily be found elsewhere. I also dislike the side quest system: Mario can only accept one at a time from Rogueport’s Trouble Center, and you must solve or abandon it before taking on a new task. If this remake is already trying to make things more convenient, why not let us take on multiple quests at once to cut down on the number of times completionists will have to walk back and pick up a new one? As it stands, they don’t seem worth doing… with the exception of one extremely worthwhile reward I won’t spoil here.
Australia is already notoriously riddled with creatures that can kill you, from the snakes and spiders that can surprise you in the shower to the sharks and stingrays that circle our shores. Still, that hasn’t stopped developer Weforge Studio from drafting in a malevolent monster from another dimension and inserting it at the very top of the Aussie food chain in Macabre, a co-op ‘stealth extraction horror’ adventure that aims to fuse the bowel-loosening cat and mouse thrills of Alien: Isolation with the gadget-based teamwork of Phasmophobia. After a brief hands-on with a very early build of the game, I can attest to the prowling predator’s stalking prowess since I didn’t actually get a good look at the beast until it was suddenly dragging me through the snow-capped forest setting and knitting a sickening scarf out of my entrails.
“To start with you are very helpless, and this thing’s going to terrorise you and tear you apart,” says creative director Jay Topping. “It’s not like this dumb meandering thing, the way that it interacts with the player is that at first it’s cautious, then it gets closer and [once] you’re out on your own it’s gonna start [picking you off].”
The core gameplay loop of Macabre, which in its current pre-Alpha form takes place in and around an alpine lodge setting inspired by Australia’s Snowy Mountains region, sees up to four players investigating a mysterious rift in time and completing objectives provided by an exceedingly Australian guide named Banjo. In order to survive, players must scavenge for materials like batteries, electrical tape and old mobile phones to craft makeshift gadgets that both detect and distract the interdimensional assailant that hunts them from the shadows.
The map itself is marked with ominous trails of blood and shadows that appear to be either cast by the branches of the surrounding snowgum trees or the spindly limbs of a quadrupedal murder beast depending on how much you trust your fluctuating paranoia levels. Meanwhile, the map layout is randomised each time you enter it, further heightening the sense of panic and disorientation as you try to evade a deadly killer that silently studies and gradually learns to anticipate your behaviour. Yet although it’s effectively four against one, it’s worth highlighting that Macabre is not an asymmetrical horror experience like Dead by Daylight, and its monsters are solely AI-driven.
“When you play games like [Dead by Daylight], I think you lose a bit of the mystery and magic that comes with an AI-controlled monster,” says Topping.
“Player-controlled stalkers learn popular strategies from other players that make it repetitive, but they also mess around and do stupid shit, which really ruins the immersion. So the biggest inspiration [for Macabre’s monster] is Alien: Isolation where it’s constantly adapting and changing. You can’t just hide in the same closets or cabinets, eventually it’s going to figure out that you’ve hidden that same cabinet three times [in a row], and it’s going to come and kill you.”
While its core development team is based in Sydney and its initial map is inspired by Australian terrain, Weforge Studio’s plan for Macabre’s roster of deadly destinations is to expand beyond its southern hemisphere starting point.
“These rifts are kind of like portals, bubbles of time, that have popped up all over the place and they’re interconnected,” says Topping. “So while [Macabre] starts in Australia, it can kind of go anywhere including [destinations] beyond our own dimension.”
The key is that each map will have to offer its own gameplay point of difference beyond mere texture swaps in order to consistently evolve the experience. One example given by Topping is the remote Australian outback town of Coober Pedy, an arid, desert area once featured in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome where residents build their homes in caves bored into the sandstone hillsides, which would serve as an ideal subterranean setting for a highly claustrophobic form of terror. Another potential Macabre map would be one located in China’s Kowloon Walled City, a densely populated slum that would bring a greater sense of vertical scale to the stealth horror.
“Kowloon Walled City would offer a great [visual] contrast of really dark areas and really bright neon-lit areas,” says Topping. “But its twisting corridors would also allow us to have a creature that runs around above you, below you, and in the walls.”
“It would be terrifying.”
The monster itself will apparently adjust its form and behaviour to suit each location, meaning that the unnatural enemy you encounter in the Australian Snowy Mountains won’t resemble the beast you encounter in say, a Mayan temple in a South American rainforest. In fact Topping compares it to the alien from John Carpenter’s The Thing or Pennywise from Stephen King’s It in the way it adapts to each environment. According to Topping, its ability set will also randomise along with the map elements each time you start the game, and that will determine which gadgets from your expanding list of blueprints you’ll need to craft.
“You’re not just dealing with the same thing every time,” explains Topping. “In each map there are different artifacts to find, and the combination of artifacts that are in there unlocks the abilities for that specific monster. You might go in and it will be moving super quietly and it’s invisible for most of the time, then [you’ll] need to [craft] this tool, this tool, and this tool [in order to combat it].”
Ultimately, we’re not just trying to create one game; we’re trying to create a universe.
However, the interdimensional apex predator isn’t necessarily the only monster that players will have to contend with, as Weforge Studio is currently brainstorming ways for players to betray other players, potentially by steering them into the claws of the beast and then pilfering the loot off their freshly dispatched corpses.
“[In a way] that sounds like a good idea, but [the risk] is that you get into a realm where everyone is going to kill each other, and so why would they ever trust each other?” says Topping. “I think the feeling that we want to create is something like [social deception survival game] Dread Hunger where everyone works together, but in the back of their mind they’re kind of like… are we working together?”
“Our end goal is to create the feeling of… you’ve got the main monster and then you’ve also maybe got all these other little monsters around you [in the form of your fellow players], and you can’t ever be completely sure if you should trust what everyone else is saying.”
Exactly why the rifts have appeared and exactly what sort of dark forces are behind them is a mystery at this point, and at this stage Weforge Studio is keeping mum about the actual ‘extraction’ part of the experience – it’s not clear whether the goal is to gather resources and safely extract yourself from the area, or eventually somehow trap the monster and extract it along with you. However, what is clear is that Topping and his team have no shortage of ambition as far as the Macabre experience goes, and have apparently got a lengthy narrative backbone constructed that extends beyond just one game.
“Ultimately, we’re not just trying to create one game; we’re trying to create a universe, like a Tolkien universe,” explains Topping. “Maybe [Macabre] is like The Hobbit and we’ll [eventually] get to The Lord of the Rings, you know? It would be so cool to build out a world around this so that it doesn’t just end at this game. There’s so much more that we want to discover.”
Weforge Studio has just launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the development of Macabre, which is now live on Kickstarter. But it’s not just financial support that the team is seeking, but the feedback from fans to help shape the scope and design of the Macabre experience.
“The idea with the Kickstarter is that we want to get community involvement,” says Topping. “And I think we also want to do that during Early Access as well. Because ultimately, we can make a game for ourselves but [there’s no point] if no one’s there to play it.”
“So we want to hear what people want to see. We’ve set the parameters, the [template] of these [maps that] you can play in. Where do you want to go?”
Even in its early state there’s a lot to like about Macabre and it’s strong potential for serious scares, and I’m certainly keen to see how it – like its main monster – continues to shapeshift and surprise as it progresses deeper into development.
Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor at IGN AU. He’s more afraid of social media than he is of murderous beasts from another dimension, but on the rare occasions he does tweet you can find him here.
Paradox has delayed its The Sims-style game Life by You once again, but this time there is no new release date to go along with it.
Paradox announced Life By You in March 2023 as a new entry in the life sim genre from its Paradox Tectonic studio. At the time, an early access launch was planned for September, but the game was delayed to March 2024 to improve various elements.
Life by You was delayed a second time in February to June 4. Now, just two weeks before that planned launch, Paradox has delayed the game for a third time. In a statement, Mattias Lilja, deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive, said additional development time was needed and that it had held off announcing a new release date because when it does finally do so again, it wants to be sure it will hit it.
Here’s the statement in full:
After much consideration, we regret to announce that we have decided to retract Life by You’s Early Access release date, previously set for June 4th. This was not an easy decision, especially since we understand the anticipation and excitement that many players have for the game. However, we believe that additional development time is needed.
While we would have preferred to commit to a new release window, we believe it is more prudent to hold off while we plan ahead, rather than committing to a new date that we cannot be certain to meet.
We will provide more information as soon as possible, until then we want to sincerely thank you for your continued support and patience.
Paradox is having a tricky time following the disastrous launch of city builder Cities Skylines 2, which it is still working to sort out. Paradox has also delayed jail sim Prison Architect 2 a number of times, the latest to this September after the discovery of “unexpected issues occurring too often.” The Paradox-published Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has endured a troubled development, although a release date now looks in sight.
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.
Microsoft has reportedly approved a new game from Hellblade 2 developer Ninja Theory and has no plans to close the studio.
Windows Central reports that this new game from the Cambridge, UK-based developer is in addition to Project Mara, the already announced upcoming psychological horror game that takes place entirely in a single upscale apartment. There are no plans whatsoever to close the studio any time soon, Windows Central added. IGN has asked Microsoft for comment.
Microsoft today releases Ninja Theory’s Hellblade 2 four-and-a-half years after it was announced and six years after Microsoft bought the studio, bringing it into the Xbox Game Studios fold. IGN’s Hellblade 2 review returned an 8/10. We said: “Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is another Viking-worthy feast for the senses that meets the high bar set by its predecessor, even if it never really manages to clear it.”
Yesterday, a day before launch, Ninja Theory studio head Dom Matthews issued a heartfelt statement to fans, expressing gratitude for their support, along with the development team for working on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.
Some have expressed concern for Ninja Theory after Microsoft shocked the video game world by announcing the closure of a number of Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Redfall developer Arkane Austin. The cuts come as part of sweeping layoffs announced earlier this year that affect 1,900 staff at Microsoft’s gaming business.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has indicated that Microsoft’s gaming cuts are the result of a video game market that is failing to grow amid rising development costs, but Spencer and other Xbox executives are also reportedly under pressure to make cuts following the company’s $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.
In an email to staff sent by Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft blamed the Bethesda cuts on a “reprioritization of titles and resources.” In the email, first reported by IGN, Booty said: “we are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games.”
Earlier this month, Xbox president Sarah Bond responded to questions about Microsoft’s decision to shut a number of much-loved studios, insisting it was about ensuring the Xbox business remains healthy for the long-term during what she called “this moment of transition.”
Microsoft is set to host an Xbox showcase event in June as well as fully unveil the next mainline Call of Duty game, Black Ops 6.
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.
Watching Senua emerge from a shipwreck onto the shoreline bruised, bloodied, and struggling to breathe immediately drags us back into the depths of desperation and despair of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II’s psychosis-affected lead from the outset. What follows is a supremely taut, six-hour tour across the human realm of Midgard that’s conveyed through staggeringly vivid action sequences, stunning Nordic-inspired locations, and intense encounters with towering terrors intimidating enough to make a Viking mess their furs. Hellblade II serves up another satisfyingly brutal and consistently enthralling heroine’s journey, even if its streamlined swordfighting favours cinematic spectacle over substantial gameplay depth.
Although it’s been some seven years since Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, the events of Hellblade II take place shortly after the original’s vengeful highway to Helheim, with Hel’s belle now feeling empowered by her psychosis rather than encumbered with it. (Suffice it to say, if you’re jumping into Senua’s story here then the included story recap is mandatory viewing.) However, after the Icelandic slave ship she stows away on is wrecked during a severe storm, survivor’s guilt sees her prior struggles with self doubt reemerge to clash with her own stoic sense of justice, setting her down another gripping and tortured path towards battling both her own inner demons and the bloodthirsty monsters roaming Midgard as they take human and mythical forms.
Senua is joined along the way by a handful of human companions, including a shackled slave master who begrudgingly accompanies her on her path and a settler she saves from a sacrificial altar. None of these supporting characters are given enough screen time to really develop much of a personality beyond the surface, but I appreciated having them along for various parts of the quest since their incidental conversation felt like a far more organic method to process exposition than the superimposed live action vignettes of the first game.
I completely bought into her determination to battle through the fear and self-loathing.
It’s the battle-scarred Senua herself who is the star, though, portrayed to stirring effect by Melina Juergens, returning from the still gorgeous original game now in near-photorealistic form. Juergens is a truly courageous and compassionate presence, and I completely bought into her determination to battle through the fear and self-loathing, from moments where she’s paralysed by anxiety through to shocking outward bursts of blood-boiling rage.
Hellblade II once again takes Senua to some dark and disturbing places, but the sequel’s environments have been painted from a broader colour palette than the mostly bleak backdrops of the original. Sure, you’re still forced to hold your breath during crawls through heinous pits of blood and gristle and infiltrate marauder camps decorated with gruesome bouquets made out of human bones, but these darker moments are contrasted with peaceful mountain treks beneath beautiful coral-coloured skies and jaw-dropping glimpses of aurora borealis so vivid you can almost smell the steamed hams cooking in Principal Skinner’s kitchen. The impressive lighting and fog effects employed throughout bring added depth to each destination, making for a journey that feels grounded even as it shifts between reality and the haunting altered states that spill out of Senua’s psyche. The tradeoff is that Hellblade II runs capped at 30 frames per second on Series X, but I felt its visual design was gobsmacking enough to justify that limit.
Playing with headphones on is an absolute must.
These immaculate visuals are once again reinforced by first-class binaural audio design, and playing with headphones on is an absolute must in order to really appreciate the detailed environmental touches like flies buzzing around mutilated corpses and drops of water echoing in underground caverns. More importantly, the swirling voices in Senua’s head seem so close you can almost feel their breath on the back of your neck. This time around not only do these disembodied backseat drivers serve as the bickering angel and devil on Senua’s shoulders casting confusion over every decision she makes, but they also cleverly sow suspicion about the supporting characters around her, making it tough to know who to trust along the way to the story’s thoroughly cathartic conclusion.
En Garde in Midgard
Whereas much of Senua’s war in the original Hellblade was waged against demonic manifestations of the Northmen who raided her village and murdered her lover, in Hellblade II the majority of her foes are flesh and bone human warriors. This means that every attack you land feels all the more brutal, with Senua’s sword splitting surface wounds in her opponents’ skin that continue to bleed for the duration of battle, and enemy encounters can be brought to a viciously abrupt end by jamming Senua’s blade so far down their Nordic necks that they’d need to perform a Helheim-lich maneuver to cough it back up again.
Enemy encounters can be brought to a viciously abrupt end.
The combat camera is so tight on each conflict that every weighted blow lands with concussive force, and I was acutely aware of Senua’s knees buckling under her as I blocked an incoming series of powerful slashes. Dodging feels far more physical too, lurching you out of harm’s way but leaving you open to a followup attack in the brief moment it takes Senua to regain her footing, if you don’t manage to time it just right. Timing is also now more key to performing successful parries relative to the original, and the window in which to do so has been shortened to the point where I wasn’t able to just calmly deflect each and every enemy assault with Jedi-like consistency anymore. That made each fight feel like a little less of a foregone conclusion.
That said, while I remained consistently engaged in each ferocious and remarkably fluid fight to the death, I do wish the team at Ninja Theory had done a little more to build upon the fairly modest combat template established in the original Hellblade with what they’ve served up here. Admittedly, Hellblade II’s swift six-hour run time leaves little room to cram in a skill tree to flesh out or additional attack combos to unlock, but it does feel a touch familiar to play through another campaign with the same basic two-button mix of light and heavy sword slashes, as superbly animated as they may be.
If anything, Hellblade II’s fighting feels even further streamlined than the original, where Senua also has a guard-breaking melee attack. That’s been dropped entirely, with nothing to replace it. Meanwhile, her slow-motion focus ability, which was unlocked midway through the original Hellblade, is made available in this sequel virtually from the outset, with no further attack-altering abilities to be found for the remainder of the story. Hellblade II’s combat encounters are consistently menacing and muscular as new enemy types like flame-spitting cultists and nimble ghouls are introduced, but without any additional charged attacks or alternative weapons to wield my basic methods for overcoming each marauding mob remained mostly unchanged from start to finish – even on the hardest difficulty setting.
Hellblade II’s combat encounters are consistently menacing and muscular.
One combat change that I did appreciate, however, is the way Hellblade II limits each duel to one-on-one encounters. With no HUD to indicate incoming attacks and the whispers of warning from the voices in Senua’s head easily missed during the heat of battle, in the original Hellblade I often found myself getting stabbed in the back by an unseen offscreen assailant whenever I found myself outnumbered. Thankfully that’s no longer an issue here, and the way Hellblade II’s energetic direction brings new opponents seamlessly barrelling into frame the second another foe is violently dispatched successfully sells the illusion that Senua is stuck amidst a proper rough and tumble free-for-all, rather than the carefully choreographed turn-taking brawls of a Bruce Lee movie.
Speaking of direction, there are some exceptionally well executed sequences that revolve around murderous giants who have crossed over into Midgard from another realm and are hoovering up sacrificed slaves like they’re human-shaped snack bars. These encounters are urgent, desperate scenarios that put Senua through rigorous physical trials, and although they don’t ever actually put her in head-to-gigantic head conflict with one of the man-hungry monoliths, they still deliver some blood-pumping story peaks to Senua’s Saga that fill the void left by the absence of any traditional boss battles.
Norse Code
Hellblade II isn’t all life and death fighting, though, and as was the case with the original game there’s an equal amount of environmental puzzles to tease your brain as there are combat challenges to test your reflexes. At regular junctions the path forward will be blocked by a swirling, kaleidoscopic gate made of fractalized body parts – one of the most disconcerting images to be found in a journey packed to the brim with startling sights – and the only way to progress past it is by carefully lining up elements of the environment around you and resolving them into the shape of a specific symbol. I was a big fan of these perspective-based puzzles in the original Hellblade, and was happy to see them return here.
One mid-game stretch felt like something straight out of the PlayStation 2 classic, Ico.
In addition to a bit of Midgard Magic Eye, Hellblade II sprinkles in the use of torchlit braziers and bubble switches that each transform the terrain around you and open up new paths towards your goal. They’re effectively new spins on the landscape-altering portals from the previous adventure, and although they might not be quite as brain-bending to behold they’re still just as satisfying to solve. None of these environmental riddles are particularly taxing, though, and for the most part Hellblade II’s puzzles have seemingly been designed to momentarily stall Senua’s forward march rather than ever truly stump you, but there are still some stand-out sequences. One mid-game stretch that involved sharing Senua’s puzzle-solving torch with an unnamed spectral assistant on the opposing side of the arena was particularly inventive, and felt like something straight out of the PlayStation 2 classic, Ico.
Despite the wide-open appearance of its world, Hellblade II is every bit as much a linear adventure as the original. However, the lorestones that were hidden off the beaten path in the first Hellblade make their return here, triggering further teachings about the Northmen from Senua’s friend Druth, delivered with earnest gravitas by returning voice actor Nicholas Boulton. Supplementing the lorestones is a second new string of secrets: hidden trees of Nordic knowledge that can be stumbled upon by focusing on faces found in the world that then dissolve into hidden paths like one of the false walls in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. Neither give you any gameplay benefit but I still felt compelled to collect them, and unlike its predecessor, Hellblade II unlocks a welcome chapter select feature upon completion so that you can go back for anything you may have missed without having to replay the entire story from start to finish.
The games in question include Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind DLC, and Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece (which is a bundle pack that contains all the games just listed). In Kingdom Hearts parlance, this is known as the “Dark Seeker Saga.”
Square Enix notes that Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX will feature “textural updates to its graphics”, and that purchasing Kingdom Hearts III + ReMind DLC or the Integrum Masterpiece bundle will give players a new platform-exclusive Keyblade called “Dead of Night.”
Debuting as a PlayStation 2 game back in 2002, the long-running Kingdom Hearts is currently already available on PC via the Epic Games Store, as well as PS4, Xbox One, and Switch (via cloud gaming).
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.
Nintendo announced today that it’s acquiring Shiver Entertainment, the company behind the Nintendo Switch ports of Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat 1, and more.
The company said in a press release that it’s entered an agreement with Embracer to buy 100% of the outstanding shares of the Miami-based Shiver, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. Shiver was founded in 2012 and since then, Nintendo notes, “has partnered with publishers and developers through commissions for large scale title developments.” It was acquired by Embracer Group in 2021.
“By welcoming Shiver’s experienced and accomplished development team, Nintendo aims to secure high-level resources for porting and developing software titles,” the announcement reads. “Going forward, even after it becomes a part of the Nintendo group, Shiver’s focus will remain the same, continuing commissions that port and develop software for multiple platforms including Nintendo Switch.”
The announcement comes a couple of weeks after Nintendo confirmed that it’ll reveal its Switch successor console “within this fiscal year” – so, sometime before March 31, 2025. There’s no mention of the Switch successor (what’s largely been referred to as the Switch 2) in today’s announcement, but it’s still a potentially telling announcement as Nintendo gears up to unveil its future plans.
As mentioned, Shiver’s known for ports like Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat 11, and Mortal Kombat 1, as well as developing Scribblenauts Showdown. Some of its ports, like Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 11, have gone over well enough, although its Mortal Kombat 1 port was widely criticized.
Financial terms were not disclosed in the announcement, but Nintendo noted that the acquisition “will have only a minor effect on Nintendo’s results for this fiscal year.”
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Wingspan has quickly ascended in recent years to become one of the most popular board games. Not only has the delightful card-based engine builder made a home in the collections of more serious hobbyists, but Wingspan has also been found nesting in the board game aisles of major retailers like Target and Walmart. Wingspan isn’t just a financial success either; it’s also a critical darling. The base package is the recipient of numerous Game of the Year awards and is widely considered one of the best board games on the market.
For those who have yet to play a round of Wingspan, it might seem odd that a board game essentially centered around the somewhat niche hobby of birdwatching has captivated millions of players. Simply upon opening the box, however, it’s apparent how much love and attention has been paid to its construction. The passion of first-time game designer Elizabeth Hargrave is soaked into every component, from the hand-painted cards to the moss-covered dice tray designed to look like a bird feeder. Not to mention, but most importantly, the act of playing is simply fun. It’s perhaps cliché to refer to a board game as an accessible title that is difficult to master, but Wingspan perfectly embodies the sentiment with its mostly straightforward ruleset and wealth of advanced strategies.
Soaring sales numbers and a laundry list of accolades have led to several expansions and various iterations, adding more and more tabletop enthusiasts to the list of budding ornithologists. Wingspan’s expansions build upon existing strategies by adding even more birds from around the world with new mechanisms and abilities, but before exploring new habitats, players should first set their sights on the base game.
The Base Game
Wingspan
MSRP: $65.00
Age: 10+
Players: 1-5
Play Time: 40-70 mins
The Wingspan base game was released in 2019, and it remains a fantastic experience for solo playthroughs as well as get-togethers with friends and family. As noted in our Wingspan review, the box is stuffed with unique components such as hand-painted cards, a bird feeder-style dice tray, and pastel-colored eggs, as well as themed tokens, dice, and player boards. Everything needed for hours of single and multiplayer fun is included in this beautifully constructed package. The base game is also required for several of the expansions, making this an ideal starting point. Many of the birds included in this iteration of Wingspan are based on Hargrave’s real-life observations in Maryland, but the various expansions add species from around the globe.
New colorful scorecard for single and multiplayer scoring
15 purple egg miniatures
38 added food tokens
Custom storage tray
5 goal tiles and 1 reference tile
Rulebook
As you might have already guessed, the European Expansion adds birds from the continent of Europe to the Wingspan series. The 81 new bird cards are designed to shuffle directly into the original deck present in the Wingspan base game. The appeal isn’t simply just adding beautiful new cards to the deck, however. The birds within the European Expansion introduce new abilities to the game, many of which are designed to increase player interaction. To house and accommodate the stunning new components, the expansion also includes a new custom tray, extra food tokens, additional egg miniatures, and a colorful new scorecard.
While the European Expansion is the first add-on to be released, it isn’t necessarily recommended as the next package to pick up after Wingspan. It is certainly a worthwhile addition, but it doesn’t add as much new content or mechanics to the experience as more recent expansions. Completionists and those simply looking to add more bird cards to their decks certainly won’t be disappointed by the European Expansion, but due to the sheer amount of new game-changing content in subsequent releases, it might be wise to revisit this update after incorporating either the Oceania Expansion or Wingspan Asia… or both.
69 nectar tokens (a new food type introduced in the expansion)
15 yellow egg miniatures
5 new player mats and 5 new dice
4 goal tiles and 1 reference tile
Rulebooks and scorepad
The Oceania Expansion, Wingspan’s second add-on, primarily introduces new birds from Australia and New Zealand. Like the European Expansion, the Oceania cards are designed to shuffle right into the deck of the base game. Unlike the European Expansion, however, Oceania introduces a new food source and board to Wingspan that significantly changes the gameplay. Nectar, the aforementioned new food source, is unique as it serves as a sort of wild card that can be played in place of other food types. Another added twist is that unused nectar tokens are returned to the supply at the end of each round.
The Oceania Expansion also includes a new game board that not only incorporates nectar but also alters bonuses and requirements for playing cards in certain areas, resulting in even more eventful turns and a change to traditional strategy. These components, along with the new dice, essentially replace the original pieces in the base game when abiding by the expansion’s rules. Largely due to these gameplay updates, it is recommended to pick up the Oceania Expansion before the European Expansion as the cards in the latter will fold right into the deck and updated mechanics. That being said, there is still one additional expansion to check out.
Wingspan Asia
MSRP: $45.00 USD
Age: 10+
Players: 1-2 standalone or 6-7 when combined with base game
A turn-order dial for Flock mode which allows for 6-7 players
2 double-sided player mats for standard and Oceania rules
81 food tokens, 5 dice, and a birdfeeder board
An appendix, scorecard, and rulebooks for multiplayer and Automa play
Components for Duet and Flock modes such as tokens, goal tiles, swift-start guides
Wingspan Asia sets itself apart from the Oceania and European Expansions by serving as both an expansion and a standalone experience. The two-player Duet mode does not require the base game. It also plays a little bit differently than two-player Wingspan, adding a new map with bonus objectives to track throughout the game. Of course, like the other expansions, this Duet mode along with the additional bird cards can be tacked onto the base game, shuffling right into the core entry. As Duet mode adds a bit of unique strategy without further complicating the rules, it’s a welcome wrinkle for two-player games for those who are already enjoying Wingspan.
Flock mode, on the other hand, can get a bit messy and does require the base game. Without diving too deep into the rulebook, Flock mode basically makes it so two games of Wingspan are occurring at once. Honestly, it’s not the ideal way to experience the series, but that doesn’t mean Winspan Asia isn’t worth buying.
The Duet mode and new cards introduced in Wingspan Asia are well worth the investment by themselves. Not to mention, for those looking to solely experience Wingspan as a one or two-person game, there is an argument that this is an ideal starting point. That said, most will still likely want to start with the base game as it has the ability to play up to five. If you can manage to wrangle in more players, Wingspan is one of the best four-player board games, and it also plays exceptionally well at three players. As an expansion, the decision between Oceania and Asia depends on what you’re looking for and how much you’re willing to spend. Players who want the ultimate two-player experience and a standalone version may want to check out Wingspan Asia first, while other players looking to enhance the original game will likely want to plot a course directly toward the Oceania Expansion.
Other Versions
Wyrmspan
MSRP: $65
Age: 14+
Players: 1-5
Play Time: 90 mins
If birds still aren’t your thing, Wyrmspan offers many of the same mechanics as Wingspan, but with dragons instead. Those familiar with Wingspan will quickly catch onto Wyrmspan, but that’s not to say it’s simply a fantasy-themed reskin. For example, the introduction of the Dragon Guild card serves as an entirely unique idea that offers players who trigger the mechanic various bonuses. It’s a simple yet rewarding tweak that packs even more fun into turns without adding too many complicated rules to the core gameplay inspired by Wingspan.
Wyrmspan is a standalone game not at all compatible with Wingspan. That said, many of the components that make the original title great are also present here. Like Wingspan, Wyrmspan features incredible artwork, beautiful components, accessible rules, and deep strategy. Games run slightly longer than its predecessor and the added mechanics ever-so-slightly steepen the learning curve, but those interested in dragons—pretty much everyone, I assume—are encouraged to check out Wyrmspan. Read our Wyrmspan review for more information.
Digital versions of Wingspan as well as its Oceania and European Expansions are available on PC, Switch, and Xbox. On PC and console, the base game retails for $19.99 USD, while the Oceana and European Expansions go for $11.99 and $9.99 respectively. There are also mobile versions of Wingspan available on iOS and Android for $9.99 USD, with the European Expansion offered as an in-app purchase for an additional $9.99.
Additionally, Wingspan is available to play on Board Game Arena with a Premium Membership. For those unfamiliar with the site, Board Game Arena is a massive platform for playing board games online. While Board Game Arena does offer many titles for free, games like Wingspan are only accessible at the Premium tier. At just $3.00 per month (billed at $36.00 yearly), it’s a relatively inexpensive way to play hundreds of board games right from your computer. Of course, digital versions miss out on some of the social aspects of board games like Wingspan, but they’re great options for those who want to save a little bit of money and for nights when it’s difficult to get people together.
Bottom Line
Wingspan is a fantastic game for any collection. The various expansions each offer something unique, along with a ton of beautifully illustrated bird cards. For those who simply cannot get into the bird-watching theme, Wyrmspan offers a similarly fun time, but with dragons. Luckily, many of these titles can be purchased well under MSRP, especially the base version of Wingspan which can often be found on sale at various retailers like Target, Walmart, and Amazon, as well as your local board game shop. Make sure to stay up to date with our board game deals coverage to potentially help secure a great deal on Wingspan, its various expansions, and countless other great board games.
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Warzone roadmaps are officially here, with Activision promising a “huge selection of free content along with events, challenges, and Camos to unlock.” You can watch the launch trailer below and read the full overview right here.
The new roadmap includes additional info on the previously-teased Gundam collaboration, which will feature the original RX-78-2, Char’s Zaku, and Witch From Mercury’s Aerial. In addition, Activision is teasing a special secret collaboration, which already has fans speculating on the possibilities.
But the real headliner is Soap, who (sort of) returns in what Activision is calling an attempt to “honor his legacy.” Along with two new Operators named Hammer and Void, the Season 4 Battle Pass will include two separate Soap skins, one of which will be available immediately at purchase.
While Soap is a beloved character, some fans have mixed feelings about his inclusiion in the Season 4 Battle Pass.
“Once again, Call of Duty resurrect an objectively dead character purely so they can sell skins for him,” wrote YouTuber HiddenXperia. “Soap was literally shot in the head in MWIII’s (awful) Campaign, now he’s magically alive. I’m so happy I grew up playing CoD before it was ruined by aggressive live service.”
In the meantime, there will be plenty of new content to wade through with Modern Warfare III getting three brand-new core 6v6 maps, including one set in Tokyo. The new season will also feature Demolition, Hyper Cranked, and Havoc, new Killstreakers, and other additions.
On the Warzone side of things, Season 4 includes updates to the Urzikstan Bunker and the Gulag along with a new vehicle in the Polaris RZR. The Tactical Sprint Boots have caused some buzz among fans, offering an “unlimited increase in your Tactical Spring Speed, and a reduction in fall damage.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Warzone are currently slated to release May 29.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
