It’s Star Wars Day, everyone! In honor of May the 4th, this most auspicious day, let’s take some time to celebrate and honor one of the galaxy’s greatest heroes: no, not Luke, not Leia, not Rey or any of them. I’m talking about Lugubrious Mote.
You know, the flea that saved Luke’s butt from Jabba the Hut? That flea??? Come on.
This comes from 2020’s The Legends of Luke Skywalker: The Manga, and more specifically, the chapter titled The Tale of Lugubrious Mote. The story follows Luke and Leia’s rescue of a carbonite-frozen Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine, but presents a strange twist on what we know from Return of the Jedi. It introduces Lugubrious Mote, a mole-flea living on the back of Salacious B. Crumb, Jabba’s palace clown. Mote is intrigued initially by Luke’s recorded message to Jabba played by R2, and later by the appearance of Leia when she’s captured by Jabba.
(You can see the lil guy in the photo below – excuse the Android photo.)
Late at night, Mote makes herself known to Leia, and the two form a fast friendship. They stay up all night chatting, during which time Leia encourages Mote to put her faith in Luke. The next day, when Luke shows up to negotiate with Jabba in person, Mote is impressed with his heart, if not his overconfidence. She follows him down into the rancor pit, where Pateesa emerges.
In the film, this is the bit where Luke grabs a bone, shoves it in Pateesa’s mouth, and runs around a bit before shutting a closing gate on Pateesa’s neck, killing it. That’s still how the story plays out, but in The Tale of Lugubrious Mote, we learn this wasn’t Luke’s genius idea. Mote whispers to Luke as he runs around in a panic, and Luke hilariously mistakes the mole-flea for a Jedi Spirit guiding him. Mote steers him, Ratatouille-style, by nibbling on his head, letting Luke think the itchy scalp he has from a literal flea is Force tingles, and Mote’s instructions are just a Jedi Ghost. Every brilliant idea Luke has in that scene – every dodge, every clever use of a bone – is fed to him by Lugubrious Mote.
Ultimately, Mote feels fulfilled by the encounter, as she’s inspired by Luke’s hope, optimism, and confidence. But at the end, she asks Leia not to tell Luke about her, preferring to allow Luke to think he tapped into the Force during his encounter with Jabba and Pateesa. It’s not like Luke hasn’t used the Force before this point or anything, so it’s a little weird he doesn’t recognize the difference – but sure, whatever. In the end, Mote joins the circus, despite Leia’s seeming promise of an advisory position in her government nestled safely in Chewbacca’s fur.
Side stories like that of Lugubrious Mote are meant to be more fun than serious. The Star Wars universe is full of fun little tales about goofy characters doing silly things that often intersect in unusual ways with the main heroes of the films. It’s a big galaxy, after all – big enough for Jizz music, IG-88, the Max Rebo Band, and whatever Glup Shitto is.
Happy May the 4th, everyone! Justice for Lugubrious Mote!
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Forgotten Gems is a regular column about notable games that have moved out of the public eye and may not be easily accessible anymore. To see all the other games I’ve covered so far, be sure to check out the 11 previous issues of Forgotten Gems in our Columns section.
I can’t look at the box art for Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen without “hearing” Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen. From its iconic main theme to the cheers and jeers sounds when liberating towns, and the muffled “fight it out” and “thank you!” voice samples – it all comes right back. I haven’t played this – now sadly obscure – SNES strategy RPG in three decades, but booting up the dusty Japanese cartridge on my Super Nt instantly reminds me why I skipped pesky, non-essential things like sleep when I first brought it home.
Like so many things, my love affair with the Ogre Battle series started in 1993 during my college years in Japan. I had devoured Final Fantasy IV and V, and with the next installment in my favorite RPG series still a year off, I was looking for anything to fill the void. Ogre Battle’s cover art immediately called to me. No surprise, really – it’s the early work of a future master of character design: Akihiko Yoshida. You may not know his name, but you probably know Vaan and Ashe from Final Fantasy XII and have no doubt seen Yoshida’s art style in everything from Vagrant Story and Bravely Default, to Nier Automata.
Developed and published by Tokyo-based Quest, with support from Nintendo, Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen faced some tough odds: namely, a vibrant and crowded RPG scene dominated by Square and Enix (still two separate companies at the time). Yet somehow, this virtually unknown studio landed a critical and financial hit that instantly turned heads – and eventually led to Enix itself bringing the game to the US.
Is This the World We Created…?
If I had written this column a few months ago, as planned, I would’ve told you that Ogre Battle was both the start and the end of a sub-genre branch on the evolutionary tree of roleplaying games. Players don’t control a character or a party on an overworld map, they control multiple teams in real time. There aren’t any random battles. Instead, enemies move across the world in plain view, just like the player’s units. And when two groups bump into each other, the screen switches to an isometric display with the individual units duking it out in turn-based combat. But you’re not actually in direct control – battles are largely automatic, with the placement and classes of the characters determining their attacks and defensive moves. Instead, you assume the role of an omnipotent strategist, intervening with tactics changes and by playing magical tarot cards that you collect during the exploration phase.
It’s a bold departure from Nintendo’s slower-paced, turn-based gameplay in Fire Emblem and Square’s influential active-time battle system that was affecting the design of every other RPG in development. Although you can pause the action during both overworld exploration and battle screens, Ogre Battle feels fast and relentless by comparison, driving you to make choices and adjust your strategy on the fly like in a modern real-time strategy game.
On top of the combat and exploration elements, there is an economic element – freed towns earn you money that you need to finance additional unit deployments – as well as the clever, but sometimes hard-to-understand interconnected reputation and alignment systems. You can be more lawful and raise a character’s alignment by attacking enemies of higher level or of lower alignment, or descend towards chaos by picking on those of lower level or more lawful than you. Take too much time during your conquests and your reputation – known in the Japanese version of Ogre Battle by the awesomely flowery name “Chaos Frame” (later adopted by the localized sequels, too) – will drop by the day. Meanwhile, liberating or capturing towns with characters of high or low alignment will similarly influence your reputation in the world of Ogre Battle, which ultimately impacts what characters you can recruit and what ending you’ll get.
Despite the fact that you never directly control a singular character, each warrior has a detailed set of stats, including RPG staples like Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Charisma, Luck, and hitpoints, in addition to the aforementioned alignment. Plus, there are many different character classes – including powerful monsters that cause a lot of damage but cannot lead a party. It’s a surprisingly deep system, given that its main gameplay loop unfolds in real time. Well, accelerated real-time with different speed settings – and there’s even a day/night cycle that affects certain units. Have a vampire on your team? During the daytime, you don’t! You just have someone snoozing in a coffin who can’t attack. If that sounds daunting, know that it does take a bit of time to get into and understand it all, with even expert players trying to puzzle out all the nuances over multiple playthroughs on how to master the reputation system and get the best ending.
Sounds like the beginning of a new, lasting series that would surely be around forever, right? This is Forgotten Gems, remember?
Breakthru
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen sold more than half a million copies – a fifth of that via a PlayStation limited edition re-release some three years after its Super NES debut in 1993. But creator Yasumi Matsuno had big plans for his new roleplaying saga, even before it emerged as a surprise hit. March of the Black Queen is subtitled Episode V and was meant to be the first story in a seven story saga, with chapters I-IV acting as prequels.
As a newly-minted fan, I didn’t know all that and searched in vain for the previous games – there was no internet in the early ‘90s to tell me “five really means first”. But I also didn’t have to wait long for a sequel to Ogre Battle to be announced. But instead of a direct sequel and a sixth or a prequel episode, the next Ogre Battle game would be Tactics Ogre: Episode VII.
If you’ve played Tactics Ogre, you know it’s a huge departure from the original Ogre Battle in everything from the story focus on politics over high fantasy to its slower-paced, chess-like gameplay. Which may relate to a character trait of Matsuno’s that he himself has highlighted in interviews with the Japanese press over the years: he tends to get bored with his creations, even if players don’t.
Someone will make something better, so I’ll make something different.” — Yasumi Matsuno
Inspired by games like Solstice and Landstalker while finishing up development of Ogre Battle, Matsuno fell in love with the idea of making an isometric action game. That game idea morphed into a full-fledged pitch for an Ogre Battle Saga game called Lancelot: Somebody to Love, which would eventually turn into Tactics Ogre: The Bequest of King Dorghalla, before settling on the final, once again Queen-inspired, subtitle: Let us Cling Together.
Under Pressure
“Someone will make something better, so I’ll make something different”, Matsuno said in a 2018 interview with DenFamiNicoGamer when asked about the change from Battle to Tactics. “It may be a strange analogy, but the first Alien, which was made by Ridley Scott, and the second film, which was made by James Cameron, have completely different ‘tastes’, right? It changed from being a sci-fi horror movie set in space to an action and war movie. I really like that transition.”
“When making a sequel to Ogre Battle, I intentionally aimed to create a completely different style of game rather than a ‘2’. I didn’t have any particular proof, but I was convinced that hardcore fans would probably be more happy with that.”
Unfortunately, nobody really stepped up to make a “better Ogre Battle”. I was initially disappointed in the new direction the Ogre Battle series took by abandoning its real-time roots, but grew to appreciate it and the many games like it that have followed over the years (Final Fantasy Tactics, Octopath Traveler, and Triangle Strategy, to name just a few). Matsuno left Quest after Tactics Ogre shipped and joined the company he was initially competing with: Square. At Square, he would go on to make Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story, before moving on again to, erm, redder pastures, such as working on slash-fest MadWorld from PlatinumGames.
Don’t Stop Me Now
But despite its creator’s departure, the core Ogre series wasn’t over yet. Quest programmer Tatsuya Azeyagi replaced Matsuno in the director’s chair and led a team with Megami Tensei Gaiden designer Koji Takino to fill the gap between Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre. The game: Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber, the sixth chapter in the saga. Published by Atlus and Nintendo, the excellent and ambitious sequel featured polygonal maps and 3D-modeled, pre-rendered character sprites a la Donkey Kong Country and clocked in on the second-biggest N64 cartridge with 40MB/320 megabits, second only to Resident Evil 2’s 64MB cart.
If you’re up-to-date on Nintendo 64 history, the bigger the cartridge size, the bigger the risk for the publisher because cartridges had to be manufactured – and paid for – way in advance. That requires advance cash and can mean betting the studio’s future on a single game’s success. The result was that Ogre Battle 64 was impossible to find upon launch. It sold a more modest 200,000 units, but given the positive reviews and word of mouth, its fate was no doubt caused less by gamers not being interested and more by it not being available to purchase. I vividly remember the many frustrated letters we received at IGN64 during those days.
Quest needed money. It sublicensed Ogre Battle to SNK, who were looking for hot properties to adapt for the new NeoGeo Pocket Color handheld system, a capable and underappreciated competitor to the Game Boy Advance. The result was that Ogre Battle suddenly saw a bit of a renaissance. Two “side story” (Gaiden) games from two different developers followed Ogre 64 in quick succession: SNK’s Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia for NGPC and Quest’s own Tactics: Ogre: The Knight of Lodis for Game Boy Advance. Both games’ stories run parallel to the events in the very first game, Episode V, with the GBA title bridging the events between Episode V and VI.
All Dead, All Dead
The NGPC title – more of an imitation of the original than a game that could rekindle the flame – was a mere blip on the radar, while the GBA Tactics Ogre saw respectable sales, certainly for a strategy title, with more than 380k units sold through. Yes, it outperformed its 64-bit brother despite the GBA’s rich RPG and strategy library and a total lack of them on Nintendo 64. Was I the only one who preferred the classic Ogre Battles to the isometric tactics variety?
But what seemed like a rebirth actually proved to be the end of the line. In 2002, Square acquired Quest – and despite our wildest dreams of a reunited team working together to finally give us the first four chapters of the story, we only got a Tactics Ogre remake for PSP – and later, with very little fanfare, a new take on the same game again via a 2022 remaster called Tactics Ogre Reborn.
The Miracle
But before I leave you on another downer of an ending because nobody is working on another true Ogre Battle game (at least, that we know of) and somehow, neither the SNES original nor its N64 sequel are easily accessible, have you heard of Vanillaware? Well, the saints behind Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown seem to have a soft spot for Ogre Battle as well. Unicorn Overlord arrived as an absolute highlight for SRPG fans in early 2024. If you missed it, give it a shot! When it was first revealed in Nintendo’s September 2023 Direct, I had to do a double take because I genuinely thought it was a new Ogre Battle game.
So perhaps Matsuno was right all along – it just took a few years to get there. Somebody did make “something better” and a promising new RPG sub-genre continues under the banner of a new queen.
Where can you play it now?
But back to the classic Ogre Battle RTSRPG titles. In case you lost count, the 16-bit Tactics Ogre – which was never localized on Super NES – got a Saturn edition in Japan, then a translated wide release on PlayStation, then it was remade for PSP, and finally remade again in 2022 on everything but Xbox. Sadly, the original Ogre Battle was last seen in the west on the Wii Virtual Console in 2009, though Wii U and 3DS saw Virtual Console editions in Japan in 2013 and 2017, respectively. Ogre Battle 64 hit the Virtual Console on Wii in 2010 and saw a late release on Wii U in the US in 2017, as well. Neither title has seen multi-platform or compilation releases nor an announcement for Nintendo Switch Online. Given that Square titles have been entirely absent from Nintendo’s subscription service, it’s unlikely we’ll see them added anytime soon.
Which leaves the possibility of a future compilation – or, the old-fashioned way to legally play them on the platforms they were released on. Bad news, folks. The original Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen cartridge commands a price of almost $200 (loose) on eBay. Ogre Battle: Person of Lordly Caliber is a steal, by comparison, costing $100 for just the cartridge (no box or manual). A copy of Ogre Battle Gaiden for NeoGeo Pocket Color could be yours for just $30, on the other hand – and thanks to the new NGPC core and converter you can play it on the Analog Pocket’s gorgeous screen, too, if you own this fantastic retro handheld. In general, Japanese versions of all three Ogre games are way cheaper since more carts were manufactured, but know that you can’t switch the in-game text to English.
What about you? Are you interested in replaying either one of the three Ogre Battle games on a modern device? Or are you content with the torch passing to Unicorn Overlord as Square’s prime medieval-based strategy RPG series?
Peer Schneider heads up IGN’s Guides, Tools, and Map Genie teams and hopes to one day see Square bring back Matsuno to give us Ogre Battle: Episode I – The Show Must Go On.
Wizards of the Coast has released a new FAQ addressing the use of generative AI (GenAI)in Dungeons & Dragons and admitting it “made mistakes” in its lack of transparency regarding this use in its art.
The official D&D Beyond X/Twitter account made a post with a link to a new FAQ that aimed to “address how [Wizards of the Coast] assess and respond to generative AI concerns” regarding art commissions for both Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.
The Wizards team recognizes that transparency is critical in the face of evolving issues that affect the games we make, the people who create them and the community that plays them.
“Recently, we’ve had a few occasions where art used in marketing and game pieces has been publicly scrutinized, including for the possible inclusion of generative AI,” the opening paragraph of the FAQ reads. ” During this time, we’ve made mistakes while at the same time have also seen artists and their work misidentified as problematic in a variety of ways.”
The FAQ notes that Wizards of the Coast requires artists, writers, and other creative professionals who contribute to either or both games to “refrain” from using GenAI tools when crafting products. To combat those that may be using GenAI, Wizards of the Coast disclosed that it was “regularly evaluating resources” that could be used to detect when someone used generative AI.
The company also elaborated on why it may not respond to fans’ claims that GenAI may have been used in its artwork. One reason is that its internal investigation found the results inconclusive or that it made an internal decision not to work with an artist who used GenAI going forward but not publicly commenting to protect “the privacy of one or more individuals.”
This is not the first time Wizards of the Coast has been at the center of controversy for its use of Generative AI for artistic purposes. Last December, the company issued a statement reaffirming its anti-AI art stance after fans speculated that some of the art in the upcoming 2024 Player’s Handbook for Magic: The Gathering was because a dwarf was missing one of the arms, which is why the company used the technology in some capacity. A few weeks after the statement, the company disclosed that it used “AI components” in Magic The Gathering’s marketing artwork.
GenAI has become a hot topic in various industries in the last year. While some see the benefits of GenAI and artificial intelligence, others oppose the use of AI, especially in creative professions, as some may use it to displace people from jobs or potential work.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Yesterday, Viz Media announced the English release of a Magic the Gathering manga series called “Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated.” The manga’s physical release, due later this fall, will also come with an exclusive Magic card.
Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated, written by Katsura Ise and drawn by Takuma Yakota, is an ongoing manga series that was first published in 2018, according to MyAnimeList. The series, which takes place in 1998, follows a junior high school student named Hajime Kanou who goofs off with his friends by playing Magic: The Gathering. This garners negative attention from the school’s top student and Hajime’s academic rival, Emi Sawatari, who scolds him for bringing Magic to school.
Announcement: Attention Magic: The Gathering fans! The original Japanese manga, “Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga,” with story by Katsura Ise, and art by Takuma Yakota, releases Fall 2024. Includes an exclusive card! pic.twitter.com/IVpEbr12ID
Their relationship takes a turn when Hajime discovers Emi is the best Magic player at their local card shop, thus propelling their budding relationship and potential romance over their shared love of the game. If you’re a fan of YuGiOh! — which coincidentally also takes place around the same year — Emi and Hajime’s relationship reads as the polar opposite of Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba. That is unless you read their relationship as a slow-burn romance, too.
Now, Magic fans can look forward to upcoming video game collaborations with Final Fantasy and Marvel, as well as Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated and its yet-to-be-revealed Magic card to sweeten the deal.
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
“Ouch, right in the review score. Well, I guess it’s warranted,” Pilestedt wrote. “Sorry everyone for how this all transpired. I hope we will make it up and regain the trust by providing a continued great game experience. I just want to make great games!”
Ouch, right in the review score 😢🤕
Well, I guess it’s warranted. Sorry everyone for how this all transpired. I hope we will make it up and regain the trust by providing a continued great game experience.
Pilestedt’s apology follows a previous tweet in which the Helldivers 2 boss directed disgruntled players to PlayStation Support if they had any questions about account linking rather than reaching out to Arrowhead.
In its statement, Sony rationalized its new Helldivers 2 account linking requirement as a safety and security concern, saying, “Account linking plays a critical role in protecting our players and upholding the values of safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games.”
According to Sony, “technical issues” were to blame for Helldivers 2’s account linking being temporarily optional on launch. Come June 4, all current Helldivers 2 players must link their accounts in order to continue playing the game.
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
Seal: What the Fun is out now in Early Access on PC via Steam, welcoming players from around the world to compete and have fun in its chaotic, unpredictable, and hijinks-packed party royale world. This will be one party for the ages, and we’re here to help break down everything you need to know about the brand-new game you won’t be able to put down.
Seal: What the Fun is all about getting straight to the mayhem and not overstaying its welcome. Each match starts with about 20 players and lasts only 10 minutes with three rounds of rotating party games. These games range from shooting sports to racing, climbing, surviving, and puzzle matching and the game supports solo and teamplay so you can get the exact party vibe that you want.
Some of that fun includes a life-size Air Hockey match that features a massive puck and players score by pushing it into their opponent’s goal, a race with obstacles that will undoubtedly create hilarious moments, a game where you use ball guns to shoot your opponents off a circular platform, and so much more.
The fun of these rounds will be figuring out the perfect strategy to survive to the end as you never know what chaotic energy each player will bring to the battle. Will you simply choose to be the fastest player on the board and find the quickest route to victory? Or will you play the villain and laugh your way to a win while knocking others to their doom? The choice is yours!
All these games will take place in creative and inviting stages that are just as fun to look at as they are to play in. From a Playroom that shrinks you down to toy-size and has you competing surrounded by colorful cubes, cars, planes, and more, to a stage based on the iconic Waterbomb Festival that’s filled with water attractions, water guns, and a concert stage, there’s a lot to look forward to.
Speaking of looking forward to things, Seal: What the Fun is also putting a huge focus on player customization and the chance to unlock charming and stylish costumes, items, emotes, and more to really make your character yours.
As of its launch, Seal: What the Fun lets players choose between six characters – Rascal Rabbit, Giant the Bear, Blanco the Dancing Cactus, Joe the Little Boxer, Pop the Magic-Trained Sheep, and Snowball the Tall and Quirky Carrot-Nosed Snowman. These characters also have nearly endless customization that each match is filled with unique and awesome contestants who really represent the players behind them.
In the middle of matches, you’ll get even more opportunities to let your personality shine with adorable and hilarious emoticons, emo-effects, and more.
Right now developer PlayWith is hosting an exclusive Early Access Event titled ‘WIN 100 CONSOLES!’ to give you the chance to take home a real Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Steam Deck, or Nintendo Switch. All you have to do to enter for a chance to win is get the game on Steam, complete the five weekly challenges, and submit a screenshot of your accomplishments through the event page!
Whether you choose to jump into the magic of Seal: What the Fun now or later, everyone is encouraged to join the game’s official Discord to stay up-to-date on all the updates and news that are released during the Early Access period. Discord will also be the place to talk directly with the devs and leave your feedback so the game can truly become the best party game it can be.
Seal: What the Fun wants to be a game built with the help of players and will continue to evolve and improve throughout Early Access and beyond. From new playable characters, costumes, and maps to smooth performance and new languages and localized content to cater to users’ different interests, there is so much to be excited about this party that is just beginning.
Apex Legends latest Season Upheaval will be dropping May 6th and there are some huge map, gameplay and weapon changes, and a new Legend. Alter is the 26th Legend to be added to the roster and she’ll be joining the Skirmisher Class. But that’s not all! The best news? Solos is back! Here’s all the new content coming to Apex Legends Season 21.
Alter’s Abilities
Void Passage (Tactical): Alter creates a breaching portal that can be placed on ceilings, doorways, and walls.
Gift from the Rift (Passive): See death boxes through walls and take one item from it
Void Nexus (Ultimate): Alter will deploy a Nexus to use as a translocator. Alter and her teammates can activate the Nexus to phase back to that location at any time, even if you’ve been knocked.
After Alter, or anyone, uses her tactical there will be a brief moment after exiting the portal that will keep you in a phased state to allow for you to look around and give enemies time to react. Also, be aware that once you place a Nexus and activate your recall, you’ll drop a Nexus Relay that can be used by teammates and enemies.
If you’ve already used your Nexus portal charge, you can piggyback off a teammate who activates it through their Nexus Relay drop. Similarly, be aware that Alter’s tactical portal can also be used by anyone, not just teammates.
Solo Takeover
The Solos gamemode is back for a limited time, replacing Duos. This will be a six week takeover. You’ll drop into Solos with pre-kitted weapons and attachments. Luckily, if you lose a fight, you have a chance to redeem yourself with the new Second Chance mechanic where you use a respawn token to return to the fight.
Each player has one Respawn Token that can be used to come back before Round 4. Unused Respawn Tokens will be converted into Evo Levels in Round 4.
Since you don’t have teammates to help you out, there’s a new Battle Sense mechanic you can use to detect nearby enemies. A pop up will show on your HUD with an audio cue showing enemies are nearby within 50 meters.
Kind of like how Control works, you’ll have an auto-heal that’ll kick in after a bit of time but will also be rewarded with health regen when you kill another player. The total Player count is only 50 in Solos. Apex Rumble will also be coming back later this season with some extra tweaks.
Broken Moon Map Changes
Olympus has crashed into Cleo, where Broken Moon’s map lives, and now Broken Moon has been completely reshaped. The changes to Broken Moon get rid of the chaotic Promenade POI and create new rotation points and better flow to the map so players aren’t clustered.
There have been biome changes and alien eggs have been found scattered around the map. Ferrofluid is found all across the Moon now to try and repair some of the damage. New Ziprails inside of POIs like Quarantine Zone to allow for new types of fights.
Smaller camps are dispersed throughout the map which means more loot. The map now feels like more of an alien town and there’s a new colorful skybox.
Apex Artifacts
Apex Artifacts are a new universal Mythic Melee Cosmetic that can be equipped by any Legend in any mode. The first Artifact was the Cobalt Artifact. This artifact, and future ones, can be customized in various ways with Exotic Shards. You can make up to over 200 different variations. Exotic Shards can be earned in the premium battlepass or purchased in the shop.
Gameplay Balance Changes
The Wingman is now out of the Care Package rotation with hip fire nerf and the Skullpiercer is now out of the loot rotation. The Boosted Loader hop-up is now ground loot and the Wingman cannot use magazines anymore so it’ll stay at a constant max of 6 bullets. The new Care Package weapon this season is the Devotion that’s been beefed up.
The Longbow is getting a buff to match the recoil control of Purple Barrel on its base weapon and ADS time is faster now and matches the Sentinel’s.
1x Digital Threat is now out of the loot pool since it was only used for Shotguns and Pistols. And last but not least, in Season 21 there will no longer be a delay in picking up your teammate’s banner then looting their death box.
In terms of Legend balancing, Crypto is getting a slight buff with better in-game leveling upgrades to improve drone handling, drone recon, and faster cool-down times on getting his drone back.
NewCastle’s Tactical, his Mobile Shield, now deploys faster and his Ultimate, Castle Wall, will destroy any projectiles thrown at it while it’s energized (so on its initial deployment and the minutes after).
Another major Legend change is Ash with her tactical, Arc Snare, which will be deployed in her offhand. So now you can continue shooting with your weapon while throwing out her snare.
Apex Legends Season 21 “Upheaval” will launch May 7th for all platforms.
Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she’s previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn’t streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.
Now that the belated “next-gen” Fallout 4 update has finally arrived (nearly four years into said generation), Bethesda has at last offered up and enhanced way to play on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. However, the bar was already set fairly high by the excellent Xbox Backward Compatibility programme, of which Fallout 4 was an early beneficiary: thanks to the Xbox One X 4K patch and then the FPS boost, we already had the choice of whether to run in high frame rate or resolution modes (not both) on Xbox Series X and Series S. At least, that’s the idea. Currently it’s a bit broken on Xbox, but we can expect it to run as well as the PlayStation 5 version soon, and the improvements there are welcome.
If you’re playing on Xbox Series X/S or PC, the process of updating to the new-gen version of Fallout 4 is as seamless as any other update – just download it and go. If you’re on PS5, you must manually, but simply, transfer your old saves from the PS4 version using the same method Sony first-party games, such as Ghosts of Tsushima, have used.
Straight away when I started playing, one of the first things I noticed was that old, and maybe some new, bugs remain in play. Such as lights not being active at times, I was locked into a hacking screen forcing me to reload an earlier save, and missing textures that were present before this update. The PC player base has also reported crashes on the largest GPU market, and years of mods have been broken overnight by this patch, at least until the Script Extender that many of them rely on is updated. Those changes have also delayed the forthcoming and highly anticipated Fallout London mod, which was due last month but has now slipped to an unspecified time until the team can make sure everything works after the patch.
On Xbox, the toggle does nothing in the current build.
Bugs aside, though, the main feature of this 22GB update is that it adds a Performance toggle for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, which creates a Quality (off) and Performance (on) choice. (The PC version didn’t need this, so its settings are unchanged.) Taking this as our basis we can see if, as per the patch notes, Fallout 4 has increased effects over the old console versions. This is where I intended to bring in the Series X as the before and after comparison, but this update patch is, unbelievably, currently broken on both Xbox Series consoles. The toggle does nothing in the current build.
I first tried the update that patched Fallout 4 from the old XDK (Xbox One) codebase build, to the latest GDK (Xbox Series X/S) build, giving us a native .exe file. When the Quality/Performance toggle showed no change, I deleted it and re-downloaded the full 35GB fresh install. That didn’t work on either the Series X or S, so the toggle is simply window dressing at present. This leaves Fallout 4 locked into the Performance mode on Xbox. Ironically (given that Bethesda is now an Xbox studio), the patch for the PS5 works as advertised, though it does come with a far larger footprint at 56GB, some 60% larger.
So that’s why I ended up looking primarily at the PlayStation version, where the aims of Bethesda’s team can at least be demonstrated, and we can give Xbox players a view of what they can expect once this patch is patched (presumably soon).
Viewed side by side with the pre-patch Backward Compatibility mode, the increase is obvious.
On PS5, the updated Quality mode gives us the same 4K 30fps performance we had before the patch when using the Xbox One X Backward Compatibility mode on Series X, but we do see some minor visual improvements. Specifically, the level of detail is slightly higher, with more grass and incidental objects into the middle and far distance. This results in less fade-in of new scenery as you walk through the world compared to the previous version. Long view distance shots highlight this, and when Performance mode is viewed side by side with the pre-patch Backward Compatibility mode the increase is obvious.
The other noticed change is the extensive use of volumetrics (a technology that was part of Bethesda’s Nvidia collaboration back in 2015) and tessellation, making Fallout 4 very demanding on PC. After the patch, these are a higher-resolution quality, again highlighting the disparity of geometry resolution and shading, alpha, and other effects that make up the final image of any game. The updated version is more refined due to the higher precision, allowing the background details to come through, whereas the previous 4K Backward Compatibility mode has lower-resolution fog volumes. This results in a sharper, clearer view. This is even more evident when you drop to the old FPS Boost mode, which necessitated a 75% resolution reduction to a base 1920×1080. Using that setting at native 4K, the volumetrics look even milkier and blockier as the fog volumes often run at half or quarter resolution of the target output. In the old 4K mode they were likely using a 1080p grid base, whereas in the 1080p boost mode, they are using a 540p grid. In the post-patch Quality mode that’s no longer an issue because they are likely full resolution, which matches the PC’s highest settings. Shadow map cascade looks identical – if it’s better the difference is very, very slight. Textures are also identical across all versions, with Series S just appearing softer due to the lower 1440p resolution.
All formats hold a locked 60fps 99% of the time.
Thankfully, the resolution boosts work correctly on all consoles, and Series X and PS5 render at a full 4K in both modes (or rather, I assume it will once we get a Quality mode working on Xbox). But Performance mode appears to be dynamic; I counted a 1980p low on both PS5 and Xbox Series X in my stress tests, but they are most often 4K. That’s achievable thanks to the reductions made to the detail level in the world, which help reduce the performance gap required to maintain 60fps at the same 4K output. The Xbox Series S’s resolution is most often 65% lower (in the Performance mode at least, which is all I was able to test here) than the Series X, but it’s at least higher than it was in its previous FPS Boost mode, now running a dynamic resolution that ranges from 2560×1440 down to 1920×1080, with many counts being an approximate 2240x1260p. That’s a minor improvement, but the increased volumetrics and alpha resolution do help improve the image stability. Aside from this, all three consoles have identical Performance mode settings.
Performance is very solid, with all formats holding a locked 60fps 99% of the time. You can still get some streaming, context, and CPU workload stutter on occasion, such as on the Series S where it spikes for over 200ms. That’s certainly not a GPU-related hitch – I’d guess it’s code based, most likely. These can happen mostly during game trigger moments, such as context switches or when it spawns in new objects, and we have seen this as a constant Achilles heel for the Creation Engine even on PC, which means it’s not something an update like this will likely fix. These impact Xbox consoles more than PS5, but are fleeting.
So the 4K Performance mode on the Series X and PS5 is the one to choose, as is the 1440p mode on Series S. The resolution hit is minimal due to Fallout 4 lacking modern graphics tech like physically based materials and high-frequency details, leaving a similar but softer image overall. Using the Corvega factory as a stress test, which has long and high views that ramp up geometry and fill rate, we take a run from the top down to the bottom. Cutting our way through to enemies and here we can see some minor drops in performance on Series S and Series X, but these are often only into the mid-50s at worst and you’ll probably barely notice if you’re on a screen that supports variable refresh rate (VRR). The PS5 remains a locked 60fps here, though, and across the tested action sections (covered in the video) I did not catch any dips on Sony’s console. You can still get dips with a long view spinning the camera at the top of Corvega factory: we see 54fps on Series X vs 56fps on PS5, so margin of error advantage at best, but one that certainly reinforces that PS5 players are currently benefiting the most from this update.
The PS5 in Quality mode is, as expected, fully locked at 30fps, which leaves plenty of headroom left over. A pleasant surprise is Bethesda’s team has taken advantage of the higher modes these consoles offer. By simply making a call to the console operating system, the engine can detect what resolution, frame rate, and other settings it can run at. This is a core area that Xbox’s FPS boost is built upon, and it means the toggle in the main menu can activate hidden modes when the Quality mode is active – at least on PS5 for now.
It has to be mentioned that this version of the Creation Engine remains limited to 60fps, even on PC (without modifications or GPU driver tweaks). But if you have a 120Hz output available, you do have two further options. When set to 1440p/120hz, Fallout 4 runs at native 1440p, but the Quality mode, complete with the increases in level of detail (LoD), now targets a stable, locked 60fps, which is a welcome benefit to those with a 1440p monitor. But if your TV supports 4K at the same 120hz setting, the Quality mode now targets a common Sony 40fps rate (or 25ms response time). This, for my money, is the perfect middle ground of image quality and performance, feeling far smoother than 30fps but with 4K image quality. Again, this is effectively flawlessly paced and delivered, and I commend and welcome this from the Bethesda team and hope more developers lean into this type of mode. It may be a sign of an upcoming Starfield update – offering a similar 40fps boost in its Quality mode would be a nice enhancement to that Creation Engine 2 game, considering its current 30fps cap (a theory that was proven true with the May update announcement after this review was completed).
Summary
Fallout 4’s “next-gen” update is a most welcome improvement for a nine-year-old game. Giving us the choice of four modes, all of which come with improved visuals and some with rock-solid 60fps performance, along with some new free mission DLC is revitalizing for the console versions. However, the fact that it launched broken on Xbox Series X and S makes it feel like another one step forward, two steps back situation for Bethesda and Microsoft, especially when the PS5 gets all of the intended boosts with no issues noted. Presumably, though, that’ll be fixed soon and we’ll see the Series X achieve parity. As an update to Fallout 4, it presents a compelling reason to return to the vaults of Fallout.
Cardy, Emma, and Mat are here to talk about a right ol’ mixture of games, movies, and TV shows this week. We tell you why Another Crab’s Treasure is seabed-based souls-like you should give a bash. How Challengers and Love Lies Bleeding are two of the sweatiest films you could wish to see. And there’s even time to talk about some twenty-year-old TV shows in the shape of Dexter and The Wire. Oh, and some surprise musical treats…
What’s the best thing to put gravy on? Get in touch at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will receive its final update this month as developer ArtPlay finally adds all the additional features promised in its Kickstarter Campaign from 2015.
ArtPlay shared its final development roadmap for Bloodstained on its website which confirmed the update would arrive May 9, 2024 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, while the Nintendo Switch version would arrive May 16. “This will be the final update to the game,” Artplay said.
Bringing Bloodstained to version 1.5, the update is headlined by the additions of Chaos Mode and Versus Mode but also includes four cosmetic packs for protagonist Miriam, one of which is free while the other three can be purchased.
Chaos Mode is akin to rush mode in other games where players, either alone or with an online or local companion, fight through a series of randomized enemies which will grow stronger unless certain challenges are complete.
Versus Mode pits two players directly against each other as both work to defeat enemies, power up their tools, and acquire special attacks to use against their opponent. Each must survive as long as possible, with whoever dies last being crowned the winner.
ArtPlay said that, once this update has been released, its only remaining task is to ship physical PC versions of the game, nine years after backers paid for them. The developer assured that these players received their digital editions upon launch in 2019, of course, but were still awaiting their full Kickstarter backers’ reward.
