Category: IGN

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Season 3 kicks off today, April 3, and Activision has released patch notes revealing what to expect.

The patch notes, by developers Sledgehammer Games and Treyarch, include detail on the six new 6v6 multiplayer maps for Modern Warfare 3. Three of these maps are brand-new locales and layouts, while the other three are fresh yet familiar experiences. The Emergency 24/7 Playlist launches with the start of the season.

New modes include Capture the Flag and One in the Chamber, while the battle pass unlocks four base weapons, including the MORS sniper rifle and BAL-27 assault rifle from 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. There are eight new aftermarket parts, two new equipment items, new perks, new operators, and new events with limited-time rewards.

Diablo 4 players impatiently waiting to try Season 4 can now do so thanks to Blizzard releasing the game’s first Public Test Realm (PTR).

Blizzard initially announced the PTR in late March, revealing that it would run for a limited time, starting on Tuesday, April 2, and concluding on Tuesday, April 9. However, a week-long PTR is not the only thing limiting this PTR, as Blizzard already confirmed in the same announcement that it would only be available to players with a PC Battle.net account.

Nevertheless, if you are eligible for the PTR, you will gain access to test updates and features before Season 4 officially launches. Alongside allowing certain players itching to try the new season, this PTR will also allow the development team some time to consider and implement any player feedback gained from this testing period, allowing them to incorporate it into the forthcoming season.

The release of the PTR was part of a bigger announcement from Blizzard, revealing that the team had to delay Season 4. The season was originally supposed to launch on April 16, but during the most recent episode in the Campfire Chat series, Diablo Community Lead Adam Fletcher revealed that it had to delay the fourth season until May 14.

Diablo 4 is already being touted as the biggest post-launch update for the game yet. While Season 3 introduced some things, most notably Class Changes, Blizzard pledged that the next season will rework itemization, changing the entire framework of how loot impacts the overall gameplay experience.

For who recently jumped in thanks to Blizzard bringing its most recent project to both Xbox Game Pass for consoles and PC Game Pass, there are a few caveats: there is no Xbox achievement support, and if you are playing the PC Game Pass version, you need to install Battle.net.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Atari has bought the RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 publishing rights from Frontier Developments for $7 million.

Atari, which has a long-term RollerCoaster Tycoon licensing agreement with franchise creator Chris Sawyer, said it is now the sole publisher of all major titles within the RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise, including Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic, Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Rollercoaster Tycoon Deluxe, Rollercoaster Tycoon Joyride, Rollercoaster Tycoon World, Rollercoaster Tycoon Puzzle, and Rollercoaster Tycoon Touch.

The hugely successful Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 was developed by Frontier Developments, the UK studio behind Elite: Dangerous and Zoo Tycoon, and released in 2004. It’s available now on PC, Mac, iOS, and Nintendo Switch, but Atari said it plans to expand digital and physical distribution, and “explore brand and merchandising collaborations as part of a long-term plan to bring the franchise to new heights.”

“As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Rollercoaster Tycoon with Chris Sawyer, I am really pleased that we can unite this important and successful title in the series with the rest of the franchise,” said Wade Rosen, Chairman and CEO of Atari. ”This is going to create new opportunities for Atari as we continue the great work done by Frontier, and bring benefits to the fans of games across the Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise.”

Fresh from bringing back classics such as Star Wars: Dark Forces, Turok 3, and Quake 2, Nightdive Studios has announced its next restoration — and it’s a game no-one expected.

You’d be forgiven for having not heard of PO’ed. It was developed and published by Any Channel Inc. initially for the 3DO in 1995, with a PlayStation port released in 1996 courtesy of defunct publisher Accolade. In the game you play a chef who tries to escape an alien world. It’s very mid-90s video game!

Here’s the official blurb, courtesy of Nightdive:

Inspired by generational powerhouses Doom and Quake, the original PO’ed pushed first-person action games to new heights with its over-the-top, action-packed, fast-paced, explosive, ridiculous, bloody, smelly, scrumptious, adjective-filled, ultra-violent 3D gameplay. You play as a chef who crashes on an alien planet infested with extraterrestrial foes, using a menu of “household” weapons to deliver a dish best served cold (by dish, I mean revenge, just in case you were confused).

PO’ed: Definitive Edition is an updated version of the 1995 first-person space shooter, and it’s coming soon to PC and consoles. The Definitive Edition features updated visuals, antialiasing, increased frame-rate, redefined controls, and up to 4K 144 FPS performance, Nightdive said.

Here’s the list of PO’ed: Definitive Edition key features, from Nightdive:

• A plate full of quality-of-life features to enhance the gameplay and fix bugs present in the original game (which can be toggled off)
• Wet your whistle with widescreen support for the HUD and other on-screen graphics
• A new delicious difficulty mode has been added for hardcore players
• 15 appetizing achievements
• A dash of localization support for English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish
• Total freedom! Cruise on foot or fly with your jetpack through 25 wild 3D environments

PO’ed: Definitive Edition releases for Windows PC via Steam and GOG, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch in “the very near future.”

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.

In my Once Human demo, things got really weird when I wanted to ride the bus. And that’s because the bus had legs. In a post-apocalyptic open world where an outbreak of cosmic energy called Stardust has sent everything a little wacky, even the public transport is bonkers.

Once Human is currently Steam’s 11th most-wishlisted game – a multiplayer open-world survival game in which players can battle creatures or each other, build and defend shared territories, indulge in OTT combat or just chill with friends at their base. Ahead of its final closed beta test (which starts April 3) and planned Q3 launch, the development team at Starry Studio gave me a private glimpse at what’s to come.

But first, back to the bus. Once Human’s monsters are a fantastical nightmare of Lovecraftian creature design, organic-machine hybrids with weird and wonderful forms that can be dangerous or useful. The bus is the latter – essentially a benevolent monster that will not harm the player, although it may inadvertently trample the base you foolishly built in its path. You can ride the bus for safe passage, with scheduled routes along bus stops throughout the Nalcott Continent’s massive open-world map. When it arrives, it might already have a contingent of Deviant baddies on board, whom you have to quickly kill before clambering aboard, presenting an element of risk and reward.

The walking bus encounter is weird, fun and densely constructed, itself a microcosm of what to expect from a game that lets players do pretty much anything. While Once Human has a story and a path of main missions, you can ignore these completely and play at your own pace.

Peng “Victoria” Sun, Once Human’s world and content designer, explains, “We want the game itself to be fascinating. Everyone loves the bus, and the monster designs and the gameplay designs are already proving intriguing to people.”

The upcoming CBT will be a scaled-up version of what we’ve seen so far, with up to 150,000 participants compared with the 20,000 who participated in the previous test, and a new server added in Europe to improve the experience for players in that part of the world. And among its many features, one new element will be the ability to harness the power of Deviants.

Deviants are the mutated monsters that stalk the open world, from humanoid creatures with spotlights for a head to towering terrors, and defeating them allows players to collect Deviant Powers to use in battle. Once Human will feature some 40 types of Deviations, which are companions you capture from defeating Deviants that can be put to work in your home base territory. Some types may aid you in combat as backup warriors, while others will work the land in your farm. Others still can add an element of fun or weirdness to your camp.

For example, in my demo, I was shown one of the game’s new social events, which are PVE events that any player can join freely. This particular event revolved around a Deviant music festival. A horde of mutants were blissfully worshipping haunted disco balls that hung in the air, and by getting a group of around 10 friends or randoms together, players could solve a series of environmental puzzles by using a combination of combat and specific dance emotes to clear out the enemies and capture the Deviation disco balls. Once in your possession, you can place disco balls in your camp to increase the happiness levels of the other Deviations there, evolving their abilities.

Meanwhile, another event takes place at an amusement park with a possessed Ferris wheel. Defeat this abominable attraction and players will be able to merrily ride it, making for a short but fun optional scenario that can be replayed over and over.

This mix of player cooperation, lateral puzzles, and persistent and non-persistent events seems to be typical of Once Human’s highly social gameplay. Each server will have a maximum capacity of 4,000 to 5,000 players, which is a lot; each of these will be divided into six different worlds, which you can switch between with your friends.

“We really want the game to be for almost everyone, so we have PVE combat for people who want to defeat monsters, and PVP areas for those who want to battle other players,” says Sun. “We also have a huge map for architects, so if you want to come construct a huge and fantastic base you can always find your own space, along with your own safe island on the edge of the open world where you can build whatever you want and nobody can destroy it.”

You can play alone, of course, but there is safety in numbers. Once Human offers multiple options for cooperative multiplayer action.

“When you want to go on a raid or a dungeon, you can put together a team of up to four players – you can invite your friends or use the matching system to build a team with people you don’t know,” explains Sun. “We also have a Hive system which allows you to build a team of four people and build a base together and share your resources, which is more closely united.

“And then we have Warbands, which is much bigger – up to 40 people to start with, but you can upgrade it to up to 80 people. A Warband is a closely united group of players, and you can fight against other players or mine for resources together, competing against other Warbands to control better mining areas around the map.”

And make no mistake – the Nalcott Continent’s map is huge. You start with a small area to explore, and you can venture outside of this and unlock new areas at your leisure. However, you may find yourself quickly overpowered by Deviants or players in higher-level areas, so unless you really crave that extra challenge, it’s better to fully clear the first area and level up before wandering too far.

That said, you will definitely want to explore. The scenery is utterly gorgeous, both in terms of design and graphical fidelity (I was playing on PC). Rolling vistas draw the eye far into the distance, while the rural area I explored is populated with verdant sunlit mountains and placid lakes that draw a variety of fauna, from cute bounding bunnies to majestic deer to leathery crocodiles. You can chop trees for wood or hunt wildlife for meat, with a rich natural world to plunder, and enemy encounters galore.

“We wanted to turn the modern world into something weird; that’s how we arrived at this aesthetic,” says Sun. “As for the beautiful landscapes, we want players to enjoy the intense fighting and Deviant combat but also to give them a nice place to build their base and to foster their own identity in this world. So we picked a combination of both.”

Indeed, the balance between the familiar and the strange varies by location. Concentration of Stardust in each area dictates how weird things get, and by extension how dangerous each area and its inhabitants are to the player.

You can always spawn a motorbike to cover ground more quickly, including steep hills and rough terrain. Elsewhere in the game (I didn’t get to try it), you can even turn your camp into a wheeled RV, taking the whole base on the move.

I only got to try a little bit of PVE combat, but I was impressed by the variety on offer. Guns feel responsive, while melee attacks feel punchy and visceral. The aforementioned spotlight-headed Deviants can freeze you with their light beams, but defeating them allows you to pick up the spotlight unit and wield it against other enemies, freezing them in their tracks for a follow-up attack. And while I mainly faced low-level enemies, getting mobbed by too many of them proved fatal, suggesting that the game will offer a decent challenge (and plenty of incentive to band together with friends, who can fight alongside you and revive you when you fall).

There are of course boss battles and other surprises. As I approached a loot chest placed in a conspicuously open spot in front of a large digital billboard, I soon realized it was bait, as a huge monster burst out of the screen. I could have stood my ground to try to defeat it and claim the loot, but, well, my character was still only level 1, and running away is always a decent option.

Want to level up? You’ll have to play for it, because you can’t pay for it. Once Human is a free-to-play game, but Derek Qiu, head of overseas operation, explains that the business model will be refreshingly non-predatory. “There are no pay to win elements at all, so the monetization system is all based on cosmetics,” he says. “You can purchase decorations for your home, vehicle skins, gun skins and cosmetics that are purely based on appearance.”

Once Human’s strongest weapon is its densely packed open world, which sets the stage for a wide variety of roleplay as players create their own fun. Starry Studio are highly prioritizing fan feedback, learning from their players’ excursions and leaning into the craziness.

For example, during a past beta test, when fans exploited a bug that allowed them to create palaces in the sky or set up their own car-racing events, the development team decided to implement these as official features. In another example, the Balloon Dog Deviation can be captured and used to make furniture placed around it float, originally intended only as a cute visual effect; but when players found a way to use the Balloon Dog to create their own makeshift fighter jets, the dev team were inspired to tweak this Deviation so that its final evolved form is now a rideable vehicle.

“Players can set up their territory as they like, and we’ve seen some of them create their own bar area where they can hang out with friends, or car-racing circuits, becoming immersed in the world and creating their own roleplay,” says Qiu.

As you’d expect, there will also be themed events throughout the year: Get spooky over Halloween, play in the snow around the Christmas holidays, and so on. These will even be localized to some degree – for example, players in Japan will get to enjoy cherry blossoms in April.

If it sounds like a lot, it is a lot. Once Human’s promises seem almost too good to be true, but each CBT seems to deliver, with a growing community of enthusiastic fans. Time will tell whether Once Human can keep players invested for the weeks, months and years it will need in order to become a mainstay in the survival game market, but my short time with the game left me intensely curious to explore in more detail. As someone who loves open-world games and freaky creature design, I can’t wait to see how weird things get once things get weird.

Nightmare Kart, which was known as Bloodborne Kart until its creator scrubbed the branding in 2024, officially has a release date.

Developer Lilith Walther, aka PSX Bunlith, announced on X/Twitter that the “legally distinct” kart racer will be releasing on May 31 on Steam and Itch.io. The announcement touts 20 racers, 16 maps, a full campaign mode with boss fights, and a versus battle mode. It also includes a short trailer that you can watch below.

🏁🩸INTRODUCING: NIGHTMARE KART🩸🏁

Releasing for FREE 5/31/2024 on Steam and Itchio!!

➡️ 20 Racers!
➡️ 16 Maps!
➡️ Legally distinct!
➡️ Full campaign mode w boss fights!
➡️ VS Battle mode!

💉 THIS NIGHTMARE WILL NEVER END 🐥#NightmareKart 🏍️ pic.twitter.com/XR5ury6kxl

— 🪄✨ PSX Bunlith 🐰🏳️‍⚧️ BLM ACAB 🇵🇸 (@b0tster) April 2, 2024

In addition to the release date, Bunlish shouted out Bloodbo… ahem, Nightmare Kart’s soundtrack, which was composed by Evelyn Lark. To celebrate the release date announcement, Lark posted a sample of the title screen theme as well as a link to a video featuring the full song.

Check out the full video here! https://t.co/Eqq3y7VaGJ

— Evelyn Lark (BBKart is on Bandcamp!!!) (@TheNobleDemon) April 2, 2024

Nightmare Kart was originally set to release in January as Bloodborne Kart before being delayed to account for the branding change. The delay has had some benefits, though, allowing Walther to bump the racer count from 12 to 20.

Despite the name change, Nightmare Kart is spiritually a follow-up to the popular Bloodborne PS1 Demake that launched in 2022. The demake, which reimagined the modern horror classic with 32-bit visuals, was well-received by the community and Walther announced the kart racing project soon after.

As for Bloodborne itself, a sequel or potential remake feels further away than ever, with series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki saying that FromSoftware simply doesn’t own the IP. So even if Nightmare Kart is ultimately legally distinct, it’s a nice treat for fans who have been waiting for close to a decade for a follow-up.

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.

Despite its delisting and the impending shuttering of its servers, fans of Friday the 13th: The Game have reason to rejoice, thanks to a fan project.

Friday the 13th: Resurrected is a free-to-play modded build of Friday the 13th: The Game, and the team behind the project announced yesterday that it plans to reveal the release date for the mod on Monday, April 15. Along with providing dedicated multiplayer servers, Resurrected also promises to introduce a roster full of exclusive fan-made content, such as new characters and skins.

The time has come campers… Look out for Friday the 13th: Resurrected release date reveal coming April 15th, 2024.

We’ll see you SOON. pic.twitter.com/sDwNkRG32v

— Friday the 13th: The Game | Resurrected (@F13Resurrected) April 1, 2024

Last year, publisher Gun Interactive announced it was delisting the game on December 31, 2023, due to the publisher losing the Friday the 13th license. While the servers are still up and running, the same statement also revealed that the servers would shut down on December 31, 2024.

Naturally, this mod has limited access if you did not buy Friday the 13th: The Game before its delisting last December. Nevertheless, it’s a nice win for fans of horror games and those that enjoyed what Friday the 13th: The Game offered.

Friday the 13th: The Game was released in 2017, though its entire life cycle was plagued by legal disputes over the ownership of the iconic slasher horror franchise. The legal disputes got so bad that the developer had to halt the development of new content for the game in 2019 before ultimately canceling the post-launch content altogether in 2021. The new content that was supposed to be added to the game includes a werewolf mode inspired by gameplay found in Inner Sloth’s Among Us.

In our review of Friday the 13th: The Game, IGN wrote: “Lopsided gameplay and egregious bugs almost kill the mood of Jason’s murder spree in Friday the 13th: The Game.”

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Landfall’s surprise April Fools release Content Warning has been claimed by more than 6 million Steam users in only 24 hours.

The party game’s publisher announced the major milestone in an update post on its Steam page, saying that more than 6.2 million players have already added the Lethal Company-like to their profiles. The team was able to move so many copies because Content Warning was free to keep for those who were able to claim a copy within the 24-hour window. Regardless, with no prior announcements, Content Warning’s success is staggering.

For those who may have stayed away from the internet on April Fools Day, Content Warning sees you and up to three friends grab handheld video cameras and try to capture hilarious and spooky moments. It’s all in the name of content, creating the perfect environment for chaos. It’s a formula that seems to be working, too, as SteamDB says the game has already reached a peak of 204,439 players, with more than 138,000 playing at the time of this story’s publication.

“It’s been a real treat watching all of your videos and we are so happy that we’ve managed to create something that makes people have fun together,” Landfall said.

Content Warning’s free-for-a-day offer has now come to an end. However, those who missed out on the deal can still download a copy for only $7.99 on Steam.

Landfall’s move to gift their new project to so many for free makes a lot of sense. With more than 6 million players out there already making videos, it’s that much more likely we see viral Content Warning clips make their way to all corners of the internet.

As the developers prepare for future updates, there are a few early issues they’re looking into. This includes problems with the voices, connectivity issues, footage not extracting, and camera footage not being visible. Thankfully, Landfall says it has leads on many of these complaints and plans to deliver some fixes as soon as tomorrow morning.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Just as the Helldivers 2 community was trying to make sense of mysterious cloaked ships and get to grips with a balance-changing update that adds new planetary hazards, players found more additions to the game developer Arrowhead failed to announce up front in the patch notes.

Spoilers for Helldivers 2 follow.

The Automatons, Helldivers 2’s alien robot faction, now have new aerial gunships at their disposal. These were signaled in flavor text from a recently completed Major Order, and are causing havoc on the battlefield by firing deadly red lasers from above. Thankfully, the aerial gunships can be destroyed, although you’ll need sufficiently powerful weaponry to do so. Heavy duty Stratagems such as the Expendable Anti-Tank and the recently released Quasar Cannon appear to be well-suited to dealing with the aerial gunships. The Spear looks handy, too.

Aerial gunships aren’t the only stealth drop added to the game. Players have also come up against imposing AT-AT-style quadruped tanks. Based on early reports, these beasts take a hell of a lot of punishment, so be prepared to drop the odd Orbital Laser or two when you take one on.

The bots have AT-ATs now !! pic.twitter.com/mBjwyBnKPr

— Helldivers 2 Media (@Helldiversmedia) April 2, 2024

These fun additions are all part of the ongoing Helldivers 2 live service, and tie into its wonderful meta narrative driven by Game Master Joel. Yesterday, April 1, Arrowhead delivered a new Major Order to Helldivers 2 players, giving them a 24-hour window to finally take back Malevelon Creek, the Automaton map dubbed ‘Space Vietnam’ by fans. The planet was liberated in only about five hours. Today, April 2, Arrowhead launched a new Major Order to fend off the Automaton counterattack. Now we know the bots are not messing about.

Meanwhile, it appears Arrowhead made another fun change to Helldivers 2 with today’s patch that it failed to disclose: post-game gore. As players have reported, and IGN has witnessed in-game, Helldivers are now bringing blood and guts back with them when they return from a mission, proudly displayed on armor.

If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.

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.