S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy Revealed for Consoles Ahead of Xbox Showcase

Pre-orders for an unannounced S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy have gone live in Japan, suggesting an announcement during today’s Xbox Partner Preview Event.

Gematsu reported pre-orders for the collection on PlayStation 4 went live on Japanese retailers alongside a June 27 release date. It includes S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and marks the series’ debut on consoles.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, developed by GSC Game World and published by the now defunct THQ, launched on PC only in March 2007.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was well-received for its post-apocalyptic, alternative reality Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, as well as its non-linear storyline. Prequel Clear Sky followed in 2008, with sequel Call of Pripyat launching in 2010.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is due out in September on Xbox Series X and S and PC, and may also appear during the Xbox Partner Preview Event, which kicks off today, March 6 at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK.

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.

Helldivers 2 Developer Insists Sony Acquisition Rumor Is ‘Fake’

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has denied a recent rumour that Sony is buying the studio.

While Helldivers 2 is published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Swedish studio Arrowhead remains an independent company. But following Helldivers 2’s explosive success across PlayStation 5 and PC, rumors have emerged that Sony has made a move to acquire Arrowhead.

Responding to a tweet from an account that reposted the rumour and even created a Sony ‘welcome to the family’ image to boost the post, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt said: “This is fake… Unless I’ve missed something. Also, a really sh***y old logo from 2008 or so when we just started the studio.”

Pilestedt responded to another tweet that posted the same image alongside a message hoping for the acquisition. “This is the first I hear of this,” Pilestedt said. “And that’s a good indication that it’s fake. Also, very old logo.”

Pilestedt had previously replied to a tweet to clarify that Helldivers 2 was not developed by a Sony-owned studio, saying: “We are not owned. We are independently owned!” Then: “I mean… We are owned, but only by the founders (including me) of the studio.”

Last month, Sony announced a significant round of layoffs affecting around 900 staff, or about 8% of its global PlayStation workforce. The layoffs affect a number of PlayStation studios, including Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Firesprite, and, most significantly, PlayStation’s London studio, which is closing entirely. Alongside the layoffs, a number of in-development games were canceled, including a Twisted Metal live-service game.

Arrowhead was founded in 2008 by a group of students who went on to release Magicka, The Showdown Effect, and Gauntlet. The first Helldivers game launched in 2015, published by Sony for PlayStation platforms and PC. Helldivers 2, however, is Arrowhead’s biggest game to date, and Sony’s biggest ever PC game launch.

There’s a lot happening in the world of Helldivers 2, including a recent new strategy that involves hugging and the game’s first balance patch. The galactic war continues, of course, as players await the arrival of mechs. This week, IGN reported on how 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, as well as the best loadouts.

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.

Helldivers 2 Patch 01.000.100 Nerfs the Game’s Best Loadout, Adds Planetary Hazards

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released its first balance update, patch 01.000.100, which nerfs the game’s best loadout among other things. The update is out now on PC and coming soon on PlayStation 5.

First up, it’s worth mentioning the patch adds planetary hazards. This means planets now have extra environmental challenges that appear at random while you’re deployed, including fire tornadoes and meteor showers. In the patch notes, Arrowhead said there are many more planetary hazards now active, so players will no-doubt have fun contending with them all.

The meat of the patch, though, is a sweeping balance pass. On this, the quickfire eradicate missions, which are used by farmers to efficiently gobble up resources before resetting operations, now require more kills and enemies spawn more often. “The time to complete the mission was previously shorter than intended and should now usually take twice as long to complete,” Arrowhead said.

As for weapons and stratagems, the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack are all nerfed, among other items. These three in particular were seen as essential for high difficulties, and were a part of most of the game’s agreed upon best loadouts.

Explaining the decision to nerf the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack, designer Alex K said all three “were quite strong with too little downsides, overshadowing all other options on higher difficulty levels.” However, the developer expects the changes won’t ruin the build, “but rather help the affected items find their place among the other options and stay effective in capable hands.”

Elsewhere, there are a number of fixes. The highlight here is armor rating values are now fixed, which means they should reduce damage as intended. This is fun, too: Helldivers standing next to ICBMs during launch will get properly toasty with a chance of not-so-spontaneous combustion.

There’s a lot happening in the world of Helldivers 2, including a recent new strategy that involves hugging. The galactic war continues, of course, as players await the arrival of mechs.

This week, IGN reported on how 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, as well as the best loadouts.

Helldivers 2 Update 01.000.100 Patch Notes:

Major Updates

  • Planetary Hazards active
  • Many planets now have additional environmental challenges that will appear at random while you are deployed, from fire tornadoes to meteor showers and many more.

Balancing

  • Eradicate missions now require more kills and enemies spawn more often. The time to complete the mission was previously shorter than intended and should now usually take twice as long to complete.

Primary, Secondary, & Support Weapons

  • Breaker: Decreased magazine capacity from 16 to 13, increased recoil from 30 to 55
  • Railgun: Decreased armor penetration, decreased damage against durable enemy parts
  • Flamethrower: Increased damage per second by 50%
  • Laser Cannon: Increased damage against durable enemy parts, increased armor penetration, improved ergonomics
  • Punisher: Increased total ammo capacity from 40 to 60, increased stagger force, increased damage from 40 per bullet to 45 per bullet
  • Breaker Spray & Pray: Increased armor penetration, increased fire rate from 300 to 330, increased number of pellets from 12 to 16 per shot, decreased magazine size from to 32 to 26

Stratagems

  • Energy Shield Backpack: Increased delay before recharging
  • 380mm and 120mm Orbital Barrages: Increased duration of the bombardment, decreased spread

Fixes

  • Fixed armor rating values not reducing damage as intended.
  • Fixed certain Bug Holes (including Stalker Nests) that were unnecessarily hard to destroy.
  • Fixed anti-aliasing toggle not working on PS5.
  • Balanced lighting across all planets to solve cases where the game was too dark.
  • Improved flashlight efficacy.
  • Increased visibility during “sand rain” weather on Erata Prime.
  • Updated tutorial materials and lighting.
  • Improved cases where some materials could look blurry if “Lighting” graphic setting was set to “Low”.
  • Fixed timing issues that could occur in the “Extract E-710” primary objective.
  • Changed button interaction behavior for buttons in bunker POIs. Helldivers will now let go of the button after holding it for a few seconds.
  • Fixed some cases of large assets floating if the ground beneath them was blown up.
  • Helldivers standing next to ICBMs during launch will get properly toasty with a chance of not-so-spontaneous combustion.
  • Fixed unthrowable snowballs after ragdolling.
  • Fixed being able to use grenades after drowning.
  • Camera no longer locked on the player’s own corpse and blocking spectator mode.
  • Helldivers now take damage from fire, gas etc. generated by other players.
  • Armor no longer stretches when dismembered.

Known Issues
These are issues that were either introduced by this patch and are being worked on, or are from a previous version and have not yet been fixed.

  • Game may crash after dropping several high power stratagems in succession.
  • Picking up items from caches may cause characters to freeze in place for an extended period of time.
  • Picking up items from bunkers and caches in quick succession may render one of the items unpickable.
  • Players cannot unfriend other players befriended via friend code.
  • Players may be unable to select loadout or return to ship when joining a multiplayer game session via PS5 Activity Card.
  • Mission objective HUD displays different numbers for client and host during some missions.
  • Default armor is always shown while viewing the warbond, regardless of the armor that player has equipped.
  • Text chat box display is obstructed by the cinematic letterboxing during extraction.
  • Some text in the HUD/UI is missing or not displaying correctly.
  • Players may experience issues when many players attempt to login and/or play at the same time:
  • Login rate limiting
  • Players may become disconnected during play
  • Various UI issues may appear when the game interacts with servers
  • Some games may not be joinable by others for a short period of time

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.

Every Sonic Game on the Nintendo Switch in 2024

If you’re the type of Sonic the Hedgehog fan who prefers to play games both at home and on the go on a single platform, the Nintendo Switch is the best console to do that. Ever since the Switch arrived in the market in 2017, Sega has worked like clockwork to consistently release Sonic games for the hybrid console.

With Sonic x Shadow Generations making its way to the Switch this fall and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 coming to theaters in December, now is a good time to play through your Sonic collection or add to it in your Switch library. Here are all the Sonic the Hedgehog games you can play on the Nintendo Switch right now!

How Many Sonic Games Are There on Nintendo Switch?

A total of 8 Sonic games have been release for Nintendo Switch. This spans from the first year of the system back in 2017 to the most recent title, Sonic Superstars, which was released in October 2023. Keep in mind that this list below does not include the games available with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

All Sonic Switch Games in Order of Release Date

Sonic Mania (2017)

Sonic Mania was developed by PagodaWest Games and Sonic fangame community member Christian Whitehead as a love letter to the classic Sonic the Hedgehog titles released on the Sega Genesis and Sega CD platforms. Taking place after the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the game remixes eight iconic levels, including Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone, and introduces five new ones, including the glamorous Studiopolis Zone and the peaceful Press Garden Zone, and introduces a new troupe of Eggbots called the Hard-Boiled Heavies for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to beat. Mania is considered one of the best Sonic games of the 2010s because of the experiment in allowing a group of Sonic fans to create a game other Sonic fans would love, the vivid neon graphics, and the new challenges present in every stage.

Read our review of Sonic Mania.

Sonic Forces (2017)

Sonic Forces makes Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic form a resistance against Dr. Eggman after he conquered most of the world alongside Infinite, a masked jackal who uses the Phantom Ruby to create doppelgangers and warp reality. The game switches gameplay modes between third-person Boost gameplay with Modern Sonic, side-scrolling gameplay with Classic Sonic, and a mode with the custom avatar character, which can be any animal you want, whose weapons use Wisp power-ups. Forces’ writing and lighting aren’t exactly the best in the series, but the game is still tolerable for some people.

Read our review of Sonic Forces.

Team Sonic Racing (2019)

Team Sonic Racing takes racing games to a whole new level by having players race with each other, not against each other. This game has a cooperative gameplay mechanic similar to Splatoon and Overwatch, using Sonic Heroes as a frame of reference, where you play in teams of three characters and work together to win each race, paying very close attention to your teammates’ performance and sharing Wisp power-ups with them to allow them to speed up and pull your ranks. Since most of the karts are sports cars, you can customize them with gold rims and paint your car any color you want West Coast Customs style.

Read our review of Team Sonic Racing.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (2019)

Released a year before the real-life Tokyo Olympic Games was scheduled to begin only to be postponed to 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 brings the platform rivalry between the jolly red plumber, the speedy blue hedgehog, and their respective friends back to the world stage with new events, like surfing, skateboarding, karate, and sport climbing, and bonus features. The game includes a story mode that takes Mario and Sonic back to the Tokyo 1964 Olympics and their early 2D sprite selves, while everyone else works to help bring them back to the real world in the present day. You get the best of both eras and some history lessons about the Olympic Games in Tokyo to go with it.

Read our review of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate (2021)

Sonic Colors: Ultimate is the remastered version of the original Sonic Colors for the Wii and Nintendo DS developed by Blind Squirrel Games as part of Sonic’s 30th anniversary in 2021. The remaster enhanced the graphics to brighten up the colors of Eggman’s interplanetary amusement park and the character models, introduced a new Jade Ghost Wisp to help Sonic phase through walls and ceilings, replaced the traditional lives with rescues from Tails, and introduced mini races against Metal Sonic. You can also collect Park Tokens to customize Sonic with the wackiest designs for his shoes and gloves.

Read our review of Sonic Colors: Ultimate.

Sonic Origins (2022)

Sonic Origins compiles the first four classic Sonic games released on the Sega Genesis and Sega CD and remasters them for modern consoles and the audience that plays on them, whether they’re veteran fans seeking a nostalgia fix or young fans who want to understand Sonic’s history. Players can experience the game in Classic Mode, which is the original format presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, or Anniversary Mode, which replaces lives with coins and allows Sonic to use Drop Dash as he did in Sonic Mania. Each game in the compilation features new animated cutscenes at the beginning and end done by the incomparable Tyson Heese to connect all four games into a cohesive story, provided you play them in the original release order.

Sonic Frontiers (2022)

Sonic Frontiers is the first open-world game in the Sonic franchise — or should we say, “open-zone”? — born out of a trend of open-world games being styled after The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Sonic explores the vast Starfall Islands to fight cybernetic enemies, solve various puzzles, and run through Cyber Space levels modeled after the levels from past Sonic titles in an effort to save his friends from the digitized dimension. Both veteran and new Sonic fans alike will enjoy running around the mysterious island set to a soundtrack that strikes a delicate balance between serenity and chaos.

Read our review of Sonic Frontiers.

Sonic Superstars (2023)

Sonic Superstars is a collaborative effort between Sega and Arzest to bring 3D graphics to a Classic Sonic game, a move that surprised everyone at the 2023 Summer Game Fest (including this author). With Classic Sonic being a CGI character on his own for the first time and classic levels getting revamped with new music and upgraded level designs, the game allows up to four people to locally play together as Sonic and his friends throughout 11 levels across the Northstar Islands and grants new powers for every Chaos Emerald they collect to overcome obstacles. It’s a great Sonic game to play with friends at home or on the go!

Read our review of Sonic Superstars.

Available Sonic Games With Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack

If you’re looking to play some classic Sonic games with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, there are a few available under the SEGA catalog. You can find more info about them below:

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Impressions: Didn’t Play the First One? No Problem, You’ll Love it Anyway

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Dragon’s Dogma 2. I have Dark Arisen in my Steam library and a paltry 70 minutes of gametime that is likely going to increase in the coming weeks. But while I may be inexperienced compared to those already aware of Dogma’s greatness, I can safely say that my preview session broke my hype meter. I cannot wait to play more. After being dropped into a random save that started me in the middle of a town with the Mystic Spearhead Vocation, I wasn’t really sure of where to go. But that was the beauty of this demo. Dragon’s Dogma 2 organically gave me plenty of options for what to do next, and there’s no wrong answer. I was almost immediately greeted by a traveler asking me to find their Jadeite Orb, because if it wasn’t found, his master could have him killed. Morris, a shopkeeper, told me that his grandson Rodge had gone missing and a villager informed him he was dragged off by wolves. When I started talking to people in town, I met Folkes, who told me about a town north of Venworth that was overrun with fell beasts. All of these options were there to pursue in addition to the main storyline.

And while I was probably supposed to do the main quest, I decided to go it alone, jumping on an ox cart to the next town to see what else I could discover.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 really clicked with me because you need to constantly be on your toes. There are moments of downtime when you can just enjoy the vista or pose with a random Ogre you’ve defeated. But more often than not I was organically finding combat encounters and secrets that I wanted to investigate more. And that amazing loop was consistent as I made my journey back.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 really clicked with me because you need to constantly be on your toes.

Over the course of 80 minutes I fought a Griffin that flew me into the air and dropped me to my death. I discovered the untimely fate of Rodge was affected by the fact that I decided to run off exploring the wilderness – a completely different outcome than what Mitchell encountered in his IGN First playthrough a couple months ago. I took on an Ogre that was protecting a treasure chest my Pawn had led me to. I turned down new Pawns that I met who wanted to become a part of my crew. I was ambushed by a group of bandits making camp. And all of this happened organically while I explored just a small sliver of a massive map.

Even though I was probably supposed to do the main quest, Dragon’s Dogma 2 had just provided me with a wealth of entertainment that I didn’t want to walk away from while wandering around accomplishing… nothing even related to a quest. Sorry Rodge.

The Mystic Spearhand Vocation was interesting, but as it was my first time playing Dragon’s Dogma 2 I wasn’t able to showcase all of the abilities. Still, the focus of the provided build was clearly all about the spear and your character’s ability to teleport to foes and deliver devastating blows. The recent Vocation trailer also teased a wealth of exciting options, like the ability to teleport directly on top of enemies before plunging your spear into their back, and an ability that teleports between status-afflicted foes to deliver a crushing blow. Getting to see what was possible just makes me want to go back and play even more.

And if this isn’t to your liking, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has other Vocations available. They include the Fighter, Archer, Mage, Thief, Warrior, Sorcerer, Mystic Spearhand, Magik Archer, Warfarer and Trickster that we previewed as part of our IGN First coverage. You are free to switch between each of these on the fly by simply talking to a vendor, and taking a peek at the options available makes it clear that each has a lot more depth than expected. The second Vocation I had the chance to try was the Magik Archer. Diving into the combat options, the sheer amount of choices at your disposal is incredibly exciting. My Archer had nine Weapon Skills to choose from with Flamefang Arrow, Ricochet Hunter, Frosthunter Bolt and Recovery arrow selected. Flamefang Arrow, at least in the build I played, seems incredibly overpowered. If each Vocation has this amount of customization it’ll be a lot of fun to discover the strengths of each.

If I had one hope, it would be that Capcom added more options in the framerate department.

When the time came to jump over and play this second Vocation, I began by being ambushed at a tavern in town, only to make quick work of my opponent by stunlocking them with Ricochet Hunter and Frosthunter Bolt. It was an incredibly powerful combination – so powerful that the Griffen we encountered later never stood a chance. Flamefang Arrow and my powerful Pawns simply devastated everything with ease.

While the gameplay was amazing and I can’t wait to get back to play more, there was one concern I’ve seen the community curious about: the uncapped framerate on console. When looking at this it should be noted that I’m playing a version which Capcom clearly states is “still in development, and is not equivalent to the final product.” But in this build on PlayStation 5, Dragon’s Dogma 2 was averaging around 31 frames per second with dips during heavy moments of action while playing with the PS5 set to output at 4K. I did not get to test at lower base revolutions or VRR during my time to see if that had a positive impact on performance however, if I had one hope, it would be that Capcom added more options in the framerate department including, at minimum a capped 30 frames per second mode.

That said, the gameplay was so fun that it was hard to walk away focused on anything other than my genuine excitement to play more.

My demo ended in the dead of night trying to help a character navigate the spirits, Zombies, and monsters waiting for me in the darkness. But after playing almost two and a half hours, there’s no denying that Dragon’s Dogma 2 had me hooked. I cannot wait to play more on March 22nd.

WB Games Says It Plans to Double Down on Live Service Despite Suicide Squad Failing to Meet Expectations

Warner Bros. Games wants to further invest in live service even after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League failed to impress.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and President of Streaming and Games J.B. Perrette spoke about the company’s strategy during a recent Morgan Stanley event. He acknowledges the success of projects like the single-player Hogwarts Legacy, which managed to be last year’s best-selling game in the U.S., but says the business of AAA console releases can be “volatile.”

“That’s a great business when you have a hit like (Hogwarts Legacy). It makes the year look amazing,” Perrette said. “Unfortunately, we also have disappointments — we just released Suicide Squad this quarter, which was not as strong. It just makes it very volatile.”

He explains that Warner Bros. is looking at its four major franchises — Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and DC — and is hoping to expand in the mobile and multiplatform free-to-play space. It will take some time for Warner Bros.’ efforts to come to fruition, with Perrette estimating we’ll see the impact between 2025 and 2027. He does say, though, that the company will release more mobile free-to-play titles later this year.

“Within the studio segment, we’re doubling down on games as an area where we think there is a lot more growth opportunity that we can tap into with the IP that we have and some of the capabilities on the studio side, where we’re uniquely positioned as both a publisher and a developer of games,” he says.

This pivot will see the company emphasizing its live-service offerings, too. Perrette is interested, for example, in creating an ongoing project set in the world of Harry Potter.

“Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live service where people can live and work and build and play in that world on an ongoing basis?” he said.

It’s a strategy that will see Warner Bros. leaning on its billion-dollar IP in a way that is meant to create consistent revenue streams. The goal is to create “meaningful growth” in games “over the next couple of years.”

Meanwhile, many already view the company’s Suicide Squad game as a live-service project even though its developer, Rocksteady Games, seems uninterested in using that label. As for the Harry Potter universe, Warner Bros. has been clear that it wants to create more adventures in that universe, including a Quidditch game.

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.

Every Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Mini-Game Ranked

The original Final Fantasy 7 Remake offered one of the most ambitious packages of minigames that the series had ever seen at the time, and with the second installment of the FF7 Remake saga, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth goes even further. Featuring an even wider selection of minigames, many of the game’s side-activities reimagine much of the original minigames while also adding entirely new ones that flesh out the characters and world in some surprising ways.

After playing the entirety of what FF7 Rebirth has to offer, we’ve got a thorough ranking of the massive sequel’s selection of minigames based on how enjoyable they are to dive into. For this ranking of Rebirth’s many minigames, we’re focusing on activities and sequences that take players outside the usual encounter and into something more unique. So, while battle arenas and open-world activities are enjoyable, we’ve decided to focus on the unique events that put you in more unusual situations.

So, with that, here’s our definitive ranking of FF7’s best minigames.

Spoilers for the various mini-games that appear in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

19. Chocobo Capture

Chocobos are the party’s greatest asset in the open world, and Rebirth makes you work for your brightly colored companion. As one of the earliest minigames you’ll encounter, Cloud has to sneak up and tame a wild Chocobo hiding out in each region. This activity involves a stealth puzzle sequence where you create distractions in order sneak up on the roaming big bird to tame them. While it’s a quirky sequence, it often feels more like a hurdle to overcome for each region, and you’ll likely have forgotten about it as you move on with your Chocobo and explore.

18. Pirate’s Rampage

One neat distraction to find in the seaside resort of Costa Del Sol is Pirate’s Rampage, a carnival shooter where you fire an airgun at moving targets to rack up a high score. It’s a charming activity with many cute references to pirates and other Final Fantasy monsters, and the two levels offer some solid challenges. While it is a bit of a one-note activity, it’s a decent distraction for those looking to sharpen their reflexes and earn some unlockable items.

17. Galactic Saviors

As one of Rebirth’s brand new Gold Saucer minigames, Galactic Saviors is a Star Fox-style space shooter where you and the captain of the Space Rangers (the Final Fantasy VII universe’s take on Buzz Lightyear) fight against alien invaders in deep space. Playing Galactic Saviors is a snappy and fun time with solid shooter and flight controls — and it even lets you barrel roll to evade enemy fire. But much like a Disneyland attraction, it reaches its conclusion fairly quickly. This is a minigame that I wish had more depth to it, and it is quite forgiving with its difficulty, but it’s a solid addition to the Gold Saucer’s plethora of activities — and you also get a neat accessory for going for the high score.

16. Run Wild

This minigame puts Red XIII as the key player of an activity that’s essentially a more over-the-top take on soccer. Found in Costa Del Sol, Run Wild features two game types – one focusing on four teams vying for the top spot and another that tasks Red XIII with getting balls into goals while avoiding obstacles. Run Wild can often feel exciting, and cutting loose with Red XIII is quite fun. However, it can also be challenging to keep up with the action as the minigame throws a lot of obstacles and adversaries at you, which makes it somewhat of a drag to get through on multiple attempts.

15. Jump Toad

The Toad status ailment has been the bane of many Final Fantasy players, but Rebirth has some fun with the Toad form by turning it into one of its most bizarre minigames. Found in Junon, this minigame sees Cloud and the party willingly turn themselves into toads to compete in Fall Guys-style obstacle courses, where the toad that lasts the longest wins. Though it is a fairly limited activity, it’s a clever attempt at turning an always annoying status effect into a humorous activity, and it’s pretty fun to see an up-close look at each party member in toad form.

14. 3D Brawler

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth revitalizes the original game’s most notorious Gold Saucer minigame, and it’s now in a more exciting state that you can finally see its conclusion. 3D Brawler has you engage in a Punch Out-style fighting game where you must read an opponent’s combat style to dodge their attacks and strike back to come out on top.

Unlike the original minigame, which was primarily based on luck and featured an invisible final opponent that was quite actually unbeatable no matter how hard you tried, the remade 3D Brawler is a more robust activity that gives you the means to beat down every opponent you face. At its best, it’s a fun, bite-sized fighting game, but it can sometimes feel a bit unforgiving due to the more elaborate control scheme and some difficulty in reading an opponent’s tells. Still, this minigame is a neat tribute to classic FFVII that redeems its most unfair minigame.

13. Moogle Mischief

The Moogles are a mainstay of the Final Fantasy series, and Rebirth tasks you with ensuring that the few cutesy Moogles out in the world stay together. In the Moogle Mischief minigame, Cloud has to round up mischievous Mooglets and bring them back to the safety of the Mog house in each region. It’s like herding sheep back to a safe spot, except the sheep will cast magic spells, toss bombs at you, and taunt you at every misstep along the way.

It’s an incredibly quirky minigame that can be equally hilarious and frustrating with how fast the Moogles can get the best of you. The final stages of these minigames are chaotic as you scramble to round up every Mooglet you can before time runs out, and you may end up viewing the Moogles very differently by game’s end. All in all, it’s an amusing minigame that shows off the more devious side of the Moogles.

12. Fort Condor

The original Fort Condor minigame from 1997 was an odd but sophisticated tactics game well-loved by fans. It saw an upgraded take in the INTERmission DLC for Remake, and Rebirth continues with INTERmission’s revitalized Fort Condor but adds more of a Hero spin on the tower-defense style action.

It remains an enjoyable bite-sized strategy game, and getting the best of enemy units with careful planning is satisfying to see play out. It’s also a lot of fun to see Cloud and crew as Hero units, which adds some spice to the flow of each match. However, Fort Condor has sudden and frustrating difficulty spikes that often encourage brute force tactics instead of carefully planning to win. Still, there’s much fun with seeing Cloud, Barrett, and Tifa beat up units in their early 3D styles once again.

11. Dolphin Escape

In keeping with the Remake saga’s focus on spectacle, the original Dolphin riding minigame from FFVII is now an extended activity focusing on sneaking past Shinra security and entertaining the children of Junon’s undercity. The revised gameplay of the Dolphin Show minigame is akin to the classic Wave Race 64, where you must maneuver past specific directional buoys, make sweet jumps, and reach the finish line as fast as possible. While it doesn’t change much on extended play, it offers a surprisingly refreshing and more dynamic take on the original’s one-note minigame – and adds a lot of charm in the process.

10. Cactuar Crush

The Cactuars are back in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and they now have an entire sidequest and minigame that showcases them as the series’ most bizarre foes. Cactuar Crush focuses on Yuffie and Aerith using their combat skills to take down as many Cactuars as possible, and you’ll need to use careful timing of moves and specific elemental strikes to overcome the prickly baddies. Trying to complete this minigame at first felt like a major hassle, especially with how many Cactuars are thrown at you. But once I found a flow and learned each character’s best skills, I found great fun with dishing out pain to the Cactuars – including the rare Giant variants. It can be a good time for players looking to take out the Cactuars en masse, but it’ll require some patience to succeed.

9. G-Bike

The famous motorcycle minigame where Cloud battles Shinra forces make a return in Rebirth, and it’s now a more gamified experience that feels in keeping with the Gold Saucer. In G-Bike, Cloud has to maintain momentum and speed as he builds up energy to take down Shinra goons while speeding across Midgar’s highway. G-Bike is faster and, honestly, more exciting than Remake’s take on the minigame. While it doesn’t have additional tracks and sequences to try out, the base game is still a good time to cut loose on the highway with Cloud once again.

8. Crunch-Off!

The Gym Workout minigames in Remake were playful send-ups to gym culture, and they’re back in Rebirth. While 2020’s Remake focused on squats and pull-ups, Rebirth sees Tifa again face off against arrogant gym rats in a “Crunch-Off!” Like in Remake, you have to land timed button presses and outpace your opponent, and the longer the match goes, the harder it gets to keep your flow in performing crunches. It can be easy to lose momentum, which can quickly ruin a run, but finding a flow is easy, and you’ll rise up the ranks rapidly. It’s also got some truly A+ commentary from gym patrons who are very invested in their workouts.

7. Desert Rush

The Desert Rush minigame sees Cloud again in a solo brawl against a plethora of durable boxes. Like Remake’s box-breaking activity and Kingdom Hearts’ barrel-busting minigames, you’ll need to bust open large boxes within a time limit. The real twist with Desert Rush is that Cloud must maneuver through an obstacle course as he breaks each box, some of which require additional energy to destroy. It was a surprisingly thrilling minigame that prioritized which boxes to break into to cut a path forward to the finish. I wish there were more courses, but Desert Rush and the additional hard mode are a good time, and seeing Cloud engage in a Kingdom Hearts-style minigame was amusing on its own.

6. Gears and Gambits

Another minigame focusing on strategy is Gears and Gambits, the most sophisticated tactics minigame in Rebirth. Paying homage to Final Fantasy XII’s gambit system, you can program tactical commands and prompts for your robot units to overcome various foes and bosses. What makes Gears and Gambits such a neat twist on the tactics is the range of customization you have for your units, and once you acquire new gambits and learn the best strategies, you can unleash some clever load-outs that will cut down the opposition.

5. Junon Shinra March

The infamous Shinra Parade from FFVII is back, and it’s now an even more ambitious sequence with significant stakes. Like the Honeybee Inn dance sequence from FFVII Remake, you’ll need to correctly time button prompts to maintain poise in a competition against other Shinra Infantry to earn positive approval. The focus on keeping a flow is the key to this minigame, and seeing it play out as such a spectacle was a real highlight of the opening chapters of Rebirth. It’s an exciting and memorable sequence, and seeing Cloud and the others play their parts and stick with the routine made for a slick event.

4. Loveless – The Interactive Play

As one of the late-game minigames, Loveless sees the party join an interactive play where they perform the roles of heroes and villains in a musical experience. As something of an extended quick-time-event sequence in the vein of Shenmue and even Dragon’s Lair, Loveless is essentially an interactive cutscene inspired by the tone of a classic swords and sorcery adventure. While this may seem like an unusual minigame, Loveless works well because it showcases the party in a different light – making them appear as more classic-style Final Fantasy characters.

With some options for choice-driven sequences where you choose some alternate outcomes, you get to see an entertaining, emotionally charged sequence that culminates in a heartfelt musical number showcasing the bond the party has. Even as a standalone minigame, it is one of the highlights of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and a cathartic moment for Cloud and friends.

3. Chocobo Racing

As one of the most memorable minigames of classic FFVII, Rebirth brings back Chocobo Racing in top form, and it’s one of the game’s best side activities. Though it’s unlocked relatively late into the game, the wait is worth it. Chocobo Racing is a payoff for all the time invested in acquiring mounts in different regions and helping out a young Chocobo trainer. Chocobo Racing features racing gameplay similar to Mario Kart, focusing on mastering your track, learning the turns, and taking advantage of powerups and boosts to come out on top.

Moreover, all the Chocobo cosmetic items purchased previously now function as selectable perks, letting you customize and tune your mount’s performance. It’s such a laid-back yet still thrilling racing mode. With the number of variations of each track increasing as you move up the ranks, it’s a satisfying and fleshed-out side activity that showcases the fun of Chocobo Racing — and it’s easily the best iteration that Final Fantasy has seen yet.

2. Play it again, Cloud: Piano minigame

Minigames focusing on playing instruments have been more common in games these days, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth now has its own musical minigame that lets Cloud and Tifa unwind with some time on the piano. Featuring a robust set of options for how you want to play, such as letting you adjust to minor and monotone keys, it’s a well-crafted take minigame that showcases some of the game’s tender moments. This minigame truly shines with the free play option, letting you practice and test your skills. So far, players are already taking to it well with some covers of classic songs like Dr. Dre’s Still D.R.E. and the Metal Gear Solid theme.

1. Queen’s Blood

As it turns out, the minigame you’ll experience first in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the absolute best. Compared to FFVIII’s Triple Triad and FFIX’s Tetra Master, Queen’s Blood is the most approachable card game to ever grace a Final Fantasy game and the most rewarding one to invest time in. Battling other Queen’s Blood players throughout each region will see Cloud move up the ranks and become an elite card player, with some critical battles giving strong Yu-Gi-Oh energy for its reverence of the cards battles.

It’s a charming activity, bolstered by a bumping jazz-inspired soundtrack that keeps the energy up in every game. You’ll constantly find characters in towns up for a game, many of whom can easily beat you down with a superior deck. I never found much long-term enjoyment from other FF card games, but what makes Queen’s Blood so engaging and endearing is that it’s a minigame about the joys of playing a trading card game, and the community that invests their time in making the game into something more.

And that’s our complete ranking of the many minigames in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Which one stood out for you? Let us know in the comments about your favorites, and for more on Square-Enix’s massive RPG, check out our guides on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Alessandro Fillari is a freelance writer for IGN.

Dune: Awakening Devs ‘Sort of Sidestep Religion’

Developers at Funcom, the studio behind upcoming massively multiplayer online game Dune: Awakening, “sort of sidestep religion” in their take on the beloved science fiction universe.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Funcom chief creative officer and Dune: Awakening creative director Joel Bylos said the team ignores a major part of the Dune universe but, ironically, it seems to be all for the sake of preserving beloved lore.

Dune: Awakening takes place a few years before the story fans of the books and films will be most familiar with, but still in an alternative universe where certain decisions are made differently.

“Things are slightly different in our universe,” Bylos said. “Many events are still the same, so it’s not like we’ve gone all ‘thousands of years ago, a rock slid in the wrong place and changed everything’. It’s just a few years back. But the significant thing… It’s really close to spoiler territory, which I can’t really go through, but let’s just say that for the large part, we sort of sidestep religion.”

Bylos was unable to say anything more specific about this missing aspect, but it seemingly refers to one specific moment related to religion instead of this key aspect of Dune’s universe being completely passed over. There’s also a “very spiritual set of things” that players who take spice will encounter, with consumption and addiction used as central mechanics.

Dune: Awakening was announced in August 2022 but still lacks a release date. Coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC, the survival MMO received a new trailer in March 2024 which showed off Unreal Engine 5 gameplay across the brutal planet of Arrakis.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition PC Requirements Revealed

Horizon Forbidden West launches on PC in a couple of weeks, and ahead of its release date, developer Nixxes Software has unveiled the system requirements needed to run the port.

In a new PS Blog post, Nixxes Software Online Community Specialist Julian Huijbregts said the PC version of Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition is optimized to run “on a wide variety of PC hardware,” including portable gaming devices such as handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck. This is unsurprising from Nixxes, given its track recording for porting games to PC.

“This allows gamers with the latest hardware to push their systems while also providing a great experience on less powerful PCs,” Huijbregts explained. The blog post offers an overview of recommended specifications, which you can find below. Nixxes recommends these specifications for various available graphical presets.

Interestingly, regardless of what CPU and GPU you have in your machine, Nixxes recommends using a solid-state drive (SSD) when installing the PC version of Horizon: Forbidden West. This became a criticism in Nixxes’ most recent PC port, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, with which an SSD was recommended, not required, to run the port. As Digital Foundry’s John Linneman pointed out in his technical review, the port was borderline unplayable if installed on a hard disk drive (HHD).

Alongside the system requirements, we learned that Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition’s PC port will join the growing list of games supporting Nvidia’s third generation of DLSS. Released in 2022, DLSS 3 is exclusive to the GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards and can boost performance up to four times compared to simply rendering it at native resolution.

The PC version of Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition is set to be released on March 21 on Steam and the Epic Games Store. It’s the latest PlayStation exclusive to launch on PC, following Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Uncharted 4, and Insomniac’s first two Spider-Man games.

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

Pokémon-Style MMO Temtem Signals End of Development, Removal of All Microtransactions

Remember Temtem? Four years before ‘Pokémon with guns’ game Palworld exploded onto the scene, massively multiplayer creature-collection adventure Temtem came out alongside similar comparisons. Now, its developer has issued an open letter to players signaling the end of support and teased what’s next.

In the message, posted to the Temtem Steam page, developer Crema addressed what it said was an “uptick” in community concern about Temtem following the announcement of Temtem: Swarm, a “survivor-like bullet heaven” spin-off due out later this year.

Crema started its message by discussing the mismanaged expectations that came from Temtem being tagged as an MMO on Steam when the plan was for it to be an MMO-lite. Trying to make Temtem more like a traditional MMO to meet those expectations caused Temtem to “grow far beyond our original intentions, and even beyond our grasp,” the developer admitted. “We understand now that seeing the game being called an MMO everywhere led to expectations that we have failed to fulfill.”

Crema went on to explain why it’s not adding new islands and Tems, pointing to the limited development capability of a studio of its size. It’s the same explanation, in essence, for the lack of more multiplayer content. Crema then apologized for features that were promised but will not be released, including PvP Draft and the Temtem API. “For our shortcomings and failure to deliver these to you, we are truly sorry,” Crema said.

But the big announcement is that patch 1.7, due out early June, will remove all the game’s microtransactions after a community backlash. This means Temtem’s entire monetisation system will be stripped out. Then, with patch 1.8, Crema said it will “alleviate FOMO” (the fear of missing out) by letting players select any battle pass from the past and complete it. “While it’s still very early to talk about monetization for future projects, we have learned from this situation and the lesson is clear, and will keep these learnings in mind for the future,” Crema said,

Patch 1.8, then, is the last feature-filled patch of the usual size, Crema warned. “1.8 will not have a Tamer Pass, nor a Season, and there won’t be more Seasons going forward,” it confirmed. “This doesn’t mean there won’t be new patches in the future: we’ll continue polishing, fixing bugs, and balancing Temtem for as long as it needs it.

“Beyond the economy, all these changes have been made considering the community’s feedback and the game’s wellbeing, as our mission for 1.8 onwards is to make the game more fun, enjoyable, rewarding and self-sustained, even in the absence of big updates. Small updates will keep appearing in the form of bug-fixing and balance tweaks, as we don’t intend to close the game nor its server.”

Crema explained that it’s able to keep Temtem running because server costs are “slim”, which in turn means the developer can cover costs “for a really, really long time.” But don’t hold your breath for an offline mode. “With the game servers perpetually online, we’re not contemplating an offline mode,” Crema said. And what happens if player numbers dwindle to next to nothing? Fear not, Crema reassured: “Temtem won’t die if thousands of people don’t play it daily, and its focus on a classic adventure campaign ensures that anyone joining Temtem at any given time will enjoy the game, be able to explore every nook and cranny of the Archipelago, discover its story, and obtain each and every Temtem, even if alongside a small crew of players.”

And finally, to the future. It doesn’t sound like Temtem 2 is a possibility, at least in the short-term. “If we ever were to do this, we’d need to be able to produce a product and flow of content that all of you could enjoy and love to the maximum,” Crema said. “Such a product is still out of our grasp and reach: we’re simply not ready. We are, as a studio, too small to embark on the feat we’d like Temtem 2 to be; we don’t currently have the technical knowledge, the time nor the ability to bring those ideas to life.”

However, there is an unannounced new game set within the Temtem universe in the works, codenamed Project Downbelow. Crema said it’s working on this mystery game with a new engine. “Our intentions for Project Downbelow are to build new foundations and try out new things we would love to see in a hypothetical Temtem 2,” Crema said. “By exploring a new combat system, a stronger engine and more things we can’t unveil yet, we hope to learn the proper bases, and have enough preparation and experience to put us closer to the materialization of something as precious to us – and you – as Temtem 2 would be.”

We understand many players feel like Temtem has a lot more potential to unlock, and that it is not all it could be, but for us that doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re actually very happy with the final product.

As for Temtem: Swarm, co-developed with GGTech Studio, Crema insisted “in no case have we removed any resources nor team members from Temtem’s development to use on Temtem: Swarm, nor do we plan to.” Meanwhile, there’s a Temtem animated series in the works.

“We understand many players feel like Temtem has a lot more potential to unlock, and that it is not all it could be, but for us that doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re actually very happy with the final product,” Crema concluded.

“We’re so excited to see how much Temtem has grown, and feel like the final product is a complete experience, and a very enjoyable one at that. When we set out on this journey we couldn’t even dream of reaching this point, of having created a game with so much content, that provides hundreds of hours of joy and fun, and we’re proud of everything we’ve achieved and created. While it’s not a perfect game, and we’ve learned so, so much from it, we cherish this not-so-little game of ours.”

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.