The Best Games From Steam Next Fest 2024

For years, Steam Next Fest has been kind of like E3 for PC games… only it’s virtual, so you don’t get a migraine from all the noise and your lunch doesn’t have to be the overpriced and underheated pizza from the cafeteria. And instead of waiting in lines all day and getting to play maybe a half dozen games, anybody is welcome to download as many free demos and sample everything to their hearts’ content.

We’ve played a smorgasbord of this Next Fest’s offerings and with literally hundreds of demos available, we wish this article was big enough to give props to everything we loved. But here are five games that you need to keep your eyes on in 2024.

PACIFIC DRIVE

In the 1940s Pacific Northwest, the United States government experimented with strange new technology with the promise of bettering the world. Over half a century later, those experiments are now locked behind a 30 meter-high wall and those left inside were never heard from again. What dangers (and perhaps even nightmares) are contained within are what Pacific Drive thrusts you directly into.

When you, a delivery driver, unwittingly find yourself on the inside of the Zone, the only allies you have are some voices guiding you over the radio and the real star of this game: your old, beat-up station wagon. In every other game I’ve played that features driving, I don’t think I’ve ever once cared much about what happens to my vehicles. But in Pacific Drive, you rely on your car not just to get around more easily, but to store belongings, craft supplies, view the map, and more. If you collide with the environment too hard, you risk breaking off panels or popping a tire and in a survival game like this, that can be a real disadvantage. It’s all the more immersive when you have to manually do things like turn the ignition and set the parking brake, which are good ideas to save on fuel and prevent your car from rolling away, respectively.

All the while, unexplainable anomalies occur all around you. A few seem helpful, like dumpsters that spit out supplies, but most are antagonistic. Strange machines try to drag your car away, parts of the ground shift unexpectedly, and most things in general are in an unstable physical state. I had a particularly stressful moment when I got caught in what I can only describe as a storm that blew in from hell and just about wrecked my car as I floored it through the escape portal with 11% health and no healing items left.

In Pacific Drive, your car isn’t just an in-universe vehicle; it’s a vehicle to pull you even deeper into a world that we can’t wait to anxiously cruise through later this month.

DUNGEONBORNE

If you’re tired of waiting for Dark and Darker to maybe or maybe not come back to Steam, may I offer up Dungeonborne as a promising possible alternative? Just like Dark and Darker, Dungeonborne is a dark fantasy PvPvE game that combines multiplayer extraction-dungeon-crawling with some battle royale spice tossed in for good measure. Before entering the arena, you’ll select and customize a class, from magic-casting pyromancers and cryomancers to the more up-close-and-personal rogues and fighters, with more classes coming post-launch. Each comes with their own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities which you’ll have to strategically play around against both AI enemies and other players.

In a standard match, you and any teammates you choose to bring along will search for treasure and try to find an exit without being killed. Any loot you escape with can be sold for better weapons, armor, and supplies to start the next round with. But be careful; you’re only ever one or two bad decisions away from death and in this game, death means that anything you had on you is lost for good. Get ready for possible salt when you lose, but major euphoria when you clutch out an escape. All the while, the arena slowly shrinks, pushing players closer together to force PvP encounters.

Combat is slow and methodical; this means that every item and every swing of your weapon has major consequences, so you have to be very thoughtful about going for an attack if it’s just going to leave you wide open for a counter. This ALSO means that I am not very good at the game yet and have died to a bug – as in a literal insect – in the opening seconds of a match more than once. And yet… I also kinda want to jump in for just one more go.

Again, no beating around the bush; in a lot of ways, Dungeonborne makes the list for filling the void left by Dark and Darker on Steam’s storefront. But if it has its “predecessor’s” staying power, the competition will only push both games to be better and better.

BERSERK BOY

Speaking of filling in voids, I know there’s a Megaman X-shaped hole in a lot of our hearts these days. Anyone who’s played Capcom’s classic platformer will find it easy to pine for the days of SNES sprites, rockin’ soundtracks, and zippy movement. They’re huge shoes to try to fill, but Berserk Boy is daring enough to attempt living up to the legacy.

Like its spiritual predecessor, Berserk Boy’s core gameplay features dashing, wall jumping, and unlocking new forms as you progress. But whereas Mega Man is about shooting your enemies, combat in Berserk Boy’s demo favors physically ramming into them, at least with the demo’s two powers. The more hits you land within a limited amount of time, the more your combo counter builds up. The higher the combo counter, the more you’ll fill your Berserk Meter for powerful one-off attacks.

In between levels, you’ll fall back to your base, a laboratory of sorts that functions as a home for the resistance. For you, it’s a hub for buying upgrades to strengthen your move set, jumping to new missions, and revisiting old ones. Taking a page from Metroidvania games, Berserk Boy encourages you to do some backtracking to reach previously inaccessible areas, find collectibles, save up currency to afford that upgrade you’re just shy of affording, or find hidden paths to score a better completion time. And when it’s backed by tunes from the composer of Sonic Mania, Streets of Rage 4, and TMNT Shredder’s Revenge, every level is worth coming back to for the soundtrack alone.

Berserk Boy will bring all the “Lightning Justice” you can handle on March 6th.

MULLET MADJACK

Leave it to an underrepresented aesthetic to catch your eye and beg you to check it out. Drawing heavy inspiration from those anime OVAs from the ‘80s and ‘90s you maybe used to watch on VHS, Mullet Mad Jack is an arcadey FPS that hinges on an appropriately over-the-top premise. In a neon-drenched dystopian future ruled by robot billionaires, humans have merged with the internet into a new being that requires dopamine every ten seconds or else they die.

In other words, all of mankind has devolved into the incarnation of Twitch chat.

When an “influencer princess” with over 2 billion followers is kidnapped, it’s up to Jack Banhammer to save the day… while livestreaming the entire thing, of course. Whoever rescues her will win a pair of shoes as the grand prize.

With a setup like that, you think you understand what you’re in for. You are wrong. You are very, very wrong.

“Fast and frenetic” is too soft of a phrase to describe the pace of Mullet Mad Jack, but “coked-out rabid weasel that pounded ten Red Bulls and got into a chicken coop“ is a little closer. I’ll put it this way: if you can accurately and reliably describe what you just did, I’m convinced that you aren’t playing the game right. I think I kicked some guy into a fan where they were ground to a bloody pulp while I chugged soda and landed a few headshots at the same time… but I’m not positive. I’m pretty sure I slid down a slope and shot the head and/or nuts of everyone in my way before clocking another one in the face and prying his head off… but I blinked once and missed it.

What I DO know for sure is that Mullet Mad Jack is a hyperactive, candy-coated, taurine-fueled, good time that pays homage to the FPS games that defined the era it celebrates. And at the end of every randomly-generated level, you get to choose a perk that makes the next one even more insane. Swap your weapon to a flame sword, litter the environment with explosive barrels, make your soda cans detonate when you chuck them; as long as you make it to the end without dying, you won’t be kicked all the way back to the beginning again.

That being said, having another reason to play some more Mullet Mad Jack would actually be a good thing. It’s one of the most “feels cool to pull off stuff” power trip FPS games I’ve played since Superhot.

ROTWOOD

From the folks behind Mark of the Ninja and Don’t Starve comes Rotwood, a roguelike dungeon crawler where you and up to three of your friends take your furry avatars through the woods and clear out endless creatures like an old-school arcade beat-em-up. An arcade beat-em-up with endless replayability, an ever-evolving playable character, and the tension of potentially losing your build if you die; this is a roguelike, after all, so a lot of you out there undoubtedly know what to expect.

And the devs certainly understand the assignment here, too. The gameplay loop in Rotwood is like having a bag of chips in front of you: it’s so effortless to just go for one more chip or one more room over and over again without even thinking about how much you’ve consumed. While I’m not ordinarily one for these kinds of games, even I couldn’t simply walk away after losing to the demo’s boss the first time. Even though I had lost all my upgrades, I found enough encouragement to try again in seeing my XP tick up by almost half a level. Surely I could level up at least once even if I failed again, right?

Despite what the name might imply, Rotwood is absolutely gorgeous. The beautiful hand-drawn art style and impressively-detailed animations texture every character with personality, but what else do you expect from Klei Entertainment? Some of these enemies are so downright adorable that I actually don’t want to kill them. But then I wonder what new powerup I’ll get after I give them a violent, hammery end, so I slaughter them all anyway. The answer, by the way, is projectiles that come out of my hammer every third swing. It’s cool!

Have you played any other Steam Next Fest demos? Be sure to check out our suggestions and sound off in the comments any stellar game demos you played yourselves.

Nick Cramer is a freelance writer and video editor for IGN.

Spider-Man 2 Update Coming Next Month, Will Include New Game+ and New Suits

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be getting its next big update on March 7 and it will include the highly anticipated New Game+ mode alongside new suits and more.

Insomniac shared the news on X/Twitter, adding that it will be revealing the complete list of features closer to the actual release of the update.

New Game+ was originally set to be released by the end of 2023, but the studio shared that the mode and other requested features like Audio Descriptions would “require more testing to ensure the quality is up to our standards.”

In the delay announcement, Insomniac also noted it was looking to add the ability to “change the time of day, swap tendril colors, and replay missions.”

In our Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 review, we said it “delivers Insomniac’s best tale yet, and despite its open world falling short, is a reliably fun superhero power trip.”

If you have yet to swing through the streets of New York in Peter and Miles’ latest adventure, you’ll be happy to know PlayStation Plus Premium members can now play two hours of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 before deciding whether to purchase it or not.

For more, check out the creators of Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 revealing secrets behind two of 2023’s biggest games and what else you can expect from Marvel in 2024.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Microsoft Picks Up Hauntii for Xbox Game Pass

Microsoft has picked up spooky indie adventure game Hauntii as a day-one Xbox Game Pass title.

Publisher Firestoke and developer Moonloop Games announced Hauntii is coming to Game Pass though didn’t offer any details as to when that might happen, as the game only has a second quarter of 2024 release window on Steam and its marketing otherwise lists a vague 2024.

“Hauntii is a beguiling adventure built around a creative haunting mechanic that lets you possess the environment and the creatures that inhabit it,” its official synopsis reads. “Once you’ve taken control, you can take on enemies using the special abilities of Hauntii’s denizens and come up with ingenious solutions to overcome the many challenges littered across the game’s enchanting world.

“You will be possessed by a captivating blend of exploration, puzzle solving and twin-stick shooting, all set in a stunning hand-crafted world filled with charming characters, and underpinned with a ghostly mystery that will see you diving deep into your past.”

Those interested in the idea can download a demo on Steam until February 12, but will otherwise have to wait until it comes to PC and Xbox later this year. A Nintendo Switch and PlayStation version has also been announced.

Microsoft recently announced its Xbox Game Pass additions for February 2024, which are headlined by Madden NFL 24 and Resident Evil 3.

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

EA Sports’ Madden NFL 24 Officially Predicts Super Bowl 58 Winner

EA Sports has made its annual Super Bowl prediction after simulating the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers game in Madden NFL 24.

The simulation predicted an incredibly close game but put the Chiefs on top in a 30 to 28 victory. This would make the Chiefs the eighth team in history to win back-to-back Super Bowls, and only the ninth instance of it in NFL history.

EA Sports also predicted Chiefs quarterback Partrick Mahomes will become the third player in history to win back-to-back Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards.

49ers fans perhaps shouldn’t worry too much about the prediction, however, as Madden NFL hasn’t always been accurate in its simulations. The last 10 years have seen it proved wrong 70% of the time, though it did perfectly anticipate the New England Patriots’ 28 to 24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in 2015.

It was wrong last year, predicting a 31 to 17 Philadelphia Eagles victory over the Chiefs, in a game the Chiefs ended up winning 38 to 35.

Those looking to test the simulation themselves can do so in Madden NFL 24, made particularly easy on Xbox thanks to the game hitting Game Pass on February 8.

In our 6/10 review of EA’s latest, IGN said: “New animations and improved AI make Madden NFL 24’s on-field action the best it’s ever been, but everything that happens off the field is a slog of dated modes and laggy menus that brings everything around it down.”

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

Palworld Players Are Using a ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Strat to Effortlessly Kill Bosses

Palworld players have come up with an ingenious way of defeating the game’s toughest bosses, and it involves building an actual in-game ‘stairway to heaven’.

As reported by GamesRadar, the video posted to Twitter / X shows how one player created a huge stairway and led a level 50 Jetragon to the top. From there, it’s a simple case of jumping off, gliding to the bottom, and destroying the lower portion of the stairway. Without this foundation, the structure comes crashing down with the Jetragon, presumably so bemused it forgot it can fly, falling to its death. The power of gravity!

This strat is so simple you imagine it’s not long for this world. Palworld developer Pocketpair has yet to indicate its readiness to take action, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s noticed (the tweet above has had just shy of two million views, after all) and plans a fix in an upcoming patch.

Speaking of Palworld patches, update v0.1.4.1 is out now on Steam and makes more welcome fixes. The Xbox patch, v0.1.1.4, is also out now. There is a disparity between the Xbox and Steam versions of Palworld, not least in the Xbox version’s lack of dedicated servers, which limits the number of players who can play together. Microsoft has said it will work directly with Pocketpair to assist in supplying the resources necessary to keep the momentum of the monster survival game going strong, including providing support to enable dedicated servers.

Palworld is a smash hit, crossing over an eye-watering 19 million players across all platforms since going on sale January 19. It’s the most-played game on Steam, and the biggest third-party launch in Game Pass history with over seven million players and a daily player peak of just shy of three million. On Steam alone, Palworld has sold 12 million copies.

But Palworld is also one of the most controversial video game releases in recent memory. Developer Pocketpair has said its staff have received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s interactive Palworld map.

Image credit: Twitter / X user @VmakeUmove

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.

Ex-Call of Duty Dev Reveals How Activision Tried to Convince Infinity Ward Staff to Stick Around After Firing the Studio’s Founders

It has gone down as one of the most tumultuous days in video game development history, but even now, nearly 14 years later, we’re still getting insight into the day Activision fired the founders of Infinity Ward.

In March 2010, Infinity Ward co-founders Vince Zampella and Jason West were escorted out of the studio by security after being fired for breach of contract and insubordination. The shocking news came just a handful of months after Activision had released blockbuster hit first-person shooter Modern Warfare 2, developed by Infinity Ward and launched to $1 billion in sales.

What happened next is well-documented: West and Zampella sued the Bobby Kotick-led publisher Activision for $36 million. Activision counter-sued, accusing West and Zampella of meeting EA in secret “to steal the [Infinity Ward] studio.” Of course, West and Zampella did end up co-founding rival FPS studio Respawn Entertainment with EA, bringing plenty of disgruntled Infinity Ward staff with them, and went on to develop Titanfall before smash hit battle royale Apex Legends. Complaints about unpaid royalties were lodged. In the end, all the messy lawsuits were settled. What was left of Infinity Ward went on to release Modern Warfare 3 in 2011, with the help of the likes of Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software.

Now, as spotted by PC Gamer, NetEase games lead designer and former Infinity Ward member of staff Paul Sandler has penned an article on LinkedIn dubbed ‘That day when Activision fired Jason and Vince.’ It’s a fascinating read that reveals what it was like for the rank and file to go through such a dramatic series of events.

What sticks out for me is Sandler’s recollection of Activision’s attempt to prevent Infinity Ward and thus Modern Warfare 3 from collapsing:

“There was an emergency company meeting in the kitchen space. A group of top Activision high-ups were already at the studio, ready to steady the ship. The Infinity Ward team piled into the kitchen and glared at the group of executives standing behind the long kitchen island table. One of them tried explaining what was happening, which nobody on the development team bought or cared for. The response was mostly stoic silence. Then, a team member asked bluntly if we were going to be paid the bonuses we have already earned for shipping Modern Warfare 2. Reading the tense vibe in the room, another executive took his turn and tried a different strategy. Paraphrasing, he said: ‘Guys, if you stay with the studio to make Modern Warfare 3, you will receive your MW2 bonuses. AND we will also give everyone a fifty percent salary increase’. He paused slightly before repeating: ‘That is a five and a zero, fifty percent’. The looks on peoples faces did not change. If anything, most of the team was feeling even more upset. The executive spoke again: ‘Look, I get it. I know this is a tough situation. But, just take the money and get over it.’ I specifically remember him telling us to ‘Get over it’.”

IGN has asked Activision for comment.

As we know, despite Activision’s attempts, Infinity Ward suffered a mass exodus of staff following the firing of Zampella and West. Sandler says around 40 developers quit from a total headcount of about 100. “Activision had inadvertently splintered their flagship studio, which was also one of the best studios of all time.”

Much has changed over the course of the last 14 years. Infinity Ward endured a poor run of form with Call of Duty: Ghosts and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, before kicking off Call of Duty’s comeback with 2019’s soft reboot, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and the phenomenally popular battle royale Warzone. Infinity Ward has also released Modern Warfare 2 and last year’s Modern Warfare 3.

EA ended up buying Respawn in 2017 after the release of Titanfall and Titanfall 2. Apex Legends followed, with another team making the successful action games Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Respawn is currently working on a third Star Wars Jedi game, as well as an untitled Star Wars FPS. Zampella rose through the ranks at EA to become Group General Manager in charge of Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, Battlefield, and Need for Speed.

Image credit: Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Free Trial to Launch Alongside Season 2

Activision has announced a Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 free trial that launches a day after Season 2.

Season 2, which kicks off later today, February 7, is the first big update of 2024 to the first person shooter, and adds a number of new maps, a new battle pass, and of course new cosmetics.

The free trial runs from February 8 to 12 and grants access to the new Season 2 map Stash House as well as eight other multiplayer maps across Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Domination, and Team Gun Game. It also grants full access to Modern Warfare Zombies.

Season 2 itself adds a good deal to Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer. Four new core 6v6 maps arrive across Season 2, including three brand new 6v6 maps and a remaster of Das Haus. There are two “otherworldly” themed map variants based on Skidrow and Terminal as well.

There’s a new War map, Operation Tin Man, in which you assault a downtown Urzikstan skyscraper from the skies. Five new game modes (Team Gun Game, Snipers Only, Hordepoint and Bounty, and Juggermosh) and a Vortex Playlist are all in-bound. Elsewhere, expect Season 2 Ranked Play, and the new Ninja Vest for silent running, as well as a bonus knife and throwing star ammo.

As for Zombies, the Dark Aether story act continues with a new anomaly in the Exclusion Zone, the Second Rift, new challenges and schematics, and the addition of Warlord Keres, who’s set up shop at the Killhouse in the Orlov Military Base.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Season 2 Release Times:

  • West Coast North America: 9am PT
  • East Coast North AMerica: 12pm ET
  • UK: 5pm GMT
  • Western Europe: 6pm CET
  • Japan: 2am JST December 8

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.

Palworld Steam Patch v0.1.4.1 Makes Even More Welcome Fixes

Palworld developer Pocketpair has released another patch for the all-conquering ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival game, this time bringing the Steam version up to v0.1.4.1.

The patch for the Steam version of the game, out now, makes a number of major fixes, improves some base-related issues, and further tackles cheating and exploits.

Of note, the patch fixes an issue from the previous update that affected save data, which remained in a broken state. Now, save data should load properly. Elsewhere, there’s a fix for an issue that caused some weapons equipped by other players to disappear when a player used a grenade in multiplayer, and there’s a fix for an issue that caused capture probability to not increase despite the game suggesting it had.

And, as always, there’s a funny change in the patch notes: a fix for an issue where if a Pal that was manually assigned to a breeding farm went to sleep, it would not wake up forever. Bleak!

The Xbox patch, v0.1.1.4, will be released soon, Pocketpair added. There is a disparity between the Xbox and Steam versions of Palworld, not least in the Xbox version’s lack of dedicated servers, which limits the number of players who can play together. Microsoft has said it will work directly with Pocketpair to assist in supplying the resources necessary to keep the momentum of the monster survival game going strong, including providing support to enable dedicated servers.

Palworld is a smash hit, crossing over an eye-watering 19 million players across all platforms since going on sale January 19. It’s the most-played game on Steam, and the biggest third-party launch in Game Pass history with over seven million players and a daily player peak of just shy of three million. On Steam alone, Palworld has sold 12 million copies.

But Palworld is also one of the most controversial video game releases in recent memory. Developer Pocketpair has said its staff have received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s interactive Palworld map.

Here are the Palworld Steam update v0.1.4.1 patch notes in full:

▼Major Fixes

・Fixed an issue where the game would always crash and save data would be corrupted when the total number of Pals captured by the guild reached approximately 7000.

・In the previous patch, save data that had already been in this state (for servers, the server’s world data) remained in a broken state that made it impossible to load, but after applying this patch it will be resolved and will load properly.

・Fixed an issue where some weapons equipped by other players would disappear when a player used a grenade in multiplayer.

・Fixed an issue where, although the displayed capture probability increased when the capture power was strengthened with Lifmunk Effigies, the capture probability did not actually increase at all due to an internal processing bug.

▼Base related

・Fixed an issue where if a Pal that was manually assigned to a breeding farm went to sleep, it would not wake up forever.

・Fixed an issue where no wood would drop when Pal at the base felled a tree.

▼Others

・Implemented countermeasures against some cheats and exploits.

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.

Stellar Blade Dev Talks Inspirations, and Yes, Nier Automata Is Right Up There

Developed as a PlayStation 5 exclusive by South Korea-based studio Shift Up, Stellar Blade emphasises fast-paced action and boasts a post-apocalyptic setting. Both its flashy combat and stunning visuals scream next-gen, yet at the same time, Stellar Blade is not shy to hide the past it was inspired by. IGN Japan had the chance to sit down with the developers and talk through their inspirations.

As Eve, players perform flashy combos while quickly reacting to enemy attacks by parrying and dodging at the right time to create openings for counters. Developer Kim Hyung-tae told IGN that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Bayonetta were some of the action games his team was inspired by.

Visually speaking, Stellar Blade’s world shares vibes with many science fiction works that have a post-apocalyptic setting, albeit with a strong Asian touch. Many of the game’s main characters have Asian appearances, and Xion – a city built by the last survivors on Earth – appears to be heavily inspired by modern Asian cityscapes.

“As for Stellar Blade’s world-building, we designed it by mixing cultural elements from Hong Kong, Japan, China and Korea,” Kim said.

“That being said, Xion isn’t only inhabited by Asian people, and we didn’t intend to make it look like a specific country or culture. The most important thing about Xion is that it is a city built for the world’s last survivors. Of course, I have enjoyed many different cultures and art myself, so I can’t deny that I was inspired by other science fiction works with a similar dystopian setting.”

As some of the main inspirations on Stellar Blade’s world, Kim mentions cyberpunk manga series Battle Angel Alita and the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner.

However, Stellar Blade’s biggest source of inspiration might be Nier Automata. The combination of Yoko Taro’s stylish action and dystopian world-building feels close to Stellar Blade. On top of that, both games have a badass anime-inspired female protagonist.

“Nier: Automata left a huge impression on me,” said Kim. “It made me realize that a game like this could be made, and allowed me to rediscover the kind of game that I want to make.”

Stellar Blade launches on PS5 on April 26.

Esra Krabbe is an editor at IGN Japan.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Preorders Get a Massive Discount Before Release Day in the UK, But Only for a Limited Time

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preorders are currently down to just £56.65 in the UK right now. This is a tremendous deal, and guaranteed to arrive on launch day February 29. All you need to do is use promo code LOVE10 (see here) to secure the game at a discount.

This is the best Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preorder deal in the UK right now, making it the perfect time to secure your copy and ensure you’re among the first to explore the expanded universe. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to save big and embark on an unforgettable adventure. But, the only caveat is that this LOVE10 code will expire after February 8, so there’s a limited time frame on this one.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth promises to bring back the nostalgia while adding layers of depth to the story and gameplay that we’ve been dreaming of since the original. The game is the highly anticipated second installment in the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, taking the iconic story into its next chapter.

The anticipation surrounding the release of the game is palpable, with fans eagerly discussing how good they expect the game to be. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a curious newcomer, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is shaping up to be an unforgettable journey through one of gaming’s most cherished universes.

In our final hands-on preview of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, we said: “This second game in the reimagined trilogy is like an extension that flows out of its predecessor rather than another radical rethink. But Rebirth is layered with several new ideas that, at least across the duration of a recent three-hour playable demonstration, suggests Cloud and co’s upcoming journey will feel like a genuine sequel rather than a full-priced expansion.”

There’s also a new relationship system, called Bonds of Friendship, that has been added to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. As explained in the system’s tutorial, “the strength of these bonds can alter portions of the story.” One of those story moments is the Gold Saucer date, and you’ll be able to see how your potential partner feels about you via a variety of emoji-like faces.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.