Category: IGN

Our obsession with the concept of the “dead game” and player counts is unhealthy for the video game industry and gamers, one of the developers behind Palworld has said.

Palworld, dubbed “Pokémon with guns,” launched in early access form to record-breaking success. It is the second most-played game ever on Steam, with an incredible concurrent player count of 2,101,867 on Valve’s platform. Only battle royale PUBG is ahead of Palworld in Steam’s all-time peak concurrents chart.

Palworld’s Steam concurrents have fallen since that explosive launch earlier this year, and now usually hit a peak in the tens of thousands rather than millions. The decline has caused some to call Palworld a “dead game,” but it is far from the only game to be called that in recent years.

For example, Rocksteady’s catastrophic Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, whose Steam concurrents usually peak in the hundreds of players, was called a dead game upon its release. Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2, Ubisoft’s Skull & Bones, and Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 are also often called dead games. Sony’s live service hero shooter Concord has been labeled “dead on arrival” before launch because of low beta concurrents on Steam.

The “dead game” narrative is exacerbated by an industry currently pumping out more live service games than the market can perhaps support, or even wants, and by publishers who walk away from their live service games amid low player numbers. This month Capcom announced plans to move on from dinosaur-themed shooter Exoprimal just a year after launch, with Steam concurrents brutally low.

John “Bucky” Buckley, community chief at Palworld developer Pocketpair, has been a vocal critic of the “dead game” phrase, and in social media posts has called on the industry, media, and gamers to ditch the fixation on concurrents and player counts.

Bucky followed up on these posts in an interview with YouTube channel Going Indie for a video titled, ‘Dead Games Are A Good Thing, Actually.’ In it, Bucky called out publishers and developers who try to brute-force mechanics designed to keep players playing forever into games they’re not suited to, declaring it “unhealthy.”

“Just play the games you like,” Bucky said. “If you finish in a day, cool. Good job. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Play the next one.

“I don’t think it really serves anyone to push gamers to just play the same game day in, day out. There are games that you can play every single day for months on end and never burn out. League of Legends, Dota, most MMOs, but they’re designed to be like that.

“Whereas what we’re seeing now is a trend of… I won’t necessarily say who’s trying to push it, but a lot more people are trying to push gamers to play games that aren’t really designed to be played for months on end, for months on end.”

“I don’t think you need to be pushing yourself to play the same game all the time,” Bucky continued.

“It’s not healthy for us, it’s not healthy for developers, it’s not healthy for gamers, it’s not healthy for the gaming media. And it’s just not healthy for our industry, because the more we push this kind of narrative, the more very large companies are going to just say ‘gamers want more live service.’ And we’re just going to get more of these really soulless live service games that come out and then get shut down nine months later, 12 months later, because they’re not making enough money. And we all lose in that case.

“Play all the indIes you can. Spend as much money on indies as you can. Who cares if there’s only five people playing it? Just enjoy yourself. Just enjoy games. I don’t think it needs to be any more complex than that.”

But will the industry, the media, and gamers listen? The “dead game” narrative is in part fueled by the video game industry’s obsession with secrecy. Unlike Hollywood, which makes movie budgets and box office figures public, video game publishers tend not to announce video game sales and/or revenue unless they’re truly spectacular, with development budgets almost always kept a closely guarded secret. In truth, it’s almost impossible to determine whether a video game has met expectations, which is why vague publisher comments made by CEOs in investor-focused financial calls get so much attention.

This secrecy means gamers and the media have just one publicly available performance metric with which to gauge performance: Steam concurrents. Valve continues to make this stat available for the world to see, and so the world has developed a hyper-focus around it, in turn leading to an over-reliance.

In any case, there have been plenty of examples of live service video games that were prematurely consigned to the scrap heap. Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege suffered a disastrous launch but went on to become one of the biggest live service games around. Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky is another redemption story, as is CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077. And let’s not forget the humble origins of Fortnite, what began as a lackluster tower defense game but ended up perhaps the biggest live service of them all.

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.

Steam hit Once Human is set to go offline today, July 31, in order to release a significant update that makes a number of key changes to the game.

Once Human is a free-to-play multiplayer open-world survival game from Starry Studio, a developer owned by Chinese games company NetEase. It launched on PC on July 9 and quickly found an audience, with a huge peak concurrent player count of 231,668 on Steam, where it remains one of the most-played games.

IGN’s Once Human review returned an 8/10. We said: “Once Human combines simple but solid building and upgrading with some of the best, and weirdest, creature designs of the year to create a very enjoyable survival-crafting experience.”

While you’re out collecting rare Deviations or scouting the best base locations in Once Human, keep track of collectibles and Mystical Crates using IGN’s interactive Once Human map.

Starry Studio said the server maintenance, during which Once Human will be offline and unplayable, starts at 9pm PDT today, July 31, and is expected to last for four hours. “Please plan your game time accordingly, and thank you for your understanding and support,” the studio said.

Ahead of the release of the next big update on August 1, Starry Studio published the patch notes, below:

“We have been actively listening to and addressing feedback and suggestions from our community since the global release,” the developer said.

Once Human August 1, 2024 update patch notes:

Optimizations

I. Memetic Optimizations

1. Added a new item drop: Memetic Specialization Memory Fragments

– After using a Memetic Specialization Memory Fragment, you will gain the corresponding Memetic specialization effect.

– Up to three Memetic Specialization Memory Fragments can be used per season.

– When the in-game item Controller is used, there is a certain chance of obtaining a random Memory Fragment.

– All Memetic Specialization Memory Fragments will be destroyed at the end of the season, and they will not be sent to the Eternaland Depot.

– Memetic Specialization Memory Fragments can be traded between players.

2. Adjusted some display elements on the Memetic Specialization screen

– Optimized the stacking of certain metal ingots in the Backpack.

– Optimized the display of Memetic specializations in the gear details pop-up.

– Production output of regular Ammunition can be increased by 50%.

II. Gameplay Optimizations

1. Enriched the Highway Pursuit game mode

– Added a new Highway Pursuit route to the Chalk Peak region.

– The event starting time is now fixed to 9:00 PM, server time.

– Rosetta trucks now automatically drop Sproutlets even if the player does not attack them.

– Increased the quantity of Sproutlet and reward drops.

– Optimized the item storage quantity and subtraction rules of the Cargo Scramble game mode.

2. Optimized the ease of checking certain display elements

– After opening the Map, you can now click on Monolith, Securement Silo, Public Crisis Event, Cargo Conquest, and other icons to open their details screen.

– Added a combat invitation function to Public Crisis Events. You can now send invitations to other players via chat channels.

– There is no longer a countdown timer for pressing Ready when entering a Monolith or Securement Silo solo.

III. Vehicle Optimizations

1. Increased the acceleration and maximum speed of low-level Motorcycles. Slightly increased the acceleration and maximum speed of Off-Roaders and Coupes.

2. Fixed an issue where after boarding a vehicle, the player would need to press a movement key once before being able to operate the vehicle.

3. Added a function where if a vehicle is stuck on terrain, you can hold down the accelerate key to free the vehicle.

4. Added a setting for auto-centering the vehicle camera. You can now choose to enable or disable auto-centering while operating a vehicle.

5. Optimized the vehicle repair and modification procedure. Heavily damaged vehicles must now be repaired before they can be modified.

IV. Planting Optimizations

1. Added a Continuous Planting function to the Planter Box. This function will automatically replant with the previously used seeds and fertilizer.

V. Combat Optimizations

1. Fixed the issue where the Attack buff gained from defeating a target with Doombringer did not stack.

2. Fixed an issue where certain kinds of damage in PvP mode were not affected by the gear build.

3. Adjusted the rules for Bounce target selection. Black Water will no longer be targeted by Bounce attacks.

4. Adjusted the displayed weapon accuracy values. The actual attributes have not been changed.

5. Added a weapon inspection function that can be accessed from the action wheel.

6. Added a hit counter for the KAM – Abyss Glance.

7. Optimized the field of view when using iron sights on some KAM weapons.

VI. Wilderness Optimizations

1. Construction is now forbidden in the vicinity of the Scarecrow at Rippleby Market.

2. Added a Camera Height option to the Settings. The player can now adjust the character’s vertical position on the screen.

3. Optimized the movement path of the Wanderer. It can now move around within a single region more effectively.

VII. Interaction, Art, and SFX Optimizations

1. Optimized the appearance of Teleportation Towers.

2. Optimized the on-hit SFX for certain Deviants.

3. Unlocked some control functions and some settings.

4. Added a controls display function. The player can now view their current controls and their corresponding functions.

VIII. Trades

1. Added Nisa’s Loot Crate to the Sproutlet Shop of Nisa, an NPC merchant who can be found in neutral Strongholds. There is a 30% chance of obtaining a Legendary Mod when opening Nisa’s Loot Crate. If a Mod is not obtained, one of the following will be obtained instead: Acid x200, Barreled Premium Fuel x20, or Stardust Source x67.

IX. Deviation Interaction Optimizations

1. Optimized the controls for synchronizing Deviation Abilities. The player can now press G to interact with a Securement Unit to sync a Combat Deviation to their Cradle.

2. Adjusted the controls for withdrawing Deviations. After opening a Securement Unit, the player can now press U to withdraw the Deviation.

X. Character, Controls, and Camera Optimizations

1. Optimized the camera when interacting with the Bed furniture item.

2. Reduced the player’s recovery time after being grabbed and thrown by a Deviant.

3. Fixed an issue where changes to the character’s body would cause their arms to clip when using a melee weapon.

4. Adjusted the camera sensitivity when reloading while scoped to be the same as that of aiming while scoped. Camera controls when reloading a weapon with a high-powered scope will now be more fluid.

XI. Task Narrative Optimizations

1. To make it easier for you to view all purchasable items at traders in neutral Settlements, items sold at Claire’s shop are now included in the Settlement Shop. In addition, the player can now press W and S to scroll through dialogue options.

XII. Cosmetics Optimizations

1. Added more hair color presets.

2. Optimized the results screen for Rift Space, Securement Silo, and dungeon instances to highlight players with outstanding performances. Added a results screen for The Prime War and Stronghold Conquest that congratulates the top-ranked players. Various stylish effects will be displayed based on the player’s ranking.

XIII. Performance Optimizations

1. On PC, the resolution can now be changed when playing in full-screen mode.

XIV. Other Adjustments

1. Optimized the Manibus scenario on PvE servers. New server-wide tasks and rewards have been added for Phase V of the season.

August-Themed Event

On Nalcott Island, the month of August itself is an anomalous event. During this “forgotten summer,” we will receive additional produce from harvesting every week. More events will be gradually unlocked in the game. All Metas are welcome to participate!

1. Login Event: On August 1, August 8, and August 15, special rewards will be unlocked, including the Epic cosmetic – Crimson Spider Gloves and a Butterfly’s Emissary Crate I! Rewards can be claimed anytime before the event ends on September 4.

2. Upcoming Events

– Wilderness Express: starts on August 15

Enjoy racing through the wilderness alone or as a team, and earn a rating for mileage and collisions achieved. Attain the required rating to claim rewards including Starchrom and the limited-edition cosmetic – Fulfilled Wish Vest!

– Secure on Sight: starts on August 22

During the event, defeat enemies to earn Loot Crates which may contain Specimen Cards. Collect Specimen Cards and fill the Specimen Encyclopedia to obtain rewards.

* Refer to the event screen for detailed rules.

Shop Arrivals

New arrivals are available in the Shop! Visit the Shop to check them out.

1. Added the Epic-quality outfit: Racing Loon, as well as a discounted theme pack.

2. Added the Neon series of Epic weapon cosmetics for the SOCR, MG4, KV-SBR, and other popular weapons.

3. Added the City Vending Machine cosmetic for the Vending Machine. It is the first facility cosmetic to be available and comes in three colors. Bring some glamor to your trades!

4. Added the Sunny Coast Living Room furniture set. Transform your home into a romantic summertime beach!

Bug Fixes

I. Territory Construction

1. Fixed an issue with the Supplies Workbench specialization that caused its actual healing effect to differ from its description.

2. Fixed an issue with the Electrical Expert and One with the Tides specializations that caused the actual number of Generators that could be placed to differ from their descriptions.

3. Fixed an issue where the list of Memetic logging, mining, and gathering devices was displayed wrongly.

4. Fixed where the duration extension effect of Stardust Tea did not affect Hydration.

5. Fixed an issue where fuel refinery facilities upgraded with Memetic specializations could not refine Barreled Crude Oil.

6. Fixed an issue that caused the Automated Mining facility screen to display the wrong Vein.

7. Fixed an issue where the button for returning to the list of facilities from the Facility Details screen would not work.

8. Fixed an issue that caused mining facilities to quickly produce Stardust Ore.

9. Fixed an issue where the Hydraulic Generator could not generate electricity correctly.

10. Fixed an issue that caused wires to remain on top of the Garage after recalling a truck.

11. Fixed a display issue that occurred when placing Blueprints while using Flight Mode in Eternaland.

12. Fixed an issue with building Blueprints where small grids could not be recognized when replacing materials.

13. Fixed an issue that caused queued Construction tasks to be counted toward the Crafting queue limit.

14. Fixed an issue where the description of Stardust Tea did not match its effect.

15. Fixed an issue that caused Deviant Energy Generators on the home-moving vehicle would not work correctly in a Pollution Zone.

16. Fixed an issue where, after moving the Territory from a Pollution Zone to a normal region, Deviant Energy Generators would not work but would still display the working animation.

II. Wilderness

1. Fixed an issue where the Map’s navigation function would sometimes not work or fail to display the navigation route.

2. Fixed an issue where the player would receive the wrong item after buying a Bait formula from the fish trader.

III. Combat

1. Fixed an issue where the Durability attribute would turn yellow if the gear lost Durability.

2. Fixed an issue where the Crossbow’s Calibration Blueprint could not be disassembled.

3. Fixed an issue that caused a switching error to occur on the right side of the weapon selection panel when replacing a Calibration Blueprint.

4. Fixed an issue where some dropped weapons would randomly contain red-colored Blueprint attributes, so the weapon could not be disassembled to get its Blueprint.

5. Fixed the inconsistent descriptions of The Weaver elixir and the Whim effect.

6. Fixed an issue where if Hold to Sprint is enabled and the player is currently holding the Sprint key to sprint, clicking on Auto-Run would not stop the character from sprinting.

7. Fixed an issue that caused some weapon crosshairs to display incorrectly in 4K resolution.

IV. Game Modes

1. Fixed an issue with the Mist game mode where the center point’s location would be wrongly determined.

2. Fixed an issue with The Prime War that caused the Shadow Hound to get stuck in the air when using its skill.

3. Fixed an issue with The Prime War where if more players than the maximum attempted to teleport, they would get stuck on the edge of the map.

4. Optimized the on-hit visual effect and effective range of manual turrets in The Prime War.

5. Fixed an issue that caused Deviations to drop additional copies of items in Securement Silo – EX1.

6. Fixed the spawn rules of some Deviations in Securement Silo – PSI and Securement Silo – THETA. Dr. Teddy, Enchanting Void, Upper World Spawn, and Snow Globe will now spawn in the correct scenario.

V. Deviations

1. Fixed an issue where Deviations whose skills have a designated target could not be recalled while the player was reloading.

2. Fixed an issue where Mini Wonder would absorb teammates’ bullets in its range when attached to the player character.

3. Fixed an issue that prevented Mini Wonder from defending against shotguns.

VI. Other Fixes

1. Fixed an issue where the wrong text was displayed if you had not been friends with another player for at least seven days.

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.

Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—Shrouded Fable expansion kicks off on August 8, with preorders available now, and we’ve managed to get our hands on the latest expansion.

Based on the Loyal Three and their Moochi-feeding mythical master, Pecharunt, the Shrouded Fable set features some key players of the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet DLC: Hidden Treasures of Area Zero, amongst new additions. It’s a packed set, with Kingdra ex also making a royal splash in the expansion.

As night falls, Pecharunt ex emerges, commanding the Loyal Three—Okidogi ex, Munkidori ex, and Fezandipiti ex—in their evil mission. Meanwhile, Revavroom ex lights up the battlefield as a Lightning type through Terastallization.

Here’s a firsthand look at our highlights from the Elite Trainer Box, Kingambit Illustration Collection, Kingdra ex-Special Illustration Collection, and some standout cards from Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—Shrouded Fable.

Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box Preview

Video game actors are currently on strike, in hopes that withholding their work from video game companies will push those companies to agree to better actor protections around the use of AI. However, at least one video game CEO — Andrew Wilson of Electronic Arts — doesn’t think the strike is going to impact his company, at least in the short-term.

In today’s EA earnings call, Wilson answered a question from an investor about the impact of the strike on the business. Put simply, he’s not worried for now. Here’s the full quote:

We deeply value our talented actors who are an important part of the work we do to deliver the incredible entertainment experiences that our players enjoy around the world. We’re working very closely; this is not an EA-specific situation, this is an industry-specific stuation, and we’re working diligently to negotiate at the table. The way it works now in terms of our product specifically is that the strike is limited to games commencing production after September 2023, including live service games. So we don’t expect any near-term disruption to any of the games we have in development or any of the live services we’re currently running. That being said, we’re committed to continuing to bargain in good faith and are hopeful that the parties can expediently resolve our issues at the bargaining table. But we’re not anticipating any significant short-term impact at EA.

Wilson’s confidence likely comes from the fact that EA’s portfolio is almost entirely live service games right now, and games whose development began prior to September 2023 (so, basically every live service game) are not impacted by the strike. The company’s $1.26 billion in net bookings for the quarter was driven by Madden NFL 24, FC Mobile, and FC Online, all live service games, and the rest of its coming fiscal year is much of the same: Madden NFL 25, EA Sports FC 25, NHL 25, and so forth. The Sims 4 and College Football 25, also unaffected.

Its one single-player offering, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is also fine. And while it’s impossible to speak to EA’s release slate further out, it’s probably a safe bet that next year’s release slate likely looks a lot like this year’s, and is entirely populated by games that have been in development for three, four, five or more years. EA, at least, is in a position to weather the storm for a long time.

What Wilson doesn’t mention is how this will impact the company in the long-term. The longer the strike goes, the more in-progress games will be impacted. Any game the studio greenlit after September of 2023 is going to be slowed down if no SAG voice actors will touch it, and this will impact EA’s plans for 2026, 2027, and so on. So while short-term impacts won’t be felt, it’s possible that a strike will start to have affects we’ll see years down the road, especially if a contract is not agreed on soon.

SAG-AFTRA officially called a video game actor strike late last week, beginning at 12:01 am on Friday, July 26. The union has been unable to come to an agreement with video game companies on a new contract for eighteen months, with AI protections being the primary sticking point of negotiations. The union has announced it will hold its first strike picket on Thursday, August 1 at WB Games. We wrote a detailed guide on what the SAG-AFTRA video game strike means for everyday gamers, which you can read right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Xbox hardware sales are way down again in Microsoft’s Q4, while gaming content sales skyrocketed again thanks to the company’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard last year.

The company posted its earnings today, which included a report of hardware revenue down 42% year-over-year. Hardware sales saw a significant dip of 31% year-over-year last quarter as well, though sales were up slightly (3%) in Q2 thanks to a series of holiday discounts and promotions. But hardware was also down 7% prior to that in Q1, and yes, dropping steadily for several quarters prior to that too.

Some studios will spend years of development time and hundreds of millions of dollars chasing emotional, Hollywood-quality stories and realistic graphics, but the Earth Defense Force series proudly prefers to remain the most pure video game nonsense ever conceived. Don’t be fooled by the PS3-era graphics, atrocious voice acting, absurd story, and uneven technical performance of Earth Defense Force 6 – developer Sandlot knows exactly what it’s doing with this over-the-top satire that makes Helldivers 2 look highbrow by comparison. Like its predecessors, EDF6 leans into its rough edges and silly cooperative mayhem, prioritizing mindless fun above all else, and the result is yet another wonderfully amusing entry in the ongoing saga. But even going in with the right expectations, it’s not all sunshine and dismembered thoraxes, as this inadvisably long campaign has tons of repetition, plenty of levels that are more boring than amusing, and at times crosses the line from knowingly campy to just plain bad. Still, this giant insect-filled monster fest is more often than not a hilariously good time, and that’s something we could certainly use more of.

Earth Defense Force 6 is a goofy as heck cooperative third-person shooter that throws you and up to three friends into a version of our world under siege by aliens. Called the Primus, these primarily insectoid invaders are a grab bag of dorky monsters that range from generic flying drones, knockoff Godzilla kaiju, oversized evil Battletoads, massive spiders that jump everywhere, and more. Across the 80+ hours it took me to complete its 147 level main campaign, you’ll blast these low-res goons to bits using a growing arsenal of guns, rocket launchers, grenades, turrets, vehicles, and giant Gundam mechs, some of which feel great while others are experiments gone horribly wrong. Wrap all of this ridiculousness in some contentedly outdated graphics and a framerate that becomes unstable whenever your explosive shenanigans reach a fever pitch, and you’re in for an uproarious good time.

You’ll also bounce between four returning character classes: the Ranger, a standard soldier whose only advantage is that their weapons are the best around; the Wing Diver, a Valkyrie-like class whose jet-pack and wings give her unmatched mobility (offset by the fact that she’s killed by a light breeze); the Air Raider, an often second-fiddle support class who specializes in calling in massive bombing runs, relies on gadgets like drones to squish bugs, and can summon vehicles to deal serious damage; and the Fencer, a dual-wielding tank class who can absorb serious damage with a giant shield and smash things to bits in melee, but who is also quite difficult to play well. It might be a little milquetoast, but I favor the Ranger – it’s just hard to beat rocket launchers that can level cityscapes in a few seconds and assault rifles that plow through hundreds of aliens with ease.

While the stories in Earth Defense Force games have always been charming rubbish, EDF 6 sets a new bar with a tale that actively makes no sense at various points (even if, like me, you’re following along very closely and occasionally taking notes). It makes heavy use of time travel and has humanity losing the war against the Primus, only for you and the aliens to both go back in time to try again – but the good guys perplexingly make very little use of the knowledge gained in the previous timeline, so you’ll have to watch them slowly piece together what’s happening while you and your character are already miles ahead of the buffoons trying saving humanity.

Most of the time, this insanity is as amusing as you might hope, like when one part introduces giant frog enemies and says they’re “just like humans” without addressing the fact that they’re clearly frogs, then later introduces cliche humanoid gray martian enemies and describes them as “not humanoid.” Other times, though, it’s just painful, like one section where they explain the origins and biological breakdown of a flying dragon monster while making you fight it about five times in a row, reminiscent of a filler episode of Dragonball Z.

The extremely poorly written story is eclipsed in its dreadfulness only by the voice acting, which sounds like it was performed by some poor souls who were rejected by their local improv troupes and decided to give video game voices a try. One part nearly made me spit-take when a character says, in the most monotone voice imaginable, “you have no idea how relieved I am” – you’re right, my dude, I definitely do not. But between all of that cringey dialogue and senseless plot development, there’s a ton of joy. There is still plenty of the kind of bad-by-design silliness at which EDF excels, and the times where it manages to walk that line properly are a gift that keeps on giving.

Thankfully, the heart and soul of Earth Defense Force 6, its over-the-top combat against all manner of blurry foes, is actually a lot of fun – and oftentimes pretty darn challenging. Dodging, dashing, and flying out of the way as monsters, aliens, overgrown insects, and robots rock the screen (and threaten the framerate) is exactly the kind of action-packed madness I love about this series, and it’s never been done better than in this iteration. The fundamentals of that action may be almost identical to what we got a few games ago, but EDF6 adds a ton of weapons and new enemy types to the mix and then dreams up interesting scenarios to put you in, like one level where you’re defending a beach from an entire army of giant poisonous reptiles. Playing through on the normal difficulty can be challenging enough, especially if you don’t have a competent crew at your back, but it gets absolutely insane once you dial that up to the harder options. It requires an intense amount of grinding to get the requisite powerful weapons and armor to put up a fight, plus a team who absolutely knows what they’re doing. As with prior entries, combat’s simple setup and silly attitude don’t get in the way of being extremely entertaining and genuinely satisfying to overcome, and that can make it pretty hard to put down.

That said, some of the design decisions definitely go a step beyond janky fun and into being straight up obnoxious, like how if you’re killed and waiting to be revived by a teammate, you just have to sit there staring at your own corpse until they come to get you. There’s no option to watch what other players are doing if they aren’t standing right by you and no respawn timer, which is just plain boring. There are also a handful of maps you’ll find yourself running missions on quite a few times, and while the enemies and objectives are usually at least a little different, the lack of variety definitely grated on me at times. Also, you’re occasionally made to play some slower-paced, story-focused levels that are simply the worst, though they at least only show up at a few specific moments. This isn’t the kind of story that’s at all worth slowing down the pacing to tell, and those segments just absolutely waste your time in a campaign that’s already way longer than it probably should be.

Today Amazon is offering the recently released Crucial T500 2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD with pre-installed heatsink for only $135.84. The Crucial T500 was released in October of 2023 and it is currently one of the top performing PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market. This solid state drive works equally well as additional storage for your PS5 console or as a blazing fast boot drive for your gaming rig.

2TB Crucial T500 SSD (PS5 Compatible) for $135.84

The T500 is Crucial’s newest flagship PCIe 4.0 SSD and replaces the P5 Plus. The T500 utilizes a Phison E25 controller with 232-layer Micron TLC NAND flash memory. It has proven to be one of the fastest SSDs on the market with sequential speeds of 7,300/6,800MB/s and random speeds of 1.15M/1.44M IOPs. It’s on par with other top-tier SSDs like the WD Black SN850X, the Samsung 990 Pro, and the SK Hynix P41 Platinum and it’s currently the least expensive of the bunch. It’s also backed by a 5 year warranty.

The Crucial T500 also makes for an excellent PS5 SSD. It fulfills all of Sony’s requirements, like a minimum read speed of 5,500MB/s and a PCI-Express Gen4x4 interface. A robust aluminum heatsink is also already pre-installed, so you don’t need to spend time and money installing one yourself.

If you’re looking for more SSD storage upgrade options for your PS5 console, check out our best PS5 SSD deals of 2024. There are even less expensive options if you’re not married to any brand.

It seems impossible that Star Wars Outlaws is the first-ever open-world Star Wars game, but indeed it’s true. With that first comes plenty of expectation, but also lots of excitement – particularly when the studio handling the effort is Massive Entertainment, the talented developers of The Division. Speaking personally, I confess that I don’t often get hyped up for too many open-world games these days outside of those made by Rockstar – as those can be counted on to raise the bar every single time – but I have been plenty hyped for Outlaws. After all, it’s set after Empire Strikes Back, you play as a Han Solo-caliber scoundrel instead of yet another Jedi, and you’ve got an awesome alien creature pet named Nix by your side at all times, who promises to have an impact on gameplay and not just follow our hero Kay Vess around being adorable. In other words, it’s got a lot going for it on paper.

And while it doesn’t seem like Outlaws will do any Rockstar-like bar-raising, after playing a near-final build of it for four hours across two different sections of gameplay, I can say it’s still one of my most anticipated games yet to come out in a busy second half of 2024, and it feels very Star Wars in all the right ways.

Ubisoft has developed a reputation for making “checklist” open-world games; big spaces where you’re given a to-do list of sidequests and activities to complete outside of the golden path. Generally this is not a compliment. But one of the things that impressed me about Star Wars Outlaws is that I didn’t get the sense that I was just checking boxes to inch closer to 100% game completion. Don’t get me wrong – there is plenty to do in Outlaws, but those sidequests and activities feel a lot more organic than they do in the publisher’s other games. For example, while wandering around the town of Mirogana on the planet Toshara, I walked by an arcade mini-game of sorts. I wandered up and played a round. I also stumbled upon a betting stand where I could wager on holographic-horse races. I managed to bet on the right one by sheer good luck, which gave me a chuckle later when I discovered a datapad lying around elsewhere that gave me a strong hint on who to lay my money on. I also encountered a down-on-their-luck gambling addict who begged me for money. I obliged, enabling his vice and leaving with a promise that he’d share in his winnings should he find himself back on Lady Luck’s good side. Naturally, there’s also a cantina, and I even saw a Sabacc table, but I lacked sufficient funds at the time to buy in and play.

All of these optional activities feel very natural on the planets and towns of Outlaws, and that’s true in part because of the excellent art direction that makes every location ooze Star Wars authenticity. From the lighting to the architecture to the NPCs milling about, Massive has, based on what I’ve seen so far, done an excellent job of setting an authentic Star Wars stage.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t add how the story of Star Wars Outlaws only supports and reinforces all of this. Kay is just out to make her way in an unforgiving galaxy, lying or double-crossing as she needs to in order to look out for number one. This plays out in occasional dialogue choices that pop up during cutscenes, adding a bit more player agency to what would otherwise be a mini-Star Wars in-game movie. Will those choices affect how the plot ultimately plays out? I wouldn’t bet on it, but there is a laudable faction reputation system that tracks how much (or little) each of the in-game syndicates likes you. Double-cross the Hutts and you’ll harm your reputation with them, but increase your standing with the Crimson Dawn. Piss off a faction enough and they won’t let you into their territory (meaning you’ll have to sneak in and stay undetected if you want access).

But, you’re probably wondering, what of the moment-to-moment gameplay? In this, Star Wars Outlaws made me happy. This is a stealth game if you want it to be. And if you mess up in that attempt, I honestly like that you don’t have a lightsaber to save you. You’ll have to use Kay’s blaster – which, yes, is upgradeable – to get out of trouble, and that adds to the sense of danger because you’re not a laser sword-wielding demigod. As such, the blaster battles felt like they had meaningful stakes, and the stealth gameplay had a bit of weight to it because I knew that I’d be up against it if I messed up.

Naturally, there’s lockpicking too in the form of data spikes, and I quite like how Outlaws handles it. Each lock has a particular audio signature, and it’s up to you to match that pattern by pressing the right trigger in time with the beeps. The longer you take, the more likely you are to be spotted. Similarly, the hacking minigame is also really fun. Here, you’ll need to line up the right symbols in the right order, which usually takes multiple attempts. Fail too often and you’ll fail the hack entirely. It took me a few tries to wrap my head around, but once I did I really enjoyed the opportunities I got to do some hacking.

The core stealth gameplay is aided by the breakout star of Outlaws, Nix. Yes, Nix is the BD-1 of this game, but compared to Cal Kestis’s droid companion, Kay’s organic pal can do a lot more for you. He can distract an enemy – by getting the bad guy’s attention and adorably playing dead – or flat-out attack them. He can hit buttons or switches too, and retrieve items. This is useful when you’re pinned down in a firefight and a more potent A300 Blaster Rifle is across the room. Nix can fetch it and drop it at your feet without you leaving cover. I even like how Outlaws handles these larger weapons: they can’t be reloaded, meaning that once you fire all the rounds, you just drop the empty gun and go back to your trusty blasters. This is likely a design decision to ensure that Kay never feels overpowered, thus making sure the player is always on their toes in combat.

Finally, you couldn’t have an open-world Star Wars game without ways to get around that expanse, and in Outlaws, Kay has a speeder bike that, as you’d guess, can also be upgraded. You can win credits doing races, or just stop off along the way to your destination at some interesting-looking pit stop. The bike controls well – it almost feels like driving a boat in Waverace 64 in that it’s pretty fast and maneuverable but hardly handles like it’s on rails.

Complementing this is Kay’s ship, the Trailblazer (and yes, it’s upgradeable). I got to do a bit of outer-space ship-to-ship combat, and I had a good time! I’ll need plenty more time in the pilot’s seat to really solidify my opinion here, but flying the Trailblazer made a good first impression.

If there’s one thing that concerned me during my hands-on time, it’s bugs. Outlaws went gold well before the preview event, meaning that if I wasn’t playing the certification build, it was something mighty close. And while yes, there will inevitably be a day-one patch as most games have nowadays, it was still disappointing to see as many annoying little – admittedly mostly visual and harmless – glitches as I did. Hopefully that day-one update will knock out the bulk of them.

Ultimately, though, I had a fantastic time with Star Wars Outlaws. Open-world games tend to be jacks-of-all-trades, masters-of-none, and while I’m not sure Outlaws will master any of its gameplay components, it nonetheless not only does them all very well, but it does so with a convincing Star Wars sheen. And since there’s somehow never been an open-world Star Wars game before, it feels new, fresh, and most welcome. I’m glad this is arguably the first big-name game out this Fall on August 30, because I can’t wait to play more of it.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our long-form interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.