Amnesia: The Dark Descent changed the face of horror games 13 years ago, and 2020’s Amnesia: Rebirth seemed to bring the story seeds it planted to a bone-chilling and climactic final bloom. So Amnesia: The Bunker, a smaller and more self-contained chapter, has its work cut out for it in getting me excited about this frightening franchise again. And while a lot of the fundamentals of its stealth and exploration have stayed the same as they were when I woke up as Daniel more than a decade ago, this gloomy, open-ended cat-and-mouse thriller proves you can teach an old hellbeast some new tricks.
Set in a dim, doomed World War I bunker in 1916, we take on the role of a French soldier who is wounded in battle, and wakes to find the exits destroyed and nearly all of his comrades-in-arms slaughtered by something lurking in the dark. The first and biggest shake-up to the usual Amnesia routine is that the entire bunker, which feels bigger than it looks on paper, is available to explore from fairly early on. Similar to Metroid or Resident Evil, you’ll have to track down a small arsenal of tools to access certain areas and progress the story, but you’re given very little direction in terms of where to go next. This helps to build tension, because every expedition out of the lamp-lit central safe room is a drain on your very limited resources, and probably your resolve, too.
Whereas most enemies in other Amnesia games are scripted to patrol a specific area in a specific way, The Bunker takes a refreshing page out of Alien: Isolation’s book and features a single, ever-present threat called the Stalker that lives behind the walls and above the ceiling of your concrete prison. It’s attracted to noise, which can be anything from running, to firing off a weapon, to using your hand-cranked flashlight. The fact that its behavior is somewhat unpredictable dials up the dread and adds some much-needed dynamism. And you’ll know when you’ve gotten its attention by scraping and growling that use effective sound design to further fuel your paranoia.
Shoot to Thrill
Amnesia made a name for itself as a horror game with no weapons, so it seemed odd to me at first that The Bunker hands you a pistol and even sometimes grenades. But the joke was really on me as these can, at best, make the Stalker leave you alone for a few minutes. Munitions are situationally useful, but ultimately end up making the foe even scarier. After all, what’s worse? A monster you can’t fight at all, or one you’ve seen can take a bullet to the face and merely get a bit annoyed?
Where this beastie failed to impress me, though, was its AI. The alien in Isolation would slowly learn more about you the more times you encountered it, especially if you had a go-to strategy like hiding in lockers. The Stalker, sadly, doesn’t seem nearly as savvy. On the default difficulty, in almost all cases, I could simply crouch under a table and it would never find me even if I was practically breathing on its ankles. Figuring that out deflates a good bit of the tension The Bunker worked so hard to build. Luckily, it has another, clever way of making you sweat even if you’re an expert at hiding.
See, the whole bunker is powered by a central generator that guzzles down fuel like a thirsty elephant, and there are only so many refills available on the whole map. You can explore without the lights on, but it’s… well, it’s very bad. The Stalker is free to roam the halls in the darkness, whereas it would normally stay in its tunnels until it detects you. Worse, your only reusable source of light is that stupid flashlight that makes a bunch of noise and alerts it to your position.
What this means is every trip out into the far corners of the bunker comes with a sense of urgency and purpose, embodied by a pocket watch you can sync up to the amount of remaining fuel to know how much time you have before lights out. If you choose to hide every time the Stalker is around, you’ll be burning a precious resource, as it can sometimes take a minute or two for it to stop patrolling and go back into the tunnels. This is definitely The Bunker’s most effective new trick for making me feel the way the first Amnesia did all over again.
War Stories
The story is a relatively simple one, especially compared to the interdimensional cosmic nightmare that was Rebirth. A timeline of events slowly comes into focus as you find notes written by the various enlisted men and officers who once called this box a home away from home. There is a fairly clever twist toward the end that managed to subvert my expectations as an Amnesia veteran. Whereas the past games have largely been about remembering and coming to terms with your character’s sins, that’s merely a prelude to what The Bunker actually has in store.
There are certainly some little peeks into the larger Amnesia universe, but I found it refreshing how much smaller and more self-contained this tale is. If you did play Rebirth, you’ll be rewarded by understanding the context behind some of the weirder stuff that shows up. And if you didn’t, you’ll get to be surprised and perplexed by these moments in a way I wasn’t. Then you should probably go play Rebirth so you can understand what is actually going on.
I found the ending itself extremely predictable though. If you think about what you’re doing throughout The Bunker for even a second, I imagine most people will be aware of what “escape” would actually mean the whole time. But it is still effective, reminding us that we, as humans, can create horrors far worse than any writer’s most eldritch imaginings. And knowing where it’s going certainly doesn’t spoil the journey.
As a final little twist, a lot of stuff in The Bunker, including the monster’s behavior, locker codes, and the location of some key items, are semi-randomized on every playthrough. This is supposed to keep things interesting if you decide to replay it. I didn’t feel like there were especially compelling reasons to do so, but it’s nice to know if I ever get the itch that I won’t just be speedrunning through the same route again. A first playthrough ran me about eight hours by Steam’s count, but only around five by the in-game clock, which no doubt has something to do with how many times I tabbed out to look at funny animal videos to get my stress under control.
There’s also one irritating little technical issue: When transitioning between areas, the screen hangs as it loads in, sometimes for up to a couple seconds and even when installed on a fast SSD. Considering these areas aren’t very big, and developer Frictional’s games don’t exactly look like Crysis, this seems poorly justified.
The race to hit max level in Diablo 4’s Hardcore mode is hotting up, with one player in particular close to the impressive feat.
Blizzard’s action role-playing game doesn’t launch until June 6, but early access kicked off on June 1 and in just a few days players hit level 100.
Twitch streamer Rob2628 appears to be the first Diablo 4 player to hit max level, using the Barbarian class and a focus on the Whirlwind skill to get there.
Some Diablo 4 players are upping their chances by using a trick to boost experience that involves the lead player of a group leaving the party and triggering a dungeon reset in the process, though it seems likely Blizzard will address this in a future patch.
Diablo YouTuber and streamer Wudijo, using the Rogue class, is inching closer to completing the challenge. Wudijo is one of Diablo 4’s most prominent players, and hit headlines in May for defeating the Ashava world boss solo on Hardcore during the Server Slam open beta event.
Wudijo’s race to 100 on Hardcore is a solo attempt, which means no grouping up or exploiting dungeon resets. At the time of publication, over 10,000 people were watching Wudijo slowly grind through the final handful of levels. Wudijo is even daring to venture into Diablo 4’s PvP areas where could run into enemy players.
Microsoft has told Xbox fans not to expect a CGI-fest when it comes to first-party games at its upcoming showcase.
Xbox marketing chief Aaron Greenberg said in a tweet (below): “None of our first party games in the show are full CG trailers. Everything is either in-game footage, in-engine footage, or in-game footage with some cinematics. Each of our trailers will be labelled so it is hopefully clear for our fans.”
Fans have criticized both Microsoft and Sony for showcase events that had little gameplay, such as the May PlayStation Showcase that mostly featured CG across its many reveal trailers.
None of our first party games in the show are full CG trailers. Everything is either in-game footage, in-engine footage, or in-game footage with some cinematics. Each of our trailers will be labeled so it is hopefully clear for our fans.
— Aaron Greenberg ??♂️?U (@aarongreenberg) June 4, 2023
The Xbox Games Showcase and Starfield Direct will run for around two hours, Greenberg revealed, and feature video games only. “Can confirm there will be no movie or TV show trailers in our games show,” he added.
Greenberg also said Microsoft will not commit to a 12-month release deadline for games shown during its showcase. This is in contrast to the approach it took with last year’s event, in which Microsoft said all games shown would be playable within 12 months. That promise was broken, with Hollow Knight: Silksong perhaps the most high-profile casualty.
Xbox Games Showcase will be livestreamed on June 11 at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK (so 3am AEST on June 12) and a Starfield Direct follows immediately after.
What should fans expect? With pressure on Microsoft to deliver following a string of high-profile failures, the likes of Obsidian’s Avowed and Ninja Theory’s Hellblade 2 will hopefully get their time to shine, while Playground’s Fable has already been teased. You can also check out Podcast Unlocked for IGN’s predictions.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
As Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buyout hangs in the balance, the boss of Sony has warned cloud gaming is still technically “very tricky”.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Sony chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida poured cold water on any potential risk to PlayStation from cloud gaming.
“I think cloud itself is an amazing business model, but when it comes to games, the technical difficulties are high,” Yoshida said. “So there will be challenges to cloud gaming, but we want to take on those challenges.”
“I think cloud itself is an amazing business model, but when it comes to games, the technical difficulties are high.”
These technical difficulties will be familiar to gamers: latency issues that affect responsiveness and create frustrating online experiences.
But Yoshida said Sony may use its artificial intelligence agent GT Sophy to boost the performance of cloud gaming.
Yoshida also mentioned cost issues associated with running cloud gaming servers that are idle for much of the day before traffic ramps up in the evening, or “dark time”, as gamers go online. Sony made the most of these quiet hours during the day by pitting GT Sophy against human players in Gran Turismo.
“The dark time for cloud gaming had been an issue for Microsoft as well as Google,” Yoshida said, “but it was meaningful that we were able to use those [quieter] hours for AI learning.
The CMA expressed concern about the potential for Microsoft to make Activision Blizzard games such as Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox Cloud Gaming, boosting its potential dominance of the market as it grows.
Microsoft has been at pains to downplay the significance of cloud gaming for Xbox in a bid to counter the CMA’s argument. While Xbox Cloud Gaming is available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers at no additional cost, Microsoft has yet to announce take-up figures.
Sony’s cloud gaming approach is reserved in comparison, and Yoshida declined to comment when asked about the potential impact Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard would have on its business.
This vast land of Diablo 4’s Sanctuary is teeming with enemies and secret places to explore. Whether you are just focusing on the Main Quest, or are delving into the Side Quests, Cellars, Dungeons, and Strongholds, our Diablo 4 Interactive Map is the perfect tool to help you keep track of where you’re going and remind you of where you’ve been.
As we progress further into the game, we will continue to update the Interactive Map with new information and points of interest.
Latest Updates to the Diablo IV Map
Diablo 4 Fractured Peaks Map
On the Diablo 4 Interactive Map Page, you can:
Filter by map marker
Locations
Services
Collectibles
Enemies
Items
Quests
Other
Check off progress as you go
Store your checklist data online
The Diablo 4 Interactive Map makes it easy to isolate a specific item you want to find. Need to know where all the Waypoints are? No problem! You deselect all items on the map and then just choose the Waypoints. Want the location of the nearest World Boss? You can look for that as well. And as you complete each objective, you can check them off on the map, and it will remember them for you. All you have to do is click on the icon and check “Check when completed.” The information will be stored.
Altars of Lilith
There are 160 Altars of Lilith scattered across Sanctuary. These Altars award a small stat bonus to all of your characters in the Realm; therefore, it is beneficial to find as many as you can. Keep track of them on the interactive map or you can read more about each location in our Diablo 4 Altars of Lilith Locations guide. While you will find some off a path or nestled between trees, some altars are hidden behind cleverly hidden paths leading behind buildings and other crafty locations.
Dungeons
There are over a hundred Dungeons to fight your way through in Diablo 4. After going through the dungeon, you will be rewarded with Renown and a Legendary Aspect. These Aspects are class-based, so there will be times when an aspect will not be useable by your current character class. At the end of each dungeon, there will be a mini-boss, and sometimes you might even run into an Event.
Strongholds
Diablo 4 has 15 Strongholds across Sanctuary. Strongholds are large areas of land, typically a ruined town, a temple, or other building that has been overrun by enemies. You will need to cleanse these Strongholds by defeating all the enemies and mini-bosses to reap its rewards. Oftentimes these Strongholds will become regular towns complete with a waypoint or they will have shops that you can visit, making them even more important to clear when you can.
Some of these areas might show you a spoiler or two based on their title alone. This includes Bosses and World Bosses, but you can deselect items that you feel might reveal too much of the story to you.
Diablo 4 Walkthrough
For help with the Diablo 4 main story, check out our detailed Diablo 4 Walkthrough to get started.
Diablo 4 has received its first big patch and it’s mostly about balancing the five starting classes that players can choose to take down Lilith and save Sanctuary with.
Blizzard shared the patch notes and some reasoning behind the changes in a blog, and it shared that the team is mostly happy with where the characters are currently at. However, the team knows there is “always room for improvement.” To that end, it has revealed the three categories these changes fall into;
While we want players to both feel and be truly powerful, some Class builds and synergies are outside of our bounds for what is reasonable for the health of the game, so we are reducing their effectiveness. As an example, we generally want to avoid creating situations where players can survive unreasonably high amounts of damage for long periods of time because it too greatly warps our vision for how combat should be in Diablo IV.
Some skills and builds are not as effective as we would like, so we’re pushing out some buffs to increase their strength.
Paragon Glyphs are currently providing too much player power, so we’re reducing their overall effectiveness.
Blizzard also understands “class balance is a journey, not a destination,” so it’s important to note that more balancing changes will obviously be on the way. Blizzard hopes these will make class builds “fun, powerful, and competitive within reason.”
In regard to this specific patch, some of its changes include reducing the Barbarian’s Challenging Shout’s damage reduction gained from skill ranks from 4% to 2%, increasing Druid’s Lightning Storm damage from 32% to 40%, increasing the damage of the Necromancer’s Army of the Dead from 30% to 45% and reducing its cooldown from 90 to 70 seconds, reducing the damage reduction per shadow gained for the Rogue’s Dark Shroud from .8% to .4%, and reducing the Sorcerer’s Arc Lash’s lucky hit chance from 30% to 14% while also reducing the Glinting Arc Lash cooldown reduction from .25 seconds to .15 seconds.
There are plenty more changes to look through, and you can see them all below. Let us know if you’re happy with these changes or if they impact the character you are trying to build in the comments below!
Damage Reduction gained from Skill Ranks reduced from 4% to 2%
Legendary Aspect Changes
Bold Chieftain’s Aspect
Cooldown reduction per Nearby enemy reduced from 2.7-5.4 seconds to 1.0-1.9 seconds.
Maximum Cooldown reduction from 12 to 6 seconds.
Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind
Increased Critical Strike Chance per second reduced from 5-10% to 3-8%.
Maximum Critical Strike Chance bonus reduced from 20-40% to 9-24%.
Item Changes
Gohr’s Devastating Grips
Explosion damage gained from Whirlwind reduced from 50-70% to 16-26%.
Damage against wreckable objects no longer increases explosion damage.
Explosion damage is only increased by the first 100 hits of Whirlwind.
Druid
Skill Changes
Pulverize
Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 33% to 25%.
Lightning Storm
Damage increased from 32% to 40%.
Grizzly Rage
Maximum extended duration from kills reduced from 10 to 5 seconds.
Class Specialization
Obsidian Slam
Kills required for bonus increased from 10 to 20.
Calm Before the Storm
Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 15% to 10%.
Passive Changes
Electric Shock
Damage bonus increased from 5/10/15% to 6/12/18%.
Legendary Aspect Changes
Shockwave Aspect
Damage reduced from 90-130% to 60-100%.
Crashstone Aspect
Critical Strike Damage reduced from 40-50% to 30-40%.
Lightning Dancer’s Aspect
Flat damage increased from .5-.6 to .7-.8.
Necromancer
Skill Changes
Blood Lance
Damage increased from 67.5% to 80%.
Army of the Dead
Damage increased from 30% to 45%.
Cooldown reduced from 90 to 70 seconds.
Blood Wave
Damage increased from 90% to 120%.
Passive Changes
Shadowblight
Damage increased from 20% to 22%.
Grim Harvest
Essence gained reduced from 3/6/9 to 2/4/6.
Serration
Critical Strike Chance reduced from .5/1/1.5% to .3/.6/.9%.
Death’s Defense
Maximum Minion Life lost in a single damage instance reduced from 75/60/45% to 60/45/30%.
Class Specialization
Raise Skeleton
Skeleton Warrior attack damage increased by 10%.
Golem
Golem attack damage increased by 10%.
Blood Golem
Blood Golem Life drain damage increased from 40% to 90%.
Blood Golem Life drain healing from enemies hit increased from 4% to 5%.
Iron Golem
Iron Golem slam damage increased from 25% to 175%.
Iron Golem shockwave damage increased from 30% to 40%.
Necromancer Paragon Board Changes
Hulking Monstrosity
Golem Life and damage bonus increased from 30% to 40% Life.
Cult Leader
Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
Rogue
Skill Changes
Twisting Blades
Advanced Twisting Blades Cooldown reduction per enemy hit reduced from .25 to .1 seconds.
Advanced Twisting Blades maximum Cooldown reduction reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
Rapid Fire
Damage increased from 24% to 30%.
Dark Shroud
Damage Reduction per shadow gained from Skill Ranks reduced from .8% to .4%.
Dash
Enhanced Dash Critical Strike Damage bonus from 20% to 15%.
Caltrops
Damage increased from 30% to 40%.
Passive Changes
Concussive
Critical Strike Chance reduced from 5/10/15% to 4/8/12%.
Legendary Affix Changes
Repeating
Maximum Minion Life lost in a single damage instance reduced from 75/60/45% to 60/45/30%.
Sorcerer
Skill Changes
Arc Lash
Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 30% to 14%.
Glinting Arc Lash Cooldown reduction reduced from .25 to .15 seconds.
Teleport
Shimmering Teleport’s Damage Reduction duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds.
Legendary Affix Changes
Aspect of Control
Bonus damage reduced from 30-40% to 25-35%.
General
Miscellaneous Class Changes
Druid Companions and Necromancer Minions
Maximum damage over time taken per damage instance reduced from 2% to 1% of maximum Life.
Paragon Board Changes
Rare Nodes
Player Attack Speed nodes reduced by 50%.
Glyphs
All Glyph Bonus scaling has been reduced by ~34%, except for the following:
Critical Strike Damage Glyphs’ Bonus reduced by ~66%.
Vulnerable Glyphs’ Bonus reduced by ~66%.
Glyphs’ Bonus to Rare nodes reduced by ~50%.
Glyphs’ Bonus to Magic nodes reduced by ~40%.
Glyphs’ Bonus to Cold/Fire/Lightning/Non-Physical/Physical nodes reduced by ~62.5%.
Monster Changes
Significantly reduced the spawn rate of Treasure Goblins within PvP zones.
Bug Fixes
Fixed the name for the Light Bearer Mount.
The Go to Shop button from the Wardrobe will now properly open the shop.
Fixed an issue where if a Sorcerer uses Deep Freeze and is affected by another effect that would freeze them, it caused them to be permanently stunned.
Miscellaneous stability and crash fixes.
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.
The term “free-to-play” has slowly lost the negative connotation it once held, thanks to the rise of high-quality titles like Fortnite, Rocket League, and Apex Legends. Free-to-play games have come to dominate the medium by providing players access to some of the best online gaming experiences from some of the industry’s top development studios.
For those looking to get the most out of their Xbox console while saving a buck (or 70), we’ve compiled this list of the 15 best free-to-play Xbox games available in 2023. All games on this list are available on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.
Since its release in 2019, Apex Legends has been one of the most popular and populated free-to-play shooters on the market. What started as a battle royale game has evolved into a full-fledged online shooter, adding multiple maps and modes over the last four years.
Developer Respawn frequently updates Apex with gameplay tweaks, new playable characters, and adjustments to its maps and modes. Regardless of its free-to-play model, Apex has some of the best shooting mechanics among competitive first-person shooters, thanks to the developer’s Call of Duty and Titanfall lineage.
All game modes in Apex game be played for free, though new players start with access to only six of its 24 playable characters.
Brawlhalla
A cartoony 2D platform fighter, Brawhalla is a suitable Smash Bros. substitute for those without a Nintendo console or the ability/desire to shell out $60. Its tight, snappy gameplay and eight-player support make it a great local or online party game.
Without spending any money players get access to a roster of nine fighters, rotated weekly. The complete 100-plus-character roster includes a ton of fun crossovers, including characters from Assassin’s Creed, Rayman, Hellboy, TMNT, WWE, Shovel Knight, Adventure Time, Tomb Raider, The Walking Dead, Kung-Fu Panda, Street Fighter, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0
Often sitting atop the free-to-play section on the Xbox store, Warzone 2.0 is the latest battle royale game from the world of Call of Duty. Developed by the FPS experts at Infinity Ward (Modern Warfare), Warzone 2.0 features the same refined Call of Duty gameplay found within the main series. In addition to standard battle royale modes, Warzone 2.0 offers the more approachable Resurgence and more tactical DMZ game modes.
The full game is free to play, though players can buy Season Passes to acquire rewards such as new weapons and Operators. Players can progress through each Battle Pass through Warzone 2.0 and/or Modern Warfare 2.
Destiny 2
Another of the industry’s best shooters, Destiny 2 offers a ton of high-quality content to players for free, including campaign missions, PvP modes, strikes, and even some raids. From Halo 1–Reach developer Bungie, Destiny is a lore-rich, sci-fi FPS with an active community of developers and players alike.
What you get for free is a bit convoluted, so be sure to reference our Destiny 2 free-to-play guide before hopping in.
Fall Guys
Fall Guys is our top recommendation for a free-to-play party game on Xbox. The last-man-standing game pits colorful, bean-shaped humanoids against each other across a variety of obstacle courses. It’s often tense, occasionally hilarious, and always fun. A Creative Mode is now available for free as well, allowing players to build and play their own Fall Guys obstacle courses.
Fall Guys is completely free, though players can dish out money for cosmetic items.
Fortnite
Six years on from the launch of its battle royale mode, Fortnite arguably remains the gold standard for free-to-play video games. On top of consistent gameplay tweaks, map updates, and endless crossover skins, Epic Games offers Fortnite players access to a digital hub of pop culture content ranging from live concerts and movie screenings.
Players can drop into Fortnite’s battle royale mode free of charge with the option to pay for cosmetic items. Save the World, Fortnite’s PvE co-op campaign mode, can be accessed by purchasing the Ned the Eternal Pack for $16 USD.
The only Xbox-exclusive game on this list, Halo Infinite is the latest arena shooter from Microsoft and 343 Industries. Infinite lives up to the series’ pedigree on a fundamentals level — gunplay and movement are as good as ever — though its cadence of content updates has fallen well short of the bar set by other shooters on this list. The free-to-play portion of Halo Infinite also includes Forge, the series’ extensive map and mode creation tool.
Only Halo Infinite’s multiplayer suite is free to play; the campaign costs $60 USD.
Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 is yet another super-high-quality shooter available for free on Xbox. From the renowned development team at Blizzard, Overwatch 2 is a 5v5, team-based hero shooter with eight game modes and 37 playable heroes.
Blizzard recently canceled Overwatch 2’s anticipated PvE Hero Mode, though players can still look forward to new maps, modes, and heroes throughout 2023.
New players will immediately get access to 13 playable heroes; the rest can be unlocked by reaching gameplay milestones.
Path of Exile
Path of Exile is an online action-RPG “designed around a strong online item economy, deep character customization, competitive PvP, and ladder races,” according to developer Grinding Gear Games. The game, often called a spiritual successor to Diablo 2, has been running for nearly a decade thanks to its evolving gameplay, expanding world, regular expansions, and frequent updates.
Path of Exile can be played solo or with up to five others. It’s completely free, though players have to pay real-world money for “stash tabs” to expand their item storage. Weapons, armor, and various cosmetic effects can be purchased as well.
PUBG
The rise of the battle royale genre can be traced back to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in 2017. PUBG wasn’t the first to do it, but it was the first standalone battle royale game to find mainstream success, selling over 75 million copies before going free-to-play in 2022.
PUBG is a more grounded shooter in the vein of Warzone, featuring multiple game modes across a rotating list of maps. It can be played from a first- or third-person perspective.
PUBG is largely free, though access to ranked and custom matches requires the $13 USD purchase of Battlegrounds Plus.
Roblox
Roblox is a digital hub for playing, creating, and socializing that’s especially popular among children. As detailed by the developer, Roblox features “racing games, shooting games, MMOs, and RPGs… animations, short films, and other learning-based content.”
Many of the games within Roblox are free, though real-world money can be used to buy Robux, which in turn can be used to buy cosmetic items, private servers, and/or certain games.
Roblox has become a phenomenon among young gamers, and parents may want to read up on what the game entails before letting their kids loose on its digital playground. IGN has written its own Roblox Parents Guide for those interested.
Rocket League
Rocket League became one of the industry’s biggest free-to-play success stories after transitioning from a paid release in September 2020. While developer Psyonix has built out its offering with years worth of new vehicles, maps, and modes, the core gameplay loop of quick, addictive soccer-car matches remains its biggest selling point.
Best of all, the entire game is free — the only things available to purchase are cosmetic items for vehicles.
War Thunder
Coming up on its tenth anniversary, War Thunder has maintained a steady community for nearly a decade, offering players free access to large-scale battles. War Thunder boasts over 2,000 playable combat vehicles “crafted carefully from historical documents and surviving sources” and 100 maps “representing the main historical battle theaters.” It offers regularly updated PvP and PvE modes, though most players show up for the PvP.
War Thunder isn’t exactly new-player friendly due to its steep learning curve, but with no entry cost, there’s little harm in giving it a try.
Warframe
Warframe quietly remains one of the most popular live-service games, boasting a community of over 70 million players. It’s a fast-paced, sci-fi action-RPG built around slick third-person combat that can be played solo or with up to three others.
The most popular modes are PvE and feature plentiful opportunities for exploration and a lengthy, expanding story featuring over 100 hours of content, according to IGN sister site HowLongtoBeat.
World of Tanks
Like War Thunder, World of Tanks is a military-themed MMO rooted in history. World of Tanks, however, features faster-paced, more arcadey gameplay that should be more approachable to newcomers.
World of Tanks offers its massive 160-million-player community over 800 vehicles from the WWII and Cold War eras “based on blueprints or proposed designs from that time period in history.” New players will have to complete four solo training missions and ten PvE co-op missions before gaining access to PvP multiplayer.
EA Sports and Nike Virtual Studios have announced a new partnership that will look to add Nike’s .SWOOSH virtual creations a.k.a. NFTs to future EA Sports games.
EA announced the news in a blog, saying, “Nike’s new partnership with EA SPORTS will look to build new immersive experiences and unlock brand-new levels of customization within the EA SPORTS ecosystem.” The details of exactly how this will manifest in future games were unclear, but a short video on Twitter from .SWOOSH visualized a bit as to what fans can expect.
.SWOOSH used the Polygon blockchain to secure the Nike virtual creations, and the example in the above video shows a black football helmet with the Nike logo and a purple visor. The helmet appears on a digital card of sorts that says when it was purchased and the unique ID the “virtual creation” has.
This signifies this item is unique and tied to a specific person and, theoretically, will be able to be used in a future Madden game. The video also features branded footballs alongside three different soccer balls which appear to indicate this very well may integrate with EA Sports FC, the soccer game formerly known as FIFA.
NFTs, blockchain, and Web 3 have all been controversial in the gaming space and beyond, and many companies walked back their support of them after they faced criticism for doing so. Some studios even signed an anti-NFT pledge last year that encourages developers to only implement NFTs if they don’t cause significant environmental damage, which these items do because of the massive amount of computing power and energy that’s needed to make them what they are.
For 35 years, the Final Fantasy franchise has captivated fans with its anthology style of storytelling, keeping things fresh with new characters and stories. It even has a tendency to set the time periods somewhere between past and future in each game while keeping them connected with the same plot: a group of young heroes gathering to fight a great evil threatening their world while they exploring their internal struggles and relationships with each other — a universal theme that people can relate to.
If you’re new and want to get into the Final Fantasy series, there are 15 numbered games (with Final Fantasy XVI on the way), a few direct sequels, and a prequel to the first game. It sounds like a lot, but we’re here to help you make the journey into the RPG franchise a little smoother.
Looking at the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole can be overwhelming as most of them have hundreds of hours of content to play through. If you want to ease yourself into the franchise, we recommend starting with Final Fantasy VII. This game left an indelible mark on the game industry for having the easiest gameplay and combat systems to get a hang of, especially with the Limit Break system, and giving us the most memorable characters, like Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, and Sephiroth. Its popularity inspired Square to create Kingdom Hearts in collaboration with Disney so that some of its characters could interact with Disney characters.
Final Fantasy VII even came out with a feature-length CGI and Final Fantasy VII Remake, which has prettier graphics but retains the same story with themes of pro-environmentalism, identity, and moving on from loss — elements that previous Final Fantasy stories did not have. Either version of the game is fine to pick up and play.
How to Play Final Fantasy Games in Chronological Order
If you want to do a deep dive into the Final Fantasy franchise and play all of them in chronological order, here’s the full list of games and the order in which to play them. Though you can play most of the mainline numbered in any random order and still be fine as there is no direct continuity between them.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin takes place in the kingdom of Cornelia, a dark fantasy world version of the setting of the original Final Fantasy game. Jack Garland and his companions and fellow Warriors of Light, Ash, Jed, Neon and Sophia — each carrying a darkened crystal representing earth, wind, fire and water — set out to find Chaos and destroy him, restoring light to the world. Despite what the prophecy foretold about the heroes, each Warrior grows skeptical about their role.
You can change characters’ jobs on the fly, but with Jack as the player character you can only switch between two positions. No matter his job title, Jack has a decisive finishing move that crystallizes enemies and shatters them to restore a portion of his magic meter once the enemy’s break gauge is depleted.
Centuries after the events of Stranger of Paradise, Final Fantasy introduces four new young Warriors of Light, each of them carrying an orb representing the four elements that have been darkened by the four Elemental Fiends. At first, they’re tasked by the King of Cornelia to rescue Princess Sarah from the evil knight Garland, but their journey expands to defeating the fiends and restoring the orbs to their former glory, thus saving the world from eternal darkness.
Final Fantasy gets its name from series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s threat to leave the games industry and go back to university if it didn’t sell well, and Square Enix dealing with the notion of the game being its very last due to the threat of bankruptcy. Ultimately, the game sold over 1.3 million copies worldwide and grossed over $21 million, saving both the company and Sakaguchi’s career.
In Final Fantasy II, Firion, Guy, Maria, and Leon become orphans after the Palamecian Empire destroys their hometown and kills their parents, rendering them orphans. They join the Wild Rose Rebellion and, under the guidance of Princess Hilda, who initially deemed them too young to join the army, journey to stop Emperor Mateus’ plans to take over the world with his hellspawn.
Unlike the first Final Fantasy, the sequel had no character creation or job system because Square wanted the game to be more story-driven rather than filled with heavy gameplay mechanics. This game is notable for introducing a couple of staples that would forever define the series: chocobos and the recurring inventor character Cid.
Another group of four orphaned teens — Arc, Refia, Luneth, and Ingus — are drawn to a crystal of light in the Altar Cave after an earthquake hits the village of Ur. The crystals grants the youth a portion of its power, their first set of jobs, and instructs them to restore balance to the world.
Final Fantasy III is the first numbered game in the series to feature the job-change system, allowing players to change how the characters would battle monsters throughout the game. Instead of staying in one job or class, they could explore other job options and see which one suits each character. The 2006 Nintendo DS remake retained the elements of the original game, but gave the characters more well-rounded personalities.
Final Fantasy IV centers on Red Wings captain Cecil Harvey, who questions the King of Baron’s motives after he and his knights steal the Water Crystal in a raid on Mysidia. After the king strips him of his title as punishment for disloyalty, Cecil sets out on a quest with Kain Highwind and the allies they meet along the way to stop the sorcerer Golbez from seizing the other crystals in order to save the world.
This game introduced the Active Time Battle (ATB) system, which allows characters to perform a move when their gauge is full. Whereas a party is limited to four people in the previous games, Final Fantasy IV allowed a party of five characters.
Adventurer Bartz Klauser comes across a fallen meteor and finds four strangers, including King Tycoon’s daughter Lenna, and set off on an adventure to save the Crystals from falling apart, a phenomenon caused by Exdeath, an entity trying to free himself from imprisonment and gain the power of the Void. The group becomes Warriors of Light and focuses their attention on defeating Exdeath and stopping the Void’s energies from plunging their world into darkness.
Final Fantasy V expanded on the job system, giving players more than 21 jobs to choose from. To make the job system even more interesting, you can combine a skill you learn from a certain job with a different skill from another job in order to defeat challenging dungeons and bosses.
Set in a steampunk-style world filled with technology resembling that of the Second Industrial Revolution, Final Fantasy VI centers on a rebel faction known as the Returners fighting the Gesthalian Empire, which gained the power to take over the world by experimenting on magical creatures known as Espers. The Returners, including amnesiac former imperial soldier Terra Branford, work to free the regions under Gesthalian control using the magic they seek out and put a stop to the empire’s reign.
Final Fantasy VI, which was released as Final Fantasy III in North America and heavily censored due to Nintendo of America’s policies at the time, has 14 playable characters to choose from throughout the story, making it the largest cast in the series’ history. It also deals with mature themes of immoral military dictatorship, use of chemical weapons in warfare, the pursuit of a magical arms race, personal redemption, and the renewal of hope and life. This is also the first Final Fantasy game to not be directed by Sakaguchi, who handed the reins over to Yoshinori Kitase.
Set in Midgar seven years before the events of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII centers on fresh-faced SOLDIER Zack Fair, who is assigned to look for missing SOLDIER and defector Genesis Rhapsodos, who went off on a rampage for reasons unknown. During his search, he discovers Genesis’ origin, Project G (or the Jenova project) and how it’s connected to the two aforementioned high-ranking SOLDIERs, and eventually battles him and other products of the project, which involves injecting Jenova DNA into them.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was notable for exploring the sensitive side of Sephiroth, the most successful SOLDIER beloved by everyone before he went insane after discovering the unnatural circumstances of his creation and quickly fell from grace, as well as some of Cloud Strife’s life as a SOLDIER before leaving Shinra Electric Power Company. It was originally a PSP-exclusive title, but managed to get remastered as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in honor of the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII.
In one of the most iconic games of the series, ex-SOLDIER turned mercenary Cloud Strife joins Avalance (led by Barett Wallace) in the fight to stop Shinra from lining the company’s pockets by mining all the mako from the planet to use as an energy source. Cloud initially fought for personal gain and to keep a promise he made to Tifa Lockhart when they were kids, but eventually developed friendships with other members of Avalanche, including Aerith Gainsborough, and works with them to save Midgar from both Shinra and Sephiroth, who was hellbent on destroying the planet in order to be reborn as a demigod.
With the retention of ATB and the introduction of Materia, Final Fantasy VII grew so popular that most of its characters appeared in the Kingdom Hearts series and spawned the CGI sequel film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It also spawned the full-blown remaster, Final Fantasy VII Remake, which will be released in three parts. The first part was released in 2020, while Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is set to come out in Winter 2023.
In this contentious follow-up to Final Fantasy VII, a group of young SeeD mercenaries led by Squall Leonhart (or Leon, as he’s known in the Kingdom Hearts series) help out a group known as the Forest Owls, an endeavor that escalates into a conflict by Sorceress Edea, who has seized control of a powerful military state and intend to destroy time itself. As they fight to stop Edea, Squall struggles with his role and falls in love with Forest Owls leader Rinoa Heartilly.
Final Fantasy VIII still incorporates ATB as part of its gameplay, but it overhauled the character leveling system. As far as spell-casting goes, the game threw out the Magic Points-based system, making characters collect, draw, and create magic from items to power themselves up using the junction system instead. This is also the first game to incorporate a vocal theme into its soundtrack with “Eyes On Me” by Hong Kong pop star Faye Wong.
In the first Final Fantasy game of the millennium, a thief named Zidane Tribal is tasked with kidnapping the Princess of Alexandria, Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, as a part of a war wage against the neighboring nation of Lindblum. His thief troupe ends up becoming the princess’ guardians, and Zidane teams up with Garnet to defeat her mother, Queen Brahne, who started the war.
Despite Final Fantasy IX being released in 2000, when most game franchises transitioned from 2D to 3D graphics by then, Square Enix designed the game to look like a retro-style RPG. However, it still managed to render CGI graphics for the characters and everything else in the world of Gaia.
Final Fantasy X is one of the most beloved games in the series next to Final Fantasy VII — and we’re not just saying that because it’s the first Final Fantasy game for the PS2. The story revolves around star blitzball player named Tidus, who is taken to Spira — a world inspired by the South Pacific, Thailand, and Japan — by Auron after his hometown of Zanarkand is destroyed by a colossal monster named Sin. He joins summoner Yuna and her guardians on a quest to defeat Sin and bring about the Calm after learning its true identity is Tidus’ missing father Jecht.
This game replaced ATB with the Conditional Turned-Based Battle system that uses an Act List in which characters’ turns are determined by their stats. It also introduced a new leveling system called the Sphere Grid, which sets characters down a specific path with stats and abilities and allows them to unlock all their abilities once it opens up.
In the follow-up to Final Fantasy X, Yuna becomes a sphere hunter and a member of the Gullwings, comprising Rikku and Paine. She sets out to find Tidus — or at least, a mysterious man who looks like Tidus — but gets caught in a political conflict that the Gullwings must resolve before it escalates to a war involving a secret weapon that was built to destroy Spira.
In addition to being the first game in the series to be an official game sequel, Final Fantasy X is also the first to feature an all-female cast and have multiple possible endings. It brought back ATB, but enhanced it to allow characters to interrupt enemies while preparing to attack. It also introduced dresspheres and the Garment Grid, which allow characters to change their character class mid-battle to alter the course of the battle.
Final Fantasy XI
Square Enix took a page out of World of Warcraft and made Final Fantasy XI an MMORPG instead of a regular console game. Players could customize their characters and make it into one of many races of being roaming the land of Vana’diel — Humes, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra, Galka, etc. The plot revolves around defeating a demonic leader called the Shadow Lord, who rose from the ashes of the Crystal War and sent his beastmen armies off to terrorize the land, albeit in a less organized fashion.
Support for the PS2 and Xbox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XI ended in 2016, but fans can still play it on PC. Rumors circulated last year that the game would shut down, given that it’s over 20 years old, but director Yuji Fujito stated that that was not the case. In other words, it’s still alive and well and beloved by many retro Final Fantasy fans.
Final Fantasy XII is set in the kingdom of Ivalice, where the Archadia and Rozarria empires are fighting an endless war with each other. When Dalmasca is annexed by the former nation, Princess Ashe forms a resistance movement and meets Vaan, who dreams of becoming a sky pirate, teaming up with him to rally against the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.
Final Fantasy XII took three years for Square Enix to develop after Final Fantasy X-2 was released, and it paid off. It won several Game of the Year awards and spawned the Nintendo DS sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, in 2007. Over a decade later, the remastered version of the game, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, released on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows.
Lightning, the series’s first female protagonist aside from Yuna in Final Fantasy X-2, is a former soldier living in the floating world of Cocoon whose sister Serah goes missing after she’s branded an enemy of Cocoon by the government, Sanctum, for coming in contact with a god-like creature from Pulse. As Lightning searches for her sister, she’s joined by a band of allies to rally against Sanctum for authorizing a purge on citizens who also came into contact with Pulse, leaving the fate of the world at risk.
This game wasn’t received well not because it had a female lead, but rather because it had confusing battle systems — Command Synergy Battle and Paradigm Shift — and linear maps. Even so, it was well-received and spawned two more direct sequels.
Three years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII, Serah takes the lead and teams up with Noel Kreiss, a young man from the distant future, to travel across time and space to find Lightning. Meanwhile, Lightning finds herself in Valhalla, a realm between death and chaos at the edge of time in the distant future, ruled by the goddess Etro, who she protects as a knight during a war with Caius.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 retained the Command Synergy Battle and Paradigm Shift systems, but they were improved upon to make battles flow better. Mog Clock was added to the mix, which prompts players to attack monsters on the field before time runs out to gain the upper hand in battle.
In the last installment of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, Lightning awakens from her 500-year hibernation to discover that the world is about to end in 13 days. She is chosen by the god Bhunivelze to save everyone, but along the way she learns the truth about the world’s fate and Bhunivelze’s real motives.
Players slammed this game because it featured a ticking clock that signifies how long you had until the game was over, putting a strict time limit on missions and side quests. Its saving grace was the heavily modified version of the Command Synergy Battle system, which employed real-time features, like freely taking control of Lightning’s movements and attacks.
Final Fantasy XIV has several storylines, but the main one involves the player character traveling five years into the future to escape the destruction of Eorzea at the hands of the primal dragon Bahamut. They enter Eorzea in the Age of Calm and work to rebuild the land, but must deal with the threat of invasion by the Garlean Empire.
The circumstances surrounding Final Fantasy XIV’s development were pretty complicated — especially since it’s the second MMORPG title in the series. The original 2010 game was embroiled in controversy because it was released in an unfinished state, although its servers remained active until November 2012. The next year, Square Enix released Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn with favorable acclaim and went on to produce four expansions: Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker.
The latest installment revolves around Noctis, a prince from the kingdom of Lucis is set to marry his childhood friend Lunafreya when he goes on a quest to rescue the Crystal from Niflheim, who stole it during an attack on the Lucian capital of Insomnia, killing his father in the process, on the eve of peace negotiations between the two empires. During his journey, he learns of his destiny to use the Crystal’s powers to save the realm of Eos from eternal darkness.
Final Fantasy XV received critical acclaim for its stunning visuals, gameplay — like driving around the world in the Regalia and the Active Cross Battle system — and its visceral soundtrack, including a rendition of “Stand By Me” by Florence + The Machine used as the game’s theme song as well as a few contributions from Afrojack. The game spawned a few spin-off games, the anime series called Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, and a feature film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.
How To Play The Final Fantasy Games By Release Date
If you want to play the Final Fantasy games in the order in which they came out, here’s the list of games by release date. Keep in mind that most titles were released in Japan first, followed by the U.S. at a later date. The first six games are remastered for the Nintendo Switch in Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster.
Final Fantasy – December 18, 1987 (JP) / May 1990 (NA) – Famicom/NES
Final Fantasy II – December 17, 1988 (JP) / April 8, 2003 (NA) – Famicom, PlayStation
Final Fantasy III – April 27, 1990 (JP) / August 24, 2006 (NA) – Famicom, Nintendo DS (remake)
Final Fantasy IV – July 19, 1991 (JP) / November 23, 1991 (NA) – Super NES
Final Fantasy V – December 6, 1992 (JP) / October 5, 1999 (NA) – Super Famicom, PlayStation
Final Fantasy VI – April 2, 1994 (JP) / October 11, 1994 (NA) – Super NES
Final Fantasy VII – January 31, 1997 (JP) / September 7, 1997 (NA) – PlayStation
Final Fantasy VIII – February 11, 1999 (JP) / September 7, 1999 (NA) – PlayStation
Final Fantasy IX – July 7, 2000 (JP) / November 14, 2000 (NA) – PlayStation
Final Fantasy X – July 19, 2001 (JP) / December 18, 2001 (NA) – PS2
Final Fantasy XI – May 16, 2002 (JP) / March 23, 2004 (NA) – PS2
Final Fantasy X-2 – March 13, 2003 (JP) / November 18, 2003 (NA) – PS2
Final Fantasy XII – March 16, 2006 (JP) / October 31, 2006 (NA) – PS2
Final Fantasy XIII – December 17, 2009 (JP) / March 9, 2010 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Final Fantasy XIII-2 – December 15, 2011 (JP) / January 31, 2012 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – November 21, 2013 (JP) / February 11, 2014 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Final Fantasy XIV – August 27, 2013 – PS3, PS4, PS5, PC
Final Fantasy XV – November 29, 2016 – PS4, Xbox One, PC
While we still don’t know a ton about exactly what Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is, its director Naoki Hamaguchi has confirmed it will feature a “multifaceted world with a high degree of freedom.”
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, for those unfamiliar, is the second entry in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake project and will pick up after the ending of the first game that saw our heroes leaving the walls of Midgar. In the original game, this is when the world opened up and the more contained opening hours became something much grander.
Hamaguchi’s comments don’t quite confirm that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth would be full open world, but the “high degree of freedom” comment should entice fans and will hopefully mean players will still have that wonder when exploring the wider world and the chance to choose how they tackle some of its missions and side content.
— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) June 3, 2023
“Players will be able to journey across the wide and multifaceted world with a high degree of freedom, experiencing a myriad of different stories,” Hamaguchi said.
IGN spoke to Hamaguchi in 2021 about this second part of Final Fantasy Remake, and he said the team was dealing with the challenge of how they would allow players to experience this next adventure.
“As for improvement, or should I say ‘change,’ moving forward — because the next installment will involve Cloud and company to leave Midgar and explore the world map, our next challenge will be to create gameplay that leverages the vastness of the world, unlike what we did in this current title.”
Final Fantasy 7 Remake director Tetsuya Nomura also chimed in and said Clould would be “running around a lot of nature.” All signs appear to point to a much more open second chapter, and hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find out more.
Hamaguchi’s answer on Twitter came just one day after the first “developer comment” from the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth team that confirmed the game’s development is “progressing smoothly and according to plan.” If this holds, this should mean fans will get a chance to jump back into the world of Final Fantasy VII this winter.
