We got our first extended glimpse at The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay this week, and while it largely focused on Link’s new fusion abilities, one returning feature set the internet ablaze as soon as it was confirmed: weapon durability. But while people were arguing about whether Breath of the Wild’s breakable weapons are good or not (spoiler: they are, and we talk in-depth about why on the latest episode of NVC), I am far more concerned about the future of another likely returning system – because let’s face it, Link’s cooking skills need sharpening.
While not explicitly shown during the gameplay video, all the telltale signs of cooking are back – Link had an inventory full of ingredients (some of which he was more concerned about strapping to his weaponry rather than roasting) and that signature wide cooking pot could be seen over a campfire in a cave that was briefly visited. There’s evidence the food system might have actually been expanded as well, since a cooking pot symbol in the UI now seems to be occupying “up” on the d-pad in the same way you quick-select your weapons and shields.
That’s great to see, because I have a serious love-hate relationship with Breath of the Wild’s cooking. It’s a surprisingly deep system full of fun experimentation and some seriously powerful buffs if you know what to throw in a pot. It also got me to actually care about all the little bits and bobs I was vacuuming into my back pocket as I explored Hyrule, with items I overlooked early on suddenly being worth their weight in rupees once I realized what they could be used to make.
However, the way you actually interact with your cooking options in Breath of the Wild falls regrettably short of its full potential. It is patently insane that the only way to cook is by slowly navigating your cluttered inventory, individually putting up to five items into Link’s arms, closing out, and then physically dropping them into a cooking pot – and Hylia forbid you add the wrong item or miss the pot and have to start all over again. You can at least skip most of the cooking cutscene that plays each time, but making more than a couple meals at once is a laboriously slow process.
It’s also nuts to me that there’s no in-game way to track what combinations you’ve already tried and what the results were, especially given how many ingredient options you have. I actually really love that you can find posters at different stables with meals for you to try making, but it’s wild that your options are basically to memorize them immediately or manually write them down if you want to retain that recipe longterm – and while you could take a photo, the album isn’t exactly designed for easy browsing either.
“I have a serious love-hate relationship with Breath of the Wild’s cooking.”
On top of that, as much as I loved experimenting with different combinations of ingredients to find interesting results, this system eventually becomes fairly easy to crack. While the idea of mixing and matching up to five items is charming, the truth of the matter is that you only need to use one when it comes to your healing and stamina options. Once you’ve boosted your stats enough, putting any single item that increases your max health or stamina into a pot (for example, Hearty Durians or Endura Carrots) will result in a meal that gives you a little bit of an extra boost while also completely refilling your natural max. That flattened out many of the “best” late-game cooking options for me, which can make the processing of roasting a bunch of single carrots even more tedious.
As I see it, Tears of the Kingdom has an opportunity to smooth so many of the bumps in a system I ultimately really like. Let me sit down at a campfire, open a cooking menu, and select individual ingredients in order to more quickly find out what their combinations result in. Better yet, save the meals I’ve already made in a recipe book and let me quickly cook them again (or in multiples) if I have the ingredients on hand. The issue of how food scales once you’re dozens of hours in is a harder problem to solve, and I’m not going to pretend I know how to do it, but even just improvements to the way you interact with a cooking station is something I’d take over weapon repair any day.
We haven’t seen much of Tears of the Kingdom yet, but this week’s gameplay left me extremely optimistic. I imagine there are some big surprises still waiting in the wings, but the fact that its fusion and Ultrahand abilities already seem to empower the way players experimented with (and even exploited) Breath of the Wild gives me hope that Nintendo could do the same with cooking. Because if we’re going to be able to strap a piece of meat to a sword and beat bokoblins to death with it, the least we can do is make it medium-rare.
Capcom has alerted Resident Evil 4 Remake players that a rare game-breaking bug has been found at the beginning of Chapter 12 that could stop your progress if you attack with your knife right after obtaining a key item.
Capcom shared the news on Twitter, saying that this issue affects players on all platforms and that it “intends to fix this issue in a future update and apologize for any inconvenience.” Luckily, the fix will allow players who were impacted by this bug to continue their current save.
As for the bug itself, Capcom has detailed what it is and how to avoid it in a non-spoilery way;
“A cutscene will play at the beginning of Chapter 12, after which the player will receive a key item,” Capcom wrote. “Please refrain from attacking with the knife until the notification for obtaining this item is displayed in the upper right of the screen.
“After obtaining the item, it will appear in the Key Items & Treasures menu in the attache case. If it has not appeared, please reload saved data from before the start of Chapter 12.”
This bug aside, the Resident Evil 4 Remake has been a joy for many of us to play. In our 10/10 Resident Evil 4 Remake review, we said it is “Only the most relentlessly exciting Resident Evil adventure of all time that’s been rebuilt, refined, and realised to the full limits of its enormous potential.”
The Super Mario Movie is due to release next week, and Nintendo is celebrating by bringing Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, and the rest of the voice cast from the big screen to the small screen.
Shigeru Miyamoto appeared in a special April 1st Nintendo Direct to announce that “your favorite Mario games” will be adding a special “movie mode” featuring the voice talents of the Super Mario Bros. Movie cast. Supported games include Luigi’s Mansion 3, Mario Kart 8, and even the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES.
Activating the new “movie mode” will replace the existing voices with movie cast members, or if there are no voices, add them in. Want to hear “Mushroom Kingdom, here we come!” after Mario clears a level in the original Super Mario Bros.? Now you can!
“It’s a whole new way to enjoy the Mario games you know and love,” Miyamoto said.
‘A dream come true’
In a statement released to the media, Pratt expressed his excitement over having his voice appear in the original Super Mario Bros.
“This is a dream come true after spending hours of my life stomping on Koopas,” Pratt said.
Pratt’s appearance alongside a star-studded cast include Seth Rogen and Jack Black sent shockwaves through the gaming industry when it was revealed. Anticipation has only grown since then, to the point that some analysts think it may be the highest grossing movie of 2023.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie releases April 5. As for the Mario DLC featuring their voices, a release date has not yet been revealed.
Alongside revealing that the legendary DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64 will be featured in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Seth Rogen has also jokingly called it “objectively, one of the worst rap songs of all time.”
Rogen, who voices Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, appeared on the film’s official Twitter to share the exciting news and react to watching the original DK Rap from the opening of 1999’s Donkey Kong 64.
— The Super Mario Bros. Movie (@supermariomovie) March 30, 2023
Rogen also confirmed that his version of Donkey Kong will be introduced with the DK Rap in the film before calling it, as previously mentioned, “one of the worst rap songs of all time.” However, he finds more things to love as the song continues and even gives it a “10/10 bananas” rating at the end.
Grant Kirkhope, who was the composer of Donkey Kong 64 and the person responsible for the DK Rap, responded to the video in the best way.
“If you’d told me in ’97, when I wrote the worst rap track in the history of rap tracks, that it would go on to be in a Mario Bros movie I’d [sic] would’ve burst with excitement! Long live the DK Rap!” Kirkhope wrote.
Fans won’t have to wait long to see the DK Rap come to life on the big screen as The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be released in theaters on April 5, 2023.
Today, Studio WildCard announced that Ark 2, the sequel to 2017’s Ark: Survival Evolved, is getting delayed a second time into 2024 – but in the meantime, a next-gen version of the original game is coming out in August to keep us busy.
“Our goal is to make ARK 2 the best game it can be and provide a truly exceptional and rewarding experience for players. Unreal Engine 5 is incredibly new technology to us (and all developers), and we aim to use this cutting-edge tech to its fullest potential while creating a game with never-before-achieved scope at Studio Wildcard. As we learn more about the engine and develop the sequel, we have adapted our workflows and adjusted our pipelines to accommodate this new next-generation paradigm, and because of everything that involves, we need more time for development.”
Additionally, Studio WildCard acknowledged that these challenges also mean that Ark 2 will not be backward compatible. So that means no release of Ark 2 on Xbox One or PS4.
But there’s some good news for Ark 1 fans. Because Ark 2 has “some pretty significant design changes from the original game” and may not appeal to those who prefer “Souls-like combat, primitive-only weaponry, and strict third-person mechanics – and an overall “very serious” tone,” Studio WildCard is releasing a current-gen version of Ark 1 on PC, Xbox Series, and PS5 in August of 2023 “to ensure that fans can continue to enjoy the ARK they know for years to come.”
It’s called Ark: Survival Ascended, and comes with The Island, battle royale spinoff Survival of the Fittest, and “all the ‘non-canon DLC maps'”. As well as graphical and performance upgrades, it also includes cross-platform multiplayer and cross-progression, and cross-platform modding supported by Overwolf.
That’s a lot of content, but the purchasing scheme is a bit confusing. Xbox Series X, S, and PC players can only get it by purchasing the Ark Respawned Bundle for $49.99, which includes both Ark: Survival Ascended and Ark 2, and will grant access to an exclusive one-month closed beta of Ark 2 in 2024. The bundle will only be available for the first year after launch of Survival Ascended, after which both games will be available separately.
Meanwhile, PS5 players can purchase Survival Ascended as a standalone game at launch for $39.99. DLC packs will also be available separately on both platforms.
Finally, Studio WildCard has a new canonical story DLC planned for release in Q4 of 2023 including four new creatures.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Niantic introduced Remote Raids to Pokémon Go, which allowed people to access raids from the comfort of their own homes. Remote Raids allowed people to continue playing during lockdowns and kept Pokémon Go alive during a time when people weren’t really going outside at all. As players’ focus shifted away from the pandemic, however, Remote Raids remained a way to make Pokémon Go more accessible for all, especially for disabled people and those who live in rural communities.
Three years after the pandemic began, Niantic is now hiking prices and putting caps on Remote Raid Passes to encourage people to play the game the way it was played before the pandemic — but the Pokémon Go community is pushing back.
Yesterday, in a blog post, the Pokémon Go team revealed adjustments to the way Remote Raids work, including substantial price increases for Remote Raid Passes and rewards for players who participate in in-person raids. The update will also introduce a cap on Remote Raids, allowing players to participate in a maximum of five per day, and will go live on April 6 at 11 a.m. PT.
Naturally, fans took to Twitter and Reddit to speak out against Niantic’s decision to make an accessibility feature… less accessible.
The push to reverse these changes has largely been led by disabled fans, many of whom rely on Remote Raids to play. AbleGamers senior director Steven Spohn referred to the price increase as a “disability tax,” noting that the update essentially charges some disabled players more to play in a way that’s accessible to them.
To summarize, Niantic is doubling the cost of playing Pokémon GO remotely, and limiting how much you can play.
This is what we call a disability tax. If you can’t leave your home or live in an inaccessible area, you can play, but it’s going to cost you, and you can’t play much. https://t.co/hDPj3QmACD
“In this case, remote play is great for anybody that might prefer to play that way, but for someone who has mobility challenges or is unable to leave the house or lives in a rural/inaccessible area, it’s literally the only way that they can play,” Spohn said via Twitter DMs. “Limiting the amount of times that you can engage with raids to only five times per day is just limiting the content for the sake of trying to convince people to play a different way, but again, what do you do if you literally cannot?”
As pointed out by Kotaku, these changes also disproportionately impact people who live in rural areas where Pokéstops, Gyms, and raids are sparse. But fans with physical access to raids are up in arms, too. Reddit user octocode, who lives in a large city, simply prefers the flexibility and convenience of Remote Raids, which can come in handy for people with time commitments.
“I love the ‘go’ aspect of this game, but this system isn’t it,” octocode said via Reddit DMs. “This just rewards going to specific locations at specific times, there is no exploration involved. I just want to play on my own schedule.”
Beyond convenience, for some fans, the update even signals the loss of a community.
“Remote raiding has essentially changed my life,” Twitter user Qshinys said via DMs. “I’ve made so many friends around the world and here in the states because of it. With the nerf, I essentially can’t enjoy the game and play it with my friends anymore. It is absolutely too expensive.”
With a little than a week left until the update launches, fans are now convening to try to convince Niantic to change course. One Reddit user encouraged players to strike by not purchasing Remote Raid Passes and limiting in-person raids, while other players have started contacting Niantic and leaving poor reviews.
“Niantic needs to realize not everyone can just drop everything to go outside,” octocode said. “Sometimes we physically can’t. We need some flexibility.”
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
For far too long, The Last of Us has been something you could only play on PlayStation consoles. Now that the first installment in the series has arrived on PC, non-PlayStation gamers finally have a chance to play the critically acclaimed Naughty Dog title. With the first season of The Last of Us show concluding, this is a great opportunity to dive into the story once again with even more depth.
Unlike watching a TV series, however, playing The Last of Us, which has some puzzling portions, can be confusing, and even challenging at times. Whether it’s trying to find the right puzzle solution to progress or just surviving a Clicker stealth area, you may need some guides as you progress through the story. Take a look at some of the best tips, guides, and secrets that can help you survive The Last of Us. You can also check out our Last of Us Part 1 Walkthrough for the full guide.
Change or Customize Your Difficulty Level
Depending on your skill level and what you want to get out of the game, you may want to raise or lower the difficulty setting. There are 5 different difficulty settings from Very Light to Survivor, each of which provides a different gameplay experience. If you want to just enjoy the story, you can go with the lowest setting and play your way through with less stress.
If you don’t like any of the available difficulty settings, you can also customize it yourself by selecting Difficulty via the Options menu. This will allow you to change things like number of resources, strength of allies, and enemy difficulty.
Manually Save the Game Before Combat Encounters
Although it is generally advised on our Last of Us tips page to never rush into combat encounters, sometimes it can’t be helped. Not everyone enjoys strategic gameplay, but if you want to avoid losing all of your ammo and supplies in one go, it’s a good idea to manually save the game before you go into any encounter. This will leave you the option to go back and try again once you better understand the situation.
To manually save the game, you will need to head to the pause menu and select ‘Save Game’. Otherwise your only saves will be at certain checkpoints and you’ll have to start from further back.
Dive Into the Accessibility Options If You’re Having Trouble
A big draw for Naughty Dog to rebuild the original The Last of Us for PlayStation 5 (and now PC) is the number of accessibility options they were able to add. The Last of Us Part 2 featured a ton of accessibility options over the original, and now those options are more uniform between the two games. For instance, in combat, you can make small adjustments such as preventing enemies from being able to break free from your holds, as well as disabling the ability for the enemies to grab your allies. You can even toggle slow motion, giving you more time to think during a combat scenario, giving you more of a chance to perform stealth kills or better line up your shots.
Aside from combat, there’s a slew of traversal assistance built-in now, as well as a Skip Puzzle option for those unable to progress due to eyesight limitations. However one of the biggest additions Naughty Dog added was Cinematic Descriptions. This causes cutscenes to be fully narrated, giving the player spoken descriptive audio of key visual elements during a scene, without interrupting the character’s dialogue.
Focus on Collecting Resources for Upgrades
Crafting is an essential part of The Last of Us gameplay, and if you don’t focus on finding and collecting resources, you’re probably going to have a hard time. You need everything you can get your hands on for crafting Health Kits, Explosives, and upgrading your weapons.
There are a few key items with limited quantity that you’ll need to find to help you with some crucial weapon and skill upgrades: Tools and Training Manuals. To help you find these, you can check out our guides to all tool locations and where to find every Training Manual throughout the game.
Craft Weapon Holsters First
When fighting zombies in any game, versatility is incredibly important. You need to be able to switch between long range and short range weapons quickly to fend off enemies from any distance. Because of this, we recommend crafting weapon holsters before crafting anything else. This will allow you to carry both a pistol and a hunting rifle, for example, and you’ll be able to easily switch between them using the weapon wheel.
You won’t be able to craft anything until you have access to workbenches, so focusing on resources is key to speeding up this process. You’ll need both tools and parts to create these upgrades.
Upgrade Your Shivs As Soon as Possible
Shivs are one of the most crucial items in the Last of Us. You can use them to perform stealth kills on Clickers and even open up Shiv Doors that grant you access to additional loot. You won’t get access to Shivs until Chapter 2, and you’ll quickly find that they are not very durable at all without the proper upgrades.
To upgrade your Shivs, you will need to find Training Manuals that help increase their durability. There are two Shiv-related manuals, one in Bill’s Town and another inside the Grand Hotel in Pittsburgh
Don’t Pass Up a Locked Safe
Throughout The Last of Us Part 1 there are 4 different locked safes that require specific codes to open. Although the safe codes are often found on hidden notes in the same area, it can take time to actually figure out how to open it on your own. Since these safes usually reward you with additional ammunition and parts, you don’t want to pass one up when you see them.
To help you open up these safes without having to actually find the codes yourself, you can take a look at our guide to all of The Last of Us safe combination codes throughout the game.
Keep an Eye Out for Easter Eggs and Artifacts
If you’ve watched the show, but haven’t played the game, then the entire story will feel like it’s full of easter eggs. However, there are more references to other PlayStation games and more throughout the game that are worth finding for your own amusement. You can take a look at our guide to every easter egg in the Last of Us Part 1 to find them all.
There are also various Artifacts throughout the game that tell additional side stories that are worth finding. They come in the form of diary pages, old pictures, and even scraps of paper. You can check out our full guide to every Artifact location to find them all.
Kirby fans have been feasting lately, between the critical and fan success of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the silliness of Kirby’s Dream Buffet, Kirby’s Dream Land 2 arriving on Nintendo Switch Online earlier this year, and recent remake Kirby’s Return to Dream Land: Deluxe. It seems like there’s more Kirby than ever, both new and old. But does this mean fans of classic Kirby might see even more remakes and ports in the future alongside brand new Kirby games?
Speaking to IGN at the Game Developers Conference, Kirby director Shinya Kumazaki told us that while he couldn’t share any concrete plans for the future of Kirby, HAL Laboratory’s goal is always to “provide a new gameplay experience.” The developers won’t just remake Kirby games for the sake of it – only if there’s something new they can add. In Return to Dream Land Deluxe, that new experience is the Merry Magolor theme park with mini-games, as well as the extra Magolor Epilogue at the end of the game.
I also asked Kumazaki if we could expect a mix of 2D and 3D Kirby games going forward, existing side-by-side like Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe. Again, Kumazaki wasn’t giving anything away about the future, but did confirm that having 2D games, 3D games, or even “something completely different” are all “within scope” for HAL Laboratory’s future.
Then he offered what may have been a tiny, additional hint about his thoughts on the future:
“You might have experienced it if you played Forgotten Land, in that it’s not quite open world. It’s really a 3D game that really utilizes, kind of inherits the playfulness and the ease of play of 2D Kirby games. And that’s a unique 3D experience that we want to provide. And so what we want to do moving forward is continue to provide that unique 3D experience, and not necessarily be caught within the boundaries of existing genres.”
We also spoke to Kumazaki and Tatsuya Kamiyama about how Kirby and the Forgotten Land was a “Breath of the Wild moment” for the Kirby franchise, as well as whether or not the final boss of Forgotten Land was too challenging (or not challenging enough) for players given Kirby’s approachable nature.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
Looking back from the end of Resident Evil 4 there’s one big tip that becomes apprent for players: Do not sell your gemstones! Resident Evil 4 Remake has a bit of a complex economy, with The Merchant as the central banker. The Merchant will give you seemingly high prices for the treasures and gemstones you come across, but when you combine these items, you can gain vastly increased pesetas in exchange. The key point here is that it’s worth saving your gemstones until you have a treasure in which you can inlay them, and even then you should wait until you have the optimal gem color combinations.
How to Get the Most Valuable Gem/Treasure Combos
Here’s how gemstone color combinations and gemstone inlaying in treasure works:
Find a treasure that you can inlay gemstones in — note that any treasure or item like a key that you can freely sell without care is marked with a For selling only message in your Sell section a The Merchant.
Pause and Enter the Items menu and then select a treasure to inlay gems. Here you can bring up a menu that shows what color combinations are the best, by pressing a button noted on the inlay screen.
Using multicolored gems, all gems of one color, or pairs and triplets results in bonuses of up to 2x the value of the original treasure.
Gems are also worth different amounts, with the yellow round gem and the red rectangular gem being the most valuable.
The combination of the above two points will result in the highest value. Even though five colors has a 2X bonus, inlaying two yellows and three reds will actually yield the best value in the crown treasures, for example.
Here are some additional treasure hunting tips for Resident Evil 4 Remake:
The most valuable treasures, and the two that can trigger the Achievement/Trophy Astute Appraiser – Sell a single treasure for 100,000 pesetas are the Elegant Crowns. Here’s where to find them:
Spinel cannot be inlaid but instead used to buy special items from The Merchant. Don’t sell these! Your best early purchase would be treasure maps which reveal both treasure and some gem locations, considering all of the advice above!
The Splendid Bangle you get in Chapter 15’s Specimen Storage is the last socketed treasure you can inlay in Resident Evil 4. After this you can freely sell your remaining gems.
Enemies that drop gems only do so if they die in an accessible place. So shooting bugs that are flying above pits or dumping the Gigantes into the lava in that particular boss fight means you won’t get the loot.
Enemies that drop gems include Novistadors (the big flying or camouflaged bugs) which randomly drop Sapphires; Armadura (the parasite infested suits of armor), which always drop Spinel; and minibosses like Brutes or Chainsaw Villagers which always drop a gem.
It’s a tale as old as sports: an established star has an off year, and people begin to wonder if this is the beginning of their long slide into mediocrity. Then, they come roaring back with a season for the ages, putting all doubts to rest as to who sits at the pinnacle of the sport. After having somewhat of a down year of its own in 2022, MLB The Show 23 has returned to claim its crown as the undisputed king of simulation baseball with a long list of upgrades, gameplay shakeups, and an incredible new mode that redefines what the sports genre is capable of.
The most signifiant addition to MLB The Show 23 is the Negro Leagues mode, a dedicated single-player story focused on the legends of a league that ran parallel to the MLB from 1920 to 1948. Eight different players are highlighted, from the Legendary Satchel Paige to the groundbreaking Jackie Robinson. Each is lovingly introduced by Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick, with missions that recreate exciting moments from their careers. One mission begins with a story about Rube Foster’s devastating “fadeaway,” a pitch better known today as a screwball, only to drop me into a game where I needed to notch two strike outs using just that pitch. As I worked through the batters, the returning two-man announcer team of Boog Sciambi and Chris Singleton provided interesting insights about Foster and his success with the fadeaway.
This mode is a stunning achievement. The video packages that accompany the players are poignant, funny, well produced, and lay out brilliantly what makes these guys giants in the history of the sport. Kendrick speaks with tremendous passion and charisma. I could watch him describe the weather and I would be enraptured, but when he tells legendary stories, like when Satchel Paige called in the entire field of players to sit around him while he struck out the side in a game, I was on the edge of my seat. That also meant I was blown away when I took control of Paige myself, teammates kneeling around me without a care in the world, and sat down each of the hitters I faced.
The Negro Leagues Mode is a stunning achievement.
It’s a loving tribute to the Negro Leagues that didn’t need to be as detailed as it is. It would have been simple and safe to just add some throwback uniforms and a few legends to Diamond Dynasty. Instead, developer Sony San Diego thoughtfully recreated uniforms, equipment, and crowds from yesteryear. It all ties together in a cohesive package that’s equal parts history lesson and satisfying challenge.
The Negro Leagues storyline focuses on the triumphs of the players, but that doesn’t mean it shies away from the prejudice of the era and the reasons the Leagues existed to begin with. It formed long before the Civil Rights movement and did a lot to bridge a massive racial divide, bringing in audiences and filling the stands with people of all colors even as the players featured in these stories faced racism and segregation. It’s an important account that transcends baseball, and a credit to the developer for its inclusion. Even as a lifelong lover of both baseball and history, most of what I saw and heard was new to me. The stories are entertaining, powerful, and often end with me in periods of quiet reflection.
New Facets on the Diamond
Diamond Dynasty, which combines baseball card collection with a slew of single-player and online multiplayer modes, has undergone a number of smart changes. The basic idea is the same: you complete challenges or spend Stubs to unlock cards, which can then be used to assemble a team. The cards range from today’s players to stars from the World Baseball Classic, legends of baseball’s past, to the featured players from the Negro Leagues. It’s great for scratching that live service itch for those that enjoy the grind in a way that feels compelling, but not coercive.
This year brings with it the introduction of sets and seasons that effectively act like The Show’s battle pass, which is a bit of a mixed blessing. Ranging from six to eight weeks, seasons create a defined beginning and end to a specific stretch of Diamond Dynasty baseball that each has an accompanying set of cards. Season 1 has Set 1, Season 2 will bring Set 2, and so on. The significance of this is that certain modes, such as ranked competitive, will be locked to specific sets based on the current season, giving the strategy of each one a bit of a unique flavor.
A number of tweaks reinvigorate the already great Diamond Dynasty mode.
I like the general idea, as it injects some variety from season to season, but it also means cards from each set will eventually become obsolete, requiring many rosters to be rebuilt as time goes on. Cards with exceptionally high ratings are available from day one, but the planned obsolescence is a tough pill to swallow. You can at least have one “Wild” card on your roster, which allows you to keep one player from any Set active, which does help take some of the sting out. Likewise there are some cards from a separate “Core” set, which are universal for any season. It’s hard to predict how that will play out over a full year of Diamond Dynasty, but it definitely sucked some of the joy out of unlocking high end players in the short term.
A number of other, smaller changes help refresh the Diamond Dynasty. Ranked co-op matches, which let you and a friend combine your squads to play against another fused team, are more worthwhile now that they have the same reward trees as ranked solo. There are also new Captain Cards that can bestow team-wide bonuses in certain circumstances – a Captain Series Bryce Harper, for example, provides a growing boost as you add more players from the All-Star Series to your squad, which should both result in some interesting and unique team builds and be a fun incentive to pursue cards for reasons other than just the highest overall rating. New team affinity programs also make it easier to earn cards for your favorite teams. Each of those tweaks on their own is an incremental change, but taken together they reinvigorate a great mode that otherwise may have been in danger of growing stale.
Rounding out the roster
The Show has a deep roster of modes after nearly two decades of iteration, and it seems like all of them have received at least some updates for the better. Road to the Show, which puts you in the career of a created player working your way up to the big leagues, has added an easy-to-use face scanning feature and a long needed overhaul to its user interface. Cool new cutscenes have been added, including a brand new introduction sequence, and slowly building your attributes up remains as compelling as ever. Information about how the individual plays you make affect your progression is given in greater detail, too, and the challenges offered at crucial moments in games remain exceptionally rewarding to complete.
The Show has finally been updated to reflect the current MLB rulebook, with major implications for the Dynasty mode in particular. There are new rules dictating defensive shifts, and now two-way players can now be used as both Designated Hitter and Pitcher in the same game, fixing a glaring issue affecting stars like Shohei Ohtani in last year’s edition. The scouting and drafting system has been noticeably improved – I found it much easier to scout with a strategy in mind, with scouting abilities focused on pitchers, position players, and discovering talent. As someone who enjoys the front office nuance, it was a thrill to discover hidden gems in international leagues, though people who aren’t as interested can still automate the process.
New animations push it all closer to matching what you see on tv.
Custom practice now lets you designate which pitches and locations you will see. Have trouble with sinkers down in the zone? Queue them up, then start hacking away until you get the motion down. This is a massive improvement, and makes it much more effective as a skill building tool. I found myself regularly spending time in batting practice at the start of a play session as a warm up, and genuinely felt like it helped me regain my timing.
Another year of development on the current generation of consoles continues to pay graphical dividends as well. Gorgeous and lifelike recreations of stadiums, now including exteriors, make it easy to get lost in the spectacle. Team-specific VFX packages introduce games with a more personal touch, and a new batch of animations, like the Mariners signature victory dance, push it all closer and closer to matching what you see on tv.
Baseball is just as much about the sounds as it is the sights, and The Show smartly rebuilt much of the audio for this year’s release. Whether it’s capturing the subtle reverb in the stadium following the crack of a bat, or the concussion pop of a glove that catches a speeding line drive, the explosive power of baseball played at the major league is an essential part of the sport’s essence, and it’s recreated brilliantly here. A much deeper pool of recorded dialogue by the commentator crew, now in their second year, is also readily apparent, with thankfully fewer instances of the same lines being repeated ad-nauseum.
The on-the-field play has been stellar for years, but there are some smart improvements here too that are worth mentioning. Just like previous iterations, there are a range of control options for each of the phases of baseball, be they pitching, hitting, fielding, or baserunning. Simple options like one-button hitting are great at allowing anyone to play, while opting into more complex options like zone-hitting rewards players who want to reach for a higher skill ceiling.
Single-button throwing for fielders is back, but the addition of a moving target on Button Accuracy Throws adds a challenging new wrinkle. Now, on long tosses from the outfield or difficult passes from the infield, the accurate zone for throws moves around. It’s a small adjustment that adds a surprising amount of challenge, and games I played against other humans had a number of errant throws much more in line with actual MLB games. Too often in previous years it felt like every defender was an all-star, and this change is a welcome dose of realism.
