Category: IGN

Genshin Impact is facing more accusations of cultural appropriation and whitewashing, and some of its voice actors are asking publisher HoYoverse to make changes.

The ever-expanding Genshin Impact universe features stories and locations seemingly inspired by the real world. Similarities range from the geography of in-game settings to architecture, mythology, music, food, and history in general. These connections have been extended to a new region, Natlan, which was revealed in a trailer released last week.

Fan outcry stems from what many feel is a failure to accurately represent the cultures each character pulls from, including the fact that Mavukia, Kinich, and Ororon — who seem to be inspired by real-life deities like the Maori’s Mahuika — are all white. It continues a trend in Genshin Impact that has seen players begging for proper representation.

Now some of the actors behind Genshin Impact’s faces have begun to chime in. Albedo actor, Khoi Dao, published a statement on X/Twitter calling for change in Genshin Impact.

“If a game draws so heavily from real-world cultures and bases a character on the supreme deity of Yoruba religion, and that character ends up looking like pale Sasuke Batman, people are absolutely within their rights to demand better representation, ESPECIALLY when said game has a clearly-stated commitment to a *global* audience.”

Dao continued: “I hope y’all keeping make your voices heard, and I hope they listen.”

Zeno Robinson, who voices the recently released Genshin Impact character Sethos, also called out HoYoverse, highlighting a worldwide desire for better representation.

“If even your base audience, the Chinese fans, are asking for better representation/or character with different shades of melanin, who are you making these characters for?” Robinson said.

Ọlọrun Is the supreme Yoruba deity. You could find that with a quick Google search, even.
This is unforgivable. Look at what a sick job SMITE did with their own interpretation!!! IT’S NOT HARD!!! pic.twitter.com/LbP3nuT3MK

— Valeria Rodríguez 🍉 (@ElvisBadger) July 13, 2024

Sucrose actor Valeria Rodríguez brought more attention to the issue with a string of posts, too. One post compares Olorun’s appearance in Titan Forge Games’ MOBA title, Smite, to their appearance in Genshin Impact, saying, “Look at what a sick job SMITE did with their own interpretation!!! IT’S NOT HARD!!!”

“It shouldn’t be a radical desire to want to see yourself reflected in the media you consume,” Yoimiya actress Jenny Yokobori said in her own post.

Natlan hasn’t been officially added to the Genshin Impact universe yet and has no release date. With there still time between now and its launch, Cyno actor Alejandro Saab took note of the complaints surrounding Ororon and put out a request to the HoYoverse team.

“I didn’t know THAT’S who he’s based on… AH that’s bad,” Saab said. “You still got time to fix it.”

there is so much beauty in the world—so many stories that can be told or drawn from, and when it’s not done to its full extent it ends up feeling disrespectful, even if that isn’t the intent. I hope it’s possible to make changes at this stage.

— Allegra Clark (@SimplyAllegra) July 13, 2024

Anne Yatco, who plays Genshin Impact’s Raiden Shogun, added, “I really hope that a video game company listens to its fanbase when valid criticism is made multiple years in a row about the execution of its research and inclusion of elements/aspects of other cultures.”

Genshin Impact released in 2020 and has continued to build on its foundation with new locations and characters in the years since. HoYoverse has yet to respond to calls for better representation or the BoycottHYV movement.

IGN has reached out for comment.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Ahead of Prime Day, Walmart is offering the Nintendo Switch Lite (Timmy’s and Tommy’s Aloha Edition) console for only $159. It normally retails for $199, which was already a great deal because it included the full Animal Crossing: New Horizons game. It was originally part of Walmart’s larger sale that competed with Amazon Prime Day. That sale has now ended, but this deal is one of few that are still avaialble. We are pretty certain that Amazon will not match or beat this deal on Prime Day proper.

Nintendo Switch Lite with Animal Crossing for $159

The Switch Lite retails for $100 less than the original Switch and $150 less than the Switch OLED. It is compatible with most Nintendo Switch games and it runs off the same hardware, so performance is identical. The three main tradeoffs of the Switch Lite is that (1) the controllers are not detachable, (2) the console can’t be docked and played on a TV and (3) the display is smaller (5.5″ vs 6.2″ on Switch and 7″ on Switch OLED). If you were intending to use the Switch solely as a handheld console, you might be better off just getting the Switch Lite. Even though the controls aren’t detachable, the Switch Lite does support wireless Bluetooth, so you can always purchase another pair of Joy-Cons, a Switch Pro controller, or a compatible third party wireless Switch controller, and you can still play untethered.

If you enjoy life sim type games like Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, or Minecraft, you’ll probably love Animal Crossing. It’s obvious that Nintendo put in a lot of love into this first party title and it’s certainly one of the best – and most relaxing – games for the Nintendo Switch. This is an excellent pick for gamers of all ages, even children. Check out our glowing IGN review for more details.

Other Nintendo Switch related sales and news that might interest you:

• Best Nintendo Switch Deals
• All Pokemon Games on Nintendo Switch
• All Mario Games on Nintendo Switch
• Best Time to Buy a Nintendo Switch
• Best Free Nintendo Switch Games

In this screen-infested world we live in, sometimes it’s nice to unplug and play a game that doesn’t require electricity. Board games are now more fun and versatile than ever, providing anywhere between a few minute’s and a whole month’s worth of entertainment for you, your friends, family, or even an entire party. In fact, with the rise of solo board games, you don’t even need a group at all. The only drawback is that this non-digital pastime can be pricy. Thankfully, Prime members can score huge board game discounts thanks to Prime Day 2024.

You can see all the board games on sale here. Or, if you prefer a curated list, we’ve picked through the deals and highlighted the best of the bunch below.

Board Game Deals for Prime Day

Grab a copy of Overwatch off some dusty GameStop shelf and rub it under the musky armpit of the Guardians of the Galaxy’s Peter Quill and you might have something close to the feeling of Concord. As competitive hero shooters go, this sci-fi contender from Sony plays it quite safe, complete with immediately charming characters immaculately rendered in gobsmackingly beautiful cutscenes and ability-based PvP combat that never addresses why those characters are fighting one another when they’re clearly allies in said cutscenes. But just because it doesn’t offer much in the way of innovation doesn’t mean Concord isn’t extremely fun to play. I still have lots more to see when it launches properly next month, but with sixteen characters and four familiar game modes available in its preorder beta this past weekend, the vast majority of the 10+ hours I’ve spent with it so far have been a sweaty, gun-toting good time.

You and your squad will form a five-person team of super-powered characters, each with their own unique strengths, weaknesses, and special abilities, and then bring them to bear against an opposing team in a variety of formulaic game modes. Those include a standard deathmatch mode, a “Kill Confirmed” mode called Trophy Hunt, an attack-and-defend mode called Cargo Run, and a zone control mode called Clash Point – none of which possess even the slightest hint of novelty. But being overly familiar isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’ve got best-in-class gunplay and awesome characters with compelling powers to back it up, and boy, Concord has got both of those down pat.

Concord sagely keeps its weapon selection very slim, with just two options given to each character by default and no way to customize that – but the upshot there is that every single weapon feels incredibly responsive and finely tuned, and no two characters have weapons that feel at all similar. The arena-controlling old lady, Duchess, wields a submachine gun that’s devastating at close range, while the sneaky and tactical Vale mostly relies on a long-range sniper rifle to take out enemies from afar. Not everything seems perfectly balanced – I, for one, think most things should probably die when they take a sniper rifle shot to the head, and it’s a bit weird that the character that uses a slow-loading missile launcher as her main weapon doesn’t do more damage with it – but they all feel really good to use, and that means I’ve been having fun even when it feels like something needs tweaking here and there.

Similarly, the abilities that complement those weapons are fantastic, diverse, have very generous cooldowns, completely changing the way combat plays out depending on which character you’re playing as. The floating, fireball-chucking Haymar can blind opponents for a period of time and make them pay for standing in the same spot too long, while the rampaging ogre, Star Child, can close distances quickly with his charging attack and smash the ground to do heavy damage around him. Not all characters feel quite as original, like how Teo is the world’s most generic soldier and comes equipped with a smoke grenade and cluster grenade as his two powers, but those bland options are few and far between. Learning each character, using their abilities to counter the team comp of your opponents, and juggling the madness on the battlefield with top-notch gunplay was just as fun in my first match as it was in my 30th, and I certainly can’t say I’ve felt that way about most hero shooters I spend time with.

One of the few novel twists Concord brings to the genre is the way its competitive playlist works. Unlike the casual playlist where you can play whichever character you please (so long as someone else hasn’t already selected it), in competitive you cleverly aren’t allowed to select the same character again if you win a round while using them. Since matches go to best of seven rounds, that means winning one will push you to get outside of your comfort zone and use a minimum of four different characters. Not only is this a neat way to force people to master more than just one or two options, it also encourages communication with your team between rounds to ensure you’ve got proper coverage to play out whatever strategy you’re trying to pull off as your options get slimmer.

The other interesting wrinkle Concord adds to the formula is character variants: Slightly different versions of existing characters that come with a unique perk and an altered appearance, and which can be unlocked by completing specific objectives during matches. For example, the gunslinger Lennox can normally reload his weapon by dodging, while the variant you can unlock for him loses that ability, but gets more ammo for all his weapons instead. The five variants available for each character so far offer mostly minor changes like this, but they definitely add a meaningful thing to chase that provides more options in combat. Perhaps more importantly, they also give you the opportunity to fudge the numbers a bit in the competitive playlist, since variants count as separate characters on your crew, and therefore, let you play as the same characters in multiple rounds.

I also just love that Concord is chock full of goofy terms in its “How To Play” tutorial section, like how it tells you if certain game modes are likely to be sweaty by assigning them a “Sweatstrum” rating, or how it explains you can recharge your abilities with “Sloops,” AKA “Skill Loops.” There might not be much of a story yet, but this game’s got charm coming out of its Martian ears.

There’s still more I haven’t been able to play in this early beta version, like the two game modes that remain locked for now, but Concord is already shaping up to be a heavyweight hero shooter I could easily see competing with the genre’s giants. It doesn’t seem like it will bring much new to the table, and that’s a bit of a bummer considering we’ve already played great games very similar to this one before, but I’m heartened by what I’ve seen so far and am looking forward to playing a whole lot more when it launches next month.

The team behind Baldur’s Gate 3 had to collect so many awards that game development was negatively affected.

Speaking to Edge, Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke said the number of awards received became “a real problem” as Larian had to send “rotating teams” of staff out to collect them.

“It affects development. There’s a lot of them,” Vincke said. “This has been a real problem.” Baldur’s Gate 3 was the surprise hit of 2023, earning myriad game of the year awards including from the New York Video Game Critics Circle, The Game Awards, the Gayming Awards, the Game Developers Choice Awards, and more.

Vincke insisted he was still appreciative of the awards, as “it’s great that you have a moment of celebration” and Larian does “really appreciate it,” but sending key members away to each award show seemingly left the development team fragmented.

It “would be cool if everybody could agree to do it all at the same time,” Vincke said. “It is surprisingly draining on the soul.”

This continued focus on Baldur’s Gate 3 also stopped Larian from getting closure, he added “We’ve all been more emotional because we can’t get closure, and you want to have closure at the end of a project.”

That being said, Larian has paid plenty of attention to Baldur’s Gate 3 itself in the myriad updates released following launch, but perhaps Vincke is implying there wouldn’t have been so many if the game wasn’t so successful.

The final major update is due in September 2024, when Larian releases official mod support for Baldur’s Gate 3. After that, it’s leaving behind the game, franchise, and Dungeons & Dragons altogether to create something new.

In our 10/10 review of the game, IGN said: “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”

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

Expansion-sized Fallout 4 mod Fallout London has already secured the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3’s Neil Newbon for its voice cast but now has announced that, bizarrely, former UK Speaker of the House John Bercow will star, too.

As reported by VG247, Fallout London project lead Dean Carter revealed in Fallout London’s Discord that its post-apocalyptic version of the UK capital will still have a Speaker of the House (the member of parliament who chairs debates between political parties), and in true Fallout fashion the position is now held by a robot.

But who’s voicing that robot? Bercow, of course, who served as Speaker of the House from 2009 to 2019.

Mortal Kombat 1 developer NetherRealm has released a gameplay trailer for final Year 1 DLC character Takeda ahead of his July 23 release date alongside Kameo character Ferra.

Takeda is one of the so-called Kombat Kids alongside Cassie Cage, Kung Jin, and Jacqui Briggs. The gameplay video, below, shows off a number of Takeda’s moves and combos, which revolve around his trademark bladed whips, as well as pre-fight interactions (Johnny Cage, for example, wants him to star in a superteam action movie).

It ends with a look at his fatality, which, as you’d expect from Mortal Kombat, is not for the faint of heart. Here Takeda wraps his hapless victim tightly in his bladed whips before slowly retracting them. Now that’s got to hurt.

Takeda is the last of the six Kombat Pack 1 DLC characters to come out, and joins Omni-Man from Invincible, Quan Chi, Peacemaker from the DCU, Ermac, and Homelander from The Boys. Dataminers have already unearthed evidence to suggest the next six DLC characters coming to the gory fighting game as part of Kombat Pack 2.

The gameplay video does not feature Ferra, however. Ferra is the small fighter who sat atop the hulking Torr as part of the combined Ferra & Torr character from Mortal Kombat X, and was set to hit Mortal Kombat 1 in Kameo form in June but was delayed to launch alongside Takeda on July 23.

Speaking of Kombat Pack 2, NetherRealm has confirmed plans to reveal the future of Mortal Kombat 1 during San Diego Comic-Con 2024, in a panel set for 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern / 10pm UK on Friday, July 26. Year 2 plans may include what Boon has already teased is set for Mortal Kombat 1, such as story DLC and “a big surprise after that.” Meanwhile, the Mortal Kombat 2 movie is due out October 24, 2025.

Takeda is available from July 23 to Mortal Kombat 1 Premium Edition or Kombat Pack 1 owners. The character is then available to buy a week later.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Ubisoft has cancelled the Driver TV adaptation but insisted it’s still working on projects related to the beloved racing series.

Speaking to Game File, Ubisoft confirmed it had cancelled the show, which was announced in 2021 as a collaboration with streaming service Binge and not heard from since, after dissolving film related subsidiary (named after Driver protagonist) Hotrod Tanner LLC.

“We are no longer moving forward with our partnership with Binge for a Driver series,” a Ubisoft spokesperson said. “We are actively working on other exciting projects related to the franchise and can’t wait to share more information in the future.”

Ubisoft hasn’t been particularly kind to the Driver franchise recently, having not released a mainline game since 2011’s Driver: San Francisco and Driver: Renegade 3D. A mobile game called Driver: Speedboat Paradise was released in 2014, but the franchise hasn’t made a peep since.

Fans were therefore surprised by the 2021 announcement of a Driver TV show that would “focus on undercover agent and ex-racecar driver John Tanner as he tries to take down a crime syndicate.”

No word on a franchise reboot came alongside it though, and Ubisoft’s latest comment that “exciting projects related to the franchise” still leaves all things Driver up in the air. The fact Ubisoft is still thinking about Driver may be enough for some fans, however.

In our 8/10 review of the last game, IGN said: “Driver: San Francisco has one game-changing, eyebrow-raising idea and it pulls it off with aplomb, infusing the OTT arcade racing with unparalleled variety and a ridiculous supernatural twist whilst staying true to its Seventies chase-movie roots.”

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

An image of the next mainline BioShock has reportedly leaked online, although it reveals next to nothing about the game.

MP1ST published an image it had unearthed from the showreel of a visual effects artist who works for publisher 2K. IGN has asked 2K for comment.

According to the site, the image is taken from a 2021 showreel that depicts an early demo build of the game, so it’s already years out of date and probably doesn’t reflect what fans can expect to play when the next BioShock eventually comes out.

It includes the expected first-person shooter perspective from the previous BioShock games, as well as a basic user interface and what’s called a ‘Ricochet Shotgun.’ We see what looks like BioShock-style plasmid powers in icon form, triggered by controller bumper button presses. It’s hard to tell what these are meant to indicate, but one looks like an electricity bolt, which would be very BioShock. Another looks like a stopwatch, so perhaps there were, and still are, plans to be able to pause time during gameplay.

The character is facing what looks like a burning orb set atop a pedestal of some kind. Of note: the codename Parkside is displayed on the image, which tallies with a 2019 Kotaku report that revealed the same codename, and a recent Epic Game Store leak of video game codenames.

2K announced the upcoming BioShock sequel in 2019. It’s in development at 2K studio Cloud Chamber after initially being outsourced to Halo support studio Certain Affinity. 2K is yet to call the game BioShock 4, so it remains unclear whether it will be a sequel, a prequel, or something separate to what’s come before.

But we do know it’s set in what 2K has called a “new and fantastical world”, so don’t expect a return to Rapture or Columbia, the settings of BioShock 1 and 2, and Bioshock Infinite, respectively.

Original BioShock development chief Ken Levine is not involved. After Levine left Irrational Games and the studio was shut down he set up a new developer called Campfire Games, later named Ghost Story Games, to work on Judas.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The reveal of upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom caught the eye because it features Zelda as the protagonist — a first for the series. But according to an age-rating for the game Link is playable, too.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) published its listing for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and it mentions that players can control Link to defeat enemies using his famous sword and arrow attacks. Zelda is also mentioned in the description as using a magic wand to summon creatures for battle, as revealed in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s debut trailer, below.

Here’s the The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom rating summary, still live at the time of this article’s publication, in full:

This is an adventure game in which players assume the role of Zelda as she attempts to dispel rifts throughout Hyrule and rescue Link. From a ¾-overhead perspective, players explore various environments while fighting stylized enemies (e.g., humans, creatures). As Link, players use a sword and arrows to defeat enemies; Zelda can use a magic wand to summon creatures (e.g., wind-up knights, pig soldiers, slime) for battle. Some enemies can be defeated by being set on fire; other creatures dissolve into mist when defeated. Battle sequences are somewhat frenetic, with several enemies attacking/fighting at once.

So, how might Link be playable in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom? Fans already have plenty of theories, the most common of which is that the game starts with a prologue in which a fully kitted out Link is playable before he is spirited away and replaced with a playable Zelda for the remainder of the game.

Indeed, the The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom debut trailer teases such a setup, with an opening fight between Link and franchise villain Ganon that perhaps is actual gameplay rather than a cutscene as most had assumed it to be. The question now is whether Link will also be playable in any other section of the game, or whether it’s Zelda only from then on out.

Upon its reveal, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom sparked all sorts of fan theories, including where and when it takes place in the Zelda timeline. Some have suggested that the Hyrule we see in the trailer lines up with the map from A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds, although many dispute this.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom launches on Nintendo Switch on September 26, 2024.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.