Welcome to our latest IGN First – a month of exclusive coverage in April, and it’s all about The Outer Worlds 2. This is the very first look at its gameplay in real time, and it takes us through a quest where you infiltrate the N-Ray Facility to show off several of the game’s new features and mechanics, as well as how it’s rethinking level design. And one of the biggest things that stood out to me is how much deeper it’s going to be as an RPG with developer Obsidian looking back at its past and even drawing inspiration from immersive sims like Deus Ex and Dishonored.
While that DNA has always been a part of first-person RPGs, The Outer Worlds 2 has more sophisticated systems compared to the first game like a true stealth system and better tools to make the playstyle viable, including effective melee weapons and skills to make silent takedowns possible. Take, for example, the health bar above enemy heads – there’s a purple-colored readout that displays how damage a stealth attack will do, helping you judge whether or not you can get a one-hit kill or if it’s even worth pouncing on your target. Enemies will also detect dead bodies and alert guards, but you can quickly clean up if you have a skill to disintegrate bodies on the spot.
Later in the quest, you pick up the N-Ray Scanner, which lets you see certain objects and NPCs/enemies through walls. While this is crucial for finding important parts of more involved environmental puzzles, it’s also an important tool for a stealth and combat. There are enemies throughout the N-Ray Facility who cloak themselves; invisible to the naked eye, but not able to escape the lens of the N-Ray Scanner. If you’re not dilligent about using it, cloaked enemies can easily run up on you. That’s just one example of how the addition of gadgets add a new wrinkle to gameplay.
There are several interlocking systems that factor into how you’re able to play, leaning more into the RPG elements that make up specific character builds.
There are several interlocking systems that factor into how you’re able to play, leaning more into the RPG elements that make up specific character builds. So, stealth and those immersive sim sensibilities aren’t the only way gameplay is expanding in The Outer Worlds 2. Improving gunplay was a major focus for Obsidian, citing Destiny as a touchstone for what good gunplay should feel like. Not that this game is going to turn into an all-out shooter, but it plays closer to how a first-person game with firearms should play.
You see an example of this in the approach to the N-Ray Facility movement when we go in guns blazing. Movement has been tweaked to complement gunplay as well, letting you be more nimble and do things like sprint-slide while aiming down sights like an action hero – and with the return of Tactical Time Dilation (TTD), the bullet-time fantasy is again an effective part of your combat rotation. We were able to see throwables, which is by no means revolutionary for a game like this, but with their inclusion this time around, you have another tool that you can weave into your arsenal – and even do something sick like tossing a grenade, activating TTD, and shooting the grenade midair to have it blow up on unsuspecting enemies.
There isn’t much to share on the story front as of yet, let alone the context around the quest in the N-Ray Facility, but we do see how conversations have been tweaked slightly in the sequel. In the gameplay video above, there’s a moment we confront an NPC named Exemplar Foxworth who’s survived the cultist takeover of the place. She’s bleeding out and you can help patch her up based on your Medical stat, or respond depending on your Guns or Melee stats. Although we couldn’t dig into companions in more detail, this part also highlights the new companion named Aza, a former cultist who’s a bit frantic but joins you to seemingly help undo what they’ve done.
Many of these elements were part of the original Outer Worlds in some form, but where that game was more about laying a new foundation for Obsidian, The Outer Worlds 2 looks to be a fully realized version of what it was trying to build with the first one. In addition to checking it out early, I had conversations with the folks at Obsidian to get insight on a ton of its new features and the vision that drove this sequel. It seems keen on wielding the RPG roots of the studio’s past while considering what a modern first-person RPG can be in the vein of a Fallout – and to be clear, they often referred to Fallout: New Vegas as a touchstone when making The Outer Worlds 2, so my hopes are certainly high.
That’s just a taste of what’s to come in The Outer Worlds 2 and what we’re covering in this month’s IGN First. I’ll be breaking down character builds, the new flaws system, all the wild and wacky weapons, and how much bigger this sequel is through interviews with key people like original Fallout developer and creative director Leonard Boyarsky, game director Brandon Adler, and design director Matt Singh. Keep checking back at IGN all April long for more!
Michael Higham is the tech reviews editor at IGN, but is one of the RPG sickos on staff who still talks about Fallout: New Vegas on a regular basis. You can find him at @brazyazn.bsky.social.
Nintendo GameCube is coming to Nintendo Switch Online alongside the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, with a classic controller on the way too. But some small print indicates that Nintendo’s new GameCube controller for the Switch 2 may only, officially, be meant for GameCube use.
Spotted in the details of the UK version of the Switch 2 GameCube controller trailer (thanks, VGC), a statement read: “The controller is only compatible with Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics.” This would indicate the GameCube controller is only going to work properly when playing GameCube games on the Switch 2 Online Expansion Pack, and not other Switch 2 games.
As VGC notes, it’s worth considering that other Nintendo controllers with similar disclaimers have not been fully limited. Players have been able to make retro controllers work where applicable. Also, the same disclaimer isn’t there in the Nintendo of America version of the trailer.
It’s still interesting, given the classic GameCube controller has enough buttons to manage many common gameplay inputs on the Switch 2. It could be a case of setting expectations, or trying to avoid frustrations if someone, say, tries to use their GameCube controller like a mouse.
Even if this particular GameCube controller isn’t your jam, Nintendo has confirmed the GameCube Controller adapter will work with the Switch 2 dock via USB port. Those who picked up the adapter back in the Wii U days are certainly getting some mileage out of the accessory.
The Classic GameCube controller for the Nintendo Switch 2 is planned to go live at launch with the new console, but the exact date those go up for pre-order hasn’t been announced yet. Pre-orders have been on shaky ground as U.S. tariffs have introduced a fair bit of chaos.
It’s a major update to the Nintendo Switch Online library that will grant subscribers access to a laundry list of classic 2000s-era titles, including The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and Soulcalibur 2, which will all be available at launch this summer. Of course, this library will be expanded upon in the years to come, with some teased titles including Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi’s Mansion, Super Mario Strikers, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, and more.
If you’re looking to pre-order a Nintendo Switch 2, GameCube controller, or other accessories and games, make sure to keep an eye on our Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order hub, which will stay updated with news and info.
Microsoft has solidified its plans for June, confirming an Xbox Games Showcase 2025 as well as an The Outer Worlds 2 Direct.
Microsoft normally hosts a June showcase to reveal upcoming Xbox games, and 2025 is no different. Xbox Games Showcase 2025 will be livestreamed on Sunday, June 8, starting at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK time.
Xbox Games Showcase 2025 will offer a look at upcoming titles from across Microsoft’s first-party studios, Microsoft said, “in addition to incredible new titles from our third-party partners across the globe.”
On the Activision Blizzard side of things, there will of course be a new Call of Duty game later this year, and various releases from Blizzard itself. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 launches in July, so that may make the cut.
And following in the footsteps of the 2023 Starfield Direct and 2024 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct, this year Microsoft will follow its Xbox Games Showcase by The Outer Worlds 2 Direct. The Outer Worlds 2 is from Obsidian, which is fresh from the release of Avowed. The direct “will bring you inside the walls of Obsidian Entertainment, revealing new gameplay, details, and developer insights, straight from the people making the sequel to the award-winning, first-person sci-fi RPG.” The Outer Worlds 2 is expected out later in 2025, so it seems likely we’ll get a release date during the showcase.
Airtime for the Xbox Games Showcase followed by The Outer Worlds 2 Direct in local time zones:
PDT: June 8, 10am
EDT: June 8, 1pm
BST: June 8, 6pm
CET: June 8, 7pm
JST: June 9, 2am
AEST: June 9, 3am
Microsoft said the Xbox Games Showcase and The Outer Worlds 2 Direct will be digital-only, which means there’s no theatre experience for fans and media this year. But it promised that its livestream will bring fans “everything you’ll need to know about what’s next for Xbox, no matter where in the world you’re watching.”
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.
Hades 2 is coming to Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 as a timed console exclusive.
While we don’t yet have a firm release date, developer Supergiant confirmed the highly anticipated sequel would release on PC and Nintendo Switch 2, as well as the OG Switch, at the same time later this year.
We knew Hades 2 was coming to Nintendo’s beefed-up Switch 2 courtesy of last week’s Nintendo Direct, of course, but developer Supergiant has now confirmed that it’s not just coming to Switch 1 and 2, but it’ll be a timed exclusive on Nintendo’s console, too.
“Hades II v1.0 will launch simultaneously on our Early Access platforms (Steam and Epic Games Store), Nintendo Switch 2, and the original Nintendo Switch,” the team recently clarified on X/Twitter
Hades II v1.0 will launch simultaneously on our Early Access platforms (Steam and Epic Games Store), Nintendo Switch 2, and the original Nintendo Switch.
Right now, it’s not clear when Hades 2 will make the inevitable jump to other consoles like the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S.
Hades 2 is the sequel to Supergiant’s hit first game, mixing engaging storytelling and roguelite action elements in a dungeon-crawling experience.
“Hades 2 feels impossibly huge and unbelievably polished by any standard, much less an early access game,” we wrote in IGN’s Hades 2 early-access review, awarding it 9/10. “Mel is awesome, the new tweaks to the combat and progression are excellent, and it’s just unbelievably feature packed with twice the content of the first.
“What’s here right out of the gate is astounding, and the thought of more coming on the way is a tantalizing treat.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Sabrina Carpenter has joined the ranks in Fortnite, and she’s bringing peace and love to the battle royale.
Developer Epic Games reported “dance-related stalemates are on the rise” as players sporting the Sabrina skin are putting away their weapons and getting jiggy with it instead.
“[Battle Royale] is all vibes now,” the developer teased on X/Twitter.
“So, I was playing a game of Fornite ZB Reload and I saw two Sabrina skins just hanging,” explained one fan on the Fortnite subreddit.
“They crouched and uncrouched and I stopped shooting, and well, before we knew [it], us three became, like, nine players who stopped fighting and only danced around.
“Truly the most wholesome thing I’ve seen in a video game,” they added.
“This right here is why I love Fortnite,” added a commenter. “Out of all the online games I’ve played, the fact that this game has silly emotes and a rotating character pool that the community gets into makes for unique moments like this, that I’ve never seen in any other game.
Sabrina Carpenter dropped into Fortnite as the Season 8 Icon of Fortnite Festival. As part of the Season 8 Music Pass, players can unlock the Sabrina Carpenter Outfit, themed cosmetics, and Jam Tracks like “Juno” and “Nonsense.” Sabrina Carpenter-themed items are also available on the Item Shop, including the “A Sweet Little Bundle” packed with items for fans to enjoy.
Did you catch the news that Fortnite is getting a special Nintendo Switch 2 port? Epic Games’ trend-setting battle royale showed up during a sizzle reel during last week’s Nintendo Switch 2 Direct to confirm that a new version is in development. It’ll launch with Nintendo’s new hybrid console this June.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Helldivers 2’s runaway success continues. It’s just won two BAFTA Game Awards: one for Best Multiplayer, another for Best Music. That’s from five nominations. The BAFTA wins bring to an end a fruitful video game awards season, drawing a line under what has been a remarkable year for Swedish developer Arrowhead.
Let’s remember, Helldivers 2 is the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time, with an astonishing 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks. It is a record no first-party Sony-developed game will likely ever beat. But so much has happened since that initial explosive release: a dramatic U-turn on PSN account requirements on Steam, review-bomb campaigns, and a community often at war with Helldivers 2 itself as nerfs and buffs either went too far or not far enough.
Through it all, Arrowhead has struggled to cope with a bigger, more mainstream playerbase than it’s ever had to contend with. But now, 14 months after Helldivers 2 hit PC and PlayStation 5, how does Arrowhead reflect on what’s gone before? Has it finally started to get to grips with the brutal, unforgiving world of live-service? And after that Killzone collaboration, could Warhammer 40,000 be next?
IGN sat down with Alex Bolle, production director on Helldivers 2, to find out more.
IGN: Congratulations on all the awards! When you were in the thick of development and things weren’t perhaps going as well as they might have otherwise been, did you ever imagine that a year after the game came out it would be considered one of the best games of 2024 and win all these awards?
Alex Bolle: No, no, definitely not. It’s a very humbling experience. I would say a year ago exactly, we had a hint that it would be a sweet year for us, but we were also in the thick of it. We were still fixing a lot of things, preparing our next big release for the content. So no, definitely not realizing we would get there.
Last time we spoke, we were preparing Omens of Tyranny. Even then we are like, okay, we have The Game Awards. We were preparing the whole shadow drop and everything. We were ready to make that shadow drop and be like, okay, this one is going to be fun. The awards part, maybe not that much.
I was next to my release manager trying to monitor the progress of Omens of Tyranny and the whole major order with the Illuminate. And I turned my head towards the TV at the office, it was like 2am. And I see Mikael Eriksson, the game director, just shaking hands with Snoop Dogg. And I’m like, what is going on here? Which reality are we?
So yeah, it’s been good. The Golden Joysticks, DICE, all those awards, it’s a good way to take a step back and look at the impact of the game. We’re nearing the end of the awards season and this one feels really good, because the credibility and the fame of it is just amazing. So yeah, it’s great. It’s going to be a good addition for the team, I hope.
IGN: It’s been over a year since the game came out, so people have had time now to reflect upon its release and its impact. Have you come to understand why it’s won so many awards, why it’s done so well? Why it’s resonated so much with gamers? Have you worked out why Helldivers 2 has ended up being the success it has been?
Alex Bolle: I wish the interview was two hours! It’s a whole soup recipe, or maybe more like a very sophisticated French dish. I don’t think we figured it out. One thing we keep at heart is just the interaction with the community. All the players, taking the time to really talk to them, understand what they want. We have so many devs that are continuously looking at Discord, at Reddit. We have a lot of things that come from there and we want to keep that interaction level.
That has been the thing that we thought, okay, when we prepare the fantasy for the next updates and so on, this is the part that we want to keep. We were talking about the future of the game with Mikael and it was all about that. What is it that the player wants? What is it that we are not achieving yet? What’s next? And this is always like, players in mind. It’s what works well. It’s the ability to talk to them, ability to make that kind of fantasy in the game around the Galactic War.
Last week with Pöpli IX, it’s been a year and we still manage to get those moments in-game. I think it’s important. These are needed. I was talking to our Game Master this morning, it feels good to have that. It’s one of the things we’ll cherish until we don’t make the game, but so far it’s working well.
IGN: You’ve spoken as a team before about the impact Helldivers 2 had on you as a studio, and it was a big shock to the system. Do you feel like now you’re starting to get a handle on what Helldivers 2 is, what the audience is, and settling into a sustainable, healthy way of keeping it going as a live service? Especially after having that influx of players that you weren’t perhaps expecting and the type of players that were different than what you were expecting?
Alex Bolle: We’re still trying to figure out the good recipe for a healthy cadence for the developers, for the players as well. Who do we cater to as well? It’s been super interesting. I’ve been at Arrowhead for a bit more than three years now, coming from bigger studios and yeah, there’s a lot of things that we had to go back to square one, on how it works at Arrowhead.
Johan Pilestedt, as one of our founders and the lead of the studio for so long, has been key in setting a development culture that we try to keep at heart while maintaining that live service aspect. This has been catching lightning in a bottle.
And I feel like every week is taking learnings again from the different wins and failures that we had along the way. Also from other developers. I think it’s been one of the good advantages that we had, is that success also allows us to talk way more openly with all the devs. It’s been very good on that side. It’s sharing ways to do it, better ways, more sustainable.
On who do we make the game for? That’s a tricky one. Arrowhead’s motto has always been ‘a game for everyone is a game for no one.’ When you add this amount of players, no one and everyone is a bit muddy. So it’s always a bit of a puzzle of like, okay, this content is for these type of players, this content is for this type of player. And this is where we are still working very hard with PlayStation, with the team internally to understand, hey, when you want to make this enemy, who do you have in mind?
I think it’s a very fingertip sensitivity that we are getting slowly. I think there’s a lot of work within direction as well to remind us who we were making the game for at the very, very, very beginning, because we have a lot of the old guard of Arrowhead still around to help us figure this out. We have one of the features upcoming that we’ve been developing with one of our old-time founders for example, and it’s been so good because he brings that magical angle on the co-op.
IGN: The internet loves to talk about Steam concurrents, but I would like to get your take as someone who knows the data. Do you think Steam concurrents are misleading? Do they give some insight into the success or otherwise of a live service game? Obviously you had a huge peak, but it is unreasonable to expect that to maintain itself forever, and Helldivers 2 seems to have settled on Steam. From your perspective, how do you view that?
Alex Bolle: I am far from being the expert of the studio on this. I do see sometimes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more you talk about it, the more you show it, the more people are like, wow, interesting, it’s going up.
It’s a metric among many others. There’s many reasons for a game’s success or failure. I think we’ve been doing good numbers, like breaking some trends and everything. On our side, the only thing I can say is that, yeah, we want to keep that steady floor of players and bringing people again for new memorable moments for the game and for the community. So I would say that’s pretty much where we want to go. Do we have screens all around the studio with CCU [concurrent users] and all those metrics? Of course, because it’s always good to keep them in mind. But we’re not obsessed by it. I think we are in a position we don’t have to be, but we want to make sure, hey, when we make something, it’s meaningful. That’s the thing.
IGN: Whatever happens, you’ll probably forever now be the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time. I can’t see a game ever really topping that. As a studio, does that mean you can be a bit more relaxed about what you’re doing with Helldivers 2?
Alex Bolle: Yes and no. Yes, in a way, especially in these days for the industry, it feels like such a privileged situation. That is amazing. I think we are cherishing that a lot. At the same time, we don’t want to take this for granted. There’s a studio, we have developers to pay. We have a studio life to keep on for years and years and years. So that’s the thing where we’re like, yeah, it’s been good. We need to make sure it keeps going great.
There’s also an accountability for, again, the people we make the game for. We’re not going to just start to be like, okay, it’s fine. It’s going to be fine. We can take a bit more time. We want to take more time to make things better, especially now that the players are asking for it. But yeah, there’s definitely an ambition to keep things going, keep our standards of development, keep finding creativity and innovation. If we just became complacent, I don’t think Arrowhead would be Arrowhead.
IGN: Do you think it’s reasonable for a game like Helldivers 2 to have a multi-year plan that envisages the game being around for a decade? For me, Helldivers 2’s gameplay feels almost timeless, so it could become a forever game. Or will there come a point where you have to think about what’s next when it comes to Helldivers itself?
Alex Bolle: Thank you for acknowledging that the game might not age at all! I love when you boot a game after 15, 20 years and it still plays the same.
IGN: Helldivers 2 has that about it doesn’t it? It‘s about the things that happen in the game and the physics at play and the feel of it, as opposed to it being future-proofed in terms of visuals, for example.
Alex Bolle: Absolutely. When I talk with the team, when I talk to the directors, when I talk to Mikael about the future, it’s exciting because we want it to be around for years and years and years to come. And it’s almost like, how do we stay true to the Helldivers 2 fantasy, challenging enough that we keep making amazing new features and new systems and all that while we stay true to who we are? And I think it’s something that is so motivating for the years to come.
The more we figure out how to thrive in a live environment, and we still have a way to go to figure out a lot of things around that, the more we can let creativity loose on new systems that we would’ve never thought about a year ago when we released. I’ve worked on live games before and it’s where you feel like you have something you can figure out: what if I would do this cool thing I’ve seen in other games and adapt it to our sauce, that still makes it true to ourselves? I’m looking forward to this moment.
IGN: You’ve done a Killzone collab. I’m a massive Warhammer 40,000 fan, and as soon as I started playing Helldivers 2 I thought, oh my God, if I was an Imperial Guard soldier dropping down, facing off against waves of Tyranids or Necrons… can you give me any hope as a fan of both Helldivers 2 and Warhammer 40,000 that this is even possible?
Alex Bolle: What I can say is that we had a blast working on the collaboration with Guerrilla on Killzone. One thing that everyone agreed internally is that making something from a different game IP in our universe, this is quite fun. It has challenges because again, we are very, very cautious about our fantasy. So we want to be able to explore those possibilities. We got super excited with Killzone. We want to do more for sure. I can’t tell you more.
Our devs are players, they play so many games. Obviously Warhammer 40,000 is something that a lot of guys internally love to death. So the devs are discussing, the devs are proposing stuff, and the hype is building. So these are discussions internally that we are having. Warhammer 40,000, I can’t really tell you. Maybe. Who knows? We’ll see!
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.
Astro Bot has once again won big at an awards show, this time securing five gongs at the 2025 BAFTA Games Awards, including Best Design, Best Family Game, and Best Game.
The BAFTA Games Awards — the UK’s independent arts charity celebrating excellence in games — took place overnight on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in London, UK. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Astro Bot, and Still Wakes the Deep led the charge with 11, eight, and eight nominations, respectively. Thank Goodness You’re Here! also received seven nominations, Black Myth: Wukong six, and Helldivers 2 was up for five awards.
Accepting the award, Astro Bot director Nicolas Doucet paid tribute to the game developers of the past, who paved the way for Sony-owned Team Asobi and other current studios to find success in the modern era.
Whilst Astro Bot was the night’s most-crowned game, The Chinese Room’s impressive Still Wakes the Deep secured three wins — including both performer awards — and Helldivers 2 won two BAFTAs.
BAFTA polled the public to discover that while games like GTA, Tetris, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Doom, and Half-Life 2did make the list, the top as ranked by the number of votes received was Sega’s 1999 action-adventure game.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Warning! Potential Mario Kart World spoilers follow:
As with the Donkey Kong snafu, the guilty images were removed speedily from the official website, but not before someone snapped them and posted them to Reddit, of course.
As the images are pretty fuzzy — and there’s no accompanying text — this is essentially all we know so far. With a little cross-checking, it looks as though a hidden Rainbow Road track will sit just below Princess Peach’s Stadium on the four-way intersection in the bay area (thanks, Eurogamer), although it’s unclear if it’s a secret track or some kind of unlockable extra.
“I would say it’s less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it’s more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value?” Trinen said at the time.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Whether twiddling their thumbs during the decades since Commandos 3 or calmly hiding in a hedge waiting to knife a nosey Nazi in the neck on his next stroll past, if there’s one thing Commandos fans are known for it’s lurking patiently. Good things come to those who’ve waited, and Commandos: Origins fits that bill. Slow-paced, challenging, and consistently satisfying when all your plans come together, its brand of isometric stealth action is intact and has never looked better. I’ve sunk nearly 60 hours into it over the last week and a half just to see out the missions, and there are potentially dozens more hours available should I return to play through some of them again with the intention of leaving no stone unturned and no soldier unslain. The only major issue is the assortment of bugs I’ve had to become accustomed to in order to keep enjoying myself. Like a peskily placed German sniper, some of these I learnt how to avoid entirely, but there were others I just needed to find a way to neutralise.
For those of you who skipped basic training, Commandos is a classic series of real-time tactics stealth ’em ups set during the Second World War that goes all the way back to the late ’90s. Picture a crew of elite but generally crabby commandos crawling around on their bellies behind enemy lines, driven by a whole lot of mouse clicking, and you’re most of the way there. For a modern comparison, it’s a lot like The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, only filmed exclusively from a drone (and without Guy Ritchie’s wit or Henry Cavill’s perfectly curled cookie duster). Or the BBC’s Rogue Heroes with 90% less swearing and 100% less AC/DC.
However, while its cheesy yet otherwise stony-faced approach may lack the outright humour of those crackling British Special Forces capers, Commandos: Origins is arguably the best version of the series’ concept to date. It’s a familiar yet modern experience for grizzled veterans, and also an intuitive and approachable one for new players who are ready to test themselves against a steadily escalating difficulty curve.
Where eagles stare
Like any great stealth game, Origins is as much a game about tactics as it is a salvo of deadly puzzles to solve. It essentially boils down to analysing every upcoming encounter, inspecting each enemy soldier’s vision cone, and finding a way to dispatch them that won’t bring the whole German army down on your squad’s heads. A large part of my time with Origins has been spent simply staring at the screen, surveying my prey like an ambush predator.
A large part of my time with Origins has been spent simply staring at the screen, surveying my prey like an ambush predator.
Each of the six commandos on your team has a set of unique tools and abilities. For the most part, Origins curates the characters available for each mission, tailoring the action for their skills. There are only two instances where all six soldiers will be on the same battlefield at once, which is kind of a shame because those are real highlights. That said, I probably would’ve played a huge amount of Origins exclusively using the Marine’s throwing knives and harpoon gun had I had the chance, so forcing me to expand my approach by sidelining him sometimes was probably wise and almost certainly kept things from becoming stale.
Speaking of sidelining, I actually don’t miss the inventory management of the previous games, though I feel like I wouldn’t have removed the ability to pick up and use enemy weapons for the Green Beret in particular. The argument here is that Origins is more about thoughtful stealth at all times – and less about spraying lead from scavenged MP40s at anything with a swastika on it. Thoughtful stealth, luckily, is empowered by the coolest part of Origins: Command Mode. Riffing on similar modes in the late, great Mimimi’s Desperados 3 and Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, Command Mode allows you to freeze time indefinitely and queue up individual actions for each of your commandos. Back in real time, they’ll execute those simultaneously on your say so. Nailing the timing on a set of Command Mode instructions is powerfully satisfying, whether it’s simply two crawling commandos stabbing a distracted pair of soldiers from the side, or a more complicated and elaborately choreographed ballet of harpoons, blades, and bullets.
It’s all quite a slow process to do well, but it’s a truly rewarding one when you figure out the solution to taking on what initially may seem like too many meticulously positioned soldiers to tackle. Maybe your first choice of target is impossible to kill quietly because he’s always in sight of one of his other comrades, and maybe that very squadmate is always in view of a third, and so on. But there’s fun in uncovering who should be the first domino to fall throat-first onto a Fairbairn–Sykes combat knife. Some enemies will leave their posts to investigate strange sounds, like the Sapper’s whistle or the Green Beret’s radio – or inspect the Driver’s burning packets of cigarettes. Some will only temporarily turn and face a distraction, giving you precious moments to slip by them. Experimenting with which routes and tools work best is a task that tapped into a compulsive part of my brain.
There’s fun in uncovering who should be the first domino to fall throat-first onto a Fairbairn–Sykes combat knife.
The opportunities are always there; it’s just on us to find them – and the fact that they’re not telegraphed or signposted makes every victory feel like you’ve outfoxed the developers. At one point I spotted a tiny gap in the view cones of four soldiers on a small set of stairs in the water. It allowed me to not only get behind them to wipe them out, but also to bring three other squadmates via boat to the rear of my main objective. Was that there on purpose? Probably, but maybe not. Leaving it ambiguous as to whether you’ve gone about an encounter in the precise way Claymore Game Studios surreptitiously left ajar for us – or succeeded with an unpredictable sequence of moves the dev team perhaps never saw coming – is just good design. Either way, the encouragement to explore every corner of the maps for the best opportunities is thoroughly baked in.
In large part, that’s because these levels are all exceedingly detailed dioramas, sprawling and dense, and every one feels like I’m playing a high-stakes game of toy soldiers on the kind of miniature map exhibits you might see tucked behind glass at a war museum. Missions take place all across Europe and North Africa, too, so the variety of backdrops is terrific – from snowy Scandinavia to lush, soggy fields and baking deserts.
The huge environments are also rendered entirely in three dimensions and you can enter buildings seamlessly, and the fact that I felt the need to say that should give you an idea of how long it’s been since we’ve had a proper Commandos game. You can make fine camera rotations in any compass direction, so getting the right angle to spot a gap in security is easy. That said, scrolling around too fast sometimes introduces a bit of temporary choppiness, but it’s a short-lived gripe. It’s otherwise great looking overall.
There is, unfortunately, some occasional clumsiness when navigating particularly complex, multi-storey structures. Over the course of the campaign I encountered a few enemies that appeared to be sharing a floor with me, but who were actually on a different level entirely and should’ve been hidden from view at that moment. I also had the misfortune of placing down a beartrap that became irretrievable because it wasn’t on the same platform I wanted to leave it, and being shot through a solid container that apparently wasn’t really there is never any fun. There were also occasional instances where my commands were being misinterpreted and my men were setting off to unintended areas and directly into enemy sight lines, due to an apparent disconnect between what floors are being displayed and what floor Origins thinks I’m clicking on. These aren’t major frustrations, though, and remedying them typically just required some minor zooming, or panning the camera slightly. That, or a quick reload to bring back the prematurely deceased.
Saving dyin’ privates
In the trial-and-error world of tactical games like Commandos, quick save is your friend – and Origins is no exception. The ability to pick up directly where you left off after doing something risky and/or stupid is what actually gives us the freedom to experiment with different approaches in the first place. Make no mistake, quick save well and truly saved my bacon (and quickly!) on many occasions – but, unfortunately, this essential feature also seems to provoke some of Origins’ most bothersome bugs.
For instance, loading a save you made while one of your commandos was climbing a wire – or perched high on a climbable pole – appears to leave the poor bastard marooned on an invisible level above the map, fruitlessly crawling or moonwalking into oblivion. The solution, naturally, is to simply resolve to never save while one of your men is climbing anything. That wasn’t the end of my issues, though. After another reload I noticed my Marine was no longer in his boat, but walking on water back to the marker I’d placed. This bug eventually resolved itself, but one where my Sapper simply disappeared off the map and became unselectable did not.
That kind of issue could’ve become game-breaking, but Origins – seemingly aware that it has a few technical landmines for you to step on – keeps a queue of several quick saves. For the most part, if something goes awry, there’s a strong chance you’ll have a slightly older save you can revert too. In this instance, though, I’d sadly filled all my saves without noticing my Sapper was no longer present. The only solution was restarting the mission entirely, which was over an hour lost.
One weird issue, and one I can’t tell whether it’s related to the quick saves or not, is the occasional instance of enemies falsely detecting one of your commandos in a bush they’re no longer hiding in – and getting locked in an alert state about it. They’ll subsequently circle it and blast it to hell to no avail. It wasn’t so bad because I was able to either skirt around it or totally exploit it by stabbing all the soldiers while they were busy slaughtering the unfortunate shrubbery, but it definitely wasn’t supposed to happen.
I wouldn’t necessarily call the enemies smart overall, and it would’ve been nice if they displayed a little more of the initiative we see in other modern stealth games. Instead of callously ignoring dead bodies after an alert phase resets, for instance, they might want to drag their kaput companions off to a predefined location, à la Hitman. They make up for their dim bulbs by being extremely dangerous, though – and they’re just unpredictable enough to keep you on your toes when you think you’ve got their patterns figured out. They won’t inspect the nearest hiding places in the same order after a reload, for instance, so you’d better have a backup plan – or at least make sure nobody’s climbing a telephone pole when they come looking.
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is set to release for Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 5. In it, you strap yourself into an Arsenal mech and fly through an open world on your way to battle various enemies and create your very own loadout. It’s available to preorder in two different editions (see it at Amazon). In fact, this is one of the very first Switch 2 games available for preorder since preorders the Switch 2 itself have been delayed in the U.S. Read on for more info.
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion – Standard Edition
The limited edition costs $30 more than the standard edition, but it comes with the game itself, plus the following extras:
3 Flight Tag Keychains
Original Soundtrack CD
Full-Color Art Book
3D Acrylic Diorama
3 Emblem Patches
Outer Box
What is Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion?
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is a followup to the 2019 original Daemon X Machina game that was released on Switch and PC. This sequel is also helmed by Kenichiro Tsukuda, a producer for the Armored Core series.
Titanic Scion is all about speccing out your Arsenal mech to turn yourself into a fast-flying killing machine. It takes place in an open world, where you’ll blast your way through enemies, picking up the weapons and equipment they drop in order to expand your arsenal and abilities. Customization is key, so you can direct your abilities to your own particular play style. You can play solo or co-op with up to two friends online.
Other Preorder Guides
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.
