Category: Video Games

After three games of air juggles, pistol dances, hair-centric finishing moves, and universal acclaim from both critics and fans, PlatinumGames is dramatically remodeling the established Bayonetta formula. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is arriving only five months after the release of the erstwhile Bayonetta 3, and it brazenly trades in its third-person, button-mashing precepts for what is, essentially, a straight-up Zelda facsimile in the Super Nintendo tradition. The camera has been yanked back to an isometric vantage point, the levels are deliberately balanced between doses of environmental puzzle solving, tricky combat, and light platforming, and the sweatless, stylish tone of the mother series has been replaced with a somber tale about a vulnerable girl in an uncaring world. It is, in other words, the last thing you’d expect from a game bearing the Bayonetta name. That will undoubtedly turn off some fans of the franchise, but personally, I already can’t wait to play more.

Platinum starts subverting your expectations from the moment you get your hands on Bayonetta Origins. The game is played by piloting two distinct characters, by using a detached Joy-Con in each hand. On your left, you have Cereza — a younger, softer Bayonetta — who is just becoming accustomed to her nascent magical powers. (No, she is not yet brandishing firearms, nor is she dressed in stilettos and corsets.) On the right, we have the Lost Demon — known as Cheshire — who has possessed the patchwork cat doll owned by Cereza, and is able to deal massive payloads of damage with brute strength. You’re going to be navigating the world with both of these characters using each joystick, which brings to mind Josef Fares’ lowkey 2013 adventure Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. PlatinumGames has drummed up a number of clever navigational puzzles that require tight collaboration between the partnership to overcome. A carnivorous plant in the way? Perhaps Cereza can call on the spirits to bind it to the ground, while Cheshire uproots it from the earth. Does our prodigal demon need to reach a cliffside that’s just out of his grasp? Shrink him down to doll size and chuck him up there. Then he can morph back into his monstrous scale and get down to business.

It took me the length of the introductory level I played to become truly comfortable with this esoteric control scheme — the learning curve is going to be pretty steep, even for seasoned gamers. It gets especially hairy in combat, where you’ll be navigating two distinct move sets simultaneously, as you attempt to nullify all of the restless imps that want you dead. Cheshire handles the bulk of the offense by swinging his massive body around the arena, while Cereza plays more of a support role with her spellbook and a selection of stat-boosting items mapped to her D-pad. All of this is a far cry from the breezy 1,000-hit combos you might remember from other PlatinumGames titles, but I found myself enjoying some of Bayonetta Origins’ more tactical principles. The studio hasn’t lost any of its sublime mechanical fluidity, even as it has slowed down the pace.

Bayonetta Origins’ world also trades in the urban streets and moonlit cathedrals of the established canon for a fey, verdant forest — very Brothers Grimm — and a story that literally unfolds through a children’s picture book. It looks gorgeous on the Switch, wielding lots of deep blues and soft greens, which helped me immerse myself in the idea that the eight-foot-tall librarian I previously controlled in other Bayonetta games — the woman who cackles as she eats people with her hair — was nowhere to be found in this realm. Cereza is a teenager on the absolute precipice of her journey, and Origins matches those circumstances with an ethereal wistfulness. Yes, even Amazonians have to start somewhere.

It remains to be seen if Bayonetta Origins marks the beginning of a divergence with the overarching Bayonetta timeline, or if it’s simply a one-shot Platinum was cooking up as Bayonetta 3 approached its street date. Regardless, it’s nice to know that we’ll still be getting new games in this universe from a variety of different perspectives. Sometimes Bayonetta is carving up the forces of Hell on top of an 18-wheeler, other times she’s wandering through an enchanted woodland with a raggedy cat doll who also happens to be her guardian angel. Witches contain multitudes.

Update 02/07/2023: Nintendo has revealed that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have now sold through more than 18 million units, with more than 20 million units sold to retailers.

As revealed in Nintendo’s latest earnings report, 18.2 million customers bought a copy of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet by the end of December 2022, up eight million from the previously announced ten million units sold as of November 23.

In terms of units sold through to retailers, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sitting at 20.61 million units puts it straight onto the Nintendo Switch’s top ten best selling games list. Currently in seventh place, it sits behind Super Mario Odyssey, Pokémon Sword and Shield, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Animal Cross: New Horizons, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in first, which sits at 52 million units.

Original Story 11/23/2022: Not only has Pokemon Scarlet and Violet sold an impressive 10 million combined units within the first three days of launch, they also account for “the highest global sales level for any software on any Nintendo platform” within that time frame.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launched globally on November 18, 2022, and these sales figures from Nintendo include both packaged and downloadable versions.

The newest entries in the legendary Pokemon franchise mark the second outing of the mainline franchise following Pokemon Sword and Shield. For comparison, Sword and Shield sold over six million units in their first week, which was a record for the fastest-selling Switch title at the time.

The Switch has seen plenty of Pokemon titles since 2017, including Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

These sales numbers were reached despite some glaring technical issues plaguing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. That being said, the game surrounding these bugs appears to be something special.

In our Pokemon Scarlet and Violet review in progress, we said, “After a few years of experimentation on the Switch, Game Freak has finally stumbled upon an open world formula that successfully reinvents how Pokémon is played, while remaining true to the nostalgic childhood vision of exploration, adventure, and cute monster collecting.”

“It is, in almost every way, the transformation I’ve been waiting for – but the grievously poor performance that has come along with it significantly mars this otherwise exciting design evolution.”

For more, check out our full Pokemon Scarlet and Violet wiki, which includes all the details on the new starters, version differences and exclusives, the new pokemon, our full walkthrough, and things to do first.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Dwarf Fortress has sold over 600,000 copies in its first two months on the market according to a new post from publisher Kitfox Games on Medium.

“In the first two months, which ended yesterday, we’ve now sold exactly 606,342 copies of Dwarf Fortress, almost exactly 5,000 of which are from itch.io,” wrote Kitfox Games co-founder Tanya X Short on behalf of the development team.

Prior to release, Kitfox Games posted the projections of an analyst who used the Steam wishlist numbers of previous titles to forecast that Dwarf Fortress would sell around 160,000 units in its first two months. According to Short, that same number of games were sold within 24 hours of its December 6 launch.

The success of Dwarf Fortress reportedly netted the game’s original creators, Zach and Tarn Adams, a healthy January paycheck of $7 million – a figure which dwarfs December’s pre-release earnings of $15,635.

Kitfox Games also posted the Steam traffic stats for Dwarf Fortress, revealing that the store page received a staggering 26.81 million visits in the first two months following its release.

Dwarf Fortress’s Steam release brought much needed graphics, UI and control improvements to the beloved cult classic from 2006, making it accessible to a new generation of gamer, and the game currently has a 95% positive score from 17,478 user reviews on Steam.

In our review of Dwarf Fortress IGN described the game as “infinitely explorable in its complexity and equally as rewarding in the depth you’ll find there, this is the quintessential world simulation and building management game”.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer