This weekend I said one of the games I was planning to be playing was Chasing The Unseen, and I did in fact do that. It is indeed a strange, dream-like experience where you leap floaty leaps onto thin, spindly crags of rock in a sage-grey void. Rather than finding it soothing, I found it it extremely stress-making. This was the opposite experience to what I had expected.
Persona 3 Reload players have taken to Steam to express frustration at Atlus announcing a $35 expansion pass one month after promising the game is a “complete experience”.
Persona 3 Reload’s expansion pass has been dubbed a “cash grab” by some fans who spent as much as $200 on the Collector’s Edition only to see more content announced just one month later. “Imagine buying a $100 Premium Edition and one month later you have to buy another $35 for what is just cut content,” Hourai said in a Steam review. “Awful cash grab,” added Zandig.
Fans were originally concerned that Atlus would release the base game in 2024 and soon after announce an expanded edition, as it did with the original Persona 3 (with follow-ups called Portable and FES), plus Persona 4 (with Persona 4 Golden), and Persona 5 (with Persona 5 Royal).
Persona Team production manager Kazuhisa Wada insisted fans could buy Persona 3 Reload with confidence upon its February 2 launch, however, promising it “offers a complete experience”. But on March 6, Atlus announced an expansion pass containing more background music from Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal, additional costumes, and the Episode Aigis expansion, which included around 30 hours of extra content in the original game. Atlus itself calls this segment the “final chapter” of Persona 3 Reload.
The Steam reviews for Persona 3 Reload have taken a hit in response to the announcement of the expansion pass, the first wave of which (including the bonus tracks) arrives today, March 12. Just 2.98% of reviews were negative on launch compared to 39.22% today.
It’s the specific expansion pass Steam page that has taken the brunt of frustration, however, as it currently has a “mostly negative” rating with just 21% of its reviews being positive.
“People who bought the $100 Digital Premium Edition or $200 Aigis Edition should be entitled to this,” wrote Crazydog1435, referencing that most deluxe editions now come with the season pass included. “Love how this doesn’t come with any of the expensive editions,” said Timo654.
“Great game but this remake shouldn’t have been advertised as a Persona 3 remake without FES content just for this to be announced a month later for such an egregious price and not included in the big versions we’ve already bought,” said Photo.
Persona 3 Reload producer Ryota Niitsuma said upon its announcement that Atlus “wanted to really genuinely work on recreating the Persona 3 experience” so wouldn’t be remaking the extra content from FES or Portable. Wada assured the decision to remake the FES content was made after this, though certainly before he promised the base game was a “complete experience”.
“Devs lie saying ‘no FES content planned’ yet this releases just over a month after initial release,” said thatguyoverthere. “I am the problem. I bought this since it’ll probably be fun, but I’ve spent about $60 in additional content for this game for things that should’ve been in there day one. I really hope this doesn’t happen again with any Atlus or SEGA game.”
Persona 3 Reload also has myriad pieces of downloadable content available at launch including costumes and additional music. IGN has asked Atlus for comment.
Persona 3 Reload is available on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X and S, and PC. A Nintendo Switch version hasn’t been announced so far, though Persona 3 Reload’s director Takuya Yamaguchi has said it’s not out of the question.
In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “With a stellar visual overhaul and countless small but impactful changes, Persona 3 Reload tells a timeless story of tragedy and hope with sharp emotional sincerity.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
“Suyu currently exists in a legal gray area”.
Earlier this month, the Switch emulator Yuzu was shut down in response to a legal push from Nintendo. It wasn’t all that surprising given the Big-N’s historic protection of its properties and disapproval of unsanctioned emulation, and equally unsurprising is that a new Switch emulator is already stepping up to take Yuzu’s place — one that, reportedly, is doing everything in its power to avoid a similar legal fate (thanks, Ars Technica).
Suyu (pronounced ‘sue-you’ *wink, wink* according to the emulator’s GitLab page) is built from the Yuzu source code and its aim is to continue the work of “the world’s most popular, open-source Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu.” It is not ready for use just yet, though the development team seems hopeful that it will get off the ground.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Rejoice, Elden Ring fans, as the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion now has a nailed-down release date of June 21. What’s better than that? Well, a discount on DLC of course. It’s currently priced at $39.99 MSRP, sparking speculation that this could truly be a massive offering for fans. But, if you’re on PC, we highly recommend picking up Shadow of the Erdtree from Green Man Gaming or Fanatical, trusted online PC code merchants who currently have the DLC listed for $35.19 and £30.79 in the UK.
That’s $4.80 savings, and 12% off for an expansion Elden Ring fans are most certainly going to buy — it’s a Steam code as well so this is a no-brainer. This was out of stock for a couple of weeks, but is now back and available once again, so this is a huge deal. We’ll leave a handy link to the deal just below.
Other amazing PC gaming deals right now include Dragon’s Dogma 2 preorders for $57.39, and Helldivers 2 for $33.19 at the time of writing. Both are incredible offers on their respective Steam codes and well worth picking up in the GMG and Fanatical sales while you can.
Publisher Bandai Namco has also recently announced that Elden Ring sales have recently grown to hit 23 million. As part of the reveal of the hotly anticipated Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, Bandai Namco issued a sales update for the base game, which, last we heard, had sold 20 million a year after launch.
The base version of Elden Ring returned a 10/10 in IGN’s review. “Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path,” we said.
For those on console, you can see our complete preorder guide for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Edition right here on IGN as well. Otherwise, it could also be worth checking out 15 hidden details that we found in the Shadow of the Erdtree trailer as well.
Other tech and gaming deals right now to consider include an Xbox Series S Starter Bundle (including 3-months of Game Pass) for just $220 at Target, Dune in 4K is 30% Off at Amazon before Part Two releases, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is Currently 50% Off at Best Buy.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
Having played Nightingale a bunch for early access review, I wasn’t entirely convinced by its mixture of survival and Destiny-esque power level grind. I also wasn’t too keen on its slew of bugs and tricksy interface. Still, the devs are hard at work fixing things, as the latest patch squashes major crashes, material losses when building, and further improves the UI.
If you’ve ever tried to stealth your way past a Terminid patrol in Helldivers 2 and found yourself somehow spotted despite your best efforts to creep silently about and remain out of sight, there might have been a very good reason for that: it turns out the horrible bugs can smell you.
During a play session with YouTuber OperatorDrewski, game director and Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt revealed there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Helldivers 2’s terrifying Terminids.
OperatorDrewski asked about playing Helldivers 2 as a stealth game, which some players, particularly those who opt to play solo in the co-op-focused shooter, have done ever since the game’s explosive launch on PC and PlayStation 5 in February.
While Helldivers 2 very much revolves around making things go boom in increasingly over-the-top ways, stealth is viable, particularly if you want to avoid upsetting a nearby patrol. “It’s not really that we have stealth gameplay, it’s just that everything just has to make sense, like all the enemies, they have hearing, sight,” Pilestedt replied.
“They also have an approximation of smell within a close radius. If you’re in proximity of some of the units that are very sensory aware, like the Stalker, they will detect you no matter if they can see you.”
It’s a terrifying thought: some enemies in Helldivers 2 will smell you and find you if you stray too close, no matter how well you’re hiding. Stalkers are particularly annoying — they can camouflage themselves almost to the point of invisibility. Add a keen sense of smell and you’ve got one deadly melee Terminid to deal with.
🌐 THE ENEMIES OF SUPER EARTH: The Terminids 🐜
Keep your eyes open, Helldivers. Don’t let a Stalker get the drop on you. pic.twitter.com/NJ0XM0InwJ
— HELLDIVERS™ 2 (@helldivers2) March 1, 2024
Pilestedt failed to namecheck another enemy, so we’re not sure if the Automatons can smell. Does it make sense for alien robots to be able to smell Helldivers on the battlefield? Do they have noses? Do they have a smell subroutine? Probably best to assume they do and keep your distance, just in case.
While enemies such as the Stalker remain tough opponents, Arrowhead has today released a new Helldivers 2 patch that deals with the spawn rate of heavily armored Terminid enemies the Bile Titan and the Charger, as well as the possible play against them.
Helldivers 2’s upcoming premium Warbond, dubbed Cutting Edge, launches this week, hot on the heels of the release of mechs. The Warbond includes new weapons, new armor sets, new capes, and new emotes. Meanwhile, Arrowhead has asked for the Helldivers 2 community’s help in coming up with ideas for the “hard to solve” problem of players kicking teammates who don’t have meta loadouts.
Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.
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.
Capcom announced last night that Monster Hunter Stories, a 2016 Nintendo 3DS spin-off from their megahuge monstermashing series, is coming to PC in June. They’ve remastered it with a wee visual refresh, fully voice acting, a concept art gallery, and more. We’ve actually already had the sequel on PC, 2021’s Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings Of Ruin, so it’s nice to catch up.
Monster Hunter World is a monster hit for Capcom, selling over 25 million copies since going on sale in 2018.
Capcom made the sales milestone announcement to coincide with the Monster Hunter series’ 20th anniversary. The first Monster Hunter game launched in March 2004 on PlayStation 2. 20 years later and Monster Hunter World is easily Capcom’s best-selling game, with 2021’s Monster Hunter Rise a distant second with 14.2 million sold.
Capcom includes sales of the Monster Hunter World base game as well as the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition to achieve the 25 million sold figure. Monster Hunter World had sold 19.6 million copies as of the end of 2023, but with Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition that number hits 24.1 million as of December 31, which has now crossed over to the 25 million figure.
The Master Edition bundles together Monster Hunter World and the Iceborne expansion, which has sold an impressive 11.60 million copies since going on sale in 2019. Cumulative sales of the Monster Hunter series are now up to 97 million, Capcom added.
“With Monster Hunter World, Capcom drove the Monster Hunter series to global-brand status with a series-first worldwide simultaneous launch and international promotional activities, establishing the game as Capcom’s best-selling title of all time within a month of its release,” Capcom said.
“In the six years since the game’s launch, Capcom has continued to promote digital sales, leading Monster Hunter World to achieve a new Capcom all-time-record of 25 million cumulative units sold. Further, in December of last year Capcom revealed Monster Hunter Wilds, garnering broad attention with the announcement that the latest title in the series is scheduled for release in 2025.
“Capcom remains firmly committed to satisfying the expectations of all users by leveraging its industry-leading game development capabilities in order to create highly entertaining gameplay experiences.”
Monster Hunter Wilds was announced for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC via Steam during The Game Awards 2023. The debut trailer showed the player riding a new bird-like mount across a desert while chased by a dust storm.
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.
What could have been.
We know that another Super Mario Bros. Movie is on the way (Nintendo confirmed it’s coming in 2026, no less), but that doesn’t mean that we are quite done talking about its predecessor just yet. In fact, there’s something new to look at.
Jed Diffenderfer worked as a story developer and artist on the 2023 Illumination/Nintendo movie, and he has recently uploaded a fresh batch of concept art to his website which shows an initial vision for some of the movie’s memorable moments as well as some sections that didn’t make the cut (thanks, Nintendo Everything).
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Capcom has properly unveiled Akuma for Street Fighter 6 in a new trailer that also confirms a spring release window.
The video, below, shows a typically angry but this time older Akuma punch the head of a statue clean off its shoulders with what looks like a ghostly, red Shoryuken (Street Fighter’s iconic Dragon Punch move). An overpowered Akuma in a Street Fighter game? Well it wouldn’t be Akuma if he was balanced, would it?
Eagle-eyed fans have already noticed a glimpse of Ryu in the Akuma trailer, which suggests the two rivals will once again battle it out in a shower of fireballs. Elsewhere, the trailer is set within Akuma’s new stage, which is a riff on Akuma’s stage from Street Fighter Alpha 2. That’s all we have for now, as fans wait for the Akuma gameplay reveal.
Akuma’s reveal follows the release of fellow DLC characters Rashid, A.K.I., and Ed. Akuma rounds out the game’s first year of DLC characters, with Capcom yet to announce a second year. Here’s the official blurb on Akuma:
“The demonic Akuma joins the Street Fighter 6 roster and rounds out the list of the award-winning fighting game’s Year 1 characters when he hits the streets starting in spring 2024! Players can throw hands with Akuma across all three game modes, including Fighting Ground, World Tour, and Battle Hub. We look forward to sharing much more on Akuma soon. And stay tuned later this year for captivating announcements on Year 2 content and potentially even some fun events coming to the Battle Hub!”
Street Fighter 6 sold three million copies in the seven months after going on sale in June 2023. Street Fighter 6 got off to a strong start with one million sold over launch weekend, then hit two million copies sold after just over a month on sale.
Commenting on the two million sales milestone, Capcom said Street Fighter 6 was “generally progressing in line with our expectations”, adding it hoped positive word of mouth would fuel follow-up success.
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.
