Redfall review: an open world FPS drained of Arkane’s magic

Redfall, an open world FPS by the folks over at Arkane, plays like a game that was pulled in so many directions over its development that it exploded into various bits, which were then patchworked together into a live service game that already feels like it’s been abandoned. Flashes of Arkane’s brilliance make an appearance, but they are a rare find amidst a bland, incoherent world that clearly points to deeper issues in a game that’s been drained of its magic.

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Reminder: Splatoon 3’s Zelda-Themed Splatfest Kicks Off This Weekend

Have you got your vote in?

Update #2 : With all of us counting down the days until next week’s launch of Tears of the Kingdom, it has been easy to forget about Nintendo’s other Zelda event taking place in Splatoon 3. Well, this is your friendly reminder that the Zelda-themed Splatfest kicks off this weekend.

The question this time around is all to do with the Triforce, asking “Which do you seek?” between teams Power, Wisdom or Courage. You can find the exact times of when the inking gets underway in your region down below:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Neon-folk horror Saturnalia is coming to Steam with a new first-person mode and more

The neon-soaked labyrinthine world of Saturnalia is coming to Steam later this year with a bunch of new features, developers Santa Ragione have announced. Saturnalia is an Italian folk horror that was released last year as an Epic Games Store exclusive, and it charmed many white knuckle horror fans. That includes the RPS Hivemind as Saturnalia was one our favourite games of last year.

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Random: Nintendo Apparently Wasn’t A Fan Of Tiger & Hasbro’s Pokédex Toy

“They didn’t like us very much”.

Remember the original Pokémon Pokédex toy released by Tiger Electronics and Hasbro Toys back in the day? Well, apparently Nintendo’s Japanese team made it an absolute nightmare to bring to market.

Speaking to Johto Times recently, former Tiger & Hasbro senior game producer Chris Nicolella (between 1997 – 2001) revealed the entire story behind the development cycle – explaining how Nintendo’s Japanese headquarters wasn’t a big fan of the US toy company and made the entire process “very difficult” due to concerns about the device taking sales from the Game Boy releases.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Adds Luke Starkiller Minifigure For Free

“Happy May the 4th!”.

If you’re looking to celebrate Star Wars with some gaming this week, you can’t go past LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

As part of the Star Wars Day celebrations for 2023, the development team at TT Games has added ‘Luke Starkiller’ as a new Minifigure to this collection. Apparently, this was an “early version” of Luke Skywalker and is based on a concept designed by Ralph McQuarrie. Here’s a look at this Minifigure in action:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Saints Row gets a combat overhaul next week alongside map expansion

Last year’s Saints Row received a rough reception, leading developers Volition to become part of Gearbox and to pledge that they were “supporting Saints Row for the long-term.”

That pledge bears fruit on May 9th with the release of the Sunshine Springs update, which includes a new district, a combat overhaul, and many quality-of-life improvements.

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Destiny 2 Is Raising the Price of its Season Pass

On its blog today, Destiny 2 creator Bungie announced a price increase for its standalone season passes, which grant players access to limited-time activities and story content every three months.

Going forward, Bungie will ask Destiny 2 players to pay 20% more each season, up from 1,000 Silver (an in-game premium currency that costs real money) to 1,200 Silver — from $10 to $12 per season.

Bungie simultaneously announced it will charge 10% more for its season pass rank bundles, which speed up the process of maxing out each season’s loot-filled progress bar. This increase will see the +10 Ranks Bundle go from 2,000 Silver to 2,200 Silver (or $20 to $22).

While this will impact anyone who has been buying season passes in Destiny a la carte, the price increase does not affect those who already bought the full year of seasonal access via the deluxe version of Destiny 2: Lightfall – at least not until the next major expansion currently slated for next year: The Final Shape.

“Our teams continue to invest in crafting compelling Seasonal experiences in the year of Lightfall.

No reason was offered for the price increase, other than the developer stating, “This will be the new pricing for Season Passes in Lightfall’s year for those looking to maximize their rewards with each new Season, and we’ll be evaluating new approaches to post-lauch content in the year of The Final Shape.” Bungie also pointed to renewed investment in seasonal content: “…our teams continue to invest in crafting compelling Seasonal experiences for the year of Lightfall…”

Though the cost of seasonal content has always been very low, especially for players who buy it all up front with the annual expansion bundles, there has also been ongoing debate about the quality of that content, which often relies on repetitive activities and re-issued weapons and armor from previous expansions or iterations of Destiny. Hopefully this increased price and a pledge to invest in seasonal content means we’ll be getting 20% more out of Bungie’s live-service pipeline.

Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.