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Diablo 2: Resurrected has arrived, and I've had a couple of days’ head start. I've been smashing demons aside for enough hours that I’m now breaking into Act 3 and I am absolutely not bored – I'm honestly delighted. I probably played hundreds (but I'd wager less than a thousand) hours of Diablo 2 between 2000 and 2007, and Resurrected absolutely scratches an itch for a style of game that's not really made anymore – not just aesthetically, but mechanically. It’s all coming back.

I mean, the mood of this game is just superb. The updated graphics do so much more than a simple homage to the original game, adding environment details that were just out of the question in 2000. Locations like the Monastery Gates in Act 1, an outdoor area that was always a bit weird from an isometric point of view, now have visible roofs on the buildings instead of just a black sea beyond the walls. There’s a wealth of detail in every scene, and in the character models, that really makes me appreciate the ability to dynamically switch between the old and new graphics to see the contrast.

Beautifully, when you switch to the classic graphics you switch to the original sound as well, though the difference is nowhere near as stark here because it didn’t need any significant updating. Aside from a bit of remastering it is identical to the original, and it’s still phenomenal. The ping when a gem hits the floor, the whirl of weapons, and the guttural demon voices ("Rakanishu!") are iconic sound design. This is not to mention the remasters of the classic soundtrack, or the new remixes, which are beautiful work. (The voice acting, well... let's just say it was a different time.)

I've chosen Paladin as my first character. This is because, for two decades, I’ve maintained a personal grudge against the dung beetle soldiers in Act 2 – you know, the ones that poop lightning when you hit them. The Paladin's lightning resistance aura allows me to laugh in their faces and kill them in humiliating ways, and it’s been everything I thought it could be.

Some of the mechanical ideas feel old-school relative to how things are done in action RPGs these days. For instance, you only get two active skills at once. It seems harsh, and it is, but what was a technical and game design constraint at the time is pretty fun when you get into it. You have to choose skills carefully, as having too many might just give you a huge toolkit you're not fast enough to use. I like to smash my Paladin into the enemy packs with a Charge before switching to Zeal for a series of rapid blows, or Vengeance for elementally-infused strikes that take down monsters resistant to physical attacks. For tough elite groups, I'll switch weapons and throw gas grenades to weaken them before I head in. I've even got a cool, polearm-wielding desert mercenary. Don't worry: He's still stupid as a sack of bricks and gets stuck on walls constantly.

There’s no shortage of options, and part of the delight of Diablo 2 is that it has a weird skill system you can use to build some truly strange characters. It's flexible enough that you can make ranged builds for the melee characters, like a crossbow Paladin that shoots explosive bolts. How about a Barbarian focused on the War Cry skill, who just runs around shouting until everything dies? How about a Sorceress who enchants weapons rather than nukes enemies from a distance? I've always wanted to try and make a Necromancer tank, personally – maybe I’ll finally get around to it.

There’s a ton of freedom… that is, if you're willing to discard 20 years of accumulated Diablo 2 wisdom. In many ways this game is “solved,” in that the best builds and their precise itemization have been thoroughly sussed out over the years. You're welcome to play like it's 2000 and not search up optimal builds, of course.

However, while I'd normally encourage you to go in blind and experiment for yourself, I won't in this case because some of Diablo 2's design hasn't aged well. For example, there are copious skill traps for new players, meaning that some abilities you might choose don't scale well past the early game, or aren't useful unless you understand their synergies with other skills you won’t unlock until much later. Some things, like the infamous Next Hit Always Misses bug, have been retained in the name of keeping the flavor of Diablo 2 the same, but that’s something few people know about unless they do their homework. Hopefully this faithfulness to the original’s bugs have limits: I haven't been able to check whether the Amazon's Fend or Druid's Fury skills are still bugged, but it would be a major missed opportunity if Blizzard didn’t fix them, as that'd open up character builds that have been ignored for 20 years because of a simple technical problem.

It's worth saying that I've encountered barely any new bugs specific to Resurrected, and those I have seen have been minor graphical glitches that don't affect gameplay – things like doors that don't change visually when opened but can still be passed through, or an object overlaying a texture strangely.

I’m a little sad to see that Resurrected has retained Diablo 2’s arcane skill-reset system: You get just one respec per difficulty level, and the only way to get more is by farming the big bosses for rare items and then shoving them in your Horadric Cube. Unlimited respecs would've been a prime candidate for overhaul to make Resurrected more accessible to a new generation and mitigate the skill trap issue, and it’s something that could have been easily disabled for ladder play.

It's a bit galling things like that weren’t addressed because the other big update in Diablo 2: Resurrected is a similar quality-of-life change. Rather than picking up gold stack by stack, you instead automatically grab it when you pass by. There's a difference between preserving the experience and a lack of respect for the player's time, and this change shows that a small tweak can go a long way towards removing tedium from the original game without ruining anything.

The moment-to-moment gameplay that made Diablo 2 legendary in its time, though, is completely unchanged. Exploration and combat still feel deeply familiar; it’s a festival of clicking (or, now, thumbsticking) where you want to go and hammering out hits on your enemies. It's as wild and chaotic as an isometric action RPG ever is, but in the long view, over 20 years of game design innovation later, it's also kind of… slow. Characters don't move quickly, and running is limited by your stamina bar. Copious and consistent use of town portal scrolls generally avoids having to backtrack, but when you have to it's annoying at best. Running also makes your character worse at blocking, if they have a shield – though Diablo 2 will never tell you this.

I didn't make it out of Act 1 without looking up the combination of slotted runes that produces armor with a bonus to Run/Walk speed, if only for – again – my own quality of life. I'm still not sure if having to fight against the basic game mechanics like this is fun in 2021, or if it'll be fun for new Diablo 2 players who don't know there are solutions to their problems.

I've got other problems, myself: How can you justify dropping LAN play? Why can't I clone a multiplayer character into single-player? The latter is especially concerning, seeing as the launch day servers aren't behaving themselves. The wait to start an online world is long for everyone, and others are reporting that when disconnected their characters have disappeared. Fortunately, unlike Diablo 3’s memorably terrible launch, we can still play offline while we wait for Blizzard to sort it out.

But none of those devils in the details has overcome the fact that I'm definitely having fun. Diablo 2's design has aged remarkably well as an example of a relatively uncomplicated isometric action RPG. Everyone has skills, yes, but they all interact with the same systems: Health, Mana, Stats. There's no unique currency or meter to learn for every class, just a skill tree, a billion demons, and an infinite fountain of equipment. It is, as ever, a satisfying game.

Watch this space. I'll keep you updated in the coming days as I dive into Act 3 and beyond. For now, please excuse me: I have to go show Mephisto the door.

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

Another launch for an online game, another launch with day one server issues. It's rare today that a game with online connectivity launches without server issues, and unfortunately for Paladins, Necromancers, Barbarians, and other players around the globe, Diablo 2: Resurrected is not without its own problems.

Players are reporting server issues that prevent them from even playing the game, and these same issues are preventing players from seeing existing characters or creating new ones, too. Earlier today, Blizzard announced that it was taking the game offline for unscheduled maintenance in an attempt to fix the issues.

Offline play should remain available for all players who have already authenticated.

— Blizzard CS - The Americas (@BlizzardCS) September 23, 2021

However, it didn't seem to work as many on the game's Subreddit and on Twitter are still experiencing the issues. Over on the Diablo 2: Resurrected subreddit, the front page reveals multiple posts of a screen that reads, "an issue occurred while communicating with the game servers," and that those players should "check that [they] are connected to the internet and try again."

Over on Twitter, players are reporting similar things, theorizing that the new Battle.net is worse than the old Battle.net.

So funny @diablo is having server issues. Thought we were supposed to be using new age battle net but maybe old battle net was more stable? @Blizzard_Ent

— chris (@PfoChris) September 23, 2021

Blizzard tweeted again about an hour after the unscheduled maintenance that it is "continuing to work on problems affecting characters and game creation." A quick scroll through the replies to that tweet showcase the frustration of players who can't get in.

pic.twitter.com/Z3lZiQ2l5h

— Ryan (@broken_rhino) September 23, 2021

after the 10:00 maint, i created a game just fine, then I left it to join another and since then my character/account have been locked and unable to play. Hoping for a resolution soon!

— nroe1337 (@beezycraft) September 23, 2021

Pretty sad when my 37 year old Commodore 64 works better than Blizzard's 2021 servers.

— ℂ𝟞𝟜 𝕋𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟📺 (@C64Television) September 23, 2021

For what it's worth, Blizzard has acknowledged the problem, stating that it's actively working on it. However, with the game out today, it's obviously not great that players who purchased this new game on launch are not even able to play it as intended.

The server issues Diablo 2: Resurrected players are facing today aren't all that uncommon across games, though. Square Enix's Outriders had a large online outage just days after its launch that hampered what might have been an otherwise successful launch. No Man's Sky players on PC reported server issues as well on launch day, so while these issues aren't great to deal with, they're unfortunately not rare.

While waiting for the server issues of Diablo 2: Resurrected to clear up, check out this video showcasing 12 minutes of Assassin gameplay and then watch these 14 minutes of Necromancer gameplay. Read about how Diablo 2: Resurrected can't have ultrawide screen support because it breaks the original game after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

The classic Jungle Book game is coming to modern consoles this fall, alongside The Lion King and Aladdin. The updated collection is coming to Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 9 for $29.99.

Put together by publisher Nighthawk Interactive and development studio Digital Eclipse, this bundle will include everything from 2019's Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King, plus the Super Nintendo version of Aladdin and both console and handheld versions of The Jungle Book.

Here's a game list of everything that was originally part of this bundle:

• Disney’s Aladdin - SEGA Genesis version
• Disney’s Aladdin - Game Boy version
• Disney’s Aladdin Final Cut - Includes additional content
• Disney’s Aladdin Trade Show Demo
• The Lion King - SEGA Genesis version
• The Lion King - Super Nintendo version
• The Lion King - Game Boy version

The game also comes with an interactive museum, a rewind function, and an expanded soundtrack. Every physical version comes with a retro style manual for one of the three games.

If you bought the physical or digital versions of the 2019 collection, you can upgrade through a DLC pack that comes with the SNES version of Aladdin and all included versions of The Jungle Book. The DLC will cost $9.99.

For more, check out how Digital Eclipse wants to create a remaster of Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Games Workshop is best known for its miniatures games, Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar. But these present a significant barrier to new players in terms of digesting rules and collecting a whole army to put into the field. As such, it has long offered cut-down, introductory versions to entice the unwary.

The latest is Warhammer 40,000: Fireteam, in which a squad of close-combat Space Marines take on the sinister, robotic Necrons. However, Fireteam takes a fresh approach by adopting a stripped-down version of the miniatures rules for what is inarguably a board game. It has cards, a hex grid and there’s not a range ruler to be seen.

What’s in the Box

Fireteam doesn’t look like much when you slide off the lid. Underneath a double-sided board, each surface printed with an abstract sci-fi battlefield, are a bunch of nondescript orange and white cards of various sizes. It’s when you realize that the box is deeper than the storage tray that the magic happens. Beneath are three sprues of brilliant miniatures.

You’ll need tools, time and ideally some glue to assemble them, but the results are amazing. The five Marine figures are outstanding, energetic and elegant despite their bulky armor. Their thirteen Necron opponents are harder to assemble and less striking to behold, but still detailed and disquieting.

Among the box contents are rules and cards for four other Fireteams that don’t have included models. They’re all factions from the 40k universe: Tau, Eldar, Orks and Imperial Guard and each corresponds to a single of models you can buy separately.

Rules and How It Plays

Fireteam uses a simplified version of the Kill Team rules, which are themselves a simplified version of the full Warhammer 40k rules. When you activate a model it gains a certain number of action points it can spend to move and fire. In combat you choose a weapon and roll its specified number of dice, trying to get its to-hit number. The target then rolls its specified number of defense dice, trying to get its armor save number to cancel any hits.

Because this is a board game rather than a miniatures game, it can do away with the often clumsy rules required for measured movement. Instead, when you move or check range, you count hexes. To determine a line of sight, you draw a bead from the center of one hex to the middle of the target. It’s clean and fast, as you’d want a firefight game to be.

You wouldn’t imagine, however, that such a basic framework would offer many strategies, but Fireteam gets its missions, boards, and cards to do the lifting in this department. There are twelve missions, each supposedly representing the pivotal moment of a larger battle. The introductory one puts the teams in opposite corners, seeking to control two objective hexes. Things escalate from there into terrain interactions, fetch and carry missions, and many more besides.

Each gives you particular ways to score points which often have little to do with eliminating enemy combatants. As such, it’s quite common to see your squad decimated and still win, one of several ideas it’s taken from its sister title Warhammer Underworlds. Others include its tight three-turn structure, keeping things tense, and giving each player a hand of objective cards. These give bonus points for fulfilling particular goals, like keeping your models spaced several hexes apart.

The two included Fireteams are also very different in character. The Marines are fast and have the edge in melee. The Necrons, by contrast, are lethal at range but have a special rule that means they can’t take the same action twice. In practice this makes them ponderously slow, leaving a single model only able to move six hexes for the entire game. To compensate they have three fast but weak scarab swarms.

All the Fireteams have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Alongside the combat stats, each also has three ploys, special abilities of which they can activate one per turn. Those of the Marines center around combat boosts and claiming objectives. The Necrons, meanwhile, can make up for their slow speed by warping a single model across the board or reanimating fallen warriors. Making good use of these at the right time can help to swing the game in your favor.

Each mission thus becomes a strategic puzzle in how to use cover, terrain and the unique qualities of your soldiers to achieve objectives. For that first, objective-based mission, the Necrons must work out how they can stop the speedy Marines from claiming those objectives on the first turn and gaining an unstoppable lead. Among other issues, this involves coordinating movement on their crowded starting area to ensure the lumbering robots don’t block each other’s line of sight.

Of course, in a three-turn game where every attack and defense pivots on a fistful of dice, “strategy” is perhaps too strong a word. But unless you’re dedicated to the deepest fare, solving each scenario puzzle despite the best efforts of the dice to thwart you offers a pleasing balancing of tension and tactics. Once the best approach to a mission is understood, the dice become more decisive. But the way missions prioritize objectives over kills tends to swing the balance away from combat and toward strategy.

Although the asymmetry is a key part of Fireteam’s appeal, it does lead to some rather unintuitive rules. Each side gets to activate eight models per turn, which means that the Marines will end up activating at least one model more than once. A second activation only gets a single action, and you focus all your extra activations on the same model if you want. While this offers some fun tactical possibilities, it simply feels wrong to have a single warrior running halfway across the board and laying down a hail of fire all in the same turn.

There’s another aspect that throws a robotic wrench into the otherwise smooth gears of Fireteam, which is the sheer number of counters it uses. Models accrue counters to track wounds, activations and status effects. Stacks of large counters on a crowded board quickly become very hard to track, losing cohesion over which model owns which stack. And at the end of each turn, you must ferret out the non-wound ones without displacing the others. It’s a clumsy, awkward administrative task that sticks out badly in such a fast-playing game.

Where To Buy

Warhammer 40,000: Fireteam retails for $49.99 and is available at select local hobby stores, as well as at the national retailers below.

• Barnes & Noble (US)
• GAME (UK)

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

Call of Duty Vanguard's subreddit has taken to poking fun at the upcoming game's audio design by claiming that it is "historically accurate".

COD Vanguard recently ran an open beta for players to jump into the fray and test out their multiplayer skills. As well as giving fans the chance to get to grips with some of the Vanguard's new features, the beta also allowed developer Sledgehammer Games to receive feedback on a number of the game's elements.

One such feature that players felt didn't live up to expectations was Vanguard's audio, with many players highlighting that it lacked a certain punchiness and often sounded muted. This prompted a response from Reddit user ian2345 who jested that the developer's decisions in terms of sound design must have been to preserve historical accuracy.

"This game is supposed to take place in 1945 towards the end of the war/after the war was over," says ian2345 in a post on Vanguard's subreddit. "As such, it makes sense that after years of fighting, most of the soldiers have severe hearing damage from having a lack of hearing protection. This is portrayed accurately as our character in the game can obviously not hear very well and all of the weapons sound tinny to him and everything sounds muted. I did not expect this attention to detail and I say bravo to you guys for making sure we feel fully immersed that way."

While Sledgehammer Games is far from admitting that its choice in sound design came down to mimicking the damaged ears of veteran WW2 soldiers, the developer told fans during the beta that it was "aware of volume and mixing issues" and that it is "hard at work balancing everything for launch to fix bugs related to weapon audio, atmospheric audio, and more."

Call of Duty: Vanguard is the next game in the annual Call of Duty Franchise. Developer Sledgehammer Games previously released Call of Duty: WW2 in 2017 and is returning to the setting for this year's game as well. Albeit Sledgehammer is taking a more story-driven approach and the campaign will focus on a proto-Special Forces unit towards the end of the war.

In other Call of Duty Vanguard news, numerous reports suggest that the game may already be facing hacker problems. Numerous videos circulating social media across the Vanguard beta appeared to show the all-too-familiar sight of hackers navigating the map with automatic lock-on aim cheats enabled.

Last month, we learned that Activision is working on a "multi-faceted, new anti-cheat system" set to debut alongside Warzone's upcoming pacific-themed map while it also looks like those with an account or hardware ban in Warzone will be subsequently banned from Vanguard. Although the sight of cheaters in Vanguard's beta is not one to be celebrated, at least fans can hold on to the knowledge that Call of Duty's new anti-cheat wasn't deployed for the event, meaning that there's still hope to clear up the franchise's hacking problem moving forward.

Hackers have arrived on the Vanguard Beta 👍 pic.twitter.com/zJs1q4xAUW

— CDL Intel (@INTELCallofDuty) September 18, 2021

For more on Sledgehammer's upcoming installment, make sure to check out our Call of Duty Vanguard page for a range of news, features, and trailers for the game.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

343 Industries recently showed off some more multiplayer action for Halo Infinite ahead of the game's back-to-back multiplayer tech previews starting this weekend. PC gameplay of a Big Team Battle CTF match on Fragmentation showed a little more of what fans can expect from Infinite when it launches later this year as well as an introduction to the game's very own loot cave – seemingly a reference to Halo creator Bungie's Destiny.

As broadcast from Halo's official YouTube channel, community director Brian Jarrard was joined by Fernando Reyez Medina to speak about some of the gameplay elements shown off in Big Team Battle. During the match, (starting at around the 9:17 in the video below), the pair come across a large fortified door protecting what Medina says the team internally refers to as the "loot cave" - a seemingly quiet nod to a similarly named area removed from Destiny.

Medina explains that accessing the cave's huge vault is something of a sub-objective during a match. For the team that does so first, powerful weapons and items can be found inside for the taking. In order to gain access to the loot cave, players must set their AI to work hacking through its entrance while they fend off enemy assaults.

As opening the loot cave isn't strictly part of a team's main objectives during the game, players will need to consider whether losing squad members to the loot cave cause is a worthwhile investment in their overall pursuits for victory. Either way, the area around the cave's entrance is almost sure to see its fair share of gunfire when Infinite launches later this year as teams look to wield its powerful treasures. It's a nice risk-reward feature, designed to bring players together in one small area in a large map.

The term "loot cave" very much comes with its own associations beyond Halo. Located behind Skywatch on Earth, Destiny's original loot cave was a respawn zone in which players would exploit the game to farm enemies for drops and experience. Patching the loot cave into a haunted Easter Egg was one of the first of many changes made to Destiny after it first launched. Bungie explained at the time that it made changes to the area in order to improve Destiny's standard progression for players. Given that Bungie created the Halo series, 343's use of the term – even if it isn't officially called a loot cave in the game – is a nice nod to the connection between the companies.

Halo's Big Team Battle is set to feature in the second week of the game's upcoming technical preview. For more on Infinite, including how 343 believes that bots will improve its multiplayer experience and a look at its new training mode, make sure to check out our dedicated page for the game.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

When Konami’s eFootball launches in full later this year, the football sim will feature cross-play between PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and mobile devices – but cross-save and cross-progression between these systems won’t be supported. Hopefully, that won't always be the case.

Following IGN’s two-hour hands-on preview of eFootball, Konami confirmed to IGN that “eFootball does not currently support cross-progression or cross-save between different platforms, however we aspire to include this in future.”

Cross-save and cross-progression would mean that you could carry your eFootball profile, saves and associated purchases across various platforms. So before heading out, you could upload your Creative League progress from your PS5, for example, and continue that on eFootball on mobile. Sadly, that's not going to be possible, seemingly for some time.

eFootball won’t include full cross-play at its initial launch on September 30 (although players within console families will be able to match up), but a major update is scheduled for this fall, and will see the feature introduced alongside the addition of Android and iOS versions of the game. Cross-play won’t be totally mandatory, though – Konami says console players can opt out of playing with mobile gamers.

eFootball is Konami’s free-to-play successor to Pro Evolution Soccer, and will launch in limited form on September 30, featuring 9 teams and no microtransactions. Alongside a lack of full cross-play, it will also be missing some key gameplay features, such as ‘sharp kicks’ and haptic feedback. The fall update should add much, much more, including paid content.

While you wait for launch, you can read why Konami's rival FIFA 22 is looking promising, and learn more about the new football game on the scene, UFL, in our developer interview.

Daniel Curtis is a freelance writer, producer and filmmaker. He’s also a long-suffering Chesterfield FC fan. Say hi to him on Twitter @danielpdcurtis.

Football gaming is perhaps the most stagnant of all sports genres. FIFA’s pay-to-win, arcade hegemony lords it over PES’ clunky menus, but realistic gameplay. Rinse, reskin, and repeat.

But this year that’s all changing. And when I went to Konami’s Windsor HQ for a hands-on event for eFootball - yes, the PES, aka Pro Evolution Soccer moniker is dead - I was intrigued as much by the gameplay as by their vision to make this bold experiment the future of sports games.

Happily, the pre-release build I got my mitts on was excellent fun. That build was a hybrid of pre- and post-release. So some advanced gameplay mechanics that won’t be coming to the game until later this autumn (essentially, variations of shots and passes) were included, but other key features, such as PS5 haptics, were missing.

Devs mentioned the words “simulation,” “intensity,” and “physicality” multiple times. And I think that, based on what I’ve played so far, Konami has largely delivered. Each one-on-one feels like a chess match in miniature. eFootball invites you to get your shoulders - even elbows - stuck into the opposition to battle for possession, with this year’s ball feeling pleasingly untethered to your player’s foot. Football games have historically had a tendency to ‘lock on’ to the ball when at your control, but here the ball feels like a volatile, independent object that needs to be taken care of or hunted down - much like the real thing.

This invites the defending player to press high and hard, referencing modern football nicely. Jurgen Klopp would be proud. I actually think pressing is slightly overpowered in the build I played - but I expect a lot of balancing tweaks will be applied in eFootball’s weekly updates after launch. Think of pressing as a slightly overpowered SMG on Warzone. Hopefully it doesn’t get nerfed entirely, just brought down a touch.

A new feature much vaunted by Konami is the ability to quickly recycle the ball after going out for a throw, including the addition of ballboys. This is hardly ground-breaking (FIFA has had quick throws for years now) but eFootball’s quick goal kicks specifically are an exciting new weapon to exploit an opponent’s limited attention span. I myself nearly got caught out from a quick CPU restart, meaning the ball was already bypassing my midfield before I had turned back to the screen. It’s a fun system that might truly allow us to live out our Trent Alexander-Arnold/Divock Origi quick-set-pieces of dreams.

eFootball also takes aim at some of the series’ historical failings. PES 2020 (and the reskinned 2021) had particularly painful commentary, menus, and refereeing. Pleasingly, all three are much improved. While not flawless, commentary is much more invisible and immersive. Referees can still frustrate, but are much fairer than last year’s officials, who were intensely relaxed about on-pitch assault and battery.

But the big win here is in the menus. Konami has finally binned PES’ teeth-gnashingly awful aesthetics for a modern and clean system. Changing players, kits, and the weather and time of day is far less taxing than before. At their best, some menus were actually downright pretty. Again, I played a very limited demo build, so this will be put to the test when it comes to more complex game modes and team management. But so far, so good.

Another area that the eFootball team have overhauled is the camera, creating a new ‘duel’ camera system, dynamically zooming in to isolate key on-the-ball battles, before zooming out to show the full tapestry for those raking, cross-field passes. I expected this to become frustrating quickly - and if it is, you can turn it off. But I was pleasantly surprised by how refined this camera system is already. It’s a promising new tool.

Intrigued to see how all this combined into one cohesive, competitive experience, I quickly jumped into matches against the devs and got a sense of how eFootball plays in a competitive context. My possession tactics and high line were punished by my counter-attacking opponents - but, conversely, I could inventively invite their pressure and punish them. It was fun and, crucially, fair.

Questions do linger though. While this was a gameplay event, the new F2P model was the large elephant-as-service in the room. The initial offering is sparse, launching with the game on the 30th of September with just a handful of teams and a pinch of modes. The major fall update, which sees the game launching on mobile and offering a more fleshed out suite of modes, has to create a moreish offering that keeps players coming back across all major platforms (which sadly doesn’t as-yet include Switch).

Clearly, the idea is to foster the kind of competitive, cross-platform infrastructure only seen thus far in the battle-royale format. But that ambition leads to questions of its own. This is a “console-first” experience, but it seems like the PS5 is particularly favoured - especially the DualSense controller. Haptic implementation was a feature that the devs seem particularly proud of, mentioned several times. Will Xbox and last-gen players be left behind?

This could be a new dawn for football games - I really respect the ambition of the team behind the gameplay, and they’ve hit upon a core loop that hooked me in the session, and has left me wanting more. So that’s half of the job well done. But with FIFA still ever dominant, and new upstarts like UFL waiting in the wings, eFootball’s success ultimately lives or dies based upon its post-launch appeal and support. Time will tell.

Daniel Curtis is a freelance writer, producer and filmmaker. He’s also a long-suffering Chesterfield FC fan. Say hi to him on Twitter @danielpdcurtis.

If you're sick and tired of your larger, flashier current-gen gamerpic and were blessed enough to have one dating back to the Xbox 360 days, then you're in luck. Xbox will soon let you switch back to your retro 360 gamerpic and unlock that sweet feeling of nostalgia.

Microsoft Engineering Lead Eden Marie revealed on Twitter (below) that Alpha Skip Ahead Insider players will now be able to reboot their consoles today for a new option on their "change gamerpic" screen. It's out with the new and in with the old. With the change in place for Insiders, the option should appear for regular users in the not-too-distant future.

Hey all, I know a bunch of you were asking for a way to go back to your Xbox 360 gamerpic. Exploration Time to the rescue!

If you're an Alpha Skip Ahead Insider, you may need to reboot your console, but starting today you'll find a new option in your "change gamerpic" screen. pic.twitter.com/YWijIJR2HE

— Eden Marie (@neonepiphany) September 21, 2021

When changing your gamerpic back to its 360 counterpart, Marie notes a few important things. Firstly, the only option you have in terms of your old 360 picture is whatever you set it to last. Not only does this mean that you might want to prepare yourself for a bit of self-reflection if it's not what you expected, but also that to change it, you'll still need to log back into your 360 console where any changes should then carry over.

When setting your 360 gamerpic on newer consoles, fans might notice that it looks a little different to how they remember. To bring it over to current-gen consoles, the 360's classic square design has been mapped over the top of a semi-transparent dark circle to ensure consistency with other current gamerpics. Unfortunately, for fans who didn't originally have a 360 gamerpic, there's no option to go back and choose one from the catalog of images available at the time.

News of the change follows a similar story that surfaced last month after Marie decided to make it her "personal mission" to fix one Twitter user's 360-era profile picture that, as a result of advances in Xbox UI, had shrunk to the size of a tiny square surrounded by a void-like grey circle. With 360 gamerpics as far back as 2006 now firmly back in play, who knows what Xbox might drag out from the late 2000s next.

Listen, I can't promise anything, but I'm going to make it my personal mission to fix this https://t.co/o1zYjBBHSd

— Eden Marie (@neonepiphany) August 25, 2021

For more on the Xbox Series X, make sure to check out this article discussing updates rolled out to Alpha-Skip Ahead users in August that have allowed the console's dashboard to run at a higher resolution.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

It’s been two years since Death Stranding’s release; in that time, the PS4 and PC versions of Kojima’s backbreaking delivery man simulator have gone on to sell more than five million copies combined, making it a success by any measure. However, anecdotally I’ve come across just as many people who have played Death Stranding and completely loved it as I have people who’ve bounced off it within its intentionally grueling opening hours. It’s the latter group of people who perhaps wanted to like it but couldn’t, along with any other fence-sitters, that this PlayStation 5 Director’s Cut seems to have in mind; its raft of quality-of-life improvements and player-friendly features added specifically to make more manageable molehills out of its many formidable mountains. It's just odd that so many of these concessions seem to directly contradict the deliberate hard-working spirit that many appreciated about the original version, which makes the Director’s Cut feel somewhat... compromised.

The new firing range is definitely a welcome inclusion. Accessed via the terminal at any distribution center, it allows you to get to grips with every weapon – and each of them now feels more distinct thanks to the subtle feedback afforded by the DualSense’s adaptive triggers. On top of just blasting paper targets, there are around 30 different VR drills in which you compete against the clock – from stealth-slicing umbilical cords through a gauntlet run of BTs to making fools out of MULEs using only grenades. These are enjoyable little challenges in their own right, but more importantly, they allow you to get a feel for Death Stranding’s combat without the risk of losing any precious cargo that comes with trying to learn to fight while you’re out on the job.

The firing range may provide a safe space to master Death Stranding’s fighting, but it’s not as game-changing as the buddy bot and cargo catapult. Previously only glimpsed in cutscenes or employed unseen for automated deliveries, the buddy bot can now be used in a number of different ways: it can strut along behind you carrying crates, leaving Sam unencumbered and less prone to losing his balance; or you can load it up with a shipment, slap it on its sassy robot arse, and watch it sprint off into the distance to the cargo’s intended destination. If that still sounds like too much hard work, it can even carry your Norman Reedus-shaped sack of bones all the way to the nearest distribution center on autopilot, which is huge news for anyone who’s ever wondered what it must feel like to be a bored house cat riding a Roomba.

Meanwhile the cargo catapults, which you can start constructing around the story’s midpoint, allow you to load up your boxes and fire them hundreds of metres across the map, a bit like using one of the Angry Birds as a carrier pigeon. There is a limitation to how far you can launch your flying freight before a parachute must be triggered in order to manually guide it safely to the ground, but it’s at least far enough to clear some of the nastier crevasses or wider rivers in Hideo Kojima’s stunning (albeit oddly Icelandic) vision of post-apocalyptic America.

If, during my darkest hours with the original game – such as the extended slog through the mountains roughly 20 hours through the story – you’d offered me a cannon to fire crates of medical supplies even halfway to their summit destination I’d have loaded that cannon with hundred dollar bills and fired it directly into your beautiful face. However, while the cargo catapult and buddy bot certainly make completing orders less painful in Death Stranding, they don’t necessarily make them actually fun. At the end of the day, you’re still moving stacks of indistinguishable boxes from A to B, over and over again. Just because a menial task is made to be easier, doesn’t make it any less dull or repetitive; the calculator app on my phone may well prevent me from having to count on my fingers, but it certainly doesn’t mean I gain any more excitement out of doing my taxes.

In fact, although I certainly had my frustrations with the original “cut” of Death Stranding, never once did I think its demanding delivery gameplay was in any way arduous by accident. Kojima is undoubtedly one of the boldest game designers of all time, and he appears to be surrounded by an extremely talented team at Kojima Productions. Death Stranding isn’t a great game idea that was executed poorly; in my mind, it’s a fundamentally unappealing idea for a game executed extremely well.

Retracing Your Steps

Meanwhile, there are a handful of features presumably intended to entice die-hard Death Stranding fans – or Die-Hardfans as Kojima prefers to call them (probably) – but like the contents of Sam’s backpack after he’s taken his umpteenth tumble down a modest incline, these are a bit of a mixed bag. At the very least, you can gain quick access to most of the new features without having to start the whole campaign over; as long as you still have access to your completed PS4 save you can import it into the PS5 version with all your progress and various shared structures intact.

I made a beeline for the new race track, which can be constructed by delivering the requisite materials to a dedicated site just south of the Timefall farm. Sadly, it turned out to be barely worth the effort: the racing track features just two unremarkable circuits that can only be raced in simple solo time trials (with the added option of racing them both in reverse). Ironically, for a game otherwise preoccupied with weight management and inertia, the three vehicles on offer here exhibit a noticeable lack of heft. The truck and trike are both slow and far too easy to steer around full laps without requiring any real need for braking. Meanwhile, the sleek new roadster vehicle is at least fast enough to be thrown sideways around a sharp corner, but the way you’re brought to an instant halt by an invisible force field should you even touch the trackside rumble strip kind of sucks the fun out of it. It’s no wonder that Monster Energy has seemingly pulled its products out of the Director’s Cut, since Death Stranding’s bland brand of circuit racing is about as far away from extreme sports as you can get.

On the plus side, completing the race track’s time trials gives you the ability to fabricate the roadster for general use in the world. It’s only really practical to take it out on one of the player-paved highway stretches, though, since attempting to steer the sports car’s low suspension over Death Stranding’s otherwise jagged terrain feels about as smooth as trying to iron the creases out of a shirt made of rhinestones.

As far as new story content, I can’t say that the over-explained nature of the ending left me begging for more details, but this Director’s Cut gave them to me anyway, although only in a very modest serving. The new ruined factory is situated to the northeast of the Distribution Center West of Capital Knot City. (Giving directions in Death Stranding sure is confusing – no wonder these people never leave their bunkers.) It’s a dilapidated facility recessed into the side of a mountain that provides an interesting space to explore, but there’s just not enough of it to really leave a mark. It’s effectively comprised of two main areas that each house a small gaggle of guards to take out, a token Metal Gear Solid reference, and then a short sequence that gives some fresh insight into the backstory of one of Sam’s closest allies. If you’re fascinated by the end of the world lore that Kojima Productions has created then you’ll likely lap this up, but just don’t go in expecting an enormous amount of new information to uncover.

Elsewhere there are ramps to build if you fancy going from Postman Pat to Evil Knieval. There’s a new maser gun that fires out electricity, allowing you to wrangle MULEs into submission like a Ghostbusters’ proton pack. There’s the option to replay boss fights and compare your scores with other players. You can even customise BB’s pod with a number of cosmetic options including ‘wood grain’ and ‘leather’, although unfortunately none of the options is ‘soundproof’. There are quite a lot of other small additions that make up a fairly long list of new features, but none of them make as considerable difference to the gameplay as the buddy bot.

Death Stranding Director’s Cut comes with a slew of updates and new content, including but not limited to new weapons, a new vehicle, new ways to deliver cargo, and even a brand new story mission. Unlike the recently released Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, which came with one big piece of new content and several quality of life updates, Death Stranding is instead opting for a ton of smaller tweaks and additions, which can make it a bit more confusing when trying to identify exactly what it is you’re getting with this upgrade. But don’t worry, we have you covered. We’ve combed through as much as we could, and picked out what we think are the 13 biggest additions and changes to the Death Stranding Director’s Cut.

1. New Graphics Options

Before we get into the bigger things, let’s go through some of the graphical updates. The game now features two graphic options, a quality mode that runs at a native 4K resolution and targets 60fps, or a performance mode that features a scaled 4K resolution with a more stable framerate – though it’s still not locked at 60fps. Also, both of these modes can be played in an ultra-widescreen mode on PC, or an “ultra-widescreen simulator” mode that letterboxes everything on PS5.

2. Monster energy is GONE!

Sam’s favorite drink, Monster Energy, seems to be no more. Monster Energy could survive the apocalyptic Death Stranding, but it couldn't survive a console jump. We assume this is the result of some sort of simple licensing deal expiring, but regardless, all mentions of Monster Energy are gone and are now replaced with the more on-brand “Bridges Energy''.

3. DualSense Support

You can’t have a PlayStation 5 game without some really cool DualSense features, and Death Stranding Director’s Cut has plenty. First off, the adaptive triggers work exactly how you would expect - weapons all fire with different sensations, and the heavier Sam’s cargo load is, the harder it is to pull down the trigger. When running on different terrain, the controllers vibrating haptic feedback responds appropriately. For example, running on smooth concrete will feel a lot different than sloshing around in the snow. And finally, BB's coos and cries will be heard through the controller's speaker, alongside other various sounds like flowing water when crossing a river.

4. New Combat Abilities

Combat has also seen a bit of an improvement. Sam now has equippable gloves to pummel your opponents with - they can also help climb faster. He’s also a bit more agile now and can dropkick and knee kick foes as he runs towards them. Also, Mules have taken a liking to using turrets. Of course, once you take that turret enemy down, it's free for you to use to rain hell down on your combatants.

5. New Equippable Items

A few new items have been added for fabrication. The first is the Maser Gun, which fires a continuous electrical charge that immobilizes Mules and vehicles. Because it’s electricity-based, it's even more effective when in water. Unfortunately, since it’s not blood-based, it has zero effect on BTs. Another new item is a brand new equipable exoskeleton called the Support Skeleton. This is meant to be the most all-around skeleton option to somewhat replace the all-terrain, power, and speed skeletons that are available. It’s fast, it can carry a lot, and it's good on rough terrain. It’s more of a jack of all trades, master of none type of deal. Also, unlike any other exoskeleton in the game, it’s solar-powered, so it can charge in sunny or even cloudy weather, leaving you way less likely to be stranded without power.

6. Firing Range

A Firing Range has been added to the terminals, allowing you to check out all the weapons in the game and even test your skill with them. All of the weapons are on a table and you can equip whichever one you’d like to try and shoot at the provided targets. Or, you can jump into one of the many drills available and see how long it takes to get through one of the various pre-made scenarios. There’s also Ranked Drills which allow you to compete with other players for the best results.

7. The Roadster

An all-new vehicle has arrived, in the form of the Roadster. The roadster is meant for smooth highways, or the race track, but you can use it to make deliveries, too, but it's not super great in rocky terrain or water, and even though you can load cargo onto it, unless the client demands you make your deliveries in style, I’d stick with the truck and keep the Roadster on the race track.

8. Race Track

You can now build a fully-functioning Race Track by the Timefall Farm that allows Sam to test his driving skills by racing against the clock in a reverse trike, truck, or the previously mentioned roadster. The race track gives you access to a few different courses as well as mirrored versions of each, and just like in the training ground there are ranked races that allow you to submit times to compare yourself to other players.

9. New Buildable Structures

Death Stranding Director’s Cut now has a few new buildable structures to help Sam on his deliveries. First is a Cargo Catapult that can be loaded up with a bunch of cargo and shot through the air towards your destination – don’t worry, it’s fitted with a parachute so as to not damage your precious cargo. The range on it isn’t incredible, but it should help when getting over some small mountains or wide rivers. Another is a Jump Ramp that allows vehicles to shoot over a small distance. When on a reverse trike, you can even have Sam do some cool moves, which are great for photo mode. And finally, Sam can build a Chiral Bridge to help get over tighter areas that the larger bridges can’t fit. Chiral bridges are also fitted with a special network ID that prevents Mules from using them. Watch out though, Chiral Bridges will disappear if it rains or snows.

10. Ruined Factory

The Ruined Factory, seen in the reveal trailer for Death Stranding Director’s Cut is a set of new missions that sees Sam delving into an underground facility littered with old-world interiors, and of course, Mules. I don’t want to spoil anything about what takes place down here, but I can confidently say that it’s worth a look.

11. Buddy Bots

Delivery bots have been in Death Stranding since the beginning, but they’ve only technically existed in cutscenes where you could send them on autonomous deliveries while you prioritize other things. Now, you can actually build a Buddy Bot to travel alongside you. The Buddy Bot has two functions: It can hold a bunch of cargo for Sam and follow him around, or, if Sam is able to hold everything in his backpack and suit, he can ride the bot to his destination. You won’t be getting many S ranks riding the bot as it’s pretty slow, but it's a nice feature to have if you basically want the game to play itself and just be along for the ride. Watch out though, the bot can only travel within the Chiral network, and he doesn't do so great when attacked by Mules or BTs.

12. New Cosmetics and Backpack Customizations

Death Stranding has always had an emphasis on customization, so it only makes sense that we’ve gotten even more control to make Sam look exactly how we want. We can change BB’s color scheme, your suit now has an array of colors to choose from, and best of all, Sam’s backpack has gotten quite a few upgrades. Not only can you change the color, but you can now add patches and stabilizers to the back, allowing Sam to keep his balance better, and even glide from high distances with upgraded stabilizers.

13. You can replay Cliff memories and Boss Battles

In the base version of Death Stranding, once you beat the game, you could replay Cliff’s Nightmares of War. In the Director’s Cut, you’re now also allowed to replay any of the big boss battles, known here as Nightmare Battles. And, just like the racing or firing range, there are also ranked versions that allow you to submit high scores against other players, judging both time taken to finish the encounter and damage taken.

So those are the biggest changes to expect when booting up the Death Stranding Director’s Cut. There are even smaller tweaks such as being able to ride zip lines with a carrier attached and new routing tutorials at the beginning. Will you be suiting up for the Death Stranding Director’s Cut? If so, which of these new features has you the most excited? Make sure to sound off in the comments!

After Respawn's community coordinator Jason Garza said that the studio is currently working on "too many other games" to create new content for the Titanfall franchise, Respawn's social media account seems to be offering a more hopeful take on the future of the series.

After reports highlighting Garza's comments circulated the internet, Respawn took to Twitter to set the record straight - at least, sort of. "Contrary to what some folks are reporting," a tweet from the studio (below) reads. "Titanfall is the very core of our DNA. Who knows what the future holds..."

Contrary to what some folks are reporting, Titanfall is the very core of our DNA.

Who knows what the future holds...

— Respawn (@Respawn) September 23, 2021

Garza's initial comments suggested that any news of upcoming Titanfall content was unlikely, "There's nothing there. We've got too many other games in the works right now," he said. Last year, when asked by IGN if the Titanfall franchise was over during an interview about the studio's 10th anniversary, Respawn co-founder issued a similar sentiment. "There’s nothing currently in development. But it’s always there," he said at the time.

Whether Respawn's recent comments on Twitter are anything more than a reminder that the company still holds the Titanfall series close to its heart is unclear, however, fans will be hoping that it signifies something more significant.

Since the release of Titanfall 2 in 2016, Respawn has fleshed out a number of other IPs. The studio is currently working on Titanfall spin-off Apex Legends, which sees regular updates. Given the success of Apex, it may be that Titanfall's future lies within that game – this year's updates have included overt Titanfall references, after all.

In 2019, the studio also released third-person action-adventure game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. During an earnings call following the success of Fallen Order EA CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed that it would be the "first title in an entirely new franchise" for the publisher. If Respawn is considering a return to the core Titanfall series in the future, it would need to be part of an impressive balancing act for the studio, especially as it's also working in a new single-player game set in a different universe altogether.

At present, Respawn is still investigating rumours of major security vulnerabilities in Titanfall 2 that have caused panic within the community. The concerns, which were raised earlier this month in the form of a screenshot from Discord, claimed that the game had been compromised and warned players against launching the game on PC. All in all, it's been a long, strange road for Titanfall 2, and it only got stranger when the game was effectively abandoned by its developer.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Deathloop originally had a more robust melee combat system, but it was scrapped during development and replaced with the kick move.

In a Noclip video interview around the 12:50 mark, Deathloop creative director Dinga Bakaba revealed that Deathloop originally had a combat parry system similar to Dishonored. This idea was scrapped in favor of Deathloop's simple and very powerful kick.

"In the beginning, you could defend with the machete and parry and block like you said okay let's just ask ourselves all the questions that just put [sic] the fencing of Dishonored, we will figure it out later," Bakaba said. "But as soon as we added the multiplayer, something went wrong."

Bakaba explained that the invader "has a delay over the host." This provided a difference in gameplay between the multiplayer invaders and the NPCs. So, the parry system was scrapped, but the developers weren't satisfied.

"So then we removed the timed parry and it was only [blocking] and that was boring as hell," Bakaba said. "So we said 'f*** defense, let's just replace defense with the kick like a big kick that makes you go oof.'"

The parrying was then removed and the fan-favorite kick was born.

Check out IGN's pick of the best PS5 SSD to play Deathloop at its top console potential.

IGN's Deathloop review was relatively positive towards the game and praised the combat system: "The precision engineering of this complex, looping world is held in balance by Deathloop’s combat system, which is a delightfully raucous affair that roars like a dragon with ballistic breath."

Visit our Deathloop walkthrough and Deathloop guide for beginners to master Arkane Studios' latest.

Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.

On this week's episode of IGN's weekly PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Brian Altano and Mitchell Saltzman to discuss Kena: Bridge of Spirits, another great console exclusive game for the PS4 and PS5 lineup. We jump into Mitchell's thoughts from his review, in which he called Kena a great game, what we love and hope to see improved about the combat and exploration in future games, our love of the beautiful art design and detail, and we weirdly get hung up on the game's fonts.

But in general, we discuss what's so great about Kena's gameplay and world, and why you'll want to pick up Ember Lab's first game on PS4 or PS5. Plus, we dive into the recent reports about Quantic Dream's alleged Star Wars game, if that's a combination we're interested in seeing, and whether it makes sense for Quantic Dream to explore settings like the original trilogy or apply its choice-based gameplay to an era like The High Republic. We also dive into the reports about discussions of a Marvel vs. Capcom 2 remaster, and Mitchell gives us some insight into why the project is so fervently demanded, and what we hope to see from an MvC 2 remaster.

We also read a new Memory Card story, offer wild Super Smash Bros. Ultimate predictions for a PlayStation guest character, and much more! Direct Download

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Podcast Beyond! is live every Wednesday. For more on PS5, check out our PS5 console review and our PS5 wiki guide for tips on how to best use your system. And for more Beyond, be sure to watch the first episode of our Bloodborne let's play!

Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior Features Editor, PlayStation Lead, and host of Podcast Beyond! He's the proud dog father of a BOY named Loki. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

For an adventure game with no combat, no fail state, and not even much in the way of an objective, exploring Sable’s ruined desert of Midden was rarely ever dull. Driving a hoverbike through its stylish open world or climbing giant mountains and crumbling cities can be a lot of fun in a zen-like fashion. But for all the ways it manages to delight in its simplicity, dull puzzles, distracting bugs, and poor camera controls can also occasionally turn Sable’s peaceful world into a frustrating one.

Sable tells a unique coming of age story, giving you control of a silent, masked protagonist in a fascinating world full of other creepy masked people, ruined sci-fi technology, and very little background to explain any of it. As a child entering adulthood, you begin a solitary quest to figure out who you are by exploring the vast desert around you – a ritual that plays out a bit like a mix between Dune and my nephew’s bar mitzvah.

What makes this odyssey so special is that you truly get to make it your own. After a brief introduction to teach you the basics, the world completely opens up to you with no “main questline” and only a few suggestions of where to go. Completing quests given to you by its excellently written NPCs will earn you magical masks, and once you’ve obtained just one you could turn around, go home, and end your journey right away. I spent 12+ hours exploring all the nooks and crannies of Midden, completing every quest, and soaking in all Sable has to offer, but others could complete their pilgrimage in just a few hours if they’d prefer. Every player’s experience is likely to be different, and the structure of this world is incredibly well-designed to support the different ways you can approach it.

No matter what paths you choose, however, the things you do in Sable will be largely the same. That includes riding a hoverbike around its visually stunning (if mostly empty) desert areas, solving simple puzzles, and doing a ton of platforming. Platforming is somewhat bare bones in its design: you’ve got the ability to jump, glide slowly through the air, and climb any surface with a slowly-depleting stamina bar (because Breath of the Wild made it so that’s just in every open-world game now, I guess). But despite those basic building blocks, it manages to be pretty engaging throughout, due in no small part to the beautiful terrain you’ll be scrambling across. You aren’t doing exciting midair dashes or using a grappling hook to swing across gaps, but the slower pace pairs perfectly with Sable’s zen tone.

That is, of course, when the camera isn’t getting in the way of an otherwise good time. Like countless 3D platformers before it, Sable suffers quite a bit from a wonky camera that’s constantly having dust kicked up into it when riding your hoverbike or phasing through objects when you’re trying to get it into the right angle for a jump. Thankfully, Sable’s platforming is decidedly low stakes and not very challenging, so it never made me rage really. But it’s still an underlying annoyance that doesn’t go away, and one that eventually started to steam my broccoli after long periods.

Compared to its amusing, minimalist platforming, riding the hoverbike around and solving environmental puzzles holds up less well over the dozen hours I spent with Sable. Its puzzles never really present any kind of challenge or clever design that makes you feel accomplished for solving them, with most obstacles amounting to simply standing on a button or placing a battery inside a socket to power something up. It’s not actively bad by any means, but also not really anything exciting to write home about either – again, just like my nephew's bar mitzvah.

Similarly, riding your hoverbike around the barren deserts is a good way to see the gorgeous landscapes of Sable’s ruined world, but it eventually amounts to little more than holding down the accelerator and waiting until you get where you’re trying to go. You can upgrade your bike and customize its color, look, and performance, but there’s not a pressing need to do so since you won’t be taking it into races or battles like Mad Max or anything. That means there’s not much to it, but Sable’s stylish, cell-shaded environments are still so dang interesting to look at that sometimes I forgot I’d been riding in a straight line for five minutes and wasn’t even heading in the right direction.

Once you do arrive at your destination, though, there’s plenty to do, and meeting people and taking on quests are some of the best moments Sable has. The writing is excellent across the board and although you never hear anyone speak or even see their face, there’s lots of memorable characters. I seriously wanted to meet everyone I could and was almost never disappointed in the hijinks and banter that followed. Sable almost always rewarded me for butting into the lives of others with quests that played out in unpredictable ways. In one quest, I posed as a fearsome vigilante to save a child, and in another I stole some poop from some bugs for science. I also climbed some giant floating crystals and ripped pieces of lightning out of them with my bare hands. Seriously, the stuff they have you do is all over the place in the best possible way.

The bugs and glitches you encounter along the way, though, are less alluring, and Sable is just teeming with them, big and small. There’s everything from visual glitches like bushes that fly around and snap back in place like rubber bands or bushes that let you see through the world map when you point the camera at them (there are non-bush related bugs, too). Framerate issues and other visual blemishes like this aren’t game-breaking, but they do add up to noticeably hinder the experience. One time an emotional cutscene was completely ruined when my bike seemingly cloned itself and then rammed into its doppelganger during a serious moment. It was hilarious, obviously, but probably not what the developers were going for.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are also issues that actually do have more dire consequences. These ranged from getting locked out of a quest because a vendor’s goods weren’t showing up, to my bike becoming invisible for some reason for a few hours, to my character’s money not showing up correctly leaving me guessing if I could afford things or not. Most issues were resolved by resetting a few times, but not all of them, and the threat of bugs mucking something up was a constant fear throughout my otherwise enjoyably peaceful journey.

It's been almost a year since Sony and Microsoft released their ninth-generation gaming consoles the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Yet, buying either of the three new consoles has been difficult due to an ongoing chip shortage. If you are still looking to get your hands on one of the latest gaming consoles, Best Buy has announced that select locations will sell both PS5s and Xbox Series X consoles tomorrow.

Heading to Best Buy's website, the retail chain announced that select locations will have limited quantities available of the Xbox Series X in addition to the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. More than 300 Best Buy locations across the United States (plus one location each in DC and Puerto Rico) will carry a limited number of ninth-generation consoles.

To make sure as many people as possible can purchase a console, Best Buy confirmed that each of the eligible retail stores would be enforcing a one-console-per-customer rule, with employees to begin handing out tickets at 7:30 am local time. Acquiring a ticket guarantees you the opportunity to purchase either a PS5 or Xbox Series X inside the store.

This is the first time Best Buy is selling these highly desirable gaming consoles since both were released last November, which the retailer pledged ahead of both console's release dates that it would not sell either in-stores until 2021.

Prior to this announcement, if you wanted to buy either console from Best Buy, you had to do so through its website or mobile app. Best Buy previously did in-store restocks at select locations. With the retail giant selling limited quantities of RTX 30 graphics cards at select locations in both June and July.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is already dealing with hacker problems in its beta, according to some players. Players are already posting evidence of hackers in the Vanguard beta on Twitter. Videos are circulating of players using aimbots, invincibility, and more. At the 19 second mark of the video below from CDL Intel on Twitter, you can see a killcam replay of a hacker using automatic aim, which locks on to enemies instantly around the map.

Hackers have arrived on the Vanguard Beta 👍 pic.twitter.com/zJs1q4xAUW

— CDL Intel (@INTELCallofDuty) September 18, 2021

Another instance of auto aiming can be seen from Dabzsy's Twitter video. You can see the reticle bouncing around the map, locking on to different targets.

Hackers on #Vanguard BETA 🤣 actually just funny now tbh (and expected) pic.twitter.com/F44M3f5LhZ

— Dabzsy (@dabszy) September 19, 2021

This video, from Wicked Good Gaming, shows both auto aim, and outlines of all players displayed through walls.

The Vanguard hacking TikToks have started 😂 pic.twitter.com/znF69kOtmX

— Wicked Good Gaming (@WickedGoodGames) September 20, 2021

Call of Duty continues to crack down on cheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone. In August, Call of Duty banned over 100,000 accounts in a single day. The total number of accounts banned is now well over half a million. However, a problem arose that cheaters would simply create a new account, and start cheating again. So, Activision started banning hardware rather than specific accounts. However, some users are still able to work around this system.

Earlier this year, Activision stopped the release of an "undetectable" cheat system that could be used for aim assist and auto fire. It was shut down after footage circulated of it running in Warzone.

Last month, we learned Warzone will get a, "multi-faceted, new anti-cheat system" implemented throughout the game. We'll have to wait and see if the same anti-cheating measures get implemented into Vanguard. Right now, it also seems that players banned from Warzone also won't be able to play Vanguard.

We reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment and will update the article if we hear back. For more, check out our Call of Duty Vanguard beta impressions. Or, watch the latest episode of Podcast Unlocked, where we discuss Call of Duty Vanguard as a part of this Fall's, "FPS Heaven."

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

FIFA 22 is set to release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Stadia on October 1. As usual, it will be available in more than one edition, each offering its own benefits and collection of digital extras.

Below, you'll find the full rundown on what comes in each edition, where you can preorder it, how much it costs, and more.

FIFA 22 (Standard Edition)

PS5

• Get it at Amazon - $69.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $69.99
• Get it at GameStop - $69.99
• Get it at Walmart - $69.99
• Get it at PS Store (digital) - $69.99

PS4

• Get it at Amazon - $59.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $59.99
• Get it at GameStop - $59.99
• Get it at Walmart - $59.99
• Get it at PS Store (digital) - $59.99

Xbox Series X

• Get it at Amazon - $69.99
• Get it at Amazon (digital) - $69.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $69.99
• Get it at GameStop - $69.99
• Get it at Walmart (digital) - $69.88
• Get it at MS Store (digital) - $69.99

Xbox One

• Get it at Amazon - $59.99
• Get it at Amazon (digital) - $59.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $59.99
• Get it at GameStop - $59.99
• Get it at Walmart (digital) - $59.88
• Get it at MS Store (digital) - $59.99

Nintendo Switch (Legacy Edition)

• Get it at Amazon - $39.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $39.99
• Get it at GameStop - $39.99
• Get it at Nintendo eShop (digital) - $39.99

PC

• Get it at Amazon (Origin) - $59.99
• Get it at Amazon (Steam) - $59.99
• Get it at Origin - $59.99
• Get it at Steam - $59.99

Preorder the standard edition, and you'll receive the following digital extras:

• Team of the Week 1 Player
• Kylian Mbappé Loan Item, for 5 FUT matches
• FUT Ambassador Loan Player Pick, for 3 FUT matches
• Career Mode Homegrown Talent, local youth prospect with world-class potential

FIFA 22 Ultimate Edition (Digital Only)

PS5 / PS4

• Get it at PS Store - $99.99

Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One

• Get it at Amazon - $99.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $119.99
• Get it at GameStop - $99.99
• Get it at Walmart - $99.88
• Get it at MS Store - $99.99

PC

• Get it at Amazon (Origin) - $79.99
• Get it at Amazon (Steam) - $79.99
• Get it at Best Buy - $119.99
• Get it at Origin - $79.99
• Get it at Steam - $79.99

Unlike the standard edition, the ultimate edition includes both previous-gen and current-gen console versions of the game. Preorder the digital-only ultimate edition, and you'll receive the following digital extras:

• Untradeable FUT Ones to Watch item
• 4 Days Early Access (start playing September 27)
• 4600 FIFA Points
• FUT Team of the Week 1 Player
• Kylian Mbappé Loan Item, for 5 FUT matches
• FUT Ambassador Loan Player Pick, for 3 FUT matches
• Career Mode Homegrown Talent, local youth prospect with world-class potential

Preorder Bonus

While there are no preorder bonuses beyond the digital items that come with each version of the game, one retailer is offering an exclusive bonus for buying there.

• Best Buy - Christian Pulisic Funko Pop

How to Get Into FIFA 22 Early Access

If you have an EA Play subscription, you can play up to 10 hours of FIFA 22 right now. Here's where you can subscribe:

• 12 Months EA Play for PlayStation - $29.99
• 12 Months EA Play for Xbox - $29.99
• 12 Months EA Play for PC - $29.99

Other Preorder Guides

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

Ubisoft has revealed that Far Cry 6 will not feature ray tracing on consoles. This news comes by way of TechRadar, which reached out to Ubisoft for confirmation after a Ubisoft 3D Team Lead Programmer told Wccftech that ray tracing will be a "PC-only feature." Alongside ray tracing, AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution feature will be found only on PC versions of Far Cry 6 as well.

"Ray Tracing is a PC-only feature," Ubisoft told TechRadar in a new statement. "On console, our objective has been to take advantage of new hardware capabilities, optimizing performance targeting 4K and achieving 60 FPS for instance, all while ensuring that the experience on the previous generation of console would remain consistent."

In generations past, ray tracing remained a feature exclusive to PC, but with the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, some games on those consoles have featured the real-time lighting effect.

For example, Doom Eternal has ray tracing on PS5 and Xbox Series X as do other titles like Spider-Man Remastered, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Deathloop, and more. Far Cry 6 is not one of those games, though.

Ubisoft programmer Stephanie Brenham told Wccftech that not only do PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of Far Cry 6 target 4K resolutions and 60fps gameplay, but they will also have better HD textures, higher levels of detail, longer draw distances, and more compared to the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One, and Xbox One X versions of the game.

For more about Far Cry 6, check out this trailer of Giancarlo Esposito answering fan questions about the game and then read about Far Cry 6's roguelike DLC centered on past villains in the franchise. Check out this Far Cry 6 Xbox Series X gameplay after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney revealed that Apple has rejected the company’s request to re-instate Epic’s developer account, effectively banning Fortnite from returning to the App Store following the legal battle between Epic and Apple.

Sweeney revealed on social media this morning a letter sent to him by Apple rejecting Epic’s request to have its developer program account reinstated. An Apple Developer Account is required to develop and deliver apps on iOS.

Furthermore, Apple says it will not consider requests to reinstate Epic’s account “until the district court’s judgment becomes final and non-appealable,” which Sweeney says could be as long as five years.

Late last night, Apple informed Epic that Fortnite will be blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem until the exhaustion of all court appeals, which could be as long as a 5-year process. pic.twitter.com/QCD7wogJef

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 22, 2021

This all began when Epic pushed back against Apple’s payment 30% fee taken from every digital transaction in Fortnite. Epic protested by offering its own payment option in the iOS app, which led to a snowball effect where Apple removed Fortnite from iOS devices which led to Epic suing Apple. During this time Epic lost its Apple Developer Account and Fortnite remains unavailable on Apple devices.

The lawsuit itself eventually went to trial and the judge ruled that external payment systems should be allowed on apps available in the App Store. And while that may seem like a win for Epic, the judge also ruled Epic Games breached its contract with Apple and was ordered to pay Apple $6 million in fines.

Epic says it will appeal parts of the ruling, specifically the ones where Epic lost, but the court has previously stated that Apple’s termination of Epic’s developer account was valid and lawful.

Sweeney says it will continue to fight Apple on this and says Apple has broken its promise to welcome Fortnite back to the App Store if it agreed to play by the rules, which Epic argues is now the case given the court's ruling on allowing custom payment methods.

In any case, if you thought the Epic v. Apple situation has concluded, think again.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.