Ubisoft is set to shut down multiplayer and online services for 15 games on September 1, 2022, including five Assassin's Creed games, Far Cry 3, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, and more.

For games like Assassin's Creed 3 (2012 Release) and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, the installation of access to DLC will also be unavailable on that date.

"Closing the online services for some older games allows us to focus our resources on delivering great experiences for players who are playing newer or more popular titles," Ubisoft wrote on its support page.

The full list of games and what services will be stopped is as follows

• Anno 2070
  • PC: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
• Assassin's Creed II
  • PC, PlayStation 3: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
• Assassin's Creed 3 (2012 Release)
  • PC: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features. Additionally, the installation and access to downloadable content (DLC) will be unavailable.
  • PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
  • PC: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features. Additionally, the installation and access to DLC will be unavailable.
  • PlayStation 3, Xbox 360: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
• Assassin's Creed Liberation HD
  • PC: You will be unable to link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features. Additionally, the installation and access to DLC will be unavailable.
• Driver San Francisco
  • PC: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features. Additionally, the installation and access to DLC will be unavailable.
  • PlayStation 3, Xbox 360: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
• Far Cry 3 (2012 Release)
  • PC: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features. Additionally, the installation and access to DLC will be unavailable.
  • PlayStation 3, Xbox 360: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
  • PlayStation 3, Xbox 360: The multiplayer for the game will be unavailable. To play the solo campaign, you will have to set your console into offline mode.
• Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
  • PC: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features. Additionally, the installation and access to DLC will be unavailable.
• Rayman Legends
  • PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360: You will be unable to link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
• Silent Hunter 5
  • PC: You will be unable to link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.Additionally, the installation and access to DLC will be unavailable.
• Space Junkies
  • PC (HTC VIVE, Oculus): As a multiplayer only title, you will be unable to play the game going forward.
• Splinter Cell: Blacklist
  • PC: You will be unable to play multiplayer, link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
  • PlayStation 3, Xbox 360: You will be unable to link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.
• ZombiU
  • Wii U: You will be unable to link Ubisoft accounts in-game or use online features.

It's important to note that the remastered versions of Far Cry 3 and Assassin's Creed 3 will not be shut down.

Ubisoft made a similar move in 2021, shutting down multiplayer functionality and online services for such games as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Rainbow Six Lockdown, Far Cry 2, and Splinter Cell Conviction.

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

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

Despite food playing such a big role in Minecraft, few people go out of their way to design a fully furnished kitchen for their homes. Whilst they don’t serve any literal functional purpose, it does allow for a higher level of RP, and also means that you can dedicate specific areas of your home to certain tasks. Do you want to have visitors and host people over a long table, GoT style? Do you want a basic, cute kitchen all to yourself?

As you plan out a kitchen design, your choice will depend on what matters most to you, such as lighting, aesthetic, size and location. From medieval tables for a traditional Minecraft theme to outdoor buffets to fulfill a tropical vibe, this list showcases a great mix of options. Whether you're a new Minecrafter or looking to step it up with a new challenge, there's a kitchen waiting to be built in your world.

From a quaint corner kitchen to a ​​sci-fi themed kitchen, we’ve got our top 7 Minecraft kitchen ideas to inspire your build below!

1. Cabin Corner

Depending on the type of home you’ve built, a simplistic design might benefit you. Sometimes less is more! Going with mostly wooden materials, Flower Pots with mushrooms and plants, mood lighting using Lanterns, and using a Netherrack fire or Campfire as the cooking area, you can have a quaint, cozy corner kitchen in your house without much effort.

2. Modern

If you’re wanting some style coupled with simplicity, an ultra-modern look can work exceptionally well in Minecraft. Stick to one color scheme and add in modern amenities and appliances such as a microwave and fridge-freezer. Then, throw in a breakfast bar/center island, and you’re all set. This is a no-brainer kitchen style to continue your modern house themes out there.

3. Restaurant

Particularly good if you are on a multiplayer server, and are aiming to do some RP; building a restaurant and cooking meals for your friends in exchange for valuables/materials is both easy and incredibly immersive.

Build a seating area, a space for people to put in their orders, and set up some serious cooking machinery behind the scenes to handle various meal preparations simultaneously. Use a Campfire as a grill, and build an ice room to store all of your meat prior to cooking it.

4. Banqueting Hall

For those of us wanting to go extremely simplistic and old-fashioned, styling your kitchen as a banquet is a no-brainer. Set out a long table with lots of cooked goods, Flower Pots as flagons of ale, and an open fire to roast the gains from your various hunts and expeditions.

By default Minecraft has a very rustic, medieval aesthetic to begin with, coupled with the fact that this design only requires early-game materials to accomplish, and this is an enticing prospect for a showpiece that doesn’t consume your playtime.

5. Cantina

A go-to staple for you sci-fi fans, why not construct a room for all kinds of alien folk. The sci-fi aesthetic allows you to use whatever materials you wish and have it work, and in terms of cooking utilities you can double up a Furnace/Blast Furnace as service droids behind the bar.

You can also incorporate other build ideas in, like a mini aquarium or fish tank that you can use to store exotic fish to gawk at (or eat). If you want to double down, you can always grab a sci-fi texture pack/skins from online or from the Minecraft Marketplace.

6. Boat Buffet

Indoor kitchens can get stuffy and overcrowded, so why not move the cooking outside? Even better, shift it to the waterfront and have a tropical-themed buffet. Stock some boats on the water and some chests filled with Fishing Rods to keep the fish coming, and throw down a Jukebox and some Lanterns to complete the vibe of your cookout. There are many ways to customize this waterfront idea with amazing views to boot.

7. Hell’s Kitchen

If you're looking for a dark and moody kitchen in another dimension, unleash your inner Gordon Ramsay and build your kitchen in the literal worst place in Minecraft: The Nether.

Build it teetering on the edge of a lava lake, and forfeit Furnaces for burning Netherrack and glowing Campfires. You can set up a Hoglin farm nearby to collect piles of Porkchop while you're at it. Use some Obsidian to reinforce the walls from Ghast’s fireballs (or your own cooking disasters), and build some tables; just don’t expect too many regular customers.

Summary

With these 7 kitchen ideas based on themes and different goals you may have, we hope you found something interesting to run with. Whatever kitchen build you decide, remember that home is where the kitchen is, or so they say.

Samuel Heaney is a freelance writer with expertise in gaming guides and all things Minecraft. You can follow him on Twitter.

Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade has died following a battle with stage four cancer. The 23 year old, whose name is Alex, had more than 10.8 million followers on his channel.

A touching farewell video was uploaded in which Technoblade's father read a farewell message from the YouTuber, which thanked fans for their continued support over the nine years he created content.

"If I had another hundred lives, I think I would choose to be Technoblade again every single time as those were the happiest years of my life," his message read. "I hope you guys enjoyed my content and that I made some of you laugh, and I hope you all go on to live long, prosperous, and happy lives, because I love you guys. Technoblade out."

Known for being quite private, Technoblade only revealed his real name in the farewell message, but shared last year that he had been diagnosed with cancer in his right arm. His father explained in the video that Technoblade passed away just a few hours after writing the message.

His mother also shared a written message at the end of the video. "[Technoblade] avoided personal fame and worked hard to keep his true identity confidential, and we ask you to continue to honour his wishes to protect his privacy and the privacy of his family," it said.

"My son's bravery on this path was a shining lesson to all of us who were privileged to walk it with him. Thank you for sharing his journey through it all, as he did the work he loved for his beloved fans."

Image Credit: Technoblade

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Nintendo appreciates its passionate and patient fan base, but says it's difficult to make (and remake) all the games it's asked for.

At the company's annual general meeting (independently translated by IGN), Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked if there were any plans to release remakes or new entries in long-dormant franchises such as F-Zero.

"In truth, it is difficult to fulfil all the requests we receive for new titles, remakes, or sequels in Nintendo series," he said. "That said, we are grateful to our fans and their patience in these matters."

Another Nintendo executive, Shinya Takahashi, also weighed in, saying that making fun games was always the priority, whether that comes through a remake, sequel, fresh franchise, or whatever else.

"We always take a broad perspective, looking at ways to make new and remake titles enjoyable for as many people as possible," he said. "Previously, at the 79th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (held in 2019), we were asked if we had any plans to remake the “NES Detective Club” series, and it so happened that we were planning a remake in that series.

"We cannot comment on plans regarding remakes of specific titles, but we are always considering various possibilities in our development efforts so that our customers can enjoy our games."

Remakes of Nintendo games aren't uncommon, of course, with Pokémon perhaps headlining its efforts in that department - most recently with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. As it stands, however, a bundle of the first two Advance Wars games is the only remake in development that we know of.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

One of the fundamental parts of your Minecraft experience is building your forever home. You might be focused on the basics, such as building cute houses (we see you, cottagecore), and simplicity may be key for you. On the other hand, you could be the type to continually expand and use your home as a canvas to display the extent of your travels. Either way, if and when you're stumped for ideas on how to add a flourish to the bland and stereotypical wooden four walls approach, you can start here from our list of 8 favorite Minecraft House builds.

If you're just starting out, here are three simple starter house bases to consider:

(Video via MrMirror)

Below you'll find some of our top Minecraft house ideas; from simple and cute builds, to elaborate castles, it's time to make your next house epic; whatever that means for you.

1. Farmstead

A natural progression for many people due to the importance of farming as you get further into your game, a farmstead is a wonderful way to naturally expand your home. From building enclosures and stables for your animals, to extravagant waterways that flow through portions of your house on the way to moisturize your crops, you can get really creative whilst remaining functional here.

With the limited scope that these kinds of builds allow, farmsteads often lend themselves to being cute, quaint, and quirky projects that blend in very well regardless of the environment that you choose to build them in.

2. Mansion

For those wanting to live more lavishly, a mansion is an excellent project to display the wealth of resources and items that you have accumulated as you’ve explored. As you would expect, the more detailed and expansive the build, the harder it will be to execute in Survival, but if you plan it out you can easily have a modular approach to your mansion; build out room by room, floor by floor, and add the connective tissue and aesthetic decorations after the fact.

Whilst you can always discover and take over the humongous Woodland Mansions that spawn in your world, it will more than likely feel like a hollow victory. Only through hard work and perseverance can the decadence of a mansion feel truly earned.

3. Castle

The age-old build that everyone has tried at one point or another. Whether you’re an expert builder or you barely know how to build a house in Minecraft, a castle has likely crossed your mind as a long-term goal. Particularly excellent alongside other medieval-style builds (even more so if you apply a complimentary texture pack), castles can feel restrictive in your approach to building them.

Shake off those constraints! You can choose to create a wholly unique castle, or you can take inspiration from famous castles from real life or in fiction. Be it Windsor Castle in England, Kaer Morhen from The Witcher series, or Hogwarts Castle from Harry Potter, choose something that you have a personal affinity for. Not only will it give you the drive to continue with these lengthy builds, but it can also give you specific elements to build off of. Start with the Great Hall of Hogwarts, the drawbridge of Castle Greyskull, whatever it takes to start the process with a memorable section, and flesh it out from there.

4. Modern House

With the structures that are naturally generated in Minecraft (at least at the time of writing), almost all of them skew heavily toward rudimentary, medieval-style structures with wooden supports and stony accents. Attempting to build with similar materials, which just so happen to be those most abundant early on in your gameplay, it can begin to feel iterative and too similar to the last time you started a new world.

Having that in mind, why not make some bold choices, not only in the design and layout of your house, but the materials used? Make a mark on the world that stands out, as opposed to blending in. With many modern houses, you see architects aiming to build a cool house that's unique. Get your own architect's hat on and be weird! After all, Minecraft being the ultimate creativity tool should lend you some amount of personal expression. (If you're just beginning to plan your modern house build, we like this easy tutorial video on how to build your first modern house in Minecraft).

5. Treehouse

A seemingly simple build idea that can actually be quite difficult to pull off effectively, treehouses can be an eco-friendly way of leaving your footprint on the world. Often quite small and cute (think an Ewok hut in Return of the Jedi), you’ll likely want to use all-natural materials for these builds so that they blend in as much as possible.

These can be particularly fun if you are on a multiplayer server, where you aim to hide from your fellow players. For a game all about digging down, it’s not very often that you think to look up. Throw in the benefit of often having much better and wider views of your surrounding area, and there seem to only be upsides to crafting a home high in the treeline. To get down, you can use vines to be as inconspicuous as possible, or ladders/waterfalls if your build is aiming to be on the larger side.

To see all the kinds of treehouses you can create, check out our Minecraft Treehouse Ideas too.

6. Underwater House

If you like having a fish tank at home in real life, why not construct your Minecraft house beneath the waves? Keep in mind that underwater builds often require a lot of planning ahead and a fair amount of late-game materials such as Sponge to help efficiently clear the water once you seal the room.

Also keep in mind for underwater houses, you are often required to build a tunnel to get to the house, either straight down through the water or underground, and then up into the house. Either way, this permits you to come up with some unique ideas on how to conceal the entrance so those who don’t look too closely won’t even realize you’re dwelling beneath them. Sneaky, challenging and fun.

7. Sky Island

If living beneath the waves doesn’t sound appealing to you, how about up in the clouds? Creating a sky base has many advantages: you’ll be away from most threats (besides gravity), it’s quiet, and you'll get some breathtaking views.

Using a lot of Dirt and Stone, build up and create your own perfect spot in the sky. What you’ll definitely want to have is a source of water to let you swim up and down from your base without the risk of lethal fall damage, so a tip is to incorporate it into an artificial stream to accentuate your island in the air.

8. Hidden Underground Base

The perfect fit for the more discreet amongst you, having a base underground makes you completely undetectable from the surface. This advantage is even more exaggerated should you use a Redstone contraption with hidden doors and moving walls to make your entrance appear completely natural - nothing amiss.

Here's an underground house when locked:

This can even be beneficial in solo play, as having a Redstone-controlled secret base ensures that no Mobs can break down a door and invade your private safe space.

Here's the underground house when opened:

Want More Minecraft?

• Best Minecraft Build Ideas (if you want to start even broader)
• Minecraft Legendary Collaborative Builds (for further inspo)
• How to Build a House in Minecraft and full Building Guide (for any beginners, of course)

What are your favorite house types to build lately? What's been a challenge? Let us know below.

Samuel Heaney is a freelance writer with expertise in gaming guides and all things Minecraft. You can follow him on Twitter.

Treehouses in Minecraft provide a wonderful way of incorporating unique and cool designs into your home. Whether you're just starting out and want some more niche house ideas to work from, or you're a pro in Minecraft but want to think outside the box, we've got ideas and tips for you.

There are two things to consider as you scroll through our favorite treehouse build concepts:

• In order to dictate the size of your treehouse, it will depend if you’re working on your main hub or an addition to an existing build.
• Furthermore, the biome you choose to build in will control the extent to which you can use naturally generated trees versus trees that you artificially create yourself.

That said, we’ve rounded up some of the best treehouse build ideas for Minecraft, from simple, starter tree houses to next-level designs and challenging builds, and everything in between.

1. Simple Treehouse

If you’re struggling with how to build a treehouse in Minecraft, just go basic to begin with. Find a tree that has a decent height (a nice clear view is a bonus), and attach a small four-walled house to it. Whether it’s actually in the air hanging from the tree or just on the ground adjacent, it doesn’t really matter!

You can expand up and out, even artificially increasing the height of the tree as you progress in the game. If you're new to Minecraft or building this type of house, definitely start here.

2. Jungle Treehouse

In the biome that has the tallest trees, it only makes sense to use the real estate and build a shack high in the sky. The abundance of tightly-packed tall trees and hanging vines allow an easy method of interconnecting various small structures.

How to Easily Build a Jungle Tree House via Mr Mirror:

Video via: Mr Mirror

Not only do the vines that adorn a number of the trees in Jungle biomes act as a natural ladder, but you can also place them on the leaves all the way around the tree you’ve built upon to create some natural cover/camouflage.

If you’re in a multiplayer world with friends, this can be a particularly enjoyable, and accomplishable project, with individual houses creating a lovely Ewok-style village as the end result!

3. Leaf House

Can’t quite get your house to look right, clinging to the side of a tree? Think outside of the box and instead have your home base within the leaves of a tree. Using Shears to gather leaves from surrounding trees, you can create a bubble of leaves on top of those that are naturally generated on the trees.

Though this may limit your range of decoration and scope, this can prove to be the best way for your house to blend in with the surroundings.

As a tip: turn your graphic settings from Fancy to Fast and the leaves will no longer be translucent, meaning any build beneath the leaves will be completely invisible.

4. A Literal Tree House

If you want to take things to the next level of weird and unique, drop the chore of looking for the perfect tree to call home and instead make your own. Whilst somewhat inefficient in terms of resource usage, it can be a fun build to try and structure your house so it replicates the shape and looks of a tree, albeit slightly wider and larger than its brethren.

5. Nether Tree House

With the Nether gaining forest biomes as of late, you can take advantage of the new leafy real estate to build a home up high in the deep down below. Using blocks exclusive to the Nether, like Crimson Blocks and Netherrack can help your build feel more at home amongst its surroundings, but also means you might lose it as it blends in more and more.

There are threats abound in the Nether, so if you have access to a surplus of Obsidian, it might be worth building your house (or the outer shell at the very least) with it. That way, any Ghast fireballs that stray near your build, the damage will be drastically reduced.

6. Tree Root House

Want to get a little unconventional? Head underground with some Stripped Logs, and build out some tree roots. Using the roots, you can hang a house from the ceiling of a cavern.

Incorporate some Pointed Dripstone, Spore Blossom and Glow Lichen to give it a natural, overgrown look and your humble underground abode will be complete.

7. Bonus: Make a Tree House for Every Tree Type

If you're up for it, you can also challenge yourself to make a tree house for every Minecraft tree type in the game. We're talking all of them; Oak, Spruce, Birch, Dark Oak and Jungle!

Video via TheMythicalSausage

What are some of your favorite tree house builds in Minecraft? Let us know in the comments.

MORE EVEN MORE MINECRAFT:

Samuel Heaney is a freelance writer with expertise in gaming guides and all things Minecraft. You can follow him on Twitter.

For 36 years, Link has been traversing the fields and ruins of Hyrule in a seemingly never-ending quest to save Princess Zelda. His journey has spanned many consoles, redefining the franchise in many ways. From its humble beginnings on the NES to the groundbreaking 3D action-adventure in Ocarina of Time, we decided to take a look back at The Legend of Zelda’s impressive history in gaming, bringing you the very best mainline Zelda games, ranked.

10. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess gets an unfairly bad rap among Zelda fans. As the darker and edgier Zelda, it often receives unfavorable comparisons to Wind Waker, which has arguably held up better in comparison. But buried under all the cruft is a quality Zelda adventure, with a large world to explore, many enjoyable sidequests, and some great dungeons, the Snowpeak Ruins being a highlight. But the strongest element of Twilight Princess by far is Midna, a snarky imp who rides around on Wolf Link's back and basically trolls him for the duration of the game.

She's a far more appealing companion than the pestering Navi, her story tying firmly into Twilight Princess' world and lore. She gives Twilight Princess a style all its own — a style that deserves more respect than it's been given over the years. It's not quite enough to push it into the upper level of Zelda releases — the bloat in this game is extreme — but it's still a quality entry with a lot to offer the Zelda mythos. -- Kat Bailey

9. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

Mainline Pokemon entries always come in pairs, and Zelda followed their lead with The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Season and Oracle of Ages. Unlike Pokemon, however, the pair had significant differences, and both were required to see the true ending of the ultimate story. These Capcom and Flagship-created games also varied from each other in that Seasons was more focused on combat, while Ages put greater emphasis on the puzzles.

Each game also had a unique mechanic that assisted you in solving puzzles: Seasons let Link use the Rod of Seasons to change the… well… season to accomplish such tasks as making it winter to freeze a lake that would have been impossible to cross in the summer. Ages, on the other hand, let you utilize the Harp of Ages to travel through time and enter a cave in the past that would have been inaccessible in modern time, for example. Despite it costing double to see this story to its end, it was a joy to explore both Seasons’ Holodrum and Ages’ Labrynna and learn all the secrets these lands held. -- Adam Bankhurst

8. The Legend of Zelda

The original Legend of Zelda stands as a testament to the power and allure of sprawling, vast video game worlds. It was ambitious enough to throw you right into the middle of a world infested by monsters without so much as a weapon to defend yourself, confident that the thrill of free-roaming exploration would lead players to investigate, experiment, and find their own way.

The Legend of Zelda cast aside linear paths and storytelling in favor an open-ended exploration that continues to be iterated on to this day, and crammed its world full of dungeons and secrets that endeared itself to encouraging players into sharing tips and revelations with their friends at school. Even now, it stands the test of time as one of the best examples of giving players the freedom to find their own path, learn from mistakes, and slowly master a strange new world. -- Brendan Graeber

7. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

A Link Between Worlds was a pleasant surprise when it first released on Nintendo 3DS in 2013. Initially dismissed as a pale copy of A Link to the Past, fans were surprised and delighted by its non-linear progression and high-quality dungeon design. Far from a mere knockoff, A Link Between Worlds turned out to be one of the tightest, most enjoyable Zelda experience in years. Because it's a portable entry, A Link Between Worlds tends to be overlooked when discussing the top Zelda games, which is a shame.

While it's in some ways a tribute to A Link to the Past, featuring many of the beats of the original, it also stands up rather well on its own. The ability to tackle dungeons in any order hints at the direction Breath of the Wild would take a few years later, and its story is surprisingly emotional, with a wonderful reveal at the end that will delight fans. As a tribute to classic Zelda, A Link Between Worlds is a wonderful treat. -- Kat Bailey

6. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening crafts one of the more unique stories in the Legend of Zelda Franchise. The world, characters, and story venture off the beaten path and succeed without relying on locations or characters like Zelda and Ganon that are typically expected to appear.

We’ve seen three iterations of Link’s Awakening, and each one’s additions to the formula have made this entry on the list even better. The DX version included an additional dungeon and filled the world with vivid colors. The 2019 remake advanced it further with an updated art style for its characters, world, and overall visuals that energized the heartfelt moments throughout Link’s journey like never before. New additions like “The Chamber Dungeon” added replayability, allowing us to create and explore custom dungeons and share them with our friends.

Link’s Awakening is a testament to the franchise with its dungeons, puzzles, and music which became the foundation for many of the future Zelda games. It is one of the simpler games in the franchise, but the mastery of the gameplay loop and core elements of what it means to be a traditional Zelda game is what makes it special for Legend of Zelda fans. -- Jada Griffin

5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Time has been kind to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Though some fans greeted its cartoon-y, cel-shaded style with ire after the promise of more mature takes on the franchise, The Wind Waker's vibrant, colorful world is now more widely accepted for how beautiful and unique its take on Hyrule is. Yes, there's a lot of ocean to sail around, and even with the improvements made in The Wind Waker's Wii U re-release, sailing around on extended hunts can weigh the experience down. But the sailing, when it often works, is a zenlike, freeing experience that nailed the sense and feel of open adventure that Zelda has perfected so frequently throughout the franchise.

Exploring new shores and not quite knowing what to expect from each new island, whether it be some great dungeons, intriguing civilizations, or something else entirely, Wind Waker captures that sense of thrilling mystery with each new chapter, introducing a surprisingly dark and fascinating story that ranks among the best actual tales told throughout the series. Add to it some familiar but solid combat, that makes each hit impactful, a cast of endearing familiar and new characters, and, as ever, a moving score, and The Wind Waker not only nails the Zelda staples it needs to, but charts new territory in one of the series' most memorable adventures. - Jonathon Dornbush

4. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Majora's Mask is most recognizable for adding a divisive three-day time limit that you either loved or hated. It’s intrinsic to the core gameplay loop, permeating through the world, NPC behavior, and side quests. Incentivizing us to optimize and prioritize our time management to get as much done in each three-day cycle before needing to play the Song of Time and restart once again.

Many of the characters and items in Majora's Mask were reused but reworked and amplified to make them more compelling and influential than their previous appearances. Masks and other items were enhanced and placed into the forefront as centerpieces to how the story would unfold. People in the world became integral to advancing elements of the story and its subplots. Time itself and your trusty ocarina became a necessary tool leading to the destruction of Link and all the inhabitants of Termina if managed poorly.

Majora's Mask remains one of the most somber entries in the franchise and often deals with heavier themes such as abandonment, trauma, and death which sets it apart from other entries in the franchise. While we may not have all loved the time limit and darker tones it pushed the franchise forward and gave us a new perspective on the adventures of our Hero of Time.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time tops our list of best Nintendo 64 games ever made, so it’s testimony to the overall quality of Nintendo’s Zelda games that it “only” came in at number 3 here. When it launched in 1998, Ocarina of Time instantly defined what 3D adventure games would be like for decades to come. From the lock-on camera that made switching between exploration and one-on-one combat a cinch, its innovative 3D puzzles, to the way series staples like the hookshot and bow and arrow are implemented, Ocarina of Time is rightfully remembered as the best game of its era.

Nintendo 64 games haven’t always aged gracefully given the hardware limitations of its day, but Ocarina of Time remains incredibly playable and engrossing to this day. And whether you’re talking about the original classic or its tweaked and improved 3DS remake, Ocarina of Time will always remain the definitive Zelda experience to date for many fans. It took everything that worked in A Link to the Past and near flawlessly translated it to a three-dimensional realm. Which brings us to the game that narrowly beat out Ocarina of Time for our panel of Zelda rankers... -- Peer Schneider

2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Building off the vast top-down world of The Legend of Zelda’s Hyrule, A Link to the Past refined the scope by trading in a free-form adventure for an engaging storyline, a dense and populated world, and the grand reveal of an equally sprawling mirror dimension that was The Dark World. It’s a masterclass in adventuring game design, with an impeccably paced grand story, and a huge variety of puzzle-filled dungeons lorded over by some of the most imposing bosses in the series.

With a rip-roaring soundtrack and beautiful sprite graphics, A Link to the Past was the perfect package to immerse yourself in the land of Hyrule - featuring tons of quirky characters to help out, as well as secrets and heart pieces hiding in almost every screen. Each new item gained on your adventure practically begged to be experimented with to find new applications in delving through it’s expertly crafted dungeons or uncovering new areas on the overworld map. Even all these years later, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more quintessential Zelda experience. -- Brendan Graeber

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild reinvented a 30-year-old series in a way we rarely see. After Skyward Sword offered a slightly more linear, story-driven campaign than most fans were used to, Breath of the Wild readjusted dramatically in the opposite direction. Suddenly you could go anywhere and climb anything in any order you wanted, and goodness gracious was there a whole lot to choose from.

There are plenty of fair criticisms to throw at Breath of the Wild, with common ones being around its lack of Zelda’s traditional dungeons and items. But what’s truly impressive is how much it maintained the heart of a Zelda game even as it altered nearly every system around it. To a certain extent, Zelda has always been about exploration and choice, and Breath of the Wild simply leaned into and enabled those aspects of itself above all else, now making the world a place that would react to those choices as well. There’s just so much to see, so many people to meet and secrets to find hidden throughout this long-since devastated version of Hyrule.

But while the options available to you are enormous in scale, there’s a subtle restraint at play here as well, with Nintendo refraining from cramming your mini-map full of markers and waypoints like so many other games do. Indeed, Breath of the Wild didn’t just reinvent Zelda in this way, it shook up the entire open-world adventure genre by empowering you to make your own moments rather than giving you an exhaustive checklist to methodically go down. No one is telling you to climb that one particular hill in the distance, but if you want to do so you better believe a Korok will be waiting there to reward you for the effort.

There’s always been a bit of a distinction between 2D and 3D Zelda games, but Breath of the Wild and its successors may end up defining a third category for the series going forward. Whether or not you prefer the more structured nature of the mainline games before it, the impact Breath of the Wild has had on both Zelda itself and the industry as a whole is undeniable – and the endless slew of magical, natural discoveries it provides make it easy to see why. -- Tom Marks

And there you have it! Our picks for the top 10 Zelda Games. With Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 set to release sometime next year, we’re sure to be blown away and inspired by Link’s continued adventures in Hyrule. With 36 years under his shield, the young adventurer shows no signs of aging out of existence. Now let us know which of these Zelda titles stuck out the most to you, and which one was your entry point into the vast world of Legend of Zelda? We’d love to know. And for more on gaming, keep watching IGN.

There comes a time in every Minecrafter’s journey where the vanilla game gets a little samey, so why not spice up your gameplay with some exciting mods? As Fabric is a lightweight version of Minecraft allowing mods to be run on the client and server side, it is an excellent alternative to the well-known Forge mod loader. With several Fabric mods to choose from, we narrowed it down to 5 top Minecraft Fabric mods that fulfill performance, challenges and creativity.

See our shortlist below and let us know what Minecraft Mods for Fabric are your favorite right now.

1. Origins

Minecraft, the sandbox that it is, allows you to live out your fantasies. And whilst RP is possible in the base game, the Origins mod completely revolutionizes how each new playthrough of the game works. Like other RPGs, Origins allows you to pick a specific race to play as, which actively changes your gameplay experience in a fundamental way. With 11 options to choose from, you have plenty of choices to make each new world feel fresh and challenging.

Excellent examples are:

• The Arachnid, which allows you to climb any surface, meaning traversal is infinitely easier. As an Arachnid, you also passively apply cobweb to enemies as you fight them. The tradeoff is you have 3 fewer hearts than usual, and can only eat meat items, meaning any other kind of farming is useless.
• Another is the Merling, which completely changes the game, as you can breathe underwater, swim and mine super fast, and your vision is crystal clear whilst in liquid. The catch? You can’t breathe on land. This means if you want to travel on land, or underground, you’ll need to bring a water bucket.

Downloadable here.

2. Decorative Blocks

A smaller-scale mod, but one that enriches your building experience in a number of ways. Once installed, Decorative Blocks adds a second page to the menu in Creative (or new items to build in Survival) which focuses solely on blocks/entities that enable some decorative flair. From chandeliers to seats, from lattices to support shelves, these items can help to make your house feel more like a home and adds an extra dimension of creativity.

Downloadable here.

3. Dehydration

For those hungry for an even tougher survival experience in Minecraft, this Dehydration mod adds a Thirst meter to your HUD, where you’ll need to routinely have a drink from water sources (besides the oceans) to stay in good shape. Not only does this increase your immersion, but it also adds additional uses to more niche items like water bottles.

Downloadable here.

4. Oh The Biomes You’ll Go

Arguably the most sizeable mod on this list, and one of the largest you’ll see in all of Minecraft, Oh The Biomes You’ll Go introduces a staggering 75 brand new biomes to the game. And yes, these biomes bring new blocks, ores, items, and entities. If you think you’ve seen it all in Minecraft, this can be just the boost your play needs.

You’re also provided with a handy Biomepedia once you spawn into a new world, so you can keep track of the new biomes and items.

Downloadable here.

5. Mo’ Structures

Another wonderful way to recapture the sense of wonder in exploring the world of Minecraft, Mo’ Structures adds a significant amount of new buildings to each and every biome, with new Advancements to act as a cherry on top for people who might seek 100% completion.

These can be wonderful spots to make your own camp or have as accents to a nearby build. From ruins to restaurants, and farms to retirement spots for villagers, who knows what you might find as you journey around the world?

Downloadable here.

Samuel Heaney is a freelance writer with expertise in gaming guides and all things Minecraft. You can follow him on Twitter.

A Nintendo Direct Mini focused on third-party developers premiered today and there was news for almost everyone.

Fans who've waited a long time for Persona 5 to come to the Switch finally got their wish, and then some, while developers like Square Enix, Capcom, Ubisoft, and even Valve showed off some new games coming to the Nintendo console.

Here's everything announced during the Nintendo Direct Mini:

Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable on Switch

The recent Persona games, including Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable are finally coming to the Nintendo Switch. Following the news the popular JRPGs are coming to Xbox and PC, Atlus announced that Persona 5 Royal will be coming to the Switch on October 21, and Persona 4 Golden and P3P are coming soon. All three games will be in full HD and include both English and Japanese voice acting. But note, all three games will be sold separately.

Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Announced

The popular Mega Man Battle Network series is coming to Nintendo Switch in a new bundle that combines all ten games. The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection will also include a new art gallery and music library mode. The Collection will be coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2023 and will be sold in two parts if purchased digitally.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Gets Release Date

The sequel to Mario + Rabbids got a new look today in a gameplay overview trailer, which included the introduction of Bowser as a playable character. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will be released on Nintendo Switch on October 20, and there will be a deep-dive stream tomorrow with more information.

Portal: Companion Collection Comes to Switch Today

The critically-acclaimed Portal series are coming to the Nintendo Switch later today. Use the trusty Portal gun to solve inventive environmental puzzles trying to escaped the twisted Aperture Labs and its AI ruler GLaDOS. Portal 2 will still include local, split screen, and online multiplayer as well.

Nier: Automata The End of YoRHa Edition Coming to Switch

Nier: Automata is also making its way to the Nintendo Switch. This epic action-RPG has been lauded as one of the best RPGs in the past decade, set in the backdrop of an eternal war between androids and machines. The Nintendo Switch version will include all previously released DLC as well as Switch exclusive costumes when it's released on October 6.

Harvestella - New Game Announcement

Square Enix announced a new game that combines the developer's fantastical RPG worlds with the lifestyle-sim gameplay of Stardew Valley. Play as a villager and collect materials, grow a farm, and prevent the Quietus – the season of death – from destroying your idyllic life. Harvestella will be released on November 4.

Return to Monkey Island Coming to Consoles First on Switch

The new sequel to the Monkey Island series is coming to consoles first on the Nintendo Switch in 2022. As announced in the Nintendo Direct Mini, Ron Gilbert's newest Monkey Island puzzle game will see the return of fan-favorite characters and evolve the classic point-and-click gameplay.

Super Bomberman R 2 - New Game Announced

A new Bomberman game was announced for the Nintendo Switch. The new Castle Mode lets teams of up to 15 players blast their way to a treasure chest, while one player acts as a defense to try and stop them. You can also create and share custom battle stages. Super Bomberman R 2 is coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2023.

LIVE A LIVE - Demo Announced

The cult-classic RPG is coming to the Nintendo Switch with a new HD-2D look. While the full game will be released on July 22, a demo that includes three chapters will be released later today on the Nintendo eShop. These chapters include Imperial China, Twilight of Edo Japan, and The Distant Future.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak - Roadmap Revealed

Capcom detailed its roadmap for the upcoming expansion Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. Alongside the massive new expansion, Capcom revealed that a free title update featuring the Seething Bazelgeuse will be released in August 2022, with more free title updates coming in the fall, winter, and 2023.

Sonic Frontiers - Gameplay Trailer

The free-roaming Sonic Frontiers is also coming to the Nintendo Switch and we got a new look at its combat in today's Nintendo Direct Mini.

Minecraft Legends - New Trailer

The action-strategy spinoff Minecraft Legends is coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2023. Control a hero and team up with allies as you roam the Minecraft world which is under invasion by monsters.

Blanc

Play as a fawn and wolf cub who must work together to find their way home in the snow. Described as an emotional adventure, Blanc is completely text-free, so anyone can experience this story. Play with a friend in local or online co-op when Blanc is released in February 2023.

Disney Dreamlight Valley

A life-sim game set in a world filled with popular Disney and Pixar characters. Explore the world and build a life while farming, cooking, and interacting with famous characters. Disney Dreamlight Valley will be released on September 6 in Early Access.

Dragon Quest Treasures

The latest Dragon Quest spinoff will be released on the Nintendo Switch on December 9. Plays as Eric and Mia who can team up with monsters and use their treasure tracker to find buried loot.

Little Noah: Scion of Paradise

A new roguelite action game titled Little Noah: Scion of Paradise will be released later today on the Nintendo Switch. Play as Noah who along with her cat Zipper must explore ancient ruins, recruit allies, and fight enemies and bosses. But if you're defeated, you'll have to start over.

RPG Time: The Legend of Wright

Kenta is an aspiring game creator who is working on their first hand-drawn RPG, The Legend of Wright. Play through Kenta's notebook with over 200 pages with puzzles to solve, draw, and erase. RPG Time will be released on the Nintendo Switch on August 18.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

A surreal puzzle mystery game evoking the golden era of detective mystery novels. The puzzle adventure game is coming to consoles first on Nintendo Switch in 2023.

Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom

The famous Japanese mascot Doraemon stars in a new game where players can harvest crops, tend to animals, and use Doraemon's secret gadgets. Hang out with your friends and build a ranch in the Doraemon life-sim coming to Switch in 2022.

Pac-Man World Re-PAC

A remake of Pac-Man World is coming to Nintendo Switch on August 26. This 3D Pac-man game features the iconic character, who must rescue his family after they're taken to Ghost Island.

RAILGRADE

A rail management game in which players will build railway systems that can best transport cargo and keep the economy chugging. Railgrade will be released on Nintendo Switch this fall.

Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions

Play as a young boy who recently moved to Japan with no friends. Damien chooses to live in his imagination as the superhero Captain Velvet Meteor who teams up with his favorite manga characters to help escape a mysterious world. Captain Velvet will be released on the Nintendo Switch on July 28.

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

Capcom is finally re-releasing all 10 Mega Man Battle Network games in 2023, with a new collection for the Nintendo Switch called Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection.

As revealed in today's Nintendo Direct Mini, a new collection featuring 10 Mega Man Battle Network games are coming to the Nintendo Switch next year.

The collection includes:

• Mega Man Battle Network 1
• Mega Man Battle Network 2
• Mega Man Battle Network 3 Blue
• Mega Man Battle Network 3 White
• Mega Man Battle Network 4 Red Sun
• Mega Man Battle Network 4 Blue Moon
• Mega Man Battle Network 5 Team ProtoMan
• Mega Man Battle Network 5 Team Colonel
• Mega Man Battle Network 6 Cybeast Gregar
• Mega Man Battle Network 6 Cybeast Falzar

Mega Man Battle Network was first released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance. The series combines strategy and card-builder elements, seeing players control Mega Man on a 3x6 grid and utilize Battle Chips with different abilities and attacks to defeat monsters and bosses.

As part of the Legacy Collection, a gallery with over a thousand illustrations as well as a music mode featuring a library of the game's songs will be added to the conclusion. The package will also be split digitally as Legacy Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

The series is beloved by tactics fans and Capcom began releasing multiple versions with unique bosses and Battle Chips starting with Battle Network 3 in 2002. The games were re-released digitally for the Wii U, but remain largely absent from modern digital stores.

There hasn't been a Mega Man Battle Network game since 2006, though the series did generate several video game spinoffs and an anime series called MegaMan NT Warrior.

For everything else from today's Nintendo Direct Mini check out IGN's recap here.

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

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research organization founded by Elon Musk, has trained an AI to play Minecraft almost as well as humans. It only took about 70,000 hours of binging YouTube videos.

A blog post detailing the feat reveals that researchers used a technique called "Video PreTraining (VPT)" to train a neural network on how to play Minecraft. This involved gathering 2,000 hours of sample dataset from actual humans playing Minecraft to include not just the raw video, but also exact keypresses and mouse movements.

From there, the researchers trained an inverse dynamics model (IDM) to predict the future action being taken at each step in the videos. Finally, the "trained" IDM was shown 70,000 hours of Minecraft YouTube videos. Afterwards, the model was able to copy the behaviors from the videos including chopping down trees to collect logs and turning the logs into an actual crafting table.

That's not all the AI model was capable of doing. It could also perform other complex activities such as swimming, hunting, and eating. The AI could even do "pillar jumping" which involves keeping yourself in the air by repeatedly jumping and placing a block underneath yourself.

The researchers were able to create a "foundation model" based on the data given to the AI and from there fine-tune behaviors or learn new one. The AI was noted to be able to perform early game skills such as building wooden and stone tools, raiding chests, and even build shelters.

The more hours of data that are fed into the foundation model, the more able the AI was. The researchers even used "reinforcement learning" to "reward" the AI for performing especially hard challenges. The reward system was used so effectively, the model was able to successfully craft a diamond pickaxe, a task that requires a long sequence of tasks.

This is a fascinating application of machine learning and shows how gaming can be used to train computers. Perhaps the AI model used may even be incorporated into games themselves to provide a more natural challenge akin to playing against human opponents.

The AI could also improve upon the annoying boss battles in the new Outriders Worldslayer campaign. In many ways, the new expansion for Outriders is just what fans want, but also keeps some of the less well-received aspects of the original game.

David Matthews is a freelance writer specializing in consumer tech and gaming. He also strongly believes that sugar does not go in grits. Follow him on Twitter @packetstealer

When it comes to Minecraft, at some point you'll likely ask yourself "what on earth do I build?" Perhaps you’ve booted up Minecraft and created a new world after being away from the game for a while. Or, maybe you're feeling bored right now, and that happens too! In the end, the equivalent of writer's block slaps you in the face, and you need some creative ideas for your next Minecraft build. (Need to start with a guide first? We have you covered with the Minecraft Building guide).

Never fear, as we’ve compiled a shortlist of the best things to dedicate your time and build talent to with these fun Minecraft build ideas:

15 Top Minecraft Building Ideas

1. House

Tried and true, a house is a necessity for almost every Minecraft player. We’ve all started with the hole in the dirt, or the tiny wooden box for the first couple of nights. But rather than settle for a bland, flat box for a home, why not strive to create something that reflects you and your passions? If you want to replicate a house from your favorite media, then you can use pictures for reference.

If you want to do something wholly unique, throw out conventional structures and do something weird, cute, quirky, or cool. With Minecraft being the ultimate creativity tool, don’t limit yourself to the bare essentials of survival within four walls.

2. Castle

Castles can be a grand spectacle if done right and can be relatively easy to put together if you plan out the design ahead of time. Begin by laying out the floorplan, as well as the perimeter wall that will surround your castle. Maybe add in a moat and drawbridge for an extra sense of flair.

Consider which angle of fantasy you are aiming for, and that will dictate the blocks you use, color schemes, and decoration aesthetics. As with any Minecraft build, the more forethought you give to a build, the better it will turn out, and the more likely you will be to follow through and have the determination to complete it.

3. Boat

A good accompaniment to a castle, or as a standalone build depending on the scale, constructing a seaworthy vessel can be a challenging but fulfilling experience. Due to the limitations of Minecraft, a boat has less functionality than other structures, however, if you’re wanting to have a home base that isn’t just a box, building a boat as your HQ can reinvigorate your playthrough.

4. City

The ultimate test of perseverance and determination, but also the challenge that offers the biggest dopamine hit as the project starts coming together; the city build. Sure, you don't have to create something this legendary right away, but for collaborative Minecraft builds that are quite legendary, we had to throw in this GoT city for inspiration.

The further you push the scale and detail, the harder it will be, so compartmentalize. Don’t worry about furnishing the insides of each and every building as you go; you can put a sign down or make a mental note of what you’d like each building to be.

5. Animal Farm

Another build you are likely to do naturally if you’re playing in Survival; there are various ways to create an animal farm. The most common way is to lure a pair of the same animal to a spot near your home and pen them in. Rinse and repeat for various different mobs, and you’ll have an infinite supply of meat, eggs, wool, milk, etc.

If you’re wanting to take your animal farming to the next level, you can produce intricate systems, involving Redstone or not, that can automatically farm animal resources for you. This will of course almost always require you to lure the animals in the first place, but if you’re a particularly busy bee you can ensure valuable materials are continually being gathered even when you’re off exploring.

6. Treehouse

Treehouses are a wonderful way of spicing up your Minecraft lifestyle. Whilst you can incorporate any tree in any biome into your home, the obvious best choice here is a Jungle biome, simply due to the height (and therefore real estate) you can produce without too much obstruction or limitation.

Whether you’re going for an inconspicuous shack or an interconnected series of huts, there are many Treehouse ideas to get you started on your new life high in the sky.

7. Bridge

A seemingly trivial affair, right? Just place some blocks over a bit of water. Why not make it more exciting though? If your surrounding builds have a particular theme, why not style the bridge to fit in with that aesthetic you're going for?

Another option is to start a project based on a real-world bridge, be it Golden Gate or London Bridge, there are countless options that you can choose your design from. These types of builds can be particularly effective when attached to City builds, or for people who are fans of LEGO Architecture. What’s better than having both a physical and digital model of a famous landmark?

8. Garden

An often-overlooked element that can be incorporated into each and every house you build, the garden in Minecraft is an accentuating feature that can really enhance the aesthetics of your home. It also acts as an excellent reason for you to collect the various plants and flowers you encounter, as well as saplings for trees you’ve found in various biomes should the size of your garden permit them.

You can take this idea one step further by making a humongous garden to walk through, acting as a flower show or park for you (and any multiplayer friends) to enjoy and relax within. Also see: Where to Find Flowers in Minecraft.

9. Fountain

Another easy addition that can enhance other elements of your builds, throw down some fancy stone and dig a small hole - but no swimming! If you’re wanting to go big, design a small statue to sit atop the fountain, maybe even incorporate some Redstone to make your water flow intermittently through spouts to make it as realistic as possible.

If you want an easier approach to having a showpiece atop your new fountain, you can use an Armor Stand with some shiny armor (and pose it if you’re in Bedrock Edition).

10. Library

A build that is particularly easy to assemble if you’re in Creative is a Library, as it can be as big or small as you wish. All you need is an outer shell of a building, shaped and designed however you wish, and an absurd number of Bookshelf blocks!

Whilst you may not consider it at first, like many other projects, you can model the library you build off of a property that is near and dear to you - your local library. Alternatively, if you want to make the jump into fiction, consider building the dusty library of Hogwarts, Belle’s library from Beauty and the Beast, or the Jedi Archives if you’re wanting to stretch your creative abilities. (Who remembers the Uncensored Library Minecraft map from 2020?)

11. Landmarks

An awe-inspiring yet also functional build idea, you can choose an open area to build a monument, be it from fiction or nonfiction. Attempt to recreate the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben, the Space Needle, Mount Rushmore… the list goes on.

If a real-world landmark doesn’t whet your appetite, why not build a statue of your favorite superhero? Large-scale builds like this not only result in impressive art pieces, but they can double up as literal landmarks so that you can more easily navigate your Minecraft world if you don’t have other tools at your disposal. (Also see: 11 Incredible Skyrim-Inspired Minecraft builds, top Mario Minecraft builds and these amazing Harry Potter Minecraft builds). Besides, it would be pretty difficult to lose your house if a gigantic Eye of Sauron loomed over it.

12. Evil Lair

Why not let out your more conspicuous side and give in to the theoretical dark side? If any of the previous entries haven’t been to your liking when it comes to creating your forever home, aim for something villainous. The juxtaposition with Minecraft’s mostly bright and blissful nature provides a refreshing nature to your gameplay, and by default demands a different approach to the building process. Do you create secret passageways hidden by paintings? Tripwires and secret traps to catch those entering your base unaware? The sky is the limit when it comes to your dastardly schemes.

You can choose to base yourself in the Nether if you wish, or you can bring some of the Nether to you and construct a dark fortress or underground lair that intimidates any and all who come near it (even if you’re playing in Single player).

13. Aquarium

Be it large or small, an aquarium always manages to become a huge draw of attention, bringing people from far and wide to see exotic fish and marine creatures. With the ever-expanding list of water-dwelling mobs in Minecraft, there hasn’t been a better time than now to work on constructing an aquarium of your own.

From a small fish tank inside your home to a major building in and of itself, the options are limitless. As you enter more endgame content and can explore underwater areas more comfortably, you’ll have more and more opportunities to meet (and subsequently catch) different fish that you can then add as your latest exhibit on display.

14. Museum

A particularly fun project if you’re aiming to RP a lot in your world, a museum can not only act as a storage facility, but also a trip down memory lane. Your first enchanted pickaxe that’s this close to breaking, your first diamond, the remains of a beloved animal lost all too soon; these gems can all live here.

With materials like the more recently added Bone blocks, you can also recreate fossils and skeletons to put on display, and precious pieces of artwork to admire.

15. Pixel Art

Sticking with the idea of art pieces on display, something that is entirely plausible for each and every Minecraft player, regardless of skill level, is pixel art. The blocky pixel-based art style of default Minecraft lends itself excellently to projects like this. Be it your favorite anime character, a shot from a beloved film, or the spiciest of memes, the only limit is your imagination.

In Summary:

We hope you enjoyed these top Minecraft building ideas to help get your creative juices flowing. From simple, essential builds to fun artsy builds; from Survival to Creative, there's something for every Minecraft fan on this list.

What to Make First in Minecraft

Whilst all of these build ideas are wonderful, should you be playing in Survival, you’ll still need some of the essentials to ensure that you can survive long enough to see these magnificent ideas come to life. Here is our shortlist for the most important things to build first in your new world:

• Crafting Table
• Tools
• Shelter
• Enchantment Table

What are some of your favorite things to build in Minecraft? Let us know in the comments.

Samuel Heaney is a freelance writer with expertise in gaming guides and all things Minecraft. You can follow him on Twitter.

Minecraft is an infinite sandbox in which you can create just about anything you want. As far as video games go, it's more than exciting: it's downright arresting. Put all of your creative powers to good use erecting a huge building, survive the night by staving off monsters, or fly around the world to check out what others have built. There's nothing quite like it.

So if you've been looking for a way to bring a little of that blocky magic into the real world, good news! There are plenty of fun figures, models, and playsets based on the Minecraft world that you can ditch the controller for. Unsure which ones are worth spending your hard-earned cash on? Below, we've highlighted the best Minecraft toys for kids and adults alike.

TL;DR – These are the Best Minecraft Toys

• Minecraft Transforming Diamond Sword/Pickaxe
• LEGO Minecraft The Abandoned Mine Playset
• Minecraft Paint Your Own Figurines Arts and Crafts Set
• NERF Minecraft Pillager's Crossbow
• Minecraft Transforming Turtle Hideout
• Minecraft Survival Pack
• NERF MicroShots Minecraft Ghast Mini Blaster
• Minecraft Enchanted Bow with Potion-Tip Arrow
• LEGO Minecraft The First Adventure Playset
• UNO Minecraft Card Game

Minecraft Transforming Diamond Sword/Pickaxe

This diamond sword/pickaxe replica looks just like the real thing, straight out of Minecraft. It’s perfect for swinging around and imagining it’s slicing through creepy spiders or skeleton archers who dare enter your humble abode. And if imaginative play isn’t on the menu, it makes for a great addition to any Minecraft fan’s collection.

LEGO Minecraft The Abandoned Mine Playset

What awaits below in that spooky abandoned mine? Find out with this detailed playset, which comes with everything you need to go spelunking. If you’re lucky, you’ll find diamond or obsidian down there. If you’re unlucky, you might just hit lava. The fun is all about never knowing what you’ll find when you go digging in Minecraft.

Minecraft Paint Your Own Figurines Arts and Crafts Set

Minecraft is all about creating anything you can imagine. This arts and crafts set lets you design your own figure. Paint it any color you’d like, draw your favorite prints, and transform it into the creature of your liking. Then use it with all of your Minecraft playsets to create a blocky new world in the real one, one that you can sculpt with your hands.

NERF Minecraft Pillager's Crossbow

Using a crossbow in Minecraft feels cool, and it’s one of the most interesting weapons in the game. Bring your own home and “practice” with it with this detailed NERF model. And if you round up a friend with another NERF gun, you can hold a few “fights” that won’t be unlike what you might see in-game.

Minecraft Transforming Turtle Hideout

Is it a turtle? Or is it a hideout? This Minecraft transforming playset is a large turtle on the outside, but it’s a different world entirely within. It comes with everything you need to go on your own Minecraft adventures outside of the game, complete with a place to stay when the sun goes down and the baddies come out.

Minecraft Survival Pack

When it comes to surviving in Minecraft, you need a few important things: a workbench, a bed, a weapon, and a chest to keep all of your belongings. The Minecraft Survival Pack comes with a Steve figure, raring to go, and everything he needs to get started in-game and in the real world.

NERF MicroShots Minecraft Ghast Mini Blaster

The Ghast in Minecraft are quite creepy. They become even creepier when turned into “weapons” you can use in play fights. Fire off rubber NERF darts with this Ghast-shaped blaster that you can also add to your selection of Minecraft-inspired NERF toys.

Minecraft Enchanted Bow with Potion-Tip Arrow

Creating your first bow in Minecraft is something of a rite of passage. A potion-tip arrow makes it especially important. Get your own and bring it into the real world with this enchanted bow replica, which would look great in your hands during a Minecraft LARP or on your wall as a conversation piece.

LEGO Minecraft The First Adventure Playset

Everyone remembers the first time they set out on an adventure in Minecraft. This playset captures that feeling perfectly, complete with evil skeletons that won’t let you build in peace. It’s got everything you need to pretend you’re a Minecraft neophyte, starting from the very beginning again.

UNO Minecraft Card Game

Who doesn’t love a game of classic UNO? This version is branded with your favorite Minecraft designs, so you can meld two great worlds together: the realms of video games and board games.

After delving into dungeon crawling and narrative adventures, Minecraft is getting another unexpected spin-off - this time becoming an action strategy game. The new game is coming in 2023.

Revealed at today's Xbox-Bethesda showcase, Minecraft Legends is an action strategy game that combines real-time strategy elements into the world of Minecraft.

In a brief gameplay video, a character on a horse is seen leading an army of minions into battle with the ability to command the legion in real-time.

As one of the world's biggest ever games, Minecraft needs little introduction. It success has led to multiple spin-offs, from Telltale's Minecraft: Story Mode – a narrative adventure starring Patton Oswalt – to Minecraft Dungeons, a Diablo-like dungeon crawler we said was a little shallow, but "so damn charming, and so fun, it's hard to fault it for going the safe route."

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

Finally, after three years of yearning for more Hollow Knight, Silksong appeared at today's Xbox + Bethesda Showcase, but it does not yet have a release date. However, the trailer did confirm that it will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass when it arrives on Xbox and PC.

In the new trailer shown today and the first proper look at Team Cherry's insectoid Metroidvania we've gotten since 2019, with rapidfire shots of the main character, Hornet, battling Hollow Knight's familiar insectoid enemies, jumping around lava and more.

Hollow Knight: Silksong was first unexpectedly announced in February 2019 as the sequel to Hollow Knight, an acclaimed indie Metroidvania taking place in a kingdom of sentient bugs. Silksong follows the character of Hornet, an enemy-turned-ally from the original game, who is captured in the game's opening and taken far away from the kingdom that Hollow Knight takes place in.

We tried the game back at E3 2019, and found it to be "unmistakably Hollow Knight, but with the speed cranked up to 11." We called the original Hollow Knight "amazing" in our 9.4/10 review.

The announcement was part of the Xbox + Bethesda Showcase, which includes a closer look at Redfall and more.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Resident Evil 4 Remake was only revealed during yesterday's PlayStation State of Play, but fans have already dissected the trailer and found potential connections to Resident Evil Village.

Perhaps the most obvious link between the two games was spotted by kaijumediajames on Reddit (below), who showed the similarities between a carving in the new trailer with Mother Miranda's cult symbol from Village.

The following paragraphs contain minor spoilers for Resident Evil Village.

The two images are definitely similar, and given that Resident Evil 4 takes place more than 20 years before Village, and therefore before the death of antagonist Mother Miranda, it's definitely possible that Capcom could link the two games (especially since we know they're "reimagining" the remake's story).

Further connections were noted by lejitness on Reddit who compared an image of (probable) antagonist Saddler in the trailer with one of Mother Miranda's forms from Village (below). Interestingly, this scene appeared directly after the cult symbol appeared on screen.

The post also points out that Plagas - the parasites which turn the villagers in Resident Evil 4 nasty - are also quite similar in concept to the Caduo from Village, another parasite that Mother Miranda researches and infects her own set of villagers with while trying to revive her daughter.

It's never clearly explained how Saddler learned of the Plagas in the original village, so the fan theory emanating from the Reddit post is that Mother Miranda, while researching parasites in Europe, turned Saddler onto this species and therefore triggered the events of Resident Evil 4.

Village was used as a connection point for several parts of Resident Evil lore, essentially explaining the origins of Umbrella and the story that sparked the entire franchise. The Duke from Village also refers to Resident Evil 4's merchant as his old friend.

Fans will just have to wait and see if these theories turn out to be correct but they have plenty of time to continue speculating as the remake isn't expected to release until March 24, 2023.

We don't know much else about the game at the moment, except that Leon's jacket is a real-world thing that you can buy for $1,500. We did receive other Resident Evil news at PlayStation's State of Play, however, as VR support was announced for Village.

For more on that and everything else announced during the showcase, check out IGN's round-up of the event.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Capcom has officially announced the long-rumored remake of Resident Evil 4, via Sony's State of Play today.

What's more, we got a pretty solid look at the remake via a detailed cinematic trailer captured on PS5, and a release date of March 24, 2023. We also learned that there's PSVR2 content in development, though no further details were shared.

Suggestion of a Resident Evil 4 remake came as part of a Capcom leak in late 2020; a data breach reportedly discovered references to an RE4 remake among other future Capcom projects. The latest reports from the rumour mill suggest that the project was subject to a "partial reboot" within Capcom due to internal disagreements over its direction.

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A brand-new PlayStation State of Play is upon us and Sony is ready to present updates from its third-party partners and "a sneak peak at several games in development for PlayStation VR2." Will there be even more surprises? We won't have long to find out.

We will be updating this page live with all the biggest announcements from the State of Play, so stay tuned to ensure you don't miss a thing!

Resident Evil 4 Remake Officially Announced

Resident Evil 4 Remake is officially on its way and it will be released on March 24, 2023. There will also be content for PSVR 2 owners.

Resident Evil Village Is Getting the VR Treatment

Resident Evil Village will soon allow players to visit its world in a brand new way as it will be made available for PlayStation VR 2.

Street Fighter 6's First Gameplay Trailer Was Shown Alongside a 2023 Release Window

Street Fighter 6 will brawl its way to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation in 2023. While that may be a bit of a wait for some, Capcom has provided fans with an extended look at gameplay for the latest entry in the legendary fighting franchise.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2: Retribution Announced for PlayStation VR2

Get ready to face off against the undead when The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2: Retribution arrives on PSVR2 in the future.

Horizon: Call of the Mountain Will Will Let You Experience Horizon in a Whole New Way

The latest State of Play gave us an extended look at Horizon: Call of the Mountain's gameplay, which is coming exclusively to PSVR2.

Horizon: Forbidden West Gets a Major Update that Includes New Game+

A new major update for Horizon: Forbidden West will add Performance Mode, Transmog, a way to reset skills, Ultra Hard Difficulty, New Game+, New Weapons+ Trophies, and more. Oh, and it's out now!

The Callisto Protocol's Gameplay Trailer Confirms a December 2022 Release Date

A new gameplay trailer for The Callisto Protocol has not only shown off its horrifying world, but it has also confirmed that the game will be released on December 2, 2022.

Stray Gets a Release Date Alongside the Announcement It Will Be Free for PS+ Premium and Deluxe Members

Stray, the much-anticipated game starring an adorbale cat, will be released on July 19, 2022. Furthermore, it will be free for those subscribed to the new Extra and Premium tiers of the new PlayStation Plus.

Spider-Man Remastered Will Swings to PC on August 12, 2022

While fans may have to wait a bit to play Marvel's Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac Games, a new version of Spider-Man Remastered will be swinging its way to PC on August 12, 2022, to help with that wait.

No Man's Sky Will Fly Its Way to PlayStation VR2

No Man's Sky's surprises continue as Hello Games confirmed it will be making a version of PlayStation VR2.

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Microsoft has announced that June 2022's Games with Gold are Aven Colony, Project Highrise: Architect's Edition, Super Meat Boy, and Raskulls.

As revealed on Xbox Wire, the four Games with Gold offerings will be available to anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, with Aven Colony and Super Meat Boy available starting on May 1.

Aven Colony is a single player city-building game set on an alien planet called Aven Prime, with the player tasked with building humanity's first extrasolar settlement. First released on PC and later reworked for consoles, the settlers will need fed, watered, and generally kept happy, even amid the bizarre conditions and landscapes of Aven Prime.

Also available on June 1 but only until June 15 is Super Meat Boy, a chaotic platformer known best for its fast-paced and addictive gameplay loop. IGN said it was amazing in our review 9/10 review, as "Super Meat Boy is one of the best modern platformers around. It's infuriating, exasperating, and arduous, but it's also delightful, thrilling, and hilarious."

Available later in the month on June 16 is Project Highrise: Architect's Edition, a 2D tower-building simulation game that tasks players with building revolutionary skyscrapers hosting tons of moving pieces. The Architect's Editions includes the base game plus five expansions taking the game all over the world to Las Vegas, London, Miami, and more.

In our 7/10 review of the base game, IGN said Project Highrise is "a compelling management sim with strong systems, but few customization options make for a visually bland experience."

Last but not least, Raskulls is available on the same day but only available for two weeks until June 30. This 2010 puzzle game was originally released on the Xbox 360 and features an extensive single player campaign alongside multiplayer modes. Players must work their way through each level by smashing the environment and reaching the end in the most efficient way possible.

Be sure to redeem May 2022's Xbox Games with Gold before they leave the service, which includes Yoku's Island Express, The Inner World - The Last Wind Monk, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, and Viva Piñata: Party Animals.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Since its premiere on the GameCube in 2005, Mario Strikers has been a favorite of many Mario sports fans, thanks in large part to its non-stop action. Its successful formula was improved in Mario Strikers Charged just two years later on the Wii. And then…nothing. It's now been 15 years since the last time we got Mario and his friends on the field for a friendly (or not-so-friendly) soccer match. My demo session left me intrigued by the updates and excited to take it for a spin myself, but in the back of my head, I had the looming question: Is Mario Strikers Battle League playing it too safe?

I recently watched 45 minutes of Mario Strikers Battle League ahead of next month's release, played by members of the Nintendo Treehouse. The session showed us two offline modes: Quick battles and Cup battles. The latter features multiple double elimination tournaments of increasing difficulty. Mario Strikers Battle League will also support up to 8 players offline versus on one console and four-player co-op in the offline cup battles.

For those wondering about what it offers beyond the offline content, we also got to check out the online Striker club mode. Strikers club is Battle Leagues online mode where players can create or join football clubs and compete against others in seasons to earn rewards and customizations. Matches played online will earn or lose your club points and place you in various tiers that will determine your prizes at the end of each season.

Battle League still utilizes one character to assume the captain's role, showcasing their unique styles at the beginning and end of matches. While you were only able to field one main character as a captain in the previous Mario Strikers entries – and the remainder of the team would consist of Toads, Birdos, Koopas, and more – this time around, you select your team from any remaining characters in the roster in any way you see fit, minus the goalie.

The roster during our preview only included ten characters, most of which everyone will expect. It was shocking that it appeared to have a smaller roster for a team game where you use four characters, especially compared to Switch's other Mario sports games. Both Mario Tennis Aces and Mario Golf: Super Rush launched with 16 characters. Granted, it's arguably tougher to balance a game and its characters when more of them are on the field at once, but it did feel like Strikers is playing it safe. Thankfully both tennis and golf have a solid track record of adding new characters post-launch, so here's hoping that Mario Strikers Battle League will follow suit in the same way.

I selected Waluigi as my captain for my demo, with Peach, Rosalina, and Wario filling up the remaining slots. Each character has a unique special called a Hyper Strike that aligns with their personality. Waluigi twirls with his iconic rose, and his particular shot spawn thorns that block others from passing, while Rosalina kicks the ball around a planet before it returns covered in ice, freezing all caught in its path. Hyper Strike goals can sometimes decide a match as they have the potential of being an unblockable two-point goal. However, teams will be fighting to obtain hyper strike balls that will spawn throughout the match to enable these Hyper Strike shots. This power-up lasts a short while or until the player attempts a Hyper Strike, but opponents can prematurely end the power-up by interrupting the shot with a well-timed tackle.

Speaking of tackling opponents, just like in the previous installments, attacking players who don't have the ball will give that team a free item to use and potentially gain a significant advantage. Items include green and red shells, banana peels, bob-ombs, stars, etc. And don't worry if your opponent refuses to tackle your team unless they have the ball, as items will still randomly spawn on the field regularly throughout the match. If you've played Mario Kart or any other Mario sports game, you can imagine how powerful an item at the right time can be for turning a match around.

Meanwhile, Mario Strikers Battle League seems to have leveled up its customization options. Besides choosing the pattern or colors for your jersey or kit, you can also equip stat-boosting gear to enhance your character's stats. Gear sets like the muscle set increase your strength at the cost of shooting, whereas equipping the complete cannon set can help make even the worst shooters an ace scorer.

Additionally, you can personalize your stadium to your liking. There are multiple themes for your stadium, field, and other fixtures. Depending on your preference, the fences and goalposts we see in soccer swap from the boring goalposts to pipes, blocks, and other Mario-themed objects. I got to see five themes in the preview, Mushroom Hill, Jungle Retreat, Royal Castle, Lava Castle, and a Spooky Mansion theme that, as you might expect, is heavily inspired by Luigi's Mansion. Each of these also has multiple variations to unlock and customize to help differentiate your stadium's theme from your opponents. The coolest part is that when you face off against an opponent, your stadium merges with theirs, so both get to show teams get to show off their flair.

Although I couldn't play Mario Strikers Battle League myself, the preview was enough of a taste of what to expect when it launches. I'm excited about the ability to build my dream team of Mario characters and challenge others around the world. And while Nintendo wouldn't confirm anything specific, they did mention that there are plans for additional content down the line. Hopefully, we will see other popular characters join the roster after it launches for the Switch on June 10, along with their matching customization options.