Month: May 2020

So you’ve waited 13 years for another Half-Life game and now your adventures with Alyx have finally come to an end. Don’t leave your headset in the corner to gather a year’s worth of dust, though. Although Half-Life: Alyx sets the bar for what VR games can be, there are still plenty of other fantastic VR titles available for you to dive into. Whether you want a well-acted story, intense gunplay, or a whiff of Valve’s humour, here are six fantastic VR games to play after Half-Life: Alyx.

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Boneworks

With its headcrab-style enemies, crowbar-wielding action, and copious amounts of environmental interactions, Boneworks has a lot in common with Half-Life: Alyx. This ambitious VR playground sees you fighting through a deadly army of rogue robot soldiers while you explore a dystopian virtual world known as MythOS.

Although Boneworks doesn’t quite reach the narrative highs and polish you’d find in a Valve game, its realistic implementation of physics might just be what you’re after for a second helping of Valve-style VR. But, unlike Alyx’s small offering of firearms, Boneworks has a plethora of weapons, including an MP5, the humble frying pan, a katana, and even… a balloon gun?

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The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

Before playing Half-Life: Alyx I would never have described Half-Life as scary. Sure, those zombies might be a tad bit creepy, but they’re nothing a bit of bunny hopping and a magnum bullet couldn’t take care of. In VR it’s another story. Experiencing bloody, ripped-open chests and terrifyingly long claws is a haunting experience up close, and that’s something Alyx shares with The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.

Aside from the obvious undead connection, Saints & Sinners stands alongside Alyx in terms of offering an immersive atmosphere that’s as scary as the darkest corners of City 17. You play as the Tourist, a survivor in search of a potentially limitless supply of life-saving goods hidden deep within the post-apocalyptic remains of New Orleans. On the surface this might seem like your standard zombie affair with survival mechanics, looting, and find-and-fetch quests. But Saints & Sinners surprisingly has a lot more in common with Deus Ex, as choices made within the story can affect other characters, factions, and even the ending.

Most importantly, though, Saints & Sinners might just be the best zombie killing experience VR has to offer. The feeling of swiftly sinking a screwdriver deep into a walker’s brain is deeply satisfying and provides the best ‘squish’ sound effect I’ve ever heard.

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Blade & Sorcery

Half-Life: Alyx does a great job of establishing you as an actual person within the confined walls of City 17. Everything feels intuitive, whether you are simply pushing open a door or fighting off an angry headcrab. Blade & Sorcery is similar in that it benefits from a number of little details that together make a big difference to the experience.

This medieval fantasy sandbox offers no quests, characters, or story to follow, but instead provides the ultimate fighting playground. We’re talking immersive physics-driven melee combat, combined with ranged and magic-based attacks. You can pick from a large array of weapons such as daggers, spears, greatswords, and axes. And if you’re into modding, even a lightsaber or two.

As chaotic as this all sounds, Blade & Sorcery still encourages you to be strategic and creative. With a handful of different enemy types to take on, such as archers, wizards, and shieldmen, you’ll find yourself trying out many different methods of attack. Should you use a rapier to pierce through an enemy’s shield, or distract him with your lightning spell before you dive in for the kill? Much like Half-Life: Alyx, each weapon has its own weight and style of approach. If you’re thinking about one-handing a Greatsword for example, then… well, good luck with that.

If you’re after a fluid, moddable, and downright fun fighting experience, then Blade & Sorcery is the game to check out.

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Stormland

An element of Half-Life: Alyx that often goes unnoticed is how smooth its movement is. Valve clearly put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that players of all preferences would be comfortable. But unlike previous Half-Life games, Alyx is pretty slow, and so that lack of fast flowing movement may have left some feeling a bit nostalgic for Gordon’s swifter strides.

If you’re one of those people, Stormland‘s fluid movement around its immersive, sprawling world is something worth experiencing. This virtual jungle gym of jumping, climbing, and gliding is as an absolute pleasure to play, especially with a friend in co-op. As you explore this vast alien world, you’ll be blasting your way through enemy robots, sneaking around outposts, and causing an untold amount of havoc as you search for your missing friends.

Much like Half-Life: Alyx, Stormland soars high with its fantastic movement system, and as a great showcase for what VR can offer.

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Lone Echo

While Half-Life: Alyx will undoubtedly remain as a shining example of how far VR has come since its revitalised return in 2016, just a year into VR’s resurgence saw another star rise above the rest in the form of Lone Echo. You take control of Jack, a robot working on a mining station orbiting Saturn, and to everyone’s surprise something has gone wrong. Alongside the ship’s captain, you must take on the dangerous task of investigating what could have caused all this chaos.

Much like Alyx, Lone Echo excels in delivering not only a well acted story, but an interesting and believable one too. So if you’ve got your space legs ready and set for an adventure, then this immersive zero-gravity story is exactly what you’re looking for.

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Budget Cuts

Even though Half-Life: Alyx sees you take on vicious aliens and disgusting zombies, Valve’s wry sense of humour still shines through. With Portal writers Jay Pinkerton and Erik Wolpaw at the helm, it’s no surprise that the witty banter between Alyx and newcomer Russel is fantastic. For those looking to step into a world filled with dry humour and deadly corporations akin to Portal, you need look no further than Budget Cuts.

Set in the dystopian hell of a depressed robot-filled corporate office, you’ll find yourself sneaking, stabbing, and teleporting your way through in order to escape. But unlike in Alyx, where you’re more than well equipped to handle any violent situation, patience is key in Budget Cuts as these weapon-toting robots won’t hold back.

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So those are six virtual reality games we reckon you should try out after playing Half-Life: Alyx. What other fantastic VR titles would you suggest giving a go? Let us know in the comments below! And if you’re looking to get into VR, why not look at our guide to the best VR headsets.

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Jesse Gomez is a VR-loving video producer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter. 

Given CD Projekt Red’s past works with The Witcher and its sequels, it should come as no surprise that the studio is continuing to push the limits of ratings boards with its latest game, Cyberpunk 2077.

The ESRB has released its rating of the upcoming cyberpunk RPG, granting it a “Mature” rating with a very descriptive breakdown. The blurb mentions the game’s in-depth character creator which, aside from letting you define the standard anatomical attributes, lets you go as far as determining the definition of your character’s genitalia. The rating continues by detailing several scenes with strong sexual content, all of which will be in a first-person view.

The rating also mentions several scenes in the game depicting excessive violence, including one instance where “players assist a character by hammering nails through his hands and feet.” There are also notes on numerous fictitious drugs and alcoholic drinks that are available for purchase in the game, all of which will induce some effect on your character. You can read the full ERSB rating excerpt below.

CD Projekt Red is confident that Cyberpunk 2077 will launch on September 27 despite the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, and are planning to show the game off in June during what would’ve been E3 week. Cyberpunk 2077 will launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and has already been confirmed for Xbox Series X as part of its Smart Delivery program.

Cyberpunk 2077 Rating Summary

This is a first-person RPG/shooter in which players assume the role of a mercenary named V trying to make their way through the open-world of Night City. Players can explore futuristic locations, interact with citizens, perform missions, and engage in combat to complete various objectives within a storyline. Characters use handguns, machine guns, rifles, and explosives during frenetic firefights with humans and cybernetically enhanced enemies; players can also use melee weapons (e.g., wrist-mounted blades, enhanced limbs) to stab enemies and, in some cases, dismember them. Combat is frenetic, with frequent gunfire, cries of pain, explosions, and blood-splatter effects. Some locations depict mutilated corpses with open chest cavities and/or exposed organs/entrails. During one quest, players assist a character by hammering nails through his hands and feet; screaming sounds and blood effects accompany the scene. The game contains nudity and sexual material: Players can select a gender and customize their character; customization can include depictions of breasts, buttocks, and genitalia, as well as various sizes and combinations of genitals. Players can encounter events where they have the option to engage in sexual activities with other main characters or prostitutes—these brief sex scenes (from a first-person perspective) depict partially nude characters moaning suggestively while moving through various positions. Some scenes contain brief depictions of thrusting motions; other scenes depict a character’s head moving towards a partner’s crotch. The game contains frequent depictions and references to fictional drugs, including characters taking puffs/hits from a state-altering inhaler/stimulant; an animated billboard ad depicts a man snorting speed. Some sequences allow the player to drink alcoholic beverages repeatedly until the screen distorts; player’s character can also drive cars while drunk. The words “f**k” and “c*nt” appear in the dialogue.

Anyone with even a passing interest in comics will want to check this out: ComiXology is giving away a bunch of digital Marvel collections for free, with no strings attached. Add them to your cart, check out, and they’re yours to download and read forever. These are some pretty great collections, including Spider-Man’s origin story from 1963, Sam Wilson’s attempt to fill the shoes of Captain America, Secret Invasion, and more.

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By the way, if you’re into free comics, you’ll also want to take advantage of the expanded 60-day free trial of ComiXology Unlimited if you haven’t already. It’s a subscription service that grants you instant and unlimited access to over 25,000 comics, graphic novels, and manga. You can cancel before your first bill arrives and pay nothing at all. If you choose to keep going, it’s only $5.99 a month afterwards. Anyway, onto the free books.

Free Marvel Comics

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If you do try ComiXology Unlimited and are wondering where to start, we have you covered, friends. You can check out the 25 best comics on ComiXology Unlimited, as well as the best Green Lantern comics, Venom comics, and Batman comics on the service.

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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For the past couple of months, publishers and retailers have been giving away tons of free games to promote social distancing. We’ve been keeping a running list of every free game you can claim on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile. Another free PC game has joined the list, and it’s the cult classic strategy game Evil Genius. All you need to do to snag Evil Genius is sign up for a Rebellion account, and then link it to your Steam account to add the game to your library. It’s unclear when the promotion ends, so you should scoop this free game up as quickly as possible.

Originally released in 2004, Evil Genius puts you in the shoes of one of three budding criminal masterminds on a quest for world domination. Played from an isometric perspective, you create your own secret lair filled with laboratories for experiments, training facilities, and obstacles such as traps and interrogation devices. Over the course of the campaign, you manage a growing minion army and recruit muscle to guard your elaborate base while developing weapons capable of executing your nefarious plans.

Best game deals this week

It earned a 7.3/10 (back when GameSpot had a 100-point review scale) in our Evil Genius review. Evil Genius also holds an “Overwhelmingly Positive” user rating on Steam. If you’re a fan of base-building strategy games, Evil Genius is definitely worth checking out. Plus, you can use this opportunity to prep for Evil Genius 2: World Domination, which is expected to release later this year on PC.

Evil Genius isn’t the only free strategy game you can grab right now. If you sign up for 11 Bit Studios’ newsletter, you’ll get a Steam code for the Anomaly Bundle, which compiles five games in the hybrid tower defense/offense franchise.

That’s right there is a sale on at the IGN Store right now, which makes now a better time than ever to check out our selection of comfy pullovers. For one week only you can take an additional 15% off the list price for all fleeces store-wide, with the final price showing in your cart. That means you can pick up a unique pullover such as the Link Kanji Spread, and pay just $38.25, instead of the $58.99 list price. This sale will be expiring at Midnight on May 10, and as always purchases totaling over $50 will ship free.

The IGN Store also plays host to plenty of brilliant shirt designs from all your favorite games, films, and TV shows. Some of our favorites at the moment include the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle selection, unique designs right from The Goonies, and several brilliant Dungeons & Dragons shirts ready to order. There are also plenty of other additions to the store, with classic films like Back to the Future, Star Wars, and Ghostbusters, alongside several notable game entries such as Animal Crossing, Assassin’s Creed, and Borderlands. Make sure to drop in for our weekly sales, and browse the full selection of clothing available.

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Naughty Dog has debuted a new trailer for The Last of Us 2, and as you might expect it’s suitably tense. While there are appearances by the infected, the majority of the trailer deals with violence between ordinary people, and it looks like it’s taking an emotional toll on Ellie.

In the trailer, we see how the years of hardship and survival have affected Ellie, who is covered in scars and cuts on her back and has turned into a formidable fighter. She interacts with Joel on several occasions in the trailer and sees some truly gruesome imagery. This includes a body riddled with arrows, as well as several people suspended from nooses in a shopping mall. Ellie is no stranger to violence, herself, attacking someone off-screen with a melee weapon as the trailer cuts to black.

The Last of Us 2 is coming on June 19 to PlayStation 4. The new release date was given after an indefinite delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Fellow PS4-exclusive Ghost of Tsushima was given a July release date at the same time, a delay of a month as it was previously scheduled for June.

Unfortunately the pending release of TLOU 2 has been overshadowed in recent days by plot spoilers that leaked online, prompting a response from Naughty Dog. Sony has confirmed the leaker wasn’t affiliated with either Naughty Dog or Sony proper, but declined to give further details in the ongoing investigation. For its part, Naughty Dog’s statement promised, “No matter what you see and hear, the final experience will be worth it.”

PC players have a chance to step into the wall-running, sword-swinging role of a cyborg ninja in Ghostrunner, but only this week. The first-person cyberpunk runner has a new demo available on PC starting today, but if you want to try it, you’ll have to get on it soon–the demo is only available until May 13.

You can find the Ghostrunner demo on the game’s Steam page. The slice of the game is one that developer One More Level Games has been showing off at trade shows, including Gamescom and PAX East. You play a katana-wielding cyborg ninja, tasked with making your way through a huge tower filled with enemies, where combat is another part of the environmental puzzle.

The game plays a lot like Mirror’s Edge, in which your goal is to go as fast as possible through the environment, while wall-running, using a grappling hook to swing over gaps, and sliding under obstacles. As you do, you’ll need to take out enemies waiting to drop you–but both you and the baddies die in one hit, so a single mistake is enough to knock you back to the beginning of the encounter. The game requires you to quickly chart your course through an area, clock any threats, avoid their incoming fire, and slice off their heads, all while moving as fast as possible.

Along with the demo, Ghostrunner also got a new CGI trailer that gives a bit of a sense of the speed of the game and the enemies you’ll encounter along the way, including a Doctor Octopus-style enemy that pops up at the end that we haven’t seen in our hands-on opportunities yet.

The press release announcing the demo and trailer also gives some details about the story behind the game and why you need to slice through so many gun-toting bad guys.

“After a cataclysmic event, the remnants of humanity dwell within Dharma Tower, a megastructure constructed as a temporary shelter. A century of conflict led to a brutal division of Dharma–the lower the floor, the lower the resident’s status. The enigmatic Keymaster maintains this imposed caste system, but the people have had enough. Ascend the tower as a Ghostrunner capable of blistering speed and deadly precision, and learn the truth behind the Keymaster’s reign.

“Join the resistance known as the Climbers on their mission to cut through the Keymaster’s regime. Death awaits on each level of the tower, from the derelict industrial machinery of the Base to the sickening sheen of the Summit. Dodge oncoming bullets by dashing and wall-running, then slice through enemies with a single cut. Cybernetic implants push the limit even further with bullet-timelike mechanics to keep the cyber-warrior out of harm’s way.”

Ghostrunner is slated to release sometime later this year.

The ESRB has published its ratings report for Cyberpunk 2077, which includes a new bit of information about the game’s character creator – you can now customise your player-character’s genitals.

Per the report, “Players can select a gender and customize their character; customization can include depictions of breasts, buttocks, and genitalia, as well as various sizes and combinations of genitals.”

This would appear to be a part of CD Projekt Red’s decision not to include a traditional gender option in the game, instead offering a “really inclusive” expanded character customization menu.

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The report also makes mention of “in-game purchases”, but CD Projekt Red has subsequently told IGN that these refer to the ability to buy future DLC expansions for the game, not microtransactions:

“As we’ve said before”, said a spokersperson for the company, “Cyberpunk 2077 is a single player game with no microtransactions. The ESRB info is based on the fact that expansions require the base game and are therefore treated as a purchase by the rating board.”

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Much of the report – which awards the game an M 17+ rating – focuses on the adult content mentioned in the previous Australian ratings report, including suggested sexual actions, extreme violence and gore, and swearing.

“Players can encounter events where they have the option to engage in sexual activities with other main characters or prostitutes,” says the report. “These brief sex scenes (from a first-person perspective) depict partially nude characters moaning suggestively while moving through various positions. Some scenes contain brief depictions of thrusting motions; other scenes depict a character’s head moving towards a partner’s crotch.”

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It seems we’ll learn more during the Night City Wire event on June 11. With Cyberpunk 2077 increasingly close to its September 17 release date, it feels likely that we’d see more gameplay, and perhaps a breakdown of its still somewhat mysterious storyline. It’s also possible that we’d learn about the game’s DLC plans, with CD Projekt Red recently suggesting that it will reveal expansions before release.

Cyberpunk 2077 is part of IGN’s Summer of Gaming. This year will also see Cyberpunk 2077 grace the very last special edition Xbox One X. For more, check out IGN’s Cyberpunk 2077 preview and Cyberpunk 2077 wiki for our full coverage.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter.

The Surface Book 3 has gotten a major power upgrade thanks to Intel 10th Generation processors and Nvidia’s latest Turing-series GTX, and even Quadro RTX, graphics.

The 15-inch version of the Surface Book 3 look particularly exciting now that you can have a quad-core Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor paired with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max Q or Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000 Max-Q (if you’re looking for more of laptop for video editing).

You can back that up with either 16GB or 32GB of DDR4x memory running at 3,733Mhz and up to 2TB of PCIe storage. The 15-inch screen is still a gorgeous PixelSense Display with a resolution of 3240 x 2160 and you can pop the whole thing off its base with a press of the detach button on the keyboard base.

Unfortunately, connectivity hasn’t changed much since the previous Surface Book, so you still get two USB-A ports and a USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 port rather than Thunderbolt 3. But Microsoft has improved the battery life on its largest 2-in-1 machine that now can last up to 17.5 hours.

Gamers will be glad to hear the 15-inch Surface Book 3 also includes a built-in Xbox Wireless receiver, which can connect with Xbox One controllers and compatible headsets like the SteelSeries Arctis 9X.

Of course, Microsoft hasn’t forgotten about its smaller 13-inch Surface Book 3. This detachable 2-in-1 laptop now comes with either a quad-core Intel Core i5-1035G7 or i7-1065G7 processor and optional Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 with Max-Q.

The display is a little smaller in size and resolution at 13.5-inches and 3000 x 2000 pixels, but it’s still much sharper than most laptops. You’ve also got plenty of battery life on tap with up to 15.5 hours of full day usage. Sadly, this smaller model doesn’t come with an integrated Xbox Wireless receiver like its bigger brother.

The Surface Book 3 starts at $1,599 and will be available starting May 21.

Surface Go 2

On top of announcing its most powerful laptop yet, Microsoft also introduced an updated Surface Go 2.

The Windows tablet PC features 10.5-inch PixelSense Display with a 1,920 x 1,280 resolution and your choice of either an Intel Pentium Gold 4425Y or 8th Gen Intel Core m3 processor. Meanwhile memory is tapped at either 4GB and 8GB with storage options of either 64GB or 128GB.

Not exactly screaming specs, but the Surface Go 2 is meant to be more of an affordable 2-in-1 laptop for students and families that are, well, on the go.

The Surface Go 2 starts at $399 and will be available starting May 12.

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Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.