In this video, Persia talks about some of the best gifts you can get for your favorite Xbox fan to help fill your year with holiday cheer.
This gift guide has a range of gifts including new games like Cyberpunk 2077, necessary gear like the Arctic 1 wireless gaming headset, and even some Funko Pops to celebrate Halo Infinite!
We have even more holiday gift ideas for you on our full Xbox Holiday Gift Guide on GameSpot.com.
Square Enix has released a 10-hour demo for Dragon Quest XI S – Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition (say that five times fast) on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Even better, Square Enix says all your progress will transfer over to the full game if you decide to purchase it.
One might be shocked to hear that a game’s demo can last 10 hours, given that some games last all of six. Considering Dragon Quest XI players can easily rack up 100+ hours before hitting the ending, it’s a little more understandable.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/24/dragon-quest-xi-s-definitive-edition-story-trailer”]
Square Enix announced the demo in a blog post. You can get the PS4 version here, the Xbox One demo here, or the Steam demo here.
“To be frank, calling this a demo is kind of underselling it,” Square writes. “The download lets you play through the entirety of the opening chapters – a gargantuan chunk of game that could take you around 10 hours, depending on how you play.”
Square Enix also added that players who complete the demo will receive a “little treat” for players who complete the demo, although they’re not revealing what it is.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/13/dragon-quest-xi-s-definitive-edition-gameplay-full-treehouse-presentation-e3-2019″]
Dragon Quest XI S is an expanded and enhanced version of the original 2017 JRPG, with new story content, new orchestral music, new battle speed options, a Japanese dialogue track, and an expanded crafting system, among other additions.
Dragon Quest XI S is out on December 4.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he’s still in the demo stages of figuring out life.
Community is one of those hard-to-define buzzwords. It’s always been a popular concept in marketing, advertisements, and is a key word in the age of social media-dominated internet. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan offered some insight in a Gamesindustry.biz interview on how the gaming company sees its community–or, in other words, its userbase.
Ryan’s vision of the PlayStation community includes “stickiness and tribal nature” as key characteristics. Ryan defines stickiness as “once you’re stuck it’s hard to unstick,” and is a quality that “probably gives [PlayStation] an opportunity to retain those people, where in the past maybe they’ve gone.”
He continues, “We have the data to support this–the networked nature of entertainment these days allows for communities to be massively more sticky, and kind-of homogeneous.” Ryan hopes to expand this “tribal, networked, and sticky” community by drawing in new demographics. He cites the company’s work on female protagonists and geographic expansions for beefing up PlayStation’s userbase. Ryan states, “I think there is further progress to be made in [the Middle East and Germany]. But equally, I think Asia–outside of Japan–has huge potential for us. And Latin America has huge potential for us.”
Speaking on the trend of major gaming corporations buying up studios–Microsoft recently bought Bethesda–Ryan praises Sony’s existing studios for their organic growth. In particular, he cites Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima for being a surprising commercial success. “Very quietly, in a very PlayStation way, we’ve been building something quite special with these studios,” Ryan comments. “You can do it with frenzied acquisition, or measured acquisition, or you can do it organically.”
What Ryan essentially implies is that everybody being connected through some type of social media will help PlayStation in creating a loyal consumer base. Ryan comments that PS5 has been designed intentionally to encourage the expansion of networks. PS5’s UI does include more sharing features, like screen-share and an easier switch between capturing videos and images.
PlayStation 5 releases on November 12. If you were unable to preorder, your best bet at snagging a console may be during Black Friday. Check out our PS5 preorder guide for full details.
A verified Activision Art Lead revealed the news on ResetEra. “There will not be an engine shift for WZ,” writes ShutterMunster, in response to a comment chain about the future of the battle royale game.
Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War runs on a new engine, but it looks like Warzone won’t be making the switch, despite the fact that weapons, operators and loadouts from the latest Call of Duty game will be brought to Warzone as part of a cross-franchise integration, arriving in December.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/23/call-of-duty-warzone-review”]
The decision means that Warzone should feel broadly the same to play, even while the tools of war you use may be altered drastically by the update (although existing, Modern Warfare-themed equipment will reamin available to players). Equally, it may mean that playing Warzone and Black Ops Cold War side-by-side may take some getting used to.
Some players in the same ResetEra thread are concerned about how the Black Ops Cold War arsenal of weapons will be balanced in Warzone when they make the jump between engines. We’re sure we’ll hear more about that when the game’s integration is detailed further.
Back in September, Activision reportedly banned around 20,000 Call of Duty Warzone cheaters during the launch of the game’s Season 6 update. If you want our full verdict on Call of Duty’s spin on Battle Royale, you can check out our full Call of Duty: Warzone review here.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Since the release of Remember Me in 2013, it’s felt like developer Dontnod has been working to define its identity. With Twin Mirror, a narrative-focused adventure game centering on an investigative journalist, Dontnod is closer than ever to solidifying its style, marrying the inventive mechanics of its games like Remember Me and Vampyr with the storytelling focus of Life Is Strange to make something that plays to all the developer’s strengths.
We recently got a look at the first few hours of Twin Mirror, which sets up the story of Sam Higgs, a journalist returning to his West Virginia hometown of Basswood after two years away. Twin Mirror takes a lot from the episodic Life is Strange games, which are mostly about communication, developing characters, and making choices in dialogue and actions that can influence a branching narrative. Dontnod has had a lot of success telling deep, character-driven stories with those games, and Twin Mirror is a clear outgrowth of that success.
In the opening of Twin Mirror, Sam returns to Basswood for the funeral of his best friend, Nick. With a jaunt to an old lookout point, the game quickly puts Sam’s return and the baggage he’s brought with him into context. Sam had proposed to his girlfriend Anna before leaving, which didn’t go well, and in the intervening years, he’d had a falling out with Nick. Naturally, Sam can’t wait to bail on this formerly closed chapter of his life. Reminiscing about Nick, Anna, and Basswood triggers one of the major mechanics in Twin Mirror: the Mind Palace. It’s the physical representation of Sam’s mind and imagination the story occasionally brings you into, where Sam can wander around visiting memories, talk to himself, and generally take a break from a world he struggles to deal with.
From the lookout, Sam heads to a local bar for Nick’s wake, where we learn even more backstory and about all strained relationships he left behind in Basswood. Nick’s daughter, Joan, is angry with Sam–her godfather–for abandoning her in the suffocating small town. A lot of locals are angry with Sam over an article he published that resulted in the local mine closing. Many people just generally don’t really seem to like Sam and aren’t afraid to say as much. The feeling’s pretty mutual, it seems.
Throughout these scenes, Life is Strange fans will feel right at home. You walk Sam around a location, interacting with people to either trigger internal monologues about how he feels about them, or to engage in conversations. A few key moments come with choices, as well. When Joan mentions that she thinks the circumstances of Nick’s death are suspicious, you can choose to promise to look into the event–which could potentially create some harmful false hope for a little girl grieving her father–or lie and leave her out of it, even as Sam’s investigative brain starts cataloguing the details. When a group of local miners suggest they want to pick a fight, you can step to them or walk away. Life is Strange is all about branching story choices and unforeseen consequences that reveal themselves late into the tale. Similarly in Twin Mirror, the early hours of the game haven’t made any of those consequences apparent yet.
Sam’s decisions are yours, but you’ll get advice from a strange character known as the Double, who basically functions as Sam’s personal Tyler Durden. The Double is a version of Sam who seems more in tune with social cues and the feelings of others, and he’ll often appear to talk to Sam and give him an alternative viewpoint, although you don’t have to listen to it. Having an imaginary friend wandering around the scene is a bit of a played-out storytelling trope at this point, but Twin Mirror quickly implies that there’s more to this character than we know; there’s even some indication that he might not be fully imaginary, and that Sam can’t seem to get rid of him.
Twin Mirror presents a more cinematic feel than Dontnod’s previous works, with a greater emphasis on creative cinematography to help you better understand Sam, all showing how the developer has evolved as a result of the Life is Strange games. One particularly impressive moment shows Sam getting progressively more drunk during the course of Nick’s wake, operating at regular speed as fast-forwarded characters move in and out of the scene, interacting with him, sharing a drink, and disappearing into the night. It’s moments like these that pull you into Sam’s headspace. We get a palpable sense of how he feels about his old town, the people within it, and the way his life has turned out in the intervening two years since leaving.
Dontnod also portrays Sam’s emotions through actual gameplay. After the wake, Sam awakens with a painful hangover after having blacked out–only to discover that his shirt from the night before is covered in blood that doesn’t belong to him. That kicks off a sensation of panic that takes players into the Mind Palace, where Sam is chased by a shadowy figure. You control Sam as he goes racing down a hallway filled with transparent doors, some of them with messages written on them. The simple goal here is to dodge the doors with messages that increase Sam’s panic, and try to run through the ones that will help him calm and steady himself. It’s a relatively simple gameplay moment, but these interactive representations of Sam’s feelings help to make it easier to relate to him and what he’s going through.
What also makes Twin Mirror feel like an evolution for Dontnod is that it draws on Life is Strange as well as on the developer’s other, less successful forays–Remember Me and Vampyr. Both games are heavily focused on story, but parts of them also feel like failed experiments. Remember Me spends a lot of its time focused on action, using imperfect riffs on combat mechanics reminiscent of the Batman Arkham games, and climbing mechanics that recall Uncharted. Vampyr has an action-RPG sensibility not unlike something that might come out of a developer like Obsidian Entertainment, but with some cumbersome combat and unclear choice mechanics.
Both Remember Me and Vampyr also have fascinating ideas with untapped potential, however. Remember Me focused on the sci-fi conceit that memories could be recorded, separated from their owners, bought, sold, and revisited in order to discover new information. Vampyr is largely about understanding how characters fit together in a greater social ecosystem, so that you can either solve their problems or discreetly murder them to sustain your undeath.
Twin Mirror contains moments that play off these ideas as you work through its linear story. As Sam tries to figure out what he did the night before, he revisits the bar from the wake and gathers evidence to reconstruct the events. When he’s found all the clues, you’re returned to the Mind Palace, where Sam’s analytical mind can simulate what might have played out. You stitch the clues together to reconstruct an apparent fight, figuring out who was involved and how it happened–and that helps Sam regain his memory and decide what to do next. The investigation mechanics have a very Remember Me feel as Sam reconstructs a scene. It’s a bit like playing the role of investigator Will Graham from the excellent TV show Hannibal (which, I must admit, is one of my favorites), as Sam uses a talent for investigation that lets him uncover information from a scene that others missed.
Without spoiling much more, what Sam starts to uncover builds into a greater mystery as he tries to figure out what he did the night before, what else has been going on in Basswood during his absence, and critically, who he can trust. Things get darker and more sinister in a hurry, and it’ll be interesting to see how Sam grapples with the people of Basswood, the details of what happened to Nick, his own confusion about himself, and the agendas of others–particularly the Double, who seems like a strange and shadowy addition to the story.
But I’m most interested to see how much more Twin Mirror expands on Dontnod’s ideas from other games. It already feels like a step forward from the Life is Strange games, leaning on the developer’s ability to develop deep and relatable characters, while making new strides in how it presents its stories. And even a few short hours with the game demonstrate how Twin Mirror is pulling in the experimental ideas that made Remember Me and Vampyr fascinating and fun, finding ways to explore the mindset of its protagonist and to help make you feel like an integral part of solving the mystery. So far, Twin Mirror is building on all the things that have made Dontnod games worthy of attention, and I’m excited to see where else its unfolding mystery will go when the game releases on December 1.
Normally, New Releases highlights five big games in every episode, but that would be a real disservice this time, considering the imminent launches of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The next generation of consoles kicks off with heavy hitters like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Dirt 5, Bugsnax, Demon’s Souls, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Godfall. Just after the launches comes Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. And since we can’t leave Nintendo out, this episode also takes a look at Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Available on: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, PC, Stadia
The next entry in the Assassin’s Creed saga is set in the Viking era. As tribe leader Eivor, you’ll lead your people in raids across the isle of Great Britain. You’ll pillage villages, build your own encampment, and even dip back into social stealth. Expect more info on the mysterious Hidden Ones too.
More Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Coverage:
Available on: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, PC
Dirt 5 will already be out on current-gen consoles by the time the new ones arrive, and you’ll be able transfer your saves from Xbox One to Series X/S (unfortunately you cannot do the same from PS4 to PS5). What awaits you in this rally racing game is a variety of tracks around the world, each with dynamic weather conditions. You can take on a rival driver in career mode, too.
More Dirt 5 Coverage:
Available on: PS4, PS5, PC
The titular Bugsnax are little edible creatures that live on a mysterious island, and it’s up to you to catch them for the citizens, a species called the Grumpus, of Snaxburg. Doing so requires a bit of puzzle-solving and carrying out quests for each Grumpus. Even better, you can get it for free on PS5 as one of PlayStation Plus’s November games!
More Bugsnax Coverage:
Available on: PS5
The game that kicked off the Soulsborne trend is back, remade for PS5 by the same team that brought Shadow of the Colossus to PS4. It’s a faithful remake, so don’t expect to see a new Archstone. However, there are slick new weapon animations and optional visual filters. You can even revisit the Archstones in Fractured Mode, which mirrors the levels.
More Demon’s Souls Coverage:
Available on: PS4, PS5
This isn’t a sequel to 2018’s Spider-Man game; it’s a standalone adventure where you control the titular Miles Morales instead of Peter Parker. Miles has his own set of suits–including a rad outfit from Into the Spiderverse–that come with their own special abilities. He can go invisible, discharge electricity, and more. Additionally, there’s a free upgrade from the PS4 version to PS5 if you aren’t able to grab the new console for a while.
More Spider-Man: Miles Morales Coverage:
Available on: PS5, PC
The very first confirmed PS5 game is just around the corner. This looter-slasher published by Gearbox is set in a world divided by the five elements: fire, water, earth, air, and spirit. Likewise, you can choose from five different Knight classes and fight with a variety of weapons, each with their own flashy attacks.
More Godfall Coverage:
Available on: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, PC
The latest in the Call of Duty series retells the events after the first Black Ops game. Set during the Reagan era, you’ll be carrying out covert missions all over the world in the campaign. The usual multiplayer modes are back, along with new options via Fireteam. And yes, there are zombies, too.
More Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Coverage:
Available on: Switch
The next Hyrule Warriors game is set 100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild. You can take control of Link, Zelda, Impa, and the Four Champions as you battle Ganon’s forces musou-style. Expect some traditional Zelda puzzles along with all that combat, too. You can try out a demo now if you’re curious.
More Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Coverage:
There are way more games coming in November, of course. Check out GameSpot’s list of all the confirmed PS5 and Xbox Series X/S launch games for the complete info. New Releases will be back next week with a closer look at more upcoming games, including Destiny 2‘s Beyond Light expansion and Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.
That being said, there are still some really cool superhero movies and TV shows to check out on Netflix – from The CW’s entire Arrowverse to Marvel’s Defenders-verse to the last remaining MCU TV series, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.
So if you’re looking for awesome and epic tales of good vs. here are some key superhero movies and shows to stream on Netflix. The newest additions to this list will be added at the top and marked with an asterisk.
Oh, and when you’re done here, it’s also time to check out our ranking of the MCU’s entire Infinity Saga. Or find out what’s new to Netflix this month.
[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=the-best-superhero-movies-and-tv-shows-on-netflix-right-now&captions=true”]
Or follow these links for the best of other genres:
Note: This list pertains to U.S. Netflix subscribers. Some titles may not currently be available on international platforms. This page is periodically amended to remove movies and shows no longer available to watch on Netflix, and to include great titles that are now available for streaming on the service.
Though it just missed out on being the best Spidey film of all time in IGN’s ranking of the Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is wildly considered to be one of the greatest webhead outings ever. A gorgeous, emotional ride through an alternate universe featuring the rise of one Miles Morales, Spider-Verse blew up the entire concept of a superhero film while staying true to Spidey’s core principals and credo. A sequel is in the works too.
Read our Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review or watch Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse on Netflix.
One arena DC has solidly triumphed in in recent years is TV, where Arrow — which focused on a presumed dead billionaire heir named Oliver Queen returning to his city as a hooded vigilante — was able to kickstart an entire shared universe, and multiple sibling series, that eventually included The Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning, and Batwoman. All of those shows are available to stream on Netflix.
Read our Arrow reviews or watch Arrow on Netflix.
Even though interest, in general, had waned by the time Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist all teamed up for The Defenders (due, in large part, to Iron Fist’s lackluster first season), the three seasons of Marvel’s Daredevil are about as solid and satisfying as you could hope for – with the third and final season being one of the best superhero seasons ever. The other shows, which also include two seasons of The Punisher, are also worth checking out, though they have more ups and downs in terms of quality.
Read our Daredevil reviews or watch Daredevil on Netflix.
When Gotham began, fans and critics latched onto the grabby hook that it was a Batman show with no Batman. How could this be? This will never work! But after a few seasons, and some truly crazy storylines (including a massive heel turn for Barbara Kean), Gotham embraced its lunacy and gave us a world where, unlike Batman lore, all of Batman’s villains existed before him. And the more ridiculous the series got, the more it actually found its footing, allowing it to explore famous storylines from the comics and movies in new and inventive ways.
Read our Gotham reviews or watch Gotham on Netflix.
Based on the Dark Horse comic series from Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, relative newcomer to the super-series game The Umbrella Academy was a big hit right out of the gate as fans fell in love with a squabbling squad of super-powered surrogate siblings trying to avert an apocalypse that they themselves might be responsible for creating. Seasons 1 and 2 are available now on Netflix.
Read our The Umbrella Academy reviews or watch The Umbrella Academy on Netflix.
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, featuring Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson, started out as a direct tie-in to the MCU films, especially considering the Hydra reveal in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But as the series went on, and the rift between Marvel TV and Marvel Studios became greater, SHIELD stopped fully concerning itself with the films and focused more on its own built-in dramas and sagas. After teaming with Ghost Rider, battling Hydra in a virtual world, and taking on the Kree in a dystopian timeline where Earth was destroyed by Graviton, the SHIELD heroes were able to create a legion of rabid fans without relying on Avengers scraps.
Read our Agents of SHIELD reviews or watch Agents of SHIELD on Netflix.
Recently renewed for a sixth and final season, after having been saved by Netflix when Fox canceled the show after three seasons, Lucifer, based on the character from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic series, is hellaciously good fun and features Tom Ellis as a restless and smug Lord of Hell who decides to give up his throne and live among mortals in Los Angeles.
Read our Lucifer reviews or watch Lucifer on Netflix.
While the entire Arrowverse is worth watching, if not just to admire the ambition and scope of the shared universe, the most unexpectedly gleeful series in the giant machine is DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which features Arrow and Flash castaways — like Atom, White Canary, Heat Wave, Constantine, and more — in a rambunctious and humor-laced ride through time and space.
Read our Legends of Tomorrow reviews or watch Legends of Tomorrow on Netflix.
As a smaller, but notable, Netflix original, I Am Not Okay With This takes us into a dreary, dilapidated town for a look at a high school girl coming to terms with her sexuality and her dangerously new telekinetic powers. IT’s Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Oleff star in this humble superhero origin story that packs a big emotional punch.
Read our I Am Not Okay With This Season 1 review or watch I Am Not Okay With This on Netflix.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/02/20/umbrella-academy-ending-explained-whats-next-for-vanya”]
The superhero genre is wide-ranging, and one that can sometimes be difficult to pin down. We try to focus on superhero movies and shows that have a time-tested reputation like The Incredibles, as well as those movies that scored well on aggregate sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. In some cases, we may pick more critically divisive movies or shows like I Am Not Okay With This that we still feel are worth checking out. The one common thread is that all these movies and shows are true superhero stories, whether they’re based on comic books or are original creations themselves.
[widget path=”ign/modules/recirc” parameters=”title=Best%20of%20Netflix%20Right%20Now&type=articles%2Cvideos&tags=recirc-netflix-genre&count=3&columnCount=3&theme=article”]
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
It’s likely that the remake of Demon’s Souls will have its own fair share of mysteries to uncover when it arrives this month. How many of the original secrets have made the jump from the original PS3 version of the game that From Software developed in 2009 remains to be seen, but Bluepoint Games will have plenty of guides available to players who reach a dead end in the PS5 game.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Demon’s Souls creative director Gavin Moore revealed that there’ll be more than 180 video guides available through the PS5’s new Official Game Help feature. Moore said that these videos will provide increasing levels of visibility on how to complete portions of the game.
Revealed alongside the PS5 user interface, Official Game Help can be accessed through the control center during a gameplay session and allows for gameplay cards to be positioned on the screen. This streams a video in picture-in-picture mode and shows a player how to get out of a tight spot in a particular video game.
It’s worth noting that Official Game Help won’t be available in every game and will only be accessible to PlayStation Plus members. For more on how Sony has reinvented the PS5 user interface, you can check out our feature on the biggest changes coming to the next-gen console’s software.
Sony also confirmed this week that the Demon’s Souls soundtrack, which makes use of a massive orchestra and choir singers to create the spooky sounds of Boletaria, will be out digitally on November 26. Vinyl and CD versions of the soundtrack will arrive later in December.
For more on the game, you can check out our Demon’s Souls preorder guide. You can also visit our PlayStation 5 preorder guide to find out which stores will have stock of the next-gen console and when.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
Devil May Cry 5 is already a special game in the hearts of many, but the next-gen version is about to get even more special thanks to the addition of everyone’s favorite blue-clad brooding son of Sparda, Vergil. I got to play the PlayStation 5 version of DMC5 Special Edition to give him a test drive, and while he feels very similar to previous iterations, Vergil’s got more than a few tricks up his sleeves.
If you’ve played as Vergil in previous Devil May Cry special editions, especially his iteration from Devil May Cry 4, you’ll feel right at home with DMC 5’s version. For those unfamiliar, he uses three weapons: his trusty Yamato sword, the Beowulf gauntlets introduced in Devil May Cry 3, and the Mirage Edge, which is virtually the same as the Force Edge that he used in Devil May Cry 4. He also has a unique mechanic called Concentration, which rewards the player for playing Vergil in a way that suits his confident, stoic, and elitist personality.
[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=devil-may-cry-5-special-edition-playstation-5-showcase-screenshots&captions=true”]
You see, Vergil is not the kind of character that would just rush head into action like Dante or Nero would. He’s calm, collected, and above all else, precise in his movements and strikes. As such, if you’re standing still or walking slowly towards your enemies, the concentration meter will start to fill. If you start running around, missing wildly, or get hit, the gauge will plummet. The higher your concentration, the more effective each of your weapons become: the range and damage of Yamato will increase, Beowulf will be able to charge up an additional level to deal massive damage, and the Mirage Edge will take on multi-hit properties.
The biggest change to Vergil’s gameplay in DMC 5 Special Edition is how he handles his Devil Trigger. Now when he activates Devil Trigger, instead of taking on a demon form, he summons a doppelganger that will mimic his own actions. The doppelganger only uses the Yamato, regardless of the weapon Vergil is wielding, which can make it a little tricky to effectively utilize if you’re not also using the Yamato while the doppelganger is active. Nevertheless, being able to put on twice the damage for a short period of time is quite powerful.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/03/the-first-8-minutes-of-devil-may-cry-5-special-edition-vergil-4k-gameplay-on-ps5″]
One other interesting new ability Vergil has is the ability to stab himself with his sword and switch places with V for a powerful attack that utilizes all of V’s summons. It’s flashy as all hell, and has great utility since any enemies that are defeated with it drop green health orbs, but the animation is a bit long and gets a bit old for my personal liking.
If you’re upset about the loss of his demon form, don’t fret, because Vergil still has access to it, though this time it’s through his Sin Devil Trigger. You can hold L1 to transfer devil trigger energy into his Sin Devil Trigger meter, and when it’s full, holding down L1 will transform Vergil into his demon form, which gives him health regeneration, powers up all of his existing moves, and some gnarly special attacks that deal ridiculous amounts of damage.
If it’s not already apparent, Vergil is an extremely technical character. He doesn’t have a double jump that lets him easily escape bad situations; he gets actively weaker whenever he gets hit, whiffs, or runs away due to the loss of his concentration meter; and while he’s got a proper dodge and block, they require very strict timing to use effectively. As someone who only dabbled with him in Devil May Cry 4, this made the initial learning curve a bit rough to get over early on, especially because most of his really useful moves are locked away in the shop once you start off.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Once%20his%20playstyle%20clicked%20with%20me…%20Vergil%20became%20a%20blast%20to%20play.%20Easily%20on%20par%20with%20the%20rest%20of%20the%20cast.”]
Still, once his playstyle clicked with me, and I started learning how to best utilize the concentration mechanic, and how to use my air trick to cancel the animations of both my attacks and their recoveries, Vergil became a blast to play, easily on par with the rest of the cast.
Aside from Vergil and the returning Turbo Mode that speeds up the game by 1.2x, Special Edition also adds Legendary Dark Knight Mode, which is a difficulty mode that is unlike anything the DMC series has ever seen. And while DMC4: Special Edition also had a mode called Legendary Dark Knight, this version in DMC 5: Special Edition is on another level. It ups the number of enemies on screen to near musou levels of absurdity. At just the second encounter of the game where there were once maybe five or six enemies on screen at once, in Legendary Dark Knight mode, there are close to 30. It forces you to approach combat entirely differently, and while it isn’t my preferred method of playing Devil May Cry 5, it certainly has its unique appeal.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/03/devil-may-cry-5-special-edition-legendary-dark-knight-mode-ps5-gameplay”]
Finally, as for how DMC5 plays on PS5, the DualSense controller has an excellent form factor and felt great in my hands while playing, though interestingly, Capcom decided to use the adaptive triggers to apply resistance to the left trigger when you try and rev Nero’s Red Queen sword. Sure enough, it has the feel of revving a motorcycle, but considering how much any seasoned player uses that technique, having to apply extra force in order to get it to work got tiring very quickly. Fortunately, you can turn it off in the options menu.
Stay tuned for more Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition, including a look at the various visual modes available in the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 as we get closer to launch.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN who has an SSS rank in his love for the DMC series.
November has arrived, which means plenty of holiday sales are kicking off. Numerous retailers, including Best Buy, Target, and Walmart, have launched early Black Friday sales. We haven’t seen too many deals on console games just yet, but PC gamers can shop a huge sale at Fanatical right now. Fanatical’s 25th Anniversary Sale features thousands of game deals as well as chances to win free games and gear. The majority of game deals on Fanatical can be redeemed on Steam, with the exception of games published by studios with dedicated launchers such as Ubisoft.
Fanatical’s 25th Anniversary Sale includes steep discounts across all genres. While Halloween has passed, it’s never a bad time to play a Resident Evil game. The Resident Evil 3 remake is discounted to $27, while last year’s Resident Evil 2 remake is down to $18.79. Action game fans can grab Devil May Cry 5 for $18 and the Devil May Cry HD Collection for $16.79.
If you’re looking for a game to play with family on the couch, the frantic cooking simulator Overcooked 2 is discounted to $14. Meanwhile, you can get The Jackbox Party Quintpack for $64.19. The collection compiles the first five games in the series for one low price.
You can also save on some recently released and upcoming games. Fast-paced first-person platformer Ghostrunner is on sale for $19.19, Control’s Ultimate edition is $25.59, and the upcoming Yakuza: Like a Dragon is $49.19.
There are plenty of bargain-basement deals to be found, too. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, The Sith Lords, are slashed to $2 each. Torchlight 1 & II Pack is only $4, which is a ridiculous deal for two great Diablo-like action-RPGs.
For every purchase of $5 or more, you’ll get to play a “Spin to Win” game, which could net you free games, coupons, or even gear like a HyperX keyboard and mouse bundle. You can also enter into a drawing for gaming gear and shopping sprees by following select brands on social media.
You can browse the full 25th Anniversary Sale at Fanatical and see our picks below.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.