Month: July 2021

Halo Infinite head of creative Joseph Staten took to social media to warn players that the ongoing Halo Infinite technical test includes a “small number of [Halo Infinite] campaign files” which unfortunately contain spoilers. So beware.

“Leaks like this are painful for the dev team and can ruin the campaign experience for everyone,” Staten writes. “So please, keep your eyes peeled for spoilers and don’t spread them if you see them.”

Leaks like this are painful for the dev team and can ruin the campaign experience for everyone. So please, keep you eyes peeled for spoilers and don’t spread them if you see them.❤️ 2/2

— Joseph Staten (@joestaten) July 30, 2021

Staten, for obvious reasons, didn’t specify what files exactly were included in the tech test. But it’s apparently serious enough for Staten and 343 Industries to put out a public statement. 343 community director Brian Jarrard even followed up by tweeting in all caps, “Twitter mute words are your friend!”

IGN has not come across any of the spoilers but will hope this article serves as a PSA to keep vigilant.

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343 launched the technical preview yesterday, though rollout happened a bit slower than expected as the developers hunted down some last-minute bugs. But with the technical preview underway now, IGN was able to get some hands-on time with it and is very impressed with what’s available now.

Folks trying to get into the technical test must sign up as a Halo Insider and try and grab one of the limited spots. Not everyone was able to get into the test, but 343 says there will be more, larger tech previews in the coming months.

Halo Infinite doesn’t have a release date just yet, but 343 and Xbox boss Phil Spencer says they’re confident they’ll hit their holiday 2021 release date.

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Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.

While Jean-Claude Van Damme has played the hero in movies like Universal Soldier and Street Fighter, the action star inadvertently became involved in a criminal scenario this week. While in Paris on Tuesday, the actor accidentally assisted in a jewel thief’s escape from law enforcement, as reported by TMZ.

Van Damme attracted a crowd of fans during an optometrist appointment. As people gathered to get a glimpse at the actor, a gray-haired man held up the nearby jeweler Chaumet at knifepoint, stealing precious stones and jewelry from the boutique. The man had burst into the shop on an electric scooter.

The spoils are estimated to have a value between €2 million and €3 million.

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While there were plenty of potential witnesses in the area, law enforcement stated that most of the group’s attention was on Van Damme. The thief was able to make a largely inconspicuous getaway on an electric scooter.

While Van Damme’s presence may have kept witnesses distracted, surveillance cameras did capture the incident. On Wednesday morning, police detained two suspects and recovered a “substantial part” of the haul. According to Euronews, the pair were arrested after traveling by bus to Moselle, a department in the east of France close to the country’s border with Germany.

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In our review of Van Damme’s new movie The Last Mercenary, IGN gave the film a 5, saying the movie has “a fun take on [JCVD’s] past exploits as an action star, but the humor is way more miss than hit.”

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J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.
(Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage)

So far, many Halo fans have been enjoying the Halo Infinite multiplayer technical preview. However, it’s been confirmed that campaign content was mistakenly included in the beta’s files, leading to spoilers making their way online.

343 Industries’ Joseph Staten stated that there were a “small number” of Halo Infinite campaign files unintentionally left in the tech preview build. He confirmed that they do include spoilers.

“Leaks like this are painful for the dev team and can ruin the campaign experience for everyone,” says Staten in a tweet. “So please, keep you eyes peeled for spoilers and don’t spread them if you see them.”

In addition to spoilers, uploading any of the data-mined to places like YouTube could have adverse effects on your channel. Halo community director Brian Jarrard warned that doing so could result in a takedown notice and lead to receiving strikes.

“If you have already posted content, we recommend removing it from your channel proactively,” recommends Jarrard.

If you’re lucky enough to get an invitation to the technical test, you also have to install the beta client. Players in the beta have also already started competing for high scores in the Academy.

Halo Infinite is set to release holiday 2021 for Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC. The multiplayer will be free-to-play when it launches.

PS5 owners can now choose to upgrade their storage with M.2 solid state drives. You’ll want to be familiar with the SSD requirements and be comfortable with taking apart your PS5 (it’s not simple plug and play). Coincidentally, Newegg is offering a 15% off coupon code that works on several high-speed PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drives. These include well known brands like Samsung and Seagate. You’ll need all the discounts you can get, since high-speed M.2 SSDs still cost a pretty penny. These deals and more below.

New PS5 Update Supports M.2 SSDs

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Sony released a new beta update for PS5 owners that allow the installation and use of M.2 solid state drives. Before you get too excited though, be aware that the SSD requirements are very strict; the budget M.2 SSDs like the Samsung 980, WD SN750, or the Crucial P5 might not fly. At the bare minimum, the PS5 requires a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD with a recommended speed of 5,500Mbps or higher. In other words, you’ll be paying a pretty penny if you want maximum speed out of your storage upgrade.

M.2 Solid State Drives (5500Mbps Speeds or Higher)

Seagate 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S

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Now that we understand the cost of upgrading the PS5 storage, we can understand why the Xbox 1TB SSD expansion module commands such a high price point. With this coupon code, however, upgrading the Xbox Series X storage might actually be cheaper than upgrading the PS5 storage. The other benefits are guaranteed compatibility and easily plug and play, unlike the PS5 where you have to take apart the console.

Samsung 980 Pro M.2 Solid State Drive

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Samsung is one of the most popular and reliable SSD brands, and the 980 offers 6,900Mbps transfer speeds and a PCIe Gen4 interface at a price that won’t break the bank. Performance-wise it will blow any standard SATA SSD or hard drive out of the water. It’s designed to run optimally even without a heatsink (it’s supposed to withstand torrid PC temps, and the PS5 is essentially a proprietary gaming PC), but it’s also very simple to install one on your own.

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WD Black SN850 M.2 SSD with Heatsink

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The WD Black deserves special mention because it’s the best selling SSD right now for the PS5 and it comes preinstalled with a low profile heatsink. This is a blazing fast drive with transfer speeds rated at up to 7,000 MB/s and a PCIe Gen4 interface.

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Mushkin Enhanced Gamma 1TB M.2 SSD

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Mushkin is another brand that’s been around for a while. Their “Enhanced Gamma” is their top-of-the-line series of M.2 solid state drives with sequential read speeds of up to 7,950Mbps, well over the 5500Mbps recommended threshold for the PS5. It’s also reasonably priced after the coupon code is applied. It does not come with a preinstalled heatsink.

PNY XLR8 2TB M.2 Solid State Drive

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This is a nice deal if you’re really looking to triple the storage space in your PS5 console and you insist on keeping in line with Sony’s recommendation of a 5,500Mbps or faster SSD. This PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD just clears that threshold at 5,600Mbps, and it’s over $50 cheaper than the Samsung 980 Pro model. It does not come with a preinstalled heatsink.

M.2 Solid State Drives (5000Mbps Speeds)

Corsair Force 600 1TB M.2 Solid State Drive

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This is an interesting SSD to consider as well. It’s easily the lowest priced 1TB M.2 SSD we’ve seen that *almost* fulfills all of the PS5 SSD recommended specs. The only caveat is that it boasts 4,950Mbps read speeds, just slightly less than the 5,500Mbps. Sony’s official statement is that 5,500Mbps is recommended, but not required. This is a PCIe Gen4 model and it even includes a heatsink (which is removable if there are installation issues).

Seagate Firecuda 520 M.2 Solid State Drive

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Seagate Firecuda is another well known SSD brand. The 520 series is a PCIe Gen4 SSD that offers 5,000Mbps transfer speeds. You won’t find many PCIe Gen4 SSD in the 1TB size that will currently match this deal in terms of pricing. There’s no built-in heatsink but if you wanted to, it’s not difficult to install your own.

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Mushkin Enhanced Delta 2TB M.2 SSD

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The Mushkin “Enhanced Delta” is a step down from the “Enhanced Gamma” series (speeds of 5,000Mbps vs 7,950Mbps) but in return you get the least expensive 2TB model in this entire lineup. It’s a full $100 cheaper than the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB model. It does not come with a preinstalled heatsink.

T-Force Cardea C440 1TB M.2 Solid State Drive

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This is the least expensive 1TB SSD of the bunch. Despite the low price tag, the T-Force Cardea is still a PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD that offers sequential read speeds of up to 5000Mbps. It does not include a built-in heatsink.

Patriot Viper VP4100 1TB M.2 Solid State Drive

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The Patriot Viper VP4100 is a bit slower than the rest of the SSDs in the lineup with a sequential read speed of up to 4,700Mbps. On the plus side, it is one of the least expensive 1TB SSDs, is still built on the PCIe Gen4 x4 interface, and even includes a built-in heatsink so you don’t have to install your own.

USB 3.2 Portable SSDs & Hard Drives

Samsung T7 500GB USB 3.2 Portable SSD

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If the idea of taking apart your PS5 to install an SSD sounds too daunting for you, there’s always the much easier and more convenient route of plugging in an external storage drive. The Samsung T7 SSD is as fast as it gets in that department. The PS5 has USB ports that support Gen2 speeds (up to 10Gbps) and this SSD supports USB 3.2 Gen2 with transfer speeds up to 1,050MB/s, so it’s practically a match made in heaven. It’s normally $100 for the 500GB model (portable SSD drives are typically pricier than internal ones), but you’re saving 30% off with this deal. Of course it won’t be as fast as an M.2 SSD, but it’s easier, cheaper, and you’ll be able to use it for other things.

Crucial X6 500GB USB 3.2 Portable SSD

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Here’s another portable SSD at an even lower price. Like the Samsung T7 above, the Crucial X6 connects via USB 3.2, however its maximum transfer speed is limited to about 540MB/s.

WD Passport 5TB USB 3.2 Portable Hard Drive

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This portable hard drive adds more storage to your PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Portable drives are much smaller than their desktop hard drive siblings and require no additional power other than the obligatory USB port.

More Daily Deals for July 30

Roborock S6 Robot Vacuum and Mop

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Both professional and user reviews say this is a Roomba killer right here. The top-end Roborock S6 normally sells for $600 but it’s 37% off today with a code and a clippable coupon. The Roborock S6 features WiFi with Alex voice control, powerful lidar navigation, multi-floor mapping, power suction, and a built-in water reservoir for mopping too.

New Apple MacBook Air with M1 Chip

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Amazon is offering the lowest price ever on the new MacBook Air with M1 chip. You can save $150 off compared to buying directly from the Apple Store. Reviews show that the new M1 chip is a veritable speed demon; it offers better performance while generating less heat and consuming less power than any of the Intel chips that Apple used in previous models.

The Lord of the Rings Illustrated Edition Hardcover

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This LotR Illustrated Hardcover Edition hasn’t been released yet (it’s out October 19), but it just saw it’s second massive price drop today. Last week this book was discounted for the first time ever from $75 down to $59.99 (20% off). Today, there’s yet another discount for a total of 40% off the original price. If you’ve already preordered this book, don’t fret; Amazon will automatically guarantee you the lowest price. This massive 1,200+ page tome includes illustrations from author JRR Tolkien, for the first time in any edition of the series since 1954.

Apple AirPods Pro Noise-Cancelling Earbuds

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If you regret not picking the Airpods Pro up on Amazon Prime Day at 24% off, here’s your chance to get it today at the same price. The AirPods Pro is considered one of the best noise-cancelling in-ear headphones you can get, especially for under $200, and it’s significantly better than even the vanilla AirPods.

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Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends roughly 1/4 of his income on stuff he posts. Check out the IGN Deals articles and subscribe to the IGN Deals Twitter page.

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A group of creators working on the 14-year-old mod GTA United, built primarily inside Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, have decided to stop development fearing a DMCA takedown from Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive.

The modders said in an update post that the spate of DMCA takedowns the publisher has handed out in recent weeks raised many alarms. As a result, the team has preemptively decided to remove all of GTA United’s uploads, including those for Vice City 2 San Andreas and Liberty City 2 San Andreas, in preparation for some possible legal letter from Take-Two Interactive.

“Due to the increasing DMCA takedowns against various GTA San Andreas map modifications, it is with a heavy heart that we must announce that we decided to preemptively take all remaining instances of GTA United, including its predecessors VC2SA and LC2SA, down,” the modders wrote.

“This means that, while our team haven’t received a takedown notice, we opted ourselves to say goodbye on our own conditions, and that effectively now all our official uploads are taken offline,” the modders said. “We are sorry to all the people that enjoyed playing GTA United, many of which we had positive interactions with, but this is a step we felt was necessary, as Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games seem to gradually reject more and more ‘Modding’ of their games, even if it’s the older ones.”

GTA United is a San Andreas-based mod for PC. It, um, unites Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City’s maps to effectively replace the one in San Andreas.

This mod has been around for a decade and a half. Work on the project began in 2006, with the first beta launched in 2007 along with the official “Vice City 2 San Andreas” name. “Liberty City 2 San Andreas” came out in the same year. The two combined in late 2007 to form GTA United, which received a 1.2 version in December 2012 and remained available until now.

According to PC Gamer, Take-Two Interactive began issuing DMCA takedowns left and right in recent weeks to a handful of developers working on GTA-related projects. This includes GTA: Underground and the 15-year-old mod GTA: Liberty City, as well as HD texture packs for Vice City.

It’s unclear why Take-Two Interactive is so adamant about pulling mods for Rockstar Games’ older Grand Theft Auto titles. Fans speculate that Rockstar may be working on a series of remakes or remasters, but neither Take-Two nor any Rockstar developer has yet to comment on these rumors.

In other GTA V news, the game’s standalone GTA Online mode has received a new Los Santos Turners update that adds new cars, like a souped-up version of The Comet, and more missions. Grand Theft Auto V also seems poised to leave Xbox Game Pass sometime in the next few weeks.

Horizon Forbidden West has reportedly seen its release date delayed until 2022. Sony has not made any official announcement, and no specific reason has been given yet.

Bloomberg reports that the purported delay would put the game in the first quarter of 2022, out of the big holiday launch window. This is the second such report we’ve heard recently, after reporter Jeff Grubb talked about the impending delay on the Giant Bomb show GrubbSnax.

GameSpot has contacted Sony regarding the reports. Horizon Forbidden West is slated to come for both PS4 and PS5.

Forbidden West seemed relatively likely to slip, as PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst began floating a possible delay in June. He said at the time that “we think we are on track to release this holiday season” but noted “that isn’t quite certain yet.”

If confirmed, this would be the latest in a long string of delays this year. Many developers and publishers have cited development complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic, particularly to studio efficiency as they adjusted to work-from-home structures.

Horizon Forbidden West is the follow-up to Guerrilla Games’ 2017 hit Horizon Zero Dawn, which follows the heroine Aloy as through a nature-reclaimed post-apocalypse filled with vicious, animalistic machines. For more, read everything we know about Horizon Forbidden West.

The concept of a free-to-play Pokemon MOBA probably sounds like a dream come true to some people and a shameless cash grab to others. As a longtime fan of both Pokemon and Dota 2, I had my doubts about whether Pokemon Unite could successfully mix the best parts of these disparate gaming worlds, but my skepticism turned to delight after seeing how much fun this mobile brawler could actually be… at least for a little while. Unfortunately, Pokemon Unite only partially sticks the landing, resulting in an enjoyable casual MOBA with some dubious microtransactions and little interest in pushing the boundaries of the genre.

Pokemon Unite’s premise will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has so much as glanced at a MOBA in the last 10 years: two teams of five players, two symmetrical lanes littered with auto-defending towers, and a “jungle” full of neutral enemies filling the space in the middle and around the edges. Each player takes direct control of a single Pokemon from a decent roster of 21 (including favorites like Greninja and Garchomp) that gets stronger as the match goes on. You’ll clash along the lanes, killing your opponents and pushing toward enemy towers until one team has been driven back to their base, forced to watch helplessly as their towers fall.

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Except they don’t actually fall, in Unite’s case. Rather than ending with the spectacular destruction of the enemy’s base, Unite’s matches are on a 10-minute timer with the winning team being whichever squad scores the most points before the buzzer sounds. These points, called Aeos Energy, are collected by defeating the wild Pokemon that spawn around the map, then banked by dunking them Space Jam-style into the enemy team’s Goal Zones, which are Unite’s version of the towers that defend each lane. It’s a cute spin on the established genre mechanics, but the match timer and simplicity of these static objectives eventually left me feeling like I was replaying the same match over and over no matter what Pokemon I selected. 

I quickly started to notice parallels between Unite and another MOBA that tried to make the genre more accessible: Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm, which has been quietly plugging along since development was slowed in 2018. Both games have a similarly simplified take on character progression, with each of Unite’s Pokemon having access to just two activated skills during a match (in addition to two set passives and a slow-charging ultimate ability). Each activated skill can branch into one of two options as you level up, allowing you to lightly customize your playstyle mid-match. Take Cinderace, a speedy ranged attacker who, at level 8, can choose between Flame Charge, a damaging dash attack, or Feint, an evasive buff perfect for outplaying. This pared-down system makes your customization choices slim compared to games like League of Legends or Dota 2, but each Pokemon at least feels distinct from the others even within these strict confines, and I was able to find two or three Pokemon that fit my playstyle in just a few matches. 

After an hour or two of playing, your Pokemon will gain access to three Held Item slots and a Battle Item that add some much needed pre-match depth to the strict A/B nature of leveling. You might take Leftovers, Shell Bell, and a Potion into battle to give yourself extra healing in a pinch, or X-Attack, Scope Lens, and Muscle Band to increase your Pokemon’s burst damage potential. There’s even a helpful option to see what builds high level players are using. Pokemon are all slotted into different roles, such as Defender or All-Around, but with the right approach many can break out of their intended playstyle. For example, Held Items are impactful enough that the Support Pokemon Eldegoss can use its superior speed and healing skills to become a formidable fighter too, which is a rewarding level of flexibility to have if you are a player who likes to experiment with unique builds. 

Once you find a Pokemon and build that works for you, the actual PVP combat is very satisfying. There are plenty of opportunities to outplay and outsmart your opponents using a combination of your skills, items, and the terrain itself. Escaping a sudden gank or wiping the enemy team with a well-placed ultimate is just as satisfying here as it is in any other MOBA (although the chance you are ruining a literal 10-year-old’s day seems much higher), and it’s even more fun when you’re pulling those moves off with your friends using the lobby matchmaking system.

Thankfully Unite’s quick matches, small maps, and low cooldowns provide plenty of opportunities for glorious combat, but a good individual performance doesn’t always translate to overall success. The more Aeos energy you gather, the longer the animation takes to dunk it, which can be cancelled by taking any damage. It’s frustrating to dominate your lane and build up a healthy supply of Aeos only to be locked out from scoring by the smallest attacks from the opposing team. Perhaps by design, Unite encourages you to move with your team, find your objective, then fight as a unit. This encourages good teamwork fundamentals, but also results in a noticeable lack of strategic variety – especially when the Ranked mode only has a single map. That feeds into my biggest complaint with Unite, and another issue it shares with Heroes of the Storm: map objectives are too powerful to ignore. 

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In a game like Dota 2 there are many ways to win. The team you draft, your lane configurations, and even small decisions like where you place a ward create the story of the match. In Unite, too many games can simply come down to Zapdos, a powerful wild Pokemon that spawns in the middle of the map in the match’s final minutes. Whichever team lands the killing blow is given a massive amount of Aeos energy and the ability to score instantly for a short time. Paired with the decision to reward double points during the same time period, this advantage is too powerful to ignore, offering an insurmountable win for the leading team or an instant comeback for the trailing team with no time left on the clock for a response. Unite’s short match time alleviates some of that pain, but it still hurts to watch your hard-fought battle fall apart over one bad engagement. 

Of course, this sort of last minute swing can happen in many multiplayer games, but what makes Unite uniquely frustrating in these high pressure moments is its sometimes unwieldy controls, which quite literally takes some of your control away. As of right now Unite can only be played with a controller on Switch, using an impressively slick scheme that undoubtedly makes it the easiest MOBA to quickly pick up I’ve ever played. Even the most inexperienced player should be able to understand the basics of moving, attacking, and using abilities thanks to the informative (and occasionally overbearing) user interface.

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But the lack of a cursor means you rely on “smart” targeting, using a series of customizable options buried in the settings to decide how your character behaves. Even after tweaking those options, I noticed my Pokemon might choose to target the enemy tank instead of the escaping healer, or my skill reticle may snap to a nearby wild pokemon instead of the approaching ganker. In dire moments, like the aforementioned Zapdos fights, this unlucky targeting may be the factor that decides the entire game, leaving me wondering which option I needed to toggle to prevent future flukes. 

Some of these complaints may be a little deep in the tall grass for a game that clearly hopes to be a beginner-friendly introduction to the genre – and based on the near instant queue times I have experienced so far, that angle seems to be doing a good job of drawing people in. (The online experience in general is incredibly smooth when using a wired connection, and even features the invaluable ability to reconnect after a dropped connection or rare game crash.) There are even less complex 3v3 and 4v4 Quick match modes that feature smaller maps and slimmed down objectives to really let the combat shine. But Unite’s over-dedication to simplicity can occasionally feel more obtuse than accessible.

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For example, you cannot see either team’s score during a match, so how close a game is largely remains a mystery until the end. There’s no indication of which attacks deal Physical or Special damage, and item descriptions can be similarly vague. And while the six in-game tutorials are enough to get you started, they don’t explain some of Unite’s own core concepts like lane assignments, jungling, or teleporting, leaving MOBA newcomers underprepared. 

The disorder continues outside of matches as well due to Unite’s labyrinth of laggy menus, reward paths, and customization options. After spending way too long digging through your battle pass and daily rewards, you have to figure out how to spend your five different currencies at one of the three different in-game stores. A “Claim All” option for your quest rewards and a simplified storefront would do wonders for navigation, but Pokemon Unite is content to follow the industry norms rather than imagine ways they could be better. 

Perhaps no modern game is more blunt about its influences than Eldest Souls. Despite having a name that would make a copyright lawyer sweat, this overtly FromSoftware-inspired action game manages to establish its own blend of addictive, brutal combat and gorgeous art direction that rivals its 2D and 3D peers. It doesn’t mirror their same sense of exploration, but if a souls-like focused almost exclusively on boss battles sounds great to you, look no further.

Eldest Souls’ artistic and narrative influences aren’t so much worn on its sleeve as they are written on a signboard draped around its body. Borrowing heavily from Dark Souls’ infamous intro, it establishes a world where men and gods came into being at the same time, but mortals eventually found themselves subjugated thanks to the machinations of a god named Eksyll. Humanity revolted, caging the gods inside of a massive Citadel, bringing peace to the land…until Eksyll showed up again, committed some heinous experiments on his fellow gods, and brought about the near-extinction of humanity. Now it’s up to one final hero with an oversized obsidian sword to kill every remaining god still dwelling inside the Citadel and sort out the world’s fate. It doesn’t even get close to the lofty heights of Gwyn or Artorias’ fates, and it’s fairly average stuff for dark fantasy lovers, but it’s still entirely serviceable for what we’re here for: big, beefy boss battles.

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Praise the fun

Switching influences, Eldest Souls’ combat takes more inspiration from Bloodborne than it does Dark Souls, with a quicker pace and emphasis on aggression. With your giant obsidian sword, you can use a basic swing, a dash, a charge attack, and a powerful “bloodburst” attack that drains your charge. There are no enemies to fight outside of its 10 bosses, so you’re never more than a few hits from death. To that end, Eldest Souls very much encourages an in-your-face play style, with charged and bloodburst attacks replenishing small fragments of health, much like Bloodborne. What results is a nearly nonstop dance of dodging and exchanging desperate blows.

A skill tree lets you specialize your combat style between three branching options as you progress: Windslide, which focuses on movement and speed, Berserk, which improves your damage output, and Counter, which buffs your defensive options. Equippable “shards” gained from defeated bosses can also give you extra abilities or buffs depending on how you slot them for further customization. Mercifully, you can completely respec your character any time between fights. I loved this freedom because it consistently surprised me with what combinations were viable. 

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Going up against Hyem, a frostbitten armored warrior with the power to slow my dashing, I found myself suiting up with a defensive ability that spawned swords of light with each bloodburst attack. Those swords later shattered upon a successful counter, briefly tripling damage and providing me a moment of solace in the chaos. While fighting the feral Deer God, who attacks with lightning-fast swipes and poisonous roots, I instead respec’d to give myself increased speed to keep up with his great strides across the arena, while flaming leaves I spawned chased him down for guaranteed chipdamage. Infusing boss shards into different slots can prove to be an interesting game of risk vs. reward too, like a special attack that deals extra damage but also hurts you if you’re over 50% health, but heals if you’re under 50%.

With such interesting tricks to try, it’s a bit of a shame that Eldest Souls can be stingy with its skill points at first. The story is designed to be played through multiple times, with a New Game Plus and Arena mode for those who want it. But on a first playthrough, which took me about 15 hours overall, that focus on replayability means fighting some of the early bosses were slightly less enthralling without a wide array of abilities at my disposal.

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That said, these fights are all impeccably balanced, threading a fine line between frustrating and devilishly tantalizing. The number of times I came within a millimeter of death, only to climb my way back with careful strikes, desperate healing, and mashing the square button made the victories even sweeter. I died 519 times to Eldest Souls’ bosses, but even when it spurred me to yell obscenities across the living room, I immediately wanted to hop back in for another try. And thankfully it makes doing so a painless process, with quick respawn load times, and even choosing the “give up” option to take a breather only requiring a short walk back to the boss’ arena.

Pixel-Perfect Punching Bag

With only 10 bosses, I was worried Eldest Souls would be a light meal, but each one and their accompanying arenas are imbued with enough creativity to make every fight feel like the spectacle it needs to be. The excellent pixel art style results in some fascinating animations, selling the corruption of a massive knight as dozens of tendrils spring from his arms, or when an ancient god of light wearily stands up from his throne of massive electrical cables. Its art is equally important in battle, where an emphasis is placed on learning a boss’ tells in order to better dodge and exploit openings.

If there’s a complaint to be made, it’s that the isometric 2D format and pixel art style can sometimes result in boss attacks being a little less clear than they would be in a 3D action game. An early example is while fighting the Guardian, a corrupted god who very much evokes Demon’s Souls’ Tower Knight. His hulking frame shambles beautifully, but he turns on a dime so quickly, with nary an in-between animation frame, that it often resulted in me eating an unexpected face full of spear.

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But the generally fantastic art direction extends throughout the Citadel itself too, which contains a number of beautifully diverse biomes to briefly venture through before the next boss. Embers float through shattered battlefields and down dusty streets, while crystal-clear lakes slowly churn the bodies of long-dead soldiers. A path guarded with laser-shooting stones is littered with the charred remains of more soldiers, stuck in mangled poses that betray how horribly they perished. It’s easily some of the best pixel art ever committed to a video game, rivaled only by the likes of Hyper Light Drifter or Dead Cells.

Just don’t go in expecting a very long journey through these environments. While undoubtedly beautiful, each area is pretty small, and will really only take you a minute or so to get around. The emphasis is absolutely on the bosses here, but the world is filled with enough detail worth stopping to admire from time to time. The small number of NPCs – like a melancholic bard, a traumatized blacksmith, or a vengeful skull made of ice – all provide some fun flavor, even if Eldest Souls doesn’t reach anywhere near the admittedly high bar of world-building that its FromSoft inspirations are known for. What I did appreciate, however, was the fragmented storytelling that often came with defeating a boss, when some aspect of its true nature was revealed. Some are quietly tragic, while others are flat out gross in the best way possible.