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Updated 6/25 with new Marvel’s Avenger story and gameplay details.

The Marvel’s Avengers game is set to launch in just a few months and fans of the Marvel Universe will soon be able to play as one of six playable heroes confirmed for it. Set five years after the events of A-Day, Marvel’s Avengers follows Kamala Khan as she assembles a team to help her tackle a new threat. With a beta confirmed for later this year and the release date drawing near, now is a great time to catch up on what we know about Crystal Dynamic’s Marvel’s Avengers so far.

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Marvel’s Avengers Release Date

The Marvel’s Avengers release date is September 4, 2020 and will arrive on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. Crystal Dynamics initially planned for a May 2020 release but elected to push back the date so developers could finish “fine-tuning and polishing the game.”

Marvel’s Avengers has been teased by Square Enix since 2017 and was officially revealed at E3 2019. Those who preorder the game will get access to the beta and some other cool rewards. Check out our Marvel’s Avengers preorder guide for more information.

Marvel’s Avengers Story

Marvel’s Avengers takes place five years after the cinematic trailer that was shown during E3 2019, where the Avengers are blamed for a tragedy involving Terrigen mists (a mutagen that transforms its victims into Inhumans) that struck the San Francisco Bay Area. After the event, dubbed “A-Day”, superheroes are outlawed and the Avengers are officially disbanded.

One of the victims of the Terrigen mists includes the co-founder of Advanced Idea Mechanics (or A.I.M.) George Tarleton, who eventually transforms into the game’s main supervillain, MODOK. Utilizing the lingering resentment against the Avengers after A-Day to imprison Inhumans and “find a cure”, Tarleton begins secretly using their powers to form an Adaptoid robot army with the goal of eliminating all superpowered peoples from the Earth.

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A teenager named Kamala Khan (also known as Ms. Marvel) is another victim of the Terrigen mist who discovers her powers during a fight. She later finds evidence that reveals the true nature behind A.I.M.’s Inhuman “research” as well as the truth about Captain America’s death, and brings the information to Bruce Banner who then informs Tony Stark.

Eventually, the Avengers are forced to reassemble to confront the threat.

Marvel’s Avengers Gameplay

Marvel’s Avengers can be played as a single-player game or as an online co-op game where you can team up with three other players. There are also two types of missions in the game, Hero and Warzone missions.

Hero missions are single-player only and part of the main campaign according to Crystal Dynamics’ Studio Creative Head, Noah Hughes.

Warzone missions, on the other hand, are less story focused and allow players to play as any Avenger they like, either by themselves or with friends. When playing co-op, heroes can work together to perform Team Finisher moves.

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Crystal Dynamics is focusing on player choice as far as Marvel’s Avengers gameplay is concerned, allowing each hero’s gear, skills, and outfits to be customized. We spoke with the developers to find out more about customizing hero moves in Marvel’s Avengers and lead combat designer Vince Napoli told us, “All the support abilities also have a primary function for the main character as well.”

For example, Thor has an ability that strikes enemies with lightning but also strikes each Avenger, giving them a lightning shield and making them invincible for 12 seconds.

These abilities can also be customized to suit specific needs. Napoli explained, “You can change the way that the god mode sort of works for Thor and you can turn him into a sort of a beacon of health where he’ll sort of channel health to nearby characters for the duration of his god mode.”

As players progress through the game, they’ll be able to upgrade gear to make their heroes more powerful, similar to games like Destiny or Borderlands. However, gear upgrades will not be visible on a hero’s suit, but will instead be “part of or underneath your suit” according to senior producer Rose Hunt.

“We thought [players] would rather have the visuals that we’re pulling from the comic books or the original suits that we’re making up, rather than have a bunch of attachments on the outside of it making them look not as cool,” said Hunt. “When you scale up or when you level up gear, there’s definitely going to be some different visuals for VFX. Generally, it’s going to feel like a celebration. It’s also going to have probably some different animations at different times.”

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As far as game length goes, Crystal Dynamics hasn’t released an official statement on Marvel’s Avengers playtime. However, senior brand director Rich Briggs suggested to Comicbook that quickly going through the main story might take around 10-12 hours, but a more in-depth playthrough could last up to 30 hours.

In a clarifying statement to IGN, a Crystal Dynamics representative indicated the studio intends to support the game for “multiple years” with DLC and post-launch content. Further, Crystal Dynamics is calling Marvel Avengers the largest game in the history of its studio.

IGN was able to go hands-on with it at Gamescom 2019, so be sure to check out our Marvel’s Avengers first impressions, if you’re interested. Additionally, we’ve rounded up a list of over 38 new details about the game.

Marvel’s Avengers Characters

There are currently six heroes confirmed for Marvel’s Avengers. You can see a list of all the characters below.

• Iron Man
• Thor
• Black Widow
• Captain America
• Hulk
• Kamala Khan

At the 2019 New York City Comic Con, Kamala Khan was introduced as the sixth playable character to join the elite squad of heroes.

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It was also revealed that Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel will be the main protagonist of Marvel’s Avengers. Rose Hunt, Marvel’s Avengers senior producer told IGN that the team decided to focus on Ms. Marvel in part due to her lack of history in the Marvel universe, allowing the studio more freedom when crafting her story for the game.

“Another advantage of her is that she doesn’t have 80 years of history, like Captain America or some of the other Avengers,” said Hunt. “And that allows us to actually tell more of an original story with her, because her story has just begun, and we can build on that in very interesting ways.”

Some fans were disappointed to see Hawkeye left off the list, after all, he is one of the core Avengers. While he hasn’t been officially revealed at the time of writing, Marvel Games’ Creative Director Bill Rosemann is telling fans to “stay tuned, true believer,” suggesting Hawkeye may be joining the lineup at a later date.

Various trailers and gameplay reveals have also indicated that Abomination and Taskmaster will show up in the game as villains. While there is little to no public information on these character’s roles in the game, Taskmaster will be one of the villains in the upcoming Black Widow movie, which has been delayed due to the coronavirus.

Game footage has also revealed that A.I.M. will be the main mastermind group behind the conspiracy uncovered by Kamala Khan. This group first appeared in Marvel comics in the 1960s and has since appeared in a variety of movies, shows, and even games. For more, check out our deep dive into the history of A.I.M.

MODOK is confirmed to be the main supervillain in Marvel’s Avengers.

In addition to all this, Square Enix has announced that there will be characters added to the game post-launch, which will be free for all players. Be sure to check out our list of heroes we want to see added in the DLC.

Marvel’s Avengers Beta

The Marvel’s Avengers beta will be available to everyone who preorders the game. At the time of writing, the beta release date hasn’t been announced yet and Square Enix is telling fans that more information will be provided at a later date. Additionally, those who preorder a copy on the PS4 will get access to the beta first.

Anyone who preorders the Deluxe or Earth’s Mightiest editions (any platform) of Marvel’s Avengers will get access to the game on September 1, three days before its launch. However, preordering any edition of the Marvel’s Avengers will grant you beta access when it becomes available.

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Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN and is super excited to play Marvel’s Avengers in September! Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.

Developers Ghost Town Games and Team 17 have revealed Overcooked 2‘s latest DLC. Sun’s Out Buns Out, which introduces new chefs and stages, hits Steam on July 5 and consoles later in the month.

Sun’s Out Buns Out brings the summer and all of its festivities to Overcooked 2’s crowded kitchen. The DLC features some new doggy chefs, chaotic stages with challenging environmental obstacles, themed summer recipes, and more. You can check out the trailer below, which was revealed by IGN.

Overcooked 2’s last DLC, Carnival of Chaos, dropped in September 2019. It retails for $6 but is also included in the game’s season pass, which costs $20 and comes packaged with all current and future add-ons. Carnival of Chaos, like the upcoming Sun’s Out Buns Out, features new chefs, environmental hazards, recipes, stages, and more.

We awarded the game an 8/10 in GameSpot’s Overcooked 2 review from August 2018, with reviews editor Kallie Plagge saying, “It’s a strong foundation, and with the right friends, Overcooked 2 is one of the best couch co-op games around.”

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

Diablo 4’s developers recently ran a two-day playtest, and have reported back on some of their findings. That includes the game’s open world side activities, how its shared world shouldn’t ever feel crowded, and more.

In a lengthy report on the playtest, which took place in the game’s Dry Steppes area (which we saw at the game’s BlizzCon 2019 reveal), several of the game’s new features were covered.

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Open World Activities

While Diablo 4 still features a linear story campaign, its new open world allows for variety of side activities – the playtest revealed that those who didn’t mainline the story campaign ended up playing for roughly twice as long as those who did. Side activities includ crafting, world events, PvP and side quests.

The playtest’s most popular activities, however, were Camps, clearable outposts dotted across the game world. Each camp has been overrun in a different way (one has been cursed and turned villagers into salt, another is haunted by a spirit possessing various bodies in a crypt) and, when cleared, will become populated with friendly NPCs and become a waypoint on the map.

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Shared World

While Diablo 4 will feature a shared world. Blizzard makes clear that it’s fine-tuned the game so that it doesn’t feel like a traditional MMO, instead making player encounters rare, with larger groups only appearing where they’d be contextually expected to.

Dungeons and key story moments are always private to the playing party. Towns will feature a few other players, and the open road will be dotted with them too. Cooperative world events sound as though they’ll feature the largest numbers of collected players, fighting against hordes of enemies or world bosses. New tools will let solo players either find open parties, or join parties in proximity with them.

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Cutscenes

Diablo 4 will feature three varieties of cutscene, aiming to make sure it rarely breaks the game’s isometric camera angle, but still feels cinematic in some way. Normal NPC conversations will see the camera draw closer, using canned animations. More important conversations will use the same camera angle, but will use hand-crafted animations to get across the story as effectively as possible.

The most important moments will use real-time cutscenes, which take a more cinematic camera style, but will include your character, in their current armour, and with your chosen graphics settings, to keep the game feeling seamless.

These are the main new details announced in Blizzard’s update, but there’s a lot more included in the report about general playtesting findings.

Diablo 4 still doesn’t have a release date, and you shouldn’t expect it anytime soon. We already know quite a lot about the game, however – including how it’s being steered by Gears of War’s Rod Fergusson, how it will feature cosmetic microtransactions, and how it’s been inspired by Junji Ito.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Diablo 4 is still coming in the nebulous Blizzard future, with no precise release date, but in the meantime the studio is keeping us posted on its progress with promised quarterly updates. The latest development update gives fresh insights on how the dungeon-crawler will handle elements like storytelling, open-world elements, and seamless multiplayer without compromising the feel of Diablo. Here’s all of the new info we learned about Diablo 4.

Diablo 4 Storytelling

Blizzard started by addressing how it is changing its storytelling mechanisms. Whereas Diablo 3 used character portraits to deliver dialogue, the studio is experimenting with bringing the camera in closer to characters so you can see the conversations firsthand. Some conversations will rely on a general library of animations, while more complex conversations will have handcrafted animations.

For the most important story moments, Blizzard is planning to use real-time cutscenes. That allows the angles to be more cinematic, but you’ll still be shown as your own character with any visual elements like your currently equipped armor.

Setting Up Camps

Blizzard also said it has been satisfied during playtesting with the addition of Camps. These are distinct locations that have been taken over by demonic hordes, but once you cleanse them they’ll become friendly outposts with NPCs and a waypoint. The studio says the storytelling in the Camps is mostly visual, but you can put together pieces of what happened in those locations by looking at the surroundings. For example, one camp was a town that had been afflicted by a curse turning villagers into piles of salt. Another was a crypt haunted by a skeleton-jumping spirit.

Camps help you get a foothold in an area outside of Sanctuary, and are meant to encourage exploration in the open world. Blizzard noted that during its playtests, those who focused only on the story quests finished in less than half the average time than others who meandered with side-content.

Multiplayer (But Not Massively)

Multiplayer in Diablo 4 looks to more seamlessly integrate other players into your game, but to a limited degree. For example, after completing the story your towns will turn into social hubs, but you’ll only have a few other players in your town at any given time. You also might run into an odd player here or there while wandering the road. The largest collection of players will be in a big world event, like trying to defend a point or attacking a big boss. If you find yourself wandering into a party you can just complete the event, collect the rewards, and go about your day.

Blizzard said it was important to not to make the multiplayer counts too big, because it doesn’t want the game to resemble a MMO. It said this is a “philosophy rather than a tech limitation,” simply because the game stops “feeling like Diablo” if you see other players too often.

If you’ve seen the latest Cyberpunk 2077 trailer and caught up with the new gameplay shown off during today’s Night City Wire stream, you probably understand how detailed developer CD Projekt RED is making its latest RPG. But did you expect character creation to be so detailed that it includes various pubic hair options?

Cyberpunk 2077 character creator has been previewed briefly before, but the first hands-on chance for media has uncovered just how deep it really is. Kotaku Australia chronicled all of the anatomy options available to you when creating your own version of protagonist V, and it includes some options you’ve likely never seen elsewhere.

Here’s everything you can customize when creating V:

• 6 skin types
• 35 hairstyles
• 17 eyes
• 8 eyebrows
• 17 eyes
• 17 mouths
• 17 jaws
• 7 ears
• 8 pieces of cybernetic parts
• 9 types of scars
• 6 types of tattoos
• 11 piercings
• 5 types of teeth
• 8 bits of eye makeup
• 5 bits of lip makeup
• 3 blemishes
• 3 types of nipples
• 5 types of body tattoos
• 2 types of body scars
• 2 penis types
• 1 vagina option
• 2 penis size options
• 5 types of pubic hair

That’s a lot of freedom to really customize V as you see fit, with no options being restricted based on your gender choice for the protagonist.

GameSpot also got a chance to play the game recently, and editor Tamoor Hussian found a lot to like about the game’s side missions in his Cyberpunk 2077 hands-on preview. “The side-quest, titled Losing My Religion, was exactly that, and it was one of the many side-missions available on the map at the time. As exciting as the prospect of working my way up through gangs and megacorps to become a Night City legend is, it’s those little stories that I’m most looking forward to seeing more of.”

You can also find out how the game’s prologue changes depending on what background you choose for V, and catch up on the surprise announcement of a Cyberpunk 2077 anime coming to Netflix in 2022.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

It’s that time once again: the Steam Summer Sale 2020 is now live. PC gamers can save heaps of cash on a vast swath of games from pretty much every genre under the sun. You’ll find discounts on major franchises like Final Fantasy and Resident Evil, as well as on indie gems like Disco Elysium and Hollow Knight. And on top of the sale prices, when you spend $30 or more, you’ll save $5 at checkout.

If you’re looking to catch a deal on a PC game, you’ll want to see what’s gotten the discount treatment this year. You can check out the full sale here, or read on for a selection the highlights. Let’s dig in.

Steam Summer Sale Highlights

App users: Don’t see the deals below? Click here.

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You’ll find all of these, plus a bunch more discounts at the full sale page. Happy deal hunting.

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

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Microsoft has announced the Xbox Games with Gold lineup for July, featuring the latest WRC racing sim, Saints Row 2, and more.

As always, next month’s lineup includes four games, all of which are free to Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. Check out the full lineup below:

• WRC 8 (July 1–31 on Xbox One)
• Dunk Lords (July 16–August 15 on Xbox One)
• Saints Row 2 (July 1–15 on Xbox One and Xbox 360)
• Juju (July 16–31 on Xbox One and Xbox 360)

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Released last September, WRC 8 is the latest World Rally Championship racing sim. IGN’s WRC 8 review awarded the racer an 8.4 and called it the series’ “biggest leap in quality to date.”

July’s lineup of free games also features the 2008 Saints Row sequel. In our Saints Row 2 review, we called the beloved sandbox game “big dumb fun.”

Rounding out the month are Dunk Lords, a two-on-two basketball beat ’em up, and Juju, a family friendly platformer.

Three of June’s Games with Gold — Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, Coffee Talk, and Sine Mora — are still available for free.

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Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN.