BEYOND!
On this week’s episode of IGN’s weekly PlayStation show, Jonathon Dornbush, Brian Altano, Lucy O’Brien, and Max Scoville discuss all the biggest PlayStation news of the last week, offer impressions on some awesome-looking PSVR games to come, share a fun Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater memory, and more!
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One of the nice things about 2018’s comic book lineup was that Marvel gave readers a bit of a break on the crossover event front. While they still published franchise-specific events like Spider-Geddon and Infinity Wars, there was nothing on the level of Civil War or Avengers vs. X-Men that dominated the bulk of Marvel’s output for months at a time. Like it or not, 2019 is not continuing that trend. War of the Realms is here, and it’s going to spill into many corners of the Marvel Universe in the months ahead. Fortunately, it has a solid backbone beneath all the usual event comic spectacle.
In fact, the biggest selling point with War of the Realms is the fact that it serves as the grand climax of Jason Aaron’s six-year-long Thor run. It’s all been building to this. Malekith’s slow consolidation of power now culminates in a massive invasion of Midgard. Worse, this invasion comes at a time when Asgard’s strength has never been weaker and Thor himself is still separated from Mjolnir. Where Asgard fails, it now falls on the Avengers to clean up this mess.
If you’re an Amazon Prime member who’s not taking advantage of the included Twitch Prime benefits, now’s a great time to check out the perks of the streaming platform’s premium service. For one, Nintendo recently announced that Twitch Prime members can claim a free three months of Nintendo Switch Online–and after 60 days, you can get another nine months free if you remain a Prime member. A year of free Switch Online is pretty sweet on its own, but don’t forget that you can also get free PC games every month through Twitch Prime. And once you claim the games, they’re yours to keep. April’s free Twitch Prime games are available now–here’s a quick look at the four titles being offered:
Her Story is a video game that plays more like an interactive movie–you’ll watch video clips from fictional police interviews (created with live-action footage) with a woman named Hannah Smith, whose husband has gone missing. Your goal: to piece the clues together and solve the case. InnerSpace is an exploration-flying game set in a universe where planets are inside-out and gravity pulls you outward rather than inward. Another freebie: Joggernauts, a co-op platformer with auto-running characters that must quickly switch back and forth to navigate color-coded puzzles. Finally, there’s Keep in Mind: Remastered, a horror adventure where you play as a man named Jonas who is forced to face his demons in a shadowy mirror world. Thought-provoking and creative, these four indie titles are worth checking out.
As a reminder: in order to claim these free games, you must 1) be an Amazon Prime member and 2) link your Amazon account to Twitch. In addition to free PC games every month, Twitch also gives away free in-game loot, exclusives, and other digital content on a regular basis, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the current deals if you’re a Prime member.
How to link your Amazon account to Twitch »
Layers of Fear 2 adds new twists on what the original game laid out. There’s still a series of twisting rooms to match the hero’s paranoia, but the trimmings have all been changed. The first game featured a painter haunted by acrylic monsters in a large house. The sequel stars an actor on a cruise ship, and the monsters flash and stutter as they move, as if they crawled right off a film reel. One particularly haunting hallway features an army of mannequins, locking their arms together to prevent you from moving forward.
You can see these scares in action in the video above, in a PAX East 2019 demo from developer Bloober Team. Layers of Fear 2 is headed to PC sometime this year.
It’s fair to look at Iratus: Lord of the Dead and be reminded of Darkest Dungeon, and developer Unfrozen isn’t afraid to make the comparison itself. But where Darkest Dungeon has a troop of adventurers battling through all manner of monsters, Iratus puts you in the shoes of an evil necromancer. Your troop is comprised of wraiths, specters, death knights, vampires, and other assorted beasts. The more enemy soldiers (or are they the good guys?), you slaughter, the more body parts you collect to build your own undead army.
That’s easier said than done, however, as enemy soldiers have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. One enemy type ignites a bomb that kills neighboring characters at the end of a round, while another whips his own teammates to buff their stats. For your part, you can deal damage to an opponent’s health or sanity, and if you totally deplete the latter, you have a chance to one-shot them with a terrifying heart attack.
We got hands on with the game at PAX East 2019, and you can some of those tough battles in the video above. Iratus: Lord of the Dead is headed to early access on Steam sometime in May.
Although it hasn’t been confirmed, 2K has announced that cross-play could be a possibility for Borderlands 3. The upcoming sequel to one of the studio’s most popular franchises is scheduled to launch on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on September 13. The PC version will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store first, though, before also releasing on Steam in April 2020.
When asked about cross-play, a 2K spokesperson told GameSpot, “Cross-play is something we’re looking at closely, but we don’t have anything to confirm or announce at this time.” Cross-play support for Borderlands 3 was seemingly announced when the Microsoft Store listing of the game advertised the feature under the game’s Capabilities section. However, cross-play support has since been removed from the store listing.
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Borderlands 3 – Release Date Trailer
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Gearbox released a new trailer–which can be watched above–for Borderlands 3 that offered a closer look at four brand-new playable Vault Hunters. There’s Moze the Gunner, who, similar to Borderlands 2‘s Gaige, summons a mechanical helper to aid her in combat. However, Moze’s companion, Iron Bear, is a giant mech that can be piloted by either Moze or one of her companions. Amara is a Siren, and like Lilith and Maya before her, she can summon powerful elemental energies to aid her in battle. Unlike the support-focused Sirens before her, though, Amara appears to be able to stand on her own as a more melee-focused fighter.
Like Borderlands‘ Mordecai, FL4K the Beastmaster is a hunter-focused Vault Hunter. FL4K can command pet-like beasts, such a Skag and Spiderant, to aid him and his allies. Finally, Zane the Operative uses holographic decoys–not unlike Borderlands 2’s Zer0–to get the drop on his enemies. Unlike Zer0, though, Zane comes equipped with a few other high-tech gadgets.
Both Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel added new Vault Hunters post-launch, but Gearbox has not confirmed whether that will also be the case for Borderlands 3. However, the Borderlands 3 Diamond Loot Chest Collector’s Edition does come with five character lithographs as opposed to only four. So, similar to Gaige in Borderlands 2, there may be a fifth unannounced Vault Hunter in Borderlands 3 who’s added to the game almost immediately after its release as a secret free pre-order bonus.
If you’re an Xbox One Game Pass member or have considered signing up for the service, this might be your best chance at a cheap subscription: order a three-month Xbox Game Pass at Amazon, and you’ll receive an extra three-month Game Pass for free.
While there’s no countdown or end date listed for this offer, Amazon does specify that it’s a “limited-time offer,” and you must redeem the Xbox Game Pass code before June 30 to be usable. There’s also a limit of one free code per customer or mailing address. But even if you’re already signed up for Xbox Game Pass, here’s a great chance to get your next six months for basically 50% off.
When you first look at the product page, it’s easy to look over the offer. Scroll down the page a little, and you should see this section:
As long as that offer is still listed on the page, the deal should still be valid. Add the three-month Game Pass to your cart, and just before you place the order, check that it says “Qualifying offers: offer applied” in the Order Summary box (right under where it lists your order total). After you purchase, the digital code you bought will be available under “Games and Software” in your Amazon account. The free bonus code will be directly emailed to you.
Xbox Game Pass is a monthly subscription that gives you unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games. Similar to Netflix, new games are rotated in every month while others are removed. The current Xbox Game Pass lineup includes Fallout 4, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Just Cause 4, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Halo 5: Guardians, and many more.
Buy a three-month Xbox Game Pass, get another three-month pass for free:
Ubisoft has announced the latest update for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Patch 1.2.0, will go live on Xbox One, PS4, and PC tomorrow, April 4. The update is 4.1 GB on Xbox One, 4.4 GB on PS4, and 3.9 GB on PC.
Patch 1.2.0 implements in-game support for several upcoming content drops in Odyssey. The largest of those content drops–the first episode of Odyssey’s Fate of Atlantis DLC, titled Fields of Elysium–releases April 23. Patch 1.2.0 adds in-game support for upcoming Lost Tales of Greece side missions as well. Like the Fate of Atlantis DLC, you can expect these Lost Tales of Greece missions to launch at a later date.
The update adds new features to Odyssey too. Patch 1.2.0 implements custom gear loadouts, allowing you to quickly switch between your favorite combinations of armor and weapons for different combat encounters. Lost Tales of Greece missions will also be highlighted in the Quest log, making it easier to keep track of how many you have left and which tasks you still need to do to complete each one.
The rest of Patch 1.2.0 outlines fixes for some of Odyssey’s balancing issues and bugs. The full notes are outlined below. Be warned, the patch notes for this update do contain spoilers for certain mid- to late-game storylines.
In our Assassin’s Creed Odyssey review, Alessandro Fillari gave the game an 8/10, writing, “…Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s ambition is admirable, which is reflected in its rich attention to detail for the era and its approach to handling the multi-faceted narrative with strong protagonists at the lead. While its large-scale campaign–clocking in at over 50 hours–can occasionally be tiresome, and some features don’t quite make the impact they should, Odyssey makes great strides in its massive and dynamic world, and it’s a joy to venture out and leave your mark on its ever-changing setting.”
Legacy of the First Blade
Lost Tales of Greece
New Game Plus
Main Game
Although no more movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been announced beyond July’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, the next phase of the MCU is taking shape behind-the-scenes. One film that is definitely happening is the long-awaited Black Widow movie. It’s set to start shooting this year, and now two big names are reportedly being lined up to star alongside Scarlett Johansson.
According to Variety, Rachel Weisz and Stranger Things star David Harbour are both in talks to play roles in Black Widow. The site states that deals have not been made for either actor yet, but that Weisz will play a “key role” and that there is “strong interest from both sides of negotiations.”
Weisz is best known for movies such as this year’s Oscar-nominated The Favourite, The Bourne Legacy, and the 1999 film of The Mummy. Harbour will next be seen in the reboot of Hellboy, which releases this month, and returns for Stranger Things Season 3 in July.
Black Widow will be directed by Cate Shortland, who previously helmed the thriller The Berlin Syndrome. Last month it was reported that Fighting with My Family star Florence Pugh will play the second lead in the film. It doesn’t currently have a release date.
Before we get to her standalone movie, Johansson will be seen as Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame, which hits theaters on April 26. The latest promo video revealed loads of new footage–check out GameSpot’s breakdown of this new video. In addition, tickets for Endgame are now available. The pre-sale has broken records and caused several ticketing sites–including Fandango and AMC–to crash.
Respawn has provided another update on the Apex Legends bug that emerged on Wednesday. In a post on Reddit, it explained that “players were unintentionally moved to the wrong servers that didn’t have their persistence and this caused players accounts to appear reset with all progression lost.” It confirmed that it hadn’t actually lost players’ progress and that it shut down live servers intentionally in order to get things back on track.
Because of this, Respawn said your progress should be intact–that is, up until update 1.1 went live at 10 AM PT on Wednesday. Anything you did after that, assuming you did install the update, has been reverted, however. Here’s what Respawn said exactly:
With all of this sorted out, you can now go about checking out what’s new in the latest patch. The highlights, as noted below, include a way to party up with squadmates you’ve matched up with, among other things. The original story follows.
Respawn has put out a warning that there’s a pretty serious bug in Apex Legends right now. It’s tied to the battle royale title’s latest update, patch 1.1–which is live now–and it deletes your in-game progress. Meanwhile, the game’s servers appear to be down at the time of this writing.
To stave off the bug, Respawn wrote a quick post on Reddit advising all players to “not buy or craft anything” until the issue is resolved. The post did not list any specific platform, so it’s implied the bug is affecting all versions of Apex Legends on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. There’s no time table for how long it will be before this is fixed, or if impacted players will be able to recover their lost progression
It also seems like players can no longer log in to Apex Legends’ servers either, regardless of platform. Specifically, players are getting an error stating “no servers found.” It’s possible that the servers have been deliberately shut down in order to stop players from logging in and losing their progress. However, Respawn has not issued an official statement in regards to the server shutdown.
The update in question, Patch 1.1, is (ironically enough) a quality-of-life patch for Apex Legends. Patch 1.1 adds a feature that allows you to invite the squadmates you just played with to join you in a party. So if there’s ever a random teammate you meet online that you want to play with again, you can easily find them. The update also implements a mute button on Apex Legends’ intro and character select screens, and creates an option to report players for cheating or “Other.” Octane’s jump pads no longer affect Wraith while she’s using her Into the Void ability as well.
Patch 1.1 implements a few bug fixes too. The three of them are outlined below. If you’re curious, Respawn has posted the full patch notes for Apex Legends’ latest update on Reddit.