The reception to the launch of the remake of XIII has been negative, and its publisher and developer have released a joint statement to apologize and promise that a fix is on the way.
As it stands, XIII’s remake has an “Overwhelmingly Negative” rating of 9% on Steam and a 44 on Metacritic, with many noting the numerous technical issues. Additionally, as Twitter user @tomrkobayashi notes, another issue fans have with the game are how the game “removed the comic book style [of the original] and went for something that looks like Fortnite.”
Microids and PlayMagic also admit that “the pandemic has impacted the game’s production on many levels.” The team had hoped to have a Day One patch ready to fix all the issues, but the update is “taking more time than expected.”
PlayMagic is “working hard to solve all the game’s issues,” and the first update “will be pushed shortly to fix the most urgent issues regarding the controls, frame rate, collisions, rendering and sound.”
Microids also confirms that it is working on a detailed road map that will highlight the “upcoming free additions to the game content like new levels, weapons, skins and modes for the local multiplayer.”
In our review of the original XIII, which was released in 2003 on PC, PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, we said “the character models are quite awesome, but apparently not nearly as much work was done on stylizing the environment as well. XIII has a great story-driven sheen, but at it’s core, it’s weighed down by some occasional bewildering flaws, in addition to the lackluster weapons and simple combat we usually see in lesser productions.”
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As of a few hours before the announcement, Spohn’s initiative had earned over $150,000 in donations, and Dr. Lupo helped reveal that Twitch would be donating an extra $1 million to AbleGamers to help make a difference for so many around the world.
AbleGamers was founded in 2004 by Mark Barlet and Stephanie Walker after Walker began having troubles controlling a mouse to play video games due to multiple sclerosis. They decided it was time to make gaming accessible for people with disabilities so they could ensure, as they say, everyone can game.
You can watch the awards show on either Twitch.TV/AbleGamers or Twitch.TV/Charalanahzard, and all proceeds will go towards charity to help make gaming accessible to all.
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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
One of the most iconic scenes in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse has been recreated in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PS5 and the internet is absolutely loving it.
As previously mentioned, the internet has fallen in love with this video, with it surpassing over one million views since it was tweeted out yesterday, November 14.
In what may be the ultimate compliments, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse writer Phil Lord and producer Christopher Miller quote tweeted the video showing their support and respect for @Much118x’s work.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the latest game in Ubisoft’s open-world series, and it continues the franchise’s new RPG formula from the Ancient Greece-set predecessor, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. But how does Valhalla compare to Odyssey?
In the video above, Jordan Ramée and Lucy James compare the two games across three topics: gameplay, world and setting, and story and characters. From a gameplay standpoint, Valhalla streamlines many of Odyssey’s loot-heavy mechanics, while returning the series to its roots by bringing back elements such as social stealth and the hidden blade.
Lucy and Jordan also break down the two games’ settings: Viking-era England, and Ancient Greece, and discuss which title best represents its historical location. And finally, they discuss Valhalla and Odyssey’s central protagonists, comparing fan-favourite Kassandra with the new assassin on the block, Eivor.
Publisher Microids and developer Playmagic released their remake of cult-hit shooter XIII last week, and the response has been largely negative. In the wake of this backlash, the two companies have released a statement pledging to improve the game–and admit that it isn’t where they wanted it to be, either.
In a post on the Microids website, the team said it heard criticism “loud and clear” and apologized for the game’s technical issues.
“In its present state, XIII does not meet our quality standards and we fully understand players’ frustrations. The pandemic has impacted the game’s production on many levels,” the post said. “Pivoting to home working for the teams has added unexpected delays in the development schedule and the QA process. We hoped we would be able to provide a day one patch fixing all the issues but the development of this update is taking more time than expected.”
Several patches are expected to arrive in the near future, and the first one is fixing issues such as frame rate problems, collisions, rendering, and sound, while there will be additional free content updates to add things like new weapons and levels later down the line.
Aside from the technical issues, however, one of the main criticisms of XIII so far is its art style. Rather than the cel-shaded comic book style of the original game–which was itself based on a comic–the remake looks more detailed and realistic. It didn’t completely drop the original’s art, but it’s arguably less memorable. Steam reviews of the game are almost universally negative thus far.
XIII is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, with a Nintendo Switch version arriving in 2021.
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Demon’s Souls features plenty of secrets and hidden passageways that can give you shortcuts or access to extra treasure, but it appears Bluepoint Games may have added a new Easter egg for the PS5 remake. Players have discovered what appears to be a new door fairly early in the game. The only problem is that no one can figure out how to open it.
The new door, which is behind an illusory wall you must attack to reveal, is located in the Tower Knight Archstone area. It’s commonly called “1-3” in Demon’s Souls fan circles because of how the game progresses between the five main Archstones. The wall itself is even obscured by some breakable rubble, but you’ll be greeted with an “it appears to be locked” message if you try to open the door.
Users on the game’s Reddit page haven’t been able to figure out what is behind the door or how to open it, but it looks like this will be the next great Souls mystery until someone does.
To see the door for yourself, you can progress through the first Archstone’s content, but it’s recommended that you go in a circular pattern around the Nexus and complete one area before moving onto the next Archstone. Going through an entire Archstone’s content first will likely leave you with some extremely difficult fights.
Demon’s Souls is arguably the highlight of the PS5’s launch lineup, with Tamoor Hussain giving it a 9/10 in our Demon’s Souls review. He praised its reverence for the original 2009 game’s design as well as how it shows off the power of the new console.
The Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. handheld officially released on November 13, and it gives you yet another way to enjoy the legendary platformer. However, there are also a number of little Easter eggs and secrets that you can use, and Nintendo gave us some tips on how to access them.
Once you beat Super Mario Bros. for the first time on the device, you’ll gain access to a new hard mode. This mode was lost when turning off the original NES, but thanks to the advances in technology, now you never have to lose access to it!
Finish Super Mario Bros. and you’ll unlock hard mode, with different enemies appearing.
In the original game, hard mode was only available until you turned off the Nintendo Entertainment System! pic.twitter.com/d31WRDZIyN
If you hold down the A button when on the title screen, you’ll unlock “Infinite Mario” mode, which removes the life limit and lets you keep playing indefinitely. This is a great option if you’re getting the system for a younger player, or if you’ve gotten a little rusty over the years.
Unlock Infinite Mario mode in Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels by holding the A button at the title screen.
An update to the classic Game & Watch Ball game also lets you play as Luigi if you hold down the A button for more than five seconds, and you’ll even see some Easter eggs on the included clock based on the time of day. There are 35 of them in total–one for each year since Super Mario Bros. came out.
The Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. system is selling out quickly whenever it’s restocked, and critic Steve Watts was fairly warm on it. Despite its somewhat limited functionality, it’s a charming little device and a celebration of Nintendo’s most important years.
Even as The Witcher Season 2 moves forward for an expected 2021 release, the ongoing global pandemic has led to multiple filming disruptions for the show. But still, both Netflix and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich have been releasing a mix of photos, video, and commentary that provide hints as to what the continued adventures of Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia will bring.
Taken alongside the plots of the Andrzej Sapkowski books, these teases provide plenty of room for speculation. So let’s look at what we might be able to expect from The Witcher Season 2…
The Witcher Season 2: Geralt and Ciri Are Finally Together
The Witcher Season 1 took place over three timelines which moved at different speeds before finally intersecting in the finale, with the Witcher Geralt of Rivia being united with Ciri (Freya Allan), the orphaned princess he is destined to protect through the Law of Surprise. Hissrich said in a Reddit AMA session that the second season’s plot will be more linear now that she’s already told the origin stories of Geralt and the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra) and can have all three protagonists interacting in the same timeline.
However, that doesn’t mean they’ll be spending much time together at the start of the season. The official synopsis for Season 2 reads as follows:
Convinced Yennefer’s life was lost at the Battle of Sodden, Geralt of Rivia brings Princess Cirilla to the safest place he knows, his childhood home of Kaer Morhen. While the Continent’s kings, elves, humans, and demons strive for supremacy outside its walls, he must protect the girl from something far more dangerous: the mysterious power she possesses inside.
Yennifer disappeared at the end of the battle in the Season 1 finale after unleashing a huge fireball on the enemy forces. Given that fire magic reduces most sorcerers to ash, it’s reasonable for Geralt and everyone else to assume that she’s dead, but that’s clearly not the case.
Photos shared from The Witcher Twitter account promise Yennifer will return but show her in shackles. The question is who has captured her. Redanian Intelligence has acquired some leaked photos that seem to show that she and her rival, the Nilfgaardian sorceress Fringilla, have been captured by elves. This doesn’t happen in the books so we’re pretty much in uncharted territory on this front.
Ciri’s Training at Kaer Morhen
Other images shared by Netflix show Ciri training at Kaer Morhen, the fortress where Geralt became a Witcher. While much of Season 1 was based on Sapkowski’s collections of interconnected short stories, The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, Ciri training at Kaer Morhen is a significant part of the first true Witcher novel — Blood of Elves.
In the book, Ciri learns swordplay and impressive feats of athleticism from Geralt and his fellow Witchers, who Hissrich has said are her favorite new characters. A massacre at Kaer Morhen thinned their numbers significantly, but the survivors who remain dedicated to the work of ridding the world of dangerous monsters include Geralt’s mentor Vesemir, who will be played by Kim Bodnia of Killing Eve (despite some wild speculation that Mark Hamill might take the role).
Vesemir will be played by Kim Bodnia (Killing Eve).
Hissrich calls Vesemir Geralt’s surrogate father and the other Witchers of Kaer Morhen, Lambert, Coën, and Eskel, his brothers. Their unconventional family relationship fits in with the one that will develop between Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri, which Hissrich says is “the most important part of the series.”
In Blood of Elves, Ciri is also tutored by the sorceress Triss Merigold (played by Anna Shaffer on the show). By this time in the books, Triss and Geralt have had a romantic tryst. It’s possible that the show will throw in some flashbacks to explain that past or just push forward with the two hooking up while they both believe Yennefer died at Sodden.
Eventually Triss reaches the limits of her ability to understand Ciri’s innate magical power and recommends that Geralt take her to be trained by Yennefer. Geralt reluctantly agrees and Yennefer is able to begin teaching Ciri magic, which combined with the Witcher combat training she received makes her incredibly formidable. While their relationship gets off to a rocky start, Yennefer eventually comes to treat Ciri as a daughter, which helps her come to terms with losing her fertility as part of the transformation she underwent at the end of her sorcerer training.
Yennefer and Blood of Elves
The rumors of elves holding Yennefer captive also make some sense if we’re moving into Blood of Elves in Season 2, as one of the plots there centers on a rogue group of elves and dwarves called the Scoia’tael that fight to take back their land and rights from the humans. This plot was first hinted at in the second episode of Season 1 and is part of the basis for the song from the show called “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher.”
Adding to the evidence is the casting of Mecia Simson as the elven sorceress Francesca Findabair. She’s introduced in Blood of Elves and wants to find Ciri so she can use her power to establish a kingdom ruled by magic.
We can also expect to see plenty more of Jaskier (Joey Batey) in Season 2. By Blood of Elves, the bard called Dandelion in the books has earned an impressive reputation singing songs about Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer. But that fame gets him into trouble as those who are after the Witcher and his young ward try to use him to get information about their whereabouts.
Kristofer Hivju’s Character From The Last Wish
One of the most exciting bits of casting news for Season 2 shows that Hissrich is still taking inspiration from The Last Wish. Kristofer Hivju, who played Tormund Giantsbane in Game of Thrones, will take on the role of Nivellen. Geralt meets the character in The Last Wish story “A Grain of Truth,” which is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones) will take on the role of Nivellen.
In the story, Nivellen has been turned into a monster and keeps inviting young women to live in his manor in the hopes that they might break the curse. He’s not to be confused with Ciri’s father Duny, who was also cursed to look like a monster until he married her mother. Apparently, there’s just a lot of that sort of thing going around in the world of The Witcher.
This is a fantastic story with plenty of humor and action and seems like a perfect role for Hivju. Hissrich has already done plenty of sliding characters from the short stories into the series’ bigger story, like how Triss was added to Geralt’s confrontation with King Foltest’s striga daughter. It’s very possible that Cavill’s character could encounter Nivellen alongside Ciri and Triss.
Violet: A New Character?
It’s also been announced that Carmel Laniado will play Violet, a character who seemingly doesn’t appear in the books… unless this is just a name change for an existing character. One possibility is that she’s one of the young acolytes of the fertility goddess Melitele in Ellander where Ciri is educated and trained by Yennefer. But the description of Violet as “a young girl whose playful and whimsical demeanor is a front for a smarter and more sadistic character” hints at another possibility.
Carmel Laniado will play Violet, a character who seemingly doesn’t appear in the books.
In “A Grain of Truth,” Nivellen is sharing his manor with a young woman he believes to be a rusalka, a sort of nymph, but who turns out to actually be a vampire looking to turn him into a true monster. That character’s name is Vereena in the book, but the description of Violet above could certainly indicate that she’s actually Vereena.
