Category: Games

A free update for Forza Horizon 4 is out today, adding stunt races to PlayGround Games’ recreation of the British countryside. Titled Super7, the new mode is all about leaping off big ramps and hurtling around obstacle courses.

The free update was announced during the latest Forza Monthly developer stream. While rumours swirled before the stream that PlayGround Games was set to reveal the next Forza Horizon game, it ended up being about more Forza Horizon 4.

Super7 builds upon the game’s existing track creator by allowing players to create challenge courses featuring air, drift, and speed sections. The new Blueprint Builder lets you can design stunts and place a number of structures throughout the course, which can be placed anywhere on Forza Horizon 4’s expansive map.

As the name suggests, there are seven curated stunts that greet you when entering the mode for the first time. These consist of randomly selected challenges and completing all seven will reward you with new in-game rewards, including the 1924 Austin Seven and 1979 Triumph TR7 Roadster.

If you’re playing on Xbox Series X|S, Forza Horizon 4 also received a number of next-gen enhancements last month. The racer now runs at 4K and 60 frames per second, and has dramatically improved load times.

While there’s no shortage of Black Panther comics on the shelves, it’s much more rare to see T’Challa make the jump to the world of prose fiction. But with the release of Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda, fans will get to see new sides of T’Challa and his supporting cast.

Published by Titan Books in collaboration with Marvel, Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda – A Ground-Breaking Anthology From the African Diaspora features no fewer than 18 short stories set in the world of Wakanda. Check out the book’s cover art below:

Tales of Wakanda is edited by historian and journalist Jesse J. Holland, who also wrote the novelization of Black Panther: Who Is Black Panther. The authors contributing to the book include Nikki Giovanni, Sheree Renée Thomas, Tananarive Due, Caldwell Turnbull, Suyi Davies Okungbowa and Christopher Chambers. Titan teases these stories will focus on T’Challa himself as well as familiar supporting characters like Shuri, Okoye and the Dora Milaje.

“From his inception, the Black Panther inspired an entire audience who never before had seen themselves in a Super Hero universe, as well as heralding a new creative flame in comics, science fiction and literature,” said Holland in Titan’s press release. “These authors involved in Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda took that flame and put their own unique cultural marks on the work. This book represents the pure creativity they brought to the worlds of Wakanda and the Black Panther and takes the reader on a tour of the past, present and future of one of comic’s most enduring and exciting characters.”

Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda is 480 pages and is priced at $25.95. The book will be released on February 2, 2021, timed to the start of Black History Month in the US.

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This book release should help tide over fans eager for the release of Black Panther 2. Despite the tragic passing of star Chadwick Boseman, Marvel Studios is moving forward with the sequel as part of the MCU’s Phase 4 lineup. Production on Black Panther 2 is expected to begin in July 2021, with Letitia Wright’s Shuri expected to play a larger role this time around. It’s unknown how Marvel will handle T’Challa’s role, though the studio won’t be relying on a digital double of Boseman.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

The Phantom Thieves aren’t done stealing hearts, as Persona 5 Strikers, the western version of Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, will be available in the West on February 23.

Following a leak of the Persona 5 follow-up last week, Atlus officially announced that Strikers is hitting PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on February 23, 2021. Strikers will be available for preorder both digitally and physically on December 10 at 4 pm PT. The PS4 version will be playable on PS5, but improvements for playing on PS5 have not been announced or detailed.

Developed in partnership with Koei Tecmo, Persona 5 Strikers continues the story of the Phantom Thieves following Persona 5, as their planned summer vacation turns into a fight against corruption of hearts spreading throughout the cities of Japan. Players will visit six different Japanese cities, venturing into new Metaverse dungeons and catching up with the core cast of Persona 5. Strikers comes with a new fighting system via the Musou action genre rather than the turn-based RPG nature of the original. However, hallmarks like the All-Out Attack return, and players will also be able to pause the action at times to plan out moves, with every Phantom Thief playable in Strikers.

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Physical preorder bonuses include a Joker pin at GameStop and a Switch steelbook at Best Buy, while a digital deluxe edition includes the following, as well as four days’ early access to the game:

Bonus Content Digital Download

• Digital Art Book
• Digital Soundtrack – Over 40 songs included
• Behind the Scenes Video – Making of the Music “You Are Stronger” and “Towards a Dream”

Persona Legacy BGM

• Persona 1 and Persona 1 PSP remake
• Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment
• Persona 3 and Persona 3 Portable
• Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden

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All-out Attack Pack

• Boost Skills Pack
• Basic Affinity Skills Pack
• Ally Buff Skills Pack
• Armor Pack
• Persona Points
• Enemy Debuff Skills Pack

Atlus officially announced P5S for the West earlier this year, months after its original Japanese release this year. But in the meantime, fans did also get Persona 5 Royal this year, an expanded version of the original Persona 5, which IGN reviewed and called a Masterpiece, saying it “takes an all-time great JRPG and makes it even greater. Going above and beyond a re-release or a remaster, almost everything has been expanded and improved with an entire game’s worth of new content and improvements.”

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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. He’s also a big fan of the Phantom Thieves and can’t believe we’re basically getting a Persona 5 sequel. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

An ex-Naughty Dog game designer has joined Zenimax Online to work on a “new, unannounced AAA IP.”

Quentin Cobb previously worked on both The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 as a game designer before joining Zenimax. The unannounced AAA IP mentioned by Cobb in his tweet is yet to be revealed but as well as Cobb, the project has already pulled in veterans of games such as Destiny, Red Dead Redemption, Shadow of Mordor, XCOM and Battlefield.

I am happy to announce that I’ve joined @ZeniMax_Online as a Sr. Designer working with my good friend Ben Jones (@Bagelbeard) on a new, unannounced AAA IP! I’m thrilled this is finally happening and wanted to share a few details.1/4 pic.twitter.com/YBU9YvCenM

— Quentin Cobb (@QTrainCobb) December 7, 2020

Cobb explains that he and the teams have “formed the basis of a new satellite studio for Zenimax Online here in San Diego”. He gives nothing away about the game, but does say that  it’s “easily the most excited I’ve ever been to work on a project since I joined the industry back in 2009”. We’ll be sure to provide any more news about this mysterious game as we hear about it.

Zenimax Online is known for The Elder Scrolls Online, and previously contributed to Fallout 76 and the cancelled Commander Keen mobile game. Of course, the studio was folded into Microsoft in September of this year as part of a $7.5 billion acquisition of its parent company, Zenimax Media.

In other Naughty Dog-related news, Creative Director Neil Druckmann was recently promoted, becoming co-president of the development studio.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

With just a few weeks left until its January 2021 release, Hitman 3 developer IO Interactive has revealed new gameplay for its assassination sandbox. Like previous games in the series, each level will require Agent 47 to move unseen through various locations, adopting disguises and using distractions until he reaches his target and eliminates them. While you’re able to use tried and tested methods to execute your mark, there’ll also be numerous opportunities to make their untimely demise look like a freak accident.

You can view Agent 47 plying his deadly trade through this trailer link, if you’re 18 or older

On PlayStation 5, Hitman 3 will make use of the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers to create a more “authentic sensation,” IO Interactive communications manager Travis Barbour explained in a PS Blog post. This will result in automatic weapons with simulated recoil, as well as unique haptic feedback profiles for every other firearm available in the game.

One specific example of this that Barbour gave was that the sniper rifle’s Focus effect, which kicks in when the R2 button is gently squeezed, will now have a tension point that you’ll need to apply pressure to for it to activate. Pushing past that tension point will allow you to feel the click of the trigger as you fire the weapon.

IO Interactive also confirmed that Hitman 3 will feature full VR support, allowing you to explore every level in the game from a first-person view. If you own the previous two Hitman games, you’ll also be able to play through locations such as Sapienza or Hawke’s Bay in full VR. No PC VR options have been announced yet.

IO Interactive also revealed two editions of Hitman 3 that will be available. Pre-ordering the standard edition will unlock the Trinity Pack of cosmetic suits for Agent 47, while the Deluxe Edition has a wider selection of extra features. You’ll be able to access the Trinity Pack, digital soundtracks for all three Hitman games, director commentary mission introduction, a digital artbook, deluxe Escalation missions, deluxe suits, and more items.

Hitman 3 launches on January 20, 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Stadia. Stages seen so far include a Dubai skyscraper, Thornbridge Manor within England’s Dartmoor region, and the neon-lit streets of Chongqing, a Chinese transportation hub.

For more on Agent 47’s next adventure and its next-gen upgrades, you can check out our Hitman 3 preorder guide right here.

Humble Bundle has teamed up with EA to distribute access to EA Play Pro as part of December’s $14.99/ £11.24 Humble Choice Premium deal.

As well as a lineup of games, those who sign up for the service before December 11 will get access to a month of EA Play Pro, which is essentially EA’s version of Xbox Game Pass. You get access to all of the publisher’s games when they drop, as well as a back catalogue of games that includes titles like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and FIFA 20.

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The full Humble Choice lineup for December is below, and includes Overcooked 2, Children of Morta, Frog Detective 1 + 2 and many more. If you do subscribe you’ll get a voucher to claim a month of EA Play Pro on the Humble Store.

• Overcooked! 2 + Too Many Cooks + Surf ‘n’ Turf Pack
• Children of Morta
• One Step from Eden
• The Beast Inside
• Indivisible
• Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection + The Arges Adventure
• Frog Detective 1 + 2
• Still There
• Struggling
• Tabletop Playground
• Shining Resonance Refrain
• Path of Giants

In other EA Play news, the service was integrated into the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in November of this year, meaning that subscribers to Xbox’s top-tier subscription service will also get access to EA’s library of games.

Disclosure: Humble Bundle is owned by Ziff Davis, the parent company of IGN. Humble Bundle and IGN operate completely independently, and no special consideration is given to Humble Bundle announcements or promotions for coverage.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Call of the Sea is now available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and is also included in Xbox Game Pass. The story-driven adventure marks the debut for Spanish developer Out of the Blue.

Set in 1934 in the far reaches of the South Pacific, you play as a character called Norah who finds herself on a lush island paradise in the search for her missing husband. The nameless island is dotted with remnants of a lost civilisation, with its tropical forests and sandy shores intertwined with ancient ruins and occult mysteries.

Call of the Sea is heavily influenced by the works of author H.P. Lovecraft, albeit with a twist. Out of the Blue co-founder Tatiana Delgado said earlier this year that the studio is “trying to focus on the surreal and the oneiric more than the horrific and the grim. In short, Call of the Sea isn’t a descent into madness but a rise to sanity. Losing your mind makes you see a dream-like, colorful world.”

The developer also set its sights on next-gen early in development, with Delgado saying the team wanted to specifically “target the next gen” with Call of the Sea.

“As soon as we saw what was possible, we wanted to do it because–although we have a stylized, visual style, so it’s not realistic–we wanted to get as much as possible from the graphics side,” Delgado said. “And I think we can benefit a lot from the next-gen and, we’re kind of different for what you would expect from a next-gen game.”

Call of the Sea is now available for $20, or as part of an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

The latest patch for FIFA 21 reportedly features code that would allow EA to disable Ultimate Team in some countries or regions that have strict gambling laws. While this doesn’t mean EA is looking to imminently block Ultimate Team in certain countries, the studio is at least preparing for the potential eventuality.

FUT Watch found the code for a pop-up message in the game’s latest patch, which states, “FIFA Ultimate Team is currently not accessible due to a demand from the authorities of your region.” EA has a history with local gambling authorities and lawmakers in both Europe and North America, of course. Just this year, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the company in California, a similar lawsuit was filed in Canada, and a district court in the Netherlands allowed a fine over EA’s loot boxes to proceed.

EA has remained compliant in some regions by not offering FIFA Points for sale. In Belgium, for instance, the company removed the virtual currency following the country’s crackdown on loot boxes. Players in Belgium can still play Ultimate Team, but the only way to purchase players and other content is through the use of in-game coins.

As more countries begin to tighten their restrictions and file lawsuits against EA, it appears as though the company may be considering blocking the mode in certain countries to get the authorities off its back. This seems like the most extreme conclusion, however.

With the first wave of Cyberpunk 2077 reviews now out, reviewers’ opinions have varied on the quality of the game’s storytelling and themes, but all have agreed on one key point–the game is buggy as hell. In a conversation on Twitter, a CD Projekt Red developer has promised that the upcoming 43GB day one patch will make all the difference.

While there seems to be a lot to talk about in terms of Cyberpunk 2077’s story and expansive world, it’s the bugs that are dominating the conversation right now. “Cyberpunk 2077 is phenomenally buggy,” GameSpot’s Cyberpunk 2077 review reads. “I played a pre-release build that was updated during the review period, and there’s a day-one patch planned as well, but the scale of technical issues is too large to reasonably expect immediate fixes. I encountered some kind of bug on every mission I went on, from more common, funnier ones like characters randomly T-posing to several complete crashes. I didn’t notice much of an improvement after the update, either.”

Adding to the anxiety of people planning to boot up the game when it releases on December 10 is the fact that review codes were only given for the PC, giving players no idea of how the game will run on either new or older consoles.

Now, CD Projekt Red’s Fabian Mario Döhla has responded to some of the concerned comments on Twitter, reassuring players that the bugs would be less of an issue after patches. In one reply he said that the patched game on console would be “a different game.”

He also explained that a lot of the bugs encountered by reviewers had either already been fixed or would be in the day one patch–and even went further to explain that a lot of the bugs could have been caused by reviewers playing the game at higher settings than their PC could handle.

With the game releasing on December 10, preloading is now live on Xbox and PC–though the issues encountered by reviewers have seen some players giving their pre-orders a second thought. It’s clear that CD Projekt Red will bring the game’s bug issues under control with upcoming patches, but not everyone has faith that the day one patch will be enough.