Category: Games

Bloober Team, the studio behind Blair Witch and Layers of Fear, has announced a new release date for its next title, The Medium. The psychological horror game is now scheduled to launch on Xbox Series X and Series S–as well as PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store–on December 10.

Coinciding with the release date announcement, Bloober Team has shared a new trailer for The Medium. This video provides another look at the game’s macabre art style and premieres a haunting new music track that’s available to download on Steam. You can watch the new trailer below.

The Medium casts players in the role of a medium named Marianne, who lives in two worlds: the human world and the spirit world. After seeing visions of a young girl’s murder, Marianne travels to an abandoned hotel to search for the truth about what happened there years ago.

According to Bloober Team, The Medium is skipping Xbox One in favor of the Series X because the newer system allows the studio to realize its vision for the game. “Thanks to the power of Xbox Series X, we can develop the game the way we have always envisioned it,” Jacek Zięba, a producer at the studio, said. “This is truly a great piece of hardware, one that enables us to realize our vision of the game without compromises. I can’t wait for the fans to see what the console is really capable of.”

The Medium is available to preorder now ahead of its release. If you’re planning to pick it up on PC, Bloober Team recently revealed the system requirements and recommended specs you’d need to run the horror game. You can read more about the title in our Medium preorder guide.

Moon Studios doesn’t have any new Ori games planned right now, but has “left the door open” for a return to the series – perhaps in a prequel or spin-off. One spin-off the team doesn’t have much control over, but would very much like to see, is Ori making an appearance in Super Smash Bros.

With Ori & the Blind Forest and Ori & the Will of the Wisps now complete, the studio has said previously that it’s happy with how Ori’s story ended. In a new interview with IGN, the team made clear that was still the case, but it doesn’t necessarily mean Moon won’t return to the world it created.

Moon is now working on a brand new action-RPG for publisher Private Division, with no connection to its Ori games. “We are still in the pretty early stages of development,” said lead artist Daniel van Leeuwen, “but a lot of the things we already have are very exciting!”

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Asked if there were any plans in place for an Ori follow-up after or alongside that new game, art director Jeremy Gritton made clear that, “For now we’re focused on our newest title, but we’ve left the door open for a return to Ori’s world. It would really come down to whether or not there’s a story that the team is excited to tell.”

With the character of Ori’s story seemingly complete, I asked if the team would prefer to approach a new game as a prequel or spin-off. “There are a lot of possibilities for stories to tell in [Ori game settings] Niwen or Nibel”, explains Gritton. “As you mentioned, both prequels and spin-offs would give us an opportunity to expand on the lore while giving a fresh perspective.

“Although we don’t have anything planned at the moment, I think there’s a lot of potential there. Sometimes I’ll have an idea that I think would be cool to explore, so I make a note of it and file it away for now. Continuing to expand on what we’ve already established could be a lot of fun.”

I ask if the Ori series could transition into another form, such as a comic book or animated show, an idea Gritton is clearly in favour of (although he gives no indication if anything is in the works): “There are some inherent restrictions to story-telling in a game, so that could be really interesting. I think Ori’s world could very easily transfer to other media. In terms of lore, there’s a lot we could dive into and explore more in-depth.”

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And there’s another spin-off Moon would be happy to see, even if it’s not really the Ori developers’ choice. Before it was revealed to be Minecraft’s Steve, some had tipped Ori as a potential next guest fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, given the series’ connection to Nintendo Switch (not to mention Ori’s appearance in a similar fighting game, Rivals of Aether).

Moon gives no indication that any formal discussions have taken place, but the team are very much in favour of the idea:

“I think all of us at Moon would LOVE to see Ori in Smash and we think that Ori’s moveset and fighting mechanics [would] be tons of fun”, says Moon co-founder Gennadiy Korol, before adding how fans could go about helping to make it happen: “I honestly think this could be amazing and you should tweet Phil Spencer about it!”

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As for Ori’s immediate future, the team isn’t speaking much about the Optimized for Series X version of Ori & the Will of the Wisps, but Korol teases that, “I think people will be very surprised with how significant the upgrade to 120FPS in 4K would be. We can’t wait to share more on that later.”

We’ll be excited to see whatever Moon has for us next, given how impressive its first two games have been. We awarded Ori & the Blind Forest an 8.5 review, calling it “a beautifully realized, brilliantly designed, and at times brutally difficult sylvan Metroidvania-style platformer with enough charm to leave a lasting impression.” That was followed by Ori & the Will of the Wisps, which we said took “an excellent foundation and made even more out of it”, in our 9/10 review.

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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].

Seeing as EA copy and pasted last year’s FIFA onto Switch again this year – once again saying it has the same gameplay “without any new development or significant enhancements” on its store page for the full price of $49.99/£44.99 – I’ve decided to do the same and copy and paste my review of FIFA 20 on Switch below as my review of FIFA 21:

There’s honestly no genuine reason I could give you to purchase FIFA 20 on the Nintendo Switch if you already own FIFA 19 on Switch. I don’t generally share the sentiment of the crowd that labels sports games as the same every year, but when it comes to FIFA 20 Legacy Edition, all of the comment section tropes are valid. For a series already drowning in microtransaction debate, the Switch version really doesn’t help EA’s case in currying gamers’ favour by essentially offering nothing but a barebones roster update for nearly the price of a full game. A ‘macrotransaction’, if you will.

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Last year, I had this to say about FIFA 19’s gameplay on Nintendo Switch:

 “FIFA 19’s moment-to-moment gameplay remains, disappointingly, largely unchanged from last year’s under-par outing. Still running on EA’s Ignite engine (last used on the PS4/Xbox/PC version for FIFA 16), it simply can’t compete with the fluidity of movement and authentically animated players the Frostbite-powered versions display […] All in all, FIFA 19’s gameplay on Switch appears to have been largely neglected when compared to last year, and especially when compared to its big brother.”

This year, I have this to say about FIFA 20’s gameplay on Nintendo Switch:

“FIFA 20’s moment-to-moment gameplay remains, disappointingly, largely completely unchanged from last year’s under-par outing. Still running on EA’s Ignite engine (last used on the PS4/Xbox/PC version for FIFA 16), it simply can’t compete with the fluidity of movement and authentically animated players the Frostbite-powered versions display […] All in all, FIFA 20’s gameplay on Switch appears to have been largely neglected when compared to last year, and especially when compared to its big brother.”

 If you feel shortchanged by the fact that all I’ve done is changed a handful of small elements from the original version, mostly to change the date, then you know exactly how I felt when playing FIFA 20 Legacy Edition.

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To EA’s credit, it has been wholly transparent about the nature of this version, including a name change and being up front about what ‘Legacy Edition’ actually means. It promises the “same gameplay innovation from FIFA 19 without any new development or significant enhancements” as well as “no new game modes”. In essence, it’s a stripped back version of FIFA 20 and indicative of its approach to the series on the Switch. On the other hand, EA still has the gall to  charge £44.99/$49.99 for it, with no upgrade option for owners of FIFA 19.

And, as promised, none of the gameplay innovations implemented in FIFA 20’s big-league version have found their way onto Nintendo’s hybrid device. This includes the defender-beating strafe dribbling, occasionally bombastic set-up touch and the whole way that defending works now. Still missing are some of FIFA 19’s additions, most notably among them being the first touch system that allows for the ball to be nudged in any direction with the right analogue stick. It really adds to the flow of a game; how dearly I miss flicking the ball up in the air when receiving a pass and unleashing a powerful on goal when I go back to playing FIFA on the Switch.

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This lack of subtlety over first-time control and often wayward passing due to the inherent lack of accuracy attainable from the Joy-Con sticks can lead to messy football, especially in the midfield where players operate like bumper cars, the ball ricocheting between them. Bringing the ball under control from a long, raking pass can be a drawn-out experience akin to trying to catch a rubber bouncy ball in the middle of an oil spill. Players often bundle into one another and knock them to the ground, both on and off the ball, and often to no repercussions, which further adds to the mayhem.

Playing with a Pro Controller can ease the chaos slightly, its better analog sticks bringing more order to proceedings when in possession of the ball, but it is still clear to see that FIFA 20 on Switch lacks the tweaks that the real FIFA has benefitted from over the past couple of years.

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Shooting is still an entirely underwhelming experience. Efforts from distance still balloon into the air before dipping under the bar with off putting regularity. Scoring one of these 40-yard strikes feels great at first, but loses its appeal considerably after the fourth time it happens over the course of 90 minutes. Scoring the same goal over and over again offers no challenge or spectacle to proceedings.

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Despite still being prone to absolute howlers, one area that appears to have seen slight improvement is the competence of goalkeepers when attempting to save these shots. Even this displays a certain level of inconsistency, though, and has me questioning whether I’m just searching for something different lost in the malaise of hollow familiarity.

On the presentation front, player models have been updated, as well as the kits they play in. They are all well rendered and true to life, especially when viewed on the Switch’s small screen. You’d hope for this, though – after all, this is mainly what you’re paying for when you get FIFA 20 on Switch. Besides “more money”, is there any reason EA could have offered a roster update and a fresh batch of new kits as an update (even a paid one) for last year’s version?

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This is the main crux to why FIFA 20 is quite so disappointing. Without any major changes to the way you play the game, there just doesn’t feel like there’s anywhere near enough there to warrant a full release, and tacking the words “Legacy Edition” onto the end isn’t enough for EA to get a free pass on this one. Especially when the ‘legacy’ left from the last FIFA switch release was less than a glowing one.

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Yes, the menus also have benefitted from a fresh lick of paint but what lays within them is sadly exactly the same as FIFA 19. Again true to its word, EA has added literally no new game modes since last year’s outing, nor have any tweaks been made to the existing ones. House Rules are still there but the zany new Mystery Ball mode has sadly not made its way onto the handheld. Most disappointing of all, there’s no sign of Volta; the premier new addition to the core game is nowhere to be seen. The changes made to Career mode, however minor they are, have also not made their way across. There’s still FUT, though, complete with it’s controversial microtransactions and surprise mechanics.

A new trailer for Worms Rumble, the upcoming real-time Worms spin-off, has arrived. It doesn’t just contain new footage, though–it also announces a beta date and release window. Worms Rumble will be available on PS5, PS4, and PC in December 2020.

The game, which features 32-player Battle Royale matches and a Team Deathmatch mode, will be playable on PS4 and PC during an open beta beginning November 6. During this time, anyone can download the beta and test out the game’s online multiplayer.

You can check the trailer out below. The game’s visual style is closer to the 3D models of Worms Battlegrounds than the more-recent Worms W.M.D.

The game has previously run a closed beta, but now more players will be able to experience the game.

Worms Rumble is very different from previous games in the series, which has always been turn-based. The game, and the beta, will be cross-play across all systems the game is available on.

In GameSpot’s review of Worms W.M.D., reviewer Jason D’Aprile gave the game an 8/10 and called it “easily the best game in the Worms series in several years.”

Halo Infinite is due to launch on Xbox Series X, S, PC, and Xbox One in 2021, but so far we haven’t seen anything from the game’s multiplayer. We know that it will be free to play and run at 120FPS, but so far 343 Industries has not shown footage or revealed any of the modes we can expect. However, we’ve now had a glimpse at an armor render from the upcoming game.

In the latest Halo Waypoint update, 343 Industries has revealed a new render for an armor coating in Halo Infinite. This is the Mark VII Mjolnir armor, and while it could change before release, this is how it looks right now at this stage of development.

In its current form, it looks like a brand-new suit–perhaps the final version will feature some scuffs. Here’s a first look at one of the Spartans you’re probably going to kill (or be killed by) at some point online.

We’ve seen concept art for some new character designs for Infinite, but this is the first proper render of a multiplayer character we’ve seen.

Halo Infinite was originally expected to release this holiday as a launch title for the Xbox Series X, but, due in part to complications related to COVID-19 and working from home, Microsoft shifted the release date to 2021. Despite what you might have read on the internet, Halo Infinite is not abandoning Xbox One or getting delayed again to 2022.