New footage of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla premiered during the Xbox Series X event this week, but some fans were hoping to see more. Creative director Ashraf Ismail has now responded to the reaction, saying he understands people wanted to see more of the next-gen Assassin’s Creed title. More details on the game, including an “in-depth gameplay” demonstration will come later on, he said.
“You rightfully expected to see more today. We have a long marketing campaign ahead of us, you will see in-depth gameplay and get a lot more info about the game,” he said on Twitter. “Thank you for your excitement and passion! Be patient with us and be kind. It will be worth it!”
The Valhalla trailer shown during the Xbox event disappointed some fans because, despite being labeled as a “gameplay trailer,” it didn’t exactly deliver on that. Instead of featuring combat or exploration, the video put more of an emphasis on the locations you’ll visit when Valhalla launches this holiday.
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe,” begins Roy Batty’s dying monologue in Blade Runner. In the nearly 40 years since Ridley Scott’s film established a visual aesthetic for what would become known as cyberpunk, we’ve seen these things many times now. Cloudpunk is a complex and uneven narrative-heavy adventure game that trades heavily in cyberpunk cliche. Familiar tropes are rejuvenated with mostly smart writing and consistently striking art direction, but there are also opportunities missed thanks to undernourished, by-the-numbers design.
Nivalis is the last city, or at least that’s what people say. Towering neon spires thrust out of the climate-ravaged ocean and, eventually, emerge through the clouds; at the top live the privileged few, the self-dubbed CEOs secluded in their stratified penthouses, while underneath everybody else ekes out a living in the dense urban sprawl where every city block has a noodle stand, night is permanent and it’s almost always raining. You’ve seen it all before, of course, yet this well-worn set dressing is rendered in such singular fashion it remains striking throughout.
Simply put, Cloudpunk is a stunningly gorgeous game. Nivalis is constructed out of voxels, big chunky bricks of solid colour that give the urban landscape the feel of an enormous, elaborate Lego diorama. Terrific use is made of contrast and lighting. Skyscrapers almost recede into negative space, their facades composed of hundreds of tiny boxes of light, alternating in lurid pinks, yellows and blues. When you’re flying through the city in your hover car, each turn delivers a spectacular view, each ascension over a row of high-rises greeted with a dazzling neon-drenched vista. To be honest, this review took longer than it should have because I had to pause every few seconds to snap off another screenshot.
Yet it’s even better when you get out of your hover car and traverse the city on foot. Here, the camera is locked to a certain view, typically showing a side-on vantage that takes in the street you’re running along, with your character often rendered with no more than a tiny handful of voxels in the middle. At first the lack of camera control feels restrictive, but soon the intended purpose becomes clear. Relying on a predefined camera perspective means every shot is designed to best showcase the frequently jaw-dropping environment, with the scale working hand in hand to make you feel even more in awe of it all looming over you. Occasionally the camera zooms in, usually when you venture down a narrow alley, thus replicating the claustrophobic press of the surrounding structures. Other times it’ll drop to ground level and tilt up to cinematically frame an event happening in the distance or maybe just to point out–once again–how amazing the city looks. Cloudpunk is constantly tapping you on the shoulder to say, hey, check this out, and at least in terms of postcard material it never fails to disappoint.
Inevitably, the reason why you’re exploring Nivalis and able to enjoy such breathtaking scenery must suffer from the comparison, so perhaps it’s sensible that the character you play is given a prosaic profession. Rania is a courier for Cloudpunk, an illicit delivery company that takes the jobs others refuse. A recent arrival in Nivalis, Rania is working the gig economy in an attempt to shake the Debt Corps. It sounds like a terrible idea to my 2020 ears, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to expose the precarity of all labor–especially freelancers–in a capitalist world, but Cloudpunk (the company) seems enlightened to an implausible degree. Rania might have to pay for her hovercar’s own gas, but she doesn’t have to rely on tips, and if her vehicle is stolen Cloudpunk will replace it at no cost. Not to mention she can somehow afford a spacious studio apartment before she’s even worked a day in the job.
That job consists of getting a call from Control, the Cloudpunk handler, being assigned a waypoint, and piloting to the required destination. As a cloud city, Nivalis has some worryingly lax “road” rules. Rania is free to fly her hover car almost anywhere, weaving through residential complexes and swooping over business parks before touching down on the designated parking zones in each district. Narrow highways get you to her destination faster, but I preferred to take the scenic route.
The primary story is told through these jobs, as Rania stumbles into a mystery concerning who or what controls Nivalis, and why it is so clearly falling apart at the seams–literally, in some instances, as another skyscraper collapses, tumbling into the ocean to a collective shrug from a downtrodden population resigned to its fate. As Rania interacts with her handler and Camus, her AI companion (who once embodied a robot dog but now resides in her car, yet still behaves like a dog), and speaks to clients and eventually passengers, you don’t get to choose her dialogue options. Conversations are set in stone. Early on, Rania would prefer to keep her head down and not get involved. She just wants to do the job and pay off her debts. Her compassion comes to the fore, though, her wariness subsides, and she develops into a strong voice over the course of the game. I didn’t always agree with what she had to say, but it’s a credit to the overall calibre of the dialogue that I wanted to keep hearing it and add to my understanding of her take on the world.
Even if there aren’t choices to be made in dialogue, Rania is presented with a number of binary decisions during certain jobs. These tend to arise from Rania discussing events with Camus and realising there’s an alternative to the task she’s been given; however, they’re not all executed to the same standard. Some feel logical and you totally get why she might think this is a better solution, and some feel suitably urgent as they burden you with newfound dramatic weight. Yet others come across as contrived, as if they’re choices for the sake of choices. Regardless, the consequences of all these decisions never match the setup, their underwhelming conclusions usually predictable, though sometimes maddeningly vague, and occasionally downright silly.
Indeed, the quality of writing varies wildly across the board. As you’d expect, the central mystery receives most of the attention, though some of the minor characters you can run into throughout the city open up side stories worth investigating. Given Rania’s outsider status, issues of cultural memory and appropriation are handled with a deft touch while the core examination of how technology both diminishes and enhances our humanity thankfully goes beyond the basic question of whether robot is human. The writing is at its best when it’s focused on people whose situations connect with the wider themes at play in its critique of capitalism. Story threads about corporations automating their labour to endlessly replicate capital to the sole benefit of shareholders, or the drug company releasing a new strain of virus so it can sell the cure it’s manufactured, are delivered with a grim wit that transcends cliche.
Cloudpunk is at its weakest when inserting knowing references to contemporary culture–Rania’s encounter with a “Debate Me” dude has its heart in the right place, but it’s simply too on-the-nose and fails to find anything relevant or interesting to say beyond the fact that “Debate Me” dudes suck. The best-written side character is unfortunately also the one whose questline progress is locked behind the baffling inclusion of collectibles. On balance, though, the good outweighs the bad here, and the real disappointment is that it’s such a close call.
If the inconsistent writing hints that Cloudpunk isn’t entirely sure what type of narrative experience it wants to be, then the addition of a light economic layer betrays a lack of confidence. Money earned from successful jobs must be spent on the odd trip to the gas station to refuel, and can also be put towards a couple of non-essential handling upgrades and cosmetic tweaks to the hover car. Food and drink can be purchased and consumed to give Rania a slight speed boost while a handful of drugs can be bought to make the screen go blurry and little else. There’s even a thin trading game where you can buy low and sell high between vendors to maximise profits. But it’s all so unnecessary, the impact of any part of this economy so trivial that you’re left confused as to why it’s there at all. It doesn’t actively harm the experience, but it’s a distraction you’re much better off ignoring completely.
Cloudpunk is a game with a single core strength so powerful it alone is sufficient to make it an easy game to recommend. Thanks to the rare beauty and rich atmosphere of its voxel-driven cityscape, Cloudpunk is a constant joy to explore. Whether soaring through the neon-plastered clouds or darting across vertiginous walkways dangling a hundred storeys in the air, the desire remains to keep pushing forward because the next view might be even better. And it usually is. It’s not a straightforward case of style over substance, because in Rania and in much of the story there’s no lack of substance, but it can feel that way when the style is so disproportionately stellar.
Microsoft’s latest Inside Xbox stream revealed a slew of third-party games coming to its next-generation console, Xbox Series X. Among them is Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which is now confirmed to release on Series X as well as Xbox One, PS4, and PC later this year (it released in Japan back in January). While we don’t have a set release date for Yakuza: Like a Dragon yet, we know it will be a launch title for Xbox Series X, and it’s available to pre-order now if you want to secure your copy early.
Like a Dragon supports Xbox Smart Delivery, which means buying the game on Xbox One will get you the Series X version automatically. The game also has cross-save support, so if you start playing on Xbox One, your progress will transfer over to Series X.
While Yakuza has traditionally been a PlayStation-exclusive series, there’s been no mention of a PS5 version just yet.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the eighth mainline title in the Yakuza series and the first one that won’t follow Kazuma Kiryu as the protagonist. Instead, you’ll play as Ichiban Kasuga, a low-ranking yakuza grunt who goes to prison for a crime he didn’t commit to make himself a hero in his clan–only to be released 18 years later and find that no one is waiting for him. Kasuga realizes he’s been betrayed by the man he trusted the most and sets off on a journey to discover the truth behind the behind his family’s betrayal and take his life back.
Unlike previous games in the Yakuza series, which feature beat ’em up battle mechanics, Like a Dragon introduces turn-based RPG-style combat with a four-person team. However, you’ll still take on side quests and enjoy side activities like “Dragon Kart,” a Mario Kart-style racing game. Check out our full Yakuza: Like a Dragon preview for more information on what to expect from the game.
Below, we’ve rounded up everywhere you can currently pre-order Yakuza: Like a Dragon. So far, the only available edition is the Day One Edition.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon pre-order bonuses
No pre-order bonuses have been announced so far for Yakuza: Like a Dragon, but we expect they’ll be announced as we get closer to the game’s release.
Pre-order Yakuza: Like a Dragon | $60
The Western box art hasn’t appeared online yet, but here’s what it looks like in Japan.
As of right now, the physical Day One Edition is available to pre-order, and it costs $60. You’ll also get any pre-order bonuses that are announced later. Right now, Amazon and Best Buy both have placeholder box art for the game, but it may look similar to Japan’s (shown above).
PS4
Xbox One / Series X
PC
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Deadpool, Venom, Bloodshot, Cable, and Harley Quinn are among some of the comic book characters from the 1990s to have gotten the big-screen treatment over the last few years, to varying degrees of commercial and critical success. Now we can add two more movie adaptations of ’90s comics to the mix.
Ball and Chain, based on the Scott Lobdell comic, is in the works as a starring vehicle for Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. The project will reunite the stars of next year’s Disney adventure-comedy Jungle Cruise.
According to THR, The Big Sick’s Emily V. Gordon will pen the screenplay adaptation of the Homage Comics/Wildstorm title, which the trade describes as “a superhero story meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith, where a couple struggling in their marriage are equipped with superpowers. However, their powers only work when they’re together.”
Ball and Chain was previously adapted for live-action as a TV movie in 2001. THR claims that while there’s no studio deal yet for the Johnson-Blunt adaptation at this time, it appears likely it will go to Netflix.
Meanwhile, Deadline reports that Arrowverse maestro Marc Guggenheim will script the feature film version of Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld’s Prophet, based on the Image Comics title from the ’90s.
“The aim is to build a franchise around John Prophet, a DNA enhanced super-soldier placed into a cryogenic freeze for a future mission only to awaken prematurely in the present, searching for a mission that does not exist. The ruthless berserker must find his humanity,” according to Deadline.
Liefeld will also produce Prophet for Studio 8 along with Adrian Askarieh and Brooklyn Weaver.
Though its existence was revealed less than a year ago, you won’t have to wait much longer to check out Disintegration, the real-time strategy-meets-first-person-shooter sci-fi title from new studio V1 Interactive. The developer announced the game is due to hit digital storefronts for Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation 4 on June 16.
If you’re not familiar, Disintegration is a shooter that puts you in the role of the pilot of a Gravcycle, a hovering vehicle equipped with a bunch of guns to use to lay waste to enemies. But you don’t do all the shooting yourself; you also command a band of troops who run around on the ground below you. Your job isn’t just to shoot at enemies yourself, but to command the squad and use their special abilities to survive battles. Disintegration is directed by Marcus Lehto, who previously worked on the Halo franchise.
The game is set in a future in which most humans have had their minds integrated into robot bodies. That gives them a measure of immortality, but a faction of the integrated want to force everyone else to become robots as well–whether they want to or not. In the single-player campaign, you take on the role of an outlaw called Roamer, an integrated Gravcycle pilot fighting the faction trying to force integration.
V1 dropped a new story trailer along with the release date to give a sense of what you’ll be up against when the game drops in June.
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Disintegration – Official Story Trailer
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Disintegration also includes a multiplayer side, in which you command a Gravcycle and a squad against other players. It sports three different modes and six maps, and instead of specific characters, you choose from “Crews” to play as, which offer different abilities and focus on specific playstyles.
You can pre-order Disintegration from the Xbox store or Steam now; the game will run you $49.99 on all platforms. Pre-ordering also will “a unique Crew Skin, custom emote, Gravcycle medal attachment, and platform exclusive banner,” according to V1’s press release.
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One new Xbox Series X detail revealed today, which Xbox’s Larry Hryb confirmed, is the new startup logo and sound for the system. You can see and listen to it below, and it’s a bit of a departure from previous Xbox generations.
Startup screens are iconic. Who can forget the GameCube’s famous startup which has since become an internet meme? The Xbox also has a long history of startup screens. Even just the Xbox 360 went through three major iterations before the launch of the Xbox One.
Check out the Xbox Series X startup below.
I am happy to confirm that this is the boot up animation & sound for Xbox Series X. We debut it on #InsideXbox earlier today – but I wanted to call it out in case you missed it. pic.twitter.com/A26WB3zGwz
The Xbox Series X startup feels like an evolution of past ones. As the Xbox generations evolved, the startups have become more minimalist. Compare the Xbox One’s startup to the original Xbox and even the Xbox 360 version one startup.
The Series X also ditches the overt green colorway in favor of using the green as an accent amid a black and silver screen.
The sound is probably the most dramatic departure from previous generations. Instead of a booming sound, it’s a bit more melodic this time around. Overall, I think it’s an improvement over the bombast of the Xbox 360 era and a better version of what Microsoft was trying to do with the Xbox One.
With April now in the rearview mirror, Sony has revealed the PlayStation 4’s top downloaded games in the United States for the month. The list features some expected inclusions, a couple of surprises, and more.
Over on the free-to-play side of things, despite hitting record numbers, Fortnite wasn’t the most-downloaded PS4 game. Call of Duty: Warzone took the number one spot, with Fortnite in second, Apex Legends in third, and Destiny 2 in fourth. The list also includes Brawlhalla, Warface, Warframe, and a few others.
Of course, Sony also highlights the top-downloaded PSVR titles, as well as the most-popular DLC and Expansions on PS4. You can check out the full list below.
Top US PlayStation 4 Downloads (April 2020)
PS4 Games
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
NBA 2K20
Grand Theft Auto V
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered
Resident Evil 3
Minecraft
FIFA 20
Monopoly Plus
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Madden 20
Rainbow Six Siege
Uno
Predator: Hunting Grounds
MLB The Show 20
Red Dead Redemption 2
Need for Speed Heat
Rocket League
God of War
Kingdom Hearts III
PSVR Games
Beat Saber
Creed Rise to Glory
Job Simulator
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
Arizona Sunshine
Superhot VR
Vacation Simulator
Drunkn Bar Fight
Astro Bot Rescue Mission
The Room VR: A Dark Matter
Free-to-Play Games
Call of Duty: Warzone
Fortnite
Apex Legends
Destiny 2
Brawlhalla
Dauntless
2on2 FreeStyle
Warframe
Paladins
Warface
DLC and Expansions
Fortnite – The Iris Pack
GTA Online: Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack
Fortnite – Bassassin Challenge Pack
Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps
Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Atlanta FaZe Pack
Need for Speed Heat – McLaren F1 Black Market Delivery
Call of Duty Black Ops III: Zombies Chronicles
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Season Pass
Mortal Kombat 11 – Shao Kahn
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LEGO Star Wars will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC on October 20, 2020.
The release date was announced on This Week in Star Wars on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (Around 1:55), although no new details were revealed alongside it.
With LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, TT Games’ head of design Arthur Parsons has said that it’s time to “shake things up, shake the formula up and try something completely different.” Unlike previous games, this entry will focus on freedom, have a brand new approach to combat, and signals that the series is “growing up,” while still maintaining its undeniable charm.
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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 who can’t wait and is so excited he just can’t hide it. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Xbox’s first big salvo of next-gen games has been fired, and we’ve got reactions and analysis to all of the big Xbox Series X third-party game reveals and showcases – from the good to the bad to the stomach-churning.
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, or grab an MP3 download of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, featuring an interview with Valve’s Robin Walker and Chris Remo about the past, present, and future of Half-Life:
It’s already an incredibly fun year of Xbox coverage, and the best is yet to come. Join us!
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Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.
The “CR Loves” line is Crunchyroll’s limited-edition apparel collection, celebrating some of the biggest names and properties in anime, and you can preorder its upcoming Gundam Wing line right now.
The preorder window for the Gundam hoodies, which feature “Heero Yuy’s Wing Gundam, Duo Maxwell’s Deathscythe, and Zech Marquis’ Epyon,” is from now until May 14.In addition to the hoodies, Crunchyroll’s shop also has Gunpla models available for preorder, which is something I never even realized they offered. I’ll be checking back, is what I’m saying.
Crunchyroll, the monthly online anime-streaming service, just announced it’s bringing some of the most recognizable anime series around to HBO Max when the service launches May 27.
For more pop-culture inspired apparel, make sure to check out the IGN Store, where we have hundreds of officially licensed designs from properties like Marvel, DC Comics, Star Wars and more.
