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If you’re looking for something to play this weekend, the Epic Games Store’s latest free PC game is a good one. From now until January 21 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, you can claim Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration edition free of charge. For those who haven’t claimed a free game at Epic before, all you need to do is create a free account to add Battlefront II into your library forever.

Star Wars Battlefront II originally released in 2017 as a sequel to the 2015 reboot of the third-person shooter series. While the shooter got off to a rocky start due to a confusing and unfriendly progression system as well as much-maligned microtransactions, it received consistent updates from EA over the next two years. Though it no longer receives major updates, the game has come a long way since we awarded it a 6/10 in our Star Wars Battlefront II review.

The Celebration edition comes with all of the customization content released post-launch. Battlefront II’s story mode is a mixed bag, though it’s still worth a playthrough. The online multiplayer is where Battlefront II gets its legs thanks to a wide variety of game modes, including large-scale objective-based variants and fast-paced skirmishes on small maps. Battlefront II also features PvE co-op for up to four players and a single-player Arcade mode that helps you prepare for multiplayer combat.

We imagine that the Epic Games Store giveaway will boost the online player base (at least for a bit), so it’s worth checking out this weekend if you haven’t played Battlefront II before. It’s just the latest of many free games the Epic Games Store has given away. Make sure to check back next week to snag Galactic Civilizations III.

In other Star Wars game news, Ubisoft has partnered with Lucasfilm Games to create a new open-world Star Wars game developed by Massive Entertainment, the studio responsible for The Division series.

505 Games has announced the acquisition of Infinity Plus Two, the studio that created the Puzzle Quest series as well as the free-to-play Gems of War. 505 touted this as a strategic move to strengthen its position in the F2P market.

Infinity Plus Two is based in Melbourne, Australia, and has created more than 30 games, though it’s most known for Puzzle Quest. Founder Steve Fawkner will remain in a leadership role at the studio as part of 505 Games management. The studio had previously collaborated with 505 on Gems of War, a strategy-RPG with match-3 mechanics.

“IP2 is a proven studio with phenomenal success over the years. Their creative vision and extensive experience will be a great addition to 505 Games,” said 505 Games free-to-play head Clive Robert, in the announcement. “The F2P market has seen a tremendous amount of growth and rise in popularity over the years and has always been a key facet of the company’s growth strategy. As one of the leading third-party publishers of F2P games across multiple platforms, this latest acquisition solidifies our investment in internal development and builds on our library of owned IP.”

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords was originally released in 2007, published by D3 Publisher. It recently had a remastered version released on Nintendo Switch. Gems of War launched in 2014 and features similar match-3 mechanics with a team-building strategy layer.

The secret Isu language found in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has been deciphered by fans of the series.

Assassin’s Creed fan community Access The Animus released a video on January 13 (as reported by Eurogamer) detailing the fascinating process behind translating the secret texts, which has led them to decipher symbols found in the collector’s edition of the game.

There are a number of tablets you can find while playing as Eivor that display this language, and they can be cross-referenced with partially translated files found on Layla’s computer in the modern portion of the game to be decrypted in full. Access the Animus used corresponding words, in-game translations and a complex understanding of grammar and historical language construction to figure out what had been written.

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Using the in-game translations from Antony Henry, Access the Animus was able to apply what they had learned to the collector’s edition of the game, which features Isu text on the packaging. So far they’ve found the words “Hidden Inside” on the Soundtrack CD, and “This Lake” in the CD bed of the game’s case. They also arranged the collector’s edition art prints which revealed another Isu word, “Now”.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Narrative Director Darby McDevitt praised the community on Twitter shortly after the release of the video. “Access the Animus, I never doubted you. The Isu language has been cracked,” his tweet reads. The Access the Animus team mention at the end of the video that there are still many more tablets and texts to decipher, with more secrets to uncover beyond the progress they have made so far.

Access the Animus, I never doubted you.

The Isu language has been cracked!https://t.co/PiHj3FBA40

— Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) January 13, 2021

If you’re unfamiliar with Assassin’s Creed lore, the Isu, or “Those Who Came Before” are a species of precursor beings responsible for creating humans and the powerful Pieces of Eden that appear throughout the franchise.

Here’s our review of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which we scored an 8, noting its “massive, beautiful open-world”.

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

Fans have been asking for it for over 20 years, and it’s finally happening: New Pokemon Snap is coming exclusively to Nintendo Switch April 30, 2021. A new take on the 1999 Nintendo 64 original, New Pokemon Snap promises to take players to areas like deserts, beaches, and jungles that are filled with Pokemon. Your job is to observe and snap photos of these creatures in their natural habitats, filling out your Pokemon Photodex in the process.

While the release date was only just announced, it’s been available to preorder for months. Read on for the details.

Preorder New Pokemon Snap

• Get it at Amazon – $59.99
• Get it at Best Buy – $59.99
• Get it at GameStop – $59.99
• See it on the eShop – $59.99

Those are all the retailers that have New Pokemon Snap available for preorder so far, but I’m sure it’ll make its way to the rest of the usual suspects in due time. When it does, we’ll update this article with the freshest of links.

Since there are no special editions or preorder bonuses for New Pokemon Snap (at least that they’ve announced so far) these links are all you need to secure a copy of the game.

Other Preorder Guides

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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Nintendo has announced that New Nintendo Pokemon Snap will be released on Nintendo Switch on April 30, 2021.

New Pokemon Snap will take place in the Lental region and will take players on an Pokemon-filled adventure through jungles, deserts, and more.

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In New Pokemon Snap, players will take on the role of a budding Pokemon photographer and will work with the Lental region expert known as Professor Mirror, and his assistant Rita, on an ecological survey to photograph Pokemon in nature. You will also be traveling in ann auto-driving vehicle known as the NEO-ONE to allow you to focus on getting the best shots.

Players will be able to interact with Pokemon by throwing Fluffruit to catch their attention or watch them eat, and can use the fruit to help draw them out of variety of situations.

Professor Mirror will evaluate your photos and your score will be based on “the subjects’ poses, how large they appear, how directly they’re facing the camera and where they fall in frame.”

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As more photos are taken and more research is completed, Pokemon may even start to look and behave in new ways. Capturing these and more will help fill out your Photodex. Furthermore, some Pokemon and vegetation will appear to have a special glow. This is known as the Illumina Phenomenon and it will be up to you to figure out exactly what is causing it.

New Pokemon Snap is the first new entry in the Pokemon photography game since the original N64 game in 1999. For more, check out our New Pokemon Snap preorder guide and our initial reactions to the game’s announcement last year on our Nintendo podcast NVC.

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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.

Nintendo has explained that Bowser’s Fury – the new standalone adventure coming with the Switch release of Super Mario 3D World – will be a free-roaming experience that is “short but action-packed”.

The new Bowser’s Fury website describes the story of the expansion: “Mario is sent to Lake Lapcat, where everything is cat-themed—and Bowser has gone berserk! Team up with Bowser Jr. to help his dad chill out in this short but action-packed standalone adventure.”

The website also confirms the adventure is free-roaming. You’ll be travelling around Lake Lapcat in search of Cat Shines – which will let you unlock the new Giga Bell Power-Up – and reignite lighthouses to clear darkened areas. That sounds a little closer in approach to Super Mario Odyssey than 3D World’s more curated courses.

On Twitter, Nintendo added that Bowser’s Fury can be selected from the Super Mario 3D World title screen – it’s not an endgame level, or unlocked by playing the Wii U re-release.

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The new website also confirms how amiibo will work in the expansion. Using a Bowser amiibo will cause the new Fury Bowser to appear in game, and a Bowser Jr. amiibo will unleash “a powerful shockwave to knockout nearby enemies and blocks”. Other amiibo will also cause effects – one of which will seemingly be to turn into a gold Cat Mario statue, as seen in yesterday’s Overview Trailer (above).

We’ve learned a fair bit about Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury in the last few days, including the addition of a photo mode, and how Fury Bowser will be a timed world event in the new adventure. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury will arrive for Switch on February 12, and you can preorder it right now.

We awarded the Wii U version of Super Mario 3D World a 9.6/10 in our review, saying it’s “marvelous, and its constant variety and fantastic light-hearted co-op play proves that Nintendo still knows exactly how to tweak the Mario formula in fun ways.”

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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].

Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Anthony Mackie has revealed that Marvel once considered casting someone other than Chris Evans to play old man Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame.

During an appearance on The Jess Cagle Show, Mackie briefly touched on whether or not Falcon would be taking up Captain America’s shield in the future, which made him reflect on the original casting of Cap; in particular, the older version of the character who featured in the closing moments of Endgame. He revealed that, at one time, there had been talks of casting someone else to portray the aged hero.

“They actually wanted to cast an old dude to play Chris Evans,” Mackie revealed. “So they brought in like three actors. They’re like, none of these, like, this isn’t how Chris will look when he’s old. Like, he’s gonna be, he’s like George Clooney. He’s going to be 95 and still like handsome, you know? So, they brought in a makeup team and prosthetics and makeup and made him into an old man. And how good of an actor Chris is, it actually worked. He pulled it off with his voice and everything. He did a great job.”

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Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo wrapped up Steve’s MCU journey on a very definitive note, with Steve travelling back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their original places and then choosing to remain in the past to finally take up the dance that he promised Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger.

However, when he returns to the rest of our heroes, he is an old man. The Russos used a combination of facial prosthetics and CGI to transform Chris Evans into a senior citizen because they wanted to achieve the “perfect” look to make sure that they didn’t “undermine the emotional intention of the scene” between old man Steve and Sam Wilson aka Falcon.

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Mackie is reprising his role as Falcon in the upcoming Disney+ original series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, opposite Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky Barnes. The six-episode series is set to debut on Disney+ on March 19, as part of an ambitious new lineup of TV series’ designed to be more closely integrated with Marvel’s movies.

For more about the studio’s future slate of projects and releases, read our breakdown of the biggest and most noteworthy developments in the MCU, on Disney+ and in Marvel’s comics this year.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.