biteho.com

The second free update for Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin arrives on Nintendo Switch and PC on August 5. This update will introduce a new monster to hunt, the Elder Dragon Kulve Taroth, as well as another pair of Monstie companions.

Following the update, you’ll be able to take on Kulve Taroth in a Co-Op Expedition Quest. The new Monsties, meanwhile, are both variants of existing monsters: Hellblade Glavenus and Boltreaver Astalos.

Title Update 2 arrives only a couple of weeks after the game’s first update, which introduced the Palamute from Monster Hunter Rise as a Monstie. To collect a Palamute egg, you’ll need to obtain a Palamute Ticket (either by purchasing one from Melynx Inc. or completing the five-star quest called Throw Me a Bone) and use that to embark on a Palamute Den Expedition Quest.

Capcom has three more updates for Monster Hunter Stories 2 planned through the fall following next week’s patch. Title Update 3 releases in early September and adds three new Monsties: Soulseer Mizutsune, Elderfrost Gammoth, and Oroshi Kirin. Title Update 4 will follow later in the month and adds Dreadking Rathalos and Molten Tigrex, as well as a high difficulty version of the Kulve Taroth Co-Op Quest.

Finally, Title Update 5 will release sometime in October. That will also introduce two new Monsties–Silver Rathalos and Gold Rathian–as well as an as-yet-unrevealed Co-Op Expedition Quest monster to battle. You can take a look at the Monster Hunter Stories 2 update roadmap above.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 launched on Switch and PC on July 9 and has been a sales success for Capcom so far, shipping more than one million copies. To celebrate the game’s launch, Capcom is giving away a free in-game item bundle for all players.

It might be hard to keep Marvel’s upcoming movie and TV slate straight — it’s a lot to absorb, we know. And there are still a ton of unanswered questions regarding release date changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But news of upcoming MCU movies and Disney+ TV series keeps coming, from new Secret Invasion casting reports to word of a fourth Captain America movie and Season 2 of Loki. So let’s take a look at what to expect…

We’ve done our best to wrangle and rein in all the upcoming Marvel projects that are in the works, all of them MCU. From the movies to the Disney+ shows, including Marvel’s animated What If…? — a first for the studio — here’s a quick rundown of everything on the MCU horizon. Click on through the slideshow below for a glimpse, or read on!

What New Marvel Movies Are Coming Out?

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”slug=marvel-cinematic-universe-every-upcoming-movie-and-tv-show&captions=true”]

For those keeping track, here’s the full lineup of upcoming Marvel movies and shows:

• What If…? (Disney+, Aug. 11, 2021)
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Sept. 3, 2021)

• Eternals (Nov. 5, 2021)
• Hawkeye (Disney+, Nov. 24, 2021)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (Dec. 17, 2021)
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (March 25, 2022)
• Thor: Love and Thunder (May 6, 2022)
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (July 8, 2022)
• The Marvels (Nov. 11, 2022)
• Ms. Marvel (Disney+, 2022)
• The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Disney+, 2022)
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (February 17, 2023)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
• Moon Knight (Disney+, Date TBD)
• She-Hulk (Disney+, Date TBD)
• Secret Invasion (Disney+, Date TBD)
• Blade (Date TBD)
• Deadpool 3 (Date TBD)
• Fantastic Four (Date TBD)
• I Am Groot (Disney+, Date TBD)
• Armor Wars (Disney+, Date TBD)
• Ironheart (Disney+, Date TBD)
• Wakanda Series (Disney+, Date TBD)
• Echo (Disney+, Date TBD)
• Captain America 4 (Date TBD)
• Loki Season 2 (Disney+, Date TBD)

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Here are the most definite projects that are currently in the works:

WHAT IF…? (Disney+, Aug. 11, 2021)

The first animated series in the MCU will debut on Disney+. Jeffrey Wright stars as the voice of The Watcher while actors from across the MCU reprise their roles as voice talent, including Sebastian Stan, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin, Michael B. Jordan, Chadwick Boseman, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Hayley Atwell, Paul Rudd, Jeremy Renner, Karen Gillan, Natalie Portman, Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Neal McDonough, Sean Gunn, Taika Waititi, Toby Jones, Jeff Goldblum, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Rooker, Chris Sullivan, and David Dastmalchian. Expect Peggy Carter carrying a shield and acting like a Captain America-style super soldier, Marvel Zombies, and more.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/08/marvel-studios-what-if-official-trailer”]

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (Sept. 3, 2021)

Shang-Chi stars Simu Liu as the titular hero, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. He appears alongside Tony Leung as Wenwu (aka the real Mandarin), Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s friend Katy and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan. The cast also includes Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu and Ronny Chieng. The film will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.

ETERNALS (Nov. 5, 2021)

Next up for Phase 4 is Marvel’s Eternals, starring Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Gemma Chan, and Don Lee. Directed by Chloé Zhao, the film will also feature Kit Harington as Dane Whitman (also known as Black Knight in the comics).

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/24/whos-who-in-marvels-eternals-trailer”]

HAWKEYE (Disney+, Nov. 24, 2021)

Starring Jeremy Renner, this original series for Disney+ will also introduce Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop. The cast also includes Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, Brian d’Arcy James and newcomer Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez. Florence Pugh will also be appearing in the series as Yelena Belova, reprising her Black Widow role. Hawkeye is helmed by Rhys Thomas and directing duo Bert and Bertie.

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Dec. 17, 2021)

After a brief break-up of only about five weeks, Sony and Marvel made up and came to terms to ensure Peter Parker will return for more MCU adventures. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is producing this third solo film along with returning Spidey vet Amy Pascal, and Tom Holland will continue in the role of the wallcrawler. The deal reportedly will continue to allow for Spidey to also appear in one MCU movie, though which film that will be remains to be seen. Jamie Foxx will reprise his role as Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, while Alfred Molina is reportedly back as Doctor Octopus, with rumors also stating that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire will reprise their roles as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and Kirsten Dunst will return as Mary-Jane, hinting at a live-action Spiderverse/multiverse crossover of epic proportions.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/03/new-spidey-costumes-revealed-for-spider-man-no-way-home-ign-the-fix-entertainment”]

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (March 25, 2022)

The sequel stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange and Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, with Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams and Chiwetel Ejiofor also returning from Doctor Strange. Xochitl Gomez joins them, portraying America Chavez, a new fan-favorite from the comics. The events of the WandaVision series will lead into Multiverse of Madness, and the plot will also connect to the upcoming third Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland. Scott Derrickson was to return from the first film as director, but he dropped out in January of 2020 due to good old “creative differences.” The good news is that Marvel has now tapped Sam Raimi as his replacement.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (May 6, 2022)

Thor: Love and thunder stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman (as a female Thor!), Chris Pratt, and Christian Bale as villain Gorr the God Butcher. Taika Waititi returns as director for what has been reported as being almost like an Avengers 5 due to the large cast. Even Russell Crowe has signed on to play Thor’s fellow thunder god Zeus.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/26/thor-love-and-thunder-jane-foster-as-thor-explained”]

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (July 8, 2022)

Black Panther 2 has a release date and is now called Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but with the sad and untimely passing of series star Chadwick Boseman, it’s difficult to know how director Ryan Coogler (back from the first film) will handle the situation. Kevin Feige has said he will not recast the character, nor will Boseman’s likeness be recreated digitally.

THE MARVELS (Nov. 11, 2022)

Captain Marvel 2, which is now called The Marvels, is in the works with Nia DaCosta directing. Teyonah Parris will play an adult Monica Rambeau alongside Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, and the film will also feature Ms. Marvel, played by Iman Vellani, who will be introduced in the Ms. Marvel Disney+ series.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/11/ms-marvel-disney-plus-teaser-trailer”]

MS. MARVEL (Disney+, 2022)

Coming to Disney+, this series will be about Kamala Khan, Marvel’s first mainstream Muslim hero. Newcomer Iman Vellani will play the character, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American growing up in Jersey City. Here’s how Marvel describes her: “A great student, an avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, she has a special affinity for superheroes, particularly Captain Marvel. But Kamala struggles to fit in at home and at school—that is, until she gets super powers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Life is easier with super powers, right? The cast also includes Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer and Nimra Bucha. Episodes are directed by Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Meera Menon and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.”

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (February 17, 2023)

The third Ant-Man movie will be helmed by Ant-Man director Peyton Reed and star returning favorites Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp, Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne. Kathryn Newton joins the cast as Cassie Lang while Jonathan Majors portrays Kang the Conqueror.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

So which movie or TV show are you most excited for? Are you stoked for Hawkeye or psyched for Doctor Strange and his Multiverse? Can you not wait to see Natalie Portman as Thor in Love and Thunder? Let us know below…

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/04/what-to-expect-from-marvel-in-2021″][poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Food Fight, first released in 1983 as an arcade machine and later released for the Atari 7800, is getting a modern, multiplayer reimagining. Scheduled to launch early next year and sporting modern 3D visuals, the game comes from Mega Cat Studios and can be played single-player or co-op, with support for online multiplayer.

The game will be a timed exclusive for Atari’s new VCS console, and will release for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms at a later date. Atari says the VCS version of the game will contain content exclusive to that platform, but did not offer details on what exactly that exclusive content will be.

Mega Cat Studios’ Food Fight will feature procedurally generated environments and updated gameplay mechanics as players use up to 30 different items to defeat the competition in food-based battles, with different types of food sporting unique attributes, such as “slippery” or “sticky,” that will affect gameplay. Atari says more details on the game will be released in the coming months, but that Food Fight is the first example of its new “refocus” on premium PC and console games.

Atari’s VCS console released in June at $300 for the Onyx base model. Another VCS model, which includes an additional controller and sports a wood grain finish, retails for $400. The machine has been billed as a console/PC hybrid and comes with a large collection of classic Atari games preinstalled. It also supports a number of entertainment apps like YouTube and Netflix.

Armor customization in Halo Infinite aims to include lore while also allowing players to fit their own personalities. In the Halo Infinite technical preview livestream, 343 Industries went over some of the customizations options that will be available in the Halo Infinite tech test this weekend and the launch version of the game.

One of the main pieces of armor customizations are the armor cores, which serve as a base for your Spartan. Some of the armor cores will be based in the Halo Infinite lore, like the Mark VII armor shown in the video. Other armor sets like the previously revealed Yoroi armor, which is designed to look like Samurai armor, are considered fractured cores, and exist outside of the Halo Infinite lore.

To demonstrate how this works, 343 Industries showed concept art with 15 different armor styles for Yoroi armor. While the base of the armor remains the same, different aspects of it can be changed to a player’s liking. Some of the armor shown had a katana attached to the hip, while others had throwing knives. There are different chest plate options and the option to add a bandolier of bullets. The developers said that the idea behind this is to make each armor core feel like a unique character that people are playing, while still offering in-depth customization.

Another customization option shown was the ability to equip prosthetics on any of the four limbs, or all of them. The developers said that not only do the prosthetics add another layer of customizations for players, but they also allow players to represent themselves.

The full livestream offered a look at many at both Halo Infinite multiplayer gameplay and some of the features included in the upcoming technical test, including the first look at Halo Infinite running on an Xbox One and a look at the Academy, which will teach new players the ropes of Halo Infinite.

The first multiplayer beta for Halo Infinite starts today for anyone who was invited and the full game is set to release Holiday 2021.

Since Microsoft launched the original Xbox in 2001 we’ve seen thousands of games come out across four generations of consoles. Here, IGN’s top Xbox fans have picked out the very best of the best, settling on just 10 games that represent the finest of the Xbox canon. Our criteria: we chose games that were originally Xbox exclusives. They might have come out on other consoles later down the line, but at the time they represented the best of what the Xbox consoles had to offer. With that said, here are our top 10 Xbox exclusives of all time.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

10. Geometry Wars Retro Evolved

Built as a dev experiment to test the OG Xbox controller’s analog sticks for Project Gotham Racing (source), Geometry Wars was one of the best Xbox games you could play around the launch of the Xbox Live Arcade for the 360. If you were like us, friends would fight tooth and nail over who could top the leaderboards. Once we learned the ins and outs of point generation we were jamming out to the killer soundtrack while racking up score multipliers left and right. Geometry Wars was great then and continues to be even all these years later.

9. Dead Rising

Dead Rising launched within the first year of Xbox 360 and showcased what the second-generation Xbox was capable of: namely, hundreds of zombies shambling around the screen without completely tanking the frame rate. Granted, it hasn’t aged all that well in the past 15 years, but it is still a decently fun zombie-massacring game that gives you the freedom to pursue the story or goof around in an infested mall using mostly anything as a weapon to defend yourself.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”slug=the-best-games-to-play-on-xbox-series-xs&captions=true”]

8. Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves is a fantastic open-world game that lets you captain your own ship, fight skeletons and phantoms, dig up treasure, and basically just live the Pirate’s Life! It encourages multiple play styles, both alone and with a crew of friends. You can spend your time-solving puzzles and ranking up your Pirate alliance class, sink other players’ ships in arena mode while flying a Reaper flag, or you can battle a barrage of AI villains on the open seas. And the surprises keep coming, since Sea of Thieves has been updated consistently ever since it came out in 2018. We’ve gotten interesting challenges and storylines, including the recent Disney collaboration that brought us a whole Pirates of the Caribbean campaign. Gameplay has been steadily improving too, since the developer,  Rare, has consistently proven that it is more than willing to listen to player feedback. With Xbox Game Pass making it available to any subscriber, it’s easy for new players to jump right in.

7. Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic

Coming two years after the release of the original Xbox, BioWare’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was the fateful next step in the critical and commercial success for the creators of the breakout RPG hits Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2. This new epic Star Wars tale, which is set some 4,000 years before the events of movies, BioWare’s approach provided a fresh look at what video games could accomplish in George Lucas’ universe, especially from a storytelling perspective. It introduced memorable locations and quests, with characters like the bloodthirsty assassin droid HK-47, Darth Revan, and many more. At the same time, it set the standard for what a western RPG could achieve, offering us difficult choices that affected our story and experiences as we played.  Along with its all-time great twist, KOTOR would go on to be remembered as one of the original Xbox’s standout achievements, revered not just as an RPG but as a standout part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. 

6: Ori and the Blind Forest

There’s no shortage of Metroidvania-style platforming games, which makes it hard for any one to stand out. Even so, when it arrived on the Xbox One in 2015, Ori and the Blind Forest stood out immediately. It has a gorgeous art style, ultra-responsive controls, a bounteous variety of enemies, and a tough-but-fair level of difficulty to its platforming challenges. Tying it all together is a touching story that made us care deeply about these characters and their world almost instantly. It provided an outstanding foundation for the 2020 sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, to build on.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/10/ori-and-the-will-of-the-wisps-review”]

5. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Like The Elder Scroll III: Morrowind on the Xbox 360 before it, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was the undisputed king of western RPGs in its day when it arrived in 2006. Featuring an expansive map that dwarfed even Morrowind’s open world, Oblivion allowed us to become fully immersed in the lands of Cyrodiil. We played through engaging and epic questlines (featuring the voices of Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean!), as well as sprawling cities and towns where every person had their own 24-hour schedule of working and sleeping, making the world feel much more alive than any previous RPG. Whether you yearned to become the Gray Fox of the Thieves Guild or Arch-Mage of the Arcane University, Oblivion is full of engrossing storylines to uncover and lose yourself in.

4. Gears of War

Epic Games may not have invented the third-person cover shooting genre, but the original Gears of War revolutionized it in a stellar cooperative shooter that pushed the Xbox 360 to its limits and kicked off another flagship Xbox game series.

This single-player, co-op, and multiplayer triple threat innovated with its embrace of the second-generation of Xbox Live that made it easy to find a friend playing through the gritty and bloody campaign and drop right in to join them, or just wholesale invite your friends into a party for some pub-stomping in public matchmaking for competitive matches.

Also: CHAINSAW GUN!

3. Fable

When Fable launched in the third year of the original Xbox’s lifetime, the only other big RPG on Microsoft’s first console was the outstanding Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. But while not all of designer Peter Molyneux’s famously boastful promises came to pass, Fable easily distinguished itself from everything that’d come before with action combat and spellcasting, choices of meaningful consequence, and a highly British sensibility that remains charming to this day (maybe throw in a “chicken chaser” soundbite). Beyond that, you can buy a house, get married, get divorced, kill your best friend, and embrace a freedom of choice not often seen in its time. But above all, what Fable really accomplished was to carve out a wholly unique attitude for itself, cementing a sense of nostalgia that many of us are still chasing to this day.

2. Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon is Xbox’s Porsche 911 — a franchise that’s attractive, powerful, and most importantly, reliable. Forza Horizon is consistently a showcase series for the Xbox consoles, and Forza Horizon 4 is arguably the best among them even today. The way it brings the United Kingdom to life with utterly spectacular sights and sound design is unmatched. At the same time, Forza Horizon has managed to fill the arcade racing niche left vacant by the decline of series like EA’s Need for Speed, and its accessibility has allowed its popularity to overtake the more hardcore classic Forza Motorsport series and made Xbox the go-to console for racing enthusiasts. 

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”slug=forza-horizon-5-xbox-e3-2021&captions=true”]

1. Halo: Combat Evolved

Come on, did you really think anything else could ever possibly be #1 on this list? As one of the all-time best launch games for any console, Halo: Combat Evolved proved to be so good, so influential, and so important to Microsoft that the Xbox might not have made it past its first console generation without it. Sure, 2004’s Halo 2 was the catalyst for the runaway success of Xbox Live and, arguably, online multiplayer gaming on consoles as a whole, but the original Halo gave Xbox an identity as a multiplayer machine that friends could gather around, made it cool, and proved that first-person shooters could truly be great without a mouse and keyboard. Thanks to the outstanding multiplayer and an original story that brought us the Master Chief, Cortana, Warthogs, and so many iconic Covenant enemies and vehicles, Bungie became a household name. Soon, gamers were hauling their enormous CRT TVs to each others’ houses for System Link LAN parties, and entire cottage industries (like Rooster Teeth’s Red vs. Blue machinima series) sprouted out of the runaway popularity of Halo. And so yes, Combat Evolved is and will always be the GOAT when it comes to Xbox exclusives.

Naturally there are countless other fantastic and beloved Xbox exclusives that got elbowed off of our small top 10 list, and no disrespect to them, but these are the ones that came out on top in the friendly competition for IGN’s staff’s hearts. What’s on your list? Let us know in the comments, and then check out some of our other top 10s to see what you agree with and what you don’t. And for all your gaming news, reviews, and more, keep it here at IGN.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

One of the new features coming in Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer mode is called the Academy, which will give new players an opportunity to get used to how Halo multiplayer works. Developer 343 Industries has recently explained more about how the Academy will work in both the full game and this weekend’s beta test.

In a new video, the studio went into detail on how the Academy serves as a tutorial and entry point for newcomers to Halo multiplayer. In the full game, it’ll be broken down into three elements. The first is a conventional tutorial that explains the fundamental controls and mechanics of the game, but it’ll also introduce new players to some of the lore surrounding Halo’s multiplayer. From there, players can jump into weapon drills, which allow for experimentation with the game’s arsenal. Finally, the Academy will also include a mode where you can play multiplayer matches, either alone or with teammates, against bots across all of the maps.

In the technical preview kicking off today, players will be able to try out weapon drills. You can see what these look like in the embed above; in essence, this mode gamifies learning how to use Halo’s weapons. While the version in the preview will be limited, 343 Industries stated that weapon drills will likely be more complex in the full version.

The studio has been unveiling a lot more info about the game ahead of the beta’s launch, such as an overview of the game’s settings as well as some lengthy gameplay on an Xbox One. The tech test will run from July 29 through August 1. As with all beta tests, things may change from now until when the full game launches later this year.

More player ratings have been revealed for Madden NFL 22, and this time they focus on the defensive backs. The cornerbacks and safeties are both key to protecting against long throws and stopping breakthrough rushes, and the list even includes the newest member of the 99 club.

Among the top five cornerbacks, Jalen Ramsey clocks in with a 99 OVR rating, following by Stephen Gilmore at 97, Jaire Alexander at 95, Tre’Davious White at 93, and Marlon Humphrey 92.

The full top 10 list is below. These numbers are only applicable to the beginning of the season and will change based on how their real-world counterparts perform.

Madden NFL 22 Top-Rated CBs:

• Jalen Ramsey: 99 OVR
• Stephon Gilmore: 97 OVR
• Jaire Alexander: 95 OVR
• Tre’Davious White: 95 OVR
• Marlon Humphrey: 92 OVR
• Xavien Howard: 91 OVR
• James Bradberry: 90 OVR
• Denzel Ward: 89 OVR
• Kendall Fuller: 89 OVR
• Darius Slay Jr.: 88 OVR

Safeties are categorized separately, and while there aren’t any 99-rated players, there are still some fantastic picks to solidify the middle of the field. Tyrann Mathieu leads the way with 95, followed by Budda Baker with 93, Devin McCourty with 92, Jessie Bates III with 91, and Justin Simmons with 91. The full top 10 list is below.

Madden NFL 22 Top-Rated Safeties:

• Tyrann Mathieu: 95 OVR
• Budda Baker: 93 OVR
• Devin McCourty: 92 OVR
• Jessie Bates III: 91 OVR
• Justin Simmons: 91 OVR
• Jamal Adams: 90 OVR
• Harrison Smith: 90 OVR
• Eddie Jackson: 89 OVR
• Adrian Amos: 89 OVR
• Minkah Fitzpatrick: 88 OVR

For more Madden 22 ratings, you can check out the highest-rated running backs, edge-rushers, tight ends, as well as a roundup of all the top ratings thus far.

Madden NFL 22 will be available on August 20 for PC, consoles, and Stadia. You can use our Madden 22 preorder guide now.

The Annapurna Interactive Showcase has just concluded, featuring nearly half an hour of game reveals, updates on existing games, and new partnership announcements.

Biggest among them were the reveals of a release window for Stray and the announcement of an expansion for The Outer Wilds, but here’s a full rundown of everything we just saw, heard, and learned:

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/the-artful-escape-release-date-trailer”]

The Artful Escape

The Artful Escape, a musical story game about the nephew of a folk-music legend coming to terms with who he is, was first announced way back in 2017. Today, we saw a brand new trailer for the game at last bestowing a release date upon it: September 9 for Xbox (Game Pass, yes!) and Steam.

Within the new trailer, we also got a tease of a star-studded voice cast which includes names such as Michael Johnston, Caroline Kinley, Lena Headey, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Strong, and Carl Weathers.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/neon-white-speedrunning-gameplay-trailer”]

Neon White

Neon White got a new gameplay trailer today showcasingits fast-paced movement and choice-based gameplay that has you discarding weapons to gain access to powerful traversal abilities. Neon White is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC this winter.

Outerloop Games

Studio head Chandana Ekanayake, lead programmer Justin Lalone, and animator Aung Zaw Oo made an appearance in Annapurna’s showcase today to tease a partnership with the publisher on a new game. Outerloop was previously responsible for Falcon Age. While the team didn’t offer any specifics on their next project, 80 Days and Falcon Age writer Meg Jayanth is working on this one too. 

Ekanayake says that Outerloop’s next game will tackle “immigrant culture growing up in the US, gossiping aunties, overbearing parents, and family pressure.” We also saw a bit of off-screen footage of skateboarding gameplay.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/a-memoir-blue-a-journey-into-the-depths-of-memory-reveal-trailer”]

A Memoir Blue: A Journey Into the Depths of Memory

Cloisters, an indie development team originally from New York City and now multinational and based in Taichung City, showed off a trailer for its debut project: A Memoir Blue: A Journey Into the Depths of Memory. The trailer hinted at a family-focused narrative with some oceanic themes and, as the title indicates, a journey into the world of memory. A Memoir Blue is planned for Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, Nintendo Switch, and iOS at a later date.

Jessica Mak

Everyday Shooter developer and Soundshapes co-director Jessica Mak announced a partnership with Annapurna Interactive for a new, unannounced game. No specific details were shown, but Mak mentioned the importance of music, sound, and replicating the kind of flow a musician has when they are playing an instrument and turning it into gameplay — something we saw glimpses of as a blocky human shape ran through brightly colored 3D and 2D levels. Mak suggested this new game will involve action, adventure, and musical components.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/storyteller-announcement-trailer”]

Storyteller

Developer Daniel Benmergui brought a new trailer for Storyteller, a puzzle game about crafting stories. Players are given a title for a story, and are then given its pieces: characters, settings, or plot events, and are tasked with arranging them into a story that makes sense and fits the initial prompt. Storyteller is coming soon to Nintendo Switch and Steam, and a demo is out now on Steam.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/solar-ash-release-date-trailer”]

Solar Ash

Solar Ash got a brand new trailer today, showing off more of its smooth parkour, colorful world, and the strange creatures that inhabit it. Best of all, we finally have a release date of October 26, 2021, for PS4, PS5, and PC.

Ivy Road

In an announcement that sounds like the set-up to a very, very cool joke, the creator of the Stanley Parable and Beginner’s Guide Davey Wreden has partnered with the co-creator of Gone Home and Tacoma Karla Zimonja, as well as Minecraft composer Daniel Rosenfeld (C418) to create a new game being published by Annapurna. The group offered no concrete details as to what they’re making, but the new studio is called Ivy Road, and Wreden and Zimonja spent a lot of their announcement video drinking tea from a very fancy-looking tea set in a pleasant, plant-filled room.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/skin-deep-annapurna-interactive-update-trailer”]

Skin Deep

Next, we got an update on Blendo Games’ upcoming project Skin Deep, a first-person shooter with a sneeze meter, upsetting bodily injuries, being smelly, and all kinds of other weird, gross physical problems (or benefits, depending on how you see them). It’s by the creator of Quadrilateral Cowboy and is planned for release on Steam at a later date.

Platform Updates

Annapurna dropped a rapid-fire reel of platform release updates as follows:

• The Pathless is coming to Steam on November 16
• What Remains of Edith Finch is headed to iOS on August 16
• I Am Dead arrives on PS5, PS4, and Xbox on August 9
• Telling Lies and Gorogoa are both headed to Xbox GamePass “soon”

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/stray-release-window-trailer”]

Stray

At last, we got a meaty new trailer for Stray, the upcoming PlayStation and PC game about a lost cat wandering a city of strange, human-like machines. There’s plenty of new gameplay detail in the trailer, including some very cute cat interactions, but the most important bit is that Stray finally has a release window: it’s coming to PS4, PS5, and PC in early 2022. Not much longer!

No Code Entertainment Productions

Glasgow-based No Code is making a horror game of some kind, and this time, they say it’s on purpose. The creators of Observation and Stories Untold made a brief appearance in the Annapurna Presentation today to tease a partnership with the publisher, with co-founders Jon McKellan and Omar Khan and lead designer Graeme McKellan discussing their strange relationship with the horror genre and the ways in which they have accidentally stumbled into it their entire lives. Khan described No Code’s next game as their “biggest project to date,” saying the studio had doubled in size to make it happen.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/outer-wilds-echoes-of-the-eye-reveal-trailer”]

Outer Wilds

Finally, Mobius creative director Alex Beachum made an appearance with an update on the upcoming Switch release for Outer Wilds, which is planned for this holiday. But the even bigger announcement is that the game is getting its “first and only expansion” entitled Echoes of the Eye, which is planned for release on PS4, Steam, Epic Games, Store, and Xbox on September 28.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.