With February comes a month-long commemoration of Black History. It’s an essential time of year for raising awareness of important causes and honoring all the spectacular contributions the Black community has made to our society — from science and tech to music, art, and so much more. In honor of that, IGN invites you to celebrate this occasion with us during our Black History Month charity stream. We’ll be hanging out with talented Black creators, entertainers, and friends while raising money for an important cause. If you don’t want to miss out on the fun, here’s everything you need to know to join in.
What Cause Are We Raising Funds For?
During IGN’s Black History Month charity stream, we’ll be raising funds for an organization called Gameheads which features a tech program aimed at diversifying the video game industry through teaching youth of color and youth from low-income households about game design, development, and DevOps.
February is winding down, so it’s almost time for a new batch of Games with Gold freebies for Xbox Live subscribers. Microsoft has unveiled the four free games joining the Games with Gold program in March: Warface: Breakout, VALA: Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse, Metal Slug 3, and Port Royale 3. Like usual, there are a pair of Xbox One games and two older games that are playable via backwards compatibility.
Warface: Breakout is a tactical first-person shooter that released last year. It’s a spin-off of the MMO Warface based on the Planet the Bomb game mode. The squad-based FPS doesn’t have a ton of content yet, but if you’re a fan of the genre it may be worth checking out. Warface: Breakout is free all throughout March.
The other Xbox One freebie is certainly a silly game, and that’s not all too surprising given its name. VALA: Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse is a top-down mech shooter in which llamas have caused the apocalypse. It features local co-op for up to four players and has a roguelike loop. Each run is different, but yes, llamas stand in your way every time you suit up. Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse will be free from March 16 to April 15.
The pair of backwards-compatible Xbox 360 freebies are arguably stronger than the Xbox One titles this month. You can snag SNK’s classic run-and-gun Metal Slug 3 from March 1 to March 15. In the back half of the month, pirate simulation game Port Royale 3 will be up for grabs.
Activision has formally announced that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 will release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch this year.
The PlayStation and Xbox versions arrive on March 26, while the Switch edition doesn’t have a specific release date but is confirmed for 2021.
Activision is promising a “variety of upgrades,” including 120FPS/1080p and 60FPS/4K visuals, along with spatial audio and other enhancements for the next-gen PlayStation and Xbox versions. The Switch edition, meanwhile, won’t have these impressive frame rates and graphics, it seems, but the big appeal is you can play it on the go.
“High-fidelity atmospherics will be added to the next-gen upgrade for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2,” reads a line from its description. “This unique graphical feature will allow players to enjoy the experience of sharper dynamic shadows, reflections and lens flares, as well as enhanced skater textures and more on next-gen consoles.”
People who already bought a digital copy of the game for PS4 or Xbox One–or a disc version on PS4–can upgrade to the same console family with all of your progress at no cost, except in Japan where this will cost 100 Yen. Note that this seemingly only applies to the deluxe edition, and that this offer doesn’t seem to be available for the disc version on Xbox One.
Activision will also sell a “Cross-Gen Deluxe Bundle” that costs $10 more. This comes with a new skater, Ripper, along with retro gear for the Create-A-Skater mode, along with retro skins for Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, and Rudney Mullen.
Activision also confirmed in its press release that the social media back-and-forth between Tony Hawk himself and the Twitter accounts for Crash and Nintendo was an intentional marketing ploy.
Pro Skater 1 + 2 originally released in September and it became the fastest game in the entire Tony Hawk series to reach 1 million units sold. The game was developed by Vicarious Visions, which is now making the Diablo II remaster for Blizzard. It’s not immediately clear which studio is handling the next-gen console and Switch ports of Pro Skater 1 and 2.
The Dungeons & Dragons team has announced a new horror-themed sourcebook, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (see it at Amazon).
Featuring work from authors like Cassandra Khaw, Molly Ostertag, and K. Tempest Bradford, Van Richten’s Guide is set for a May 2021 release. It focuses on the various Domains of Dread – perhaps better known to some D&D veterans as the Demiplane of Dread – featured in past editions of the game, from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Realm of Terror to the hugely popular 2016 Fifth Edition adventure Curse of Strahd.
Cover art for Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, by Anna Podedworna (L) and Scott M. Fischer (R).
The guide won’t simply be Curse of Strahd 1.5, however – you can check out last year’s ReVamped edition for that – VRGtR will provide options for a variety of horrific adventures and settings. “We understand that Curse of Strahd came out many years ago,” says Wes Schneider, senior D&D designer and lead on Van Richten’s Guide. “It’s been very popular, a lot of folks have played it already. So we wanted to make sure that if you played Curse of Strahd or other adventures in Ravenloft, that Van Richten’s Guide isn’t just like, ‘Oh, well, I did that.’”
From classic monsters like werewolves and mummies to adaptations of eastern folk tales or fantastical takes on more modern horror themes, Van Richten’s Guide will cover a wide variety of terror tropes to throw at your adventurers. The “Demiplane of Dread”, as it was known, contains a variety of isolated realms – or “domains” – each one ruled over by a Darklord, a sort of “lead” monster or character based on the particular horror theme that forms the basis of each domain. Consider it like a more terrifying version of the various sections of Disney World – but instead of Tomorrowland or Galaxy’s Edge, you’re trapped in Frankenstein World or on Werewolf Island.
“Just like how the original Ravenloft adventure then spread out into an entire campaign setting back in the ’90s, we’re doing very much the same thing,” Schneider said. “We’re starting with the core of Curse of Strahd and then expanding out from there into other Domains of Dread and beyond just Gothic horror. We’ll also be seeing cosmic horror, ghost stories, dark fantasies, psychological horror – all of these different things, depending on what your favorite flavor of nightmare might be.”
Full alternate cover art by Scott M. Fischer.
These aren’t just reprintings of AD&D worlds with 5e mechanics, of course. While many domains have been refreshed, some have been entirely reimagined to stretch the Ravenloft domains outside the realm of “classical Gothic horror”. The domain of Falkovnia, for example, was another domain featuring a vampire Darklord – a need already fulfilled by Barovia’s Strahd Von Zarovich – so Scheinder and the team pivoted the realm to focus on a more modern horror theme: the zombie apocalypse.
“Ravenloft had never had that before, just because that’s not really a Gothic horror trope,” Schneider says. “Now, we have this entire domain that’s constantly crumbling under the weight of these endless zombie invasions. And the new Darklord, Vladeska Drakov, is this terrible character but is also the domain’s last hope to survive against this even more overwhelming supernatural disaster.”
He says finding the right intersection between both new and old horror themes and the D&D experience has been a big part of the book’s design process. “If you look at the Zombie in the Monster Manual, even a first-level party is gonna be like, ‘Oh, zombie… huh,’” he says with an air of fake boredom. “But what happens when there are more zombies than there are fireballs? And how does that affect an entire society, and then how does that affect the characters?”
“The book deals a lot with the idea that any horror story across any piece of media is – whether it’s a movie, or it’s a book, or it’s a tabletop RPG – in general, at its core, a story about a haunting,” says Amanda Hamon, another Senior Designer at D&D and one of the authors of Van Richten’s Guide. “What scares the character? What has happened to the character? What are the characters’ hangups, and the bad things that have happened to them? And [how] to bring them forward into the narrative?”
Concept art of a ‘Dark Gift,’ by Paul Scott Canavan.
To help players lean into the horror atmosphere, the Guide will also introduce new character options, including a set of new lineages – building off the options introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything – as well as two new subclasses. The lineages, which players may recognize from the recently published Unearthed Arcana, include the Dhampir, Hexblood, and Reborn, which feature traits born of vampires, hags, or undead creatures, respectively.
The subclasses included in VRGtR are the College of Spirits Bard, who can contact otherworldly spirits through gaming sets and trinkets like a medium, and the Undead Patron Warlock, granting characters power from beyond the grave. Also included are a collection of new Dark Gifts, similar to those found in Curse of Strahd, which can provide horror-themed bonuses and/or roleplay options to players and their characters.
“One of the things that differentiate a horror game from just a normal tabletop RPG high-fantasy game,” Hamon says, “is the really intense role-playing in the atmospheric environment that you’re playing in. And I’m just really excited that [the Dark Gifts are] able to build in some of these mechanical ways of supporting that so that it’s not just describing a thing or kind of being superficial. It really feels baked into the game, and I feel like that’s an important piece of this book as well.”
Developer Soda Den has announced Roots of Pacha, a Stone Age life simulator that might be most akin to a “Stone Age Stardew Valley.” You can back it now on Kickstarter.
“By connecting with nature at your own pace you’ll help your clan evolve, develop culture and relationships, and discover the mysteries of Pacha, mother nature,” the development team said in its description of Roots of Pacha. Check out the announcement trailer above as well as screenshots (and gameplay gifs) in the gallery below.
Cooperative play is supported, and in the game you’ll farm, craft, build, tame and ride animals, evolve your clan, and more. Future features have been promised as well, including marrying fellow Pachans, breeding animals, petting those animals, participating in festivals and rituals, and more.
Kickstarter backers at a sufficient tier will have access to a closed alpha demo starting on March 26.
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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.
Activision has announced that not only will Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 be released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 26, 2021, but that it will also be skating its way to the Nintendo Switch later this year.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 on PS5 and Xbox Series X will feature new next-gen upgrades, including giving fans a chance to play in 1080p at 120 FPS or in native 4K at 60 FPS, spatial audio, and more.
“High-fidelity atmospherics” has also been added to these new versions, and it will “allow players to enjoy the experience of sharper dynamic shadows, reflections and lens flares, as well as enhanced skater textures and more on next-gen consoles.”
Digital players will be able to upgrade to the Cross-Gen Deluxe bundle for an additional $10, while those who already own the digital deluxe version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 will be able to upgrade for free, unless you live in Japan.
This upgrade includes access to the secret skater Ripper (a.k.a. the infamous Powell-Peralta mascot), retro gear for Create-A-Skater mode, and retro skins for Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, and Rodney Mullen.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2020. In our review, we said “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is such a tremendous turnaround from 2015’s disastrously dismal Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 that it’s difficult to believe they share even a shred of DNA. The accessible yet tricky skating is earnest and old-school fun, the wonderful looking levels are lovingly designed odes to the past, and the music is like the hearty embrace of an old childhood buddy.”
Dungeons & Dragons is going full-on horror with its next book. Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft arrives on May 18, and will allow DMs to create a story steeped in scares while players can add dark gifts to their characters and choose from two new subclasses.
The 256-page book is the perfect addition to any D&D player who loves horror, but wants to step away from gothic horror–traditionally what D&D has leaned into heavily. However, this new book will feature various types of horror, appeasing many fans of the genre. There is also a 20-page adventure contained within the book titled, “House of Lament.”
Ravenloft will feature various Domains of Dread, some contained within the book, and some that can be created by the DM. For example Strahd is from Barovia, a vampire-infested gothic horror domain. However, that’s not the only type of horror Ravenloft, as it will be “expanding out from there into other Domains of Dread and beyond just gothic horror,” explained Van Richten’s
Main cover by Anna Podedworna
Gallery
Alternate cover by Scott M. Fischer. Other art by Paul Scott Canavan.
Guide to Ravenloft senior game designer and lead designer Wes Schneider during a press briefing of the upcoming book. “We’ll also be seeing cosmic horror, ghost stories, dark fantasy, [and] psychological horror.”
There’s a lot of creative opportunity for DMs within the new book. And it’s laid out, step-by-step, on how to do it. “What is this specific secret sauce for making your own domain of dread?” Schneider asked. “What we ended up doing is going through a variety of genres of horror just being like, ‘Alright, these are what some settings in this genre might look like. These are what ghostery villains look like. These are what body horror settings look like,’ so on and so forth. So, to an extent, you can use that as inspiration or you can mix and match your own elements, put them all together and then have a unique experience that you’ve randomly generated. You’ve got all the tools that you need.”
The power isn’t all in the hands of the DM. Players will get new choices as well. There are two new subclasses in Ravenloft: The College of Spirits for the Bard and the Undead Patron for the Warlock. The bard subclass is all about your character telling horror stories. You can tell stories from the past and bring heroes to life to battle for you. Or you can use a Tarakotta deck to tell these stories.
The Undead Patron subclass may be one of the coolest subclasses to date. An otherworldly being is giving your Warlock powers, but at the cost of your own mortality. You’re basically becoming this puppet for a Lich or a Dark Lord or some uber-powerful being.
No specific details were given about either subclass. For those who don’t want to commit to the subclass, there are Dark Gifts you can apply to your new characters. This is how your characters connect with a Domain of Dread, and there will be mechanical benefits from picking one. Additionally, players can make dhampir, hexblood, or reborn character, and these explore the vampire, hag, and undead lineages.
Sony’s PlayStation boss Jim Ryan says that the company plans to publish more games directly to PS Plus. Sony has previously released several notable games directly to PlayStation Plus subscribers, specifically the vehicular combat game Destruction AllStars and the monster-catching game Bugsnax.
In an interview with GQ, Ryan said that the company feels that releasing directly to PS Plus is a “very interesting and innovative way to publish games.” Ryan continued: “It works for us as the publisher and we know the subscribers to PlayStation Plus love it.”
PS Plus subscribers have been able to claim a certain number of free games every month since the PS4 days. In the same interview, the GQ interviewer cited Sony’s own statistics that state that 87% of people with a PS5 are subscribed to PS Plus. February’s free PS Plus games were the aforementioned Destruction AllStars, Concrete Genie, and Control: Ultimate Edition. Increasingly, the free PS Plus games have featured PS5 exclusives such as Destruction AllStars and Control, but Concrete Genie is also available on PS4.
It was recently speculated that Lord of the Rings visual artist Ted Nasmith was involved in the production of Amazon’s big-budget fantasy show. However, this is not true.
Nasmith himself confirmed on Facebook that rumors about his involvement were “100% invented out of thin air.” He said he was “deeply touched” to hear his name in reports about the new Amazon show, but he confirmed, “No one from Amazon has approached me, full stop.”
CORRECTION: Artist Ted Nasmith jumped in the comments to advise he is NOT INVOLVED with Amazon. Although his artwork has been seen amongst the production offices and workshops for Amazon’s billion-dollar series, he is not engaged in any capacity. Apologies to Mr. Nasmith. pic.twitter.com/o497MWWrDK
TheOneRing.net originally reported the news, and has since apologized to Nasmith. However, the site did stand by its assertion that Nasmith’s artwork has been spotted in the production offices for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show.
Nasmith’s Middle-earth artwork is stunning and richly detailed; it’s so good that it’s not hard to see why Amazon might want to reference his work. But Nasmith has laid the record straight that he is not involved in the show.
