biteho.com

Note from IGN Senior Editor Joshua Yehl: If you’ve suddenly found yourself with a lot of extra time on your hands that you don’t know what to do with, then worry not, because IGN is teaming up with some of our favorite comic book creators to help you out with a list of recommended reads. To kick things off, our first special guest is acclaimed comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis. Even if you haven’t read Ultimate Spider-Man, Powers, or his game-changing Avengers saga, you’ve probably seen his work reflected on screen, given he’s the co-creator of breakout characters Jessica Jones and Spider-Man Miles Morales. Having left Marvel Comics for DC Comics in 2017, Bendis now writes titles like Superman, Young Justice, and Legion of Superheroes, plus he’s spearheading a new imprint called Wonder Comics. He’s a five-time Eisner-award winner and has taught a college course on comics. Suffice to say, he knows a thing or two about good comics, so here’s what he thinks you ought to sink your eyeballs into.

Comic books were, sort of, born out of a traumatized war-torn world. They have always been truthful escapist places in real times of stress. We’ve all experienced that magic on some level. A place where a kid or adult can bury their face in a new comic and just feel… different.

In one of my all-time favorite (not comic) books High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby, the ultimate music fan is offered the opportunity to make his absolute Top Five List. It’s my favorite part of the book, and movie, watching the character start to unravel under the weight of the request. “Top five WHAT? Top five of all time? Top five songs you listen to in the desert?” That is how I felt when IGN approached me to put this list together.

I have 443,221 comics on my best comics of all time list. But I broke it down fast. This list is different from what would be my ultimate ultimate ultimate list. This is specifically things that I think would be healing, fun, inspiring, smart escapism in this weird world we find ourselves in. These books are teleportation vehicles — not only to another world with different rules and experiences for us but an important statement about how amazing comics can be.

[poilib element=”commerceCta” json=”%7B%22image%22%3A%7B%22url%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fassets1.ignimgs.com%2F2020%2F03%2F24%2Fcomixology-logo1585057541084.jpg%22%2C%22styleUrl%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fassets1.ignimgs.com%2F2020%2F03%2F24%2Fcomixology-logo1585057541084_%7Bsize%7D.jpg%22%2C%22id%22%3A%225e7a0f09e4b08e237d61fdd8%22%7D%2C%22url%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fr.zdbb.net%2Fu%2Fbjca%22%2C%22title%22%3A%22Start%20a%20free%2060-day%20trial%20of%20ComiXology%20Unlimited%22%2C%22store%22%3A%22ComiXology%22%2C%22additionalInfo%22%3A%22%22%2C%22ourPick%22%3Afalse%7D”]

This is not the first time I’ve been personally quarantined with my books. I had a health scare a couple of years ago. A personal one. It was enough for me to take real stock of my feelings about, well, everything (but that’s another column). I know mileage varies for everyone but during and after I was sick I definitely didn’t want to read anything about other people being sick, or viruses, or near-death experiences, or watch… medical shows. I wanted full escapism. I wanted to be transported and taken into a hopeful, better place.

That’s what this list is.

So to my friends working on their pandemic allegories and future dystopias: You are doing amazing work and I love your comics but you’re not gonna see yourself here. Those are for another day.

Also, listen, I’ve been in comics for a while and I know a lot of people and I have been published by almost everyone so some of this is going to stink to high heaven of nepotism but these are really great comics. I met most of my pals in comics because we loved each other’s stuff. It happens.

Check out the list by flipping through the slideshow gallery below or keep scrolling to read it as an article.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=brian-michael-bendis-stuck-at-home-comic-book-reading-list&captions=true”]

Black Hammer

By Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston

Building new superhero universes is a feat unto itself. Building universes that speak to a commonality among the audience, a common knowledge that everyone reading can share is a very special thing indeed.

The Black Hammer “age of heroes” has long since passed and the heroes have all been banished from existence by a multiversal crisis. The Black Hammer universe is a perfectly built piece of fiction. It completely transports you away to a place where we can explore our shared love of comics energy. My biggest compliment to this work is, behind the scenes, a great deal of our peers keep showing me their new work and saying, “I think this is my Black Hammer.”

The Classic DC and Marvel Crossovers

There’s a lot of talk about these online this week and there’s a reason why. We know that comics’ secret weapon is the stories that can’t be told anywhere else. After the enormous Avengers: Endgame, [the Arrowverse crossover] Crisis on Infinite Earths, and [HBO’s] Watchmen all being successful huge TV and movie events, most of the audience thinks they have seen it all… Nuh uh.

The classic DC/Marvel crossovers are sadly not in print right now but you can get them online or by ordering them from any quality comic store. They are out there. I spent the last week with my son reading the Batman/Hulk crossover from years ago – Len Wein and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez at his absolute finest – and my 7 year-old son was completely! blown!! away!! May you be the person that first shows someone JLA/Avengers!!! Whaaaaaaat?

These are stories that would flatten any fan of any superhero universe of any age. Plus, if you find The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans crossover by Chris Claremont and Walt Simonson, you will have one of the best comics ever made. These are the superhero comics for people who think they have read or experienced everything there is to experience with these characters.

(Also, the DC/MARVEL Amalgam Universe, but those are hard to find.)

Girl on Film

By Cecil Castellucci, Vicky Leta, Jon Berg, V. Gagnon, and Melissa Duffy

This original graphic novel memoir from award-winning young adult novelist Cecil Castellucci (illustrated by artists Vicky Leta, Jon Berg, V. Gagnon, and Melissa Duffy) is based on her own coming-of-age journey. Cecil tells you how she fell in love with the art of telling stories and how, well, everything has affected her as a writer. I know Cecil a little but I feel I know her way more than I actually do because this book is so warm and honest.

I feel reading this alone in your quarantine will feel like hanging out with a cool new friend who is into a lot of the same stuff you are. I also think this book will get you off your ass to make something.

Planetary

By Warren Ellis and John Cassady

I got a Warren Ellis addiction. Always have. Decades ahead of the pop culture curve, Ellis and John Cassady introduced us to the adventures of Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and the Drummer. Its hook was vaguely ‘X-Files for superheroes’ but that is just the slightest touch of what this book really is. A complete valentine to fiction in the twentieth century filled with all the paranormal secrets and secret, and not secret, histories.

And the entire series is one of the most satisfying reading ‘meals’ in all of comics. Planetary is the most imitated, most essential book of Warren Ellis’s career. More than Authority? YES! And that’s saying something. I could make this whole list about his stuff but this book itself is so entertaining and it takes you to so many places. And it is aging beautifully.

Isola

By Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl

There are so many outstanding new “independent” comics out right now. So many. Once and Future, After Realm, The Three Kings, Bang. Fully realized worlds are popping up on the stands every week. And a lot of them are so beautifully illustrated.

Isola is a representation of this new whole wave and a stunning achievement on its own. Isola by writer Brenden Fletcher and writer/artist Karl Kerschl takes us to a gorgeous mystical land where the queen’s brother enacts a treacherous plot to transform her into a tiger. It takes us all on a colorful journey halfway across the globe to the fabled island of… Isola, gateway to the underworld.

This book is stunning and has that magic quality that no creator can conjure consciously: there’s something about these images that stay with you after you’ve read the book. Images that burn into your retina in a positive way. That’s actually something my friend David Mack can do as well. Comics!

This is also the kind of story that can only be told this way in comics. I have really taken a liking to comics that don’t just seem like storyboards for a Hollywood pitch but a reach to try something new in comics.

Akira

By Katsuhiro Otomo

On a list like this including Akira is like saying you like the Beatles or Nirvana. Way to go out on a limb! But soooo many people say to me, “Oh, I always meant to read that.” Well, there is no better comic book binge-reading meal than Akira. It is completely fulfilling.

Meanwhile

By Jason Shiga

This magnificent graphic novel is truly all ages; it works if you’re 66. It works if you’re 4. Follow the tabs to create your own story in this groundbreaking graphic novel. It’s a Choose Your Own Adventure book. I love Jason’s unique work. I love Demon, I love Fleep. But this one is truly for everybody.

Dial H for Hero / The Wonder Twins

By Sam Humphries and Joe Quinones / Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne

Here’s where I get in a bit of trouble. “Hey, dude, come on! These books were the cornerstone of your imprint at DC comics!!!”

Yes! But we wanted to make The Wonder Twins with Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne and Dial H for Hero by writer Sam Humphries and the amazing Joe Quinones because we wanted this kind of energy in the world. But I did not make these books.

They made them. They made them amazing. These books are so much better than we even hoped for!!

Dial H? Best pitch in comics! What would you do if you could become any superhero for just an hour? Sam and Joe took this crazy idea to dizzying heights!

Everything Mark Russell has bought to comics has risen to this next level. I selfishly wanted a Wonder Twins book by him to see him take these brilliant characters and say something with them… and he did!

On Writing

By Stephen King

Not a comic book. But if you are home and you might be thinking about writing… This is the book for you. If you’re serious about your craft, you should absolutely have Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner, Story by Robert McKee, and Making Comics by Lynda Barry. But for this quarantine, I think On Writing is a Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King that describes his experiences as a writer and his advice for aspiring writers.

This book makes you think about why you are writing what you’re writing from Stephen’s personal anecdotes and ideas. I found it extremely powerful.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen

By Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber

“Come on!! You know these guys. This is the Superman office you work in!!” Yes!! But this book is brilliant!! It’s absolutely brilliant. Like Hawkeye and Sex Criminals from Fraction before it… is not. what. you. think.

Also, for those of you who fancy yourselves big ass Matt Fraction fans, may I recommend his short-lived Defenders run. I think it’s as good as Hawkeye and Jimmy Olsen but doesn’t get the same amount of love. Three of Matt’s best all-time jokes are in Defenders.

Justice League of America: The Nail

By Alan Davis

Alan Davis is a master comic creator who embodies everything this list is supposed to be. His entire energy as a comics creator is powerful and uplifting. There are quite a few comic creators who fit this: Tom Taylor, Jason Aaron, Skottie Young, Mike Allred… Alan Davis is always looking deep into the soul of the characters and by doing so always creates something that is so reader-friendly.

This story revolves around what would happen if the Kents got a flat tire and never found baby Clark. Imagining a world without the Man of Steel, Alan has created an alternate history of the DC universe that inspires.

Copra

By Michel Fiffe

Michel Fiffe’s popular self-published series, Copra is a superhero face punch. A look at the superhero genre completely free to fly in any direction it needs to. Everyone I know in comics loves this comic. It’s just so pure and fun and it’s made with such heart.

Mind MGMT

By Matt Kindt

I love this globe-spanning espionage book. What a terrible way to describe a completely innovative genre smash. The story is of a journalist investigating the mystery of a commercial flight where everyone aboard loses their memories, but that is just the “what.” The “how” is something else!!

Matt finds new spaces on the page. New ways to inflict healthy exposition. It’s a real reason to curl up and get lost.

Nextwave

By Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen

Warren Ellis again! But NEXTWAVE!! Nextwave is the most brilliant piece of superhero nonsense I have ever read and I have read an incredible amount of superhero nonsense. This is a Master Class in serious not serious. I don’t actually want to say another word about it because I feel everything you say about it actually ruins a joke. It’s 12 issues by Warren and Stuart Immonen and master ink artist Wade Von Grawbadger at the tippy top of their games. Check it out.

Superman Smashes the Klan

By Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru

This one has such an interesting pedigree and history. Inspired by the 1940s Superman radio serial “Clan of the Fiery Cross,” National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and the powerful art of Gurihiru tells us the story of the adventures of the Lee family as they team up with Superman to, well, smash the Klan. It is a story that seems to need to be a comic. I can’t think of a more powerful medium to tell this. Gene and I do not know each other but we were scheduled to speak to each other at WonderCon. I have soooo many questions for when that day happens.

Monstress

By Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

Where do I even begin with this amazing work??!! Describing the plot does nothing to describe the feeling of this book. Monstress tells the story of a girl who shares a psychic link with a monster of crazy power, a connection that will transform them both. Every panel is a world build. Every page a richly imagined art deco-inflected steampunk surprise. This world will wrap around you. I’m going to go read it again now!

Oh!! I could have filled this list with the life’s work of Mike Mignola, Jack Kirby, Greg Rucka, Frank Miller, the Hernandez brothers, Alan Moore, Will Eisner, Walt Simonson, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Tom King, George Perez, Möebius, and so many many others but arrgghhh!!! LISTS!!!

Hit me up on social media and let me know what you thought of these. I gotta go make more!!

BENDIS!

We are gathered here today to talk about Guns, Love, and Tentacles, the sharply written Lovecraftian DLC for Borderlands 3 which puts the wedding of Sir Hammerlock and Wainwright Jacobs in the center of its scopes. Though everything about it is exactly what you’d expect from Borderlands DLC – in a good way – it also doesn’t do much to make its few short hours really stand out.

What starts out as an eccentric couple’s wedding on the creepy, remote world of Xylourgos predictably turns into a nightmarish cataclysm of eldritch horrors. So, y’know, just some normal Borderlands stuff. You’ll smack, blast, and meat-bicycle your way through some unique areas like the eerie, possessed town of Cursehaven; the dark, sickening groves of Cankerwood; and the accursed halls of a manor controlled by a cult that worships a Cthulu-inspired God called Gythian. For a series that once had a big problem with the lack of diversity in its exclusively Pandoran environments, Guns, Love, and Tentacles feels like a victory lap of breathtaking views and unique areas.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/borderlands-3-guns-love-and-tentacles-first-12-minutes-of-gameplay-video”]

As usual, the Borderlands staples you know and love have been tweaked to fit the new setting, and in this case it results in some pretty gross aesthetics. For example, chests have a squid-like quality to them and gurgle and slither out juicy, slime-covered weapons, or they open a portal to another dimension and spit out some new items for your perusal. You’ll also have some new tentacle-themed cosmetics to unlock, like character skins and weapon ornaments. It’s a bummer, though, that there are no Lovecraftian weapons to chase. That’s a missed opportunity!

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=It%E2%80%99s%20an%20overwhelmingly%20entertaining%20few%20hours%20thanks%20to%20stellar%20writing.”]The campaign is solid but short – you can blow through the bulk of it in just a few hours. That said, it’s an overwhelmingly entertaining few hours thanks to stellar writing and jokes that land more often than they miss. There are some misses in the level design, too, like a few sections which require platforming – something Borderlands has never been great with. One such section is a boss fight that requires you to jump onto levitating platforms to take down the enemy’s shields and if you make a wrong move you’ll need to start the fight all over again (unless you’re playing with a friend you can use as a spawn anchor).

Fortunately for those of us who’ve been waiting for more DLC since December, there’s plenty to do aside from the main story. Sidequests are mostly entertaining distractions, and there are occult creature hunts to go on for Sir Hammerlock which can be fairly challenging. For rewards, you’ll have eight new legendary weapons to chase for those who want to be best equipped to slay Gythian’s octo-pals with extreme prejudice. On the other hand, some tasks are pretty dry, like picking flowers for your new testicle-eating friend. Yup. That’s a thing.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=every-ign-borderlands-review&captions=true”]

On Xylourgos you’ll mainly fight against occult followers of Gythian. These weirdos interact with you and one another in all sorts of interesting ways during combat, like buffing and healing one another, resurrecting fallen allies from the dead as exploding suiciders, or even eating your guns. That’s right: they literally eat your guns, those monsters! Each encounter with these tentacle-loving psychopaths has to be considered before being tackled, because not killing necromancers before taking on everyone else could result in you getting overwhelmed by undead explodey boys. Xylourgos’ mobs are deadly, sometimes annoyingly so, but the end result is some of the most interesting combat encounters we’ve seen in Borderlands.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=It%E2%80%99s%20more%20Borderlands%203%2C%20which%20is%20great%2C%20but%20it%20feels%20by-the-numbers.”]Aside from the interesting new mobs, though, there isn’t really a whole lot that Guns, Love, and Tentacles does that’s unique. It’s more Borderlands 3, which is great, but it all ends up feeling like a very by-the-numbers expansion that’s fun for a few hours and not especially groundbreaking. Even the formidable bosses aren’t much more than bullet sponges with a bad attitude. But, y’know, when you find yourself shoving your fist into piles of wendigo dung, remember: this is exactly what you signed up for.

[poilib element=”poll” parameters=”id=2bb4da03-d22f-40bb-8b44-3a074972ae8a”]

The Bravely series, until now, consisted of two delightful games on Nintendo’s 3DS system. They’re the sorts of games perfect for pick-up-and-go handheld play, which is why I was so excited at the first reveal of Bravely Default II late last year. Not only do I love the Bravely games on 3DS, but Octopath Traveler, made by the same team, is one of my favorite games on Nintendo Switch.

The great news is, based on what I’ve played of the demo, everything I loved about Bravely Default and Bravely Second have made their way to Switch, and even some of what I loved about Octopath Traveler is here, too.

Battle Systems Ready

The real draw for me of the Bravely Default series lies in its battle system. You can either attack, or “default,” which puts your character into a defensive stance and accrues a “Brave Point,” or BP. You can stack these BP up to 4 times and unleash 4 consecutive attacks on one turn. You can also go into “debt” with the BP, but doing so renders your character unable to attack for as many points as you spent.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/26/bravely-default-ii-nintendo-direct-mini-32620-trailer”]

In other words, if you attack your foe four times and go into the hole, you have to wait at least four turns until you can attack again. It adds extra strategy to the battles, and once you get a handle on it, it gives them a a satisfying flow. I haven’t come across any major changes to its systems in the demo, but that’s fine because it’s like an old familiar blanket on a cold winter’s night.

Watercolor Miniatures

The best way I can describe the art style of Bravely Default II is to say it’s like someone tilt-shifted a watercolor painting. It’s a cuter version of the gorgeous illustrative work Yoshitako Amano has done for the Final Fantasy series over the decades, and in a lot of ways Bravely Default itself is a cuter version of Final Fantasy.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=The%20best%20way%20I%20can%20describe%20the%20art%20style%20of%20Bravely%20Default%20II%20is%20to%20say%20it’s%20like%20someone%20tilt-shifted%20a%20watercolor%20painting.”]

The backdrops look like living paintings, and the tilt-shift effect gives it a sense of depth lost in the transition from the 3DS to the Switch. It works incredibly well, and I the extra power of the Switch versus the 3DS allows for some new lighting effects, too. Assign the Vanguard job to one of your party members and watch the light dance and shimmer across the edges of their armor, for example.

A Story Like… Well, Many Others

If you’re familiar at all with JRPG tropes, there are no surprises here, at least as far as the demo is concerned. The entire series has played it very safe in the story department, and I’m completely OK with that. For me, the allure of Bravely, or really any RPG on a portable system, is how easily I can pick it up and put it down. What feels grind-y on a console or PC feels like a fun time-waster on a handheld. Grinding to pass the time is a lot like a fun but mindless smartphone app you pull out on the bus or when you’re at the doctor’s office waiting for an appointment.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/13/bravely-default-2-reveal-trailer”]

As pointless as it seems, given this is only a demo, I spent most of my first hour with Bravely Default II just grinding outside the town. It’s borderline therapeutic to me to rinse and repeat, building up levels and improving my gear, and I know I’ll spend most of my time in both the demo and the full game doing just that.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=If%20you%20can%20tear%20yourself%20away%20from%20Animal%20Crossing%20to%20check%20out%20a%20good%20ol’%20fashioned%20turn-based%20RPG%20with%20some%20novel%20systems%2C%20I%20cannot%20recommend%20it%20enough.”]

The Bravely Default II demo is available right now on the Nintendo eShop and it’s surprisingly robust. There are some missing features, sure, and the framerate has a tendency to drop from time to time, but the core of the game is there and it’s pretty meaty for a demo. It’s also a little harder than I expected, something it warns you of at the start, but that just makes it feel all the better, like a good JRPG should. If you can tear yourself away from Animal Crossing to check out a good ol’ fashioned turn-based RPG with some novel systems, I cannot recommend it enough.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Seth Macy is IGN’s tech and commerce editor and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Twitter @sethmacy.

At the same time as Fallout 76‘s big Wastelanders DLC expansion goes live on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, developer Bethesda outlined two new events coming to the online action-RPG on April 7.

The first one, titled Riding Shotgun, sees players protecting a Brahmin-led caravan from the ruthless Blood Eagle gang. Those that manage to protect one (or both) will receive some loot, XP, and Caps for their troubles. But also during the journey, players are tasked with collecting lost items from the Blue Ridge Caravan Company’s previous attempts to get the convoy up the steep cliffs of the Savage Divide. Protect the caravan and secure the lost supplies, and you’ll be rewarded handsomely with “better rewards” for the effort.

Radiation Rumble is the second event, and it requires much more strategic planning as it tasks players with performing two jobs at once: defending scavengers in one place while collecting ore from another. Players will need to protect a bunch of scavengers from mysterious, glowing creatures. In addition to providing protection, you will also need to gather as much irradiated ore as possible to earn “gear, supplies, reputation, XP, Caps, or even legendary items.” This event is recommended for level 50-plus players.

Both events go live at the same time as Fallout 76’s Wastelanders expansion launches on all platforms. The big update introductions a bunch of additions and adjustments, most notably the inclusion of NPCs to flesh out the game’s otherwise barren world. Wastelanders is a free update for all players.

In other Fallout 76 news, Bethesda recently dropped a patch for the game that makes some behind-the-scenes preparations for Wastelanders. In addition to this, the update makes plenty of worthwhile tweaks, like stabilizing the game to prevent crashes, correcting visual effects, and more.

Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind Control, Max Payne and Alan Wake, has signed two multi-platform publishing deals for next-gen games – and says both are set in the same franchise.

In a statement from the company, it was revealed that the unspecified publisher “will fully fund game development costs” and that Remedy will see a “50% share of the net revenue” from sales, whilst retaining the intellectual property of the aforementioned games.

The statement also went into some detail about the games that are part of this agreement. The first is a “AAA multi-platform game” which appears to be the unannounced third project alluded to in Remedy’s financial report, which we reported on earlier this year. According to the statement, this game is in pre-production right now. As for the second project, this is a “smaller-scale project set in the same franchise.”

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/26/control-review”]

With Remedy now in *ahem* control of the Alan Wake IP and actively teasing a crossover in Control’s upcoming DLC, could we be seeing more of Bright Falls in the future? Or could it return to Control and The Oldest House – after all, the developers think their latest game is “just the start” for the franchise.

Later in the statement, the strategy of the partnership is referred to as “creating and developing (Remedy’s) own IP’s into long-term franchises,” which would suggest that the studio is not quite ready to leave its compelling worlds behind.

Both games mentioned will launch on PC and next-generation consoles in “the next few years.” Remedy’s Control won our coveted Game of the Year prize last year, so make sure to check it out ahead of the studio’s forthcoming projects.

Control’s first expansion, The Foundation arrives today on PC and PS4, and we’ll have a review for you later today.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

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

Less than a week after launch, one Half-Life: Alyx player has discovered a way to get the VR exclusive game working without the need for a headset.

Tyler McVicker, the person behind Valve News Network and well-known investigator of the developer’s games, held a livestream where he datamined Half-Life: Alyx. The stream shows him exploring environments using a floating camera, all without using any VR equipment. His key discovery, however, is the existence of a developer console command “vr_enable_fake_vr_test”, which when inputted causes Alyx’s hands to appear in the world, and allows weapons to be fired.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/23/half-life-alyx-review”]

This is a very, very early step – the hands are awkwardly placed on screen, the guns fire despite being unloaded, and the camera still floats freely through walls and objects – but the existence of the console command suggests that Valve has a set of tools built into the game to allow the game to be played without a VR headset. It’s likely this has been included to allow developers to test certain elements of the game without strapping on a headset every time something has been tweaked.

This is very early days for non-VR modding potential, but the fake_vr_test command may make the journey easier for those who wish to embark upon it. Combined with the traditional FPS HUD that is used in Alyx’s spectator mode, there’s some groundwork for a proper non-VR mod.

Valve itself knows that a non-VR mod for Half-Life: Alyx is inevitable. Talking to Polygon, designer Robin Walker said “I know it’s going to happen.”

Walker says there are people at Valve concerned about a non-VR mod, but that he himself is not worried. “It will clearly demonstrate to people why we did this in VR,” he said. Basically, he believes Alyx won’t be as much fun as a traditional FPS.

“I think people will [after playing a non-VR mod] then hopefully have an even greater understanding of why we decided to build the product in VR than they do now,” he added.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=every-ign-valve-game-review&captions=true”]

For more Half-Life: Alyx, take a look at the Death Stranding Easter egg that’s been found in the game, and this math teacher who performed a lecture from inside the game. If you’re just about to play, here’s the things the game doesn’t tell you that you really should know, and if you’ve already finished then here’s our (spoiler filled) breakdown of the ending.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

A hacker has reportedly stolen the Xbox Series X graphics source code and is holding it to ransom.

The news arrives through a blog post on the AMD website, where the hardware company explained the situation. “We were contacted by someone who claimed to have test files related to a subset of our current and future graphics products,” the statement reads.

According to a report from TorrentFreak, this stolen data was found in a hacked computer and includes source code for AMD’s Big Navi and Arden GPUs. The latter is rumoured to be the Xbox Series X 12 teraflop GPU.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-full-specs-revealed-ign-news”]

Segments of code have been posted on GitHub, and subsequently removed. The hacker is asking for $100 million for the code and is threatening to dump the entirety of the stolen data if a buyer isn’t found.

The fact that AMD has issued a DMCA takedown notice on the repository where the data was being held would suggest that this is a legitimate breach. Later in the official statement, AMD made it clear that the stolen data “is not core to the competitiveness or security of our graphics products.”

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-loading-times-tech-demo”]

You can read the details of the DMCA request over on GitHub where it is noted that the data has been ‘forked’ (copied) to other repositories after the first set was taken down.

In lighter Xbox Series X news, the console’s full specifications were revealed earlier in the month. If you’d like to compare it to its main competition, the PS5, you can check out our Xbox Series X vs PS5 comparison chart here.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

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

During today’s surprise Nintendo Direct Mini, it was revealed that King’s Bounty II is coming to the Nintendo Switch sometime in 2020. The upcoming turn-based RPG was previously announced for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and is now making its way to Nintendo’s handheld hybrid, too.

Developed and published by 1C Entertainment, King’s Bounty II is the belated sequel to the original King’s Bounty, which was first released in 1990 for the Amiga, C64, and PC. The sequel blends classic turn-based combat with third-person, open-world exploration, ditching the familiar isometric experience for a more modern style of questing and NPC conversing. The combat sticks more closely to the series’ roots, offering strategic hex-based traversal, while also introducing a few contemporary touches with a renewed focus on the landscape of each battlefield.

You’ll choose from one of three characters at the game’s outset, each with their own unique story. These will change as you explore the realm, however, with your own choices and actions altering the course of the narrative as far-reaching consequences come back to haunt you. Each squad you lead into battle is made up of wholly unique units, too, each with their own skills and visual appearance. You’ll build armies of humans, elves, trolls, and other creatures, forming a growing bond as you fight side-by-side.

Other announcements from the Nintendo Direct Mini include a number of 2K compilations–namely Borderlands, BioShock, and XCOM–the next fighter reveal for Smash Bros, and details on the April update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons.