Today, October 14, Sony is releasing PlayStation 4's latest update - version 8.00 - and it brings with its changes to the existing Party and Messages features, new avatars, updated parental controls, and more. Once the new PS4 system update is downloaded, Party and Messages will be more closely linked together. Both apps will now use the same 'Groups' of players for Party voice chats and message exchanges, instead of having them living in two separate apps. Players will also be able to start a Party chat or send a message to a group they've already been a part of, and this will also be the case for PS5 when it launches. For those who love to give their Profiles a little more personality, Sony will be adding more pre-set avatars for players to choose from, including Bloodborne, Journey, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War,  The Last of Us Part 2, The Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, and many more. There are other quality of life features being added with version 8.00, including the ability to mute all microphones in the Quick Menu, an enhanced 2-step verification system that will support third-party authenticator apps, and simplified and more flexible Parental Controls. To speak a bit more about the parental controls, Sony is now combining the ‘Communicating with Other Players’ and ‘Viewing Content Created by other Players’ into one setting – ‘Communication and User Generated Content’ - and this will cover both areas of communication and user-generated content sharing. Furthermore, children can also send a request to their parents to use communications features in specific games. While many things are being added, version 8.00 will remove Event Creation and Private Community Creation. For those who already have existing private Communities, however, they will still be accessible. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/30/the-best-ps4-games-summer-2020-update"] Lastly, Sony is also updating the PS4 Remote Play app alongside version 8.00 to add the option to connect to PS5 when it is released. It will also be renamed to PS Remote Play. This very well may be the final big update before the PlayStation 5 launches on November 12, 2020. For more, check out all the confirmed launch games, everything you need to know about backward compatibility on the PS5, and what PS4 games won't be playable on PS5. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Today, October 14, Sony is releasing PlayStation 4's latest update - version 8.00 - and it brings with its changes to the existing Party and Messages features, new avatars, updated parental controls, and more. Once the new PS4 system update is downloaded, Party and Messages will be more closely linked together. Both apps will now use the same 'Groups' of players for Party voice chats and message exchanges, instead of having them living in two separate apps. Players will also be able to start a Party chat or send a message to a group they've already been a part of, and this will also be the case for PS5 when it launches. For those who love to give their Profiles a little more personality, Sony will be adding more pre-set avatars for players to choose from, including Bloodborne, Journey, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War,  The Last of Us Part 2, The Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, and many more. There are other quality of life features being added with version 8.00, including the ability to mute all microphones in the Quick Menu, an enhanced 2-step verification system that will support third-party authenticator apps, and simplified and more flexible Parental Controls. To speak a bit more about the parental controls, Sony is now combining the ‘Communicating with Other Players’ and ‘Viewing Content Created by other Players’ into one setting – ‘Communication and User Generated Content’ - and this will cover both areas of communication and user-generated content sharing. Furthermore, children can also send a request to their parents to use communications features in specific games. While many things are being added, version 8.00 will remove Event Creation and Private Community Creation. For those who already have existing private Communities, however, they will still be accessible. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/30/the-best-ps4-games-summer-2020-update"] Lastly, Sony is also updating the PS4 Remote Play app alongside version 8.00 to add the option to connect to PS5 when it is released. It will also be renamed to PS Remote Play. This very well may be the final big update before the PlayStation 5 launches on November 12, 2020. For more, check out all the confirmed launch games, everything you need to know about backward compatibility on the PS5, and what PS4 games won't be playable on PS5. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Nickelodeon has released a first look image of its SpongeBob SquarePants prequel series, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, which is currently slated to make its debut on Paramount+ in 2021 before airing later in the year on Nickelodeon. The colourful new image provides an early glimpse at 10-year-old SpongeBob, his best buddy Patrick, and gal pal Sandy, together with younger versions of Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Plankton, who are witnessing all of the joys of summer camp. Take a closer look at the craziest camp in the kelp forest below: [caption id="attachment_2423285" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image credit: Nickelodeon[/caption] Nickelodeon greenlit the project and ordered 13 episodes of the CG-animated series back in 2019. The prequel series is set to follow SpongeBob and his friends on their adventures at Kamp Koral, a sleepaway camp that offers a variety of activities, including catching wild jellyfish, building underwater campfires, hunting for treasure, and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck. "SpongeBob has an incredible universe to expand upon and the greenlight for Kamp Koral is a testament to the strength and longevity of these characters known and loved by generations of fans around the world," Ramsey Naito, Executive Vice President of Animation Production and Development at Nickelodeon, said at the time of the announcement. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-adult-cartoon-tv-series&captions=true"] Tom Kenny is returning to voice the main character in Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, alongside Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton). They are joined by Carlos Alazraqui and Kate Higgins as new characters Nobby and Narlene, narwhal siblings who live in the woods surrounding the camp. SpongeBob veterans Marc Ceccarelli, Vincent Waller, and Jennie Monica are all on board to co-executive produce the upcoming spin-off series, which is going to be overseen by Kelley Gardner, Vice President of Current Series Animation at Nickelodeon. While you wait for this new series, be sure to check out IGN's list of favourite SpongeBob SquarePants episodes from the past 20 years. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Nickelodeon has released a first look image of its SpongeBob SquarePants prequel series, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, which is currently slated to make its debut on Paramount+ in 2021 before airing later in the year on Nickelodeon. The colourful new image provides an early glimpse at 10-year-old SpongeBob, his best buddy Patrick, and gal pal Sandy, together with younger versions of Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Plankton, who are witnessing all of the joys of summer camp. Take a closer look at the craziest camp in the kelp forest below: [caption id="attachment_2423285" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image credit: Nickelodeon[/caption] Nickelodeon greenlit the project and ordered 13 episodes of the CG-animated series back in 2019. The prequel series is set to follow SpongeBob and his friends on their adventures at Kamp Koral, a sleepaway camp that offers a variety of activities, including catching wild jellyfish, building underwater campfires, hunting for treasure, and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck. "SpongeBob has an incredible universe to expand upon and the greenlight for Kamp Koral is a testament to the strength and longevity of these characters known and loved by generations of fans around the world," Ramsey Naito, Executive Vice President of Animation Production and Development at Nickelodeon, said at the time of the announcement. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-adult-cartoon-tv-series&captions=true"] Tom Kenny is returning to voice the main character in Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, alongside Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton). They are joined by Carlos Alazraqui and Kate Higgins as new characters Nobby and Narlene, narwhal siblings who live in the woods surrounding the camp. SpongeBob veterans Marc Ceccarelli, Vincent Waller, and Jennie Monica are all on board to co-executive produce the upcoming spin-off series, which is going to be overseen by Kelley Gardner, Vice President of Current Series Animation at Nickelodeon. While you wait for this new series, be sure to check out IGN's list of favourite SpongeBob SquarePants episodes from the past 20 years. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

When Marvel announced its current Darth Vader series would be forging a connection to the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, we were certainly intrigued. How can a book set just after the event of The Empire Strikes Back impact the final chapter of The Skywalker Saga? With the release of Star Wars: Darth Vader #6, we have our answer. Read on to learn exactly how Vader's story intersects with the events of Episode IX, but beware of full spoilers for Star Wars: Darth Vader #6! [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-how-marvel-continues-the-story-of-the-empire-strikes-back&captions=true"] This issue kicks off writer Greg Pak and artist Raffaele Ienco's second story arc, "Into the Fire." If you haven't been following the series so far, Vader has lately been on the warpath, hunting down anyone and everyone responsible for hiding the existence of his son Luke. The Dark Lord of the Sith was even confronted with the spitting image of his late wife Padmé, only to realize it was actually her decoy Sabé. Though Vader finally killed Sabé and her team in issue #5, seeing a recording of Padmé's final words to Obi-Wan Kenobi has opened up new turmoil within his conflicted mind. As you might imagine, Emperor Palpatine is none too thrilled at the thought of Anakin Skywalker reawakening within Darth Vader. This new storyline sees Palpatine trying to erase Vader's weakness by reminding him of the power of fear. Palpatine tortures Vader with a barrage of Force Lightning, destroying most of Vader's cybernetic components and leaving him helpless. Palpatine then returns Vader to the exact spot on Mustafar where a broken Anakin Skywalker was transformed into a Sith Lord. [caption id="attachment_2423260" align="aligncenter" width="1381"] Art by Raffaele Ienco. (Image Credit: Marvel/Lucasfilm)[/caption] Palpatine is testing Vader's ability to channel fear and hatred into strength and survive the harsh wastelands of Mustafar on his own. But just to make things difficult, Vader is forbidden from calling upon the Force for aid. As Palpatine and Mas Amedda monitor Vader from afar, they see him making his way to the ruins of the Techno Union facility he and Obi-Wan trashed in Episode III. Vader clearly intends to harvest spare parts to rebuilt his missing limbs. But Palpatine has another trick up his billowing sleeves. He dispatches the Sith assassin known as Ochi of Bestoon to hunt Vader. [caption id="attachment_2423262" align="aligncenter" width="929"] Art by Raffaele Ienco. (Image Credit: Marvel/Lucasfilm)[/caption] And there we have our Rise of Skywalker connection. Ochi of Bestoon made his franchise debut in that movie, though he was already long dead by the time Rey and friends stumbled across his corpse on Pasaana. Thanks mostly to The Rise of Skywalker novelization and other supplemental materials released alongside the movie, we know Ochi was a Sith loyalist and feared Jedi hunter who served Palpatine for many years. It was he who was tasked with hunting down Palpatine's granddaughter, forcing Rey's parents to hide her on Jakku. We can probably count on this series to shed much more light on the relationship between Palpatine and Ochi and why the Emperor needed another assassin besides Vader in the first place. That said, this may not be the only way Star Wars: Darth Vader draws a line between the original trilogy and Episode IX. It's worth remembering that one of the earliest scenes in The Rise of Skywalker also took place on Mustafar, where we saw Kylo Ren and his forces massacre a group of cultists safeguarding the Sith Wayfinder. That Mustafar sequence also has a deleted scene where Ren is confronted by a creature called The Eye of Webbish Bog. We could easily see the comic fleshing out these mysterious characters and explaining why Vader left behind a cult to guard a priceless Sith artifact. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/08/whats-next-for-star-wars-after-the-rise-of-skywalker"] How do you want to see the series build on the events of The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know in the comments below. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

When Marvel announced its current Darth Vader series would be forging a connection to the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, we were certainly intrigued. How can a book set just after the event of The Empire Strikes Back impact the final chapter of The Skywalker Saga? With the release of Star Wars: Darth Vader #6, we have our answer. Read on to learn exactly how Vader's story intersects with the events of Episode IX, but beware of full spoilers for Star Wars: Darth Vader #6! [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-how-marvel-continues-the-story-of-the-empire-strikes-back&captions=true"] This issue kicks off writer Greg Pak and artist Raffaele Ienco's second story arc, "Into the Fire." If you haven't been following the series so far, Vader has lately been on the warpath, hunting down anyone and everyone responsible for hiding the existence of his son Luke. The Dark Lord of the Sith was even confronted with the spitting image of his late wife Padmé, only to realize it was actually her decoy Sabé. Though Vader finally killed Sabé and her team in issue #5, seeing a recording of Padmé's final words to Obi-Wan Kenobi has opened up new turmoil within his conflicted mind. As you might imagine, Emperor Palpatine is none too thrilled at the thought of Anakin Skywalker reawakening within Darth Vader. This new storyline sees Palpatine trying to erase Vader's weakness by reminding him of the power of fear. Palpatine tortures Vader with a barrage of Force Lightning, destroying most of Vader's cybernetic components and leaving him helpless. Palpatine then returns Vader to the exact spot on Mustafar where a broken Anakin Skywalker was transformed into a Sith Lord. [caption id="attachment_2423260" align="aligncenter" width="1381"] Art by Raffaele Ienco. (Image Credit: Marvel/Lucasfilm)[/caption] Palpatine is testing Vader's ability to channel fear and hatred into strength and survive the harsh wastelands of Mustafar on his own. But just to make things difficult, Vader is forbidden from calling upon the Force for aid. As Palpatine and Mas Amedda monitor Vader from afar, they see him making his way to the ruins of the Techno Union facility he and Obi-Wan trashed in Episode III. Vader clearly intends to harvest spare parts to rebuilt his missing limbs. But Palpatine has another trick up his billowing sleeves. He dispatches the Sith assassin known as Ochi of Bestoon to hunt Vader. [caption id="attachment_2423262" align="aligncenter" width="929"] Art by Raffaele Ienco. (Image Credit: Marvel/Lucasfilm)[/caption] And there we have our Rise of Skywalker connection. Ochi of Bestoon made his franchise debut in that movie, though he was already long dead by the time Rey and friends stumbled across his corpse on Pasaana. Thanks mostly to The Rise of Skywalker novelization and other supplemental materials released alongside the movie, we know Ochi was a Sith loyalist and feared Jedi hunter who served Palpatine for many years. It was he who was tasked with hunting down Palpatine's granddaughter, forcing Rey's parents to hide her on Jakku. We can probably count on this series to shed much more light on the relationship between Palpatine and Ochi and why the Emperor needed another assassin besides Vader in the first place. That said, this may not be the only way Star Wars: Darth Vader draws a line between the original trilogy and Episode IX. It's worth remembering that one of the earliest scenes in The Rise of Skywalker also took place on Mustafar, where we saw Kylo Ren and his forces massacre a group of cultists safeguarding the Sith Wayfinder. That Mustafar sequence also has a deleted scene where Ren is confronted by a creature called The Eye of Webbish Bog. We could easily see the comic fleshing out these mysterious characters and explaining why Vader left behind a cult to guard a priceless Sith artifact. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/08/whats-next-for-star-wars-after-the-rise-of-skywalker"] How do you want to see the series build on the events of The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know in the comments below. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have said that they're looking for Daniel Craig's successor to "reimagine" the role of 007. In an interview with Total Film, Broccoli, a longtime producer of the franchise, confirmed that the team had not yet found an actor to fill the soon-to-be vacant James Bond role, though she expressed her confidence in finding the "right person" to step into the tuxedo after Craig's final outing as 007 in the 25th Bond film, No Time To Die, which is now scheduled to hit theaters in 2021. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/16/theres-only-ever-been-one-james-bond-a-007-nerds-chronology"] "I always say: you can only be in love with one person at a time. Once the film's come out, then some time will pass, and then we'll have to get on to the business of the future. But for now, we just cannot think about anything beyond Daniel [Craig]," Broccoli said. "It will have to be reimagined, in the way each actor has reimagined the role. That's what is so exciting and fun about this franchise; the character evolves. Eventually, when we have to think about it, we'll find the right person." Admittedly, Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson haven't yet determined who the "right person" for the iconic role will be, however, Broccoli revealed that she is standing firm in her earlier casting opinion that 007 could be played by a person of colour, but not a woman. "He doesn't need to be a white man. Not as far as I'm concerned," Broccoli reiterated. "We should create roles for women, not just turn a man into a woman." With Daniel Craig suiting up to play James Bond for the fifth and final time, the rumour mill has been in overdrive with speculation about who will succeed him in the role of 007. Tom Hardy is the most recent name to hit the headlines but, without official confirmation, he currently joins a slew of stars that have been erroneously labeled as being "the next James Bond." You can find the rest of those names in our gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-next-james-bonds-who-never-played-007&captions=true"] Craig has portrayed the 007 agent on-screen since 2006's Casino Royale. He reprised the role in 2008's Quantum of Solace, 2012's Skyfall and 2015's Spectre, all of which have collectively grossed more than $3.1 billion at the worldwide box office. In light of that success, the Bond veteran had a few words of wisdom to pass onto his successor. In a recent interview, he told the next actor to not "f**k it up." On his forthcoming assignment, Craig's Bond will have his peaceful retirement from active service interrupted when Felix Leiter tracks him down in Jamaica, seeking help to rescue a kidnapped scientist. The mission will set Bond onto the "trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology." It has already been speculated that Rami Malek's supervillain could be a rebooted version of Dr. No. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a little while longer to find out, as the release date for the 25th Bond film has been pushed back for the second time due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. No Time To Die will now be released in April 2021, a year after it was originally set to hit the big screen, so that it can hopefully be watched by a worldwide theatrical audience. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have said that they're looking for Daniel Craig's successor to "reimagine" the role of 007. In an interview with Total Film, Broccoli, a longtime producer of the franchise, confirmed that the team had not yet found an actor to fill the soon-to-be vacant James Bond role, though she expressed her confidence in finding the "right person" to step into the tuxedo after Craig's final outing as 007 in the 25th Bond film, No Time To Die, which is now scheduled to hit theaters in 2021. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/16/theres-only-ever-been-one-james-bond-a-007-nerds-chronology"] "I always say: you can only be in love with one person at a time. Once the film's come out, then some time will pass, and then we'll have to get on to the business of the future. But for now, we just cannot think about anything beyond Daniel [Craig]," Broccoli said. "It will have to be reimagined, in the way each actor has reimagined the role. That's what is so exciting and fun about this franchise; the character evolves. Eventually, when we have to think about it, we'll find the right person." Admittedly, Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson haven't yet determined who the "right person" for the iconic role will be, however, Broccoli revealed that she is standing firm in her earlier casting opinion that 007 could be played by a person of colour, but not a woman. "He doesn't need to be a white man. Not as far as I'm concerned," Broccoli reiterated. "We should create roles for women, not just turn a man into a woman." With Daniel Craig suiting up to play James Bond for the fifth and final time, the rumour mill has been in overdrive with speculation about who will succeed him in the role of 007. Tom Hardy was the most recent name to hit the headlines but, without official confirmation, he joins a slew of stars that have been erroneously labeled as being "the next James Bond." You can find the rest of those names in our gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-next-james-bonds-who-never-played-007&captions=true"] Craig has portrayed the 007 agent on-screen since 2006's Casino Royale. He reprised the role in 2008's Quantum of Solace, 2012's Skyfall and 2015's Spectre, all of which have collectively grossed more than $3.1 billion at the worldwide box office. In light of that success, the Bond veteran had a few words of wisdom to pass onto his successor, as he recently advised the next actor to not "f**k it up." On his forthcoming assignment, Craig's Bond will have his peaceful retirement from active service interrupted when Felix Leiter tracks him down in Jamaica, seeking help to rescue a kidnapped scientist. The mission will set Bond onto the "trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology." It has already been speculated that Rami Malek's supervillain could be a rebooted version of Dr. No. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a little while longer to find out, as the release date for the 25th Bond film has been pushed back for the second time due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. No Time To Die will now be released in April 2021, a year after it was originally set to hit the big screen so that it can hopefully be watched by a worldwide theatrical audience. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

The default character setting for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has you play as both male and female versions of Eivor, with the gender changing at different points of the story. In a series of promotional videos called “Unleash Your Inner Viking” published here on IGN, it was revealed in Chapter 2 that there are actually three choices for Eivor when starting the game: Female, Male, or ‘Let the Animus decide’. The Animus, of course, is the machine that allows a person to experience the past through the use of genetic memory. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/13/assassins-creed-valhalla-unleash-your-inner-viking-chapter-2-open-world-customization"] Let the Animus decide is the default selection. “The Animus will represent the stronger female or male memory-stream, depending on its current strength,” says the tool tip. Clarifying the system on Twitter, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Narrative Director, Darby McDevitt, said: “It means "Let the Animus decide" is canon. And both characters will appear at various points when you choose this option. So both are canon.”

It means "Let the Animus decide" is canon. And both characters will appear at various points when you choose this option. So both are canon.

— Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) October 13, 2020

In an interview with IGN back in July, McDevitt confirmed that players would be able to play as both male and female versions, and that players could switch at anytime. “You can go into the Animus layer of our game,” he said. “There's an option to change the memory stream. To explain why would spoil a long-running secret, but I will say that the whole reason for why you can switch [Eivor’s gender] back and forth fully embraces the often overlooked science fiction nature of our series.” Part of that ‘secret’ appears to be that the Animus selects Eivor’s gender based on the ‘strength’ of the genetic code in the memory stream. Quite how that works in-universe is yet to be made clear, but it may be similar to how Odyssey explained its gender choice by the genetic material for Leonidas’ heir containing degraded and imprecise DNA. Using this system makes both male and female Eivor canon. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=assassins-creed-valhalla-ubisoft-forward-screenshots&captions=true"] As for in-game, the default setting will change the player character model and voice for Eivor at specific points of the game. Players will still be able to choose a permanent gender at the start of the game, and - as McDevitt had previously told us - switch genders at any time using the Animus menu. For more from Ubisoft’s historical series, check out our exclusive preview of the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla tie-in comic book. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

The default character setting for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has you play as both male and female versions of Eivor, with the gender changing at different points of the story. In a series of promotional videos called “Unleash Your Inner Viking” published here on IGN, it was revealed in Chapter 2 that there are actually three choices for Eivor when starting the game: Female, Male, or ‘Let the Animus decide’. The Animus, of course, is the machine that allows a person to experience the past through the use of genetic memory. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/13/assassins-creed-valhalla-unleash-your-inner-viking-chapter-2-open-world-customization"] Let the Animus decide is the default selection. “The Animus will represent the stronger female or male memory-stream, depending on its current strength,” says the tool tip. Clarifying the system on Twitter, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Narrative Director, Darby McDevitt, said: “It means "Let the Animus decide" is canon. And both characters will appear at various points when you choose this option. So both are canon.”

It means "Let the Animus decide" is canon. And both characters will appear at various points when you choose this option. So both are canon.

— Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) October 13, 2020

In an interview with IGN back in July, McDevitt confirmed that players would be able to play as both male and female versions, and that players could switch at anytime. “You can go into the Animus layer of our game,” he said. “There's an option to change the memory stream. To explain why would spoil a long-running secret, but I will say that the whole reason for why you can switch [Eivor’s gender] back and forth fully embraces the often overlooked science fiction nature of our series.” Part of that ‘secret’ appears to be that the Animus selects Eivor’s gender based on the ‘strength’ of the genetic code in the memory stream. Quite how that works in-universe is yet to be made clear, but it may be similar to how Odyssey explained its gender choice by the genetic material for Leonidas’ heir containing degraded and imprecise DNA. Using this system makes both male and female Eivor canon. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=assassins-creed-valhalla-ubisoft-forward-screenshots&captions=true"] As for in-game, the default setting will change the player character model and voice for Eivor at specific points of the game. Players will still be able to choose a permanent gender at the start of the game, and - as McDevitt had previously told us - switch genders at any time using the Animus menu. For more from Ubisoft’s historical series, check out our exclusive preview of the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla tie-in comic book. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.