Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN's weekly video game talk show. This week, we can finally share our thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima! We also talk about Far Cry 6 and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2. Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service. Listen on: Apple Podcasts YouTube Spotify Stitcher

Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN's weekly video game talk show. This week, we can finally share our thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima! We also talk about Far Cry 6 and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2. Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service. Listen on: Apple Podcasts YouTube Spotify Stitcher

Hasbro has revealed a new wave of six-inch Star Wars: The Black Series action figures inspired by the final season of The Clone Wars. Based on the climactic Siege of Mandalore storyline, this wave features a new rendition of Ahsoka Tano along with a 332nd Legion Clonetrooper and two types of Mandalorian warriors. All four figures are exclusive to Walmart and were revealed as part of the Walmart Collector Con 2020 promotion. Check them out in the slideshow gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-the-clone-wars-finale-inspires-epic-new-figures&captions=true"] These four Clone Wars figures are priced at $25 each and are on sale now for a Fall 2020 release. Unfortunately, all four sold out on Walmart's website within minutes of going live. But just in case Walmart adds new stock in the weeks ahead, here are the links for all four figures: It's hardly surprising Hasbro would devote an entire wave of Black Series figures to the Siege of Mandalore storyline. IGN recently rated those four episodes as the #1 best Clone Wars story of them all. We can only hope Hasbro eventually reveals a Clone Wars-inspired Darth Maul figure to go along with this quartet. The good news is that even if this particular Ahsoka figure remains elusive, there is another. Recently Hasbro unveiled an entire wave of Star Wars Rebels-inspired figures, including all the members of the Ghost crew and Ahsoka herself. Like these Clone Wars figures, the Rebels wave will feature redesigned packaging with a montage image printed on the sides of each box. This is just the latest big toy announcement from Hasbro. We also recently got a look at an enormous Marvel Legends Sentinel figure, a series of movie-inspired X-Men figures and a Top Gun-inspired Transformer called Maverick. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/16/the-new-mutants-official-comic-con-at-home-trailer"] [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.

Hasbro has revealed a new wave of six-inch Star Wars: The Black Series action figures inspired by the final season of The Clone Wars. Based on the climactic Siege of Mandalore storyline, this wave features a new rendition of Ahsoka Tano along with a 332nd Legion Clonetrooper and two types of Mandalorian warriors. All four figures are exclusive to Walmart and were revealed as part of the Walmart Collector Con 2020 promotion. Check them out in the slideshow gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-the-clone-wars-finale-inspires-epic-new-figures&captions=true"] These four Clone Wars figures are priced at $25 each and are on sale now for a Fall 2020 release. Unfortunately, all four sold out on Walmart's website within minutes of going live. But just in case Walmart adds new stock in the weeks ahead, here are the links for all four figures: It's hardly surprising Hasbro would devote an entire wave of Black Series figures to the Siege of Mandalore storyline. IGN recently rated those four episodes as the #1 best Clone Wars story of them all. We can only hope Hasbro eventually reveals a Clone Wars-inspired Darth Maul figure to go along with this quartet. The good news is that even if this particular Ahsoka figure remains elusive, there is another. Recently Hasbro unveiled an entire wave of Star Wars Rebels-inspired figures, including all the members of the Ghost crew and Ahsoka herself. Like these Clone Wars figures, the Rebels wave will feature redesigned packaging with a montage image printed on the sides of each box. This is just the latest big toy announcement from Hasbro. We also recently got a look at an enormous Marvel Legends Sentinel figure, a series of movie-inspired X-Men figures and a Top Gun-inspired Transformer called Maverick. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/16/the-new-mutants-official-comic-con-at-home-trailer"] [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.

GameStop has made the decision that all of its stores in the U.S. will require customers to wear face coverings as of July 27, 2020, due to the "growing spread of COVID-19." GameStop announced the decision 10 days before it will begin enforcing the new rule to give the company time to "inform customers of the change, post signage in stores and train associates on the new protocol." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=gamestop-in-the-news-timeline&captions=true"] “We believe this is the right thing to do to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our associates and customers from the growing spread of COVID-19,” said George Sherman, chief executive officer for GameStop. “Providing a safe environment in our stores for all customers and store associates continues to be our top priority and wearing a face covering is a simple step every one of us can take to ensure the safety of others in our stores.” GameStop also mentions that any customers that have concerns or health-related issues in wearing a face covering can always shop online at GameStop.com or its mobile app. Both will allow for customers to utilize GameStop's Buy Online Pickup at Store and contactless Delivery@Door curbside service. This response is of a different tone from its original decision to consider itself an "essential" business during the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It came under pressure following its move, and decided shortly after to close all of its U.S. storefronts. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/22/gamestop-to-reopen-stores-cut-salaries-for-execs"] As GameStop began re-opening its stores in late April 2020, it also announced that it would be cutting some of its executive's salaries in response to the pandemic. [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 who encourages everyone to wear a mask. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

GameStop has made the decision that all of its stores in the U.S. will require customers to wear face coverings as of July 27, 2020, due to the "growing spread of COVID-19." GameStop announced the decision 10 days before it will begin enforcing the new rule to give the company time to "inform customers of the change, post signage in stores and train associates on the new protocol." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=gamestop-in-the-news-timeline&captions=true"] “We believe this is the right thing to do to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our associates and customers from the growing spread of COVID-19,” said George Sherman, chief executive officer for GameStop. “Providing a safe environment in our stores for all customers and store associates continues to be our top priority and wearing a face covering is a simple step every one of us can take to ensure the safety of others in our stores.” GameStop also mentions that any customers that have concerns or health-related issues in wearing a face covering can always shop online at GameStop.com or its mobile app. Both will allow for customers to utilize GameStop's Buy Online Pickup at Store and contactless Delivery@Door curbside service. This response is of a different tone from its original decision to consider itself an "essential" business during the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It came under pressure following its move, and decided shortly after to close all of its U.S. storefronts. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/22/gamestop-to-reopen-stores-cut-salaries-for-execs"] As GameStop began re-opening its stores in late April 2020, it also announced that it would be cutting some of its executive's salaries in response to the pandemic. [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 who encourages everyone to wear a mask. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Revealed at E3 2019, Arkane’s next ambitious first-person adventure is the time-twisty Deathloop, which is now set to be released on PC and PS5 as a console exclusive this holiday. With a release so close, and the impressive first couple of showcases Arkane and publisher Bethesda have offered for it so far, we spoke to Deathloop Game Director Dinga Bakaba and Art Director Sebastien Mitton about the unique art style and its inspirations, how Deathloop’s time loop design works, and what it means to bring the game to the PS5. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/17/deathloop-dev-interview-ps5-features-time-loop-gameplay"]

Is Deathloop a Rougelike?

Deathloop will have players living a day over and over as the uncover the mysteries of the adventure’s setting, the island of Black Reef. And while the loop of starting a run, dying, and restarting from the beginning makes Deathloop sound like a rougelike, Bakaba made clear that a few key choices differentiate it from the popular genre. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=deathloop-20-concept-art-images-characters-weapons-locations&captions=true"] “You are piecing together what happened on the island, who you are, and what you are doing here and how you can escape,” he said. “The way it's a bit different from a roguelike is, imagine that I find an important clue, and I die just after that. Progress is still made. You might lose the gun that you found, but the story has moved forward. [The Protagonist] Colt now knows something and the player both knows something important and they need to act on this thing.” Sounding reminiscent of last year’s acclaimed The Outer Wilds in that way, Deathloop also distances itself, according to Bakaba, though the team wants to preserve some of the mystery as to why. “Not trying to say too much, but there is a turning point in the game where the progression becomes even more different than a roguelike,” he teased. “You play that same day over and over, but you don't necessarily do the same things, you are not necessarily in the same places, you don't have the same goals.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/11/deathloop-gameplay-trailer-ps5-reveal-event"] The Arkane team wanted to make sure that players didn’t feel restricted by the time loop itself, and Bakaba cautions that players don’t need to worry about feeling limited by Deathloop’s timeline. “The one thing we wanted to make sure is that it doesn't mean that the player is literally on the clock in their moment-to-moment gameplay,” he noted. “If you want to play very deliberately, very slowly, and take your time, read every note, look at every painting, the game will not punish you for that.”  

Deathloop on PS5

Deathloop marks Arkane’s first PS5 release, coming at the start of the next-generation console’s life. Both Bakaba and Mitton spoke to what it means to take advantage of the new console technology while also developing for PC. “The first thing that it means for games is just comfort, like higher resolution, higher frame rate, things like HDR, some use of ray tracing, etc.,” Bakaba noted of the next-gen capabilities. “Just having higher fidelity on screen to make Seb's team's work shine in a way that it never did before is really exciting. Of course, I mentioned the frame rate. I think that's something really important. Until now our games and consoles have always been 30fps. Being able to target 60 for an action game, it's very exciting.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=deathloop-playstation-5-screenshots&captions=true"] Bakaba also noted how the DualSense is allowing for a new level of immersion, which is so important to Arkane’s design philosophy. “It's got a lot of nice features with the haptics feedback, the active triggers. We are a first person game. We really value immersion a lot in our games,” he said. “Really feel the weapons in your hand, its reaction, how it reloads, how it reacts to reloading, etc... I think that players will enjoy those functionalities. “This is something that we are...extremely proud to be part of, it's something so big. A new generation of console and the launch of them. It's not every time in a career that you have this opportunity. So, we are really thrilled,” Bakaba noted.

The Saul Bass Inspiration

One of the most striking things about the little we’ve seen of Deathloop so far is its stark, eye-catching art style. Mitton explained how the work of famed artists Saul Bass, responsible for famous posters and title sequences for films like Vertigo, The Shining, and more, played into the design of Deathloop. “At the beginning [of production], we were not sure [it would be] taking place during the ‘60s. When we were discussing the core ideas, the main pillars of the game, the time period was not there. And at some point I was like, imagine you have an isolated island. And if you want to create a huge contrast and a clash with something, it could be the time period instead of just sci-fi elements,” Mitton explained, noting the various inspirations for the world. “We call it the Saul Bass vibe. He did all the posters for The Shining, Vertigo. And you mix it together to get something that is really Arkane.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/10/deathloop-cinematic-reveal-trailer-e3-2019"] Mitton drilled down into even how designing Deathloop’s power set, which looks reminiscent of Arkane’s past work on Dishonored but still true to the world of this new game. “One approach was to make the visual effects more badass but still legible. It's really hard to create a Blink [power] in fact. It looks easy when you see it, but when you work with your team it's back and forth between game designers, visuals, sound, etc,” Mitton noted. “And the idea was to make something half realistic and half.. a bit comic [book-like] in the way you create the particles.”

Revealed at E3 2019, Arkane’s next ambitious first-person adventure is the time-twisty Deathloop, which is now set to be released on PC and PS5 as a console exclusive this holiday. With a release so close, and the impressive first couple of showcases Arkane and publisher Bethesda have offered for it so far, we spoke to Deathloop Game Director Dinga Bakaba and Art Director Sebastien Mitton about the unique art style and its inspirations, how Deathloop’s time loop design works, and what it means to bring the game to the PS5. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/17/deathloop-dev-interview-ps5-features-time-loop-gameplay"]

Is Deathloop a Rougelike?

Deathloop will have players living a day over and over as the uncover the mysteries of the adventure’s setting, the island of Black Reef. And while the loop of starting a run, dying, and restarting from the beginning makes Deathloop sound like a rougelike, Bakaba made clear that a few key choices differentiate it from the popular genre. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=deathloop-20-concept-art-images-characters-weapons-locations&captions=true"] “You are piecing together what happened on the island, who you are, and what you are doing here and how you can escape,” he said. “The way it's a bit different from a roguelike is, imagine that I find an important clue, and I die just after that. Progress is still made. You might lose the gun that you found, but the story has moved forward. [The Protagonist] Colt now knows something and the player both knows something important and they need to act on this thing.” Sounding reminiscent of last year’s acclaimed The Outer Wilds in that way, Deathloop also distances itself, according to Bakaba, though the team wants to preserve some of the mystery as to why. “Not trying to say too much, but there is a turning point in the game where the progression becomes even more different than a roguelike,” he teased. “You play that same day over and over, but you don't necessarily do the same things, you are not necessarily in the same places, you don't have the same goals.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/11/deathloop-gameplay-trailer-ps5-reveal-event"] The Arkane team wanted to make sure that players didn’t feel restricted by the time loop itself, and Bakaba cautions that players don’t need to worry about feeling limited by Deathloop’s timeline. “The one thing we wanted to make sure is that it doesn't mean that the player is literally on the clock in their moment-to-moment gameplay,” he noted. “If you want to play very deliberately, very slowly, and take your time, read every note, look at every painting, the game will not punish you for that.”  

Deathloop on PS5

Deathloop marks Arkane’s first PS5 release, coming at the start of the next-generation console’s life. Both Bakaba and Mitton spoke to what it means to take advantage of the new console technology while also developing for PC. “The first thing that it means for games is just comfort, like higher resolution, higher frame rate, things like HDR, some use of ray tracing, etc.,” Bakaba noted of the next-gen capabilities. “Just having higher fidelity on screen to make Seb's team's work shine in a way that it never did before is really exciting. Of course, I mentioned the frame rate. I think that's something really important. Until now our games and consoles have always been 30fps. Being able to target 60 for an action game, it's very exciting.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=deathloop-playstation-5-screenshots&captions=true"] Bakaba also noted how the DualSense is allowing for a new level of immersion, which is so important to Arkane’s design philosophy. “It's got a lot of nice features with the haptics feedback, the active triggers. We are a first person game. We really value immersion a lot in our games,” he said. “Really feel the weapons in your hand, its reaction, how it reloads, how it reacts to reloading, etc... I think that players will enjoy those functionalities. “This is something that we are...extremely proud to be part of, it's something so big. A new generation of console and the launch of them. It's not every time in a career that you have this opportunity. So, we are really thrilled,” Bakaba noted.

The Saul Bass Inspiration

One of the most striking things about the little we’ve seen of Deathloop so far is its stark, eye-catching art style. Mitton explained how the work of famed artists Saul Bass, responsible for famous posters and title sequences for films like Vertigo, The Shining, and more, played into the design of Deathloop. “At the beginning [of production], we were not sure [it would be] taking place during the ‘60s. When we were discussing the core ideas, the main pillars of the game, the time period was not there. And at some point I was like, imagine you have an isolated island. And if you want to create a huge contrast and a clash with something, it could be the time period instead of just sci-fi elements,” Mitton explained, noting the various inspirations for the world. “We call it the Saul Bass vibe. He did all the posters for The Shining, Vertigo. And you mix it together to get something that is really Arkane.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/10/deathloop-cinematic-reveal-trailer-e3-2019"] Mitton drilled down into even how designing Deathloop’s power set, which looks reminiscent of Arkane’s past work on Dishonored but still true to the world of this new game. “One approach was to make the visual effects more badass but still legible. It's really hard to create a Blink [power] in fact. It looks easy when you see it, but when you work with your team it's back and forth between game designers, visuals, sound, etc,” Mitton noted. “And the idea was to make something half realistic and half.. a bit comic [book-like] in the way you create the particles.”