Knives Out 2 Is Officially Called Glass Onion

Almost a year after production on the long-awaited sequel began, Knives Out 2 officially has a title: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

The title was announced in a Tweet by director and writer Rian Johnson, who is producing the sequel alongside Ram Bergman. In a thread of Tweets preceding the announcement, Johnson praises writer Agatha Christie's novels and says that he hopes the sequel will continue to "emulate Christie and have every film be like a whole new book"

According to a press release, Glass Onion will see the return of Daniel Craig as the eccentric detective Benoit Blanc, who will travel to Greece to solve a new mystery. While in Greece, Blanc will also meet an entirely new cast, including Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick and Madelyn Cline.

Glass Onion will release on Netflix this holiday season. It’s not the end of the Knives Out franchise, either — Blanc and his instantly recognizable accent are slated to return to Netflix for a third film in the future thanks to the company’s $450 million deal to acquire two sequels.

The sequel was originally announced back in 2020, shortly after its successful release in 2019. We gave the original Knives Out an 8.5 thanks to its comedic value and “clever plotting.” IGN also nominated it as one of the best movies of 2019.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Starfield Main Character Confirmed To Be Silent

It will once again be left to players to imagine what their character sounds like in Starfield, with Bethesda confirming via a tweet today that the main protagonist will be silent.

It marks a return to type for Bethesda's RPGs. While the main character of Bethesda's Fallout 4 did have a voice, Starfield is following the path carved by some of the studio's earlier games. Historically, many of the protagonists in popular Bethesda developed games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 3 were silent.

In another reversion, Starfield's dialogue will also take place in the first-person. Players will not be limited to first-person throughout the game, as Starfield will also include a third-person camera.

Fallout 4's spoken dialogue was controversial among fans at the time, as it resulted in dialogue choices that some felt were too simplistic. Bethesda appears to have reacted to that feedback by simply returning to what works, meaning more nuanced conversations with NPCs. Earlier this year, we learned Starfield will draw some inspiration for its conversation mechanics from Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

Today's news follows a deluge of exciting reveals that were highlighted yesterday at the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase, including a look at combat and the extensive character and ship customization. Last summer, Todd Howard revealed that while customizing your character, you'll be able to pick your pronouns.

We also got a peek at the game's narrative in a new story trailer, which gave us a peek at some of the characters you'll meet. Starfield continues to look like it will contain a huge world, and which is confirmed by the over 1,000 planets to explore.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Call of Duty Studio Infinity Ward Seems to Be Working on an Open World RPG

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward is seemingly working on an open world RPG at their Kraków, Poland based studio.

A now fulfilled job posting (that was screenshotted and posted on Twitter) advertised a narrative director position whose responsibilities would include providing "the best narrative and cinematic experience in an open world RPG".

Spotted by GamesRadar, the tweet from Call of Duty news account @charlieINTEL makes clear this is for an "unannounced AAA project" with a non-linear narrative set in an open world.

The project, though its existence is still unconfirmed, appears to be in a very early stage considering Infinity Ward has only just finished advertising for the narrative director that will "set the overall vision and direction" of the game.

The developer is currently advertising for 15 other positions at its Kraków studio but none of them mention the open world game. While one senior character artist position mentions an "unannounced AAA project", nothing directly links this to the open world game, and the other positions are all fairly vague.

Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is due to be released on October 28 this year and the studio also confirmed to be working on Call of Duty: Warzone 2, which is said to include "groundbreaking innovations".

IGN has reached out to Activision for comment.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Forza Horizon Devs Originally Pitched Making a Project Gotham Racing Reboot

Forza Horizon developer Playground Games originally pitched a Project Gotham Racing reboot to Microsoft, before switching gears to its now-iconic racing spin-off series.

Speaking to GQ about the newly revealed Forza Motorsport, studio head Trevor Williams explained that he'd originally met the creators of the core Forza series and pitched a reboot of the long-dormant, much-loved Project Gotham Racing (originally developed by now-defunct studio Bizarre Creations).

Williams says his initial ideshut down, and he and his team – while still at the restaurant – had to make a last-minute switch to pitching a spin-off in the Forza franchise:

"It was one of those stories where the steak turns to ash in your mouth, and I'm thinking, 'how do we afford the flights home?'," Williams said. "After five minutes, [Forza corporate vice president Alan Hartman] was like, 'what would you do with Forza? Where would you take Forza?' And we pitched what literally became Horizon, almost on a napkin."

Project Gotham Racing ran from 2001 until 2007, with the first two games released on the original Xbox and the last two (outside of two mobile spin-offs) released on the Xbox 360. It became a beloved series, promoting stylish street racing over sheer mastery. Sadly PGR was shelved after Activision bought series developer Bizarre Creations and, despite the license staying with Xbox, we've never seen another entry. In 2010, Microsoft was said to be looking for a new developer, but one seemingly wasn't found – potentially because Playground was put to work on something new.

Playground must have pitched a new PGR not long after Bizarre was bought, as the first Forza Horizon game was also released for Xbox 360 in 2011, serving as a more casual, open counterpart to the mainline, simulation-based Forza Motorsport franchise.

Forza Horizon was instantly popular and received praise from critics and players (with IGN calling it amazing), and the franchise has gone from strength to strength since. The fourth instalment received a 9.6/10 from us, while last year's Forza Horizon 5 was deemed a masterpiece and awarded IGN's Game of the Year.

In our 10/10 review, we said: "Forza Horizon 5 is the result of a racing studio at the peak of its craft and the best open-world racing game available."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Kojima Productions Makes Clear It Still Has ‘Very Good Partnership’ With PlayStation After Xbox Announcement

Kojima Productions has made clear it still has a good relationship with PlayStation, despite announcing an Xbox exclusive game.

Hideo Kojima revealed his studio would be making "a completely new game that no one has ever experienced or seen before" at the Xbox Bethesda Game Showcase on June 12, causing some to question the studio's ties to PlayStation.

"After the announcement of our partnership with Microsoft using the cloud technology, many people have asked us about our collaboration with [Sony Interactive Entertainment]," the Kojima Productions Twitter page posted (below). "Please be rest assured that we continue to have a very good partnership with PlayStation as well."

The developer has previously been synonymous with Sony's side due to its only franchise, Death Stranding, being a PlayStation exclusive - even featuring on the PlayStation Studios website. Kojima himself has long been associated with PlayStation, well before the creation of his own studio.

The Xbox announcement led to an outcry among some fans of Kojima, who felt the legendary developer shouldn't move away from his ties to PlayStation. Some have even set up petitions to ask for Kojima Productions not to work on an Xbox game.

But Kojima Productions is an independent studio and, as it said in another tweet, "will explore various possibilities with games, movies, and music through platforms that evolve with time and technology." Kojima himself said of the announcement that he's incorporating Microsoft's "cutting edge technology", particularly cloud streaming, and a "change in the industry's trends" into this new project.

While the project is still in its early stages, it's something the famed developer - most famous for creating the Metal Gear Solid franchise - has always wanted to make. "I've waited very long for the day when I could finally start to create it," he said.

That's not to say Death Stranding is finished, of course, as just recently its lead actor, The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus, leaked that a sequel to the 2019 stealth-action game is in development. In our 6/10 review of the first game, IGN said: "Death Stranding delivers a fascinating world of supernatural sci-fi, but its gameplay struggles to support its weight."

Another supposed Kojima game, a horror title called Overdose, appeared to have leaked earlier this week, but has yet to officially appear publicly.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Half-Life Alyx: Levitation Gameplay Shows Off Impressive VR Mod

Half-Life Alyx is one of the best VR games around, and a talented team of modders are building upon the original with a campaign expansion titled Half-Life Alyx: Levitation. At today's PC Gaming Show, seven minutes of gameplay were revealed for the upcoming mod, which follows up on the events from the main game's campaign.

The mod is coming from CS:GO map designer and artist Shawn Snelling, who is known as FMPONE in the modding community, and animator Corey Laddo, who is known among Half-Life fans for creating viral G-Man memes. The two modders, along with a team of volunteer modders, animators, and voice actors, have created the free campaign that takes between four and five hours to complete. The story picks up right after the end of Half-Life Alyx. You can check out the gameplay video below.

The gameplay shown follows Alyx as she battles Combine soldiers and headcrab zombies on her search for the source of a massive energy signature. The gameplay video teases G-Man watching Alyx's moves from the shadows. Half-Life Alyx: Levitation is set to release on the Steam Workshop in Q3 of 2022.

The fan modding community and Half-Life have long been intertwined, as 2020 saw the official release of Black Mesa, a third-party remake of the original Half-Life. Half-Life: Alyx represented the first official entry in the franchise since 2007's Half-Life 2: Episode Two, but hopefully not the last. Speaking to IGN in March of 2020, Half-Life Alyx developer Chris Remo said people at Valve "are very excited about the Half-Life universe".

We awarded Half-Life: Alyx a 10/10 in our review, saying, "Valve has set a new bar for VR in interactivity, detail, and level design, showing what can happen when a world-class developer goes all-in on the new frontier of technology."

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Ex-Cyberpunk 2077 Devs Unveil Gameplay for The Invincible

The Invincible is an upcoming sci-fi exploration game coming from veteran AAA developers, and we got our first look at footage for the game as part of today's PC Gaming Show.

The new gameplay features Dr. Yasna, a scientist exploring a desert planet to find their missing crewmates. The game takes cues from Firewatch, as Dr. Yasna is speaking to a character named Novik on the radio, as they discuss what could have happened to the missing crew. The game's pace is very calm and quiet, letting the players experience the highly-detailed environment and listen to the conversation play out.

The trailer ends with what appears to be Yasna's death, implying the game could feature multiple playable characters. You can check out the gorgeous gameplay for yourself below.

The game's story is inspired by a novel by Polish author Stanislaw Lem. The book, also titled The Invincible, explores the hostile, lifeless planet of Regis 3 after a spaceship crew crash lands there.

The Invincible is in development at Starward Industries, a studio made up of veteran AAA developers with experience on The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Dead Island, and more. It was first revealed in September 2020, and is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC sometime in 2023.

The new studio describes itself as AA built with AAA experience with their website saying, “We want to pursue quality mastered in previous endeavors and to deliver it in smaller, yet even and groundbreaking projects.”

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

System Shock Remake: New Trailer Revealed, Development ‘Largely Complete’

We're inching closer and closer to the release of the long-awaited System Shock remake, as the game got a new trailer as part of today's PC Gaming Show.

Today's trailer opened with a voiceover from ther antagonist SHODAN breaking the fourth wall by introducing the trailer to the audience. What followed was new footage of System Shock's first-person gameplay, showcasing shooting, electric swordplay, and some puzzles on the colorful cyberpunk Citadel space station.

The original System Shock released on PC in 1994. It's a horror game set on a spacestation in 2072 called Citadel Station, and players control a hacker tasked with ruining the plans of a rogue AI named SHODAN. No release date for the remake was given, but director of business development Larry Kuperman said development is "largely complete."

"You can play through it from beginning to end, all weapons and enemies are in place and working," Kuperman said. "What remains to be done is what is termed 'polish.' Our goal is that the release version is as close to perfection as possible."

Nightdive Studios first launched its Kickstarter campaign for the System Shock remake back in 2016. After setting a goal of $900,000, the project has raised over $1.3 million in total. If you want a small taste of the game, a demo is currently available on Steam.

For more, you can read up on the live-action System Shock series currently in the works.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

STALKER 2 Now Targeting the First Half of 2023, According to New Xbox Graphic

After pausing development due to the war in Ukraine, STALKER 2 now appears to be set for a 2023 release.

Following today's Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, Xbox tweeted a graphic with images of its upcoming games. You'll notice STALKER 2 is listed under the 2023 side of the graphic, seemingly confirming that the game has been delayed again. However, it seems the game is targeting the first half of 2023, as Xbox notes that all games listed in the image are targeting to release over the next 12 months.

Earlier this year, STALKER 2 was pushed back from April 2022 to December 2022. At the time, GSC Game World said the delay would help the team "fulfill our vision and achieve the desired state of the game."

Shortly after this announcement, Russia's invasion of Ukraine paused development for the Kyiv-based developer. At the time, GSC Game World said "game development shifted to the side-lines" and would continue "after the victory."

Then, just last month, reports emerged saying the developer had resumed work on the game, with rumors saying some of the developers had relocated. Since the development pause, this is the first we've heard of a new release window for STALKER 2.

STALKER was not present in today's Xbox showcase. Instead, the presentation primarily focused on Starfield and Redfall, along with a tease for Hideo Kojima's next project.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.