A new Final Fantasy XVI trailer has arrived, shedding more light on a world that in some ways resembles an even more fantastic version of Ivalice — the realm popularized by Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII.

As revealed in the new trailer, the land of Valisthea is evidently dying as its crystals slowly fade. A voiceover intones, “Darkness spreads as day gives way to twilight, the mother’s flame now all but a flicker. We cannot live without the blessing of the crystals.”

Crystals are a famous part of Final Fantasy's lore going back to the original game. While they haven't been in every single Final Fantasy game, they're generally included as a more nostalgic element in the series. Their inclusion in Final Fantasy XVI suggests that Square Enix is intent on honing in on iconic imagery from the franchise despite differences like the action-oriented combat.

The trailer goes on to highlight the various kingdoms, each with its own theme: The Grand Duchy of Rosaria, “a bastion of tradition”; the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, “where ambition is divine”; the Dhalmekian Republic, “where fortune shifts with the desert sands”; The Iron Kingdom, “forged in faith and fear”; and the Kingdom of Waloed, “indomitable in its isolation.”

As previously revealed by Square Enix, each kingdom has its own summon, or “Eikon.” Rosaria’s Eikon is Phoenix, while the Eikons of several of the other kingdoms have yet to be revealed. The trailer hints at a major war between the various kingdoms as they battle to “claim the fading light” of the crystals.

Both Clive and Joshua make appearances in the trailer, with Joshua once again shown summoning Phoenix, and Clive exploring something called “the Deadlands” with several other party members As in the previous trailer, Eikons play a major role. Aside from Ifrit, a mysterious tapestry featuring a multitude of summons is glimpsed at the end of the trailer, which ought to give knowledgeable Final Fantasy fans an idea of what to expect going forward.

Final Fantasy's Crystals Reborn

First revealed back in 2020, Final Fantasy XVI is the latest entry in the long-running series encompassing dozens of mainline entries and spin-offs. Unlike more recent entries, which have a somewhat futuristic bent, Final Fantasy XVI is more medieval. It is produced by Naoki Yoshida, who has found great success as the director of Final Fantasy XIV.

IGN interviewed Yoshida about Final Fantasy XVI back in June, where he revealed new details on Eikons, party members, and why it won’t be a “Final Fantasy theme park.” We also learned that the puppy in the original trailer has a name, and that it won't be open world.

Final Fantasy XVI is currently in development for PlayStation 5 as a timed exclusive. It is also expected to be released on PC, but Square Enix has not yet confirmed an official release. It is currently slated for release in summer 2023.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Naughty Dog has said that releasing the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on PC is a "transformative pivot point" for the studio, indicating a bigger focus on the platform going forward.

Speaking in a blog post, Naughty Dog vice president Christian Gyrling said that, while PlayStation 5 remains the developer's primary platform, putting games on PC allows it to reach a whole new audience.

Naughty Dog used its partnership with Iron Galaxy (who ported the Uncharted collection over to PC) to learn about PC development, Gyrling said, and "we’re able to look ahead to the future of Naughty Dog games on PC more excitedly than ever."

He continued: "We’re excited to be offering The Last of Us Part 1 on PC in the future, and know that, moving forward, adding PC development to the way we develop games, which in no way undermines the importance of PlayStation 5 as our primary platform, will continue to benefit our team in the long run.

"Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection’s PC release is a transformative pivot point for Naughty Dog. We not only have another chance to celebrate our beloved franchise but also introduce it to so many new players.

"In doing so, we set the stage for Naughty Dog to deliver high-quality games on PlayStation 5, with the option of a PC release as well, with an understanding of how to cater to the different needs of both audiences now and in the future."

While this doesn't guarantee that every new Naughty Dog game will eventually be released on PC going forward, it does seem much more likely. Sony itself is doubling down on its expansion to the platform by establishing a new PlayStation PC label and purchasing PC porting specialist Nixxes.

It also recently said that, alongside investing in first party software, its other main strategy for growing its business is releasing its software on multiple platforms - and it expects to make $300 million from PC games this financial year alone.

Uncharted's arrival on PC is certainly significant given that it's arguably PlayStation's biggest franchise, but other major first party games including God of War and Spider-Man have also made the jump to huge success. Spin-off title Spider-Man: Miles Morales is also coming to PC this November, with the aforementioned Last of Us Part 1 also expected to arrive on PC in the near future as well.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Naughty Dog has said that releasing the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on PC is a "transformative pivot point" for the studio, indicating a bigger focus on the platform going forward.

Speaking in a blog post, Naughty Dog vice president Christian Gyrling said that, while PlayStation 5 remains the developer's primary platform, putting games on PC allows it to reach a whole new audience.

Naughty Dog used its partnership with Iron Galaxy (who ported the Uncharted collection over to PC) to learn about PC development, Gyrling said, and "we’re able to look ahead to the future of Naughty Dog games on PC more excitedly than ever."

He continued: "We’re excited to be offering The Last of Us Part 1 on PC in the future, and know that, moving forward, adding PC development to the way we develop games, which in no way undermines the importance of PlayStation 5 as our primary platform, will continue to benefit our team in the long run.

"Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection’s PC release is a transformative pivot point for Naughty Dog. We not only have another chance to celebrate our beloved franchise but also introduce it to so many new players.

"In doing so, we set the stage for Naughty Dog to deliver high-quality games on PlayStation 5, with the option of a PC release as well, with an understanding of how to cater to the different needs of both audiences now and in the future."

While this doesn't guarantee that every new Naughty Dog game will eventually be released on PC going forward, it does seem much more likely. Sony itself is doubling down on its expansion to the platform by establishing a new PlayStation PC label and purchasing PC porting specialist Nixxes.

It also recently said that, alongside investing in first party software, its other main strategy for growing its business is releasing its software on multiple platforms - and it expects to make $300 million from PC games this financial year alone.

Uncharted's arrival on PC is certainly significant given that it's arguably PlayStation's biggest franchise, but other major first party games including God of War and Spider-Man have also made the jump to huge success. Spin-off title Spider-Man: Miles Morales is also coming to PC this November, with the aforementioned Last of Us Part 1 also expected to arrive on PC in the near future as well.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Fans hoping for more of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime will be disappointed to hear that CD Projekt Red currently has no plans to create a Season 2.

In an interview with Famitsu (translated by VGC), CD Projekt Red's Japanese community manager Satoru Honma said there are no plans to continue the Studio Trigger-developed anime.

"I personally would like to continue to work with Japanese studios to produce more anime in the future, partly because we have received very good feedback," Honma said. "However, just to be clear, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was planned as a standalone work, so there’s no such thing as ‘we are actually working on Season 2 in the background’."

That's not to say it's off the table completely, but "even if we could make more anime in the future, I don’t know if it would be Season 2 or something completely different," Honma added.

The ten episodes of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners premiered on Netflix in September and, supporting what Honma said, had a pretty definitive ending that doesn't have an obvious point of continuation.

CD Projekt Red announced during its recent investor briefing that it plans to continue expanding its games through different forms of media, however, meaning the studio might consider further animated projects in the future.

It's otherwise expanding the world of Cyberpunk 2077 through its Phantom Liberty expansion, a full sequel that's codenamed Orion, and it also recently announced an official novel called No Coincidence.

In our 9/10 review of the anime, IGN said: "Cyberpunk: Edgerunners delivers a satisfying return to Night City that does a better job exploring why Mike Pondsmith’s famous location became so iconic in the first place."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Fans hoping for more of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime will be disappointed to hear that CD Projekt Red currently has no plans to create a Season 2.

In an interview with Famitsu (translated by VGC), CD Projekt Red's Japanese community manager Satoru Honma said there are no plans to continue the Studio Trigger-developed anime.

"I personally would like to continue to work with Japanese studios to produce more anime in the future, partly because we have received very good feedback," Honma said. "However, just to be clear, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was planned as a standalone work, so there’s no such thing as ‘we are actually working on Season 2 in the background’."

That's not to say it's off the table completely, but "even if we could make more anime in the future, I don’t know if it would be Season 2 or something completely different," Honma added.

The ten episodes of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners premiered on Netflix in September and, supporting what Honma said, had a pretty definitive ending that doesn't have an obvious point of continuation.

CD Projekt Red announced during its recent investor briefing that it plans to continue expanding its games through different forms of media, however, meaning the studio might consider further animated projects in the future.

It's otherwise expanding the world of Cyberpunk 2077 through its Phantom Liberty expansion, a full sequel that's codenamed Orion, and it also recently announced an official novel called No Coincidence.

In our 9/10 review of the anime, IGN said: "Cyberpunk: Edgerunners delivers a satisfying return to Night City that does a better job exploring why Mike Pondsmith’s famous location became so iconic in the first place."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Daredevil star Charlie Cox says the “Save Daredevil” social media campaign helped shape the future of his career, and thanked fans for their support.

During an interview with Marvel.com, the star of Netflix’s Daredevil said that the “Save Daredevil” social media campaign played a big part in his Daredevil return.

“Whatever happens to my career going forward from this point on, I owe most of it to the ‘Save Daredevil’ campaign,” he said. “That even when I had lost hope years ago, they did not, and they continued to campaign and support. And over the years, I've met many of them, and they're such an enthusiastic, passionate crowd.”

“Daredevil is such an amazing character,” said Cox. “It's been the great honor of my career to be offered that part and to be able to play him. I've had such fun with it. It's changed my life irrevocably. And when the show came to an end, despite the disappointment of the journey ending, I felt like we'd done a good job, and we had an amazing time and we could only be grateful for what we'd had.”

After Netflix’s Daredevil was canceled back in 2018, the “Save Daredevil” campaign began almost immediately. Its aim was to show Marvel how popular Charlie Cox was as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, and ultimately, to get him back in the suit. It looks as though it worked.

Matt Murdock recently made his big screen debut in Spider-Man: No Way Home and suited up as Daredevil once more in the Disney+ show, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Most importantly, he’s getting his own show, too – Daredevil: Born Again.

“To be invited back and starting again, almost, it feels like a little bit like a dream,” said Cox. “It feels too good to be true. I'm so excited about the future. I can't wait to get on the set from the first day of the new show. I'm already starting to train. As you know, I'm already starting to make plans in terms of living and training and having conversations with the writers and all of those things. So, it's starting to feel very real.”

Want to read more about Daredevil? Find out why Daredevil: Born Again won’t be a continuation of the Netflix series as well as the 3 changes the MCU made to Daredevil.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Daredevil star Charlie Cox says the “Save Daredevil” social media campaign helped shape the future of his career, and thanked fans for their support.

During an interview with Marvel.com, the star of Netflix’s Daredevil said that the “Save Daredevil” social media campaign played a big part in his Daredevil return.

“Whatever happens to my career going forward from this point on, I owe most of it to the ‘Save Daredevil’ campaign,” he said. “That even when I had lost hope years ago, they did not, and they continued to campaign and support. And over the years, I've met many of them, and they're such an enthusiastic, passionate crowd.”

“Daredevil is such an amazing character,” said Cox. “It's been the great honor of my career to be offered that part and to be able to play him. I've had such fun with it. It's changed my life irrevocably. And when the show came to an end, despite the disappointment of the journey ending, I felt like we'd done a good job, and we had an amazing time and we could only be grateful for what we'd had.”

After Netflix’s Daredevil was canceled back in 2018, the “Save Daredevil” campaign began almost immediately. Its aim was to show Marvel how popular Charlie Cox was as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, and ultimately, to get him back in the suit. It looks as though it worked.

Matt Murdock recently made his big screen debut in Spider-Man: No Way Home and suited up as Daredevil once more in the Disney+ show, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Most importantly, he’s getting his own show, too – Daredevil: Born Again.

“To be invited back and starting again, almost, it feels like a little bit like a dream,” said Cox. “It feels too good to be true. I'm so excited about the future. I can't wait to get on the set from the first day of the new show. I'm already starting to train. As you know, I'm already starting to make plans in terms of living and training and having conversations with the writers and all of those things. So, it's starting to feel very real.”

Want to read more about Daredevil? Find out why Daredevil: Born Again won’t be a continuation of the Netflix series as well as the 3 changes the MCU made to Daredevil.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has revealed footage from the game’s original N64 prototype - and it shows a surprisingly fully-formed version of the game.

A new video unveils footage from Dragon King: The Fighting Game – the original game that formed the basis for Super Smash Bros.

“There were no special moves, dodges, or even items yet,” explained Sakurai. “But the game’s rules were basically the same as Smash Bros.”

“It had smash attacks, mid-air jumps, shields, dashes, and five-direction aerial attacks,” he added. “A Battlefield stage layout, too, though you could change that.”

WAKE UP EVERYONE

Sakurai just dropped never before seen gameplay of Dragon King: The Fighting Game prototype for the N64 which would later become Super Smash Bros.!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! pic.twitter.com/VSbLkEDMKs

— Tommo says “Play Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series” (@TommoTheCabbit) October 20, 2022

“At the time we were very limited in how we could configure models,” he explained. “But they still move pretty well, I’d say.”

The Dragon King prototype was met with high praise from Nintendo, and it was eventually adapted into the Super Smash Bros. we know and love today.

“Now, when you think of Smash Bros., you can’t help but think of its large roster of Nintendo characters,” he explained. “But this wasn’t in the original proposal – it’s something we negotiated for later.”

As you can see from the footage, the prototype included generic fighting game-style characters, but Sakurai didn’t want to flood the market with a load of new fighters nobody cared about.

“I didn’t want to throw players into a roster full of character nobody had ever seen and knew we needed to come up with an objective solution to this problem,” he added. “In the end, we convinced Nintendo to let us borrow their most popular characters." The result was an instant classic, letting players battle with some of Nintendo’s most iconic heroes.

Sakurai also shed some light on the design process behind the game’s relatively simple controls:

“I came up with the idea for this game in 1996, around when command inputs for fighting games were starting to get extremely complicated,” he said. “Some of these were extremely intense. So, I opted for simple controls with a stick direction and a button, something players could intuitively pick up.”

Often thought to be the antithesis of fighting games, Smash Bros' controls allow just about anyone to pick up a controller and start playing, without having to learn long and difficult combos.

“There’s also the Smash input, performed by ‘flicking’ the analog stick,” he added. “With just a quick flick, you could unleash a stronger attack, or jump. I came up with this after thinking about how best to utilize the N64’s new analog stick.”

Want to read more about Smash Bros? Check out how Nintendo is finally embracing its grassroots Smash Bros. scene as well as our top 25 Nintendo Switch games.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has revealed footage from the game’s original N64 prototype - and it shows a surprisingly fully-formed version of the game.

A new video unveils footage from Dragon King: The Fighting Game – the original game that formed the basis for Super Smash Bros.

“There were no special moves, dodges, or even items yet,” explained Sakurai. “But the game’s rules were basically the same as Smash Bros.”

“It had smash attacks, mid-air jumps, shields, dashes, and five-direction aerial attacks,” he added. “A Battlefield stage layout, too, though you could change that.”

WAKE UP EVERYONE

Sakurai just dropped never before seen gameplay of Dragon King: The Fighting Game prototype for the N64 which would later become Super Smash Bros.!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! pic.twitter.com/VSbLkEDMKs

— Tommo says “Play Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series” (@TommoTheCabbit) October 20, 2022

“At the time we were very limited in how we could configure models,” he explained. “But they still move pretty well, I’d say.”

The Dragon King prototype was met with high praise from Nintendo, and it was eventually adapted into the Super Smash Bros. we know and love today.

“Now, when you think of Smash Bros., you can’t help but think of its large roster of Nintendo characters,” he explained. “But this wasn’t in the original proposal – it’s something we negotiated for later.”

As you can see from the footage, the prototype included generic fighting game-style characters, but Sakurai didn’t want to flood the market with a load of new fighters nobody cared about.

“I didn’t want to throw players into a roster full of character nobody had ever seen and knew we needed to come up with an objective solution to this problem,” he added. “In the end, we convinced Nintendo to let us borrow their most popular characters." The result was an instant classic, letting players battle with some of Nintendo’s most iconic heroes.

Sakurai also shed some light on the design process behind the game’s relatively simple controls:

“I came up with the idea for this game in 1996, around when command inputs for fighting games were starting to get extremely complicated,” he said. “Some of these were extremely intense. So, I opted for simple controls with a stick direction and a button, something players could intuitively pick up.”

Often thought to be the antithesis of fighting games, Smash Bros' controls allow just about anyone to pick up a controller and start playing, without having to learn long and difficult combos.

“There’s also the Smash input, performed by ‘flicking’ the analog stick,” he added. “With just a quick flick, you could unleash a stronger attack, or jump. I came up with this after thinking about how best to utilize the N64’s new analog stick.”

Want to read more about Smash Bros? Check out how Nintendo is finally embracing its grassroots Smash Bros. scene as well as our top 25 Nintendo Switch games.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Alan Wake Remastered has officially launched for Nintendo Switch, with a special discount available on the Nintendo eShop.

Remedy Entertainment and Epic Games announced in May that the remastered version of Alan Wake would be heading to Nintendo Switch later in the year. Today, they followed up on that promise by releasing the award-winning action-thriller on the Nintendo eShop, with a special launch discount of 20% off the game's usual retail price of $29.99 USD / £24.99 price.

Alan Wake Remastered is the updated version of the open-world survival game first released on Xbox 360. It offers the complete experience, with the main game and all original DLC, including two story expansions - The Signal and The Writer - that dig further into the game's multi-layered tale packed with suspense, engaging characters, and shocking revelations.

Alan Wake Remastered is also available on PC and via physical and digital editions on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4/Pro, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox One X, and Xbox One S.

IGN's review of Alan Wake Remastered concluded that the game might be better suited to newcomers than existing fans because the experience is similar to "taking an old horror hardcover off the bookshelf and wrapping it in a glossy dust jacket," where it looks "brand new on the surface" but the act of "thumbing through it remains the same."

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.