IGN can exclusively reveal a new Observer: System Redux gameplay video, showing a fascinating glimpse at footage from new quests that have been added to this next-gen update of the 2017 game. The video, narrated by composer and audio director Arkadius Reikowski, shows new gameplay elements from early portions of the Errant Signal and Her Fearful Symmetry quest lines, both of which will be included when the cyberpunk horror game hits PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on each console’s respective launch date. Observer: System Redux will feature three new cases in total, with the third titled It Runs in The Family. Each will introduce new characters whose stories are intertwined with the lives of tenants already known to returning Observer players, and Bloober Team say that these new stories will add “quite a bit of new content” to the game. Check out footage of the new quests below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/25/observer-system-redux-exclusive-next-gen-first-look-tgs-2020"] In an interview with IGN Japan ahead of Tokyo Game Show, Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno shed extra light on the gameplay demo. Regarding Errant Signal, he explained, “While exploring the building, (protagonist) Dan (Lazarski) catches a cryptic message on his ComPass. The device glitches frantically for a few seconds, displaying just a simple ‘Help us’ and a number. Following this lead means that Dan will get to know the ugly underbelly of Krakow 2048 better than he’d like to. It seems that someone in the slums is occupied with human trafficking…” Introducing Her Fearful Symmetry, Babieno continued, “Dan stumbles upon an odd-looking set of items strewn together in one hallway. Although their purpose is not clear, they were clearly left there deliberately. Along with the strange symbols scrawled on the floor and wall next to them, they appear to form an altar. Stuck into the contraption, Dan finds an unsettling message. Its author seems to be referring to some mysterious woman, longing for them to be together again. The intensity of his affection seems unhealthy, almost psychotic. Dan follows to check if there's a woman bothered by a stalker somewhere in the building.” Babieno also detailed the It Runs in The Family quest. “In the Ripper Doc’s tattoo shop, Dan finds a key to one of the building’s apartments,” he said. “Mail on Doc's computer suggests that it is a spare key to a certain Stanley Tkaczyk’s home, and that Doc supplies him with illegal substances. What is the connection of this case to other of Doc’s questionable business pursuits? What brought Mr. Tkaczyk to the neighborhood’s notorious tattoo artist?” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/16/observer-system-redux-next-gen-4k-trailer"] While leaving a few question marks hanging in the air so as not to spoil the mystery, Babieno told us that the new cases allow players to further explore “classic cyberpunk themes such as omnipotent but faulty technology, unfair work conditions and corporate governance over the smallest details of life,” along with “more timeless topics like familial duty, grief, loneliness, sanity, greed and lust, as well as self-consciousness and emancipation.” In addition to new quests, Observer: System Redux will feature next-gen upgrades such as ray-tracing and improved loading times, which Babieno says will allow the development team at Bloober to realise their vision for a dark cyberpunk future more completely. Also, the developers paid particular attention to overhauling Janus, the janitor in the original game, and his office. “As the old janitor is our guide to the building and Dan interacts with him quite a lot, we decided to do an entirely new model for the character with a full set of new animations, to make him more realistic and interesting,” said Babieno. “The office was redone to feel more homely, even if a bit creepy. It now feels like a place where someone actually lives and works.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=observer-system-redux-7-screenshots&captions=true"] Since the original version of Observer was released in 2017, its star Rutger Hauer – who voiced and gave his likeness to protagonist Daniel Lazarski – has unfortunately passed on. We asked Babieno how it felt to rework the game for a new audience in Hauer’s absence, and whether System Redux includes any previously unused footage of Hauer, or shows his work in a new light. “It was a great privilege to work with Rutger Hauer and also to be able to make one of his last performances shine again,” said Babieno. “Sadly, there wasn't much unused footage to add to the game, but what we had was enough to give Dan Lazarski a chance to uncover a few new cases.” Observer: System Redux will be released on November 10 on PC and Xbox Series X/S, and November 12 on PlayStation 5. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Daniel Robson is Chief Editor of IGN Japan – follow him on Twitter to see if he survives Tokyo Game Show.

The upcoming Beyond Light update for Destiny 2 will reduce the overall size of the game, but it requires a full reinstall. Bungie announced today that it has revamped Destiny 2's content bundling and patching pipeline for speed and install size in such a way that reduces the size of the game. This comes by way of a new build that culls content previously replaced or upgraded in prior patches, additional install size optimizations, and the movement of some of the game's content into a vault. All of this translates to a game that is smaller in file size by roughly 30 to 40%. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=destiny-2-beyond-light-xbox-games-showcase-screenshots&captions=true"] "Due to a combination of culling unused or replaced content, install size optimizations, and moving some content to the Destiny Content Vault, Destiny 2's install size will shrink to between 59 and 71 GB — depending on platform — a reduction of 30 to 40%," a blog post from Bungie reads. "These improvements should also help us control install size better in the coming years." Because of these changes, Bungie said the game will need a full reinstall when Beyond Light releases in November. The company said it understands this might be painful to read for those with slower or metered internet connections and said it's sorry for that. Bungie is, however, attempting to mitigate that by opening up preloading for Beyond Light on the evening of Nov. 9, Pacific time, in order to give everyone at least 10 hours to download the update before it actually goes live. "We hope to use these much faster builds to accomplish two things," the blog post reads. "Help us ship mission-critical fixes faster when game-breaking bugs arise (and) reduce our overall ship pipeline depth, enabling us to work on Destiny releases closer to their ship dates so we can react to fresher information about what's happening in the live game." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/destiny-2-beyond-light-expansion-gameplay-trailer"] Bungie said an example of this would be with the game's different seasons. It said that each season update had to be deep in production before the preceding season even launched, which prevented developers from reacting to the learnings of that preceding season. These tech improvements should give the team one to two more weeks of flexibility on a seasonal scale, helping the studio pivot to fixes more quickly in some cases, Bungie said. Catch up on everything you need to know about the game's upcoming update by reading our details on the Destiny 2 Beyond Light expansion and then read about the new element stasis coming to the game. After that, read up on everything heading to the Destiny Content Vault when Beyond Light launches. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

The upcoming Beyond Light update for Destiny 2 will reduce the overall size of the game, but it requires a full reinstall. Bungie announced today that it has revamped Destiny 2's content bundling and patching pipeline for speed and install size in such a way that reduces the size of the game. This comes by way of a new build that culls content previously replaced or upgraded in prior patches, additional install size optimizations, and the movement of some of the game's content into a vault. All of this translates to a game that is smaller in file size by roughly 30 to 40%. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=destiny-2-beyond-light-xbox-games-showcase-screenshots&captions=true"] "Due to a combination of culling unused or replaced content, install size optimizations, and moving some content to the Destiny Content Vault, Destiny 2's install size will shrink to between 59 and 71 GB — depending on platform — a reduction of 30 to 40%," a blog post from Bungie reads. "These improvements should also help us control install size better in the coming years." Because of these changes, Bungie said the game will need a full reinstall when Beyond Light releases in November. The company said it understands this might be painful to read for those with slower or metered internet connections and said it's sorry for that. Bungie is, however, attempting to mitigate that by opening up preloading for Beyond Light on the evening of Nov. 9, Pacific time, in order to give everyone at least 10 hours to download the update before it actually goes live. "We hope to use these much faster builds to accomplish two things," the blog post reads. "Help us ship mission-critical fixes faster when game-breaking bugs arise (and) reduce our overall ship pipeline depth, enabling us to work on Destiny releases closer to their ship dates so we can react to fresher information about what's happening in the live game." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/23/destiny-2-beyond-light-expansion-gameplay-trailer"] Bungie said an example of this would be with the game's different seasons. It said that each season update had to be deep in production before the preceding season even launched, which prevented developers from reacting to the learnings of that preceding season. These tech improvements should give the team one to two more weeks of flexibility on a seasonal scale, helping the studio pivot to fixes more quickly in some cases, Bungie said. Catch up on everything you need to know about the game's upcoming update by reading our details on the Destiny 2 Beyond Light expansion and then read about the new element stasis coming to the game. After that, read up on everything heading to the Destiny Content Vault when Beyond Light launches. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

During Capcom's special Tokyo Game Show 2020 live stream presentation, members of the development team shared their perspective on the two main characters of the upcoming horror game Resident Evil Village: Ethan Winters, and the eponymous Village itself, and saying that the game will have more of a focus on exploration than Resident Evil 7. Resident Evil Village takes place in an as-yet-unnamed location, one that the presentation described as "the other protagonist" of the game. Director Morimasa Sato said, "When you take the word ‘village’, people picture a small place. But when you look at Village, it has a colossal, distant feel to it." He emphasized the importance of making a place players could explore. "You have a lot more freedom [in Village] than in Resident Evil VII," Sato said. "We want players to experiment, to figure out what works for them." He described the upcoming game as "a horror movie you can play." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/25/capcom-special-program-livestream-tgs-2020"] In describing the scale of Resident Evil Village, art director Tomonori Tanako said they put a storybook (seen in the most recent trailer) into the game because "there was such variety in the game… it would be hard to summarize all that, and players might get confused." Asked to summarize Village, director Sato took a long pause and said it is "the story of one man named Ethan… the entirety of who he is." Resident Evil Village takes place years after the events of Resident Evil VII, the previous main entry in the series which was released in 2017 and the first with a dedicated first-person perspective. During the TGS broadcast, Village director Morimasa Sato said. "When we were making Resident Evil VII, we thought of Ethan just as a camera for the player," even describing him as "transparent." As production moved on, though, the team ”grew attached” to Ethan, and ultimately wondered "what happened to him" after the story was finished. This secured his position as the star of the next game in their minds. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-village-playstation-5-showcase-screenshots&captions=true"] Before wrapping up the Resident Evil portion of Capcom’s TGS stream, a logo for the series' 25th anniversary was unveiled along with artwork that featured an assortment of heroes and villains from past games. The original game debuted on the PlayStation on March 22, 1996 in Japan, so an anniversary campaign will kick off on March 22, 2021. We also learned that Capcom is considering releasing the game on PS4 and Xbox One, but "can't make any promises". [poilib element="accentDivider"]

During Capcom's special Tokyo Game Show 2020 live stream presentation, members of the development team shared their perspective on the two main characters of the upcoming horror game Resident Evil Village: Ethan Winters, and the eponymous Village itself, and saying that the game will have more of a focus on exploration than Resident Evil 7. Resident Evil Village takes place in an as-yet-unnamed location, one that the presentation described as "the other protagonist" of the game. Director Morimasa Sato said, "When you take the word ‘village’, people picture a small place. But when you look at Village, it has a colossal, distant feel to it." He emphasized the importance of making a place players could explore. "You have a lot more freedom [in Village] than in Resident Evil VII," Sato said. "We want players to experiment, to figure out what works for them." He described the upcoming game as "a horror movie you can play." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/25/capcom-special-program-livestream-tgs-2020"] In describing the scale of Resident Evil Village, art director Tomonori Tanako said they put a storybook (seen in the most recent trailer) into the game because "there was such variety in the game… it would be hard to summarize all that, and players might get confused." Asked to summarize Village, director Sato took a long pause and said it is "the story of one man named Ethan… the entirety of who he is." Resident Evil Village takes place years after the events of Resident Evil VII, the previous main entry in the series which was released in 2017 and the first with a dedicated first-person perspective. During the TGS broadcast, Village director Morimasa Sato said. "When we were making Resident Evil VII, we thought of Ethan just as a camera for the player," even describing him as "transparent." As production moved on, though, the team ”grew attached” to Ethan, and ultimately wondered "what happened to him" after the story was finished. This secured his position as the star of the next game in their minds. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-village-playstation-5-showcase-screenshots&captions=true"] Before wrapping up the Resident Evil portion of Capcom’s TGS stream, a logo for the series' 25th anniversary was unveiled along with artwork that featured an assortment of heroes and villains from past games. The original game debuted on the PlayStation on March 22, 1996 in Japan, so an anniversary campaign will kick off on March 22, 2021. We also learned that Capcom is considering releasing the game on PS4 and Xbox One, but "can't make any promises". [poilib element="accentDivider"]

A Sony patent has been found suggesting that the next iteration of PlayStation VR will feature inside-out tracking and new finger-freeing controllers (not unlike controllers used for Oculus devices). The patent documentation was found by LetsGoDigital and can be read in full here. The images supplied suggest that this new headset will feature inside-out tracking, meaning there will be no need for an external camera to track your hand movements - it will all be taken care of by the headset and a sensor within the controllers. [caption id="attachment_2412359" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Images of the patented Sony controller designs.[/caption] This is the approach used by many popular VR headsets such as the Oculus Quest and the Oculus Rift S. The controllers seen in the patent also differ drastically from the PlayStation Move wands currently used with PSVR. Instead, they bear resemblance to Valve's groundbreaking 'Knuckles' controllers, which free up the user's hands and allow for individual finger-tracking. Instead of clutching on to a wand, you'll be gripping a module with your fingers free. Also, on the face of the controllers, we see typical PlayStation buttons, including an analogue stick on both hands, a feature famously missing from the Move controllers. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/23/the-10-best-psvr-games"] This is just a patent for now so it doesn't confirm anything about the next iteration of PSVR. There's also the chance that these are to be used in conjunction with the "next generation" VR headset Sony is working on, which may itself be entirely separate from PSVR. To get yourself wondering about what could be, check out our article covering all of the best PSVR games. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

A Sony patent has been found suggesting that the next iteration of PlayStation VR will feature inside-out tracking and new finger-freeing controllers (not unlike controllers used for Oculus devices). The patent documentation was found by LetsGoDigital and can be read in full here. The images supplied suggest that this new headset will feature inside-out tracking, meaning there will be no need for an external camera to track your hand movements - it will all be taken care of by the headset and a sensor within the controllers. [caption id="attachment_2412359" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Images of the patented Sony controller designs.[/caption] This is the approach used by many popular VR headsets such as the Oculus Quest and the Oculus Rift S. The controllers seen in the patent also differ drastically from the PlayStation Move wands currently used with PSVR. Instead, they bear resemblance to Valve's groundbreaking 'Knuckles' controllers, which free up the user's hands and allow for individual finger-tracking. Instead of clutching on to a wand, you'll be gripping a module with your fingers free. Also, on the face of the controllers, we see typical PlayStation buttons, including an analogue stick on both hands, a feature famously missing from the Move controllers. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/23/the-10-best-psvr-games"] This is just a patent for now so it doesn't confirm anything about the next iteration of PSVR. There's also the chance that these are to be used in conjunction with the "next generation" VR headset Sony is working on, which may itself be entirely separate from PSVR. To get yourself wondering about what could be, check out our article covering all of the best PSVR games. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Nintendo has detailed the Autumn update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which will include Halloween-themed costumes, character customization options, DIY projects, reactions and festivities. The free update will land on September 30 and include a whole host of new items and features. On October 31, a character known as Jack the Halloween Czar will arrive in-game, and players can earn "spooky in-game rewards" by gifting them lollipops and candy. Festivities will be held in the plaza, with Halloween decorations and pranks abound. Players can gift their fellow islanders candy to avoid potential pranks. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/25/animal-crossing-new-horizons-fall-update-trailer"] Throughout October players will be able to pick up new costumes such as a "mummy outfit" from Able Sisters, as well as coloured eye contacts and body paint so you can really get into the theatrics of Halloween. You'll also be able to grow pumpkins by picking up a kit from Leif the sloth. Once harvested, pumpkins can then be put to use in special themed DIY projects. Beyond the Halloween festivities, the Autumn update will also introduce a Dreaming Favourite List so players can pin down their favourite islands to visit when they head for a snooze. The NookLink service within the Nintendo Switch Online app will be updated so that players can perform in-game reactions from the comfort of their phone. For more on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, check out this guide which will show you how to find all of the bugs, fish and sea creatures for September. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.  

Nintendo has detailed the Autumn update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which will include Halloween-themed costumes, character customization options, DIY projects, reactions and festivities. The free update will land on September 30 and include a whole host of new items and features. On October 31, a character known as Jack the Halloween Czar will arrive in-game, and players can earn "spooky in-game rewards" by gifting them lollipops and candy. Festivities will be held in the plaza, with Halloween decorations and pranks abound. Players can gift their fellow islanders candy to avoid potential pranks. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/25/animal-crossing-new-horizons-fall-update-trailer"] Throughout October players will be able to pick up new costumes such as a "mummy outfit" from Able Sisters, as well as coloured eye contacts and body paint so you can really get into the theatrics of Halloween. You'll also be able to grow pumpkins by picking up a kit from Leif the sloth. Once harvested, pumpkins can then be put to use in special themed DIY projects. Beyond the Halloween festivities, the Autumn update will also introduce a Dreaming Favourite List so players can pin down their favourite islands to visit when they head for a snooze. The NookLink service within the Nintendo Switch Online app will be updated so that players can perform in-game reactions from the comfort of their phone. For more on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, check out this guide which will show you how to find all of the bugs, fish and sea creatures for September. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.  

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will be getting a playable demo in mid-October, producer Ichiro Hazama announced during a live show at the 2020 Tokyo Game Show on Friday. More details, such as the exact date, and a potential western release, will be released later. Some gameplay was also shown off, with Hazama and special guest Kasumi Ashizawa, a member of e-Sports team G-Star Gaming, playing through the game’s co-op mode. Ashizawa also took a spin through one level of the World Trip single player mode. The game will also feature online versus play. The title is a departure for the series, swapping out the usual RPG trappings for a rhythm action game in the vein of the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Theatrhythm Dragon Quest games that were released for Nintendo 3DS in 2012 and 2015. Hazama and co-director Masanobu Suzui worked on those two titles. Tetsuya Nomura is also a director and participated in Friday’s panel as a voiceover. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/22/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-announcement-trailer"] Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a recounting of the famously complex Kingdom Hearts series set against the backdrop of over 140 songs from across the various Kingdom Hearts games. Players will control teams of three characters as they traverse through each world by pressing the correct button in rhythm to the music. “The controls weren’t really that different from a normal game in the Kingdom Hearts series,” Ashizawa said. “Jump is jump and attack is attack.” Of course, the most important part of a rhythm game is the music itself, and the work of famed series composer Yoko Shimomura gives the game a solid foundation to work from. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-screenshots&captions=true"] Shimomura was also part of Friday’s show and said the game was a new experience for her. She’s used to having her melodies work their magic in the background of scenes. This time, a lot of her music is serving as an integral part of the gameplay itself. “I always felt that music was supposed to be in the background but also help set the scene without standing out too much,” Shimomura said. “But this time my music is at the front, so it’s surprising. “When I was able to see the game played a little while ago, the music was really front and center all the way through. I actually felt a little embarrassed,” she added with a laugh. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory releases on November 13 for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. [poilib element="accentDivider"]