GSC Game World has revealed the first screenshot of its upcoming STALKER 2, noting that it was prompted to offer an earlier peek at the game due to the world having to go into social isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic. The tweeted screenshot shows very little, but does reveal another grimy looking world, albeit one that looks significantly more graphically advanced than the 2007 original. Amongst the trees and abandoned vehicles is an ‘anomaly’; the supernatural energy disruption caused by the Chernobyl disaster that occurs before the first game. From the colour, it could be a harmful Tesla anomaly, or the more curious Teleport anomaly.

Dear Stalkers,

Here is your first glimpse at S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: pic.twitter.com/HGOixm11M7 — S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OFFICIAL (@stalker_thegame) March 23, 2020

In a follow-up tweet, GSC Game World said “A lot of you are joining social isolation now. That’s why today, on a very special occasion, we are ready to slightly uncover the mystery of what we are working on. This is the first glimpse of STALKER 2.” The tweet also promises more to come in 2020. The original STALKER released March 20, 2007, meaning it has been almost exactly 13 years since it was released. STALKER was one of the most anticipated PC games of the time, with a long development process that was keenly followed by fans. We wrote in our review at the time that it “offers gamers a chance to experience something genuinely new”, and that it was “the truss work for an absolutely stellar sequel with larger zones, more character customization, better quest rewards, and stronger NPC personalities.” Hopefully the sequel fulfills these wishes. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/02/13/metro-exodus-review"] As well as both a prequel and a sequel, STALKER also (sort of) spawned a second franchise: two of its development staff went on to create Metro 2033, which shares a similar Eastern-Europe post-apocalypse vibe. The Metro games also were well received, with the latest - Metro Exodus - getting a solid review from IGN. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

Rumors suggested Valve was working on Left 4 Dead 3, but devs have elaborated, saying the studio was never seriously working on a third entry for the beloved zombie series, and the leaked renders were more of a tech test while developing a new engine.

In this month's episode of IGN Unfiltered, Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Chris Remo and Robin Walker from Valve to talk about Half-Life: Alyx, Portal VR, Left 4 Dead 3, and much more.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/14/half-life-2-developers-react-to-50-minute-speedrun"]

The official Valve statement on the Left 4 Dead 3 rumors said, "We did briefly explore some Left 4 Dead next-gen opportunities a few years ago, but we are absolutely not working on anything Left 4 Dead-related now, and haven't for years."

What the team at Valve was experimenting with was Source 2, and Valve's Robin Walker explained how it happened. "We used parts of a Left 4 Dead level as the first bit of level geometry to start building in Source 2, so a bit of that got out. It was essentially a rendering test, and people thought that meant we were working on Left 4 Dead."

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Unfortunately for Left 4 Dead fans, that wasn't the case. Walker continued, "We built lots of different things as part of building technology in Source 2... There were groups here who would generate a product in mind that would attempt to be a target for Source 2, and so a couple of those were Left 4 Dead-related things, but none of them reached the point where we were like, 'now this is a product team that we're going to build a big product around.' They were more tools for moving Source 2 forward."

Portal VR was another project which ended up being a blip on Valve's development radar. "We [looked] at our various IPs when we started... before we selected Half-Life... which is a really standard thing for us to do. When you're trying to explore something new, of course you start with 'What are all the tools we've got from the past that could help us rapidly learn here?'

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/09/half-life-alyx-team-wants-to-make-more-half-life-games-ign-unfiltered"]

"So we looked at various IPs and, yep, Portal was one of them, [but] we didn't get very far in that. It was pretty clear when we looked at Portal as a whole... If we can't do player movement, not as a result of their choice, but by launching them... momentum...standing on things... all that sort of stuff... then a whole swath of Portal's puzzles... the whole back half of Portal, or more... goes away, and we'd need some alternative thing.

"The whole point of using existing IPs is to get a head start on trying to understand and learn, and if we start by taking away one of the most interesting things from the IP we're looking at, then it doesn't seem like we're making a good choice there."

Catch up on every single episode of IGN Unfiltered here so you can hear from the best and brightest minds in the video game industry, such as Hugo Martin and Marty Stratton (id), Stig Asmussen (Respawn), Sam Lake (Remedy), Bonnie Ross (343 Industries), Ted Price (Insomniac), and a whole lot more.

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Brian Barnett writes news, features, wiki guides, deals posts, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian's antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).

Rumors suggested Valve was working on Left 4 Dead 3, but devs have elaborated, saying the studio was never seriously working on a third entry for the beloved zombie series, and the leaked renders were more of a tech test while developing a new engine.

In this month's episode of IGN Unfiltered, Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Chris Remo and Robin Walker from Valve to talk about Half-Life: Alyx, Portal VR, Left 4 Dead 3, and much more.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/14/half-life-2-developers-react-to-50-minute-speedrun"]

The official Valve statement on the Left 4 Dead 3 rumors said, "We did briefly explore some Left 4 Dead next-gen opportunities a few years ago, but we are absolutely not working on anything Left 4 Dead-related now, and haven't for years."

What the team at Valve was experimenting with was Source 2, and Valve's Robin Walker explained how it happened. "We used parts of a Left 4 Dead level as the first bit of level geometry to start building in Source 2, so a bit of that got out. It was essentially a rendering test, and people thought that meant we were working on Left 4 Dead."

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=half-life-alyx-first-screenshots-4k&captions=true"]

Unfortunately for Left 4 Dead fans, that wasn't the case. Walker continued, "We built lots of different things as part of building technology in Source 2... There were groups here who would generate a product in mind that would attempt to be a target for Source 2, and so a couple of those were Left 4 Dead-related things, but none of them reached the point where we were like, 'now this is a product team that we're going to build a big product around.' They were more tools for moving Source 2 forward."

Portal VR was another project which ended up being a blip on Valve's development radar. "We [looked] at our various IPs when we started... before we selected Half-Life... which is a really standard thing for us to do. When you're trying to explore something new, of course you start with 'What are all the tools we've got from the past that could help us rapidly learn here?'

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/09/half-life-alyx-team-wants-to-make-more-half-life-games-ign-unfiltered"]

"So we looked at various IPs and, yep, Portal was one of them, [but] we didn't get very far in that. It was pretty clear when we looked at Portal as a whole... If we can't do player movement, not as a result of their choice, but by launching them... momentum...standing on things... all that sort of stuff... then a whole swath of Portal's puzzles... the whole back half of Portal, or more... goes away, and we'd need some alternative thing.

"The whole point of using existing IPs is to get a head start on trying to understand and learn, and if we start by taking away one of the most interesting things from the IP we're looking at, then it doesn't seem like we're making a good choice there."

Catch up on every single episode of IGN Unfiltered here so you can hear from the best and brightest minds in the video game industry, such as Hugo Martin and Marty Stratton (id), Stig Asmussen (Respawn), Sam Lake (Remedy), Bonnie Ross (343 Industries), Ted Price (Insomniac), and a whole lot more.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Brian Barnett writes news, features, wiki guides, deals posts, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian's antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).

The director of the original Final Fantasy VII and producer of the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake has explained why Square Enix has opted to release the recreation project in episodic parts, rather than remake the entire game in one package. A new interview also reveals that there is a whole new upper floor added to the Shinra building. Talking to the Square Enix blog, original director and remake producer Yoshinori Kitase explained that in order to replicate everything from the original game in the highest quality possible, without cutting content and also adding new elements, the game had to be over multiple entries. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/14/final-fantasy-7-remake-opening-movie"] “In order to make [the entire game as a single release] work as a modern game, we wouldn’t be able to go for the highest visual quality and we’d also have to cut back on areas and scenes from the original,” he said. “Essentially, to make a single release viable the resulting game would have ended up being a digest of the original story, and we didn’t think that fans would be pleased with that.” The first release in the remake project, which launches in April, contains the Midgar portion of the original game. By Kitase’s statements it should feature everything from the original rendered in new technology, plus some new zones to explore. “There were a lot of parts in between sections of Midgar that were implied, but never seen,” said Kitase. “That was something that we wanted to address with Remake - to fill in all those gaps, show how the different parts of the city are connected, and make it a continuous experience.” One of the bespoke areas in Remake is an entire new upper floor for the Shinra Building, which - according to Remake’s co-director Naoki Hamaguchi - adds “a climax that was not in the original.” Interestingly, this upper floor apparently relies on Red XIII to explore, a character Square Enix has confirmed to be unplayable in this first game. “The key to navigating this floor lies in using Red XIII’s unique physical abilities to overcome environmental obstacles,” says Hamaguchi. “Letting the player experience his heroics in this way is something that I’m confident will please the fans.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-over-100-screenshots&captions=true"] That extra additional material also includes “endgame content”, although Hamaguchi refused to reveal what that is in the interview. It may be that optional bosses are available to fight, which are a staple in most Final Fantasy games. For more, check out our hands-on preview of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, as well as our look at how the Sector 5 reactor has been changed, and how coronavirus may mean physical copies arrive later than planned. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

The director of the original Final Fantasy 7 and producer of the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Remake has explained why Square Enix has opted to release the recreation project in episodic parts, rather than remake the entire game in one package. A new interview also reveals that there is a whole new upper floor added to the Shinra building. Talking to the Square Enix blog, original director and remake producer Yoshinori Kitase explained that in order to replicate everything from the original game in the highest quality possible, without cutting content and also adding new elements, the game had to be over multiple entries. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/14/final-fantasy-7-remake-opening-movie"] “In order to make [the entire game as a single release] work as a modern game, we wouldn’t be able to go for the highest visual quality and we’d also have to cut back on areas and scenes from the original,” he said. “Essentially, to make a single release viable the resulting game would have ended up being a digest of the original story, and we didn’t think that fans would be pleased with that.” The first release in the remake project, which launches in April, contains the Midgar portion of the original game. By Kitase’s statements it should feature everything from the original rendered in new technology, plus some new zones to explore. “There were a lot of parts in between sections of Midgar that were implied, but never seen,” said Kitase. “That was something that we wanted to address with Remake - to fill in all those gaps, show how the different parts of the city are connected, and make it a continuous experience.” One of the bespoke areas in Remake is an entire new upper floor for the Shinra Building, which - according to Remake’s co-director Naoki Hamaguchi - adds “a climax that was not in the original.” Interestingly, this upper floor apparently relies on Red XIII to explore, a character Square Enix has confirmed to be unplayable in this first game. “The key to navigating this floor lies in using Red XIII’s unique physical abilities to overcome environmental obstacles,” says Hamaguchi. “Letting the player experience his heroics in this way is something that I’m confident will please the fans.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-over-100-screenshots&captions=true"] That extra additional material also includes “endgame content”, although Hamaguchi refused to reveal what that is in the interview. It may be that optional bosses are available to fight, which are a staple in most Final Fantasy games. For more, check out our hands-on preview of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, as well as our look at how the Sector 5 reactor has been changed, and how coronavirus may mean physical copies arrive later than planned. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

CEO of Gearbox Software Randy Pitchford drops a new Borderlands 3 Shift Code that's good for all platforms. Make sure to grab it before it expires.

CEO of Gearbox Software Randy Pitchford drops a new Borderlands 3 Shift Code that's good for all platforms. Make sure to grab it before it expires.

The knife in the upcoming Resident Evil 3 remake will be indestructible, unlike the blades in last year’s Resident Evil 2 remake which would break after a handful of uses. Capcom has made the change to ensure that players always have something to fall back on, even after emptying their inventory of everything else. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/11/resident-evil-3-comparison-remake-vs-original"] Talking to Game Informer, producer Peter Fabiano said: “We're dealing with survival horror and everything is exhaustible. You run out of bullets. You run out of herbs. You run out of all the items you can use. So if you did run out of everything, what would you have? The knife. The director always wanted to make it so that you at least have your trusty knife. That’s always something you can rely on.” Aside from finally giving a guaranteed get-out clause against at least Resi’s lowliest foes, an unbreakable knife also unlocks the potential of a knife-only run. These challenge playthroughs have been common amongst Resident Evil fans since the series began, but was near enough impossible in Resident Evil 2 remake because of the break system. Now not only is a knife-only run of Resident Evil 3 possible, but some members of the development team have even done it. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-3&captions=true"] For more, check out our hands-on with Resident Evil 3, where we discovered how terrifying Nemesis truly is. If you want to play, too, you can also jump into the Resident Evil 3 demo right now, where you can take on the challenge to find all 20 Mr. Charlie dolls. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead episode "What We Become" follow... [poilib element="accentDivider"] With tonight's Walking Dead episode "What We Become" marking star Danai Gurira's final appearance on the series as Michonne (as she and the character head off into the Rick Grimes movie trilogy), both Gurira and Walking Dead Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple appeared on AMC's Talking Dead after show to discuss the episode and Michonne's surreal "Sliding Doors"-style exit. Despite her character not dying, and living on to exist in a different Walking Dead property, Gurira was still, understandably, emotional about this episode. "It's overwhelming, in a sense, to have walked on this journey with this amazing character and this amazing family, the Walking Dead family out there in Georgia, for all these years." "[The episode] was an insane mind trip in so many ways," Gurira said, though she was hesitant to give this alternate Michonne a label. "I don't know if I'd call her evil, but she made a different choice at a pivotal moment. And there's this crazy aspect of how this one choice can send you on entirely different path." Gimple then spoke about what he and the writers wanted to convey with Michonne's final chapter on the show. "At the end of the day, we wanted to give an idea of what the point of the whole thing was," he shared. "The whole journey. And she enters the story by helping someone. She chose to stop and turn and help a stranger. Over the course of seven seasons she changed. She became vulnerable. She opened up. Now, in this episode, she has a lead on Rick, which is earth-shaking. It changes everything. She has to go. And even as she does that she crosses people who need help. And we see that's who she really is now. Even though she's on the most important journey of her life." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-and-worst-walking-dead-time-jumps&captions=true"]

Michonne as Negan's Enforcer

Gurira was asked about recreating several moments from the show's past, including the infamous Negan lineup. "[Michonne] could have chosen to let Andrea die. She was in this moment where she was very disconnected from her humanity. Just one little knock on her heart got through her armor and she saved Andrea and everything changed. But she could have done what we watched in this episode. I found that very chilling. One choice compounds upon itself. And the very idea that she ends up with Negan felt plausible." "Just the aspect of being aligned with Negan, I think that alone was freaky," she said. "[Jeffrey Dean Morgan] and I had this bizarrely good time but you're just still freaked out that you're doing that as an actor. But it was all plausible. The idea that there was a part of her, if she'd gone a different way, that made their connection plausible. It was a chilling thing. We spent a lot of time shooting that lineup scene originally. That scene was deeply traumatic, you know, losing Glenn and losing Abraham, and so to recreate it and to be on the other side of it...we set it up in the exact same place, the RV was behind us, and there was Negan with the bat. Everything was very chillingly the same as that night except I was batting on the other side. It was deeply trippy." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-walking-dead-what-we-become-photos&captions=true"]

What's Next for Michonne

While Michonne's move to the Rick movies hasn't been made official, it's one of the worst kept Walking Dead secrets at this point. And Gimple, while not being able to say anything outright, certainly teased as much. "I can say this: Both Rick Grimes and Andy Lincoln would not give up those boots very easily," he said. "There's the etching. There's a Japanese phrase there. There's Michonne, and there looks to be a more current Judith than perhaps Rick...yeah, there you go. Is he alive? Is he dead? What's the situation. Those are clues that there's a whole story unfolding somewhere." When Michonne saw those boots, she confronted a part of herself that she had to bury long ago. "[Seeing Rick's boots] feeds something inside of her that she's tried to keep down for many years, that she put aside for the good of everyone around her," Gurira said. "It was an awesome thing for me to see Michonne get back. To get connected to him again to have some of her hunches start to be validated." "[Rick leaving] was last year for us, as viewers of The Walking Dead, but for Michonne it's been years," Gimple added. "To see this, it just pulls her through time. It's a whole other world." "Her story isn't done," Gimple concluded. "And the thing we were so happy to find, thematically, was we were able to conclude the character. Michonne is the person who would help those people at the end, even though she has no idea who they are. And they have this weird fashion sense. And she has a lead on Rick. And we see this group, this organized, nomadic, strong-looking group. And she's going to them on behalf of these other people. Something's going on here. It was great to see the character fulfill her arc in the story while also opening up a whole other story while on the road to a story we want to know more about, which is Rick." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/25/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-trailer"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.