Monthly Archives: May 2022

Destroy All Humans 2 Remaster Gets an August Release Date – and a Standalone Spin-Off Is Out Now

Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC on August 30, and players who preorder can play a spin-off today.

The spin-off, called Destroy All Humans: Clone Carnage, is a standalone multiplayer game that lets two players team up in couch co-op, or four players when online.

Clone Carnage comes with four modes - Rampage, Armageddon, Race, and Abduction - across six maps and can be downloaded immediately if players digitally preorder Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed. Alternatively, you can buy it separately for $12.99

The remaster, on the other hand, is the more traditional Destroy All Humans open world, adventure game experience set in the swinging '60s. Players can explore Bay City, Albion, Takoshima, Tunguska, and the Moon either solo or in split screen co-op.

While the original Destroy All Humans 2 was first released in 2006, a remaster of the first game was released in 2020 which led many to speculate if the sequel would receive the same treatment.

Somewhat oddly, PlayStation accidentally leaked the existence of the new remaster in September last year when it tweeted the announcement ahead of THQ Nordic's official reveal during its 10th anniversary stream.

In our 8/10 review of the original, IGN said: "Destroy All Humans! 2 provides enough variety and a quirky cast of characters to make it a worthwhile purchase for fans of the first and for gamers with a taste for the distinctly original."

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

Destroy All Humans 2 Remaster Gets an August Release Date – and a Standalone Spin-Off Is Out Now

Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC on August 30, and players who preorder can play a spin-off today.

The spin-off, called Destroy All Humans: Clone Carnage, is a standalone multiplayer game that lets two players team up in couch co-op, or four players when online.

Clone Carnage comes with four modes - Rampage, Armageddon, Race, and Abduction - across six maps and can be downloaded immediately if players digitally preorder Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed. Alternatively, you can buy it separately for $12.99

The remaster, on the other hand, is the more traditional Destroy All Humans open world, adventure game experience set in the swinging '60s. Players can explore Bay City, Albion, Takoshima, Tunguska, and the Moon either solo or in split screen co-op.

While the original Destroy All Humans 2 was first released in 2006, a remaster of the first game was released in 2020 which led many to speculate if the sequel would receive the same treatment.

Somewhat oddly, PlayStation accidentally leaked the existence of the new remaster in September last year when it tweeted the announcement ahead of THQ Nordic's official reveal during its 10th anniversary stream.

In our 8/10 review of the original, IGN said: "Destroy All Humans! 2 provides enough variety and a quirky cast of characters to make it a worthwhile purchase for fans of the first and for gamers with a taste for the distinctly original."

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

V Rising Passes 1.5 Million Sales, Developer Talks About Next Steps

Developer Stunlock Studios has revealed that V Rising has sold over 1.5 million copies and has reached a milestone of 150K concurrent players within the first two weeks since its release.

With millions of players now invested, the development team has said it will now look at the feedback provided during the game's ongoing early access period in order to move forward with the full release.

“Our mission will be to find out what is most important to our players and how to take V Rising to the next level. We currently plan to work on more extensive updates rather than run for frequent smaller patches and minor changes," said marketing director Johan Ilves in a blog post. "It’s too early to tell when the first bigger V Rising content patch will arrive, as we will give it the time to make sure it brings something new to the experience. This will require more patience from you as a fan!"

He continues, "Meanwhile, we will do our best to make sure the first content update will be worth waiting for."

Stunlock Studios says that the primary focus right now is on bug fixes, balancing, server optimization, and quality- of-life improvements. More content is already in the works, including more weapons, loot, and sorcery. Development updates might not come as frequently right as the development team is reorganizing itself, but it aims to bring new designs starting in the fall.

The vampire game has already seen some updates, such as an offline mode having been added.

In our V Rising review we said, "While its time-consuming crafting aspects can take the bite out of the vampire fantasy, V Rising really does rise to the occasion with its excellent boss design and respectable ARPG combat."

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

V Rising Passes 1.5 Million Sales, Developer Talks About Next Steps

Developer Stunlock Studios has revealed that V Rising has sold over 1.5 million copies and has reached a milestone of 150K concurrent players within the first two weeks since its release.

With millions of players now invested, the development team has said it will now look at the feedback provided during the game's ongoing early access period in order to move forward with the full release.

“Our mission will be to find out what is most important to our players and how to take V Rising to the next level. We currently plan to work on more extensive updates rather than run for frequent smaller patches and minor changes," said marketing director Johan Ilves in a blog post. "It’s too early to tell when the first bigger V Rising content patch will arrive, as we will give it the time to make sure it brings something new to the experience. This will require more patience from you as a fan!"

He continues, "Meanwhile, we will do our best to make sure the first content update will be worth waiting for."

Stunlock Studios says that the primary focus right now is on bug fixes, balancing, server optimization, and quality- of-life improvements. More content is already in the works, including more weapons, loot, and sorcery. Development updates might not come as frequently right as the development team is reorganizing itself, but it aims to bring new designs starting in the fall.

The vampire game has already seen some updates, such as an offline mode having been added.

In our V Rising review we said, "While its time-consuming crafting aspects can take the bite out of the vampire fantasy, V Rising really does rise to the occasion with its excellent boss design and respectable ARPG combat."

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Pinocchio Remake Gets a Release Date Trailer (With Very Little Pinocchio In It)

Disney has released the first teaser trailer for its upcoming remake of Pinocchio, offering fans a very brief glimpse of Benjamin Evan Ainsworth's titular wooden puppet.

The live-action retelling of Pinocchio will premiere on September 8, the same day as this year's Disney+ Day celebrations. The movie stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto, the woodcarver who builds and treats Pinocchio as if he were his own son. The trailer shows the puppet's kindly creator at his workshop desk, but it doesn't reveal much of Pinocchio himself.

Further along in the trailer, we see Geppetto wishing upon a star for the puppet to be brought to life. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight," he says, reciting the prayer from the original film before the Blue Fairy appears to seemingly grant his wish, with one quick swish of her glowing star-shaped wand.

The poster for the movie depicts Pinocchio as he steps foot off on his thrilling adventure to become a real boy, using only his conscience as his guide. The silhouette of the character shows that he's wearing the same outfit as in the original 1940 animated film, complete with his signature yellow-and-blue cap that has a red feather poking out from the side of it.

Robert Zemeckis' Pinocchio also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket, Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy, Keegan-Michael Key as "Honest" John, Lorraine Bracco as Sofia the Seagull, and Luke Evans as The Coachman. Also in the cast are Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana (and her marionette Sabina), Giuseppe Battiston as Señor Stromboli, and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.

The release window for the Pinocchio remake was announced during Disney+ Day last year alongside a ton of other news about upcoming content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and more. The global celebration of Disney+ is returning this year on September 8, coinciding with Pinocchio's release, just ahead of the D23 Expo.

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

Pinocchio Remake Gets a Release Date Trailer (With Very Little Pinocchio In It)

Disney has released the first teaser trailer for its upcoming remake of Pinocchio, offering fans a very brief glimpse of Benjamin Evan Ainsworth's titular wooden puppet.

The live-action retelling of Pinocchio will premiere on September 8, the same day as this year's Disney+ Day celebrations. The movie stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto, the woodcarver who builds and treats Pinocchio as if he were his own son. The trailer shows the puppet's kindly creator at his workshop desk, but it doesn't reveal much of Pinocchio himself.

Further along in the trailer, we see Geppetto wishing upon a star for the puppet to be brought to life. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight," he says, reciting the prayer from the original film before the Blue Fairy appears to seemingly grant his wish, with one quick swish of her glowing star-shaped wand.

The poster for the movie depicts Pinocchio as he steps foot off on his thrilling adventure to become a real boy, using only his conscience as his guide. The silhouette of the character shows that he's wearing the same outfit as in the original 1940 animated film, complete with his signature yellow-and-blue cap that has a red feather poking out from the side of it.

Robert Zemeckis' Pinocchio also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket, Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy, Keegan-Michael Key as "Honest" John, Lorraine Bracco as Sofia the Seagull, and Luke Evans as The Coachman. Also in the cast are Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana (and her marionette Sabina), Giuseppe Battiston as Señor Stromboli, and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.

The release window for the Pinocchio remake was announced during Disney+ Day last year alongside a ton of other news about upcoming content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and more. The global celebration of Disney+ is returning this year on September 8, coinciding with Pinocchio's release, just ahead of the D23 Expo.

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

Romancing SaGa Finally Coming To Europe 30 Years After Japanese Release

Square Enix is officially bringing Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song to Eurpoe 30 years after it was released in Japan.

The classic JRPG was originally released on SNES in Japan, but was later remade for PS2 and released in North America. That remake version is now being remastered for modern systems and is coming to PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile this winter, marking the game's first official release in Europe since the original launched in 1992.

Minstrel Song follows eight different characters as they travel across the land of Mardias and the remaster includes upgraded graphics, new quality of life features to making playing more comfortable, and even new gameplay elements.

The "Glimmer" and "Combo" systems from previous games will also be in Minstrel Song Remastered alongside new illustrations and a soundtrack from composer Kenji Ito.

An announcement trailer on Square Enix's YouTube channel also shows two minutes of gameplay and cutscenes from the game, giving fans a look and listen at the aforementioned graphics, art, and music.

In our 6/10 review of the remake, IGN said: "Fans of the SaGA series will be delighted by the countless hours of gameplay, endless replay value and vast array of choices at their fingertips, while newcomers will likely be overwhelmed and frustrated with the lack of direction and character development."

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

Romancing SaGa Finally Coming To Europe 30 Years After Japanese Release

Square Enix is officially bringing Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song to Eurpoe 30 years after it was released in Japan.

The classic JRPG was originally released on SNES in Japan, but was later remade for PS2 and released in North America. That remake version is now being remastered for modern systems and is coming to PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile this winter, marking the game's first official release in Europe since the original launched in 1992.

Minstrel Song follows eight different characters as they travel across the land of Mardias and the remaster includes upgraded graphics, new quality of life features to making playing more comfortable, and even new gameplay elements.

The "Glimmer" and "Combo" systems from previous games will also be in Minstrel Song Remastered alongside new illustrations and a soundtrack from composer Kenji Ito.

An announcement trailer on Square Enix's YouTube channel also shows two minutes of gameplay and cutscenes from the game, giving fans a look and listen at the aforementioned graphics, art, and music.

In our 6/10 review of the remake, IGN said: "Fans of the SaGA series will be delighted by the countless hours of gameplay, endless replay value and vast array of choices at their fingertips, while newcomers will likely be overwhelmed and frustrated with the lack of direction and character development."

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

Diablo: Immortal Won’t Launch in Belgium and the Netherlands Due to Lootbox Laws

Diablo: Immortal will no longer be released in Belgium or the Netherlands due to lootboxes being illegal in both countries.

The long-awaited mobile (and now PC) game finally arrives on June 2 but developer Activision Blizzard cancelled the launch in the two European countries just days before their release date.

As reported by gamesindustry.biz and confirmed to Eurogamer, Diablo Immortal will not be available there due to "the current operating conditions in these countries", as Belgium and the Netherlands both deem lootboxes to be gambling and they're therefore illegal.

"Diablo Immortal will not be available in Belgium or the Netherlands, and will not appear on Battle.net or the Belgian and Netherlands App or Google Play Stores," a spokesperson told Eurogamer.

The ban was placed in 2018 and is essentially only intended to affect loot boxes that have contents which can be sold for money.

It's unclear if lootbox items will be sold on the secondary market in Diablo: Immortal (or if this will be possible in the game at all) but Activision Blizzard seemingly has some reason to believe this will be the case and has therefore banned the game in these territories altogether.

Diablo: Immortal was announced at BlizzCon 2018 and was rumoured to release on June 30 after a date appeared to those who pre-registered for the game on Apple devices.

It was almost immediately met with negative fan reception due to its mobile-only plans and then-Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack said the company learned that "fundamentally our roots are PC" as a result of the reveal.

However, once the game hit alpha, we called it a hell of a good time, even if it did come with some problems.

Brack stepped down from the his position after Activision Blizzard was hit with a discrimination and harassment lawsuit from the state of California last year, the first in a long series of accusations that have since been made against the company.

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

Diablo: Immortal Won’t Launch in Belgium and the Netherlands Due to Lootbox Laws

Diablo: Immortal will no longer be released in Belgium or the Netherlands due to lootboxes being illegal in both countries.

The long-awaited mobile (and now PC) game finally arrives on June 2 but developer Activision Blizzard cancelled the launch in the two European countries just days before their release date.

As reported by gamesindustry.biz and confirmed to Eurogamer, Diablo Immortal will not be available there due to "the current operating conditions in these countries", as Belgium and the Netherlands both deem lootboxes to be gambling and they're therefore illegal.

"Diablo Immortal will not be available in Belgium or the Netherlands, and will not appear on Battle.net or the Belgian and Netherlands App or Google Play Stores," a spokesperson told Eurogamer.

The ban was placed in 2018 and is essentially only intended to affect loot boxes that have contents which can be sold for money.

It's unclear if lootbox items will be sold on the secondary market in Diablo: Immortal (or if this will be possible in the game at all) but Activision Blizzard seemingly has some reason to believe this will be the case and has therefore banned the game in these territories altogether.

Diablo: Immortal was announced at BlizzCon 2018 and was rumoured to release on June 30 after a date appeared to those who pre-registered for the game on Apple devices.

It was almost immediately met with negative fan reception due to its mobile-only plans and then-Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack said the company learned that "fundamentally our roots are PC" as a result of the reveal.

However, once the game hit alpha, we called it a hell of a good time, even if it did come with some problems.

Brack stepped down from the his position after Activision Blizzard was hit with a discrimination and harassment lawsuit from the state of California last year, the first in a long series of accusations that have since been made against the company.

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