Microsoft says those who subscribe to its Game Pass Standard tier won’t see day-one game releases for up to a full year – if not longer – after they launch.

Xbox clarified what day one releases will look like going forward in a recent Xbox Wire post. While Game Pass Ultimate players will continue to see brand-new experiences launch on the service at no additional cost, those who subscribe to the Standard tier will wait up to 12 months or more to see those same titles arrive.

Microsoft first revealed Standard in July as an option without day one releases, leaving many fans to wonder how long they would have to wait. Now we know.

“Some games coming to Game Pass Ultimate (day one games or other game entries) will not be immediately available with Game Pass Standard and may be added to the library at a future date (can be up to 12 months or more and will vary by title),” Microsoft explained today. “We’ll continue to share with all Game Pass members when games are being added and available to play for each plan.”

Game Pass Standard is set to go live in the coming months and follows a series of price increases also announced in July. When Standard does arrive, it will leave Xbox players with four options to choose from: Core ($9.99/month), Standard ($14.99/month), PC ($11.99/month), and Ultimate ($19.99/month). So while console owners looking to save $5 per month may find that Standard tier enticing, they should know that they'll have to wait quite a bit longer to play highly anticipated titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

We'll learn more about how Standard operates when it arrives. Microsoft has tweaked its Game Pass offerings more than a few times, so if you’re still confused about how it all works, you can read our breakdown here. Then, be sure to see why the FTC wasn’t happy with the recently announced price increases and why some analysts think they were inevitable.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

"It’s a case of a game recognizing game!"

An animated series based on Squanch Games’ High on Life is reportedly in the works with Curb Your Enthusiasm's J.B. Smoove attached as a producer.

These first details on the video-game-to-show adaptation come from Deadline, which says that Smoove will produce the project via his Alternate Side Productions …

An animated series based on Squanch Games’ High on Life is reportedly in the works with Curb Your Enthusiasm's J.B. Smoove attached as a producer.

These first details on the video-game-to-show adaptation come from Deadline, which says that Smoove will produce the project via his Alternate Side Productions banner. He starred as Gus in Squanch’s first-person shooter upon its release in 2022, and although the site says there is a “good chance” he’ll play a part in the series, he’s not officially joined the cast yet.

In addition to live-action roles in movies like Date Night and Spider-Man: Far From Home, Smoove has provided his voice talents in projects like Max’s Harley Quinn, Teen Titans Go!, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012).

Smoove shared a statement about how High on Life will shoot its shot in animation:

“When Squanch Games originally reached out to JB Smoove (I like to talk about myself in the third person) about voicing a character in their incredible video game High on Life, my first question was what does my character look like? They told me that I would be a fish that shoots…which makes perfect sense to me! As a Vegan I feel a fish should have the right to defend itself! I mean right?! And now that I’m partnered with Squanch Games and Striker Entertainment to bring the hilarious High on Life to series it feels like it was inevitable!"

“High on Life is wild, weird, and wonderful, and the series is going to be that and more!

Smoove continued: “They invited me to join them in the gaming universe and now I’m helping them move into the TV world! It’s a case of a game recognizing game! High on Life is wild, weird, and wonderful, and the series is going to be that and more! Get ready to laugh your way through space with some unforgettable characters like myself! We are locked and loaded and ready to go!”

Alternate Side is handling the executive producer role along with Striker Entertainment’s Russell Binder and Mandy Bardisbanian. Squanch is also involved in the animated show’s development, with the original game’s narrative director, Alec Robbins, attached as well.

High on Life released for PC and Xbox in late 2022 and arrived on PlayStation consoles July 2023. Story DLC content, titled High on Knife, then followed in October. The animated show has no release date and has not officially confirmed who will join its cast. The game, however, is known for its list of talent, which includes notable appearances from stars like Tim Robinson, Michael Cusack, Mike Stoklasa, Zach Hadel, Tom Kenny, Nolan North, and more.

High On Life began as a video game two years ago, and in our 8/10 review, we explained why we loved the “laugh-out-loud funny” story it had to tell. Though its journey into animation will mark a major change from its humble start in games, it’s not quite the first time the series has explored other mediums. Robbins helped bring the franchise to comics, too, and you can learn more about its off-shoot stories here.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity is working on a movie that will tackle controversial former wrestler Terry Bollea a.k.a. Hulk Hogan and his legal battle against Gawker Media.

As reported by Variety, Artists Equity’s work on the film is underway following its acquisition of a screenplay written by Charles Randolph (The Big Short, Bombshell). The project is in active development under the name Killing Gawker and is set to be directed by Good Will Hunting alum Gus Van Sant.

Killing Gawker is based on the book Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday. Its major players are listed in the title, and according to rumors initially shared by Jeff Sneider in his The InSneider newsletter, Affleck will be the one to portray Hogan.

However, it's unclear if Affleck or his frequent collaborator, Damon, will appear in the movie as no casting information has been confirmed.

Gawker’s legal troubles began when it published a sex tape featuring Bollea, an act that he quickly moved to fight back against. The resulting suit, which investor Peter Thiel backed, led to the wrestler winning a total of $140 million from the media company in 2016. Gawker filed for bankruptcy shortly after. Though a relaunch was attempted in 2021, the site was shut down again in 2023.

Artists Equity has yet to reveal a production schedule for Killing Gawker, so a release date has not been announced. While we wait to see if Affleck really will play Hogan in the movie, you can see our list of some of the biggest movies coming in 2024.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

The Coalition is taking fans back to where it all started with Gears of War: E-Day, and that means revisiting the horrors of Emergence Day and the Locust horde.

Brand Director Nicole Fawcette and Creative Director Matt Searcy opened up about the studio’s desire to focus on the “scary” aspects of Gears during an interview with IGN. Searcy says the team wants to “capture a moment in time” and “tell a very intimate story about what happened” to the people in one of Sera’s cities.

“For us, it’s like a what-if story,” he said. “What if the ground opened up and monsters came out? Yeah, it’s set on a fictional, other planet, but there are very human reactions and stories we get to tell. To do that, we need to be able to tell a story that feels like a horror story.”

Searcy continues, explaining that Gears of War: E-Day will still have the heart and sci-fi the series is known for, but it will also focus in on this specific moment in time by telling a story that takes place over only a few days. The decision to lean in more on horror comes from The Coalition’s desire to recapture the feeling of terror many players might remember experiencing when playing through the series.

"But when people tell you what they remember playing, the things that stood out to them, the feelings, a lot of it is about these, kind of dark, almost horror-esque, scary moments.”

“We looked back at what people felt like when they played Gears of War or any of the Gears – Gears 4 included,” he said. “But when people tell you what they remember playing, the things that stood out to them, the feelings, a lot of it is about these, kind of dark, almost horror-esque, scary moments.”

Searcy continued: “So we basically took that feeling, that vision that's in everybody's head, and we're like, ‘That's the game we're going to build.’ We're going to build that game with all the skills we've learned, with all the technology we've built, and sort of go hard at that. So definitely part of the story is about reintroducing the locust to Gears as scary monsters from the ground come up. And then you realize as it goes on, this is not just monsters, there's an army here and it's bigger than anybody thinks it is.”

Fawcette elaborated on how new technology is allowing The Coalition to present the Locusts in new, horrifying ways.

“Through Unreal Engine 5, we now can show the locust at that visual fidelity that is believable as scary creatures from the subterranean,” she said. “And so, like you saw in the trailer, we're really kind of leaning into those horror vibes as fans remember it and as time has moved on. What was scary in 2006 is very different than 2024. There's sort of that just doubling down on how people remember how they feel about it.”

Why E-Day?

Gears of War: E-Day is detouring away from the storylines of Gears of War 4 and Gears 5, but as The Coalition explained in an Xbox Wire post, they won't be abandoning that era of the Gears saga forever. Searcy tells us that the studio chose to go back in time for their next Gears of War game not because they were finished with the previous storyline but because revisiting Marcus and Dom's relationship made sense for the team itself.

“For us, there is a story here, for our studio, of how we found our way to E-Day," he explained. "It was about, sort of, reflection, and part of it is just the energy that rolls up about, this was the story we wanted to tell at this time. So, it wasn't really about picking between these things, it was just a snowball of the stuff that was on the table and this is the one we wanted to do right now.”

"Hell yeah. We want to make this."

Fawcette chimed in, saying that when the idea for Gears of War: E-Day came about, it was a feeling of "Hell yeah. We want to make this."

Searcy continued: "We love those characters, and like I said, it's really nice to have a franchise where we can tell stories of different places. When we're at Gears 4 and 5 we tell these stories, and Tactics, that goes at a different time, and all these sorts of things. For us, it is just the one we wanted to work on now is the one that felt right."

The Coalition revealed Gears of War: E-Day during yesterday’s Xbox Games Showcase. We’ve not seen any gameplay yet, but this first footage promised a return to the series’ roots with a touching moment that saw the return of fan-favorite character, Dom Santiago. It’s been 13 years since fans watched Dom him sacrifice himself for his fellow COG brothers in Gears of War 3, so while Fawcette and Searcy promise a horrific prequel that explores one of humanity’s darkest days, it’s sure to be an emotional journey, too.

Gears of War: E-Day is currently without a release date. For everything else you announced at the Xbox Games Showcase, you can click here.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Activision has clarified that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 won’t actually require a 300 GB download despite previous messaging.

Players began to panic about the size of this year’s Call of Duty after noticing its Xbox store page yesterday. At the time, the page listed that the game would require a 309.85 GB download for those hoping to hop into the post-Cold War first-person shooter when it launches this fall. That'll put a pretty big dent in the hard drive of most PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S consoles, so players were, understandably, very concerned.

The company has since cleared up the confusion in a post on X/Twitter. Activision’s hit FPS franchise has been known to demand large amounts of storage in recent years, but fans can rest easier known that Black Ops 6 won't take up quite as much space.

Activision wrote, “Correction: The estimated file size currently displayed on the Black Ops 6 pre-order pages does not represent the download size or disk footprint for Black Ops 6. The sizes as shown include the full installations of Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Warzone and all relevant content packs, including all localized languages combined which is not representative of a typical player install experience.”

📢 #BlackOps6

Correction: The estimated file size currently displayed on the Black Ops 6 pre-order pages does not represent the download size or disk footprint for Black Ops 6.

The sizes as shown include the full installations of Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Warzone…

— Call of Duty Updates (@CODUpdates) June 10, 2024

The message adds that players will have the freedom to download only Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 without any of its language packs if they desire. Unfortunately, the post does not reveal just how big the game will be but promises to share more information “closer to launch.”

IGN has reached out to Activision for comment.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was revealed as Treyarch’s latest addition to the Black Ops series earlier this year, but our first good look at the game arrived yesterday at the Xbox Games Showcase and Black Ops 6 Direct. This ‘90s-set installment introduces a host of new weapons and features, including omnidirectional movement and new Zombies maps for the return of its round-based mode. As the game introduces a new era of Call of Duty, it also means content from Modern Warfare 2 and 3 will not carry over.

For everything else you missed from the Xbox Games Showcase, you can click here.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Obsidian Entertainment has posted a 30-minute deep dive for its upcoming fantasy action RPG Avowed, revealing an extended look at its gameplay in both first and third person.

This lengthy look at gameplay in the world of Eora comes directly from Xbox itself and goes into some of the magical tools players will have at their disposal when embarking on their adventure later this year. Game Director Carrie Patel touched on these details during the interview, but the feature that might have fans the most excited is the promise that you will have the option to play in both first and third person.

Other details touched on in the presentation include a few colorful conversations with NPCs like Yatzli and Kai. Patel also teases some of the ways the environment will change as Avowed goes from day to night, as well as the ways different NPCs will react to your character’s Godlike status.

Like other RPGs, Avowed has a selection of skills to allow players to choose how they approach encounters, and yes, you'll be able to respec your trees if you eventually decide you don't like the path you've set yourself on. We see one scenario that is handled two different ways: with combat and with stealth. Using combat to reach an important NPC could anger them, blocking the player off from certain dialogue options and potentially useful rewards. Trying stealth with the Shadowing Beyond ability, which essentially turns the player invisible, results in this same NPC allowing the player to leave with what they came for in peace.

Those who try stealth in Avowed should note that enemies have a “shout radius,” meaning you might be able to get away with dispatching a single enemy if they’re far enough away from their friends. Some of the enemies that players will be sneaking past or slashing through include tiny, blue-and-orange mushroom creatures. These odd beings come in different groups, with some able to attack from a distance while the other swarm with melee attacks.

Avowed’s deep-dive presentation follows its appearance at the Xbox Games Showcase yesterday, where Obsidian showed off additional gameplay, story details, and more from its vibrant fantasy world. It was a showing for the first- and third-person project that came and went without revealing a release date. However, just hours after the event concluded, Obsidian published – and then changed – a post announcing a release date of November 12, 2024. The date is now nowhere to be found, suggesting that Obsidian wasn’t quite ready to commit to that schedule just yet.

Avowed is officially only set to release before the end of 2024. Be sure to read up on everything else shown during the Xbox Games Showcase while we wait for Obsidian’s next RPG to launch on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X | S, and PC.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

"...we need to be able to tell a story that feels like a horror story."

The Coalition is taking fans back to where it all started with Gears of War: E-Day, and that means revisiting the horrors of Emergence Day and the Locust horde.

Brand Director Nicole Fawcette and Creative Director Matt Searcy opened up about the studio’s desire to focus on the “scary” aspects of …

Activision Blizzard steps in to clarify Call of Duty download size after player panic.

Activision has clarified that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 won’t actually require a 300 GB download despite previous messaging.

Players began to panic about the size of this year’s Call of Duty after noticing its Xbox store page yesterday. At the time, the page listed that the game would …

Tackle the world of Avowed however you please.

Obsidian Entertainment has posted a 30-minute deep dive for its upcoming fantasy action RPG Avowed, revealing an extended look at its gameplay in both first and third person.

This lengthy look at gameplay in the world of Eora comes directly from Xbox itself and goes into some of …

New console features revealed.

Path of Exile 2 showed up for Sony’s May 2024 State of Play presentation, revealing an early access release window of late 2024.

Along with first details for the dungeon crawler’s pre-launch plans, developer Grinding Gear Games’ video came with more gameplay and features for players to look …

Captain America: Brave New World will introduce Breaking Bad actor Giancarlo Esposito into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and it sounds like he’ll be playing a villain, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The site says next year’s MCU flick is currently undergoing reshoots to help introduce Esposito’s new character into the fold. Who exactly he’s playing is still a mystery, but THR’s sources tease that he will be playing a villain. The shoot is said to last 22 days and will also add additional action sequences.

Esposito has hopped around a few major franchises since his run with shows like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. In addition to providing his talents for Far Cry 6 and the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime, the star has appeared as an antagonist in Disney’s The Mandalorian series. With plenty of notable villain roles under his belt, fans began to question if Esposito may one day join the MCU.

The actor had expressed interest in playing X-Men leader Professor Xavier in the past, but it wasn’t until this month that he confirmed he would be officially joining the MCU in a mystery role. Esposito even went as far as to say that the role is “better than you can imagine” when speaking to fans, later confirming that his character will go on to get their own TV series. We’ll still have to wait and see just who the character is.

Along with serving as an introduction for Esposito’s character, Captain America: Brave New World will give audiences Anthony Mackie’s theatrical debut as Captain America. He previously transitioned into the part in the Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. MCU fans can also expect to see Harrison Ford’s portrayal as General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross following the death of the original actor, William Hurt, in 2022.

Captain America: Brave New World lands in theaters on February 14, 2025. In the meantime, you can read up on the return of Tim Blake Nelson’s character, The Leader, and learn more about the movie’s leaked villain.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Team Asobi is finally taking a swing at a full-fledged Astro Bot title, and it says it’s “the biggest game we’ve ever made.”

Studio head Nicolas Doucet spoke on the team’s ambitions during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He says they set out to make the game, simply titled Astro Bot, to be big, adding that it represents more than just the start of Asobi’s new future with PlayStation.

"This is really about going up one notch — really several notches — and having Astro's big story."

"We wanted to make a big game," Doucet said. "This is really about going up one notch — really several notches — and having Astro's big story. We call it Astro Bot because we treat this as a new beginning. That's a really, really big game. I think for us, that's the biggest game we've ever made."

PlayStation’s Astro Bot mascot has largely stayed out of the spotlight for the last few years. Some players may recognize the adorable little blue-and-white friend from the PSVR-exclusive Astro Bot Rescue Mission or, more recently, Astro’s Playroom, a game granted to PlayStation 5 owners for free. While these titles flew under the radar for many, they’ve still managed to impress those who checked them out (we gave Rescue Mission a 9/10 and Playroom an 8/10).

Astro Bot finally stepped up when the series’ standalone title was revealed during yesterday’s May 2024 State of Play presentation. PlayStation has already confirmed the project features more than 80 levels that will see players trekking across forests, deserts, volcanos, and more. The footage we’ve seen so far teases an ambitious outing for Sony’s versatile little robot, but not everything is completely new.

Astro Bot will also continue a trend set up in previous installments by including references to other PlayStation titles. Where Astro’s Playroom had players digging for shoutouts to games from across the company’s history, yesterday’s reveal trailer put robot versions of characters like Nathan Drake, Kratos, Ico, and many more front and center. There’s no telling just how many easter eggs are waiting, especially considering Asobi teased that it doubled down on its cast this time around.

"It's a kind of eye candy," Doucet added. "There's going to be more. We're going to be talking over time about what they mean to the game, but, yes, there's going to be a big reunion. There's a lot of characters from the PlayStation universe crossing over with Astro's path. It's an Astro Bot story, of course, with Astro being the main character, but there's a lot of PlayStation characters that play a part."

Asobi was officially welcomed under the PlayStation umbrella in 2021. Its biggest title to date, Astro Bot, launches for PS5 on September 6, 2024. For more, you can read up on everything else that was announced during the latest State of Play.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Sony has revealed that the third Venom movie, Venom: The Last Dance, will be the last film in the series starring Tom Hardy.

Sony Motion Picture Group Chairman Tom Rothman spoke about the future of its Marvel offshoot trilogy during a conversation with Deadline. He says that movies like the upcoming Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, as well as the next Tom Holland Spider-Man film, will be a “significant event” for fans. Included in the list of major, upcoming releases is Venom 3.

“The third and last Venom, is going to be huge,” Rothman says.

Venom began its trilogy run in 2018, introducing moviegoers to a dark take on the Marvel anti-hero without its superhero obsession, Spider-Man. A sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, then followed in 2021. It brought Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady – and the titular Carnage – into the mix with direction from The Lord of the Rings actor Andy Serkis.

The last time we saw Hardy’s Eddie Brock, it wasn’t actually in a solo Venom film. Toward the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, the character appeared as a last-second movie stinger before being sent back to his own world. Thanks to an early set photo, we can guess that Venom: The Last Dance will pick up where that movie left off. Other story details remain a mystery.

Venom: The Last Dance got its official title in March of this year. Look forward to its premiere come October 25, 2024. For more on Spider-Man’s symbiote nemesis, you can read our Venom: Let There Be Carnage review. We gave the sequel a 7/10, saying, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage improves on everything from the first movie, leaning into its own absurdity. While it plays it a little safe, it still points the series in an exciting direction.”

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

The Shadow of the Erdtree fan theories continue following the reveal of another enemy.

Elden Ring developer FromSoftware has teased another gruesome foe ahead of the release of its highly anticipated DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, next month.

An image of the enemy, a gold-faced, long-haired being with bladed disc-like weapons, was shared on the official Elden Ring X (formerly Twitter) account. …

Get your Caps ready.

Fortnite has officially announced that a Fallout collaboration is on the way.

The mega-hit battle royale title’s official X/Twitter account confirmed the news today, sharing an image that show’s a dusty landscape and a proud-looking individual in some Brotherhood of Steel T-60 power armor. The post itself doesn’t …

The PvE mode will grow over time.

Developer Player First Games has published a video that walks players through the new MultiVersus PvE Rift Mode ahead of its relaunch in a few weeks.

The developer detailed the mode in a highlight video hosted by Scooby Doo’s Velma and Adventure Time’s Finn and Jake. While MultiVersus …

Huggy Wuggy is jumping to film.

Game developer Mob Entertainment is partnering with Legendary Entertainment to create a movie based on its toy factory horror hit, Poppy Playtime.

Legendary is developing the video game-to-movie adaptation with producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford from Angry Films. Details on its plot and cast have yet to …

One last laugh.

The Joker is coming to MultiVersus, and he’s bringing longtime voice actor Mark Hamill with him.

Warner Bros. and Player First Games confirmed the news today, revealing that the character will join its already stacked platform fighter’s roster when it launches later this month. The Joker is one of the most …

Comic book fans weren’t the only ones hoping Hugh Jackman would keep his claws sheathed after Logan, as it turns out Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige cautioned the Wolverine star against returning, too.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) mastermind spoke about the actor’s return for Deadpool & Wolverine during an interview with Empire. Feige says he was just as touched as everyone else when Logan delivered a fitting conclusion for Jackman’s take on the mutant hero in 2017.

“You had the greatest ending in history with Logan. That’s not something we should undo.

“I said, ‘Let me give you a piece of advice, Hugh. Don’t come back’,” Feige added. “‘You had the greatest ending in history with Logan. That’s not something we should undo.’”

Many would probably agree with Feige’s guidance at the time. Jackman was first introduced as a leather-suited version of Wolverine for X-Men in 2000 and reprised his role in a laundry list of sequels and standalone movies for years after. Logan sought to bookend that time with an R-rated story that focused on an older version of the character, and many would agree that it gave Jackman and his fans a fitting sendoff.

Jackman seems to agree, but when the opportunity to star alongside Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool landed at his feet, he knew the job was too good to pass up.

“I was about an hour into the drive,” he recalls. “And that question came into my head: ‘What do I want to do?’ And as soon as I asked the question, I wanted to do Deadpool & Wolverine. I just knew it. I drove for another hour. Couldn’t stop thinking about it. And I got out of the car, called Ryan, and said, ‘Ryan, if you’ll have me, I’m in.’ ”

Feige notes that the Wolverine we’ll meet in Reynolds’ third Deadpool movie isn’t exactly the same person fans know from any of Jackman’s previous 20th Century Fox X-Men movies. That will, hopefully, give the MCU just enough room to maintain Logan’s place as a fitting farewell while giving audiences one last brutal ride with everyone’s favorite clawed mutant.

Deadpool & Wolverine will weave its title characters into the MCU when it comes to theaters on July 26, 2024. For more, be sure to read up on why viewers won’t have to do any additional homework before seeing the movie this summer. You can also check out why Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld thinks the film features some of the best action scenes in the MCU.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Blizzard has finally delivered patch notes for Diablo 4 version 1.4.0 ahead of Season 4: Loot Reborn’s launch later this month.

The full list of changes coming to the studio’s latest dungeon crawler arrives immediately after an in-depth developer update livestream. Following a tumultuous beginning for Diablo 4, Blizzard reported how the recent Player Test Realm (PTR) allowed the team to better consider player feedback and implement it into Season 4.

“We think (PTR) went really, really well,” Associate Game Director Joe Piepiora said. “Just having the week of time for players to jump in, crush through all of the content, check out all of the new features, give us a lot of feedback, find a lot of bugs on the way as well was, again, super valuable. It’s been really great for the team. We’ll take a lot of this feedback, look at the tuning, variety of features, and really make sure that we’ve got the best version of the Season 4 experience ready when we get into the launch day.”

While early builds of upcoming content aren’t quite so new for other games, Blizzard used the method to ensure that Loot Reborn will live up to its already high expectations. That means including changes players have asked for since Diablo 4 launched back in June 2023, resulting in what Blizzard feels is a more rewarding, less time-consuming experience for every kind of RPG fan.

As we discovered during our recent conversation with the Diablo 4 leadership team, Loot Reborn pivots away from the usual themed seasonal model many are used to. Though new content in the form of Call of the Wolves and The Pit offers new story and gameplay additions, Season 4 is more about reworking itemization and Diablo 4’s core innerworkings. The changes are meant to help bolster the experience as the team continues to work closer to the release of its first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, later this year.

During a Q&A segment, Piepiora confirmed that PTR has affected the length of Season 4: Loot Reborn, but not by much.

“PTR is not as impactful for the timing here,” he said. “I think it’s a slightly shorter season. I think it’s one week shorter, I need to look at the date.”

He continued: “It’s not that having a PTR automatically means everything is going to take longer to deliver, but there’s a lot of things that we had to set up for the first time for the PTR for Season 4, and I’m really glad that we did.”

While Diablo 4’s first full year on the market rolls on, Blizzard has revealed that it will no longer hold BlizzCon 2024. Although the event’s absence might leave players wanting more, Diablo 4 Season 4 still aims to bring some of the most substantial changes to the formula yet. Many have gone as far as to consider this month’s seasonal update Diablo 5. Series boss Rod Fergusson noted these feelings during an interview with IGN, acknowledging that the update does bring a “foundational change” to Diablo 4.

Season 4: Loot Reborn launches May 14 You can read the full patch notes for Diablo 4 version 1.4.0 below.

UPDATES FROM THE PUBLIC TEST REALM

Developer’s Note: We appreciate all the feedback our players provided us during our Public Test Realm for Season 4: Loot Reborn. The following section highlights key bug fixes and feedback adjustments.

Feature Updates

• There is no longer a chance for Masterworking to fail.
• The Masterwork animation has been removed for non-milestone Ranks (1-3, 5-7, etc).
• The Tempering Result screen now shows the result affix, its roll, and the affix range.
• Various UI improvements for the Tempering and Masterworking experiences.
• Added multiple tiers of Masterworking Material caches that transmute far more materials than were previously available.
• A visual indication has been added to the imprint UI which indicates which Legendary affixes are currently equipped.
• You can now search the term ‘equip’ or ‘equipped’ within the Codex of Power to list currently equipped affixes.
• We’ve added an inventory icon to indicate items that have at least one Greater Affix.
  • When items with Greater Affixes drop in-game, they will also have the same icon to indicate they possess a Greater Affix.

Helltide and The Pit

• The Party member that spends the Runeshards to open the Pit gets 100% of the Masterworking materials, the rest of the party receives half the amount.
• Artillery and Blast Wave shrines no longer spawn in the Pit.
• Hellborne spawn chance in Helltide zones has been increased.
• Baneful Heart drop rate has been adjusted to be more consistent.
• Overall loot quality from the Blood Maiden has been improved.
  • Loot quality has also been improved for players that contribute materials to summon the Blood Maiden, as a contribution bonus reward.
• Doomsayer variants, which used to drop a Chest of Doomsaying on defeat, will now drop the contents of a Doomsaying Chest on death with no additional Cinders cost.

Balance Adjustments

• Many Tempering affixes that were either over-performing or under-performing have been adjusted to meet intended power levels.
• The Tempering Affix for Maximum Size increase for various skills and effects, such as Dust Devils or Bone Spirit, is now capped at 100%.

Itemization Updates

For full details on Itemization including Legendary Aspects and the Codex of Power, Item Affixes, Greater Affixes, Tempering, Masterworking, please read our Season 4 blog here.

Here are some of the major items coming with Itemization updates:

• Extracting an aspect now upgrades it in the Codex of Power. All Aspects now exist in the Codex of Power.
• Various item affixes have been updated and the overall pool of affixes has been condensed. Additionally, Greater Affixes have been introduced.
  • Appearing only on Ancestral Legendary and Unique items, these are more powerful (1.5x) versions of normal affixes.
  • Each item affix has a chance to be a Greater Affix in World Tier IV.
• New Tempering and Masterworking Systems allow deeper customization of items and access to new affixes.
• Legendary items dropped from enemy level 95+ are always 925 item power.
• Unique Items can now drop earlier in the game:
  • World Tier III Unique Items now drop as non-Sacred in World Tier I and II.
  • World Tier IV Unique Items now drop as Sacred in World Tier III.
  • Uber Unique Items can start dropping from monster level 55, drops at 925 item power.
• The Minimum levels required to equip Sacred and Ancestral items has been reduced.
  • Sacred: 35
  • Ancestral: 55

Note: Changes from the PTR have been highlighted in RED.

GAME UPDATES

Accessibility

New Character Highlights

• We have added an option to highlight NPC’s, characters and enemies found within Sanctuary to make them easier to distinguish against different environments.
  • Standard Highlight
    • Sets the in-game lighting to emphasize the dark and gritty world of Sanctuary as intended.
  • Additional Highlights
    • Greatly increases the contrast for the characters within the world. In-game options can be used to modify the intensity, as well as the colors.

Helltide Reborn

Helltide has been updated to provide more challenges and rewards.

Helltide Threat

• As you battle through Helltides, you will generate Threat – how much will be determined by the difficulty of monster and how often you’re securing Tortured Gifts within Helltide.
• There are three Helltide Threat Tiers that each increase the danger and frequency of monster ambushes. At Tier 3, you will become Hell-Marked.
• Achieving maximum Threat will initiate a brief ambush frenzy of maximum enemy density. The ambush will end with a final Hellborne spawn, an immensely powerful agent of Hell, resurrected from the tortured souls of Sanctuary’s most powerful champions.
  • There are five variants representing each Class in Diablo IV.
• Upon activating the Hellborne ambush, your Threat will reset.
• Dying will reset your Threat.

Accursed Ritual

• Baneful Hearts can primarily be earned through opening Tortured Gift chests and can be used at the Accursed Ritual location. Baneful Hearts can also drop from:
  • Hellborne Demons
  • Doomsayers
• A scene of shocking gore, the Accursed Ritual is the ultimate testament to the disturbing lengths the followers of Hell will go to appease their dark wishes. It is here where you can begin the Accursed Ritual.
• Deposit three Baneful Hearts to begin the ritual, and you will be swarmed with a dense demonic ambush. Other players within your subzone will be alerted that the ritual has begun if they wish to join you in your fight.
• This ambush will climax with the arrival of the Blood Maiden, an immensely powerful demonic creature who will offer great reward upon her death.

World Tier I and II adjustments

A version of Helltide has been introduced for World Tiers I and II, with the following adjustments:

• All Tortured Gifts are Mystery chests.
• No roaming bosses.
• Monster density adjusted to match expected difficulty of World Tier III and IV.

NEW ITEMS

General

Unique Items

Tyrael’s Might – Unique Chest Armor

• While at full Life, your Skills unleash a divine barrage dealing damage.

Yen's Blessing – Unique Boots

• Casting a Skill has a 40-60% 20-30% chance to cast a Non-Mobility, Non-Ultimate Skill that is currently on Cooldown. This effect can only occur once every 8 12 seconds.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Frosty Strides

• While below 45-60% Life, Evade Freezes Close enemies for Cold Damage and applies Vulnerable to them for 3 seconds.

Aspect of Concussive Strikes

• Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 20% chance to Daze them for 2 seconds. You deal 5-20% increased damage to Dazed enemies.

Barbarian

Unique Items

Arreat's Bearing - Unique Pants

• Ancients you summon are empowered.
  • Korlic creates an Earthquake that deals Physical damage over 4 seconds when he leaps.
  • Talic leaves behind Dust Devils that deal damage while he whirlwinds.
  • Madawc ignites the ground Burning enemies for an additional damage over 4 seconds when he upheaves the ground.

Twin Strikes - Unique Gloves

• After casting Double Swing 4 times, your next Double Swing will hit 2 additional times, each dealing 10-25% increased damage.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Fierce Winds

• Your Shout Skills create 3 5 Dust Devils that deal damage to enemies along their path.
• Your Dust Devils are 5%-20% 15% bigger and deal 1% increased damage for each 1% their size is increased.

Druid

Unique Items

Earthbreaker - Unique Ring

• Landslide causes the ground to erupt in tectonic spikes which continue to deal 0.6-0.9 damage over 2 seconds. Casting Landslide in this area has a 20-30% chance to cause additional Landslide pillars to spawn within.

Wildheart Hunger - Unique Boots

• When you Shapeshift into a Werewolf or a Werebear, you gain Wildheart for 5 seconds. Wildheart grants you 1%-1.5% increased damage with Shapeshifting Skills every 2 seconds, stacking 20 times.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Fevered Mauling

• When you hit at least 1 enemy with Maul, increase its Attack Speed by 1%-2.5% 1%-2% and you gain 1%-3% 1-4% Damage reduction for 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.

Necromancer

Unique Items

Ebonpiercer - Unique Amulet

• Blight also shoots 4 smaller projectiles that pierce enemies and deal Shadow damage over 3 seconds.

Cruor's Embrace - Unique Gloves

• Blood Surge consumes Corpses to cause mini novas, dealing damage. Damage is increased by 10% per target drained by the initial cast, up to 50%. Damage is also increased by 20% for each Corpse consumed.

Legendary Aspects

Aphotic Aspect

• Skeletal Priests empower your Skeletal Warriors' attacks to deal Shadow damage and have a 5%-20% 5%-15% chance to Stun enemies for 1.5 seconds.

Rogue

Unique Items

Scoundrel's Kiss - Unique Ring

• Rapid Fire now lobs exploding arrows that deal 15%-25% increased damage.
• Scoundrel's Kiss projectile pattern is now more predictable.

Saboteur's Signet - Unique Ring

• Casting Flurry has a 15-30% chance to release Stun Grenades that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Grenade Skills have a 2% 5% Lucky Hit Chance.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of High Velocity

• Barrage arrows now pierce through 1 enemy.
• Barrage has 10%-20% increased Attack Speed.

Sorcerer

Unique Items

Fractured Winterglass – Unique Amulet

• Casting Frozen Orb has a 35-50% chance to spawn a random Conjuration when it explodes. Lucky Hit: Your Conjurations have up to a 50-70% 70-100% chance to launch a Frozen Orb at Nearby enemies.

Developer’s Note: Extra explosions from the Aspect of Frozen Orbit do not trigger this effect, as the Unique calls out "Casting". This unintended interaction was fixed since the PTR.

Flameweaver – Unique Gloves

• Casting Fire Bolt through your Firewall causes it to split into 4 bolts, each dealing 80-100% more damage.
• Flameweaver now splits Firebolts to 3 instead of 4, and damage buffed to 30-70% from 10-30%.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect Of Tenuous Destruction

• Deal 25-40% increased damage while you have no Defensive Skills on your Action Bar.

Flamethrower's Aspect

• Incinerate splits into 3 beams, each dealing 70-85% of normal damage.

BALANCE UPDATES

General

Unique Items

Banished Lord's Talisman

• Updated visuals and sounds to indicate that your next Core Skill will Overpower.
• Critical Strike Overpower damage reduced from 80-120% to 20-60%.
• Resources needed for guaranteed Overpower reduced from 300 to 275.

Tibault's Will

• Damage increase while Unstoppable reduced from 20-40% to 10-20%.
• Damage increase persists for 1 second longer after being Unstoppable.

Razorplate

• Razorplate has been updated to function within the new Masterworking system.
• Now has four Thorns affixes instead of no affixes.
• New Unique Power: Thorns has a 10% chance to deal 100-150% increased damage.

Legendary Aspects

Disobedience

• Armor stacks no longer fall off independently. They now refresh or reset at the same time.
• Armor gain changed to 25-40%.

Assimilation

• Previous - You have 8% increased Dodge Chance versus enemies affected by Damage Over Time effects. When you Dodge you gain 5-10 of your Primary Resource.
• Now - You have 8% increased Dodge Chance. When you Dodge, Fortify for 5-10% 5-20% of your Maximum Life.

Of Retribution

• Chance to Stun increased from 8% to 10%.
• Now increases damage to Stunned and Knocked Down enemies.

Of Inner Calm

• Previous - Deal 5-10% increased damage for each second you stand still, up to 40%.
• Now - Deal 5-10% increased damage. Triple this bonus after standing still for 3 seconds.

Of the Crowded Sage

• Previous - You Heal for (0-181) Life per second for each Close enemy, up to (4-605) Life per second.
• Now - You have 8% increased Dodge Chance. Successful Dodges restore 5-20% of your Maximum Life.

Bold Chieftain's

• Now usable by both Barbarians and Druids.

Needleflare

• Now also applies Thorns to Necromancer minions.

Hectic Aspect

• Cooldown Reduction reduced from 2-4 seconds to 1-2 seconds.

Miscellaneous

Developer’s Note: Monsters will still deal more damage the higher level they are, but their relative damage reduction will remain the same from level 100 onward. This change was made to account for level 200 Boss monsters doing extreme amounts of damage to players that are capped for armor.

• Necromancer, Barbarian, Druid, and Sorcerer Companions now receive 100% of the player's attributes.
• Skill tags have been updated everywhere to allow more Aspects and other effects to affect more skills and abilities. Examples:
  • Applicable "Shout" skills for Druid and Barbarian are now tagged as Shouts.
  • New Chain tag for abilities like Chain Lightning and Rabies.
  • New Mobility tag for abilities that move and or teleport the player, such as Caltrops or Teleport.
  • More skills are now tagged as Core skills, such as Sorcerer Mastery Skills and other skills which use resources like Bone Spirit.
  • Additionally, various Aspects have been updated to account for these changes.
• Damage Reduction granted by Fortify has been increased from 10% to 15%.
• Cooldown Reduction is now capped at 75%.
• Physical Damage calculation against Damage Reduction now caps at level 100.
• The Maximum Evade Charges affix has been increased from 2 to 3.
• The Attacks Reduce Evade's Cooldown affix has been increased from .8 to 1.5 seconds.
• The Evade Grants Movement speed affix has been increased from 50% to 125%.
• All Resistance from Amulets has been increased from 19% to 25%.
• Single element resistance on Rings has been increased from 8% to 10%.

Barbarian

General

• Barbarian’s 10% innate Damage Reduction has been removed.
• Legendary powers that require Call of the Ancients to be equipped no longer have that requirement.
  • Previously, Dust Devils would have varying durations, speeds, and movement patterns based on which legendary Aspect created them. Now, they all behave consistently regardless of which Aspect they are from. Additionally, the following updates have been applied for Dust Devils:
    • The maximum number of Dust Devils that can be active at once is now 15. Dust Devils now move more quickly and dissipate sooner.

Skills

Charge

• Damage reduced from 250% to 180%.

Power Charge

• Cooldown Reduction per Target Hit reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
• Cooldown Reduction for hitting a Boss reduced from 6 to 4 seconds.
• Maximum Cooldown Reduction reduced from 9 to 6 seconds.

Furious Hammer of the Ancients

• Previous - Hammer of the Ancients deals 1%[x] increased damage for each point of Fury you had when using it.
• Now - Hammer of the Ancients gains 2%[+] increased Critical Strike Chance for every 10 Fury you had when using it.

Violent Rend

• Rend's Damage against Vulnerable enemies increased from 12%[x] to 25%[x].

Rupture

• The initial damage dealt from Rupture is now guaranteed to Overpower.

Call of the Ancients

• Korlic Leap damage increased from 104% to 156%.
• Korlic Frenzy damage increased from 39% to 59%.
• Talic Whirlwind damage increased from 65% to 98%.
• Madawc Upheaval damage increased from 195% to 293%.

Kick

• Range of damage increased from 2.2 meters to 3 meters.
• Additional damage when enemy is knocked into a wall increased from 70% to 105%.

Power Kick

• Damage per 10 Fury consumed increased from 20% to 25%.

Passives

Unbridled Rage

• Bonus damage reduced from 135%[x] to 100%[x].

Weapon Expertise

Polearm Expertise

• Lucky Hit chance increased from 10%[x] to 15%[x].
• Damage while Healthy increased from 10%[+] to 15%[x].

Two-Handed Mace Expertise

• Fury gain increased from 2 to 5.
  • Previous - You deal 15%[x] increased Critical Strike damage to Stunned and Vulnerable enemies while Berserking.
  • Now - You deal 15%[x] increased Critical Strike damage while Berserking.

Two-Handed Axe Expertise

• Vulnerable Damage reduced from 15%[x] to 10%[x].

One-Handed Axe Expertise

• Critical Strike Chance against Injured enemies increased from 5%[+] to 10%[+].

Paragon

Marshal Glyph

• Cooldown reduction reduced from 4 to 2 seconds.

Blood Rage Legendary Node

• Damage increased by Berserking bonus reduced from 25% to 10%, and caps at 30%[x] damage bonus.

Crusher Glyph

• Additional Bonus: Overpower damage reduced from 30%[x] to 20%[x].

Dominate Glyph

• Bonus Overpower Damage per 5 Willpower reduced from 39.9% to 14.9% at Glyph level 21.
• Additional Bonus
  • Previous - After not Overpowering for 30 seconds, your next attack will Overpower.
  • Now - Every 30 seconds, your next attack will Overpower.

Seething Glyph

• Additional Bonus: Fury gain on enemy kill increased from 3 to 5.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Sundered Ground

• Description reworded for clarity, no functional change.
  • Previous - Every 25 seconds, Upheaval is guaranteed to Overpower and deals 10–25%[x] increased damage. This timer is reduced by 4 seconds when Upheaval Overpowers a Boss or an Elite enemy.
  • Now - Every 25 seconds, your next Upheaval cast is guaranteed to Overpower and deals 10-25%[x] increased damage. This timer is reduced by 4 seconds when Upheaval Overpowers a Boss or an Elite enemy.

Earthstriker's Aspect

• Bonus Overpower Damage reduced from 35-50%[x] to 15%-30%[x].

Aspect of the Relentless Armsmaster

• Fury Generation while all three Walking Arsenal bonuses are active increased from 20-35% to 35-65%.

Windlasher's Aspect

• Previous - Casting Double Swing twice within 1.5 seconds creates a Dust Devil that deals 0.22-0.32 damage to enemies behind the target.
• Now - Casting Double Swing creates a Dust Devil that deals 0.35-0.5 damage to enemies in its path. Triple the amount of Dust Devils created if Double Swing is cast twice within 2 seconds.

Devilish Aspect

• Previous - After generating 100 Fury, your next attack that deals direct damage creates a Dust Devil that deals 0.24-0.38 damage to enemies behind the target.
• Now - After generating 100 Fury, your next direct damage creates 3 Dust Devils that deal 0.4-0.6 damage to enemies in their path.

Dust Devil's Aspect

• Previous - Whirlwind leaves behind Dust Devils that deal 0.22-0.32 damage to surrounding enemies (1 Dust Devil every 1.5 seconds).
• Now - Whirlwind leaves behind Dust Devils that deal 0.4-0.6 damage to enemies in their path (1 Dust Devil every 0.75 second).

Aspect of Fierce Winds

• Dust Devils created reduced from 5 to 3.

Veteran Brawler's

• Now increases the damage for Charge, Leap, and Kick.
• The timer on the buff has been removed.

Of Giant Strides

• Previous - Reduces the Cooldown of Leap by 3-5 seconds per enemy hit, up to a maximum of 9 seconds.
• Now - Reduces the Cooldown of Leap by (2.5-5) seconds per enemy hit, up to a maximum of 9 seconds. Hitting a Boss with Leap provides the maximum cooldown reduction.

Of Anemia

• Previous - Lucky Hit: Direct damage against Bleeding enemies has a 15-30% chance to Stun them for 2 seconds.
• Now - Lucky Hit: Damaging Bleeding or Vulnerable enemies has a 15-30% chance to Stun them for 2 seconds.

Of Vocalized Empowerment (Previously Of Echoing Fury)

• Now equippable by both Barbarians and Druids.
  • Previous - Your Shout Skills generate 2-4 Fury per second while active.
  • Now - Your Shout Skills generate 5-10 Primary Resource per second while active.

Unique Items

Rage of Harrogath

• Previous - Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-40% chance to reduce the Cooldowns of your non-Ultimate Skills by 1.5 seconds when you inflict Bleeding on Elites.
• Now - Lucky Hit: Inflicting Bleeding on an enemy has up to a 20-40% chance to reduce the Cooldowns of your Skills by 1 second.

Azurewrath

• Damage dealt when Freezing enemies increased from 2.0-3.0 to 3.0-4.5.
• Can now trigger from Non-Core skills.

Fields of Crimson

• The blood pool now makes enemies take increased damage from all damage types.
• Damage bonus increased from 20% to 30%.

Ancient’s Oath

• Bonus damage duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.

Druid

Spirit Boons

Packleader

• Cooldown reset chance increased from 20% to 25%.

Energize

• Spirit restoration increased from 10 to 20.

Masochistic

• Critical Strike Healing increased from 3% to 5%.

Wariness

• Reduced damage from Elites increased from 10% to 15%.

Skills

Claw

• Damage increased by ~10% (.25 to .28).
• Enhanced Claw
  • Attack Speed increased from 15% to 20%.

Maul

• Damage increased by ~10% (.24 to .26).
• Enhanced Maul
  • Fortify increased from 5% to 8%.

Raging Pulverize

• Stun duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Shred

• Damage increased by 10%.
• Enhanced Shred
  • Healing increased from 2% to 4%.

Debilitating Roar

• Now categorized as a Shout skill.

Wolves

• Wolves now gain Unstoppable when the Skill is cast.
• Health increased by 200%.
• Respawn reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.

Hurricane

• Damage increased from 134% to 187%.

Petrify

• Prime Petrify
  • Previous - Petrify's effect durations are increased by 1 second.
  • Now - Petrify grants 50 Spirit when cast and its effect durations are increased by 1 second.
• Supreme Petrify
  • Previous - Killing an enemy affected by Petrify grants 25 Spirit.
  • Now - Killing an enemy affected by Petrify reduces its Cooldown by 1 second. Hitting a Boss with Petrify reduces its Cooldown by 10 seconds.

Lacerate

• Damage increased by 22%.
• Prime Lacerate
  • Previous - Lacerate hits Heal for 3% Maximum Life, doubled on Critical Strikes.
  • Now - Lacerate hits Heal for 3% Maximum Life, doubled on Critical Strikes. The first Critical Strike is guaranteed and deals 150% increased damage.
• Supreme Lacerate
  • Previous - Lacerate's initial strike is guaranteed to Critically Strike and deals 150% increased damage.
  • Now - Whenever Lacerate Critically Strikes, you deal 4% increased damage for 10 seconds, up to 40% your Shapeshifting Skills deal 4% increased damage for 10 seconds, up to 40%.

Passives

Call of the Wild

• Damage increased from 10% to 12%.

Quickshift

• Previous - When a Shapeshifting Skill transforms you into a different form, it deals 7% increased damage.
• Now - When Shapeshifting into a new animal form, you deal 1% increased damage for 3 seconds, up to 6%.

Heightened Senses

• Previous - Upon Shapeshifting into a Werebear or Werewolf, gain 4% Damage Reduction against Elites for 5 seconds.
• Now - When Shapeshifting into an animal form, Werebear grants 2% Damage Reduction and Werewolf grants 2% Movement Speed, each for 6 seconds. Bonuses are doubled while both are active.

Clarity

• Previous - Gain 2 Spirit when transforming into Human form.
• Now - After casting a Companion Skill, your next Core or Wrath Skill's damage and Critical Strike Chance are increased by 5%, up to 15%.

Digitigrade Gait

• Movement Speed increased from 3% to 4%.

Legendary Aspects

Of The Changeling's Debt

• Previous - Damaging a Poisoned enemy with a Werebear Skill will instantly deal 120-124% of the Poisoning damage and consume the Poisoning.
• Now - You deal 25-40% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf.

Of The Unsatiated

• Previous - After killing an enemy with Shred, your next Werewolf Skill generates 25-32% more Spirit and deals 25-32% increased damage.
• Now - After killing an enemy with Shred, you gain 20 Spirit. Your Werewolf Skills deal 10-25% increased damage when cast above 50 Spirit.

Of The Blurred Beast

• Damage increased from 25-32% to 25-35%.

Nighthowler's

• Previous - Blood Howl increases Critical Strike Chance by 5-10%. In addition, Blood Howl also affects Nearby Companions and Players for 3 seconds.
• Now - Blood Howl is now a Shout Skill and increases Critical Strike Chance by 5-10%. In addition, Blood Howl also affects Nearby Companions and Players for 3 seconds.

Raw Might

• Now all Shapeshifting Skills contribute to the buff stacks.
• Damage increased from 35-50% to 40-55%.
• Stun duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Shepherd's

• Now Wrath Skills also gain increased damage from Companions.

Mangled

• Previous - When you are struck as a Werebear you have a 25-40% chance to gain 3 Spirit.
• Now - While in Werebear form, you gain 10-25 Spirit every 8 seconds.

Of Mending Stone

• Killing an enemy with any Skill now replenishes the Barrier as well as Earth Skills.

Of Vocalized Empowerment (Previously of Echoing Fury)

• Now equippable by both Barbarians and Druids.
  • Previous - Your Shout Skills generate 2-4 Fury per second while active.
  • Now - Your Shout Skills generate 5-10 Primary Resource per second while active.

Unique Items

Fleshrender

• Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
• Previous - Debilitating Roar and Blood Howl deal damage to Nearby Poisoned enemies, increased by 15% for every 100 Willpower you have.
• Now - Casting a Defensive Skill deals damage to Nearby Poisoned enemies, increased by 15% for every 100 Willpower you have.

Waxing Gibbous

• Life On Kill replaced with Spirit On Kill.

Paragon

Tracker Glyph

• Poisoning damage effect duration increased from 33% to 40%.

Bane Glyph

• Poison effect double damage chance increased from 10% to 15%.

Shapeshifter Glyph

• Critical Strike Chance increased from 20% to 25%.

Wilds Glyph

• Damage increased from 120% to 130%.

Inner Beast Legendary Node

• Previous - After Shapeshifting, your Spirit costs are reduced by 10% for 5 seconds, up to 30%.
• Now - After Shapeshifting, your Spirit costs are reduced by 5% for 10 seconds, up to 45%. If you reach 10 stacks, this bonus resets and reduces the Cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by 5 seconds.

Necromancer

Skills

Enhanced Blight

• The Tooltip now correctly references the defiled area for the Slow effect.

Blood Mist

• Removed the movement speed reduction.

Golem

• This ability can now be activated while crowd controlled. Activating this ability makes the player Unstoppable.

Decompose

• Reworded description to be more consistent with the use of Corpses.
• Interval reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
• Increased channeling Essence generation from 8 to 10 per second.
• Upgrades now activate when spawning corpses instead of channeling for 1 second.
• Enhanced Decompose
  • Decompose now causes an explosion [40% weapon damage] when creating a corpse or when the target dies.
  • Now also generates 10 Essence when creating a corpse.
• Acolyte's Decompose
  • Previous - Every 1.5 seconds, Decompose makes Enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds.
  • Now - Decompose explosions make enemies vulnerable.
• Initiate's Decompose
  • Movement Speed bonus is now on Decompose explosions instead of channeling.
  • Bonus Movement Speed duration increased from 5 to 8 seconds.

Army of the Dead

• Increased spawn rate of Volatile Skeletons by 50%.
• Supreme Army of the Dead spawn rate adjusted to match Volatile Skeletons.
• Is now categorized as a Summoning skill.

Passive

Inspiring Leader

• Previous - After you have been Healthy for at least 2 seconds, you and your Minions gain 4/8/12%[+] Attack Speed.
• Now - While you are Healthy, you gain 4/8/12%[+] increased critical chance and your Minions gain 6/12/18%[+] increased Critical Strike Chance.

Kalan’s Edict

• Previous - After you have not taken damage in the last 2 seconds, your Minions gain 15% Attack Speed. This bonus is doubled while you have at least 7 Minions.
• Now - Your Minions gain 3% Attack Speed for each active Minion.

Book of the Dead

• Skeletal Warriors will now run ahead of the Necromancer more often, and can initiate combat.
• Skirmishers – Removed 3 second limit from the second upgrade.
• Reapers
  • First Upgrade
    • Previous - Reaper attacks against enemies who are Immobilized, Slowed, Stunned, or Vulnerable reduce the cooldown of their powerful wind-up attack by 2 seconds.
    • Now - Wind-up attacks now reduce one of your active Cooldowns by 3 seconds.
• Defenders
  • Now Taunts in an area around them, instead of negating damage every 6 seconds from the first upgrade.
  • Second upgrade changed from increasing Thorns inherited from the player to Defenders reduce damage taken by 99%.
• Shadow Mages
  • Attacks now pierce.
  • First upgrade
    • Previous - Shadow Mage attacks have a 10% chance to Stun for 2 seconds. This cannot happen toon the same enemy more than once every 5 seconds.
    • Now - You deal 3%[x] increased damage for each active Shadow Mage.
  • The second upgrade now has an additional Shadow Bolt fired every 3 attacks, down from 4. Additional Shadow Bolt now occurs every 2nd attack after the second upgrade.
• Cold Mages
  • Attacks now gain 3 Essence from the first upgrade.
  • Attacks now apply Vulnerable without condition.
• Bone Mages
  • First Upgrade
    • Previous - Reduce the Life cost of your Bone Mages' Attack from 15% to 10%. After being alive for 5 seconds, Bone mages deal 40%[x] increased damage.
    • Now - Bone Mages now cast Bone Splinters or Bone Spear every 6th attack if it is on your Action bar. Bone Mages have a 25% chance to cast Bone Splinters or Bone Spear if it is on your equipped Skills.
  • Second Upgrade
    • Previous - Each time a Bone Mage dies from its own attack they leave behind a corpse and Fortify you for 20% of your Maximum Life.
    • Now - Bone Mages drop a corpse when they die. Bone Mage attacks will grant 3% of Maximum Life Fortify.
• Blood Golem
  • Golem now absorbs 30%, up from 15%, from the first upgrade.
  • The second upgrade active ability from Golem also heals the player for 5% of Maximum Life for each enemy drained.
• Bone Golem
  • First Upgrade
    • Previous - Each time your Bone Golem takes up to 20% of its Maximum Life as damage, it sheds a corpse.
    • Now - Spawn 5 corpses around the Golem where its ability is used.
  • Second Upgrade
    • Previous - Your Bone golem gains 10% Maximum Life and the amount of Thorns it inherits from you is increased from 30% to 50%.
    • Now - Your Bone Golem unleashes Bone Spikes when taking damage.
• Iron Golem
  • First upgrade
    • Now casts the Shockwave every 2 attacks instead of 4.
    • Shockwave damage increased from 40% to 154%.
  • Second upgrade
    • Now also pulls enemies in instead of applying Vulnerable.

Legendary Aspects

Blood-soaked Aspect

• Previous - Your movement speed is no longer reduced while Blood Mist is active.
• Now - While in Blood Mist form, increases movement speed by 20%.

Unyielding Commander Aspect

• Previous - While Army of the Dead is active, your Minions gain 70-84% Attack Speed and take 90% reduced damage.
• Now - While Army of the Dead is active, your Minions deal 70-100% increased damage and take 90% reduced damage.

Occult Dominion

• Also increases the max number of Skeletal Warriors by 2.

Blood Getter’s

• Previous - Your Maximum number of Skeletal Warriors is increased by 2.
• Now - Your Skeletal Priests also empower you at 55-70% effectiveness.

Flesh-Rending

• Previous - When Decompose spawns a Corpse, gain 25-40 Essence.
• After: When Decompose explodes, gain 25-40 Essence.

Rotting

• Previous - Decompose can chain and burst up to 2 additional targets. When Decompose spawns a Corpse, it has a 50-100% chance to spawn a Corpse under all afflicted targets.
• After: Decompose can chain and burst up to 2 additional targets. Explosions from Decompose deals 15-30%[x] increased damage.

of the Damned

• Previous - You deal 40-50%[x] increased Shadow damage to enemies afflicted by both Decrepify and Iron Maiden.
• After: You deal 40-50%[x] increased Shadow damage to enemies afflicted by any Curse.

of Untimely Death

• Previous - Each percent of your Maximum Life you Heal beyond 100% grants you 0.5%[x] bonus Overpower damage on your next Overpowering attack, up to a 30-60%[x] bonus.
• After: Each percent of your Maximum Life you Heal beyond 100% grants you 0.5%[x] bonus Critical Strike Damage on your next Critical Strike, up to a 30-60%[x] bonus.

of Potent Blood

• Previous - While Healthy, Blood Orbs grant 10-25 Essence.
• After: Blood Orbs grant 10-25 Essence.

Unique Items

Ring of Mendeln

• Previous - Lucky Hit: Up to a 10% chance to empower all of your Minions, causing the next attack from each to explode for X Physical damage.
• Now - Every 6th attack from each Minion is empowered, exploding for X Physical damage.

Lidless Wall

• Lucky Hit Chance increased from 5-25% to 15-30%.

Bloodless Scream

• Essence gain increased from 7-10 to 15-20.

Paragon

Control Glyph

• Previous - Additional Bonus: You and your Minions deal 10%[X] increased damage to Slowed or Chilled enemies or, instead, 20%[X] increased damage to Stunned or Frozen enemies.
• Now - Additional Bonus: You and your Minions deal 20%[X] increased damage to Crowd Controlled targets.

Deadraiser Glyph

• Additional Bonus maximum bonus buffed to 15%[X].

Dominate Glyph

• Bonus Overpower Damage per 5 Willpower reduced from 39.9% to 14.9% at Glyph level 21.*

Cult Leader Paragon Node

• Previous - Your Minions deal 15%[X] increased damage for each 20%[X] of Attack Speed Bonus they have.
• Now - Your Minions deal 30%[X] increased damage for each 20%[X] of Attack Speed Bonus they have, up to a maximum of 100% Attack Speed Bonus.

Rogue

• Stun Grenades (granted by various aspects) base stun duration increased from .5 to 1 second.

Skills

Inner Sight

• While the Inner Sight gauge is full, you also gain 25%[+] Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds.
• Attacking enemies that are not marked will fill the gauge but at 5% of the normal rate.

Preparation

• Reduced energy requirement from 100 to 75.

Flurry

• Damage increased from 66% to 75%.

Volley

• Can now be cancelled slightly earlier from another skill.

Passive

Victimize

• Fixed an issue where this wasn’t activating and scaling from certain instances.
• Increased chance to proc from 45% to 50%.

Paragon

Exploit Weakness Legendary Node

• Maximum increased damage buffed from 15%[x] to 25%[x].

Leyrana’s Instinct Legendary Node

• Previous - When Inner Sight’s gauge becomes full, you gain 100%[+] Dodge Chance for 2.0 seconds. Your next 3 Core Skills deal increased damage equal to 25%[x] of your Core Skill Damage Bonus.
• New: When Inner Sight’s gauge becomes full, you gain 100%[+] Dodge Chance for 2.0 seconds. Your Core Skills deal increased damage equal to 25%[x] of your Core Skill Damage Bonus while Inner Sight’s gauge remains full.

Chip Glyph

• Increased physical damage bonus from 6.6% to 9.9% for each 5 Dexterity purchased within range.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Encircling Blades

• Increased damage range buffed from 10-25% to 15-30%.

Opportunist’s

• Previous - When you break Stealth with an attack, you drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades around your location that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.5 seconds.
• Now - When you enter or break Stealth, you drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades around you that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Grenade Skills deal 25-40% more damage.

Trickster’s

• Now additionally increases Grenade Skill damage by 25-40%.

Of Surprise

• Now additionally increases Grenade Skill damage by 25-40%.

Of Artful Initiative

• Grenade Skill damage increase is now a range with higher potential, increased to 25-40%.

Of Uncanny Treachery

• Previous - Dealing direct damage to a Dazed enemy with an Agility Skill grants Stealth for 4 seconds. Breaking Stealth with an attack grants you 15-21% Control Impaired Duration Reduction for 4 seconds.
• Now - Dealing damage to a Dazed enemy with an Agility Skill grants Stealth for 4 seconds. When Stealth breaks, you gain 10-15% 85-100% Dodge Chance for 2 seconds.

Of Siphoned Victuals

• Previous - Lucky Hit: Damaging a Vulnerable enemy with a Core skill has up to a 10-20% chance to drop a Healing Potion.
• Now - Damaging a Vulnerable enemy with a Non-Basic Skill has a 5-20% chance to drop a Healing Potion.

Frostbitten

• Previous - Chilled enemies hit by your Grenade Skills have a chance equal to double your Critical Strike Chance to be instantly Frozen for 2 seconds. You deal x10-25% increased Critical Strike Damage against Frozen enemies.
• Now - Enemies hit by your Grenade Skills have the same chance as your Critical Strike Chance to be Frozen for 2 seconds. You deal x10-25% increased Critical Strike Damage to Stunned or Frozen enemies.

Escape Artist’s

• Number of attacks dodged reduced from 2-7 to 2-5.
• Smoke Grenade Dodge effect Cooldown has been reduced from 45 to 20 25 seconds.

Of Quickening Fog

• Maximum Dash Cooldown Reduction is reached from hitting 3 enemies, reduced from 5.

Of Volatile Shadows

• Previous - When a Dark Shroud shadow was removed, you would trigger an explosion around yourself that dealt Shadow damage.
• Now - When a Dark Shroud shadow is removed, you trigger an explosion around yourself that deals Shadow damage and applies Shadow Imbuement to each enemy it hits.

Blast Trapper’s

• Previous - Lucky Hit: Dealing direct damage to enemies affected by your Trap skills has up to a 30-50% chance to make them Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
• Now - Lucky Hit: Dealing damage to enemies affected by your Trap skills has a 15-30% chance to cause an explosion that deals Shadow Damage and applies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.

Of Lethal Dusk

• Previous - Evading through an enemy infected by Shadow Imbuement grants Stealth for 4 seconds. Breaking Stealth with an attack grants you 1-5% Maximum Life on Kill for 6 seconds.
• Now - Evading through an enemy infected by Shadow Imbuement grants Stealth for 4 seconds. Breaking Stealth grants you 10-25% Maximum Life.

Vengeful

• Previous - Lucky Hit: Making an enemy Vulnerable has up to a 40-60% chance to grant 3% increased Critical Strike Chance for 3 seconds, up to 9%.
• Now - Lucky Hit: Damaging a Vulnerable enemy has a 25% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal 25-40% more damage.

Of Arrow Storms

• Previous - Lucky Hit: Your Marksman Skills have up to a 10% chance to create an arrow storm at the enemy’s location, dealing physical damage over 3 seconds. You can have up to 5 active arrow storms.
• Now - Lucky Hit: Your Marksman Skills have up to a 36% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the enemy’s location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal 25-40% increased damage.

Developer’s Note: The maximum number of active Arrows storms remains at 5, we are just removing this from the tooltip to make it more succinct.

Resistant Assailant’s

• When using Concealment, Resistance and Max Resistance have increased duration from 4 to 6 seconds.

Unique Items

Writhing Band of Trickery

• Reduced cooldown from 10 to 6 seconds.

Beastfall Boots

• Damage bonus reduced from .5-1.5% per Energy consumed to .25-.75%.
• Energy restored from using a Cooldown increased from 5 to 15.

Eaglehorn

• Damage bonus increased from 40-60% to 50-70%.

Skyhunter

• Damage bonus increased from 10-30% to 20-40%.

Sorcerer

• Mastery Skills are now also considered Core Skills.

Enchantments

Frost Nova Enchantment

• Chance for conjuration skills to case a Frost Nova increased from 30 to 35%.

Frost Bolt Enchantment

• Chill amount increased from 15% to 18%.

Flame Shield Enchantment

• Previous - Flame Shield automatically activates upon taking fatal damage. This effect can only happen once every 120 seconds.
• Now - Flame Shield automatically activates after cumulatively losing 100% Maximum Life. Can only happen once every 30 seconds.

Developer’s Note: We've received feedback from players that "Cheat Death" mechanics are not desired. The Flame Shield enchantment has been changed to not react to fatal damage, but instead react to taking 100% of your health within a 30 second window.

Skills

Frozen Orb

• New Functionality: Travel distance is now controllable.
• Damage increased by 20% (.34 to .41).
• Enhanced Frozen Orb
  • Previous - When cast above 40 Mana, Frozen Orb's explosion damage is increased by 45% against Elites and 30% against all other enemies.
  • Now - While Healthy, the explosion of Frozen Orb deals 45% increased damage.

Greater Frozen Orb

• Vulnerable chance increased from 30% to 40% and duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Ice Armor

• Enhanced Ice Armor
  • Mana Regeneration increased from 25% to 30%.
• Shimmering Ice Armor
  • Previous - Enemies that hit you while Ice Armor is active have a 15% chance to become Frozen for 3.23 seconds.
  • Now - While Ice Armor is active, you reduce its Cooldown by 1 2 seconds for every 50 Mana you spend.
• Mystical Ice Armor
  • Previous - Damage against Vulnerable enemies contributes 50% more to Ice Armor's Barrier.
  • Now - While Ice Armor is active, you periodically Chill Close enemies for 20% and deal 15% increased damage to Frozen enemies.

Shimmering Frost Nova

• Previous - Frost Nova generates 4 Mana per enemy hit.
• Now - Frost Nova grants 3% Dodge Chance per enemy hit, up to 15%. Hitting a Boss gives the maximum amount. For the next 8 seconds, you keep this effect, and successful Dodges generate 20 Mana.

Flame Shield

• Enhanced Flame Shield
  • Previous - Flame Shield grants 25% increased Movement Speed while active.
  • Now - Flame Shield has a 50% larger burn radius.
• Mystical Flame Shield
  • Previous - You gain 25% Mana Cost Reduction while Flame Shield is active.
  • Now - After Flame Shield ends, surrounding enemies are Stunned for 3 seconds and your next Skill within 10 seconds is a guaranteed Critical Strike.

Teleport

• Enhanced Teleport
  • Previous - Teleport's Cooldown is decreased by 0.5 seconds per enemy hit, up to 3 seconds.
  • Now - You gain 30% Movement Speed for 3 seconds after Teleporting.
• Mystical Teleport
  • Previous - For 4 seconds after Teleporting, Crackling Energy hits 2 additional enemies.
  • Now - Teleport deals 500% increased damage. It also forms a Crackling Energy for each enemy it hits, up to 3.

Supreme Deep Freeze

• Now applies Vulnerable for 5 seconds when it ends.

Ice Shards

• Damage increased by 28% (1.25 to 1.6).
• Enhanced Ice Shards
  • Ricochet chance increased from 40% to 50%.

Hydra

• Baseline maximum amount increased from 1 to 2.

Lightning Spear

• Damage increased by 8% (.15 to .16).

Greater Charged Bolts

• Damage increased from 25% to 35%.

Incinerate

• New Functionality: Gain 15% baseline Damage Reduction while channeling.
• Damage increased by 10% (.76 to .84).

Passives

Elemental Attunement

• Cooldown reset chance increased from 5% to 7%.

Mana Shield

• Damage Reduction increased from 7% to 8%.

Devouring Blaze

• Crowd Controlled enemies now provide the damage bonus instead of Immobilized.

Conjuration Mastery

• Previous - You gain 1% increased damage for each active conjuration.
• Now - You gain 1% increased damage, 1% Movement Speed, and 2% Mana Generation for each active Conjuration.

Convulsions

• Lucky Hit Chance increased from 3% to 5%.

Shocking Impact

• Damage increased by 100% (.2 to .4).

Elemental Dominance

• Damage increased from 3% to 4%.

Legendary Aspects

Bounding Conduit

• Previous - Gain 15-30% Movement Speed for 3 seconds after Teleporting.
• Now - Teleport's Cooldown is reduced by 1.0-2.5 seconds. After Teleporting, Crackling Energy hits 2 additional enemies for 5 seconds.

Of Frozen Orbit

• Damage increased from 30-40% to 45-60%.

Of Concentration

• Previous - Your Mana Regeneration is increased if you have not taken damage in the last 2 seconds.
• Now - Casting a Conjuration Skill grants you 10-20% 10-25% Damage Reduction for 5 seconds.

Of Abundant Energy

• Chance to chain to an additional enemy increased to 35-50%.

Snowguard's Aspect

• Damage reduction increased from 10-25% to 15-30%.

Of Singed Extremities

• Now both Immobilize and Stun trigger the Slow effect.

Of Conflagration

• Previous - While channeling Incinerate, your Burning damage is increased by 25-40%.
• Now - While channeling Incinerate, your Burning damage is increased by 25-40%. Enemies hit by Incinerate explode, Burning all surrounding enemies for over 6 seconds. This effect occurs once per 3 seconds.

Of Splintering Energy

• Previous - Lightning Spear has a 35-50% chance to spawn an additional Lightning Spear when you cast it.
• Now - Casting Lightning Spear always spawns an additional Lightning Spear and increases your damage with Lightning Skills by 10-25% for 3 seconds.

Shattered

• Enemies no longer need to die while Frozen to trigger the bonus damage.
• Damage increased from 25-40% to 30-45%.

Unique Items

Staff of Lam Esen

• Critical Strike Damage Damage to Close Enemies replaced with Ranks of Charged Bolts.

Tal Rasha's Iridescent Loop

• Maximum stacks now capped at four.
• All Resistance variants increased from 8%/3% to 10%/4%.

Flamescar

• Ember damage increased by 25%.

Staff of Endless Rage

• Damage bonus increased from 20-40% to 40-60%.

Esu's Heirloom

• Evade Grant's Movement Speed Affix duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Paragon

Tactician Glyph

• New Functionality: Now lasts 4 seconds longer for each Defensive Skill not on your Action Bar.

Winter Glyph

• Cold damage increase maximum raised from 15% to 18%.

Loot Updates

• All items dropped in World Tier III will now be Sacred.
• All items dropped in World Tier IV will now be Ancestral.
• Item rarity drop chances have been adjusted. After level 28, the majority (~80%) of gear dropped that is not legendary will be rare. Additionally, chances to drop legendary items now scales more after reaching Level 50.
• Item Power now increases every 5 levels after 50 instead of on a linear scale.

Developer’s Note: This is to give players time to focus on their affixes before the power of gear increases again.

Elixir Updates

Existing Elixirs

All weak, strong, and potent Elixirs have been removed and replaced with the following, more powerful versions which are available at Level 50.

• Elixir of Cold Resistance
  • Cold Resistance increased by 20%, Maximum Cold Resistance increased by 4%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Cold Resistance II
  • Cold Resistance increased by 30%, Maximum Cold Resistance increased by 6%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Fire Resistance
  • Fire Resistance increased by 20%, Maximum Fire Resistance increased by 4%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Fire Resistance II
  • Fire Resistance increased by 30%, Maximum Fire Resistance increased by 6%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Lightning Resistance
  • Lighting Resistance increased by 20%, Maximum Lightning Resistance increased by 4%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Lightning Resistance II
  • Lighting Resistance increased by 30%, Maximum Lightning Resistance increased by 6%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Poison Resistance
  • Poison Resistance increased by 20%, Maximum Poison Resistance increased by 4%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Poison Resistance II
  • Poison Resistance increased by 30%, Maximum Poison Resistance increased by 6%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Shadow Resistance
  • Shadow Resistance increased by 20%, Maximum Shadow Resistance increased by 4%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Shadow Resistance II
  • Shadow Resistance increased by 30%, Maximum Shadow Resistance increased by 6%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Iron Barbs
  • Armor increased by 300, Thorns increased by 150.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Iron Barbs II
  • Armor increased by 500, Thorns increased by 250.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Fortitude
  • Maximum Life increased by 10%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Fortitude II
  • Maximum Life increased by 20%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Destruction
  • Overpower damage increased by 7%, Vulnerable damage increased by 7%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Destruction II
  • Overpower damage increased by 15%, Vulnerable damage increased by 15%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Precision
  • Critical Strike Chance increased by 4%, Critical strike damage increased by 25%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Precision II
  • Critical Strike Chance increased by 6%, Critical strike damage increased by 35%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Advantage
  • Attack speed increased by 7%, Lucky hit increased by 7%.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Advantage II
  • Attack speed increased by 15%, Lucky hit increased by 15%.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.
• Elixir of Resource
  • Resource cost reduced by 10% 15%, Maximum Resource increased by 10.
  • Experience gained increased by 5%.
• Elixir of Resource II
  • Resource cost reduced by 20% 30%, Maximum Resource increased by 25.
  • Experience gained increased by 8%.

New Elixirs

• Elixir of Holy Bolts
  • After killing an enemy, holy bolts fire from the corpse of that enemy.
  • Experience gained is increased by 6%.
• Elixir of Momentum
  • After killing an enemy, increase Movement Speed by 3% for 5 seconds, this effect stacks up to 15 times.
  • Experience gained is increased by 6%.

User Interface and User Experience

• Esu's Heirloom now denotes the bonus Critical Strike Chance based on Movement Speed in the Item's tooltip, instead of as a buff on the buff bar.
• A new option for camera to zoom further out has been added in the Graphics Options section of the Settings menu.
• Crafting materials now have rarities associated with them.
• New notifications related to the expiration of migrated Seasonal stashes has been added.
• Search through your Stash now supports filtering by Item Power.
• ‘Drop item’ can now be used when selecting Ctrl+Click on Keyboard.
• The Skill Tree can now be navigated with the D-pad on controller.
• There is now a pop-up on the HUD when picking up materials.
• Miscellaneous changes made to improve overall readability throughout the game.

Gauntlet Trials

• Players who earned a Seal of the Worthy for a given week in the Gauntlet now have a 100% chance of being rewarded a Unique Item.
• Boss Monsters won't drop a shrine if they have been regenerated by the Pillar of Proving.

Nightmare Dungeon Rotation

The following Dungeons will be available as Nightmare Dungeons throughout our next season.

• World Tier III
  • Light's Watch
  • Zenith
  • Belfry Zakara
  • Earthen Wound
  • Faceless Shrine
  • Light's Refuge
  • Forgotten Ruins
  • Renegade's Retreat
  • Sepulcher Of the Forsworn
  • Tomb of the Saints
  • Garan Hold
  • Jalal's Vigil
  • Sarat's Lair
  • Betrayers Row
  • Champions Demise
  • Shifting City
• World Tier IV
  • Dead Man's Dredge
  • Forbidden City
  • Hallowed Ossuary
  • Kor Dragan Barracks
  • Mercy's Reach
  • Rimescar Cavern
  • Tormented Ruins
  • Sanguine Chapel
  • Akkhan's Grasp
  • Bastion of Faith
  • Blind Burrows
  • Endless Gate
  • Fetid Mausoleum
  • Ghoa Ruins
  • Heathens Keep
  • Leviathan's Maw
  • Maugan's Works
  • Serpents Lair
  • Steadfast Barracks
  • Collapsed Vault
  • Conclave
  • Crusaders Cathedral
  • Deserted Underpass
  • Inferno
  • Prison of Caldeum
  • Renegades Retreat
  • Shivta Ruins
  • Sirocco Caverns
  • Uldur's Cave
  • Yshari Sanctum
  • Aldurwood
  • Broken Bulwark
  • Flooded Depths
  • Howling Warren
  • Lubans Rest
  • Mariners Refuge
  • Oldstones
  • Underroot
  • Vault of The Forsaken
  • Wretched Delve
  • Betrayer's Row
  • Bloodsoaked Crag
  • Buried Halls
  • Carrion Fields
  • Charnel House
  • Guulrahn Canals
  • Komdor Temple
  • Path of the Blind
  • Whispering Vault

Miscellaneous

• Traversal skills such as Leap and Teleport can now easily travel the distance to go to the edge of the screen. This will improve parity with Mouse and Keyboard players.
  • Note: with Ultrawide monitors, you may not traverse to the edge of your monitor as traversal abilities have a set maximum distance they can travel to.
• More skills will now appear more visually powerful as the skill gains power. Additionally, existing visual scaling has been improved.
• Experience rewards from completing Dungeon Events have been increased.
• Damage over time effects will no longer interrupt channeled skills.
• Channel times for interactable objects, such as picking up Bloodstones or activating switches, have been adjusted from various times of 1-2 seconds down to .75 seconds.
• Legendary Items and Unique Items can now be traded. This only includes unaltered items. Imprinting, Enchanting, Tempering, or Masterworking an item will bind it your account.
• Mounts can now be spurred in town.*(The local PTA has commissioned the Town Crier to implement scrolls of speeding to no avail).
• Glyph Experience gains have been increased by 25%.
• Flat Damage from Lucky Hit procs can be Critical Hits, but still cannot Overpower.
• The bonus experience for World Tiers II, III and IV have been increased.
  • World Tier I: Unchanged.
  • World Tier II: Increased from 20% to 50%.
  • World Tier III: Increased from 100% to 150%.
  • World Tier IV: Increased from 200% to 250%.
• Nightmare Dungeons that have been empty for 2 minutes will now be automatically closed instead of being reset.
• The Gold cap has been increased from 9 trillion to 99 trillion.
• Mutterlock chests now additionally drop 500 obols.
• World Boss Health has been greatly increased for World Tiers III and IV.
• Increased Murmuring Obols maximum capacity from 2,000 to 2,500.
• Players can now change their hairstyle in the wardrobe.

BUG FIXES

Accessibility

• Fixed an issue where the Screen reader did not identify check marks in the Challenge Menu.
• Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader did not announce various pieces of information in the Clan Menu.
• Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader did not announce Stats and Skill Used text in the Hall of Fallen heroes.
• Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader did not announce currency types in the Character panel.
• Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader did not announce anything in the Stash Search input field.
• Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader did not identify the text in the Party Invitation request Pop up.
• Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader could malfunction when switching tabs in the Renown page.

Gameplay

Barbarian

• Fixed an issue where Iron Skin did not benefit from bonus Barrier Generation sources.
• Fixed an issue where Upheaval cast by Madawc with Call of the Ancients would not stun with the Supreme Upgrade enabled.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for the Aspect of Ancestral Charge did not denote that the damage bonus is multiplicative.
• Fixed an issue where the Rumble Glyph did not fully give bonus damage to all Earthquake effects.
• Fixed an issue where some non-skill damage effects, such as Metamorphosis or Gohr's Devastating Grips, could grant stacks of Furious Upheaval.
• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of Ancestral Charge legendary could occasionally stop functioning properly.
• Fixed an issue where the guaranteed Overpower from the Earthstriker's Aspect could not be used by Ground Stomp.
• Fixed an issue where each hit from Ancients summoned by the Aspect of Ancestral charge would grant stacks of the Flawless Technique Legendary Paragon node.
• Fixed an issue where Call of the Ancients was not properly scaling with Ultimate Skill Damage affixes.

Druid

• Fixed an issue where the bonus damage from the Wild Impulses passive was additive instead of multiplicative.
• Fixed an issue where Hurricane was not displaying decimal values for its duration when affected by the Endless Tempest passive.
• Fixed an issue where the damage bonus from the Aspect of Retaliation bonus could apply twice.
• Fixed an issue where Storm Strike and Claw could attack in place instead of attempting to path the player.
• Fixed an issue where Blood Howl would not heal the player or properly regenerate Spirit when equipped with the Nighthowler's Aspect.
• Fixed an issue where the Fortify values generated by Safeguard was using Base Life instead of Maximum Life.
• Fixed an issue where the multiplicative damage from the Wilds Glyph did apply for passive attacks from companions.
• Fixed an issue where Earthspike would deal increased damage exponentially when hitting multiple stacked targets.
• Fixed an issue where additional Landslides from the Aftershock Aspect didn't fully apply the Enhanced Landslide upgrade modifier.
• Fixed an issue where the Inner Beast Legendary Paragon node did not trigger with the automatic Shapeshift granted by Mad Wolf's Glee or Insatiable Fury.
• Fixed an issue where the bonus Attack Speed and Critical Strike chance granted by the Nighthowler's Aspect was inconsistently applied for minions.
• Fixed an issue where Blood Howl would not work properly when Ravens was also equipped.
• Fixed an issue where the Spirit Glyph would only stack once instead of the intended six times.
• Fixed an issue where Shred could target invisible enemies.

Necromancer

• Fixed an issue where the bonus from the Bone Graft Legendary Paragon Node, which should only trigger from damage, could be triggered when enemies were made Vulnerable by Enhanced Bone Prison.
• Fixed an issue where the bonus Movement speed from Death's Approach was not active while in town.
• Fixed an issue where the Requiem Aspect was granting lower Maximum Essence per minion than intended.
• Fixed an issue where a Golem attack initiated right after dismounting wouldn't complete.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow and Bone Mages did not cast Blizzard when using the Coldbringer's Aspect.
• Fixed an issue where Skeleton Reapers had inconsistencies when targeting enemies.
• Fixed an issue where the Movement Speed bonus from Death's Approach was marked as multiplicative when it was additive.
• Fixed an issue where the Movement Speed bonus from the Corporeal glyph would persist after unequipping the Glyph, or when the player had no active minions.
• Fixed an issue where the chance for Skeleton Reapers to spawn a corpse was much lower than displayed.
• Fixed an issue where casting Bone Spirit very close to an enemy could cause the skill to no track properly and miss.
• Fixed an issue where Hewed flesh did not trigger Necrotic Carapace.

Rogue

• Fixed an issue where Enhanced Shadow Imbuement always granted extra Critical Strike Chance instead of just on injured targets.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for the Chilling Weight passive did not denote increased chill amount in the next rank up tooltip.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Clones weren’t inheriting Ultimate Skill damage from the No Witnesses Legendary Paragon node.
• Fixed an issue where Thorns damage could apply Skyhunter's Critical Strike Effect.
• Fixed an issue where the Glyph Upgrade pedestal could spawn directly on top of a player if a Nightmare Dungeon was completed while casting Barrage.
• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of Surprise calculated damage in a way that was inconsistent with other grenade effects.
• Fixed an issue where Enhanced Rapid Fire was giving less Critical Strike Chance than expected.
• Fixed an issue where non-offensive skills, such as Concealment, could consume the buff from Impetus.

Sorcerer

• Fixed an issue where the bonus damage from the Torch and Tactician Glyphs were additive instead of multiplicative.
• Fixed an issue where the Frigid Breeze passive would activate on any type of damage, instead of just cold damage.
• Fixed an issue where Esu's Ferocity was applying increase Critical Strike Damage to all damage types, instead of just Fire Damage.
• Fixed an issue where Frozen Orb was applying vulnerable to frozen enemies without the Greater Frozen Orb upgrade.
• Fixed an issue where the Destructive Ice Shards vulnerable effect could be applied by free Ice Shards casts granted by the Ice Shards Enchantment.
• Fixed an issue where the effect from the Aspect of Searing Wards could be consumed by free casts granted by the Firewall enchantment.
• Fixed an issue where other players in the party could trigger the Fireball enchantment effect when far away from the Sorcerer.
• Fixed an issue where the damage bonus for the Winter Glyph was additive and not multiplicative.
• The tooltip for the Aspect of Engulfing Flames now properly describes that it can grant both effects simultaneously.
• Fixed an issue where the Mana Reduction from the Efficiency aspect only benefited Incinerate for the first second of channeling the ability.
• Fixed an issue where the additional Ice Shards from the Aspect of Piercing Cold were dealing more damage than intended.
• Fixed an issue where Frozen Orbs fired from the Enchantment effect did not prioritize targeting enemies on-screen.
• Fixed an issue where Meteorites summoned by the Armageddon Aspect wouldn’t deal damage.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for Incinerate did not accurately reflect how much Mana it consumed.
• Fixed a rare issue where Crackling Energies could fail to spawn.

General

• Fixed an issue where a player's defensive capability could prevent Fortify from being applied.
• Fixed an issue where a Monster, with both affixes active, could pull the player to the new Teleporter location with the Vortex ability.
• Fixed an issue where the animation for Echo of Lilith's Death from Above attack didn't sync up with the actual area of effect for the damage.
• Fixed an issue where players could be damaged while using a traversal.
• Fixed an issue where the damage bonus from the Conceited Aspect did not get applied by the Barrier granted by Soulbrand.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes enemies would not be immobilized when they should be.
• Fixed an issue where Aberrant Cinders would remain on the ground after the Helltide had ended.
• Fixed an issue where the player could be unable to move freely when changing the World Tier and using a Town Portal at the same time.
• Fixed an issue where Attack Speed Magic Paragon Nodes granted less attack speed than the tooltip stated. The value now matches the tooltip.
• Fixed an issue where the Unstoppable effect from the Eluding Aspect could trigger when the player was higher than 35% life.
• Fixed an issue where free casts of abilities, such as Sorcerer's Frozen Orb Enchantment effect, were triggering Evade Cooldown Reduction from the affix that reduces Evade Cooldown when attacking.
• Fixed an issue where Monsters would stop spawning during the Cursed Shrine event if all present monsters were killed by leveling up.
• Fixed an issue where you couldn’t interact with the Altar for the Venous Mote collection Whisper bounty.
• Fixed an issue where a Bloodmarked Player did not count as an elite enemy for the Aspect of Protector in PvP.
• Fixed an issue where Aberrant Cinders, which could picked up but had no functionality, remained on the ground after Helltide ended.
• Fixed an issue where the visual effect from a Blood Blister explosion could be invisible if the Blood Blister itself was not visible.
• Fixed an issue where the Blood Boiling and Metamorphosis Aspects were not scaling properly with weapon damage.

Quests and Dungeons

• Fixed an issue where the Drowned Seahag in Mariner's Refuge could drop no loot.
• Fixed an issue where the Uncorrupted Flesh could not spawn during the Perceived Threat Quest.
• Fixed an issue where using a town portal after killing Demotath during the Depths of Despair quest could block progression.
• Fixed an issue where re-entering the quest dungeon for Exhuming the Forgotten could cause a server disconnect.
• Fixed an issue where you would not be able to leave the Gauntlet after a party member joined, and it was voted to stop the run.
• Fixed an issue where the Slay All Enemies objective in Guulrahn Canals, Luban's Rest, and Conclave could fail to complete and block progression.

User Interface and User Experience

• Fixed an issue where the affix preview window at the Occultist showed a fixed value instead of a range of values.
• Fixed an issue where the key would not display in the key binding Menu if F8 was set as a binding.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for X'fal's Corroded Signet implied a larger area of effect than the ring actually did damage in.
• For controller players that attempt to move and cast an ability but lack the resource for that ability, you will continue to move that direction until you have enough of your class's resource. At which point, you will stop moving and cast that ability. This has been fixed so that the player will stop moving even when they don't have enough resources to cast.
• Fixed an issue where the damage reduction from Harlequin's Crest didn't display in Character Stats while in Town or mounted.
• Fixed an issue where swapping key binding presets wouldn't persist between play sessions if that was the only setting changed.
• Fixed an issue where the Edgemaster's Aspect could sometimes not appear when searching the Stash.
• Fixed an issue where the Glacial Aspect's tooltip in the Codex of Power was inaccurate.
• Fixed an issue where unequipping a Paragon Board that has two unlocked Gate Nodes not connected to each other would result in other boards becoming unequipped.
• Fixed an issue where powers on items that scaled with player attributes, such as the powers of Deathless Visage or Fleshrender, did not properly display the scaling bonus.
• Fixed an issue where Trade Chat could still be entered even when it was disabled in the settings.
• Fixed an issue where the Feats of Strength completion percentage was not accurate when all challenges were completed.
• Fixed an issue where the number of affixes were inconsistent between Nightmare Sigils and the spawned Nightmare Dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where the Inspect window could persist on the screen and block the trade window when trading in Local Co-Op.
• Fixed an issue where comparisons involving affixes acquired via enchanting were not accurate.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed various instances where some items were class-restricted when they shouldn't be.
• Fixed an issue where Ancestral items could only be gambled for when the player's character was Level 73 or higher.
• Fixed an issue where Vampiric Pacts from the Season of Blood could still drop in certain instances.
• Fixed an issue where weather effects during Helltide could stop functioning while moving through an area affected by Helltide.
• Various performance, stability, visual, and UI improvements.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

PTR's success means a "slightly shorter" season for Diablo 4.

Blizzard has finally delivered patch notes for Diablo 4 version 1.4.0 ahead of Season 4: Loot Reborn’s launch later this month.

The full list of changes coming to the studio’s latest dungeon crawler arrives immediately after an in-depth developer update livestream. Following a tumultuous beginning for Diablo …

The bug-fighting veteran takes a closer look at Super Earth.

Starship Troopers actor Casper Van Dien has offered his thoughts on Sony’s PC and PlayStation 5 hit Helldivers 2, and he has some thoughts about those capes.

The actor, who played the gun-toting Johnny Rico in the original movie, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, and Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars, worked with …

Looks like jetpacks weren't enough after all.

Bethesda has given Starfield fans a first look at what might be its most-anticipated feature yet: land vehicles.

The Fallout and Elder Scrolls game developer very briefly touched on the upcoming addition in an announcement video for the upcoming Starfield May update. As the footage shows, vehicles will allow players to …

Sony has confirmed that LittleBigPlanet 3 servers on PlayStation 4 will remain offline “indefinitely” following troubles with the service from earlier this year.

The company updated fans on the bad news in an update on its website (via Delisted Games), explaining that the temporary server shutdown in January will now be in effect for the foreseeable future. It’s a decision that means millions of user-generated levels will no longer be accessible to new players. Sony cites “ongoing technical issues” as the reason for its choice to discontinue support.

Creation content that has been stored on players’ devices locally can still be accessed, with users also still free to create content and play it while disconnected from the servers. PlayStation also guides LittleBigPlanet fans to offline features should they wish to continue playing in some form.

As players eventually flock to new experiences, games have been known to lose connection to certain online features in the years following their releases. Lack of server access to the LittleBigPlanet games is an especially large blow, though, as they’re known for their endless ocean of player-generated content like levels and outfits. LittleBigPlanet 3 even allowed players to enjoy user-generated levels from the previous two entries.

PlayStation 3 players lost access to that content when Sony moved to shut down PS3 servers for LittleBigPlanet 1, 2, and 3 in 2021, and now, the PS4 version of the third game is suffering the same fate. With servers shutting down indefinitely, it means that there is no official way to see the content players have been creating since the original LittleBigPlanet launched in 2008. LittleBigPlanet 3 launched for PS3 and PS4 in 2014.

There’s no telling exactly how much user-generated content was pumped into the game since its release, but in February 2017, more than seven years ago, Sony boasted that the game featured more than 10 million levels. It’s unclear exactly how many were lost today.

Thankfully, LittleBigPlanet 3 isn’t completely unplayable without its servers. Although its now-lost library of content was its premiere offering, players can still download and enjoy its story mode, which, in our review, we estimate offers around seven-to-eight hours of fun. We gave Sumo Digital’s Sony installment a 6.8 upon its release, calling it a “a beautifully-designed game with a great creation toolkit, LittleBigPlanet 3 is let down by unimaginative co-op & bugs.”

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

James has a new look.

It looks like publisher Konami and developer Bloober Team have redesigned the main character in their Silent Hill 2 remake, and fans are taking the news pretty well.

Some Silent Hill fans took notice of the change thanks to an update to the project’s Steam page (via SteamDB). …

"I know that he loved you all."

The team at Rabbit & Bear Studios is continuing with the development of a new Eiyuden Chronicle sequel following the death of series creator Yoshitaka Murayama.

The studio opened up about its future and what’s next for the Eiyuden Chronicle series in a recent Reddit AMA conducted …

Launch is coming.

As Manor Lords prepares to finally make its way to the public, developer Slavic Magic has stepped in to make sure fans’ expectations are in check.

The one-person studio has been painstakingly crafting the medieval city builder for the last few years, and the PC community has taken notice. The promise …

Tencent's high-stakes arena warfare experience launches this year.

Tencent Games subsidiary MoreFun Studios has revealed that its realistic shooter franchise, Arena Breakout, is coming to PC in the form of a new title called Arena Breakout: Infinite.

The free-to-play foray into the PC realm is set to release for Steam later this year. MoreFun says players can expect “unparalleled …

Players are already streaming the demo on Twitch.

Korean developer Shift Up just published – and then unpublished – a demo for its upcoming sleek action game, Stellar Blade, ahead of its launch on PlayStation 5 next month.

Fans excited to try out the futuristic combat-focused title were surprised to see the offer show up on the …

Shot entirely in GTA 5.

Film company Altitude Media Group has picked up a documentary that takes place entirely inside the world of Grand Theft Auto 5, and it’s called Grand Theft Hamlet, per Deadline.

The in-game production will cover the story of Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, two players with theatre backgrounds …

Korean developer Shift Up just published – and then unpublished – a demo for its upcoming sleek action game, Stellar Blade, ahead of its launch on PlayStation 5 next month.

Fans excited to try out the futuristic combat-focused title were surprised to see the offer show up on the PlayStation Store earlier today. They were even more surprised, however, to see the demo removed from the store minutes later.

After it was unlisted, the Stellar Blade demo page simply featured a message that said it was “not available for purchase.” Now, as pointed out by Wario64 on X/Twitter, links simply lead to an error page.

This short look at Stellar Blade was live on the digital store for around 20 minutes, giving some fans more than enough time to download and dive in before its removal. Streamer yaboyroshi was lucky enough to grab the demo and even started streaming gameplay on Twitch. The Stellar Blade Twitch page is slowly filling up with other streams of the demo, with seven users showcasing gameplay at the time of this story’s publication.

With players actively diving in to showcase what seems to be some early moments from the game, it seems Shift Up’s demo might have made its way to the PlayStation Store a bit too early. There is currently no official word on when or if it will return. It’s a head-scratcher, but it seems the page was accidentally updated by mistake. It would explain why the demo appeared without prior announcement from Sony or Shift Up, though neither have released an explanation.

Stellar Blade comes to PS5 on April 26. Those interested in pre ordering it can see the rundown of purchase options here.

IGN has reached out to Sony for comment.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer at IGN

Film company Altitude Media Group has picked up a documentary that takes place entirely inside the world of Grand Theft Auto 5, and it’s called Grand Theft Hamlet, per Deadline.

The in-game production will cover the story of Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, two players with theatre backgrounds who took COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK as an opportunity to recreate Shakespeare’s Hamlet within Rockstar Games' fifth Grand Theft Auto title. With the future looking grim and lots of time on their hands, they embark on an adventure that sees them facing griefers and learning about the truths of life. You can read the full synopsis below:

“January 2021. The UK is in its third lockdown and all entertainment venues remain closed. For theatre actors Sam and Mark, the future looks bleak. As the pandemic drags on, Mark — single and childless — is increasingly socially isolated, while Sam panics about how he is going to support his young family. They spend their days in the online digital world of Grand Theft Auto and when they stumble across a theater, they suddenly have an idea to stage a full production of Hamlet within the game. This film charts their ridiculous, hilarious and moving adventure as they battle violent griefers and discover surprising truths about life, friendship and the enduring power of Shakespeare.”

Written and directed by Crane along with Peter and Ben director Pinny Grylls, the film will see its worldwide debut at the SXSW Film Festival on March 10. It’s a pandemic-era story more than three years in the making that Altitude will bring to UK and Irish theaters later in 2024.

“We are extremely proud and excited to be partnering with Pinny, Sam and the whole team on Grand Theft Hamlet and cannot wait for audiences to experience this singular and masterful piece of machinima filmmaking,” Altitude Film Sales Managing Director Mike Runagall said. “Grand Theft Hamlet is like nothing you have seen before.”

The COVID-19 lockdown inspired all sorts of creativity across gaming, and the GTA 5 community wasn’t even the first to put on an in-game theatrical production. Fallout 76 players, for example, formed a group called The Wasteland Theatre Company, which saw them pulling together to recreate classic plays like A Midsummer Nights Dream.

GTA 5 first launched in 2013, and now, more than a decade later, Rockstar is prepping to launch its follow-up, Grand Theft Auto 6. Details about how the project might tackle online multiplayer are a mystery, but you can bet fans will be quick to turn it into a sandbox playground with theatre and so much more.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Balatro publisher Playstack Games has taken to social media to defend its poker roguelike after fans noticed it had been removed from certain stores.

Players started to point out Balatro’s disappearance over the last few days, with some taking to social media to express their concerns. Reddit user JustASmith27, for example, was unable to find the Nintendo Switch eShop store page in the U.K. Players from other countries, such as Australia, have reported that they are running into the same roadblock as well.

Mainly, the problem seems isolated to Nintendo Switch stores outside of the U.S. Playstack shared an explanation behind Balatro’s disappearance on X/Twitter, saying that the team is working “as hard as we can to get the game back on sale as soon as possible.” With some territories still able to purchase Balatro without issue, the publisher confirms its removal is tied to a sudden change in its age rating.

“This is not an issue with the stores themselves, however a reaction to an overnight change to Balatro’s age rating from 3+ to 18+ by a ratings board without any advance warning,” Playstack said, “due to a mistaken belief that the game ‘contains prominent gambling imagery and material that instructs about gambling.’”

Playstack adds that it addressed gambling concerns with the ratings board in October. At the time, Balatro was labeled 3+ after receiving an initial rating of 18+.

“During that specific appeal, the ratings board assured us 'we have reviewed your product and determined that the disclosure of gambling themes was unwarranted,’” Playstack added. “The game content has not changed since the age rating was amended to a 3+.”

pic.twitter.com/MroeavYY9U

— Playstack (@PlaystackGames) March 1, 2024

The Playstack team says they “fundamentally believe the ratings decision is unfounded,” mentioning that LocalThunk, Balatro’s sole developer, is “staunchly anti-gambling.” LocalThunk took to X/Twitter to share their own thoughts on the matter, doubling down on their stance against the accusation that Balatro contains any form of gambling.

“I do not condone gambling (staking something personally valuable on an uncertain event) nor do I believe that Balatro contains gambling,” the post says. “I did add risk/reward mechanics and RNG to Balatro, but these are core mechanics to the genre at large.”

Re: the Balatro news today

I do not condone gambling (staking something personally valuable on an uncertain event) nor do I believe that Balatro contains gambling

I did add risk/reward mechanics and RNG to Balatro, but these are core mechanics to the genre at large

— localthunk (@LocalThunk) March 1, 2024

While Playstack is confident Balatro will remain on PC storefronts like Steam, it’s not sure how other platforms will be impacted. It adds, "Please rest assured the game will be back up on sale, possibly with a temporary 18+ rating while we resolve the issue."

Balatro launched for PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S on February 20, 2024. Although its Steam page boasts that it is “the definitive poker roguelike experience,” it also features a variety of gameplay twists, such as cards with unique abilities, a campaign, difficulty modes, and more.

“Combine valid poker hands with unique Joker cards in order to create varied synergies and builds,” its description says. “Earn enough chips to beat devious blinds, all while uncovering hidden bonus hands and decks as you progress. You’re going to need every edge you can get in order to reach the boss blind, beat the final ante and secure victory.”

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Doubling down.

Balatro publisher Playstack Games has taken to social media to defend its poker roguelike after fans noticed it had been removed from certain stores.

Players started to point out Balatro’s disappearance over the last few days, with some taking to social media to express their concerns. Reddit user

Judgment Day is inevitable.

Nacon and its Milan studio have revealed their open-world survival game, Terminator: Survivors, along with a Steam Early Access release date of October 24, 2024.

The project’s full debut arrived as part of the February …

Our first look at Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will arrive in the form of a trailer tomorrow morning, FromSoftware and Bandai Namco have announced.

The game’s official X/Twitter account revealed the news in a social media post, promising to deliver a first look at the long-awaited DLC at 7 a.m. PST / 10 a.m. EST. The developers have not said what exactly it'll show, but the video’s description at least promises a three-minute trailer.

The first trailer for #ELDENRING Shadow of the Erdtree will be revealed in 16 hours. Join us at 15:00 UTC.https://t.co/vdG8dJvcet pic.twitter.com/lBbKJYxW2z

— ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) February 20, 2024

Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC was announced around one year ago, promising to add on to FromSoftware’s already gigantic action RPG world. The only official information we’ve received since then, however, is a look at some appropriately foreboding concept art. The Dark Souls developer revealed in November 2023 that development on the new content was “proceeding smoothly” while players continued to wait patiently. However, tomorrow’s trailer will provide our most substantial look at the new adventure yet.

In addition to the trailer news, billbil-kun — who has a track record of unearthing future announcements from online listings — noted that Elden Ring Game of the Year and Collector's Editions are slated for June 21 and speculated that they may coincide with the DLC's release date.

One way or another, tomorrow is proving to be a busy day for gaming fans. Just before we take a peek at Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Nintendo will debut a new Direct focused on some of its partners and the games they hope to release in 2024. The FromSoftware DLC, meanwhile, is still without a release date, but let’s hope we hear a concrete schedule tomorrow.

Elden Ring was released on February 25, 2022, meaning its two-year anniversary is just on the horizon. In our 10/10 review, we said, “Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path.”

For more on Elden Ring, be sure to read up on the project’s recently announced mobile spinoff. While FromSoftware finalizes its work on the DLC, there's always the chance we have even more from this world to look forward to.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

The wait is almost over.

Our first look at Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will arrive in the form of a trailer tomorrow morning, FromSoftware and Bandai Namco have announced.

The game’s official X/Twitter account revealed the news in a social media post, promising to deliver a first look at the long-awaited …