Month: July 2021

Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games and 2K Games, has acquired Dynamixyz, a “video-based facial animation services” company that worked on projects like Avengers: Endgame and Love, Death & Robots, as well as Take-Two’s own Red Dead Redemption II and NBA 2K21.

Dynamixyz owns “leading-edge, proprietary motion capture, facial-analysis, and full 3D processing tools and technology” that spans CG, computer vision, and machine learning.

Take-Two did not disclose the purchase price for Dynamixyz, which is based in Cesson-Sévigné, France.

Take-Two said the acquisition of Dynamixyz represents the company’s next step in its plan to bolster its internal development capabilities so it can become the “most creative, innovative, and efficient entertainment company.”

Going forward, Dynamixyz will become a division of Take-Two and will work solely with Take-Two’s labels, including Rockstar and 2K. Current CEO Gaspard Breton will continue to lead the company.

“Dynamixyz’s revolutionary facial analysis technology and services is a highly complementary and strategic addition to Take-Two’s world-class publishing and development structure,” Take-Two publishing boss Michael Worosz said. “Gaspard and the visionary team at Dynamixyz have a well-earned reputation for providing the widest and smartest range of facial motion capture solutions to the entertainment industry, and their work has captivated millions of people around the world from the box office to the living room. We’re thrilled to have them join our team, incorporate their proprietary technologies and creative wonder into our future offerings, and to continue to evolve their capabilities and solutions.”

For his part, Breton said: “Having worked with Rockstar Games and 2K, we know firsthand Take-Two’s commitment to creative excellence and welcome the opportunity to leverage our tools and technology to help them to achieve that goal and to captivate and engage audiences further.”

In other news, the latest GTA 6 rumor suggests the game will launch in 2025 and include a Fortnite-like evolving map.

Singularity 6, the developer of the the MMO Palia that has echoes of Animal Crossing and Breath of the Wild, has raised $30 million in Series B funding to help fuel the development of that title.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new round of funding was led by FunPlus Ventures, while game industry veteran Mitch Lasky also invested.

Singularity 6’s CEO Anthony Leung, a former executive at League of Legends developer Riot Games, said the team has been “overjoyed” by the reaction to Palia thus far.

“The incredible response from the community has further invigorated us in our pursuit to deliver an immersive online world where players can feel like they truly belong. Creating that experience may have seemed like a daunting prospect, but with all of the support and encouragement we’ve received, we are more heartened than ever,” Leung said.

FunPlus Ventures COO Michael Tong said his venture capital firm was attracted to Palia because it’s more than a game–it’s a “social space where players can find a sense of community and build friendships.”

As we reported previously, Palia allows you to create your own character before being put into a vibrant world. You play as a human, a species regarded as long dead “legends” by the rest of the world. You awaken into this world without knowing why, and set out to make a name for yourself, whether that’s as a gardener, cook, homeowner, adventurer, or something else.

As a MMO, Palia’s world is filled with both fleshed-out NPCs and real-world players, allowing you to build a community and discover the secrets of Palia’s world together. You can also build and customize your own home, join Neighborhoods (Palia’s version of guilds), and start romances with certain characters.

Palia is scheduled to release for PC in Pre-Alpha Access in Summer 2021.

BioWare was once working on a first-person, space-faring Mass Effect game for Nintendo DS, but the project was eventually disbanded.

Talking to MinnMax, ex-BioWare producer, Mark Darrah, spoke about the game – called Mass Effect: Corsair – and revealed what the project was intended to be. “It was going to be a DS game, it was going to be first-person, you’d fly around a ship,” he said. “We were going to put it out in a part of the galaxy that was more pirate-y and not really fully explored.”

“It was going to kinda be a combination of Privateer and Star Control,” he continued. “You would be independent, you’d be more like a Han Solo character, not a Spectre. And you’d be flying around, picking up cargo, exploring, and sell that information back to the human Alliance.”

By that description, it sounds as if Corsair was planned to take place in Mass Effect’s Terminus Systems; a sector of lawless space beyond the reach of the Council and the Earth Systems Alliance. Players would have had control of their ship, and been able to engage in space combat.

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Not much had been put together when BioWare hit a stumbling block, though. “Pretty much all we had was the beginnings of the flight controls, we didn’t have the rest of that game put together,” said Darrah. “We were figuring out how it worked from an IP perspective, still.”

That stumbling block was the DS itself; more specifically its cartridges. “The problem is that the economics of the Nintendo DS are just terrible,” said Darrah, explaining that the cartridges needed for Mass Effect: Corsair cost $10.50 each. And with DS games retailing at $30, it meant very little money for development costs after the cartridge has been purchased and localisation paid for.

“That was the problem, ultimately,” he said. “We know how to make big games, not games that had control of their cogs. It didn’t make sense. EA was predicting we’d only sell 50,000 copies.”

Darrah said that the team on Mass Effect: Corsair eventually transitioned to mobile, and the creation of Mass Effect Infiltrator, a third-person shooter made for iOS, Android, and Blackberry.

For more from BioWare’s sci-fi galaxy, check out our Legendary Edition reviews of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. BioWare also recently revealed the fate of the planned Mass Effect movie.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.

The NCAA has approved legislation allowing college athletes to earn profits from their name, image, and likeness, according to an NPR report.

Previously, college athletes had limited compensation packages for things like scholarships or other forms of educational payments. Under new laws, however, college athletes can now make money performing activities professional athletes engage in. This includes things like endorsement deals, signing autographs, and social media content. This may also include college sports games, like EA’s college football title possibly launching in 2023.

We’ve reached out to EA for comment and will update should we hear back.

NCAA president Mark Emmert said it’s “an important day” for college athletes and that the organization will “work with Congress” to enact more widespread legislation.

“This is an important day for college athletes since they all are now able to take advantage of name, image and likeness opportunities,” Emmert said. “With the variety of state laws adopted across the country, we will continue to work with Congress to develop a solution that will provide clarity on a national level.”

The last college sports game was NCAA Football 14. There hasn’t been a college basketball game from EA since 2009, with both franchises unceremoniously ending in the same year thanks to the O’Bannon v NCAA lawsuit.

Development on Electronic Arts’ upcoming college football game, which was announced back in February, is only just getting started, according to the publisher. It will feature over 100 teams and replicate their logos, stadiums, uniforms, and gameday traditions; however, EA is not working with the NCAA at all on the new game due to various ongoing lawsuits and these legal proceedings. This is also why the company is doing away with the “NCAA Football” branding moving forward.

Thor: Ragnarok didn’t just break the mold for its stoic hero, it shattered it like Hela did Mjolnir. Director Taika Waititi is set to do the same with his second go-round in Thor: Love & Thunder, and Karen Gillan’s Nebula will be part of that “bonkers” atmosphere, the actress said in a new interview with Collider.

“Taika really brought out the bonkers side [of Nebula],” Gillan said. “I think everyone is just really, really funny and bonkers and wild.”

Nebula joined the MCU in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. As Gamora’s sister and Thanos’ daughter, she was a major antagonist for the Guardians and later the greater MCU as she struggled between loyalty to Thanos and then to Gamora, finally breaking out of that mold in Avengers: Endgame. While the Guardians movies are undeniably funny, Gillan has always had to play it straight as the dour cyborg. While the overall atmosphere of Thor: Love & Thunder is wild, Nebula probably won’t be the one making the jokes.

“I don’t know if it’s [personal] levity,” Gillan continued. “Like I don’t think she’s finding herself funny or being funny, but in her seriousness I think we will find her funny, and just that pure aggression that we’ve tapped into.”

Thor: Love & Thunder wrapped filming earlier this month according to Chris Hemsworth, and is currently scheduled to hit theaters on May 6, 2022. The film has an equally bonkers cast. Along with stars Chris Hemsworth and the returning Natalie Portman, a number of Guardians characters including Nebula, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) will appear; we’re expecting to see other mainline Guardians as well. Christian Bale will play Gorr the God Butcher, and Russell Crowe will graduate from gladiator to Greek god as Zeus in the film. The Asgardian Actors are returning as well, including Matt Damon and Sam Neill as Loki and Odin, who appeared in the play scene in Thor: Ragnarok. Melissa McCarthy will join them as Hela.

Going directly from the Legendary Edition of Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 is a dramatic change. Where the first game can still look and feel a bit janky, the second now plays like a fully modern third-person, cover-based shooter that, thanks to its 4K upgrade, looks almost good enough to have been released for the first time in 2020 rather than 2010. Its gunplay may not be the best of its kind, but it’s certainly fun enough to keep battles interesting throughout the length of the campaign. Of course, far more importantly, Mass Effect 2’s story and characters are top-notch and memorable, building on BioWare’s already amazingly well constructed science fiction universe and culminating in what is – without hyperbole – one of the all-time best finales in gaming history.

The improvements in the Legendary Edition are largely graphical – the 4K textures are almost as sharp as a modern game, though I spotted things like guns or random props that looked a little blurry here and there. Granted, the facial animations don’t compare to the motion-captured performances we see in games like The Last of Us Part 2 or Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but they’re a step up from the first game and good enough to not distract from what’s happening on screen. Playing on Xbox Series X, it ran flawlessly at 60fps (my TV’s not quite capable of 4K/120Hz, but EA says Mass Effect is), with the biggest visual problems I saw amounting to some small animation glitches. The same powerful photo mode is available throughout all three games in the trilogy too, and Mass Effect 2 is a great way to take advantage of it, being a significantly better-looking game than the original. (It’s quite annoying, though, that the Series X’s Quick Resume is not supported, so my kid’s obsession with New Super Lucky’s Tale meant I had to go through the start screen every time.) 

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Outside of that, all of the DLC is now integrated into the campaign in a way that’s much smoother. Having a bunch of stuff unceremoniously dropped into my inventory because I bought something never felt good, and having to use credits to buy them at in-game stores instead is literally a small price to pay for better immersion. There are some visible seams around where the DLC was welded in, however – it’s still very noticeable that the two permanent companions that were added, Kasumi and Zaeed, are less conversational than the rest of the team once they’re on your ship. 

I also greatly appreciated the tweaks made to the planet scanning and mining minigame – it’s still fairly tedious to manually scan over globe after globe looking for minerals to use on upgrades for your ship and gear, but slightly less so thanks to conveniences like the markers that show where you’ve already launched a collection probe. And it’s still preferable to driving around empty worlds in the Mako in the first game.

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Part of why Mass Effect 2 holds up so well is its unusual structure. Its main quest is to stop a group of aliens who’ve been abducting entire human colonies, but the real meat of it is building your team – first (usually) by recruiting them and then with a second mission in which you earn their loyalty and unlock their extra skills. Each one of the 12 characters (including returning favorites Garrus and Tali) has an interesting backstory to delve into, and they’re all different and distinct. Even though there are several stories that deal with family, resolving Jacob’s quest to find his father is completely different in tone from those involving Samara’s daughter, Miranda’s sister, or Thane’s son. Meanwhile, Kasumi’s mission is a short heist, while Jack’s is a jailbreak and Grunt’s is a straight test of combat befitting of a krogan warrior. The arrogant and hilariously blunt salarian, Dr. Mordin Solus, stands apart as a breakout new character. All of that variety in the stories it tells is one of Mass Effect 2’s great strengths, and being able to choose which order to do them in and which characters to bring with you on each mission is just enough openness to make me feel like I was in control of the story.

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Through these encounters and conversations with your squad afterwards you get to know these characters well by the end of the roughly 40-hour story, and that means when their lives are legitimately endangered in the finale there’s real tension to it – especially knowing that the consequence of making the wrong choice is that those characters will be absent from the sequel if you carry over your save file. It’s masterfully done, and that final mission remains unsurpassed in my mind, even 11 years later.

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Even though I remember being somewhat disappointed with the choice back in 2010, history has validated BioWare’s decision to almost completely abandon inventory management in favor of a simplified system where you simply pick your squad’s guns from a list of weapons available to each class. Especially with a larger roster of companions, the thought of collecting enough gear to individually equip all of them with weapons and armor seems like it’d be a major chore.

Likewise, the switch to using ammo instead of the original Mass Effect’s weapon cooldowns is a change I’m fairly neutral on. It can force you to vary your weapon use in prolonged fights, but the large amount of ammo that drops from enemies and unlimited use of biotic and tech abilities from you and your two squad members meant that was rarely a problem (and this was playing on the Veteran difficulty setting).

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Combat works well in large part thanks to weapons that all look and sound powerful when fired – especially my Vanguard class’s favored heavy pistols. There’s also a substantially wider variety of enemies to shoot at this time; you don’t even encounter the main enemy – the Collectors – until you’ve already spent a good number of hours fighting mercenaries, robots, Geth, and more, and their AI can put up a respectable fight. Controlling your squad in combat is simple, but positioning them doesn’t seem all that important unless you’re playing at the highest difficulty level; I rarely bothered because they were usually smart enough to stay out of harm’s way while also contributing to the battles. Their main usefulness is their powers, which you can use as though they were your own. I had a lot of fun using a biotic character like Miranda or Jack to bowl over a group of enemies with a shockwave, then simply shooting them while they were down and out of cover.

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During this playthrough I went out of my way to make every Renegade decision I could, often taking a “shoot first, wound the hostage” approach to conflict resolution and ruffling feathers wherever possible. I’d never played this way before, and it certainly gave things a different flavor than what I remembered from playing as a male Paragon when it first came out. Sure, it was a significant pivot from my Shepard’s behavior in Mass Effect 1, which was mostly Paragon but with an occasional tough-love edge to her, but the surprising intro sequence that leads to Shepard being recruited into the pro-human, borderline-terrorist organization Cerberus more than justifies a personality shift for the character if you choose to go that route.

Working for the Illusive Man has its advantages, such as an entertaining performance from Martin Sheen, who creates enough ambiguity about his true motives that he fills the role of a nuanced villain without actually being Shepard’s antagonist. He also provides a fancy new version of the Normandy that comes equipped with an AI (voiced by Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer) who banters with Seth Green’s Joker in the pilot’s seat. In fact, it’s a constant delight to spot all the recognizable actors who populate the Mass Effect universe, including Yvonne Strahovski as Miranda, Carrie-Anne Moss as Aria, Lance Henriksen as Admiral Hackett, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Admiral Shala’Raan, and Michael Dorn as Gatatog Uvenk, among many others.

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One thing Mass Effect could never seem to get right is its vehicles. Despite jettisoning the Mako, Mass Effect 2’s Firewalker DLC added in the Hammerhead hovercraft, and it’s only a slight improvement that is fortunately used sparsely in optional missions. Zipping around in the Hammerhead is an okay change of pace from on-foot combat, but rarely more than that – all you can do is jump, shoot, and hover over glowing spots to collect things. The missions where you fight enemies are annoying because of how fragile your shields are, but it becomes a non-issue when you realize you can easily blast targets from such a distance that they can’t fight back.

Overall, I can’t give you the precise number of hours played on my save file because a bug resets the clock every time you load it up. But when you factor in all of the DLC missions – which are mostly excellent and included a couple of lengthy and involved episodes I’d never gone back to play before – it’s easily over 40 hours if you go out of your way to do as much as possible before going into the final battle, as I did. The vast majority of those hours are outstanding.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for Loki: Episode 4.

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Wow (Owen Wilson voice, if you’d like), what an episode of Marvel’s Loki!

“The Nexus Event” completely changed the game and, needless to say, it’s left us with a ton of questions.

Which makes it perfect for Slackin’ Off!

Yup, this is where we once again check in with Loki and toss around a few friendly theories and questions that have been the topic of interoffice Slack Channel chatter. Episode 4 utterly broke the TVA, revealing the Time Keepers to be nothing more than Chuck E. Cheese animatronics spouting off a supreme overlord-style spiel. As Agent Mobius slowly began to trust Loki again, and follow up on the claims that the TVA are lying liars who lie, it was also revealed that Judge Renslayer was in on the cosmic con and knew all along that the Time Keepers were nothing more than a stylish ShowBiz Pizza band.

Also, like we thought last week, those pruning wands don’t kill people or erase them from existence. They simply send you somewhere else. But where did Loki land after getting wanded? It seemed to be some sort of ravaged city (New York?) that functioned as a depot for dumped Loki Variants, including “Classic Loki” (Richard E. Grant), “Kid Loki” (Jack Veal), and “Boastful Loki” (DeObia Oparei).

Oh yeah, and a wee Croco-Loki.

So let’s bust apart “The Nexus Event” and try to untangle some of the remaining mysteries. With only two episodes left, there’s little time to lose. Here are some of our thoughts and theories. Oh, and be sure to drop your own take on Loki’s premiere in the comments — and don’t forget to vote in our poll at the bottom of the page!

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Question: What Was Sylvie’s Nexus Event?

Okay, so young Lady Loki wasn’t always a threat to the Sacred Timeline. Played by The Walking Dead’s Cailey Fleming, Loki, who would go on to call herself Sylvie, was allowed to become a pre-teen. Then, all of a sudden, while playing with a toy ship, and pretending Valkyrie was fighting a dragon, she was scooped up by Renslayer and her hunters and her entire Asgard timeline was reset.

Near the end of Episode 4, Sylvie asks Renslayer if she remembered what her Nexus Event was. Meaning, what did she do that made her go against the Scared Timeline? Renslayer said she didn’t remember, though she may have known and just didn’t want to give Sylvie any sort of satisfaction. Or, you know, she’s just cold-hearted and truly didn’t remember any of it.

Logically, Sylvie’s mere existence couldn’t have been the Nexus Event because she was allowed to live for many years. She had to have done something, right? Or, could it be because of something someone else did? Or will do?

Theory: Loki’s Love for Sylvie Is Why She Was Chased by the TVA

Last week, we wondered if the Time Keepers were secretly all Loki Variants. Now that they’ve been revealed as robots, there’s still the question of who is behind them? Renslayer is a good suspect, though she seems more wary and scared of the situation (and ready to die there at the end) than someone who’s secretly controlling the TVA from the shadows.

Then there’s the Kang of it all. Kang is still very much on the MCU horizon so it’s just a question as to whether or not he has anything to do with this story (given his connection to Renslayer in the comics).

Of course, as we said above, a Variant Loki could be behind it all and they’re in charge of the TVA, having either created the TVA somehow or conquered the TVA long ago. And this TVA Loki could be pruning all other Lokis because – well – they want to be the last Loki standing. Though, if this were true, they certainly left Sacred Timeline MCU Loki alone.

Anyhow, “The Nexus Event” is also notable because Loki fell in love. With himself, yes. Sort of. He’s fallen for Sylvie and it’s an altogether new feeling for him.

Regardless, this connection, the feelings they have for each other, caused a very special sort of Nexus Event to happen. One that was seeable and detectable within one of the worst apocalyptic events on the timeline. So whatever this is, this love, it could be the reason Sylvie was targeted as a young girl. It was simply an attempt to remove the future object of Loki’s affections. The TVA, for whatever reason, wanted to eliminate Loki’s love.

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Question: Who Is Ravonna Renslayer’s Other Analyst?

This is still in play, by the way. It was even repeated again this week during the “Previously on Loki…” part at the beginning. Is Renslayer’s other analyst Kang? Is it the evil TVA-conquering Loki? What’s the deal with this cat? Whoever it is, they’re probably the one who is 100% contributing to Renslayer’s squirreliness.

Theory: Pruned Loki Is in a Loki-Conquered New York

Sure, the series is dealing with eons of cataclysmic extinction events but it’s hard to see a destroyed city and not immediately think it’s Manhattan after the Battle of New York. It even looks like Avengers Tower is in the background, or what’s left of it. So when Loki winds up in a new limbo-like dimension, surrounded by ruined buildings and devastation, it’s easy to formulate that it might be an alternate reality where Loki won the war and New York totally fell.

Obviously, this city was still pruned from the Sacred Timeline but it’s also a place holding a handful of Loki Variants. Perhaps all ones who tried to invade Earth with the Chitauri in some fashion?

Or maybe this is New York but the government succeeded in wiping it out with the nuclear blast? The one that Tony Stark prevented from happening?

Either way, we’re all here for Alligator Loki’s attempt to ambush our planet with alien hordes.

Question: How Long Has Ravonna Renslayer Known About the Time Keepers?

How long has Judge Renslayer been in on the bit? One can assume this is how she was given a promotion from Hunter to Judge, but when did that happen? And when we see her in the flashback, nabbing young Loki and then having to face the Time Keepers after said Loki escapes, are the Time Keepers real at that point? Were they ever real?

Is this incident, where she lost Sylvie, the reason Renslayer knows about all the TVA lies? And if so, was she only kept docile because of her promotion or is there some other threat looming over her head?

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Question: Does Everyone Go to Their Own Variant Apocalypse Pocket?

Loki got wanded off to a place that was full of other Loki Variants (and may be Loki-related as a locale). Does this mean Mobius has been transported to his own private Mobius dumping ground? Does he see versions of himself from all across time and space? And are any of them played by his real-life brothers and/or riding jet skis?

Question: Who’s FDR High School Pen Is It?

Okay, we didn’t get a full visual callback to it in Episode 4 but Mobius for sure took a glance, once again, at Renslayer’s FDR High School pen as they were signing off on the Loki case documents. Back in Episode 2, Mobius mentions the Franklin D. Roosevelt pen and how he’d never seen it before, mentioning how it must be a gift from Renslayer’s other analyst. He eye-checked it again this week.

So is this actually Renslayer’s pen from her previous life, before she was scooped up by the TVA and had her mind wiped? And is this part of the bargaining chip for her cooperation with a corrupt TVA? Can she pop back into her old life? Or is the pen a symbol of someone else she cares about?

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Do you have any lingering questions or theories? Share them below, and vote in this week’s poll too! And for more on the show, check out the Loki release schedule, find out if there are Loki post credits scenes each week, and learn about how Loki evolved from Marvel villain to agent of chaos.

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The 2021 Call of Duty codename may have just leaked on Battle.net, and an accompanying logo offers clues for the setting for this year’s game.

According to Tom Henderson, Call of Duty 2021 has been added to Battle.net along with the name Slipstream. A logo was also included which shows the Slipstream name and a design that features the name filled in with a sky design. It’s unclear if Slipstream is the official title or just a temporary codename.

Call of Duty 2021 has updated on https://t.co/hsFaJ0phsm as “Call of Duty: Slipstream” with the attached logo. Looks very WW2 to me. pic.twitter.com/O35cusy2lW

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) June 29, 2021

That there will be a new Call of Duty game this year is not new. For over a decade Call of Duty has reliably been an annual franchise, delivering a new game each year without fail even compared to other year franchises like Battlefield and Assassin’s Creed which have slowed down their pace.

The Slipstream codename and logo are reminiscent of fighter planes, potentially hinting at some kind of theme. But other than the project remains a mystery.

We do know that, again, Activision has confirmed a new Call of Duty game will be coming out this holiday, and that Sledgehammer is the primary developer on the title.

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However, last we heard, the code name for the project was called Vanguard, and reports from Eurogamer have said that it will return to World War 2, the setting for the last Sledgehammer Call of Duty game.

Call of Duty leaks are also a yearly occurrence, and folks usually find out the next entry before an official reveal. Last year, the Xbox store listing accidentally leaked the codename and logo for 2020’s Call of Duty which was The Red Door. The soviet-era reference eventually gave way to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

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Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.

Don’t Breathe 2 sees the return of Stephen Lang’s Norman Nordstrom back for more following the 2016 horror thriller. Now, eight years later, Norman seems to have found peace, having recreated the family that was stolen from him as he serves as a guardian to an 11-year-old girl, Phoenix (Madelyn Grace). When intruders attempt to disturb the life Norman had built for himself, the evil inside of him is activated, resulting in deadly consequences. 

With the sequel putting Norman as the protagonist of the story, many have questioned whether or not the character deserves redemption or if the character should be seen as a hero or anti-hero since he was the antagonist in the first film. In Don’t Breathe, Norman does some unspeakable things ranging from brutal murder to kidnapping to sexual assault. Yet, in this film, Norman seemed redeemed for protecting a little girl from people who want to do her harm. 

Don’t Breathe creators Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues revealed during a special footage Q&A on Tuesday in Los Angeles that Norman is ‘definitely not an anti-hero or hero’ in any sense. Alvarez wants the audience to determine how they feel for Norman and doubles down on the harsh truth about the character. 

“It’s tricky and it is difficult to navigate a character like this,” says Alvarez. “We have to, as writers, show empathy in a way to anybody.”

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Alvarez understands that it is hard to forgive Norman for the pain and suffering he had caused in the past, and he doesn’t want the audience to necessarily forgive him. By setting Norman up as the protagonist, Alvarez and Sayagues want to show more of Norman’s intimate moments and that he lies somewhere in the shades of grey area of the hero-villain spectrum. The true protagonist in the story is Phoenix and Norman serves as a ‘shadow’ figure protecting the child for his own reasons.  

“He has more of a protagonist place in the story, but the story is us putting it out there and letting you decide how you feel about it,” Alvarez explains. “Hopefully, he will challenge you and then you make the right call. It’s totally up to you to decide what that is. We really try hard to lay out the facts and not be biased and [not] force you to feel a certain way.”

Lang previously told IGN that his character is really complex and that although he does horrific things, there is a certain empathy for him. He shares, “Certainly, the blind man, certainly, there are many positives to the guy, but every positive in his life has been kind of broken in front of him and thrown in his face and what you’re left with–what you’ll meet–is a man who is deeply embittered and really teetering on the edge of an abyss. But, even in that darkness, the thing that we won’t talk about that he’s doing when you think about it in his own twisted way is a life-affirming thing. To me, it just bespeaks sadness. It just talks about how really sad he is. I think that operates on an audience. It produces empathy and produces sympathy even as you’re absolutely horrified by it.”

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Alvarez says no one knows the character as Lang does and that he has become the gatekeeper of Norman. “When [Lang] thinks about playing [Norman], he loves him. We know who [Norman] is. We admire some of the qualities, but we are aware of who he is and what he does. So, it’s always kind of back and forth [with Lang],” says Alvarez. “For us, it’s about how we frame the story. It’s great to have someone [like Lang]. He never judges the character. Good actors always say that we don’t judge the character. He definitely doesn’t when he’s playing it, but once he’s done, he’s like ‘[this character is] psycho’. He really tries not to and that’s why I think he comes alive on the screen.”

Don’t Breathe 2 stars Stephen Lang (Avatar, Tombstone), Madelyn Grace (Grey’s Anatomy), and Brendan Sexton III (El Camino, Black Hawk Down). It will be released exclusively in theaters nationwide on August 13.