Dying Light: Hellraid is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The latest piece of DLC for Dying Light–the six-year-old open-world zombie game–is actually a revival of sorts for developer Techland. The studio was working on a fully-fledged Hellraid game before it began development on Dying Light, but the project was ultimately put on hold as the team consolidated its resources to focus on the future of its zombie game.
Now it lives again like the reanimated corpse of a famished zombie. Hellraid begins with the discovery of a mysterious arcade cabinet in the basement of Dying Light’s first hub area. No one in the Tower knows where it came from, but it opens up a gateway to another realm that transports you from the familiar streets of Harran and into a demon-infested dungeon.
You’ll wield medieval swords, axes, and hammers to fend off the hordes of skeletons and otherworldly monstrosities out to kill you. There are bounties to pick up to earn additional prizes for repeated runs through the dungeon, and the whole thing can be played either solo or with up to three other players.
Techland initially began work on Hellraid after wrapping up production on Dead Island. The game was revealed and originally intended to launch in 2013, but was eventually delayed with a re-engineered version due to launch on Steam Early Access in 2014. That never happened and the game was put on hold in 2015 as it failed to meet the developer’s own expectations. There was, however, a mobile game called Hellraid: The Escape that launched in 2014.
As is par for the course with anything brandishing the Hellraid name, the DLC was actually delayed, too. Techland originally planned to release it in July, but delayed the launch after gathering feedback during its beta.
Hellraid is finally out now, though, and Dying Light owners can purchase the expansion for $9.99 / £7.99 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The full game is still on hold but it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing it anytime soon. Techland is currently working on Dying Light 2 and “a new, unannounced IP.”
Dying Light 2 currently has no release date after being originally scheduled to launch sometime in Spring 2020. Since then, however, the game was delayed indefinitely, with Techland writing, “We need more development time to fulfill our vision.” The studio also cut ties with writer Chris Avellone amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment.
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The Batman, the next film to portray DC’s caped crusader, is currently in the works, and there’s still a lot that is unclear about the project. It stars Robert Pattinson as Batman, and will be directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield). It’ll premiere in October 2021, and now, thanks to the co-writer, we have some sense of what the movie is going for.
In an interview with Den of Geek, script co-writer Mattson Tomlin talked about the film, and what will make it distinct from previous Batman films, including Inception director Christopher Nolan’s trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises). “It’s tough to talk about, just because you want the movie to speak for itself,” Tomlin said, but went on to share some details.
I think that, first of all, it’s a younger version than the most recent versions that we’ve seen,” he says. Pattinson is 34, however, which actually makes him a year older than Christian Bale was he he portrayed the character.
He goes on to discuss Matt Reeves as a filmmaker, saying that he’s “always coming from a point of emotion” rather than focusing purely on action, and touches on how this will inform his Batman. “I think that really looking at Batman as somebody who has gone through this trauma, and then everything that he’s doing is then a reaction to that, rather than shy away from that, I think this film leans into that in some very fun and surprising ways,” Tomlin says.
In the replies to Screen Rant’s tweet about the statement, people have pointed out that this isn’t exactly an original take on Batman, who has, in the wake of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, almost always been portrayed as having a tragic, traumatic back story.
Other actors attached to the film include Zoe Kravitz (Catwoman), Colin Farrell (The Penguin), Andy Serkis (Alfred), Paul Dano (The Riddler), and Jeffrey Wright (James Gordon).
One of the highlights of the film’s marketing so far has been the wild, strange interviews that Pattinson gives. You’ll be able to see him on Netflix next month in The Devil All The Time.
Resident Evil 7 has become the best-selling individual Resident Evil release, selling 7.9 million copies across PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This also makes it the second best-selling game ever released by Capcom, behind Monster Hunter World (16.1 million units). There are, however, some caveats behind these numbers, and it’s perhaps not really their second-best selling game.
The Capcom “Platinum Titles” list, which includes every game in their catalog to sell over 1 million copies, gives us a good look at the best-selling Capcom games, although how each individual game is “counted” seems to vary. For Resident Evil 7, we assume that the total figure includes sales of the “Gold” edition, which bundled together all the DLC, as it’s not included elsewhere; other games in the series have divided their sales across multiple releases.
This means that, technically, Resident Evil 4-6 have all sold better than 7 over their lifetimes, although their sales have spread across multiple releases and console generations. This could change if we get an updated version of Resident Evil 7 on future consoles.
The way Resident Evil titles track their figures makes it difficult to get a full and complete picture of how well they’ve sold–individual releases are tracked seperately, and Capcom only releases sales figures for games that have sold over a million copies. We can get a better idea of their sales by combining these numbers.
Here’s a breakdown of Resident Evil 4-6, and how many copies each one has sold.
Resident Evil 4
GameCube: 1.6 million
PS2: 2.3 million
Wii: 2 million
PS4/Xbox One: 1.9 million
PC: 1.2 million
Xbox 360/PS3: 1.2 million
Switch: not listed
Total: (at least) 10.2 million
Resident Evil 5
PS3/Xbox 360: 7.7 million
Gold Edition, PS3/Xbox 360: 2.3 million
PS4/Xbox One: 1.8 million
PC/Switch: not listed
Total: (at least) 11.8 million
Resident Evil 6
PS3/Xbox 360: 7.6 million
PS4/Xbox One: 2.2 million
PC/Switch: not listed
Total: (at least) 9.8 million
The Resident Evil 2 remake continues to do very well, too, selling 7.2 million units–well above 4.96 million sales of the original PlayStation version (the PC, Nintendo 64, and GameCube versions evidently sold below 1 million copies). The Resident Evil 3 remake has sold 2.7 million to date, trailing the 3.5 million it sold on the original PlayStation.
Lazlow Jones, a veteran writer, producer and radio show host for the Grand Theft Auto series has left the studio after nearly 20 years.
As spotted by Grand Theft Auto YouTuber GTAMen, Jones’ LinkedIn profile details the split, noting that he left the company in April 2020 and is now working on a number of in-development shows for Disney and Netflix and “consulting for a video game company.”
Lazlow Jones worked on many of Rockstar’s most popular franchises such as Red Dead Redemption, Bully and Grand Theft Auto. You may know him best from his in-game work, scripting and hosting many radio shows across the Grand Theft Auto series, lending his voice to V-Rock in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Chattersphere in Grand Theft Auto V.
Jones’ writing partner Dan Houser most recently left Rockstar Games in March of this year, after founding the studio with his brother Sam in 1998. Sam Houser remains Rockstar’s company president.
After laying down a clunky but promising foundation with their first UFC game in 2014, EA Vancouver has done a respectable job of iterating and improving on each new entry over the last six years. That tradition continues in EA Sports UFC 4. It focuses on making its many complex systems a little less intimidating for newcomers without ever taking away from the depth of its multi-layered combat, thanks to a new grapple assist system and a much improved career mode that does a better job of teaching the basics of the many facets of mixed martial arts. Some of the larger ambitions of career mode fall a bit flat and the ground game still feels like it could use some work, but all things considered, UFC 4 is a win for MMA fans.
Unlike UFC 3, which dramatically revamped the entire striking system, UFC 4 is more about small but necessary adjustments as opposed to grand overhauls. The biggest difference this time around is the clinch game, which no longer just feels like a stand-up version of the ground gameplay. Instead of having to navigate through clinch positions just to get to a spot where you can escape, all you have to do to break a clinch is move away from your opponent. You’ll likely still eat a few shots, but as long as you have room to back up, breaking a clinch is much easier to do. That said, if you get caught in a clinch with your back against the fence, you’ll find yourself in a very tough spot, especially against a fighter that excels there.
It’s a smart change, as it makes the clinch game feel like a natural extension of the standup combat rather than its own separate minigame. With this new system you can very organically go from strike to clinch, and from there decide whether you want to attack the head, attack the body, push the opponent up against the cage, or, for some fighters, even go for a standing submission ala Jon Jones vs Lyoto Machida.
The other big change this time around is with submissions, which has actually been split into two different types of minigames: one for chokes and one for joint submissions. Both minigames are essentially a race to be the first one to either fill up the submit meter or the escape meter. For chokes, the attacker must fill the submit meter by using the left stick to move a bar around a circle in an attempt to cover the defender’s bar. The defender, meanwhile, fills their escape meter automatically as long as they’re not covered by the attacker. For joints the concept is basically the same, except you use the triggers to move your respective bar left and right. The big challenge for the defender is that your bar increases in size the more you move, so just wildly spinning the control stick or spamming the shoulder buttons like a wild person doesn’t work. That rewards a more careful, cat and mouse-style mind game when compared to the much more erratic gate submission system of prior games.
Another really cool addition is that some fighters that are especially skilled on the ground can even gain opportunities to counter certain submissions with either a slam or even a counter-submission, like a Von Flue choke. Not only is this awesome because it’s very true to the actual UFC experience, but it also balances the risk/reward factor of going for a submission when you’re not in a dominant position somewhat.
Finally, EA Vancouver also introduced a grapple assist system for those that might not know their full guards from their half guards, their side controls from their mounts, or their rubber guards from their mouth guards. When using grapple assist, instead of transitioning to specific positions while on the ground, you can just choose to transition based on what it is you want to do. If you want to move to a position that allows you to get up, just keep on pressing up on the right stick until you’re able to get up. If you want to ground and pound, keep on pressing right to eventually transition to a position where you can do some ground and pound. And if you want to do a submission, just hold left and you’ll transition to a position that lets you perform a submission.
It’s not ideal, because sometimes you need that extra level of specificity to land better ground and pound or get access to better submissions, but for those who are just picking the game up for the first time, it’s a great shortcut to start having fun without having someone explain to them what all the different positions mean, which ones have submissions, and which ones you can get up from. Of course, there’s also the legacy control scheme along with a new hybrid control scheme that combines the two, allowing you to transition to specific positions with the right stick and use the more general assist transitions with the left stick, which is a nice compromise.
Outside of those big changes and a couple of other small control adjustments, the gameplay in UFC 4 is largely the same, which for the most part is fine. UFC 3 already did a great job of revamping striking, but the ground game still feels largely unsatisfying in UFC 4. Ground and pound strikes still lack impact, despite having dis-proportionally loud sound effects; the guessing game of transitions and transition denials is still incredibly unintuitive without the guide arrows, which are removed in online play regardless of whether you’re playing casually or in ranked; and there’s still no feedback provided to let you know why you failed a transition, leaving you to guess as to whether it was because you were too slow, you hit the wrong direction, your opponent had grapple advantage, or any of the other factors it could be.
The Life of a Fighter
UFC 4 treats its career mode as an onboarding tool to get new players very quickly up to speed with the basics, and in that way, it’s very successful. After getting your ass kicked in your very first amateur fight, you’re taken under the wing of fictional former UFC fighter, Coach Davis. Davis serves as an extended tutorial that walks you through the various facets of MMA, and importantly, after every lesson you’ll have an amateur fight against an opponent that specializes in that discipline, allowing you to really soak in what he teaches you.
After you get through all of your amateur fights, UFC 4’s career mode settles into the familiar groove established in UFC 3’s career mode. You get a fight offer, you choose how to spend your 100 weekly points leading up to it, and then you fight. The best new change this year is in the fighter evolution system that allows you to improve specific moves simply by landing them in a fight or in training. The more you use a move, the better it will get, letting you craft a fighter that truly feels unique to you. Bumping a move up to the next level also awards you with evolution points that you can use to improve your overall stats and add powerful perks that further define your strengths.
There’s a lot of stat building and decision making that takes place in between fights, but thankfully it’s all good fun because you really do see the effects of your training paying off. It also helps that the training itself is fun since it’s mostly two-minute sparring matches – even if it’s a little too easy to knock your training partners out cold.
Less effective is the emphasis on player choice in the story, which feels a little half-baked. Occasionally throughout your career, you’ll be given opportunities to choose how you respond to certain social media posts from fighters, or how you react to certain events, such as a fighter pulling out of a fight due to injury. The idea is that these decisions create rivalries and storylines between you and other fighters, but because all interactions are handled through short social media posts in a submenu, I never really cared about any of them. There is a gameplay element to it all, in that, if you have a bad relationship with a fighter, you won’t be able to invite them to your gym and learn one of their signature moves, but the trade off is that when you potentially fight down the line, there will be more hype to it. None of that ever really made much of a difference for me though, because there are already so many other fighters to invite to your gym, and the fighters that I did start a beef with early on never resurfaced once I started climbing the ranks.
A big historical problem for the UFC series was the huge difficulty spikes once you got into title contention, which thankfully are no longer an issue this time around. You’re able to set your difficulty right from the start, which stays pretty consistent all throughout as long as you’re being diligent about upgrading your fighter, though the moderate difficulty AI seems to not quite understand how to escape from submissions. You are also able choose whether you want to retry a fight, or accept the consequences of the loss and continue on with a blemish on your record, which is a nice choice to have, especially since some of your ultimate “Greatest of All Time” goals are tied to getting consecutive wins.
Mixed Martial Modes
UFC 4 thankfully removes the sleazy Ultimate Team Mode of prior UFC games, and though it doesn’t replace it with anything nearly as substantial, there are at least a couple of fun new stages that are refreshingly different. There’s a new backyard arena that feels especially fitting for cover athlete Jorge Masvidal, along with a very Bloodsport inspired Kumite arena, complete with over the top sound effects and cheesy music.
There’s also a new Blitz Mode that serves as a fun little distraction for online play. In Blitz, the rules are constantly changing every few hours. One ruleset might involve only having one round that lasts for one minute, another might have you playing a best of three game of knockout mode. It’s a cool idea, and one that I wish I got to spend more time with, though unfortunately there just weren’t that many people playing in during the EA Access First Trial period.
UFC 4 also introduces Daniel Cormier to the commentary team who does a wonderful job and serves as an excellent replacement for Joe Rogan, even though I could probably do without him and Coach Davis repeating the same line about fighting being chess instead of checkers over and over again.
Lastly, while UFC 4 still looks pretty good, it’s a little disappointing to see that so little has changed in the game’s looks over the last six years. While there are a few new animations added into the mix, these are largely the same takedowns, slams, and strikes that we’ve seen before. There’s a little bit more face deformation this time around during slow-mo replays, but knockouts are still lacking a certain magic that the Fight Night series captured a console generation ago.
Fortnite has been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play it on mobile devices at all. If you’re a mobile gamer wondering if you can still play Fortnite on your iOS or Android device, here’s everything you need to know.
Can You Still Play Fortnite on iOS/iPhone/iPad?
The short answer is: Yes. If you already have Fortnite installed on your iOS device, like your iPhone or iPad, you can continue to play it. However, you will be limited to the latest version you have on your phone. The most recent version is update 13.40 from Chapter 2, Season 3. Once Chapter 2, Season 4 goes live, you will not be able to access any new content, including the new Battle Pass. You will be able to continue playing the older version, however.
If you have never downloaded Fortnite on your iPhone or iPad, there is no way to do a fresh install of Fortnite on iOS at this time.
If you have downloaded Fortnite in the past but have uninstalled it, you may still be able to recover it. Navigate to your profile on the App Store -> Purchased -> My Purchases and search for Fortnite. An editor at GameSpot has been able to verify this method as a way of reinstalling Fortnite on an iPhone and iPad.
Can You Still Play Fortnite on Android Devices?
The short answer is: Yes. While Epic Games has not updated its official FAQ to address Google yet, if you have Fortnite installed on your Android device through Google Play, you should be able to continue playing the current version. You will be restricted to whatever version your phone or tablet has installed, however–you will not be able to update to the new season, access new content, or take part in the new Battle Pass through Google Play.
However, there are more options available on Android than on iOS. You can install, play, and access new content in Fortnite on Android by installing it directly from Epic Games or via the Samsung Galaxy Store, if you have a Samsung device.
As the feud between Epic, Apple, and Google is still developing, this information is liable to change. We will try to keep it as up-to-date as possible.
Epic Games and Apple are feuding over a move the Fortnite developer made without Apple’s approval, which resulted in the removal of Fortnite from the App Store. If you’ve seen #FreeFortnite trending on social media or caught that Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite video Epic posted, you’re probably wondering what happened. Here’s a quick breakdown.
What Did Fortnite Do To Make Apple Mad?
On Thursday, August 13, Epic Games introduced its own direct, in-app payment system for Fortnite across all platforms. Called the Fortnite Mega Drop, the new system implemented permanent discounts of up to 20% on V-bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency. On PC and console, this isn’t a problem, but on mobile devices, things get a little more controversial.
Fortnite’s new direct payment method on iOS devices, prior to App Store removal.
Both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store collect a 30% fee from in-game purchases on their platforms. The new payment system gives players a choice between processing their in-app purchase through Apple (on iOS) or Google (on Android), thus paying a few dollars more and allowing Apple or Google to take their usual cut, or bypassing this step altogether and paying a lower price directly to Epic. By introducing a direct payment system that sidesteps Apple’s fee, Epic Games has violated the App Store guidelines.
Why Was Fortnite Removed From The App Store And Google Play?
In response to Epic Games implementing this direct payment system without Apple’s prior approval, Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store.
In a statement, Apple said, “Today, Epic Games took the unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines that are applied equally to every developer and designed to keep the store safe for our users. As a result their Fortnite app has been removed from the store. Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services.”
Apple says it will “make every effort to work with Epic to resolve these violations so they can return Fortnite to the App Store.”
Google also took action against Fortnite and removed it from the Google Play Store. In a statement to The Verge, a Google spokesperson said, “The open Android ecosystem lets developers distribute apps through multiple app stores. For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for users. While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it available on Play because it violates our policies. However, we welcome the opportunity to continue our discussions with Epic and bring Fortnite back to Google Play.”
Why Did Epic Games Sue Apple?
Epic Games clearly anticipated Apple’s response to its actions. Between the #FreeFortnite tag and the Nineteen Eighty-Four parody video, Epic Games has also launched a lawsuit against Apple to, in its words, “end Apple’s unfair and anti-competitive actions that Apple undertakes to unlawfully maintain its monopoly in two distinct, multibillion dollar markets: (i) the iOS App Distribution Market, and (ii) the iOS In-App Payment Processing Market.”
In its updated Mega Drop FAQ, Epic Games took the opportunity to present its own thoughts on the behavior of mobile giants like Apple, stating, “Epic’s position is that all mobile developers and consumers have the right to choose alternate payment providers that charge less, as is the norm on all other general-purpose computing platforms, including Web, Windows, and Mac. We expect to see a general change in smartphone practices industry-wide for all developers that brings greater value and freedom of choice to consumers. We expect Apple to unblock Fortnite.”
Control is getting its second expansion, AWE, on August 27, and it’ll draw a direct connection between the game and Remedy’s Xbox 360 hit Alan Wake. To celebrate, Remedy hosted a stream to show off the expansion’s opening, and during it they shared some information about a major patch coming to the base game alongside AWE.
The expansion gameplay starts at about the 18 minute mark of the video below, which is taken from the PS4 version. The game’s developers give some commentary over the footage, and the first Alan Wake reference comes basically right away.
During the demo, the free update is discussed, and it’s going to make the game a bit easier to move through. Your Launch ability will now be able to pick up three objects, for instance, which gives Jesse a bit more power. There will be more Control Points added near bosses and other big fights to cut back on walking, as well as more “soft checkpoints”–meaning that if you die, you won’t need to face certain combat encounters again.
You’ll also be able to use “assist mode” to make the game much easier to play–it essentially gives you a high degree of customization on the difficulty, so that everyone has a chance to play through the full game and finish it.
Control recently courted some controversy with the reveal that a free next-gen upgrade from PS4 to PS5/Xbox One to Xbox Series X would only be available to people who purchase the game’s new Ultimate Edition, which bundles all the DLC and updates. This version releases on September 10.
Remedy’s games all share a universe, the studio recently revealed, and the next game they are working on will tie into Alan Wake and Control, too.
A huge new book, The Art and Making of Control, was also announced by Remedy. It’s available for pre-order now.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game was delisted from the Xbox 360 and PS3 digital stores at the end of 2014, and since then there’s been a lot of call to bring the fan-favorite game back. In May, tweets from writer Bryan O’Malley, film director Edgar Wright, and Ubisoft seemed to hint at the possibility, but we’re yet to hear anything firm. But there’s some reason for hope of the game’s return.
Now, as the campaign continues to grow, there’s been a hint of actual discussion taking place about the game’s return. After Kotaku posted an article about the game being unavailable, which was shared on Twitter by Anamanaguchi (the band behind the game’s iconic soundtrack), a new wave of discussion started. This has been further exacerbated by the fact that August 13 (today) is the 10 year anniversary of Edgar Wright’s film adaptation of Bryan O’Malley’s original book.
On Twitter, O’Malley has given us some hope with a short, sharp tweet, indicating that Ubisoft has reached out to him to discuss the game. Although the author’s Twitter account is fairly new, a high portion of his tweets have been about the game, and the fact that Ubisoft had, up until now, not spoken to him about it.
