News
8 CommentsPlay Rainbow Six Siege for free this weekend
Ubisoft is holding a free weekend for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege between Thursday, Feb. 2 and Sunday, Feb. 5, the publisher announced today.
Players on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One will be able to take part in the free weekend. Ubisoft says the free trial will offer “access to all of the maps, modes, and Operators present in the full version, giving you the full Siege experience over the free weekend.” PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold subscriptions will be required to play the game on consoles.
More details on specific timing for Rainbow Six Siege’s free weekend are available at the Ubisoft blog.
The game's free weekend will lead into the release of Operation Velvet Shell, Rainbow Six Siege's first major content update. Velvet Shell kicks off Feb. 7 and will include a...
News
5 CommentsIntense John Wick VR game arrives just before the film sequel
John Wick Chronicles, the virtual reality game that ties into the John Wick film franchise, will be released Feb. 9 exclusively on Steam for the HTC Vive, Lionsgate and Starbreeze Studios announced today.
That’s one day before John Wick: Chapter 2, the sequel to 2014’s John Wick, hits theaters. John Wick Chronicles is now available for pre-order on Steam for $19.99; pre-order customers will receive a free copy of Payday 2. The game is being co-developed by Starbreeze, Grab Games, Big Red Button and Gamecostudios.
John Wick Chronicles takes place between the two films and allows you to step into the shoes of the titular assassin, who is played by Keanu Reeves in the movies. It’s unclear if Reeves recorded voice-overs for John Wick Chronicles, but one person whose voice and likeness...
Cover Story
Issue
25
January 9, 2017
Final Fantasy 7: An oral history
30,000 words! 35 interviews! 4 videos! A trivia minigame! We take an in-depth look back at Square’s breakthrough role-playing game.
Read moreNews
6 CommentsResident Evil 7 speedrunners can finish the game in 90 minutes
For sensitive or easily scared players, the horrifying Resident Evil 7 biohazard may be tough to stomach for even its first hour. Speedrunners are proving that they don’t need to play for much more than that to finish the game, however, with the latest record holder beating the whole campaign in just about 90 minutes.
Above, Twitch streamer uhTrance races through the New Game Plus mode in what he calls record time: one hour, 34 minutes. The Any% run — that is, a speedrun where players just have to finish the game by any means necessary — lasts about as along as a horror film, and it doesn’t compromise the scares. Instead, it just compresses the 10-hour campaign into a much shorter timeframe, with the use of shortcuts and expert knowledge of Resident Evil 7.
That’s because uhTrance has...
News
44 CommentsOverwatch’s Bastion is finally getting some much-needed buffs
One of Overwatch’s most contentious and easily misunderstood heroes, Bastion, is in the process of getting an overhaul, Blizzard confirmed on the game’s forums today. Overwatch game designer Geoff Goodman addressed player concerns about Bastion’s viability and outlined how Blizzard is buffing the ‘bot.
Goodman responded to player “Rarithlynx” — who has spent more than 90 hours of his Overwatch career playing as Bastion — who posted that the hero was long overdue for a buff.
“Bastion is currently in a pretty bad spot,” Rarithlynx wrote earlier this month. “He has the most counters out of all heroes in the game, including quite a bit of hard counters. He's big and immobile, and has no defensive or escape abilities, and requires the team to babysit him all the time.”
While many other...
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News
2 CommentsCall of Duty’s latest trailer shows off Infinite Warfare’s four new maps
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's first premium DLC, Sabotage, arrives tomorrow for PlayStation 4. Infinity Ward shows off the four new multiplayer maps included with it in this trailer, released today.
The four maps are Noir, Renaissance, Neon and Dominion. Noir is set in a futuristic Brooklyn at night; Neon is a "z-shaped digital city"; Renaissance is set among the canals of Venice, and Dominion is a reimagining of Afghan, the fan-favorite map from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Sabotage will also deliver new Zombies content, called "Rave in the Redwoods," with special guest star Kevin Smith and his hockey sweater. Sabotage is included in the $49.99 season pass of DLC, which promises four map packs over the coming year and some other in-game swag. It’s a timed exclusive on PlayStation...
News
17 CommentsFallout 4’s next patch beefs up visuals on PS4 Pro, PC
Fallout 4's next patch will add PlayStation 4 Pro support and PC users will get a beefy high-resolution texture pack that significantly ramps up the game's visuals.
Update 1.9 on PlayStation 4 will roll out next week, and for PS4 Pro users, it will add native 1440p resolution, enhanced Godray effects (those shafts of light coming through clouds or trees) and enhanced draw distance for trees, grass, objects and, perhaps helpfully, NPCs.
The high resolution texture pack takes up another 58 GB of hard drive space and carries its own set of recommended specifications. "If your system can handle it, the Commonwealth will look better than ever," Bethesda Softworks said in a blog post. "Give it a shot and if you need to return to the original textures, you can disable them within the game’s...
News
3 CommentsDead Rising 4 update adds Street Fighter costumes and new difficulty mode
Dead Rising 4's next update will deliver a set of Street Fighter-themed costumes for Frank West to wear, as well as two new difficulty modes.
Available for free on Jan. 30, the update adds five Street Fighter outfits. Capcom-Unity didn't specify which characters were represented, but did show a screenshot (above) featuring Frank West as Zangief, Guile and, uh, Cammy. Yes, with Frank’s ass turned to the camera.
The new difficulty modes will mean enemies do greater damage, Frank's weapons break down faster and food doesn't restore as much health. A patch fixing a bunch of bugs will also accompany this title update.
Additionally, Capcom will begin offering a timed trial to Xbox One players on Jan. 31. The trial lasts an hour, and users may earn achievements and carry over their saved...
News
44 CommentsVideo game releases for February 2017
Here are some of the big video game releases for the month of February 2017. Be sure to check out the list we put together of our most anticipated games of 2017 and subscribe to Polygon's YouTube channel for tons of gaming videos. Also, here are the free games you get with your Xbox Live Gold subscription this month. Additionally, here's what is coming to your favorite video streaming services and here's what is leaving in February.
What are you looking forward to playing? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.
Note: This is not a comprehensive list of releases and only games with specific dates are listed below. Some games are announced for February but have no firm release date.
Feb. 2:
Fire Emblem Heroes (Android and iOS) — In Fire Emblem's first...
News
0 CommentsQuakeCon dates announced
QuakeCon 2017 is will be Aug. 24-27 in Grapevine, Texas at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center. Zenimax Media announced the dates for the 22nd edition of fan gathering yesterday.
The event will be free and is open to the public, as usual. More than 10,000 gamers attended QuakeCon 2016 and took part in the LAN party that has made it famous. Other events include panels, gaming tournaments, workshops and exhibits showcasing new hardware and gaming accessories.
Frequently referred to as video gaming's Woodstock, QuakeCon has had ties to the Dallas area since it was first held in 1996. It is well known for the large "BYOC" room where attendees bring their PC rigs and show them off. It has been held at the Gaylord Texan Resort three times before, 2004, 2005 and 2009.
QuakeCon...
News
20 CommentsTitanfall 2’s free DLC continues with new Live Fire mode, another map remake
Respawn Entertainment will continue its flow of free content for Titanfall 2 with a new gameplay mode called Live Fire coming in February and the return of a Titanfall multiplayer map in March, the developer confirmed today.
Griffin Dean, the designer behind the new mode, described Titanfall 2’s Live Fire as a “fast-paced round-based 6v6 pilot only elimination mode.” Each round lasts only 60 seconds, and the team holding a flag at the end of each round will emerge the victor.
“Live Fire was inspired by speedball matches in paintball,” Dean explained. “We wanted to capture the spirit of these lightning-fast competitive matches and give it a Titanfall twist. Live Fire, like speedball, is fundamentally about forward momentum. You have to advance against the enemy, attack aggressively...
News
21 CommentsGears of War 4 gets Xbox One vs. PC cross-platform play
Gears of War 4 players on Xbox One and Windows 10 can now play each other in versus mode, Microsoft and developer The Coalition announced today. Competitive cross-platform play is now available in the game’s Social Quickplay playlist.
The addition of Xbox One vs. Windows 10 cross-play is “planned to be a permanent move for the future of Social Quickplay, with the first few months being a ‘trial period’ in order to monitor player feedback,” said The Coalition community manager Liam Ashley.
Gears of War 4’s Core and Competitive playlists won’t support cross-platform play, however.
“Despite the closely matched performance between users on both platforms ... we always want to ensure our Ranked experiences are as closely matched and competitive as possible,” the developer said.
The Coalition...
News
3 CommentsOverwatch now has 25 million players
Overwatch now has more than 25 million players, Blizzard Entertainment announced on Twitter. That’s up five million from October, when the publisher celebrated the game having 20 million players.
In the time it took Overwatch to gain 25 million players, the game saw a deluge of updates, achievements and new content. Among the highlights from the last few months of Overwatch:
Long-awaited hacker hero Sombra finally arrived in November, as part of BlizzCon 2016;
A pair of seasonal events, most recently a Chinese New Year-themed campaign, introduced some controversial and buggy new skins to the game;
The game’s first LGBT hero was named;
Dedicated fans launched a progressive movement, using an Overwatch character as their feminist mascot.
Overwatch also received numerous year-end...
News
32 CommentsMeet the Mass Effect: Andromeda crew in latest briefing
We were already given a cinematic trailer for the upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda, but another video released today introduces the crew of the Hyperion, your ark in the game. Your mission is to travel far into the new galaxy to try to find new worlds that can support human life.
We see the Ryder siblings and their father, who leads the mission. The transplants that link each character to the ship’s AI may also give some more hints about how the new character system will work.
While previous games in the Mass Effect series had everyone playing as Commander Shepard, Andromeda is going to take a different approach.
"When we started the Mass Effect trilogy, there was this idea of it being very cinematic and movie-like," creative director Mac Walters told Polygon at E3 last year. "So...
Video
25 CommentsDauntless aims to bring the best of Monster Hunter to a much bigger audience
If you watched last month’s Game Awards 2016 show, you may have seen the reveal trailer for a mysterious fantasy co-op game named Dauntless. This week, Polygon was able to check out Dauntless for ourselves, and we walked away impressed and eager to see more.
Openly inspired by Capcom’s popular action-RPG, grinding-heavy Monster Hunter series, Dauntless is a third-person, co-op focused experience. You meet up with friends in a hub city, pick what monster — they’re called Behemoths in this game — you want to take on and then go on hunts.
These monsters are a much bigger challenge than your average video game enemy, or even compared to bosses in other games. A single Behemoth fight in Dauntless can take 20-plus minutes and send you chasing across a huge area to keep up with the deadly...
News
36 CommentsNi No Kuni 2 is looking just as sweet as the original
First, some good news for PC owners. Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom is coming to Windows PC as well as PlayStation 4 when it's released later this year. All platform versions will be launched simultaneously around the world.
Publisher Bandai Namco made the announcement at a press event in San Francisco yesterday, where a short gameplay section was shown.
Here's what we learned. First, the sequel to 2013's sublime Ni No Kuni has a slightly different look this time. The first game was also heavily inspired by Studio Ghibli, which also provided fantastic cut-scene animations. The sequel's overworld is less cartoonish and more realistic than its predecessor, though still with a heavy fantasy element.
Level-5
Party-based combat
Characters and Plot
When the game...
News
10 CommentsRallycross racer Dirt 4 coming this summer
Deep Silver this morning announced that driving game Dirt 4 will be released on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One on June 6.
Developed by U.K. house Codemasters, it’s the latest in a series of off-road racing games stretching back to 1999. The Dirt series was previously marketed with the license of the late Colin McRae. There have also been spin-offs in the last few years, including 2016’s well-regarded Dirt Rally, but this is the first game in the core series since Dirt 3 in 2010.
The new game features off-road vehicles including the Ford Fiesta R5, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI, Subaru WRX STI NR4 and Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2. With the official license of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, Dirt 4’s tracks include Montalegre, Lohéac Bretagne, Hell, Holjes and Lydden Hill.
A...
Mobius Final Fantasy coming to Steam with Final Fantasy 7 Remake tie-in
Mobius Final Fantasy, Square Enix’s free-to-play mobile role-playing game, is coming to Windows PC via Steam on Feb. 6, the publisher announced today. The day after, Square Enix will kick off a Final Fantasy 7 Remake promotional event in Mobius Final Fantasy.
The Steam release of Mobius Final Fantasy will offer “full HD” (1920x1080) resolution, Square Enix said in a release. On the Square Enix blog, project leader Naoki Hamaguchi said the PC port of the mobile game will support up to 4K resolution and refresh rates between 60-120 fps. Hamaguchi also noted that players will be able to transfer game data from the mobile version to the PC version.
Mobius Final Fantasy’s promotional tie-in with Final Fantasy 7 Remake will use game assets from the upcoming PlayStation 4 project, including...
Opinion
36 CommentsResident Evil 7 is making people sick, even without VR
Resident Evil 7 biohazard is one of the year’s first must-play games. The problem is that the first chapter left me in a sweaty, queasy state of panic.
The reason for that wasn’t Resident Evil 7’s copious scares, blood and gore. I’m no chicken; I can handle myself with a horror game just fine. Resident Evil 7 made me feel physically ill due to a strong case of motion sickness.
This wasn’t the PlayStation VR version, either, which is known to be more than a bit nauseating. This was the standard Resident Evil 7, played on a screen. The game’s constant camera movement and tiny field of view gave me an unbearable case of the shakes.
I’ve rarely experienced such a palpably uncomfortable sensation while gaming, but the few occasions that I have been overcome with seasickness were caused by...
Guides
3 CommentsHere’s what you unlock when you finish Resident Evil 7
The Resident Evil series has always been known for having replayability in the form of many unlockables. Despite some changes to the franchise formula, Resident Evil 7 keeps this tradition going strong.
Before we let you know what you can look forward to unlocking and playing with after you complete RE7, a minor spoiler warning. Since we’re discussing some late-game stuff, there will be a few tiny bits of information that some players could consider to be spoilers. If you’re worried, don’t read on.
And just to show you we’re serious, here’s an image to break up the text before we get into the real information.
Capcom
Still with us? Great! There are two big unlockable bonuses you get for beating Resident Evil 7 on either the easy or normal difficulty settings.
F...
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