Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner has suggested she was one of the few cast members happy with the fate of their character following the series' divisive final season.

Speaking to The Direct, Turner was asked whether she would consider returning to George R. R. Martin's fantasy world for a future spinoff, following remarks by the author which revealed that sequels set after the Game of Thrones' finale were being considered.

In response, Turner said she had mixed feelings about returning, though admitted she had personally been pleased with where her character Sansa Stark had been left — something that apparently was not the case for many of her former co-stars.

Resident Evil Requiem will feature gameplay set within a busy city environment, a new Nvidia trailer has revealed — prompting a mixed response from fans.

Comments on today's new Requiem trailer published by Nvidia range from praise for the look of the location to shock at the fact that it exists in a Resident Evil game.

It's fair to say that Capcom's survival horror series has never featured an area like this, with cars driving, and pedestrians strolling down a city street. But today's glimpse is just a glimpse, with a few shots of the area and a brief snippet of protagonist Grace Ashcroft walking along. It remains to be seen how expansive this actually is in-game.

"I am immediately alarmed by this," Resident Evil fan Sakaixx wrote on reddit, after seeing the trailer. "RE Engine and open layout really doesn't mesh well."

"Open world and Capcom don't mix," added another fan, EbolaDP.

Others meanwhile said the city environment looked "gorgeous," and suggested the city was unlikely to be open world — or even much of an open area.

"Bet its just gonna be a 1-minute long sequence where you can only walk forward until you reach the destination/hotel," suggested Carlossless-World. Others, however, pointed to the fact the trailer featured shots of the area during both day and night — though this may simply be to show off Nvidia's tech.

For now, all Resident Evil fans know for certain is that this area is in Requiem in some capacity, after previously being kept out of past trailers and marketing. To date, we've seen gameplay sections far more aligned with Resident Evil's traditional fare: in a dark hotel, and a typically Resi-esque mansion.

PlayStation is exploring the possibility of letting an AI take over your game, to help you if you're stuck.

Patent documents filed by Sony show plans to offer an in-game "AI Ghost" that can demonstrate how to progress further, or alternatively have your control fully taken over by the AI in order to make progress for you (thanks, Boing Boing).

Intriguingly, Sony suggests the AI could be called upon at any time, trained from past gameplay clips posted on YouTube and Twitch, as well as play data gleaned from PlayStation Network. The idea is that the AI would be able to detect what a player is doing and compare it to past successful examples, then offer solutions.

Sony's patent positions this new generation of AI assistance as superior to previous examples seen in games previously, evoking one unnamed example that sounds similar to Nintendo's assist features seen in some Mario 2D platformers.

"Some solutions have included the use of a character that a user can follow," Sony wrote in the patent. "However, the character is usually a graphic image or outlined image of a prior player that played the game and the user must follow the character watching the moves that occurred (including moves and interaction that is not relevant to the user's current gameplay scenarios).

"This is not, however, very useful for real-time assistance to a player that is encountering some difficulty with a specific scenario of gameplay or along the player's specific gameplay path. This is because the character does not know specifically what the player is playing or the context of the user's gameplay.

"Further, the character is typically only performing actions of one prior player. Further yet, the character is only presented for general game scenarios that relate to the game, not in relation to the context of the player's current gameplay."

Sony has suggested that its AI assistance system will be able to track player progress on a more granular level, so the AI would be able to detect exactly what someone might be looking to achieve at a particular moment.

It's an intriguing idea, though one which is — for now — just an idea. How good can AI get at playing games, or detecting exactly what you need to do to get better? If I'm stuck at a boss in Clair Obscur, will it respec my Verso with a better build? Still, it might help me finally beat Bloodborne, which would be nice.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

LEGO has announced the Smart Brick, a chip-powered piece due to be integrated into upcoming sets that it describes as "the next exciting chapter" of the 90-year-old toy company.

The Smart Brick contains a raft of sensors to track light, sound and movement, as well as a miniature speaker and onboard synthesizer. LEGO has said its advancement houses "more than 20 patented world-firsts" and can be wirelessly charged.

Alongside the Smart Brick, LEGO is also planning to roll out Smart Minifigures with similar functionalilty inside, all part of a new technology platform it has simply dubbed Smart Play. Fans will get a first chance to try it all out in the near future, too, via a fresh range of Smart Play-powered LEGO Star Wars sets.

Super Meat Boy, the hard-as-nails platforming classic where dying dozens of times per level comes as standard, has now been played from start to finish in a perfect run.

It's been 15 years since Super Meat Boy originally released for Xbox 360, and it has taken all of those 15 years for someone to pull off this frankly astonishing feat.

Step up shredberg, a Nintendo speedrunner with a particular soft spot for Super Meat Boy, who livestreamed his deathless completion of the game just before the end of 2025. The achievement quickly drew congratulations from Edmund McMillen, the game's co-creator, who dubbed shredberg as "awesome" for being the one who finally managed it.

For anyone who's played and struggled with Super Meat Boy over the years, particularly its later levels which simply look impossible when you first see them, it's hard to not watch the full video of shredberg's run and be impressed at the calm way he leaps, slops and slides around each level just pixels away from sawblades, meat grinders and explosions.

"Let's go," shredberg said calmly, upon completing Super Meat Boy's final level after more than 2000 attempts and over 1000 hours of gameplay. "Let's go dude! I cannot believe it, I've been doing this too long. I got to go to work tomorrow.

"I'll be honest, I'm not going to say I wasn't nervous, because I was very nervous at the end there... but I was way more nervous just in Dark Cotton," he continued, referencing an earlier level. "Once I got past Dark Hell 2, I was relatively fine. I got super nervous whenever I had any minor slip-up."

"I'm going to be emailing everyone," shredberg added. "Kotaku, IGN, CNN, Chef's Illustrated, they're all going to hear about it. I will unironically email IGN."

Over the years, Super Meat Boy has launched on every major console from Nintendo Switch to PlayStation Vita, though no one else has managed this feat — something many players thought was impossible. A sequel to the game, Super Meat Boy Forever, launched in 2020. Next up for the series is Super Meat Boy 3D, due for launch early this year.

And for shredberg? The second he completed his run, one viewer had a suggestion for what he should play next. "I have to play Silksong now?" shredberg said, reading the inevitable comment. "Yeah... I'm so glad it's over. Not even in a 'this wasn't even fun' kinda way, because it was. But, man."

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

A Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 fan has discovered hidden name explanations for the game's enemies and other characters buried within the game's files, which give an intriguing look at some of their origins.

The descriptions — some of which even include links out to Wikipedia — were discovered by reddit user Responsible-Race-575 and appear to have been intended for development staff translating the game's text into other languages.

Of course, Clair Obscur is developed by French studio Sandfall Interactive and is heavily influenced by French language and culture, and the explanations here look to be an attempt to ensure as much of the game's original references make it through into other languages. So, how much did you spot?

Some of the name references are straightforward. A note for the Nevron enemy Potier explains that its name simply means "potter", because "it's an enemy that uses pots." Fair enough. The trumpet-wielding Troubadour, meanwhile, uses the same name as that of a French minstrel or composer. Makes sense.

Barbasucette is a combination of the French words for beard ("barbe") and lolipop ("sucette"). Licornapieds is the smushing together of unicorn ("licorn") and 'with feet' ("à pieds").

If you hadn't guessed already, the annoying Petank enemy — a fast-moving ball on legs that likes to run away — is a reference to the French boules game Pétanque. Finally, it's confirmed that Gestral fighter Ono Puncho is indeed a reference to anime hero One-Punch Man (and Sandfall even provides a Wikipedia link to details of the anime for further explanation).

My favorite note is the one for a gestral named Limonsol, whose name is simply explained as an "inside joke." No further detail is provided, other than a request that the name to be transliterated. Why Limonsol? Putting my detective hat on for a moment, I wonder if this could be a reference to the French energy drink Nocco, which comes in a Limon Del Sol flavor. Nocco is, of course, the name of another prominent gestral character. Cheers to that.

Still after more from Clair Obscur? One final update to the game arrived in December with new challenges and boss fights, and you can catch up on the full patch notes for Expedition 33's final update here. Already though, of course, fans are already speculating what might come next, Sandfall has teased that Clair Obscur is a "franchise name."

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Red Dead Redemption 2 fans are searching for answers to a newly-discovered mystery that's been hidden within Rockstar's cowboy sequel since its original release.

After more than seven years, a group of Red Dead aficianados recently realized they'd stumbled on something no one had reported previously — a series of mysterious spiderwebs that began spawning on eight telegraph poles throughout the game's vast world, each during a specific hour of the night.

Two weeks on, more clues have now been found, and it's become clear that this is a deliberate secret included by Rockstar within the game, which players are now rushing to uncover the full meaning of.

Similar to Red Dead Redemption 2's quest involving dreamcatchers (and a familiar spiderweb mystery in GTA 5), players discovered in late December 2025 that these newly-found spiderwebs contain a feather which can be shot free — though the webs themselves only appear for one hour of in-game time each night.

An initial video on the mystery by Rockstar fan channel Strange Man credits this discovery to a trio of fans, goldenplaysterraria, pariah87 and u/FL4VA-01, while comments on the video from others say they've checked and discovered this secret really has been there since the game's original launch — all the way back in 2018.

Fast forward to last week, and a fresh update detailed a second phase of the mystery's unravelling. Here, players discovered that the various spiderwebs lead to one central web that contained a cryptic direction in its web design: "N" and a symbol for another telegraph pole. Heading north (as directed by "N") leads to another wooden pole which, once found, can be shot at to reveal yet another direction under its bark.

All of that brings us pretty much up to date, and up to a new video published just yesterday which details where the mystery is at now. Currently, players are following one final cryptic telegraph pole message that depicts a final direction, and the symbol for a guitar.

Where is this all leading? Players are not sure, but the sense is that there's definitely more to this mystery to solve. Players are now hurriedly searching the Fort Wallace location — which holds the nearest guitars to the mystery's most recent clue — and are mapping every other guitar found in the game, in case it sparks some new revelation.

With this secret having existed for so long, there's little chance that Rockstar itself is teasing anything big or new at the end. (Though, what a way to reveal single-player DLC this would be!) For Red Dead Redemption 2 fans, though, this is an exciting moment — something new to ponder at last in their beloved game, as the wait for news of a re-release or new content stretches on.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Marvel and Barbie star Simu Liu has insisted once again that a Shang-Chi sequel will happen — and given a first confirmation he'll return after Avengers: Doomsday for its sequel, Secret Wars.

It's now been five years since Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings launched to a warm reception back in 2021, and left fans keen to see more of the character. But despite enthusiasm from fans and Liu alike, no sequel has yet materialized, leaving the character's live-action return shelved until this December's Avengers: Doomsday.

Speaking to People, Liu has once again said that a Shang-Chi sequel will happen — despite no word from Marvel itself to make this official. On the upside, however, Liu's confirmation he's back for Avengers: Secret Wars seems to suggest he'll be one of the heroes to survive Doomsday's events.

"There's not a whole lot to tease right now, other than I think, I sound like a broken record at this point, but it is happening," Liu said of Shang-Chi 2. "But I think the more immediate tease is of course, is Doomsday... which I was lucky enough to be a part of and will be lucky enough to be a part of its successor in Secret Wars."

While Liu has returned to voice Shang-Chi in the animated Marvel series What If? and Marvel Zombies, fans have not even seen a cameo appearance of the character in live-action for nearly half a decade, through a phase of Marvel movies. It's something that has disappointed many following the ending to Shang-Chi, which saw him essentially called up to join the Avengers following a FaceTime call with Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers.

Back in 2021, Shang-Chi writer and director Destin Daniel Cretton told IGN he had already begun work on Shang-Chi 2, as well as a spin-off TV series that could potentially explore some of the plot threads left hanging by the first film. "There are some obvious doors that were opened by the end of Shang-Chi that may allow us to go into those worlds and explore them more," the director said. "And that would be a really cool one to explore because Ta Lo is way more vast than what we saw in Shang-Chi. So that's potentially one area that we may go, but I'm not sure."

But in 2023, Liu admitted the project had been delayed — with Marvel's priority now getting its new Avengers movies out the door first. After so long off-screen, Shang-Chi's appearance in Avengers may boost the success of his eventual sequel. But it's hard to shake the feeling that Shang-Chi 2 is still a long way away, if it ever happens.

Marvel is busy right now with Avengers: Doomsday, due this December, and then Avengers: Secret Wars, due December 2027. After that, the company has already confirmed it's working on an X-Men reboot and Black Panther 3, which are expected to launch in 2028 at the earliest.

Complicating matters further is the fact that Cretton was chosen to direct Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Principal filming on that project has now been completed, but some fans believe Marvel and Sony may be keen to keep the filmaker working on further Spider-Man sequels, after Tom Holland's first trilogy was helmed from start to finish by Jon Watts. When could we see Shang-Chi 2? It seems unlikely before the end of this decade, at the earliest.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Marvel actress Evangeline Lilly has announced that she's suffered brain damage due to an accident last year, and is now "functioning at a decreased capacity."

The star, best known for her Marvel role as Hope van Dyne, AKA the Wasp, gave an update on her condition via a video posted to Instagram over the weekend, in which she told fans she had "bad news" to share following a recent brain scan.

"Almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity," Lilly said, as a result of an accident in May 2025 where she hit her head on a boulder after blacking out. The damage has now resulted in "cognitive decline", she continued.

"So I do have brain damage from the TBI [traumatic brain injury] and possibly other factors going on," Lilly explained. "But now my job is to get to the bottom of that with doctors and then embark on the hard work of fixing it, which I don't look forward to because I feel like hard work is all I do."

"But that's OK," she continued. "My cognitive decline since I smashed my face open has helped me to slow down and helped me to have a more restful finish to my 2025." Indeed, Lilly went on to describe her final months of last year as the "calmest and most restful" since she had children 14 years ago, something she said was "good thing."

Also known for her starring role in Lost, as well as a turn in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, Lilly's last role was in 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where she once again reprised her role as Hope van Dyne. Her appearance followed a series of comments from the actress on the deployment of Covid vaccines which raised eyebrows during the early stages of the global pandemic. Following the release of Quantumania, Lilly indicated that her acting career was now on hiatus while she focused on charity work.

Last year, the actress reported that she had lost consciousness while at the beach and fallen "face first into a boulder", and noted that she had suffered from "fainting spells" since her youth.

Responses to her new post included wishes of goodwill from Lilly's Marvel co-star Michel Pfeiffer and Lost actress Rebecca Mader. "You are a warrior," Pfeiffer wrote. "Nothing — not even this will defeat you my friend." Said Mader: "Sending you all my love and a massive hug."

Image credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Resident Evil 4's helpless companion character Ashley was once planned to star in a newly-designed intro made for Capcom's acclaimed remake.

Everyone knows by now how Resident Evil 4 opens: with fan-favorite character Leon S. Kennedy thrown into the action as he investigates the abduction of Ashley Graham, the U.S. president's daughter. And in the final version of the brilliant Resident Evil 4 Remake, this is again how the game begins.

But Capcom planned — and at least partially built — a new introduction sequence dubbed Chapter 0 which would have seen players sneak around as Ashley, before she's finally dragged off by brainwashed ganados. And now, a fresh video showing some of the mission has been put together.

Ashley's Chapter 0 would have taken place in an expanded version of the forested area outside the game's main village, close to where Leon is ultimately seen creeping along at the beginning of the remake. A snippet of this survived in a trailer for the remake, where Ashley witnesses a grisly ritual sacrifice prior to getting captured.

The non-combat mission sees Ashley sneak along, hiding from a patrolling ganado, and spotting another who is carrying Luis — presumably to the basement where Leon finds him later. But, ultimately, we all know Ashley is going to get captured — something that, after a brief chase sequence, we then see play out.

If you're keen to see the remains of this mission in action, modder Michael "Thekempy" Kemp has a video of its surviving elements — though it seems like much of the mission was unfinished, or removed from the game's final version.

While Resident Evil 4 remake features plenty of extra sequences not found in the original Resi 4, it's easy to see why this one fell by the wayside. It's hard to imagine anyone being surprised by Ashley's capture, since that sets up the whole game, and the character already has her own short sections of gameplay later on.

And then there's the fact that Ashley is, well, not loved by some Resident Evil fans. The Resi 4 remake goes some way to making her less of a damsel in distress, but it's perhaps unsurprising that Capcom ultimately chose not to open the game with her, rather than simply letting players jump straight in to Leon's mission.

"The Resident Evil 4 remake is the series' most relentlessly exciting adventure rebuilt, refined, and realised to the full extent of its enormous potential," IGN wrote in our Resident Evil 4 Remake review, scoring it 10/10.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The Witcher 3 maker CD Projekt has a secret new expansion for its beloved role-playing game in the works, various reports have suggested.

Word that the studio was planning more content for its 2015 blockbuster originally dates back to a report published online last summer, in which Polish games industry insider Borys Nieśpielak first spilled details of the supposed project.

At the time, Nieśpielak claimed that development was being handled by Fool's Theory — the studio that CD Projekt has also tasked with remaking The Witcher 1. Today, in a report by Eurogamer, Nieśpielak doubled down on his initial claim and pointed to a recent hint by CD Projekt itself that the content was quietly in the works.

"Given our current progress, there is a chance that new content hinted upon in recent calls and reports may see release in the coming year," CD Projekt chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz said in the company's latest financial report, published in November 2025. Without naming the content, Nielubowicz went on to suggest that it could have "an impact" on the company's upcoming results — potentially suggesting it would arrive relatively soon, and be relatively meaninful in scope.

This isn't the only official mention of an unnamed project, either. In a follow-up investor call following the aforementioned results, joint studio CEO Michał Nowakowski also made mention of an "other project" that Fool's Theory was working on, in the same breath as mentioning its The Witcher 1 remake and support for the upcoming The Witcher 4.

Yet another whisper of the project came just before the end of last year from Polish analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski, who said he expected "the next paid add-on (DLC) for The Witcher 3 to be released in May 2026." All of this points to CD Projekt, via Fool's Theory, having something new for The Witcher 3 fans in just a few months' time — an exciting prospect, and one that would make some sense.

As "full production" on The Witcher 4 continues, CD Projekt has cautioned fans not to expect its launch in 2026, as the company plans an ambitious six-year roadmap in which it will also launch The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6. Before all of that, there's a window this year for even more Witcher, and a fresh slice of content that could potentially help bridge the gap.

A new DLC feels like a smart idea to reawaken lapsed interest ahead of the series' next chapter, via extra content sold to The Witcher 3's existing audience of more than 60 million players. This content could be used as a reason to sell the game anew, to bring fresh fans to the decade-old role-player, and potentially set up plot points to be expanded upon in The Witcher 4.

Finally, of course, it could offer fans one last oppurtunity to play as Geralt — before the franchise's next trilogy focuses on Ciri. So, one last adventure?

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The Pokémon franchise has begun its 30th anniversary celebrations with the reveal of a special new logo, an animation featuring Fat Pikachu, and the promise of more to share in less than two months' time.

2026 is the 30th anniversary of Pokémon, which began its path to world domination with the Japanese launch of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green back on the Game Boy three decades ago. (The series then arrived in the USA two years' later, launching with Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue.)

As the clock ticked over to January 1, 2026 in Pokémon's home region of Japan, the brand began its celebrations with the reveal of a new 30th Anniversary Pokémon logo featuring Pikachu, introduced by none other than Fat Pikachu — the mascot's far plumper original design that's now rarely glimpsed in official Pokémon media. Here he is in action:

ポケモン30周年、はじまる！
『ポケットモンスター 赤・緑』の発売から30年。
2026年2月27日（金）にポケモンは30周年を迎えるよ。
今年は最高の1年になる予感！
お楽しみに！#ポケモン30周年 pic.twitter.com/iPXR83Ib66

— ポケモン公式 (@Pokemon_cojp) December 31, 2025

"Pokémon 30th Anniversary, Here We Go!" the brand wrote in a post on social media. "30 years since the release of Pokémon Red and Green. On February 27, 2026 (Friday), Pokémon turns 30. We have a feeling this year is going to be the best one yet! Look forward to it!"

Expectations for this year's celebrations are sky high, following last year's so-called Teraleak of Pokémon game development data that spilled various details of the franchise's highly-anticipated 10th generation of games. Alongside a fresh roster of new creatures, fans expect these titles to feature new gameplay mechanics and procedurally-generated areas for the first time.

2026 will also see the launch of promising-looking Pokémon life simulation spin-off Pokémon Pokopia, which arrives exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 on March 5. A blend of Pokémon characters with gameplay more similar to Animal Crossing, the game seems likely to find success.

More details on all of that are expected to arrive on the brand's big 30th anniversary, now less than two months' away on February 27. While not formally confirmed just yet, this date has now become the annual date fans expect to sit down and watch a new Pokémon Presents, the company's Nintendo Direct-style announcements showcase. There's not long to go now.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Physical copies of Star Wars Racer Revenge are suddenly selling for over $300, as word spreads that an exploit in the game can be used to jailbreak PlayStation 5 consoles.

Recently-completed eBay listings for the PS4 re-release of Star Wars Racer Revenge show multiple copies selling for $300 or more over the past 24 hours — with prices only increasing.

On December 31, more than a dozen copies of the game were sold through eBay priced between $80 to $166. On January 1st, a further 11 were shifted, with prices ranging between $180 and $364.50. And now, dozens more copies have been listed for sale — with prices currently around the $300-$400 mark or even higher.

Why the sudden rush to buy boxed copies of a Star Wars racing game for PlayStation 4 that launched back in 2019? Well, Racer Revenge's code is reportedly crucial to fire off a new method of jailbreaking PlayStation 5 — essentially unlocking the ability to play illegally pirated games — when the game's physical disc is present.

Of course, this isn't to say that every copy sold or up for sale on eBay will be bought by someone who's definitely going to do this. Indeed, retail site Resell Calendar has issued an alert to anyone with a copy (or who might know local pre-owned game shops that might have one) advising them that they're suddenly sitting on a game that's just shot up in perceived value.

Eight hours and more than 10,000 parries later, a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 superfan is being praised for beating one of the game's toughest bosses in frankly ridiculous conditions.

Underpowered but undeterred, Reddit user Recordbreaks has posted a screenshot showing that they beat the super strong Duollistes boss after managing 10,545 successful parries — which feels like more than I've completed in the entire game.

The encounter took eight hours, two minutes and 36 seconds, during which time Recordbreaks says they "took one break maybe for about 5-10 minutes" in order to go get snacks, then "went back to it."

Nintendo has said it was unwilling to backtrack on the design of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's controversial open world hub despite seeing "changed" attitudes to open-world games, as the project had already been rebooted once already.

The Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 blockbuster launched last month to mostly positive reviews, but also a broad swathe of criticism specifically for its annoying supporting characters and bland open-world desert hub where you ride around rather aimlessly on a motorbike.

Now, in an interview with Famitsu (translated via ResetEra / Nintendo Everything), the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond development team has revealed that it struggled balancing Nintendo's desire to experiment with open-world gameplay with the Metroid series' core exploration, and ultimately had to stick to its original plan for the game rather than risk delaying it any further.

"At the start of the project, perhaps due to the influence of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, we saw a lot of comments on the internet saying 'we want to play an open-world Metroid,'" Nintendo said. (The interview does not label comments from individual developers by name.)

"However, Metroid's core element of 'increasing the amount of explorable areas by unlocking powers' is not very compatible with the 'freedom to go anywhere from the beginning' of open worlds," Nintendo continued. "Thus we thought to design a limited area that could be freely explored, and have that be a hub that could connect to other areas. Then we thought that if one could move around on the bike in a satisfying way in that area, it could be a segment that mitigates the tension from exploration, and paces the whole game."

In other words, the hub design seen in the finished Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was Nintendo's original compromise for including some open world elements while sticking to the franchise's core exploration in its main areas.

"In the end, the game took much longer than expected to finish, and we realized that players' impressions toward open-world games had changed," Nintendo added. "That being said, development had already been reset once before (when we started again from scratch with Retro Studios) so backtracking development again was out of the question, and we resolved to move forward with our original vision."

Arriving 18 years after Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the last game in Retro Studios' beloved Prime trilogy, Prime 4 was officially announced at E3 2017. Initially, Bandai Namco was put in charge of development, but development was rebooted in January 2019 back at Retro Studios after Nintendo decided the game's development had fallen short of expectations.

Nintendo's comment that the open-world hub was part of its "original vision" for Prime 4 certainly suggests it was not Retro Studios' design, though the implication is that Nintendo only realized the flaws with it after the game's development was begun anew.

"During this time, shooting games and action games went through evolutions, with an increase in game speed in particular, but taking in those changes would have made it difficult to construct the tempo of an adventure game, so we actively chose to not take them into account," Nintendo concluded. "Therefore, I think this game is pretty much divorced from the changing of times."

The idea of Samus gaining psychic abilities also predated Retro Studios' reboot, and originated as an explanation for why she is now able to control the Charge Beam's directional shot. After Retro took over the project, Nintendo said it asked the studio to implement further gameplay features that expanded on the idea of Samus gaining a psychic power set.

"Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is an excellent, if relatively uneven, revival that reaches heights worthy of the Metroid name in its best moments," IGN wrote in our Metroid Prime 4: Beyond review, scoring the game 8/10.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Deus Ex lead actor Elias Toufexis has branded the franchise's owners as "psychopaths," as the wait continues for a new entry in the dormant stealth action series.

In a post on X, Toufexis laid out his work schedule for 2026, which he said included Bungie's upcoming shooter Marathon and three unannounced projects. Of course, this tease prompted Deus Ex fans to suggest that at least one of these mystery projects was a long-awaited new Deus Ex sequel — something Toufexis was quick to shut down.

"...no Deus Ex because the people in charge are psychopaths," Toufexis wrote.

Toufexis has been vocal in support of a new Deus Ex game materializing over the years, though it has now been a decade since the arrival of 2016's Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Developed by Eidos Montreal, the game arrived on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to positive reviews.

But rather than develop a follow up, the next few years saw Eidos Montreal put to work on Square Enix's failed Marvel's Avengers live-service game, as well as its own take on Guardians of the Galaxy, alongside its continuing role as a support studio for the Tomb Raider franchise. With these franchises taking priority, Deus Ex fell by the wayside.

Fan excitement for a new Deus Ex was rekindled after Square Enix sold Eidos Montreal — and the Deus Ex franchise — to publisher Embracer, and indeed, a new game in the series was reportedly worked on for two years. Alas, this project was reported to have been canned in 2024, amid Embracer's widespread restructuring.

"As you guys all know, Jensen is one of the characters I’ve played who is near and dear to my heart. It seems I will always be associated with him and that’s just fine with me," Toufexis wrote in a subsequent reddit post, after word of the game's cancellation spread.

"Alas, his story seems done. I’m relatively certain the game that was canceled was not an Adam Jensen story, so the cancellation angers me more than anything else because friends at Eidos got laid off. Video game companies right now are in a weird place. I hope it gets straightened out."

A year ago, Insider Gaming reported that Eidos Montreal was once again pitching an idea for a new Deus Ex title, though there was no suggestion this idea had been successful. Next up for the series will be Aspyr's recently-delayed Deus Ex Remastered, a polished up port of the franchise's original entry, which has been pushed from its original February 2026 launch date following fan concerns over its quality. The project currently lacks a new launch window, and pre-orders have been refunded.

Toufexis previously claimed he spent two years working on Far Cry 3, recording lines as the game's protagonist Jason Brody, before Ubisoft replaced him in the role. The voice actor claimed the reason for this switch was his work as the Deus Ex protagonist, whose voice had become too "popular" and recognizable.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social