As part of its 25th anniversary celebrations for Tomb Raider, Square Enix has published three new videos featuring an array of details from the cancelled survival horror game Tomb Raider: Ascension.

As shown on YouTube, the three videos focus on different elements of what could have been for Ascension, had the game not been replaced by the franchise's preferred 2013 reboot. In the first clip, the publisher shows off a range of concept art for the game where fans can see its island setting as well as a number of characters designs.

"After narrowing in on the concept of a survival story on a remote island," says Square Enix in the video's description on YouTube. "Crystal began developing what was internally called Tomb Raider: Ascension. At one point, Ascension felt closer to a horror game than a Tomb Raider title. Eventually, the concept evolved into the origin story told in the 2013 reboot, keeping the key survival components with a dash of supernatural terror."

The second of the three videos shown by Square seems to highlight this well. Showing off early footage, Ascension looks as if it would have leaned further into the horror genre, as Lara can be seen making her way through a number of darker poorly lit areas and battling against a range of twisted monsters.

Across the seven-minute video, fans are treated to a reasonably substantial amount of content - with scenes also showing Lara traversing the island's environment on horseback and what looks to be a pretty intense moonlit boss battle. According to the publisher, it was during its work on Ascension that the team then "homed in on telling an origin story through the lens of survival," and some of those horror elements were seemingly pushed aside.

The final video published to YouTube features some early logo concepts for Ascension and a number of designs for its box art. While these are interesting to look through, the main highlight of the clip is the inclusion of some early voiceover work that the publisher says was recorded to " capture the tone" for Lara's difficult journey ahead. The narration in the clip does well to set up the reboot's take on Croft, distinguishing her from iterations of the character seen previously in the series.

"You think you know me," says Lara in the video. "Think you've seen me before. The Brit princess, rich girl with a pretty face, shiny guns, and a flair for gymnastics. I think you've got me mixed up with someone else."

"I'm not perfect. I'm not bulletproof. I struggle. I bleed. I get cold. I get lost. I have doubts. I know pain. I know fear. One day, I will become a legend. A warrior. A hero. A raider. But first, I will be a survivor. Still think you know me? Think again."

Across the range of footage shown off, it's not hard to see how Ascension eventually transitioned into becoming the publisher's 2013 reboot. While many of the original ideas shown never quite made it to see the light of day, the clips seem to have gone down well with the Tomb Raider community. Across the videos' comment sections, a number of fans have praised the idea of a horror-led Tomb Raider title with some even asking that Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics consider making the game now.

For more on Lara and the series, make sure to check out this article detailing the latest from Tomb Raider: Reloaded, an upcoming mobile game based on the franchise and set to launch next year. The latest trailer for that game can also be seen below, so be sure to give that a watch too.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN who remembers playing early entries in the Tomb Raider series alongside his parents as a child. You can follow him on Twitter.

Battlefield 2042 had an interesting open beta to say the least. While fans were excited to finally get their hands on the newest iteration of the popular series, the beta also sparked debate about many of EA's design choices, particularly the introduction of Specialists.

In a lengthy new blog post meant to share takeaways from the recent open beta, EA pushed back against the feedback that Specialists — characters with unique traits that upend the traditional class system — hampered teamwork. Battlefield 2042's developers also explained that the decision to use an older build for the beta was mostly down to stability, and also discussed some of the more granular changes that are being implemented as a result of the feedback.

In response to criticism of the Specialists, EA argued that Battlefield's teamwork was actually being hampered by features that hadn't yet been implement, such as the ping system. "First, we recognize that numerous improvements to the user interface, identifying between friend and foe, the ping system, and in-game team communication that were missing during the Open Beta (and are all explained in detail below) are vital to team play. You didn’t get to experience all of those, and so today we want to help talk you through the many different changes that you'll experience in the full game."

EA continued, "Second, you weren’t able to go hands on with all Ten of our Specialists, and see them all in action on the Battlefield. Now that all the cards are on the table, let us know what you think!"

Much of the criticism around Specialists has centered around the duplicate characters. One Reddit poster noted how jarring it was to walk around a corner and see "McKay stabbing McKay while McKay is looking to the other side." Others felt that Specialists were simply better suited for a smaller-scale shooter like Rainbow Six Siege as opposed to a larger-scale experience Battlefield.

While EA doesn't plan to remove the ability to pick Specialists or loadouts at will in All-Out Warfare, it did say that squad composition would be much tighter and more limited in the new Hazard Zone mode, and that players would have more customization options at launch to help differentiate themselves. For those who are adamant about returning to the older style of Battlefield, there's Battlefield Portal, where they can customize their rules at will.

The five final specialists revealed

In addition to touching on the community's reaction to Specialists, EA revealed Battlefield 2042's final five characters in a brand new trailer. They include the following characters:

• Navin Rao, an Indian recon specialist and hacker.
• Santiago Espinoza, a Mexican assault specialist with a very large shield.
• Ji-Soo Paik, a South Korean scout and spotter.
• Constantin Anghel, a Romanian medic.
• Emma Rosier, a French explosives expert.

The rest of the blog post goes into detail about how EA is dealing with the open beta's bot-heavy servers, the user interface, and the overall performance. The whole thing is certainly worth a read if you're a Battlefield fan who's feeling anxious after the open beta.

Battlefield 2042 is scheduled to enter early access release on November 12, with the full release date on November 19. Check out our first look at Hazard Zone, where we talk about how it's an indicator that Battlefield 2042 is shaping up to be one of the boldest entries in years.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Battlefield 2042 had an interesting open beta to say the least. While fans were excited to finally get their hands on the newest iteration of the popular series, the beta also sparked debate about many of EA's design choices, particularly the introduction of Specialists.

In a lengthy new blog post meant to share takeaways from the recent open beta, EA pushed back against the feedback that Specialists — characters with unique traits that upend the traditional class system — hampered teamwork. Battlefield 2042's developers also explained that the decision to use an older build for the beta was mostly down to stability, and also discussed some of the more granular changes that are being implemented as a result of the feedback.

In response to criticism of the Specialists, EA argued that Battlefield's teamwork was actually being hampered by features that hadn't yet been implement, such as the ping system. "First, we recognize that numerous improvements to the user interface, identifying between friend and foe, the ping system, and in-game team communication that were missing during the Open Beta (and are all explained in detail below) are vital to team play. You didn’t get to experience all of those, and so today we want to help talk you through the many different changes that you'll experience in the full game."

EA continued, "Second, you weren’t able to go hands on with all Ten of our Specialists, and see them all in action on the Battlefield. Now that all the cards are on the table, let us know what you think!"

Much of the criticism around Specialists has centered around the duplicate characters. One Reddit poster noted how jarring it was to walk around a corner and see "McKay stabbing McKay while McKay is looking to the other side." Others felt that Specialists were simply better suited for a smaller-scale shooter like Rainbow Six Siege as opposed to a larger-scale experience Battlefield.

While EA doesn't plan to remove the ability to pick Specialists or loadouts at will in All-Out Warfare, it did say that squad composition would be much tighter and more limited in the new Hazard Zone mode, and that players would have more customization options at launch to help differentiate themselves. For those who are adamant about returning to the older style of Battlefield, there's Battlefield Portal, where they can customize their rules at will.

The five final specialists revealed

In addition to touching on the community's reaction to Specialists, EA revealed Battlefield 2042's final five characters in a brand new trailer. They include the following characters:

• Navin Rao, an Indian recon specialist and hacker.
• Santiago Espinoza, a Mexican assault specialist with a very large shield.
• Ji-Soo Paik, a South Korean scout and spotter.
• Constantin Anghel, a Romanian medic.
• Emma Rosier, a French explosives expert.

The rest of the blog post goes into detail about how EA is dealing with the open beta's bot-heavy servers, the user interface, and the overall performance. The whole thing is certainly worth a read if you're a Battlefield fan who's feeling anxious after the open beta.

Battlefield 2042 is scheduled to enter early access release on November 12, with the full release date on November 19. Check out our first look at Hazard Zone, where we talk about how it's an indicator that Battlefield 2042 is shaping up to be one of the boldest entries in years.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts director Steven Caple Jr. has announced that production on his Bumblebee sequel has now officially wrapped.

Caple celebrated the end of production on the seventh live-action Transformers film by posting a new photo on Instagram that shows him sitting in the driver's seat of the movie's G1-inspired Optimus Prime truck. "That's a wrap," he captioned the photo, which has arrived just a few weeks after he revealed the first look at the film's Autobots and Terrorcons.

The Autobots were showcased in the first image of Caple's previous Instagram post (below), with Optimus Prime pictured front and center alongside Bumblebee, dressed in the signature yellow and black, as well as the vehicular forms of Mirage, Arcee, and Wheeljack. Whereas, the second photo spotlighted the Terrorcons led by Scourge.

Scourge will roll out as the main villain of Rise of the Beasts when the film hits theaters on June 24, 2022. The foreboding Kenworth JF Logging Truck will take symbols from his victims and fuse them onto his militiristic body as trophies. Also pictured is Nightbird, Scourge's dangerous ninja "right hand," and an unidentified GM C4500 Topkick tow-truck.

Up until now, the live-action Transformers series has focused exclusively on Autobots and Decepticons, but the new movie will add Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the mix for a story that promises to send audiences on a globetrotting adventure across Brooklyn, New York, and Peru in the year 1994, seven years after 2018's Bumblebee.

Rise of the Beasts will introduce the Beast Wars to the Transformers film franchise, with Ron Perlman playing Optimus Primal. Noah, an ex-military electronics whiz played by Anthony Ramos, and Elena, an artifacts researcher played by Dominique Fishback, will become embroiled in a battle when the Maximals and Predacons decide to take their fight to Earth.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts director Steven Caple Jr. has announced that production on his Bumblebee sequel has now officially wrapped.

Caple celebrated the end of production on the seventh live-action Transformers film by posting a new photo on Instagram that shows him sitting in the driver's seat of the movie's G1-inspired Optimus Prime truck. "That's a wrap," he captioned the photo, which has arrived just a few weeks after he revealed the first look at the film's Autobots and Terrorcons.

The Autobots were showcased in the first image of Caple's previous Instagram post (below), with Optimus Prime pictured front and center alongside Bumblebee, dressed in the signature yellow and black, as well as the vehicular forms of Mirage, Arcee, and Wheeljack. Whereas, the second photo spotlighted the Terrorcons led by Scourge.

Scourge will roll out as the main villain of Rise of the Beasts when the film hits theaters on June 24, 2022. The foreboding Kenworth JF Logging Truck will take symbols from his victims and fuse them onto his militiristic body as trophies. Also pictured is Nightbird, Scourge's dangerous ninja "right hand," and an unidentified GM C4500 Topkick tow-truck.

Up until now, the live-action Transformers series has focused exclusively on Autobots and Decepticons, but the new movie will add Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the mix for a story that promises to send audiences on a globetrotting adventure across Brooklyn, New York, and Peru in the year 1994, seven years after 2018's Bumblebee.

Rise of the Beasts will introduce the Beast Wars to the Transformers film franchise, with Ron Perlman playing Optimus Primal. Noah, an ex-military electronics whiz played by Anthony Ramos, and Elena, an artifacts researcher played by Dominique Fishback, will become embroiled in a battle when the Maximals and Predacons decide to take their fight to Earth.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Microsoft has announced that 2TB and 512GB models of Seagate's storage expansion cards for Xbox Series X/S will be joining the existing 1TB model before the end of the year.

As detailed on Xbox Wire, the Seagate 512GB Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S is available for pre-order today at Walmart in the United States for $139.99 USD and will be released in the middle of November.

The Seagate 2TB Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S will be available for pre-order in November, will cost a bit more at $399.99 USD, and will be released in December. The 2TB model will also be the "next product featuring the Designed for Xbox Limited Series badge, ensuring premium product quality, performance, and design."

For comparison, the original Seagate 1TB Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S costs $219.99 USD.

One of the best aspects of these cards is the ability for users to simply plug the card into the Storage Expansion port on the back of their Xbox Series X/S. Users will then be able to use it as they would any other external storage solution. The benefit of using one of these cards as opposed to a standard external hard drive is that these are "designed to match the exact performance of the internal storage of the Xbox Series X/S."

This exact performance is due to the fact they are built on the foundation of the Xbox Velocity Architecture. This custom SSD delivers "2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput, more than 40x the throughput of Xbox One." These cards are "the only external SSDs on market designed to leverage the Xbox Velocity Architecture and deliver the exact same performance as the internal SSD."

Considering the Seagate Storage Expansion Cards use the same technology powering the Xbox Series X/S, all games will see "significant improvements in load times" and games will be able to take full advantage of Quick Resume and more.

Microsoft's solution to expanded storage is a much simpler one than that offered by Sony for the PlayStation 5, as the latter requires you to take parts of the PS5 off to install it and ensure that you use a certain SSD with a heatsink to dissipate any additional heat generated by it.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Microsoft has announced that 2TB and 512GB models of Seagate's storage expansion cards for Xbox Series X/S will be joining the existing 1TB model before the end of the year.

As detailed on Xbox Wire, the Seagate 512GB Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S is available for pre-order today at Walmart in the United States for $139.99 USD and will be released in the middle of November.

The Seagate 2TB Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S will be available for pre-order in November, will cost a bit more at $399.99 USD, and will be released in December. The 2TB model will also be the "next product featuring the Designed for Xbox Limited Series badge, ensuring premium product quality, performance, and design."

For comparison, the original Seagate 1TB Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/S costs $219.99 USD.

One of the best aspects of these cards is the ability for users to simply plug the card into the Storage Expansion port on the back of their Xbox Series X/S. Users will then be able to use it as they would any other external storage solution. The benefit of using one of these cards as opposed to a standard external hard drive is that these are "designed to match the exact performance of the internal storage of the Xbox Series X/S."

This exact performance is due to the fact they are built on the foundation of the Xbox Velocity Architecture. This custom SSD delivers "2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput, more than 40x the throughput of Xbox One." These cards are "the only external SSDs on market designed to leverage the Xbox Velocity Architecture and deliver the exact same performance as the internal SSD."

Considering the Seagate Storage Expansion Cards use the same technology powering the Xbox Series X/S, all games will see "significant improvements in load times" and games will be able to take full advantage of Quick Resume and more.

Microsoft's solution to expanded storage is a much simpler one than that offered by Sony for the PlayStation 5, as the latter requires you to take parts of the PS5 off to install it and ensure that you use a certain SSD with a heatsink to dissipate any additional heat generated by it.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Halo Infinite won't launch with ray tracing on PC, but developer 343 Industries says it's one of the studio's "top development priorities post-launch".

In a blog post, 343 announced that AMD is the game's PC partner, with the two pursuing "a close, long-term partnership with Halo across both engineering and marketing efforts." While saying that that partnership has helped the team optimize the game for everything from high-powered PCs to much older hardware, 343 added that "we’ve identified opportunities for additional configuration options, performance tweaks, and memory improvements across both PC as well as console and we’re working together on more optimization solutions that should benefit all platforms."

One of those additional opportunities is ray tracing. 343 had already told IGN that ray tracing wouldn't come in the launch version of the game, and this blog post reconfirms that, despite the game having received a year's delay since that interview. Instead, the AMD partnership will seemingly help the feature be added later:

"We’re looking forward to working closely with AMD to bring ray tracing to Halo Infinite," reads the blog. "Ray tracing is one our top development priorities post-launch and [we] look forward to sharing more soon."

The blog post is specifically about the PC version of the game – we've asked Xbox for comment on whether ray tracing will come to console versions too.

It's not long until we finally get to play Halo Infinite – our early impressions of multiplayer have been very good, and the game recently announced a host of accessibility features designed to "make the newest journey into the Halo universe more accessible to as many gamers as possible."

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Halo Infinite won't launch with ray tracing on PC, but developer 343 Industries says it's one of the studio's "top development priorities post-launch".

In a blog post, 343 announced that AMD is the game's PC partner, with the two pursuing "a close, long-term partnership with Halo across both engineering and marketing efforts." While saying that that partnership has helped the team optimize the game for everything from high-powered PCs to much older hardware, 343 added that "we’ve identified opportunities for additional configuration options, performance tweaks, and memory improvements across both PC as well as console and we’re working together on more optimization solutions that should benefit all platforms."

One of those additional opportunities is ray tracing. 343 had already told IGN that ray tracing wouldn't come in the launch version of the game, and this blog post reconfirms that, despite the game having received a year's delay since that interview. Instead, the AMD partnership will seemingly help the feature be added later:

"We’re looking forward to working closely with AMD to bring ray tracing to Halo Infinite," reads the blog. "Ray tracing is one our top development priorities post-launch and [we] look forward to sharing more soon."

The blog post is specifically about the PC version of the game – we've asked Xbox for comment on whether ray tracing will come to console versions too.

It's not long until we finally get to play Halo Infinite – our early impressions of multiplayer have been very good, and the game recently announced a host of accessibility features designed to "make the newest journey into the Halo universe more accessible to as many gamers as possible."

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Upcoming Borderlands spin-off Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is heavily inspired by tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, but it’s not using the ideas of the Forgotten Realms wholesale. There’s no thief and warrior classes here; instead developer Gearbox has created unique takes in its Stabbomancer and Brr-Zerker classes.

These two classes are the first to be revealed from Wonderlands’ multiclass system, which allows you to mix and match six unique character skill trees to create your ideal character. Stabbomancer is a stealth (or as stealth as Borderlands gets) class seemingly inspired by D&D’s Rogues. These critical-hit-focused assassins can summon magical spinning Ghost Blades that can be thrown like a deadly frisbee, and use a magical cloak to disappear into the shadows and reposition for a perfect, damage-increased backstab.

Brr-Zerkers, meanwhile, are a sort of magical Barbarian class that combines heavy-hit damage with frost magic. Their Feral Surge ability allows them to leap forward with a huge ice axe and cause a cold shockwave, while the Dreadwind skill spins them around at high speed, freezing enemies and shattering them.

Characters in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands have access to magic, with a spellcasting system built around short cooldowns. Examples offered by Gearbox include roasting enemies with fire, hurling mini tornados, protective spells, and buffs that reduce cooldowns. Similar to plasmids and tonics in BioShock, guns are used in the right hand and spells in your left. Additionally, magic fits into a “combat trifecta” of guns, spells, and melee, and so every character will have access to a dedicated melee weapon at all times.

Furthering the tabletop influences, Wonderlands’ campaign will use an Overworld map for characters to travel between major locations. Explored via a third-person overhead camera, it’s designed to evoke the feeling of moving miniatures across a tabletop RPG game board. Exploring the Overworld map can also uncover shortcuts and optional locations, such as Tangledrift and Sundang Oasis. Each has multi-part questlines which Gearbox hopes will work as Wonderlands’ analogue to tabletop RPG one-shots and standalone modules.

The core quest will involve Butt Stallion, a magical diamond unicorn, who oversees the Wonderlands from the capital city of Blighthoof. Your adventure will bring you face to face with the Skeleton Army, which has been resurrected by the Dragon Lord to wreak destruction.

More from Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands will be revealed in the coming months, and the game itself will launch on March 25, 2022 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Epic Games Store. Here’s what you can get in each of its different editions. And for more, check out our details on weapons, loot, magic, and enemies.

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