Dark Souls 3's PC servers are back offline despite being restored by FromSoftware just four weeks ago.

The Dark Souls Twitter account announced the news (below), saying that the Steam servers were down once again. No explanation of what the issue is or how long it will be an issue were given, but the developer did say it was actively investigating and trying to solve the problem.

"At this time, there is a confirmed issue with Dark Souls 3 online play via the Steam platform," FromSoftware said. "We are investigating the source of the problem and will inform you as soon as more details become available."

At this time, there is a confirmed issue with DARK SOULS III online play via the Steam platform.

We are investigating the source of the problem and will inform you as soon as more details become available.

Thank you for your patience. #DarkSouls

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) September 21, 2022

Fans were also thanked for their patience but, given the regularity of online problems encountered in the Dark Souls series, it's perhaps not surprising that the replies and retweets to FromSoftware's announcement were full of complaints.

Before being brought back online four weeks ago, the Dark Souls 3 servers had been down for eight months. The servers were first taken down after an exploit was discovered that allowed other players to take over the user's PC, and FromSoftware has been releasing incremental updates ever since as it worked to bring back its games' online features.

There's nothing to suggest that the current server issue is related to this exploit, but the original Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 are both still offline as a result of the same issue.

The exploit was discovered just a month before FromSoftware released Elden Ring, causing fans looking forward to the game to grow worried it would affect its multiplayer components. Thankfully, however, Elden Ring was able to launch without major issues and became an incredible success.

It did have to deal with a few hacking issues though, after an infamous Dark Souls hacker appeared in Elden Ring and forced illegal items into players' inventories, causing them to be banned. Even weirder, the game's secret underwear was also being used by trolls to get other players banned.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Dark Souls 3's PC servers are back offline despite being restored by FromSoftware just four weeks ago.

The Dark Souls Twitter account announced the news (below), saying that the Steam servers were down once again. No explanation of what the issue is or how long it will be an issue were given, but the developer did say it was actively investigating and trying to solve the problem.

"At this time, there is a confirmed issue with Dark Souls 3 online play via the Steam platform," FromSoftware said. "We are investigating the source of the problem and will inform you as soon as more details become available."

At this time, there is a confirmed issue with DARK SOULS III online play via the Steam platform.

We are investigating the source of the problem and will inform you as soon as more details become available.

Thank you for your patience. #DarkSouls

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) September 21, 2022

Fans were also thanked for their patience but, given the regularity of online problems encountered in the Dark Souls series, it's perhaps not surprising that the replies and retweets to FromSoftware's announcement were full of complaints.

Before being brought back online four weeks ago, the Dark Souls 3 servers had been down for eight months. The servers were first taken down after an exploit was discovered that allowed other players to take over the user's PC, and FromSoftware has been releasing incremental updates ever since as it worked to bring back its games' online features.

There's nothing to suggest that the current server issue is related to this exploit, but the original Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 are both still offline as a result of the same issue.

The exploit was discovered just a month before FromSoftware released Elden Ring, causing fans looking forward to the game to grow worried it would affect its multiplayer components. Thankfully, however, Elden Ring was able to launch without major issues and became an incredible success.

It did have to deal with a few hacking issues though, after an infamous Dark Souls hacker appeared in Elden Ring and forced illegal items into players' inventories, causing them to be banned. Even weirder, the game's secret underwear was also being used by trolls to get other players banned.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

James Bond producers want the new 007 on board for at least a decade.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson explained what kind of commitment they want from the next James Bond.

“We’re not just casting someone for one film,” said Broccoli. “We’re casting someone, hopefully for a decade, at least. It’s a big decision to make, and we’re nowhere near making that decision.”

That’s right – the new 007 hasn’t been chosen. At least, not yet.

“When we get to a point, like we are now, we have to think about the trajectory of the Bond films and the storylines and where we want to take them,” she added. “So, that’s really the main focus at the beginning. Once we have a sense of where we want to go, then we’ll start thinking about casting.”

Ever since Daniel Craig stepped down as 007 following No Time to Die, fans have been busy speculating who will take up the mantle next. We’ve seen the likes of Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, and even Tom Hiddleston.

But Broccoli went on to explain why taking the role is a huge decision.

“Any actor that would be thinking about this has got to think about how it would change their life,” she explained. “Daniel certainly was reluctant when we first approached him and as I say about him, his life changed, but he did not change. He’s always been the same amazingly wonderful human being at the beginning as he is now.”

Craig first suited up for the 2006 Bond film, Casino Royale, and spent the next 16 years as the infamous British secret agent.

“You become an ambassador for the cinema and people recognize you as being associated with the character,” added Broccoli. “It’s got a lot of different elements to it. But the time commitment is certainly a long-term commitment, and not everybody is willing to do that — multiple pictures over many years. Daniel’s done 16 years time.”

Who will end up taking on the role remains to be seen. But it sounds as though the next Bond film will start by working out its villain.

“We always sit down with our writers, and we start by thinking about what is the world afraid of?” said Broccoli. “We start by thinking about, ‘Who’s the Bond villain?’ We try to focus on that as the sort of uber story, and then we want to also look at Bond’s emotional life, and what he’ll be facing personally that he hasn’t had to deal with before. So, he has two big issues in the films — one is the geopolitical one and the other is the personal one.”

Want to read more about James Bond? Find out why some 007 favorites might be too old to play James Bond, and why John Williams would love to score a Bond movie.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

James Bond producers want the new 007 on board for at least a decade.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson explained what kind of commitment they want from the next James Bond.

“We’re not just casting someone for one film,” said Broccoli. “We’re casting someone, hopefully for a decade, at least. It’s a big decision to make, and we’re nowhere near making that decision.”

That’s right – the new 007 hasn’t been chosen. At least, not yet.

“When we get to a point, like we are now, we have to think about the trajectory of the Bond films and the storylines and where we want to take them,” she added. “So, that’s really the main focus at the beginning. Once we have a sense of where we want to go, then we’ll start thinking about casting.”

Ever since Daniel Craig stepped down as 007 following No Time to Die, fans have been busy speculating who will take up the mantle next. We’ve seen the likes of Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, and even Tom Hiddleston.

But Broccoli went on to explain why taking the role is a huge decision.

“Any actor that would be thinking about this has got to think about how it would change their life,” she explained. “Daniel certainly was reluctant when we first approached him and as I say about him, his life changed, but he did not change. He’s always been the same amazingly wonderful human being at the beginning as he is now.”

Craig first suited up for the 2006 Bond film, Casino Royale, and spent the next 16 years as the infamous British secret agent.

“You become an ambassador for the cinema and people recognize you as being associated with the character,” added Broccoli. “It’s got a lot of different elements to it. But the time commitment is certainly a long-term commitment, and not everybody is willing to do that — multiple pictures over many years. Daniel’s done 16 years time.”

Who will end up taking on the role remains to be seen. But it sounds as though the next Bond film will start by working out its villain.

“We always sit down with our writers, and we start by thinking about what is the world afraid of?” said Broccoli. “We start by thinking about, ‘Who’s the Bond villain?’ We try to focus on that as the sort of uber story, and then we want to also look at Bond’s emotional life, and what he’ll be facing personally that he hasn’t had to deal with before. So, he has two big issues in the films — one is the geopolitical one and the other is the personal one.”

Want to read more about James Bond? Find out why some 007 favorites might be too old to play James Bond, and why John Williams would love to score a Bond movie.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

It's that time again—New York Comic Con is back! East Coast's largest pop culture convention is taking over Gotham City from Oct 6th to Oct 9th and will be filled once again with exciting announcements, cosplay, guest panels and so much more from your favorite franchises across anime, gaming, film, TV and comics.

Something you can expect to see during NYCC this year in the world of premieres is the new Super Mario movie trailer premiere, starring Chris Pratt. Announced on Twitter (below), the first teaser trailer for the film will premiere at the convention.

Join us October 6th at 4pm ET for the teaser trailer premiere of Nintendo & Illumination’s upcoming Super Mario Bros. film, releasing April 7, 2023. pic.twitter.com/1jEFnlvCnU

— New York Comic Con (@NY_Comic_Con) September 22, 2022

Originally announced back in 2018, Super Mario: The Movie is being produced by Nintendo and Illumination. The film would resurface again during the September 2021 Nintendo Direct, where Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto announced the film's cast.

When Does The Super Mario Bros. Trailer Drop?

It will be shown on October 6 at 1pm Pacific / 4pm Eastern / 9pm UK.

For those attending NYCC in person, the convention's official website notes that the trailer will be shown at the Empire Stage.

IGN's NVC Podcast will be hosting a live celebration of Super Mario during this time and we will be reacting to the trailer when it's made available to the public!

IGN's NVC Podcast's Live Celebration of Super Mario at NYCC 2022

We’ll be hosting a livestream here and across our many channels on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Here’s the full list of places you can watch:

• IGN.com (homepage)
• IGN's Facebook Channel
• IGN’s Twitter
• IGN's Twitch Channel
• IGN’s Youtube Channel
• IGN's TikTok
• IGN's iOS App
• IGN's Android App
• IGN's PlayStation 4 App
• IGN's Xbox One App
• Roku
• IGN App for Android TV
• IGN for Amazon Fire TV
• Apple TV
• IGN 1 on Samsung TV Plus
• Pluto TV
• Plex Live TV

Catch Up On Super Mario Movie News

Release Date

The film was originally set to release in December 2022. However, Universal Pictures announced earlier this year that the film's release date had been pushed back to April 7, 2023 in North America.

Voice Cast

• Chris Pratt as Mario
• Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach
• Charlie Day as Luigi
• Jack Black as Bowser
• Keegan-Michael Key as Toad
• Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek
• Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong
• Sebastian Maniscalco as Foreman Spike

Charles Martinet will also have a series of featured cameos in the movie, known for his longtime voice acting of both Mario and Luigi in the Super Mario video game series since 1992!

Related News

• Is "The Morton Jankel Cut" any better than the 1993 theatrical version? Find out in our Super Mario Bros.The Movie Extended Edition Review.
• While you wait for the new Mario movie release, check out our list of upcoming video game movies.
• Who will be at NYCC 2022? You can see the entire guest list here. Some of the biggest names in the biz confirmed to be guests of honor include:
  • Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight)
  • Cassandra Peterson (Elvira Mistress of the Dark)
  • Brendan Fraser (Doom Patrol)
  • Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future)
  • Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future)
  • Sebastian Stan (Infinity War & Endgame)
  • Leigh Bardugo (Demon in the Wood, Shadow and Bone)

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Solium Infernum was a literally hellish multiplayer strategy game that became a cult classic in 2009 – and League of Geeks aims to bring it back next year in a reimagined form.

Announced as part of EGX, the new Solium Infernum takes the fundamentals of the indie original – a grand strategy game about warring, conniving archfiends in Hell – but builds in 3D visuals, more defined heroes (well, villains), adds accessibility and UI improvements, and more. The game is being described as a "reimagining", rather than a remake or remaster.

In a hands-off demo, League of Geeks co-founder Trent Kusters tells me that his team are huge fans of the original game (going so far as to say the studio's debut, Armello was inspired in part by it), and had gotten to know its solo developer, Vic Davis. Asked if he had plans for the game, Davis said no, and League of Geeks offered to buy the IP to create a new tribute to his original. The results will come to PC, with a release tentatively scheduled for 2023.

Solium Infernum is a strategy game set in a Milton-inspired take on Hell, in which Satan has disappeared and his most powerful minions scheme for control of the throne. It will feel familiar to players of the likes of Civilization or Crusader Kings, but comes with unique twists.

For a start, it's heavily focused on diplomacy, with Kusters explaining that, where games of Civilization are spent 80% on the map screen and 20% in diplomacy screens, Solium Infernum is something of the reverse. All player turns also resolve simultaneously, making for a more paranoid, less reactive style of play.

Players have many, many means on interacting with rivals, from sending them insults that can lead to war, to casting damaging ritual magic and using your skills in deceit to blame their effects on someone else. Win conditions can be based on both military domination or in-game reputation (and you can build stats in five categories to aid you in multiple ways) – but they can also be trickier, even letting players win by becoming the "Power Behind the Throne" and engineering a win for another player, then revealing themselves to be the true victor.

It's designed as a multiplayer experience, with up to six players able to take part in a match, even playing asynchronously. However, League of Geeks will ensure that single-player matches are possible, even promising "all-new single-player scenarios" as part of the package.

League of Geeks' major changes to the original come in a few forms. For a start, the game is now a fully 3D experience, along with animated art for cards and events, and 3D models for Archfiend characters. The Archfiends themselves are also altered – where the original had you construct a character from scratch, the new Solium Infernum will offer 8 distinct characters at launch, each of whom comes with specific styles of play, and even animations to reflect what's happening in the game.

A redesigned UI and more readable menus are also designed to make a complex game far more accessible to new players. As someone who hadn't played the original, in just 30 minutes of a demo I felt as though I had a grasp on the basics of a round, which bodes well. You can wishlist the game on Steam now.

League of Geeks is releasing Solium Infernum with the Kowloon Nights video game fund. It's not the developer's only project – it also has an unannounced new IP in the works with Private Division.

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.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is still confident that the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be approved, and said, "if this is about competition, let us have competition.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, Nadella says, “Of course, any acquisition of this size will go through scrutiny, but we feel very, very confident that we’ll come out.”

A key concern, particularly for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK, has been that the merger could be anti-competitive for the gaming industry as a whole. However, Nadella points out that Microsoft’s main competitor, Sony, has also acquired studios, including big ones like Bungie.

Nadella continues, “So if this is about competition, let us have competition.”

Concerns surrounding the anti-competitiveness of the merger center around franchises like Call of Duty potentially becoming exclusive to Microsoft platforms. Xbox’s Phil Spencer has already confirmed that he’d like to keep Call of Duty a multiplatform franchise for the time being, but add its titles to Xbox Game Pass in order to make it accessible in different ways to Xbox customers.

But PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan lambasted Xbox’s offer of extending Call of Duty’s availability on PlayStation for only three additional years after existing contacts expire, calling it “inadequate.”

Other companies, such as Electronic Arts, think that a successful merger could mean new opportunities for their own franchises. CEO Andrew Wilson says that the multiplatform nature of the Battlefield franchise could benefit from Call of Duty potentially becoming a Microsoft-exclusive one.

The near $70 billion deal is by far the biggest gaming buyout of its kind, and is being scrutinized by regulators across the world. The deal is undergoing investigaton in the UK, US, Brazil and more – a final decision is still likely to be months away at least.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

When Mario + Rabbids creative director Davide Soliani first started working on Kingdom Battle, he was given express instructions from Ubisoft: Rabbids do not, under any circumstances, talk.

“I had to gain trust also from Ubisoft, not just Nintendo,” Soliani says. “And Ubisoft told me, ‘Rabbids are not speaking.’ That was a rule.

“But they never told me that the Rabbids couldn't sing, so I introduced the Phantom.”

The Phantom is one of Kingdom Battle’s most memorable moments, where a giant Rabbid opera ghost sings an entire musical number about how much he hates Mario, peppered with gags about Mario’s past appearances and personality quirks. Audiences loved it. And that positive reception led Soliani to get Ubisoft onboard for breaking the rules in the sequel, Sparks of Hope.

So yes, the Rabbids talk now.

“I gained trust from Ubisoft to venture towards a new horizon…Everything we are doing, it's part of a process of evolution that will lead us somewhere else. I think that as a team, we really love experimenting and we will keep doing it in the DLC. And then, who knows in the future what will happen?”

The Rabbids have undergone a pretty dramatic shift in reception since Kingdom Battle, largely thanks to the game’s treatment of them. When Kingdom Battle was first leaked prior to its 2017 E3 showing, the idea of a Mario and Rabbids collaboration seemed absurd. Rabbids were obnoxious characters, generally relegated to children’s media. The internet laughed — and not necessarily kindly — at characters like Rabbid Peach with her phone obsession. But what audiences slowly came to realize over the course of trailers, gameplay, reviews, and later playing it themselves was that the Mario + Rabbids team had put a lot of effort into making the Rabbids…well, still obnoxious, but lovably so.

“I think that when Rabbids started as a video game [they were initially Rayman enemies back in 2006], they were kind of cute and a nice surprise the very first time,” Soliani says. “But then, afterwards we didn't manage to not abuse some of their features. At some point, maybe people were annoyed of them screaming.

“One of the rules that we set ourselves as a team was, ‘Okay, they should never, never scream once again in Kingdom Battle,’ because that was absolutely annoying us.”

The Rabbids in Kingdom Battle did still yell a lot, especially their signature “Bwah” cry, but Kingdom Battle gave them room to express a lot more. They kept much of their physical, slapstick comedy, but by introducing a roster of playable Rabbids heroes, Ubisoft was able to give them different emotions; even a little bit of complexity. And different types of humor, as well, like the aforementioned Phantom song – the whole thing is a hilarious, witty roast of Nintendo’s biggest mascot. Unheard of for any character, especially a Rabbid, to perform.

Now, with Sparks of Hope, Soliani wants to take that complexity farther. There are new Rabbids, both NPCs and heroes, and thus new emotions. Rabbid Rosalina embodies ennui, while Edge is (per Soliani) a “female Clint Eastwood” inspired by JRPGs. And now, they need words other than “bwah” to express those emotions.

“With the production of the voices…we believe that we have been able to announce their psychological trait and their emotion and to bring it in the game in a way that in Kingdom Battle was not possible…We are evolving the cosmology around the Rabbids and this is giving us also the possibility to create different kind of humor compared to the classical slapstick.”

Soliani calls the decision to give the Rabbids voices a “scary” one, comparable with the dramatic changes to the combat system. He says the team was skeptical ahead of its internal tests, but after hearing them, everyone “fell in love.”

“For example, today the character that I prefer, that was not my preferred one in Kingdom Battle is Rabbid Mario. Because when he is speaking, he’s saying such stupid stuff that is making me laugh and this is changing my mood, makes me jolly.”

He adds that beloved as they were, the process still wasn’t easy. It was challenging to find the right voices for each Rabbid in every spoken language, especially because the Rabbids were speaking as much as (at times more!) than the Nintendo characters. For these reasons, they did opt to keep the heroes’ voices somewhat spare, opting to let Beep-0, Jeanie, and Rabbid NPCs carry the storytelling wherever possible.

And for the new characters especially, that meant introducing strong enough personalities that “could stay on stage” with the Rabbids’ speech. For Soliani, the gold standard of that was Rabbid Peach, who went from being mocked upon the first leak of Kingdom Battle to being a beloved mascot of the franchise, and in the preview I played of Sparks of Hope, almost a deuteragonist to Mario himself.

“Creating another powerful character as she has been in both Donkey Kong Adventure and in Kingdom Battle was not an easy task,” Soliani says. “But I think that we found our perfect recipe with Rabbid Rosalina, because she can be a show stealer. I remember that when we revealed the game for the very first time, everyone was speaking about how bored of life she was. A lot of people were actually saying, ‘I'm the same, she's like me.’”

I ask Soliani if he thinks he’s created any moments in Sparks of Hope that will top the Phantom’s song in Kingdom Battle. He isn’t giving away spoilers, but implies that while there isn’t anything quite like that number, there may be different types of emotional highs on the horizon.

“[In Sparks of Hope], I think that we tried to expand the tactical possibilities and some of the combat situations…But there are other moments in my opinion, that are more tied to the narrative and what is happening, because now each character also has a personal goal and there are moments that made me very emotional in some parts of the game.”

For more on Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, check out our final preview of the game, as well as the rest of our interview with Soliani about Sparks of Hope’s difficulty settings, and its upcoming Rayman DLC.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Mario + Rabbids creative director Davide Soliani says that the best compliment he ever received for Kingdom Battle is that it helped someone fall in love with even more tactical games.

“We tried to make people enjoy tactical games, even if they were initially scared of [trying them.] We made it more colorful, almost chroma-therapeutic, more inviting.”

So now, with Sparks of Hope on the horizon, he wants to throw the doors open even wider. Soliani wants Sparks of Hope to still be a gateway to the genre for new players, but also to properly challenge those who have grown into tactics experts.

The most obvious way that the Sparks of Hope team is accomplishing that is with difficulty levels. Following the tutorial, Beep-0 asks the player roughly how hard they think their mission is going to be, inviting them to select an easy, normal, or expert difficulty that can be adjusted again in the menu at any time.

But there are other, smaller ways in which Sparks of Hope invites a somewhat more customizable difficulty. As we point out in our preview, it’s easier to grind levels with all the roaming enemies around the map, sidequests, and secrets, so if you’re struggling with a story fight there are ways to push through. But you’re also more than free to charge through the story for a more challenging experience, and circle back to whatever extra missions you’re interested in later on.

Soliani says that the difficulty systems were at least in part inspired by his love of indie platformer darling Celeste, which is notoriously difficult but also includes a number of options to turn on and off specific challenging elements, including the ability to just make the protagonist, Madeline, invincible.

“I think that in the past, I spoke with the people who had a child and they were playing the game together,” Soliani says. “And sometimes it was too difficult for them to progress. And then I say, ‘Okay, but if someone wants to enjoy the game just for the narrative, why not?’ So today, by acting on the level of difficulty, you can also be invincible and do the whole game and join the narrative, the visuals, the humor without challenge.”

But at the same time, he adds, a lot of people already in the Mario + Rabbids community gave feedback that the game should be even harder. So Soliani and Ubisoft obliged them, too.

“I think that you can really tailor the experience of this kind of game around the type of player you are. So we said we should really open up to our player and make sure that they can enjoy the game as they want. They want more difficulty, go for it. They want something easier, go for it.”

We have yet to see exactly how wild that challenge can get, but we were able to explore some of the much wider tactical possibilities of Sparks of Hope in our preview of the game. You can also see more from our interview with Soliani, including why the Rabbids talk now, and what Nintendo character Soliani (as a fan) wants to see added to Mario + Rabbids in the future.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Mario + Rabbids creative director Davide Soliani has been at Ubisoft for a long, long time. He’s been there so long his first game was Rayman for the Game Boy Color, which he worked on after signing on back in 1997.

So getting to put Rayman in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope after all these years has been a bit of a dream come true for him.

“I was taking care of the traces and the level design [for the GBC game],” he says. “It was my first love basically, my first challenge where I started to learn a lot of things. And I always dreamed about being able to work again with these characters.

“And finally, because of the Rabbids’ presence in the Mario + Rabbids Universe, I have been able to justify this appearance. I think that we will create a very interesting adventure as we have been able to do with the Donkey Kong Adventure.”

Though Soliani has been dreaming of bringing his beloved Rayman back in step with the Rabbids for years, that’s not the only character he has in mind. He also has a pile of Nintendo characters he’s been allowed to mine for Mario + Rabbids. And while we’ve seen the introduction of some new heroes in Sparks of Hope, such as Bowser and Rabbid Rosalina, there are still some characters Soliani wishes he could have brought along for the ride.

He clarifies to me that these wishes are coming from him as a player, not a creative director, since he can’t divulge secrets about what they may work on in the future. But as a player, his most-wanted hero character in Mario + Rabbids would be Daisy.

“It's been a pity that we couldn't put [her in], but that would be nice,” he says.

Then, he remembers Wario, too, and laughingly says he can’t choose.

Wario, of course, has made somewhat of an appearance already in the form of Rabbid Wario in Kingdom Battle alongside Rabbid Waluigi (sorry, that’s Bwario and Bwaluigi, my mistake). Soliani doesn’t tell me whether or not the duo return for the sequel, but does explain that Wario would be a bit more difficult to introduce as a main character in a game like Mario + Rabbids, because “seeing Wario as a hero” is “way more difficult.” Possible, but difficult.

We’ll be keeping an eye out for Bwario and Bwaluigi in Sparks of Hope, but in the meantime you can check out our final preview of the game as well as the rest of our interview with Soliani covering topics like why the Rabbids talk now, and how Mario + Rabbids wants to be a gateway to more tactics games.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.