Monthly Archives: September 2022

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion Arrives This December

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion officially has a release date, with Nintendo confirming that the remastered prequel will arrive on December 13.

Announced during September's Nintendo Direct, the December 13 release date has not only been confirmed for Nintendo Switch but also the game's other platforms of PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, and PC.

A handful of new gameplay clips were also shown during the direct, giving fans another chance to see protagonist Zack in action in the remastered Final Fantasy 7 prequel.

Square Enix is moving pretty quick on Crisis Core as the game was only announced in June during the Final Fantasy 7 25th Anniversary stream, meaning the game will be released within six months of its reveal.

Crisis Core was originally released for the PlayStation Portable back in 2008, but gained new relevance when Final Fantasy 7 Remake seemed to include scenes from the game centred around Zack.

The character, who's been a part of the Final Fantasy story since 7 was first released in 1997, can also be seen in the trailer for Remake's sequel, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

In our 8/10 review of the original game, IGN said: "Crisis Core is a great game and, barring a few minor issues here and there, will not disappoint."

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

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion Arrives This December

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion officially has a release date, with Nintendo confirming that the remastered prequel will arrive on December 13.

Announced during September's Nintendo Direct, the December 13 release date has not only been confirmed for Nintendo Switch but also the game's other platforms of PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, and PC.

A handful of new gameplay clips were also shown during the direct, giving fans another chance to see protagonist Zack in action in the remastered Final Fantasy 7 prequel.

Square Enix is moving pretty quick on Crisis Core as the game was only announced in June during the Final Fantasy 7 25th Anniversary stream, meaning the game will be released within six months of its reveal.

Crisis Core was originally released for the PlayStation Portable back in 2008, but gained new relevance when Final Fantasy 7 Remake seemed to include scenes from the game centred around Zack.

The character, who's been a part of the Final Fantasy story since 7 was first released in 1997, can also be seen in the trailer for Remake's sequel, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

In our 8/10 review of the original game, IGN said: "Crisis Core is a great game and, barring a few minor issues here and there, will not disappoint."

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

Breath of the Wild Sequel Is Offically Titled The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Out in May

The sequel to Breath of the Wild will be officially called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and it's out on May 12, 2023.

The title was revealed as part of a new trailer at Nintendo Direct today, which also showed off exploration, new stasis powers, and lots of the sequel's still-unexplained shattered Hyrule.

A press release for the game included a description that confirms the floating islands above Hyrule will offer a new vertical space to explore in the open world, reading: "In addition to the vast lands of Hyrule, the latest entry in the storied Legend of Zelda series will take you up into the skies and an expanded world that goes beyond that!"

Starting with a series of wall carvings that presumably offer clues as to the game's mysterious backstory, we then see link open some huge doors, run to the edge of a floating island, and leap off to begin skydiving. We then see what seems to be the means for Link to get back above the clouds (a boulder floating into the air), climbing up tree roots in the sides of an island, and what seems to be a stone bird that can be used to fly.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 was originally expected to be released in 2022 but was delayed to 2023. Series producer Eiji Aounuma said in the announcement that "in order to make this game's experience something special, the entire development team is continuing to work diligently on this game, so please wait a while longer."

See our full list of Nintendo Direct announcements for more news about upcoming Switch games.

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.

Breath of the Wild Sequel Is Offically Titled The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Out in May

The sequel to Breath of the Wild will be officially called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and it's out on May 12, 2023.

The title was revealed as part of a new trailer at Nintendo Direct today, which also showed off exploration, new stasis powers, and lots of the sequel's still-unexplained shattered Hyrule.

A press release for the game included a description that confirms the floating islands above Hyrule will offer a new vertical space to explore in the open world, reading: "In addition to the vast lands of Hyrule, the latest entry in the storied Legend of Zelda series will take you up into the skies and an expanded world that goes beyond that!"

Starting with a series of wall carvings that presumably offer clues as to the game's mysterious backstory, we then see link open some huge doors, run to the edge of a floating island, and leap off to begin skydiving. We then see what seems to be the means for Link to get back above the clouds (a boulder floating into the air), climbing up tree roots in the sides of an island, and what seems to be a stone bird that can be used to fly.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 was originally expected to be released in 2022 but was delayed to 2023. Series producer Eiji Aounuma said in the announcement that "in order to make this game's experience something special, the entire development team is continuing to work diligently on this game, so please wait a while longer."

See our full list of Nintendo Direct announcements for more news about upcoming Switch games.

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.

Resident Evil Cloud Series Announced For Nintendo Switch

A series of cloud-based Resident Evil games has been announced for Nintendo Switch, and it covers the four most recent games in the mainline series.

Announced as part of today's Nintendo Direct, The Resident Evil Village cloud version will be available from October 28, and a free demo is available after the Direct finishes. The recently announced Village DLC is also coming to Switch on December 2.

Village isn't the only modern Resi game coming to the platform; the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes, alongside Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, will be available later this year. No release date was given.

Catch up on everything announced during today's Nintendo Direct in our roundup right here.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Resident Evil Cloud Series Announced For Nintendo Switch

A series of cloud-based Resident Evil games has been announced for Nintendo Switch, and it covers the four most recent games in the mainline series.

Announced as part of today's Nintendo Direct, The Resident Evil Village cloud version will be available from October 28, and a free demo is available after the Direct finishes. The recently announced Village DLC is also coming to Switch on December 2.

Village isn't the only modern Resi game coming to the platform; the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes, alongside Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, will be available later this year. No release date was given.

Catch up on everything announced during today's Nintendo Direct in our roundup right here.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Pikmin 4 Has Finally Been Revealed

Following years of half-baked announcements, Nintendo has finally confirmed that Pikmin 4 is in fact real and officially coming in 2023.

Announced during September's Nintendo Direct, Shigeru Miyamoto took to the stage to announce the new game that will arrive an entire decade after the release of Pikmin 3 on the Wii U.

Very little of Pikmin 4 was shown, however. Only a handful of scenes were shown before the Pikmin logo appeared on screen and a group of the little beasties ran in to form the four. A lovely green garden was on show otherwise, with the series' iconic Grub-dog enemy appearing in one of the scenes.

It's been a very long, very quiet road for Pikmin 4. As far back as 2015, Shigeru Miyamoto said the game was "very close to completion". By 2016 it had fallen down the list of priorities, and in 2017 it was still progressing – but we hadn't heard anything else about the game until today.

In our 9/10 review of the Switch version of the previous game, IGN said: "Pikmin 3 Deluxe makes an already excellent game even better with some small but enjoyable content additions and a boatload of quality of life improvements."

See our full list of Nintendo Direct announcements for more news about upcoming Switch games.

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

Harvestella Has a Free Demo Out Today

Alongside a brand new trailer for Harvestella, we learned today that a free demo will be dropping on the Nintendo Switch eshop that will allow players to check out the first few days of farming gameplay.

During today's Nintendo Direct, a new Harvestella trailer focused on Quietus - the season of death - that is plaguing the lands you're farming in. We also got a look at the combat, which looks much deeper and more RPG-focused than we previously anticipated.

The demo that's out today contains "the first few days of your farm's first season", and save data can be transfered to the full game when Harvestella launches on November 4.

Harvestella was announced in June, a crossover farming sim and RPG that will see you build up a gorgeous town, then protect it from evil forces.

See our full list of Nintendo Direct announcements for more news about upcoming Switch games.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Nintendo Shows New DLC Courses Coming This Holiday

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's third wave of DLC courses will arrive this holiday, and we've gotten a look at two new additions.

During today's Nintendo Direct, we got a look at the Christmas-themed Merry Mountain from Mario Kart Tour, and the leafy Peach Gardens from Mario Kart DS. The Wave 3 pack will come with 8 courses included.

As with the rest of the DLC courses, this will come at no cost for Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack members, but can be bought separately.

The Booster Course DLC packs were announced in March, and will add a total of 48 recreated retro courses to the game. By the end of the packs, that will be 96 courses, over half of all Mario Kart tracks ever released.

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.

Golf Is Finally Available In Nintendo Switch Sports

Update 11/29/2022: Golf has finally been added to Nintendo Switch Sports with Nintendo confirming the free update is now available to all users.

Previously only confirmed for a Holiday 2022 launch, Nintendo announced on Twitter that Nintendo Switch Sports owners can download the update as of November 29.

The golf mode features 21 holes pulled from Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort alongside the online Survival Golf mode that sees several players compete simultaneously.

Original Story 09/13/2022: Nintendo Switch Sports is far from done, as more sport is on the way: golf will be added to the game at last.

At today's Nintendo Direct, it was revealed that golf is being added to the game in the next free update. It will include 21 holes from the original Wii Sports series, so prepare for a little nostalgia. But that's not all; there's a new online mode - Survival Golf - which sees eight players compete on the same course, at the same time, to stay in a multiplayer golf match. Players are eliminated based on their number of strokes - get the most strokes and you're out.

The update will come a little later than initially expected, though: rather than the initially promise Fall launch, the free DLC will be available from Holiday 2022.

We gave Nintendo Switch Sports a 7 at launch, saying it "successfully recaptures the party game magic of Wii Sports, but quickly falls victim to a lack of depth that holds it back from achieving greatness." It has since seen a summer update that incorporate Ring Fit's leg strap controls, and we more recently learned that entering a special code at a certain point in the game will unlock the most powerful man in existance: Matt.

Catch up on everything announced during today's Nintendo Direct in our roundup right here.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.