Disney fans, buckle up. Today, Gameloft has unveiled an upcoming new Disney and Pixar gaming project, a life-sim adventure game called Disney Dreamlight Valley. It's coming to PC and consoles in 2023.

Disney Dreamlight Valley takes place in the titular Dreamlight Valley, where a bevvy of Disney and Pixar characters have lost their memories after a mysterious event called The Forgetting that left their village full of strange plants called Night Thorns. Players will customize their own character, build friendships with the townspeople, and help them recover their lost memories.

Alongside interacting with the Disney villagers, players will also get to customize their own homes and towns in a number of Disney-themed locales, and can follow Disney stories and minigames with characters like Goofy, Ariel, Mickey, Simba, Moana, Remy, and more. There's fishing and cooking activities too, and lots of outfits to customize characters with inspired by various Disney properties.

Disney Dreamlight Valley is being developed by Gameloft, and is set for release in 2023 as a free-to-play experience for Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, and PC and Mac via Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, and the App Store. An early access release is planned this summer and will be made available to those who purchase a Founder's Pack, or any Xbox Game pass members.

We got an early look at Disney Dreamlight Valley, and are already optimistic about the level of customization available, replayability, the fairly non-aggressive monetization, and the future potential for more and more Disney characters and worlds to make their appearance.

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

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe releases today, and while it presents itself largely as a remaster and console port with some new content added in as well, returning players may be surprised to find a lot more than that last point lets on.

First, a great big SPOILER WARNING!

This article is about to dive into the details of exactly what that means. You can read my review for a less spoiler-y look at what Ultra Deluxe offers, but turn back now if you don’t want to know the scope of its new content and how it is presented to you.

Still here? Okay, let’s get into it.

Ultra Deluxe opens by asking if you’ve played the original already, the entirety of which is still available within this game. However, there’s also pretty much enough new content to rival the size of the base game all its own, including a long section where the narrator details the theoretical features of The Stanley Parable 2 – a bit that eventually results in them deciding to fold that sequel into the original, making the title screen and menus of Ultra Deluxe now say “The Stanley Parable 2” for seemingly the rest of the time you play.

That means this is sort of a hidden sequel, though the bulk of the new content still seems to be remixes or alterations to the original paths and endings of The Stanley Parable. There are lots of entirely new sections too, but Ultra Deluxe hasn’t necessarily been built to be a standalone game in the way its transformation into “The Stanley Parable 2” might imply.

To go any deeper would sort of be ruining the joke itself. Much of the new content satirizes sequels, DLC, and game updates, and it pokes fun directly at itself and the act of trying to follow up a critical success like The Stanley Parable. There’s no point in trying to define exactly what that makes Ultra Deluxe, but it’s certainly far larger in scope than that title might imply to many.

Tom Marks Is the Deputy Reviews Editor for IGN.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe releases today, and while it presents itself largely as a remaster and console port with some new content added in as well, returning players may be surprised to find a lot more than that last point lets on.

First, a great big SPOILER WARNING!

This article is about to dive into the details of exactly what that means. You can read my review for a less spoiler-y look at what Ultra Deluxe offers, but turn back now if you don’t want to know the scope of its new content and how it is presented to you.

Still here? Okay, let’s get into it.

Ultra Deluxe opens by asking if you’ve played the original already, the entirety of which is still available within this game. However, there’s also pretty much enough new content to rival the size of the base game all its own, including a long section where the narrator details the theoretical features of The Stanley Parable 2 – a bit that eventually results in them deciding to fold that sequel into the original, making the title screen and menus of Ultra Deluxe now say “The Stanley Parable 2” for seemingly the rest of the time you play.

That means this is sort of a hidden sequel, though the bulk of the new content still seems to be remixes or alterations to the original paths and endings of The Stanley Parable. There are lots of entirely new sections too, but Ultra Deluxe hasn’t necessarily been built to be a standalone game in the way its transformation into “The Stanley Parable 2” might imply.

To go any deeper would sort of be ruining the joke itself. Much of the new content satirizes sequels, DLC, and game updates, and it pokes fun directly at itself and the act of trying to follow up a critical success like The Stanley Parable. There’s no point in trying to define exactly what that makes Ultra Deluxe, but it’s certainly far larger in scope than that title might imply to many.

Tom Marks Is the Deputy Reviews Editor for IGN.

Final Fantasy XIV's producer has asked players to stop trolling each other in the game's new Crystalline Conflict PvP mode, and said some could even be suspended or banned for it.

Naoki Yoshida said in a blog post that he and the team are receiving "an unprecedented number of reports" of uncooperative, abusive, and lethargic behaviour from players in PvP. Yoshida added that, "Participants must bring their best to the fight."

Players have been spamming chat options such as "Nice job!", repeatedly emoting or setting off fireworks on top of a downed enemy, and using the Tell command to directly insult opponents, but these are all prohibited as per Final Fantasy XIV's rules. Yoshida said some players have even found their opponents on social media to harass and criticise them.

"I'd like to warn against such behaviours," Yoshida said, later going on to say that guilty players could be subject to suspensions of up to 20 days with repeat or "exceptionally heinous" offenders being permanently banned.

He added: "All PvP content, including Crystalline Conflict, is intended to be a battle/contest of skill between players. Participants must bring their best to the fight, and for this reason uncooperative or lethargic behaviour is prohibited.

"Let’s strive to do our best even in situations where defeat is imminent, regardless of whether or not you’re interested in the rewards."

Any reports of this behaviour, when done with genuine malice and not accidentally, will be investigated by the development team and then dealt with accordingly, perhaps even via temporary or permanent banning.

This isn't the first time Yoshida has pleaded for fans to be nicer, but in January it was developers he was forced to defend. "Verbal abuses are something we wish could stop," he said.

Crystalline Conflict was added in the 6.1 update that also brought class changes, new story quests, and more, expanding upon the Endwalker expansion that arrived in December.

Patch 6.1 also saw the addition of Adventurer Plates, which are basically mini player profiles similar to Call of Duty's calling cards, and players are already having fun with these in some crazy ways.

In IGN's 9/10 review, we said: "Final Fantasy XIV's Endwalker expansion brings its longest story arc to a satisfying close and cements its place as one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever told."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Final Fantasy XIV's producer has asked players to stop trolling each other in the game's new Crystalline Conflict PvP mode, and said some could even be suspended or banned for it.

Naoki Yoshida said in a blog post that he and the team are receiving "an unprecedented number of reports" of uncooperative, abusive, and lethargic behaviour from players in PvP. Yoshida added that, "Participants must bring their best to the fight."

Players have been spamming chat options such as "Nice job!", repeatedly emoting or setting off fireworks on top of a downed enemy, and using the Tell command to directly insult opponents, but these are all prohibited as per Final Fantasy XIV's rules. Yoshida said some players have even found their opponents on social media to harass and criticise them.

"I'd like to warn against such behaviours," Yoshida said, later going on to say that guilty players could be subject to suspensions of up to 20 days with repeat or "exceptionally heinous" offenders being permanently banned.

He added: "All PvP content, including Crystalline Conflict, is intended to be a battle/contest of skill between players. Participants must bring their best to the fight, and for this reason uncooperative or lethargic behaviour is prohibited.

"Let’s strive to do our best even in situations where defeat is imminent, regardless of whether or not you’re interested in the rewards."

Any reports of this behaviour, when done with genuine malice and not accidentally, will be investigated by the development team and then dealt with accordingly, perhaps even via temporary or permanent banning.

This isn't the first time Yoshida has pleaded for fans to be nicer, but in January it was developers he was forced to defend. "Verbal abuses are something we wish could stop," he said.

Crystalline Conflict was added in the 6.1 update that also brought class changes, new story quests, and more, expanding upon the Endwalker expansion that arrived in December.

Patch 6.1 also saw the addition of Adventurer Plates, which are basically mini player profiles similar to Call of Duty's calling cards, and players are already having fun with these in some crazy ways.

In IGN's 9/10 review, we said: "Final Fantasy XIV's Endwalker expansion brings its longest story arc to a satisfying close and cements its place as one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever told."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The original two Elder Scrolls games are available on Steam for the first time ever – and they're free.

1994's The Elder Scrolls: Arena and 1996's The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall have arrived on Steam ahead of Bethesda's own games launcher being retired next month.

As reported by Kotaku, five games have been moved to Steam so far including these two, plus Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (which is also available for free) and two Elder Scrolls spin-offs from the late 90s: An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire and The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard.

The latter two are a little more expensive at $6 each, but fans probably needn't panic in trying to grab the freebies before the price goes up - Arena has been free since 2004 and Daggerfall since 2009, to celebrate the tenth and 15th anniversaries of The Elder Scrolls respectively.

While they're very different experiences from the most recent Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which itself is now more than a decade old, the first two games boil down to similar RPG fundamentals.

In Arena, the player is tasked with uncovering a conspiracy against King Uriel Septim VII, traversing across all of Tamriel and fighting through procedurally generated wilderness to complete various main and side quests.

Daggerfall follows a similar model but instead takes place in just two regions of Tamriel: Hammerfell and High Rock. The ghost of King Lysandus is trapped on earth and it's the player's job to free him, again taking part in quests picked up from towns and cities across the game.

Those who've already bought the games and other Bethesda titles from its launcher can migrate them over to Steam starting today, April 27, alongside any unspent wallet funds ahead of the launcher shutting down for good on May 11.

The mainline Elder Scrolls series has been somewhat dormant since Skyrim was released in 2011. While Bethesda Game Studios has worked on a number of games including those in the Fallout franchise, it chose to prioritise its new space-based IP Starfield over anything else.

This means that, though the Elder Scrolls VI is definitely in development, it was pushed back in order to focus on Starfield. The game is still in the design phase and therefore years away, though we do know it's likely to be an Xbox exclusive following Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda in 2020.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The original two Elder Scrolls games are available on Steam for the first time ever – and they're free.

1994's The Elder Scrolls: Arena and 1996's The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall have arrived on Steam ahead of Bethesda's own games launcher being retired next month.

As reported by Kotaku, five games have been moved to Steam so far including these two, plus Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (which is also available for free) and two Elder Scrolls spin-offs from the late 90s: An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire and The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard.

The latter two are a little more expensive at $6 each, but fans probably needn't panic in trying to grab the freebies before the price goes up - Arena has been free since 2004 and Daggerfall since 2009, to celebrate the tenth and 15th anniversaries of The Elder Scrolls respectively.

While they're very different experiences from the most recent Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which itself is now more than a decade old, the first two games boil down to similar RPG fundamentals.

In Arena, the player is tasked with uncovering a conspiracy against King Uriel Septim VII, traversing across all of Tamriel and fighting through procedurally generated wilderness to complete various main and side quests.

Daggerfall follows a similar model but instead takes place in just two regions of Tamriel: Hammerfell and High Rock. The ghost of King Lysandus is trapped on earth and it's the player's job to free him, again taking part in quests picked up from towns and cities across the game.

Those who've already bought the games and other Bethesda titles from its launcher can migrate them over to Steam starting today, April 27, alongside any unspent wallet funds ahead of the launcher shutting down for good on May 11.

The mainline Elder Scrolls series has been somewhat dormant since Skyrim was released in 2011. While Bethesda Game Studios has worked on a number of games including those in the Fallout franchise, it chose to prioritise its new space-based IP Starfield over anything else.

This means that, though the Elder Scrolls VI is definitely in development, it was pushed back in order to focus on Starfield. The game is still in the design phase and therefore years away, though we do know it's likely to be an Xbox exclusive following Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda in 2020.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

A new update for Elden Ring has fixed a number of bugs introduced in the recent patch 1.04, including a glitch that caused Malenia to regain health for no reason during fights with summoned players.

As announced by Bandai Namco, Update 1.04.1 has "fixed a bug with Malenia, Blade of Miquella in which her HP was not healed correctly in the online multiplayer environment". This should mean that in fights where you have summoned co-operative player help, Malenia won't be able to regain her health unless her blows actually connect with a player. That's good news for anyone trying to overcome the game's hardest boss with friends.

There's good news for spell casters, too; the Cerulean Hidden Tear has been fixed. Update 1.04 accidentally slashed the duration of the Tear from 15 seconds down to 7, but thankfully this hotfix restores it back to its original form. Drink this when mixed in the Flask of Wondrous Physick and you'll be able to cast spells without draining FP for the full 15 seconds now.

The update has also "fixed a bug that caused some bosses to die at unintended times", as well as fixing a bug that prevented the final boss from working properly "under certain circumstances." Those circumstances are not mentioned in the post, but they shouldn't be a problem anymore.

In addition, some text issues have also been rectified.

This should put patch 1.04 in a good position, as other than these problems the update was well recieved by the Elden Ring community, especially in regard to its alterations to colossal weapons and Faith abilities. It did nerf Swarm of Flies, though, so anyone who relied on that to defeat Malenia may be slightly disappointed.

In other news, a dataminer has broken into Elden Ring's mysterious colosseum area and found what could be the first indication of upcoming DLC.

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

Dying Light 2's latest patch, 1.03 includes dozens of changes – including a New Game Plus mode that developer Techland said will "significantly alter" gameplay.

Upon completing Dying Light 2's story (though not all 500+ hours of content) players can restart the game and experience it again with extra changes. Though Techland remained somewhat vague in its notes, the second playthrough will acknowledge that it's not the player's first time by modifying certain content and adding new and exclusive things to do.

The new content, completely unavailable in the first playthrough of Dying Light 2, includes: 30 new inhibitors, new platinum objectives for parkour challenges, updated distribution of the enemies (for example Volatiles and Banshee will now spawn during the night), a new legendary weapon tier, gold encounters, and enemy difficulty that will scale with player level.

Across all save files, Techland has also fixed a number of bugged quests and added a new one called Something Big Has Been Here, which introduces a new variant of mutated infected.

The developer is surprisingly frank about other changes, saying plainly that "enemies with bows are less annoying" now. The bug causing some enemies to become invulnerable to damage has been fixed alongside similar issues, and the patch also updates achievement registration so that everything pops as it should.

A significant number of changes to Dying Light 2's co-op mode have also been made, primarily quality-of-life improvements and solutions for connection issues that will hopefully help ease problems players have had while playing with others since launch.

Techland said that overall stability has been improved, progression-blocking glitches such as certain NPCs not appearing have been fixed, and issues like the game not acknowledging and thus spawning enemies around the joining player have also been addressed. The rest of the patch notes (available below) cover similar issues such as crash fixes and improved texture optimization.

Techland announced the update earlier this month and promised it was one of the biggest patches so far. Being the biggest patch would certainly be impressive given the day one update included more than 1,000 fixes, addressing some of the problems highlighted in IGN's 7/10 review: "Dying Light 2 is an ambitious zombie action adventure that's packed with top-notch parkour, an awesome open world, and every painful bug in the book."

Despite early issues, the game still proved incredibly popular by shambling its way onto Steam's 25 most-played games list and selling more than five million copies in its first month.

Dying Light 2 Full April Patch Notes:

New Game+

• After finishing it once, the game can be replayed again, only this time with modified game parameters in place to encourage a second playthrough by the implementation of a unique system and experience. The player can now go through the story with revitalized mechanisms. These include new enemy behaviors, more difficult encounters, new objects within the world, namely the newly added inhibitors, and many more changes that will significantly alter the gameplay style and allow the player to develop their character further. All of this is only available in New Game+!
  • 30 new inhibitors
  • New platinum objectives for parkour challenges
  • Updated distribution of the enemies (f.e. Volatiles and Banshee spawn during the night, a wider variety of enemy pools in encounters)
  • A new legendary weapon tier added
  • Gold encounters added
  • Enemy difficulty scales with the player level

Co-op Updates

• Fixed connection and stability issues in co-op
  • Fixed connection issues with the players who are further advanced inthe story
  • Improved game performance in co-op
• Co-op story blocks
  • Fixed an issue that caused blocked progression in a single player game mode after a co-op session
  • Fixed few remaining death loops in co-op
  • Fixed an issue with a missing NPC during the Missing People quest in a co-op session
• Co-op quality
  • Improved weapon visualization in online menu and inventory
  • Improved handling of challenges requirements in co-op
  • Fixed random bandit respawns while players are still in the bandit camp
  • Fixed issues with the player being unable to access inventory or map after dying several times in co-op
  • Fixed blocked story progression with "enemies nearby" notification
  • Fixed rare issue when a player can't move after a revive
  • Fixes for far away peer respawn from the host and respawning in geometry
  • Fixed AI jitter in random cases
  • Improved various animations in co-op - f.e. crouching, throwing, using the bow, and more
  • Fixed sound duplication in co-op
  • Fixed rare cases of unresponsive quest radio dialog in co-op, causing story blocks
  • Fixed the display of incorrect icons on the map after a co-op party
  • Fixed “call for help” when the player is being summoned during a gather in co-op
  • Fixed black screens in certain situations that could cause progression blockers during co-op progression
  • Fixed unnecessary “skill requirement” text-glitch in the description of a challenge in a co-op session
  • Updated the time of tutorial windows to 30 seconds during the co-op sessions
  • Fixed a bug that allows player to have multiple story quests active

Content Update

• Mutated Infected - New quest added Something Big Has Been Here, which included special elemental Goon variants

Gameplay Updates

• Enemies with bows are less annoying — decreased damage output
• Completed achievements are correctly awarded upon completion. This works for the achievements that were obtained before the update as well
• Fixed a bug that was causing Howlers and Screamers to become invulnerable to damage
• Fixed a possibility to fast travel between map regions after completing various quests
• Fixed a random AI bug of Human encounters
• Fixed infected invulnerability to arrows
• Fixed missing rewards after Bandit encounters
• Fixed the Virals patrol movement in GRE facilities

Quest Updates

• Fixed a bug related to wall-clipping during the Let’s Waltz quest
• Fixed a bug of the player getting stuck after using an inhibitor, or opening inventory after obtaining inhibitor in the Markers of Plague quest
• Fixed the map display bug in The Only Way Out quest
• Fixed the disappearance of Hakon in the Into The Darkness quest after playing in co-op
• Fixed Sophie’s inaccessible position in The Raid quest

UI/UX Updates

• Added FOV slider on PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X
• Improved UI textures optimization
• Fixed issues related to switching between keyboard and controller
• Fixed inhibitor pop-up message in Markers of Plague quest
• Fixed quest display in journal
• Fixed tutorial window display
• Fixed weapon durability display, quest tracking, and inventory management on ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo second display
• Aiden should no longer T-pose in the main menu
• Fixed crashes related to launching the game in 5760x1080 resolution
• Fixed display of incorrect numbers on Immunity Bar
• Minor changes to PC key bindings

Technical Updates

• Improved game stability
• Several crash sources fixed
• Improved the stability of frame rate in various places on the map
• Fixed multiple bugs that allowed players to see and fall outside map texture
• Fixed occasional texture glitches in various places on the map
• Fixed various audio glitches
• …and numerous additional bug fixes and quality improvements.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

If you were really looking forward to the upcoming Wicked film adaptation from Universal Pictures, there will soon be more to love. Director Jon M. Chu announced on Twitter that Wicked is actually going to be two films. The first Wicked film is coming on December 25, 2024, and the second comes a year later on December 25, 2025.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are starring in both films as Glinda and Elphaba, who the Wizard of Oz fans will know as Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West. Wicked is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, showing the friendship between the pair of witches and detailing how one became the Wicked Witch.

The film is based on the Tony-Award winning Broadway musical, which itself is an adaptation of an earlier novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire.

"As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of ‘Wicked’ into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” Chu said in his tweet. "As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie but two! With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters."

The script for Wicked is being written by Winnie Holzman. Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the songs for the original Broadway show, is also on hand to handle the screenplay. Likewise, film and stage producer Marc Platt, who produced the stage play, returns to produce the film. Platt recently produced Dear Evan Hansen, another stage musical adaptation that starred his son, actor and singer Ben Platt.

Wicked is Chu's follow-up film to 2021's In The Heights, which was yet another adaptation of a stage musical. That film premiered HBO Max to great reviews, but poor audience numbers on the service. Still, it remained one of our favorite films of 2021, even is it was yet another example of a popular stage musical failing to find a big screen audience.

Mike Williams is a freelance writer at IGN.