Latest Elden Ring Patch Fixes NPC Questline, Multiplayer Bug, and an Ash of War

Elden Ring's latest patch has fixed a handful of issues, including a glitch that allowed invaders to crash the host's game.

Invaders on PC could force the host to teleport to a different area of the map, resulting in the game crashing or players being stuck in an infinite falling animation.

Developer FromSoftware has fixed the issue in the new patch 1.03.2, which is available to download now on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, and Steam.

The patch also addressed a bug that stopped some players progressing in Nepheli Loux's quest, alongside fixes for the Endure Ash of War and traversal point near Bestial Sanctum.

The full patch notes can be seen below:

  • Fixed a bug that sometime prevented players from advancing NPC Nepheli Loux’s questline
  • Fixed a bug that causes the playable character to die when trying to descend from a spot near Bestial Sanctum
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Ash of War, Endure from taking effect
  • Fixed a bug in multiplayer that allowed players to teleport others to incorrect map coordinates

While FromSoftware has fixed one multiplayer issue, an infamous hacker is still able to invade and softban players, as he's been doing since Dark Souls 3. The developer has released several other patches, however, and announced server maintenance for PlayStation and Steam on March 23.

Despite Elden Ring being released almost a month ago to incredible success in the U.S. and Europe, players are still finding new secrets including a hidden wall that only disperses after 50 hits.

It proved somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, producing several wacky stories such as players discovering a pair of fancy underwear hidden in the game. The game's speedrun record is also being broken over and over, an infamous hacker is hunting down innocent players, Bandai Namco has made an insane advert, and it even has its own candy.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."

To make those choices with the best available information, check out our full guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.

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

PS5 Gets New Features, Variable Refresh Rate Arriving ‘In the Coming Months’

A PlayStation 5 system update has added a number of features including voice commands in some regions and new party options.

Sony outlined the features in a PlayStation Blog post and also confirmed that variable refresh rate (VRR) would arrive in the coming months. This means that users with HDMI 2.1-compatible TVs and PC monitors will experience smoother gameplay, sharper graphics, and reduced input lag.

In the new update, available globally today, users with accounts registered to the U.S. and UK can now use voice commands to open different apps, pause and play media, and more by saying "Hey PlayStation", similar to Amazon's Alexa.

When creating a party for online chat, users can also now choose between an open party, meaning friends of party members can join without an invite, or a closed party, meaning only invited users can join.

This can be done on the PS App too, which has received other updates including UI enhancements, a "dark mode" option when using Remote Play, and new language options.

Sony has also added a "Pro Tips" section to the control centre where users can read refreshers on PS5 features such as how to apply game presets on your console, pin videos and apps to your screen while you play, and share your screen with friends.

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

PS5 Gets New Features, Variable Refresh Rate Arriving ‘In the Coming Months’

A PlayStation 5 system update has added a number of features including voice commands in some regions and new party options.

Sony outlined the features in a PlayStation Blog post and also confirmed that variable refresh rate (VRR) would arrive in the coming months. This means that users with HDMI 2.1-compatible TVs and PC monitors will experience smoother gameplay, sharper graphics, and reduced input lag.

In the new update, available globally today, users with accounts registered to the U.S. and UK can now use voice commands to open different apps, pause and play media, and more by saying "Hey PlayStation", similar to Amazon's Alexa.

When creating a party for online chat, users can also now choose between an open party, meaning friends of party members can join without an invite, or a closed party, meaning only invited users can join.

This can be done on the PS App too, which has received other updates including UI enhancements, a "dark mode" option when using Remote Play, and new language options.

Sony has also added a "Pro Tips" section to the control centre where users can read refreshers on PS5 features such as how to apply game presets on your console, pin videos and apps to your screen while you play, and share your screen with friends.

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

Elden Ring Servers Back Online for Steam and PlayStation After Prolonged Maintenance [Update]

Update 2: Six hours later than expected, FromSoftware says Elden Ring's online services have been re-enabled on PlayStation 4 and 5.

IGN has independently confirmed that online services are working again. It's not clear why maintenance was extended on Steam or PlayStation.

Update: The Elden Ring Twitter account has now posted to say Steam maintenance is complete. PlayStation servers remain offline at time of writing.

Bandai Namco and From Software announced that another round of server maintenance for Elden Ring would be carried out today, but maintenance on the PlayStation and Steam servers is taking longer than first thought.

Earlier this morning, the Elden Ring Twitter account announced that multiplayer server maintenance would begin on March 23 at 1am Pacific / 8am UK, with an expected duration of one hour. However, a follow up message announced that the PlayStation/Steam server maintenance "will be prolonged". No estimate was given for when services would resume.

As of 4am Pacific / 11am UK time, the servers are still down on PlayStation. We'll update this story when service resumes.

As you'd expect, the game is still playable in offline mode, but features like summoning other players, invasions, and messages are not available.

Elden Ring is currently going through what feels like its first major update phase following its release. Just last week patch 1.03 made a substantial amount of changes, including overhauling Glintstone sorcery (yay!) and nerfing Hoarfrost stomp (boo!). Speedrunners have been notably upset about some of the changes.

For more, check out the strange secret wall in Elden Ring that opens after 50 hits, and how Valve fixed the PC performance on Steam Deck.

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

Elden Ring’s Online Services are Down on PlayStation [Update]

Update: The Elden Ring Twitter account has now posted to say Steam maintenance is complete. PlayStation servers remain offline at time of writing.

Bandai Namco and From Software announced that another round of server maintenance for Elden Ring would be carried out today, but maintenance on the PlayStation and Steam servers is taking longer than first thought.

Earlier this morning, the Elden Ring Twitter account announced that multiplayer server maintenance would begin on March 23 at 1am Pacific / 8am UK, with an expected duration of one hour. However, a follow up message announced that the PlayStation/Steam server maintenance "will be prolonged". No estimate was given for when services would resume.

As of 4am Pacific / 11am UK time, the servers are still down on PlayStation. We'll update this story when service resumes.

As you'd expect, the game is still playable in offline mode, but features like summoning other players, invasions, and messages are not available.

Elden Ring is currently going through what feels like its first major update phase following its release. Just last week patch 1.03 made a substantial amount of changes, including overhauling Glintstone sorcery (yay!) and nerfing Hoarfrost stomp (boo!). Speedrunners have been notably upset about some of the changes.

For more, check out the strange secret wall in Elden Ring that opens after 50 hits, and how Valve fixed the PC performance on Steam Deck.

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

The Incredible Hulk Will Be Streaming… On HBO Max

The Incredible Hulk, the second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will be available to stream on HBO Max on April 1.

This means it won't be joining the rest of the MCU films on Disney+ anytime soon, the self-professed home of Marvel, according to the HBO content schedule spotted by Games Radar.

The Incredible Hulk was released in 2008 between Iron Man 1 and 2 and features Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. While the Hulk was later recast with Mark Ruffalo, the film still features the usual post-credit scene with teases and ties to the rest of the universe.

Furthermore, characters introduced in The Incredible Hulk, like General 'Thunderbolt' Ross, would later appear in other MCU movies like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.

But Disney does not own the rights to The Incredible Hulk as the film is instead owned by Universal Pictures. A similar situation applies to the MCU's Spider-Man trilogy which is also unavailable on Disney+, as these films are owned by Sony.

The rest of the universe is available on the platform, but for those looking to watch them all in order, other subscription services will be required. While The Incredible Hulk is on HBO Max, Spider-Man: Homecoming is on Hulu, Far From Home is on Netflix, and MCU's latest No Way Home will first be available on Starz within the next six months.

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

The Incredible Hulk Will Be Streaming… On HBO Max

The Incredible Hulk, the second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will be available to stream on HBO Max on April 1.

This means it won't be joining the rest of the MCU films on Disney+ anytime soon, the self-professed home of Marvel, according to the HBO content schedule spotted by Games Radar.

The Incredible Hulk was released in 2008 between Iron Man 1 and 2 and features Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. While the Hulk was later recast with Mark Ruffalo, the film still features the usual post-credit scene with teases and ties to the rest of the universe.

Furthermore, characters introduced in The Incredible Hulk, like General 'Thunderbolt' Ross, would later appear in other MCU movies like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.

But Disney does not own the rights to The Incredible Hulk as the film is instead owned by Universal Pictures. A similar situation applies to the MCU's Spider-Man trilogy which is also unavailable on Disney+, as these films are owned by Sony.

The rest of the universe is available on the platform, but for those looking to watch them all in order, other subscription services will be required. While The Incredible Hulk is on HBO Max, Spider-Man: Homecoming is on Hulu, Far From Home is on Netflix, and MCU's latest No Way Home will first be available on Starz within the next six months.

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

Marauders (New PvE Looter-Shooter FPS) Announced

Developer Small Impact Games and publisher Team17 have announced Marauders, a new space-pirate looter-shooter first-person shooter for up to four players. It will be released in PC Early Access later in 2022.

Marauders is a highly replayable "dieselpunk"-themed space-pirate FPS set in an early-1990's alternate future. You'll make raids and try to survive, upgrading your gear through XP along the way – gear that will persistently stay with you from match to match. Check out the first trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.

With a PvE or PvP combat loop of "raid, loot, and escape," Marauders isn't all about boots-on-the-ground (er, ship) shooting. It's also got space dogfights pitting your ship against others. You can upgrade your ship, scavenge parts to build a new one, or even just acquire someone else's by force. Weapons, meanwhile, can be upgraded by mods, and earned-in-game XP will get you those persistent gear upgrades.

Your first chance to play Marauders is at the W.A.S.D. in London from April 7-9.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Witcher 4: Fans Debate Whether Ciri Will Be the Main Character

CD Projekt Red's announcement of The Witcher 4 (for lack of an official name) has sent fans into a frenzy as they try to decipher the studio's teaser image.

While it doesn't show much, the art features a Witcher medallion partly submerged in snow, which some fans believe is linked to a major character from the last game, Ciri.

This rest of this article features major spoilers from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

CD Projekt Red has previously announced that previous protagonist, Geralt's journey has concluded, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's canon ending certainly alludes to a Ciri spin-off. For those unfamiliar, the game ends with Geralt giving Ciri a new sword as she begins her own journey as a Witcher.

Ciri also wears a Cat School medallion, something not discussed in the games but is instead taken straight from Andrzej Sapkowski's original book series – and some fans believe the revealed medallion represents a cat.

That being said, The Witcher series already has a cat medallion, and it doesn't really look like the new Witcher 4 tease. In fact, none of the current in-game Witcher medallions match the new art:

CD Projekt Red could have created a brand new Witcher school – just as they did with The Witcher 2's Letho, who's part of the Viper School. The game trilogy, while based on The Witcher books and largely loyal to its canon, tells entirely fresh stories taking place after the events of Sapkowski's work, meaning these kinds of inventions fit into the world quite neatly.

It's also entirely possible that the developer has just redesigned the medal. Geralt's medallion looks different in the books compared to the Netflix show, for example, and even has a slightly different design from the first Witcher game to Wild Hunt.

While the Netflix show is a completely different canon to that of the books or the games, the teased image actually looks most like Vesemir's symbol from The Witcher anime film: Nightmare of the Wolf.

Vesemir – Geralt's Witcher mentor – received a Netflix standalone, the title screen of of which shows a decayed version of a wolf medallion that looks somewhat like the one teased by CD Projekt Red.

Given that Vesemir dies in the course of The Witcher 3, a new game about him would need to be set a long time before the events of the current trilogy, but several teases of Vesemir's past exist in the books and games already. That includes a major but rarely discussed event known as the Sacking of Kaer Morhen that could make for a dramatic central plot point.

These are all just fan theories, of course, and CD Projekt Red likely won't reveal more information for a long while. The developer announced the game on March 21, just a few hours after a fan potentially found The Witcher 3's final secret, and didn't say much else except that the game will run in Unreal Engine 5.

CD Projekt Red last released a mainline Witcher game with Wild Hunt's release in 2015, but has since released Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher Tales: Thronebreaker, and Gwent. IGN recently gave The Witcher 3 a top spot on our best open world games of all time and in our 9/10 review said "massive in size and meticulously detailed, The Witcher 3 ends Geralt's story on a high note."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, a 4v1 Asymmetrical Multiplayer Game, Announced

Friday the 13th and Predator: Hunting Grounds developer IllFonic has revealed Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, a new 4v1 asymmetrical multiplayer game that is set to be released on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One in Q4 2022.

In Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, you will have the chance to "put on a Proton Pack, grab a Ghost Trap, and monitor the trusty PKE Meter as a Ghostbuster in a team of four brave souls pursuing ghastly ghosts terrorizing public locations."

Watch the official trailer below:

Your mission as a Ghostbuster is simple - find the ghost, blast them with streams from the Particle Thrower, tether them in place, and then shut them in the trap when the timing is right. The ghost, on the other hand, will have to use their abilities to fly and teleport between rifts, possess objects to hide in plain sight, and use the power of slime and summoning ghoulish minions to win the day. And yes, you will get to play as a Slimer ghost.

Before the match, players will be able to hang out in the Firehouse from the films and customize both their Ghostbuster and Ghost, upgrade their equipment and abilities, and even practice their skills with the Particle Thrower.

Furthermore, players will also be able to talk to Winston Zeddemore, once again voiced by Ernie Hudson, to acquire missions, or to Dan Aykroyd's Ray Stantz at Ray's Occult Books to learn some "busting wisdom."

While the game does support solo play offline with or without AI, cross-platform multiplayer will ensure Ghostbusters and ghosts will be able to play together regardless of which platform they choose.

"Ghostbusters is one of the most beloved IPs in the world, so we are pulling out all the stops to make something special and accessible to this diverse fanbase,” said Charles Brungardt, CEO, IllFonic. “If you’re someone who loves the movies or asymmetrical multiplayer games, this was made for you.”

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed was casually revealed by IllFonic studio co-founder Raphael Saadiq in October 2021 on a podcast when he confirmed the studio was working on a game in the beloved franchise.

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.