I never took much time out of my Witchering career to play the head-to-head card game Gwent in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but the Gwent-based single-player RPG Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales was one of my favorite games in the entire Witcher franchise. And likewise, the new standalone spin-off Gwent: Rogue Mage has gotten its hooks into me with its roguelike elements, tricky boss battles, and lightweight but intriguing story. I haven’t quite reached the end of that story just yet, but I have completed plenty of runs and am excited to see how it’s truly meant to end even after around 25 hours.

If you never played Thonebreaker, both it and Rogue Mage basically use Gwent as an RPG battle system, fighting against AI enemies and giving you some cards that would be hilariously unbalanced in its PvP counterpart. See, part of why I've always found standard Gwent a bit lackluster is that there are a handful of meta strategies that are very powerful, and putting together a deck with no restrictions can be tedious and intimidating. Thronebreaker and Rogue Mage work so well because their deck building restrictions, weird cards, and unorthodox match rules actually make them significantly more fun.

There isn't as much focus in Rogue Mage on a sweeping epic of war and betrayal like in Thronebreaker, as the story is mostly centered on a single character: the obsessive mage Alzur, responsible for creating the first Witchers centuries before Geralt's heyday. And that's exactly what you'll be doing: hunting down powerful boss beasties for their mutagens and injecting them haphazardly into human subjects until you manage to invent a brooding antihero to slay ghouls for fun and profit. Narrative flavor is delivered in little snippets and animated cutscenes along the way, and the writing and voice acting are as sharp as you'd expect from a Witcher game, even if they're not really the focus.

Slay the Nekker

Rather than sending you on a linear, sprawling quest, Rogue Mage is composed of many roguelike runs across the monster- and bandit-infested hinterlands that usually take a couple hours or so if you make it all the way to the end. As you plot a path, you'll run into over 30 different normal, elite, and boss enemies, each with their own distinct decks and a potent leader card that gives them a very unique playstyle. Some are relatively simple, like a bandit who can dish out a bit of damage every turn. Others are far more insidious, like a spymaster who can turn your units into spies and spawn copies of them on his side of the field.

This variety really keeps things interesting early on, though once I got a couple dozen runs in, I started to feel like some of these opponents I'd faced many times were getting a bit stale. I'd figured out what their thing was and how to counter it, so the actual fights could come to feel like a bit of a formality. Maybe something like a random mutation that could change those encounters up from time to time would be nice.

The randomness built into the player deck, though, makes sure I could never truly fall into a boring routine. There are three base decks which all have a strong theme, from buffing your own units to sacrificing them for more power (as well as a fourth "Chaos" deck that could contain any of the cards you've unlocked). You'll always start a run with the same cards based on the deck you selected, but can pick up more as loot along the way by defeating enemies, opening treasure chests, and completing events. And I think this unpredictability is fantastic.

Wild Magic

Randomized card drops and opponents who have weird mechanics that make you rethink every single hand is Gwent at its very best. And while I was a bit vexed at first that I had to throw away the awesome deck I had assembled at the end of every run and start over with a stock one, it also prevented me from becoming overly reliant on the same overpowered combos and forced me to think about new synergies every time. However, I did miss the clever thinking required by some of the more creative puzzle fights from Thronebreaker. There is less variety overall, and even the more elaborate boss fights in Rogue Mage are relatively straightforward compared to some of its predecessor’s weirdest and most memorable matches.

I still haven't completed the story and birthed my own Witcher yet, which requires many, many runs to slay various tough bosses for their mutagens. But I've played enough to say that I'm thoroughly enjoying my time with Rogue Mage and it hasn't lost its shine yet. Leveling up after each run adds new cards to the loot pool and unlocks new spells for Alzur, so I'm always discovering combos and mixing up my playstyle with each of the three decks. The decks themselves are distinct enough that I can swap them out when I'm getting tired of one of them and have a very different experience. I do wish there was a little bit more linear progression though, since almost everything you unlock is just another option, rather than anything that increases your base power permanently.

I’ll have my full review of Rogue Mage ready next week, so check back once I figure out how to deal with the small problem where all of my test subjects seem to die screaming instead of becoming hot monster hunters.

Skull and Bones is back. Ubisoft Singapore’s pirate game that we last saw at E3 2018 has finally sailed back into view and it’s out this November. But what exactly is it? Despite how it looks, Skull and Bones is a very different game to Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. In fact, it’s much more like Sea of Thieves than any of Ubisoft’s traditional open world games.

To make sure you’re all set and ready to sail, we spoke to game director Ryan Barnard to find out the seven things you need to know about Skull and Bones.

There’s No Campaign

Unlike most of Ubisoft’s open-world games, Skull and Bones does not have a campaign. “It is definitely not a storyline-driven game,” says Barnard. “You don't finish Skull & Bones and have credits and a cutscene at the end. It's something we want to perpetuate as a live game for years and years to come.”

That’s not to say there’s no story at all, though. “We do have pivotal characters or ‘Kingpins’ in the game that you'll meet on your journey, and they will have bits of story and background that you will be able to [learn through] jobs or the contracts with them,” Barnard explains.

Instead of a main, overarching storyline written by Ubisoft, Skull and Bones’ story is one you make yourself. You set your own objectives, decide how you’ll sail the waves, and plunder ships to increase your wealth and infamy. You can do all of this solo, but Skull and Bones is a shared world game with up to 20 players on each server. You can team up with those other players… or hunt them down, sink their ships, and steal their treasure.

Open Seas Activities

So if there’s no campaign, what exactly do you do in Skull and Bones? Well, the Indian Ocean is full of opportunities. There’s plenty of characters offering work contracts that lead to adventure, explosions, and – most importantly – heaps of treasure.

“We want [activities] to be pirate-oriented,” Barnard reveals. “It's maybe about bringing some dangerous contraband to different places around the world, or going after and taking out named pirates that are causing trouble for one of the Kingpins, or plundering one of the settlements to get a certain item. Generally [activities] fall into categories of getting things for the pirate that wants those things, or taking things from one place to another for them that's very dangerous and you can't lose it or you'll end up paying the consequences.”

As you explore the ocean you’ll discover trade routes, hidden islands, and enemy armadas. Each one is a new opportunity to fill your hold with booty and raise your infamy. And the more infamous you become, the more you’ll be respected by the world’s characters.

Become a Pirate Kingpin

Infamy is Skull and Bones’ progression system. As you increase your infamy rank, you’ll unlock the ability to captain more impressive ships and experience the game’s higher-level opportunities.

“Your name is a big deal,” says Barnard. “[Back in the age of piracy] if you sank a big ship or a named ship, people hear about it and your infamy grows, and that gives you access to different pirates wanting to work with you and do deals with you. That's exactly the same flow that our progression follows.”

The highest rank of the infamy ladder is your big, overarching goal: to become a pirate Kingpin, and sit among the most fearsome pirates in the Indian Ocean. “If you play Skull & Bones regularly and you invest the time, you will reach Kingpin,” Barnard assures. “Kingpin is where a new type of experience starts and that can end up being a little bit more competitive.”

Surviving the Seas

Becoming a Kingpin isn’t something that happens overnight. You start with little more than the clothes on your back, and must work your way up from sea urchin, to sailor, to scheming captain. Along the way, you’ll always need to be aware of Skull and Bones’ survival mechanics.

“At the start of the game, you are left with basically nothing, so you need to craft your first spear,” explains Barnard. “You need to hunt some sharks or some fish and grill them to be able to feed yourself and your crew, or they'll mutiny against you and toss you overboard.”

Wait, mutiny? “To be a good captain, you need to keep your crew happy,” says Barnard. “When they're out sailing at sea, it's hard to run these big ships, so we have a concept called morale. [Morale] will drain slowly or quickly depending on the ship type you're in and how far you are in your infamy. In order to keep that maintained, you need to feed them.”

As you become more successful, what you need to do to survive changes. Managing your ship becomes ever more important and challenging. You’ll need to keep the hull repaired and the cannons loaded, but also keep your weight in careful balance. It’s tempting to loot all the treasure you find, but if your ship is overweight you’ll find it difficult to outrun your enemies. Sometimes it’s best to throw some of that cargo overboard for the good of staying alive.

Craft Your Way To Victory

Making a spear and cooking a fish is enough to survive, but to thrive you’ll want to make the most of Skull and Bones’ crafting system. It starts with, well, almost everything you can find.

“We want this feeling of everything in the world to have value,” Barnard says. “So if you find something, you can use it immediately or it's something you can save for a blueprint or a design later, or it's something that you'll need as a component for a recipe or something you can sell.”

Raw materials collected by gathering and plundering can then be taken to craftsmen NPCs, who can turn them into valuable items for your ship. That could be building a set of new cannons that can more efficiently blast an enemy vessel to splinters, armor plates to protect your hull, or even furniture to make your ship feel a little more personalized.

Ships, Shooters, and Sailors

Your ship is your most important possession in Skull and Bones; as the game is set almost entirely at sea, your ship is both your transport and weapon. As such, Ubisoft Singapore has put effort into making sure it’s easy to set up your sails and fire your cannons.

“I think it's very intuitive,” says Barnard. “It's very easy to pick up sailing your different ships that we have in the game. Combat is something that we also wanted to make sure that is very intuitive, something that's like if you were playing a shooter.”

There’s a variety of ships to captain, from tiny dhows and sloops, to the mid-sized sambuks and brigantines, and beyond. Each can be fitted with a wide range of guns, from classic cannons to more specialized equipment like flamethrowers and the multi barreled mortar. Combining the right ships and guns will be important, as different contracts will demand different approaches. A courier task requires an entirely different set up to a fortress assault, for instance.

It’s also important to remember that your ship and cannons aren’t your only tools. Smart use of your crew is vital if you want to sail away with the best loot.

“As you do damage [to other ships], the crew gets whipped into this fervor and at some point you'll be able to execute what we call a ‘crew to crew attack’ . . . If you time it right to where your enemy ship is lower health, [your crew] will execute a boarding maneuver and that hooks [the enemy] in. That's the only way that you get all the loot in the cargo.”

Land-ho!

While most of Skull and Bones’ world is made up of water, there are locations on land that you can visit and explore. These areas are similar to base camps in games like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed; they are where you’ll meet NPCs and other players, take on contracts, craft new items, and build up your fleet. The biggest of these locations are the Pirate Dens, but smaller outposts can be found scattered through the Indian Ocean.

“In the dens, this is where you'll have your warehouse, where you will most likely be socializing with other pirates, where you can craft all of your different weapons and new ships and those kind of things, where you can refine materials,” explains Barnard.

“Outposts, which are scattered all the way throughout the world, rotate,” he continues. “It could be that one of the factions is at that outpost at this time, and they're offering a certain set of contracts just for the time that they're there. [Outposts are also] places where you buy new blueprints or designs as you progress through infamy [tiers].”

Barnard also promises that Outposts are where you’ll discover more about the Indian Ocean and the pirates who live there. “You'll find bits of lore that lead to the story. Why is everybody here? What happened? There's a deeper, underlying story that it's not a linear narrative, but it's something you can investigate and learn about as a player.

And those are the seven things you need to know about Skull and Bones. It’s set to release this November, so be sure to stay tuned to IGN for more information about what to expect in the Indian Ocean.

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

Activision Blizzard staff are staging a walkout later this month in protest of the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe vs. Wade, the historic judgment used to secure abortion rights across the country.

The ABK Workers Alliance announced the action on Twitter, saying it had made the decision "in light of the recent attacks on the civil liberties of our employees", claiming that Activision Blizzard's current healthcare policies do not adequately protect its workers.

The post (below) continued: "We are calling for protection of several communities of marginalized workers. Employees are actively facing state legislation that is putting women, LGBTQ+ employees, and their families at risk, with other vulnerable groups on the horizon.

"Our walk-out demands focus on the protections of ABK employees from external threats like the recent overturn of Roe vs. Wade, and internal threats such as retaliation and harassment while in the workplace."

In light of the recent attacks on the civil liberties of our employees, the employee-led Committee Against Sex and Gender Discrimination has scheduled a walk out action on July 21st, 2022 (1/17)

— ABetterABK 💙 ABK Workers Alliance (@ABetterABK) July 6, 2022

The group shared its list of eight demands to end gender inequity in a subsequent tweet. These focus on providing the option to work fully remote, the offer of relocation for employees living in locations passing discriminatory legislation, the provision of cost of living adjustments, and the continued inclusion of health care coverage of transgender and reproductive healthcare.

Also included is the demand for management to immediately and transparently reveal its plans to allow relocation, for employees to be included in the requested sexual harassment audit, for regular meetings to be held between ABK leadership and Committee Against Sex and Gender Discrimination, and that ABK must sign a labour-neutrality agreement that allows the free organisation of workplace walkouts and similar action in a legally binding contract.

The ABK Workers Alliance gained prominence in July 2021 when it staged a walkout to protest Activision Blizzard's handling of a lawsuit being filed against it that highlighted harassment, inequality, and more within the company.

For a complete breakdown of the series of troubling allegations against the publisher in the past year, read IGN's Activision Blizzard lawsuit timeline.

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

Upcoming FPS RoboCop: Rogue City has shown off its first gameplay and revealed lead character Alex Murphy, with the full likeness of original actor Peter Weller. The game is now scheduled to arrive in June 2023.

Shown off at today's Nacon Connect showcase, we got a look at the game's dystopian Detroit from the first-person perspective of RoboCop himself, amid what seems to be gang violence across the city. Combat appears to be a mix of gunplay and melee, with Murphy's targeting systems used to take out hard-to-hit enemies. We even see an ED-209 robot join the fray.

Aiming for release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, RoboCop: Rogue City will "combine first-person shooter gameplay with exploration of Detroit and multiple-choice dialogue," according to Nacon. The game was first announced last year, and is based on the original 1987 movie – but will tell a brand new story in that setting. It's being developed by Teyon, which previously created Terminator: Resistance.

RoboCop is an action classic, and one of the best-ever '80s action movies, and a typically Paul Verhoeven mixture of ultraviolence and dystopian satire. There's currently a prequel series in development for TV, based on the series' depiction of Detroit and Omni Consumer Products, the company that goes onto create RoboCop himself.

Nacon has announced that it is developing a survival game set in the post-apocalyptic world of The Terminator.

Announced as part of the Nacon Connect 2022 showcase, the as-yet-untitled Terminator survival game was revealed to be in the works at Nacon Studio Milan. It takes place in an open world, and is set between the events of Judgment Day (the Skynet nuclear strike that causes the apocalypse) and the formation of John Connor's resistance.

The game will feature an original story that draws upon the events portrayed in the movies. No gameplay has yet to be revealed, but we've seen a cinematic trailer shows off a T-800 hunting someone in a warehouse-like enviroment. It's not much, but the drumming of the original theme tune can be heard in the background, so there's that at least.

The Terminator series doesn't have the best history when it comes to video games (or, arguably, movies post 1991). I remember being burned by the dreadful Terminator 3: War of the Machines back in 2003, and our Terminator: Resistance review from 2019 suggests things haven't improved over the years.

Hopefully Nacon Studio Milan's survival take on James Cameron's enduring apocalypse will be a bit of a turning point for the series' video game ventures.

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