Rocket League Devs Explain How Unreal Engine Powers the Paris Major

IGN is on the ground in Paris all weekend, capturing all of the breaking news at the Rocket League Championship Series Paris Major. Catch the Semifinals and Finals on IGN’s YouTube channel.

When Rocket League first came out 11 years ago, it appeared on the surface to be a relatively simple proposition: players face off in a soccer-like arena and battle to get a giant ball into a net. But, more than a decade later, the game has amassed a huge following and a distinct spot in the world of competitive Esports.

That growth culminates this weekend in the Rocket League Championship Series Paris Major - the game’s biggest-ever in-person tournament where 25 thousand fans are gathering to see which one of 16 teams takes home the biggest share of a $350 thousand prize pot.

I spoke to the team behind Rocket League about how the game is still growing, why they consider it to have an “infinite” skill ceiling, and the massive tech behind next-generation broadcast.

“The vast majority of everything you will see in broadcast, even in-arena triggering of lights, the light panels on the floor, [the in-game and arena cameras],is all being used by Unreal Engine,” says Cliff Shoemaker, Competitive Programming Director at Epic Games. “I think the real-time rendering of everything opens up a lot of doors. It’s even in the hype chamber. We have so many options that we can use in that space, [to] create stuff that maybe we can't create in-game in UE3.”

Beyond Unreal Engine, the team at Epic brings their own server team to the Paris Major to make sure the competition remains fair by guaranteeing zero lag. The system feeds the production team real-time data every two seconds to ensure that each team experiences the exact same ping.

Mauricio Longoni, Senior Director of Game Publishing for Rocket League, says events like the Paris Major underscore why Rocket League is growing event after being out for so long.

“We call [Rocket League] its own sport,” Longoni says. “It's not a simulation of soccer. It's not a simulation of volleyball. It's its own thing. So as a sport, that fan base keeps growing and more people play and they start training and getting better. RLCS is a big component of that.

"The competitiveness of Rocket League is one of the strongest pillars and we keep investing in that. RLCS is certainly a big part of that. Having these big celebration moments, having a place for players to grow and get better [is] a big component."

Globally, RLCS registrations are growing at an average of over 24% per year. Longoni says the game’s low barrier to entry (it’s free to play) and relatively simple mechanics are a big reason why.

“It's simple, but not simplistic,” Logoni says. You get into a car, you run around, you hit the ball and try to hit a goal. The ceiling is infinite because it's physics-based and it's player ability-based. Speaking a little bit about the future, I think there's always an opportunity for us to provide better ways for players to improve their skills. You can keep playing online [to] get better, but can we help players get better [by] giving them more ways to train. That’s on our mind.”

Beyond the large-scale competitions like the Paris Major, the team at Epic is looking at ways to bring Rocket League into the future. I asked them if they’d be up for big IP collaborations like the recently announced Star Wars Fortnite islands. Shoemaker said they are open to those ideas, as long as they served the Rocket League player base.

“I think there's excitement [on the competitive] level to emulate a lot of what they've created [in Fortnite],” Shoemaker says. “I think it's possible because of the platform they have built and the user-generated content that's so accessible on that platform. Rocket League does not have that at the moment. But yes, 100% it's something the Rocket League audience deserves to have.”

“Rocket League has a history of partnerships,” Logoni says. “We’ve had Fast and Furious cars in the game. We have real brand cars in the game. In terms of looking forward, 100% we want to keep depending on our partnerships and bring in new partners to really bring what the players in the community want to see in the game. We are always on the lookout for that.”

Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton

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Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Confirmed to Feature Drunk Load Screen After Ubisoft Post Confuses Fans

Ubisoft has confirmed Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced will still let Edward Kenway get drunk and stumble around the Animus load screen, despite concerns to the contrary.

The publisher behind the stealth action franchise sent fans for a loop yesterday with a post showing gameplay of what it called a "AC Black Flag Resynced drunk loading screen." It's a bit strange, as the footage showed the remake's pirate protagonist walking through a digital world with a steady stride while the screen wobbled back and forth around him.

Fans familiar with the original Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag will remember the 2013 title allowed Edward to put back a few bottles of rum and drunkenly trip through the Animus load screen during one portion of its story. Ubisoft's post had some concerned that, in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, this would be replaced by whatever the new gameplay showed.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced pic.twitter.com/xaR2v4ihmy

— Zephryss⛩️ (@TheRealZephryss) May 22, 2026

"I'm sorry man but this is genuinely embarrassing why would you post this," one X/Twitter user said.

"But he's not acting or moving like he's drunk at all..." another pointed out.

It's unclear if Ubisoft meant for the above post to be a joke, but it was more than enough to leave a sea of eager Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced fans looking for answers. Don't worry, though, as it only took about a day for the publisher to swoop back in to clarify that a new version of the moment that lives in players' memories will be back for the remake, after all. You can see gameplay for what the new version of a drunk Edward Kenway looks like below.

No worries, there will be rum https://t.co/355phmRTGq pic.twitter.com/ExeAkzttcO

— Assassin's Creed UK (@Assassins_UK) May 23, 2026

"Keep Rum and Carry On," lead producer Justin Ng said in a follow-up message.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has a release date of July 9, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. Like the drunken loading screen, the remake is confirmed to have a no-HUD option, as well as blood during combat for those who feared it had been left behind.

We spoke to the developers at Ubisoft Singapore to learn more about what it took to reimagine the story of Edward Kenway during a recent preview event. For our early impressions, you can click here.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

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Kingdom Come Dev Confirms Next Installment Is an 'Open-World RPG' Set to Launch Next Fiscal Year

Warhorse Studios has confirmed its next Kingdom Come game will be an "open-world RPG," and it's expected to launch next fiscal year.

Communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling and community manager Tom Grey helped clear up any confusion during a recent livestream hosted by the studio. It followed the announcement that Warhorse had plans to develop what it called a "new Kingdom Come adventure," a promise that had some fans spinning theories about what direction the acclaimed medieval series may head in next.

Stolz-Zwilling put any rumors of new movies or major gameplay changes to rest when he confirmed that the currently untitled Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 follow-up will, indeed, be an "open-world RPG." Further details about whether it will be a full-on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 3 were not shared, but Grey at least referred to it as one of its two "proper games" in the works.

Did you miss our stream yesterday?

Tobi joined with some news about our latest
announcement, while Chris and Tom continued their
journey in #KCD2.

Catch up now on our YouTube channel. pic.twitter.com/buAV9Bsyjb

— Warhorse Studios (@WarhorseStudios) May 22, 2026

"We still continue expanding the universe of Kingdom Come," Stolz-Zwilling said. "That is also very dear to us. Do not forget that Kingdom Come: Deliverance always was and still is and always will be an absolute passion project here in the studio."

As he noted, game director Daniel Vávra has begun work on a Kingdom Come movie, but the project announced earlier this week sounds like it will fall more in line with the games Warhorse has released thus far. The other of the studio's two "proper games" announced earlier this week is, of course, a new, additional open-world RPG set in The Lord of the Rings' fictional world of Middle-earth.

Later, Stolz-Zwilling also confirmed that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 lead designer Prokop Jirsa is leading the Kingdom Come team, with design director Viktor Bocan placed in charge of the Middle-earth team. When the latter project will launch remains a mystery, but the livestream did at least come with the promise that, as teased by Phil Rogers, CEO of Warhorse parent company Embracer Group, the new Kingdom Come adventure is expected to launch next fiscal year.

That puts its tentative release window somewhere between April 2027 and March 2028. More importantly, as Stolz-Zwilling said, fans probably "don't have to wait seven years for another Kingdom Come."

"We won't have to wait that long until the next game," Grey said. "That's the aim."

Stolz-Zwilling chimed in: "But you know how game development works, so this is the plan: next fiscal year. That's where we want to release it, and again, we will do what we can to do that, to achieve that."

We gave Kingdom Come: Deliverance an 8/10 review upon its launch in 2018, and its sequel a 9/10 last year. As Warhorse rides toward its next projects, you can see what the developer had to say about its games' difficulty.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

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Dead by Daylight Players React After 'Traumatizing' Cabin Stream Confirms Jason Voorhees as New Killer

Developer Behaviour Interactive has said the name Dead by Daylight players have waited 10 long years and one 13-hour livestream to hear: Jason Voorhees.

The hockey mask-wearing slasher icon from Friday the 13th showed up after weeks of speculation from fans with a brief teaser today. He's undeniably one of the most-requested Killers the long-running asymmetrical horror game has ever had, and while most are just happy to see the "Mount Rushmore of horror" finally completed, the road to Jason was anything but easy.

Dead by Daylight will celebrate its 10th anniversary this June, so to say expectations for its annual birthday festivities were through the roof would be an understatement. An unusual absence of leaks left fans to swim in a lake of rumors throughout the year, so despite Jason remaining atop the shortlist of potential Killers, fans have remained in the dark when it came to Behaviour's plans.

A series of recent teasers polluted with references to the number 13 should have felt like a dead giveaway that the Friday the 13th rep was on the way, but the community of horror fans had other ideas. Fan predictions in the weeks leading up to today's reveal began earnestly enough, as many hoped to see last year's Five Nights at Freddy's anniversary collaboration followed up with infamous monsters like Pennywise from Stephen King's It or Art the Clown from the Terrifier series.

Theories about Hello Neighbor and BioShock followed soon after, but as names like Jaws, another half-joke character fans have talked about for years, entered the conversation, things truly began to spiral out of control. As a mix of sincere Killer predictions, memes, and pure chaos filled social channels, Behaviour launched its anniversary livestream yesterday, May 22, at 9 p.m. ET. Where fans hoped to find immediate answers to their questions, they were instead met with a still image of a cabin in the woods.

Tens of thousands of viewers then stayed locked into the stream of that image for 13 hours.

"It's 4 a.m. and I'm being ragebaited," one fan said.

"BHVR is about to turn me into the 10th anniversary killer," another joked.

Otzdarva's face after waking up at 3am to watch paint dry on a cabin for an entire hour
by u/IJustTellTheTruthBro in deadbydaylight

coincidence? i think NOT!
by u/U_mome_gay in deadbydaylight

This cabin will be one of those "traumatize your fandom with one image" things in a few years
by u/Opening-Valuable-204 in deadbydaylight

"In a few years?" someone else said in response to the above Reddit post. "It's traumatizing us right now!"

Something like 90% of the Dead by Daylight cabin stream was…nothing. The other 10% helped break up the wait with eerie moments – such as bird calls, someone riding a bike, monsters crawling across the ground, camera glitches, and much, much more – but it didn't take long for the anticipation to bubble into disappointment.

In the time players waited for the stream to show anything resembling a Dead by Daylight anniversary Killer reveal, many genuinely began to believe Slender Man would soon join the roster. Others spent their time making mock-ups for the infamous cabin to become the next playable character. Then, as the 13-hour mark passed, Jason was finally revealed.

Was it worth it? After 10 years of asking, it certainly seems like it, but not everyone in the Dead by Daylight community is thrilled with how the reveal came to be.

"NEVER STOPPED BELIEVING THAT IT’D HAPPEN ONE DAY," one Reddit user stated.

"You're telling me Jason was standing still staring at that f****ss cabin for 13 hours?" another said.

MY LIVE REACTION TO THE JASON REVEAL! pic.twitter.com/eO31yVWt4b

— SpooknJukes (@SpooknJukes) May 23, 2026

pic.twitter.com/6WeOBkPu48

— Outcast Andrew (@OutcastAndrew) May 23, 2026

Welcome to the gang, Jason! Been waiting for years for this day!
by u/magicchefdmb in deadbydaylight

"I’m both happy it’s Jason finally being added, but underwhelmed by his reveal," someone else replied. "This entire setup really felt like it had nothing to do with anything related to him. The whole stream felt very analogue horror, and all of the teasers on Twitter echoed that."

There is some concern that the Friday the 13th Dead by Daylight crossover will be limited to Jason Voorhees as the Killer and won't include any Survivors or even maps, but most are still trying to process seeing the machete-wielding slasher included at all.

Tangled rights revolving around Jason and Friday the 13th are rumored to have been the cause of his lack of presence in Dead by Daylight for years. It's even something Behaviour has commented on in the past, with game director Mathieu Cote calling the situation a "legal quagmire" and "tar pit" during a conversation with The King in 2023. Now, however, whatever issues keeping the horror icon from joining the likes of Killers like Freddy Krueger, Chucky, Ghostface, Dracula, Michael Myers, and Leatherface have been put to rest.

Jason I knew you were the anniversary killer see check my phone https://t.co/7hYDvHYmyE pic.twitter.com/wVhN39lV1O

— Chainsaw Man for DBD (@ChainsawMan4DBD) May 23, 2026

LETS GOOOOOO!!!! pic.twitter.com/0royYHj8LQ

— Turkey 🔜 DBD EVENT 💕 (@QuestionedTurke) May 23, 2026

Jason joins Dead by Daylight as its anniversary Killer June 16. We'll learn more about how he'll finally enter the Fog in the coming weeks, but until then, you can see what Behaviour had to tell us about its live-service secrets, and you can also learn about the Soulslike spin-off the team has been dreaming about.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

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Dawn of War IV Dev Doesn't See Total War: Warhammer 40,000 as Direct Competition, Reckons Fans Will Play Both Games

It’s a busy time for Warhammer 40,000 video games. The recent Warhammer Skulls showcase included a long list of reveals and updates, confirming that Warhammer 40,000 fans will have plenty to choose from in the coming year or so. Perhaps the two most-anticipated Warhammer 40,000 games are Dawn of War IV and Total War: Warhammer 40,000, both PC-focused strategy games that, while very different, share a common language and, to the casual observer, look similar. But with both Dawn of War IV developer King Art Games and Total War: Warhammer 40,000 developer Creative Assembly hoping for long-term success with their games and potentially years of DLC support, is there room for both?

I put that question to King Art Games creative director Jan Theysen and senior game designer Elliott Verbiest, who responded by insisting Total War: Warhammer 40,000 isn’t Dawn of War IV’s direct competition. On the contrary, the pair believe having another great Warhammer 40,000 video game out there can only help overall, and super fans will play both games anyway.

“We are happy the more good Warhammer 40K games are out there, because the more good games there are the more people care about it, the more people are interested in Warhammer in general,” Theysen said.

“And that also helps Dawn of War. We don't see them [Total War: Warhammer 40,000] as like direct competition. It's also not like players play the one game but not the other. I think many players will probably play both of them. And so for us it's more like, okay, cool if it's like a great game and brings more eyes to the franchise, all the better. And of course also we know and like the guys from Creative Assembly. And we want to play the game! So we are just happy that they do something cool with it. And in the end, I think most players will probably enjoy both of them.”

“Definitely a case of rising tide lifts all boats,” Verbiest added. “We're looking forward to playing it as well!”

Are Warhammer 40,000 fans faced with a difficult decision, or will they play both games, as Theysen suggests? Dawn of War IV goes first, with a confirmed release date of September 17, 2026 on PC via Steam. Total War: Warhammer 40,000, on the other hand, doesn’t have a release window yet. Could it launch later in 2026? That feels perhaps a little too close for me, but you never know.

Dig into each game, though, and you find they’re quite different. Dawn of War IV is a straight up RTS in the traditional sense, with resource gathering, base building, unit production, and plenty of action. Total War: Warhammer 40,000, like the other Total War games, fusing turn-based strategy with real-time tactics. Indeed, fans often debate the Total War games in terms of their genre, wondering how to make sense of all the types of gameplay on offer. Turn-based grand strategy with real-time tactical battles might do the trick. I’m not sure RTS does though.

Theysen believes Dawn of War IV will stand out from the crowd not just because it will be an entry point to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, as Relic Entertainment’s influential Dawn of War was over 20 years ago, but because it presents a manageable middle ground in terms of the scale of combat.

“It has this very special, unique size to it,” Theysen said of Dawn of War IV. “It's not like a Space Marine 2 where you're one, two or three guys. But it's also not hundreds and thousands of units in these super massive battles. It's in the middle.

“To me that feels very, very good because it gives you the feel of, okay, there's a lot of stuff going on and it's big battles, but at the same time, you can still manage what is going on, and it's not like you're losing the overview right away. So to me, I think that makes it interesting.”

Then there’s the campaign element. The Dawn of War games have always had fun story campaigns designed to offer the more casual RTS gamer plenty to sink their teeth into, and Dawn of War IV is no different. The game launches with a campaign for each of the four playable factions: Space Marines, Orks, Necrons, and Adeptus Mechanicus. Each gets their time to shine.

“I think it might be a good entry point for players who are maybe not super familiar with Warhammer 40K, because we try to tell stories that even without too much 40K deep knowledge still make sense and can still be enjoyed by players who are not that deep into it,” Theysen insisted.

“It's ridiculous how many people tell us that they came to 40K because of Dawn of War 1,” Theysen continued. “Basically every second person we talk to says, ‘Yeah, because of Dawn of War I’m a 40K fan.’ It would be awesome if we can do it again, be a nice entry point for players because it's maybe a little bit less intimidating than some of the other games out there.”

For more, check out IGN's interview in full with Dawn of War IV developer King Art Games.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Riot Games Says It 'Would Not and Cannot' Use Vanguard Anti-Cheat to Brick PCs After Rumors Spread

Riot Games has stepped in to squash rumors that it is using its Vanguard anti-cheat to "brick" the PCs of players who get caught cheating in its games.

Rumors that the League of Legends and Valorant developer was bringing a permanent end to cheaters spread late yesterday following an X/Twitter post from the company. In response to a separate post about its anti-cheat efforts, Riot posted an image showing a collection of hardware with the message "congrats to the owners of a brand new $6k paperweight."

It was a tongue-in-cheek crack at cheaters that rapidly evolved into rumors that the company had the power to render PCs useless. It took Riot less than a day to clear the air, confirming both that it "would not, and cannot, impact your PC's functionality" and that the paperweights it referred to were hardware used "explicitly for cheating." To put it plainly, Riot said, "Vanguard does not damage hardware or disable your devices."

congrats to the owners of a brand new $6k paperweight https://t.co/3rjZVQntrc pic.twitter.com/fS3JC0FL0p

— Riot Games (@riotgames) May 21, 2026

"The photo we posted is a picture of cheat hardware devices that are sold explicitly for cheating in VALORANT (not normal PCs or PC components)," Riot said. "Through our latest updates, Vanguard now makes those devices worthless for VAL, but does not in any way brick PCs or PC components or PC software.

"Our latest update enforces standard platform security features, like the Input-Output Memory Management Unit (IOMMU), on accounts identified as using Direct Memory Access (DMA) cheating devices. These protections are already part of modern systems and when enabled, they block DMA cheat devices (such as those shown in the photo) from accessing memory in downstream applications, like our games."

Riot continued, explaining that cheaters may run into hardware faults or instability if they continued cheat attempts. It added that "this is expected behavior," but if IOMMU is disabled, the cheating device should function as normal. Additionally, only those who use DMA-based cheats will be affected by the aforementioned issues.

"This means the cheat device won’t work with our games, but your PC isn’t 'bricked.' We would not, and cannot, impact your PC’s functionality in any other fashion," it continued.

"We’ll keep investing in anti-cheat to protect competitive integrity, and we’ll keep being as transparent as possible about how those systems work."

The League of Legends company further attempted to dodge controversy with a follow-up post. In it, Riot said that it "didn't" joke about bricking PCs, only about Valorant cheating devices. It even instructed cheaters on how to fix any paperweight-ing that may have occurred but says that, as long as they are using DMA cheats, they "won't be able to play our games."

Riot's latest attempt to quell fan outcry follows a similar conversation that sprouted up around Vanguard in 2024. At the time, players claimed that the developer was using anti-cheat to brick PCs before the company stepped in to say that it was unable to confirm any reports of bricking taking place.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

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Shards of Creation Trick-Taking Game Review

Among the events of Cosmere, the universe-spanning backdrop to a majority of Brandon Sanderson’s books, the Shattering of Adonalsium is perhaps the most important (so far). I won’t go into the hows and whys of that (go read the books), but the gist is that the Cosmere’s god, Adonalsium, was broken and split into 16 pieces. These Shards, which are pieces of the being, each embody a specific intent and include: Devotion, Dominion, Preservation, Ruin, Odium, Cultivation, Honor, Endowment, Autonomy, Ambition, Invention, Mercy, Valor, Whimsy, Virtuosity, and Reason. Why is this all important, you may be asking? Well, those very Shards, some anyway, are the “suits” in Brotherwise Games’ latest Cosmere-inspired trick-taking card game, aptly titled Shards of Creation.

Designed by Hayden Dillard, with some utterly breathtaking art by Medusa Dollmaker, Shards of Creation’s gameplay is similar to most other games in the trick-taking genre. Each round begins with a player setting a card and dictating the lead suit for that round, the suit that the other players must follow if they have a similarly suited card, with whoever places the highest-valued card of the lead suit taking the trick. A special “trump” suit can be played that will win out over whatever was led, at which point whoever has played the highest value of trump will take the win for that hand. Shards of Creation maintains all of that status quo but also throws some magic into the mix that makes this card game a bit more interesting than your typical trick-taker.

A game of Shards takes place over the course of three rounds, with 10 hands played per round. Before even dealing out your first hand of cards, you need to pick the Shards that will be in play, choosing four or five (depending on player count) from a possible pool of eight. These include Autonomy, Cultivation, Devotion, Dominion, Honor, Odium, Preservation, and Ruin, with nearly every one featuring unique powers when they are trump, card abilities, and even the possible values on their cards themselves (with a couple small exceptions — Honor is an old curmudgeon and doesn’t feature any abilities or powers).

Each round, a new Shard will be flipped and designated as trump, and its associated trump ability will be activated, such as Cultivation’s allowing players to draw additional cards and swap them out with other cards in their hands. Between this and the two unique abilities that each Shard’s cards can have, they turn a relatively basic trick-taker into something that feels unique and fresh, and also leaves me excited for possible expansions down the road. We only get half the possible Shards, after all, saying nothing about…other ones…that readers will be aware of but that I won’t spoil here.

The other aspect that I wasn’t expecting going into this game was that you don’t actually win by taking the most tricks, either. Instead, Shards of Creation is more of a set-collection game with a trick-taking lightweaving over top. Winning a trick will allow you to pick one of the cards in that trick and add it to your set row in front of you, with the winner of the game being based on whoever earns the most points. Points are gained from both the number of a single type of Shard you add to your pool and the number of complete sets of Shards that are in the game. As someone who grew up playing Euchre and has played my fair share of other games in the genre (check out our reviews of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Trick-Taking Game), this inclusion of having to not only plan out what cards to play in each trick but also what card to add to my row if I win made me realize how much I was enjoying it. I especially loved the fact that the Ruin Shard cards are worth negative points at the end of the game, requiring you to weigh the risks of loading your set up too much with them in an effort to earn more points.

Shards of Creation is a very approachable and quick game to pick up.

Even with those features, Shards of Creation is a very approachable and quick game to pick up. Full games you can get done in a half hour, making it a great option to bust out during lunch at work, at the bar with some friends, or just a nightcap before bed. You don’t need to be a diehard worldhopper to be able to enjoy Shards, and can be appreciated just for its fun mechanics.

For as solid as the gameplay is, the artwork of all the Shards is possibly my favorite aspect of the game. The vessels shown off on the cards (vessels being the term used for anyone who is currently in possession of one of Adonalsium’s Shards) are of those predating the books released so far, with Odium, for example, showcasing the menacing visage of Rayse as opposed to its successor, or Tanavast for Honor, with his long, flowing white hair. For diehard Cosmere fans, this game also marks the first official look we have gotten at Dominion and Devotion’s vessels, too! These have all been wonderfully captured by Dollmaker in their signature almost stained-glass-esque layout and use of color. I would eagerly throw my debit card at my computer if a large composition of them all were to come out for me to hang in my office and gawk at.

As someone who thoroughly enjoys Brandon Sanderson’s work (check out the Cosmere reading guide I put together here on IGN), just looking at the box, it is easy to see the expansion and growth potential that this game has. With less than half of the Shards featured currently with the others being added at a later date, I wouldn’t say that the game we got is light on content, it also left me wanting a bit more in a couple of small ways.

As I mentioned, I grew up playing Euchre, whether it was on scouting trips, in the cafeteria at lunch, or at home with my family, so I will always associate trick-taking games with team or semi-cooperative play. It’s a bit of a bummer that the rulebook doesn’t include an official team-based variant that would facilitate that, though it is easy enough to house-rule in. I also found myself let down by the implementation of Honor, specifically how rather bland it is. I get that it makes some sense from a narrative and lore standpoint, but it feels out of place gameplay-wise; it is just a letdown when it comes up. It was never fun or exciting to see “Honor has no trump ability” get flipped. It was like being forced to use the white crayon when drawing your picture or only being able to get vanilla ice cream in a shop full of tasty choices. I found myself often omitting Honor as a choice altogether.

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