On a special bonus episode of IGN's weekly PlayStation episode, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Lucy O'Brien to speak with Brian Horton, the creative director of PS4 and PS5 launch game Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
 The trio discusses some of the game's biggest story beats, the decision to make a more focused, shorter story compared to the first, the combat advancements and side stories, and New York City at Christmastime.
 Note: Apologies for some audio hiccups, which occurred during recording and could not be fixed.

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Spider-Man: Miles Morales Spoilercast (With the Creative Director) - Beyond Episode 676

Beyond is IGN’s flagship PlayStation show, the place where we break down all the latest Sony news and announcements, share our impressions on what we’re playing - new and old - but most importantly, celebrate the fun and camaraderie of gaming.

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We just got a brand new trailer for Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s open-world action adventure set in the beloved galaxy far, far away. Specifically, it’s set in the grimy criminal underworld between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, hitting some similar beats to 1996’s beloved (but no longer canon) Shadows of The Empire. As much as we’d love revolutionary leaps and bounds in game design, we’re totally fine if this is one of Ubisoft’s patented “climb the tower, clear the outpost” Assassin’s Creed Far Cry Watch Dogs-likes, since the subject matter does a lot of heavy lifting. In other news, Bloodborne Kart is now Nightmare Kart and it’s out at the end of next month (but only on PC) and the most-played PlayStation games of 2023 were mostly from a few years earlier, people just kept playing them. Helldivers 2 gets yet another war bond this week, Democratic Detonation, just in time for those no-good Automatons striking back with a vengeance. This week, Beyond is Max Scoville, Jada Griffin, Brian Altano and Matt Kim. We had fun, we hope you did too.

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Star Wars Outlaws Looks Like a Wretched Hive of Fun and Villainy - Beyond 843

We would love Sony to make a successor to the PlayStation Portable and PS Vita, but does it make sense? On the one hand, portable consoles are all the rage, between Nintendo Switch’s record-breaking success and a Switch 2 (or whatever it’s called) waiting in the wings, Valve’s surprise entry into the gaming hardware race with the Steam Deck and now, Xbox head Phil Spencer talking about how he’d love a dedicated way to take Xbox on the go. So, there’s demand for new dedicated portable PlayStation device, but there’s also a lot of competition. Does it make sense for Sony to hop on the bandwagon, or rest on the PS5’s laurels and stick to home consoles, plus the occasional weirdo accessory. The PlayStation Portal was sort of portable, and it was technically a PSP, was Sony testing the waters? Hmm. In other news, a new feature in the PS App is being beta-tested that would let you take in-game lore on the go, letting you access stuff like journal entries, character databases, and that sort of thing through your phone or mobile device. Not something we were demanding, but cool nonetheless, and definitely a fun way to supplement games we’re playing when we’re not actually playing them. Helldivers 2 got a patch that adds blizzards, sandstorms, and makes fire hurt more. Stellar Blade’s demo just dropped, and it’s undeniably a good-looking game, but the discourse around its protagonist’s appearance makes it hard to be remotely critical of any other aspects like the story, creature design, mechanics or combat. Still, that won’t stop us from stumbling across this week’s most explosive minefield. In other news, Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League’s first DLC is here, and Jada and Akeem have strong feelings, good and bad, about how it handles DC’s clown prince of crime: Captain Boomerang. Just kidding, it’s about… The Joker. Ha Ha Ha Why So Serious? Hey if you read all this, thanks for sticking around. How do you feel about little neckties?

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Now’s The Best Time For a Next-Gen PlayStation Handheld (Or Maybe The Worst) - Beyond 842

This week, we’re eatin’ good! Two massive sprawling open-world action RPGs just dropped, Dragon’s Dogma II and Rise of the Ronin but… which one is worth your time? Join Brian Altano, Jada Griffin and Mitchell Saltzman as they compare and contrast Capcom and Koei Tecmo’s latest contributions to the run-around-and-fight-stuff genre. Ultimately, both games are packed with tons of great gameplay, mechanics, systems, features, moments, all that good stuff you’d expect from an open-world game, but they both offer dramatically different experiences, so it’s really just a matter of taste. Meanwhile, Jada checked out a bunch of cool games at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week, including Tales of Kenzara: Zau, Hyper Light Breaker, Little Kitty Big City, Luna Abyss, The Sinking City 2, Dungeons of Hinterburg, Angerfoot, and South Park Snow Day, and she also got to try out some unconventional means of interacting with games at the ALT.CTRL.GDC exhibit, which showcases unusual game controllers.
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Rise of the Ronin VS Dragons Dogma 2: Which is right for you? - Beyond 841

There’s plenty to talk about this week! The leaked PlayStation 5 Pro specs have Max and Brian speculating about who exactly needs a mid-century modern mid-generation refresh, aside from people who want the best possible console experience for Grand Theft Auto 6. Mostly, though, the thing we’re most excited to talk about is Dragon’s Dogma 2. Reviews are out, and the consensus is this new chapter improves upon what made the first game great, but what does that mean for people who didn’t play the original when it came out in 2012? Capcom’s long-awaited sequel to the cult-classic action RPG might have a lot in common with FromSoftware’s Dark Souls and Elden Ring games, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is extremely different, largely in part to more more of an emphasis on unpredictable emergent moments, chaotic battles, and wacky antics thanks to the unique pawn system. Meanwhile, Brian played through Alone In The Dark, the reimagining of the survival-horror classic, and while it falls short of the experience provided by Capcom’s excellent Resident Evil remakes, it’s still a good time for anyone who prefers puzzle solving in a spooky house to just shooting monsters in the head.
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Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a Big Awesome Open-World Game That’s Full of Surprises - Beyond 840

Helldivers 2 kicks ass. This isn’t news, obviously. You probably know that already and you’re probably one of the millions of players spreading democracy throughout the galaxy at this very moment. That said, WHY is this game such a hit? Join Max Scoville, Brian Altano, Jada Griffin and Akeem Lawanson as they unpack the many charms of Arrowhead’s cooperative bug-zapper bot-blaster hit that seems to be Sony’s secret weapon in the ongoing war of live-service games that seems to dominate the gaming space more and more every year. But, there are other games to talk about! Unicorn Overlord is Vanillaware’s answer to Nintendo’s Fire Emblem for non-tendo players, and it applies the studio’s trademark painterly aesthetic to the turn-based tactical strategy genre that seems to have plenty of Ogre Battle DNA. Speaking of Unicorns, because we were, Brian gives an impromptu review of Unicorn Princess, which probably wasn’t designed with any of us in mind, but that still doesn’t mean children should have to play a game about picking up garbage in order to appease Unica the Unicorn or whatever. Because the uphill battles of adulthood and parenting aren’t enough, Max has been playing Expeditions: A Mudrunner game, which is a game about making clunky old slow trucks drive slowly up little hills so you can look for rocks, and if it sounds tedious, that’s because it is, but in a way that’s oddly soothing and enjoyable. Are you still reading this? Does anybody read these? Do you think the truck game sounds like fun, or would you rather just zap the space bugs and mean robots? It’s nice that we have so many options when it comes to video games.
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Spider-Man: Miles Morales Spoilercast (With the Creative Director) - Beyond Episode 676

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