Tag: polygon

Payday composer Simon Viklund on his tough ‘try and fail’ process

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Whether you know Simon Viklund as the composer of the Payday franchise’s emblematic dubstep/EDM/techno soundtracks or as the voice of Bain in the same series, his name is always associated with heavy-hitter action games. He’s known for his work on Bandits: Phoenix Rising, Bionic Commando, Dead by Daylight, and of course, Payday: The Heist and Payday 2.

For Polygon FM — our weeklong look at the way music and gaming interweave with each other — Viklund discusses his early inspirations and why wonky rhythms make good video game music.

Polygon: Was there a game soundtrack or song that inspired you to pursue creating game music? Can you set the scene of what that felt like for you, and why the music was so effective?

Simon Viklund: I was somewhat obsessed with NES music when I was a kid, to the point where I recorded Megaman 1-3 music off the TV to cassette tape so that I could listen to it when I wasn’t playing. The music on the NES was extremely effective because the primitive sound chip forced the composers to arrange economically and rely on great harmonies and melodies. My hot take is that the music in the 16-bit era wasn’t as good because the tech sounded more like actual instruments but not quite — it was like the uncanny valley of sampled instruments — and composers started to over-rely on the tools.

Can you break down one of your own songs and its influences? Was it inspired by game soundtracks, other music, or something else?

I made a track called “Inject” that was written specifically for the name reveal trailer for Den of Wolves, a techno thriller heist co-op game we’re working on at 10 Chambers. We wanted the trailer to leave the viewer with a sense of “oh hell yeah, that’s bad-ass,” and I listened to half-tempo bass music for inspiration.

There’s this track called “Arbiter” by Draeden, which has what I would call a trap-inspired beat, and I’m not really into trap but I loved what Draeden did and drew heavily from that particular track. “Inject” is basically drums and one synth melody, with most of the bass coming from an 808 that goes with the kick drum. In other words, there’s not a lot [of] layers to it, and so each component really has to shine. I spent a lot of time making the kick very punchy, the snare snappy, etc.

Another aspect was my idea to make the music sound sort of “wonky” and not pitch perfect or quantized (i.e. not rhythmically perfect). My idea was that it would help the music become a bit more ear-wormy beacuse it would sort of feel “off.” I spent a lot of time making the groove sloppy timing-wise, and the synths screech and wobble a bit like it wasn’t intentional even though it was. I had a lot of fun exploring new ideas, pushing out of my comfort zone and learning new tricks while making “Inject”!

What are the main instruments used to record the soundtrack for the Payday series? How did you choose those instruments?

Payday has a lot of drum loops and distorted synths, but every once in awhile there’s some real electric guitar and bass in there. When we were creating Payday: The Heist back in 2010-2011, my gut feeling said the choice for the music was between leaning into the game’s Hollywood movie inspiration with cinematic music, or leaning into the “outlaw power fantasy” with something more rock ‘n’ roll. I went with the latter.

Is there anything else we should know about your approach to composing video game music?

It doesn’t come easy for me. It’s hard. I don’t use project templates, although probably I should. Every time I sit down to make another track, it’s a clean slate, and I go “How do you do this again?” There are so many directions a soundtrack or an individual track can go, it’s easy to get choice paralysis. I need time, I need to try and fail, and I need other people on the project to help me through the process — with direction and support through patience. So the process is hard, but I love doing it!

Why Malcolm X’s voice plays in a Sonic game

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I think video game history will remember Hideki Naganuma for many reasons. Fans might lovingly bestow upon him the title of “Twitter weirdo.” Others — especially modern music producers — might cite him as an important influence in video game composition. That’s more than fair; the man is responsible for his fair share of video game bangers. Tracks like Jet Set Radio Future’s “The Concept of Love” — which stuffs warped vocal samples, bright electric guitar riffs, and rushing synthy drums — still turn heads when they come on the playlist.

Check out our special issue Polygon FM, a week of stories about all the places where music and games connect — retrospectives, interviews, and much more.

But for me, I’ll always remember him as the video game composer who put a sample of a Malcolm X speech in a Sonic the Hedgehog game.

The song appears on the soundtrack for Sonic Rush, a 2D Sonic game Sega released in 2005 for the OG Nintendo DS. It’s called “Wrapped in Black” and it plays during the final boss fight with Doctor Eggman. The track opens up with rushing violins and operatic vocals that convey the evilness of Doctor Eggman, but soon a sharp repeating vocal sample cuts through it all. The sample repeats “Too black, too strong” a few times and then comes back later in the song.

The audio for “Too black, too strong” comes from a 1963 speech given by Malcolm X titled, “Message to the Grassroots.” Naturally, his talk had nothing to do with Sonic, and dealt with far more serious matters. In the talk, the Black revolutionary outlined his idea of a Black nationalist philosophy and criticized the Civil Rights Movement. In the sample quote, Malcolm X used the image of coffee and creamer to explain what happened to the movement. He said:

“It’s just like when you’ve got some coffee that’s too black, which means it’s too strong. What you do? You integrate it with cream; you make it weak. If you pour too much cream in, you won’t even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool.”

That a Sonic game sampled this feels like nothing short of a fever dream. The composer commented on it once back in 2014 when he said, “‘Wrapped in Black’ is a song about coffee. lol.” And while the sample isn’t a joking matter, he is technically correct that the quote is, at least in part, about coffee.

Naganuma’s intensely stylized music fits his history as a composer and work on the Sonic series. Similar to how video games were a form of emerging media at the time, Naganuma experimented freely and didn’t limit himself to an idea of what art should be. He sent his first application to Sega in 1998, after which the first game he ever composed was a handheld toy called Hip Jog Jog. In 2000, he worked as the main composer for Jet Set Radio where he broke out as a composer. His uneven beats and screechy sounds brought influences from hip hop, electronic, dance, funk, jazz, and rock music into the fuzzy speakers of CRT the televisions of the 2000s.

An image of Blaze the cat in Sonic Rush. She’s running through the Carnival-themed stage. The image shows the upper and lower image since the game was for the Nintendo DS.

Image: Dimps, Sonic Team/Sega

Making a splash in the canon of Sonic the Hedgehog music and Sega games in general is no small task. Modern Sonic fans tend to remember the Chemical Plant Zone theme or later songs like the easy breezy rock theme of “Escape From the City” from Sonic Adventure 2. Because of this, I think it’s relatively easy to miss the soundtrack on Sonic Rush. Sega shipped it early in the lifecycle of the nascent handheld, and its roughly 1.62 million copies sold never made it the most popular or well-known game of the Sonic series

But Naganuma went off with the Sonic Rush soundtrack. He samples the British DJ Fatboy Slim’s reggae remix of Tribe Called Quest’s famous track, “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo,” to create a mariachi band-like holler for the theme of a Brazilian Carnival-esque level in “Ska Cha Cha.”

And while the nostalgic charms of the original Green Hill Zone theme will never wear off on me, there’s something uniquely thrilling to starting Sonic Rush off to the blaring horns and cascading twangy guitar of “Right There, Ride On.”

The eccentricities of Naganuma’s work have infected my brain and continue to shape my media tastes as an adult. So maybe that’s why I won’t let myself — or anyone else — forget the time when he put Malcolm X on a Sonic game and into the ears of an impressionable video game-loving child.

Zenless Zone Zero 1.1 livestream codes

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Zenless Zone Zero just closed out its version 1.1 livestream, teasing what’s to come in the next update, which launches the evening of Aug. 13 EDT. Alongside new characters and events, Hoyoverse uses the stream to distribute codes that reward free Polychrome and other upgrade materials.

The 1.1 patch will add three new agents to the game: Seth, Qingyi, and Jane Done (yes, that’s really her name). Qingyi is an S-rank electric stun character whose banner will run during the first half of the patch and Jane is an S-rank physical anomaly character who will run during the second half of the patch. Seth is an A-rank character, and he’ll be in the banner alongside Jane. The update also will add a special story about Jane Done, and an agent story for Qingyi, as well as new events, and additional content for Shiyu Defense.

Zenless Zone Zero 1.1 livestream codes

These codes are usually only active until the day ends, so you’ll want to make sure to use them quickly.

There’s actually only one Zenless Zone Zero reward code from the version 1.1 livestream:

This single code does reward the same amount of premium currency that the usual three codes we see from Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail streams reward: 300 Polychromes.

The code will expire on Aug. 4 at 11:59 a.m. EDT / 8:59 a.m. PDT, so use it quickly or you’ll miss out on the free loot. For more codes that don’t expire in just a few hours, you can check out our constantly-updated list of active Zenless Zone Zero codes.

How to redeem codes in Zenless Zone Zero

You can redeem the codes in game by opening the menu, selecting “more,” “redemption code” and then “enter redemption code.” This menu will become available once you finish “The Hare and the Proxy,” though some codes won’t be redeemable until you’re Inter-Knot level five or higher.

A menu screen in Zenless Zone Zero showing the code redemption offer.

Image: Hoyoverse via Polygon

You can also redeem them online through the Zenless Zone Zero code redeem website. You’ll need to select your correct server and login through the website in order to get rewards. You will also need to have a working UID for Zenless Zone Zero. If you’ve never logged into Zenless Zone Zero in any form using your Hoyoverse account, it will not work.

Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi: where to pre-order

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While the gamified version of Lego Super Mario continues to expand with new and , more traditional Lego Sets inspired by the red plumber are somewhat rare. However, we can expect a new set featuring a caped Mario astride his trusty mount Yoshi to join the Lego Super Mario catalog on Oct. 1. The $129.99 set isn’t quite as cool as the or as iconic as the , but it still includes some fun features and surprises.

A stock image of the fully assembled Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi set on a coffee table

Image: Lego

Normally pre-orders of new Lego sets are exclusively available through, but this 1,215-piece set can also be reserved at Target ahead of the Oct. 1 launch.

This flat, pixelated Mario and Yoshi are based on the 16-bit versions as they first appeared in Super Mario World for the SNES. The base of the set features a small crank which, when turned, animates Yoshi’s legs and arms, while a dial behind Yoshi’s head animates his mouth and tongue. Also, just like the and sets, Lego Super Mario & Yoshi includes an action tag that provides unique reactions for , , or figures.

Marvel shows footage from Thunderbolts*, the MCU Suicide Squad, at SDCC

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When Marvel Studios first announced Thunderbolts* at 2022’s San Diego Comic-Con as part of its ambitious lineup for Phase 5 and 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, the movie didn’t yet have that odd asterisk in the title. It didn’t come with many details, either, apart from a July 26, 2024 release date that shifted along with many other MCU projects in the wake of the 2023 WGA strike.

In the wake of the Thunderbolts* segment of 2024’s San Diego Comic-Con, we don’t know much more! The asterisk is still a mystery: Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said at a CinemaCon appearance, “we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out,” and confirmed it again at Comic-Con.

But as the core cast of Thunderbolts* took the stage, the Hall H audience was treated to a teaser in which all their characters came under fire from a mysterious foe who, according to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, wants them all dead.

Traditionally in Marvel Comics, the Thunderbolts are a team-up of second-string villains or anti-heroes, though their membership and motives vary significantly depending which iteration you’re talking about. The MCU team is built of not-exactly-always-good characters introduced in previous films in the franchise: Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen, of Ant-Man and the Wasp), Red Guardian (David Harbour, Black Widow), the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan, the Captain America movies), U.S. Agent, aka John Walker (Wyatt Russell, Falcon and the Winter Soldier), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko, Black Widow). Pugh’s Yelena, from Black Widow and Hawkeye, leads the team, with slimy mastermind Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Falcon and the Winter Soldier) behind the scenes.

Who might want all those folks dead? What might those folks do to stay alive? And what the heck is that asterisk about after all? We’ll have to wait for the theatrical debut of Thunderbolts* on May 2, 2025, as the final movie in the MCU’s Phase 5.

You can find all Polygon’s coverage of SDCC 2024 news, trailers, and more here.

Deadpool & Wolverine review: This time, the MCU is the villain

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Being a Deadpool defender can be difficult. In just about any media where he appears, the character is exactly what his strongest critics think he is: an anti-hero with a strong affinity for irreverent violence, and a juvenile, obnoxious vessel for meta asides and a bushel of dick jokes. (“A bushel of dicks” would be a pretty solid Deadpool-ism.) I wouldn’t begrudge anyone for finding all that off-putting, because it is. But there’s also more to the character. Deadpool comes with a deep pathos. When that’s used effectively, it’s resulted in endearingly odd stories about those who are deemed (or feel) unlovable. That’s a potent emotional space for a summer blockbuster to inhabit. Deadpool & Wolverine — the third movie in Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool trilogy, and the first under the Disney banner — pays lots of lip service to that pathos. Then it punts it out of our multiverse, to Alioth-knows-where.

Look at that, I made a reference! Just like Deadpool! I can swear like him, too.

Deadpool & Wolverine has been billed as a Marvel Cinematic Universe story, but it isn’t, really. Apart from a brief gag scene early in the film, Deadpool never sets foot in the MCU’s Earth-616 for any Deadpool-y derring-do. Instead, the film is just MCU-aware — the mainline MCU is one more subject for Deadpool to joke about and pine for while he has a characteristically vulgar adventure somewhere else. In some ways, the MCU is more of a villain than the film’s actual villains.

But before all that, the story starts in Deadpool’s pre-existing corner of the multiverse, which is dying. Abducted by the Time Variance Authority from Loki, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Reynolds) learns his universe is slowly fading away, due to Wolverine’s death at the end of 2017’s Logan. That’s because the former X-Man is an “anchor being” — someone so significant that their timeline falls apart without their presence. But TVA agent Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) says his superiors have deemed Deadpool as special, and worth rescuing from his decaying timeline and bringing over to the MCU. Trouble is, the invite doesn’t extend to the found family Wade has built up (and time-traveled to resurrect) across his previous two films.

Wolverine pops his claws with his arms across his chest as Deadpool looks on sword in hand in a scene from Deadpool & Wolverine

Photo: Jay Maidment/20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios

This is Deadpool & Wolverine’s first problem: It arrives on screens already extremely pre-complicated and full of narrative baggage. This isn’t necessarily a problem if director/co-writer Shawn Levy and his script team just want to take the piss out of overly complex superhero films. But it is a problem when setting up that pathos that is also key to Deadpool as a character. It doesn’t particularly matter to me that I do not fully understand the mechanics of time and/or multiverse travel in this movie, or the chain of cause-and-effect that drives its plot. Frankly, I’m not sure the film’s five credited writers — Levy, Reynolds, returning Deadpool movie scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and comics and TV writer Zeb Wells — care that much about those things either.

I do care, however, when that confusion extends to the film’s emotional stakes. Deadpool & Wolverine spends so little time establishing where Wade is in relation to his friends and relationships (for some barely explained reason, he’s on the outs with ex-girlfriend Vanessa, played by Morena Baccarin) that his driving need to do something that “matters” feels rootless. He’s static, not terribly different at the end of the film’s two hours and seven minutes than he was at the beginning.

Perhaps that’s because the film offloads much of its emotional weight to Wade’s co-star. Logan (Hugh Jackman) enters Deadpool & Wolverine as a part of Wade’s hairbrained scheme to save his universe. If Logan is his timeline’s anchor being, Wade’s logic goes, he’ll just scour other universes until he finds a new one. The Logan he winds up grabbing is even more damaged than the one we’ve seen in the X-movies, and a lot of the film’s non-joke runtime is devoted to unpacking that. This seems like a poor use of Wade’s time, and ours. Logan’s whole deal has gotten plenty of exposure in past X-movies, and while his presence here has lots of fun moments, his contribution to the film’s emotional arc feels a lot like stolen franchise valor à la Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Cassandra Nova lounges in a leather duster, khakis, and hunting boots in a scene from Deadpool & Wolverine.

Photo: Jay Maidment/20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios

It’s hard to take any of this seriously though, because Deadpool & Wolverine is much more interested in focusing on Deadpool’s relationship with the MCU. From the very first second of the film, Disney, Marvel, and Kevin Feige are established as the thematic butts of the film’s comedy. There is no need for character work to anchor any of the jokes here, because the MCU is that anchor. All that swearing and violence? It’s in a Disney movie, baby! Remember that time Wade got pegged in the first Deadpool movie? Mickey Mouse paid for a movie about a guy who gets pegged! Oh, and the film’s on-screen bad guys? All a result of Marvel’s corporate dominance.

This last bit is where Deadpool & Wolverine almost gets at something interesting. The bulk of the film takes place in The Void, a Mad-Max-style limbo where the TVA sends troublesome people they can’t really erase. Ruled by the powerful telepath (and evil twin sister of X-Men leader Charles Xavier) Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), The Void is an island of misfit toys full of heroes and villains from other movie studios, disposed of by the MCU powers-that-be after Disney bought up 20th Century Fox. If you’ve heard about Deadpool & Wolverine’s many cameos and guest appearances, this is where they come from: corporate consolidation spun as fodder for jokes.

In Logan and Wade’s struggle to defeat Cassandra and escape The Void, the pair are also trying to escape the ruins of, for example, the 20th Century Fox X-Men universe. Unfortunately, this plot, and the gags around it, only undercut Deadpool and the very narrow lane of pathos that makes him tick. Because as much as he constantly makes fun of the MCU, he can’t stop defining himself in relationship to it, calling himself “Marvel Jesus” throughout this movie. Regardless of the fate of his home universe, Wade wants to matter — which is a way of saying he wants to join the mainline MCU universe, and that it is the only thing in this continuum that does matter.

That’s more or less the ball game. It’s hard to buy this movie as a love letter to anything but Marvel Studios’ corporate conquests. That’s one of the fundamental miscalculations behind the film. Wade is worth getting behind because he’s an underdog. But in Deadpool & Wolverine, he isn’t representing the unloved or speaking truth to power: He’s sucking up to the undisputed champ of the box office, even though that champ has earned the potshots Deadpool throws its way. The Void is what Marvel has done to pop culture. It’s the call coming from in the house, the big fucking smoke dragon that assimilates everything into its morass of multiversal bullshit or relegates it to oblivion, stripped for parts. And in this movie, Deadpool doesn’t just love it, he wants with all of his being to be part of it.

Deadpool & Wolverine has made its hero the worst kind of comic-book character: one who doesn’t stand for anything. It’s a terrible irony. Fans worried that Disney’s corporate control and the MCU’s rigid narrative oversight would leech away Deadpool’s edge, the swearing, jocular violence. Turns out that part was fine. Instead, the MCU just took his fuckin’ heart.

I told you I could swear like that cheeky bastard.

Deadpool & Wolverine debuts in theaters July 25.

Lego Hill Climb Adventures is cute version of Trials

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I played three video games in college: Halo 3 with my friends, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter with my roommate and her dad, and Trials HD by myself. I have since opened my horizons to the possibilities of other video games. And when I want to feel nostalgic, there are plenty of games that give me the feeling of playing the multiplayer shooters of my youth — but nothing but Trials itself has ever compared. (Eventually, Trials Evolution set that bar even higher.) This week, I read a story on Pocket Tactics: “This iPhone Lego game is perfect for fans of Ubisoft’s Trials series.”

That game, which is actually available for free on iOS and Android devices, is Lego Hill Climb Adventures. Released at the end of May, Lego Hill Climb Adventures is a Lego version of the classic physics-based racing game Hill Climb Adventures, another game that’s been compared to Trials — but with cars. I never hit it off with Hill Climb Adventures, but the Lego reskin was too charming not to try. It’s not Trials, but it does give me a similar thrill in playing it. I can’t put it down.

There are a bunch of Lego cars to unlock and race through the adorable worlds, picking up new blueprints and meeting Minifigs as you go. You aren’t necessarily building your own Lego car, but there are a bunch of ways to customize the existing options. My favorite part about the aesthetic is the sound design: There’s just something so satisfying about the click of a Lego brick. (And something even more satisfying about ramming your car through a wall of Legos.)

Lego Hill Climb Adventures is a much more chill iteration of the physics racing game genre, so don’t come into it expecting a Trials HD difficulty level. But it does have levels that require knowing exactly when to swipe or tap your phone screen. Each of the different vehicles has a different feel, too, so there’s always something to mess around with. The majority of the levels require you to race or complete a course with obstacles like jumps, steep hills, or stuff to destroy. The game’s energy system — bottles of milk — means you can’t play these endlessly, though, unless you pay up or grind the exploration modes, which are basically the same courses but with no real objective besides gaining coins, levels, milk bottles, and bricks.

The monetization system is the biggest bummer of Lego Hill Climb Adventures, but it is a free mobile game. It’s entirely possible to play most of it without spending a cent, but you will have to grind. The thing is, though, that grinding is still fun — and there are plenty of ways to switch up the vehicle to create more variety.

EA College Football 25 has to change the option offense controls

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Like many other sports gamers, I have been eagerly awaiting the release of EA Sports College Football 25 for what feels like decades. Now it’s finally here in early access, and I’m overjoyed. I’ve been loving my time with the game, in both Ultimate Team and Dynasty modes, but there’s one particular bone I have to pick with the option system that’s holding me back from being fully enamored with the new entry.

Option offenses are crucial to any good football video game, but especially at the collegiate level, where many teams run option-based offenses. For years, EA’s preferred controller input for a read option — where the quarterback makes a read on the defense to determine whether to hold on to the ball or hand it off — has been the same: Tap X (or A on Xbox) to hand it off, or do nothing to keep it.

For some reason, EA Sports College Football 25 has inverted this long-standing tradition. Instead, you tap X/A for the quarterback to pull the ball back and keep it, or press nothing to hand it off. I’m starting to get used to it, but this involves overcoming years of muscle memory in both this franchise and the Madden games. I’ve made dozens of mistakes in the option game already — keeping it when I meant to hand it off, or vice versa — and I would conservatively estimate that it’s cost me 45 yards, two touchdowns, and probably two gray hairs in an otherwise fantastic gameplay experience.

For me, it just makes more sense to press a button to give the ball rather than press a button to keep it. I can understand that, in theory, the action of pulling the ball back is more significant for the quarterback than giving it away. But in these games, you aren’t just playing the quarterback; you’re controlling the offense. And handing off the ball seems more like an action than not handing it off, making that the more fitting place for a button press. And at the end of the day, years of muscle memory will triumph, especially with a blitzing linebacker in your face.

College Football 25 has plenty of control optimization options already. You can change the new passing or kicking systems back to the old controls. Why not add a toggle to change the option controls? The game has lots of quality-of-life upgrades, like running out the clock instantly on quarterback kneels, when applicable. Let’s add one more and bring back the old option controls.

Cities: Skylines 2’s console port has been delayed indefinitely

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Cities: Skylines 2, the follow-up to the popular city builder developed by Colossal Order, just can’t catch a break. Following a post by the official Cities: Skylines account on publisher Paradox Interactive’s Cities: Skylines 2 forum, the console release for Cities: Skylines 2 has been postponed indefinitely. The game was originally targeting a launch on Xbox and PlayStation sometime in October.

“While we are making slow but steady progress, there are still unresolved issues impacting the game in ways that harm the player experience we want to deliver. We expect to receive a new [release candidate], which will undergo a thorough review in August. This evaluation will determine whether we can begin the submission process and provide a solid release date, or if further issues need to be addressed,” the post reads.

A screenshot from Cities: Skylines 2 showing a fully-built city with skyscrapers and rolling hills in the distance

Image: Colossal Order/Paradox Interactive

Despite Paradox Interactive publishing multiple pieces of downloadable content for the game, Cities: Skylines 2 has been plagued with performance and stability issues since its PC launch in October 2023, prompting an apology from the developers in April. The prompt cancellation of the Sims-competitor Life by You following an indefinite delay doesn’t inspire much confidence in Paradox’s intention to deliver on this promised release.

Colossal Order has managed to hit all of its goals outlined in the publicly available year-one roadmap for Skylines 2. However, persistent issues and a lack of mod support have left players clinging to the original Cities: Skylines for the time being.

An image displaying the year-one post-launch roadmap for Cities: Skylines 2. The San Fransisco Set and Deluxe Relax radio station are available at laiunch. The Modern Architecture Creator Pack, Urban Promenades Creator Packs, and Soft Rock Radio Station are set to launch in Q2 of 2024. Three more Creator Packs and Radio stations are slated for Q4 of 2024, while a Bridges & Ports Expansion and Cold Wave Radio Station are targeting a Q1 2025 launch.

The roadmap for the first year of post-launch content for Cities: Skylines 2
Image: Colossal Order/Paradox Interactive

Genshin Impact codes from the version 4.8 livestream

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Hoyoverse just wrapped up the Genshin Impact version 4.8 preview livestream, showing off all sorts of details about the upcoming patch. Most importantly, there were several codes that award Primogems and other rewards shown during the stream.

Our Genshin Impact 4.8 livestream code list provides you with the three stream codes for rewards and explains how to redeem them.

It’s summertime! So that means the next Genshin Impact patch will be the massive summer event, where there’s a limited time map, new skins for Nilou and Kirara, and — if it follows the same pattern as previous summer events — a hint about the upcoming region, Natlan. The stream also showed off Emilie, an upcoming Dendro character who will make her debut in version 4.8.

Genshin Impact version 4.8 livestream codes

The codes are as follows:

You’ll want to redeem these codes quickly, as they expire on July 6 at 12 a.m. EDT.

They not only reward Primogems, but they also give Mora and Adventurer’s EXP to level up your characters.

How to redeem Genshin Impact gift codes

To redeem codes, you can log in and input them on the code redemption website. You can also input them in-game through the settings menu, but copy and pasting them in a browser is much easier. You can also click the links above, if you’re logged in on whatever device you’re seeing this post on.

Once you redeem the codes, you’ll get the rewards via in-game mail shortly after that.