Overwatch is removing the unpopular Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony maps from Competitive Play
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Overwatch 2 will be dropping the Assault game mode as a whole!
[Update]: Overwatch's next experimental update will be looking to reduce the power of Crowd Control effects across the board.
While having a small, pre-set amount of maps available per each competitive season was a nice idea in theory, in reality it just made Overwatch a bit stale. After all, there's only so many times you can rotate between Horizon Lunar Colony and Hanamura before you start going a little bit loopy. As such, I am quite pleased to announce that Blizzard will be retiring the concept of Map Pools this April 14th!
The good news doesn't end there, however, as Blizzard has also announced that they will be removing two of the most unpopular maps from Competitive Play: Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony. You'll still be able to play them in the Arcade modes or through Quick Play, but until they get some much-needed reworks, both maps will thankfully be unavailable in ranked.
Apex Legends update has added permanent Duos, Kings Canyon map, and a Bloodhound themed arena
- By Ash
- in News
After hearing the same requests over and over and over again, Respawn has now finally given the Apex Legends community exactly what they wanted - the option to play Duos regardless of what event is going on, as well as a fast-moving map rotation so you never get stuck with the same map for long. So if you're like me and you're pining to once again drop in the chaotic nightmare-land that is Kings Canyon's Skulltown, this is the update for you!
Before you do that, however, you might want to give the World's Edge map a try as well given that Respawn has also added a new region to it - a Bloodhound themed arena. As you might imagine from the brief description alone, the arena will have you face off against a variety of hostile critters, as well as your fellow players, in order to acquire a hoard of epic loot. Needless to say, expect the arena to be an absolute bloodbath for the next few weeks.
Dungeon-crawling RPG Operencia: The Stolen Sun has made its way to Steam, PS4 and Switch
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
The first-person, dungeon-crawling RPG Operencia: The Stolen Sun has been available for a little while now on Xbox One, the Windows Store and the Epic Games Store. If you're not a fan of any of those platforms, however, you'll be glad to hear that the exclusivity period is now over and that Operencia has also made its way to Steam, GOG, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
You can get a pretty good idea of what to expect, as well as just what breed of RPGs Operencia took most of its inspiration from, through the recently posted launch trailer. Have a gander, it's a fairly short one:
Blizzard has revealed some of the Covenant abilities for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
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- in News
[Update #2]: Shadowlands' latest preview is all about the Ardenweald zone and Night Fae Covenant.
[Update]: Blizzard has now also unveiled some of the massive class changes coming with Shadowlands!
World of Warcraft's Shadowlands expansion is heading into Closed Alpha this week, and in order to get everyone on the same page, Blizzard has started releasing a series of previews. This time around, the developer update is all about the Covenants and the type of abilities you'll be able to unlock by joining them.
There will be four Covenants in total, and while you will be able to swap between them, the current plan is encourage faction loyalty by making the swapping process take a fair bit of time and effort. Worry not, however, as you will have a good amount of time to test each of their unique abilities before making your choice, so you won't have to pick blindly and hope for the best.
Receiver 2 is set to bring its rather realistic gunplay to Steam this April 14th
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Receiver 2 has now arrived, and unsurprisingly, it's a more polished and content-rich version of the original.
The original Receiver was a simple but rather intriguing little game. Rather than focus on all-out action and bombastic setpieces, Receiver tried to realistically simulate most aspects of handling a handgun, and for a game created in a mere seven days, it did a pretty good job of it!
However, while that may be impressive, it's also Receiver's biggest downfall. Basically, the moment you start to develop an understanding for your weapon, you're pretty much done as there just isn't enough new content to keep you engaged. This is where Receiver 2 comes into play.
Total War: Three Kingdoms' A World Betrayed update has now landed on macOS and Linux
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Total War: Three Kingdoms' The Furious Wild DLC is bringing in the southern Nanman tribes
Total War: Three Kingdom's A World Betrayed update and DLC release back in March, bringing with them a whole host of improvements for the main campaign. The paid DLC added two new factions led by Lü Bu and Sun Ce, thirteen returning factions with new challenges on the campaign map, as well as new story-focused events. The free update was even more impressive, however, as it not only brought in an assortment of new and interesting characters to recruit, but also heavily reworked the bandit factions, improved the spying system, and naturally, added a bunch of quality of life tweaks.
If that sounds like a good bit of fun to you, then you might be pleased to hear that A World Betrayed has now also made its way to macOS and Linux. Much like the rest of the multi-platform games on Steam, if you already own a copy, you will have immediate access to all of the available versions. In other words, don't accidentally purchase another copy!
Lies Beneath is a VR-exclusive survival-horror game with an assortment of stylish monsters
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
While Half-Life: Alyx has stolen the spotlight from pretty much every other VR release, you might want to give the newly launched Lies Beneath a closer look. It's a highly stylized survival-horror game that plays fast and loose with the concept of reality, all the while giving you plenty of atmospheric locations to explore along the way.
Since describing horror games through words alone is almost entirely pointless, you should check out the newly posted gameplay trailer down below. It'll clue you in quite quickly on just what kind of game Lies Beneath is, as well as how stylish its visuals truly are. Have a little peek: