Valorant update has brought in performance improvements and a nerf to Sage
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Riot has now released their plans for Valorant's future content updates.
[Update]: Valorant's Competitive Mode has now finally gone live alongside a variety of other changes.
As previously promised, Riot has now gone through Valorant and improved the performance across the board. Expect to see less FPS drops in the middle of combat, support for multi-threaded rendering which should greatly improve things for mid to high spec PCs, as well as a slight visual rework of the maps in order to lessen the CPU load. So while the exact benefits will depend heavily on your PC specs, the update should offer a nice boost across the board.
Additionally, and this really shouldn't come as much of a surprise, Sage's Barrier Orb has been nerfed. Its cast range has gone from 20 to 10 meters, which according to Riot, should still keep her strong while defending territory, but make it much harder for her to push towards the enemy's side. A sizable nerf, though I have no doubts that Sage will still remain one of the strongest agents in Valorant.
No Man's Sky is adding cross-platform multiplayer with tomorrow's update
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: No Man's Sky's Origins update has made planets significantly more unique and interesting to explore!
[Update]: No Man's Sky's Desolation update has brought in a bit of a survival-horror atmosphere.
Two days ago EA announced that Need for Speed Heat is getting cross-platform multiplayer, and already I have more good news on that front. According to the latest developer blog, Hello Games will be introducing full cross-play for No Man's Sky!
Once the June 11th update arrives, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players will all be able to explore the universe together without any sort of limitations. You can also expect Man's Sky to arrive for the Xbox Game Pass and Windows 10, meaning you'll have plenty of platforms to choose from as well.
PC version of Persona 4 Golden has been all but officially confirmed
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Remastered version of Persona 4 Golden has now suddenly been released onto PC!
In a bit of a surprising turn of events, the PlayStation Vita exclusive RPG Persona 4 Golden has now been all but officially confirmed for PC. It all started earlier today with a single, now deleted Tweet stating that it's long-requested PC port will be launching this June 13th. However, given that these types of 'leaks' happen every single day for pretty much every single game and platform combination imaginable, the initial Tweet was rightly met with a lot of skepticism.
However, what followed next was far more difficult to dismiss. First of all, it was discovered that Persona 4 Golden has its own Denuvo support page pointing towards a PC version. Then, to make things even more blindingly obvious, it was revealed that Persona 4 Golden not only has a Steam database listing, but that it was updated a mere seven days ago!
Eric Chahi's VR exploration and adventure game Paper Beast is coming to PC this summer
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
If you're in the mood for a charming and often quite strange VR exploration game, you might be interesting to hear that Eric Chahi's (of Another World fame) Paper Beast is soon coming to PC. After spending a fair bit of time exclusive for PS VR, Paper Beast will be launching onto Steam VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive this summer.
When it comes to the actual gameplay, Paper Beast consists of two distinct game modes: the adventure and exploration focused one, and the sandbox. The adventure mode will have you meet and protect a variety of paper-based creatures by reshaping the terrain, diverting rivers, as well as solving some light puzzles. In the sandbox mode, as you might imagine from the name alone, you'll have a rather sizable playground to mess around with to your heart's content.
Restaurant management game Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3 is leaving Steam Early Access this fall
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3 has launched from Early Access alongside some excellent reviews.
[Update]: It's official, Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3 is leaving Early Access on October 14, 2020.
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3 only landed onto Steam Early Access in late January, and already the developers are getting ready for its full release. According to the latest announcement, you can expect Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3 to leave Early Access and properly launch this fall for PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
Version 1.0 will contain a lengthy singleplayer campaign that will have you travel across a futuristic and oddly war-torn America to participate in a food truck championship with your trusty robot companions. Along the way you'll be able to expand your food truck with new modules, experiment with your food catalog, and if you're so inclined, invite a friend to help make a gigantic mess in local co-op.
Open-world factory building game Satisfactory has now landed onto Steam
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: Satisfactory Update 6 has reworked the Spire Coast, added ammo types and even an explosive boom box.
[Update]: Satisfactory's chunky Update 5 has arrived with major vehicle and build system improvements.
After spending a fair bit of time being exclusive to the Epic Games Store, the first-person factory building game Satisfactory has now also made its way to Steam Early Access. As you might imagine from that last part alone, Satisfactory is currently still unfinished and somewhat unpolished, though most of the core factory-building gameplay seems to be present and accounted for.
What is currently missing is the story mode that's supposed to give everything a bit of context, as well as a proper end-game challenge to really sink your teeth into. So if you do decide to explore Satisfactory's rather alien world, make sure you're doing so because you love a good sandbox to play around with - at this point that's pretty much exactly what you're getting.
Overwatch is completely removing the controversial Hero Pools from Competitive Play
- By Ash
- in News
In an effort to prevent a single meta from dominating the entire game, Blizzard introduced Hero Pools into Overwatch. While the list of banned heroes was originally curated by Blizzard, eventually the system was automated and just randomly removed two popular DPS heroes, as well as one popular tank and support hero per week.
A good idea on paper, but unfortunately it had quite a few issues in practice. As you might imagine, the most picked heroes are the ones the community finds the most fun to play, rather than objectively the strongest. Because of this, the system kept banning all of the fun heroes week after week, while simultaneously leaving the annoying and actually overpowered ones entirely alone - not exactly ideal!