It took almost a decade, but the ambitious System Shock Remake has now finally landed onto PC
- By Ash
- in News
After nearly eight years in development, during which the game evolved from a humble HD remaster to a full blown remake, System Shock has now finally been unleashed onto PC! The modern remake brings with it completely redone visuals, revamped controls, a greatly improved interface, a bunch of new enemies to mess around with and locations to explore, as well as a wide assortment of quality-of-life improvements and gameplay tweaks to make everything feel just a bit smoother.
The best thing, however, is that System Shock is actually quite good! Despite the odds being heavily stacked against it, System Shock has somehow managed to strike a nice balance between being a nostalgic homage to the original game and a proper immersive sim in its own right. So unless the whole thing topples like a house of cards in the latter parts that I haven't reached yet, I think the System Shock remake is likely going to be the definitive version of the game moving forward.
MTG Arena has now banned Fable, Bankbuster and Invoke Despair in order to shake up Standard
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: All cards for MTG Arena's The Lord of the Rings crossover set have now been revealed.
In an effort to revitalize the tabletop Standard scene, Wizards of the Coast has recently decided to extend the Standard rotation from two to three years. While this new change brings with it a variety of benefits, there is also a pretty big downside - overpowered and overplayed cards will now plague format for an additional year!
So in order to ensure the transition goes by as smoothly as possible, the Magic: The Gathering team has now issued bans for three of the most omnipresent Standard cards: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Reckoner Bankbuster and Invoke Despair. Here's a brief rundown of why each of them was hit:
Darktide's Rejects Unite update has added two new maps, a boss, and endless crashes for AMD users
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Darktide's August update is looking to fix long-standing issues like crafting locks.
[Update]: Darktide's Patch 11 has added Crossplay, a new Mission Modifier and buffed the useless Ogyrn Shield.
After being teased for a couple of months at this point, Darktide's biggest content update has now finally arrived. The Rejects Unite update brings with it two new maps to mess around with, a revamped version of Vermintide 2's Chaos Spawn as a brand new boss, a couple of new cosmetics, and unfortunately, endless crashes for a sizable portion of players using AMD GPUs. The Fatshark team is aware of the problem and is already working on a solution, so with a bit of luck that blunder will get resolved with post-haste.
On the positive side Archivum Sycorax, the first of the new maps, is a great deal of fun. It has some unique and interesting setpieces to fight through, an awesome soundtrack, as well as a nice and spacious finale that feels fresh despite being fairly similar to everything we've seen so far. While not my personal favorite due to the overabundance of gunners on different elevations, Archivum Sycorax is definitely a solid map and a good addition to Darktide's roster.
Total War: Warhammer 3's Update 3.1 has added Harald Hammerstorm, the original 'Warhammer', along with a rework of Bretonnia
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Total War: Warhammer 3's Shadows of Change DLC is coming this August 31st with a much higher price tag.
[Update]: Total War: Warhammer 3's Update 4.0 will expand battle difficulty settings, add new landmarks and improve the tutorial.
In celebration of 40 years of Warhammer, the Total War: Warhammer 3 team has decided to go all the way back in order to find inspiration for the newest Update 3.1. And what better choice for a free DLC than the man, the myth, the meme - Harald Hammerstorm, or Harry the Hammer to his friends.
Harry is not only a ridiculously over-the-top champion of Chaos that has a bone to pick with the undead, but he also used to be the Warhammer. Back before Sigmar and the titular Ghal Maraz became major elements in the story, Harald Hammerstorm and his antics were seen as the embodiment of everything Warhammer Fantasy was about - big burly men wearing way too much armor running around and hitting each other over the head while screaming!
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has now finally arrived and, unsurprisingly, it's a bit of a mess
- By Ash
- in News
Despite the very idea of Gollum as a protagonist being widely unpopular and often mocked online, I firmly believe that he can be used as a vehicle to tell a very, very compelling story. In the right hands, the tale of a pathetic character that's slowly losing their mind while stumbling from one terrible situation to another can be both an emotionally touching and narratively gripping experience.
Unfortunately, while The Lord of the Rings: Gollum does have some of those elements, none of that really matters when the simple act of playing the game is enough to drive one insane. After all, it's a bit hard to enjoy the interesting story beats when you're constantly being interrupted by numerous technical issues, a plethora of bugs and mostly janky gameplay. It's a shame Gollum ended up this way, though hardly surprising if you've seen any of the trailers leading up to this point.
Darktide's Rejects Unite update is adding two new maps, Chaos Spawn boss, and even more cosmetics
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Darktide's Update 1.1.10 is aiming to add Cross-play and an elite-focused modifier for missions.
[Update]: Darktide's Rejects Unite patch has now arrived, and unfortunately it has done so alongside some serious technical issues.
Back in January Darktide developer Fatshark suspended work on new content, new microtransactions and the Xbox version in an effort to focus on some much-needed fixes and quality-of-life improvements. Quite a few months and updates have gone by since then, and while features like crafting still need a lot of polish, Darktide is thankfully in a much better place right now.
Things are going to get even better soon as Fatshark has just announced that a sizable content update that will be dropping next week! The Rejects Unite update includes two new maps (‘Archivum Sycorax’ located in Throneside and ‘Ascension Riser 31’ located in Transit Hub), the long-awaited Chaos Spawn boss, a bunch of new cosmetics (both paid and free), and with a bit of luck, some nifty balance changes as well.
Obsidian's classic story-focused RPG Fallout: New Vegas is free to grab until June
- By Ash
- in News
If you're a fan of story-focused RPGs and you've somehow managed to avoid giving Fallout: New Vegas a try all of these years, consider this the perfect chance to rectify that mistake. I say this because the Epic Games Store is currently giving away Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition, which is the complete package, for free!
The one catch, as always, is the time limit. You only have until June 1st to add Fallout: New Vegas to your account, though once you've done that you'll be able to play it whenever you want and for however long you want.