Despite rumors to the contrary, Dead Island 2 is still in development
- By Ash
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[Update #2]: Nearly a decade after its original announcement, Dead Island 2 has now finally been unleashed.
[Update]: Dead Island 2 is not only alive, but it's also finally launching on February 3rd, 2023 for PC and consoles!
With all of the recent news about Dying Light 2, the previously announced yet still mysterious Dead Island 2 came into the public's eye once more. Dead Island 2 was originally announced in 2014 and was supposed to release in 2015, though unfortunately it ran into some development issues and was postponed time and time again.
We've heard very little about Dead Island 2 since then, which as you might imagine led to a lot of people simply writing the entire game off, but according to one of the recent tweets from the official Dead Island Twitter account the game is still in development! The devs haven't shared any additional information, but according to the tweet they're keeping Dead Island 2 under wraps until it's ready for the spotlight. Probably a very good idea given that it's bound to be heavily scrutinized due its troubled development and the lengthy wait.
Warcraft 3 has once again received a massive batch of balance changes and map tweaks
- By Ash
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While I'm still uncertain why they're doing so, I am very glad to say that Blizzard has begun taking Warcraft 3 quite seriously. In the previous Update 1.29 they introduced support for modern resolutions, the ability to play custom games with up to 24 players, better matchmaking, an improved World Editor, and naturally, a whole bunch of balance changes.
As is tradition for any multiplayer game, the latest round of balance changes quickly introduced new problems and revealed long-forgotten flaws. In order to correct these issues, as well as bring all four races as close together as possible in regards to balance, Blizzard has now released Update 1.30 onto the PTR (Public Test Realm).
Steam has shared the list of top selling games of 2018, a lot of which are indie games
- By Ash
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[Update]: Steam has now released the list of best selling and most popular games of 2019, and I'm very happy to say that things are looking even better than in 2018!
The massive Steam Summer Sale has now come and gone, and as is somewhat of a tradition, Valve has released the list of the best selling games of 2018. While I'm sure it won't come as much of a surprise to hear that AAA juggernauts like Far Cry 5 and GTA 5 are near the top of the list, it might come as a bit of a shock to hear that quite a few of the top selling games are from indie studios of various sizes!
Some of them might not be 'true' indie games, but I'm still quite glad to announce that Vermintide 2, Rocket League, Warframe and Kingdom Come: Deliverance have secured themselves a spot among the highly exclusive "Platinum" bracket. The exact numbers haven't been released, but I can give you a bit of context through Vermintide 2.
During its first two weeks it managed to sell around a million copies and secured more revenue than the original Vermintide in its entire lifespan. And that is for a game with absolutely no microtransactions and DLC, so I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out just how successful Vermintide 2 (and the rest of the Platinum group) have ended up being!
Slay the Spire update has added a bunch of new Relics and a couple of balance changes
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With Slay the Spire's third and final pre-release character now fairly nicely balanced, the developers have turned to adding new content and polishing things up for launch. With that in mind, I'm sure it won't come as much of a surprise to hear that the most recent update has added a bunch of new Relics, a new event, and naturally, a couple of balance changes.
Besides the new Relics, one of the most important changes in this update is the simple fact that the third Relic sold by the merchant is now always a shop Relic. There are five new shop Relics in total so you won't be able to consistently get the ones you want, but it's still something you can potentially plan your deck strategy around.
Warhammer 40k: Inquisitor - Martyr Review - An entire universe full of untapped potential
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr is an action-RPG that combines the grim darkness of the Warhammer 40k universe with the randomly generated levels and loot of the Diablo series. What this means in gameplay terms is that you will spend most of your time wondering across large levels filled to the brim with enemies, blowing said enemies apart with a variety of weapons, and naturally, collecting more loot than the human body could ever hope to carry.
However, if you're wondering how exactly Inquisitor - Martyr stacks up to its ARPG competition, as well as where it strays from the Emperor's light, allow me to share my thoughts after a quite a few hours of hacking and slashing.
The PC version of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy has now slide-jumped onto Steam
- By Ash
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[Update #2]: A brand new Crash Bandicoot game has been announced!
[Update]: Vicarious Visions are now working on remastered versions of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2!
The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, as you might guess from the name alone, contains remastered versions of all three classic Crash Bandicoot games. You can expect to see a variety of visual improvements, support for modern resolutions and keyboard/mouse input, re-recorded dialogue and a reworked soundtrack, a time trial mode for all three games, as well as some minor tweaks to the jumping mechanics across all three games.
It is a whole bunch of new features, and a whole bunch of areas to potentially make a critical mistake in, which is why I'm very happy to say that the PC port of the N. Sane Trilogy is extremely good! The controls are tight and there don't appear to be any bugs or glitches, so if you are itching to give the new and improved Crash Bandicoot a try, the PC version is definitely worth grabbing.
MTG Arena's July 12th update will improve the in-game economy and the new player experience
- By Ash
- in News
While MTG Arena is a pretty darn enjoyable card game, it definitely suffers when it comes to its in-game economy and the 'new player experience' as a whole. Right now, if you're not willing to pay you're going to have to play for an absurdly long time before you can acquire a decent collection. Not exactly ideal, for both the players and MTG Arena itself.
With that in mind, I am very glad to announce that the upcoming July 12th update will attempt to correct exactly these issues. There are currently no patch notes available, but you can get a pretty good overview of the changes by checking out the most recent developer update down below. Have a look: