Season 6 of Overwatch competitive play has now arrived with a variety of changes and tweaks
- By Ash
- in News
After an extremely short break Overwatch's Competitive Play mode has now returned with Season 6 in tow. While Season 5 may have been a bit of a mess, to put things lightly, Season 6 appears to be starting things off on the right foot. Placement matches are now more accurate and no longer artificially lower your Skill Rating, high SR queue times have been increased in order to provide better matches, the report system has been made significantly more strict, and a variety of previously underpowered heroes have been buffed to competitive viability... and this actually includes Roadhog as well!
If you're looking for all of the details you'll find the patch notes over at the Blizzard website. For those of you just interested in the hero changes, however, allow me to give you the brief list. Have a look:
Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire Expansion Preview - Mounts, Exploration, & Elite Specializations
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Guild Wars 2's Path of Fire expansion is set to arrive this September, bringing with it a whole bunch of new content. You'll be able to explore the vast regions of the Crystal Desert and the nearby kingdom of Elona, mess around with nine new Elite Specializations such as the Spellbreaker or Mirage, fight against the Human god of war Balthazar and his hordes of metallic minions, and perhaps most importantly, ride a variety of mounts that all come with their own unique spells and effects!
While the most recent Open Beta featured only a tiny portion of what Path of Fire has to offer, the things I saw filled me with a great deal of hope for Guild Wars 2's future. So if you're interested in learning what the new content is all about, and how exactly the mount system differs from all of the other MMOs, allow me to give you my thoughts after quite a few hours with the Open Beta.
All of Total War: Warhammer 2's achievements have been revealed
- By Ash
- in News
Gamescom 2017 has brought with it an absolute treasure trove of Total War: Warhammer 2 announcements and gameplay previews. Just the past week or so Creative Assembly has released a detailed image of the Vortex campaign map, a brief video overview of all the starting positions and potential opponents, a lengthy video showing off the Dark Elf campaign mechanics and rituals, and even a gameplay video featuring a large battle between Dark Elves and High Elves!
While the most recent announcement is not exactly on the same level, you might still be interested to hear that Creative Assembly has now revealed all of Total War: Warhammer 2's achievements. There's far too many to list out, so if you're interested in browsing through all of them you'll find what you seek on the Total War Blog. That said, I do have one very intriguing achievement to highlight:
The 'banana republic simulator' Tropico 6 has a new gameplay trailer showing off the improved visuals
- By Ash
- in News
Tropico 6, as you're no doubt aware by this point, is an upcoming 'banana republic simulator' that will give you the ability to completely ruin your nation in whichever way you like. Besides all of the standard features, the newest installment in the series will bring with it the largest landmass so far, revised research and political systems, cooperative and competitive multiplayer, as well as some greatly improved visuals.
While the most recent gamescom video does not cover any of the gameplay improvements, it does a rather good job of showcasing the fancy new visuals. So if you're interested in a brief glance at what Tropico 6 has to offer, you'll find the video right below. Have a look:
Rite of ILK is an upcoming co-op exploration game where the two players are literally tied together
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
The greatest challenges in co-op games do not come from the puzzles or monsters, but rather your fellow players as trying to coordinate difficult maneuvers often ends up feeling like herding cats. This is where the newly announced Rite of ILK steps in. You'll still be exploring and puzzling your way through a variety of locations, but you will have to do so while literally tied to the other player by a rope!
Besides ensuring that both players are on the same page, the rope will also serve as one of the main gameplay mechanics in Rite of ILK, often acting as both a hazard and as a way to solve tricky challenges. If you're wondering what this looks like in gameplay terms, I would suggest checking checking out the recently posted announcement trailer right below. Have a look, its quite interesting:
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord now has a lengthy new gameplay video featuring a battle between the Empire and Battania
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: The long wait is now finally over - Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord has now arrived onto Steam Early Access!
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord has initially been announced in the ancient times of 2012, after which the developers have gone relatively quiet, releasing only bits of information and gameplay footage here and there. While its launch date is still shrouded in mystery, I am very glad to say that according to all of the gamescom footage Bannerlord is shaping up to be pretty damn excellent!
Since there is no better way to prove this than to show you the actual footage, allow me to share with you the recently posted Battania vs Empire gameplay video. Its about nine minutes long and mostly focused on the "Captain Mode", but it should still give you a good idea of what to expect from Bannerlord. Have a look:
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony now has a free playable demo on Steam
- By Ash
- in News
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is an upcoming visual novel spiced up with adventure game elements and a story that is both hilarious and absolutely insane at the same time. After being available on Japanese consoles for a little while now Killing Harmony will be making its way to PC and Steam on September 26th.
While Killing Harmony and the entirety of the Danganronpa series are well regarded and often positively reviewed, they're not exactly games that appeal to a wide assortment of people. Thankfully, the PC version of Killing Harmony now has a free demo available, so if you ever wanted to give the series a try now would be the best time to do so. Simply head over to Steam, click the play game button, and you'll be doing the bidding of an evil teddy bear in no time.