No Man's Sky has now greatly improved its story, combat and trading, as well as added basic co-op exploration
- By Ash
- in News
During my launch review for No Man's Sky I lamented its wasted potential and hoped beyond hope that someday Hello Games will be able to turn the starship around and create something truly amazing. While I don't think they've managed to reach that point just yet, I am incredibly happy to say that the latest No Man's Sky's update has greatly improved just about everything, while also adding a whole bunch of new content to explore!
There is now around 30 hours of new story content that doesn't involve racing to the center of the galaxy, a mysterious new interdimensional race to puzzle over, ancient gateways that allow instantaneous travel between worlds, greatly improved trading and space combat systems, smoother visuals, randomly generated missions with significant rewards, and the list goes on. Perhaps most importantly of all, this update has also finally added co-op to No Man's Sky!
The combat-focused RPG Absolver will allow you to not only be powerful, but also fashionable
- By Ash
- in News
Absolver is an upcoming online combat RPG with a heavy focus on fluid melee battles, though with the combat style being more alike the one from fighting games rather than classic action-RPGs. However, instead of using predefined skills and abilities like you would in a fighting game, in Absolver you will be able to customize your fighter's entire move set, combos, blocks and dodges, special skills, and even weapons.
Given the amount of combat-orientated customization it really shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that Absolver will also have hundreds upon hundreds of fancy items to collect. A very good thing indeed, because as we all know online duels are not just about beating your enemy into submission, but rather about being as fashionable as possible while doing so! If you're wondering what all of this might look like in-game, here's the recently posted developer video showcasing character customization:
The new and improved version of StarCraft will be releasing later today (August 14th)
- By Ash
- in News
StarCraft: Remastered, as you would expect from the name alone, is a complete overhaul of one of the most influential games of all time - StarCraft: Brood War. Once it arrives it will bring with it 4k graphics and support for modern resolutions, 1080p cinematics, proper keybinding support, as well as improved online matchmaking and ladder systems. Perhaps most importantly of all, StarCraft: Remastered will not be changing any of the original's gameplay elements, so everything from Mutalisk stacking to downright insane Dragoon AI will remain just as they are.
Since a lot of this is focused around the visuals and the presentation, allow me to show you what exactly StarCraft: Remastered is all about through one of the recently posted developer videos. Have a look:
The Warcraft 3 test servers have suddenly been updated with new balance changes
- By Ash
- in News
Back in May of 2016 Blizzard released the very first modern Warcraft 3 patch, along with an announcement that more content will be coming in the future. Quite a lot of time has passed since then, but the long wait now finally appears to be over as the Warcraft 3 test servers have just been updated with a new batch of balance changes.
Creep camp difficulty progression has been rebalanced from early to late game, the loot drop tables have been reworked in order to reward those that actually clear difficult camps, item diversity has been improved throughout the early levels, and pretty much all of the starting locations and natural expansions have been slightly retuned. The patch notes are fairly small, so if you're interested in the full list, here it is:
Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire expansion preview event is now live and available for free to everyone
- By Ash
- in News
Guild Wars 2's Path of Fire expansion is set to arrive this September, bringing with it a whole boatload of content. You'll be able to explore the Crystal Desert and the adjoining kingdom of Elona, fight against the Human god of war Balthazar and his minions, mess around with nine new elite specializations, acquire mounts that all come with unique effects and abilities, and the list goes on for quite a while.
If all of this sounds like something you might be interested in, but perhaps not interested enough to purchase on blind faith alone, you'll be glad to hear that there is a free preview event running this weekend. Simply create a new Guild Wars 2 beta character on the Character Select screen, and you'll be exploring bits and pieces of the Crystal Desert in no time! Its important to mention that this offer also extends to people playing the free-to-play version of Guild Wars 2, so no matter if you're a veteran or a completely new player you'll be able to experience pretty much everything Path of Fire has to offer.
Dota 2's The Dueling Fates Update will bring with it two rather cartoony new heroes
- By Ash
- in News
Earlier this week Valve announced a Dota 2 themed card game hybrid - Artifact. As you might imagine by the number of dislikes on the teaser trailer, the announcement didn't exactly go over well with the Dota 2 community. All of that was quickly forgotten, however, as Valve just recently revealed two brand new and rather cartoony heroes for Dota 2!
In proper Valve tradition the announcement came with absolutely no details or ability descriptions, so if you were hoping to learn more about them I'm afraid you're out luck. What I can offer, however, is a brief trailer showing off 'Puss in Boots' and 'Evil Tinkerbell' in action. Have a look:
Saints Row 4 is 80% off on Steam and free to try out for the next 28 hours
- By Ash
- in News
With their third-person action-adventure Agents of Mayhem just around the corner, Volition has decided to drum up a bit of excitement with a massive sale on the Saints Row series. If you don't know much about these games or whether they're even any good, worry not as Saint's Row 4 is completely free to try out on Steam for the next 28 hours!
I would personally recommend you give it a bash, because as far as completely ridiculous third-person shooters are concerned there are very few that can match Saints Row. Combine that with the fact that its one of the rare few AAA games that feature co-op and you've got yourself a rather enjoyable way to spend a dozen hours. Its not going to change your perception of the world or teach you anything new, but at least you'll be able to cross out "murder via dildo-bat" off your list.