Overwatch will be having a double XP weekend from June 8-12 across all three platforms
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: The double XP event is now live!
Overwatch recently celebrated its very first birthday with an Anniversary Update, bringing in a whole bunch of new skins and dance emotes for every hero. What should have been a fun little celebration quickly turned sour, however, as people realized that all of the skins were legendary, and all of the equally expensive dance emotes locked to this specific event. Combine this with duplicate cosmetics giving minuscule amount of credits and the loot boxes being over-bloated with useless player icons and sprays, and you've got a very contentious update on your hands.
Blizzard has already said they are aware of the problem and the community response, but it unfortunately doesn't appear they will actually do anything about it, at least not for this event. On the positive side, there will be a double XP weekend running from June 8-12, so if you're getting close to 3000 credits and only need a little bit of a push, now's your chance.
The newly announced Need for Speed Payback appears heavily inspired by The Fast and the Furious
- By Ash
- in News
Given that Need for Speed is one of the biggest racing series around this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but EA has just recently announced the next installment - Need for Speed Payback. What might come as a bit of a surprise is that Payback appears to be heavily inspired by The Fast and the Furious movie series, by which I mean that it seems to focus more on the spectacle than the actual racing.
If you need an example of what exactly I'm talking about, check out the recently posted teaser trailer down below. It doesn't show much in terms of gameplay, but it will give you a pretty good idea of the direction EA is taking the Need for Speed series in. Have a look:
The Thief inspired stealth game Styx: Shards of Darkness now has a free demo available on Steam
- By Ash
- in News
Styx: Shards of Darkness is a stealth adventure heavily inspired by the Thief series. As you might imagine given its source of inspiration Shards of Darkness features plenty of open-ended levels crawling with guards and traps, a variety of weapons and tools to either dispatch or bypass them, as well as stealth mechanics that reward patience and planning over all-out aggression.
It is by all means an enjoyable stealth game, but it is definitely not for everyone. As such, I am very glad to say that Styx: Shards of Darkness now has a free demo available on Steam! Just click on that "Download Demo" button on the right side and you'll be playing in no time. And if you find yourself enjoying what you see, Shards of Darkness is also currently on a 40% discount which brings the price to €24.
Conarium, a Lovecraft inspired horror-adventure, is set to arrive on Steam today
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
Conarium is an upcoming horror-adventure loosely based on one of Lovecraft's most famous stories - At the Mountains of Madness. As you can expect given the source material Conarium features plenty of otherworldly horrors, a protagonist whose grip on sanity is loose at best, as well as numerous eerie locations to explore in search of answers... or plain ol' madness.
Since much of Conarium is based around atmosphere and immersion it would probably be a good idea for you to check out the recently posted launch trailer. It doesn't show much in terms of straight up gameplay, but it will give you an intriguing peek at what exactly you're getting into. Have a look:
Gwent's upcoming balance changes have been revealed and include a nerf to weather
- By Ash
- in News
The standalone version of Gwent recently entered Open Beta for both PC and consoles, thus opening its doors to a large amount of players. Combine this with a massive amount of balance changes and reworks that happened between the Closed and Open Beta and it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that the current version of Gwent suffers from quite a few problematic cards. The end result is that Nilfgaard decks are everywhere on the ranked ladder, Northern Realms only has one viable archetype that's incredibly predictable, most Scoia'tael decks only use three units and just throw out weather cards like they're going out of season, and the list goes on.
Well, you'll be glad to hear that all of this will be changed in the near future! According to the recently updated Chinese test server (whose patch notes have been translated by tonyunreal over at Reddit) many of the problematic cards will be slightly toned down, while the previously useless archetypes such as Consume Monsters or Machine Northern Realms will be getting some much needed buffs. The patch notes are rather large, so allow me to just share a couple of highlights with you:
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is now available DRM-free on GOG, and its also 60% off
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: It took a decade, but Dragon's Dogma 2 is now finally in development!
I don't know what exactly sparked this movement, but GOG has seriously begun expanding their lineup of excellent RPGs. A few days ago they brought in DRM-free versions of Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and today GOG has also added the equally excellent Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen.
As an added bonus, Dragon's Dogma is currently not only DRM-free, but also 60% off! The special launch discount will last until June 20th, during which Dragon's Dogma and all of its DLC will set you back €10,70. For a game with around 60 hours of content I would definitely say that the price is more than reasonable.
Drifting Lands, a Diablo inspired hybrid between a shoot'em'up and an RPG, has now released on Steam
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
In the most basic sense Drifting Lands is a Diablo inspired horizontal shoot'em'up. It has a large variety of levels with randomly generated enemies, three classes of ships with around 60 different skills to mess around with, and naturally, a complex loot system with a ridiculous amount of possible item permutations. In other words, its a hack & slash where the sword has been replaced with a space ship.
If you're not sure what in the world I'm talking about, you'll find the recently posted launch trailer right below. It'll give you a pretty good idea of what exactly Drifting Lands is all about, and how its RPG elements tie into the gameplay. Have a look: