The Open Beta for Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Wildlands has now begun
- By Ash
- in News
Ghost Recon Wildlands is Ubisoft's upcoming open world tactical shooter where you'll get to join an elite special operations unit in order to take down a rather nasty, and rather well funded drug cartel. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, you'll be glad to hear that the Open Beta has now begun, and will remain active until February 27th.
The Open Beta features 2 out of 21 provinces from the full game: Itacua - a mountainous region with long sight lines and a relatively small cartel presence, and Montuyoc - an inhospitable location that's host to the cartel's elite training centers and filled to the brim with bad guys to take down. As with the full version you can try and accomplish all of your goals through stealth or pure gunplay, singleplayer or co-op, or any mixture of those.
Shadowverse will be getting a second singleplayer story chapter next week
- By Ash
- in News
If you found yourself enjoying the Shadowverse singleplayer campaign, as cheesy and ridiculous as it was, you'll be glad to hear that the first follow-up chapter will be arriving next week. Chapter 2 will not feature all of the in-game characters as the focus this time around is set squarely on Arisa, Erika, and Luna, so hopefully this means the writing will be greatly improved when compared to the original. As for the storyline, its currently being kept secret, but its safe to assume were going to find out what lies beyond the Infinity Gate.
The update will also bring with it a new difficulty setting for practice games, nerfs to Goblin Mage and Piercing Rune, as well as other minor improvements. While the first part might sound completely inconsequential given that not many people care about AI games, it is actually significant for new players as it will bring with it new achievements, and consequently new rewards as well!
Hitman has recently been ported over to Linux
- By Ash
- in News
While it might be lagging an entire year behind the PC release, the Linux version of Hitman has now finally arrived. Much like the majority of Linux ports these days it has not been made by the developers themselves, but rather by Feral Interactive whom you might know from their work on Total War: Warhammer, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, etc.
As for the Mac version, I'm afraid I couldn't find any concrete information. However, Feral Interactive has previously stated that they are waiting for an all-important Metal update in order to start working on Mac versions for their other games, so chances are the same applies to Hitman as well.
Blizzard has announced all of the upcoming changes to the Hearthstone Arena
- By Ash
- in News
After being incredibly hesitant to touch Arena over the past three years, Blizzard has finally decided to jump in and stir things up. Once the next update arrives you can expect to see more high-rarity cards in your draft, a lot more spells, as well as less old and boring neutral cards. And before you start worrying about Mage dominance, I should also mention that both Flamestrike and Abyssal Enforcer are going to be showing up 50% less!
While those changes are all straight up great, there is one that has me slightly worried: "Arena will change from Wild format to Standard". In my eyes Arena has always been a game mode where you're supposed to achieve something amazing with a complete mishmash of cards. You simply cannot rely on synergies or overpowered combos, you have to create your own fortune. With the transition to Standard and Blizzard's recent focus on wide themes over unique cards, all of this might just go away in favor of a watered down Ranked experience. Thankfully, Ben Brode himself has already confirmed that this is simply an experiment, so if it doesn't work out we can expect to see Arena go back into the Wild once more.
Total War: Warhammer devs have released a video preview for the upcoming free Bretonnia faction
- By Ash
- in News
Total War: Warhammer will be getting a massive free update on February 28th, and among all of the new additions the most interesting one is the arrival of Bretonnia as a playable faction on the campaign map. It will come with three Legendary Lords (King Louen Leoncoeur, Alberic of Bordeleaux and the Fay Enchantress), unique quests and starting positions for each one, as well as a whole host of updated units.
If you're interested in seeing what Bretonnia looks like in action, you'll find the most recent preview video right below. It features ~12 minutes of campaign gameplay, going over pretty much everything you need to know about Bretonnia before jumping in yourself. There is unfortunately no combat, but I'm sure that video will be coming in the near future as well. Anyway, have a look:
The viking themed real-time strategy Northgard has now arrived to Steam Early Access
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
In the most basic terms, Northgard is a viking themed real-time strategy game from the makers of Evoland. It belongs somewhere between the Civilization and Settlers series as it features many of the same gameplay ideas, though currently its far simpler than both.
If you're wondering what all of this might look like in gameplay terms, you'll find the official launch trailer down below. Additionally, if you want a lengthy preview showcasing the first 15 minutes of a match, you'll find my gameplay showcase video right here. But for now, here's the much more succinct trailer:
The next Civilization 6 DLC will bring Australia, while Steam Workshop support will arrive for free in the near future
- By Ash
- in News
The next Civilization 6 DLC pack will bring with it Australia as a playable faction, a first for the entire series. Australia will be led by Prime Minster John Curtin, and will come with two unique assets: a special infantry unit nicknamed the Diggers, as well as the Outback Station improvement, which is essentially a massive cattle ranch.
If you're interested in a brief overview of all these features, you'll find the official preview video down below. It doesn't really go in-depth, but it should still give you a good idea of what to expect from the Land Down Under. Here's the video: