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[Update #2]: Dota 2's December update has added Experimental Controller Support alongside the Winter 2021 Battle Pass!
[Update]: Just as suddenly as she was announced, Marci has now been unleashed!
In a rather fun departure from how they usually do things, Dota 2's next hero will not be a completely unknown and often bizarre entity, but rather a familiar and friendly face from the Dota: Dragon's Blood animated series - Marci. That said, they did manage to sneak in a little bit of a mystery as Marci seems to have acquired some fancy new powers since we've last seen her!
There is currently no gameplay trailer available, but you can get a bit of an impression of what Marci will be like through the recently posted teaser. Have a peek:
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If you're just looking for an excuse to dive back into Minecraft Dungeons, you might be interested to hear that the team has now revealed Seasonal Adventures. These Battle Pass inspired seasons will offer a variety of weekly challenges, each of which will grant you Adventure Points that can be redeemed for a whole assortment of exclusive rewards and cosmetics.
While the exact details are still shrouded in mystery, you can expect to see things like pets, fashionable flairs, emotes, as well as straight up cosmetic items for your character. As is traditional, there will also be an optional (and paid) Adventure Pass that offers additional rewards on top of that, though once again the details are few and far between.
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[Update]: The latest gameplay preview offers a closer look at a siege battle between Tzeentch (attackers) and Cathay (defenders).
The day has finally come! After a whole bunch of teasers, and a little bit of controversy sprinkled in for good measure, Creative Assembly has now finally unveiled the armies of Tzeentch, as well as the crazy campaign mechanics one would expect from the god of magic and deceit.
First things first, allow me to set the mood by sharing the brief in-game trailer highlighting just what sort of adorable monstrosities you'll get to play around with. Have a gander:
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In sharp contrast to the vast majority of JRPGs they've released over the years, Square Enix's Dungeon Encounters is a highly minimalistic dungeon-crawler that boils down the usual formula down to its very essence. The overworld is a giant blank map, your party members are represented through simple images, the combat animations are limited, and the list goes on for a while.
Needless to say, the focus in Dungeon Encounters is not on the visuals, but rather on the in-depth exploration, character and party building, as well as challenging combat. What this looks like in actual gameplay, that you can get a bit of a peek at through the recently posted trailer. Have a gander:
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[Update #2]: All of MTG Arena's Innistrad: Crimson Vow expansion cards have now been revealed.
[Update]: MTG Arena's Innistrad: Crimson Vow expansion is set to launch on November 11th.
Even after the recent rotation the amount of cards available in the current Standard sets is quite staggering, and that number is only going to increase in the near future as Innistrad: Crimson Vow is nearly upon us. Unsurprisingly this means that starting off as a brand new player can be quite harrowing as you'll not only have little experience with MTG Arena's gameplay, but you'll also lack many of the highly useful cards.
So in order to give new and returning players a bit of a helping hand, Wizards of the Coast has now released a brand new Jumpstart event - Jump In! The way the format works is very simple - you'll get to pick two Standard based, pre-constructed packets out of six randomly chosen ones, after which they'll merge together into a 40-card deck with which you'll be able to battle other players. So regardless of how many cards you might have in your collection overall, this event will put you on even footing with everyone else.
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[Update #2]: My review of Monster Hunter Rise (PC) has now been released, and I'm very happy to say that it's a great port for a compelling yet somewhat unambitious Monster Hunter game.
[Update]: Monster Hunter Rise is doing a surprisingly elaborate crossover with Sonic the Hedghehog, all of which will be available on PC as well.
In a recent surprise announcement Capcom revealed that the previously Switch exclusive Monster Hunter Rise will be heading over to PC on January 12, 2022. The PC version will bring with it a variety of optimizations and graphical improvements, including things like high-res textures, support for 4K resolutions, and uncapped framerates.
The good news doesn't end there, however, as Capcom is apparently so proud of the PC version that they have now released a free demo, nearly three months ahead of launch! So if you're eager to see what Monster Hunter Rise has to offer, as well as check how solid the PC port truly is, simply head on over to Steam.
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[Update #2]: Back 4 Blood will not be getting any more content updates as Turtle Rock Studios are now working on a brand new game.
[Update]: Back 4 Blood's December update will correct many of the long-standing complaints.
Back 4 Blood, much like Left 4 Dead from which it takes a great deal of inspiration, is a four player co-op shooter that's all about carving a path through hordes upon hordes of the living (and often livid) dead. Naturally, Back 4 Blood does spice things up further with the addition of customizable characters, more complex gunplay, a large array of consumable items and equipment, and most importantly of all, a focus on long-term replayabillity through scaling difficulty settings.
What this might look like in actual gameplay, that you can find out through two of the recent trailers. The first is your standard launch trailer, while the second one is all about showing off the campaign. Have a gander:
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[Update #2]: MTG Arena's Innistrad: Crimson Vow expansion is set to launch on November 11th.
[Update]: As an additional bonus, Wizards of the Coast has also added a Standard-focused and half-price Jumpstart event aimed at beginners.
Between the various Standard sets, Historic Anthologies, Jumpstarts and Strixhaven's Mystical Archives, MTG Arena's Historic format has received a massive amount of powerful new cards over the course of this year. While this influx of new cards has given rise to a whole assortment of fun new deck archetypes, it has unsurprisingly also resulted in a couple of balance problems.
There is no better example of this than Tibalt's Trickery, a card that is almost completely unusable in the Standard format, yet oppressive in Historic thanks to a particularly strong synergy with Throes of Chaos that allows it to cheat out powerful threats turn after turn. While the combo itself is vulnerable to tax-based effects, it very often leads to extremely linear and extremely boring games where so little happens you might as well flip a coin to see who wins.
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[Update]: Overwatch is currently testing some rather strange buffs to McCree, Junkrat, Torbjorn and Moira, while McCree's name will soon be getting changed for good.
As is unfortunately often the case these days with Blizzard, it's time to play the 'good news, bad news' game. The good news is that not only has the Halloween Terror 2021 event now arrived alongside a whole bunch of awesome skins, but the accompanying update has also added some rather exciting improvements for Mercy.
First things first, here's the brief teaser trailer showing off each of the new skins in action, as well as highlighting the rewards for the three weekly challenges:
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If you've somehow managed to avoid playing Disco Elysium all this time, yet you're eager to give it a try, you might be pleased to hear that the new and improved Disco Elysium - The Final Cut has now landed onto PC and consoles. Best of all, the PC version is currently 45% on Steam!
When it comes to the changes, The Final Cut brings with it a very important addition - full voice acting for all of the characters, including the various player skills and internal narration. You can also expect to see new quests, new characters and locations, as well as a variety of small tweaks, quality of life changes and optimizations.