- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Humankind's very first DLC is bringing in six African cultures and brand new events on January 20th.
After going through a whole assortment of beta tests, Amplitude's 4X strategy game Humankind has now been unleashed in full. Much like Civilization from which it draws a great deal of inspiration from, Humankind will have you guide your people from the Ancient to the Modern Age, advance and expand your cities, create wonders and unravel new technology, and naturally, deal with your neighbors through either diplomacy or warfare.
The area where Humankind differs greatly from Civilization is, funnily enough, in the civilizations themselves. Instead of picking one nation you will guide from the very beginning and sticking with them, Humankind allows you to combine up to 60 historical cultures in order to create a unique faction with its own set of perks and beliefs.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: The third End of Dragons beta is coming this October 26, 2021 with the Mechinist, Specter and Untamed
[Update]: End of Dragon's second beta preview event will show off the Elementalist based Catalyst, Warrior based Bladesworn, and Revenant based Vindicator on September 21, 2021.
Guild Wars 2's third expansion End of Dragons will be launching at some point in early 2022. Once it arrives it'll bring with it the distant land of Cantha, a combat-focused turtle mount that seats two players, new Strikes and endgame challenges to contend with, as well as nine new elite specializations.
If you're curious what some of these specializations might look and play like, you're in luck as Guild Wars 2 is currently running a preview event featuring three of them: Mesmer based Virtoso, Guardian based Willbender, and Necromancer based Harbinger. Here's a brief video highlighting each of them:
- By Ash
- in News
If you're a fan of the recent wave of self-professed 'boomer shooter', you'll be delighted to hear we're that soon getting another one. However, instead of a brand new game, the big announcement this time around is a prequel expansion for the excellent Amid Evil - The Black Labyrinth.
Since the action is what we're all here for, allow me to share with you the freshly posted gameplay trailer. It's not a really long one, but it'll still serve as a nifty teaser of things to come. Have a gander:
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Life is Strange Remastered Collection has now landed onto both PC and consoles.
If you were hoping to dive into the Life is Strange: Remastered Collection before picking up the upcoming Life is Strange: True Colors, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for quite a while longer. According to a short announcement over at Twitter, the Remastered Collection has now been pushed back to early 2022.
"Due to the ongoing challenges of the worldwide pandemic, we want to alleviate any additional pressure on the Life is Strange team by giving more time between the release of Life is Strange: True Colors and the Life is Strange: Remastered Collection," reads the developer update. "We hope you understand. Thank you for your patience and overwhelming support!"
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: End of Dragon's second beta preview event will show off the Elementalist based Catalyst, Warrior based Bladesworn, and Revenant based Vindicator on September 21, 2021.
[Update]: The beta event has now gone live alongside the Mesmer based Virtuoso, Guardian based Willbender and Necromancer based Harbinger.
After a whole bunch of teasers and rumors, ArenaNet finally went ahead and officially unveiled Guild Wars 2's third major expansion back in July. Once it arrives in early 2022, End of Dragons will bring with it the distant land of Cantha, a combat-focused turtle mount for two players, new Strikes and endgame challenges, and naturally, new elite specializations for all classes!
If you don't feel like waiting all that time in order to start playing around with the new toys, you're in luck as Guild Wars 2 will soon be launching a brief preview event! From August 17 to August 21, everyone with a Guild Wars 2 account will be able to test out three of the new elite specializations.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Back 4 Blood has now landed onto PC and consoles, and so far it's looking pretty solid.
[Update]: After a rather revealing beta, Back 4 Blood will be launching onto PC and consoles this October 12th.
If you're in the mood for some co-op focused action, you'll be happy to hear that Turtle Rock's Back 4 Blood is soon heading into Open Beta. It'll be available to play for free from August 12 until August 16, which should give you more than enough time to figure out what it's about and whether it's your type of game.
The Open Beta will feature two game modes: Campaign which comes in Classic, Survivor and Hard flavors, and the PvP focused Swarm Mode where you get to play as both the Cleaners and the mutated Ridden. If that sounds remarkably similar to what Left 4 Dead had to offer, it's probably not a coincidence given that Back 4 Blood seems like an evolution of the series, even if it doesn't share the name.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: After a few delays, MTG Arena's Historic Horizons expansion has now been unleashed!
If you were hoping to get your hands on some of the 372 new-to-Arena cards this August 12th, I'm afraid I have some bad news to deliver. According to the latest developer update, Jumpstart: Historic Horizons has been delayed until August 26th, which also means that the free two-color "New Player Experience" decks have been pushed back as well.
While that certainly does suck, you'll be happy to hear that the time should go by extremely quickly as Wizards of the Coast is planning to run a variety of events until Historic Horizons' launch, as well as give away some freebies as a little consolation prize. And yes, the plural there was intentional! Your first entry into the upcoming Amonkhet Remastered (August 10-15), Kaladesh Remastered (August 15-20) and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (August 20–26) Premier Drafts will be entirely free of charge, and you will indeed get to keep all of the card, gem and pack rewards!
- By Ash
- in News
If you're in the mood for something a little bit out of the ordinary, you'll be happy to hear that the highly atmospheric stealth-adventure A Plague Tale: Innocence is currently free to grab. Simply head on over to the Epic Games Store, go through the 'purchasing' process, and you'll be good to go after a bit of a download.
As always, you'll want to grab yourself a copy sooner rather than later since it won't remain free for long. To be more specific, you have until August 12, 2021 to add A Plague Tale: Innocence to your account for free, after which you'll be able to play it whenever you want and for however long you want.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Overwatch is changing McCree's name due to the recent sexual harassment accusations.
While the Overwatch team has been releasing frequent balance changes over the past year or so, there are still numerous heroes that struggle to be relevant in higher tier matches. So in order to sort this out, as well as hopefully make the meta a little bit more diverse, Blizzard has now released a brand new balance update.
Moira, Roadhog and Doomfist have received straight up buffs to their abilities, while Soldier 76, Genji and Wrecking Ball have gone through a bit of a rebalance. Here are the details:
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Apex Legends' September update has beefed up Rampart and added a new Rampart themed map location.
[Update]: Respawn has finally begun nerfing the all-powerful Seer!
If you were hoping that the Season 10 update will greatly shake up Apex Legends, I bring both good and bad news. The good news is that the new Rampage LMG is an incredibly fun weapon to use, while the World's Edge changes have thrown everything into chaos so things are feeling quite fresh again. Combine this with the various balance changes and weapon swaps, as well as the introduction of ranked Arenas, and you've got yourself the beginnings of a pretty solid season.
Unfortunately, there is one big problem - the new Legend Seer. Not only does Seer have superb tracking capabilities, but his main ability has so many added extras tacked on to it that he pretty much dominates any engagement he's in. And since this bit of trivia has spread across the Apex Legends community like a wildfire, there are now multiple Seers constantly firing off scans in every direction, much to the chagrin of everyone with still-working eardrums.