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[Update]: The Subnautica team is now working on a "wholly unique" turn-based strategy game.
After a myriad of updates and a massive story rework, Subnautica: Below Zero has now finally been released from Steam Early Access. So if you're in the mood for once again exploring the depths of Planet 4546B, this would the ideal time to dive in as the launch has been remarkably smooth, even on the technical side of things!
As for what exactly you can expect in terms of gameplay, that you can find out through the recently posted trailer. Have a gander, it's quite a pretty one:
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On June 1, 2021 World of Warcraft Classic will be transitioning to Burning Crusade Classic. This will increase the level cap to 70, unlock Paladins for the Horde and Shamans for the Alliance, as well as give players a brand new world to explore alongside the freshly introduced Blood Elf and Draenei races.
However, if you would like to continue enjoying the original version of World of Warcraft without any of the additions or improvements, Blizzard will also be running a bunch of Classic era servers. While this is certainly a welcome addition to the WoW Classic experience, there is a bit of a catch. Unless you pay for the Character Copying service, each of your current characters will have to make a permanent choice on whether to remain in the Classic era or update to the Burning Crusade.
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[Update]: Skull and Bones has been delayed yet again, though this time we have an actual release date - March 9th, 2023!
The pirate-themed Skull & Bones was originally announced in 2017 and pinned for a 2018 launch - just in time to compete with Rare's Sea of Thieves. Unfortunately, Skull & Bones ended up facing a lot of problems and so the game was delayed time and time again. First it was pushed back until 2019, then 2020, then 2021, and now it looks like even that estimate was far too optimistic.
According to Ubisoft's latest earnings report, Skull & Bones is still nowhere near ready and will require a fair bit of extra work. So while there is still no official release date, Ubisoft expects it to release at some point in 2022-23.
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[Update]: After two years of exclusivity, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Valhalla has now landed onto Steam.
If you're looking for an excuse to dive back into Assassin's Creed Valhalla, you'll be happy to hear that its first major expansion is just around the corner. And I really do mean that because the mysterious Wrath of the Druids will be launching tomorrow, May 13th, for both PC and consoles!
As the name would suggest, Wrath of the Druids will bring with it an assortment of cultists and mythical creatures to fight, as well as a vast array of new gear, weapons and customization options to play around with. You'll also be able to explore a good chunk of Ireland, help build up Dublin and establish it as the primary seat of commerce in the region, and naturally, conquer a whole bunch of new forts along the way!
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[Update]: Apex Legends' June 29, 2021 event is bringing back the original Kings Canyon and World's Edge maps!
If you've been playing Apex Legends since the Season 9 update you've probably noticed that the vast majority of teams are running around with the new Bocek Bow. For good reason too, because the bow deals a considerable amount of damage without requiring much in terms of hop-ups, shoots quickly and without any real 'bullet' drop, and perhaps most impressively of all, its arrows are practically silent and hard to spot at medium range!
With all of that in mind, it should come as little surprise to hear that Respawn has now quite significantly toned down the Bocek Bow. Its max charge body shot damage has gone from 70 to 60, while the charge up time has gone up from 0.54 to 0.56, or 0.32 to 0.36 with the Deadeye's Tempo hop-up. And to make things a bit more fair for the other medium range weapons, the arrow stack size has been decreased from 16 to 14, while the inventory slot count has gone down from 48 to 28.
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[Update #2]: Overwatch 2's PvP mode will be 5v5 with only one tank per team!
[Update]: Overwatch's big Anniversary 2021 update is launching on May 18th!
It's no secret that Overwatch is currently going through a bit of a rough patch. The original game hasn't received a major update in quite a while, Overwatch 2 is still a long way away, and to make matters even worse, the fan-favorite Game Director Jeff Kaplan has recently left the company.
So in order to restore the community's faith in the project, as well as let everyone know what they're planning to do with Overwatch 2, Blizzard has now announced that they will soon be holding a developer livestream and Q&A. The PvP focused stream will be going live on May 20, while the developer Q&A will follow suit on May 24.
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In an effort to curb the number of bot-like players roaming across Shadowlands and farming endless streams of enemies, Blizzard adopted a much harsher stance towards multiboxing and automated gameplay back in November. Unfortunately, this did not have the desired effect.
Even though the updated policy prohibited any sort of keystroke mirroring software, multiboxers found easy ways to circumvent the system by using hardware solutions. And so, despite Blizzard's best efforts, the great outdoors remained filled with hordes upon hordes of Druids moving in unison. All of that will soon be coming to an end, however, as Blizzard has now decided to take their gloves off and seriously tackle multiboxing and gameplay automation as a whole.
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If you have a newer GPU and you're looking to put it through its paces, you might be interested to hear that Metro Exodus' free PC Enhanced Edition has now arrived. It brings with it an assortment of Ray Tracing features, DLSS 2.0 inclusion, an FOV slider, increased framerates and even support for higher resolutions.
Naturally, given that Ray Tracing is by far the biggest part of this upgrade, you will need a Ray Tracing-capable GPU in order to actually run the PC Enhanced Edition. While that does make this a bit pricey, the good news is that the upgrade itself is entirely free for all owners of the original Metro Exodus!
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[Update]: Total War: Warhammer 3's first gameplay preview has unveiled a brand new battle type featuring Chaos and Kislev!
After a series of cryptic teasers Creative Assembly announced the much-anticipated Total War: Warhammer 3 back in February. While this announcement was immediately followed by an awesome cinematic trailer, the whole thing left me wanting more as Creative Assembly sadly didn't reveal any sort of gameplay details.
A fair bit of time has gone by since then, but I'm happy to say that the long wait will soon be over. Not only will we be getting heaps of new information on Total War: Warhammer 3 at 5pm BST on May 13th, but also the very first gameplay preview showing off a battle between Khorne-aligned Chaos forces and Kislev!
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[Update]: Capcom is planning to add some kind of free DLC for Resident Evil Village.
If the recent gameplay demo left you itching for more, you'll be pleased to hear that Resident Evil Village has now finally been unleashed. Best of all, unlike some of the recent AAA releases that were plagued with technical problems, Resident Evil Village seems to be running quite smoothly on PC!
As for what exactly you can expect in terms of gameplay, I'd say a mixture of Resident Evil 4 and 7. It's not quite as action-packed as Resident Evil 4, and it's not nearly as focused on atmosphere and horror as the early parts of Resident Evil 7. It's right there in-between, and from what little I've experienced so far it looks like it strikes the balance between them rather well.