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[Update]: Total War: Troy's second faction DLC is bringing in Ajax & Diomedes.
While they may have taken quite a few months to get here, Total War: Troy's multiplayer modes have now finally arrived as a part of the newest beta test. Much like the rest of the Total War series, Troy's multiplayer will allow you to engage your fellow players in isolated and PvP-focused battles, as well as on the campaign map where you'll be able to either cooperate or work against each other.
Multiplayer battles will be able to host up to eight players (in any combination from 1v1 up to 4v4), while the campaign will only support two. Each player will be able to use all of the playable factions from the campaign, along with their unique unit roster and various mythical creatures, which should give the whole multiplayer experience a nice bit of depth.
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[Update]: Evil Genius 2 has now been unleashed, and so far it seems like a faithful adaptation of the original.
Much like its predecessor, Evil Genius 2 is a highly satirical simulator about trying to take over the world through a variety of nefarious and often downright ridiculous means. To do this you'll need to build the perfect evil lair, recruit and train an army of loyal henchmen, deal with the constant onslaught of secret agents and the forces of justice, and most importantly of all, create the ultimate doomsday weapon in order to ensure no one can deny your rightful claim on the world.
If you're wondering just what all of this looks like in actual gameplay, you can get a pretty good idea through the recently posted preview starring the appropriately shouty Brian Blessed as Red Ivan. Have a gander, it's a pretty fun one:
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Empire of Sin is a strategy and management game about running a criminal empire in 1920s Chicago. As you would expect from that description alone, Empire of Sin will have you skirt prohibition rules in order to rake in cash by the truckload, spread your influence through both careful alliances and pure intimidation, as well as bribe cops and local politicians to keep the whole operation running smoothly.
When being nice and polite stops working, however, you'll also be able to take matters into your own hands and deal with any problematic elements directly. This will be done through a fairly standard turn-based combat system that will allow you to utilize all of the various henchmen you've recruited in order to take down opposing gangs or help 'convince' businesses that it would be a good idea to start paying for protection.
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[Update #2]: Total War: Warhammer 2's massive The Twisted & The Twilight update has now been unleashed.
[Update]: Creative Assembly have now revealed the full patch notes for The Twisted & The Twilight update.
Quite a long time has gone by since the previous Total War: Warhammer 2 update, and now that Creative Assembly has revealed The Twisted & The Twilight DLC, it's very obvious why. Not only does the DLC bring with it the usual assortment of new units, mechanics and Legendary Lords to play around with, but the accompanying free update is one of the most ambitious Warhammer 2 has seen to date.
Unlike the previously reworked Empire and Greenskins factions that needed mostly a bit of sprucing up in order to properly function, the original Wood Elves had so many glaring issues that Creative Assembly was forced to reshape their entire campaign from the ground up. What all of this looks like in actual gameplay terms, however, that you can find out through the freshly posted preview. Have a gander:
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[Update]: Minecraft: Dungeons is heading over to Steam on September 22, 2021.
Whether we're talking about the original Diablo or the recently launched Minecraft Dungeons, the ARPG experience is always more enjoyable alongside a couple of friends. After all, when things go south and the fight seems lost, it's always handy to have someone to throw in front of you!
As such, I am very happy to say that Minecraft Dungeons has now added cross-platform multiplayer. So regardless of whether you and your friends are playing on PC, PlayStation, Xbox or Switch, you will now be able to band together and face off against everything Minecraft Dungeons has to offer.
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[Update #2]: Fatshark has now added a magic-focused career for Kerillian - Sister of the Thorn!
[Update]: Vermintide 2 update has greatly improved bot AI behavior and survivability.
Vermintide 2's first post-launch career was the Grail Knight, a purely melee focused juggernaut that could stand up to an entire horde of Chaos Warriors. The newly added Outcast Engineer, however, is the exact opposite of that.
With almost no defensive abilities and a low amount of health, the Outcast Engineer is a pure glass cannon, with the emphasis on cannon! Instead of having a standard ultimate ability like all of the other careers, the Outcast Engineer can whip out a gigantic minigun at any time and carve a path through literally anything. Best of all, the minigun is steam powered and doesn't use ammunition, so if you're particularly careful about managing your steam pressure, you can have that bad boy sing throughout every single major encounter!
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If you're looking for an interesting game too cuddle up with over the cold winter months, you'll be pleased to hear that Steam's massive Autumn sale has now arrived! As is tradition, it brings with it an absurd amount of games on sale, as well as the ability to vote for The Steam Awards nominees. The actual voting for the best games of the year will happen during the Steam Winter Sale, but even so I'd say it's important to vote for your favorites and make sure that quality games and developers are celebrated.
As for the sale itself, allow me to give you a couple of suggestions spread out across a variety of genres. Here are some of the standout deals, in no particular order:
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After years of Origin exclusivity on PC, EA has recently started moving the vast majority of their games onto Steam. This includes primarily singleplayer games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, as well as more multiplayer focused ones like Apex Legends and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
With the whole process now nearing its conclusion, I'm very happy to say that the final piece of Respawn Entertainment's catalog has now finally transitioned to Steam! Naturally, I'm talking about the highly ambitious and fast-paced shooter Titanfall!
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[Update]: My Shadowlands review is now live, and I'm happy to say things are looking pretty good for WoW!
The Shadowlands expansion was originally supposed to arrive on October 27th, but due to the closed beta being in a bit of a rough state, Blizzard opted to postpone it until late November. As it turns out, that was an incredibly wise decision given that World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has now been unleashed without any sort of major problems.
Naturally, some of the high population servers are having lengthy queue times, but the actual gameplay is looking perfectly smooth. Throughout the four to five hours I've spent so far I've only encountered a single notable bug, one that made my character unable to attack enemies because they were still stunned from a previous cutscene. A quick relog fixed that issue immediately and it never came back afterwards, so if you were holding off in order for the launch craziness to subside, I'd say Shadowlands is already looking stable enough to dive in!
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If you're looking for something interesting to help pass the time before Cyberpunk 2077 comes along, you might be happy to hear that the space sim Elite: Dangerous is currently free to grab. Simply head on over to the Epic Games Store, snag yourself a copy, and you'll be good to go after a brief download.
As the title would suggest, the only catch is the time limit. The giveaway will only be around for another day, so if Elite: Dangerous looks like it might be up your alley, you should definitely go get yourself a copy sooner rather than later, just to play it safe.