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[Update]: The Shadowlands expansion has been delayed until late 2020, while the pre-patch is coming on October 13, 2020.
After spending a fair bit of time in alpha and beta testing, World of Warcraft's Shadowlands expansion will soon be unleashed in full. According to the latest announcement, Shadowlands will be launching at 4pm PDT on October 26th, or for those of us in Europe, at 12am on October 27th.
In terms of content, Shadowlands will bring with it five massive new zones to explore, four Covenants that each offer unique abilities and cosmetics, as well as Torghast, Tower of the Damned - an infinitely replayable and ever-changing dungeon that serves as a sort of fast-paced roguelike mode. You can also expect to see a revamp of the leveling experience, a variety of new dungeons and raids, balance changes and class reworks, and the list goes on for a while.
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Quite a few years have gone by since the series concluded, but Samurai Jack is now back once again to do battle against the evil forces of Aku! As you might imagine, this involves exploring a variety of locations spanning both time and space, meeting a bunch of fan-favorite characters from the show, and naturally, slicing and dicing all sorts of baddies along the way.
What exactly this might look like in gameplay terms, that you can find out through one of the somewhat recent trailers. Have a peek, it's a rather short one:
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[Update]: The experimental update has been a success, and as such the whole thing has now gone live!
Regardless of what sort of game we're talking about, as long as the developers are actively working on balancing it, there will always be power creep. The weakest heroes will get buffed up, a new meta will become established which will then create a new batch of highly underpowered heroes, so then they will get buffed up, and so the cycle goes.
While this isn't too big of a problem initially, over time it can become a massive hindrance to the game's overall balance as the increased power levels leave very little room for fine-tuning. Because of this, heroes will frequently hop between being ridiculously overpowered and pretty much unusable, something we've seen happen in Overwatch time and time again over the past year or so.
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[Update #2]: End of Dragons will be launching in February 2022!
[Update]: Guild Wars 2 will be shutting down its macOS version in February, 2021.
In an announcement that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise given that it was teased all the way back in March, ArenaNet has now unveiled Guild Wars 2's third major expansion - End of Dragons! While the details are unfortunately few and far between, End of Dragons will take place in the distant land of Cantha, and as you might imagine from the name alone, will have far-reaching consequences for the story.
You can get a little bit of a sneak peek at what End of Dragons has to offer, as well as who the story might revolve around, through the teaser trailer. Have a look:
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[Update]: Grounded's Update 0.3 has added zip-lines and expanded the Hedge area.
Even though it may take place in a simple backyard, Grounded's miniaturized world is a rather exciting one to explore. The ant's eye view transforms even the most mundane of objects into a spectacular discovery, though it does also makes even the smallest and harmless of predators into an absolute nightmare.
With that in mind, you might be both pleased and horrified to hear that Grounded has now added a rather inquisitive bird, along with a bunch of crafting recipes that utilize said bird's feathers. As for what exactly this looks like in gameplay terms, that you can find out through the rather brief teaser trailer. Have a peek:
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[Update #2]: Two years later, the Warcraft 3: Reforged team has returned with ranked play, leaderboards and profiles.
[Update]: Warcraft 3: Reforged update has sorted out most of the recent balance problems.
As I've noted throughout my recent review, Warcraft 3: Reforged is, for some strange reason, lacking in small quality-of-life features that have been around for ages in the original. There is no support for clans, no custom campaigns, no leaderboards, and most shockingly of all for a competitive RTS, no player profiles!
However, while it may have taken Blizzard half a year to get there, I am happy to say that player profiles are now finally on the way! According to the brief developer update, profiles will not only feature your match history across the various game modes, but will also allow you to view the specific details of each match. How useful these stats will truly be, I'm afraid I have no idea, but it's still a step in the right direction.
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[Update]: Path of Exile's next update will have you plan and execute high-stakes heists!
In an announcement that I must admit comes as a rather big surprise, Path of Exile studio Grinding Gear Games has announced that a Mac version is not only in development, but is almost ready to launch as well! While no exact details have been given just yet, the macOS version will be launching this September alongside a major content update.
It's also worth mentioning that according to the brief announcement, the macOS version will not be available through the Mac App Store. Instead, you'll be able to directly grab it through either the Path of Exile website or Steam itself.
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[Update]: The Furious Wild DLC has now arrived, though not without a couple of annoying bugs.
Even though Total War: Troy has only just launched, Creative Assembly has already come out to announce a brand new piece of DLC for Total War: Three Kingdoms - The Furious Wild. As the name would suggest, The Furious Wild DLC brings with it the fearsome tribes of the Nanman with their own unique sets of units, missions, campaign mechanics, and even a large new area of the map to mess around with.
The Nanman tribes will be playable in the 190 and 194 start dates, with their primary goal being to unify the various tribes under one banner. You'll be able to do this through either diplomacy or conquest, with each option giving you different benefits and potential drawbacks. This goes doubly so for King Shamoke as his faction lies on the divide between the Han and the Nanman, so no matter how you proceed, someone's bound to get upset.
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[Update #2]: Deathloop has now arrived and, outside of some early performance problems, it seems to be getting a pretty positive reception.
[Update]: Arkane have released a lengthy gameplay preview of their time-bending shooter.
Deathloop was originally supposed to arrive for PC and PlayStation 5 at some point during the 2020 holiday season, but unfortunately it has now been delayed. As you might imagine, the pandemic has thrown a big ol' wrench into its development, and so Deathloop has now been pushed back until the second quarter of 2021.
"The health and safety of everyone at Arkane Lyon remains our top priority," reads the brief update. "As we've adjusted to work-from-home, we found that delivering this new and exciting experience, at the polish and quality level that defines both an Arkane game and a true next-gen experience, is taking longer than normal."
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[Update #2]: Apex Legends' 2020 Halloween event is launching with a spruced up 'Shadow Royale' mode!
[Update]: Apex Legends has added cross-play, as well as tweaked both Wraith and Pathfinder!
If you've fallen off the Apex Legends train and you're looking for something to potentially revitalize your interest, you might want to check out the newly launched Season 6 - Boosted. It brings with it the heavy-weapons focused Rampart as a brand new legend, the rather powerful energy SMG Volt, the ability to craft your own gear by collecting materials throughout the map, and naturally, a whole bunch of changes to the weapons, legends, and even the World's Edge map itself!
You can get a pretty good idea of what all of this looks like in action through two of the newest trailers. The first one is all about Rampart and her abilities, while the second one is more focused on the general changes. Have a little peek: