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If the recent announcement of Hitman 3 has got you in a sneaky mood, you might be interested to hear that Hitman: Absolution is now free to grab. Simply head on over to GOG, claim yourself a copy, and you'll be ready to play in no time. Speaking of which, the whole giveaway is on a rather strict time limit, so do make sure to add it to your account within the next two and a half days.
As for whether Hitman: Absolution is even worth your time, that's a bit of a difficult question to answer. It's not a bad game by any stretch, but much like that one weird uncle you see once a year during the holidays, something just feels a little bit off with it.
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After spending about a year exclusively on consoles, SNK's fighting game Samurai Shodown has now finally made its way to PC as well. You can grab it for €50 on the Epic Games Store, though unfortunately neither of the two Season Passes are included in the price, thus making it considerably more expensive than its console counterparts.
As for what exactly Samurai Shodown has to offer, as well as what the PC version even looks like, that you can find out through the recently posted trailer. Have a gander:
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If you're in the mood to watch the rise and fall of empires, ideally those not controlled by yourself anyway, you might want to check out Europa Universalis IV's newest expansion Emperor. As the name would suggest, the Emperor expansion brings with it a variety of new options for the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, new features for revolutionary movements and hegemonies, as well as a bunch of smaller improvements across the board.
You can get a brief overview of what all of this entails, as well as check out the recently posted story trailer, right below. Have a look:
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[Update #2]: The greatly improved Death Stranding Director's Cut has now landed onto PC as a $10 upgrade
[Update]: After some delays, Death Stranding has now finally made its way to PC.
The PC version of Death Stranding was originally supposed to launch this June 2nd, but due to the pandemic forcing the team to work from home, it has been delayed. As such, you can expect Death Stranding to make its way to Steam and the Epic Games Store on July 14th.
If you're curious what sort of PC you'll need to actually run Death Stranding, however, you might be interested to hear that Kojima Productions have now also revealed the minimum and recommended PC system requirements. Here's what you'll need:
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If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a snake, and you're also a fan of retro collectathons, you'll be happy to hear Snake Pass is currently free to grab. Simply head on over to the Humble Store, grab yourself a copy, and you'll be ready to slither straight off the map in no time! There is a bit of a time limit, however, so do make sure to snatch a copy within the next two days.
As for what exactly Snake Pass looks like in action, that you'll find out through the launch trailer below. Have a peek, it's quite a colorful one:
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[Update]: The Shadowlands pre-patch has landed onto the public test servers alongside the leveling rework, class changes and new event!
Throughout all of Battle for Azeroth, the two Shaman DPS specializations have sadly been a bit neglected, especially Enhancement. When it comes to raw numbers, Enhancement is quite competitive, but when you look at the actual playstyle, it quickly becomes obvious how flawed the spec truly is. This is mostly because of the 'feast or famine' nature of Enhancement, where you either mash Stormstrike like a jackhammer, or you simply twiddle your thumbs and hope something interesting happens in the near future - neither of which is exactly ideal.
With that in mind, I'm pleased to say that Blizzard has now announced some major changes to both specs. Elemental will be getting a variety of minor tweaks to help make its playstyle flow better, while Enhancement is getting what appears to be a full-on rework.
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The Summer of Pride 2020 sale is now underway on Steam, and as you might imagine from the name alone, it features a variety of discounts on queer-positive games. Pretty much all of the games on offer are indie and fairly niche, though there are also some recognizable ones like Gone Home, Tacoma or the Outer Wilds.
"We want everyone experience the range of diversity bubbling just below the surface of gaming, whether that’s by getting hands-on with the games or watching a beautiful array of diverse streamers find pieces of themselves in the works of queer developers," reads the brief announcement. "Spotlighting creators and media with positive LGBTQ+ representation in characters and storylines saves lives by showing queer youths they are not alone."
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[Update]: Hearthstone's next Battlegrounds update will removed both Arcane Cannon and Gentle Megasaur.
If you've gotten tired of every Hearthstone Battlegrounds match ending up with the exact same strategies and minions, you might want to check out the newly release update. It has not only added Pirates as a brand new faction with 17 new minions and 3 new heroes, but also a shifting minion pool to help spice things up!
At the start of each Battlegrounds game, only five of the six currently available minion types (Beasts, Demons, Dragons, Mechs, Murlocs, and now Pirates) will be available. Heroes designed with synergies around specific minion types will be disabled if their corresponding tribe is banned, while the likes of Rat King will merely have one aspect of their hero power removed.
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[Update #2]: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night update has made the umbrella-wielding vampire Bloodless a playable character.
[Update]: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 has just arrived with its mech-piloting Corgi!
Not even a single year has gone by since Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night first launched, and already the ArtPlay team has announced that they have managed to pass the one million copies sold milestone! This is not only impressive because Bloodstained is a smaller budget game, but also because it's quickly closing on its inspiration Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with its ~1,3 million copies sold!
In order to celebrate this momentous achievement, the Bloodstained team has now revealed a new roadmap and their plans for the future. Here's what you can expect to see throughout 2020:
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[Update #2]: Riot has now released their plans for Valorant's future content updates.
[Update]: Valorant's Competitive Mode has now finally gone live alongside a variety of other changes.
As previously promised, Riot has now gone through Valorant and improved the performance across the board. Expect to see less FPS drops in the middle of combat, support for multi-threaded rendering which should greatly improve things for mid to high spec PCs, as well as a slight visual rework of the maps in order to lessen the CPU load. So while the exact benefits will depend heavily on your PC specs, the update should offer a nice boost across the board.
Additionally, and this really shouldn't come as much of a surprise, Sage's Barrier Orb has been nerfed. Its cast range has gone from 20 to 10 meters, which according to Riot, should still keep her strong while defending territory, but make it much harder for her to push towards the enemy's side. A sizable nerf, though I have no doubts that Sage will still remain one of the strongest agents in Valorant.