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[Update]: Apex Legends' Season 6 is bringing in a new Legend called Rampart, an energy SMG and gear crafting.
After going through a small delay, Apex Legends' massive Season 5 update has now finally arrived. It brings with it Loba as a brand new and loot-focused Legend, gigantic changes to Kings Canyon that include the destruction of Skull Town and Thunderdome, as well as a plethora of new cosmetics to collect.
There's also a whole bunch of story quests to unlock over the course of the season, a reconnect feature for the ranked mode, and even a massive rework of Mirage that has transformed him into a surprisingly powerful and tricksy character. And if that wasn't enough, Season 5 has also graced a variety of other Legends and weapons with much-needed balance tweaks, as well as fixed up some of the more problematic bugs like Wingman's 100% hipfire accuracy while crouched.
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[Update]: Shadow Arena has now been released into Steam Early Access.
They may be a bit late for the whole Battle Royale craze, but Black Desert Online studio Pearl Abyss will soon be releasing their very own take on the genre into Early Access. The titular Shadow Arena will have 40 players scramble across the entire map in search of monsters and loot, all the while keeping an eye out for any opposing players that might prove to be a threat... or a tasty morsel!
While the basics are pretty much the same, the one aspect where Shadow Arena greatly differs from the rest of the genre is the combat, mostly because it's heavily inspired by the one found in Black Desert Online. So in Shadow Arena each of the ten heroes will have unique abilities and playstyles, and learning how to effectively manage and counter each of them is going to be quite important and also quite tricky.
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[Update #2]: Overwatch Anniversary 2020 event has now arrived with a bunch of new cosmetics and the below-mentioned balance changes.
[Update]: Blizzard is bringing back Open Queue as an alternative competitive mode.
A little while ago Blizzard revealed that they are looking into rebalancing the support category, as well as helping out some of the more niche heroes. Usually something like this would involve a lengthy and fairly boring PTR, but thanks to the recently launched Experimental game tab, the developers have now put all of their proposed changes directly into the live version for testing!
So if you're eager to see what will happen with the meta in the near future, as well as offer Blizzard some much-needed feedback, you can do so immediately by visiting the Arcade. Before you do so, however, you might want to check out the actual changes. Have a look:
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PlatinumGames recently held a Kickstarter campaign in order to garner funds to port The Wonderful 101 to modern platforms, thus ending its Wii U exclusivity. The Kickstarter campaign turned out to be a massive success, and so The Wonderful 101: Remastered not only ended up being reality, but is also getting a few bits of extra content thanks to the stretch goals.
The good news doesn't end there, however, as The Wonderful 101: Remastered is just about ready to release! You can expect to see the digital version launch in North America on May 19th, in Europe on May 22nd, while Japan will be getting both the physical and digital versions on June 11th. And if you're a Kickstarter backer, odds are good you can already claim your copy and start playing ahead of time.
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[Update]: Season 5 has now arrived with a whole bunch of changes in tow, including a rather excellent rework of Mirage!
Apex Legends' Season 5 update is set to arrive tomorrow, May 12th, alongside a bunch of new content. Expect to see the first ever story quests, a hefty rework of Kings Canyon that will see Skull Town and Thunderdome utterly obliterated, a variety of cosmetic goodies to collect, and perhaps most importantly of all, a trickster Legend by the name of Loba.
If you're curious what exactly Loba looks like in action, as well as what her abilities have to offer, you'll find your answers in the recently posted preview. Have a gander, it's a short but sweet one:
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[Update]: The Warden & The Paunch DLC has now arrived, and unsurprisingly, it's yet another pretty good one.
Despite their significance in the lore, Greenskins in Total War: Warhammer 2 have been the punching bags of all the Order-aligned races for well over a year now. That will soon be coming to an end, however, as the Warden and the Paunch update and accompanying DLC will bring with it an assortment of improvements to both the Greenskins and High Elves.
On the Greenskins side of things, the DLC will add the meanest and bulkiest Goblin that has ever existed - Grom the Paunch. He's the only Greenskins warboss that has ever led a successful invasion of the ancestral homeland of the High Elves, and now that he's come back, he's planning to go for seconds! To do so he's assembled an army consisting of disgusting Trolls, haphazardly constructed Snotling warmachines, and most terrifyingly of all, highly magical and highly aggressive idols created out of bits of stone and copious amounts of Orc excrement!
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As is sadly becoming more and common due to the pandemic, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne's next update has now been delayed. While it was originally supposed to release in May, the fourth major update has now been pushed back to a rather nebulous "later date".
"Unfortunately, coronavirus (COVID-19) related impacts on production have made it necessary to postpone the release of the fourth free title update for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne," reads the brief announcement. "Voice over production for the Italian, Spanish and French language versions have also been affected, and will be replaced with simplified recordings."
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I don't know what exactly is happening behind the scenes, but it would appear that EA is currently in the process of shifting their focus towards the creation of new games. A little while ago they announced that Battlefield V's final update will be coming in June, and more recently, they have also revealed that development on Star Wars Battlefront 2 is now coming to an end.
"Looking beyond April, we’re transitioning to a phase where the servers, in-game challenges, recurring events such as Double XP and more, and game support will carry this broad and rich Star Wars gaming experience into the future," reads the official update. "This means that we’re moving away from delivering regular content updates. As the game lives on with the players and our community, we’re looking forward to hearing your stories for years to come."
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[Update #2]: After many, many delays, Bloodlines 2 will be re-revealed in September 2023, though you can now refund your pre-order if you wish
[Update]: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has lost its Lead Narrative Designer and Creative Director.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was originally supposed to launch this March, but as the release date got closer, the developers chose to delay it until "later in 2020" in order to ensure things are as polished as possible. Quite understandable given that the original Bloodlines got hammered at release due to a variety of game-breaking bugs and issues.
A few months have past since that announcement, and if you're curious about where exactly Bloodlines 2 currently stands, you'll happy to hear the developers have now released a brief but rather disturbing new trailer. Have a gander:
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[Update #2]: Crucible will be closing down its servers on November 9, 2020.
[Update]: Crucible has now been officially launched, though not without a whole bunch of problems.
If you're a fan of team-based shooters, you might want to keep an eye on Amazon's upcoming free-to-play game Crucible. Once it arrives on May 20th it'll bring with it a colorful cast of characters, each with their own abilities and playstyles, as well as a variety of reasons to go out and throw fireballs directly into someone's face.
The launch version will feature three distinct game modes, all of which are twists on the genre classics. Heart of the Hives will be a 4v4 mode that challenges you to collect hearts left behind by monstrous hive creatures, which means a lot of running around and sabotaging your enemy. In Alpha Hunters you and a partner will need to square off against a myriad of enemy teams, all in an effort to be the last man/robot/alien/plant-thing standing alive.