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[Update #2]: Bethesda has now released a detailed roadmap for Fallout 76 in 2020.
[Update]: Fallout 76 has now finally arrived onto Steam alongside the massive (and entirely free) Wastelanders expansion.
While Fallout 76 may have its fair share of issues, for me the biggest one is just how lifeless the world feels. After all, Fallout has always placed great emphasis on storytelling and character interactions, so having those removed entirely just left Fallout 76 with a strange void - one that it never really managed to fill.
With that in mind, I'm very glad to say that the upcoming (and entirely free) expansion Wastelanders will be looking to correct that problem! The aptly named expansion will not only be adding a variety of new NPCs to chat and barter with, but also two new human factions you can potentially join, as well as brand new storyline revolving around the sudden return of humanity.
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[Update]: World of Warcraft's Shadowlands expansion has been pinned for a Q4, 2020 release date.
In order to prevent hotbars from becoming too bloated with unnecessary spells, World of Warcraft has slowly but surely been pruning class abilities over the past few expansions. Unfortunately, Blizzard took things way too far in Battle for Azeroth, with most classes now having fairly homogeneous abilities and very little of the flavor they once had. I mean, was there really any point to removing fun but essentially useless spells?
Thankfully, this whole pruning business won't be a problem for long. According to the latest developer update, Blizzard is looking to heavily focus on player choice and customization in the Shadowlands expansion, as well as bringing back a unique identity for each and every single class.
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[Update]: Jill Valentine has now made her way to Resident Evil Resistance as a free and rather powerful new survivor.
Resident Evil 3 launched a short while ago, and it didn't do so alone. It arrived alongside Resident Evil Resistance - a 4v1 asymmetrical multiplayer game where a team of survivors has to escape a variety of devious traps and monsters placed by the evil mastermind.
If that kind of multiplayer action is right up your alley, you'll be glad to hear that Capcom has now released the official roadmap for Resistance outlining just what you can expect to get in the future. You might not be as glad to see it, however, given that the roadmap is currently about as barebones and mysterious as it gets. Still, Capcom did reveal who the next Survivor character will be, as well as when they'll make an appearance.
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[Update]: New World has been delayed once again, this time around until spring 2021.
In an announcement that is likely to become increasingly more common, Amazon has just revealed that their MMORPG New World has now been delayed due to the ongoing pandemic. The new release date has been set for August 25, 2020 while the start of the Closed Beta has been pushed back to July.
"We want to make sure that we have the time needed to make New World the very best it can be for our players," reads the brief developer update. "As a result, we’ve chosen to delay the game’s release in order to reach our quality bar as we work remotely for the foreseeable future."
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[Update #2]: Overwatch 2 will be dropping the Assault game mode as a whole!
[Update]: Overwatch's next experimental update will be looking to reduce the power of Crowd Control effects across the board.
While having a small, pre-set amount of maps available per each competitive season was a nice idea in theory, in reality it just made Overwatch a bit stale. After all, there's only so many times you can rotate between Horizon Lunar Colony and Hanamura before you start going a little bit loopy. As such, I am quite pleased to announce that Blizzard will be retiring the concept of Map Pools this April 14th!
The good news doesn't end there, however, as Blizzard has also announced that they will be removing two of the most unpopular maps from Competitive Play: Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony. You'll still be able to play them in the Arcade modes or through Quick Play, but until they get some much-needed reworks, both maps will thankfully be unavailable in ranked.
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After hearing the same requests over and over and over again, Respawn has now finally given the Apex Legends community exactly what they wanted - the option to play Duos regardless of what event is going on, as well as a fast-moving map rotation so you never get stuck with the same map for long. So if you're like me and you're pining to once again drop in the chaotic nightmare-land that is Kings Canyon's Skulltown, this is the update for you!
Before you do that, however, you might want to give the World's Edge map a try as well given that Respawn has also added a new region to it - a Bloodhound themed arena. As you might imagine from the brief description alone, the arena will have you face off against a variety of hostile critters, as well as your fellow players, in order to acquire a hoard of epic loot. Needless to say, expect the arena to be an absolute bloodbath for the next few weeks.
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[Update #2]: Shadowlands' latest preview is all about the Ardenweald zone and Night Fae Covenant.
[Update]: Blizzard has now also unveiled some of the massive class changes coming with Shadowlands!
World of Warcraft's Shadowlands expansion is heading into Closed Alpha this week, and in order to get everyone on the same page, Blizzard has started releasing a series of previews. This time around, the developer update is all about the Covenants and the type of abilities you'll be able to unlock by joining them.
There will be four Covenants in total, and while you will be able to swap between them, the current plan is encourage faction loyalty by making the swapping process take a fair bit of time and effort. Worry not, however, as you will have a good amount of time to test each of their unique abilities before making your choice, so you won't have to pick blindly and hope for the best.
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[Update]: Total War: Three Kingdoms' The Furious Wild DLC is bringing in the southern Nanman tribes
Total War: Three Kingdom's A World Betrayed update and DLC release back in March, bringing with them a whole host of improvements for the main campaign. The paid DLC added two new factions led by Lü Bu and Sun Ce, thirteen returning factions with new challenges on the campaign map, as well as new story-focused events. The free update was even more impressive, however, as it not only brought in an assortment of new and interesting characters to recruit, but also heavily reworked the bandit factions, improved the spying system, and naturally, added a bunch of quality of life tweaks.
If that sounds like a good bit of fun to you, then you might be pleased to hear that A World Betrayed has now also made its way to macOS and Linux. Much like the rest of the multi-platform games on Steam, if you already own a copy, you will have immediate access to all of the available versions. In other words, don't accidentally purchase another copy!
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[Update]: Overwatch's next experimental update will be looking to reduce the power of Crowd Control effects across the board.
A mere few days ago Blizzard updated the experimental game mode with numerous changes to Ashe, Pharah and Mei, as well as some minor adjustments to Genji and Reinhardt. These tweaks must have gone over extremely well with the playerbase as Blizzard has just done something quite a bit out of the ordinary - they have already ported them over the the live version of Overwatch!
So if you're like me and you're a big fan of Ashe, this is the update for you. Pretty much every single bit of clunkiness has been removed from her weapons and abilities, while their raw power has been increased considerably in order to better place Ashe between McCree and Widowmaker. Here's what exactly has changed:
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[Update]: Saints Row: The Third - Remastered has now arrived, and I'm happy to say it's an excellent remaster!
If you're in the mood for meaningless mayhem, rejoice as Saints Row: The Third is getting remastered! The new version will bring with it greatly improved character models and visual effects, a brand new lighting engine to help the city of Steelport really stand out, as well as all of the various DLC.
Rather than babble on, allow me to share with you the recently posted trailer. It'll give you a pretty good idea of just what Saints Row: The Third is about, as well as how much of an improvement the remastered version is. Have a peek: