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[Update]: Valve has now released the official modding tools and Workshop support for Half-Life: Alyx!
Whether we're talking about a VR game like Half-Life: Alyx or something a bit more standard, the way you move around is of the utmost importance. Everything from your movement speed to your maneuverability drastically affects the gameplay, and if anything is even slightly off, the whole experience can collapse in an instant.
As such, it probably won't come as much of a surprise to hear that Valve had to put in quite a lot of effort into Half-Life: Alyx's locomotion. They needed to account for a variety of common problems like motion sickness from VR movement, as well as some sillier issues like character height that could leave taller players with their heads stuck in the wall!
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[Update #2]: Blizzard has now also unveiled some of the massive class changes coming with Shadowlands!
[Update]: Blizzard has released a new Shadowlands preview highlighting some of the Covenant class abilities and effects.
With Battle for Azeroth now slowly winding down, Blizzard has begun focusing all of their attention on the upcoming Shadowlands expansion. So in order to better collect player feedback, as well as test out new systems such as Covenants or the leveling overhaul, Blizzard has now revealed that the Closed Alpha test will begin this week!
While the exact release date hasn't been announced just yet, this initial alpha will mainly be for long-time WoW players with active accounts in good standing, as well as Blizzard friends and family members. In terms of content, the entirety of the Bastion zone will be available for exploration, along with its accompanying dungeon - the Necrotic Wake. You'll also be able to check out the Alliance side of the revamped new player experience, as well as mess around with the freshly improved classes and abilities.
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[Update]: Turn-Based RPG Wasteland 3 has now made its way to PC and consoles!
The post-apocalyptic RPG Wasteland 3 was originally slated to arrive this May 19th, but sadly that is no longer going to be the case. Instead, due to the pandemic forcing the team to adjust to working from home, Wasteland 3's release date has been pushed back until August 28th.
"As with most companies, we moved to a work-from-home environment some weeks ago, and that's of course introduced new challenges that many of us throughout the world have been learning to manage, reads the brief developer update. "We've been excited to see the Wasteland 3 Beta so well received, but the reality is that with these new logistical challenges our release was going to be impacted."
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[Update #2]: Valorant has now been released for PC, and unsurprisingly, it's a pretty fun shooter.
[Update]: Valorant has been pinned for an early June release date!
League of Legends studio Riot Games is currently in the last stretches of development on a new 5v5 character-based tactical shooter called Valorant, which as you might imagine, has piqued the interest of quite a few FPS players. With that in mind, it's worth mentioning that while Valorant's characters seem to take a fair bit of inspiration from games like Overwatch, its moment-to-moment gameplay is most similar to slower-paced, tactical shooters like Counter-Strike.
Even though the recent teaser trailers are all unfortunately fairly short, they can still give you a pretty good idea of just what Valorant is trying to be. So for now, here's two of them to help clue you in:
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[Update #2]: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV has now concluded the massive saga on both PC and Switch!
[Update]: The latest trailer shows off what the story in Trails of Cold Steel IV will be about.
Trails of Cold Steel III has only just made its way to PC alongside some highly positive reviews, and already I have more great news to share! In a rather brief announcement, Nihon Falcom has revealed that Trails of Cold Steel IV is being developed for PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch!
Expect to see the largest roster of characters in the entire series, with plenty of fan-favorites returning to the battlefield once more. The combat itself is also being spruced up, and much like the characters, it'll feature a combination of new and old ideas. The same trend applies to the out-of-combat activities as well since Trails of Cold Steel IV will be adding an assortment of new minigames, along with some of the more popular ones from before like Vintage Master.
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If you're in the mood for even more bandits to gun down in Borderlands 3, you might be interested to hear that a brand new DLC has just arrived - Guns, Love, and Tentacles. As the name would suggest, the DLC brings with it a bombastic wedding between Hammerlock and Wainwright, multiple new regions to explore, as well as an old friend from Borderlands 2.
You can get a bit of an idea of what all of this looks like in action, as well as who the old friend might be, through the reveal trailer down below. Have a gander:
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[Update #2]: Overwatch's final hero Echo has now been released for both casual and competitive play.
[Update]: Overwatch is retiring Map Pools, as well as removing Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony from Competitive Play.
After a brief round of teasers, Overwatch's Hero #32 has been revealed as the mysterious Omnic Echo. However, instead of being a support hero as many expected, Echo has been unleashed as a highly mobile, and just as deadly, shape-shifting damage dealer.
While Echo will soon be making her way to the live version of Overwatch, you can check out her and her newly introduced cosmetics ahead of time by visiting the PTR. If you don't feel like downloading an entirely new client, however, you can also give the new skins a sneak peek over at the Overwatch Twitter. Needless to say, they are pretty darn amazing!
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[Update]: The comprehensive Resident Evil 4 Remake has now arrived alongside solid reviews and a free demo.
The Resident Evil 2 Remake, while not a completely faithful adaptation of the original horror classic, set an incredibly high standard for any future Resident Evil games to follow. As such, it might not come as too much of a surprise to hear that the newly released Resident Evil 3 Remake has fallen a bit short of its mighty predecessor.
Now don't get me wrong, Resident Evil 3 is by no means a bad game. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's a pretty darn good one, though it does have some noticeable flaws. For example, the whole campaign can be completed in under five hours without any prior knowledge, while a couple of the iconic Resident Evil 3 locations like the clocktower were cut from the game entirely.
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[Update #2]: Sea of Thieves has now landed onto Steam with cross-play between all three versions.
[Update]: Sea of Thieves has been pinned for a June 3rd release date on Steam.
Sea of Thieves has been around on the Xbox One and Microsoft Store for around two years now, but if you're not a fan of either platform, I do have some good news to share. According to announcement that came pretty much out of nowhere, Sea of Thieves will soon be making its way to Steam!
The details are basically nonexistent right now, to the point that we don't even know when Sea of Thieves will be launching. Thankfully, we won't have to wait for too long to find out as the full announcement should be coming quite soon.
What I can tell you for certain, however, is that there will be cross-play support for the Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam versions. So regardless of what platform you end up choosing, you'll be able to play with exactly the same people.
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If you're a fan of collecting cosmetic armor sets in World of Warcraft, this should be a pretty good week for you. As a part of the recent update, Blizzard has made it so Legion raids and dungeons now follow the 'Legacy Loot' system, which should make it considerably easier to acquire those fancy tier sets.
Basically, what Legacy Loot means is that instead of only getting one piece of personalized loot every couple of bosses, each boss will now drop an entire raid's worth of items for you and your group. Naturally, these items might not be usable for your class, but even so, the odds of you getting what you want will be heavily increased simply due to the amount of loot involved.