- By Ash
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If you're like me and you have fond memories of the ancient Lemmings puzzle/strategy series, you might want to check out the freshly released Humanity. Much like its inspiration, Humanity is all about trying to prevent a horde of people with absolutely no survival instincts from accidentally flinging themselves off cliffs, running face-first into traps, or simply slamming their heads into walls because the very notion of having to think on their own terrifies them.
In order to get everyone to safety you'll need to micromanage just about every step of their journey. This includes deciding when they should turn around, jump, activate switches, and so forth. It's a very simple system to understand since you're only ever issuing the most basic of commands, though don't let this lull you into a false sense of security as you'll frequently need to get multiple moving pieces working in unison in order to transport everyone safely to the end.
- By Ash
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[Update #2]: Bad news, I'm afraid. It looks like Overwatch 2's downsized PvE content will be locked behind a $15 purchase.
[Update]: Overwatch 2's Season 6: Invasion preview shows off the Story Missions and new Flashpoint game mode
In an effort to make Overwatch 2 as impressive as it could possibly be, Blizzard essentially decided to put the original game on pause. And so, despite its immense popularity, the last few years of Overwatch saw no real content updates outside of the occasional balance tweak attempting to make things feel fresh again.
Unsurprisingly, this decision did not go over well with the community, though there was still a certain amount of optimism surrounding the whole thing as Overwatch 2's PvE mode sounded awesome! It promised to add new storylines and dialogue options for a whole bunch of fan-favorite heroes, plenty of co-op focused shooty action which is always a good time, and even a fair bit of replayability thanks to unique talents for each hero. What more could you really ask for?
- By Ash
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[Update]: Firmament has now arrived, and while the puzzles are fun, the plethora of bugs is sadly not.
It took quite a few years for us to get here given that the original Kickstarter campaign was concluded all the way back in 2019, but Myst studio's newest steampunk flavored puzzle-adventure Firmament is now nearly upon us! And when I say nearly, I'm really not joking as Firmament will be launching in a mere few days, on May 18th.
As you would expect given the studio and its pedigree, Firmament is going to be all about exploring a large and detailed world, messing around with a variety of strange devices without having the faintest clue about what they actually do, and naturally, trying to unravel ancient secrets in between all of that puzzlin' around. It's pretty much the same formula as Cyan's previous games, so with a bit of luck Firmament should be a nice bit of fun as well.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Dota 2 is getting rid of its Battle Pass and instead focusing on more frequent updates.
[Update]: Dota 2's Patch 7.33d has nerfed Vanguard, Octarine Core and some of the overperforming heroes.
As a part of the recent Update 7.33 Dota 2 greatly expanded its map, reworked a whole bunch of core mechanics and rebalanced just about everything and everyone. Unsurprisingly, bringing in this many massive changes all at once resulted in a fair few balance problems, both for the heroes and the items.
So in order to sort this newfound mess out, as well as buff some heroes that got left behind in the previous patch, Valve has now unleashed the rather chunky Update 7.33c. Wisdom runes now also grant bonus experience to the lowest-level hero on the team, clearing stacked camps now gives a portion of the experience to the person that stacked them, a variety of deceptive tree paths have been reshaped, while universal heroes now gain 0.7 damage per attribute rather than 0.6.
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[Update]: Diablo 4 has now finally arrived, and while there are some notable issues, it's pretty good fun.
If you're excited about Diablo 4 and you've somehow missed the previous beta, you're in luck because Blizzard has now launched one last public test - the Server Slam! There is unfortunately a bit of time pressure with this one as the event will only be running until May 14th on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.
In terms of content, the Server Slam will let you play through the prologue and the entirety of Act 1, with the limit being that you can't go past level 20. This is still a fairly sizable amount of content, so you should be able to get a pretty good impression of Diablo 4's gameplay and hopefully decide whether the game is actually worth your time and money.
- By Ash
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[Update #2]: Total War: Warhammer 3's Update 4.0 will expand battle difficulty settings, add new landmarks and improve the tutorial.
[Update]: Total War: Warhammer 3's Update 3.1 has added Harald Hammerstorm, the original 'Warhammer', along with a rework of Bretonnia!
Well over a year has gone by since Total War: Warhammer 3 first launched, and despite it being the grand finale of a highly popular series it has received a remarkably small amount of updates and DLC so far, especially when compared to its predecessor that always seemed to have something waiting just around the corner. Thankfully, this content drought might soon be a thing of the past as Creative Assembly has now announced a whole suite of updates and DLC that will be arriving throughout 2023 and the first half of 2024!
First and foremost, the relatively small Update 3.1 will arrive in the final week of May with Chaos Dwarfs as an endgame scenario in Immortal Empires, seven new regiments of renown, a new legendary hero, as well as a whole assortment of balance changes and gameplay tweaks. Fairly simple stuff, but definitely welcome given how shaky the performance is right now.
- By Ash
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[Update #2]: MTG Arena has now banned Fable, Bankbuster and Invoke Despair in order to shake up Standard.
[Update]: The day has finally come - MTG Arena has now made its way onto Steam!
If you were looking forward to MTG Arena's upcoming March of the Machine: The Aftermath mini-expansion and its 50 new cards, I have some good and some slightly strange news to share. First and foremost, the good news is that the Aftermath expansion has now gone live, a full two days ahead of schedule!
The strange part is that all of this seems to be the result of the massive server issues that appeared on Tuesday. What exactly happened and why it forced Wizards of the Coast to release Aftermath so early, I have no idea, but I can definitely tell you that the premature launch wasn't planned as the freebie packs are still scheduled to arrive on May 11th!
- By Ash
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[Update #2]: MTG Arena has now banned Fable, Bankbuster and Invoke Despair in order to shake up Standard.
[Update]: MTG Arena's Aftermath expansion has now launched ahead of schedule due to some server issues.
While the Standard format on MTG Arena is absolutely thriving, its tabletop counterpart is slowly but steadily declining in both popularity and relevance. This is partly due to being overshadowed by formats like Commander or Modern, and partly because the high prices on staple cards like Sheoldred alongside the fairly stale metagame push people away before they even give it a try.
So in an effort to solve this problem and revitalize Standard, Wizards of the Coast has now done something a bit drastic - extended the Standard rotation from two to three years! In other words, there won't be a new Standard rotation once Wilds of Eldraine goes live this September. Instead, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and Streets of New Capenna will all be rotating in late 2024.
- By Ash
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[Update #2]: The day has finally come - MTG Arena has now made its way onto Steam!
[Update]: Magic: The Gathering is extending its Standard rotation from two to three years in order to help the floundering format on tabletop.
After teasing it for what feels like forever, Wizards of the Coast has now finally decided to settle on a date for MTG Arena's big Steam release. So if you're in the mood for a modern, digital adaptation of Magic: The Gathering, make sure to mark May 23rd on your calendar... or just give the standalone version a try right now.
Much like the original, the Steam version of MTG Arena will be free-to-play and give you access to all of the game modes from the very beginning. If you're only just starting out it'll most likely take you a couple of months to build up a somewhat competitive collection, but once that's done keeping up with new sets is generally fairly easy, especially if you're a fan of the draft format.
- By Ash
- in News
After many years of working on stealth-based immersive sims, Arkane has decided to try something a little bit different with Redfall. As such, Redfall is an open-world, co-op focused shooter that's all about hunting vampires with a variety of wacky equipment and abilities. A pretty fun concept, all things considered!
As for what it all looks like in action, that you can check out through the freshly posted launch trailer below. Have a gander: