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If you haven't done your Overwatch placement matches just yet, or if you're really close to reaching a higher rank, you might want to get that done soon as the 13th competitive season is just about ready to end. To be more specific, it will be concluding this December 31st at 2pm PST.
While there are no major balance changes coming in with the next season, I am glad to say that Competitive Play itself will be getting a small but noticeable improvement. The off-season break that once lasted two weeks before being slashed down to only a couple of days, will once again be getting a reduction - this time around to a mere two hours! So if you're like me and you greatly enjoy Competitive Play, you'll no longer need to stop playing it for completely arbitrary reasons!
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If you're looking for a reason to stay out of the bitter cold, you might be interested to hear that GOG is currently running a giveaway for the rather excellent sci-fi horror game SOMA. If you're curious, simply head on over to their website, click on the giant "get it free" button, and prepare yourself for a bit of an... unusual journey.
The only catch is that, due to the aforementioned bitter cold, I am a little bit late in getting this announcement out. As such, you only have about ~10 hours in order to claim your free copy of SOMA, so if you're even remotely interested, I would highly recommend you take GOG up on their offer.
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After a month-long delay and a somewhat shaky beta, the tactical shooter Insurgency: Sandstorm has now finally made its way to PC. While that might not exactly paint a pretty picture, I am happy to say that most of the early beta problems have not transitioned into the full version, and that Insurgency: Sandstorm has launched alongside mostly positive reviews!
So if you're looking for a team-based tactical shooter where bullets are about as deadly as you would expect, Insurgency: Sandstorm might just be worth checking out. The one bit of warning I will give you is that the performance is currently a bit of a mixed bag, so if you're unsure whether your PC is strong enough, it might be a good idea to wait for a couple of weeks before diving in. The original Insurgency went through the exact same problems at launch, so hopefully the sequel will get things straightened out soon enough.
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Valve's card game Artifact launched a couple of weeks ago, and unfortunately it has not managed to make much of an impact in the already crowded genre. While the reasons for this are most likely going to be complex, it certainly didn't help that Artifact launched with some rather bare-bones features, no actual ranked mode, no progression, and some extremely wonky balance.
While there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, I am glad to say that the two latest updates have improved the game considerably. The first update brought in-game tournaments and the ability to communicate with your opponent, while the more recent one has added skill rating, account levels with a small progression system, and perhaps most importantly of all, some much-needed balance changes.
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Darksiders 3 arrived for PC and consoles back in November, and unfortunately it did so alongside a whole host of problems. The dodging mechanics were clunky, there were bugs everywhere, and the first hour of gameplay was quite possibly the worst the game had to offer. Thankfully, THQ Nordic have taken these complaints to heart and have slowly but surely improved the overall experience. There's still a lot of work to be done, but Darksiders 3 is now at the very least a pretty decent game.
Continuing on with the constant stream of updates, THQ Nordic has now also released a variety of bug fixes and balance changes, as well as added a brand new "Classic" combat mode. As you might imagine from the name alone, the Classic combat mode makes the overall gameplay feel similar to the first two Darksiders games, meaning you can now dodge to interrupt your attacks, use items instantly, and so forth.
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Hearthstone's newest expansion Rastakhan's Rumble arrived a couple of weeks ago, and even though it brought in a variety of interesting new cards and mechanics, it barely had any impact on the constructed meta. As it turns out, some of the most powerful decks have become so refined that they simply didn't have room, or even a need for brand new cards to supplement their strategy.
In order to tone done some of these decks and make the whole constructed experience just a bit more enjoyable, Blizzard has now issued a variety of nerfs to some of the most popular cards. Here's what changed:
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[Update]: All of the upcoming Ravnica Allegiance cards have now been revealed.
Much like the Guilds of Ravnica set that came before it, the upcoming Ravnica Allegiance cards will be coming to MTG Arena an entire week ahead of the physical version. In other words, you can expect to see the Orzhov, Gruul, Simic, Azorius, and Rakdos guilds in MTG Arena this January 17th.
As you might expect, Ravnica Allegiance will bring with it a whole bunch of new cards and mechanics to toy around with, most of which will be themed around the five two-colored guilds mentioned above. You can get a bit of a sneak peek at what these cards will look like, as well as what unique mechanics each guild will bring to the table, by hopping over to the official website. For example, here's a small teaser showing what the Cult of Rakdos will be all about:
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[Update]: Sons of the Forest, sequel to the The Forest, will be launching on May 20, 2022 for PC.
After spending around four years in Early Access, the survival-focused horror game The Forest officially released back in April alongside some generally positive reviews. While there were still some issues that needed to be ironed out, by all accounts The Forest was a satisfying and fully finished game.
However, it would appear that the developers themselves disagree with that notion as they have just recently unleashed a massive new update. Besides a bunch of bug fixes and visual improvements, this update has also added a new alternate ending, new buildables to mess around with, a bunch of new loot-filled caves to explore, as well as two new late-game creatures to tackle.
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To say that Fallout 76's launch has been troubled would be one gigantic understatement. Besides the usual Bethesda bugs, Fallout 76 also featured a variety of gameplay problems and strange design decisions, all of which combined to create a bit of a mess. However, in an effort to correct these problems, as well as at least partially restore the community's trust, Bethesda immediately announced and subsequently released two massive patches. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done for Fallout 76 to live up to its potential, but there is at least hope that Bethesda will eventually get there.
So if you need something to pass the time while Bethesda fixes Fallout 76, you might be interested to hear that they are giving away the Fallout Classic Collection on PC to anyone that has logged into the full release of Fallout 76 in 2018. While no date has been given just yet, you can expect to see the Fallout Classic Collection added to your account at some point in early January.
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While ARK: Survival Evolved is a pretty fun game these days, its road to success has been a rather bumpy one. So if you were hoping that the studio's latest pirate MMO ATLAS would be spared the same fate, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you as ATLAS has launched exactly like its predecessor - full of both problems and potential.
On paper, it is pretty much exactly what people have been asking for - a multiplayer pirate adventure where you can build your own ships, conquer territory, search for buried treasure, as well as fight all sorts of mythological creatures and monsters from the deep. While all of that is indeed present in the current version of ATLAS, even a single glance at the Steam reviews should tell you that most of it is unfortunately plagued by a variety of problems, both technical and otherwise.