- By Ash
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Despite Vermintide 2's arsenal being pretty damn enjoyable to use, as I've noted many times throughout my review, the unfortunate reality is that many of them are currently woefully inadequate when it comes to the hardest difficulty setting. This is usually because they lack armor-penetration to help deal with those pesky Chaos Warriors, but some also have issues with ammo efficiency, cleave size, attack speed, and naturally, moveset.
With that in mind, I am delighted to announce that Vermintide 2's latest beta has not only rebalanced just about every weapon and career, but has also tweaked all of the enemies in order to prevent some of the more annoying bugs and behaviors from popping up. Chaos Warriors now no longer do instantaneous 180° turns in order to clobber you in the face, Berserkers and Plague Monks no longer break the laws of physics and home-in on you during their jump attacks, regular enemies no longer track you with their swings despite you dodging their blows, and the list goes on for quite a while.
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Despite it being one of the major reasons why people play the physical Magic the Gathering card game, its online incarnation MTG: Arena unfortunately launched into Open Beta without the ability to play against your friends. Thankfully, this issue will soon be getting resolved as the upcoming November update will include the "Direct Challenge", which as you might imagine, gives you the ability to play against your friends in a best-of-one match.
This new mode will only have two limitations - you will need to have a deck that's at least 60 cards in size, and you will not be able to progress your daily quests while playing in it. Everything else is going to be up to you and the people you play with, meaning that you can play with singleton, standard, pauper or any other decks types you might be interested in. Naturally, all of it will be done under an 'honor' system, so do make sure to communicate with your opponent before you whip out any sort of wacky rules.
- By Ash
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Hellgate: London is quite an anomaly. It's a 2007 action-RPG with fairly mediocre combat and quest design, even for the era, and yet despite its flaws it has managed to captivate a surprisingly large amount of people, myself included. I haven't played it in nearly a decade, and yet every so often I will remember a small part of it and immediately get the craving to slice some demons up with a futuristic sword. I don't know what it is, but there's just something special about Hellgate: London.
With that in mind, I am both weary and happy to announce that Hellgate: London will be returning to Steam this November 15th. There are very few details currently available, but what I can tell you for certain is that the Steam version will feature the Toyko expansion which hails from the Korean free-to-play version called Hellgate Global.
- By Ash
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[Update]: The replay system has now finally arrived, and even though it's a bit limited right now, it's a pretty cool system!
Ever since Overwatch first launched Blizzard has quite firmly stated that spectating and replays are something they would like to add in the future. A few years and an entire season of the Overwatch League have passed since then, but thankfully the long wait will soon be over as the next update will bring in a beta version of both systems.
Spectating, replays and all of the goodies associated with them will initially only be available on the PC version and only for the upcoming Overwatch World Cup. Once all of the bugs and potential problems have been fixed, the system will also be implemented for 'standard' matches on both PC and consoles. As for when exactly this fully-featured version will arrive, I'm afraid Blizzard hasn't specified just yet.
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If you have a bit of free time and the will to experiment with different genres, I would highly recommend you go and check out the October Humble Monthly bundle. The reason I say this is because they are currently offering Hollow Knight, Hitman (the entire first season) and 7 Days to Die for an extremely low $12 combined.
I'm not a huge fan of survival games so I must admit I don't rank 7 Days to Die that highly, but both Hitman and Hollow Knight are well worth grabbing for $12 on their own, which makes this package an absolute steal in my eyes. I especially recommend playing Hollow Knight as it's without a single doubt one of the best Metroidvania games released in quite a few years, both in terms of visuals and gameplay. So once again, if you have a bit of free time, do make sure to check the current bundle out as it really is a great deal.
- By Ash
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Gwent's lengthy and singleplayer focused campaign Thronebreaker was supposed to arrive nearly two years ago, but due to some unfortunate problems it has ended up being delayed time and time again. The long wait is now thankfully over as CDPR has officially pinned Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales for an October 23rd release on PC, while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will arrive on December 4th.
As for the campaign itself, it will follow the warrior-queen Meve as she attempts to deal with both dissent from within, as well as the imminent Nilfgaardian invasion. You can expect to see mature storytelling in the vein of The Witcher 3, plenty of new cards and mechanics to mess around with, as well as some RPG elements that transcend the game of Gwent itself.
- By Ash
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Roadhog is currently not in a good place. Ever since his rework/nerf he has become incredibly inconsistent at killing the flankers he's designed to deal with, which combined with his equally inconsistent and buggy hook has resulted in him quickly becoming not only the worst tank, but also objectively one of the worst heroes in Overwatch.
Thankfully, there is some hope on the horizon as Blizzard has recently announced that they are looking into bringing Roadhog back into action. While no details have been revealed just yet, I am very happy to say that Blizzard is aiming to release these changes in this week's PTR update, provided no major bugs or problems rise up in internal testing.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: New and improved Disgaea 6 Complete will be heading over to PC this Summer 2022.
[Update]: Nearly a decade since the original version, Disgaea 4 Complete+ has now made its way to PC.
The PC version of Disgaea 5 Complete was originally supposed to launch on May 7th, but was unfortunately delayed due to some sort of major bug. Thankfully, it would appear that the bug has now been fixed as NIS America has come to announce that the new release date has been set for October 22nd.
Perhaps most importantly, NIS America has also revealed that they will be lowering the price by $10, meaning the standard edition will set you back $40, or $30 if you decide to pre-purchase it. You can also grab the "Digital Dood" edition that includes the artbook for $43 (or $33 if you pre-order), which is surprisingly reasonable as far as digital goodies are concerned. Due to the price drop all previous pre-orders have now been fully refunded, however, so if you're still planning on pre-ordering the PC version, you'll need to go and repeat the process once more.
- By Ash
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[Update]: The newest Call of Duty game, Black Ops Cold War, has now been unleashed alongside a surprisingly good singleplayer campaign.
If you're a bit behind schedule like I am, you might be interested to hear that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has recently arrived on both PC and consoles. However, unlike the previous entries in the series, Black Ops 4 does not bring with it a singleplayer campaign. Instead, its focus is quite firmly placed on all sorts of multiplayer modes.
Given that the current craze is Battle Royale games, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that the Blackout mode is exactly that. It doesn't offer anything that truly sets it apart from the rest of the competition, but the gameplay is fast-paced and the gunplay is solid, so it's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre. If you're not exactly sure where you stand, however, allow me to share one of the recent trailers for the Blackout mode. Have a gander:
- By Ash
- in News
Whether your preferred mode of play is Standard or Wild, chances are you'll encounter an overwhelming amount of ramp-based Druid decks on your journey. This, combined with the simple fact that some matchups are incredibly binary, has finally prompted Blizzard to announce a much-needed balance patch.
While I would love to tell you this upcoming October 18th patch will correct all of the problems currently found in Hearthstone, I'm afraid the update is a bit limited in scope. In other words, it will only be changing three cards: Giggling Inventor, Mana Wyrm and Aviana. You'll find all of the details over at the Hearthstone website, but for now here are all of the changes and a brief quote explaining the team's reasoning behind each tweak: