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[Update] The patch is now live. You can find the full patch notes, as well as more about the accompanying "The Queen and the Crone" DLC over here.
Creative Assembly has been teasing a whole bunch of Total War: Warhammer 2 changes and additions over the past few weeks. So far they've announced Giant Slayers as a new Dwarf unit, a major rework of the infamous Skaven food mechanic, as well as four new Monster Hunts for Norsca.
While all of these new features are quite welcome, the latest announcement is by far the most exciting one - Ungrim Ironfist is soon going to be starting from Karak Kadrin, the Slayers Keep! This might not sound like much on first glance, but when you consider that Creative Assembly recently said they're planning on updating the Old World races, things start becoming a lot more interesting. Could this upcoming update also add brand new starting positions for the Empire, Greenskins and Vampire Counts as well? I sure hope so, because these factions have an ton of Legendary Lords that are all crammed into one location, Legendary Lords that could really spice up the campaign map if they were spread across the world!
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Hearthstone's The Witchwood expansion arrived about a month ago, bringing with it 135 new cards to toy around with. Unfortunately, while some of these new cards are quite interesting, they proved to be no match to some of the best cards from the previous expansions. And so, instead of the current meta being shaped by all of the brand new cards, it's pretty much a repeat of decks and strategies we've already seen time and time again.
With that in mind, I am very glad to say that the Hearthstone team will soon be stepping in with some much-needed balance changes. While the exact tweaks haven't been announced just yet, I can tell you that the update will be coming after the HTC playoffs finish on May 20th. Much like the changes themselves, the exact release date for the patch hasn't been revealed just yet, so don't be surprised if it arrives a bit later than expected.
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While they might look simple on the outset, there is a ton of work that goes into the creation of FPS maps, especially for those that are going to be used for competitive play. As such, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that Overwatch's Watchpoint Gibraltar map underwent an absolute ton of changes before finally becoming the map we know and (sometimes) love today.
If you're wondering what that journey was like, as well as what some of the earliest versions of the map looked like, allow me to share with you the recently posted behind-the scenes video. It's fairly short, totaling at around 2 minutes, so I would definitely recommend you give it a look if you're even remotely interested in game design. Here's the video:
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The Elder Scrolls Online's upcoming expansion will be shifting the action to Summerset, the fabled home of the High Elves and an area of the world we haven't been able to visit since the very first Elder Scrolls game. You can expect to see a variety of new and interesting zones to explore, a whole bunch of public dungeons, delves, bosses and group-content to conquer, the ability to craft jewelry with powerful effects, as well as the opportunity to join the ancient Psijic Order in order to unlock a whole set of new spells.
If you haven't heard about the Psijic Order and you're currently wondering what they're all about, or if you're just curious about what sort of new spells you'll be able to mess around with, you'll find your answers in the recently posted preview down below. Have a look, the video's fairly brief:
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If you ever needed concrete evidence that Fortnite has become ridiculously popular, look no further than the newly announced Fortnite x Avengers: Infinity War crossover. According to an interview Entertainment Weekly held with Avengers: Infinity War co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo, the Mad Titan will be hopping into Fortnite's Battle Royale mode for a limited time starting on Tuesday, May 8th.
The upcoming "Infinity Gauntlet Limited Time Mashup" mode will play pretty much exactly the same as a standard Battle Royale round, though with a very slight addition. As you might imagine, the almighty Infinity Gauntlet is going to spawn somewhere on the map, giving one lucky player the ability to become Thanos himself and absolutely annihilate anyone and anything that might stand before them!
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Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age has been available in Japan for quite a while now, but soon it will be coming to the West as well, though on slightly different platforms. To be more specific, you can expect to see Dragon Quest 11 on PC and PS4 this September 4th, while the Switch version will be coming much later.
Besides English voice acting, the western version will bring with it a variety of additions and improvements: an overhauled user interface, a first-person camera, a dash ability in order to make exploration just a bit smoother, and the Draconian Quest - a hard mode designed for veterans of the series. How exactly the new Draconian Quest is going to function, I'm afraid we currently don't know, but it's still good to hear that Dragon Quest 11 will be getting a bit of extra replay value.
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For those of you that might not be aware, Julian Gollop was the designer and one of the main driving forces behind the original XCOM series. While he has had no direct input in the two modern XCOM games, a lot of his ideas have managed to stand the test of time and are still being used today. As such, I am very glad to say that he is currently working on a brand new turn-based tactics game by the name of Phoenix Point.
While the fine details are still being worked on, in gameplay terms you can expect to see a variety of constantly-evolving aliens to fight against, numerous human factions with their own goals and agendas, a deep customization system for your soldiers, destructible environments, and the list goes on a for a while. If this sounds like the type of game you'd love to mess around with, you might be interested to hear that Julian Gollop recently held a lengthy presentation showing off what Phoenix Point is really all about. So if you are eager to learn more, the video below is a pretty darn good start! Have a look:
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Creative Assembly has been announcing brand new additions to Total War: Warhammer 2 for quite a few weeks now, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that something big is brewing. As discovered by maark91 over at Reddit, the Total War: Warhammer 2 IMDb page has been updated to show that Joel Gorf is voicing a Shadow Walker in a currently announced "The Queen and The Crone" DLC.
While no actual confirmation has been given just yet, this seems to be a pretty darn credible 'rumor'. After all, there are still plenty of High Elf and Dark Elf units and lords to draw from, and what better characters to pick than Alarielle the last Everqueen and her counterpart Crone Hellebron, one of the most ancient and powerful Hag Queens.
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Quake Champions is already a fairly gory game, what with the enemies exploding into a shower of giblets when killed, but according to id Software it is apparently not gory enough. As such, you can expect to see a brand new and heavily improved gore system coming in the near future.
The details are still few and far between, but as you'll see in the preview video, the new system will individually model the tiniest pieces of each champion. The end result, as you might imagine, will make some truly spectacular killing blows. It's completely over-the-top and not realistic in even the loosest definition of the term, but it sure looks like a bit of fun. After all, what's the point of dominating your enemies if you can't also send their assorted giblets straight into the Moon!
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Cities: Skylines' upcoming expansion Parklife is taking things in a bit of a different direction. Instead of giving you a whole bunch of new buildings and transport systems to toy around with, Parklife is all about making your city much more lively through the addition of amusement parks, nature reserves, zoos, city parks, gardens, and the list goes on. A seemingly minor addition in the grand scheme of things, but one that I'm actually quite excited about since trying to make sprawling cityscapes isn't exactly the easiest of things.
The Parklife expansion is set to arrive this May 24th at a €15 price tag, though with a 10% discount for anyone that decides to pre-purchase. Whether all of this is worth your time and money, that's something only you can decide, but I can at least give you a hand by sharing the current list of features. Here's what you can expect to see: