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Code Vein is Bandai Namco's upcoming action-RPG that seems to be taking quite a few pointers from the Dark Souls series, both in terms of gameplay and storytelling. The combat is all about careful positioning, precise strikes and timely dodges, while the world and its inhabitants are all dark and twisted. There is obviously more going on than this basic comparison would let on, but it should at least give you an idea of what to expect from Code Vein.
You can also check out the recently posted gameplay trailer as it features some heavily Dark Souls inspired combat. It's still a little bit clunky as Code Vein is currently unfinished, but there does appear to be a great degree of potential here. But enough babbling from me, have a look:
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The Mac version of Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration has now made its way to Steam, while the Linux port will be coming in the near future, though I'm afrad no exact date has been given just yet. In terms of content, the rather ambiguously titled "20 Year Celebration" edition brings with it the base game and all of the DLC in one convenient package. The DLC itself isn't anything special, and a lot of it is cosmetic, but it's still good for a few hours of fun so I'd say it's well worth checking out.
Much like the good chunk of ports these days, the Mac version of the 20 Year Celebration edition has not been made by the developers themselves, but rather by Feral Interactive. You might recognize them from their work on the Mac and Linux ports of Tomb Raider, Total War: Warhammer 1 and 2, XCOM 2, Dawn of War 3, and the list goes on. So far their work has been pretty high quality, so hopefully the same applies in this scenario as well.
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[Update]: World of Warcraft will soon be reverting the rather controversial Global Cooldown changes.
World of Warcraft's abilities can be broadly categorized into two groups: those that require you to briefly pause after using the ability, and those that can be chained with other abilities without any restrictions. Your standard spells like Fireball or Frostbolt belong in the first category, while the second category is almost exclusive reserved for power-up spells, escape abilities, and powerful defensive cooldowns.
While it might sound complicated on paper, it's a fairly simple and effective system. As such, I must admit I'm a bit surprised to announce that Blizzard is aiming to remove the second category and make it so the vast majority of abilities incur a global cooldown after use. If these changes go through you can expect to see the combat become slightly but noticeably slower, especially for classes that rely on combinations of abilities for their damage or defense.
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After being teased for quite a while now, Hearthstone's The Witchwood expansion has finally arrived alongside the Year of the Raven. What this means in gameplay terms is that you now have 135 new cards to play around with, a couple of simple yet incredibly potent new mechanics, as well as a Standard Mode without Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Kharazan and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan cards.
You can find the full list of new cards, as well as all of their effects, over at the official website. If you prefer to see them in action, however, you'll be glad to hear that just by logging in you will be granted 3 The Witchwood card packs and a random new Legendary. Additionally, your odds of getting new Legendary cards are greatly increased while opening your first dozen or so packs, so make sure to take advantage of that feature as well.
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The upcoming Thrones of Britannia is going to be the very first of the new Total War Saga spin-off series. In other words, instead of covering a large stretch of territory across an equally large time frame, Thrones of Britannia will narrow down the focus to the British Isles and the most interesting events that happened after the English king Alfred the Great halted the Viking invasion in 878 AD.
In gameplay terms this means you can expect to see a smaller amount of more interesting and unique factions, "the most detailed Total War map yet", plenty of local flavor, as well as a variety of gameplay improvements. A little while ago Creative Assembly highlighted most of the combat additions and changes, while this time around it is the politics & intrigue system that's getting all of the spotlight. Have a gander, it's quite an interesting video:
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[Update]: Shovel Knight devs are working on a new 8-bit action-adventure - Mina the Hollower!
In an update that came as a bit of a surprise to me, Shovel Knight's developer Yacht Club Games announced that they have now managed to sell two million copies. I genuinely expected that number to be much higher given how fun Shovel Knight truly is, as well as how many platforms it has appeared on over the years. That said, two million sales is still a pretty darn impressive accomplishment!
"Just 18 months after its original debut, Shovel Knight surpassed one million copies sold total. Since then, the road to 2 million has been arduous but at the very end of February, an extensive 26 months later, we reached a colossal milestone," reads the developer update. "Thank you everyone for your unbelievable support! It is so inspiring that people still pick up, play, and fall in love with Shovel Knight for the first time every day."
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I'm certain some will disagree with me, but Gwent has been on a downwards trajectory ever since the fabled Midwinter Update. The removal and simplification of many strategic elements resulted in the matches becoming increasingly more stale, while the newly introduced cards with random effects ended up having a profoundly negative impact on the overall gameplay, so much so that CDPR announced they are banning the most egregious examples from the constructed mode. Long story short, things were not looking good for Gwent's future.
However, there is a beacon of hope on the horizon - the newly announced Homecoming update. According to CDPR, the Homecoming update will rework Gwent from the ground up and refocus it on what it was always trying to be - a deeply strategic game with many unique and interesting playstyles to explore. To further emphasis this point they also announced that they will be fixing the long-standing second player advantage, diversifying the factions, and perhaps most importantly, removing randomness in favor of cards that require skill and timing in order to use well.
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While it might sound like a particularly far-fetched April Fools' joke, Shaq Fu 2 is a game that not only exists, but is actually coming in the near future as well! According to the recently posted announcement, you can expect to see Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn in all of its glory this June 5th on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and the Switch.
If you're wondering what in the world a game like this could even be about, allow me to share with you the latest and appropriately cheesy trailer. There's not much gameplay footage on display, but what little there is should clue you in on what to expect. Have a gander, it's quite something:
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After spending a little bit of time on the test servers, Warcraft 3's much-anticipated Update 1.29 has now finally arrived. It brings with it support for modern widescreen resolutions, a whole host of balance changes aimed at the weakest and most problematic abilities, as well as the ability to play custom games with up to 24 players.
That last part is perhaps the most exciting once since the update has also removed a lot of the World Editor's restrictions and added even more options to fiddle with. As such, I think it's fair to say that we can expect to see Warcraft 3's already incredibly diverse custom games scene to become even more interesting. Naturally, I doubt this update is going to bring back the map-making legends of old, but thankfully there is still enough of a community left to explore the new and exciting possibilities.
Steam's latest privacy update has greatly increased the amount of control you have over your profile
- By Ash
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In a bit of a surprising update, Valve has now greatly increased the amount of control you have over the privacy of your Steam account. So while you could always go with the nuclear option and set yourself as fully private, you can now also individually limit and customize what other people can see.
"Today’s update expands on your Profile Privacy Settings Page, giving you more control over the privacy of your Steam account," reads the brief update. "With more detailed descriptions of what profile information is included in each category, you will be able to manage how you are viewed by your friends, or the wider Steam Community."