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After going through quite a few closed beta tests, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 has now finally made its way to PC. It brings with it the same skill-based combat system the original was famous for, three new specializations for each of the five heroes, a variety of new weapons and items to mess around with, a whole host of new enemies, and naturally, a bunch of new maps to explore.
If you're wondering what all of this might look like in gameplay terms, allow me to share with you two of the most recent trailers. The first one is a very tabletop inspired video showing off what Vermintide 2's world and characters are all about, while the second one is a purely gameplay focused video that will let you know how it actually plays like. Have a look, it's well worth the few minutes:
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My interest in Far Cry 5 started out fairly low, but nowadays I am genuinely excited about it given how Ubisoft keeps announcing one excellent feature after another. For example, instead of the usual batch of boring DLC content, Far Cry 5's Season Pass will let us travel back in time to Vietnam, face off against hordes of zombies in true b-movie fashion, and even hop on over to Mars in order to duel deadly space-arachnids!
And if that isn't enough craziness, you'll be glad to hear that Far Cry 5 will also be coming with a fully featured Map Editor that contains assets from almost all modern Ubisoft games. If you're wondering what exactly that might look like in-game, wonder no more as the developers have recently posted a brief preview video. Have a look, it's quite something:
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After spending what feels like an eternity in the pre-season, Battlerite's very first competitive season has now finally arrived! Besides the the leaderboards, the first season has also brought with it a pre-game lobby to help you better coordinate your picks with your allies, a brand new reward system that will have you pursue a variety of quests in order to unlock fancy cosmetic prizes, and perhaps most importantly of all, a highly aggressive new champion to play around with - Jamila, the Shadowblade Assassin.
If you're wondering what exactly Jamila is all about, allow me to share with you the recently posted Champion Preview video, as well as the brief cinematic trailer that served as her initial reveal. Have a look, it's quite an interesting character:
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Total War: Rome 2's Desert Kingdoms expansion is set to arrive tomorrow, bringing with it four new playable factions to mess around with: Meroe (Kingdom of Kush), Saba, Nabatea and Masaesyli. Each of the factions will be getting new units, building chains, technology trees, as well as individual traits that should go a long way towards fleshing out some of Rome 2's least interesting provinces.
Besides all of the paid content, the Desert Kingdom expansion will also arrive alongside a sizable free update. The highlights include the ability for female characters to occupy social/political roles and even lead armies as generals, Spices as a brand new resource with a major bonus to trade income, an easy to access button that allows you to merge units, and perhaps most importantly of all, the option to set your units into Guard Mode, thus preventing them from chasing enemies and breaking your formations!
The oldschool cyberpunk adventure Fear Effect has been revived with a new sequel - Fear Effect Sedna
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The original Fear Effect is an action-adventure with horror and cyberpunk overtones that released for the PlayStation all the way back in 2000. It received some minor success and even spawned a sequel/prequel in 2001, after which the series more or less faded away into obscurity... until recently!
For reasons that are beyond my understanding, Square Enix has decided to revive the series by not only remaking the original Fear Effect, but also by publishing a brand new sequel - Fear Effect Sedna! The remake is set to arrive at some point later this year, but if you're wondering what Fear Effect has to offer, you might be interested to hear that Fear Effect Sedna has now arrived for both PC and consoles.
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Hearthstone's Arena is currently in a very strange position. One one hand it is entirely feasible to consistently secure high wins if you're skilled enough, but on the other it's also possible to draft a completely subpar deck and then get crushed regardless of your actual decisions. With that in mind, I am beyond delighted to say that Blizzard has finally announced that they are working towards making the Arena card picking process much more consistent and strategic!
Once Patch 10.4 rolls around each Arena pick will feature three cards with a similar power level regardless of their rarity, though Legendary cards are going to be excluded from this for obvious reasons. For example, instead of having two terrible cards and a Fireball to choose from, you will have a Fireball and two other incredibly powerful cards that each fit a certain playstyle. So instead of simply picking the objectively best card, you will have to carefully consider your deck composition, your mana curve, and what exactly you really need for your strategy to work.
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After being briefly teased last weak, Guild Wars 2's (*inhale*) Living World Season 4: Episode 2 - A Bug in the System has now arrived. It has brought with it a brand new chapter in the currently ongoing story, a large and rather beautiful new map to explore, a new mastery to unlock, a variety of balance changes and cosmetics, and even a new legendary dagger to unlock.
If you're wondering what all of this looks like in-game, wonder no more as ArenaNet has recently posted a brief trailer. I would highly recommend you give it a look as it's one of the best trailers they've created in quite a while, with a special mention going to the sinister cover of "Fear Not This Night" near the end. Have a gander:
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The Division launched alongside a fair bit of criticism, a lot which was deserved as the beginning and ending portions were simply too tedious for the majority of players to enjoy. In most cases that would've been the end of the story, but Ubisoft took the time and effort needed in order to not only improve upon The Division's problems, but also add a whole bunch of new content to explore as well! It's still not my cup of tea, but even I have to admit that The Division is now an actually enjoyable game.
As such, if you ever wanted to give it a try, now would be a very good time to do so as Ubisoft is currently celebrating The Division's second anniversary and 20 million players! Naturally, that number includes all of the active and inactive accounts throughout The Division's history, but it's still a pretty darn impressive number, especially when you consider that 500,000 of those players have each spent more than 400 hours roaming NYC. Now that is some dedication!
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[Update]: NIS America has now announced that the PC version will be coming on April 16th for both Steam and GOG.
To say that the PC version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana has had a rough development would be the understatement of the century. It was supposed to arrive alongside the console versions back in September, but was suddenly delayed until December in order to give the developers enough time for polish and optimization. That would've been perfectly understandable, but after a lengthy period of silence the developers once again announced a delay... this time around not even giving an estimated release date!
Thankfully, it would appear that whatever issues plagued the PC version have now been resolved as the NIS President has just announced that we will finally be able to see Ys VIII on PC at some point this April. The exact release date hasn't been given just yet, but hopefully the developers didn't have April 1st in mind, because I'm not sure the Ys fans could survive that kind of an emotional rollercoaster right now.
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Before the PC port was even announced, the Final Fantasy XV developers stated that if given the chance they would take as long as necessary in order to ensure that the PC version is by far the best one. A lofty goal, but if the current Steam reviews are any judge it is one they have successfully managed to achieve!
What this means in gameplay terms is that the PC version of Final Fantasy XV comes with all of the content and patches available on the consoles (including all of the DLC), support for high-resolution graphical options and HDR 10, and naturally, the ability to play at 60 FPS and above. You can also expect to see a new dungeon set in the Insomnia City Ruins, an unlockable action-orientated mode of the Armiger, the ability to pilot your own boat, a variety of new cosmetics, and the list goes on.