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[Update #2]: Darktide's likely final 2022 patch has fixed two major Psyker issues, a bunch of crashes, and temporarily removed player outlines.
[Update]: Patch 1.0.20 has now arrived, and while it's unfortunately a bit buggy, I'm happy to say that the new power mauls pack one hell of a punch!
As I've detailed throughout my review, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a downright brilliant game that still needs a fair bit of polish in order to truly shine. How long that process will take, that I'm afraid I have no idea, but I'm happy to say that Fatshark has already announced an update that's looking to fix some of the most common complaints.
Once it arrives this December 14th the update will add two new weapons for the Ogyrn to play around with: Indignatus Mk IVe Crusher and Achlys Mk I Power Maul. The exact details are still few and far between, but I can only imagine that the power maul will be a powerful yet slow one-handed weapon, while the appropriately titled crusher will likely be a gigantic hunk of metal for the Ogyrn to really flex his muscles with.
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[Update #2]: Overwatch 2's Season 3 update won't add a new hero, but rather a new Control map - Antarctic Peninsula.
[Update]: Overwatch 2's Battle for Olympus update has arrived with a fun novelty game mode and some truly awful challenges.
After a surprisingly lengthy round of teasers and previews for a single update, Overwatch 2's second season has now finally been unleashed. Season 2 brings with it Ramattra as a brand new stance-shifting tank, a new escort map by the name of Shambali Monastery, a whole host of new cosmetics themed after Greek mythology, and most importantly of all, a bunch of balance changes to help spice everything up.
What some of these new additions look like in action, that you can check out through the Season 2 trailer below. Have a gander:
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[Update]: Wintersday has only just ended, and already Guild Wars 2 is looking to start the Lunar New Year 2023 festival!
Back in June the Guild Wars 2 team released a remarkably unpopular balance update that mostly buffed overperforming builds while doing very little to help those that were hopelessly behind. Following a massive community backlash ArenaNet promised that they would review their balancing process and work towards setting things right, and I'm delighted to say that they were not joking!
Ever since then the Guild Wars 2 team has been releasing a series of quality updates that have buffed, reworked or tweaked a whole bunch of abilities and traits with the intent to make each class equally as potent. Continuing with this trend, the latest update has now added a whole assortment of new changes to explore, most of them focused around end-game PvE and PvP content.
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[Update]: Warcraft 3: Reforged's Patch 1.35 is adding custom campaigns alongside a bunch of balance changes.
Following in the footsteps of the August update that added ranked play, leaderboards and player profiles, Warcraft 3: Reforged's Patch 1.34 has now finally brought in clans. As you would expect from the name alone, clans give like-minded players a place to hang out together and hopefully queue up for some team matches as well. The system really isn't any more complicated than that.
Speaking of team matches, I'm happy to say that Patch 1.34 has also separated AT (Arranged Team) and RT (Random Team) matchmaking. What this means is that pre-made groups will now face off against other pre-made groups, while players randomly queuing into multiplayer matches will pair off with others in the same position. This should've been done from the very start, but I suppose it's better late than never.
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[Update #2]: Dota 2's gigantic Update 7.33 has greatly expanded the map, reworked core mechanics and rebalanced just about everything.
[Update]: Dota 2's next update, and quite likely the newest hero Muerta, will be unveiled on March 6th.
Now that the dust has settled from the massive The International 2022 tournament, Valve has unleashed Update 7.32 onto Dota 2. As is tradition, The International follow-up update doesn't bring with it any sort of major changes or reworks, but is mostly focused around numerical tweaks aimed at getting all of the heroes as closely balanced as possible.
With that in mind, it should come as little surprise to hear that Marci, one of the most popular and powerful heroes in The International 2022, has received a couple of nerfs. Rebound now has significantly lower cast and jump range at lower ranks, slightly lower speed at all ranks, while the lifesteal portion of the Sidekick ability has been reduced by 5% per level. This is definitely a sizable hit to her early game effectiveness, though I have no doubt that she'll remain a competitive support given how much she can really do with very few items.
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[Update #2]: Overwatch 2 has just nerfed Doomfist, Sojourn and Tracer, while Roadhog has managed to escape his fate... for now!
[Update]: Overwatch 2's Season 2 has now arrived with a new tank hero, escort map, cosmetics, and a bunch of strange balance changes.
If you're itching for a bit of a meta shake up, or just some new cosmetics to pursue, you'll be glad to hear that Overwatch 2's second season will be launching this December 6th. It'll bring with it Ramattra as a brand new stance-shifting tank, Shambali Monastery as a chunky new escort map to explore, as well as a whole host of new skins themed after Greek mythology. As for the big fancy skin at the end of the Season Pass, this time around you can look forward to seeing Junker Queen cosplaying as Zeus!
You can get a little sneak peek at some of these cosmetics in action, as well as the upcoming (and free) holiday skins, through the preview trailer below. Have a gander:
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[Update #2]: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is adding new weapons, private matches and crafting improvements on December 14th.
[Update]: My review for Darktide is now live and, long story short, it's as rough and fascinating as the world it takes place in!
If you're a fan of the Warhammer 40k universe, or just ridiculously over-the-top weaponry in general, you'll be pleased to hear that Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has now been unleashed onto PC. Much like its predecessor Vermintide 2, Darktide is all about the power fantasy of slicing and dicing your way through absolutely massives hordes of enemies which, unsurprisingly, is a great deal of fun!
What all of this looks like in action, however, that you can check out through the launch trailer below. Have a gander, and make sure to put on the closed captions as someone over at Fatshark had a blast writing those:
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[Update #2]: Dragonflight's January 10th update will be all about buffing the underperforming classes and specializations.
[Update]: I have some great news to share! World of Warcraft: Dragonflight will be getting six major content updates throughout 2023, essentially following Legion's content cadence!
After Shadowlands and its endless terror and misery, I'm happy to say that World of Warcraft's Dragonflight has now arrived with a much more vibrant world and a lighter tone. Instead of trudging through literal hell in order to rescue perpetually tortured souls of the innocent, Dragonflight is more interested in getting players to explore the vast world around them, talk to a variety of interesting characters, and occasionally even engage in a bit of silliness with surprisingly upbeat quests.
In terms of mechanics, however, the highlight of the Dragonflight expansion is definitely the new dragonriding system which lets you do a variety of aerial maneuvers in order to gain speed and distance. Once properly mastered dragonriding allows you to zoom around the world at ridiculous speeds which, as you might imagine, feels incredible! So while the dragonriding system is currently limited to a couple of unique mounts in the Dragonflight zones, I can only hope it'll eventually be expanded to all of Azeroth as well.
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[Update]: Explorer Anthology 2 and Alchemy: The Brother's War expansions have now arrived with staples and jank galore.
Magic: The Gathering's big artifact focused expansion The Brother's War launched only a couple of weeks ago, and already the MTG Arena team is looking to add a bunch of new cards to play around with. However, instead of more Standard cards, the new additions will be launching for the Explorer and Alchemy formats.
First and foremost, Explorer Anthology 2 will be coming this December 13th with a variety of Pioneer staples, fan-favorites and good ol' fashioned jank. The full list of cards has not been revealed just yet, but here's a quick rundown of everything showcased (or accidentally leaked) so far:
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[Update #2]: Nearly a decade later, The Witcher 3 is getting official modding tools.
[Update]: The Witcher 3's big next-gen update has now arrived and, aside from a couple of technical issues, it's been a resounding success.
Once it arrives this December 14th, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's next-gen update will bring with it a wide variety of improvements, fixes and additional content for the already impressive RPG. Best of all, the next-gen update will be entirely free for everyone that owns any version of The Witcher 3!
Rather than babble on, allow me to share with you CD Projekt Red's brief overview of all the major features, along with a new trailer highlighting some of them in action. Without further ado, here's the brief list: