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The trial version of Mass Effect: Andromeda has been available for quite a while now to those that subscribe to Origin Access, but recently it has become available to the general public as well. So if you are wondering whether Mass Effect: Andromeda is as broken as people say, or if the numerous updates have managed to correct all of the issues, now would be a good time to find out.
Simply head over to the official website and you'll find download links for all three platforms. That said, the website has been unstable these past few hours, so if you're met with a blank screen, worry not as you can just go to whatever storefront your platform uses and grab it from there. For those of us on PC that would be Origin.
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a truly brilliant oldschool RPG that has sadly suffered from a variety of annoying problems that have, ironically, made it far more obscure than it should've been. A lot of those problems have been fixed over the years thanks to the work of talented moders, and it is exactly one of these mods that has suddenly received an update after an 8-year-long break!
The newly updated Arcanum High Resolution Patch 1.5 brings with it a variety of bug fixes and visual clean-ups, a much larger and easier font to read, better compatibility with other mods, as well as numerous new options to tweak at your leisure. The whole list is fairly small despite its significance, so if you're interested in the details here they are:
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After an avalanche of rumors about Hitman's cancellation, and then the eventual separation between Square Enix and IO Interactive, many were worried this would spell the end of constant updates. Thankfully, this has proven to not be the case as IO Interactive has just released the July Update filled with a variety of minor but welcome changes.
Xbox One loading times have been improved, combat has been rebalanced to make Agent 47 less of a tank, numerous potentially game-breaking bugs have been fixed, and perhaps most importantly for new players, you can now unlock Professional difficulty with Mastery level 5. The developers have done a rather good job of explaining each of the changes in detail, so if you're interested in the specifics here's the full list:
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Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is exactly the type of game you would expect given the title: an open world shooter with a heavy focus on stealth and ridiculously long-ranged sniper kills. It released back in May alongside some rather mixed reviews, with the most common complaints being directed towards its technical side and general bugginess.
There have been many patches since then, but even with all of that considered its hard to justify spending $50 on something that may or may not be up your alley. As such, you might be interested to hear that Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is now available as a standalone game, completely separated from its Season Pass and consequently about $20 cheaper.
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XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is an expansion that aims to greatly improve upon the original, while also adding a whole bunch of new storylines, enemies, and factions to deal with. However, not all of these new factions will be hostile towards you, though you will need to expend considerable effort in order to get them to even simply trust you!
If you're wondering what exactly one of these recruitment missions might look like, and also what sort of enemies you might face off against, you'll find what you seek in the most recent "Lost and Abandoned" gameplay video. Have a look:
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The Surge is a sci-fi action RPG developed by Deck 13, a studio you might recognize from their work on Lords of the Fallen. Much like their previous game The Surge has obviously been inspired by Dark Souls, and as such mostly revolves around tactical melee combat against enemies that can and will smash you straight into the dirt the moment you let your guard down.
However, while the Dark Souls series is almost universality praised, both Lords of the Fallen and The Surge have received some mixed reviews. Given the circumstances its very hard to justify dropping €50 in order to check it out for yourself, which is why I'm glad to say that the developers have announced that a demo is coming next week!
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Total War: Warhammer 2 is the second game in a trilogy that is supposed to span the entirety of the Warhammer Fantasy universe and include all of the playable races from the tabletop. As you might expect from the fact that the action takes place in the "New World" Total War: Warhammer 2's launch version will bring with it High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen, and naturally, the Skaven which are so sneaky they have yet be revealed.
So far almost all of the videos and articles were focused firmly on the Lizardmen and High Elves, which is why I'm very glad to say that we have finally received some in-engine footage of the Dark Elves doing what Dark Elves do best - murder and pillage. There's sadly no gameplay to be found, but its well worth checking out for Malekith alone! Have a look:
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It has only been four days since Overwatch's Game Director Jeff Kaplan stated how he doesn't believe in buffing heroes in order to guide the meta in a different direction, and already we have a bunch of amazing buffs aimed at countering dive teams. While I am being slightly snarky given how silly the original statement was, I am also very glad they are not only looking to address dive teams, but are doing so in a way that doesn't affect anyone's enjoyment!
As for the patch itself, it has brought with it yet another wave of Doomfist nerfs, but also some nice little buffs for McCree, Reaper, Reinhardt, and most surprisingly of all, Zarya's ultimate! The patch notes are fairly small, so here they are in full:
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This isn't the first time Capcom's games have been a part of the Humble Bundle, but if you've somehow managed to miss them you now have an additional chance. However, unlike the previous Capcom bundles this ones focuses primarily around zombie themed games, though with a couple of important exceptions.
The Humble "Capcom Rising" Bundle brings with it a variety of Resident Evil and Dead Rising games, as well as the excellent Strider and modern Devil May Cry remake. If you're interested in all of the details you'll find the full list of games, along with their respective tier, down below. Have a look:
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The newly announced Total War Saga games will be standalone spin-offs focusing on the most exciting moments in history rather than entire historical eras. In other words, instead of focusing on a single character's life and the time around them (such as Napoleon or Attila) the team will be exploring some of the most pivotal moments that only lasted a few months, or a few decades at best - something that just wouldn't be enough for a classic Total War game.
That said, the Total War Saga games will not attempt to reinvent the wheel. They will still feature the same mix of turn-based campaign strategy and real-time battles with thousands of units, though with all of that centered onto a single region or country at a certain point in time. A good example of this would be Fall of the Samurai as its essentially a standalone spin-off from Total War: Shogun 2 focused on the most important events of the Boshin War.