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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.
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After many months of absolutely no information about the upcoming Overwatch League Blizzard has finally released something concrete. As you might imagine from the title, we're talking about the seven initial Overwatch League teams, their home cities, as well as who exactly are their owners.
If you would like to hear this from Nate Nanzer, the Overwatch League Commissioner, you'll find the recently posted announcement video right below. On the other hand, if you're just interested in seeing which cities will have their own teams I'll also add a brief summary. Have a look:
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Fortnite is Epic's upcoming "action building game" that combines elements from a wide variety of genres. You need to scavenge for materials and weapons as if you were playing an open-world survival game, you need to craft traps and fortifications as if you were playing a tower defense game, and amidst all of that you also have to carve your path through hordes upon hordes of strange critters in order to solve quests as if you're playing some sort of run & gun shooter.
Its a strange combination, but from everything I've seen so far its surprisingly compelling. While the recently posted launch trailer won't exactly show you what Fortnite plays like, it will give you a pretty damn good look at its personality and gameplay style, so I would recommend checking it out if you're interested. Have a look:
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During the recent Horizon Lunar Colony Update Blizzard added some much needed buffs to Reaper and McCree, but also a massive nerf to Roadhog. Back then I was still a bit optimistic for the big ol' fatso, but as I've played more and more games a realization slowly started to emerge: Roadhog is just not a good hero anymore. However that was only the beginning of the fall, because once people realized how vulnerable Roadhog truly was they started becoming more and more aggressive, fully secure in the knowledge that he can no longer one-shot them. The end result of these changes is that Roadhog now sits at the second lowest pickrate in Grandmaster (very slightly above Bastion), and most disappointingly of all, the very worst winrate!
Given the dire state of the hero it should come as no surprise to hear that Blizzard is currently looking into giving him a couple of buffs, but what might come as a surprise is that those buffs will mostly come in the form of extra survivability. Here's the full quote from Overwatch's Principal Designer Geoff Goodman:
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The Humble Monthly Bundle is a $12 subscription service that instantly gives you access to one game (or in this case two), and then a whole bunch more a few weeks later. Last month the featured game was the excellent Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin Edition, while this month you're looking at a rather strange combination: Pillars of Eternity and NBA2K17.
I have absolutely no interest or knowledge about sports game, but chances are you know whether NBA 2K17 is for you just from the title alone. Pillars of Eternity, however, I know a lot of things about. Long story short, if you're interested in an excellent combat-focused RPG that manages to feel like an evolution of Baldur's Gate, then by all means give it a look as its well worth $12 on its own.
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Total War: Warhammer 2 is the second in a trilogy of games that will span the entirety of the Warhammer Fantasy universe and include all of the notable races from the tabletop. The initial version of Total War: Warhammer 2 will bring with it the High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen, and Skaven... though they haven't been fully revealed just yet, because let's be honest, who would believe in giant rat-people?
Even though Total War: Warhammer 2 is still under heavy development Creative Assembly has just released a rather lengthy gameplay video showing off a battle between the High Elves and Lizardmen. So if you're even remotely interested in what Total War: Warhammer 2 is shaping up to be like I would highly recommend you give it a look. Here's the video:
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Ever since Hearthstone first launched people were clamoring for a Death Knight hero, and with the upcoming Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion Blizzard will be delivering just that! Unfortunately, the Death Knight will not be an entirely new class with its own mechanics and cards, but rather a Legendary card that transforms your basic hero into a much more evil, and much more powerful variant.
If you're looking for a brief overview of what exactly this means, as well as a quick look at the cinematic trailer that somehow manages to paint Jaina even more insane than she already is, you'll find what you seek in the recent announcement video below. Have a look:
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Overwatch has a variety of very unique and interesting heroes, but not all of them are equally as viable across all tiers of gameplay. Heroes such as Junkrat are incredibly powerful in the lower ranks, but quickly lose effectiveness as you climb higher. On the flip side, hero combinations such as Winston + D.Va + Tracer + Genji are perfectly fine for the vast majority of the playerbase, but when it comes to tournaments and high-level games they are so powerful they have essentially made half of the roster unusable. Such are the balance problems currently plaguing Overwatch, but unfortunately there is no easy answer.
If you're wondering why this is so, or how exactly Overwatch developers choose to balance their game, you'll find a very detailed answer in one of the most recent posts from Jeff Kaplan himself. I would fully recommend you give the entire thing a read as it gives some great insight into the minds of the Overwatch team, but if you're just interested in the highlights allow me to share a couple of key quotes, though don't expect this to be super-short either as there is a lot to cover:
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The Overwatch PTR has recently been updated with the much-anticipated Doomfist, and as you would imagine from his name alone he is an absolute blast to play! The big question, however, is will Doomfist be the hero we're all hoping will save us from this dive meta, or will he be yet another highly mobile flanker that devours healers for breakfast?
As you'll see in the video below that's not exactly an easy question to answer given that he has the potential to go both ways. So if you're interested in my thoughts on the matter, as well as a brief overview of what exactly Doomfist's spells even do, I welcome you to check out the video:
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After half a year or vague teasers and unconfirmed rumors Doomfist has finally arrived to the Overwatch PTR (Public Test Realm). Despite my expectations being set unreasonably high I must admit Doomfist has managed to surpass them with ease - he is ridiculously fun to play!
But first things first, if you're wondering who in the world Doomfist even is and what relevance he has to the Overwatch universe, you'll find the recently posted story trailer right below. Unlike the other cinematic shorts this one is done in a very anime-like art style, so even if you have no interest in Doomfist's backstory I would recommend giving it a look because of that alone. Anyway, here's the video: