Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin artwork and logo

The Humble Monthly Bundle is a $12 subscription service that instantly gives you access to one game, and then a whole bunch more when the next month rolls over. Last month the featured game was Stellaris, and this time around its Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin which includes all of the DLC.

Most people consider Dark Souls 2 to be the weakest part of the Dark Souls trilogy, and to be perfectly honest I agree with them. That said, the weakest part of the Dark Souls trilogy is still one of the best games I have ever played, so if you have even an inkling of interest in action-RPGs I would fully recommend you give Dark Souls 2 a try. There is literally hundreds of hours of content to be found in here, so for $12 you really can't go wrong!

ELEX official artwork and logo

ELEX is an upcoming post-apocalyptic open-world RPG from the creators of the Risen and Gothic series. As with all of their previous games ELEX is going to allow you to choose what sort of playstyle you'll mess around with, what allies you will keep and which enemies you will make, and most importantly, how you will solve each and every situation. An ambitious goal, but Piranha Byte has quite a lot of experience with this concept, so ELEX has a pretty good chance of being at least intriguing.

Whatever the case may be we won't have to wait for very long in order to find out as the release date for ELEX has been just been announced. You can expect to see it on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on October 17, 2017. Besides this announcement the developers have also released a CGI trailer showcasing what the player will see throughout his journey on Magalan. Have a look:

Extinction official artwork and logo

Given the popularity of Attack on Titan it should come as no surprise to hear that there is now a third-party game inspired by the concept. In Extinction you will fight massive Ogres and their minions across the countryside or within city walls, attack from both ground and air, and use a dynamic combat system to tactically disarm an dismember your enemies. In other words its Attack on Titan with a bit of a twist, but since this type of concept has yet to be perfected in video game form I have absolutely no qualms with Iron Galaxy attempting to copy it.

If you're wondering what this might look like in gameplay terms I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for a little while, but I can show you the recently posted cinematic trailer. It'll at least give you a good idea of what kind of atmosphere and action Extinction is going for. Have a look:

Shadowverse screenshot of Dragoncraft vs Swordcraft

Shadowverse developers have always been generous, constantly giving out heaps of packs for nearly every occasion. For example, they recently gave out 10 free packs in celebration of their newest expansion, and before that they gave out 8 packs in celebration of 8 million downloads, but all of that pales in comparison to what they have announced for their very first birthday.

First of all, from now until June 14th all daily missions will provide double gold! If you're coming from Hearthstone this might not sounds significant, but the daily missions in Shadowverse are worth about 1.5 card packs, which when doubled can easily help you fill your collection before the next expansion arrives. There will also be new login bonuses from June 13th to June 27th which will offer a total of 40 card packs spread across the 4 card sets, as well as 6 Take Two (arena) passes. As you can see, that is a ridiculous amount of free cards!

Middle-earth: Shadow of War screenshot of a giant Barlog

Shadow of War is the upcoming sequel to the much-decorated Shadow of Mordor. It brings with it a new and expanded Nemesis system, the ability to siege castles with your personal army of Orcs and beasts, followers that can help you out throughout your missions, and an even better open world to explore. In the most basic terms it is Shadow of Mordor, just bigger and hopefully greater.

Originally Shadow of War was supposed to arrive on August 22nd, but it appears that the developers have now pushed back the release date to October 10th. Australia, New Zealand, and Japan will have a different release date entirely, but that hasn't been announced just yet. As you might expect, the reason behind the delay is the need for some more time in order to polish up the gameplay. Here's the brief developer quote that came with the announcement:

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 screenshot of a slicing attack

[Update]: Good news! Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 has now added rollback netcode in order to improve online multiplayer.

Besides being nigh unpronounceable, Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 is an expanded edition of the post-apocalyptic 2.5D Brawler. The upgraded version brings with it Baieken and Answer as new playable characters, a whole host of balance and ability changes for existing characters, a bunch of new storylines, as well as major improves to the online modes.

If you're interested in seeing what all of this looks like in gameplay you'll find the recently posted introduction trailer right below. The spoken language is Japanese so you might have trouble picking up on some of the details that the subtitles miss, but given that the video is 11 minutes long I think you're going to get a good feel of what the gameplay is about anyway. Have a look:

Dawn of War 3 Space Marines vs Eldar

Dawn of War 3 launched with quite a few problems, and the recent massive update is exactly the type of patch it needs in order to correct them. The AI has been improved, Base Requisition rate has been increased, Base Turret damage slightly reduced, and most importantly of all, the power of some early game units has been thankfully toned down.

There are a ridiculous amount of changes to go over, especially if you want to read the developer commentary, so if you're interested in all of the details you should head over to the official website. But long story short, the overused units got slightly nerfed, while the highly disappointing ones like the Tactical Marines have finally been buffed to the point where they can be both fun and effective to mess around with. While this probably doesn't matter given how easy the campaign is, it is worth noting that none of these nerfs will affect that side of the game - its only for multiplayer.

Titanfall 2 Monarch's Reign Update screenshot of the Monarch

After a week of teasers and tiny bits of information here and there Titanfall 2: Monarch's Reign update has now finally arrived. It brings with it a brand new Titan by the name of Monarch, a remastered version of the Relic map from the original Titanfall, new cosmetics including Tone and Ronin Prime, a new execution move that uses Cloak, and a whole bunch of fixes to make Crashsite more pleasant to navigate.

The new Monarch Titan is primarily geared towards flexibility through both survival and support options. Its capable of dishing out a fair bit of punishment on its own, but the true strength of the Monarch comes from its ability to draw power from enemy Titans in order to recharge its shields, or even the shields of friendly Titans. If you're wondering what this might look like in gameplay terms, wonder no more as Respawn has released a brief trailer showcasing the Monarch in action. Have a look:

The Elder Scrolls: Legends artwork for the Dark Brotherhood expansion

For those of you wishing The Elder Scrolls: Legends was a bit more popular, I might have some good news. Bethesda's digital card game has now made its transition to Steam for both PC and Mac, which should go a long way towards attracting new players given the massive amounts of people using Steam on a daily basis.

Besides Steam integration The Elder Scrolls: Legends has also been updated with the first version of the spectator mode, as well as with Gauntlet Events. These Gauntlet Events will be organized global competitions during which players will compete in a series of matches, all with the intent to reach the highest spot on the worldwide ladder. Top performers in Gauntlet will earn rewards that include Card Packs and Gold, but also some exclusive in-game prizes. In the most basic terms the Gauntlet Events are in-game tournaments, which in my opinion is something every competitive card game should have, so its good to see Bethesda among the first to actually implement them.

Dota 2's Tinker repairing his armor

If you're sick and tired of watching people pick the same few heroes in All Pick over and over again, you'll be glad to hear that Valve has now finally done something to curb the 'one trick pony' problem. At the start of each All Pick match 25 heroes will be randomly removed from the hero pool before the draft/ban phase even begins! These changes will only affect Ranked Matchmaking, so don't worry about this negatively impacting your practice sessions or 'meme-teams' in Unranked.

Besides the adjustments to All Pick this update has also changed how commands are processed in order to address input problems and improve responsiveness. The reasoning and explanation behind all of this is a bit complex, so allow me to share with you a couple of examples from Valve themselves: