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About a week ago Creative Assembly started teasing what I assumed to be an expansion for Total War: Warhammer set in the "New World". With the full announcement now revealed it turns out I was only half-right. We will indeed be going to Lustria and waging war alongside the High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen, and Skaven, but this isn't a simple expansion we're talking about, its a proper sequel - Total War: Warhammer 2!
Before we get into the gameplay specifics allows me to share with you the recently posted cinematic trailer featuring High Elves, Dark Elves, and Lizardmen. Strangely enough there is absolutely no mention of the Skaven, but there are numerous hints pointing towards their involvement, so if you're a fan of Clan Pestilens I have a feeling Total War: Warhammer 2 will not disappoint. Anyway, here's the video:
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During a recent announcement Blizzard unveiled StarCraft: Remastered - a complete overhaul of the original classic that brings with it 4k graphics and 1080p cinematics, tons of quality of life changes such as proper keybinding support, and most importantly of all, the same gameplay quirks fans have come to love about Brood War. This isn't where the good news ends, however, because Blizzard also announced that the original StarCraft: Brood War will soon become completely free to play, no microtransactions or any such nonsense!
In order to ensure a smooth release, but also improve upon Brood War's dated technical side, Blizzard has just released Update 1.18 onto the test servers. It features keybinding and windowed fullscreen support, autosaving, improved anticheat, better online connectivity, and the list goes on. If you're interested in all of the details you will find the full patch notes over at the Blizzard website.
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After nearly an entire month of teasers Shadowverse's Tempest of the Gods expansion has now arrived. It brings with it 104 new cards to toy around with, numerous quality of life improvements and interface changes, as well as new pool of cards for the arena (Take Two) game mode.
As is tradition with pretty much any event in Shadowverse the developers are giving out a whole bunch of new card packs, 10 of them to be exact. This little bonus applies to both new and old players alike, and if the previous expansions are any indicator it will remain available indefinitely, so don't stress out about grabbing it as soon as possible.
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Hearthstone's Journey to Un'goro expansion is just around the corner, bringing with it two new mechanics: Quest and Adapt. Quests are Legendary cards that always appear in your hand at the beginning of the game, and if you manage to complete their incredibly specific requirements you will find yourself richly rewarded... and most likely winning the game in the next turn or two! Adapt on the other hand allows a minion to discover an enhancement when its played, essentially giving it things like Taunt, Divine Shield, +3 attack, the newly added Poisonous tag, and so forth.
Like any good drug dealer Blizzard will be giving you a chance to try some of these new mechanics during this week's Tavern Brawl, starting on March 29th. And as an added bonus, this will also be the starting date for the daily login rewards, of which there are 8 in total. By logging each day you will be able to grab a bit of gold, some dust, a couple of card packs, and also the incredibly awesome-looking Volcanosaur. Just look at this thing!
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[Update]: The Spring Update is now live!
Civilization 6 will soon be getting a Civilization and Scenario Pack containing two new nations: Macedon led by Alexander the Great, and Persia led by Cyrus the Great. While the release date was never announced its fairly safe to assume the pack will be coming in the near future as the developers have just revealed a sizable "Spring Update" slated for later this week.
The Spring Update will bring with it the usual slue of balance changes and bug fixes, but also some much needed AI improvements, as well as a reduction in Warmonger penalties. To put it simply, the AI will soon be more coordinated and much more reasonable to trade with, while the Warmonger penalties will be significantly lessened if you capture something from a player you previously denounced, or are already in war with.
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The closed beta for Mirage: Arcane Warfare, Chivalry's spiritual successor that trades realism for magical explosions, has now finally begun. In order to drum up a bit of excitement, but also introduce new players to the series, Torn Banner Studios has just made Chivalry: Medieval Warfare completely free!
There is no catch and there are no free-to-play elements to worry about - the entire game is completely free to grab until March 28th, 10AM PST. So if you have even a tiny bit of interest in Chivalry make sure to head over to Steam and press that shiny Install Game button. You don't even need to actually install it, but just make sure its added to your account so that you can always come back to it later.
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After many months on the PTR (Public Test Realm) World of Warcraft's gigantic Update 7.2 is just around the corner. Once the floodgates open on March 28th the Burning Legion will pour into the Broken Shore zone, bringing with them a ridiculous amount of new content.
There's going to be a new Class Hall campaign, awesome class-specific mounts, insanely difficult singleplayer challenges, new weapon upgrades and talents, a slight rework of the Mythic dungeon system... *gasp*... a second balance pass for most Legendary items, new daily quests and invasions, a brand new dungeon, and the list goes on for quite a while! If you're interested in all of the details, and have 30 minutes to spare, you'll find everything you seek over at the official blog post. But if you're just interested in how this patch will affect your character, here are all of the important class changes:
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Mirage: Arcane Warfare is a spiritual successor to Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, though with the semi-realistic setting replaced with bizarre characters and plenty of destructive magic. However, the biggest difference between Chivalry and Mirage lies not in the setting, but rather in the characters themselves. You don't get to pick and choose your favorite weapons like you would in Chivalry, but instead you have to select from a variety of characters that come with their own predefined skills, weapons, and magical abilities.
Since all of this is hard to grasp through words alone, allow me to show you the recently posted gameplay preview. Its a fairly lengthy video, totaling at around 11 minutes, so it should give you a damn good idea of what Mirage is all about. Have a look:
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After quite a few rumors and leaks the unthinkable has finally happened - Blizzard has just announced their very first remaster! The RTS classic StarCraft: Brood War will be getting a complete overhaul in the form of 4k graphics and 1080p cinematics, proper keybinding support, an online matchmaking and ladder system, and a whole bunch of other changes. However, while StarCraft: Remastered will bring with it some much needed quality of life improvements, all of the gameplay quirks from the original will be left just as they are!
In other words, StarCraft: Remastered will be using all of the same gameplay code as Brood War. Dragoons and Goliaths will be derpy little bastards you need to babysit, Mutalisks will stack up in giant balls of flying doom, Reavers will occasionally miss their shots, Carriers will be able to fire well outside their intended range, and the list goes on. All of this might sound like a flaw, but it is exactly this type of complexity that made Brood War such an amazing game, so it is very comforting to see that Blizzard agrees.
If you're interested in seeing for yourself what all of this might look like in gameplay terms, here's the recently posted announcement trailer showcasing both the old and new visuals:
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If you've somehow managed to avoid seeing any mention of it, Quake Champions is an upcoming PC exclusive arena shooter designed to be as close to the FPS classics as possible. In other words, it features fast-paced combat, a variety of powerful weapons with short kill times, advanced movement mechanics such as rocket-jumping, and a whole boatload of pick-ups to squabble over.
The Closed Beta is set to arrive fairly soon, and in order to familiarize everyone with the newly created arenas Bethesda has released a second preview video, this time around focusing on the lava-encircled Burial Chamber. So if you're interested in a brief glimpse at what Quake Champions has to offer you'll find the video right below: