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Ghost Recon Wildlands is Ubisoft's upcoming open world tactical shooter where you'll get to join an elite special operations unit in order to take down a rather well entrenched drug cartel. Given the focus on team-based tactics and open-ended missions it should be no surprise to hear that Ghost Recon Wildlands is primarily a multiplayer focused game, but it does bring with it a singleplayer mode where you get to roam the land alongside three (hopefully useful) AI partners.
So if you're interested in seeing what Ghost Recon Wildlands might look like in singleplayer, and if you're wondering whether your AI teammates are a bunch of blithering idiots, you should check out the recently posted developer walkthrough. There are some very minor spoilers in the video, but let's be perfectly honest, you're probably not getting Ghost Recon Wildlands for its deep and complex narrative. Anyway, here's the video:
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Steam has had native support for PlayStation 4 controllers since last month, and with today's update that has extended to Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers, as well as any controller using the generic X-Input. In other words, no matter what sort of a controller you use, it should now work on Steam without any extra effort.
This might not sound like big news, especially since most games already support Xbox 360/One controllers, but if you ever had to mess around with JoyToKey or other such key mapping programs you know exactly how welcome this update really is. Nothing is better than just plugging in your controller and simply pressing start to play, without the whole 15 minute procedure that sometimes goes before it!
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If you were hoping to give Ubisoft's For Honor a try ahead of its February 14th release date, you'll be glad to hear that the closed beta is just around the corner. Starting on January 26th and ending on January 29th you'll be able to play as all three factions in an all-out war for domination, with the winners being given a special reward at the very end. All of this warfare will be done across six different maps, and three game modes: Dominion 4v4, Brawl 2v2, and Duel 1v1.
For those of you that prefer to digest information through video form, here's the recently posted teaser trailer showcasing the above mentioned features. Have a look:
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Bohemia Interactive, the developers you might know from their work on the Arma series and the standalone version of DayZ, have announced that after four years in Steam Early Access Take on Mars is finally going to be released on February 8th. If you're like me and this is your first time hearing about it, Take on Mars is pretty much exactly as you would expect: a survival game set on the inhospitable and unforgiving Martian surface.
For those of you interested in some actual gameplay, allow me to share with you the last year's developer stream. I know its not the most punctual video and that a lot of the gameplay is going to be outdated, but to perfectly honest the other two trailers do a rather miserable job of showcasing what exactly you do in Take on Mars. That mini-rant aside, here's the video:
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Cyanide, the studio you may know from their work on Blood Bowl and Styx: Master of Shadows, has apparently expanded quite a lot in recent years. Not only are they currently working on Styx: Shards of Darkness and the Call of Cthulhu RPG, but according to the most recent announcement they are also going to attempt a video game adaptation of Werewolf: The Apocalypse set in the World of Darkness universe.
The details are currently a bit light, but apparently we'll get to play as a Garou warrior (from French "loup-garou" meaning werewolf), a cast of werewolves opposed to urban civilization and supernatural corruption - all hurtling head-first towards the inevitable apocalypse. I have no idea how Cyanide is going to create a compelling RPG with a bloodthirsty beast as its protagonist, but the World of Darkness universe is quite fascinating, so I must admit I'm looking forward to finding out.
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Conan Exiles is an upcoming open-world survival game with a heavy focus on carving your own little piece of heaven in an otherwise hostile land. And since most players are bloodthirsty maniacs hellbent at destroying anything that stands upright, attempting to maintain your stronghold for longer than 10 minutes is going to be a rather difficult task. If you intend to thrive you'll need to gather up your allies, both players and friendly NPCs, and then somehow figure out a way to not die horribly when a giant god-squid starts munching on your fortifications!
Since all of this is a bit too strange to explain in a single paragraph, allow me to share with you the most recent preview video. It features a variety of godlike beings, player-build fortresses, and naturally, a whole bunch of PvP. Have a look:
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If you ever wanted to give Killing Floor 2 a try, now would be the best time to do so as the very first post-launch update has arrived. The Tropical Bash update brings with it a multi-perk weapons to further increase your customization options, a new Zed related to the Gorefast, a new tropical map by the name of Zed Landing, and a weapon simply described as "the bone crusher"... I think you can guess what that one does.
There is also a whole bunch of bug fixes and balance changes in there as well, most notably in regards to the Firebug class. All of the flame-spewing weapons have been given a damage increase in order to help new players, while some of them have also received a nerf to their splash radius in order to keep the Firebug in check on some of the higher difficulty levels. If you're interested in the full patch notes, simply head on over to Steam.
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Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach is a turn-based strategy game that pits the savage Space Wolves against the even more savage Greenskins across ~45 story-driven campaign missions. Both factions come with 30 unique units which you can then personally adjust to better suit your preferred style of warfare. Each of these units will then be further enhanced as they gain experience throughout the various campaign missions, so do make sure to take care of your veterans as they will gladly take care of your enemies for you!
If you're interested in seeing what all of this looks like in gameplay terms, but also learning how Sanctus Reach is even played, I would recommend checking out the recently posted tutorial video. It might seem like a strange choice to showcase this over the launch trailer, but honestly it does a better job of explaining the gameplay premise than the main trailer. Have a look:
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For those of you that might not be familiar with it, Gigantic is an action orientated MOBA most similar to SMITE. It is currently in an open beta state, though its only playable on the Xbox One and on PC through the Windows 10 Store. While it is fairly limited in regards to platforms, it is at the very least free-to-play.
If you would like to give it a try, now would be the best time to do so as the first major update - Exile in the North - has just arrived. It has brought with it a brand new hero, an adorable melee/tank by the name of Pakko, as well as a variety of balance changes. Most notably, there has been a major correction to stun duration, so you should now be spending more time playing the game and less time standing around like a lemon while your enemies continuously hit you over the head with a large hammer!
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Those of you looking to make Hitman's various locations as realistic as possible will be glad to hear that an upcoming update will add support for High Dynamic Range (HDR). Once the January 31st update arrives you'll be able to achieve much more vibrant colors as well as more detailed environments... provided your monitor or TV is capable of supporting HDR.
Since I don't know much about HDR or how it works, allow me to share with you the explanation from IOI's Programmer Anders Wang Kristensen: "As an example, think of 47 in a dark room looking out a bright window. Without HDR you would not be able make out what's outside, whereas with HDR you can simultaneously see details inside the room and outside the window. Another extreme example is the sun. Without HDR we could not render the sun brighter than a white piece of paper, so we had to ‘simulate’ the sun being blinding. With HDR we can draw the sun several times brighter, so that it is actually close to being blinding, just like in real life."