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The Mafia series is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, and in order to get everyone into a festive mood Hangar 13 have now revealed two exciting bits of news. First and foremost, a brand new Mafia game is currently in development, though it's still going to be a few years before it sees the light of day.
As for the second announcement, that one is quite simple - the original Mafia game is currently entirely free to grab! Simply head on over to Steam, click that green "Add to account" button, and you'll be ready to go after a brief download.
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[Update #2]: Ubisoft is also working on an Assassin's Creed game set in feudal Japan, and another with a much darker tone.
[Update]: Assassin's Creed Mirage has now been properly announced, and I'm happy to say that it's indeed going to be a homage to the original!
I hope you're in the mood for a bit of sneaking and stabbing as Ubisoft has just announced that they are working on a brand new Assassin's Creed game - Assassin's Creed Mirage. The exact details are currently still few and far between, though you won't have to wait too long to find out more as the full reveal will be going live on September 10th.
If you're willing to indulge some rumors, however, then you might be interested to hear that Assassin's Creed Mirage will be a spiritual successor to the original Assassin's Creed. In other words, the focus is going to be firmly placed on stealth, while the more recent RPG mechanics will be taking a back seat.
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[Update]: Sifu will be coming to Steam in March 2023 alongside a new Arena Mode.
As a part of the last big update the martial arts roguelike Sifu added two new difficulty modes in order to give players a new way to tailor their experience. With the latest update, however, the developers have decided to take that idea to a whole new level!
So instead of simply adding more difficulty modes to help you customize your level of challenge, Sifu has now implemented 11 gameplay modifiers to tweak, along with 8 'cheats' to mess around with. With these tools you can now create insanely hard challenges where enemies are tough and relentless, complete cakewalks where you can one-shot just about everyone, and most importantly, utter nonsense by messing with things like gravity!
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[Update #2]: MTG Arena will be getting Shadows over Innistrad Remastered in 2023 and a second Explorer Anthology in 2022.
[Update]: MTG Arena's October 6th mini-expansion will bring with it the iconic Power 9 cards.
I hope you're in the mood for a massive meta shake-up, because MTG Arena has just added the Dominaria United expansion. It brings with it a whole host of new cards to play around with it, as well as the annual set rotation that has removed Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim, Strixhaven and Adventures in the Forgotten Realms from the Standard format. So if you ever wanted to give Magic: The Gathering a try, this would be the perfect time to do so as there's only a couple of sets you'll need to worry about.
When it comes to the cards themselves, there are three new and two returning mechanics for you to experiment with: Enlist, Read Ahead and Stun Counters, as well as Domain and Kicker. Here's a brief overview of what each of them does:
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Two years after the somewhat poorly received Commandos 2 - HD Remaster, the final real-time tactics game in the series has now underwent the same sort of treatment, though under a different studio. As such, the freshly released Commandos 3 - HD Remaster brings with it reworked 3D models and textures that were rebuilt from the ground up, improved and fully customizable controls, a refined UI, and most importantly, a new set of beginner-friendly tutorials to help you get started on the right foot.
What the new visual improvements look like in action, that you can get a few glimpses at through the launch trailer below. It's a little bit messy, but it should hopefully still get the message across. Have a look:
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If you're a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and especially their oldschool games, you'll be happy to hear that The Cowabunga Collection has just been unleashed with improved versions of thirteen classics from the arcade, NES, SNES, Genesis and Gameboy era. The new versions bring with them the ability to save and load anywhere, button mapping, behind-the-scenes development art and sketches, as well as online multiplayer for four of the games.
Rather than babble on, allow me to share with you the full list of The Cowabunga Collection games, starting with the four that support online multiplayer:
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[Update #2]: Dota 2 has just given all players a generous gift - the Battle Pass, a $30 Arcana and a month of Dota Plus! All you have to do is play ten games during the course of the 2022 Battle Pass.
[Update]: Dota 2 has launched Update 7.23c to fix up any balance issues before The International 2022 starts.
Last week Dota 2's Patch 7.32 brought with it an absurd amount of balance changes and additions that messed around with everything from the heroes to the items and even the map itself. Unsurprisingly given the sheer scale of the changes, Patch 7.32 arrived alongside a hefty amount of bugs and balance issues that saw heroes like Death Prophet almost completely disappear.
So in order to sort all of these problems out, as well as give the metagame another good shake, Valve has now unleashed Patch 7.32b. While it's nowhere near Patch 7.32 in size, its impact should not be underestimated as even small numerical changes have the power to greatly reshape the Dota 2 landscape.
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[Update #2]: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous' The Lord of Nothing DLC has added 15 new archetypes and a lengthy side-story to explore.
[Update]: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous' Enhanced Edition has landed with new quests and improvements.
Unlike the last two DLCs that mostly focused on telling new stories, the freshly released The Treasure of the Midnight Isles expansion is all about the gameplay. The star attraction is the brand new and challenging roguelike mode you can dive into as a standalone adventure or as a part of the main campaign.
As befitting its roguelike moniker, The Treasure of the Midnight Isles will allow you to explore a vast array of builds and party compositions as you venture across the foreboding archipelago, plunder all sorts of magical items and consumables to help you along, as well as fight against scores of old and new enemies. Most importantly, with each run you will slowly uncover the secrets of the Abyss, and with it the truth about the magnificent treasure that awaits you at the very end!
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[Update]: The original Mafia game is now entirely free to grab, and will remain like that until September 5th, 2022.
In order to commemorate the Mafia series' 20th anniversary, Hangar 13's General Manager Roman Hladík, Head of Production Tomáš Hřebíček and Game Director Alex Cox shared their thoughts on the series' legacy, their part in it, as well as the sort of challenges they had to overcome. Most importantly, they also shared a bit of information about the future of the Mafia series!
"I'm happy to confirm we've started work on an all-new Mafia project!," reads the brief comment from Roman Hladík. "While it's a few years away and we can't share anything more right now, we're really excited to keep working on this beloved franchise and to entertain our players with new stories."
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[Update #2]: Back 4 Blood will not be getting any more content updates as Turtle Rock Studios are now working on a brand new game.
[Update]: Back 4 Blood's River of Blood expansion has added a new campaign act, game mode and some highly destructive weaponry.
With the first Tunnels of Terror DLC Back 4 Blood mostly added new ways to spice up the already existing levels. With the freshly released Children of the Worm DLC, however, the focus is on expanding the core campaign and giving players a whole bunch of new stuff to mess around with.
As such, you can expect to see six new levels as a part of Act 5, "Prophet" Dan as a brand new Cleaner that gives powerful bonuses when reviving people, new weapons and accessories, as well as new human enemies that are capable of more advanced tactics than simply charging at the players. Here's a little peek at what all of this looks like in action, as well as what the new act's story is really all about: