Video Games News

GameStop is currently running a buy two, get one free sale on preowned games, and its catalog is filled with over 9,000 titles across Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, and more. Just about every game launched in physical format over the past few years is eligible for the savings (as long as it’s in stock), so this is a great time to check out recent releases as well as games that may have slipped by you at launch.

Cashing in on the offer is simple. After adding three eligible games to your cart, the cheapest of the three items will be discounted to $0. And if you spend over $79 on your order, you’ll also get free shipping. Depending on your location, your games could arrive within three days. Alternatively, you can order online and pick up your games at your local GameStop store.

Picking up Switch games is arguably one of the best ways to make use of this sale, as first-party titles like Princess Peach: Showtime and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom rarely see discounts–yet they’re part of GameStop’s current promotion. Older Switch hits as well as new releases are up for grabs, including Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Pikmin 4.

Over on PS5, there are a bunch of sweeping RPGs to check out. If you want three games to sink your teeth into and consume hundreds of hours of your free time, we’d recommend Dragon’s Dogma 2, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, all of which earned impressive reviews and give you plenty of content to work through. You could also check out Final Fantasy 16 or God of War Ragnarok if you happened to miss out on these big hits.

It’s a similar story for Xbox Series X, though you’ll also find a few exclusives like Halo Infinite. Beyond this sale, GameStop Pro members can save a few bucks on their Game Pass Ultimate subscription, with a 3-Month Membership discounted slightly to $47.49.

We’ve rounded up some of preowned games GameStop has in stock below. Of course, we’d also recommend browsing the catalog for yourself, as there are thousands of possibilities.

Nintendo Switch games – B2G1 free

PS5 games – B2G1 free

Xbox games – B2G1 free

Star Wars Is Returning To Fortnite At The Most Obvious Time

Star Wars content is coming back to Fortnite in May just in time for the Star Wars holiday of May the 4th. A teaser video confirms that the latest Star Wars x Fortnite crossover event begins May 3, but we don’t know just yet what content might be included in this newest wave.

“I’ve got a good feeling about this…” reads a line from Fortnite’s announcement post, riffing on Luke Skywalker’s “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” line from the 1977 original movie.

The teaser suggests that the Star Wars event will span Fortnite’s battle royale mode, as well as Lego Fortnite and the Fortnite Festival rhythm game.

Epic and Star Wars previously teamed up for Ahsoka, Anakin, Padme, Finn, Rey, Darth Vader, and Stormtrooper outfits, among numerous others. 2023’s Star Wars event in Fortnite added Force powers and a Star Wars-themed mini battle pass. Star Wars content has made its way into Fortnite since 2019, so it’s no surprise to see the crossovers continue this year.

GameSpot will report back on this year’s Star Wars content in Fortnite as it’s announced. In February, Disney invested $1.5 billion into Epic Games to create a Disney universe within Fortnite.

May 3 is also the day that The Phantom Menace returns to theaters to celebrate its 25th anniversary. On May 4, theaters will show the entire nine-movie, 20-hour Skywalker Saga. Presumably there will be more Star Wars news to come on or before May 4, so keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

Get A 512GB SanDisk MicroSD For Only $28

Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and Asus ROG Ally owners can score a very good deal on a SanDisk Ultra 512GB Micro SD card, as this $60 memory card is now on sale for just $28.

At 512GB, you can easily store several modern AAA games and a bunch of indies on it. This microSD card is rated for 150MB/s transfer speeds with A1 performance, which is solid for the card readers found in the aforementioned handhelds–especially the Switch, which doesn’t benefit from added speeds found in cards rated higher than UHS-I (Ultra High Speed Phase I).

For larger capacities, there’s also a 1TB option available for $78 or the 1.5TB Sandisk Ultra for $110.

Amazon microSD card deals

If you want a card with faster read/write speeds for transferring and loading games off a microSD card, you can also check out the SanDisk Extreme 1TB micro SD card. This one does cost more–currently $87–but it offers card offload speeds of up to 190MB/s alongside the increased storage capacity.

In case these are sold out or you want to save a few bucks, we’ve found a few other options like the Silicon Power 1TB Superior and the Lexar 1TB Play microSD cards, both of which are budget storage solutions with thousands of solid user reviews on Amazon.

Game Reviews

Children Of The Sun Review – One Shot

It only takes a single bullet to burn down an empire. That’s the ethos behind Children of the Sun, an excellent supernatural puzzle-shooter from solo developer René Rother and publisher Devolver Digital. Like many of the games in Devolver’s vast library, Children of the Sun is wonderfully stylish, violent, and built on a unique gameplay hook; think Sniper Elite mixed with Superhot and you’re on the right track without quite telling the whole story.

You play as a protagonist known simply as The Girl, a one-woman wrecking crew waging a vengeful war against the eponymous cult that ruined her life. As one cultist after another is turned to mincemeat behind the vindictive crosshairs of your sniper rifle, you gradually make your way up the food chain until coming face-to-scope with your true target: The Leader. While embarking on this blood-soaked killing spree, hand-drawn flashbacks reveal tidbits about the atrocities committed by this mysterious cult and The Girl’s reasons for seeking revenge.

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There’s no dialogue during these cutscenes; instead, the narrative is intentionally minimalist, bombarding you with unnerving memories that are both terse and chaotic. This scattershot approach makes it difficult to glean all of the available information–perhaps deliberately so–which means you might feel lost and slightly detached from the story at times. It’s all complemented by a discordant soundscape of ambient white noise that matches the game’s striking art style–composed of deep purples and vivid yellows–and gritty, surreal tone. The game’s arresting aesthetic paints a picture of a brutal world of saturated filth, where cultists defile seedy motels, gloomy forests, and derelict apartment buildings, spreading their deceitful disease like plague-infested rats.

For as evocative as Children of the Sun’s story, visuals, and music are, it’s the innovative gameplay where it truly shines. At the beginning of each level, you’re able to move The Girl either left or right on a predetermined path. Sometimes, you can navigate around a level in a full 360-degree circle, while other times, you may only be able to move a few yards before being impeded by a fallen tree or steep riverbank. From here, you can get a lay of the land, mark enemies, and determine the best position to fire from. Once you’ve aimed down the scope and pulled the trigger, the camera snaps to the crown of the bullet as it hurtles through the air. Blood spatter and disintegrated flesh usually follow, but the catch is that this is the only shot you’ll fire for the duration of the level.

The Girl’s backstory pulls from a classic fiction trope where a young girl discovers she has latent supernatural powers once she reaches puberty. Each time a bullet is propelled through a cultist’s skull, time slows down to a crawl, and The Girl’s psychic abilities let you take control of the round and re-aim, allowing a single bullet to cleave through an entire enemy compound in one fell swoop.

Initially, you can only move the bullet in a straight line from one enemy to the next, ping-ponging between them like a murderous pinball machine, and this makes your first shot the most crucial. From that initial point of impact, you need to chart a course through every other enemy until none are left alive. This is easier said than done, of course. While some enemies remain stationary, others are walking around, circling the entire map in a car, and sitting out of view of your initial vantage point. Considering all of this, you might have to finish a level by ensuring that the penultimate kill provides a clear sightline of the final cultist, who was hidden until now. There are wrong ways to do this, but there isn’t a definitive right way, so experimentation is incentivized and rewarded.

Children of the Sun is wonderfully stylish, violent, and built on a unique gameplay hook; think Sniper Elite mixed with Superhot and you’re on the right track without quite telling the whole story

As you progress through the story and more enemy types are introduced, you’re given additional powers to counteract the likes of shielded and armored cultists and the increasingly elaborate environments they’re inhabiting. The first of these powers lets you take direct control and gently curve bullets like James McAvoy in the 2008 film Wanted. This is useful for firing over walls and bending the shot so it lurches downwards and hits the cultist on the other side, or simply tweaking the bullet’s trajectory to guarantee it lands on-target.

Another ability reveals enemy weak points, which, when destroyed in a hail of slow-motion blood, grant you the power to redirect the bullet in mid-flight. Using this, you can fire past a shield-wielding enemy and then spin the bullet around to nail them in the back of the head, entirely negating their bullet-proof protection. Other times, you might use this technique to escape a building and re-enter it elsewhere or fire into the sky to provide a better view of the area and uncover a previously elusive enemy.

Armored cultists, meanwhile, provide an altogether different challenge. The only way to penetrate their thick armor is by using a power shot–achieved by holding down the trigger for the duration of the bullet’s flight. These shots necessitate a large enough distance between targets to build up the requisite velocity needed to blow through armor, so figuring out how to remove these enemies is a unique problem. Doing so is always a thrill, though, as you get the gratification of seeing the bullet reach supersonic speeds before blasting through the cultist’s now-useless defense.

Finding a solution to each level’s grisly puzzle is immensely satisfying, especially when trial and error is abundant. Your first few attempts might revolve around tentatively exploring to find where all of the cultists are located and then figuring out the best way to carve through each one. You can sometimes use the environment to your advantage, too, shooting vehicles’ fuel caps and gas canisters to eliminate multiple enemies in one vehement explosion. You could blow up a car just to attain a better angle or snipe a pigeon flying overhead to gain a bird’s eye view of the area. I wish there were more opportunities for environmental kills besides destroying vehicles and explosive barrels, but restricting how you can interact with the world around you adds to the challenge and sense of achievement when you emerge victorious.

Gallery

At around three hours in length, Children of the Sun is a relatively brief experience. Usually, this would be a blessing in disguise for a game that doesn’t diversify from its core conceit too often, yet I still found myself desperate for more. Fortunately, replayability is rife, as the game’s scoring system encourages you to go back and replay previous levels to achieve a better rating. Headshots are scored differently from leg wounds, just as you earn more points for better timing and efficiency, while leaderboards create a sense of competition. Completing a level also reveals an excellent snapshot of the flight path of your bullet, which the game makes easy to share on social media for some extra fulfillment.

Children of the Sun’s unconventional approach to sniping is consistently thrilling and wholly satisfying. It might be full of gruesome blood spatter and cracked skulls, but it’s also the thinking person’s shooter–more of a delightfully macabre puzzle game than anything else. It’s admittedly short, and the game’s longevity will largely depend on how hard you fall for its inventive and bloody puzzles. That shouldn’t be a problem when it’s so difficult not to. And even if it’s relatively one-note, Children of the Sun plays that note with such morbid aplomb that it’s easy to recommend.

April 9, 2024

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection Review – Fire Away

I spent many a weekend afternoon playing the first two Battlefront games back in 2004 and 2005, my friends and I sinking hundreds of hours into our repeated efforts to conquer the galaxy, recreate battles from the Star Wars movies, and theorize why the video game version of General Grievous was so much stronger than his movie counterpart. Heck, my hope that we’d one day see a Clone Wars animated series that focused on exploring the clones’ individuality was born from Battlefront 2’s wonderfully narrated 501st Journal. Now that I think about it, much of my love for Star Wars can be traced back to the first two Battlefront games. But that doesn’t change that their dated mechanics and the unbalanced nature of their unrewarding tug-of-war matches don’t hold up two decades later. And Aspyr Media does not address these issues in Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, a collected pack of the two games, leaving them feeling like relics of a bygone era that aren’t worth playing in this shape today.

Pandemic Studios’ Battlefront and Battlefront 2 (not to be confused with EA DICE’s 2015 Battlefront and 2017 Battlefront 2) are both shooters that focus on Star Wars’ Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War periods, seeing you step into the boots of ordinary soldiers who participate in the conflicts. Mechanically, both games play very similarly to one another, though Battlefront 2 adds to the first with space battles, playable heroes (who are notable characters from the Star Wars movies like Yoda and Darth Vader), and a more story-driven campaign that ties into Revenge of the Sith.

The 501st Journal is still great.

Each army features four standard soldier archetypes. You’ve got your assault rifle-wielding standard trooper, long-range sniper user, heavy-hitting rocket launcher demolitionist, and a support soldier who excels at short-range combat and fixing up vehicles. Beyond those four, each army has additional special units–the Republic Clone Army has the jetpack-equipped Jet Trooper, for example, while the CIS has the roly-poly Droideka. Because the main units all handle the same for the most part, you don’t have to learn entirely new mechanics for each class, while the more specialized troopers add a bit of distinct flair to each army. I like it–it makes it easy to pick up both games while also ensuring the gameplay doesn’t grow stale quickly.

The collection includes six maps that were added as post-launch content to both games (one for Battlefront and five for Battlefront 2) as well as two playable heroes in Battlefront 2 who were previously Xbox-only DLC (Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress). Beyond that, there are some changes to the gameplay, such as to Hero Assault, a Battlefront 2 game mode that sees all the playable Star Wars heroes face off against the villains. In the original Battlefront 2, this mode could only be played on the game’s Tatooine map, but the Battlefront Collection makes the mode available on all ground-based maps. In addition, the collection adds cross-gen multiplayer support (but no cross-play, unfortunately) and increases the number of players per match to 32v32.

It’s those improvements that irk me, as they’re evidence that Aspyr Media did make efforts to change and improve aspects of the original games. And that’s good! Great, even. But this decision throws what wasn’t adjusted into stark contrast and highlights how outdated Battlefront and Battlefront 2’s gameplay is. It locks the Battlefront Collection into this weird space where it’s neither a good remaster nor a completely accurate preservation of the original games.

Both Battlefront and Battlefront 2 really show their age in Classic Collection.

But even without that observation, it’s clear that what was once great gameplay for a console shooter has lost its luster after 20 years. Battlefront 2 fares a tad better than the original game, given how it was able to make improvements to the first Battlefront’s mechanics back in 2005–soldiers can sprint, the details of characters are sharper so it’s easier to discern targets from further away, and maps are larger so firefights are more spread out. Plus, Battlefront 2 just has a more compelling campaign. Even if the story is no longer part of the Star Wars canon, witnessing the rise of the 501st Legion during the Clone Wars and subsequent transformation into Vader’s Fist during the Galactic Civil War is still a compelling viewpoint for the Clone Troopers’ view of the Star Wars movies, strengthened by the chilling narration of actor Temuera Morrison (Attack of the Clones’ Jango Fett, The Book of Boba Fett’s Boba Fett). His monologue of the troopers’ silence as they march into the Jedi Temple to execute Order 66 is still one of my favorite moments from any Star Wars story, and 20 years later, it hasn’t lost its impact.

Even if the story is still interesting to experience, however, the act of playing through it isn’t all that fun. Movements are sluggish and aiming isn’t precise, promoting the use of soldiers armed with automatic weapons over the others. The other classes are serviceable, but the gameplay clearly pushes you away from them, making every firefight feel increasingly the same. There’s no incentive to branch out and master the other classes–victory is achieved by whittling down the other team first, so killing as many people as fast as you can is ideal, and that’s just easier with an assault rifle or minigun than a sniper rifle or pistol.

Battles in the offline campaign and online multiplayer also suffer from imbalance–once one side takes the lead, they almost always win. It’s clear there’s meant to be some sort of tug-of-war element to each match, as each side fights over command posts, but it rarely plays out that way. Your side can only spawn from command posts your side has captured, so once one side has more command posts than the other, it’s easier for that side to pressure the losing side as the number of places where the losing side can spawn shrinks. This creates a slog where it becomes quite clear about halfway through a match which side is going to take the win, and you’re just left playing out the rest of the time to witness a conclusion that you saw coming. Heroes alleviate this a bit in Battlefront 2. If a player does well enough before being killed, they can spawn as their army’s hero for that map, and certain heroes can change the tide in an instant (especially the villains on the CIS and Empire, who are all around stronger than the good guys for the Republic and Rebellion). This would be a great counterbalance to the uneven nature of Battlefront 2 if heroes could be summoned more regularly but, as is, they’re just too tricky to unlock if you’re on the losing end of a battle. It’s hard to do well when the enemy is closing in around you. This issue is even worse in the original Battlefront, which doesn’t have playable heroes.

Why do the bag guys get all the cool powers in Battlefront 2?

The moment-to-moment gameplay of each match isn’t all that fun either. Firearms aren’t very precise, relying on a generous auto-aim feature that feels like it’s rewarding me for pointing my gun roughly in the right direction instead of actually landing a precise shot. When I was a kid, I was always just happy that my friends and I won, but now as I see the “victory” message splash across the screen, all I can wonder is how it happened. I can’t point to what in my performance led to my team winning as opposed to losing, leaving little opportunity to think back and improve. There’s an uncomfortable amount of luck associated with victory–more than I want in a shooter.

The space battles in Battlefront 2 don’t feel much better. It’s telling that the campaign still lets you skip them outright if you want, like an admission that they aren’t very fun (which is true). Though the concept of manning a starship and flying out to meet the enemy, whittling away at their capital ships or flying into their hangar to sabotage their systems from the inside is initially thrilling, it very quickly loses its appeal once you realize all matches play out pretty much the same. There’s next to no variety to Battlefront 2’s different space maps, so your strategy for one tends to work on all of them–you don’t have to adapt, leaving the gameplay feeling stagnant. Plus, the starships in Battlefront 2 don’t handle very well, making it frustratingly tricky to maneuver through dogfights.

The biggest detriment against the Battlefront Classic Collection is that we’ve had more Star Wars games since their release that all improved upon what Battlefront and Battlefront 2 did. EA DICE’s two Battlefront games have sharper shooting mechanics that better reward precision and huge battlefields that prevent one side from quickly surrounding and destroying the other. 2020’s Squadron’s aerial dogfights are huge improvements over Battlefront 2’s space battles, with more responsive controls and greater variety to the maps. Sure, Battlefront Collection brings these elements together, but not in a way that’s strong enough to make this a more compelling experience than what’s already out there.

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is ultimately just disappointing. It’s unclear whether it wants to be a remaster or a collection that preserves two major games from Star Wars’ history, but in both instances, it fails. This is neither an accurate representation of what Battlefront and Battlefront 2 were, nor does it make enough adjustments to bring two decades-old games into the modern era. The result is a collection that’s not really fun to play, and well worth skipping.

April 2, 2024

Open Roads Review – Quick Trip

I once read in a very profound article published in a very prestigious magazine (okay, it was a TikTok) that “daddy issues” make artists while “mommy issues” make writers. I can’t attest to the science–or lack thereof–behind this statement, but as a writer born into a long line of guarded women who wielded pens as weapons, I can absolutely relate.

As such, I have a particular fondness for mother-daughter stories and the catharsis they can offer. When I heard the team behind Gone Home would be tackling the subject in their upcoming game Open Roads, I braced for a beautiful cross-country journey that would inevitably hit too close to home. However, while Open Roads has moments of relatability that are powered by solid dialogue, charming characters, and nostalgia, I was ultimately left underwhelmed by the walk-and-click exploration game. With a runtime too short to truly pull players in and an abrupt ending that leaves things feeling hastily resolved, Open Roads feels more like a pit stop than an adventure.

That’s not to say the game’s premise isn’t interesting. Open Roads begins shortly after the death of the Devine family matriarch, Helen, and follows her daughter Opal and her granddaughter Tess as they cope with loss and what to do next. Throughout the entirety of the game, we play as Tess, a 16-year-old high school student who is every bit as strong-willed, cheeky, and hopeful as most 16-year-old girls are. On top of her grandmother’s death, Tess is also processing her parents’ recent separation and the loss of her home, as she and her mother lived with Helen but were not given the house upon her death.

While cleaning out her grandmother’s home, Tess and Opal stumble upon a suitcase buried within the attic walls and find what appears to be evidence of Helen’s secret life and a passionate love affair. With a week to go until the house is sold and an empty agenda, the pair set off on a series of short trips to get to the bottom of Helen’s mysterious life.

At each of the game’s handful of locations, you walk around as Tess and interact with objects from different time periods ranging primarily from the late ’60s to the early 2000s–the time the game is set in–that are sure to be familiar to many American millennials. Occasionally you’ll be able to pocket the items to use later, adding a slight puzzle element to what is otherwise a game driven by simple exploration, though these moments are few and far between. Certain items will also prompt you to call for your mom, who will chime in, add context, or mull over your findings with you. All this makes for straight-forward gameplay that can, unfortunately, start to feel a bit dull as the game goes on.

Outside of exploring the game’s dusty abodes and dimly lit motels, Tess spends most of her time riding shotgun in her mom’s late-’90s sedan. There, she’ll have the chance to cycle through mostly static-filled radio stations, chat with her mom, or use her trusty flip phone to text her father or best friend. Yet for a game titled Open Roads, your time spent on the road is extremely brief and only happens a handful of times, which ultimately takes away from the road-trip experience and doesn’t help to break up its repetitive gameplay.

This is a recurring issue, as the game in its entirety is too brief to effectively address everything it sets up or fully establish a deep sense of relatability and emotional connection. This is a shame considering the underlying plot is interesting and the game’s characters are very endearing. Though Kaitlyn Dever and Keri Russell might be known for their live-action careers, the pair bring a lot of personality to Tess and Opal respectively. Even Helen, who has no speaking parts and appears in the game only through grainy photographs, has a lot of personality. In fact, her vivaciousness is a frequent subject of discussion between Tess and Opal, who both exhibit her more free-spirited behavior, albeit in different ways. This is another aspect of the game I really enjoyed, as it’s all too often that mothers are written as protective, worrisome, uptight, and relatively flat–Open Roads avoids falling into that trap.

However, I also think Open Roads pivots a bit too far away from this mother-daughter tension. Sure, Tess and Opal do have their spats and Opal frequently expresses frustration towards some of her late mother’s actions, but for a pair going through grief, divorce, major life transitions, and betrayal, there’s a lack of drama that turns into a lack of evolution and catharsis. Between its overall brevity and hesitation to dig into messiness–humanness, even–Open Roads puts up a bit of a wall between the player and its story. As a result, I found I liked its characters, but I didn’t feel much towards them. While they were relatable enough, I didn’t find myself in them.

Sure, not all mother-daughter relationships are contentious or imitate Lady Bird, but in shying away from the emotional, you lose, well, emotions. For example, even with all the big plot points unraveling around them, the most impactful conversation in the game, to me, was the one Tess and Opal have after Tess accidentally leaves her phone at the hotel and demands they go back. As an adult, you’re able to see the situation rationally: It makes sense to finish up the drive and grab the phone on the way back–it’ll only be a night without it, after all. But Tess’s dialogue options are limited and a bit more intense than usual–she needs her phone. And despite being 30 years old, I still felt that desperation.

It’s clear that Open Roads wants to have meaningful conversations about generational trauma, the oft-dismissed complexity of mothers, and how humans have different ways of showing love, a fact that can lead to pain when misunderstood, and I wanted to have them too. Yet it doesn’t offer the time or vulnerability to dig into these interesting topics. And while some of its story beats are unique, or offer at least a slight variation on ones we’ve perhaps seen before, all of these stories end somewhat abruptly and without much fanfare or introspection.

Where the game does succeed in storytelling, however, is in its environments. Presumably thanks to the studio’s pedigree and history of working on exploration games like Gone Home and Tacoma, you can tell there is an understanding of how to make locations nostalgic without pandering, interesting but not overwhelming, and immersive but not disjointed. Though I’m slowly discovering that a lot of first-person exploration games make me a bit nauseous (definitely a “me” problem here, so I don’t fault Open Roads), I really enjoyed walking around the environments the studio created. There were so many objects and pieces of decor that reminded me of the ones I grew up with, and it was interesting to note how these objects–and the memories attached to them–moved me more deeply than a lot of the game’s conversations.

At every location, there were little reminders–be it newspaper clippings, a Blockbuster copy of Clueless, or a CorningWare-style casserole dish–of the time that had passed. Sure, this sense of place is aided by some of Tess and Opal’s conversations–I particularly loved the one in which Tess admits to her less-computer-inclined mother that her idea of a wild Friday night consists of pizza rolls and The Sims, because same–but a heavy amount of lifting is done by the artistry and detail put into creating these locations.

I also really enjoyed Open Roads’ character art, which feels inspired by the animated films ’90s kids grew up watching. The style stands out against the more realistic-looking environments and works well with the game’s voice acting, though the lack of proper lip-syncing did feel awkward at times. More awkward, however, was the game’s sound, which felt almost incomplete. I had expected to hear songs and sounds that would take me back to 2003, yet they were noticeably absent. While I wasn’t expecting to hear “Stacy’s Mom” or “Hey Ya!” pop on the radio, having multiple radios and TVs that you could interact with that did effectively nothing was a bit of a letdown.

It’s unfortunate that “letdown” and “underwhelmed” are words I’ve used multiple times when talking about Open Roads because there’s still so much about the game that works. The overall narrative touches on some meaningful topics, there’s a fair amount of intrigue, plenty of well-crafted dialogue, some interesting characters, and a lot of heart. Yet most things fall frustratingly short or are cut off far too early, making the whole experience slightly lackluster. Despite being a game about a mother-daughter road trip, the game doesn’t go too far and that relationship is left only slightly altered rather than meaningfully examined and changed.

March 28, 2024

Pepper Grinder Review – Short And Spicy

It only takes a glance to understand Pepper Grinder’s inventive gimmick. A small girl named Pepper–a pirate by trade–wields a drill named Grinder that’s roughly the size of her entire body. The gear allows her to grind through soft surfaces with ease, complete with the ability to launch out of the surface with a leap. That might have been enough to carry the game by itself, but what’s most surprising about Pepper Grinder is its sheer variety. Though it’s short, that brevity helps to make the campaign a no-filler thrill ride that continuously pushes the boundaries of its central mechanic.

It turns out Grinder is a pretty versatile tool, even regarding its most basic function. You can burrow through the ground, which immediately feels natural and smooth. At the same time, you can’t simply turn on a dime with an instant about-face like a typical platformer–you have to handle turns by curving an arc out of your drilling path. Additionally, when you pop out of the surface of the dirt, you won’t gain much distance unless you jump just before breaking through. Those little touches give the core mechanic a sense of finesse, imitating the feeling of a playful dolphin–or at least, a dolphin video game like the classic Ecco.

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Once you get the hang of it, drilling through soil and leaping out of the surface in a perfect arc, only to catch another piece of soft ground in the distance and continue your digging, feels thrilling and acrobatic. The drillable surfaces are nicely differentiated from hard environmental pieces, so you quickly learn to read a level and see the path through it, evoking a feeling similar to performing a great run in Tony Hawk. Collectibles like gems are scattered strategically throughout the stages to both subtly guide your eye along the path, while also sometimes setting traps for your greed.

Aside from being a traversal tool, Grinder is also your primary and often only weapon. It’s not enough to simply run into most enemies with a spinning drill, though–they often have their own specific approach to defeat them, like beetles with a hard upper carapace who need to be stabbed from the underside by burrowing underground. The main enemies, a breed of vicious narwhal-like creatures with horns on their head, are just as capable of hurting you with a head-on collision as you are of hurting them. None of the regular enemies are terribly tough by themselves, but they introduce new ways of approaching stages and obstacles as you need to get around them or through them to continue on your path.

A platformer with a standout hook like this one probably could have coasted on it, but Pepper Grinder doesn’t rest on its laurels. Instead, it consistently introduces new elements to master. These either integrate with your balletic burrowing or provide a change of pace from it. Grabbing a key with your drill will make it turn a lock, and you can use the kinetic energy to power machines. You’ll also shoot from cannons, drill holes into the bottoms of ships to make them take on water, carve through skyscrapers to make them collapse as you traverse through, and even pilot a giant mech. What appears at first to be a simple tool gives way to constant delightful little surprises.

A series of boss battles ramp up the difficulty nicely, taking the skills you’ve learned and putting them to the test. The first is relatively straightforward, as you dodge projectiles by moving through the soil and wait for the opportune moment to attack from the underside, while the second severely limits the amount of soft ground available and challenges you to leap high into the air to do damage. They progress from there, including one tough encounter with another human-like character that has roughly your size and agility. All this leads to a final boss encounter that is one of the most tense and difficult retro platformer bosses I’ve seen in a long time, which felt satisfying to overcome.

And on top of all this, Pepper Grinder carries itself with a cute, pixel-punk personality. Pepper’s diminutive sprite artwork has a charm to it, like how she revs up her trusty drill threateningly when coming face-to-face with a boss, or how she raises her pirate flag to declare victory in an area. The enemies can sometimes be seen doing their own pirate duties before you crash their party. And though story sequences are few and far between, they were just enough to explain what was going on with mimed, dialogue-free action. A short story sequence just before the final boss even made me laugh out loud.

This gentle giant is one of the fantastical creatures in Pepper Grinder.

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At such a breakneck pace of new ideas, Pepper Grinder doesn’t last very long, which is to its credit. I finished the campaign in roughly four hours, which is a relatively short playtime. Every stage also has a time-trial option, and there are still collectibles and cosmetics to unlock like stickers and hairstyles. The most important collectibles are Skull Coins, a limited resource–five per stage–that can be used to unlock special bonus stages in each of the four worlds. These are used to further explore gameplay concepts that had been introduced in the main stages. The first one, for example, takes the cannon mechanic to its logical conclusion with an entire stage built around ping-ponging from cannon to cannon, which felt pleasanlty reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country’s famous barrel stages.

Perhaps because of its brevity, I enjoyed every minute, and I appreciate the rare instance of a game that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Rather than slog through filler stages to pad its length, Pepper Grinder is bursting with new ideas for exactly as long as it can sustain that momentum. There’s something admirable about approaching its length with that level of confidence. I would have loved to play even more, if it could have sustained that pace, but this felt like a conscious choice to let the best ideas shine.

Pepper Grinder is here for a good time, not for a long time. Every piece, from the core drilling mechanic itself to the various ways it manifests with cannons and mechs and more, feels meticulously engineered to teach you a new concept, wring the fun out of it, and then move on to the next. That sense of propulsion makes every moment fun and engaging. It’s a great little gem of a game which, like its heroine, may be small in size but makes every bit count.

March 28, 2024

MLB The Show 24 Review – Base Hit

A lot of people will tell you that Hank Aaron is the greatest to ever play the game of baseball. Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, is one of those people, and it’s easy to see why. You only have to look at Hammerin’ Hank’s stats–755 home runs and 3,771 hits in Major League Baseball–his outstanding consistency across 23 big league seasons, or the fact that he achieved all of this after such humble beginnings. Growing up, Aaron had few opportunities to play organized baseball. In fact, he had few opportunities to even use the right equipment. Instead, a young Henry Aaron would take his mom’s broomstick and use it as a makeshift bat to hit bottlecaps–it’s no wonder he ended up being so good.

I knew of Hank Aaron’s incredible career, but supplemental details like this are part of what makes Storylines such a captivating and enlightening experience. If last year’s game was all about introducing this brilliant and groundbreaking new mode, then MLB The Show 24 is more about fine-tuning the existing framework. This isn’t an uncommon approach for annual sports games, and while Sony San Diego’s latest baseball sim might not seem as fresh or exciting as last year’s offering, it still plays an excellent game of baseball while possessing a tangible reverence for the sport’s rich history and inherent romanticism. Players are more than just stats and numbers, after all.

This is where Storylines comes in, and it’s once again the highlight of the whole package. Like any good TV series, MLB The Show 24 returns with a second season of The Negro Leagues, exploring an era of baseball that has often been overlooked and forgotten. At launch, there are four stories to play through, shining a spotlight on the aforementioned Henry “Hank” Aaron, as well as Josh Gibson, Walter “Buck” Leonard, and Toni Stone, with more set to arrive in forthcoming updates.

MLB The Show 24

Bob Kendrick’s charismatic and insightful narration brings these tales to life, aided by slickly produced videos that weave in historical photographs, original artwork, and archival footage to paint a portrait of these players and their profound impact on baseball and American culture. In between these video packages, you’ll play through pivotal moments from each player’s career, from Aaron’s first hit as a member of the Milwaukee Braves to Josh Gibson’s decimation of MLB pitching in exhibition games–where he batted a ridiculous .426. Perhaps the most interesting collection of episodes focuses on the career of Toni Stone, a true trailblazer who became the first woman to play for a professional baseball team when she took Hank Aaron’s roster spot after he departed the Negro Leagues for the MLB.

Alongside these eye-opening tales, MLB The Show 24 also expands on the Storylines concept by adding a series on legendary New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. By using a New York subway motif as the backdrop for Jeter’s story, the former captain recounts important moments from the first few years of his storied career as you travel along the tracks from 1996 to 2000. Starting with his first steps as an unheralded rookie to achieving legendary status as the Yankees won three consecutive World Series titles, Jeter gives you an insight into his and the team’s mindset during this monumental run. There are also three side stories that center on the other members of the Yankees’ Core Four: Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte. These stories are brief, consisting of a single video package, but completing each additional mission unlocks their player cards for use in Diamond Dynasty.

As a Yankees fan, I enjoyed Jeter’s retelling of the era’s events, along with being able to recreate moments like his iconic jump-throw and a number of his clutch hits. Admittedly, however, it’s not the most interesting collection of stories. This is a team and player that won four championships in five years with little to no adversity, while Jeter himself was relatively drama-free off the field. It doesn’t make for the most compelling narrative, but the inclusion of Jeter’s Storylines does at least set a precedent for the series where we’ll hopefully see more engrossing tales in the future, whether the focal point is on a single Hall of Fame player or an entire team.

MLB The Show 24

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Road to the Show, meanwhile, lets you create and play as a woman for the first time. There are specific video packages that differ from those in the male career, with MLB Network analysts embracing the historical significance of a woman being drafted by an MLB team. A separate narrative based around you getting drafted alongside a childhood friend also differentiates the female career from the male side–which lacks any kind of story–while considerations like a private dressing room add an element of authenticity. The majority of cutscenes play out via text message, however, replacing the series’ previous narration with a hackneyed alternative.

The only other new addition to Road to the Show is the return of the Draft Combine, which gives you three games to improve your draft ranking by playing well against other prospects. While it’s good to see the combine back, it’s a fairly superfluous addition for those who simply want to choose which team to play for rather than leaving it up to fate. It also doesn’t take into account starting pitchers, dropping your draft stock because you’re only able to play in one of the three available games. The inclusion of women is a positive one, but Road to the Show is still in desperate need of an overhaul to its tired loadout system and bland presentation.

Franchise remains mostly the same, aside from one new addition with the potential to completely alter how you engage with the mode. Custom Game Entry Conditions is a setting that lets you simulate games until certain conditions are met, at which point you’re able to take control. You can customize these conditions based on how critical the situation is by tinkering with a situation-importance slider that ranges from low to very high.

You’re able to pick the earliest inning you’re willing to enter games, and can also ensure that you’ll always jump into player-highlight moments, such as finishing off a potential no-hitter or extending a batter’s hitting streak. With this setting, you might decide you only want to enter games during high-leverage situations in the ninth inning or play from the seventh inning onwards in tight games. This alleviates the grind of a full 162-game season while keeping you invested and making sure you have an impact on games that might mean the difference between making the playoffs or missing out on October baseball. The one side-effect of this addition is that Road to October and its truncated seasons now feel obsolete, but improving Franchise makes this a worthy trade-off.

Diamond Dynasty, the card-collecting and squad-building mode, is also not too dissimilar from last year’s game. The implementation of Sets and Seasons has been tweaked, with longer seasons giving you more playing time with season-limited cards. The amount of top-rated cards attainable at the beginning of a season has also been reduced to give you something to build towards.

Cards will now gradually escalate in power over the course of a single season so you won’t be rocking a 99-rated team after a single week. These are positive changes in what remains the most approachable of the many card-collecting modes in sports games, such is the ease with which you’re able to acquire great players without spending a dime. The plethora of single and multiplayer modes is also a feather in its cap.

MLB The Show 24’s on-field action remains stellar. For the first time, new rules like the pitch clock, slightly larger bases, and limited pick-off attempts have been implemented. Impact Plays, a new addition that emphasizes great defense, are also new, reinforcing the impact of spectacular diving catches and difficult throws. Impact Plays are possible anytime you’re player-locked, such as in Road to the Show. If there’s a possibility for a highlight-reel play, the game will slow down and task you with completing a quick-time event. How you perform here determines how successful the play will be. It feels great each time you’re able to rob a batter of a base hit by plucking the ball out of the air moments before it touches the ground or firing a laser beam to first base to beat a runner. I only wish Impact Plays were more frequent and were included as an option when controlling a full team.

The continued absence of an online Franchise mode and the stale nature of Road to the Show are disappointing aspects of this release, but MLB The Show 24 still maintains the series’ commendable output with fantastic gameplay and another collection of fascinating stories exploring The Negro Leagues and its players. A journey through the exalted career of Derek Jeter might not be quite as gripping, but it builds on Storyline’s established framework and lays down an exciting blueprint for the mode’s future. The addition of women in Road to the Show is another positive step, further reinforcing the overarching theme that baseball is for everyone, while the ability to customize how you play Franchise mode makes it a much more palatable proposition for those embarking on a 162-game season. MLB The Show 24 might not swing for the fences, but it’s still a great way to spend the looming summer months.

March 27, 2024

Princess Peach Showtime Review – Drama Teacher

Princess Peach, the prototypical video game damsel in distress, has had limited success with her own solo adventures. On the rare occasion that she’s playable, she has typically been a sidekick in a larger adventure, like Super Mario RPG. Though she did land a starring role in Super Princess Peach, the game and its core mechanic—in which her powers were defined by wild mood swings—were a miss. Princess Peach Showtime is the latest attempt to make her own story, with nary a Mario or Luigi in sight, and this time she has come more into her own as an adventurer. More importantly, this solo outing seems primed at introducing new players to a wide variety of game genres. While veteran gamers will likely find the pacing too lethargic, it’s nice that Nintendo is making such a clear overture to welcome new players.

And when I say that there’s no Mario or Luigi, I mean at all. Nintendo’s most iconic characters aren’t even present in the intro, when Peach receives an invitation to come see the Sparkle Theater in a land occupied by Theets, little yellow creatures with bulbous noses. Upon arrival, the theater is taken over by a sorceress named Grape and her Sour Bunch goons, who kick out Peach’s loyal Toad companions, misplacing her crown in the process, and proceed to corrupt all the plays. Peach finds a guardian of the playhouse, a fairy named Stella, who accompanies peach by taking the form of a ribbon in her hair. (When Peach puts her hair up into a ponytail, you know it’s getting serious.) Stella is Peach’s default weapon, letting you use a whip-like motion to magically change objects and enemies in the environment, and it’s also the enabler for Peach’s various transformations.

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Now Playing: Princess Peach: Showtime! – Transformation Trailer

When Peach steps into a corrupted play, she finds a spark that lets her take on the role of its hero. These are broad archetypes like Swordfighter, Cowgirl, and Detective, and the 10 costume types allow for a broad range of different gameplay types. Once you’ve found your costumes in the first version of a stage, future stages of that type will start you with it already equipped. Each floor has four plays to conquer, after which you’ll fight a boss and gain access to the next floor. It’s all very easily understandable and flows nicely.

Since every stage is a sidescroller, I found that the plays felt most natural and familiar when they hewed closest to familiar sidescrolling action game mechanics. But even within those, there was some variety at play. The Swordfighter plays are modeled after a very traditional action game, light parry system included. The Cowgirl, on the other hand, is focused more on ranged attacks with your lasso, and the Kung-Fu stages included some lightly rhythmic fighting game mechanics. My personal favorite was Mighty Peach, a cute take on the henshin hero genre like Ultraman, in which Peach gets a robotic-looking power suit that she uses to fly through the air, take out invading UFOs, and lift buses over her head to throw at enemies or use as makeshift bridges. Those stages played almost like a shoot-em-up, with a unique focus on ricocheting ships and aliens into each other.

Some stages are less combat-focused but still handle like simplified platformers. The Ninja stages are centered on stealth, letting you hold up set dressing to blend in with the grass, or duck underwater and breathe through a reed while sneaking up on enemies. The Dashing Thief is focused mostly on a grappling hook as you run across rooftops. Other stages stray further from the platformer formula, like the Figure Skater stages that let you glide gracefully across the ice as you hit icon-coded stunt points to grab collectibles and ultimately defeat the evil Sour Bunch figure skater rival. The Mermaid stages take place almost entirely underwater and consist mostly of directing your siren singing voice–either to direct a group of fish where to go for solving puzzles, Pikmin-style, or to collect special singing-note fish to compose a song. They’re all variations on a theme to some extent, but they have enough slight differences to act as a rudimentary introduction to disparate game genres.

Then there are the costumes that stray furthest from traditional platforming mechanics, to mixed results. The Patissiere (pastry chef) stages are modeled after timing-based cooking games, as you bake batches of cookies or carefully apply frosting to cakes. These are a nice change of pace that really show the flexibility of the concept. The same can’t be said for the Detective stages, which are the weakest of the bunch. These consist almost entirely of walking around, talking to Theets, and then holding a button to point out an inconsistency with some object in the relatively small room. Even keeping in mind that these mysteries are aimed at younger children, the pace of these segments is particularly dull. From your movement speed to tracking something with your magnifying glass to holding the button to call out an inconsistency, everything feels just a little slower than it should be.

That said, the Detective stages, like all of the stages, carry an excellent eye for set design. Princess Peach Showtime works on two levels, as you have to both visually understand the goals and mechanics of the stage itself, while also taking notice that these are ultimately supposed to be stage plays. Many of the props and backgrounds are designed to look like stagecraft, and moving parts like Mighty Peach’s alien enemies or your Cowgirl’s trusty steed are made to look like puppetry, with seams and barely-visible strings. It’s a lovely, subtle touch that really sells the worldbuilding of the Sparkle Theater. The boss designs are equally inventive, as they’re built to look like pieces of behind-the-scenes stage pieces that have been cursed into fearsome beasts, like a massive snake made out lighting rigging to make up its segmented body.

Purrjector Cat is one of the stylized bosses based on stagecraft.

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As you proceed through each stage, you’ll find coins, as well as sparks that are ultimately used to gate access to each boss. These are plentiful enough that I never had to backtrack for more, which is a welcome change from other recent Nintendo games with similar gating structures. Your coins, meanwhile, can be used to purchase additional dress designs for Peach and ribbon colors for Stella. This isn’t very impactful, given that most of your time is spent in plays where Peach will be changed into her stage-appropriate costume, but it’s nice to see your customized Peach when she’s exploring the main floors of the theater at least. As you progress, you’ll also unlock special stages to rescue Sparklas, the Theet embodiment of each of the play’s characters, as well as elements like timed challenge stages. These serve as the culmination of the individual stories, and while they still aren’t very difficult, they are among the most challenging parts of the game. That should be enough to give the target audience the sense of a difficulty ramp. Plus, all of these collectibles means there’s plenty to do for completionists, but the gating isn’t so aggressive that it’s likely to frustrate players–especially the younger players who seem to be the target.

And just as Mario games have never been known for their strong stories, Princess Peach doesn’t escape that issue in her own solo outing. Grape is a typical evil cackling villain with a barely-stated plan or motivations. We never even get a clear idea of whether she intended to attack the theater while Peach was there, or if that was happenstance. This is too bad because the final confrontation is a gameplay highlight, ending on a high note that would be even better if we’d been given a more compelling villain to defeat. If anything, the stories in the individual plays themselves are often more interesting, thanks in part to some great, so-goofy-it’s-fun writing and animation work.

Princess Peach Showtime is a friendly, inviting game that’s made to be easy to digest. Some of the genres work better than others in this format, but none of them are too tricky or off-putting, and most of it will come down to personal taste. None of these stages are fleshed out enough to support their own game, but they’re an invitation for novice gamers to explore a bunch of different game types, with a charming (and apparently polymath) princess offering her gloved hand to welcome them in.

March 21, 2024

Band of Brothers Blu-Ray Is 50% Off At Amazon

Band of Brothers first aired in 2001 and remains one of the best shows HBO has ever produced. The Emmy Award-winning series holds up remarkably well, and if you’ve yet to watch it (or are a long-time fan), you can pick it up in a Blu-ray box set that includes its sibling series, The Pacific, for just $29 at Amazon (down from $60).

That’s one of the best prices we’ve ever seen for the bundle, with its lowest-ever price just a few bucks cheaper at $25. Band of Brothers is no doubt worth the price of admission, and when coupled with 2010’s The Pacific, it’s an even better deal. Both series take a nuanced look at World War II, following two distinct groups of memorable characters as they battle through Europe and Japan.

Along with all episodes of the two shows, this bundle includes the Called to Service documentary featuring never-before-seen interviews from the Easy Company and 1st Marine Division veterans.

A few other historical dramas are on sale at Amazon right now, including Vikings: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) for $60 (down from $140), The Last Kingdom: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) for $45 (down from $100), and Rome: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) for $35 (down from $55). The Vikings collection is particularly notable, as it clocks in at a staggering 27 discs and has just hit its lowest-ever price.

More Historical Drama Deals

Fallout London Delayed Due To Fallout 4 Update

Team FOLON, the indie studio behind the highly anticipated Fallout London mod, recently announced that the mod has been delayed due to the Fallout 4 current-gen update.

Team FOLON took to its official YouTube channel to explain that it originally planned to release Fallout London on April 23, which aligned with St. George’s Day, a celebration that takes place in England. This is an issue because Fallout 4 is scheduled to receive a significant update on April 25. In the video, Dean Carter, the project lead, explained that prior to the news of Bethsda updating Fallout 4, the team was “tweaking and testing non-stop in order to get things as stable as we can for you all in time for that release,” but now because of the update their work is more prevalent than ever to “simply break.”

As of right now, it’s unclear when Fallout London will officially be released because everyone working on it is a volunteer. But the team says it is fully committed to releasing the mod to the masses as soon as possible.

Carter further explains that the overall update is great because now the team “can push the engine even harder than” it has pushed it in the past. Because of this, the mod will also receive quality-of-life improvements, as well as widescreen compatibility.

Despite being so popular, Team FOLON has never had a point of contact with Bethesda.

“Bethesda has never reached out to us during our entire tenure,” Carter said. “We’ve never had an in-depth conversation with [Bethesda] ever.”

Even though the new update does come with many perks, the team is still unable to bring the mod to consoles. “The mod is far too big. It’s currently standing around 30 to 40 gigabytes. It’s just not going to fit on the Xbox systems. I’m sorry, that’s the truth of it.”

The mod’s size even poses a challenge for PC players, as it’s too big to fit on Nexus Mods, the popular mod hub. However, thanks to GOG, PC players will be able to play Fallout London once it goes live using their accounts. The mod is confirmed for Steam, though the team hasn’t ruled out the Epic Games Store as a landing spot either.

As the name suggests, Fallout London takes place in London. The mod is set to take place 50 years before the events of Fallout 4, with an emphasis on realism and melee combat. Players can explore a destroyed London and visit iconic landmarks that survived the bombs, like Big Ben and the Tower of London.

For more Fallout news, check out our story detailing what’s in store for Season 2 and what level Lucy may have reached after the events of Season 1.

How To Save Up To 20% On Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Preorders

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, the spiritual successor to the cult classic Suikoden RPG series, is just a few weeks away. Rabbit & Bear studio originally announced the game back in 2020 with one of the highest-grossing Kickstarter campaigns ever–and after four years, it’s almost here.

The long-awaited RPG will launch on all platforms on April 23, but PC players who want to secure their copy ahead of launch can preorder Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes for just $39.49 (normally $50) at Fanatical. This 20% discount is available until the game launches.

While Fanatical’s preorder deal is the best price for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on PC, the game is also available at Steam and The Epic Games Store. It will also launch for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox. However, only PS5 and Nintendo Switch are getting physical releases outside Japan, and neither version includes preorder bonuses.

Thankfully, it’s easier for digital players to get the game. PlayStation Plus members can save 10% on their preorders if they preorder the digital versions through the PlayStation Store, while Xbox Game Pass members can play the game on launch day as part of their subscription. Nintendo Switch preorders are not yet available, but you can add it to your eShop wishlist to be notified when its available.

It’s all a bit confusing, but to help simplify things, we’ve outlined all the versions of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes below, and provided details on all the preorder bonuses included with each version.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Preorder Bonuses

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes preorder bonuses

Digital Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes preorders get you the Early Bird Pack item bundle, which includes a bonus rune and accessory item, and the Headquarters Custom Object DLC, which adds an extra flag you can display in your in-game stronghold. While these packs are only included as preorder bonuses on PlaySation, PC, and Xbox, both packs will be available as purchasable DLC content after launch for all platforms.

Preordering the $80 Digital Deluxe edition will let you play up to 48 hours early, starting April 21, and comes with a bunch of other exclusive items outlined below.

$50-$60

You can preorder Eiyuden Chronicle standard edition $50 on PS5 and $60 on Nintendo Switch. Not only is the Switch version $10 more expensive, it also won’t release until a month later on May 21. The PS5 version launches on April 23. Neither version includes any preorder bonuses. Nevertheless, you can preorder the game on either console at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, GameStop, and Target.

The digital standard edition is available for $50 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PS5, and includes the Early Bird and Headquarters Custom Object DLC preorder bonuses. PlayStation Plus members can grab the PS5 version for just $45 at the PSN store. Strangely, there is no way to preorder Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes digital standard edition on PS4. It’s possible the PS4 version could get its own digital standard edition release on the PlayStation Store, but for now, it appears PS4 players who did not back the game on Kickstarter will need to preorder the $80 Digital Deluxe edition–unless you can read Japanese, in which case you can import a physical PS4 standard edition copy for $40 at Play Asia. Digital Nintendo Switch preorders will be available at a later date.

$80

The $80 Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Digital Deluxe edition comes with the base game on your platform of choice, the Early Bird and Headquarters Custom Object pack preorder bonuses, and early access to the game starting April 21, plus a bunch of bonus content, including:

Easy Journey Pack (contains six Healing items, two Revive item, and three Evacuation item)
Season Pass (includes three bonus DLC story chapters releasing after launch, plus three downloadable wallpapers and two Headquarters Paint options)
Digital Mini Artbook
Digital Soundtrack

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Digital Deluxe edition is available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. The Xbox digital deluxe version is compatible with Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, while the PlayStation version includes codes for the PS5 and PS4 versions of the game. As mentioned above, it is currently the only way to get the game on PS4 outside of Japan. PS Plus members can also save 10% on their preorder, bringing the Digital Deluxe version down to $72 (was $80).

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is developed by Rabbit & Bear Studios, which was founded by several members of the original Suikoden development team who wanted to continue the legacy of the beloved RPG series. As such, many of Eiyuden Chronicle’s gameplay and story elements will be familiar to Suikoden fans, such as the large cast of 100 party members to recruit, strategic turn-based battle system, and high fantasy setting rife with political conflict. It also features modernized touches like voice acting and a stylized presentation that mixes 2D sprites and high-quality 3D environments similar to Square Enix’s HD-2D style seen in games like Octopath Traveler and Live A Live.

Sadly, Yoshitaka Murayama, the creator of both Eiyuden Chronicle and Suikoden, passed away on February 6 at the age of 54.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes launches for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One on April 23. In the meantime, the game’s side-scrolling action RPG prequel, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, is available now on consoles and PC and is worth checking out if you want to learn more about this new fantasy series. You can snag a Steam key for 21% off at Fanatical. Rising is also available on Xbox Game Pass.

Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom.

Entertainment News

The Brand-New Assassin’s Creed Art Book Is Already Discounted

Clocking in just shy of 200 pages, this large volume includes an in-depth look at the weapons, characters, and environments of Assassin’s Creed Mirage. The hardcover art book was created by Dark Horse Books in collaboration with Ubisoft, and it should provide you with plenty of behind-the-scenes details as well as a better look at ninth-century Baghdad. Best of all, the book is seeing a nice discount to celebrate its launch, letting you snag it for just $41.

Elder Scrolls Skyrim Board Game On Sale For Best Price Yet At Amazon

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game is on sale for $92 (down from $140) at Amazon. This just about matches the best price ever for the tabletop RPG, as it was on sale for $91 for a brief period in late October last year. You can also save on several expansion sets as well as the Call to Arms RPG.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game is a cooperative game that lets you and a few friends explore Tamriel as members of the Blades. It’ll be up to you and your team to stop a new threat from swallowing up the world. You’ll earn treasure, accrue experience, and fight Daedra, Dragons, and Draugr along the way. Modiphius built the game with six chapters of two replayable campaigns, which span 25 years of Tamriel’s history and should give you plenty of reasons to dive back in for another playthrough.

Matches typically run between one and two hours and can be enjoyed by up to four players.

If you want to make the board game more visually appealing, you can snag the Miniatures Upgrade Set. This gets you dozens of updated mini-figures for your journey, including new sculpts for your playable characters. The set is currently on sale for $72 (down from $110).

There are plenty of other great board games and expansions on sale at Amazon right now, including the Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms Core Box RPG for $30 (down from $45). Call to Arms is designed for solo or two-player adventures, making it a great option for a nerdy date night or if you can’t round up the whole crew to play the Skyrim Adventure Game.

Here’s a quick look at the best Elder Scroll board game deals at Amazon. For even more Skyrim, check out The Skyrim Library box set, a gorgeous collection of three hardcover books that’s on sale for $56 (was $110) at Amazon. Elder Scrolls Online players should take a look at the two-volume box set centered on the lore of the MMO. It’s on sale for $44, down from $70.

Best Elder Scrolls tabletop RPG deals

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Movie Adds Keanu Reeves As Voice Of Shadow

Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has added another big name to its cast. Keanu Reeves will voice the character Shadow in the film, sources told The Hollywood Reporter in a story published after The John Campea Show broke the news initially.

Paramount released the first footage of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 during CinemaCon in Las Vegas last week, but the clip was shown behind closed doors and was not released publicly. In the clip, Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik was depressed and down on his luck after Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but gets back into the swing of things when he creates Shadow.

So far, however, Paramount has not released any footage of Shadow in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, so we haven’t heard Reeves’ take on the character yet. Jason Griffith was among the voice actors who brought Shadow to life in the game series over the years.

Sonic 3 will be racing into theaters on December 20, just in time for the holidays. Additionally, Knuckles (with voice actor Idris Elba) is getting his own spin-off TV show on Paramount+, as part of the studio’s plan to create a Sonic cinematic universe.

In the video game department, Sega announced a remastered version of the 2D/3D platformer Sonic Generations, this time with extra Shadow the Hedgehog when it releases later this year.

Prime Video’s Fallout Season 1 Ending Explained: What The Final Scene Means For Season 2

If you’re anything like us, chances are you spent the weekend binging Season 1 of Fallout on Amazon Prime video. The inaugural season of the live-action adaptation of the Fallout games is an excellent step in the right direction for the series, though there remains improvements to be made, In GameSpot’s review of the series, Phil Hornshaw wrote, “The show makes a lot of hay from the weird and goofy setting of the game series, and does a great job of filling it with fun, fascinating people. Though it feels like the show could have leveraged its setting even more, seeing how characters cope with life in a world that is both murderous and ridiculous keeps Fallout entertaining, even through its shortcomings.”

While we don’t know yet if Fallout will be renewed for a second season, the makings of one was certainly set up in the final episode of Season 1, “The Beginning.”

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Prime Video’s Fallout. If you haven’t watched it yet, turn away now.

Quite a bit happens in the final episode, tying together the storylines of the three main characters, while setting up a larger narrative–and new location–for Season 2.

The story so far…

Basically, Lucy (Ella Purnell) finally tracked down her father Overseer Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), who had been taken captive by Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury). We learn she was one of the surviving members of the New California Republic, a unified people that organized a Californian government after the bombs fell. They were based out of Shady Sands, the former home of Maximus (Aaron Moten). The destruction of that city is what sent him on his journey with the Brotherhood of Steel.

Upon Lucy’s arrival to Moldaver’s compound, we learn that Hank isn’t some innocent Overseer. Instead, he was an executive at Vault-Tec whose role was to keep order in Vault 31. Meanwhile, two doors over in Vault 33, there wasn’t an underground community. Instead, that was where Vault-Tec had its executive branch cryogenically frozen so they could rebuild the earth in Vault-Tec’s image.

Some time later, after Hank was thawed out and put in charge of Vault 33, his wife Rose realized the lies he’d been telling and that people had survived on the surface. She left Hank to be with the NCR, taking Lucy and her brother with her. When Hank came looking, he took the children back with them. Rose was left to become a ghoul, whom Moldaver keeps alive, unable to kill the woman she loved. In Hank’s own words, Rose “stopped” being their mother when she left.

What’s the purpose for all of this?

All season, the severed head of Wilzig (Michael Emerson) has been a MacGuffin powering the story forward. As we reached the end of the season, we finally discovered why. Wilzig had implanted an experimental cold fusion particle in his head, something that both the Brotherhood of Steel and the remains of the NCR wanted. The NCR wants it to provide ultimate power to the people, free from the Brotherhood or anyone else that wants to lord over them. The Brotherhood, of course, wants it so they have more control.

Another group that wants it is what’s left of Vault-Tec that isn’t frozen–including Hank. As his story unraveled and we learned the depths he sunk to, you could see a sense of cockiness and villainy wash over MacLachlan’s face. The happiest, goofiest person around is actually pretty devious.

Enter The Ghoul

As if everything Vault-Tec had done wasn’t enough, we learned of even more misdeeds that bring The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) into the mix.

Before the bombs, when he was still Cooper Howard, the movie star was married to a high-ranking Vault-Tec employee and even starred in commercials for the company–becoming the basis for the iconic Vault Boy “thumbs up” image. After a run in with a group that opposes Vault-Tec–and has been labeled Communist–Cooper used a spying device to listen in on his wife’s work conversations, learning that not only did Vault-Tec conspire with its biggest competitors on the Vault program, but that the company itself planned the nuclear attack that wiped out the world.

The End of “The Beginning.”

When Maximus arrived to help Lucy, he released her father, not knowing all Hank had done. While Lucy explained, Hank slipped into a suit of discarded power armor and knocked Maximus unconscious.

With Lucy horrified by the man her father has been all along and Maximus knocked out, The Ghoul finally arrives at Moldaver’s compound. He wants nothing else but to know where his family is. Given Vault-Tec froze a bunch of their executives in Vault 33, we’re guessing that’s where his wife ended up. As for his daughter, we know Cooper and his daughter were at a birthday party together when the bombs dropped. If she’s alive, she either found her way into a vault or, quite possibly, she is also a ghoul out there in the wasteland somewhere.

Before getting his answer, though, The Ghoul fails to stop Hank from getting away. So he set out to track him down, convincing Lucy to join the adventure. She’s forced to leave an unconscious Maximus to follow The Ghoul, with the Brotherhood of Steel arriving for him. Before leaving, though, she finally put her own ghoulified mother to rest with a single bullet to the head.

Some point after that, Moldaver manages to activate the cold fusion particle, immediately lighting up the Wasteland with free electricity. She then dies, succumbing to injuries she incurred while fighting the Brotherhood.

What’s next?

Thankfully, the show gives a pretty big indication of what’s coming next. With Hank off to find people sympathetic to his cause–and potentially other Vault-Tec executives, he is last week outside of a location Fallout fans should know very well.

As you can see above, that’s the skyline of New Vegas, the central location of Fallout: New Vegas. In the game, New Vegas is controlled by post-apocalyptic mobsters, with the story following multiple factions as they attempt to gain control of the Hoover Dam.

While chances are we don’t see that story play out in Season 2, it’s entirely possible we could see some characters from that game, including Mr. House or members of Caesar’s Legion.

Before any of that happens, though, Prime Video needs to renew the series. All eight episodes of Fallout Season 1 are streaming no.

Game News

Ori Devs Showcase New Direction With No Rest For The Wicked Trailer

Moon Studios has released the launch trailer for No Rest for the Wicked, showcasing its art style, gameplay, and story.

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Now Playing: No Rest for the Wicked – Official Steam Early Access Launch Trailer

Overwatch 2 Season 10 Introduces New Hero, Game Modes, And More

Activision Blizzard has just revealed more information on what players can expect for Season 10 of Overwatch 2 ahead of its launch tomorrow, April 16. Season 10: Venture Fourth introduces Venture, a new playable hero, new limited-time modes, new ways to earn rewards, and more.

On April 16, players will finally be able to get their hands on Venture. Unlike past seasons, they’ll be free to play alongside all the other heroes. Venture is the newest DPS hero to join the game’s ever-growing roster. In addition to being able to dish out a lot of damage, they’ll also be highly mobile. Her abilities allow her to borrow underground, dash through the air, push her enemies back, and jump incredibly high.

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Now Playing: Overwatch 2 – New Hero Venture Gameplay Trailer

Going forward, coins and challenges will be part of the battle pass. Players will now be able to earn up to 600 Overwatch Coins. Season 10 also introduces Mythic Prisms, a new way to earn Mystic skins. Those who purchase the battle pass will earn 80 Mythic Prisms once they’ve completed it, which is enough to complete one Mythic skin.

Season 10 will also introduce new game modes. Some of these include Clash Trail, which will be playable from April 16 to April 29. In this mode, players are tasked with capturing five points placed on a mirrored map. That’s not the only limited-time mode being introduced. From April 23 to May 13, players will be able to participate in Mirrorwatch, a mode in which all the heroes become villains, and the villains become heroes.

Below are the official patch notes:

Limited-Time Mode: Clash Trial

Clash is an upcoming core game mode in Overwatch 2. Teams must battle back and forth over five capture points, with each captured objective adding a point to the prevailing team’s score. Teams can win in two ways: either by having control of all five objectives at once, or by scoring five points total before the other team. Clash will be available as a limited-time trial through April 29.

How Clash is played

Five total objectives placed in a linear pattern on a mirrored map.
Only one objective is active at a time.
Matches start with the center objective active.
Players capture an objective by standing on it and filling in a progress bar. Capture progress cannot be made if enemy players are contesting the objective.
When a team captures the current objective, they are awarded one point to their total score and a new objective moving forward from the scoring team’s side is activated.
Objectives can be secured multiple times. If a team is pushed off an objective and the other team successfully captures it, the next active point will be in the opposite direction.

Win Conditions

Complete one of these conditions to win the match:

A team has successfully captured five objectives throughout the match to reach a total score of five.
Regardless of score, a team manages to take the final objective (A or E) on the opponents’ side.

Hanaoka – New Map Explore never-before-seen corners of Hanamura in the new map Hanaoka, inspired by the visual themes of the beloved Assault map. Explore the shops and restaurants around town or follow the scent of Sakura trees into the once-proud Shimada castle.

Mythic Hero Skin Updates

Mythic Hero Skins

Mythic Hero Skins are now unlocked in the new Mythic Shop in exchange for Mythic Prisms.
Mythic Hero Skins are unlocked for 50 Mythic Prisms with a starting set of customizations and then can be leveled up with 10 Mythic Prisms per level. You can unlock the skin and all available customizations for a Mythic Hero Skin for 80 Prisms.

Introducing Mythic Prisms

Mythic Prisms can be earned in the Premium Battle Pass and used in the Mythic Shop to purchase the current featured Mythic Hero Skin for the season and select previous Mythic hero skins. You can earn a total of 80 Mythic Prisms when you complete Premium Battle Pass.
Earning Mythic Prisms in the Premium Battle Pass is the easiest way to unlock a Mythic Hero Skin and all customizations each season. You can also purchase additional Mythic Prisms in game or in your platform’s store marketplace.

General Updates

Challenges

Completing Weekly Challenge milestones will now reward additional Battle Pass XP.
Overwatch Coins that were earned in the Weekly Challenges can now be earned in the Battle Pass for all players.
Reduced the number of Weekly Challenges.

Developer Comments: The number of Weekly Challenges has grown over time, and we are simplifying what players can aim to accomplish, while also making earning Battle Pass XP more straightforward.

Endorsement Changes

Players who are actioned for disruptive behavior and reduced to Endorsement Level 0 cannot use text or voice chat features until they return to Endorsement Level 1.

Developer Comments: Since we added the Endorsement system to Overwatch, players who have been actioned because of social reports (Inappropriate Communication, Gameplay Sabotage, etc) have had their Endorsement Level reduced to Level 0. That part of the system isn’t changing, but going forward, Level 0 players will no longer be able to speak in voice channels or type in text chat in most modes.

Hide My Name

Updated option in Streamer Protect, found in your Social Options.
You are now able to hide your BattleTag from other players in your group and from your friends in the match as well.
When enabled, anywhere your BattleTag is displayed to players during a match now displays a random anonymized BattleTag, instead of only to the player with the “Hide My Name” setting visibly enabled.

Developer Comments: “The “Hide My Name” setting in the Social Options now displays a random anonymized Battle Tag to all players in a match, instead of only to the player with the “Hide My Name” setting enabled. New settings have been added to “Hide My Name From Friends” and “Hide My Name From Group.” Of these two settings, “Hide My Name From Friends” takes priority when group members are also friends. A large list of hand-crafted BattleTags have been created to support this feature. Could it contain easter eggs or silly references?”

Progression

Added progression badges/sub-badges and rewards for Venture. Rewards can be found in Hero Challenges.

Leaver Penalties

Two new thresholds for Unranked Leave Penalties have been added:

Leaving two out of 20 games will result in a five-minute suspension from queuing for most modes.
10 or more out of 20 games will result in a 48-hour suspension from queuing for most modes.
All other threshold tiers are unchanged.

Developer Comments: Overwatch 2 is a competitive game even for Unranked game modes, and the match experience for all remaining players is negatively affected when a player leaves before it is completed. Remember a penalty only applies when you leave games and not when you complete games.

By introducing a lighter five-minute penalty, we aim to discourage players from deliberately leaving games they don’t want to play, while not impacting those who may have a technical issue or an urgent need to step away from the game which they can resolve by the time the queue suspension is finished. The larger 48-hour suspension aims to target a very small portion of players who are aggressively leaving games.

Leaving 10 games in Competitive Play will now result in a season ban regardless of the number of games completed.

Players can still get banned from Competitive Play in as few as five games if they leave very consistently and don’t complete enough games to get back into good standing.

Games completed in Competitive Play now count toward the 20-game window of the Unranked Leaver Penalty.

Developer Comments: We already suspend players who leave a Competitive and increase penalties up to a season ban for leaving games frequently, but players can work their way back into good standing if they complete several matches. However, this new rule will stop players from gaming the system over time.

Competitive Updates

Competitive Role-Specific Titles

End-of-season titles for Competitive Role Queue now include the role the rank was achieved in.
Examples include Champion Tank, Champion Support, Champion Damage, and Open Queue Champion.

Competitive Progress

Each Role Rank Card now displays the associated Competitive Role-Specific title.
Role Rank Cards can now be selected to open the Match History for the selected role.
Match history will display the following: Map / Game Mode, Heroes / Role, Date, Score, Results of the match
Match History can now be selected to open the Game Report for a match.

Grouping Restrictions

All previous Competitive Grouping Restrictions have been removed.
All groups in Competitive Play are now classified as Narrow or Wide.
Players between Bronze and Diamond must be within five divisions of each other player in their group to be in a Narrow Group.
Players at Master must be within three divisions of each other player in their group to be in a Narrow Group.
Players at Grandmaster and Champion cannot be in Narrow groups, regardless of how close their ranks are. This restriction ensures that our highest-ranked players have the highest quality Narrow matches.
Narrow Groups will always be matched against other Narrow Groups or solo players. If a group has both Wide and Narrow configurations of players, the Narrow configuration will always be prioritized.
Any group that does not meet the criteria is considered a Wide Group.
Wide Groups of four players may not queue. This restriction exists so that solo players are never required to make a Wide match.
Wide Groups have increased queue times and reduced match quality because it’s more difficult to find another group of players with the same ranks in the same roles to match against.
The amount a player’s Rank Progress changes after each match is modified by the group’s width.
The wider the group is, the less their ranks will change when winning or losing.
The higher the rank of the highest-ranked player in a Wide Group, the less the ranks of all players in the group will change when winning or losing.
Players will now be informed if the configuration of roles they have selected would result in a Wide Group.
The Tier Legend has been updated, and a new banner has been added to explain the rules described above.

Rank Information

New Modifier: “Wide”—this modifier reduces changes in Rank Progress when winning or losing matches. The wider your group, the less your Rank Progress will change with each win or loss.
The modifier “Volatile” has been renamed to “Demotion.”
Arrows displayed under the modifiers have been changed to point from left to right instead of right to left.
New Modifier: Demotion Protection
This modifier appears on the Rank Progress bar to denote when you did not go down in Skill Division because of a loss. If you lose the next match after, then you are dropped down to the previous Skill Division.
Victory and Defeat have been added below the Rank Progress bar where modifiers are displayed.

Golden Weapons

Golden weapons can now be purchased with either Legacy Competitive Points or 2024 Competitive Points. You cannot purchase weapons with a combination of both currencies.

Hero Updates

New Hero: Venture

Venture has been added to the line-up.
Venture is immediately available to play in Competitive Play.

Developer Comments: This is a pretty major change from past heroes, but we’ve always wanted to allow new heroes into Competitive when a new season for Overwatch 2 launches. In the past, we wanted to make sure new heroes were free of any bugs or outstanding balance issues, as well as giving players enough time to unlock a hero from the Battle Pass. Because of the recent hero trial, we’re confident Venture is ready to jump into the action right away.

Tanks

Doomfist

Rocket Punch

The empowered punch is no longer consumed when the windup is canceled by using Seismic Slam or Power Block.

Developer Comments: This quality-of-life improvement streamlines the transition between charging up an empowered Rocket Punch and another ability by removing the requirement of pressing the cancel input first.

Junker Queen

Carnage

Impact damage increased from 90 to 105.

Reinhardt

Earthshatter

Knockdown duration increased from 2.75 to 3 seconds.
Shockwave range increased from 20 to 25 meters.

Sigma

Experimental Barrier

Movement speed increased from 16.5 to 20 meters per second.

Developer Comments: This change will improve Sigma’s ability to protect allies that are further away from him.

Wrecking Ball

Grappling Claw

Hold the jump input while the Grappling Claw is attached to terrain to retract it, pulling yourself towards the anchor point. This action can be rebound in his hero settings.
Now has a one second cooldown if Wrecking Ball never reaches ramming speed before canceling the ability. Interrupting him with Hack, Hinder, and stuns will still trigger the full cooldown.
The maximum duration timer no longer triggers unless he reaches ramming speed.

Adaptive Shield

Can now be reactivated to redistribute up to 300 overhealth to nearby allies, capping at 75 per person.
Enemy and ally detection radius increased from 10 to 13 meters.

Minefield

Health increased from 50 to 60.

Developer Comments: The general goals here are to add a direct way for Wrecking Ball to support his allies aside from purely enemy team disruption, make the hero more approachable while also adding more avenues for skill expression, and improve quality of life around the grapple.

Damage

Sombra

Virus

Total damage over time decreased from 100 to 90.

Tracer

Recall

Cooldown increased from 12 to 13 seconds.

Pulse Bomb

Base projectile size decreased from 0.2 to 0.1 meters. The total projectile size is now 0.25 meters.

Developer Comments: There is now more downtime before Tracer can safely reengage after driving her away and Pulse Bomb will require more precision.

Venture

Drill Dash

Impact damage decreased from 60 to 40.
Damage over time increased from 40 to 60.

Clobber

Impact damage decreased from 40 to 30.
Damage over time increased from 30 to 40.

Tectonic Shock

Vertical knockback decreased by 30%.

Developer Comments: We are redistributing the damage on some of their abilities so that positioning relative to the enemy and tracking a target are more important for dealing maximum damage.

Support

Illari

Solar Rifle

Primary fire recovery increased from 0.2 to 0.25 seconds.
Secondary fire heal-per-second increased from 105 to 115.

Lúcio

Sonic Amplifier

Damage per projectile decreased from 20 to 18.

Soundwave

Damage increased from 35 to 45.

Lifeweaver

Rejuvenating Dash

Heal increased from 50 to 60.

Tree of Life

Pulse healing increased from 75 to 90.

Moira

Biotic Grasp

Damage per second decreased from 65 to 60.

Coalescence

Self-heal per second increased from 50 to 55.

Bug Fixes

General

Hero Mastery Gauntlet – fixed a bug that could cause more AI teammates than intended.
Fixed a bug with Wall Climb that could allow Heroes with the passive to climb infinitely.
Fixed a bug with Diamond, Masters, and Grandmaster not playing any effects when entering the Top 500.
Fixed a bug with duplicate entries on the Leaderboard.
Fixed the missing flash notification on taskbar when joining a game as a backfill.

Maps

Fixed in a previous update – resolved an issue where jump pads could become deactivated.

Circuit Royal

Fixed an issue with the payload tires launching players unexpectedly.

Paraíso

Fixed an area near the second point where the payload dock could negatively impact Earth Shatter and Tectonic Shock’s ability to hit larger heroes.

Heroes

Echo

Fixed an issue with Duplicate that could prevent a death being counted if it was used as Echo falls off the map.

Doomfist

Fixed an interaction with Mei’s Ice Wall that could allow you to get under the map.
Fixed a bug with Power Block sounds triggering even if it was not blocking damage.

Illari

Fixed an issue with Captive Sun affecting targets through floors and ceilings.

Junkrat

Fixed a bug with Riptire receiving the self-healing passive.

Lifeweaver

Fixed a bug where some un-targetable heroes could be healed by Tree of Life.

Mauga

Fixed an interaction with Overrun and Brigitte’s Shield Bash that resulted in Mauga being knocked down with Overrun active.

Mercy

Fixed a bug with the Caduceus Staff not opening up with the Parasol emote and Pose.

Venture

Fixed a bug that would prevent Drill Dash from activating while underground if the input was pressed while falling through the air and Burrow was active.
Fixed a bug where Drill Dash could deal damage multiple times with the initial impact and instantly kill targets or knock them back exceedingly far.
Fixed a bug where certain heroes were still being pushed back even if they escaped from Drill Dash.
Fixed a bug where Venture would sometimes launch very far if using Drill Dash off a ledge while Burrowed.
Fixed a bug where attempting to emerge during Burrow near ledges would sometimes end the ability prematurely.
Fixed a bug where the third-person camera would snap back to first-person instantly if you were in the air when burrow ended.
Fixed a bug where UI prompts for emerging and Drill Dash were not visible during Burrow.
Fixed a bug that could allow players to prevent footfall audio from playing.

For more Overwatch 2 news, check out our story detailing why Blizzard is changing the game to be more “generous.”