Call of Duty: Vanguard has been highly-criticized for stepping away from the Zombies mode's traditional round-based experience, but Treyarch's April 14 blog details that standard round-based maps are finally coming to Vanguard. Players can also expect more Zombies content to arrive in Black Ops Cold War.

According to Treyarch's blog, the focus has shifted from Vanguard's objective-style maps of Der Anfang and Terra Maledicta to the groundwork needed to bring traditional Zombies maps to the game. Unfortunately, players will have to wait a bit before getting to jump into a classic Zombies mode for Vanguard.

"While we’re extremely excited to deliver this classic style of gameplay for Vanguard players," Treyarch says, "We want to set the expectation up-front that it’s going to take some time to get it into your hands." The developer explains the work involves extensive systems development from the ground-up, including the design, implementation, and testing of round-based wave spawning and AI pathing, and more.

CD Projekt Red has released its 2021 Fiscal Year earnings, revealing new sales numbers for both its Witcher franchise and its latest game, Cyberpunk 2077. 

To probably nobody’s surprise, both The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077 have sold really well for CDPR. In fact, as of today, The Witcher series has sold more than 65 million copies, with more than 40 million of them being The Witcher III: Wild Hunt alone. Cyberpunk 2077, on the other hand, has sold more than 18 million copies. 

The last time CDPR publicly released sales numbers for its latest RPG, the studio revealed in April of last year that Cyberpunk 2077 sold more than 13.7 million copies in 2020. That means that between the end of 2020 and now – so roughly 16 months – Cyberpunk 2077 has sold about 5 million copies. That’s still an impressive number, to be sure, but it speaks to a larger drop off for the title’s sales in 2021.

Cyberpunk 2077’s best days may still be ahead but developer CD Projekt Red announced today it’s now shifting focus and resources away to other projects, including its new open-world Witcher game. While the beleaguered sci-fi shooter will still get a story expansion in 2023, it doesn’t sound like it will be getting any…

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Upon its initial, half-formed release, eFootball - Konami's renamed successor to PES - quickly became the worst rated game on Steam. It still now has a mere 15% positive reviews. Yet Konami haven't given up and have now released v1.0.0 of the limping kick 'em up, promising a "new gameplay approach."

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No Man's Sky developer Hello Games is working on a new project that sounds very ambitious. Studio co-founder and managing director Sean Murray told IGN that the project is similar to No Man's sky in that it has bold ambitions, though it is not No Man's Sky 2.

"For a while now we've been working on something pretty ambitious in the background. It's a small team but we like it that way," Murray said. "Similar to No Man's Sky, it's the kind of project that even if we had a thousand people working on it, it'd still seem impossible."

Hello Games has yet to announce this game officially, so there is very little to go on. Murray did, however, confirm that the work being done on this new project is not taking away from the studio's ongoing commitment to growing and evolving No Man's Sky.

"No Man's Sky is not being held back by the next project but neither is the new thing being slowed by No Man's Sky," he said. "We're lucky enough to be able to allow folks to move freely to work on what excites them."

For what it's worth, No Man's Sky just got a big new update, Outlaws, that adds a criminal underworld and makes changes to space combat, among other things. Check out the full No Man's Sky Outlaws patch notes to learn more.

The second wave of PlayStation's Spring Sale is now live, offering discounts on hundreds of new titles. You've got plenty of time to peruse the new catalog, as the savings will stick around until April 27--so be sure to find a few minutes to check out the massive price cuts on indie darlings, AAA blockbusters, and everything in between. Some deals from the first wave of the Spring Sale are still available, but you'll definitely want to check out the refreshed batch because the sale is absolutely massive now.

The sale is filled with both first- and third-party deals. If you're looking for PlayStation console exclusives, you have a bunch to pick from. The superb JRPG Persona 5 Royal is down to just $24 and Naughty Dog's brilliant action-adventure The Last of Us Part II is only $20. Speaking of Naughty Dog, you can also grab Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and The Last of Us Remastered for only $10 each. Meanwhile, last year's colorful adventure Kena: Bridge of Spirits is down to $28 ($24 for PS Plus members), and Sackboy: A Big Adventure is 50% off. Sackboy is a great pick if you're looking for a family-friendly game.

We've covered quite a few graphics card deals for the UK market over the past couple of weeks, as nature slowly heals, but now it's time for the Americans to have a go. Right now Newegg are offering an EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra for $999, a $300 reduction from MSRP.

That's a great deal, with the card costing less than any RTX 3080 I could find on Amazon, and it's from EVGA - widely considered to be among the most-trusted graphics cards brands out there, if not the best.

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Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and music fans are in for a treat, as it was just announced that an official vinyl soundtrack for the game is now available for pre-order. Broken into two LPs, the upcoming release features 20 songs from the beloved Sony exclusive, all of which are perfect for taking on any evil robotic emperor.

The vinyl has been composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and Wataru Hokoyama, with Milan Records in charge of publishing. You can check out the official description and track list below:

Milan Records is proud to present the music to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and Wataru Hokoyama, on vinyl!

When an evil robotic emperor intent on conquering cross-dimensional worlds puts  Ratchet and Clank’s own dimension next in his sights, the old duo is thrust right back into action. The dynamic pair need to dust off their outrageous weaponry and stop a dimensional collapse in its tracks.

This release features twenty tracks of original music composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and Wataru Hokoyama for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart pressed on a pair of dimensional rift color vinyl discs and housed in a gatefold jacket with original artwork by Shan Jiang.

Track List

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: During a recent IGN interview, Hello Games managing director Sean Murray talked up the studio’s new venture as “something pretty ambitious.”

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Yesterday, developer Hello Games rolled out the 4,521,781th free update for its popular simulation of the universe, No Man’s Sky. Called “Outlaws,” among other new features, it adds a “pirate underground,” replete with an entire black-market economy. But some players say it’s added too many pirates.

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It's tempting to simply copy-paste the post I wrote last year, as again QuakeCon is going to be an online-only event in 2022. The annual celebration of Bethesda-published games has traditionally taken place in Dallas, but has been forced into cyberspace by Covid-19.

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Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Publisher: Dotemu
Developer: Tribute Games
Release: 2022

In the 1990s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were ubiquitous in the side-scrolling beat-‘em-up scene. Whether you’re talking about the 1989 arcade game, 1991’s Turtles in Time, or the myriad other brawlers starring everybody’s favorite Heroes in a Half-Shell, Konami’s creations in the ‘80s and ‘90s are legendary.

However, just as the side-scrolling beat-‘em-up genre faded, so too did the luster of the Turtles’ legacy. Following the IP’s late-‘80s/early-‘90s boom, the fan base of TMNT shrunk considerably, and much like the movies, TV shows, and merchandise, the brand’s gaming output slowed. After 1992’s Hyperstone Heist and 1993’s Tournament Fighters, the Turtles still starred in games, but few reached any level of acclaim. Even Ubisoft’s 2009 remake of Turtles in Time was met with harsh criticism.

Prepare for a decent fight when facing Sojourn when Overwatch 2 launches. The character seem to wield an assault rifle that can easily fire like a railgun. Within the trailer it looks like a completely deadly one-shot kill. That’s going to cause a few headaches for anyone but the most heavy defense characters.

It’s not just the railgun appears to be a one-shot kill, the thing also has penetration so looks like you aren’t going to be saved by a teammate diving in front of you in a Secret Service save. For those players who like ranged characters with a high fire rate, it seems like Sojourn is going to picked the most.

You can see the trailer here and below:

While this trailer is all about seeing Sojourn in action, yesterday a trailer dropped that shows off all of her backstory for those who like to know the characters completely.

Something that you might not know for Overwatch 2, but for those who have collected more than the average amount of skins, the site claims:

Your accomplishments and loot collections will be carried forward to Overwatch 2. That means you’ll keep your skins, player icons, sprays, emotes, and more!

As part of its latest earnings report, CD Projekt has confirmed Cyberpunk 2077's previously announced paid expansion - which the developer says will deliver a "new storyline" - is now expected to arrive next year, and that additional DLC is in the works.

Details on Cyberpunk 2077's paid story expansion have remained limited following CD Projekt's decision to switch its development focus to fixing the base game in response to its disastrous launch at the tail-end of 2020. The developer had originally intended to discuss its expansion plans prior to the game's release, meaning additional information is long overdue.

Mentions of Cyberpunk 2077's expansion have been sporadic at best since launch, but it seems CD Projekt is now ready to discuss it in slightly more definite terms, with the developer confirming, unsurprisingly, that it'll feature a "new storyline", and that it'll be launching in 2023. That's all it's saying for now, however, with more information due to be shared "later this year".

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Bungie will place raids and dungeons released before Destiny 2: The Witch Queen expansion into a rotation in Season 17 according to the This Week At Bungie post. There will be a raid rotator and a dungeon rotator, and completing those activities will give players a Pinnacle reward.

Firstly, any new raid and dungeon will give players Pinnacle rewards after every encounter, the way they do right now. Next season, that means the Witch Queen's Vow of the Disciple raid will continue to offer Pinnacle rewards for each encounter, as will a new unnamed dungeon Bungie plans to release.

In addition to that seasonal rotation that highlights the newest end-game content, though, Bungie is also adding a weekly rotation for older raids and dungeons, adding incentives to return to them, as well. The developer said, "For the weekly rotation, completing the final encounter in any of the chosen raids or dungeons will award a Pinnacle drop from a Weekly Challenge."

Also, Legendary gear rewards from the raids and dungeons will be farmable based on the chosen activity that's currently in rotation. That means that if an old raid or dungeon includes a specific gun that only drops from that activity, you can replay it over and over to earn multiple copies of that gun. Often, raid or dungeon encounters only allow you to claim rewards from them once a week for a given character, capping your total weekly opportunities to get the gun you're hunting at three.

Oh sure, Dark Souls is a challenging game at the start, but at least your characters begin with enough stats to wear their starter outfit. That's not necessarily the case with the official licensed Dark Souls pen & paper RPG, which seems a touch sloppy. Along with giving one class starter gear it won't have the stats use, it has some spells and items which, going by the rules, seem unhelpful at best. The real Dark Souls starts here.

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Epic Games, which is virtually only in competition with itself when it comes to wacky crossovers with franchises like Naruto, Silk Sonic, and whatever character Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson is playing this year, announced a collaboration between Fortnite and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

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Cyberpunk 2077's first major expansion will be released in 2023, developer CD Projekt Red has confirmed. The Polish studio made the announcement during its latest financial call today.

This is the first time CD Projekt Red is providing any insight into when the expansion might be released. The studio has not shared any details about what to expect from it, though CD Projekt Red has a history of large-scale, impressive expansions like The Witcher 3's Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.

More details on Cyberpunk 2077's expansion will be announced later this year.

As part of CD Projekt Red's latest earnings release, the company said it believes in the "long-term potential" of Cyberpunk 2077 after it was criticized heavily at launch in 2020. Since then, CD Projekt Red has released eight major updates for the game, including the big-time 1.5 update that unlocked the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S benefits and introduced a wealth of changes across the board.

Lost Ark has a handful of subclasses that didn't make it over from the Korean version game to the Amazon Games' localized edition that was released in February. Thanks to a tweet from the Lost Ark team, we may be able to play one of those subclasses in the game very soon.

pic.twitter.com/revMkHg6K4

— Lost Ark (@playlostark) April 14, 2022

The tweet, which you can see above, only contains a GIF of a rotating bladed polearm that indicates and a date emblazoned below it of April 21 indicates the Gaivalier is set to arrive in an update next week. Also known as the Lance Master in the Korean Lost Ark, the Glaivier is a Martial Artist subclass that specializes in using spears and glaives, poking enemies with dangerous sharp objects from a safe distance. She can use her special class ability to switch between stances while fighting.

The Glaivier already has a page on the official Lost Ark site that gives a brief description of its playstyle and shows shows off some of the skills you'll be utilizing on the battlefield. Here's Lost Ark's description of the new subclass:

During CD Projekt’s financial conference call for investors and analysts, the company’s executives talked about the upcoming move to Unreal Engine 5 for the next Witcher game, on top of the next-gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

CEO Adam Kiciński answered a specific question during the livestream about whether the move to Unreal Engine 5 would make development faster. He mentioned that Epic’s engine is a proven technology so production should be smoother but not necessarily faster. While it’s hard to say now, the developer expects the processes to be under better control and more focused on the creative side.

That being said, we should bear in mind that the deal requires development on CD Projekt’s side as well as specialists of open-world RPGs working together with Epic on some areas of the technology to make it perfect for this kind of game.

According to CD Projekt’s expertise, Unreal Engine 5 is perfectly fine to run open-world games, and the developer thinks it can help make it even better.

On top of that, there are many more developers specialized in Unreal Engine than developers experienced with Red Engine, so CD Projekt sees the move to the new engine as an opportunity to enlarge their teams by hiring more experienced developers.

Club Penguin was a massively popular children’s MMO that was eventually acquired (and later shuttered) by Disney. However, that hasn’t stopped popular clones from amassing millions of users. Now the official website for the most popular clone, Club Penguin Rewritten, has been seized by the City Police of London.…

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The downwards march in graphics card prices continues - oh, how I've longed to write those words! After posting a deal that had the Nvidia Founders Edition RTX 3080 Ti at its UK RRP of £1049 last week, third-party cards are now reaching the same levels. Right now, you can pick up a beefy KFA2 OC card for the same price, after a £50 discount at Overclockers.

If you'd prefer the better value RTX 3080, then there's also been movement - after appearing for £860 seven days ago, the cheapest card is now this Zotac Trinity OC model for £810. That's still a hefty chunk of change for a graphics card - and above the original RRP of £650 - but it's a damned sight better than the £1000+ these GPUs have retailed at for months.

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Would you look at that, it’s April 14 and we’re all back here to solve yet another Wordle. Today’s answer is a trickier one, since it isn’t too common a word that anyone really says aloud. But hey, that’s why you all have got me here to help you out, isn’t it?

Before I just outright give you folks the answer to today’s Wordle, have you given it a shot? Sometimes when you’re playing, you might end up with most of a word and have to try a few different combinations in order to get the final answer. My advice? Go with the most obvious word you can think of. As tricky as Wordle can be, it’s usually pulling from a dictionary of pretty common words. Even if you’re wrong, like I was on my second guess, eliminating the most obvious letters can point you to the unlikeliest solutions. That’s how I got today’s word in three guesses.

If you need more tips on how to crush Wordle, we’ve absolutely got some for you, including the best opening words. And if you don’t want to necessarily play Wordle but want something related, there’s a million and one spinoffs that have come out ever since the game’s popularity skyrocketed, like a Fortnite-based word guessing game called Fortle!

Today's Wordle answer - April 14

I won’t lie, I’ve been thinking about ways that today’s Wordle answer can relate to video games and have come up with almost nothing. It’s a very specific word that is deployed in very specific ways. If you want, you can scroll right to the bottom to get to the answer, but why not struggle through these hints that sort of relate to games?

Microsoft is giving you a chance to dive into three games for free this weekend, so long as you're an Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber. Control and Hunting Simulator 2 can be played for free between April 14 at 12:01 AM PT / 3:01 PM ET and April 17 at 11:59 PM PT / 2:59 PM ET. The Elder Scrolls Online is available a bit longer than the other two, with its free-play time running until April 26 at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET. Control left Game Pass a couple months ago, so now's your chance to check it out again free of charge.

Beyond the free-play weekend, Microsoft is also slashing prices on all three titles. If you find yourself enjoying any of the games this weekend, be sure to check out the below deals and snag your favorite titles at a great low price.

During CD Projekt’s financial conference call for investors and analysts, the developer’s executives talked about the future of Cyberpunk 2077.

We hear from CEO Adam Kiciński that in 2021 CD Projekt employees received salary increases by 23% on average, and the trend is expected to continue in a similar way in 2022.

The developer is “happy” that the recent release of the next-generation version of Cyberpunk 2077 has increased the audience’s perception of the Cyberpunk brand. They’re “fully committed” to the Cyberpunk franchise and intend to develop it further.

Another update (numbered 1.6) will come “in the coming months” and support will continue further after that, but the focus will gradually shift to “new and exciting endeavors” both in the Cyberpunk and the Witcher franchises.

That being said, the release of the paid expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 has now officially slid into 2023. CD Projekt is not sharing when in the year that will be for the moment.

We also hear that the recent update 1.5 with the next-gen update positively impacted sales of the game.

Production of the Cyberpunk 2077 anime “Edgerunners” by Studio Trigger is now complete and the studio has now moved to the post-production phase. Its debut on Netflix is confirmed for 2022.

Cyberpunk 2077 is currently available for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're taking stock of some of the games we've played this year so far.

Inspired by Eurogamer's best games of 2022 so far list, and ahead of a long weekend of gaming here in the UK, now's a good time to chat about what has kept us interested this spring.

Horizon: Forbidden West arrived with huge fanfare, and seems like it did a good job of providing more of the original's sense of adventure - but did it fall a little flat in the face of Elden Ring? January saw the launch of the new PS5 version of Uncharted: Lost Legacy - but what's next for the biggest of Sony's blockbuster franchises?

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South of the Circle is a narrative adventure centered on survival and romance in the midst of the Cold War that first launched in Apple Arcade in 2020. The game comes from Lumino City developer State of Play and is now being published by 11 Bit Studios, the team behind Frostpunk and This War of Mine. 

Unfolding during the politically charged 1960s, players control a climate scientist named Peter. As a Cambridge academic, he finds himself conflicted with the brewing global conflict, which drives a wedge between himself and his love, Clara. Peter’s troubles escalate during a trip when he crash-lands in Antarctica. Stranded, he must now survive the frigid landscape while reflecting on the personal and professional choices that took him to this point. 

Today, Netflix revealed four key characters that have officially been cast for season three of The Witcher. The news came by way of a tweet from the Netflix Geeked Twitter account, which revealed that Robbie Amell (Upload), Meng’er Zhang (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Hugh Skinner (Fleabag), and Christelle Elwin (Bloods) all landed roles in the show.

You can check out who they will be playing right down below.

Haligtree Secret Medallion halves help you access an optional, but important, end-game area in Elden Ring.

Finding these will help you access Consecrated Snowfield and Miquella’s Haligtree, home to the game’s toughest challenge, Malenia, Blade of Miquella.

If you journey all the way to the Mountaintops of the Giants and collect the map fragments for the region, you’ll discover an area to the west is still shrouded in mystery - and this is where we want to access. It's also required for those looking to complete Millicent’s quest.

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Commander Niall is an optional boss in Elden Ring who can be found in Castle Sol at Mountaintops of the Giants.

You must defeat him if you’re looking to get one half of the Haligtree Secret Medallion in order to access a secret late-game area, which is essential to completing both Latenna and Millicent’s questlines.

On this page:

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Millicent quest is one of the longest you’ll find in Elden Ring, which will cover pretty much the entire critical path to see through.

It also involves exploring a secret optional area that will involve the most challenging boss in the entire game, Malenia.

Not only has this redheaded woman got a fascinating and tragic arc, but seeing her quest through to the end will also give you Miquella’s Needle, a key item that can reverse the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending if you had met the Three Fingers.

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Today, Drink Box Studio is celebrating the release of its newest game, Nobody Saves the World, as it releases on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5 for the first time. To go alongside these new console releases, the developers have also released an accolades trailer to get fans hyped.

You can check out the newest trailer for Nobody Saves the World, as well as info on the game’s description and features, right down below:

The Calamity’s power is growing, and nobody can save the world now. Good thing you’re a nobody!

Complete Quests to discover and swap between many varied and distinct Forms. Mix and match abilities in unexpected ways to unlock and complete even MORE challenging Quests. Join a friend to explore a vast overworld filled with misfits and monsters, while clearing shape-shifting dungeons in an effort to beat back the CALAMITY and Save the World!

FEATURES: 

QUESTING, NOT GRINDING: Player progression and new abilities are obtained by completing quests, not by defeating monsters. Quests range from “Complete a Dungeon”, to “Poison Baddies”, to “Cheer up a Fellow Rabbit-Lover”.

QUESTS UNLOCK NEW FORMS: Level up and unlock new Forms by completing quests. Each new Form has specific strengths and weaknesses and new abilities to experiment with.

Amnesia: Rebirth, the third outing in developer Frictional Games' historical horror series, will be next week's free Epic Store game, alongside couch-based co-op dungeon-crawler Riverbond.

Rebirth - which follows on from Frictional's 2010 original and its Chinese-Room-developed successor A Machine for Pigs - whisks players back to the 1930s for an unsettling adventure across the Algerian desert. This time around, the focus is on protagonist Tasi Trianon as she attempts to navigate the sandy, hostile expanse, piecing together fragments of her past (and occasionally dealing with unspeakable horrors) along the way.

Eurogamer contributor Vikki Blake called Rebirth an "impressive horror subversion" and a story that "gripped me right up until the credits rolled" when she reviewed it back in 2020, so it's an outing that's well worth your time - and there's even an Adventure Mode that cuts back on the suffocating darkness, jump scares, and deadly monsters for faint-hearted players that just want to dabble in its puzzling and engaging story.

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