May 2021

Far Cry 6 Lets You Craft Awesome Weapons To Your Heart’s Content

2 years 11 months ago

Antón Castillo’s bloody reign over the Cuban paradise, Yara, must be stopped. You’ll scour the island’s myriad biomes alongside a bevy of Amigos For Hire and with the support of a few other revolutionaries to free the general public from tyrannical rule. As Dani Rojas (players can choose to play as a woman or man), you’ll need the best equipment you can find. Sometimes, however, instead of stumbling across some rare stash or bountiful armory, you’ll have to make due with what you’ve got. In Far Cry 6, you’ll have to craft your most powerful weapons to transform into a one-person-army. 

Yaran culture is appropriately informed by Cuba’s real-world “resolver” philosophy: use everything and anything at your disposal to accomplish the goal/objective that has been set. As a seasoned mercenary and revolutionary, you must embrace this methodology to stay one step ahead of Castillo’s gargantuan military force. In other words, you’ll become a “resolver guerilla.” While out and about, you’ll likely collect a good amount of seemingly throw-away scraps and mechanical parts. These pieces can be presented  to your mentor, Juan Cortez, and crafted into weapons of notable strength. 

Author
Jason Guisao

Far Cry 6 Release Date Set With New Gameplay Reveal

2 years 11 months ago

Far Cry 6 release date has been revealed alongside an extensive first look at what the next step of the Ubisoft franchise will have to offer. From petting those good puppers out there to riding horses, the latest Far Cry looks to be an adventure. 

The latest Far Cry title is set to release on October 7 as revealed in the character trailer released below. Showing off more of the faces of Far Cry 6, including a new look at Anton Castillo played by Giancarlo Esposito

Click here to watch embedded media

Set in the fictional world of Yara, Anton's dictatorship role was heavily inspired by his father, the former president of this location. Following dear old dad's execution after the people of Yara rebelled, Anton grew up fixated on the belief that this island was stolen from him and his family by those that rebelled. As he grew up, the idea of control became more than enticing as the Castillo family continued to grow in power. When the son eventually became El Presidente, he sought to rebuild Yara in his own image. 

Author
Liana Ruppert

Bungie Highlights Upcoming Destiny 2: Season of the Splicer Stasis Changes

2 years 11 months ago

Destiny 2: Season of the Splicer brings with it transmog, the epic return of Vault of Glass, Expunge, and more. It is also bringing much-needed Stasis changes, an ability introduced with Beyond Light that has the Destiny community divided, doubly so on the PvP side of things. In a recent blog post from Bungie, the studio has outlined some upcoming changes to this subclass and what that means for Guardians going forward. 

Sandbox lead Kevin Yanes took the reigns during this week's update to talk about Stasis changes that Guardians have ahead. The main focus of the latest Statsis heads up concerns the state of PvP. There has been a lot of feedback regarding the addition of PvP. While I personally love the additional challenge in Crucible, despite hating getting frozen, I do understand the frustration. It is incredibly unbalanced, especially for those playing comp. With the lack of new Crucible maps and the perceived lack of meaningful updates to the PvP experience, it's understandable why the Guardian versus Guardian aspect of Destiny 2 has found itself under a bright spotlight. 

Author
Liana Ruppert

Fornite Unites With Mistborn For Unexpected Crossover

2 years 11 months ago

Fortnite continues to surprise in the most unexpected of ways, this time with a crossover event with Brandon Sanderson's ongoing Mistborn book series.

Starting today, players can dive into Fortnite's battle royale shop to add Mistborn's Kelsier to their ranks. This cloaked assassin wields a volcanic glass dagger, and players can choose whether he wears his black attire or his masked, white undercover variant. The purchase also adds the Hemalurgic Spikes Back Bling, and a Kelsier-themed loading screen.

Sanderson has penned seven different Mistborn books, and has announced plans to release four more. The next novel, Mistborn: The Lost Metal, is slated to release in December 2022. Sanderson has also projected release dates for the next trilogy of books, landing in 2025, 2026, and 2027. We'd love for George R. R. Martin to adopt a similar schedule so we could know what year (or decade) his next Song of Ice and Fire book is on the way.

Author
Andrew Reiner

Microsoft Flight Simulator Is Much Smaller Now

2 years 11 months ago

Video games are big, and as new technology supports greater visual fidelity, they’re only bound to get bigger. That’s why it’s always nice when the developers behind bulky games like Microsoft Flight Simulator figure out ways to decrease those download sizes.

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Author
Ian Walker

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Far Cry 6 lets you have a pet attack crocodile, and 100 other things we spotted

2 years 11 months ago

The delayed Far Cry 6 has re-remerged after a few months in the wilderness - and Ian has an extensive new deep dive video, below, delving into its vast world and new mechanics.

Today also brings a new (and hopefully final) release date. Far Cry 6 will launch on 7th October for PC via the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Store, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia and Amazon Luna.

Watch the full rundown of 101 things Ian spotted below, including a full tour of the region's wildlife - and yes, a crocodile named Guapo who wears a shirt and can be called on to attack your enemies. (Of course, you can pet the crocodile.)

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Slice-of-life sim The Garden Path looks like a lovely place to stay a while

2 years 11 months ago

Gather round, farmlife-sim likers. Another swell-looking indie game is planning a move to the village. The Garden Path is a laid-back slice-of-life sim with shades of Animal Crossing in its little painted world. You can spot it's lovely art style and sweet cute villagers down here in its new announcement trailer. We'll be able to dig in later this year when it launches.

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Author
Lauren Morton

Far Cry 6 shows off wacky guns and guerilla tactics coming on October 7th

2 years 11 months ago

As promised, Ubisoft have shown off some proper running and gunning in their upcoming Far Cry 6. We got a lot of the grim side of the revolution in its reveal trailer but today's video shows off some of the levity—from a pet crocodile, to snarky one-liners to, yeah, that gun that shoots Macarena CDs. You'll have options beyond guns as well, with a bit of stealth and deception to engage in. You can spot all that, and an introduction to protagonist Dani Rojas down here in the new video.

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Author
Lauren Morton

Backbone brings its anthro-noir mysteries to PC next month

2 years 11 months ago

For those who like their grizzled, hard-boiled, detective fiction a little on the fuzzy side, you're in luck, as publisher Raw Fury has finally offered up a street date for its anthropomorphic noir adventure, Backbone, which will raise the curtain on its sinister mysteries come June 8.

Developed by international indie outfit EggNut, Backbone is set in an alternate Vancouver, all foggy streets, flickering neon lights, and shadowed alleyways that play house to life-threatening dangers. Into this miserable, burned-out cityscape city steps raccoon private-eye Howard Lotor who, after many years of bum-deals and dead-end cases, is about to embark upon a job like none other.

Backbone brings its anthro-noir mysteries to PC next month screenshot

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Author
Chris Moyse

Far Cry 6 ignites the revolution on October 7

2 years 11 months ago

Ubisoft has locked in the date for its next Far Cry game. Far Cry 6 will kick off the revolution in Yara on Oct. 7, 2021.

Set in the fictional country of Yara, Far Cry 6 will focus on a modern-day guerrilla revolution against the regime of dictator Anton Castillo (played by Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito). Playing as Dani Rojas, you can use a variety of weapons, both standard and improvised—from machine guns to a compact disc launcher.

Far Cry 6 was delayed off its February launch earlier this year due to the impact of COVID-19 and work-from-home development. Now, it looks like Ubisoft's latest shooter is all set to launch this fall.

You'll have animal companions like the tiny little Chorizo to help you out, rides ranging from horses to tanks, and a giant city to explore. Essentially, it's Far Cry—but it's Far Cry coming to the new consoles. We'll see how the open-world mayhem works out in Yara when Far Cry 6 launches for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna on Oct. 7, 2021.

Far Cry 6 ignites the revolution on October 7 screenshot

Author
Eric Van Allen

Channel your inner action hero with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's free weekend

2 years 11 months ago

If you have the itchiest of trigger fingers this weekend, then you might want to exercise those digits in the ridiculous mayhem of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Developer Treyarch has kicked off another free-to-play weekend, opening up multiple game modes on all platforms to all players.

From now until Tuesday, June 1, players can jump into Cold War's competitive multiplayer mode, or pop armies of decaying corpses in the great, region-hopping "Zombies Outbreak" mode. Cold War is also currently entertaining its destructive "'80s Action Heroes" event, complete with dynamic sound effects and cock-rock soundtrack. "Rambo Gun Game" in particular offers a crazy, non-stop-action experience.

Channel your inner action hero with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's free weekend screenshot

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Author
Chris Moyse

Game Informer Staff Celebrate 5 Years of Overwatch

2 years 11 months ago

In a market full of class-based multiplayer games, Overwatch exploded onto the scene back in 2016 with a roster that demanded attention. Not only did each character fulfill a necessary team role, but each of them was visually distinct from the last. Players fell in love with Mei's charm, chastised Bastion and his damn shield turret, and found solace behind Reinhardt's broad shoulde– I mean, uh, barrier field. You had a role to play no matter which hero you played, and when your team was firing on all cylinders, Overwatch felt like magic. And while the shifting winds of esports lead to major shakeups in the game's meta, Blizzard continued to update their hero shooter with seasonal events, new cosmetics, and even massive character reworks.

In our original review of Overwatch, we lauded the game's fresh twist on the team-based multiplayer genre:

Author
Alex Van Aken

Graven Looks Great, But Right Now It’s A Bit Boring

2 years 11 months ago

Graven is the latest game from resurrected publisher 3D Realms. Like its recent releases Ion Fury and Wrath, Graven is a throwback to 1990s PC first-person shooters, this time being a spiritual successor to Hexen and Heretic. It’s a visual delight to run around the world of Graven, kicking bad guys and exploring a…

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Author
Zack Zwiezen

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New Site Teaches You How To Play EVE Online

2 years 11 months ago

EVE Online is a tough game to learn without a lot of effort and assistance. The good news is that there’s now an easier path to getting started: the EVE Academy, a new companion website to the 18 year old MMO, was created specifically to show new players the ropes, and potentially teach a few old dogs new tricks as…

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Author
Lee Yancy

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What we've been playing

2 years 11 months ago

Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: Grindstone, sacred geometry, and suspiciously sexy rhythm.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What we've been playing, here's our archive.

Capybara's toothsome and inexorable Grindstone - easily the best puzzle game of the last few years - popped up in a lovely PC version on the Epic Games Store this week, which was all the excuse I needed to give it another whirl. (It debuted on Apple Arcade and can also be found on Switch.) I'm not going to elaborate on the game's exquisite balance of risk and reward or its savagely crunchy and satisfying chain-making gameplay - you can read my Essential review of the Apple Arcade release for more on that. What I want to highlight here is the Fortune Grind, a new daily challenge mode which for my money knocks the existing Daily Grinds into a cocked hat.

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Genshin Impact update 1.6 gives you a boat and an island getaway

2 years 11 months ago

Ever-growing Genshin Impact is charting outs its next update and this one's island themed. Yup, the game that already nabbed Zelda's clothes has gone and pilfered from another Zelda game. Your Traveller will have their very own little boat to sail around the islands with while to battling baddies and hunting for treasures. Update 1.6 arrives in June and will add an island full of minigames and collectibles to explore along with a new dungeon too.

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Author
Lauren Morton

Beam Software's Shadowrun is a hot summer night you can stick in your SNES

2 years 11 months ago

The world of the Shadowrun tabletop RPG is the best, stupidest, most tantalizing mash-up ever. High fantasy meets cyberpunk. Elves, mages, and dragons, all mixed amongst political turmoil and megacorporate conspiracies. I get goosebumps just describing it.

It’s just a shame that we haven’t gotten what I’d consider the perfect Shadowrun game. I’ll grant you that the games developed by Hairbrained Schemes are fun on a bun. I love them, but at the same time, I’m not in love with them. They certainly tick a lot of my boxes, but there’s something confining about them.

However, I can always go back to the Shadowrun titles produced around the birth of the tabletop game. Both just titled Shadowrun, there was one on Genesis in 1994 and one on the SNES in 1993. Released about a year apart, these two games were completely and entirely different, but both are worth playing. The Super Nintendo title was the one I first played and I hold it a smidge closer to my heart. I first picked it up as a child and was completely and utterly confused, yet somehow it made an impact. Now, with adult grey matter at my disposal, I can unwind its unfriendly exterior and eat at its nutritious innards. Have a taste!

Beam Software's Shadowrun is a hot summer night you can stick in your SNES screenshot

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Author
Zoey Handley

Little Nightmares is free on Steam right now and it's yours to keep

2 years 11 months ago

It's time to finally play Little Nightmares — it's free to claim and keep on Steam.

Now, I won't lie: you're probably going to get frustrated with the tiny-character-in-a-big-zoomed-out-world camera and controls in certain spots, and some of the exciting horror-action chase scenes can be weirdly finicky, but Little Nightmares has such a rich, bleak, effed-up world. The three-part side-story DLC isn't included, and that stuff is worth playing too, but don't miss this chance. The sequel's great.

Steam is also giving out the full version of Company of Heroes 2 and the American Armed Forces standalone single-player campaign Ardennes Assault. Real-time strategy fans should look into this series even if World War II games typically fall outside of your wheelhouse. CoH can break through.

According to Steam's fine print, the deadline to grab Little Nightmares is May 30 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific, while Company of Heroes 2 will be offered for free until May 31 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific. Go get 'em.

If you're not opposed to spending a bit of money in the name of bargain binning, Steam is currently hosting an Open World Sale with discounts on sprawled-out worlds. Kind of. It's a huge swath of games.

But yeah, Little Nightmares. I never recovered from that tidal wave of contorted bodies.

[Thanks, ZelosXT]

Author
Jordan Devore

Review: Miitopia

2 years 11 months ago

Miis...I miss 'em!

It feels like just yesterday that I was using StreetPass to accumulate an endless amount of Mii friends. Remember Everybody Votes? Ah, we're past our nostalgia limit for the day.

It's time to look to the future! Or the past, in the case of Miitopia on Switch.

Review: Miitopia screenshot

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Author
Chris Carter

Crystal Dynamics has opened new digs in Austin, Texas

2 years 11 months ago

Crystal Dynamics has announced the founding of a brand new studio in Austin, Texas. Officially dubbed Crystal Southwest, the studio has already set to work on multiple projects, with the fledgling studio expected to be "a major part of all current and future Crystal Dynamics titles."

Crystal Southwest is headed up by the fantastically named Dallas Dickinson, a 20-year industry veteran who has previously worked as a producer at Sony, as well as BioWare's Head of Production. Crystal Dynamics has already transitioned several staff members into the new offices, but is also currently recruiting for multiple company roles.

It's good news for the long-time developer, currently on the backfoot a little following the less-than-stellar reception to Square Enix' Marvel's The Avengers. Expected to be a long-term, service game title, the comic-book epic struggled to find its intended audience, failing to meet its publisher's expectations and seeing its next-gen editions hit with an unfortunate delay. Hopefully the new studio expansion will signal an upswing for the developer's future.

Crystal Dynamics has opened new digs in Austin, Texas screenshot

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Author
Chris Moyse

Far Cry 6 Gameplay Trailer

2 years 11 months ago
The new Far Cry 6 gameplay trailer gives us a look at it's new protagonist, Dani. The post https://thegamefanatics.com/far-cry-6-gameplay-trailer/ appeared first on The Game Fanatics,.
Author
Julian Harris

Far Cry 6 Collector's Edition Revealed, Pre-Orders Now Live

2 years 11 months ago

We've got adorable puppy dogs, enhanced weapon crafting, a power-crazed dictator on the cusp of losing his power; Far Cry 6 has it all. For those that are excited about the next Ubisoft adventure, the Far Cry 6 Collector's Edition is now available to pre-order. Not big into collectibles? There are other versions, as well. Here's what you need to know. 

For those that pre-order Far Cry 6, you get a special skin for the adorable Chorizo wiener dog that stole the show. You can also get the Discos Locos deadly disc launcher, as well. The pre-order bonus for the game is called the Libertad Pack. 

Author
Liana Ruppert

Mass Effect's Jennifer Hale And Courtenay Taylor On The Challenges Of Bringing Certain Characters To Life

2 years 11 months ago

Click to watch embedded media

With the Mass Effect Legendary Edition out now, so many seasoned fans are jumping back to board the Normandy once more to revisit familiar planets and say hello to old friends. More than that, however, newcomers to this beloved franchise are diving in for the first time, experiencing a new adventure, one that has touched so many lives throughout the years. With so many characters that have come to feel like family so many, what about the voices behind those friendly faces? We sat down with Jennifer Hale, who plays Commander Jane Shepard (among other roles) in the franchise, and Courtenay Taylor, who famously brought Jack to life, to learn a little more about the process behind the creation. We already knew it wasn't easy, but some of what we learned is good insight that applies to many aspects of life. 

Author
Liana Ruppert