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[Update #2]: Following the disastrous Season 1 update, Diablo 4 devs have announced many major improvements.
[Update]: Diablo 4's Season 1 has now arrived, and it's unfortunately quite underwhelming.
While Diablo 4's moment-to-moment gameplay is highly enjoyable, the game currently suffers from a serious lack of balance as the vast majority of skills are so numerically weak that they're basically unusable. For example the Sorceresses' Incinerate, a gigantic beam of fire, does such little damage that it takes multiple seconds of standing still and focusing on a single basic, white-tier enemy in order to bring them down. It's astonishingly bad, and it's far from the only such ability.
Still, despite these types of issues I continued playing as I firmly believed that the Season 1 update would sort out this mess and make it so each class has a plethora of unique and interesting builds to choose from. Unfortunately, it would appear that my faith was misplaced as Blizzard has chosen to double down on all of the nonsense.
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[Update]: Turbo Overkill's Version 1.0 has now arrived, and as I've detailed throughout my review, it's a ton of fun!
As the name alone might imply, Turbo Overkill is a ridiculously over-the-top boomer shooter where you get to zip around the levels at such speed that you can barely aim at things and where you can transform hordes of enemies into chunky giblets thanks to an assortment of high-powered weaponry. I've reviewed Turbo Overkill back when it first launched into Early Access and found it to be a great deal of fun, and the various updates since then have only made it bigger and better.
So if you're in the mood for a bit of retro shooty-shooty action, you'll be pleased to hear that the end of Turbo Overkill's Early Access journey is nearly upon us. And when I say "nearly", I really do mean that as Turbo Overkill will be launching on July 18th alongside the climactic second half of the third and final chapter.
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[Update #2]: Dota 2's Patch 7.34 has now arrived with an avalanche of balance changes and gameplay tweaks.
[Update]: Dota 2 devs have started up a new blog detailing development challenges and interesting bug fixes.
It's only been a couple of days since the Bali Major 2023 concluded, and already the Dota 2 team has launched a brand new balance update. Since the next big tournament is right around the corner, the freshly launched Patch 7.33e is all about bringing the overpeforming heroes back in line and thus does not contain buffs to any of the struggling ones.
In other words, heroes like Broodmother, Morphling, Medusa, Undying and Doom have now been smacked over the head with a nerf bat. Some like Doom and Storm Spirit have received relatively minor changes that will be barely noticeable in an average game, while others like Medusa and Morphling have received more comprehensive nerfs that will require a bit of effort in order to overcome.
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[Update]: World of Warcraft's Patch 10.1.7 will be launching on September 5th with new story quests, Heritage Armor and a Ping system.
After spending a fair bit of time on the test servers, World of Warcraft's Update 10.1.5 has now finally arrived. It brings with it a phenomenal new mega-dungeon by the name of Dawn of the Infinite, new Time Rift events that offer a ton of new cosmetics to collect, and even a brand new Evoker specialization focused around amplifying the abilities of their allies rather than doing all of the damage themselves.
You can also look forward to new questlines, including a very cute one that will have you help out in a dragon whelp daycare, as well as improved lighting and fog all throughout Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. And if you're a fan of warlocks, you'll be pleased to hear that the class has not only expanded to new races, but that you're now able to customize your demons at the barber shop (after going through a brief quest).
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[Update #2]: Overwatch 2's Anniversary Event 2023 has arrived with 'free' cosmetics and reruns of popular events.
[Update]: Blizzard games are coming to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2 on August 10th.
After mostly bad news related to the long-awaited PvE content, I'm pleased to say that Overwatch 2's latest update is entirely positive! Thanks to the July 11th patch Overwatch 2 has now added the Summer Games 2023 event and accompanying cosmetics, a competitive 5v5 Team Queue mode, as well as a bunch of nifty buffs to some of the forgotten heroes.
First and foremost, Summer Games 2023 has brought with it an additional seasonal event. So you can now not only mess around with Lúcioball and Lúcioball Remix, but also the brand new Winston’s Beach Volleyball mode. It's nothing too groundbreaking, but it's a fun little diversion and an easy way to score the new free Doomfist skin.
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[Update]: Historic Anthology 7 and Explorer Anthology 3 have arrived alongside a nerf to Crucias!
In order to help spice up the Explorer and Historic formats, MTG Arena will be releasing two new anthologies on July 18th. Both Explorer Anthology 3 and Historic Anthology 7 will come with 25 'new' cards that will span everything from competitive staples to fan-favorite jank.
Much like before, each anthology will set you back 25,000 gold or 4,000 gems and will come with a full playset (four copies) of each card. So while the price is a bit steep, it's definitely worth the trouble if you're planning to use a couple of the rares and mythics.
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[Update #2]: Baldur's Gate 3's Patch #3 has added Mac support, appearance changing, and numerous bug fixes.
[Update]: After three years in Early Access, Baldur's Gate 3 has now launched to overwhelming praise!
If you're like me and you spent the past few years pantiently waiting for Baldur's Gate 3 to get fully finished before diving in, I'm happy to say that the long wait will soon be over. Instead of following popular trends and delaying the game, Larian Studios have opted to release the PC version ahead of schedule! As such, Baldur's Gate 3 will be launching onto PC on August 3rd, while the PlayStation version will follow a month later, on September 6th.
As is to be expected, the release version of Baldur's Gate 3 will be accompanied by a massive update. You can expect to see the level cap increased to 12, a new difficulty settings to mess around with, new races to roleplay with, a new monk class, and perhaps most importantly of all, a brand new subclass for each of the Early Access classes. This will bring the total up to 46 subclasses which, needless to say, is quite a solid selection!
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[Update #2]: Diablo 4's Season 1 has now arrived, and it's unfortunately quite underwhelming.
[Update]: Diablo 4's pre-season Patch 1.1 has brought with it a massive reduction in player power and survivability.
If you're tired of your current character, or if you're simply looking for new challenges to undertake, you'll be happy to hear that Diablo 4's very first season is nearly upon us. According to the recent developer stream, Season of the Malignant will be launching on June 20th alongside new quests, new types of powerful gems, new (seemingly) endgame boss, new unique items and powers, as well as both a free and paid Battle Pass, the latter of which is filled with exclusively cosmetic items.
In order to acquire the fancy gems, which are by far the most game-changing new addition, you'll have to slay the highly powerful Malignant Monsters. You can find these by beating up partially corrupted enemies and doing a ritual with the Malignant Hearts they drop, or by venturing into Malignant Tunnels which are going to be dungeons teeming with all sorts of corrupted monsters. These tunnels are also where you'll be able to find the catalyst needed to open the path to the newest boss - Varshan the Consumed. Whether there will be any sort of level requirements or if you'll be able to fight him whenever you secure a catalyst, that I don't believe Blizzard has revealed just yet.
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[Update #2]: Historic Anthology 7 and Explorer Anthology 3 have arrived alongside a nerf to Crucias!
[Update]: All of MTG Arena's Historic Anthology 7 and Explorer Anthology 3 cards have now been unveiled.
The Lord of the Rings themed set has only just arrived, and already the MTG Arena team has announced the next big influx of cards. However, instead of a massive standalone set, the next batch of cards will come in the form of carefully curated anthologies.
Much like their predecessors, Historic Anthology 7 and Explorer Anthology 3 will bring with them a variety of competitive staples, as well as a bunch of fan-favorite cards like Deathrite Shaman, Acidic Slime or Cyclonic Rift. So regardless if you're interested in competitive formats like Explorer and Historic, or just looking for some big dumb cards to jank with in Historic Brawl, there should be fun new toys for you to mess around with.
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If you're just looking for an excuse to escape the scorching heat and chill out indoors, you'll be pleased to hear that Steam's Summer Sale 2023 has now arrived. Much like its predecessors, the Summer Sale brings with it an absurd amount of discounts scattered across all sorts of genres and gameplay styles, so odds are good that you'll be able to find something interesting to sink your teeth into.
For those of you that have no clue where to even start, allow me to share with you a couple of quality games I've found myself revisiting over the past few months - all of which are currently on a deep discount. Without further ado, here's the brief list: