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Hades 2 just got another major update on its dungeon run to a full release that, sadly, is still yet to be dated at this point. In fact, even though this latest patch adds in "the final confrontation", Supergiant has plans for at least one more big pre-release update. Read more View the full article

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can start playing Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and EA Sports F1 24 as part of their subscription starting today, February 20. These additions bring the total number of 2025 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate releases to 19. View the full article

Marvel Rivals has announced that Human Torch will be making his debut alongside the Negative Zone Gladiator costume. NetEase Games is about to launch a major mid-season update for Marvel Rivals, which will introduce a wealth of new content to the popular hero shooter. Fans can expect to see two new heroes, a Central Park map, numerous balance changes, and new challenges with free rewards. View the full article

When I docked at Claviger's Landing, I immediately walked over to the local farm and started swinging my sword at the chickens. It's practically a rite of passage in Skyrim to slaughter everyone in Riverwood after accidentally killing one of their fowl. But don't worry, a missclick in Avowed won't turn Hadvar's entire family against you. View the full article

We've known that HBO's Last Of Us adaptation was getting a second season since 2023, but now it has a release date. The first episode will air in the US on April 13th. Read more View the full article

Despite my avid love for all things sports, I've given up on the idea that I'll ever be good at golf. Something about the way the body must contort to successfully crank a ball down the fairway just doesn't compute in my mind. But like few other games can, PGA Tour 2K25 takes everything I visualize myself doing in real life and executes it virtually, thanks to its in-depth simulation gameplay that lets my thumbs and brain do what my actual body simply refuses to do. To be honest, I went into PGA Tour 2K25 a bit hesitant. While 2K23 wasn’t the worst golf game I’ve ever played, it lacked any shine in its personality or gameplay, which came as a surprise considering HB Studios has been dutifully working on successful golf sims like The Golf Club for well over a decade. Couple this with the fact that, unlike most sports games, PGA Tour 2K took two full years to put out a new iteration, and it was safe to say my expectations were in check. To my surprise and relief, that extra time paid off: it didn’t take long for PGA Tour 2K25 to impress me with its improvements, especially in terms of appearance. While it still can’t quite match EA Sports’ rival PGA Tour game head to head in their respective visual recreations of golf, the difference is nowhere near as stark as it had been. Player models look much closer to their real-life counterparts, courses are more detailed, and animations are crisper. I found myself pausing while playing multiple times to take in the water crashing against the rocks or comparing the cut of the fairway, fringe, and rough areas for each course. The putting and driving animations are also fluid, no longer stopping abruptly after contact or feeling too weighty. Performance is smoothed out as well, and the only time I ever ran into issues with dropped frames on my PlayStation 5 was due to internet connectivity issues. Even the single-player Career Mode is always online, so there were a few instances where my shot would stutter and even a couple of times where my round didn't save. I found myself pausing while playing multiple times to take in the sights. My biggest gripe with the look and feel of PGA Tour 2K25 is the low-energy commentary team of Luke Elvy and Rich Beem. While they are both very knowledgeable, describing approaches and conditions beautifully, their lines could not be more flatly delivered. I know golf isn’t the most exciting sport, but there is no need to sound like a robot when discussing it. They also seem to have a vendetta against me. If I do any worse than getting on the green in two or birdie putting, Rich Beem will berate me like Bob Barker going at Happy Gilmore—the price is wrong, Richie! At least thanks to my experience dealing with FIFA commentary for years, tuning them out wasn't very difficult. Other than that, it’s pretty much all good news. For example, it’s clear that HB Studios prioritized features that the community has been begging for. The most notable additions revolve around approaches, with the ability to change tee position and choose your hazard drop spot. It might seem like a small detail, but not being able to adjust position after a water hazard or move the ball at the tee for a better angle made for some of my most frustrating shots in PGA Tour 2K23. I love the amount of control that 2K25 gives me. Another big change is that MyPlayer development has become an RPG system that allows you to unlock specific shots as you go, making your growth in the MyCareer campaign customizable to your specific strengths. Skills in the six trees vary from advanced shot types like the Stinger, which is ideal for dealing with high-wind situations, to proficiency boosts, which help buff each shot. I chose to build a Powerhouse archetype who focuses on driving down the fairway, getting my feet wet against other newbies in the Q-School. It was here that I got comfortable with the new EvoSwing mechanics. The new-and-improved golf swing technique focuses on proper posture, torque, and arc size, and after each swing it even breaks down how good your contact, rhythm, transition, and swing path are so you have detailed information on how to improve. You can even customize how it controls by choosing the classic Swing Stick or the 3-Click Swing, depending on your skill level. As a veteran golf (gamer) I love 3-Click Swing for the control it gives you over your shot. The Swing Stick simply requires you to pull the right stick back and release to swing, which is easy to get the hang of but it still has to be lined up well to get a good shot. The 3-Click Swing is certainly harder to master, since you have to press, hold, and release before clicking to push or pull the shot and finally click again to hook or slice, but it is something I love as a veteran golf (game) for the control it gives you over your shot. After using it to blow my competition out of the water, shooting 30 under par across four days, I moved on to the PGA Tour. Like the real deal, the goal here is to compete for points in tournaments, finishing in the Top 70 to earn a spot competing for the FedExCup. But instead of thrusting you into each event blindly, PGA Tour 2K25 features training and scouting scenarios before each event as a way to earn stat buffs and get the lay of the land. Training scenarios are bite-sized minigames, such as target challenges or competing to land on the green quickest or to sink the most long putts. Completing these gives your character a temporary boost in specific attributes, which is applied to the coming tournament. At first, I shrugged these off as ways to pad playtime, but once I played on harder difficulties I realized how what seemed like a minor buff to my drive power could mean the difference between hitting the fair way instead of a bunker. Practice Rounds also give you an edge for the coming tournament in exactly the way you’d expect: being able to play and feel out the specific run and shape of every course just before competing there is a real difference-maker. It is so satisfying to strategize for a course just like the pros would. Not every new feature in MyCareer lands on the fairway, though – especially the new personality and popularity mechanics. We’ve seen all this before in other games like Madden and EA Sports FC: Your pro spends time off the course gaining influence with fans, developing a following, and forming a personality based on the answers they choose in conversations and interviews. While this is a well-meaning effort to give MyCareer a bit more flair and make you feel like the belle of the ball, the system feels just as pointless as it does in other games. All conversations are done through text and don't have an effect on the actual gameplay, so it feels unpolished and isn’t a good use of time. The actual way to get sponsorships and unlock questlines for XP is simply by doing well at playing golf. This was pretty easy to do at first because the default settings PGA Tour 2K25 feel like child's play: I was easily winning each tournament, destroying the likes of Viktor Hovland by -13 strokes a round. The Dynamic option is my favorite addition to MyCareer since 2K23. At this point, I decided to experiment with the customizable sliders, which let you tune everything from CPU difficulty to green conditions to weather. The difficulty took the most time to experiment with, as it was hard to find the right percentages to match my own skills, and seemed uneven. In some games, one golfer would score 10 under the second-closest AI rival. However, once I adjusted weather and course conditions to random the playing field started to feel much more level, and scores were closer. Either everyone benefited from the smooth greens and shining sun, or everyone suffered the whipping winds and slick surfaces where the ball glides way too fast across them. The Dynamic option, though, is my favorite addition to MyCareer since 2K23: With this, you can choose the number of holes you want to play within a course, and which specific ones, and any skipped holes will be simulated. I don't mind playing a full 18 most of the time, but having the option to shorten the time commitment for some rounds by simming dynamically is a nice touch. Microtransactions are, unfortunately, still present in PGA Tour 2K25, but mercifully they are mostly cosmetic-based. Yes, you can dump real money into making your player a superstar stat-wise and decked out with flashy clothes right off the bat, but you'll also earn upgrade points and different outfits at a decent clip by completing tournaments, so they aren't entirely necessary and are less objectionable than what 2K has been doing in its casino-like approach to NBA 2K in recent years. So playing online with others is still enjoyable, since this isn’t a sport where you’re being dunked on by someone who can run faster and jump higher because they paid extra. The same seven online modes from 2K23 return, including my favorite: four-ball. I loved competing against my partner and the other team, as it simply felt more competitive, fast-paced, and interactive than going against AI. For my money, this mode is the next best thing to being out on the course with your buddies competing in real life. Ranked and Casual games also let you choose between Swing Stick and 3-Click lobbies and select which gameplay features and aides you want off and on to make sure everybody’s on the same page. It’s also notable that Societies mode now offers crossplay features, letting you and your friends schedule asynchronous events regardless of platform differences. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

I'm a Seraphine player, yes, I admit it. The Starry-Eyed Songstress remains one of the most controversial champions in League of Legends, attracting a decent number of players despite what feel like constant nerfs and adjustments. Whether you love her or hate her, however, there's no denying that Darling Dumplings Seraphine is an absolutely adorable skin, but while Amumu and Syndra are currently living out their gyoza fantasy on the Rift, Sera's still waiting for her Lunar New Year-inspired glow up. The plus is that the skin has made it back onto the PBE, but something has changed with its recall animation. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Which League of Legends skins are currently on *****? LoL tier list patch 25.S1.3 - best League of Legends champions The best MOBAs on PC 2025 View the full article

Two more games have been added to Game Pass for Xbox and PC today, while multiple titles will be leaving the subscription service in a week. EA Sports F1 24 joins Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass via EA Play on Thursday, February 20, while Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader will be playable via Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard on the same day. The latest Game Pass games arrive a week ahead of several notable removals from the service. On February 28, nine games will be leaving Game Pass, including: Read More... View the full article

The huge hit deck-builder Monster Train is getting a sequel, with Monster Train 2 getting an announcement and demo in the same day so you can try it early. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

In perhaps the least surprising news ever, Pokémon Presents will return on Pokémon Day 2025. If you want to ensure you don’t miss it, we have exactly what you need. Pokémon Day is Pokémon’s annual birthday celebration. The presentations reveal new titles, spin-off games, and more to the world. It’s a huge year for Pokémon and Nintendo, significantly raising excitement for the latest Pokémon Presents. View the full article

Between Last Epoch, Diablo 4, Lost Ark, and dozens of others, there's a lot of competition in the ARPG world right now. Slick mechanics and eye-catching design help you stand out, but developers will tell you that the secret to success is having a good bond with your community. The launch of Path of Exile 2 has been occasionally bumpy, but largely, Grinding Gear Games still gets a lot of love from its players. Chris Wilson, who served as lead designer and co-director on the original PoE, has been a mainstay on GGG forums and became the 'face' of the studio during the original game's creation. However, official documents suggest Wilson may have left. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Path of Exile reveals 19 new subclasses for its wild, month-long event Path of Exile's Legacy of Phrecia event changes the ARPG's endgame completely New Path of Exile event features a time-bending witch and the ultimate gambler View the full article

While Valve continue building up their next MOBA with Deadlock, their current Dota 2 is still as popular as ever and the Wandering Waters update for Dota 2 sounds pretty awesome. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

With Fortnite Chapter Six, season two, coming on Friday, Epic Games dropped a rap video-style trailer offering a snippet of what to expect. Midas, the cursed bad boy of Fortnite, arrives among bank robberies and explosions. But what is he doing robbing a bank when he can just touch something and turn it into gold? Midas first arrived on the Fortnite scene in Chapter Two as a charismatic villain cursed with a golden touch that ultimately killed his daughter, Jules. Despite resurrecting her, their relationship was never quite the same, which is understandable, to be honest. View the full article

One of the most out of left field bits of movie news in 2024 was renowned Challengers and ****** filmmaker Luca Guadagnino taking on Sgt. Rock for DC Studios. Moreover, it was said the unexpected project would be a reunion with ****** co-star Daniel Craig. That doesn't appear to be case anymore. Read more View the full article

Airport X-Ray Simulator from developer Rainbow Lab has a fresh Beta available on Steam, which includes some overhauled controls for gamepads and Steam Deck. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

If you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that loot boxes are back in Overwatch 2. After being removed when the game transitioned to a Battle Pass system, they made a return in time for season 15, giving players another way to earn cosmetics. Table of contentsHow to earn loot boxes in Overwatch 2How the Weekly Challenges workWhat’s inside loot boxes in Overwatch 2?Loot box rarity and drop rates in Overwatch 2Standard loot box drop ratesLegendary loot box drop ratesCan you hoard loot boxes in Overwatch 2? How to earn loot boxes in Overwatch 2 Loot boxes in the Battle Pass. Screenshot by Dot Esports Unlike in the original Overwatch, you can’t purchase loot boxes in Overwatch 2 with real money. Instead, you earn them through gameplay. Right now, there are three main ways to get them: View the full article

Good news, Poke-heads! The Pokemon Company has officially announced the Pokemon Presents showcase it'll be putting on for this year's Pokemon Day. The date and time you'll need to tune in are all set, so get your calendar that features monthly Pikachus in weirdly seductive poses out. Read more View the full article

Sony is fighting back against the wrongful termination lawsuit from former Bungie developer Christopher Barrett, whose 25-year run at the studio ended last year. Barrett alleges his dismissal came after a “sham” investigation, and he was axed over alleged misconduct, but Sony has responded fiercely with a 128-page filing—with Sony moving to dismiss six of the seven counts in Barrett’s suit. View the full article

Netease has announced that Marvel Rivals has surpassed 40 million players so far in its recent financial earnings report. That means in less than 3 months, the game has had more folks hop into a match than there are people currently living in Poland (~38.5 million). Read more View the full article

Only a week ago, we were talking about The Last of Us potentially lasting four seasons total and pointed out we somehow hadn't received a definitive premiere date for season 2 yet. Well, the wait is now over (and the real wait begins now). Read more View the full article

s per the promise of Marvel Rivals getting a new hero every month, the second half of Season 1 will bring players two new heroes: the Human Torch and The Thing. These new champions will be available to play in a couple of days, but before they're released into the wild, we got a sneak peek at what these characters can do, and it's pretty scary... Read more.View the full article

If you’re looking for details on the longest pro VALORANT match in the history of VCT, we’ve got that—and some interesting “overtime” fun facts—for you right here. Thanks to its fast-paced features, VALORANT can get incredibly competitive, especially at pro level. When it comes to esports games, the longer a match runs, the greater the audience’s thrill. While most pro VALORANT games end with one team reaching 13-round wins before the other, many go into overtime. But only a few matches make it past the 30-round mark, giving onlookers the nail-biting action they crave. Anything can come out of a match when it runs for over an hour, with both teams motivated to win the game. View the full article

NetEase Games has promised to release at least one new Marvel Rivals hero every half-season, but that didn’t stop one creative player from bringing his idea for a playable Doctor Octopus to life. Reddit user WickedCube surprised r/MarvelRivals followers earlier this week with a 30-second video showing what looks like rough gameplay from NetEase’s smash-hit hero shooter. At a glance, the footage seems to focus on a pre-Hulk Bruce Banner suspended in midair in what appears to be a testing room – but it’s more than that. Marvel fans will recognize this eight-armed version of the gamma-infused doctor as an unpolished, Marvel Rivals-inspired take on classic Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus. We need more vanguards, so i made one (Doctor Octopus) byu/Wickedcube inmarvelrivals .reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; } It's stiff and a touch goofy, but the likeness is unmistakable. Squint and you’ll see a well-thought-out concept of what Doc Ock could potentially look and move like should NetEase ever decide to send Otto Octavius crawling into Marvel Rivals. With his arms able to magnetize the player up and around obstacles, WickedCube’s idea come-to-life essentially allows the character to fly so long as he’s close enough to a stable structure – an important note in a game with destructible environments. This rough Doc Ock concept even comes with named abilities, including Havoc Claw for the standard melee attack and a ranged move called Wrecking Grip. At 16,000 upvotes at the time of publication, it’s impressive, playable, and made entirely by one person. “Doc Ock has always been one of the coolest villains in Spider-Man, and his tentacles would be a challenge to implement,” WickedCube tell us, describing where his inspiration stemmed from. “As far as I know, they haven't been fully implemented with playable 3D movement in a game before.” I thought, ‘Since I can't play right now, why not make it myself?’ The India-based indie game developer previously worked with Space Engineers studio Keen Software House before resigning to focus on his own project in January 2024. He's been looking for contract positions and prototyping mechanics since then, so character work usually isn’t a priority. Creating a controllable version of Doctor Octopus in Unity required clearing a few hurdles, but it’s this exact challenge that helped WickedCube pursue the idea. The rest of the push came from an unlikely source: the recent PSN outage. “It all started when PSN was down and I couldn’t play Marvel Rivals,” WickedCube explains. “While browsing Twitter, I came across some really cool Doc Ock fan art. I thought, ‘Since I can't play right now, why not make it myself?’” Doctor Octopus in the style of Marvel Rivals .#MarvelRivals #MarvelRivalsfanart [Hidden Content] — CoryHarris.jpg (@LordDepis) January 26, 2025 The result has seen thousands of players appreciating his ideas for Doc Ock, with some calling for NetEase to bring him onto the team. WickedCube calls the reception “incredibly rewarding,” adding that he’d be more than happy to see the Marvel Rivals studio lift some of his ideas should Doc Ock officially make his way into the game. Although he has no plans to polish the design further, the goal is to release a playable version of the character in the near future. “After seeing the response on Reddit, I want to share this and future concepts as a YouTube tutorial series,” WickedCube added. “I also plan to open-source the code on GitHub and make the playable versions available on Itch.” NetEase will charge forward with its Marvel Rivals post-launch plans with two new official characters this Friday: the Human Torch and The Thing. Both heroes follow their Fantastic Four teammates, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who launched early last month. It’s a shockingly strong start that outpaces competitors in its field, but comic book fans can’t help but look to Marvel’s catalog of heroes and villains as a universe with limitless potential. WickedCube’s post says his viral project was born out of the community’s desire to see more Vanguard, or tank-like characters, added to its roster. Not even the strongest rumor has suggested we’ll see Otto show up in-game any time soon, but the Doc Ock designer says he’s already cooking up more ideas for other potential heroes. Two names on his mind are X-Men mainstays Nightcrawler and Professor Xavier. “The character roster at launch is large enough to keep the game enjoyable for a long time, and the rate at which they’ve promised to release new characters is mind-blowing,” he added. “The designers clearly understand how to make a fun game, which, in my opinion, is the hardest thing to get right.” Marvel Rivals is primed to deliver its Season 1 mid-season update tomorrow, February 21. In addition to those aforementioned character releases, the content update will add balance changes, gameplay tweaks, and more. While we wait for launch, you can read up on layoffs that recently impacted the U.S. team at NetEase’s Seattle branch. You can also learn about why the studio isn't entertaining the rumors surrounding planted hero leaks. Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe). View the full article

The Experiment comp has seen ups and downs throughout Teamfight Tactics Set 13. However, with the right setup, it still remains one of the best A-tier comps in the game. Here’s everything you need to know about playing Experiments correctly in TFT Set 13.6. Table of contentsBest Experiment comp in TFTCarry champs and best itemsHow to playEarly game planMid game planRecommended AnomaliesRecommended Augments Best Experiment comp in TFT Carry champs and best items To successfully play the Experiment comp, you need at least two of these carry units set up with their best items. View the full article

Wizards of the Coast has revealed more cards from the upcoming Final Fantasy set of Magic: The Gathering, which looks fantastic. View the full article