My feelings about Forest Reigns are equal parts enthusiasm and disappointment, inflation and deflation, straight off the back of the announcement trailer. On the one hand, as a fan of weird forests, which is to say all forests, I'm keen on the prospect of an FPS set in a post-apocalyptic Paris that has been overrun by sentient, *******-off trees. It's from a team led by a former S.T.A.L.K.E.R. developer, too, and those S.T.A.L.K.E.R. alumni certainly know how to post a good apocalypse. On the other hand, the announcement video suggests a game in which you will mostly treat the frenzied flora as a source of "emergent" cover and terrain traps. Have a look. Read more View the full article
Marvel Rivals hit the ground running at launch with 33 heroes, seven maps, and even a tournament section on the home page. Before long, NetEase had already set up and hosted an in-game tournament, and it looks like this is only the beginning of Marvel Rivals' journey to being a more seriously competitive shooter... Read more.View the full article
World of Warcraft has brought back its popular limited-time in-game event, Plunderstorm, for a second round, offering all new cosmetics, mounts, pets, and other rewards for swashbuckling players to get their hands on. The pirate-themed battle royale game mode is active now, starting on January 14 and running until February 18. An active World of Warcraft subscription is required to access the event, and it must be selected from the WoW game menu prior to logging in due to it being a separate game version. Players will use limited-time, ready-to-play characters for the event. View the full article
Here at Ars, we're suckers for stories about hackers getting Doom running on everything from CAPTCHA robot checks and [Hidden Content] to AI hallucinations and fluorescing gut bacteria. Despite all that experience, we were still thrown for a loop by a recent demonstration of Doom running in the usually static confines of a PDF file. On the Github page for the quixotic project, coder ading2210 discusses how Adobe Acrobat included some robust support for JavaScript in the PDF file format. That JS coding support—which dates back decades and is still fully documented in Adobe's official PDF specs—is currently implemented in a more limited, more secure form as part of PDFium, the built-in PDF-rendering engine of Chromium-based browsers. [Hidden Content] In the past, hackers have used this little-known Adobe feature to code simple games like Breakout and Tetris into PDF documents. But ading220 went further, recompiling a streamlined fork of Doom's open source code using an old version of Emscripten that outputs optimized [Hidden Content] code. Read full article Comments View the full article
The Midnight Features event has taken over Marvel Rivals, and to complete some quests in it, you have to swing onto the scene as Spider-Man. If you don’t usually play as him, this can be tough to do, especially for the trigger Spider-Tracer 10 times task. Completing this quest is essential if you want to finish all parts of the special event. This event has a few exclusive rewards you can obtain, so if you’re hoping to collect all of them, here’s how to trigger Spider-Tracer 10 times as Spider-Man in Marvel Rivals. View the full article
The Omens of Tyranny update for Helldivers 2 introduces tons of new content, including the Urban Legends premium Warbond with earnable rewards. Like other Warbonds, Urban Legends is a Battle Pass featuring several new cosmetic items you can unlock for your character. There are also new Stratagems and weapons to be found in the Warbond, making it worth expanding your arsenal. View the full article
A prominent Fortnite leaker recently claimed that the popular battle royale could soon be crossing over with the anime Kaiju No. 8. Fans of big monsters already have a lot to look forward to, as Godzilla will become available in the game on January 17. Players looking to get their hands on the iconic character in Fortnite will need to pick up the battle pass for Chapter 6 Season 1, as his cosmetics will not be available in the Item Shop. View the full article
Baldur's Gate 3 has really reignited my love for tactical RPGs, and I know I'm not alone in that. 2024 brought us the mighty Metaphor ReFantazio, and the future holds the likes of Solasta 2 ahead. The latest game to join that wishlist is Wartorn, a new fantasy RPG with roguelite progression systems. It comes from indie developer Stray Kite Studios, featuring veterans from BioShock, Borderlands, Age of Empires, and Halo Wars among its team, and is set to plunge us headfirst into its brutal, broken world in the spring. Read the rest of the story... View the full article
As a big fan of ARPGs like Diablo, loot-based roguelikes such as Dead Cells and Crypt of the Necrodancer, and Terraria-style explorative, gear-driven indie games, I really enjoyed the first Hammerwatch and its subsequent roguelite spin-off. Heroes of Hammerwatch 2, a sequel to that second game, has just arrived on Steam, boasting seven classes, a city builder, plenty of gear, up to four-player co-op, and potentially "infinite progression." If that sounds up your alley, you can even try it before you buy thanks to a free demo. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Overlooked roguelite RPG Heroes of Hammerwatch getting surprise sequel View the full article
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is here at last, but with the lifting of the review embargo, it looks like Nintendo has once again decided to not include the original developers in the game's credits. Instead, the only devleopment credits go to Forever Entertainment, which handled the modern port. Read more View the full article
Stray Kit Studios, a studio that includes former developers of Age Of Empires, Borderlands and Bioshock, have revealed Wartorn, a real-time tactics roguelite in which two elven sisters pit spells and minions against a brace of fantasy opponents, including ogres. It's a smaller-scale, squad-managerial affair reminiscent of the ancient Myth: Fallen Lords, though the "painterly" art direction reminds me more of the impressionistic World War 1 fable 11-11: Memories Retold. Read more View the full article
A developer has put further development of their Steam Early Access game on hold because they’re going to jail for three years. Fortune’s Run was released on Early Access in September 2023 and has since earned a ‘Very Positive’ rating among its reviewers. The game was placed in Early Access because its developer, who goes by the name Dizzie, wanted to “develop the game side-by-side with the community”, with the initial plan being to finish the game by 2026. Read More... View the full article
Competitive matches are not the place to be farming currencies in Marvel Rivals. Players are there to be matched against similar skilled opponents and have an intense game. Plus, there is the prospect of gaining unique titles and skins upon reaching a high enough per season. You should bring your best gameplay to competitive mode, not just pick a set of heroes because a daily or weekly mission tells you to rack up damage or healing. View the full article
Tales of Graces f Remastered from the collaborative minds of Tose and Bandai Namco is the latest remastered version of the original 2009 game, Tales of Graces. Originally released as a Wii game, Tales of Graces was locked behind lower-resolution graphics and limited accessibility, which eventually led to its first remastered port to the PS3, Tales of Graces f. Now that even that port has become outdated, Tales of Graces f is coming to modern consoles, yet again, with numerous quality-of-life improvements and most DLC content, all of which make this remaster the ideal way to play. View the full article
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Square Enix has announced that Dragon Quest 10 Offline is now available for download on mobile devices, but only in Japan. The single-player title is also discounted in the region for a limited time, though unfortunately, it remains unlikely that a Western release of Dragon Quest 10 is in the cards anytime soon. View the full article
There’s a lot going on in Honkai Star Rail 3.0. Tales of gods, mortals, and monsters; a brand-new battle path; a big, beautiful planet; a ridiculous number of banners; and a fresh cast of extremely suspect characters with unclear motivations. I've spent the past week ahead of the version's launch seeing what HoYoverse has in store, and while some of the game's worst aspects remain unchanged, HSR 3.0 is a thoughtful and exciting first step on this year's new journey. Read more View the full article
What do you do immediately after leaving PlayStation following about 30 years of service? Well, if you're Shuhei Yoshida, you sign up for your first voice acting role, as a green duck guy in a game about mascots that's mostly about a not quite Kazuma Kiryu helping "a living finger work through her many anger issues". Read more View the full article
With spoiler season still a week out, we've seen the first new Magic: The Gathering card from Aetherdrift. Lifecraft Engine was revealed in the set's first story article. And while this vehicle may look like a fun but unassuming card that can slot into any typal strategy, from specters to slivers, it also has the potential to power up one of Magic: The Gathering's strongest Commander decks. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: MTG Aetherdrift brings back a long lost Planeswalker we'd all but forgotten MTG's new Innistrad set ditches one mechanic everyone hates Nine Innistrad Remastered MTG cards I'm desperate to open View the full article
It's been a long time coming, but the first trailer for Daredevil: Born Again is here, and it's probably not one for the squeamish amongst you. Read more View the full article
Afterlove EP, the indie visual novel narrative adventure game with rhythm segments, has a perfect release date for its romance-theming. You'll be able to play this game alongside your partner on a special night as Afterlove EP launches on Valentine's Day (February 14) for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. View the full article
188.1 million PC and console games were sold across Europe in 2024, a rise of 1% over the year before. This is all based on official games data supplied by GSD. For more details, click here. 131.6 million games were sold via digital download stores, a rise of 15% over the previous 12 months, while 56.5 million games were sold via physical retail outlets, a drop of 22%. Read More... View the full article
According to an AMD Senior Fellow, owning one of the company's new AMD Ryzen AI Max laptop CPUs is a bit like having a "Threadripper to put in the palm of your hands." It's all thanks to a brand new chip design, codenamed Strix Halo, which combines 16 cores with a surprisingly powerful integrated GPU. These AMD Strix Halo CPUs, which so far include the recently announced AMD Ryzen AI Max and AI Max+, are mainly aimed at mobile workstations, rather than the very best gaming laptop designs, but their strong integrated GPUs mean they can be used for gaming too. Indeed, gaming performance from this new AMD platform already looks promising too, with a leaked Strix Halo benchmark prior to the official CES announcement showing it could beat an RTX 4060 without a graphics card. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Intel's latest laptop CPUs beat AMD, but you might want to hold off for gaming AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT gaming performance beats RTX 4070 Ti Super in new leak This awesome Lamborghini gaming PC is primed for racing sim perfection View the full article
While many people collect the most competitive Pokémon cards to power up their decks, others grab cards like Mew ex 232/091, arguably one of the most adorable Pokémon cards in recent memory. It's a Special Illustration Rare (SIR) that came out in January 2024 with the launch of Paldean Fates and, like many other sought after cards, has seen a huge price spike during this unprecedented hype, pumping its value up 200% since it first released. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Newest Pokémon set - Prismatic Evolutions cards and details The highest HP Pokémon cards You can get Pokémon TCG packs on takeout apps now, and I'm in danger View the full article
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During CES, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais spoke to Frandroid about SteamOS, Steam Deck and more and there's some interesting bits in there about the future. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
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My feelings about Forest Reigns are equal parts enthusiasm and disappointment, inflation and deflation, straight off the back of the announcement trailer. On the one hand, as a fan of weird forests, which is to say all forests, I'm keen on the prospect of an FPS set in a post-apocalyptic Paris that has been overrun by sentient, *******-off trees. It's from a team led by a former S.T.A.L.K.E.R. developer, too, and those S.T.A.L.K.E.R. alumni certainly know how to post a good apocalypse. On the other hand, the announcement video suggests a game in which you will mostly treat the frenzied flora as a source of "emergent" cover and terrain traps. Have a look. Read more View the full article