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Get a hands-on first look at this indie title featuring satirical robots and souls-like combat. View the full article

Learn where the greatest bathhouse in Europe is located, according to Warhorse Studios. View the full article

Avowed was a surprising delight to play for the first time. After a lot of questions about the shift in art direction from the teaser trailer, questions about the length, and a combat demo on the Xbox stage that had many asking if the game was earlier in development than expected, I’m happy to report that Avowed is feeling great, looking great, and offering a compelling story based on the early slice I played at an event. My journey began just after the opening main mission in Avowed, and we’ve been sent on a task to find an Aedyran Expedition team. It turns out, as it often does with RPGs, that fate had other plans for them. Kai, our green-skinned companion who just happens to be voiced by Mass Effect’s Garrus Vakarian actor Brandon Keener, keeps things light-hearted with quips and remarks about this new area we’re exploring. The banter is welcome and sparse, only chiming in occasionally to make a quip, like when I paused to admire the view. And the view is very pretty. Avowed has done a great job leaning into the art style the larger Pillars of Eternity series is known for and had me stopping to admire waterfalls in the distance and moss-covered structures that set the aesthetic tone for this mysterious cavern we are diving deeper into. Avowed’s world design is shaping up nicely too, and as I dove deeper I would discover walls that could be blown up to traverse a new path, or puzzles that would open a secret new area with a large chest if I threw my shock explosives at a few tucked away circuits I found by exploring off the beaten path, only to find a ***** in the wall. These puzzles have the added bonus of revealing coveted loot like a powerful ring that would offer some choice stat bonuses for my character. Avowed has done a great job leaning into the art style the larger Pillars of Eternity series is known for. When I wasn’t exploring the depths of the oceanic ***** I had to swim through it only to find myself facing off against a Xaurip. These are Lizard-like creatures with your standard human weapons like swords, shields, and bows, and they make for good fodder as you learn your beginning attacks. Combat in Avowed is much better than I had anticipated. You quickly become accustomed to using flasks to regenerate not just your health, but more importantly your essence, which allows the ********** of your most powerful attacks. As the barbarian, I found myself stalking spiders in the caverns and plotting my *******. To begin, I use Kai’s ability ***** and Ice via the radial wheel you access by holding down the left bumper (if you’re playing with a gamepad, obviously). ***** and Ice sees Kai Teleport to the target and then unload a powerful bullet into the spider’s Chelicerae, aka its face. Then I command him to use his area of effect *******, Leap of Daring, that has him slam into the ground and briefly stun everyone around him. During that time I’d been closing the gap, and using the two weapons I first charged up my right-handed axe which offers a powerful ******* that inflicts frost damage accumulation to nearby enemies. After holding the right trigger to empower this ******* I manage to freeze my opponents for just a moment. Then I unleash my more powerful essence abilities. First I shout to push back the smaller spiders who are also surrounding me, and while stunned, I then select charge and ram my body with force into the biggest guy in the room. Then, I follow it up with a flurry of blows with the left trigger, which holds my nimble sword for a small flurry of strikes that results in the dispatch of the last spider standing in the room. Later, I would return as a mage, which was described as the most difficult of the three classes available to use. Abilities for this character included an ethereal staff that you could materialize with essence, orb projectiles that would track your target, and standard attacks that had you flicking your wand to and fro while smaller spells did damage to your target. Additional Essense abilities included a spear that was a bit faster than the staff (as you’d expect), and several different protection or buff spells to help your hits land with a bit ******* thud. My personal favorite, however, was an ability that had you snap your book of magic shut to send a wave of damage-dealing aura at everything around you. It just looked cool seeing a book wreck everything in the immediate vicinity. Make no mistake though, combat was also challenging. I was chugging potions with recklessness as I knew this was just a demo, but it was clear that you’ll need to master the balance between your spell casting, defense, and gear options for maximum efficiency. Digging into the menus, I found that you could spec out your character with a 2nd ******* set that would be accessed with the press of the Y button on the controller. The potential that something so simple offers had me excited because with one press you could access a significantly different playstyle. Combat felt clean, intuitive, and had a depth I didn’t expect. I can’t wait to ***** into it more. And fortunately, the oomph of your ******* animations that many felt were missing from a demo on the Xbox stage earlier this year have seemingly been implemented; enemies react how you’d expect them to when you slash them with a sword or blast them with a spell. Eventually, on our journey, Kai and I would run into Caedmon, a young explorer who had managed to survive the Xaurip ********. His friends from the expedition team weren’t so lucky, however. After lamenting that he’s “never touched a girl” and his looming fate wasn’t fair, we were given several conversation options: “Kai, we can’t let this **** **** a *******. Can you help him?”“Give Caedmon a healing option. Let’s get you back on your feet!”“Toughen up ****. I’m not wasting my supplies on you.” I, of course, picked the top one. Kai responded: “Not with that… OH you mean with healing him.” He would then go on to make me offer my potion instead. Caedmon was back on his feet and offered us some advice that would help us continue our journey. But because I also wanted to try out combat as a Mage, I got to see what happened if you always picked the bottom option. “Toughen up ****!” my character shouted. Caedmon said something Kai called nonsense, and pleaded with me to help him. I however refused to offer him the life saving potion, resulting in his immediate ******. Did I loot his corpse? You’re ***** right I did. It’s situations like this that will make Avowed really stand out if they are plentiful enough. Can you really be that evil? Apparently so, and I look forward to doing a sane-person playthrough where I don’t ******* everyone if I can avoid it, and a playthrough where I’m the biggest ***** possible because… well, that’s where the fun ***** now, isn’t it? The demo ended with an encounter where we met Sargamis. Sargamis is a gold-skinned deity-like creature who sent us to find an item and return it. But like our explorer friends from earlier in the demo, there were other plans afoot and it wasn’t long until we came face-to-face with the Skeleton boss and a pesky Skeleton priest that would heal the large group of enemies we were facing off against. This was all triggered immediately after getting to the object Sargamis sent us to retrieve, to which Kai quipped, “It can’t be this easy… can it?” No, Kai, it apparently cannot be. Can you really be that evil in Avowed? Apparently so. Once in battle and realizing I was greatly outnumbered, I ran out of the room to survey the battlefield. After taking out a few of the lower rank-and-file skeletons just outside of the priest’s healing aura, I identified the one thwarting my plans of ******* (can you ******* a skeleton?) and I turned his bones to ice and dust. Just as I had cleared the grunts, I was finally ready to take on the Skeleton boss with Kai, but just as I had him on the ropes…. The power in the building went out for everyone playing the demo. It’s OK, though, because Avowed had made its impression. My doubts about it have faded away, and I’m left excited for its release in February. This small slice Obsidian gave us the opportunity to play was a treat, and while it’s a tiny glimpse, our 50-minute demo session flew by in the blink of an eye. And that’s always a good sign. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

South Korean developer Krafton has revealed some new footage from inZOI, its life simulation game that combines the gameplay formula of The Sims with ultra-realistic graphics. While the life sim is still in the works, it has recently received a limited demo that allows Steam users to check out some of its core features ahead of its release. View the full article

If there's one thing that ***** got right, it was realizing that supernatural enemies are just as susceptible to hails of bullets as everything else. Now in Phantom Line, a co-op tactical shooter coming soon, you can put that to the test with a realistically modeled loadout and plenty of anomalous supernatural threats to put down. Read the rest of the story... View the full article

The Gundam Calibarn will be available later via a post-release update. View the full article

After a year of exclusivity on Epic Games Store, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is coming to Steam and Xbox Series X|S. However, the official store pages still don’t have any pricing information for the game. Here’s everything you need to know about how much The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria costs. View the full article

It's already had some scintillating gameplay snippets go viral, and now the creators of **** *** brawler Spine have dropped a new trailer that's got plenty more badass action for you to clip and ship. The game has also just had a release window confirmed, and despite it looking pretty impressive in its trailer, you'll be waiting a fair while until you can get your hands on it. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Spine release date estimate, trailers, gameplay, and latest news Is Spine on Game Pass? View the full article

Ack-ack-ack! Sorry, something in my throat. What I meant to say is, Mars Attracts is a newly-announced theme park sim set in the universe of Mars Attacks. The Martians have been capturing humans to take up to their dusty world to plonk onto a custom-built amusement park, where people are themselves the amusements - for good and ill. Think Planet Coaster, Rollercoaster Tycoon, or Jurassic Park Evolution, but in space, with lashings of human-centric cruelty. Read the rest of the story... View the full article

Three new bosses unveiled for Pearl Abyss's upcoming ambitious action RPG. View the full article

Overwatch 2 has officially launched Season 12, New Frontiers, meaning the full patch notes for the update are now available. With a new Martian hero, game mode, competitive reset, and more, this Overwatch 2 season has a lot for fans to check out. View the full article

World of Warcraft is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary, and Blizzard Entertainment is doing an Overwatch 2 crossover to mark the occasion. The first character to receive a new, MMORPG-inspired look will be Overwatch‘s Widowmaker, who will get a WoW’s Sylvanas Windrunner skin, Blizzard announced on X on Aug. 20. The skin looks almost identical to one of the Windrunner sisters in WoW. It’s purple, like in the fantasy universe (and conveniently the ****** of Widowmaker’s default skin), and she holds a bow. The only change is a ******* rifle, Widowmaker’s main tool, which Blizzard has remade in the WoW aesthetic. Although if you see it as an ambitious transmog for the Night Elf, it’s more than believable she could be using a ****. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

I'm glad to know that Borderlands 4 is on its way. Sure, the Borderlands sense of humor has worn a bit thin for me over the years, and sure, I think Claptrap is among the greatest torments ever inflicted on an undeserving humanity. When it comes down to it, though, I'm as much of a ******* for a bajillion procedurally generated guns as the next guy. Another Borderlands sequel is one I'll welcome... Read more.View the full article

With Gamescom underway and PAX West coming at the end of the month, 2024's summer gaming event season is finally coming to a close. However, no one could have guessed that the season would begin and end with a game such as Post Trauma, the upcoming survival horror game from Raw Fury and developers Red Soul Games. At the Guerrilla Collective back in early June, a Fall release window was announced for the game, and with today's Future Games Show, that window has now been narrowed down to a definitive release date, as Post Trauma is now scheduled for a release date that's just a couple of days away from Halloween, appropriately enough. View the full article

It feels like TimTheTatman is good for a hilarious stream clip at least every few weeks or so—and his latest one in Modern Warfare 3 is equally awesome and funny. Tim hopped on MW3 today to unlock a new ******* that was added as part of Call of Duty’s Season Five Reloaded update and immediately gave us a social media clip to share by popping off with it while including some trademark Tim humor. View the full article

From the early morning to the late night, life can be pretty stressful for almost every person in the world, which is why its important to find something that can help you destress—such as playing a video game where you live out the life of your dreams. In the new upcoming life simulator inZOI, players are already creating some incredible lookalikes for their favorite celebrities and fictional characters, all in anticipation for the release of this supposed Sims-*******. View the full article

Enlarge / So I'm not stuck on Xbox, eh? (credit: Bethesda) [/url] Bethesda's Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is the latest game from a Microsoft subsidiary that will make its way to the PlayStation 5. The game will hit Sony's console in the spring of 2025, Microsoft announced yesterday, months after a planned December launch on Xbox Series S/X and Windows. In an interview with YouTube channel Xbox On, Microsoft's Phil Spencer expanded on that decision, implying that multiplatform releases for Microsoft gaming properties were important to the Xbox division's bottom line. "We run a business," he said, "It's definitely true inside of Microsoft the bar is high for us in terms of the delivery that we have to give back to the company, because we get a level of support from the company that's just amazing in what we're able to go do." [Hidden Content] Phil Spencer's comments come about three minutes into this interview. Amid massive layoffs that have hit Xbox and other gaming companies in recent months, Spencer noted that there's "a lot of pressure on the [game] industry" these days. "[The industry] has been growing for a long, long time and now people are looking for ways to grow," he said. "And I think that us, as fans, as players of games, we just have to anticipate there's going to be more change in how some of the traditional ways that games were built and distributed [ars] going to change... for all of us." Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments View the full article

The Vegas Legion franchise is officially leaving the Call of Duty League. Team Falcons is replacing the Legion in the CDL for next year, the organization announced today. The team will be known as the Vegas Falcons and is set to feature a roster of all Saudi Arabian players, including Roxas, Exnid, KingAbody, and KHHX. View the full article

EA and BioWare have revealed some features for the PC version of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which should allow for smooth graphics and easy-to-use controls across a variety of computer builds. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming in just a few months, and its developer and publisher want to make sure it's just as enjoyable on PC as it is for console players. View the full article

Xbox has unveiled a new adaptive joystick controller that allows for more accessibility options while gaming. More people are playing video games than ever before, and developers have taken note of this by adding options to help players who normally wouldnt be able to enjoy games on Xbox or any other system. This includes special ****** filters that allow colorblind gamers to better see in-game objects, auto descriptions and screen readers for cutscenes and in-game text, and additional subtitles and captions for players who are deaf or hard of hearing. View the full article

Bethesda has shared the full patch notes detailing the Starfield update 1.13.61. This release introduces Starfield's first-ever land vehicle, new graphics settings, and a variety of bug fixes and UI tweaks, among other novelties. View the full article

Take note, other developers: this is how you do it. Capcom has removed gender-restricted armor sets from Monster Hunter in the upcoming PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC title, Monster Hunter Wilds. As show in the developer diary streams that were broadcast live from Gamescom 2024 today (and confirmed in a hands-on demo by yours truly), Capcom has decided to bin off the binary armor choices for female and male hunters. Now, no matter what character you decide to make when you create your avatar for the game, you will be able to equip all variations of armor without any restriction. Typically, Monster Hunter games have locked you into one of two variants depending on the make-up of your custom character, but in the upcoming title, every single player will be able to equip an A or B variant of each gear set. I even experimented with mixing and matching; it was possible to use the ‘male’ version of a Chatucabra head and the ‘female’ version of the Chatucabra body in the same loadout. Ergo; you can mix and match. Read more View the full article

Epitaph Prime is the new form for arguably the best primer ******* in Warframe. And, as a bonus, all you have to do is open Relics to farm this *******—no Railjack involved. Epitaph Prime debuted alongside Sevagoth Prime, and the process of getting both is similar. You must open Relics until you get the desired drops, though you can only open each Relic once. Because of this, stocking up on Epitaph Prime Relics is the best way to even your odds of getting this *******. Here are our go-to spots for farming Relics in Warframe. View the full article

For those searching high and low for a new side scrolling runner to get addicted to, Cookie Run: Ovenbreak might be the next game to satisfy your gaming sweet tooth—especially with the different codes you can use for different freebies. In Cookie Run: Ovenbreak, you take control of a plethora of different cookie characters as you run away from the dreaded oven to avoid being baked into a delicious treat. You’ll also discover different environments, find unique pets, and unlock various other cookies as you keep your feet moving. View the full article

Overwatch 2 just debuted Control, a 3D animated short telling some of the backstory of Juno, the new hero from Season 12. This charming cinematic came as a surprise to players, as it has been about a year since Overwatch 2 released its last one. View the full article