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The indie video game scene is one that lends itself almost naturally to the genre of the 2D Metroidvania. With a focus on playing repeated sections of the game world with new power ups to progress, it can be a good way for studios to show off interesting elements of game design with limited resources. Enter Animal Well, from developer Shared Memory and publisher Bigmode, for something a little bit different. View the full article

WWE 2K24 has officially revealed CM Punks in-game model, marking the Straight-Edge Superstars first appearance in a WWE video game in nearly 10 years. WWE fans thought that they had seen the last of CM Punk when he left the company back in 2014, only to be taken by surprise when he walked down the entrance ramp at the very end of the Survivor Series live event in November. However, this moment came too late for him to be included in the base WWE 2K24, which launched to rave reviews back in March. View the full article

Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: DnD Vecna: Eve of Ruin review - almost Marvel-ous Former DnD and MtG boss will soon rule over Funko Pops After the OGL debacle, competition is keeping DnD honest View the full article

Visions of Mana was recently rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), indicating that it could be released soon. Visions of Mana is the next entry in the popular Mana franchise, which started in the early 90s. View the full article

The development team behind Among Us has rolled out its 2024 roadmap, promising new features coming to the game throughout the year. Although reaching its height of its popularity in August 2020, publisher/developer Innersloth has continued to add regular Among Us content updates to keep the gameplay fresh. View the full article

This review covers the multiplayer modes of Homeworld 3. For thoughts on the multiplayer skirmish and War Games co-op mode, see the Homeworld 3 Single-Player Campaign review. When coming up with a real-time strategy game's multiplayer modes, a developer generally has two options: let us play with all of the toys in an all-out brawl until the other side is *****, with maybe a few minor twists thrown in, or try something new, different, and a little risky. In Homeworld 3, Blackbird Interactive has had it both ways, delivering both the bog-standard multiplayer skirmish match between Motherships and an inventive new co-op mode that, if the content continues to flow, has the potential to take on a life of its own. There are few surprises to be found in skirmish if you've ever played a Homeworld game before – or even if you haven't. It's limited to team matches or free-for-alls with up to six players or AI bots, and it doesn’t really rock the boat with its straightforward “beat the other team” objective (you can set it to ***** the mothership, ***** all motherships and carriers, or ***** every ship). There aren’t a ton of maps right now – just six, and only one that supports six players, though that's a void that community-made maps should fill in short order. The only other real option is to turn off harvesting in favor of resource injections every minute (or you can have both) if you don't want to bother with pesky logistics, but it’s precisely the sort of sandbox we need to make creative use of all of the ships Homeworld 3 offers. Heck, people would be up in arms if it weren't here, and rightfully so. Naturally you can’t pause the action like you can in the campaign, which can be frustrating as you’re getting the hang of ordering ships around these expansive areas of 3D space. But that’s balanced out by the fact that your opponents are struggling with the same thing, so it’s not as though you’re at an inherent disadvantage – unless you’re playing against the AI, which has its own weaknesses to compensate for. Learning to spin all of these plates at once while keeping your eyes on what's important is part of the challenge (I tend to spend a lot of time in the zoomed-out sensor view here) and I felt myself getting better at it with every match. The Hiigarans and the Incarnate fleets aren’t wildly different in how they play. Much like previous Homeworld games, the two playable factions – the Hiigarans and the Incarnate – aren’t wildly different in how they play. The Incarnate, for instance, have no ******** but instead have more durable ******** corvettes that fill basically the same role and have the same cloaking ability, and their multi-beam frigates are roughly equivalent to the Hiigarans’ ion canon frigates. Both sides have missile frigates as well, and their carriers, destroyers, battlecruisers, and turrets have stat differences that don’t really make you think outside the box when switching from one to the other. Certainly, faction-specific tactics for each will emerge to capitalize on those subtle advantages – as well as things like the Hiigarans having superior scouting abilities thanks to their recon ships – but the thing that seems most significant in my experience has been how repair and capturing abilities are shuffled between ships. The Hiigarans have a dedicated support frigate that does nothing but repair damaged ships, but if you want to be sneaky and attempt to capture an ****** vessel you’ll have to pull one of your resource controllers off of mining duty and use it to attempt the abduction. The Incarnate remix this by putting the repair functionality on their resource controllers and using smaller, more fragile capture corvettes to do their pilfering – and they require two to survive long enough to latch on instead of one. Having to choose between income and repair power is a big deal for an Incarnate player. In practice, though, having support frigates in the fray against a human opponent doesn’t shift the balance too much in the Hiigarans’ favor because anyone with a brain is going to target those first, and the Incarnate’s minor firepower advantage makes up for the rest. If you don't change Hiigaran fighters' stance the moment they're built, they're as good as *****. There's one other difference between the Hiigarans and Incarnate that baffles me, though: the Hiigaran ships default to neutral stance, while the Incarnate default to aggressive. That sounds thematically appropriate, certainly, but it means that the Incarnate have a real advantage when it comes to building ships – especially strike craft – while under *******. Aggressive ships will immediately scramble and go after ****** ships that come into range, but neutral ships will ***** back without moving other than to turn to face their attackers. When we're dealing with small, fragile fighters, that means they're sitting ducks and will get picked off almost immediately (probably before you notice you're under *******), so if you don't manually select them and change their stance or give them ******* orders the moment they're built, they're as good as *****. That's not a bug like some other issues, such as a voice chiming in to announce the loss of a resource ship that was actually the ******'s or calling a corvette a frigate, but it might as well be. What We Said About Homeworld 3's Single-Player Campaign Homeworld 3’s campaign goes out of its way to change up the style of missions we ****** our way through as Imogen S’jet seeks out a missing Hiigaran fleet and faces an unhinged ******. The resulting battle of wills feels more consequential than the off-screen galactic threat behind it. Relatively close-quarters scenarios have you guiding dozens of ships through eye catching gauntlets of asteroids and enormous space stations, and the dogfights and capital ship slug-fests that play out are a sight to behold. Being able to pause time and give orders makes managing your fleet much less overwhelming, especially given the tricky controls and sometimes disobedient friendly ship AI. Straightforward tech upgrades and a limited selection of ship types limit the campaign’s replayability, but building an armada and watching it tear through the ****** is always a satisfying sci-fi light show. - Dan Stapleton, May 10, 2024 Score: 8 Read the full Homeworld 3 Single-Player Campaign review [/url] It's impossible to know what will happen when Homeworld 3 is out in the wild and the most competitive players get hold of it, but in the matches I’ve played, the big trend has been that the Motherships are very active participants in the early fighting instead of hanging back, as they usually do in traditional Homeworld matches. Part of that is that these maps, which are largely based on those from the campaign, aren’t nearly as vast as Homeworld vets are used to, and also Homeworld 3’s Motherships are relatively quick to move and can get around easily. They’re also decently armed against fighters and corvettes, and you’ll need all the help you can get to keep the pressure off of your resource harvesters and defend them from rush attacks aimed at crippling your economy before you can tech up and unlock heavier ships. However, knowing when to pull back is crucial if you don’t want to be caught by destroyers and battlecruisers, because they'll ***** through your Mothership's armor very quickly. Motherships are very active participants in the early fighting. Terrain also plays a significant role because it’s often close to resource patches, and that means you can cover it with heavy turrets (and anti-strike craft turrets to defend those) that’ll make short work of an ****** resource collector that autonomously wanders near. It’s also viable to turtle up by parking your Mothership near a floating platform, making it difficult for an ****** to get near without being bombarded by turrets and tripping over mines. Other than that, I haven't found using terrain as cover terribly useful because it's difficult to manage sight lines in real time for anything smaller and faster than a destroyer – but again, that doesn't mean the community won't find ways to do it. Homeworld 3’s most exciting multiplayer mode, though, is War Games – I haven’t seen too many co-op modes in this vein since the Last Stand mode from Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 – Retribution, and it’s given me thrills that remind me of those memorable battles. Alone or with up to two allies, you take control of a scaled-down fleet headed by a single carrier and build options decided by your chosen loadout; you’ll start with one focused on Hiigaran strike craft, but as you level up you’ll gain access to others that cater to ********, missile frigates, Incarnate ships, and more. While it’s a bummer to not have access to heavy-hitting destroyers and battlecruisers, there’s a lot going on to make up for their absence, and you’ll generally want to be as mobile as possible. You’re never entirely sure what you’ll get. Rather than simply holding out against waves of enemies, you’re given randomized objectives to complete on a series of three maps: ******** a carrier, capture some points on the map, salvage some objects, ******* AI-controlled ships, that sort of thing. You’re never entirely sure what you’ll get, so you’ll have to be at least somewhat flexible with how you gear yourself to handle what’s coming. Meanwhile, the incoming fleets keep getting stronger, so once you’ve completed your objective you have to make the decision of whether to hold out and scour the map clean of resources, or hyperspace jump to the next one to avoid taking more losses than those resources can replace. There aren’t that many objectives, though – if you play through a handful of times you’ll see them all – so what really keeps each match feeling different from the last is the randomized artifacts that you’ll collect as you go. I quickly realized that scouting for and gathering them was one of the most important things to worry about when I arrived on each map. Scouting for and gathering artifacts is a high priority when arriving on a new map. Each one gives you a choice of three randomized upgrades for your fleet, such as buffing your fighters’ damage and armor at the cost of speed, unlocking more powerful tactical ******** or barrage missile frigates that launch twice as many warheads per volley, increasing your frigate unit cap at the expense of your strike craft cap, or enhancing up your carrier to crank out ships faster but also reduce its armor. There are a lot of possibilities that all stack together, and I often found myself pivoting away from what I thought would be my strengths toward a series of enticing upgrades that supercharged my ******** frigates. I also found it easy to make the mistake of going too far and turning my fighters into glass cannons that melted under ***** faster than they could take out a target, but that’s the kind of error most people probably won’t make twice as they learn to craft builds in any roguelike. This format works well enough playing alone (though the third and final stage can be a ****** to solo) but when you’re working with a team to specialize in different directions you can coordinate so that, for instance, one of you focuses on taking out ****** strike craft while the other burns down incoming destroyers as quickly as possible. That can come together in ways more than powerful enough to overcome the Incarnate destroyers, battlecruisers, and even Motherships that're thrown at you, but don’t worry: there are plenty of options to upgrade the challenge, so I wouldn’t expect War Games to become a pushover anytime soon. Blackbird clearly doesn’t either, because its roadmap for updates is focused around more content for War Games. Based on what I’ve played thus far, it’s a safe bet that it’ll have legs – so long as we keep getting more new rewards to unlock than the six fleet types that'll all be available once you hit level 20 (I made it to level 11 as of this writing after about as many hours of play). Another thing that will certainly expand on the longevity of Homeworld 3 is mods, and there’s a handy section of the menu where you’ll be able to select them. Eventually, that is – the actual implementation of that and the release of the official mod tools has been pushed back from launch. Even so, I’m encouraged by the fact that Blackbird is giving modding the prioritization that it deserves. Homeworld has a long, proud history of mods that includes some of the finest Star Wars and Star Trek (among others) total conversions ever created, and I look forward to that tradition carrying forward. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

It might not be quite the size of Fortnite, CS2, or Helldivers 2, but Duck Game is nevertheless a multiplayer game with a very well-earned reputation. Boasting an 'overwhelmingly positive' 97% user score on Steam from almost 25,000 reviews, the indie game about ducks blasting each other with big guns has long been a fan favorite party game to play with friends. Now, after fears that it could disappear from ***** amid publisher changes, solo developer Landon Podbielski confirms that Duck Game is "not going anywhere." Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Beloved solo dev says game won't disappear amid Warner delisting fears Manic multiplayer Duck Game is free to play on Steam this weekend View the full article

If you’re achievement hunting in Little Kitty, Big City, you’ll definitely want to find all the fish locations. By grabbing all 4, you will get the fin-tastic achievement. Here’s where to find them all.Find the fish in Little Kitty, Big CityMost of these are easy enough to find once you know where, but it will take some progress through the game before they can be grabbed. I’ll let you know the parameters and locations.Fish #1The first fish is actually the key to the rest of them. When you return four shinies to the crow on top of the bike, you will receive your first of the four fish in Little Kitty, Big City. This will actually give you the stamina you need to climb and grab the rest of the fish. You can find out where to grab all the shinies with our handy guide.Fish #2The next fish you need to grab is in the superstore. Get through those doors and to the back of the shop as fast as possible. Here you will see a chest freezer in the mi...View the full article

One of the modes that will challenge your RTS and Homeworld 3 chops is the War Games mode. This roguelike mode will have you complete objectives that will vary between clearing ****** presence, securing resources, and even gaining control of space vantage points. Here is how to unlock all War Games Fleets in Homeworld 3.Homeworld 3: How to unlock all FleetsComing in ill-equipped for a job such as completing objectives in space might end up having you flying across space for eternity without moving forward. Thankfully, the game does provide specific Fleet combinations that will make or break your game – we all have to rely on RNG on roguelikes. But, if you are just starting up, you are completely stuck with what the game gives you. If you wish to unlock other starting Fleet combinations, then you must level up your War Games level.Screenshot: PC InvasionDoing this is pretty straightforward: all you have to do is complete objectives. Now, similar to games such as Ris...View the full article

From the moment it was announced, Vecna: Eve of Ruin looked like D&D's answer to Avengers: Endgame. As the old era of fifth edition closes, Dungeons and Dragons gathers its most famous faces for a multiversal battle with the greatest evil the IP has ever known. So far, so Marvel Cinematic Universe. After a thorough review of the campaign book, I can confirm the parallels run even deeper. Like an Avengers movie, this DnD book is a bombastic popcorn fest of galactic proportions. And just like an Avengers movie, the DnD campaign's writing often feels shallow. Martin Scorsese is out there somewhere, shaking his head. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Critical Role's new Beacon service is only for superfans Former DnD and MtG boss will soon rule over Funko Pops After the OGL debacle, competition is keeping DnD honest View the full article

If you want to earn the Cat Napper achievement in Little Kitty, Big City, you’ll have to enjoy all of the cozy nap spots in the city. And who doesn’t want a nap from time to time?All Nap Spots in Little Kitty, Big CityI’ve found and listed all of the nap spots in Little Kitty, Big City, so all you have to do is look for the ones you haven’t parked your furry bottom in yet. At least these are much easier than finding the Chameleon!There are seven spots in total for you to nap, and this quest will take you throughout the city.Just remember that the best part of this achievement isn’t completing it, but enjoying the calm scenes and relaxing music. So take it all in!On the satellite dishScreenshot: PC InvasionI’ll start with this nap spot as it’s the hardest, and is likely the one you’re missing if you’ve found all the others.This nap spot is occupied when you find it, by a very food-motivated cat. To sav...View the full article

New gear is incredibly important in Gray Zone Warfare, but you may realize that money is difficult to earn and nearly impossible to farm without a plan. Loot and other items collected from Lamang Island sell for a shockingly low amount of cash, making it hard to identify what goals reward you best. Only the pursuit of certain objectives offered in the open world will let you get rich quickly. View the full article

The already hostile environment of Ark: Survival Ascended is getting even more dangerous with a new official mod that brings forth perilous additions. The popular survival game by Studio Wildcard is a new and reimagined version of the 2017 game, Ark: Survival Evolved. Within the vanilla version of the game, the new title already brings several modifications to the original, and there are several differences between Ark: Survival Ascended and Survival Evolved. There are even more when considering the games capacity to receive detailed mods. View the full article

Zombie survival title DayZ is receiving a completely new area in the teased Frostline expansion set to release Fall 2024. The Frostline trailer doesn't include specifics aside from being able to wishlist the DLC via the DayZ Steam page. View the full article

Spacefaring RTS Homeworld 3 is good sci-fi. Monolithic structures scorched with plasma burns. Sleek spacecraft. Alien sunrises. It’s also good sci-fi because its characters converse through reams of inscrutable but cool-sounding space science, and at no point does a grinning quipster tell a scientist: “Whoa there, professor. Why don’t you try saying that again... but in English!” Basically, if your wishlist for Homeworld 3 has tone and atmosphere at the top, rest easy. At no point did I get the sense that Blackbird ever took making the first proper Homeworld in eight years lightly. Read more View the full article

Secretlab has revealed two new Minecraft-themed additions to its lineup in the Enderman Edition chair skin and Wolf pillow. These join the Creeper Edition Titan Evo, which is currently only available in three sizes. The addition of these customization options now opens up more opportunities for fans to show off their love for Minecraft. Made for the Titan Evo, a design we consider among the best gaming chairs that money can buy, Secretlab Skins offer a great way to customize your existing chair without having to pay for a whole new chair. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: How to play Minecraft snapshots - snapshot 24w19a The 46 best Minecraft mods May 2024 The best building games on PC 2024 View the full article

It’s still hard to believe that XDefiant is finally releasing, but the game is now less than two weeks away and FPS players are chomping at the bit to hop online for some fun matches. In the days leading up to the release of XDefiant, Ubisoft has been showcasing the game as a competitive title featuring FPS ***** such as Crimsix and ACHES. And today’s new match features two more former teammates from a Call of Duty world championship team. View the full article

Making Homeworld 3 must have been an immense challenge, so hats off to Blackbird Interactive. Not only did it have to live up to the legacy of the first two Homeworld games and satisfy RTS veterans, but it also had to refine the old formula and give players a reason to return. Luckily for fans, Homeworld 3 does both. View the full article

Getting around Animal Well can be pretty challenging at times, either due to the complexity of the levels or the annoying enemies. However, what if I told you that with the Bubble Wand, you can essentially fly around the map, provided you have space in the Animal Well map?How to fly using the Bubble WandThe technique to fly or infinite jump using the Bubble Want takes some practice in Animal Well. However, once you have it down, you’ll be unstoppable. Well, kinda unstoppable. Practice this combination of button presses to access many hidden areas of the map.To endlessly jump in Animal Well, you must first get your hands on the Bubble Wand. This can be found in the far west of the map, just after the room of statues. Once you have it, you’ll be ready to fly.All you need to do is ***** one bubble with X, then jump, using space bar, onto the bubble you have blown. Then, with the right timing, you must jump either left or right and immediately ***** another bubble...View the full article

While the last game in the Homeworld franchise was released in 2016 in the form of Deserts of Kharak, the critically acclaimed series has not seen a main entry since the release of Homeworld 2 — back in 2003. I was nine years old back then. Those years went by in an instant for me, but the same can’t be said for avid Homeworld fans who have anxiously waited to hear what’s next for the Hiigarans and find out what exactly happened with the disappearance of the legendary Karan S’Jet.Well, that brings us to Homeworld 3. This is the first time I’ve played a Homeworld game. Regional unavailability of the physical game at the time limited my early RTS experience to that of Age of Empires and Warcraft 3. So, for me, picking up Homeworld 3 seemed familiar and alien at the same time.Familiar because Homeworld 3, while requiring some learning and lore study, ultimately is a very well-crafted game that streamlines the experience of building your fleet in a way that even n...View the full article

The Sticky Business Achievement in Little Kitty, Big City asks you to ******** 10 old birds’ nests, but where can you find them all? The majority of these nests are hidden and must be discovered through platform puzzles, which makes it tricky to spot them.Little Kitty Big City: Where to find all old birds’ nestsScreenshot: PC InvasionOld bird’s nest 1 (6)Start near your house where the dog is (make sure to feed them a bone to get past the dog) and climb on top of the boxes in front of where they’re eating. Once up top, make your way around to the open window to a bathroom, and you’ll find the bird nest sitting near the window.Screenshots: PC InvasionOld bird’s nest 2 (2)Near the small supermarket with the ****** cat, walk across the street to the small alley with a puddle. You’ll see an open gate, so walk through, then under the open ***** in the fence.In this garden, you’ll want to hop up on the red and green...View the full article

Boosted by the success of the Fallout television series, Fallout 4 continues to see major spikes in sales numbers, remaining in the Top 10 Best-Selling Games in the ******* Kingdom. The Amazon Prime Fallout TV show has been praised by fans of the series and drawn record numbers of players into the gaming franchise for the first time, helping recent entries like Fallout 4 to once again top the charts. View the full article

The Rogue Prince of Persia, a game that is pleasingly candid in choosing its name for a roguelite Prince of Persia spin-off, has been delayed. It turns out that developers Evil Empire - they of very good roguelite platformer ***** Cells - saw the Hades 2 train steaming down the tracks, and decided to sensibly dodge-roll out of its way. Read more View the full article

Marvel Rivals’ closed alpha test is just hours away from beginning, and its developer has shared information on the game’s destructible environments in a detailed blog post. The six-vs-six hero shooter featuring iconic heroes and villains such as Iron Man, Spider-Man, Hulk, Magneto, and many others, aims to make things fresh with what the dev calls “thematic environmental destruction.” View the full article

Drama over conceding matches at Regional Championship Montreal for a Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour 2023-2024 season invite has ended, but no rules have been changed. Draws and concessions have been in the MTG hot seat before at high-level tournament play, especially when a seed invite is on the line. The Pro Tour helped remove some of the controversy by allowing players who hit 12 match wins an automatic advancement to the top eight playoffs. But Regional Championship organizers, like the recent RC in Montreal, are allowed to have their own rules in place. This led to a verbal agreement between MTG players Brian Bonnell and Eduardo Sajgalik, in which one would concede if their final match of the time went to time, allowing the player with the stronger board state to advance and earn a Pro Tour invite. View the full article