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EA Sports has made “significant updates” to the physics and handling in F1 2024, resulting in cars that “feel more alive” and give players “more control.” F1 2024, the latest entry in the long-running series, will be released on May 31, though you get three days of early access if you buy the Champions Edition. And now, EA Sports has lifted the lid on the revamped handling system teased in February. View the full article

A few Mortal Kombat 1 fans have discovered a fun new Brutality that seems to have been secretly added to the game. Brutality ****** in Mortal Kombat 1 are some of the most satisfying ways to finish a match, and this new addition offers an exciting update to the game's combat. View the full article

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Fallout 76, every Vault Dweller must prioritize acquiring weapons, and the best armor sets to survive the nuclear wastelands. While weapons are abundant in the RPG, it's easy to clutter your inventory with firearms that don't suit your playstyle, lack the necessary ammo, or fail to deliver enough damage against stronger enemies. View the full article

The future of Starfield might end up making the game a lot more exciting, and the update that could change everything isn't the Shattered Space DLC release. Although Starfield has plenty of fans, its reception so far has been a largely mixed one, especially when compared to the success of Bethesda Game Studios titles like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Its expansive world can also feel empty, and the gameplay loop hasn't proven as universally compelling as the best RPGs to come out of the studio. View the full article

Today, in 2024, you don't have to look far for a new PC game to be found advertised almost entirely on the graphical benefits it delivers to PC gamers alone. From Cyberpunk 2077, a game repeatedly marketed on PC almost solely on its graphical prowess, through to AAA ports of big-budget console games, such as the recently released Horizon: Forbidden West Complete Edition, it's now unsurprising to see these games framed out of the gate in terms of what visual upgrades they offer when compared to their lesser console counterparts... Read more.View the full article

Gaining enough XP to level up and acquire loot in this action RPG can be difficult if you don’t know the best methods. Here’s how you can farm loot and XP in No Rest for the Wicked.No Rest for the Wicked: How to farm XP and lootWhile you can go to areas brimming with resources and collect them, they can take a while to respawn. Enemies also aren’t abundant unless you’re constantly switching regions or exploring new areas. You can easily farm XP and loot in No Rest for the Wicked by creating a new Realm.Realms in NRFTW are ways for you to start a new game world but keep your same character. One Steam Community post explained how this farming method works so you can easily collect materials, loot, and EXP:Create a new Realm from the main menu.Start a new game in this farming Realm with your current character.Farm loot/XP/materials.Return to your main Realm to progress quests/city building.Screenshot: PC InvasionUsing this *****...View the full article

What are the best Hades 2 keepsakes? Erebus is a tricky environment to navigate, and as early access looms you might be wondering how to optimize your run. Luckily, gifting Nectar comes with great rewards which could turn your fate around. While you're seeking out all of the Hades 2 gods and characters to grant them your gifts, you're likely to run into some formidable opponents. Check out our Hades 2 Hecate boss guide if you're struggling to beat the first major obstacle in the game. That aside, we've got all of the Hades 2 keepsakes and their effects right here. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: All Hades 2 Gods and characters Hades 2 Arcana Cards explained Hades 2 Hecate boss guide View the full article

The Teamfight Tactics Set 11 meta still needs work and the devs are ready, testing Patch 14.9 balance changes on the PBE servers. Patch 14.9 is an important TFT Set 11 Inkborn Fables update, falling between the first two Tactician’s Cup tournaments. A B-patch for 14.8 improved some balance issues for the first Tactician’s Trials and Cup but there’s still room for improvement, like a Lissandra nerf. The 14.9 update will also include 20 new Artifacts and five Support items. View the full article

In an ocean of new action-platformers, it’d be easy to overlook Tales of Kenzera: Zau, but casting it away without a second thought would be a mistake. This is a short, sweet side-scrolling action game inspired by the many, many children of Metroid and Castlevania. It’s full of crunchy combat and springy platforming, all of which is fun if not groundbreaking in a genre where others seem to raise the bar on a regular basis. But most importantly, its the touching love letter from a grieving son to their deceased father, told in clever and moving allegories about sending restless spirits to the afterlife, that helps it stand out in the pack. The biggest first impression Tales of Kenzera makes is how great it looks. With a bold ****** palette and dynamic environments like lush jungles and rolling hills, finding a screenshot of this game that looks anything less than beautiful would take an act from a spiteful ****. Though some of the human characters have clunky or stilted animations, the monsters you’ll ****** move with a supernatural gait that is fitting for restless spirits, but also useful for clearly identifying when to ******* and when to dodge. Tales of Kenzera’s ******** inspirations don’t stop at its looks. Its story of a shaman named Zau that must usher restless spirits into the after life - itself being told as a story within a story about the loss of a loved one - is rich with parables about surviving through grief. This is a common refrain in much of the ancestor-worshiping mythology of Central and East ******** people, where ******, though painful, can be a rite of passage. Besides being a solid representation of a culture that goes under-represented in fiction outside of royal cats fighting over space rocks, it's also an extremely personal tale about a son losing his dad, inspired by director Abubakar Salim’s own relationship with his late father. The simple, delicate, and poignant way Tales of Kenzera speaks to loss is one that will stay with me long after any specific platforming sections or enemies fade from memory. The simple, delicate, and poignant way Tales of Kenzera speaks to loss is one that will stay with me. This is partially because of how well each of its three big sections entwine the actual game mechanics with those larger themes - for instance, the key ability gained during a section that involves climbing a volcanically active mountain to chase the Great Spirit of Humanity is one that lets your indomitable human will run through walls like a charging bull. But its also effective thanks to how well written and acted the sparse cast of characters is, especially Zau himself and Kalunga, the **** of ****** who is more wise uncle than Grim Reaper. On the other hand, the action of this roughly six-hour adventure through the exotic land of Kenzera meets modern Metroidvania standards, but rarely exceeds them. Each zone is jam packed with platforming sequences that don’t really test your reflexes or abilities, with the exception of some optional sections that limit checkpoints and push the pace for some sort of reward. I enjoyed all of the dashing, diving, and wall jumping in Tales of Kenzera, especially a mid-game chase through a shadowy pocket dimension - but there are very few moments that stand out like this, let alone when compared to the impressive areas of contemporaries like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I enjoyed all of the dashing, diving, and wall jumping, but there are very few moments that stand out. There’s a distinct lack of collectible chasing in Tales of Kenzera, too. That might **** out folks who enjoy the treasure hunting aspect of Metroidvanias, but I quite enjoyed the trade off of having to do much less backtracking through winding paths I’ve already explored. And some findables do exist like Echoes, which are voice notes for unexplored lore bits, I just didn’t feel much incentive to stick around any particular place simply to find them. Approachability seems to be the main focus here, and I think Tales of Kenzera succeeds in that regard. Combat is simple but satisfyingly quick and impactful. Zau’s shaman masks grant him powers of the moon and the sun, which have ranged and melee focuses, respectively. You can switch back and forth between them instantly to adapt to whatever an encounter calls for, usually breaking ******-coded shields to open monsters up for big damage. As a fan of Housemarque’s Outland from 2014, I was happy to see this mechanic return in an evolved and more refined form. The moon and sun also have other unique utilities, be it ********* hovering enemies or rushing down ground-based baddies. Synergies between these enemies add an extra challenge that is by no means controller-breaking, but still clever enough. ****** variety is rather small, but the monsters are all pretty different from one another, and they are introduced at a gradual pace. That includes things like the tanky Ngao thats near invulnerable head on, or the bug-like Adze that drains life from all creatures in the area, friend or foe. In the later half of the campaign, the synergies between these enemies add an extra challenge that is by no means controller-breaking, but still clever enough to force tactical thinking and prioritization. Zau doesn’t have many skills to choose from, and the skill tree itself is limited, but after the first tier of upgrades I didn’t feel like I was truly missing out on much. You get all of his vital skills through progressing the story, such as Kabili, which lets you hover across gaps, or the Zawadi grappling *****, and a few of them have some value both in and out of fights. For example, the same cerulean spear that can freeze waterfalls into walls to kick off of can also freeze enemies and open them up to free damage. That said, freezing enemies and then nailing them with Zau’s big spirit attacks really trivialized some encounters toward the endgame. This includes some of the bosses, who are high in spectacle but low in difficulty, with fights that end up being pretty similar to one another. I wish there were more of the Spirit Journey trials, which are sets of ****** gauntlets that were consistently the most demanding fights available, forcing me to mix all of my skills and know how to survive. View the full article

The first full Deadpool & Wolverine trailer is here, and yes, even though you've probably already seen it, the trailer finally shows what Hugh Jackman looks like in that iconic suit. Back in February, when the teaser trailer dropped for Deadpool & Wolverine, it only offered us Jackman's shadow, suggesting that Marvel wasn't quite ready to give everyone a look at that classic yellow suit in action just yet. Of course, most of us had already seen it thanks to set photos being shared around, but still, today the first full trailer for the upcoming MCU movie does reintroduce Wolverine and what he's been up to. Which, seemingly, is a whole lot of drinking. Yeah, Logan is doing a bit worse for wear, with his universe apparently having gone to the dogs slightly, though it's unclear whether he's from the original Fox produced universe, or just another one where he looks the same. Unsurprisingly, the titular characters don't appear to get along so well, though Deadpool seemingly needs Wolverine's help to save his own universe for reasons that I'm sure will become clearer in the film itself. Interestingly, it seems like the villain this time around will be Cassandra Nova, aka Professor Xavier's evil twin sister. Again, whatever she's up to in this particular MCU outing wasn't really covered, but we did see some of her powers on display at the very least. Read more View the full article

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo: Discord For teens and gamers, Discord has become their entire online social lives. Co-founder Jason Citron thinks the internet is headed more in that direction. Continue reading… View the full article

Until I played Tales Of Kenzera: Zau I figured people had run out of ways to make original platformers, but an Afrofuturist story-in-a-story framing for a mythological platformer about healthy ways to deal with grief sure did teach me to not underestimate human creativity. I really liked a lot about Tales Of Kenzera, and got annoyed by a bunch of stuff too - and the division seems to be that a lot of the former falls on the story and design side, and the latter on the mechanical side, which I guess isn't ideal for a platformer. But still, I think it's worth persevering. Read more View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Few products can launch to such negative feedback that they receive an almost immediate 25% price cut, but the MSI Claw is one such case. Retailer Currys has exclusivity on the console in the ******* Kingdom, a move that now looks like a very bad deal. The MSI Claw A1M with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and 1TB SSD has already been reduced to £599, from £799, less than a month after release. Unfortunately the MSI Claw won't be featured on our list of the best handheld gaming PCs any time soon, with massive optimizations needed before it can even compete with the likes of the Steam Deck OLED and ROG Ally. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: MSI prepares for "next-gen CPU" from AMD with motherboard update MSI's new fans go cable free, but that's not even the best bit MSI MEG Trident X2 14th gen gaming PC review View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

One of the most-anticipated new shooters of 2023, Payday 3 had a seriously troubled launch. The heist sequel faced criticism due to performance problems, missing features, unwelcome tweaks and overhauls, and the always-online functionality that impacted matchmaking. Starbreeze has since initiated an expansive campaign to try to save Payday 3 - veteran developers from the first two games have been arranged into a 'strike team,' and a series of resuscitative updates called 'Medic Bag' are underway. Seven months since launch, one of Payday 3's biggest problems is now being fixed. Could this be the start of a comeback? Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Payday 3 dev replaces CEO after FPS sequel's disastrous launch Payday 3 dev plans more changes as players leave for its predecessor Payday 3 dev says it can still be saved as player count drops to 150 View the full article

An early example of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 GPU has just shown up online, with the card sporting Nvidia's original GTX branding on the cooler, rather than the now ubiquitous RTX name. Not only that, but this old engineering sample had a different spec from the final RTX 2070 release, and its owner has run it through some benchmarks to see how it holds up. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Fallout 4 DLSS mod boosts performance and quality where Bethesda won't Nvidia working to make small PC builds easier for everyone Prepare your PC for Manor Lords by downloading this new Nvidia driver View the full article

Mythologies often paint the Sun and the Moon as complementary opposites, two sides of an enormous shiny coin, as it were. And rarely has this relationship been clearer than in Tales of Kenzera: Zau, inspired by the Bantu folklores of southern and central *******, where solar heat and lunar cool together help you survive its metroidvania challenges. In short, it's the stuff legends are made of, even if the design of said challenges doesn't itself quite reach for the stars... Read more.View the full article

Wipeout co-creator Nick Burcombe is making a futuristic sports title at a new development studio called Starlight Games. The Liverpool, ***-based studio was founded by Gary Nichols, who began his career at Psygnosis and has for the last 20 years run work for hire studio Atomicom, whose title include 2019 Switch release House of Golf. Its management team also includes producer Andy Santos, who co-created EA’s Skate series, directed Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, and more recently worked at Sony’s Firesprite on Horizon: Call of the Mountain. Read More... View the full article

Recent Helldivers 2 leaks give players an insight into new enemies that reportedly belong to the Illuminate faction. A couple of weeks ago, Helldivers 2's news broadcast referenced "rumors of Illuminate sightings", sneakily teasing the return of aquatic species. Besides, some eagle-eyed players claimed to have seen blue laser beams in the sky, which they think were shot by Illuminate snipers. View the full article

EA has made Star Wars Jedi: Survivor part of the EA Play subscription in some PlayStation regions. IGN has confirmed Respawn’s action adventure is now part of EA Play on PlayStation in the ***. EA has yet to made an announcement, but the move comes ahead of an expected price hike for the subscription service. Earlier in April it emerged that EA Play would get a price increase starting May 10. EA plans to increase the standard tier for EA Play from $4.99 to $5.99 per month, or for those that prefer to pay for a year in advance, the price will increase from $29.99 to $39.99. In contrast, the Pro tier of EA Play will increase from a monthly fee of $14.99 to $16.99 or $119.99 annually (a $20 increase). The inclusion of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor in EA Play would soften the ***** of a price rise. Presumably it will also be available as part of an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which includes EA Play, although the Microsoft Store is yet to show it. IGN’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor review returned a 9/10. We said: “If Respawn makes a third game like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Fallen Order, it'll complete the best Star Wars trilogy in 30 years, hands down.” Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

Why is everyone so interested in Manor Lords? The game, an ambitious city builder/RTS hybrid, attempts to simulate how medieval towns were constructed by embracing organic layouts and doing away with the grid systems common in the genre. And, today, it hit 3 million wishlists on Steam – that's no mean feat. It's currently above even Hades 2. That's impressive. Its trailers have been attractive, interesting, and intriguing – but there's something else to the game's rampant success. It's 2022 demo managed to persuade half a million people to wishlist the title alone, and since then that base of interest has swelled even more. I think it has something to do with the high degree of historical authenticity, and the pleasing rags-to-riches premise that the whole thing is built around. Right now, in today's world, social mobility feels a bit stuck – and we all feel a bit hemmed into whatever monetary situation we're in. Manor Lords gives us a fantasy in which we can own land – imagine that! – and lift ourselves out of serfdom. Read more View the full article

The karma system was noticeably absent from Fallout 4, and while I admit it wasn't for everyone in previous games, I love how it integrates with faction reputations in New Vegas to create a truly reactive world that always feels receptive to your choices. If you've ever wondered what karma would look like in The Commonwealth there's a new mod just for you, and you can even adjust the parameters of the system yourself. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Fallout 4 name list: everything Codsworth can pronounce Fallout is so popular its biggest mod site is crashing due to demand Fallout 4 mod gives its core leveling systems a much needed upgrade View the full article

While the Steam Deck ******** one of the most affordable handheld gaming PCs out there, savvy shoppers can further reduce the cost of buying the device by opting for preowned stock. Valve runs its own 'Certified Refurbished' program but stock has been seemingly absent for a long time. Thankfully, though, the company has just released a batch of units that are available to purchase now and they're expected to sell fast. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This Nvidia GeForce GTX 2070 (yes, GTX) GPU just got benchmarked MSI Claw sees its price slashed just weeks after release Grab a free Steam Deck OLED while celebrating indie gaming View the full article

Embracer said each of the three new entities will be a separate, publicly listed company, enabling a better focus on their respective core strategies. Read Entire Article View the full article

Cities: Skylines 2 cannot catch a break as now even its DLC is malfunctioning—for all the wrong reasons. To compensate disgruntled fans, the developer made its first DLC free and deleted its store page, causing players to have entire city blocks wiped out of existence. Beach Properties, the first paid DLC pack for Cities: Skylines 2, was met with a 96 percent negative review rating on Steam. After a few weeks of trying to piece everything together, developer Colossal Order announced the DLC would be freely available to all players, with buyers to be refunded the full cost. While its intentions seem to have been good in an honest attempt to win back some trust, the DLC’s store page deletion has caused assets to malfunction, essentially deleting players’ buildings in a quick Thanos snap. View the full article