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If you're quick about it, you could treat yourself to a brand new Razer Basilisk V3 gaming mouse from Amazon, with a huge 43% saving on offer right now. This Razer gaming mouse deal is a serious bargain, scoring you a top quality mouse for just $39.98, saving you $30 on Amazon's list price. As our Razer Basilisk V3 review shows, this Razer mouse is a super comfortable and capable option, from a trusted gaming brand that regularly features in our best gaming mouse guide. While the Basilisk V3 isn't quite a market leader any more, it still delivers great performance, especially for its budget-friendly price tag. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Win a Doom The Dark Ages Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card Gears of War Reloaded system requirements list nine GPUs for just two tiers Our favorite Noctua PC fan just got even better, if you can afford it View the full article

Jack ****** will be reprising his role as Officer ***** in the upcoming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4. Officer ***** is a long-running unlockable character dating back to the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and has usually been one of the trickier characters to unlock because of all the goals that have to be met first. The character was unlockable in the first three games, but at the time he was portrayed as a generic cop. In the 2020 remaster Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 he was instead played by Jack ******. Read More... View the full article

Funcom is updating Dune: Awakening almost faster than we can write about it. No sooner had we introduced you to its Public Test Client and news that the studio was trialling extending the PvE zone of the Deep Desert from about 10% of the map to 50%, Funcom has dropped an update to confirm that the change will be rolling out for all players from today, June 26. "The PvE area has been adjusted to encompass the entire southern half of the Deep Desert map," Funcom confirmed in its latest patch notes, below. "This means that players who have no interest in PvP should be able to find what they want without engaging in PvP. Imperial Testing Stations, caves, and so forth found in this area are thus now PvE." "Rest assured that we will continue to listen to your feedback and make adjustments in the future," the team said. It follows an AMA in which the studio told players frustrated by the endgame experience that it was "formulating a plan" to improve PvP in the Deep Desert. Previously, players branded the endgame as "toxic" due to griefing even after patching out the ability for players to squish other people with their Ornithopter "We want PvE players to be able to play the endgame and have access to the content of the endgame," said creative director Joel Bylos. "Our goal is not to force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in. "We still believe in the core concept of the Deep Desert — an endlessly renewing location that resets every week and creates an activity loop for great rewards. The tension of heading out there, head on a swivel, eyes peeled for foes as you enter the most dangerous part of the most dangerous planet in the universe. Our wish was that players would embrace this loop, forming guilds to work together to overcome the bleakness of the Deep Desert." For those wondering, yes, Control Points and Shipwrecks will continue to be PvP "throughout the entire map," which means you will find "localized pockets of PvP within the PvE section still. Similar to how Shipwrecks are PvP in Hagga Basin." Work has also begun on changing the Ornithopters; equipping a rocket launcher module will now decrease the top speed of your Scout Orni by 20%, and Assault Ornis by 10%. After the patch has been applied, players will also be able to report other players’ messages from the text chat or report them by using the Inspect menu. Dune: Awakening Patch Notes 1.1.0.17Deep Desert As outlined in A message from the Creative Director on PvE and PVP » Dune: Awakening, this hotfix will see the first iteration of the changes to the balance between PvE and PvP in the Deep Desert. Rest assured that we will continue to listen to your feedback and make adjustments in the future. The PvE area has been adjusted to encompass the entire southern half of the Deep Desert map.This means that players who have no interest in PvP should be able to find what they want without engaging in PvP. Imperial Testing Stations, caves, and so forth found in this area are thus now PvE.Control Points and Shipwrecks will, however, continue to be PvP throughout the entire map, which means you will find localized pockets of PvP within the PvE section still. Similar to how Shipwrecks are PvP in Hagga Basin.To retain the Risk vs Reward setup for the Deep Desert:The density of resources increases the further north you go. This includes high-density clusters of valuable resources.The largest spice fields will also spawn in the north.The majority of Control Points will exist in the northern part.As part of these changes, we have made some balancing adjustments in the Deep Desert:The lower half of the Deep Desert now offers PvE loot that is balanced toward shared loot and PvE activities. You may find better loot in the more dangerous PvP area located further north on the map. In the PvE area, for example, each player gets their own loot and can expect to receive one schematic. In the PvP area, loot is distributed on a “first come, first served” basis, with higher quantities of everything. Players can expect to find 2–6 schematics there, which are among the rarest.Plasteel plates can only be found in PvP zones.The amount of active medium spice fields has been reduced from 8 to 5.The number of active small spice fields has increased from 20 to 22.The spawn rate of Titanium and Stravidium has been reduced in the PvE areas so that large quantities only spawn in the far-out PvP areas.The number of nodes in resource hotspots in the PvE part of the map has been reduced.The respawn time of Titanium and Stravidium has increased from 30 to 45 minutes.Some Imperial Testing Stations are still in the PvP region, and players who want all schematics available each week will want to visit both the PvP and PvE Imperial Testing Stations. Keep in mind the loot in them rotates each week, so even if you’re not interested in PvP, you could obtain it at a later date if you’re not able to trade for it or buy it off the Exchange.VehiclesWe have begun work on the outlined changes to the Scout Ornithopters.Equipping a Rocket Launcher Module will now decrease the top speed of your Ornithopter.For Scout Ornithopters, the reduction is 20%.For Assault Ornithopters, the reduction is 10%.Infocards for the modules now reflect this change.Exiting ornithopters mid-air will now cause them to drop straight down instead of gliding away. This should decrease the chance that you lose your ornithopter upon disconnecting from the game or exiting by accident your ornithopter mid-air (yes, we have seen the videos).Known issue: There is an edge case that if your vehicle ends up in the quicksand you might not be able to interact with it if you are in the quicksand. The workaround is to try to get on top of the vehicle to interact with it. This will be fixed in the very next patch.VisitingWe removed the restrictions when visiting other sietches. Before this change, players had their “home” sietches, and could visit other sietches in their world but couldn’t claim land. Now, any player can go to any sietch in their world and claim land wherever they want.Technical and stabilityIncreased game stability.The latest NVIDIA driver was added to the GPU driver check at the game launch.OtherWe have introduced Player Reporting, allowing players to now report other players’ messages from the text chat or report players from the Inspect menu on players.FIXESTechnical and stabilityAs a continuous effort, we have closed several exploit vulnerabilities.Fixed an issue where a specific type of network issue would cause players to be stuck in an infinite loading screen.Fixed an issue where some players could experience a client freeze when traveling between Deep Desert servers.CombatFixed an issue where players performing a melee attack could get obstructed by corpses lying on the ground.User InterfaceFixed an issue where the guild faction alignment was not localized on the Guild Overview tab.Fixed an issue where players could encounter a ****** screen if they skipped the cinematic at “The Wreck of the Hephaestus”.Fixed an issue where several Sandbike research schematics failed to mention the Imperial Testing Stations as the primary source.TravelFixed an issue where players could use an ornithopter pilot service to fly from the cities to Hagga Basin if they had arrived in a city with their ornithopter.MiscellaneousYou will no longer lose learned emotes when respec’ing your skill tree. Dune: Awakening has enjoyed a superb launch, with a 'very positive' user review rating on Steam. Within hours of going live on June 10, Funcom's survival MMO had clocked up over 142,000 concurrent players on Valve's platform, and hit a new high earlier this month of 189,333 players. And it's already [Hidden Content], making it Funcom's fastest-selling game ever, and securing a Great 8/10 in our review. If all that's got you interested but you're not sure where to start, make sure to check out all the Dune: Awakening classes you can choose from, and keep an eye on our Dune: Awakening walkthrough for a step-by-step guide to the story. We've also got Dune: Awakening resource guides that'll help you find iron, steel, aluminium, and a Dune: Awakening Trainers locations guide to help you survive on Arrakis. Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article

What's the Persona 5 The Phantom X tier list for launch? Now available worldwide after a successful run in the CN and JP regions, the global release of P5X features a slightly different launch lineup. And while the strongest character is who you're likely expecting, rooting for a single unit is far from the best angle. Get the ******* picture with this P5X tier list. It'll be interesting to see how the meta changes in Persona 5 The Phantom X over the coming weeks and months. Looking to get into some of the other best gacha games? Just need a refresher course on the best units around? Check out our HSR tier list for more turn-based battles, or our Genshin Impact tier list if you're looking to mix things up with real-time brawls in vibrant open worlds. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Persona 5 The Phantom X codes June 2025 Persona 5 The Phantom X release date is set, as the new JRPG heads to Steam View the full article

Go, go, go!View the full article

At Summer Game Fest, while music blared and the noise from other demo kiosks bled through, I had the most intense VR experience I’ve had in years. Reach, the next game from nDreams, seems designed to push VR and the player to the limits. It’s a VR game that breaks all the rules of VR within ten minutes. Your character is running at full speed. You’re scaling buildings and doing a hell of a lot of jumping. As you’d probably expect, if you’re not familiar with VR, or you last dusted off your old headset some years ago, this is an instant vomit generator; in fact, multiple journalists at the event reported feeling sick while playing. It’s also absolutely brilliant. Read More... View the full article

The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- patch 1.1.0 brings in the Extreme & Despair battle mode, balance adjustments, UI improvements, and much more. View the full article

Now Playing | Nights are a bit of a sleeper in Dying Light 2, and I'm ready for The Beast to change thatView the full article

There's a hubris to reviewing a unanimous classic decades after the fact⁠—this mostly applies to guys on YouTube not named Mandalore. Yeah buddy, sure, you've got something to say about Earthbound that nobody cottoned on to before. You really couldn't have said it in less than five hours?.. Read more.View the full article

Rockstar Games has released a new weekly update for Grand Theft Auto Online, adding six new vehicles to the game as part of continued content for the live service title's Money Fronts update, which launched last week. Ever since its release in 2013, Grand Theft Auto Onlinehas received a steady stream of new content updates to keep players busy, and its latest one has given fans even more ways to spend their in-game money. View the full article

A new Dune Awakening update today tackles one of the survival game's most common endgame frustrations. The new MMO has proved tremendously popular, opening up its incarnation of Arrakis to a huge number of players, but its endgame shift in direction has left some underwhelmed. While most of the core progression is PvE and doesn't require you to clash with your fellow adventurers, the endgame demands you head into the Deep Desert, consequently forcing you into Dune Awakening PvP. However, that's no longer the case, as Dune Awakening patch 1.1.0.17 delivers sweeping Deep Desert changes. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Dune Awakening base building guide Is Dune Awakening down? Server status right now Dune Awakening won't force you into PvP, Funcom says, apologizes to PvE players View the full article

Noctua has revealed the NF-A12x25 G2, an updated version of its popular 120mm fan. The new 120mm PC fan has a number of refinements that promise to surpass the original NF-A12x25's performance. It's not cheap, but if it's as good as its predecessor, it could happily justify its cost. Whenever we've got our hands on them, Noctua cooling products have tested positively, with the Noctua NH-D15 ranking as the best CPU cooler money can buy, for example. CPU fans such as the Noctua H-L9 and Noctua NH-D15, as well as the original Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM, delivered excellent cooling performance, as well as low-noise operation and top build quality. Unfortunately, they're not cheap, and it seems the 120mm NF-A12x25 G2 PC fan will be no different, even if it is cheaper than its larger CPU fan siblings in the Noctua range. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This new Noctua gaming mouse stops sweaty hands, thanks to a clever addition I'm absolutely awed by the cable management in this Noctua gaming PC build Noctua is making an AIO cooler with a radical new design twist View the full article

The Deep Desert has also undergone some loot balancingView the full article

Ahead of the release of Mecha BREAK on July 1st, Valve have checked it over and given it a rating for Steam Deck and SteamOS. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

You may remember that Funcom recently assured Dune: Awakening players in an AMA that it was already "formulating a plan" to improve PvP in the Deep Desert, which players have previously branded as "toxic" due to griefing even after patching out the ability for players to squish other people with their Ornithopter. In a candid letter, creative director Joel Bylos said "we want PvE players to be able to play the endgame and have access to the content of the endgame," insisting "our goal is not to force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in." "We still believe in the core concept of the Deep Desert — an endlessly renewing location that resets every week and creates an activity loop for great rewards. The tension of heading out there, head on a swivel, eyes peeled for foes as you enter the most dangerous part of the most dangerous planet in the universe. Our wish was that players would embrace this loop, forming guilds to work together to overcome the bleakness of the Deep Desert." Bylos admitted that the "extremely competitive nature" of the Deep Desert was forcing players to engage when they may prefer PvE, and consequently, "some areas" of the Deep Desert will now be flagged as "Partial Warfare (PvE)" where players can grab rare resources without getting ambushed. The largest spice fields, shipwrecks and Landsraad control points will remain "War of Assassins (PvP)" as "high reward, high risk" areas. And now, just two days later, Funcom's already testing some pretty radical changes. It all comes as Dune: Awakening unveils its Public Test Client, where players can try out the latest patch and features in exchange for accepting builds may have bugs or be a little unstable. As part of efforts to make the endgame more enjoyable, the PvE area near the shield wall has been expanded to cover row A, B, C, D and half of E within the Deep Desert. Compare that to how the PvP and PvE are balanced now where only row A is PvE, and that's essentially switching half of the Deep Desert from PvP to PvE. As PC Gamer points out, this doesn't necessarily mean this will be applied in the final game — trying out new ideas is what test servers are for, of course — but it does at least indicate that Funcom was serious about revising the endgame experience. Dune: Awakening has enjoyed a superb launch, with a 'very positive' user review rating on Steam. Within hours of going live on June 10, Funcom's survival MMO had clocked up over 142,000 concurrent players on Valve's platform, and hit a new high earlier this month of 189,333 players. And it's already [Hidden Content], making it Funcom's fastest-selling game ever. We gave Dune: Awakening a Great 8/10 in our review, writing: "Dune: Awakening is an excellent survival MMO that captures Frank Herbet’s sci-fi world incredibly well, mostly to its advantage and occasionally to its detriment. The survival climb from dehydrated peasant to powerful warlord of Arrakis is a joy almost every step of the way, and the story and worldbuilding filled this nerd with absolute joy. There’s still plenty for Awakening to work on though, as its combat never really hits its stride, the endgame is a bit of a chaotic mess not worth the effort." If all that's got you interested but you're not sure where to start, make sure to check out all the Dune: Awakening classes you can choose from, and keep an eye on our Dune: Awakening walkthrough for a step-by-step guide to the story. We've also got Dune: Awakening resource guides that'll help you find iron, steel, aluminium, and a Dune: Awakening Trainers locations guide to help you survive on Arrakis. Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article

French studio Don't Nod have laid off workers across multiple departments. The full number is unconfirmed, but multiple affected staff have posted about their departures on LinkedIn, including Lost Records: Bloom & Rage principal cinematic artist Mary Pouliot, technical artist Laurent Dufrense, and QA lead Sandra Cormier. It's been a rocky year or so for Don't Nod's staff. Last September, the studio paused two unannounced games and said they're altering others, also unannounced, to be more appealing to a "wider audience", following warnings about an 11% decline in operating revenue for the first half of 2024. Chairman and CEO Oskar Guilbert attributed this to (the excellent) Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden performing "well below expectations" commercially. Read more View the full article

June has been a great month for Xbox Game Pass members, and the subscription service is closing out the month with day-one title Against the Storm and the remastered versions of three Warcraft games. Xbox Game Pass offers a little something for most gamers, with four tiers to choose from. The Core package includes a curated catalog of 25 games that are regularly rotated out so the selection stays fresh. View the full article

We are tantalisingly close, at time of writing, to the release of Nightdive's long-awaited remaster of System Shock 2. When it happens, I think we can put the BioShock era behind us. We all had a whirlwind time in Rapture and also that one in the racist sky hamlet, but between the System Shock 1 Enhanced Edition (and remake) and System Shock 2's remaster, the true kings of the horror-tinged imsim are home and alarmingly playable... Read more.View the full article

Boy, that escalated quickly. Less than a day after Dune: Awakening's PvE patch went into public testing, changes that turn the "entire southern half" of the Deep Desert into a PvE area have been hotfixed into the full game. This promised change arrives alongside the first of the scout ornithopter balancing tweaks Funcom talked about in their recent AMA, and a couple of other fixes. However, there's a bunch of stuff put into testing yesterday which hasn't yet made the jump to public release. Read more View the full article

Rematch is doing great for Sloclap, and with good reason. It's a gorgeous-looking footie game that blends the studio's penchant for fighting game glory with some proper tekkers. Minor issues with lag and netcode aside, I've been having a good time... Read more.View the full article

Love music and twin-stick shooter high-score challenges? Chroma Blasters is one you need to try, and there's a demo available. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

We already knew that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced was on its way to PS5, and now we have a release date: August 12. Ninja Theory's game will be available in two editions: a $49.99 standard edition, which includes the base Hellblade 2 alongside the upgrades and new features available in the Enhanced update, and a $69.99 deluxe edition, which also includes Hellblade 1 upgraded for PlayStation 5, as well as the Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Original Soundtrack, "making it the perfect entry point for Senua’s journey." Those who already own the PlayStation 4 version of Hellblade 1can upgrade to the PS5 version for free. Don't forget that the Enhanced release and all the associated extras coming to PS5 players will also arrive as a free update on PC and Xbox Series X and S, too, including performance mode, dark rot mode — which adds an "additional challenge" — an enhanced photo mode, and developer commentary for those interested in the "craft and creative decisions" behind Senua's Saga. Here are more details on each new feature and upgrade: Performance Mode – Where the original release was optimized for 30fps to deliver an immersive, cinematic experience, the Enhanced update will include a ‘Performance Mode’ to optimize for 60fps. On PC, the game will offer a “Very High’ preset to push fidelity even further based on personal hardware. Dark Rot Mode – The Dark Rot from Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has returned and offers an additional challenge for Senua in this optional game mode. The Dark Rot will grow each time you fail, and if it reaches Senua’s head, her quest is over and all progress will be lost. Enhanced Photo Mode – the Enhanced update will include an expanded and improved toolset, including a new ‘Motion’ tab for custom cinematic video capture. Developer Commentary – for those interested in the craft and creative decisions behind Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, the Enhanced update includes over four hours of developer commentary from a variety of voices involved in the making of the game. We thought Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 was Great, slapping it with a well-earned 8/10, writing: "Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is another Viking-worthy feast for the senses that meets the high bar set by its predecessor, even if it never really manages to clear it." Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’s long-awaited Siege Mode is out now across all platforms alongside Patch 8, which makes some significant changes to the game. Siege is a take on the classic horde mode, and sees teams of three Space Marine players battle waves of Tyranids and Chaos Marines. It’s the first significant new mode to hit Space Marine 2 since its hugely successful release last year, and for publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive, it will hopefully breathe new life into the explosive co-op shooter. It’s worth noting that Saber has made some key changes to the way Siege mode works compared to the version playable as part of the Public Test Server (PTS). “The biggest criticism regarding Siege mode from the community was the wave timer limit,” Saber explained. “It exists only for technical reasons. In this build we've made some optimizations so the Siege mode can last longer.” Full details are in the patch notes below, as per Steam. Siege mode itself, alongside its exclusive cosmetic rewards, are free, but there are new paid cosmetics (White Scars Chapter Champion and Blood Angels Customisation Pack). Elsewhere, Space Marine 2 finally has Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO) and DLSS 4 support (better upscale, multiframe generation in Nvidia settings for 50xx series cards) on PC, and there’s the introduction of the Thunder Hammer for the Bulwark class (which the developers added simply because they thought it was cool). As Saber has indicated, it’s working on a “very big” update for customisation that lets players reuse chapter champion armour parts on other classes (with lore accuracy, clipping and technical restrictions). It’s not in Patch 8, so perhaps we can expect it in Patch 9. Space Marine 2 has sold an impressive 7 million copies so far. It’s done so well it “changes everything” for Saber, Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits told IGN soon after the game came out last September. It was also a big financial success for Warhammer 40,000 owner Games Workshop. CEO Kevin Rountree has said Space Marine 2 contributed significant royalty revenue to the tabletop company's business last year. Focus and Saber surprised some Space Marine 2 fans when it announced Space Marine 3 was in development back in March, half a year after the game came out. But given the huge sales you can see why the project was greenlit so soon. "Space Marine 2 has proven to be a transformative game for Saber," Matthew Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, said at the time. Still, Focus and Saber had to put out a statement reassuring players of its commitment to Space Marine 2, which is still working through its year one roadmap of content. Without spoiling the Space Marine 2 campaign, it strongly suggests a continuation (IGN has reported on the enemy faction we’ll probably see in Space Marine 3). In the shorter term, Space Marine 2 players are wondering what else is coming to the game. Patch 8 does not add any new weapons or Operations mode maps, so it seems the focus here is squarely on Siege. But Saber has confirmed new content is on the way, including a new class. Season 4 also includes a new game mode for PvP and a new Chaos enemy. Check out IGN’s exclusive interview with Saber on Space Marine 2’s Siege mode for more information. Warhammer 40,000 Siege mode and Update 8 patch notes:New FeaturesNew PvE Mode — Siege Siege Mode expands on our PVE operations, emphasizing endless enemy waves that challenge even the strongest teams. When overwhelmed, players may call reinforcements for assistance. Engage in intense battles across three distinctive sectors, each requiring strategic adaptation. Side objectives emerge during combat, providing essential resources used to summon elite Space Marines or a formidable Dreadnought, drastically shifting battlefield dynamics. The Battlefield The battle unfolds within a fortified Imperial stronghold on Kadaku, relentlessly attacked by endless waves of Tyranid and Thousand Sons enemies. The fortress has three rotating sectors: Defensive Positions, the Arsenal, and the Control Room. In each sector, you will face five waves of enemies before your squad advances to the next sector, ultimately cycling back to reinforce earlier positions. Survival Against Waves Face increasingly challenging enemy waves, with direct assaults from Tyranids and cunning sabotage by Chaos forces. Brief (1 minute) intermissions between waves offer strategic opportunities, clearly indicated through UI notifications. Side Objectives Dynamic tasks such as capturing strategic points or retrieving Data-slates from fallen allies deepen tactical gameplay and supply critical resources essential for continued survival. Shop and Reinforcements Earn Siege Mode resources through successful combat and Side Objective completion. You can spend these resources at the fortress Shop. You can: Buy ammunition, medicae stimms, equipment, armour boosts, guardian relic (these items have the same exact behaviour as in Operations Mode).Summon specialized Space Marines providing targeted support and bonuses. Each player can have only one summoned Space Marine.Deploy Cadian Troopers to provide additional firepower. Note about reinforcements changes from the PTS: guardsmen are now cheaper. 4. Collectively pool your resources to unleash the devastating power of a Dreadnought. Boss Encounters Every fifth wave introduces formidable boss battles, occasionally facing multiple elite foes simultaneously. Triumph in these encounters to progress to new fortress sectors. Infinite Waves If your resolve endures through fifteen brutal waves, prepare for endless combat of increasing difficulty, reduced resources, and shorter preparation times. Even the Primarch of the Ultramarines understands that ultimate victory here is unlikely — but your bravery will echo through the halls of eternity. Note about timer changes from PTS: The biggest criticism regarding Siege mode from the community was the wave timer limit. It exists only for technical reasons. In this build we've made some optimizations so the Siege mode can last longer. Timer got reworked, instead of having a limited timer per wave that can get to a very short time on higher waves, there is a timer for the entire session and each time you beat a wave the timer increases. We've also adjusted the difficulty curve of infinite waves so enemies will get stronger faster after the 15th wave. These changes will make players die in fair combat rather than due to the timer. Also, with some optimizations coming down later we think we can get rid of the timer entirely. Added an option to disable bots spawn in Private Mode Perfect if you’re looking for a challenge. RTAO experimental feature added — enables in in-game video settingsDLSS 4 — better upscale, multiframe generation in NVIDIA settings for 50xx series cards. New Season Pass Content Added White Scars Chapter Champion. Added White Scars Chapter Weapon Skin Pack. Added White Scars Chapter Customisation Pack. Added Blood Angels Customisation Pack.GAMEPLAY AND BALANCING TWEAKSExtended Weapon arsenal in PvE Added Thunder Hammer for Bulwark. Picking this weapon won’t allow you to use the Storm Shield. We are adding this option only because we think it will be very cool and it's a shame that only 1 class can use the Thunder Hammer. We are not done with Bulwark, more interesting gameplay things are to come. New Finishers for BulwarkAdding new finishers for Bulwark with shield — 1 for Hormagaunt and 1 for Tzaangor.Terminus Update for Absolute Difficulty A second Terminus can now appear during a mission.Carnifex, Neurothrope and Helbrute HP increased by 33% on Absolute difficulty.Level specific Terminus enemies (with the exception of the Hierophant Bio-Titan) HP increased by 66% on Absolute difficulty.Additional enemy packs will appear upon Terminus enemies spawn and again when their HP is reduced to 50%These additional packs are now slightly more challenging featuring more Extremis enemiesMission with final bosses can now also spawn Terminus enemies (previously, missions like “Decapitation” didn't allow any Terminus spawns)". This change is made according to the community poll that we made a while ago. We think that Absolute difficulty wasn't that hard to begin with and now with a slight power creep of constant weapons buffs, perk buffs and prestige perks the situation is much worse. After doing multiple test we have scrapped the idea of having 2 Terminus enemies in Operations mode at the same time (except in Siege mode), because this meant that you would have to encounter them all of the time, otherwise one run with dual terminus spawns would be much harder than a run with 2 Terminus enemies spawning one by one. We are increasing the health of the Terminus enemies on Absolute difficulty because they often can die before even dealing any damage. While this may seem like it goes against poll results, keep in mind that if we had 2 Terminus enemies, that would effectively be +100% hp buff. Also we are nerfing Neurothrope base hp across all difficulty levels so its hp pool won’t become a problem for melee classes. Instead we've tried to make Terminus spawns harder and more intense. We are going to continue to monitor how Absolute Difficulty is, and make necessary tweaks. Prestige Perks Class UpdateBulwark Prestige Perks Update“Rally Point”: The perk has been reworked. The new perk is “Emboldened Stand”. Old: “Chapter Banner additionally removes negative Status Effects while active.” New: “When the Chapter Banner is active, all Squad Members do not lose control upon taking Heavy Hits and cannot be knocked back within its zone.” Assault Prestige Perks Update"Boosted Recharge": The perk has been reworked. The new perk is “Unyielding Oath”. Old: “Collecting an Armour Boost restores Ability Charge by 100%.” New: "When charging a Ground Pound, you become Invulnerable for 3 seconds." Sniper Prestige Perks Update"Boosted Recharge": The perk has been reworked. The new perk is “Materiel Upgrade”. Old: “Collecting an Armour Boost restores Ability Charge by 100%.” New: "Equipment Damage radius increases by 15%." Heavy Prestige Perks Update“Restorative Capacity”: The perk has been reworked. The new perk is “Honed Precision”. Old: ” Activating Iron Halo removes negative Status Effects.” New: "Equipped Weapon's Maximum Spread decreases by 25% when firing without aiming." Tactical Prestige Perks Update"Skilled Supplier": Fixed a bug preventing the player from getting the maximum ammo.Class Perks UpdatesBulwark Perks Update Perks have been updated to reflect the addition of the Thunder Hammer to the Bulwark’s arsenal. "Forward Momentum": The perk has been updated. Old: “After a Shield Bash, Melee Damage increases by 30% for 10 seconds.” New: "After a Shield Bash or Thunder Hammer Pommel Smash, Melee Damage increases by 30% for 10 seconds". "Concussive Force": The perk has been updated. Old: “Shield Bash deals 200% more Damage.” New: "Shield Bash deals 200% more Damage. Thunder Hammer Pommel Smash deals 100% more Damage and deals area-of-effect Damage within a 7-metre radius. Cooldown is 5 seconds." "Merciless Resolve": The perk has been updated. Old: “After a Shield Bash, Melee Damage increases by 15%, you do not lose control upon taking Heavy Hits and you cannot be knocked back for 10 seconds” New: "After a Shield Bash or Thunder Hammer Pommel Smash, Melee Damage increases by 15%, you do not lose control upon taking Heavy Hits, and you cannot be knocked back for 10 seconds". "Focused Restoration": The perk has been buffed. “Every 40 seconds, all Squad Members automatically restore 1 Armour Segment “ -> Cooldown decreased from 40 to 30 seconds. Tactical Perks Update"Final Shot": The perk has been reworked. The new perk is “Emperor’s Judgement”. Old: “After a Finisher, the equipped Ranged Weapon reloads automatically.” New:"After a Finisher, the equipped Ranged Weapon reloads automatically, and your Primary Weapon deals 20% more Damage for 10 seconds". "Communion of Fire": The perk has been reworked. The new perk is “Secure Stockpile”. Old: “Recoil is reduced by 25% and Ranged damage against Extremis-level enemies is increased by 10% for all Squad Members.” New: “Equipment Charge is restored by 1 for all Squad Members. Cooldown is 60 seconds.” "Steady Aim": The perk has been buffed. “Weapon Spread and Recoil is reduced by 20% and Ranged Damage against Terminus-level enemies is increased by 10%” -> Ranged Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%. Assault Perks Update"Winged Fury": The perk has been buffed “Damage from Melee Attacks executed while sprinting or dashing increases by 40%.” -> Damage increased from 40% to 100%. "Hammer of Wrath": The perk has been buffed. “After a Ground Pound, you take 15% less Ranged Damage, do not lose control upon taking Heavy Hits and you cannot be knocked back for 10 seconds” -> Damage reduction increased from 15% to 20%. Knock back immunity duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds. Vanguard Perks Update"Moving Target": The perk has been buffed. “Each Melee Attack you land reduces the Ranged Damage you take by 2% (up to 20%). If you do not land a Melee Attack for 5 seconds, the effect ends.” -> Consecutive hit multiplier increased from 2% to 5%. Max bonus increased from 20% to 30%. "Retribution": The perk has been buffed. “After you are grabbed or knocked back, you deal 25% more Melee Damage for 15 seconds.” -> Bonus damage increased from 25% to 30%. Duration increased from 15 to 20 seconds. Sniper Perks Update"Precision Targeting": The perk has been buffed. “Weapon Spread is reduced by 25% and Ranged Damage against Extremis-level enemies is increased by 10% for all Squad Members.” -> Ranged Damage against Extremis-level enemies increased from 10 to 15%. "Dexterous Hands": Instigator Bolt Carbine is now also affected. “Bolt Carbines reload 20% faster, and their Weapon Spread and Recoil are reduced by 15%.” Weapon Perks UpdateInferno Pistol Perk Update"Know no fear": The perk has been reworked. Old: “When your Health is below 10%, Reload Speed increases by 30%” New: “If your Armour is fully depleted, Reload Speed increases by 20%.” Neo-Volkite Pistol Perk Update"Combustive momentum": The perk has been buffed. “After a Gun Strike, heating speed increases by 30% for 6 seconds.” -> Duration increased from 2 to 6 seconds. Combat QoLIf a Sniper type enemy aims at you, using Assault’s Jump Pack ability will allow you to dodge the shot. The sniper will shoot instantly, but the shot will miss.Fixed an issue where Neurothropes' Warp Storm afterblasts could stun-lock the player with heavy hits. Now, afterblasts will damage the player but not control them. Additionally, Neurothropes' shots now have a slightly longer delay between them.Fixed a lot of minor issues improving overall combat responsiveness Firearms (PvE Only) There are not many weapon balance tweaks in this patch because our statistics show that usage and win rate for all weapons is in a good spot right now. With the next big update we are going to focus on weapon versions balance inside each archetype, because this is where we see a big room for improvements. Bolt PistolHip-Fire spread decreased by 50%. Velocity of spread increasing in minizoom state is decreased by 15%.Inferno PistolGun Strike Damage increased by 20%.PvP With the next patch we are going to take a closer look at PvP weapon balance. Large amount of small fixes in level geometry collision.Lots of minor fixes for private lobbies gameplay modifiers.AISpore Mines: Explosion damage is reduced by 55%.Neurothrope:Health reduced by 15%Temporary invulnerability is replaced with high damage resistance when it flies up from the ground.Lots of minor animation fixes for various enemies.Customisation We are preparing a very big update for customisation, players will be able to reuse chapter champion armour parts on other classes (with lore accuracy, clipping and technical restrictions). While it's not going to be in this patch, we wanted to mention this in this patch notes to assure you that we are going to continue expanding our customization system. Added Red, White and Blue weapon skins as Siege mode rewardsAdded Prestige reward shoulder pad on left shoulder as well.Added left pauldron decal "Ultramarine Sergeant".Lots of other minor fixes for customizations of armour parts and emblems.LevelsLarge amounts of small fixes in level geometry collision and Terminus enemies getting stuck in some areas.General FixesFixed an issue where spore mines could spawn on top of the player.Fixed several cases where contested health may decrease while performing a finisher.Fixed: Combining Sniper's prestige perk Emperor's Grace with Lingering Concealment perk drains the ability charge while linger is activeFixed: Weapon perk "Reloaded Restauration" was not activated by the Sniper's perk "Efficient Readiness".Fixed an issue where the Bulwark perk’s “Intimidating Aura” was not triggering with a Perfect Block.Fixed an issue where the Tactical’s perk’s “Battle Focus” was not triggering with a Perfect Block. Intimidating Aura and Battle Focus are probably the most overpowered perks right now, but we think that it should still work independently from selected weapon Fixed a bug with the “Final Shot” perk not increasing damage in some cases.Fixed a bug affecting Heavy's “Bonds of brotherhood” perk not granting full health when the player is revived by a bot.Fixed an issue provoking a game freeze on a ****** screen at the end of a PvE level on Xbox Series S.Fixed an issue where some pick ups were inaccessible as a consequence of the interaction button failing to appear. Fixed rare camera bugs after finisher.Lots of minor animation fixes for the player.Minor UI, sound and VFX fixes and improvementsTech****** fixes and general stability improvements.Matchmaking and network stability fixes.Minor memory optimization. Improvements to game modding capabilities. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl's 1.5 Patch is here, introducing various tweaks and fixes, but it's the first phase of GSC Game World's modding tool that's dominating our interest… and our hard drives. "Shape the Zone in Your Way with the Stalker 2 Zone Kit," GSC Game World said. "Modify existing content or create new experiences — animations, weapons, mechanics, and even wonders of the Zone." Sounds great, right? Which it is, if you happen to have 700GB of space free… on top of the 160GB you need to run the base game itself. The reason, GSC said, is because as part of its partnership with the modding community, the team is sharing a slew of uncompressed files so modders are using original assets in the development of their mods, which is better for everyone, of course. "The size of the mod kit is a result of the in-game assets being uncompressed for the mod makers," GSC told PC Gamer. "It's a big game, and the assets are many, resulting in a considerable size of the download. The Zone Kit is currently in phase one, so we'll explore the opportunities to optimize its size (if possible) in the future." "Yeah, we launched the Zone Kit as Phase 1, because we want to develop it together with Mod Makers," a community representative explained on Reddit. "It already has a lot of features, but still this is Phase 1. On Phase 2 there will be even more things to do with the Zone via the Zone Kit." "Underneath the technical problems that plague STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a unique greatness," we wrote in our S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl review, giving it 8/10. "It emerges as a refreshingly brutal shooter that strives to hook you with its incredible atmosphere and leave you invested by the end of this long, arduous journey." Read more on how S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has changed everything for the studio amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine here. Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article

Schedule 1 developer TVGS has released another new content update for the smash hit indie title, adding an off-road skateboard to the game alongside a fresh batch of bug fixes and general improvements. The new update was released on the Schedule 1beta branch yesterday, but can be downloaded right now by all owners on Steam following its full launch on June 26. View the full article