Diablo 4 has revealed nearly 12 minutes of Lord of Hatred gameplay, featuring cunning deception, new enemies, and, of course, gratuitous violence. Mephisto has the upper hand in this Diablo 4 expansion, which arrives on April 28, 2026. View the full article
Pokémon Champions will be undergoing maintenance just after the first two days, and it will bring down the servers temporarily. The schedule was announced in advance, giving us time to prepare for the time being. Let's look at when the server downtime begins later today, and more importantly, when it ends. Pokémon Champions server maintenance details (April 9) The servers will go down when the maintenance begins. As per the announced schedule, the maintenance goes live at 3pm PT/5pm CT/6pm ET/11pm UTC/12am CET. The maintenance is scheduled to last for a couple of hours. If there are no delays, the servers will be restored at 5pm PT/7pm CT/8pm ET/1am UTC/2am CET. If there's a delay, we will duly update the new timings on this guide. Once the maintenance begins, you'll no longer be able to access the servers. Since Pokémon Champions requires an active internet connection, you won't be able to play (since the servers will be out of order). Unfortunately, even the trainer battles require an online connection. Hence, there's not much to be done once the maintenance begins, apart from waiting patiently. If you're in a battle, I recommend finishing it early to avoid losing any data and your in-game progression. If you're just getting started, you can always build a team with the best Pokémon available in the game. However, you can also use Replica Teams created by other players (including pros) to make your life easier. It will be interesting to find out if there are any changes to the gameplay once the maintenance is over. The community has been unsatisfied about plenty of elements, and the introduction of a new 6v6 mode will be amazing for starters. The post Pokémon Champions maintenance downtime (April 9): When will the servers come back appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
World of Warcraft: Midnight is a very purple expansion, thanks to its primary antagonist being the Void. There's a big purple beam shooting from the sky in the distance all the time. Most of the enemies are purple. Two out of three of the major raids and several dungeons and delves are purple. And the main villain, Xal'atath, is very purple. Given all the purple going around, it's not too much of a shock that Blizzard finally brought back one of its simultaneously best-loved and most-hated purple characters for a plot twist at the end of the most recent raid. What is shocking, though, is the news that character delivered: a hint that we might be careening toward a revisit to one of World of Warcraft's most maligned (and only occasionally purple) expansions: Shadowlands. Warning: Spoilers follow for World of Warcraft: Midnight's story so far, up to and including the cinematic that plays after The March on Quel'Danas. Read on at your own risk. WoW: Midnight opens with Void harbinger and baddie-of-the-decade Xal'atath unleashing the Voidstorm above the Isle of Quel'Danas in an effort to corrupt the Sunwell and turn it into a void-powered Darkwell. For the majority of the expansion's questing, dungeons, and raids, we the adventurers are trying to find a way to stop her from succeeding, while the Army of the Light holds off the void's influence as long as they can manage to protect the Sunwell. However, at the end of The Voidspire raid, Xal'atath manages to release the dark Naaru L'ura from her prison inside Alleria Windrunner, and uses L'ura to finish the corruption of the Sunwell, creating the Darkwell. In response, the various armies hanging out around Silvermoon City unite to try and retake the Darkwell from Xal'atath, with the effort taking place in the most recently-released raid, the March on Quel'Danas. The second and final boss is none other than the dark Naaru herself, L'ura, and we manage to defeat her before she can fully make use of the Darkwell's power to ruin everyone's day. But that still leaves Xal'atath hovering around and making quips and threatening to destroy everyone. Yet another confrontation with her plays out in which she has the upper hand (this happens a lot), but she's interrupted by none other than Sylvanas Windrunner, former Horde Warchief, former Ranger General, and night elf genocider extraordinaire. Sylvanas manages to blast off one of Xal'atath's funky void shoulder decorations with an arrow, only for Xal'atath to repair it easily and disappear. Sylvanas cryptically announces to her sister Vereesa and nephew Arathor: "The Shadowlands are not at all what they seem. I cannot rest until I uncover the truth. Still, I hope to see you both again, before the end begins." Okay?!?!?!?!? Sylvanas, Revisited If this isn't having the impact on you that it is on me, let me recap a bit of what's been going on with Sylvanas lately. Sylvanas has a long, long history in the Warcraft universe that would take a whole Wiki article to cover, but sufficient for this is to know that she was a beloved "antihero" character to the fanbase for many years. She's tortured and tragic, but also powerful, noble, ruthless, and dedicated to her people, the Forsaken. Through a series of complex events, she became Warchief of the Horde during a time of tense, tentative peace between her faction and the Alliance. Sylvanas, however, was convinced that peace could never last, and that the Alliance would inevitably come back and try to destroy the Horde. So in response to events that hadn't even happened, Sylvanas made the absolutely unbelievable decision to commit genocide on the Night Elves by burning down the world tree, Teldrassil. This, understandably, ******* off a lot of Sylvanas fans (and haters!). Sylvanas had always been ruthless, calculating, and cynical. But outright, remorseless genocide was never something they had considered to be within her character description. In the ensuing chapters of the story, both Alliance and ******* off Horde members chase her around for awhile, at one point laying siege to the Forsaken capital Lordaeron, where Sylvanas makes another unhinged decision to drown the place in Blight rather than allow it to be taken. All the while, Sylvanas keeps making cryptic comments about Death and her "master" and how one day everyone will understand why she's doing what she's doing, etc. After she demolishes two beloved capital cities, it is eventually revealed that Sylvanas has been working for some evil being called the Jailer who rules the Shadowlands, the realm of death and the titular setting of the Shadowlands expansion. Her goal, which she also thinks is the Jailer's, is to subvert death and restore true free will to everyone in the world. Surprise surprise, the Jailer is evil and actually just wants to subjugate everyone, an obvious fact that Sylvanas doesn't figure out until she's already done tons of war crimes. She eventually agrees to help the heroes defeat the Jailer and stands trial for her crimes, ultimately being sentenced to free the souls in the Shadowlands that she had condemned by her actions until every last one was at peace - a task that could easily take literally forever. She's been down there ever since. Back into Shadow Sylvanas' cryptic comments before heading back into the Shadowlands leave us with more questions than answers. I don't think anyone was surprised to see Sylvanas herself again - she's one of WoW's most recognizable and beloved (at least at one time) characters. But her insinuation that there might be unresolved plot in the Shadowlands is genuinely a surprise, and one that's being met with mixed reactions. Shadowlands was...not a popular expansion. A lot of that genuinely had to do with the aforementioned Sylvanas story, and the ways in which a number of other previously-beloved characters acted in ways that did not make sense with past lore. The reveal of what happens after "death" in Azeroth ended up weird, confusing, and inconsistent plot-wise with a lot of other established facts about the world, while simultaneously trivializing death in the universe entirely. There was also a lot of "all will make sense when the true plan is fully revealed" going around during that time without a satisfying payoff. Many players were also annoyed that an expansion-long trip to the literal realm of death didn't offer more opportunities to meet more beloved deceased characters and see how they were doing in the afterlife. Yes, we did certainly meet some, but a lot of others were conspicuously missing. The end of March on Quel'Danas and what the hell is going on? (a theory I saw online) byu/Internal_Cellist_676 inwow .reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; } On top of that, Shadowlands had long stretches of time between patches where there just wasn't much to do, and when activities were introduced to keep people busy, they were pretty grindy, boring, and slow, so a lot of people fell off. There was also the Covenant system, which many felt forced them to choose between committing to a story and aesthetic they enjoyed for a lot of the endgame content, or playing something less fun, but more optimal for raids. Some folks have come around on Shadowlands a bit in the years since, as WoW does tend to have cycles of players disliking an expansion when it's current, then praising it years down the line (see: Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor). But Shadowlands is still broadly spoken of with a sour taste in the mouth. Many players have been happy enough to simply move onto different storylines unconnected from the Jailer or whatever's going on in the land of the dead. It's done, it wasn't great, why bother thinking about it anymore? But with Sylvanas coming back and suggesting something else is wrong down there, players are now speculating that Blizzard is preparing to embark on a journey to salvage those plot threads via a retcon, or at least a recontextualization. The potential Shadowlands/Order 'retcon' should be handled with care byu/MagnaClarentza inwarcraftlore .reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; } It's unclear what form this could take. On one hand, it could be as simple as doing a Shadowlands Remix in between the next two expansions, ala Mists of Pandaria or Legion Remix. On the extreme end, we could very well end up back in the Shadowlands for an entire expansion or at least a major patch, either in a familiar zone or an unfamiliar one, picking apart what exactly the "truth" is of the Shadowlands that Sylvanas is talking about. Shadowlands Re-Contexted? byu/TubbyNumNums inwow .reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; } Revisiting Shadowlands, in whatever capacity, would also give Blizzard the opportunity to revisit Sylvanas. She's been out of the picture for several expansions, with Blizzard rightly recognizing the character needed a lore break. But bringing her back in any context, even after a hiatus, is full of challenges. Her personality, motivations, desires, and fears aren't really clear anymore after the plot pulled her in so many different directions for multiple expansions, and bringing her back would require settling on some sort of firm outline of who Sylvanas is, now, after everything. It would also require basically every character excusing the Night Elf genocide enough to allow her to be around in a more permanent way, and an awful lot of players would likely feel a bit uncomfortable with that scenario. Probably the Night Elves, first of all. Also, not for nothing, but Sylvanas supposedly was being guarded by a big owl. How is she even leaving the Shadowlands without getting into owl trouble? Why did she show up, shoot off one of Xal'atath's decorations, and then disappear? Heck, why did Xal'atath leave when Sylvanas appeared, apart for the fact that she emerges victorious and then vanishes mysteriously at the end of every big encounter we have with her? Soooo…does ____ just not care? byu/brumgar inwow .reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; } In the end, we don't know what Blizzard is planning. Maybe this was all just an excuse to tie Sylvanas back into the Windrunner-heavy plot and offer some path to reconciliation with her nephew Arator (who seems stoked to see her), and sisters Vereesa (who gives her a big hug in the cinematic) and Alleria (who fell into a big void fountain at the end of Voidspire and whose current status is unknown). For all we know, we never see Sylvanas again! Or, as others are speculating, it's all connected, Pepe Silvia-style, and Blizzard is concocting some ridiculous plan that will make all the Shadowlands issues make sense, tie in the current plot stuff with Xal'atath and the World Soul and the Titans and all, and redeem Sylvanas somehow all in one fell swoop. That seems like a tall order to me, but what do I know? I can barely keep all the Dragon Aspects straight. We're just going to have to sit tight. March on Quel'Danas literally just came out, and upcoming patch 12.0.5's most exciting introduction is a prop hunt mode (though that is admittedly pretty exciting). We've got months of raiding ahead of us before anything Sylvanas- or Shadowlands-related could even begin to manifest itself. We're also, dare I say it, in the middle of a pretty fun expansion generally as far as questing, raids, dungeons, delves, and world activities go. I'm personally fine with letting Blizzard cook on this one... even if I did roll my eyes into the next county when I saw two of Blizzard's numerous tragically conflicted purple women have a brief, inconsequential staredown. We'll get Xal'atath next time, I hope. Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected]. View the full article
Federal agencies, including the FBI, CISA, NSA, the Department of Energy, US Cyber Command, and the Environmental Protection Agency, issued an urgent joint advisory Tuesday, warning that an advanced persistent threat group linked to Iran has been exploiting vulnerabilities in programmable logic controllers since at least March 2026. Read Entire Article View the full article
Stellaris 4.4 will expand your diplomatic power with a new feature that game director Steven 'Eladrin' Muray has been wanting to introduce to the interstellar 4X game "for a long time." Calling back to the launch trailer for the Apocalypse expansion, Muray wistfully recalls how the Commonwealth of Man came to the aid of its rivals, the United Nations of Earth, in response to the destruction of a UNE colony at the hands of the Gamma Alien menace. "There wasn't a way to replicate this sort of thing in Stellaris itself," he notes, "until now." Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Stellaris is going up in price, Paradox warns ahead of the Steam spring ***** Stellaris 4.3 will "bring things down a notch" with a stat squish, but it could make parts of the 4X game "much harder" Stellaris Infernals brings the heat to the strategy game's universe, and I can't wait to burn it all down View the full article
YouTuber ymfah has beaten Dark Souls 2 by only throwing poop at his enemies, and the result is somehow riveting and hilarious in a way that really heightens the otherwise dull and lackluster campaign, the series' ****** sheep. [Hidden Content] On top of being hilarious and arguably the most fun I've ever had with Dark Souls 2, ymfah's video doubles as an explainer that bestows upon anyone the knowledge needed to also beat Dark Souls 2 in the OG Primate way. I know I'm not the only one to find this highly entertaining content, as the comments point out the same unexpected highlights that also caught my attention until the credits rolled. "rats take 6 poop to kill. we only have 5." Riveting storytelling. "I like how half this video is entirely a quest for a 6th poop to kill a rat." If you're one of the many who consider Dark Souls 2’s narrative severely underwhelming, give this video a chance and prepare to be moved. And no, I'm not saying that only out of jest. As most know, Dark Souls is less about the story itself and more about the progression, out of which players will make their own assertions on what the actual history of that place could be. Besides a plot way more uninspired than that of the original, Dark Souls 2 greatly suffers from bad level design. Most of its level layouts are severely undercooked, and some of them are even randomly cobbled together in a way that makes the world feel completely impossible. This inevitably makes progression feel wonky, at best, and like a complete fever dream for the most part. Infamously, Dark Souls 2's final dungeon, Drangleic Castle, requires players to go through a lot of unnecessary trouble to get to, as it's blocked by a knee-high pile of rubble that any adventurer would just casually walk over. It might not seem like much, but this greatly hinders the seriousness of the quest at hand. [Hidden Content] But the poop run fixes all that. First, because it's much more fun overall, and also because now there's a truly hard obstacle to overcome—the rat that requires six "dung pies" to die, with players only havong access to five. Now we're talking stakes! I mean, seriously, because most of the run is spent on the quest for that elusive sixth literal piece of sh*t. After that, it's all about breaking the game to farm dung pies and become the poop lord, the Dung Yeeter, if you will, and it's all extremely fun to witness. The post The dirtiest Dark Souls 2 run shows the game at its very best appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
Pre-orders for the new physical edition of The House of Fata Morgana are available from Clear River Games with a limited discount. View the full article
Rust went into full release on Steam eight years ago, but its early access debut goes back to 2013—13 whole years ago. In videogame terms, that means it should've had at least three sequels by now, but so far? Nothing... Read more.View the full article
A rebranded Overwatch keeps expanding as a new season of Reign of Talon is about to release on April 14, bringing with it a new DPS hero, Sierra, who seems like a crossover between several existing heroes, for better or for worse. Sierra was announced today, April 9, and is going to be available with the release of the second Reign of Talon season on April 14, i.e., this coming Tuesday. She is a fast, lethally precise DPS who can utilize grappling hooks, apparent auto-aim, and a carpet-bombing ultimate that can blow the entire enemy team sky high. From the onset, she appears like a crossover between Pharah, Soldier 76, and Widowmaker, utilizing one ability from each of their kits. The grappling hook is a spitting image of Widowmaker's selfsame ability, the aim assist is straight ripped out of Soldier's ultimate, and the carpet bombing bit is all too reminiscent of Pharah's own AOE rocket barrage. At any rate, she is a new hero, a blazingly fast one at that, who will almost certainly prove way too disruptive for a Widowmaker main such as myself. [Hidden Content] What sets Sierra apart from these heroes is her reliance on her drone, Dorothy, which both lets her grapple onto it and aids her in battle. On top of the mentioned abilities, Sierra also seems to have a basic impact grenade that deals damage in a cone, allowing her to chunk several enemies at once, even if she doesn't have her Ultimate on standby. The auto-aiming ability has an extra quirk that requires Sierra to land a "targeting" dart onto an enemy before she is allowed to auto-aim them to death, so that's at least one extra hurdle she'll have to hop over to gain access to another hero's literal Ultimate ability. Either way, we'll see how and to what extent Sierra will impact the Overwatch meta, though something tells me she is going to be way over-tuned and overpowered on release, which is something I am thoroughly not looking forward to. Overwatch's Season 2: Summit launches on April 14. The post Overwatch getting new hero, Sierra, in Reign of Talon Season 2 appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
The Xeno Arena update has suddenly converted No Man's Sky into a monster-collector adventure, and at the top lies the S-class pets. All pets who fight for you will have different tiers. While you can upgrade all of them, it's always beneficial to find S-tier pets from get go. This guide will help you find out more S-class pets on your adventure. How to find S-class Xeno pets in No Man's Sky For starters, you'll need to clear a fair amount of in-game content before you can reach the stage of Xeno battles. If you're at that level, you'll find a quest that will guide you through the basics of these Xeno battles. Image via Hello Games There are three tutorial battles to complete as part of the Xeno Arena quest. Once those are done, you'll be able to explore and collect creatures of your own freely. Go to any planet you want, but there must be a life form on it. Wait for a couple of minutes for the animals to load on the planet, and then you'll need to use your scanner. When you scan your surroundings, you will find different animals. Once the scan is complete, you'll be able to find its tier. Continue this process until you find one with S-tier class as its base. This could also be an animal that was discovered by another player and scanned on the planet. Image via Digital Extremes Approach the animal, and you'll get the option to feed it. Provide food for the animal, and you'll be able to add it as a companion. It can now be used for fights in Xeno Arenas once you're aboard the Anomaly. Here's something important to remember: S-tier Xenos are not perfect. Some of them can be incredibly under-levelled when you find them. Naturally, they'll still be weak. However, the S-tier simply means that their potential for growth is pretty high. They will grow quicker and better compared to low-tier companions. That said, you can do fine without precisely setting up a team of only S-tier companions. The post How to get S-class Xeno pets in No Man’s Sky appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
Sierra has been officially revealed as Overwatch's newest hero in Season 2 as part of the Summit Breach trailer. This is the first time we have seen what she will look like and what her potential in-game kit will be. With a large plasma rifle in hand, it's pretty safe to assume the kind of role she will play. Potential Sierra abilities and roles in Overwatch As of writing, Blizzard hasn't officially described Sierra's abilities and how they will function. However, the trailer allows us plenty of room for speculation about how her possible kit will work. [Hidden Content]: Helix Rifle, which should work as an assault weapon. There will be a possible spiral pattern to the shots.Tracking Shot: Helix Rifle shots that will track the enemy and reveal their location unless they're far away.Drone: A functional drone that could provide some kind of mobility boost. Indications are that you'll be able to launch the drone in the air and grapple towards it, and then swing in either direction.Charge: Tremor charge that will create shockwaves upon impact.Ultimate: Deploy a drone that will drop explosives on enemiesPassive: Reveal enemies beyond a certain threshold to reveal their locations. As for her role, Sierra is going to be a DPS. With a weapon like her rifle and the drone, there's no better role that looks more suitable for her. With her, the best possible play might be mid-distance battles, as long-range sniping doesn't appear to be very optimal with her possible kit. Incidentally, a Reddit user named RyanTheValkyrie had made very similar speculation about a week ago. Their predictions have eerily come true after the official reveal, which adds another indicator towards how Sierra will perform. That said, not long is left for her to go live in Overwatch. If the rumors and speculations turn out to be true, she can be extremely high on the meta tier list, especially when all DPS units are considered. The post All Sierra abilities in Overwatch appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
Despite the first trailer for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse looking very much like a classic exploration-focused platformer, the involvement of Dead Cells developer Evil Empire had some folks going into a "Oh god, I hope it's not a roguelike" panic... Read more.View the full article
Survival game fans are in for a bit of a surprise, as it appears that Rust 2 has just leaked. Or at least, it appears that way — it’s also possible that the leak is some sort of PR stunt, or possibly unrelated to the original game. However, with Rust’s popularity and the long window since launch, it’s not unrealistic to expect something new in the works from developer Facepunch Studios. View the full article
Overwatch has officially revealed the gameplay for Sierra, the new hero coming in Reign of Talon Season 2, with abilities including a Tracking Shot, Tremor Charge, and an Anchor Drone that can act as a grapple point or aerial fire support. Sierra marks the 51st hero in Overwatch, and the sixth to be released as a part of Reign of Talon in 2026. View the full article
The study focuses on DFNZ, a molecule derived from a class of synthetic opioids first explored in the mid-20th century but largely abandoned due to their high potency. This research revisits nitazenes using modern pharmacological tools and aims to redesign them for greater safety. Investigators say the results represent unexpected... Read Entire Article View the full article
The Calm Under Pressure Evolution is now live in FC 26, and you can set up new chains in Ultimate Team. Available for free, you can use the evolution up to nine times. You can also use the evolution more than once on the same card if it meets the requirements. Let's look at the best cards to consider based on the requirements and the offered upgrades. Table of contentsFC 26 Calm Under Pressure Evolution requirementsFC 26 Calm Under Pressure Evolution upgradesBest players to use in Calm Under Pressure EvolutionFC 26 Calm Under Pressure Evolution requirements Here are the requirements of Calm Under Pressure Evolution in FC 26. Overall: Max 87PlayStyle: Max 10Not Rarity: World Tour Silver StarsNot Position: GKFC 26 Calm Under Pressure Evolution upgrades The evolution has two upgrade levels, each with specific conditions to meet. Level 1 upgrades Curve: +5|92Finishing: +5|92Positioning: +5|90Shot Power: +5|92Composure: +5|95PlayStyles: Dead Ball|8 Level 2 upgrades Long Shots: +5|88Penalties: +5Volleys: +5|88PlayStyles: Relentless|8 Level 1 upgrade conditions Play 1 match in Squad Battles on min Semi-Pro difficulty (or Rush/Rivals/Champions/Live Events) using your active EVO player in game. Level 2 upgrade conditions Play 1 match in Squad Battles on min Semi-Pro difficulty (or Rush/Rivals/Champions/Live Events) using your active EVO player in game.Best players to use in Calm Under Pressure Evolution Here are some of my recommendations for this evolution. This is based on the upgrades on offer as part of this evolution, as they heavily benefit attacker items. Leao Winter WildcardsBoga Serie A POTMDumornay ThunderstruckMitoma World TourMaza Future StarsOdobert Future StarsComan Winter WildcardsPhilogene Future StarsGyokeres FlashbackMadueke Winter WildcardsEndrick Ligue 1 POTMCaicedo UnbreakablesPedro Time WarpMikautadze LaLiga This is a perfect chain evolution as you’ll be able to put the upgraded card immediately into another upgrade. That way, your upgraded card will only get better with more upgrades. This is also an excellent evolution for your Bronze/Silver items, as you can chain the upgrades multiple times (until you breach the stat caps). The post Best players for FC 26 Calm Under Pressure Evolution appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
Pragmata, Capcom's new IP, is almost here. It's a mysterious and interesting science fiction title that'll finally break the company's focus on established franchises like Resident Evil, ****** May Cry, and Monster Hunter. If you are just as excited as we are, here is all the information you need about when exactly Pragamta is to come out in your region, with a clock counting down to release. Pragmata release date countdown According to the PlayStation store, Pragmata is to launch on April 16 at 11pm CT, with most of the world getting the game on April 17, depending on the region. The clock below will target the game's CT time release, which could be subject to change if Capcom comes forward with custom regional release times, in which case we'll update the timer with more accurate information. [hurrytimer id="1203330"] For those in other regions, here are some release times that we've converted based on the CT timing. As noted above, these are subject to change depending on what Capcom decides for each individual region, and we'll update them accordingly. In the meantime, here's when you can expect Pragmata to become available in your time zone: April 16 10pm PTApril 17 12am ETApril 17 5am GMTApril 17 6am CESTApril 17 9:30am ISTApril 17 1pm JST Pragmata does not feature any sort of advanced access program for pre-orders, as the game's release date was moved back for everyone by a week, allowing players to hop on and enjoy the game seven days early. You can get the pre-order bonus, i.e., two outfits for Hugh and Diana, the game's protagonists, apparently so long as you purchase the game within this early week, between April 17 and 24. The post Pragmata release countdown: Exact date and time appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
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Graveyard Keeper 2 looks like a much ******* RPGView the full article