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A Dungeons and Dragons fan has taken on the behemoth task of building a 3D-printed Castle Ravenloft, which stands over seven feet tall. The files for recreating the iconic Curse of Strahd castle first appeared late last year, but due to its size, building it would remain a pipe dream for most. Czech D&D podcasters Bez Zástěny, however, said "challenge accepted", and posted a build video to social media on May 21. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: All DnD classes and subclasses - a player's guide DnD Paladin 5e class explained DnD sizes explained View the full article

For rhythm game sickos, what might otherwise be a simple minigame could have dire ramifications View the full article

Расположенная в Казахстане студия Rhinotales, известная по интерактивному фильму She Sees Red, представила анонсирующий трейлер Critical Shift — хардкорной пошаговой тактики с элементами хоррора и выживания.View the full article

Monster Hunter Wilds has officially unveiled its Street Fighter 6 collaboration, bringing Akuma, Cammy, and Chun-Li to the game. Fans had already anticipated the crossover following a tease during Monster Hunter Wilds' first title update showcase. Now, Capcom's popular action RPG has revealed all the details of this highly anticipated partnership. View the full article

I never expected kicking a member of the Foot Clan to the curb before skateboarding over to pick up a pizza as an orange-clad Ninja Turtle would work just as well in a tactics game as it does in a classic beat-em-up, but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown cleverly translates the approachable pick-up-and-play action and slim scope of the team’s arcadey adventures like Turtles In Time into a compelling, if barebones, turn-based tactics game. While missing some of the necessary communication that make the best strategy games tick, it’s still a blast to raise some shell as New York’s bodacious band of brothers. Trim and concise, Tactical Takedown doesn’t waste time on an ooze-spilling origin story to get its story moving. You’ll know just about everything you need to after the first five minutes, though I’m sure you can guess: The Foot Clan, led by Shredder’s daughter Karai, is up to no good as always. This time, they’ve teamed up with mad scientist and fellow stalwart TMNT villain Baxter Stockman as they unleash a new plot to take over New York. Dialogue is relegated to only a minute or two of text boxes before and after each level, but Tactical Takedown still manages to make the most of that slim territory – it delivers a personal story about loss that does a great job of coloring outside the lines in vibrant blue, purple, red, and orange when it has to, especially with Leo and Raph’s relationship. Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo all ring true to the rhyming taglines about them that you may remember from your theme song iteration of choice, but this tale also sees the soon-to-be-20-something turtles facing the challenges of fighting without their brothers. That’s because all of the levels are solo missions, each carried out by a pre-determined turtle on his own turf. I’m disappointed with how exactly Tactical Takedown chose to reckon with that theme of isolation in its third act, but it does give every brother a chance to shine on their own while fighting. Each unit, including the Turtles, looks like a static figurine on a grid-based board, almost like what you’d get from a tabletop game. They’re more animated than static game pieces, shifting poses based on their attacks, the last action they took, or what kind of status effect they may have, but are mostly still. It’s a clever, lo-fi homage to the Turtles’ static origins in the panels of Eastman and Laird’s comics, but a zoomed-out camera obscures the personality you’d expect from the colorful, action figure-like combatants. Couple that with a surprising lack of voice acting, these often larger-than-life caricatures of teenagers can feel more like lifeless game pieces. These larger-than-life characters can feel more like lifeless figurines. Although the adolescent ninjas all have six health points, six action points to spend on stuff like moving and attacking each turn, and three arcade-style continues for when the going gets tough, they have distinct movesets that play into their weapons and personalities well as they disrupt the Foot in their territory. Leo’s straightforward prowess over martial arts gives him a satisfyingly rhythmic flow that matches up nicely with the tight lanes of the subway. Dispensing debuffs that set up a more devastating blow on the next action, while stacking a buff that allows him to evade any attack, made him my favorite as I cleared a few of his missions without taking a single hit. Meanwhile, Donnie’s complex but rewarding traps and map control made poisonous sewer water my ally. It was fun to use his kunai attack to stop Foot ninja when they were waist-deep in the toxic sewage, then knock away at their health from dry ground with his bo staff while throwing out electrical traps to keep my perimeter safe. Raph’s powerful bursts of strength suited the small Manhattan rooftops well as I kicked ninja to their doom, which granted a buff that let me deal extra damage and collect extra action points with his sai attack. Then, I’d cannonball into another group of enemies, sending out a damaging shockwave and dishing out a debuff that let me deal extra damage to every enemy around me, reaping even more action points. Finally, Mikey’s skateboard made him a dependably acrobatic street fighter whose mobility made it easy to jet from one end of a stage to the other before kicking obstacles at Foot ninja like in a classic martial arts movie. Every turtle has extra unlockable abilities to buy from a shop using shells, which are doled out based on your performance in each level, but they don’t feel necessary to reach the end on your first try – in fact, I didn’t even notice the shop until after I rolled credits on Tactical Takedown’s 6-ish-hour campaign. It wasn’t until I started chasing high scores in a few levels that I realized how transformative those new abilities could be, and I loved how customizable each turtle’s moveset ultimately felt. My favorite added useful moves to Raph’s kit that came with downside of damaging himself, but then paired with less powerful attacks that had a vampiric healing effect to balance things out. Building new loadouts also highlighted something that annoyed me about Tactical Takedown, though: Communication, or lack thereof (ironically, a core theme of this turtles story). This take on TMNT doesn’t make important gameplay elements clear in some moments, which can be a widowmaker in any game where strategy is king. For example, new moves only describe their range or area of effect (ie: 1-meter cone) rather than showing you what that shape or range might look like on the tactics grid. Another move I discovered applied a debuff I hadn’t seen yet, but it didn’t say what that debuff actually did, frustratingly leaving me to find out a few turns into a battle. Basic tooltips like this have been in strategy games for years, making their absence even more confusing and frustrating. I loved how customizable each turtle’s moveset felt. These issues aren’t nearly as pronounced when you’re actually in the heat of a battle, but they still pop up in frustrating ways. Instead of just showing what buffs or debuffs an enemy has when hovering over them with your cursor, like most other contemporary strategy games, you need to enter a separate inspection mode to figure out what that move you just used did to the Foot ninja you’re about to take out. Thankfully, you can always hit tab before using a move to check exactly what it does. But other stats, like a Turtle’s likelihood to dodge incoming attacks, which happened at random, just weren’t clear enough to me. Once I wrapped my mind around what each buff and debuff did, I got into a comfortable rhythm with Tactical Takedown. These effects are visualized on the board by altering the game piece-like characters, each causing different poses or cartoonish flourishes that add some rare life and personality, which eventually made it so I didn’t need to tab over a move to remind myself of a specific effect every other turn. Things also become easier to track because Tactical Takedown doesn’t really grow or evolve after the first hour or so. Once you’ve played each Turtle’s first level, you’ll have seen a surprising chunk of the enemy types, obstacles, and design ideas the whole package has to offer. This leaves all sense of progression to wholly optional unlocks and the small bites of story, and there’s never much of a challenge until the very last level. Such a narrow scope reflects that of a classic TMNT beat-em-up, and like those bygone classics (and Shredder’s Revenge), Tactical Takedown largely gets by on the merit of its combat and how accurately it nails the feel of each character. Fully clearing the board of Foot soldiers in a single turn using a masterful understanding of each Turtle’s moveset was consistently satisfying and enjoyable, but I still kicked the same nameless ninja off of a lot of different rooftops. Tactical Takedown further echoes those classics by grading your performance in each level with an arcade-style scoring system. Each takedown adds to a multiplier, further encouraging that hunt for a satisfying screen wipe. And once you’ve cleared a level, your number of KOs, remaining continues, and total damage will contribute to both a final score and the amount of shells you’ll earn to spend in the shop. Each mission comes with a par score to shoot for or surpass, which was a fun motivator to get me back in action and try some levels with new movesets. The places where this formula breaks from its arcade inspirations don’t do it any favors, either. Disappointingly, it doesn’t have that many boss fights – and what few are present are saved for the very end and aren’t very memorable (except for the very last one), which only worsens that stale feeling. But the lack of a meaningful team-up makes for an even worse break from canon than the sparse bosses. While I understand that Tactical Takedown is all about the Turtles growing apart, it’s frustrating that we never get to see the Turtles at their best: Together. Tactical Takedown partially remedies this in its fourth chapter, but not in a very satisfying way. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

It feels like we only just started our vacation under the Alolan sun in the last Pokémon TCG Pocket expansion, but ... Read more View the full article

The Lost Ark Abyssal Assault update has landed, bringing a new region to explore in the Amazon Games and Smilegate MMORPG. This latest overhaul whisks us away to a previously inaccessible continent in search of adventure, unleashes the third act of the Kazeros Raid, and heralds the return of the Arkesia Grand Prix event. As Amazon Games prepares to deliver some of its biggest changes to the multiplayer ARPG yet, in service of making Lost Ark more approachable and reducing its notorious grind, this update is set to deliver some of the endgame challenge that veterans have been craving. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Free MMORPG Lost Ark is getting a new way to play as Amazon cuts back the grind Lost Ark is on a journey of redemption as Smilegate takes aim at progression The best MMO and MMORPGs to play in 2025 View the full article

A new draft patch series for the Linux kernel has been submitted, which should hopefully bring up expanded support for the MSI Claw handheld. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Grinding Gear Games has big news as it details Path of Exile 2 patch 0.2.1, the next update for the early-access ARPG. With the current seasons for Last Epoch and Diablo 4 now in the rear-view mirror, GGG is ready to entice us back to the continuing Dawn of the Hunt by "significantly improving" the drop rates on a lot of items and crafting currencies that it has deemed too rare. It's also aiming to make sure the endgame feels a lot more interesting, without constantly forcing you back into Hidden Grotto. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Best Path of Exile 2 classes ranked New Path of Exile 2 update vastly improves Breaches and endgame quality-of-life The next Path of Exile 2 update brings endgame improvements and more stash tabs View the full article

"It will definitely be done by 2090"View the full article

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown review: "Radically slick brawls barely feel turn-based, but I'm left wanting more depth"View the full article

There's a vast amount to see and do in the massive open world you can explore in Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. With so much content to delve into, you may be wondering whether you can invite friends to help you out using crossplay. Crossplay is an important feature, so its inclusion or omission may be the difference between you buying or skipping this game. Here's whether or not Fantasy Life i is crossplay and everything else you need to know about this feature. Table of contentsDoes Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time have crossplay?How to use crossplay in Fantasy Life iCrossplay requirements in Fantasy Life iHow many players can use crossplay in Fantasy Life i?Does Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time have crossplay? Screenshot by Destructoid Yes, Fantasy Life i supports crossplay between all platforms, including PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. Up to four players can connect and jump into the fun together at once. You can have one player on each platform or a couple on the same one. Any combination of platforms you need to play works as long as you're not trying to play with more than four players at once. How to use crossplay in Fantasy Life i To start the multiplayer crossplay feature, you need to head to the counter at the Guild Office after completing Chapter Three. Once you're there, you can chat with Colm to start up a crossplay adventure with friends. Early on, you only have access to a limited version of multiplayer where a second individual can jump in and play as Trip. Crossplay isn't allowed for this version of it, so to fully unlock this feature, you must progress further in the game. The player experiencing the game must join via couch co-op, and all of their abilities are more limited when playing as Trip. Screenshot by Destructoid Crossplay requirements in Fantasy Life i There are three requirements you need to meet to use crossplay in Fantasy Life i: Progress to Chapter Three.Play until you see the multiplayer pop-up featuring Colm.Have access to online services, which means you need a paid subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, PlayStation Plus, or Xbox Game Pass if you're using any of these platforms. Once all of these conditions are met, you can freely use crossplay with friends whenever you like. How many players can use crossplay in Fantasy Life i? Anywhere from two to four players can enjoy crossplay together. You can enjoy island life however you see fit, regardless of how many players you have at your side, so feel free to invite as many allies as you want as long as you stay under the limit of four. Now that you know how crossplay works, you can get to work exploring the island and completing the many tricky tasks you can find around it. You might want to try earning 10,000 Dosh fast, getting Dandelion Cotton, and gathering Healweed and Vitalweed. The post Is Fantasy Life i crossplay? appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

A new video from Youtuber Destin Legarie includes a number of allegations about Destiny 2 and Marathon developers Bungie from anonymous former employees. Amongst other things, we hear that Bungie staff once proposed a Destiny subscription model, but were "vehemently shut down" by leaders. There are also lots of claims about toxic, unaccountable management, and some throwaway insights about how the company's culture has changed in the course of being acquired by Sony. Read more View the full article

Lies of P's upcoming DLC, Overture, will introduce difficulty options for the very first time. As a "Soulslike" game, Lies of P can be punishingly difficult, especially for inexperienced players perhaps attracted by Lies of P's dark story and setting. Director Jiwon Choi said at the time, however, the team didn't think Soulslike games should have difficulty options and it shipped without any. Now it seems Neowitz has changed its mind, and confirmed the change was informed after the studio listened carefully to feedback from players. “We wanted to make sure a wider audience of players could play the game,” Choi told VGC. "We have a lot of feedback from customers, and from our developers. So by making development adjustments and introducing these difficulty options, we can offer the experience to different types of players. This broadens the base.” Players are now debating why the game's director "change[d] his mind," with one writing: "I would imagine it's a lot easier to say that you don't want to change the difficulty than to be inundated with negative reviews over it and have it constantly be brought up during discussions of your game and not have any urge to change it so a broader audience can enjoy what you made." "I got into gaming around the age of 24. I'm using the easier difficulty settings because, as much as I love Lies of P, I have a major skill issue, and that's okay," explained another. "I just thought it would be nice hearing why someone would reasonably want the difficulty settings. I never got to own any systems when I was a kid, so now I can as a working adult who doesn't have 10+ years of skills." "Souls elitists don't want difficulty because they like bragging about their video game achievements. I'm glad Lies of P is not servicing them," added this player. Not everyone's impressed, though, as the Steam discussion forums and social media attests. "Was interested in playing, but after all the nerfs and adding difficulty levels, I lost interest. Game devs, please stop catering to babies," wrote this player on the discussion forums, although almost of the replies to that thread support the developer's new position. Another wrote: "You had a masterpiece on your hands Neowitz, and you turned it into laughing stock. For shame." A different thread entitled "Difficulty settings = Not playing" is directly above another from someone who's actually tried the game and wrote: "difficulty is just ridiculous." Lies of P is a unique, darker twist on the classic story of Pinocchio, offering a challenging action game with a unique "lie" system where what you do and say dynamically affects gameplay. The upcoming new DLC — which features new locations, new enemies and bosses, new characters, and new weapons — also introduces Death March, a new mode that enables you to face off against the game's myriad of bosses all over again. In all, the DLC will take experienced players roughly 15-20 hours to complete, and will unlock once they’ve passed a “certain” chapter of the game. Neowiz has also already announced a full-blown sequel to Lies of P. We had a good time with Lies of P, awarding it 8/10, writing: "Lies of P might not branch out particularly far from its soulslike inspiration, but it plays the part extremely well." Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article

The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann has answered a key fan question behind the first game's memorable finale, and revealed information that has affected some fans' views of Joel's big moral choice — and left other saying they'd have prefered not knowing. Warning! Spoilers for The Last of Us Part 1 follow. Joel's decision to save Ellie, or rather, to ******* a load of doctors who were planning to use Ellie's immunity to create a cure that could have saved mankind, has always been shrouded in a level of ambiguity. Within the original game, as well as The Last of Us' HBO TV adaptation, it was never explicitly confirmed whether a cure could actually have been possible, and if so, whether it actually would have worked. Because of this, Joel's actions can be seen through the lens of him saving someone he knows will die as part of the procedure — someone he now thinks of as his daughter, after his actual daughter died — for just the chance of a cure. However, Druckmann has now revealed that the cure would have actually worked — upending years of fan debate over what Joel should have done. "Could the Fireflies make a cure?" Druckmann said, speaking as part of the Sacred Symbols podcast. "Our intent was yes they could. "Now, is our science a little shaky that now people are now questioning it? Sure. Our science is a little shaky and people are now questioning it. I can't say anything. I can say our intent was that they would have made a cure. That makes the most interesting philosophical question for what Joel does." Reaction to Druckmann's revelation has been mixed, with some fans who already assumed this not seeming bothered by the reveal, while others who assumed the opposite suddenly having to reconcile their view of Joel's actions in a new light. "Maaan Neil really needs to stop," one fan wrote in response via forum ResetEra. "Feels like he's stripping away what's left of the nuance with those latest comments on the story." Some fans highlighted the fact that the game deliberately portrayed the cure process as shaky, with the lead doctor a veterinarian working in a run-down hospital with no real means to manufacture a cure shown on screen. "Death of the author applies here, I don't really care what he has to say if it's not in the original game/text," another fan wrote. "It's clearly supposed to be ambiguous and it's staying that way for me." In March, showrunner Craig Mazin and Druckmann answered the question of whether or not Joel was right to save Ellie, offering differing opinions to IGN. “I believe Joel was right,” Druckmann said. “If I were in Joel's position, I hope I would be able to do what he did to save my daughter.” “That's so interesting, because I think that if I were in Joel's position, I probably would have done what he did,” Mazin said. “But I'd like to think that I wouldn't. That's the interesting push and pull of the morality of it. And that's why the ending of the first game is so provocative and so wonderful. It just doesn't let you off the hook as a player.” In the Sacred Symbols interview, Druckmann reiterated that HBO's The Last of Us' TV adaptation currently has either one or two seasons left, depending on what is best to tell the franchise's remaining story. As it stands, however, the TV adaptation will not continue the franchise's story beyond the events of The Last of Us Part 2. Could there ever be a The Last of Us Part 3 game? On this, Druckmann largely repeated what he has said already on the topic — that it will rely on him having a good enough idea. "It's important for me that everything is of high quality. I don't just want to make a lot of it," Druckmann said. "I just want to be very thoughtful of everything we make. "If we were ever to come back to it, I want to make sure it's a story worthy of The Last of Us. I love that world, I love these characters. With the right oppurtunity, with the right idea, I would totally jump in." For now, Druckmann is busy working on Naughty Dog's new sci-fi game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. The developer also has a second project in production, on which Druckmann is taking a more hands-off role. Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social View the full article

New Genshin Impact 5.7 leaks about the updated Spiral Abyss and its Floor 12 enemies have emerged, highlighting that players may need an airtight team comp strategy to beat it and, consequently, reap its rewards in full. The popular action RPG by HoYoverse is currently in Version 5.6, a big patch that brought forth a new Archon Quest set in the region of Mondstadt, building on top of important factions in the Nation of Freedom. The update is also responsible for the introduction of Escoffier in Genshin Impact, as well as Ifa’s playable version following his debut as an NPC. View the full article

Sony and Shift Up have released a new trailer for the upcoming Goddess of Victory: NIKKE DLC coming to Stellar Blade on June 11 View the full article

OpenAI is making a dramatic leap into the hardware business, announcing a nearly $6.5 billion all-stock acquisition of io, the artificial intelligence device startup co-founded by legendary Apple designer Jony Ive. The deal, the largest in OpenAI's history, signals a new era for the company as it aims to move... Read Entire Article View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II потеряет статус консольного эксклюзива Xbox Series X|S и уже летом этого года выйдет на PlayStation 5, объявила студия Ninja Theory. Владельцы консолей Sony смогут купить сразу улучшенную версию приключения с подзаголовком Enhanced — покупатели игры на платформах Microsoft получат все обновления бесплатно. View the full article

В сети продолжают появляться новости о нерадужном положении дел в Bungie, которую Sony купила в 2022 году за $3,6 миллиарда. View the full article

Вопрос портирования Halo на конкурирующие с Xbox Series X|S консоли — лишь вопрос времени, сообщил Том Уоррен из The Verge, комментируя сегодняшний анонс Senua's Saga: Hellblade II для PlayStation 5. View the full article

По данным сразу нескольких авторитетных инсайдеров, Sony не планирует проводить игровые презентации этим летом. Обычно компания выступала в мае или июне хотя бы с очередным выпуском программы State of Play, однако на этот год ничего подобного не готовится. View the full article

Microsoft поделилась перечнем игр, которые войдут в каталог онлайн-сервиса Game Pass в конце мая и начале июня. Новое пополнение библиотеки тарифа Ultimate включает в себя Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 и Metaphor: ReFantazio, подписчикам Standard достанутся Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II и S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. View the full article

"And then they said, 'no no, it doesn't remind me of Fable, it reminds me of ****** & White.'"View the full article

Spend your Battlefront 2 Credits on cosmetics to make your characters look as stylish as possible in combatView the full article