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If internet videos with titles like "Supersonic Golf Ball to the Forehead" have taught us anything, it's that a slow motion chthonic mace to the dome is a weighty chthonic mace to the dome. So goes the thinking being Doom: The Dark Ages liberal dolloping of slow motion effects all over its melee attacks and parries. The FPS does away with the series' canned glory kills, so it's nice to take a split second of mud time to catch your bearings where you can. Still, the game isn't exactly shy about its application. I was watching a Doom 3 retrospective last night that talked about how the original copies of the game came with a note explaining that "Doom 3 is not for cowards!". By contrast, the amount of accessibility options and sliders in The Dark Ages, alongside Id saying that it was " a game for all Slayers!" is, you know, at least one nice reminder that games are far less twattish than they used to be. In some ways, at least. One thing those sliders don't allow for, however, is removing the abundance of slow motion effects. Once again, modders have our backs. Thank you, modders. That's my favourite back and I'd strongly dislike having to replace it. Read more View the full article

Hardware Unboxed has found plenty of success success on YouTube and has become a trusted voice in the PC hardware community. As you may know, Steve and Tim run HUB independently, and we're proud to have them continue collaborating with TechSpot to bring their reviews to our audience. Steve has... Read Entire Article View the full article

Take-Two’s CEO stated that Rockstar isn’t just making another game - it's aiming to create something truly unforgettable with Grand Theft Auto 6. The excitement began in earnest in December 2023 when the first trailer launched, impressing fans with its rich visuals and vibrant world. Originally set for a general 2025 release, Take-Two Interactive later confirmed Grand Theft Auto 6 will arrive in Fall 2025. View the full article

Bungie переживает не лучшие времена — спад популярности Destiny 2, увольнения после присоединения к Sony, противоречивая реакция игроков на Marathon, а теперь и громкий скандал с кражей элементов дизайна для нового шутера. View the full article

Strap in for a ripper round of savings that’ll leave you over-encumbered in no time, like a stroll through an Oblivion market. From slashing prices on open-world epics to trimming the tag on sports sims, these deals breathe fresh life into your gaming roster without shredding your budget. Let’s kick this off right by saving a bundle now. This Day in Gaming In retro news, I’m celebrating the 13th bday of Max Payne 3, a bullet-riddled Brazilian holiday that, I think, delivered Rockstar’s finest ever third-person shooting. From the neon-soaked favelas of São Paulo to the rain-slicked rooftops of downtown, this one taught a new generation of gamers how gloriously satisfying it is to dodge incoming hailstorms of lead and drop one-liners that now very much speak my middle-aged "too old for this *****" language. I still have powerful memories of the single-player campaign’s noir-tinted heartache; watching Max slump through betrayal, loss, and mob hits with a drink in one hand and a gat in the other. Totally worth a replay. Needs to be remastered ASAP. Aussie bdays for notable games - Ape Escape 3 (PS2) 2006. eBay - Max Payne 3 (PS3, X360) 2012. Get - Hyrule Warriors (NS) 2018. Get Contents NintendoXboxPlayStationPCPC GearLEGOHeadphonesTVsNice Savings for Nintendo Switch On Nintendo Switch, Geralt’s saga comes in hot with The Witcher 3 Complete Edition at a staggering 75% off. That's just A$19 for over 100,000 lines of dialogue and a well of hidden quests. Equally unmissable, Dead Cells is down to A$18, half its usual price, a rogue‑vania romp whose punishing weapon permadeath mechanic began as a single chaotic level test. The Witcher 3 Comp. (-75%) - A$19Lego Skywalker Saga (-80%) - A$17Dead Cells (-50%) - A$18Yooka-Laylee (-80%) - A$6Blasphemous (-75%) - A$9Unicorn Overlord (-36%) - A$61 Expiring Recent Deals Borderlands 3 Ult. (-62%) - A$34Sonic X Shadow Gen. (-14%) - A$69Persona 5 Royal (-40%) - A$59Sonic Origins Plus (-53%) - A$27Diablo Eternal Col. (-29%) - A$64 Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card. Switch Console Prices How much to Switch it up? [/url] Back to top Exciting Bargains for Xbox Xbox Series X owners can ball out with NBA 2K25 at A$38 (68% off), a title whose motion capture sessions once had Steph Curry coaching the devs through his signature crossover. For a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars Outlaws at A$40 (64% off) has recently been patched to have smoother combat, though I think it was more than serviceable beforehand. NBA 2K25 (-68%) - A$38Seagate Expansion Card 1TB (-25%) - A$230UFC 5 (-65%) - A$39EA Sports FC 25 (-55%) - A$49Star Wars Outlaws (-64%) - A$40 Xbox One Red Dead 2 (-67%) - A$29Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (-90%) - A$10Mass Effect Leg. Ed. (-90%) - A$9 Expiring Recent Deals Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (-19%) - A$89Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed (-65%) - A$19RoboCop: Rogue City (-27%) - A$55Halo: The Master Chief Col. (-75%) - A$14Halo Infinite (-67%) - A$32The Crew Motorfest (-33%) - A$66Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (-75%) - A$17Turok Trilogy Bndl (-75%) - A$22 Or just invest in an Xbox Card. Xbox Console Prices How many bucks for a 'Box? [/url] Back to top Pure Scores for PlayStation On PS5, Doom: The Dark Ages drops to A$99 (17% off) and it's slayertastic stuff. Meanwhile, Judgment slides into A$28 (48% off), its courtroom drama enriched by Japanese legal consultants, though Yagami still lands those trademark one‑liners. Doom: The Dark Ages (-17%) - A$99Split Fiction (-16%) - A$59Star Wars Outlaws (-64%) - A$4040K: Space Marine 2 (-27%) - A$79Judgment (-48%) - A$28UFC 5 (-65%) - A$39 PS4 Octopath Traveler II (-32%) - A$57Night in the Woods (-50%) - A$14Rogue Legacy (-80%) - A$5 Expiring Recent Deals Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (-7%) - A$84Persona 5 Royal (-42%) - A$55Stranger of Paradise FF Origin (-59%) - A$41Spelunky 2 (-60%) - A$11Rogue Legacy 2 (-50%) - A$18Ace Combat 7 (-73%) - A$26Mark of the Ninja: Rem. (-75%) - A$7Octopath Traveler (-60%) - A$36 PS+ Monthly Freebies Yours to keep from May 1 with this subscription Ark: Survival Ascended (PS5)Balatro (PS5/PS4)Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (PS5/PS4) Or purchase a PS Store Card. What you'll pay to 'Station. [/url] Back to top Purchase Cheap for PC For PC aficionados, BioShock: The Collection clocks in at A$15 (80% off) with Big Daddy designs refined from bulky concept art into streamlined terror, while Sid Meier’s Civilization VI at A$8 (90% off) uses fractal geometry to ensure every map feels uniquely yours. Oblivion Rem. (-17%) - A$70Bioshock: The Col. (-80%) - A$15Dead Cells (-50%) - A$17Immortals Fenyx Rising (-80%) - A$11Civilization VI (-90%) - A$8 Expiring Recent Deals Dead Island 2 (-100%) - FREESaints Row: Gat out of Hell (-100%) - FREE w/ PrimeGolf with Your Friends (-100%) - FREE w/ PrimeCyberpunk 2077 (-60%) - A$35Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (-22%) - A$70 Or just get a Steam Wallet Card PC Hardware Prices Slay your pile of shame. [/url]Laptop DealsHP Envy x360 16" 2-in-1 (-39%) – A$1,399HP Laptop 15.6" Ryzen (-34%) – A$1,049ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 (-35%) – A$869Lenovo Yoga 7i Gen 9 (-41%) – A$1,229Apple 2024 MacBook Air 15-inch (-16%) – A$2,094Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 (-36%) - A$879Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen7 (-27%) - A$1,018Desktop DealsLenovo neo 50q Gen 4 Tiny (-35%) – A$639Lenovo neo 50t Gen 5 Desk (-20%) – A$871.20Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (-29%) – A$1,899Monitor DealsARZOPA 16.1" 144Hz (-55%) – A$159.99Z-Edge 27" 240Hz (-15%) – A$237.99Gawfolk 34" WQHD (-28%) – A$359LG 27" Ultragear (-42%) – A$349Component DealsMSI PRO B650M-A WiFi Motherboard (-41%) – A$229AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (-7%) – A$876Corsair Vengeance 32GB (-35%) – A$82Kingston FURY Beast 16GB (-30%) – A$48Storage DealsSeagate One Touch Portable HDD (-24%) – A$228Kingston 1TB USB 3.2 SSD (-17%) – A$115SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO (-63%) – A$29SanDisk 32GB Ultra SDHC (-53%) – A$9.90 Back to top Legit LEGO Deals Millennium Falcon (-37%) - A$95Fire Rescue Motorcycle (-33%) - A$10Simba The Lion King (-30%) - A$139Wicked Emerald City (-26%) - A$124 Expiring Recent Deals Captain America: Civil War (-47%) - A$79TIE Fighter & X-Wing (-42%) - A$105Technic Porsche GT4 (-28%) - A$179F1 Garage Mercedes (-27%) - A$95 Back to top Hot Headphones Deals Audiophilia for less Galaxy Buds2 Pro (-31%) – A$239Technics Wireless NC (-33%) – A$365SoundPEATS Space (-25%) – A$56.99Sony MDR7506 Pro (-18%) – A$199 Back to top Terrific TV Deals Do right by your console, upgrade your telly LG 43" UT80 4K (-24%) – A$635Kogan 65" QLED 4K (-50%) – A$699Kogan 55" QLED 4K (-45%) – A$549LG 55" UT80 4K (-28%) – A$866 Back to top Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

New episodes of season 2 of The Last of Us are premiering on HBO every Sunday night, and Ars' Kyle Orland (who's played the games) and Andrew Cunningham (who hasn't) will be talking about them here after they air. While these recaps don't delve into every single plot point of the episode, there are obviously heavy spoilers contained within, so go watch the episode first if you want to go in fresh. Kyle: Going from a sudden shot of beatific Pedro Pascal at the end of the last episode to a semi-related flashback with a young Joel Miller and his brother was certainly a choice. I almost respect how overtly they are just screwing with audience expectations here. As for the opening flashback scene itself, I guess the message is "Hey, look at the generational trauma his family was dealing with—isn't it great he overcame that to love Ellie?" But I'm not sure I can draw a straight line from "he got beat by his dad" to "he condemned the entire human race for his surrogate daughter." Andrew: I do not have the same problems you did with either the Joel pop-in at the end of the last episode or the flashback at the start of this episode—last week, the show was signaling "here comes Joel!" and this week the show is signaling "look, it's Joel!" Maybe I'm just responding to Tony Dalton as Joel's dad, who I know best as the charismatic lunatic Lalo Salamanca from Better Call Saul. I do agree that the throughline between these two events is shaky, though, and without the flashback to fill us in, the "I hope you can do a little better than me" sentiment feels like something way out of left field. But I dunno, it's Joel week. Joel's back! This is the Duality of Joel: you can simultaneously think that he is horrible for failing a civilization-scale trolley problem when he killed a building full of Fireflies to save Ellie, and you can't help but be utterly charmed by Pedro Pascal enthusiastically describing the many ways to use a Dremel. (He's right! It's a versatile tool!) Truly, there's pretty much nothing in this episode that we couldn't have inferred or guessed at based on the information the show has already made available to us. And I say this as a non-game-player—I didn't need to see exactly how their relationship became as strained as it was by the beginning of the season to have some idea of why it happened, nor did I need to see The Porch Scene to understand that their bond nevertheless endured. But this is also the dynamic that everybody came to the show for last season, so I can only make myself complain about it to a point. Kyle: It's true, Joel Week is a time worth celebrating. If I'm coming across as cranky about it at the outset, it's probably because this whole episode is a realization of what we're missing out on this season thanks to Joel's death. As you said, a lot of this episode was filling in gaps that could well have been inferred from events we did see. But I would have easily taken a full season (or a full second game) of Ellie growing up and Joel dealing with Ellie growing up. You could throw in some zombie attacks or an overarching Big Bad enemy or something if you want, but the development of Joel and Ellie's relationship deserves more than just some condensed flashbacks. "It works?!" Credit: Warner Bros. Discovery Andrew: Yeah, it's hard not to be upset about the original sin of The Last of Us Part 2 which is (assuming it's like the show) that having some boring underbaked villain crawl out of the woodwork to kill the show's main character is kind of a cheap shot. Sure, you shock the hell out of viewers like me who didn't see it coming! But part of the reason I didn't see it coming is because if you kill Joel, you need to do a whole bunch of your show without Joel and why on Earth would you decide to do that? To be clear, I don't mind this season so much and I've found things to like about it, though Ellie does sometimes veer into being a protagonist so short-sighted and impulsive and occasionally just-plain-stupid that it's hard to be in her corner. But yeah, flashing back to a time just two months after the end of season 1 really does make you wonder, "Why couldn't the story just be this?" Kyle: In the gaming space, I understand the desire to not have your sequel game be just "more of the same" from the last game. But I've always felt The Last of Us Part 2 veered too hard in the other direction and became something almost entirely unrecognizable from the original game I loved. But let's focus on what we do get in this episode, which is an able recreation of my favorite moment from the second game, Ellie enjoying the heck out of a ruined science museum. The childlike wonder she shows here is a great respite from a lot of action-heavy scenes in the game, and I think it serves the same purpose here. It's also much more drawn out in the game—I could have luxuriated in just this part of the flashback for an entire episode! Andrew: The only thing that kept me from being fully on board with that scene was that I think Ellie was acting quite a bit younger than 16, with her pantomimed launch noises and flipping of switches, But I could believe that a kid who had such a rough and abbreviated childhood would have some fun sitting in an Apollo module. For someone with no memories of the pre-outbreak society, it must seem like science fiction, and the show gives us some lovely visuals to go with it. The things I like best here are the little moments in between scenes rather than the parts where the show insists on showing us events that it had already alluded to in other episodes. What sticks with me the most, as we jump between Ellie's birthdays, is Joel's insistence that "we could do this kind of thing more often" as they go to a museum or patrol the trails together. That it needs to be stated multiple times suggests that they are not, in fact, doing this kind of thing more often in between birthdays. Joel is thoughtful and attentive in his way—a little better than his father—but It's such a bittersweet little note, a surrogate dad's clumsy effort to bridge a gap that he knows is there but doesn't fully understand. Why can't it be like this forever? Credit: Warner Bros. Discovery Kyle: Yeah, I'm OK with a little arrested development in a girl that has been forced to miss so many of the markers of a "normal" pre-apocalypse childhood. But yeah, Joel is pretty clumsy about this. And as we see all of these attempts with his surrogate daughter, it's easy to forget what happened to his real daughter way back at the beginning of the first season. The trauma of that event shapes Joel in a way that I feel the narrative sometimes forgets about for long stretches. But then we get moments like Joel leading Gail's newly infected husband to a death that the poor guy would very much like to delay by an hour for one final moment with his wife. When Joel says that you can always close your eyes and see the face of the one you love, he may have been thinking about Ellie. But I like to think he was thinking about his actual daughter. Andrew: Yes to the extent that Joel's actions are relatable (I won't say "excusable," but "relatable") it's because the undercurrent of his relationship with Ellie is that he can't watch another daughter die in his arms. I watched the first episode again recently, and that whole scene remains a masterfully executed gut-punch. But it's a tough tightrope to walk because if the story spends too much time focusing on it, you draw attention to how unhealthy it is for Joel to be forcing Ellie to play that role in his life. Don't get me wrong, Ellie was looking for a father figure, too, and that's why it works! It's a "found family" dynamic that they were both looking for. But I can't hear Joel's soothing "baby girl" epithet without it rubbing me the wrong way a little. My gut reaction was that it was right for Joel not to fully trust Gail's husband, but then I realized I can never not suspect Joe Pantoliano of treachery because of his role as betrayer in the 26-year-old movie The Matrix. Brains are weird. Kyle: I did like the way Ellie tells Joel off for lying to her (and to Gail) about the killing; it's a real "growing up" moment for the character. And of course it transitions well into The Porch Scene, Ellie's ultimate moment of confronting Joel on his ultimate betrayal. While I'm not a fan of the head-fake "this scene isn't going to happen" thing they did earlier this season, I think the TV show once again did justice to one of the most impactful parts of the game. But the game also managed to spread out these Joel-centric flashbacks a little more, so we're not transitioning from "museum fun" to "porch confrontation" quite so quickly. Here, it feels like they're trying hard to rush through all of their "bring back Pedro Pascal" requirements in a single episode. When you've only got one hour left, how you spend it becomes pretty important. Credit: Warner Bros. Discovery Andrew: Yeah, because you don't need to pay a 3D model's appearance fees if you want to use it in a bunch of scenes of your video game. Pedro Pascal has other stuff going on! Kyle: That's probably part of it. But without giving too much away, I think we're seeing the limits of stretching the events of "Part 2" into what is essentially two seasons. While there have been some cuts, on the whole, it feels like there's also been a lot of filler to "round out" these characters in ways that have been more harmful than helpful at points. Andrew: Yeah, our episode ends by depositing us back in the main action, as Ellie returns to the abandoned theater where she and Dina have holed up. I'm curious to see what we're in for in this last run of almost-certainly-Joel-less episodes, but I suspect it involves a bunch of non-Joel characters ping-ponging between the WLF forces and the local cultists. There will probably be some villain monologuing, probably some zombie hordes, probably another named character death or two. Pretty standard issue. What I don't expect is for anyone to lovingly and accurately describe the process of refurbishing a guitar. And that's the other issue with putting this episode where it is—just as you're getting used to a show without Joel, you're reminded that he's missing all over again. Read full article Comments View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is, for a lot of people, myself included, a genuinely astonishing release that couldn't have been further from our 2025 bingo cards. The fact that Oblivion is not only playable on modern hardware in 2025 but has also had a major visual facelift as well as numerous gameplay enhancements is as baffling as it is genuinely incredible. Being able to bathe in so much nostalgia as I roam the wilds of Cyrodiil is a pleasure I'm extremely grateful for, and I can't wait to see what Virtuos and Bethesda cook up next. View the full article

A Roblox game called Grow a Garden has reached an all-time high in active players just a few months after its release. This game is part of the thousands of titles available in the Roblox catalog that players can access. View the full article

With the announcement and release of Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition, it seems likely that content updates for the game have concluded and Netherrealm Studios and Warner Bros. have moved on to their next project. Over the span of 18 months, 12 main roster characters and six Kameo fighters were added to the game's starting roster, which I believe was one of the best rosters in franchise history for its variety and combination of fan-favorite 3D era characters, like Ashrah, Reiko, Nitara, and Havik, with series staples, like Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Raiden. View the full article

There are a lot of unique game overs in Baldur's Gate 3 you can only discover in extremely specific circumstances. Maybe you fail a Wisdom saving throw and a dying mind flayer eats your brain. Maybe you taunt the god-queen of the githyanki and she wishes you out of existence. (Yes, I learned about those ones the hard way.).. Read more.View the full article

Players are treated to a wide expanse of punchy new weapons in DOOM: The Dark Ages, but some fans have recently discovered the existence of a strange, unused weapon that some theorize would have been the counterpart to the Chainshot. This curious gun in DOOM: The Dark Ages isn't the first unused weapon that fans have found in the legendary FPS franchise, and some speculate that it could actually play a part in The Dark Ages' future DLC. View the full article

Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala recently received a Collector's Edition copy of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 as a gift during a recent government visit. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2was released back on February 4 and takes place in 15th-century Bohemia, the historical land where the Czech Republic is now in the 21st century. View the full article

В начале недели сообщалось, что DOOM: The Dark Ages стартовал в Steam гораздо скромнее DOOM: Eternal, сумев привлечь только 30 тысяч одновременно играющих. К выходным ситуация не изменилась — в субботу пиковый онлайн проекта вырос всего на 1 тысячу человек и зафиксировался на отметке в 31,5 тысячи. View the full article

Baldur's Gate 3 is full of expansive regions with many secrets hidden away for players to explore. Despite its large scale, every corner of the game has been lovingly rendered and decorated to make the setting feel alive. You'll probably find that the smallest, seemingly insignificant room will have at least one interesting feature or Easter egg that adds even more to the lore of the game. View the full article

The two trailers released for Grand Theft Auto 6 so far are undeniably impressive, but the more I sit with the second trailer, the less I'm convinced that it's impressive in a way that really matters.GTA has spent decades pushing boundaries, both in a technical sense and in its habitual affront to moralizing parties. The series would never have become so special if GTA 3 hadn't been willing to explore the limits of open-world game design at a time when the concept had barely expanded beyond the RPG scene, but the bounds being tested have radically changed. View the full article

Singing a specific genre in BitLife is more challenging than you'd expect. Pursuing a music career is already difficult, with the bonus of relying on RNG to find the exact genre you need. There's some luck involved, but we have a few tips to make the search easier. Table of contentsHow to become a rapper in BitLifeHow to become famous in BitLifeHow to become a rapper in BitLife Becoming a rapper in BitLife requires purchasing the game's musician special career pack. You can buy it for real money through BitLife's ingame marketplace or pick up Boss Mode, letting you obtain all current and future job packs. Owning the musician pack enables you to train your singing skills and audition to become a singer, giving you a chance to become a rapper. It's impossible to do this without the pack. If you own the musician special career pack, you'll find a Musician job option under Occupation and Special Careers. Here, you can audition to join a band or become a solo artist. Although rap bands exist, you'll usually find it easier as a solo artist. Screenshot by Destructoid However, not just anyone can become a professional singer. First, you'll need to take singing classes by heading into Activities, Mind and Body, and Voice Lessons. If your character is a child or teenager, you can take them for free with permission from your character's parents. These classes will raise your skills, with around 90-100 percent mastery required to pass your solo artist auditions. To make things easier, you can start on a new character who has a music special talent. You'll find this on the character creator menu, making it easier to progress in randomized instruments. Having this talent doesn't guarantee you'll have an easier time with singing, specifically due to its random nature. To offset this, you can remake characters until you notice one that gets massive skill buffs per lesson. This strategy is entirely optional, but it can help if you don't want to take a ton of voice lessons or plan on mastering other instruments later. Once you master singing, head into the Musician special career tab and apply to be a singing solo artist. If you don't succeed right away, age up and try again next year. After passing an audition, you'll get an offer to sign an exclusive contract listing the genre, cash advance, royalty rate, and term. If the genre isn't rap, turn it down and keep going until rap appears. Signing the contract will officially make you a rapper in BitLife. How to become famous in BitLife Now that you're officially a professional rapper, it's time to become famous. You have two options: use the Hollywood Star to become famous instantly or work your way up to stardom. Screenshot by Destructoid If you have the Hollywood Star, you can instantly become famous in any job that has fame. At most, it'll take you aging up once or creating an album for it to activate. However, you need to buy this item from BitLife's marketplace for real money. Alternatively, you can work hard as a rapper until you become famous. Generally speaking, performing concerts and creating albums for a few years is enough to make you famous. As long as you increase your popularity over time, you'll eventually receive a "you are officially a famous rapper" notification, unlocking exclusive fame options through your Activities list. The post How to become a famous rapper in BitLife appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel has officially revealed a brand-new login campaign arriving to the game in the coming weeks, featuring both Gems and a special Royal Finish card as rewards. The massively popular digital TCG from Konami boasts a wide array of different cards for players to acquire, pulling from the more than 10,000 cards available in the physical TCG. Each month brings new Selection Packs adding even more cards to the game, while Secret Packs offer a permanent method for players to easily build decks. Now, fans will be getting some special rewards soon. View the full article

A month after launch, a small percentage of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered players have completed the main questline. But for a game like this, that’s not particularly surprising — fans are saying they’re way too busy doing other stuff. I’m one of those fans! I’ve been playing and enjoying Oblivion Remastered since it shadow-dropped on April 22, and upon leaving the sewers and handing over the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre at Weynon Priory, I’ve done everything BUT the main questline. I’ve joined the Fighters Guild, explored Cyrodiil, and completed loads of side quests. I’ve even tried to brute force my way out of the map, as one player managed to do. Why? Well, the side quests in Oblivion are brilliant fun (I won’t spoil any story stuff here), but I'm also trying to avoid the main quest (and potentially difficult parts of it like Kvatch) for the time being while keeping leveling up to a minimum. So, I’ve decided to enjoy Oblivion until I get bored enough to play the game properly. Although there is no properly with a Bethesda game like this one, is there? That’s why they’re brilliant. You do what you want whenever you want, and the game still works. It seems a lot of other players are doing the same thing. “I'm BUSY doing OTHER STUFF like hunting for SLAUGHTERFISH in Lake Rumare,” the wonderfully named redditor MrCrispyFriedChicken said in response to the percentage completion stats for finishing Oblivion Remastered’s main questline. “I spend 160 hours in already and Kvatch is still waiting for me,” added Roffear. “I'm one of those weirdos who actually likes the Oblivion gates so I purposefully don't finish the main quest until I've found all 60 gates in my world and closed them,” said Ellert0. “44 hours and an actual in-game year, and I haven't even been to Weynon Priory,” said PlayaHatinIG-88. “Those poor Kvatch city guards never stood a chance.” At the time of this article’s publication, a paltry 2.97% had completed Oblivion Remastered's main questline on Xbox and a slightly better 4.4% had on Steam. Why the difference? I presume that’s because Xbox factors in Game Pass, which will have seen a number of players dip their toe into Oblivion Remastered before bouncing. Steam players are all in, of course, because they actually bought the game outright. Either way, it’s still a low percentage for Oblivion Remastered, which has so far seen over 4 million players. But in truth most video games have a surprisingly low campaign completion rate, whether it’s an epic, 100-hour open-world fantasy role-playing game like Oblivion Remastered or a five-hour story like Call of Duty. Indeed, a lot of games have a surprisingly low percentage of players who stick around after an hour or so or continue playing after the tutorial. Such is the fickle nature of the gamer. For Oblivion Remastered, the stats may be skewed further because it’s a remaster of a beloved game many of its players finished back in the day. If you completed Oblivion's main quest 20 years ago, perhaps you’re less inclined to do it again now, and would rather focus on all the pretty new visuals and upgraded bits and bobs. Or, as one player has done, spend seven hours lining up books to get a Dominoes chain reaction just right. Thaddeus122 said they were almost 100 hours in and hadn’t even completed three of the main quests. They have, however, completed the Arena and the Mages Guild. And the rest of the time? “Leveling, getting money for homes, closing all the Oblivion gates, the Nirnroot quest, a bunch of little quests. To be fair, also don't fast travel anywhere.” Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Dead by Daylight has a new collaboration coming up, but probably not one you'd have guessed: It's Assassin's Creed Shadows. The collaboration was announced, along with a date of May 27 for Shadows' next big update, via Assassin's Creed social media accounts... Read more.View the full article

Strauss Zelnick thinks it's best to leave developers like Rockstar Games aloneView the full article

Epic Games has announced that Fortnite's Ballistic mode will now give players the option to surrender in the middle of a match, which may help people who feel a round is beyond recovery. Fortnite is currently in the middle of its Galactic Battle mini-season, which has introduced characters like Mace Windu, Emperor Palpatine, and Jar Jar Binks to the game. View the full article

"You turned into a wonderful young man"View the full article

Alongside multiple Season 2 updates, Marvel Rivals has given players the option to gift costumes from their favorite characters to any of their friends. Cosmetic bundles offered through the Store can be purchased for someone else, giving them access to new skins for any hero. However, the process behind gifting skins is a little complicated, with several requirements and steps you have to follow. View the full article

Every once in a while the developers at Facepunch, developers of survival game Rust (and also Garry's Mod), have a hack week. They work on silly stuff, goofy ideas, and strange concepts that might not make it into the game. Moonshot ideas, if you will, that are kind of goofy but also kind of brilliant in their own right... Read more.View the full article

Playing chess is child’s play these days: Just fire up your browser, go to Lichess or Chess.com, and the world’s your oyster. But even as traditional chess video games have fallen by the wayside, there are many fun variations on the theme to experience. From roguelites to puzzle games, management titles and even fantasy RPGs, there are many great chess-themed video games to try. Here’s my top five. Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate The ****** king is left all alone in their castle, and the entire White army is bearing down on their home. Thankfully, he still has his royal shotgun. [Hidden Content] An extremely silly concept that makes for a surprisingly fun puzzle roguelite, where you alternate moving your king and shooting your trusty shotgun. Upgrades and odd alternate rules ramp up the challenge and the enjoyment factor, ensuring that your showdown with your White counterpart will be a duel to remember. If you’re not sure how well firearms mix with your chess enjoyment, there’s a demo on Steam you can try. Majestic Chess I give precisely zero percent odds that you have heard of this game before. It is a shame, because it is such a cute and cool mix of fantasy and chess, and while it is clearly geared at kids in tone, it is a surprisingly fun romp and a great way to tutorialize even intermediate-level concepts of the royal game. Image by Sierra Entertainment via Moby Games It is definitely of a different era (you have to – gasp! – read a lot of text), and it can be a bit of a bother to get it running on a modern computer, but it is a genuinely charming way to introduce a loved one to chess with a lovely art style and nice music, with fun items like the Pipes of Befuddlement (that forces your opponent to make a random legal move on their next turn) or the Grail of Bishop Renewal (that does exactly what you would expect it to), it is still a jolly good time. And hey, if you are actually good at the game, it is an enjoyable romp for an afternoon’s delight. Kung-Fu Chess Real-time chess without turns—it’s a silly concept, but a tremendous amount of fun in multiplayer. That said, there are still some timing and sequencing limitations to keep in mind: you cannot move multiple pieces at the same time, and there is a short delay before you can move again. [Hidden Content] There are no checks and there is no stalemate rule – as is the case in most chess variants, your goal is to capture your opponent’s king. The origins of Kung-Fu Chess go back to the early 2000s, and this multimove variant actually has some quite significant depth and a high level of play. 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel I am not too proud to admit it: this game broke my brain and therefore I have very little actual commentary to offer on it. The title says it all, really: You play multiple simultaneous chess games across various timelines and boards, and you need to win once to win everywhere. [Hidden Content] “The first ever chess variant with spatial, temporal, and parallel dimensions,” 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel was a pandemic sensation, and if you really want to rack your brain, it is a great choice – but fair warning, you will need some actual chess knowledge to truly enjoy it. Master of Chess There’s Football Manager, there’s Tennis Manager, there are a million different management games – so, why not chess? A solo developer project, Master of Chess lets you help navigate a chess prodigy’s career, deciding on training regimen and tournaments to enter. [Hidden Content] While you can play out the games yourself against the computer, what I found the most enjoyable way to engage with Master of Chess was to play the mode where you are only asked to input a move in critical situations. This way, your low-level player will actually make big mistakes against strong opposition, and the puzzle situations that emerge are genuinely compelling because you watched the whole match blossom out in front of you along the way. Once again, there's a demo for your consideration. Pawnbarian One more puzzle roguelite for the road. Pawnbarian is an entirely turn-based affair, with cards and upgrade mechanics making it a much tighter puzzler than Shotgun King, and with much less of the whimsy. [Hidden Content] It is a great dungeon crawler experience, nevertheless. It’s a deep and challenging game with great replayability, and a fun way to play something chess-adjacent solo. The post The 6 best chess-themed video games appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]