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From Software's expansion for Elden Ring offers an entire new game's worth of content, all of which is exceptionally executed. Shadow of the Erdtree takes players to the Land of Shadow, a place that has been hidden away, where the laws of the venerated Golden Order that governs The Lands Between were written in blood, and that has been forgotten and left to fester. Battling through the Land of Shadow's numerous castles, caves, and crypts delivers exactly what you want from a From Software game and what mad

They give it a 10/10

If you're at all familiar with the Dragon Age series, you likely already know BioWare has experimented quite a lot with its gameplay. From Dragon Age: Origins' real-time strategy RPG approach to Dragon Age II's mostly-set-within-one-city action experience to Dragon Age: Inquisition's strategy-action mix, BioWare hasn't quite defined the franchise's combat. However, a through-line is apparent from Origins to Inquisition: BioWare seemingly wants this franchise to be action but has attempted to shift to that without abandoning its longtime fans.

With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare has completed its transition from strategy to real-time action, but thanks to an optional tactical pause-and-play combat wheel that harkens back to the series' origins, I feel it's found a great (battle)ground for Dragon Age combat. Of course, it's hard to tell how Veilguard's action will hold up over what is sure to be a dozens-of-hours-long RPG, but if what I've seen so far is any indication, the studio is on to something.

A Shift In Strategy "I think the first thing to keep in mind is that combat [...] in the franchise has been an evolution," game director Corinne Busche tells me within BioWare's Edmonton office. "Every single entry reimagines what combat is like and I would say our goal was to make sure we had a system that allowed players to feel like they actually were able to step into the world of Thedas. They're not a player observing from afar – they are inside of this world. Being this authentic world that's brought to life, the combat system needs to support that, so you are in control of every single action, every block, every dodge, every swing of your sword."

Busche says players complete every swing in real-time, with particular attention paid to animation swing-through and canceling. On the topic of canceling, I watch Busche "bookmark" combos with a quick dash. With this mechanic, players can pause a combo's status with a dash to safety and continue the combo where they left off afterward. Alongside the dash, there's a parry for some classes, the ability to charge moves, and a revamped healing system that allows players to quickly use potions by pressing right on the d-pad.

Busche says each character will play the same in a way, regardless of class, in that you execute light and heavy attacks with the same buttons, use abilities with the same buttons, and interact with the combo wheel in the same way. During my demo at one point, we use a sword-and-shield Warrior Qunari that hip-fires and aims their shield to throw it like Captain America while hammering down big damage with a sword. Pressing the same buttons as a mage might throw out magical ranged attacks instead of a shield.

Abilities, like a Spartan-like kick from a Warrior or a Mage's firewall that deals continuous damage, add to the player's repertoire of combat options. Warriors can parry incoming attacks, staggering enemies in the process. Rogues have a larger parry window, and Mages can't parry at all but instead throw up a shield that blocks all incoming damage so long as they have the mana to sustain the shield.

"That is just the baseline that allows us to get that level of immersion of, 'I'm actually in this world; I'm a part of it,'" Busche says. "But again, the abilities, the strategy, linking my companions' abilities together to perform devastating combos, that is really where the depth and the complexity comes into play."

Abilities And The Skill Tree Warrior Rook Skill Tree This extends to companions, who, at your choosing, bring three abilities (of their five total) into combat, executed either with quick select buttons or the pause-and-play combat wheel. Every time you rank up a companion's Relationship Level, you unlock a skill point to spend specifically on that companion – this is how you unlock new combat abilities.

Though companion skill trees pale in comparison to Rook's expansive tree, which features passive abilities, combat abilities, and more, as well as paths to three unique class specializations, there's still some customization here.

You can find the skill tree for Rook and companions within Veilguard's start or pause menu. This menu contains pages for Veilguard's map, journal, character sheets, and a library for lore information, too. Here, you can cross-compare equipment and equip new gear for Rook and companions, build weapon loadouts, and customize your abilities and builds via the aforementioned skill tree, which looks relatively easy to understand.

Large circle: Class

Diamonds: Abilities

Medium circle: Major Passives and Ability Upgrades

Small hexagon: Traits

Small circle: Minor Passives and Stat Boosts

You won't find minutiae here, "just real numbers," Busche says. In other words, a new unlocked trait might increase damage by 25% against armor, but that's as in-depth as the numbers get. Passive abilities unlock jump attacks and guarantee critical hit opportunities, while abilities add moves like firewall and spartan kicks to your arsenal. As you spec out this skill tree, which is 100% bespoke to each class, you'll work closer to unlocking a specialization (which doesn't take reaching the max level of 50). Every class has three specializations, each with a unique ultimate ability. Busche says BioWare's philosophy with the skill tree is "about changing the way you play, not the statistical minutiae."

Companions In Combat If you completely ignore companions in combat, they will attack targets, use abilities, and defeat enemies all on their own. "[Companions] are their own people, "Busche says. "They have their own behaviors, they have their own autonomy on the battlefield, they'll pick their own targets. As their plots progress, they'll learn how to use their abilities more competently, and it really feels like you're fighting alongside these realized characters in battle."

Speaking to companion synergy, Busche adds, "I see all the abilities Harding has, and I see everything that Bellara is capable of. And sometimes, I'm using vulnerabilities synergistically. Maybe I'm pausing or slowing time with Bellara so that I can unleash devastating attacks with Harding, knocking down the enemy, and then me, as Rook, I'm rushing in and capitalizing on this setup they've created for me. It is a game about creating this organic sense of teamwork."

Busche says there are more explicit synergies, with intentional combos where specific companions can play off each other, and you can queue up their abilities to do just that. That’s what the pause-and-play combat wheel is for in Veilguard.

In this screen, which pauses the camera and pulls up a flashy combat wheel that highlights you and your companions' skills, you can choose abilities, queue them up, and strategize with synergies and combos the game recognizes, all while targeting specific enemies. Select what you want and release the wheel to watch your selections play out.

Putting It All Together During a mission within Arlathan Forest after Veilguard's prologue, Busche utilizes Veilguard's dual-loadout mechanic. As Rook, you can create two weapon loadouts for quick switch-ups mid-combat. As a mage Rook, she uses magical attacks to add three stacks of arcane build-up to make an Arcane Bomb on a Sentinel, a mechanical set of armor possessed by a demon. If you hit the Sentinel's Arcane Bomb with a heavy attack, the enemy will take devastating damage. Once the Sentinel has an Arcane Bomb on it, Busche begins charging a heavy attack on her magical staff, then switches to magical daggers in Rook's second loadout, accessed with a quick tap of down on the d-pad to unleash some quick light attacks, then back to the staff to finish charging its attack. She then unleashes the heavy attack, and the Arcane Bomb explodes in a liquidy whirl of green magic.

"I've seen [Veilguard's combat] refined over time [and] I love it," BioWare general manager Gary McKay tells me. "I love that balance of real-time fluid action, but also the ability to have the depth in the RPG, not just in terms of pause-and-play, but the depth in terms of how you bring your companions into the battlefield. What are you going to do with their skill points? What's the loadout you're going to use? Everything is about bringing Rook to the center of the battlefield, and I love it."

Former Dragon Age executive producer and Veilguard consultant Mark Darrah feels Veilguard is the first game where the combat is legitimately fun. "What I see in Veilguard is a game that finally bridges the gap," he says. "Uncharitably, previous Dragon Age games got to the realm of 'combat wasn't too bad.' In this game, the combat's actually fun, but it does keep that thread that's always been there. You have the focus on Rook, on your character, but still have that control and character coming into the combat experience from the other people in your party."

I get the sense from watching Busche play several hours of Veilguard that BioWare has designed a combat system that relies heavily on players extracting what they want out of it. If you want to button mash and use abilities freely when their cooldowns expire, you can probably progress fine (although on the game's easier difficulties). But if you want to strategize your combos, take advantage of elemental vulnerabilities, and min-max companions and Rook loadouts, you can do that, too, and I think you'll find Veilguard rewards that with a more enriching experience.

EA's top execs earned $60m in the fiscal year 2024, despite the company laying off hundreds of employees.

In particular CEO Andrew Wilson earned just under half that number himself - $25.6m - and was praised for executing on "key strategic and operating objectives".

Those objectives include reorganising the business into EA Entertainment and EA Sports; "optimising our portfolio, investments and resources in support of our strategic priorities and growth initiatives" as part of a restructuring plan; progressing the company's "long-term strategy plan focused on driving durable growth, strong cash flow and stockholder returns"; and overseeing a "year of continued employee satisfaction scores above industry benchmarks", which included "record high talent retention".

Absolutely fucked.

Pieces Interactive, the developer behind the recent Alone in the Dark reboot, has been shut down by Embracer.

The developer's website now reads "thanks for playing with us" and the dates 2007-2024. "Our last release was the reimagining of Alone in the Dark," it concludes (thanks IGN).

Embracer acquired Pieces in 2017 after working on a number of Titan Quest projects. The Swedish conglomerate has closed a number of developers over the past year, resulting in layoffs.

Dick's.

Will you be picking one up later this year?

During the Xbox Games Showcase this year, Microsoft unveiled three brand-new Xbox Series X|S console revisions coming in late 2024 - and we want to know if the Pure Xbox audience is planning on picking up any of these shiny new systems later in the year.

Across the new lineup, we've got a 1TB White Xbox Series S, an all-digital 1TB White Xbox Series X, and a new 2TB Galaxy Black Xbox Series X. The three new systems run the gamut when it comes to pricing - right from $350 on the low end up to a whopping $600 for that Xbox Series X with upgraded storage.

Tonight brought our first proper look at Assassin's Creed Shadows gameplay, and the vast difference in approach to playing as its two main characters.

An extended gameplay slice shown during Ubisoft Forward began with samurai Yasuke taking the direct approach to enemies - namely, caving their heads in with a very large mace, spilling brains and baskets of oranges from the local market across the floor.

It wasn't all violence, though - you can also pet dogs.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the latest installment in the open-world RPG series developed by Bioware.

Watch 20 minutes of gameplay from Dragon Age: The Veilguard in this latest video for the upcoming RPG. The video gives us a look at various characters and classes in action, including a level 1 Rogue named Rook, the scout Lace Harding, an ice mage Neve Gallus, and Varric as they take on demons during a mission to stop the Veil from being destroyed by Solas. The video also showcases dialogue options and how choices can impact your companions, the city of Minrathous under attack, a fight in the Arlathan forest location, a peek at the ability wheel during combat, and much more.

Embark on a quest to face powerful Elven gods and stop the destruction they’re unleashing on the world. You are known as Rook, battling on the front lines alongside a compelling cast of companions with individual storylines and motivations. In true Dragon Age fashion, companions are central to the experience and as Rook, you must rise up, rally your crew and forge relationships to become the unexpected leader others believe in.

In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the Elven Trickster god of legend Solas wants to tear down the Veil that separates Thedas from the world of demons, restoring his people’s immortality and glory – even at the cost of countless lives. But his ritual goes awry, and his worst fears are realized, as two of his most ancient and powerful adversaries are released. They seek only to finish what they started millennia ago – the complete and utter domination of our world. Rook’s journey to stop these two powerful deities will span across all of Thedas to bustling cities, lush tropics, boreal forests, fettered swamps and the deepest depths, but be wary of the evil forces along the way like the Dark Spawn, Venatori Cultists and Demons of the Fade.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is launching in Fall 2024 for PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam and Epic Games Store).

Looks more like a hack and slash than a Dragon Age of Old. Should have went back to Origins.

Not Xbox related in itself but it is video game related and it makes me happy I quit playing multiplayer games years ago!

What did you think of the Xbox Games Showcase?

Including some Game Pass titles!

Just after the Xbox Games Showcase 2024 ended yesterday, the good folks over at PC Gamer held the PC Gaming Show 2024 - and it featured plenty of Xbox games including some upcoming Xbox Game Pass titles!

Some of the highlights here include a new Cities: Skylines-style football game called Copa City, a Game Pass reveal in the form of Star Trucker along with an early 2025 window for Citizen Sleeper 2, and the launch trailer for June's much-anticipated Still Wakes The Deep!

Arguably one of the more intriguing new game announcements from tonight's Xbox Games Showcase, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a new turn-based RPG from French studio Sandfall Interactive.

Combining fantasy and 'Belle Époque' art influences, you'll be leading the titular expedition to try and stop the mysterious Paintress, a being who's slowly wiping out the last remnants of humanity by painting numbers on a strange monolith - with each number killing off everyone who's that particular age.

A slightly convoluted setup to write down in words, perhaps, but the idea of your 'number being up' and having fewer and fewer folks to help aid you in your fight against fate with every passing year is strong indeed, so why not have a gander at the reveal trailer below:

Kicking off this evening's Xbox showcase, we got a look at Doom: The Dark Ages, and oh my days, it looks awesome.

"Before he became a hero," the video begins, "he was the super weapon of gods and kings." And what a super weapon he was. But, don't let me tell you. You can check out Doom: The Dark Ages' reveal trailer for yourself below.

Doom: The Dark Ages will serve as a prequel to 2016's Doom and Doom Eternal. It is described as a single-player action FPS that "tells the epic cinematic origin story of the Doom Slayer's rage", and of course, it is being developed by id Software.

The Killing Floor series of horror-themed first-person shooters has been around for a long time. The first game was a bit rough looking but fun. Killing Floor 2 then came along and looked like the first game but better. Now, Killing Floor 3 is in the works, and it looks like the second game but better. We know this for sure because the new game's first gameplay trailer has just debuted. Yes, it looks like the previous game, but also incredibly fun!

Official description:

The year is 2091, 70 years after the events in Killing Floor 2, and megacorp Horzine has produced the ultimate army: an obedient horde of bio-engineered monstrosities called Zeds. Now, the only thing standing between these infernal creations and the future of humanity is the rebel rogue group known as Nightfall. This intense first-person shooter puts players in the role of a Nightfall specialist, joining forces with up to five teammates as they battle through a war-ravaged, dystopian future, surviving unrelenting waves of Zeds, unlocking new skills, and building the ultimate arsenal.

Killing Floor 3

We hear that Killing Floor 3 has changed up the traditional class system. Now, weapons will be tied to specific classes rather than being usable by all of them. This takes away a little bit of freedom but makes the different classes more unique and special. Like, if you're playing a medic, you should probably be using medic weapons anyway, right? We'll see how much this affects the overall experience when the game comes out next year. I'm hoping for more boss variety too. Killing Floor 2 is one of the best and most enduring co-op FPS of all time, so we have high hopes for part 3!

Killing Floor 3 is coming to Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 5, Steam, and Epic in early 2025. Well, we sure hope it will launch on all platforms simultaneously this time!

A brand new game in the Gears of War series has been announced, and surprise! It’s not Gears 6. Gears of War: E-Day brings the series back to the beginning, the very beginning, in fact. We will reunite with fan favorite characters Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago in a game set more than a decade …

Another first-party Game Pass release.

We've been waiting on a date for Age of Mythology: Retold for a while now, and we've finally got one! As revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, this RTS game is coming to Xbox Series X, Series S and PC on September 4th, 2024!

You can check out the brand-new trailer up above, and we'll throw more details down below.

A decade after Inquisition, Dragon Age returns

At Sunday’s Xbox Games Showcase, BioWare premiered a new trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard (formerly Dreadwolf), featuring something that fans of the storied role-playing game franchise have awaited for a decade: a release window. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will officially launch sometime this fall, on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.

The new trailer for the fourth mainline Dragon Age game was more of a tone-setter, introducing players to the adventurers they’ll fight alongside in The Veilguard. Those allies include:

Harding: The Scout Neve: The Detective Emmrich: The Necromancer Taash: The Dragon Hunter Davrin: The Warden Bellara: The Veil Jumper Lucanis: The Mage Killer

BioWare promises those seven companions will have rich lives and deep backstories, and that you can befriend them, and even fall in love with them, over the course of the single-player narrative. Expect to learn more about Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s companions and how they’ll play during a gameplay reveal livestream on June 11.

Little has been revealed about the follow-up to Polygon’s 2014 game of the year up to this point, other than that it will be set in several nations previously unexplored in a core Dragon Age game, and that it will continue the story of Solas, a rogue mage and companion character from Inquisition who inspired the legendary figure of the Dread Wolf and wants to tear reality apart.

However, BioWare shared in blog post last week, those behind the game felt like naming the game after the Dread Wolf felt a little off. “Naturally, the Dread Wolf still has an important part in this tale, but you and your companions — not your enemies — are the heart of this new experience.”

Dragon Age games are known for their rich companion characters, and The Veilguard boasts a collection of seven, with “deep and compelling storylines where the decisions you make will impact your relationships with them – as well as their lives.”

It’s been a long and rocky road for The Veilguard, especially of late, with layoffs at BioWare, including all members of Canada’s first games industry union in 2023, former employees suing for inadequate severance, and in general a high level of turnover among veteran Dragon Age staff and writers, including creative director Mike Laidlaw in 2017, producer Mark Darrah in 2020 (though he later returned as a consultant), and writer Mary Kirby in 2023.

Only time will tell if The Veilguard can once again reach the heights of its predecessors. But now we know when that time is.

Not for the faint-hearted.

We might be missing out on the upcoming Silent Hill 2 Remake over on Xbox, but Slitterhead is here to fill that gap! Yep, some of the minds behind Konami's famous horror franchise are splitting off to make Slitterhead later this year.

The game is confirmed for Xbox Series X|S, and we have an official release date of November 8th, 2024. You can check out the title's gameplay debut up above - we think Slitterhead is looking pretty good so far and it's nice to see it release so soon!