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Here’s a trailer announcing the release date: Overwatch 2 was initially meant to ship with a singleplayer component, but that was delayed last year and separated from the multiplayer experience that formed the core of the first game. Now Blizzard’s announcement post describes Overwatch 2 as an “always-evolving live service” with a “new, free-to-play model.” The post doesn’t explain what exactly players will need to pay for, though if you already own Overwatch you’ll get access to a “Founder’s Pack” in the sequel....

For the next three weeks, Overwatch is offering Lunar New Year cosmetics old and new, with weekly unlock challenges and a fast new variation on Capture the flag named “Blitz”. Blitz is an odd one. Aimed at creating a higher-stakes, faster-paced CTF experience, Blitz shrinks the map and doubles the score needed to win. More captures, more chaos, more fun, right? Well, reader, I tried it. I loathed it. In the round I played, both flags were placed within eyeshot of each other across a small Nepal courtyard....

Some of the Overwatch League games affected in South Korea include the Seoul Dynasty Homestand matches, as well as the matches that were rescheduled to take place in Korea following their cancellations in China. Dynasty have released a statement to explain the situation to fans, and assure that anyone who’s bought a ticket for the Homestand will be able to get a refund. “We are working with the league on rescheduling these matches and will share more information through the league when it is available,” they tweeted....

Paradox this week confirmed that they’re experimenting with a subscription service for Europa Universalis IV on a small number of players. At first they only hinted vaguely about experiments, then opened up after players digging into files found details on it. “We have heard for years from existing and potential new players that the cost of getting the game and all expansions all at once is quite expensive (and might be discouraging for completely new EU4 fans), it’s been supported for almost 7 years after all,” Paradox explained....

As they did last year, Paradox are doing their own video roundup of “trailers, deep-dives into new game content, and interviews with the developers of Paradox’s award-winning games.” With any luck, Paradox could come out and reveal some game in the works that we’ve not heard about yet. As for things still yet to launch, I can’t imagine we’ll go without at least some mention of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2....

Paradox say they’re donating all proceeds from the sale—meaning the full amount, not just profits—which is a nice move. You can grab several of their games at various discounted rates ranging from 50% to a steep 80% off on Cities: Skylines. The big build ’em up is one of the best management games around, along with Surviving Mars which is also included in the sale. BattleTech is on the list also, one of the best strategy games, where you direct fights between big honkin’ robots while managing not just ammo and positioning, but the heat of the walking tanks as well....

The Black Star arena mechanics: The Polaric Void The entire Black Star fight hinges on the center of the arena. When you load into the Polaric Void, you will immediately notice the center globe. That globe emits two lines of flame which divide the arena into a fiery-red half and an icy-blue half. The globe will rotate throughout the fight, shifting the halves with it. Each side inflicts the player with a stacking debuff, which makes them more vulnerable to that type of damage and its related ailment....

One of the lesser trends from tonight’s Gamescom Opening Night Live was cassette players, for some reason. When is it the MiniDisc’s chance to be retro cool, I ask you? Phantom Hellcat stars Jolene, and “stars” feels like the right word given that Jolene stumbles into a cursed theater and is set upon by evil props. The theatrical framing seeps into each part of the game. Jolene’s combat abilities, for example, can be remixed by popping on different character masks, and you’ll unlock new abilities as you fight through each stage on the way to rescuing your mother....

As I’ve been banging on about for months, Phasmophobia was one of the best games of 2020 and the best way to play it is on the beta branch where things are always changing. What’s changed this week is that ghosts are smarter, specifically in ways that are designed to torture me personally. Here, I’ll break down the highlights for you in lyrical order instead of importance: Harder: The ghost now has a 50% chance to remember where it last saw you during the last hunt and will search that area in the next hunt....

Get the Lenovo G27q-20 for £200 (was £290) First up, it’s all about the panel. A few years ago, you had a serious decision to make between IPS and TN panels. IPS panels were great for content creation and slower-paced games, where their superior colour performance, viewing angles and overall picture quality gave them an advantage. TN panels were significantly better for competitive games, where their lower pixel response times (and larger number of high refresh rate models) granted an advantage....

Players of the massive scale three-way sci-fi FPS will now have access to giant shields, orbital bombardments, tank airdrops, and the most exciting bit: carriers. You see the big fellers up there? You could be in one. Or, more likely, have to team up with enough people to take it down. The Bastion Fleet Carrier is a gargantuan, one-per-faction warship summonable by outfits who’ve gathered enough resources to craft its components....

In Maneater, you start as a baby shark (don’t) and eat more and more humans and wildlife to grow into a tremendous killing machine. Believe it or not, there’s a story to follow, and the Steam page says you can find “shark loot” that lets you evolve. In his Maneater review last year, Nate said it’s “an ecstatically violent simulation of being a fool’s idea of a shark, which long outstays its welcome when stretched into a repetitive open world game....

Bungie revealed plans for transmog back in May. They said the feature “is in early development and is expected sometime during Year 4”, but the current plan is that it “will allow players to turn their Armor into Universal Ornaments” through “in-game effort OR Silver.” That’s all we know. I don’t want a step-by-step explanation of how transmog will work (and don’t expect one, given that it’s clearly still a way away) but please let me know: do I need to be storing all these clothes?...

We’re reviewing each game as our opinion stands on them today, which means several PC classics are re-appraised. How do we feel about Baldur’s Gate in 2020? What is the half-life of our enjoyment of Half-Life? What does rating eleven Worms games do to the score for PC gaming as a concept? You can listen above and find out. We skipped questions and recommendations this week, because it takes a full 110 minutes if you’re trying to properly review a medium....

This turns out to be a topic that’s very close to VidBud Matthew’s heart, and the podcast opens with a discussion on what makes a 7/10 a 7/10, you know? Really, a lot of it is a gut feeling, which makes it difficult to define. We then move on to discuss some of our favourite 7s, both recent and older, and in classic Nate style, Nate makes a spicy take....

Getting developers to react to speedruns is a thing that IGN put together regularly, which is where this chat takes place. They’ve gotten together CantEven with Valve writer Erik Wolpaw, programmer Jeep Barnett, and programmer Garret Rickey. In particular, CantEven explains one big trick that Portal speedrunners refer to as “save glitch”. It’s a method for breaking collision with walls by tricking the game into misunderstanding where you’re actually standing....

In addition to moves I’m making elsewhere and offline, this place is as good as any to showcase games made by Black developers. So, here’s a collection of games by Black developers. Atgtha in Absurdia from Four Bit Friday Atgtha in Absurdia is a delightfully minimal roguelike, very reminiscent of the original Rogue. I say this with great care, as I know how passionate the Roguelike community can be with these definitions....

Ye olde HyperCard is an early Macintosh development kit that let developers link things together with revolutionary hyperlinks. You might have fond memories of at least one HyperCard game. Myst was built as a stack back in its day. It may not exactly be high fashion where game engines are concerned, but folks are still using it to make neat things. Trawick has recreated the “playable teaser” for a canned Silent Hill game that we all know as PT....