Marvel's Avengers Will Receive More Regions Post-Launch

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The beta for Marvel's Avengers has wrapped but will return later this week for Xbox One and PC pre-orders (while all PS4 players can join in regardless). Developer Crystal Dynamics has spoken quite a bit about free post-launch content including new heroes (like Spider-Man and Hawkeye) and new missions. However, players can also expect new regions.

In PlayStation Magazine, creative director Shaun Escayg said that the campaign was a "jumping-off point." "Once the campaign resolves, it opens up into this sort of AIM versus citizens, the superpowered, and the heroes themselves." From there, it's a fight across different War Zone missions where players will also learn more about the different factions, like the Inhumans. There may even be some limited time missions to partake in.

In that respect, as Escayg describes, "You're going off and exploring that thread that we then get to add post-campaign, but even post-launch, as we actually add more regions and more heroes beyond that." It's not the most shocking thing to hear that new regions are also incoming. But one has to wonder how they'll change up the gameplay from the current slate of missions on offer.

Marvel's Avengers released on September 4th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia. It will become available for Xbox Series X and PS5 later this year but current-gen owners can upgrade to the next-gen version for free.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Delayed to 2021

vampire the masquerade bloodlines 2

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 developers Hardsuit Labs have announced via a message shared on Twitter that their upcoming RPG is being delayed. Previously scheduled for a release some time in late 2020, it will now be arriving in 2021.

The developers state in their message that the "quality bar and ambitions" they have set for themselves during the game's development, they have decided to postpone its release, in order to "ensure the best player experience possible." A more specific release window within 2021 is not provided, but they say that more information regarding that "other organizational changes that will help us achieve this goal" will be shared later.

This is not the first time that Bloodlines 2 has been delayed. It was originally due out in Q1 of this year, but in October 2019, Hardsuit Labs delayed it into late 2020.

Earlier this year, the studio confirmed that it had cut ties with writer Chris Avellone following allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him, and that after brief cooperation with him on the game, none of his work will be used for it.

Whenever in 2021 Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 does launch, it will release for PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Final Fantasy 14 Free Trial Expands to Heavensward Today

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Square Enix is releasing a big new patch for Final Fantasy 14 today which will trim down much of the bloat that exists in the base story. It also adds more content but new players might want to check out the game as well. That's because the free trial will be expanded significantly and includes the first expansion, Heavensward.

One can play for as long as they want until hitting level 60 and even experience all of the content released up to patch 3.56. Access to the Machinist, Astrologian and Dark Knight jobs will also be provided. All in all, it's a great way to experience the base game while also sampling what the expansions have to offer.

Keep in mind that a monthly subscription is still required to play. While new accounts will receive 30 days of free game time, they'll have to pay $12.99 past that. Final Fantasy 14 is currently available for PS4 and PC, and is considered by many to be the best MMORPG out there. Stay tuned for details on subsequent updates in the coming days.

Call of Duty 2020 – ARG Leads to Teaser Website

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Last week, Activision sent out a mysterious crate for the next Call of Duty to various publications and influencers, instructing them to open it on August 10th. The time has passed and several people – like NoahJ456 on YouTube – managed to decipher the ARG included. Check it out below, though the overall process is a little over five hours long.

The conclusion is that a teaser website called pawntakespawn.com was discovered. It has a variety of old equipment from a CRT TV and VCR to an IBM PC. If you look at the VCR for long enough, it will flash "08-14" in between the flashes of "12:00". This seems to indicate something happening on August 14th.

Though the whole ARG is a roundabout way of announcing the next Call of Duty, rumors have already pointed to it being a reboot of Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise. The full title was leaked already and it seems that players will be venturing to the Cold War for some old-school NATO vs. Warsaw Pact action. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Cyberpunk 2077 – CD Projekt RED Discusses "Bullet Sponge" Enemies

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Cyberpunk 2077 continues to look better and better with each subsequent gameplay reveal. The latest Night City Wire showcased the different Life Paths that players can take along with the weapons at their disposal. However, since this is technically a role-playing game and first person shooter, how is the development team combating possible "bullet sponge" foes?

Senior gameplay designer Pawel Kapala discussed this with VG247 in a new interview and noted that, "In the core of the game, if we're talking about the normal NPCs that you meet on the street, they can have different rarities to them, I would say. Most of the NPCs that you will meet are normal, just goons. And if you're continuing to level up, and if you're on the level of the enemy, you should never experience bullet sponginess. They will feel quite fast to kill, quite fast to engage. However, they're quite deadly as well, so you need to basically use cover, and move around a lot."

Then there are "elite" enemies, who may be officers or other higher-ranking goons. They'll take a bit more damage to go down. "Some of the NPCs would be, like at officer level, so they're more elite enemies that deal even more damage, and they take a little bit more punishment. However, what we opted to do there is that, we basically ensure that hit reactions on our NPCs are always played.

"This is a big problem in most of the games that I played that have bullet sponges; that basically you don't see any type of reaction on the NPC, as you're hitting him. It feels like you're literally shooting a sponge, like there's nothing there. And we never want to have that. So, we will still play hit reactions on those NPCs. You will still see that they're getting hurt. They will stumble, they will fall from your gunfire."

It's an interesting approach and one that solves issues that plagued games like The Division for years. If enemies react to damage, then it actually feels like your actions are having an impact even if they take a bit longer to kill. We'll have to see how this plays out during actual gameplay but it sounds promising. Of course, how this will affect non-human foes – like machines, for example – remains to be seen.

Cyberpunk 2077 is slated to release on November 19th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Narrative Director Says Eivor Was Always Meant To Have Male/Female Option

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If you have been following news around Ubisoft, you know there's a lot going on about the company's past and present. Lots of allegations have been levied at the developer, as well as many high profile people stepping down. On the game side, it's also been alleged that Ubisoft Leads minimized and/or cut out female protagonists, specifically in the case of Syndicate, Origins and Odyssey.  It seems there were also murmurs this happened with the latest game in the franchise, Assassin's Creed Valhalla. But the game's Narrative Director claims this isn't the case.

On the game's official Reddit, Darby McDevitt disputed the claim that Eivor was originally only meant to be female, saying that the intention was always to have the main character have an option for male or female. He seems to also imply there's a specific narrative reason for this that will make sense, though strays away from specifics (to also be clear, the report referenced above came from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, so McDevitt is not addressing that. It's unclear exactly where the claim comes from that this was also the case for Valhalla).

"I will say this once: this is not wholly accurate.

And I will repeat what I have always said. ACVs story was conceived from the beginning with both female and male in mind. When you play the game you will understand that there is no way the male could have been added at the last minute, or whatever version of this story you have heard.

Obviously there is more nuance to all this, but to go deeper would spoil lots of the mysteries at the heart of the game. But understand this, that we started ACV knowing full well that Ubi wanted to give players the ability to select characters, and we worked hard to make sure that it honored our lore."

You can see the female Eivor showcased in the latest trailer for the game, for reference. Of course, with everything happening with Ubisoft, who really knows, but either way, when Valhalla launches in November, you'll have the option to play as either version of Eivor.

We actually got a chance to sit down with McDevitt ourselves earlier this month to chat about the game, and you can read the whole interview through here.

EA Access "Coming Soon" Page Appears On Steam

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Once upon a time, EA left the Steam platform to create their own launcher and storefront as multiple other large companies have done over recent years. However, while their launcher (Origin) isn't going anywhere, it seems they are now returning to Steam with several high profile releases. One thing that is still missing is EA Access, the companies subscription service that has been tied to Origin on PC since its initial launch. It's been said the service would come to Steam soon, and then again in the fall. And it seems we're finally on the cusp of getting it.

While there is no official date or announcement yet, a new page for EA Access has appeared on Steam, which you can see here. This most likely means that the service is pretty close to coming to Steam, completeing EA's full return to Valve's storefront.

EA Access is a subscription service that gives you access to a backlog of EA's titles as well as extended trials, betas and demos of new and upcoming games such as the recent UFC 4 trial. The service is now available through PS4, Xbox One and PC via Origin, and we'll let you know when the service officially comes to Steam.

The Last Of Us Part 2 To Get Grounded And Permadeath Modes

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After several years of development, lots of manpower and a ton of work, The Last of Us Part 2 released earlier this year. It lead to some polarizing discussion, though ultimately saw critical acclaim as well as strong sales. There was a lot to praise in the adventure game, including its incredible amount of customization options for accessibility. Well, it seems the game will get some more options for those who aren't as concerned about that and want a more daunting challenge.

While there's been no official announcement, the latest update to the game, 1.03, added two new trophies. One of them is for clearing the game on Grounded while the other is for completing the story with Permadeath mode on. Neither of those two are in the game, which means they will both be coming soon (you can see the trophies in question thanks to our friends at PowerPyx).

The Last of Us Part 2 is quite a long game, and Survivor was already a pretty high difficulty, so I can imagine if you really want to be pushed both of these will take you to the limits. We'll keep you updated for when they are added.

Control – First 15 Minutes Of AWE Expansion To Be Streamed August 13

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Control released last year and in many ways it was the accumulation of developer Remedy Entertainment's long career. It merged many of the company's themes and gameplay mechanics into one cohesive title, making quite the experience. And now, to cap off this month, we will be getting its send off expansion, titled AWE, and we'll get to see the first 15 minutes of it this week.

As announced by the company, they will stream the first part of the DLC this Thursday via their official Twitch channel, which you can see a link to through here. If you're not familiar, the DLC is a crossover of some kind with another previous title from the company, the cult classic Alan Wake. Longtime Remedy writer Sam Lake explained that they now considered many of their works in a connected universe, and are working on another title set in said universe. The company has always played around with their works being interconnected (Alan Wake was referenced extensively in Remedy's game before Control, Quantum Break, for instance), but this is the first time in which two of them will be explicitly tied to one another.

Control is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The AWE expansion will come to all those platforms August 27th. The stream will go live on August 15th at 12 PM EDT.

Cyberpunk 2077 – CD Projekt RED Still Working on Melee Combat, "Not 100 Percent Happy"

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CD Projekt RED revealed quite a bit about Cyberpunk 2077 in today's Night City Wire, from how the Life Paths would differentiate V to the various tools of destruction available. In the latter, we saw a variety of guns and Cyberware but only one melee weapon in the Thermal Katana. Interestingly, the development team is still working to refine melee combat and said it's not "100 percent happy" with it.

Speaking to VG247 in an interview, senior gameplay designer Pawel Kapala said that, "We're still a couple of months before release, and I'm actually right now working on melee. We're spending a lot of time trying to perfect that, and we basically, we're not 100 percent happy, mostly with visual feedback on the hits, on the melee. So, we're still working on it.

"I'm happy to say that, even right now, it's much better than it was. And it's going to get even better. And we acknowledge that this is something that we need to perfect, basically. But as you said, melee in a first-person game is extremely difficult, from the get-go. So, it wasn't an easy task, since we basically come from a pedigree of creating third-person perspective games. It was also a big part of our development to actually figure out, how do you do melee in a first-person perspective? We're working on it."

Whether it's vastly improved or only somewhat better, there will doubtless be players who opt for melee-only runs. The question: How viable will those be? Kapala notes that you can go for just melee combat but there will be a number of challenges involved. "We put a lot of emphasis on the fact that enemies in our game exist in the game world. And if you take out a katana, and the encounter, for example, has two snipers, they will not oblige you. They will still shoot at you with their sniper rifles.

"So, you need to basically think about your approach. Yes, it's technically possible to run around everywhere with a katana. However, if you see a helicopter, would you charge at it with a knife? I don't think so. It might not be a very good strategy."

Essentially, if you're going to pull the "I am one with the Force and the Force is one with me" routine, then you might end up dead. It should still be interesting to see if it's possible, even if some trickery is needed.

Cyberpunk 2077 is currently set to release on November 19th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. CD Projekt RED confirmed another episode of Night City Wire is on the way so stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.