Games Games Games

The great dildo plague of Cyberpunk 2077 is to come to an end

There are a phenomenal amount of dildos in Cyberpunk 2077, they seem to be scattered across almost every corner of the game including places dildos should not be, throbbing sneakily from behind the counter of many cafes. CD Projekt RED have now explained why the game contains so many fake phalluses, "Where something by today's standards might be taboo or kinky is very normal and commonplace by 2077 standards."

Dildos are not taboo, and they certainly 'aint kinky. Rubber pleasure poles have been around since the 1930's and the first known sex toy was created around 30,000 years ago, and back in 2016 Phil and Holly had a feature on the best vibrators during This Morning where they discussed the 'Lovehorny Clitoral Desire Vibe'. A big floppy silicon wang lost any sort of shock value many years ago.

It's unclear why scattering huge amounts of jiggling jackhammers across a city is meant to show sexual liberation, but apparently it does. Dildos spawn as part of the random loot items in the game and it seems that the algorithm that selects when and where a sexy toy is placed isn't working very well.

"We were still tweaking those settings, so especially during the early reviews, the amount of dildos in the game world was pretty high. We're going to adjust them so that the dildos don't appear too out of place/context and distracting and more where they should be by design," explained senior quest designer Philipp Weber to Kotaku.

This will be the first, and hopefully only time, a game gets a hotfix to patch out a plague of plastic penises.

Despite record breaking pre-orders and launch sales for Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red have found themselves in hot water over the launch of the game. With myriad bugs, poor performance on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and the company issuing a public statement saying the unsatisfied users could seek refunds, all coming after a review cycle that only featured the PC version of the game, it's safe to say that public perceptions of the company have taken a nose dive.

In an emergency board call to answer questions, the company's top brass were grilled about the launch, upcoming updates, how they dropped the ball, and the fallout that they're currently seeing.

First and foremost, joint-CEO Adam Kiciński admitted in his opening statement that "After 3 delays, we as the Management Board were too focused on releasing the game. We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles."

This was later followed up by co-founder Marcin Iwiński was said "It is more about us looking – as was previously stated – at the PC and next-gen performance rather than current-gen. We definitely did not spend enough time looking at that."

Source: Kotaku

EA Play for Xbox Game Pass on PC delayed until 2021

On the day of its intended launch, Microsoft have stated that EA Play's induction into the Xbox Game Pass for PC game library has been delayed until sometime in 2021.

EA Play is still, however, a part of Xbox Game Pass for console, and has been since the launch of the Xbox Series X|S on 10th November.

Writing on the Xbox blog, they say:

When we originally set out to write this blog post, which would announce the availability of EA Play on PC with Xbox Game Pass, it looked a little bit different. Unfortunately, what had been a celebratory post is now one asking for a little more patience: We made the decision to delay until 2021 the release of EA Play on PC as part of the Xbox Game Pass for PC and Ultimate memberships.

We established this partnership with Electronic Arts because they are as passionate as we are about helping people and communities discover great games, and we knew we could provide a great experience for members by working together. In order to deliver on that, we need more time to provide the Xbox Game Pass experience.

It was on the cusp of that launch that Microsoft originally announced that the tightening of their partnership with EA would extend to Windows 10 as well. While Microsoft have not gone into the reasons why, there's any number of background technical issues that could have led to this, from having to add a bunch of EA games to the Microsoft Store all in one go, to the ties back to EA's own platform that the games have.

On Windows, EA Play is available through EA themselves, but also arrived on Steam back in August. The service debuted as EA Access on Xbox One back in 2014, the PC counterpart Origin Access arriving in 2016, before EA Access it belatedly spread to PlayStation 4 in 2019. Earlier this year they rebranded it all as EA Play. Much less confusing.

Source: Xbox

Among Us announced for Nintendo Switch, is out today!

Slow burning indie hit Among Us has stealth released on Nintendo Switch and will be available to download and play today, December 15th!

Prep the airlock and join your crewmates in a multiplayer game of teamwork and betrayal!!#AmongUsGame by @InnerslothDevs is available today on #NintendoSwitch! #IndieWorld pic.twitter.com/RTrsLS02tV

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 15, 2020

There is no news on PlayStation or Xbox versions and as Nintendo are all over this announcement I would expect there's some sort of timed exclusivity deal, but the other console version can't be far behind.

Last week new map for Among Us was revealed at The Game Awards, where developer Innersloth picked up a couple of awards (and were totally adorable with their reactions and acceptance speeches).

Called The Airship, the new map is set on the Toppat Airship, with tasks like polishing diamonds and emptying trashcans. You'll have to take ladders to get around, while there's new mechanics like being able to choose your starting position after a meeting, and more.

Among Us has been one of the indie hits of the summer, despite actually having released all the way back in 2018. The game was discovered by Twitch streamers, with its paranoia-infused multiplayer making for a lot of fun and plenty of cross-channel collaborations. It helps that the game's really cheap at just £4.

The game is built for 4-10 players, with one or more players being an "imposter", and alien interloper who has to try and murder their way through the other players as they try to complete tasks. As murdered bodies are discovered, players report them and call a group meeting to bicker, accuse, and potentially kick someone out of an airlock. There's tons of options to customise lobbies and tweak settings to balance the game for your group,

In response to the sudden boom in popularity in August, Innersloth set back to work on their now very popular game. It had achieved moderate popularity originally, allowing them to start working on a sequel, but they decided to instead cancel the sequel and put more resources into supporting their now huge audience.

Source: Twitter

Katamari Damacy REROLL has us gagging for a Katamari sequel

Amidst our grim fascination with explosive, ultra violent video games, there's also that omnipresent longing for something to come and wow us, whether it be a bold new take on the familiar or something completely abstract. Katamari definitely slots into the latter category and if you've always been curious about this Namco curio, you can finally play it on modern PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Katamari Damacy REROLL isn't just a nifty remaster of a cult classic, it's a remedy. It's a silly salve that dissolves the over-seriousness of AAA gaming, an unapologetically absurd palette cleanser.

Miguel has already waxed lyrical about Namco's revival of this beloved PlayStation 2 gem when it originally bounded onto the Nintendo Switch and PC at the very end of 2018. Two years later and it has finally made it way onto other last-gen systems (and it's obviously playable on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S via backward compatibility).

If you've never heard of or touched a Katamari game before then the premise is as bonkers as it is refreshingly straightforward. As the Prince you'll drop into different levels, moving your ball-like Katamari around in an attempt to roll up as many items as possible within a set time. The bigger your Katamari grows, the bigger the objects will be that you can stick onto it.

Damacy starts you off at the small end, scooping up various articles of Japanese paraphernalia around a suburban home. By the end of the game, however, you'll be big enough to roll up people, cars, and entire cities. It's incredibly cathartic.

In another universe, there's a version of Katamari Damacy that is M-rated nightmare fuel. This game turns out to be the complete opposite, oozing with eccentric charm from every pore. Everything, from the calming pastel colours to the blocky 3D models and character designs are uniquely endearing. Just take a look at the Prince's dad, The King of All Cosmos, to get a dose of the game's fruity flavour.

Controlling your Katamari in REROLL is deliberately clunky. You'll need to move both sticks in tandem to push your big ball of rubbish in that direction. Meanwhile turning is done by pushing up on one stick and down on the other, clicking them both snapping you 180 degrees when you need to quickly pivot. The items you manage to stick onto will morph the Katamari's shape – snag a few fence panels and they'll likely jut out of one side, awkwardly catching on your surroundings as you roll along. Katamari Damacy REROLL really isn't the smoothest, most modern-feeling game to play and that could definitely rub newcomers the wrong way, but only if they've somehow not been entranced by its sheer bizarreness.

In terms of playable content, there isn't as much as other games in the Katamari series though plenty to keep you going as you bounce between a mix of story and bonus levels. There's also a score-chasing element here, as well as competitive split-screen multiplayer that helps expand REROLL's lifespan beyond its trippy main adventure.

There wasn't much Namco needed to do here in terms of visuals besides remaster everything in HD. Katamari is one of the strongest examples of games that out-flex photorealism with their gorgeous art direction. The soundtrack is top-tier work, too, to the point that Katamari mixes have long been a go-to of mine when working, studying, or in the mood for uplifting tunes spliced with some killer jazz.

Much like Miguel two years ago, I'm here to tell you that Katamari Damacy REROLL is a Japanese gaming treasure, tarted up for a new generation. You'll know just by looking at a single screenshot whether it will suit your vibe. Even if it doesn't, there's still a good chance you'll come away with the biggest grin on your face.

The Fall Guys Season 3 is now live!

Update: Fall Guys Season 3 is now live, bringing with it plenty of new levels, costumes to earn and stuff to do within a wintry new theme.

FALL GUYS SEASON 3

7 NEW LEVELS
30+ COSTUMES
BERT, BORT, BART
CROWN RANKS
GOLD COSTUMES
RINGUS DINGUS

RT IF FALL GUYS GOES BRR#FallGuysSeason3 pic.twitter.com/9sFGpytCEW

— Fall Guys (@FallGuysGame) December 15, 2020

The launch of Season 3 comes, of course, with a big new update. Head here for the Season 3 update patch notes.

The original post follows.

Cuddly battle royale sensation Fall Guys is about to embark on its third season, sprinkling the game with a light dusting of wintry content to go with the festive cheer of the season.

Fall Guys Season 3 is out on 15th December for PlayStation and PC.

The winter update will bring with it 7 new levels to test yourself on, new obstacles to deal with, and over 30 new skins to unlock through wins and playing.

So what's the point in playing this weekend? Well, you can try to get through the last few levels on Season 2 with its medieval theme, which will certainly be helped by the Double Fame points that are currently being handed out. Or maybe take a break so that the winter content will all feel nice and fresh?

We awarded the game an excellent 8 our of 10 in our review earlier this year. Here's how I summed up my time with the game:

Full of cute and cuddly jelly beans bumbling into each other in a race for the crown, Fall Guys is just about the most wholesome battle royale imaginable, and a whole lot of fun.

Fall Guys was made available for free on PlayStation Plus back in August and quickly became it's most-downloaded complimentary game. It was a huge success on PC as well, though, selling millions of copies and becoming a staggering success for Mediatonic.

Fortnite gets 120Hz mode on PS5 & Xbox Series X, adds PC Performance Mode for older computers

Epic Games are pushing out Fortnite update 15.10 today, which is all about increasing performance for an ever wider group of players.

On PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S there's a new 120fps mode that applies to both Battle Royale and Creative modes of the game – you can find the toggle in the Fortnite Video settings. It's not clear what resolution and video settings playing at 120fps will result in, but expect a fair few sacrifices to be made to get there.

Epic have also further optimised the game on Xbox Series S, so that the standard 60fps mode now has a maximum resolution of 1200p, up from 1080p. That should add a touch of added clarity to the game on the lighter new generation console.

Meanwhile, over on PC, Epic have released a Performance Mode update that enables the game to run on older PC specs than before. It's an in-game setting that quite simply trades visual quality for lower memory usage and a lighter load on the CPU and GPU. It's intended to lower the bottom end specs, but also to help smooth frame rates for those that are struggling.

The download can also be reduces, with the ability to opt out of high-resolution textures through the Epic Games Launcher installation options page. This will slash 14GB from the game's size, dropping it to as little as 17GB when also ditching the Save the World mode and unnecessary language packs.

Epic have provided examples for the kinds of performance uplift that can be expected, both devices featuring integrated graphics and running the game at 720p:

Hardware Example 1:	Hardware Example 2:
CPU: Intel i5-8265U @ 1.60GHz	CPU: AMD A10-5745M APU @ 2.1GHz
Memory: 8GB RAM	Memory: 6GB RAM
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620	GPU: AMD Radeon(TM) HD 8610G
FPS Before: 24 fps	FPS Before: 18 fps
FPS After: 61 fps	FPS After: 45 fps

Source: press release

Empire of Sin Review

Empire of Sin's authentic decor, swinging house band, and menu of exotic systemic cocktails can't make up for a serious termite infestation that threatens to quite literally bring the house down. It can be a real swell ball at times, but there comes a point – say, somewhere after the roof has collapsed, crushing all the guests – where you have to cut your losses and close up for renovation.

Had Empire of Sin launched in early access, I'd have called it exceptionally promising. Like a mob hitman dangling a lit cigarette over a gasoline-soaked rival business, it's constantly threatening to turn into something absolutely explosive. Its many systems are poised to coalesce into some truly fascinating results, from the micro level personalities of the individual mobsters you can hire, to the apparent nuances of the higher level strategy management game. It doesn't quite manage it, though.

I outlined most of what I felt were the game's highest and lowest points in my review in progress, and at least one hotfix later, I'm sad to say that not a great deal has changed. Truthfully, however many approaches and clever tricks the game offers in the running of your mobster empire, the AI factions are never smart enough to warrant you actually using most of them. Weak minor factions will sit right next to the more powerful opponents, and the big fish will barely ever swallow the little one, despite the clear advantages they hold. There are many small issues like this, but they all come down to a lack of aggression or manipulation on the AI's part. You have to wonder how they made it this far in the underworld with such a lack of ambition.

After several more hours with the combat that comprises around two thirds of the time you'll spend with Empire of Sin, I've grown ever more weary of it. The lack of an auto-resolve feature means you'll spend an age fighting grindy battles, and the ease of ambushing means fights are often over before they begin. This can be fun, for the first twenty or so times, but it ends up feeling like so many other parts of Empire of Sin: you're barely even playing, just going through the motions needed to progress.

Because the economy benefits so strongly from your ability to take things by force, easy combat also leads to the management layer feeling almost inconsequential. You can break it with a few clever tricks, or you can take it by force, but the only way in which you actually have to work for it is in an investment of time, never strategy or forethought.

I still want Empire of Sin to realise its full potential, because its stylings really are something. A love for the time period permeates everything the game does, from the weapons and dialogue to what is probably my favourite soundtrack this year. The few battles that force you to pull out all the stops are properly gripping, and there's a gleeful, immediate violence to finishing blows that bring to mind John Romero sneaking downstairs while his wife was asleep to add his own satisfyingly juvenile signature to the game.

I can't remember having such an unsatisfying experience with a game that I didn't end up fundamentally disliking, perhaps ever, because Empire of Sin is such a charming, and as I've said, ambitious creation. It's not a bad game, it's just one that needs more development time to realise its potential.

Empire of Sin is a promising strategy game but one that feels woefully incomplete. I can't recommend it, but I can recommend following it's hopeful transition into something genuinely wonderful.

DIRT 5 update 2.00 is rolling out – PS5 trophy issue & Xbox Series X 120Hz visuals fixed in the patch notes

DIRT 5's first major update is rolling out this week, with version 2.00 bringing with it wheel support across PC, PlayStation and Xbox platforms and a free 'Snow Limits' content pack for all players.

The update is available today for PC via Steam, but will be released for PS5, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S "in the coming days".

The Snow Limits pack includes New Playgrounds items, new liveries, new Ice Breaker circuit, new customisation items and the option for Snowy conditions in Playgrounds mode.

Meanwhile, as previously revealed, wheel support will include Thrustmaster, Logitech and a subset of Fanatec devices, with support largely following that of 2019's GRID.

The rest of the update is predominantly one of bug fixes and further optimisations. Of particular note, the visuals have been updated for Xbox Series X in the 'Prioritise Frame Rate'/120hz mode where it was oddly low quality compared to PS5, and the PS5's trophy unlocking issue has been resolved – you'll just need to complete one event and any outstanding trophies should now ping.

There's no mention of DualSense adjustments, which must be a longer term goal for Codies to address.

Here's the patch notes.

DIRT 5 update 2.00

VISUAL

Further general visual and performance improvements across the board, including visual updates to the 'Prioritise Frame Rate'/120hz mode on Xbox Series X
Further FPS improvements when using Image Quality mode on Xbox One and PS4
Fixed issues causing flickering lights during night-time events
PC: Further fixes for reports of crashes and  startup  issues
Fixed issue causing game freezes in the Career – Sponsors tab when selecting an Amplified Edition sponsor

CAREER 

Fixes for crashes occurring at the beginning of some Career events for some players
Added option to listen back to previous podcast episodes from a playlist
Fixed visual bug in Career mode that shows the player earning more than the maximum  amount of Stamps after completing Throwdowns

ONLINE 

Technical changes made to the matchmaking process; search times for lobbies have been increased to improve the likelihood of live lobbies being found
Friends lobby size increased to eight players
Fixes for crashes occurring when exiting active multiplayer events

SPLIT-SCREEN 

Fixed multiple bugs causing crashes and performances issues in split-screen play
Audio fixes for low volume in split-screen mode

PLAYGROUNDS 

Leaderboard  display adjusted to show faster target times
Resolves occurrences of objects being available for the wrong event type

GENERAL

Amplified Edition entitlements fully unlocked for Amplified Edition pre-order players
PS5: Fixed issue with Trophies not unlocking. Any Trophies earned during this issue should unlock for players after completing one event
Further improvements made to AI behaviour, particularly in races with large grids
Fixed instance of cars triggering a track reset incorrectly on Arizona – Merrick Butte location
Fixed issues causing crashes in the post-race menus
Sprint cars: changes made to handling model following community feedback
Display fixes for PS4/PS5 Trophy images and text
General stability and quality of life improvements across each platform to improve your  experience

Source: Dirt

Batbarian: Testament of The Primordials Review

While both Metroid and Castlevania have been largely absent from our gaming screens in recent years, the genre that they inspired has been going through a relative golden age, at least in terms of the number of games released. The 'metroidvania' is a convenient category in which to group the various kinds of gradual exploration games, from Hollow Knight to Supraland.

With the explosion of entries, however, games need to do something different to stand out from the crowd. At first, Batbarian appears to do so by literally keeping you in the dark, but once you delve deeper, it is in fact an admirable attention to accessibility that separates it from many others.

In typical fashion, Batbarian begins by throwing your character in the deep end – in this case flinging you off a cliff. You are at least accompanied by a mysteriously glowing bat that remains loyally by your side throughout the adventure that follows. This is fortunate indeed, since their light is often the only illumination to be found. This oppressively dark setting is, of course, entirely appropriate for the caves and dungeons you explore, but it can lead to moments of frustration as you struggle to see the platforms you are trying to jump on – this was especially the case on my Switch Lite. Despite this, the graphical style did work pretty well (once I upped the gamma correction a little)

The pixel art aesthetic is often a Marmite approach, but if you are a fan of it, then Batbarian is a great example. The enemies have a character that belies their simplicity, an aspect helped out a great deal by the genuinely witty writing. Batbarian is fully aware of its silliness and contains some actually funny parodies of genre expectations and clichés.

Alongside your bat friend, you also find three alternative companions across your adventure, each offering different helpful abilities, but all restricted by limited charges. These characters also have interesting parallel paths through your adventure, some of which only become clear through the occasional flashbacks that mark your progress.

The main marker of success or failure in a Metroidvania is the pleasure of exploration. This can be broken down into the screen to screen feel of the platforming and combat, and then the ease of navigation across the wider map. In the first case, Batbarian is good fun to play. The jumping is reliable with a great sense of weight and in most cases mistakes should be put down to human error. There are some screens that seem especially unfair or require a degree of accuracy that results in multiple attempts, and it's not always clear whether that's because they're a difficulty spike on the main path through the screen or an optional route to a secret.

This leads me nicely on to the second aspect: the map. On one level, the map is exemplary, as there is a brilliantly intuitive notation system where you can cycle through appropriate icons from treasure chests to question marks. This works well at the beginning of the game, but the busy work of maintaining the icons threatens the flow. I'm unsure why this couldn't be automatic as is often the case in this genre.

Perhaps my main complaint about the map is that there is no marker for your destination. Too often I was reduced to aimless exploration going from dead end to dead end as there was no real clue as to where I should head next. Equally complex maps such as those found in the Ori games manage to demonstrate how a destination marker doesn't ruin the sense of exploration, but instead avoids needless time wasting. The relative vagueness of your unlocked abilities doesn't help this issue.

As you venture deeper into the world of Batbarian you'll come across some mysterious trees with magical fruits. How these trees are growing underground isn't explained, of course, but the fruits that fall from them become your main puzzle mechanic, with your bright little bat friend seemingly always hungry. You can throw these fruits in order to send the flight-light to specific parts of the screen to either open doors, scare off enemies, and eventually freeze or burn obstacles. Some of the late game puzzles are complex and fiendish, requiring you to juggle a number of different items to progress. You also have stones to throw that can flick switches when necessary.

Batbarian is a game that balances the possibility of extreme challenge with a hugely refreshing suite of accessibility options. In doing so, it becomes a game that you can play on your own terms. From helpful extras such as a slow aim for throwing to more fundamental changes like recharging health, these options open up the game to a wider audience and ensured that I could make it through some of the more difficult areas.

CDPR grilled over Cyberpunk 2077 PS4 & Xbox One failings in emergency board call

In an emergency board call to answer questions, the company's top brass were grilled about the launch, upcoming updates, how they dropped the ball, and the fallout that they're currently seeing.

No… really?

It's also raised questions about the certification protocol that Sony and Microsoft have put in place for their systems. As we've seen on countless occasions, this isn't so much an additional layer of quality control, but rather ensuring that games abide conform to certain rules and work with system features like trophies and system-wide accessibility.

Iwiński says, "In terms of the certification process and the third parties – this is definitely on our side. I can only assume that they trusted that we're going to fix things upon release, and that obviously did not come together exactly as we had planned."

Speaking of the manufacturers, CDPR's suggestion that requesting refunds was an option has, in some cases, gone down like a lead balloon. We've seen reports of UK retailer GAME refusing to issue a refund, as well as both Sony and Microsoft's strict store refund policies blocking consumers because they had downloaded and started playing the game.

VP of Business Development Michał Nowakowski admitted that, while CDPR noted the ability to request a refund, they have no actual part in the process.

He said "One has to understand: Microsoft and Sony have refund policies for every product that is released digitallyon their storefronts. Despite several articles I've seen that things are being set up just for us, it'sactually not true – these policies are in place and have always been in place; they're not offeredspecifically for us. Anyone who has purchased any title on the PlayStation network or the Microsoft storefront can ask for a refund, and if it's made within certain boundaries, usually related to time, usage and so on, can ask for that refund."

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Obviously there are the forthcoming updates promised for January and February – I'm sure the whole team is thrilled that they have to crunch out significant updates like this – and the company is seeing growing satisfaction the deeper players get into the game. That will no doubt be down to the fact that 59% of the 8 million pre-orders were on PC, but it also comes from extended play diminishing the perception of bugs and issues – this could also have been a factor in some of those overly glowing review scores.

Adam Kiciński broke it down:

"Sentiment is positive. With every passing day since the release we'regetting more and more positive feedback. We started low, but we're gaining. [muffled] we started with a score of 70, but now it's 79. If you filter those who have played 10 hours or more, the score is 85 – so the more you play the more enjoyment you feel. That's the general feedback we have.

"One important point: we're discussing old-gen consoles and negative feedback there – but we also have tons of positive feedback from players playing the game on old-gen consoles, so it's not strictly negative. Of course the first impression was negative, especially after the very strong campaign showcasing the game on PCs, but now we have more and more satisfied players using old-gen consoles as well – though naturally strong PCs offer better graphics and better gameplay than old-gens."

CDPR will no doubt be hoping to turn a corner with perception of their game in the new year, but the impacts of this could be felt in the years to come. Having built a strong reputation off the back on The Witcher 3 and the strong support for that title, gamers were inclined to trust the vision that CDPR set out for Cyberpunk 2077. Through only showing the game on PC and (eventually) higher-end consoles, through the game clearly needing more time in development for polish, through pushing to release in 2020 in a move that will have satisfied investors, gamers will no doubt be more critical of what CDPR show in future.

Source: CDPR

AndaSeat Jungle Series Gaming Chair Review

Without wanting to dwell on the reasons behind it, it's a fact of 2020 that many of us are finding ourselves spending more time at home in front of a computer monitor. The great home office furniture shortage of the summer will go down in folklore alongside the toilet paper stampede and that time I couldn't find my favourite brand of coffee in the supermarket. One unforeseen consequence of the switch to working from home was that it highlighted how inappropriate many of our setups were for lengthy sessions. Unable to take my laptop to a local cafe to work I was left using the same battered old Ikea chair for work and gaming purposes. I therefore jumped at the chance to replace this charity shop pickup with a proper gaming chair. So how does the Andaseat Jungle Series shape up? Take a seat – probably not as comfortable as mine – and I'll tell you more.

Absolutely the first thing that'll hit you is the sheer size and weight of this chair. Coming in a box big enough for my 9 year old son to sleep in (his choice, I'd like to add), the first obstacle was getting it into the house! Luckily my PC is on the ground floor so I didn't have to set up a system of pulleys and ropes to manoeuvre it. There may be some comic exaggeration at play here but I was certainly surprised by how solid this unit is, and that weight leads to a sturdy chair that can support even larger gamers with a maximum load of 22 stone.

As is often the case, the chair did require some assembly, as it came snugly packaged in separate parts. The packaging was sufficient without being excessive – an important aspect as we become more and more conscious about cutting down unnecessary waste. The assembly instructions were clear and well laid out, with no trace of the translation issues that so often plague international products. All that was needed for building were two enclosed hex allen keys, and lots of the bolts were pre-installed rather than loose packed. This meant they needed to be removed to use but, crucially, made it obvious where they needed to go back which was a really helpful touch.

Putting the chair together was a (mostly) frustration free experience, with the only issue being my own lack of concentration leading me to attach the chair mechanism upside down despite the obvious label pointing to the front. There's no accounting for basic mistakes but this was easy to remedy. I managed the build solo but holding the back and seat together for bolting purposes took some considerable strength and coordination, as did lifting the whole unit at the end so I'd recommend a helper if available.

The seat itself is excellently constructed, especially given the reasonable retail price. The steel framework, 5 star aluminium base, and PVC Leather material are all hard-wearing and durable, ensuring that this chair won't be a stopgap solution. The high quality memory foam cushion is just as comfortable as you'd expect, with detachable lumbar and neck support pillows adding that extra touch of comfort. My only issue with these is fighting my cat to get them installed so they are staying in place.

As you'd expect from a gaming chair, the design is heavily influenced by science fiction media, and you get a real Starfleet Captain feel when leaning into its generous backrest. My old chair was awkward as the arm-rests were far too low for my usual typing or gaming posture so I was pleased that the adjustable rests on the Andaseat should ensure that any user can benefit from the extra support for their typing and/or gaming. Moreover, the 90 to 160 degree tilt mechanism means that you can easily switch from upright work mode to more laid back gaming or movie watching. I'm not sure that I'll be making use of the full 160 degree sleeping mode but the option is always there.

The Andaseat Jungle Series is available here.

Destiny 2 Hotfix 3.0.1.2 is out, here are the patch notes and a cheerful badger

Good news, there's yet another patch for Destiny 2 so you're going to have to download it and then wait for half an hour while it installs. If you have a sexy next-gen console then I can confirm it does install rather more quickly but it is still a good few minutes of waiting, so please enjoy this picture of a happy badger while the patch installs.

Here are the patch notes.

SEASON OF THE HUNT

Adjusted the Cryptolith Lure to allow players to charge it twice as fast.

Increased Cryptolith Lure charge cap from 3 to 5.

Fixed an issue that was causing players to reacquire the Cryptolith Lure every time they launched the game.

Fixed an issue with the Lure exclusion description.

The One for All perk is incorrectly listed as a possible roll for Corsair's Wrath and has been corrected to the Unrelenting perk.

ACTIVITIES

Fixed an issue that was causing some players to be blocked from progressing the Forsaken campaign.

Fixed a location where players could get out of environment.

Resolved an issue that was preventing some players from progressing past the first mission of "A Guardian Rises" in the New Light introduction quest.

Fixed an issue where "Stasis Weekly Challenge" was translated incorrectly in some languages.

Fixed an issue with the Lost Lament quest not progressing from Minotaurs, Hydras, and Cyclops.

REWARDS

Fixed an issue where deleting a character could reset some raid rewards.

ECONOMY

Adjusted destination materials exchanges with the Gunsmith to reduce the chances of materials from Vaulted destinations being required.

COMBAT

Fixed an issue where the Freeze Tag emote was reducing incoming damage.

ABILITIES

Penumbral Blast:

Projectile range increased by 37%.

Minimum distance to cast ranged melee reduced by 32%.

This allows you to throw the ranged melee closer to targets.

Fixed an issue with the Glacial Quake Super where the melee attack would sometimes fail to activate.

Resolved an issue where players could appear to become stuck in Shiver Strike action and animation for other players.

WEAPONS

Fixed the issue with The Lament's Heavy air attack working when the weapon lacked ammo.

PLATFORMS

Fixed an issue where PSN friends list wasn't populating as expected.

Fixed an issue with screen tearing on some consoles.

Source: Bungie

The Fall Guys Season 3 patch notes are here

Fall Guys Season 3 launches tomorrow, December 15th, and it brings new levels including one in which you chase extremely cute penguins, new costumes, and a bunch of bug fixes.

Here are the patch notes!

New Levels:
Tundra Run: Dodge snowballs, punchers and flippers in a mad dash to the finish line!
Freezy Peak: Use blizzard fans and flippers to ascend the peak in the most epic race Round yet!
Ski Fall: Traverse a giant ice slide and dive through bronze, silver and gold rings to score points and qualify!
Pegwin Pursuit: Chase down and keep hold of the Pegwin to score points for your team!
Snowy Scrap: Roll your team's Snowball over snow patches to make it larger! Last team to hit 100% are eliminated!
Thin Ice: A spiritual successor to Hex-a-gone where players must traverse layers of breakable ice to avoid falling into the slime. Last bean remaining wins!
Roll Off: A Final round variant of Roll Out with added rising slime to make things interesting. Get grabbing!

Features:
Crown Ranks! Now the crowns you've won will help you climb through the ranks and unlock exclusive rewards.
Stay up-to-date on Fall Guys news and announcements with the new in-game Bulletin feature.
You can now link your Amazon Prime account to Fall Guys for exclusive in-game rewards.
The Show Selector will have a clear indicator for when new shows are available.
Improved in-game messaging for various errors and connectivity dialogs.
Improved performance and visuals of transparency effect when Fall Guys are occluded by geometry.
[Steam Only] Early Access release of Private Streamer Lobbies is now available! This is invitation-only for now, and requires 40-60 players to start a custom match.
[PS4] The camera sensitivity slider has more degrees of freedom

Bugfixes:
Fall Mountain: improved the issue where grabbing the crown sometimes does not end the level. We will monitor this fix through launch!
Royal Fumble: invisible platform has been removed.
Perfect Match: fixed issue with spawning next to the spinner.
Physics: Fixed ball objects being jittery or non-responsive in levels like Hoarders.
Item Shop: Fixed certain items not coming into the store.
Parties: Further improved groups stability in certain cases.
UI: Certain language fonts had missing or corrupt characters.
Show Selector: Searching for multiple shows will now correctly display the show landed on during matchmaking.
Levels: Fixed the Score and Elimination UI in-game on certain levels.
Levels: Bugfixes across most of the rounds.

Most importantly:
R I N G U S D I N G U S has arrived

We awarded the game an excellent 8 our of 10 in our review earlier this year. Here's how I summed up my time with the game:

Full of cute and cuddly jelly beans bumbling into each other in a race for the crown, Fall Guys is just about the most wholesome battle royale imaginable, and a whole lot of fun.

Source: Twitter

Assassin's Creed Valhalla title update 1.1.0 is out tomorrow, brings festive fun, patch notes here

Fancy some festive pillaging? Then you are in luck, Assassin's Creed Valhalla will be patched tomorrow, Tuesday 15th December, to version 1.1.0 and it brings the Yule Festival. This is a time limited event which will see revellers join your village for some festive fun. and there will be some new rewards to enjoy.

As usual there's a bunch of other fixes, here are the full patch notes.

PATCH SIZES AND DEPLOYMENT TIMING:

Xbox Series X|S: ~6.3 GB
Xbox One: ~5.7 GB
PlayStation®5: ~2.46 GB
PlayStation®4: ~2.4 GB
PC: ~5.6 GB

Deployment timing for all platforms: 1 pm CET | 7 am ET | 4 am PT | 11 pm AEDT

Please note that these timings are estimates and subject to change.

Check out the most notable changes with 1.1.0 below.

CONTENT

Added in-game support for the Settlement expansion and Yule Festival

The Yule Festival is a time-limited event with several festivities to enjoy and rewards to obtain. To bring this and future festivals to life, you'll see the arrival of the revellers just east of the current settlement.
We'll provide more details about the Settlement expansion and the Yule Festival in our upcoming Yule Season Preview article. Stay tuned.

Miscellaneous

Legendary animal trophies will now correctly appear in the Longhouse.

Balancing

Tweaked the NPC power level behaviour.
- NPCs power will now be at a maximum difference of 51 below the player.
- NPCs that are 51 power below the player will be highlighted in green.
- World bosses will match the player's power level when the power exceeds the world bosses' base level. (also applies to: Alpha animals, Zealots)
- This change applies to all difficulties.
Added loot-able chests to the Grand Magaester's hideout.
- Note: This hideout is only available from a very specific moment in the game. Spoilers. :)
Addressed an issue where the Crit. Spark rune would not work when slotted into bows.
Addressed an issue where wrong weapon stats were displayed for specific items.
- Royal Guard
- Viper Bow
- Death-Speaker
- The Mark of Sol
- Doppelhander
- Hundtoth

GAME IMPROVEMENTS

Performance and Stability

Improved stability and performance.
(PC) Addressed some freezes when performing specific actions for the first time.
(PC) Addressed an issue that could cause freezes during Splash Screen.

Graphics, Audio, Animation

Addressed various graphics issues.
Addressed various character or NPC animation issues.
Addressed various clipping issues.
Addressed an issue where fish may lay on its side during the fishing animation.
Addressed an issue where some NPCs would cut the air instead of wheat. practice doesn't always make perfect.
Addressed an issue where NPCs that are being assassinated while being unconscious would sometimes get up during the animation.
Tattooed Mimir's head. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Addressed an issue with jagged sea foam.

Quests, World Events, Side Activities

Addressed an issue in A Sword-Shower in Anecastre where Aelfgar didn't move to the assault location.
Addressed an issue where players cannot complete Honor's Hubris.
- Note: This fix will spawn Ljufvina again, reset her position, and restart the quest.
Addressed an issue that caused Tarben to follow Eivor everywhere when The Baker's Plaint wasn't completed. Your watch has ended, Tarben.
Addressed an issue where Fast Travel wouldn't be available under certain conditions when returning to England after completing the Hordafylke arc.
Addressed an issue where Allies would not help Eivor opening doors at the Isle of Ely Monastery. Team work makes the dream work!
Addressed an issue with the Settlement Anomaly's light beams that prevented players from completing the anomaly.
Addressed an issue in Well-Traveled where the objective would not update under certain circumstances.
Addressed an issue where Fenrir could get stuck underground.
Addressed an issue where Eivor would sometimes be levitating during Assault outros. No more Wingardium Leviosa for this one.
Addressed an issue in Defensive Measures where Jotuns would be able to pass through the shield after the Bring the Invaders into the Shield objective was completed. You shall not pass!
Addressed an issue in Brewing Rebellion where the cutscene wouldn't trigger when the door was opened by an NPC by accident.
Addressed an issue in The False Ealdormancy that prevented players from completing it under certain conditions. This Hunwald ain't loyal…
Addressed an issue in Kingdom's End where Guthrum doesn't leave the Hamptun Blockade area after releasing the prisoners or could randomly become inactive.
Addressed an issue in A Sword-Shower in Anecastre that prevented players from completing the quest.
Addressed an issue in The Goddess of Birth that prevented players from completing the event.
Addressed an issue in Glory Regained where players could become stuck on the platform with the horn.
Addressed an issue in View Above All where the quest objective would sometimes not update after closing the gates.
Addressed an issue in A Rivalry for the Ages where players couldn't complete the quest under certain circumstances.
Addressed an issue in The Boar with the Golden Nose where players couldn't complete a world event due to Lady Trotters not spawning.
Addressed an issue in Defensive Measures where players would die when returning to Asgard.
Addressed an issue in Cruel Destiny that prevented players from proceeding to the second phase of the boss fight. Quest name checks out.
Addressed an issue in Madness of the Stones that prevented players from proceeding with the quest.
Addressed an issue in Bleeding the Leech that prevented players from completing the quest.
Addressed an issue where Petra would run into the opposite direction of the Elk. See this, Petra?
Addressed an issue where players could sometimes not get back into the room with the Norns.
Addressed an issue in Giants of Fimbulwinter where Eivor could get stuck inside the quest area.
Addressed an issue in Smashing the Compass that prevented players from completing the quest.
Addressed an issue in War Weary where players couldn't re-enter the church under certain circumstances.
Addressed an issue in War of the Collectors where the world event wouldn't be completed under certain circumstances.
Addressed an issue in The Big Finish where the quest objective wouldn't update further.
Addressed an issue that prevented players from entering Skyrmir's Mitten in The Lost Cauldron.
Addressed an issue in Firing the Arrow where the quest objective would sometimes not update.
Addressed an issue where some players couldn't progress the game anymore upon reaching England after Title Update 1.0.4.
Addressed an issue with the SteinnBjorn encounter.

World

Addressed various object or texture placement issues.
Addressed various instances where the player could become stuck on objects.

Gameplay, Combat, AI

Addressed various NPC behavior/animation issues.
Addressed an issue that allowed players to shoot targets through walls (without using Piercing Shot).
Addressed an issue with spears not being effective to destroy windows.
Addressed an issue where the fishing hut kid was roaming Ravensthorpe instead of being at their house. You're officially grounded.
Horses will now run away when being hurt with a torch.
Addressed an issue where Jotuns could sometimes warp into walls when shape shifting. Gidgud
Addressed an issue where monks would sometimes stand still and not perform their tasks.
Addressed an issue where hitting a horse with a Saxon boat will cause it to disappear when mounting it. Insert what.gif here
Sprint will now be interrupted by actions other than dodging.
Addressed an issue where Eivor would become invisible to AI detection when fast travelling during a dice game.
Addressed an issue where NPCs may randomly start pirouetting on a Saxon boat. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

Abilities, Perks, Skills

Addressed an issue where players couldn't perform heavy attacks with Frostruin or Sinner Skull.
Addressed an issue where Frostruin's perk wouldn't activate even when conditions are met.
Addressed instances where players were able to open barred doors with the Dive of the Valkyries ability.
Addressed an issue where the Level 2 Incendiary Power Trap couldn't be detonated a second time when the first trap was set off by an NPC.
Addressed an issue where Man's Best Friend wouldn't deal any damage to Zealots in some instances. Good boi.
Largely increased Mastery Points cap.

User Interface / HUD

Addressed various UI/HUD issues.
Addressed various localization issues.
Items that are part of a bundle in the Animus Store will now show the corresponding items in the Details Page.
Addressed an issue where players could sometimes lose weapons when performing a dual weapon swap.
Tweaked Reda's Informer icon to make it appear smaller.
Changed Adrenaline Fiend icon to make it more distinguishable from Adrenaline upgrades.
Torches/oil jars can now be dropped/put on the ground with Y/Triangle.
Addressed an issue that allowed players to get the beggar reward several times.
Addressed an issue where stats wouldn't update after leaving offline mode.
Addressed an issue where players couldn't interact with Reda anymore.
Added "OFF" to Quick-Time-Event Input type in the menu. (Turning this option off will allow the game to bypass mashing actions during some boss encounters)
Addressed an issue with Alpha Animals where players wouldn't be awarded the skill point when animals were not killed by the player.
Addressed an issue where Opals would not disappear from the map under certain conditions after collection.
Addressed an issue where Experienced Travelers would unlock locations for the wrong territory.
Addressed an issue where players wouldn't be able to create or load a manual save anymore.
Addressed an issue where Layla's laptop couldn't be navigated with Focused navigation.
Named Cloud saves appropriately.
- Cloud saves will now be named Autosave/Manual/Episode Save CLOUD
Addressed an issue where Saves could be displayed as corrupt when saving when the internet connection is lost.
Addressed an issue on where the pathfinder setting resets to Custom after rebooting the game.
Addressed an issue on where cloud saves could disappear under certain conditions.

Photo Mode

Addressed an issue where filters reset to no filter when adjusting other values in Photo Mode.
Addressed an issue where the Photo Mode camera could get stuck in objects.
Photo Mode Frames will now function correctly.

System

(PC) Addressed an issue with the benchmark tool that caused the tool not to collect data for a moment after unpausing the session.
(PC) Addressed an issue where VRAM indicators did not correspond with actual VRAM consumption.
Reduced intensity and duration of the parry rumble. Controllers go brrrr.
(PS5) Addressed an issue on PlayStation®5 where the Season Pass wouldn't be displayed as OWNED after purchase.

Source: Ubisoft

Warhammer 40,000 Battle Sister Review

Games Workshop is a British institution, but its Warhammer worlds have found fans around the globe. The grim future and fantasy setting found in Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 remains the headline acts, but the company have allowed all sorts of interesting and unique uses of their main licenses and spin-off tabletop games, from RTS and third-person shooters to turn-based aerial combat. With the arrival of Battle Sister from Pixel Toys you're now going to be able to step into the world of Warhammer 40,000 yourself via the medium of VR. Quite simply, if you're a fan of 40K you will want to play this game.

From the moment that you start, one thing that Battle Sister gets right is the atmosphere. You're dropped into a distant planetary battlefield, with a pair of Titans duelling in front of you. I have to admit I was expecting some more drama – huge clanging tones from their immense blades clashing, and the sounds of pistons and gears working to move the mech around – but it still sets the tone well.

You're met by Viola, a Battle Sister who you've served with for ten years. She's certainly been given the motion capture treatment, and her iconic Battle Sister armour gleams with underlying power to go with her righteously clasped Power Sword.

Getting to grips with the game's combat is simple. Guns are holstered on either hip, while your ammo is stored on your belt. You press a button to eject the clip and hold the gun to your belt to refill it. It's a straightforward enough system that feels both mechanically sound and empowering, and it's swift enough to get you through the most intense of battles.

That's good, because there are some great battles to be had, starting with an epic encounter through the Sisters of Battle Cathedral ship that's been infiltrated by the forces of chaos. Framed by the maniacal laugh of zealots and the heavy gunfire of Chaos Marines, Battle Sister really puts you on the back foot, and even at this early stage it's no walkover, piling on the number of enemies. You're fortunate that your Power Sword is able to deflect incoming fire, as you'd be swiftly overrun without it.

The graphics might not wow you coming from PS5 or a high-end PC, but for a standalone headset, the game looks good and all of your weaponry looks remarkable. If you hold them up to take a look they gleam realistically in the light, and the level of detail is impressive, both here and in your allies. Up close, your enemies also look pretty good as well, though you soon see that there's very little variety in the most common cultist models. A few extra head or mask types would have really added something to the mix, as would some extra lines of dialogue. I know they're all keen on blood for the Blood God, but I'm sure they could vocalise that slightly differently during the course of the game.

They're not the only enemies you'll face though, and the steady emergence of different Chaos Marine classes, and the occasional beast, gives combat a continual sense of renewal. Things can begin to get a little samey towards the end, but overall this is a powerful example of VR gunplay with plenty of weight to it.

I love being able to dual wield all your weaponry – you can feel Pixel Toys' previous work on Drop Dead: Dual Strike Edition here – and it's true to the fiction as well. A Boltgun in one hand and a Power Sword in the other feels great, and you truly feel like a badass space nun who's capable of taking down a hulking Chaos Space Marine.

As you dispatch cultists, the blood sprays everywhere, and it was one element I wasn't initially sold on. Up close in melee combat the effect looks pretty good, and you would expect there to be some significant blood loss as you cleave your way through them. However, at distance there's still an explosion of the red stuff that simply doesn't look as good as its up-close counterpart. I know the Warhammer 40K universe is a brutal place, and Battle Sisters recreates that with aplomb, but I could take or leave the blood spray.

There are also one or two bugs in the mix that occasionally take the sheen of your experience, with textures failing to load around your feet and across some of the architecture, but ultimately I found them pretty easy to live with. They feel like the type of thing Pixel Toys will continue to work on, and hopefully they'll find a remedy for them swiftly.

Forgiving the bugs, performance in Battle Sister is largely very good, with smooth movement and gunplay keeping things engaging. Movement is controlled via your left thumbstick, and there's been plenty of work done to keep motion sickness at bay with some smart closing-in of your field of view as you move. There's an array of extra things you can tune up or down as well, depending on how well you cope in the VR space. It's exactly what you want from this kind of experience.

The story itself boasts some excellent voice acting, and while I'd be hard-pressed to call the characters likeable, you'll find yourself thoroughly involved in what's going on. From time to time you'll find yourself part of a fire squad, and they're surprisingly useful in combat, but it's the moments where you're on your own that you truly feel that the pressure is on.

Part of the atmosphere is created by the often excellent soundtrack, though once again a little more variety from the combat music would have been welcome. It's similar to Gears of War in fact, with the audio signposting that you're entering a combat situation and dying down once you've reached the end of that wave. It's definitely effective, but I found it had started to wear thin towards the end.

Monster Hunter Rise weapons showcased in new teasers

With the next Monster Hunter title due to release in just a few months' time, Capcom have been drip feeding MH fans new info on the Nintendo Switch exclusive.

Two new videos released by the Japanese publisher show two Monster Hunter Rise weapon classes in action, both of them being returning franchise favourites.

These include the deadly Dual Blades which were originally introduced in Monster Hunter 2. These offence focused daggers are designed for rapid attack chains and dealing a hefty amount of damage as players weave in and out landing successive hits.

Lithe, agile and relentless.

The Dual Blades deliver an onslaught of slices in rapid succession. #MHRise pic.twitter.com/DsBckmYlHg

— Monster Hunter (@monsterhunter) December 14, 2020

Next up we have the Bow which favours a dynamic yet distanced playstyle. Bow players can pinpoint areas on a monster for massive damage while also applying various status effects.

Swift, elegant and precise.

The Bow combines high mobility and rapid attacks to rain down a constant stream of arrows onto monsters. #MHRise pic.twitter.com/mc8Zgv4F3r

— Monster Hunter (@monsterhunter) December 14, 2020

As we can see in both videos, these two weapons have been upgraded somewhat for Monster Hunter Rise. It appears as though Capcom is upping the versatility of its hunting arsenal with new "Silkbind" powers. Using the grapple hook-like "Wirebug" players can also gain access to more aerial attacks.

For those Monster Hunter fans wondering, we recently discovered that Capcom won't be adding any new weapon classes in Monster Hunter Rise.

Monster Hunter Rise – 7 things you need to know

Monster Hunter Rise was announced alongside Monster Hunter Stories 2 in a Nintendo Direct showcase earlier this year. So far the game has only been confirmed for Nintendo Switch and wont be directly comparable to Monster Hunter: World. With Rise, Capcom are looking to branch off in a different direction while still delivering that same core Monster Hunter experience. A new trailer for the sequel was shown at The Game Awards 2020.

Whether or not Monster Hunter Rise will remain locked to the Nintendo Switch seems likely though we'd obviously love to see it appear elsewhere. Although unconfirmed, intel extracted from a major Capcom leak last month specifically mentions that a PC version is due to launch in 2021.

Final Fantasy XIV Starlight Celebration 2020 Christmas event now live

Once again, Final Fantasy XIV is celebrating the festive period with a seasonal event being held for its players who can swoop by for some bonus rewards.

The annual Starlight Celebration Christmas event is now live, Square Enix announcing that it will run between now (on Monday, December 14th) through until the end of the month on December 31st.

In that time, Final Fantasy XIV players can take part in festive activities to unlock time-limited items including furniture for housing and a special mount.

It's beginning to look a lot like Starlight!
In every Ward we go~
Snowman mounts cheer in disregard,
And there's Snow-dusted Trees in every yard!
Unmelting Ice Lofts are topped with snow~

The #FFXIV Starlight Celebration has begun! https://t.co/xiPcubIyWy pic.twitter.com/cFeK7Dfml3

— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) December 14, 2020

You can head over to the official Final Fantasy XIV event site for more details, but here's a quick breakdown of what to expect for Starlight Celebration 2020.

Characters will need be level 15 in order to begin the seasonal event quest. If you meet this requirement then make your way over to Mih Khetto's Amphitheatre in Old Gridania, one of FF14's starting areas. You will need to talk to an NPC called Amy Garanjy and accept the quest "A Festive Fiasco". Her exact location coordinates are X:10.2, Y9.4.

Ten years later, Final Fantasy XIV now rules as MMO king

Rewards include the Snowman Bell which can be used to summon a snowman mount, as well as three wintery furniture constructs to build with (the Snow-dusted tree, Unmelting Ice Partition, and Unmelting Ice Loft).

This is the tenth consecutive Christmas event Final Fantasy XIV has held since the MMO originally launched in 2010 before becoming Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn three years later.

The popular online game was recently updated with new features and content as part of Patch 5.4. Even without a new expansion for fans to sink their teeth into, 2020 has still been a bumper year for Final Fantasy XIV with a major announcement planned for next February. Given how the Shadowbringers story arc has wrapped, and the typical two year gap between FF14 expansions, we'll likely get our first look at the next one in just a couple of months' time.

Source: Final Fantasy XIV

Haven Review

Haven is one of those rare games where love between the two people is central to everything that happens. The story is all about the relationship between the main characters Yu and Kay, while the gameplay is all about the two working together and getting stronger as their love strengthens their bond.

Haven is set on a planet called Source, an uninhabited and fractured world that Yu and Kay have run away to as they seek to escape the civilisation known as the Apiary. The two attempt to begin a new live in their isolation, but have to face the challenges that Source throws at them. This includes an environmental hazard that turns the local wildlife violent, and the threat being pursued by the Apiary, whose rules would rip the two of them apart. That is not to mention the day to day of taking care of each other and their relationship, with the highs and lows that come from that. The story is decent enough, but the focus is on this central pair leaving parts of the wider lore of the universe lacking in detail.

Haven's gameplay can be split into three core areas: exploration, combat, and maintenance. As mentioned, Source is a planet that has been fractured, quite literally breaking up into floating islets that you can explore. These islets contain resources such as plants for food and items to help make repairs to the Nest, the ship that the pair call their home.

Yu and Kay can travel from one islet to another through Flow bridges, which are powered by the threads of Flow that are this universe's fuel source. Each islet has Flow threads which the pair can surf across using their anti-gravity boots, opening paths to unreachable areas, and filling up Flow batteries. There is a good reason for those batteries to be full; across the majority of islets a substance known as Rust has taken hold, the only way to get rid of it is to fly over it using Flow.

One of the dangers of this strange planet, Rust has also managed to take hold and corrupt the otherwise peaceful animals of Source, chasing after Yu and Kay and making them fight together to survive.

The fight system is nice and intuitive when using a controller, the left analogue stick selecting commands for Kay, while the right analogue can be used in the same way for Yu. Both start off with four available commands – a shield, an impact melee attack, a blast range attack, and the ability to pacify enemies once they've been downed. Each battle requires different tactics, such as one of the pair shielding them both while the other fights, using a particular attack to avoid an animal's resistance, or combining the same attack type for a joint attack. Only when an enemy is downed can it be pacified and cured of its aggression. As the pair's relationship level increases attacks become more powerful.

The main complaint is that charging up an attack can feel slow, which can lead to a chosen attack not having much affect because an enemy has changed its stance. Yu and Kay can craft items from Rust, like a tonic to speed up attacks, health balms, and attack boosters, but using these takes up quite a bit of time in battle as well.

If a battle becomes too much and both Yu and Kay fall, they are transported back to the Nest or a nearby campsite to heal up, and this is where the maintenance part comes in. With the resources collected they can cook meals, synthesise medicines, and craft boosts. You will need to the medicines and food to heal up, and luckily Source has abundant resources. Food has another element to it and that is an impact on increasing the relationship link. That is one way to further the relationship, while conversations and hitting story points also increasing the relationship link.

Yu and Kay's relationship may just be the pinnacle of relationship goals. The pair are always supportive of each other, teach each other things, and relax with each other, be it through playing games or intimacy. If you want a positive relationship model then this is it.

Haven looks lovely and has a decent variety to the islet environments. Some will look similar to one another, but there is just enough difference between them that you'll know where you are. The navigation system helps as well when plotting your path from one islet to another. While the game as a kind of fast travel system it is only available on certain islets, and I was wishing for a more immediate system late on in the game.

The soundtrack of Haven is also great. It's catchy and energetic, fitting the atmosphere of Haven very nicely through each style of gameplay. Composer Danger steps out from the ensemble of artists that created the OST of Furi, The Game Bakers' previous game, and takes the spotlight with plenty of bass and exploration of electronic sounds. I just wish there were a few more tracks to break up some of the repetition that's often seen in RPGs.

Just Cause: Mobile announced, new console / PC game teased

Just Cause is going mobile with a new free-to-play multiplayer shooter set in the Just Cause universe, complete with the series trademark grappling hook action. The game has 30 person competitive multiplayer and 4 player co-op missions, all powered by Unreal Engine 4.

The game has four modes.

Story Campaign

Experience an all-new action-packed story set in the Just Cause universe. As a member of the Agency's secret program, Firebrand, explore large open-world locations and take on Darkwater forces and form alliances with well-known characters from past Just Cause iterations.

30-person Competitive Multiplayer

Compete online in a fast-paced multiplayer. Three teams of 10 players fight to secure bases and score points as they battle across a sprawling map while wielding an explosive arsenal of weaponry & vehicles. Players can also form clans with teammates to earn big rewards.

Co-op Missions

Team up in a 4-player squad to complete challenging missions where players will take on waves of enemies. Select the perfect loadout and blast your way through tough enemies like heavy tanks and armored mechs.

Challenge Mode

Looking for an extra challenge to test your skills? Challenge Mode will task you with hitting high scores across three distinct challenges ranging from causing destruction to getting the best lap time. Earn extra rewards for your agent by completing the Destruction, Wingsuit, and Race challenges.

Just Cause: Mobile is coming to iOS and Android in 2021 but is not being developed by Avalanche, and instead will be created in house at Square Enix.

As a little tease, the FAQ states "We are committed to the Just Cause franchise. Our current plans do not involve making the series mobile only," so it looks like we're getting a new console and PC game at some point.

Just Cause 4 is currently free as part of the December PlayStation Plus offerings.

Source: Square Enix / VG247

CD Projeckt RED apologise for Cyberpunk 2077's performance on PS4 and Xbox One, offer full refund

CD Projeckt RED have broken their silence and apologised for the performance of Cyberpunk 2077 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. They apologise for not showing footage from those versions before the game launched and say they "should have paid more attention to making it play better on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One."

They have also said that if gamers are unsatisfied with the game they can get a full refund for both the digital and physical editions. Here is the full statement.

Dear gamers,

First of all, we would like to start by apologizing to you for not showing the game on base last-gen consoles before it premiered and, in consequence, not allowing you to make a more informed decision about your purchase. We should have paid more attention to making it play better on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Second, we will fix bugs and crashes, and improve the overall experience. The first round of updates has just been released and the next one is coming within the next 7 days. Expect more, as we will update frequently whenever new improvements are ready. After the holidays, we'll continue working — we'll release two large patches starting with Patch #1 in January. This will be followed by Patch #2 in February. Together these should fix the most prominent problems gamers are facing on last-gen consoles. We will be informing you about the contents of each patch ahead of their release. They won't make the game on last-gen look like it's running on a high-spec PC or next-gen console, but it will be closer to that experience than it is now.

Finally, we would always like everyone who buys our games to be satisfied with their purchase. We would appreciate it if you would give us a chance, but if you are not pleased with the game on your console and don't want to wait for updates, you can opt to refund your copy. For copies purchased digitally, please use the refund system of PSN or Xbox respectively. For boxed versions, please first try to get a refund at the store where you bought the game. Should this not be possible, please contact us at helpmerefund@cdprojektred.com and we will do our best to help you. Starting from today, you can contact us for a week up until December 21st, 2020.

Humbly

Marcin Iwiński, Adam Kiciński, Adam Badowski, Michał Nowakowski, Piotr Nielubowicz, Piotr Karwowski

P.S. PC gamers will also be getting regular updates and fixes improving the game

While the apology and refund is nice, it still doesn't change the fact that the last-gen versions of the game were clearly not ready to be released but CD Projeckt RED hid that fact from the public buy not showing footage and only allowing the PC version to be reviewed.

Just seventeen days ago CD Projekt joint-CEO Adam Kaciński said that Cyberpunk 2077's performance on base PS4 and Xbox One is "surprisingly good" during an investor call.

"We believe that the game is performing great on every platform," he said. "Of course, a bit lower than on pros, but surprisingly good, I would say for such a huge world. So, bit lower, but very good."

Misleading the public is one thing, misleading investors is an entirely different kettle of fish.

Source: CD Projeckt Red

Doom Eternal Switch Review

I know that for many people (and oftentimes, even me) a review simply exists as a headline and a bunch of text you scroll past to get to a contextless number. With that in mind, I avoid giving games a full 10 out of 10. Even the best game is never perfect, and anyone can choose to see only that score when they open my review and decide I'm full of it.

When I reviewed Doom Eternal earlier this year, though, I felt it in my bones – this was my 10 out of 10 game. Minor flaws and microscopic hiccups existed in it just like any other game, but at the end of the day I had such an amazing time with the game that it was hard for me to see it any lower on my score scale.

Now, I'm playing the game again, but under different circumstances. After a lengthy delay, the latest id Software shooter has found a home on the Nintendo Switch thanks to the technical wizardry of Panic Button. A lot of my love for Doom Eternal comes from the jaw-dropping visuals and silky-smooth action that PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC platforms are built to handle, and while the Nintendo Switch is an amazing console, is definitely not built for massive, hyper-detailed games like this. That hasn't stopped Panic Button from doing incredible work to get games like the original Doom, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and even Warframe running on the Nintendo hybrid handheld.

Like those games, major sacrifices have had to be made in order to get Doom Eternal running smoothly on the Nintendo Switch. To reiterate, it does run smoothly on Nintendo Switch, and that alone is something I still struggle to wrap my head around. Doom Eternal is all about nonstop run-and-gun action, and the Switch never lets up no matter how many demons or explosions flood your screen. It's key for the Doom Eternal experience that you're able to move smoothly within the arenas and environments as you hop over Cacodemons, set Imps ablaze, and shred into so many more kinds of foes like a graceful, blood-sprayed ballerina of death.

If you're playing with the system's default Joy-Cons, that ballet might face some missteps. One of the key elements of Doom Eternal is utilizing your melee button to activate Glory Kills when enemies are near-death, triggering a brutal execution animation and rewarding you with a pool of health pickups and ammo. You activate your melee attack by clicking in the right stick, and while this is a fluid act on other consoles or a keyboard, the smaller Joy-Con sticks are just a bit too awkward to be clicking into as often as the game expects you to. It's an unavoidable discomfort when playing the game in handheld mode, but if you've got Doom Eternal docked, I'd recommend the Pro Controller.

There are a few other major concessions with this version of the game that shouldn't be all that surprising. For one, the visuals have been significantly downgraded. Panic Button have smartly cut corners in every aspect of the visual department rather than massively gutting one or two parts of the graphics. The textures are a bit blurrier, character models are a touch chunkier, environments are a bit flatter, and the dynamic resolution means the image is always just a bit blurry.

All of these downgrades look rough in still screenshots of the game, but when you're actually playing it and experiencing the mayhem in motion, it's a lot less noticeable. You don't have time to pick apart the blurry faces of demons or the soft environment textures when you're always running and gunning and murdering, so while this is an obvious downgrade from the other versions of the game, it doesn't feel as obvious once you dive in and start playing.

The other big hit comes in the form of a lowered framerate. Rather than running at a fluid 60fps, Doom Eternal on the Nintendo Switch runs at 30fps. It's a stable, solid 30fps that I only noticed drop briefly during cutscenes, but after playing so much of the game on beefier consoles, it's hard to adjust to. In the first few levels of the game, your arsenal and enemies are simple enough that the slower frame rate doesn't hinder action too much, but in later levels, there's so much multi-tasking of equipment and so many enemies to slaughter that it can sometimes feel like you're being held back by the frame rate.

EA to buy Codemasters, scuppering the bid from Take-Two

UPDATE: It's official, EA will buy Codemasters early next year and will pay around $200 million more than what Take-Two offered in November.

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) announced that it has reached an agreement with the Board of Codemasters for the recommended acquisition of Codemasters, the UK-based game developer and publisher. In the transaction, Codemasters' shareholders will be entitled to receive 604 pence (approximately US$7.98*) in cash for each ordinary share of Codemasters with an implied enterprise value of US$1.2 billion*. The acquisition is anticipated to be completed in the first quarter of calendar 2021.

Original story below…

Sky News are reporting that EA have put a surprise bid in for Codemasters which will go up against the offer that Take-Two made last month. The size of the offer from EA is expected to be revealed tomorrow but it is said to offer a "substantial premium to Codemasters' closing share price on Friday of 534p." EA will have a lot more money compared to Take-Two to offer so it's expected higher than Take-Two's offer, and Take-Two may have troubled topping it.

Take-Two had previously confirmed that the deal is likely to be completed at some point in the first quarter of 2021, and that the purchase will cost Take-Two £726 million/$956 million. The deal has been approved by the boards of directors from both Take-Two and Codemasters.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said:

"We are exceedingly pleased to announce this recommended transaction with the Board of Codemasters. Codemasters has a renowned history of creating some of our industry's most beloved and commercially successful racing franchises, and we believe that their offerings will be highly complementary to our sports portfolio and enhance further our organization's long-term growth. Moreover, we look forward to welcoming Codemasters' senior management and development teams into our Take-Two family, and sharing in our vision to deliver the highest quality entertainment experiences and aim to be the most innovative, creative and efficient company in our industry."

The response was also positive from Codemasters, with Chairman Gerhard Florin saying:

"With a leading position in sports gaming, the Board of Codemasters firmly believes the Company will benefit from Take-Two's broad capabilities which will help propel the long term success of Codemasters. In recommending this Offer to shareholders, the Board of Codemasters believes it is in the best interests of all stakeholders in the Company."

We shall have to wait and see if Codemasters have a change of heart and follow the money.

Source: Sky

Spider-Man Remastered updated with 'Performance RT' mode in version 1.002 – here's the patch notes

Following on from the update to Spider-Man: Miles Morales earlier this week, Spider-Man Remastered has also been updated with a new Performance RT' graphics mode.

Now, in addition to 'Fidelity', which features ray traced effects at 30fps, and 'Performance', which ditches the ray tracing and uses temporal upscaling from below 4K to give 60fps gaming instead, there's also a 'Performance RT' mode.

Update: Here's the 1.002 patch notes, which do fix a few niggling bugs with the game as well

New Features

Added Performance RT Graphics Mode

Fixes & Updates

Improved quality and performance of ray-traced reflections
Addressed various progression stoppers and stability issues
Addressed various art issues
Addressed various audio issues
Addressed an animation issue while web swinging
Addressed an animation issue while in Photo Mode

The description of Performance RT mode in-game reads:

This is an alternate version of the 60 frames per second "Performance" mode, adding ray-tracing by adjusting the scene resolution, reflection quality, and pedestrian density.

You can find the graphics mode setting after selecting a save slot from the main menu, or under Settings from the pause menu, though switching modes will force you restart from a checkpoint.

Exactly as in Miles Morales, Insomniac are balancing the various parameters they can to offer this additional option. Performance RT reintroduces ray tracing from the Fidelity mode, but Insomniac are able to compensate for the graphics hit and sacrifice in other areas to boost the frame rate up to 60fps. The scene resolution would drop the game to lower than Performance mode – in Miles Morales, Performance RT reportedly now tops out at 1440p – and then likely use temporal techniques to reconstruct a higher resolution image. Reflection quality is also lowered, reducing the number of rays used for them, rendering them at a lower resolution, and so on, but will importantly still be accurate and more realistic.

Finally there's a reduction in pedestrian density will also help. Dipping into Miles Morales quickly to check out the new settings, we could easily tell that the volume of pedestrians has been reduced by at least 50%.

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered is available for PlayStation 5 as part of the Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition bundle, and only via the Ultimate Edition. There's no paid upgrade path from the PS4 version of the original game to the new remaster, and it cannot be bought separately. However, you can purchase an upgrade from the standard version of Miles Morales to the Ultimate Edition via an in-game option to get the remaster. That all make sense?

Spider-Man Remastered is a big overhaul of the game's engine to support the PlayStation 5. This includes making use of the console's SSD to make things like fast travel ultra-speedy, adding a 60fps performance mode as well as having support for ray traced reflections, and haptic feedback for the new DualSense controller, just as in Miles Morales. Insomniac also decided that they would replace Peter Parker's face.

In our review of the original game, Gareth wrote:

Marvel's Spider-Man does a spectacular job of making you feel like the ultimate Spider-Man. From swinging through the city at high speed to fighting off legions of enemies by zipping between them and pulling them into the air, its gameplay looks like a scene from the films. It's remarkably well realised in terms of its world, design, and even technically, with short loading times and a rock solid framerate even on the base PlayStation 4. If Spider-Man is your thing then this is an essential purchase.

You can read the full review here.

Meanwhile, we gave Spider-Man: Miles Morales 8/10 in our review of the new cross-gen game.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Guides & more from TheSixthAxis

Source: Tom Lord's PS5!

TheSixthAxis Christmas Gift Guide

'Tis the season for gifting and gaming, and after the year we've all had, I think people are hoping for a good end to December. We've put together an array of different gift ideas for that special someone (or yourself of course), and there's even a few special discount codes available to TheSixthAxis readers!

Mario Lego

Mario is no longer just an icon in gaming, as he's now been immortalised in brick form by Lego. This isn't your ordinary Lego set though, with a large blockified Mario making his way through a series of courses that you can hook together to create giant Lego level. The starter kit gives you everything you need to get going, with additional costumes for Mario and further sections costing extra. It is Lego, so it's not the cheapest toy out there, but given that it's virtually indestructible you can probably see it as an investment for your kids, and then their kids as well.

JBL Quantum 800

If you're serious about gaming, you should think about getting a headset. The JBL Quantum 800 is one of the most recent headsets we've reviewed, and it's jumped right to the top of the pack, thanks to the fact that you can use it with pretty much anything that's designed to have sound coming out of it. It's still very much a premium set with an RRP of £179.99, but if you want one of the absolute best headsets on the market you can expect to pay for it. It's worth considering that it can be included in the same breath as the the hallowed Astro A50s and comes in nearly £100 cheaper.

DualSense & Xbox Series X|S Controllers

Some of you might have been lucky enough to have snagged a new PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X (or know someone who has), but as we all know, these new games consoles only come with a single game controller. That's not much good if you're hoping to get some co-op gaming in this Christmas!

Snagging an extra DualSense for PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X|S Controller (or since it's backward compatible a slightly cheaper Xbox One controller, or much fancier Xbox Elite 2!) should help ease any arguments. Unless you're playing Overcooked, that is…

Mario Kart Live

Given that Mario Kart is one of the best things ever created by Nintendo, it's little surprise to find that Mario Kart Live – their melding of real world and digital kart play – is such a delight. It's not cheap – one kart will set you back £99.99 – but if you've got the money, and the space, there are few things that will illicit screams of delight on Christmas morning from both actual kids and tall kids who should know better

Gunnar Gaming Glasses

Are gaming glasses the future? Gunnar certainly think so, and having been able to test out a pair of their Intercept spectacles we can report that they certainly help keep your eyes from wilting under the glare of all that blue light we feed into them every day via mobile phones, laptops, tablets, monitors and giant TV screens. Gunnar offer a range of different options, and they feature wide-format lenses to create an unobstructed panoramic, high-resolution field of view, 3-barrel hinge design and high tensile steel construction for increased durability, comfortable curved nose rests for even weight distribution and eliminating pressure points, and silicone hard coated lens to prevent scratching if you're not the most careful of gamers.

Thrustmaster Warthog

It's been a great year for flight sims, and whether you've taken the more serious route with Microsoft Flight Simulator or headed off to a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars Squadrons, if you're playing with a controller or keyboard and mouse, you are missing out. Thrustmaster are the champions of the flight stick arena, and while there's the accessible T.16000 sticks which you can find in the Space Sim Duo, the Warthog is the pinnacle of their HOTAS setups. It can be tough to find (as with many things this Christmas) but if you can get your hands on one, you won't be removing them from it for years to come.

Oculus Quest 2

There are two obvious candidates on the next-gen console list (both of which are going to be hard to find this month), but don't forget about the Oculus Quest 2, the latest wire-free VR headset. It improves on the original Quest in nearly every way, with reduced weight, improved screens, and more power, bringing you into the world of VR in a more convincing way than ever before. The best thing? It's immediately cheaper than its predecessor, starting at £299.99, and has a fantastic library of games to sink your teeth into straight away. Our top picks include Beat Saber, Pistol Whip and Superhot VR.

Garmin Instinct Esports Edition Smartwatch

Want to become a healthier gamer? Or add something unique to your streams? The Garmin Instinct Esports Edition is targeted at streamers and esports athletes, and lets you broadcast your stress level and heart rate to your viewers via the STR3AMUP! app. You can also monitor your performance over time through the activity profile.This being a smartwatch it also does all of your expected sporty stuff, with over 30 activities it can monitor, and boasts one of the most impressive battery lives we've come across, lasting for multiple days at a time before you're reaching for the charger cable.

GXT 488 Forze Gaming Headset

With a camouflage print design – it's also available in black and blue camo – shiny PlayStation logos on the cans, and a folding microphone, the GXT 488 Forze look pretty good without crossing into that obnoxious, over-designed territory some other headsets drift towards. More than that though, they're a good weight, not so heavy that they'd be uncomfortable for a long period, but not so light that they feel cheap, there's plenty of padding both for around your ears and to protect the top of your head. It even has a braided cable with an inline volume control/mic mute toggle and a standard 3.5mm jack on the end, so it'll plug into pretty much anything that isn't a mobile phone from the last two years. They're also a great entry-level headset, coming in at between £30 and £40 depending where you look.

Creative Outlier Air V2

As we've seen with the Instinct Esports Edition watch, and Nintendo's Ring Fit, we're trying to throw off the image of the unhealthy gamer, and surely, if we're in tip top condition we can stay up late playing games for even longer? Creative's Outlier Air are wireless bluetooth earbuds from one of the best audio specialists in gaming, and they're perfect for running or a trip to the gym thanks to being sweat proof, light, and so well designed that they won't fall out no matter how long you stay on that treadmill. They've also just released the V2 edition, which have an improved battery life, and touch controls. You can get 20% off the Outlier Air V2 by entering discount code TheSixthAxis at checkout.

E-Win Europe Champion Series Gaming Chair

If you're in front of a screen all day you need to look after yourself, and a decent chair is a perfect start. The eWin Europe Champion Series is a solid choice for anyone looking for a long-term solution to working from home or wanting a more comfortable option while playing games. At just short of £350 RRP, it's not cheap, but what you get for that investment is an adaptable chair which will provide comfort over and over again when you need it most. We've been left impressed all around by it. E-Win have been kind enough to give a 20% off code for TheSixthAxis readers too, just enter TheSixthAxis20 at checkout.

Game & Watch

There does seem to be a lot of Nintendo merchandise in here this year, but that's probably just an obvious example of how good the Japanese company are at turning their franchises into desirable gifts for Christmas. The newest Game & Watch is the Super Mario Bros. edition and boasts a full colour screen and houses the original 8-bit NES rendition of Super Mario Bros. as well as Super Mario Bros. – The Lost Levels and Ball, the original Game & Watch game. This thing is a pure nostalgia trip, and for gamers of a certain age this is the perfect thing to light up Christmas Day with, even if you'll swear they used to be bigger.

Google Stadia

Now, hear me out. Stadia didn't have the most stellar launch last year, and it's taken a good while to really get going, but Google's entry in the gaming space is finally picking up a head of steam, including a great rendition of Cyberpunk 2077. It's not going to be for everyone, you need to have a decent internet connection for one thing, but if you want to play some of the latest games, and don't have the money for a new console or PC, Stadia is a great option. If you're a new customer right now, you can get Cyberpunk 2077, with a bundled controller and Chromecast Ultra, for £40 with an extra £10 off. If you fancy an instant console-free and download-free gaming experience, Stadia is the platform for you.

Snakebyte chargers

New console? You'll be needing an array of new chargers then to keep your controllers in tip-top shape. As we all know the bundled controller cables are so passé, and if you're an Xbox gamer you're still searching for the AA batteries in the kitchen draw mid-battle. Snakebyte have you covered, with a PS5-aping dual charger, while their Xbox Series X|S battery packs come in packs of two so you can always have one ready to hand when you need it.

Video Games!

Buying games for friends and family members is always tricky, but there's some absolute crackers that have come out in 2020, and there's bound to be something that you know they don't own and might like.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales – PS4 & PS5
Star Wars Squadron – PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX|S, PC
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – NSW
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – NSW
Demon's Souls – PS5
Planet Coaster: Console Edition – PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX|S
The Last of Us Part II – PS4
Immortals Fenyx Rising – PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX|S, NSW, PC, Stadia
Ghost of Tsushima – PS4
Cyberpunk 2077 – PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX|S, PC, Stadia
Gears Tactics – XBO, XSX|S, PC
Sackboy: A Big Adventure – PS4 & PS5
Super Mario 3D All-Stars Review – NSW
Dirt 5 – PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX|S, PC
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time – PS4, XBO

Vouchers

Of course, you can always avoid the pratfall of buying the wrong game by picking up some vouchers that can be spent however the giftee sees fit, whether they're for the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Nintendo eShop, or just a retailer of your choice.

Dauntless Reforged – Win an Elite Hunt Pass Bundle

With the recent launch of Dauntless Reforged we've teamed up with developer Phoenix Labs to celebrate, offering nine lucky winners a chance to get their hands on the game's latest Elite Hunt Pass.

For those who need a quick refresh, Dauntless introduces a new Hunt Pass with each and every season. Similar to the kind of battle pass we see in popular games such as Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Rocket League, the Hunt Pass rewards your playtime with a hoard of unlockable rewards.

In Dauntless, there are two Hunt Pass tracks – a free track available to everyone and a premium track slayer can buy with Platinum currency, overflowing with extra prizes. What's great about the Dauntless Hunt Pass is that it's relatively easy to max out within the time it takes for season to come and go. As long as you're playing semi-regularly then you can snap up all the items and cosmetics, earning enough Platinum in return to cover the cost of the next pass.

We have nine codes for the Dauntless: Cold Front Elite Pass Bundle to give away (you can find more details here). Redeeming a code will not only unlock the Elite Pass but the first 15 levels/tiers, too. Simply enter via the form below and we'll draw winner at the end of next week.

Win a Dauntless Reforged Elite Hunt Pass Bundle

Available now on all major platforms (including PS5 and Xbox Series X|S via backwards compatibility) Dauntless Reforged is the biggest, most ambitious update in the game's history. Not only does it significantly shake up player and gear progression, it completely strips out those individual hunts that have been its bread and butter for years now.

You can read our initial impressions of Dauntless Reforged here as we walk new and returning players through the major changes Phoenix Labs have made to their flagship game.

Ten years later, Final Fantasy XIV now rules as MMO king

The story behind Final Fantasy XIV is widely known by now. A troubled game many pundits had deemed dead on arrival, yet one the development team at Square Enix were not ready to give up on. They would effectively nuke the entire MMO, relaunching it as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn in 2013, now considered one of the genre's best entries of all time. It's one of gaming's most triumphant comeback stories, galvanised by FF14's ongoing success.

For those who want to know more about the game's road to redemption, the folks at Noclip have put together a brilliant documentary giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at Final Fantasy XIV's dramatic makeover.

Since A Realm Reborn launched on PC and PlayStation 3, the game has seen three expansions launching every other year; Heavensward in 2015, then Stormblood in 2017, and finally Shadowbringers in 2019. The MMORPG has only gone from strength to strength with each expansion, with a continued story throughout that has constantly surprised players alongside a near endless spread of content to experience, from casual to the hardcore.

With the patches that have been released since the critically-acclaimed Shadowbringers, we have seen even more refinements to what is now the base game. Square have gone back and streamlined the player journey between A Realm Reborn and Heavensward, an infamous slog that saw players yoyoing across Eorzea for hours on end.

Then there's the greatly expanded free trial for new accounts, allowing you experience a huge wealth of content, right up to the end of Heavensward, without having to pay a subscription fee. So that's almost every job up to level 60, a whole host of raids, dungeons and trials, and possibly one of the greatest Final Fantasy storylines in the first expansion – for absolutely no cost. Honestly, there has never been an easier way for new players to dive into this incredible MMO.

Also, there have been solid steps made over the last couple of expansions to make Final Fantasy XIV more user-friendly, with the different Jobs becoming more universal. They retain their unique quirks, but if you choose – for an example – any of the four Tank Jobs, there's now enough similarities that you can jump between each and not feel entirely lost with how to play them.

Being more than a decade old now, you may be asking whether Final Fantasy XIV is still worth playing in 2020? In a word, absolutely.

I mentioned this earlier, but there's so much to do in Eorzea. As it currently stands right now, there's four sets of 24-man "Alliance Raids", four sets of 8-man "Normal Raids", dozens of "Trials" of varying difficulty (frustration) levels, loads of dungeons, and all of this feeds back into the game's illustrious story.

Even if combat isn't your thing, there's a range of crafting and gathering jobs, should you have always wanted to be a botanist or a blacksmith. Beyond that there's a huge amount of furnishings in the robust housing system, an extensive photo mode with the Gpose mechanic, and then all of the free seasonal events and fantastic cross-overs with other games as well.

Then there are the mini-games and oh boy does Final Fantasy XIV spoil on that count. Those familiar with Final Fantasy VIII will relish in/dread the addition here of Triple Triad (complete with *that* music); but there's also Mahjong, crane machines, test your strength, jumping challenges, and so much more to wile away your time at the Gold Saucer (yes, this also has *that* music).

Finally, the game's population has only kept growing, with the last revealed count totalling 20 million. For such a large community, there is minimal toxicity (until you reach the endgame content anyway) and it's one that is very welcoming to new players. You will never struggle to find people to run instances with, even when it comes to the earlier, low level content.

Or you can find yourself a few friends to play the game with, as long as you're on the same server of course, and perhaps even create your own Free Company to give yourself access to shared bonuses like additional storage, party-wide boosts to experience and other benefits, or — as was the case with my Free Company — the ability to pull together to buy a house together.

Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.4 has brought with it more story, a new dungeon, trial, and the final four raids from the Eden series. Needless to say, without spoilers, it is all amazing stuff and simply continues the high quality levels the team have been putting out for years now. Also, the narrative by the end is intriguing in the implications it makes about the future of the game.

The next expansion looks likely for 2021, and the story has reached a fever pitch. The previous content rounded off the Shadowbringers story with an epic battle that, I won't lie, put a huge grin on my face. So with 5.4, we've now entered into the narrative leading up to the next full expansion in 2021, which we still know nothing about.

Of course we don't know when the continued support and tremendously enjoyable narrative will end in Final Fantasy XIV, but the game's beloved director and producer, Naoki Yoshida, has stated that support will continue as long as it's wanted. Final Fantasy XI (which launched in 2002) can be used as a promising indicator here. Besides, XIV is still a huge money spinner for Square too, so there's that.

With such a rich legacy, hours of high quality MMO content, and one of the friendliest player communities on the planet, Final Fantasy XIV is well worth a go if you're somehow still sitting on the fence. Better yet, if you're going to pull the trigger bring a group of friends along for the ride!

May the Twelve protect you, Warrior of Light.

Something for the Weekend – 12/12/20

Formula 1 heads to Abu Dhabi for the season finale, and although both the drivers and constructors championships have been wrapped up by Mercedes, there's still lots to play for with Racing Point, Mclaren, (and to a lesser extent) Renault vying for third place.

Elsewhere, it's been a big week in the games industry, not just with the Game Awards, but also with the launch of Cyberpunk 2077. Have you picked up the long-awaited game, and if so, what are your first thoughts?

In the News This Week

Games in Review

If you glance at the reviews below, you may wonder why Cyberpunk 2077 is missing – and that's because we're still putting together our console review. In the meantime, you can check out our review roundup.

Unto The End – PS4, XBO, NSW, PC, Stadia – 9/10
Chronos: Before The Ashes – PS4, XBO, PC, Stadia, NSW – 9/10
Call of the Sea – XSX|S, XBO, PC – 9/10
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure – PC, iOS – 9/10
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 – PS5, XBX|S, PS4, XBO, NSW, PC – 8/10
Submerged: Hidden Depths – Stadia – 8/10
The Wild Eight – PS4, XBO, PC – 7/10
Worms Rumble – PS4, PS5, PC – 8/10
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise – NSW – 6/10
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV – PS4, NSW, PC – 5/10
Liftoff: Drone Racing – PS4, XBO – 4/10
Battle Hunters – NSW, PC – 4/10

And there was a lone hardware review for the impressive sounding JBL headet:

JBL Quantam 800 Gaming Headset – 10/10

Your Achievements

Here's what you in our community has been up to this week:

In a shocking twist, Crazy_Del announces he's grabbed no platinum's this week! Instead, he's been stumped by a lengthy Cold War trophy, but has been making progress with Worms Rumble and Valhalla.
willbuchanan has been progressing with Far Cry 5, and is now onto the DLC.
Aside from "too much" Rocket League, MrYd has been playing Vigor, and has also been watching Raised by Wolves.

I hope you have a great weekend and I'll see you again soon!

Open Roads is a family road trip tale from Fullbright, coming to PC and consoles in 2021

Fullbright Games, developers of Tacoma and Gone Home, has revealed its next project and that is the road trip game Open Roads. The game will be published by Annapurna Interactive. In Open Roads players will journey alongside a mother and daughter duo, named Opal and Tess, as they travel to places that have been important to their family over the years. The game will explore the complicated relationship of the pair as they deal with some family secrets that should probably have stayed buried.

Open Roads will star Keri Russell from The Americans, Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, and Antlers, and Kaitlyn Dever from Booksmart, Unbelievable and Short Term 12. The game will be in a first person view with players controlling Tess through the playthrough as she searches out her family history, and talks to her mother as they drive from place to place. Open Roads has been confirmed for PC and consoles with a release expected in 2021.

Source: Press Release

Star Wars: Squadrons update 4.0 adds B-Wing and TIE Defender, patch notes here

Last month, EA Motive announced that there would be new content coming to Star Wars: Squadrons, which would include two new starfighters and a new map. That update, in the form of update 4.0, is out now. It has added the B-Wing to the New Republic's fleet and the TIE Defender to the Empire's fleet. In addition, the Fostar Haven map is also now available to play multiplayer in. This map is first seen during the prologue of Star Wars: Squadron's story mode. The update has also added custom matches, new components, and new cosmetics. You can see the full patch notes after the trailer.

Star Wars: Squadrons 4.0 update patch notes

General

Added Custom Games and a server browser, available in the Multiplayer & Training menu
Adjusted Skill Rating requirements for each tier via server-side change last week (see below for full details)
Updated Skill Rating gain/loss ratios to better reflect each player's performance in a match via server-side change last week
Ongoing server-side matchmaking improvements
Fixed an issue where the game could crash if the player didn't skip through the outro screens of a match
Fixed an issue where the game could crash when loading into Fostar Haven
Fixed an issue where having Lighting quality set to Low could create intense flashes of light on Fostar Haven
Fixed an issue where AI in multiplayer could on occasion deal no hull damage to players with their primary weapons
Fixed or improved instances of poor collision detection on Fostar Haven, Galitan, Esseles, Nadiri Dockyards, Zavian Abyss, and Sissubo
Fixed issue where the interior of the TIE interceptor could disappear after respawning
Fixed issue where Star Destroyer engine VFX could flicker
Fixed an issue where PlayStation 5 visuals appeared blurry.

Division	Tier	Operation 1	Operation 2
Maverick	I	1 – 299	1 – 149
Maverick	II	300 – 599	150 – 299
Maverick	III	600 – 899	300 – 449
Hotshot	I	900 – 1199	450 – 649
Hotshot	II	1200 – 1499	650 – 849
Hotshot	III	1500 – 1799	850 – 1049
Hero	I	1800 – 1999	1050 – 1249
Hero	II	2000 – 2199	1250 – 1449
Hero	III	2200 – 2399	1450 – 1649
Hero	IV	2400 – 2599	1650 – 1849
Hero	V	2600 – 2799	1850 – 2049
Valiant	I	2800 – 2899	2050 – 2249
Valiant	II	2900 – 2999	2250 – 2449
Valiant	III	3000 – 3099	2450 – 2649
Valiant	IV	3100 – 3199	2650 – 2849
Valiant	V	3200 – 3299	2850 – 3049
Legend	I	3300 – 3399	3050 – 3299
Legend	II	3400 – 3499	3300 – 3549
Legend	III	3500 – 3599	3550 – 3799
Legend	IV	3600 – 3699	3800 – 4049
Legend	V	3700 – 3799	4050 – 4299
Galactic Ace		3800+	4300+

Career

Fixed an issue where at times players could not see their own stats on the Career page

Controls

Added support for TrackIR on PC
Improved how the game detects and handles device inputs under the same device name
Fixed an issue where the game would not detect all input devices if multiple were plugged in
Fixed issue where PC users with more than 5 input devices were unable to adjust device order in some cases
Added controller rumble for ion cannon, assault shield, and beam cannon
Fixed an issue where the mini-stick input on the Hori HOTAS for Xbox One did not work properly
Added the option to toggle game controllers between dynamic (default) and static throttle. This option can be used to correct the behavior of the throttle on certain input devices, such as the Hori HOTAS for PS4.

Cosmetic Customization

Added new cosmetics that will be rolled out over time through in-game events and Operations
Improved lighting for dashboard figures where needed
Fixed issue where an Astromech-shaped hole could appear in the decorative UI elements around the "Powerful Ally" X-wing skin

Fleet Battles

Fixed an issue where on occasion no indicator would display after a capital ship was destroyed
Reduced the max time waiting in the briefing room from 120 seconds to 90 seconds
Fixed an issue where Titan One could have a hologram effect on their legs in the briefing room

Practice

Fixed an issue where there was no UI indicator on some spawned New Republic squadrons

Social

Friends will now display in alphabetical order for easier use
Improved the loading time of the friends list for players with many friends

Spectator

Fixed an issue where all the players could appear as the same one in the intro cinematic

Starfighters & Components

Added the B-wing to the New Republic fleet
- Heavy Gunship playstyle, back-line fighter
- Low maneuverability, relies on boosting/drifting to move and turn efficiently
- High durability and primary damage output, explosive capital ship damage and built-in ion cannons
- Relies on Support/allies to reach capital ships and survive while dealing damage
- Ideal for staying back behind Fighters/Interceptors and laying down heavy fire on enemy ships
- Unique component: Ion Beam
  - Deals massive ion damage to capital ship shields and subsystems
- Unique component: Gyro/Aux Control Module
  - Allows gyroscopic cockpit roll while holding the auxiliary button, rotating the entire ship around your cockpit. Wing angle determines bomb release angle. Missile evasion is also increased while gyroscopic roll is in motion.
  - Also increases ammo count for auxiliaries that use ammo; otherwise, improves auxiliary cooldown rate.
Added the TIE defender to the Imperial Navy
- Highly adaptable anti-starfighter specialist, front- and mid-line fighter
- High survivability with strong shields but very susceptible to ion weaponry
- Requires frequent, skillful power management and use of boost/drift for ideal performance; poor power management can be detrimental
- Unique component: Advanced Power System
  - Gives instant, significant overcharge to the system with max power. If no system has max power, gives weaker overcharge across all systems.
Deployable turrets (both standard and rocket) now display their DPS.
Fixed an issue where a rocket could have no effect on impact
We've updated the Deployable Turret's description to be clearer on how it functions in-game
Fixed an issue where there could be no reloading sound effect for components
Tactical Shield and Emergency Shield are now displayed on the targeting computer around the starfighter in New Republic ships (already present for Imperial starfighters) instead of on the status indicator to allow for side by side comparison between the temporary shield and regular shields when cycling allies or enemies
Reduced A-wing shield regeneration rate by approximately 1/3
The Rotary Cannon no longer consumes laser power during its windup
Fixed an issue where a starfighter's movement could become jerky while firing the Rotary Cannon
Reduced Ion Missile travel speed from 400m/s to 240m/s to fall in line with other missiles
Fixed an issue where players could exploit power converter penalties and reset them when setting power management to Balanced
Players now take +50% damage if they are hit while charging the Plasburst Cannon to enforce its role as a "chase" weapon rather than a "jousting" weapon
Improved VFX clarity when the Plasburst Cannon is fully charged
Fixed issue where beam VFX could disappear if the player repeatedly tapped the button
Fixed an issue where the starfighter disabled effects would not show up correctly in the U-wing
Fixed an issue where starfighters could hit a negative turning rate
Increased Piercing Torpedo inner blast radius from 2 to 14 to allow it to deal more consistent damage.

Story

Fixed an issue where the game could load infinitely as Mission 1 ended
Fixed an issue where some players couldn't progress past the objective to "Follow Gunny" in Mission 1
Fixed an issue where the drifting tutorial couldn't be completed with arrow keys on PC in Mission 3.

UI

Individual sub-tiers in the rank ladder now display their SR requirements
Fixed an issue where the defeated player's username would display very small in the kill cam
Fixed an issue where text would inconsistently display as outlined when it shouldn't
Fixed an issue where the prompt to leave the briefing room could continue into the intro cinematic and game
"Recenter HMD" VR input is now appropriately displayed on the PC controls screen
Added a few new loading screen tips related to the new content.

VR

Fixed an issue where ships could pop into view midway through the hangar enter/exit cinematics while playing in VR
Fixed an issue where doubled images could occur when tracking points in PSVR while rotating the in-game camera.

VS AI

Fixed an issue where the player could load into Esseles instead of Fostar Haven when playing against AI.

Source: EA

Cyberpunk 2077 update 1.04 out now, addresses epileptic seizure inducing braindance sequence

CD Projekt RED has released update 1.04 for Cyberpunk 2077 on PC and PS4, with the Xbox release coming soon, to tackle some of the issues of performance. One of the key areas that has been addressed are the braindance sequences. These sequences used patterns that induce fits for epilepsy and, unsurprisingly, they triggered epileptic fits. In this patch the flashes have been modified and smoothed to reduce the risk of inducing further fits. Other fixes include reducing vehicle pop in and many issues with some of the quests in the game. You can check out the full patch list below.

Cyberpunk 2077 1.04 update patch notes

Quests

Fixed an issue with completing the final objective in Gig: Freedom of the Press.
Fixed an issue with starting conversation with Johnny at the end in Life During Wartime.
Corrected a rare issue with NPCs no longer calling V if A Like Supreme quest was abandoned mid-way.
Fixed an issue with Nix not going into his default state in Spellbound and KOLD MIRAGE.
Fixed issues blocking progress in I Fought The Law if the quest area is left.
Fixed inability to find Delamain in Epistrophy.
Fixed issues related to remaining in the second phase of the quest after finishing Pacifica fight with Ozob if played after Finals.
Fixed an issue with Nomads no longer present if V leaves the quest area mid-combat in With a Little Help from My Friends/Queen of the Highway.
Adjusted mappings and re-enabled quest tracker in M'ap Tann Pèlen/I Walk the Line/Transmission.
Fixed constraints on freedom to get up and sit down if neither blueline condition is met in Violence.
Fixed issues with time and space resulting from leaving the quest area or abandoning the quest in Following the River.
Fixed an issue with conversation with Johnny not starting after leaving the hotel in Tapeworm.
Fixed an issue with quest being blocked upon leaving the quest area before climbing the hill in Following the River.
Fixed the objective "Go into booth 9" not completing if the room's entered too fast in Automatic Love.
Fixed Jackie's issues with sitting still in The Ripperdoc.
Other quest fixes

Gameplay

Fixed the preview in weapon crafting.

Visual

Reduced vehicle appearance pop-in.
Speeded up switching first person perspective to third person perspective in a vehicle.
Fixed issues with animations missing from important quest NPCs during cinematics.

Performance & Stability

Improved stability, including various crash fixes.

Miscellaneous

Modified the flashing effect on braindances to reduce the risk of inducing epileptic symptoms. The effect has been smoothed out and the flashes reduced in frequency and magnitude.
Removed copyrighted songs incorrectly present in the game with "Disable Copyrighted Music" feature toggled on.

PC-specific

Switching language to default in the in-game settings now correctly sets it to the language of your Steam client.

Console-specific

Improved reflections quality on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 to eliminate the smudge effect.
Fixed "The Wasteland" achievement being stuck on 97% after completing all relevant missions in The Badlands on Xbox.
Fixed an issue with missing PT-BR VO for Xbox players in Americas.

Source: CD Projekt RED

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DIRT 5 update 2.00

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