The Stream Team: Loving the land of lava in Neverwinter

What better place for our favorite fire-lover than the luscious lava of Neverwinter's Mount Hotenow? Massively OP's MJ feels like she's in flame-thrower's heaven dancing around those flowing rivers of lava. D&D night adventures continue with MJ whispering "I lava you" as she wanders the volcano. Tune in live at 9:00 p.m.for MJ's hot date […]

Massively Overthinking: Picking the 'wrong' MMORPG class

Last month, the MMORPG subreddit slept on a good thread about picking classes in MMOs. Let's wake this sucker up. "Am I the only one who is afraid of picking a class and said class ending as the 'wrong' class and get rejected from guild/raid groups just because I picked the weak class to play?" […]

Alien invader survival title Drake's Odds: Survive espouses the virtues of the UFO tractor beam

What self-respecting Earth-invading aliens would arrive without a classic UFO complete with an iconic beam of light that lets them haul things around? Luckily, the players of Drake's Odds: Survive won't have to suffer such ignominy, as the survival sandbox game will most definitely feature a UFO with a tractor beam. According to the related […]

Blade and Soul 2 showcases a cooperative horde mode in latest game footage trailer

We already know that Blade and Soul 2 players are going to have to fight things, but not all threats roam the game's world; some come from a fiery sky fissure. That's the focus of the latest trailer from the game, which offers a in-engine animated look (according to the video's auto-translated title) at this […]

Black Desert just revealed the new Sage class on its afternoon stream

On its splashy reveal stream this afternoon, Pearl Abyss took the wraps off the latest playable class in Black Desert: The Sage. "Armed with the cube-shaped Kyve, an ancient, god-defying weapon, Sage can open rifts in space, calling on Ator's Fist and a range of offensive spells to smite his foes," the studio explains. "He can […]

Fall Guys shows off one of the new maps arriving as part of its fourth season

The fourth season of Fall Guys is supposedly being announced on March 15th with a whole trailer for what to expect, but fans of the game can whet their appetites with the latest preview from the game's official Twitter account. It's showing off one of the seven new levels being added with the update, Skyline Stumble, […]

Whatever happened to Snail Games' Outlaws of the Old West?

In the spring of 2019, Snail Games launched Virtual Basement's then-new survival sandbox MMO Outlaws of the Old West into Steam early access under the Wandering Wizard label, intending to keep it in early access for just a year. Well, it's now been two, and the game is still right there in early access, with […]

Albion Online offers a closer look at the upcoming loadouts feature

Managing your equipment is a vital yet sometimes obnoxious chore, especially when you want to switch gears from combat to crafting as an example. Albion Online's loadouts feature, which is due to arrive with the Call to Arms update on March 17th, looks to not only ease this pain point but introduce a number of […]

Fallout 76's Locked and Loaded update isn't landing until April 27

Fallout 76 players already know that the Bethsoft team's been prepping the Locked and Loaded update this past season, and as of today, we now know when the update is coming: April 27th. Yeah, that's a bit of a long wait. In the meantime, the PTS will come back online tomorrowday for players to check […]

Star Citizen XenoThreat postmortem talks co-op gameplay, performance issues, and PvP imbalance

Players of Star Citizen certainly have opinions about how the game's first dynamic event played out, but how do the devs at CIG think? A postmortem about the event has some insight as several teams chimed in on what went well, what went wrong, and what plans will be made to improve things for the […]

Desert Oasis: A brief history Kakao Games, Black Desert's former PC publisher

It's been a busy couple of months for Pearl Abyss and Kakao games. While Black Desert players knew about Pearl Abyss taking up self publishing duties for the game's western PC release a whole year before the announcement, news of the split became official in December. Fast forward to today, and Black Desert is now fully […]

MechWarrior Online and RUST are slowly recovering after data center fire yesterday

As we reported yesterday morning, a massive fire in Strasbourg, France, took out multiple buildings at the OVH data center where countless companies, including gaming companies, hosted websites and games. While no one was physically harmed in the blaze, several games in our wheelhouse were dealt a nasty blow. Piranha Games' MechWarrior Online, for example, […]

DC Universe Online ushers in St. Patty's Day event and brutal survival mode

Little green-clad men offering magical riches may not seem that out of place in DC Universe Online. We have to imagine that nobody in Gotham or Metropolis will blink twice to see Mister Mxyzptlk frolicking about during St. Patrick's Day. The yearly event is expected to launch today in the game, offering players a special […]

Kakao Games' upcoming survival sandbox Dysterra begins alpha March 18

Eager for another survival game in your library? Kakao Games is publishing the upcoming title Dysterra, an Unreal Engine 4-powered survival game in which players are dropped on an abandoned prison version of Earth and left to fend for themselves. Success will thus be a matter of finding resources, building bases, and fighting it out to […]

Vague Patch Notes: The sneering elitism of the MMO term 'welfare epics'

A few weeks ago, I saw an MMO player unironically complaining about "welfare epics" here in 2021. This is basically the equivalent of saying, "I'm a gigantic elitist turd," and it invites laughter. The devil cannot stand mockery and all that. But that aside, it did prompt a bit of a discussion among the team […]

Saga of Lucimia's founder hasn't been involved in the game's development since last fall

Last fall, we did a "Whatever Happened To" article on Saga of Lucimia, the group-centered hardcore MMORPG that we've had an eyeball on since 2015 and was originally targeting 2017 for launch (that was later moved, of course, with the most recent window being Q4 2021). The game has weathered multiple controversies along the way, […]

World of Warcraft's Wandering Ancient mount is out, but it's taking some time to roll out

The community was asked, and they answered. World of Warcraft players are finally getting the community-voted mount, the Wandering Ancient, a big walking treant with special seasonal coloration for players to enjoy. All of the various seasonal colors have already been datamined by Wowhead, along with the colors for the upcoming Daisy the Sloth pet as […]

LOTRO's Wildwood testing continues while Angmar offers dev tours

It's another round of testing for Lord of the Rings Online's new mid-level content patch, as SSG announced that Update 29 is once again available for preview on the Bullroarer server. "Beyond the Bree-fields lies the lightly travelled wilderness of the Wildwood. This heavily forested area has drawn the attention of two groups of Free […]

'We will never be the same': Cryptic is adopting a permanent work-from-home policy

A lot of gaming companies, including MMO companies, shifted to working from home when the COVID pandemic began in earnest last year. And one of the "silver linings" of the pandemic was supposed to be making work-from-home more acceptable than ever – that maybe offices would become all but moot. Not a lot of mid-size-and-up […]

The Daily Grind: What's the oldest MMO change or update you're still a little angry about?

I still find Final Fantasy XI's old vague patch notes so annoying ("The potency of certain actions has been adjusted") that I named an entire column after it. It's tongue-in-cheek, but the reference is still there. But even that pales to the people who are still angry about Ultima Online's Trammel, approximately two centuries after that happened. […]

Whatever happened to indie tabletop-inspired MMO World Seed?

Cast your mind back to the middle of 2020, when we first covered World Seed, a newly launched MMO crafted by solo Swedish developer Kim Korte under the Ape Egg banner. The game was notable for being one of the few titles to tinker with the classic tabletop motif for an MMO, with a "reshaping" […]

Animal Crossing New Horizons latest transmedia synergy effort is with Build-A-Bear

Animal Crossing New Horizons has been king of the crossovers for a while now, with partnerships with everything from fast-fashion makeup brands to an IKEA catalogue spread. Now, apparently Nintendo is transmedia synergying it up with… Build-A-Bear. Bonus, this is the second article about bears we've gotten to do today, so thanks ACNH. Build-A-Bear, for […]

Century: Age of Ashes preps for its next March 12 closed beta and showcases gameplay in new trailer

Curious to ride on the back of a dragon and blow the smithereens out of others in aerial PvP dogfights? Then you're going to want to get your toes into the upcoming closed beta test for Century: Age of Ashes, which is due to begin on Friday, March 12th, and run through Sunday, March 21st. […]

Vendetta Online enhances Mac support, unifies KoS timers, and preps for further graphical improvements

It's been a little while since we last peeked in on the internet spaceship MMO Vendetta Online, so we suspect it's about high time to catch up, particularly since the game has seen a pretty steady stream of updates since our last report. Looking back over the past couple of months, we note the game […]

MMO Business Roundup: Germany, lockboxes, Distintegration, and CCP vs. the bots

Welcome back to another quick rundown of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news. German lockboxes: We've gone through two full cycles of lockbox backlash in the last decade, and I thought we might be about to embark on a third, as yesterday headlines lit up around the industry about Germany's plan to reform abusive monetization in […]

Dauntless introduces private Hunting Grounds and addresses performance issues in latest patch

In terms of content, the most recent patch to Dauntless doesn't add much, but what it does add is still pretty important on the performance and quality-of-life side. The one major feature of the update is the addition of private Hunting Grounds, letting players run through the area solo or with a team of their […]

Final Fantasy XI rolls out new Voracious Resurgence content and a new Odyssey foe

The March version update has arrived for Final Fantasy XI, and that means players can face off against a new foe in Sheol: Gaol as part of the game's Odyssey content. It's a tough battle to enter, as you need to be in a party of players with non-overlapping jobs and everyone needs three jobs at […]

Dark Age of Camelot's leveling event draws 'thousands' of characters

It's Fast Times at Dark Age High these days, as DAOC is in the midst of a 10-day "Catch Up in Caledonia" event to help players pump out those levels as quickly as possible. Broadsword said that the event has been a "huge hit" so far with "thousands of characters" sprinting through the leveling process. […]

World of Tanks Console's Season 5 lets all players earn a heavy Polish tank and a bear tank commander

There's a fresh season in World of Tanks Console and this one is a doozy, as all players, whether they have a Season Pass or not, have the opportunity to get a Polish Tier VIII 50TP Prototype heavy tank. Granted, it's waiting at level 100 so it's likely not going to be a cakewalk to […]

Leaderboard: Are you hyped for WoW Burning Crusade Classic?

I don't think I've ever seen people fight over the details of a classic server as hard as they do for WoW Classic. Dipping into the comments of our WoW Factor and Casually Classic columns shows an incredible array of opinions on the right way to move Classic forward and the motivations behind those preferences. […]

Indie space sandbox Avorion celebrates first anniversary – and 300K sales

Avorion's been on our radar for the last year, almost to the day: It's a "procedural co-op space sandbox where players can build their own space ships out of dynamically scalable blocks" that launched back in March of last year. Yes, I said launched. A real launch. A real MMO launch. Wild. The indie space sandbox […]

Not So Massively: Outriders' demo teases a decent but unremarkable looter-shooter

Outriders, the new co-op shooter from publisher Square Enix, is not a game I've followed super closely, but with Anthem consigned to eternal purgatory, I could use a new sci-fi shooter in my life, and developer People Can Fly has been kind enough to provide a free public demo prior to the April 1st launch, […]

Gamigo has laid off an unspecified number of RIFT devs, says MMO will continue

Yesterday, we learned through a trusted tipster that multiple Gamigo developers situated in the US and working on RIFT had been laid off from the company. The layoffs reportedly included both Kerilar and Acalos, long-running developers on the game, with the assumption that RIFT's development is being shifted overseas. We reached out to Gamigo for […]

Perfect Ten: Ten things that killed me in Final Fantasy XI

In many ways, Final Fantasy XI was a designed copy of EverQuest. It did, however, remove a lot of the elements of that game in particular. You no longer purchased training for all of your abilities, for example, just spells. You could no longer fall to your death from a treetop city. You could no longer accidentally […]

Black Desert players vote on next GM events as latest PC update brings new quests and plump pufferfish

What sort of GM-led events will PC players of Black Desert be seeing next? Well, if the results of a player poll are any indication, there's gong to be lots of treasure and a concert with the GMs, with an overwhelming 38% of players wanting a Treasure Hunt and 13% of players asking for a […]

Lord of the Rings Online's 2021 roadmap includes Wildwood, Bilbo, Blood of Azog, Gundabad, and the LI revamp

Lord of the Rings Online's Rob "Severlin" Ciccolini just posted a new letter from producer for the community, through if you've been watching the game's streams (and reading MOP's Justin's excellent recaps), you probably already know most of what's coming. In the immediate future, players can expect the formal release of the in-development Wildwood area […]

The world is vanishing, and only DC Universe Online heroes can help

No matter what your level of stoic cynicism is these days, I think we can all agree that having the world vanish is a net loss for all of us. So vote for superheroes as world saviors in 2021 and keep the Earth from disappearing altogether! These are the stakes for DC Universe Online's April […]

EU MechWarrior Online, RUST servers go offline following French data center burning to the ground – no one hurt

Well, this might be a first for the MMO industry: The data center in Strasbourg, France, that housed MechWarrior Online's servers was partially destroyed in a major fire overnight. Here's the message from Piranha Games just after midnight early this morning: "There has been a fire at the EU datacenter that hosts the Game Servers […]

The Daily Grind: Where's the love for MMO Engineers?

If you announce that your MMO is going to have an Engineer class of some kind, then congratulation: I'm going to play it. In fact, I'll be first in line with a wrench in one hand and a remote control for my killer robot in the other. I can't help it; I love me a […]

The Stream Team: Barrels of beer (and fun) in EverQuest II's Brewday

Having already missed Erollisi Day, Massively OP's MJ is not going to miss out on EverQuest II's Brewday! Who knows how much beer her tiny Ratonga can hold, but today is the day to find out. She'll be barhopping to work on her drinking achievements as well as buying fun rewards. And there's always that […]

The Realm Online prepares to launch 'radical, disruptive' seasonal server

If you haven't stepped back in time and visited The Realm Online lately, you might want to see what fascinating things this rebooted 2-D MMORPG is doing. Specifically, the dev team is testing a "radically new ruleset" called Elphame's Arena. This seasonal server, which is currently in beta, is a way to introduce "new disruptive […]

MMO game studio comedy Mythic Quest debuts its second season on May 7

Back in January of last year, we reported on the comedy series Mythic Quest, which comes from many of the creators and writers of It's Always Sunny and Modern Family. The first season of the series released a month later to some generally favorable reactions from many of our readers. Evidently, it was a strong […]

MapleStory previews the upcoming Spring Blossoms update, complete with cafe and Mechanical Hearts

Spring has not yet quite sprung into MapleStory, but it's soon to spring away with the game's upcoming Spring Blossoms update coming in the near future. There's even a whole preview page showing off everything coming to the game with the new update, including all three seasons of Mechanical Hearts being available at once. That coincides […]

Massively OP Podcast Episode 312: Written in the stars

Justin and Bree discuss Elder Scrolls Online Flames of Ambition and Update 29, WoW Classic, Daybreak's Aliens Fireteam, and City of Heroes, with listener mails and recordings on MMOs that are more fun to play than watch, a 2010 time capsule, Blizzard's Mac thing, and out-of-touch pockets of MMO fans.

Titan Reach has officially kicked off early access

To hear the story of Titan Reach, you might not believe the game would have gotten this far. The MMO from Australia-based Square Root Studios first tried its hand with Kickstarter in September 2020, which ultimately failed and caused the devs to plan a shift to Indiegogo instead but ended up ultimately eschewing that plan […]

Allods Online plans for Desert Dreams update launch and server merge on March 11

A bit of good news, bad news for Allods Online players. The good news is that the upcoming Desert Dreams update will be arriving soon on Thursday, March 11th. The bad news is that there will also be a server merge going down as well. Though that might also be considered good news if you're […]

Back under Naddic's direction, Closers adds new dungeon and raid to defeat the Ocean King

So, how's Closers doing since transferring back from Krafton and En Masse to its original developer Naddic last fall? Not too shabbily: Naddic has rolled out multiple events and patches in 2021, including a newbie event and the merging of the Thai server into the global set. Most recently, Naddic has announced a new content […]

Atlas Q&A acknowledges problems with Alliances, island assaults, and experience

Depending on your perspective, the latest community Q&A for Atlas will be either positive or frustrating. For example, if you're hoping to hear some acknowledgement of the problems the game has with experience, you'll probably be happy that this set of answers explicitly acknowledges that solo players or those in small companies are locked in a […]

Choose My Adventure: Fizzle frustration, boss beatdowns, and slowly forming strategies in Wizard101

Remember last week how I wrote about being surprised at the depth of Wizard101's combat? This week I learned that the game's combat can also provide a stern challenge for the unprepared. Or perhaps more likely, the undergeared. Or perhaps even more likely, the clinically stupid. Up to this point, battles have been generally pretty […]

Star Trek Online podcast to introduce Gene Roddenberry's son to the MMO

When you have a dad who created one of the most famous scifi IPs of all time, you best ride those coattails all the way through life, son. And so it is for Rod Roddenberry, the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who is the CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment and an executive producer on […]

Monster Energy Supercross 4 Review

Monster Energy Supercross 4 brings the series to next-gen consoles, though while there are clear improvements, there are also issues.

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The Best Indie Games on Switch

You like video games, eh? Indie-d. Get it? Indeed. Indie-d. You know what? Never mind.

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Borderlands 3 Director's Cut Add-On Has Been Delayed Until April

Originally releasing next week, Borderlands 3's Director's Cut add-on has been pushed back a couple of weeks.

The post Borderlands 3 Director's Cut Add-On Has Been Delayed Until April appeared first on GameSpew.



Out This Summer, A Musical Story is an Audiovisual Journey You Don't Want to Miss

Described as "part rhythm game, part interactive art", Glee-Cheese Studio's A Musical Story is one to watch.

The post Out This Summer, A Musical Story is an Audiovisual Journey You Don't Want to Miss appeared first on GameSpew.



Hunting Simulator 2 Review (Next-Gen)

Hunting Simulator 2 makes the leap to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. But do the improvements make it worth buying yet again? Not really.

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Check Out These New Details From the Monster Hunter Digital Event

Capcom's Monster Hunter Digital Event has revealed more about the upcoming Monster Hunter Rise and Monster Hunter Stories 2

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Bob Help Them is a Cute, Simplistic Time Management Game

Not a lot of people are great at time management. 

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Build-a-Bear is Launching an Animal Crossing Range

Toy workshop company Build-A-Bear has teased a new Animal Crossing-themed collection.

The post Build-a-Bear is Launching an Animal Crossing Range appeared first on GameSpew.



Rain on Your Parade Makes You a Terrible Cloud

Rain on Your Parade makes you a wedding ruining, picnic soaking pedestrian zapping cloud.

The post Rain on Your Parade Makes You a Terrible Cloud appeared first on GameSpew.



DotEmu Announces Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

The Turtles are back! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge is set to recreate the beat-em-up joy of Konami's side-scroller.

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A Server Fire Has Wiped Out a Huge Chunk of Rust's Player Data

Ashes to ashes, Rust to Rust.

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Monster Truck Championship Review (PS5)

Monster Truck Championship looks and plays better on next-gen consoles. but it's a shame that there are no other additions or improvements.

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The Best Detective Games on PS4

Here are the best detective games on PS4 that allow us to live out our wildest crime-solving fantasies without any of the mess.

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We Were Here Forever is Coming to PC and Consoles Later This Year

Puzzle lovers rejoice!

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Get the Weirdest Roadhog Skin in Overwatch's PachiMarchi Challenge

Blizzard is giving players new (kind of disturbing) content.

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Sandbox Space-Building Game Oddyssey: Your Space: Your Way Announced

If you've ever wanted to build your own spaceship, this game might be the one for you. 505 Games and developer Weird Fish have just announced their upcoming sandbox space-building and exploration adventure game, Oddyssey: Your Space, Your Way. You can see bits and pieces of what to expect from the game on its Steam […]

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Lost Words: Beyond the Page is Coming to PC and Consoles in April

Previously a Stadia exclusive game, this beautiful and emotional narrative adventure is making its way to other formats on April 6th.

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Blind Drive Review

If you're one of those people that say, "I could drive this car with my eyes closed" then this game is for you. 

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Six Things You Might Not Know You Can Do in Fortnite

Fortnite has millions of players that pick up the game on a regular basis. 

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The Importance of Selfies, in Video Games and the Real World

It turns out selfies aren't just about vanity - having pictures of yourself can be very important.

The post The Importance of Selfies, in Video Games and the Real World appeared first on GameSpew.



Xbox-Bethesda Deal is About Great Exclusive Games on "Platforms Where Game Pass Exists" – Xbox Boss

Bethesda Xbox

In the recent roundtable discussion between Xbox and Bethesda team members, Xbox boss Phil Spencer provided some interesting details on how exclusivity would work for Bethesda's titles. "So obviously I can't sit here and say every Bethesda game is exclusive, because we know that's not true. There's contractual obligations that we're going to see through as we always do in every one of these instances.

"We have games that exist on other platforms, and we're going to go support those games on the platforms they're on. There's communities of players. We love those communities and we'll continue to invest in them. And even in the future, there might be things that have either contractual things or a legacy on different platforms that we'll go do."

However, for Xbox players, the acquisition is about "Delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists, and that's our goal. That's why we're doing this. That's the root of this partnership that we're building, and the creative capability we will be able to bring to market for our Xbox customers is going to be the best it's ever been for Xbox after we're done here."

Microsoft earlier noted that some future Bethesda titles would be exclusive for Xbox and PC. Titles like Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo, which have a one-year exclusivity period on PS5 (while also launching for PC), are clearly excluded. Spencer's recent comments clarify that current titles won't suddenly become exclusive to Xbox consoles. So The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 players can continue enjoying those games on PlayStation.

On the other hand, this potentially points to other titles that don't have existing deals or contractual obligations being exclusive to Xbox and PC. Microsoft hasn't indicated which titles fit into this criteria but this could include Starfield, The Elder Scrolls 6 and even the upcoming Indiana Jones title from MachineGames (especially since none of them have confirmed platforms till now). We'll have to wait for more details in the coming months so stay tuned. In the meantime, 20 Bethesda titles will be coming to Xbox Game Pass later today – check out the full list here.


Monster Truck Championship Review – A Monster's Jam

There's something about monster trucks that should translate perfectly to games. They exist almost in their own world, sectioned off from the rest of entertainment, not quite as detail-oriented as NASCAR but not quite as intentionally bombastic as the WWE. But what makes them so great is their huge, over-the-top ability to take down anything in their path and still get up to breakneck speeds. While it doesn't have the luxury of using the real-world Monster Jam license, Monster Truck Championship makes this crossover work about as well as you could hope. Even with its higher emphasis on simulation over arcadeyness, its level of control over these giant metal beasts feels wonderful, both on the racetrack and in the freestyle arena. The only problem is that there isn't more of it.

Compared to its officially licensed counterpart, Monster Truck Championship puts a lot more emphasis on the simulation aspect of its monster truck simulator. Trucks don't have a boost, nor can you control them in mid-air. Instead, you have a high degree of control over the trucks without it ever feeling unrealistic or punishing. These beasts can get up to exhilaratingly high speeds and do awe-inspiring tricks, and while you need to take note so that you don't lose traction or flip over, the gameplay always feels like it's giving you the benefit of the doubt when you're doing something cool.

monster truck championship

"These beasts can get up to exhilaratingly high speeds and do awe-inspiring tricks, and while you need to take note so that you don't lose traction or flip over, the gameplay always feels like it's giving you the benefit of the doubt when you're doing something cool."

Most of the game's structure falls into the career mode, where you participate in sequences of multi-staged events to gather points and make your way from the starting National League into the higher prestige, more rewarding Major League. Every event consists of some combination of stages, and you garner more points the better you do in every stage. The more points you get, the more events you unlock, until you reach the league's finale and you move up to the next stage of your career.

The actual gameplay occurs in one of four ways: longer races, short one-on-one drag races, simple freestyle trick showcases, and other demolition-focused skill showcases. Every event does a good enough job of mixing up the sequence of stages, so you don't feel like you're playing the same thing over and over again. There are six or seven unique courses for each type of event, and they're generally diverse enough to feel distinct from each other course in an event type. Some long race courses, say, are much longer and more straightforward, while others have diverging paths or are set in packed stadiums. The drag races, which are much shorter 8-person tournaments, have a lot more variety, mostly due to their short length. Some are less than 10 seconds and require a single turn, while others are a bit longer, maybe 25 seconds, but require some more tight turns and jumps. These give you a lot less room for error, especially with their focus on getting a good RPM even before you start, but they can be the most fun in their quick runs.

Freestyles and demolition events are set in the same arenas, each of which is crafted to naturally allow you to keep your combos going. Even when you're not attempting a massive, death-defying trick, odds are you're still performing some long jumps or bicycles to connect you between big tricks. Plus, they all start out with a planned, slow-motion major stunt that gives some early vigor to your run. I always felt in these trick showcases like I was actually doing something cool and that the game rewarded what I thought were the coolest things I did, even if they weren't the biggest tricks. Even if doing backflips can get old after a while, I always felt like I was doing the kinds of tricks that would get me "ooh"-ing and "ah"-ing at an actual monster truck event. It doesn't hurt that these courses, along with the trucks themselves, look really good, from the dirt coming off the tires to the shine off the truck doors, and their impressive load times on the Xbox Series X makes it very easy to jump into events.

monster truck championship

"Even if doing backflips can get old after a while, I always felt like I was doing the kinds of tricks that would get me "ooh"-ing and "ah"-ing at an actual monster truck event. It doesn't hurt that these courses, along with the trucks themselves, look really good, from the dirt coming off the tires to the shine off the truck doors."

You're mostly free from any detailed management of your career, aside from the ability to hire sponsors and staff to your team. Sponsors give you specific missions to complete, like land a backflip or win a race, in exchange for reward money. The harder the mission, the bigger the payout. Your team, on the other hand, is the only real way to improve your truck. You can choose your truck's chassis for the cosmetic change, but the team you build, which grows as you progress, makes the real changes to your truck's stats in exchange for a piece of your income. You can also hire managers that give you higher income and lower event entry fees over time.

While the ability to add engineers to your team is a good idea in theory, the game's economy and overall lack of difficulty make team management almost entirely moot. Aside from the first few events, I was never lacking in the financial department. I was regularly making much more money than I'd need for entry fees, so even the best engineers taking even 10 percent of my income was hardly a tough concession to make. And with the chassis and other cosmetic options having no effect on gameplay, it's easy to completely forget about the economy altogether.

When it comes to actual gameplay, too, I found that I breezed through almost every event without much stopping me, emphasizing how short the campaign really is. Even without the best team members or most upgrades, I regularly finished in the top 3 of almost every event, if not outright winning them. Even in the final, theoretically most challenging league, any event that I didn't win was a disappointment, not because of my desire for greatness, but more so because of the opponents' general lack thereof. I often found myself leading races wire to wire, and I sometimes would double the next highest score in freestyles, all on the normal difficulty. The game's structure lends itself to forcing you back to previous events to place higher in the standings and get more points, but when all was said and done, I had not only not needed to go back, but I had unlocked most future events without so much as retrying a single one.

monster truck championship

"I was able to barrel my way to the top of the highest league in about 5 hours, and by that point, I felt like I had accomplished everything there was to do."

It doesn't help, then, that the game is far too barebones to keep your attention for longer than a few hours. Because every track is used in every league, they become extremely repetitive by the time you reach the Majors, with the only change being the number of laps in a race and a change in the logos on the sides of buildings. I was able to barrel my way to the top of the highest league in about 5 hours, and by that point, I felt like I had accomplished everything there was to do. There aren't other trucks to change how you play, nor are there any substantial other modes aside from traditional offline and online quick play. I wanted to continue playing, but I had little incentive to go back and complete everything all over again.

Despite lacking an official license, Monster Truck Championship puts itself in a great spot to be the premier monster truck racer on the market. Its simulation feels great and finds a good balance between realism and encouraging impressive stunts, and a diverse array of tricks allows you to feel like you're achieving all the cool things monster trucks should be able to do. Without anything in the way of endgame or really any reason to return once the campaign has ended, its only major problem is selling itself short. I really wish there had been more to Monster Truck Championship's package, since it shows glimpses of a great foundation for a top-tier monster truck simulator.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.


Xbox Game Pass Receives 20 Bethesda Titles Today

Xbox Game Pass - Bethesda titles

In a new Xbox Wire post, Microsoft has announced 20 games from Bethesda Softworks that will be added to Xbox Game Pass today. With a few exceptions, many of these titles will be playable on Xbox consoles, PC and the cloud. Even though The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition is already available for console owners, subscribers on other platforms will be able to play it as well.

The full list is quite extensive and includes the following titles:

  • Dishonored Definitive Edition
  • Dishonored 2
  • Doom (1993)
  • Doom 2
  • Doom 3
  • Doom 64
  • DOOM Eternal
  • The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
  • The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (Console, PC)
  • The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition
  • The Elder Scrolls Online (Cloud, Console)
  • The Evil Within
  • Fallout 4
  • Fallout 76
  • Fallout: New Vegas (Console)
  • Prey
  • RAGE 2
  • Wolfenstein: The New Order
  • Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
  • Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Prey and Fallout 4 will be returning to the service after exiting last year, though the latter is the base version and not the Game of the Year Edition. Dishonored Definitive Edition and The Evil Within are new entries while Dishonored 2 makes its return after leaving last September. It should be interesting to see if Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and The Evil Within 2 arrive on Game Pass at some point.

A roundtable discussion is currently on-going between Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda team members – find out more about that here. Microsoft has also confirmed that some future titles from Bethesda will be exclusive to Xbox and PC. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days on which ones.


Destruction AllStars Patch 1.3.1 Adds Mayhem 8v8 for Teams, New AllStar Skins

Destruction AllStars

A new patch is live for Lucid Games' Destruction AllStars and brings Mayhem 8v8 for Teams along with new cosmetics and quality of life changes. Nine new AllStars skins are available with two being Heroic and one Legendary. The number of AllStar Coins that players receive on leveling up has also been increased.

Perhaps the most noteworthy change is that Weekly Changes will now reward Destruction Points and AllStar Coins on completion. Since Destruction Points are needed to purchase higher tier cosmetics and the single-player Challenge Series, this allows for earning them without spending real money. Patch 1.3.1 also offers various stability improvements and fixes.

Destruction AllStars is currently available for free on PlayStation 5 via PlayStation Plus. Those without PS Plus can purchase it for $19.99 on April 6th. More content is due in the coming weeks including a Challenge Series for Bluefang, Carnado Solo in the Featured Playlist and "a few more surprises." This is in addition to new AllStars and modes that are planned for the future.


Loop Hero Crosses 500,000 Sales in First Week

Loop Hero

In its first week of launch, Rogue-lite idle RPG Loop Hero has sold over 500,000 units. Developed by Four Quarters and published by Devolver Digital, the title had an average user playtime of 12 hours. Its soundtrack is also the fastest selling in Devolver's history.

Over on Steam, the developer thanked fans for their support and revealed upcoming quality of life patches in the works. These include new speed settings, the ability to save during expeditions and even trait decks from bosses. It also confirmed that "lots more content" would be added like new classes, transformations and cards.

Loop Hero is currently available for PC. The story is set after the end of the world as a lone hero sets out to discover what happened. The player is on a set looping path as part of a randomly generated run but can place different environments, buildings and enemies on it with cards. Different card interactions have different effects and it's possible to attain resources to upgrade one's camp. Stay tuned for more details on future updates.


Square Enix Showcase Confirmed for March 18, New Life is Strange to be Announced

Square Enix

Square Enix has announced Square Enix Presents, a digital Direct-style showcase that will feature new announcements and updates on upcoming games. The debut episode of Square Enix Presents will be going live a week from now, on March 18 at 10 AM Pacific Time, and will be a roughly 40 minutes long, with new trailer and announcements for multiple upcoming games.

Square Enix has confirmed that a new Life is Strange game will be announced at the showcase (with the game's Twitter page confirming that fans can expect a new cast of characters, a new story, and a new central supernatural power). Reports have suggested that the series' future will be handled by Before the Storm developers Deck Nine going forward, rather than by Dontnod Entertainment, and we'll now know soon enough how true that is.

Meanwhile, Square Enix also confirms that you can look forward to updates on the likes of Balan Wonderworld, Outriders, Marvel's Avengers, and more. A Just Cause mobile game is going to be unveiled, while several other mobile games from Square Enix Montreal will also be showcased. Announcements to celebrate Tomb Raider's 25th anniversary will also be made- likely the recently leaked Tomb Raider: Definitive Survivor Trilogy. Meanwhile, you can also expect announcements from Square Enix's sister company TAITO.

We will, of course, be covering the event live, so make sure to stick with GamingBolt for all the news and updates.


Ys 9: Monstrum Nox Trailer Highlights the Game's Positive Reception

ys 9 monstrum nox

Nihon Falcom have been admirably consistent with the new instalments they put out in the Ys series, and the recently released Ys 9: Monstrum Nox was another notch on their belt. The game launched to solid reception from critics, while series fans have also had no shortage of praise for the game (it's combat seems to be especially well regarded). To highlight some of that praise, the game's publisher has put out an accolades trailer, which you can check out below.

If you've been on the fence about whether or not to give the game a go, we'd definitely recommend taking the plunge. Our own impressions of Ys 9 were similarly positive. In our review, we awarded the game a score of 9/10, praising its combat and its cast and characters, and said, "Ys IX: Monstrum Nox brings a wide array of impressive gameplay elements in concert with a wonderful cast of characters to make an exhilarating, thoughtful package that's one of the series' best." You can read our full review through here.

Ys 9: Monstrum Nox is currently available on PS4, though the game will also be releasing for PC and Nintendo Switch some time later this year. A precise release date for that has yet to be announced, so stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates on when that happens.


Little Nightmares 2 Has Sold Over 1 Million Units

Little Nightmares 2_11

Bandai Namco and Tarsier Studios launched the excellent horror puzzle platformer Little Nightmares 2 a month ago now, and the game has enjoyed success on all fronts right out the gate. On top of solid reception from critics and praise from fans of the series, the game has also seen strong sales in the short time that it's been out.

Bandai Namco recently announced via the game's official Twitter account that Little Nightmares 2 has sold over 1 million units since launch. That's an impressive milestone (especially for an indie developed release) no matter how you look at it, but seeing as the game's managed those sales in just a month, that achievement becomes even more laudable.

It was recently confirmed that Tarsier Studios, now under the ownership of Embracer Group, would move on to new properties, but even though the developer is not going to work on its beloved horror IP anymore, Bandai Namco has confirmed that it will continue to invest in Little NightmaresWho will work on future games remains to be seen.

Little Nightmares 2 is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Stadia. The game will also be releasing for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S later this year. You can read our review for it through here.


The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos Releases on March 17th, Opening Cinematic Revealed

The Outer Worlds - Murder on Eridanos

Obsidian Entertainment has released the opening cinematic for The Outer Worlds' second expansion Murder on Eridanos. It also announced a release date of March 17th with the expansion available standalone or with the Expansion Pass. Check out the cinematic below.

Players travel to Eridanos following the death of Halcyon Helen. Eridanos is composed of several floating islands and using the Discrepancy Amplifier, you'll discover hints to solve the overall mystery. From the Grand Colonial Hotel to the groves of Rizzo, there's something strange going down on Eridanos and it's up to the player to find out what.

Along with new story missions, the expansion adds three new science weapons, the level cap increasing 3, new perks and new flaws for one's character. The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos will be available for Xbox One, PS4 and PC players next week while Nintendo Switch owners will have to wait till later this year. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.


Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Could be Headed to Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X/S

dragon ball z kakarot

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot might not be the most spectacular game you'll ever play, but for many fans of the beloved Japanese franchise, the action RPG was exactly what it needed to be. Even more than a year on from its launch, the game is still going strong, and it's possible that there might be more milestones ahead for it- and Bandai Namco themselves may have inadvertently spilled the beans on them.

Bandai Namco Latin America's official Instagram page recently uploaded a trailer for the upcoming Trunks: The Warrior of Hope DLC. Interestingly enough, as spotted by Nintenleaks on Twitter, the trailer mentions Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X/S among the platforms that the DLC will be releasing for. No Switch or Xbox Series X/S version of the game has officially been announced by Bandai Namco, of course, and while this might simply an error, it wouldn't be surprising to see the game coming to more platforms (especially since most recent Dragon Ball releases have been ported to the Switch). And considering how successful Kakarot has been for Bandai Namco from a sales perspective, it would make sense that they'd want to expand on that commercial success by making the game available to even more prospective players.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.